We unboxed our convenience store lunches and proceeded to dig in.
Rina stared miserably at her plastic lunch container which held an assortment of salads and seafood, while Maya placed a large data slate on the ground between the four of us who sat in a circle facing inwards.
Maya said, “We need to work on our formations. I don’t think we made decent use of Rina last night.”
I nodded. “I couldn’t keep that Artemis girl off her back.”
As she spoke, Rina continued to stare unhappily at her lunch box. “I can run and shoot but don’t expect me to hit anything yet. I still haven’t synched up with the Gun Blade.” She started picking at the salads with a plastic fork.
Constance shook her head. “You mean you can shoot but can’t run.”
Rina stabbed her salad. “I’ll get better at it.”
Maya raised her head and studied the girl. “We know you will. No one is saying otherwise.”
I watched Rina’s lower lip tremble before she forcefully shoved a mouthful of salad into her mouth.
I didn’t miss the look Maya gave her, one of clear concern.
A few moments went by before Maya turned her attention to the data slate, and munched on a slice of sandwich cut into a triangle no larger than her palm. “Maybe we should focus on re-tuning with our Fragments. My okatanas feel like they’re fighting against me rather than with me.”
She looked up at Constance.
“When are you going to start fighting with us?”
Constance gave her a puzzled look. “What?”
“You’re fighting as if you’re not part of the team. Why?”
“So sorry, but I’ve never fought in a group before. Takes a little to get used to it.”
“That’s the whole point of this,” Maya pointed out. “We’re supposed to help each other improve. You think you can handle Crescent on your own if and when they show up?”
Constance was about to retort, but I cut her off.
“If Crescent are anywhere as good as Caelum was that Saturday, we are all dead.”
Constance shut her mouth with a loud clack.
Maya sighed. “We could have used his strength last night, especially if he can manifest both shield-blades now.”
Rina swallowed a second unpleasant mouthful of salad. She looked at the three of us and asked, “How strong is he? I mean, is he really good with his Fragment?” She looked across at me. “Hey Cappy, when’s he coming?”
Rina had a habit of calling me by that annoying nickname.
I started to correct her, but gave up a heartbeat later. “I don’t know. My handler—I mean Guardian—won’t tell me a thing. She just keeps telling me to work hard and not drag the team down.”
I was holding a soda can in my left hand. I had to put it down or else I might inadvertently crush it.
Maya asked, “Hey, are you okay?”
Rina nodded quickly. “Yeah Cappy, are you okay?”
“Why are you asking?” I retorted, somehow managing to hold onto my usual flat expression.
“Cause last night you were pissed,” Maya stated.
I lost my train of thought for a moment. I muttered a feeble, “Sorry….”
Rina swallowed down a third mouthful of salad with a grimace on her face. “Cappy, you don’t have to feel lonely. Caelum will be back.”
I gave Rina a flat look. “Please don’t call me that.”
Constance muttered in a low voice. “I don’t think he’ll be back.”
I faced her in a heartbeat, as did Maya and Rina, the latter with food halfway to her open mouth.
Maya beat me to the punch. “Care to explain why?”
Constance stared down at the data-slate on the grass in the middle of our circle. She made no effort to reply which quickly angered me.
Again before I could say anything, Maya spoke up. “We’re waiting for an answer, Constance.”
The girl closed her eyes and took a shuddering, nervous breath. “The Princess told me that one of the reasons for having us train as a unit is so that we don’t need Caelum Desanto and his Fragment.”
Maya half frowned. “Huh?”
Constance looked the girl in the eyes. “The Prides don’t trust him. They’re afraid of what he can do.”
Rina grimaced. “Well, I’d be afraid of facing him too if he was that angry.”
I said it bluntly. “You’re lying.”
Constance clenched her jaw. “If you don’t believe me, ask Simone Alucard. Ask Severin Kell. They know.”
I stood up slowly. “The only reason they’re afraid of him is because of what he did to you.”
Constance stood up and faced. “It’s more than that. They’re afraid of Crimson Crescent getting to him—of convincing him to join their side.”
“He would never do that.”
“He would if they gave him reason to.”
I stated flatly. “He has no reason to.”
Constance narrowed her eyes. “Look, I’m sorry for what happened at the amusement park. I am sorry for how far I took things.”
“You’re sorry for stabbing me through the chest?”
“Yes. I am sorry. I have this”—she pulled aside the collar of her blouse—“to thank for my actions.”
I saw the pink skin of a scar running diagonally across her chest all the way to her left shoulder.
Her voice was low. “This is what Caelum gave me, the brand I have to bear for turning my Fragment on another Familiar. For trying to take your life. For trying to kill someone close to him.”
I swallowed.
Someone close to him.
I guessed she was right. Caelum’s blinding anger had allowed him to manifest both Gauntlets and to slice through Constance’s barrier-field as though it were nothing but air.
It was anger I’d never seen him display.
Anger expressed at my being injured.
Constance straightened her blouse. “I’ll carry this with me for the rest of my life. I may have survived, and my insides and bones may have healed. But this scar will be with me for years.”
I had scars too – one that marred the skin between my breasts; another that marred the flesh beside my left shoulder blade.
I was lucky she hadn’t stabbed through my spine. The Symbiote they’d administered to me might have healed that kind of damage, but it would have taken me weeks if not months to learn to walk again.
However, like Constance, I would be carrying my two scars for years to come.
Constance carried on. “And I have shamed my Princess, and the Raynar Pride. That is something I will also bear for a long time.” She waved a hand loosely at all three of us. “This is why training with you, and becoming a part of something bigger than I am, something that makes it worthwhile to possess a Fragment and gives meaning to my existence as a Familiar, is really important to me.”
Maya snorted. “Those sound like really lofty words and ideals. But after what you did, it’s a little hard to believe you.” Maya leaned forward where she sat cross-legged on the ground. “I’m trying. Believe me, I really want to believe you. But you haven’t convinced me yet.”
Constance swallowed hard. “I know. I know that.”
For a while she fingered the lapel of her blouse.
Rina spoke through half a mouthful of food. “If we keep doubting her, we might as well doubt each other.” She gave Maya a meaningful look.
I noticed Maya had gripped her left wrist tightly.
A little self-consciously, she let it go a heartbeat later.
Constance cleared her throat softly. “I don’t want to lose my place. I don’t want to lose my Fragment. I don’t want to shame my Pride, my family, or myself anymore. For that, I’m willing to set everything aside.”
I didn’t say anything, and Maya and Rina were just as quiet for a long while.
Then Maya stood up slowly, and looked Constance in the eyes. “Can we believe you?”
Constance stiffened for a heartbeat. “Yes. I s
wear it.”
I noticed Maya narrow her eyes. “If this is going to work, we have to be open with each other.”
“I understand.”
Rina muttered, “But you hate Caprice. How can we trust you?”
“I don’t hate her,” Constance snapped. “True, I did resent her for kicking my ass and shaming me. True—I let that resentment get the better of me. But I—I regret what I did. I regret it so much.”
“Because of the scar?” Rina asked softly.
“Because I almost lost everything,” Constance cried out. “If the Princess hadn’t begged them, I would have lost my Fragment too. If she hadn’t thrown herself at their mercy, and succeeded where Arisa Imreh failed, I wouldn’t be here now. I’d be nothing. Just a worthless Familiar without a Fragment.”
Constance looked ready to burst into tears.
She added after a heartbeat. “I always thought I was a burden to her. I believed I’d never live up to her expectations. And I was right. I caused her to lose face and she had to sacrifice herself for me, all so that I wouldn’t lose my Fragment.”
“What did she do?” Maya asked. The girl took a step closer. “What did Prissila do?”
Constance shook her head. “I don’t know. She won’t tell me. No one will.”
Maya lowered her head. “Damn it, damn it, damn it….”
I inhaled slowly, and deeply. “I accept your apology. I’m sorry for what happened as well. We were both doing what our Prides and our Guardians expected of us. We’re both puppets of circumstance.”
All three girls looked at me.
I shook my head slowly. “I don’t want to fight anymore.”
I heard the weak thanks that Constance whispered.
Weak as it was, I guess it was a start.
If anything the truce between us had grown a little stronger.
When we weren’t aiming our Fragments at each other, we actually made a strong pair. As Familiars we made a formidable team. If we worked together, we could grow stronger and go a long way as a team.
It wasn’t just my opinion. I’d overheard Silia Alucard mention it to the other instructors.
I sat back down on my blanket atop the grass, and crossed my legs under me. “Lunch break will be over soon. Let’s go over this before this afternoon’s training.”
After a short while, both Constance and Maya sat down.
It felt like something between us had been resolved, but what Constance said about Caelum left me feeling empty inside.
I felt incomplete without him beside me.
#
(Caelum)
I spent the Friday school hours serving my suspension in my dorm room.
I went through the material already covered in class. Thanks to Haruka and Caprice I didn’t think I would fall too far behind. Perhaps a day, and not more. There was some material I had a little trouble following. I would have to review it with a teacher once my suspension was lifted.
Friday afternoon came round soon enough.
After classes came to an end, I walked from my dorm room to the courtyard, lined up with Alistair, Klaus and Melanie, and then suited up for more janitorial work.
On Wednesday it was seven of us serving detention.
On Thursday it was eleven.
On Friday it was fifteen.
I asked the others if they knew why our ranks were going up instead of down.
I asked them if they knew why all the newcomers were girls.
Alistair shrugged, pleading ignorance, but Klaus said he’d heard the war wasn’t over yet. He described it as guerilla warfare between various groups of girls representing the large and small breasted communities. To make matters worse, unrest was now brewing in the middle-school section of the academy.
I listened in veiled disbelief as I walked with my comrades-in-detention to our assigned area.
Today it was toilet cleaning.
I slipped the mask over my mouth and nose, and went to work spraying and scrubbing the toilets down.
I worked with Klaus on the boys toilets.
Alistair and Melanie worked on the adjoining girls toilets.
From ground floor to the fourth floor, we managed to get through eight pairs of toilet blocks before our time in detention ran out.
It was well after six pm by the time we had cleaned up and changed back into our student uniforms.
As had been the case during the last two evenings, all four of us walked in relative silence through the courtyard. But then Alistair stopped and asked us, “Want to grab some dinner?”
Klaus looked ecstatic, but I mirrored Melanie’s slightly nauseous expression as I said, “Alistair, we just finished washing down eight toilet blocks. How can you think of food?”
“Because I’m hungry. And I’d like to smell food rather than cleaning fluid. I want food. Are you coming?”
“Ah….” There was no point glancing at Klaus – he was happily nodding – so I gave Melanie a quick look. “Well…it is Melanie’s last day on detention. Why don’t we send her off in style?”
A bemused look crossed Melanie’s face as she stared first at me, then Klaus and Alistair.
I tipped my head slightly. “You got plans?”
She shook her head feebly. “No. Not really.”
Alistair planted her hands on her hips. “Then it’s settled. Let’s go. I know just the place.”
I asked cautiously. “It’s not someplace you, Haruka and Siobhan visit? Right?”
Alistair stopped in mid-step. “Ah, that could be a problem.” She glanced at Melanie. “As a matter of fact, I’ve seen Duncan Armand there a few times.”
I saw Melanie stiffen, then straighten and heft her school bag higher onto her shoulder. “That isn’t a problem for me,” she said with smooth confidence.
Alistair gave me a look.
I knew she was thinking of Haruka and I.
I shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m okay with it. If I bump into her, I haven’t said hello to her in a while.”
Alistair looked troubled, but then shrugged and smiled naughtily. “Yeah. I guess it’s time to put the foolishness behind.”
And so as a group we departed the school grounds.
My stomach didn’t rumble alone on the way to the family restaurant that Alistair led us to.
#
(Haruka)
The cake shop was full by the time I arrived. I was delayed because I found out I was on classroom cleanup duty.
I messaged Duncan to tell him I’d be late, then rushed through the cleanup.
Kendo Club practice had resumed so Siobhan had been attending it all week after class.
I was left to my own devices so I ran alone to meet up with Duncan.
But all the tables were taken, and Duncan had arrived late as well so he’d failed to mind a table for us.
I made a decision, and suggested we go to the restaurant Alistair, Siobhan and I frequented. The food was good, the service was prompt, and it was only two blocks away from Galatea, and only a block away from the mag-lev station. We were fortunate, and the waitress seated us at a table for two by a window overlooking the sidewalk and street.
Duncan ordered drinks for us, then we both scanned the menu in nervous silence.
My hands trembled so I had to brace the menu against the table.
I wondered how Duncan felt, and noticed him folding his hands tightly on the table as he read the menu he’d laid out before him.
He kept glancing my way.
I felt my stomach tighten every time he did.
I realized I didn’t know what to tell him.
The waitress temporarily spared us. She took my order of a salad, and Duncan’s order of a jumbo sized meat hamburger.
Even before becoming an Aventis I was a light eater, but I wondered what it would be like to eat something so large.
Duncan must have been surprised by the burger’s size because he stared at it in dismay for a short while.
I started to laugh and after a heartbea
t he did too, and it felt like some of the tension between us had faded away.
He gave me a warm look that made my skin tingle, and my heart beat guiltily.
Now that we were together, I realized how much I really, really liked him.
He was so different from Caelum. Tall, good looking – not to say that Caelum wasn’t easy on the eyes because he definitely was. But Duncan had a different aura around him. Duncan was confident and at ease with himself. I didn’t sense the undercurrent of resentment that seemed to darken Caelum’s aura. With Duncan, I realized I could relax.
I realized I was comfortable around him.
And I accepted that I most probably loved him.
Which made my time sitting across from him all the more precious and painful.
The trembling in my hands grew worse so I quickly slipped them under the table.
I lowered my head, unable to read the menu any longer.
“Haruka?”
I swallowed and nodded. “Yes…?”
Duncan’s voice was low and serious. “There’s something I want to tell you.”
I felt my stomach tighten. I was suddenly afraid of what he would say, but I forced myself to look up at him.
He swallowed anxiously, probably to clear his throat. “Haruka, I like you.”
I swallowed reflexively. “I…I know.”
After a moment of hesitation, he asked, “How do you feel about me?”
And there it was, the question I feared most.
I thought of Caelum, and the truth slipped through my lips.
“I like you, I really do.” My eyes were tearing up. “And I’m sorry…I’m sorry for not telling you….”
Duncan’s face paled. “What haven’t you told me?”
“That I have feelings for Caelum Desanto.”
Through my blurry vision I saw him blanch.
I shook my head slowly. “I’m sorry, Duncan…I’m so sorry….”
“I don’t understand.” Duncan’s face contorted in confusion. “I don’t understand, Haruka. What are you telling me?”
I swallowed down past the lump in my throat. “That I…that I can’t give you an answer.”
His voice fell to a whisper. “Why? Aren’t you giving me one now?”
I shook my head. “No. This isn’t an answer.”
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