Chapter 12 (Miki)
As the days passed without news of the mid-semester exam results, Miki found herself reviewing the performances of the exam. The first day – a mix of the lower classes and A class – had seen only a few outstanding ones (including her own, but that was what Aria, Syo-kun, and her brother (how Syo managed to send him the video so fast, she did not want to know) said. She had yet to bump into Shinomiya-san, whom she really wanted feedback from).
Horikawa Jun-kun (yes, she knew he was a guy. She kept her silence out of respect for him to dare and join a school with the complete opposite gender – and she saw how he idolized Tsukimiya-sensei, anyway; she was not his classmate for nothing) was, to her, one of the better performers on day one. He had picked a ballad, and his surprisingly gentle voice made it extremely soothing to hear amongst the various fast-paced songs that were used.
It probably helped his case that his singing voice had a higher pitch compared to most guys.
Day two was a mixture of the remaining lower classes and B, and it had Miki rooting for a class promotion for one Sukunami Yuiren. She had seen the girl in passing – Sukunami-san was the quiet type and preferred to be on her own… and Horikawa-kun was fond of the B class student.
Miki could not help but think, however, that Sukunami -san had been using someone else's persona for her performance. Seeing her in passing quite a few times made her strongly believe the fact that she was quiet and shy, not the charismatic person she had been on-stage.
She was still rooting for her class promotion, though. That power and potential in her voice was asking to rot if she remained in B class.
Aria's performance on the last day – a day that was specifically S class – had her jaw on the floor, much like everyone else. The other S class performers did not seem to hold a candle to her after that – though she was certain they were awesome as well. Miki would not be surprised if Aria got near perfect marks with her epic high-pitched belts.
'She was definitely aiming her feelings in that song to one single person, though,' Miki believed – and if her hunch was right, it was towards her Starish fiancé. Due to her hyperness, most people thought she was not observant – a mistake even her family members had made. No, she was very observant, and Miki had seen the pain that flashed through her roommate's eyes every time she saw or even thought of Hijirikawa Masato.
If they did not manage to solve whatever problem was between them by next month, Miki was seriously tempted to ask the rest of Starish to help her lock the two in question in a broom closet.
She had not confronted her part-Austrian roommate about it, though. She and Aria were not particularly close (yet, her mind whispered), and Miki believed that if Aria wanted to talk to her about it, she would.
In the meantime, though, she had done as Saeki had asked her and… caused more rumors of haunted classrooms to spread by changing classrooms every now and then. The look of exasperated amusement Tsukimiya-sensei flashed her, though, made her believe the staff knew exactly who was 'haunting' the classrooms – she had grinned unrepentantly in response.
A few days later, Miki had managed to bump into Shinomiya Natsuki – who was talking to the redhead of Starish about something or other – and he had looked pleasantly surprised. She and Ittoki Otoya introduced themselves to each other with equal levels of hyperness, much to Shinomiya-san's amusement, before Ittoki-san took his leave with a wink at Shinomiya-san's direction and a cheerful wave at her.
"I've been meaning to look for you, but I've been busy with practice," Shinomiya-san told her as they both settled on a bench in the courtyard. He offered her a pocky stick – the last one of the lot – which she accepted happily.
"Same here, but homework and playing games with my brother while spreading more rumors of haunted classrooms ate up my time," Miki confessed happily without a shred of guilt, and Shinomiya-san laughed. She nibbled on the pocky stick that she had taken, and tilted her head at the elder teen.
At her head tilt, the Starish member seemed to remember what he had wanted to tell her. "Ah, yes," he started, "thank you for choosing my song to sing as your exam choice." He smiled – a combination of happy, proud, and sheepish. "It was a huge surprise for me, and honestly, I felt honored."
Miki smiled back, though internally she was anxious. What had he thought of her rendition of his song? "No, no, the pleasure was mine," she returned. "I don't think I managed to do it justice, though…"
"What, no!" Shinomiya-san exclaimed, and Miki jumped in surprise. He apologized for startling her a little sheepishly, and she accepted it, bewildered. "Your performance was… I don't know, it left me speechless, Oikawa-chan."
Miki blinked. "Ah, was that a good speechless, or a bad speechless?" she asked, and Shinomiya-san blinked at her before chuckling.
"No! No, it was a good speechless," he told her, smiling and looking much more relaxed. "If I didn't hear it myself, Oikawa -chan, I wouldn't have believed such a powerful, deep voice came from someone as cute as you."
Even though Syo-kun had told her about Shinomiya-san's adoration of all things cute, hearing him direct it at her made her blush. "Well, no… not really," Miki stammered, and Shinomiya-san laughed at her.
"'Not really', says the cute one," he teased, and Miki blushed even more. She was glad she had her hoodie on, 'cause it allowed her to pull her hood up to hide her now-red face.
Miki was sure hearing Shinomiya-san's laughter made her blush more.
"D…Did I overdo it?" he wondered, his voice tinged with worry. Miki giggled, shaking her head, but refused to put her hood down.
"It's okay," Miki answered. "Shinomiya-san and nii-san are very similar, I realized," she said, feeling the heat in her face calm before she pushed her hood back to look at a confused Shinomiya Natsuki.
"Really?" he asked, and Miki nodded with a smile.
"Shinomiya-san and nii-san have so many similarities, it scares me sometimes," she confessed, "but it's a good thing," she rushed to assure the elder when he looked like he was going to apologize. "It makes it so much easier to talk to you, Shinomiya-san."
The bespectacled teen looked surprised for a moment, but smiled. "I'm glad."
Miki grinned at him, and looked up at the speaker across from them when the tell-tale crackle indicated an announcement. "What's crazy man up to this time?" she wondered aloud, and beside her, Shinomiya-san coughed in an attempt to not burst out laughing.
"Hello, baby-tachi!" greeted said crazy man. "I see everyone's getting along just fine. In fact, everyone's getting along so nicely, they don't want their exam results!"
That statement caused a few people to protest, but Miki laughed. She had seen (and heard from Syo-kun) enough of his insane actions to know that he was just being… himself.
"What's that? You want your results? Too bad, baby-tachi , but your results are not-" he paused for a bit of dramatic effect, but that was lost on a giggling Miki, "-posted in your classrooms. Go check the Bulletin Board, my pretties!"
There was a peal of insane laughter from the speakers before they heard Hyuuga-sensei sigh and turn off the PA system, and Miki finally burst out laughing, leaning against Shinomiya-san– who appeared to be amused by her reaction.
"Shall we go see your results?" he asked when she had calmed down, and Miki nodded, taking in deep breaths to relax. Together, they headed towards the Bulletin Board (both of them easily ignoring the stares (and glares, in the younger teen's case), though Miki was very sure she'd be in the school's grapevine by the end of the day). The brunette paused at the announcement board, though, noticing a paper pinned on it with the words "Class Promotion Students" in bold.
"Oikawa-chan?" Shinomiya-san questioned when he saw the widening grin on her face. Miki clapped her hands in glee.
"The person I was rooting for is promoted to A class!" she told him, her finger easily pointing out Sukunami Yuiren's name. "I'm looking forward to meeting her," she said, skipping happily towards the bulletin board; she had skimmed through the entire paper – her name was not on the promotion list, but she was happy anyway.
Confused yet amused at her joy, the blonde Starish member trailed after her to the bulletin board. The crowd of people before the board was quite near suffocating, with students checking their results and then their friends. Quite a few lingered around despite finding theirs to chat, and some were huddled in groups – from the way they were sobbing (the girls, especially – most of the guys in those groups looked frustrated), Miki figured they'd failed.
Shinomiya-san, having the height advantage, skimmed through the papers easily. He let out a happy laugh and clasped her hands, pulling her into doing a random happy dance right smack in the middle of the crowd.
"You passed, you passed, you passed~~" sang the happy Starish member, spinning Miki to the point she was dizzy. Miki laughed – his joy was infectious – and managed to get him to point out her name on the list.
'Oikawa Miki. A Class. Overall mark: 89 percent,' it read, and Horikawa Jun found her easily – though she suspected it was due to Shinomiya-san's random happy dance.
"Miki-ness!" called the Osaka-born. "Ya got the highest in our class," he said, and Miki took a moment to marvel at how ridiculously cute he looked in the female school uniform – it was a daily ritual for her by then.
"I did?" she asked, surprised, and Horikawa-kun pointed out all the scores in A class to her – his was second highest with 85 percent. "Oh wow. I did!"
"I told ya," Horikawa-kun said, giving the bewildered Miki a high-five. "If ya had scored 90 percent, ya wouldda been promoted to S class."
"I would?" went Miki again, and he giggled as he pointed out the marking scheme at the bottom of the sheet. "Oh. I would've."
"Ya cute when ya confused," he told her, poking her cheek. Miki pouted, and he laughed. "Well, see ya later, cutie. Haveta find Yuiren's score."
"Sukunami Yuiren?" Miki asked, snapping out of her confusion quickly. "Her name's on the promotion list on the announcement board. She's joining our class!" Miki grinned at the surprise, then elation on Horikawa-kun's face. "Ya haveta introduce 'er ta me, ya hear!" she said in Horikawa-kun's native accent, and he laughed.
"Sure will, cutie," he promised. "See ya in class!"
Miki waved him off, and was surprised when Shinomiya-san picked her up and started spinning her around again. "Highest in A class, highest in A class~" he sang, and Miki laughed.
Author's Note: Thanks to the reviewers of the previous chapter, it means a whole lot to us three. Honestly, it's insane how much of this story we've already churned out together on our private Googledoc. All I can say is whoever reading is in for one loooooong, whacked, ride with us because this thing is looking to easily span a good 50 chapters at the one-third point, lol!
Gosh I hope everyone stays tuned. Please R&R if you like!