•*¨*•.¸¸☆*･ﾟthird person's pov

"aqua? hoshino aqua?!" aishi immediately went to a window near the trio, acting as if she was looking at the floor below but in reality, she just wants to listen to them talk.

"aqua, aqua! you're hoshino aqua!?" kana repeated, lgetting closer with a shocked expression. aqua looked at her with a blank look before speaking.

"who are you again.." ruby popped up behind her brother and pointed ne finger to kana.

"ah, isn't she...the child genuis who will lick a lying snitch.." kana turned to ruby and exclaimed with indignation.

"flick a crying switch!!" she then turned to aqua, speaking once more. "it's me, arima kana! we've acted together before!"

aqua looked at her blankly before finally recognizing her. "ah, long time no see. are you studying in the performing arts program here?" he asked, making aishi (who is still eavesdropping) sighed.

'he's very blunt..' she thought to herself as she continued to listen in.

kana held aqua's shoulders, smiling. "i'm glad..i've always wondered if you've stopped acting or.." she paused before continuing. "we've finally met again..."

the twins briefly looked at each other before looking back to kana who looked too excited for her own good.

"are you joining?!" she exclaimed happily. "are you joining the performing arts program in this school?!" she added.

aqua sweatdropped before speaking. "no... i've applied for the general education program"

aishi's eyes brightened after hearing those words. 'would it possible for us to be classmates...no! aishi, no! that's a death flag and you know that!'

"ehhh?! why the heck!!" kana exclaimed, showing a very disappointed expression.

"my sister applied for the performing arts program, and i'm here because i'm worried about her." aqua said, noticing the disappointment on kana's face.

"what—?!"

ruby butted in, smiling. "that's because my brother's a sis-con." kana visibly shivered in disgust, muttering "eww".

ruby leaned to her brother a bit, covering her lips. "you know, i never really liked her". aqua replicated her movement and also leaned a bit, covering his own lips. "but if you get accepted, you'll be her kouhai, you know."

"i've got ears you know!" kana, visibly annoyed, exclaimed.

"haa—" ruby sighed in exasperation. "well, what can you do, let's be friends, loli-senpai!"

"i'll really bully you! i really will!" kana replied, gritting her teeth.

aqua shook his head and turned around, making aishi, who is still invested to their conversation, turned her head back on the window.

"well, see ya. i'm off to the director's place." he said before walking away. aqua noticed the girl that the administrator called nakahara-san looking out the window only a few feet behind them.  he shook his head before walking past her.

"hm, see ya" ruby exclaimed, shrugging. kana turned to look at aqua and followed him.

"wait a minute!" she said, following him until they finally disappeared in aishi's radar.

aishi sighed, smiling a little. 'ah, it's so refreshing hearing those things in real life. i've only saw snippets of that scenes on some tiktok clips haha' she thought to herself.

she finally backed away from the window and about to walk forward when she accidentally bumped into the blonde girl, making her drop all of her files.

aishi just mumbled sorry before immediately crouching down, collecting all of her papers.

"ah! i'm sorry miss" ruby exclaimed, crouching to help the black haired girl. she was picking up some papers until she got ahold of the girl's application form.

'huh...?' ruby froze on her tracks after getting a glimpse on the girl's hometown. she knows that place, even back on her last life, it's the place where the hospital was located....the hospital that she spend most of her time because of her illness.

aishi collected most of her papers and looked up, seeing the frozen figure of ruby. she was a little worried that the girl saw something upsetting or what not.

"u-uhm, miss? m-miss?" aishi tried to get the girl's attention, waving her hand in front of ruby's face, waking her up from her trance.

"ah—! i'm sorry, are you alright? here are your papers! " ruby exclaimed, giving the papers back to aishi, who in return, took it and placed it on her folder.

"it's alright, uhm, miss.." aishi trailed off, slightly proud of her acting skills. 'ruby is so pretty, she really looks like her mom!'

"ruby! ruby hoshino!" ruby happily replied, standing up straight and offering her hand.

"uhm, yes, nice to meet you hoshino-san" aishi accepted ruby's offer and shook her hand. "i'm nakahara aishi, but you can just call me aishi"

"waah, you don't need to call me hoshino-san! ruby is fine, plus it makes me look like an older person when people call me that" ruby said, shaking aishi's hand with a very energetic smile.

aishi looked at her with a plain expression behind her bangs, her smile twitch as she thought that her energy would definitely not match ruby's.

"ah, a-alright, ruby-san.."

"ah! are you applying here too? do you want to be an idol too?" ruby happily asked the girl. she observed how she was dressed so plainly and yet, she gives of a very calm and mature vibe around her.

"ah yes and no, i'm...applying for the general education program..." the blonde perked up after hearing the black haired girl response.

"ah! then you might met my brother! we looked like each other but he has blue eyes whil i have a pinkish one. please befriend my brother, aishi-tan!" aishi tilted her head after hearing the nickname that she received. 'aishi...-tan?'

"i'll try.." aishi replied making ruby squeal on happiness.

"that's good! ah—!" she exclaimed after looking at her watch. "i need to leave first! see you aishi-tan!" ruby ran away, waving while smiling bright.

aishi waved back calmly and as ruby was out of her sight, she smiled brightly.

'ah, finally, no more threats! i can finally go home!'

aishi then rushed downstairs and out of the school premises, riding her bike back home. after biking for 15 minutes, she finally reached their restaurant.

she entered and was greeted by the staff and some of the customers who recognized her as the daughter of the owner. aishi smiled and greeted all of them back with a respectful tone before entering the door towards their house, upstairs.

•*¨*•.¸¸☆*･ﾟaishi's pov

i removed my shoes and set them on the shoe rack nearby. i stretched my whole body as i walked inside.

"aishi, welcome back" my mom, who is standing on the living room and feeding shuto and ryuto, saw me.

"hi mom, hi shu and ryu, i'm home" i replied, setting my helmet on the shelf.

"how's the interview?" she asked.

"meh, it's fine, but the interviewer were a little...intense if i would say so" i said, smiling sheepishly as i remember how they pestered with different club applications and such.

"i know you can do that, you're very smart and we believe in you" i nodded, smiling at them

"mom, you're too sappy haha just kidding, thank you!" i said, laughing a little as i watch my mother's face twist with slight annoyance.

i head up to my bedroom and placed my things on my bed. i change into a much comfortable clothes, aka a simple white tshirt and shorts.

i ran back down to the kitchen using another door and wore an apron. to help my family, i usually help in the kitchen and sometimes when the workload is manageable, i am able to bake some pastries and desserts that can be sold in the restaurant.

seeing that everyone is moving in a steady and quick pace, i just know that it's one of their easier days.

i head to an empty table and started to get the ingredients for a cupcake. as i started mixing all of the dry and wet ingredients in, my mind flew into an another dimension. my cheeks slightly turned red after remembering aqua's face.

i move my hand even faster, ignoring the butterflied in my stomach and the blush on my cheeks. i'm sure i got some looks from the chefs but i'm too flustered to care.

in a haste, i added some blue coloring on the batter. i sighed after realizing my mistake and just continued on mixing it until it was ready. i placed the batter in different cupcake liner, placing a piece of chocolate inside for a burst of flavor.

i placed them all in the oven and cleaned my station. since all of them will take atleast half an hour, i decided to get out and help in taking the orders.

"hi dad, my interview went well" i greeted my father who were busy in the cashier. he just patted my head and congratulated me before instructing me to go to a table to take some order.

i shrugged and grabbed a notepad. i took some orders for a few table, posting it on the kitchen's window before going back inside to prepare the icing.

i took the baked goods out and decided to decorate them with a sweet blue buttercream icing. i sprinkled it with some chocolate chips and placed half a cookie on top.

i placed them all on a tray and covered it, bringing it to the front and placing it on the dessert aisle.

ah, all in days work.

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