•[•]•[•] Noire [•]•[•]•
A few more weeks had passed, and the transfers had acquired their exam results, mine being valid for the attendance of Ksugakari High. Meanwhile, the situation of me telling Hiroshi about the progression of the rejuvenation of my powers had been left untouched and postponed. Not much had happened after Uni and Masaki left our residence, leaving Hiroshi and I to prepare for the first day of high school. The remainder of the time had passed uneventfully, the relaxation of summer dwindling down by the hour.
"Noire, are you nervous about your first day at a high school?" Hiroshi gives me a sideways glance, his hand holding his suitcase full of materials being slung over his shoulder casually while his other hand had made it's way into his pant pocket.
"Wh-what do you mean, 'nervous'? I've already been to the high school, and I've been a part of a movie club in another high school in the past where there were zombies… b-but that's besides the point! Forget I even said anything, idiot!" I huff and turn my head away from Hiroshi, my twintails smacking his gaze as he lets out a defeated sigh before focusing ahead of him as we continue walking down the road to Ksugakari High.
"Whatever you say, you stubborn tsundere." I turn my head to glare at Hiroshi when I suddenly hear a voice shouting behind us.
"Yoooooooooooooooo! Hiroooooooooooshiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" It sounded like a male's voice as it gradually grew closer and closer to the two of us.
"Is that-" Hiroshi turns around to suddenly be tackled by a blur of Ksugakari's color scheme: black, blue and white.
"It's been so long! It feels like it has been years since I've seen you last!" He lets out an over-exaggerated whimper as he gets up, flashing a smile down at his friend (victim?), Hiroshi.
"It hasn't been that long, Tatsuya! A month isn't too bad, plus I haven't been able to hang out with you because of an old friend of mine decided to come in and crash into my house." Does he mean that figuratively or literally? I think to myself as I watch the two men converse.
"And who might that be? How long has it been since you've seen him?" Tatsuya rests his elbow on Hiroshi's shoulder; Tatsuya was probably a good five inches taller than Hiroshi.
"Her actually." Hiroshi corrects Tatsuya, who stands up straight, a surprised look creeping up onto his face, forming a raised eyebrow. He then turns to me and places a hand on my shoulder, making my face burn red in embarrassment. "This is Noire, my friend from way back when. Practically back in the dark ages of elementary school!" I'm guessing that Hiroshi met Tatsuya in middle or high school. A-and who said the idiot could touch me like that so casually!? I think to myself as he introduces me to Tatsuya.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Noire! I'm Tatsuya Fubojiyashi! I hope we're able to get along during the time that we will be together!" He holds out a hand with a surprising sense of formality. Shaking his hand in response, I give him a smile.
"The pleasure is mine. Likewise." I introduce myself to Tatsuya, turning to Hiroshi who finally decides to take his hand off of my shoulder.
"Now that we have introduced ourselves to each other, shall we head to school?" Hiroshi smiles at the two of us and we both nod, following Hiroshi as he makes his way down the road to my future high school.
•[•]•[•] Hiroshi [•]•[•]•
"J-just how long does that man have to speak for!?" Noire lets out a groan as she stretches her arms above her head.
I let out a laugh and slip my hands into my pocket. "It's your typical 'first speech of the school year about technicality' type of thing in high school."
"And you're expected to stay awake through all four hours of his lecture?" She retorts.
"Well we did end up listening to his speech without taking a nap." I look down at Noire, who sighs and pulls a slip of paper out of her pocket.
"Hey, we're supposed to go to our third period class, right?" Noire looks back at me and I nod, looking over her shoulder to see which class she would be headed to next. Math.
"Yeah. We share the same class so you can just follow me. Math is going to be our homeroom teacher; Mr. Jameson. He teaches all math levels from algebra one to calculus, so he's going to be your teacher for the next two years." I begin to head down the hall, towards his classroom, hearing the "tap tap tap" of Noire's shoes as she catches up with me.
As we turn the corner, I receive a couple of "hello's" and your typical greetings from people whom you haven't seen in a couple months. Noire follows my lead, briefly introducing herself to her schoolmates around her as we pass by each classroom. Glancing down at Noire, I find her eyes flicking to each sign that was hung just above the room, which relayed which class was beyond the sliding doors. Typical of Noire, taking note of everything in the school. I hope she doesn't stress herself out about walking into the wrong class.
"Welcome to your new homeroom." I slide open the door, revealing your typical classroom with rows of wooden, singular desks, windows that revealed the sports proportion of the campus, and the chalkboard that was hung on the front of the room. In front of the chalkboard was a man sitting on a reclining chair, his legs crossed over one another as he flips a page of a manga.
"Wow…" Noire steps inside, a smile plastered on her face. "I know that this isn't something to get excited about, but being inside of a school building, just like in those ani-" she cuts herself off with a slight cough, but then goes on. "Is so exhilarating."
"Is it now?" Mr. Jameson, the man on the reclining chair, closes his book, making Noire and I turn to him. "Funny you mention anime, girl. I came here because of my obsession of anime. You know those typical teachers who are just so boring and dull in the school scenes, all of the students are so one-dimensional while the main character has bright pink hair or somethin' like that? The reason why I wanted to become a teacher was to change the way that people perceived the teacher and the other students to be: dull and boring. I wanted to make the whole class lively and full of distinct personalities that everyone recognizes! Now you, young lady, are going to be enhanced through my class to become a better, and more interesting person than you already have been, you hear me?"
"Y-Yes, sir!" Noire awkwardly bows and I could feel the tension pulsating off of her.
"I-Is she okay? Do ya think I scared her?" Mr. Jameson points down at Noire, whose face had turned a bright red.
Patting Noire on the back, making her let out a small yelp of surprise, I let out a sigh. "Don't worry, Noire. He's not going to kill you! He's one of the most chill people I've ever met in my life. You've already experienced it firsthand; he was reading manga before we came here and continued to read his manga while his students came in." I shoot a glare at Mr. Jameson, receiving a shaky laugh out of him.
"I-I was at an interesting part of the storyline is all!" He scratches the back of his head before walking back to his desk where he slips the manga into a drawer. "By the way, you noirette, I'm only calling you by vague descriptions and not by your name because you're going to introduce yourself to the class, you hear me?"
"O-Of course, Mr. Jameson." She then leans over to me. "Wh-where do I sit?"
"Anywhere is fine. I wouldn't choose the front row though." I proceed to choose the desk on the third row, furthest to the left so that I could feel the breeze of the wind as well as see the scenery of the sports field where students began to stretch in preparation of their routine. Setting an elbow onto the table and resting my chin on the palm of my hand, I watch as Noire hooks her schoolbag onto the table to my right before she sits down.
"Are you sure nobody is going to get mad at me for sitting here?" She anxiously glances back and forth, as if waiting for someone to do exactly as she had presumed to happen.
"Calm down, Noire. You're stressing out over the smallest of problems that might not even occur! It's fine. This is one of the safest places you'll ever be in and soon enough, you're gonna be best friends with everyone else in this school." I grin and reach over to pat Noire on the head, making her blush and sit up straight in her chair.
"Wh-what are you talking about, you idiot? Of course I'm going to be comfortable here…" she then rambles on to say something incomprehensible.
...
The day progressed with hardly any trouble, mainly just introducing Noire to her fellow classmates, as well as a few of my friends from the past year and even middle or elementary school. Mr. Jameson, from Noire's perspective, was annoying through the way that she couldn't stand him treating her like the way he did:
"That idiot can't just tell me anything that he wants to!" Noire huffs and takes a frustrated bite out of her sandwich. "I'm going to show that American who's boss!"
"He's the teacher, you idiot. Don't get carried away." I let out a sigh before taking a sip of my ramen broth. "Soon enough you'll come to enjoy him; it's his personality. It's either you hate him for a solid year, or you can accept his personality and go with the flow."
"You of all people shouldn't be telling me what to do either!" She glares at me, but proceeds to eat her lunch.
"Why's that? I technically have every right to tell you what you need to look out for and whatnot." I refute, making her stop in mid-bite.
"S-so? That doesn't mean that I can…" Noire trails off, attempting to figure out a retort to my comment.
"I believe that I've made my point." I blatantly state, slurping a bit of noodles as I do so.
Other than that, Noire seemed fine with the environment of the school. The teachers, except for Mr. Jameson in Noire's opinion, were fine, the social environment was very eco-friendly and a lot of people had immediately introduced themselves to Noire, unfortunately for Noire, she was slightly overwhelmed by the amount of friendliness and socialization towards her. Her only criticism towards the school is how and what they serve for their food, for she claims that they "don't live up to her expectations", my refutation being that "homemade cooking is always better than cooking from anywhere else."
It was our last period of the day, which ended up being a session where we would explore the campus in order to figure out which club we'd like to partake in for the year. Uni, Noire and I had ended up walking together in a small group, wandering around the campus in search for a suitable club.
Examining the sports clubs, I briefly skimmed through the information displayed on posters or imagery as we walked by each of the club stands. I feel a tug at the sleeve of my shirt, making me stop and look down at Noire, who has her attention focused towards one of the booths.
Turning my attention towards what Noire had been focused on, I find myself staring at a booth that read "Extradimensional Dispersion". Glancing between Noire and the stand, I attempt to comprehend as to how Noire was able to find herself occupied by the subject.
"You wanna check out that stand, Noire?" I look at Noire, who turns back to me with a confident nod, walking up to the girl managing the booth. Her appearance was screaming "green!": she was dressed in quite a fancy design of clothing; an attire that you would find in a catholic school, except with the color scheme of light greens, yellow and white. She has her blonde hair, that fell down just about to her waist, tied up in a pair of green ribbons, complimenting her ocean blue eyes that sparkled as she watched us approach the booth.
"Are you three interested in the Extradimensional Dispersion club?" She happily advertises her club to us.
"Y-yes, if you don't mind us having a sneak peek as to what this club is about." I hear Noire speak up, her fingers fumbling in her hands as she speaks.
"Of course I don't mind!" She then claps her hands together with a smile before continuing. "In this club, we will be introduced to the research of if there really are extra dimensions, or if we are the only dimension in Earth! Although, I'm not supposed to tell anyone, I've found out about someone spreading rumors about a discovered dimension called 'Gamindustri'-" It was at that moment when Noire let out a gasp, Uni as well but less obvious.
"D-did you just say Gamindustri?" She slams her hands on the table, making the poor girl step back anxiously.
"Y-yes, I did mention Gamindustri. Why are you asking?"
"Hiroshi, Uni," She looks between the two of us and the blondie. "We're joining this club."
"We are!?" Uni and I exclaim in unison, making nearby people give us awkward stares.
"Yes. It is essential that the three of us are to join the Extradimensional Dispersion club!"
"U-Um…" the girl in front of us looks between the three of us before handing us three slips of paper, debating whether she regretted giving the slip of recognition that we had joined the club. "W-welcome to the Extradimensional Dispersion club!"
"Thank you so much!" Noire's eyes flash with joy as she smiles and holds out her hand. "I'm Noire. This is my sister, Uni, and my… f-friend, Hiroshi." Noire awkwardly introduces the two of us to the girl, who introduces herself in response.
"I'm Vii! The pleasure is mine." She does a little courtesy in front of us and exits her booth to shake her hand with the three of us. "Would you three like to follow me?"
"Don't you need to monitor your booth? It doesn't look like anyone but you is there to advertise the club." I speak up, making Vii look at me with a smile.
"Don't worry about it! You three should be the only ones joining anyway." Leaving questions in my head to pester her with, I decide to keep silent as she directs us to follow her to the club room.
As we approach the room, the appearance of the outside of the room didn't seem too fishy, only a sign attached to the door was visible, reading, "Welcome to the Extradimensional Dispersion Club Room!" Watching as Vii knocks onto the door thrice, a small creek of the door sounds, opening up and revealing a somewhat small room.
Taking a step into the room, I take a brief glance around the room. A set of tables that had been pushed together had built a larger table which provided enough seats for us to sit on. Lined around the walls were posters of graphs, charts and research theories in very disorganized fashion, making me shudder as I felt my OCD perk up. Hearing something shift to our right, the three of us catch the noise and turn to the source of the sound.
The one who had made the noise was a woman with long, purple braids and messy bangs, two clips in the form of D-pads were in her hair as well, dressed in a black, business suit.
Just as I was about to speak up, Noire intervenes before me, her voice expressing emotions of confusion and unexpectancy.
"NEPTUNE!? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"
Hey, everyone! Is it just me, or is anyone else surprised about Neptune's appearance. Especially in her HDD form!? Like what!? Sorry for the update...after nearly a month of waiting. Spring break is here for me, meaning one week to focus on the progression of this story! I should have enough plot to supply a month or two of content if everything goes according to plan.
How was the plot twist at the end? Did ya expect Neptune to make an appearance within the plot? I mean, she did say earlier, during one of those early chapters, that she was going to make another appearance sooner or later, but in her HDD form was a little surprising. At least it'll provide new ideas and motivation to continue the story!
Thank you nonetheless for continuing to support me even though I'm not able to post as consistently as I would like to be! Have an amazing day! :)