"Today I'm going to be nice to her, I'm tired of fighting and arguing. However, I'm not going to give up".

"But, Kotori, I still don't understand what's going on between Honoka and you," Kotori's mother said.

"I tried to explain it to you before, mom". Kotori was lying. Well, she was kind of lying. She told her mother that she argued a lot with Honoka lately, but she never told her the reason behind their arguments. She took her school bag while her mother was still trying to talk to her. "I really have to go now, or I'll be late!"

"It's fine, I'm going to leave in a few minutes too," her mother replied. Kotori was already outside, but she could hear her mother sighing before leaving.

Kotori, Umi and Honoka used to meet before school to go there together, but now everything was different. She went alone to school, without talking to a friend. The only thing she could do in those lonely walks was listening to music. And she listened again and again to their music. The songs that she and her friends used to sing from the bottom of their hearts.

When she got to the school she found Rin and Hanayo waiting in the door, she decided to talk with them.

"Good morning, Hanayo-chan, Rin-chan," Kotori said, as nicely as she could. Athough she was not in a bad mood because of them, being nice all the time while trying to hide her true feelings was very tiring.

"Kotori-chan!" Hanayo exclaimed. She had a huge smile in her face, Kotori thought that her eyes were bright and full of energy.

"Good morning, nya!" Rin said, as cheerful as she ever was. Kotori was happy to see them again.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"We are waiting for Maki-chan, she is late," Hanayo replied.

"And also there's this other thing…" Rin added.

"What other thing?" Kotori asked.

"Our last exam's results are already hung up in the corridor," Rin said, talking very fast.

"Hey!" they heard a voice screaming from behind them. It was Maki, who was running quickly towards them. "I'm so sorry for being late", she said.

"It's fine! Now, let's go to see our results!" Rin grabbed Hanayo's and Maki's arms and runned. Kotori followed them. She wanted to see how they did in the exam. After all, they were close friends.

Hanayo was breathing heavily, Rin didn't stop moving around, and Maki was just quiet, in silence. Rin was the first on getting to the corridor.

"Nya! Nya! Kayo-chin, you got an A!" Rin exclaimed, all the other students were looking at her. But they smiled at her, because almost all the school knew μ's members and were very fond of them. And Rin was knew for being loud and lovable.

"Rin-chan, please don't raise your voice too much, the classes are going to start," Hanayo replied. Her cheeks were turning red, and she was speaking very softly.

"Kayo-chin don't be so shy, nya!"

Maki approached to the list to find her name and result.

"Woah! I passed the test!" Rin shouted. "I got a D+," she was jumping up and down, with a huge smile in her face.

"Oh, no…" Maki's voice broke. She covered her mouth with her hands. Kotori went next to Maki.

"Maki-chan, what's wrong?" Kotori said, gently. She knew something happened.

"I got a… It's nothing. It's fine". Maki stopped talking, but Kotori kept staring at her. Maki blushed, and crossed her arms, looking at another direction.

"But Maki-chan, you've got a B+, that's great!" Rin said, after checking the list.

"It's not great, and I have to go," she left without looking at the others.

"I don't understand what's wrong with her, she always get really good marks," Rin said. She frowned her eyebrows.

"Maybe…" Hanayo started talking, Rin and Kotori looked directly at her. "Maybe that's the reason why she's upset. She always gets good grades, and maybe her parents get angry at her if she doesn't keep having the same good results".

"I also think that's the reason…" Kotori replied. "Should we talk to her now?"

"The classes are about to—"before Hanayo could even finish the sentence the bell of the school rang.

"We'll talk later, I'm late for my class," Kotori stated.

"See you later," Hanayo replied.

"Okay! Nya!" Rin added.

Kotori was running slowly, she wanted to actually run to her class but running inside the school building was forbidden. Her heart was pumping very fast. She didn't want to be late, that was very embarrassing. Everyone would be looking at her and maybe the professor would say something.

When she finally got to her room, she was lucky, the professor wasn't there yet. She went directly to her desk, she could notice Honoka looking at her for a moment. She felt a lot of tension in that glance, but she didn't care. Actually she wanted to think that she didn't care, but in reality she cared. She cared a lot, most probably, more than anyone else.

"That was intense," she said, stretching her arms and softly yawning. The class was over and the professor already left. The second person in leaving the class, just after the professor, was Honoka. Kotori didn't had even a tiny chance of talking to her. Umi went to speak to Kotori.

"How are you?" she asked. Kotori thought that Umi hadn't been sleeping properly because she had eye bags. Then, Umi rubbed her eyes.

"I'm fine, but you look really tired. Are you okay?" Kotori asked, she was concerned about her friend.

"Yes, it's fine. Not a big deal." Umi replied. Kotori suspected that she was lying. "I think we should go now to talk to Honoka".

Kotori stood up, and followed Umi outside the classroom. In the corridor, Hanayo, Rin and Maki were already waiting for them.

"I forgot to tell you that they are aware of what happened, and they are coming with us," Umi said.

"I'm sorry, we were supposed to tell you this morning but we forgot," Hanayo added.

"We were too busy with the exam results to remember," Rin explained.

Maki was playing with her hair.

"It's fine, and I'm happy that you already know all that's happening," she replied. Actually she felt kind of relieved. She took a long breath in, and a long breath out. She felt like if a heavy weight in her chest had just disappeared.

They went to the student council room quietly, no one was speaking, they were too nervous. All of them shared the same dream: singing and dancing again, and they wanted to do that with Honoka. They were waiting in front of the room's door, silently. Kotori was the one who knocked.

"Honoka-chan, are you there?" Kotori asked, her heart was pounding very fast.