Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima owns the series. This story was just made for fun.
Summer Red, Part 3: The Wheelchair & Taking Steps Towards A New Life! Lucy's New Apartment! Transfers Between Schoolgirls & Kimono Girls!
After spending another week in the hospital for the doctors to see that she was awake for a week of basic physical therapy to evaluate her body's current condition, Lucy was allowed to be released from the hospital. She could only be released to a friend or family member, but Lucy had been thankful that Cana came to retrieve her from the hospital and stood near the lobby's entrance doors. Cana had left her phone number on the sign-in sheet for visitors who would be at the hospital's reception desk, and she received the phone call about Lucy on this calm morning. The day was filled with more calmness, especially from the soft sound of Lucy getting carried into a grey wheelchair by some nurses who evaluated her physical condition.
Lucy's body wasn't strong enough for her to walk yet, meaning that she'd have to be in a wheelchair when she wanted to go from one location to another, but Cana did notice that the blue-haired nurse who gently pushed Lucy's wheelchair also held a brown clipboard in her left hand. Cana moved to gently peek at the clipboard's notes, which instructed Lucy to try walking for at least five minutes a day to just start with trying to regain her ability to walk. Cana looked down at Lucy with a confident smile on her face, feeling that she could help Lucy carry out her physical therapy exercises that were part of the doctors' orders.
The nurse turned to Cana with a happy smile on her face, glad that Cana was here to pick up a patient instead of leaving Lucy all by herself. Cana didn't need to leave Lucy by herself, as she had been visiting her over the past week to just make sure that Lucy was okay, and she hoped that being by Lucy's side would subtly influence her to join the Kimono Dance Academy. The dance school would begin their first semester tomorrow, starting classes at the same time with Magnolia Academy, and Lucy did have to make a choice.
She could either go back to Magnolia Academy and be laughed at by people who believed Mai Kinoyama's lies, or she could try to start anew at a different school. Cana had purchased a pink kimono for Lucy to simply wear today, since she no longer needed to wear full-body bandages or a hospital gown, and Lucy's choice to wear the new clothing seemed to influence her thoughts about joining the Kimono Dance Academy. Before Lucy could announce her final decision, though, she had an important question for Cana to answer.
"Since we're literally going to be out of the hospital soon, where are you taking me?" Lucy asked Cana with a look of curiosity on her face, hoping that Cana would make her be somewhere safe.
Cana explained to Lucy in a calm tone, as she smiled with optimism in her eyes, "Lucy, you'll see it when we get there. It's not exciting, but I think you'll like it. After all, you'd be there for free."
As Cana gently pushed Lucy's wheelchair through the automatic doors that separated to be apart, Lucy asked her with a somewhat worried facial expression, "Speaking of housing that costs money, what about my apartment's rent?"
"Lucy, you were in a coma for nearly two months. You would owe a high amount of rent, if the landlady didn't let me see her in the act of moving someone else into your apartment while your personal furniture was all taken away on that same day." Cana calmly explained to Lucy while looking stoic, subtly informing her that she couldn't go back there.
Cana had found out Lucy's former address from a small conversation with Haruka two days ago, and Haruka appeared to have been looking at a transcript of Lucy's records from Magnolia Academy. The transcript for that academy also featured Lucy's address at the top of the paper, and Cana had merely been curious about where Lucy lived. Going to that address after the school day ended gave Cana the opportunity to see the short landlady charging 140,000 jewels to someone who wanted to move into the apartment, and the sunset had bathed Magnolia in an orange glow of an emotional parting at the same time her personal belongings were carried out by movers.
Lucy's personal belongings probably reminded her of Magnolia Academy and her personal trauma, prompting Cana to not take any of the furniture for herself, and she merely left the boxes outside the door for the sunset to shine its light on them. In contrast to that situation, the morning sun's light was shining down brightly on Lucy while Cana helped her now be in the parking lot. The parking lot that was paved in grey asphalt had been near a dirt path, and that was the path Cana would be walking on. She'd be taking Lucy down a path to her new home, which would also allow her to have new experiences.
New experiences at a new school would probably help Lucy feel better, but she let her fists gently rest on her lap while looking down at them in a somewhat anxious manner. Lucy felt a bit scared about her decision, as it was very life-changing, but she felt like this particular choice was one that had to be made. The choice in her mind was one decision that her heart fully agreed with, and Lucy weakly raised her right hand to just place it on her heart in a gentle manner. Her own touch was quite gentle, almost as gentle as the smile that her lips formed for what she would tell Cana.
"Cana, listen. I've... made my decision. I've decided that I'll attend the Kimono Dance Academy. If that place will make me have a joyous autumn to amend for my summer coma, I'll gladly learn to dance." Lucy gently told her friend in a kind manner while slightly turning around to face Cana, letting their eyes meet.
Lucy's answer prompted Cana to reply with a pleased smile on her face, secretly happy that her efforts paid off, "Lucy, that's great! You'll love attending the Kimono Dance Academy, and you'll be registered as a second-year student. That way, you won't have to worry about first-year introductory classes after the orientation day."
"Yeah, I'd rather not be reminded of my experiences as a first-year." Lucy started to sadly say with a depressed look appearing on her face, as she started silently thinking about that year.
Lucy really felt like she wasted her entire first year as a student with the task of dating Mai, who was probably far from Magnolia Town at this point, and Lucy began to feel like she just needed to focus more on classes in the upcoming year. The thought of new classes with new students seemed quite overwhelming, especially since new groups of students meant that new cliques came with new social dynamics, and Lucy hoped that being good at certain assignments could help her fit in with her classmates. They probably wouldn't be too tough towards her for being in a wheelchair most of the time, but only if she probably tried her best at dancing.
Lucy would definitely try to be a good dancer, and her cocoa brown eyes started to have a slight bit of curiosity towards what the different dances would entail. She wondered if she would have to dance with any twirling batons or dance while holding fire in her hands, since the television programs in Magnolia Town featured those dances being done in a comical fashion, and Lucy wondered if the semester would start off with playful dances occurring. If there were comical dances, then they would probably be a bit easy for beginners at dancing.
Upon also thinking about how Lucy was a beginner, Cana hoped that Lucy could grasp dances that were taught at an intermediate level. They wouldn't be very difficult, but they also wouldn't be very easy like dances that only required five steps in routines. Cana couldn't recall all of the beginner-level and intermediate-level dances, but she did recall how transfer students from normal schools would have to take beginner-level classes alongside the intermediate-level courses for them to catch up with other students who were in their second year of studying dances instead of studying academic subjects from a conventional academy.
Meanwhile, in Haruka's office...
Speaking of students from a conventional academy, one of Magnolia Academy's third-year students named Juvia Lockser was in Haruka's office with principal Makarov Dreyar of Magnolia Academy. The short man wore a black dress shirt with black dress pants, along with some black dress shoes, and he was almost fully bald. He merely kept his arms folded while sitting down in front of Haruka, who was sitting behind the desk with a calm look on her face, and Haruka glanced at Juvia for a moment. Juvia Lockser was a student who had her blue hair curled at the ends while wearing Magnolia Academy's uniform for third-year students, and she held a folded blue kimono in her hands.
Having the kimono be folded as if she was handing it back to Haruka had been Juvia's way of signifying that she would be transferring out of the Kimono Dance Academy, due to Juvia's personal desire of wanting to be in a school where she wasn't lonely. Juvia had been friends with Cana during their time at the Kimono Dance Academy, but hearing a rumor that Cana would be graduating next year instead of graduating in the current year with the other third-years had made Juvia feel sad. She hoped that Cana would be much better at not getting disciplinary strikes, especially since Cana's sudden removal from third-year classes made Juvia be worried for her friend.
She had kept wanting Cana to study harder, but trying to yell at Cana to make her study dances much harder was like telling a motionless brick wall to move. Neither scenario would occur, as Juvia wasn't very persuasive. Juvia herself couldn't be persuaded by any of the other girls into staying at the Kimono Dance Academy, since Juvia felt like her final exams' scores that reflected how she almost failed certain classes were really reflective of how dancing wasn't something that she could truly do as a career after graduating.
Therefore, Juvia would have to graduate at a different school where learning some academic subjects could help her get the grades for getting into a good university later on. Juvia meant no disrespect by proceeding to lightly place her light blue kimono on Haruka's desk, and she politely bowed her head while placing one hand against her chest. Juvia felt a bit of warmth in her heart from the excitement of starting her final year of high school at a new school, but Juvia heard principal Makarov start to clear his throat in a stern manner.
"Mistress Haruka, I do hope that Juvia shall have fun at Magnolia Academy. Our school is notorious for producing the best and brightest students, in terms of our academic programs." Makarov told Haruka with a calm smile on his face, as he gently grabbed the paper of Juvia's transcript off of the desk.
Haruka responded to Makarov with a pleased facial expression, keeping the atmosphere friendly, "Juvia will hopefully carry over some skills from here to incorporate them in her studies at Magnolia Academy, and I will certainly be happy if she graduates."
Haruka proceeded to tell Juvia with a bittersweet smile on her face, having a bit of regret in her eyes, "Juvia Lockser, you were an adequate dancer here at the Kimono Dance Academy and many of us enjoyed seeing your performances. We shall miss having you around, but good luck in life."
That prompted Juvia to respond in a kind manner, glad to get approval from the headmistress about her transfer, "Juvia is very happy that you respect her decision, Haruka-sama!"
Haruka soon motioned for Juvia to walk out of her office, which prompted Juvia to appropriately do that, and the girl who had eyes in the regular shade of blue quietly closed the door behind her. The sound of the door closing was followed by two minutes of utter silence, Haruka refusing to say anything else about Juvia's transfer. There was another student who had been on her mind, though, and Haruka proceeded to get out of her chair to go towards the glass window in her office. She looked out the window for a moment to see Cana oddly be one of the students showing up to school on Sunday, recalling that Cana didn't have dish-washing duties or tasks pertaining to summer dances today.
Even though Cana didn't have classwork today, Haruka's eyes widened in amazement from seeing Cana do the work of pushing Lucy around in a wheelchair while both of the girls were softly smiling. Cana's smile appeared to be very sincere while she took Lucy in the direction of the Kimono Dance Academy's dormitory, and Haruka also began to smile at how Cana seemed to have managed to persuade Lucy into joining the dance school. Now that the blonde-haired girl was going to become a student of Haruka's dance academy, the green-haired woman felt like a crisis had been averted.
Well, the crisis had been averted for the media to not have any negative things to say about the Kimono Dance Academy. The dance school would probably be viewed positively by many women in Fiore for them to want to attend such a good school that had helpful students, and Haruka hoped that this would be a year where the school gained more funding from students winning gold dance trophies. The Kimono Dance Academy may have only received one golden trophy this year from the crew of girls who were the best of the best in the National Master Rank Dance Competition, but Haruka still had to accept that sole award being in last year's glass case. The silver trophies were purposely thrown out, due to them not having enough luster like awards of gold. In fact, Haruka began turning around to face Makarov with some disapproval in her eyes at a matter where Magnolia Academy would receive a gold award in an unpopular category.
"Makarov, that girl who we found in the river near the beginning of summer is named Lucy Heartfilia. Apparently, she told one of my apprentices that she attended Magnolia Academy before falling into the river and being badly bruised." Haruka sternly explained to Makarov, as she went back to sitting in her chair and placed her hands together for them to rest under her chin.
Haruka's words prompted Makarov to sternly reply in an ashamed manner, as he had heard something on television about blood being in one of Fiore's rivers, "Lucy Heartfilia was one of my academy's students, and whoever made her fall in that river will be facing legal charges."
"Yeah, they get to deal with legal charges while Lucy is reportedly injured so badly to where she can barely walk without feeling tremendous pain. For such a great academy, you must have a poor disciplinary program if a fellow student possibly injured her with malicious intent. Even if Lucy wasn't familiar with whoever harmed her, I do think that being harmed and almost losing her life would warrant a semester of the academy's Psychotherapy class." Haruka responded in a concerned manner, not wanting Lucy to possibly end up having traumatic outbursts in her classes.
Makarov told Haruka in a kind tone while softly smiling and closing his eyes for a moment, "That sounds like a great idea, Haruka. These kids do need treatment, if they go through horrible situations. Speaking of treatment, I'd like to suggest that you inform Lucy's new teachers of how they could adjust their teachings in aspects of dancing to benefit her needs."
Haruka merely nodded in agreement with Makarov's suggestion, as she did plan on telling all of Lucy's instructors that this particular student needed adjustments, but accommodations for classes were the only benefit that Lucy would get at the Kimono Dance Academy. The issue of housing was something that Lucy would need to handle on her own, since the academy's students were permitted to choose their roommates, and the Kimono Dance Academy had no authority over what jobs or activities students engaged in when they weren't on school grounds.
If they were on school grounds, then they would have to follow all of the listed rules in the Kimono Dance Academy's handbook. Haruka proceeded to open one of the drawers in her desk to simply pull out a light pink handbook, which had been written by one of her strictest assistants, and the Kimono Dance Academy had some rules that greatly differed from the rules of a normal school. Those differences would be announced to students on their first day of orientation, since Haruka didn't want to be the one explaining the rules multiple times to students such as Lucy.
Although, the thought about Lucy learning some rules from Cana was something that Haruka hoped to occur while Cana was helping the new student with adjusting to a new environment. Cana could likely help Lucy adjust very quickly by explaining each of the different classes in a basic way for Lucy to understand concepts such as how all courses on flower arranging were the Kimono Dance Academy's counterparts to a normal academy's art classes that involved painting or drawing, and an intermediate-level dance class on numeric beats related to the timing of dance steps would be the dance school's counterpart to a regular academy's math course. Of course, Lucy would first have to get accustomed to the Kimono Dance Academy's equivalent to her former apartment.
20 minutes later, at the Kimono Dance Academy's dormitory... (Lucy's POV)
Cana brought me into the dormitory of the Kimono Dance Academy, and I got to see that the lobby had brown wooden flooring with a red reception desk at the back of the room. My eyes glanced at the reception desk to see that a girl with pink hair styled in two long twin tails had been working behind the desk, and she wore a light pink kimono with the design of cherry pink roses being on it. The design of the kimono was as interesting as her magenta pink eyes, and she appeared to only notice me for a moment before trying to fix a crooked picture frame.
My eyes noticed how the picture frame featured some kimono girls appearing to dance on a large stage, and they appeared to be in a competition. Judging by adjacent pictures of girls in kimonos being on the orange walls of this lobby, I viewed the dormitory to be a place where the school really took pride in their dancers. There was even a photo of Cana on the wall, and she appeared to just be standing in a relaxed way while the other dancers were exhausted. They seemed to be on the grassy ground, almost as if a dance-off contest occurred outside at some point during Cana's time at this academy.
Being at the academy for three years now meant that Cana was able to ring the red bell on the reception desk, as opposed to tapping the circular bells that were orange or yellow, and I watched Cana ring the bell at least two times after she brought us both up to the receptionist. The girl who had pink hair was too busy making all of the picture frames be perfectly straight right now, which made me think that Cana would just be agitating her by trying to make her multitask so early on in the morning. I even caught a glimpse of a pink piece of paper that was in the center of photos that were in large pink frames while they formed a square around the paper, and the paper was merely a schedule with different activities coded in different shades of pink.
The schedule didn't seem to belong to Cana, but that didn't prevent her from proceeding to ring the bell in a comical manner that involved creating a musical beat. She stood next to me while smirking in a playful manner, making it seem like this was one of the academy's fun activities, but the receptionist quickly grabbed Cana's wrist in a firm manner to prevent her from making anymore noise with the bell. I decided to lightly tap the orange bell on the reception desk, hearing it create a playful little chime, and the receptionist glanced at both of us for a moment.
"I don't remember asking for a musical performance from you, Cana. It's early in the morning, and you just had to be the first person to get on my nerves." The receptionist told Cana with an annoyed facial expression, sounding quite grumpy before picking up a light pink mug of brown coffee to loudly sip it.
Cana responded in a calm manner, as she lightly smiled, "Nodoka, you could at least be a little less cranky when you have to make a good first impression. As you can plainly see, we have a new student who's a last-minute addition to the Kimono Dance Academy."
Upon seeing me lightly touching the wheels of my wheelchair, Nodoka responded in a nicer demeanor while starting to softly smile, "Oh, my! I'm sorry that you had to see me at one of my rudest moments, new girl. My name is Nodoka Ecruteak, and I'm the receptionist who also manages the dormitory! Of course, I will have to know some info about you such as your name."
I replied to her in a somewhat surprised manner, before calming down, "Oh! My name is Lucy Heartfilia, and I'm a second-year student who's transferring here from Magnolia Academy."
After nodding politely at my words, Nodoka turned her attention to the pink laptop that was sitting on the reception desk. She lightly turned it towards me for my eyes to see her typing in my name on the list of new dormitory students, and she pulled out her pink cell phone to quickly take a picture of me. I decided to nicely smile for the photo, and Nodoka smiled back at me. She proceeded to keep looking at me while plugging her pink phone charger into the laptop, before connecting the charger to her phone, and she soon uploaded the picture of me for it to be next to my name.
I soon saw her click on a light pink option that pertained to dorm rooms, and she pulled up a webpage that displayed my dorm room number while also displaying which floor I'd be staying on. Despite being a second-year student, I was genuinely surprised to be placed on the first floor of the dormitory with first-year students who would be attending the academy. Attending classes at this academy also prompted Nodoka to display my class schedule, which had quickly been created by whoever was the principal at this school, and Nodoka pressed some buttons on her laptop for some commands to resonate with the nearby pink printer.
After a few seconds, I saw a plain pink button on the printer glow brightly while a white piece of paper was generated from the printer. Nodoka gently took it out of the printer to gently hand me the paper, and I glanced at it for a few moments. I got to see that my dorm room was definitely on the first floor while I had been listed as a transfer student, and some of the classes that I'd have to take were for first-year students who likely had no experience with dancing in any way. Despite having to take introductory courses, I hoped to not be treated like a first-year student again.
"I don't wish to be rude, but are second-year students looked down upon by others? To put it simply, are transfer students socially viewed in a negative way by all of their peers who are more experienced?" I asked Nodoka with a somewhat nervous look on my face, hoping to not be the laughingstock in any group of girls again.
Nodoka responded in a kind manner, her lips forming a soft smile as she looked at me, "Absolutely not! At the Kimono Dance Academy, our motto involves everyone to form bridges of friendship with each other that are as great as the dance moves that are carried out during the bridges of songs!"
"Well, that's one way to give me an answer." I responded in a somewhat surprised manner, blinking my eyes while looking somewhat stunned at what Nodoka had just said.
Cana added with a happy smile on her face, maintaining confidence in her violet eyes as she looked at me, "When you're at this school, you'll notice that the girls sometimes use terms related to dancing. Also, don't mistake shuffling at parties for anyone doing card tricks."
Upon hearing that shuffling wasn't something that pertained to card tricks, I merely looked confused at Cana for a moment. She simply giggled in a relaxed manner about it, believing that I would grasp concepts fast enough to want to be in this academy for longer than one semester. The thought about my first semester at a new school made me glance at my class schedule, which had physical therapy as my first class of the day, and psychotherapy was the class that immediately followed it. Psychotherapy was a course that likely require me to discuss my emotions and moods, but how was that important to the acts of dancing?
Emotions couldn't possibly be related to dancing, as they weren't like an actress having to act out scenes in theatrical plays, and being emotional in dancing was something that just seemed weird to me. I felt out of place at this school already, since the classes weren't normal, and I even had to take a beginner's course on arranging flowers. How could flowers be tied to the concept of dancing? My eyes widened in a stunned manner from seeing that type of class on my schedule before lunchtime, and I hoped that the other kimono girls would assist me with learning dances that wouldn't possibly involve flowery meadows.
As I thought about how it would be somewhat weird to dance with other students in a meadow, Nodoka shifted my focus to how she loudly opened up one of the three large drawers that had been behind the reception desk. She took out a normal-looking orange key from that drawer, before opening an adjacent drawer to strangely stick her tongue out and tease Cana with the sight of a red key, and Cana merely tried to lunge over the desk for it. Nodoka quickly moved back, before taking out an orange key to place it in Cana's hand that reached for the red key, and their slight scuffle knocked two paper fans off of the front of the reception desk. I slowly picked up the pink paper fan to fold it back up, before Cana aggressively picked up a purple paper fan, and she turned my wheelchair in the direction of a doorway while we both started to have our backs turned to Nodoka. She didn't ask us for the paper fans to be returned to her, only lightly clapping her hands in a slow manner that seemed a bit condescending at how we did something that was required without her having to go through the trouble of explaining it.
10 minutes later, at a dorm room's front door... (Cana's POV)
No one also had to explain to Lucy or me that we would be staying in dorm rooms that corresponded with the numbers of our keys, and my key had the number 2-C on its base while Lucy's key had the number 1-L on the base of it. Since she would be staying on a different floor than me, I felt like this situation just gave me the extra work of having to go downstairs to meet up with her every day. The thought of how that situation also involved me not having a red master key made me loudly sigh in annoyed manner, since I hated how I had been demoted to taking intermediate-level classes again.
I kept my hands on the wheelchair's handles while looking at Lucy for a moment, and she also glanced down at her key in a somewhat disappointed manner. Was she also hoping to be viewed at the appropriate academic level by people? I'd be sure to acknowledge her as a second-year student who was merely catching up with the rest of us, and she didn't seem like the type of person who had horrendous test scores that would need to slyly be changed through methods involving sneakiness. Lucy's genuinely disappointed face was easy to read, as she kept glancing down at her key.
I gently made her look up at the hallway in front of us by putting one hand under her chin to slightly lift her head, and I slowly turned her chair to face the bubblegum pink rectangular door that had a floral pattern on it. There was also a small piece of wood on the door that had the number and letter of 1-L on it, and I pushed Lucy's wheelchair up to the wooden door. Once she reached the door, Lucy weakly lifted up one hand that held the key. She held the key in a somewhat shaky way, her hand slightly trembling from the pain that was still searing throughout her body, and I gently placed my hand on hers while we proceeded to guide the key towards the keyhole.
Once the keyhole had the key firmly pushed into it, I aggressively helped Lucy turn the key to the right side. By turning it in that direction, the key made the door be unlocked and it slowly opened. The door opened for Lucy and I to see that she'd be staying in a dorm room with a gold tatami floor that matched the gold screen walls that separated different rooms of the apartment from each other, and taking a whiff of the recently fresh-smelling apartment reminded me of when I was a first-year Kimono Girl. The living room had a yellow glass-top rectangular table in front of the oriental-looking yellow sofa, and there was a gold chair near a yellow square table that had a small yellow pagoda in the middle of it while a full set of shogi pieces surrounded it for the most bored people to play Japanese chess.
"Just so you aren't bored out of your mind if you can't play shogi, you can see something that's much better." I told Lucy with a happy smile on my face, before walking over to the screen doors on the right side of the apartment to separate them.
Lucy asked me in a curious tone of voice, as she saw me move aside to gently display a room with two average-sized beds facing the window, "Is that supposed to be the bedroom? Why is it small?"
Upon hearing Lucy sound like she was going to start complaining after that last sentence, I widened my eyes in a somewhat urgent manner while remembering an important secret, "The bedroom may be small, but you'll definitely be speechless after seeing this!"
I hastily walked towards the gold screen wall that had been on the other side of the beds, and pulling those doors apart allowed me to show Lucy that the small room ironically had a wide closet area for each person to put their clothes on a rack. Lucy could use the rack that I displayed to her while her roommate could just have the other one, and the desolate closet that had no clothes in it only provided me with a clear indication that making Lucy have a good time at the Kimono Dance Academy would also require me to purchase several outfits for her to wear.
That seemingly-tight bikini from our first meeting didn't appear to be something Lucy would've bought on her own, since she didn't even ask about why that brand of clothes lost its tightness after the river's water thoroughly wet the fabric for it to no longer be on her body, and the smell of the clothes hadn't been pleasant. Since the odor had been unpleasant, I threw them away in the hospital's trash bins while feeling like Lucy needed a full fresh start in life. That fresh start included shopping, but she still needed to get settled into her new apartment.
Speaking of the new apartment, I would have to show Lucy the kitchen soon. It wasn't a massive kitchen, likely the same size as her former apartment's kitchen or slightly smaller, but I hoped that the cabinets would have been thoroughly cleaned for them to not have dust on them like how the closet's rack bar had dust on the bottom of it. Seeing that dust made me wipe it with one hand, only for the dust to go in the air, and my eyes ended up watering from feeling the dust touch them. The dust also touched my nose, causing me to loudly sneeze, and I dropped my key while more sneezes caused me to take off my kimono and use it to blow away the dust. As some of the dust blew in a curved path to go past us during my moment of dropping the kimono, I turned to face Lucy and she stared at me in an amazed manner.
"Cana, you must be into fitness and working out." Lucy told me in a kind tone while gently touching my abs, after I took a few steps towards her.
I responded to her while feeling my cheeks blush from slight embarrassment, as I only worked out after a certain activity, "Well, I'm actually not the strongest girl at this academy. I'm not the most muscular one, either, but maybe I have my own ways of being sexy."
"It could be appealing for me to have bigger breasts, but finding lingerie at reduced prices in a daytime sale to show off my sexiness would require me to be the luckiest girl in the world." I added nicely while turning around to bend over and pick up my kimono, before reaching for my key that slightly slid into the closet.
As I lightly pushed my body back against the space between me and Lucy in the moment where I grabbed my key off the tatami floor, I got to hear Lucy softly say in a slightly flustered manner, "I think I'm the luckiest girl from... now being at the Kimono Dance Academy. Cana, maybe you'd find some appeal from appreciating... genuine friendly compliments every day at school."
When Lucy said that last sentence, I decided to stand up straight and let my eyes widen in shock. I became more shocked at how my unbuttoned red Capri pants nearly began to fall, making me grab them in front of Lucy before she would see my lacy underwear that shared its lacy design with a few pieces of the school's architecture. Still, I was as motionless as the buildings right now while processing what Lucy said. She seriously told me that she wanted to attend the Kimono Dance Academy on every day, implying that she wanted to be at this school? Lucy really wanted to be here, thinking that she would enjoy it?
I turned around to face her with a serious expression, before leaning down to look in her eyes, and our eyes were locked for nearly a minute. I could see in her eyes that she was feeling positive emotions, as her brown eyes had some happiness in them, and the blush on her face seemed to be from sudden excitement. If I made Lucy get excited from mentioning lingerie sales, then this genuine reaction didn't involve her saying any lies to me. Of course, she had been talking to my ass a minute ago instead of saying those words to my face. Still, she now looked back at me and we maintained eye contact.
Lucy kept looking into my eyes, before the sudden sound of a growl from my stomach made a groan of displeasure softly escape from my lips. and she glanced at my growling stomach before her eyes focused on my blue lacy bra for a moment. I watched her softly giggle, almost like she wanted me to complain about now being hungry, but I also started to giggle at how her stomach growled louder in response to mine. Those sounds signified that we were both hungry, making me glad that my pockets had money in them, and we wouldn't have to look for food in the empty kitchen. Instead, I decided to push Lucy and her wheelchair back out of this room and out of the apartment for us to go get some food from restaurants in Kuchiba Town. Being in Kuchiba would be a great experience for her, just like how I had the wonderful experience of successfully avoiding expulsion.
How was Chapter 3 of the main story? This chapter was meant to display how Lucy is slowly trusting Cana while specifically letting Cana help her get settled in at the Kimono Dance Academy, and Cana is also choosing to help Lucy adjust to being disabled. Lucy not only has to adjust to being in a wheelchair, but she'll also have to get accustomed to the Kimono Dance Academy's classes. Some CaLu moments in classes will still involve Lucy and Cana having a slow friendship, since they still just recently met each other, and classes may feature Lucy and Cana experiencing new plot points. Also, the fact that they recently met still means that they'll have to learn things about each other and eventually learn about certain motives. I'll update as soon as possible. :)
REVIEW RESPONSE SECTION!
neffateri13: Thank you for your compliments, as well as criticisms. Lucy's character was underdeveloped in the prologue, but her personality shall develop as new experiences occur for her in the main story. As for the characters not having much personality, any apparent one-dimensional natures will be offset by characters with more fleshed-out personalities.
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