"Ngh… mn…"

The quiet hum of soft groans sounded through Kusanagi's bedroom. Sheets rustled softly around her frame as her body shifted beneath them. Her lids quivered and squinted, shielding themselves against monsters unseen. A few moments passed before Nari fell still, ceasing her thrashing. Then, she started up again, whipping her head back and forth defiantly against her pillow.

The noise drew the attention of her roommate, luring her from the kitchen area into the dark room. Soft paws padded silently across the hardwood floor toward the bedside. Fuyu gazed upward at the flailing woman on the mattress with a look of mild concern. She watched in silence for a few minutes, observing her oscillations between fearful and calm. It seemed that Nari was suffering from a nightmare of sorts, though of what she could never guess. After a particularly violent spell, the familiar decided she had had enough of it. It was almost time for her to rise either way.

Bending her legs, Fuyu hopped onto the foot of the bed. Her sharp yellow eyes followed the woman's movements, taking careful note of her patterns. With lithe precision, she maneuvered her way around the shifting limbs, making her way to the head of the bed where Nari's eyelids grew strained. What was it that she saw, she wondered? After another groan, the cat lifted a solid black paw and pressed it against the side of Nari's face, squishing her cheek. It took three attempts before she received any sort of response.

"Wha…. huh?" With a start, Nari's eyes shot open, her eyes whipping back and forth to take in her surroundings. Fuyu frowned slightly at the display, watching her process. Her first expression was unease followed by startled surprise. Then, it fell, shifting between confusion and sadness. Finally, it settled on acceptance and realization. Slowly, Nari turned her head towards the cat and blinked. "Fuyu…?"

"Good morning," she stated simply, lowering herself into a graceful sit. "You were certainly having an interesting dream, weren't you?"

"Was I…?" Nari took a moment to consider it before shaking her head. It was no different than her usual nightmares, although admittedly, a little more vivid. They were a common occurrence since early adolescence and at this point, she had grown accustomed to them. Of course, it would be a lie if she were to say that they didn't bother her, but Nari liked to think that she had gotten them under control over the years. At least, to some extent. With a yawn, she slid upward, letting the tousled blankets fall to her waste. "What time is it?"

"Time for you to rise, I presume. You wish to get in your daily run, yes?"

"Hmm? Oh, y-yeah."

Still feeling unsettled, Nari pressed her blankets down to her thighs and slid her legs over the side of the bed. She wasn't sure how early or late in the morning it actually was, but if Fuyu had thought to rouse her, then surely it must be time for her to wake. With a grateful nod, she dragged herself from the bed and slowly made her way towards the bathroom.

Fuyu watched her go with a concerned frown.

. . .

After a routine run across the school grounds, Nari returned to her bedroom for some much-needed personal hygiene. A thorough shower, tooth-brushing, and washing of hair later, and she was ready to face the day. She had lost track of how many days it had been since their arrival, but she knew it had been long enough for her to fall into a routine. A quick light breakfast, and she was out the door and heading toward the upstairs classrooms.

As her shoes clacked along the marble flooring, Nari ran through the upcoming event through her mind like clockwork. At her current pace, she would arrive at the classroom with a few minutes to spare, surrounded by her Zeus-crafted pseudo classmates, her younger sister, and a small handful of gods. They would sit through a boring lesson discussing some random snippet of human life and they would be on their merry way, still no closer to bringing the remaining students into the fold. By this point, she had everything down to a science.

…Or so she thought.

"Siren! We've been waiting for you!" Apollon beamed at her upon her arrival, his smile as bright as the sun. Nari squinted slightly, averting her eyes from the display. Despite multiple encounters with the Greek god, she still couldn't fully tolerate his blinding presence. Somehow, she felt that if she stared at him for too long, it would burn out her retinas. Instead, she averted her eyes in a safer direction. The empty classroom.

"Um… where is everyone?"

"Oh, you didn't know?" Yui asked, taking note of her sister's confused expression. "Class was cancelled today…"

"Again?" Nari scowled. It seemed that their god of knowledge and mentor had once again abandoned them to their own devices. What exactly was the point of assigning an instructor if he never wanted to teach? It was asinine. At Yui's shrug, she let out a frustrated sigh. "Fantastic…"

Unlike the exhausted older sibling, Apollon was undeterred. "Mm-hmm! He came in a short while ago and told everyone about the change. He said we needed to focus on collecting the missing students."

Balder nodded his head in agreement. "He says, he will not waste his time teaching an empty class."

Nari paused for a moment to consider his answer. Aggravated as she was, she couldn't exactly argue with his logic. If she were in his position, she would have a difficult time motivating herself in that situation as well. Of course, classes were far from empty, when considering all of the placeholder students, but she supposed they didn't count. Regardless, there was nothing to be done about it now. "Alright, so I guess we're on our own today… any ideas?"

"Actually… I did have something in mind," Yui began with a hopeful look in her eye.

Nari recognized that expression all too well. She saw it often growing up whenever she had an idea that she was uncertain of. It meant that she wanted Nari's approval or input. "That's definitely a start. Let's hear it."

"I was thinking that maybe we could show the gods a different side of school life. You know, outside of homework and classrooms."

"Not a bad idea… what did you have in mind?"

Apollon couldn't withhold his excitement any further. With a brilliant smile, he piped up, startling the two sisters and the gods beside him. "Fairy said we should form a grand council!"

"…A what?"

Yui sighed. "A student council. I suggested that we start with one of the more basic aspects of school life."

"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense," Nari reasoned. She couldn't think of anything more iconic to high school than the student council. Not only was it one of the most important roles a high schooler could undertake, but it was also a great starting point to introducing non-academic activities. "Do you guys want to form a student council?"

"Yes!" Apollon exclaimed. Balder and Tsukito nodded in agreement but offered little else. Then, all three fell into total silence.

A few moments passed without a word from the group, a ticking clock on the wall the only audible sound. The sisters looked at one another in confusion before looking back to the quiet gods. After nearly a minute, Nari sighed. "So….?"

"We do not know what student council is."

The Kusanagis nearly facepalmed at the moon god's response. "R-Right… I guess you wouldn't…" Yui muttered.

Tsukito nodded and took out his notebook, eyes glued to their human representatives. "Yui Kusanagi. Nari Kusanagi. Please instruct us on the student council."

His request was met with confused silence. Nari lifted an eyebrow, amused by his unnecessary propriety. Then, after a brief silent exchange with her sister, she shrugged. "Yui's going to have to help you with that one. I haven't been in high school for a few years now."

"Understood." Tsukito agreed, turning his attention entirely to her sister.

Yui shifted nervously in her seat. She wasn't expecting to be thrust so immediately into the spotlight. "W-Well… the student council is an organization. It holds school-wide events, manages conduct on campus, and generally works toward improving the school. Members are made up of a few people selected from the student body."

"Members are made up of a few people selected from the student body…" the moon god muttered, his pen sweeping rapidly across the pages of his notebook.

"Uh, Tsukito… you don't have to —"

"Uh, Tsukito…you don't have to…"

Yui's mouth snapped shut. At this point, she was beginning to understand that it was best to remain silent in times like these. When Tsukito was focused, there was simply no deterring him. Beside her, Nari shook her head.

After a few moments of silence, he realized that they weren't going to speak further and lifted his head. "You mentioned events. What does that entail?"

"Well, lots of things," Yui began. "Things like field trips for new students to get to know each other, sports festivals where students compete, culture festivals where art pieces are exhibited… See, where general studies are typically conducted in the classroom, school events can be conducted off campus. Sometimes, they can even involve the entire student body."

Apollon smiled his heavenly smile once again. "Things that can't be done in the classroom? Does that mean they're special? That's so wonderful! So very, very exciting!"

"Apollon, I think you're getting a little —" Nari began, quickly falling silent as Apollon continued to ramble.

"I want be a member of the student council. How do I get chosen? I'm so excited to learn something new!"

"You could try running for office." Yui suggested. "Although, there's the issue of population at the moment… Candidates are normally nominated by other students, but technically, you can take it on by yourself."

"Really?! Is that really okay? I can nominate myself?!" Apollon bounced, earning a sigh from Nari.

"Just hold on for a second —"

"Did you hear that Tsuki-Tsuki? I'm a candidate! A candidate! I could just jump for joy!"

"You have already hopped a few centimeters," Tsukito replied, still taking rapid notes.

Nari frowned. "Apollon, if you would just —"

"You're excited too, aren't you? You're excited, right? A candidate!"

Tsukito looked up from his notebook. "I'm not concerned. Please refrain from making assumptions."

"Oh, Tsuki-Tsuki's so shy!"

"No."

Nari gaped at him, eyeing Tsukito sympathetically as Apollon poked his cheek. Was he like this all the time? "Okay! Shall we go to the student council room? Let's go!"

"Apollon!" Nari nearly shouted, demanding his attention. Her tone finally slowed him down, startled by her sudden outburst. "I think you're getting a little carried away. We don't even have a student council room yet…"

"R-Right…" Apollon calmed down, realizing he had let his excitement get the better of him. He lowered his eyes, looking a bit crestfallen at being scolded.

Nari sighed, feeling slightly guilty at his deflated expression. She hadn't meant to extinguish his light entirely… "Look, for now, why don't we start by finding one? That's a good place to start, right?"

Apollon's expression immediately lifted. It seemed she hadn't done much damage after all. "Yes! Let's go!" He all but sprinted out of the room, leaving the other three to watch behind. With a shrug, Yui followed him, a bit apprehensive to leave the exuberant god on his own. The others wandered after the pair, seeing little sense in remaining in the empty classroom. Nari was the last to leave with exhausted groan. Where on earth did he get his energy from?

. . .

After about an hour, the group finally found a suitable room that they could use for the student council. Apollon found it first, having run off ahead of them before looping back to inform the others. Yui was close behind, following him immediately out of the classroom. The others trailed behind at a leisurely pace with Balder bringing up the rear. In order to minimize accidents, he moved at a much slower speed than everyone else. Of course, it only got him so far, with his journey still resulting in at least seven falls.

Upon arriving in the new council room, the five of them spread out. Tuskito immediately turned to Apollon, with a deadpan expression. "Apollon Agana Belea. It is against school regulation to run in the halls. Please refrain from doing so in the future."

"Wha?! Where did it say that?"

Tsukito flipped through his handbook, stopping on the rules page. "It was added this morning." The sisters blinked, visibly just as surprised as the sun god to see the sudden change. To their knowledge, such a rule hadn't existed prior to their meeting. It seemed that Zeus had updated the handbooks without their knowledge, though how exactly he did so was a mystery to them both.

Apollon deflated slightly, muttering about his father being unfair. Nari simply chuckled, highly amused by the entire situation.

With the excitement over, the group immediately fell into discussions about their newly formed council. Nari sat quietly on a desk, watching as the three of them talked, Yui writing things on the chalkboard and explaining their meaning. Apollon, enthusiastic as he was, was unsurprisingly nominated as student body president. He ran unopposed and his appointment was met with no objection.

Yui nodded, taking note of his new position. "Alright, that's settled. So, the vice president should be…"

"Fairy! I can't think of anyone more suited than you."

"Eh?!"

Balder nodded his agreement. "Indeed. You know a lot about humans. I believe you are well qualified. Agana Belea agrees. Why not?"

Yui looked nervously between the two of them, slowly shifting her eyes to her sister. Everything was happening so quickly, and she was having a difficult time keeping up. To make matters worse, Nari hadn't said a word since their arrival, and she wasn't very keen on leaving her sister out of the equation.

But Nari didn't care. She shrugged and waved away her concern. "It's all you, Yui. This is your realm."

Yui frowned at her tone. She understood the meaning behind her seemingly casual statement. Nari was highly unpopular during their youth. With few she could call a friend, she kept to herself the vast majority of the time both in and outside of the classroom. There was no chance that she would ever run for any position in student council, let alone actually win one. The younger Kusanagi on the other hand, had always been the exact opposite. It hurt Yui to her core to think of her sister's self-deprecation… but if Nari wasn't interested, she couldn't force her to be.

"Ah… o-okay. If that's the case, then I will be vice president."

"Thank you, Fairy. Truly, thank you!" Apollon exclaimed, resuming his bouncing.

"It's no problem."

"And I think Tsukito would be appropriate for the disciplinary officer role." Balder suddenly spoke up, offering his own suggestion. "He values rules and order." A quick murmur of agreement rolled through the room, with every person agreeing unanimously. The moon god remained silent, accepting the role without argument. "In addition, I will take the secretary role."

The room hummed with another wave of agreement. It seemed that they had all been squared away. Except for one. Yui looked between the five of them, her eyes drifting toward her sister. Having offered no input through the entirety of the discussion, Nari had been unintentionally left out of the loop. She was about to comment, trying to bring her into the fold, before Apollon whipped around startling both of them with his eyes locked on the woman in question.

"Oh! Wait, what about Siren? What can Siren do?"

"Uh…" Nari gaped, a bit uncertain of where to go from there. She had never been a member of any school functions or organizations before and didn't really know how any of them worked. At least, not in great detail. She was only there for Yui's sake and now, she had been thrust into the spotlight. The room fell silent, every pair of eyes on the floundering girl.

Noticing her nervous expression, Yui came to her rescue. "Oh! What about historian?"

"Eh?"

"Oh, that's right! Yes, Siren is older than Fairy. She probably knows about all kinds of history." Apollon nodded vigorously, earning a muttering of agreement from the other gods. Unfortunately, the two women didn't share his sentiment.

Yui shook her head, a sheepish expression on her face. "Uh… No, Apollon, that's not what historian means…"

"And that's not how any of this works." Nari finished her sentence, noting the absurdity of his logic. She was only five years older than Yui. It wasn't like she was an old sage with centuries of wisdom.

"It's not?" Balder questioned, looking confused.

"Historian bears the root word of history. Therefore, it stands to reason —"

"The name is misleading." Nari interrupted, halting Tsukito before he could start off on a tangent."

Yui nodded. "Right. A historian is more of a… record keeper. They gather materials for the council scrapbook and log activities in the school. They take pictures and coordinate presentations…"

"So, Siren ensures our journey will be immortalized forever!" Apollon clapped his hands together in excitement.

"A most notable position." Tsukito agreed.

"Such a role is crucial to our success." Balder seconded.

Nari looked between the three gods, shaking her head. They really had a grandiose idea of school life. "Okay, all of you need to calm down. Besides, I don't think class historian is for me."

"Why not?" Yui frowned.

"I'm not much for photography or scrapbooking and to be honest, I'm far more accustomed to being in front of the camera than behind it."

"But Nari, you have to do something, otherwise Zeus is going to be mad."

"It's fine. I'll just join a club or something."

"Oh… I guess that's okay." Yui relented, knowing there was little sense in trying to force her. Perhaps it was unrealistic to expect her to want to join something so far out of her comfort zone. "I suppose that means the roster is settled then?"

Apollon nodded his agreement. "Then, we should plan our first event. We were told to devote ourselves to the student council today, so I want to hold an event!"

"Uh… today?" Nari asked. Her eyes widened slightly at his nodding head. "Wha — you're serious?"

"Of course, I am, of course! I'm serious. Totally serious."

Nari and Yui looked at one another, a look of utter confusion on their faces. Balder noticed the exchange, quickly intervening.

"Apollon supports it, but is it possible? Perhaps we should stay in the bounds of what you think we can do."

Apollon deflated slightly at Balder's reality check. Yui frowned, trying to think of a compromise. While a school-wide event on such short notice was borderline impossible, she didn't want to dampen their enthusiasm. "Well… since it's the first one, I think it's okay. Just with the student council members."

"Ah, I see. A strong bond between us is important for our goals." Balder pondered, earning another headshake from Nari. They were really taking all of this far too seriously.

"If that's decided then…. Tsuki-Tsuki, the most studious of us, it's your time to shine! What do you think we should do first?"

"I recommend a field trip. According to Yui Kusanagi, a field trip is for exchange between new students. That is appropriate for our intentions right now."

"Is there even a place we can go around here?" Nari questioned, reminding all of them that they were currently trapped on a floating island.

"For what it's worth, going to the mountains or something is normally a standard for school trips." Yui replied, looking briefly out the window.

Nari followed her eyes, gazing out into the large expanse of land stretching beyond the campus. Perhaps there was more to their heavenly prison than met the eye. Yui had, after all, observed their location from flying horseback. She probably had a better idea of the space in general.

"There is a map included within the student handbook. We should use it for our decision." Tsukito said, gesturing towards the guide in his hand.

At his suggestion, the remaining four took out their own for reference. Nari stared incredulously at the map, looking over the various locations and structures marked on the paper. At the center of the large, isolated landmass stood their school campus and stretching out in all directions were various, very different locations. To the north were large mountains towering over the ground below. The areas surrounding them were covered in grassy plains and forests with rivers running in between. To the northeast was a wide beach and to the northwest a wasteland. It seemed there was far more to their gilded cage than she thought.

"Why don't we do the mountains if it's standard? The basics are always important, no matter what!" Apollon suggested, pointing towards the north.

"I would suggest the grassy plains. We could enjoy the scenery in the meadow. It seems like a pleasant place to socialize." Balder replied, giving a suggestion of his own.

"What do you think Tsukito?" Yui asked, seeking the remaining god's opinion. Unfortunately, he was no help.

"As long as we complete our task, the location is irrelevant."

Nari hummed, her eyes drifting over a small green patch of land the others seemed to have missed. "Hmm… It looks like there's an animal pasture over here. That could be interesting."

"Then, I will go with that."

Nari sighed, shaking her head at his utter lack of assistance in the matter. It seemed that every council member was thinking something different. Helpful.

The god of light looked around the room at everyone trying to come to a decision. After a few moments, his eyes settled on Yui. "If I might make another suggestion." He waited, watching as everyone's attention turned to him. "We do not have the necessary knowledge to decide what is better or worse as we have no reference. I propose we go with Yui's opinion, as she has the most experience."

The gods turned their attention to Yui. It was true that among them, she was the most experienced in standard school matters. Her eyes looked around the room, considering everyone's suggestions. Each were good in their own way, so in the end, it didn't really matter. But as her eyes drifted to Nari staring out the window, she decided. Her entire life had been relatively isolated. She never had many friends and never participated in any activities. People rarely wanted to interact with her sister at all, let alone ask for her opinion on anything. Perhaps it was time that finally changed.

"Why don't we go with Nari's suggestion? I think by watching the animals, there are things we can learn."

"Huh?" Nari blinked, tuning to gape at her younger sister.

"Alright! Let's go, let's go!" Apollon, once again, nearly bolted out of the room leaving the other four behind.

Balder smiled and slowly followed after him, Tsukito shrugged his shoulders and did the same, taking note of Apollon's infraction along the way. Nari sighed at the three of them, sliding off the desk and turning toward the door. "Have fun on your field trip. Be careful, okay?"

Yui stopped her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Wait, you're not coming?"

"It's a student council trip. I'm not student council."

"Nari, it isn't a hard requirement. You can still come if you want…"

"I'm not sure I —"

"Nari. This isn't like high school in the human world. Please come with us. It'll be fun."

Nari stared at her, looking into her pleading eyes. Then, with a sigh, she shrugged. "Alright, alright. Not like I have anything else to do."

"Great! Let's go catch up with the others. I'm a bit nervous leaving Apollon on his own for too long."

Nari smirked. She hadn't said it outright, but Nari knew what Yui was trying to do. She wanted to help her participate and be a more active member of the school. She was trying to give her the high school experience she never had. "Yui."

"Hmm?"

"…Thanks."

With a pair of exchanged smiles, the two women made their way out of the room.

. . .

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

Translation still ongoing. Check out my Tumblr for more frequent updates!