~ Re:Memories ~

Preface: Welcome to Re:Memories, a story collaborated between three individuals: Late Bloomers, Light27 and RisingDayDreamer.

This tale is set in the final year of high school for the Sket Dan. It serves as a spin-off from the canon with some twists of our own. We hope you enjoy the story as much as we had fun writing it.

Disclaimer: We do not own any part of the Sket Dance franchise.

Passing through my time,
your season changed.
One day we will become adults
yet in the 'present' our hands are separated.

Chapter 1 : Autumn, the season of change.

"Good morning!"

The young blonde chirped energetically as she walked into their dining room where her mother prepared their breakfast (in Western style, Himeko mentally beamed). Seeing that the table was still empty of utensils, Himeko, who was all ready for school, walked towards the dish cabinet and started taking out three plates and three sets of spoons and forks.

"G'morning... So loud already this early..." Her father replied, yawning lazily before taking a sip from the cup of coffee that his wife placed in front of him. More awake after taking the caffeine, he looked around the table for newspaper. Failing to find what he was searching for, he looked at her daughter and asked her, "Hime-chan, could you get the newspaper outside?"

"Okay!" The daughter of the family nodded and once she got the plates arranged on their places, she trudged out of their dining room. Brandishing a smile on her face at the warmth of the sunshine amidst the cold morning, Himeko stepped out of their house and made her way to the gate where she noticed a bunch of mails piled up in their mailbox. Picking up the newspaper that was lying just on their doorstep and tucking it under her arm, Himeko walked towards the mailbox and gathered the envelopes from it.

Man, why do these mailmen from different companies stocked the mails disorderly like this when they could have done it properly?

"Bills here, bills there," she quietly muttered as she walked back into her house.

"Oh this envelope looks like it came from that hot spring resort Mom and Dad went to earlier this fall! Ohhh, maybe they're giving some discount coupons! Gah, what's with this weird company name? Bancoco Banking Banker's Bank? Couldn't they come up with a simple name for a bank?"

Using her foot to push the door close, Himeko continued walking back to the dining room. She stopped when she spotted a certain envelope. "Huh?" Startled, Himeko blinked upon reading the recipient's name.

It was a letter for her.

That was weird. Who would send her a letter?

Placing the other envelopes on the coffee table in their living room and stopping shortly at the dining room to give her father the newspaper, Himeko jogged up the stairs and went into her room as she tore the side of the envelope to open it. She placed the envelope down her desk and kept the paper on her hand. Sitting down on her fluffy bed, she began scanning through the contents of the letter.

Line by line, paragraph by paragraph, Himeko read it. She felt herself straighten her back as her eyes scanned each sentence. Upon reaching the end of the letter, Himeko stared at it, mixed emotions dwell within her.

Huh?

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a moment before she slapped a hand on her leg.

"Ahahaha!" Picking up the envelope she discarded on her bed, Himeko forced out a laugh. "Someone must have sent this as a prank! Yeah, yeah. There's no way..." Upon noticing the seal on the envelope, Himeko felt a thump in her chest.

Is this... for real?

Before she knew it, Himeko reread the letter, her eyes arbitrarily skipping some words on the beginning of the letter so that she could reach the middle part quickly. She felt her eyes stop at one sentence and failed to notice how this makes her halt her breathing.

This is...good news.

However, an image of a certain messy black-haired boy popped on her mind.

Right?

Remembering to breathe, Himeko let out a heavy sigh and laid down on her bed as she draped her right hand by the side of the bed, the letter hanging by her fingers. She stared at the ceiling with a blank expression, a lot of thoughts were running in her mind. At one point, she was happy, delighted even. Who wouldn't be, right? How many times had she dreamed of this? How many times had she imagined of doing that?

At another point, she was confused.

She felt her chest heaving slowly as she inhaled. She felt her heart beating with a rush.

Raising the letter above her head, Himeko realized that it wasn't the letter's content anymore that filled her mind. She dropped her arms on her side and closed her eyes.

How would he take it? He'd smile too, right?
He'd feel happy for me, right?

"I'm happy with this… right?" Himeko questioned herself, trying to find assurance for her conscience.

"Himeko-chan~!" The voice of her mother snapped Himeko jump from her bed, out of her reverie. "Breakfast's ready!"

Mou! This isn't the time to be thinking about such things!

She was going to be late if she kept on persisting about this! Looking at the clock, Himeko stood up from her bed and set the letter down on her desk, slipping it underneath a rather heavy notebook. Grabbing her purple cardigan, Himeko topped it over her school uniform.

Before running out of her room, she quickly slipped a wristband on her right hand.

The Sket Dan's wristband.

Her pace started to slow down as her eyes remained on the black wristband with a concerned look.

Are we going to be... alright?

"ONIZUKA HIME!"

An 'eep' escaped from Himeko upon hearing her mother's voice in a very... frosty tone and it was more than enough to cut her worried thoughts.

"IF YOU'RE NOT HERE IN THREE SECONDS, YOU'LL REGRET BEING BORN!"

Himeko ran down to the dining room for her dear life.

Himeko took her seat and though she was facing a delicious meal prepared by her mother, she realized that her thoughts were still on the letter. Himeko blinked lethargically, forcing her mind to think even more.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Her mother scooped some rice onto Himeko's plate, "You're going to be late if you are just going to stare on your food."

Himeko picked up her spoon and fork and began to eat. She averted her eyes to her mother as the older Onizuka sat on the seat beside her husband - who was still reading the newspaper in spite eating.

Should I tell them...? Himeko wondered.

"Ne, Mom..." Himeko started, not really knowing what to say, as her mother turned to look at her with a questioning look.

"What is it Hime-chan?" Her mother asked, but all Himeko did was to stare at her parents.

"THIS IS REALLY YUMMY!" Himeko expressed with a fake wide smile before whopping what remained of her food without stopping. Once nothing was left on her plate, Himeko thanked for the food and brought her dish to the sink.

"I'm off to school!"

Their daughter moved so quickly that she was gone in a second, in which all the Onizuka pair could do was to look at each other.

"I wonder what happened to Hime-chan..." Himeko's mother told her husband.

"Hm..." He folded the newspaper down and drunk the remainder of his coffee. "She'll tell us when she's ready."

Reaching the gate of their house, Himeko stopped for a while and looked back at the house. For some reason, she couldn't tell her parents about the letter. Not now, when she was still feeling confused about what she wanted to do.

A certain red-horned caterpillar came to sight as she opened the gate.

He must have been waiting for her. He smiled and waved his hand towards her, which she returned with a meek smile.

She walked towards him and the two of them started to head to their school, side by side.

• • •

They passed by the lane lined up with trees that were starting to wither. The pink cherry blossom leaves rustled about as the wind gushed through the air. Himeko thought, it was already the end of November, the end of fall.

For dying was part of nature's cycle, the beauty of fall was starting to come to an end. Yet, knowing that Spring would come again next year to bring these leaves back to life sparked a little hopeful light for everyone.

One of the pink leaves detached itself from the branch, falling freely, lifelessly. Slowly it swayed side to side as it heeded to gravity.

A dainty hand caught the leaf.

Himeko stared at the leaf by her palm; the leaf had soft edges, a tear-like shape. The edge of the leaf was crippled rendering it that dried-look. The texture of the leaf was so fragile, easily shatters into pieces if she applied a bit of force. Over time, the leaf will crumble.

Will we... end up like this too?

"I'm telling you, Captain could swallow a whole pot if she wanted to!" Bossun, who apparently had been talking to Himeko all this while, energetically told her.

"Uh-huh..." Himeko nodded absentmindedly.

"Oiiiiii, Himeko?" Bossun raised an eyebrow towards Himeko's direction. "Are you even listening?"

No reply came from Himeko as she kept her gaze on the leaf in between her palm.

"…Himeko, are you-"

"E-eh, w-what did you say… umm, yeah transformation animes are cool! Hahahaa.." Himeko answered with a forced laugh. Himeko laughed sheepishly in attempt to cover her embarrassment.

What's wrong with her? Bossun wondered as he was deeply perturbed by his blonde companion's oddness. She was usually cheerful and chatty (sometimes to the point that she acted like those noisy old housewives), filled with smile and bantered him with her tsukkomis. It felt… weird seeing her like this.

"Himeko… is there-"

Bossun was cut off again by Himeko's next observation as they reached the school gate.

"Ah! There's Tsubaki!"

"What?!" Bossun reacted out of instinct, instantaneously dropping his previous thought.

Tsubaki was waiting in front of the school gate (probably to make sure that no one came in late unnoticed). It made one wonder what time he arrived at school… Such devotion was to be expected from President who was very serious about his duty.

As the twins' gaze met, exchange of lightning - metaphorically - occurred. Both immediately lapsed into their annoyed expression.

"Fujisaki," Tsubaki started. "You're late!"

"No, I'm not!" Bossun, as expected, denied Tsubaki's accusation. You're just waaaay too early!"

Himeko checked the time on her phone only to find that they were indeed late... by one minute. It was yet another wonder how Tsubaki managed to catch that.

"Stop making excuses! You're… I mean we're all in our senior year now! We should act more responsible as an example for the freshmen students."

"Yap yap yap…" Bossun made a mocking face in front of his twin. "You're just picking on me aren't you?"

"No." Tsubaki answered indignantly, "It is my duty as the student council president to make sure…"

Thus began the usual spat between the two brothers. They walked into the school ground and made their way to their class, arguing all the way.

A small smile appeared on Himeko's face as she thought, perhaps some things wouldn't change.

"That's why I'm telling you!" Bossun exclaimed pointedly. "ALL your t-shirts designs are still lame. VERY lame." Bossun remarked as they walked into the class.

"What?" Tsubaki responded, very surprised. "But I took some of your advice and put in some colourful designs with a very cool picture."

"I said put in SOME colours! Not ALL the colours that exists!" Bossun couldn't believe how uncreative his brother was. "Didn't they teach about complimentary colors way back in elementary? Who wears that many colours on a t-shirt anyway? Even clowns limit the sets of colour they use!"

Tsubaki's cheeks go up in red as he realized how his twin brother was right about the colours, too much to his liking.

Bossun laughed triumphantly at his twin's defeat. Himeko couldn't help but to let out a chuckle from the comedic bantering unfolding in front of her.

The Sket Dan leader heard her laughter. But there was something different about it; the laugh was mirthful and...pretentious? He looked towards her and recalled how she was a bit out of it earlier.

The teacher came in and everyone stood up to greet. Bossun shoved that thought to the back of his mind and figured that maybe he was just over thinking.

"Yuusuke! Dinner!" Placing down a bowl of steaming rice on the table, Akane called out her son from the kitchen.

"Oniichan, hurry up!" Rumi, who was setting up the table for dinner, tried calling after her brother too. "It's your favourite hamburger!"

However, there was no reply from the other end.

Both Rumi and Akane exchanged looks at each other, silently competing to see who have to go and check up on the only son of the family.

Seconds later, Rumi sighed in defeat. She walked towards her brother's bedroom, only to find him sleeping soundly in an awkward position. Rumi made an appalled face at how Bossun's legs were still on the bed while the other half of his body was on the floor.

"Mou, Oniichan…!" The young brunette stomped towards her brother's bed. "Wake up, dinner is ready," Rumi muttered while pulling her brother's arm in attempt to wake him up. Minutes later of Rumi trying to persuade her brother into getting off from his sleep, Bossun managed to get up. Yawning heavily and scratching his head sleepily, he dragged himself to the kitchen and the two teens sat down. Once they were complete in the table, the three of them began eating the dinner that Akane prepared.

Akane scrutinised her son while munching her dinner. He looked slightly energized than before, however, not as energized as he usually was. There were traces of fatigue from his demeanour.

"Did you have a tough request today?" Rumi decided to ask, knowing that her mother was indeed worried. "You look like you had been staking out for weeks; and you're not even a detective!"

"Yeaahhh…" Bossun answered while still munching on a bite of his burger. "Asked to find culprit who'd been messing at the school backyard," Bossun explained half-heartedly as he was still feeling tired. However, his answer ensued a gleam from his little sister's eyes.

"Really?!" She jumped in excitement. As a member of the Newspaper Club, she couldn't resist letting this big scoop get away. It was as if a fish had been caught in her net.

Akane immediately stopped her daughter from stacking her son with questions upon seeing the excitements splashed on her daughter's face. "Now, now Rumi. Leave the questions for tomorrow. Yuusuke looks exhausted."

"I feel totally drained out." Yuusuke scrunched his nose. "I had been using my concentration mode like five times today. Plus, Himeko was kinda useless today. So, I had to do the labour work too," Bossun explained – complaining while chewing and scooping his hamburger. As he ate his favourite dish, his lethargy begins to dissipate.

"What's with that? You realize that Himeko-chan is a girl right? Don't push guys' work on her," Akane said with a scornful look in her eyes. Bossun just shrugged it off and continued eating.

"And more importantly, shouldn't the third years be stepping down from club activities?" Akane inquired.

"How could we stop our support?" Bossun answered in disbelief. The idea of not doing their club activities had never crossed his mind. "We have no successor or juniors to take our place… And what will happen to our clients if we were to step down? After all, we are…," Bossun regained his usual energetic self when clarifying the matter at hand to his mom; he was standing up to do the usual Sket Dan's pose when Akane interrupted with a slam to the table.

"There's a limit to everything, Yuusuke!" Akane berated, the memories of her two best friends flashing on her mind for a bit. "You should focus on your future while it's not too late! Speaking of which, where is your future sheet?"

"Woahhh!" Bossun immediately took his seat and continued eating, dodging his mother's question. "This burger is the most delicious patty I've ever tasted in my whole life!"

Rumi could only watch the interaction between her two precious family members. She knew that her mother put her trusts on her children to make their own choices. Yet, Rumi agrees to her mother's valid argument. Her brother should have stepped down from the club.

"You know that I give you all the freedom to make your choices, but, have you ever thought about Himeko-chan and Usui-kun's sake?" Akane gave one last reason and succeeded.

Upon hearing the word 'sake', Bossun's eye widened in realization and he stopped midway on taking another bite of burger. Entering deep thinking mode, he apprehended how oblivious he truly was about Himeko and Switch. He continued eating, but he no longer tastes the hamburger.

• • • • • •

Meanwhile, on the Onizuka household, Himeko slumped her head on the study desk in her bedroom. She nonchalantly twirled her mechanical pencil back and forth. Sighing heavily, she stopped the repetitive motion and turned her head on the other side of the desk where a neatly folded paper on top of an envelope was placed.

She remembered the contents of the letter and it made her wonder again what decision she should make. However, instead of thinking of the future, her mind wandered on how she had been spending her days these past few months. All her memories seemed to contain a certain person.

"Bossun…"

"Hime-chan!" The blonde's thoughts were cut off by her mother's voice. "Dinner is ready!"

Shaking her head, Himeko pushed herself from her desk and went out of her room. "Coming!"

• • • • • •

At the same time, on the Usui residence, Switch immersed himself with the latest episode of Nervous Nervous Season three, that is until a knock on his door made him avert his attention.

"Kazuyoshi, aren't you going to eat? Dinner is already served," His mother stood by his opened door, ushering him to get off the computer.

"[I'll be right there,]" the synthesized voice answered.

However, rather than going back downstairs, his mother stepped into the room and took a peek at what her son was doing. Switch let it be, and subtly closing all the windows that was opened on his monitor.

Upon seeing what Switch had been browsing on the internet before it was closed, his mother said, "It had been two years huh? Exams are drawing near, isn't it?"

Switch exchanged a sad look with his mother and slightly nodded. "[Umm…]"

The following day passed by quickly and later on, it was their usual afternoon in the Sket Dan clubroom. Per usual, the Sket Dan members was in the clubroom that afternoon, eagerly waiting – maybe not so – for potential requests. Switch was typing who-knows-what on his computer; Himeko cleaned up the room and prepared the tea and Bossun...

Himeko raised an eyebrow at him. Was he actually not lazing on his tatami bench like the usual?

For once, he was sitting still. His hands balled up in front of him – looking very deep in thought.

Something had been disturbing him all day.

He had been awfully quiet since they entered the clubroom, which aroused the curiosity of the other two members.

"Bossun?" Himeko asked, half curious at his silence, half worried that he's actually doing some thinking (he usually only did that when they had difficult cases. When Bossun didn't move an inch nor gave any sign of response, Himeko turned to look at Switch.

"[Bossun did you know that there's going to be Season 2 of Code A next, next spring?]" Switch digitally announced in an excited tone. Despite the eagerness of the voice he inputted, Bossun didn't even twitched.

The other two members of Sket Dan looked at each other.

Suddenly, Bossun shot up from his sitting position and looked attentively at his two comrades. He cleared his throat, as if preparing to make an important announcement.

"Guys." Bossun placed his hands on his waist and positioned himself in what he assumed was a dashing and righteous pose before he started to announce his decision. "Since all of us will be facing examinations soon, I'm holding off club activities starting tomorrow."

However, his two co-members didn't bat an eyelash at his 'important' announcement. Both Himeko and Switch ignored him.

It was probably because Bossun had been ignoring their earlier questions, resulting in them returning the favour.

"Sorry, sorry sorry! My bad! Please listen to me," Bossun clapped his hands and bowed, leaving the grated palms above his head.

"So…," Himeko surrendered to his pleading while cleaning Kunpumaru. She somehow reverted to her usual self compared to the day before, "Are you thinking about that crap to the extent of ignoring us?"

"[Okaa-san, our Bossun spouted absurd things today. What did you feed him?]" Switch proceeded with his 'father-like' teasing; pretending to talk to Himeko yet at the same time rejecting Bossun's order.

"I know right? I think I gave him the usual snacks. Didn't you eat the same thing as yesterday Otou-san?" Himeko smiled as she played along with Switch's teasing.

"[Indeed. Hohoho…]"

"STOP IT YOU GUYS! I'm being serious here!" Bossun exclaimed with tears on his face.

• • •

Moments later of calming down, the two members were ready to take their leader seriously regarding the club activities. They were shocked upon hearing the declaration from Bossun. They - as the Sket Dan members - were committed to helping people, especially their esteemed leader.

"It's the right thing to do… Exams are around the corner and we all know that besides Switch, we are not that smart…" Bossun explained.

Himeko and Switch glanced at each other hesitantly, reassuring each other before nodding.

"Are you sure Bossun?"

"I'm one hundred percent sure!" Bossun said as he tried to place a smile on his face. The other two knew that he was only pretending to smile, but they were also aware that the Bossun took the time to make this important decision. Knowing this, both Himeko and Switch could only nod in agreement.

"Okay, if you say so…"

Starting from the said day, their club activities were put on hold. Two days without the Sket Dan felt long yet at the same time, it passed quickly.

That evening, Bossun stood in front of the clubroom's door. Staring at it with a longing expression, reading the piece of paper taped to the little window.

SKET DAN, NOW ACCEPTING REQUESTS!

"What the hell, it's not like we often get requests ever since the Pocket-Dan brats came," he muttered to himself.

Both Himeko and Switch were already heading home since there are no afterschool activities to attend to. Feeling nostalgic, Bossun decided to stray to the clubroom one last time. He unlocked the door and let himself in. Closing the door behind him, he went straight for the tatami, his favourite spot in the whole room. He laid there, watching the sky from the window. The sky was blue accompanied with fluffy white clouds when he came in, slowly it changed into orange hue mixed with some yellow from the sun.

"This is enough, I need to get home," Bossun picked himself up knowing it was late in the evening already.

He walked towards the door and looked at the taped paper once more.

"Sorry, but we didn't make a paper for 'not accepting requests'," Bossun peeled off the tape slowly but was cut off when he heard some muttering outside the closed doors.

Bossun opened the door revealing a cheerleader he knew.

"Yabasawa-san, what's wrong?" Bossun asked the girl.

He can almost see gleams beneath her bespectacled eyes. Within the next two minutes, she gushed out on how her brother got into an accident and all her family members went to the hospital. So there's no one to take care of Yeti if she went along.

"Come on man… how many times your brother wants to get into accident huh?" Bossun scratched his head while thinking deeply.

"I'm sorry, I'll try asking someone else if you're busy."

"No, Yabasawa-san. Let me…"

It was a weird sight, to be more exact, a disturbing one. Sitting at her chair, Himeko made a weird face whilst intensely glaring at Bossun, who was bickering with Tsubaki.

It was lunch time, yet, there they are… wasting their time arguing.

"You're too rigid! And your eyelashes are too long that it irritates me!"

"Haaaahh…!" Tsubaki straightened himself indignantly."Are you blaming mom for giving these eyelashes? And what about your hair? It's all curly and messy! Are you a child?!"

"What the…! Are you blaming dad for giving this kind of hair to me… huuuhhh?!"

And the bickering went on in which Bossun didn't even realize that Himeko was staring at him.

"[What a beautiful brotherly fight… hohoho…]" Switch's artificial voice could be heard from behind Himeko. She turned around to find Switch was frowning despite his cheerful tone.

"[Don't you think Bossun looks weird, Himeko? He got bruises all over his face, although it's not that visible.]" Switch initiated as if understanding Himeko's confusion earlier.

Himeko nods prior resting her chin on her palm, "Not only that, this past few days, he had been going to second year class, looking for Morino. He also looks kinda tired don't you think?"

"[Indeed. Not only that, four days ago, I caught him talking to J-son sensei while looking all disheveled]." Switch added.

"[Wait, don't tell me…]"

"What?" Himeko looked at Switch who was ushering her to talk elsewhere, in private.

Outside the classroom, Switch began typing, "[It occurred four days ago, J-son sensei wanted to build a wooden cage and he stated that he could get it done with a help of a certain student.]"

"What's with the scary setup and how the heck did you get that information…," Himeko asked.

After all this while, Himeko was still entranced by the likely enigma, Switch.

"[…And…]" Switch cut her tsukkomi, "[It appears that Morino from the second year had accidentally lost his set of painting brush that Fumi-chan gave him as a present,]" a glint of satisfaction flashed behind Switch's glasses.

"Urm… urghhh, I will not even ask you how you found that out… It's scary." Himeko face showed blue lines when she realized how scary this otaku can be.

"[Thus, I came to one valid conclusion…,]" Switch exchanged looks with Himeko as she realized what he was going to say next.

"He had been taking requests without us!"

• • • • • • • • •

"Thank you very much Fujisaki-senpai. I'm greatly indebted to you for finding my treasured brushes," Morino keep on bowing to Bossun while the red-Sket Dan leader eased him. It was embarrassing for Bossun to receive formality, especially in the hallway, in front of the Sket Dan's clubroom.

After the younger lad went to his own club activity, Bossun sighed in relieve. He had been searching the tool for two days and it turns out to be that Fumi found it and forgot to give it back to Morino.

He opened the door, closing his eyes while grumbling, "Urgh, my back hurts."

"Was the request that hard?" An innocent question from a female voice.

"You bet!" Bossun answered.

"[Must be tough doing requests all alone huh?]"

"What can I say, I couldn't jeopardize Switch's and Himeko's study for my sake; especially Himeko and...eh?" Bossun who was busy massaging his back pulled up his head and found Himeko and Switch in the clubroom.

Both of them were emitting a deadly aura, tinge of purple radiated from them. Himeko was sitting elegantly on the table while dusting her hockey stick until it shines. Switch, on the other hand was making a poker face while playing a zombie game.

"EEEKKK...ww...why...," Bossun only managed to yelp the words since the two people in front of him were looking really scary.

He tried to run away but Himeko managed to catch him by the collar. Before he even speaks, Himeko's slap reaches his cheek. However, it is not powerful as usual. Bossun realizes that she was trembling.

"STUPID! What do you mean by 'your own sake'! Do you think both of us decided to join this club just because we were forced huh?!" Himeko yells while grabbing his collar tighter, "...did you even consider our feelings huh? We felt like you had abandoned us and… WHAT'S WITH THE LACK OF DELICACY!? I know that I'm stupid but to be told directly to my face actually hurts!" Himeko kept on spouting her anger while shaking Bossun vigorously.

"[Now… now, Himeko. You will kill Bossun if you continue doing that,]" Switch restrained her while Bossun's face already lost its colour.

Half an hour later...

"That's the story. I'm sorry for not telling you guys," Bossun bowed his head apologetically. He waited for his closest friends in front of him to react before he sat up straight again.

Switch broke the silence first, "[Bossun is Bossun after all. You will never abandon people in need. Because of that, you had been looking tired these past few days]."

"Huh?" The guilty man didn't comprehend the statement.

"He means that, for the past five days, you have been doing three people jobs," Himeko explained. Her face was still sulky. Yet, Bossun still didn't get it.

That act pissed her off, resulting in her slamming the table that divides Bossun and the two of them, "Don't you see? All this while, Switch has always been the one to gather information, I had always been in charge of the labour work and you! You're the one to connect everything and find the solution to the problem! How could you do a teamwork alone by yourself when Sket Dan is supposed to be us three?!"

Bossun blinked his eyes, half amazed, half surprised at Himeko's statement. Of all people, she was the one who managed to realize that small detail. What surprised him more though were the tears that started to spill on Himeko's eyes.

"[Man...you're saying that but actually you just want to slack off from studying right?]," Switch sighed, trying to lighten up the mood as Himeko brushed her tears away.

"Wha...no no no! I'm still studying when there are no requests!" Bossun defended himself, mentally panicking at how Himeko actually cried because of his actions. He was mentally relieved too to see that she wasn't crying anymore. "Look! Look! I managed to solve ten Mathematics questions!" Bossun proudly announced as he pulled a piece of paper from his bag.

Himeko narrowed her eyes on the paper, obviously not amazed."…Only ten?"

"Aaarghh…" Bossun tried to find something to say and think of anything that he did the past days that could somehow relieve his two friends. "I managed to fold a seahorse origami?"

Looking at his reaction, Himeko grumbled, "Based on experience, do you think we can manage to study if we were alone?" Her statement invoked a bang of realization from the guys.

"[You know...]" Switch continued, "[Since both Himeko and I also don't want to stop doing the club activities, why don't we just continue accepting request. We don't have much effort to concentrate on study after all]."

Much to Bossun and Switch surprise, Himeko jumped and suggested, "…Or we can triple the effort by study together while waiting for any request which is pretty rare anyway; so we still have lots of time for studying."

Her suggestion somewhat gave a sense of enlightenment and the two boys jumped in agreement.

"[Himeko, you're smart. That's a good idea]," Switch complimented her, with the usual poker face.

"Whoa! I never actually thought that Himeko has the ability to give a brilliant idea!" Bossun said in excitement.

"BOSSUNNN~~"

"Ah, crap!"

• • •

When they were done with some playful fighting (from Himeko's opinion) and serious beating (from Bossun's opinion), the three spent a short while of comfortable silence.

It had been quite some while since they spent the afternoon in their clubroom, the room where they had spent majority of their afternoons for the past three years.

Three years, huh? Himeko smiled wryly to herself, It all flew so fast.

"But seriously…" Bossun broke the silence, "the exams are like two months away right?" Bossun frowned, finding it hard to look forward to exams. He wasn't like his twin after all. "We're supposed to study everything, aren't we? Even for the mock-up grades... Our current grades are not even that good," he shrugged, "well, maybe except for Switch."

"[Hahaha,]" Switch laughed like a high-class lady through his laptop. "[Indeed, I have very good grades.]"

"Stop getting full of yourself!" Bossun replied, miffed at Switch's response.

"My grades aren't that good either…" Himeko said dejectedly.

"[Well,]" Switch reverted to his usual voice, "[Bossun does have a point. The college entrance exam is closer than we think…]"

"Shouldn't we start our study group now?" Himeko suggested, looking all pumped up.

"OSU!" Bossun and Switch answered simultaneously.

They weren't going to laze around anymore. They were going to be seriously, seriously study now!

Adjusting the three books on his right arm, the Student Council President quietly closed the library door and made his way towards the classroom to fetch his things. He was just done reviewing the first book recommended by the Pres- he meant the ex-Pesident, and since it was already late evening, he decided to continue his studies at home. The book he read didn't seem to be… at all related for their upcoming exams, but, considering that the book was suggested by none other than the ex-president – the person Tsubaki respect most – Tsubaki read the books in hopes that it's relevant to the exams. Tsubaki smiled; as expected of the ex-President! He was really smart compared to Tsubaki. The former was quite outstanding in everything, someone who was respectable-

"AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Half angry (for his mental praises toward Agata being cut off) and half surprised (at the sudden burst of laughter), Tsubaki raised an eyebrow and glared towards the source of the racket. How anti-climactic it was for him to find out that the rude noises came from the none other, Sket Dan clubroom. Narrowing his eyes while angrily walking towards the said room, Tsubaki mentally commented on how immature it was for the Sket Dan (specially their very silly so-called leader) to waste all their evenings goofing around the clubroom while the rest of the seniors were hectically preparing for the exams. This was, after all, a critical point in their lives that would affect their future. With Sket Dan lazing around like this, their future is looking rather bleak.

Tsubaki, with his very wild imagination (according to his own judgement anyways…) imagined Bossun in his stick figure sitting between an alleyway, saying:

. . . . . . .

"Alms, alms, alms. Spare me a piece of bread. Spare me your mercy. I am a child so young, so thin, and so ragged. Why are you staring at me? With my eyes I cannot see but I know that you are all staring at me. Why are you whispering to one another? Why? Do you know my mother? Do you know my father? Did you know me five years ago?"

. . . . . . .

In the clubroom, Switch was typing in the tune of the new opening song of Nervous Nervous, Himeko was midway on making a tsukkomi over their leader's dance, and Bossun was jumping in mid-air with his arms in V-shape when the door suddenly opened with a SLAM! They all turned their heads to see a very furious Tsubaki glaring at the three of them, mainly at Bossun's direction.

"As the president of the Student Council of Kaimei High, I won't let any of the students end up with THAT kind of future!" he panted after shouting this line while pointing his finger towards his brother. His action shocked his brother and-

"HOW COULD YOU BELITTLE THE FUTURE OF CHEERLEADERS?!" Bossun bellowed dramatically, tears almost escaping from his eyes and Himeko couldn't help but think at how ridiculous he was acting again.

"What cheerleader are you talking about?!" Tsubaki raised an eyebrow, before he glared at them again upon realizing that the trio were indeed just idling around (not that he expected anything better from the Sket Dan). "None of you are doing any preparation for the exams after all!"

"[That's really short-sighted of you to judge us like that,]" Switch digitally voiced out, "[Of course, we are preparing ourselves! Bossun was showing us a very skilful cheerleading dance to boost our confidence. How could you say that we aren't making any preparation?]" Switch ended his sentence with a loud 'HMPH!'

Tsubaki stared at three of them with a suspicious look.

Is cheerleading really that vital? Come to think of it… cheerleading is often seen whenever there were school festivals and classes even formed groups to practice their own choreographies. Heck, everyone even put effort on making costumes. This meant that cheerleading was important on cases like festivals, sports… and exams?

Tsubaki's eyes narrowed. Were they doing something useful for the exam after all? He felt that his pride has somehow been stepped on.

Refusing to lose (was it even a competition?) to Fujisaki, Tsubaki composed himself and cleared his throat. "Of course, I know that cheerleading is important-"

And at the same time, the Sket Dan members thought in unison "HE BOUGHT IT?!"

"-but you've already spent the whole afternoon for that. You should start focusing on studying." The president said in his usual stern voice, placing his arms over his hips as if to make himself more respectable.

"Just so you know, we were seriously having some productive group study before you came and ruin our focus." Bossun huffed as he turned to look at the window, trying his best to make a straight face.

Yeah, some productive group study it was! The three of them all thought inwardly. Their planned group study went down the hill in one minute, maybe less.

With a deadpan expression, Bossun lifted his legs to sit in a lazy position on his tatami bench and made a disgusted face. "I bet you haven't even had any studying yourself since you're busy bossing everyone out."

"What?!" Tsubaki exclaimed, obviously offended by what his older brother said. "I've just finished reviewing a very informative book, just so you know!"

"Ehh? EHHH?" Bossun sat straight and with a mocking expression, looked at the angry president.

"Did you really review? Really, really review? I bet you can't answer any question if somebody asked you!"

Tsubaki gaped in disbelief. How could someone like Fujisaki belittle the knowledge of someone like him?! Him who had just finished reviewing the special book recommended by the President, oops, ex-President! "Go ahead and ask anything! You'll go to the detention room if I answer everything correctly!"

"[He said detention! LOL]" Switch commented.

"Detention?! Can't you even think of any fun punishment?!" Bossun gave his twin another disbelieving look. "Seriously, detention is all you can think?"

"Fun punishment?!" Tsubaki replied with an expression identical to his brother.

"Do you even know the meaning of punishment?! Punishments are not supposed to be fun!" He sighed and composed himself again. These guys need to know the right meaning of punishment.

Closing his eyes, he recalled the important sentences on their student handbook and started stating the importance of detention. "Giving students detention in the school is a special way to make sure that the students who conducted misdeeds, failed to do their responsibilities in school, and those who are starting to go to the wrong direction-"

His eyes snapped open when he heard the sound of the door opening and he saw that the trio were already started leaving (he vaguely heard Fujisaki saying something about boring). "HEY! You're not even listening!"

"Aren't you going home?" Bossun drawled. "Don't you know that we still have to study for the exams?"

"That's right, Tsubaki-kun, we shouldn't idle during this time." Himeko stated.

"[Tut-tut-tut. What will the faculty and student body think if they knew that the president wasn't studying?]" Switch shook his head as if disappointed.

"Tch." Bossun placed his hands on his pocket and started walking away. "What a lazy student, hanging around school instead of studying. His future looks bleak."

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM THE THREE OF YOU!"

• • •

Moments later, they found themselves at the gates of the campus, their long shadows casted in front of them by the setting sun. The reddish-orange sky told them that they were heading home later than usual and the school ground was already empty except for the four of them.

"Why do we have to go home with you?" Bossun narrowed his eyes towards Tsubaki as they exited the school gate.

"I'm making sure that you don't head to any unnecessary places." Tsubaki mirrored Bossun's expression.

"Who are you, my Mom?!"

Tsubaki averted his gaze away from his older brother and looked ahead the way. "I'm sure ourMom wouldn't want you to fail the exams."

"Gh—" Bossun was surprised and silenced by Tsubaki's unexpected answer and all he could do for a moment was look at his twin.

Switch and Himeko, who were walking behind the twins, looked at each other. A small smile appeared on Himeko's face. Unsure of what to reply, Bossun huffed and looked in front of him as well. "Yeah, she probably wouldn't want that…"

There was a momentary silence as they continued walking the street that was lined with cherry blossom trees. Himeko turned her head to look at the trees whose leaves were all gone now that it was winter. By the time that the leaves grew back and its flowers started to blossom, would they still be able to walk together like this?

The serene quietness was broken by Bossun who started snickering. "She'd probably be more worried of you failing, though."

Tsubaki didn't fail to give an amusing expression, that was, him gaping unbelievingly at what Bossun said. "I've never had any failing grades!"

"EHHHHH?" Bossun taunted childishly as he started to walk backwards just so he could argue with his angry twin. "Don't you know that the national exams are very different compared to usual exams?"

"Do you never listen?" Tsubaki answered exasperatedly. "Our teachers explained that the national exam will include the lessons that were taught from first year until our last lessons as seniors?"

Upon hearing this, Bossun's eyes widened. "WHAT?! First year lessons are included?!" He somehow expected Himeko to make a tsukkomi over this but instead, it was only Tsubaki again who answered.

"Have you started any reviewing at all?" Tsubaki had a flabbergasted look as the image of his older brother ending up begging for alms popped into his head again.

"TCH. Ask me anything, I'll be able to answer it!" Bossun challenged and crossed his arms.

"Okay," With a serious face, Tsubaki asked, "what's the molar mass of propane?"

"OH LOOK! Gundam Age is starting in five minutes!" Bossun started dashing down the street.

YOU ARE EVEN PLANNING TO WATCH ANIME?!"

When they reached an intersection, the four of them had to stop because the twins were having an intense argument once again.

"ISN'T YOUR HOME TOWARDS THIS WAY!?" Bossun pointed towards the left street.

"YES, I TOLD YOU, I KNOW!" Tsubaki stomped his foot (the trio mentally thought, 'He actually stomped his foot!') and started walking towards the right street until Bossun blocked him with his arms wide apart.

"SO WHY ARE YOU HEADING THIS WAY?!"

"My mom asked me to pick up something."

"LIAR!"

"Hmph!" Tsubaki tried to move past his older brother, only to be blocked again. He glared at Fujisaki and the latter glared back at him. "I need to talk to Akane-san and inform her that you are not doing your studying properly so you need to be properly monitored."

"[Bossun needs to be monitored! Monitored!]" Switch chanted with an 'Ohohoho' laugh at the end.

"I don't need to be monitored! I study enough, thank you very much!" Bossun crossed his arms indignantly.

Don't they know that I spent my nights reviewing school notes?! After eating dinner, watching anime, reading some manga, playing MonHunt, reading some more manga, checking for updates online, ...didn't they know that I did study my notes after all those?!

Upon remembering his notes, his eyes widened. "My notes-!" He glared worriedly towards Tsubaki, who looked at him suspiciously and asked, "What about your notes?"

"Heh, my notes are very detailed, you know! I take down EVERYTHING written on the board without missing anything, nah-uh, this awesome Fujisaki 'Bossun' Yuusuke never misses a word in the board!"

He tried to laugh loudly and hoped that Tsubaki would believe this. The latter just narrowed his eyes more at Bossun so he had to continue laughing. After a few seconds though, Bossun snapped and started crying. "JUST GO HOME ALREADY!"

Tsubaki eyed his older brother weirdly. "Okay, okay. I was just thinking of borrowing your Chemistry notebook since I didn't finish writing down my notes earlier since Chuu-sensei asked me to help him clean the flasks."

"As if I'll lend you my notes!" Bossun made a mocking face and Tsubaki glared at him again.

"Who asked to borrow your notes?!"

"YOU DID!"

Tsubaki ignored what Bossun said and continued. "Your writing is probably unreadable! Ugh. Look at the time! I wasted my time bickering with you."

"You're the one who started this! Just go home already!" Bossun started pushing Tsubaki towards the street leading to the Tsubaki clinic.

"Stop pushing me!" Tsubaki slapped Bossun's arms away and started walking by himself. "I'm going to call Akane-san and tell her of your problems with studying."

"JUST GO HOME ALREADY!"

Moments later, the Sket Trio were walking again and Bossun looked really exhausted.

"Man, that Tsubaki is such a pain." He sighed.

"[He is just probably worried as your only brother,]" Switch commented in a serious tone, somehow reminding him of his own brother upon watching the twins, "[But, he shows his worry in a weird manner.]"

Bossun scrunched his face but didn't say anything because he knew Switch was right. Despite how Tsubaki was really aggravating all the time, he just didn't want him to fail, just as he didn't want Tsubaki to fail either.

"[I'm heading this way.]" Switch pointed to the opposite street when they reached a crossing lane, "[My mom asked me to pick up something.]"

"THAT'S THE WAY TO THE MAID CAFÉ!" Bossun retaliated.

"[OHOHOHOHOHO~]" Switch lifted a hand to say good-bye. "[See you two tomorrow. Good luck being monitored, Bossun!]"

Before Bossun could reply that no one was going to monitor him, Switch already crossed the street.

"He's planning on dropping by the maid café, isn't he?" Bossun said in a deadpan manner as the two of them continued walking.

Himeko nodded in reply, "But Switch is good on studying. He'll be okay with the exams."

She turned her eyes towards Bossun, "Unlike a certain someone who left his notes at school," she smiled wryly.

Bossun sweat dropped on the statement, "It was an accident! An accident!" Bossun answered in defiance. "I forgot to take it with me."

"No wonder Tsubaki-kun is worried about your future," Upon saying that, Himeko remembered the letter she received earlier and her eyes flickered in uncertainty.

Bossun relaxed while placing his arms behind his head and smirked. "That guy is just a worry-wart!"

Himeko replied with a silent nod, her thoughts lingering at the contents of the letter. Her eyes remained casted downward as the two of them walked side by side. Himeko's clutch on her bag tightened. They passed by people going into different directions, some walking ahead of them, others towards the direction they had been to.

All of them were walking different paths in their lives.

Bossun turned her head towards Himeko when she halted. They were climbing down a familiar set of concrete stairs leading towards the street where the two of them were to part ways. Bossun was halfway down when Himeko stopped on the top step, and for a moment, only the sound of the breeze passing was heard.

Bossun waited for Himeko to say anything, but when nothing came from her, he turned himself to completely face her and broke the silence. "What's wrong, Himeko?"

The young blonde felt the wind brush against her face, blowing her hair backward. Her eyes remained on the boy standing a meter or two away from her and she felt her inside tighten as the memories of them being together breezed on her mind.

We spent the previous years together, laughing over silly things, idling around the clubroom, meeting different types of people, discovering more and more about each other every day we spent together… I always thought that we'd continue doing all these together. Yet, as we stood there apart from each other with the little sunlight left from the day basking around us, I'm... perplexed.

She opened her mouth to ask him, only to find herself stopping.

What was there to ask?

Her silence bothered and Bossun and was about to take a step towards her when she suddenly straightened herself.

"My mom asked me to pick up something!" Himeko rushed downwards the stairs, passing by a surprised Bossun from his spot. Almost tripping himself, he immediately turned to follow Himeko's steps.

"YOU'RE EVEN COPYING TSUBAKI AND SWITCH'S LAME EXCUSE!?" Bossun gaped disbelievingly.

"Make sure you study, Bossun!" Himeko waved a hand at Bossun without looking at him and dashed towards the street leading to her house.

Bossun's steps slowed down and he stopped on his tracks as he watched Himeko's back quickly getting away. A moment later, he found himself standing alone there.

"Tch. Must be some stomach problems again." He scratched the back of his head. After giving one last look towards Himeko's direction, Bossun turned towards the street that leads to his home and began walking. Himeko had a different direction to take, and he, too, needed to go to another one.

STEP

STEP

STEP

After taking a few steps forward, Bossun heard himself let out an aggravated sigh and before he knew it, he found himself turning back to the street Himeko headed to. He didn't know exactly why he was running (well, Himeko seemed like she was in a hurry so he had to hurry too, right?) but he felt the need to do it. Remembering the way to Himeko's house, Bossun took a turn after several blocks and his steps slowed again at what he saw in front of him; the girl he was chasing.

With a surprised expression on her face upon seeing the sight of him, Himeko slowed down her pace too as she neared him.

There was silence between them again and when it became awkward, Bossun broke it again with a sheepish laugh. "Let me borrow your English notes?"

"E-eh." Himeko nodded, a bit confused and begun to search her bag. Bossun kept his gaze on the opposite street, not really sure what they were actually doing (was he really going to study English that night?) and scratched his head. The other teen continued rummaging among her notebooks, trying to look for her English notebook. Her focus was on her bag when she heard Bossun said something…

"Don't worry too much."

This made Himeko avert her attention towards Bossun.

"You're worried about the exams, aren't you?" He looked at her, assuming she was worrying about the exams. "We still have more than a month to review. I'm sure we'll pass because we're gonna do our best."

Himeko couldn't help but let out a small smile when Bossun gave her his usual bright grin. Pulling out a pastel green notebook, she took a step towards Bossun and handed it to him.

Bossun's hand grabbed the notebook that was connecting the both of them…

Yeah, they had more than a month to review, more than three months to remain together even.

For now, she wasn't going to think about that letter she left on her room.

For now, she was going to enjoy the time with her friends.

For now, they are together.

Because…

At the 'present', their hands were still connected.

Late Bloomers: Wahhh...This is my first time collaborating with others. Collaborating with two experienced writers is really challenging and I need to try my best! This is so exciting...I'm really anticipating the reviews from you all...

Light: Thanks for reading! You might not know me but I write fics for Sket Dance individually as well. Anyway, I hope you all like the concept of the story so far. This is my first successful collaboration thanks to the two amazing authors. We pretty much thought of everything together and gosh it's a lot of fun! And yeah, it's a long story. But do tell us your thoughts on it okay?

RisingDayDreamer: QuQ Hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as we had fun writing it~ Reviews would make us happy~ ouo

Submit a review in the box below ^-^ (the new design looks pretty huh?)