Greetings, humans, witches, demons, inquisitors, and furniture. My name and title are of no importance at all in this tale, so I shall keep my identity hidden, for fear of distracting you with pointless details *giggle*giggle* whether the stories I am about to tell are the truth or just a lie, it is up to you. Perhaps these short arcs can shed some light on the protagonist's past, and maybe cause you to view her in a new light? *giggle* So, without further ado, my dear reader, shall we dive into this story together?
Chapter 1: A Terrible Day, Part 1
Ushiromiya Rosa held her bento box tightly in her small hands as she walked out of the classroom alone, with a small bag slung over her shoulder. Rosa didn't have any sort of friends or companions whatsoever, so she tried to head to the secluded area behind the PE storage room where she usually had her lunch as inconspicuously as possible. She was a shy girl, but it wasn't entirely her fault, as her big brother Rudolf had a reputation for being a serial womanizer, and even at the age of 13, Rosa still believed in princesses and knights and happy endings. This, of course, resulted in her being laughed at and bullied whenever she was even noticed. No one ever noticed Rosa, even back home when Kinzo yelled at his children, he never noticed a small girl with sandy brown hair tied into two pigtails, gazing at him with scared eyes. That was also why she had no friends. Rosa wasn't very good at socializing with people, because her older siblings always ignored her, and whenever she tried to play with the servants, Rudolf would always come along and flirt with them, leaving his little sister lonely and unhappy.
Rosa was a bit of an undergrown kid. When she first enrolled into the school, everyone thought she was a child here to look for their big brother. Initially, she'd tried to make friends, but wasn't very good at socializing, and had ended up being laughed at by the other students in her class. Now, 7 months later, she could blend in easily with her class, if 'blend in' meant hide from her class. She dodged the loud kids from the other class, took a detour to avoid Rudolf's classmates, hid in a closet to conceal herself from the girls in her class who were the first ones to assume she was a child and humiliate her, before finally reaching that little area behind the storage room. Rosa sat down on the hard ground, removing the cover of her bento box with a smile. She set her bag down too, and carefully removed her most precious plush toy, Torakichi, and set him down next to her. "Hi, Torakichi! Sorry you were stuffed in my bag for so long! I didn't want everyone else to make fun of you..." Rosa looked at the toy for a while, as though listening intently to it speak. Then, her face brightened into a wide, happy smile.
"No, it's alright! It's not Torakichi's fault that everyone doesn't want to be friends with Rosa. I have you as a friend, and you're very important to Rosa!" She said happily, still retaining her childish habit of referring to herself in third person, though at least it was gradually fading away. "High school is scary... But at least I have you! Let's have lunch together! Itadakimasu!~" The childish girl clapped her hands cheerfully and began to eat her lunch. After she finished, the bell rang and Rosa got up quickly, her eyes wide. "Oh no, I'm going to be late!" She hastily stuffed her empty bento box and Torakichi back into her bag and dashed back into the building. As she weaved through the crowd of people, she tripped over her own shoelaces and fell flat on her stomach, making a strangely cute noise of pain.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
Uh oh.
In her haste to return to class, she'd totally forgotten that her brother Rudolf usually starts his slow stroll back from the cafeteria around this time, and he had to walk past her class to go back to his. "H-hello, Rudolf-oniichan." Rosa smiled nervously at her older brother, turning around to face him with a nervous smile on her face. Two different girls were on either side of Rudolf, his arms draped around them, and his huge gang of friends were behind him as well, laughing about something one of them said. "Returning to class late, are we?" Rudolf grinned. "W-well, I-I was just about to go in. A-and you're late too, Rudolf-oniichan." Rosa replied timidly, her hands clenched around the fabric of her skirt, taking a step backward. Just a few more steps back and I can escape... Rosa hated encounters with her big brother in school, because he always used every excuse possible to humiliate her. "Uwah, your younger sister is so cute!" One of the girls next to Rudolf, a brunette with a chest that could rival Eva's, threw back her head and laughed. "Hihihi, she is quite cute, but not as cute as you~" Rudolf laughed loudly.
"I-I'm going in now. S-see you later, Rudolf-oniichan." Rosa turned on her heel and quickly dashed away, heading for her class. Just then, she felt a large hand grasping her arm. "Hey, Rosa, why're you going so fast?" Rudolf grinned evilly at his terrified sister. "I'm going to be late..." Rosa mumbled, trying desperately to wrench her thin arm from his vise-like grip. "Hey, hey, let her go, Rudolf. Your sister is so cute, let's not scar that adorable innocence yet, shall we?" The brunette threw back her head and laughed a somewhat fake laugh. "Ihihi, Rosa is pretty cute now, but she's even cuter like this." He reached out his other arm, and yanked up her plaid skirt, holding on to the cloth firmly. Laughter echoed around the entire hallway. Everyone was watching that little scene between the siblings. Rosa gave a loud, embarassed shriek, and immediately pushed her skirt back down, pulling it away from Rudolf's grip, but not before everyone saw her underwear. "Hey, Ushiromiya! You're 13 already, wear some grown-up underwear! Only 10-year-olds wear white with pink bows!" Someone amongst the crowd shouted, resulting in the rest of the students erupting into laughter again.
"Y-you're mean, Rudolf onii-chan!" Rosa's eyes filled with tears, both hands tightly clutching her skirt. All she saw was the laughing faces of her schoolmates, further increasing her humiliation. She knew her big brother would play a prank on her, but she never expected him to do something on this level. Rudolf laughed cruelly at his sister. "What's wrong, Rosa? We're just playing with you!" He grinned widely and went back to putting his arms back around the two giggling girls. Biting back a sob, she forgot about her class and ran away, tears flowing from her brown eyes. She pushed past a few upperclassmen, and the rest of Rudolf's friends and ran back to the deserted area she usually had lunch at.
Rosa didn't stop running till she reached her secret corner, panting and crying. She sat down again, pulling Torakichi out of her bag. "Waah... Torakichi... Rudolf-oniichan is so mean! I-I've had enough of him and his teasing! Waah..." Rosa sobbed into her plush toy's soft body, wiping her tears with its arms. She sniffed, hiccuping. "I can't go back to class like this..." She said unhappily, trying to stop the sobs from coming out. "Th-thank you for b-being with Rosa, Torakichi. Y-you're my only friend around here, and Rosa doesn't need anyone as long as you're with Rosa!" She snuggled the plush toy to her chest, her tears falling onto the stuffed toy's head. "Maybe I should go back to class later..." Rosa said uncertainly. "What do you think, Torakichi?" The soft toy stayed silent, but Rosa nodded as though it'd answered her. "A-alright then... M-maybe during the next period." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, though that didn't help to clear the choked sensation that gripped her throat.
Of course, if Rudolf had seen the distress he'd brought to his little sister, maybe he would've apologised, just maybe. But at any rate, he was too busy being lectured by his teacher for being late to even notice. Meanwhile, back in Rosa's class, the teacher had arrived. "Where is Ushiromiya-san? She's 20 minutes late!" The teacher frowned disapprovingly. "She's probably gone to cry in a corner or something." One of the girls said, making the whole class giggle. Of course, none of them said things that cutting to Rosa's face, neither did any of them know just how true that statement was. The things they said behind her back though, was an entirely different story.
However, Rosa knew none of this. She continued to sit behind the storage room, playing with her only friend, doing her best to forget about the severe embarassment she'd suffered at the hands of her brother. She had no idea how much trouble she was in, for that teacher was particularly stern with her, since her work wasn't always up to standard. Ushiromiya Rosa had no idea that this was just the prelude to a long, horrible day.