Forgetting the past.
It was shortly after the Etoile Elections when Nagisa was called home regarding personal matters. She'd been pulled out of the school, leaving Shizuma in full possession of the 'Etoile' title. Shizuma, after finally forgetting about Kaori, was crushed. She then requested her own room, forcing Miyuki to move elsewhere. Once again, she confined herself to her room and sparsely paid any attention to her duties as the Etoile. Miyuki did all she could to coax Shizuma out of her funk, but her attempts were useless.
"Shizuma! Shizuma!" Miyuki rapped on the door. "Why won't you let me talk to you? Shizuma!"
"Leave me alone." Shizuma's voice came out in such a soft whisper, Miyuki almost didn't hear it. Shizuma was sitting on her bed, hugging her knees. She hadn't bothered to turn on the lights this morning, let alone change out of her nightgown. She refused to let anyone in, locking the door the moment she stepped back into her dorm every afternoon. This morning, she decided not to go to class. The almost sudden loss of her Nagisa-chan was unbearable. For the past week, everyone noticed the depressing, even icy air that hung around her.
Knocking at the door one final time, Miyuki turned away. Straightening up, she grasped her bag and headed off to class. Upon opening the door to the Moon class, she walked to Nagisa's desk. A few other Miator students were gossiping here and there before class started. As she sat down, her gaze fell to the girl who occupied the seat next to it. Tamao-chan looks so alone... Miyuki let her thoughts wonder before getting up and moving toward her blue haired classmate.
"Tamao-chan." She offered a small, apologetic smile.
With a small sigh she looked up to meet the eyes of an upperclassman. "Hm. Ohayo gozaimasu (good day) Miyuki-san." A small flush crept upon her cheeks. "Gomen. I was lost in thought."
Miyuki nodded. "We all miss Nagisa-chan. I don't mean to be rude, but I'm afraid you're taking it better then Etoile-sama." She reached over and placed a hand on Tamao's arm. "You can still send her letters, right?" A faint smile seemed to lighten up Tamao's face ever so slightly.
"Arigato." With that, the teacher entered the room and the students returned to their seats, leaving Miyuki to rush to her own class.
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The lunch bell rang and the students gathered in the cafeteria. Miyuki caught a glimpse of Tamao eating alone as she made her way to the vending machine. She pressed the keypad for a bottle of green tea and briskly made her way to Shizuma's room. Beforehand, she happened to grab some of her lunch and hid it in her pocket, food wasn't allowed outside of the cafeteria.
Miyuki knocked once on the door and spoke, "Shizuma, I brought you tea and some melonbread." After waiting for a response, she set the bottle and snack outside of her door and left.
When she was sure Miyuki had left, Shizuma got up and opened the door slightly, peering through the crack to see if anyone was there. Empty, she mumbled to herself. She stepped outside and took the food, whispering "Arigato, Miyuki-chan," before returning back inside.
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The rest of the day passed by quite slowly, but Miyuki noticed Tamao rushing off as soon as class was finished. After returning to her room, she remembered that she was supposed to give Shizuma her assingments she'd missed. Setting down her pencil, she found the extra papers and made haste to slip them under Shizuma's door, not even bothering to talk this time. Tomorrow though, there was a student board meeting. The Etoile had to come, right?
