Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue except the plots and original characters. They are figments of my imagination.
***
Caput Duo
Volare Libere
***
Another morning had arrived on the same city in which all previous events had befallen. The time that went by for the child who witnessed the tragedy involving his beloved father had been quite lengthy. But unlike the little boy, the being that was removed from her position as one of the celestial beings, had a less prolonged transition. It was a blink of an eye for her and three years less than a decade for the hapless kid.
***
She woke up with such a start it made her sit right away. Her whole body had perspired during the course of her sleep and if were to be roused a few minutes later she could have taken a bath right there on her mattress. Some random rock music was playing aloud from her radio that doubles as an alarm clock. It was almost over when the commentator spoke.
"Good morning Yokohama! Rise and shine! The time now is seven in the morning and that was abingdon boys school's third single entitled Neph—", she finally turned the radio off.
She got up, very much irritated from the way she had awoken. Shaking the weird dream off, she marched inside the bathroom to tidy up. With her face washed, teeth brushed, hair combed and already wearing her new school uniform, out the door she went. As soon as she had locked her unit, she turned and greeted the sun, wishing that everything would go smoothly with her new school.
And she walked on from her apartment building and into the gates of Seisou Gakuin. She was pleased with the look of the school and was happy for not getting lost in its many hallways. She was ushered into the main office to consult first with the principal, have a little chat about the difference between the two departments the school has, and then into the faculty room to meet with her adviser.
"Hino Kahoko?" one of the faculty members asked.
"Yes" she answered.
"You're in my class" he said, standing from his small office stall, "Please follow me"
The hallways of the school were well kept and there were no more students outside the rooms. Classes have already started except for Hino's newly appointed homeroom. Her adviser entered first and asked for her to come in at his signal. She obediently went in and introduced herself to the class just as her homeroom teacher had finished writing her name on the board. There were a few hushes but she kept her cool.
"Hino-san, you may take the seat next to the class president" her adviser said, "Kaji-san, kindly help her out with the previous lessons"
Her face went a bit sour; she was only a few weeks late, not that big of a deal. Hino's supposed seat was next to the window on the second to the last of rows. She suppressed a tiny snort at the thought of how typical it was for a new student to seat next to the window. The blond sitting next to her chair was a fine-looking guy. For a class president, he was quite dashing, more fitting for the position of being the class escort.
With a final bow she sauntered to her seat and plopped her bag down on her desk. She cupped her chin with her left hand, placed her elbow next to her bag and stared outside to look at the clouds. There was a small screech on her right that made her eye the class president discreetly. A pair of emerald eyes met her and she felt her cheeks blush for trying to slip a glance towards him.
"Hi there" he said.
"Hello" she snapped uncertainly.
"I'm Kaji Aoi" he added, "I'm the president of class 2-2"
"So I've heard" she didn't mean to sound sarcastic, it just did, "Hino Kahoko"
He smiled and it was such a nice display of his comeliness. She beamed back making her cheeks blush redder. Classes went on and Hino was able to make fast friends with the stunning class president and the other members of the back row seats. A shrilly brown haired girl named Takato Mio offered Hino an extra pencil when she was in need of one and a silent but witty girl named Kobayashi Nao whom gave her the answer upon being called randomly. There was also a Sasaki Junosuke who accidentally threw a crumpled paper at her direction; it was actually meant to hit Kaji.
During break Kaji went and talked to Sasaki, who then apologized about the paper incident. She had lunch with them inside the room and traded whatsoever were inside their lunchboxes. Classes resumed not before long.
At their dismissal there was one specific place Hino wanted to go to before calling it a day. Before entering her department, she saw the obviously huge rooftop it has. She left the room after saying short goodbyes to her new friends and briskly made her way to the top floor. It was her biggest pleasure to let her eyes feast upon the variety of colours and shapes the clouds made.
The minute she flung the door open, she saw and was glad at the current state of the sky. It had a beautiful golden glow. The sun was not entirely exposed, but it partially hid between the surrounding clouds. It was definitely a picturesque scene, perfect for her growing collection of snapshots. She whipped out her phone, flipped it open and took a few shots of the sky.
"There" she whispered, making one of the freshly taken pictures as the wallpaper for her phone.
She walked over to the concrete benches where she noticed a notebook. Just as she was about to pick it up the melody of an instrument emitted from within the vicinity of the school. It was a soothing sound and she found herself lost at the mere notes it made. The music had somehow captured her heart most profoundly. It was astounding enough that her whole mind felt like she had just entered some sort of trance. She abandoned the notebook entirely and glided towards the edge of the rooftop instead. Her hands touched the cold bars and unknowingly both her feet had managed to step up on the foot tall concrete base of the railings.
Hino felt intense attachment to the music and soon she was humming in return. Her eyes closed, her arms rose beside her and her feet were on their toes. There was no clear explanation as to why she felt like she could lift off the ground at any moment. These simple acts, however, had placed her on a most precarious position. Finally, her lips could no longer hold the words that were starting to build up inside her lungs.
"Et lingua eius loquetur indicium" she sang without knowing the meaning of it but in perfect harmony with the melody.
"Don't you just love the rooftop?" asked a voice from behind her.
To her surprise she was not at all alarmed by the sudden inquiry. Instead she kept her eyes closed and answered back with a delighted nod.
"Doesn't it make you want to fly?" added the voice.
"Fly?" she repeated.
The door opened once more with such ferocity it snapped her eyes wide open.
"Oi!"
She spun around so fast she forgot about where she was standing. Hino lost her footing and felt her back being pulled towards the other end. Her hands failed to grasp the railings on time. There was nothing she could do about it but prepare for something so untimely.
***
Chapter Two
Fly Freely
***
Magdalene's Note: Oh nooo! Note to self, wear safety gears when on the rooftop. Haha~