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Another possibility…. of the Continuum Shift

Tsubaki exited the bathroom of her dorm. She a towel wrapped around her torso and her hair clipped back from when she'd showered. She also took the precaution of wearing slippers; it grew wearisome having to stop every couple of weeks to pick another stray piece of glass from her foot because Noel had dropped something again. She sighed; it was a shame because the carpet was really good stuff, something she'd be quite willing to have in her own home. In spite of the morning shower, she still felt half asleep; she'd been up till late trying to complete the paperwork for the monthly budgets, but after a hard day's learning and the associated homework, her brain had just given up after an hour. On top of that, she'd had a really bad night's sleep, which hardly helped her demeanour. It almost justified why she was the last one up. At least neither Makoto nor Noel were here at present. It meant she could prepare for the inevitable bedlam ahead in some semblance of peace, and neither of them would see her looking and feeling such a shambles.

She locked the door before sauntering over to her dresser. Tsubaki always found it more than a little creepy that Makoto took such an interest in her lingerie collection; Noel just tended to blush at the sight of a semi-naked Tsubaki, while Makoto positively leered; she almost swore she saw sparkles coming from her once. Maybe Makoto was...into her. It was even odder considering Tsubaki knew Makoto never wore a bra, thinking them too much of a hassle for a girl of her breast size. What Makoto thought of as stuff only to be worn on special occasions was everyday wear to Tsubaki, a quite glaring hint to their very different backgrounds and financial circumstances; Makoto's family lived on the breadline, while she was from one of the most prestigious families on the planet, so it made the tiniest bit of sense that she made a fuss over it. Nevertheless, she was loath to let anyone see her like that; it made sport kind of awkward, what with the communal showers. She could still see Mai's nose doing a passable impression of a waterfall on that one occasion, even now. Even her two roommates and best friends wouldn't get to see too much of her if she could avoid it. She had high standards to keep, after all. So right now, if Makoto or Noel had to wait a few minutes till she was decent, then tough. She quickly decided on a dark purple set, with the obligatory black stockings. In addition to her very prim and proper manner, everyone thought Tsubaki to be quite staid because she was the only girl in the whole school who wore a long skirt, and what everyone thought was tights, thus leaving the more perverted boys perpetually disappointed. Oh, if only they knew! Tsuabki was never quite sure why men and boys made such a big deal out of it. It just went to show the lack of class in most people.

She had found out last year that she'd made it into the 'World's Sexiest Women' list; not too high up, but it still resulted in Makoto teasing her more than usual; secretly she wondered if Makoto and Noel were the ones responsible for shortlisting her. She took a moment to look at herself in the mirror. She was among the prettiest girls in the school, and wasn't a complete snob about it, which made her stand out from some of the lesser nobility, who had either a point to prove, or a bigger ego than their wallets warranted. She really wished she could be more proud of her figure, and be able to show off her assets to her Mr Right. However, social conventions and her own reserved nature meant that she'd never plucked up the courage to take things further than 'just good friends' with the guy she was closest to. It inhibited her sex drive to quite a large degree too, feeling too embarrassed and unconfident to really…get to know herself, something she knew Makoto had no issues with. She was worried if this would come to haunt her in the future, when it came time to start thinking about settling down and starting a family of her own. Would a guy just... lose interest if she couldn't keep him satisfied? No, she had to stop assuming the worst in people.

Having got as far as her skirt, blouse and boots, she unlocked the door; it didn't matter if anyone saw her now. She took in the dreary blue walls; the same colour as the walls in the rest of the building. She had considered forwarding a request to get some decorators in, so all the dorms could be more inviting, less foreboding, but she also thought it would be rejected out of hand and thus be a waste of her precious time, especially as she didn't really have any these days. The place was funded by money and tradition in roughly equal measure, so change was slow to come, if it ever happened at all. While the Student Council had quite a lot of pull, her moreso being Duodecim, renovating like that required permission from outside, and it was unlikely she'd ever get it, Duodecim heir or not.

The blazer followed, with some simple jewellery next. Like most schools, the Librarium Academy had strict rules, but simple studded earrings were permissible. She let her hair down then attached her trademark hairpieces and a hairband. A quick squirt of perfume completed the ensemble. Just as she did so, the ever cheerful Makoto Nanaya walked in. The squirrel girl seemed to be in an even brighter mood than normal, judging from how she practically skipped in. "Mornin', Tsubaki" she greeted. "Good morning Makoto. Have you been to breakfast?" she enquired. "Yup, Noel's still finishing up, so she'll be a few more minutes." She walked over to the dresser and leaned against it, and quickly noticed the scent coming from Tsubaki. She smirked, "What's with the cologne, Tsubaki? Trying to get someone's attention, hmm?" Tsubaki blushed. Makoto continued with the unwanted interrogation, "Jin?" Tsubaki's eyes went wide "What? No!" she snapped. This just made Makoto burst out laughing, "You're the worst liar ever. You have your own built in lie detector; your cheeks go red every time you do. Or maybe it's just when it comes to Jin, you always lose your temper when…."

"Excuse me? There is nothing between me and Jin Kisaragi, understood? We're just friends." She huffed indignantly, and went back to finishing her make up. Makoto sighed, "Pity. You two would make a real nice couple, you know. It'd put a stop to all the crap you two have to put up with from the I-Have-More-Money-Than-Manners brigade". The door opened again, "Oh, hi Jin." Tsubaki quickly turned around to see…

…Noel. "Jin!? What? Where?" she looked around, still looking like she was in her own world. She'd probably been daydreaming. Or coming up with more poetry. Tsubaki had yet to decide which was worse.

"Makoto!" Tsubaki was getting annoyed now. Makoto's long running attempts at pairing them up were wearing thin this morning, though Tsu had far too much restraint to really cut loose. Worse still, she'd knocked her perfume bottle of the dresser, which proceeded to fall elegantly and accurately onto the top of her right foot. She started hopping around the room clutching her foot, "Gah! Owowowow!" Makoto tried not to laugh, but a snigger did escape her lips. Noel just stood there, still wondering what the hell was going on.

Once she'd managed to stop hopping, Tsubaki glared.

"MAAAKOOOOTOOOOO!"

That stopped her laughing. She smiled sheepishly. Tsubaki's teeth were clenched, her fists balled. The restraint was gone. Makoto thought that remaining in Tsubaki's vicinity right now sounded like a really dumb idea.

"Errrr, I errr, just remembered I errr, bye!" and she bolted out the door. Tsubaki limped after her.

"GEET BAAAACK HEEERRREEE!"

(A/N: It might be helpful to use Chibaki and Chikoto for some of this bit. A copy of Yackety Sax will also be useful. Failing that, Chariots of Fire will do.)

Makoto had a fair head start on Tsubaki by now. She was a faster runner, even without Tsubaki's limp impeding her. The boy with the now empty mail trolley was just up the corridor. Lost in the moment, Makoto thought she'd at least make it entertaining for any spectators, so slid over the flat tray, "Wheeeeeeeee!" before hitting the ground running. Tsubaki had to settle for going around the side.

"Come back and accept the punishment you know you deserve!"

This brought a laugh from Makoto, who was getting further ahead. She had to check her run, to avoid some students coming out of their dorms. She turned to shout, "'Deserve'? What do you know about 'deserve'?" before setting off again.

As Makoto rounded the corner, two first years nearly collided with her. She dived over the top of them, "Don't try this at home, kids!" landed in a forward roll, and was off again. Tsubaki had to half-shuffle, half-barge past the steadily gathering crowd, "Excuse me, excuse me." She saw Makoto performing some parkour to avoid another group. She was toying with her! Tsubaki was not sure how to proceed; continue the chase, or be the better woman and stop indulging her childish antics?

Have you forgotten already? The pain you feel is her fault! Make her pay!

"Meep meep!" She saw Makoto disappear around the next corner. She took off in pursuit once more. Her foot was much less sore now, so she could move normally. Still, in the name of great justice, her jibes about Jin were not going to go unpunished!

(A/N: You can stop now)

Unfortunately, races often contain crashes. And, as Tsubaki rounded the corner, this one was no different. She ran headlong into someone, colliding with them face first. She rolled on the floor gently, clutching her nose. It was definitely bleeding, possibly broken. The noise she made was not very ladylike. More a 'wounded-animal-bellowing' sort of noise, "Uurgh! Moy Node! Moy Node!" This brought laughs from the gathering crowd of boys and girls. There was something about seeing other people getting hurt like this that was somehow hilarious, and Tsubaki had made quite a few enemies in her time here, many of whom were now taking the opportunity to enjoy her misfortune.

"First I see Makoto sprinting off, then you run into me at top speed. I assume the two are related, yes?"

Oh God. Why did it I have to run into Jin…

Tsubaki managed to muster the will to look up. Jin was picking himself up, and looked at the pile of papers that had been spilled over the floor. He did not look happy.

"You know there are rules again running in the corridor, Tsubaki. Do you want to have 3 guesses as to why?"

"'Orry Jin."

Jin finally picked up on Tsubaki's distress, "Let me see." He walked over to her and removed her hands from her face. The red smear told its own story. "Nurse's office, now. You two." He gestured at two juniors, "Do me a favour and clear this mess up for me, would you? Leave it in 4-32. I've gotta take care of this. I'll compensate you for your time. Thanks a lot." Then they left to fix Tsubaki up.

As if the start of the day couldn't get any worse...