My search ends abruptly after making eye contact with The President, peering into my face. “So, what do you say,” she says, auspiciously. “If I told you I know a secret spot backstage, would that peak your interest?”

‘In different circumstances, maybe.’ I think to myself. I want to tell her that, but seeing how hard she’s trying to hide that desperate look on her face, I can’t help but want to mess around with her a little. “I actually would like to see this secret spot of yours.”

With the light returning to her eyes, the President smiles brightly and says, “Great! Just wait for me backstage, and I’ll show you once I’m done. I promise, you’ll love it!”

Now that she’s gone, I scan the now fully packed auditorium, trying to locate Yue. ‘Where did you go,’ I think to myself, looking over the stage. ‘I would be able to get a better view from there.’’ 

Finally backstage, I find a good spot behind the curtains, so no one can see me. After a couple minutes of looking high and low for Yue, the President calms the anxiously waiting students, to begin her speech. Still with no luck, I think, ‘If she’s not here, then where-‘ 

“Kaname,” Kikyo calls, walking up to me with a confused expression. “What happened? Where’s Yue?”

With disappointment growing inside me, I rub the back of my neck and say, “I wish I could answer that.” 

“Tell me what happened,” Kikyo demands.

“We were talking,” I start, in a relaxed tone. “I want to say things were progressing, but when the President showed up she just got up and left. Does she do that a lot?”

After carefully listening to me, Kikyo starts to chuckle and says, “Still haven’t made up with her, huh? I’ll tell you this, but you have to figure out the rest yourself, okay?”

“Okay, sure,” I say, willingly. 

“Don’t tell her I told you this,” she continues. “She actually likes-“

“Kikyo,” interrupts Renji, brushing past us to walk on stage. “It’s time.”

Smacking her teeth and putting the guitar strap over her head, Kikyo responds, “Alright! We’ll talk later, okay.”

With Kikyo and her band now on stage, the students are finally getting what they’ve been waiting for. The screams are so insane, it’s comparable to attending a professional concert.

“Are you ready,” asks the President, taking me out of my amazement.

‘Hopefully, this “secret spot” she mentioned isn’t anywhere too far,’ I think to myself. ‘I want to watch the performance.’ Putting that thought aside, I give her a smoldering smile and say, “Lead the way.”

“R-right,” she says in a feeble voice, looking away from me as she becomes shy. Walking towards the corner backstage, there was a somewhat hidden spiral staircase that led above the stage and auditorium. “How do you feel about heights,” she asks with a smirk. 

Returning her smile with my own, I say, “Depends. Are you going to push me once we get to the top?”

“I would ne…ver!” Stopping herself from becoming hysterical, she starts to giggle. “You’re funny. But no, I wouldn’t push you. Let’s go up!”

Going up the stairs, I follow close behind her, ‘Of course, I was joking,’ I think to myself. ‘So why was she about to get all emotional?’ Reaching the last step, the President walks further down, until she’s directly above the audience, facing the stage. Sitting down, swinging her feet freely off the rail, she waves for me to join her. ‘I wonder if others know about this spot,’ I think, as I draw near the President. 

“Here, sit next to me,” she insists, patting the floor of the railing on the side of her. Doing as she says, I sit beside her, shoulders touching, and our legs hanging off over the crowd.

Examining the scenery, from so high up, Kikyo’s voice completely engulfs us, “We hope you all like our new song!”

The screams, once again, is uncanny to that of an actual concert. ‘What kind of song have you and Renji conjured up for us, little sis,’ I think to myself, intriguingly. The dimming of the lights is the first thing to occur, then the students fall silent along with them. The introduction is mellow, but captivating, with a piano interlude. Even the moment the spot light only shines on Kikyo, as she begins to sing, the audience is still silently entranced. ‘It’s subtle, but it’s still a strong opening,’ I ponder critically, to myself. ‘Pop Rock is definitely something new for Kikyo.’ Before I got emitted into Rehab, the songs we would write always started out loud and crazy from the beginning: not as much Pop rock-ish. Having that memory, the song changes from soft to powerful the second she strums the guitar and the rest of the band cues in. The stage lights are now on all three band members, as well. Being so high up, getting lost in the acoustics is inevitable. I genuinely feel proud of my sister, and how far she’s progressed.

“So, Kaname,” calls the President, close to my ear, so I can hear her. “What do you think?”

I lean into her ear, and say, “You were right. It’s good to know that you uphold to your promises.”

“I’m glad,” the President responds as she smiles at me and places her hand over mine. Studying her eyes, I can tell what’s about to come next. It’s that look that every girl shows to let the other person know they want to be kissed.

 Slowly inching her head towards me, her eyes shift between my lips and my eyes. I quickly look over her features, like I did earlier this morning: her long auburn hair has more of a brown-ish tone to it now that we’re in a darker setting. I’m not sure if it’s because she’s trying to kiss me, or the lack of light, but she looks more mature with her hair a darker shade. Her fair skin looks like it’ll be soft to the touch, with her rosy cheeks and matching lipstick to compliment it. ‘Now that I’m actually looking at her,’ I think to myself. ‘She’s nothing compared to Yue, but she is pretty.’ 

‘I’m not exactly sure what to do, but I do know that I haven’t been with a girl for 3 years,’ I think, to myself. Despite that, it’s the first day of school, my first day back, and she’s obviously aware of what she’s doing. ‘I have to admit…she has some balls,’ I concur. ‘She did say she knew me back then. Not seeing me for that long made her desire me this bad, huh?’

 Firmly grabbing her hand that lays on mine, I place my other hand behind her back. Pulling her towards me, tightening my grip around her waist to keep her steady, I lean in the rest of the way to finalize the kiss. I can tell she’s startled, from my willing reaction, because I can feel her body tensing in my hands. After realizing that I’m giving her what she wants, her body relaxes and she starts to kiss me back. 

After a minute of continuous smooching, I feel her free hand gently push on my chest. Stopping as so, I glance at her bright pink face. Her free hand gently brushes through my hair as she pulls me in, so she can talk in my ear. “Kaname. I…I like you. I always have.”

There’s something offsetting about her telling me that. It makes me think about Yue, what she said to me, before she disappeared—about me playing games with girls. I carefully search the President’s face. I’m not sure exactly what I’m looking for, but there’s one thing I know for sure. I release the flustered girl and rise from the railing. Without saying anything, I walk away from her and think, ‘Yue is right about me, but it’s nothing I didn’t already know. So why does her pointing it out make me want to rethink doing what I’ve always done? 

The concert is now over, leaving the students screaming for more. As I wait for Kikyo, she and her band energetically walk backstage, talking amongst one another. 

“That was completely awesome,” exclaims the bass player, following close behind Renji. “I don’t think I made one mistake!”

Renji’s face staying serious, twirling one of his drum sticks, he says, “Yeah, for once. Did you actually practice during the break?”

“I always practice,” the bass player protests. “You would know if you actually joined the practice sessions the Vice President sets up for us.”

“Kikyo made those extra sessions for you, not me,” he adds, gloatingly. 

The bass player gives Renji a look of arising irritation and says, “Why would the V.P. set up practice sessions just for me? Isn’t the whole point of a band to get good at a song, is for them to practice together?”

“Right,” responds Renji. “And I’m there for those. Think about it. How many times have you gone to a practice session? And while you’re thinking about that, ask yourself about all the times I wasn’t there. Did Kikyo ever seem upset about my absence?”

The bass player goes silent in his own thoughts. His face changing from irritation to bitterness, as he puts two and two together, and he complains to Kikyo, who’s about to talk to me. “Vice President, this isn’t fair! Why does Renji get special treatment?! You’ve been working me to the ground this whole time?!”

“You obviously need it,” answers Kikyo, staying calm and collected. “Do you think I want to waste that precious time on you?”

He clings to Kikyo’s shoulders and continues to whine, “But Madam Vice! Have mercy on me!”

“Let go of me,” commands Kikyo, trying to push him off of her. 

As I’m about to help my sister, Renji beats me to it by grabbing the bass player by his collar, making him release Kikyo. Renji still holding his shirt, he says, “Learn to control yourself. Now apologize to Kikyo.”

“I’m sorry, Vice President,” he says, now sulking. 

Letting go of the band member’s collar, Renji continues, “Good. Now, if you promise that you’ll actually practice on your own time. I’m sure Madam Vice will consider not forcing you to attend so many practice sessions. Right, Madam V.?”

After gazing at each other, Kikyo solemnly looks at the bass player, lets out an exaggerated sigh and says, “I’ll think about it. I need to see some effort before I make my final decision though.”

“Hell yeah! Thanks a bunch, Vice President,” yells the bass player. “I’ll see you guys later then, okay!”

After watching the bass player take his leave, Renji looks at Kikyo and says, “See you in class.”

“Yeah,” replies my sister, faintly. 

Still not recognizing my existence, Renji goes back to twirling his drumstick and leaves us alone. I notice Kikyo still staring at the door Renji just left out of and I can’t help but ask, “Is there…something going on between you two?”

Snapping Kikyo back to reality, she quickly responds, “What! No. We just have a good understanding of our lazy band member.”

‘There’s definitely something going on,’ I validate to myself. ‘Although, I can understand if she doesn’t want me to know. But then…does that mean that Kikyo is the reason why Renji’s acting weird towards me?’

“So,” Kikyo says, interrupting my thoughts. “You weren’t able to find Yue during the concert, I see.” 

Before I can say anything, the President swiftly locks her arm around Kikyo’s arm and says, “Kikyo! Can I get your opinion on a few things for the study groups? Many of the third year’s signed up at the club fair. And more than we thought too, so I want to go over some ideas together.”

Kikyo studies Nana’s sketchy expression, then averts her gaze towards me for my approval. I slightly shrug my shoulders, gesturing that it doesn’t matter to me, on what she decides. “S-sure,” Kikyo replies, dubiously. 

“Perfect,” exclaims the President. 

With both of them now gone I walk back to class, on my own. ‘At least she didn’t make things awkward,’ I think, assuringly.

One of the last ones to show up, back to class, the first thing I do is check Yue's desk. Of course she’s there, talking to my sister, but where did she disappear to during the concert? 

Like this morning, as I amble my way towards my seat, many eyes are on me. Aside from this morning, I can tell, for sure, a few of those stares are hostile. I can care less for the looks, but the only stare that does capture my attention is Kikyo’s. We exchange looks and from how she slightly shakes her head at me, she’s clearly not happy. 

“Everyone rise,” announces President Nana, to greet the teacher entering the room. 

As our mentor slowly paces to the center of the board, and picks up the chalk, he says, “You all may sit. Now, my name is-,”

Doing as he instructs, but not listening to him any more than that, I sit and observe Yue, from behind. No longer speaking to Kikyo, she gazes outside, like she did before. 'I have to apologize to her.' I declare to myself.