Chapter 2: The Animal Sidekick

It didn't take me too long to arrive back at the campus. I worried that people would question why I was carrying a pink bear with an afro, but thankfully no one noticed me. To make things worse, Tibby kept trying to talk to me as I walked through Primrose Hall, so to shut him up, I put my hand on his mouth for a second. He glared at me, but when I let go and gestured him to be quiet, Tibby agreed by saying nothing.

Even as I headed to my dorm, none of the girls who were chatting in the hall noticed me. Some of them would say hi and I would greet them back, but that was it. Maybe they were just too occupied with themselves to care about me. I couldn't blame them; I had my own things to worry about, and that's looking after this strange bear who literally came from the sky.

A gush of relief flew into me as I found my door. Mai must have come before me because it was unlocked. I went inside and immediately closed the door. Mai was reading a magazine while laying down on her bunk. She was probably exhausted from taking that test and training for volleyball. Funny. Did she forget about the project we were gonna do? She saw me come in and smiled,

"Hey Hana! What's up?"

"Hi Mai. I was just relaxing outside," I tried to explain casually without mentioning Tibby. At least she didn't notice yet. "It was a little boring without you, but I'm glad you're back now."

Mai smiled in agreement, "Yeah I know! Sorry I kept you waiting."

"No it's fine!" I laughed. "But shouldn't we be working on that assignment right now?"

"Wait what assignment?"

"You know," I groaned, hiding Tibby behind my back. "That japanese history project that's due next week? You said we should work on it when you get back."

Mai sat up from her bunk and climbed down, "Oh yeah, I kinda forgot. We should get started!" She went to the desk and took out a few papers from one of the drawers.

"Honestly, I still don't know what kind of diagram we should use for the social classes. I was thinking of drawing a pyramid, but that seems too typical. The whole point of this thing is to be "creative", but I got nothing. What do you think we should do?"

Before I could think of something, Tibby suddenly sprang out of my arms and leaped on the floor. He proudly cried out, "How about we find a way to get me home?"

Mai looked down. She looked surprised, but not as shocked as I was. How was I supposed to explain this to her?

"Tibby! I thought I told you stay still!" I cried out.

Tibby nervously gestured an "oops", as if his mistake was no big deal. He didn't even realize that his suggestion had no relevancy to Mai's question at all. On the other hand, her excitement was building up and she started to squeal.

"OH MY GOD! IT'S SO CUTE!"

She jumped out of her set and quickly picked up Tibby, cuddling him from right to left. Tibby's eyes widened and his cheeks puffed up as she held him. It looked like she was choking him. All of her volley ball training must have overwhelmed Tibby's small little neck.

"Where did you get this Hana?! IT'S THE MOST CUTEST THING I EVER SAW!" Mai squealed, still hugging him.

"Uh…do you mind putting him down? He's choking." I didn't want to give him a rough start already.

Mai then looked at Tibby's exasperated face. "Oh, sorry!" She put him down gently on her side of the bed. Tibby gave her his usual pouty glare.

"Well that's a way for you to introduce yourself!" he grunted and crossed his arms with his usual pouty face.

I walked towards him and clasped my hands, hoping he was ok. "Sorry, she gets excited really easily. Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine." Tibby touched his neck gently and muttered, "That was a tight grip!"

Mai realized what was going on to him and said in a more calm voice, "Heh heh. Sorry about that little guy. I've been doing some training earlier."

"No kidding." I added.

Tibby looked up at her and pointed, "You could have laid it easy on me! I nearly choked to death!"

"I said I was sorry! Geez," Mai groaned. Looks like she has less tolerance to his snarky comments than I did.

Then she spun to me and grabbed onto my shoulders, leaning me tight. "Hana. You HAVE to tell me what this thing is and where it came from."

I chuckled nervously, "Um, ok. It's a long story though so bear with me."

Tibby sat on the desk and pulled my skirt, "Can I tell the story too? I was in it!"

I smiled at him, "Sure you can help me out."

So I told Mai about how I found Tibby falling from the sky and landing in the middle of a small forest. When I tried to explain where he came from, Tibby kept interrupting and talked about his favorite hobbies to do at Heaven World, such as listening to music with his friends. Mai listened intently, as if she was observing one of our favorite tv shows to find a deep analysis to a scene. Or maybe that's what she would have done during class instead of looking bored all the time. I told her that Tibby's way of getting home is to climb somewhere high, but since we couldn't find anything, we had to go back and wait for a miracle like that to happen. Tibby insisted it's possible, but I told him "not now". I didn't want to sound pessimistic to him, but he probably thought I was on the edge on giving up.

Once I finished, Mai stayed quiet for a few seconds. Then she squealed again, "OH MY GOD, I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN! All "main characters" get an adorable animal sidekick and go off to save the world! And he's got pink hair like you!"

"Oh c'mon Mai! I thought we agreed to not bring this up!" I yelled annoyed. I was always teased for my unusual pink hair and Mai kept calling me a "main character" because of it. Why did she had to mention it again?

"Yeah, but I'm just saying! With that matching color scheme, I bet you two are gonna be great together!"

Tibby laughed. There was nothing surprising about a small talking bear having pink hair. Then again, in Sailor Sun, the main character Selena had a talking black cat as her companion. He was definitely the same thing. Maybe Mai thinks we might have something in common? No, I doubt it. Our pink hair is the only similarity we have. We were totally different, personality wise.

"If Hana's gonna take me home, we're gonna be best friends!" Tibby cheered.

Mai stared at Tibby with puppy dog eyes, "Am I your best friend too?"

Tibby mischievously stared at her, "Are YOU Hana's best friend?"

"OF COURSE!" Mai exclaimed, "We always do a lot of stuff together!"

"Then it's settled! You're my best friend too Ma…what's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Mai. You're Tibby right?"

"Yup! We're gonna be the bestest friends ever!"

While Mai and Tibby were busy celebrating, I chuckled along and whispered, "Yeah…bestest friends…" As I trailed off, I began to worry. If we don't find a way to get Tibby home, he's going to have to stay with us. What are we gonna do then? How can we keep him occupied while we're at class? We can't just lock him in our room or he'll get bored. What if he snoops around the hallways and someone catches him? What would the Normal Boots Club think of this if they saw it, what if-

"Hey Hana, you look zoned out." Mai said, finally focusing on me.

"Oh sorry! It's just…I was just wondering what we're gonna do with Tibby now that he's here." I piped, "He's got nowhere to go and nothing to do. So I…"

Tibby smiled and said, "Oh oh! I got an idea! You can show me around the school! There must be something fun to do there!"

I looked at him, "You said school stinks."

"Of course it does! There's strict teachers and lots of homework! But I don't see that here! means there's gotta be something fun to do around here too!"

Mai laughed faintly and said, "Uh Tibby, just because we don't have any teachers and homework in our room doesn't mean that the entire school is a fun place." Then she smiled, "Then again, Asagao Academy is one of the top schools around here, so it is definitely great!"

Tibby ecstatically hopped up and down, "Oh my flow, you gotta show me! You gotta show me!"

Mai looked at me and said, "Alright Hana, what do you say?"

Show Tibby around the campus? Was that a good idea? It was fine when Jirard gave me a tour when I first got here cause we were both human. How can I do that with a talking bear? That would be totally weird! Through my worries, I suddenly I had an idea.

"Um, maybe we can pretend he's a stuffed toy and we can carry him around. Do you think no one would notice him that way?"

Mai looked intrigued, "Yeah! That's a great idea! I knew you're with us!"

Tibby hopped off the desk and shouted, "Alright! Let's we go amigos!"

I shushed him, "Ssshhhh, not too loud!" Someone outside our dorm could hear.

Tibby muttered sorry, but Mai picked him up and stood up saying, "So, do you guys wanna go now?"

"What?!" I said with shock, "But I just got here…"

"Eh, don't worry about it." Mai winked at me, "That project's due next week so we have enough time to spare. We can always do that when we get back! Besides, it doesn't hurt to walk around a bit. Here, you hold him."

She handed Tibby to me. I realized how soft and fuzzy Tibby's fur felt, if you could call it fur. His afro still got in the way and it was a lot more stiffer. But it felt like felt so it was alright.

Mai opened the door and said to Tibby, "So, where to first?"

Tibby thought for a moment and replied, "Is there a restaurant around here? I'm getting hungry…"

"Hungry? Then cafeteria it is!" Mai said boldly, as if she was the captain of some expedition team, even though she had no experience in offering campus tours. Still, it was just us so there was no need to be professional. As we headed out in the Primrose Hall and Mai explained to Tibby how there were two separate halls for the boys and the girls, thoughts cluttered in my mind. Should we tell the Normal Boots Club about this? There was PBG, whom I trusted the most throughout the school year. Ever since we won the Tournament against Hidden Block, we started dating. He told me that if there was anything wrong, I should tell him right away and he'll be there to help me. After all, he did so when I thought I was being threatened by some "secret admirer". Damn it Luke…

But Tibby was something far more unusual, and if anything, harmless. He would make friends with anyone in a minute for his cute looks and friendly personality. But no one saw a talking pink bear before. Maybe it was best to keep him a secret from everyone else. He won't do any harm so there's no point to tell everyone who he is and why he's here. I just hope we can give him a good time.

To Be Continued

(Author's note: Alright, I knew exactly how this chapter was going to build up with Mai realizing who Tibby is and calling him the "cute animal sidekick" for the "main character". But to be honest, the rest of the chapter was improvised as I wrote on. At least it makes sense to me so far. Where will the three go next and who else will find out about their secret? Stay tuned for the next chapter next week ;))