Here we go, this time around were having a walk with Shiho and I hope I will manage in her chapters to capture just how crazy she is.

Shiho

The first time Midori had called, I had picked up the phone mildly curious. It had been rather late on a Friday night, I had been about to turn in for the night and was just turning off the lights. Quickly I had grabbed the phone, lest the sound woke anybody up. I never got many calls to begin with, much less from numbers I didn't knew. But there it had been, glooming on the display, an unknown number with an area code not from here. When it had turned out to be Midori on the other end of the line I had felt cold. What reason did she have to call? Had she found out what I had done? No, it couldn't be, not after how careful I had been. It was simply impossible.
Still, I had gripped the phone tighter, until my knuckles had been white, visible even in the dark room. Uneasily I had listened to her request. Summoning my Element, how absurd.
I had told her to leave me alone with such nonsense and had hung up.

However, the question had me intrigued even if I would never admit it to Midori. On my tiptoes I had snuck to Yuki's room and had listened with my ear pressed to the door. No sound had been coming from inside, he had seemed still fast asleep. Good for him.
I had gone back into the living room, had stood right in the middle of the dark room and had concentrated. Sure enough a buzz like electrical current had rushed through my arm and there my element had been in my hand, ready to be used.

After Midori's question I had fully expected it, she wouldn't have called out of the blue and ask for this if the likelihood hadn't been very high. God knows, what she had done to dig up my phone number. Still a hissed breath had escaped my lips at the exhilarating feeling of gripping my Element after so many years. It had felt almost like getting a limb back that I hadn't noticed had been missing.
To give into my curiosity had been a mistake, however. I had tried to keep up with our routine, dropping Yuki at school every morning, going to work, coming home. But now every evening the phone wouldn't stay quiet.

Midori had called again and again. This woman had been nothing but stubborn. But so was I, I had never given up and I would've kept going on ignoring her calls if my little Yuki hadn't grown curious about who was trying to reach us so vehemently. Astute as he had been, he had said over dinner, that I never saw people, not even the mothers of his peers in school so who had been calling all the time?
I had brushed him off gently, telling him somebody just had the wrong number, but I had seen the doubts on his face. The next day he had almost picked up the phone when I didn't get out of the kitchen fast enough while preparing dinner. He had looked hurt when I had snatched the phone away from his outstretched hand, but he had gone grumbling to watch the stove when I had told him so. I had locked myself in my bedroom, taking a deep breath before I had answered Midori.

"Leave me alone, you weird woman." I had told her, but she had ignored it, just like the refusal to answer her calls.

"By now I am sure that you can summon your Element again Shiho, otherwise you wouldn't have been ignoring me so steadfastly. I'll make this short. We need every active HiME back in Fuuka to help find out why Orphans are on the loose again. The sooner you give in and help out, the sooner you won't be bothered anymore."
Her tone had been businesslike not taking no for an answer. I could have hung up on her once more, which would have meant unwanted calls continuing. I could get another number, move even, but given the fact Midori had found this number in the first place made the prospect look futile. I had ground my teeth, feeling backed into a corner. I had to accept it and give in.

But I would keep Yuki out of it at all costs. None of them deserved to know of the existence of my precious little boy.
That had been my decision when I had taken him out of school and set him in the car with me. All the way he had been asking questions and I had kept trying to evade them. He hadn't understood why he had to leave his friends behind all of a sudden and Fuuka as a place meant nothing to him.
"You always say education is the most important thing, Mom. And that I should become smart like you, so why can't I go to school all of a sudden?" he had asked.

"It's only for a few days, honey, a few weeks at most. Don't worry about school, you're a smart boy, you'll catch up in no time."

"But where are we going?" "A former working place of your mother, she has to take of some stuff there." He kept on pestering me about the subject. "Why can't I stay with Toshi-kun and his parents, then I wouldn't even have to miss school?" I had shaken my head, feeling proud of my son. Other children his age would have been happy to miss school yet my boy didn't want to at all.

"Can I at least call him?"

"No!" I had snapped, not wanting anybody to know where we were right now. Seeing his scared face at my outburst, I had added more softly "We won't be long, you'll be back before you even have time to miss your friends. But I need you to be a good boy for now and follow what I say."

He had acquiesced, he always had wanted to be a good boy. And even though he hadn't liked having to stay in the hotel room all day, he had obeyed when I asked him to stay here until I got back in the evening, as I had left him with a kiss to his soft hair. It had pained me to leave him alone all day, but it had been safer than having him on campus with me and better than leaving him with strangers. A mother did what she had to do.

The first day things had gone smoothly, I had attended the meeting, noticing that none of them had become more competent since we had left high school, especially Sugiura-san. She still dressed in a disrespectful way insulting all serious teachers, while she ran after her youth, which had long passed and she still treated this like a big adventure straight out of an anime. Back in my teens I had found her funny, but looking back on it and looking at Sugiura now I could not understand how either Mashiro-san or Himeno-san had ever even considered hiring her.

However, more than Sugiura and her unprofessional attitude, Mai was a thorn in my side. Of course I had not talked to her or anybody, but I had stood close enough to listen in on her conversation with Sugiura. She had gotten to get it all, the house, the beautiful babyboy and most of all Yuuichi and still she had the nerve to sit here and lamenting how she was separated from them now for this brief period. It had taken a lot of self-control not to go over and yell into her stupid face how she didn't even know the first thing about loosing somebody or worse giving up and watching them be happy with another person.
But it was okay, I had my own little Yuuichi who loved me and only me. As soon as the meeting had been over I had snuck off campus back to him, treating him with a new toy and a fancy meal from room service.

The second day I was put on patrol duty, making it a lot harder to not have my absence noted. At sundown Yukino came to my room, a map of the campus under her arm with markings of what she called strategical points as if this was a military operation. I nodded along to everything she said, waiting for her long-winded explanations to be over. "You know, what, this will be way quicker if we split up. You will take the west side and I will have a look around the east side." I told her.
"But Midori said we shouldn't go on our own, it's safer to stick to the buddy-system." She had the gall to object. At least somebody had developed a bit since high school and grown a spine I noted. I brushed aside her objections nevertheless.

"Buddy-system? What are you a kindergartner? We are HiME and so far there have only been two Orphans sighted on this campus, weak ones for that matter I might add. Don't tell me you can't even handle something like that?"
Under my levelling gaze she bit her lip but kept quiet. Good, that meant I had her following my lead. "We will split up, it's more efficient that way and God knows I want all of this done as soon as possible." If I had learned one thing in my job it had been how to assert myself, especially against people who thought they knew better, taking down someone as meek as Yukino was no problem.

"At least let's agree on a sign in case we find something or encounter difficulty, to let the other person know." It didn't come out as a question, it was her demand to concede to me. It impressed me a little, that she didn't totally give up,however I shrugged as I I couldn't care less. "Fine, whatever. We won't find anything anyway. Last night was quiet and the nights before too from what Midori set."
It had gotten dark outside by the time mine and Yukino's negotiation was over.
"Good luck, Munakata-san." She said as I was already strutting away from her. I just waved to her over my shoulder without turning. When I could be sure I was out of her sight, I left the path we had agreed upon patrolling. I needed to get out of here. Maybe I should have felt bad if something really were to happen to Yukino, but my son was more important than a woman I barely knew and my boy had been alone too long.

I quickened my pace, nobody was around to see me and find me suspicious anyway. The fastest way to leave campus, away from prying eyes, was over a wall with convenient vegetation of twiners, easily able to sustain my slight weight. I had seen them on my way back last night from the other side of the wall. The chairwoman might think them aesthetically pleasing, but I had immediately recognised their utility. I had crossed the sports ground and was getting closer to the faculty buildings, I doubted that students might be around there at this time, but teachers or even Fumi might be, so I decided to cut through the glass dome, just in case.

I had only just taken a breath of relief, seeing as I was getting close to my goal without having been noticed, when I suddenly felt eyes on me. Angrily I bit my lip. I had been so careful. Maybe it was nothing I told myself, continuing on, hoping for the feeling to pass. However, it didn't pass, I was being watched. Quickly I turned back, only to look over deserted campus grounds. No person was visible. Maybe I was getting paranoid. But if so, it was all Midori's fault with her stupid talk that we must fight. I had graduated, I had a life, what should I care about my old high school. I marched on, trying to only think of my son and not about a potential stalker.
I had myself almost convinced I had imagined being watched when I heard a soft click behind me, like a shoe tripping a pebble or something alike. I barely caught myself from blurting out a triumphant 'Ha!' seeing as I had been right about being followed, but I couldn't let them know I was aware of their presence, not when I was so close to escaping. Luckily two building were looming in front of me and my pursuer.

Without warning I dashed towards them, rounding a corner or two and summoned my element. I played a few high notes that would ensure whoever was after me would be in too much pain to continue. For good measure I continued playing until I stood right in front of the wall and was in need of both my hands.
This time I was alright, but I needed to think about what I would do, the next time when I might not be so lucky to get paired with a pushover such as Yukino.