Disclaimed.
Finding Mikan
Chapter Eight: Omens of the Foreboding Storm
Alarm bells should have gone off in Hotaru's head the minute Shizune casually revealed that she worked as an Alice diplomat during their drive. Instead, she rather took it in stride, only uttering a neutral "oh" before lapsing into a bout of silence. From Shizune's lack of reaction, Hotaru deducted that she was in the dark about the inventor's particular grudge against government personnel. She herself had a hard time believing it. What were the chances, really, that one of the only two Alices she approved of in Natsume's little ring of friends turned out to be the most troublesome to befriend?
Hotaru's head floated for a moment.
She shifted, sliding an arm under her breasts to prop the other elbow on. Pressing her mouth into her palm, Hotaru peeked at Shizune's face and assessed her situation. The woman had a faint smile on her lips, one that optimists maintained from day to day without really thinking about it. So far, she had taken care not to show any obvious partiality to the inventor, but…
It was fairly obvious Shizune was fond of her.
Just as Hotaru was fond of the other woman.
"Wakamurasaki-no-kimi," mumbled Shizune offhandedly, startling Hotaru. The latter's hand slipped off of her mouth in a lapse of composure at the abrupt mention of the purple flower. Shizune's gray eyes flashed to the rear view mirror, increasing her confusion.
"I am sorry?"
"Wakamurasaki," the woman repeated thoughtfully. "Taken from The Tale of Genji, itis a majestic purple flower, in the sense that even the Japanese aristocrats used to wear robes dyed by the pigment of its roots. One could argue that it outshines the Japanese iris, Kakitsubata, by far."
Hotaru was even more confused by Shizune's cryptic elaboration, but she kept her face strictly neutral. She had seen the Japanese iris before but never this Wakamurasaki flower that her companion seemed so fond of. To be honest, the woman never looked much like a flower person to Hotaru. From the way she was talking about them though, the inventor figured that it must have been her bias towards government personnel kicking in.
"What do you think, Imai-san?"
She was thinking why it took so long to reach Misaki's apartment when there was little traffic and the sky was clear. Hotaru did not particularly dislike car rides but that was not to say that she particularly liked them either and Shizune's car had a musty, deoxidized smell that made her head dizzy.
"I have never seen Wakamurasakis before."
After a small lapse, Shizune spoke, "what a shame. I used to have a nice, healthy plant in my backyard. I couldn't care for it much, I'm afraid. That's the downside to having a job that requires me to leave the country for long periods of time. I gave it to Shouda-san a while ago. Perhaps next time she will bring it around for you to see."
Hotaru wrinkled her nose at the notion of having next time anything with Sumire Shouda. While she did not mind the shrill voice and snide disparaging—so long as it was not directed at her—there was something about the woman that constantly had her on edge.
Meanwhile, Shizune continued along her train of thought that Hotaru stopped trying to unravel a long time ago, "wakamurasaki is the exact same shade as your eyes. I suppose that is why Hana Hime Organization leader Hii-sama gave you that name. She intended for you to be my successor and lead the organization, Wakamurasaki-no-kimi."
Hotaru pursed her lips a little distastefully before demanding, "why is it that every single one of you know me by a different name?" She was beginning to wonder if her old self had some variation of dissociative identity disorder. Heaven forbid that she did not use to be one of those girls who had six billion different nicknames and encouraged people to make them.
Shizune merely answered with a smile. "I suppose it's because you're special to every single one of us for our own personal reasons."
The inventor gritted her teeth. But I am not…
"Take Hayate for example."
Hotaru clearly faltered; she could already feel the grimace that swept over her entire face.
"You may not like him, but he certainly won't shut up about you!" Shizune's voice rose with an undertone of annoyance and Hotaru was surprised, but not displeased, to learn that she was not the only one who had a hard time putting up with the man. "On the other hand, he is loyal, hardworking and free-spirited. Makes us jealous, doesn't he? A man free to come and go as he pleases. Meanwhile, you and I have our hands bound."
"I sincerely hope he did not ask you to put in a good word for him because otherwise I would chastise you for foolishly complying."
The car jerked to a halt at a red light. Shizune turned in the driver's seat, her eyes twinkling and lips quirked up mischievously at the ends. "Why, of course not, Wakamurasaki-no-kimi. Do I really seem like that kind of person to you? No, that would just be absurd… as absurd as buying a microwave sized present for the host of a simple tea party."
"Good, good. I am just making sure, kakitsubata-no-kimi," Hotaru mocked back. Her right hand conspicuously wrapped around the said microwave sized present, rustling its rich purple wrapping paper.
BOOM.
A man glared at the huge purple box in front of him, head drawn back in a half incredulous, half frightened expression.
"What is this thing?"
One arm held in front of him in a protective manner, he stared accusingly at the sixteen-year-old girl who had dumped it on top of his car and was now dusting her hands off. Her long hair swayed in air as she looked up at him expectantly. For a moment, the older man was afraid that his purple-eyed pupil was paying him back for all the years of hardship he had given her. As he inched another step back, she scoffed and did a one-eighty, silky raven hair flipping as she did.
"Hey!" he yelled, striding three steps forward and grabbing her by the back of her collared uniform. "Don't just dump this on me and leave. What do you expect me to do with it?"
"It is for you." She scowled, whirling her head to face him. "Take it."
He blinked twice. "What?"
She started walking once again, straining the uniform and finally dragging him along with her using her superhuman strength. He was never able to understand how she could far surpass him in every aspect of life, even though he used to teach her.
"What are you doing?" Hotaru finally demanded, slapping his hands from her uniform. "I could sue you for assault."
One navy eyebrow flew all the way to his hairline. His face darkened with a maniacal expression and this time it was she who took the step back. He charged at her, reaching two hands out to pinch tightly at her face. "You're getting cocky now, aren't you? Now that I'm no longer your teacher, you think you're the ruler of the world, brat?"
"I merely gave you a present," she snapped back. "Why are you tormenting me for it? If you do not want it, fine. If it is too hard for you to take anything from here for fear that it will haunt you, fine. I completely understand. Just leave it by the gates or something. Do me a favour and stop rubbing it in my face that you are the one departing from this purgatory while I am forced to stay."
The two hands left her cheeks and fell back to his side. The teasing light left his eyes, replaced by a more serious demeanor. "Thank you, Imai-san."
"Stop calling me that. It's 'Miss Imai.'"
"Why?"
She glared at him in disbelief. "What do you mean, 'why'? I do not call you Anderson-sensei."
Ross Anderson smiled at his pupil fondly. "Ah, but I am not Japanese."
"Hotaru-san! Shizune! Hi, hi! Come in!" A small, pink-haired woman poked her head out of a small slit between the door and the doorframe.
Without warning, she flung the door open and skittered behind them. A broad grin lightened up her features as she placed one hand on each guest's shoulder and all but pushed the two women into her home. All before Hotaru could even get a chance to shove the present into her hands.
"My, what's this?" Misaki was swift on her feet, no doubt. Just a moment ago, the inventor was sure that the door had still been open and Misaki was still behind them. "Is that for me?"
"Yes, congratulations on your pregnancy." Hotaru shoved the present into her arms, skedaddling before the faint blush on her cheeks started to show.
Misaki's home fairly simple. Everything ran along one corridor except the dine in kitchen, which was more of an attachment to the living room, where all the Alices congregated. They sat in a circle around a tea table, which made sense because the afternoon light only reached that side of the room. Already, seven people were busy locked in conversations. Beside them, there was a vacant beanie and a double couch, three seats was saved for she, Shizune and Misaki. There was also, to Hotaru's relief, a rather diminutive stack of presents behind Sumire's couch.
Behind her, the two women took their time approaching the living room. Misaki was particularly chirpy.
"I'm so happy you guys made it! Especially you, Hotaru-san! Shizune and I have been trying to get a chance to talk to you since that night at TGIF but Ruka just had to keep you to himself. Then I thought, I have to get her to the party he won't be at." She winked. "But it's beyond me what she was thinking, going there with Hayate of all people! You really can't count on him to do much, you know?"
Hotaru winced and reassessed her rationality in trusting Hayate with one of the most important tasks of all time. "Does he ever do anything properly?" Please say yes…
This time Misaki's face contained mild curiosity as she tilted her head to the side and replied, "I don't know. I've never really asked him to do anything for me. It all depends on your viewpoint. Hayate's hopeless with day to day errands; he gets distracted way too easily. It's a running gag that he's been dropped as a baby. Rui swears up and down that he's once been diagnosed with ADD, which, now that I think about it, actually makes a lot of sense."
Even Shizune nodded and shook her head at all the right places. Both women seemed quite fond of him despite the inconvenience he brought them. As if to provide testimony, the gray hair woman added, "Wakamurasaki-no-kimi, he did save you once in the Rebellion. When you were sought after by the Fuukitai, he risked his life to bring you to the Hana Hime Den. If nothing else, you have commend him for the courage."
It was strange, hearing Hayate and courage in the same sentence, in a positive way no less.
"He would not be so annoying," she worded carefully, knowing that if any variation of this made it back to his ears, there would have hell to face, "if he was not so persistent."
"Ah," both women said simultaneously.
"I've had my share of persistent suitors," Shizune continued, "being lead flower sister of the Hana Hime Organization and one of the representatives of the High School Division. Well, those days are pretty much done and over with. Though there's always that one odd man who likes to stay for the chase on the off chance that I'll actually put him above my fellow sisters." She rolled her eyes in good nature.
"Tono?"
"Oh, no. Akira-kun and I are… different."
"C'mon," Misaki nudged Shizune with her elbow playfully, while Hotaru was still lost somewhere back at Hayate's ADD and simply stared blankly at them both. "You guys are always at it. I think Koko's starting to run a betting pool on how long it'll be before you two hook up."
"My husband is not doing anything!" a rather intrusive voice interjected. Sumire shot up, immediately showing her disdain for the idea by crossing her arms and scowling. "As it is, he's already way too deep in gambling and all that nonsense. I'm all for using Alices to our advantage but really, it's getting out of hand. I blame Kitsuneme, always lugging him off to shady places with nasty cigarette smoke and jailbait exhibiting their bodies in slutty bunny costumes." Her rant was concluded with a disgruntled wrinkle of the nose as she sat.
"Well," after a pause, Misaki turned to Shizune and Hotaru with a bright smile, "shall we sit?"
To Hotaru's surprise, the pink haired woman took the beanie, leaving the double couch to Hotaru and Shizune. She had been contemplating the seating arrangements before this, sure that the host wanted to sit on the couch amid all the other guests. She did not want to sit on the beanie, but at the same time it would have been rude to leave such a lowly spot to Shizune. The dilemma took up most of her mind while the two women had been arguing. The generous gesture on Misaki's part gained her a few positive points in the inventor's eyes.
"Tell me about America," Shizune requested as they seated and Hotaru groaned inwardly because she had always known that the dreaded question was going to surface sometime or another. Though it surprised her that Shizune of all people was the one to ask it, being a travelling diplomat and all.
"You have never been there?"
The gray haired woman busied herself with pouring jasmine green tea, absentmindedly replying, "I've been to Australia and England, but not yet America. I've heard that it's grand."
"I suppose so."
"Have you seen all the big cities? Are they like Tokyo?" She finished and was now pouring an extra cup which Hotaru presumed was for her. It was a pity that she never acquired a taste for tea. She had long converted to coffee, since there was always that one unofficial errand runner—sometimes two—who loved to drop by at Starbucks before every business meeting.
"Only New York and Boston, and yes, they are quite like Tokyo." In some ways, she added to herself. The lights, the air of importance and busyness was exactly the same. The feeling was completely different, seeing as each of the cities represented a period in Hotaru's lifetime. Some were great and others not so good.
Shizune handed her the cup of tea, her gray eyes softening with concern. "Do you miss it there?"
Hotaru stared into the warm, green liquid and a white petal of jasmine suspended in it. The question lingered somewhere in her earlobe, making her head spin. She had to reiterate it three times in her head before finally coming at an answer, although Shizune did not seem to mind the silence and was busy sipping tea herself. "I miss Boston," she finally admitted. They left it at that.
"Well," her companion finally responded, now also staring thoughtfully into her tea. One dainty hand supported the bottom of the china teacup while the other hooked around the handle. "I have to say that I really miss the Hana Hime Organization and Hii-sama."
Hotaru almost jumped at the chance of changing the subject. "The Hana Hime Organization… Tonouchi-san called it a cult."
A soft snort escaped Shizune's lips before she closed her eyes and shook her head at the image of Akira. "Why, the Hana Hime Organization is nothing more than a society established by Hii-sama for young girls, virtuous celebrates of all sort, which is why sinful barbarians like Akira-kun are so roused up at the idea of it. It completely opposes his playboy nature. I'm pretty sure—no, I'm certain he just bears a grudge against me for reinstating it after the original was destroyed in the Rebellion."
Hotaru quirked a brow. Shizune's description made the Hana Hime Organization sound like one of those private clubs that the trophy wives of prestigious men established. Ross's wife, Michelle Anderson expressed interest in starting her personal club once. It all sounded rather pointless to Hotaru. "Is there any particular purpose for the Hana Hime Organization?"
"Oh yes. We swear loyalty to Hii-sama, who was the barrier keeper of Alice Academy. Initially, each flower sister is to act as Hii-sama's bodyguard. We all swear on our lives to protect her no matter what. It's more of a tribute group now, although we do have some girls assisting her nephew Shiki, the new Middle School Principle."
The inventor's features lit up immediately. Bingo. Jackpot. This was what she had been going for all along. If only Shizune had came to see her early enough that she did not have to resort to trusting Hayate with that letter. In this ubiquitous group, there were bound to be other Alices who periodically infiltrated the academy and passed back precious information. What bad luck that she decided to settle with the incompetent Hayate. Well, no use crying over spilled milk now.
"How often do they report back from there?"
"Oh, they don't." Having set her teacup back on the table, Shizune tapped a fist down on her palm. "They're intelligencers. The Hana Hime Organization has a different reputation in the walls than they do outside. To the new generation, they're known as a terrorist organization. Anyone caught is severely punished and placed in the Dangerous Abilities Class." Her eyelids lowered sadly. "These girls put a lot on the line to serve us. We can't trouble them further with relaying the information, especially since they have trackers attached to their uniforms."
Hotaru's shrewd eyes flickered up, fixing themselves on Misaki's mundane windowpanes but seeing something else completely. A burly man, with the maroon Irving Academy faculty uniform stared at her contemptuously as he spoke with the pony-tailed agent who had the misfortune of bringing Hotaru to America. He scrutinized her up and down until his eyes found her Alice Academy metal.
"What is that?"
"This?" she asked, looking down. "It is a tracker Alice Academy puts on each of the students to keep them safe."
A heinous sneer came over his face. She barely got a warning before he tore it from her uniform, ripping a piece of the cloth along with it. In his fingers, the medal slowly crumbled into sand and fell into a pile of dust on the floor. "Trackers? What nonsense. If you want to escape from these walls, then go ahead. Don't expect us to lend you our protection for a second time."
"…trained to be prepared for sporadic visits," Shizune finished somewhere in the background.
Hotaru blinked. "I am sorry? I missed that."
The gray haired woman lifted her eyes to stare into Hotaru's dilated pupils and she seemed to understand that the inventor was not with them, had not been with them for a long time. Closing her eyes, she sighed, "I was just saying that the students are not the messengers. We have a few people stationed inside Alice Academy that sometimes leave for external affairs. That's when one of our agents exchanges information with them briefly."
"And I suppose those agents are not to be disclosed?"
Shizune smiled apologetically.
"Well then, I am going to take a wild guess and say that Matsudaira is not one of these said agents?" She was almost sure of it. From what she gathered from Shizune and Misaki, they would never let Hayate handle these important affairs. Most likely he would take her letter and entrust it to someone else, some trustworthy like— "Is Sakurano-san?"
Midway from bringing the teacup to her lips, Shizune paused, lifted her head and smiled at nothing in particular. Then she resumed as if nothing had happened. Hotaru took this to be the woman's strange affirmation. "How did you know about Shuuichi?" queried Shizune quietly.
"I do not. It was an instinctive guess. He seems to be a mysterious person and his name has popped up in strange places. Other than that, it seems that he is the only connection between Hyuuga and my brother."
"Aren't you—"
"I have no connection to Hyuuga," she stated firmly. "Otherwise, have you ever heard from Sakurano-san about my nephew, Hikaru?"
"Shuuichi is not as flexible as he used to be now that he's taken over the Special Abilities Class on behalf of Noda, but—" Hotaru's heart leaped, as did the seven others in the room, when Shizune's cell phone suddenly rang in a volume ten times louder than what it should be.
"Turn that down, Yamanouchi," chided Sumire, "before you deafen all of us."
Shizune nodded absentmindedly as she answered. The other party had something both disturbing and lengthy to say. As Hotaru awaited the end of the phone call rather impatiently, she saw Shizune's face morphing from a smile to a grim smile to a line. Little by little, the inventor's hopes diminished as she realized what was going to come next. In truth, she could not blame Shizune for putting her job first, but still. She had been so close.
Hikaru, who had inherited her brother's Alice, would either be in the Special Abilities Class or the Latent Abilities Class. Hotaru was unsure and made a mental note to consult Subaru about that later. She was sure that either way, her brother's best friend would be looking out for the boy.
"I have to go," Shizune sighed, snapping her phone shut. Despite the air of urgency she let on, she settled her affairs fairly slowly, taking time to finish her tea, set the teacup down and even more time actually getting up and fetching her cloak.
"Why? What happened?" It was Misaki, scurrying to hold Shizune's cloak out for her so the latter could slip her arms through with minimal effort.
Although intrinsically reposed, Shizune's tone was full of contained annoyance, "well, it just so turns out that my new coworker from ARC is an idiot. Just a classic case of how an Alice doesn't always come with the brains to match. Since they sent him off half baked last month, he's managed to blow into smithereens the Japan-Italy immigration policy that Kousuke and I spent sevenyears putting into place. I'm due for a flight in twenty four hours. I've got to sort out a few things before I leave."
From the far corner of the room, Sumire tsked and offered many biased words of comfort that Hotaru quite happily censored out of her brain.
"Congratulations darling." The diplomat kissed Misaki on the cheek and joked, "I might not be back for a while but if it gets born without me, I'll be sure to send some baby supplies from Italy."
"Shizune!" But by that time, she was already out the door. The pregnant woman was shaking her head as she muttered, "safe trip," despite the absence of a recipient.
Things settled back to normal in a short period of time. Only, the inventor started feeling out of place without a partner to converse with. She glanced at the other women in the room. They had no trouble occupying themselves. Anna and Nonoko were engaged in frivolous chatter, characterized by the girlish hand waves and the teasing wiggling of fingers. Misaki looked like she was juggling conversations with three other women expertly, one in the midst of patting her belly; Hotaru wondered how in the world could she not feel awkward in that situation.
Meanwhile, Sumire was in her own separate category. The rambunctious and unpleasant woman's mouth moved faster than all the ladies' put together. She had been talking nonstop ever since Hotaru first entered the room—and well before that, the inventor would guess. Even when the conversation did not involve her, she still found it necessary to intervene with her two cents.
Feeling as if she was about to set off a ticking bomb, Hotaru cautiously edged in the subject of Alice Academy.
At the utterance of the word Sumire's head sharply snapped her way. Her face was grim in a critical frown that easily expressed her dislike for the subject. She started ranting anyways, "Alice Academy… Why, I haven't been there ever since last summer festival when my company appointed me to get some of those kooky Pheromone Alices from the Somatic Branch." She wrinkled her nose in disgust while gesticulating her dismay to add to the drama. "I almost died, entering those gates. The kids these days are so scrawny! Aren't they Mina?" The woman on Sumire's other side nodded fervently and slightly apprehensively. "Wakako told me something absolutely horrific the other day: the government did a major cut on the academy's funding and all the students are living like midevil peasants. She also said that they become more uncouth every generation, vandalizing, wrecking havoc, skipping classes daily. I tell her, 'Wakako, don't be daft. We used to skip classes daily.' Sometimes, you'd think that women criticize anything." Hotaru bit back a smile at the irony while the drama queen continued with a huff and an irritated eye-roll. "Anyways, they're not getting nearly enough food. With the way the kids looked, you'd think all of them were one stars or something…"
Hotaru was momentarily puzzled by the mention of a star system, but she figured that it was just some kind of hierarchy Alice Academy developed, like most of the pointless things they had. In Irving Academy, there were no hierarchical systems. The entire institution ran on respect and reputation. As long as one was favoured by teachers and had fairly admirable accomplishments, word would spread and that person would immediately be esteemed and defended if necessary.
Which was not to say that there had not been cases where people acted upon jealousy or tried to usurp others of their ranks. Hotaru absentmindedly placed a hand on her cheek as she remembered the stinging slap from a curly haired classmate.
"—and honestly, even with Shiki and Kazu overlooking the students you have to wonder what's really going on inside the school. It's too large a plot of land to keep track of everything at once. And that new elementary principle, Okawa, seems all kinds of fishy, don't you think, Misaki? Not that I have a lot of complaints. At least they didn't appoint Koizumi Luna." Hotaru stirred, remembering that name from somewhere but not quite placing where exactly. "Oh, Luna! I tell you, I was going to throw a total fit when I heard they were even considering letting her take over the post. Honestly, Mina, I was going to march right up to those walls and give them a piece of my mind. I helped shape the academy. They're not just going to go do what they want after what Class 2B did for them. But they didn't and thank god for that; finally, someone sees reason. If she was appointed I could just see another Rebellion in five years.
"And speaking of the Rebellion, Youichi just graduated, didn't he? He was what, three when it happened? Well he was always latching onto Natsume, I remember, like an adorable puppy. But now he's more like a Great Dane, isn't he? Oh, he's such a handsome lad!" she exploded and Hotaru felt a little bad for Mina there, being the recipient of Sumire's flustered fangirl batters. "Kunagi-san and Hiwa-san better keep their daughters latched up! Well, it's more like Kunagi-san's daughter still has another year but Hiwa-san's daughter graduated with him, I believe. Although I'm not sure whether they know him very well personally, seeing as he's in the Dangerous Abilities Class and they're like taboo, if you know what I mean."
Hotaru was able to concentrate on Sumire's tangent just enough to catch the important details. "Dangerous types?" she inquired, feeling as if she had heard the term once, a long time ago, and that it had been something of considerable importance.
Out of them all, the woman called Mina blinked most incredulously at her. She turned to Sumire with a genuinely puzzled face while gesturing towards Hotaru with her teacup. "She doesn't know?"
"Well," the garrulous woman sucked in her thin cheeks, speaking as if she had known Hotaru for many, many years, "no, Mina. It's not that she doesn't know. Imai-san's just undergone a few complications in her teenage years—you know, all those western shenanigans and whatnot. Don't just assume that Imai-san's ignorant or anything, heaven forbid!" Yet she sent Hotaru a countenance of unadulterated pity.
The inventor probably should have felt insulted but she was too nonplussed over whether Sumire actually had a purpose for wriggling her neck in such a worm-like way as she spoke.
"So, dangerous types!" The voice piped up once more and the hands flew up once more, which could only mean one thing when it came to the inherent chatterbox. "Let me see, what's the best way to explain to you what the dangerous types are? I can't even tell where to begin, can you Misaki? Oh, that's right! Tsubasa used to be a dangerous type too! Come to think of it, so did Hayate, didn't he? Like, lots of people we know but they never really talk about it at the same time—not that I blame them but sometimes I feel like it's a little unfair to keep the rest of us in the dark, you know? I just realized how much I don't know about them. Do you ever have those moments, Mina, where you just suddenly realize that there were things around you your whole life you don't know a smidgen about. Well it's like that. Every time I think about how much I don't know about Natsume, I get a little bit sad. You know how he used to be in the Dangerous Abilities Class, back when they were sent on high-risk missions? I'm pretty sure Shiki doesn't do that anymore. Don't know. Have to check with Akira sometime. Where has Akira been these days anyways?"
Hotaru narrowed one eye suspiciously, inferring, "Tonouchi Akira stays in contact with the Academy?"
To which Sumire only rolled her eyes in an "obviously" fashion. "Like so many of us do: Tono, Makihara, sometimes Hayami…"
"Have any of them heard from my nephew, Hikaru?" spouted the inventor. She immediately coughed lightly in an attempt to veil her zeal with nonchalance. It barely held, for one of Misaki's eyebrows immediately shot up and Sumire paused, mouth agape for an entire second before continuing her outpour of prized information.
"Hikaru-kun?" she gushed, fanning herself. "Imai Hikaru-kun? Mina, you remember him right, Subaru's son? Naomi used to bring him around all the time. He was such a cute little thing! Reminded me so much of Youichi when he was younger! Did you see his eyes and his hair? Gorgeous. Exactly like his father, I tell you. Right, he's enrolled in Alice Academy now. I knew it! I just knew that kid was going to turn out a fantastic Alice!"
"Imai-kun?" Anna, who only recently got wind of the conversation, piped up. "Isn't it almost his mother's birthday? Today's the seventh, right? I think her birthday was June twenty first?"
"Naomi Imai!" Sumire decried consequently, wrinkling her nose. "Beautiful, beautiful woman. There's just one problem. She's a bit of a wack job, went completely ballistic when she found out about Hikaru and Subaru's Alices. I remember just as if it were yesterday how she freaked when Alice Academy came for her son, as if being an Alice is a crime or something equally demoralizing to society. Honestly, it's not even a bad thing! She should be proud of the kid! He's destined for greatness! So she went a little virulent, bombastically claiming that we're at fault for making her son into something unusual. You should have seen the way she treated the kid! As if he were some kind of animal she had to hold by the reins!" She snorted, "like it's anything new by that point. You know, I always knew that woman would turn out to be presumptuous. Did you know that she went and signed that blasphemous petition that's been circulating everywhere?"
"Was that what you emailed me about?" Misaki interjected suddenly, eyebrows knitting together in concern.
"Darling, don't look so daunted. Here, have a biscuit." It was a deemphasized statement if there ever was one, with the way Sumire almost rammed the biscuit down Misaki's throat. "The petition's been around for years now, according to Hayami. His parents signed it like years ago or something, not that it matters since most of the people on that list are six feet under by now. You know they used to assassinate the instigators of that thing? I say they still should. I mean, just look at the target demographics: pregnant women, people with relatives in the academy, people who had a bad experience with the academy, people who hate the academy in general. Like, anti-Alices essentially." She flicked a finger for every single point, and then flapped her hands as she ran out of fingers. "I know it's been defective last time around but be extra careful. If any of them approach you, report it to ARC immediately. They'll take care of it no problem!"
"What is the petition about?" asked Hotaru.
Sumire gave her a strange look. "You know, insignificant stuff, like stopping the—" she finger quoted "— segregation of Alices, special schools, services, all that and putting them in—ugh—normal schools. Can you imagine an Alice in a normal school Mina? I know! Me neither! They embellish all this baloney about the unfairness of Alices and how Alices shouldn't believe they're better than normal people, et cetera, et cetera just to take advantage of your paranoia. I say this is all clearly just the result of another jacked up non-Alice and some over-hype. Obviously if Alices are national treasures the government won't even consider it. Who cares if they have fifty thousand names gathered or whatever? It's not going to make a difference in the long run," she finished, looking smugly at her cuticles.
Hotaru fixed an unblinking stare at Sumire as she ran her tongue along her sharp molars. She waited patiently for the woman to finish—for it would be quite useless to interrupt her midway—and then countered quietly but sternly, "and you do not agree with this at all. You do not think we were at risk during our time inside the academy at all."
"Well that was minimal risk. It was just by some unlucky jurisdiction of god that Kuonji happened to be evil and obsessive over the Stealing Alice. Most academies aren't like that. I mean, if you weren't in the academy you'd constantly be worried about being captured by Z or other anti-Alice organizations and sold as like a slave to like India or something. It's not safe for children with Alices to be out in the open. Trust me. Having once been held captive by Mouri Reo, I can testify for that myself."
But Hotaru knew that there were flaws—huge, gaping flaws in the woman's creed. Though opinionated and solid as it sounded, Sumire's recent revelations only provided more proof of her ignorance to the world and the system in general. The inventor averted her eyes to two hands that were shaking subtly but uncontrollably. Even she gulped at the grotesque notion that perhaps there were worse schools than Alice Academy and Irving Academy out in the world. Sumire did not know that behind four simple walls walls, there was little the students could do to control their way of life—that they were not even aware of another living standard because they had been kept from society for so long. Compared to Hotaru, Sumire had a relatively blessed life. She was happily settled, unbound, and free to reminisce to her heart's content. These were gifts that the inventor had been bereft of by the very same institutions the ignorant woman praised.
But a bigot was a bigot and would always be one. There was nothing Hotaru could say that would make Sumire see things from a different perspective, so she settled for a cynical frown as a clear indicator of exactly where she stood on this subject.
"Well," Misaki dispersed the tension with an unexpected smile, "we've all had our situations with the academy, haven't we? Though I have to agree that in the end it's the safest place I can entrust my child to." She looked fondly down at her belly. "Tsubasa and I have been talking about it for a while, weighing the pros and cons and such. Neither of us want to homeschool our kid and I seriously fret about it—him, her—attending a public school. It's a little bit open for my liking. Alice Academy really is the best option after all," she sighed, "unless someone else can come up with a better alternative in the next four or five years…"
Sumire looked smug.
Hotaru frowned deeper, leaning forward in her couch to stare Misaki straight in the eye. While her face was passive, her voice was absolutely stony and abound with censure, "so you do not feel any sadness that your child would not be seeing you until he or she turns eighteen. You think this is the right path."
"Hotaru-chan!" protested Nonoko, "you can't say it like that! Of course Misaki-san cares for her child!"
Hotaru gave her a cold, hard look before intensely expelling all air from her lungs. Leaning back, she set an elbow on the armrest and her chin on the back of her hand. It was a position that angled Hotaru's head down, which made it convenient for her because she was nearly suffocated by this tea party. "I am just saying that there is no middle ground when it comes to academies. You either obey the officials or you disobey them. If you do not set a solid resolve from the very beginning, there is no room for regret afterwards." Softly, she warned, "you will not get a second chance, Harada-san."
With pensive, half-lidded eyes, Misaki also averted her gaze down to the hexagonal tiles. She smiled again, a much sadder smile, before closing her eyes, probably to imagine the kind of future she wanted with her kid but would never have. Hotaru did not know. She could not be sure. She was not a people person and she never intended to play on anyone's emotions. The only thing she wanted, the only thing she could do was prevent people from ending up exactly like her.
Just because she could bear such heavy unhappiness and regret in her heart did not mean that others were as strong.
Another one of my favourites. How many of you were surprised to find out that Ross Anderson was Hotaru Imai's former teacher?
Please fave, alert, review!
-IndigoGrapefruit
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