Futiley trying to resist, a slight smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as her thumb flashed out and typed a few quick letters. Then she flipped it shut with a satisfied snap. What time was it? She looked. Why did her sessions with Ritsu always drag on when she wanted them to be short, and were short when she wanted them to be long? It was like he read her mind. And now she had almost four hours left until she could meet with Masaru. Happiness warred with frustration as she returned to her work. Who really cared about this crap, anyway? The homework was pointless. She'd pass the test whether she studied or not.
About an hour later, the bell rang for the blessed subject: lunch. For the last five minutes, she'd been packed and staring at her watch, watching the seconds tick away. As soon as the first chimes had reached her ears, she was out the door, sailing down the hallway at a half-run. She paused to grab the generic bento off the cafeteria a la carte line and punch in her number, then hurried out to the connected courtyard.
It wasn't too big, sandwiched in the center of the rectangle of the science wing, but it had green grass, trees, and benches to sit on. There were flowers planted all around the perimeter, no doubt class projects on heredity or plants. Bypassing the metal benches, she dropped down onto the grass and hurriedly assumed a lazy pose, like she'd been waiting a while. Tsuki was just in time, too, as she'd only started to unwrap her lunch when her ears caught the sound of hurried feet and labored breathing, then a muffled curse. A grin dawning on her face, she said in bored English, "What's your problem? You guys are so slow."
A boy and a girl, both older than she, dropped into the grass across from her with tired smiles. "You're just too fast, otaku," complained the boy in the same language (for the most part). He wore baggy clothes, and his hair was light brown and shaggy. Tsuki had run into him one day after school at an art festival, and the upperclassman had adopted the smaller girl. They were always competing to see who could outdo the other, in anything. They both knew that he was gay, but the topic had never come up between them.
The other girl was dark-haired and tall, with equally dark eyes. She was David's twin sister, and went by Kali. Good-natured, but a little quiet, Kali was extremely close to her brother, and thus to his friends. Tsukiko had helped her with her work once or twice, too.
They looked out for her, and in return she helped them as best she could, and made them laugh. The strange thing about the pair was that their Sacrifices were both younger, and bitter rivals. Typical grade-school boys. But Kali and David went through a lot of pain when their masters butted heads, and as a result tried to avoid the other when they weren't in school. For their own reasons, unknown to her, they'd never told their other halves about their twinship. She often wished there was something she could do, but knew it didn't concern her.