(no subject)

[petals_scatter]

Who: Erika (open)
Where: Auditorium area, various.
When: Sunday, May 7th. Immediately after the assembly announcing Miyume's death.
What: Introducing Erika.


The school assembly announcing the sudden tragic death of Hazama Miyume ended. Most of the students leaving the auditorium held somber or troubled expressions but not Erika. While not exactly bursting with joy at the occasion, her soft smile seemed jarringly sunny in comparison to the others around her. It wasn't that she was unaffected by the death of a classmate. Of course, it was tragic news - a girl her own age, her own class even, dying so suddenly of a brain aneurysm like that. It was much like witnessing the death of a sick pet, she thought. Shocking and saddening but not entirely unexpected. Honestly, Erika had been more surprised by that it had been an aneurysm instead of suicide after how miserable Hazama had looked on Friday and her very messy, public breakdown on the school network over Golden Week.

Life went on, however, no matter how much it hurt to admit it. She'd given both Hazama and the German girl a wide berth, as did many in their class after the sick girl's little stunt during introductions. Dealing with Kiwanami-sensei on a daily basis was hard enough without giving the teacher concrete reasons to dislike her any more than she already did. Erika had survived school so far by playing it safe and doing her best to fit in, not an easy task for a hafu in Japan these days.

With a light grace to her stride, Erika filed out with the others, wondering what she should do with the rest of her Sunday.

Comments

[harmonizenpc]

Passing by was a pair of fellow high-school first-years, the taller one wrapping her arm around the shoulders of the smaller one, whose eyes were red.

They stopped for a moment, seemingly to allow the distraught one to collect herself a little, and the taller one's gaze fell on the hafu with a scowl. "You seem awfully happy about this."

Sometime later, not far from the school

[petals_scatter]

Cats were the best medicine.

Erika sat down in an alley a block away from the school, stroking the stray tomcat monopolizing her lap. He sprawled out in all directions, taking up twice as much space as he should in that way that seemed genetically programmed into anything feline. She scritched under his chin and behind the ears, watching the way his tail flopped lazily about with fond amusement. This cat had a particularly loud purr, one that could be easily heard by anyone happening to walk by the alley.