Chapter 3—New discoveries
The next morning, Haru got up earlier than the others. He was going to school early to clean up the mess he had made during lunch the day before. He had only been walking a few minutes, enjoying the quiet, when he heard the now-familiar pitter-patter of Lila's small feet.
"Wait up, Haru-kun!" He turned around to see her approaching him, her long, black hair flowing behind her. She smiled as she caught up to him. "Hello, you're going to school early…why?" He noticed her hair was pulled out of her face by a delicate strand of lace that matched her piercing blue eyes.
"I figured I should go and clean up the cafeteria, since I made such a mess of it yesterday."
Lila's eyes lit up and her smile widened. "Wow! That is so nice, Haru-kun! I'll go with you!" She smiled at him as she shifted her books uncomfortably. "That is, if you don't mind the company."
Haru smiled softly, "No, that's ok. So why are you coming in so early?" He noticed she was having a difficult time balancing her books. With a quick, graceful move, he took her books, placing them on top of his own.
"Thanks! The reason I am coming in early is simple: I have to get out of my house."
He had expected her to be coming in for some sort of extra credit thing—he didn't know why, she had never appeared to be a geek or something.—"Really, why?"
She looked sort of saddened at this thought, but quickly smiled. "Because my mom's boyfriend is always over and he doesn't like me very much." They walked for the next few moments in silence. Lila soon began to hum to herself. The tune sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't place it. "What song is that?"
Her smile brightened, "It's an old lullaby my mother used to sing to me. She didn't have the greatest voice, but when she sang this song…it was always so beautiful." Haru looked at her in awe.
"It's beautiful…it sounds familiar…oh, here we are." They had arrived at the school in what seemed like no time flat. Lila marched up to the doors; or rather she skipped, and tried to open them. "It's locked…"
Haru smiled at her, "well, of course it's locked. They don't unlock it until ten minutes till. Come on, there's a window we can get in through over here." He took her hand and led her over to a window where she could see a deserted hallway.
"We're going through there?" Lila looked at him apprehensively. "Yup, come on." He pushed the window open, sliding in, and then helped her through before replacing the window. "Ok…" he said, "The cafeteria is this way."
They walked in silence to the cafeteria. They were almost to the cafeteria when Lila whispered softly, "This place is creepy with no students…" She smiled up at him as he muttered his response.
"This place is creepy with the students, as well." She chuckled and nodded her head in agreement. "That's true…not necessarily the school…but the students."
They turned the corner and Haru peered into the cafeteria through the locked doors. He couldn't believe what he saw. The entire cafeteria was spotless. "Wow…I've never seen the cafeteria look so clean."
Haru could've sworn he saw Lila blush slightly, but he just shrugged it off as another weird thing she did. "So, umm…now what?" She asked, still not looking at him.
"Well, I guess we can go outside and hang out until school starts." They walked back to the window, and after climbing through, they walked out to the courtyard of the school. He sat down under a tree and looked up at the sky. Lila sat on the bench and looked at him. A few minutes passed before either of them spoke.
"So…if you turn into a cow…then does that mean that Yuki and kyo…can turn into animals as well?" She asked timidly, gazing at him from the bench.
He had told her about his past, but hadn't mentioned any of the others until he knew if she could be trusted. "Yes." He said smiling up at her. "There are ten others besides Yuki, Kyo, and I."
Her eyes widened, "Like the zodiac…thirteen? So that means one is the cat!"
Haru nodded, "Kyo… Yuki is the rat…do you know momiji? Well, he is the rabbit. The man I live with when staying with Yuki, his name is Shigure, is the dog…"
"I am the rabbit! Oh my goodness! I knew there was a reason why Momiji and I got along so well!"
It all made sense to him now, Lila had reminded him of someone; someone he now recognized as momiji. "I thought there was something familiar about you." He grinned and began to whistle a tune of no importance or recognition. They sat like that until students began to arrive. They then got up and when inside the school.
"Oh, did you know, we have a new teacher starting today. Her name is…Mrs. Okida."
"Really, what does she teach?"
Before Lila could respond the cafeteria lady cam up and smiled at her, handing Lila a little lotus flower. "To say thank you, for cleaning the cafeteria for me when I had to run out for a bit."
Lila blushed as Haru turned sharply to look at her. "Thanks, Madame Okitaka." With a wave of her hand, she hurried off, leaving a blushing Lila and a gaping Haru.
"Lila…I can't believe you did that…wow."
"Please, it was nothing…I just was helping out Madame Okitaka."
They walked the rest of the way in silence. He couldn't believe she would do that for him, he knew even though she said she did it for Madame Okitaka, she really did it for him.
He followed the rest of the way to class and took his seat next to her, when a short, impish-looking woman cam in and rapped on the desk with her pointer. "Settle down." The words fell with no real reason, as no one in the class was talking. "Now then, I am Mrs. Okida. I am your new history teacher. Before we begin I would just like to say that this is not your time to play or chit-chat amongst yourselves. This is my time. As such, I expect to hear no one except myself. If I ask a question, you are to stand up when you are called on. If you know an answer or have a question, you must raise your hand. Are we clear?"
She waited a moment and when no one answered, she shook her head and said softly but clearly, "Tsk, tsk. The correct answer would be 'Yes, Mrs. Okida, we understand you perfectly'." The class responded, except for Haru, who muttered under his breath to Lila.
"Mr.…" She looked at her list of names, "Mr. Sohma, I do believe you need to spend a little extra time learning this lesson." She handed him a sheet of paper. "You will turn this and the assignment back into me tomorrow. Both will be signed and dated by a parent or guardian. Is that understood?"
He looked up at her and gritted his teeth. He couldn't believe she just did that! "Yes, Mrs. Okida."
She smiled at him. Her smile was annoying and reminded him of a mouse. "Good, now, everyone turn to page 3 of your books and we will begin our lesson."
It seemed like an eternity before the bell rang, freeing them from Mrs. Okida's hold. In the 45 minutes they were in there, she had given out five other slips like his, and assigned the class a full- 2 page- essay on 'Why we should follow Mrs. Okida's rules.'
The rest of the morning went by without any trouble, and when lunch came around, he and Lila found a seat together. "So you aren't working in the lunch line today?" He looked at her questioningly as he set his tray next to hers.
"No, I only help out on the first day."
"Oh, that's—" Haru got cut off as they heard a shrill "Haru! Lila!"
They both looked up to see a grinning momiji coming towards them, bouncing like the little rabbit he was.
"Hello, Momiji-kun!" Lila smiled at him as he set his tray down right in between them.
"Hey!" Haru grunted as momiji wiggled in between them. Momiji ignored him and continued to grin at Lila. "Haru told me you know our secret! I'm so happy! Now I have two friends who know!" Lila turned to look at Haru, "I can't believe you told! What if—"
"Akito," Haru interrupted, "won't find out. Momiji won't tell and I haven't told anyone else." Momiji just nodded mutely, still grinning at her. She sighed and began to eat her lunch.