Chapter 9: Real Sword or Not - Pt. 1

Previously on The Hiraga Twins…

Chibi Atsuko returned to normal with a tick mark and a twitching eyebrow. Smacking lips, Atsuko crossed her arms and looked away with a small frown. "Yeah, well, okay! But, like, j-just start the lesson alre- Wait! You agreed?!"

In response to the caramel-brunette's flabbergasted expression, Katie sent her a deadpanned look. "Well, I'm still sitting here with you, with writing tools on the table, and a somewhat complete lesson planned laid out in my head… so, yes, I would suppose that means that I agreed. Now," she waved a hand at the open book, paper, and quills on the table, "Can we start already?"

Pushing through her surprise, Atsuko nodded.

Silently, the girls prepared their material when the older teen spoke up, although never really looking at the younger one. "Hey, Miss Ortega?"

Katie glanced at the older girl and she could see that she was blushing ever so slightly as she played with a piece of her side-bangs. 'Cute.' "Yes, Miss Hiraga?"

The older brunette quietly gulped. "Um… T-thank you… for helping me with this. So, yeah! Thank you!"

The younger girl blinked thrice times before a soft smile appeared. "You are very welcome, Miss Atsuko."

ThirdP.O.V. (Atsuko)

It was evident that it was already late into the evening when Katie decided to stop the lesson for that night. Apparently, Katie had her work cut out for her. Initially she had thought that perhaps the young Valliere would have bothered to at least read simple words, like food names, animals, other people's names, "hello", "goodbye"— hell, maybe even "fuck off" if she'd allowed it— but, nope, that didn't happen.

Anyway, with the lesson done for the night, Katie started to pack up her stuff while Atsuko waited for her to walk her back to her dorm. While the Noble girls settled her papers, the caramel-brunette was looking out the window, wondering if she should go back in town to buy that hairpin she had seen.

'If the flower was a different color, it'd match perfectly with Miss Ortega,' Atsuko groaned to herself quietly. 'But Void-day is essentially this worlds' "Sunday", so it'll be at least another seven days before me, Sai-chan, and the Shrimp could go.'

Noticing that Katie was ready to leave now, Atsuko walked over and followed. The small bespectacled bluenette, Tabitha, was still sitting at the front table of the floor but now had Kirche sitting with her. Although it looked more like she was asleep rather than reading. The older brunette made a quick stop at their table.

"Miss Tabitha?"

The quiet blue girl looked up from the book she was reading and spoke softly, "Yes?"

Atsuko nodded to herself before speaking. "I'm not sure if you remember me, but my name is Atsuko Hiraga, Saito's older twin. I merely want to thank you for saving me from getting a concussion from that nasty fall on our first day here."

Behind Atsuko, Katie looked at the older brunette with a confused look. 'How did Miss Atsuko know it was Miss Tabitha in the first place?'

The petite bluenette must have wondered the same thing considering that she asked her question in a soft voice. "How did you know it was me and no one else?"

Atsuko replied bluntly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Well, it's because of your staff. You are literally the only student here who has a staff—" then the brunette seemed to think about something. "Or at least was given permission to even have a staff within the academy. Although, I'm not entirely sure if you can do wind magic, or if that was just a fluke spell for all I know."

Katie suddenly felt the inexplicable urge to facepalm the moment she heard that and saw that one of Tabitha's brow twitch. 'Please, Miss Atsuko— stop talking.' Unless one wants to be on the business end of a Mage's wand (or in this case, staff), then you do not question someone's ability in magic. So, instead of visibly facepalming herself, Katie settled for the next best thing: shaking her head and sighing in what might be similar to disappointment.

Atsuko heard that sigh, looked back at the younger brunette then back at the sitting bluenette. A light bulb went off. 'Oh! … whoops.' She waved her hands in front of herself, shaking her head. "Oh! I didn't mean anything by that! I just don't really know you or your skills enough to really say 'without a doubt'! You know what I mean?"

Tabitha frowned slightly, starting to think about it, then nodded. At that moment, the previously sleeping Kirche made herself known, her somehow-sultry-for-her-age voice wafting in. "Well, since you have just explained your reasoning for your wording, which is lucky for you that this is Tabitha we are talking about, let me give you a piece of advice regarding Mages and their Magic; You best be careful. Mages are very particular about their Magic. If you are trying to call bluff on a Mage's skill, then you best be either a Mage yourself or at least actually know that other Mage on a somewhat personal level. If you are calling bluff as a Commoner, then you better have someone backing you up in fire power. Most Noble Mages wouldn't think twice before 'disciplining' a Commoner for 'stepping out of line'."

At that, navy blues met brown golds and despite the teasing smile dancing on her red-painted lips, Atsuko could see a strong seriousness painting her eyes. That she was not kidding. Katie frowned. Not because she wanted to defend themselves as Nobles, but because she wished that wasn't true.

'Goddess… I wish I wasn't born with Noble blood…'

After that talk with Kirche and Tabitha, the brunette duo left the library in silence, taking the longer way back to the dorm at the older teen's request. Mostly on Atsuko's part, thinking what the worst could be if she 'went' up against a true Noble.

'Dead.' Quick and truthful. No matter how much this very thought both disturbed and annoyed Atsuko, this was very real. If her and Saito's first 'confrontation' with a Noble hadn't been with Guiche, then it was most likely that either one of them or both would have ceased to exist. "I'd be dead."

The caramel-brunette hadn't realized that she had said that just loud enough for Katie to hear. Although just barely. Katie looked up at the older girl with a confused and slightly frightened, her voice tight. "What?"

Atsuko, not looking Katie's way, shook her head. The 'fog' she had become accustomed to for the last three years was quietly beginning to get heavier. "It's nothing. Just a thought."

By this time, the two girls had already reached the lobby of their dorm tower with Atsuko standing towards the stairs and Katie's body facing the stair-less hallway. Both teens face one another, already several feet apart with Atsuko up a couple of steps. Looking down at the only first year Noble she might not be totally standoff-ish with, Atsuko and Katie bed each other goodnight.

Just as Atsuko was about to enter the hallway at the top of the stairs, Katie had called out to the older girl. "Miss Atsuko?" The older brunette stopped and looked down at the young Noble, a single brow. Katie seemed to fidget a bit before gathering her bearings. "Will you ever tell me if something is bothering you?"

Atsuko knew deep down that Katie is a kind person, but she reprimanded herself that she doesn't really know her, not enough to go to her when she's having problems. So, lifting the corners of her lips into a small, not unkind smile, the caramel brunette answered with a tinge of regret (something she'll recognize later). "I'm afraid that I will not be able to do that with you… just yet. Good night, Miss Ortega."

Atsuko wasn't within even three feet of the shared dorm room's door, when she heard an absurdly loud screeching of two girls arguing… over one boy…

The caramel brunette twin sighed as she shook her head, thinking to herself that this new life was suspiciously beginning to feel like one of those isekai-harem anime that she would catch Saito watching every now and then. 'I really do not have the emotional and mental capacity to deal with that sort of crap tonight…' then she thought about it as she stood before the door, grimacing, '... or tomorrow … or ever…'

Taking a breath, Atsuko knocked, or rather, pounded on the door and called out to the people she knows are in the room. "Lil' Lady? Saito? It's me, Atsuko." She waited a bit until the door opened and saw it was her little brother.

He opened the door with a relieved grin on his face, his own navy eyes shining like stars. "Astu-nee-chan! Thank God it's you! Get in!"

Walking in, Atsuko realized that there were currently two visitors in the room. Said visitors were the two girls from earlier, one being the red-headed Kirche and the other being the small bespectacled bluenette Tabitha. The silent girl turned to Atsuko, nodding her hello's before returning her attention to her book at hand. Kirche, on the other hand, was at a standoff with their pinkette Master. Louise was scowling while the red-head bombshell was smirking like she was winning at something.

A single brown brow ticked. "What are they screeching about right now?"

Her brother rubbed the back of his neck, making the same grimacing face like Atsuko did earlier. "Um… they're arguing about the swords."

"Swords? As in plural? But the Lil' Lady only bought you one."

Saito pointed in the direction of the bed. Atsuko's eyes followed his finger and saw that there were indeed two swords instead of one. One sword was the rusty, nearly scrap metal sword that was leaning against the wall in its sheath and the other was a rather fancy one, its handle, guard, and white sheath embellished with gold resting on Louise's bed.

"Oh." Atsuko tiredly looked at the two proud bickering girls as Kirche started up again. "I heard this sword was a masterpiece from Germania. The best swords and women come from there. There's no way a Tristan woman like you can hope to compete!"

The brunette's brows furrowed as she silently circled around the girls to get to the bed, where the swords were at. Her twin followed closely behind.

"Hmph!" Louise humphed as she returned a rebuttal, with a scowling grin and red face. "I'm sure you just flirted with so many men in Germania that no one bothered to deal with you any more! And that's why you came to study abroad in a neighboring country!"

Atsuko had picked up the fancy sword at this point and nearly dropped it on her foot when she heard that, wincing. She would have looked back at the two Noble girls to see them pointing wands at one another, if it weren't for something about the sword that caught her attention. 'What the…? The weight distribution… it's off?' She was completely ignoring what had just gone on, what with Tabitha using her wind magic to take away their wands. She also ignored the two bickering girls quickly walking up to her and Saito, although she did catch Kirche saying something about letting Saito decide on something.

"Let Saito decide? On what? Which sword he wants to keep? That's stupid. He's going to want to keep both. A pretty ornament display and a rusty sword that we both know can be re-polished and sharpened. That's stupid."

Atsuko, bless her logical self, didn't realize she had said that out loud. That is until Saito whimpered, "Atsu-nee-chan?"

She didn't glance at her brother as her eyes were fixated on the blade she had dubbed as ornamental, annoyed at how the red-head thought it would be a good idea for Saito to bring that thing in a fight. It would break easily with enough pressure. "Hmm? What, Saito?"

She heard her brother gulp in fear. "I-I don't, uh, I don't think this is a simple problem about swords…"

Atsuko snorted. "Of course not. They want you to pick the sword in representative of them so that they could have some sort of validation!" The older twin shook her head, not really understanding the logic behind letting someone else say that you are valid. "Stupid. Having a guy validate you."

The older twin, so caught up in both the swords and the girls sense of pride, didn't realize that their Master had become the Pink-Haired Medusa and Kirche a Red-Hair Oni, their red glowing eyes glaring at the older girl. In fact, she had her back to them. Saito, having fallen on his behind, whimpered and crawled backwards away from the three girls. Each raising a fist, the Noble Mage students hit Atsuko on the back of her head, making her yelp as she fell forward on the bed while making sure that she didn't land on the golden blade.

"AH! Bitch!" Atsuko cried out, rubbing the tender backside of her head as she turned over on the bed, scowling and hissing at the presumptuous Nobles. "What the fuck was that for?!"

Said girls ignored the older twin as they face each other once more, Kirche starting it all up again. "This is as good a chance as any to tell you: I hate you! More than that, I hate everything about you!"

Louise smirked. "Then we have something in common, because I detest you!"

Then they challenged each other to a duel. Atsuko made a face from where she now sat on the bed, Saito stuttering at the ridiculousness. "S-seriously? H-hey, c'mon guys, this is getting out of hand—"

Out of nowhere, a voice that sounded like it was echoing in a tin can called out to them all. "HEY! Shut up, stupid women!"

Unfortunately, that voice seemed like it was coming from somewhere around Saito, which was bad luck for him because it caused a misunderstanding between him and the proud girls. Saito knew he was in for a world of hurt. Atsuko paled and winced for his sake.

At the same time, Louise and Kirche slowly turned their faces towards him.

Kirche echoed in disbelief, "Stupid?"

"What did you say?" Louise questioned Saito with a deadly look.

"N-no! Wait! It wasn't me!"

Atsuko called out, "It really wasn't him!"

Just as the two girls were about to dish out some misunderstood punishment, Tabitha, who had stayed silent as she was observing the entire situation, spoke up from where she sat on the bed near Atsuko. "The sword."

"Huh?"

Everyone calmed down just enough for Saito to reach for the rusty sword and pulled it from its sheath. There was a piece of metal wrapped around the blade just after the guard and it began to move up and down like a mouth flapping lips.

"I was taking a nice nap and ya woke me up!"

Atsuko narrowed her eyes at the talking sword as Saito mumbled about whether or not he was going crazy, possibly hoping that the sword's ability to talk was a figment of his imagination. She then glared at the gold sword laying in between her and Tabitha.

"I'm surprised! You've got an awfully silly face for someone who's a User!" Atsuko, even though she wanted to be serious regarding the swords, slapped her hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing. "Yeah, no wonder I had to wake up!"

Saito was glaring at his older twin, still struggling to not laugh out loud, when he heard that last part. "Wait. A User? What is that?"

Kirche, still dumbfounded, asked, "Isn't that an Intelligent Sword? A sword that contains its own wisdom?" She then glanced at the pinkette next to her with her single visible brown eye, smirking. "You sure know how to pick strange stuff to buy."

"I didn't know a thing about it!" Louise had replied indignantly. "I'm going to return this creepy thing as soon as I can!"

The rusty sword gone off asking questions, like what year was it (How that fuck are we suppose to know? We're not from here!) and where were they (I think Louise said the something-something of Tristain…). At this point, Atsuko was no longer trying not to laugh and was smiling drowsily at her younger brother as he laughed, saying he'll take that one.

'Good.' Atsuko nodded in agreement, although for a different reason. Saito had introduced himself to the sword, Atsuko going after him and the sword responding in kind.

"I'm Saito." His twin moved to sit down next to them.

"And I'm Atsuko, Saito's older twin sister."

"I'm Derflinger. Nice to meet ya, Brother and Sister!"

As Louise whimpered about how the weird things seemed to be only happening to her, Atsuko returned her glaring to the fancy "ornamental" sword still on the bed. Standing up, she went over and picked it up and held it before Derflinger with a serious expression on her face.

"Pleasantries aside—Derflinger, I have a favor."

"What is it, Sista?"

Saito and the other girls looked on with confusion while Tabitha with interest, Atsuko nodding to the unsheathed golden sword in her hands. "Can you tell if this is a real sword or not?"

[A/N]: I'm not dead... just having a really long 'down' before the ups at the moment. Chapter ten should be finished soon... not gonna post it immediately, but I will... eventually.

Anyway, you probably know the drill: Follow, Favorite, Comment/Review (Constructive Critism only if critising, please), and NO FLAMES! Thank You and take care in this Quarintine Craziness!