“Mingling with people, hurting them, getting hurt by them.
That's how you learn about people and about yourself.”

---

“Re-Re!”

“Over here, big sis!”

“Push me higher, oneesama!”

“No, come play tag, Rei!”

“No, no, big sis Rei wants to play hide and go seek! Isn’t that right?”

A crowd of children gathered around a girl who, in all honesty, wasn’t much taller than they were. Given her small stature, she could easily be mistaken as another child who belonged at the orphanage, and if looked upon one would assume her age to be pre-teen to early teenage years. In actuality she was seventeen, not that that really mattered to an onlooker, but she had grown accustomed to people assuming that she were younger than her actual age.

Lifting both of her hands as if to ward off the small humans surrounding her, Reiya let out a flustered little laugh, waving her hands back and forth. Her sweater sleeves slipped down to her forearms, away from their normal resting spot around the middle of her hands, and they revealed dainty, peach-toned fingers with blue nail polish.

“Come on, you guys - there’s enough time for me to play with all of you!” she giggled out breathily, having just stopped in the middle of playing kickball with another group of the children.

Her words didn’t seem to please the ones surrounding her, however, as their argumentative looks turned to pouts. Immediately they all began talking at once, growing louder and louder in an attempt to talk over one another and be heard, and Reiya took a step back, scratching the back of her head. After a moment of thinking, she shot out her arm, giving a large thumbs-up to them.

“I know! How about we all play tag, and then hide and go seek? And after that, we can all go inside for the yummy snacks that Ms. Treist made! Deal?”

The children looked around at each other slowly, and after a moment, they huffed in unison and nodded. One of the older boys stepped forward and thrust a finger in her direction.

“Fine. But you’d better not be joshing us, Rei-Rei!”

With the deal in place, the children took off, the older boy being deemed as ‘it’, despite his gasp and words of outrage over the predicament. Reiya let out a laugh and ran alongside the young ones, yet slowed her pace a bit from a normal jog so as not to make them feel slow in comparison to her.

It was around an hour and a half later before they finally finished their little games of tag and hide and seek. The sweaty and tired children dragged themselves into the orphanage, more than ready for a snack and a nap, and Reiya, ever the bubble of happy energy, followed behind them joyfully.

As the children sat around at the enormous banquet tables that had been generously donated to the orphanage by herself, Reiya was stopped by the matron of the gargantuan building, Mrs. Treist. The older woman laid a hand gently on Reiya’s shoulder, and they both stopped in the doorway to the dining hall, eyes overlooking the happy children. There was a moment of content silence between them before the woman spoke.

“We really cannot thank you enough for the generosity that you’ve shown not only us, but the children, also, Ms. Himura,” came her trembling voice. Although she was the matron of the orphanage, she did not deal directly with the children, but instead ran everything behind the scenes. She organized the meals and meal times, play times, field trips, and so on, but had hired a few helpers to assist in the actual watching of the children. In fact, since Reiya’s regular donations began, she had managed to hire enough staff to monitor each bedroom, if necessary. Not that it was, since the children’s behaviors had grown incredibly better since they began to have more improved surroundings as time went on, but it was nice for the elderly woman to have the option if the need arose.

Waving her hand as though to wave off her gratitude, Reiya laughed and blushed a light pink.

“There’s no need to thank me, Mrs. Treist, really! And please, call me Reiya - I insist,” she added at the end as Mrs. Treist went to interject. Turning her gaze back to the children, Reiya smiled softly. “Their laughter and happiness is all the thanks that I need, trust me,” she said softly, lowering her hand as she did. “I’m just glad that I’m able to shed a little bit of light in their otherwise dark worlds. I know what it’s like to go through the unthinkable - to sink into a dark hole, without knowing your way back out. I’m happy that I can be the light to shine and show them the path, if only for a brief amount of time in their lives. At least they’re able to form these joyous memories now, that way if in the future their lives become dark once again, they have these times to look back on and smile. To give them hope that there’s more to life than sadness and negativity.”

Another moment of silence passed between them, and Mrs. Treist once again patted the young girl’s shoulder.

“How a girl so young could be so incredibly wise is beyond me, but let me just say this - your mother and father raised you well. Wherever they are, I’m sure that they would be extremely proud of the woman you’re becoming, Reiya.”

Reiya once again flushed, this time a darker pink, and her smile trembled a little bit. She looked away quickly before Mrs. Treist could see the soft sheen of tears that crossed her eyes, and drew in a small breath.

“I’m happy that you think so. It means a lot to me ... The thought that I can make them proud.” Her voice was soft, and it held a bottomless tone to it that spoke of the sorrow and ache she still felt over the loss of her family.

Drawing in a deep breath, she plastered a large smile on her face once more.

“I should be going now, if you don’t mind. I still have to go to the clinic and check up on the baby raccoons that the children found abandoned earlier this week. It was really nice seeing you again, though.” Turning to face the dining hall, she placed her fingers in the corners of her mouth and let out a shrill whistle. At the sound, two red-brown heads perked up from two separate places across the room, before ducking down again. She could see small forms darting through the tables and weaving between tiny legs, and in record time, two young foxes were at her feet. They both scrambled up her legs - she ignored the scratching of their nails on her soft skin - and made themselves at home on her shoulders and head. She snagged her backpack from the table just inside the doorway of the hall, and with a wave, Reiya left the dining hall, and then the orphanage entirely, walking onto the sidewalk with a determined step. Lifting her hands, she scratched the two foxes heads, offering the one on her shoulder a soft kiss.

“Ready to go see the babies?” she asked them both, looking up and going cross eyed to view the one on her head. They both stared at her with dark black orbs, the one on her shoulder panting slightly. “Yup, definitely ready to go see the babies,” she laughed.

It was a short walk from the orphanage to the veterinary clinic where she worked as an assistant - not that she really needed the job, but she had already learned some very valuable lessons from the veterinarian that worked there - so she arrived rather quickly.

Pulling her sweater a bit more around her body, she shivered slightly as a cold wind whipped around her. She wasn’t from Japan, but even she found it odd that the air was so cold this time of year - and only in this portion of town.

Turning her gaze up to the sky, she adjusted her large-rimmed glasses, pushing them further up her nose.

It was hard not to hear the talk around Akita about the oddities going on in nature right now. The town was moderately sized, not small but also not large, and the community was rather tight-knit so gossip traveled fast. Everyone throughout the town had been chattering nonstop about the changes in the climates depending on the part of town that you went to - one portion was hot as the dickens, as how summer was meant to be, while the other was seeing snowfall - snowfall! - in the summer time. She had taken to avoiding the more heated parts of town, seeing as she had never really enjoyed the heat, and was just thankful that her home and the main places that she ventured to were in the chillier portions. The breeze that hit her, however, was extremely cold, causing goosebumps to flare up on her legs, and pushing her to slap her hands down on her skirt to keep it from flaring up.

“Okay, enough of this cold - let’s go inside, shall we?” she asked the foxes perkily, before shoving open the doors to the clinic.

The bell above the door dinged to announce her entrance, and the two people behind the counter jerked away guiltily from one another and peaked up at her. One was a middle aged blonde woman with tiny glasses, by the name of Clarisse Montonye, who began clacking away anxiously at the keyboard before her, and the other was a middle aged brunette man in a white lab coat, by the name of Harvey Rhynes, who had been leaning over Ms. Montonye rather closely and was now ruffling through some papers in a terrible attempt at appearing nonchalant. Reiya had known since her beginning employment at the clinic that there was more going on between the two than they ‘let on’, but they were terrible at hiding their interest in one another.

Stifling a giggle, Reiya smiled at the two, but before she could greet them, Harvey spoke up.

“Ah, Reiya - thank goodness you’re here! I need to run an errand and pick up some supplies from the pharmacy - we’re running rather low on a few things - so I was hoping that you could watch the clinic with Ms. Montonye, in case anything pops up?” he asked, having cleared his throat before doing so. He adjusted his tie nervously, flickering a glance down at the receptionist when he said her name, but quickly returning his gaze to the girl who stood just inside the doorway.

Offering them a bright smile, Reiya strode behind the counter, the foxes hopping down from their perches on her and sniffing around the counter for any good scents, and she slid her backpack from her shoulders, dropping it to the floor with a soft thud.

“Of course, Mr. Rhynes, I’d be happy to watch the clinic for you. You know I’m more than capable to handle anything that may arise in your absence,” she said. The two adults gave soft sighs of what could only be relief over her not bringing up the slightly intimate moment that she had disturbed, and Mr. Rhynes ruffled her hair, giving her a large grin.

“I know I can always count on you, Reiya. Thank you for everything you do around here. I’ll pick up some lunch for the three of us while I’m out, how about that?” He let out a laugh as her eyes widened and she nodded eagerly, her stomach giving a soft grumble in response, before grabbing his coat and keys. Tossing his hat on, he strode to the door, waving slightly before walking through it, the soft ding of the bell echoing in his exit of the building.

Turning to Clarisse, Reiya waggled her eyebrows.

“So, when are you and Harvey going to go on a date already?”

Clarisse let out a squeaky gasp, spinning in her chair and turning a deep, crimson red. She sputtered, unable to form a coherent word in response, leading Reiya to laugh.

“I’m just kidding Clarisse. Deep breaths, okay?”

The woman sputtered some more before abruptly spinning back around, hunching over her keyboard as though it could protect her from all evils.

Reiya turned, still laughing, and gave the two foxes a couple of light scratches behind the ears, before moving in the direction of the back of the clinic. A swinging door separated the entrance, where the customers would see, from the back of the building, where only staff were allowed. They had a couple of extra rooms branching off from the entrance for exams and, well, euthanization, that obviously pet owners were allowed to be in, but the area behind the counter and beyond were strictly off limits to anyone who wasn’t employed by Mr. Rhynes.

The soft chattering sounds of baby raccoons could be heard, growing louder as Reiya made her way down the hall, and as she entered the room that the little ones were in, their chattering turned into loud chitters. Giggling a little at their excitement, she approached the large enclosure that they had placed them in - equiped with toys, blankets, beds, and really anything the raccoons could possibly need - and opened the door to it. Stepping inside, she bent down as the babies scrambled towards her, flailing around in their movements as they were still growing accustomed to running on their small, stubby legs, and they flung themselves at her, their joy at her appearance evident. Reiya let out endless giggles as they jumped on her, nuzzling any part of her that they could, and she was forced to readjust her glasses countless times.

She spent the better part of an hour playing with the tiny balls of fluff, until Mr. Rhynes returned with delicious smelling ramen from the restaurant down the street. She joined Mr. Rhynes and Clarisse for lunch, reveling in the delicious taste of the chicken mixed with vegetables - she couldn’t get enough of the Japanese cuisine presented to her now that she lived in Japan - and enjoying joking conversations with the two.

After they finished their meal, Mr. Rhynes turned to her, giving her a sheepish grin.

“I really hate to do this to you, Reiya, but I actually forgot to pick something up from the pharmacy. I know it may be an inconvenience, but you can actually just pick it up at the market a couple of blocks over, seeing as it’s over the counter medical supplies. Would you mind going to pick it up? You can cut through the park, and I’ll buy you lunch again tomorrow to make up for it,” he promised, waggling his brows jokingly at her.

Reiya let out a small laugh, pushing herself up from her chair.

“Of course, Mr. Rhynes. I’ll go get it for you,” she said, taking the small sticky note that he held out to her with a few words scrawled across it, along with the wad of bills he had tucked with it. “I’ll be back shortly!”

With that said, she left the clinic, leaving the foxes to enjoy their playtime with their little friends at the building, and taking off down the street towards the park.

She was halfway through the park when she heard an odd squeaking sound. She paused mid-step, tilting her head and craning to listen for the sound once more, and was met with a distressed little shriek that could only belong to an animal in pain. Immediately her heart jerked, and she snapped her head back and forth. In an instant she was moving, pushing through bushes and trees - the sound was emanating from the small bunch of trees that followed the pathway through the park - and she ignored the branches that slapped her face, stinging her cheeks with their slices, along with the pricks that she got from shoving through the bushes, their thorns stabbing her in the process.

When she finally reached the area that the shrieking was coming from, it was to find a terrified ball of fur trembling and cowering beneath some thin tree roots, which obviously weren’t going to hold much longer, and a wild, adult fox attempting to break through them to get at the small animal. Although it went against her very nature to harm an animal, she picked up a rock, one that was neither too heavy nor too late, and immediately threw it at the animal, ensuring that it simply sailed past the creature and landed directly next to it.

“Hey! Leave it alone! Find something else to snack on!” she shouted at it. Her shouting mixed with the flying object startled the fox enough that it took off, disappearing into the underbrush. Running towards the small ball of fluff, she slid on her knees next to it, holding her hands above the roots in the least threatening manner that she could manage.

“Shhh,” she murmured, softening her gaze as she looked down at the trembling ball. A small, terrified face peeked out, before quickly hiding it back in its paws. “Oh, you poor thing ... You’re absolutely petrified ...” she said softly. “I promise, I’m not going to hurt you. Won’t you please come out and say hello?” she asked sweetly, her voice gentle and compelling. The little face appeared slowly once more, the trembling gradually faded, and after a few moments of intense silence where nothing happened, it gradually left its poor hiding spot, crawling towards her at an awkward limp. It sniffed her knee hesitantly for a few moments, before it warily crawled up on her leg, struggling in its efforts, and once on her, it snuggled into her hip.

Reiya reached down and gently scooped the frightened animal in her hands, clutching it to her chest. She could see pink mixed into its fur, and the wetness of blood was felt on her fingers. She couldn’t see the specific injuries, but she knew that if they weren’t examined soon, the animal could very well die.

Standing quickly, she clutched the small furball to her chest, murmuring words of comfort and encouragement as she did so, before she took off, using her long history of awards for her quick pace in track to her advantage. As she ran, it was obvious why she had been awarded second place in all of Europe for her abilities - if she was anything, she was definitely fast.

It took her even less than half the time it normally took to return to the clinic, and when she arrived, she was only slightly breathless, having put her all into reaching the building as quickly as possible. As she slammed through the doorway, the two baby foxes peaked up in interest, and Dr. Rhynes and Clarisse turned puzzled expressions onto her. The looks of confusion quickly turned to worry as they noticed the small ball she was clutching and her disheveled state - her slightly torn clothing, her ripped tights; her messy hair that was clad with twigs and leaves; and her cuts across her face and hands. Immediately they moved into action, Clarisse hurrying to the examination room to prep the sterilization table, and Dr. Rhynes rushing to Reiya. He attempted to take the small ball from her hands, but the creature clung to Reiya, whether out of fear of desperation, she couldn’t tell. Without hesitating, though, Reiya took off after Clarisse, shouting over her shoulder at Dr. Rhynes that she would handle it, and the young girl spent the next hour or so taking meticulous care of the little creature that had somehow already wriggled its way into her heart.

~’.’~’.’~’.’~’.’~’.’~

“Reiya, you need to sit down. Pacing isn’t going to help the little one wake up any faster,” Clarisse said gently. “Please, let me clean your cuts and get you a change of clothes.”

The girl in question shook her head, wringing her hands as she paced back and forth. Dr. Rhynes rose at that point, scratching the back of his head.

“Reiya. Listen to me,” he said gruffly, the emotions in his voice obvious. Reiya paused mid-pace, still wringing her hands and not looking at him, but obviously listening.

“We all know that you did everything you could, and knowing you, you did it extremely, extremely well. Small animals like that, though ... They’re very fragile. We don’t know if that was a cut from the wild fox, or if it was something that it did to itself, and if it was a cut from the fox, we do know that there could be a serious infection and that a tiny animal like that couldn’t possibly recover from such an infection. You need to be prepared if that happens,” he said gently.

Blinking back tears, Reiya whirled around towards him, balling her hands at her sides.

“Stop talking like you know everything, Rhynes! I’m Reiya Himura, for God’s sake - I can bring animals back from the brink of death! She’s going to make it!” she shouted, something extremely uncharacteristic of her. Clarisse looked stunned, and Dr. Rhynes simply looked away, his regret in his words evident, and Reiya resumed her fast pacing, back and forth across the examination room.

They had put the small animal - which they had found to be a mouse - under a considerably low dosage of anesthesia in order for Reiya to do a thorough exam and fix anything that needed to be mended. The mouse had taken a considerably large wound to her side - an immense gash for an animal her size - and it was surprising that she hadn’t already succumbed to her injuries in the spanse of time since she had received the cut. Reiya had immediately set to work sterilizing and stitching the creature back together, along with attaching an IV drip to flow natural sugars into its bloodstreams in an attempt to help it replenish the blood it lost more quickly than usual. She was lucky that she was so quick and capable of working under stressful situations - if she had taken any longer to fix the rodent up, it may not have been so lucky to survive this long.

A small sound was heard from the bundle on the table. They had placed the mouse in a box with a nestle of towels and a warmed bottle of water to keep her from freezing in the chilly room, and in order to make her comfortable in her recovery.

Rushing to the box, Reiya moved the towels aside slightly and was met with large, beady eyes, that were drowsy and mixed with confusion and a bit of fear. She slowly reached inside the box, gently stroking the head of the mouse.

“Hush now; you’re okay. Go back to sleep,” Reiya said softly, almost as though the animal could actually understand her. Its eyes slowly fluttered shut, exhaustion claiming the creature, but Reiya was reassured by the steady rise and fall of its side as it slept.

Leaning back, she fixated a surprisingly dark look on the doctor.

“I told you that she would be fine,” she said.

With that, she picked up the box and went out to the entry area of the clinic, lowered herself onto the couch, and gently placed the box in her lap. She wouldn’t give up on the poor thing; it had no one else to rely on.

Honey coated rays of sunshine shone down on a chocolate-hued mass of hair, restrained only by one impressively strong ponytail. Attached to the fluffy strands was a girl who was rather average looking for the most part; simple peach skin, unmarred by any freckles or birthmarks, an average athletically-shaped body, and equally average height. Everything was so very average about the girl - until one would reach her eyes, that is. The mesmerizing orbs stood out, their strange azure hues popping against her slightly pale skin, and if one were to snag them, they would find it either difficult to look away or very disconcerting to meet her gaze.

The girl in question continued to brush the broom back and forth, the front steps of the entrance to the temples quickly improving in its cleanliness.Finally she paused, gave the steps another quick once-over, followed up with a satisfied nod and propped the broom inside the archway and against the large stone wall that lined the property. With a quick smile and a wave to the woman that she considered to be her mother, Sakura, Iphianassa bent over to retrieve her school bag. A quick pat to the head of her Tamaskan pooch Artemis with the promises of treats once she returned home from work that evening, she straightened and proceeded to traipse her way down the impressive steps that led up to the beautiful temple area that she had basically grown up in. The path was familiar and comforting, surrounded by beautiful forestry filled with the noises of animals. The forest had been quiet lately, however, as the air was growing chillier far more quickly than normal and many of the animals were busy seeking warmth and shelter.

At the thought of the cold that surrounded her, Iphignea tightened her sweater around her and gave a small shiver. The walk to the school campus wasn’t far from the temples, but it was definitely cold enough outside that she would need to start wearing a coat soon. Generally she didn’t get cold very easily, but it was chilly enough that she could almost see a bit of her breath on each exhale, definitely warranting the slight rub at her arms to stimulate the flow of blood.

As she walked, she paused when she passed by the veterinary clinic. Through the windows she could see a small orange bob with an equally-small face hidden behind glasses that were large in comparison to the small girl’s features. Reiya was hard at work, she could see, tending to an animal was hidden from view behind the receptionist’s desk, so despite wanting to say hello, she simply carried on her way. Despite their age difference and vastly contrasting personalities, they had become quick friends after the younger girl moved to town. Having recognized a lot of the similar pain buried beneath her surface, Iphignea had almost gravitated towards her, like a mother hen would gravitate towards an injured chick. She was like a little cinnamon roll that needed to be protected and Iphianassa would do whatever was necessary to support the younger girl. She knew what it was like to feel all alone in the world, and Reiya didn’t deserve that type of life. She deserved the love and support of those around her.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts as she neared campus, Iphignea stifled a yawn. Of course she was exhausted; she barely slept at all now-a-days, between work, university, and her temple duties, she would maybe achieve about four hours of sleep on average every night. She at least was able to sleep in on Saturdays and could take a brief nap between temple duties and work on Sundays, but that was about it for her to play catch-up, and she was definitely beginning to feel the ill-effects of overworking herself.

Quickly crossing campus, Iphignea pushed through the large doors that lead to the university area of the campus. Thankfully, her first class was near the entrance so she didn’t need to travel very far. As she walked into the lecture hall and made her way to her seat, she counted her blessings that she could attend such a small yet impressive university. The classes were small, with around fifteen-to-twenty students each, and allowed for a more direct learning process, with the organization being similar to that of the high school that was attached to the building in its own area. They were assigned a homeroom teacher who also was the main professor of their main courses, such as English, Maths, and others. The way that it differed was that depending on the course that the student is studying in, once their main course lessons were concluded, they would go their separate ways to the correct rooms according to their course majors and minors.

As she took her seat, Iphignea withdrew a cold water bottle from her bag and took a quick swig from it. Recapping it, she returned it to her bag and was in the process of removing a notebook and textbook and straightening once more when their homeroom professor made his way into the room. She leaned back in her seat, knees and arms crossed over one another, an unimpressed expression on her face. He stopped behind the desk, set a stack of papers, files, and books that he had with him on top of it, and cleared his throat before making his way around to the side of the desk.

“Before we continue with our lessons from last week, I have an announcement to make.” The chatter of the students quickly died off, as a special announcement wasn’t a common occurrence in their quiet school. Once the classroom was silent and Professor Sazumi was satisfied with the full attention of the class, he continued. “We have a couple of new students joining us today.” Immediately he threw up his hand to stem the excited titter that quickly sprung up at this news. “Now, I know it’s odd to have new transfers at this time of the year, but let’s all attempt to give them a warm welcome. Please make sure to provide any help they may need as they make this adjustment to joining us here at our lovely university. I expect you all to be as accepting as possible,” he finished with a very pointed look in Iphianassa’s direction. This earned him an eyeroll in response, which he reciprocated before turning to the door to the room. “You two can come in now,” he called out before turning back to the class once more. “Please welcome Natsuo and Kazumi Orako. Mr.- and Ms. Orako, please introduce yourselves and let us know something interesting about you,” he said, motioning to the small classroom as he spoke.


As the two entered the room, the class fell silent. Despite the pair’s obvious relation due to their last name and them transferring in together, they looked nothing like one another. They both were, however, ethereally beautiful. An odd sensation crawled across Iphianassa’s skin as they made their way across the front of the room to the center to stand beside the teacher. It wasn’t that her skin was crawling, per-say, but more like her hair was standing on end. She wasn’t afraid, though, so why it was doing that was baffling to her; but what she did know, though, was that something was off about these two, and despite her piqued curiosity, she forced herself to remain nonchalant. It was none of her business, and why would she care anyway? They were just two random, strange kids that she didn’t even know.

Her curiosity was unable to be fully contained, however, as she studied the pair. The girl was small and reminded Iphignea of cotton-candy with her bright coloring, and she had a warm yet fierce presence about her. She definitely struck her as someone that she could possibly become friends with, but who knew. Moving on, her eyes slid over to the boy who had come in with her, for the first time actually able to see his face.

Almost instantly her mouth went dry. Her heart skipped a beat in her chest and she felt her breath hitch. His dark features stood out in stark contrast to his pale skin, giving him an odd beauty that wasn’t handsome nor sexy, yet somehow both at the same time. His dark eyes seemed to bore into her soul and she felt herself enraptured by them. She could feel her cheeks heating up as a soft flush entered them, brushing across the rest of her body as it did. Forcing herself to lick her lips, she somehow managed to tear her gaze from his, lowering it to her desk in a strangely-subdued manner that was odd for her normally-fiery personality. Something about that boy had struck her dumb, and she didn’t like it.

Peaking a look back up to the front, she quickly looked back down at her desk and opened her textbook to a random page, eyes skimming over the words but not actually taking in any of them. Her mind was racing and she couldn’t stop it, but she could at least keep herself from staring at the new kids like some sort of heathen.

Please ignore, it double posted for some unknown reason.

”Doubt kills more dreams
Than failure ever will.”

---

As the two new students began to make their introductions, it was impossible for Iphianassa to hide her interest. She tried to keep her gaze fixated on the textbook, despite not actually reading anything that the words said, but couldn’t help herself from flicking her eyes up towards the front every few seconds. The cotton candy girl went first, introducing herself as Kazumi and enthusiastically offering a few things about herself to the classroom. At least she seemed to have a decent head on her shoulders, unlike most of the babbling buffoons that she called her classmates. Most of the girls were practically drooling over the new boy, and a majority of the guys were doing the same, only over the new girl. Unable to suppress it, Iphignea rolled her eyes, a common action for her to do when she was annoyed. She snorted a bit in amusement, earning her a couple of distasteful looks from the group of girls sitting closest to her as they babbled noisily about how cute the new boy was and who had the best chance of dating him. As if that really mattered.

Leaning back in her seat, she crossed her arms and her legs, decided to just own up to the fact that she was a bit interested in the new students. The professor was right when saying it was abnormal for them to have new students at this time of the year, but what he failed to mention was that it was abnormal for them have new students period. Akita was very small for the setup that it had, and she was lucky that they had their own private university attached to the high school and elementary school as well as the preschool. If not for that, she wouldn’t have been able to attend university at all. It was worth the fact that she was stuck with the same classmates that she had been going to school with over the last decade and then some.

At least the teachers were understanding of her history and had so far respected her boundaries when it came to certain things, most specifically gym class when required to swim and change in the locker rooms. She was given extra time over everyone else to leave class early before physical education, that way she could change without the risk of any of the other girls seeing. That, and she was allowed to come in after school hours for her annual sports physical, as well as any swimming tests and participation they were required to complete.

When it was the boy’s turn to speak, Iphianassa felt herself straighten a bit in interest before she caught herself and forced herself to hunker down slightly once more, arms still crossed in an attempt to show disinterest instead. As soon as he spoke, however, she felt herself go still at the sound. It was like liquid honey slowly dripping from a wooden spoon, oozing over her ears with a golden radiance and softness that rang with tranquility and warmth. Something about his voice made it so that she couldn’t help but relax, and before she knew what she was doing, her eyes were almost closed, as though the gentle lull of it were putting her to sleep. She was jerked out of this reverie, however, by his sister’s sudden outburst, and when she met the ruby gaze of the cotton candy girl, she felt her cheeks flush a light pink, something that was completely abnormal for her. It was generally very difficult for anyone to get under her skin, let alone embarrass her, but she felt the sensation nonetheless and quickly averted her gaze, her hand raising to slightly hide her face in an attempt to keep the blush from being seen. She knew it was too late, however, and that the Kazumi girl had seen her reaction to her words, and Iphignea cursed slightly under her breath. She didn’t spend the last decade and almost half keeping everyone except her adoptive family and Reiya at a distance just for these two kids to show up and try to disrupt that. She’d be damned if they somehow managed to get under her skin.

When the boy Natsuo slid out a quick retort to his sister’s announcement, Iphignea turned her face back slightly to look over at the two. The girl Kazumi looked ready to explode, but before she could, the professor slid in. Iphignea was forced to swallow down a laugh, but the smirk of amusement remained on her lips. The smirk was quickly wiped away, however, when the new girl quickly made her way over to the seat beside Iphignea. Of course she would pick the empty seats beside her, because why wouldn’t she. Groaning softly yet not very audibly, Iphignea turned back to her textbook, attempting to look enthralled with what she was reading. Being a social outcast definitely had its perks, and she had perfected the art of such, but it also had its cons; its cons being that the only available seats in the classroom were around her, as the other students tended to give her a wide berth. So of course these new, odd students would have to sit beside her, because where else would they sit?

As the girl neared her, Iphignea felt the hairs on her arms stand up once more. While it was very similar to the sensation of being watched, this was different - unnatural. Pausing, she turned her gaze up to the girl as she made herself comfortable, her mesmerizing eyes scrutinizing. There was something off about the two new students, and she couldn’t quite place her finger on it. The only other times she ever had this happen was when she was performing ceremonies at the temple or assisting one of the locals with banishing a spirit from their property, or when she was doing a tarot reading that ultimately would turn up to be accurate. She would have to keep an eye on these new students, because something wasn’t right with them, and while she respected other’s privacy enough to not dig into the two, she would definitely keep her guard up.

It was then that the boy passed by her desk, having followed his sister rather closely. The sensation that followed was the same, but was accompanied by the feeling that she was being watched. As he passed, she turned her face up slightly towards him, their eyes meeting again. The same electricity that she felt the first time crackled in the air between them, and she felt her breath hitch slightly in surprise at the intensity of his gaze and of the feelings that immediately began to swell within her. Her heart once more sped up and she felt an odd stirring in the pit of her stomach, almost like before she would go on a ride at the amusement park with Reiya. Was this excitement, nervousness, or something else? She didn’t know, and she also didn’t know if she liked it all that much.

Quickly turning her face down again - she seemed to be doing that a lot today - she pressed her hand to her chest and forced herself to slow her breathing, calling on her years of meditation to help ground herself. As soon as the two new students were seated, the professor fixated a look on Iphignea, causing her to peer back-up at him wearily. Her eyes widened slightly as she could see where he was clearly going with the look, and before she could stop him, a devilish smile crossed his lips.

“Aha - seeing as you all will be spending so much time near one another, I just had a glorious idea,” he said, the same conniving grin on his face as before. “Our dear and beloved Iphianassa I’m sure would be more than happy to give you two a tour of the academy. Consider her to be your own personal helper for the next week - if you need anything at all, don’t be afraid to ask her.”

Iphignea felt her face heat up, but this time it was with annoyance, and she glared at the professor. ”Aw, come on, Professor Iyoto, do I really-” The professor cut her off quickly, before she could get any more words out. “Yes, really, you do have to. Consider it your punishment for skipping out on cleaning duty last week,” he smirked, his arms crossed in a mocking way. Unable to argue with him, she sighed in defeat before leaning back into her seat once more. The professor dropped his arms and went to his desk before continuing. “As for what we’re going to be doing today, I would like to spend the next twenty-to-thirty minutes focused on independent group work. Pair off into groups of four, and afterward, we will continue with our lessons from last week. Consider this a good opportunity to catch up on any homework or studying you haven’t completed, as well as to individually ask me any questions about anything you may not have understood over the course so far. As for our new little group of musketeers in the back,” he said, looking pointedly over at Iphignea, Kazumi, and Natsuo, “I would like for you three to take the opportunity to get to know each other, as you all will be spending quite a bit of time together on projects, seeing as you’re seated so closely to one another. Also, once he arrives, Kenta Hamaski will be joining your group, as he’s the next closest in seating to you three, so Iphignea, I’m putting you in charge of ensuring that he is caught up to pace when he gets here.”

Letting out a long and very audible groan of annoyance, especially at being paired with that egotistical and cocky airhead Hamaski, Iphignea once more rolled her eyes before submitting to the fact that she didn’t have a choice in any of this. Slapping her textbook closed, she slid that and her notebook back into her bag, before turning in her seat to face the two new kids. Obviously attempting to keep her eyes off of the Natsuo boy, as looking at him brought up things that she couldn’t quite control, she started off with fixating her gaze on the Kazumi girl. A bit awkwardly, as she wasn’t really the social type of person that their professor was clearly trying to force her to be, she introduced herself.

”Well, as you’ve probably already gathered, I’m Iphianassa, but most people-” she found amusement in that statement, as most people referred to the very seldom few who actually spoke to her, ”-most people just call me Iphignea. It’s a lot shorter and easier to say, so feel free to call me whatever. I know my name can be a mouthful.” When she felt eyes on her and looked over to see their professor pointedly looking at her, and could tell that while their classmates were definitely working, they were also very obviously interested in listening to her conversation with the beautiful new students, she sighed and continued on. ”Um, I guess I should tell you something about myself then? Although, I’m really not that interesting, so I’m not sure what you would want to know, exactly,” she ended on a mutter. Gathering herself, though, she finished her introduction. ”I guess I could tell you that I live in a series of temples that are owned by my family - er, adoptive family - and I assist with the duties and ceremonies there. I also like to swim, as well as anything involving physical activity. I like spicy food, and I really enjoy being outside in the fresh air, especially in the summertime, and weirdly enough, I enjoy bird watching. Something about how freeing it is to watch them fly away, with their ability to go literally anywhere, I guess, or something cheesy like that,” she said, feeling immensely uncomfortable and awkward telling these random people such random facts about herself. Letting out a breathy, awkward laugh, she gave Kazumi a slightly nervous smile. ”Sorry, I’m not really good at this whole show-and-tell thing. As you could probably tell from the lack of people sitting near me, I’m not exactly what you could call popular,” she said, using her fingers to put air quotes around the last word.

“A little more kindness,
a little less judgement.”

---

As time passed, Reiya refused to allow either the doctor or Clarisse the receptionist to take a look at the small animal she held in the box in her lap. It was clear that the creature was stabilized and out of the danger zone of crashing, but she wasn’t about to just hand her over to them. It wasn’t that she thought they didn’t care; she just didn’t trust either of them with her wellbeing, at least not over herself. She didn’t care if this was taking away from her time at school or that she would be late as she was already farther ahead than the coursework was, and she refused to just abandon the creature, especially when it needed someone the most. She didn’t even step away long enough to clean herself up, but did allow Clarisse to clean and bandage her scratches as well as untangle the twigs from her hair and brush out the short mass of curls so it was no longer gnarled together.

Leaning back in her seat, Reiya gazed at the television that was playing in the top corner of the room near the entrance, not actually watching the show but instead more so zoning out while staring at it. She wasn’t thinking about anything in particular but was just staring off into space.

It was during this little space-out that the doors to the front of the building were torn open and a frazzled, white-haired boy around her age came running inside. His hair stood out the most about him, with its striking resemblance to beautiful snow, but Reiya would be lying if she said that he wasn’t handsome. He was far from that, with chiseled features and frantic yet kind, mesmerizingly blue eyes. When he spoke, his voice was dripping with sensuality, and she felt her cheeks heat up at the thought. Lifting her hands, she lightly smacked her face to bring herself back to earth, before rising with the box clutched in her grasp. For once, instead of the gentle look normally on her face, a dark scowl had her lips turned down as she approached the front desk.

”So you are the irresponsible pet owner that simply allowed his small and fragile pet mouse to run rampant where she could get hurt,” she snapped out, indignation clear on her features. Setting the box gently on the counter before him, she turned the scowl on him directly, her arms crossed. Despite there being almost an entire foot difference in height between them, she tilted her head back and did her best to look down her nose at him through her large glasses. She didn’t seem to care that he was so much taller than she was; she lacked fear when it came to protecting innocent animals, which was so outside of the normal for her otherwise gentle and shy persona. ”Do you have any idea just how close she came to dying?” she demanded, her fingers digging into her arms. ”Irresponsible pet owners are almost the worst kind, right behind neglectful and abusive ones. If you cannot care for or monitor the pet in the way that it deserves, then you shouldn’t have one to begin with,” she bit out. She was about to say more when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up and behind her, she met the gaze of Dr. Rhynes, who shook his head slightly at her. The man turned his eyes up to the young boy before him and gave him a kind smile.

”Don’t mind our little Reiya. She may come off as feisty, but she’s really just a cinnamon roll who cares too much,” he chuckled out, attempting to diffuse the awkwardness that was hanging in the air between all of them. ”She doesn’t mean to be rude; she just cares too much for your little one - Luna, was it? - is all,” he finished, walking around to stand behind the desk and beside Clarisse. Leaning over the woman’s shoulder, he peered at the computer for a moment before straightening. ”Generally we don’t do this, but considering your age and how worried you clearly are, we’re going to waive the fees for today. That, and Reiya here already paid for him,” he gestured towards her, and she turned away slightly with a soft pouting sound in response. The doctor chuckled again and turned back to Yuki, an odd, indiscernible look in his eyes. ”Just promise to take good care of her and don’t let something like this happen again. Next time, you may not be so lucky. You have Reiya here to thank for saving her from a wild fox and spending the better part of the last two hours treating and caring for your little Luna.”

At the mention of what she did, Reiya sighed and relaxed her shoulders, dropping her crossed arms. She turned back to the box on the counter and opened in slightly so as to reach in and gently stroke the small head of the little mouse inside, who was now awake and looking around eagerly at the sound of her owner’s voice. After a moment, she replaced the lid and picked up the box, turning back towards the boy that she now knew as Yuki Orako.

”I don’t mean to be snappish. He’s right when he says I simply care too much,” she sighed out. She held out the box in his direction, waiting for him to take it before sheepishly rubbing her arm and looking down at the ground. ”Please make sure to take care of her, and if anything comes up or you’re concerned about anything, don’t hesitate to reach out to us here.” Peeking up at him through her lashes, she registered for the first time the uniform that he was wearing. It was identical to the ones that the boys at the high school portion of the educational buildings wore, so he was clearly attending the same school that she was. After a moment of hesitation, she decided to speak once more.

”Also … Feel free to come and find me if needed. My Homeroom teacher is Mr. Iyoto, so if I’m not here, I’m more than likely there,” she offered. Turning to Dr. Rhynes, she smiled sheepishly at him, suddenly embarrassed by her sudden outburst before towards a stranger that she didn't know. ”Actually, now that I mention it, I really need to head out and get going to school, Dr. Rhynes. I’ll be by after classes to help you with whatever you need,” she said. When she received a wave in response, she once more turned towards Yuki, deciding to do the only thing that she knew how to do in order to make up for her previous actions; she offered to help. ”If you’d like, I can walk with you to your house and then show you a faster way to get back to the school. That is, if you have someone to watch over Luna while you’re in class?”