ａ   ｆｌｏｗｅｒ   ｍｙｓｔｅｒｙ

『 your p.o.v 』

"So, you just happened to run into Otori Eiji at a cafe and then magically appeared at HE★VENS' concert earlier?"

I caved in some on myself at Shining's less than amused tone as I stood in front of his desk within his large office. "It's the truth. We spoke at the cafe a bit, he offered for me to go and see his brother perform, and I didn't think to ask just who his brother was until it was too late. I'm sorry for not handling this situation better Shining..."

The older man sighed as he ran a hand through his dark burgundy hair. "I'll cut you some slack since this was an accident, but you need to think things through more Miss Kotobuki. The next time you make a mistake like this, I won't take it lightly." He then warned, his voice holding no warmth to it now.

"I understand. Actually Shining, can I talk to you about Quartet Night while I'm here?" I asked with a hesitant smile. "I know you're upset about this but-"

Holding up a hand, Shining cut me off before nodding towards the couch closest to his desk. "What is it you want to discuss?"

Sitting down on the plush cushions of the couch, I diverted my gaze downwards to my hands that are fisted around the end of my school uniforms skirt. "Well, there's two things. Firstly, Quartet Night and I spoke a few days ago about their group song and they said they want to hold off on making another so their two new cd's will only be featuring their four solo songs if that's alright with you."

"If that's what they want to do then I don't see anything wrong with that. Now what's the second thing you want to talk about?" Shining asked, his tone more gentle now than before.

My fists tightened ever so slightly as I debated on really asking this or not. "Secondly... Is AI related to Aine somehow..?"

I didn't dare look up as a long pause passed us by, Shining not saying a thing for a good while. But, I had to ask him about this. Ever since I learned of Aine and saw pictures of him and heard his voice, there's no denying that something fishy is going on here and I don't want Reiji getting hurt by whatever that something is. He's my idol and I want to protect him just as Mom asked me to. Even if she didn't ask me to watch over Reiji, I would have done it anyways. I care too much about him to not try my hardest to keep him happy...

"What makes you think they're related?" Shining asked instead of giving me a direct answer.

Glancing up to meet the older man's cold gaze, I instantly caved in on myself just a little more. "I never knew Aine, but I've listened to his songs and seen pictures of him and, AI is just like Aine. I know Reiji thinks so too but he won't say a thing about it so I will. I'm not asking for specifics or anything, but I don't want Reiji getting hurt because of this."

"Are you asking as my student, as Quartet Night's composer, or as Kotobuki Reiji's younger sister?"

"Both as Quartet Night's composer and as his younger sister." I responded without an ounce of hesitation. "I care for those four and I want them to succeed and Reiji needs to be focused on his work in order for that to happen. He already ended up in the hospital once because of his grief over Aine's disappearance and now being in the same band as AI and it's only a matter of time before he does something stupid again because of this. I just want to know if there's anything I should tell him when things fall apart again?"

Staying quiet, Shining stood up from his chair and moved to look out the windows behind his desk that overlook much of the school. "Your brother is a capable idol. He'll pull through any of his own personal issues for the good of the band. All you need to be concerned with is composing for them."

"A good composer doesn't ignore their idols when they're upset."

"I appreciate your concern, Miss Kotobuki. But there's nothing for me to tell you about AI. He's not related to Aine and any resemblance he may hold is simply a coincidence."

Staring at this older man's back for a second, I lightly sighed and got up from the couch. "Alright. I won't ask about AI and Aine anymore. Again, sorry for this whole situation with HE★VENS."

Making my way towards the large double doors to Shining's office, I stopped when he spoke once more. "Quartet Night is a newly formed band, Miss Kotobuki. It will take some time for them to truly become a band. Don't worry so much and I look forward to hearing your songs for both them and for this last set of duets and solo's you're working on for class."

"I'll be taking my leave. Have a good rest of your evening Shining..."

I didn't bother waiting for a response and instead slipped out of his office in record time. I'm so frustrated with that response to AI and Aine that I honestly don't trust myself not saying something I'll regret later. Shining already gave me a free pass where HE★VENS' is concerned and I don't need to go making things worse for myself or for my idols by speaking my mind right now.

Walking down the hallway towards my dorm-room, I shook my head some. It's just, I wanted something from him when I asked about AI and Aine. Reiji is struggling with the same questions I am and so many more concerning his new bandmate and his late best friend. All I want to do is help him and instead I get absolutely nothing from Shining other than a response that basically disregards Reiji's wellbeing and paints me in a light that looks as though I'm just overly-protective and worrying over nothing important.

I don't have a thing against AI. He's a great and handsome idol who's helped me out a number of times now and I'm grateful for that. But I can't help but worry for Reiji and even for AI to an extent. I can't imagine what it must be like always being compared to an idol like Aine by not only the music industry but by Quartet Night's own fans and Reiji...

For right now, I'll just have to listen to Shining and not worry too much over something I can't change. But I will find answers later on as to what's going on here.

Too caught up in my own thoughts, I unsurprisingly ran into someones broad chest the second I turned the corner to walk down yet another one of Saotome Academy's countless hallways. Landing on my butt, I quickly made sure my skirt didn't go flying up as the person I ran into offered me a hand. "I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was walking. Are you alright ___?"

Looking up to the handsome blue haired boy, I couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Masa, didn't you say the exact same thing when we first met each other?" I mused as I gladly put my hand in his and allowed for my idol friend to pull me up with surprising ease.

Masato looked away from me as a light blush tinted his cheeks. "What would you have preferred me to say in this situation? Sorry for nearly trampling my composer?"

"You're too much." I giggled as I glanced around some. "Anyways, where were you headed? It's already getting a little too late to be going anywhere right?"

"I ran out of Earl Gray tea and was just making a quick run to the nearby convenience store to buy some more. Care to join me?" He asked with a soft smile gracing his features.

I looked past Masato and down the hallway towards where my dorm room is before offering him a bright smile. "Sure, I've missed spending time with you so let's go."

The blue haired idol student and I began walking down the hallway side by side, our steps lining up easily as we enjoy one another's company in peaceful silence. Though even with Masato here to calm me down from being upset like I was only minutes ago, I can't help but still feel a little irritated about the whole AI and Reiji thing. It's just so frustrating because I can't even try to help Reiji apart from being there for him. I want to make everything okay again for him like how things were before he joined Quartet Night. Of course he still had his own problems with Aine's disappearance, but it was bearable for the most part it seemed. Now with AI here, he's probably bringing up a lot of old memories and thoughts and regrets for Reiji and I don't want to see him so sad anymore...

Even if he is hiding it behind a dashing smile, he can't fool me just as I can't fool him.

"You're awfully deep in thought, is everything alright?" Masato spoke up just as we were nearing one of the back entrances of the Academy, this one in particular leading to a path that will take us directly to the convenience store nearby. "I know we rarely see each other nowadays, but you seem more distant than usual. Did something happen?"

Flashing Masato a reassuring smile, I tried to not let my own inner turmoil shine through. "I'm fine. Just a little stressed trying to balance school and work and just being in the public eye now more than ever before. I knew wanting to compose for you guys and for the Quartet would be a challenge, but I don't think I anticipated for it to be this hard." I mused with a small laugh.

My blue haired friend frowned a little as he opened one of the double doors and held it open for me, the chilled winter night wind nipping at our skins now. "Having eyes on you whenever you go out is a pretty difficult thing to become familiar with. I'm sorry you're stressed. Would you like to share some of my tea with me to try and ease your mind if only a little?"

"It's getting late Masa, I don't want to keep you up longer than you have to be-"

"Staying up to talk to you is never a problem."

"Well, if you insist." I giggled as I went ahead and linked our arms as we continued walking down the path leading further and further away from the Academy's walls.

Masato nodded slightly. "How have your compositions been coming along?" He asked, keeping the conversation going this time around.

I thought for a moment. "Quartet Night's solo songs have been completed, so has Toki's solo song, and Otoya's is nearly completed as well. I'll be talking with Syo and Natsuki tomorrow about their solo songs and duet ideas before I start composing those songs along with Toki and Otoya's duet. So, I'm about halfway finished with all the songs I have to have written before the end of the week." I mused.

"Take care of yourself ___." Masato said as we passed by the tree where we sat down together after buying lemon bread and food for Kuppuru on the day we first, quite literally, ran into one another. "I'll always have an extra teacup set out just for you so don't hesitate to come to mine and Jinguji's dorm room whenever you need a break."

"Better be careful with an offer like that. I might just never leave if you promise me an endless amount of tea." I said with a bright laugh.

"And what a cruel fate that would be." Masato chuckled, the convenience store coming into sight now.

Once again holding the door open for myself, Masato motioned for me to walk in first and I gratefully did so. Glancing around some, I made a beeline for the sweets aisle while my blue haired friend called after me saying he'd be looking at the selection of tea a few aisles over.

I know Natsuki said once that there's this certain kind of cookie he likes to eat whenever he drinks tea with Masato, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. Sugar cookies? No... Maybe just your typical chocolate chip cookies..? Doubt it. Ah, I should just text Camus for his sweets recommendation since he practically lives off of sugary snacks anyways.

Taking out my phone, I went ahead and sent the platinum blonde a quick text. It's not too late into the night just yet so I'm sure he's still awake. Hopefully he's not busy or else I won't be buying any snacks to eat with Masato...

Within the minute, I got a rather lengthy reply from Camus. All I had asked is what kind of cookies go good with tea and he practically wrote me an entire essay detailing what cookies and other kinds of confectionaries go great with different tasting teas- he even spoke about what colors compliment others and wow, Camus takes his tea and sweets far more seriously than I had thought.

Giggling some to myself, I went ahead and skimmed over his long text message before snapping a pic of a pretty generic box of sweet small cookies and sending it to him asking if this would do for Earl Gray. At least I think Masato is going to be making us Earl Gray. That seems to be his favorite tea by far.

Another quick reply later and I managed to get Camus' approval in my cookie choice. See everyone, this is why you become a composer. Not to get close to handsome and amazingly talented idols, no, simply for their knowledge in everything junk food related.~

Sending a quick "thank you" text to Camus, I went ahead and pocketed my phone once more before grabbing the box of cookies and heading off to where Masato should be.

"Struggling to pick something out?" I mused as I approached my blue haired friend who's currently standing in front of a large selection of tea and staring at it as if it's one of the worlds seven wonders.

Masato glanced to me before looking back to the teas. "My usual brand isn't here." He said simply. "And now I don't know what to get."

"I'll ask Camus what he thinks we should get to go with the cookies I'm getting." I said as I once again grabbed my phone, took a picture this time of all the tea's this convenience store offers, and sent it off to the platinum blonde.

"Camus? I thought he didn't talk to anyone really unless it was business related?" Masato asked as he flicked those deep ocean blue eyes of his to me and didn't look away. "Has the Earl learned to be friendly?"

I couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. "Camus isn't a bad guy in the least bit. He kind of reminds me a bit of Ren actually so I'm sure you and him could get along once Camus opens up a bit more."

"Two Jinguji's..." Masato murmured before shaking his head. "That's one nightmare I think I'd rather not entertain."

"Oh stop it, Camus is great-" My phone suddenly pinged notifying me of a message. "See look! He's telling us what teas, to get... Nevermind, he just said that all of the teas here aren't up to his standards and that he recommends us to go find actual tea that isn't for commoners." I sighed. "So much for having faith in my idol."

Masato chuckled some as he went back to looking at all of the teas. "Well, Camus is a gentleman is he not? I'm sure if you ask him once more for his recommendation, he'll give you it."

As if on cue, another ping went off and a message displayed on my phone. "If you really must drink the stuff of commoners, I recommend the green tea all the way to the left on the third shelf up. It has blah blah blah and tastes edible.~" I read Camus' message and both Masato and I laughed at me skipping most of the platinum blondes second essay to myself.

"Well, at the very least we now know he's reliable." Masato chuckled, grabbing the box of green tea and motioning for me to walk ahead of him towards the front counter to pay for our items.

"For as cold as Camus can be, I genuinely think him along with the other Quartet Night members are far from being bad people. They just have very different personality traits and mixing all of them together into a band, well, makes everything quite hectic." I mused.

With a bag in his right hand, I linked my arm with Masato's once more as we began the ten or so minute long walk back to the Academy. I hummed a little melody as we went on our way. He didn't seem to mind as I did so, occasionally stealing glances towards me anytime he thought I wasn't paying attention.

"Oh that reminds me Masa," I said, nearly giving him a heart attack as I obviously caught him looking at me, "were you the one who left a bouquet of roses in front of my dorm room a couple nights ago?" I asked.

Masato blinked a few times before shaking his head. "No. I wouldn't leave them where anyone could take them if I was going to give you a gift like that." He responded coolly, no longer embarrassed like he was just moments ago.

I hummed as I nodded. "Yeah, I figured as much. I doubt Tokiya would leave them, Ren would have taken credit for the bouquet, and I feel like Natsuki would have too..."

"Wait, someone left a bouquet for you and didn't say who they're from?" Masato asked to which I nodded again. "That's interesting. Normally when someone gives a gift as thoughtful as that, they want recognition."

"I know right! It's so weird." I agreed before laughing a bit. "But it's fine. I appreciate the gift, I just wish I could thank whoever gave it to me."

The blue haired idol student looked out to the lake we're walking by as a strong gust of chilled wind blew past. "It's truly a mystery." He murmured

After a lovely late-night snack of eating cookies and drinking freshly prepared tea with Masato in one of the lesser-known about lounges within Saotome Academy, I went ahead and took my leave so that he could get a good nights sleep and I could finish Otoya's solo song before the morning. Really, spending the evening with Masato after a day like this helped to keep my mind off things and put me in a much better mood then I would have been if I just sulked outside until I froze on some bench.

I'll have to thank Ren and Masato sometime for being there for me whether they knew I needed them or not.

Walking up and down countless hallways to make it to my dorm room, I passed at most three other students who happened to be up this late. Though I did run into Ryuuya halfway through my walk. We didn't chat long and both of us just wanted to head to our rooms. Thankfully it was Ryuuya and not Ringo I ran into because lord knows what might have happened if I ran into that pesky pink haired man when the clock is minutes from striking midnight...

Turning down one last hallway, I was surprised to find yet another gift left for me just outside my dorm room. Instead of a bouquet of roses, this was just a singular rose with a little note tied around it's stem, the plant placed up against the wall as to keep it from potentially getting stepped on.

Walking and crouching down in front of it, I grabbed the this time deep blue rose and inspected the note.

"I hope you liked the bouquet I had picked for you. Keep up the great work ___."

Standing back up, I smiled some as I shook my head. Whoever is leaving me these gifts wants to stay anonymous for a little longer it seems. I really wonder who's leaving these though..?

Opening the door to my dorm, I held the rose up for both Tomo-chan and Haruka to see, the two laying down on Tomo-chan's bed and watching videos on Haruka's tablet. "Hey guys, here's another gift to feed your gossiping needs."

Tomo-chan's attention immediately snapped to me in the matter of milliseconds. "A single rose this time?" She asked, reaching out with one hand and waving me over to her and her girlfriend. "Seriously, do we have to set up a sting operation to catch whoever this guy is?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that as Haruka gently took the rose from me and read it's note. "It would be fun to catch whoever is giving you these in the act..." She murmured with a small smile.

"Oh gosh, Tomo-chan is such a bad influence on you!" I said with a loud laugh as the burgundy haired girl pulled me down to lie with them, successfully keeping me pinned in a makeshift headlock of sorts as I continue to laugh.

"Yah! I'm not a bad influence on her!" Tomo-chan said as she squeezed me a bit before laughing as well. "We're bad influences on each other." She then sang.

Haruka giggled as she handed the rose back to me once I managed to escape Tomo-chan's death hold. "The note confirms that whoever gave you that bouquet also gave you this. Do you have any ideas who gave you them yet?"

I shook my head. "No. I asked Masato if he gave me the bouquet and he said he didn't-"

"He could just be saying that though." Tomo-chan reasoned.

"Yeah, but he also said that it's weird for someone to give a gift as thoughtful as these and not want recognition for it so I believe him when he says he didn't do it. Masato's the type to just walk up and give me something if he really wanted to."

"That's just what he wants you to think."

"Ren would probably sign it and he wouldn't use your real name when addressing you either," Haruka spoke up thoughtfully. "He's the type to leave the flowers for you, but he'd sign that they were from him for sure."

All of us stayed quiet as we thought this over a bit more.

"If it was Otoya," Tomo-chan started, "he'd probably give it to you face to face."

Haruka nodded. "Same with Syo."

"Maybe it was Natsuki then?" I asked.

The burgundy haired girl lying down beside me groaned as she let her face fall into the puffy blanket. "He'd probably bake you something instead of giving you flowers." She mumbled into said blanket.

"Well that just leaves Toki." I sighed. "And Toki wouldn't give me flowers."

"How do you know that for sure?" Haruka asked.

I shrugged in response. "He just doesn't seem like the kind of guy to leave flowers without saying they're from him."

Abruptly sitting up, Tomo-chan looked to me with a mischevious grin that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. "___, where's your phone?"

"Why..?"I asked hesitantly.

"Oh just unlock it and hand it over." She said as she poked my forehead. "C'mon, it's in the name of justice to narrow down the suspects."

Knowing that even if I told her no, she'd still find a way to steal my phone, I went ahead and saved myself the earache and unlocked it for her. Within seconds Tomo-chan got up from the bed with my phone and put a fair amount of distance between the bed and herself as Haruka and I watched her with amused expressions.

The burgundy haired girl suddenly put the phone on speaker and held it for all of us to listen to the ringing filtering out of the small device's speakers. Soon enough the ringing ended with a soft click and a very familiar voice filled the room. "It's late kiddo, something wrong?"

My eyes widened as Tomo-chan looked to me with an innocent smile. "Hi Reiji! This is Tomo-chan, a roommate of ___'s, and I have a question for you if you don't mind hearing me out."

"Tomo-chan, hang up that phone right now!" I yelled as I scurried to try and get up off the bed only to get caught in the blanket and trip face-first into the floor, Haruka tossing down a pillow for me to use since it doesn't look like I'll be getting up anytime soon...

Reiji chuckled as he shifted around a bit on his side of the call. He must be in bed right about now and here us kids are calling him like a bunch of teenage girls at a sleepover that got a little out of hand. "And what question might you have for me, Miss Tomo-chan?" My idol asked with an amused lilt to his words.

"Well you see here Reiji, someone has been leaving flowers for our dear ___ and I was wondering if you were the one leaving them?" The burgundy haired girl asked as her smile widened down at me into something truly devious. "Because if it's none of our friends in school doing it then it must be you, right?"

Shoving my face into the pillow Haruka so graciously threw down onto my head from up above, I wished for nothing but for the floor to open up and swallow me whole right then and there. "I'm going to be dead the next time I see Reiji..." I mumbled, Haruka giggling at my theatrics while her girlfriend tries to back my idol up into a corner.

"Someone's leaving flowers for my special girl?" Reiji repeated before chuckling once more. "Not a bad idea, I'll have to try it out for myself sometime but sorry to let you girls down this time around. I'm not the one giving her flowers. But keep me updated when you find out who is."

Tomo-chan twirled around some as she skipped over to where I am and crouched down with that same devious smile plastered across her lips. "I'll keep you in the loop Reiji. Have a good night. Want to say goodnight ___?" She then asked as she held the phone closer to me.

Huffing, I snatched my phone right out of her hand and shot a playful glare at her. "Sorry about that Rei-chan. My so-called "friends" here are just about as nice as Ranmaru and Camus I swear."

Reiji laughed at that. "They're wonderful friends kiddo. Now go get some sleep it's already one in the morning and I know you have to wake up early to continue composing."

"Yeah yeah, text me when you and the Quartet are going to go record your solo's, kay?"

"Got it! Goodnight and I love you ___."

"Love you too."

Clicking the glowing red "end call" button, I immediately looked at Tomo-chan and pointed my finger straight at her face. "You! You are never allowed access to my phone ever again."

Tomochika plopped back down on the bed and "helped" me by pushing my legs right off the top of the bed, the bottom half of my body just smacking into the wood floor now though thankfully it didn't hurt. "Hey, now we can rule out Reiji from doing this too!" She mused with a bright laugh. "C'mon, that was fun."

"You're evil."

"And you wouldn't have me any other way.~"

————————

I'm dying squirtel xD Tomo-chan is that one best friend who you love despite doing things that give you social anxiety times infinity I swear

Question of the Chapter: Two chapters ago, I asked who you guys think is bringing the protagonist the flowery gifts. Now I want to ask, who do you want to be the person leaving her the flowers? xD tbh I'm rooting for Ren or Tokiya but that's because I'm biased and really that's not surprising in the least bit lul

I still can't believe Tomo-chan called Reiji like ohmygosh she's such a good character in this fic to write in for comedic purposes i love her ;-; Also her relationship with Haruka is adorable to the max <3 they're precious and must be protected at all costs!

Sorry it took me a bit to get this chapter out, things go from kinda hectic to *really* hectic so quickly lately that every time I sit down to write, writers block hits or I have to run off and take care of something and just ughhhh it's so hard to find time to write right now and it sucks cuz I love giving you guys stuff to read! Hopefully everything calms down soon so I can get back to doing what I love lol

I love each and every last one of you lovely cuties and thanks so much for taking the time to read this chapter <3

  ~ ｋａｔ ♡