Homura Akemi (
braidstobows) wrote in
onepassingnight2012-08-22 09:41 am
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It's one of those dreams everyone has...
She's already late for school. Homura runs at top speed - and of course she has a test today, which she never realized until this moment. She hasn't studied.
(It's still better than the dreams where she runs into battle, just a moment too late, just in time to see her best and only friend falling-
How many times has that happened? How many times has she relived it in nightmares?)
By the time she rushes into the school, breathless to the alarm of her classmates who are used to her calm punctuality, she wants nothing more than to sink into her seat. But then their confusion turns to laughter. Homura very, very slowly reaches up to her head...
... and runs her fingers along the headband with cat ears Madoka talked her into wearing as a costume when she spent the night. She pulls and tugs and yanks at it, but it won't come off no matter what she does. She frowns uncomfortably. Madoka, a pink-haired girl with pigtails sitting just nearby, gives her a sympathetic smile and will probably use the lunch period to tell her it's alright.
So much for the cool Homura.
(It's still better than the dreams where she runs into battle, just a moment too late, just in time to see her best and only friend falling-
How many times has that happened? How many times has she relived it in nightmares?)
By the time she rushes into the school, breathless to the alarm of her classmates who are used to her calm punctuality, she wants nothing more than to sink into her seat. But then their confusion turns to laughter. Homura very, very slowly reaches up to her head...
... and runs her fingers along the headband with cat ears Madoka talked her into wearing as a costume when she spent the night. She pulls and tugs and yanks at it, but it won't come off no matter what she does. She frowns uncomfortably. Madoka, a pink-haired girl with pigtails sitting just nearby, gives her a sympathetic smile and will probably use the lunch period to tell her it's alright.
So much for the cool Homura.
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It'd be all right if she just closed them for a little while...
Just as her chin began to slide off of the upturned palm of her hand, the sound of the classroom door opening shook her back into awareness. As she began to register just what was going on, and what Akemi was wearing... the realization brought with it a trail of soft chuckles from behind Sayaka's hand.
Were those... cat ears?!
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She decided to concentrate very carefully on the teacher, but that only lasted a few minutes (she'd heard the lesson at least a thousand times). Finally, she gave up and sat at her seat, arms crossed.
Fortunately, the bell rang.
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As everyone else stirred in their seats, Sayaka grinned in Homura's direction, following Madoka as she made her way over.
"Always have to make an entrance don't you?" though for obvious reasons, the blue-haired girl seemed more pleased with this one than usual.
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Sigh.
"We'd better be sure not to be late to the next class." She was considering cutting it, actually - the class, not the hair, though the hair idea was becoming tempting, too.
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"If you'd like," she invites, "You can try to take them off for me." Let Sayaka see for herself that they really are stuck, and this is no stunt for attention. Not even Madoka's.
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But she might have felt like it, a little bit. And Madoka's cheerful smile and words of encouragement, rather than making things better, only seemed to heap coals on top of an already burning pride.
"Miki Sayaka," she said finally as the bell thankfully rang and she gathered her belongings, "Do you intend to skip your next class?"
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A testing tug proved the ears weren't going anywhere. If it was anyone but Madoka responsible, she'd be upset.
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When Homura runs in, he pauses, looking up in mild surprise as the class is disturbed. Being late is something he, too, considers unthinkable. The cat ears are--unexpected. He's never been late. He studies her thoughtfully, distracted from his studies for once.
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She returns Sephiroth's look without apology, and turns immediately to business. "Has the test been announced yet?"
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"No, not yet."
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She's become much stronger, but this dream seems determined to keep her held back here, as if she hasn't moved away from it all, never made that flat decision to change herself completely.
"I see," she says quietly. "Thank you." She reaches up to tug at the ears again, but they still refuse to remove themselves. She resigns herself to learning math with them on her head.
The teacher begins, a tricky equation she knows she knows how to do, but the letters run together into nothingness for her now. She frowns, and squints- Does she need her glasses again?
No, it's no better with them.
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He glances at her ears again, curious. He's not sure what to make of them. He's still wondering about them as the math drones on in the background. He's paying attention to the lesson, but Homura has a share of his attention, too.
"Did something happen?" he asks at last, in a low voice, leaning toward her.
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"I haven't determined the cause yet," she says, a bit stiff with the embarrassment still.
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The other students were probably thankful for this, since he was hardly the funnest person to be around. Vanitas was, to put it bluntly, a bully. The boy mocked and ridiculed those around him tirelessly, and that was when he was in a good mood. He never made friends, never cared if anyone liked him, and never apologized. Nor did he have any targets in particular; he seemed only concerned with tearing at weak points, as if he fed off the misery of those around him. Or maybe he just wanted a good laugh.
If that's all he's after, then it seems that he's found exactly what he's looking for today. He happens to be laughing loudest of all at Homura's unfortunate situation.
"What a way to make an entrance." he says, making no attempt to hide the note of amusement in his tone. "Nice try, but I don't think the new look is working for you."
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About how useless and uncool she was - or maybe that was just what she'd thought hearing all the rest.
The calm and confidence she's gained since then suddenly seems to desert her in the face of Vanitas' determined mocking, and instead of challenging him or turning him away with a quiet nondescript answer, she finds herself looking away.
"They don't seem to be coming off." It sounds lame, even in her own ears.
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Considering Vanitas' typical choice in clothing, particularly if he were fully aware of his true memories right now, he should be fully aware that he has no right to criticize anyone's fashion sense. But he also doesn't care - he's bored, and it was an easy shot to take.
"Seriously, though-" Vanitas still sounds far from friendly, but now there's a hint of genuine curiosity. "How did you manage that? Don't tell me you tried to glue them on or something."
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That's right. She's not this useless and helpless anymore. She forces herself to sit straighter, and faces Vanitas. Then it hits her. Something about this boy in this class feels off. Was he always there...?
She should know. But she doesn't. Homura tries to turn back to the front of the room to pay attention when the teacher calls his name in the roll.