Yet another music theory class. They had so many students that Maki almost couldn’t count them all. They were supposed to have a 20 to 1 ratio when it came to students to teacher but it was slowly becoming 40 to 1.

She went straight to the classroom she was assigned to for that day when a young man came up to her just as she was about to enter.

“Anou sensei?”

She whirled around at the voice and saw that Yamada kid Tomohisa was talking about. So this is Shida’s boyfriend. She admitted the girl caught a nice one with the guy. He wasn’t that tall, just a few inches higher than her. But he had a handsome face. It was gentle yet he had this cool aura around him. It kind of reminded her of Tomohisa. Stop Maki Stop.

“Ah, hai?” She just hoped she wasn’t staring too long.

The young man cleared his throat before stretching out his hand to give Maki two pieces of paper, one larger than the other. “Anou, Yamaa-sensei asked me to give this to you.”

She took them from him, glancing at the larger one. It was a proposal, from Erika about an acquaintance party for the students. Acquaintance party? What was that all about? The other was a handrwritten note from Tomohisa.

I need to talk to you, meet me at lunch -Tomohisa

She lifted her head after reading the note then smiled at the young man. “Thank you, you are--?” She couldn’t remember his whole name.

“Yamada Ryosuke desu sensei. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.” Ryosuke bowed his head, showing a small smile.

Yamada. Maki kept that in mind. Was it wrong for her to think… that Ryosuke kind of looked like her? She didn’t want to stare but she couldn’t stop herself. “Hmm, you look familiar Yamada-kun, have we met?”

Ryosuke was visibly surprised. He shook his head and took a small step back. “I don’t think so sensei.”

“Hmm… maybe you just have a resemblance.” Maki said non-chalantly. “Well then, thanks again, I have to get to class, you should too.”

“You’re my next professor sensei.” Ryosuke answered bemusedly. He then proceeded opening the door in a gentleman fashion while Maki nodded her head and went inside.

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Tomohisa had just finished a class of his and was hanging out by the faculty. As per usual, Yuichi was there.

“Oh hey Tomo!” The tall man greeted from the other side while he sat down by his desk. “Ne, have you told Maki about recording that song again? Unplugged?”

“Not yet, I had one of my students bring her a note, telling her to talk to me later.” Tomohisa replied.

Yuichi cocked his head to the side. “A note? Why didn’t you just text her or something?”

Apparently he did but Maki wasn’t replying so he wasn’t sure. “He was on the way to her class and Maki isn’t answering my message through phone, at least if I know I had a student inform her.” That was the best idea he could come up with right now. It seemed as if Yuichi no longer wanted to interfere and just shrugged before pulling Maki’s empty chair next to Tomohisa and sat down.

“Any ideas with what you’ll be doing for the unplugged version?”

“Me? Aren’t you going to be there with us?” Tomohisa asked, a little surprised.

Yuichi chuckled. “I have a meeting at that time, anyways, we all know you can do it. You’re the best composer here --don’t tell Maki I said that.”

Tomohisa laughed softly but it still didn’t get rid of the fact that he would have to work with Maki again. And after what’s been happening, his feelings were all jumbled up.

“Earth to Tomo!”

“What?” He didn’t realize that Yuichi was still talking.

With a tired sigh, the other man shook his head. “I’m sorry I won’t be with you and Maki later, but you two could handle it just fine. Anyways I need that CD as soon as possible.”

This got Tomohisa’s attention. “As soon as possible? Why?”

Secret was the one word glimmering in Yuichi’s face. The latter stood up before patting Tomohisa’s firm shoulder. “Just you wait. Anyways, I remembered, Keiko was looking for you…”

“Keiko?” Tomohisa felt his throat close a little.  “What did she want?”

“I think she was going to give you something but you had class.” Yuichi shrugged, a little bored with the situation. “Anyways, you’ll see each other during lunch anyways.” He started walking ahead but stopped just short of his desk.

“Anou, Tomo… If I were you, I wouldn’t be sailing on two oceans nor would I fish in one just because there are more trout to catch when what I really want is salmon.” Leaving those words, he went straight outside. Tomohisa sat there with the most dumbfounded expression. What the heck was Yuichi talking about? Did he have a bad breakfast or something?

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Class had just ended and before they knew it, it was lunch time. Students started exiting the classroom while Maki tended to the many papers she had to file.

“Need any help sensei?”

Maki looked up at the voice to see Ryosuke smiling down at her.

“Ah, iie Yamada-kun, but thank you…” There was a small knock on the door, causing the both of them to look. It was Mirai, smiling through her thick glasses.

“Go on…” Maki said, nodding her head.

Ryosuke smiled in understanding before heading to the door. Maki noticed that Mirai looked suddenly thoughtful and almost worried while Ryosuke ushered themselves out of the classroom. What could’ve been wrong? Her stomach suddenly grumbled and she had to remind herself to eat at least a sandwhich or something. She gathered up all of her belongings, making sure she didn’t leave anything behind before heading out of the room. The door had just closed behind her when she noticed a figure walking ahead. The door closing must’ve ben loud since the person turned their head back to her.

“Maki-chan!”

It was Keiko.           

“Ah, konnichiwa Keiko-chan, are you heading on to lunch?” Maki asked while hauling her heavy stuff over to the woman.

“Actually, I was looking for Tomo, have you seen him?” Keiko asked.

Maki peeked over and noticed that Keiko had a bento box behind her. Oh crud, she forgot, Tomohisa asked her to meet him. “I think he’s at the cafeteria right now…”

“Oh good.” Keiko said in a relieved tone. “I was heading there myself…”

They walked together greeting students here and there until they made it to the cafeteria. It wasn’t hard to spot where Tomohisa and the others were sitting. Maki and Keiko had just entered the vicinity when Tomohisa looked their way. He immediately shot up from his seat and approached them.

Tomohisa smiled pleasantly at Keiko but then glared at Maki.

What did she do? Maki asked herself. Before she knew it Tomohisa hauled her over to the side.

“Hey take it easy!” She flinched. She had a very fragile wrist!

Tomohisa ignored her and started bombing questions her way. “Why haven’t you been answering your phone? I’ve been calling and messaging you all morning!”

“My phon--?” Maki stopped half way and closed her eyes in frustration before bringing her phone out of her bag. As she suspected; dead battery. “I must’ve forgotten to charge it, I’m sorry…”

“Charge it?! You forgot? Why the heck do you even have a phone for?!”

It was a good thing the students were pretty loud or everyone would be hearing Tomohisa giving her a sermon. Her famous scowl and glare came back as she looked at the man. “I’m sorry alright?! And why are you so fixated about this anyways?! And what was it you wanted to tell me?” What was his problem anyways! He was so infuriating!

It seemed that Tomohisa realized he was also yelling. So he took a deep breath then calmly explained. “Yuichi wanted me to tell you that we needed to record an unplugged version for Fresh Start, when would you like to start?”

Frankly, Maki wasn’t up to recording anything with Tomohisa at the moment. But they needed to do this. “Let’s do it tomorrow. Meisa, Erika and I are going out later tonight.” Without another word, she headed for the food line.

She was still slightly ticked off so she decided to order a brownie with the pasta salad she bought.

“Feeling alright?” The voice beside startled her. But it was only Ryo.

“Of course…” She replied, showing a smile while paying for her food. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know, it’s just that your forehead is all wrinkly.” Ryo said as he paid for a slice of cake.

Maki actually laughed which caused Ryo to smile.

“There, they disappeared! People always look better when they smile…” He said.

“You’re on to talk.” Maki mocked. “You rarely smile!”

“I already have that charm so I don’t need to smile. Otherwise, all the girls would be falling for me.” Ryo laughed just as they headed back to the table. Maki realized that Keiko and Tomohisa had secluded themselves at a separate table and the bento Keiko was carrying a while ago was now with Tomohisa.

“Your forehead is wrinkling again!” Ryo suddenly pointed out.

Maki quickly shook herself awake. She smiled at Ryo. “No it’s not!” She cleared and closed her eyes for a moment just to get the image of Keiko and Tomohisa eating together out of her mind. “Jaa, why don’t we start eating ne?”

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“Wow, Keiko-chan this looks great.” Tomohisa said as he stared at the scrumptious meal right in-front of him. There was tempura, rice, salad and even tiramisu.

Keiko acted non-chalantly but you couldn’t hide the growing smile on her face. “Actually, I had some extra ingredients at home, that’s why I decided to cook.”

Tomohisa scooped up some of the tempura with his chopsticks and ate it with the rice. Wow. Flavor burst through his mouth. “This is good!” He scooped more for himself, visibly enjoying every bite he was taking. “Wow, I didn’t know you were such a good cook Keiko-chan.”

“I’m not actually.” Keiko sighed. At first she looked thoughtful, her hands folded on her lap. “My ex-boyfriend actually told me that my cooking , that’s why I tried to be better, but we still broke up,.”

Tomohisa looked at her and felt some sort of pity. He scoffed while wiping his mouth. “He’s an idiot Keiko-chan, your cooking is pretty delicious. If he didn’t think so then something must be wrong with his taste buds.” He actually saw the way Keiko’s eyes lit up and he was happy to see her that way.

“Thanks Tomo, that means the world to me…”

“And for that, you have to cook for me everyday…”

“EH?!?!”

Tomohisa chuckled slowly, not letting go of his cool demeanour. “Nah, just kidding…”

Keiko laughed slowly, her sharp eyes slowly disappearing because of how she laughed.

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“So… I heard Keiko and Tomohisa had a little lunch date at the cafeteria a while ago…” Erika’s tone meant something and it was making Maki uneasy. But she covered it up while continuing to eat into her vegetable pasta.

“Oh yeah, I think she cooked lunch for him.” Maki replied.

“Wow, isn’t she too obvious?” Meisa suddenly commented. This got both Maki and Erika curious. Usually when it came to topics like this, Meisa would rather stay quiet and not join the conversation.

“Well what are you looking at me like that for?” Meisa asked defensively before taking a sip from her red tea.

Erika waved the issue off then turned to back to Maki. It looks like she wasn’t going to escape this. “What gives Maki, you’re giving Keiko a head start!”

“What are you talking about?” Maki knew what this was all about but she’d rather not encourage Erika. Too bad the latter was too persistent.

“She’s moving in on your man!”

“Tomohisa is not my man. And I don’t care what they both want to do. They have their own lives.” Maki reasoned out. Suddenly she wasn’t hungry anymore though.

Erika opened to answer but was surprised to be beaten by Meisa.

“Look Maki-chan.” The tallest of the three started. “Don’t let Erika get to you. If this is what you want to do then go on. Just make sure that you really do know what you want.”

“Thanks Mei-tan, that really helped.” Erika growled, realizing that she herself had not started on her dinner.

Maki was thankful she had friends like Erika and Meisa. But come on. Wherever did they think that Tomohisa was her man? Was it just some fantasy that when she and Tomohisa got together then they’d all go on triple dates?

“Wait a minute… where is this all coming from anyways?” She asked.

Erika wouldn’t give up. She asked a question of her own. “Okay just to get things straight.  You don’t like Tomohisa one bit?”

“What is this an interview?”

“Yes! So answer the darn questions!”

Meisa started laughing at the sides as she watched her two friends.

Maki sighed. “Tomo is just my friend. And if I did like him, he wouldn’t like me back, I mean, come on, we fight almost half the time.” Where did all of that come from? Darn it. Erika was worming her way into her thoughts.

“That’s it?!” Erika exclaimed. All Maki could do was palm her face exasperatedly.

Finally, Meisa thought that enough was enough. She started patting a distraught looking Erika’s hand. “Let it go Eri… Let it go.”

They finished with dinner, thankfully bringing the topic over to the acquaintance party. It was apparently a new tradition which Maki missed out when she was absent for the last few years. Every start of the semester, an instructor, a.k.a Toda Erika, would organize a party for the students so they’d get to know each other more. A mixer to put it simply.

“It’s going to be great Maki-chan! It can be just semi-formal so it wouldn’t be too expensive!” Erika yelled in delight. Maki was thankful that the latter now forgot about the whole issue with Tomohisa.

When they finished talking, the three of them said their goodbye. Meisa and Erika both excited to see their boyfriends while Maki trudged on home, tired and wiped out. But she actually liked walking even if she was tired. Something about the breeze which always seemed to calm her nerves.

She was almost by the vicinity of her apartment when a familiar face caught her attention.

“Tomo?”

Tomohisa turned around at Maki’s voice and was visibly surprised when he saw her. “Maki-chan!”

“What are you doing here?” Maki asked. This part of the city was mostly food stalls. But it was almost 10 o’clock, was he eating dinner at this hour?

“I know what you’re thinking…” Tomohisa said slowly. “I don’t really cook that’s why I order out but I fell asleep and forgot to eat earlier.”

“You don’t know how to cook?” Maki asked in a disbelieving tone.

“Well, I can… grill and fry stuff but not… cook cook.”

He actually looked adorable standing there looking helpless and all Maki could do was sigh before she started pushing him to walk.

“Hey! What are you doing!?” Tomohisa exclaimed as Maki placed her warm hands by his shoulders.

“We’re going grocery shopping you dope… come on!”

There was thankfully a 24-hour supermart not too far away from their apartment building. Tomohisa followed Maki around as the woman grabbed some chicken, some vegetables and a few other ingredients. She also grabbed the staple stuff like cheese, milk, bread.

“Wow, you’re my own shopping list.” Tomohisa mused as he paid for the stuff.

“Don’t get used to it.” Maki laughed. She grabbed the paper bags and was starting to walk away from the register but Tomohisa was staring at her. “Tomo hey! Snap out of it! Let’s head on home!” She had already exited the automatic doors when the cashier called out to Tomohisa.

“Sir! Your girlfriend left this!”

Tomohisa turned back and found that Maki left her phone. Figures. He thanked the young man with a smile before following Maki who was already walking ahead.

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Tomohisa watched as Maki whizzed around in his kitchen. It was like she was possessed or something. He only ever saw her like this when she was playing piano but apparently she was like this when she was cooking as well. From all the staring he didn’t realize that Maki had placed a plate of her chicken, lime and carrot puree dish. His tongue started salivating.

“Dig in and judge!” Maki challenged with a small laugh, still wearing an apron.

Tomohisa smirked before grabbing a fork. He took a piece of the chicken and mixed it with th carrot puree. He ate it in one large bite and literally felt his tongue partying and going to heaven.

“This… is the best thing I’ve ever tasted!”

“Think so?” Maki mused as she sat down next to him.

Tomohisa chuckled, still finishing with the chicken. He didn’t voice it out but tasting Maki’s food after Keiko’s was like tasting the best salmon dish after a simple trout dish. 

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AN: haaha! I made all of those quotes about salmon and trout up XD hope you liked this chapter! please comment!!