Chapter 41: The Shadow Under the Moon
This has been quite the stressful start of the year for Lunalei. Getting sick, everything regarding the Valkyrie, this…nagging feeling that she's slowly drifting away from who she cares about.
She believes with utmost resolve that she's made every move correctly. She's lived by the creed of her senpai to protect in the name of justice, to stop evil at its core.
But has never once neglected the future, and the people lost without a purpose.
And at school, her place of teaching, she is slowly being repaid for her efforts.
She more often than not comes to the classroom with someone else ready to open the door for her. She's been given some discounted candies on her desk, tragically at times finding them a little later than she should.
Her students would still whisper about her body, and try to frazzle her with pranks.
There's no stopping how some people's feelings are.
But she can also look forward to grading their papers, and seeing a steady but subtle rise in their successes.
It's as simple as paying attention to every person's needs and plotting out their homework appropriately so they can learn, or like in the case of Serra, engage with what's being taught.
These students of hers may not be children, but they were still young. There was still a chance to iron out their kinks and set them out towards a brighter tomorrow.
Save the young wards under her charge in the morning, and snuff out the darkness that threatens them at night.
It's a two-pronged assault on the longstanding effects the neglect of past leaders had put upon society, but at least she's allowed to relish the thanks she gets in the morning.
But when it comes to the afternoon, the divide between dawn and darkness, there is one shadow that persists in her own.
Erin Dark. The prodigal daughter of the current President, a genius without equal in this school, whose looks remain enviable to all.
What she sees behind all that talent, however, is a future fraught with untamed arrogance.
Her goth trending cousin flaunts her control over her peers by continuing to pester Lunalei with insults just dull enough to not warrant detention.
…No, that's not true. No such level of restraint could possibly exist.
In reality, Lunalei has had to swallow the urge to throw her in detention time and time again, because if there's one thing that would be taken away by that experience…it's that her cousin would learn what it would take to trigger her.
And it's not like the punishment would stick, she had all the tools on her body and in her mind to enrapture the higher authorities in this school, with her excellence academically shielding her further.
She didn't even NEED to resort to her connections to her father. She was proving a thorn in her side via her own merits.
And it was starting to really, REALLY grate on Lunalei's nerves, as time after time again she had to stamp Erin's home with a solid red "A+" and watch her take the paper back with the smuggest, slimiest expression that not even villains could copy.
At this point she wondered why she wasn't out signing up for college, she even had her mother's treasure stash to fall back on for room and board.
And that was perhaps the most frustrating aspect of this whole affair.
She could try and fight to give all her students equal opportunity to succeed, but there was always going to be some born lucky mother fucker with all the talent, all the money, or a little bit of both.
The world could be a real pain in the ass like that with those kinds of cruel reminders.
There had to be SOME sort of chink in her armor. Pride is a foundation that crumbles at the lightest touch, after all.
But loathe as she was to admit it…Lunalei wasn't going to be able to figure this out on her own.
She needed to recruit some help, and she knew JUST who to call.
Once the school week ended and the weather was confirmed to be decent, she put on her jacket and took a rare jaunt into town via the bus with nothing but her wallet, her spare key, and a miniature stun pistol tucked within her coat pocket.
Standard hero gear, to be honest.
She had run down the list of options the night before, just to make sure she was making the right call.
Her parents? Absolutely not. This was her job, and she wanted them to keep being proud of her for believing she was handling such a heavy responsibility on her own.
Uncle Mew? Yeah, he would've probably been a good choice, but he also had a knack of wiggling in and managing to convince someone to try another option. And also, he did have some slight bias towards Erin, being one of the few people she seemed to still have a soft spot for.
Aunt Alura, yeah right! She probably still thinks Erin's her little pimple popping glasses wearing pink shirted angel deep down.
Aunt Samantha could've been a good idea in theory, but she's just trying to humble Erin, not inflict the terrors of military grade discipline onto her!
Aunt Kairi was the first suggestion that sounded logical. She's firm, but not overbearing. She has enough experience dealing with her own arrogance to offer credible tips, and on top of all that Erin doesn't have her wrapped around her thumb…Problem is, Kairi also lacks experience in the field of education.
No. To best the shadow, Lunalei would have to visit the other side of the borealis.
She got off the bus at the edge of town near an old-timer's cafe that's been around since a little after she was born.
It had the most perfectly brewed coffee and delectable paninis combinations made with twenty different meats, and as long as the weather was good you could sit outside and be served whenever you wanted.
And right as she rolled up to the first empty table she saw and started checking her phone for messages, she looked up to see someone approaching.
"I appreciate you taking the time out to meet like this…" Lunalei smiled and tucked her phone away in her pocket, "Shina."
The perky blonde was wearing a lightweight ribbed sweater jacket over her usual wardrobe, and held her hand up, "Is this alright?"
"Yeah." Lunalei said calmly before giving her hand a slap as a greeting.
The two then took their seats and activated the electronic menus to see what they wanted.
"So, I take it from the message…trouble's brewing at school again?" Shina cut right to the chase in her usual perceptive, caring tone.
Lunalei nodded, and Shina acknowledged her with a smile, "Aaaand, I'm gonna guess…it's a problem within the family again, too."
"You're on a roll." Lunalei admitted.
"Then may as well complete my streak by guessing that it's…" Shina snapped her fingers out, "Zelene!"
Lunalei's eyes widened, "What no…"
Shina clicked her tongue and sharply withdrew her hand, "Shoot, there goes my points."
Lunalei then said with a hint of scorn, "It's Erin."
"Aaaaah, that would've been my second guess," Shina said with believable credibility before placing her hands under her chin, "Aren't her grades some of the best in your school?"
"Not 'SOME OF' she has THE best grades in school." Lunalei said with…mild frustration.
"Aaaaah, this is a personality clash, I getcha!" Shina played along with the conversation but her eyes centered on Lunalei and confirmed she took this matter seriously.
Lunalei tried to keep her cool explaining, "It'd be one thing if she was just smarter than everyone else but no, she has to remind everyone about that AND that she has a ridiculous, overstuffed chest!"
"A bit prideful, is she?" Shina jotted down in her brain.
"AND she's a bitch with a capital 'B'!" Lunalei got more blunt in tone, before pulling back and rubbing face down in embarrassment, "Uuugh, sorry but not sorry, someone had to say it."
"Heh heh, I ain't gonna say anything," Shina giggled, "But yep yep, I haven't really gotten to see the Darks since Alura moved them back, but what you're saying totally matches up with what my mom mentioned after seeing her a while back."
Lunalei overlaid her fingers between each other and stared firmly into Shina's eyes, "I'm not going to sugarcoat this, Shina. I'm at my wit's end dealing with her narcissism, and I want to take her down a peg. But I'm not going to hide behind exploiting the punishment system of my profession. No, I'm going to chip her armor on the battlefield she's chosen to fight me on: The field of education."
Shina closed her eyes and remarked in a quick, feathery tone, "In other words, you want to give her a failing grade."
"Yep, you got it." Lunalei said, smiling over the appreciation that they could see eye-to-eye.
Shina then opened her eyes slowly and daintily, a bit of pressure exuding off her presence, yet her tone remained kind and patient, "Lunalei, I'm going to say something that miiiight upset you a little, but as a friend…I think it's only fair to give you a chance to stop me."
Lunalei found herself gulping with a shiver down her spine, but bravely held her gaze on her face and told her, "...I'm an adult, don't pull your punches."
"Fair enough!" Shina then gave her one last pause to breathe before displaying a rarely seen tone of bluntness, "What ya said just now was really, REALLY insulting."
Lunalei shook, and that was just the opener.
"Not just to yourself, but to your profession, AND to the students under your tutelage."
"I-I…" Lunalei puffed her cheeks and tightened her hands, "I get that-"
"I don't think you do," Hearing such uncharacteristically forward words from her regularly kind expression was a hard pill to swallow, "Otherwise ya wouldn't have come to me for help."
"...Hrrrmmm…!" And yet even as the frustration piled up inside of Lunalei, Shina held on to her strongest quality: Her patience.
"Buuuut, I know you wouldn't have asked me out here if you didn't have a better sales pitch. So why don'tcha take a deep breath, and then try again."
Lunalei closed her eyes and did just that, focusing her attention back onto Shina's smiling face and telling her, "Haven't you EVER dealt with someone too stubborn to want to change?"
Shina's cheeks inflated as she pressed her fingertips against her lips and giggled, "Hee hee hee…!"
"W-What's so funny?" Lunalei was baffled.
"Oooooh, I don't wanna take up too much of your time today. Feel free to keep going."
"..." Lunalei took another deep breath to recenter her focus, "Egotism is a disease, and both of us have lived long enough to see what happens when it goes unanswered."
"You got that right." Shina agreed.
"I couldn't give a damn if Erin's attitude was like…a phase or something. But it's not. This is the new her, and she wants us to accept that whether we like it or not."
"And as a teacher, I worry that she'll take this ego into the real world and crash and burn, and bring other people down with her."
"Ah, so the Musk Maneuver." Shina threw in a quick joke, cleverly showing she was following along.
"And as myself…I'm forced to cope with the sheer frustration of dealing with her constantly looking down on and belittling me day in and day out!"
"So both my perspectives are at odds with one another, seeking vengeance while still wanting to HELP HER succeed." Having to admit that almost made her want to wretch.
"But the field of education is the only way I have the power to make this change possible! Everyone else around her is either too busy to intervene, too biased, or too kind!" Lunalei grit her teeth and wondered aloud, "GOD, what was Uncle Joe thinking letting her end up like this?!"
Shina remarked, "I ain't about to mount a full defense for his actions, but could ya trust me when I say he had his reasons?"
Lunalei curled her bottom lip and then sat back down.
Shina nodded along with a smile, "Alright, that's a liiittle better. I don't think the balance is as even as ya think it is, Lunalei, BUT…ya clearly got some of the right mentality here."
"And I think…I know the PERFECT solution to satisfy both ends," Shina put her hands down on the table and relaxed, "Assign your class a simple question as homework 'Where do you see yourself in the future?'"
Lunalei flinched and quickly adjusted her glasses back into place while remarking, "Shina, that's a brilliant idea!"
Shina pressed her fingers against her lips and giggled, "Yeah I have them sometimes hee hee."
"Yeah, yeah! I bet that haughty goth doesn't actually have an answer! This is perfect, ha ha HA!"
"Ahem…!" Shina courteously reprimanded her swelling ego, "Lunalei, you have to promise me that if you do this, you're doing this for the sake of furthering their education, not vengeance. This ain't a Tokukatsu show. Justice ain't your priority here."
"...O-Oh, fine, sorry, you're right." Lunalei sank into her chair with a heavy blush on her cheeks.
She then rose back up and with a deep sigh, told her, "I promise not to abuse this assignment for my own personal gain. P-Plus, I guess it'd be a good way to see where the rest of my students are at mentally…"
"That's the spirit!" Shina cheered her on, "And ya wanna keep that last part in mind too, cause if it turns out Erin DOES have an answer, at least you'll still have solidified a victory as a teacher."
"Nah, I feel pretty confident that she won't." Lunalei said.
"Haaaa…" Shina sighed and daintily shook her head, "I'll just live this alone now. Ya wanna order up?"
Lunalei flinched upon remembering where she even was, "Oh yeah! What type of panini do you want? I'll pay for us both, as thanks for coming out."
"Hmmm, unsure. I'm kinda interested to see how the reuben comes out, but this one with pickled peppers, pepper jack, and smoked turkey sounds delish!"
Shina poked her menu in a few spots and after a delightful hum, told Lunalei with eyes lit up, "I'll go for the Hamwich Superslam. I'm hamperin' for some hammin'!"
"And I'll get the…Cheddar Chicken with Onions," Lunalei curled her lip a little and wondered, "Man why couldn't mine have a cool name…?"
After sorting through a delicious lunch and a little normal conversation between two nerds, Lunalei bid farewell to Shina and returned home to check and see if she could actually get away with adding this homework assignment to her class' workload.
And she ABSOLUTELY could! There were no tests coming up she needed to prepare them for.
So come the start of the next week, she delivered the same announcement to both of her classes:
"I'll be handing out an extra bit of homework this week. I want all of you to reflect on this one question: Where do you see yourselves in the future?"
"It doesn't matter to me if you're undecided yet, I'll accept that as an answer. But that's all you need to pass…an answer."
"Yes, that's right, this is going to reflect upon your grades going forward. That's why I'm giving you the whole week to submit it."
"And on the last day of the week, I'm going to discuss the results with each student individually. You're free to talk about the assignment with other people, but I would appreciate it if you don't say whether you passed or failed."
"That's all. I am really looking forward to seeing your answers."
Needless to say this was a surprise, but one that got the students talking. And a lot of them were excited about the assignment.
Selina and Violet, while hanging out near the gym, were looking at their notebooks while standing back to back.
"I must admit, this is a verily interesting assignment we've been handed by big si-...teacher, doh!"
Violet laughed, "You said it, I love it a lot!"
The two gave their papers a blank stare and then looked over at each other's work.
"Nothing?" Violet said dryly.
"The words escape me…" Selina sighed.
"Hmmm…" Violet tapped her paper with her pen and murmured, "Well I know what I don't want to be…anything involving the law!"
Selina remarked, "I do not believe she'll accept that."
"I mean duh! I'm just verbally getting some options out of the way."
"Ah, of course! Perhaps I ought to try that myself," Selina mimicked her tapping, "I don't want to be a scientist."
"Ooooh, good one. Neither do I."
"Really? But you're quite verily smart, Violet."
"Yeah, but you don't get to be a stand-out genius unless you make something unique. And I kind of…want to be in the spotlight."
"I'd say your bubble bombs are very, very unique!" Selina remarked excitedly.
Violet turned around and started bubbling, "S-Shure…! Buh-buh-buh but, I bet anyone could make them with a little effort."
"Oh…" Selina tilted her head and then after a little bobbing, clapped her hands and declared, "Ah! Mayhaps you could be a stage performer!"
"I am pretty flexible…a bit of training and I could totally do flips and spins like a pro!" Violet then declared, "Heck, we could even be a duo act!"
Selina dialed back to a whisper, "Ummm, lest you forget, I'm not supposed to be using my magic in the public eye."
"True, and you can be a little scatterbrained at times…" Violet meant this fondly, but Selina ended up hanging her head.
"I'm sorry…" She whispered.
Violet waved her hand around, "I-I didn't mean it as a bad thing! Sorry, buddy!"
She then put her hands behind her head and muttered, "Ok, scratch that idea then. Hmmm…"
Selina remarked with eyes wide from how overwhelmed she was, "There's…a lot of options."
"Yeah, for sure!" Violet reflected on what Claire offered while she was around and wondered if she could go for that option still.
"Hmmm…nah, not yet." Instead, she got another idea for what to write down, and immediately went for it.
"Heh, let's see if this'll be enough for ya, Lunalei…"
And around this time, Leo was hanging out with Lyra and Bang in the cafeteria, thinking over the same assignment as they were eating lunch.
Though Lyra was the odd one out, not taking part in their class.
"You two are being really quiet for once. Did I do something wrong?" She wondered, aiming the question at Leo next to her.
Leo looked up from his notebook and remarked, "Not at all. I'm thinking about our homework this week."
"Is it a tough report?" Lyra wondered.
"It's a special assignment asking us to answer: 'Where do you see yourself in the future?'"
"That's a fun question!" Lyra proclaimed.
Bang looked up from his notebook and laughed, "Yeah, and it's so easy even I can ace it! That means we're gonna be on the same level, bro! High five!"
As he held his hand out, Leo was stoic, deep in thought.
"Uhhh, high five?" Bang tried to put his hand out again, but Leo continued not to reciprocate.
Lyra poked him on the ear lobe a few times until he looked her way, apologizing softly, "S-Sorry, I'm just deep in thought."
"How come? This feels like an easy question for you. Unless…your teacher's forcing an unnecessarily long word limit?"
Leo flicked his pen between his fingers and pondered, "I don't recall her mentioning that…"
Bang crossed his arms and tried to be supportive, "Well then it should totally be easy, dude! You want to do something with your music talent. Easy!"
"You said 'easy' twice." Lyra commented.
"Hey, grammar ain't my strong suit." Bang tried to get one back on her being humble, but she was glad to undercut that just a little bit more.
"So what IS yours then?"
"Ha ha…" Bang said with a droopy face before flipping her off.
After leaving Leo to stew in his thoughts for a bit, Bang asked Lyra, "So whatabout you? What's your future look like?"
"Hmmm…I'm going to keep that dream a secret for now." She said in a playful manner.
"Ah come on, don't be a recluse. Let it loose!" Bang nudged her under the table with his foot.
"...Oh fine, but I'm only going to tell you." Lyra got up around the table and whispered in his ear lightning fast.
"REALLY?" Bang's enthusiasm at the response was the bait that got Leo to perk up and watch Lyra waddle back to her seat with intrigue loose on his face.
She had her life figured out, it seemed like, and even her disability had done little to dissuade her goals.
But him? He's young, he's healthy, he's not exactly UNtalented…he's got everything he needs to pursue his future goals…
Except the most important factor of all: Motivation.
An aspect of his that, he loathes to admit, has been dwindling lately. It all began with Lyra questioning the spirit of his music playing exploits, and from there he started paying closer attention to his behavior and realized that he's been stuck in a rut of refusing to change even something as simple as what he wears without a lot of prodding from other people.
It instills this fear inside of him that once he commits to one future…that's it. He'll never escape.
And…is music really what he wants? Forever?
Through this line of thinking, he finally put the pen to paper and started writing down what he sincerely felt.
And then there was Erin, taking to the bait Lunalei laid out with a dedicated smirk of confidence and the certainty of success on her side.
"This will be easy…" She said, preparing to write down her answer.
Everyone had their own paths to take, their own answers to give.
The week went by rather smoothly and uneventfully, until Lunalei got every last piece of paper she needed, stowing Erin's away to be the last she'd review.
With her determination standing strong, she was ready to tackle every student one at a time.
"Alright, come in!" She shouted.
Next Time: Written Futures