I couldn't help but wonder what my new classmates were going to think of me after I was late to school on my own first day. I mean, it wasn't the first day. Just for me and my sister, because we just moved here. But she wasn't late. Tris didn't oversleep at all. She woke up in time to make pancakes from scratch for both of us and everything. But I couldn't get up, because I was stuck having those weird dreams again.
The ones I always end up with, where there are all these weird fantasy things like fairies and stuff. Sometimes there are forests full of elf looking kids. Sometimes there are vast oceans full of pirates. And that one with the yeti in it, I swear it freaks me out so bad that one day I'm gonna piss myself. But in all of them I'm a guy for some reason.
I was definitely not a guy in this universe, I can tell you that. This school has uniforms with button up blouses, and let me tell you, it took me forever to get the top couple of buttons shut. Even after that, it just kind of felt precarious, like if I moved around too much, one of them was gonna pop. Which is bad. Because, uh, this school is partially a front for training shinobi. Like, most of it is regular, but a handful of students are there to learn to fight and crap. And, uh, I was about to be one of those. I already was semi proficient with swords, bows, and crossbows, and just needed to get better. And to learn how to focus. And, uh, not oversleep. But, other than that, I'm pretty good, if I can say that about myself.
And so if I was going to make a remotely decent impression on my classmates, I had to hurry my ass up. That meant rolling two pancakes up like scrolls and clutching them in my fists while I charged down the sidewalk, and chomping on them whenever I got a free second. Damn it. The weird male dream version of myself would be able to summon a horse at a time like this. But then I'm not sure where you leave a horse in a school parking lot. I guess you just let it go wherever it wants until you summon it again?
I wished I had a horse. It's not easy to run and cram a rolled up pancake in your mouth at the same time. Speaking of things that roll up, I had to make sure I remembered my ninja art scroll. I had it on me, hidden... somewhere... but like I'm gonna let anyone else know where.
And the whole time, I just kept thinking to myself... do not fail me, button.
Once I got to the school building itself... crap. That's a big school. Multiple buildings and everything. And it's not like I could have asked any student I saw where I was supposed to go, because not every student is part of the ninja program. Not every student knows the ninja program exists. They're not supposed to know it exists. So yeah. The information I got said something about a hidden door in one of the buildings, but... so many buildings. And the buildings are numbered, but they're not even in a straight line, so I feel like I've passed building two on the way to building one. Unless I didn't.
I must have paced past the same place enough times that the other students started to notice, because they started staring at me. A couple of them came up to me and asked me if I was new, if I was lost, if I needed help finding anything. That kind of thing. Which leads to another problem.
Ever heard of selective mutism? Like, when social anxiety or trauma or other weird mental stuff all combines in your brain and makes it so you can only talk some of the time? And when you're freaking out because of being late for school and not even being able to find the secret passageway to your classroom, that's obviously going to be an instance of not being able to say words? And then people are asking you stuff and you know you can't tell them you're looking for a secret passageway even if you could form words so you shake your head no and are kind of like "AAAAA."
And they ask you what's wrong? "AAAAA." What class are you supposed to be in? "AAAAA." Can you not say words? "AAAAA." Why can't you say words? And at that point you can't even go "AAAAA" and instead just give them a look. A look that says, without words, "if I can't say words, and you're asking me why I can't say words, how do you expect me to be able to suddenly say words about why I can't say words?" And I just kind of stormed away after that one.
I was two hours late to class.
"There you are!" Tris called out to me, relieved but definitely not surprised. I wanted to tell her she should have had the courtesy to wait for me before she left, even after I overslept, so she could show me the passageway and I wouldn't have gotten lost. We would both have been late, but maybe half an hour late, not just me being two hours late. But she just left me there and made me look like an idiot. And since I couldn't currently make words, I looked like even more of an idiot.
"Miss Linkle." The teacher gave me a stern look. Thankfully I remembered being told that his name is Mr. Kiryu. So I didn't have to (try and fail to) ask. "If you're two hours late to a shinobi mission, do you know what that makes you? Dead, most likely." Rub it in, why don't you? "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"AAAAA."
"She can only talk sometimes," Tris explained for me. "You know what, Mr. Kiryu? I'm sorry. I probably should have waited, and come with her, and helped her get here. It's my fault. Don't get mad at her."
He just scowled.
"And she's about to be part of the elite class?" A girl with silvery pigtails and an eye patch started talking shit immediately.
"Why didn't you just ask someone for help?" another girl asked, a girl with pink hair and the freakiest eyes I have ever seen.
A girl with long dark hair shook her head. "She can't ask just anyone for help, Hibari. The school's shinobi program is a secret, remember?"
"Oh, yeah. Whoops."
I sat right next to Hibari after that. She seemed like she wasn't going to talk shit about me, and maybe it was mean of me to think this, but at least being next to her might make me look less bad.
"Don't sit down yet," the girl with long dark hair said to me, after I'd already sat down. "First thing's first, we need you to spar against one of the upperclassmen. Since you're new, we need to see what your current skill level is at, before we can know what to teach you."
"I wanna do it!" a blonde girl called out. I glanced over at her, and noticed that... well, she and I had similar button issues, except she gave up and let the button win at some point.
I vowed to myself then that I would never let myself be defeated by a button.
"I'm the class representative," dark hair girl said.
"I'm an upperclassman too, y'know." The blonde girl pouted.
"Okay, Kat, fine. But if you try anything funny—"
She had already hopped to her feet. "You ready, Linkle? Come at me with everything you got!" And before I could react, she had pulled her scroll out, and focused her energy into it. Dark chains of shadow surrounded us, blocking us from the other students, or even the teacher. Her school uniform transformed into a battle outfit that was pretty similar to the uniform itself, except that now she lost the battle with every button. And her weapon appeared for her... on her feet. Huge weighted shoes. She took a fighting stance, and waited for me to use my scroll next.
So I did.
While I let my transformation happen, I thought to myself that I should start basic today, and just use a sword and shield, instead of trying to be fancy with bows or crossbows or whatever. So my weapons materialized as such. So did my outfit, a simple green tunic and boots. The front of the tunic laced up with leathery cords. Finally, I didn't have to worry about the button.
I couldn't even get into a good battle stance before she came charging at me with a running jump kick. I held up my shield, and her massive metal shoe clanked against it, but it was still enough force to knock me back onto my butt. I had to scramble to my feet to attack back, swinging my sword at her as soon as I could. I was able to slice near her ample chest, thankfully not drawing any blood quite yet. That seemed to be one of the powers of the scrolls, keeping any blades or bullets or anything from breaking flesh. However, it didn't protect clothing. I didn't want to know that she had a blue and white striped half-of-a-bra thing holding her boobs underneath her straight-up open shirt. But I knew now. And I winced at having to see it.
She laughed out loud at me. "You'll get used to that, new kid!" And she used my moment of being taken aback to charge at me and kick me square in the chest, blades of mystical energy appearing out of the soles of her shoes like roller blades. She sliced through the cords holding the front of my tunic shut. "How 'bout we see what you got, huh?" And as I scrambled to regain my balance, she leered right down into the gap she'd sliced. "Pale pink with little hearts, huh? Cute."
I could feel my own face turn red. That was it. It was on.
I held out my sword in front of me for a moment, so that if she came to kick me again, she'd run right into it. And as I held it out, I focused my energy into it, filling it with power. Then, once I let that energy release, it unleashed a violent spin attack. I let myself twirl in an intense pirouette, somehow not getting dizzy, as the blade sliced this Kat girl again and again. It sliced her open blouse, and her skirt, until she was standing there in literally nothing but her blue stripey undergarments. Until she got the wind knocked out of her and fell to the ground. Until she was crumpled to the floor, grimacing in pain.
"Okay, okay!" Kat called out. "I get it. You're strong. You beat me. Geez!" And with that, the shadowy chains dissipated, and our torn battle outfits were both replaced by regular school uniforms again. I glared at my own straining button, although at this point, I guessed it was a lost cause. Kat had already seen and announced that my bra was pale pink with little hearts. That info had already been compromised.
Mr. Kiryu was standing there taking notes on a clipboard. I half expected him to leer at either of us, but it seemed he was professional enough that it didn't faze him at all to be surrounded by busty barely legal schoolgirls in their bras and panties...
Being the nice girl I am, I went over to Kat, and reached my hand out to help her up off the floor. She took my hand and hoisted herself to her feet. But then she pounced on me, making me let out an instinctive squeak. I'd thought the fight was over.
And apparently it was... because now she wasn't attacking me. Just... just...
Groping my boobs.
"Kat! I told you!" The class representative girl looked pissed.
"I gotta do it, I gotta!" Kat had me pinned to the ground, squeezing the crap out of my boobs, and then pressed her face into them, laughing raucously. "It's a rite of passage, dammit!"
"She already did it to me," Tris said, sighing. "I would've warned you, but I didn't get a chance."
The rest of the class, and Mr. Kiryu, all seemed unfazed. A girl with a ponytail and a little red kerchief around her neck just laughed sheepishly.
"We've all been there," she said. I guessed this was just... Kat's... goodwill... friendship... thing...? Thankfully she finally stopped groping me and got off me. I scrambled to my feet and tried to catch my breath.
"You're quite skilled with a sword, Miss Linkle," Mr. Kiryu said, nodding at me and his clipboard notes. "I hear you also use a bow with different elemental arrows, and can even dual wield crossbows?"
"Mmmmhmmm." I nodded.
"I'm interested to see what you can do. For now, you're all dismissed for lunch."
"Oh, yeah! Tris and Linkle, I brought you guys some sushi from my granddad's restaurant," kerchief girl called out, before dashing over to her locker.
"Homemade sushi? Hell yes." Tris chased after that girl, going to give her a high five.
I just sat down next to freaky eyes Hibari, who just sat there as pigtails eye patch girl brought her lunchbox to her so she wouldn't even have to get up. The lunchbox had bunnies on it, and when she opened it up, it was only full of donuts and candy.
"Not as dumb as you look," pigtails eye patch girl said.
"Yagyuu, be nice!" Hibari puffed out her cheeks at her friend.
"I'm not going to be nice to someone who hasn't earned it," Yagyuu said.
"Well, you're nice to me," Hibari said.
"Y-you..." Yagyuu was blushing. Looks like someone had a crush. "You earn it by being a really sweet, nice person..."
Well, damn it, I've always been sweet and nice too. And I can fight, with a bunch of different weapons. So even if I did always oversleep, and always get lost, and can't say words that much... I was gonna earn Yagyuu's nice. Whether she liked it or not. I'd impress the whole elite class.
Kerchief girl and Tris sat next to me, and handed me a big, long, thick sushi roll. I bit into it. That girl's grandpa sure knew what he was doing when he made sushi. I guessed I had to watch how I was putting it in my mouth though. Kat was already leering again...
I mean, not the worst first day, even if I was two hours late.
