Three, Maybe Four, Students, One Teacher, One Acquaintance

For 2016 Yuletide

"Subaru! You need to sleep!"

"Hokuto-chan... I need to finish my research; please just give me another hour."

"Subaru, just because you slept before 2 a.m. doesn't mean you won't be able to get your doctorate!"

"The paper's due in a week..." Subaru weakly protested.

"Yeah, and you're basically recognized as something of a genius."

"Hokuto-chan..."

"See? You didn't deny it. Now," she commanded, "save that file, close your books, put your pen away, and go the fuck to sleep."

Knowing that resistance was nothing but futile, Subaru reluctantly ceased his work. He was working to be a psychological therapist after deciding that becoming a forensic psychologist wasn't right for him while completing his masters degree. Subaru was actually already permitted to practice as a very, very general therapist, but he needed a doctorate in order to be fully and completely licensed and be recognized as a psychologist. Subaru took his contacts out, tossed them in the trash bin, glad that he had opted for the disposable type, and climbed into his bed. 12:45 a.m., the digital clock by his bed read, the blinking red numbers burning into his eyes. That's not too bad of a time to sleep, I guess, Subaru thought. He had been overworking himself more than usual recently and basically passed out whenever he properly lied down. So strong was Subaru's exhaustion that he failed to hear the loud, despairing, all too familiar cry of "Fuuuuuck!" coming from the apartment next door, in which a high school student by the name of Shirou Kamui resided.

Poor Kamui-kun, Hokuto thought, lightly shaking her head and chuckling. I bet it's math.

+++

"Kamui-kun, you look terrible!" a young teenage girl exclaimed, her fair voice and face clouded with worry. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Kotori-chan," Kamui said, quietly and in a sleepy tone of voice. "Just," yawn, "tired."

"You didn't stay up late again, now did you, Kamui-kun," Kotori lightly "scolded." "You're not getting enough sleep! You won't be able to study if you're so tired, so what's the point of staying up that late? You should go home and sleep, Kamui-kun; I can make an excuse for you. Besides, the teachers'll understand – they know how hard the coursework is."

Kamui gave his childhood friend a smile. "Thanks, Kotori-chan, but I'm meeting someone right after school."

Kotori smiled, for both the obvious reason and one less obvious reason. It concerned Kamui and one other, and both had absolutely no idea that Kotori knew. "Okay, then, Kamui-kun. See you in math!"

"Yeah!" Kamui said, heading in the opposite direction.

Just wait 'till I tell Naoko-chan about this, Kotori excitedly thought. She'll love it.

+++

On the other side of campus, where all of the different college and university buildings were located, Sumeragi Hokuto entered her small classroom-slash-studio. She taught a fashion design undergrad class, only two periods a day, but the money she made from it was a very nice supplement to her part-time department store salary – she couldn't possibly live off of her brother's money and the family fortune, now could she.

Hokuto smiled broadly when she caught sight of her favorite student and very, very, very close friend, Daidouji Tomoyo. A designer and fashion enthusiast like herself, with a love of dressing up the person they loved most, the two, only a year and a half apart in age, just clicked. Fortunately, Tomoyo had come into the class early, so the two had some time to chat.