Chapter Six

As exciting as learning about new advanced math concepts may be, all great classes eventually come to an end, and the day seemed to go downhill from there.

After math class came Orchestra, which was something all students were expected to take. As classical music was extremely important in the higher-class community, the requirement of taking four years or more of an instrument became prevalent throughout junior high and high school. An eighth-grade Yuu decided he would do the most typical choice out there; the violin. The strings still occasionally squeaked painfully when he played a wrong note, but Yuu had definitely improved over the years.

However, by some magical force that wanted to make his life harder than it should be, Yuu was given one of the major solos in the upcoming orchestra concert. Guess that was to be expected, considering he was first chair. He had risen up to first chair violin this year, which he supposed he should be proud of, but it wasn't a big enough deal for him to care.

Upon hearing the news, his parents were ecstatic. His mother, Kaori, who enjoyed violin herself in her high school days, lived vicariously through her son's success and had extremely high expectations for him to essentially not fuck everything up and ruin the family namesake (well, at least, that's his personal translation of her impassioned speech about it).

Then came Advanced Latin, which was hell in itself. It didn't help that he sat next to Mitsuba Sangu, Shinoa's best friend, but more commonly known as the most annoying girl on Earth. Seriously, Yuu was convinced this girl was dragged from the darkest pits of Hell for the single intention of ruining his day. He had no idea how Shinoa was able to tolerate even having a simple conversation with the devil's spawn herself.

Their conversation when Yuu walked into class went as follows:

Mitsuba: "Looking shitty as always, Prince Itchy-nose!"

Yuu: "Fuck off, Shit-suba."

Thankfully, they got new assigned seats that day, so Yuu and Mitsuba were now separated as far as possible. Their weary professor had grown weary of their constant, disruptive bickering and drew up a new seating chart to get them away from each other poste haste. Yuu was just glad he was able to finally focus on his Latin passage translation in peace.

After Latin was Medieval European History, which Yuu loved only because he could shorten the class to "MEH", which was exactly what he felt about the class. Too many dates, random facts, and names of dead people that didn't really matter.

Lunch, or Yuu's personal favorite period of the day, came after history, and god, by the time the bell rang for lunch Yuu had never felt happier. Why wouldn't he; lunch was basically an hour to do nothing but talk with friends and eat food. It was a great break from class, too.

Yuu was in a positive mood until he reached in his satchel to retrieve his lunch when he found nothing to be there. "Shit," He cursed under his breath, scowling at the books in his bag. When he was rushing out the door this morning, he forgot to grab a lunch.

Whatever, Yuu thought with mild disdain as he buckled his bag and headed towards his usual lunch spot on the roof. I'll just get Shinoa to give me some of hers.

Two flights of stairs and one wish to be in better shape later, Yuu pushed through the door that led to the roof and saw his group of friends (and Shit-suba, whom he did not consider a friend in the slightest) already conglomerated in a circle by the fenced-in edge. The afternoon-wind whipped against Yuu's face, and it felt nice to breathe in the fresh air.

"Hi, Yuichiro-kun!" Yoichi waved spasmodically. Ah, Yoichi. Overly peppy as always.

"Hello, Yuichiro," Shinoa greeted with a soft smile. Her token orchid-colored bow tied together the braids on the sides of her head. She was wearing shiny lip gloss, and Yuu tried not to stare.

"What are you looking at?" Shinoa asked with mild curiousity. Yuu shook his head to snap out of it, realizing he had been caught. Oops.

"It's just," Yuu trailed off, cocking his head to the side. He raised his thumb and swiped it across Shinoa's lower lip. "You don't need this. You're beautiful anyway."

Mitsuba and their other friend, Shiho, retched and made other distasteful gagging noises. Shinoa flushed shyly and fiddled with her chopsticks. "Where is your lunch, Yuichiro?"

"My lunch-?" Yuu stuttered. "I forgot to bring one today."

"You hear that, Shiho?" Mitsuba cackled. "He forgot. Typical Prince Itchy-nose. Guess he's going to go hungry today."

"Shut the hell up, Shit-suba," Yuu fired back, clenching his jaw. "No one asked you to contribute to the conversation."

Mitsuba and Yuu stuck their tongues out at each other immaturely, and Shiho pushed them apart. "Guys, cool it," He deadpanned.

"Yuichiro, do you want some of my bento?" Yoichi offered up his boxed lunch. "I packed extra rice for a snack later but you can certainly have it now."

"Oh, thanks, Yoichi," Yuu was grateful. Luckily, Shinoa had extra chopsticks for him to use and soon enough, he was digging into the extra container of rice. Note to self, Yuu thought. Forget your lunch more often... or at least get Yoichi's family recipe for rice seasoning.

"So, how has everyone's morning been so far?" Yoichi asked cheerfully after he swallowed a bite of his rice.

"Just peachy," Yuu responded with a mouth full of food, not having the class to swallow before speaking, unlike Yoichi.

"You'd think that the Prince of Drelacia himself would know not to talk with his mouth open, but here we are, learning something new every day," Shiho pointed out sarcastically.

"Is this who we really expect to be running the kingdom when the throne is passed down?" Mitsuba teased. God, she was utterly relentless.

"Shove off, you two," Yuu rolled his eyes. Shinoa held back a giggle, and they shared a secret smile. Sometimes, Yuu thought, Shinoa wasn't so bad.

Their friends knew they were dating, but they had no idea about the arranged marriage. Actually, Shinoa and Yuu only started dating because of the family's orders, but upon getting to know each other, Yuu figured there could be worse young women to marry out there.

The rest of lunch was spent by telling funny anecdotes of their morning adventures, causing lots of laughter. There was also some well-deserved teasing on Mitsuba's end about her inherent clumsiness when Yuu heard the story of how she tripped and dropped her books down the stairs.

Right before the bell rang, however, Shinoa reminded them all of an important event. "So guys, we all know what's coming up, right?" She dramatically batted her eyelashes and clasped her hands together.

"How could we forget?" Yoichi giggled.

"You've talked nothing of it for weeks now," Shiho added on.

"Hey!" Shinoa defended herself, mildly irritated. "It's my eighteenth birthday next week! Is it so wrong for me to get excited about such a momentous occasion?"

"Sort of," Shiho muttered under his breath. Upon Shinoa and Mitsuba's double death glare, he raised his hands in defeat and grimaced. "Kidding! Yeesh, you girls are scary."

"Well, I hope you all will be attending," Shinoa beamed, letting the comment slide. "It's going to be like nothing you've ever seen."

Yuu stared down at his food. Of course he would be going. The night would probably be spent with her wrapped on him like a Christmas ornament, dragging him around and using him for the sake of making herself look better. Although Shinoa may be gorgeous, her personality balanced it out.

He turned his head to look over the horizon. It stretched out as far as he could see. From

this high up on the school roof, you could see the entire town. The school was on the north side, in the middle was for the upper commonwealth and noble looking over the south, which is where the lower-class commoners lived.

Somewhere out there, Yuu bet Mika was living some amazing life full of mystery. He seemed like the person always seeking out adventure, not letting one moment of his precious life go unwasted. Once Yuu got a taste of this way of living, he couldn't get enough of it.

It's probably best to forget about Mika, Yuu told himself. At least during the school week when you have lessons to focus on.

He wondered if he would ever sneak out again. Yuu knew his parents wouldn't catch him if he tried, thanks to a mixture of their own incompetence and his ninja-like skill, but even if he went down to the town again, the chances of finding him in the same pub would be slim.

"What are you looking at, Yuichiro-kun?" Yoichi's voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing," Yuu answered calmly. Yoichi was only half-convinced, but he didn't press the matter. Casual conversation picked up again, discussing Shinoa's birthday celebration plans.

The bell rang for lunch to end, but Yuu wasn't listening. Yuu found himself too lost in his mind, swarmed with thoughts and options, wondering whether or not he should take the risk and if it was even worth it.

Something in his subconscious told Yuu that it was. That the possibility of seeing Mika again, of dancing and escaping from the rut of life he's stuck in, it would be worth it, time and time again.