"Are you ready?"
"Of course, but are you prepared for what happens when you lose?"
"Stop stalling, let's get this over with."
"Rock!"
"Paper!"
"Scissors!"
"Shoot!"
The two girls were sitting in front of each other, with a desk in between them. The rest of the class had already left for lunch by this point. The first girl had short blond hair which spiked at the ends and was tied into a small ponytail at the back, with golden yellow eyes complementing her hair. While she was wearing the school uniform, she had decided to forego the blazer and red ribbon, keeping only the short-sleeved white shirt. She still had the school's blue skirt with two black stripes at the base of it. A yellow cardigan was tied around her waist, and she had two bracelets on her right wrist, one pink and one yellow. Her black socks went just above the knees, and she was wearing black shoes in compliance with the school.
The other girl had wavy blond hair ending at her waist. Her blueish-green eyes contrasted with her hair. Her school uniform actually had all the pieces, unlike her friend in front of her. Her white shirt was mostly covered by her black school blazer, with the school insignia embroidered on the left breast. A red ribbon was tied around the collar of her shirt. Her skirt and shoes matched her friends, but instead of socks, she had black tights covering her legs.
The first girl's hand was in a fist, Rock. The second girl's hand was flat, Paper. Her lips turned upward into a smile as the first girl's face turned into one of defeat.
"Geez Aika, how do you keep winning?"
"Hmm? I haven't won that many, have I?"
"Seventeen, and I've only managed to win five."
"Well, you're the one who came up with this, but we can stop it if you want."
"No way, I'm too deep into this to back out now."
She let out a light giggle, "Okay then. I'll take a melon bread again."
The two of them walked towards the cafeteria, engaging in lighthearted banter as they walked.
"Here you go." She said while passing Aika her melon bread and a water bottle.
"Thank you."
"Sooo, do you have a crush on anyone yet?"
Aika had been drinking her water and ended up breathing some of it in from the sudden question, choking on her drink.
"Hehe, from that reaction, I think I know the answer, so who is it?"
"You... thought... wrong." She sputtered out while coughing.
"Come on, I've told you about my crush, and now that you have one, you've got to tell me about yours."
"Sorry Ai.... I just don't want to talk about it."
"Okay, I'm sorry for pushing it. Just please tell me about it when you're ready."
"Of course." She lightly smiled at Ai.
"But Shido, it's delicious; you have to try it!" A girl with long plum purple hair, tied into a ponytail with a red ribbon, shouted at the boy she was with. She was shoving some kind of bread towards his mouth. The boy had straight blue hair, and he was trying to avoid eating the bread being shoved in his face.
"Tohka-" He tried to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the girl shoved the bread in, forcing him to try it.
"See, see, isn't it delicious?"
"Yes, it is." He sighed while patting her head.
A third person approached, a girl with a white bob cut and three blue hair clips in the right part of her hair. Her deep blue eyes were staring at the boy as she approached them, carrying a lunch box.
"Shido, I made you lunch." She placed the lunch box in front of him.
"Oh, um, sorry Tobiichi-san, but I already ate."
"Then you can save it for later."
And she walked away.
Aika sat there in shock at what she had just witnessed. Not Tohka and Shido; those two were behaving normally, at least as normally as they would. But Tobiichi, the girl who would always watch Itsuka Shido from afar, had actually gone up and talked to him and given him a gift.
"Ai, do you have any clue about what just happened?"
"I guess Tobiichi-san realized she has a rival now."
"I'm gonna go talk to her, I'll see you in class." Aika said as she stood up.
Giving a light wave good-bye Aika ran after Tobiichi-san, and Ai went back to class.
"Heeeyyyy!!! Tobiichi-san!!!" Aika ran up to her.
"Himari-san, can I help you?" She asked Aika.
"Yeah, what happened with Itsuka-kun? You went from watching him from afar to making him lunch so suddenly."
"We started dating." She was staring straight ahead, not even glancing at Aika as they talked.
Aika stopped in her tracks, a look of shock plastered on her face.
"Huh, umm, how did that happen?" Her voice just louder than a whisper.
"He told me how much he loved me, and I told him how much I love him."
"Oh.... I see.... congratulations."
"Thank you."
Tobiichi continued on her way, not even glancing back at the woman who had dropped from her side. Aika stood still, stunned by what she had heard. With her eyes holding back tears, she quickly moved to the bathroom.
"Yamabuki-san, do you know why Himari-san is absent?" The teacher asked Ai.
The class had started five minutes ago, but Himari Aika had yet to arrive.
"Umm, no, sorry, she left a little earlier to talk to Tobiichi-san."
"Tobiichi-san, do you know where she is?"
"No."
Letting out a sigh, the teacher continued. "Alright, Yamabuki-san, make sure you tell her that she is going to be punished for skipping class."
"Yes miss." Ai replied. She didn't focus on the class, instead constantly glancing at Tobiichi Origami, wondering what she said to make her friend skip class.
Locking herself in a bathroom stall, she let the tears she was holding back flow down her cheeks. The bell rang, signaling the start of class, but she didn't notice it.
"Why him? What's so great about Itsuka-kun?" she thought to herself.
"And why did it have to be you?"
Her mind went back to her first day here, just over a month ago.
"Okay class, we have a new transfer student today; come in and introduce yourself."
"Morning everyone, my name is Himari Aika, it's nice to meet you all." She waved at everyone in the class, a smile on her face.
"Tobiichi-San, could you show Himari-san around the school after class?"
"Okay."
"Great, Himari-san, you can sit there next to Yamabuki-san."
She sat down in her seat.
"Hey," the girl next to her whispered to her, grabbing her attention.
"I'm Yamabuki Ai, nice to meet ya."
"It's nice to meet you too Yamabuki-san."
"Just call me Ai."
"Okay Ai-San, then you can just call me Aika."
They talked until the end of class, when Tobiichi approached them.
"Himari-san, let's go."
"Oh, right."
Tobiichi showed her around the school, moving quickly.
"Bathrooms are here."
"These stairs go to the roof; it's off limits."
"Hmm, why tell me it's there if it's off limits?"
"So you know not to go there."
A small smile appeared on Aika's face. "This girl is interesting," she thought.
"This is the cafeteria; you can buy lunch here. Do you have any questions?"
"Just one, can you give me a proper introduction? You never introduced yourself."
"Tobiichi Origami, nice to meet you."
"Himari Aika, likewise."
"If you have no other questions, then I will be leaving."
"Okay, see you around Tobiichi-san."
"She's cute," she thought to herself as she watched Tobiichi Origami walk away.
That was when she first got curious about her, and she started taking notice of her throughout the days—the way she walked with a purpose, her blunt way of talking—the more she watched her, the cuter she found her to be. Of course, she caught on pretty quickly that Tobiichi had a crush on Itsuka: "But Itsuka-kun clearly doesn't like her that way, so maybe it could work out." But she was wrong.
Sitting in the bathroom, she cried her heart out, letting her emotions flow.
The bell rang, signaling both the end of class and the end of the day. Aika left the stall and looked at herself in the mirror; her eyes were swollen red. She splashed some water on her face and waited for her eyes to look normal. Her phone rang as she waited, Yamabuki Ai. Taking a breath, she answered it.
"Hey Ai, what's up?"
"What's up?! You completely missed class! What happened?"
"Sorry, I had to use the bathroom, and by the time I was done class had already started, so I just decided to skip."
"I don't believe that. You've been late to class because of the bathroom before, but you have never skipped. What really happened?"
"...I got rejected..." she said meekly.
"..."
"Where are you right now?"
"It's fine, you have club, I'll be okay."
"Okay, but tomorrow after class, the four of us are going to go out for ice cream."
"Thanks, I'll see you tomorrow then."
"See you tomorrow Aika."
Aika stayed there for a little while longer, waiting for people to leave the school, before leaving herself so she wouldn't be noticed. She walked the same route she always did; there were far less people around, and she was incredibly grateful for that.
"I need to find a way to get over this stupid crush." She thought to herself.
"Awaken...." A voice, barely a whisper, echoed around her. She stopped in her tracks and quickly looked around. But she was alone; there was no one in sight.
"I must be going crazy," she mumbled.
"No. You're not. Now awaken." The voice was louder this time, coming from behind her.
As she spun around, nothing was there.
Her breathing was heavy. "I really am going insane..."
Then, from right behind her, "Awaken... Aika."
"AAAAGGGGGHHHHH."
She collapsed to the ground, clenching both the flesh at her chest and her eyes shut. Her heart felt like it was being split in two, her eyes fluttered open for a second, and she noticed some purple electricity circling around her before she clenched her eyes shut from the pain. She didn't notice the blaring alarm through the pain. It was a pain uncomparable to anything she had felt before. She's unsure of how long she lay there for, but as she got up and looked around, her eyes widened in shock at the destruction before her. She stood in a small crater, the ground cracked and destroyed, houses collapsed, and concrete buildings with shattered windows and cracked walls.
"What on earth happened? It looks like there was a space quake, but I'm still alive, so it can't be that." she pondered.
The noise of maybe a plane interrupted her thoughts. There seemed to be something glowing in the sky—green balls of light. Squinting at the strange lights in the sky, they appeared to be getting closer. She stood there, trying to make out the shapes.
"Hmm, are those robots? But it looks like there might be people in them..." she muttered out loud.
As they got closer, she noticed something else: the part she thought was a robot was actually two big metal rectangles being pointed at her. And then something came out of them, glowing orange balls of fire rushing at her. She stood there, staring at them as they approached. Confusion was visible on her face, but it was replaced by fear as explosions appeared around her.
"Huh.... What?"
"DIE SPIRIT!" A voice called out from the air. They were now close enough for Aika to make out their shapes; they were people, flying using some sort of mechanical suit, carrying large metal rectangles, which were firing more things at her.
Fear overcame Aika, and rather than sticking around to get blasted to death, she took off running, and immediately smashed into a building, falling to the ground.
"Owwww," she let out as she stood back up.
"Where did this building come from?"
But the noise from behind her took her out of her thoughts. Turning around to face the noise, the explosions hit the ground—the ground where she had just been standing. But she didn't have time to think about how she got over here, as she spotted the people in the air, and they fired at her again.
"This is bad, I need to get out of here." She mumbled to herself.
She ran, this time not at a speed she couldn't control, and once she was out of sight, ducked into an alleyway between two damaged buildings.
"I need to hide..." She muttered to herself, making her way through the alleyway. Reaching the end, she spotted a convenience store across the street. She tried to spot the people who attacked her, but couldn't see them anywhere.
She took a deep breath and ran at the store. And before she even had time to process what happened, she was face down on the floor.
"Ow, what the hell?" She said as she got to her feet.
She had made it into the store in the blink of an eye, yet again moving at a speed she couldn't control. She had tripped and fell through the hole left by the shattered window.
"I really need to learn to control that."
She moved deeper into the store, getting away from the entrance so that anyone going past wouldn't see her. She was glancing over the stuff still on the shelves, as most had been knocked onto the floor. Her foot came down on something on the ground, and the sound of glass shattering caught her attention. It was a circular hand-held mirror, but what really shocked her wasn't the mirror itself, but rather what she saw in the mirror. Her once blond hair was now a purple violet. Her blueish-green eyes now as green and rich as emeralds.
Her clothes had changed as well. Rather than the school uniform, she was now wearing a dress made out of shiny, dark purple metal plates, the sheets seemingly connected by glowing purple strings woven between each plate. It was a strapless dress, starting at her chest and ending at her knees. A bit of cleavage was showing, but she didn't have much to show anyway. She had shoulder pads, also made out of the metallic plates, but seemingly floating there and not being tied down. Her forearms were also covered by the plates, which were at least held in place by those glowing purple strings. Her legs were bare, and rather than wearing normal shoes, she was instead standing on thin wooden blocks, tied to her feet by the same glowing strings used elsewhere in her outfit.
"What sort of weird dream is this?" she spoke to herself as she continued deeper into the store. Entering a door at the back, she found herself in what she could only guess to be the employee's changing room. There were lockers up against the wall, with some wooden chairs scattered across the room, and, surprisingly, a full-length mirror, allowing Aika to finally get a full look at how she appears to everyone else.
"Wow, I do look fantastic, the outfit really matches my hair," she giggled to herself before taking a seat. But before she even had time to gather her thoughts, footsteps from within the store caught her attention.