Rin and Kaede waited patiently outside their house, enjoying the morning weather. Ruri was being uncharacteristically slow that morning so they told her to join them when she was ready. Rin was lost in thinking back to the beach trip and what had happened between him and Ruri. It had taken a lot of talking to get everyone calmed down when they'd gotten back, but thankfully Ruri hadn't gotten into any real trouble for it. If anything, Sia had been more surprised that Ruri was capable of being attracted to a guy at all.
"Good morning Rin, Kaede!" Sia called out as she and Nerine approached. "Where's Matsuri?"
"Still inside." Rin told her. "I think she woke up late or something. She was certainly taking her time getting ready this morning."
"I hope she comes out soon." Kaede added. "Miss Benibara doesn't go easy on tardy students, no matter who they are."
No sooner did Kaede voice her concern than the sound of the door opening and closing announced Ruri's appearance. Everyone turned to see her and immediately looked surprised. Ruri was dressed in the female Verbena uniform for the first time any of them could recall, and for Rin's part he found she looked stunning in it.
"I am sorry for my lateness." She said politely. "It seems all of my male uniforms were in the laundry so I had no other choice. I'm terribly unused to wearing this."
Kaede looked at Ruri curiously. "But I'm sure I cleaned-"
"No problem, Ruri." Rin said, cutting Kaede off. "Well, let's be going, shall we?"
Kaede, Sia and Nerine all just looked on in confusion as Rin walked on ahead, immediately joined by Ruri.
"You should've thought of a better excuse than that." Rin told her quietly. "Kaede does all the laundry, remember?"
"Right. Sorry. But how else was I supposed to explain the sudden change?" Ruri replied. "I just hope I don't look too silly is all."
Rin smiled at her. "You look great. Seriously."
Ruri smiled back and let herself enjoy the walk to school, though she could overhear some of the chatter from the girls behind her and could tell they were at the very least envious of her for her boldness at the beach. A look of worry crossed her face that Rin quickly picked up on.
"For what it's worth, I don't think anyone's actually mad at you." He told her. "A little jealous maybe, but not mad."
"Jealous? Of me?" Ruri responded in disbelief. "I have a hard time believing that."
"Well, for all their efforts none of them were the one I was kissing on the beach the other day. I think they're realizing that there's more to establishing a relationship with someone than just being acquainted with them."
"Kaede-dono was certainly more than merely acquainted with you before I came along, though."
Rin grimaced at the thought. "I kinda feel bad saying this, but I've never seen Kaede in a romantic light. She's a tremendous friend and I've relied on her for a lot over the years, but I never once considered her as a girlfriend. I know she doesn't think that way about me, but it's just something I can't reciprocate no matter what anyone says."
"Yet another example of not doing what's expected of you, I suppose?" Ruri said, smirking as she chided him.
Rin laughed at the comment. "I suppose so. Speaking of expecting things, I expect we'll be training again this evening?"
"Assuming the weather holds." Ruri said, looking skyward. "Those clouds rolling in don't look all that friendly. I'd rather we not train in the rain. It would defeat the purpose of training if we ended up sick as a result."
Rin nodded in response. "Good point. Guess we'll just keep an eye on the sky then."
The remainder of the trip to school went as usual, and before long lunchtime rolled around once again. Everyone gathered on the roof in the usual area, though Ruri, Kareha and Asa decided to move closer to the rest of the group. Kareha and Asa, by way of creative positioning, managed to get Ruri a spot sitting right next to Rin; it was a maneuver that instantly sent Kareha off into her little fantasy world.
"That certainly didn't take long." Rin noted as he ate some rice from his lunch.
"Don't be too surprised, Rin-chan." Asa told him. "She's been like this all day. I stopped trying to snap her out of it after she spaced out for the entirety of history class."
Ruri simply went about her lunch normally, though inwardly she did enjoy being part of the group now; not to mention being closer to Rin was also quite nice. She looked back at the sky, though, and grumbled a bit to herself. The clouds were looking even worse now. Training was likely going to be a wash for the evening.
"Ruri-sempai, is something wrong?" Sia asked. Ruri's eyes shot wide as she looked back at the princess of the Realm of Gods, utterly shocked. Sia cocked her head at her. "Umm, did I say something wrong?"
"Y-y-y-y-your majesty…! Why would you lower yourself in order to refer to one such as I in such a manner?!" she said, immediately fumbling for her usual adherence to protocol.
"Well, I got to thinking this morning on the way in that despite our circumstances you are still ahead of me in a number of things." Sia told her. "You are my senior, after all, and you're way, way better at a lot of school subjects than me. Plus you're the student council president, too! And to top it all off, you're the one who got to kiss Rin first! I just figured it was about time I started showing you the proper respect is all. Besides, I really hate formality and your Human name is so pretty too. I've always thought that, you know."
Ruri was dumbstruck at Sia's deference to her. This was completely foreign territory to her, and no amount of protocol or training had ever prepared her for a member of the royal family to be so genial towards her.
"Just remember, the Realm of Gods does practice polygamy so don't think I'm giving up on Rin just yet." Sia added with a wink. "And think of it, if we both ended up marrying him it'd make you royalty too!"
Ruri's head was now full-on spinning and she visibly wavered where she sat. Rin put an arm around her to steady her, which seemed to help her snap out of it some.
"Was that last part really necessary, Sia?" Rin asked, clearly a little annoyed.
Sia smiled impishly with her tongue stuck out a bit. "Heh, sorry. I couldn't help it. This isn't the first time I've gotten her to overload like that though."
"That reminds me, I meant to ask you about that the last time you mentioned it Sia." Nerine said, looking at her. "What was that order all about you mentioned that was so embarrassing to Ruri-sempai?"
Rin bit his lower lip and was about to try to change the subject, but Ruri put her hand on his and shook her head at him. She scooted closer to Sia and Nerine as she addressed them.
"Allow me, Princess." Ruri said.
"Ruri-sempai, are you sure?" Sia asked.
"After having been shows such magnanimity from you, Princess, the least I can do is face up to this matter."
Sia just nodded and sat back as Ruri set to her explanation.
"You see, Nerine-sama, Her Majesty went through a bit of a magical girls phase in her youth." Ruri told her. "Her parents showered her with gifts of costumes and other merchandise from her favorite shows, but what she loved most was to pretend to actually be a magical girl. She particularly enjoyed the shows that had teams of girls, but not many of her royal friends were so interested in the genre as she. Finally one day, when I was on duty guarding her, she asked me to come to her playroom so I could try on a number of costumes in order to act out a scene with her. At first I tried to refuse, citing that my duty was to guard her and not play with her, but she immediately turned it into an order. Refusing a direct order from royalty is punishable by death, so I had little choice in the matter. What I wasn't prepared for was that Her Majesty turned it into a regular matter for us. For the better part of a year, half of my guard shifts were spent pretending to be a magical girl along with Her Majesty."
"Ah, I do recall that period now that you mention it!" Nerine said, smiling brightly. "Sia only lost her fascination with magical girl things a couple of years ago. I would have been happy to play along as well, but I was never terribly familiar with those kind of shows. Also, the outfits were…not the sort of thing I could wear, to be truthful. How did you manage it, Ruri-sempai? After all, you are far more developed than Sia is."
Both Ruri and Sia blushed at Nerine's inference. Fortunately for Ruri, Sia jumped at the question first.
"I think that's enough embarrassment for one day, Rin-chan." She told her. "Still, it's a bit nostalgic to think about those times again. Ruri-sempai, I also want you to know that even though it was terribly embarrassing for you to humor me like that back then, I really enjoyed it and not just because of my whole thing about magical girls. Even if it was all pretend and play, I felt like there was someone I could relate to in a normal manner without having to worry about rank or station or any of that nonsense. I really considered you a friend then, and I do now as well."
Ruri was honestly stunned. "Your Majesty…I truly do not know what to say…"
"You don't have to say anything. And really, you don't have to call me 'Your Majesty' or 'Princess' or any of that. Just 'Sia' is fine with me, really."
"At the very least allow me to call you Sia-sama, then. I personally can't allow any more than that."
Sia nodded with a smile. "I guess that'll work."
Ruri moved back to sit by Rin, who just smiled and nodded at her. She returned the gesture, but then had her wonderful moment ruined by the rumble of thunder overhead. Everyone scrambled to get back inside as the skies opened up, putting a damper on both the moment Ruri and Sia had had as well as Ruri and Rin's plans for training that evening.
