Well, a new story from me! I realized that my portrayal of Soubi seemed rather limited to interactions between Seimei and him, so I hope to rectify that slightly in this story, and to show a bit of his day-to-day interactions with others as well.
Oh yeah, silverbrilliance, this is for you. I tried to include your suggestions, the effects can probably be seen only in the next chapter though...:)
Fourth story in the "Periods of the Day" series, but can be read as a stand-alone. Please enjoy.
Daytime - Part One
The school bell rang. Ding dong. Ding dong. Once, twice, then it settled into silence as students rushed to their respective first period classes. Five minutes, then ten, passed and Seven Moons Academy once again regained its peaceful serenity as students and teachers alike settled in for lessons.
In the staffroom, Minami Reika leaned back against her leather armchair and sipped her tea contentedly. Every other teacher had left for their lessons, but her first class was not till nine o'clock, which meant that she had the place all to herself for the moment. The staffroom was illuminated by the as yet gentle and warm sunlight streaming through the windows, portraying a perfect atmosphere of placid serenity. Ahh, no noisy students clamouring for my attention, no idiot brother with his snide comments, a lovely, quiet and peaceful morning…almost worth killing for. She set down her cup on the table and turned back to her laptop, intent on finishing the work that Nana had asked of her before her first class.
Although she was not an official member of the Septimal Moon organization, Reika was still strongly affiliated to the group because of both her brother Minami Ritsu, and her friend, Nana. Well, perhaps 'friend' was not quite the right word, she thought dreamily as she envisioned Nana's huge bespectacled eyes and cute oval face…
Her daydream was soon interrupted by two crisp knocks on the door. Reika frowned. Just when she was getting to the good part too. "Enter," she called irritably. The door opened slowly as two students shuffled in hesitantly. "Ohaiyou gozaimasu, Reika-sensei," the girl murmured softly. With her delicate features and pale auburn hair tied into two short ponytails at the side of her head, Etou Yumi would have looked just like a doll had it not been for the pair of glasses on her face. Reika often thought that she should get contacts just so that her looks would not be marred by those overly large glasses.
"Well now, what's the matter, Yumi-chan?" As was her wont, she smiled gently at the girl, her favourite student. However, her gaze was soon drawn to the bandages on the other student. Hanayama Jirou sported several heavily bandaged limbs and a sullen scowl on his face. Reika's eyebrows shot up as she took in his battered appearance. Frowning slightly, she queried, "Jirou-kun, what happened to you?" Usually brash, Hanayama Jirou hung his head and would not meet her gaze.
Etou Yumi pushed her spectacles up with her forefinger with a slightly hesitant, yet determined expression on her face. Bowing formally, she replied, "Gomennasai, Reika-sensei. We fought Beloved as per your orders, however, we were defeated." Upon hearing that, Reika's frown deepened. Was that pair really that formidable? Reika refused to believe that, but even her best students had lost against them…
"Tell me everything," Reika commanded, her voice now cold and flinty. At that, Etou Yumi winced slightly, however, she squared her shoulders and started to speak. "Wait, Yumi. Allow me to do it." Hanayama Jirou had stepped forward slightly, his body automatically angled to partly shield Etou Yumi. Reika was amused but not surprised. For after all, it was a Fighter's job to protect his Sacrifice in any kind of situation. In that, Reika believed – it was one of the few beliefs she actually shared with her brother.
Nodding once, she gestured permission for Hanayama Jirou to continue. As he started his tale, Minami Reika settled back into her chair and watched as the sunlight illuminating the room grew brighter and brighter.
Ding dong. Ding dong. The ringing of the bell heralded the first lesson of the day. Unfortunately for Agatsuma Soubi, he had arrived in class one minute after his homeroom teacher had. And as luck would have it, his homeroom teacher happened to be the one teacher in the entire school who disliked him most – Sagan Nagisa, the female teacher who had a not-so-secret crush on Ritsu-sensei, and as such, resented him for his prior sexual relationship with Ritsu-sensei.
With her hand on her hip and a scowl on her youthful, pretty face, Nagisa's posture was the total opposite of the sweet, innocent style she wished to carry off. "Why Agatsuma-kun, it's so nice of you to join us," Nagisa spoke in an acid-laced voice dripping with sarcasm. Agatsuma Soubi heaved a small mental sigh, knowing that Nagisa-sensei relished this opportunity to punish him. He shrugged slightly; there was nothing he could do about Nagisa-sensei's animosity, and in all honesty, he did not really care either. In this world, nothing mattered to him except Seimei's orders…
Irked by Agatsuma Soubi's nonchalance, Nagisa snapped, "Agatsuma, you will stand at the back of the class for the entire day. And I want a two-page long apology letter submitted by lunchtime." A long slow blink, then Soubi nodded once, curtly. Flipping his long, blonde and slightly damp hair out of the way with his left hand, he adjusted his sling bag, slung over one shoulder, slightly before stalking through rows of varied bored, amused or sardonic glances belonging to his fellow students. When he reached the back of the classroom, he leaned against the wall and allowed his bag to drop by his feet with a small thud. It was not that Soubi was a delinquent – far from it, his grades were always well above average, and he was usually civil and polite to the teachers – it was just that Soubi was tired and he no longer cared about how other students and even the teachers thought of his actions. It had been a long night and while all his physical wounds had mostly healed, Seimei had still shown signs of displeasure at breakfast…
"Agatsuma, stand up straight and answer this question." Nagisa smirked as a predatory smile lit up her youthful features – she had deliberately left the most difficult question for Soubi. With a start, Soubi snapped out of his thoughts. Pushing up his spectacles with his middle finger, he glanced at the question on the blackboard. It was a long mathematical question involving finding the coordinates of the intersection of two functions represented logarithmically. Given time and the aid of a graphic calculator, Soubi was sure he would be able to solve it, however, looking at Nagisa-sensei's face, he doubted that he would be allowed either.
Might as well get it over with, Soubi heaved a soft mental sigh. "Unfortunately, I do not know the answer, sensei. I'm afraid I wasn't paying attention." The tone of his reply was casually bland, highlighted by the small careless smile playing about his lips. He watched, slightly amused, as Nagisa narrowed her eyes at his impudence. Even though he knew that Nagisa would probably punish him for his cheek, he could not bring himself to care.
Nagisa's expression was furious as she opened her mouth. Before she could speak however, a low musical sound filled the classroom – it was the ringtone of someone's cell phone. Her eyes flashing, Nagisa glared at the class, watching to see if anyone would dare to actually answer their phone in front of her. The sound seemed as if it was coming from the back of the classroom. No way…
As Nagisa stared in disbelief, Soubi reached into the side pocket of his black, straight-cut school pants and plucked out a slim, silver-coloured handphone. Much as he had not planned to antagonize Nagisa any further, there was no question of him not answering this call. No matter what he happened to be doing at that moment, he would always answer phone calls with this ringtone, for only if that person was calling would his handphone ring with this particular piece of music…
Original Characters:
花山治郎 - Hanayama Jirou, Fighter of Enraged. A brash, cocky teenager in Soubi's language class. Lost in the fight against Beloved in "The Evening Before".
江藤夕美 - Etou Yumi, Sacrifice of Enraged. A cool and usually calm female student, younger than her Fighter by one year, second-year student in high school.
南麗香 - Minami Reika, younger sister of Minami Ritsu, a subtly cunning woman with a strong and forceful personality.
From Loveless:
南律 - Minami Ritsu, the teacher gave Soubi personal training to become the best Fighter ever. Was also the one who took Soubi's ears.
我妻草灯 - Agatsuma Soubi, Fighter of Beloved, absolutely obedient to his Sacrifice's will. Third-year student in high school.
青柳清明 - Aoyagi Seimei, Sacrifice of Beloved, master of Soubi, sadistic and intelligent. Final-year student in junior high/secondary school.
目渚 - Sagan Nagisa, has a not-so-secret crush on Ritsu. Dislikes Soubi too.
Ooh...so who's the person calling? Haha, it should be relatively easy to guess, neh?
Feedback and comments are very welcome:D