May 1st; the sun shone brightly through green leaves on this warm spring afternoon. The clamor of sounds that make up school life echoed gently through the air upon Mahora campus. Through this rustic, familiar scene, a head of long, silky, raven colored hair cut through the scenery like a raven flying through a crowd of doves. Clearly any bystander could tell this was a girl, by the length and beauty of her hair and the ample, if somewhat hard to see, bosom; concealed within a uniformly black outfit. Her clothing was loose fitting, consisting of a long black dress, with lacey 18th century-esque trim, a black corset like shoulder-less top, and arm-long, embroidered gloves, tied with deep purple ribbons just before the shoulders. Other accessories that adorned her included a simple choker with silver chains dangling from it, and a long necklace that ended in a upside down cross. Her face was shadowed and couldn't be seen as she walked along, staring at the ground as if studying the texture of the concrete beneath her. She stood out sorely against this warm, late spring day, like a black cloud on an otherwise sunny afternoon.
Escorting this young woman was a man of far more mundane appearance. He was dressed in a simple brown vest, business shirt and tie, and a pair of khakis. He walked briskly, ushering his companion along to the enrollment office. He checked over his shoulder nervously, checking his watch and otherwise fidgeting as they made their way to the large, oaken door of Mahora's office building. He opened it for the young girl, who slipped in silently past him without a word. Together, they made their way to admissions, where a school official awaited them. He had received word of the new arrival, and greeted them as they arrived at the end of the hallway.
"Why hello there! You two must be the Americans that have come to see us. Come inside and we'll get started." The assistant chimed cordially.
"Of course…yes, let's get this over with quickly.." The social worker replied
The trio entered the office, which was unusually empty. They say at one of the semi-cubicles, pausing for a moment as if waiting for the other to act first. The assistant went and ahead and smiled, pulling out some paperwork.
"The US education department sent me all the files I needed to process young Lorelei here. All I need is your signatures…and the check of course, and we can get started."
The social worker pulled out the check as the young lady, Lorelei, watched quietly. A barrage of paperwork ensued, as they had to sign many different papers, and read them as a legal obligation. As they worked the Assistant chimed in again
"Of course, normally the Principle oversees all new admissions, but I felt with him so busy as of late, I'd handle this for him. Judging by the unique nature of Lorelei's case, I can't imagine him refusing the poor thing.."
Lorelei's eyes shot up, giving him a wicked glance from under her brow, her face still down turned. It was hard to see her fierce glare behind her raven hair, draped around her face like a funeral veil. However, her blood red eyes almost glowed from beneath the ebony strands. Across her face, a scar ran from her right brow, across her eye, over the bridge of her nose and down her left cheek. It was thin, and not too ragged, but still very visible.
"Yes, yes…by the way, here are her medications. Her PTSD has been in remission so she probably won't need them as much. Just in case, here you go.."
The assistant took the bag containing the plastic pill containers and smiled. They signed a few more documents, and the Assistant stood, followed by the pair of applicants. He clasped his hands together and smiled to the pair.
"Well, that's that! We'll get her things and show her to her new dorm.."
"Excellent! Uh, if you don't mind, I have some things back at the car I need to take care of. Her things are outside the office here that she brought with her. The rest will arrive in the mail shortly. OK?"
"Uh..thats fine..? Well, hurry back as soon as you can, I'm sure she could use your help moving in."
"Y-yeah, I'll be right back." The Social worker took off briskly down the hall and out the door.
"My..well, he is a energetic sort isn't he!" The assistant chimed to Lorelei.
"Yeah.." Lorelei echoed back in a bit of a sarcastic tone.
The Assistant walked up to another adult who was in the office, she seemed to be a teacher, and he asked her to show Lorelei to her room. This teacher, a young brunette woman, wore simple grayish attire and a form fitting skirt and seemed to be pretty high spirited herself. With a bit of a sigh, Lorelei went with her new escort to the girls dormitories across the campus. On the way, Lorelei caught a glimpse of the world tree. It glimmered in the sun, its shadow arching out over the many buildings underneath its protective watch. Her eyes widened a bit, a bit taken aback. She had not expected to see something so out of the ordinary. At that moment, Lorelei seemed to brighten up just a tiny bit, as if she had just found something that was making this latest ordeal perhaps worthwhile. The teacher didn't seem to notice her slowing down, and kept her pace, urging Lorelei to keep up.
Together, they arrived at her temporary dorm. Her soon to be roommate wasn't in, as it was summer break and most students were either out on vacation or at the least spending as little time on campus as possible. Lorelei looked around uninterestedly, shrugging to the teacher.
"It's ok..." She said nonchalantly.
"Well don't worry, it's not permanent. We don't know what class you'll be attending yet until you finish your remedial courses." She said, looking around the room. She set down some of Lorelei's belongings with a bit of an oomph.
"My gosh, these bags are certainly heavy, what do you have in here? Bricks? Haha..Speaking of which, where is the man who brought you here?" The assistant asked curiously, a bit flustered with having to do his work for him.
"They're books." Lorelei said flatly, in response to her joke. After a short pause she answered her question. "And that guy, probably, is already back in America."
"Whhhatt? Oh don't joke around like that..." She said, pouting a bit.
"I'm serious, the whole reason for this is to get rid of me…I can't blame them…"
The assistant looked on in a somewhat shocked and appalled state. She shook her head, almost as if she refused to believe it. "That's nonsense…oh; please don't think that way Lorelei! I'm sure...I'm sure…" She checked her watch; it had been quite a while since the Social worker had run away. She looked back up to Lorelei.
"I'm sure things will work out better for you here. Do you need any help moving in? I'd be glad to-"
"NO.. I mean, no, no thank you.." Lorelei blurted out. She grabbed her bags, all of them, and lifted them from the ground with seemingly little effort. "You don't need to trouble yourself."
She did a quick bow, before turning and shuffling into the room. Before she could close the door, the assistant stopped her.
"Oh wait, Lorelei, here, take this card.." She handed her a typical looking business card. It had Mahora's logo on it, and a few numbers. "Just call me once you're settled in so I can arrange a tour of the school. I don't want you to get lost…this place is very big."
Lorelei stared at the card blankly for a bit, then up at the school official. "Thanks. Well, goodbye." She closed the door abruptly.
As the teacher walked away, she sighed softly and began to think aloud to herself.
"Poor girl, I can tell she's had it rough. Yet…that voice, she's so quiet but that voice of hers is so pretty. It doesn't suit her demeanor at all…oh well, back to work."
Now inside her new room, Lorelei surveyed her surroundings, eying the amazingly bland décor of the room. Its white walls were adorned with a simple shelf with vase and flower, and a teddy bear leaning against the vase. There was a small TV, a bookshelf with few books, and a pair of beds on either end of the room. There was also a dresser at the end of each bed with some knickknacks spread out across the right dresser. The bed was a little messier on that side, so Lorelei knew which side she'd be getting.
After surveying the room, Lorelei busied herself with unloading her luggage. The first, large duffle bag held old dusty tomes, lesser books and folders packed with papers she had dragged up through a lifetime devotion to the occult. With that out, she spilled the dark mass of clothing that remained out onto the bed. Her clothing came out like a swarm of black snakes. As she separated the different items of cloth her taste in wardrobe became clearer. Her cloths consisted of rather simple and unexciting black long sleeve shirts, sweaters, dresses and a variety of cargo pants. Her underwear consisted of a mix of regular panties and bras and a surprising assortment of black, lacy lingerie. In a suitcase, she carried some more exotic clothing. This collection consisted of a variety of 18th century style gothic dresses, both in 2 piece and 1 piece form. Another bag, her third and final piece of luggage, remained tightly closed. It carried her occultist gear, including a ritual knife, robes and candle holders. She stuffed this bag under her bed for the time being.
Lorelei began placing her clothing into her dresser. As she was folding, sorting and placing her clothing, her roommate entered the room. The girl was shocked to see someone else in the room, and quickly noticed it looked like Lorelei was moving in. Lorelei was quick to respond before the girl managed to say anything.
"Hi…I'm Lorelei, you're new roommate." She said in English.
"Eh..nani..? Ah..ah..enngrish..ano.." The girl responded in Japanese, unable to understand Lorelei.
Lorelei's eyes widened and she tried not to laugh at the situation.
"...Guess I'll need to finish learning Japanese quickly then…" she sighed, knowing there are other things she'd rather be reading.
She showed her roommate the paperwork, which was in Japanese, which showed she was a new student. The student smiled and clasped Lorelei's hands, much to her surprise and disgust. She tried not to immediately yank her hand away as the girl cheerfully greeted her in Japanese.
'This girl will need…some work.' she thought to herself.
She removed herself from the girl and went back to sorting her items. Her new roommate watched her intently, studying her items. She got uncomfortably close, looking over Lore's shoulder. Lorelei cursed under her breath, not knowing how to tell her to mind her own business. Finally, she turned and put her hand the roommates face.
"Stop." She said blankly.
The student pulled back, confused then resumed crowding Lorelei. Lorelei stopped suddenly and hung her head. She stayed perfectly still for a few tense moments.
"Tch…you like poking hornet's nests huh." She whispered under her breath.
And with the she whipped around, a terrifying glare in her eye as she grabbed the girl by the arms, lifting her off her feet. This was the first time the girl got to really see Lorelei's face without the veil of Raven hair in the way. Even in a state of shock she noticed the scar, running down across her blood red eyes and furious face. In mere moments Lorelei carried the girl across the room and planted her roughly down on her bed. Her roommate gasped then yelped as she was thrown down. Lorelei pinned her by the shoulders for another few tense moments, a near murderous look on her face. The girl was scared stiff, crossing her legs as if she thought Lorelei was going to rape her. Lorelei however just eased up slowly, her countenance softening back to its regular bland appearance. As Lorelei backed away the student gave her a pitiful frightened look, sniffling a bit. She was obviously confused and didn't know what she'd done wrong. Lorelei didn't really care. She turned her back on the girl and went back to her side. A thick Silence filled the room after that, which Lorelei didn't seem to mind at all.
As Lorelei finished settling in, the girl spoke, still lying on the bed. Her voice trembled as she tried to speak up.
"W-watashi wa..T-tsukimiya n-n-Nakano..eto..ah.."
Lorelei turned to her slowly. "What?" Lorelei's voice didn't sound agitated, so the girl spoke again, a little more confidently. "Tsukimiya, Tsukimiya Nakano…you…nameuu Roreri?"
"That your name? Tsukimiya..?" Lorelei paused for a moment, and then realized the girl was trying to pronounce her name that was on the papers.
"Hai! Hai! Tsukimiya! Kimi wa Roreri des-ka?" Lorelei was used to people mispronouncing her name but this Tsukimiya girl took the cake. She laughed, a short sadistic sounding laugh, but it was a laugh. Tsukimiya smiled nervously.
"Lore-UH-Lay" she sounded her name out to the girl.
"Rore uh Rai…san?"
"Gyuhh….that'll do…Nice to meet you, Tsukimiya."
Tsukimiya smiled and nodded, not understanding Lorelei at all. Lorelei shook her head and got up; pulling out the card the teacher had given her earlier. She examined it, like she does most things in life. She noted the intricacies of impressioned paper and gold highlighting of the text. It had an emblem of a large tree, no doubt the one she had seen on her way to the dorms. She looked at the number and then toward the simple and somewhat dated looking phone on the table near the center of the room between the two beds. Lorelei walked toward it, picking it up gently. She dialed the number on the card.
"Mushi Mushi?" the voice on the other end answered.
"Uh, hello?"
"Ah! Lorelei, is that you?"
"Yes..."
"Did you want that tour of the school? I've found someone who has some time to escort you around, and he can speak English. I thought since this information is important, it is best delivered in your native tongue until you can learn Japanese fully." The teacher said, in english.
"Yes, of course, thank you…sensei."
"Ahh that's the spirit, he'll be at your room shortly."