Stay Beside You Forever 💞

How you treat me

16th March, On Mao's birth day

"Phew... Finally the class is over. I am so tired" Said Mao as he was packing his things to leave for the Student Council room.

Then he saw Yuzuru standing outside his class room. Mao waved to him.

Yuzuru asked," Are you going to the student council room,Master Isara? Mao replied in positive."But today is your birthday, right? So you don't have to engage yourself in student council work today. You should have fun with your friends, Master Isara. I and the other members agreed that we'll take care of all the work for today."

"But..."Mao was about to say but Yuzuru interrupted and said, "No ifs or buts. I said it's fine. You always say that we're friends so why are you trying to be so formal?"

Yuzuru was able to convince Mao in the end and left for Student council room. Mao was now wondering where to go. 

He kept thinking as he walked in the hallway - (Subaru and others have club activities today so we didn't made any plans for my birthday. They said they'll hold a party at the agency though. But I have to kill the time somehow untill then. I just don't know what to do when I have enough time...)

Suddenly a notification pops up in Mao's phone. "Hm? A message from Ritsu?"

It said, "Maa kun where are you? Come to the band practice room. I have a surprise for you~ And I only want my Maa~kun so make sure you come alone, kay?"

Mao was free so he went there straight away.

To his surprise, he saw no one in that room. It wasn't locked but no one was there. "Is Ritsu trying to play some pranks on me or something?" But as soon as he said this, he felt that someone hugged him from behind.

"Oi Ritsu, where did you ran away after calling me here? Don't try to scare me!" Ritsu made no reply to that and instead whispered in Mao's ear,"happy birthday Maa~kun". Mao felt a bit weird and awkward and tried to get himself away from his grip.

"What's wrong Maa kun? Why is your face red? Are you sick? Did you not like my surprise?"

"First of all stop asking me all of the questions at once. I am not sick....it's just hot in here." replied Mao.

"Are you kidding me? How can you feel hot in the middle of March? But well if you didn't like that surprise then I have one more surprise. This is my birthday gift for you."

Ritsu held Mao's hand and came near the piano. He asked Mao to sit beside him. Then Ritsu started singing and playing a song.

Mao was totally amazed by Ritsu's beautiful singing voice and the way he played the piano. It wasn't like he heard him singing for the first time, but Ritsu seemed like an entirely different person to him at that moment. Mao just got immersed in his song, for he was hearing Ritsu's melodious and gentle voice and his piano, after a long time.

Mao was so lost that he didn't even realise when Ritsu finished the song.

Ritsu asked him, "Hey Maa~kun... Did you like it? I composed it myself for you. I have named it 'Nocturne of Midnight' "

"You composed it?? So you made the music and wrote the lyrics all by yourself?!? I never thought you'd become a song writter too, the Ritsu who would always feel unmotivated to do anything." Said Mao surprisingly.

"What do you think I am? I can do anything if I get the motivation. And my source of motivation is of course you, Maa kun. I took some help from Tsukipi for writing the music.  And for the lyrics... Hm... It just came to my mind when I thought about Maa kun. I kept writing whatever I felt like then Tsukipi made them into proper lyrics." Said Ritsu with a warm smile, coming closer to Mao

"Ahaha you are making me so embarrassed. Stop saying these cheesy things all of a sudden.  Like what is even so special about me that you could write a whole song? I am just an ordinary childhood friend of yours," Mao tried to avoid eye contact with Ritsu. He was clearly being shy since Ritsu was too close to him so tried to move away from him.

Ritsu replied a bit angrily,cupping his face, "Stop thinking so low of yourself. You know how important you are to me. I could do anything for you.
Now tell me, did you like my gift?"

"Is there even a need to ask that? I loved it of course. The fact that you wrote a song for me is itself very special," replied Mao with a smile.

"Anything for my Maa kun~~But I am reeeally tired after playing the piano and singing at the same time. You're free, right? Let's go to the park. I wanna sleep in your lap in the soft grass."

Before Mao could make a reply, he got a phone call. It was from Subaru. He got up and went to a corner.

Subaru:  Hey Sally!! Happy birthday!!!

Mao:  Seriously that's the fifth time you've wished me today. I am not a kid you know

Subaru: Ahaha I can't help it since it's your birthday and I wanna wish you again and agaaaain!! Oh I forgot to ask the thing I called you for. Where are you now?

Mao:  I am in the band practice room with Ritsu. Yuzuru and the others took care of the student council work so I came here since I had nothing to do. What about you guys?

Subaru: We all got over with the club activities early just for you. Hokke and Ukki are also here. Now come out quickly. We're planning to go to Karaoke!! Let's have lots of fun there, Sally!"

"No we're not! I said we're going to have Ramen. Isara likes Ramen afterall. Right Isara?" Said Hokuto interrupting in between.

"Ah that's not right. We should go to a more fun place, like a game centre. There are lots of new games recently. I am sure Isara kun would love them," said Maokto.

Mao: Hey, stop arguing, you guys.  Since we have the time, why don't we go to all those places? First we'll go to Karaoke and then games. After that, we can have delicious Ramen to replenish our energy.

Hokuto:  Certainly that sounds like a better option. We'll do as Isara says.

Mao:  Alright I'll be there in few seconds.

Mao hung up after that.

Ritsu said angrily, "I didn't mean to eavesdrop but those guys were so loud that I could clearly hear everything. Did you forget that I said we'll go to the park first? How can you betray me Maa kun?"

"Come on Ritsu, its not like you don't hang out with your friends in Knights. I have made plans already so I'll go with you some other time. Alright I'm leaving now."

Mao left in hurry without hearing what Ritsu had to say.

"Just when will I be your first priority...This is how you treat me even after loving you for so long. What do I have to do so that you'll love me back, Maa kun?" Ritsu muttered to himself as he was leaving the room, almost on the verge of crying.

END OF PART 1