Hey Fictioners.
SURPRISE! It's another chapter of MA!
LOLZ I know I updated yesterday, but see, I managed to sit down and force myself to write another chapter. So this is what got produced in about an hour or so, and I was literally falling asleep at the laptop, so do not be surprised if you find errors in it, or if it's simply not as well-written as other chapters. Ha-ha-ha!
Speaking of which, I must acknowledge the errors made in the previous chapter, which I discovered upon re-reading it last night. I was shocked - it was the worst chapter to date for mistakes! I am ashamed. And if Kish's Kittie was around (anyone know where she's gone? I'm thinking of filing a missing person's report... She's disappeared off the face of the earth!) she'd be mighty unimpressed. So, the errors I found are:
1. ("Are you ready now?"i she asked impatiently) - Look, I got no idea where that 'i' came from. I doubt I actually typed it there; there was another random 'i' at the very end of the chapter that I found and deleted. So maybe it was related to that? LOL.
2. (" Kieski answered.) - Yes, my first misspelled name. I spelled Kiseki 'Kieski'. -hangs head in shame-
3. ('watched them scrawling in the notebooks...') - Should have been 'their' notebooks. Gah.
4. (the spacing of the dots in the sentence: '... Me, too.') - What the hell happened to them?! LOL.
Alright, so now that my moment of self-reprimanding is over, I have a few personal messages to attend to!
Kyasarin-freakload (nee Vermont Cox): I'm honoured you stick around for this story. As I have said before, Villissiti HAS already made a vague appearance - see 'It's Lunchtime' and carefully read the description of the painfully thin girl with red hair and turquoise eyes - but she will be reappearing more decidedly in - possibly - the next chapter, as I plan on her being Akane's semester lab partner. So - chillax, she's in. Oh, and it's the first character. I factored her too much into the story to be able to change her to the new one - sorry! :P
ROSELIACOOL: I understand your anxiety with your character - believe me, I'm doing my best to introduce everyone. One all the introductions and vague appearances are complete, I can focus on giving characters more specific parts. But what people need to appreciate and accept is, NOT EVERYONE'S OC WILL BE A MAIN CHARACTER. Gah! Rant over :)
waterclaws: DINGDINGDINGDINGDING! That is cor-r-r-rect! Congratulations! For guessing that specific part of the plot spot-on, you get this amazing prize: A virtual, life-sized blow-up Mew Ichigo doll! (nothing kinky intended) Yes, waterclaws, you are the sole person who has guessed the Sachi-Emiko thing correctly! Woot for you! Oh, those two girls are going to be SO much fun to toy with! -winks-
Old-Fashioned Girl22: You haven't done anything wrong, my friend. I am not mad at you in the slightest. I simply don't have time to sit down and write page long PMs at the moment. (Apologies here, too, for ZephyrFiction, who I also owe PMs) When I've settled into Uni and I get back from Japanland, I'll write you something long and amazingly funny :D
Sparrow90: I have absolutely no idea! I know you can replace chapters with new ones, but I don't know how to convert downloads. I'm really terribly illiterate when it comes to computers. I suggest asking ZephyrFiction or Kish's Kittie for help with your quandry. Sorry I couldn't be of more assistance.
Okay. Extremely long A/N officially over!
Read on, MacDuffers! (LOL O-FG22, I've been saying that ever since you told me Kiseki says it. Ha-ha!)
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. I do, however, own Akane, Sachi, Yume, Momoka, Emiko and... he he he. You shall see.
Dedications...
Story for Mew-Cuxie12. Chapter for SAKUUYA! There, happy now? You got your dedication. Now you don't have to review anymore! :D KIDDING! Don't leave MA now!!! D: Thanks for dedicatedly reviewing -blushes- Uh... about Severance... -sweatdrops... DASH- Oh, and I'm studying at Monash because its an excellent university :) I'll be majoring in Japanese, with minors of Professional Writing, Linguistics, French and goodness knows what else! I'll decide when the times comes! ;P
ACT ONE - PART ONE - SCENE ELEVEN
"In here, Akane-chan!"
Akane remained where she was, clutching her soft white towel in her small hands and gazing out over the marvellous scene before her. They'd returned to dorm seventeen and grabbed their toiletries, piling into the elevators and marching along the first floor to the 'back entrance'; a large wooden veranda that lined the back side of the school. A slanted tin roof protected the wooden planks from the sun and rain.
At either end of the veranda were two long, narrow staircases, which led down a sloping hill, at the bottom of which were several large, steaming pools of clear, warm water. Boulders rose up out of the water, and a wooden fence ran right down the middle of it, cutting it cleanly into two halves. All around the edges of the shallow pools were large, twisted cherry blossoms, currently not in bloom, but still breathtaking, with the soft white-grey steam billowing around them. The pools were shrouded in the same warm fog.
"Hey, Akane-chan! Earth to Akane-chan!" Kiseki giggled, bouncing over. Akane tore herself from her moment of delighted awe and smiled down at the smaller girl.
"... I'm coming."
She followed her friends into a small female change room built into the sloping hill, expecting something not unlike the interior of the hobbit's den in JR Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings, and was astonished to find the bathrooms modern and fancy. They were specifically built with the Japanese bathhouse theme; with shining wooden floorboards and sliding doors between the showers, but the tiles on the walls were a fresh, clean white, and the faucets far too Western to tie in with the bathhouse theme.
There were many girls in the bathroom- girls of all ages – all of them chattering away comfortably as they pulled off their clothes. Akane fixed her eyes on the floorboards, her cheeks burning. How they could all be so comfortable revealing their bodies to each other was a concept unfathomable to her. She would no more change in front of her friends than change in front of a group of boys!
Surely there would be a private cubicle she could change in...
"Come on, Akane-chan! Take off your skirt!" Kiseki called, wearing nothing but a little singlet and her underpants. Akane gasped and whipped around so her back was facing the smaller girl. But then she realised that a half-dressed Sazuki was directly in her line of sight, so she whipped around again, squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
"Kikuchi-chan, are you alright?" Sachi's voice asked. Too afraid of what she would see – or not see – if she opened her eyes, Akane nodded quickly, her mouth pulled into a tight line.
Sachi giggled, realising the catalyst for Akane's strange behaviour.
"It's okay, I'm still dressed," she said. "You can open your eyes."
Akane slowly opened one eye a sliver, peeking through her half-closed eyelashes to make sure there was nothing incriminating to be seen. Satisfied, she opened her eyes. Sachi raised one dark eyebrow, amused.
"Do you want to change in the showers?" she asked. "We all have to shower before we go in the springs anyway, but you can change in there now, before anyone else goes in."
Akane smiled gratefully and nodded silently, carefully keeping her eyes downcast as she let Sachi lead her to the showers. There was a large , round, communal shower in the very middle of the room, and a line of private showers along one wall.
"I'll wait for you by the door, okay?" Sachi said, winking. Akane nodded again and headed over to a private cubicle, sighing deeply in relief at the privacy she had been granted.
A short while later, four fresh-faced girls stood in the bathroom, thick white towels wrapped tightly around their slender bodies, covering just the right amount of skin for it to be acceptable, their hair dripping down their backs from the showers.
"We used to come to the hot springs a lot more than we have lately," Kiseki said conversationally, her sleek, plastered-to-her-head hair looking out of place in comparison to her usual mane of bouncy ringlets. It was a lot longer when it was wet, hanging most of the way down her back. "We used to come practically every night!"
"That was before Yume-san decided we were spending too much time focusing on the wrong aspects of education at Mew Academy, remember?" Sazuki pointed out. "And then she suggested the evening Study Sessions at the Library."
"We hardly have time these days, Kiseki-chan," Sachi agreed. Their feet padded against the wooden boards as they headed outside, into the pleasantly cool air. Akane shivered a little as the beads of water on her legs cooled, and she took an appreciative breath of steamy air, her eyes sweeping over the hot springs once more.
"Oh, come on Akane-chan," Sachi called, rolling her black-brown eyes. "Sure, it's pretty, but it's much more fun when you're actually in the water."
Sazuki grabbed four fresh towels from a wooden trolley beside the nearest pool and they sat them beside the water, ready for use when they got out again. Akane watched her friends step carefully into the steaming water before silently copying them, easing her feet under the surface until she felt the silty earth underfoot. They waded further into the springs, the water creeping up their legs as they headed into deeper depths.
Akane marvelled at the experience. It was the first time she had ever been in a hot spring; they didn't have them back home, and she'd never been on many holidays, so, really, the whole 'traditional-bathhouse-hot-springs' thing was completely new to her. So far it had been lovely; the sensation of the warm water against her skin was sort of like a bath, but the water felt different somehow... relaxing, magical even.
Noticing that the others had sat down and were making themselves comfortable in the water, Akane quickly copied, dropping down into the water too quickly, her splash resounding. Kiseki stared at her, astonished, water dripping from her face. She wiped her eyes.
"... Sorry," Akane muttered, humiliated. At least, she mused, the steam here makes everyone's faces red... not just mine...
No one said anything to her about her rather ungraceful entry into the water, but let her settle herself in silence, exchanging quietly amused glances. Akane waded over next to Sachi, gently resting her back against the formation of boulders as the others did. Confident that she wasn't going to be the creator of any further attention-drawing mishaps, she sank lower into the water, letting it rise to her shoulders.
She sighed appreciatively.
"Nice, isn't it?"Sazuki asked, watching her. Akane nodded, opening her big brown eyes.
"It's so relaxing," Sachi agreed, her voice a pleasant murmur. Akane glanced at her, surprised to hear her so dozy. "I could totally fall asleep right here..."
"Well, don't, unless you want to drown," Sazuki said dryly. Sachi opened one eye, splashing the brunette playfully.
"Don't start this, Nakamura," Sazuki warned. "You know it will end badly."
"Badly?" Sachi inquired, raising one eyebrow.
"As in: you lose, I win," Sazuki replied, grinning widely. She splashed a well-aimed wave of water in Sachi's face.
"Oh, you think you can beat me?" Sachi spluttered. "You're probably as good at water fights as you are at pillow fights... Terrible!"
And suddenly, the two of them were splashing like toddlers, Kiseki taking chances where she could to splash both of them. Of course, the moment they realised they had another assailant, they turned on her, and Akane found herself in the middle of a water-flying frenzy.
"Hah! Take that!"
"Huzzah– splutter!"
"Hey – watch it!"
"Missed!"
Akane ducked, avoiding another tidal wave, and waded quickly out of harm's way, shying away to a more peaceful patch of the pool they were in to watch with curious brown eyes. She hadn't seen a bunch of teenagers playing childish games like this for years.
In fact, she'd never seen a bunch of teenagers playing childish games... until now, that was.
"Hey! What in the world is going on here?!" a new voice called, and the water fight momentarily paused so the four of them could face the newcomer. Standing knee-deep in the water were Umeko, Mika, Kasai, and two girls Akane had never met before.
Everyone was silent, waiting for the second half of Umeko's sentence.
"How could you have a water fight without us? The teams aren't even!" she laughed, her normally serious composure broken. It was like she had certain behaviour for certain times – Akane remembered when she had first seen the honey-haired girl; during the pillow fight the previous evening – like she was serious during school, and fun after hours. Certainly, her purple-blue eyes twinkled playfully as they glanced around now.
"Hey guys!" Sazuki greeted cheerfully.
"Oh, look, Mika-chan's here!" Sachi gasped theatrically. "I thought we weren't cool enough for you to hang out with anymore, Murakami-chan. I mean, you've been spending so much time with Asato-kuuun lately."
"THAT'S IT!" Mika roared, finally cracking. With a war-like bellow she threw herself in Sachi's direction, spraying water on everyone.
And, like a red light turning green, the fight was on.
"If you're going to fight me, be on Sazuki's team!" Sachi cried over the loud splashing, her sentence broken by her spluttering. An endless torrent of profanities poured from Mika as she pounded her hands into the water, sending wave after wave at Sachi. Umeko immediately joined Sachi's side, splashing back in defense, but accidentally hitting Kiseki, who protested and fought back in response.
Akane edged further and further away from the scuffle, noticing that beautiful, blue-black haired Kasai had paired off with one of the girls she didn't recognise and the two of them were moving away to sit elsewhere. The other girl she hadn't known was somewhere in the water fight.
Akane let herself drift further away from the group, the sounds of their very loud battle fading until they were more like background noise than a CD blaring in her ears. She found herself in a large, empty pool, and waded towards the middle, venturing further from the gang. She drifted to a stop and half-floated in the shoulder-deep water, her chocolate eyes focused on the brilliant white stars above, appearing and disappearing as the clouds of steam billowed over her.
Yes, she sighed appreciatively, this was probably one of the most beautiful places she'd ever been to.
Consequently, it was due to her lack of attentiveness and her lazy, dreamy stupor that what happened next... happened.
The top of her head hit something that didn't feel like rock, and, startled, she tensed instinctively, gasping in surprise and inhaling a rather large mouthful of hot water, plunging under the surface. She coughed and spluttered, wondering what in heaven's name she managed to end up under the water, and struggled to surface again, panic-striken.
She suddenly found herself being dragged upwards and she burst out of the water, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Spluttering, she pushed her hair out of her face and opened her eyes, wondering why she was suddenly airborne and – strangely – freezing.
Her gaze was met by a stunned pair of startlingly azure-blue eyes, which belonged to a sturdy-shouldered, olive-skinned boy, his ashy, jet-black hair falling in his eyes, his thin, delicate lips a perfect 'o' of surprise. She was being held up carefully by a pair of strong arms... a pair of arms that were attached to his body... a body that was noticeably void of clothing from the waist up. He had a white towel like hers wrapped around his hips.
She blushed furiously, too stunned to say anything.
And then something white caught her eye. Something white that was floating in the water... something white that was supposed to be around her body.
She screamed.
He dropped her, startled.
Akane surfaced, unable to believe that a boy she didn't know had just not only seen her in the hot springs (bad enough!) but had seen her without a towel AND had held her utterly naked body in his arms.
She screamed again, clutching her wet towel around her body and glancing anywhere but at the boy in front of her.
"Akane-chan?" Sachi's voice called, but she didn't respond; she was still too horrified by the unfortunate incident that had just taken place.
"Are... you...?" the boy seemed to struggle for words, his voice strained. Akane couldn't tell if he was fighting laughter or humiliation.
"I'm sorry!" she gasped, bowing so low her tomato-red face nearly touched the water. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Uh... chill," the guy managed to say before the sound of loud splashing met her ears and figures seemed to materialise out of the steam.
"Akane-chan?!" Sachi's voice was worried. "Are you okay?!"
"... I... I'm here," Akane called softly, her voice weak. She refused to look at the boy.
"Oh, you're okay," Sazuki sighed, smiling in relief as the group of girls swarmed around the shy, auburn-haired girl. "We thought you were screaming."
"She was," the guy interrupted loudly, sounding unimpressed. Everyone fell silent, turning to look at him.
"A... BOY?!" Kiseki gasped.
"Hentai!" Mika shrieked. "Hentai! Hentai! HENTAI! Get out of our pools!"
"Yeah, you shouldn't be here!" Sachi snapped. "Your half of the pool is over there!"
"H-E-N-T-A–"
"Hey – hey!" the irritated boy shouted, interrupting Mika, who glowered at him. "In case you stupid girls haven't noticed, the fence is right there–" he gestured with one hand behind them "–so, clearly, you bakas are trespassing on our pools."
"Hentai!" Mika snapped in response.
"What were you doing to Kikuchi-chan?" Sazuki demanded, red-faced. Whether that was from the steam, or from the fact that a boy was in her presence while she was wearing nothing but a towel, Akane couldn't tell. Glancing around the group, she noticed all the girls were quite red-faced.
"I wasn't doing anything!" he snapped, his blue eyes glowering. "She shouldn't have come in here!"
"You shouldn't have touched her!" Sachi cried accusingly.
"I didn't!" he yelled back.
"You think just because you're a Shirogane you can get away with anything!" Sachi shouted, infuriated. "But you're not going to get away with molesting Kikuchi-chan! We're going to report you!"
"But I didn't do anything, you stupid wench!" the dark haired boy growled, clearly frustrated. "It was her fault! Now get outta our pools before I report you and all your stupid little girly friends for trespassing!"
They glared at each other for a moment, all the other girls feeling suddenly self-conscious in the presence of a half-dressed male, and then snapped their gazes away childishly.
"Come on, Kikuchi-chan," Sachi huffed, putting an arm around the girls' shoulders and gently leading her away. "We won't let him touch you again."
She shot a glower over her shoulder – which Kiseki accompanied with a poking out of her tongue – and the boy glared after them, his arms folded across his bare, muscular chest.
"Ooh, the nerve of him!" Sachi grumbled, stomping around dorm seventeen in her pyjamas. She suddenly stopped, threw her head forward and ruffled her hair with a towel, bending over her knees. She threw her head back, her short wet hair falling around her chin.
"He didn't hurt you did he?"
Akane shook her head, staring at her hands, which rested in her lap. Her eyes flicked along the prints of her pyjamas, her long caramel hair dripping down her back.
"He didn't molest you?" Sachi demanded, still fuming.
Akane shook her head again, her stomach squirming with humiliation. Sazuki patted her hand comfortingly, sensing her unease.
"Don't worry," she whispered kindly. "It'll be okay."
"And he definitely didn't touch you?" Sachi continued ranting. Akane didn't reply. What could she say? Technically he had touched her, but not with any ill-intent, she was sure. And telling Sachi that he'd come anywhere near her would cause nothing but trouble for him, she knew that much. She couldn't bring herself to bring him any ill-fortune, not after he'd saved her like that.
Well, it wasn't as if she was actually drowning or anything, but he'd saved her nonetheless, and for that she was grateful, even if the next time she saw him she'd probably throw herself in front of a bus.
Kiseki's 'thirty-second' argument from earlier in the evening drifted to the front of her mind and she giggled without thinking.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and glanced at her, amazed.
"Kikuchi-chan?" Kiseki asked curiously from where Sazuki had taken to braiding her long, wet blonde hair on the sofa. "What's funny?"
"... Nothing," Akane whispered, embarrassed. Sachi resumed her angry pacing. Sazuki resumed her nimble-fingered weaving of Kiseki's hair. Rin, the black-and-white haired senior who barely left her position on the sofa, continued reading, not even having looked up once from her novel. Umeko was curled up on one of the bunks, engrossed in a glossy magazine.
Another joined their party, heading in from the kitchen with two steaming mugs.
"Tea?" she offered Akane, who nodded gently, forcing a small smile of thanks. The girl set down the mug and sat down opposite her with the other mug. Akane glanced at her. She was a decidedly pretty girl, with soft, peachy skin and chocolate ringlets that fell to her shoulders, delicate and luscious. Her round, blue eyes were fixed upon Akane's face, and her small, thin-lipped mouth curved up in a friendly smile.
"I'm Migoto Onchou," she said in a sweet, melodic voice. "I don't think we've met yet."
Akane shook her head slowly.
"Oh, of course!" Sachi gasped, whacking a hand to her forehead, as if just remembering something. "Onchou-san, this is Kikuchi Akane, our new transfer student. Akane-chan, Migoto-san is one of the tenth-graders from the other dorm."
"I'm very pleased to meet you," Onchou said sweetly, still smiling. She toyed with a stray ringlet for a moment, tucking it behind her ear. Akane forced another weak smile.
The dorm door opened suddenly and two girls entered. One was Kasai, who strode in like a supermodel – even her hair looked amazing, and it was still wet from the hot springs!
"... and then she just turned and glanced down at my paper, as if she didn't know I'd have a lower score than her anyway!" she was saying. The laugh that followed was lovely and gentle. She stopped short, realising everyone was looking at her, and she shut the door quietly, smiling beautifully.
"Hello, everyone," she greeted, her icy eyes dazzlingly alluring.
"Who is that?" a sharp, female voice demanded. Clearly it belonged to the girl accompanying Kasai, for she walked out from behind her – no, stalked suited her more. Her misty yellow-green eyes were ringed around the edge of the iris with a dark line of emerald, giving them the appearance of cat eyes. Her full lips pouted a little in what was evidently a frown, her perfect eyebrows pulling down over her large, expressive eyes. She had a small, pointed nose, and flawless, translucently pale skin. Her eyelashes were extremely long and dark. Her hair – short, silky and layered – was platinum blonde, and had been ruffled stylishly in a kind of messy 'do.
She had a figure to die for; that much was clear as she strode gracefully to the table. She wore the uniform excellently, looking as much like a fashion model on the runway as Kasai did a model in a cosmetic commercial.
"Oh, Naomi, this is Kikuchi Akane, our transfer student," Kasai's pleasant voice called from behind them. "Kikuchi-san, this is my friend, Inu Naomi."
"Hi," Naomi said, sounding like she wished she didn't have to speak at all, staring at her with critical eyes. Her gaze flickered away from Akane's shy face, sweeping up and down her figure in one quick, judgemental moment. She sniffed through her nose and turned away.
"Kasai-chan, help me write my History essay," she said in a lazy voice that clearly left no room for discussion, strutting off towards the kitchenette without so much as a glance in the other girls' direction.
"Sure," Kasai called after her. "Is everything okay, Kikuchi-san?"
Akane nodded automatically.
Sachi rolled her eyes.
"No," she corrected. "Akane-chan just got molested by Shirogane." The was a hard edge to her voice. Kasai's lovely ice eyes widened in delicate surprise.
"Not... Shirogane-sensei?" she gasped, shocked. Kiseki giggled.
"No," Sachi replied, allowing a grin at the ludicrous idea. Her expression hardened again. "Shirogane from your grade."
To everyone's surprise, Akane included, Kasai laughed lightly, the sound obviously disbelieving.
"Oh, he wouldn't do anything like that," she said confidently, her tone merry.
"No, you've got the wrong Shirogane," Sachi explained. Kasai's pretty smile faded a little.
"Oh... Well, I don't know about the other Shirogane," she replied, her voice lower. "I don't really know what he's like."
"Kasai?" Naomi's demanding voice called from the other dorm.
"I'm coming!" the blue-black haired beauty called back. "Sorry, we'll have to discuss this some other time... I hope you feel better Kikuchi-san."
Akane forced yet another weak smile, and the elder girl left. The whole thing was getting way out of hand. She wouldn't be surprised if, by tomorrow morning, the entire school was gossiping about the incident in the hot springs, during which the young transfer student was sexually abused by one of the boys from the tenth grade...
She had to put an end to the rumours.
"... Excuse me?" she asked timidly, interrupting the silence. Everyone looked at her.
"... How many Shirogane's are there?" she asked curiously.
"Three," Sazuki replied. "There's Shirogane-sensei, and then there's his son, Shirogane Yuki, and his nephew, Shirogane Daisuke. Both boys are in the tenth grade."
Yuki.
Why was that name so familiar to her? Where had she heard it before?
"... So... which...?" she trailed off awkwardly.
"Daisuke," Sachi answered. Akane pictured his strikingly blue eyes clearly in her memory, a strange familiarisation tugging at her mind, like she knew them from somewhere else; like she'd seen them before.
"Alright," a smooth, unexpected voice said, interrupting the conversation. "Someone explain right now what in the world has happened to cause the entire class of ninth grade females to gossip incessantly in their dorms."
Yume dragged open the wardrobe door with one graceful sweep of her long-fingered hand, slipping off her black and pink blazer and hanging it swiftly on a coat hanger. She turned back to the stunned girls, her expression impatient.
"Someone start talking."
"Oh... uh..." Sachi stumbled over her words. The black-haired, golden-eyed Cyniclon, Momoka, materialised on one of the sofas, and she turned her mysterious eyes to Akane, as if she knew the whole story already.
"Yume-san," she said lightly, her voice like silk. "Let it be. We'll talk later."
Yume turned back to the wardrobe, taking out a set of satin lavender pyjamas and disappearing on the spot. They heard the bathroom door lock, explaining her whereabouts.
"God you guys startle me," Sazuki complained, for the second time that day. Onchou laughed merrily, swilling the remains of her tea around in her mug, watching the water swirling with thoughtful midnight-blue eyes.
"Have you finished your tea, Kikuchi-san?" she asked presently, dragging Akane out of her thoughts. The shy girl nodded and rose from her seat.
"Oh, don't worry – I'll take it," Onchou protested immediately, taking the mug from her thin fingers.
"... Thank you," Akane murmured softly. "It was lovely."
"My pleasure." Onchou flashed another friendly smile and headed into the kitchenette.
"It's almost curfew," Yume said, hanging her uniform up in her wardrobe (Sazuki sighed again, rubbing her hands over her eyes). "Everyone start getting ready for bed."
Without another word, she disappeared again, her destination this time a mystery to everyone.
"So, Kikuchi-chan," Sazuki said, turning curious hazel eyes to Akane. "What actually happened at the hot spring?"
Akane stared at her hands again, wondering how to word her answer.
"... Nothing... Terrible," she replied quietly, not looking at any of them.
"But still bad?" Sachi guessed from the tone in her voice. Akane didn't answer.
"What did he do you, Akane-chan?" Kiseki asked in a loud whisper, her eyes wide like she was listening to a ghost story around a campfire.
"... Nothing," Akane whispered. They all blinked in confusion.
"But... I thought..." Sachi trailed off, eyebrows knitting over her eyes.
"You weren't hurt?" Sazuki asked, eyes wide. Akane shook her head, blushing.
"I'm confused, Akane-chan," Kiseki announced.
"Well, whatever it was, isn't it kind of obvious that she doesn't really want to talk about it?" Umeko spoke from where she was sitting on Sazuki's bed. It was the first thing she'd said since they'd gotten back. She glanced up at them with a pointedly disapproving frown.
"You're right," Sachi sighed. "Sorry, Akane-chan. I bet you're exhausted."
"Yes, and it's now after curfew," Yume agreed (everyone wondered exactly when it was she'd returned, but quickly dismissed the thought), walking over to the door and opening it for someone. "So everyone go to bed. Now... That includes you, Rin-sama."
The black and white haired girl extracted herself from the sofa without removing her eyes from the page and strode away to the other dorm, Umeko shortly behind her.
"'Night, everyone," she called.
"Goodnight!" they all chorused in farewell. Sazuki rose from the table and ran her hands through her brown hair, making her way over to the bunk she shared with Emiko. Through the dorm door came the chocolate-skinned senior Akane had hardly seen. She shut the door behind her and turned to look around, her face tired-looking.
"Being a senior sucks," she yawned, and Kiseki grinned, her lunchtime revelation having just been confirmed. The dark-skinned girl pulled off her jacket and tossed it unceremoniously in the direction of her wardrobe. Her dark, almond-shaped eyes caught sight of Akane as she got up from her seat at the table.
"Oh, hi, Kikuchi-san," she greeted in pleasant surprise. "How was your first day?"
Akane smiled a little at her but said nothing.
"That bad, was it?" Madar guessed, her deep voice rich and strangely soothing. She chuckled heartily. "It'll get better."
"... Thanks," Akane murmured softly.
"Nakamura, Sato, Kikuchi – bed!" Yume commanded silkily, disappearing again. They heard her voice talking in the adjoining dorm and Akane scurried to the bunk beside the window, clambering under the covers, eager to avoid trouble. It had found her enough that day.
"Goodnight, Akane-chan," Sachi's impish face grinned cheekily at her. She climbed the ladder and the bunk shuddered as she made herself comfortable in the bed above the shy girl.
"... Goodnight, Sachi-chan," Akane whispered, so softly she could barely hear herself.
"Sleep well everyone!" Sazuki said merrily, to which Kiseki replied, "Night-night!" and skipped from the room.
A few moments later, Kasai strode in from the other dorm, and Madar flicked off the light. Akane stared at the planks across the base of the bunk above her, waiting for her eyes to grow used to the darkness. She heard Madar climbing into bed, and the sofa was empty, which meant Momoka was also in bed. The wardrobe door slid open again, and Akane could make out Yume's tall, slender form in the shadows.
A sudden though hit her and she rolled over. The bed beside her was empty.
Tanaka Emiko wasn't there.
"Goodnight, everybody," Yume's silky voice said from the next bunk over, and Akane wondered why it was acceptable for Emiko to be absent. Was it something normal?
A heavy silence fell over dorm seventeen as, one by one, the girls it housed began to fall asleep. Akane listened to the varied breathing of her dorm-mates – light, heavy, shallow, deep – and ticked off the names in her head, pleased that she could remember all their names.
Sachi, Sazuki, Emiko, Kasai, Momoka, Yume, Madar. And herself.
The first school day at Mew Academy drew to a close.
Did I mention earlier that I kind of disliked this chapter?
Well, I did. Disliked it, I mean. Just to clarify that. So if you disliked it, so did I!
I shan't write much here, since I wrote so much in the pre-A/N. Might I just say here, though, that I really like Yume. She's so rad, don't you think? I love how she just appears and disappears everywhere! -grins-
And Emiko... tee-hee. She's my personal Hermione Granger slash Aizawa Minto. Has anyone else picked up on that? She's a perfect mixture of the two! Except, at the same time, she's neither. She's EMIKO! -winks-
Baha-ha-ha!
Read and review, lovelies!
From this point on, the story will flow faster :)
Until the next update,
Cherrie-Sakura
xoxo
