Exposition, HOOOOOOO! *wall crash* Not my best chapter, I'll admit to it, but I hope you enjoy none the less!
.~.
Duet
By: Ica Rue
Theme 02: First Impressions
"I've gotten used to being introduced.
"Hello. What's your name? How are you?"
They see my smile, my laugh, and the hurt behind my eyes.
Loss is not so easily disguised."
.~.
~ April 7 2009 - Early Morning~
Minato yawned at his reflection in the washroom mirror, lightly brushing his damp hair from his eyes.
'Too early in the morning for this.'
Most of what went on up until his shower was a blur. He knows Hinako had somehow figured out how to get in to his locked room when he didn't respond to her ceiling tapping; something he honestly should have expected, but whatever. Better sooner than at a more awkward moment later. She made some gentle attempts to rouse him that bought her his usual half-hearted protests, before he felt the bed dip and found himself on the floor. He heard her faint giggling as she quite literally rolled him in to the bathroom and jarring him somewhat out of sleep when he hit the cold tile. He shot up only to get a face full of towel, boxers, school uniform, closed door, and orders.
"Miiii-niiiiiichaaaaaan, you've got thirty minutes, or I'm coming in there!"
So, now, at twenty-eight minutes, he was opening the door to see a chipper-looking Hinako in the middle of his room, chatting animatedly on her cell. She jumps at the creak of the hinges, but grins over at him making a vague gesture for him to chill while she finishes up her conversation. "No... we're ok, really... yes, we're staying out of trouble. No... no, I've got to go, or we're going to be late!" She giggled, rolling her eyes. "Yes... we love you, too. And I'll tell him. Mata ne."
Minato lifted an eyebrow when she sighs, shutting the phone close. "Vel-ojisan?"
"Worrying unreasonably, as always... we have to call him after class. He's helping Naomi-obasan on a case out of town." Hinako pocketed the device, giving her brother a wry grin and her full attention. "And your bow is a little crooked, Mi-niichan."
He stares at her blankly, but turns his head up anyway when she approaches. Her fingers are quick to undo his haphazard knot, working to even out the little ribbon. Her persistence at being cheerful is admirable, but it is very easy for him to see her mind is somewhere else.
"Ko-chan."
"Huh?" At his knowing glance, she winces, shoulders slumping. 'As if I could hide things from him.' "... um, what do you think so far?" She whispers low, glancing at the door for a split second.
He follows her gaze, letting it linger on the barricade, before shrugging. "Nice place. Nice people. A little weird, but harmless."
"That contract, though..." Looping. "I don't think anyone else here signed it. Do you?"
"No." That's the one thing he's certain of.
She slows a bit in her ministrations, looking out the window. The sun is shining through, so bright and happy that it's almost difficult for her to fathom it was the same town from last night. From ten years ago... that night...
"Do you regret coming back?" His voice interrupts her spiraling thoughts, and she shakes her head rapidly.
"No! No... I'm actually kind of happy to be back here. Mama and papa really liked this place, you know...? And... and Gekkoukan is supposed to be a very good school... It's just... ARRRRG!" She gives the bow a last tightening pull and throws her hands up in frustration, pacing. "That kid from last night really worries me! I mean, I know Takeba thinks it must have been a prank, but I don't think it was. I don't think you do, either."
His silence is enough of an answer. "So, I want to know what that contract was for... What if we signed something reeeaaally bad? I mean, it's not like we signed in blood, right? But, Aly-neechan always warned us about suspicious packages... What should we do? Maybe the dorm IS haunted! Should we call a psychic o-or call a priestess or maybe even Hanzou-kun an-"
A hand on her head sets her still and she pauses mid-rant, her eyes slowly turn to meet his calming gaze. "No need to go that far. Just stay calm, do what you do best, and we'll figure this out." He smiles, yanking on her ponytail affectionately. "We always do, don't we?"
"...Yeah, we do." Hinako grins slowly at his encouragement. "I won't dwell on the past! We're here now, and we're going to have a good time and make new friends!"
Mrrrrrrrr...
Minato lifts an eyebrow as she blushes and places her hand on her stomach. "And have some breakfast, too?"
"...Maybe."
"Hn. Then, downstairs we go?" He chuckles and goes for his bag on the bed (dutifully packed by Hinako, of course), and let's her go ahead of him. After he's closed and locked the door behind him, he asks the nagging question. "What did Vel-ojisan want you to tell me, by the way?"
"Don't play over his Trees VS Zombies game. He's on his second play-through."
He glanced over at his laptop he'd brought with him, a deep blue with silver lining, perched innocently on his desk. "Hn. He's been playing on my laptop again... but, noted."
"Yeah... Oh! And button up your jacket for today, too. Naomi-obasan wants a picture of us in proper uniform."
"..."
.
Yukari, to her relief, managed to get the pair on the train in time.
The morning was interesting and lively; Mitsuru and Akihiko had both left early, leaving her to keep watch over the new kids. The trio barely managing to work down a quick breakfast, get the picture their aunt wanted of them in proper uniform (she can't deny that Minato, despite his extreme reluctance, actually looks rather dashing with the jacket buttoned up), and out the door with all their shoes, papers, bags and bento. The journey to the school flies by without much incident. Minato, unsurprisingly, loses himself in his music for most of it, staring out the window with an unreadable expression on his face. Hinako has her music player as well, but is adamant in engaging their guide in conversation again and Yukari does her best to keep up with the increasing volley of questions the brunette throws.
It's the most fun she's ever had on the train, sitting between them, just talking about normal things. Like she's in the center of yin and yang with noisiness on one side and calm on the other. There's still the niggling guilt that bothers her at having to hide the secret of the Dark Hour from two really sweet people, but for now, it does seem probably best to keep them naïve... Hinako and Minato are going to have to adjust to the school, and they don't need anything else on their plates.
And at least, for once, she can pretend to be a normal high school student.
.
The buzz of multiple conversations could easily be compared to hum of a bee hive. It was just constant background noise to the school morning. Old faces dotting the crowds, with maybe the occasional slightly-newer face, all decked out in similar versions of the school's required attire. Students and teachers walking to and fro with Mr. Ekoda, as always, hovering like a hawk just out of the way, ready to pounce. For Junpei, it was like every other year, especially since Yuka-tan was in his class. Again.
He was leaning against the wall at midway up the stairs looking down over the gaggle that had gathered in front of the class assignments. Plenty of people he expected to share home room with, some of them waving up at him in greeting with a grin. Two of his best friends were already next to him, conversing pretty loudly so that he never out of the loop of conversation even in the din of noise.
"Jeeeez..." Kenji mumbled, rubbing his forehead and giving a wide yawn. "Can't believe summer's already over... can't we have an extra week, or something?"
"I wish..." Junpei adjusted his cap, yawning too. "Kazushi, I still can't see how you can have so much energy for school."
"Sports team." Is his only answer, and Junpei has to fight back a groan at that. Always, always with the sports team... he can't deny it's pretty fun watching the tennis and volleyball girls practice, though... yeah. The short skirts and the reeeaaallly tight shorts... and the tight shirts. Hot.
"WAAAIII! Oh my gaaaaawwwwwdd, AKIHIKO-SENPAAAAIII!"
The trio of boys wince as the gaggle of fangirls just up and down the hall from them squeal, the aforementioned making his way towards them. His body is nearly ramrod straight, walking stiffly as shouts and yells from the girls follow him. The expression on his face screams 'uncomfortable!' to them, but he manages a smile, and a polite "Excuse me, good morning, sorry about this" going past them. He glances behind them, as if making sure the girls aren't following him, (and thankfully they're not, or else Junpei knew he'd be pancake'd by the stampede), and sighs in relief, settling for looking for his homeroom on the board.
It's at this point Junpei notices there's flash of a familiar shade of pink from just beyond the shoe lockers, coming through the doors and before he knows it, Yukari has stepped in to his line of vision. He grins mischievously. 'Finally!'
"Hey, isn't that Yuka-tan?" Just as expected, the blonde jolts out of his conversation, stuttering a bit, and looking around with his head mimicking a beached fish.
"What?"
"Down there... with two... hey..." Junpei blinks, staring when he realizes that their subject of speculation was not alone and not with anyone he was familiar with. Some tall, kinda lanky boy who seemed really bored and a girl who was kind of bouncing around were flanking either side as Yukari made gestures to things in the room, and both were dressed in typical versions of the Junior uniform. "Well, there's some faces I've never seen before..."
Both his friends who jolt at his words and slowly turn their attention in the same direction he was staring in. Their expressions were of shock, then slowly changed to curious as they took in the sight of the boy and girl. New students didn't always happen, and it was most curious why these two particulars appeared amicable with one of the queens (though, she was no aware of it) of popularity so soon.
Akihiko also seems to notice the new entries as well and, to Junpei's surprise, greets Yukari instead of ignoring her like he had been the past some odd years. It's a new development, but even more surprising is when Yukari actually seems to introduce the two at her side, and the young man actually seems genuinely interested instead of his usual passing smiles.
"Well, that's interesting." Kenji mumbled. He dragged his own gaze over to the two of them, specifically the red-brunette. They were an odd duo, with the boy having not really even done anything other than stand with his hands in his pockets and bow to the Senior respectfully, and the girl giving him a hearty handshake instead of the expected squeal and fangirling, and a wave to Yukari when she departs. The two of them were... just... so... shiny. If he didn't know any better, it would almost seem as if the two of them had stepped right out of a shojo manga.
Kenji's question punctures his thought bubble. "Think they're in our class?"
He shrugged, watching as the boy stepped just a smidge closer to her and kept his gaze cool as he, unbeknownst to her, scanned the crowd with a subtle tightness Junpei nearly missed. He then leaned toward her ear, whispering something that she nodded to as she spoke to the boxer. Akihiko gives them a smile and a nod, leading the way. The boy, in the mean time, lets his hand fall on her back and gently ushers her after the older student towards the faculty hall, gaze never really seeming to turn completely forward, keeping it lightly on the people watching them.
"They are definitely interesting, though."
.
"Thank you, Sanada-kun." The blonde nods to the silver-haired man as he leaves, before turning her full attention and smile to the two in front of her. "So! You are the new students. I'm glad you two could make it! I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach composition, and you two are actually in classroom 2-F, which is mine. Welcome to our school!"
Hinako nodded, grinning and bowing enthusiastically. "Thank you! It's very nice to meet you! Just call me Hinako, and this is my brother, Mi-niichan!"
"Minato." He corrects, bowing, too. "A pleasure."
Ms. Toriumi blinks at the hyper-active greeting, but manages a smile. "My! So polite and so energetic. We could use more students like you two. Now, let's see, your files should be... AHA!" She whips out two papers. "From what I saw, you both seem very academically sound, and have quite the range of talents. Writing music... I do hope the two of you will consider Music Club when it opens up for new members? Annnd it also looks like you've moved around quite a bit. Not just around the country, but even to the States, Chile, Philippines, Canada, France, Italy, Greece, Russia, India, Spain, and the list goes on... are either of you bilingual at all?"
"Multi-lingual, actually." Hinako counts on her fingers. "Between the two of us... at least nine or ten languages besides Japanese, I think? English was our first... Latin counts, right? Our family likes to travel a lot, so we had to learn to communicate and I tend to lose track of them all..."
"I can see how you could! Your aunt and uncle... oh, wait, but, your parents... oh my..." She trails off, but doesn't see the look that flits across Hinako's face, or notices how Minato slips quietly in front of his sibling to block her from view while she's skimming the paragraph. "I'm sorry for that. I didn't get a chance to look over your files too thoroughly and seem to have missed that part..."
"It's alright." Minato smiles, slipping forward slightly more to bring the woman's attention towards him. Her reaction is a little taken aback at the sudden change of focus, exactly what he wanted, as he uses his rarely-used-excessive-charm to keep her gaze on him. "Obasan has a peculiar way of handling information regarding that. She does not mind a call if there are any specifics you need."
"Ahh... yes, Kimishima-san* did mention that to me in a letter she sent not too long ago... I think I have everything here already, so a call to her will not be necessary. I apologize for not thoroughly looking over your files... I will be mindful of this next time. I do hope I am forgiven. Minato?" She leans over to the side slightly. "Hinako?"
He turns to his sister and is disappointed to see her expression still blank, but is relieved when she nods at least. "Yes. Thank you... for your concern."
"Not a problem. Don't be afraid to come to me if you need to talk to someone." She puts the files in to her pile, lifting it when she stands up. "Now, let's get going, shall we? The opening ceremonies are going to begin soon, and we're cutting it a bit close."
She lets them through the door first, before moving to lead the way. When her back is turned, Minato slips closer to Hinako's side, just barely tilting his head towards her. "Breathe."
She inhales quickly at his whisper and then slowly exhales, disguising it as a sigh for the sake of their instructor, before cracking her blank mask with a tiny smile. "Breathing."
"Good."
.
"Elizabeth, Theodore, when I said, 'preparations', I did not mean dinner. And, Elizabeth, dear, if you're going to feed that to your brother, at least get him the premium wet dog food and some treats to go with it."
"M-MASTER."
.
Class ends just as Junpei slips out of his nap. Students all around him bustling to get their things together and out the door as fast as possible. He glances to his side and up front, eyeing to the two new students who'd successfully blown away and awed his classmates without even realizing it.
The seats were divided in two columns with two seats per row, so that everyone was going to have a partner. Lucky for him, the new guy was his to show the ropes and his sister was in front of him, with Yuka-tan as her partner. When they'd first introduced themselves, the guy had been cool with his words, polite and suave, while she had smiled brightly and her eyes had done some weird sparkling thing that could not have been normally. 'Pretty sure this shojo manga is juuust missing those bubbles.'
He is surprised, though, that no one has come up to really greet them yet, and he's not one to just let things like that fly. Taking a breath, he pulls away from his desk, and turns to them with a grin.
"Heeeeey! So, whatcha think of the class, new guys?"
Junpei falters a bit when two pairs of eyes turn up from their packing to him at the exact same time, one curious and the other bored. They glance at each other as if in silent communication, even blinking at the same time, before the guy resumes his packing (doesn't move closer to his sibling, doesn't do any of the protective actions Junpei had seen earlier) and the girl turns back to him.
"Hi!" Hinako, if he recalls right, grins cheerfully and offers a hand. "It's pretty interesting so far...I'm Hinako Arisato! Just call me Hinako. Didn't catch your name...?"
"Junpei Iori. Just call me Junpei. Guess we're desk neighbors." He grins, shaking it enthusiastically and using his free hand to adjust his hat. "I just wanted to say, 'hey' and introduce myself personally. I was a transfer student myself, back in eighth grade, so I know how it is. Friendly faces are always a plus and I just wanted to make sure you guys feel welcome. Ain't I nice?"
"Junpei, are you bothering them?"
He grins at the scolding tone, turning to see one of his favorite people, even if she didn't know it, walking towards them. She was just done discussing a few things with Miss Toriumi. "Hey, what's up Yuka-taaaan! Nice to know we're in the same class and desk neighbors, too." He laughs when her eyes roll. "And what do you mean 'bothering them?' I'm just bein' friendly! He's my partner and all, and I mean, I know you walked with them to school and everything, but you can't just hog the new eye candy to yourself."
"'Hog?' What do you mean by that? I wasn't hogging them, I was showing them the ropes to the school..." She scowls at him. "And what do you mean by 'eye candy'?"
He sees the fighting spark in her eyes, and throws his hands up in surrender. "Hey, I'm just repeating the rumor mill here! Don't hurt the messenger!" A glance at the siblings tells him they're a bit confused, but Minato? Yeah, that's his name, seems less than pleased at the wording. "You might not realize it, but you two are causing a real stir with a lot of people. I mean, you know... Not a bad kind. Just that you both came in with Yuka-tan here, and not to mention Sanada-senpai's apparent interest in you an- OW!"
"Oh, shut up, Junpei! I can't believe you'd listen to that kind of stuff... really..." Yukari sighs after lightly smacking him upside the head, turning to the twins with a smile. "Either way, it looks like we're in the same homeroom, huh? That's kind of coo- GAAAH!"
"YAY! SAME CLASS AS TAKEBA-SAN! THIS IS SO AWESOME!" Hinako latched tightly on to the taller girl, arms somehow wrapped around her neck and chattering a mile a minute as she shook the girl around. "Takeba-san, we can totally hang out! We can do projects together, and study together, and do our homework, and pass notes an-"
"Ko-chan, you might want to let her go."
The girl stops mid-exclamation, turning to glare at her brother. "But, Mi-niichan, I'm bonding!"
"She needs oxygen to bond."
Her lips stop before she can throw a retort, turning to look at her victim. Yukari was half passed out in her arms, so she was quick to release. "Waaaah! Sorry, sorry, sooorrryyy, Takeba-san! I didn't mean it! I mean, if I could hang out with you, I'd like to, I meant that, but I didn't mean to cut off your air supply! You know I didn't, right?"
"It... *gasp* It's fine..."
"Uuuwaaahhh..."
"Is... she always like this?" Junpei muttered to male, eyebrow lifted as Hinako kept tweaking out. It was a bit of a loop, seeing the girl who had entered the room with all the elegance and grace of a butterfly suddenly bumble bee around.
"More or less." He shrugs, watching the scene with a bit of a smirk for a moment before turning to offer his hand to the capped Junior. "By the way, Minato Arisato. You can call me Minato. I hope we get along."
"Uhh... yeah!" Junpei grinned, accepting the handshake, not at all put off by the Western greeting. The two of them were definitely a little weird, but if he could be friends with them, that would be awesome. "I hope so, too! Say, do you like ramen...?"
.~.
"I'll try my best to keep on with my sunny disposition.
But, I close my eyes and end up reminiscing."
-'First Impressions'+Julia Nunes
.~.
* - belongs to Atlus, not mine.