Rima's POV

I sat at the park with Amu. We didn't speak much but we were both wondering the same thing. What's going to happen when school starts?

"So…did Tadase figure out what Nagi should be?" I asked nervously.

"I asked him," Amu's cheeks flushed a bright pink at the mention of the King.

"And?" I urged.

"He said it's undecided. Nagihiko hasn't contacted us at all and well….um…school is starting soon and we don't even know if he enrolled," Amu said, looking at her feet nervously.

"You don't know if he enrolled?" I stared at her, shocked. He should have, right? He did. He must have. The stupid purple head wouldn't abandon his friends like that, right?

"Rima, it's fine. He'll probably be okay by the time he comes back to school. When school starts," Amu assured me, taking my hand in hers and giving it a light squeeze.

I sighed, "He should rely on us more."

"He will," Amu smiled. "He's just trying not to worry us."

"But he's making us more worried," I pointed out.

Amu waved that thought away, "Rima, everyone has their secrets, not just Nagihiko."

Everyone has their secrets. That phrase rang through my head even as I

got ready for bed. Everyone has their secrets. Did that mean that no one really trusted each other?

The cherry blossoms floated down and usually got caught by the slight breeze before it fell to the ground. I watched, amazed, at the amount of people that I knew when the gates opened. Amu, beside me, gripped my hand and dragged me to the front to see if we were in the same classes.

"Crescent class!" Amu squealed in delight, jumping up and down, then looking at me for my reaction.

"Amu, Mashiro-san!" came a happy, boyish voice pushing through the crowd.

"As popular as ever," I found myself saying with a slight roll of the eyes.

"Yeah, well," Amu shrugged.

I smiled at Amu, "Are you jealous?"

"Jealous? What? Me? No!" Amu's face flushed and she waved off my preposterous assumptions.

"Is Fujisaki-san here yet?" Tadase asked as he reached us.

"Fujisaki?" I stared at him.

"Nagi isn't here yet," Amu frowned at the thought, "Do you think he couldn't make it today?"

"He'll come," came a slightly deepened voice that the three barely recognized.

"Kukai!" Tadase grinned, happy to see his trusted friend back by his side.

"I went to visit the munchkin earlier this week," Kukai said, "He wasn't there when I went to see him, but I heard his grandma is visiting and he's going through some physical therapy too."

"He…he didn't tell us any of that," I whispered quietly.

There was an odd silence then. The type that was drowned out by the noise of everyone else at school, then there was a the clicking sound of the skateboard and a squeal of excited girls.

"Is that Nagihiko-sama?" came the flock.

"He looks so much better with short hair!" squeaked another.

I turned around, just in time to see the purple-haired maniac come skating towards us. I gaped at his leg. Was it healed? Impossible. It had only been a week. When he got closer, I noticed the black brace around his ankle. Therapy, surgery, a hair-cut. What else did he not tell us?

"Yo," Nagihiko came to a stuttering stop in front of us. He lowered his crutch to the ground, which I found extremely stupid. Why did he skateboard in the first place if he still needed that?

"Your hair," Amu was the first to squeak out.

Nagihiko's flowing, purple mane of beauty was cut short. Not extremely short, but it was the "a little past the shoulders" type of short. Compared to his hair before, it seemed like it was about as short as Kukai's.

"You didn't give up on dancing right?" croaked out Kukai.

Nagihiko laughed, a clear chime of a bell, "No! 'Course not. I'm not gonna give up on that, are you crazy? It's just my hair was getting in the way of everything so I cut it."

I stared at Nagihiko's headphones, "Why are you in character change? Is it really necessary?"

Rhythm appeared suddenly and the headphones vanished. Nagihiko took a deep breath, leaning on his crutch, "Well, you don't know how hard it was to get out of the house with happy confidence when my grandmother was glaring at me like I was some sort of traitor."

"You're kidding, right?" Tadase gaped.

"All he did was cut off two feet of his hair," Rhythm huffed, rolling his eyes and crossing his little arms. "It's ridiculous!"

"Discouraging, almost," Daichi agreed, mouth agape.

Tadase cleared his throat, earning all of our attention.

"Well, that aside," Tadase said, holding out three envelopes, "Here."

"What's this?" I asked, taking one of the envelopes.

"The official invite," replied Tadase. "In reality, only Kukai and I are in the council thus far. So, you three will be attending the welcoming ceremony as I introduce everyone."

"Hey, can I ask what happened to the previous council?" purple-head asked, picking up his skateboard with one hand and handing it to Kukai.

"They graduated a couple years before I came. No one was in the Student Council until I came," Kukai shrugged awkwardly.

We gaped at him.

"What?" Kukai asked, laughing.

"You held up the whole council?" Tadase asked, staring.

"Yeah," Kukai nodded.

"You should be the king," Tadase slumped.

"Don't say that!" Kiseki shouted, coming from nowhere.

Kusukusu glared at Kiseki, "Shut up! He's just kidding!"

Our conversation was interrupted by the ringing of the bell and we pretty much all dispersed until we found our classrooms, in which we were all reunited. Except for Kukai of course.

Nagihiko's POV

"Fujisaki Nagihiko, Prince's Chair," Tadase said.

There was a ripple of commotion across the crowd, even in the teachers stand.

"What?" I whispered to Tadase, my eyes about to pop out of my head. "Tadase-kun are you going crazy?"

"I know what I said," Tadase said, the Character Change making him more intimidating, "Now just take it and be grateful."

I took a deep breath and nodded, then went back to sit by Rima.

"So does that mean I have more power over you?" Rima whispered.

"Not in a million years, Mashiro-san," I smiled.

After the assembly was over, we moved to the Royale Garden. Tadase kept apologizing and we all laughed about how different he seemed after the character change.

"I really am, Fujisaki-san! I didn't mean to snap at you like that. That was really inconsiderate of me," Tadase said.

"Well, now we can't mention what chair Nagi is in," Kukai mused.

"I'm sorry, I'll try to control it," Tadase said, well aware of what the word triggers him to do now.

I laughed, "It's fine Tadase, really."

"Sorry," Tadase moaned.

"I have a question," Rima raised her dainty hand.

"Yes?" Tadase asked, slightly miserable.

"How does this ranking work?" Rima asked. "King, Queen, Joker, Ace, Jack, and then purple-head's position. Who's in charge after King?"

"Well, if I was sick than Kukai would take over because he's old-"

"I mean if you and Kukai wasn't here," Rima said.

"Then um…" Tadase thought a moment, then looked at me for help.

"The answer would be obvious wouldn't?" I smiled sweetly, "We just wouldn't have a meeting."

"What if it were an emergency?" asked Rima.

"Then Nagi would," Amu said. "He's been here longer than the both of us."

"Hm," Rima seemed to contemplate this, then she said, "Well, I suppose it's acceptable."

I rolled my eyes, but I was secretly glad that Rima seemed to be acting normally. Honestly, her acting all nice to me really threw me off.

I giggled, causing them to look my way.

"What?" Amu asked.

"I was just…thinking about the times when you guys still called me Nadeshiko," I said.

Rima rolled her eyes, "It was an easy act to pummel."

I smiled, "Is that a challenge then?"

"Oh gosh," Kukai grinned. "Dude, you should act like a girl again."

I laughed at that, "Really?"

"Just for old times sake," Amu agreed.

Rima pulled out a ribbon and tied my hair up.

I wasn't sure about it at first but then the group ushered me out, giving me some time to "get into character".

Rima's POV

It probably was the most fun that we had had since we graduate from our elementary school. When Nagihiko came back in, he(or she) was now completely Nadeshiko. It was sort of hard to take him seriously, considering he was making fun of his role as a girl now.

"Why are you all laughing at me?" Nagihiko asked, laughing along despite his protest. His voice dropped back lower a bit, "Sorry guys, sorry. I can't do that right now, my vocals are so out of practice."

Amu wiped tears from her eyes, all coming from laughing too hard, "How does puberty feel, Nagi?"

Nagihiko laughed along, clutching his stomach. He tugged the ribbon from his hair and handed it back to me, a large grin on his face.

And that was the end of the day.

It had begun to get dark out and we all had to go home before our parents worried. Kukai offered to walk us all home, being one of the freest of all of us, but Tadase said he'd pass and walked home with Amu instead. I took Kukai up on his offer, Nagihiko did too but it turned out there was a car waiting for him outside so he had to leave without us.

"Nagi seemed a lot more cheerful," Kukai smiled.

"Yeah! If we keep this up, Temari will be back in no time!" Daichi grinned energetically.

"Yeah!" Kusukusu agreed with Daichi, giving him a bold high-five.

I nodded, smiling, happy that we were all able to have a good time together again.

A/N: Sorry I didn't update for awhile(more like a thousand months), but here's a, hopefully, better written chapter for you guys. I will update as soon as I can for the next one!