Part 1 

"Haha, shitty parents and a sad brother, what do you think of my situation, Jestorica?" 

Lukyus got off the phone and leaned back on his seat, having just arrived at my place. 

Apparently, he had just got off from talking to his brother, Arthur. 

"I don't even want to talk about your fucked up family." 

Hi, my name is Jestorica, a certain narcissist's friend. 

And that's the weirdest thing about me, why the heck am I this guy's friend?

And I'm a girl too. 

I first met Lukyus when we were in high school, he was 3 grades below me but we still talked a tiny bit.

After graduating, I didn't see him and went to University. But suddenly years later, on campus, the guy suddenly sat next to me and said hey, 'cause we knew each other. 

In the end, he invited me everywhere and we slowly became friends, up to the point 

Right now, he's about 19 years old, while I was 22, so I was about 3 years older than this twerp, yet, he treats me like I'm his doll. 

"So, why did you decide to crash at my place- Ah right~, you don't have friends."

"Don't compliment me so much, or I'll kiss you." 

For some reason, this guy prided himself for not having that many friends. 

Maybe because it represented a lack of dependence on others and high individuality. 

"Please don't touch me, don't you have a competition to practice for in two weeks?" 

I ran my hand through my shoulder-length hair, sighing as I turned over to face Lukyus from my spinning chair lying on my bed who had a satisfied look on his face. 

"That's exactly why I came here." 

Huh? 

"What?" 

"Arthur kicked me out and invited a new partner, I told you about her, right? Her name was Charlotte." 

"I'm surprised he didn't cut you off earlier." 

As someone who was 2 years older than Arthur, who also went to the same elementary and high school as him, (and briefly University) I knew him as a depressed cute handsome junior. 

I was really close to his mother too, well, not really. Just knew each other. 

In both elementary and high school (we went to the same schools throughout), he had a talent and skill for piano, so we would rehearse and play together sometimes for school performances, even competing in local competitions. 

I played the viola within the school music group, with some others including Arthur, who was 3 years younger than me. 

When he played, he played like a human metronome doll, like his fingers were held up by strings, lifelessly pressing on notes as he jadedly looked onward into nothingness. 

He was so dead that one time he accidentally walked into me changing when he was at my house practising for a performance, though I was expecting some sort of reaction, it was mostly: "Jestorica? My bad." and shut the door robotically. 

As an adolescent boy, his eyes should have been more lively. And when he looked at me at that moment, all I could see was emptiness. 

One time, I hugged him, pressing his head against my chest, telling him that his performance was amazing. 

I felt sniffling and realised he was tearing up, but even with those tears, those dead eyes still remained, dead black hollow eyes that sucked even darkness into it. 

Something was wrong with him, clearly. 

I only began to piece the puzzle pieces together once I saw the cuts on his arms, and the way his family treated him. 

And from there, both I and the Music Teacher in the high school began to urge him to do something. 

Which eventually led to him leaving the house and using his scholarship to get a free ride into University. 

And then, I never made contact with him until I myself enrolled at the same University. 

...And I'm still studying while he's already out, uwah. 

"-That doesn't matter, I'm gonna reenter the competition again, and you're gonna be my partner." 

"Huh?" 

Smacking myself back to reality, Lukyus's words echoed again and again in my mind. 

"You heard me, you're going to be my partner." 

"I refuse." 

"Please?" 

Lukyus stood up and approached me with a charming smile on his face. 

Lukyus was a handsome stud, the type to easily woo girls easily with just a look. Annoyingly, the expression he was using was looked experienced. I'm sure he had a few girls at his beck and call, and those who call him daddy or something. 

To put it into perspective, he's trash. 

It would have worked if I didn't know this guy since I was a kid, and if I didn't know about his history with girls. 

"Give me a reason to." 

"Well, the rewards for winning is lotta money and a free-to-perform concert in Germany, and you know Arthur's competing too, though I'm gonna beat him."  

...It's been a while since I've seen Arthur's face. 

I wanna see how he's doing. 

"I'll think about it." 

Part 2 

"...Wooooooh! I heard you guys were in here but I didn't expect things to get super hooot!" 

An annoying voice came from the door. 

It was the usually cheerful Sonlet, along with another girl I knew.

It was Amber, whom I competed with when I was a kid in musical competitions. 

Right now, they were both gleefully glaring at Charlotte and I hugging each other. 

What bad timing, get out. Get out now!

Seeing as though we were interrupted, Charlotte let go of me and immediately stood up. 

I did so too. 

"You have a girlfriend now, huh?"

Amber crossed her arms and raised her brow with a neutral expression. 

I've only briefly described it, but let's dive deeper into my relationship with her, Sonlet and Amy, who couldn't come. 

Amber, Sonlet and Amy. They all fiercely competed against me in musical competitions from way back when I was a kid, but even so, I only chatted with them a tiny bit back then so they're like acquaintances that I know well me. 

But even with that, I know them more than I knew anyone else back from when I was a kid, well, there was this one other senior that was older than me that I also practised with, she played the Viola, ah Jestorica, well... She's not important now. 

Amber had long curly orange hair, her eyes fiercely sharp. She almost seemed to never smile, only having a frown on her face which was in contrast to Sonlet's bright and cheerful expression. 

We'll talk about Amy later. 

"She's not my girlfriend." 

"...?! I am! Are you an idiot?!" 

"She's not."

"Oi! What do you think we were just doing right now?!" 

Charlotte came onto me and started hitting my chest with a pouty face. 

"Nothing..." 

I... I don't know? I can't process this tingling feeling in my heart, so I'm going to push it aside. 

My main goal right now is to win the competition... Yeah, that's my main goal right now.

Charlotte being my girlfriend... I-... My mind is just too- 

I don't know. 

I unnoticeably tensed my fists. 

Amber and Sonlet looked at each other, smirking.

"Hah... Anyways, wanna go grab something to eat?" 

Sonlet smirkly offered. 

"We refuse, leave."

Charlotte and I immediately and dryly replied, frowning. 

Part 3 

It had been around two days since then. 

"If you want to have a good idea on how to memorise notations, think of the middle line as a foundation for the note 'B', from there, you can simply count forward C, D, E, F etc." 

I was teaching the class I was assigned to. 

"Do you all understand?" 

The children took notes dutifully and nodded.

"Hey you, what are you doing?"

I looked at a kid at the back of the class who seemed to be chatting. 

"Leave her alone! We're just talking about the work!" 

Charlotte, who was sitting beside her hugged her, bringing her closer to her chest as she defended the child. 

It was clear that the topics they were talking about weren't class-related, and they were messing around. 

Charlotte and the kid were smiling uncontrollably, and at times pointed toward Lucious with smirky devious grins. 

"Sigh... Alright-"

I simply sighed, and continued on with class, I didn't bother to do anything, because: 

"Well, that boring theory is now over. You all can head to the keyboards now."

"Yay! x 20 

The moment I stepped down from the whiteboard and ended the writing-section of class, the children got excited and rushed to the keyboards within the room, eager to play and practise.  

"What should I do now?" 

Charlotte approached me with a warm smile, tilting over slightly and looking up at me. 

"Hm... You should walk around and make sure the kids' hand forms are correct. I need to go the bathroom, so supervise for me, okay?" 

"Okay!" 

Charlotte excitingly skipped away and approached one of the students, already lecturing them on their form. 

I walked out of the classroom and walked through the school building. 

I wasn't an official staff member or teacher at this school, I was simply a musician hired as a tutor-teacher of sorts for a class under a contract for a class here, so I wasn't familiar with the layout that much. 

I only knew the way in from the entrance to this class, this class to the bathroom... And that's pretty much it. 

Though, I was feeling pretty thirsty, so I decided to try and find the staff room to see if they had some water. 

"Hey, do you know where the staff room is?" 

I approached a kid who seemed to be walking around the halls aimlessly. 

He told me, and after thanking him I made my way to the staff room. 

Since it was class time, the staff room was pretty much empty and clear. It was like a large lounge room with a carpet floor, tables like a cafeteria and a kitchen-like section of the room. 

But my goal was the water tank.

As I grabbed a cup to fill it up with water, I heard a voice come from behind. 

"Arthur?" 

Oh, I recognise that voice. 

"Sonlet?" 

My self-proclaimed rival, what was he doing here? 

"What are you doing here?" 

Sonlet asked me with a curious gaze, he seemed to be dwadling around the staff room for some reason. 

"I'm just getting a drink." 

"No no, not that, what are you doing in a school?" 

Sonlet seemed confused to why I was here. 

What are you doing too? 

"I'm a contracted music teacher here. What the hell are you doing here? Are you a teacher? I didn't know anything about this." 

"Well yeah, I'm a teacher, I teach P.E and English."

Sonlet replied pridefully, almost as if he was proud of it. 

"Cool." 

I wasn't particularly interested in chatting with Sonlet, I just wanted to get my water and leave. 

But Sonlet seemed to feel otherwise. 

"Hey, how's practise for the competition going with your girlfriend?" 

Oi... She's not my... girl- girlfriend...!

For some reason, I felt my face go warmer. 

C-Charlotte...

"I-It's going well, what about you?" 

"Nothing too notable, though I heard your brother Lukyus got a new partner." 

Oh? 

"Who is it?" 

"Remember Jestorica?" 

Sonlet suddenly brought up a nostalgic name, one that I hadn't heard in a while. 

"Jes...torica...?" 

It was partially thanks to her that I escaped my parents home, along with a teacher from high school. I owe a bit to her because of that. She was a senior to me during elementary school, and we attended the same high school and even University briefly. 

Though we did performances together within the Music clubs, our relationship wasn't that deep, well, from my perspective.

She did come over to my house a few times to practise during high school though, and herself felt close enough to even take showers. 

She was someone I hadn't heard of in a while though. 

"That's right, Jestorica! I remember when she and you used to come to the Musical Competitions together, along with your parents." 

"..." 

"Hey, where are you going!" 

Hearing the mention of my parents, I gulped down all the water from my cup and walked out of the staff room. 

I didn't overreact, or lash out. 

Instead, I just left. 

That's kind of an improvement. 

Although, it'd be nice to see Jestorica sometime. 

......... 

"I missed you!" 

The moment I entered the classroom, Charlotte suddenly appeared and jumped at me. 

The warmth from her body soothed my heart, feeling her arms embrace my back, her cheeks rub against my chest made the air I was breathing suddenly more fresher with more vitality. 

"It's only been 10 minutes." 

"That's still far too long!" 

Charlotte held steady, refusing to let me go. 

"I miss you too... Ahem, anyways, the kids are staring at us, class should almost be over. Help me pack up the materials before class ends." 

"Of course!" 

When class ended, Charlotte and I made our way to the bus and sat beside each other on the seat. 

Charlotte laid her head against my shoulders and closed her eyes. 

"ZzzzZZZzzzZZZZ..." 

"Huh?" 

She immediately fell asleep. 

She must have worked hard today, lecturing the kids and talking loudly to fall asleep like that. 

I turned my head and could only catch a fraction of a glimpse of her face. 

"You're so beautiful, Charlotte." 

I muttered under my breath as I relaxed, tilting my head over toward Charlotte's side, resting my cheeks on the top of her head. 

Outside it was a clear day, although the sun wasn't too bright, it was just perfect as I shined into the bus against Charlotte's body. We were the very few on the bus, but alone sitting at the back together. 

We could easily be mistook as a couple. But, I didn't care. 

She smells nice, and I feel so relaxed... I wish it could stay like this forever.