The Golden Pear [YA - Featured]

♫~Notes 25~♫

 Rigaku placed his stuff on the table, and they dived into the world of knowledge. If one subject was her weakest, it was history. Remembering all the dates, events, and names gave her a headache. She loved history. It was a time she couldn't experience (and while she was happy for it in most cases); it had an undeniable charm.

Rigaku provided her with non-technical aid by showing her poem-like lines to remember and create on her own. With this, the notes turned poetic and whimsical.

Before they knew it, the lunch came, and since the weather stayed sunny, they spend it in the building's schanigarten. Even this time, Freya didn't know what to try. The menu had too many options and no price tags.

However, her stomach gave her the best advice, and she picked a sweet curry while Rigaku ordered the sushi set she had for breakfast. The boy caught himself stealing glances her way, despite feeling no fever or lingering tiredness.

'How strange,' he thought. 'I don't appear... annoyed?' As far as he could remember, people gathered around him to praise him or ask for his knowledge with hungry eyes. During his elementary school, he had helped many classmates to pass their tests, yet he never received their honest friendship.

Even as a young child, he understood the education was the most prided as his father had told him. 'Is she different from others?' He remembered how she had thrown the pear into the river, and how she had barked at him during the P.E. 'What is she yearning for?'

Freya put down the cutlery, wiping her lips with a paper handkerchief.

"Freya-san?" She looked at him, prompting him to continue as he stopped. "I'm only curious. This has nothing to do with 'that', onegaishimasu, I mean no disrespect."

She again rolled her green eyes. For whatever reason, Rigaku seemed to apologize to her for every little thing.

"Do you yearn for something?"

She faced down, holding her chin with a half-closed fist.

"I don't denote for others, but purely for yourself. Do you have a dream to fulfill?"

'A dream?' Her eyes trailed the cloth in front of her as the waiter picked their empty plates. She gave him a smile, which the man returned. 'Do I have one?' She focused on her studies. She had never thought about what she wanted to do after school or at all.

After a while, she shrugged her shoulders.

"I see."

She pointed at him.

"M-Me?" he stuttered, adjusting his glasses. "I haven't set my sight onto anything specific either." A slight blush crept on his face.

Freya gestured at him and then mimicked writing.

"You mean publishing storybooks?"

She nodded with a massive beam.

Rigaku averted his eyes. "Books for children?"

Freya cupped her hands in prayer.

"Did you enjoy that silly fable that much?"

She swung her head up and down, turning her hair into a mist.

"I see." A cozy and fuzzy feeling settled in his stomach. 'Could that story... blossom? How long it is since I've started it?'

A beep startled them. Freya checked her bag, fishing out her phone, finding a new message. Upon opening it, she smiled and showed it to Rigaku.

Aiyoku wrote, "Yo, is everything okay? I'll come for a lunch break (may break Ri's neck XD) and bring notes. Ai"

The oldest triplet pushed his glasses back and forth. "I'm not that careless to let them catch me for the second time."

Freya giggled, and she answered to tell him where they would be, and that Rigaku was behaving.

"Freya-chan! Ri!" called the blond Kamini when he arrived minutes later. "Glad you are fine. Thank you so much for your help." He gave her a bright smile.

"I'm not going anywhere," Rigaku added with a stern glance, but his slight grin gave him away.

Aiyoku sat next to them, and they chatted as he brought the Garden Parade Top Ten as well.

'How strange.' Rigaku's eyes went from Freya to his younger sibling. 'These pictures don't seem the same anymore.' He took a sip of his hot tea. 'I wonder if...' A ray of sunlight landed on the red-haired girl, giving her a sparkling aura.

"Dang it!" Aiyoku muttered as he checked his watch. "I forgot about school!"

"I would say it's over by now," Rigaku added in a dry tone, but a mischievous grin danced across his face.

"Ka is going to kill me. I promised to return." The blond brother slumped in the chair.

This time Rigaku's phone rang, and seeing the name of a fellow council member wiped that smile he had. "Hai, Kamini speaking." He picked the call, moving away from the table.

"Hey, where are you?" an angry voice sounded back. "Where are the Garden Parade's results!"

"It's being judged by now."

"Then get your lazy ass here!" The caller hung up.

Rigaku bit his lip, putting the phone into his pocket. As he returned, he noticed the atmosphere around the dinner table turned heavy. "The Council needs me," he said, emotionless as he used to. "I'll pay them a visit and return as soon as possible."

"If it's about the Garden Parade, I can handle it." Aiyoku picked the papers, sorting them according to their placement.

"That's alright. I've been slacking long enough."

Aiyoku slammed his hands against the table as he stood. "You overworked yourself because of those jerks!"

Heads turned their way, but none of them paid them any attention.

Rigaku averted his eyes for a split of a second. "It's a position I accepted and should do my best to not let anybody down." He patted his brother's shoulder.

The younger sibling released a deep sigh, his shoulders slumping down. "You never learn, do you? I'm coming too." He picked his bag. "And there is no way talking me out of this."

"And you say I'm stubborn."

Freya smiled and accompanied them. This wasn't her home anyway, and strangely, she started to enjoy their company.

At the school gate, a few people still lingered around the entrance, but when the trio got closer to the fountain, the main door burst open with screams and roars.

Hai – Yes

Onegaishimasu – Please