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Owari Akane hadn’t been alive for all too long, especially compared to her distant however-many-greats-aunt-however-many-times-removed, who’d lived until the ripe old age of one-hundred-and-seventeen. Her secret to a long life, she’d said, was to avoid all contact with men.
Owari figured as she watched the girl walking past her that she had it in the bag from now on. Great-great-whatever would be so proud of her.
The girl was tall and slim and blonde, moving efficiently across the sidewalk and wearing a brown uniform that seemed familiar. Maybe Owari knew it from somewhere. Maybe she should go talk to her. Maybe she should ask her to dinner, cause chicks liked food, right? She did, at least.
Figuring she’d never know until she tried, Owari ran her hand through her hair in a futile attempt to tame it and walked over to the girl.
“Hey,” she called; the blonde turned around and Owari’s mouth was suddenly way too dry. “That uniform, that from somewhere around here?” she managed to get out.
To her surprise, the blonde smiled. “Yes! Hope’s Peak, actually; today is my first day,” she replied in perfect Japanese. Her hands clasped under her chin. “I cannot wait!”
Owari coughed a little too loudly. Hope’s Peak. Fuck. “Yeah, uh, actually, I’m goin’ there too. On my way right now.”
“Would you perhaps like to accompany me? I’m afraid I seem to be a little lost.” The girl blushed and looked down, obviously embarrassed. She combed her fingers through her hair and Owari was absolutely entranced by the way it waved down from each point of contact like those aerial silks she used to try and practice with. (She hated practice almost as much as she hated aerial silks, so that didn’t last very long.)
Her expectant look shook Owari out of her stupor and she nodded, grinning as wide as she could, and stuck out her hand for the girl to shake. “Yeah, yeah, I can take you where you’re goin’. Name’s Owari, by the way. Owari Akane.”
“It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you, Owari Akane-san! My name is Sonia Nevermind,” she replied, taking Owari’s hand and shaking it firmly. Owari laughed.
Sonia had been on the right track - Hope's Peak was only a few blocks away. Owari wished it was a longer walk, because it turned this girl was fuckin’ hilarious. She hadn't been in Japan for very long, so Owari got to watch her make comments about everything from street vendors to the state of the sidewalks to a lot of talk about the weather. Apparently in Novoselic it was good manners to mention the weather at least five times during any conversation. Owari had never even heard of Novoselic, but figured she might as well be culturally sensitive as she pointed out the slight breeze yet again.
Sonia beamed as the school came into view, so tall she had to crane her neck to see the very top. The wind blew her hair around, a little stronger now, and Owari’s heart skipped a beat at the sight. She looked like something out of a storybook, or a video game.
It turned out they were in the same class, 77-B. Some of their classmates were pretty weird, some were pretty loud, and some were just pretty. There was a photographer that Sonia instantly hit it off with, and Owari forced a smile even as blood pooled to her fists as she watched them flirt. At least, she thought it was flirting. Girls didn't normally blush that much when talking to other girls they were just friendly with, right? Whatever. Sonia could flirt with whoever she wanted, it was a free country.
Which was why Owari was surprised when Sonia excused herself from Koizumi and sat down next to her. “I hope you will forgive me for abandoning you, Owari-san,” she said apologetically. “It is important to make nice with all of one’s classmates, but I fear I may have made a hella nasty diplomatic error in leaving you without warning.”
Owari stifled her laugh in her fist. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, okay?”
Once Sonia had introduced herself to everyone, and mentioned the weather at least five times during each conversation, Owari found herself sitting next to a very bored princess. Sonia’s fascination with the desks had worn off quickly, and it wasn't long until she had grasped the mechanics of a sliding door. In Novoselic, doors apparently did not slide.
The rest of the day was torture. Sonia sat next to her and Owari could smell her fancy perfume as if they were touching. She’d like to touch her, she thought. She looked delicate, like she could break with rough handling, but Owari had no intentions of that. Maybe later. Now, though, Owari would have loved to hold her hand or take her out to dinner. Hopefully dinner dates were more common in Novoselic than sliding doors. Owari watched her lean over her desk to write, entranced by the thin, round characters that looked a little more like chicken scratch than words. Huh. She would've expected a princess to have nicer handwriting. Of course, hers was no better, but wasn't it just generally accepted that princesses were neat and beautiful all the time?
When the day ended, Owari raced back to her dorm as fast as possible. (As an athlete, it was pretty fast.) She launched herself onto her bed, hoping that maybe a change of gravitational center would calm her heart down or clear her head, if all the blood rushed out of her brain. Or wherever else it was. But the ceiling provided no comfort, only reminding her that Sonia was in a similar room with a similar ceiling and a similar bed, and maybe she was sitting on that bed, brushing her hair or reading a book or laying down or getting changed getting changed her legs were so nice what did the parts of her Owari couldn't see look like would she sound like when Owari kissed her -
Owari shook her head and stood up. Time for a run. She had to get Sonia Nevermind out of her head.