So…here I am with another new story. I feel very guilty right now as I write these words, but there are no regrets whatsoever! Here's a story that's going to have a little twist as we move along. This is going to be an Umi harem so I'll have a poll up to see which person the readers want Umi to end up with. The rule is that the top four girls with the most votes will be the ones I will be basing the story more around on. Rules may change as we go along because this is my first time doing this kind of thing. Polls will not close...I guess until I decide to close them. For those who are reading my other stories I am currently working on both Forget Me Not and Bound so bear with me as I stray. Hope you enjoy this story!

-Zero

Ch. 1

Two months of school has passed since the principal had declared Otonokizaki Academy co-ed. The boy ratio of the school is barely one to ten, but still managed to prevent itself from closing down. The female upper classmen were a little nervous about the idea at first, but a good amount of the male population was incoming freshmen.

"Hey, we should all go and play after clubs today!" Honoka excitedly stated.

"Honoka...is playing around all you ever think about?" The student council president eyed the ginger haired girl.

"Eh~ isn't it fine. It's been a while since we all got together and had some fun. Since you and Nozomi-chan don't have any student council work today we should be able to do something."

"Sorry, but I'll have to pass." The bluenette bluntly stated upsetting her childhood friend. "I have archery practice and can't skip today. Besides I skipped last practice for one of your crazy after school ideas."

"Eh~ you're no fun Umi." Honoka pouted at Umi.

"Now now, Honoka-chan, Umi-chan did say she skipped last practice." Nozomi interjected her statement earning thanks from the navy haired girl.

The bluenette excused herself and gathered her belongings to leave for archery practice. When she left a redhead eyed the older purple haired girl.

"I don't like the look in your eyes Nozomi. What are you planning?" Maki glared amethyst eyes at her senior.

"Just a way to mess with Umi-chan the next time we hang out together." Turquoise eyes shined with mischief as a grin appeared on Nozomi's face.

"Nozomi..." The quarter Russian deadpanned.

"Rin wants to join in on the fun nya~!" The orange haired girl threw her hand in the air voicing her opinion.

"I-I don't know about that..." Hanayo timidly spoke out hoping that other would listen.

"Sounds like fun!" Kotori liked the idea of teasing her easily embarrassed friend.

"So what's the plan?!" Honoka's eyes were beaming brightly from the idea.

"Each person is going to express their love and affection for her the next time they see her. Knowing Umi-chan, she'll probably be be extremely embarrassed from it."

"Hmph, sounds like a dumb idea." Nico didn't really care about the stupid game they were going to play.

"Oh~ did I hear that Nicochii wants a good breast rub..." Nozomi's face darkened as she hovered over the smaller girl.

"N-nico nico nii~ Nico-chan thinks the idea is great..." The brunette averted her eyes to avoid contact with turquoise eyes that belonged to the dangerous boob grabbing monster.

"That's more I like it." The purple haired girl smile back and turned to the other two who really hadn't voiced their opinions about the idea. "What about Elichi and Maki-chan?"

"Well it does sound fun..." Eli tried to avoid eye contact with Nozomi and Honoka. They were too excited about the idea of embarrassing Umi.

"It's not like I want to do it; I'm just going along with everyone else." Maki huffed.

"Okay then, here's the plan."

Everyone in the clubroom huddled in close to each other. They each drew a stick to see which order they would go in. With Hanayo's luck she was the first to go. Following after her was Nico, Rin, Honoka, Nozomi, Kotori, Eli, and then Maki. "Operation Embarrass Umi" was to take place tomorrow after school once club starts.

~The Next Day~

The morning bell rang signaling the start of everyone's first class. Honoka and Kotori had class with Umi. The ginger tried her best to hide her excitement about the group's plan which earned questioning looks from the bluenette. When Umi looked at Kotori for answers all she got in return was a small shrug from the taupe haired girl.

As she opened her mouth to ask Honoka for the strange behavior their homeroom teacher came in to take attendance.

"Now before we start today I would like to introduce two new transfer students who will be with us for the rest of the year. Please come in."

Two students in Otonokizaki Academy uniforms walked in. They were splitting images of each other, except for the fact that one was a boy while the other was a girl. They both had black hair and attractive hazel eyes.

"Nice to meet'cha, my name is Hasegawa Hiroshi." He wore the new male uniform and winked at all of the girls making the whole class swoon, except for a couple.

"My name is Hasegawa Himawari. I'll be in your care." The girl was more mature than the boy, but there was more to that smiling face than others would ever know. Her eyes made contact with Umi's causing the bluenette to avert from the eyes.

"Umm...so Hiroshi-san can take the seat behind Sonoda-san while Himawari-san can take the seat to her right. I'll be back in a minute; I forgot to print off some worksheets. While I'm gone I want everyone to be nice to your new classmates." Once the teacher left the room Umi's skin complexion began to pale. Why did she have such a bad feeling about this?

The two made their ways towards where the teacher had told them to sit, but before doing so they immediately stopped in front of Umi's desk.

"It's been a while Ucchan." Himawari smile at Umi, but before the blue haired girl could give a proper response the new student pounced onto her wrapping her arms around Umi's neck.

The rest of the classroom was shocked by her actions. Even Honoka and Kotori didn't know how to respond after a while.

"EHH~" The whole classroom began bombarding Umi and the transfer students with questions.

"Um...Umi-chan...do you know these two?" Honoka wasn't sure how Umi would react if she wasn't care in wording her question.

"Well..."

"Ucchan's our childhood friend when we were a lot younger." Himawari answered Honoka's question in place of the hesitating bluenette.

"Ucchan?" Kotori was puzzled from the nickname Himawari gave Umi.

"Hold on! How can that be possible, we're Umi-chan's childhood friends?!" Honoka disregarded the nickname and went straight to the point.

"Well, that's because U- ow!" Umi cut Hiroshi's sentence off short by stepping on his foot. Her eyes glowed dangerously as she glared at the boy. "Uh, it's because we were friends with Umi before she met you. You guys didn't meet growing up when you were little babies now did you?"

Honoka was not satisfied with the answer and looked at her friend who was still being smothered by the new student. Umi was busy at the moment trying to pry off the girl from her tight hold.

"Umi-chan..." Kotori sent a confused look at her friend making the bluenette worried.

"I'll explain, but-"

"Alright everyone, enough with the ruckus; I'm sure you were able to have a small chat with your new friends. It time to start class." Their teacher walked in cutting Umi's words. The rest of the day Honoka and Kotori's minds were filled with many questions for their childhood friend. By lunch break they were going to interrogate Umi, but lost their chance when the dark blue haired girl dragged the two transfer students out of the classroom and disappeared. They never had the chance to ask her any questions before classes began again.

By the time the end of the day came Honoka and Kotori had forgotten all about "Operation Embarrass Umi", in fact, all they could think about now was Umi's explanation a out her other childhood friends. The two dragged Umi all the away to the clubroom without letting her have any say in anything. Everyone was surprised by Honoka and Kotori's actions.

"Talk. Now." Honoka glared into amber eyes with determination. She was going to get answers, whether Umi wanted to give them or not.

"Umi-chan, you're not being threatened or anything right?" Kotori looked at her friend with a worried expression.

"What?!" Everyone shouted in unison with Umi. What were these two thinking?

"It's not like that!" Umi stated.

"Care to explain what this is all about?" Nico interjected the trio and their conversation.

"We got new transfer students who claim to also be Umi-chan's childhood friends." Honoka replied.

"Really nya?!" Rin was shocked like Honoka and Kotori when they both first found out.

"Is this true?" Nozomi questioned the younger girl.

Umi nodded her head while looking down. "Yes...it is."

"Why didn't you ever tell us about them Umi-chan? We're your friends' right?" Honoka looked a little hurt from the answer.

"Because I only met them again not too long ago. It's been over ten years..."

"But-"

"I'm sure, even if they are Umi's childhood friends, the two of you spent more time with her more than they have right?" Eli put a hand on Honoka's shoulder holder her back from any more statements about the issue.

"Honoka, Kotori, I'm really sorry for not telling the both of you, but the truth is that I didn't even know they were going to transfer here." Umi hoped that the two would believe her words.

"It's okay Umi-chan, we know it's not your fault." Kotori was a more calm than the ginger, but that didn't mean she wasn't upset.

"Once again I apologize for not saying anything," Umi was now bowing her head down that made Kotori and Honoka a little guilty for their actions.

"It's okay. We forgive you, right Kotori-chan?" The gray haired girl nodded at Honoka's words and they smile at Umi, causing her to smile back at them.

Their moment together was soon interrupted by a knock on the door. Two students walked in, it was Hasegawa Hiroshi and Hasegawa Himawari. The two apologized for disrupting the group and introduced themselves to the new faces they didn't know.

"So I'm guessing the two of you are siblings...well, I mean because you look so similar and hand the same last name." Hanayo was curious of the pair that arrived.

"Yes, we are." Hiroshi answered and smile causing the first year to blush.

"So what brings you two here?" Maki bluntly stated.

"Hiro wanted challenge Uuchan to an archery match asked around." Himawari gave off an aura that Maki didn't like. It was almost similar to Nozomi's, mysterious with a hint of playfulness.

"Sorry, Hiro but I already-" Umi's words were disrupted by another knock on the door. This time an archery club member was there.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but we need Sonoda-sempai for the archery club again. The club president wanted to talk to you."

"Oh...um...okay...I'll be there soon. Thank you." Umi was a little confused at first, but decided to go and apologized once again to her group of friends. Hiroshio followed after her, but Himawari stayed behind with the other girls.

"So...Hasegawa-san how do you like the school so far?" Eli decided to start off a conversation with the girl knowing that Honoka was not really in her cheerful mood at the moment.

By the time Umi and Hiro had changed into the archery gear Umi was already mentally tried. The club president for the archery club wanted to discuss about upcoming competitions and about some of the few new male members.

"You really haven't changed one bit." Hiroshi smiled at the bluenette.

"I could say the same thing to both of you...always bring nothing but trouble to me." Umi sighed.

"Hey! I'm not the trouble maker here. In fact, I'm the harmless bystander." Hiro pouted at the words.

"Which is- wait did we just leave Himawari alone with the others...?" Umi and Hiroshi paled at the thought. Without another minute lost Umi sprinted out of the practice room and back to the other clubroom.

"So what exactly do you do in this club?" Himawari was curious about what Umi's friends did.

"This is the Idol Research Club." Nico bluntly stated to the underclassman.

"We were going to make our own group, but that all changed when the school announced that it would be accepting male students." Hanayo decided to add in the last part.

"Idol Research Club...what was Ucchan thinking?" Hazel eyes closed in disapproval as she shook her head.

"Hold on! What's that supposed to mean?!" Nico was becoming irritated by the girl.

"Well I mean, you can't expect Ucchan to be an idol wh-" The clubroom door spontaneously busted opened with a tired bluenette behind it. Everyone was surprised to see Umi panting in the doorway. Amber eyes locked onto hazel and quickly walked up to girl.

"I'm sorry if you guys were having an important conversation, but..." Umi grabbed Himawari by the wrist. "Himawari, can I talk to you for a bit...alone."

Not waiting to hear her answer Umi dragged her out of the clubroom. This caught everyone by surprise because Umi wasn't one would would just barge in on someone.

The blue haired girl took Himawari to a vacant classroom and shut the door behind them.

"My~ what exactly is Ucchan going to do to me?" Himawari giggled at Umi's hardened expression. That was until Umi had cornered the other girl against the wall.

"What exactly are you planning by doing this? Do you realized how much trouble this will be to me?!" Amber eyes swirled with mixed feeling of anger and fear as they locked with hazel eyes.

"Why are don't you just tell them the truth then? If they really are your friends then they would accept you either way." Himawari questioned the taller girl. "And if they don't...I'll still be here for you..."

The door slid open as the group of girls fell on top of each other. The loud noise startled Himawari and Umi causing them to separate from each other. Honoka and the other got up and dusted themselves off.

"Umi is there something you're not telling us." Eli gave a mixed expression of confusion and hurt when she questioned her junior.

"I- well-..." Umi stumbled to find the right words to explain to her friends from her dry mouth. This was the scenario that she wanted to avoid the most. Not able to take any more pressure the bluenette sprinted out of room and back to the archery range to change back into her school uniform and grabbed her belongings to head straight home.

"Care to explain what just happened?" Maki glared at the girl who caused all of this to happen, but only got a shake from her head instead.

"If you want to know than you'll just have to wait for Ucchan to explain everything. But just for as a warning, I won't forgive anyone who hurts Ucchan." Her gaze on the group was hard and determined. She left them behind in a confused state. Honoka and the others weren't really sure what to do now.

"Those eyes...they definitely belong to a maiden in love..." Nozomi quietly let the words escape her mouth.

"So what do we do..." Kotori was more worried about Umi than she was with what she was binding from them. She had never seen such a scared expression on the archer's faced before.

"We'll just have to wait and ask Umi again tomorrow." Everyone nodded at the blonde's words.

Unsure of what tomorrow would bring them they all gathered their belongings and decided to end the day.

So what do you think, it's getting a little intense already. What exactly is Umi hiding from the rest of the group? Let me know your thoughts. Polls should be up, if not soon.

Until Next Time…