DAYBREAK
Episode 26
Haruka and Michiru were sitting under a tree, eating their lunches. Michiru was talking about their new English assignment when Haruka suddenly sat up.
"What is it, Ruka?"
"Kurai?" Michiru fixed her gaze over to where Haruka was staring. Sure enough, the short girl was sprinting towards them. Haruka got up to run over to her but Kurai put out her hand and shook her head. Haruka sat back down and she and Michiru watched as Kurai finally made it over to them.
"So that was you in the…"
"Damn you, Haruka!" she yelled.
"Huh?!" Haruka looked at Kurai with a perplexed expression on her face, as did Michiru.
"How come you never told me everyone here thinks you're a guy?!"
"Oooooops." Haruka cringed at what must have happened.
"Yeah, you better be scared!"
"Wait a minute, Kurai. What happened?" Michiru couldn't understand why she was suddenly so angry with Haruka.
"Well, see that group of girls over there?"
"Yeah," Michiru glanced over at the girls Kurai was pointing to.
"Oh, them? They're my biggest admirers," Haruka said sarcastically. Michiru gave her an evil look but half-smiled just the same.
"Well your 'biggest admirers' must have seen the way you looked at me because they found me in the library and asked me if I was your new girlfriend!" Haruka started laughing and Michiru slapped her on the shoulder.
"Are you serious Kurai?" Michiru asked.
"Yes. It was such a shock to me, especially when they started asking me whether you were a good kisser!" At this Haruka started laughing hysterically, rolling around in the grass.
"That is so damn funny!" Even Michiru giggled a bit but stopped when she saw Kurai's serious face…until Kurai herself burst out laughing.
"I guess it was pretty funny." She sat down alongside Michiru and watched Haruka get over her laughing. When she had, Haruka sat back up and wiped the grass off her uniform.
"So, Kurai, what are you doing in our school anyway?" Michiru had packed the remainder of her lunch and was now focused on what Kurai had to say. Even Haruka had stopped chuckling to hear the answer.
"I came to register and I'm going to start tomorrow."
"Have you gotten your schedule yet?" Haruka wanted to know if she and Kurai would have any classes together.
"No. That's why I'm just walking around today."
"That would explain the visitor tag." Michiru touched the tag on Kurai's shirt and clipped it off. "You have very pretty handwriting, Kurai."
"Oh, thank you." Suddenly, they all heard giggling from in front of them. The three all looked up to see the same group of admirers staring at them. "Do those girls ever shut up?"
"Not that I know of," Haruka said amusingly.
"You being in our school may prove to be interesting, Kurai," Michiru commented. She had clipped the tag back on Kurai.
"It just might…" Kurai stood up and wiped the grass off her pants.
"Where are you going, Kurai?" Haruka thought Kurai was going to do something to the annoying girls. True, it would be funny, but she didn't want to see her get in trouble.
"I'm going to find my sister. See you guys later!" Kurai ran off, leaving Haruka and Michiru to finish their lunches by themselves.
"Did you see Mr. Yamato's face when he saw I did my homework?" Usagi was deep into a conversation with Makoto and Minako.
"It still wasn't as good as when you got those couple of answers right." Minako laughed at her memory of the expression on their teacher's face when Usagi had been the only one in the whole class with the correct answer.
"So, how did you do it, Usagi? Who'd you copy off of?" Makoto had forgotten everything Usagi had told her.
"Makoto, I told you! Kurai helped me with my homework."
"Oh, yeah…" Makoto turned back to her lunch.
"How could she help you with your homework, Usagi? She's never even been to school," Ami, who had been reading, stopped when she heard Usagi's answer.
"She said something about reading books in the Time Warp and Pluto teaching her and…"
"It paid off." Everyone turned around to see who had spoken.
"Kurai!" Usagi got up and went over to her sister. "So that was you walking around in the hall!"
"Yeah. And that must have been you sleeping in class."
"I wasn't sleeping!" Minako and Makoto started laughing and Ami went back to her reading. Kurai sat down next to her and lifted the cover of the book ever so slightly so that she could read the title.
"I've read that book. It's very good." Ami just stared at Kurai in awe.
"When did you read it?" she finally managed to ask.
"When I was 9, I think."
"You read 1984 when you were 9 years old?"
"Uh-huh. Pluto had told me it was interesting to read about what people had thought of the future and what had actually happened so I did."
"That's amazing. I read the first chapter of that book a week ago and didn't understand a word of it," Minako said. Kurai shrugged.
"Not everyone likes the same books."
"That's true," Usagi spoke up.
"Oh, you should talk, Usagi!" Makoto fired back.
"What do you mean?"
"The closest things you read to a book are Rei's manga volumes." Minako shook her head in agreement and Ami leaned over to Kurai.
"It has begun…" she whispered in her ear. Kurai glanced at her for a second and then turned back to see what Usagi would do. Sure enough, Usagi started wailing.
"It's not my fault books are so hard to understand!" she whined.
"Oh, Usagi, you're so predictable," Ami commented. This made Usagi wail even more and everyone else laugh even harder. Suddenly, the bell ending lunch rang and the four girls gathered up the remainder of their lunches along with their backpacks.
"Where are you going to go now, Kurai?" Minako inquired.
"I think I might go to the park. I've had enough of school for today." Kurai recalled Haruka's admirers and shuddered.
"I'm not even going to ask," Makoto quickly replied.
"Good because I don't feel like recounting it again." Makoto and Minako smiled back at Kurai and went inside the school.
"Will you be at the temple later, Kurai?" Ami questioned.
"Hopefully."
"Alright. I'll see you there, then." Ami waved to Kurai and then followed Makoto and Minako.
"You're going to be late, Usagi."
"What else is new?" Usagi grinned at her sister, who smirked back. "See ya after school, Kurai!" With that, she sprinted after her friends into the school, leaving Kurai standing in a seemingly quiet courtyard. All of a sudden, she felt someone poke her in the side.
"OW!" She spun around to see Haruka's face staring back mischievously at her. "Wait a minute…"
"Waiting."
"Shouldn't you be in class?"
"Yeah…I skipped." Haruka smirked down at Kurai. "After all, it's only gym."
"You mean you missed your favorite subject just for me?"
"Hey, don't make it harder than it already is…"
"Well, I wouldn't want to be a burden, Haruka…"
"But I thought I should do something to make up for that incident. And you're not a burden but a pleasure." Haruka smiled warily, hoping the words would have some effect.
"Don't even try it, Tenoh. I can see through you better than Michiru can and nothing you say will compensate for those damn girls."
"What about what I do?"
"Well, skipping gym just to be here is a start…"
"Great! But hey, I wouldn't be that bad a boyfriend, would I?" Haruka smiled slyly and Kurai shook her head.
"Watch it or your head will grow larger than your fan club," Kurai coolly answered.
"I don't think that's possible," Haruka stopped to think about it before continuing. "So, what do you want to do?"
"You're actually going to stay with me, aren't you?" Kurai still thought Haruka would run back into the school as soon as she let her guard down.
"For the next 45 minutes, at least. Now, where do you want to go?" Kurai beamed, thinking about how much this Haruka resembled the one from the past.
"Well, I was thinking of taking a stroll through that small park behind the school…"
"Perfect! Let's go!" Haruka grabbed Kurai's hand and started dragging her towards the park. Meanwhile, Michiru was watching the scene through her 7/8th period class.
"I wonder how close they were in the Silver Millennium?" she whispered to herself. Just as Michiru saw the two run off, the bell rang and she sat down in her seat. As she opened her book, Michiru thought to herself. "I'm sure I have nothing to worry about. But, still, I wish I could remember Kurai from the past…"