Atsuko Kagari.
She rolled the name on her mental tongue a few times, letting it rattle around in her thoughts as her feet distractedly walked in the direction of her next lesson. Given her keen sense of hearing, it had been easy to catch the name being uttered here and there amongst the regular classroom chatter; new students always carried a bit of a buzz around them, or at least they did when it came to prestigious academies such as Luna Nova.
Now, if only Diana could elucidate what made the person attached to that name so special. Why these abnormalities were taking place around the mystically ruby-eyed girl. Because whatever just happened in Professor Finneran's linguistics class earlier was decidedly not normal.
An onslaught was the best way to describe it, really. An involuntary horde of thoughts and images and memories that were distinctly not her own. A chill snaked down the length of Diana's spine as she resummoned the experience, setting her fangs on edge. The foreign entities had taken over, dominating her headspace for such an insanely brief snippet of time that it was hard to comprehend everything that had flashed through. And the most concerting part?
She was nearly certain those thoughts and images and memories belonged to one Atsuko Kagari.
It was near impossible to discern what the incident meant, and the way it had zipped through like a stray bolt of lightning meant that deciphering the smorgasboard of information was a formidable task. Although Diana wasn't even convinced that she wanted to. If felt like an invasion of privacy, in a way.
Sighing, an unwelcome wave of irritation rolled in from nowhere as Diana stepped into her mathematics class. For all those years studying her condition, practicing how to be around humans again, slaving over the ancient texts to absorb as much information as she could... it was not a pleasant feeling to have everything unravel into a dark abyss of the unknown all over again, with an unassuming girl serving as the catalyst, no less.
Diana was dragged from her ponderance by the simultaneous ringing of the period bell and a student dashing through the door just before the series of indicatory noises could end.
Oh. The blonde wasn't really one to believe in signs from the universe or uncanny spiritual philosophies, but she had to admit that for once in her life, she felt positive that there were greater powers at work.
And those powers are trying to ruin me, she thought as her eyes trailed Atsuko to a seat a couple rows down.
Another tide of frustration—bred from her persisting hunger and vexation by the unfamiliarity of her circumstances—washed over the blonde and she forced herself to glare down at her hands. It would appear that she would be sharing numerous classes with the girl. Brilliant.
She'd been able to keep herself in check during first period. Second had actually gone alright too, up until the moment their gazes (and minds?) became tangled up.
And now here she was, an unwelcome yet enticing presence in her third period class, and the more time Diana was forced to spend in relative proximity to the mortal, the more shewas beginning to worry about her ability to focus on her academic endeavors. She could feel the edges of her equanimity begin to waver in the way her brain started to shift gears towards something animalistic. Something a smidge more primal than she liked to admit.
It was hardly Diana's fault though.
After all, it was a bit distracting, that aroma was.
The sharp tang of iron mixed with delicate sweetness emanated from Atsuko's being in strong surges, infiltrating Diana's nose. Her saliva glands seemed to have kicked into high-gear without her consent. And while the aristocrat would never admit its actual occurrence, the quietest, most imperceptible whimper slithered past her lips before she could intervene. She was so hungry...
Stop this foolishness! she internally hissed at herself. Diana tucked a strand of hair back and straightened her posture, coercing her attention forward. What was being discussed? Oh, yes. Professor Badcock had begun a lecture at the front of the room and was pacing to and fro as she discussed how math could be applied to the physical world.
But try as she might to soak up the words, the incessant lull of Atsuko's heartbeat kept her from doing so. It was suddenly very loud again, just as it had been the prior day in the courtyard. Caught in a momentary haze, it drummed in Diana's ears, bouncing off the walls. She was drowning in it.
Then she visibly shook her head and the intensity dimmed several notches, much to her relief.
This—whatever this was—was not acceptable. It was of utmost importance that she excel in her education. She had expended so much energy to earn the luxury of attending Luna Nova. Diana wanted to be a regular student and earn her degree, strived to achieve her goals by herself like any other human would. It was one long-lost sense of normalcy that she had fought for and wasn't prepared to waste because some silly human had a mysterious way of making her fangs ache.
So, all Diana could do was pray to the possibly-metaphorical gods that she had no further mutual classes with the brunette and ignore her in the ones they did share...
Needless to say, that was far easier said than done; Diana ended up taking more mental notes on the subtle changes in Atsuko's heartbeats per minute than she did literal notes over the history of numerology.
And when she realized what she was doing, the tiniest ghost of a blush danced on her cheeks.
Diana carefully unpacked her lunch, cursing at the minuscule trace of a tremble in her hands as she went about placing the various assortment of foods around her in an orderly fashion. The regular human morsels would do nothing to satiate her real thirst, but maintaining a physically full stomach helped keep the gnawing feeling at bay. She was about to take her first bite from a slice of fresh apple when a loud, grating voice exploded right above her, almost causing her to drop the piece of fruit.
"I demand an explanation!"
Wonderful. This certainly hadn't been on Diana's list of what to expect for the day, although maybe she shouldn't have been surprised; her luck hadn't exactly been playing to her advantage as of late.
Diana's gaze did a little gambol, looking at the hand that had been slammed on the table in front of her, up to Atsuko, around the cafeteria where many eyes had been drawn towards them, then finally back to the brunette again. Her rusty red eyes were shining, full to the brim with what looked like a hodgepodge of indignance and determination churning in their depths.
She felt Barbara and Hannah, who always sat with her on the days she actually showed up for lunch, bolt upright in their seats, ready to defend her. Diana simply held a hand up to stop them from whatever they were about to say, her own frigid cerulean irises not leaving the flaring ruby ones staring down at her. This was not what Diana wanted to be dealing with, not after her intense morning of vampiric fastballs and trying to disregard the very girl that was standing before her.
"Excuse me?"
"I said," she huffed, drawing her hand back and crossing her arms, "you owe me an explanation."
"And to what does this matter even regard?" Diana asked, setting her apple slice down. So much for the notion of lunch.
"Uhh! I mean— you! Obviously!"
Thump, thump, thump. Diana's gaze slowly dropped from Atsuko's eyes and down to her neck. Thump, thump, thump. Fast. Racing, even. And loud, so very loud.
"Hello?" Suddenly there were fingers snapping in front of her face and Diana loathed the way her entire body jumped a little.
"It's already clear that this concerns me," Diana drawled slowly, actively forcing herself to meet Atsuko's gaze again. "I'd like to know why you're interrupting my lunch."
"Yeah!" Baraba exclaimed, chiming in to voice her concern. "You're ruining our precious time with Diana!"
"She barely comes to the cafeteria anymore!" An angry finger was thrust at the girl. "It's probably because a noble of such high standards doesn't want to be disgraced by eating in the same presence of peasantry like you!"
Honestly, for a second, the only thing Diana's brain picked up from that excessively elitist line was 'doesn't want' and 'eating', which automatically got translated into 'doesn't want to be eating you'. And because that was indeed something she did not want to be doing (a blatant lie if she was being candid with herself, which she wasn't), Diana murmured, "Something like that," almost entirely to herself.
But Atsuko must have heard it, because Diana watched a flurry of expressions scurry across her face. The tail end of something resembling pain took residency for a moment, but it was quickly replaced by hot anger, followed up by an indignant puff of the cheeks.
"W-w-wha—this is my first day of classes!" Atsuko spluttered, obviously taken aback by Hannah's viciously-thrown fallacy. "I just got here and she's at lunch today, isn't she? So if anything, it would make more sense that she's avoiding you two when she doesn't show up!" The two gasped in unison at the horrendous suggestion, thoroughly appearing ready to throw down with the new student. But the haughty brunette was already addressing Diana again before they could even begin to counter the argument.
"It doesn't matter!" Without warning, those impossibly sparkling eyes were boring down on her again. "If Diana does have a problem with me, then she should tell me to my face!"
It was a challenge. Her eyebrow twitched.
"Tell me what it is! Is there something funny about my face? Was it because I accidentally bumped into you? Because let me tell you, if you're still upset b— "
And then time stopped moving. Diana abruptly leapt forward, cutting her off mid-sentence only to bury her twin pair of canines into her throat, sending a cacophony of alarm throughout the cafeteria. There were screams of alarm, but none of them drowned out the roaring in her own head, the surge of power, the inferno of flavor as hot crimson splashed against her tastebu—
She blinked. What? No, no, no. That was not what just happened. Even though she kind of wished it did. But only kind of. Just a little bit. Okay, maybe a lot—what? She blinked again.
Atsuko was looking at her expectly, although confusion was beginning to nudge its way onto the expression as well.
Diana was supposed to respond now, wasn't she? You're a Cavendish. Get it together. Right.
With an imperceptible nod, she stood and straightened her uniform tie. Deep breathe. This needed to be addressed, and not in the way her gut was begging for it to be. Diana merely hoped that the slight tremble taking hold of her entire body was unnoticeable, and that the faint ghost of a tremor in her tone was swallowed up by the open space and high ceiling of the building.
"Atsuko, I apologize if you have interpreted our limited interactions as malicious or offensive in any way. I can assure you that I have never intended as such." She paused. A desire to bite someone out of necessity for survival wasn't malicious, was it? "I know that I was quite... unsavory towards you the day we met. If you will, I would greatly appreciate it if you excused my behavior. I really... have not been myself as of late."
The crimson-eyed girl was clearly at a loss for words and as her jaw appeared to be struggling to decide what it wanted to do. Before she could, Hannah's distressed wail shattered them both out of the moment.
"Oh! Diana! So it's true, you've been unwell! No wonder you've been acting strangely!"
"And you! This imbecilic new girl who thinks she knows everything has the nerve to make our lovely Diana feel guilty about it! She has a medical condition, you know!"
Ah yes. Her "condition." The one that the school administration and a heavy amount of the student body was aware of; only Headmaster Holbrooke was privy to what exactly that condition entailed. What a perfect time to drag that particular wad of information to light. As if to emphasize the matter, Diana sat back down, feeling weak in the knees.
"A... medical condition?" Atsuko looked like she was still trying to maintain some modicum of anger but was wriggling under the weight of it. Then something dawned on her. "Wait! Is that why you had that umbrella when you were outside?"
Diana stiffened but then forced herself to relax. Everyone on this campus has seen me with that umbrella at some point or another, it's alright. "Yes," she affirmed. "I have severe porphyria, which is to say sunlight and I do not mix well."
The girl's blank look said she had no idea what that was, which was probably better to Diana's cause anyway.
But then, of course, Hannah had to blurt, "And garlic! She's very allergic to garlic! So you tell your witchy friend over there not to tamper with Diana's food or anything!" Sucy, a few tables down and apparently listening (a great number of students had stopped caring about the exchange but some were still eying them), merely offered a toothy grin.
"... Garlic?"
This was too much for Diana. She felt drained enough as it was. Her mind kept replaying that accursed fantasy of sinking her fangs into the innocent girl in the background. The imagery was proving hard to shake, despite everything.
"Yes, now. If you could please avoid such blatant outbursts in the future, that would be marvelous. Whatever misunderstanding we've had has reached a conclusion so I believe we are done here."
A tiny burst if irritation fell over Atsuko, Diana noting that the girl was quick to temper—quick to raise her pulse—but then it floated away and she nodded quickly, bouncing on the heels of her feet. "Oh! Okay. Yeah. See you around then, Diana!"
But something about the obvious way the gears in her head were working when she turned to walk away left Diana feeling uneasy.
Oh Akko... Don't get any ideas, you silly thing. (Of course she's gonna get ideas. This is Akko we're talking about.) By the way, I totally headcanon that Diana would refer to Akko with her proper name until she explicitly tells her to call her otherwise, so yeah. Also, mmm-juicey on tumblr did some hella amazing art for the cover of this story!