"If you could only see Hino the way I see her now, maybe you would quit acting like a self-centered jerk and start taking a good look at her."

—

Chapter One - Attack of the Sparrow

"Damn you!"

Lili grudgingly opened an eye and hovered above his leaf-bed. He looked around defensively, afraid that birds had come to attack and had just caught him unawares—he was about to cast a spell to prevent them from doing so, when he remembered that what he just heard was unmistakably a voice. Humans. Being the ever curious and mischievous fairy that Lili quite prided himself as, he floated towards the direction of the commotion. He carefully inched away from the nest of the violent sparrow family that had attacked him the night before and pushed past the leaves of a Kusunoki tree. Finally, he reached the soon-to-be-scene-of-the-crime.

It was mid-afternoon, and Lili had been enjoying the quiet that the garden provided. He didn't feel particularly happy with the afternoon's noise, but figured that a bit of action wouldn't hurt anyone, either. He was beginning to contemplate on his contradicting nature when, seemingly out-of-the-blue, tall figures of two boys rushed past him, missing his right wing by inches. Disconcerted and somewhat scandalized, he hid behind a particularly fat twig and peeked.

Lili grinned in anticipation as he recognized two of the former concours participants. He had designated a code name for them—all of them, actually, for their names had proven to be quite a mouthful. Of course, he had been responsible for Mr. Green's half-hearted participation, but his talent seemed such a waste, buried underneath his soccer team uniform. Lili assessed the 'aggravated party,' and his smile turned into a thoughtful frown. For a start, Lili was quick to note, he didn't seem the slightest bit aggravated—rather, the tall, slim, pretty boy who played the violin looked merely bored. Lili wondered whether the violinist who carried himself like a member of the royal family lacked facial muscles—he can't remember ever seeing the boy display the faintest trace of emotion. Boring.

He settled down a leaf to eavesdrop on the heated argument. Well, 'heated' on the taller boy's part.

"—but a hypocrite! You've got some nerve, talking about things you know nothing about! And to think that you don't have anything to do with her—"

"You have nothing to do with it," the other boy snapped in a calm monotone, but something in the way he uttered the words suggested mounting impatience. "I can't even see what you are getting all worked up for," he continued. He stood with hands folded arrogantly in front of his chest, his face an expressionless mask. Mr. Green was everything to the contrary. He was hyper like an enraged, color-blind bull, ready to charge.

"I can't see why you're being incessantly rude to Hino, either!" he spat. "Hell, I can't even understand why she's trying to be civil with you!"

Mr. Blue only raised an eyebrow that apparently was to be interpreted as some sort of response, and to which the pianist added hastily, "Well—she's—she's only trying to be kind! She's—I mean—she's like that, eh?"

"This," the violinist exhaled, "is an utter waste of time. You do realize that I have better things to attend to other than discuss senseless arguments, no?"

"Senseless!" The pianist's temple nerves throbbed dangerously and Lili actually feared for the boy's life. With a temper like his...he tried to calculate Mr. Green's life expectancy and made a face.

'So this is all about Hino Kahoko,' Lili deduced. The girl was the only one who had been able to see, let alone hear, the music fairy. Convinced of her potential despite her claim that she had never even touched a musical instrument in her life, he went ahead and presented her with a magical violin. Her struggles had been most prevalent after being chosen as one of the concours participants, and problems arose rife after the strings had snapped. Nevertheless, she had finally come to terms with her love for music and the violin, and he was more than pleased with her determination to become a better musician. He looked forward to her progress as a classical violinist. With the red-haired girl in mind, he eyed the boys again and smiled mischievously. A practical joke began to brew inside his head.

"You call that senseless, you—you selfish jerk? Can't you see how hard she's driving herself just to catch up with the others? Her playing isn't up to par, yes, and she for some reason depends on you for guidance but even that doesn't give you any right to humiliate her in front of all those conference participants. You have no right to put her down. Can you imagine how she feels right now?"

"Are you done? I should be practicing now."

Lili winced as Mr. Green charged angrily at Mr. Blue. He grabbed the other boy by the collar of his immaculate blazer and slammed him against a tree.

"Aren't you concerned about anything but that damned practice? You make me feel ghoulish!"

"Don't flatter yourself," Mr. Blue snapped impatiently. "You're nothing so impressive as a ghoul."

"Why you—" Mr. Green narrowed his eyes in anger. "What you are is a bloody ass. You're not taking me seriously, are you? Well, after I break your face, perhaps you will."

The violinist's face was strangely blank; surely he didn't miss the menace in the other boy's threat? Lili raised a hand frantically to stop them from hitting each other but before he could make a tiny wave of his wand, the pianist's fist froze mid-strike. There was tension in the air as the two boys glared arrogantly at each other.

"Tch," said Mr. Green as he reluctantly released his grasp on the other boy. Lili exhaled in relief—he had the sense not to invite more in the way of trouble, after all. The latter, having shown no signs of violence, merely brushed his shoulder off and smoothed his blazer down. "Hino's better off without you," Mr. Green went on, "Who do you think you are, acting all high and mighty?"

"I throw that back at you."

'What a sharp tongue,' giggled the fairy even as the pianist's eyebrows twitched. He took a deep breath and sighed. After a while, he folded his arms in front of his chest and looked away.

"If you could only see Hino the way I see her now, maybe you would quit acting like a self-centered jerk and start taking a good look at her. People might tell you otherwise, Tsukimori, but you are nothing but a sad excuse for a human being, and you can always trust me to cherish every misconception I had about you."

And with that, he stalked out of the place.

'Eh, little event is over?'

Lili pouted and settled down a branch to try and make sense of the conversation he had just heard. Why would people, the virtuoso violinist and the amazingly talented pianist in particular, argue over as simple a matter as a girl? Why would Mr. Green defend her so zealously against her critics? And why would—at this point Lili had turned to the general direction of the blue-haired boy absently—why, no, what—what would make the stoic violinist look confused?

'What on Earth is going on?'

The boy stood there for a long time, apparently lost in thought. It was then that a brilliant plan flashed through the fata's mind. His powers didn't have limitations, after all, and the fact that he is a music fairy didn't mean that he can't play around with his magic a bit. He grinned impishly at his evil idea and flew back to the company of the blooms and trees.

Moments later, Seiso Gakuen heard the bell toll on its own—for the second time.

—

I have just finished re-reading all of my stories and I have to admit that I have seriously screwed up, (both grammatical and plot-wise) especially in the multi-chaptered stories. I knew I had to revise my works sooner than later and finish what I have started. I owe my readers that much. So, to the people who had taken the time to read and review, I cannot thank you enough. The next chapter should be up fairly soon, and, as always, all constructive feedback is welcome.