Ok, so it's too late to post comment replies - I'm sorry - but maybe I'll try to do so tomorrow.
For now, I bet you guys would just like another chapter, wouldn't you? Don't get blinded by the flash rapid updates, now.
Chapter 2 – CelebrityAiri tapped her fingers impatiently on the table as she stared between her two companions, the tapping intruding into an otherwise uncomfortable silence among the three of them. Maimi as well shared her attention between her two former enemies, seemingly unsure which she should give more to, but upon looking at each her face adopted completely opposite emotions. Miyabi, for her part, reclined lazily in her chair filing at her fingernails as if there was nobody else in the room, but all the same did not speak.
Meeting Maimi’s eyes for what must have been the hundredth time, and yet again quickly lowering her own, Airi stopped her tapping.
“Wow, it’s quiet in here,” Miyabi said suddenly, drawing both other sets of eyes. “I didn’t realize how much tension that drumming of yours was creating. You quitting it was like a train that was barreling toward someone stranded on the tracks stopping just before running over some poor overworked salaryman.”
“That’s horrible,” Maimi said in a sour voice. “Don’t you have any taste at all?”
Miyabi looked back at the girl, scandalized. “What?” she asked. “Is something wrong with my clothes?” She looked down at the dark vest, the buttons of which were shaped like skulls, she wore over a white turtle-necked shirt, with below that a puffy and frilly black skirt that somehow looked acceptable over a set of pink hose. For a moment Airi couldn’t help herself staring, memories of her time with the girl seeping back to her, but she quickly caught sight of Maimi carefully observing her out of the corner of her eye and lowered them again.
Where were the others?! Someone had to save her from this…
“I don’t think it’s the clothes,” Maimi said quietly, still staring at Airi.
Miyabi shrugged. “Didn’t think so, or else something must be wrong with your eyesight cause Airi over there is just about ready to jump me here and now.”
Airi’s eyes shot up. “Am not!!!” she protested, eliciting a crooked smile from Miyabi.
“Whaddya say babe? Wanna hop this joint and go make hot sweet love somewhere?” Miyabi cooed in one of her more seductive voices.
Airi felt her face redden, and stealing a glance at Maimi, she saw the girl’s own was quickly turning as well, her lips pursing in an excruciating silence. “You…” Airi began. “You… You need to stop saying such things!” She looked sadly at Maimi, with her darkened features. The kiss earlier that day was confusing, but it was still nice, and she had a feeling that things had now been set back once again. She had to get out of this house…
At that moment Reina strolled into the room, and taking a quick appraisal of the current climate, took a seat next to Miyabi and as far as possible from both Maimi and Airi. “Geez, I’m not that late, am I?” she asked disbelievingly, casting a glance at Maimi before settling her eyes on Miyabi. “You must work fast to get her so worked up already.”
Miyabi shrugged, again as calm as if she’d been saying absolutely nothing out of the norm. “I can’t help it if the girl’s jealous. You should have seen her face when I asked Airi upstairs.”
“Ah,” Reina said, nodding sagely. “That would definitely do it. You know, we gotta live with her now, so it might be best not to do things like that so often…”
“I can easily leave,” Maimi said in a cold voice. “Or my offer to incinerate you still stands.”
“Maimi!” Airi hissed plaintively, but everyone appeared to ignore her as if she wasn’t the center of the conversation and sitting right there.
Miyabi gave one of those small smiles again without looking up, still filing her fingernails. “I’ll take a pass on that I think. Although you know, especially with the both of us here, the second you thought of doing such a thing you’d cease to exist yourself one way or another.”
“Hence the
offer,” Maimi said, still in a low voice. “If you asked me I’d just be happy to oblige.” Her voice lowered slightly again, though this time in a more petulant way. “I know I’d be no match for either of you in a fight, unless…”
“Sorry to keep you waiting!!” Ai said, hurrying in the door dragging a somewhat breathless-looking Risa behind her. Unlike Reina apparently paying no attention to the mood of the room, they took two of the vacant seats between Airi and Maimi. “We were putting the finishing touches on our proposal.”
“I can guess what kind of proposal that would be…” Reina said, now smirking herself.
“Hey Tanaka, I’m getting antsy,” Miyabi said, sighing and appraising her fingers before looking up for the first time. She then raised a finger to Reina’s arm and traced slowly up it. “If this show doesn’t get on the road soon, wanna go have some fun somewhere?”
Trying to put the current situation out of her mind as much as possible since everyone was here, Reina and Miyabi staring lustily at each other, Maimi still with cool fury staring at the both of them, and Ai and Risa also staring with the most confused expressions, Airi decided it was time to get this meeting she had called started… somehow… after such an inauspicious opening.
“Thank you all for coming so quickly…” she said in an attempt at grateful formality.
“It wasn’t hard,” Miyabi said, as her and Reina still eyed each other, though Airi thought her appraisal had for some reason become more thoughtful than seductive. “I mean, we all live at least five transfers apart, but if it’s important we can sure manage it.” Airi thought she could cut a knife through the girl’s sarcasm, which was even somehow lightening Maimi’s mood.
“Speak for yourself,” Reina said, staring evenly into Miyabi’s eyes. “Some of us have important things to do that we might have been interrupted from.” That earned a smirk from Miyabi, and the two finally broke eye contact, though their fingers still intertwined within hands held between them.
“Are you two, um… together now or something?” Risa asked, looking apprehensively at the pair.
This time they both almost broke into laughter. “You see,” Miyabi responded. “That’s a funny story…”
“…Which we do not have the time to hear right now!” Airi broke in, feeling her face flushing slightly once again. She was trying her best not to think about what the two had been saying in their wordless communication together, but she knew enough to wonder at the older girl’s apparent innocence. Ai and Risa, Reina and Miyabi… it was as if the two pairs of girls were from completely different worlds.
“Exactly,” Maimi said in a very neutral voice. “You said you had something important to tell us, right?” She glanced over at the two eldest. “And you two have come up with some kind of plan, right?” Airi thought the girl was especially keen on that – perhaps something that could get her away from the rest of them – an attitude that Airi definitely couldn’t blame her for, but couldn’t help but be a bit sad about.
“Yes,” Ai said, her eyes sparkling in her smile. She turned to Airi. “But let’s hear what Airi has to say first.”
Airi nodded. Even though she was the youngest of their group – and by a decent bit – she’d gotten used to being deferred to, especially since they’d met many times like this since they all came to the house. “I’ve been thinking…” she said. “About the Emperor’s proposal…”
The mood in the room quickly changed completely.
“You’re serious about this, aren’t you?” Maimi asked slowly, her brooding gone as if it had never begun.
“The Emperor…” Reina said, tapping at her teeth with her free hand. “He seemed like a nice guy. I wouldn’t mind meeting him again.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind…” Miyabi said suspiciously. “I still don’t know if I like the idea or not.” She looked down at the hand that was intertwined with Reina’s. “It would be hard work being civil. And definitely not much fun.”
“How about if we just hear her out?” Ai said, looking confidently around at them, and then back to Airi, nodding for her to go on. As Airi looked back into the older girl’s eyes, she caught a glimmer of mirth in them that she didn’t know what to think of, but thought she might as well do as the girl says and go on.
“Well, I’ve been thinking…” she said, a little more thoughtfully now. “Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to accept his offer anyway. Like you Miya I have reservations about going to the palace, but…” she said, sharing a firm glance with her two Skull comrades, and finishing with a glance toward Maimi, “We also can’t stay in this house forever, and with the events of today, I think it’s about time we leave.”
“Kanpai to that,” Miyabi said, producing a glass from somewhere and raising it to gesture before taking a sip. Airi didn’t want to wonder too much at the brown liquid it held.
“Hey, didn’t your mother ever tell you it isn’t nice not to share?” Reina asked with a frown. “Where did you get that?” She looked around as if Miyabi might be hiding the bottle from her somewhere.
“I never listened to my mother,” Miyabi said, a grin plastered across her face. “As for where it came from, well…”
However, she was interrupted before she could go on by Risa’s loud clearing of her throat, and Miyabi showed her grin to her and Ai before taking another drink, this time draining the glass.
“But it seems like you’re still not crazy about the palace itself, are you?” Ai asked, eyes attentive on Airi. “Or the rest of us, for that matter…” she continued, pointedly avoiding a glance to Miyabi.
“It still scares the hell out of me, honestly…” Airi admitted after a moment. “I just can’t shake the feeling that if we go there, we’ll feel like we don’t belong…” Not to mention she wasn’t looking forward to how they would treat her there.
She saw how the Emperor and his staff looked at her when they met in the garden. She’d seen how the people outside and even various Shinto priests who’d stopped by looked at her. Of course many looked at Miyabi and Reina in a similar way as well – depending on the person apparently; for example, people from Izumo couldn’t seem to take their eyes off Reina – but she was unequivocally the center of attention. In their eyes Amaterasu in the flesh, more hallowed than the Emperor himself and far more worthy. It didn’t help that the Emperor seemed to feel the same.
“But you’re right,” Maimi said, holding onto some hope. “We can’t stay in here forever…” Oddly, in the midst of sharing another glance, Miyabi and Reina nodded their heads slightly in agreement.
“I still don’t like the idea of a palace…” Miyabi said, seemingly leaning closer to Reina as if clinging to her for dear life. “But maybe I could get used to it. I’m sure we would have private rooms at least, right? And big ones, with beds that you could even get lost in?” Her voice was starting to take on a dreamy quality. But nobody answered her.
“What if we could leave here and go somewhere safe, yet not the palace?” Ai asked after a moment, obviously hiding her excitement as she and Risa looked on at the others.
Airi sighed. “That would definitely be nice.” Perhaps everyone was right. Maybe she should take on the role she was, well, apparently born for.
“I don’t know…” Miyabi said. “I’m starting to like this idea of a big room with a big bed…” There was a sound of crashing wood, followed by crashing glass, and Airi looked up startled to see Miyabi sprawled back on the floor having… fallen back in her chair? The glass she held was now broken where it had flown out of her hand near a counter.
“Oops…” Reina said, dusting her hands off with disinterest. “You should really be careful you know. These chairs aren’t designed to be tilted back.” For the first time since coming to the room, Maimi almost cracked a grin, causing Airi to show one of her own.
Miyabi slowly picked herself off the floor, gazing steadily at Reina the whole time, and resetting her chair settled back in. “Aren’t they now?” she said quietly. “I’ll keep that in mind. And damn it, now I need a new glass. I’ll have to try not to be so clumsy.” The not unfriendly glare she was giving Reina seemed to convey to Airi, who thought she knew the girl well enough by now, that somehow the girl would pay later. Know the girl she might though, she wasn’t quite sure what was going on between the two of them at the moment. Some things were better kept a mystery, she decided in the end.
“Well that’s not exactly the setup I was looking for…” Ai said with a slight frown as she observed Miyabi, “But Nii-chan and I have thought of something that might be able to fix all our problems.”
“All of them?” Airi asked hopelessly, still looking at Miyabi, who had taken Reina’s hand once again, but by the other girl’s tightened mouth she must have been using quite a grip.
“Of course!” Risa burst out excitedly. “I mean… tell them, Ai-chan! If you don’t, I’m going to have to do it myself, and I’m sure if that happened it’d be incomprehensible enough that they wouldn’t understand a thing…”
“All right,” Ai said, still frowning, but this time at Airi. Airi tried to force her face into a smile. Despite being somewhat apart from the internal er… experiences of the rest of them, the girl definitely picked up on things quickly. “We all seem to be in agreement that the palace is, among other things, too grand and elaborate just for schoolgirls like us. Am I wrong?” At the objection of no one, she went on.
“So we thought… if that was the case… what better place to go for us than a school?”
“A school?” Reina asked, seeming nearly terrified at the thought.
This time Miyabi did bark a laugh. “Oh yeah, that’ll work
really well. Just go to some random public school – whichever would take us I imagine – and instead of being stared at from a distance from the street like now have everyone stare at us every minute of every day. You’re just welcoming all kinds of perverts and bad influences with that.”
“Besides,” Maimi spoke up, casting an eye at Miyabi as if unhappy she was agreeing with the girl about anything, “There can’t be any schools open now. With the water and everything like this, it’s still going to be days at least.”
“First of all, I think you’d be surprised at who’d take us,” Ai said in a calm tone. “And second, I don’t mean to go to some random school. I’m talking about opening our own.” Risa seemed almost to be bouncing out of her seat in anticipation of something.
Watching the both of them, something dawned on Airi, and her mouth fell open slowly. Ai, who had been observing her, adopted a small smile. “You know what I mean, don’t you?”
“Seishin…” a voice spoke, but it wasn’t Airi’s nor Ai’s. Miyabi now watched Ai just as carefully and seriously as she had been watching the others, her hand in Reina’s seemingly forgotten, of which the other girl seemed grateful as she stretched nearly broken fingers. “You want to take the Headmaster’s place.”
Ai, at first somewhat surprised at the girl’s insights, soon relaxed when she apparently remembered who she was dealing with. “Yes,” she said. “It would be quite an undertaking for us, but Nii-chan and I had nearly graduated anyway, and we have a feeling that a transition at this point in time, even for us, would be… somehow smooth. We’ve talked, and decided that it’s something both of us would like to try and do.”
“You mean with Airi, Reina and I there, you wouldn’t have a problem getting students to come no matter what your age and experience, right?” Miyabi asked shrewdly again.
Ai stared quietly back at her. “You know I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you reading my mind like that. I’m surprised you’re not a step ahead of me at every moment.”
Miyabi suddenly smiled. “When there are billions of people’s thoughts in your head, it gets tiring sometimes focusing on one for long. Besides, you’re not usually interesting enough to bother seeking out.
Usually…” she said, grinning, and the two girls across from her blushed slightly.
“You really think it would work?” Airi asked, doing her best to ignore the others, which was easy with thoughts of the new idea just proposed.
“Of course we don’t know for sure,” Ai said, giving her that strong gaze again. “But we’re willing to work hard for it. Besides… if nothing else it’s a change of scenery. Even if we can’t get the staff back quickly, our parents could still bring stuff there couldn’t they? Plus then the rest of us could tell them where we are, and nothing would look out of the ordinary at all,” she finished, smiling. “In fact, as you know some of the girls have already been contacted to see how the school’s holding up through everything.”
Airi nodded. It started happening almost right after they returned here from the palace garden. They quickly got their story down that the school was fine; they just were stuck there. That seemed to satisfy most parents, who were just happy to know their children were safe. The plan was that eventually they could let them know that after the roads out opened up again, the school had to close for repairs so they’d have to come home. This way, they may not even have to resort to that. However, that caused another question to arise in Airi’s mind.
Her eyes widening as she looked back at Ai, she asked, “Will it even be
safe to go back to the school? I mean, with the storm and all, surely it’s quite damaged? It’s kind of in a valley, after all…”
This time all the girls stared back at her, with the exception of Maimi, the corner of her mouth just turning up in a half-smile. “If that’s a problem, what’s the use of having supernatural powers?” she said finally, and Airi flushed slightly in embarrassment.
“You know, that’s true,” Risa said, looking at all of them curiously. Airi was a bit surprised she didn’t see more envy in the girl’s face. “With all you can do…
we can do…” she corrected quickly, “Shouldn’t we be out there helping everyone clean up? Isn’t that what a good person would do?”
Nothing but silence answered her for a moment, and she began frowning as if afraid she’d said something wrong.
“…Being a good person is a lot of work,” Miyabi said finally.
“Yeah,” Reina agreed grudgingly, “I’m not sure if I’d be up for it.”
Ai laid her hand on Risa’s reassuringly. “That’s definitely a good idea Nii-chan, but aside from our… personal issues…” she said, looking at Miyabi and Reina, who peered back innocently, “I think if we were out there at this point, we’d cause more trouble than we’d fix. I’m really rather amazed we’ve stayed as protected as we’ve been in this house.”
Miyabi coughed softly at that. “Actually… that’s partly because of me…” she said, drawing all eyes. “After all those journalists came at the beginning, I set a shield around the edges of the yard to make anyone who thought of trying to come through it suddenly lose their memory, and so they end up just wandering away…”
Airi and Risa both gasped at that, though the others, including Ai and Maimi, just looked at the girl levelly. “How could you!” Risa exclaimed.
“Those poor people…” Airi lamented, knowing there was no helping it when Miyabi had done something… out of the ordinary.
“…I’m kidding…” Miyabi said, giving Airi a strange look. Airi frowned back. “In reality they just feel the urge to drop down and pray until they forget why they came there. Just that – that’s all. That’s why you see so many praying people out on the street.” She glanced to a wall as if she could see the people behind it, which Airi supposed she probably could. “But then, not everyone kneeling out there has tried to come closer…”
Airi wondered once again what it must be like inside Miyabi’s mind since she’d awoken to her full power, and as she looked on Miyabi turned to her, the two of them locking a long gaze.
“Well I think we’re all in agreement of that…” Ai said, trying to move things along again. “But what do you think about our idea? Shall Seishin reopen?”
The others were quiet for a moment, Airi still sharing that look with Miyabi before turning away, for the moment ignoring Maimi’s own observation of herself. “It’s crazy…” she admitted, “But that single plan does solve a number of our problems. I can’t deny it’s been comfortable here in my house again…”
“
Comfortable is definitely a way of putting it…” Miyabi said sarcastically.
Giving her a look again, one that this time the other girl ignored, choosing instead to lay her head on Reina’s shoulder, Airi continued, “…But I know everyone else would be happier if we could go somewhere with at least a bit more space, and someplace familiar like Seishin would go a long way toward that.” She looked over at Ai and Risa. “When do you think we could make the move?”
The two girls suddenly smiled as one. “Like you said, there’s some cleanup to do, but I don’t see why we can’t even start that tonight. We could get started on the administrative work as well…” She glanced hesitantly over at Miyabi. “That is, if you would be willing to take us there? We don’t really want more than the two us going at first, to make sure our plan will work as we think it will. Well, the three of us I suppose.”
Miyabi sighed into Reina’s side. “…Hard work…” she moaned again.
“Let me know when you’re ready for the rest of us to help out,” Airi said cheerfully, trying to counteract Miyabi’s lack of enthusiasm.
“Of course,” Ai replied, apparently not letting Miyabi’s attitude affect her, as well as taking her response as assent.
“So…” Risa said, sounding almost disbelieving. “You guys accept the plan? You’ll trust us to get Seishin going again?”
“Of course,” Maimi said, smiling at the two encouragingly.
“It sounds like fun,” Reina said, then her eyes took on a dreamy look. “It’ll be nice to have plenty of young girls around to play with again…” Then she shook Miyabi off her shoulder, causing the girl to sit up while giving her a rude stare and finally letting go of her hand. “And
you need to stop being lazy. Put your abilities to good use for once instead of spying on the rest of us when we want to be alone – don’t think I don’t notice when you pry into my head!” she scolded, shaking a finger at Miyabi, who narrowed her eyebrows and actually looked a bit shaken. For her part, Airi didn’t know what the girl was talking about.
She sure didn’t seem to notice when Miyabi looked into her head, unless perhaps the girl didn’t do that… She almost giggled. Considering their history, small chance of that…
“Then is it okay for us to start now?” Ai asked, looking around at the rest of them, but especially toward Airi and Miyabi.
“Yeah, sure,” Miyabi said, giving a long-suffering sigh. “Let me just go, um…” She glanced at Airi for some reason. “
Prepare a little. You two wanna meet near the door in fifteen minutes or so?”
“Sounds good!” Risa said, the excitement clear in her voice, and she and Ai rose.
“Excuse us,” Ai said with a slight bow. “If we’re leaving so soon, we have a lot to do.” She looked around to all of them. “We’ll do our best to make this the best option for all of us.”
“You’ll do fine,” Maimi said encouragingly again, rising herself. “You’re more than capable of it. Mind if I help?” she asked while walking over toward them.
“Thanks,” Ai said, and the three left the room.
“I guess that’s my cue as well,” Miyabi said, getting to her feet a bit more lackadaisically. “Hopefully I’ll see you later tonight sometime.”
“If you’re too late, you’re sleeping on the sofa,” Reina told her as she left, leaning back in her own chair. When it became just the two of them, she rolled an eye over to Airi. “You were rather quiet through all that,” she said in a lower and much different voice. “Are you really as up to this idea as you seem?”
Airi stood without a response, walking over to the window to gaze out at the people praying along the side of the street, the number there as well of the tents seeming to grow every day. “Honestly…” she began slowly, “I am a bit scared to leave here. Especially if Miya really has been taking an active role in keeping us isolated… I know Seishin is isolated enough itself, but there will be a lot more people there than just us, like it is now.”
“But you were the one who suggested we leave here. You called the meeting, didn’t you?” Reina asked.
Airi sighed. “Yes I did… but I’m not sure if I really embraced the decision as final. Now that I know we’re actually moving…”
Out along the street, someone had apparently recognized her face in the window and pointed in her direction. This caused a small group to form, people young and old, a father even lifting his young daughter up onto his shoulders for a better look. A few tried to come a bit closer toward their object of worship, but instead dropped to their knees in solemn prayer. Apparently Miyabi hadn’t been joking about that part. Letting the curtain fall back into place, Airi wondered if any of the others received similar reactions when they looked out at the crowd. Looking back at Reina, whose face was unusually unreadable, she wondered if she had her answer.
“It’ll be all right,” Reina said. “Besides, with what you can do, wouldn’t it be good to get out and do a little something with it, even if all that’s involved is learning math?” She finished with a smile.
“That’s what everyone’s been telling me,” Airi responded. “I suppose it’s time to grow up a little.” She took a few steps toward the table before looking up again into Reina’s face, which was still smiling. “Still, I sometimes wonder why even all of you treat me like you do. It seems like nothing is decided until I’ve given my approval…”
“Someone’s gotta be the executive,” Reina said, finally pushing herself up from the chair. “You’re the most powerful,” she continued as if what she was saying was nothing more than natural. “Besides,” she went on, leaning over to pat Airi on the shoulder, “None of the rest of us wants to do it.” Then with a smile, she left as well.
“Sometimes I think Miya at least is stronger…” she protested softly to herself, knowing that whatever the case, there apparently was nothing she was able to do about it.
She wandered out into the hall feeling useless, despite Reina’s “executive” talk. Miyabi was helping Ai and Risa in their transition back to the school, something which still seemed so strange to her having come full circle. Maimi was, at least at the moment, doing the same, and Reina… well, as for that, she didn’t
want to wonder too much about where she had gone.
As she passed one of the open doors that voices were coming out of, she stopped to smile inside. Chinami, Yurina, Yuuka and Aika were talking, all four of them seeming to have a good time, which made Airi especially happy since Yuuka at least had been very quiet since that day. Not that she could blame her – Airi knew full well what it was like to have caused grief to others, though at least everyone Yuuka had gotten to was still living. Then again, her friend…
However, when Aika caught a glance of her at the door, the others caught on quickly and the conversation fell silent. “Hello,” Airi said brightly to her old friend and the other girls she’d come to know more lately.
“Hi,” the others responded after a second. Even Aika looked too insecure to speak up before the others.
“Did something happen?” Chinami asked. “We heard you called a meeting. You guys were in there a while, weren’t you?” The others nodded in eagerness at the question.
Airi’s smile didn’t change, but inside her emotions fell a bit more into sadness. No
“Hi Airi! How are you?” or
“Did you hear? I just spotted Tanaka-san with…” …No. Even someone as close to her as Aika was only interested in business, only interested in what she had to say as their leader. Whoever really was the most powerful, she was the one they all looked to for some reason. It was true these weren’t the girls she’d been as close with lately, since they all had supported the Circle, but still…
“Yes,” she said, trying to scrounge up some excitement. “In fact some exciting news – we’re moving!”
“Moving?” Yuuka spoke up, seemingly surprising even herself with her question and quickly blushing.
Chinami’s face however fell slightly. “That’s good and all, but I thought I might be finally making some progress helping everyone get along here… If we go to the palace, I’m afraid everyone will be separated so much, not to mention in awe of everything, that we’ll go back to how we were before. That is, if everyone can even come…”
“We’re not going to the palace,” Airi responded, her smile now becoming more genuine. Chinami quirked a curious eyebrow. “We’re going back to school.”
The girls stared at her.
“But school is boring…” Yurina said in a bland voice. “How can you expect us to go back to something so… so…
normal, after what’s happened? I mean, I wasn’t crazy about the palace either, but…” Somehow, Airi got the impression that the palace suddenly looked a whole lot better… to all of them.
The comment took Airi slightly off-guard as it was from a perspective she hadn’t considered yet – the thought would never enter her mind on its own will of school being
boring – but her smile quickly returned. “Not this school,” she promised. “We’re going back to Seishin,” she said, and the pronouncement caused the mood to shift slightly again.
“But… didn’t Seishin kind of get destroyed…?” Aika asked timidly.
“…Plus, it’s still school…” Yurina added.
“Yes,” Airi agreed with her old friend’s comment, “And no. Well, it’s still school, but I have a feeling it’ll be a bit different from what we’re all used to. Takahashi-san and Niigaki-san will be Headmistresses.”
Their eyes widened as they began to comprehend what it would mean having at least one Headmistress with… unique… powers. Then Aika spoke up again… making Airi feel worse again. “Oh wow! And of course then you and Miya and Reina will be school leaders, right?!”
Seriously, could anyone
not think of her as anything but a leader, for just
once? “Maybe…” Airi said. “I don’t know. Ai and Risa haven’t filled us in on all their plans yet. For all I know there might be no student leaders at all.”
“I’m sure you will be,” Chinami said, looking to the others as they all nodded in agreement. “I mean, if Takahashi-san and Niigaki-san will actually run the school, you have to have at least as important a post.” She said it as if it was the most natural thing in the world and a given. Airi sighed.
“We’ll see,” was all she said.
“Thank you for the news, Airi-sama!” Yuuka burst out suddenly, somehow even showing excitement now as well, and the four girls bowed slightly to her.
However, Airi barely noticed it as she began walking woodenly in a slight daze down the hall once more.
Airi-sama… That was all she needed, was for that to get around… even the odd combination of first name and honorific didn’t help matters…
Deciding it would now be best to seek somewhere she could be alone, she climbed the stairs up toward her room, doing her best to ignore the other doors she walked past where sound came from within. That wasn’t too hard, since the conversation within each one she passed began to die down as if everyone was intrinsically aware of her presence.
When she reached her room she closed the door heavily behind her, and was about to flop down onto the bed before she saw someone was already huddled up there. “Oh, I’m sor-” she began, before breaking off suddenly. “…Chisa?”
Jerking slightly as if just awoken from a sleep, Chisato looked up at her with a red face, her eyes still swollen from an obvious lengthy cry. Airi quickly sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her, helping her sit up. “Thanks…” Chisato said in a weak voice, sniffing still.
“What’s the matter?” Airi asked in a distressed voice, thoughts of just about everything else fleeing her head. “You look horrible.”
“Nothing…” Chisato said, rubbing her eye. “It’s nothing. Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on your bed.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Airi said quickly. “And don’t give me that about ‘nothing’ either,” she continued in a slightly scolding motherly voice. “Your eyes are as red as if you’ve been up here crying all afternoon.”
At her comment, Chisato’s eyes glazed over slightly and fixed on some spot off in space in front of her before beginning to moisten up slightly again.
“Oh I’m sorry…” Airi instantly apologized in a much softer tone, leaning over to hug her friend tighter, burying her head into her shoulder. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“No…” Chisato said distantly. “It’s all right. You’re right. I have been in here crying all afternoon…”
Airi didn’t know what to say to that. She’d said that as an exaggeration, and hadn’t actually believed she’d been here that whole time. If that was the case, something was much worse than she first thought.
“Chisa…” she said in now a barely audible gentle voice. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Chisato said, patting Airi on the shoulder. “It’s just something stupid.”
“It can’t be that stupid if it drove you up here to cry all afternoon…” Airi said, trying to make her voice as tender as possible to dull the effect of the words.
“No, it really is,” Chisato said. “It’s something I should have known a long time ago.”
“Oh,” Airi said, feeling that it was now time to be generally quiet and listen to whatever her friend felt like saying.
“It’s just… I guess I fooled myself into believing something was there when it obviously wasn’t…”
“Mhm,” Airi nodded in understanding.
“I guess I really am a Skull, aren’t I Osuzu?”
“Why do you say that?” Airi asked curiously.
Her friend’s eyes became distant again. “I went with her just like anyone else would… I just followed my emotions on the spur of the moment…”
Ah, so that’s what this was concerning. “Do you regret it?” Airi asked softly.
Chisato thought a moment. “No,” she replied finally, nodding her head with certainty. “It was still a wonderful experience. I wouldn’t take it back for anything.” She turned her head to face Airi. “But that makes me like them, doesn’t it?”
“Do you feel that you’re like them?” Airi asked, not sure exactly which ‘them’ the girl was talking about.
Chisato looked away again. “Maybe. I mean, I passed their tests to become a Skull, right? That must mean I think similarly to them in some way.” Airi nodded slowly. “As for this… maybe I’m too young to think the way they do about it. I still believe in love too much…” She blushed lightly upon finishing.
Airi thought a minute herself. She wasn’t really much older than Chisato herself, and she thought she knew what she wanted as far as that went. Her experiences today with Maimi bubbled up into her memory.
Thought she knew… No, she knew. She knew she loved Maimi, no matter what was going on between the two of them lately, and so her friend was capable of it too. She made a mental commitment to try and be truer to herself from now on as well.
“Are you attracted to any other girl?” she asked finally.
Chisato looked at her strangely for a moment, and not a bit uncomfortably, before responding, “Not really… Maybe Shige-san I guess…”
Airi nearly giggled at that. “Well then you’re hopeless,” she said jovially. “If you think even
she’s pretty…”
Chisato stared at her with slightly wide eyes. “You don’t think she is?”
Airi finally raised her head from the girl’s shoulder and rapped her sharply on the side of the head. “It was a joke, silly,” she said. Chisato’s eyes dawned in comprehension, and she leaned over to playfully nudge Airi with her shoulder.
“I think you like her,” Airi said, returning to the original subject and making Chisato become still again. “I mean,
really like her. So… what happened that made you cry?”
Chisato closed her eyes, as if then she could say what she was going to more easily. “I know I do…” she responded. “I wouldn’t have cried this much any other way. She…” Her voice broke slightly as she spoke, and Airi lowered her head to her shoulder again, hugging her encouragingly. “I saw her in one of the bedrooms… She and Mano-san… They were…”
“It’s okay,” Airi said, hugging her closer. She’d said enough. Airi thought to herself what she would do in a similar situation if it was Maimi, or even Miyabi… although she thought she wouldn’t have a problem if the latter ended up being Risako. “Have you talked with her?” she asked after a time.
“I’ve tried…” Chisato replied. “It always seemed like she was trying to avoid me though.”
Airi nodded to herself. It had finally become clear to her. “Talk to her,” she said. “Tell her how you feel.”
“But…” Chisato responded hesitantly, “What about Mano-san? I can’t just…”
Airi laid a finger to her friend’s lips. “You know what kind of girl Reina is, right?” she asked seriously. Chisato nodded. “Yet you like her despite it, don’t you?” A pause this time, but Chisato nodded again. “So right now she’s doing nothing completely out of the ordinary for her. That means you should treat now the same as any other time, doesn’t it? She’s not yours now – she lives her own life, the life you’ve come to like and want to be a part of. If she becomes yours things must change, but for now… You see what I’m saying?”
She slowly withdrew her finger from her friend’s lips, and Chisato looked carefully back into her face before finally responding, “I guess that’s just what it’s like being in love with a Skull, isn’t it?” Chisato asked in her quietest voice yet.
Airi smiled sadly. “Yes… I’m afraid it is. But I can guarantee you it’s worth it. Besides, you’re a Skull yourself don’t you forget,” she said, poking her stomach. “So things can’t get much more exciting for her either.”
Chisato gave her an odd look at that. “Naw, that’s not true,” she said. Airi just smiled and pulled her down, hugging her close as they lay back on her pillow. Eventually Chisato rolled her head back to face her again. “…Is it?” she asked in a very shy voice.
Airi tapped her finger on the girl’s nose, making it scrunch slightly. “Of course it is, silly. I bet you’ll be surprised when you find out how much you rock her world.”
Chisato blushed deeply at that and turned again before snuggling back into Airi. The two of them began breathing evenly, and Airi felt that soon she would fall asleep. She thought doing so early might not be a bad idea actually, because she had a feeling that from now on, she would have a hard time sleeping at all.
“Osuzu, you know…?” Chisato said softly, just above a whisper.
“Mmm?” Airi mumbled in response.
“You’re a good friend.”
Airi smiled, squeezing the girl slightly, and after a moment responded herself in what really was a whisper, even though it was right behind the other’s ear, “You are too.”
At that moment, despite how everyone else had been acting toward her, she wasn’t sure if she could have been more content.
Topic: The Sword and the Dove [12: Voyage] (Update 12/30) (Read 40974 times)