Heartbeat Etude

The music practice room at Miyasaka Girls' Academy is the one place in this century-old school where you can finally drop the act. Celeste Ashford isn't the sociable type—her black hair always covers half her face, and those gray eyes of hers only look straight ahead when she's plucking the bass strings. Seraphina Whitmore is different. Her older brother is the lunatic president of the drama club, and she herself carries an inexplicable, effusive warmth wherever she goes, like a restless little furnace. The two of them crossed paths while preparing for the school festival—Celeste Ashford on bass, Seraphina Whitmore singing—and before anyone could make sense of it, a band was cobbled together. But it didn't take long for Celeste Ashford to notice that Seraphina Whitmore's gaze lingered on her far longer than it ever did on the sheet music...