CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2 - Yamamura Hiro 山村浩

--Yamamura Hiro (山村浩)-- The silent nerd in the class. He sits on a chair at the corner of the room by the window. Now considered as the lowest among the lowest of ranks ever since their company went bankrupt after his father died. Yamamura was due to leave the school last year but because of his excellent grades, the superiors allowed him to stay for one more year. Ever since he got into the school, no one did notice him even though he is Yumi's academic rival.

"So I assume you found your partners already?"

"hai!"

"now for today's activity. . you need to find the books on the list - which I will give to you. . that are hidden in random rooms in the entire school"

"naniiiiiiiii----??" Seika shouted. "Sensei, this cool is freaking huge. . how will we be able to-"

"You have 'til the last bell to gather all those books. . your lists are on this table.. ja gambare" grabs his things and exits the room.

He left them no choice so they gather around the front table and grabs the devices with the lists of their books. When they get out of the room, they realize that those students of the lower ranks are given the same tasks as them. Silence fills the entire floor as they all stare at each other from across the hallway. ---suspense music intensifies---

"ne! where shall we start?"

Yumi's voice to be heard from inside the room - breaking the silence and catches all their attention. With Yumi by his side asking him lots of questions, Hiro abruptly pauses in front of everybody without noticing it. He lifts his head and looks at his side, seeing them looking at them awkwardly ---crickets sound---

"Minna, Gambare!" Yumi cheers as she waves her hand up high.

Yumi immediately follows Hiro when he turns around and walks towards the left-wing of the building. Holding the device in his hand, Hiro then starts a search in the corners in search of a book possibly hidden in one of the furniture, while Yumi, on the other hand, keeps distracting him and asking him plenty of questions.

"Nee, what book are we looking for here?" she asks squatting beside him looking at his face.

--no response--

"eh? moshikashite, you don't know?"

Hiro looks at her cold-blooded for a brief moment, then stands up and walks away. Yumi's a jolly person so she doesn't mind his attitude and continues to follow him around, trying to win his interest, and finally starts a conversation with him. Hours passed by, Yumi and Hiro haven't found any book yet and is a bit exhausted from roaming around the school.

"uuuuuhh" she groans as she takes a seat on a tree bench. "can we rest for a bit? my feet are soaring"

"if you don't wanna go, then go back to the classroom," he said with a cold voice and continues to walk.

"chotto!" she quickly stands up when she hears something fall behind her.

Hiro, too, heard the sound so he goes back to check it out. Yumi bends over across the bench and reaches the hollow part of it - touching something above the soil and grabs it.

"kyaaaaaaaaaaa--- a book!" she screams with joy holding the book up high. "Hora!"

She hands the book to him and checks if it's theirs, and it is. Yumi jumps out of joy repeatedly saying "we found one, we found one" when a pair of lower-rank students appears in front of them, holding their device, melancholy watching them. After they got the book, a notification pops out on their device; realizing that all of them are given the same tasks, and the teams with the same numbers are given the same list of books to collect. So if the other team found the book, the 2 remaining teams with the same number will lose their chance to collect all of their books and will fail the activity. Yumi looks at the book in her hands, smiles, and then turns towards them.

"Kore!" she says stretching her hands towards the girls in front of them. "get this"

"eh?"

"here, take this. ." hands over the book to them. "collect all your books ok?"

Because Hiro doesn't want to start any conversation with anyone, he's left no choice but to let Yumi do as she pleases. Now, to still gain some points, they continue to search for the remaining books in the list that are slowly running out. Time flies by and it's almost the last bell, at this time, Yumi and Hiro only have 2 books left in their possession because Yumi has been giving the books they collected to the other team who they ran into. While making their way to the classroom, they stumble upon the girls they met earlier, crying in the hallway.

"what happened?" she asks them.

"n-nothing" she replies while sobbing.

"where are your books?"

"t-the. . ."

"the what?"

"team 3 from 11-2 took it from us"

Hearing those words makes her realize that those of the upper ranks have been taking advantage of their status' to obtain the books of the lower ranks. Yumi feels bad for them so she takes their last 2 books and gives it to them.

"b-but Miyamoto-sama. . if you'll give this you will-"

"I know," she smiles. "it's fine. . you take it"

"arigatou gozaimashita!"

They both say as they bow down and runs back to their classroom to submit the books.

"great! now we don't have books left" Hiro says with an upset voice.

"that's fine. . they deserve it after what the upper ranks did to them," she says smiling sweetly.

Left no choice, Hiro just turns his back to her and walks away; thinking Yumi is such a childish spoiled-brat who doesn't care about anything.

"Oi chotto matte," Yumi screams while running towards him. "Don't be mad. . what do you wanna eat? My treat"

----Last bell chimes----