Before
"Ready?" Chase asked, his coral-coloured hair clipped back as he brought his arms up.
Alyth grinned. "I'm ready." She, also, brought her arms up, holding them as he'd taught her in front of her.
Chase launched into a series of punches, kicks, and swings, as Alyth ducked and wove around him. A couple of times, his fist managed to connect with her shoulder or his leg hit hers. Every time, she told herself to get faster.
He was impossible to touch. While she was managing to evade him, he was doing the same with her. At least he got some blows in; Alyth didn't get any on him. Scowling, she blocked his next punch and aimed a kick at his side, which he then dodged. But, as he spun away, she kicked her other leg at the back of his knee, a blow which finally connected and caused Chase's knees to buckle. She lunged for him, pressing him down into the ground, an elbow on his back and knees on his thighs.
She grinned triumphantly. "I win!" she announced.
Chase huffed. "All right, all right. Now, get off me."
Alyth released her hold on him, and immediately he flipped and tackled Alyth to the ground. Yelping, she put a hand against his face and pushed. "That's cheating," she panted. Chase laughed.
"Never put your guard down. You won't ever win a match in real life simply by saying 'I win'." Chase got to his feet, dusted himself down, and offered Alyth a hand. She took it, grumbling.
"I did win, though," she said, smirking at him. "You're just angry because I did."
"Uhuh. And that's one win out of... what, fifty?" He stuck his tongue out at her as she scowled. "I won all the other ones, remember?"
Alyth sighed. "Fine, fine."
"Well, you're an awful lot better at fighting now than you were when you first came here," Chase said, trying to lift her spirits. It worked. Alyth brightened.
"You're right," she said. It had only been a year since she'd left Konohana, but she was fitting in well here. She'd asked Chase to give her some self-defense classes after a certain... incident in school in her second week.
She glanced at her watch, and yanked on her coat. "It's time for our shift. Come on."
She unlocked her front door and gestured for Chase to go first. He sighed as well, and grabbed his coat, stepping outside into the frosty winter air. "I can't be bothered today," he complained as she shut the door behind them. Alyth rolled her eyes.
"You can never be bothered." Alyth grinned at her friend as they trudged through the snow. "And anyway, you get to see Mayaaaa," she sang, "so why are you complaining?"
Chase blushed. "Yell it to the whole world, why don't you?" he muttered. Alyth laughed.
"I doubt the whole world could hear me. Don't be embarrassed, Maya's a great girl."
He sighed. "Well, if I'm honest, I don't think I like her as much any more."
Alyth blinked, and turned, frowning at him. "Why not?" she asked.
Chase shrugged. "Dunno."
"It's the hormones," Alyth teased, jabbing him in the ribs lightly. He yelped.
"Hey!" He made a grab for her, but she darted out the way. "I'll have you know, my hormones are perfectly controlled, thank you very much."
"Suuuure," she drawled back. "I'm certain your fourteen year old hormones are-"
Her back collided with something, suddenly, and she stumbled a bit before managing to regain her balance. Seeing it was a person she'd bumped into, she muttered, "Sorry."
"It's perfectly all right." A male's voice, one that was smooth and quiet and musical replied to her. Alyth turned around, her eyes widening as she took in the strikingly handsome boy before her.
He appeared almost ageless, with serious eyes and a serious face. His hair was a pale silver, as if he had aged, yet the shape of his face was young, and there were no creases in his skin to show old age. A white tattoo marked the skin beneath his right eye, which was a yellow-gold, different from his other eye, which was as green as the forest in summer.
"U-Um," she stammered. Beside her, she felt Chase tense, and turned to glance at him to hide her embarrassment.
"Gale," he said, nodding curtly.
"Good morning, Chase." The boy nodded back, his voice softer and with less of an edge than Chase's. His multicoloured eyes drifted to Alyth, who bit her lip. "Have a nice day." He picked up his book (which had dropped when Alyth had bumped into him) and went on his way, trudging through the snow. Alyth stared after him, trying to remember his face in her mind. But it was already fading.
Chase huffed. "Come on," he muttered. Alyth blinked, turned, and saw he was already a few metres away. She hurried to catch up with him.
"Who was that?" she asked.
"Gale. Resident pretty boy." Chase scowled, and Alyth bit back a giggle.
"Aw, are you jealous of him, Chase? I knew it was the hormones." Alyth danced away, laughing, as he growled and lunged for her. "Has he occupied the mind of every girl you've ever wanted?"
Chase glared at her, but she knew it wouldn't last. She winked at him, and finally he sighed. "Not every girl," he mumbled. They walked together towards the town hall, preparing for their turn of helping out at the farm. As Alyth hummed under her breath, she thought she maybe heard him say, "Not yet."
Gale.
My name is Gale.
I'm didn't come here to fall in love, but I think I
"Alyth?"
Her name rang through the bathrooms, shaking the girl with the dark hair from her stupor. Alyth blinked, frowning, rubbing her head with her fingers.
What had she just been thinking about?
"Alyth, you in here?" Tina's voice cut through her thoughts again, and Alyth shook herself.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, Tina." Alyth combed her fingers through her hair, and unlocked the bathroom stall door. She opened it to find Kathy and Tina staring at her worriedly.
"Are you all right?" Kathy asked. "You just ran off..."
"S-Sorry. I just didn't feel too good for a moment there." She smiled weakly at her friends - could she still call them that? - and went to the sink, washing her hands.
"You'll get over to it soon," Tina said softly. For a moment, Alyth was unsure as to what Tina was talking about. Then she realised: Tina meant Iroha.
"Yeah." She brushed her hair back from her face, despite her hands being wet. I don't think I'll ever get over Castanet.
As soon as the trio stepped outside, Alyth instantly felt sick again. But it wasn't because of Castanet. No, this time there was something in the air.
She raised her face to look at the sky. There didn't appear to be anything wrong... Yet somehow, Alyth knew something was up. Something that made her remember her dreams.
She sighed, and checked her watch. "It's almost time for my first class," she said.
"Me, too." Tina looked disappointed. "I was hoping we could catch up some more."
"You poor souls." Kathy patted the other girls' shoulders with a smirk. "Mine's not 'till half ten."
Tina groaned. "Lucky." She grumbled something under her breath.
"What courses did you take, Kathy?" Alyth threw a curious glance at her friend (?).
"Ah, I took some cooking classes, as well as photography." The blonde haired girl grinned. "It's so fun. And Luke is in all my classes!"
"Luke...?" The name rang a bell. She remembered just as Kathy said,
"Yeah, the blue-haired guy from high school. Do you remember? Bit of a scatterbrain, but as hot as hell." She looked kind of dreamy, and Alyth laughed.
"Have a good time with him. I'm going to head off now."
"We usually hang out in the north wing when we have a free period. Go there if you have a break!" Tina grinned and waved as Alyth left.
Alyth navigated her way using a map of the campus to the science block, where she only took a minute to find her classroom. Upon entering, she discovered that the class was nearly empty (perhaps people simply hadn't arrived yet?), and one of the few people who were in the classroom was...
That girl, Sky.
Alyth stiffened as the dark-haired girl looked up, and formed a lazy smile. She didn't say anything, however, as Alyth walked past, only watching her progress. Alyth glanced back at the girl, and something froze in her as she walked to an empty desk.
Multi-coloured eyes. One green, one aqua. White markings under her eye. How had Alyth not noticed it before, in the courtyard?
Her chest squeezed painfully. Oh, God. Surely this was just her mind playing tricks on her? After all, the other boy she'd met in Castanet with almost the exact same eyes and the exact same markings had simply been her mind conjuring up a boy. He hadn't been real.
He hadn't been real.
[All right, I know it's a bit confusing. As you might have been able to tell, the first part is a flashback; after the line, it's back to normal. In the flashback, Gale (or Wizard) is a real person, but at present, Alyth thinks he's only a part of her imagination, only a part of her dreams. Why? I guess you'll find out.
Also, I know Kathy x Luke isn't the canon pairing according to the HM games (it's Kathy x Owen, and Luke x Selena) but I thought I'd change it up a bit.]