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Lore
II. Raptus Regaliter
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Sighing for what seemed the millionth time, Yue continued with the tour, ignoring the fact that those she was giving to the tour to didn't really seem to be paying attention. The girl was short and underdeveloped for her age, with blue hair a darker shade than Kari's and many times longer. "This is Library Island," she said, leading them inside a giant facility. "We junior high students are only allowed in the main area of the first floor."
Erin was glaring at Kari as they entered. "Midget."
The short girl was glaring right back. "Witch!"
"Flat-chested midget." Erin's voice was irritated.
"Foul-smelling witch!" Kari's voice was angry.
"Flat-chested, unskilled midget."
"Foul-smelling witch with loose morals!"
"...Flat-chested, unskilled midget who will never find love."
Hotaru's voice broke their argument for a moment. "Ca-Can't we all just get along?"
Jo turned to the girl, a placating smile on her face. "Well, seeing the way those two have been acting since class ended... I'd have to say no."
Kari hadn't even heard the other girl. "Who are you calling a violent psychopathic little midget girl so short you need a magnifying glass to see with no chest or figure to boot and that'll never be able to find love because even guys think there's not enough figure?" she shouted, enraged. Clearly the insult had undergone some changes in her mind.
Erin muttered, in her native English, "You apparently."
Kari blinked, confusion momentarily replacing anger. "Why are you insulting Yue? She's been nothing but kind to us! She's taking time out of her own day to give us this tour!" She pointed at Erin dramatically. "Show some respect!"
The silver-haired girl sighed. "I meant Y-O-U, not Y-U-E."
Kari looked to the side. "Oh..." Silence. "Bastard."
Erin, too, was silent for a moment. "Harpy."
"Witch!" came Kari's immediate retort.
"Skank!"
Yue turned around, quickly leading them out of the building before the librarian could beat her to it. She practically lived there, she didn't want to be banned from the library.
Quickly, she led them to the gymnasium, where a game of pick up basketball was going on. "This is the junior high division's exclusive gym. We have over twenty-two fitness related clubs, including, but not limited to, the walking club, the basketball club, the rhythmic gymnastics team, the swim team, and the Chinese martial arts group."
"Vicious little midget brat!" Erin's tone had become one of anger.
Kari's was cooler this time. "Skank."
"Ugly little vicious midget brat!"
"Dumb skank."
"Ugly little vicious midget brat that'll open her legs for anyone!"
Asuna had been about to walk up and greet the group when the latest of the string of shouts rang out. She was a girl with orange hair tied into two long pigtails, her hair tied with two bells and strings. After a few moments had passed, giving the girl enough time to swallow what the girl had just yelled, she walked over to Yue, keeping her distance from the other girls in the group. Whispering, she asked, "Rowdy bunch, I take it?"
Yue shrugged, replying neutrally, "I guess."
"You want to join us?" Erin asked, looking over to Asuna. Apparently she had overheard the comment. Weird blue-and-green eyed girl, she'd rip into her just as easily as she did to the midget.
Asuna rolled her eyes and started to walk off. "I'd rather not. You just get back to that argument with your blue-haired friend."
Kari felt obliged to help. "Yeah, you ugly, dumb, creepy skank."
Yue sighed, continuing the tour through a set of double doors. She pointed towards an Olympic sized swimming pool and began, "This is the gym's pool."
Kari quickly forgot about the argument. "A pool! Awesome!"
Jo had to hold Kari back by her shoulders, fearing the girl might jump in with her uniform still on... or possibly worse; take her uniform off and jump in while still only wearing her skivvies.
Erin snorted. "Immature midget."
Kari turned around, the pool all but forgotten. "Care to repeat that, you stupid hag?"
Yue grumbled under her breath before sighing and continuing the tour once again. As the group walked, the girl began to tally up just how much Negi was going to owe her for this one. Soon enough, the group reached the outdoor athletic field. Vaguely pointing towards different odd areas, she continued. "This is the junior high athletic field. We have so many athletic clubs that it's usually quite crowded and quite noisy out her. Clubs seem to be always scrambling for court space."
Jo watched in awe as a young girl fought off seven attackers, all armed with bokkens, shinai, and other odd practice equipment, while all she had was her own two hands.
Hotaru flinched as she saw another girl scrape the side of her leg hard against a nearby tennis court while diving to catch the birdie.
Kari was watching the cheerleaders. She had her priorities, after all.
Erin was too busy attempting to think of new insults to care about what was going on around her.
A quick trip to the World Tree later and Kari and Erin finally got into a literal fight. It could perhaps better be described as a beating, though, as Kari had beaten Erin up for a little under half a minute before the other girl got knocked out.
Jo carried Erin awkwardly on her back as Yue led them to the dorms, glad that the tour was just about over.
After the redhead laid Erin down on a couch in one of the dorm's lounge rooms, Yue showed the girls around the dorm. They saw the locations of the fire escapes, the overly large bathroom, their dorm room, and where Yue's own room was located. After it was all done, Yue finally dropped the group off in the lounge they had left Erin at.
Jo smiled. Hands behind her head, she idly commented. "You know what would have made that tour better?"
Kari smirked. "Me beating down Erin before she made that diaper joke?"
Jo shook her head. "Nope. Popcorn. You and Erin are better than anime."
Kari wasn't sure whether or not she should beat down Jo as well.
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"So this is our room," Jo said, arms behind her head as she surveyed the room. Moderately sized, with a single bunk bed. There was a small loft to the right, where two more futons were rolled up, though there wasn't enough room for two to sleep there, barely enough for one.
It was getting into the evening. After waiting for Erin to come to and more exploring of campus, the four had decided to finally see their own room.
"I claim the loft," Kari said quickly. She jumped up onto the wooden platform and threw one of the futons off the side. "Problems?"
Hotaru blinked at the display of agility.
"I claim the top bunk, then," Jo mentioned, looking up at the bunk (now hers.)
"And I'll take the bottom!" Hotaru mentioned happily. The Senshi of Saturn liked the bottom bunk, anyway.
Erin blinked. Unhappily, she muttered, "And that leaves me what? The floor?"
"There's a couch," Kari replied.
Erin looked at the couch. It was a dilapidated thing that was losing all its stuffing and, considering its age, was probably a fire hazard. "I'll take the floor." She grumbled some more as she pulled out the futon.
Jo looked over at Erin. Feeling a sudden pang of sympathy, she muttered, "You have the top. I'll take the floor."
Erin shook her head. "Nah. The floor suits me better."
"You don't have to suck it up," Kari said from up on her loft. "Nobody'll think any less of you. Except maybe me."
Erin pointedly ignored the young girl.
"Now where's the stuff Pluto promised to send?" Jo asked. "She'd better have bought me a lot of stuff, considering she wouldn't let me bring anything of my own..." Well, she supposed none of it was really hers, but that wasn't the point. Setsuna had promised to get the three out-of-place girls all they'd need, as well as bringing all of Hotaru's things to their room.
"It's up here," Kari replied. Indeed, up on the loft were four cardboard boxes. One was labeled for each of them; Kari, Hotaru, Erin, and Josephine. She quickly opened her own box.
The first thing the ninja-turned-Senshi noticed was a box. A box of pads.
Blushing, Kari's voice rose as she spoke. "What the hell is this?" She chucked the box over her shoulder and off the loft.
The box, predictably, hit Erin on the head. Rubbing her head, irritated, the silver-haired girl shot Kari a glare. "What was that for?" She picked up the box, curious to see what it was... then dropped it, suddenly pale. She had never considered... never wanted to consider...
She briefly considered suicide.
Hotaru picked up the box, wondering about the strange actions of the other girls. Realization dawned. "Oh. Do you use tampons?"
Kari stuttered a moment, turning to gaze in horror at the girl.
Erin looked down at the ground and shook her head, ridding herself of evil thoughts. Evil, evil thoughts.
In an attempt to ease her mind, Kari looked through the rest of the box. It shocked her... Who did Setsuna think she was? There were clothes, all right. Pink clothes. Some purple clothes. One set of green. Nothing she'd really wear. "Oh, for the love of all that is holy, somebody tell me this isn't all she got." For crying out loud, half of them were skirts!
"Don't hog them to yourself," Jo called up, intending to tease the ninja. She briefly contemplated the possibility of wearing a kilt... it would solve the clothing issue for somebody with her curse...
"Whatever," Kari said. She tossed Jo and Erin's boxes over the side, completely ignoring their cries of protest, even when Erin's box opened upon landing, spilling the contents all over the floor. Hotaru's, however, she gently picked up and brought down to the girl herself.
"Thank you," Hotaru said with a smile.
"For nothing," Erin added, picking up her stuff. Thankfully, it appeared her clothes were less... girly. The yellow and gold outfits were slightly off-putting, but she'd take what she was given.
As the girls began packing away their stuff, Hotaru tried to discuss their mission. "So did you guys find anybody suspicious?"
"Evangeline," Erin replied immediately.
Hotaru seemed surprised. "Why do say that? She seemed nice enough."
"Nice enough?" the silver-haired girl spat back. "She bloody put my head through a desk! Little girls like her shouldn't be that strong, or violent. Definitely something odd about her."
"If you go by that logic, then Kari is also a prime suspect," Jo felt the need to point out.
Kari, who had been packing away her clothes next to the redhead, slammed her elbow into the girl's gut. "What was that?"
"Nothing... I was just remarking that if unexpected strangeness is supposed to be our key indicator, you'd be a prime suspect." Jo had been around violent, uncute tomboys, like Akane Tendo, long enough to have some skill in defusing the situation.
Kari shot him a suspicious glare, but nonetheless let him off. "I'm more suspicious of our homeroom teacher," she put in. "I mean, ten years old and teaching? I know child geniuses exist, but it's still suspicious."
Hotaru was silent a moment. "I... I don't think anybody's that suspicious yet." She smiled, looking up. "But I'll work hard and figure it out, though!"
"So what are your plans for tomorrow, Hotaru?" Kari asked as she finished packing away her stuff, sans the... little present Setsuna had left on the top of her box. Erin could keep those for all she cared.
"Well..." Hotaru was silent a moment. "I was talking to one of our classmates... Ako? The girl with short blue hair like yours, Kari."
"I know who you're talking about," Kari replied.
"She's an aide in the nurse's office. I was thinking of seeing if I could help out, too."
"That's a good idea," Jo replied. "We should probably join some school clubs to establish contacts and get closer to some of the students." To keep herself from sounding too serious, she tacked on at the end, "And besides, it'd be dead boring otherwise."
Kari briefly considered what clubs to join. Well, there was only one she'd be interested in anyway... She imagined the go board in front of her. She held up her hand, imagine a smooth black stone in it. Only one club indeed.
"Well, it's been a long day," Hotaru said with a yawn. Even after the grand tour had been finished, there was a lot left out simply due to the large size of campus, so the four had taken it upon themselves to make their way around with only the map as their guide. The young girl wasn't used to walking for such long periods of time, and the campus was absolutely huge.
"I guess so..." Jo scratched the back of her head. Being fairly close to an insomniac wasn't the best of things at times. The headmaster had mentioned about sneaking out at night to investigate...
Hotaru pulled off her shirt. "Then I guess it's time to get ready for bed."
The other three all reacted quickly. Kari's eyes widened. Erin quickly covered her nose. Jo turned her head away and began sorting through her box.
"I-I think I'd better go patrol campus," the youngest in the group said, suddenly appearing next to the door. "Got to make sure nothing comes up!"
Jo nodded, quickly making her way out of the room behind Kari. "Right. You get some sleep, Hotaru! Don't wait up for us!"
Erin hoped her hand was covering the blood leaking from her nose. "Um, um... I'm going too." She quickly beat her retreat as well.
Hotaru paused as she pulled on her pajama top. "I wonder what their problem was."
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The next day saw three very exhausted girls in class. Late night investigating brought up nothing new, but did leave Erin and Kari very, very tired... Jo seemed to be in better shape, but even she seemed on the drowsy side. It was all Hotaru's fault, though... Kari fixed the young girl with a glare before her eyelids refused to cooperate any longer.
Jo and Erin, too, were shortly asleep. Hotaru tried in vain to wake Kari and Jo while Evangeline simply fixed the back of Erin's head with a glare.
As they entered second period, however, they found their teacher was not so forgiving. Three erasers pegged three heads and all sleeping students woke up.
"Eh?" Erin mumbled incoherently. She blinked. "Whatcha want?"
The teacher blinked, then laughed. "Sorry about waking you up from your nap, Erin." Looking at the other two, he added, "You too, Kari. Jo." He was their math teacher, Yukio D. Akatsuki, and seemed friendly enough so far. He had short black hair, slicked back, and a pair of glasses constantly in danger of falling off.
Their class representative, Ayaka, a girl with very long blond hair, turned back from her seat in front of the classroom. "You three!" she scolded. "Don't fall asleep during Mr. Akatsuki's class!"
"Will do, chief," Kari muttered, right before collapsing on her table once more.
Mr. Akatsuki shook his head. "Well, I guess she must've had a hard time sleeping with all the excitement of her first day."
Jo and Erin exchanged meaningful glances. "Something like that," Erin replied.
The girl at Erin's table raised an eyebrow while Hotaru looked confused.
"Nevertheless..." Mr. Akatsuki seemed to consider something for a moment. "Never mind. I guess it's all right, just this once." He turned back to the board, continuing the mathematics equation he was going over.
Erin and Jo did manage to stay awake, if not fully aware of their surroundings, for the rest of class. Kari simply dozed away.
In the center of class, a certain tanned Chinese blonde noted the young girl's behavior. It was almost befitting a Baka Ranger. Best to keep an eye on her.
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It was after class and Kari was feeling quite refreshed. A good day's sleep could do that for a girl.
She looked up as she approached a room in the school building. It was classroom 3-C. Used by students a year ahead of her, it was now home to something else. After school, it became the room for that which Kari desired most.
Kari slammed open the door. Several girls stopped their games, looking up from their boards with white and black stones to notice the new arrival. The young blue-haired girl strode in confidently.
The go club at Mahora was a lot different than back at Furinkan. For one thing, it wasn't stuck in a chemistry lab. For another, it had more players, at least a full dozen. It was reminding Kari more of her brief experience in the shougi club as opposed to the go club.
"This is a nice club you got here," the girl said. "Better than back where I come from."
The other club members looked at her for a moment. "Would you be interested in joining?" one of them asked.
Kari recognized the speaker as a girl in her class... Long, light green hair wasn't the girl's strangest attribute. With two large metallic ears jutting from her head and obviously robotic joints, she was definitely cause for concern... Well, if her classmates didn't care, then Kari didn't care. She doubted some mad scientist's love-child was the force of great evil... she was looking for a bastard of magic, not science.
"Yeah," the blue-haired replied to the question, "I want to join."
The robot was about to speak, but another girl cut her off. "If you want to join, how about a friendly match first?"
"Are you sure, master?" the robot inquired.
"It's fine, Chachamaru."
Kari looked the other girl over. "Evangeline McDowell, right?" Seeing the young blonde nod, Kari continued. "You sit next to my..." Friend didn't seem like the right word. "...roommate."
Evangeline nodded. "So? Are you up to a match?" She narrowed her eyes. "I won't be offended if you're too afraid."
"It's just a game of go," Kari responded, "and I'm always up for a game." She narrowed her eyes at the girl as they searched for an empty board. She wasn't liking this girl's attitude.
"Here we go," Evangeline said, taking a seat at an empty board. As Kari took the seat across from her, she began, "So, how does a nine stone handicap sound?"
"I suppose I can give you at least that much," the blue-haired girl replied.
Evangeline scowled as she placed a stone down.
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Jo smirked, looking at the small sign beside the bungalow. She knew she was at the right place, and she knew they couldn't possibly have anyone on par with her.
After a few moments of fantasizing about how she'd impress the other girls, she was finally brought back to reality by a slight cough from behind her.
Turning around, she spotted the source of the cough; a young and, in her opinion, rather cute raven-haired girl. Putting on her most charming smile, Jo asked, "Is this the kendo club?"
The girl shook her head. "No, this is the Japanese fencing club. We don't have a junior high kendo club. Would you like to apply to join our club?"
Jo nodded. "Hmm... Wait, isn't that the same thing?"
Setsuna nodded. "Basically, yes. But the club coach insists on calling it Japanese fencing."
Jo nodded, glad to know she hadn't been wrong. "Then yeah, I'd like to apply for this club of yours."
Before Setsuna could respond to Jo's statement, a sudden realization hit Jo like a ton of bricks. "Hey, aren't you in my class?"
The girl nodded once again. "Yes, my name is Setsuna Sakurazaki. I believe yours is Jo? Correct?"
Jo felt a brief shiver run up her spine before she finally responded with another nod.
"Good. Then let's go in, I'm sure our coach would be glad to meet you."
Following Setsuna inside, Jo couldn't help but look around. She was surprised by how few students were in the club, or at least in the club that day. By her count there were only five, not counting herself, Setsuna, and the older male that sat against the far corner, who she assumed was the coach.
Jo watched as Setsuna poked the older man once with her bokken.
He was completely unresponsive.
She tried again.
He didn't so much as twitch.
She tried a third time and the only result was a small snore emitting from the old man as his head shifted.
Sighing, Setsuna quickly cracked her knuckles before hefting the bokken and slamming it upside the older man's head.
Hearing the older man emit a string of curses as he pulled his head out from in between a nearby stack of mats, Jo was rather sure he was finally awake and aware. Looking up, the man appeared as if he was about to continue cursing until he seemed to notice Jo.
He seemed to suddenly appear in front of her, shaking her hand that she didn't remember thrusting out. Smiling, he quickly stated. "Hello, it is a great pleasure to meet you. Are you a new applicant here? What am I saying, of course you're a new applicant. Well, my new friend and student, is there anything I can do for you?"
Jo blinked. "Well...you could start by telling me your name..."
The older mans hand smacked against his head. "Oh, d'oh. Well, sorry, I must have forgotten my manners in my rush to greet such an obviously talented one such as yourself."
A few silent seconds passed before Jo commented. "You still haven't given me your name."
The older man blinked once, twice, three times before laughing and responding, "D'oh on me again. My names Shinataka Kozue, but you can call me Coach Kozue, or Coach K if your prefer."
Jo nodded. Looking back at the rest of club, she asked, "Shouldn't I be tested or something before you accept me for membership?"
Kozue seemed almost taken aback by the comment. "Hell no, we're barely able to make a decent showing at tournaments as it is. If we refused or forced something as stupid as a membership test on anyone interested in the club, we'd never have any members."
Jo half-smiled, though she had to admit, she was a little down not being able to astonish her new team mates with her fighting prowess. "Oh, okay, cool I guess."
Turning to Setsuna, Kozue asked, "Hey, could you take the new girl and get her the proper equipment from the supply shack?"
Setsuna nodded, and the two girls were off.
As they walked through the Mahora campus, Jo turned to Setsuna and asked, "So, what style of kendo do you practice? Or do you just do the straight-laced stuff?"
Setsuna turned to Jo, a serious look on her face. "Sorry, but that's a secret I can't divulge to someone I just met."
Jo rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever."
Setsuna sighed to herself.
After a half a dozen more minutes, they reached a small, out of the way wooden shack. Turning to Jo, Setsuna said, "This is where the kendo supplies are kept. And this is where we're going to get your equipment, alright?"
Jo nodded, still a little peeved at the girl's closed nature.
Setsuna retrieved a set of keys from her pocket. Quickly finding the one she needed, she unlocked the door and speedily retrieved all the equipment necessary, handing them to Jo piece by piece. Finally, she pulled out a large, old, beaten up brown bag out and stated, "This is your club issue bag. It's where you are to keep all your equipment when not using it, at the end of the semester it has to be turned in along with your equipment, okay?"
Jo nodded, not really capable of doing anything else as she attempted to shift the mountain of stuff so that she could begin placing it in the bag.
Setsuna nodded, the slight hint of a smile on the edges of her lips she responded. "Good, then let's get back to club before it lets out."
))o((
"Ayiyiyi... This is what makes an old man's bones ache."
Shizuna blinked, her mind drawn away from the paperwork she had been doing. "Hmmm? Is something wrong?"
"Yes... No...Well, it's just these new students. Their case really gets to me." The principal sighed.
Shizuna smiled. "How so?"
The principal massaged his temples before he began. "Ah, well there are a lot of reasons. Well, first, you may not have noticed, but they happen to be packing an over-excessive amount of power. And honestly, Setsuna did a very slipshod job hiding it."
Shizuna nodded, understanding evident on her face as she waited for him to continue.
"Secondly," the old man sighed, "I'm worried about how they'll interact with some of the other powerful people here... and how those people will react to them. And then there's Negi and Evangeline... I'm worried about what both will think if they discover these girls' true purpose here, and the fact that they have both been kept in the dark."
Shizuna bit her lip at that. "Perhaps you could rectify that. It's not too late to tell them, you know."
The principal shook his head. "No... There is always the slim possibility that this dark entity has some connection to them, as horrific as that would be... plus it'd be much too troublesome for me. No, I find it better to leave Negi and Evangeline out of the loop on this for now."
Shizuna sighed. The old man was getting stubborn again.
Without prompting, the old man continued. "Also, I'm a bit worried because, from what I could tell, I think Setsuna just might have slipped a real magic user under our radar. I'm not completely sure which of the kids it could be, but I'm pretty sure one of them is..."
Scratching the side of her head, Shizuna was unsure what to say to that. If Setsuna had indeed done that, it could cause quite a few problems in the future.
"Lastly, there is the infiltrator. I have no clue who or what it could be, and barely an idea as to what his or her plans could be. I believe Setsuna was holding back information... hmm, but then again, when isn't she doing that?" The principal finished the statement with an overstated sigh.
Shaking her head, Shizuna couldn't think of a lick of advice to give the old man. A lot of these problems he had pretty much either brought on himself or were out of her control.
The principal looked up at her with a slightly lecherous grin. "Can I have a hug?"
Shizuna shook her head, and rolled her eyes.
))o((
Erin ran through the halls of Mahora Junior High. She only had about ten minutes to make it to the final club she had planned to join.
Turning a corner, her head impacted on something, causing her and whatever it was to fall and roll a short distance.
Blinking, Erin looked down, spotting the "object" she had hit... which, as it turned out, was a now-dazed Hotaru.
Erin's eyes nearly bugged out. Jumping off the girl, she half worried whether she had seriously injured the girl. She remembered from the anime that Hotaru wasn't the healthiest scout in the world.
She was relieved when the girl seemed to come out of her daze and look up at Erin. Turning her head to the side as she sat up, she asked kindly, "What happened? And why am I on the floor?"
Erin gulped, before responding hesitantly, "Well... you see... I was in a bit of a hurry, and wasn't watching where I was going and, well, when I turned a corner, there you were and boom... we collided..."
Hotaru blinked. "Oh, okay... Where were you going in such a hurry, if I may ask?"
Erin had to hold back a laugh at the irony as she responded, "The walking club..."
Hotaru tried to hold it back, but was giggling within seconds, Erin soon following suite.
As they both got themselves under control, Hotaru tapped her chin before asking, "Hey, do you mind if I tag along? To join the walking club I mean."
Erin shrugged. "Doesn't bother me in the least. It'd be nice to have someone who I plan to become friends with joining with me."
Looking down at his watch, Erin's eyes bugged out for the second time that day. "Whoa! We'd better run if we plan on joining, it's about to end!" Erin grabbed the younger girl by the hand and rushed down the hall, Hotaru nearly flying behind her.
The duo made it, but only with a minute and a half to spare. Looking around, Erin was relieved to see the three members she had heard about still there. Knocking on the open door, she asked, "Hey, are you guy's accepting new members?"
Kaede turned around, placing her backpack back in the seat she had only seconds ago pulled it out of. Looking at the two girls standing in the doorway, she nodded slightly. "Yes. If you want to join, we'd be glad to have you, that we would."
Erin and Hotaru nodded as one. Looking at the three girls she commented, "From what I heard, it sounds like an interesting and relaxing club. And Hotaru agrees with me."
The black-haired girl nodded in confirmation.
One of the orange haired twins suddenly appeared in front of Erin. "Hi! It's great to have you! I'm Fuka!"
A second later her sister appeared in front of Hotaru. "Hi! It's great to have you in our club, too! I'm Fumika! Wanna be friends?"
Hotaru and Erin blinked simultaneously. After a minute, Hotaru responded. "Okay."
Fumika jumped for joy. "Yay! Hey, wanna come back to our room with us so we can talk more? Club's over and I'm sure your friend will be fine finding her way back."
Hotaru bit her lip. Turning to Erin, she asked, "Is it really alright?"
Erin shrugged. "Yeah, I'm fine, you go have fun."
With that, the twins set off down the hallway, half-dragging Hotaru behind them.
Erin turned to Kaede, a puzzled expression on her face, she asked, "Are they always that... hyper?"
Kaede shook her head. Handing Erin a small piece of paper detailing club meetings, she replied, "No, you caught them on a slow day, that you did."
Erin was left slack jawed at that. As Kaede made her way out of the room, the boy-turned-girl tagged along behind her. "So, do you think my friends gonna be okay in the twins' care?"
Kaede shrugged. "Possibly a little confused, and disoriented, and possibly suffering from a severe makeover, but otherwise I believe she will indeed be fine." She nodded encouragingly.
Erin nodded, thankful for the reassurance.
Looking back towards the way the two had run, Kaede commented aloud, "If I didn't know better, I'd find it hard to believe those two are 14, that I would."
Erin's eyes grew wide hearing that. " I... I assumed those two were, like, elementary schoolers..."
Kaede looked at Erin out the corner of her eyes. "You recently joined class 2-A, did you not?"
Erin nodded.
"You got a good look at the class while you and your friends were making your introductions, did you not?" Kaede continued.
Erin nodded again.
Kaede blinked. "Did you not spot those two? And for that matter, why would elementary school children be in a junior high club?"
Erin shrugged. "I don't know. Advanced classes, and... well, I got nothing for that last one..."
Kaede shook her head. "It is a good thing you only joined the walking club, that it is."
Erin turned towards the girl and responded, her left eyebrow arched, "But I didn't just join the walking club. I also joined the library exploration club, the manga club, and the astronomy club."
Kaede's head hung somberly. "I pity you, then, that I do."
))o((
II. Finis
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