Chapter 2: Fitting In
[Akane Kira's POV]
Thanks to Mato who was athletic enough to make a dash to the lunch hall (I simply decided to do the 'bag-chucking'- I'm obviously the lazy one…oh well). The rest of us queued in the counter while Yomi and Kagari sat down, determined not to let the hard-earned seats be taken away. We were lucky enough to avoid the tempest of 'lunchtime rush' (believe me, hungry teenagers could be able to start World War 3) although the higher quality foods were gone. Oh well, it was actually quite delicious for a cafeteria food.
"Hey Yomi," I started the conversation swallowing the last mouthful of rice. "I've noticed this for quite a while but…that bracelet you're wearing, did you make it by chain-stitching?"
"Ah, yes! Do you like it?" Yomi nodded with a chipper attitude. "I enjoy crafts, you see."
"We all have one of different colours, see?" Yuu added cheerfully, holding up her wrist to display her matching orange yarn bracelet. One by one, I contemplated other's wrists, discovering that all of them wore one of different colours; Mato wore blue, Yomi wore green, Kagari wore yellow and Yuu wore orange.
"You know what, Yomi? You should make one for Suzune and Akane as well!" Mato suggested, and Yomi smiled in agreement.
As if Mato was struck with sudden realisation, her face deadpanned. She muttered something under her breath, which I figured as being something along the lines of 'Suzune and Akane…the bell chimes…by the glowing sky…akane sasu sora'. I cocked my head inquisitively, and Mato shook her head hastily, flustering. "Oh…! It's nothing." She stammered.
"Right…" I replied as I took off my glasses. I searched through the blurriness reaching for a nearest clean napkin, and proceeded onto meticulously wiping the grime off my glasses.
"Akane," Kagari spoke breaking the silence she kept for the past ten minutes or so. I looked up, despite knowing that I wouldn't be able to see her through the blurred barrier of short-sightedness. "You look prettier without your glasses."
Others hummed in approval, and I shrugged as I blew away that last spec of dust on the edge of my frameless glasses (yup, I can see things near me perfectly well, even better than most people could-yet when it comes to things in the distance, I'm blind). "Hmm…I should consider wearing contacts, then." I suggested, and others laughed. I slipped my glasses on again, waiting for my eyes to re-acclimate. The first thing I saw was Kagari frowning, and for a second I fumbled with the leg of my glasses in guilty conscience.
"Say, what clubs are you thinking of joining, Suzune and Akane?" Yomi interjected while I took a last bite of the teriyaki chicken. "Our school has all kinds of clubs, you see."
"Clubs…?" Suzune asked, swallowing the food in her mouth.
"Yeah, Yuu and I are in the basketball team. I think Akane would make a good basketball player, since she's tall." Mato explained. "I mean, she's even taller than Yomi!"
Gee, was I that much of a giant? Well, I do admit the fact that I'm beyond the average size of a teenage girl, though. "Field sports are not my forte, so maybe not…" I said thoughtfully. "I heard that this school has an ice hockey team… might join that instead."
"How about you, Suzune? Are you thinking of joining any clubs?" Yomi asked politely.
"…Kendo club." Suzune's amethyst eyes glinted slightly as she mentioned this.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll be very good at it!" Yomi smiled sweetly and somewhat politely. I agreed full-heartedly, knowing that Suzune was incredibly talented at fighting.
"Hmm…" I wondered as I stared intensely at a certain badge a student was wearing. "I've seen a few people wearing that circular badge… what's it for?"
"That's like a uniform for the debating group." Yuu explained. "You know, they go out and do arguments and stuff."
"Debating group, huh?" Well, that certainly piqued my interest. "I think I'll join that as well."
The rest of the girls eyed at me simultaneously, their jaws dropping to the floor. I gazed upon each of them, one by one, in reconnaissance. Except for Suzune, who was rolling her eyes and grinning. "Are you serious?" The four apparently-shocked girls blurted, and I nodded.
"…don't underestimate her." Suzune warned. "Her dad's an ex-prosecutor."
"R-REALLY?!" The girls exclaimed. "Wait… 'Ex' prosecutor…?" Kagari pointed out.
"Well…he retired from the court, you see. It's a long story." I said somewhat downheartedly, grimacing as I mouthed the words. Yeah, there is a hell of a lot of story behind his retirement. I might get to that later…the intricacies of this story is rather…unpleasant.
"O-oh, I'm sorry." Kagari's eyebrows furrowed dejectedly, and I patted her head consolingly.
"Nah, it's nothing to worry about." I smiled, yet somewhat bitterly.
We all rose in silence, placing the emptied trays on the dish racks. No one said a word as we awkwardly walked the corridors- I was probably the only one idly staring away while others frowned.
"Oh, come on, guys!" I blurted, breaking the silence impatiently. I hate being placed in such an awkward position just because of what I said. "It's not a big deal- it was over and done with, and I'm living a happy life. End of story-"
I halted my speech as a certain colourful sign caught my eye. I read the bold text, which read 'Dawn Counselling'. What a hopeful piece of title, I thought. Like a glimmer of light shining through the dark clouds of stress, peer-pressure… all the teenage hardships I could imagine.
"Oh! I should've introduced this place earlier but… this is our school counsellor's office." Yomi said as she glanced at the brightly-hued sign. "Our counsellor's name is Miss Saya Irino, but we just call her by her first name. She prefers being called Saya-chan."
"Best of all, you get a cup of free coffee!" Yuu added as she winked.
Hmm, advices for those who need it and coffee to help us stay awake? Smart choice, I say. Ingenious.
"Actually, let's pay a visit now! You know, to introduce you guys and all." Mato said as she grabbed me and Suzune's wrist and dragged us inside.
I wouldn't say that the office was immaculate, but it was neatly organised. It had that homely touch to it- nothing so ornate or expensive-looking. On the wooden table in front of the the navy-blue couch, a small bowl of sugar cubes was placed. The small 'kitchen' on the side of the room housed a coffee pot and a kitchen stove. A small assorted tray full of coffee powder and tea bags sat neatly on the bench-top and next to that was a cupboard of some sort storing a stack of mugs, all same in design but bearing different symbols.
A young lady (probably in her mid-twenties, I suppose, although I'm never good with guessing people's ages) with short black hair smiled welcomingly as she noticed our company.
"Oh? Who do we have here? Some new students, I see?" The guidance counsellor said sweetly as she offered a seat on the sofa. She wore a pink and brown jacket with a very adorable armlet on her left arm, pinned securely with a silver pin. On her legs were blue stockings which fit her tightly, and on her fair face was a 'beauty mark' which blemished her face.
"Hello, Saya-chan!" Mato waved. "This is Suzune Kira and Akane Kira! We just met them this morning!"
"So you two are the Kira sisters everyone's been talking about! Well aren't you all getting along fast!" The young counsellor remarked.
"…we're not sisters, we just happen to have same last names." Suzune explained grumpily, slightly annoyed by being asked so for the umpteenth time today. She sunk onto the couch while I made myself comfortable. 'The perfect explanation for the massive height difference,' I commented to myself.
"I say, you two are so close to each other, even enough to be sisters." Saya-chan said kindly. "Everyone care for a cup of coffee?"
"Nah, I'll pass… thank you for the offer, though." I said in my most polite manner possible... I think.
"Oh? You don't drink coffee Akane?" Saya-chan inquired as she prepared the mugs.
"Well, it's not my most preferred type of beverage." I shrugged, trying not to offend the counsellor.
"I can get you a cup of tea if you'd like. I have black tea and green tea." She said as she examined the tray of teabags and coffee powder.
"Then green tea would be fine for me. Helps me to stay awake and freshen up."
Soon our drinks were served on those mugs which I observed earlier. Every person seemed to have a certain motif- Mato with a blue star, Yomi with a green bird, Yuu with an orange clover, Kagari with a yellow candy, Suzune with a purple heart and mine with a black cat.
"So tell me a little bit about yourselves, you two. I heard that both of you came from England?"
So for the rest of that lunch break, we spent time talking about our lives at England. How I immigrated here while Suzune came as a transfer student, how my family was taking care of Suzune since we were best friends in London, and our interests and what we wanted to be. Everyone seemed rather surprised when I stated that I wanted to be a defence lawyer, after telling them that my father was a prosecutor- at least, in his youthful years of life. But what's wrong with that anyway? Both prosecutors and lawyers work to pursue the precious truth no matter how complex or twisted the crime may be. I'm pretty hot-headed for justice, and helping others within my best abilities is probably the only thing I'm useful at. And there is a story behind me choosing this career… despite it being a rather challenging course. Suzune said she was still deciding, but I really do recommend her a job among the creative fields. You just haven't seen her make perfect replicas of anime costumes- I sincerely think she could sell those cosplay props online.
Saya-chan helped us to enrol into the clubs we have chosen, and congratulated us for the choices we made (not sure why, though). Soon the school had ended and everyone bid goodbyes, promising their meeting the next day. Thus another day had come to a close yet with a lot of changes I'm still yet to edify. And really, that was just a miniscule compared to what was about to hit me from this time on.
The white cloak whipped along the winds as wielder of the Divine Sword walked the chessboard fields in silence. After a seemingly endless walk, she came across a cliff of what seemed like the opening of one of those crevices she had seen. She peered towards the opening of the fissure, discovering that she had a surprise guest waiting for her arrival. A blonde-haired figure with legs of mechanic wheels leaped towards the girl aiming the black two-handed sword at the foreign white-hooded figure. Yet the white-hooded girl did not even flinch at Chariot's attack, but rather ignored it- before Chariot could even reach the girl Chariot was deflected back a distance, being hit by a force field made of semi-transparent, glowing hexagon pixels. Confused yet angry, Chariot charged once more and this time in a fiercer demeanour. But soon she found that her attempts failed as she collided once again on that very same force field the cloaked girl had created earlier. Chariot could not understand why the girl refused to fight- after all; the reason why the other selves existed was to fight in place of what the real selves suffered. It was their duty and instinct to fight against each other. Was that girl defying her instincts…? The girl did not even look back, and leaped skilfully along the ledges towards the opening above. All that Chariot could do was watch, dumbfounded, frustrated, and delirious.
But one thing was certain to her. Whoever that girl was, she was certainly different from them.
A.N: Well, hope you enjoyed the second chapter! Thank you so much for following/favouriting this story :D I was literally jumping up and down everywhere when I found out people were actaully reading my story...hehe. Sorry for a rather late update, I'm kinda stuck with assignments and tests being bombarded at me. I'll try my best to update every week... Reviews please? :D
Oh! My co-writer, animewriter02, just posted a new story called 'Sequel for Two Worlds: Two Lives'. As the title suggests, it's a sequel to her previous fanfic called 'Two Worlds'. So if you happen to be a KHR fan, please read her fanfics as well! :)