— Beneath the Fire and Ice —

- Chapter I -

~O~

Highschool is the apex of youth.

And youth is akin to a competition.

A prelude for which would eventually determine one's place on the social hierarchy in our adult lives.

Some take this passage of time for granted while some even completely disregards it for they perceive it as a form of deception, a sham.

To those kinds of people, I only have one thing to say,

Bravo!

I applaud you for your stupidity knows no bounds.

Life is a constant struggle and those that fail to realize this will only end up in the bottom of the pecking order or be completely isolated apart. The strong preys on the weak and the weak must bow down to the strong.

Such is the truth of the world.

Therefore, I'll mostly ignore those rejects and nobodies that fails to reach my standards for its a waste of time and effort to lower myself upon their level.

We humans are a social creatures and the only way to become successful in life is to rise above the mundane and surround yourself with those whom are equally capable and competent.

Anyone who can't adhere to such common sense can just blow themselves up and die.

— Remarks concerning Highschool Life.

- Grade 11, Class F / Yumiko Miura

— [ Shizuka Hiratsuka / Guidance Counselor Office ] —

~0~

An exasperated sigh unknowingly escaped my lips after reading aloud the essay done by this female student that's sitting primly in a crossed legs position right in front of me. Seeing her pretty face etched in a deep frown, I can't help but involuntarily pulled out the pack of Seven Stars from within my chest pocket before pulling a stick up and lighting it with a lighter.

I then took a long drag for a second before exhaling.

Ahh such bliss~

The lass hacked a couple of coughs as she fanned out the smoke with her hand before exclaiming, "Augh geez Hiratsuka-sensei can't you stop blowing smoke directly towards my face? Second hand smoke is alot more dangerous you know."

Oh right, sorry.

I simply shrugged in a noncommittal manner before returning to our previous topic.

"So after listening to this essay you've written yourself, did you finally realized my problem with it?"

The unofficial 'Empress' of my homeroom class blinked with a blank look plastered onto her face before slightly tilting her head in a gesture of confusion.

"I...really don't think there's any Hiratsuka-sensei to tell you the truth." Miura replied in an even tone of voice before adding, "I mean isn't the content of my essay pretty much self explanatory?"

Silence.

Wow...just wow.

Is she for real?

I almost face-palmed myself.

—Patience, Shizuka, Patience.

Really, what's up with kids these days? how can they have such a twisted view in life. I mean, sure even back at my time we too have a skewer view of things but its not to this extent!

Is there something wrong with the water they drink nowadays?

First that dead fish-eyed loner and now this temperamental blonde, Kami why did my class got so much headache inducing individuals.

I'm not getting paid enough for all the stress these kids are giving me.

Goddammit.

I sucked in an ample amount of smoke on my second drag in a futile effort to ease my growing migraine as I regained my bearings and sort out my thoughts in an analytical fashion. I've then inched my head a little bit up as I closed my eyes and recall everything there is to know about this blond female student of mine.

Yumiko Miura.

The leader amongst the female side of my homeroom class 2F.

A role model pupil and her looks have garnered adoration amongst the male students to the extent that they even labeled her as one of the three great beauties of Sobou High.

On an academic standpoint, there's nothing much to gripe about for her grades are above norm and the girl is averaging somewhere along the top ten of the class. She has an exemplary leadership material and has a critical outlook specifically when it comes to managing her fellow classmates.

She holds herself in a very high esteem and to top it all off, the girl has established her authority well to the point that almost no one in class can oppose her aside from that Hayato Hayama the other authoritative figure of the class.

On paper this girl really do look like an excellent well groomed student.

Good Looks.

Good Grades.

Good Connections.

Certainly she fulfilled the three cardinal G's of success to a T.

However—

"—Miura," I called her in a much more serious tone before raising the essay on an eye-level height while staring straight into this girl's olive orbs. I then briefly halted here for a dramatic pause as I make a direct eye to eye connection with her before continuing with my assertion.

"Listen, if this is really your main outlook in life then I can assure you now...Miura, you will have a pretty bleak lonely future ahead of you."

My lips involuntarily narrowed into a thin line as I lowered the essay and gently placed it down on the table before reclining my back onto the office seat as I patiently awaits her response.

Now then, I wonder how will this girl react to my provocation.

Silence.

"...Sigh."

Oho?

My eyes widened in mild surprise.

Contrary to my expectations, the lass neither panicked nor showed agitation or even got remotely angry. She only deeply exhaled then briefly showed a sullen expression but then she also quickly hardened her look back as Miura then folded her arms underneath her bosom before finally giving me this sharp pointed look after sitting silent for almost a minute.

Uwah how scary.

I almost thought that she's going to break down and cry at first but instead she's now glaring daggers at me.

"...Mou, I get it already!" Miura retorted in a voice filled with defiance. "Let me guess...you're about to lecture me that I'm very bossy and that I scare everybody to the point that most of my classmates are now even afraid of talking to me."

I smirked as I tapped the cigarette in between my fingers down into the ashtray by the table.

"So you're self aware of it huh?" I finally replied after letting out a couple of soft laughs.

The blond lassie snorted.

"Pssh, how can I not? Most believe that I'm such a stuck up snake and have the tendency to ignore those who I deemed to be beneath me..." Miura then paused and clicked her tongue before continuing, "...But what most don't realize is that those very people whom thinks they are beneath me are always the first ones who drew away from me...they stutter and form incoherent responses, shying away from speaking what they really thought of and assuming biased opinions without even properly conversing with me—really how stupid."

Silence.

Well now, this rant fueled with indignation really made me raised one of my eyebrows.

What a self entitled tirade.

I really don't know what to say.

Oh well, I eventually just simply shrugged my shoulders, took in another drag out of my seven star then paused silently for half a minute before finally deciding to play the devils advocate.

"While I do agree on some of your points but Miura...surely you do realize that your disposition also has some issues that needs fixing. How about try mellowing down your attitude you know? You have a really intimidating personality that you can't really blame your classmates from being afraid of you." I explained as calmly and soothingly as I can.

Miura's lips instantly narrowed into a thin line after hearing my suggestion. She didn't instantly rebuked what I said but remained still for a moment. The silence was then finally broken when the girl finally shook her head and responded,

"Sorry Sensei but this is just who I am and I won't change anything just for the sake of those few nobodies whom lacks the confidence to talk to me properly."

...That's a shame.

I let out a disappointed breath, somewhat already half expecting this kind of answer from this girl.

I mentally shook my head.

This right here is the one glaring fault of this girl, Yumiko Miura.

—No compromises.

She constantly scale everything for its worth and benefits and as a result, she ends up solely interacting mostly only with those individuals with blatant superficial values. Physical and Materialistic qualities supersedes her judgements thus limiting her growth as a leader and as well as a person.

Perhaps after being constantly shunned and used due to her influence, the poor lass then began to have jaded views in life and began looking down upon those whom are overwhelmed by her demeanor.

Its such a pity.

I firmly believe that at this girl's core, beneath all the expensive makeups, false bravado and fake facade is a nice sweet lass that simply want to help others while expecting nothing in return.

Her mothering behaviors towards those friends of hers and her soft heart for children are the solid proofs of this assumption of mine.

Speaking of which, she really reminds me of that other problem student of mine.

With that thought, an imaginary lanky figure with dead eyes and apathetic look entered my mind.

"Heh."

I snorted.

Its quite funny actually, both have the same core value of wanting to help and seeking deeper connections with others yet their coping mechanism went on the complete polar opposite of each other.

Hikigaya refuses to conform and adhere to social rules while Miura on the other hand accepted and even changed herself to better integrate into society.

The former evades attention while the latter commands attention all to herself.

One openly unmasks all his weaknesses whilst the other tries to hide it all with superficial masks.

The boy abhors fakery and deception while the girl on the other hand masters the art of it.

He is an ardent story teller while she is an avid listener.

Both branches out on a vastly polarized manner yet at their very roots, these two are pretty much alike.

Same essence yet both have gone on a completely different paths in life.

The Leader and The Loner.

One is at the top feared by everyone while the other is down at the bottom forgotten by everyone, yet its ironic since in the end the both of them still ends up—

—Lonely.

Now then, what can I do about these two problem childs of my class.

"Hmmm...oh!"

My mental gears began rapidly turning as an absurd idea suddenly sprouted from within my mind.

There's a saying that only through seeing the greener pastures on the other side of the fence can one realize the deficiencies of his own prairie and began improving upon it.

Inadvertently, a smirk gradually began forming through my lips because of a new ingenious plan.

That cynical brat has been slacking off in the club since there's no one around criticizing and correcting his behavior so perhaps—

I then shifted all my focus towards the peeved blond girl in front of me and quickly asked, "Hey Miura, currently you do not belong to any club right?"

The lassie blinked in an oblivious manner before responding,

"H-Huh? No I don't but what about it sensei?"

The smirk on my face then instantly turned into a million dollar grin after hearing that.

Perfect.

~O~

A/N : Yo, thanks for reading.

I just finished binging thru most of Miura fanfics out here yet I'm still craving for more thus I decided to write one myself. With that being said, I'm still not fully committed into making this into an exclusive Miurax8man ship since I also plan to include another heroine to spice things up. All that I'm sure is i'll be picking only one girl in the end since I'm not much fan of Harems.

Nevertheless this fic will mostly revolve around three individuals so if your not a fan of Multi POV then too bad but this fic will not be your cup of tea.

This is an AU and any canon altercation will be explained in future releases, I have a plan so patience is your game my dear friend.

Till next time, adieu~