20 Chapter 20: Turbulence

Summer vacation is over, and the new term is starting. It's been a week after the festival. During that time, our club resumed activities in preparation for our play. Today is the first day of the second term.

"Good morning, Takaiyama." Jirai greeted me as he saw me walking towards school.

"Good morning."

"So, about the thing we talked about…"

"What was it? I don't remember."

"You know, about my sister and your brother…"

"Oh, what about it? I haven't seen his corpse yet, so I guess he's keeping distance."

"On the contrary, my friend. They went out last week."

"What!?" Uryou, on a date? How is that possible??? "How do you know this?"

"Tsunagi said she was going out. I asked her who she was with, but she said it wasn't my business. You know, typical sister stuff."

"Uh-huh. Then?"

"I got suspicious, of course. I decided to follow her. To my shock, a guy was waiting for her. They were alone. They went to a lot of places. They even had cake! She has never eaten cake with me… Then they went shopping. Damn it!" Jirai was so pissed; the killing intent coming from him was almost visible.

"Wait, do you know what my brother looks like?"

"No, I don't know what he looks like."

"Then how can you be sure it was him?!"

"I haven't thought about that. I was just sure it was him!"

"What if it's some other guy?"

"Damn it! You mean there are others out there trying to steal my dear little sister from me?!"

"Probably, I mean your sister is really cute and kind. No wonder there are a lot of guys that like her. Poor Uryou. I almost feel sad for him."

"If you feel sad for him, then why are you smiling?"

"I said 'almost'." I can't wait to tell Uryou about this. But what if it really was him??? "You know what Jirai, we should check on your sister the next time she goes out with this guy. You can never be too sure about guys these days. There are scums and jerks all over the place."

"I didn't know you care that much…"

"Of course I do, that's what friends are for." I need to make sure that guy is NOT Uryou.

---

Jirai and I arrived at our classroom on time. I thought we would be late on the first day of the new term. I saw Hiroisora and Nariyuki talking with a group of girls. I couldn't help but overhear what they were talking about.

"Hey, have you heard?"

"About what?"

"Apparently, there is going to be a transfer student in our class."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, and I heard it's no ordinary student."

Our homeroom teacher came in and everyone settled in their seats.

"Everyone, before we start our homeroom, I would like to introduce a new student that will be transferring to our class starting this new semester. I would also like to inform everyone that she is… in a unique position and would require everyone's understanding."

All of my classmates seemed confused and excited about what our teacher said.

"Well then, please come in and introduce yourself." The door opened and a girl entered and stood in front of everyone.

"Good morning, everyone! My name is Koujou Shouka. It's nice to meet you all!" She was smiling and very energetic. She's also pretty, to top it off.

"Wooh!!" The guys cheered for her. Everyone was excited. Then, someone said something shocking.

"Wait, aren't you the idol Kei-chan?!"

"Yup! That's me!"

"What?!" Everyone was surprised.

---

Homeroom went on afterwards. Our teacher told us that Koujou will have special privileges since she is a professional already with contractual obligations. Lunch break came and everyone immediately swarmed over to Koujou.

"Wow, we can't believe an idol is going to study in our school, let alone in our class." One of our classmates exclaimed.

"Yeah, and now we have two very beautiful girls in our class! We're so lucky!" Some of the boys cheered in excitement.

They were interviewing her and she was very accommodating. I guess she's used to this kind of atmosphere.

---

Jirai and I were talking about how surreal it was to have an idol as our classmate.

"Man, I'm gonna ask for an autograph later. Maybe, her hand in marriage as well." Jirai was too happy to realize how crazy he sounds like. Although he sounds like that most of the time.

"Sure, good luck with that." I was looking at Koujou's direction while listening to Jirai. I was wondering if she remembers me. I don't want to go up to her and ask directly. Surely I am barely alive now being in a not-so-real relationship with Hiroisora. If the guys in my class find out I know Kei-chan personally, and that I was the one that saved her, my family better prepare my grave. I hope she already forgot how I look like.

"Why are you staring at her?" Hiroisora came out of nowhere.

"Um, I, am… a fan of her…?" Why am I making an excuse?

"You're not sure if you're a fan?" Her tone sounds like she's quite irritated.

"Wait, are you jealous?" Whenever I have the opportunity to tease her, I grab the chance. I need to get back my dignity once in a while.

"Don't change the subject." Damn, I think she's serious.

"Hmm, I won't fall for that. It's not illegal to look, right?"

"It's called cheating." Her tone is really serious now. I think she's angry for real. But why, though? She'd usually laugh by now whenever she teases me like this.

"I don't want to interrupt you," Jirai suddenly butted in our conversation. "But are you really dating or not? Because this sounds like she's really jealous and you sound like you don't care."

"We are…" We both answered but we were both unsure of what to say after that. Come to think of it, I guess I never told Jirai that Hiroisora and I agreed to act in a relationship. Maybe he believes we really are together.

"I'll see you later, Takaiyama-kun." Hiroisora looked sad. I guess she was really upset about me looking at Koujou…

---

After Hiroisora went back to her seat, I told Jirai about everything that happened from when I saved Hiroisora from drowning at the indoor pool up until the end of summer vacation.

"What? You are still not together for real? What is wrong with you?"

"Well, I…" Before I could answer him, someone approached us.

"Um, hi Takaiyama-san. Can I talk to you… privately?" Kei-chan, or rather, Koujou asked me without hesitation. I could see the surprised looks on the faces of everyone. Even I was surprised.

"Kei-chan, do you know Takaiyama by any chance?" Jirai was shocked but was still able to ask this question.

"Well, yes. You could say he's the reason I came to this school." She answered Jirai with a smile.

Now everyone was even more surprised. I could literally hear them gasp in shock. They started rumbling about how we knew each other and how unfair it was since I already have Hiroisora. When I heard her name, I quickly glanced at her location to see her reaction. She looked taken aback like everyone else, but her expression was much more concerned. I wanted to explain things to her. Before I could stand up and go to Hiroisora, someone shouted at me.

"That's not fair! You already have Hiroisora-san! Stop flirting with every girl!"

"Hiroisora… She's in this class?" Koujou reacted to what our classmate shouted. She then turned around and looked at Hiroisora. "I can't believe we're classmates again." She had a sad and pained expression on her face. Everyone was much more surprised after hearing this. It looked like everyone wanted to ask about it, but the bell suddenly rang that ended our lunch break.

---

Everyone went back to their seats since the teacher already went inside the classroom. The class was really quiet. I was still surprised to know that Hiroisora knows Koujou, but they don't seem to be friendly. After classes, most of our classmates swarmed Koujou again, asking her about what she said earlier. I decided to go to our clubroom. While I was on my way out of our classroom, I saw Nariyuki and Hiroisora talking on the hallway.

"Hey, what's up?" I mostly directed my question to Nariyuki, since I was still feeling a bit awkward towards Hiroisora.

"We were actually waiting for you." Nariyuki answered me with her usual tone. We started walking towards our clubroom, when she suddenly broke up the silence that lingered. "So, what happened earlier during lunch break? It seems that Koujou-san caused uproar or something?" Come to think of it, she wasn't around when Koujou made a scene. "I was at the clubroom earlier, so you have to tell me."

I was looking at Hiroisora and she was silent the whole time, like she was deep in thought.

"Takaiyama-san, wait for me!" Someone shouted from behind us. When I turned around to see who called me, it was Koujou. The three of us stopped walking and faced her.

"Oh yeah, you wanted to talk earlier. What is it about?"

"Why are you acting so cold to me? Is that how you show your appreciation?" Koujou complained about my answer to her.

"Appreciation? For what?"

"That I came to your school!" She seemed annoyed that I didn't know what to be appreciative of. She was pouting like a child. "I even told my fans that I was going to meet my knight in shining armor today and asked them to wish me good luck!" She pulled out her phone and showed me her post from her website.

"What is this about a knight in shining armor? Hmm?" Nariyuki was really curious about it. Then she looked at Hiroisora, who was looking away like she doesn't care.

"You see, Takaiyama-san saved me from a stalker. At first I thought he was the stalker, but then he said he wasn't. Then he helped me catch the real stalker. Afterwards, I fell in love with him." What did she just say? "Oops, I wasn't supposed to say that last part. I was meaning to say that when we are alone together…"

"Wow, how straight forward." Nariyuki was impressed, but she looked at Hiroisora as if to tell her she should be more like that. Hiroisora's expression changed when she heard what Koujou said. She then turned around and went ahead to the clubroom. "Wait, Kari-chan!" Nariyuki followed her.

I wanted to follow Hiroisora, but I was still processing what Koujou told us, especially that falling in love part.

"We're finally alone." Koujou sounded relieved, but she wasn't irritated in any way. "I can finally say my feelings towards you…"

"You actually already did."

"Oh yeah…" She seemed really sad and was on the verge of tears. "This wasn't how it was supposed to go…"

"That was really a lame way to confess, you know. I've received a lot of confessions and that was one of the worst, since it was by mistake." I was trying to lighten the mood.

"A lot… of confessions?"

"Yeah, why? I know it's hard to believe, but—"

"You cheater! I was thinking of you all this time and yet…"

"I don't think that qualifies as cheating, since we're not dating or anything. Right?" She fell silent for a while.

"Is it true about you and Hiroisora?" Her tone was much more serious than before. "Well?" Even though I know I am not obligated to answer her, I felt like I needed to.

"Yes, it's true." I want it to be true. Now I finally understand my true feelings.

"I see."

"Thank you for telling me your feelings. I'm really honored someone like you would feel something like that for me. But—"

"I'm not giving up."

"…Huh?"

"I am not going to lose to Hiroisora. Never again."