Footsteps echoed quietly in the large empty studio. After the fiasco in the classroom, Nari had made her way to the dorms for a quick change of clothes before heading down to one of the empty rooms. With instruction over for the day — and quite possibly for the foreseeable future — there was little more for her to do than engage in her club activities. As she was the only member of the music club, she, once again, had an entire open studio all to herself. She moved mechanically through the room, hooking up her audio device to the speaker system and returning to the center for a quick set of stretches.
With her body limbered up, she grabbed the remote control and began scrolling through her song options. Having worked on her earlier sets, she found herself instead working on some of her later releases. After scrolling for a couple of minutes, she decided on a familiar tune with a moderate tempo and swayed her body to the beat. A small crease formed in her brow as the vocals started, unamused by the sound of her own voice playing over the track.
I'm not sure this is the best choice for a debut.
These changes are necessary; you are never going survive in this industry looking like that.
I want your success as much as you do.
I'm only looking out for you.
Trust me.
"Tch…" Nari scoffed, brushing away the annoying trill of her manager's voice. Even with his charred body lying still in a morgue, his words still loomed over her like a dark shadow. Yet another reminder of her mistakes. It was the chorus that made her realize how distracted she was. She had missed the entire first portion of the song. 'Damn it.' She needed to regain focus. Grabbing the control again, she restarted the song and returned to the center of the room. This time, she kept her gaze on the mirror watching herself as she slowly got into position. She repeated the counts in her head, following along with the beat until finally, she began.
Her body moved to the rhythm, feet sliding across the floor. Her head moved, her arms waved, and her hips rolled in a series of familiar motions. She had done this so many times before, both for her music video and on stage, that her mind nearly wandered off again. It was so ingrained in her muscle memory that she could complete the entire choreography on autopilot. But she didn't allow herself to fall into another rabbit hole. Instead, she forced herself to stay on task, hopping and moving with a little more feeling.
When the music ended, she sighed. It still baffled her why she continued to torment herself. Yamagata was dead. She was a wanted fugitive who, chances were, would be arrested shortly after their return from the academy of the gods. Her reputation, her dreams, her music, her career; all of them would be over upon her homecoming. Yet somehow, she couldn't bring herself to stop doing so. To throw away all that she had built, regardless of how she felt about it personally. She was frozen in the icy grip of fear. Fear that without Luna… what did she have left?
After another four songs, she decided to take a break. It was a luxury rarely afforded her during her career. A frown started to form as the thoughts invaded her mind. She quickly dismissed them, willing the voice to into silence. Staring at the mirror, she pondered, wondering how her life could have been had she done things differently. If she opened her heart and faced her concerns instead of running away. Nari didn't know. She stood stock still, gaze locked on the reflective glass until a flicker of movement caught her attention from the doorway. Someone was watching her. Again.
Nari sighed. This situation was starting to get old, very quickly. She didn't particularly mind being watched. As a celebrity, that was essentially most of the job. But when done in secret however, it was a completely different story. It was unnerving. Taking in a breath, she gazed into the mirror in search of any more movement. "I saw you over there," she called. "No sense in hiding." Moments ticked by without any response and Nari was growing impatient. Raising her voice again, she spoke with more conviction. "Come over here, or I'm coming over there."
Her threat appeared to have worked. Slowly, a small, bronzed face peeked out from behind the door, amethyst eyes wide and timid. A face she recognized. Upon seeing the familiar student, she visibly relaxed. "Anubis…?"
"Bara!" he exclaimed. His earlier concern forgotten, he leapt from the doorway and jogged to her side.
"What were you doing back there?"
"Ba."
"You were watching me?"
"Bara bara!"
"Do you… do you enjoy watching me dance?"
"Ka bara!" His look of pure elation brought a smile to her face. Of all the places she would have expected to find a fan, the academy of the gods certainly wasn't one of them. Of course, she would never deny one if they so wished. She couldn't help but notice his excitement interacting with her, as though meeting her were the highlight of his day. She wondered if perhaps she were his only friend at the school.
He watched her carefully, tilting his head in innocent curiosity. The little ears atop of his head seemed to twitch. "Ba?"
Nari returned his gaze for a few moments, yet another strange thought coming to her mind. Anubis was a strange god — really, just a strange person in general — and his entire existence was a mystery to her. She knew nothing about him other than his name and the fact that he was an Egyptian god, and to be honest, she wasn't entirely sure how she even knew that. Every word that came out of his mouth was utter nonsense; a series of strange grunts and utterances that could barely be considered words. Yet for some reason she still couldn't explain, they made sense to her. Or perhaps it was his facial expression, or his movements, or his eyes. She really wasn't sure. All she could do was follow her hunches and respond. "You… Why I dance?"
"Bara!"
"Ah… I, um… well, back home I am a performer of sorts." His eyes grew wide, mouth forming into a small 'O'. He clearly hadn't expected that answer. It was easy to tell from his eager fidgeting that she wanted to know more. "I'm what humans call an idol. Or a pop star. Actually, the title doesn't really matter. The point is that I sing and dance on stage."
"Ka…" His voice was low and filled with wonder in a way that she hadn't thought possible for a celestial being. It was adorable, although a bit unusual. It was in the way that he behaved, so foreign and yet somehow human; the strange emotional effect he seemed to have on her. Something about his demeanor just put her at ease. So much so that she suddenly realized the gravity of what she had just done.
"O-Oh… Anubis, you… you can't tell anyone about this, okay? Can we keep this between us? Our little secret?"
The god stared at her for a few moments, taking in her nervous expression. Then, he graced her with a beaming smile. "Bara bara!"
"…" At his response, she nearly facepalmed. He was more than happy to keep her secret identity to himself, it would seem. But at the sound of his indecipherable babble, she realized it was probably a moot point. It was unlikely that anyone would be able to understand a word he said, thus anything he did reveal would fall on deaf ears. Even still, she felt a little better knowing he was someone she could trust.
Stretching out her arms, she finally relented. "Well… if you enjoy it that much, you are free to come and see me anytime you wish. Just… no more hiding in the shadows, okay?"
"Ba."
With his nod, Nari was satisfied. Collecting her items from the front of the room, she made her way back to the god, gesturing her head toward the door. She felt suddenly exhausted, ending practice for the day. Since he was already there, she saw no reason they couldn't walk back together. Anubis happily obliged.
. . .
When the bell tolled, Nari paused. The sound echoed through the sky, though no source for the sound was visible. Her surprise grew even more when the clouds began to shift, replacing the gentle warmth beaming rays of sunlight. Springtime had disappeared and, in an instant, shifted into heat. The seasons had suddenly changed. It was summer.
"Changing the weather whenever he feels like… wow. Now, that's convenient," she muttered, voice dripping with sarcasm. She could already feel sweat threatening to bead on her forehead.
Beside her, Anubis smiled and stretched his arms to the sky. "Bara bara!"
"Heh… guess the heat doesn't bother you much, huh?"
"Ba," he replied with a shake of his head.
"Heh, lucky." Nari chuckled and continued forward with Anubis at her side. She turned to offer a gentle smile and a thought crossed her mind. The answer came to her looking over his bronze skin.
"Oh, yeah… you're from Egypt, right?"
"Bara."
"Now, it makes sense. I can assume from your complexion that it's pretty hot over there."
Anubis nodded. "Ka ba."
"Got it. So, do you enjoy the sun?"
"Bara." Nari nearly shuddered at the thought. She could almost feel the painful stinging sensation of sunburn just thinking about it. Her companion continued with an excited smile. "Ba bara. Ka bara ka."
Her eyes blew wide at his — possible, as it still wasn't sure whether she could understand him or not — suggestion, and she vehemently shook her head. Her forceful reaction startled him, leaving clear disappointment on his features. Nari quickly backpedaled realizing she may have offended him. "No, no, I don't mean it like that!" Anubis lifted an eyebrow at her. "It's nothing against you or your homeland, I'm sure Egypt is a wonderful place. It's just… my body doesn't handle sunlight very well. Hell, even now, I'm worried I might burst into flames."
"Bara?!" Anubis nearly shouted, startling Nari as his eyes rounded into big violet spheres. He came screeching to a halt with a look of abject horror. Then, in the next second he was in motion. A small yelp escaped her as he shifted, moving swiftly to her other side before placing large hands against her shoulders. Pushing her along, he herded her from the sunlight into the side up against the side of the school building.
Nari was silent for a few moments. It had happened so quickly; all she could do was stare at the Egyptian god with a baffled face. His sudden repositioning of her body required a full recalibration on her part. Then, she burst into laughter nearly doubling over and leaving the poor man even more confused. She didn't mean to laugh at him, but she couldn't help it. He really was the cutest thing. Through gasping breaths, she managed to force out a response. "I'm fine, Anubis, really! It's just a figure of speech."
"Bara?"
"I'm not on fire, Anubis. Well… without heavy sunscreen, my skin will burn. That much is true, but I'm not actually going to combust from being out in the sun. Humans aren't that fragile… I don't think."
His audible sigh of relief nearly sent her — once again — doubling over in amusement.
"Oh, Nari!"
The sound of her sister's voice drew her attention, calling from one of the building entrances. A few moments later, Yui emerged, waving a hand in their direction. Nari smiled and returned the gesture, shifting her eyes to the side. She had been intending to introduce them, but…
There was no one there.
The moment her sister came into view, the Egyptian god turned and bolted into the bushes, vanishing from sight. The sound of rustling leaves moving quietly along the wall told her that their conversation was at an end. It seemed that he was far more reserved than she had originally imagined. Once he disappeared, she shrugged and turned her attention back to her approaching sibling.
Yui came a stop a few feet away, quirking an eyebrow at the unusual display. "Um… who's your friend?"
"That's Anubis. The Egyptian god of… something." It hadn't occurred to her until that moment that she wasn't exactly sure what he governed. Only his name.
"Oh… that's nice. Is he one of the students here?"
Nari nodded. "Yup. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's our missing student. He's, uh… a little shy, I guess."
"Looks that way," Yui muttered. She recalled the empty chair in the classroom. It made sense that he was the remaining truant, although she couldn't help but find him a little strange. He had never once appeared in class or — as far as she knew —interacting with any of the other students since their arrival. Aside from Nari, apparently. Yet oddly, he seemed to be the only one immune to Zeus' wrath, and Thoth's for that matter. The fact that he seemed free to roam the halls during school hours raised more than a few questions. But if no one was going to complain, then she saw no reason to either. "Anyway, I'm glad you're here. I was looking for you."
"Oh yeah? What for?" Nari asked.
"I wanted to run an idea by you."
"Yeah…?" The two sisters turned and made their way back into the building, chatting quietly along the way. "Okay, shoot. What's on your mind?"
"I spoke with Master Thoth after he left the classroom. He was really upset."
"Really? I couldn't tell."
"Nari, I'm serious… he's refusing to teach the students if they don't stop messing around."
"Can't say I blame him. I don't wanna teach them either."
"But we have to. If we ever want to get out of here, we have to find a way to get them to cooperate."
"Which brings us to the crux of the problem…"
"Right." Yui heaved a heavy sigh, mirroring her sister's exasperation. "I mean, it's not all of them, obviously. The participating gods are doing their best, and I'm happy for that. But the others… well, they just don't seem interested. In learning or humanity in general. Takeru, Dionysus, Loki —"
"Especially Loki," Nari snapped. The very thought of his smug face still threatened to raise her blood pressure.
"Hehe… right." Yui nodded. With a tired frown, she looked up at the blue sky. "I think it's time to switch up our tactics a little."
"Alright, what did you have in mind?"
"I'm sure you noticed the seasons have changed. That means our curriculum has changed too."
"You mean summer vacation."
"Yeah. I'm wondering if we can get them more interested if we show them the fun side of school life."
"Fun side?"
"Yeah! Like field trips and open study. You know how —" Yui paused. The brief frown flitting across her sister's face halted her words. Nari had rarely participated in afterschool outings and overnight trips. She avoided them at nearly every given opportunity and, to her knowledge, absolutely dreaded the ones that she was forced to attend. It seemed that the gods weren't the only ones that needed to create fun new memories. "Anyway… I was thinking, what about conducting a field trip?"
"To where?"
"Well, out here there are a lot of options. There is mountainside school and seaside school…"
Nari paused for a moment to give it some thought. Her sister was on to something. Classrooms were dull, even for humans. It wasn't surprising that it would be of little interest to gods. This was especially true for the truants. Clearly, they had little care for their species. Why else would they have been there in the place? Perhaps faced with a different perspective…
"It's not a bad idea, but how did you want to handle it? It'll probably take some planning."
"The student council can take care of that part. I'll call a meeting tomorrow afternoon and we can come up with a game plan."
"Alright. Sounds like a — wait, we?"
"Yes, Nari, we. I know you're not technically a member of the student council, but you are one of the human representatives. We could really use your input."
"…Could you?"
"Yes!"
Nari sighed. "Alright, Yui. I'll be there."
"Great! I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Yeah… see you tomorrow."
