The opening ceremony went off, for the most part, without a hitch… even though only a handful of the gods actually attended the event. Apollon, as was expected of a sun god, stood on stage before the auditorium and gave a riveting speech welcoming them into the new year. It was very well-delivered, although Yui had to reel him in a couple of times when he deviated from the original script. They promised to work hard and study diligently with the goal of learning and graduating at the end of the year. Unsurprisingly, Loki, Thor, Hades, and Takeru were all absent, but beggars couldn't be choosers. They had gotten half, so that was something.
With determination in their hearts, the school year officially began.
It was early morning on their first day of classes. The grass was slick with morning dew and a gentle breeze rippled through the air. A perfect day for a run. That was precisely what the older Kusanagi did, jogging quietly down the marbled path. With their instructions clear and the start of the semester, it had finally sunken in that they wouldn't be leaving the Garden any time soon. With little else to do about it, Nari found herself falling back into familiar habits.
"Haa… haa…" Nari carefully paced herself, breaths regulated and even. It had been a couple of days since her daily training regimen, so she was a little off kilter. Within the first quarter mile, however, she was getting back on track. Her eyes scanned the area as she made her way from the school grounds, drifting towards the shaded tree line for a more scenic route. The pathway was beautiful as it was practical, each tree acting as a distance marker as she passed. In her younger days, Nari would have appreciated such a lovely vista. Now, each trunk only reminded her of how much farther she needed to go.
A hand wiped the sweat forcefully from her brow as she continued forward, the sound of Yamagata's voice echoing in the back of her mind. 'This industry is all about image.', 'To remain in this business, you must be flawless.', 'You need to train harder. You'll need to lose about seven kilograms before you can even think about making your debut.' Discipline. Perfection. Mind, body, and soul. Scowling, Nari pushed even harder, ignoring the aching in her legs. Just a little farther…
"Run, run, run! Where are you off to in such a hurry? "
"…I — what?" Nari's footsteps slowed to a crawl at the sound of an unexpected voice. A painful mistake. Within moments, the tension in her legs caught up to her, bringing a wave of discomfort. With a grunt, Nari she shook out her legs, jostling her screaming muscles and willing them to calm. She could feel the spasms rattling through her limbs, threatening with every heartbeat to lock up on her.
"You were going so fast! I wonder where to?"
"Who the hell…" Nari turned around, searching for the unseen speaker; the voice that interrupted her. It was so familiar to her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on where she had heard it. Clearly, he had to be one of the gods, but which one?
Dionysus was out of the question, as even waking him up for the ceremony had — according to Apollon — been a challenge in and of itself. Thor was unlikely option since he had little reason to be wandering around in the woods. The studious gods were likely resting, and if awake, preparing for classes. And Hades and Takeru would have never even spoken to her in the first place. That only left a single option, and the sound of his amused chuckle confirmed her suspicions. She had heard that playful lilt a couple days ago… right before a bolt of lightning silenced it. "Loki?"
"She's right! Clever, clever…!"
"Wha!" Nari jumped, nearly stumbling backward as the fire god appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Dangling freely from a tree branch, he smiled at her with an upside-down grin. Her sudden startle had jolted her muscles, sending another wave of discomfort from her toes to her thighs. Now, in a decidedly foul mood, she turned her irritation to the source. "What are you doing up there?"
"Having fun, of course~!"
"In the trees?" she muttered, stretching out her legs once more to work out the newly tightened knot.
"I suppose I could have fun down there," he responded, loosening his grip on the branch. Within moments, he was back on solid ground, standing upright and confusing her to no end. He was surprisingly nimble, and his ability to lithely maneuver his body was impressive to say the least. She had to wonder what sort of —
"Hey… wait. I remember you. You were one of the cutters, weren't you?"
"Ehh?"
"You cut. You weren't at the assembly yesterday."
"Right you are. So observant. "
"Well, why not?" Nari demanded, growing even more irritated with his flippant behavior. It was bad enough that he had ditched the very first school function, but he didn't seem to care in the slightest. Had he not heard Zeus's very clear instructions or was he just messed up in the head?
"Hmm~" Loki paused for a moment of dramatic effect, as though he were actually giving her question some serious thought. "Because I didn't want to."
"So, what, you want to spend the rest of your days as a stone statue?"
"Why not? I'd make a gorgeous one, don't ya think? "
Nari stared incredulously at him. For a few moments, she wasn't sure if he was being serious or not. How could she? Certainly, no human alive could be that stupid, let alone a god. Then again, he was one of four missing attendants, so perhaps common sense was less common than she thought. "Sure, whatever you need to tell yourself," she scoffed. She couldn't help but smirk at Loki's slight frown, seeing that she had gotten under his skin. "If you wanna stay here forever, be my guest."
"Oh, don't worry about me. " Loki's disturbed expression vanished. "I'm gonna find a way out of here. Just you wait."
"Sure, you will," Nari shook her head and turned away from him. She had wasted enough of her time already speaking with him, and classes would be starting soon. Ultimately, it was his own life on the line, so it was of no concern to her. Whatever Loki said in response to her, she hadn't heard. Instead, she resumed her jog and continued forward down the winding path.
Loki watched her go, lifting an eyebrow and letting his gaze follow her until her figure was out of sight. How strange. This one was different from the other Kusanagi… perhaps she would be more interesting than he originally thought.
. . .
After finishing her run, Nari returned to her room and took a quick shower. Having spent too much time humoring Loki, she was now running late. A quick once-over in the mirror, and she was out the door, wandering her way through the winding halls. As she recalled from the student handbook, classrooms were located on the second floor. Much like her old school. Climbing the stairs, it didn't take very long for her to locate her destination. The map, of course, was very helpful, but what really drew her attention was the noise.
A loud crash echoing from a few doors down could only be sourced to the clumsiest god on the campus. The shouting and startled shriek that quickly followed confirmed her suspicions. She could almost visibly see the image of Yui and Apollon hurriedly helping the fallen god to his feet in her mind's eye. It seemed that her younger sister had beaten her to class. Unsurprising, considering she was always the more diligent student. Even still, Nari didn't want to risk disappointing her on their first day back in high school. She had already done so more than enough. Quickening her pace, she made her way into the classroom, fully prepared to hear Thoth's complaints.
But when she entered the room…
"Siren! We've been waiting for you!" Apollon shouted, drawing everyone's attention to the new arrival.
Nari winced slightly at the volume, shaking her head, and looking towards the empty podium. It seemed she wouldn't be getting an earful from the moody Egyptian god after all… he was absent. Along with all of the other magical student placeholders. Go figure. "Sorry, I'm late…"
"No problem. It's no problem at all! Apollon hopped up from his seat. His face split into a wide grin at the sight of her, drawing an inward groan from the older sister. If he kept beaming at her like that, Nari swore she was going to need sunglasses before the end of the semester.
"Oh, hey Nari! Where have you — wait, Siren?" Yui halted mid-question, Apollon's words finally sinking in. It didn't surprise her that Apollon had given her older sister a nickname. He gave nicknames to everyone, ranging from the embarrassing to the downright ridiculous. But hers was…
"Yeah. Her voice is beautiful. Really beautiful. Like the sirens back home."
Yui pondered for a brief moment, recalling a passage she had stumbled upon during her research the previous day. The image of a beautiful woman lying seductively on an ocean rock, surrounded by crashing waves entered her mind, bringing a small smile to her face. Having heard her sister's voice, she could easily understand where Apollon came up with it. But the more she thought about it, the more she remembered a particularly disturbing passage beneath the illustrations. Then, her smile fell. "W-Wait… don't Sirens… kill people?"
"Yes, Yui. Yes, they do," Nari replied shortly, giving her sister an even deeper frown. Shaking her head, she quickly changed the subject, making her way towards the group. Within moments, her attention was drawn to the unusual state of the room's arrangement. Their desks had been moved, turning them to face each other in a small circle near the corner of the room. It was like a roundtable for high school students. "What are you guys doing in here anyway?"
Yui's face brightened immediately at her sister's question, always happy to see her engage in conversation. "Oh, we were just getting to know each other a little better is all."
"Yui was telling us more about humans. It's been very enlightening," Balder replied. Beside him, Tsukito nodded his head in silent agreement. It seemed that the gods were taking their task rather seriously… at least some of them.
Nari took a moment to chuckle silently at Balder's phrasing before lifting an eyebrow at the small group. Her eyes drifted slowly across the setup, taking in the carefully organized desks, along with the utter lack of people filling them. The entire arrangement was painfully bare. "It's just the three of you…?"
"Y-Yes, well… uh…" Yui started, looking nervously between the five of them. She tried to think of the gentlest way to express her thoughts, but her sister only sighed.
"They didn't show up, did they?" Yui's silent nod gave her the answer. She sighed again, somehow even more irritated than she was before her arrival. Of course, they hadn't shown up. Why had Nari even thought to consider otherwise? Two of them had resorted to violence upon the mere discovery of their new task. One would think that Zeus's display of raw power should have been enough to convince them, but apparently that wasn't the case. With a frustrated huff, Nari flopped own into a chair next to her sister. "Fantastic. Well, what do we do now?"
"Er…" Yui hummed in thought for a few moments. The gods waited patiently with bated breath, eyes on their human representatives. Nari squirmed uncomfortably beneath their gaze. "Um… well, I guess we could continue our discussion. After all, you missed a good bit while you were gone."
"Sure. What were you talking about?"
"We were discussing the other gods. Takeru, Hades, and —"
"Takeru?" Nari questioned, interrupting her sister's list. "Who is Takeru?" Nari racked her brain with all of her might, but she couldn't remember any gods by that name arriving at the school. Had another somehow appeared during their downtime?
Yui paused, a look of confusion rising on her features. Then, they were quickly replaced with realization. "Oh, that's right! You and Apollon were a few minutes late to the ceremony… Takeru Totsuka is Susano-o."
"Uh… what?" Nari didn't know any more now than she did a few minutes ago. In fact, she was even more confused, unable to follow her sister's logic. The memory of her discussion with Melissa was still fresh in her mind. Yui's fabricated surnames were no surprise to her… but how on Earth had she come up with something so far from the original?
"It's a derivative of his given name." Tsukito answered, a deadpan expression on his face.
"A derivative of… oh!" Nari nearly facepalmed as her memory caught up with her. Takehaya-Susanoo-no-Mikoto. More commonly referred to as Susano-o. Yui had derived his name through a shortened version. How could she have forgotten something so simple? Was she really so far removed from the gods…? "Wait… then where did Totsuka come from?"
"Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, Susano-o's double-edged sword," Yui answered.
"I see… meaning Tsukuyomi is…?"
"His name is Tsukito. Tsukito Totsuka."
"Got it… wait, are all of your names derivations of some sort?" Nari questioned, taking note of the series of confirming nods.
Yui smiled. "Well, not all of them. Most are references to their mythology. For example, Aidoneus is the name of Hades's Helmet of Invisibility, and Thyrsos is Dionysus's legendary staff."
"Agana Belea is my golden bow!" Apollon offered, earning a raised eyebrow from the older sister."
Yui nodded, ignoring his outburst, and continuing her explanation. "Right. Megingjord is Thor's magic belt and Hringhorni is Balder's ship." Nari nodded, following along with each explanation. She couldn't help but be a little impressed with her sister's diligence. She had truly done her research, finding creative ways to provide each god a new name that didn't sound awkward, choppy, or forced. "And Loki's is based off of his legendary flaming sword. It's called —"
"Laevatein…" Nari muttered. The word came out as a breathless whisper, her eyes staring pointedly at her desk.
"I… yes, that's right! I didn't know you were so well-versed on Norse mythology, Nari."
"Yeah. I took a lot of electives at university."
Yui nodded in understanding. The sisters were daughters of a shrine family, after all. It only made sense that Nari would be curious about the divine, even after moving off to college. The opportunity to learn about gods of other cultures must have intrigued her. "It sounds like you learned a lot at school."
"Yeah…" Nari's voice trailed into silence. Her fingers laced tightly together on her lap beneath the desk, an old habit. Nervousness gripped her heart, the bitter tang of guilt rising like bile into the back of her throat. A bitter smile tugged at the corners of her mouth at the very thought of it, wondering how Yui would see her if she knew the truth. To learn that her sister, her role model, the woman she had looked up to most years of her life was a liar and a fraud. She didn't even want to think about it. She didn't want to imagine the look of devastation on her features. To watch her bright smile wane into sadness and the bright light flicker and darken in her eyes. "So anyway, what else did I miss? You guys sounded like you were in the middle of a discussion before I arrived. Well… before the crash, anyway."
"Er… crash? Oh…" Yui's eyes shifted in the direction of a certain blonde-haired god. His own eyes widened after a moment, then narrowed in embarrassment. Balder's cheeks flushed slightly, shooting Nari a sheepish grin.
"Oh… you heard that…?"
"Balder, I'm pretty sure the entire floor heard it." Her response earned a saddened smile from the god of light. The resulting guilt that nagged at her stomach pulled a grimace from the older sibling. Shaking her head, she attempted to console him. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. Everyone trips sometimes. I nearly fell on the way over here."
Balder's face brightened a bit at her admission. It wasn't a lie. Nari had run towards the classroom at full speed upon the realization that she was running late. In her scrambling, she had very nearly stumbled up the stairs and likely would have fallen had she not caught the banister in time. With a potential emotional crisis averted, Nari turned her attention back to the task at hand. "Clumsiness aside, I'm assuming you guys were trying to reach a consensus on something." A short gesture toward their roundtable setup emphasized her statement.
"Oh! Yes," Yui began, drawing her attention back to the other gods. "We were trying to figure out a way to get the others to class."
"Ah. A Herculean task indeed…" Nari muttered.
Apollon snickered at her choice of words. "Haha, you're funny, Nari. Really funny. But I don't think it will be too hard. I'm sure Di-Di will come if we ask him nicely enough. Uncle Hades too!"
What struck him as so hilarious was beyond her. To her knowledge, there wasn't anything too unusual about the words she had said, except… 'Right. Hercules is from Greek mythology'. Shaking her head, she tried to refocus. "Okay, well that still leaves the other three…"
"I will convince Takeru Totsuka to join lessons." Tsukito stated simply. His words were clear and concise, offering nothing more than that determined statement.
"Hm… I wish I could say the same, but…" Balder started, eyes lowering as he fell deep in thought. "It is unlikely that Loki will cooperate… and Thor will follow Loki…"
So, in other words, there were two problem children. Despite Apollon's attestations, Nari couldn't help but feel suspicious about his assertion. The sun god seemed more than confident that he would be able to convince his Greek companions to join them, but somehow, she couldn't imagine it would be that simple. Regardless, if that were the case, then there was little more to discuss on the matter.
"Alright, so I guess that leaves the two of us then."
"Well, Tsukito seems to have his brother handled…" Yui pondered, looking slowly between the other two gods. "I suppose we could try to help them. Double their efforts."
"Oh, Fairy! You should come with me!" Apollon exclaimed, earning a startled look from all but the moon god. Nari wasn't sure whether his excitement was at the thought of going with Yui, or if he was just that excitable. The longer she continued to observe him, the more Nari started to believe that it was the latter.
"Uh… o-okay…" Yui numbly agreed, not really certain what else there was to do. She didn't want to turn him down so blatantly, and there wasn't necessarily a reason for her not to go.
Conversely, Nari sighed. It seemed her run-ins with the redheaded menace weren't finished after all. "I guess that means we're looking for the Norse then. You sure you have your brother handled, Tsukito?" His silent nod was her answer. "Alright, then I guess that's it. Convene here again after last period?"
A hushed murmur of agreement concluded their discussion. With the meeting adjourned, the students set to work reorganizing the desks back to their original locations. Their cleanup didn't go without difficulty. Tsukito spent an unnecessary amount of time examining the desk's angles for correctness and Balder nearly toppled half of them over, almost ruining his efforts. The result was both gods being set aside while the remaining three took care of the rest. With the classroom in order, the students went their separate ways, each breaking off to find their respective classmates.
