[X] Rules are meant to be interpreted.
Entering your room and locking the door behind you, you can see the pock-marked silhouette of the moon hanging over the night sky through your window. A moment spent locking eyes with its pale, unimpressed gaze ends with you unceremoniously dragging the curtains shut in disgust. This entire night was just another example of this school's bizarre and totally inappropriate ignorance of common sense.
You carefully pull off Konoka's uniform vest, folding it across your arm before placing it on your desk, to be returned to her later in the day. You flick the bathroom lights on and step in, staring intently at your reflection in the mirror above the sink. A childish face, with the merest hints of a tan building are framed by loose, light brown locks of hair, smudged slightly by dust and dirt mingling with the sweat. The grey hair ties you had bought with the twins last week were frayed and discoloured, and you think you can spot a few burnt and damaged tips where the blast had been closest.
You pull the hair ties off and place them aside, taking a few moments to cautiously fiddle with the damaged parts of your hair.
Unacceptable.
You barely suppress a low sniffle as you gingerly snip off the worst affected strands with a small pair of scissors. You will have to look around for a good hairdresser to deal with it in an appropriately neat fashion.
Absolutely unacceptable.
Tonight, you are down a hoodie, a t-shirt and a nice, functional sports bra. The hoodie alone constitutes a massive loss of value, with the t-shirt and bra being mostly secondary casualties.
Completely unacceptable.
But really, what you are most upset about is the loss of your perfectly nice hoodie.
Totally unacceptable.
You splash cold water from the tap onto your face to wipe off the grime, letting the heat and stinging sensation in the corner of your eyes die down as you blink in front of the mirror. You wipe your eyes with the back of your hand, keeping your breath as steady as you can.
This was unacceptable.
Stripping down completely and placing the battered remnants of your remaining clothes aside, you edge over to the shower and flick the switches and push the buttons, letting the sounds of the pump fill the bathroom as you wash away the day's defeat, scrubbing away the smoke and dirt marks, your skin soon returning to its usual pale tone.
You will not silently suffer this indignity and injustice.
Slipping into your nightgown as you wrap a towel around your head, you extract one of your many notebooks and begin thumbing through its pages, cross-referencing details and double checking some observations. You look up at your map of the campus, laid out neatly on the cork-board covered wall, slowly placing one pin after another in key locations. You fish out receipts and simple budgetary forms and note down the value of the items you've lost tonight, and quickly flick through your phone's camera roll for the descriptive pictures.
To the side of the map, there is a small, well-worn checklist, torn out from one of your first notebooks.
2. No fighting or starting physical confrontations.
A ridiculous rule which has no place in a world where others on campus brazenly violate it without punishment.
You pick up a red pen.
You huff quietly, twirling the plastic writing implement in hand. Looking around sharply, before continuing to twirl and spin it.
It is a bit of a ridiculous rule.
You underline the words "fighting" and "physical confrontation" with a flourish, clicking the pen as you navigate it into the little ceramic pot on the desk with the rest of them.
The two most irritating parts of that particular rule. You understand that the letter of the rule is malleable, that there is a series of simple loopholes which you can exploit.
You cannot physically beat the shit out of that smug little vampire bitch.
But you certainly can make her pay for her insolence, in more ways than one.
You puff out your chest proudly as you nod to yourself, tying your hair up for sleep.
Satisfied with the makings of a future plan, you switch off the lights and flop into bed, pulling the covers over your head.
===
In the morning, halfway through your daily preparations, you feel a single presence approaching your room.
You do not normally have visitors this early. You usually endeavoured to meet up with Kaede or the twins halfway to school, or arrive at the lockers at roughly the same time.
It stops in front of your door and very shortly after, you hear a rather polite series of knocks, followed by a patient wait for a response.
Hmm. It must be Negi-sensei.
"Pweas waith." you call out, a hairband in your mouth as you finish tying up one of your ponytails.
You unlock the door and open it.
Yep. It's Negi-sensei.
"Good morning, sensei." you greet, giving him a slight bow, "How can I help?"
"Good morning, Tenno-chan. I was hoping we could walk to school together. In case Evangeline tries to attack us on the way. "
A sound decision. Nevertheless,
"I still need to gather a few things before I go, sensei. Would you mind waiting for a few minutes?"
He nods firmly, "No, of course not. Please, take your time."
You blink once. He would be relatively vulnerable outside of you room while he waits.
"It would be safer for you to be inside."
You grab him by the hand and drag him in, eliciting a set of confused gasps and mumbles. Quickly surveying the exterior, satisfied that there is nothing amiss, you shut the door and lock it again.
===
From her classwork and general character, you knew Ivara Tenno was a neat and orderly sort of girl, but it appears as though you've completely underestimated just how bold she was; simply pulling in a young man into her room uninvited! And a teacher at that! One could easily be mistaken!
Coughing away your embarrassment, you watch as Ivara strides into her bathroom, a hair tie in hand.
"Please wait right there," she orders, gesturing to a spot in the middle of the room.
Aside from her rather austere looking bed, the light grey covers sharply well-made, her room reminds you of… it reminds you more of an office, or war planning room like you would have seen in old movies. Above her desk, there is a large cork-board panel stuck to the wall that simply dominates the room's sightlines, with a startlingly detailed map of the campus laid out with pins and stickers and thin pieces of string connecting it all. Photos and notes are pinned to it, detailing numerous facts and anecdotes about the campus. You can make out a few paths from the dorms to the school and from there across campus. Timed, named and marked with alternate routes and points of interest, and almost all of them cutting across streets and buildings and things in a way that would make you assume she could fly.
Though, being a ninja, maybe she could?
The desk itself is covered with textbooks, stationery and a rather large number of thin notebooks, the covers of which were covered in elaborate calligraphy both Japanese and foreign(?), alongside a few sheaves of thin paper, a few of them with the rudiments of some sort of pattern. It takes you a moment to recognise them as Japanese charms, though they look a little rougher than you think they should. As you continue to look across the desk, your eyes are drawn towards the rather plain, small, yet functional looking knife on top of her pencil case.
Ivara comes out of the bathroom in a short, quick stride, stopping right in front of her desk. She pauses for a moment, surveying the items strewn out across its surface.
"Well sensei, I hope last night was more productive for you than it was for me," she nods as she picks up her knife,
"Yes. It was helpful to talk with the headmaster a little bit more," you agree, watching as she slips it under her shirt sleeve,
She huffs quietly, thumbing through the sheaves of charms, "Helpful. Hmph. I suppose it is in one way or another."
Remaining silent as she grumbles about the headmaster, you're quick to avert your eyes as she slides a large number of papers into little thigh bands hidden under her skirt. (Okay, that was probably a pretty bad attempt at averting your eyes, but in your defence she's really not trying to protect her modesty!) You get the feeling that Ivara is not really happy about last night's outcome in any way.
Satisfied with her preparations, Ivara finishes by snagging her school bag and a rather thin, longish cylindrical case of some kind from the floor next to the desk. She lets the longer container sit easily on her right shoulder, taking her bag up in her left hand, before gesturing with her shoulder in the direction of the door.
"Done. Let's get underway, sensei."
You were a little worried about what was in the long case, but you weren't going to ask her. You probably wouldn't like what you would hear.
===
On the way to school, you can't help but notice that Ivara is distinctly uncomfortable with the morning commute, often opting to keep a wide berth whenever possible. Failing which, she'd almost practically hold her breath as she squeezes through gaps, or wait for a particularly large and rowdy group to pass by. Several times, you had to doublecheck that she was still nearby, since she had that mysterious ability to simply halt and vanish into thin air, appearing metres away soon after, a speculative frown on her face as she notes down something in one of her many little books.
But to say that Ivara was afraid of the crowds was wrong. She wasn't frightened of large crowds. No, Ivara was suspicious of them, judging and inquisitive as she weaved through the masses. The way her eyes flit back and forth, sounds and colours attracting her to the offenders. It was a little unnerving, actually.
You only made one stop along the way, to a small café you think Takamichi frequents, where she orders the usual, which apparently are two slices of toast and a cup of black coffee. She does seem to like her coffee. You figure you won't begrudge someone their own little vices as you quickly sip at your own tea.
===
You were worried that taking the slower, ground-based route with Negi after stopping by the café for breakfast would result in being late, given the sheer chaos of the morning commuters across campus quite literally blocking the roads. But somehow that didn't seem to happen, given that you were already by the shoe lockers at about the same time you normally arrive. How that was possible, given that sitting on the tram felt like an eternity is beyond your understanding.
You glance at your phone's clock curiously, cross-referencing it with the clocks in the hall.
Huh. You're actually here about a minute earlier than expected?
"On time. No interference," you confirm out loud, "So far, so good sensei."
Was this some kind of magic? Or was there some kind of method behind the madness that you have yet to grasp?
Negi looks around cautiously as the two of you continue to make your way to the classroom, "That's good. Hopefully there won't be too many surprises today..."
As you make your way past the staff office at a casual-seeming pace, Takahata-sensei steps out,
"Ah. Morning there you two. Early as usual, Tenno-chan?" he smiles, adjusting his tie.
"Good morning, Takahata-sensei."
He nods in approval before turning to Negi,
"I heard what happened last night, Negi. Good call by the way."
"Thanks Takamichi. But really, if Tenno-chan wasn't there, we'd have been in a situation."
"Yeah, so I heard." Takahata turns to you, his hands returning to his pockets, "Hey Tenno-chan. How about you head over to class first, I need to discuss faculty matters with Springfield-sensei for a bit. Won't be too long."
That was not a question. That was a request. You look at Negi, who awkwardly scratches his neck at the sudden focus,
"Er. Well. I guess this is something important then, Tenno-san. I'll catch up with you as soon as I can. See you in class?"
You nod before turning and quickly pacing down the hallway while the two teachers head into the staff room.
Halting just after turning the corner of the hallway, you turn and carefully peek around the corner, towards the staff room.
The door is open. You can easily just Prowl into the staff room and listen in on their conversation before heading to class. No one would be the wiser.
[] What secrets are they hiding? Eavesdrop on the teacher's conversation. [There will be rolls involved.]
[] They can have their secrets. Ignore it and carry on to class as normal.
===
AN: Happy Holidays, Tenno.