_________________
Oh,
you make
me
  smile.
Uncle Kracker
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My body rested against the sliding door of my piano room. I wasn't going to let anyone harm it. I couldn't even protect my last one. And I was too broke to buy a new one. After all, this was a grand piano.

I'm surprised a school such as this could sacrifice the money to buy this thing. It was worth it though. No one else wanted or even knew how to use it except for myself. Or there were others, but they didn't  know about this special place. My sanctuary.

As soon as I heard about this room from the music club, I rushed my way to the main office to have a little chat with our principal. And just like that, this room became my own.

I couldn't help but smile at the fond memory. I was so excited to be able to lay my fingers on the heavenly keys that belonged to a grand. How much music I could make with something so beautiful. We fit hand in hand with each other. But for some reason.

I couldn't touch it.

It was like a curse. My body was tainted as soon as that hammer hit my piano. How could I allow that to happen? I should've stayed asleep there so he couldn't hit it without hitting me. I couldn't save it.

"Stupid." I cried to myself. Class was in session, yet I hid in the room that my favorite thing resided. "How sad. Am I right?" I smiled weakly. Talking to the piano as if it were alive.

"(Y/n)?" A faint voice could be heard. I turned my head to the door and a ball of purple hair filled my vision.

"Aoi... is there something you needed?" I asked her. I stood up and dusted off my skirt. Yashiro had cleaned it yesterday for me. But I had the sewing skills to make it look like nothing had been ripped in the first place.

"You weren't in class... so I brought you some food." She smiled taking out the bento box from behind her.

"Oh, that's very kind of you. Would you like some hard candy? It was made the other day and it's personally my favorite. They're jolly ranchers, but with more sugar in them." I offered. Taking the small sweets from my school bag. The girl's eyes shined with glee as she accepted the sweets. Aoi was the sweetest sweet tooth. Never refused a candy offering.

"Your candy has always been my favorite. Unlike that regular store-bought." She scoffed at the thought. I couldn't help but laugh.

"I think they taste the same. We just make a wider variety. That's why we're so popular in town." I said, taking the half sandwich Aoi offered me. We sat together on the floor. Yashiro was probably on the rooftop, daydreaming again.

"Aoi... will you please do me the honor of going out with me?" A begging voice interrupted our conversation.

"Hello, Akane." smiled at the boy's effort.

"No. One point." Aoi said coldly. I covered my mouth in an attempt to stop the laughter. Then coughed a bit.

"My my. I might need to buy some cough drops later. Ehem."

Akane's shoulders slumped forward sadly as he sat down with us two.

"How many points are there Aoi?" I asked.

"Out of one hundred!" She exclaimed excitedly. She held all of her ten fingers up before realizing they would never be enough.

"I'm getting closer! It's a trial and error process!" Alane clenched his fist determined at the challenge.

"You have to find something that makes her heart beat fast. Why not try reading a book?" I suggested. Aoi handed me a strawberry. It was probably from the produce in the garden.

The boy looked at me like I was crazy. "How dare you relate her to some simpleton in a book? Aoi is far from it! She's special, beaut-"

"And yada yada yada. Yes, I get it." I waved my hand. "I'm just saying, read it if you think it might help." The strawberry landed in my mouth and I smiled at the natural sweetness. Strawberries always hit the sweet spot.

Akane stared at Aoi before slumping his shoulders once more. "I've already tried."

"Oh, my," Aoi said, covering her mouth. She's already dealt with so many confessions, I'm sure the only thing that can make her heart beat fast now is exercise.

"I can't believe it's already lunch." I sighed and leaned back on the floor.

"What? I felt like the morning lessons lasted forever. I couldn't wait to get out of there." Aoi complained. If I were in there, I probably would've felt the same way.

"I guess I've just been too lost in my thoughts." Akane sat at the side of the room. He was still trying to come up with a better way to ask the girl beside me out.

"Oh? Thoughts about Amane I presume?" The girl smirks. Sly. Oh so sly.

My heart stopped and my eyes widen. "How did you know?" I asked.

"I have my ways." She puffs her chest out proudly.

"She means that all you ever think about," Akane says. Poor Aoi. She wanted to sound cool. The girl gave me a handful of goldfish and I took one, examining it up in the air.

"You're not entirely wrong. A lot has been on my mind recently..." My eyes gaze out the window and onto the students gathering in the courtyard.

"Well if it bothers you that much to think about it all day, why not ease some of that stress and share?" Aoi suggested.

"Oh! Good idea." My hand shuffled around in my schoolbag until my hand gripped onto the lost items. "I had bought these the other day for the festival. But I could decide which ones to wear." My hands open up to reveal two sets of earrings in the palms. One set was stars, the other was moons. "I thought that they could match my outfit for that day... but I haven't chosen that either." I let out with guilt.

Aoi smiled fondly at the set of earrings taking one in her hand. "Why don't we go figure that out? I could help you after school if you'd like." Aoi placed the earrings back into my hand and stood up with her bento. I guess it was time to get back to class. "We could bring Yashiro too! I'm sure she would love it."

Nene would be good with outfits. Nene's outfits are always cute and all, but... I'm not so certain that she wouldn't confront me about what had happened between Amane and I the other day. "We'll see," I said before the two of them walked out to get back to class.

I was comfortable now. It's always nice to talk to friends. I was way too tense to even say a word to anybody this morning. Including Nene. I should probably apologize.

Tsukasa stood next to his brother while he watched him tap his pencil against his desk. By every minute, he was getting impatient. The two twins were not sure how to approach the girl this morning due to what had happened yesterday. Apparently they were thinking about it so hard that they hadn't realized they ran out of time to visit.

He felt bad. They both did. One more than the other obviously. Amane didn't know how she felt. Yashiro had told the boy that she hasn't spoken a word since yesterday. Her nervousness was evident in her voice as she told the story.

"She was tense, but super out of it. She even walked in the wrong direction on the way to school. I get why she's upset, but I think other things have been causing a wreck in her mind." Yashiro had said to Tsukasa. Recently, Tsukasa and Yashiro had made a vow with each other. More like a bet. Five dollars to the right guess on who confesses first. Tsukasa, knowing his brother, obviously placed his money on (Y/n). He hadn't known the girl long enough to know how absolutely shy she was on this certain subject. But for Yashiro, it was the same.

Regardless of their bet. Amane has been tapping his pencil against his desk throughout lunch. Not even saying a word to those who confronted him. He had no clue what was going on in his brother's mind, but he was so concentrated, he failed to see that class was even over at the end of the day.

Amane hadn't even realized he had taken notes throughout the class. When the bell rang, it was like a bubble popped and he realized how much time had exactly flown by. In the boy's mind throughout the whole day, he was playing different scenarios throughout his head like a movie. Events on what could happen at the event. He knew he wanted to spend most of his time there with the lovely girl he liked but didn't know how to tell her indirectly so that she could take the hint. And in every situation, he failed. I was just too oblivious.

My eyes opened from the bell's ring. It was that time already? Nene's head peeked around the door as if she was seeing if I was finally awake or not. Has she been waiting?

"Do you want me to come with you back to your place? I don't want you to be there alone..." she says shyly behind the door.

"I was going with Aoi too. So yeah, let's go." I smiled tiredly at the girl. She linked my arm with her own as we walked the hall to the school entrance. We had spotted Aoi talking to Lemon and she skipped over to the two of us.

"Are you ready to pick your outfit?" She asked excitedly.

"Outfit?" Nene asked curiously. We hadn't told her yet.

"She's picking outfits for Amane." The purple-haired girl whispered to Nene mischievously. My face flushed at her comment.

"W-who says it's for him?" I looked away bashfully, waiting for her answer.

Aoi just laughed at my expression and shrugged. "The earrings say it all. Moons and stars? I mean really, who else could it be?" She grabbed both Nene and my hand and started to skip happily. "The festival is tomorrow so we better hurry."

We turned a sharp corner and bumped into the twins. Hard. Nene fell forward in a face plant and Aoi had fallen on her butt. I had just simply hit my head against Amane's. Both of us hissed in pain.

"Oh wow, that really hurt. Are you okay?" We said in unison while touching our heads in pain. Our eyes widened at the sudden convenience and we laughed.

"I swear, my clumsiness would end my life one day." I joked. Amane smiled sweetly at me. As if he forgot he was in pain at all.

"It wasn't you! It was me. I'm sorry. I was excited!" Aoi admitted while standing back up to help Nene hold her tears in.

"Excited for what?" Tsukasa asked while patting Nene on the back in comfort. This poor girl can't get a break, can she?

"We were going to help (Y/n) pick an outfit for the festival! She bought these sup-" my hand flew up to the blabbering girl's mouth. Aoi looked at me with apologetic eyes. She was glad that I had shushed her before she spoiled anything.

"Super cool microphones for karaoke! Yeah... they were coming over to help out with decorating them while I was going to pick out some outfits to try on for the event." I squeezed my eyes shut and looked away hoping that my excuse was enough.

"Oh, that sounds super fun! Can we come? How many microphones do you have?" Tsukasa asked excitedly. Amane looked at his brother nervously and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Tsukasa I don-" but Tsukasa silenced his brother's advances by stopping him with the back of a hand to his forehead.

"Uhm... Three?" I winced at the sudden attack. I felt bad for Amane and placed my cold metal water bottle from my bag onto his forehead to hopefully ease the sting.

"We were also going to grab some dinner afterward." Nene butted in. My head snapped in the girl's direction and all she did was smile sweetly. There was evil behind those eyes.

"We wer-" and then I was silenced by the same fate. I leaned my forehead against the window to cool down the sting. "Ouchhh." I wined. Tears started to form out of the corner of my eyes. "That hurt!"

Amane nodded at me knowingly. It seemed we were both in the same boat.

"Off to (Y/n)'s!" Tsukasa grabbed both of us by our forearms and started to run, leaving the other girls to follow suit.
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Original release date: May 18 2020