She arrived bright and early, so much unlike the original Shiroko. Needless to say, Ayane was surprised to find the other Shiroko had gotten to the school before her, haveing expected her to take a long ride before hand like how her Shiroko does. The sleeping Hoshino in the corner didn't seem to mind, so she figured she should just get on with the day from there. Before long, the others had arrived and the day had progressed, somewhat normally, even though when it came time to give out suggestions to alliviate the schools debt, the two Shirokos had both simotaniously given out the suggestion for a bank heist.
"Majority vote wins." Shiroko says.
"Yeah! 4 versus 2. We're not robbing a bank!" Serika declares to the two wolf girls.
"...well its more votes than anyone elses suggestions." the other Shiroko mutters, much to Hoshino's amusment.
"Hehe, maybe we all outta find counterparts of ourselves to balance things out again, and hey, that would solve the issue of the amount of students we have." She says, cause the rooms occupants to giggle at her line of thinking.
"Its a shame thats the most logical suggestion we've had so far." Ayane sighs, though you can tell she isn't too disappointed.
"Is it really? It'll bring us more friends like Shiroko over here" Nonomi says with her usual delight.
"Eh? Which Shiroko?" Hoshino asks, earning a hearty laugh ftom everyone.
"I suppose that concludes the Forecloser Taskforce's meeting for today." Ayane says. "I'll see you all tomorrow." She then turns to the other Shiroko "And we would appreciate it if you could join us as well. You might not be our Shiroko, but you are just as much a part of Abydos as any of us. And we would also like to get to know you more."
"The more the merrier!" Nonomi adds her ascent.
"Y-yeah. I would like that to." The other Shiroko smiles.
"Alright then, you all go and get some shut eye. This old geizer's got paperwork to do." Hoshino says to all of them.
"I'll help you with it." The other Shiroko volunteers. The others looked strangley at her, especially the original Shiroko. "I-If thats all right."
Hoshino on the other hand, smiled. "Please, by all means. This old lady can't handle it all by herself." The others leave the club room, though not before the alternate Shiroko shoota them all a reassuring look. Before long, it was just the self poclaimed old lady and the woman from an alternate dimension there, silently checking things over, signing work off and preping it to be sent where ever it needed to go.
"I got to say, you're pretty good at this." Hoshino tells her companion. "I never would have thought you could stand this sort of thing."
"In my timeline, I had to learn since there was no one else to do it." Alter Shiroko told her.
"Ah. Me too... in this reality, though." Hoshino replied. The two continued to work in relative silence. This went on for quite awhile until Shiroko had finished her stack and Hoshino was on her last piece.
"Eh, this is annoying." Hoshino sighs.
"What is it?" Shiroko asks.
"This is the paperwork for the Kaiser corporation's loan payments. This months say they want me to sign in person and not Ayane since this is under my authority." Hoshino sighs. "No rest for this old gal, looks like."
Like a switch was flipped inside her, Shiroko abruptly stood up knocking the table she was sitting at slightly.
"You can't go over to those bastards again! They're going to trick you!" She shouted before seeminly coming back down to earth and subsequently sitting back in her chair. "I... I'm sorry. Please forget I said anything." Hoshino only sighed at this and wore a more serious expression. "Don't think I can. As vice president of Abydos, I have to ensure all my underclassmen are okay. Its irrelevant if your worries fall under another Hoshino's problems. Shes not hear right now, and one old ladys problem is the whole retirment home's problem." She says the last bit with a bit more of her typical carefree attitude. She moved the payment paperwork aside and moved to sit next to Shiroko.
"Heh. No matter the timeline, its reliving to see Takanshi Hoshino is always the same." Shiroko Terror lets out.
"Hehe. I'll take that as a compliment." Hoshino replies. "Does this maybe have something to do with something I did, but never did?"
The alternate Shiroko takes a moment to process her words before answering. "Maybe... Its just old memories."
"First that look, now you are starting to sound like me." Hoshino mutters, the levity gone from her voice again. "I'm guessing you went through things I've also gone through. Things you SHOULD'T have gone through."
"Yeah..." Shiroko's voice cracks as it sounds as if shes trying to keep from crying. "And despite what you went through, you were still so nice and cheery when we first met. You still kept yourself together after what you lost. I don't know if I can ever fully return to the Shiroko that was."
Hoshino knows what her alternate underclassmen is referring to as she gazes to a framed photograph of a younger version of herself with the Abydos president. Her friend.
"Yeah. But I didn't go through that grief alone back then. I had soneone to help me through before we met." Hoshino told her. "For me, it was Nonomi. For you, it can be all of us. Maybe you can't return to the Shiroko that was, but that doesn't mean thats a bad thing. Especially when you have us there with you, not matter what happens or how you feel."
"And what if I fail you?" Shiroko asks, her head lowered and her bangs hiding her eyes. "What if I failed you like I had before?"
"Then we'll all pick you up and move on. Even if you fail, you can never fail me, Shiroko." Hoshino tells her.
"But I can! I did!" Shiroko exclaims. "The scarf... the one you gave to me... Iost it! It was a precious gift and I lost it!"
"Then I'll get you a new scarf. And if you lose that one, I'll get you another one." Hoshink calmly assures her.
"Its not just that! You were in trouble and try as I might, I couldn't help you! I couldn't save you!" Hoshino could now see tears coming down the other Shiroko's eyes. Hoshino then realizes these words were more for this Shirokos Hoshino. She looked back to the picture on the desk once again.
'If I could talk to her again, I would. I guess this is the same thing.'
"You made a deal with Kaiser, if you went with them, the debt would be forgiven! After the inital attack on Abydos, we went to rescue you, but try as we might, we couldn't save you." Shiroko clutches her arms as she starts shaking. "Nonomi, Ayane, and I kept coming back after failing numerous times to break in, only to be beaten back once again. Then we finally got in and got to you... only we were too late. You halo had shattered just as we had arrived. If we had been a few seconds earlier, we could have saved you. I'm so sorry I couldn't Hoshino. I'm so sorry I failed you."
Hoshino takes this opportunity to hug the broken down woman, letting her cry on her shoulder, getting her shirt wet, but Hoshino didn't mind.
'I guess thats what would have happened if sensei didn't get involved with us.' Hoshino realizes. "You didn't fail me, Shiroko. You didn't save me, but you didn't fail me. You could never fail me."
"B-b-but I-"
"Sssshhhhh." Hoshino strokes Shirokos hair as ahe silences her. She was getting extreme deja-vu, except she was the one comforting, rather than being comforted.
"You lived Shiroko. You lived and thats all that will mater to me. You were brought to our timeline for a reason, and I beleive that reason was to start over." Hoshino tells her. "You and the others broke me out, here. And I'll stay with you forever if thats what it takes. I promise."
The alternate Shiroko can only continue to sob as Hoshino comforts her.
'I guess this shows how lucky I was to have Nonomi enter my life when she did. I was much the same after Yume, after all.' Hoshino thinks to herself. 'Its time to give back what she had given me. And I'm sure the others will be around to help her too.
"I'm not going away, Shiroko. I'm not going away." Hoshino whispers to her as the two continue to embrace each other.