She smiles to us like a cute, innocent little, girl who just entered a world unknown to her, unaware of all the dangers that can harm her. There were oohs and aahs and giggles. I lower my head, my hair covering my face. I try to calm down. The very moment she appeared from outside, I had a hard time thinking straight. Millions of questions run in my head, waiting to be uttered and answered. My deep thoughts are broken when she starts introducing herself.
"Nice to meet you all," She starts, swaying coyly. "I'm Kurae Ekaterina. I just came from Russia. Please take care of me." She giggles. The girls scream with delight while the boys cheer with smoke coming out of their noses. I might have been the only one who's not so happy having a transferee. I sit there unmoving, thinking deeply, so deep I chew on my thumb. I think about her purpose for coming here. After a few minutes, I end up with two guesses: Either tracking someone from the Twelve Adepts, or maybe, just maybe, she's coming back for me, though it seems so wrong. After thinking about it, my guesses are now down to one. Going back to our conversation before she left, coming here just for me seems unlikely to happen. That she misses me, that she'd come back for me. Why are you here? I tried so hard to move on and get over you, and now you're coming back to hurt me again? I want so badly say this, to hear her answer, but I am sort of afraid to know what she would say. Reality is very different than what you think it is.
"Now, now, children. Settle down." The teacher orders. I completely forgot about her. She turns to face Katja-sama. "Pick your seat darling." She said with admiring eyes, gesturing to the class. I flinch. The seat to my right is empty since no one wants to sit next to me. I use to glare to those who get a little too friendly with me, fake ones and all. Even so, I do not expect her to sit beside me. There's still so many vacant seats she can occupy, and I'd gladly want her to sit out of my reach. I might do something that can hurt her. Ever since the Magdalena of Thunder was passed on to me, I've been doing outrageous things. It's like when it's kicking in, it takes over my mind until everything goes blank for a short period of time. I close my eyes. Screams and shouts fills the room, with the occasional "Here! Here!" of those whose seats next to them are empty, and "Come to me, baby!" of the perverted ones. Noisy or not, I can hear my heart thumping fast. I close my eyes tighter than before. Then I hear a rustle of chair and a light thud, like someone sitting on a pulled chair, only I cannot determine whether it's near or far. I waited for maybe ten seconds. I snap open my eyes and slowly look at my right. She's sitting right next to me.
My heart leaped. I snap my head back to look at the front, nothing in particular to look at. My heart's skipping beats, my face getting flustered. When I can't take it anymore, I glanced at her. She caught me looking at her and she faces me. She winks. Gosh! I'm melting. I pivot my head back to the front, not sure what to do. My mouth twitches once. I don't know what's with me and what's with her anymore. I try focusing on what our homeroom teacher is saying. I'm sweating so badly and I feel so uncomfortable. Damn, this is tiring.
At lunch, many students approached her, some from other classes taking glances from the outside. If I were from one of the other classes, I would have done the same thing. She sat next to me, still being surrounded. I bet some of them think I'm not worthy to be her seatmate. Right in the middle of talking, something came to me: The faceless girl. I'm thinking about what she told me. Later, girl. The voice lingering in my head. What does she mean by that? Does it mean "We'll meet again some other time."? Or does it mean, "I'll show myself later, so watch out."? I scratch my head in frustration and it attracted attention, I even would have banged my head on my table. I'll just watch out, then. It felt like Katja-sama.
Afternoon classes ended with a so uncomfortable feeling. I keep on shifting my weight on my seat. As the last one ended, I frantically arrange my things, snatch my bag and sprint from the room to the first floor. Contented Katja-sama isn't around, I start walking with relief. As I was about to reach the gate, a gust of wind shakes the trees furiously beyond my left. I carefully approach the bushes. I peek through the masses of trees and about five yards away, I find myself witnessing a battle between Katja-sama and a green-haired boy we've encountered before, the Qwaser of Oxygen. Katja-sama looks beat. I turn away. She left me. I think it's fair to leave her right here, right now. You can say she still looks cool even though she's beat. I mean really cool, but I just can't forget what she did to me that easily. I took a step. Instantly, a wave of guilt rushes inside of me. I know that if I leave her now, she'll die, and I 'll never forgive myself if she does. I was half-reluctant when I turned to the battle. Oxygen guy grins widely and chuckles. "What's wrong? I remember you saying you're going to kill me." He said.
"Yes. And I ain't taking my words back," Katja-sama smirks at him, ticking him off. " I will kill you. Again."
"Not this time!" A gush of wind furiously whips at Katja-sama, sending her flying 'til she hits one of the trees. She coughs. I feel anger forming inside of me. I took my dagger, flips it in my hand and circles without being seen. As soon as I reach the enemy's back, five yards away, I crouch, waiting for the perfect moment to attack. He laughs. I charge at him almost noiselessly. It was useless. The wind that rippled as I run must have sent a signal that someone is approaching from behind. He quickly turns around and grabs me by my neck. But I didn't stop. I thrust my dagger swiftly at his shoulder. He grimaces and before he tosses me aside, I run the dagger down his stomach. I was sent flying next to Katja-sama, who yelled "No! Hana!". I almost smile. This must be the first time I've ever been happy about being sent flying and hitting trees hard. My back hits the tree and I slide from it and hit the floor on my stomach. I groan. Everything's blurry. Still dazed, I get up, swaying. The dagger is still in my hand. I shake my head. As I was about to charge again, Katja-sama holds my other hand.
"No, Hana. You're getting yourself hurt. Let me handle this by myself." She begs. I was struck by her attitude. But I'm not to do as she says.
"And what," I turn to her."Watch you die? Never! I'd rather die myself." I free my hand from her grip and charge. Clever boy's on his knees, carefully touching his wound. He glares at me, almost stopping me from my tracks, but not enough. He gets up and stares at me menacingly as I run to him. I again thrust the dagger, to the heart this time, but he grabs my right hand, the one with the dagger, and spins me around. He lets go of me and I stagger and fall. I get up and I was surprised the dagger was nowhere to be found. I look around. Clever boy coughed meaningfully.
"Looking for this?" He asks. I act cool. In a fight, it would be bad to show your fear, 'cause in this case, it can cause certain death. Well, for me, that is.
"Seeking revenge?" I smile. "You want a piece of me?".
I was about to run again when he turns away from me and faces Katja-sama too late. Anastasia struck him straight to the heart. He raises his hand and I realize he is about to slash at Katja-sama just before he turns to nothing. I run as fast as my feet can manage and arrive just in time. He slashes down, creating a shallow but long wound across my back. Katja-sama stares at me wide-eyed. I would have laughed if the wound did not hurt so badly. Something bursts behind me. The dagger clattered on the ground.
"Hana!" Katja-sama catches me before I fall face first. "You're so stupid, Hana! You should have listened to me!"
"Yeah." I agree. "So stupid that I fell in love with you. So stupid I'm ready to die for you." I smile at her reaction. I can't believe I said that. "You are not supposed to act this way, Katja-sama. Let me die here."
"Stop that!"
"Sure. " I writhe in pain as the wound starts throbbing. She held me in her arms. She puts her hand on the side of my face and makes me look at her. I wave away the thought of kissing her. It'll just push her further away from me. "I'm sorry." She said.
"What are you saying that for?" I ask her.
"Do you really need to ask? Your head's really thick, Hana. You're hurt because of me. Because you saved me. That's what I'm apologizing for."
"That's it? I don't care about this wound. You're back, and you're here with me. If you're with me, then this is the best day of my life."