-Nori pov-

I woke up from unsettled sleep and slowly made my way out of bed. I walked into the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. I looked in the mirror at the tired circles under my eyes, maybe I shouldn't have tried to finish all of that marking in one night, I could have done some later this evening!

Walking back into my bedroom I changed out of my night clothes and checked my phone for messages. The little red email icon blinked at me slowly, it was from one of my students. I opened it and read the contents slowly so my tired mind could make sense of the cacophony of words and symbols on the screen

"Ok, this is going to sound really weird but would you be able to bring your brother to parents evening? I have something that he might be interested in.

Lillian-home room 3B"

Attached to the email where five pictures. By now I had managed to drag myself into the kitchen and had started making myself breakfast and lunch. I sat down to start eating my breakfast and opened the pictures on the email. I nearly choked on my food as I saw my student Lillian with Hinaichigo sat on a bed with another doll behind them. The photo was named "Me Hina and Alice". I looked through the others. Three where showing the other doll who I assumed to be Alice from various perspectives. The last photo was of Hina holding a sign saying

"Hi Nori!

I missed you and Jun but I'm awake now!

See you soon!" written in crayon and glitter. I quit out of the pictures and called Jun.

"Hello?" he said groggily as he answered his phone

"H-hi Jun! It's Nori. Sorry to wake you up but this is very important!" he stretched and groaned slightly on the other end of the line "Hina's back"

"Hina who?"

"Hinaichigo!" there was silence between us

"This better not be a joke" Jun finally growled down the phone.

"It's not Jun I promise! Her medium is bringing her to parents evening and she wants you to be there. Can you make it?" more silence "Jun?"

"When is it?"

"Next Tuesday"

"… I think I can make it."

"Great! I'll see you then I guess"

"Yeah, see you then"

"Bye Jun!" I hung up the phone and let out a small excited squeal. I hadn't seen Jun in about a month, we had both been very busy. I had recently been given a lot of marking to do as some teachers where rather ill. Jun had been promoted at the book store (although ever since the two-world-Juns incident he had been worried about working there!) so he had more work than ever to do. I checked in on him from time to time but had accepted that he had grown up enough for me to not have to check he was wearing clean underwear every day. I glanced up at the time and panicked. I grabbed my bag and chucked my phone into it grabbing what was left of my breakfast and ran down the street… forgetting my lunch…

Again.

-Lillians pov-

Since Hinaichigo had gotten here it was getting hard to hide her and Alice from my parents. Alice was calm enough to stay quiet for long enough and was a good hider. Hinaichigo was quite different. She was loud, excitable and hyper. My parents often came into my room asking why I had screamed or something. Which of course I hadn't but Hina had. Her idea of hiding was to dive under my bed covers with her feet sticking out from edges of the duvet. Her only god hiding places where under my bed or (when my parents were too quick)hanging out the window holding onto Alice's case so they didn't see that either. This worked well the first time… but Hina wasn't impressed when it was in the middle of a thunder storm with high winds blowing her about. I managed to find her a spare change of clothes but her old ones had to dry in my closet and trying to speed that process up with my hairdryer went horribly wrong when we found out her tiny cloths could shrink further. We managed to stretch them out again but Hina hasn't fully forgiven me and is trying the silent treatment… She isn't very good at it.

Finally the day of parents evening arrived. Alice still hadn't woken up and I was getting worried about her. I hadn't known her for long but no one else had actually cared enough to help me with my life or school before… Ok getting gum out of my hair wasn't life changing but the fact she cared enough only just having met me was enough for me to want her to wake up. Nori had suggested I bring in the dolls to school so we could look after them without drawing too much attention to them. I woke up at five thirty again so I could get Alice's case out the house without mum and dad noticing. Hina jumped into my bag and held onto my books so she didn't bump about too much or bash into them on the train and break, she was still made out of porcelain no matter how strong she is. I pulled my hair back into a plait again and got dressed into my school uniform. I tiptoed down and walked into the kitchen. But what I saw made me freeze where I stood, shocked and a little scared. Dad was sat on a chair lying across the table surrounded by empty alcohol bottles. I guess mu had had a big go at him and his job hunt wasn't going well. I made breakfast for the two of us and left his on a plate with a note next to him saying "parents evening" on it. He probably wouldn't turn up and mum had to work late tonight so I had to go on my own and pass on any feedback. I grabbed an already done lunch out the fridge and made a second one for Hina and put it into my bag. She clung onto her small bento box and my science book and looked up at me to whisper

"Thank you!" to which I held my finger up to my lips to shush her. Dad groaned and shuffled a little but that didn't stop me. I had a couple of things I needed to get before we left. As well as a small box of sushi rolls I grabbed a can of drink out the cupboard and a bottle of water from next to the sink and snuck out the door.

I had gotten on an early train so no-one was on the same carriage as me. I thought it would be safe enough to open up my bag so Hina could have one last bit of fresh air before being shut up in my bag for the rest of the journey. I unzipped the top of my backpack and her big bow popped out of the bag. She shuffled her head out and pulled herself out.

"You ok in there?"

"Yeah! It's quite squished but Hina can manage" she said cheerily. I smiled at her and opened Alice's case again, hoping beyond hope that Alice might be awake. She wasn't and my heart felt like it should be audibly breaking.

"Tickets please" I looked up in a panic worrying what any normal human would think of a small pink clad doll running about the carriage. To my relief it was Laplace's Demon standing there holding a slightly larger doll dressed in purple.

"Who's that?" I asked cautiously in case he tried to make me look after her as well.

"Her name is Barasuishou. She isn't technically a Rozen maiden but is still what you might call a 'living doll'" he said calmly "Rozen has asked me to look after her for a little while. Just until we find her key, her master was rather careless and lost it a little while ago."

"Even I'm not that careless. I have Alice and Hinaichigos keys right here." I pulled out two keys from my pocket, the one Laplace's demon had given me and the one Hinaichigo had brought with her. The demon simply smiled at me and then disappeared. The announcement said we were nearly at my stop so I coerced Hina back into the bag and zipped it up again.

I got to homeroom nearly an hour before school started. I knocked on the door and walked in. Nori was there but had fallen asleep at her desk, her lacrosse gear spread on the floor. I picked it up and propped it against the wall. I put the box of sushi rolls in front of her (she usually forgot her lunch so I brought her some food today) before opening up the cupboard where Nori had said we could keep Alice in her box.

"Hmm?" Nori stirred at her desk

"Good morning Nori" I said quietly so as not to startle her

"Ah! Hello Lillian!" she said still drowsily "How are you?"

"I'm alright"

"Is this sushi?" I turned around to see her grinning from ear to ear

"I thought you might have forgotten your lunch again"

"heh heh, you know me too well Lillian!" she laughed embarrassedly. I could feel Hina wiggling around in my bag.

"She's rather impatient" I said giggling as I put my bag on Noris desk and opened it up. Immediately Hina tackle hugged Nori knocking her backwards so she and her chair landed on the floor.

"I really really missed you Nori" Hina said quietly

"I missed you too Hina… I missed you too"