Seductive Smile
Part A: Coral Years
Chapter II: Anh
'I don't believe this.' Cooped closely together on the settee inside the Trias Base, Mai and Natsuki curiously glanced back and forth between their new Oneesama's. The boisterous blonde saying something in annoyance over to the amused chestnut, waving her arms in a frenzy to then finally, fold her arms with a huff.
"I don't think Haruka should think too much," Shizuru said softly. Sat by the table on the other side of the room from where their Corals were. Lips pressed against the rim of her cup gently as Haruka scoffed.
"Ha! Like Miss Maria would get a thing like this wrong, Bubuzuke-onna!"
"Bubuzuke-onna?" Natsuki hissed to Mai. 'What the hell does that mean?' Isn't it a form of the Zipang language?
"Tea served with rice-woman." Mai uttered just as silently; eyes of amethyst watching the Number Two Pearl contently. So this is what their Oneesama's were like up close, huh? They seemed so... normal without crowds of Coral around them; it was a little odd to see. However Mai would eventually discover she would learn to cherish it in later years when the two Trias members had graduated, Natsuki especially; leaving them both to take over in their places.
"Perhaps she just decided to have a change," Shizuru replied, taking a sip lightly from the green tea, she smiled over to Haruka who still had her arms crossed beside her from the opposite side of the table. Violet glaring into crimson as the blonde slammed her fist against the table angrily.
"But this isn't a fight! I'm supposed to have Kruger, while you have Tokiha! Not the other way round!"
"Right, Haruka."
"Bubuzuke!"
The two Corals glanced at each other in wonder as Haruka continued to rave on at Shizuru. An accusing finger being directed over them momentarily, earning a blink from them as the Pearl then yelled, "We already have enough problems in our own hands! Never mind having to look after a Coral at the same time!"
"But Haruka and I are at the top of the class," Shizuru murmured, placing her cup down softly as she gazed over to Mai and Natsuki. "And you already know you'll be Chrysant's Otome, Haruka." She reminded, smiling as she rose from her chair quietly; if Shizuru didn't get what she wanted from Haruka, she would easily drop the 'san', creating confusion for the blonde who would think on it for a while and then suddenly come up with a counter, obviously missing her chance since the Pearl would be long gone. "If you would excuse me, Haruka."
"Eh?"
"I understand Tokiha, and Kruger would want an explanation to this, yes?" Heading over to the redhead and Anazian, Shizuru curled a brow playfully, brushing a strand of hair away from her eyes as she then clasped her hands before her.
Natsuki stared suspiciously, being nudged in the side she glared over to Mai, "What?"
"Be nice, Natsuki," The Zipang-born warned, lifting a finger in a scolding nature.
"Ara..."
Changing her mind from originally snapping at the Number One Coral, Natsuki instead gave Shizuru a curious glance who in turn tilted her head to the side slightly. Emerald and ruby gazed at each other for a short while before Haruka came up to the Pearl's side. Sighing loudly as she propped her hands against her hips in irritation. "You do realise, Lu is visiting soon, Bubuzuke?"
"Oh? Oneesama?" Shizuru asked, intrigued. Anh is coming over from An Nam? She hadn't heard of this... "How long will this be? I haven't heard."
"Tomorrow, Miss Maria told me when I asked where Tokiha was." She glared, only to scowl as Shizuru stayed silent. "Bubuzuke!"
"I must apologise." Nodding to the youngest pair of the group, Shizuru turned her back on them, giving Haruka her full attention. "I was surprised that Haruka would be kind enough to tell me such news. It seems she is one step ahead of me this time!"
"We're being ignored aren't we?" Mai pondered out-loud, a finger atop her bottom lip, eyeing Natsuki who tossed her a blank look of boredom. 'She only ever seems to either be angry, lonely or bored.'
Natsuki shrugged, "To be honest, I don't really care." She had better things to do than get a headache from a bossy blonde and a quiet tea addict! How could your head start hurting for someone being silent though? Brushing the thought aside, the Coral rolled her eyes, "I could be sleeping by now."
"You only think about eating, sleeping and breaking curfew to spot wolves don't you?" Mai muttered, shaking her head in disappointment, "And you're supposedly the older and more sensible one."
"Tck."
"'To put you into a unique situation?'" Haruka mused, folding her arms sternly as she walked away from the Headmistresses office with Shizuru. Mai and Natsuki in tow. The younger Pearl gracefully clasped her hands before her as she wore her well-placed mask, smiling delicately over to fan-groups whenever they were spotted. "What the hell is she thinking?"
"Ara, as I said earlier. She might merely want a change; she has been here for a good fifty years now, Haruka."
Strutting after Mai hastily, Natsuki released a grumble as the two Pearls made yet another detour through the grounds of Garderobe, Haruka directing a huff over to Shizuru who chuckled behind a hand; probably finding the whole ordeal humorous in some sort of odd fashion.
"Bubuzuke! If we had gone the way I wanted to go, we would have gotten there by now!" She exclaimed in annoyance, her fists firmly clenching together by her sides. They were supposed to be back at the Trias Base now! It was the important tradition of the school that a Pearl must show her Oneesama their new Coral. It was like a marriage, if Anh was to accept Natsuki and Mai, that would mean she believed they would be good replacements. So obviously they needed to plan for tomorrow!
In meaning, if Anh did so, that meant Natsuki and Mai were placed into full responsibility of looking after their Oneesama's, while at the same time they were being taught and trained in return etc.
"She's already changed enough of everything!" Reaching the Pearl domes, Haruka sighed and propped her hands against her hips. "Jeez, first she made both of us have one Oneesama, now she expects us to take in two Coral who aren't even our own level!"
Following the rivals, Natsuki and Mai felt a little uncomfortable as they were rewarded strange glances by the Pearls of the dome, either in curiosity or that they believed the pair to be a nuisance as there were whispers, obviously directed to the current event. "Isn't it a little early for Corals to be chosen?"
Obviously they had gone through the dome barely an hour ago, but no students had been around at the time.
"I don't know, but I've heard Miss Maria is taking it differently again, apparently there will be a Butou and everything!"
"Butou?" The busty redhead questioned, Natsuki shrugging as they climbed the stairs towards the Trias Base, attempting to at least ignore the burning sensation on their backs as the stares continued to be waived upon them. "Where could they have possibly heard something like that?"
With a deep sigh, Haruka parked herself onto the settee heavily, violet orbs narrowing as her fellow Trias sat beside her, gesturing Mai and Natsuki over who glanced at each other, but went over afterwards anyway.
"Now I can finally tell you what is happening!" Shizuru piped happily, motioning the two girls to bring the chairs from the table over to sit in front of her and Haruka. "As you were waiting outside, Miss Maria told us of what our true purpose is for."
"True purpose?" Natsuki grumbled, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. Eh... how she wished her Father would give her that Kruger Clip; to actually avoid having to constantly rake your hair back and other such things. Though it didn't really take her fancy that if she did wear it, everyone would automatically recognize her as the heir to one of the most advanced nations in the world. She would be headhunted for sure!
"Miss Maria is under the consideration that we will all learn quite a decent amount of knowledge if we were to work together."
"Bubuzuke! Just tell them!"
~S~
"What?" Natsuki gaped, "Shizuru Oneesama is in a placement to be a Column?" Transfixed, Natsuki wasn't sure if she should have glared at Haruka for scoffing, or continued to stare at Shizuru in shock and awe.
"Why indeed," patting Haruka's shoulder softly, she uttered a word of 'next time' to her. "However Miss Maria is still in need of a replacement for herself and a Number IV Column. Apparently she is having trouble." And the reason why she was attempting all these changes was to find a suitable Meister for one reason; a new generation of Columns.
"Elliot Chandler is retiring soon," Haruka said, crossing her arms as she glanced out of the window, instantly spotting the Headmistresses section of the grounds which peaked out the canopy of trees. "Ever since that Sayers woman died she's been getting worse as the years go by."
"Why Haruka, you are being rather informative today." The tea lover commented, smiling as the boisterous Aries-born merely gazed at her blankly. "But as I said; Miss Maria wants us to work normally, but this time – all of us working together in a group of four."
An almost inaudible huff was heard throughout the classroom the next day as Natsuki glared down death to the old, creasing textbook before her. Her teacher, Narcisa Larizzu; a woman of 28 years from Lutecia who was currently talking about the nation of Galleria, a country which barely had any technology at all and was currently struggling with paying importing extracts with the Artai Principality.
"Since the early days of Earl, Galleria has struggled with finding suitable power sources and living space... they've had so many problems in fact that recently they've had to create new land-mass in the sea which stretches around the whole of the large island. Which in turn, has created border disturbance between the coasts of An Nam and Zipang..."
Pfft, well that's nice and all; but they have nowhere near as many problems as Anazia...
Alayas has more advanced technology than Anazia, and a hell of a lot of Otome. Natsuki was still unsure to this day how she was meant to get past the four other Otome if she was to command the army to the Crystal Palace of Alayas...
"During the time of large-scale development to gather more resources from the sea however... It was thanks to their nation's Otome, Rena Sayers, that they became more public, conducting international meetings with other countries such as the Aries Republic and the State of Vlad..."
Rena Sayers? Glancing over to the curly, purple-haired teacher; Natsuki furrowed a brow; wasn't Sayers from Windbloom? Yet... it says here she is from that Galleria place...
Trailing her eyes down the book she groaned inwardly; attention soon moving to the open window, a cool breeze calming her skin as she sighed. First confusion between Slaves and Childs now this!
"Rena Sayers?"
"Yes," Narcisa smiled warmly, closing the book still in her hands as she nodded to the student who had commented. "Rena Sayers was from Galleria, not Windbloom as most people believe; it is thought her Mother, Alyssa Searrs still lives there to this day. Although their family did originally come from Windbloom, the reason why they don't share familiarity with other Gallerians."
"Ah?"
"Alyssa Searrs? The creator of the robotic house maids!"
Natsuki rolled her eyes at the other Coral's enthusiasm, her chin leaning against her clenched fist as she gazed at the blackboard. Scanning the different pieces of information and images regarding where Galleria was on Earl. ... Somewhere to the south beside An Nam.
What was with the nations and the letter 'A' anyway? Everywhere Natsuki looked, there always seemed to be A's everywhere!
Anazia... Alayas... Artai... Aries... An Nam. Even the Aswad, although you couldn't really count them as a country, they were a small section of the Black Valley.
Was it just her, or was something about to happen?
"Eh? Butou! For real?" An unknown student said excitedly, her hands cupping together near her chest as she leaned in towards the other Coral. The other smirked as she clicked her tongue.
"Yes, apparently it is against the Trias! Haruka Oneesama wants to fight Shizuru Oneesama!"
Attempting to at least ignore the pair, a scowl broadened itself onto her features as she heard an incoming voice which she recognized instantly. "Natsuki!"
Carla.
"I've been looking for you everywhere!" The obsidian-haired student remarked, taking a hold of the unimpressed Number Two Coral's wrist. Technically dragging the girl towards the Trias Base; "Your Oneesama wants to talk to you!"
"And how do you know this?" Natsuki asked suspiciously, pulling her wrist away from the Lutecian roughly, inspecting it as the other girl puffed her cheeks, pouting.
"She asked me when I was passing by! She wanted me to fetch you!"
"...Of course, of course..." —'Uh... I knew something was going to happen...'
~S~
"Oneesama!" Just what is going off? "Is it true?" She asked as she finally halted before the confused Pearl, gasping a few breaths as her hands clasped onto her knees. Eh, thank Kami-sama she managed to dodge Miss Maria and get away from Carla! She would have been murdered if she was caught running in the corridors —again.
"Ara, Kruger?"
"You know what I mean!" She muttered, folding her arms. Pfft, now she's acting clueless? What next, a talking teacup?
Actually...
She could imagine Shizuru dressing as one funnily enough; it worked quite well, disturbingly.
"What are you thinking?"
"E-" Natsuki blushed, tearing her eyes away from the elder, "Nothing."
"Is that so?" Shizuru smirked inwardly, but there was a hint of a sly curl sliding onto her lips as she studied the girl intensely. "... Kruger is red; it is rather cold out, isn't it?"
"A-aa..." But anyhow, "I heard you're going to have a Butou," she said seriously, an eyebrow furrowing unconsciously as Shizuru continued to gaze down at her. "W-what?"
'On my! How has Tokiha succeeded in surviving with such an adorable room-mate?' She pondered, watching gleefully as Natsuki shifted uncomfortably on her spot; attempting to fire one of those Kruger Glares but failing miserably in the process.
'Damn this woman!'
"Perhaps Kruger should go and rest," Shizuru suggested smoothly, the tip of her tongue popping out to put moisture back onto her lips. "She looks rather feverish."
She won't be tricked! "Why are you going to fight Haruka Oneesama?"
Glancing down to the younger student carefully, Shizuru brushed a lock of hair around her ear and inwardly sighed. "Miss Maria wanted us too; it is for Anh Oneesama and a chance for us to see who can have Tokiha or Kruger."
"I still can't understand why we have to be here though," Natsuki groaned as she and Mai waited by the gate which led into the Otome Arena. Emeralds focused onto the far wall furiously as her eyebrow twitched. 'Uh...' Wait... didn't she forget her pills this morning?
"Miss Maria did tell us too," Mai uttered, side glancing over to the older Coral who moaned under her breath, hands clasping to the sides of her head in frustration. "We have to be with Haruka and Shizuru Oneesama when they leave for Butou, and we have to meet Anh as well." She pointed out, frowning slightly when Natsuki suddenly tore her gaze away from the wall to glare towards her instead.
"I know that!" The Anazian snapped angrily, "I just can't help it."
"Natsuki..."
"No, don't Natsuki me, Tokiha."
"You haven't taken your pills," the redhead stated firmly, shaking her head with a sigh. She knew something was off, she had begun to start acting odd just after they had been sent to Miss Maria's office. "It is honestly a good thing I carry a spare supply!"
Mumbling a faint thank you over to her fellow room-mate, Natsuki sighed groggily as she swallowed the red tablets down without water. Blinking as the small pellets etched their way down her throat awkwardly; 'How did Mai even get a hold of my medicine anyway? Don't I keep the supply locked or hidden away? I'm always carrying the rest as well...' Only thing is she wasn't there this afternoon.
"You know," Mai murmured silently, amethyst orbs locked on the floor of the dusty chamber. "You could really be my Brother and his Bodyguard's love-child."
"W-what!" Jaw hanging open loosely, Natsuki gazed incredulously over to the serious redhead. "W-what makes you—Tokiha!"
"You act just like them!" Mai giggled quietly, her eyes warming as she glanced up into wide forest-green. "I think you'd like Akira a lot, Natsuki."
"..."
"Ara, we're not interrupting anything are we?" Shizuru inquired as she walked beside Haruka, a taller woman walking behind them slowly who adorned a soft smile, eyes constantly half-lidded as she chuckled slyly.
"N-no."
"Ara, ara..." Anh uttered, smiling down to a blushing Natsuki as she stood before the two Coral's. "My... what cute students Haruka and Shizuru have..."
"I-"
Before they knew it, both Princesses were clamped roughly together into the Meister's arms. Mai groaned as her neck pressed against Anh's shoulder, while Natsuki...
"A-Get off!" Pushing against the shoulders of the older woman, Natsuki desperately attempted to force herself away from the chest which was stopping her breathing.
"My..." Staring curiously Shizuru chuckled lightly at the situation, mirth highlighting itself as Haruka yelled incredulously.
"Oneesama!"