"Amor Vincit Omnia"
("Love Conquers All")
Virgil (70 BC – 19 BC), Eclogue X, line 69
Amor
(Love)
How did it all started?
Well, it began on a wonderful day in the 15th Hierarchical City of Torifune, or more exactly, the Military Academy of Novus Orbis Librarium, keeper of balance to the world. The weather was as perfect as every other day: a constant temperature of 25°C, humidity was kept between 50 to 55%, wind speed stabled at 1mph. Like everything of this city, the climate was constantly managed down to the smallest detail.
Aureate light illuminated the Student Council meeting room. It reflected the images of the room's occupations onto the mirrorlike marble oval table: One lady buried her head under stacks of document, her right hand moved in an endless waltz with the quill as its partner. Another sitting far on the end, peacefully dozed off, her tail made a fluffy pillow. The sound of her snore could be compared to that of jackhammer, however, both of her friends seemed that they had used to this.
And the third one, sitting on the window frame, bathing herself in the gleaming sunbeam. We couldn't tell what is more binding: the sun that had reached its zenith, or her. Every inch of the delicate porcelain skin emitted an aura that was reserved for divine deities.
Her beauty was inhuman, but also the most humane of all.
"Hey, Noel?" The quill finally stopped after an elegant curve that end her name. The carnelian-haired Secretary of Student Council handled her blond friend about a quire of paper. Upon a peak, Noel could see the line 'Urgent. Direct to the Military Academy Student President.' written in red.
"Please take this to Jin-niisan for me."
"Umm..." Noel cringed a bit when she heard the name "Jin". True, the President and her had never got along well. The feeling was not mutual, though.
"He won't eat you alive, Noel." Her expression couldn't escape Tsubaki's sharp eyes.
"Why don't you send Makoto go instead of me?"
The two turned their head just in time to see a thin silver lining from their beastskin friend's mouth, and Makoto mumbled something in the line of "walnuts" and "acorns". Must had been the usual dream of a land flowing with almonds and pistachios.
"These are very important document. I'd rather you handle it directly to the President."
"Do I really have to go? Can I just sent an Ars to him?" Noel tried her best to give the "puppy eyes" look, however, since it was Tsubaki, she brushed it like nothing.
"Jin-niisan usually wanders around the green house by this time of the day." She shove the papers onto Noel's hands with a bit more force than necessary, indicated that there would be no more argument. "I want you to come back here before the break end."
"..." Finally resigned to accept the strange assignment, Noel took heavy steps while wondering what kind of hostility would Jin threw to her this time.
The Military Academy had always been the experiment ground for its brilliant students, and the Pandora Box that the next scientific breakthrough might spring out from. Martial matters aside, the Novus Orbis Librarium ("Library" in short) also focused on researching Ars Magus and its applications. In fact, more than half of the seniors here were not expected to see frontline action, instead learned to fill in various positions such as Engineering Officer or Technical Advisor. The school's system also encourages internal competition between students and division: The winners receives more privilege, include securing a much sought after job in the Library hierarchy.
So it was no uncommon to see something this bizarre like the "Green House", a joint project by the Biological and Architecture students. It was made to test the use of plants in architect, most notably the controlling the grow of plants by Ars Magus, making a structure from living trees themselves. However, despite its success, the experiment was noted for its high demand of finance and soon fell into forgotten.
But every noon, one particular student goes to the same spot: a giant oak tree on the top of the building. After making sure that no one is around, he would use his hand to brush away the dust and leaves that gathered under the tree, then rest his head on a big root. Gentle wind would lulled him into a pleasant doze, and by the time the round glasses slipped from his fingers, he had already wandered around land of Nod.
Under the forever buzzing green canopies, the heir presumptive of the Kisaragi Family, one of the twelve prestigious Duodecim, Jin, seemed able to cast off all of his worry and anguish. His face loosen into a tranquil expression, so vulnerable that even the mischievous orioles dared to sing their melodies. One hand curled on his chest, the other put across his forehead, Jin had the look of a philosopher gazing to the sky in his search for something in this boundless azure firmament.
"..." It baffled Noel. How could President Kisaragi be this... cute! A total opposite of his normally stoic expression. Especially his smile - replaced a polite but a bit forced one, this was so simple and pure. Noel began to fluster like a normal schoolgirl.
However, that serene beauty immediately vanished as the sound of dry leaf being crushed reached his ear. Instinctively, the connect with Yukianesa was accessed, its tsuka brushed on his palm with a silkiness feeling. With a flick of the wrist, the saya had already fixed on the intruder's throat.
Jin's eyes snapped open with a girlish scream of "YIIPPP!".
"Saya..." The image of a golden hair girl dominated his mind, their retinas directly connected. His sister... So long...
"Umm... President Jin..." A meekly voice awakened him from his doze. The annoying Noel Vermilion standing in front of him, shivering and blushing hard.
"Vermilion. What is your business here?" For someone like the pesky, useless, clumsy, imbecilic... and hopeless Vermilion to disturb his rest. Yukianesa whispered in his ears:
"Punish... Revenge... Kill..."
As much as he wanted to do that, Jin knew he better not make a mess here. Dematerialized his sword back to its storage, he inserted the brass temples onto the back of his ears. No one was permit to see him like this.
"Umm..."
"Speak! I don't have all day." Jin's glare burned deep upon Noel, the pressure made her legs trembling.
"Tsubakitoldmetosendthesetoyou!"
Looking at the stack of paper, Jin understood everything. With an annoyance 'Hum!', he teleported Yukianesa back to its storage.
"Please forgive my rude behavior, Mrs. Vermilion." Within a flash, Noel could saw the flame extinguished in Jin's eyes. He was even trying to avoid her gaze.
"They looked beautiful..." Blood rushed to her face, and Noel had to lowered her head to hide it. Both of them fell into an awkward silence.
"May I see it?"
"Ye... Yes!" By a few seconds, their fingers suddenly contacted each other. Like being bit by a red ant, Jin's eyebrows furrowed in pain. The same with Noel.
"Ah..." While the girl mumbling something incoherently
Hmm... Everything looked more severe than he had thought. The Library must escalate its countermeasures immediately. Sooner or latter, the Academy would be dragged into this mess. He would rather not let his people went to an abattoir.
However, it was not matter more than the eyesore was right in front of him.
"You're dismiss, Mrs. Vermilion."
"Um... What are these documents about? Tsubaki seemed very serious when she handled them to me."
"Ah, it's nothing. You could return to the school now." The way Jin replied converted a clear message to Noel: "This is not your job, so don't you put your nose in this. And do not disturb me anymore."
As soon as she turned around, Noel could heard the *THUD* sound of Jin's body lumped to the ground. She sighed in relieve. It was much better than she thought.
It was another brilliant day in the Military Academy. The weather was still the same, and we still found the usual three occupations of the Student Council room. Tsubaki read (and sometime scribbled) onto a new load of reports and forms. Makoto in her nap, wheezing thunderingly with no sense of her surrounding. And Noel on the window, indulged in her poems.
Tsubaki stopped for a moment to look at the clock on the wall, and she was immediately startled up.
"What can I do..." Looked at the package on her hands, Tsubaki was truly in panic. The time was up, but she couldn't left this place. Not with the paperwork that needed to be done! Only could help her now.
"Noel!"
"Ah!" Noel fell flat on her back. The clumsy girl was startled even by Tsubaki's a tone higher voice.
"Huuu..."
"Oh God! Noel, I'm so sorry! Are you ok?"
Noel hurriedly brushed the dirt from her skirt, a shade of embarrassment tinted her cheeks.
"I'm fine. Don't worry!"
"Noel, could you please deliver this to Jin-niisan?"
Not this again! Noel foraged her brain for an excuse, however, the smell of bacon and cheese picked up her interest.
"What is this?"
"It's his lunch! Please, Noel, you HAVE to help me!"
The image of an annoying Jin pop up in Noel's mind. She'd rather not disturb him. The cold sensation of Yukianesa on her throat is still new.
However... She might got a peek of the sleeping President...
Noel's heart jumped with the though. Blood rushed up to her head, and before she knew it, the paper bag had already in her clutch.
"I'll go!"
"And make sure he eat it!" With a dispirited sigh, Tsubaki returned to her never-ending paperwork. Why must she did this why she could had spend time with nii-san?
Little did she knew about the joyous thought of a certain bubbly girl.
Like always, Jin was still resting in his favorite spot. Fallen leaves had began to pile up on him, with on particular covered his view.
Noel carefully moving on her tiptoes, cautiously not to wake up the short-tempered president. However...
"What do you want, Mrs. Vermilion?"
Goosebumps ran across Noel's body with the unwelcoming voice of Jin. She felt both frustrate and scare: the disappointment of her plan went down, and fear for what Jin was going to do next.
"Aaa..."
The blond was starting to get on his nerve. He had began to show some form of irritation (He could felt the corner of his eyes and his mouth slightly twitching). Vermilion must had also noticed it, for she spoke after a long breath.
"Tsubakitoldmetosendthesetoyou!"
Once again, Jin understand everything with just a glance. That and the tingling smell that tickled his nose.
"Thank you. You can return now." He took the bag Noel, prudently avoiding the slightest skin contact. He then grabbed a croque-provençal and nibbled it down. However, somehow he couldn't make it down the throat.
"I said you can go back now." Not when there is a girl staring attentively at him.
"Umm... Tsubaki told me to make sure that you will eat this."
"Just go back, will you?" Jin replied with annoyance. And yet the girl was still there, keep gawking at the sandwitch on his hand.
("Fine, then.")
Jin resigned. But before he could continue his lunch, a gurgling sound interrupted him. And it came from his persistence annoyance, or more exactly, Noel's stomach.
"Eheee..." Noel was even redder than the tomato in his sandwich. She just wished for a hole to hide. But instead of laughing at her embarrassment, Jin tossed her one of his sandwich.
"Here!"
"... Wasn't she made it just for you?"
"I wouldn't eat that much. Just take it."
After a moment a hesitation, Noel finally decided to eat it. What done is done, and she wouldn't be able to have lunch with so little time left.
... Tsubaki cooking was really good! How she managed to fry an egg with crispy edge and runny core was quite the mystery.
"So... This is the first time I see Tsubaki made lunch for someone." Noel asked with a mouthful of bread. She and her friend usually took their meals in the canteen (Much to Noel's dismay, who always insisted to make food for everyone herself.)
"Taro is still in the infirmary."
... She was a great chef. wasn't she?
Yes, yes! Her unlucky classmate might had poisoned him and his friends due to Mai's power transferred her cooking skill, but she sure that the process was defected.
... Maybe she should make something for President Kisaragi...
"Noel!"
"I got it!" Before Tsubaki even finished half of her sentence, Noel had already rushed out of the room, two bags in hand.
Jin woke up with a military band parading in his head. The sound of drums resonated in his skull, banging their thunderous beat directly to the brain. The world was in a dizzy, rolling like a cue ball on the table before his eyes.
"Where am... I?" It took a few minutes for he to be able to speak - his tongue felt like a sponge sitting under the sun. And it was even longer for his swelled eyes to make a sense of the surrounding:
4 boring white walls. Metal beds. Cells which were divided by curtains. One window that opened to the garden outside, showing a lone apricot tree, barred to its branches.
"Oh great... Am I in infirmary now?" An uninvited guest knocked the door of his consciousness. He hate infirmary, being helpless like this. Jin struggled to get up, however, he couldn't.
"Stay down, Jin." The curtain was drawn up, revealing Taro Sasagae, his roommates and good friend. Like him, Taro also wore the white pajamas of patient. The hair was all messed up, with a hint of someone's nails scratched it in frustration.
"It was a stupid choice, you know?" Taro said while helping Jin to sit straight. Well, the president couldn't argue that.
"One is enough, but eating Noel's food for the second time?! Jin, you're smarter than that!"
"Then, who am I? An impersonator?" Jin couldn't help himself not to let out some of the sarcasm.
"Maybe..." Taro grinned playfully. "Maybe you're one of the many assassin that go after the real Jin. And a stupid one."
"Could you please stop critique me?"
"Not until you tell me how the heck did you eat toxic voluntary!"
And with that, Jin was forced to relive the grotesque experience...
"So let me get this clear, Ms. Vermilion: You want me to taste your cooking?"
Jin looked at the bento box unbelievingly. At a glance, it seemed perfectly fine, even exquisite: Two pandas made of rice, accompanied by tonkatsu and tsukemono made of cabbage, all neatly arranged in a (overly) pink box.
However, it was just as precarious as its maker. Both of them awakened his sense of self-preservation.
"So..."
"I'm graceful for your effort, however, I must refuse this chance." Jin pushed the box as far as possible from his reach. But, one tingling feeling lingered.
"uuu... Am I that bad?" Noel made a downcasted look. It was during these occasions that she seemed to be even more lamentable than usual. Even a stone cold heart could not resist these glistened orbs that threatening to burst at any moment.
"May I not answer that question?"
Strike one.
"If it would not be too cumbersome, could you please stop staring at me?"
Strike two."
"..."
Foul ball.
"... Fine."
And it's a Home run!
Noel's poor victim tried the hardest as it could be to keep the rice between his lips and jaws. He carefully swivel the tip of his tongue upon the bite.
"So... How is it, President Kisaragi?"
"... Acceptable." The correct word would be "Tasteless", but Jin was still graceful for just that. At least foams hadn't formed on his mouth yet.
A wide, satisfy grin bloomed on Noel's face, as she took a bite of a sandwich. Her cheerful aura radiated through it, and the world seemed to be much brighter.
"... Wasn't that supposed for me?" Jin thought. However, the lunch box was nearly emptied. The last piece of rice went down in his throat without any disaster.
... Or, he was just too optimistic. An alien sensation creeping from his stomach, spreading through out his veins, bulging up on the dantians, and finally burbled out.
"Ekk! President Kisaragi! PRESIDENT!"
Jin was drooling foams.
"Fine... She tried to be pathetic, and I fell for it."
"Wait! 'You fell for it'?!... Is this mean our 'Ice Prince' was finally smitten?" The grin drew a perfect arc between Taro's ears, his pearl white tooth contrasted deep to the tanned skin.
He was getting more and more irritable with every passing moments. Another minute in this stuffy room is another minute of misery to him.
"Let me out of here!"
"Calm down!" Taro pressed his words down like a hammer. To illustrate his intention, sun gleamed on a few thin strings, no doubt Taro's restraining Ars Magus.
"You'll have to stay here for another day. Just in case there is another nasty surprise. You can't never make sure with Noel."
"Great! While the world is literary burning out there, I'm doing nothing here." Their expression hardened.
"I know... Any new from Ikaruga?"
"Pretty bad. The last meeting between Tenjō and Imperator went sour. There were even stories of them crossed swords, and Tenjō barely made it back alive."
"Old man Amanohokosaka is not the type to lead his people to a war, you know. Unlike how all of these newspaper depicted him." One was picked up from the pile by Taro. "Here! "Ikaruga Federation troops one again violated treaties"... There is something just wrong with all of this."
Jin made a quick glance around, to make sure there was nothing eavesdropping their conversation.
"You better not talking like this to anyone else. NOL has ears everywhere."
"I know, I know..."
"Also, don't make contact with Kagura Mutsuki. He may be one of the Ducedoim, but rising against Imperator is a sure way to get complete annihilation. Worst than death." Both boys knew full well how the Library treated its traitors and their families.
"Haven't seen him for months. Not one piece of new, even from Ikaruga."
The two friends stay silence for a few moment, each pursuing their own thought.
"Everything... is so murky." Taro was the first to resume. However, with a shake of the head, his grin returned.
"But that is not our job, right? And I think you've got a bigger concern." He swept aside the curtain, revealing two sleepy girls on the chairs.
"... How long have I been here?"
"Two days to be exact. And they have been here since then"
Even for Jin, it was hard to stay in close proximity with two girls without a bit uncomfortable. Especially when one constantly checking his wellbeing for every three minutes.
"How are you feeling, Jin-niisan?"
For the n times, Tsubaki asked the same question.
"You don't have to worry for me, Tsubaki." Somehow, Jin really wanted to talk with someone, the other occupation of the room, the one just sitting their and avoid his eyes. So came up with an excuse.
"And don't you have paperwork to do?"
"Oh gosh! Thank you for reminding me, Jin-niisan!... But are you going to be fine alone here?"
"Just go. I'll manage myself."
"See you latter, Jin-niisan!"
"I should go too..."
"Wait!" In a move that astonished even him, Jin grabbed Noel's arm before she could go. "I've something to talk to you."
"Y... Yes?" All of the blood was drain from her face.
"President Kisaragi... I'M SORRY!" It took her all of the courage on this world to yell this apologize. However, he still remained passive, thus sent her into a terrible hysteria.
"What is he going to do?" So many possibilities, and none look so bright to her. To Noel, Jin was almost of a good - perfection in all of its meaning. He seemed too high for her to reach, and always sending chills down her spine during these encounters. She thought that her act of good (even now, she didn't know why did she do it) might lessen the gap, but then...
"I'm fine."
"Huh?" Well, that was a surprise.
"I'm not mad?"
"Not when you..."
"No. It's an accident, we both agree to that... Just... Stay here with me for a moment."
"Ye... Yes..." Noel desperately sought something around to hide her scarlet cheeks.