Part 1

A month ago, he couldn’t have imagined climbing up so many stairs without becoming short of breath. Having gone all the way down to the first floor from the fourth still winded him, but it was nowhere near as bad as he remembered it being.

“It took time,” he said, remembering a certain plant he hung next to the window in his dorm, “but I’m finally seeing some results.”

Reaching the bottom of the steps, he took a moment to catch his breath, not wanting to appear unsightly in front of the girl who’d asked for his help yesterday afternoon. He took out his phone, taking the time to read over the directions she’d given him while he regained his composure.

After requesting his help, she asked if it’d be okay for them to meet during lunch by the front doors of the first year building. He was more than happy to oblige, but—

WHY DIDN’T I ASK FOR HER NUMBERRAGHHH! IT WOULD’VE BEEN THE PERFECT EXCUSE TOO, WHY DIDN’T I SAY ANYTHING!?!!?

“You choked before the words could come out.”

I remember, THANK YOU for reminding me.

“You kept trying to talk,” his inner voice continued. “But a plethora of strange sounds left your throat; it was embarrassing to go any further since you passed the point of no return.”

Luka sighed.

He was just glad Hana either hadn’t heard him or paid it no mind. Needless to say, he intended to show her his reliable side today.

“That’ll definitely make up for that embarrassment; I’ve gotta show her she can count on me for anything!”

A few students gave him strange looks as they passed him by— he awkwardly laughed and gave a quick apology before continuing down the hall.

“You should probably stop talking and focus on finding her.”

“Right,” he enthused, trying his best to sound upbeat. He wouldn’t admit it to Yuu-Boy or Yui, but the buzzing from his phone that interrupted their conversation wasn’t a text notification like they thought it was. Rather, they were a series of reminders he set so he absolutely wouldn’t forget about agreeing to help install the cameras; not that he thought he could forget anyway since it hardly let him sleep last night.

A shiver suddenly went up his spine. “They saved me from Yui too…” he said, remembering how she looked when she said he interrupted something important. “I don’t know how Yuu-Boy does it…”

“YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW YOU’RE GOING TO DO IT!” his inner voice. “FOCUS ON FINDING HER, THE SOONER THE BETTER!”

I’m nervous, okay?! Just give me a second, I got it- I got it!

The large, polished hallways converged into one open area before him, with a multitude of lockers that held individual pairs of shoes in each. They agreed to meet by the front doors, yet the girl was nowhere to be found.

“That’s weird,” he said,pacing back and forth to peer between the narrow rows of space between each row of lockers. Behind him, he could hear faint whispers as students who ate away at their lunch discretely pointed at him and snickered; he couldn’t blame them, no doubt he looked like an idiot right now.

“Still,” he said, stiffening his neck to keep it from going downward, “I told her I’d be here and I am. I’ll stay here for as long—”

Behind his square red glasses, ice blue eyes widened at the realization of what his own words meant. Backtracking as quickly as his ungraceful body would allow him, he found the locker with his shoes and threw them on only to ram through the door into the open campus before him.

And there, hidden a small distance to his right, was a girl with vivid blue eyes and hair as brilliant as the setting sun.

“H-Hey there!” he accidentally shouted from nearly falling over. He hadn’t expected his body to carry so much momentum going through the door.

The short statured girl looked down before quickly raising her gaze and waving the tiniest “hello” to Luka from behind the stack of books she clutched to her chest.

“That’s cute.”

Really cute.

“So cute it should be illegal.”

Agreed.

He approached her, casually looking at the scenery so as to avoid the awkward moments that exist between him having spotted her and walking to her side.

“Aren’t you overanalyzing this!?”

He ignored his thoughts, trying instead to focus on the task they’d shortly begin, but it wasn’t much use.

“Er, what’s up Ha— oh! Sorry, um, is it alright to call you ‘Hana’? I heard Miss Wakako mention in class that you prefer it…”

The girl nodded with a bit more enthusiasm than she did her wave.

「That’s okay, I don’t mind it! And thank you again so much for agreeing to help me with this」

“No need to thank me, I’m happy to help— more than happy to help!” he said with an embarrassed laugh.

The girl gave a small smile and a nod that ended with her covering her chin with the frighteningly thick books in her arms.

And silence covered them like a blanket once more.

“S-So!” Luka asked, louder than he intended. “What do you have there?”

He motioned towards the books that were full of sticky notes coming out of the pages; thin strips of purple, green, blue, pink, and yellow paper erupted from the top, side, and bottom of each book. Luka didn’t admit it, but it looked intimidating.

Just what kind of camera are we dealing with here?

The girl held up her phone. 「I brought these with me in case there was anything you wanted me to do! I know you’ve done this before, but it’s my first time so I wanted to be helpful…」

“F-First time..?”

「Well, technically second…but shall we get started?」

“Oh, r-right ahahaha, right.” he cleared his throat as Hana began leading the way towards the front gates of the school.

That…could’ve gone worse, actually.

“You didn’t exactly scream ‘reliability’ when you nearly tripped pushing the door open…”

Could you—

“…but you’re right. As far as first impressions go, you’re not doing a bad job at keeping up your image. Probably.”

First impressions? Though the last addition of his inner voice’s words wasn’t necessary, it made him think over what exactly the first impression he’d made on her was.

“If I remember right,” he mumbled to himself. “I think it was when I bumped into her at the mall, she dropped a bunch of cards.” Thinking about it, they bore a striking resemblance to the one she gave him after the incident with Ryu’s friend; maybe she wanted to give them to people like Ai Hirawa is doing? But then she would’ve started doing so.

He shook the thoughts out of his head.

“Either way this can’t be a bad start right? I’m feeling the route’s going pretty good so far!”

「The route?」 asked a bold screen of text in front of him.

“Ohhuuh, nothing! Sorry ahahaha, just talking to myself I guess…”

「Oh…I’m sorry about that……」

He looked at the screen in confusion for a moment before holding his arms forward and violently waving them side to side. “N-NO! Nononononono I didn’t mean it like that! I-I just have, sometimes, a bad habit of talking to myself? I guess? Mostly when there’s something big going on or like I have someone climbing through my window or something!”

Her eyes widened as his last comment, but he had no time to acknowledge it.

“I definitely don’t mind that you use a p-phone—! To talk! That’s pretty neat, like you can talk to people! You have your own unique way of talking! You’re very you and I thinkit’skindofcool thatyoudo!”

He wasn’t sure he understood the metaphorical waterfall of words that poured out of his mouth, he didn’t even think about half of it. The only thing on his mind was the relief that washed over every cell in his body at seeing Hana put a small palm to her mouth and see her body pivot back and forth. His subconscious mind must’ve been the first to realize, and told his body first so he could relax, because it was only after a solid few seconds had passed that he understood she was laughing.

She was laughing…without making a single sound.

「Thank you Schafer,」she typed with difficulty,「I appreciate your explanation.」

“I don’t know if I’d call that an explanation,” he said, awkwardly scratching the side of his burning cheek. It wasn’t until he felt the outline of his face that he noticed he, too, was smiling.

With a wave of her arm, she motioned for him to follow her. He did so, and as they walked she held out the screen for him. 「The president gave us permission to be a little late for class, but we’re still not sure how long it’s going to take so we should hurry.」

“Hmmm,” he said, taking an exaggerated pose of holding his hand beneath his chin as they walked. “If she gave us permission to be tardy, I may just take her up on the offer!”

Soundless laughter rippled across her body once more before she held up the screen, having typed the message with a single hand yet again.

「Don’t abuse our permission, then we’ll get in trouble!」

“Ufufu, we only get into trouble if we’re caught!” he emphasized by holding his arms above his head in a way that didn’t look unsimilar to a spy or ninja, causing another jostle through the girl’s body. Seeing her laugh, he couldn’t help but do it himself, scratching the back of his head with a bit more comfort.

What’s…with this atmosphere?…somehow…

“………”

…………somehow…it feels lighter.

He found that, as he walked, it was easier to turn and face her. He felt less pressure built up in his legs and back.

It was…a nice feeling.

As the front gate came into view, they settled their bags and books to one side of it.

“Oh, that’s right!” he said, hitting a fist to his palm. “You mentioned this was a request from the president, right Hana?”

He thought he saw her jump at him mentioning her name, though even if it did happen, it was most likely the remaining laughter leaving her system. Still, she quickly acknowledged his question and shook her head in affirmation.

“Hmm,” he said, inspecting the ornate iron gates, “did she mention if she’s going to join us?”

Hana shook her head, causing her hair to sway and bounce.

「I know she’s had a lot to do lately; she’s even spending lunch in the council office」

“The council office? Is that far?”

She pointed behind her, to the second and third years’ building. Luka already knew that the second and third years shared one, rather enormous, building, but he had no idea that the council office was also there; though thinking about it, it makes sense.

“Being the president of a school like this must be rough.”

「That’s part of the reason I wanted to help her,」 Luka read from the far end of the gate, 「she wanted to do it herself but…」

She didn’t need to finish her thought, he already knew. He’d never gotten into student body extracurricular stuff in his middle school days, though from just seeing them be the first to arrive and last to leave he could only imagine how much work they went through, let alone for a school like Mirror.

His eyes narrowed suddenly as he allowed one of his hands to slip down one of the shining, thin silver bars.

Shouldn’t a place like this already have security measures in place? He remembered the day he was confronted by Ryu and his friends, they’d escaped from where they could easily be seen by one of the nearby cameras; still, shouldn’t there be one by the front entrance? And why rely on two students to do so— wouldn’t it be better to hire professionals and cover other areas that may be lacking in security?

A hand motioning in his peripheral vision returned his attention to the present.

「Schafer, is everything okay?」

“Oh, ye-yeah! Sorry, I spaced out for a bit. Umm, do you have the camera?”

With a nod of her head she reached inside her back and produced a large, circular case. Opening it, Luka could see a half circle with glass as black as night.

“A wireless camera…for a school?”

His tone betrayed his true, doubtful thoughts; the way the girl, whose freckles dotting her nose and cheeks, looked at him, made that quite clear.

“Say…Hana, did the president mention why exactly she wants a camera installed at the front gates?”

The girl’s fingers already began typing away before they suddenly snapped into the air. He couldn’t blame her since he, too, jumped in surprise— nearly crashing into the iron fence because of the girl that spoke from directly behind them.

“I’m in need of it.” said the unusually high toned yet deadly serious voice. With his hands against the bars, he met the narrow gaze of a girl with snow white hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows. But that wasn’t what caught his attention most— it was her pupils. “In order to see what best to do with a certain first year student.”