A blaring alarm went off next to Kumiko's head, and she reached her arm out lazily to push the off button, effectively silencing it. She lay there for a moment staring at her ceiling, going over and over in her mind what had happened yesterday at the competition. Last night when she had gotten home, she told her mom, who insisted on having a celebration and wanted her daughter to invite her friends. Kumiko was all for having them over, but the thought made her slightly nervous. Hazuki-chan and Midori-chan hadn't been to her house before, and neither had Reina.

'Reina, oh goodness'. Kumiko couldn't get over the fact that they had been holding hands for probably a good half hour. And that she hadn't noticed. Just thinking about it had her face flushed; it had felt so natural, what with all the emotions going on at the time, but it was almost as if Reina's hand was an extension of her own, which made her feel conflicted. On one hand, she knew they were super close friends, while on the other there was something nagging at her that there was something else. She just wasn't sure what it was yet.

While she was having these thoughts, she was getting ready; even though the competition was over, they still had practice for the next competition to worry about. They would have to choose new pieces, which meant a bunch of sight reading. Kumiko tied the little sailor-type bandanna around the neck of the uniform that she loved so much, and looked in the mirror. Her hair was all combed into place, the curly ends framing her face just so. She thought about putting her hair up, but shrugged. She couldn't be bothered to.

Kumiko stepped out of her room, running almost smackdab into her sister.

"Sorry.." She murmured, and attempted to sidestep around Mamiko to get to the kitchen. Only, she was stopped by her sister's arm shooting out and blocking her.

"I heard you guys are heading to the Kansai Competition." Her sister was now in front of her, and there wasn't any space to get around her.

"Y-yeah, we did extremely well, and I'm proud of us." Her tone was a bit defensive. Kumiko braced herself for what her sister might say; she knew that Kumiko liked the euphonium now, but they hadn't really spoken since she had confronted her sister about it.

"I can tell; keep up the good work." With those simple words, Mamiko went back inside her room, leaving a slightly shocked Kumiko standing in the hallway. The red head hadn't expected those words from her sister. She couldn't help but have a little spring in her step now, and entered the kitchen with a small smile on her face.

After grabbing her bento and a slice of toast to eat on the way to the station, she headed out. To her surprise, she saw a familiar figure waiting at the crosswalk, her long dark hair moving slightly in the breeze.

"Reina?" Kumiko called out, her tone revealing the pleasant surprise she felt. The raven haired girl turned toward her and gave a small wave. Kumiko smiled, and realized she still had crumbs on her face and uniform. She quickly brushed them off, and used a small handkerchief to wipe her face, which was now red in embarrassment.

"Good morning Kumiko; I thought we could go to practice together. Didn't you get my text?" She asked, crossing her arms in front of her. Kumiko's amber eyes widened a bit as she hurried and pulled out her phone; she had been too preoccupied to look at it this morning. Sure enough, there was a message from her.

"Good morning; sorry, I didn't notice." She said sheepishly, an apologetic smile on her face. "We can walk together, that would be nice. I hope you weren't waiting too long, though?" She continued, adjusting the grip on her bag. Reina shook her head.

"No, I only got here a few minutes ago." The beads of sweat forming on her brow gave away her lie, but Kumiko let it slide, even though she felt bad. She would have to make it up to her; no one should wait around in this heat. Reina started walking, and Kumiko hurried to catch up before matching the pace of the girl next to her. She suddenly remembered what her mom said.

"Reina, what are you doing on Friday after practice?" She took a nonchalant tone, walking with her hands behind her back. Reina raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing, why?" Her reply had Kumiko's mouth turning up at the corners.

"My mom wanted to throw a party since we won at the competition yesterday, and said I could invite a few friends." She paused, her nerves coming back. "So, I was wondering if, you know, if you wanted to come?" She asked tentatively, glancing at Reina from the corner of her eye. Her violet eyes were contemplative.

"Are you inviting Tsukamoto-san?" The dark haired girl's response had Kumiko confused, and she turned to look at Reina's face to see her expression. It was carefully masked, and she couldn't read it. However, she answered her question anyways.

"Shuichi? Mom probably expects him to be invited, but I wasn't going to." She finally said, still watching Reina. "I don't really want him there." She blurted out, though she hadn't meant to. A hand reached up and covered her mouth in embarrassment, but she knew Reina wouldn't judge her for the statement and dropped it back to her side. Those violet eyes closed briefly, and when they opened there was a small, almost indiscernible smile gracing her features.

"I'll be there. Do you want me to bring anything?" She sounded almost relieved, but Kumiko wasn't sure why.

"No, that's okay, you don't have to bring anything." She paused, suddenly having an idea. "Actually, bring your trumpet!" Reina raised an eyebrow at this, but nodded. Kumiko sounded excited, so she must have something planned.

The two girls arrived at the school and walked straight up to the band room. Even though it was summer break, they still had to move the desks in and out of the room. There were already a few other first years there, including Hazuki-chan and Midori-chan, who grinned at each other when they saw Kumiko and Reina enter the room together, then waved to them. The former blushed slightly, and made a mental note to talk to them about Reina after practice. She also noticed that Shuichi kept stealing glances at them.

"Hazuki…" She grumbled to herself. Though, she supposed it was to be expected considering what had happened. To her surprise though, he was also stealing glances at Hazuki, who turned pink every time she caught his eye. Kumiko would have to ask about that later as well.

Pretty soon all the desks were in the hall, and the upperclassmen started showing up. Everyone helped arranged the chairs, and then began tuning their instruments. Haruka stood up on the podium, and addressed the rest of the band.

"Guys, I'm so proud of us, and glad that we were able to perform the way we did. Like Taki-sensei said, if we can get gold in that competition, we can easily continue to work hard and maybe even win the next one!" She smiled. Looking over at the clarinets, she nodded her head, signaling the girl to play the tuning note. The soft note rang out, and section by section the rest of the band joined in, adjusting their tuning when necessary. Within seconds, a rich, full sound vibrated throughout the room. Haruka raised her hand and cut them off, satisfied. "Okay, we're going to break up into sections, and then meet back here at the usual time for ensemble." With that, everyone packed up and went to their assigned rooms.

In the bass room, Kumiko felt like she was a very special specimen being looked at under a microscope by multiple mad scientists. To say she felt uncomfortable was an understatement. Hazuki and Midori kept giggling, while Gotou-senpai and his girlfriend Riko-senpai kept giving her understanding smiles. Even Natsuki-senpai kept giving Kumiko sly sidelong glances. Kumiko wanted to tell them that the whole hand-holding thing wasn't how it seemed, but she wasn't sure how to say it, so she just wriggled and squirmed uncomfortably under their looks, face burning. Asuka-senpai, however, was a different story. At first, she just smirked and said things like "Oumae-chan, are you sure you're in the right section?" or "Oumae-chan, maybe we should practice with the trumpets every once in a while. Do a combined sectional." But after a while she started getting upset that all of the interruptions were getting in the way of practice. Suddenly, she stood up and let out a frustrated sigh.

"All this nonsense better be talked through and done with by the time I get back; I'm going to go practice on my own for a bit." She picked up her sheet music and stalked off. Gotou-senpai and Riko-senpai let out the breath they had been holding after she passed the doorframe.

"Let's take a 5 minute break, then continue.. Come on Nagase, Nakagawa-san, let's go out in the hall for a few minutes and clean our mouthpieces.." Gotou's voice rumbled uncomfortably, obviously trying to let the other three girls have some space. They nodded and followed him out, glancing back every few feet before they too disappeared. Like moths to a flame, Hazuki and Midori immediately cornered the poor Euphonium player.

"So you were serious when you said that you didn't have any feelings for Shuichi-kun!" Hazuki blurted out first, followed shortly after by Midori.

"How come you didn't tell us you liked Kousaka-san? I mean, we're your friends, we will support you no matter what!" She said in that cute voice of hers, her tawny eyes wide with determination. Kumiko felt like her face was going to melt off it burned so hot.

"Ah, it's really not-" Poor Kumiko couldn't get a word in edgewise. Hazuki cut in again, effectively silencing the red head.

"It all makes sense now! You were always staring at Kousaka-san, ever since she walked in that first day!" She said, nodding enthusiastically. Midori raised her hand as if she was waiting to be called on by the teacher.

"That's true! I see you looking at her when you think she's not looking all the time! And Kousaka-san looks back at you when you're not looking as well!" She confirmed, placing her arm back down to her side.

"Guys! It's really not like that!" The red head exclaimed, causing her two friends to glance at each other, surprised. "Reina is my really good friend, and-" Wait. Reina stares at her when she's not looking? What Midori said finally started to sink in to Kumiko's head. Why would Reina stare at her? Was she playing wrong? Was she still secretly upset at what was said in Middle school? No, that wasn't it. But if not that, what? Kumiko's mind raced, blocking out whatever Midori and Hazuki were saying. It wasn't until a hand waved erratically in front of her face that she was torn from her thoughts.

"Ku-mi-ko! Oi! Kumiko! Didn't you hear that flutist? They're calling ensemble early, we need to go!" Hazuki grabbed onto her shoulder, shaking it just a little.

"O-oh, okay! Sorry!" She jumped up, nearly tipping over her stand in the process, but managing to catch the bottom with her foot to keep it in place. Midori and Hazuki looked at each other, slightly confused at Kumiko's actions, but not wanting to upset her further.

"I'll tell everyone else to cool it with all the rumors, and I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions without talking to you first." Hazuki said, patting the red head's shoulder and making her way to the door, tuba in tow. Midori stayed back for a moment, making sure the bubbly girl was out of earshot before turning to Kumiko.

"I'm sorry too, but it is true that you two stare at each other a lot. And yesterday when you were in the bathroom I talked to Reina a bit… but maybe you two should be the ones talking. Anyway, we're going to be late, let's go." Kumiko was even more confused now. What did she do to upset Reina this time? She looked to the ceiling before sighing and following the shorter girl.

The rest of practice went okay, with minimal glances being shot their way. Of course, Kumiko didn't notice any of them anyways, as she was too busy being preoccupied with her worried thoughts. She didn't just glance at Reina; she stared. She didn't want to miss a single glance that the dark haired girl would throw her way. However, every time Reina would turn her head to look at her, Kumiko would cast her eyes down to her music, avoiding eye contact.

At the end of practice, Kumiko was putting her music away when a slight shadow appeared over her shoulder. She turned to see none other than the violet eyed girl herself, causing her to jump.

"Kumiko, we need to talk." She murmured. The euphonium player gulped and nodded, slowly standing up to follow Reina, her stomach filled with nerves.

The trumpet player led her outside, walking to the secluded spot where she apologized to Kumiko for the way she had gotten upset at her and Shuichi. She stopped and faced Kumiko, seemingly composing herself for a moment before she began speak. Before she did, however, the red head started babbling.

"Reina, I'm sorry if I did anything wrong, and if I did, can you please tell me what it is? Midori said you're always staring at me, which, I stare at you too, but that's because it's hard for me to tell what you're thinking sometimes, and I don't even really notice I'm staring at you until it's been a few seconds, and I know I shouldn't do that, but I can't really help it most of the time, because you are really pretty, and you inspire me to be bet-" A hand covered her mouth, stopping her rambles.

"Kumiko, I'm not upset with you. You were acting weird during practice so I thought you were upset because of what happened yesterday and how everyone is talking about it, so I brought you out here to apologize for being selfish and not informing you earlier." Reina dropped her hand from Kumiko's mouth, satisfied now that she had finished her apology. Kumiko formed a small "o" with her mouth, and shook her head.

"I'm not upset with you at all. Though, I did notice everyone looking at us funny when we walked in this morning. Hazuki said she would tell them to stop…" Kumiko cut off slowly once she realized how close they were. Reina had kind of stepped closer when she put her hand over the red head's mouth, but Kumiko had forgotten how close they were until just now. She could see the tiny flecks of light purple in Reina's eyes, and her own amber gaze glanced to the pale girl's lips involuntarily before returning to search the violet ones a few inches away. "Reina..?" She mumbled, having lost track of what she was saying, and it seemed as if the girl in front of her wasn't going to speak any time soon either.

"There you two are! Kumiko, we're supposed to get shakes today on the way home, remember?" The two girls sprung apart, surprised as Hazuki and Midori came running over, oblivious to the mood that had settled over the two before they arrived. The red head glanced at Reina, catching the end of another look she hadn't seen on the trumpet player's face before. Disappointment? Relief? She wasn't sure.

"R-right, let's go. Reina, do you want to come?" She asked, though she didn't exactly look her in the eye; her face was flushed with embarrassment, and her heart was beating out of her chest. Weird.

"I think I'll pass, I've got to do some stuff at home. I'll see you Friday though." She replied, a small smile on her face. Kumiko did meet her eyes then, surprised and slightly disappointed. She bobbed her head anyways. The dark haired girl's words gave her a reminder that she hadn't invited Hazuki and Midori yet; she made a mental note to ask them at the shake place.

"Alright, sounds good, I'll see you then. Have a safe trip home."

"Thanks, you too."

Ahhh, hopefully this is a bit better than before! I can't remember how I was originally going to write it, but hopefully this is fine.