"Hey, did you ever wonder.." I asked Riida. "If she was still with as right now, would we be the same as what we were before?" I was still wishing that she could be here.

"Nino, you can't bring back the dead." Satoshi tells me. I know that, idiot. He was walking with his head down, fiddling with a bouquet of flowers he brought to her. "But." He said. "I still don't think it would be the same." He monotonously answered my question.

"What makes you say so?" It made me curious. I was thinking about it all night.

"Think about it. All of us are busy now with work. And the five of us could have our own girlfriends and she'd have her boyfriend. It's even possible that one of us would have ended up with her. Nothing will be the same."

"Is that so.." I had a very different point in mind.

---~~~---

"I love it!" She applauded as I removed my fingers on the keys of the piano. "Kazu, you're really good in writing songs." She nudged me while sitting beside me on the piano chair. "What's the title of the song?"

I pointed to the title on the sheet. I was confident, I was sure she wouldn't get it.

"1992*4##111?" She confusedly asked. "Eh? What is that, some kind of code?" She laughed at she got the sheet music and browsed through the pages.

"Yeah it is." I smiled. She scratched her head. Ha, of course you wouldn't get it.

"Ah well, the tune is really nice." She smiled as she put the sheets back on the piano. "We shohuld sing this as a duet soon." She giggled. She got the sheet music again. "I'll keep this first so I can study it on the piano." I was kind of hesitating if I should lend it. She could decipher the code. I mean, she is really intelligent and all but I think when it comes to these things, she's a bit dense.

"Okay, so back to work!!" She stood up and went towards the table.

"Eh~? Already?" I lazily stood up, trying to stall.

"Oh come on, you lazy idiot. You're wasting my time and effort. Think of the other idiots locking themselves up in their own rooms while studying. I came here to tutor you, don't even try stalling." Crap, no escape. Oh well, at least she's my tutor. I'm sure I'll be fine during midterm exams.

---~~~---

I reminisce about that day. I was cross-sitting on the piano chair, staring at a page of my music notebook. I was thinking of some phrases to add to my new song.

I then turn the pages to the first ones. I froze when I saw a certain page where a certain title, in big characters, was written.

"1992*4##111"

I felt a tear stream down from my eyes.

"I wonder if she ever got the code." I chuckled then sniffed.

---~~~---

"Yoshaa~!" Jun shouted as he looks at his score after he got his paper from the teacher. Some of the girls squealed. I leaned towards my right to peek at his score. Wow, he got an 81. It's actually quite surprising that he was able to pass. He's..... nevermind.

I quietly waited for my paper. I was praying that I'd pass as well. No wait. I was praying that I'd get less than ten mistakes. It was like hoping for the impossible but I didn't want to disappoint her. I wanted her to be proud of me.

I was getting impatient as I got curious how come Jun's paper came before mine. Not even Sho's paper came yet. It was still understandable that Chiyomi's paper wasn't given yet. (A/N: in the japanese "alphabet", Sakurai and Ninomiya comes before Matsumoto. Mihara comes after Matsumoto.) Oh this teacher's mysterious. She doesn't like doing things in an ordinary manner. When will my paper cooome~

I felt something on my shoulder. I turned my head and saw Chii's hand. She seemed relaxed. "I'm sure you got a good score." She said. "That's got to be obvious, I taught you." She giggled. I turned to face the front as I saw the teacher coming to my direction. I was closing my eyes while praying. 3.. 2.. 1... I opened my eyes and felt the teacher's presence on my right. Then she didn't stop. She stood between Sho and Chii who were seated beside each other. Sho got his paper. I was watching him as he sighed of relief. Then the teacher faced Chiyomi. She got her paper and smiled. Sho leaned towards her to look at her score.

"Hah, I got a higher grade this time." Chiyomi bragged to him.

"You got a 97, I got a 96. It's just one point!" Sho gave his argument. The whole class, including as we watched the two argue and compare their answers.

"Those two are such nerds." I said and put my head on my table. Then the teacher tapped my back. I looked at her and she smiled, that scared me, I don't know what it meant. The two nerds stopped fighting and looked at me. I was closing my eyes while getting my paper from the teacher's hands. It was actually the last paper she was holding.

Oh no.. Don't tell me I failed..

My paper was folded into half as I got it. I opened my eyes and everyone was looking at me. I slowly opened my paper.

"Congratulations." The teacher said. I felt like screaming. But it would seem like I'm gay or something. Instead, I sat still as I folded my paper into half again.

"Oy, how long are you gonna make us wait? What did you get?" Matsujun said.

"Ninety..." I whispered.

"What?" Sho tried to grab my paper. But failed.

"Nine.." I immediately felt someone hug me from the back.

"I knew you can do it." She whispered.

"What the hell is happening?" Sho seemed annoyed, haha.

"No idea~" Matsujun seemed relaxed as always. Sho was finally able to grab my paper.

"99?!" He shouted which caused the whole class to stare at me who was in a weird position because Chii was still hugging me. Almost all of them stood up and rushed towards Sho to grab my paper. Please don't rip it...

I can't even believe it myself. I got a higher grade than Sho and even Chiyomi who was the one who tutored me. 

"Okay, class dismissed." The teacher said as she was already holding her folder then she left the room.

"Okay, let's celebrate!" Chii stood up.

"Agreed." The other two said. I stood up and smiled. I love these guys. No, I'm not gay.

"Excuse me.." Two girls approached our group. We looked at them. Iwase and Kuroda seemed unusually shy.

"Go tell him." Iwase nudged Kuroda.

"Uhm. Congratulations on being the highest scorer on the exam." She told me.

"Ah, thanks." I said. It became awkward.

"So.. we'll be going now!" She bowed an dragged Iwase along with her and went out of the room. Weird.

Masaki entered the room with Riida.

"Waa~ I feel so relieved~ I got an 81~" Masaki said.

"I got an 81 too!" Jun and Masaki gave each other a high five.

"So what did you guys get?"

"I got a 96.." Sho said and looked at Chii.

"97." Chii's tone seemed different.

"Nerds. Obviously." Masaki laughed. "Nino?" I was focusing on Chii, it seemed strange. "Nino, what did you get?"

"99." Chii answered. Both Masaki and Riida looked at me. They were speechless. I shrugged my shoulders. Hey, I was speechless too.

"Chii suggested we should celebrate for Nino. Let's go!" Matsujun started walking towards the door so the rest of us followed.

The six of us started walking out of the school campus and walked towards the direction of Daniel's (A/N: Remember the family restaurant they always go to in a previous chapter?). I looked at Chii, something seemed wrong. She was looking straight at me while pouting. I wondered if I did anything wrong. We all entered the diner. Matsujun, Masaki and Sho were arguing about something.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Riida asked me while we were making our way to the usual spot where we sit.

"Dunno." I sat down. Chii was sitting on my right.

"Ah~ I can't believe Nino got a higher score than me, even Chiyomi." Sho said. Then he noticed Chii was unusually quiet. "Oi, why are you sad when you're the one who said we should celebrate?" All of us were looking at her. She looked at me then looked away. Huh? What's happening?

"Hey, hey, don't tell me you're mad at Kazu just because he got a higher score than you." Masaki said.

"Maybe." She crossed her arms.

"Ha? You're the one who taught me and you're mad at me for getting better.." I whispered but not soft enough that they all heard.

"Hmph. So now you're acting all proud just because you're about to have a girlfriend, huh." She really seemed mad. Yet I didn't understand what she was trying to say. All the other four's eyes were on Chii and me.

"You already have a girlfriend?" Masaki butted in. His voice was loud that caused the diner's staffs to look.

"What? No!" I stood up.

"Haha, don't even try to deny it!" Chii stood up. "You were flirting with each other!" She shouted. Oh no. She's really mad. I looked around, good thing we were the only customers there at that time. I sat down.

"You think I like Kuroda?" I asked her. I was a bit disappointed. It seemed like she doesn't even trust me.

"What? You're telling me I'm wrong?" She looked away. The place was quiet except for the restaurant music. I pulled her arm down for her to sit down. I smiled.

"There'll never be another girl who I will love more than you." I whispered softly so that the others wouldn't hear. It's only now that I realized that Chiyomi's cute when she gets jealous.

---~~~---

I continued writing some words on my music notebook.

"Even though I am able to love other people, there isn't anyone else who I could love. .... I look at the violets, those flowers are beautiful."

I turned the pages back to the start of the song. I wiped my tears then gently put my fingers on the keys of the piano. I started playing: "Kako"

---~~~---

To be continued..

Violets = being faithful

This chapter was a bit different from the other chapters. I usually write a chapter with the future, present, and the past right? Well in this chapter, there's no past. And so I kinda got the idea to highlight or change the color of the different times in the chapter. So the future will be highlighted gray. The present will be normal. And the past will be color brown.

I shall edit the ones in the previous chapters as well. :)

Anyway. I used two of Nino's songs here. And I really love all of his compositions. Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.

Next chap: Ohno's POV!