Rin Hoshizora, middle school first year, Class 2.
It was a calm, partly cloudy evening as she began her walk home from school with Hanayo. The sun was just beginning to set as they left class together, Rin leading the way with Hanayo's hand in hers. They made their way outside and began to go off down the sidewalk. Hanayo's house was closer to their school, so they'd be stopping by there first.
"It sure is a nice day, Rin-chan," Hanayo said, looking up at the sky as they passed a park.
"Yeah, it really is... OH MY GOSH IS THAT A PLAYGROUND?" Rin exclaimed, pointing to a playground off in the distance. It must have only been completed recently, since Rin had never seen it before. She knew that being in middle school, she was supposed to be too old to play on those sort of things, but she's only been there a few months, so it wouldn't hurt, right?
"It is, and it looks new!" Hanayo replied. "Rin-chan, it doesn't look like there are any other kids on it, so do you think that maybe for a few minutes we could... never mind, I can tell just by the look on your face that you want to."
"Let's go, nya!" Rin said, running off to the playground.
"Wait a minute, watch for cars!" Hanayo called out back to her as she followed. Thankfully, they both made it across the street without getting hit. A car passed by right as Hanayo got to the sidewalk. She sighed with relief. "That was a close one."
"Are you okay, Kayo-chin?" Rin asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Hanayo replied, walking off to one of the swings and beginning to swing. Rin got on the swing next to her and started swinging higher. She liked the feeling of the wind on her face from being this high up, and involuntarily struck a huge grin. Rin looked at the mulch in front of her, and decided to jump right at the peak of her next swing. Hanayo made a shrill "eep" in surprise as Rin soared out of the swing. Rin landed on her feet, bending her knees to absorb the shock. She still felt it in her legs, especially in her ankles, and winced a bit.
"I stuck the landing, nya," Rin said, looking a bit surprised. She dusted off the seat of her pants. "I'm gonna go to the main part," she said, walking over to the main structure of the playground. It was multi-leveled, with several different climbing options and slides. One end even had monkey bars attached. Rin wanted to climb all the way to the top and ride the big curly slide. She climbed her way up through several tubes, tunnels, and nets. Once she got to the top, she looked out across the horizon. She could see her school from here. And looking down in another direction, she saw Hanayo slowing down from the swing and getting off carefully as to not get her skirt snagged.
"Wait, Rin-chan, I want to go on the slide with you!" she cried out, going up to the top level by way of a large, oddly-shaped ladder-like piece. She got behind Rin and wrapped her legs around her, setting them in her lap. She also wrapped her arms around Rin's shoulders.
"Okay, we go on three, nya," Rin said. "One..."
"Two..." Hanayo added.
"Three!" they both shouted, pushing themselves down the slide. It was surprisingly fast, and they were at the bottom in no time.
"That was fun," Rin said.
"It's getting pretty dark," Hanayo pointed out, looking at the sky. "We shouldn't play for much longer or my parents are going to get worried."
"Can't we just play on the monkey bars for a minute, nya?" Rin asked, getting up from the slide.
"Just a minute might still be fine," Hanayo replied, following her over. Rin leaped up and grasped the bar on the edge, pulling herself up and climbing up to sit on the bar. She hung on tightly with her knees and hung upside down for a few seconds. Being able to do this without flashing anyone is probably the only perk of this stupid uniform, she thought.
"I just realized something, I've never been able to make it across one of those all at once," Hanayo said.
"Then try it, Kayo-chin!" Rin exclaimed, getting herself down. "We'll only be kids once, nya."
A determined look spread across Hanayo's face, and she climbed up a mock rock climbing wall to get to the monkey bars.
"I'm gonna do it," she said, grasping the first bar with both hands.
"You can do it, Kayo-chin!" Rin said. "Just don't hesitate, it's important to keep your momentum going, nya," she added. Hanayo took a deep breath and grabbed the next bar with her right hand. Come on, Kayo-chin, you can do it. Hanayo pushed herself off the platform, and reached for the third bar with her left hand. Being at the height that she was, her feet nearly touched the ground, so she at least would have the knowledge she wouldn't get hurt. Her feet dangled just enough, but her torso and legs swung out suddenly, and her hands reflexively remained on the bars the currently were. Kayo-chin stopped moving. She's done for.
"I can do this," Hanayo said to herself, trying to grab the next bar. But just as Rin warned her, her momentum broke, and she slipped. Rin closed her eyes and winced. Even though the drop wasn't much, she still didn't want to see Hanayo fall. Rin felt a bright flash on her eyelids, and heard the sound of chains jingling. Wait, chains? There weren't any chains on this side of the playground structure. She heard Hanayo scream, and opened her eyes immediately. Rin could not believe what she just saw. Hanayo's forearm was gone, and in its place a bluntly spiked ball on a chain. The ball and chain had caught the monkey bar, preventing Hanayo from falling a few centimeters to what would most likely be a safe landing on her feet.
"This is an emergency!" Hanayo shrieked. "What happened to me?"
"I don't know," Rin replied, taking a picture with her phone. The flash blinded Hanayo for a second. She flinched, slipping off the monkey bars. The strange ball and chain flung down at her side, barely missing her leg. "Kayo-chin!" Rin called out. Hanayo slowly grasped the spiked ball in her other hand, careful not to touch the spikes.
"This... this can't be my hand," Hanayo said, trying to pull the ball off. "Ow!" she exclaimed.
"I've heard of stuff like this happening to people before, but I've never seen it with my own eyes, nya," Rin said. "Kayo-chin, what do we do?" she asked, sending the picture she took earlier to Hanayo's parents.
"I don't know, Rin-chan!" Hanayo replied. It was fully dark out by now, the only light coming from Rin's phone. "Call my mom or the hospital!"
Hanayo's arm had returned to normal before she and Rin returned to her house, but her mother saw the picture and explained to the girls what exactly had happened to Hanayo and what it meant. Rin was anxious at the thought of Hanayo leaving to someplace so far away, so once she returned home, she looked it up to see if there was any possible way she could go with her. Hanayo was Rin's closest friend, one of her only friends. Someone who supported Rin through and through. Rin loved Hanayo and wanted to support her through this in return. Hanayo deserved it for all she's done for Rin over the years. And Rin was definitely sure of that.
"If Kayo-chin's a Demon Weapon and going to DWMA, I could apply as her meister, nya," Rin said to herself as she read the school's website. "I'm definitely athletic enough to keep up with the fitness standards, and I just know Kayo-chin would be really happy to have me as her partner. The only problem is where we're gonna live, nya." Rin scrolled through more of DWMA's website to see if they had dormitories. Same-gender meister/weapon pairs and unpartnered students may reside in the school dorms, though opposite-gender pairs must have an apartment somewhere in Death City together. Rin frowned as she read this, looking over at the boy's uniform on a hanger in her closet next to all the skirts and dresses she wore at home.
"What am I gonna do, nya?" Rin asked, looking around the website for any policy that could make it so she and Hanayo could share a dorm. "Even with the school's weekly allowance program, I can't afford an apartment, and neither can Kayo-chin, not even if we pool our money." She found a link labeled "anti-discrimination policies". Perfect, she thought, clicking on it. "DWMA will not tolerate any discrimination against its students on basis of race, sex, religion, income level, sexuality, and/or gender identity under any circumstances." Oh, thank goodness. Rin sighed with relief. We'll be able to stay in the girls' dorm together after all.
The next day after school, Rin invited Hanayo over to her house to show her the stuff she had put together in order to train to be Hanayo's meister. Hanayo was initially flattered by this, as well as overjoyed that Rin wanted to come with her as her partner.
"Rin-chan, I'm so glad you'll be coming with me, I really don't want to be alone in a foreign country and a new school... but is all of this necessary?" Hanayo asked.
"I didn't know what type of weapon you'd be at first, so I made several practice mockups," Rin replied, pointing to what looked like a pile of junk and pulling out a replica of what she thought Hanayo's weapon form would most likely turn out to be, a morningstar. Made out of a mini beach ball taped to a chain of paper clips, attached to a paper towel roll.
"I think I'd definitely weigh more than that," Hanayo sighed.
"Kayo-chin, I'm just messing around for now," Rin said, swinging her hastily-made contraption around. The paper clip chain whipped around and the beach ball hit Rin square in the face. "If that were a real morningstar, that swing would've killed me, nya!"
All the color had drained from Hanayo's face, and her eyes were horribly struck with concern. Rin found out it was horribly clear that Hanayo did not find that joke funny at all.
"It's all right, Kayo-chin, I'm totally fine," Rin said to reassure her. "It only swung like that because of the weight, honest. I promise I'll wield you more carefully than I wield that thing."
Hanayo took a few deep breaths and Rin's hands in her own.
"I know, Rin-chan," Hanayo said. "But please, please be careful. You're my best friend in the whole entire world, I don't want to end up accidentally being your murder weapon."
"You won't, Kayo-chin," Rin replied, squeezing on to Hanayo's hands. "I definitely believe that, no, I promise it. I'll be careful, nya."
Hanayo's expression softened a bit, but she still looked worried.
"Kayo-chin, I definitely want to wield you," Rin said. "I definitely want to help you with this whole weapon thing. And I definitely don't want either of us to hurt ourselves doing it," she added, thinking back to Hanayo's partially transformed arm nearly grazing her leg. The soft and sweet Hanayo had potential to be a dangerous and risky weapon. One Rin had no idea how to wield. But she would try. Try her hardest. She would definitely, absolutely try nothing but her hardest.
"I know you're gonna try to be careful, Rin-chan," Hanayo said. "But I still can't help but worry." Rin frowned a bit. Of course Kayo-chin's gonna be such a worrywart. I can do this. "I care about you a lot, Rin-chan." Hanayo said, hugging Rin. Rin seemed stunned for a second, before hugging her back.
"Same here," Rin replied. "That's why I want to do all this for you."
"Thank you, Rin-chan," Hanayo said. "I know I'm nervous, but I truly am looking forward to this."
Rin smiled. She knew she and Hanayo would be wonderful partners together. This was going to be a journey unlike any other.