Chapter 16 (Yuiren)

"Aw, you shoulda told me, Yui-chan!"

Yuiren sat serenely by the small lake, leaning against the pillar of the small gazebo, enjoying the peaceful setting and the cool evening breeze. In one ear, she could hear the calling of crickets as night began to set. In the other, Ittoki Otoya was whining from his seat, hanging almost upside down from the small table which was supposed to be for the convenience of students who wanted to study.

Still slightly excited from her meeting earlier that day - with Hijirikawa Masato, of all people, and his fiancee - she just turned and grinned at him, just a hint of apology in her gaze.

Ittoki was still pouting, just a little. "If I'd known you wanted Masa's signature, I could have gotten it for you, and all the guys' as well. You only had to say so!"

Whoops. Recognizing the signs of injured male pride from her experience with her brothers, Yuiren sat up straight on the railing and faced him seriously. "I didn't want to ask you because I didn't want you to think I was friends with you just to get close to Starish." In her straightforward manner, she went on. "I mean, I like you because you're you."

Ittoki stared at her upside-down, before his cheeks turned red and he fell, bringing the whole table down with a crash because of the way he'd been draped from it. Yuiren looked at him in alarm, before realizing what she'd said and turning pink, too.

"I mean, I like you as a friend, senpai, a friend! You've been a really good friend to me since I got here, and I'm really grateful... are you okay?"

"Daijoubu!" Ittoki shot upright, sheepishly running a hand through his now-tousled hair. "I'm fine, fine!"

Yuiren glanced rather dubiously at the bump she could see forming on his forehead, but she gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"Anyway," she went on, turning back to the view thoughtfully, "Hikari-chan only mentioned that she wanted Hijirikawa-san's signature. She's a huge fan of his. She's gonna be thrilled that I got it, but I really don't know how to tell her he's got a fiancee... a real pretty one, too."

"You mean Aria?" Ittoki stumbled over to her, rubbing at the knot on his head. "Who's Hikari-chan? Your imouto?" He dropped his hand to the railing beside where she'd draped her leg. "Don't you have any other sisters who like the other members of Starish? Like that hot red-haired guy, perhaps?"

Yuiren laughed and nodded, unconsciously starting to smile as she thought of home and her siblings. Watching her, silhouetted by the twilight, Ittoki couldn't help but start to smile as well. She looked like some sort of siren, all ghostly and ethereal, silver highlights seeming to glow in the pale light from the lone lamp nearby, her glow-in-the-dark Starish T-shirt shimmering faintly with a fading glow.

"Teru's the eldest," she said absently, her hand sliding up to finger the dolphin pendant she always wore around her neck. "Older than me by a year, but you'd never know it from how he acts. Then there's Daichi, he's younger than me by a few years. My sister Hikari, my two youngest siblings Aoi-kun and Haruna-chan, and in between, Koga-kun managed to squeeze his way in. There's a lot of us, really, but that's my family for you." Tilting her head to the side, she murmured, "You got any siblings? If you had, you'd know."

Ittoki scratched his head. "I grew up in an orphanage," he admitted slowly. "After my mother... well, there was an accident. She didn't make it. Never knew my dad." His expression turned somewhat melancholy, and Yuiren turned to him solemnly. In the short time she'd known him, she'd never seen him anything other than cheerful and energetic. As she was about to apologize, though, suddenly the red-headed senior seemed to shake himself, and within seconds he was back, grinning at her. "I have all the family I need, though. They say family's all about the heart anyway, right?"

Yuiren thought about it. She couldn't imagine being without siblings, and she hadn't even mentioned her twin yet, not to Ittoki, though she knew he knew about him from Tokiya. But it was true. Blood meant nothing if a family didn't care about each member from the heart. Nodding, she met Ittoki's smile with one of her own.

"Anyway, we better head inside," her senpai was saying. "Don't you start classes in A class tomorrow?"

Yuiren's grin only grew. Leaping off the railing, she had a thought.

"Race ya!"

And as she raced the wind towards the main building, Yuiren allowed herself to truly laugh, releasing some of the joy she hadn't thought she'd be able to truly feel again.

'Life's good right now, nii-san. I still miss you, but this is as good as it gets.'

Funny how the next morning Yuiren could barely remember any of the previous night's happiness. Indeed, it felt as though she could barely breathe. Nothing had changed (except her highlights, which were orange this week and only for the tips of her hair - she'd washed out the rest) and yet, it felt as though her uniform was choking her and her heart was beating too fast and her shirt was too tight and her tie had a stranglehold on her throat...

Deep breath. What was she nervous about? It was just... the A class. The very class she'd been aiming to get into all this time. Where the better students were, where Ittoki had been placed last year, where she could finally get a chance to show what she could do and truly shine...

But she was nervous, and when the teacher opened the door and called her name, it took almost everything she had not to bolt in the opposite direction. Somehow though, she managed to stand, send a polite, calm smile towards Tsukimiya-sensei,and walk steadily towards the door.

She didn't know anyone in here except the teacher, and Jun. Good old Jun, who'd tried giving her courage this morning in the form of a chocolate danish, with extra chocolate (and how he'd managed to wrangle that from the cafeteria lady, she still didn't know).

"If'fn anyone bothers ya, I'll bother them," he'd told her fiercely, and she'd laughed.

She wasn't laughing now, but it was good to look around at the sea of unfamiliar faces and see him grinning and waving at her from his window seat.

A moment later, as a round of chuckles and sniggers filled the room, she realized she'd missed hearing Tsukimiya-sensei introducing the new student to the class and asking her to greet her new classmates.

Turning a little bit pink, she bit her lip, then quickly said, "I'm Sukunami Yuiren, formerly from B Class. Er... I'm in the idol course." She wasn't sure what else to say, but so far, most of the faces looked friendly. Encouraged, she quickly finished, "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" and bowed.

It was a mistake.

BONK!

"I-taiiiiiii!"

Having misjudged the distance between her head and the table as she bowed, her forehead proceeded to smack into the first table with a resounding noise, upending the desk and sending her reeling backwards with a hand over her head, wincing. Her horrified gaze met the blue one of her new classmate whose table she'd just flipped, but to her relief, the girl didn't look too mad just yet. In fact...

"OOOOOOO IS A CUTE GIRL!" gushed the light-haired teen in a high-pitched voice, and Yuiren froze. Had she just- ?

Yep, she had. Well, in that case, there was only one way to respond, no?

Leaning forward, Yuiren poked the girl's nose with the finger of the hand that wasn't currently massaging her temple, and cooed, "You cute, too."

There was a resounding groan from the class as the girl grinned and wriggled, rubbing at her nose, and a shout of laughter from the amused Jun.

"Oh wow," Tsukimiya-sensei said, his tone amused even as he rolled his eyes to heaven. "I had no idea Miki-chan's highness was contagious."

Grinning uncertainly, all Yuiren could do was nod, and send a grateful look to her new classmate. That little stunt had taken the embarrassment away. Sneaking away quietly at a wave from her new teacher, she bee-lined for the empty seat behind Jun and sat down.

What a way to start her first day in a new class. Oh well.

"No worries, cutie," Jun whispered towards the back. "It could've been worse. Least Miki-ness seemed ta like ya, eh?"

Yuiren considered this carefully as Tsukimiya-sensei started the class.

"She's not a hot guy, but she'll do," she whispered back carefully, and pulled out her textbook to hide behind as Jun burst out laughing once again.

Author's Note: And now I believe everyone has met each other.

Thanks for the reviews peeps, keep R&R-ing if you like and do stay tuned!