This story is a work of fiction. Any similarities to events or persons living or dead in your world is purely coincidental.

4/9 Tuesday

Evening

If this was a kidnapping, it wasn't anything like the movies had taught Aiko to expect.

"AH! The Velvet Room? What the hell?! How did you kidnap me out of the dorm? You'll be sorry, pervert!"

That wide, toothy smile was still there. It irritated her like Shukiji's never had. "Worry not, for you are still sound asleep within your own dorm room. You see, this is a special place that exists within the human subconscious, between dreams and reality, between mind and matter. My name is Igor, and I have invited you here for a special purpose. I trust that you accepted my invitation?"

Disbelieving, Aiko tried her most scornful, angry stare... but the long-nosed man won that contest with his weirdly round eyes and tiny hellish pupils. She now knew how Shukiji had felt not so long ago; not wanting to believe what someone was telling her, but also unable to sense or disprove their lie.

Keep your way. The only way forward was to play along. "Well gee, thanks Mr. Igor, but I don't recall accepting an invitation to anywhere, least of all this weird ship."

"So you recognise it", Igor said approvingly. "Good. Perhaps my assistant will be able to make you understand more clearly."

Something in those deep velvet-limned shadows behind Igor moved, and there was a flash of green light. When that was gone as well, Aiko beheld another figure standing next to her 'host'.

He was a boy perhaps a few years older than her of a more normal height and proportion, younger yet far taller than his master. He wore a crisp-looking solid blue naval officer's getup, completed by golden buttons and an anchor-shaped badge over his heart. A gold-lined blue admiral's cap completed his uniform, though it could not have contained the boy's medium-length mane and bangs of fluffy, sandy brown hair if he'd tried.

The most startling thing about him was the eye patch covering the right eye of an otherwise extraordinarily handsome and cute face, surpassing even Noel Vitienne; a marine blue oval bearing a golden butterfly symbol. His remaining eye was a molten gold colour, and she decided it would be better off not to try and see what exactly the patch was concealing.

"Our course is set, master", the lad spoke in a polite, composed tone after taking a formal bow. "A storm rises, but I predict smooth sailing ahead for 3 days."

"Good work", the old man nodded. "Allow me to introduce my assistant and navigator, Bartholomew."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance", the handsome sandy-haired boy followed up with a formal bow towards Aiko as well. At least he was a lot less creepy than his so-called master despite the eye patch.

"You seem normal", she observed for lack of anything better to say. "Can you get me out of here, Bart-san?"

But the pleasant sailor boy merely smiled comfortingly. "You will be gone from here soon enough, Dream Voyager. My master only wished to pay you a greeting first, to try and prepare you for what is to come."

Aiko was still willing to bet good money that this was just another wild dream... but she couldn't deny that Bartholomew's last words set her hairs on end. "For... what is to come?"

Igor grinned back as if sharing a private joke between the three of them.

"Your world is currently caught up in a time of great upheaval. Ancient forces are moving through the sea of human consciousness that seek to regress all of reality to naught but chaos. When such threats arise, one human with a pure heart and the will to defy these forces is blessed with the power of the Wild Card to vanquish them."

The man gave another disturbing chuckle that echoed through the room. "That, it seems, is humanity's unconscious defence mechanism, to produce such fine young specimens as its chosen saviours. It has happened before, and it is happening now. The bearer of the Wild Card, and the power of Persona... is you."

Once again, Aiko was at a loss of what to say to that. Fortunately, Bartholomew sensed her confusion. "The power will awaken when you have need of it", he promised her. "You will not be aware of it, or us, until that time. Until then, all we ask is that you keep your way."

Keep your way... "Wait... how do you know that phrase? What is all of-"

But she couldn't quite get the last words out. She felt so sleepy all of a sudden. She had to-

4/10 Wednesday

Morning

"Tsuruga-san... Tsuruga-san!"

Aiko's eyes shot open and she nearly punched the person standing over her. When the fog escaped from her head, she saw that it was Mira.

"Y-you're going to be late", the taller girl could only stammer. 'It's almost first period."

Then those sleep-shrouded eyes widened. "Crap! The alarm... I forgot!"

The rest felt to her like it was on autopilot. There was no time to sense others around her, and no time to process her actions and movements except on a very basic level. Feelings of shame and alarm competed in her heart, but letting either slow her down would have been an invitation to disaster.

Finally, once the world's quickest breakfast and dress up was taken care of and she was actually walking the short distance from the dorm to the school, she had time to mope. Crapcrapcrapcrap... only I could be late while living less than five minutes' walk from school... maybe I am stupid after all!

Mira. The self-pity brought her roommate back to mind. Mira had helped her, even after all her words the day before about how they ought to stay away from each other.

The main building of Koashimizu academy loomed before her now, a lined edifice of white-beige brick and dark linoleum far longer than it was wide or tall, to the point that there was enough room for an outdoor courtyard. The school's emblem, which she took to be a dolphin leaping out of the water, had been carved into the brickwork above the front door. Windows clustered along the tops of the walled both inside and outside, providing good views of the cliffs and coast below as well as the two dorm buildings and the 'pool shack'.

Today was the today she was going in there to learn more about Mira. She wouldn't let Shukiji put her off any longer. I will help you, Mira-senpai. Just watch. I won't let these awful people make you miserable any more!

Of course, before doing any of that there was the matter of first period. Aiko was pleased to learn from Mr. Takao, the first-year homeroom teacher, that the general pattern for most school assignments was to have all of the ones assigned over the weekdays due on Saturday. A clean, easily remembered deadline. To help them further, all assignments could be submitted on the school computers directly to private email addresses for each teacher.

"You're all so lucky", Mr. Takao noted without envy. Aiko liked him- straight and simple and forward about what he wanted to say to them, and he never bothered Mira or the other exchange students. Too bad he was in home room, and not a real class. "Computers make all sorts of assignments easier to handle since you never need to get more pens or paper, and there's a nearly limitless well of reference material."

Brushing one hand through clean, jet black hair, he regarded them all more seriously, having an athletic enough body to project a threat if he wanted to. "I want to remind you all now to check your sources on all assignments, and review the rules regarding what plagiarism means."

Her chance appeared later in the day. Ms. Mattora was at it again, singling Mira out for several very difficult questions with the reasoning that 'she should already know them all after last year'. "The Meiji Restoration", she continued on after Mira had gotten two right. "Can anyone here describe what it entailed, and how it affected Japan's future? Anyone? Well, let's hear from our ace historian again. Sorano?"

Looking at her own textbook after the first time, Aiko was fairly sure that Mira had nailed the right answer again. The problem was, it was a lot of words to describe something that looked to be a major revolution, and Mira wasn't speaking loudly enough. She looked tired, Aiko observed, and being asked to repeat something again and again except louder wasn't helping. Neither did it help when Aiko put her hand up, trying to field the question instead.

"Ms. Sorano, please do not mumble in my classroom. I would think you would be familiar with all this material by now since-"

"The Meiji Restoration", Aiko spoke from the other end of the room with all her might, just shy of shouting. "The transformation of Japan from a feudal society into a modern industrial state by assimilating foreign arts and sciences, beginning at the end of the Edo period-"

"Ms. Tsuruga", the teacher finally cut her off with an annoyed glance. "I believe I said that Ms. Sorano would be the one to answer this question."

Keep your way. Aiko held her gaze, trying to look as innocent and subservient as possible while a folded piece of paper bounced off the back of her head. "Oh! I'm so sorry, Mattora-sensei. I must have misheard you. Please forgive me, it's just so loud in this room, and-"

"Enough." Mattora tried Sorano again, but the damage- or, Aiko hoped, the opposite of damage- was already done. Mira actually smiled back at her and belted out the entire answer with renewed energy, and, Aiko couldn't help noticing, in her own words. The fact that the lecture went on to try and paint the acceptance of Western cultures and values into the country as a bad thing barely registered. Just seeing that smile was enough.

Shukiji met up with her at lunch time, looking just as fascinated as he had last night on the cliff. "Sorry to keep you waiting. Quite the stupendous spectacle you made in Mattora's class today. I approve... but you should watch your back now that you've tipped your hand."

"I'll be careful", Aiko promised. Noticing another familiar face eating alone, she pointed. "What's happening with Vitienne-senpai? He looks terrible."

"Information merchant", was all Shukiji said. When the meaning registered with her, she shook her head at him. "Really? For something so simple?"

"Vitienne-san is sad", the boy replied in deadpan. "That's completely out of character for him. You can observe that much without my help. If you want my personal advice as to exactly why he is sad, that will cost you."

Aiko felt her eyes involuntarily rolling and she threw up her hands in surrender. "You're ridiculous. Mira-senpai first, then."

"As you say", Shukiji agreed. More welcome was the revelation that he had used the extra time she'd given him to compile an entire compilation of all school assignments written by Mirambela in the first year, including grades for each and the main points of each project. Pages and pages of raw data that made her eyes hurt from the strain after a while... and then lunch was over. There was no time to even go visit Noel's table.

One at a time now. Aiko knew her limits, that trying to save every single exchange student from the kind of bullying she'd witnessed Mira being subject to was probably beyond her abilities. Mira was a start, and if that turned out to be a success... then she'd keep going. Keep your way.

It was such a strange setup, she mused to herself as the remaining periods went by. Like Shukiji, the more that she observed of Koashimizu, the more she learned. She was learning both in and outside the classroom, and the information gleaned from the outside was a lot more interesting to her.

Most of the teachers here didn't believe in JCAP's ideals, their claims that all foreign immigrants were a negative influence on the country. Some of them, like Ms. Mattora, obviously did, but most of them treated the school's large number of exchange students with the same respect as the other students in their charge. Old Mr. Noriyama in fourth period treated all his students with disrespect, but she chalked that up to his grumpy personality. Every school had at least one of that kind of teacher, she reasoned. It was unavoidable, especially after she learned that Principal Yumika had taken great pains not to fire any teachers in the past two years.

She knew that Shukiji wouldn't reveal the reason for that freely, but her own observation and listening would suffice for it, even if it took longer. Overall, she was in a positive mood after the school bell rang, nearly skipping down the steps into the main courtyard until she saw what was waiting for her there.

There were a huge number of students around, but only a few really stood out to Aiko. One of them was Mirambela, who was lying on the concrete trying to hide her face. The others were a small group of third-year girls. The rest just seemed to be backdrop. Or... are they here to stop someone from running away?

"I'll ask you again", one of the third-years who seemed to be in charge spoke to Mira, almost sounding compassionate. Almost. "I know how you have a hard time following instructions, Mira-san. Who helped you? Was it Ushio-san? No... I heard it was another girl, right? Who?"

Bad odds, Aiko observed fretfully. Maybe the student blockade was also there to make sure any teacher- or at least any teacher who would do something about it- didn't walk in and see it. This seemed like something boys would do, and though it sounded like Mira was crying, Aiko saw no signs of physical harm on her. Good. Maybe they're all bark and no bite.

Of course, walking into the courtyard and between tormentor and tormented made the idea of interrogating Mira a moot point. The moment they saw someone else stand up for Mira, they knew they had found who they were looking for, or at least the leader did.

It wasn't quite like looking into a mirror, but she was close enough in the facial structure that Aiko took longer than normal to process it. The leader was tall with beautiful black bangs framing her face and head, dark green eyes just like Aiko's own and very prominent curves even for a third year. Under better circumstances, she might have considered the girl to be what she wanted to look like when she grew up.

"There you are", she noted quietly. "Aren't you so lucky, Mira-san? You cry and your dog comes so quickly. Wish I had someone like that."

"Kujou-senpai", Mira managed to grunt, obviously more afraid for Aiko than herself. "Kujou-senpai, please... she's not-"

"Be quiet", the older girl bit out, changing her focus to Aiko. "Did you come here to atone for your mistake? Tsuruga, right? That's your name? Mattora-sensei is very upset with you for disrupting her class. Good thing the student disciplinary committee caught wind of it. Koashimizu is a school of strong discipline, and we're lucky to have skilled students volunteer to keep the troublemakers in line.."

Aiko shrugged as if the matter were meaningless. "Not from where I'm standing. You must be that Kujou."

"Benihime Kujou-Senpai", one of the other girls corrected her sternly. "Head of the Student Disciplinary Committee. Mind your tongue!"

But Kujou didn't care about the byplay or the fact that her title had no visible effect on Aiko. She looked closely at her, as if trying to examine her like Shukiji had. "Strange", she mused at last. "You don't look like a gaijin at all, except for that ugly hair. Why would you help this one?"

"She didn't! She didn't! I promi-"

"Because no one else did", Aiko provided after a moment's thought, cutting Mira off before Kujou could. "Which I found very strange. This is a very strange school, Kujou-senpai. Everywhere else I've been, no one treats foreign student in this way."

Inwardly, she realized that she was getting far too good at being theatrically polite to people she didn't think highly of.

"I see." Kujou nodded, chuckling as if the whole thing was a misunderstanding between the two of them. "You're confused. I understand, Tsuruga-san. We all need to be much tougher here at Koashimizu academy, because this school is where all the gaijin get sent to now. If they get together, they could totally ruin Koashimizu's record of discipline... not that you're an exemplar of discipline either, native-blood or not... and I'm wondering if you are with that disruptive attitude of yours."

Her 'mirror' smirked. Aiko could feel the heated stares of a hundred students on her now. Even if most of them were on Benihime's side, she could tell they couldn't wait to see what would happen next, even if a physical confrontation was unlikely.

"This has been most enlightening, Kujou-san, thank you. But unlike you, we have homework to get to. So, I'll just take my roommate back, and-"

"Look at that skank", Benihime cut her off just as quickly with a wide gesture to draw people's eyes where she pointed. "Walking around the school like she thinks people don't know! I'll have you know, Tsuruga-san, that stuffing your bra with tissues is an act of vanity that we're licensed to punish. Trust me... if we left it unchecked, it would get completely ridiculous among the older students."

Aiko knew she looked flustered and couldn't help it. She hadn't expected a jab from that direction. She had an average chest for her age, but it was hardly excessive as she was being accused of. Benihime herself had a bigger one, though her excuse was more than likely being several years older and taller.

Sensing metaphorical blood, Kujou pounced. "Get her! Rip out those tissues!"

She took an involuntary step back, but it was too late. Not everyone in the crowd was willing to obey the command, but at least four of the girls there were, and she could sense the raw anticipation from some of the boys gathered there as well even if they wouldn't join in directly.

Everyone was shouting. They knew what was going to happen. Later, much later, she would find out that Kujou had done it to a number of foreign girl students as a ritual humiliation, and when her 'committee' got especially rough digging around for 'bra tissues', they just might dig a bit too hard, and pull it off entirely. Disgusting. How can anyone possibly enjoy doing this to someone else?

She was about to find out. There was no chance of escape, and fighting back was impossible. Did I... did I do right? Was that the right thing to do after all? Have I... kept my way?

Her answer came in the form of two screams. One, the first, was the inhuman screech from a falcon swooping down into the courtyard at a speed Aiko didn't know birds were capable of. The second was human. It was Benihime, now lying on the floor with a pair of actively bleeding scratches running down her left arm.

That was all it took. Any student who didn't simply panic and run away was now focused on helping Benihime, not on her. Seeing her chance, Aiko grabbed Mira by the arm and ran.

Their hands stayed wound together until they were safely back in the dorm.

4/10 Wednesday

After School

"If that's not stormy weather", Aiko remarked when they got back to the dorm. "Then I don't want to know what is."

Mira blinked at her in confusion. "What do you mean? There's no clouds anywhere."

That... was a good question. Where did I get that from? I haven't watched any movies lately. All she knew was there was something... something that told her that there would be some real trouble starting on Friday, a mere two days away from now. "Uh... never mind. Are you okay, Mira-senpai? Did they hurt you?"

"Just a few nail scratches", Mira promised, holding up her arms to prove it. The real damage was emotional- she retreated to her own side of the room the instant Aiko had confirmed she was telling the truth. "I told you, Tsuruga-san. I told you. Kujou-san always gets her way. She's the queen of Koashimizu, and her father is a major member of JCAP."

"I'm pretty confident", Aiko replied swiftly as she shook her own fear off, "that her getting cut into by a random bird out for blood wasn't what she wanted out of today. So there's that."

Mira shook her head morosely. "It doesn't there, it never does. Horrible rumours, messages, harassment... Kujou-san and her friends will keep on going after you until you can't stand it anymore. You stood up to her. That makes her really mad. She won't stop until she feels like she's beaten you into the ground and made you grovel at her feet."

Aiko had had enough. Not just enough of dealing with people like Benihime and Ms. Mattora, and nearly losing her modesty, but of her roommate's constant gloom and doom as well.

Casually striding up to her bed, she brought her hand down hard on the post. "Why are you here, Mira-senpai? All the fun memories of last year? If it's so bad, why can't you just leave? There are other, better places to get a high school education."

Mira waited to answer, staring down at the carpet, but it was obvious that she didn't need to think that long to come up with it. She'd known the answer for years. "Because, Tsuruga-san... schools in other countries have it the same way. JCAP is not alone. There are groups in other countries, under different names that do the same thing in their homelands, fighting to keep outsiders away. Maybe it wouldn't be quite this bad in other countries... but this academy is the one that my father paid for me to go to, because he thought it was the best one. He has no more money for another one."

Then the adrenalin wore off, and what she had done hit Aiko like a slap to the face. "Ah... Mira-senpai, I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean to shout at you. I just..."

A knock on the door interrupted her, and she felt Mira bracing for the worst. Taking a deep breath herself, Aiko pried it open to see another tall girl she didn't know.

That was surprising, considering how she was dressed. Opera-length black leather gloves covered her arms up to her student uniform's sleeves to cover every single inch of skin except for the face, and that face was coated with a thin layer of white powder accentuating two rings of black eyeshadow and lipstick further. Wildly spiked dark hair with a neon pink hairband around it completed the effect. She looked like someone you might see in a rave club.

Despite foreboding looks, her voice was oddly friendly. "Hey. I'm Reiha. Reiha Hayato, room 8. You're Tsuruga-san and Sorano-san, right?"

"Yesss", Aiko drew the word out anxiously. Was this Kujou's revenge already? Order some leather-bent thug to come into their room and trash it? "Can we help you with something, Hayato-san?"

"I saw you", the older girl said simply, letting the claim hang in the air. "You probably didn't see me, because I was watching you from the 2nd floor window. You stood up to Benihime Kujou. It's been ages since I've seen anyone stand up to that bitch, and I have to say, I'm really impressed."

Despite herself, Aiko flinched and felt Mira doing the same behind her. She employed a fair number of cuss words herself- more than Kogaya had wanted to hear, certainly- but hearing Reiha straight up call another girl, a fellow student, that word made her wonder if she hadn't actually graduated long ago. "Is that all that you wanted to say, Hayato-san?"

Reiha shook her head. "No. First off, I wanted to express my appreciation that someone else around this dump is willing to fight. Second... you know she's going to try and get back at you, right? I know her. She'll blame that bird attack on you, Tsuruga-san. You have to be ready to strike back."

Maybe she's right, Aiko couldn't help but think. Maybe that falcon was my fault. That looked like the same one from the day before, with the white feathers. What, does it have a crush on me or something?

"Strike back?", Mira said in the meantime, doing the talking for her. She sounded horrified. "How? She's-"

"I'll help you", Reiha offered, refusing to move from the door. "I'm a third-year, native-born. And I'm on the disciplinary committee, the same as her. Exchange your contact information with me, and call me when she makes her move. You won't be sorry."

That finally convinced Aiko to let their guest into the room before closing the door, leading to the revelation that she had brought them dinner as well- dishes of saucy takoyaki, green onion, and bite-size kanikko that Aiko hadn't even known could be found in such a place.

"There's a store in the city nearby", Reiha explained when asked. "Gorusaki's Mart. A bit pricier than the usual lunchroom slop, but you've both had a pretty rough day. I figured you've earned it."

One more reason to be grateful to Reiha, Aiko decided over their meal. She'd been so busy with school that she'd almost forgotten that there was a short road and bus leading from the campus to Tosashimizu city. It wasn't exactly a huge urban sprawl compared to Akihabara, but there had to be tons of stores and restaurants there she'd never seen before. As expected, she'd heard that they specialised in seafood.

Contrary to her appearance, Reiha was a model guest as well, to the point that Aiko actually felt ashamed for judging her so quickly based on that. When her phone beeped, she shut it down. Spending quality time tonight with Mira and Reiha was much more appealing, and it quickly became clear that she had a third-year's veteran knowledge as well.

"Does Principal Yumika know about this?", Aiko asked once they were done eating. "About how Kujou and Mattora and others treat the foreign exchange students?"

"Oh, he knows", Reiha said neutrally as she lounged on Mira's bed. "He just can't do anything about it right now. He can't monitor every inch of the school by himself, and half the teachers here won't report it to him. Of course, this will definitely get reported now that the birdie got involved. Just not in the way you'd like."

"Then he's not doing his job", she argued angrily. "A few teachers might be missed, but his job is to make sure all the students here are safe and comfortable. To make the school closer to a home."

For the first time, Reiha looked scornful. Not of Yumika, but of her naivete. "Speaking from your long experience with high school principals, are you? Principal Yumika tries hard. I respect him for that. He's definitely no friend of the JCAP. He's even caught a few students. But he has a lot of other shit to take care of besides dealing with things that the teachers ought to be addressing."

"He should fire Mattora", Aiko pressed further.

"For what?", Reiha asked in disgust. "For showing favouritism? Where's the proof of that? You can't just fire a teacher on hearsay, and Principal Yumika is reluctant to fire anyone at all with how hard it would be to replace 'em these days." Despite her dismissive words, she did look a bit more thoughtful now, folding her black gloves behind her head as she leaned back into the bed cushions.

"I suppose that if there was solid proof of something really serious, like that motherfucker at Shujin academy six years back, he would. But Mattora doesn't do that. None of the teachers at Koashimizu do. No... they're more subtle. Not to say they're all assholes. Only a few of 'em are, really. It's just that you notice the assholes a lot more."

An annoyed grunt cut into their talk then, one of the first sounds Mira had made in quite some time. Seeing her struggling with something on her phone, Reiha laconically reached over to her. "Something wrong, Mira-chan?"

Mira couldn't have looked more embarrassed. "I'm trying to log your contact info, Hayato-senpai. But it won't take it. It's the buttons..."

Aiko sat perfectly still as the two older girls worked out the problem, not looking, not talking or anything else that might have been taken as her judging Mira. "Just use your fingernails", Reiha advised her kindly. "Touchscreens are finicky like that. That's why I just get one with normal buttons, even if it's an older model. Dunno what I'll do when they get retired."

It would certainly be difficult for Reiha to use a touchscreen while wearing those gloves, Aiko observed silently. Over the last few decades, texting with phones had become second-nature to practically all people her age, to the point that being less than proficient at it was grounds for exclusion from some social circles. She hadn't wanted to bring up the fact that Mira's spelling when texting her was extremely poor. One more unfair contribution to the way people treat her here.

MS: Ic that vettet?

MS: Sorry, better*

AS: It's fine, Senpai. I'm not a spelling nazi.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Reiha sat up and nodded to Aiko. "Like I said, it's nice to see someone else standing up to Kujou's bullshit for once. This place is tough, no question, but having someone stand by you can make it survivable. With two people, you're almost safe. I'll keep in touch, Tsuruga-san."

She took along with her the gloom which had shrouded Aiko earlier, though Mira still looked unconvinced, merely staring absently at her phone. "Not so hard, surviving in hell with a few allies?", Aiko asked encouragingly.

"No", Mira admitted with the hint of a smile. "Not so hard."

4/11 Thursday

Morning

Reiha aside, there were other hopeful signs on the next day. The shift in the tone of gossip surrounding her was subtle, but noticeable if you bothered to listen. Somehow, every single student in Koashimizu already knew about the mysterious falcon attack, and more importantly, the way Aiko had openly confronted Benihime in the main courtyard just before it.

"So you really don't stuff your bra?", a wide-eyed second-year with an unusually long curled black ponytail coiled around her right shoulder that Aiko hadn't known until now asked her. "That's natural?"

"All natural, Samesaji-chan", Aiko swore, already mentally bracing herself for the school's rumour mill forcing her to deal with that question a lot more than she wanted to. "I'd prove it, but you know. Decency."

"Of course", the girl- Aiko remembered now that her full name was Kotone Samesaji- nodded understandingly. "I would never ask you to, Tsuruga-chan. You might have heard this before, but Koashimizu really is very strict about that kind of thing. There was a girl a few years ago who got suspended just for being caught kissing a boy in the halls!"

"That's pretty strict", she agreed wholeheartedly, wondering if perpetually grumpy Mr. Noriyama was behind that one. "I'll be careful."

None of the teachers reacted differently to her. Mr. Takao in home room was still pleasantly cheerful, Ms. Mattora in History was still awful, Mr. Noriyama in English was irritable, Mr. Wadanashi in Literature was still excitable, and Ms. Daisouji in Science still had the precocious habit of getting off on long, rambling tangents until what she was talking about only had slightest connection to the subject matter. This sudden change of opinion was in the students only, it seemed.

The other side of that change didn't come her way until later. To her disappointment, Noel was completely absent at lunch, but then her phone beeped in a different fashion from a normal call, signalling her to a text message from Reiha:

RH: They're starting. Kujou just got out of the nurse's office and put the word out at the meeting today.

RH: When you leave school and go out to the fountain today, they're going to pelt you with wet tampons they bought from the vending machines.

Aiko made a revolted face, considering her response.

AT: ...Creative. Anything else?

RH: We're also supposed to start shitposting on the school message boards that you stuff your bra and should be punished by the school 'for public indecency'.

AT: And the school will let that happen?

RH: That kind of stuff gets automatically flagged and deleted by the system in a day or two. Long enough for people to read it and start talking about it themselves.

AT: I'll be fine. Thank you for the advance warning. I'll pass it on to Mira-senpai.

The attack was directed at her, not at Mira, but Aiko knew better than to take chances. In the eyes of Benihime Kujou and those who shared her views, the two girls from room 22 were now a package deal. The last thing Aiko wanted was for Mira to face an attack meant for her. After an annoyingly long wait time, the response came back.

MS: I'll stay late in the sdgook library doing my homework. I need to get it done anyway. Thank you, Tsuruga-sam.

MS: Tsuruga-san*

MS: school**

Aiko's own method of escape was already planned out. One of the places Shukiji had shown her during their guided tour was a short staircase leading down to the soccer field. While that was no doubt a concession to the area's original geography, the actual field was quite large and flat, with wide-netted goals at both ends and white paint markings cutting through grass just as lush as what she'd seen on the cliff edge. You would have to try hard, Aiko considered, but with enough power and intent you could manage to kick a soccer ball into the water from here... although it was much more likely to hit the boys' dorm or the pool shack.

There were indeed an impressive number of boys on the field already, a smaller number of girls scattered among them or seated on the sidelines. They wore the white shirts from their school uniforms instead of jerseys, clearly having tryouts for this year's team. Aiko saw six soccer balls active, a chaotic sight that was impossible to follow all at once.

Soccer, or sports like it, had never been her interest. But it was entertaining enough to be preferable over merely retreating back to her dorm like a terrified mouse trying to avoid a storm of tampons. No one there recognized her. They were there for the tryouts, or to watch a friend try out. She took a seat far enough away that no one would look closer.

It was good, at least in Aiko's completely amateur estimation. A lot of the candidates seemed to be returning veterans from years prior, but they played like their position on the team was in severe jeopardy. Others were a bit rougher, but they all showed excellent force in their kicks and running speed, to the point where there was always at least one ball in the process of being retrieved from the nearby bushes and brought back to the field.

The exception to that was the times when a stray ball would end up right next to one of the people on the sidelines. The silent expectation was they would throw it back in, and sure enough after about half an hour one ball ended up practically landing on her lap.

"Hey. Back this way, please."

Reflex let Aiko obey automatically. It was the voice that captured her attention, and the face behind it. Like Mirambela, the voice was speaking clear and concise Japanese, but failed to hide a distinctly drawling accent behind it. The tall boy's clean-shaven features only confirmed it, with a lighter skin shade than normal except where it was smeared with mud, and a fuzzy crew cut of brown-sugar hair over bright blue eyes. He certainly had a teen athlete's build about him, though he didn't look like one of the team veterans.

"Hey. You gonna throw it back or what?"

"Uh, sorry..." Fortunately, her delay hadn't attracted any further attention to her.

"No worries", the boy shrugged nonchalantly. "You were just distracted. I am pretty awesome, after all."

The boast, so easily delivered, took her a moment to dissect and determine if he was being sarcastic or not. 'You're pretty good!", she acknowledged him after sensing that he was fishing for praise. "Good luck out there!"

He gave a wide smile back, spinning around as his feet reclaimed the ball as if trying to turn it into some kind of dramatic action pose. The ball spun as well, twirling rapidly around on his finger before he dropped it. "Hey. Thanks girl, but Julian Rosea doesn't need luck. I make my own."

"Jiachi! Hey, Jiachi-san! Get over here, the coach wants everyone together."

He followed the voice, bringing the ball along. But he wasn't far enough away from her for her not to hear something angry under his breath: "I told you asshole, my name's Julian."

The resulting huddle wasn't nearly as interesting to watch, the portly coach too far away to hear properly, and Aiko saw several other bystanders starting to get up and leave. That's my cue. Maybe she would see Jiachi- or was it Julian? - play on the team later.

Meanwhile, she had killed some time, but it was better to be safe than sorry, and stick to the original plan. On the other side of the soccer field was a much longer, less-used stairway that led all the way down to the coast. An easy dirt road led back up from there to the other side of the girls' dorm, effectively bypassing any ambushes.

Ambushes. Right.

4/11 Thursday

After School

The journey in itself was an unexpected pleasure. Looking down on it from the cliff couldn't really capture the natural beauty of the rock formations that hung over the clean beach stretching off to the horizon, and of course it was always nice being down by the water, watching the repeated motion of the tide as it crashed against countless rocks and eclipsed the sand again and again.

Whoever chose to build Koashimizu academy here had excellent taste, she decided. All of the potential dangers were outweighed by the natural beauty.

Aiko might have enjoyed it more and maybe even gone wading if other matters didn't keep intruding on her serenity. I escaped a battle today, the though intruded unbidden as she stared out at the oddly calm waters. But how do I win the 'war'? Mira-senpai is right. Kujou won't rest until I'm miserable, and so many students here think like her, or at least they do what she says. It's awful.

She hadn't come here wanting a 'war' with half the people she wanted to be friends with. She'd come hoping to find a home better than the dead one she'd left behind. As if summoned by her thoughts, her phone beeped again, and for a third time she refused the call. I have enough aggravation without dealing with her right now. Can't even enjoy the sea.

"Ich bitte dich."

The strange, guttural words interrupted her musings, drawing her attention to the other visitor to this section of coast. They continued as she drew closer to the figure kneeling there on the beach, his arms folded over soaked knees.

"Ich bitte dich mein Gott", the boy continued on with his eyes firmly closed, and then Aiko saw that it was Noel. The hair and ponytail were unmistakable. "Bitte gib mein geliebte hause zuruck. Das ist alles, was ich von dir verlange. Amen."

His eyes slid open, finally registering that she was right next to him and reacting happily, though his Japanese was an obvious second language, and one he could use some more practise with. "Ah. Hello there! It's Tsuruga-san, yes? Did you come to enjoy the water as well?"

Aiko grinned and nodded, momentarily forgetting her worries as she took a seat on the sand beside him. "I love the sea. I'd always go down to the beach whenever I had the chance."

"A great shame", Noel said, "that so few of the students here bother to appreciate this natural wonder, literally a mere stone's throw away from campus. I apologize if I disturbed you before. I believed I was alone."

"Not at all", she assured him. "I didn't mean to interrupt you either, Vitienne-san. If you don't mind my asking... what were you saying? You were absent from school today."

She immediately regretted the change of topic after seeing the way fear was creeping back into his winsome features. He looked and sounded like a man well-accustomed to smiling much more than he frowned, but that only made bleak despair much more noticeable on him.

"I was visiting someone", he confessed at last. "Ayano-san's parents."

"Ayano-san?" That was the girl he'd been asking about before, Ayano Furusato. "Don't tell me she's..."

"Missing", Noel nodded. "She has been missing for nearly two weeks now. Her parents reported it to the police and put up posters all over the area where they live, yet there has been no sign of her. They were so scared for her... and so angry. For a moment, I believed that they would blame me."

"They shouldn't", Aiko blurted without thinking. If there was one boy here she felt was trustworthy it was Noel, even more than Shukiji. "You two sound like you were close."

"We are close", Noel emphasized, staring out at the endless tide in the hopes that Ayano would emerge from it. "Thus, I pray. I pray to almighty God to bring her home safely, not only for me, but for her parents and all the others who were her friends at school."

Aiko followed his gaze. She had not come out here looking to find more sadness, more sorrow, but she couldn't just ignore such a plight either. "I'm sure that she'll come home, Vitienne-kun. She must want to. She knows that there are people here who love her very much."

"How kind of you to say so", he agreed, a bit of his old spark coming back. Behind him, Aiko noticed his hair tail coming undone, but he didn't seem to care. "And... Vitienne is far too long to use casually. You may do what Ayano-san did, and call me Noel."

"It's only three syllables", Aiko protested. Mira is one thing, but this... Seeing the earnestness in his expression however, she relented. It wouldn't be impolite if he asked her to address him that way, right? "As you wish... Noel-kun."

He took his eyes away from the tide, slowly closing his eyes as if accepting something. "Wunderschon. One day soon, I will introduce you to Furusato-san. Then you two can be friends as well. Actually..."

As Aiko watched, he reached down to grab something out of his bag, producing a small red notebook that didn't look standard school issue. "Why don't I show you her right now?"

The way he held it betrayed a fear of getting it wet, and Aiko understood why once he had opened the notebook to a certain page. Both sides held pencil sketches of a small-faced girl with her hair tied into roughly tornado-shaped ringlets. The rest of her hair cascaded down without any obvious manipulation. Though it was impossible to determine the true colour, the way it had been shaded hinted at the standard black. Like her, the girl in the sketches wore a tidy Koashimizu uniform in all the ones that displayed the full body instead of merely a head.

"She's... pretty", she offered the first comment to come into her head. "You drew all these yourself?"

"Every one", Noel offered without any boast, moving one page aside to reveal more sketches. Aiko was impressed to see that not one of them could be called 'lewd' or showed Ayano in an exploitative pose. 'Draw me like one of your'... no, wait. He's not French. He's German, right? She had recognized a few of his words from earlier, though not many. "Nothing compared to the beauty of the real thing, of course. I have much to learn still."

Another thought came to her then, and she leaned forward, placing one hand on the sketchbook. "Noel-kun... I've never prayed before. Can you show me how? Maybe, if both of our prayers reach God, then..."

4/11 Thursday

Evening

Mira wasn't there when Aiko finally made it back to room 22. Forcing aside any niggling worries that she might have been caught anyway, her focus turned to finishing her own assignments, discovering that even though most could be done in the dorms, some involving content beyond mere text had to be submitted online on Saturday or Sunday.

The phone beeped once she was done, and she hesitated. The same number as before. Mom...

Noel had seen no signs before Ayano's sudden vanishing. Without any warning, she had disappeared from the world she knew, perhaps never to return despite her earlier optimism. Someone you loved could just go away forever, never knowing that this time you spoke to them would be the last.

...No, she decided after further deliberation. Kogaya, her mother, didn't see things that way. She would simply be angry that Aiko hadn't returned her previous three calls. It was easier, far easier, to just leave a message on her machine confirming to her that Aiko was safe and settling into school at Koashimizu alright. For a flexible definition of 'alright'. I'll just call her live on Sunday and endure through whatever she says. She can't do much to me from here except yell at me anyway.

There was the matter of Mira's first-year test results to go over, but it had been a very long day and Aiko was already feeling fatigue setting in. Fatigue... and a feeling of foreboding that made her skin prickle up. Damn it, why can't I remember? Someone, from somewhere I can't remember, a few days back... they said that there was going to be some big trouble tomorrow. Another attack from Kujou?

A forlorn sigh escaping her, she discarded the stack of bland papers away to be analysed another day before leaning back into her bed. There were good people at Koashimizu academy. She knew that much was true.

It was just feeling more and more like they were the eye of a storm, surrounded by hostile, chaotic waters.

A/N: Fast update this time, thanks to the luxury of a buffer. I want to get a few out fast before settling into a once a week pattern.

Too brutal? Maybe, but I did do some research on the worst examples of girl bullying, both fictional and non, before writing.