The Girl With Purple Hair
"So the then you label the parabola
here, that should be a seven, not a one. So just put y=x2+4x-12
along the line or right next to it and don't forget…" the teacher rambled
on about math.
Milliardo copied down the notes diligently,
but he was bored. He stared out the window, at the leaves falling down
and the birds resting on the branches. The sky was blue and clear of clouds
with the sun at its zenith. He felt a breeze pass him, but the windows
were closed. He looked to the other side and at the front where the teacher
was. One of the students had gone up to answer the question on the board.
He was sure it was a new student, he was there for almost seven years and
practically knew everyone.
"Very good, Lucrezia. Just label the
axis's next time." The teacher corrected it for her. "You may sit down
now." She passed by Milliardo on her way back. Milliardo turned his head
to see that she sat in the next row and four seats away. "Tonight, read
the next chapter and do all the questions at the end. Class dismissed."
The classroom cleared out and headed
towards the cafeteria. Milliardo sat with his friends but kept an eye on
Lucrezia. He saw that she sat by herself and sympathized for he also knew
the feeling.
"Hey guys, who's that girl over there?"
Milliardo pointed to Lucrezia.
Everyone turned to see. "Oh her. She's
some new transfer student from some place in Italy I think. She's been
here for a few months, not very sociable. I heard she's a good pilot, but
I have yet to see that for myself." One answered.
"Why? You like her or something?" The
boy sitting next to Milliardo leaned towards him and nudged him with his
elbow.
Milliardo pushed him away and answer
hastily, "No, I just noticed her today in class. I didn't know who she
was, so I'm just asking. Nothing wrong in that."
"He's probably gonna go befriend her."
One started to say to another.
"Yeah, he's always so friendly to everyone
and wants everyone to be his friend." The other responded.
"So I'm friendly! I don't want everyone
to be alone or something." Milliardo defended himself. "Here, I'll go talk
to her now." He got up and walked towards her empty table. "Hi, I'm Milliardo
Peacecraft."
She looked up for a minute and back
down at the book she was reading. "Hello."
He was taken back at the cold greeting
but he wouldn't give up. "Mind if I sit here?" He started to pull out the
chair across from her.
"No." She didn't bother to look up this
time.
"So, what's your name?" Milliardo felt
uncomfortable with the way she was handling the situation.
She stopped and examined his face. Milliardo
didn't have much of an expression on but he didn't make a face when she
looked at him. "Lucrezia Noin, but I'd rather be called Noin."
"I see. You like to be alone?" Milliardo
stopped his sentence because he didn't want to sound too nosy, but it was
too late. Either way, she didn't seem to mind to question.
"It makes no large difference to me.
If I'm alone, I'm alone. I'm not going to make a big effort not to be.
But like everyone else, I'd rather be with someone." She didn't look up
and kept on reading.
"I'll be your friend then, if you don't
mind." She let out a sigh as if she was annoyed.
"Go ahead."
Milliardo tried to keep her company
when he could and make her less antisocial. It was hard and grueling work,
but he noticed it was working, little by little. He found out she had a
love for nature and found her reading outside under the shade of a tree
once.
"So why are you doing this?" Noin asked
him once outside and under the same tree.
"Doing what?" Milliardo stared at the
sky. They were alone and a little far from the buildings.
"Keeping me company. I mean, you could
be with your friends right now." Noin's book was on her lap and closed
for once.
"Because I don't want you to be lonely."
Milliardo started to look at other things. Most of the leaves had fallen
already and gave them a nice cushiony feel but with bugs everywhere. But
since this is in an anime, there are no bugs!
"Lonely? I doubt you would have noticed
me if I hadn't gone up to the board that day in math." Noin closed her
eyes and had a content feeling in her. "I might have been antisocial and
quiet, but I observe."
"Hmph. Maybe, maybe not."
"Why me? There are so many people here,
so why are you staying with me?"
Milliardo looked at her. Her eyes were
still closed and they both leaned against the rough tree bark. He never
did pay attention to the way she looked and he stared at her as if for
the first time seeing her. Her hair was fine and had a purple tint to it.
She kept it all to one side so it tended to cover part of her face and
most of her large forehead. Her eyelashes brushed against the top of her
pale cheeks.
"You're not gonna answer me?" Noin still
didn't open her eyes. Milliardo was caught a bit off guard.
"What? Oh right. Well, I guess because
I know the feeling of being alone like that. Everyone else has at least
one friend, but you didn't seem to have anyone. It was the same with me
the first time I was here, but then I got to be more sociable." Milliardo
stared into space as he said this. A calm breeze pasted by that brushed
some of him hair into his face. He started to grow it longer and was already
at his shoulders.
"So exactly why are you here, Milliardo
Peacecraft?" He didn't bother to ask what she meant since it was explained
by mentioning his name.
"Trieze asked me to join. I wasn't supposed
to, but people change. I was thinking about changing my name, but I don't
know to what." Milliardo shifted uneasily because of the acorns he was
sitting on. They were silent for a moment until Noin spoke up.
"How about… Zechs Merquise?" She opened
her eyes and looked at him. Milliardo said the name over and over again.
"It has a nice ring to it. All right
then! Tomorrow, or when I have time, I'll go change it to Zechs Merquise!"
He seemed overly enthusiastic about it. She didn't seem to find anything
enthusiastic about the name. The moment was interrupted by an announcement
made.
"All students report to the mobile suit
battle grounds at 1500 hours."
Milliardo looked at his watch to check
the time. "1500 hours, huh? Well, there's still an hour left." Noin started
to stand up and brush debris off her uniform. "You wanna walk there and
kill an hour?" She shrugged and started to walk, no bothering to wait for
him.
They took one of the more deserted routes
there. They passed by a few people, but not as many as they usually would.
"So why did you join the Academy?" Milliardo asked. Noin kept silent, as
if he hadn't said anything at all. He was about to ask it again until she
opened her mouth.
"Why? Well, I heard the Academy trained
people to go into outer space and fight or research up there. That's why
I wanted to join, I want to be one of those people going to space. Ever
since I was little, I always liked to look at the stars," she looked up
at the sky, "and imagine what it would be like to be out there.. To be
away from earth, from all the fighting and wars and competition. I don't
like wars." She looked down at the path.
Millardo smiled at how much she revealed.
"You don't like wars? But the Academy is more of a place for fighting then
going out to space. You coulda joined some research team that goes out
to space of become an engineer and built space colonies. You're just learning
how to fight here."
Noin gave it a moments thought. "But
if I fight, it could end the fighting earlier. I'm not saying I'm a good
pilot, but one more person on the battlefield could make a difference."
At the mobile suit battle grounds, all
the students stood in the field while one of the captains were talking
on a podium in front.
"Starting next week," the captain was
practically shouting into the microphone, "we will be having our annual
mobile suit tournament. It is mandatory to enter unless you can give us
a good reason why not. A GOOD reason! Not a 'I-can't-play-in-gym-today-and-my-mommy-wrote-a-note-for-me'
reason! Got it?!" The soldiers responded with a very serious 'yes sir.'
The captain continued with the details of the battle ending with the classical
'any questions' question.
The next week, all the students assembled
by their mobile suits and waited for instructions. Different students went
to different battle grounds and multiple combats occurred at once. In one
day, all soldiers have fought in one battle at least. And for the next
5 days, Noin and Milliardo have beat everyone of their opponents. The 6th
day was the last day of the tournament. The semi-finalists would battle
to determine the finalists who would then battle to declare the best pilot.
"Lets see who I'm fight against now."
Milliardo was in his Leo, waiting for his opponent. Those that were fighting
weren't allowed to find out who they were fight against until they were
defeated. The other Leo came up in front of him and waited for the captain
to commence the fight.
Noin was patiently waiting in her Leo.
"Never thought I would make it this far. I wonder who I'm fighting. Stupid
people, won't let us find out until we lose ..but if did find out, we might
be kinder in our fighting." The sound of the captain's voice filled the
cockpit of everyone's Leo since even those that lost were told to stay
in their Leos to prevent injuries and give them a better view of the fight.
"All fighters! Get ready to begin!"
The sound of the buzzer bell thing that you hear at the Olympics swimming
in real life. The battles began along with the cheering that the fighters
didn't hear.
Milliardo charged at the other Leo and
tried to slash off its left arm, but it was blocked easily enough. He quickly
slid his beam saber down the side to slice off its legs, but the other
started to go for his shoulder.
Noin charged in and pushed her opponent
away with her elbow while trying to cut off part of its arm but she got
grazed by the other beam saber. She was only able to damage the shield.
Milliardo backed away from his opponent
and immediately started to run forward. The battle was pretty much a tie
until he caught the Leo off guard. The Leo's severed arm fell to the ground
while Milliardo proceeded to attack further. He knocked the beam saber
out and cornered it with his saber at its neck. The captain's voice declared
victory for Milliardo.
"Hey Noin! Noin!" Milliardo was running
towards the skinny Italian. She turned around. "Did you win?" She shook
her head. "Oh, well you made it pretty far."
"The person I was fighting against just
kept attacking, gosh, doesn't know when to stop!" Noin complained. Milliardo
laughed and headed back towards his suit at the sound of the captain's
voice.
"Wish me luck, kay?!" Milliardo called
back. Noin only smiled. She looked down at the paper she was handed a moment
before. It had all the competitions and the names. She looked at where
she lost and saw who she fought against.
"Hmph, he just doesn't know when to
stop." Noin pocketed the paper and climbed into her Leo.
***
what did you think? good? yeah, the
ending isn't that great, but i didn't want to expand on it. thanx for reading,
review if you'd like, etc. ja