"How's it, Choutarou?" Shishido asked—half yelled—to his doubles partner.

    "I think this kinda music is too loud for him, ne!" Gakuto said.

    "But don't you like all kind of music?" Shishido turned his head to Ootori, only to find that he wasn't paying any attention to him. "Oi! Choutarou!"

    "Aa—hai?" the grey haired boy blinked, startled at the sudden call.

    "Pay a little attention to people around you, geez."

    "So—sorry Shishido-san."

Oshitari, who was sitting in front of Ootori, smirked. He knew exactly why the sophomore didn't pay any attention to his sempai.

Brand New Days

It was Saturday night, meant a time for hanging out for Hyoutei regulars. It just happened that Shishido asked Ootori to come to Avenue, a café with "a really great band playing on Saturday nights" (as quoted from Shishido), and Gakuto and Oshitari wanted to join them, and so the four of them ended up in that café that night.

The band Shishido was talking about was a pop-rock band with 4 personals, and yes, they were good. At least that was Oshitari's and Gakuto's impression of it.

Though all of the players were skilled and played really well, Oshitari said, the best one had got to be the drummer. She was the only girl in the band, and her play was so superb that it seemed like she was leading the whole band.

    'And she was the one—' Oshitari thought with a smirk. '—Ootori had his eyes on the entire night'

    "Choutarou!" Gakuto greeted.

    "Ah, Mukahi-sempai," the sophomore lowered his head. Gakuto suddenly stopped walking in front of Ootori. He looked up so he could see Ootori's face.

    "Why are you so tall...?"

    "Eh?"

    "Never mind that," Gakuto shook his head. "Anyway, you've come really early today, ne..."

    "Aa, not really..."

    "Not only that, you've also been acting weird these days, a~n?" Hyoutei's captain said as he entered the court.

    "We—weird?" he blinked. "I... I don't think so..."

    "Because of a certain girl, it seems," Oshitari smirked.

    "O—Oshitari-sempai!" Ootori protested, unable to control the blush on his cheeks.

    "Oh?" Atobe turned his head to Ootori. "And why don't ore-sama know about it...?"

    "I—It's not true!"

    "Yuushi, is it true? Who's that girl?" the acrobatic player asked the Kansai boy.

    "Well..."

    "Hm? What are you guys talking about?" Shishido walked to the court, frowning. "You have a girlfriend now?" he asked Ootori.

    "N—no!" Now his cheeks were burning.

    "See? He said no, now leave him alone," the blue-capped buy uttered stiffly as he pulled Ootori away from the group.

    "Ootori," Oshitari called. Shishido gave Ootori a just-ignore-him look. "She's actually a first year here at Hyoutei.

    "Eh?!" he turned his head in surprise. "Really, sempai?! She goes here too?! What's here name? What class is she in—"

He paused and looked around, then realized all eyes were staring at him. His face began to heat again.

    "O—oi Choutarou..." Shishido blinked.

    "Could it be..."

    "You..."

Blush. The only thing he could do at that time.

    "Eeh?! Maji maji?! Who's that girl, Choutarou?!" Gakuto questioned energetically.

    "Aa—"

    "What are you doing?"

Everyone turned their heads.

Sakaki.

    "Isn't it practice time?"

    "Ha—hai!" the group quickly went to where their bags at and took their rackets.

    "Thanks, coach," Ootori mumbled when he walked pass the coach.

It was another Saturday evening, and the phone at Ootori's house rang. He wondered if Shishido wanted to practice together with him or probably he wanted to take Ootori to Avenue again. He hoped it was the second one, though.

    "Ootori?" a Kansai-accent voice on the other side greeted. Ootori blinked.

    "Oshitari-sempai?"

    "Aah, Ootori," he said. "Do you have something to do tonight?"

    "Mm... I don't think so. Why do you ask?"

    "That's great," Oshitari smirked. "Actually we're going to Avenue again, wanna come?"

Hearing the word "Avenue", an image of a certain brown-haired girl appeared on his mind, causing his cheeks turned a shade of red.

    "Ootori?"

    "H—hai!" he suddenly stated. "I—I'll go!"

The smirk on Oshitari's face widened. "Ja, we'll be waiting at 8."

    "Hai!"

Ootori looked nervously at himself in the mirror. Did he look good enough? Had the suit he wore matched? Was his hair okay? This was weird, since Ootori had never really cared about his looks before.

    'Yosh...' he took a deep breath as he opened his house's door. 'I'm ready...!'

Around twenty minutes later, he arrived in front of Avenue Café. His watched showed it was 7:40 pm, meaning he was twenty minutes early.

    "Ootori," a familiar voice from behind him greeted.

    "Oshitari-sempai!"

    "You're so early today, it seems. Do you want to see her that badly?"

    "S—sempai!!" he protested as his face turned crimson.

    "But unfortunately, Ootori..." Oshitari smirked. "That band isn't playing again tonight."

Ootori's eyes widened, surprised. "You—you're lying."

    "Of course I am."

Ootori sweat dropped.

Oshitari simpered. He had known Ootori for a long time, and this was the first time he said "you're lying" to him, meaning he was desperately wanted to see that girl.

Suddenly, a limousine stopped near the two. Atobe went out of the car, followed by Kabaji.

    "Oshitari, Ootori," he voiced.

    "Atobe," Oshitari replied.

    "Atobe-san," Ootori lowered his head.

    "Oi Oshitari," Atobe called. "Has that girl come? Ore-sama want to see that girl Ootori likes."

    "Atobe-san! I—I don't—"

    "You don't what?" Atobe asked as he turned his head to the gray-haired boy.

Ootori suddenly became nervous. "Aa... Eh... Err..."

    "Stop teasing him already," a blue-capped boy showed up with an annoyed look on his face.

    "We're not teasing him, Shishido," Oshitari defended. "We're just asking whether he likes that girl or not."

    "Feh, no difference," he muttered. 'Like that's not obvious...'

A few minutes later, Hiyoshi and Gakuto came along with Jirou (who was sleeping and had to be dragged by both of them). They came into the café and ordered some drinks.

    "Konbanwa minna-san," a tall brown-haired man in a suit appeared on the stage. "Tonight we'll be entertained by our special band. Please welcome Es nieselt!"

Claps were heard everywhere, as well as from Hyoutei's table.

    "Konbanwa minna!" the vocalist greeted. He wasn't what you usually call "handsome" or "cool guy", but there was something in him that made everyone's eyes couldn't be taken off of him. "Es nieselt is here again tonight! And for our first song, here's Do As Infinity's 'Grateful Journey'!"

The guitarist started the song by guitar intro, followed by the drums.

Right at the second the drummer started playing, almost all eyes turned to her. A smile of excitement was shown on Ootori's face. He looked admiringly at her. It was his second time to watch her playing, and he even was more thrilled this time.

It was finally the time for the last song. The vocalist took a breath before asking the audiences, "Does anyone here have request for us?"

    "We have one here," Atobe said.

The vocalist turned his head and questioned, "Yes?"

    "Ootori," Atobe uttered as he looked at the confused sophomore.

    "E—eh?!" Ootori responded, surprised. "M—me?!"

    "Yeah, you," Atobe replied.

    "B—but I—"

    "Ootori," Oshitari smirked

His face reddened as he felt the drummer's eyes stared at him.

    "Oi oi, enough already," Shishido whispered irritatedly to the group who seemed enjoying teasing his doubles partner.

    "Drum solo..." Ootori murmured.

    "Hai?"

    "I—I wanna hear the drum solo!"

Seven seconds later, Ootori just realized that his voice was so loud that it had made the whole café fell silent. A pink flush crept over his cheeks.

    "How's it, ?" the vocalist asked the drummer.

She smirked. "Ii yo." She took a deep breath then said, "This is for that cute guy in the black suit!"

    "C—cute?" he mumbled embarrassedly.

Started by four beats on the cymbal, the drum solo turned out to be unexplainably amazing. Everyone could only stare at her and listen to every beat of her play.

The drum solo was finished in exactly three minutes and twenty seven seconds. She stood up and bowed to the audience, followed by their claps. Es nieselt was awesome that night.

After the show ended, Oshitari excused himself to the bathroom while the others were discussing about the band.

    "The band was sugoi!!" Jirou complimented excitedly. "I loved it when they played 'Loop & Loop!'"

    "You were awake?" Gakuto asked with a sweat drop.

    "I liked 'I'll Be'..." Hiyoshi uttered. Everyone turned their heads to the brown-head, surprised. Es nieselt should be astonishing after all, that even Hiyoshi liked it.

    "Maa ne..." Atobe said, peering at Ootori. "Still, ore-sama think the best was the drummer, ne, Kabaji?"

    "Usu."

    "Of course, she was really sugoi!!"

    "She played really well."

    "Not to mention, she's cute too."

All looked at Ootori.

    "E—" he blinked. "Eh?!"

    "Too bad Choutarou spotted her first, ne..." Gakuto spoke up.

    "If not, maybe ore-sama can get her, a~n?" Atobe said.

    "Eh?!"

    "Oi! I told you to leave him alone!!" Shishido demanded.

    "Ootori," Oshitari suddenly called. The boy turned his head.

    "H—hai? Oshitari-sempai?"

    "Come here for a sec."

    "H—hai," he answered as he walked towards his sempai.

    "Someone wants to see you," he whispered at Ootori's ear. "Behind the café."

    "Someone?" the sophomore asked in confuse

    "Just go there."

Ootori nodded and did as his sempai told.

    "What did you say to him?" Shishido asked firmly as Oshitari sat.

    "Nothing."

    "Uso."

    "Could it be..." Gakuto said with starry eyes. "He's meeting that girl?"

    "Heh?"

    "Ne, Jirou!!" he pulled the happy-go-lucky boy's shirt. "Let's watch them!!"

    "Oi——"

They were gone in a second.

Meanwhile, Ootori just reached the place Oshitari had told him to go to. He saw a figure sitting on the bench near him.

His heart stopped.

    "Hey," the girl grinned and greeted.

    "Aa... Ko—konbanwa..." he replied nervously.

    "No need to be so formal," she said. "Here, sit beside me."

    "Ha—hai," he answered and did so.

    "You're Ootori Choutarou, right?"

    "Aa? Errr... Ha—hai..."

    "I'm ! Yoroshiku!" she offered a hand.

They shook hands.

    "Oh yeah, thanks for earlier!" she thanked.

    "Aa..." he replied, though he had no idea whatsoever on what she was thanking him for. He was astonished by how great she looked under the moonlight. Her eyes, her smile...

    "Is there something wrong on my face?"

    "Eh?" he blinked. "N—no..."

He was lucky it was dark outside, otherwise she'd see the obvious blush on her face.

    "Oh yeah, I heard from Oshitari-sempai that you go to Hyoutei too?"

    "Oshitari-sempai?" he narrowed his eyes, but then said, "Yeah, I'm in second grade."

    "Ah, I thought you're in the same grade as Oshitari-sempai! You're so tall!" she said in envy. "We're in the same age but you're like, 20 cm taller than me!"

    "Same age...?" he asked. "Anou... If I'm not mistaken, you're in the first grade right?"

    "Yeah, but I went to Germany when I was in fourth grade, so I went down a grade," she explained.

    "I see..." Ootori nodded.

    "Umm... How did you know I'm in first grade? I haven't told you, have I?"

    "Aa! That's—err—Oshitari... sempai... told me."

    "Sou ka..."

5 m from them, numerous pairs of eyes were watching.

    "Aah, what's that Choutarou doing?!" Gakuto murmured to Jirou. "Be more aggressive!!"

    "Oi oi Gakuto..." Oshitari tapped his forehead.

It was going to be a long night...

Since that day, Ootori and could be seen spending so much time together at school. Though they had different tastes for music ( liked punk-rock while Ootori was more of a classical person), both didn't really mind.

    "Chou-chan!" greeted. It was lunch time, and as usual, Hyoutei regulars sat at one table.

    "'Chou-chan'...?" Shishido raised an eyebrow. A slight blush crept over Ootori's cheeks.

    "-chan," he replied.

    "'-chan'...?!" his doubles partner raised the other eyebrow.

    "Err... What's up?"

    "Nothing," she grinned as she messed up his hair. "Just reminding you, don't forget about this Saturday! Ja!"

She waved and went away.

    "'This Saturday'...?!?" Shishido was completely shocked. What was up with Ootori and that girl?!

    "What's about 'this Saturday', Chou-ta-rou?" Gakuto grinned.

    "E—eh?!" Ootori blinked. He then realized that all eyes were staring at him curiously. "We—we're just going to see -chan's favorite band playing on Saturday night."

    "I see your relationship has reached that stage, a~n?" Atobe uttered as he drank his drink.

    "I—It's not what you think!!" Ootori protested with a bright red face.

    "What do I think?"

Ootori fell completely silent.

    "Choutarou!" Shishido waved from outside Ootori's classroom.

    "Shishido-san?" he hurried up to his sempai. "What brings you here?"

    "I have two tickets to a classical music concert," he took out two blue tickets from his pocket and handed them to Ootori.

    "Eh? You mean... You want me to go with you?"

Shishido shook his head. "No, I want you to go with ."

    "Eh?" he said, surprised. "But I can't—"

    "Ii yo, just take it."

    "But I—"

    "He's right, Choutarou, it might be a chance for you!"

Shishido and Ootori turned their heads to the voice.

    "Mukahi-sempai??"

    "Ii jan, ii jan! Just take it!" Gakuto grinned.

And Ootori had no choice but to do so.

RING! RING!

    "I'll get it!" shouted over and ran to the phone. "Moshi moshi, residence."

    "Errr... -chan?"

Her heart skipped a beat. "Ch—Chou-chan?" It was unusual for Ootori to call her, because he had never done that before. It was always who called him if she wanted to talk to him. "'Sup?"

    "Errr... Actuallly..." he said nervously. "I've got two tickets to a classical music concert, and I was wondering if you can go with me..."

She suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach. She didn't know why, but she had been feeling like that towards Ootori recently. "Umm... When's it?"

    "Saturday night. I—err—I can pick you up at around 7 if you want..."

She nodded though Ootori couldn't even see her. "Okay..."

    "Errr... Ja, see you then..."

    "Ja na..."

Ootori rang 's house's bell nervously. A boy—who looked around 16 years old—opened the door. Looking at him, Ootori now knew exactly why was such a great musician. The boy in front of him was the bassist of a popular indie band, and he must be 's brother she once mentioned.

    "Aah, you must be 'Chou-chan'!" he grinned.

    "Ko—konbanwa," he lowered his head.

    "Ya know, she's really excited about tonight," the boy said as the grin on his face widened. "And she's never been bored to—"

    "Just ignore him, Chou-chan," frowned as he pulled Ootori away. "Let's go."

    "Don't be that mean to your aniki..." the boy said as he watched the pair walked away.

    "Ah, I was right. That was your brother, right?"

    "No," she answered stiffly. "He's not my brother. I hate him."

He chuckled.

    'I wonder what he meant by 'She's really excited about tonight'...?'

    "Chou-chan," she tapped his shoulder.

    "Hai?"

    "You look neat tonight," she grinned.

    "Ah?" he blushed. "T—thanks... You... you too... You... look..." he stopped for a second, then looked at . "...Great..."

    "Eh?" she giggled as a shade of crimson appeared on her cheeks. "That was so random, Chou-chan!"

    'Though I hope it was true...'

Twenty minutes later, they reached the place.

    "Ah, Shishido-san got the seat right in front of the stage!" he said in excitement.

    "Shishido-san...?"

    "Yes, he was the one who gave me the tickets..."

    "Sou ka..."

    "Anou... -chan..." he called when both of them sat. "I know you don't really like classical music... Sorry for asking you to come!"

She shook her head. "Ii yo, you've accompanied me a lot of times. And I want to hear Chou-chan's favorite music, maybe I'll like it too!"

Finally, it was starting.

The concert went really well, and seemed really enjoying it. Ootori, too, though it looked like he was enjoying something else.

He suddenly remembered Gakuto's words.

    "He's right, Choutarou, it might be a chance for you!"

    'Should... Should I do it now?' he asked himself nervously. He peered at .

    'Yes, I should.'

    "Chou-chan, the song was—"

She looked at him, surprised.

His hand was on top of hers, holding it tight. She looked confusedly at the boy, then realized he was blushing furiously.

    "I... like you..." he whispered embarrassedly.

A scarlet blush appeared on her cheeks. She smiled. "Aa..."
 

Note:
Es nieselt means "Light Snow" in German
Grateful Journey is my favorite Do As Infinity's song ^^
Loop & Loop is ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION's song
I'll Be is WAG's song