"...Wru modessutri disukob tu yssefu, dat yossefu wchu yetto nou offu." (Will modestly discover to yourself, that of yourself which you yet know of)
Himeko stared lazily out the window as the teacher droned on in heavily accented English, only vaguely paying attention to what was being said.
Her reflection on the glass peered back at her, short dark brown hair and bored, disinterested chocolate eyes, but she was not vain enough to focus on her appearance. No, her attention drawn to the world outside, focusing on the leaves of the cherry tree outside, rustling in the wind, clouds floating aimlessly in the sky, and the odd bird here and there passing through her sights, then vanishing once more.
Her hand pressed against the window's glass pane, the sun's rays passing just a little more heat onto her fingertips.
She wished she was outside.
The teacher seemed to go silent, and she pulled back her hand, turning her head back towards the front. Everybody else's eyes were on her, including the teacher. Her friend, Suzuki Miya, who sat one seat ahead and to the right, was holding up the book they were reading such that Himeko could see the correct page number. Further, Miya was tapping repeatedly on one of the lines of the text, the passage they were on, Himeko could presume.
"Miss Oshiro," the teacher spoke, drawing her attention to him and away from her friend. "Are you paying attention to the lecture? Or are you more interested in what's going outside?"
Himeko could have denied it. It would have rung weakly, but she could have done so, then worked off her friend's assistance to try and save herself from a reprimand.
She chose not to.
"I was more interested in what was going outside, sir," the student admitted in a soft yet firm voice. "I have already read the play. All the way through act five."
Their class was discussing the works of William Shakespeare, some famous playwright or some such, and analyzing the story elements within. That always confused Himeko, really. Were they not supposed to be learning how to speak and write English? Why confuse the students with an old dead version of the language no longer used?
But no, the teachers insisted this was how things were done in America. That it would help them understand the meaning behind words. Something like that, Himeko thought was how the excuse went.
Meanwhile, Miya chose to slap her forehead, and was shaking her head as she dug it into the spine of her book, now flattened atop the desk, even as the teacher frowned deeply at Himeko.
Himeko, for her part, continued to smile serenely at him.
"...Miss Oshiro, even if you have read ahead, you are here in class to learn. Besides showing simple courtesy to your classmates, I hope to impart upon you an understanding of what you are read..."
"I understand it, sir. It is a play about betrayal, and how Burtussu (Himeko's own English was as heavily accented as the teacher's as she spoke Brutus' name, a result of years of public education at work) makes this decision, lives with this decision, then dies with it," she interrupted.
The teacher looked flabbergasted. "That...that is not -all- the play is about, Miss Oshiro and that is a gross oversimplification of such a tale!" he exclaimed, defending his teachings. He seemed to pick up steam in his own reasoning as he continued. "Indeed, you would know this if you deigned to participate in the readings and discussion with the rest of the class!"
Himeko said nothing to this, and the teacher took this for her acquiescing to his wisdom. "Miss Oshiro!"
"Yes sir?"
"Please begin reading from Act 1, Scene 2, line 142."
"Yes sir," Himeko stated as she opened the book, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, to the right page and stood up as she began reciting one of Cassius' most famous quotes from the book. The teacher bobbed his head as Himeko spoke through each line in the english she had been taught, while the rest of the class merely observed her, and presumably took in her words.
Once she finished with the seventh line, the teacher motioned for her to stop, which she did.
"Good, good. Now, Miss Oshiro, what is the meaning behind the lines you just spoke?" the teacher drawled, looking pleased with himself as if he'd set a trap for the unruly student.
Himeko did not seem to consider such behavior though, as she delivered her answer. "Kassiusu wished to convince Burtussu to join in the assassination of Ssru, making Ssru's power to be a threat, and the behavior of most others to be submissive and dishonorable. Then he points out that men are masters of their own fate. That Ssru standing at the top without restraint on his ambitions is not due to fate, but because men lack in resolve to do something about this. It echoes the sentiment of another saying, that for evil to succeed, good men need only do nothing. It is with such words that he strikes at Burtussu's heart."
The other students began to murmur amongst themselves as the teacher began to actually look...upset. He cleared his throat, silencing the murmurs. "Miss Oshiro," he spoke more softly this time, though he continued to frown at her.
"Yes sir?"
"...straighten your tie, and at least appear to be paying attention to class."
"Yes sir."
***
As the bell rung, signaling the end of classes, Himeko like all the other students, began to push things off her desk and into her backpack, not caring over the papers getting crumpled in the process. Himeko however paused as she pulled out her cellphone, flipping the lid open. Quickly she began typing something into it, before shutting it again.
As she put away her cellphone, Miya turned towards her, her backpack already on her back, and ready to go. Her friend had a wide grin on her face.
"I was worried for a minute there, Himeko!" she exclaimed with a giggle referring to the earlier incident, and Himeko smiled softly at her in return.
"Thank you for trying to help," the girl replied as she went back to filling her own backpack.
"Hey, no problem. Not like you needed it of course!" Miya said cheerfully. "Did you really read that far ahead?"
Himeko raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?"
"I don't know! That's why I'm asking?" Miya said as she laughed, punching her friend in the shoulder, drawing a wince from the playful strike. "Seriously, did you? Is that how you razzled and dazzled Tanaka-sensei?"
Himeko gave a small frown as she lifted her backpack atop the desk, and looked around the room. Most of the people had already left, including Tanaka-sensei, only a few people remained, most hanging around chatting with friends like Miya and her.
Sticking her hand into her backpack, Himeko pulled up a thin little yellow booklet, which Miya zeroed in on and began to read.
"...Kuurifu Nto?"
"I just read that. Bought it off the internet. It's a lot easier to read," Himeko admitted. "I'm glad he picked that particular quote, I remembered the booklet speaking of that one."
Miya started laughing while clapping Himeko on the shoulder. "You tricky devil, you! You'll have to lend it to me!"
"Miya! Are we going or what?" another girl near the door called out at that time, sounding impatient. Himeko turned to her, realizing it was Kaoru, surrounded by her clique, Shizuru and Yoko. Miya would probably have been considered part of the clique as well if it wasn't for her association with Himeko, who was very much not a member if Kaoru's group, let alone any group.
"Oh! Sorry, I'll be right there!" Miya called out, as she turned to her friend. "Hey, so listen, we're going to go have some fun, do some karaoke at Tamba's Palace. They already have Suzuka-chan's new song, Violet Night Kiss! Come on, it'll be fun!"
As Miya finished, she began pulling on Himeko's arm, but Himeko bit her lip as she stared back towards Kaoru's group. It was tempting, she did like the young idol's songs, she even had one of them as her ringtone, but she also didn't get along well with Kaoru.
Somehow she had offended her early on by 'ignoring' her or something like that?
"I'll pass, Miya. I, uh..."
Himeko stumbled for a second, she couldn't say she had practice, she was part of the go-home club after all, so that left...
"..I need to go home and watch over Takeru," she finished lamely.
Miya paused in her attempts to drag her and just stared at her, clearly not buying the excuse.
"What? You know how he gets!" Himeko attempted to defend her excuse, even as Kaoru called out again, "Miya! Can't you see she doesn't want to go? C'mon! Or we'll leave you behind too!"
"Look, you go and have fun, Miya. And, uhm, here. I already finished it, so you can read it, just give it back whenever," Himeko said, as she pulled her arm away from the disappointed Miya, and handed her the little yellow booklet.
"You sure? No need to lock yourself up in a castle, princess. You could use more friends, Hime-chan."
Himeko groaned a bit at the pun on her name, which Miya seemed to find constant fun bringing up due to her personality. "It's fine. Another time, alright?"
"Miya!"
"...fine. I'll hold you to that!" Miya exclaimed as she turned towards the door, moving towards her other group of friends. "Coming!"
Himeko sighed as her friend vanished with Kaoru's group, leaving her alone in the classroom. She could vaguely hear some potshots at her and Miya's attempts to defend her, but they quickly vanished as they moved further away.
***
Himeko drowned herself in a gentle breeze and the soft rays of the sun shining brightly on her body. She laid on her back atop the school's roof, just looking at the clouds and avoiding the sun's glare, daydreaming, sounds occassionally coming from below as students worked hard running around in the ground level and doing whatever other activities their clubs demanded.
She had not felt like living up to her membership in the Go-Home Club, not feeling like going home, not feeling like dealing with Takeru and his sister complex, despite what she had said to Miya. Besides, it wasn't like she -really- had to watch over him.
Takeru was in fact a couple of months older than her, enough that he was actually attending high school while she was still in junior high, so she wouldn't have to deal with him on a regular basis for a few more months until the year ended and she started going to the same school.
Her cellphone began ringing and she groaned, knowing it would be him asking when she'd get home. Checking the ID...yep. She flipped her phone open.
"I'm still at school, Takeru," she said, getting the first words in as the other side began conversing.
"No, nothing's wrong," she replied. She waited as the other side continued speaking.
"I just had some things to do. I'll be home in a few hours," she answered, apparently saying the wrong thing as the voice on the other side got more heated.
"...Miya called?" she groaned, covering her face with her free hand.
"I'm gonna kill her..." she mumbled. "Look, I'm just hanging around enjoying the weather. I really will be home soon, alright?"
"...later, Takeru," she said with a sigh, cutting the connection as she shut off the power to the phone, as the other side seemed to be insisting she come home now.
Her arms slammed onto the floor, stretched wide away from her body as she let loose a frustrated "Graaaaaaah!!!" quite uncharacteristic for her.
She didn't usually mind her older brother, but sometimes... sometimes she really missed being an only child. She had survived just fine as an only child before her father had married Takeru's mother, leading to them becoming siblings. Takeru was usually pretty cool as far as new siblings went (not that she had a lot of experience in the matter admittedly), he was kinda quiet, like her, though he was also more open, friendly. It was hard not to like him. The problem was he cared too much, to the point of almost feeling like a sister complex.
And Miya, oh so traitorous Miya, had revealed to her sister-complex of a brother that she was probably alone (which she was).
As she laid on her back, just staring at the sky, her hand playing with her cellphone's lid, opening and closing repeatedly as the clouds slowly floated past her. Just doing that, she remained otherwise still for quite some time, until the sounds of other students seemed to slowly decrease down below.
There was no putting it off any longer, it was time to go home. She pushed herself up, into a sitting position.
"I wish something exciting would happen so I can get out of going home for a while," Himeko muttered as she gave the sky one last look, waiting.
Himeko sighed as no answer came forth. "No answer, huh?" she muttered, standing up fully, and dusting her skirt and fluffing her blazer to get any dust off them. "Time to go home then."
That was when the phone beeped.
"...thought I turned you off," she muttered. Takeru certainly hadn't spammed her with more calls like he normally would otherwise. Still, it was an excuse to stop, if only for a few seconds. Flipping her cellphone's lid once more and pushing a few buttons, she checked the message, on her apparently still active phone.
"Would you save this world?" she muttered as she read the message. The sender was unknown...
Cute.
Playing along, she typed in "Sure, why not", a lazy uncertain reply but still affirmative, and sent the reply message off as she flipped the lid close again.
...That was when things got strange, as her cellphone began to glow, causing her to drop it in her shock.
Her eyes stared in wonder and disbelief as the device began to change shape before her very eyes, and she had to rub them, trying to make sense of what had happened to her phone. The glow began to vanish, and the device was quite changed. The size was different, the screen was bigger, fewer buttons though larger, and the design was just...foreign. The color too had changed to a shiny silvery metal, with purple trim. Decorated on the cover was a symbol, like a group of brushstrokes, but with no meaning that she could decipher.
She picked the strange device up cautiously, looking it over, examining it in mystified silence, before she shivered, crossing her arms across her chest and rubbing her hands on the opposite arm to warm herself, device still held in one hand.
The wind felt like it had gotten stronger...?
"Iiiiiiieeeeee!!!!!" Himeko suddenly screamed, her hand clasping tightly onto the device as a gust of wind literally picked her off the floor, her limbs flailing as she tried to ground herself to no avail! Though she could not see it, above her, a strange portal opened, and the wind thrust her inside. And as her body went through, it all just...
...went dark.
