Chapter One – Changes
The loud noise coming from the house made the two girls standing in the stone-step in front of the door to exchange looks.
As most of the houses on the street, this was a small two-story painted in white, being what the girls supposed would be called "pleasant" (and so it was, at least to their tastes). The front garden was nothing but green grass except for a great rose bush that had been planted in the left side of the house, near the grayish white stone steps that led to the front door and on its right side there were two vases that they assumed their mother had placed some time ago, since they weren't there in the morning when they left.
Yes, it was a nice place and they would probably be calling it "home" (and feeling it) soon.
The exchange of looks between them carried almost nothing of worry, as they had a fairly clear idea regarding the cause of the noise and, upon entering, the vision that received them wasn't cause of surprise in the least: A black-haired man was crouching down to pick several objects that had fallen from a paperboard box. Two other similar boxes fallen to the side were all indicative they needed.
Upon hearing the door opening, he lifted his face to the girls and tilted his head to the side with a docile smile, a light embarrassment marking the lines of his face and making him look almost as a child caught in the act.
"Not a word, agreed?" He commented in a "we-share-a-secret" way. His hair was short and though usually well combed, it was also spiked. While the girls just watched, a woman approached the room, lured by the sound and coming from what seemed to be the house's kitchen. Upon taking the scene in, she merely sighed with amusement rather than annoyance.
"Hi dears" She greeted the girls before turning her eyes to her husband and shaking her head, the ponytail accompanying the movement. "I said one at a time, Kureno… I toold you" She sing sang between her smile and the man raised his hands, palms up in a gesture of defense.
"Not a word, we already agreed, not even a word, right?"
"Do you think there is anything broken, dad?" One of the girls came near, followed by the other, and they started to help picking up the newspaper-wrapped objects. Just the shapes denounced that they were cups, containers and other things of the sort.
"Nah, I doubt it, Isuzu…" Helping the girls to put it all back in the box, Kureno hesitated, turning his grey eyes to the ceiling and biting his lower lip with an exaggerated expression of thoughtfulness. "Hmm… Maybe… Hm… Nope. I'm pretty sure. Absolute."
The act made the other girl and the brown-haired woman laugh.
"For your own sake, it is better that there is really nothing broken, mister" The woman commented, winking once before going back to the kitchen. "Oh, oh, your days of juggler Superman are over, dear… Are you hungry, girls?"
"I'm not" Isuzu answered, holding a bowl as she tried to feel for cracks or broken shards before turning her head to the other girl, but Arisu merely shook her head.
"Not yet"
"And how was school today?" The father asked, putting away the last objects, but his eyes delayed a bit more on his daughters. Standing up and straightening the strap of her backpack, Isuzu didn't seem to notice his gaze, her eyes on the other two boxes that Kureno had probably been trying to stack up one over the other.
"It was normal, just that…"
"Beginning of a new year and all that, it hasn't truly started." Arisu said with a shrug. "Nothing outstanding, which I don't even know if it's good or bad" She made a fake sigh to it. "This is just another way of saying boring. We took notes from the classes we missed with a girl, but it doesn't seem there was much to it…"
Kureno laughed of his daughter's comment as he stood with the box on his hands, still not taking his soft gaze off them.
"Arisu, when you're in the middle of the year, with a lot of subjects to study and exams, I'll remember that little comment." This was a kind of joke between the family, in which on the first days of every school year, Arisu commented how those were sort of boring with nothing new, except for getting used to waking up early again and all, but when the exams period started, she sighed she didn't know what she had been talking about.
It wasn't different from when adults or teenagers thought back to the days of childhood and how they had wished to grow up (the memory was followed by sighs and comments that were of the "If Only I knew" nature).
"It's your third year, so you must prepare for… Oh, no, just leave it there" He interrupted himself when they tried to pick the boxes that had fallen when he had tried to hold piled up. "If you want to help, you still have your things to unpack…" He gestured his head towards the ceiling a couple of times.
"Okay" Isuzu left the box back in the floor. "Don't try to carry them all at once again, dad… If you break anything, mom will have kittens" She gave him a light kiss on the cheek.
"You can bet I'll!" The voice of their mother answered, though the promise lost its intensity due to the kidding the words held.
"It was just one dish… It's not my fault if the gravity conspires against me!" Their father spoke, going back to an expression of calculated innocence and a tone of lament. Arisu held the laugh again. Every time their father acted that way, she invariably considered it funny.
While Isuzu was going upstairs, however, Kureno turned to her before she followed her sister.
"Arisu-chan…" He started, all playfulness leaving as if it had never been there at all and a veil had been ripped apart, the lines marking Kureno's face becoming more noticeable, as the ones on his eyes. Arisu had seen this expression before and had never liked it… In those occasions, her father looked older than he truly was and everything that he felt seemed to come to life in his eyes, being transmitted not by words or gestures but waves of pure emotions.
Her mother had always said that Kureno knew how to lie only with his mouth and never with his eyes.
It was a trait Arisu admired on her father… Even in moments like this.
"How is school going? Really?" He asked in a gentle mutter, not wanting to press the matter more than necessary.
Arisu shrugged one of her shoulders in hesitation. The question ought to be simple, but it carried nuances and undertones that ramified among them, creating an entanglement of meanings to the point a person couldn't know where one ended and the other started. And if someone asked her, the girl would say the answer was of the same nature.
As it could only be.
Still, she fought back to whatever sensation this could cause.
"I don't know… I mean, you know… I think things are going well, but I…" She became quiet suddenly. What good was there in "thinking" anything? What Arisu would like to offer was a more concrete answer and not words that got messy and ended up being completely useless.
Noticing his daughter's effort and the shreds hiding in her voice, Kureno shook his head and, putting the box on the floor, he messed her hair a bit in a caress.
"It's fine. Don't be like that. Smile, okay?" He leaned to her until their eyes were in the same level, smiling once more. "I know it has not been easy. And now being in a new place and all… Getting used… Meeting people…But everything will work out and it will be good here. We have to stick together, remember?"
Arisu merely nodded, answering with an attempt of smile before going after her sister. Kureno lifted the box again, but still watched the stairs as if waiting that, at any moment, the girls would come down again until he felt a warm touch on his shoulder, a pressure so light as that of a small bird and turned to his wife.
"It will be good here, right?" She repeated in a whisper, looking at her husband with tenderness after hearing the exchange between him and Arisu. Turning the body sideways so the box wouldn't be in the way, Kureno leaned to her, placing a kiss on her forehead as she closed her dark eyes.
"It will, Sakura… It will"
Upstairs, Arisu entered the room she shared with Isuzu, dropping the backpack on the floor with a sigh, stretching her back before letting herself fall face on one of the beds with a groan.
They had always shared a room for as long as they could remember and even if in this house there was an extra room, they had decided they would rather keep sharing. Arisu recalled how some people who shared rooms with their siblings complained about it, but she and Isuzu had never had problems and when growing up and it felt as if, growing up, they had created a set of unspoken rules between them.
Well, she didn't know for certain anyway. All that she did know was that they had never had issues in this matter.
"You know I bet we're going to find mom's stuff in here. Or maybe from the kitchen? Again?" It was what had happened when they had been searching for the pans and other cooking things. Mother had been already considering the possibility of the box have been lost in during the moving when they had finally found it in the parents' room.
"And would that be of any surprise?" Isuzu said softly as she tried to cut the brown tape that closed one of the boxes on her bed, but the snap-off knife seemed unable to cut through.
"Nope" The other crossed her arms, resting her chin on them and watching Isuzu trying to force the blade against the layers of tape. "C'mon, put your back into it! What are you, a weakling?"
"No… This knife that is a… Ugh, a hand here?"
Arisu searched her bag for scissors and, after a brief fight with the tape (and several mutterings of annoyance), they finally managed to get rid of it and open the box (it contained some of Isuzu's clothes) though they ended with some pieces of tape on their shirts.
"Hey, Isuzu…" The girl started, watching her sister in the mirror while she helped to put some clothes in the dresser's drawers. Though they were twins, they were not identical: Isuzu was a head and a couple of centimeters taller and had a thinner face while Arisu's was a little rounder. Even so, both shared dark brown eyes and also brown, straight hair… Their bangs were the same, but Isuzu's hair was longer, passing the middle of her back while Arisu's reached some centimeters under her shoulders with a cut of spiked ends.
"Yes?"
"It will be good here… Right?" She asked with a calm tone, being completely unaware that their mother had just asked the same thing to their father.
"Yes, it will" Isuzu's answer was just serene as she approached her sister and laid some shirts on the drawer before turning to Arisu. "I'm… I'm sure"
"Well, and it doesn't have to be" Arisu commented in low voice before smiling and punching her sister playful on the shoulder. This sort of atmosphere wasn't something she enjoyed, so she let it go. "Because we are the ones who will make it be so!"
Isuzu merely nodded and was about to say something when she frowned.
"Hey, what is that?"
She had just noticed, in a corner of the room, two arks that she had never seen in her life. Following her gaze, Arisu blinked. Just what…?
"Those are not ours"
"Do you think mom and dad bought them?" Internally, Isuzu thought the small chests were quite pretty, in truth. Dark and long, one had a red stone lock that could easily pass by as ruby while the other's was in the same style, but blue. The girl could see crafts in relief, tangled and thin as veins, but it could be just a trick of the light.
"I don't think so… Maybe the last owner of the house left them behind and they found it?" The sister suggested it while approaching and kneeling down to examine the objects. At once, the air seemed to warm up. But that sudden heat wasn't caused by the sun and it didn't come from the window, which was on the opposite wall, behind them…
It felt was if it came from the boxes.
And it had appeared far too quickly to be unnoticed or offer chances for the girls to lie to themselves about its origins. They exchanged looks. Arisu indicated the arks with her head, forehead slightly frowned to which Isuzu nodded slowly to mean she felt it too and agreed with Arisu.
It was not only in their minds: The waves in the air felt almost as living being, warmth as pleasant as the one of a fireplace… It caressing their bodies and, in a way for which they couldn't find words to explain, called out to them in a nerve-level as if invisible hands were touching their muscles underneath the flesh in invitation, pulling with the gentleness of fairies calling unsuspecting children to play.
Arisu wanted to shake her head in an attempt to get rid of the sensation, tell herself it was pure nonsense, impression, imagination, anything of the sort… But when, despite themselves, they both held the arks the warmth pulsated stronger, echoing inside their bodies and running through their nerve terminals, dissecting and finding a nest inside.
Lucid thought gave in before such sensation that carried veins of something old.
So old that their minds shivered and recoiled.
"H-Hey… Arisu…" Isuzu tried to speak, but her tongue didn't work anymore to help forming words, anesthetized by whatever it was that was happening and her hands had forgot to obey the wish to release that thing.
With a light "click" the chests opened.
The one in Isuzu's hands held a bow that looked carved in a sort of greenish and ancient stone, adorned with black veins and having, right in the center, a blue crystal-like stone in the shape of a drop.
Arisu's contained something that made the girl think about naginatas… It looked like a sort of pole, but the extremity had a long curved silver blade, the cutting side toothed. The handle was dark with marks of spirals and runes. Right in the center, there was a ring with a drop-shaped stone as well, only in red… The blade looked sharp to the point of giving the impression of a living being, thirsty for blood.
The pulsation was not from the arks, after all, but from those weapons. So much that for a second Arisu would have swore that she was holding living flesh and wished she could bring herself to throw the thing away from her.
"What… What do you think?"
"Those…"
They started to talk at the same time, but none could end their phrase (if they could their tongues felt too heavy). The warmth that seemed to explode from inside the objects was stronger than last time, flames ran through their veins at the same time the weapons emitted a blinding white light…
XxX
The beige recliner's cushion sank a little when Misaki Aihara dropped her backpack on it. Some of the key rings reflected the sunlight coming in through the window of the apartment and shone in white.
"I'm home!" She spoke in the direction of a hallway. The keys on the small table and shoes on the entrance had told her that her aunt was still home.
"Welcome home, Misaki!" A tall woman appeared in the hallway and came to the living room, immediately hugging the girl as if determined to break her spine. Misaki however didn't complain "Are you good? How were your classes today?"
Misaki went for an answer before her aunt made more questions.
"Already getting into a routine… Just some new stuff we're going to see this year and all. And Hideki is already anxious for the baseball games" The girl sighed, shrugging. "Nothing more. Year barely started and there is already nothing new." Except for when the math teacher had talked about some of the new equations they would learn and just the thought made her body shiver.
"I know how it is… I remember when I was in school, I was always hoping that something great would happen in the beginning of each year" The woman commented with a gentle smile as the girl opened the glass door that lead to the balcony and watched the buildings around. "But it was always the very same, two or three days after the start, I already felt that nothing had changed. The excitement slipped away no matter how hard I tried to hold into it."
She nodded more to herself than to her niece with the memories. She could remember the sensation with clarity, as if time was a continuous chain that wasn't ever interrupted by mere changes of year. Just after some days after the beginning of school, there were several the moments when Wakana felt that she was somehow still caught in the previous year.
"Time is relative" She thought to herself.
"What does change is that this is the last year…" The girl started slowly, a thoughtful air dominating her face almost with carefulness. A light breeze agitated her bangs, carrying the scent of flowers that her aunt kept in the balcony inside the well-illumined room. Misaki had always appreciated aunt Wakana's taste: The furniture was of light colors in contrast with the black television and the wooden-like floor, adorned with a cream-colored rug. On the walls, several paintings showed lakes or summer houses.
Wakana liked things well-kept and had a naturally elegant taste (which some could mistake for being rich). Misaki, before coming to live with her, had once believed that this was able to make a place look like one of some decoration's magazine, but would also make any room sterile, robbing any sensation of "home"…
Wakana had proved her wrong.
"You're still not sure of what you want to do in college?" The woman asked as she observed her niece, well aware of what was underneath that expression. Her hair, of an almost white blonde, was made into a braid and she already wore the black pants and blazer for work.
"No. Well… I have a couple of ideas about it, but…" Misaki's words were dying slowly as she twirled a lock of her hair on her finger, green eyes vaguely absent. It wasn't that she was deep worried or stressed, she just wasn't sure of what she truly wanted to do.
"I don't have to decide now" Wakana commented in a soothing way. "And you know it. If you have ideas about what you want, just think about what you really want" She thought about adding something more, but decided against it as she knew that bringing that subject up wouldn't help, so she clapped. "And since there is no hurry, come and eat. There is rice and I made meatloaf"
The girl turned to her, smiling once again. Her hair was also blonde, but of a medium tone instead of the white-like of her aunt's, with some brown strands here and there. It fell under her shoulders, except for some slight shorter locks, especially two that framed her face and were cut a bit under her chin. The ends were naturally spiked and overall, it had a wild-like look.
"Cool!" She cheered on her way to the kitchen. "Have you lunched yet?"
"Yes, a bit before you arrived" Wakana answered following her niece and watching as she made her dish. "Speaking of which, I better get going… I'll see you later"
They hugged and Misaki accompanied her aunt until the door before going back to the kitchen and sitting down. At least she didn't have homework yet, so she could just be lazy during the rest of the day!
She was still eating when an acute sound echoed on the apartment as the phone rang.
Misaki groaned before standing and going to the white and cream table near the door. But it took only a look to the caller ID for her to decide to ignore it. Neither she nor Wakana wanted to talk to the person on the other side of the call.
The phone still rang, sounding almost as a hysteric woman screaming and despite being able to imagine that the person wouldn't give up very easily, the phone could ring until kingdom to come for all of Misaki and she had already given her back to it, just wanting to finish her lunch, when a sensation stabbed her insides.
It felt like drowning, as if her being was suddenly aware of how quiet all it was, except by the phone.
"What in the…?"
The girl turned her head, not comprehending this feeling… It sounded insane, but it was almost as if there was someone else there with her. And it closed her throat.
"Nonsense… It's the twentieth floor, how would anyone get in?"
Still, Misaki didn't move for some seconds, only her eyes running around the room as if to tell the mind that it was being silly… Or to search for the source of this feeling as one would search for the source of a sudden noise. But the sensation didn't leave; it just crawled inside her skin all the same.
Her heart was still punching everything around it and the blood ran fast through her veins. If Misaki was in an open space, her natural instinct would probably be to start running.
Fear?
"No… It's not fear…" She had known fear and it wasn't it, but the girl had no idea of what it was either. Or the reason behind it. Wanting to convince herself that she was just being silly, Misaki went through the hallway, inspecting the bathroom and stopping when she came to her room.
Everything looked normal… No, correction, everything was normal.
"It was that damn call. Maybe it's a reaction to that and now you're just misunderstanding everything." Yes, it sounded logical. Perfectly logical.
And the phone hadn't stopped, speaking of which.
Well, why wasn't she going back to kitchen to finish her lunch? She was still hungry.
Misaki entered her room.
It was smaller than the one she had on her old house, but the girl liked this one better by the longest of shots. At first sight, it all seemed normal… The writing desk with some books and a little pencil holder still in the same place. Her favorite coat was still over the back of her chair where she had left it before leaving that morning… At the side of the window, there was the light blue magnetic board, some photos being held in place by small magnets of several shapes.
It looked the same.
Except for the ark.
"Where did that thing come from?"
It was black, resting on the middle of her bed. The white sheets with black lines drawing flowers and leaves were a bit sunk due the weight of the chest. Misaki noticed the lock looked made of a yellow stone. Not a pale and boring color, but a strong one, as a mix of yellow jasper and amber.
It couldn't be something aunt Wakana had gotten for her, otherwise she would have mentioned it. And Misaki didn't believe it could be a sort of surprise gift either, especially since there was no note in sight and Wakana always gave gifts with a note.
Suddenly, the girl realized the room's air felt pulsating with the beats of an unseen heart. The sound almost echoed in her blood.
Misaki didn't even want to come near that thing. It didn't matter if the doorkeeper would have told her something when she arrived (or, again, aunt Wakana would have) should it have been sent by mail (not to mention there was no package around the chest or any visible seal) or how there was no way someone had slipped in the apartment to place that in there, what mattered was that sensation of her very nerves being touched by an unseen force that she couldn't deny.
It was almost a physical touch.
Even if it was just in her mind, opening a package of unknown origin (even more in such circumstance) couldn't be a prudent attitude.
"So why am I getting closer?!" She asked herself as she sat on her bed's edge. The locks had markings that should have been made with a needle, so thin they were.
And the ark pulsated. It was gentler this time, as if whatever it was (god, had she thought about it as a conscious being?) felt her tension and was trying to soothe her.
Her skin felt it too much to be unreal: A pleasing warmth going back and forth in harmony with her own heart, caressing her until it wrapped around her body from inside. She tried to ignore it, telling herself that this was merely impression, but gave up. It was foolishness to try to convince herself of something that wasn't true and Misaki was very well aware.
Biting her lower lip, the blonde grabbed the ark and placed it on her lap. The heat wasn't strong enough to hurt… Actually, it felt good. Almost as holding a tiny piece of the sun in a cold afternoon.
For some moments, she traced the crafts with her fingers before opening it.
There was a spear inside.
Misaki didn't know a thing about weapons, but this didn't stop her from admiring the beauty of it… The handle was of a light brown, one of the extremities having two white, loose and interlocked rings, marked by thin grooves. They tinkled when she held the spear up.
The warmth didn't come from the ark after all, it came from that.
The opposite extremity had three white rings, a long golden thread tied in the middle one. There were two blades, one bigger and a bit curved and, coming out near the base of it, on the inner side, there was another smaller and straight.
Misaki had only seen such detailed weapons on the games that Hideki liked.
She was about to ask herself what a spear like this would be doing in her home and how it had gotten there when the thing came alive with a blinding light. The warmth gained strength and pulsated as a lightening and hugged her body. Despite the violence of the event, there was no pain.
In the empty apartment, the cries of the phone echoed.
XxX
She pushed the chair away from the desk with a mumble, looking through the window in front before picking a book at her side and looking from the pages to the loose-leaves binder's paper in which she had been writing.
"This cannot be right"
She was almost sure that it wasn't. Leaving her book on the desk, she stood up and decided to drink something. This wasn't working out.
On the living room there was a woman sitting on a table, typing on a black laptop. Upon realizing the girl nearby, she took off her glasses and smiled.
"Studying?"
"Chemistry's exercises due to tomorrow" The answer came with serenity. The woman raised one of her eyebrows with a funny expression and making the girl sigh in defeat, as she knew the meaning of this particular look. "And no, I don't understand anything…"
The woman smiled at her.
"If you want it, I can help you once I'm done with this report" She suggested, indicating the laptop with her chin before standing up. Her hair, very red and cut on the shoulders, seemed to shimmer on the sunlight that came through the window, creating a halo around her head.
"It would be great" The girl answered, playing with the long sleeve of her blouse before going to the kitchen. "I'm a lost cause in this."
The woman seemed about to say something but changed her mind and just watched the girl opening the refrigerator to pick some juice. Her hair was very different than the woman's, being extremely straight and of a deep black, spilling over her shoulders and back almost to her waist.
"You remind me of your father in times like this, Ren. He hated chemistry when we were students. He was never able to understand it." Nozomi Amaya laughed a bit, her brown eyes shining with memories.
"I know the feeling" The girl commented as she filled a cup of glass. "And wasn't his sister who almost exploded the classroom once?"
The redheaded shrugged a bit, tilting her head to the side.
"Well, exploding, exploding is overdoing. The teacher was showing us a simple reaction, but Kisa mixed the ingredients with the fire still lit…" There was amusement in her narration. "It was actually not that bad, it only made a lot of smoke" A shake of her head, a smile. "Of course, right then we all got a real fright, but some hours later, we were just laughing about it. Kisa became sort of a celebrity for this, everyone hoped she would do something like this again someday" Her tone gave the impression that while Kisa hadn't repeated the mistake, it hadn't been the only time something had gone wrong in the chemistry lab thanks to her.
Ren tilted her head to the side, the lightest smile appearing on her face. It was a soft movement, almost a wave of muscles under the very pale skin.
"Well… I hope to never reach that point… The teacher would probably banish me from his class" She hesitated, realizing what she had said. "Wait, maybe this isn't such a bad idea…"
"How great! My daughter, Ren Amaya, a terrorist!" Nozomi laughed, throwing her head back and hands up before putting a thread of her hair behind her ear. "Look, I'll help you in a few moments. Oh, and don't forget to get ready before dad arrives. We'll eat out tonight, remember?"
Ren merely nodded, following the woman until the kitchen's door and watching her going back to her report. Sunlight entered through the big windows, spreading in the whole room. The white couch and soft chair, with a small center table, the wooden floor… In front of one of the windows at the side of the doors, there was a black piano. The shelves aside the television had photos and plants. The movies were inside a small cabinet underneath it, with the DVD.
She stood there for a couple of seconds, shoulder against the wall as she drank her juice before turning to put the glass on the sink. She really didn't want to, but she had to go back to that damn homework and get it done. Actually, her dad deciding to take them out to have pizza and going for a movie that night had completely slipped her mind and if Ren didn't get the Chemistry done now, she surely wouldn't later. If only that thing wasn't supposed to be given to the teacher for evaluation and if it wouldn't affect the grades…
"I'll never understand how mother ever liked this stupid subject."
Something hit her eye and she closed it with a groan.
"What…?"
The girl realized it had been some sort of reflection of light. Leaving the glass on the sink, she looked through the window above it and saw that there was something outside reflecting the sunlight.
Even so, she didn't move, just tilted her head in an attempt to see it better… Yes, whatever it was, it seemed to be on the white table on the garden and when Ren leaned her head a bit, there was a small shine coming from there.
"Maybe it's something mom or dad forgot there?" She knew Nozomi and Chihiro often liked to write their reports and texts there or then just read or draw. Ren herself did that from time to time.
Usually, she would have shrugged and went back to her room, however there was a pull on her nerves that commanded her body to go out before she realized what she was doing. At once, her senses were wrapped by the scents of grass and flowers.
Ren considered the possibility that it was her father's flute… But soon saw that it wasn't. The table wasn't far and Ren could already see that it was something long and black…
There was a frown when she saw the ark, with no idea of what it was.
"Was that reflecting the light?" She thought taking notice of the locks of grey stone, which would be easy to mistake for silver, should they be lighter in color. There were small veins making images of spirals on them.
Ren drew her body back a bit without moving from that spot. There was no way someone had entered and just left it there, right? Plus, what would the reason be? Somehow, her brain refused to even consider the idea for more than a fleeting second as if her being already knew it wasn't so in a more deep level than merely mental.
A dark movement on the twisted oak nearby called her attention, but it was merely Echo. While Ren had her eyes on her, the cat jumped to another branch, her black tail waving from a side to the other.
Ren's attention was called back to the chest with a strange sensation. It was as if her organs were resonating, shivering to a sound that existed in a frequency that human ears couldn't hear, but feel.
All she could do was to touch her lips with the point of her tongue, for although she wanted to go away her muscles didn't obey.
With a careful gesture, she touched the ark. On the tree, Echo hissed loudly, green eyes lighting with fire. The sensation inside Ren became stronger and she understood the cat's reaction for she felt it too: There was something pulsating in that thing, serene waves that created a new sensation, almost melodious…
She looked to her cat again. Echo was shrunken away, showing her claws, black fur standing on the end. Ren couldn't be sure if the animal was scared, angry or just nervous, like she was.
Ren opened the ark, ignoring the thought that living warmth and also how she felt in a trance from which she had couldn't escape.
Before her, lying in a lining of soft velvet, there was a two-bladed dagger of sorts.
In the trance she was, the only way of thinking how weird all that was existed just in the most elemental level, in which feelings and ideas were a pure river that mixed and couldn't be processed in words.
Carefully, she took it in her hand.
It felt like holding a heart that still hadn't realized it was no longer inside a body.
The handle between the blades was even darker than the ark and on its center, there was a fine grey line in the shape of some mark she was unable to even try to identify. The extremities had each a pale blue ring, from which the blades came out, silvery and curved in opposite directions.
Ren had no time to even think about calling her mother.
Or to react when the blades shined intensely, blinding her with such strength that her conscience shivered and fell in darkness.
XxX
The colors and senses little by little returned and when Misaki opened her eyes, it was by instinct that she realized she had no idea of her surroundings… Supporting her hands on the floor and lifting the superior part of her body, she looked around, confused and still feeling the remains of warmth on her body as a fever from which she hadn't totally recovered.
The warmth from the spear, she knew…
She started to look around trying to take some sense of what was going on, but a groan at her side called her attention. For the first time, she saw she wasn't alone. There were still three girls with her, lying down and apparently unconscious.
One of them, lying face-down, touched her head with a mumble once more before trying to kneel, locks of her hair falling on her face.
"What the shit…?" She growled before looking around, eyes slowly becoming clearer before being taken by confusion. "Where…?"
"E-Excuse me?" Misaki called her, seeing that the girl also had no idea of where they were. "Who are you?" She knew this wasn't exactly the top priority question, but it was what came into her mind.
"Where are we?" The brown-haired girl asked, looking around. The worry made her eyes wild-like. "How did…" Still on her knees, she went to another girl, who seemed taller and with longer hair, and started to shake her shoulder. "Isuzu? Hey, Isuzu…"
"Do you know her?" Misaki tried again.
"She's my sister" Arisu answered, not looking back to the blonde. Her heart shivered inside her and her mouth was dry due to tension of her muscles. The last thing she remembered was holding that strange weapon she had found and now, she was in a place she hadn't ever seen before… Her throat was closed and she was scared.
Nothing here made any sense.
"Does anyone know what place is this?" A low voice sounded. It was the last girl, the one with black hair. Now awaken and kneeling, her eyes dragged through the room and the other girls.
"I don't, I just woke here…" Misaki stood, her legs still trembling but she did her best to maintain her balance. Meanwhile, the girl who still hadn't show signs of life finally moved a bit and slowly lifted her head with a moan.
For what they could see, they were in a large room decorated by a red carpet and there were several pillars around, making two lines along it. Light's way in were the windows at the end of the room where, going up small steps, there was a golden and red throne.
"Does anyone know how we ended up here?" The brown-haired girl asked as she helped the other (Isuzu, she had called her) to stand. "We… We were home and then…"
"The last thing I can recall is a black box…" Misaki ran her eyes around, expecting to see the spear somewhere, but it was gone. "There was a spear inside and I just…"
"The one on your neck?" Isuzu interrupted the blonde, pointing and suddenly raising her hands to her own neck, feeling a sort of necklace. Imitating her, the other girls realized for the first time that they all had black strings around their necks, holding small pendants identical to the weapons they had found.
Isuzu took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. Things seemed to increase over her, creating pressure and forcing a specific point that soon would crack and the other shared the feeling.
"This is insanity!" Arisu barked, hoping her voice wasn't shivering like her. To the hell with the necklaces, she wanted to know where they were! "I suggest we get the hell out and try to find someone or figure out where we are!"
"Think we've been kidnapped?" Misaki risked, though she wondered how this would have happened. Someone invading the apartment and taking her out maybe wasn't that impossible even with a gatekeeper, her tired mind tried to reason, however all her body denied the idea. She didn't mean to make the other girl even more nervous, but what other answer there was?
The girl who had been talking opened her mouth, but her sister placed a hand on her shoulder, her lower lip shivering.
"Look, anyway, maybe we should try to…"
The sounds of steps made her voice die.
The four turned to higher place in front of the windows. A man was walking towards the throne, but his eyes were on them. A sort of smile adorned his face of strong lines.
"So you the ones who were picked. Interesting"
Arisu growled, her nervousness pulling her nerves to a point she couldn't bear it anymore. Interesting? What was that man talking about? She opened her mouth, about to answer back when Isuzu pressed her shoulder a bit in warning and Arisu held the words, feeling her sister standing at her side and staring at the man with clear distrust.
Misaki was biting the flesh inside her mouth. The man didn't look like he was surprised to see them, despite what he had said, so he should be the responsible for all that. Though her whole was taken by coldness, the surprise was still bigger and she couldn't help but to pay attention to the man's attire… A white mantle with golden details, a sort of fire-red tunic…
Ren, who had decided to keep quiet until now, only closed her fits, digging the nails against flesh to stop her arms from trembling. Though she would agree with Misaki that his clothes were strange, what had called her attention had been his eyes… Of a yellow color that seemed to possess orange-like traits, like amber and melted gold, they had strength of their own. As much as she wanted to block the feeling, blame the events, the girl was unable of blocking the idea that those eyes weren't human.
"Isuzu and Arisu Hironezumi" He pointed a scepter to the two sisters. "Misaki Aihara… And Ren Amaya"
Misaki looked to the girls and exchanged looks with Isuzu, whose sister only frowned and Ren still stared at the man.
"How do you know our names?" Isuzu asked. Though the blonde, Misaki, had a suggestion that made sense, this didn't feel like a kidnapping at least not in a way she could understand. This only worked to increase the bitter taste in her mouth.
The man gave them a muffled chuckle that made his short blond beard tremble a little.
"I am Zeus"
There was a grave-like silence following the statement.
Arisu blinked and stared at him, her mind becoming blank for a second as she registered what he had just said, but recovered soon. It had to be a nickname or a kind of fake name, and even if it wasn't, there was no way in hell she would even consider the alternative. Misaki tilted her head to the side, sharing Arisu's feelings. Isuzu frowned. Ren didn't show any reaction but raised her eyebrows in an almost unnoticeable way.
"Uhh… Hmmm…" Misaki muttered slowly. The man had presented himself as if his name should explain it all, so either this was a sort of title they should recognize or (more probable) he was insane.
Arisu couldn't help but to scoff in a disbelieving way. Isuzu was about to say something, but her sister was faster.
"Yeah, sure you are. Where the hell are we?" She could sense her twin shivering behind her due to her imprudence, but Arisu was unable to think straight with her flesh feeling like it was being ripped apart underneath the skin and she ignore the aura the man gave in favor of answers that sounded more rational.
Apparently finding her reaction more amusing than irritating, Zeus merely smiled... The smile of a large lion seeing a lamb struggling.
"I see you don't believe…" He said in the soft voice that dripped hidden threats and laces of a force great enough to bend the nature's wrath to its will. Before Arisu could even speak, his scepter started to produce small white sparkles that threatened to become stronger by the second.
It couldn't be a trick, the whole room reacted with the electricity. The air itself now refused to go into their lungs, no matter how hard the girls tried to breathe and soon they felt the effects of lack of oxygen. The energy that announces lightening echoed in the room and it didn't come from the scepter, but the man himself.
"Now" He carried on in the same tone. "Would you believe me more if I called a lightning?"
The room grew hot when a white light came from the scepter, hitting the ceiling.
There was no way of mistaking what that had been and they all knew the only reason their hearts still beat right now was because the man had held back the strength of the lightning, using this merely to prove he spoke the truth.
Suddenly, it stopped.
The atmosphere came back to normal and their lungs received the blessed air.
It hadn't been more than a minute and they were unharmed, yet Arisu closed her mouth and took a step back by instinct, her anger being quickly replaced by dread. Even now she felt the remains of the electricity in air, still hot, and knew that here was a power able to burn her to the bones… But not before it reduced her mind to ashes. Cold sweat came down the back of her neck.
"Zeus… From Greek Myths? I… I must be dreaming, right? This cannot be true" Ren's rational mind told her, while the animal self knew better and made her unable to think properly. Even now, whatever barrier of denial crumbled under the evidence, which was supported by the feeling underneath her skin, the animal instinct telling the rest of the body that there was something strange around. Everything was far too real to allow her even the brief sanctuary of at least trying to believe this was all a dream or even a hallucination…
Isuzu couldn't move. With what she knew from Greek Mythology, being in Zeus' presence made her feel even worse… Even if she didn't know of his motives or was too shocked to think much, a part of her could remember the myths and how the god could be when it came down to women. This made her lean away a bit, watching him with even more suspicion, unable to help herself. From what she remembered from myths, Zeus wasn't someone she would give trust to.
"So… You're… You're Zeus… And… Well, was it you who brought us here?" The answer to that was obvious, but Misaki was a bit insecure about how to talk to him. She had barely been able to say his name. The situation was so insane that her mind was still trying to process the events and to accept that she was in the presence of someone who should exist only in stories.
"May we know why?" Isuzu asked in a quite believable tone of politeness, taking in account how she felt. Arisu was still silent and just looked at the man without blinking.
The god looked over them with amusement, but it was impossible to tell if it was due to their nervousness and attempts to be polite or even if he was aware of their feelings.
However, Zeus sighed. He needed those girls for the plan to work and it wouldn't do well to have them shivering like mice in front of him (even if this was how mortals behaved in front of gods, especially back in the ages when they knew them to be real).
"I can assure you I mean no harm. You are here to perform a part on my plan to repair the connection between gods and humans" Zeus explained, ignoring whatever reaction before they could interrupt. He had already had to explain himself to Kusanagi Yui before as well as the other gods and he hated having to repeat himself all the time.
"Since the most ancient times, gods and humans have shared a connection. We're part of the balance of this world just like everything else. However, in the long of the millennia, some gods have been distancing themselves from humanity, weakening this connection." He gave his back to them, looking through the windows to the gardens. He knew his older brother should be somewhere there and Susanoo probably would be sleeping under some tree. He held back a groan of annoyance at the thought.
"If things don't change, there will be grave consequences. The balance will be lost" It sounded simple, putting it like this, but a change of balance involving powerful natures such as the deities' could result in disastrous events. He turned his face to the girls, all previous amusement gone as if it hadn't ever been there. "Therefore, I created this Academy. The gods who have been distancing themselves the most from humanity and need to change their behavior have been brought here to study about humans"
"And what this has to do with us?" This time it was Misaki who couldn't stop herself while Arisu slowly shook her head, dumbfounded after all she had heard. It… It sounded like such an absurd that she had no words. Ren remained quiet, though her expression was cold and of intentional lack of interest. Isuzu was too shocked to even have a reaction. Academy of gods? Learn about humans?
This had no sense whatsoever! First, she was standing in front of a mythological character and then he was speaking of other gods and study and… Her mind couldn't take it and it started to close on itself and would have succeeded in so if Zeus' voice hadn't ripped her out of it.
"It has to do…" Zeus continued with a dangerously amiable voice, daring the girl to use that tone of voice with him again. "That, as I said, by learning about humans and reaffirming their connection, the balance will be restored and a bad future can be avoided. You're here to be the representatives of humanity, helping them to learn and understood the several sides of it. However some of the gods have been awfully reluctant, refusing to cooperate. There is another girl who is also here as a representative and, as such, you're here to help her and balance things out"
Ren would have liked to ask what made him believe they would cooperate as well, but the threat of the lightning was still too fresh in her mind. If that was really what someone like Zeus had decided… What could they do against it? The inside of her body froze as the realization cut her mind.
They were helpless.
They were utterly helpless.
"Basically… We've got no choice?" Her voice was serene, without betraying her emotions. This made Isuzu and Arisu stare at her in complete disbelief, their expressions so alike that (with the physical resemblance) made them almost identical.
"Are you kidding me?" Arisu asked. "He's kidnapped us, and now is telling us that we have to teach a bunch of other gods?" She spit the last word as if she couldn't still quite believe it and turned to Zeus, the next words coming out her mouth as if they had a life of their own. "How about we start with Human Rights?"
"You've chosen the wrong people, we cannot do this!" Isuzu tried to reason, meaning actually that not only they couldn't but they didn't want to. Just the idea, as weird as it sounded, made her nervous and all she wanted was to go back home.
She was scared.
"And why us?" Misaki ended almost yelling, managing to think several people who would be more qualified than her to deal with that situation and was suddenly thankful that Arisu was acting like that, for it was the fact that someone was reacting more violently than her that helped her to keep the few remains of her self control.
"I see you still haven't understood the situation…" The god whispered, making them stop talking and Misaki's nerves shiver with primitive reactions to that voice marked by a time and power too great to be conceived by their minds. "You are still under the illusion that you do have some choice or that you can persuade me to change my mind. You don't and you can't. I won't send you back to your world until you do what I said… You have one year to help the gods graduate. Otherwise, you'll remain here for eternity"
"Oh, you…" Arisu bit her lower lip, a growl finding birth in the depth of her throat as Ren stared at the god with a hellish coldness. Though still shivering under her skin, Misaki still took a step towards him.
"But our families will be desperate if we…"
"This is no reason to worry. Once you've complete your objective, you'll be send back to the exact time you were" He sat in his throne, leaning his face towards the four of them smiling once again. With his older brother and the other's behavior and stubbornness, he was not in the mood to deal with defiance of some mortal girls.
He was a god and not used to disobedience.
"Do you still refuse to understand? Or have I made myself clear enough?"
The four girls exchanged looks. Ren's shoulders were lowered in a physical sign of defeat and fatigue and Isuzu's lower lip shivered. There was no choice. Their only hope to ever go home was to cooperate with that idea… It was like being in a cage that opened only to a maze which way out they could never find…
"Mom… Dad…"
"Crystal" Isuzu grumbled, fighting the urge of lowering her eyes, despite knowing it would be much easier to look to the ground. The others nodded as well and Zeus stood, apparently satisfied and went down the small steps, getting closer to them, aware that in truth they were still grasping the situation and shock.
"The Bow of Celestial Winds" With his scepter, he gesticulated to Isuzu's neck. "The Blade of White Flames" To Arisu. "The Spear of Silver Tears and the Dagger of the Northern Lights. Those weapons were what found and selected you, so take care of them. Not that…" He chuckled to himself. "You're even able to take them off"
Isuzu immediately fought the new urge of trying to getting that necklace off.
"As I know all that is too much to take in at once" He carried on, ignoring when Ren rolled her eyes and Misaki and Arisu looked at him with sarcastic expressions. "You'll join your classmates tomorrow. For now you'll stay in a room apart so you can rest"
He hit the scepter in the floor once and again the four were blinded by a white light.
Upon opening their eyes, they were in a different room that looked like some large bedroom.
"Argh! What is his deal?" Arisu yelled in the exact moment. "If someone transports me to wherever the place even once more, I swear I'll…" She stopped talking slowly, words dying in her mouth. What would she be able to do? Nothing.
And this just angered her even more.
"I still can't believe all I've just heard…" Misaki commented, leaning her hands on a table and lowering her head as if she was about to puke. Truth to be told, she wouldn't be surprised if she ended up doing just that. However, the blonde didn't want to seem weak to the other's eyes.
"C'mon, breathe… Count backwards, that always helped before… Twenty, nineteen, eighteen…"
Ren pulled a chair and sat down, putting her elbows on the table and holding the bridge of her nose with one of her hands, closing her eyes and trying to maintain the control. There were no words in her, no thoughts, no reaction for her whole self was in such state that it couldn't even produce one of those things.
All that there was in her was the wish that she could at least believe for some minutes that this was all some sort of nightmare.
The room they were in could easily be mistaken by a hotel's room and not due to the comfort it offered. There was only that small table with some chair where Misaki and Ren were seating, four beds, a larger dinning-like table on a corner and a door that probably led to a bathroom. The colors were light and pleasing to the eye, but nothing here had any sign of personality and even the air felt still.
There was no comfort, no warmth. It didn't help them to relax.
On a corner, there were four suits hanging in line. They could only be the uniforms.
Slowly, Isuzu examined them, running her hand over one. They were the same, a white blazer with golden lines, a blouse of short sleeves and black skirt reaching to the knees. While the design wasn't much different from the standard blazer-and-skirt, the colors and details gave it a more "elegant" appearance that she would expect from uniforms from a high-prestige school.
Not surprising, when one took in account how this was an Academy of Gods.
"And of course there would be uniforms. It is a school after all…" Still, she stayed there on the spot, not knowing what to say or do right now. On a corner, Arisu had dropped herself in a grey soft chair, looking pale and very tired, despite the fact that they were supposed to be just finishing their lunch now...
If they were home, that's it.
"So…" Misaki tried to engage a conversation, despite the uncertainty that poisoned her whole body. The circumstances were far too surreal and she wasn't anywhere near comfortable. "It seems we'll have to stay here a whole year…"
Ren stood up and went to one of the windows, seeing vast fields of green that went on until the horizon, adorned with the shadows of mountains and a forest. In the middle of a sea of green tones that varied a bit depending of the sunlight, there was something clearer in color and that, even in the distance, seemed like a piece of a living diamond breathing. It could only be a lake of sorts.
"At least it is a nice place" Even in her shock, trying to understand it all, the girl was unable to deny it. However, it did nothing to cheer her up, though she knew she would have been enchanted should the circumstances be different.
It could be only a year, which they wouldn't even miss because they would be sent back to the exact time. A year that they would have to spent just being around gods. It could happen that they would accomplish Zeus' plan and just go home.
Yet, the weight in her heart was as if she had already failed. Somehow, the way the things had been done and the lingering threat of staying here acted as a poison that made everything worse.
"Stuck for a whole year and having to teach gods…" Arisu completed, shaking her head before adding bitterly. "Does someone even have an idea of how we're supposed to do that? How do you teach about humanity?"
The other three didn't answer. There was still that: Arisu had a point, Zeus hadn't even given a clue of what they should actually do. He had said the what, but not the how.
"For what I gathered, we're going to study with them" Isuzu commented, indicating the uniforms with a total lack of enthusiasm. The way her eyes seemed was enough to agitate a sense of worry in Arisu, who knew her sister well. "I wonder how they are… And you… Misaki, right?"
The blonde still tried to smile.
"Yeah… Hey, let's start this over, okay?" She took a deep breath. "I'm Misaki Aihara, nice to meet you all"
"Isuzu Hironezumi."
"I'm her sister, Arisu."
"Ren Amaya. Pleasure to meet you."
Misaki nodded in greeting and carried on.
"Well, if we're going to study with them, then at least we won't be like actual teachers… That would be so weird… Well, I mean even weirder. You guys got it" Misaki gave up, waving her hand, still trying to smile. "If we're going to be students too, I wonder if we have teachers…"
"Of course you do!" A small voice sounded on the table, attracting their eyes as a magnet. Removing the ceiling of what had looked like a toy house and coming out was what could be appropriately called a doll. It was made of yellow and white material with some sewing points around its mouth, neck and members. The thing turned its head to each of them, actually looking with its button eyes.
"Oh, great, even more weirdness" Isuzu couldn't help but think.
"Did that… Did that thing just speak?" Arisu asked looking from the doll to Misaki and then to Ren, half hoping she was imagining the whole thing, but knowing it better. "It did, didn't it?"
"I'm not a "thing"!" The doll protested, its voice clearly masculine as it put his arms on his waist in a posture of displeasure. His head was wrapped almost as a kind of sack, a green string and a pink button tied on the top. "My name is Melissa!"
"You know you've seen everything when you meet a talking, walking doll and can't even feel surprised" Ren thought, walking away from the window and back to the table. Maybe the idea of spending the rest of the day on this room wouldn't be bad, taking in how exhausted she felt… Though it couldn't be not even an hour since their arrival.
"N-Nice to meet you…" Misaki tried.
"Pleasure's mine to meet you all!" Melissa carried on, his doll mouth going up in a smile. It was quite weird to see a doll able to make expressions and even blink. His eyes were of different sizes and colors, one green and the other a light pink. "So, you're the new students? Welcome!"
"We're the new hostages, you mean…" Arisu muttered in a low voice.
"Sorry, but who are you?" Isuzu asked.
"You may say I'm your upperclassman! Zeus made me of clay to take care of you and Yui!" Noticing the expressions of the girls, he waved a small arm. "Oh, myths many times describe humans as being made of clay or things like that, but in my case... Well, things went a bit different."
Arisu and Isuzu exchanged a look in a way that Arisu clearly asked if this wasn't just a polite way of saying that Zeus had just fucked up somehow while creating Melissa. Ren, on another hand, tilted her head to the side.
"Yui? Isn't she…"
"The other human? Yes! You'll like her, she is a great girl"
"So…" Isuzu came a bit near, sitting in one of the chairs. "You said we have a teacher, Melissa?" Isuzu couldn't ever imagine who would agree to teach a bunch of gods and some humans.
"Only one. Thoth. God of Knowledge. Tomorrow he will step by to take you to your class"
"Egyptian god? Head of ibis?" Ren asked frowning as she tried to imagine how he looked like.
"Exactly!"
"Wasn't he the one who helped Ra, or something like that? I think my history teacher once mentioned something about Egyptian gods…" Misaki commented. "He always liked mythology and sometimes he talks about those things… Do you know about it, Amaya?"
"My parents love mythologies and they have a lot of books about it, they used to tell me some stories… And…" She hesitated before making an attempt at a weak smile that seemed made of the thinnest glass. "Call me Ren, will you? I mean… We're all in the same situation here."
"And… How is it here?" Arisu asked.
"Well, Zeus modeled it after some human schools. There are dormitories, you and Yui will share a room after tomorrow. And there is the pool, sport courts, cafeteria… Oh , about it!" He hit the ends of his arms, as if clapping hands. "If you're hungry and don't want to go there…" He pointed to the bigger table at left. For the first time, the girls realized that there were dishes and food there.
It wasn't much, just some breads and cheese and ham, along with jam and cookies along with juices.
"Zeus decided that, since you'll stay here for the day, it'll be also good if you take your meals here."
"First good idea he had" Arisu decided, going to sit there and observing the food choices. Remembering that she had never finished her lunch, Misaki soon went to make herself a sandwich. It seemed strange that, at some time ago, she had been eating aunt Wakana's food and ignoring a call from that person and now…
"Just a couple of minutes and then my life turns upside down. And to think I commented with aunt that things had already entered a routine. Congratulations, Misaki, irony has just proved that it loves you…"
"Are you okay, Misaki?" Isuzu asked, sitting near the blonde with Melissa sitting on her shoulder. Shrugging, the other girl forced another smile. Her face was already starting to hurt, but she kept it on.
"Ah, I'm fine… I just…" She looked from Isuzu to her twin and stopped smiling. There was no reason to pretend. "Damn, I don't know. I can't get used to this whole mess…"
"Welcome to the club…" Ren muttered as she picked some food, unsure if she even was hungry. Melissa had told them that they could go to the cafeteria if they wanted, meaning they were not locked here, but she realized she didn't feel like venturing through the academy for now… Even if she wasn't hungry, she took a bite.
"You don't need to worry. Yui was in a similar state when she arrived" Melissa said, suddenly serious and jumping out of Isuzu's shoulder to the table. It was not a lie, Yui had seemed to be accepting it when they first saw it each other, but when night arrived, he had seen she wasn't falling asleep and had started to talk to her. At some point, Yui caved and ended up telling him how worried she was and how she already missed her family.
Being brought here and having to deal with Zeus' plans, not having a say in the matter, it was all too sudden and enough to make anyone nervous.
"But on the next day, she was better" This was also not a lie. She had at least came to terms with her situation and, in doing so, she could try to deal with it better. "You guys are going to get along just fine"
To have someone talking to them in that honest tone that held no falsities but a wish to help them accept what had happened and also cheer them up indeed lifted some of the pressure that had grew roots inside them. In a way of another, the only thing to be done was to accept it and try to deal with the situation the best way they managed.
Looking from her sister to the others, Isuzu admitted that there was a kind of relief in knowing that she wouldn't face this alone.
"What about the other gods?" She asked Melissa. "Who are they?"
"There is Apollon, Hades and Dionysius from Greek. The Nordic gods are Thor, Loki and Balder. From your country, there is Susanoo and Tsukiyomi"
XxX
Yui stretched her shoulders up and behind in small circles, eyes wandering slowly to the gardens, unable to take her mind out of what Thoth had just told them in the beginning of the class, but actually, how could she not think about it?
The Egyptian god had said he had news to the class before starting it. Yui had thought it could be some sort of reunion that Zeus had decided to make or something along those lines, but in truth it was as farther from all she had imagined as possible…
Zeus had invoked four more students.
Humans, like her.
After that, Yui thought that it was particularly surprising that she had managed to pay attention in anything else that Thoth had said during classes. The news hadn't gotten just to her: All the time, Apollon looked at her with cheerful eyes and she had almost expected him to start passing small notes to her with questions.
"Fairy-chan?" The very god she had been thinking about came closer, his green eyes sparkling, but Yui had already learnt that this was actually how he looked most of the time. She smiled at him as Balder, Dionysius and Tsukito followed the Sun God, ignoring the spirits around.
"What do you think about what Thoth-sensei said? About having more human students?" Apollon started at once. "I wasn't expecting this! I imagine how they are!"
"Is that normal, Yui-chan?" Balder asked, turning his face to the girl. "After all, the "classes" have started quite some time ago…" It didn't feel like it was too unusual and he couldn't think about any problems they might have (it wasn't as if they had missed much of the subjects), but he asked all the same.
"Well, it can happen from time to time. It's not that unusual" It would be if they had come to the Academy in the middle of the year or near the end. "Sometimes we have transferred students from another schools or even cities. The reasons are varied."
And she wondered which had been Zeus' reason… Had he judged that she wasn't doing her "job" right? It was true that Yui still hadn't managed to convince Takeru, Loki or Hades to attend school, however she had thought that maybe leaving them alone for a couple of days would make them more willing to listen to her when she tried to approach the subject. At least they would calm down enough so she could try to have a conversation… That had been her idea.
Truth to be told, Yui had even hoped that they would realize by themselves what they needed to do. She didn't agree on forcing people to do anything and Zeus' plan also upset her to no end, however there was nothing else any of them could do.
"On another hand, it's not that bad… Balder and the others are quite fun to be around and really want to make it work" She thought to herself while the gods started to speculate about how those new humans would be like.
"Such a pity we will meet them only tomorrow! Why is that?"
"Thoth-sensei said that is because Zeus decided to give them a day to get used to the idea." Dionysius remembered them, crossing his arms behind his head. Yui nodded, agreeing in silence… She still remembered quite well of her first day here and honestly, the hours of peace in her room and a night of sleep had helped to feel better about her situation and all that had happened.
At least she had been able to face it with her mind clearer than before.
They still talked a bit more before leaving the class and following different ways. They had had meals together in the cafeteria, but usually Balder went in search of Loki and Thor (or they appeared and called to him). Yui had no idea if the Light god had talked to them about their behavior, though she had the strongest sensation that this wasn't the case… Of the little she had seen of Loki until now, he gave the impression that he would merely walk away if Balder started to talk about anything school-related.
Only Apollon accompanied her, but Yui remained in silence, lost among her thoughts.
"Is there any way to make them understand that this behavior won't lead them anywhere? And those new students…" Yui thought, watching the gardens as she walked through one of the hallways in the ground floor to the cafeteria until she felt Apollon's hand landing on her shoulder.
"Hey… Fairy-chan?"
"Yes?"
"Are you okay?" He asked, leaning a bit to her direction. Yui's body backed away a bit by instinct, even if she didn't move from her spot. However, she considered she would end up getting used to this particular trait of the Sun god's behavior.
"Yes… Yes, I am, why?"
"Well, it's just that while you were commenting about transferred students, Tsuki-Tsuki was taking notes and you didn't even tell him he didn't need. You always say that"
Yui was a bit impressed and a bit uncertain about how to react to this comment. Well… It was true that the idea of new students plus the "problem gods" had took over her mind and blocked other thoughts, but the girl hadn't imagined that any of the others would notice this. Realizing that his words could have sounded quite weird, Apollon hurried to add.
"I don't want you to think that I'm meddling or anything of the sort… But you do look somewhat tense" The god wanted to explain that, even if they didn't know each other very well, she could tell him if there was something bothering her. The idea that Yui could very well be feeling alone, being the only human in the school, had occurred already him and he wasn't all wrong.
Yui hesitated as someone who is testing the resistance of the ice covering a deep lake. Just because Apollon (along with Balder) was currently the god she felt more at ease with due to his cheerful ways, didn't imply she felt good enough to open her soul to him.
"I… I think I'm sort of worried"
"With what?" Apollon didn't look the least surprised. It wasn't as if she had no reasons to feel like that, the threat of not going back to their worlds was reason enough to all, gods and human. At the same time, he used to be quite good at noticing certain details about others that denounced if they were more worried than usual.
"Well…" More hesitation. A thought cut her mind: Could it be that she was overdoing it and being dramatic? Yui didn't want to pour her preoccupations on him, nor did she want to sound too self-centered. "I think I'm nervous about meeting those girls…"
It wasn't a mere natural nervousness of meeting new people (and in such strange circumstances, above all): One of the possible (and most natural) reactions to situations of being forced like this was anger. And when people are angry, there is also the need of a sort of outlet valve, someone who they can blame in their attempts of getting rid of that feeling or at least a way to focus it upon someone.
And what if one of those new girls thought that they had been brought here because Yui wasn't being able to deal with the gods and, therefore, blamed her? And it could very well be true, to make matters worse… What if Zeus had decided she wasn't doing enough?
Yui didn't want that other people were tore away from their homes and lives because of her… It wasn't fair.
"You don't need to feel like that" Apollon commented, still leaning towards her and looking in her eyes. "Think that it will be fun not being the only human anymore." Plus, if she was worried that they wouldn't like her, there was no need to worry either. "Sure, they may be upset at first, but if that's the case, then we'll give them time and they will understand" They would understand that it wasn't anyone's fault.
Well, except his father, he admitted.
Yui couldn't deny that Apollon's words seemed to undo a knot inside her organs. It was true that the Zeus had crafted those spirits, but they were basically dolls having only the basic instincts and traits, without real personalities, what made them not true individuals. Yui had already compared them, mentally, to non-controllable characters (the NPC's) of games that her brothers liked.
Zeus had created the spirits just so she and the gods wouldn't feel strange, being the only eight students in such a large school… That didn't mean they could ever be considered true companions…
And although the gods were kind, Yui still missed a companionship that would comprehend the same things that she did. The idea of having other humans soothed the hard shards around her heart and made her feel a bit better.
"You don't need to push yourself beyond your limits" Apollon smiled and made some caress in her head. "And if anything bothers you, you can talk to me. Okay?"
She couldn't help but to smile back.
"Thank you, Apollon-san!" Feeling somewhat lighter, she looked through one of the glassless windows in the shape of an arc as she tried to imagine the new students and caught a glimpse of blue-haired person, lying under a tree some meters away and looking towards the school.
She had barely raised her hand when Takeru scoffed and stood, walking away.
"Great" She thought with a sigh.
Ana: So, here it is. The first actual chapter of this fic (damn, I need a better title, if you ask me).
Yui: Why couldn't we meet them today?
Ana: Well, I thought that if I was kidnapped (there is no other term) and all, I would need some time before actually starting the classes.
Arisu: And this is the only thing I'll ever thank Zeus for.
Ana: Hey, what are you doing here? Back to the basement, girl, you're not supposed to meet any of the others yet! –pushing Arisu away-
Yui: Basement? Really?
Ana: I work with what I have, sorry.
Arisu (slamming the door): Let me out of here, you pathetic excuse for a writer!
Ana: Ugh, she will kill me for this.
So, people! Reviews and critiques are really welcome!