A lifetime of going to class never seems to make getting up in the morning easier.
For all the praise she's heard for routine, it gets awfully tiring. She wakes up early, showers, and helps the others get ready before walking them to school. She's always so tired that she's convinced one day she'll accidentally walk the kids into traffic, and to this day she has no idea why Sam thinks she can handle supervising three kids every morning. As she leads the three children through the streets, she wonders despite herself why such a busy man adopted four orphans.
Things are always harder to do once things start getting colder, the low temperature sapping what little energy she has after waking up. She holds her coffee close to her in the hand that's not leading Shirley, desperately trying to steal its warmth as they make their way to the kids' school. She's never been good at handling the cold, and winter will likely only get worse before it gets any better.
Dropping the others off at their school makes the rest of the walk more peaceful, but makes the chill in the air that much harder to ignore. She pulls her jacket tighter around her form, looking up at the sky. It's overcast today just like it has been every other day of the week, not that the sun would warm her up all that much. The even layer of clouds obscuring the sun is only interrupted by leafless branches until she gets to the high school.
The building is tall, it's dull gray bricks only slightly darker than the cold morning sky, it's appearance about as unremarkable as the classes inside, students pouring in from the sprawling campus and heading to their first periods. Meg checks her watch, brow furrowing when she notices how little time she has until she has to do the same. She speeds up, hoping to have a few minutes to spare before the class starts.
Unfortunately, she doesn't get too far. She stops in her tracks when she sees Sam's boss standing in front of the entryway. She's always been wary of the older woman; Takane Katsu had been the one to find Meg and the others back when they were nothing but young squatters whose worst crime besides trespassing was stealing food, and she was no less intimidating now than she was when Meg was 14 years old. She can make out the officer's loud, authoritative voice from here, but can't quite catch what she's saying.
After convincing herself that officer Katsu isn't going to strike her down for loitering, she looks at the people the officer is talking to. She's surprised to find that Takane is the only one she recognizes, though judging by the the appearances of the other two people in the group she's starting to doubt that either of them are cops.
A woman with neatly styled black hair is the only one who's actually talking to Takane, and even from this distance the way she talks makes Meg's hair stand on end. Her voice is cold and officious, her words clipped, and she's surprised even Takane can stand to hold a conversation with her. Sure, Takane can be terrifying in her overly violent enforcement, but at least she's not quite so distant. Meg starts to walk past carefully, as though skirting around a trap, when she notices the other girl.
Given how she carries herself, it's no surprise she escaped Meg's notice. The stark contrast between her dark skin and white hair makes her stick out like a sore thumb, but she slouches, commands herself with a kind of apathy so strong it counteracts her bizarre appearance. A huge, red jacket covers her frame, half of her face visible behind a yellow fur trim, eyes closed against the dim light passing through the clouds.
"Well, if it isn't Meg!" The girl in question jumps, terror briefly flashing in her gaze as Takane waves her over. "I almost forgot Sam sent you here, kid! Come say hello to your new classmate."
Meg obeys because it would be stupid not to, though her right hand grips the strap on her bookbag so tightly her knuckles turn white. (Takane had made an awfully strong first impression all those years ago. It is, in Meg's opinion, perfectly valid for her to still be just a little bit scared of her, and anyone who tells her otherwise hasn't been slapped with the flat of that wooden sword of hers).
The black haired woman smiles at Meg. While it doesn't reach her eyes and unsettles more than it reassures, Meg thinks she sees some sympathy in the older woman's gaze. Either that or amusement, she supposes, gaze shifting to meet Takane's.
"This here's Jo," states Takane, gesturing to the silent girl standing to the side. She peaks out from behind the fur of her coat and her own messy bangs; Meg almost jumps when she sees that Jo's eyes are a startling red. Either way, she can't help but stare until Jo's eyes flutter closed, a small grunt her only greeting. "She'll be starting here today, but since she's a rather special case she's probably gonna need some help." Takane winks at Meg like they both have a secret no one else knows. Meg gives her only a blank stare in return. "After all, Meg, you'd know how hard it is for a kid to come into school off the street, right?"
That surprises Meg, but she wonders if it should. Jo's strange, no doubt about it, and there's plenty of strange folk living on the streets, but she doesn't look like the kind of person you'd find rooting around a dumpster. Shirley and the others had been jumpy when they first went to school, wondering when the faculty would wise up and throw them out, not unlike the many angry landowners they'd encountered in their travels across the city. Meg herself had been more than a little paranoid in her first year, too. Jo, on the other hand, looks like she's almost falling asleep.
Suddenly, she remembers that Takane has asked her a question, and manages to sputter out a response before the policewoman starts to look annoyed. "Y-yeah, sure, I guess I would." Takane scoffs; Meg starts.
"You 'guess'? You kids could barely read when you got sent to school. That girl, Shirley, is the reason Sam used to doze off so often in the middle of paperwork. She's quiet, but she'd be keepin' him up so he could teach her." Takane shakes her head before turning to the woman with black hair again. "Anyways, Sei, I was thinking Meg here could get Jo in the swing of things, show her the ropes and whatnot. You think it's a good plan?"
Sei turns to Meg, looks her up and down very deliberately, tilting her chin up just slightly in mock thought for a few moments before nodding. "I'm sure Jo can use the help, sure. She's not going in with no experience in academics, but she certainly isn't going in with enough." She gives Meg another one of those unsettling smiles. "Take care of her, Meg."
"S-sure," stammers Meg, mentally kicking herself when she realizes she's just agreed to take care of yet another ex-bum, as if helping Shirley, Charlie, and Dorothy wasn't enough. "Whatever you say, ma'am."
Sei lets out what might be a genuine laugh at that, glancing pointedly at Takane. "Good to see someone has some idea of respect in this city. I was worried that everyone was as rude as officer Katsu." She draws her coat tighter around her, dark leather protecting her from the late-autumn wind. "Anyhow, if that's all you need for this, I'll be going. Call me if Jo causes any trouble, not that she will." The only indication that Jo hears that is a sharp burst of fog leaving the collar of her jacket, but otherwise she stays silent.
Takane seems tickled by the standoffish girl, chuckling at her behavior. "She's just a bundle of sunshine, huh?" she jokes as she puts on her helmet. "You better show her to her first class, Meg! I'm countin' on you!" she yells and, having successfully given Meg more responsibility than she'd ever signed up for, speeds away, leaving the two teenagers alone in a nearly tangible silence. Thankfully, it doesn't last long, cut short by the shrill ringing of the school bell.
Looks like they're both going to be late.
A/N: Sorry the first chapter's so short. Doubly sorry that the next update won't really be a chapter so much as a heads up as to the differences between the original story and this remake.