won't you dance with me? {open}

[Yamagata Nanako]

Today was like any other day, but why was it so important to little Nana? Why, because it was the day she had been told that she was ranked number one in the freshmen grade. She was proud and it somewhat got to her head. But again, the rest of the day was like any other day. It was lunch break, so Nana was enjoying her daily stroll through the maze. She never seemed to get lost. The walk... relaxed her. It calmed her nerves and toned down her hyperness.

She stopped and then sat down on the bright green grass, leaning against the bushes of the maze. "Ca mousse mousse entre toi et moi," she sang with her eyes closed. "J'ai la peau douce douce comme de la soie. Ca mousse mousse entre toi et moi. Ca m'éclabousse bousse comme de la soie." It may be true, Yamagata Nanako was bored. This is what would normally happen to someone who didn't have many friends and never ate lunch and who was always alone, never bothering to make new friends unless someone approached her first. She was... complicated, least to say.

She tapped her feet to the beat her mp3 player was playing into her ears. She was French and Japanese, fluent in both languages as well as English. Her mother was French while her father was Japanese. It was an interesting mix. She'd lived in France most her life until she moved to Japan last year. Her father had taught her Japanese though while they lived in France. She loved her parents.

[Schoenherr Jens]

It seemed that the music rooms were always taken by someone by the time that Jens got there, whether they were music students or...a host club. Still, other than the swindling of a music room, Jens couldn't really think negatively of the Host Club. After all, he was a Knight now. A strange one...but a Knight nonetheless.

He had, more or less, given up on the idea of practicing after school. He didn't get too hungry, so Jens decided to spend his lunch hour practicing. But during his lunch period, music classes were being held in the other rooms. But that wasn't too difficult to overcome. He'd just go to another place that was rather secluded. The maze seemed like a good place to start.

But upon entering the maze, something caught his eye and, more importantly, his ear. There sat a young girl, singing to the music played in her ears. Ah, but it wasn't Japanese, now was it? That was French! Jens gave a contented sigh at the sound of her music. It wasn't really her voice that did it; it was the language in which he was singing. Actually, he didn't even know French. In fact, he was never really all that good at it back in Germany. But the mere sound of another European language was simply refreshing.

But he noticed that she had stopped when he approached. Oh dear...was it him that prompted her to stop? That wasn't good--had he done something rude? That wasn't good. As was normal of him, he immediately...tried to apologize, "Ah! Traurig! OH-- bedeute ich sorry! Ah! I mean..." it was at this point that Jens gave an exasperated sigh before continuing, "...sorry," he was always bad at talking to others. He tended to slip into German on occasion, but only if he was very nervous.

[Yamagata Nanako]

Nanako looked up when she heard someone speaking. The language wasn't Japanese, or French or English for that matter, but it was familiar. She looked up at him and recognized him as Jens. She never met him personally, but she knew he was really smart. Like her.

She blinked as he stuttered and struggled until he forced some Japanese out. She grinned and laughed a little before nodding. "It's fine... whatever it is you're sorry for," she said with the grin still on her face. She assumed he was apologized for coming in on her while she was singing, but she could only assume.

"You're Jens-sempai right? My name's Nanako-kohai," she said with a smile on her face. -sempai was used for people older than you, while -kohai was used for people younger than you. It was for school anyway.

[Schoenherr Jens]

A soft, if not relieved smile spread across Jens' lips at the acceptance of his apology. Apparently, he hadn't been rude in interrupting her music. That was a relief in itself...for Jens anyway. Rudeness was, more or less, against the law to him. The weight of his instruments (his saxophone was across his back, while his clarinet was in his left hand and his messenger bag was slung across his torso) seemed to lessen a little.

"Ah, yes! Schoenherr Jens," he said, falling into a deep bow. He only spoke again once he had fully risen, "You...needn't be so formal...if you'd...rather..." Jens was at a loss for words again. It was that stupid habit of his where he could never quite find the right thing to say.

The wrong thing to say, on the other hand, always seemed to pop into his head and out of his mouth without any trouble at all. He quickly added to his previous statement, "Ah! B-but if you're...more comfortable referring to me formally, that's okay too!" It was rather odd for the young man to be worrying about the comfort of others at a time like this, since it was he that was, more or less, about to explode from social awkwardness.

What was a young, tired musician to do (movement three)? Why, change the subject, of course! So, he decided to slip the tenor saxophone off of his back and sit next to the girl, leaning against the hedge, "So...what brought you into the maze during your lunch period?" He hoped it was her lunch period, anyway. Otherwise, she'd be skipping school right now.

[Yamagata Nanako]

Nanako wasn't fully use to the customs in Japan and when she saw him bow, she bowed her head as well, unsure if she was suppose to or not. The grin came back as he struggled with his words and she couldn't help but giggle. "You're cute, Jens," she said bluntly, giggling a little with her hand in front of her mouth. It didn't seem like he was use to Japan either, so she would call him by the incorrect and impolite way. But when they were around people, she would have to use -sempai. Well, she wouldn't have to. It wasn't like someone was going to scold her for it.

It was then that she noticed the huge saxophone that he took off his back and placed on the ground. She blinked and looked back up at him when he spoke. "I'm... not really liked in the cafeteria," she said with a chuckle and rubbed the back of her neck. Maybe it was when she got back at the dumb 'princess' of the school by slipping a PB&J sandwich down her back and all the 'royal servants' hate her and torture her every chance they get. Of course there were a few people that liked her, but that wasn't enough to get her back into the cafeteria. "What about you?"

[Schoenherr Jens]

Jens immediately turned his head away from Nanako at her words, as he knew what would occur on his face. Undoubtedly so, a blush spread across his cheeks and his eyes widened a bit. He was never good at receiving compliments, especially ones that were so...blunt, "D-danke..." he stammered out, showing that he was obviously still nervous.

"Sorry, I mean--oh...nevermind," he finished, looking straight forward again. He didn't really bother correcting himself this time. She'd probably get it. If not...oh well. Normally, he wouldn't be so nonchalant about something like that, but Jens was beginning to grow tiresome of his own inability to carry on basic conversation.

Jens decided that he wouldn't ask Nanako why she wasn't well-liked in the cafeteria. If she had particularly wanted to elaborate on the subject, she would've told him what had happened as soon as she mentioned it. He'd let that little mystery hang in the air for now.

As for Jens, he had just now turned back to Nanako, for the first time since she gave him the rather blunt compliment. As was the norm, however, he couldn't quite bring himself to look her straight in the eye; he never really could with people, "I've just been having trouble finding a place to practice lately," Jens said in his naturally soft voice, "The music rooms are usually occupied after school, and I'd rather not go back to my apartment until later. ...Then again, I do need to practice piano somehow..."

Mid-explanation, Jens had kind of drifted off into his own thoughts. He couldn't practice piano without the use of the music rooms, until he got one in his apartment anyway. Either way, he was starting to ramble. Lately, he had actually been able to catch himself in the act of blathering, "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to go on like that."

[Yamagata Nanako]

Even with the little German she knew, she knew what 'danke' meant and nodded. "You're welcome," she said with the smile still on her face. She stared up at the sky during the small pause and tapped her feet again, still listening to the music as the headphones were around her neck and the music was still audible. She made the volume louder and smiled. "They're called Superbus. They're French," she explained, pointing out the obvious. She loved music. She wasn't talented in any instrument, but she was a fair singer.

She looked back at him as he explained why he was in the maze. A frown appeared on her face for the first time. "Ack, the stupid host clubs are always hogging the music rooms. The idea is stupid, don't you think?" she said and crossed her arms, the obvious dislike of both clubs showing. She didn't really hate them. In fact, she had a large crush on the Hitachiin twins, but she wouldn't be a person that would go to the host club just to be hit on by guys you have nothing better to do in life.

[Schoenherr Jens]

Jens merely nodded and smiled at Nanako's explanation of the music. He wasn't entirely sure if he liked it. After all, most of the music he listened to wouldn't be deemed 'good' by his particular teenage subculture. But he, on the other hand, couldn't understand how someone could think of, for example, Mychael and Jeff Danna's "The Blood of Cu Chulainn" as anything but beautiful.

"...Eh?" was Jens' only response. He turned to face Nanako, a rather blank and meaningless, open-mouthed smile etched on his face. 'Stupid host clubs'? What was he supposed to do now? He was a member of one of those 'stupid host clubs'! He couldn't just completely defy her statement, as that would be rather rude (and he agreed with some of what she was saying, to be honest), but he had to defend the club of which he was a part, didn't he?

"Uh..." was the immediate explanation of Jens' point of view, followed by a nervous chuckle and awkward smile, "Well...they're not really...hurting anyone...though the Host Club's choice of location is rather unfortunate..." was that the best that he could do? He had to make the Knights Club sound a bit better than that! Then again, he hadn't been a member for very long, so he didn't really know what to think of the whole thing.

"Well..." Jens had his normal, soft smile back now, as he was sincere in his next statement, "I guess I'd say...just let them do as they will. As long as they're not causing any real harm, I don't see any problem with what the clubs are doing."