Author's Notes:
I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story so far and sorry about taking so long with this chapter, but I pretty much slept the past week away.
Arika sat patiently in the lavishly decorated waiting room, unaware of what was going on in the other room. She was busy trying to make sense of what Mai had told her, since she didn't really understand what she had heard; it sounded too much something she would expect to see in anime or something. But at least she now understood what Aoi had meant by having 'to be cut from a certain cloth' to be a member of that club. A curiosity had been lit within her after witnessing the girl, Nao make such quick work of that creature, orphan as Mai had called them, a curiosity that was burning with almost the same intensity as her urge to find out about her mother. At that moment a truly curious thought had crossed her mind.
Could she have been a HiME as well? she wondered looking up into face the smiling pink-haired maid staring at her.
"Is there anything I can get you while you wait?" Fumi asked politely.
"No thank you."
"Miss Mashiro should be with you in a minute."
A grave silence had fallen on the chairman's large room; none of the three remaining occupants had spoken since the mysterious Izu had disappeared.
"Mai you were saying something earlier right?" Mashiro broke the silence.
Mai hesitated for a second before answering. It had become clear to her that even Mashiro didn't have a clue what was going on, a real scary thought. "Uh… yeah, a student was attacked by an orphan a little while ago. The student that was attack also turned out to be a HiME."
"I see… HiME and orphan…" Mashiro replied, her poise was almost restored and it was time to come clean, "To answer your question truthfully, I don't know. This morning I received a very strange visit from Nagi, but he didn't really say much except ask me about my plans, which are nonexistent at this point."
"So… what are should we do?"
"Since I don't know anything about what is going on, I can't say," she spoke calmly, "However I think that the answers to this mystery might be right under our noses, the problem is getting to them."
"In the 'Land of Fuuka' I presume?" Shizuru broke her silence resting her empty teacup onto the table.
"Right, however the entrance to the land was sealed shortly after the Princess Star was destroyed, Nagi and I saw to it personally," a long sigh escaped Mashiro's mouth. She knew what she had just said meant, and she knew Mai and Shizuru were also aware of what it meant. The way both of them had shutter at the statement had been a dead giveaway. "Therefore we have no acceptable way of getting there… but for now don't worry about it too much. I'll speak to Midori about it to see if she has discovered anything, we'll see if we can figure it out, or at least form some sort of plan."
The two girls shook their heads in agreement.
"Mai have you seen Natsuki today?" Shizuru asked.
"Yes, why?"
"Oh, just curious," the chestnut-haired girl replied with a faint wink.
It took her a second before Mai understood why Shizuru had asked what she did. It didn't really surprise her that Shizuru knew about Nina, since Natsuki obviously knew.
The forest surrounding the Minagi estate was usually a quiet one. On any given day the only sounds that were common to it where the chirping and scuttling of the various creatures that call it home. However today was slightly different, there were a few new sounds overpowering the normal peacefulness. The sound of heavy breathing, the sound of a large blunt object dragging through the grass, the sound of dust unearthing, even the sound of the occasional tree falling, none of which seemed to bother Reito Minagi who was busy sipping tea on one of the many balconies of the mansion.
"Master, it is almost time for your classes. Shouldn't you start getting ready?" a female voice came from inside the house as two maids walked onto the balcony.
"Thank you for reminding me, Miss Maria," Reito replied resting his empty teacup onto one of the maid's serving platters.
"If I might speak freely, isn't the mistress going a little overboard?" the old woman who was still inside questioned.
"Not at all," Reito assured her calmly, "She said that she wanted to get stronger, so as her older brother I'll do everything to help her. It isn't like she has broken anything irreplaceable yet."
"I just think that she should start to focus on her studies more especially since today was the first day of school."
"I am fully aware of that, and I completely agree with you. But that face she gave me this morning, I just couldn't say no to it," a smile appeared on his face.
"You are a reckless one Reito, filling your sister's head with your speculations," Maria said walking onto the balcony.
"You are right. I am not sure if something is going to happen or not, and I no longer have the Obsidian Lord's memories, but call it a gut feeling."
"Very well, if that is your decision,"
At that Reito turned to the maid standing next to him, "Please fetch my sister and see to it that she is cleaned up and given a ride back to Fuuka. Also inform her that she will only be allowed to visit me on the weekends from now on."
"Yes master," The maid replied walking back into the house.
Reito didn't have to look at Maria to know how intense the glare she was now giving him was. He could feel it well enough, and he knew he deserved it for forcing her to submit only to take her advice and make it look like his own idea.
Mashiro watched Shizuru carefully as Mai walked out of her office. That question she had asked was too random to not have some significance to it. Maybe she knew something that she wasn't letting on, and Mai seemed to understand the question as well. It probably was nothing; the increased stress from this morning's meetings coupled with these new developments was most likely getting to her. Right now she had to focus on her next meeting.
The large wooden doors open once again and Fumi led Arika over to the table where Mashiro and Shizuru were sitting. After a brief introduction Fumi offered the azure-eyed girl a seat at the table and left.
"Shall we begin?" Mashiro asked turning to face Arika with a smile, "I am aware about the interesting situation you are currently in and I would just like to ask you a few questions. Is that ok?"
Arika shook her head, "Yes."
"Very well, just to be certain do you have any clues as to who the person who has contacted you is?"
"No,"
As I have expected, Mashiro spoke under her breath. "And do you have any idea why they want you to attend Fuuka?"
After chewing over the question a little Arika replied, "Yes, I think it may have something to with my mother."
"Your mother?" that was one thing the letter Mashiro had received didn't include.
"Yes, the letter said that my mother went to school here,"
"Hmm," this was really interesting, "Judging from your application I take it you've never met your parents correct?"
"Yes Grandma raised me since I was a baby, but I want to find about my real parents."
"Very well," Mashiro said, that was enough she had to know. The girl's situation, though unique didn't seem to be connected to the HiME carnival. "Since this situation is such a delicate one, I've decided to offer you this." She handed Arika, who seemed confused a small envelope. "It is just a small scholarship to cover the cost of living here."
Arika nodded in acceptance. The thought of finding money for things like food and other stuff had crossed her mind. She had intended to find a part-time job after school to cover those expenses, but never had she imagined being fortunate enough to receive a scholarship.
Nina's eyes slowly began to open; everything was blurry, she couldn't see anything other than a bright white light that was pounding down on her eyelids. As her eyes opened a little wider a dark object moved in front of the bright light, casting a shadow over her head. After a second the object moved out of her vision casting the light back into face. She didn't have any idea what the object was, but it was circular, like a head or something. Gradually as her thoughts began to gather and she felt her strength returning, she suddenly sat up, eyes wide open. They were greeted by a pair of deep dark purple eyes that looked shocked. At first the surprised look in the person's eyes had confused her, but it didn't take long for her to understand. Apparently their eyes weren't the only body parts that had met which made Nina blush profusely.
Yoko gently pushed the flushed young girl's head back down onto the pillow, separating their lips. She didn't expect the girl to just sit up so fast; if she had she would've moved her head away a little more. But it didn't really matter since it was only an accident.
"I think I'm a little old for you," she joked, covering her lips to stop herself from giggling too much.
The nurse's joke only stood to make Nina's cheeks glow an even brighter red. Never had she imagine that, that would be how she got her first kiss. No it didn't count, it couldn't count, it was only an accident. But even after she had convinced herself of this, it didn't do away with her reddened cheeks.
"Anyway don't get up like that again, you should be resting,"
How did I get here? she wondered looking around the nurse's office. The last thing she remembered was getting the crap knocked out of her by the orphan's claws, and the last thing she remembered seeing was a pair of azure colored eyes staring down at her. Something about the girl's face had seemed reminiscence, like she had seen it or something similar before but she couldn't place it.
Memories aside, how did she get to the nurse's office? Did someone save her and if so who? Also did they see her fighting and did they figure out her secret? She didn't know the answers to any of these questions and it bothered her. Could Nao have saved her? Slim chance of that; the girl only seemed to care about herself and her mother, that's it. What about the president? She had been acting weird this morning, like she wanted her to admit something. Could she know? But how would that be possible?
"Nao…" Nina growled softly.
"Did you say something?" Yoko turned around curiously.
Nina shook her head no. She was going to kill that girl the next time she saw her. But it wasn't Nao's style to just void a favor someone owed her, however it was the only rational explanation she could come up with. There was also the possibility that the girl she saw last had saved her, but who was she? Was she a HiME like her, and did she have the same problem as her?
The classroom had been moderately quiet when Erstin returned; there were only a few students, none of which were Nina, chatting about something. She really wished Nina had been there, the girl's behavior in class had already worried her, and her absence from lunch had only made it worst. Something was definitely wrong, she was sure of it, but what?
Classes had resumed as they usually did after lunch, however Nina still hadn't returned which only stood to make Erstin even more concerned than she already was. It was definitely not like Nina to miss a class; it was part of the reason she held the number one spot in her class for the two years she had been at Fuuka. Even when she had been sick, much to Erstin's dismay, she had made every attempt to go to class.
Erstin was so concerned that she hadn't even realized that halfway through the class, the chairman's assistant/maid Fumi had led a new student, her new roommate into the classroom.
"Hello, I'm Arika Yumemiya, please take care of me," the azure-eyed girl introduced herself after writing her name on the board.
"Thank you, you may take your seat now," the teacher pointed toward the desk behind Erstin.
Dear god, save me! Natsuki screamed in her head as her teacher babbled on about who knows what, she wasn't paying attention. Since there were so few classes that she had sat through the past two years, she didn't have the slightest idea where the class was in their studies. Shoot she wouldn't have even know what subject it was if the teacher hadn't written it on the board.
There were countless unsavory things she wanted to do to Midori for making her come to class. It wasn't like she hadn't been studying in her own; damn did she have to considering that the year before last she had done almost no work because of the same thing that was probably going to happen again soon. With the shear amount of work she had done, she was probably ahead of the class by quite a bit now. So why did she have to attend class? It was pointless in her opinion.
Just when she was about to dose off she sensed a pair of eyes fixed on her. Naturally the first place she looked was directly ahead at the teacher, but his head was buried in the textbook he was reading from. Before she had the chance to look at anyone else, the feeling went away. What was that about? She wondered. Was she just being paranoid? Maybe…
Just as she had given up, her eyes met with the light tan-haired girl sitting next to her. Their eyes had entwined for more than half a minute before the girl flashed her an innocent smile and a polite wave before returning her focus toward the teacher.
Eh! Was she the one who was staring at me? Natsuki pondered still gazing at the girl. She had definitely seen her around campus before. Ein Luu she believed it was.