Yuna continued to watch the two students' fight on her phone as she headed towards the studio for work.
'I'll never forget the day you asked me to hang out with you guys!' Gao exclaimed.
'We only needed another player for dodge ball anyways and I decided to take pity on you!' Noboru shouted back.
"He truly doesn't mean that, does he?" Yuna asked as she frowned at Noboru's statement.
'He's known for being like this. Typical Noboru is pretty much a, well, tsundere....' Kuguru answered back.
"I think I took notice on that much....." Yuna said, slowly looking up from her phone and relaxing her face.
"Don't walk into the pole!" a voice called out.
Yuna jumped a bit as she immediately recognized the voice and cringed. 'Pretend I didn't hear him... Pretend I didn't hear him..." she repeated in her head as she kept walking.
'How long are you planning to keep this up?' her buddy whispered to her.
Yuna frowned once more at the question and then answered quietly. 'If you're thinking about me keeping him waiting, then I don't know. But ignoring him right now? Yes, yes, I'm planning to keep this up actually.'
The dragon shook his head at his buddy and let out a small sigh. 'He might get taken away by someone else if you don't hurry and by the looks of it, you're hurting him just by ignoring him..' Psy muttered.
A pang of guilt hit the girl's chest when she heard the dragon tell her what she was really doing to the boy.
'It looks like Gao is on the winning side again,' Kuguru said out of the blue.
"He must be really hurt about Noboru's selfish secret, hiding the fact from everyone that he is leaving for America today..." Yuna replied, slipping her phone into her pocket.
The girl reached her hand out before her to push open the door only to get her hand grabbed by Tasuku out of nowhere and dragged away quickly.
"...?!"
Psy shrugged and stayed where he was, partially able to see the two from where he floated.
'Whatever you do.... Don't go in there yet, please?' Tasuku mumbled as he hugged her from behind and secured her arms at her sides.
Yuna mentally punched herself for not seeing this coming and stood there for a few seconds, mind telling her that she should just listen to him even if she didn't want to. Yuna decided not to say anything and kept a frown on her face as Tasuku rested his head on her shoulder hesitantly.
'By the looks of it, you're hurting him just b ignoring him.'
Yuna's frown slightly faltered as her buddy's words came back into her mind.
"Are you still mad at me?" Tasuku asked cautiously, words flowing out of his lips slowly.
Yuna closed her eyes and began to relax herself, body beginning to fall limp and lower lip quivering a little. "...Mad? You know I can't stay mad for long... But you are quite clingy today...." Yuna muttered tiredly, regaining composure.
Tasuku's face cracked a smile of relief once he heard the girl answer him, nuzzling into the crook of her neck.
"You're tickling me again... And I need to get to work..." Yuna muttered embarrassingly, a layer of blush beginning to spread across her cheeks.
"Say, Yun-chan, what would you do if someone reported this?" Tasuku asked with a chuckle as he held on tighter, voice muffled by Yuna's neck.
".....W-what kind of question is that...? I won't be able to do anything and I don't think they'll recognize me that easily.." the girl stuttered as her blush deepened.
Tasuku lifted his head up to look at the girl only to see her looking around cautiously. Tasuku smiled at the worried student's reaction and allowed his eyes to trail up to her loose cap.
"You know, you look cute with a hat and all, but I prefer you showing you're hair and, of course, without the cap~" the boy said playfully, reaching up and taking off the headgear.
Yuna's hair fell around her face as some strands of her hair slipped out of her bun.
"H-hey! The cap helps me hide my face for a reason you know!" Yuna exclaimed in a panicked tone, reaching over to the hat with her now free arm.
Two girls from Aibo Academy walked by on the other side of the road, holding a brief conversation until one of them pointed to the young lovers.
'Is that THE Wonder Boy, Ryuenji Tasuku and..... who is that..?'
From where the two girls stood, they were able to get a clear view of Tasuku's smile, bright as always, while Yuna's face was covered by a part of her messy layered hair, pulled to the front. Tasuku spun Yuna around to face him, still keeping her cap away from her reach, and began to laugh at her struggling attempts. The 6th grade students continued to watch as jealousy began to rise slowly in each of the girls, whispering quick comments to each other as Yuna accidentally topples Tasuku and herself onto the floor. Yuna's hands were on either sides of Tasuku, support herself from the fall and preventing herself from landing onto the boy. Tasuku chuckled as he sat and leaned back onto his hands with the cap still in his right hand.
'You know that there are girls over there watching us?' Tasuku whispered, giving a smirk to Yuna as her eyes widened, anxiety slowly building up.
'Just ignore them.'
The girls watched with curiosity as Tasuku brought up the cap and covered their faces, leaning close to Yuna. The two students gave a small disappointed, but excited, glance to each other and began snapping photos to show the world.
'This is something we need to share. I wonder who's the lucky girl?'
Butterflies suddenly erupted in Yuna's stomach as Tasuku leaned into her with a calm yet serious face expression, no hesitation or ridiculous demeanor present around him.
Yuna had and urge to push the boy away, but she didn't want to hurt him and allowed him to do whatever.
"S-seriously, Tasuku-kun, we're not even dating! Ugh, I need to get to work now.." Yuna stuttered shyly as she quickly pulled away from Tasuku, frowning at him.
Tasuku smiled at Yuna's heated face and peck her cheek once more. "The world needs to know that you belong with me. At least I got you to talk to me again~!" he sang quietly.
Yuna covered her cheek as she got her cap back from the blue headed boy and pulled it back onto her head. Tasuku stood up and brushed off his uniform, looking at his phone.
"Actually, I need to get to work right now too... Ahh well, I just wanted to spend more time with you," Tasuku said, helping Yuna up to her feet.
"You are so..."
"Awesome? Good-looking? Yeah I know," Tasuku joked as he cut Yuna's sentence off.
"..... Forget I said anything.. See you later," Yuna replied with a grumbling tone as she walked over to where Psy held opened the studio door.
'I seriously want to murder him right now, but at the same time I don't..' Yuna mumbled with a small smile on her face as she passed by her buddy.
Psy gave a low chuckle and slightly shook his head. 'I'm sure you don't..' he muttered back, satisfied with the results.
"Yuna? You came early... Isn't it still school?" Daisuke asked.
"Daisuke, the song. I still need to finish it and practice the songs I'm performing today. And we can leave school anytime now," Yuna told the teen as she took off the cap once again, face returning to normal.
"Right, right... Sorry about the late notice," he said, ruffling the girl's tied up hair.
"It's quite fine, I guess... And can you at least do that when my hair is not tied up?" Yuna said, struggling to untie her hair.
Daisuke just stood at his place and laughed as he dropped his hand back to his side.
"Yuna, you're early today."
Yuna looked over to the other twin and shook her phone out in front of her. "Emiko texted me. I got the news, so I decided to come early to finish up things you see."
'Yuna-chan, did you see that?' Hisako's voice came through.
'.... Crap. Totally forgot.. Damn it, Ryuenji-kun....' Yuna hissed.
"What happened, Hisako-senpai?" Yuna asked as she turned on her phone.
'Gao made the final blow to Noboru! It looks like Kodo here finally realized what was going on...' the girl said, trailing off.
"O-oh... I'll text Noboru when he's available..." Yuna said as she knitted her brow together with worry.
Hisako nodded and returned the tablet to Kuguru. 'Yuna-senpai, we're all planning to go say good bye to Noboru at the airport, but it's at 4... Can you make it?' the girl asked.
Yuna scrunch up her face a tiny bit at the chosen time and released a stressful groan.
"Don't stress it, Yuna. Your performance is actually near the airport. We can start early if you like," Akira told the singer.
Kuguru's smile brightened up when she heard the news, waiting for the older girl's response.
"Alright, we'll start early, so let's hurry and get things ready," Yuna told the boys, smiling at her screen.
"A-ahh! One more thing! Hisako-senpai!" Yuna called before Kuguru cut the line.
'Hm?'
Yuna let out a sigh of relief when she heard the older girl answer. "Head over to the studio with your friends right now, please?" Yuna asked sheepishly as she drew some notes on a music sheet.
'Oh, alright..' Hisako replied curiously.
"Thank you! Psy! Quick, head home and get me these sheet music on my desk!" Yuna said, running over to her buddy.
"Uhhh okay..."
The dragon flew off once Yuna shoved the key and paper into its hand, not wanting to question her.
"DAISUKE! LET'S HURRY UP AND GET TO WORK! HERE ARRANGE THIS PART AND THIS PART AND UHHH..... YEAH, JUST ARRANGE THESE! I'LL FINISH THE DUET STUFF WHILE YOU ARRANGE THEM!" the girl said, running around to gather the things she needed.
The costume creator poked his head out of the changing room at the ruckus their idol made. "What's gotten into her..?" Eiji asked.
Daisuke turned to look at the older man and shrugged as Akira just shooed him away.
"Hey, Yuna. They're here and I also got the-"
"FINISHED~!" Yuna exclaimed out of the blue.
"Hm? O-oh, my bad. Hello," Yuna said after the sudden outburst.
The small band let out a chuckle at the girl's exclamation as she began to blush embarrassingly.
"Psy, hand me the sheet music, please. Daisuke, are you done?" Yuna asked, as she reached her hand out in front of her.
"...Andddd... Yes, I just finished. Does it sound right to you?" the male composer asked.
"Sorry, in a bit and we'll start everything soon!" Yuna called over her shoulder, texting Noboru and listening to the arrangements.
"Hisako-senpai, you know them better than I do, so here. May I ask you to pass out the parts?" Yuna asked, handing the sheets after looking them over.
"Okay. Looks like she's about finished," Hisako told her group as she passed out the instrument parts.
"She's a very hard worker just like you said, Hisako," one of the band members said.
"Alright! Awesome! We finished just before the concert!" Yuna said, taking off the headphones. "Anywaysssssssssssss~ Hello, I think you all know me already, but I'm Suzuki Yuna, also known as Kotone."
Everyone smiled at the girl as Hisako took a step forward.
"This is Emi Hachi, our lead singer and back up guitarist, over there is Eri Daichi, our keyboard player, and Chie Emiko, our bass player, lastly, right next to Emiko is Akifumi Benjirou, our drummer. We created this band called Buddyfighter Stripe," the girl said proudly.
Yuna just stood there and gave a small, but somewhat strained smile, nodding awkwardly at the stares she received. "Please look over those as I get the instrumentals ready...." Yuna said, slipping away slowly.
The girl gave and exhausted sighed as she leaned her forehead into a wall away from the group tiredly. 'Too close. That was very... intimidating...' the girl muttered to herself.
"Let's start practicing now! Everyone got a part?" Psy called.
The group nodded as they continued to chat to each other, heading into the practice room.
"I'm back!" an unfamiliar voice called.
"Keep it down, Saki...." Emiko muttered, pulling her glasses off in a swift motion and pinching the bridge or her nose.
"Oh, Emiko. Decided to wear your glasses for the day?" Akira asked.
The girl shrugged and looked around the room, listening to the music being played. "Yuna's here already?"
Saki perked up at the name and then started to look around the room.
"Don't bother she's busy," Fumi said, walking over to the group with Hanae on her tail.
"Awwww, I just wanted to see our new idol..." the girl pouted, a small spark shooting over at Fumi.
Fumi smiled casually as she masked her true feelings towards the younger girl.
"Daisuke! What time is it?" Yuna called from the room.
"Almost time to go, so go get ready!" he called back as Eiji went to go get the musician.
"You're looks are going to be different today since this event is semi special," the man said as he dragged Yuna' out of the room.
"A-ah, okay...?" Yuna said confusedly.
"Voila! How do you like it?" Eiji said, nodding proudly at his own design.
Yuna looked at her gloved hands and then at herself in the mirror to examine herself.
"It's a good thing I'm not playing a guitar or anything that requires strings in general...." Yuna said. "Better than the first outfits you showed me on the first day, haha."
"Alrighty then, let's start styling your hair and putting on makeup~!" Hanae said excitedly.
The hairstylist, with the help of the makeup artist, made Yuna's hair wavy and then tied it with long thin ribbons into loose braided pigtails, starting halfway from the bottom of her hair. A small portion of her hair was clipped up in a slightly messy way on the left side of her head while the rest of her bangs fell and curled loosely to the right.
"We should go now and get things ready as soon as possible!" Yuna exclaimed, throwing a fist out in front of her as she carefully sped walk out of the room.
"She really doesn't want to fall, huh?" Fumi said, giggling.
Yuna repetitively read Noboru's text as she paced around the backstage worriedly.
'He might not get to come... He better though!' Yuna thought to herself.
"Hey, you're the new singer, right?!" Saki asked hyper actively, jumping in front of Yuna.
"..... Ummmm, yes...?" the frightened girl squeaked.
"Hiya! I'm Haruno Saki! I'm actually Daisuke's helper with all the recordings and arrangements you see!"
Yuna nodded with confusion written all over her face.
"They told me about you, Yuna, so don't worry about introductions! And if you were wondering why I haven't been here for such a long time, I actually just returned to the city yesterday!" the girl said.
"Saki, don't bother her," Emiko groaned as she pulled at her collar.
"H-hey! I'm just being polite! UWAH!"
Yuna shook her head and gave a small wave as she went to check the crowd.
"Looks like Gao and the others are here. Where's Noboru..." Yuna said as she turned to her buddy.
"I'll go check for you," Psy said without her request.
"Thank you, Psy."
Yuna continued to pace around the backstage a little longer and then sat down.
"Um, mom? Dad? Can we go see a concert before we leave?" Noboru asked awkwardly.
"I never knew you were interested in such things...." his mother answered.
"Right..... That's not it actually... My friends are there and wanted me to see something before we leave."
Noboru's father looked at him from the mirror questioningly. "Well, where, is the concert taking place at? We are leaving at 5 anyways," he asked.
Noboru poked the window as he pointed at the stage area. "Right there," he answered oh-so casually.
"Today's concert will be quite lengthy, feel free to leave when you need to!" Akira told the crowd.
"It's a somewhat special performance today, so our idol decided to allow some exceptions in this concert."
Yuna started heading out after checking for Psy one more time.
'Sorry, Psy...' the girl thought apologetically.
'Yuna!' her buddy called after her.
Yuna turned around and sped walked back inside to hear the news, her dress flashing to the crowd a little.
"Was that Yuna-senpai?" Kuguru asked.
"It's a surprise~!" Hisako sang.
Ayden scoffed a bit unintentionally as she looked away from the stage. 'How did I get dragged into thisssss...' she muttered, pulling out the 'S' in 'this'.
"Don't complain, Ayden, and just enjoy," Inferno said.
"Want to wait for me here or are you guys also coming to listen?" Noboru asked curiously.
"We'll follow behind you, dear," his mother said.
"If you are here, Kodo, I just want to send you off with a good memory fresh in your head..." Yuna said to the crowd.
Yuna perked up at the sight of a certain blond headed boy and smiled happily at him when he waved.
The young police officer took a deep breath and lessened his cheerful smile a bit, entering the building as normal as possible.
"Oh there you are Tasuku. Where were you?"
Tasuku wanted to ignore the man's question and stared at him for a little while, pondering whether to answer or not.
"At school," he finally answered, smiling like nothing happened.
"...Alright then... I'll take a guess.." Takihara said, snickering as he did so.
"What?"
"You were with Yuna, weren't you?" the middle aged man asked with a devious looking smirk.
Tasuku glared at the man and looked away, breaking eye contact. "I don't know, was I?" he asked, trying to hide his nervous appearance.
"Seriously, Tasuku. I'm pretty sure that's why she's avoiding you so much," Takihara told the boy with a smug look smacked onto the center of his face.
"Wait, what?"
Takihara waved Stella over to the two, asking her to come and show the boy something that was not meant to be shared.
"Oh, take a look on my tablet, Tasuku," she said, showing the pictures on her device.
Tasuku examined all the photos as he mentally stabbed himself in the chest repetitively.
'I forgot... Of course, things like this would spread like wildfire.. After all we both are pretty.. popular......' the boy muttered into his hand.
"It's a good thing Yuna's face is covered up in the photos," Stella said.
"And of course.... There's you."
Tasuku looked up from the photos and frowned at the statement. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
Danza la falda Bianca
Ne l'ampio ciel scherzosa
Poi sul terren si posa
Stanca, danza la falda Bianca
atedonaku tada kimi wasamayoi nagara
hieta kokoro wo furuwaseten wo aoida
shuuen no tori gatakai sora kara toki wo tsuge
tozasareta sekai debokura wa mata meguriau
kimi wo ubaisaru sono subete wo itetsuku machi ni sute
nagai kanashimi no owaru basho e kataku te wo tsunagi kakete yukou
shirokuchiriisogu hana no you ni
akaku nagareru inochi no ue ni yuki wa tomedonaku furitsumoru
hateshinaku tsuzuku kono hakugin no michi
awaku hakanai kibou niasu wo yumemita
haru tsuge no tori wanamida no shizuku kazoe tsutsu
towa ni kurikaesareruruten wo nageite utau
kimi wo itsukushimu sono omoi ga yami wo michibiite mo
(tsumi ni) yogorenaki kokoro dake ni imami wo yudane ikiru
kami nimi hanasareta kono sekai
kazahana no mai ni tokihanatare yukidoke ni mezame hikarisasu
horobi yuku (umare izuru)subete no inochi wainochi wa setsugen ni saku hana
hakoniwa no chiisa na hana
marude shiroi maboroshi no you ni kaze ni yurareru mama
yorokobi ni (kanashimi ni)kagayaite (tsutsumare) toki wa nagareru
"There's one more song before I start something different today! I hope you enjoy this to the fullest before you leave us, Kodo!" Yuna said as she directed a smile at Noboru and his parents.
"So, that's your friend you were talking about?" the young boy's father asked, earning a silent nod from his son.
ikuman no kuroi kemono mitsume
tatakai no toki
furisosogu shiroi hikari yaiba ni kirameite
hitori kuchibiru yugame setsuna ni wakare tsuge
te ni motsu yari ni hokori wo nosete honoo matoe
akai chi no hana kurue to
kokoro ga kieteku
doko ni watashi no imi ga aru ?
inochi no zange hakanaku
maichiri nagara sosogu akai yuki
dareka ga sakebu kurae to
watashi ga kieteku
doko ni omoi no hate ga aru ?utakata no yume setsunaku
hitomi no sumi ni utsuru shinku no hatachi ni fuseta katamari tachi mitsume
kokoro sawagazu
tareochiru atsui shizuku nodo wo suberiochitakaze ga hakobu nioi mo mimiutsu oto mo kie
te ni shita yari ni onore wo kasane
akaku somare
Yuna shot a look to Hisako's band to see if they were ready to come up only to see them fixing up their outfits for each other. Hisako then gave a small signal to Yuna for a little more time.
shiroi ikizama yogose to
karada ga nureteku nani mo dekinai ningyou ninamida no imi mo itami mo kanashimi sae mo kiete
kara ni nare
dareka ga utau kowase to
kokoro wo tsuranuku nani mo kanjiru kotomo naikuon no negai setsunaku
hitomi ni utsuru are ha shinku no hata
The idol then looked back to the group to see if they were finished doing what they needed to do and saw them standing at their places waiting for a call. Yuna gave a swift head swing to her right as if she was trying to get her bang's back in place and began fixing her clip a bit. Hisako nodded and led the band to the backstage after the sign was made.
guruguru guruguru mawatterukurushimi to itami ga mawatterudareka dareka
nukumori wo ataete kokoro tokashiteakai chi no hana kurue to
subete ga kieteku
dareka watashi wo dakishimeteinochi no hazama hakanaku
hoo ni nagareru shizuku aoi yumedareka ga utau saigo to
watashi ga kowareru oto wo tatete kuzureteikukieteku negai kikoezu
hitomi no naka ni moeru shinku no hata
'Yuna, you got a message!' Psy whispered from the side.
Yuna slapped herself mentally and then walked over to get her phone.
'What's Kotone-chan doing?'
'I wonder if something is wrong..'
The crowd continued to whisper to eat other as she disappeared into the backstage.
'What, is it really that important?' she whispered.
Psy stared for a bit and flashed Stella's text in front of her face. The girl's eyes widen with shock as she immediately snatched the phone away.
'W-why... T-Tasuku-kun... He.. Ohhhhh....' Yuna groaned, tossing her phone as she headed back out.
Yuna's buddy played hot potato with the device as he struggled to catch the phone, successfully catching it without getting it damaged.
"Sorry, guys! Needed to get something ready!" Yuna said, smoothing down the skirt of her white dress to sit on the piano seat. "So, I have a group of people who will be performing Utopiosphere, Evolution Era, Wings of Piano, and Reflection (Mirror Night) with me today. The band, Buddyfighter Stripe usually performs music for fun and on their free time, so they aren't known to many people, " Yuna explained as she crossed her legs, allowing her half inch heel dangle off her left foot.
"Huh? Where did Hisako-senpai go?" Kiri asked.
The group looked around their surroundings curiously, Hisako nowhere to be found.
"Maybe she's hungry?" Baku asked.
"She could've had one of my banana's, dude," Tetsuya said, pointing at his head.
"Please welcome them wholeheartedly!" she finished, motioning the band on stage.
"I'm going on break now," Tasuku announced.
"Alright, be back soon," Commander I said.
Tasuku gave a respectful bow to the man as he left the room to meet up with his buddy, Jackknife Dragon.
"Jack? Do you think I take stuff to far sometimes?" Tasuku randomly blurted out, covering up his mouth immediately as they took off.
The dragon looked over at his buddy after he asked the blurted out his question.
"Well, how do I put this.... Yes," he straightforwardly answered.
Tasuku's face dropped as he blushed embarrassingly, showing a little shame.
"You like Yuna, sure it's fine, but you sure push her into stuff she doesn't want to do a lot like... kissing," he continued.
"Alright, alright! No need to tell me! I think I got it!" he exclaimed blushing even more.
"You did ask...."
Music was heard faintly in a distant as the two neared the idol's stage.
"Piano? That's new.."
Step through the gate into Utopia
Sink into a world of Melodia
Black lace
Euphoberia hurries away
Tiny legs
Leaves behind a track of cardioid
Twisted creation
Phosphorescent apparition
Heart disorientation
Bemusement
Merry go 'round and around
Misery go 'round and around
Quandary go 'round and around
Merry go 'round and around
Tick-tock
Time doesn't stop
Prepare your doubts
Eat them up
Quaff down
The pus of thoughts
Red sand flows out
Sweet mouth
The sky is painted in Lunacia
Florets slashed open the vein of tears
Misfortuna
There is no escape, my dear
The world undergoes Photosynthesia
Transform endless anger to Ecstasia
Connect your nerves
To the system of Philosophiofantasia
"Singing in English too, huh?" Tasuku said, floating in one place as a trail of dissolving neon green light continued to pour out from the side his heels. "She surprises me with everything everytime."