Chapter 5: The First Mile, Part 1
As the morning sunlight wafted in through his curtains, Hideki struggled between waking up and staying asleep. He jostled in his sheets, the lingering effects of such a long night full of adrenaline leaving him wanting to stay in bed for a few hours more.
Perhaps a slight crack of his eyes would be a bold enough step? Shifting his head once more, Hideki desperately pried one of his eyelids open. All of the normal contents of his room where there, including the desk lamp, his computer, and so-on. However, he noticed that a large part of his room was obscured by some large, blurry figure.
Like a bee had stung him straight in the posterior, Hideki jolted awake, his eyes shooting open as he recoiled from the figure that was looming over him.
It was Marie, of course. She was kneeling at his bedside.
"Good, you're awake," She said.
At the sight of a girl in his room, Hideki, in only his boxer shorts, was struck by a sudden streak of modesty as he pulled up the sheets to cover his body, "What the heck are you doing in my room?!" He yelled.
"What do you mean?" Marie queried, tilting her head, "I've been in here all night, in the deck case," She pointed to the blue, yellow and pink box Hideki had been officially given the night before, "A lousy place to hang out, but a great place to sleep." She added.
Hideki grabbed his head, partly in frustration, and partly due to how his head was spinning now that the shock was wearing off. While he collected himself, he took a look at his alarm clock. At least he wasn't running late on top of this.
Marie, on the other hand, was glancing around the room, "So this is someone's room in the Human World, huh?" She said, then furrowed her brow a little bit, "It's a bit drab…"
"Excuse me?!" Hideki said, taking offense. Sure, his room may not have been stuffed with possessions, but it was hardly "drab".
"Oh, no, I mean," Marie backpeddled, "I just expected brighter colors, and more stuffed animals."
"That sounds like a girl's room," Hideki said, gripping his head again, "Shion's room is probably like that."
Marie's face perked up at the sound of Shion's name, "Oh yeah, that reminds ! Remember how you promised that I could go see Shion whenever I want?" She clapped her hands together; her face turning so cute that you'd swear sparkles and cotton candy had appeared in the air around her, "Well, I wanna go see Shion now!"
"Not happening," Hideki said casually, tossing his sheets at Marie.
"What?!" Marie yelled as the sheets fell on top of her. Quickly casting them off, she followed Hideki as he left his room and walked down the hall, "But you made a promise! Are you already breaking it?!" She followed Hideki as he stepped into the bathroom, "Take some responsibility!"
"Well, I promised to go to school on time every day years before we met," Hideki said as he ran his toothbrush under the tap, turning to the pouting Marie, "Besides, Shion has school today, too. Even if we went to her place, she wouldn't be there." As he put the now toothpaste laden toothbrush in his mouth, Hideki gently pushed Marie out the door and shut it. This conversation was over, and all Marie could do in response was growl and stomp her foot.
Hideki didn't dare look back as he rode up the escalator to Aibo Academy. He knew that behind him at that moment was nothing short of the pout to end all pouts. Marie silently rode the escalator behind him, face in a strong glare with her cheeks puffed, arms firmly crossed and hips strongly cocked to one side. Hideki merely chose to ignore it. Hopefully the events of the school day would take his and Marie's mind off of their fight and their situation.
If only he was so lucky.
Upon reaching the top of the escalator, Hideki and Marie were greeted by a clearing of the throat that was as dainty and polite as it was authoritative and clearly intended to capture their attention. It worked. The two of them looked up to see Aibo Academy's High School Principal. A woman with an ageless, distinguished face, dressed in a gaudy, heavy-looking formal kimono decorated with dark colors and gold patterns, her face made-up almost like a geisha and, most notably, her raven-black hair, done up in a very tall Shimada hairstyle that seemed to resemble a woman's hand, fingers delicately clasped together, in contrast to the more wild styles of the lower and middle-school principals. A paper fan with dark lacquered wood sides was held open in front of her lips, concealing their movement.
"Mister Hideki Iwagasaki, I presume?" She said in a soft voice that brimmed with authority. Hideki froze in place, only being moved aside as Marie came up the rest of the escalator and bumped into him, causing both to stagger forward. If Marie protested to this at all, Hideki didn't notice. It was usually bad news when the Principal wanted to talk to you.
The Principal continued: "I have been alerted of your situation by the Buddy Card Office. As you know, Buddy Monsters are always welcome here at Aibo Academy." She walked closer to the two, "Of course, now that the two of you are registered Buddyfighters, I presume the two of you will be joining our Buddyfighting Club here at the academy?"
"Uh, I don't know about that," Hideki said cautiously, putting his hand behind his head, "I'm not really into the game."
"I see," The principal said softly closing her eyes, "Perhaps I should have spoken more frankly." Her eyes flew open, this time more assertive, "I must insist that you join the Buddyfighting Club," While her tone of voice had changed imperceptibly, she suddenly had a lot more force and authority behind it, "As a registered Buddyfighter, you might even say it's your …responsibility."
Hideki groaned a bit at that word. Clearly this was how the Principal got things done, "Uh, yeah, sure," He replied.
"Good," The Principal replied, her expression and tone once again becoming chipper, "I'll expect to see you at the meeting there after class. Have a good day!" And with that, the Principal departed, leaving a rather shaken Hideki behind.
"Oi," Marie said in an irritated fashion. Hideki turned to see that her pout had returned, "Weren't we going to see Shion after school?"
Hideki sighed, "I'll figure something out, all right?" He retorted.
"You'd better," Marie replied. With one last harrumph, she transformed into energy and leapt into the deck case.
The school day was uneventful, with the usual drone of the teachers being drowned out by the occasional distraction caused by Hideki's mind wandering to things that had happened. He sometimes glanced out the window at the familiar grounds of Aibo Academy, and that old-fashioned stadium, packed with state-of-the-art technology simply so the school could have some glorified card games whenever it wanted. Hideki had heard that there had recently been a match there between someone in the sixth grade and a Buddy Police officer. He couldn't remember the names; it was just that unimportant to him.
Finally school was over. After the day that had simply glazed over, Hideki was ready to try to get away from it all. As the final bell rang and Hideki stood up to leave, he was startled as a bolt of energy exploded from his pocket. It had been a while since it had happened, and its proximity nearly gave Hideki a heart attack.
Out from the glimmer, Marie appeared with an excited expression on her face, invading Hideki's personal space, "It's over, right?!" She said with twinkling eyes. If she had a tail, you'd swear she'd be wagging it. "That means we can go see Shion now, right?!"
Hideki was too preoccupied to answer. Rather than gazing into the black hole of adorable pleading that was Marie's expression, Hideki's eyes were racing around the room, and at the faces of all of his stunned classmates. Just as surprised by Marie's appearance, they all were wearing similar stunned expressions, and the occasional muttering between them.
Hideki grabbed Marie by the wrist, hefted his bag over his shoulder and bolted for the door, despite Marie's protests.
Unfortunately, just outside the door, the principal was waiting for them, as graceful as ever.
"I presume you are in such a hurry so that you get to the meeting on time, am I correct?" She said behind her fan. Now even more on the spot, Hideki buckled immediately and nodded. "Good," the principal replied, "The meeting will be in the arena in twenty minutes. I expect you will be there." Finishing her message, The Principal turned and left, the other students around her giving her a wide berth.