in one of gakugei's plentiful studio rooms, a group of boys were discussing what they felt about a celebrity deciding to enroll at their academy.
"i think it'll be cool," tachibana makoto admitted. "there's not a big rock presence at gakugei."
"so are we just chopped liver?" matsuoka rin spat, giving a sharp tune to his guitar.
"no, but we all know the demographics of this place," makoto explained.
hazuki nagisa was the first to begin to recite the stats amongst the gakugei students. nagisa had learned them by heart after it became a selling point for them when they were pushing to be allowed to practice their style of music.
"fifty-three percent classical, thirty-two percent pop, twelve percent hip-hop, two percent miscellaneous, and-"
"one percent rock," both makoto and rin said with him, having also heard the stat about a billion times.
nagisa chuckled.
"i agree with makoto," he said. "it'll be good to have more friends who understand our music, plus her music is super good!"
"and what's so wrong with standing out and being the one percent?" rin argued.
"we'll still be part of the one percent, rin," makoto argued back. "one person won't be enough to bump us up a percent."
rin gritted his sharp teeth and grumbled.
"haru', do you have anything to add to this?" rin turned the attention towards nanase haruka, who had been staring longingly at the strings on his guitar.
"I don't really care. i just want to play music," he replied, which made rin roll his eyes.
"you guys are all so- so spineless!" rin stood to his feet and raised his voice at his band mates, something that wasn't so out of the ordinary with how passionate rin was. "what happened to having a competitive spirit?!"
"we haven't really needed one lately," makoto said. "i mean yeah, we were working to make a name for ourselves, and we did! we won that competition and now we're here. but being the one percent means that there's nothing to really compete for."
"and i'm saying that now, there is." rin looked around the room. "we've got to make sure that we don't lose what we've worked for to some princess."
"i doubt that she's here to take something from us," nagisa said softly.
"we just need to make sure that we don't get left behind. she may be famous, but we were here first."
the boys all shifted awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable under rin's sharp maroon gaze. while rin was busy making sure that his friends were as committed to the music as he was, he ignored the sound of the door opening behind him.
"i'm always down for some friendly competition."
-
y/n walked the halls with another student named sawa kotone while she was given an extensive tour of the many buildings and campuses that gakugei had available.
she saw the large cafeteria and the entire five story building dedicated to the dorm rooms and the too-big-to-be-real auditoriums for competitions. shiny and historical instruments sat in display cases and lined the walls in every hallway, and the classrooms and courtyard were bustling with chatter and a cacophony of noise.
"on this side, we have our west wing, which just recently had its classrooms converted to soundproofed studios. they're totally free to use in between eight in the morning and eight at night. there's cameras in all of the rooms, too, so just make sure you're on your best behavior."
y/n shot her a strange look, taking note of kotone's accusatory tone.
kotone's eyes widened and she held her hands up to defend herself.
"not that you'd break any rules!" she cried out. "sometimes students just go in the studios to do drugs and have sex so that's why i said it like that. i know that you wouldn't do anything like that, though."
y/n chuckled and crossed her arms.
"and how do you know that?"
kotone awkwardly swallowed and her hands shook nervously.
"i-i mean... i'd assume that you wouldn't, b-but i can also see if you d-do..."
y/n laughed again, louder this time, and put her hand on kotone's shoulder.
"i'm just joking with you, babe. i'm here for music and music only."
kotone sighed while y/n pulled her along, walking further down the hallway until they heard the muffled yelling of a distraught musician.
"you guys are all so- so spineless! what happened to having a competitive spirit?!"
they heard a pause, possibly someone responding in a much more reserved manner, and then the yelling started again.
"and i'm saying that now, there is. we've got to make sure that we don't lose what we've worked for to some princess."
a grimace appeared on y/n's face. she wasn't entirely sure that she was the subject of the conversation, but she had a good feeling about it.
she'd heard the criticism before. she was a spoiled brat who got what she wanted fed to her on a silver spoon. because of her surname, she didn't have to lift a pinky.
y/n had long since given up on trying to convince people otherwise, but she was still upset when she had to hear about it.
"we just need to make sure that we don't get left behind. she may be famous, but we were here first."
y/n then decided to break away from kotone and make her way towards the door, this time with a humored smile on her face.
kotone watched wearily. she recognized the voice behind the door, and she was actually hoping to turn around and leave as soon as she heard rin yelling, but she should've known just from the interaction that she had been having with y/n that if the new student heard anything bad about her, she would be very confrontational.
y/n pulled the door open and stood in the doorway, staring unashamedly into the back of rin's head.
she felt the eyes of the three other boys boring into her, but she didn't care.
"i'm always down for some friendly competition," she said.
