Rin Mizota's POV:

I remembered the day I met Shii like it was yesterday.

She never had problems speaking her mind but her sharp tongue was certainly at its peak in grade school.

The majority of our first grade class was afraid to approach her. Unfortunately, even me. Whenever our homeroom teacher requested we pair up to do activities, or we played games as an entire class, she never joined in. The class whispered about how gloomy she was—that she was weird, and rough, and tough. Stories about her punching or kicking our peers and getting in trouble by the teacher was a common occurrence also.

To follow in my late dad's footsteps who was a musician, I sung or danced at every opportunity. Of course, as a boy who should've instead been engaging in sports or 'masculine' pastimes, that wasn't so well-received. I was often picked on by some of the older kids.

One particular day I was, she passed by, and beat the snot out of them.

Needless to say, I was petrified.

The older kids ran off, wailing, and the first thing she said to me was, "You're pathetic."

It stung like knives.

"Why didn't you tell them off?" she asked onward. "It's because you cry they pick on you. Stop crying, dummy."

She said it like it was easy. Somehow, because she did, because she was so cool, the uncontrollable stream of tears did stop flowing in that moment.

"I'm stronger than you," she continued. "Therefore, you have to do as I say."

"N-no—"

"It wasn't a question."

"Y-y-yes."

As if catching on to how scared I was, she smiled then beckoned something for me.

"Here."

"Huh?"

They were animal crackers. Crouching beside me, where my snack had been completely stomped upon earlier, she opened them.

"Those jerks ruined your lunch, right? I'll give these to you." She extended it to me. "Oh, but I want some too so we have to share. My favourite ones are the sheeps 'cause they're cute. Which one do you like?"

She was kind—the exact opposite of the monster who had those older kids wetting their pants in fear; unrecognizable from the girl our peers avoided like the plague.

"By the way, what's your name?" she'd asked while we ate.

"You don't know your own classmate's name?"

"Classmates? We are?"

I jokingly clutched my chest. "Owwie. That hurts."

"That sucks. If you don't make it, I'm eating your share of crackers without you."

Her sarcasm was also brutal.

"So, what is it?"

"Rin—Rinnosuke."

"Rin-Rinnosuke?"

"N-no—"

"That's a weird name."

How could I tell her I messed up saying my own name because I was nervous? She'd call me pathetic again.

"That's too much of a mouthful so I'll call you 'Rin-Rin' for short."

"No. I don't want that. 'Rin-Rin' is embarrassing."

"If you have a problem, give me a nickname too."

An embarrassing nickname. . . ?

Using all the intellect I had at that point in time, I came up with an immediate one: "Shii!"

She thought about it.

"That's cute."

No! "W-wait," I said, "let me change it into something more—"

"Nope. I like it."

"Urgh."

She erupted into laughter.

Right then, the bells pealed across the school, signalling the end of lunch. Shii sprinted toward the nearest trash bin to dispose of the empty snack wrapper alongside my soiled snack, before returning to my side. She noticed straightaway.

"Does your leg hurt?"

I bobbed my head as I clambered to my feet. Newfound waterworks tickled the corners of my eyelids. Those bullies had kicked me one too many times. Nonetheless, the pain wasn't entirely unbearable.

I limped at a steady pace in the direction of the school building. Shii shuffled beside me.

"You don't have to walk slower for me," I told her. "Class is starting."

"This isn't for you," she responded, matter-of-factly. "I just move super-duper slow."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying. This is as fast as I can go."

She was insanely stubborn.

"Rin-Rin, can I tell you a secret?" She sent me an ear-wide grin. "This is the first time I've ever talked to anyone in our class."

Following a beat of silence, she shyly fidgeted from foot to foot.

"Is it. . . okay if I talk to you tomorrow too?"

It became crystal clear to me, then. It wasn't that Shii was unapproachable, or tough. She had backbone because she was left no choice but to grow one. Deep down, she didn't want to be left out of circles. She wanted to talk freely and play with others. Yet she bottled it inside because nobody let her voice otherwise.

I took her fragile hand and bobbed my head. "We can talk every day if you want."

"Okay! Let's stay together in the future, too. Forever and ever! I'll protect you from those boys if they pick on you again. I won't let them hurt you."

It was reversed.

I should've been the one to say that. However, clueless to how delicate her heart really was—that she was one who needed somebody to protect her—she continued to shield me. Whenever I was down, whenever I was scared, or excited, she was the one I relied on. I found comfort in having her around. I couldn't imagine my life without her.

To this day, I cherished her kindness. Even now, she gave me courage.

On behalf of others, she could get defensive. Throw a punch or kick; cheer them on genuinely. But toward herself, she was submissive. She received blows, no matter how brutal. She couldn't cheer herself on without withholding some degree of doubt.

It took me longer than necessary to realize that.

I never caught on to her insecurities until it was too late.

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

~1 year after the end of the first book~

"Rin, we've been at this for two hours. Can't we take a break?"

"No way. You're too loveable."

"But I'm exhausted. I can't handle this anymore."

"Just a bit longer. Please? I can't get enough of you."

Her look fell flatter than a board.

"Hey," she deadpanned. "Why do you keep laughing?"

That was the cue that had me guffawing hysterically. "Because. . . ! If somebody overheard us, they'd so get the wrong idea."

She shoved me, a bashful frown in tow. "Perv."

"Scream my name."

"I am leaving."

"No. Shii. Don't leave. I need you. What about singing?"

"What about it?"

"I'm sorry. Finish your song. I'll keep those jokes for the future when we—"

"And your right to listen to me sing has been revoked."

"Aww. I've been revoked!"

She shot me a half-hearted glare as she rose from the couch to toss me the microphone. We were at a karaoke bar. Upon her request, she'd wanted me
me to listen to her sing (to which I got carried away and had her perform her own personal concert for me). I was in the city for work and since I had some free time this afternoon, I'd passed the time with Shii, practically watching her for two hours straight. It brought back memories. Before I rose to fame, we regularly stopped by this very karaoke bar, entertaining ourselves for hours on end. It'd been forever since we last did this, granted, she'd done most of the performing.

Her passionate singing. Her genuine love for music. I couldn't get tired of her. Growing up, our moms signed us up for vocal lessons and dance lessons primarily because it was something I wanted to do, but Shii stood by me through all that. Watching her fall more and more in love with the music industry I admired was so touching. More so, when she finally stopped denying it as a hobby, and made it her primary passion too.

Even if our genres of music varied, I loved this side of her endlessly. Everything about her, really, played a constant crescendo in my heart.

"I get it." I rose to my feet. "For my favourite girl, I'll put on the grandest concert. Any requests?"

Unlike Shii whose band's songs obviously weren't readily available, within the karaoke system, mine were ironically in abundance.

"Then," she said without missing a beat, "your song, 'Firefly.'"

It was a startling suggestion. "Any reason?"

"Your performance during your live show was unbelievably touching. I'm still bummed out I couldn't attend."

"I performed that song only once, at a random venue. Where did you find the footage?"

"As Rin Mizota's number one fan, I'm sad you have to ask that." She grinned from ear to ear, an expression that never failed to knock my heart off beat. "I stalk you on a regular basis. I know everything there is to know about you."

"That so?" Chuckling, I leaned forward, clipping her chin between my forefinger and thumb. "Then, what am I thinking right now?"

"In your one-tracked mind? Obviously, thoughts of how amazing I am."

"Actually," I beamed, "'I love you' keeps pouring out."

"Should've figured," she joked, lips brushing mine. "If you love me so much, then how come for the majority of our lives, you never told me?"

"I wasn't subtle at all, trust me," I answered. "You're just dense."

"Yet you stayed in love with dense ol' me, one day praying it'll be reciprocal?"

"I never prayed. I'd given up hope plenty of times. Wanted to move on. But, whenever I saw you, or heard your voice, or thought of you, these feelings I desperately bottled spilled out. Even if it wasn't reciprocal, even if it would never be, all I knew was that I loved you. Remember when I twisted your words so that it'd align with what I always wished for? Even after you set the record straight—through the heartbreak—I still knew. That I'll love you forever. Even now, this all feels like a dream."

"You've dreamed of this before?"

"From the day we met."

"While we rode our bikes across the city?"

"Yes."

"When we failed our midterm exams in middle school and had to scrub down the entire school pool as punishment?"

"Yes."

"While I napped in your arms?"

"Yup."

"You're that obsessed with me, huh?"

"Very."

I kissed her, a sentiment she readily reciprocated. Our entire lives, I deemed a day like this would never arrive. The prospect that Shii would ever glance in my direction, let alone return my feelings, always felt like a far-fetched delusion. She'd constantly babied me, so I desperately tried to outgrow the childish image she had of me. However, it wasn't easy, and I couldn't outright shake it. Even now, I doubted I'd totally matured from the child-like perception she had of me. I'd shown her tons of my ugly, wimpy sides. Yet. . .

"You know," she mused upon retreating, "the fact that the hottest guy in the country is kissing me right now—that he's all over me—is kind of crazy. Your poor fangirls. Sucks to be them. I love you too, Rin."

Laughing, I pressed my nose to hers. "I love you more, Shii."

"I love you most." She scanned my eyes. "We do get to hang out a lot more frequently but it still sucks we have to keep saying goodbye. You have work after this, don't you?"

"Sorry."

"Stop apologizing." She shook my shoulders. "You're famous. What else do you expect? Besides. . ."

"Hmm?"

"Because of your actions, the entire world knows we're together. So even if you're around or not, I've got loads of people lining up to ask about you."

Okay, so kissing her in front of millions of viewers wasn't the smartest idea. As a result, Shii had ended up being targeted by paparazzi, which she wasn't too grateful about at first. Though, because of it, it became easier to talk about Shii publicly. She attended my events whenever she could, as if she were meant to be there all along. It even helped with her band's popularity, although some speculated they were riding on my coattails to success. What I feared, her being targeted by jealous fans, didn't happen, save for a few internet incidents. Shii was never too hooked on social media to begin with so it never bothered her.

That distance between us was no longer there.

It didn't have to be.

"Do your classmates still give you trouble?"

"They treat me like royalty," she insisted, tapping around the machine to choose my song for me. "It was a tough pill to swallow at first, but I've gotten used to being goggled like a stone statue in a museum. There's about a few months until graduation. I can manage. Oh. About graduation. . . you're set to graduate any day now, right?"

"I'm just about finished with my homeschooling," I replied. "But for graduation. . ."

"What?"

I cast a sly smile. "We've chatted long enough. Let me get this performance out of the way. Then we can duet another song next."

"No need."

She raised the screen, grinning sillily. Let alone one, she had picked a long lineup of my songs. She wanted me to sing them all.

I guess the both of us couldn't get enough of each other. That being said, we had been with one another since we were six. With twelve whole years under our belt, that should've been expected.

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•

Shiina Kisaragi's POV:

Rin's singing never failed to leave me in my feelings. He was constantly so mesmerizing I had to pinch myself during each of his performances to convince myself I hadn't concocted most of it. Was it because I'd been with him for so long, watching him grow and develop, that seeing his progress was unbelievably touching?

Last night's visit to the karaoke bar still felt like a feverish dream. Similar to what he'd done to me, I had him sing his guts out as well. Unlike me, however, Rin had crazy stamina and it didn't faze him. That did somewhat frustrate me, but at least in that room, we could even sing duets without a worry about anybody bothering us.

The day we'd stand on the same stage as celebrities on the same footing, performing together, was still faraway. Graduation was right around the corner. With school out of the way, I'd have a lot more legroom to pursue my dream. Toru and the others were already making plans.

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?"

Leaping down the stairs two at a time, hair and outfit a dishevelled mess, bag haphazardly strung across my shoulders, I dashed for the kitchen.

"Good morning, Shiina," Chie said. "I sent Mao, but. . ."

"Mao stands no chance against Shiina's morning breath," Mao mumbled between bites of food.

"Brat," I spat, swiping the lunchbox from Chie and a slice of toast.

"Yeah, Mao. Shii may be unseemly in the morning, but she's cute once you feed her. Mrs. Chie, more rice!"

"One more for me as well, madam."

"Yes, yes."

I was already halfway out of the door, but I dashed right back in.

My eyes bulged.

"Rin?!"

Face soiled in food, the number one face in the country tilted his head to address me. His radiant smile was immediate.

"'Morning, Shii!"

"How. . ."

Tons of questions threatened to teem from my lips. However, all were thwarted from my mind upon a glimpse of his attire, and his manager, Mrs. Junpei, whom I'd had the pleasure of meeting countless times.

"Rin, why are you wearing the Hoshizaki Academy uniform?"

"How does it look on me? Great?"

"That's not what I. . . Don't tell me—"

"Mr. Rinnosuke Mizotaro will begin attending Hoshizaki Private Academy while on his break," Mrs. Junpei disclosed.

He sealed the deal with a bright grin and peace-sign. "Let's have a blast together, Shii!"