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Who: The Chitoku inaugural class.
Where: Chitoku campus, various locations.
When: Sunday, April 3, 2022, two days before the start of spring term.
What: The school has opened its doors.

After eight years of careful planning and preparation, the campus of Chitoku Academy for the Gifted was coming alive at last. Helpful staff members had been posted everywhere in anticipation of the crowd, and seemingly every variable had been accounted for in order to make the move-in and initial orientation go as smoothly as possible...

Save, that is, for the weather.

The sky had just opened up on several hundred students and their families. Boxes and suitcases were being hastily hauled to whatever shelter could be found, with the aforementioned helpful staff members now acting as guides to the most convenient locations, and clusters of people seemed to naturally form around them, waiting for the downpour to slacken so the day could proceed.

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Mirai practically smiled at her. "Thank you. If being terrible was something you do in jest, it would be distasteful," he said, "but you are just fortunate that I am a very good senpai, who must guide, protect, and teach my kouhai as best I can."

"Huh. Lucky me," Haruka said. "I confess. I do things like this in jest occasionally so I guess that'd make me a terrible kouhai and a terrible young lady." She shrugged. "Though if I were worse, I'd bleach my hair, take up smoking, skip classes, pick some fights, and sneak into night clubs."

Mirai shrugged at that and picked up his pace a little. Then he shook the umbrella and scattered the rain atop it. A vigorous shake would hide at least some of his amusement, simply because he would move it off her head to let some of the rain come pelting down.

"Well, the world is full of bad girls. All over the place. Better not say you want to be one to someone else, kouhai. But if it is something you would ever do, let me know. Just give me a few hours, and I'll come and protect you."

He stared at her from under the shelter. Then he brought it back lazily. Upon his lips, lightly drawn, was a wry smile. He hadn't figured out how to skip classes yet.

"Really?" Haruka asked with a tilted head, appearing like a curious puppy. "So if I go bleach my hair you'll come save me from my scalp burning or a horrendous hair job?"

She shrugged. "I don't want to be one. It just sort of happens."

"Well, everybody's a little wicked. You don't have to be ashamed of who you are. So don't look worried, kouhai. I know the staff would be happy to be ashamed for you."

Mirai turned around on his heel and extended the umbrella again.

"And I will come save you, swiftly - and like a good teacher I'll make sure you dye it right. If it was done bad, it would be horrendous. Really, I would try to stop you first. But I always try to make the best of a bad situation."

"Guess they would be. Once they're done yelling at me for shaming them and calling me an ingrate for making thing inconvenient." She looked upwards. "Or I might get off with a slap on the wrist. The poor, blind girl clearly didn't know what she was getting into.

"Good trait to have. Much like playing with a poor girl's misconception."

"Thank you. But there is some truth in what you see. It's not always easy to explain why I enjoy playing a game where the prize is more than I can afford to lose." He looked at Haruka with a disarming smile. "I like having someone walk beside me. I hope you do too."

If she didn't, he could find more who would. There were simply far more people at this school.

"It's not bad," Haruka replied. "I'm dryer now."

However, she smiled, as though sensing his. "And why not? If they keep it interesting."

"Right."

Mirai sounded distracted. There was a small silence when he stopped walking; his heels were no longer clicking the path. He let go of the trolley. His thoughts were caught in a moment of realisation. Then they were circling around what Haruka had said.

He was already moving the umbrella from over her, and he left her standing in the rain, wet, horrible and useless.

"I shall keep it interesting, never fear."

Something was lurking in the back of him. His pleasant smile had been replaced by a soulless one, and there was a defiant malevolence in his eyes - an unpleasant sight.

Haruka felt the umbrella disappear and herself back under the roaring downpour. Instead of anger or even annoyance or depression, she just looked upwards as rain pelted her face and her hair. She seemed to be thinking on something before she turned back to Imaizumi's direction.

Her eyes were open, revealing unfocused light brown eyes. She said simply,

"Interesting."

She walked forward a little, but she wasn't looking for the umbrella. Instead, she felt for her bag's handle, which she knew was around him.

Mirai's smile broadened - which made it even more unpleasant. He stepped back, standing between the trolley and Haruka. While her bag had been behind him, it had not been so directly out of reach.

"... You were already wet?"

Now he sounded confused and unable to understand the problem. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot. The rain would not have made one spot of difference.

Haruka heard him move and stopped for a moment with her cane. It might have been unsettling for someone who wasn't used to it: how she seemed to be searching for something as her head moved but her eyes seemed to drift in the wrong direction.

"Yeah, pretty much soaked. So no biggie." She felt around with her cane as she walked, stepping around Mirai but missing her bag. After a moment, she asked, speaking as though nothing happened,

"Which clubs are you in aside from archery?"

Slowly, Mirai moved out of the way and sighed. But he raised his umbrella, giving her shelter with the expectation his offering would be reciprocated.

"Either you're being nosy or you're more blind than I think. Why do you want to know?"

Regardless, his offer was cruel - he gave something but demanded answers. Simply, he reveled in making people do what he wanted.

She felt the rain blocked again, protecting her from the pelting rain. She looked at him with those unfocused eyes for a moment before she said simply,

"Conversation. Mostly category A but I getting some strong vibes you're really getting at category B."

She stepped past him and out from the umbrella, feeling the area now clear. She found the handle to her bag and took hold of it before turning back to Imaizumi. Her eyes closed again.

"Did I offend you, senpai?"

He was standing to the side, laughing - and asserting that nothing was wrong at all.

"... Offend? That's a good one."

But he did not hide it utterly. He sounded thoroughly upset by it all.

"You really are blind..."

"Apparently." That wasn't flippant or dismissive though. She looked actually looked serious and maybe a bit guilty.

"Elucidate me then, senpai?"

Mirai felt himself bubble up. He stirred, and his hands were gripping his sides as his head tipped to the floor. His laughs became louder. If there was anything that could make him laugh, it was this.

"I would, but I don't think that would be appropriate, kouhai."

His head then came back up - which was horrible, because his wet hair was clinging to his face like leaves in a drainpipe. He stood quietly, his eyes staring directly at her.

"Now, being serious. What right have you got to expect me to make things clear for you?"

"None. You're free to go on resenting me and me to go on wondering what I did wrong," Haruka replied.

"But I hate being blind in ways I can fix. Please tell me?"

Haruka might wish she had not asked that. Mirai now had the remains of his anger disappearing from his face, being taken away with the rain that he wiped away. His smile turned a lot more wicked and knowing.

"Really now? I wonder how I can turn down such an offer, although I will not try to if you want me."

His smile became somewhat wider and he came to stand closer to her, staring with affection and curiosity.

"I am truly glad that you have come to me, kouhai. After all, it's my job as your senpai to teach you... everything. You shall have to give me your number sometime." A wry smile. "Teachers will teach you how to make a living. I will teach you how to live."

"Everything is broad," Haruka remarked. She didn't seem put off, though. She tilted her head again, genuinely interested, still looking serious, "How to live huh. Like?"

Mirai came closer, and for his amusement patted her head.

"Oh, you shouldn't rush, Kiri-chan. I am afraid that your skill in perception is terrible. Really, you suck. There's a lot of places and things you don't see. I will teach you how to notice them." His left hand gently rocked it forward and back, then let go. "We're almost there, by the way."

Haruka was startled at the sudden physical contact but didn't pull away when she felt his hand pat and rock through her hair, mussing the wet strands up more. Instead, she concentrated on how it felt, memorizing and linking it to a mental image until it went away.

"Pretty generous, senpai. I'll see when you show me, I guess," she replied. "'Kiri-chan'?"

Mirai's hand removed itself from her head, leaving the strands messy and parted. He tried to fold his arms, but he had to hold the umbrella - so he quietly laughed at the joke instead.

"Grasshopper," he explained. "But what you will see depends on what you want me to show you, of course."

"Kirigirisu* huh." Haruka seemed to consider this, before smiling a little. "I guess the expression here is 'PLEASE TEACH ME, SENSEI'?"

She felt the ground change a beneath her feet, elevating as she stepped onto what sounded like a concrete step or platform. This felt like this was Yanagi, unless Imaizumi had led her somewhere else entirely.

She turned to him and said, "By the way. My name is Haruka Shikata, second year. I specialize in drama."

((Grasshopper))

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