Kiria held her lunch tray and looked around, unsure of where to sit. Everyone seemed to have his or her own place to be, and she, once again, felt like the odd one out.
She decided to sit anywhere that was available. Well, that's what she planned, until she noticed a certain blue-haired Asuiri staring her down with pleading eyes. Kiria smiled to herself and made her way towards him, sitting across from his happy face. Sitting next to him was the girl from before, Shizara, maybe?
"Hi Kiria!" Asuiri greeted warmly.
"Hello Asuiri," Kiria tried, but failed to sound genuinely happy right then. Kiria looked at the girl and nodded. "I don't believe I ever g-got your name. I'm Kiria, b-but I think you knew that."
"Shizira. Shizira Sanunmon. And yes," the girl told her in a monotoned voice. Kiria could feel something off with this girl, something not quite right...
"What are you looking at?" Shizira snapped as Kiria realized she was staring.
"Your earrings...," Kiria slightly blurted. Earrings? She was wearing earrings?
"You mean Shi's pretty, shiny, bangled ones?" Asuiri provided. Shizira turned a shade of light pink.
"They look... familiar...," Kiria drawled, studying them closely. How did you notice them before I did...?
The earrings were big, and only slightly flashly. Shizira hid them behind her hair in such a way that it was hard to notice anything was even there. They had a strange aura, but that may have been because of him.
No. Stop it. You can't be rid of him, but you can pretend he doesn't exist. He'll listen to you, it's his job to listen to you. He can't-
"KIRIA!" the ceruleanette yelled for the umpteenth time, sounding annoyed, which seemed unusual for him. Kiria finally took notice and snapped out of it, leaning back and tipping her chair in fright, ending up on the floor with a crash.
Everyone in the lunchroom turned to look at her. Greaty great. Ha ha, the center of attention again, and not for good reason. At least no one was bleeding or dying...
"Kiria! Oh, I'm sorry," Asuiri apologized, now on the table and looking down at her. "That was so not ice of me."
Ice? Did he mean to say nice, or is he implying something else...?
Asuiri got off the table and reached out a hand to a rather disoriented Kiria. Kiria took it gently, and Asuiri pulled her on to her feet. She looked up at him, eyes wide. He hadn't noticed before, but Kiria had really pretty purple eyes. Really dark purple.
"You are a lot taller than I thought you were...," Kiria mumbled. She picked her chair back up and noticed almost everyone had gone back to eating, with the exception of a few people.
"I'm so sorry about that again, Kiria." Asuiri once again told her, looking genuinely sad that he'd made her fall.
"Eh, it's okay, Asuiri,"Kiria replied. Dear Ra please don't be super apologetic.
Shizira blinked. What in the name of God did she just witness? Asuiri looked at Kiria and scribbled down a note in messy, childlike scribbles and handed it to her, but Kiria was spacing out again. Asuiri just huffed and poked her, and she seemed to snap out of it, looking at them both again.
"S-Sorry," Kiria apologized, and looked down at the pink notecard before her. She looked over at it, and it read, DO YOU WANT TO HANG OUT WITH ME AND SHI AFTER SCHOOL?
Kiria smiled, noticing all the little doodles on it as well. "Uh, I g-guess so. I don't have anything to do."
"Yay!" Asuiri fistpumped the air. "You're so ice, Kiria!"
"Ice?" Kiria inquired. "Does that have to do with the penguin on the card?"
Shizira groaned and threw a hand on the bridge of her nose, mouthing something along the lines of "Don't get him started," as Asuiri's eyes lit up.
"Oh my God I looove penguins! They're so cute and waddly and and ice and just aww!" Asuiri squealed. "What's your favorite animal, Kiria?"
Kiria thought about it for a second. "Well, I guess foxes are cool. Some rodents are pretty cute, too, but rats and mice are just...ew..."
His face paled. "Mice," he whispered. "Mice?" Shizira sighed.
"He doesn't like them either," she explained, blowing at her black bangs. "He'll panic if you just show a picture to him. He screams like a girl, though." Shizira smiled innocently, as if joking.
And with that, the bell rang.
—
Shizira sat in class,doodling a small penguin. Dammit Asuiri, they really are cute.
"Hey, brat," an internal voice spat.
Shizira quieted a sigh. "What do you need, Izira?" She muttered under her breath.
"The new brat."
"Kiria? What about her?"
"There is something strange about her, something big, threatening, and dangerous."
Big, threatening, and dangerous were not words that described Kiria Tomat. She was as big, threatening, and dangerous as a butterfly.
"I highly doubt it... but then again, you aren't wrong a lot of the time. What is it, exactly?"
"Your guess is as good as mine." Shizira turned around and watched the green-and-goldette. She studied her for a short while and noticed how Kiria did everything in a very hesitant manner. Picking up a pencil, writing, even sitting in this classroom with her, she seemed very reluctant to do anything.
"Shi, you're staring," Asuiri pointed out.
"Hm?" Shizira inquired, looking over at him.
"You were staring at Kiria, which is something you usually don't do."
"It's kind of hard not to with the hair."
"Is that why you were staring at me the other day?"
Shizira flushed, and said cryptically, "...No."
"You are honestly the worst liar."
The bell rang and Kiria, not surprisingly, was the first one out of there. She bolted down the stairs, and to the front of the school. She would've continued running had she not remembered Asuiri had asked her to hang out.
She sighed and stopped, waiting for - she assumed - both Shizira and Asuiri.
"Hey, Kiria," she heard behind her. She turned around and was greeted with fluffy white hair and brown eyes.
"Hello, Ryou," Kiria returned. "Are... are you feeling any better?"
Ryou flushed a light pink. "Yes, yes I am. Sorry about leaving you there, by the way."
"Oh, it's alright. Yugi was there and he guided me to the office," Kiria explained.
"That's good, I really am sorry about that," he apologized once more, bringing a hand behind his neck. "Well, I need to go. But I hope to see you again sometime."
Kiria blushed a little bit and said a soft "Goodbye," as he walked away, and then Shizira came over.
"Do you know him?" Shizira asked.
"Sort of. He's more of an acquaintance."
"Hey, here I come!" exclaimed Asuiri, racing out of the building and nearly falling when he reached the two girls. "Are we ready-to-go?"
"I guess we are," Shizira provided for herself and Kiria, who was once again staring off into space.
"She does that a lot, doesn't she?" Asuiri commented as he poked Kiria, finally getting a response.
"What?" She questioned, confused.
"Kiriaaaa," Asuiri whined. "Quit spacing ouuuuut."
"Sorry," Kiria muttered. "Are we leaving now?"
"Well first we need to decide where we're going! Hey, let's go to Shi's house!"
"No-no-no-no-no, no," Shizira replied frantically. "Let's not go to Shi's house."
"But Shiiiiiiiii..."
"Why not?" Kiria asked.
"Um...uh...good question," Shizira stuttered. "Anyone care to answer that?"
"Shiiiiiii," Asuiri drawled. "Why nooooot?"
"Fine. You know what? Fine, let's go to my house," Shizira hissed. Kiria winced at the harsh tone. What on earth was Shizira hiding?
"Yay!" Asuiri cheered in victory. Shizira looked unsettlingly displeased.
"If you really don't wanna go, Shi...," Kiria nearly whispered, trying out the nickname. "We don't have to..."
"Asuiri won't shut up if I say no."
"Truuuuuue!"
Shizira sighed, and led the way.
—-
Shizira slid the key into the lock while the others patiently waited in the hallway, feeling it click beneath her twisting hand as she stuck her tongue out. She really didn't want to do this, but Asuiri would never shut up if she told him no, and even if he complied he'd keep asking every day. Shi was in no mood what-so-ever to hear, "Can we go to your house?" every single day - twelve times a day.
"I told you the idiot's annoying," the voice growled. "You don't listen much, do you?"
'Asuiri's a very sweet boy... just a little, you know, kid-like. Too kid-like,' Shizira thought right back at the voice in her head. 'And shouldn't you be, I don't know, stalking Kiria or something?'
"I am a murderer, not a pedophile."
'Glad to know.'
She pushed the door open, giving a view to the living room. To the left was a semi-raised kitchen area; to the right, a curving wall with three doors. The wall across them was lined in glass windows, giving an expansive and semi-pretty view of Domino City. In the distance, Kame Game and Domino High were just barely visible.
"Wow, Shizira, your house is very nice," Kiria commented, giving a little smile that the ravenette turned to see.
"Thanks."
"Is it just us?"
Shizira nodded. "Yeah, my dad's on a business trip to the grand almighty London." She didn't say where her mother was, and Kiria inferred that perhaps it was a touchy subject.
"Shi, Shi! Show Kiria your magicy-"
"How about we don't, Asuiri."
"Magic?" Kiria asked. "What magic?" This girl knows magic? Is that even possible?
Asuiri's eyes widened considerably, gleaming with excitement. He looked between Kiria and Shizira, bouncing in place, as if begging his friend to explain. Shi sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, moving her head back and forth as if exhausted already by his behavior.
"I can fix magic spells that don't work and make them work, and I'm pretty good with medicinal herbs, and I'm pretty smart at decoding cryptic stuff and I collect supposedly magic/enchanted items. My stuff works, I guarantee it. It just doesn't have a lot of poofing magical sparkles like most people would assume."
"Shizira once gave me a good luck charm for a swim competition, and it worked, Kiria! I won first place!" Asuiri was practically radiating happy.
Kiria blinked in shock as Shizira turned and led them to the farthest door, the one closest to the window wall. "Come on, I'll show you my grand array of magic."
She pushed yet another door open, revealing a bedroom. The ensemble stepped in, and Kiria was greeted with the sight of Shizira's personality. They do say, after all, a room is decorated to match one's soul.
The bed was pushed behind the door and into the corner, with a tiny window looking over the city. Paper stars hung on strings from the ceiling. A bookshelf laden with textbooks, books, folders, notebooks, and all sorts of research material sat in a corner. A desk with a desktop computer was pressed against the wall, with a corkboard above. There was a printer, and shelves full of herbs, and an easel tilted against the wall whose base was surrounded in spare art supplies. Her nightstand lamp was left on, which Shizira promptly clicked off. A television, no bigger than a shoebox, sat on the second top-most shelf of the book-case. There was also a dresser, whose top was scattered with things like a purse, a brush, and various bottles and a few crumpled clothes. Shizira threw her bag onto the floor and held her arms out.
"Ta-da," she announced to the boy, girl, and cluttered space. "My room, my haven, and where I do all my work."
"It's... very impressive," Kiria timidly squeaked.
"Please," the other girl replied. "It's a pretty small room, but I don't mind. So, anything specific you want me to try my hand at?"
"Well," Kiria replied bashfully, turning and riffling through her bag. "I have this... rock... and I don't know what it says. Perhaps you know what it says?"
"I can try my hand at it," Shizira replied, sounding much happier than she usually did. Perhaps Shizira enjoyed working on magic and stuff like this. Either way, Kiria was somewhat happy she'd made the girl sound happier.
Kiria removed his rock, and turned, holding it out in her hands for Shizira to take. The girl tilted her head, intrigued, and Kiria got a glimpse of her golden earrings. Shi gently reached out her hands, preparing to take the chunk of rock, but when her fingers touched it she flinched back as if burned.
The girl's eyes widened, visibly changing color. Bells sounded in the distance, ringing furiously. Shizira's expression changed from one of shock to absolute menace as her brow furrowed and her mouth dropped into an angry line. Her back straightened; she seemed taller, and more intimidating, and the tips of Shi's hair had turned blue. Shizira reached a hand up and adjusted the collar of her jacket.
"Who exactly are you?" the cold voice questioned.