It's one of those dreams everyone has...

[braidstobows]

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.

Comments

[lamentoso]

Sayaka was just about ready to doze off. Today's first lesson was guaranteed to be especially hard to concentrate on and her eyelids seemed to just be getting heavier and heavier...

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?!

[braidstobows]

It was worse when she was being laughed at. Homura shot a look towards Sayaka - not quite the frosty expression that could have stopped a person dead, but enough to make her displeasure known.

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.

[lamentoso]

The look silenced her laughter, but it did nothing for the mischevious twinkle anyone could see sparked in her eyes. This was rich. The calm and collected too-cool-for-mitakihara-school Homura Akemi was sitting in class, wearing cat ears. It was too perfect. Sayaka couldn't have asked for a better set up. The delight alone she was taking in the situation was enough to keep her awake and alert -- right up until the bell.

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.

[braidstobows]

"They seem to be stuck," Homura said, recovering her usual calm in defiance of the situation. But it was hard to sound aloof and in-control when she had just made a rather disruptive entrance into the classroom.

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.

[lamentoso]

"Stuck, huh?" Sayaka replied incredulously. All of her things were gathered up in her bag already, so she had time to tease Homura as the three of them made their way out of homeroom. "Sounds like an excuse to me. I bet you just wanted to wear them to make a statement or something, huh? Maybe you wanted someone to notice you more than usual, eh~?"

[braidstobows]

If her eyes betray her, they'll go right to Madoka; but she consciously keeps them from straying.

"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.

[lamentoso]

"And ruin your fun?" there's a trail of laughter that follows Sayaka's words. "No way, I wouldn't dream of it! Besides..." she continued in a slightly lower voice, turning to Madoka herself, "I bet Madoka thinks they look great on you, don't you, Madoka?" As though she was going to help the transfer student out of this one! This was one of the best days she'd had since Akemi's arrival!

[braidstobows]

It would be far beneath Homura's dignity to scowl.

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?"

[lamentoso]

"Eh?" she hadn't even noticed the time had passed so quickly. They say that happens when you're enjoying yourself... "Of course not, let's get moving!" she chirped, not being able to wait to see how the students in their next lesson reacted to the cool Homura's new look. "We could all go together... unless you wanted to make another dramatic entrance of course."

[braidstobows]

"We'll go together." This belied her plans to slouch and see if she could essentially hide behind the other girls. It probably wouldn't work, but it was better than calling even more attention to it.

A testing tug proved the ears weren't going anywhere. If it was anyone but Madoka responsible, she'd be upset.

[pinnaculum]

Sephiroth is sitting in the classroom, too, not far from the seat Homura takes. He's studying quietly in the period before the class begins in earnest. He was younger than the other students, but no one seems to notice, or else they don't mind.

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.

[braidstobows]

Normally, it would be Homura in Sephiroth's position: on top of everything happening in the class and watching the latecomer with faint, calm bemusement. The fact that she is in this spot instead makes her feel dissatisfied.

She returns Sephiroth's look without apology, and turns immediately to business. "Has the test been announced yet?"

[pinnaculum]

Sephiroth usually doesn't talk in class, but he is willing to make an exception to be helpful. A good student should assist other students. He's perfectly polite and shakes his head.

"No, not yet."

[braidstobows]

The teacher is shooting her that insufferable pitying look; they never got angry, not with the girl so fragile she could barely make it to school at all - and hadn't, for six months, bedridden with illness.

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.

[pinnaculum]

"You're welcome."

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.

[braidstobows]

No? Yes? She's honestly not sure which is the true answer. Something certainly isn't right here, but it doesn't seem anything like a witch or a demon, either. It doesn't have that deadly malice. It's more like a prank, but Madoka surely wouldn't have pranked her - and what human could have made her eyes and mind and body so unresponsive again?

"I haven't determined the cause yet," she says, a bit stiff with the embarrassment still.

[forgingoblivion]

Meanwhile, it's a miracle that this particular student was in class at all...except maybe not since, at the very least, he always showed up for tests. Always turned in the homework. Always passed with flying colors. He just didn't bother showing up the grand majority of the time.

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."

[braidstobows]

It's been a long time since Homura faced what could be called bullying - the kids talking behind her back about how weak she'd been, how frail, how even showing up to class was almost too much for her, about the time she'd spent bedridden.

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.

[forgingoblivion]

"Well, that's too bad." he says, seemingly amused at how quickly Homura's confidence crumbles. "Guess you'll have to figure out how to make them work for you. I'm sure you'll come up with something...maybe."

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."

[braidstobows]

"I didn't do anything special..." But the voice trails off again, quiet and weak. She needs to get a grip of herself.

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.