Hinagiku sighed as she closed her book. She looked around the bus hoping for something interesting to be found. In total there were six passengers in the vehicle, the driver, herself and four others. One of them, a middle aged woman who seemed to be overworked, slept her shoulder leaning on the railing. Another, a teenage girl around two years older than Hinagiku, presumably from the track team in correspondence to her track suit and running shoes, talked to a boy, the same age as her and also from the track team, the two seemed to be dating. The last one was a six year old kid that just sat there his eyes glaring from one point to another.
Hinagiku sighed yet again as she pulled away from her trance. One day she just decided to go visit Nagi, mostly to see Hayate, and found the thing that got her this weird habit. Nagi had once again been addicted to a series, Detective Conan. She found herself entranced by Conan's clever deductions and the villain's marvelous tricks. With this she found herself closely observing her surroundings and thus snooping into someone else's business without any ill intention.
To get her mind off the topic she unfolded the paper she was using as a bookmark to get a final look at it to make sure it was there. It was the acceptance letter from Mahora Central Academy for girls, a strange item considering she never applied. Apparently her mother went their when she was young and wanted one of her girls to go as well. She didn't know if it was true at all; all of this information was provided by a woman that said that she was Hinagiku's mother's old friend. Since no one had the intention of unleashing Yuukiji on an unsuspecting school she was automatically volunteered, more like forced, into the school. It was an all girls school, in other words hell on earth.
Hina's first stop was the dorms. Her roommate was a girl by the name of Chisame, Hina's age, probably spends late nights whenever she could, no boy frie... she shook her head to clear her mind. Chisame was grumbling about not having her own room anymore but still greeted Hinagiku politely. It was a new experience for Hinagiku, living with a net idol. She easily deduced the fact that Chisame and Chiu were of the same identity easily, comparing the picture on Chisame's computer, the picture she saw on Nagi's and Chisame herself. Not to mention the pile of equipment Chisame had stashed into the room and the words "I am Chiu!" painted on a poster on her wall.
"All right, first of all let's set the rules of this room." Chisame said, her voice speaking volumes of command. Her gaze pinned Hinagiku down into one place.
"O-Okay, what are your rules." The swordsmen said with an uncharacteristic shiver. It was a fairly hot day and the AC was broken but the atmosphere in the room was that of a blizzard.
"First is that the remote is pretty much mines. Second you are not allowed to enter my private study. Other than that you are free to do whatever you want." Chisame declared in a courteous manner but no matter how courteous it was Hinagiku knew she was serious. She somehow managed to gather her courage to confront the net idol.
"U-Um, Miss Chisame…" Hinagiku began her gaze as intimidating as Chisame. She hoped that what she said wasn't as wimpy as it sounded to her.
"No need to be formal, just Chisame is fine." Chiu exclaimed leaning back on her chair.
"Um, Chisame, what happens if I don't follow your rules?" The idol's gaze was all that the swordsman needed to convince her to go to the new student orientation two hours early.
Yuukiji lay in bed, thinking about the old days. She reached under her pillow, feeling the green paper like material that was one of her most treasured belongings. She didn't pull it out. She didn't need to. At that moment she didn't feel the need to count her money despite her usually doing whatever it took to maintain her finances.
Her little sister was going to become a Magister Magi, just like her mother. It made her so proud!
Well, technically she was just going to her mother's school. The Kanto Magic Association would only decide to approach her and propose to train her after some observation, but it was more likely than ever before that they would. A few months ago, given her violent streak, not to mention stubbornness, they were unlikely to touch her unless their only choices were her and a talking dog. And even then they might have picked the dog. But now…
It was kinda cute, in a way. A little harmless pretend. But the harmless pretend had somehow calmed her sister down, made her less likely to destroy, made her seem a bit more normal, as much as she hated to say it.
"Soon," she murmured as she drifted off to sleep. "Soon enough, Hina~chan will become a Magister Magi, pick Hayate~kun as her partner … and I'll rule… the world…ZZZ!
That night there was a party at the dorm and when I say that those girls knew how to party I mean those girls know how to party. The fiesta lasted long into the night with numerous activities. Hina tried to enjoy the party and not notice things that had nothing to do with her. For example she tried not to notice things like the girl with a small ponytail tied onto the left side of her hair, probably a swordsman considering the calluses Hina occasionally got after kendo practice, stalking the long haired girl, seemed to be a carefree and friendly girl considering the way she moved around while talking, who was talking to another girl, a redhead wearing bells for her pig tails, the twins who were trying to sneak in beer or the little kid being fawnedby a number of girls… wait that can't be right.
She tried her best not to stare but only resulting in her staring. He shouldn't be someone's little brother considering that there were no parents around or any other visitors. She quickly turned to the nearest girl hoping that she wasn't a new student as well and asked "Excuse me but could you possibly tell me why a little kid is here?"
The girl, a fairly tall one with long black hair and most likely a swimmer-from the tans, build and smell of chlorine, looked at her as if Hinagiku was from another planet. The girl finally snaped out of her stare and answered "Oh, that's just Negi~kun. I'm guessing you're new here or possibly oblivious to your surroundings. Which class are you in?"
"I'm in class 3A, but is that kid someone's little brother."
The girl smiled. "Don't worry, you'll find out tomorrow so you should just enjoy the party. By the way, I'm Okochi Akira from the same class." Akira replied gleaming.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Hinagiku Katsura, but you can just call me Hina." Hinagiku greeted. The look one Akira's face was a mix of shock as she looked at the swordsman.
"Wow, I'd never think I'd meet the great Hinagiku Katsura. I've heard how you defeated a ten-foot tall skeleton monster, destroyed a league of a thousand dark butlers and beat the Sanzenin's butler so badly he had to go to the hospital for four years." Akira said as she searched her bag for some autograph paper. Hinagiku felt an arrow burn holes into her.
"The exaggeration burns!" Akira strolled away to let Hina have some private space. The pink haired swordsman sighed. It was gonna be a long night… Okochi, Okochi. Maybe Akira was related to the Okochi Hitame from Hina's old school, also on the swim team. She made sure she would ask, mostly to satisfy her own curiousity.
Dear Miki,
Well, my first day in Mahora Academy turned out fine, even though school hasn't started yet. I'm not missing everyone back home yet, but give me a little time, it's only been a few hours.
It's everything sis said it would be. I wish you could see it– please don't come and see it!– there's the giant tree from the brochure they sent, and everything looks like the pictures of European cities in magazines and movies. The people here are nice, and I have a new roommate. Everything's pretty low key compared to back home. Nagi would consider it boring and probably blow something up for the fun of it.
Oh yeah, could you find out why rumors of me have gone to the opposite end of the city?
Love Hina!
P.S. And I don't mean the manga/anime Love Hina! Someone slap Nagi for thinking that!
To be continued…