musical magic

No harder than being chased throughout your country by a team of powerful assassins with Stands and incredibly powerful abilities, no harder than your father wanting you dead. Really, she could take on anything now. Maybe Sayaka understood, maybe she didn’t – Trish couldn’t be sure.

“Oh, so you’re finally getting to see more of the big city? That’s what I heard anyhow, that this school was in one of the bigger cities of Japan. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of Mitakihara, however.”

Yeah, definitely no harder than any of that or tracking down the demons that loitered around every corner of Japan and getting rid of them, risking her life while doing so. Both girls had it pretty rough, but not like either of them knew, or had to know about that.

"Yeah! Tancho and the surrounding city are pretty big cities, I'm glad I got used to them fairly quickly. And I gotta admit I'm not surprised! Mitakihara is a small and obscure town and there are some people from Japan who don't know about it."

Well she didn’t say anything so maybe it would all be okay, maybe she was going to say what she must and leave. But no, things like that were never that simple and with a loud scream going through the room had the blonde yelled himself, surprised from her own act towards his. “Don’t scream!! Somebody might think something is wrong!!!” He tried his best to calm her down which to her, she probably believed something was wrong but there was nothing bad about lounging in your own dorm room naked.

Having his shirt thrown at him wasn’t something he thought would happen, the cloth falling right into his face and blinding his vision. This was where he twisted off his bed and almost fell onto the floor with a thump! A groan had came from the blonde as he removed his shirt from his face and hoping that this was all nothing but a bad dream. This was a now or never, and it would be a now. Getting up from the ground to take a sigh, allowing only one thing to be laying low as he put n his shirt right in front of the female. Now this was not a way to impress the ladies Alibaba, he was going to bad impressions hell.

“I was..”

A pause.

He couldn’t get himself out of this since he didn’t know what to say. What was he doing?! Nothing that she would understand and all he could do was think up the greatest lie of all time.

“…..Yo…ga..” Yes, that was it. Anyone would believe Yoga. He read about it in one of his books and it would fit the complication as of now.

"What the hell do you even mean, do you really think nothing is wrong right now?!"

This was outrageous.

How could this happen to her.

She made her mistakes

and she definitely had somewhere to run right now but something inside of her stopped her from turning around and running out of the room. And that was the stupid, stupid school book that was the reason why she came here in the first place.

Then the other slowly began talking again, and said something about...yo..ga??

"Who the hell does yoga when they're naked???" Sayaka demanded, her voice high pitched. God, okay. She had to calm down, the boy had every right to lounge about naked inside of his bedroom alone, even if he should have locked the damned door beforehand. She uncovered her eyes and stared at the boy, careful not to look down just in time to see him pointing at a pair of pants that was just out of his reach. 

"Are you serious..."

With an exasperated sigh, she took the pants and threw them at Alibaba while muttering a, "Just hurry up with getting them on." So that she could give him his book back in marginally normal conditions.

“But tell me.. did you like what you see.”

"Do you really expect me to answer that seriously."

“You’re here, too? I didn’t know you’d enrolled! why didn’t you say anything about it before?!”

She let out an exasperated sigh, but smiled all the same. “How’s it goin’ for ya? And sorry for almost, y’know, walkin’ into ya.” She fiddled with her uniform’s collar and thought. Out of everyone she could have bumped into, of course it would be Sayaka Miki. She thought about how, when they’d first met, Kyouko thought that she and Sayaka wouldn’t ever be able to see eye to eye - after all, their ideals and views had been completely different. But after time had passed and the two of them had worked together fighting the cities’ demons, they’d become good friends, and … well, whatever. She was glad to see her, that was all.

"God, I could ask you the same! I'm pretty sure I told you and the others about transferring to a new school, but you never said a thing!"

Not like it mattered now, she was just glad that Kyoko was here. Not super excited or anything, mind you, but still glad.

"It's going pretty great so far. Tancho is really, really huge! I woke up early today and managed to cover some part of the school grounds. And haha, it's okay, I should have payed more attention myself.

How's it going for you?"

Back when they'd first met, eh? Those were the times. Sayaka could remember just how much they had clashed with each other, and how much they seemed to hate each other. She was glad that things turned out for the better.

“I was just about t’ look for somewhere t’ eat, but I’m kinda lost. You got any idea where t’ go, Sayaka? We can look t’gether, if you’ve got nothin’ better to do.”

Sayaka snapped out from her thoughts when Kyoko started talking again. Food? When wasn't food on the other's mind. She couldn't help but chuckle.

On the morning of her first day at Tancho Academy, Kyouko awoke with a head full of thoughts and an empty stomach. Her mind was making sense of the day before, which the events of seemed to have passed far too quickly. For a split second, she panicked, and moved to check the time on a small clock beside her bed— but relaxed mid-movement, remembering that her classes would begin tomorrow. The first day was to be spent making herself sure of her surroundings and trying to fit in. 

Not to mention, there was a lot for the staff to sort out, since the number of new students was increasing by the day, or so she’d been told yesterday night at the time of her arrival. After getting dressed in her new school uniform (which felt a little stiff, but she’d surely adjust) and readying herself for the day, Kyouko left her dormitory and made her way down the hall … only to realize she was starving hungry, and had no idea where to get food. That was the highest of all her priorities right now, and she could start looking around the school and meeting people later. 

She didn’t have a map of the place, having left it back in her dorm, and even though the school was big, a little walking around would have her in front of a vending machine in no time, right? Tancho really is huge, she thought, even bigger than the picture I saw on the leaflet. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. Just as she’d been thinking about tomorrow’s timetable, her train of thought came to a halt as she almost crashed right into somebody.

It's been at least two hours since she had woken up, so she already did her small share of exploring. Sayaka had managed to remember where the main building was, along with the cafeteria and one of the school buildings. She was back n' wandering in the girls' dormhouse now, trying to find her dorm again.

"Whoa--"

The bluehead noticed one second too late that she had almost barreled into somebody, but the other girl had gotten out of the way in the nick of time. She was about to say something when she recognized the long, bright red hair and familiar frowning face. That just made her pause, mouth still open, and it took her a few moments to speak.

"...Kyoko?"

A simple cursory glance to the young boy standing at the gates of Tancho Academy could tell you he was new here, as he had multiple bags slung over his small, tense shoulders, and his eyes were wide, fearful, almost, as he remained in place, refusing to take another step into the campus. He almost couldn’t believe that, mere days ago, he was eagerly packing away. And just yesterday, wasn’t he reading over the school’s pamphlet for the umpteenth time, whilst expressing his enthusiasm to his parents? Tachimukai Yuuki had been anticipating his first day of high school ever since he submitted his application, and now here he was, with cold feet of all things.

In his mind, an argument between his conflicting thoughts played out. One side assured him that he would be just fine—he hadn’t forgotten to pack a single thing; he had a map, so it wasn’t as if he could get lost, and he had already received his schedule several days earlier, along with the location of his dorm room, so there was nothing to worry about. He wanted to believe these things, really, he did, but…

But, there was always the possibility that he wouldn’t make any friends, or maybe he wouldn’t like his teachers, or maybe the teachers wouldn’t like him, or—

Sayaka blinked as she felt someone tug at her shirt's sleeve and heard someone quietly utter an 'excuse me'. She turned around slightly to stare at a boy her age that somehow appeared younger to her. Maybe it was the air of timidity he had about him, or how nervous he looked? It was sort of cute, actually.

She smiled brightly and hoped that she looked friendly enough to the other.

Luka then felt her phone vibrate. The teacher unlocked her pink phone to check her emails. A smile came across her lips. Her request was accepted to be the orchestra supervisor. She couldn’t wait until things start again. The orchestra was fun last time around so she thought it could be a lot more fun this year as well!

 “Well, just wondering, are you part of the orchestra or choir? I just got a notice to supervise for the orchestra,” Luka asked the blue haired teenager before adding an awkward chuckle. It was a bit out of the blue, she hoped that she didn’t seem like a weird person as a first impression for Sayaka.

Luka simply grinned at her enthusiasm before she glanced around her surroundings. Alright, the main entrance wasn’t too far away from here. All they needed to do was to follow the trail in front of them.

"You think so? That'd be really, really great!"

Sayaka immediately brightened up at the prospect of meeting her old friends and fellow puella magi in this academy. Who knows, maybe they were already here and roaming at some other corner of the campus? She shouldn't be getting her hopes up, but that couldn't be helped.

The bluehaired girl waited patiently as Luka checked the mail she has just received on her cellphone, and blinked when the older woman had asked her if she was part of either the orchestra or the choir. "Oh, by orchestra you mean the club, right? I did apply for it, actually."

“You say that now, but the human body can get used to only very specific things you know.”

Was Trish aware of what a brat she sounded like? Probably not, but that wasn’t her problem either. She had always been this way, and if people couldn’t deal with it, well then, Trish need not deal with them. Still, this girl wasn’t giving her a hard time, so she was fine with being polite with her.

“It is hard, but no harder than some other things I’ve been through in my life, you know? So then, I’m assuming you’ve lived here your entire life?”

No harder than some other things she's been through in her life, eh? Sayaka nodded at that. It was true after all; compared to other situations, transferring schools and countries wasn't the worst thing in the world.

"Hah, that's true. But yeah, I've been stuck in my hometown, Mitakihara, all my life until now! I guess a change in environment is a good thing, all in all."

Once again Alibaba found himself in a situation he would’ve loved not to relive. Upside down on his bed, full backside exposed to the door which he forgot to lock again—honestly, you thought he would’ve learned the first time—and unable to escape this horrid nightmare. The candidate for king shut his eyes tightly, wishing for this moment to be nothing more than a vivid recollection. For the person standing at the door, floored, to not actually be there. Alas, when he opened his eyes they were still standing before him.

Dammit! What was he supposed to do? C’mon Alibaba, think. Say something at least! Anything will do, just stop staring back at them and for Solomon’s sake, get out of that position. 

“Aha..haha… It’s pretty cold tonight isn’t it?”

One would wonder what was Sayaka doing in the boys' dorm. But earlier today she found a schoolbook that belonged to one Alibaba Saluja who, after some inquiring 'round, she found out lived in F-1. 

Eventually, she found it. After making sure that the book was still safely tucked inside her backpack, Sayaka knocked on the door a couple of times and waited for a response. Nothing...maybe no one was in? She turned the knob just to make sure if it was locked and...it...wasn't?

"Excuse me, but is Alibaba Saluja here--"

.

..

...

“Aha..haha… It’s pretty cold tonight isn’t it?”

....

(Sayaka, girl, now is probably a very appropriate moment for you to scream.)

"EEEEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!"

Octobert didn’t crack a smile, but the way he spoke made him seem like he was fond of the memory. “At my high school - when I was a student, of course - whenever I had to share a table with the teacher I’d try my best to get them to leave.” He shrugged and took another bite of his burger. After swallowing, he continued. “It didn’t always work, but it was nice when it did.”

"Ooh...I can understand that. Most of the teachers at my old school were pretty nice so I didn't really mind sitting with them if I had to at lunch. Although there was that one time when me and my friends had to let one of the more intimidating teachers sit with us because all the other places were taken. It was pretty awkward, haha."

Oh yeah, she completely forgot that she hasn't introduced herself yet. Maybe this was the right time to?

"Anyways, I'm Miki Sayaka, a freshman. What's your name, sensei?

“Sayaka? Hello, Sayaka. I hope you don’t mind me calling you that, do you?” Humans could be ever so picky about how they were addressed, part of why it was so helpful to be just ‘The Doctor’. Almost every country had slightly different conventions, spellings and other such intricacies, and as interesting as they all were they did have an unfortunate tendency to make life difficult.

Oh, now that was a good question, a very good question indeed, especially in the context of a school. “Who, why, when, what, where, those are all brilliant questions for a Doctor, Sayaka.” And they were, but not for him. His name was one of the best-kept secrets in the universe. Why else would all the stories refer to him as The Doctor, instead of- no.

“I’m the Doctor,justthe Doctor, no who’s, why’s or what’s, and most certainly not Spocks- Sorry, sorry. People don’t ask me that enough. But! I have a better question for you.

Are you.

Taking.

It was true that addressing a person correctly and with the right honorifics was important and common courtesy in Japan, but the other was probably a foreigner and also a teacher, so she thought there was no need for any extra politeness if the Doctor wasn't used to it.

Wow, she just realized how hard languages could be.

So he was just 'the Doctor' huh? Well, if that's what he wanted to be called, she won't say anything to that. Sayaka was still slightly curious, but she'll drop the matter. 

But! I have a better question for you.

Are you.

Taking.

Physics?”

Okay, so Sayaka could safely say that the Doctor was a physics teacher.

“How could I drink that garbage if I don’t even know what brand it is? What if I get sick?”

Not that she could really get sick from drinking water of all things but…

“Oh, would you really? That’s…very nice of you. I’d like that, especially since this is my first time in Japan. I don’t really know where anything is.”

She’d have to be wary of course – never knew when an assassin was going to sneak up on you, but this girl didn’t seem like anything of the sort. She seemed friendly.

"Haha, oh, whoa. I honestly doubt that any kind of mineral water would make anyone sick."

It was her first time in Japan, huh? Wow, that must be pretty hard, having to transfer to a school in a completely different country from your birth one. "I'll be happy to show you 'round town then. I transferred here this year myself, but I know my way pretty well already."

Sayaka was no assassin or anyone suspicious, even if she did have the ability to turn into a magical swordswoman. That was way besides the point though, and Trish didn't need to know that.

"Uh, won't it be easier for you if you just got the mineral water the school sells?"

Well, she had never met someone who would be this picky over something as essential as water, especially when they were thirsty. Not like she was one to judge.

"Well, if you're so intent on getting Perrier, I'll accompany you to one of the stores outside if you wanna! No guarantee that you'll find it there, though.

I'm Miki Sayaka, by the way. It's nice to meet you!"

How could she have been so stupid? Trish was never this scatterbrained, but she couldn’t believe that she’d actually forgotten to buy something that was so incredibly important to her. Then again, maybe she could believe it. After all, living with a number of perfectly capable men that attended to pretty much your every whim could make you a bit forgetful. If it took more than a simple order to one of them, it wasn’t worth you doing yourself.

What was this important thing? Naturally, it was her French mineral water, Perrier brand. She’d gotten so used to drinking it everyday that it simply seemed odd not to. Trish had intended to buy a case before coming to Tancho Academy, but it had slipped her mind, and now she’d suffer for it. 

She sighed as she crossed her arms, leaning on the gate to the school. If Mista was here, she would send him off to get it for her, but of course he wouldn’t be here, and she preferred it that way. Still, she was in some city in Japan, and she had no idea how to even begin to get to the closest place where she could maybe find her beloved drink.

A scoff and a shake of her head as she realized the inevitable - she’d have to ask for help from a stranger. Hopefully they wouldn’t turn out to be a murderer out for her life. Placing a small smile upon her features, she strode up to the nearest person, tapping them on the shoulder.

“Buon giorno. I was hoping you might be able to help me.”

After all being freshmen meant that she had to go through a couple years until she’s a senior and then she can graduate. But judging by her behaviour and looks right now Luka felt almost confident that she can graduate successfully.

Since she didn’t mention anything about taking choir, it was safe to assume that she didn’t take it. However, Luka was in the process of getting approved for the orchestra supervisor again like she was the last time around. Hopefully more people would join this time round.

There was still time before class or anything started. Luka looked at the girl momentarily. The choir teacher had a spare at that time so she wouldn’t mind touring her around the school if that would help.

“Well, do you want a tour around the school if you’re free? I mean, Tancho Academy is quite big now isn’t it?”

Sayaka herself was confident that she'll be able to graduate without any problems. Sure, she probably wasn't the smartest girl out there, but her grades were good enough to guarantee her passing all the classes. 

And though Sayaka didn't take choir, she still signed up for the school orchestra as one of her extracurriculars, so she'll probably still get to see Luka. She didn't know that yet though, of course.

Once he swallowed, he added. “I don’t suggest sitting in all of them at once.”

The student seemed polite, which gave Octobert all the more reason to let her sit with him. Plus, she looked vaguely familiar, but, being completely honest here, so far all the students looked the same. Maybe it was the uniform, blending them all together. Or, maybe his glasses had a few smudges, which would literally be blending all the students together. 

Sayaka happily took a seat opposite of the teacher and set her tray of food on the table, already eagerly grabbing for her sandwich. After taking one big bite from it and chewing, the other said something about her wanting him to move. She wanted to reply right away, but talking while eating would probably look bad especially to a teacher, so she swallowed first.

While somebody who just moved away from their home country to pursue a career they had never initially thought about may have made the average person a bit nervous, Octobert was far from it. He was just as calm, cool, and relaxed as he always was. If anything, he was more relaxed than he’d been in awhile. With this job came housing, so he wouldn’t need to worry about bills and the like. 

That was nice.

The only thing he was unsure of was what to do during his free time. Back home, he would spend hours at the aquarium, even on his days off. There was probably an aquarium near the school he could go and visit, but he wasn’t quite ready to replace his best friend. Nobody had to know that, before he went to bed he would lock himself in the bathroom and call the aquarium, making one of his ex-coworkers hold his phone near the octopus’ tank. Nobody. Had. To know. 

Man, the cafeteria sure was packed. If only she hadn't dilly dallied on her way here, maybe there would have been some places left. All the students were now happily chatting it up with each other, with no seats left for her. And when she did find one, she was apologetically told that it was taken slash reserved.

Even the teachers were all seated! She didn't even have that many qualms with lunching with the staff. Okay, maybe safe the particularly intimidating teachers, but that was outside the point now.

Oh boy oh boy, was that a table with three vacant seats over there.

The teacher sitting there looked nice enough, not like she cared at this point. She was way more focused on getting her chow on. 

Sayaka strode over to the man and asked him, "Excuse me sir!"

"Are any of these seats free?"

He had to be there.

Misaki stopped skateboard in hand, as he glanced towards the enormous building he had right in front of him. Tancho Academy, huh. That was the place where Homra’s inquests had led him. The entrance was full of students walking in; judging by their faces, most of them looked rather excited due to the beginning of the new course. The young commander snorted—man, why would somebody be happy of assisting to manifold lessons? He absolutely didn’t want to be involved in that kind of bullshit. He had a task to accomplish, and there was no way he’d do a single thing that had nothing to do with the case. He wasn’t there to learn, nor to study or make pals. 

There’s absolutely no time to lose. Totsuka Tatara’s murderer was still there, walking at ease as if nothing had happened. Misaki Yata was going to find that dude no matter how much it costs, and give him hell.

“Hey, you!” he yelled at the first person that was passing by, drawing near to whoever it could be with a slow, yet threatening pace. They better answer him, though. He was growing impatient since he had let his target drive hard a couple of times, but that wasn’t going to happen for a third occasion. Pulling up his arm, Misaki pressed one of the buttons of his watch, an hologram coming out of it, displaying a picture of the cutthroat.

White hair, hectoring shimmery eyes, a grin that crossed his face from side to side, a gun on his hand. Every time Misaki saw that picture an chill crossed his spine, and gave way to an irrepressible anger. As soon as he got his hands on that fucker, there was no doubt he would make him pay.

"Wh-"

He played a bit with his watch and suddenly a picture of a white-haired boy, manic grin on face as he held what seemed to be a gun in front of the camera. It was pretty blurry, but that didn't stop Sayaka from getting a bit worried. Why would the other be looking for a dangerous looking person like this?

"Sorry, I don't know who that is."

"Hey, I can tell you're pretty intent on finding this guy, and that you seem pretty pissed of right now, but at least be polite the next time you go about hitting strangers up like that!"