Atmung

A Rozen Maiden fanfic by Aondehafka

Disclaimer: the characters and concepts of Rozen Maiden are owned by Peach Pit, not me. This story is based on the anime, not the manga.

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Chapter 6: The Nail That Stands Up...

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The door to the counselor's office swung open. Tomoe pressed further back into the shadows of a nearby doorway. When Jun had overcome the last of his skittishness, catching him unawares had gone from being awkward to fun. She hadn't succeeded in a long time, though, and had resorted to a little subterfuge today to give her a better chance. As far as Jun knew, she would be tied up in after-school kendo practice today.

She waited until she heard the door close behind him and his footsteps head away down the corridor. As silently and gracefully as she could, she slipped out to sneak up behind him.

"Hey, Tomoe," Jun said before she took her fourth step. "No practice today after all?"

Tomoe heaved a sigh only slightly louder than her footfalls had been. His ring wasn't even visible, let alone glowing; he had to have done that all on his own, with no help from the Rose Bond. "You're very good, Jun," she said. "Are you sure you don't want to join the kendo club?"

"Heh. You never quit asking me all last year. Are you going to keep it up this year too?"

"Only until you..." Tomoe cut herself off. Jun's tone had tried to be light and carefree, but there had been tension and unhappiness underneath it. This wasn't the time for playful banter. "Jun, what's wrong? What did Akibahara-sensei say to you?"

Jun was quiet for a few moments, looking away from her. His shoulders sagged just enough for her to notice.

Tomoe crossed the rest of the distance between them and hesitantly touched his arm. "Jun?"

"It was supposed to just be a preliminary session to talk about what high schools I was thinking about," he said tightly. "Just like the ones half our class has had already. You know, discuss entry requirements, tuition, what subjects I need to focus on for which schools, all that stuff."

"Yes, I remember mine. Was that not what happened to you?"

"No," Jun growled. He started walking again. "Come on, Tomoe... I don't want to be here right now."

She followed quickly after him, not saying anything this time. Her satchel already held all the books she needed to take home, and Jun didn't seem interested in fetching his. He led the way directly out of the building and into the street beyond.

At that point he slowed down, but didn't stop entirely. "We did talk about which high school I could go to," he said at last. "Turns out there's only one."

Tomoe blinked. "What? That doesn't make any sense. Your grades aren't spectacular," they couldn't possibly be with him having missed most of his first year and a third of his second, "but they're good enough to let you take the tests for some good places. And with Shinku's power, you wouldn't have any trouble passing those. You should be able to go anywhere except the most elite schools!"

"You'd think that, wouldn't you." Jun sighed. "But that's not how it's going to be. I've got my assignment, and it's that or nothing. Or...?" He was silent for a little while, but just before Tomoe could say something he shook his head and announced, "No way am I going to that much trouble. Set up a fake identity and hide in it for three years, just so I can go somewhere other than they told me? Forget it."

"Where did they say you had to go, Jun?" Tomoe asked. "And why only one school?"

"Apparently something was passed last year called the Excess in Education Act," Jun grumbled. "It means that all the 'extraordinary' students are funneled to a few high schools. The one for our region is Furinkan."

Tomoe blinked. "I thought that place was just an urban legend," she murmured. She gave Jun a considering look, hoping that this might be an extended joke he was playing on her. Unfortunately, she was forced to abandon the thought. His upset and frustration were just too real for that. "This isn't fair," she stated. "You didn't start any of the fights last year, and there haven't been any so far this year."

"Give it time," Jun muttered. "Anybody stupid enough to scream at me in front of half the school for 'making him tear his own sister's clothes off' is too dumb to learn a lesson for real."

"But that's just it! You shouldn't be blamed; you're not the one causing problems," Tomoe declared. "If they want to isolate troublemakers, they ought to target Aki and Soichiro, not you!"

"According to Akibahara-sensei, it isn't about being a troublemaker," Jun said. "It's about what I can do, and what can happen around me, not so much the choices I make." He grimaced. "In my file, they've even got pictures from home. It seems like the neighbors were paying attention after all, at least a couple of times when everything got out of hand."

"That's even less fair," Tomoe protested, but with a certain air of resignation in her voice. Fair or not, it made more sense than castigating Jun for merely standing up for himself.

They walked in silence for a little while, before she spoke again. "Was there a school you wanted to attend?"

"I just thought I'd go to Nori's," he answered. "What about you?"

"I haven't decided. Although it would be nice to go someplace where I won't end up railroaded into student government again." Tomoe was quiet for a little while, then said, "Most of what I've heard about Furinkan is really unreliable. We should research it. It might not be a bad place at all."

"Mm," Jun grunted. "Maybe so, but from the look on Akibahara-sensei's face and the tone of his voice, I think I'll be glad to have Shinku watching my back."

"Shinku... watching your...?" Tomoe's question trailed off as she fought a sudden dizziness. For some unfathomable reason, Jun's image had blurred before her eyes. The rest of the world around him was perfectly clear, though... but wait, the blurring extended to a small area in front of him and on his right side, as if nestled in the crook of his arm...

Squinting and straining, Tomoe fought the disorientation, barely even hearing Jun's sudden alarmed repetition of her name. "What... what is...?" And then, with a nearly-tangible POP, everything settled into perfect clarity once more.

Nonetheless, another minute passed before she could finish the question. "Jun... what is Shinku doing there?"

Jun blinked. "What? Tomoe, you can...?" He was close enough now to catch her if she fell, his free arm stretched out but not quite grasping hold of her.

"She's looking straight through the concealment without any difficulty at all. Jun, strengthen the effect," Shinku said peremptorily.

"Huh?" Jun said, half turning to look at Shinku. "We don't need to do that. If I knew how to keep it from affecting specific people, I wouldn't have bothered hiding you from her in the first place."

"What a lax and willful servant you are," Shinku said. "We need to know if you can recover from a loss. What if once someone sees through the effect they can never be fooled again?"

Jun glanced away to Tomoe, who still looked a bit shell-shocked. "Why don't I just use my strongest effort to hide your Kun-Kun DVDs and see if you can find them?" he sniped back at Shinku. Then, turning to Tomoe, he asked, "Are you—OUCH—all right?"

"H-How...?" Tomoe swallowed. "Sakurada-kun, how long have you been bringing her...?"

He blinked, surprised at the less familiar mode of address. She hadn't used that since a few weeks into his return to school the previous year. 'But then again, it's not like she doesn't have an excuse to be rattled,' he thought. "Since middle of second term last year," he explained.

"I could hardly leave my servant to face the dangers of Laplace and Kira Kishou all by himself, now could I?" Shinku added.

"But... weren't those problems solved during our last vacation?" Tomoe asked.

"I could hardly leave my servant to face the dangers of boredom, indoctrination, and revisionist history all by himself, now could I?"

"With Shinku, every test I take is an adventure," Jun said dryly. "Half the answers she tells me are deliberately wrong, and I've got to tell them from the other, honest answers."

"Thereby learning helpful skills for the real world," Shinku said loftily.

"You're not fooling anyone, you know," Jun teased her back. "You just want to make me more like Kun-Kun. If I ever wake up covered in fur, I'll know who to blame."

Tomoe watched the two banter back and forth for several minutes more, Shinku occasionally whipping a hair-tassel against the side of Jun's head in response to some particularly snide comment. Each time he yelped and complained, despite the fact that none of the strikes left a red mark (and, as far as she could tell, one didn't connect at all). "I see," she said quietly.

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Author's Notes

As Tomoe is aware of the connection between Shinku and Jun's rose ring, she cannot see the ring while under the effect of Jun's concealing Shinku from everyone, unless she is also witnessing him do something else that she knows would require him to use that power. Hence the incorrect conclusion she draws toward the beginning of this chapter.

F.Y.I., for anyone curious as to how the title for this chapter applies, there is a Japanese (I think) saying: "The nail which stands up is hammered down." There's also something in there about the tallest tree being the one cut, or something like that. The saying is in support of conformity and fitting in. That goal, of course, is right out for Jun these days, but on the other hand he is now strong enough to stand up/out/apart from the norm without being beaten down for it.