Oh right, it's your younger sister Haru. She walks down the stairs, yawning a little. "Good morning, big sis."
You smile, and you're about to greet her back when your attention is caught on the clock. "Oh, Haru, you overslept!"
She follows your gaze, rubbing her eyes before looking closer. "Mmmaybe a little."
"Come on, I'll help you get ready. If we're lucky I'll be able to still get you to school on time. Go get dressed, I'll make you something for lunch and call Mr Browning so he's not waiting for you all morning."
"'Kaaayyy!"
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"Big sis, are you okay?" Haru asks as the two of you walk.
"Huh? What do you mean?" you ask her.
"You look tired!"
"Ah, that, well…" You rub the back of your head. "I saw Miss Caren yesterday, and she told me about something exciting happening soon, so I couldn't sleep."
"Miss Caren? She's the lady in the church?"
"That's right."
Haru fidgets nervously. Hm.
"Do you not like her?" You ask. "You've only met her once before, right?"
"She's weird," your sister pouts.
"Do you like her more or less than Mr Browning and Ms Grayfore?"
"More, more" Haru replies, certain. "They don't like me that much….."
Well, that part's true enough, and you can definitely understand it. Despite being your legal guardians now, the two "family friends" are just as uncaring towards Haru as you'd expect two mages would be towards a non-mage; not to mention clear distrust around you as well. Some caregivers they've been.
"Hey, it's okay," you tell Haru. "You'll always have me around, and
I like you a whole lot!"
Haru smiles, and her grip on your hand tightens a little.
The elementary school is upon you now and you stop, turning to Haru. "Alright sis, I think you're still on time. We did it!"
Haru raises her hands and hops in celebration. "Hooray!"
"Ms Grayfore will be by to pick you up, and I'll be home later in the afternoon, okay?"
"But big sis," she says, a worried expression on her face. "Won't you be late for school too? The tiger lady's gonna be mad, right?"
You laugh a little. Yes, yes she is.
"Don't you worry about me, Haru, I'll be fine. I'll just pretend to point a laser and distract her!"
You raise your hands above your head to mimic cat ears and give a little rawr. Haru giggles, and you ruffle her hair a bit before hugging her and sending her off. You can probably, maybe, use some magic to cheat a little to get there on time. It's comforting to be able to relieve your sister's worries, after all.
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Well, you tried at least; you're still moderately late, and turning up your speed boost any more would've put you in a bad spot with civilians noticing magic and all that. To top it all off, you've already fallen asleep at least once during class. Ms Fujimura is not happy with you today. Maybe Haru's concerns weren't so unfounded after all. At least your friends Akari and Yumi are always happy to see you.
"Hey, Yumi, what's that book you've been reading lately?" Akari asks at lunch.
"It's called 'Life, Death, and Butterflies in the Springtime'. It's pretty philosophical, but also kinda bland? I dunno if I'll finish it."
"Seriously?! Didn't you start reading it last week? Is it really that boring?"
"I think I'm being put to sleep just looking at the cover," you say.
"That's your fault, dummy! You're practically sleepwalking through the day!" Akari teases.
"Yeah, I guess so…...I couldn't sleep at all after talking to Miss Hortensia yesterday."
"The woman in the church? What would she want to talk about with you?" Yumi probes.
"Just….just some business about my mom, officially moving her grave next to Dad's" you lie, turning away somewhat, doing your best to feign sorrow. It's not that hard when the lie gets you thinking about your parents anyways. Your friends pull back a little, and Akari shoots Yumi a 'you shouldn't pry into sensitive business!' look. Damn it, now you really are tearing up a little.
"I'll-I'll be fine guys, promise," you say, wiping a nascent tear from the corner of your eye. "I just….I just miss them, is all."
"Hey, Mikami, how about this," Akari offers, gently grabbing your arm. "After school when Yumi's done with kendo and I'm done with the occult club, the three of us go out together and do some window shopping. I've got some extra money to burn, so I'll cover everyone. You'll feel like collapsing with all the bags we'll be carrying!" She points a hand to the ceiling to emphasize this. Yumi nods in agreement. "It has been some time since we've spent time with each other outside of school with my kendo, Akari's occult club, and your extra studies classes."
You pull together a smile, and nod. "Alright, let's do it."
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Once school ends for the day, time flies by much quicker. Learning about foreign culture and history really has its perks when one plans to participate in the Holy Grail War, and finishing early for the day gives you time well spent meditating. You wrap up and swing by the occult club to grab Akari, and Yumi meets you halfway to the dojo.
"Aaaahh, I'm pretty sore. That was a super big workout I got today," Yumi comments, rubbing her arms.
"You've got that big tournament soon, right?" You ask.
"Yeah! You gotta stay in shape, Yumi! It's all about mentality! If you sharpen your mind, you sharpen your body! That's the first thing I learned in training my latent psychic powers!" Akari chimes in.
You laugh a little with Yumi and watch amusedly as your friend continues on about the activities of the occult club.
You notice a familiar business as you walk through town with your friends: the flower store. You don't come here often nowadays, but your mom always loved buying bouquets here. You weren't planning on going to the cemetery tonight, but you haven't visited in a while and it would be nice…..plus, given your plans for tonight….yeah, alright. You split off from your friends momentarily to grab a bouquet of camellias–one of your mom's favorites.
Eventually, evening starts to roll around, and the three of you head your separate ways. You have acquired for yourself flowers, final materials you needed to set up your summoning circle (purchased discreetly), and some new outfits for yourself. Between the shopping and going to a nearby cafe for a bit, this has been a good day, and you're glad you got to spend more time with your friends than usual. Your good mood evaporates when you arrive home and try to stealthily enter, only to see Ms Greyfore sitting on the couch straight ahead, a lit cigarette hanging out of her mouth as she taps away on her phone.
Dammit, what's she still doing here? She's never here this long, always picks up Haru and leaves after a routine check up on your home. You're grateful you had the presence of mind to hide your more expensive purchases in with the bags of clothes, but the flowers aren't so easily hidden. You move for the staircase, but stop when she speaks up.
"You're home late."
"I spent some time with friends," you tell her. Keep the conversation short, don't' draw it out. The sooner you can get away, the sooner she'll go away. Hopefully.
She looks up from her phone and spots the flowers, before her gaze flits to the kitchen, where Haru usually goes to do her homework. She sighs and stands, pulling out the cigarette for a prolonged drag.
"I'll ask you to please not smoke in here," you tell her, as you've done countless times since making her unfortunate acquaintance.
The woman slowly walks over to stand beside you, looking out into the neighborhood.
"You're familiar with the stories of how your parents saved my life and Drake's, and got me out of a bad spot. I said that I owed them a life debt–something, anything they ever wanted my help with."
"But, you know…." she says, her voice soft and wistful, "I can't speak for Drake, but if I knew that they'd make me pay that debt by babysitting a no-good, insolent brat of a daughter who doesn't respect her elders and is a waste of good magical circuits….and her younger sister, who'll be wallowing in ignorance all her life when she could be a better heir to a halfway decent Crest, once they'd gone and passed….well, I think I'd rather have died in that pit in America."
Your fists clench.
[ ] Let it slide. You've heard these kinds of barbs before, and you have bigger things to spend your time caring about.
[ ] Snap back at her. You've taken this for too long, and you're not going to tolerate it any longer.
[ ] Write-in
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As a necessary bonus, here is an image that shows what Mikami looks like (Outfit may be different)
Also, I'm going to be starting to use the SV tally system.
Otherwise... honestly a lot of extra classes are either oddities tied closely to FGO's scenario, or kind of busted in one way or another, so I'm not sure how crazy I am about them.
