Fukushima High School

"I...um, I guess, I kind of can," Seika stuttered, she was growing uncomfortable at the prospect of people asking her to play. In truth she had practiced it hundreds of times, she loved the way it felt as her hand flew across the piano, her fingers frantically keeping pace with the upbeat tune. But the only person she had ever played this for was Sayuri, it had always been Sayuri's favorite piece as well. So when she had found it in the library, she almost ran to the copy machine to bring the music home to her lonely apartment once more.
Seika lowered her head, gazing sadly at the concrete, time had yet to heal the passing of her sister. Tears stung her eyes, as she remembered the way Sayuri used to sit beside her on the piano, or in a chair near the sleek, grand piano they used to keep in the living room, and just sit and listen, smiling sweetly as Seika pounded out song after song on the piano. Her golden, blond hair illuminating She remembered the way that Sayuri's chocolate eyes used to sparkle when she smiled, the way her smile would light up her whole face. And yet, it could also be one of comfort. A smile that gave Seika the confidence and self assurance, that she herself so desperately lacked. A smile that stole all the pain and sadness that the children at school had caused her. A smile that absorbed all that was bad in the world, and molded it into something of beauty and wonder. That smile, was the reason she still played, because when she became lost in the song, as she so often did, Seika could swear, that she could still see that wonderful smile once more.
Without realizing it, Seika's hands enclosed around a locket she wore around her neck. It contained a picture of Sayuri and she when they were children, sitting at the grand piano that one could almost always find them at in their spare time, smiles spread wide across both their faces. That locket had always given her courage when she needed it.
Looking up at both of her senpeis she stared back into their eyes with a genuine smile, and nodded her head.
"I have played that piece, at least a hundred times in fact. Now if you'll excuse me I think I should go," she said already feeling hints of hot tears creeping down her cheek.
Pivoting on her heel, she turned around and started heading towards the door, her fingers itching to play on the gorgeous piano in the, hopefully abandoned, music hall.
Music was how she expressed her feelings, something she had never been quite able to articulate to others as well as the songs seemed to do. Music was how she lived, it was her heart, it was her soul, and it was her rock. And at this moment all she could really think of doing was letting the tears that she desperately did not want to shed, pour out through the ivory keys.
If she herself could not feel beautiful, then at least her music could do it for her.

"...well not really, but I think we are.." Takuto responded. "Oh." Rin was still wondering why he looked so shocked when she said she liked him. After putting two and two together she figured he must not be used to it. Meaning he probably wasn't very well liked, his honest and forward personality was something she liked but she could see how not everybody would.

"You two hung out a little then? After all senpai you guys are in the same year." Rin said the last sentence jokingly, of course they knew that. Rin didn't think Kei-kun and Takuto-kun were in a club together, so it was the only logical explanation. Takuto seemed... modest to her. The guy had a personality disorder. On air he was one way and in person the next. Not that Rin minded, it just made him that much more interesting. It was a weird feeling, Takuto made her feel.... comfortable. She hadn't flirted with the two guys in front of her yet, well other than that wink not really. She enjoyed the break, but she had a feeling it wouldn't last.

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Rin soon realized she'd been thrown out of the conversation, she decided to seek out Aya-chan and headed away from the sound booth with a wave and a wink. On her way she saw someone snapping at Kyouya and a girl she recognizes as Seika running off. At closer examination it was Ryota, she never learned his last name. Ryota was the type of guy that she didn't like, he came off so mean. He said something she couldn't hear in a much more gentle tone. A small smirk creeped up her face, So he likes Kyouya-kun. Or at least it's a theory, well that's something interesting. Although... it would be rude to comment on it so I guess I'll just go find Aya-chan, wherever she is. Rin wasn't the type to get jealous over something that wasn't hers to begin with, but that just gave her a even bigger determination to make him hers. Though it never seemed to work out....

"Seika huh? Kyouya will love me for sure if I can convince her to join his club." Rin muttered to herself as she walked.

Now the real question was could she convince her friend to help her. It would be much easier that way. I'm being naive, the only thing I would achieve from this is maybe a affectionate pat on the head along with a warm thank you. Besides, I'd have to figure out a way to intrude without making it seem as if I'm intruding. Oh, this is so complicated! Ok think clearly, Seika is a bit of a loner. That doesn't mean she'll accept kindness easily. The best thing to do would be to just honestly tell her your intentions. Join or not you tried. It should go something like..... 'Kimura-san, you play the piano right? I just wanted to ask you to at least think about joining the music club. Kyouya and Ryota aren't as bad as they might seem to you'. I don't know! Why can't I skip to the part where Kyouya tells me that he's grateful and pats me on the head. I get flustered and confess then he tells me we should start as friends!

Caught up in her un realistic daydreaming she'd almost run right into the girl she was looking for. Though Rin was forward, flirty, intrusive and obsessive....... admittedly. Reckless was one thing she wasn't. Rin was the type of girl to classify all insects and arachnids as highly poisonous, aggressive, armed and trained in hand to hand combat. Which she did. So this was a mission she'd need help on, Aya-chan had to of been used to her constant exploits for getting Kyouya's attention. "Hey Aya-chaaan." Rin tapped her on the back with a devilish look on her face, it probably gave away her intentions. Not that she cared. Though she hoped Ren didn't tell and ruin the surprise.

Seika frantically whipped at the tears as she raced down the hallway. The boys were just asking a simple question, when Sayuri had died, Seika hadn't told a soul, and quickly transferred schools in order to avoid the sympathetic stares that seemed to follow her wherever she went. As much as she had appreciated people to talk to after her sister's death, even some of the girls who had once teased her came up to her in the middle of the hallway and gave their condolences, nothing they did would ever bring back the sister that she had lost. So why did they made the scabs she had been trying to form over the wounds on her heart the death had caused, reopen. She hadn't cried like this in almost a month, a time that was impressive by her standards. Maybe it was the way they had treated her. The way that Takasugi-senpai had helped her pick up her fallen papers, when in her past, she would only experience such kindness from her family. Or the way that Nakazuki had called her Petal, the simple word reminding her of how her sister used to call her Rosie, a nickname not only inspired by her deep red hair, but also by, what her sister had called, a dangerously beautiful aura to her.
When she arrived at the grand black piano that lay unused in the empty music room, she felt immediately comforted. In a few swift moments she was running her trembling fingers along it's sleek, black surface. Gently lifting the lid, she gazed down at the gleaming ivory keys, her fingers tingling with the anticipation of playing.
Seika slid into the matching piano seat to go along with it, as she had done thousands of times before. And for the first time since she got to school, she felt like she belonged, like she wasn't just the awkward loner who just showed up for school because she had to. She felt loved, confident, and elegant, sitting before this masterpiece of an instrument.
Undoing the clasp of her locket, she gently placed it on the stand where the music would normally go, opening it up so she could see her sister's smiling face once more.
"So Sayuri, what shall I play for you today," Seika asked a dimpled smile spreading across her face.
She knew that the picture would not answer her, but she always felt inclined to ask, like she used to do when they were younger.
In her mind, she pictured a piece she had done for her recital when she was about six, one that both of her siblings had always loved listening to.
Taking a deep breath, Seika began to play the opening of the advanced solo version of "The Prayer" on the piano. She closed her eyes, savoring each note as her fingers lovingly tapped each of the notes. While it was not a particularly hard piece for her to play, she had always enjoyed the pure beauty and emotion that seemed to fill each note as they came out of the piano. As she got to the part where the singers would usually enter in, a small voice in the crevasses of her mind whispered "sing".
And she obeyed, allowing her soprano voice to fill the room. Seika didn't have that bad of a singing voice, some might even call it equal to her piano skills, but much like the piano, no one in the school had ever heard her preform in such a way. But she continued, her heart swelling along with the music and allowing for the touching words to find their way into her heart. When she had finished, and the last note rang out clear and strong in the empty room, Seika just sat, allowing for the true impact of the song to hit her.
After a few moments she opened her eyes and stared at the locket, and with a smirk asked "What's next?"
In seconds she began Chopin - Fantasie-Impromptu, a wide smile once again plastered on her face, her eyes lit up with a fire that only music seemed to light inside of her.

"Awesome as Hecky," Aya says when Sokichi confirms that he will be there for the tryouts. She sticks both thumbs up, though it looks slightly awkward because a small pile of flyers is still being held by her right hand, and flops over her arm when she shifts it to free up her thumbs for the encouraging gesture. Sokichi returned the gesture with a tip of his hat and his own thumbs up, which he does with a hand-horns and a slight tilt of the hand. It was his signature style, and he was seemingly the only one who uses it.

"Alright, it's been nice talking to you! See you at tryouts," she tells Sokichi before leaving. He tried to reach his hand to wave, but she was busy with some freshmen and can't see him. Sighing, he decided to forget about it and just leaned on his chair. In some time, he will swim. Whoop-de-doo.

He turned and saw Fuuko. Sokichi hoped she didn't notice anything...strange.



Takuto looked around and saw that Rin went off to some other stuff of hers. She belongs to another club... he thought to himself, though he doesn't see the significance. Whatever the reason, Rin seemed to leave him to talk with Kei by himself. He decided to suck it up.

"Speaking of- what class are you in this year, Matsunagi-san? I'm in 3A." Takuto heard Kei say (it rhymes! :O). "I'm...also in 3A!" is what Takuto managed to bring himself to say, "I guess we're classmates again, eh? It'll be fun."

Paiyaku's father drove off to work after dropping Paiyaku off. He looked up at the towering structure of the school before sighing and walking quietly towards his class. He eyed the people in the halls as he passed them. When he found his homeroom door he stood quietly, unsure if he should go in yet. Paiyaku watched the people nearby and listened to their conversations. Every so often he would check the door to see if anyone had gone inside yet. He finally sat down and studied the marks on the floor.

"Right, I've seen the pictures in the newsletter- they're pretty cool. There was one of a few people eating lunch that I liked last year,"

"My picture?" Fuuko wondered, tapping her camera in thought. She just snapped that one out of boredom, it wasn't even one of her best works! She chewed on her bottom lip, thinking. Even with the honest expressions of the people, how could that be a good picture? She wondered this while Hidari-san pledged himself to go to try-outs, even though she swore she saw him pale and look very nervous. "Can he even-Ooh..." Hidari-san, in all his infinite coolness, couldn't swim. That's definitely something she didn't expect.

As Aya left the table, Fuuko noticed Hidari-san looking at her. "Oh trust me, I noticed you little problem..." She merely let her lips quirk upward slightly, in an almost-smile. "So, Hi-Da-ri-Saan~" She began, resting an elbow on the table to look at him better. "It seems like, at least to me, that you like Aya-san very, very much. So much that you are going to try to swim." She stood up and picked up her bag. "You shouldn't hide your feelings. It never ends well in animes after all. Later. I'll see you in class." She walked out from behind the table and looked at Hidari-san one last time. "And I guess I can give you some tips or something, but you'd owe me." She let her almost-smile turn into a smirk before her face was blank again. She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked off, her camera around her neck.

As she walked by a First Year class, she noticed a young boy just sitting there, alone. So much like herself. She watched him for a bit before walking over and tapping gently on his desk to get his attention. When he did look at her, she felt her demeanor soften a bit. The kid was way too cute looking for his own good. "Hey, are you interested in joining the Computer club? We need new members and you seem like the person that's into tech. Or maybe I'm just reading too far into this..." She laid a flyer on his desk, one she always kept on hand. She stood around, waiting for an answer. The more she waited, the more akward she felt.

When he saw who was talking he blushed when he realized it was a girl and could only find the courage to say, "yes, I'd like to join."

He looked the flier over before smiling at Fuuko and asking, "what happens at the club?"

Feeling more confident he added, "I built my own computer."

Oh that was stupid!He thought.
Why are you bragging? She obviously knows or else she wouldn't have read you as being into computers. Just try not to say anything else that will give her a reason to make fun of you. His thoughts raged as he beat himself up for bragging.

Paiyaku resumed smiling and said, " not that I'm bragging of course."

"Oh trust me, I noticed you little problem..." Sokichi heard Fuuko tell him with a small smile. Oh, shoot he thought. "So, Hi-Da-ri-Saan~It seems like, at least to me, that you like Aya-san very,very much. So much that you are going to try to swim." She stood up and picked up her bag. "You shouldn't hide your feelings. It never ends well in animes after all. Later. I'll see you in class." She walked out from behind the table and looked at Sokichi. "And I guess I can give you some tips or something, but you'd owe me."

Sokichi waited until Fuuko was far from him. When she was far enough, he sunk his head upon his palms. "DANG IT!!!" he mentally yelled at himself, and let it out as a whisper. The sheer thought of confessing his love for Aya was dreadful, but the fact that Fuuko "read" it from him was quite devastating. He then spent some time wondering if he was too obvious.

Sokichi looked at his watch and saw that it was almost lunch time. He stretched his arms and legs as he stood up, then he picked up his things and looked around. Again, his eyes focused in on the swimming club booth, where he saw Aya, again. She was apparently surprised when a blue-haired girl tapped her shoulder. "She's...jumpy..." Sokichi reminded himself. He giggled a little at Aya's funny reaction, and has seen this often, given that they were classmates. Again, still curious about the date of the tryouts, Sokichi decided to suck it up and walk to the booth to ask about it.

"Uh...excuse me, Fontaine-senpai, but...when are the tryouts again? I'm...not really sure if this is it..." Sokichi asked Ren, who was sitting on a chair in bored repose. They did meet before, though Sokichi wasn't sure if Ren remembered him.




"I'm sure it will be," Kei said before leaving Takuto to himself. Takuto sat there before noting that it was lunch time. He stood up and looked at the club members who were there.

"Alright, time's up. Time to bring this thing back to where it's supposed to be..." Takuto said. By "where it's supposed to be", Takuto meant the club room. Theirs was one of the biggest, and probably the one with most storage. The "sound booth" they used was their "traditional portable booth" that they use for broadcasting during important school events. Aside from that, all they need to do is carry stuff then they are free from club duties until the next broadcast day.

"Maybe!" Rin was almost bursting with excitement at her plan. In her opinion it was ingenious. "I may or may not of overheard that a certain someone wants Kimura-san for the music club" Rin's eyes lit up at the finale, "Kyouya will definitely be extremely thankful if I get her to join. But that can wait untill after lunch. I'm starving, how about you?"

Rin dug in a backpack that was left at this booth and emerged with a Bento Box. "Oh yeah, and sorry for scaring you." Rin let out a slightly nervous laugh. She didn't think that the girl was all that mad at her based on the small smile she'd had.

"Maybe!" Rin was almost bursting with excitement at her plan. In her opinion it was ingenious. "I may or may not of overheard that a certain someone wants Kimura-san for the music club" Rin's eyes lit up at the finale, "Kyouya will definitely be extremely thankful if I get her to join. But that can wait untill after lunch. I'm starving, how about you?"

Rin dug in a backpack that was left at this booth and emerged with a Bento Box. "Oh yeah, and sorry for scaring you." Rin let out a slightly nervous laugh. She didn't think that the girl was all that mad at her based on the small smile she'd had.

Fuuko grinned at the boy and held out a large bento box. "It's okay, Paiyaku. I'm sure there's enough for two in here." She stood and stretched. "Although, it feels a bit early to be lunch... Maybe it's just my lack of temporal senses..." She muttered the last part, heading out of the room. As she crossed the threshold, she paused and let the kohai catch up with her before she walked through the school and out the door. She squinted in the sun, her face scrunching up.

She never ate inside. She didn't even know if there was a lunch room. Outside was so much more fun to be. She walked passed various students, looking back every so often to see if Paiyaku was following. Once she made it to a tree close to the front gates, she plopped down against the tree and patted the soft grass beside her. The bento was set in front of her and opened to showcase the food she made.

"Dig in, I made too much for just me anyways." She opened her bag to pull out her laptop when she was suddenly tackled to the ground by her overly large alien. She laughed as Dogmeat licked her face enthusiastically. "Hi, puppy! How are you? Did you miss me?" The alien sat back on his haunches and barked loudly. "Paiyaku, this is Dogmeat. Dogmeat, this is Paiyaku, a kohai." Dogmeat held his paw out as though he wanted to other to shake it.

"Hello again, Sokichi-kun. Rin-chan and I were about to go eat lunch- d'you want to eat with us?" Sokichi heard Aya ask him. "Gee...what is WRONG with this day?!" he thought to himself, but the interaction with Aya was enough to make him blush. After a second of standing there, Sokichi turned to Aya and nodded. "S-S-Sure! N-No prob!" he replied before noticing how red and nervous-looking his face was. Sokichi turned away and tried to catch his breath. "J-just...give me a moment, please..." he added with his own thumbs up.


OOC: YES!!! POST 69 IS MINE!

"Great, I'm starving!" Rin made a exaggerated rub of her belly. I wonder why Hidari-san acts so nervous, it's not like Aya-chan would bite. Rin, scans the area for a acceptable table as she waits on Hidari-san to get his lunch or whatever he's so busy doing.I wonder if he has a crush on Aya-chan!!!!! That would make it more exciting, plus it makes sense since he looks so nervous.

Rin smiled to her self, figuring this would be a fun lunch as long as she knew the right time to make herself scarce.

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After seeing that Ren Fontaine wouldn't be responding for a while, Sokichi decided to join with Aya and Rin. He never really spoke with any of them, but having lunch with them seemed better than just spying at them from a different table. He placed down his school bag and reached inside for his bento box which looks like this:

He placed his camera bag inside, and knocked out a silver, clipboard-sized suit case with "Hidari Technologies" written across its center. Sokichi froze when it dropped out of the bag. Immediately, he placed the case back into the bag and sealed it shut. He carried his bag on is back and held his bento box.

"S-Sorry 'bout that, you two..." Sokichi said with a small bow. He quickly opened up his bag, took out his fedora, and closed it up again. He then placed the hat on top of his head and gave a sigh of relief.