~ Narrator POV ~
"I would like to formally apologize for my recent actions…" Seiji Fujiwara, now 14, wearing a different school uniform than usual was in a dogeza in front of the fuming Renako Amoari.
Renako sighed, feeling a sense of deja vu, "You gotta stop doing this, Seiji." She said exasperatedly. Renako Amaori, like Seiji, was now 14, her previously long hair had been cut shorter to shoulder length.
Renako went silent staring at the new school uniform Seiji now donned. Her purple expressive eyes, that could never hide how she truly felt, showed sadness, sadness at the thought of the two of them no longer being able to attend the same school, or attend the same classes.
Seiji, of course, caught this and also showed a small wistful smile. He remembered just a few days before his mom told him the news.
~ Flashback ~
It was spring break and Seiji had just gotten home after spending some time with Renako and Haruna at the mall.
He smiled helplessly, he had spent nearly the whole spring break with the two of them, not that he particularly cared but still, he rarely had time for himself nowadays.
He shook his head, he had a few more days until school started back up, he'd take a day for himself tomorrow, 'Tomorrow, I won't let their puppy eyes trick me into spending the day with them again!' He thought stilling his resolve.
He opened the door to his house and immediately paused, 'Something's wrong…' He thought and this thought was based on two main reasons.
One, his mother, who would usually wait at the door for me with that loving motherly smile was nowhere to be seen, even if she had been in the kitchen she would drop whatever she was doing to greet me at the door.
Two, the house was quiet, too quiet. His mom couldn't stand the silence, she needed some type of noise, whether it be a random show playing on the TV or soft low music playing from the house speakers, she needed noise.
So when Seiji arrived home and didn't see any of that he automatically knew something was off.
As he stepped further into the house his thoughts kept turning to the worse, he finally spotted her, his mother was sitting on the living room couch her fingers interlocked with each other looking nervously serious.
"Mom, I'm home." Seiji announced out yet his mom seemed to either not hear him or acknowledge his arrival.
"Mom?" Seiji called out walking closer to her.
When he did, his nervous face quickly switched to a deadpan expression as Sakura's face which was equal parts nervous and serious quickly crumbled away to show a comical big teary eyed expression.
"Seijiiiiii!" She whined out, causing him to sweatdrop.
"I- I- I- I-" She stuttered struggling to get the words out.
Seiji sighed, he sat next to her and gently pulled her head onto his lap "There, there. Why don't you tell your precious son about it, hmm?" It was a ridiculous sight, the son comforting the usually mature woman anyone who saw this would either be concerned or laugh.
Sakura, who had just been a sobbing mess, quickly became subdued in her son's lap. "I enrolled you into Private Seirei Academy…you start after this spring break…"
Seij, who had been stroking his moms hair, abruptly paused, "…You what?"
"I'm sorry!" Sakura quickly sat up and bowed her head, when she didn't hear a response from her son, she quietly looked up to see that he now had that comical big teary expression that she once had.
After a minute or two their roles quickly reversed, Seiji's head was now laying in his mothers lap while she stroked his hair "Quietly saying yosh yosh~" in his ear.
After a while he finally stopped whining and turned to the tv, he was quiet before he spoke "Was it Yuki?" It wasn't a question, still though, Sakura nodded.
Seiji sighed "Seriously, that girl… well I guess she finally managed to make due on her promise." He wasn't really angry at her, afterall she promised to get him into Seirei academy and he agreed.
Sakura tilted her head "Promise?" She questions.
"Back when we made up. She promised to herself and me that she would get me into Seirei with her no matter what." He said before pausing "Though I wonder what she did to get you to agree." He finished.
"Nope, can't tell you yet~" His mom winked while placing a finger in front of her lips.
Seiji raised an eyebrow, he could use his mother's extreme love for him to get her to him, but that would ruin the surprise and he loved surprises…
'Renako and Haruna are gonna be so upset when they find out.'
~ Flashback End ~
The two sisters were indeed not happy. Thankfully we had matured enough to the point where they wouldn't get so mad to the point of no longer being friends.
Renako walked back into the room, now dressed in her school uniform, her face still showed a melancholic expression, so Seiji did something that neither of them would forget for a long time.
Seiji grabbed Renako's arm and pulled both her and himself onto her bed, he embraced Renako, her blushing face buried into his chest, "W-W-What???" She stuttered, but it was muffled by being buried into his shirt, but she was interrupted by Seiji.
"You know, I didn't want this either. If I could choose, I would much rather continue going to school with you…" Seiji said, and Renako's blush gradually died down.
"Then why can't you? If you asked Aunt Sakura wouldn't hesitate to enroll you back into school with us…with me." Renako asked, her voice still muffled, she knew she was being unfair, asking Seiji to basically use his mother's extreme love for him.
"I could but…" Seiji started before Renako interrupted him, she lifted her head to fully stare at him in his eyes.
"You miss her." She whispered, It wasn't a question, it was a fact.
"Not just her, you know. I miss Masachika too. Both of them are still my friends, people I practically grew up with."
Renako stayed quiet for a minute, deep down in her heart she knew this would happen one day, she knew one day Seiji would leave her, she knew it and yet…she couldn't help but tightly grasp onto him, not wanting him to leave.
"I know." She whispered before pausing, "I know, but still, I want you by my side forever. I want to go to school with you in the mornings, I want to have quiet funny chats in the classroom when we're supposed to be paying attention to the teacher,
I want to eat lunch with you while we exchange foods our moms made, I want to plan school festivals together with you, I want to walk home together with you everyday after school!" As she continued to list out she got progressively louder.
Then her voice dropped back down to a whisper "I want to do so many things with you and now, I won't be able to do any of that anymore…"
Seiji was stunned into silence, what could he possibly say to that? He wanted all of that with Renako too, but… "I'm sorry…" He said silently.
Renako, hearing his response started to tear up even more she poured out all of her feelings, hoping to any god that would listen that maybe, just maybe after hearing all her wants and desires, Seiji would miraculously stay with her and continue going to school with her.
She wanted to sob her heart out but before she could, Seiji spoke again.
"I can't promise you all those school things anymore… but what I can promise you, Renako, is that I will always come back home to you, no matter what." He said a conviction so strong that it stunned even Haruka who was listening outside the door.
Renako stared into Seiji's eyes one more time, and seeing his eyes shine with that steely resolve, she buried her face back into his chest enjoying the warmth he seemed to emit "Okay." She said softly but it was once again muffled.
Outside the door, Haruka who had unintentionally been listening in on their conversation, smiled. She had come up here to tell them that breakfast was ready, but instead heard the overdue heartfelt conversation between the two.
Just then Haruna, her youngest, stepped out of her room, rubbing her eyes trying to get the sleep out. "I heard Renako yelling, everything alright?" She asked groggily.
Haruka just smiled at her youngest, "Yeah everything's fine. Renako just had a long overdue conversation with Seiji. It's resolved now though." She said and her smile grew even wider when she saw Haruna straighten up at the name Seiji.
"Seiji's here?" Haruna said, trying to sound less sleepy than she actually is.
Haruka's lip twitched, "Mhm, he's in your sister's room right now."
Haruna's eyes, the same purple as Renako's and her own, brightened up considerably and as she was about to attempt to enter her sisters room Haruka grabbed her by the shoulders "You can talk to him downstairs, I was just about to call them for breakfast."
Haruna pouted but listened to her mom anyway. Haruka watched her youngest head downstairs to the dining room and could only helplessly shake her head, both her daughters were in love with the same boy…
'I wonder where all that charm comes from, Seiji.' Haruka thought before finally knocking on the door and telling them that breakfast was ready.
~ Private Seirei Academy ~
Seiji arrived at Seirei Academy, "Man they went all out on this school huh? It sure looks like a school for rich kids…" he muttered not really paying too much attention to the stares he was getting.
As he made his way into the school he couldn't help but overhear the whispers around him.
"Hey, who's that? Did we always have someone so handsome in this school?"
"I don't know, he looks like a foreigner."
"A foreigner prince, I mean look at him! That crimson red hair, those bright blue eyes, he looks like he practically stepped out of a fairytale…He's a prince!"
He sweatdropped at that last comment, wasn't that a little too exaggerated? Anyway after he entered the school, he followed his schedule to the third year floor and found his class. However there was a problem…
His classroom door was surrounded by other students, making it impossible to get in.
"Is this the class with the cute transfer student from Russia!?" Someone in the crowd asked.
"Russia huh? I wonder how she's doing." Seiji muttered, nostalgia etched in his tone, remembering the Russian girl who had once taught him Russian before.
Seiji walked up behind a couple of students and cleared his throat, catching their attention. "Excuse me, but may I please enter? You're kinda blocking my way in…" He asked politely, but upon not hearing any responses or the shuffling of feet, he sighed already knowing what's to come.
"Is this real?"
"Yeah, first a pretty silver haired Russian girl, and now a red haired European boy?"
"How come we didn't hear anything about this guy?"
"I don't know, maybe he used his connections to enter the school?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if he did, he looks like a prince after all."
Seiji's face shifted into a deadpan expression the more they spoke about him…while right in front of him. He wanted to push his way into the room but he held himself back. So he smiled, it was a charming and polite smile.
"May I please enter the classroom? I don't want to be late on my first day after all." He said a 'bit' awkwardly while scratching the back of his head.
"Ah! Oh, I'm sorry." A girl said before quickly stepping aside.
Seiji just stepped inside muttering a small but polite thank you to the girl, who blushed profusely. He paused, was his charm really that high? He had never experienced this kinda reaction from his old school.
What he didn't know was that Renako and Haruna would work overtime to ward off any other girl that sought his attention.
While Seiji was contemplating, he suddenly heard someone, a very familiar someone, call out his name.
"Seiji?"
Seiji turned and there he saw his best friend from childhood, Masachika Suou or Masachika Kuze now.
"Masachika?! Holy man look at you, you're still shorter than me!" Seiji said teasingly, while greeting Masachika in a brotherly hug.
Masachika punched Seiji's shoulder playfully, "Oh shut up, you're not that much taller than me." He said, smirking.
"So Yuki finally succeeded, huh? And dude did you get buff?" Masachika asked, looking Seiji up and down.
"Yeah, my mom agreed, and she wouldn't tell me why she finally agreed to enroll me here…" Seiji trailed off, looking over at the desk that other students were crowding around. 'That must be the other transfer student.' He thought.
"Hmm, I guess that's why Yuki said today would be a surprise, she sounded quite happy with herself a few days ago-! Oh yeah, let me introduce you to my friends." Masachika grabbed Seiji by the shoulders and guided him towards two other guys sitting in front of an empty desk, presumably Masachika's.
"Guy's this is Seiji Fujiwara, the one I told you guys about. Seiji, these are my friends, the femboy over there is named Hikaru Kiyomiya and the one currently glaring at you is Takeshi Maruyama." Masachika introduced.
"Ignore what Masachika called me, I'm Hikaru Kiyomiya. And you're the infamous Seiji Fujiwara Masachika has talked so much about." Hikaru said with a polite smile plastered on his face.
Seiji raised a brow looking at Masachika "Infamous?"
"Yup, he talks about how you always-" Hikaru's words were interrupted by Masachika's hand as he immediately covered his mouth while sweating profusely.
"That's enough Hikaru, we wouldn't want to say anything we regret right."
Hikaru only smiled behind Masachika's hand, indicating that he had done nothing wrong.
Seiji ignored them and repeatedly glanced at the baldy glaring at him from the corner of his eye and sweatdropped, 'I didn't even do anything yet…' Seiji thought, wondering why the guy was glaring at him.
"Don't worry about Takeshi, he's just angry that you're stealing the girl's attention away from him." Masachika said blankly.
"Hey, don't go ruining my mysterious vibe like that! He was totally wondering just who exactly I was." Takeshi whined after minutes of glaring at Seiji.
"He wasn't."
"He definitely wasn't."
"I wasn't."
Takeshi made an unintelligible sound and let his head plop onto the surface of his desk only to jolt up when his face hit the surface a little too hard.
"He's a bit slow." Hikaru said, sweatdropping at his bald friend.
"In other words retarded." Masachika translated.
Seiji too, sweatdropped while looking at Takeshi, "Yeah, I can see that."
Just then the school bell rang, signifying the start of class. Seiji looked around to find an empty spot, and he did, it was the seat to the right of the other transfer student.
~ Alisa Mikahilovna Kujou ~
After everyone went back to their seat, a boy with crimson red hair, and a set of bright blue eyes much like her own walked up to her, or rather the seat next to her.
'A foreigner? Is he like me? Ah, our eyes met.' As she was contemplating whether to ask him if he was from another country, their eyes met.
"Good morning." He said with a polite smile before he turned his attention elsewhere, the boy sitting next to him.
'I didn't even get to return the greeting…' for some inexplicable reason she couldn't take her eyes off of him, it wasn't love or any romantic feelings, that's for sure.
But she couldn't explain it, 'It's like he has absolutely no interest in me…' Alya has never been treated this way, and she was somewhat drawn to him for a moment.
As the day continued she proceeded to watch him throughout the entire school day, in some classes he'd fall asleep, in some he'd sneakily read light novels, the only class she saw him actually put work in was physical ed, they played basketball today and he seemed to enjoy it.
But as soon as he was back into the classroom he'd immediately go off into his own world, and that feeling of being drawn to him vanished almost immediately.
"Hmmm, did I forget the textbook at home?" He muttered before looking to his right where his friend was. "Hey Masachika, do you have your textbook? I think I left it at home." He asked pleadingly.
His friend Masachika, she heard, shook his head in denial "Nope, I forgot mine too. I'm sharing textbooks with Hikaru." She heard him say.
The red-haired boy, whose name she had known was Seiji, sighed. Then he looked over to her "Excuse me, but I happened to mistakenly leave my textbook at home, may I use yours with you?" Seiji asked her.
Alisa closed her eyes and sighed, "…Sure." She scooted her desk over to his and put the textbook between them.
"Thanks." He said, scratching his head sheepishly.
It hadn't even been 10 minutes before he was nodding off. It was then that Alisa had a revelation, 'It's not that he's particularly uninterested in me. He's just unenthusiastic about everything around him. The world is full of people like him…'
~ Seiji Fujiwara POV ~
The school bell rang again, indicating the end of the day and time to head home. "Maaaan, I'm beat." I stretched in my seat.
All of this stuff is easy, the perks of being a college graduate reincarnate. I heard the scraping of a desk next to me.
Ah I didn't thank her did I? Turning to the girl I bowed a little to show my sincerity "Thank you for sharing your textbook with me."
The girl, whose name I learned was Alisa Mikhailovna Kujou, stared at me for a second too long before she spoke slowly "It's fine." She said, before silently gathering her things and leaving the classroom.
I stared at the door she just left out of, 'that response was kind of cold wasn't it?' I thought, but before I could contemplate any further Masachika's teasing voice interrupted me.
"Yo, Seiji, did you fall for the new transfer student? I heard she's half Japanese and half Russian."
"Hmm? Nah, I think she doesn't like me all that much." I responded honestly, ignoring his teasing.
"Hmm, doesn't like you? What'd you do?" He asked, now genuinely curious.
"Don't know…but it doesn't matter. Anyway, where's Yuki? She finally managed to get me here, yet I didn't see her all day. I wanna squeeze her cheeks until they turn red."
Masachika put on a thoughtful face before answering "Maybe, she's in the student council office?" He said.
I raised a brow, "Student council's office? Why the hell would she be in there, unless…Don't tell me." I let out a stifled laugh.
"Yup, she's Student council president." Masachika confirmed my suspicions.
"Oh this is amazing, and let me guess you're her vice president?" I asked, and seeing him turn his blushing face away made it all the better, the laugh I tried holding in came out.
"It's not that funny!" He said indignantly.
"Pfft! No, it's pretty funny!" I continued laughing at my best friend's misery.
He turned away grabbing his bag "Tch! Come on, do you wanna see Yuki or not?" He asked, and before I could answer his question he began walking out of the classroom.
"Oi! Wait a minute! Masachika, wait!" I scampered out of the seat and quickly followed him, not realizing that I was addressing Yuki Suou, the student council president so casually in front of other students would stir up some rumors.
~
We finally arrived at the door of the student council's office, but before we could enter Masachika stopped me and told me something that froze me. "Seiji, before we enter I have to tell you. Yuki, has changed a bit…" He said looking serious and a little sad at the same time.
"Changed? Changed how?" I asked and he just sighed.
"You'll see." He said before opening the door.
The Students council's office was probably as you expected, neat, tidy, everything organized as they should students ranging from first years to third year middle schoolers quietly doing their task.
When we stepped in I heard a familiar voice call out "Oh, Masachika you're here, I wanted an extra opinion on some of these…" she paused, when her eyes landed on me.
For a brief second, a mixture of emotions flickered through her eyes, Joy, sadness, relief, and…love? I couldn't really tell, they passed by too quickly for me to catch.
"Seiji…" she said and that's when I realized, I hadn't focused on it before because I was too entranced on how beautiful she had become.
Her tone was too polite, too distant, almost as if she was addressing just another student from her class. I didn't like it, not one bit! I looked at Masachika and he just looked away sadly.
"Yuki, I-"
Before I could continue, Yuki interrupted me and addressed everyone in the student council room. "Everyone, how about we take a short break, okay?"
No one opposed her, they all got up silently and walked out of the office, probably to go buy some drinks from the vending machine or something.
When everyone was gone, except Yuki, Masachika, myself, and a weird girl that stood slightly behind Yuki…why is she looking at me like that? It wasn't lustful nor was it fascination, it was like she was staring directly into my soul. It's weird.
Yuki suddenly stood up, interrupting the staring contest I was having with the girl. Her eyes were hidden behind her bangs so I couldn't see what exactly she was thinking.
She walked around the desk and came to a stop in front of me.
"Yuki-" I was once again interrupted when she quickly lunged at me and embraced me. It stunned me, and before I could ask her what was wrong, I heard a long deep inhale of air followed by a long exhale before it was repeated.
I paused, I didn't hear what I just heard did I?
My head slowly turned to Masachika, but he was turned away from me, so I could only see his back, but I could see his shoulder shaking like crazy, 'This bastard is laughing at me!'
My attention was forced back on Yuki when I once again heard that same deep inhale, "Y-Yuki?" I hesitantly called out.
"Hmm?" She hummed, still burying her face deep into my chest.
"What…exactly are you doing right now?" I asked, and she finally looked up at me, her eyes shining with something I couldn't quite put my finger on before she spoke.
"I'm filling up on my Seiji energy! I haven't been able to in quite sometime and I'm overdue for it." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
My head blanked when I heard that.
"Pfft-!"
My head snapped to Masachika, who was desperately trying not to laugh at my current situation. That's when I realized 'This bastard tricked me!'
Well not really, Yuki has changed, she was clingy, way more clingy than when we were kids… 'she kinda reminds me of mom…' I had to ponder if that's a good thing.
I was pulled out of my thoughts, literally, when Yuki pulled me to the table that sat in the middle of the room, most likely used for meetings and such.
She pulled me into a seat and immediately sat in my lap leaning back against me.
'Please don't move too much!' I was repeating that in my head like a mantra. Yuki had grown to become incredibly beautiful in the time I haven't seen her, and while I was coming to terms that I'm now 14 in this life there's still a part of me that didn't want to do anything until we're of age.
And right now, having a beautiful girl like Yuki sit on my lap, while I'm going through puberty again isn't really a good idea.
I desperately looked at Masachika, my best friend, my brother in all but blood, for help only for him to sit across from us smiling a teasing smile directly at me.
'I'm gonna kill him!' Before I could contemplate exactly how I was gonna kill Masachika, Yuki shifted in my lap, nothing sensual, just turning slightly so that she was looking at me.
"I missed you, really. We both did." She said, and this time her voice wasn't distant nor polite, it was vulnerable just like it had always been back then when we would talk.
"Yeah, I missed the both of you too…"
She hummed again and leaned back into me even further.
'Dangerous!' I thought, hoping to god Yuki wouldn't notice something off, thankfully she didn't.
The next 10 or so minutes the three of us talked about the things we've been up to while we were separated before I finally addressed the elephant in the room.
For the past 15 minutes, ever since I arrived in the office, I felt that girl's eyes on me, never leaving for a single second so I finally asked the question, "You know, I hate to interrupt our reunion but… could one of you tell me who that girl is? She's been staring me down ever since I got here."
Yuki perked up, she finally got off of my lap, much to my relief, and stood next to the girl "Let me introduce you Seiji, this is Ayano Kimishima, my servant. Ayano, this is Seiji Fujiwara."
Ayano stepped forward and bowed deeply "It's finally nice to meet you master Seiji." She said before straightening up fully.
Master? What the hell… "U-Uh yeah, nice to meet you too I guess." I chuckled nervously. "Uhm is there a reason you kept looking at me miss Ayano?"
"You're as handsome as Master Yuki says you are, I can feel my ovaries quiver in delight." She said with the most blank face I've ever seen.
"Huh?" Was all I could manage to get out.
"You're as handsome as Master-" She began but I cut her off.
"No, no. I heard what you said… but…Huh?" This time I looked at Yuki and she just giggled while hugging Ayano from behind. "Isn't she just perfect?"
It was then Masachika who spoke up "I'm surprised you don't remember her Seiji." I quickly turned to him.
"What?"
"You don't remember her? She'd always follow us whenever we were in the Suou manor or your place? Ring any bells?" He asked, smirking slightly, I was starting to hate that damn smirk of his.
"Ring any bells? Dude, why would I forget someone like her…" I paused, then looked back at Ayano. I reached out and grabbed her cheeks before lifting them forcefully making her smile, it was awkward but then a memory hit.
"IT'S YOU!!" I remember her now. The reason I didn't remember her before was because of the emotionless mask she seemed to put on.
"I'm glad you remembered me, Master Seiji." She said and there was something softer in her voice that made me smile.
"Yeah I can't believe I almost didn't recognize you."
"Almost? You didn't recognize her at all!" Yuki called me out on my bullshit.
"Shush you…" Just then my phone vibrated, when I pulled it out I could see it was a text from Renako. "Ah, guys I have to go! We'll definitely talk more during lunch tomorrow, yeah?"
I quickly made my way out of the student council office. I heard my name being called but I didn't stop to check what they wanted.
While rushing I bumped into someone, I quickly apologized before rushing out again, not seeing the mysterious smile that lit up on the blonde girl's face, "So you're finally back, huh?"
I paused 'Who?' When I turned around the girl was gone… "What the hell, does she have powers or something?" I shook my head and kept running out of the school.
~ Narrator POV ~
The girl Seiji had bumped into stood behind a corner a smile still on her face, but it looked wrong, she then continued on her way to the student council room that same mysterious smile still on her lips as she hummed.
~
Chapter End.