Chapter Text
One tree, a bush, a road mark and oh look another tree!
Ayaka sighs as she turns her gaze away from the car window and faces forward once again. She can feel herself dying of boredom from this car ride. She'd never dare say such a thing aloud though, of course.
"Mother, father, where are we going? I asked you earlier but I'm not sure if you heard" She mentions quietly. They had been driving for at least an hour now and they had refused to give her any information at all as to where they were going.
Perhaps a restaurant? She thinks. Or maybe an early birthday present? No, no that's not it either.
"Ayaka dear," Her mother finally speaks and Ayaka perks her head, listening attentively. "As you know me and your father are extremely busy and during summer especially we have many business trips we have to attend."
Here they go again. It was almost like a routine at this point. They'd go off to somewhere far away for their work which meant other than the maids Ayaka would be the only one home.
Like always.
"I know. You guys are busy, I understand. I'll be fine staying on my own" She says but her father stops Ayaka in her tracks.
"About that..." He smiles awkwardly and a look of worry spreads across Ayaka's face.
"We thought since you're always so cooped up at the mansion, it would do you some good to meet some new people," He says.
The teen furrows a brow already dreading what they're about to say.
"Father, what exactly are you implying?" She asks, despite being anxious her voice is as graceful as ever.
"Ayaka we're sending you to Celestia's school for the gifted for the summer," He says bluntly. At that moment exactly Ayaka feels her body shatter.
"You mean the same school that's responsible for Ayato's disappearance?!" She yells, which was something she'd rarely do. "The reason why I haven't seen nor heard from my brother in almost two years?"
Are they trying to lose both their children at this point?
Her father who was a bit startled by her sudden yelling tries to brighten the situation."We just thought that it would be a good opportunity for you to get out more, make more friends. You can also practice you're swordsmanship and vision control"
Ayaka refuses to look him in the eye, only scoffing to herself. "I appreciate the offer but I get out plenty enough as it is."
"We just want to help you move on from-"
"Well I do not need or want your help!" she snaps back.
"That's enough now!" Her mother snaps back at her and Ayaka quiets down, shuffling in her seat awkwardly.
"This whole situation has made you delusional. The school isn't responsible for Ayato disappearing. He was a problem child, to begin with, who ran away due to his own issues."
For better or worse the rest of the car ride up continues in complete silence.
The car finally comes to a stop and the driver takes out Ayaka's already pre-packed suitcase(which she had been unaware about until now) and hands it to her before re-entering the driver's seat.
Her mother smiles at her apologetically but Ayaka doesn't return the action.
"If it makes you feel better I heard that friend of yours, Thoma is also attending here at the same time as you."
Yep, they had definitely planned all of this in advance.
Still, it made Ayaka happy to know that she wouldn't be going through this hellhole alone and rather with her best friend. Who also happened to be her only friend now that she thinks about it.
Maybe her parents were right-
She shakes her head trying to get those thoughts out of her head. 'Just behave and if you're lucky they'll let you go home early.'
"We'll make sure to write to you and call whenever we're free? Love you!" They say as the car drives off. Ayaka can't help but feel her chest tighten a bit as the feeling of sadness starts to catch up on her.
"I love you too." By then though they were already long gone.
Ayaka looks up at the building in awe, that thing was huge. In big lettering up ok the wall read. "Celestia's School for the gifted: Everyone is welcome."
Okay, first of all, this school was specifically for vision users so their motto was a lie in itself. She decides to climb up the steps preferring not to get lost in her thoughts at a moment like this and regrets not asking the driver to stay and help her carry her luggage.
Archons was this suitcase heavy.
Eventually, she manages to haul her stuff with her up the steps and enters the school, closing the large wooden door behind her. It was pretty late so classes and any club activities were well over at this point.
For a moment Ayaka stands around wondering what exactly she's supposed to do.
"...ka!"
It'd not like she had gotten a layout of the school yet, not to mention she hasn't even gotten a uniform or—
"Hello? Earth to Ayaka?" A familiar voice calls from behind. Ayaka immediately recognises who it is and twirls around to face him, beaming with happiness.
"Oh, Thoma! How I've missed you so much!" She says and the blonde can't help but pull her into a hug. It seems that even when life tends to get a bit wild some things will remain the same.
Once they're done with that, they both pull off. They take a seat in what Ayaka assumes was the reception room and began to just catch up. Ayaka explains the whole situation about her parents abandoning her here and Thoma nods in understanding.
He had already been told Ayaka was going to be arriving not too long after him so hearing this wasn't much of a surprise.
"I see," Thoma says stretching out his arms. "Hopefull it'll be slightly more bearable if I'm here"
Upon hearing this Ayaka nudges his shoulder playfully while giggling "In your dreams!"
The door from the office they had sort of forget existed opens and outside stands a woman with mid-length brown hair and mischievous yet also soothing emerald green eyes.
"Ah, you two cuties must be the new students I was informed about" She mentions as she curls her finger through her locs.
"Unfortunately alot of the higher-ups aren't here so I hope you don't mind being introduced to the school by a librarian!" She chuckles softly.
Judging by how she speaks and acts, Ayaka likes her. She seems nice.
"I'm Lisa. Occasionally I like to help out and do things like this but most of the time I'm just a simple librarian."
She takes a look at the clock above their heads that was continuously ticking.
"Speaking about help...Your guides to show you to you're dorms should arrive right about...now."
Right on queue two students show up. One was a brunette with patches of white in his hair. Another was a girl around Ayaka's age with long pink hair with blue tips at the end.
The girl quickly latches onto Ayaka's hand, giving a short nod to Lisa before leading her into the hallways of the school.
"Um-"
"Don't worry," She says cutting Ayaka short. "My friend Gorou is just bringing the blonde boy to the boy's wing. You'll see him again tomorrow morning for classes"
Ayaka lets out a sigh of relief as she continues to be led through the schools' halls.
"I see. Thankyou...?"
"Kokomi! The names Kokomi. A member of the student council. I hope that we can get to know each other well here" Kokomi pauses and holds her hand out to Ayaka, a friendly smile resting on her face.
A bit surprised Ayaka shakes her hand. She wasn't used to meeting many people her age other than Thoma. Most of the people she'd talk to were all adults from her parents business encounters.
"Kamisato Ayaka, a pleasure to meet you as well."
"Ooh so formal! They like that kinda thing here so keep it up" Kokomi giggles and Ayaka seems a bit confused. Isn't that how everyone spoke??
Kokomi informs her that this isn't her actual tour of the school and said that Ayaka would most likely get a proper one tomorrow. The school looked extremely good, Ayaka could admit that. Though she couldn't help but notice the number of locked rooms and dark stairways that seemed to go on forever.
One, in particular, sparks her interest so she points to it and asks Kokomi about it.
"Oh, that place? Is off limits of students. Now that I think of it alot of the places here are." She takes out a chain of keys and swings them merrily in her hands, the ends jingling off each other."Luckily being a part of the student council comes with its perks like access to such places."
Student council, huh? Ayaka would make sure to continue on good terms with this Kokomi girl. She'd make a good friend but would also be helpful in finding out what happened to her brother.
They continue walking for a bit with Kokomi explaining the uses of the rooms they happened to cross by and soon enough they reach their destination.
"And then this is the girl's wing where you'll be staying."
Kokomi reaches into her bag and opens a book, scanning through it before falling onto Ayaka's name.
"And you'll be rooming with...Oh god- " A look of horror spreads across her face. "Miss Naganohara"
"Is that a bad thing?"
Kokomi laughs awkwardly. "Depends on what your definition of bad is."
Ah, well that's nice to know.
"You'll see what I mean once you meet her" She hands Ayaka her student handbook along with her timetable informing her that her uniform should be here by tomorrow morning.
Ayaka thanks her greatly for her help and the two of them bid each other good night before heading their separate ways.
Ayaka walks over to the dorm and slowly creaks open the door already expecting the absolute worse possible scenario in her mind. To her surprise though once she opens the door she finds that the room was quite peaceful.
The lights were off but from the moonlight shining in from the window she could make out that there were two beds along with alot of mess on the floor. Most of it consisting of clothing and books.
There was a figure covered in a duvet in one of the beds that seem to be sitting up but Ayaka couldn't tell if she was asleep or not.
So she tries to introduce herself. First impressions are always a good thing!
"H-hello, I'm Kamisato Ayaka, nice to meet you."
Other than a loud snore the room was quiet.
Yoimiya was asleep.
Well, there wasn't much she could do about it then. She heads into the bathroom to change into her pyjamas. Once she was done she flops herself onto the empty bed she assumed was hers.
As she lays down she starts to wonder how Thomas's doing. He's always been quite the sociable type she knows he'll have no issue fitting in here.
She digs into her suitcase seeing if her parents had packed anything genuinely useful in there and her face softens when she finds a photo of her and Ayato.
It was the one she kept on her bedside back at home. They must've put it in last minute before they left.
The photo was taken a couple of weeks before he left to come to this school. Before she had lost complete contact with him. She starts to wonder if the letters she had sent to Ayato ever managed to reach him.
In the photo the pair were smiling brightly, Ayato's arm wrapped around Ayaka's shoulder.
She misses him, she misses her older brother so much.
Ayaka grips her fingers into her nightgown, already feeling her eyes becoming glassy and soon enough she finds herself crying.
For all, she knows everyone is probably right. That there's no point in lucking for someone who doesn't want to be found and that she's only wasting her time.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed that her roommate was now awake. Ayaka's back was turned away from her so she couldn't tell she was crying.
"Ooo! You must be my new roommate they told me about earlier! I'm Yoimiya!" She beams happily already starting to blabber on.
"At first I was specifically assigned to not have a roommate due to my 'destructive habits' or whatever. But I think I'm quite organised. Just because I lit someone's hair on fire twice does not mean I am a fire hazard! Also-" Then Yoimiya pauses. There was no way someone would let her talk for this long without getting at least a tiny bit annoyed.
So she squints her eyes to get a better look and the situation starts to become a whole lot clearer.
"W-wait- Are... you alright?"
"I'm...I'll be fine" The blue-haired teen wipes her tears away. It was improper to just cry in front of someone like that.
Without even a second thought Yoimiya takes a seat onto Ayaka's bed and catches a glance at the photo.
"Ah, I see now. Homesickness isn't it?" The blonde guesses.
Ayaka shrugs "I guess you could say that, yeah."
Yoimiya shuffles closer to her trying to think of something comforting to say.
"I get what you mean. Sometimes I get a little lonely as well" She spoke quietly. "I'm still kinda new here too so not many people like me. They think I'm a bit much."
That honestly wasn't too much of a surprise judging by Kokomis reaction to just seeing her name earlier. Ayaka herself didn't find her annoying but she knew not alot of people liked being around the living embodiment of a firework.
Bright, spontaneous and most importantly loud.
It was ironic since she had a tattoo of what looked like one as well. Wait was she even old enough to get one of those?
"Oh. I'm sorry?"
Yoimiya waves her hand dismissively "Nah,dont worry about it. Besides what's more important is the fact that I haven't gotten your name yet!'
Oh yeah, she was asleep the first time Ayaka had told her. So she repeats herself.
"Ayaka, my name is Kamisato Ayaka"
"Well then Miss Kamisato Ayaka," She holds her hand out to her and Ayaka can't help but stifle a laugh at her sudden formality. Maybe handshaking was a tradition at this school? "Next time you feel like this come find me and the two of us can be lonely together. Alright?"
Smiling, Ayaka takes her hand and they shake on it. Her anxieties from earlier finally starting to settle down.
Even if she wasn't exactly in the most fortunate of circumstances, she had a feeling staying here for a while wouldn't be the worst thing ever.
"Sure, I'd like that alot."