A Wish

I still shake my head no, but I still think of you... -- Because It's You, Sonnet Son

xxxxxx

[Rinako]

AFTER the performance of the 20th pair, even the tense atmosphere within the auditorium finally ended. Tachibana-sensei didn't let us leave the room just yet to change clothes since she was still going to announce the pair with the highest mark. She said that right after we gave the grades of each pair, especially when we finally picked the pair that we thought had performed the best.

I voted for the first pair as the overall best pair for me who did a contemporary piece with the sibling-ship as a theme. I remembered my half-brother who was in LA along with his grandmother when I saw that performance.

Here we were, waiting for the result but it was obvious that our feelings were leaking. There was anxiety, excitement, hope, not caring (just like Setsuji), and even neutral.

Wow! Was this supposed to be called mixed feelings?

I saw Tachibana-sensei stand up from where she was sitting and went onto the stage.

"Okay, this is the pair with the highest grade received since almost all of you voted for this particular pair. I wasn't just sure if you voted for them because you liked their performance or you just liked their pairing. But here it is. The best pair performance for our dance practicum is..."

Come on, Sensei! Don't go with the suspense effect right now, okay? It was irritating. I could even feel my heart hurting because of this intense nervousness. Though I had to ask myself, did I have to be nervous like this?

"...Pair #8, the waltz that Mitsuta Setsuji and Fukuizumi Rinako performed!"

Like... what the heck? Are you kidding me?

My eyes widened when I heard that. This was a joke, right?

And Tachibana-sensei was seriously grinning widely after announcing that. Yes, grinning and not smiling. If my club mates' teasing earlier when Setsuji and I were done performing, it was doubled at the moment. Honestly, I could punch all of them because of that. And I'd do it hard!

"This is a disaster..." I could only say to myself and ended up covering my face with my hands.

Until I froze when I noticed something. I discreetly looked around the auditorium so that I won't be obvious. Come to think of it, where was Setsuji? He was with Seiho just a while back, right?

Great! He managed to get away from here. Tachibana-sensei even clearly stated not to leave the room just yet until the grades were announced.

As for Tachibana-sensei, she was still talking on the stage about the grades of the other pairs' performances. But my attention wasn't there. Sad to say, it wasn't even inside the auditorium anymore.

I exhaled. What was happening to me? Why was I like this just because that jerk wasn't even around?

"Looking for someone?"

I got startled when I heard that. I soon turned in the direction where it came from. I saw Mayu smiling at me as she approached me.

Did my cousin notice?

I turned to look the other way and shrugged. Then I shifted my attention to my bag where my clothes were placed.

"Here. He wanted you to have this," Mayu said which made me stop doing anything.

I raised my head and saw a rectangular lavender box being handed to me. I thought I knew where it came from. And Mayu said 'he', right?

I even slowly moved just to get that, as if hesitating. But what was I supposed to hesitate about?

"It won't bite, you know."

I faced Mayu with a frown who was just smiling. "Idiot! That's not what I was thinking about, okay?" To my irritation, I grabbed the box and took it rather forcibly from Mayu.

I froze once again when I noticed the familiar handwriting on the top of the box.

It contained a question, though, that only made me frown.

'Can you grant me this?'

Grant him what?