Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me
Copyrighting not intended
Konoka's presence in the school had caused a huge reaction among the students. Students gathered to speak of the talented mage that was the dean's granddaughter, earning the chocolate haired girl a fan club even before she started classes. Due to her injuries, Konoka had been given the week off. Asuna brought Konoka her homework from the classes, at the request of Setsuna, who insisted Asuna befriend Konoka in an attempt to distance herself further from Konoka.
Thankfully, Konoka was easily distracted by the hyper-active Asuna, and the two became really good friends. Through Asuna, Konoka found out her timetable was different from Setsuna and Asuna. While Setsuna and Asuna were under the soldier class, Konoka came under the mage class, thus they had several classes that differed from each other. For example, Setsuna and Asuna had a close range combat class, while Konoka had a class focused on healing. They do have several classes together, such as combat tactics and team battles.
Setsuna rarely visited Konoka while she was resting, and when she did, it would always be late in the evening, earning some less than desirable teasing from both Asuna and Konoka.
"I would never!" Setsuna spluttered out, her flushing face as red as a fire hydrant
"Oooooo" Asuna grinned "Why else would you only come at night? Hmmmm Am I interrupting anything!"
"Chi..Chigau!" Setsuna waved her hands in front of her, while Konoka giggled at the comment
"Mou... Sec-chan!" Konoka mock-pouted "You mean you don't want to spend some time alone with me?"'
"Yes... No!... That's not what I mean... " Setsuna fumbled over her words, earning a loud chuckle from Asuna "Mou..."
Asuna was in tears, legs in the air as she lay flat on her back. One more look at Setsuna and laughter erupted from the orange haired girl. Setsuna's face was so red, it seemed that all the blood in the pale girl's body had rushed to her face, hampering her ability to think properly. The three girls had gathered in Konoka's room that day, Setsuna only coming along after Asuna threatened to throttle her. Konoka was starting school the next day and Asuna thought it would be good to give Konoka a full-rundown of the school.
"Let's get back to the topic" Setsuna looked away trying to get her face back to its normal colour
"Hai. Hai" Asuna sat up, crossing her legs "Ehh what else is there to say?"
"Well, I think all that's left is the school tour!" Konoka clapped her hands gleefully
"Yosh! Let's go!" Asuna yelled, standing up
"At this hour!" Setsuna exclaimed in shock
Asuna threw an arm around the swordwoman grinning "Isn't it fine!
"No!" Setsuna argued back "Its late and we're not suppose to leave the dorms at this hour."
"Please!" Konoka pouted, her eyes begging Setsuna
"No!" Setsuna repeated firmly "And there's nothing that can make me change my mind!"
"You have to teach me how to do that one day" Asuna whispered into Konoka ear
Konoka giggled softly, glancing over at the clearly irritated swordsman. The three girls were creeping about the corridors of the school building late at night. Setsuna cursed herself for giving in so easily to her charge, which resulted her in accompanying the troublesome duo about the school. It was nearly impossible to resist the puppy-dog eyes Konoka was giving her, not to mention her charge had latched on to her firmly, refusing to let go until she agreed to come along.
"Matte!" Asuna hissed, stopping suddenly
Setsuna crashed into Konoka, who stopped on Asuna's cue, almost causing them to tumble out of their hiding spot. Asuna heaved a sigh of relief as the patrolling guard passed, turning to glare at Setsuna, who returned an equally menacing glare. Ignoring the grumbling from the soldier, Asuna pressed forward, on alert for any of the guards. 6 classrooms, 5 laboratories and a sports hall later, the three girls found themselves back outside Konoka's room, exhausted.
"Ja... I'll be leaving" Setsuna spoke "I gotta wake early tomorrow."
"To get fitted?" Asuna asked
Setsuna nodded. "Romeo-san said it was ready. I would have gone today but..."
Asuna gave a sheepish grin.
"Can I come along?" Konoka asked softly
"Eh?"
"Datte. Sec-chan is like this because of me. I..I..." Konoka whispered, her voice getting softer and softer
"It's not Ojou-sama's fault" Setsuna chided lightly
Asuna frowned, but decided not to ask. She might be hyper-active and stubborn, but she knew when not to butt in, especially in Setsuna's affairs. "Mah. I'm going off first. See you tomorrow..."
Setsuna watched the retreating back of her friend before turning back to Konoka. Konoka stared intently at he "Can I come? Please?"
"Dame! You have school tomorrow. It wouldn't reflect very well on you to miss your first day of school" Setsuna replied firmly "Besides, its a routine fitting. I'll be fine
"Demo!" Konoka argued, but Setsuna didn't give her a chance to finish
"Please excuse me" Setsuna said hurriedly, turning away "Sleep well, Ojou-sama"
Konoka frowned deeply and contemplated running after Setsuna, but decided against it. She knew Setsuna would never agree to let her go no matter what. Sighing, Konoka entered her room and prepared to go to sleep. She glanced at her alarm clock sitting next to her bed and sat up quickly. Taking the ticking object in hand, Konoka twisted the small knob at the back, setting her alarm for the next day. Satisfied after double checking the alarm, Konoka fell back against the bed and curled up comfortably in her sheets.
"Ohaiyou Sec-chan!" Konoka greeted cheerfully
"Hmmmmm... Ojou-sama?" Setsuna yawned, her towel slung around her shoulders "Why...Why are you here so early? Its only..." Setsuna glanced at the digital clock on her bedside "5 in the morning"
"I'm going to accompany you today" Konoka gave a peace sign, grinning
"Eh!" Setsuna exclaimed, slapping her hand over her mouth as she remembered the time. "You can't! I told you -"
"Mou!" Konoka complained stubbornly " I'm already here! So I'm coming along!"
"But..But." Setsuna stammered
"Weren't you in the middle of getting ready?" Konoka pushed past Setsuna and sat down on her bed
Setsuna sighed deeply, resigned to her fate "I'll be ready soon, Ojou-sama"
The raven-haired girl slipped into the bathroom, locking the door with a click. As the shower turned on, Konoka took a good look around Setsuna's room. It was identical to hers, but less cluttered. Yuunagi was propped up near her desk, her school bag hanging off the side of the chair. A small cork board hung above her desk, void of everything except a picture pinned to the side of the board. Konoka leaned forward to take a closer look at the picture, smiling as she recognized the two girls on the picture. It was a shot from their younger days, before that incident happened.
Pulling her eyes away from the pictures, Konoka scanned Setsuna's bookshelf. To her surprise, Setsuna had quite a large collection of books, mainly action and adventure. A small collection of combat strategy books sat upon the shelf, next to... Konoka's eyes widened considerably. No way... Setsuna reads these kinda books? Konoka gingerly took the book off the shelf and stared at the cover. The title "Hatsukoi" was emblazoned on the cover, decorated in pink hearts and sparkles. Curious, Konoka stole a glance at the bathroom door. Satisfied that Setsuna wouldn't be coming out anytime soon, the mage began to flip through the book.
Konoka was so engrossed in the book that she didn't hear Setsuna coming out of the bathroom, nor did she react to Setsuna's stammering as the girl caught sight of the book in her charge's hand.
"Hey!" Konoka exclaimed as Setsuna ripped the book out of her hands, blushing furiously
"O..Ojou-sama!" Setsuna mumbled "Don't just take books off my shelf!"
"Sec-chan.. I didn't realized you read these kinda books?" Konoka raised her eyebrows, staring at her bodyguard.
"I...I don't!" Setsuna responded, her face turning ninety shades of red "It...It's a book for someone else."
"Ohhh.. who?" Konoka stepped closer to the blushing girl
"Ah...Y..You wouldn't know her..." Setsuna stumbled over her words. Glancing at the clock, Setsuna hurried left the book on her desk and grabbed Yuunagi and her bag "L..Let's go. Ojou-sama."
"Oh...I thought you didn't want me to come along?" Konoka latched herself onto the tomato-faced girl's arm, teasing her
"I...um.. ehh.. I.. I..." Setsuna's brain went into overload, resulting in a blabbering mess "I... since Ojou-sama is here... I mean.. It would be a wasted trip..."
Konoka giggled, sticking even closer to Setsuna, who stiffened in response. As the two made their way to the technician's office, Konoka made a mental note to tell Setsuna what a horrible liar she was, especially since Konoka had already seen Setsuna's name neatly hand-written at the bottom of the first page.
I'm taking a slow approach to this entire story. I'm trying not to overdo certain things, a mistake I've made with previous stories. I hope you will forgive the slow pace this story is going at.