"Next question: in an arithmetic sequence, the first term is 11. The sum of the first 10 terms is 4 times bigger than..." Hiyama-sensei's voice droned on, elaborating on the exercise.
What the heck is this? Miku wondered to herself, no longer paying attention the remainder of the math problem. She propped her elbow up on the desk, resting her head in the palm of her hand and blankly staring ahead while she fiddled with her pencil in the other hand. Why isn't it enough to know the base equations and just leave it at that? The only time I'll be in need of something stupid like this is if I were to be taken hostage by math-crazed psychopath. In which case I'd be too frightened to answer correctly anyways.
The sweet sensation of Friday, the last school day before Golden Week to be more precise, was tainted with the sourness of math class. The laws of physics seemed to have come undone in the classroom, for the clock's hands ticked away at an excruciatingly slow pace. It seemed like an eternity before the bell would ring, signalling the lunch break.
"Look, look, Miku-chan! It's a miracle of nature!" Luka suddenly exclaimed, though keeping her voice at a whisper, poking her tealette friend with a pencil.
Her thoughts about various unlikely situations came to an abrupt halt as she shifted her head to look at the pinkette.
"What is it, Luka-chan?" she asked in a soft, yet slightly bored voice.
"Like I said, a miracle of nature," she repeated nonchalantly. She pointed to a little black speck on her desk.
Miku leaned a bit closer to Luka's desk in order to get a better look at the so-called 'miracle of nature' in their midst. The black speck turned out to be living, moving creature. A very fast moving one in fact, speedily scurrying along on its six feet: an ant.
"Your 'miracle of nature' is an ant?" Miku wondered with a hint of scepticism, raising her eyebrows.
"Yup!" Luka confirmed happily. "Isn't it a miracle how it journeyed all the way from the grassy pastures to the arduous conditions of our classroom and survived?"
"Well, if you put it that way," she agreed, a light chuckle escaping from her lips.
"Our brave traveller must be nearly starved to death after a day full of perilous challenges. Do you have any crumbs to spare for the poor fellow?" she pleaded with her hands clasped together, adding a dramatic edge to it.
"I think I've got some crackers in my bag..." Miku offered, already starting to search for it. After a minute of fumbling around, she finally found the packet and handed it to Luka.
"Thank you for your generous donation," she expressed her gratitude while taking it, a large smile blooming on her face.
She took one out and broke it in half above the ant so as to sprinkle down some crumbs. Completely forgetting about the tiny detail that they were in class, the two girls began to intently observe the creature.
The ant wasn't very keen on going after food. Contrariwise, it made sure to outright evade the morsels. Luka attempted to more or less carefully brush it in the right direction with her hand.
"Huh, maybe it's not hungry..." Miku suggested after a while. "And it looks like it's limping a bit..."
"Naaaahh, ants are sturdy animals. Which explains why it's not hungry. Perhaps thirsty instead," she concluded. "A little bit of Coke would give it a nice energy boost."
By the time Miku could've voiced her doubts about the unusual idea, Luka had already spilled a drop of the substance onto her desk. Once more, the ant was reluctant to head towards it, so the pinkette nudged it straight into the blob.
"I think the time has come for a name to be bestowed upon this courageous ant. So from now on, it shall be known as Susie," Luka decided all of a sudden.
"Seriously? Susie?" Miku asked in bewilderment, raising an eyebrow. "What kind of name is that for an ant? How can you tell that it's a foreigner, anyway?"
"Why, what's wrong with it? It suits her perfectly," Luka insisted. "I mean, just look at her. A total Susie."
"Ahhh, Megurine-san, Hatsune-san, what are you chattering about? Discussing the solution to the problem, I hope?" Hiyama-sensei finally turned his attention towards the girls, though his tone wasn't very scolding.
"No, Sensei. We're taking care of a miracle of nature," Luka informed him, making it sound like nothing out of the ordinary. "Susie, the ant."
A mixture of snickers and soft laughter erupted in the classroom as most of the heads turned towards the two of them. Miku's eyes widened in shock at Luka's ease of replying. Girl's got guts, talking to Sensei like that.
"O-ohh, is that so? I think you should stop harassing the poor thing now..." he recommended. He continued before waiting for an answer from them. "Now, let's look at the next question..."
"Psh, this is so not harassing," Luka complained, glaring daggers at his back.
"No, not harassment," Miku agreed with her. "It's outright murder now. You drowned Susie in the drop of Coke."
"Ooopsie..." She quickly prodded the ant out of the liquid and set the creature aside to dry. "She's a sturdy ant, she'll be fine."
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to incur the wrath of a dead ant," Miku commented sarcastically. "But... Maybe we should wash her off in some water."
"Mhm, sounds good. Have any?" Luka asked. The tealette nodded and handed her water bottle to her friend and partner in almost-crime.
The pinkette poured a little bit of water next to Susie and handed the bottle back to Miku. She pushed the ant into the fluid for a couple of seconds and then pushed her out of it. They kept a watchful eye over the bug; neither of them looked forward to the guilty feeling of having abused a defenceless animal to its death. A sigh of relief left their mouths as Susie started to scurry around again on the desk.
"Told ya Susie'd be fine," Luka claimed in full confidence. "Death is nothing in the face of a miracle of nature!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," the tealette said with a chuckle.
"Hey, we should build an ant house for her!" Luka suggested, pointing her index finger in the air.
"With an ant TV in it, too, huh?" Miku wondered, in an obviously mocking tone.
"Of course. Wouldn't want Susie to get bored," she replied quite seriously. It was hard to tell if that in itself was supposed to make her answer funnier or if she really meant it.
They both had to stifle their laughter as the mental image popped into their heads. Although not for long; at that moment, the bell rang and granted them their freedom. After the standard bowing procedure, Hiyama-sensei left the classroom, wishing them a good holiday.
"What should we do with Susie during the lunch break? Take her with us?" Luka posed the question to her friend.
"I think it's time for the 'miracle' to go back to nature," Miku advised, comfortingly putting a hand on Luka's shoulder. "Any more time with us and she'll be dead for good, probably."
"Yeah, you've got a point. I'll take her outside and leave her on a tree or something." Luka offered.
"Uhhh, no. You've already broken one of her legs. In your hands, she wouldn't even survive going downstairs. Leave it to me, I'll make sure she's safe and sound," Miku reassured her with a gentle smile.
Gosh, what am I doing? I've gotten totally caught up in Luka's pace, she noted to herself. Well, I guess it's okay to live on the fun side of life once in a while.
"Can't deny that... Alright, you do that while I grab us a table outside for lunch," Luka gave her consent to the idea after a moment of pondering. Soon afterwards, she skipped out of the classroom alongside the other students.
Miku carefully scooped the ant into the palm of her hand. Now, what to do with you... she began to think. There is no way I'm walking across the school carrying an ant in my hand, even though I promised Luka that I'd make sure Susie's safe.
She looked around the classroom in hopes of a brilliant solution appearing in her mind. Too bad we don't have any flowers in our classroom... though it could actually use the greenery... she mused. Hmm, green... the colour lingered in her mind as the apple green curtains swayed in a light breeze from the opened window. Aha, perfect!
The tealette walked over to the window. She took a deep breath of the fresh, spring air, closing her eyes momentarily. With utmost caution, she placed the ant on the outer sill of the window. She won't be crushed by anyone here, that's for sure. She stayed there for a little while longer, simply enjoying the nice weather. A minute or two later, she remembered that it was, in fact, lunch time and Luka was surely waiting for her. She headed towards the door at a brisk speed.
The halls were almost empty, with the exception of a few lingering students. For that reason, Miku didn't feel the need to slow down as she made her way to the stairs. It turned out to be a big mistake soon enough. Though at this point, it didn't count as such anymore.
A student stepped out of 1-B's classroom just as she was passing by. It happened faster than her reaction time, so she ended up bumping into the person. Two firm hands grabbed her shoulder to keep her from falling down. Even without looking up, she knew immediately who it was. So did her heart, which began to beat faster and faster.
"If it isn't Chibikko-senpai again," the boy commented. Upon hearing his voice, Miku looked up and saw him smirking down at her.
"Hi, Se Takai-kun," she greeted him casually, using the nickname she came up with. He hadn't voiced his complaints about it yet, nor did she about hers. "Sorry for bumping into you... again..."
Miku had been almost constantly colliding with the tall boy ever since the day of the opening ceremony. It became a part of their daily routines to meet up like this. Sometimes he bumped into her, sometimes the other way around. Strangely enough, he was the only person to become an obstruction in her way on a regular basis. She had also ascertained the fact that he was indeed the cutest out of all the first year students; not just among them, but in the whole high school section, actually. As the days passed by, she became less and less nervous with each meeting. However, she still hadn't mustered the courage to find out his real name, much less hold an actual conversation with him.
"No problem, I don't mind at all. Can't say you make a heavy impact," he assured her. "Bump into ya later, Chibikko-senpai."
With that, he started to walk towards the stair. Miku remained in her spot, watching his head of blue hair slowly disappear from view. Only then did she take a step forward, this time going a little bit slower than before. For the love of spring onions, why do I keep bumping into him, of all people? I bet he thinks I'm an incredibly clumsy girl by now. Which is so not the case! I think... It's just him and no one else that this happens with... If I only knew why...
Letting out a profound sigh, she steadily made her downstairs and towards the cafeteria.
Luckily for the students, spring brought nothing but nice and sunny weather for the most part. As such, Miku and Luka preferred to eat their lunch out in the open. For the first week or so, several girls and boys from their class also joined them in order to get to know the transfer student better. Their numbers began to dwindle as Luka's eccentric personality shined bright; too bright for their eyes, and their lack of it too boring for her. Thus, it was just the two girls now.
Having bought her meal, Miku walked over to the group of tables. She spotted Luka almost immediately; it was hard not to, since she was enthusiastically waving with her hand, beckoning for her friend to come join her. Along the way, she cast a few glances at the other tables. She noticed that Rin was hanging out with Piko, Nekomura-chan and a few others; as usual. On the other hand, she couldn't see Len anywhere; as usual. They've kept their word of eating lunch separately, but the older girl always tried to keep an eye out for them, just in case.
Miku placed the tray on the wooden table and took a seat beside Luka, who had patiently waited for her arrival and hadn't begun eating yet.
"Itadakimasu," they both said at the same time and clapped their hands together.
"So," Luka began to say, taking a short pause to eat a bite, "Susie's safe and sound?"
"Of course she is, no need to worry," Miku informed her.
"Awesome," she acknowledged the fact without asking for details. "Do you have any plans for Golden Week?"
"Nothing in particular. I'll probably just hang out with Rin-chan and Len-kun. What about you?" she returned the question.
"Right, your roommate and her twin," the pinkette recalled. "Well, I'm going on a little trip. With my boyfriend, Gakkun."
"Eeeehhh?" she exclaimed in disbelief. "You haven't mentioned yet that you have a boyfriend!"
During their conversations, Miku had learned quite a bit about Luka, even some personal things. Like how her parents had divorced when she was younger and she moved to the United States with her mother, while her younger brother stayed with their father in Japan. Music was part of their family's heritage, so their parents decided on having them apply for a scholarship at Kaion Academy when they heard about it. Both Luka and her brother were accepted, so now they were living together on the island in a rented house in order to strengthen the bond between them. However, the boyfriend never once popped up in the stories about her life.
"Heheheh, I haven't?" Luka wondered with a nervous laugh. "Well, I'll tell you about him now. I guess I do forget about him as a boyfriend sometimes, since we don't meet often..."
She gazed up at the clear blue sky, her sapphire eyes seeming distant as her lips curled into a melancholic smile. Miku stared at her friend, attempting to comprehend her expression. She must really love him... And it must really hurt her that he's not by her side, she mused.
"So uhm, yeah..." Luka finally spoke after a few moments of silence. "Gakkun and I have been together for two years now, but I've known him for much longer. We were neighbours in America and went to the same school. He's a bit of a weird dude himself, so we quickly became best friends. Over the years, we became more than just that... Unfortunately, after graduation, he got busy with work, so we could only keep in touch through texts, e-mails and phone calls. But whenever there's a school break or something, we go on vacation somewhere to spend some time together, just the two of us."
"Aaaww, how sweet," Miku commented. I'm still missing some details about this guy, but this'll do for now. It's probably tough for her to talk about him... she figured. "Where are you going this time?"
"Since it's just a week, we're going to the Kurokawa Onsen. Though actually, it'll be almost two weeks, since I won't be back until Tuesday. Speaking of which, I have a favour to ask," she announced.
"Sure, what is it?" Miku quickly agreed to do it.
"I told you how I'm living with my brother, right? Could you check up on him while I'm gone? You know, just to make sure he hasn't drowned in his own filth or blown up the house or anything like that. He's a big boy and can take care of himself, I know, but still... He can get a bit crazy at times. I'd be calmer if I got some reliable info about him like, halfway through the break," she roughly explained the situation to the tealette.
"All right, I can do that," she confirmed. She took out her cell phone and passed it to Luka. "Save your address in it."
"Thanks, Miku-chan! I knew I could count on you." She handed back the cell phone once she was finished. "By the way, you know a bit about my love life, so it's only fair if you tell me a bit about yours, ne?"
Urgh, should've seen that coming... A 'love life' is something I completely lack, but I can't tell her the one thing that did happen, yet. He wouldn't be too happy about it, especially since she doesn't know either. I'll just be really vague about it, she decided.
"Well, there's not much to say. I'm not really the type to go out with a lot of boys. So nope, no boyfriend," she concluded. Please, don't ask any more questions...
"Oh, I see. I thought a cute girl like you would be getting confessions right and left," Luka noted, jokingly elbowing her. The tealette shrugged in response.
For the rest of the lunch period, they moved on to lighter discussion topics. Before they knew it, the bell rang and forced them to return to their classrooms for a little while longer until the Golden Week vacation could start.
Author's Note: Yeah, I changed the name and summary of the story... Though it's just as cheesy as the previous one xD But I think this one fits it better.
For those who may not know: "se takai" means "tall person" and an onsen is a hot spring.