Chaotic Waters, Act 1 Chapter 5: Silenced Silver and Shattered Awakening.

~~~D6S~~~

She stirred, feeling a hand lightly stroking her waist. Even with her eyes closed, she knew her lover's touch, how could she not after so many nights together? {"Zee..."} She murmured, feeling her lover's hand drawing patterns on her bare stomach.

{"Hey there Beautiful."} She heard her lover say in her smokey voice, already knowing that the Uranian was a woman today, She always called Nerida "Beautiful" as a woman, but preferred to call her "My Love" as a man. Nerida wasn't even sure if Ziaza herself had noticed that habit, but eithter way she found it endearing. Slowly and ever so gently, Ziaza traced Nerida's skin where she knew her lover's mana lines, blood vessels for magic, ran through her body. The Guardian of Wind channeling just the slightest bit of her own mana to her fingers, just enough to make the tips warm, and smirked when she felt her lover squirm in a way she had become intimately familiar with.

{"Zee...we can't."} Nerida groaned, making no motion to stop the Uranian Princess. {"We have to leave soon."}

{"That's not what you said last night...what was it again?"} Ziaza's smirk grew as she leaned in closer, growling in Nerida's ear lowly. {"Don't stop, don't you dare stop?"} She laughed huskily as the Guardian of Neptune shuddered, she loved that she could have this kind of effect on the woman who acted so regal and dignified in public.

{"Be nice Ziaza."} A new voice, soft like silk yet as firm as steel spoke from the other side of Nerida, cupping the Neptunian's face with their hand. {"We wore her out quite a bit last night, I'll be surprised if the poor dear can even stand, let alone walk."} It was the Guardian of Pluto, or Princess Melinoe as she was more commonly known, gently smiling down at Nerida.

{"You two are horrible."} Nerida muttered, her cheeks growing warm.

{"Again, that's not what you said last night."} Ziaza purred, giving her lover's cute ass a small pinch and getting a yelp in response.

Melinoe just rolled her eyes at the Guardian of Uranus, not surprised one bit at her antics. Ziaza only acted mature around people who weren't in their little group of four, not that the Guardian of Saturn ever joined in on their occasional fun in bed. It wasn't that she was romantically involved with the other two herself, their relationship was purely physical as she had never really found anyone attractive in particular.

{"...are we really going to do this?"} Nerida asked, desperation creeping into her tone as she turned around and gripped Ziaza's shoulders tightly. {"We...we won't be able to see each other. They're sending us to the Four Gates...we'll be alone, completely separate from any living being."}

{"..."}

{"...that's not like you Nerida."} Ziaza said gently, running her hands through her lover's sea colored hair. {"I don't think I've ever heard you question your duties as a Guardian before."}

{"Of course I'm questioning them! What they're asking us to do would be considered torture if done to a criminal, but because we're theGuardiansit's a noble task!"} Nerida snapped, hissing their shared title like it was a poison. {"The Four Gates are each in their own pocket dimensions, we'll be completely cut off from anyone! From each other, from our families, even from our High Priestesses! What in the name of the gods did we ever do to deserve being cut off from every single living being?!"}

{"We awoke as Guardians."} She heard from the doorway where Renata, the Guardian of Saturn stood, already dressed in her Guardian's garb. {"That's all it took for our fate to be decided."}

{"..."}

{"Noe?"} Nerida asked, her tone almost begging the oldest of the Outer Guardians for an answer, any answer that would save them.

{"...There's nothing that can be done. We can't escape, the Gates will summon us to each of them soon...not even death has freed us."} The Guardian of Pluto said sadly. It was true, every Guardian was reincarnated upon their death, sometimes it was immediately, sometimes it took hundreds of years, but they always came back and for the Outer Guardians, that meant being forced to endure a living hell of watching over the Gates. Without another word she flicked her wrist, summoning their Guardian garbs onto herself and the other two nude women.

{"...The Inner Guardians don't even know about the Gates."} Nerida said softly, leaning into Ziaza as much as she could. {"They'll think we abandoned them or something, we've only just begun their training and we're being sent away!"

{"They were told we're leaving for the outskirts of the system, guarding everyone from invaders."} Renata stated, walking into the room and sitting at the foot of the bed. {"I heard the Lunar Queen tell them as much last night while the three of you were...otherwise occupied."} She paused for a moment before frowning, her head tilting to the side just sightly. {"Well...that's what they told them about you two."} She nodded at the Guardians of Uranus and Neptune. {"They didn't say anything about myself or Melinoe, my guess it's because we never really interacted with the Inners all that much, you two were the ones who were assigned to train them after all."}

{"Right, the System Council was worried about you two not being able to hold back enough to not kill them."} Ziaza murmured, wrapping an arm around Nerida and continuing to stroke her hair absent-mindedly.

The System Council, a group made up of the wisest members of each Council from the various celestial bodies. They only convened when it came to matters that involved the system as a whole, such as the training of a new Guardian, or a people from outside the territory of their system attempting to make contact. Unfortunately the meaning of "wisest" differed from between the celestial bodies so the System Council rarely agreed on anything. As such the Guardians tended to think of them as an annoyance due to the Council's objections on the Guardians operating on a planet outside of their own. The jurisdictional debates alone had cause no end of headaches for them.

{"...how much longer?"} Nerida whispered, looking at Melinoe sadly.

{"Fifteen seconds."} The Guardian of Time answered without hesitation, wincing at the distraught look on her companion's face. {"...I'm sorry."} She whispered, too low for any of them to hear. A silent tear fell down the Neptunian Princesses' face as each of the guardians started to glow.

They had had each appeared by one of the Four Gates by the time the tear splashed onto the bed.

~~~D6E~~~

"Death...?" Michiru whispered, her eyes wide at the priest's words. "The only way to be cured...is to die?"

"To be more accurate, it's curing the curse that kills the victims." The priest explained, taking a long drink from his cold tea. "Jusenkyō doesn't like to relinquish those who have touched it's waters. In every case I've discovered, anytime the curse was removed, ancient artifact, magic, virgin sacrifice, spiritual power, ritualistic sacrifice, intervention by the divine, they all ended the same way. The one who had the curse would be fine for a moment and then start coughing up blood, their heart giving out exactly two minutes after the curse is removed." He frowned, his face pensive. "Even in the few cases I found of actual divine intervention by the kami they never directly removed the curse. They either convinced the victim to accept their cursed form as a part of them if it were human, or gave them a gift of some sort, a blessing or an artifact, that merely lessened the misfortune aspect of the curse."

"Why would curing the curse kill the victim though...wait did you say virgin sacrifice?!" Rei stared at her grandfather in shock, her mouth and eyes wide open.

"Well...yes, the pools of Jusenkyō have been around for a very long time, the oldest of them is believed to date back to ancient Sumer nearly four thousand and six hundred years ago."

"And I thought my curse was one of the older ones." Michiru muttered. "How do you even know all of this anyway?"

"When my daughter was cursed I sent letters to some very old friends of mine across the world, other priests, monks, and some gurus I met in my youth, as well as some members of the mystic community I had heard of before. Together we pieced together as much as we could, though there was much we didn't manage to uncover, such as the origin of Jusenkyō." The priest stated, stroking his white mustache in thought. "Such answers still illude me, even after all this time, though I must admit I stopped researching the Pools after my daughter died. I never thought I'd meet another person touched by their waters. Last I heard, my friends are still searching for answers, if you like I will ask them if they have made any new discoveries. If so, I will share them with you along with what we previously uncovered."

"...what do you want in return?" Michiru asked suspiciously, her eyes narrowed sharply.

"Nothing, I would never dream of holding something like this back from someone who might have use for it!" The priest snapped, sounding almost offended that he would ask for anything in return.

"Oh...sorry." Michiru apologized, her expression contrite. She was touched by the priest's kindness, no-one had ever offered such a gift to her before, they'd always made her do something they knew she wouldn't like.

The priest took a long deep breath before shaking his head, looking at the cursed girl apologetically. "No, it's me who should apologize. I should never have snapped at you, I get the feeling that you haven't experienced much kindness in your life." He said, a sad expression crossing his face when the cursed girl flinched and looked away, her sea colored hair blocking her eyes from view. "I thought as much."

"Kaioh-san..." Rei murmured, making Michiru clench her fist at the sympathy she could hear in the girl's tone.

"...tell me girl, would you like a job here at the shrine?" The priest asked, pulling Michiru from her thoughts.

"I...what?"

"Would you like a job here at the shrine?" The priest asked again, a small smile forming on his lips. "Don't get me wrong, my granddaughter does fine work, but I would like her to be able to spend more time outside of here with her friends."

"Grandpa! I told you, we don't need help around the Shrine, I am perfectly capable of taking care of things here by myself!" The shrine maiden exclaimed, glaring at her grandfather.

"Yes I know Rei, but having someone around to help you would give you more time to help out your friends, they do seem to get into trouble a lot, especially that Tsukino girl." The priest's tone was light and normally Michiru wouldn't have thought anything of what he said...were it not for the gob-smacked look on his granddaughter's face.

"Jeez, and I thought MY poker face was bad."Michiru thought, stopping herself from laughing out loud at the poor girl's expression. "Can I ask why?" She asked after taking a moment.

"He probably just wants to see her in that outfit more." She faintly heard the man's granddaughter mutter.

The priest laughed, shaking his head at what his granddaughter had said. "While I confess I would not mind that, that isn't one of my reasons. The real reason I asked is that it will probably be tough to get a job without having to worry about people seeing you change. But if you work here, you wouldn't have to worry about explaining your curse to us, you can work in whichever form you choose to, and the spiritual power around the shrine should suppress the misfortune of your curse that leads you to be splashed at random times, you wouldn't change unless you wanted to."

"...how many days would you like me to work per week and what would I be doing?" She asked, thinking it over.

"Let's say five days a week at...ten thousand yen per day." The priest said after a moment of thought. "As for what you would be doing, Mostly selling merchandise such as amulets and the like, though you will unfortunately have to put up with some of our visitors gawking at you regardless of which form you choose to work in that day."

It wasn't a bad offer, hell it was a great one, perverted old man aside. She'd be able to have a job and not have to worry about hiding her curse from her boss or co-workers and she'd have an income to afford groceries and anything else she might need. Still...something told her the priest had an ulterior motive and not just to see her in her current outfit more often. There was something the priest wasn't telling her. The only question, was she going to accept the offer knowing that it could possibly bite her in the ass or was she going to keep searching for another job elsewhere? Then again, this was a guaranteed job, and who knew how long she could last in a different one with a boss that didn't know about her curse. "I...yes, I'd love a job here." She said after a moment's hesitation, bowing politely.

"Wonderful!" Exclaimed the priest, clapping his hands once in delight. "You can start tomorrow after school, we can go over the finer details then. You are, of course more than welcome to stay here until your clothes are dry, I doubt you want to walk around town looking like a miko. That sort of thing definitely attracts attention."

Michiru paused for a moment and looked down, she'd forgotten she was still dressed in the outfit Rei had given her. "Right...thank you for that."

It was only a few minutes after their guest had left the shrine when Rei whipped around and glared at her grandfather. "Ok grandpa, spill. Why are you acting so weird?"

The man put his hand over his heart and leaned back slightly, acting as if her words had physically wounded him. "Why Rei I'm hurt, can't your grandfather want to help out a weary soul without an ulterior motive? It's almost like you don't trust me!"

"When it comes to you and pretty girls I don't." She replied glaring harder at the man.

The priest just laughed and nodded at what his granddaughter had said, a wide grin forming on his face. "I suppose you're right in that regard, but I truly do wish to help out that girl."

"Somehow, I don't think that's your only reason."

"Oh but it is." The man said, his expression becoming subdued. "Did you notice? How different she was after changing?"

It was very lucky that Rei was not as proficient in her Senshi powers as her past life had been. If she had, her grandfather would have been atomized by the sheer heat of Rei's glare. Veins bulged in her temple as her fist clenched hard enough for her knuckles to crack. "Grandpaaaa." She growled darkly.

"Not like that!" He said, waving his hands in front of his body. "I meant how she carried herself, as well as her personality!"

Rei froze as she thought back to before their guest had splashed herself. After she had changed she had seemed more confident, more sure of herself aside from when she had asked about Aunt Asami's misfortune and when her grandpa had offered her a job. "...now that you mention it she did seem a little different." She mused, crossing her arms in thought.

Her grandfather nodded his head, looking out the shrine towards where their guest had disappeared from view. "She was far more comfortable as a young woman than she was as a young man, I don't even think she's aware of it herself."

"...She did mention that turning back into a guy felt wrong somehow, like the curse wanted her to stay a girl."

"...did she now?" The priest said, mostly thinking out loud. "That just confirms it then."

"Confirms what?" The shrine maiden asked quizzically, giving her relative a confused look,

"...it's nothing, or rather it's nothing I should say until our guest figures it out themselves." He said firmly, clearly meaning for what he said to be the end of this discussion. "Now let's go inside and you can answer my questions about your...after-school activities."

~~~D7S~~

How long had she been here, guarding the Gate? An eternity? Two? How much longer could she last before even her powers as a Guardian could no longer keep her sane? There was no difference between what was land and sky here, no horizon, only the endless white without end. In fact, aside from her there was only one other source of color here. The Gate of Life. A giant golden gate of solid crystal, nearly five times taller than her own height stood in the dead center of this bland place, the sole inhabitant of this dimension aside from her. Silently she sat there, leaning against the Gate as she waited for something,anythingto happen that would end this torture. For what must have been the quadrillionth time she summoned her talisman, the Deep Aqua Mirror, into her hands and looked at it. Reflected in the mirror was not her own image, but that of her lover, sleeping as she rested against her own Gate. For a moment, less than a second really, the upper corner of her lip twitched at seeing her love asleep, no doubt snoring away. She stared at her lover with longing until the pain in her heart grew too painful, severing the connection to the mirror's magic with but a thought.

When would she be allowed to leave this hell? To be with her love, to see her beloved planet once more?

As if in response to her thoughts her talisman began to glow, growing brighter and brighter until Nerida had no option but to close her eyes, falling backwards when the ever present gate behind her seemed to just vanish. She opened her eyes and stood, looking around to catch her bearings only to gasp in horror at what she saw. Silver Millennium, the Lunar kingdom, was in ruins. There were blood-soaked corpses littered all over, some in tight fitting robes of white and gold with silver trim, still clutching mana-infused weapons. The Silver Guard, the order of nights whose sole duty was the protection of the Lunar Royal Family. The rest of the corpses were wearing armor of black and gold, the uniform for the Knights of Terra.

Stumbling forward her head whipped back and forth trying to understand what she was seeing, since when had Terra and Luna been at war? How long had she been trapped in the Gate's realm? Out the corner of her eye she spotted a blue heeled shoe just barely visible coming out from behind a broken wall. {"Galyna!"} She cried out, recognizing the ice blue anklet that the Guardian of Mercury never took off resting just above the girl's ankle. She sprinted to her comrade, turning around the wall that hid the rest of her.

Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

Galyna had been torn in half at the waist, her blood splattered all over the wall that had been hiding the rest of her body, her internal organs scattered all around her like a macabre art piece. Her torso had seemingly been torn into by some kind of animal, her ribs split open and her mouth open in a silent scream the was only magnified by the look of horror and pain forever etched onto her lifeless eyes.

Nerida gagged as her stomach twisted at the sight of the girl she had known killed in such a manner, she took a step back and tripped over something falling into a pool of blood. Her head whipped over to look at what she had tripped over, letting out a tortured scream upon seeing the severed head of Kapheira, the Guardian of Jupiter, her eye sockets empty. She crawled backwards in the bloody pool until she came in contact with something, her head slowly turning, dreading what she would see next.

It was worse than she could have imagined.

Andronika, the Guardian of Mars had been burned alive by an immense heat of some sort, only half of the young woman's body was recognizable, the rest was nothing but a blackened skeleton. All at once the smell of burned flesh hit her, once again causing her to gag as she threw herself away from the immolated corpse. What had happened, who could have done this and why had she not been summoned earlier, when she could have been of use?!

Feeling a hand touch her shoulder, she flinched and hit the offender with a blast of sea water, not nearly as strong as her heavy hitting spells. Drawing deeply on the connection with her planet, she summoned seven ringed orbs of compressed sea water, preparing to obliterate whoever had killed her students. {"Nerida, it's me!"} She heard the soon to be corpse groan just before she launched her attack, her heart clenching painfully at the oh so familiar voice. {"Ziaza?"} She croaked, begging for one person she knew to be alive in this hell she had been brought to. {"Is it truly you?"}

With a small grunt of effort the Guardian of Uranus pulled herself out of the wall Nerida had blasted her into, looking sadly at the corpses of her fallen students. {"It's me."} Ziaza grunted, motioning with her head for Nerida to follow her. {"Come on...there's nothing left here."} She said gruffly, her voice filled with barely controlled rage.

{"Nothing? Nothing?! These are our students Ziaza, our comrades! We can't just leave them here we have to-"}

{"THEY'RE DEAD NERIDA!"} Her lover roared, glaring at her furiously, their chest heaving as they fought to control their emotions. {"There is nothing we can do for them so yes, there is nothing here for us!"}

{"Ziaza...we...we can't just leave them like this."} The Princess of Neptune pleaded, her voice begging for Uranus to say something, anything else.

{"...there's nothing we can do for them now."} The Guardian of Uranus said, taking one last pained look at the bodies of three of the four Inner Guardians before turning around and walking back the way she had come.

With a tortured scream of rage and pain, Nerida slammed her fists onto the bloody ground, the seven ringed orbs of her power crashing all around her seconds later, exploding with a large lake's worth of sea water that crashed and surged everywhere but where she was. Until that moment, she had never hated that the waters she commanded refused to harm or even touch her, wishing with all her heart that they would wash her away with her fallen comrades.

It had taken her more than a few moments before she could manage to pry herself off of the ground, stumbling after her lover, her legs feeling hollow and weak. Struggling to stand under her own power, she leaned against the few walls that were left standing, unable to care as she stepped in more and more bloody pools.

As she turned a corner not five feet from where she had found her students she found Ziaza waiting for her, sorrow gleaming in their eyes. {"...come on."} The Uranian said softly, taking their lovers arm and draping it over their shoulder.

"{"How are you not affected as I am?"} She asked as they made their way to the Lunar Palace.

{"Because I've seen this before, at the Battle of Black Wind."} The Uranian stated bluntly, referencing the two week long battle two years before they had been summoned by the Gates, when the Cult had personally performed a raid on the Uranian Palace. The Guardian of Wind had lost many of their friends that day, along with their mother and younger sibling.

{"..."}

{"Noe is just up ahead."} Her Lover murmured softly as they helped her across the battlefield.

They were so focused on taking the next step, they never noticed the wave of purple light coming from behind them until it washed over them, bringing all it touched into silence.

~~~D7E~~~

Ranma shot awake and retched, throwing up all over the floor as the newest dream ended, leaving her head pounding and her heart racing. "What the actualfuckwas that?!" She exclaimed, clutching her stomach and gagging. The dreams had always felt real, but this...this was something else. She could still feel the blood soaking into her clothes and the smell of burned flush permeating the air around her. All at once she felt wrong, unclean likeshewas the one who had walked through that hell instead of Nerida. Gagging once more she pushed herself off of the bed, landing on all fours and scrambled to her feet. Running into the bathroom, she twisted on the shower knob till it was as hot as it could get, jumping under the steaming water without even taking her off her boxers or the extra large shirt she used at night.

Normally something that soothed her, the hot water just made her skin crawl as an overwhelming feeling ofsomethingspread throughout her entire body. Gasping for air as water poured over her head, she twisted the knob in the other direction and nearly sobbed in relief as the cold water soothed her, washing way this ache this feeling of wrongness that had been consuming her. She shuddered and shivered as she curled up in a ball, letting the ice cold water wash over her as sobs wracked her body. What was wrong with her, why had she felt so...disgusting? She'd never felt that feeling of wrongness so strongly, like something inside of her was screaming out but she couldn't understandwhatit was saying.

She never noticed the light blue symbol, a trident, softly glowing on her forehead for a few seconds before fading away.

She didn't know how long she had laid there, underneath the ice cold spray of water, it could have been ten minutes, it could have been an hour, it could have even been a few days, she doubted she would have noticed. She might have even laid there forever had it not been for the faint sound of her alarm clock going off from her room. Anything to keep her skin from crawling like that again. Slowly, she uncurled herself and reached for the shower knob, the cold feeling of dread building in her chest. Would that horrible feeling return if she turned off the water? She bit her lower lip as the anxiety built more and more inside her chest. Could she risk it? That terrible, gut-wrenching wrongness?

Taking a deep breath, she clenched her eyes shut and pooled her courage, twisting off the water with a sharp twist of her wrist...nothing. The feeling didn't return. "What...whatwasthat?" She gasped, shivering as she stripped herself of her wet shirt and boxers, grabbing a towel with her shaking hands and drying herself off."I've never felt anything like that before...some days I feel a bit off, but that?"She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself."That was...I don't even know what to call whatever that was!"She shivered as she hung the towel back up, walking back into her bedroom and wrinkling her nose at the evidence of her puking."I need to clean that up before I leave..."She thought to herself, swaying slightly on her feet. Hearing her alarm go off again she groaned aloud, walking to the irritating device and switching it off. With a deep sigh she left the room to look for her cleaning supplies, she wasn't just going to leave her sick on the floor all day while she was at school after all.

-Juban High School, the next day-

Ranma, once again firmly in her Michiru persona, laid her head on her arms to keep the walls from spinning, groaning quietly when she heard a chair being pulled up in front of her. She wasn't surprised to see that it was Mayu when she lifted her head for just a second.

"You look like you had fun after school yesterday." Mayu snickered, seeing the dark bags under Michiru's eyes.

"What do you-" Michiru started to say before a yawn interrupted her. "Sorry, what do you mean? I just had a rough night is all."

"I bet you did...so what was his name?" The class president asked eagerly.

"...huh?"

"You know, whoever it was that gave you a rough night, what was his name?"

It took Michiru longer than it probably should have to realize what the class president was talking about and she ended up just staring blankly at the teenager until it hit her, a furious blush spreading across her cheeks. "Nuh-uh, no, nope. There was no him, just a bad nightmare!" She exclaimed in a strangled voice, just barely keeping her volume quiet enough not to draw attention as she waved her hands in front of her rapidly. "It shocked me awake and I wasn't able to fall back asleep, that's all!"

The class president snorted and started laughing loudly, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "Oh kami-sama you should have seen your face, I believe you just because of that alone." She said, wiping a tear from her eye with her index finger.

Michiru frowned, laying her head back on her arms, feeling far too tired to deal with her classmates amusement. "It wasn'tthatfunny Sasaki-san." She muttered.

"It totally was!"

"Not to me." Michiru muttered darkly, shuddering at the thought of ever being with another man. "That's not something that willeverhappen." She declared firmly, her words causing the class president's laughter to die off, a strange look on the other girl's face. "What?"

"Well...the way you said that...Kaioh-san are you...do you not want a boyfriend?" The girl asked hesitantly, seeming to be very careful about what she said.

"Not at all." Was the cursed girl's blunt reply as she stared out the window with a look of tired boredom. "I've never once been interested in getting a boyfriend, or being in any relationship really." She said, her lips twisting in slight disgust at the word "boyfriend". "I don't know if there's something wrong with me, or if I just haven't met anyone who's my "type" but...I don't know..." She trailed off, thinking about her fiancées. "I look at people, and I can tell that they're attractive, but I just don't feel attracted to them." She shrugged, it really wasn't something she had ever really worried about, it was just how she was.

"So you're asexual?" The class president asked, her head tilted to the side in thought.

"I'm...not sure what that means." Michiru admitted, giving her classmate her full attention out of curiosity.

"Asexuality is where a person either feels very little or no attraction to others." Mayu explained calmly, sitting backwards on the chair in front of Michiru's desk, resting her arms on the back of the seat. "My older brother's like that, drives our mom crazy with worry about him finding "a nice girl" to settle down with." She rolled her eyes, showing clearly how she felt about her mother's opinion.

"Oh...I didn't know there was a word for something like that." Michiru said, staring at the desk in thought. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, her fingers tapping quietly against the wood of her desk. "Is...is there a word for someone who...doesn't feel like that at first but starts to feel things after getting to know someone?" She asked, swallowing past a lump that formed in her throat, her eyes darting to the side to avoid looking at her classmate.

Mayu's eyes widened, looking surprised for a moment before nodding, glancing around the room. "Yeah, it's called demisexual." She almost whispered, the slightest bit of excitement showing in her eyes. "Is that how you...?" She asked, her words drifting off as Michiru nodded slightly, a faint pink hue forming on the teal haired girl's cheeks. "Oh."

Michiru nodded slightly looking anywhere but at the girl sitting in front of her. As she looked around the room she noticed something...odd. All of the other girls in the class seemed a lot more subdued, they didn't seem sad, more...contemplative? "Hey, Sasaki-san?"

"Hmm? What's up?"

"Is it just me or are the other girls...I don't know, less talkative today?"

"Ah, that." The class president muttered, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "When we saw your...you know-" She started, gesturing to her back. "-we all kind of agreed that we wouldn't talk about them. Nishikawa was the one who suggested we shouldn't, which surprised me, that girl is usually all about gossip...when she's not stalking Tenoh."

"Okay, but that doesn't explain why they're so..." Michiru gestured with her hand, unable to find the right word.

"Lost in thought?" Mayu offered.

"Yes, I'd understand being disgusted by them, but this is a bit...weird." Michiru muttered uncomfortably.

"Disgusted? Kaioh-san a lot of them areinspiredby them, by you!" The class president exclaimed, much to Michiru's shock and confusion.

"Why in the world would they be inspired by my scars?" Michiru raised her eyebrow in disbelief. "That doesn't make sense, they're hideous."

"It's more...how you handled the class seeing them, in the changing room I mean."

"I'm...not sure what you mean, I just got changed as quick as possible, I wasn't doing anything special. In all honesty I was a little...scared showing everyone." The cursed girl replied, rubbing her upper arm. In truth shehadbeen scared, terrified even, though she hadn't been sure how much of it had been from her scars and how much had been from her expecting Akane to barge in to play "Beat the Pervert". "I just knew that I wasn't going to be able to hide them forever, so I thought I might as well get it out of the way."

"Really? It didn't look like you were uncomfortable."

"Oh I was, my hands were shaking really badly."

"Huh, that wasn't what it looked like to us." Mayu mused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you seemed so confident, like you didn't care that you had them or what other people would think of them."

"Why does everyone think that I don't care about them?" Michiru groaned, shaking her head. "I swear, it happens every single time. Of course I care that I have them! They're onmybody after all. I just don't see the point in hiding them is all."

"Huh...that definitely wasn't the impression everyone else got." Mayu mused, giving Michiru a strange look before shaking her head and smiling. "Anyway, enough of the serious stuff, have you picked out a club yet? They start recruitment soon."

The cursed girl blinked at the sudden topic change before giving a small smile in return, thankful for the change. "I was thinking about joining the swim team actually."

"Really? You any good?"

"I'm...adequate." Michiru said with a slightly sour expression, fighting her usual urge to brag and call herself the best."Remember "Michiru" doesn't brag."She reminded herself.

Mayu snorted, shaking her head in amusement. "If you're trying to be humble, you're doing a terrible job at it."

"I have no idea what you mean." Michiru said modestly, the corner of her lips twitching just slightly.