Sunshine isn't excited. Not one bit.

"You'll be able to make friends with other children your age," Alice says, for what feels like the fiftieth time this week.

She offers up Sunshine's bag, and Sunshine slides it onto her shoulder. Sunshine doesn't respond to the reassurance.

"Keine is nice," Alice continues. "I'm sure that you'll get along with her."

Sunshine frowns and looks down at the floor.

"And you'll learn a lot of new things."

It's been like this ever since her parents started talking about school again, a week ago. They seem very convinced that she'll like it if she just gives it a chance. Sunshine isn't so sure. An entire day away from her parents sounds like a really long time. All kinds of things could happen in an entire day, and she's supposed to spend all that time with a bunch of strangers?

The morning has been a blur of activity so far—waking up earlier than usual, having breakfast while Alice packed a lunch box for her, and now getting dressed to go out. To add insult to injury, they won't even let her bring her toy sword with her.

Sunshine wants to write her response, but she doesn't have paper handy right now. Reluctantly, she mumbles, "I learn things here."

Marisa makes an attempt. "I bet all the other kids will be really jealous of Ichigo. Probably nobody else has a doll as neat as her."

Sunshine has to admit that that part sounds nice, at least. She glances up to Ichigo, who is hovering expectantly next to her like always. She doesn't really understand why she'd want somebody to be jealous of Ichigo, but she does like the idea of getting to show her to more people. She's proud of Ichigo. Ichigo is a very good doll.

"And, Marisa continues, "if we're goin' into the village for school every day, we can stop by the candy store and stuff sometimes too."

"She's only been eating for a matter of months," Alice says. "You don't need to ruin her diet just yet."

Sunshine cheers up for a moment, until she remembers the caveat: to get that candy, she has to go to school. She frowns and crosses her arms. Her puffy winter coat sleeves make this a little difficult, but she does the best that she can.

"Sunshine," Alice says, and crouches down to eye level with her. "I know that this might seem scary to you right now, but it's important. You know that we wouldn't do anything to hurt you, right?"

Sunshine gives a tentative nod.

"Good. Can you be brave for us?"

"Okay..."

"Thank you." Alice leans in and gives her a kiss on the forehead. "We need to leave soon. Keine is probably waiting on us."

From the air, the human village is a checkerboard of snow-topped buildings, casting long shadows on the muddy streets in the morning sunlight. From her spot on Marisa's broomstick, Sunshine looks down at it uncertainly. Her few prior visits to the village were all fun ones—one time, she bought her sword, and another time, Marisa took her to a restaurant and let her eat a meat bun as big as her head. She still can't help but feel uncomfortable whenever they visit, though. There are a lot of people she's never met here, and the streets are a blur of things she's never seen before.

They swoop down and land in front of the schoolhouse, one of the biggest buildings in the village. Other children are already making their way inside, and in the distance, she can hear barking dogs, merchants shouting about their wares, the clattering of carts, all the sounds of city life. Sunshine wraps her arms around Ichigo and holds the doll protectively to her chest.

They don't follow the other students, though. Marisa leads the way around the building, and they enter through a side door. Inside is a small room, a mess of books and scrolls. A woman is kneeling at a cluttered table in the middle of the room, looking over a stack of papers, and she doesn't even glance up as they enter. "You're ten minutes late," she says distractedly.

"Come on, that's practically the same thing as on time!" Marisa says.

"We're sorry," Alice says, and shoots Marisa a warning glance. "Sunshine was... reluctant to come. We had some delays getting out the door."

"That's understandable. Most children are worried about their first day of school." The woman makes a few marks on the paper at the top of the stack, then looks up from it. Her eyes go right to Sunshine, and she smiles. "You must be Sunshine, right?"

Sunshine is already hiding behind Alice, but she peeks out past her to give a reluctant nod.

"This is Ke—er, Miss Kamishirasawa," Alice says, giving Sunshine a slight push toward her. "She's the head teacher here. Don't worry, she's friendly."

Sunshine scrutinizes the woman. She has a weird hat, but other than that, she looks pretty normal. She has a pretty dress, and it and her hair are blue, which is a pretty color. She doesn't look very scary. Reluctantly, Sunshine eases out from behind Alice. "... hi..."

"Hello, Sunshine. Your parents have told me a lot about you."

Sunshine isn't sure how to respond to that, so she doesn't.

"Would you like to sit down? It's okay if you'd prefer to write instead of talk."

Sunshine nods again, and Miss Kamishirasawa gestures at the spot across the table from her. She hurries over, pulls a notebook out of her new bag, and sits Ichigo on the table before kneeling.

"I have one of my assistants handling the class this morning," Miss Kamishirasawa says, looking up to Alice and Marisa. "I'll need some time with Sunshine to get an idea of where her education stands. If that doesn't turn up any surprises, she can meet the other students and sit through classes this afternoon. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good to me," Marisa says, then hesitates. "Is it alright for me and Alice to hang around until then? You know, for moral support and stuff."

"Sunshine, would you like that?"

Sunshine quickly nods.

"It's settled, then."

Miss Kamishirasawa leafs through a different stack on the table, then pulls out a small book. She opens it up, then gives Sunshine a reassuring smile over it. "I'd like to ask you some questions to find out how much you already know. Does that sound okay?"

Sunshine nods again.

"Can you write your response?"

Sunshine opens her notebook, writes, [YES], and holds it up.

"Very good. Your penmanship is excellent."

Sunshine glances bashfully aside. She's not used to being complimented by strangers. It's a weird feeling, but nice. [THANKS.]

"How about 'dog'? Can you write that?"

Sunshine does, and the questioning continues. Soon, the page is filling with a one-sided record of the conversation. [DOG. YES. WHAT'S THAT MEAN? 10. SIX. FIVE. I DON'T KNOW. NO. TWO.]

It's a back-and-forth dialogue that fills the page with answers, then overflows onto the next. It covers every topic Sunshine's ever thought of, and some that she hasn't. It's a fun challenge, though. Within ten minutes, she forgets her earlier nervousness and leans forward over the notebook, her tongue sticking out the corner of her mouth as she concentrates on her answers. She's still writing her answer to the final question when Keine leans back and announces, "I think I've seen enough."

"Oh?" Marisa's voice comes from somewhere behind Sunshine—at some point, she got so focused on the questioning that she lost track of her parents. That's a first. "How'd she do?"

Miss Kamishirasawa glances down at the paper thoughtfully. "Sunshine, how old are you?"

Sunshine freezes in indecision. After a moment, she looks back to her parents for help.

"That's a... complicated topic," Alice says. "We learned that she was self-aware about five months ago, though."

"... I see. Well, her reading and writing skills are at the level of my second- or third-year students, as is her math. Have you been tutoring her in them?"

"Reading and writing, yes. As for math..." Alice hesitates. "You might say that it comes naturally to her."

"'Naturally'?"

"My dolls all have some basic mathematic skills. If you ask a doll to sew two buttons apiece onto five outfits, you don't want to have to specify that it will need ten buttons."

"She's understood math since her creation, then?"

"The basics, yes. As well as understanding speech. The reading and writing, though, are her own doing."

Miss Kamishirasawa looks stunned for a moment before she remembers to reply. "... well then. Her history knowledge is very basic, but that's the only area where she isn't ahead of my younger students. I feel like she'd fit in well with the second-years."

Marisa says, "Huh, how old is that?"

"Mostly six- and seven-year-olds."

Marisa gives Sunshine a pat on the back. "Hear that? Not bad for a five-month-old."

Sunshine looks up at her in confusion.

"I think that should be a good match, yes," Alice says, looking relieved. "It's the age I had in mind when I crafted her new body."

"Speaking of which..." Miss Kamishirasawa looks back to Sunshine and extends a hand across the table. "Sunshine, can I please see your hand?"

Sunshine looks down at the outstretched hand uncertainly, then hesitantly reaches out and rests her hand in the teacher's palm. Miss Kamishirasawa's hand is almost twice as big as hers, warm and soft. She cups Sunshine's hand in it, then uses her other hand to coax Sunshine's fingers apart. Carefully, she inspects the delicate joints where the segments of her fingers are connected, then nods and releases it. "Thank you."

Sunshine isn't quite sure what that was about, but she's glad it's over. She pulls her hand back and clutches it to her chest. Alice and Marisa, though, are looking on apprehensively. "So?" Marisa says.

"It won't take long for somebody to notice that she isn't human," Miss Kamishirasawa says.

Marisa opens her mouth to interrupt, but Miss Kamishirasawa raises a hand to stop her. "That being said, physical matters aside, she has a human parent. Half-youkai are generally accepted in the village, and I don't see any reason Sunshine should be any different. If anybody would like to complain... well, I'm a therianthrope, myself. I'd like to see them try to make that argument to me. Besides, I've never taught a child who learned to write by the age of five months. It should be an interesting experience."

"Yeah!" Marisa leans forward, and before Sunshine can dodge, gives her hair a double-handed ruffle. "Hear that? You're officially a schoolkid now."

It takes a long time for Sunshine to say goodbye to her parents, mostly because she doesn't want to. She still doesn't like the idea of being left with this woman she just met, in a building full of strangers. They give her several rounds of reassurance and half a dozen hugs apiece, and she's still not comfortable with the idea.

Even so, she soon finds herself being led through the building by Miss Kamishirasawa, with her new notebook held tight to her chest. Ahead of them, she can hear somebody talking. They step through a doorway, and...

The room beyond has more people in it than Sunshine has ever seen at once. More people than she was sure existed, even. There must be two dozen students kneeling on the floor, and at the front of the room, a man is speaking to them. The kids themselves are a wide range of ages, from a bit younger-looking than Sunshine to near-adults. A few of them glance up at her as they enter, and she shrinks back against the wall.

Miss Kamishirasawa has a brief, quiet conversation with the man at the front of the room. He steps aside, and the entire class goes silent as she prepares to speak.

"Good morning, class," she says.

"Good morning, teacher," the students reply in unison.

It is the loudest thing that Sunshine has ever heard. Miss Kamishirasawa doesn't seem daunted, and continues. "We have a new student with us today," she says. "This is Sunshine Margatroid. She will be joining us from now on."

A less coordinated wave of greetings and conversation rises from the students, and after a few seconds, Miss Kamishirasawa raises her hand to quiet it down. "Sunshine will be the first non-human to attend this school. Her mother is an accomplished youkai hunter, and I've personally made sure that she isn't a threat to anybody before admitting her. I'd like you to think of Sunshine as a normal student. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Miss Kamishirasawa," the class replies. Mostly. There are a few whispered, ongoing conversations now.

"Good." Miss Kamishirasawa glances back to Sunshine. "Sunshine, is there anything you'd like to say?"

Sunshine freezes in indecision. She has no idea what to say to so many people.

"What's with the doll?" a child calls from near the back of the room.

Miss Kamishirasawa glances down to Ichigo, sitting on Sunshine's shoulder. "Would you like to introduce your friend?"

This, this is a little less overwhelming. With a simple hand gesture, Sunshine directs Ichigo to hover forward and bow to the class. "Her name is Ichigo," she says quietly.

This draws a more excited round of conversation from the students. Sunshine can't help but feel a little proud. It's just like Marisa said—they can all see what a good doll Ichigo is.

Miss Kamishirasawa raises her hand again. This time, the conversation takes longer to die down, until she gives a pointed glance toward the still-talking students. Only once they're all silent does she turn back toward Sunshine. "Sunshine, the third row has a desk open. Please take a seat. Class will begin soon."

Sunshine nods, but hesitates for a moment before she steps forward. Every student in the room is watching her, and now she has to walk into the middle of the group. She inches her way forward one step at a time until she reaches the front row, then hurries down the aisle. Only once she's behind her desk does she manage to relax, but she can still feel their eyes on her.

Fortunately, Miss Kamishirasawa starts the lesson before long. She tells a long story about a bunch of people who fought at a castle, because they didn't agree on who should run the country. They all had a lot of people helping them, and some of them had guns. After the fight, one of the men was able to take charge of the entire country. The story is interesting, but Miss Kamishirasawa doesn't make all the fun sound effects when she talks about fights, like Marisa does. Sunshine isn't sure why Miss Kamishirasawa is telling them about this, but most of the other children are writing it down, so she does the same thing in her new notebook.

The story goes on for a long time, and it's followed by another story, about all of the things that the man did once he was in charge of the country. Just when Sunshine is getting convinced that class might go on forever, Miss Kamishirasawa glances at the clock and gives a single sharp clap of her hands to get everybody's attention. "That's a good stopping point for now," she says. "Class will resume in an hour and a half."

The room fills with sound as all the students rise from their desks and start rushing out of the building, and Sunshine looks around in confusion. Is it time to go home? She doesn't think her parents are here yet, and she's not sure she can make it all the way back to the house by herself.

There are only a few other students left in the room when Miss Kamishirasawa approaches her. "Sunshine, it's time for lunch. Did your parents pack one for you?"

She nods.

"Good. You have the next hour and a half to do whatever you want. Why don't you eat outside and get to know some of the other children?"

And now she's supposed to go outside, without even having an adult nearby? That sounds pretty scary, too. Even so, Sunshine stands and heads toward the door, and Ichigo pulls the lunch from her bag and follows.

Outside, it's warmed up since the morning. The snow is quickly melting under the sun, and most of the students aren't even bothering with coats. A big crowd of them are heading out the gate into the village, while others are still in the courtyard behind the school, eating, talking in small groups, and playing games. Sunshine decides to stay close, and finds a shaded spot under the school's awning to sit down. She opens her notebook in front of herself, while Ichigo starts unpacking her lunch.

Sunshine's only been drawing for a matter of seconds when a voice interrupts her. "How come your doll can move?"

She glances back over her shoulder. Behind her, two girls are watching curiously as Ichigo lays the chopsticks out next to her lunch. "Um," she says. "Magic."

"Are you a youkai?"

Sunshine turns to face them and shakes her head.

"Come on, you can tell us! Miz Keine said you're not a human, so you've gotta be a youkai, right?"

"Maybe she's a fairy," the other girl says.

"Fairies have wings, stupid!"

"Well, um, my mom said that one time she saw a fairy, and it didn't have any wings."

"That's dumb. I bet she's a ghost or something."

"Nobody'd let a ghost come to school! She'd eat everybody or something, and—"

Sunshine thinks back to the examination that Miss Kamishirasawa gave her. She raises her hands and gives her fingers a demonstrative wiggle.

Both girls instantly go silent, watching them. "Your hands are weird," one says.

Sunshine glances at them. She's never considered this before. Her fingers aren't like her parents', or Reimu's, or Miss Kamishirasawa's, but this is how they've always been. They're not weird at all. She shakes her head again.

A clicking noise on the floor behind her draws Sunshine's attention away. She looks back to find that a boy has grabbed the hem of Ichigo's dress, and the doll is scrabbling against the floor to try escaping. "Stop it...!" Sunshine squeaks.

"I'm just lookin' at her!" the boy says. He doesn't resist as Sunshine tugs Ichigo away and into her lap.

"Her hands are made out of wood," one of the girls informs him, peering at Sunshine curiously.

"I still think she's a fairy," the other says. "Betcha five hundred yen."

"You don't even got five hundred yen!"

"Do too!"

"Nuh-uh!"

Sunshine shrinks back from the three children, until she's up against the wall of the building. She really should just say it—'I'm a doll,' it's not even a very long sentence—but under such heavy questioning, by the time she puts the sentence together on her lips, the conversation has already moved on.

The questioning continues, now with all three participating. "Can the doll do any tricks?"

"How come your hands are weird?"

"Are you afraid of talkin' or something?"

"My dad says ghosts can't talk, so I bet that's—"

The girl is cut off mid-sentence, as a small rock smacks into his back with a dull thud. Two more thuds announce that both of the others have been hit with them, too. All three yelp in surprise. They spin around in unison, and...

The only person behind them is a single boy, sitting against a post five or six meters away. He has a book open in his lap, but he's looking their way. He hurries to look back at his book before they notice, but he's too slow.

"Did you throw those rocks?!" one of the girls demands.

The boy flinches at that, but he shakes his head. "Nope."

"Then why're you looking over here?!"

"You were really noisy..." he mumbles.

"There isn't anybody else back here!" the boy who'd been questioning Sunshine says, stepping forward with a huff. "It had to be you!"

The boy with the book shrinks down against the post slightly, but holds his ground. Just barely loud enough for Sunshine to hear it, he says, "I didn't throw any rocks, but you're scaring the new girl. You should leave her alone."

The two stare each other down for a few seconds. Sunshine can't see the first boy's face, but the boy with the book looks like he could burst into tears at any second. He's not the one to back down, though.

"Whatever. It's just a dumb doll anyway."

With the boy's surrender, the two girls follow suit. All three trudge off, grumbling between themselves. Sunshine and the boy with the book watch them go, and then he stands and slowly walks toward her. Sunshine watches him uncertainly, but lets Ichigo out of her lap. He's short. Even shorter than Sunshine is. His hair is a golden-white mop that almost hides his eyes, and he sort of looks like he'd prefer it if they were hidden, since he uncomfortably glances away before he speaks.

"They didn't hurt you, did they?"

She shakes her head.

"Good."

He lingers there, shifting from foot to foot uncertainly, for a few seconds before he speaks again. "Is it true?"

She cocks her head questioningly to the side. When that doesn't get the response she wants, she says, "What?"

"That you're not a human."

Sunshine studies him for a moment, then slowly extends her hands. She gives her fingers a wiggle to show them off, like she did for the other kids. He watches curiously. It doesn't feel as overwhelming this time. Maybe because he isn't asking her so many questions that she can't even think about them all, like the other group of kids did.

"I'm a doll," she says.

The boy somehow looks relieved at that. "... want to see something neat?"

It's a cryptic offer, but he has her attention. She gives a hesitant nod.

"You've gotta promise not to tell anybody."

She nods again.

"You promise?"

Another nod.

"Well..." He kneels down in front of her, giving the courtyard a few anxious glances. Now it's almost empty apart from a few other students, most of whom are busy with their own affairs. He glances aside, and...

A tail explodes out from his back, right above the top of his pants. It's the same golden-white color as his hair. He gives it a single flick and looks over to make sure that Sunshine's noticed it, and then the tail shrinks back down to nothing. Altogether, it's only there for a second or two.

Sunshine reaches out to the spot where the tail had been, but there's nothing there. She frowns at it thoughtfully.

"I'm not a human either," he says. "I'm a fox." He looks a strange blend of embarrassed and proud of this fact.

Sunshine gives up on searching for the tail and considers this. It doesn't confuse her as much as it might. Her parents have told her stories about this kind of thing before, youkai disguising themselves as humans to do stuff in the village. In those stories, though, the shapeshifters are usually the bad guys.

He doesn't seem like a bad guy, though. Well, apart from one thing.

"Um," she says. "You threw rocks at those kids."

He pauses, looking surprised at her lack of reaction, then rubs at the back of his neck and glances away. "They were being annoying."

Sunshine can't disagree with that. Her parents gave her a very long talk about school yesterday, and one of the most important lessons in it was that fighting other kids isn't allowed. Maybe it's okay in this case, though. None of them got hurt, after all.

"Humans are like that," he says, with a lot of world-weariness for a second-grader. "If they even know I'm here, they'll try to exterminate me. So you can't tell anybody about me, okay? Not even the teacher."

"Okay..."

He studies her face for a moment before nodding in return. "Good," he says. "Since we're not humans, it would be dumb if we didn't stick together."

He seems to be expecting a response, but Sunshine isn't really sure what she's supposed to say. She gives a slight nod, though, and it's enough to leave a satisfied smile on his face. After a few seconds, he glances uneasily away, then takes a seat along the wall near her, pulls out his book, and resumes reading as if nothing happened.

Sunshine isn't sure what to make of this, but she soon gives up on figuring it out and goes back to drawing. Nobody bothers her again for the rest of the lunch break.

After lunch, the classroom is loud with conversations. Miss Kamishirasawa stands up in front of the room, and it takes her several minutes to get everybody to quiet down enough for her to start talking again. This time, her assistant leads several of the older kids out of the room, and instead of telling stories, she talks about math. It's about different ways to add numbers, mostly. Sunshine would really rather hear more stories about people fighting each other, especially since most of what Miss Kamishirasawa is talking about seems obvious. She tries to follow along for a while until she gets bored. Then, she stops paying attention and finishes the drawing in her notebook instead.

When she's done with math, Miss Kamishirasawa talks about youkai instead. Mostly, she talks about tsukumogami and how to avoid them. The lesson is a lot more interesting than the one about math, but Sunshine still thinks it's pretty weird. When her parents talk about tsukumogami, they sound friendly and harmless. When Miss Kamishirasawa talks about them, she makes them sound dangerous, and says that it's important to dispose of tools properly to avoid creating them.

After being confused by this for a short time, Sunshine remembers that her parents basically aren't scared of anything, so it only makes sense that they can make friends with youkai that even other adults are afraid of.

And then, Miss Kamishirasawa gives a single clap of her hands and announces, "That covers today's lessons, so I'll let you out a little early today. Fourth and fifth-years, please come up to get tonight's worksheets. If you're on cleaning duty, remember that tonight is the courtyard. Everybody else, I'll see you tomorrow."

The class shouts a response, but this one is rather more disorganized and ragged than the greeting at the beginning of the day. Already, most of them are scrambling out of their seats.

After a moment of confusion, Sunshine rises from her seat, gestures for Ichigo to open her bag, and puts her notebook and pen back into it. She slides the strap onto her shoulder and follows the stampede of children out of the room. By the time she steps outside, some of the other students are already running home or playing in the streets. A few small groups are standing around in front of the building, chatting with each other.

And across the street, her parents are waiting.

Sunshine takes off barreling across the street, so quickly that Ichigo can't even keep up. She tackles Alice's waist in a hug, hard enough to make her take a stumbling step back.

Alice loops an arm around her to return the hug. "Hello, Sunshine."

"Hey, kiddo." Marisa slides in next to Alice and scoops Sunshine up into a hug. Sunshine clings to her just as tightly. "How was school?"

Sunshine rests her head on Marisa's shoulder and considers this. She really did survive an entire day away from her parents. She's still not sure how she feels about school, though. That was a lot of time to spend sitting around and not doing anything fun, and dealing with other kids is hard. The stories about people fighting each other were kind of interesting, at least.

"School is weird," she says.

"Yeah, it's pretty weird. What'd you learn about?"

"Um. Adding numbers. And tsukumogami." She pauses to string together a much longer sentence than she's used to. Her parents don't rush her. It's one of several reasons that she finds it a lot easier to talk to them than other people. "And a long time ago. A bunch of people had a fight at a big castle and, um. Some of them switched to the other side. And that side won."

"Well, see. Sounds like a pretty productive day to me. It's always useful to know about youkai, and you need to know math and stuff if you wanna do magic."

Sunshine isn't so sure about that. She's seen her parents do a lot of magic. It does involve scribbling things on paper sometimes, but mostly it involves a lot of chanting and glowing symbols that float in the air. Adding numbers together isn't even kind of like those. Still, the thought that some of that stuff might help her become a hero faster lifts her spirits a little.

"Did the other children give you any trouble?" Alice asks.

Sunshine considers this for a moment. For now, she settles on answering, "Kids are weird too..."

"Other children can be very weird," Alice agrees, with a slight smile. She leans over Marisa to give Sunshine a peck on the forehead. "I know that it might take a while, but you'll make some friends soon enough, okay?"

Sunshine still isn't sure why she's supposed to be so eager to make friends in the first place, but she'll figure that out another time. For now, she nods.

"Good. I'd like to talk to Keine for a few minutes, but I don't see any reason to make both of you wait around for me."

"Gotcha," Marisa says. "Me and Sunshine will see you when you get home."

She lowers Sunshine to the ground, and she and Alice dance through a brief exchange of goodbyes and kisses. Once Alice walks off, she looks back down to Sunshine. "How about it? Ready to go home?"

"Mmhm."

"Or..." Marisa glances across the street, and hesitates until Alice is far enough away to be well out of earshot. Then, she leans in conspiratorially. "We could stop off at that candy shop on the way back and get something to celebrate your first day of school."

Sunshine's eyes go wide, and she nods excitedly.

"Good!" Marisa pulls her broom from its spot leaning against the wall, then takes a seat on it. Sunshine hovers up to settle into her usual spot against Marisa's back and wraps her arms around her.

"I'm feelin' like something fruity, but I heard lately they found the stuff to make liquorice, too," Marisa says. "What're you in the mood for?"

"Um. I don't know what liquorice is..."

"I guess there's still a lot of candy you haven't tried, huh? In that case, it isn't fair to make you pick without even knowin' what you're getting. Guess we just don't have any choice but to buy a little of everything."

Before Sunshine can argue, Marisa kicks off the ground, and the broom hovers up into the air. Sunshine tightens her grip around Marisa's waist as it takes off like a rocket, headed toward home and also the candy shop.