Author's Notes

- Hey all, welcome back to Symphony of Hearts!

- I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all at the end! Have a good read!

Symphony of Hearts!

Chapter 2 – The Start

"Awh, Mio~!" my sister groaned into her phone. "What do you mean you're already at school?"

I let out a sigh as I walked next to her, hearing the voice of Mio-senpai coming from my sister's phone. From what I could tell by their conversation, Mio-senpai took the golden opportunity of walking to school by herself in peace rather than with my sister.

"B-but… you didn't even tell me!" my sister pouted. "Don't you see my face right now? I'm sad!"

"You're on the phone…" I deadpanned. "She can't see you…"

"That's mean, Mio!" she grunted. "How could you call me that?"

"She called you an idiot again, didn't she?" I asked her, which my sister nodded in response. "Man, that's like the fourth time since you called her… and that was only five minutes ago."

"Don't blame me for that! How was I supposed to know that link would send you to a picture of a zombie?" she exclaimed. "If anyone, you should blame Eri for that! She's the one who sent it to me in the first place!"

"I would blame you…"

"Fine, fine! I'll see you at school then!" my sister said before she ended her call with Mio-senpai. She turned to face me and she let out a sigh before wrapping her arms around her body. "It's cold…"

"It's the middle of December," I sighed. "What do you expect?"

"I expect school to be already out and to sit by the fireplace, drinking some eggnog."

"We don't have a fireplace."

"Oh… yeah…"

"And I don't think mom and dad will let you drink eggnog."

"Oh… yeah…"

I dryly chuckled and looked ahead of us, finding the Hirasawa sisters waiting at the usual spot where the five of us would usually meet up and walk to school together – in front of their house. Yui-senpai and Ui were wearing winter versions of their school uniform, which was just an addition of a navy-blue coat, just like mine. Except, y'know… they're for girls.

With their winter attire, they also donned scarves and mittens. Yui-senpai wore a pin scarf with matching pink gloves, while Ui did the same, except her gloves were a yellow color, almost matching the ribbon in her hair.

"There she is, Satoshi," my sister wrapped her arm around me and leaned in closer to my face. "You'd better hurry before some guy comes along and steals her from ya."

"Pfft! Like that'll happen!" I closed my eyes and looked away, letting out a huff.

"Like that guy right there."

"WHAT!?" I shouted as I instantaneously opened my eyes, only to find Yui-senpai and Ui off in the distance. I gritted my teeth and turned towards my sister, who was covering her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter. "That's not funny."

"I was just kidding, baby bro," she grinned. "But be lucky, Ui Hirasawa is one heck of a girl. And guess what? She's your girl."

"Ye-yeah…" I nodded.

She really is mine, huh? Man… I am so lucky.

"Hey, why aren't you wearing a scarf or mittens?" I asked my sister. "You're complaining about how cold it is, yet you didn't bring any of those items?"

"I… I forgot it in the club room…" she sobbed as she slouched over.

"I feel so sorry for you," I frowned as I dug through my schoolbag, pulling out a pair of yellow mittens. "Here."

"Why don't you wear it?" she asked out of curiosity. "Aren't you cold?"

"Nah…" I waved her off. "You wear it.

"If you say so…" she muttered as she hesitantly took the mittens from my hands. I watched as my sister put on the mittens and let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," I grinned as I gave her a thumbs up, ignoring the numbness in my hands from the cold.

As we approached the two girls, I found Yui-senpai happily waving towards us.

"Ricchan, Rikkun! Good morning!" she called out as she continued waving.

"Yo, Yui," my sister said with a grin as she waved back.

"Hey, Yui-senpai," I felt the corners of my lips curve into a smile.

With that, I met eyes with Ui and her lit up with happiness. My heart began pounding as I began to walk faster towards her.

"Ui!"

"Satoshi-kun!" she happily exclaimed as she ran towards me. I met her halfway and soon found the two of us in an embrace, her familiar scent creeping into my nose. I let out a sigh relief and looked over her shoulder, finding Yui-senpai staring at the two of us with confusion.

The two of us let each other go and we smiled at one another.

"I have your lunch for you, Satoshi-kun," Ui said as she handed me a black plastic container. "Wait until lunch to open it though! It's a surprise!"

I took the container from her and sighed in relief at the touch of something warm on my freezing hands.

"Do I really have to?" I whined.

"If you really love me, then yes, you do," she said with a warm smile.

"Aw… thanks anyway, Ui," I said as I leaned in and kissed her on her rosy-red cheeks. "You're the best."

"It's what I'm supposed to do. Oh… Satoshi-kun, you must be freezing," Ui frowned as she took off one of her mittens, handing it to me. "Take this, it'll keep you warm."

"Are you sure?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Please, Satoshi-kun," she pouted.

So… cute… I can't resist.

I took the mitten from her hand and I slipped it into my right hand. I stuffed my left hand into my coats pocket and bowed towards my girlfriend as a sign of gratitude.

"Th-thanks, Ui…" I sighed with a smile.

"That's not it, Satoshi-kun."

"Huh?"

She wrapped her scarf around my neck and I fell into the warmth of the cloth. Since Ui was sharing her scarf with me, I was as close as I could be with her – our shoulders touching one another. I felt her grab my hand and I turned towards her.

"Where'd you get this idea from?" I chuckled.

"Onee-chan taught me about this a year ago," she giggled.

The four of us walked down the road towards the intersection where I would split off from the three girls and head my own way to Osaka High. Although there was quite the distance between Sakuragaoka and Osaka High, I could still see Sakuragaoka in the distance

My sister turned towards Ui and I as we walked and grinned.

"You know, you guys really kicked ass at the school festival," my sister spoke up. "Have you ever thought of forming a band or something?"

"Who? Us?" Ui and I said in unison.

"Yep," she nodded.

"Um…" I looked away.

"Uh…" Ui muttered as she pulled her scarf over her face.

"You guys would rock out so hard!" my sister exclaimed. "Isn't that right, Yui? They would be the second-best band in Osaka if they tried!"

"That's right, Ricchan!"

"Who would be first? You guys?" I scoffed.

"Who else, baby bro!?" she folded her arms over her chest and confidently smiled. "We're Houkago Tea Time!"

"You know what, sis? Forming a band doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. I'll take you up on that challenge. No… we will."

"We will?" Ui asked me. I nodded and her eyes lit up with stars. "I've always had that idea, Satoshi-kun! We should start a band!"

Oh, shit…

"Good luck with that," my sister grinned.

"Uwa~! Ui! I can't wait to see you guys perform!" Yui-senpai happily shouted. "It's going to be awesome!"

Ui let out a giggle before she turned to me.

"Are we really going to form a band, Satoshi-kun?" Ui whispered to me. I felt my eyes widen and I groaned, tilting my head downwards into the pink scarf.

"It was… it was the spur of the moment."

I walked into the computer room, strolling over to my usual seat. Sitting at the desk, I found Kurisu-senpai typing away on his computer. As he intently stared at the screen, I set my schoolbag on the desk and pulled out the chair, causing his attention to direct to me.

"Oh, snap," he said as he clenched his chest. "I thought you were someone else."

"Hello to you too, senpai," I lazily replied as I sat down, pressing the on button on the tower before I leaned back in my chair.

"Hehe… my bad, Satoshi," he chuckled before he turned his attention back to his work. He grabbed the canned coffee on his desk and took a sip before continuing to type on the keyboard.

"I didn't know you liked canned coffee," I said to him.

"It's something that caught my eye recently, yeah… hey, you know that they sell canned coffee at this school?" he asked me. "I mean, I didn't even know they made coffee in a can."

"They sell canned coffee everywhere, senpai," I nervously grinned.

He sat there, dumbfounded, and looked at me, glancing over to the can in front of him. "Is that so?"

"There's a vending machine that sells it right outside the classroom. You didn't see it until now?"

"Uh… nope. I guess not," he shrugged. "Wait. Really? I got this from the first floor."

"Really…" I said as I pointed to the open door behind us, revealing the said vending machine. "It was literally right there this whole time."

"Okay, I lied," he let out a sigh. "Akane gave this to me when I walked her to school this morning. I didn't know they sold canned coffee here at all."

"You walked Satō-senpai to school this morning?" I raised an eyebrow towards him. "Again, huh?"

"It's just, like… the fifteenth time I walked her…" he said as he looked away. "We're just friends, alright? No more. No less. That's all we're ever going to be. And this time I had a perfectly fine reason to walk her."

"Oh yeah? What would that be?" I said.

"Well… it's because of her friend, Eri," he sighed. "Apparently Eri sent Akane a link to a picture of a zombie at night… and it kept her up. She called me at midnight and we fell asleep on the phone… but that doesn't mean we're more than friends!"

"Hey… it's up to you," I said with a grin.

"Don't do that to me," he narrowed his eyes. "Just because you're with Ui Hirasawa of Sakuragaoka High School, that doesn't mean you're the big man on campus."

"Okay, okay! What's with everyone talking about me and Ui like that? Seriously…"

"She's the bee's knees, Satoshi," he sighed. "Every guy at this school talks about her like she's some goddess… is she?"

"The goddess of cooking…" I muttered to myself as I pictured Ui's smile while she wore an apron, a giant spoon in hand.

"Eh? What'd you say?" he said as he continued typing on the computer. I ignored what he asked for a few seconds before my mind clicked to what happened in the morning.

"Hey, Kurisu-senpai," I called out to him. He ceased typing and turned towards me, curiosity marked all over his face.

"What's up?" he asked.

"What do you think about forming a band?"

Symphony of Hearts!

Author's Notes

- That ends it for chapter 2! As always, I hoped you all enjoyed reading!

- I lied. This chapter isn't as long as I said it would be, but hey, it's still longer than chapter 1. Then again, it's all about length.

- I probably won't do authors notes that often, unless I feel the need to talk about something important in that chapter. I'll still give you all a greeting and a farewell each chapter though, it's common courtesy, of course!

- With that, I'll catch you all in the next chapter of Symphony of Hearts! Stay beautiful!