A sigh escaped the lips of the black-haired girl sitting near the back of the bus, a troubled look disturbing her face. Occasionally, other students sitting around would steal glances at the girl before turning away with a blush, unable to help themselves to a glimpse of her beauty. Arched eyebrows, pouty lips that etched out more at the bottom than at the top, and hazel eyes that seemed to glow like the full moon in the night sky -- it was a wonder why the girl was sitting in a school bus headed for a weekend trip and not at a runway in a fashion show somewhere.

Besides her was a girl of a completely different disposition, although, also having black hair with brownish eyes that seemed to yield an amber undertone.

In contast to the model-like looking girl besides her, this girl had a plain face with no seemingly remarkable features -- a face that one might give no more than a second's glance, before looking on and forgetting about entirely.

If one did take a closer look however, they would notice the long dark lashes protruding from her round doll-like eyes, cheeks that carried slight babyfat exhibiting a youthful prettiness, and a short stubby nose that was more dainty than it was bland. It was a subtle type of cuteness that might hit one out of nowhere, even weeks after meeting the girl.

"A, Aya..." The girl now nervously spoke to the taller girl sitting besides her. A visable height difference was noticeable between the two, even when sitting.

"Hmm...?" Aya replied blankly, staring out at the green mountains passing by that seemed to stretch out endlessly under the clear blue sky.

"Um... nevermind..." Hikaru glanced downwards at her lap, a blush crossing the light freckles sprinkled underneath her eyes.

The events of the other day played back in Aya's mind and she bit down on her lower lips, her eyebrows furrowing.

'Risa doesn't understand... What happened that time was...' Aya's thoughts shrouded her mind like a murky cloud. 'I guess it's too late to make amends now. What I have to focus on is keeping Hikaru safe...'

Something fell on top of Aya's head, breaking her out of her thoughts and she glanced up to see a ridiculous looking hat with bunny ears protruding out the top over her head.

"Ka...!" Aya stared at the hat distastefully for a second, before raising herself on her seat to see the person behind her who had put the hat on her.

Giggles erupted from the purple-haired girl sitting directly behind her, whilst the brown-haired girl with glasses besides was trying hard to contain herself with blushing cheeks.

"Fumiko..." Aya stared at Fumiko with an unamused frown.

"Hahaha....!! Sorry, Aya! It's just... it's too funny...!" Fumiko laughed. "But, you look really good with that hat!"

"Sorry, we were just trying to cheer you up, Aya," Sana said with light giggles. "You seemed a little quiet, that's all."

"Exactly! We're on a trip to Mount Takatsuma!" Fumiko cried. "Kyaaa--! The last time we had an overnight trip together was so long ago, Aya! I think it was back at the start of junior high...!"

"Yes, I still remember..." Aya replied, thinking back to the school trip in junior high when Fumiko had pestered Aya for the entire night to beg her to allow her to sleep in the same bed. Now thinking about it, Aya thought she might as well had allowed Fumiko to share her bed. At least, she might had gotten some sleep that way.

With a sigh, Aya sunk back into her seat, turning to Hikaru. "Anyways, Hikaru..."

"Ku.... kuahh....!!" Hikaru clutched the sides of her own face, staring into Aya's face with madly blushing cheeks. "You look so cuuuteee with that hat...!"

"Huh? This?" The bunny ears on the hat bounced as Aya indiciated at it, confused.

"Waaaa...!! Stay still, let me get a picture...!!"

"Wh, wha? It's just a hat, Hikaru..."

"WAH! Don't move!!"

"Okay..."

Fumiko popped up from behind Aya's seat. "Hey, let me get a photo too then!"

"Me too!" Sana chirped from behind Hikaru's seat.

"N, noooo!!" Aya ripped the hat off her head before Fumiko and Sana had the chance to take out their phones.

Sighs of disappointment went around the entire bus.

Especially from next to Aya.

"H, Hikaru...." Aya said to a distraught looking Hikaru that was on the verge of tears. "I'll let you takee a photo next time..... there's too many people on the bus at the moment....."

"B, b, b, but.....!"

"Wah, don't cry, Hikaru! H, here, look, I'll show you some of my baby photos on my phone....!!"

Aya opened her phone up next to Hikaru, quickly scrolling to an album in her galleries and showing it to her.

"K, kuwaa....!"

The sadness on Hikaru's face instantly evaporated, replaced by excitement as she swiped through Aya's album on her phone.

"You have so many photos of you when you're young, Aya...!"

"Haha... that's right..."

"They're all so adorable...!!"

Aya laughed weakly in response to Hikaru's comment.

'Thank god for taking all those photos, father.... you did something useful for once....' Aya thought.

"Can you send these to me?" Hikaru glanced up at Aya with puppy eyes.

"Sure, sure... Speaking of which... do you have any baby photos too, Hikaru...?"

"Oh, I do! But they're all at home."

Disappointment washed over Aya's face.

"Ah, I see..."

Aya glanced out the windows, trying to hide her disappointment, staring out sourly at the small houses passing by.

"Oh, I brought a blanket!" Hikaru suddenly said, rummaging her bag stored underneath her seat, pulling out a giant blanket, big enough to fit two, tossing it over Aya and herself.

"W, wah! Why do you have such a big blanket?" Aya asked.

"I get cold in the winter," Hikaru laughed at Aya's reaction. "See? Now, we're really warm."

"Uh-huh..." Aya glanced around inside the bus that was full of students sitting down, but most were weary now, some dozing off and some whispering to each other in hushed voices.

"Aya, why were there no photos of you and other children in that album you showed me...?" Hikaru asked next to Aya quietly.

"I... I didn't really get to hang around other people my age when I was young..."

"Really? Then, who would you play with?"

"Mostly the house servants, but they were always changing all the time..." Aya laughed. "So I never really got close to any of them..."

"With the house servants? But aren't they adults...?"

"Yep, we used to do the multiplication times table together!"

"..."

"Oh, and another fun game we would play was to play business!"

"Wha, what is that...?"

"You know, the one where you each pretend to run a business! Then, you see who could in the end acquire the other, or drive them out of business!"

"...I feel sorry for you as a child, Aya..."

"What?! It was such a fun childhood game! Next time we should play it together, Hikaru!"

"I, I don't think I would want to play a game like that..."

"Fine..."

A moment of silence passed. Then, Aya felt something lean on her shoulder and she glanced at her side to see Hikaru leaning her head there.

"H, Hikaru..." Aya mouthed, alarmed, glancing around the bus. No one was watching though. Aya glanced back down at Hikaru, about to say something more, when she noticed Hikaru had her eyes closed, breathing quietly. Aya smiled, then glanced the other way at the window, letting Hikaru fall asleep on her shoulders.

~x~

"Alright, class, it's time to get out!" The sound of Abe-sensei's voice rung out inside the bus and the students groggily got out of the bus, following his lead.

"Mm, can you smell it? The fresh air of Mount Takatsuma?"

"Sensei, I can only smell Ochibana-san's morning breath."

"Wh, what did you say--?!"

"If you stopped sleeping with your face towards me, then maybe my nose wouldn't be blocked right now!!"

Quarrels were breaking out amongst the students and Abe-sensei tried his best to restore peace.

"Quiet everyone!! Just follow me and get inside the inn..."

Groans went around the students as they glanced around, realising they were standing in front of a medium sized inn in the middle of a quiet countryside neighbourhood, surrounded by bushes.

"Sensei, why didn't we just go to Four Seasons or The Peninsula?"

"I would had been okay with even Hilton..."

"Quiet!!! There is no Four Seasons or The Peninsula in Nagano, okay?! Now unless you want to sleep outside in the grass, then I suggest you zip it!!"

Murmurs of discontent followed, then the students quietly shuffled behind Abe-sensei as he led them into the inn. Hikaru glanced around inside the inn once she was in, standing amongst the group of students. It didn't look too shabby. Just a normal looking inn. Or at least that was what Hikaru was thinking.

"Hikaruu!! I bags the same room as you!!" Aya pounced next to Hikaru, grabbing her arm as though she was her handbag and she was afraid someone was going to snatch it away.

"I think it's going to be 4 in a room," Sana said, standing next to Aya, "or at least that's what I remember hearing."

"Perfect!" Fumiko said excitedly from Sana's side. "Just enough room for the four of us!"

"You don't get to choose your own rooms," Abe-sensei chimed in, overhearing their conversation. "Rooms have already been allocated."

"Whaat...!" Fumiko frowned at Abe-sensei, while Sana pouted at the teacher disappointedly.

"Oh damn..." Hikaru turned to Aya by her side, "I guess we might not be able to share the same room, huh...?"

To her surprise, Aya didn't look disappointed at all.

"Ah well, guess we just got to leave it to chance, huh?" Aya smiled at Hikaru cheekily.

Something about her reaction was off to Hikaru...

As Abe-sensei began handing out printouts of paper showing the room allocations, Hikaru wasn't surprised to find her hunch correct.

"Oh, what do you know, Hikaru?" Aya laughed, peering past Hikaru's shoulder at the sheet of paper she was holding. "We're allocated to the same room!"

"Aya..." Hikaru glanced at Aya suspiciously. "Did you happen to do something to the room allocation...?"

"What?! Of course not, Hikaru! It's purely coincidence! Complete luck! I'm telling you!"

Hikaru sighed, then glanced back at the paper to see the other people in their room.

"Let's see..." Hikaru said. "It looks like the other 2 people in our room are..."

"Gak--?!" Aya gasped from besides Hikaru, her eyes staring at the words on Hikaru's sheet of paper.

A mistake. A complete rookie mistake...

The other two names on the paper were...

Mika Aguni.

Saki Haruna.

"What's wrong, Aya?" Hikaru was blinking at Aya's reaction next to her side. "You look slightly pale..."

There was no problem sharing a room with Mika. That girl was a ditz, one that Aya could have dancing at the palm of her hands. The problem was with...

"We're in the same room, Aya!"

The pair turned to their other side and the sight of a cute girl with daffodil blonde hair and rosy lips stood delicately in front of them. Adorned in a lacy white dress that extended out from her hips like a vintage 18th century movie, she embelished the sort of affluency that one would easily presume much of her childhood to had been spent locked away in a mansion, being homeschooled somewhere in the countryside.

"S, Saki..." Aya faked a courtesy laugh, but she couldn't hide the single sweat running down her temple.

Hikaru glanced at Aya, then back to Saki, blinking in confusion.

"Ah, Hikaru, right?" Saki said, grabbing onto Hikaru's hands and taking her by surprise. "Do you remember me? You lent me a pen in class when I had forgotten mine before. I never got to thank you for it!"

"U, um..." Hikaru blushed at Saki grabbing onto her hands. They were about the same height, but Hikaru felt as though she was the older one due to Saki's buoyant nature. "I, I think I remember you..."

Normally, Saki was in her school uniform and didn't stand out as much, but with her in her casual clothes, Hikaru was having a troubling time processing that this was the same quiet girl that had shyly accepted Hikaru's offer of lending her a pen.

"Gaaaah!!" Aya swiped at Saki's hands, breaking their contact. "Don't fall for her tricks, Hikaru!!"

"Wh, what....?" Hikaru stumbled back as Aya shielded her away from Saki.

"Hahaha, you don't have to worry, Aya," Saki laughed at Aya's reaction, "You're always going to be the only one I have my eyes for."

Silence, and then...

"...'only one I have my eyes for'....?" Hikaru repeated.

'A total mistake.' Aya sulked inside her mind. 'I was so preoccupied with being in the same room as Hikaru, I never thought about the other two people that were going to be sharing the same room as us...'

"That's right," Saki replied, blinking with a bright smile. "Aya is my one and only!"

Students around the inn lobby were quietly moving away from the commotion, their faces said that this wasn't the first time that they had seen this scene.

"W, what....?!" Hikaru glanced around at the crowded inn lobby, then back at Saki. "How can you say something like that, Saki...? What if someone hears you....?"

"Everyone knows about Saki's obsession with Aya..."

Hikaru turned to the person speaking besides her, seeing Sana.

"She's probably... the most obssessed... of Aya's fans at the school." Sana commented, staring at Saki as though she was observing a specimen in a lab.

"Yeah, and she's also about to be the last..." Fumiko walked forward, cracking her knuckles and Saki jumped at the sight of her approaching.

"Aaaah! It's the Devil!!"

"I, I'm not the freakin' Devil...!" Fumiko said, but Saki had already turned tail and ran, disappearing amongst the flock of students that were waiting in a line at the reception for their hotel rooms.

"That's probably why you haven't seen Saki around much..." Sana laughed to Hikaru. "That girl is awfully scared of Fumiko."

"I see..." Hikaru said, starting to understand why Aya and Fumiko were such great friends.

~x~

'Annoying.'

'Utterly annoying...'

Risa glanced to her side at the male student snoring his head off besides her, and placed a face into her hand, sighing.

The bus rumbled as it hit a bump on the road, causing the male student besides her to jump, but unfortunately did nothing to impact his sleep.

Why did the teacher had to assign seats for a 3 hour busride? Why did she have to be sitting next to this buffoon? Why did she even agree to go on this school trip?

These were the many questions passing through Risa's mind, but with the male student that was big enough to be taking two seats by himself pressing his shoulder into hers, Risa couldn't manage to think through her thoughts calmly like she normally did.

Temper was never one of Risa's fortitude and after 20 minutes of putting up with the cretin out of the goodness of her heart, Risa decided that enough was enough.

"Yoshi," Risa called to the boy next to her, maintaining a polite smile, but the boy simply snored back in response.

A cross popped up on Risa's forehead, but she maintained her smile, lifting up a finger and poking it into the boy's cheeks.

"O, oow...!" The boy woke up at last, turning around with a lost look on his face.

'God... how did this creature get into Hibiya High...?' Risa smiled at the boy, mustering all of her patience to not grab him by the ear and chuck him out the bus. 'Yoshi Goda... his father runs a medium sized construction business, and his mother, a hairdresser. Hardly the type of resume that would even get you through the front gates of Hibiya High. If I recall correctly, it was his grandparents that were the ones that fought for his admission application.'

"Sorry, Risa, did I snore in my sleep again?" Yoshi said.

"Please, don't apologise." Risa said. "It is I who should be apologising for disturbing your peaceful sleep."

"Oh, that's okay, Risa." The boy laughed, his pudding-like cheeks blushing.

Not only was this boy as thick as a block of bricks in appearance, but he was also as dull as a slab of butter.

"Listen, Yoshi, how about we play a game?" Risa suggested innocently with false enthusiasm.

"A game...?"

"Yeah, isn't this bus ride a bit boring? How about I keep you awake while we are on the bus, so that you can sleep easier once we reach Mount Takatsuma?"

"Um... I don't know, Risa... I usually sleep fine all t--"

"Great!" Risa clapped her hands together cheerfully. "We will play a game together then! How exciting, Yoshi! It's a super fun game and it's called 'Crash the Bus', the objective--"

Yoshi climbed out of his seat quickly with a pale face, and Okuyama-sensei glanced over from the front of the bus.

"Is everything okay, Yoshi?" The teacher asked.

"Uhmm, it's just... I don't feel very well, sir... can I change seats...?"

Okuyama-sensei looked over at who was sitting besides Yoshi and wasn't surprised to see a delighted looking Risa smiling back at him.

"Fine," Okuyama-sensei sighed, then glanced to the student sitting across in the other seat -- a slender boy with piercing black eyes. "Hachiro, if you don't mind, could you please exchange seats with Yoshi?"

"No problem."

Risa breathed a sigh of relief at the amount of free space she now had with Yoshi gone, and Hachiro sat down besides Risa, glancing at her.

"'Crash the Bus'?" Hachiro said to Risa. "Seriously...?"

"Oh, relax, I wasn't really going to crash the bus, even if that gorilla was blowing out my eardrums with each snore."

"Listen, Risa..." Hachiro lowered his voice, trying to talk to her seriously, but Risa was just gazing out the window. "No matter who your father is, you're still a student of this school, Risa, if you do something to this class--"

"And who are you to lecture me...?" Risa's eyes darted coldly to Hachiro, her tone changing suddenly, and he went quiet for a second, waiting for Risa's temper to subside.

Risa returned her gaze out at the window and Hachiro continued slowly, "My only job here is to look after you, Risa... In order for you to accomplish what it is you desire, there are certain lines that we cannot cross. Feel free to disregard my advice or consider them stupid and meaningless, but I'd rather speak than know that a simple warning could had saved us unnecessary detours and wasted time."

Silence passed between the two of them.

"Also, about my challenge with Aya..." Hachiro said cautiously. "You never said anything about that..."

"Forget it," Risa replied dully, watching the slowly moving clouds. "I never expected you to win, Hachiro."

Hachiro felt an invisible pan falling from above and hitting his head with Risa's words.

~x~

Hikaru stared out the glazed windows of the inn, seeing other buses pulling in, carrying students of the other classes.

"Hey,"

Aya's voice startled Hikaru, and she turned to face Aya, seeing her in her sleeping clothes.

Since it was a shared bathing area between all the girls, there wasn't any opportunity for Aya to do anything suspicious, but now in the bedroom...

"Bags the bed closest to the TV!" Mika cried, jumping on top of one of the four beds laid spread evenly across the small room.

"Hey, that's not fair! I asked for that bed first!" Saki walked in to the bedroom, following after Mika, her cheeks puffed. Her daffodil blonde hair was tied up behind her head, streaks falling past her round face.

"What? Since when?"

"Don't you remember? Before we went to the bath, when we dropped off our bags in the room??"

"Nope, I have no memory of that."

"Grrr....!"

"He, hey, this is my bed, don't c--ah!!"

"I won't let you take my bed that is next to Aya!!"

Hikaru and Aya was sitting at the bed besides Mika and Saki, watching silently in stunned disbelief as Mika and Saki fought for the bed.

"Um..." Seeing how badly they were fighting for the bed besides Aya, Hikaru quietly moved back to her own vacant bed, which was on the other side next to Aya.

In the end, Saki won, and a defeated Mika crawled grudingly to the bed at the end of the room.

"Fine... have the bed..." Mika was mutterring. "I just... wanted to watch the television... it's not even that far..."

"Yay!" Saki was squirming excitedly on her spoils of victory, turning to Aya, her viridescent eyes gleaming exuberantly. "Now I'm right besides you, Aya!"

"R, right... that's great, Saki..." Aya said shakily, then got up from her bed to turn off the bedroom lights.

"I thought we're going to watch TV!" Mika said.

"Everyone's a bit tired today, Mika..." Aya laughed politely. "I think it would be best to call it an early night just for today, what do you say?"

"F, fine... if you say so, Aya..."

Click.

The lights went off and Hikaru breathed a sigh, feeling restless from the day's events. But after a few minutes in the dark, the early morning took its toll and her eyelids drooped.

When suddenly...

A second figure crawled into Hikaru's bed, jolting her awake.

It was Aya.

"Aya...!" Hikaru exclaimed in a whisper, blushing vividly. "What are you doing here?!"

"Um... sorry, Hikaru..." Aya whispered back. Hikaru could make out her striking hazel eyes from the dark and the smell of her aromatic fragrance was causing her heart to pound. "It's just... Can we swap beds...?"

"Wh, what....?" Hikaru blinked.

"I'm just.... gah, so scared of Saki.... I honestly can't do anything about that girl, Hikaru....!" Aya pleaded. "I don't think I can fall asleep if I am sleeping next to her...!"

"Oh, Aya...." Hikaru sighed. "She didn't seem that bad to me.... Saki seems like a really kind and sweet person to be honest... I think you're kind of picking on her a little..."

"Ahh...! You've fallen for her tricks, Hikaru... The thing is--"

"Fine, fine, I'll swap beds with you...."

Climbing sluggishly out of the bed and into Aya's vacant bed, Hikaru wrapped herself in the blankets that were still holding onto the after-warmth from Aya's body.

'Smells like Aya...' Hikaru thought to herself drowsily as she found herself gradually falling back to sleep.

~x~

Quiet shuffling on the bed and it felt like there was a second figure in the bed.

'Is it Aya again?' Hikaru was still half asleep, too tired to open her eyes. 'It can't be morning, is it...? Everything's still dark...'

Now the figure was next to Hikaru, strands of soft hair tickling the side of Hikaru's cheeks as they leaned in close. A sweet floral scent lingered on the figure.

Their arms wrapped around Hikaru's back, going beneath her shirt, and their legs interlaced with Hikaru's, feeling the figure's smooth skin gliding across her own's.

Plump lips that were as soft as a feather glazed over Hikaru's lips for a second, before pressing down and for a moment, Hikaru kissed her back, hugging onto Aya except...

'Wait a second... was Aya's body always this short...? It feels like she's almost the same height as me... And where is her chest--'

Hikaru froze, Saki froze.

The two of them screamed at the same time.