My Bittersweet Love {Harai}

[Nicolette]

The rep looked over at the girl that Rai had addressed and seemed to open his mouth to say something, but shut it when he received a mysterious look from the girl as she stood. She collected her things and the three started off for the front office, where the new student and Miss Walters waited.

When they arrived, Haruka walked over to a set of chairs in the front office area, giving Rai and the boy their space as they went up to the front desk. Miss Walters sat at the desk, looking over the girls' schedule and speaking with a woman who stood next to a younger female. The younger female looked to be about Rai's age, and she was quite pretty. Her hair was black and fell just past her shoulders. Her skin was the soft olive-tan of Asian ethnicity, and she had the most adorable almond shaped brown eyes. On one hand, she looked stereotypically like an Asian school girl, but on the other hand, she seemed to be so much more.

"Ah, Katori-san? Is that the boy?" The girl asked curiously to the woman next to her, who looked over at the sound of the girl's voice. The woman turned to look over and Miss Walters spoke first, standing up from her desk.

"Thank you for bringing him, Jason." She spoke to the Student Council rep. The boy nodded before leaving to attend to other things. The older woman turned her attention back to Rai. "I apologize for having to ask this of you, but we needed a Japanese speaking student to help her around the school, and your schedule was almost a carbon copy of hers."

The girl smiled sweetly at Rai. "Hello." She greeted.

[Faye]

Since their small disagreement about public display of affection, Rai opted out of holding Haruka's hand down the hall towards the office and just walked close beside her, their arms brushing against one another on the occasion.

The walk was short and inside, Rai heard Japanese being spoken that confused him. Who was--

Inside the room, he heard himself being addressed, Miss Walters explained the situation and he merely nodded. His eyes averted from the woman at the desk to the girl he was supposed to escort round. Immediately, his mind told him that she was indeed very pretty, typical Asian school girl appearance but there was something in her eyes that said she was so much more than that.

Shaking his mind from it, he just nodded, "I guess it's okay.. if this is your only option for her, then, I'll help out," He would just have to put up with it, he wasn't a mean person and wasn't about to just out right say 'No'.

When the girl in question spoke to him, he glanced at her again, "Hey, and your name is?" He asked her, still remaining close to Haruka.

[Nicolette]

"My name is Miki Azuma." The girl gave a bow as she smiled. When she rose from the bow, she looked from Rai to the girl next to him. She blinked curiously before tilting her head to the side. "And who is this?"

"I am Haruka Amagi." Haruka gave a brief bow before looking up at the girl before her. "I am... I am Aikaryu-kun's girlfriend." She felt awkward saying it, but it would at least make things less tense between them. She felt like the was suffocating from the tension between them.

Miki gave a wide smile. "Oh, that is so cute~!" She said with a giggle. "It is very nice to meet you both. It makes me so happy to know that there are other people here who speak the same language as me. I was very worried I would be so alone here."

While Miki was thankful, Haruka placed on a small, fake smile, and examined the girl. What would make her different enough to want to attend the T'zenshin Institute, so far away from their native home? It couldn't just be preference, because people usually came here for a specific reason. Haruka wasn't sure what it was, but she would certainly find out, what made Miki different.

[Faye]

Miki Azuma, very interesting and unique name, it was different from the usual, common names that a lot of people had in Japan. He made note of her name so he would remember it, nothing worse than forgetting someone's name, especially since according to what he understood about the situation, they would be spending a fair bit of time together.

"It's.. nice to meet you too, Azuma-san," Rai replied, awkwardly, she was very outgoing, out there and very girly. Definitely the opposite to Haruka. "Is there anything else you need to tell me or can we go?" He asked Miss Walters, it felt odd just standing in the office talking in Japanese while they just sat there.

[Nicolette]

The woman smiled, glad to see that the new student already had some people to talk to now. She waved her hand in dismissal. "Go along and enjoy the rest of your lunch." She said before turning back to speak with another woman.

Miki looked at the two before smiling again. "I do not really know much of the school around here... So I shall follow you to the cafeteria area?" She had an air of innocence around her, despite being an eleventh year. She brought a hand up to tuck some hair behind her ear, and a small little charm bracelet jingled around her wrist.

[Faye]

Well that was something he was thankful for. Rai despised being told what to do when they clearly knew he had other things to worry about besides a silly, air headed girl who needed to be shown round the school since she was new. So far, he was dreading the awkward silences.

"Sure?" He said as they left the office and were out in the corridor, their voices echoing as they bounced off the empty area. Most of the students were in the cafeteria or outside enjoying the warmth of the sun.

As they walked down the hall, Rai remained close to Haruka, wanting nothing more than to hold her hand and eventually, his index finger caught hold of hers, it was small yet sweet. "So um, Miki, what brings you to the school?"

[Nicolette]

From Rai's right, Haruka walked, her cheeks turning a pink color when she felt him link his index finger with her's, but she did nothing to take her finger back. She could at least allow him this...

Miki walked to Rai's left, a small smile upon her lightly-glossed lips as she looked around the halls of the school. She didn't seem to notice Rai's light agitation at having to escort her around the school. She was just happy that she wasn't alone. She looked at the boy when he addressed her with a question.

"Well..." She started hesitantly, looking forward as her small smile dipped into a small frown. "Since I was a little girl.. I used to see things. Things that have already happened, or things that are to come..." She paused for a moment. "And as I got older, the things I saw became more frequent. After many different studies, specialists were able to discover that I had a form of extra-sensory perception known as claircognizance... And so, they recommended to my parents to send me here, in order to work on controlling this ability."

[Faye]

When Haruka left her finger where it was and didn't flinch at all, Rai felt some peace in his mind, at least she was kind enough to this for him. Although, he didn't like the idea of it being forced, he wanted her to be comfortable with their relationship, perhaps it just needed more work, they hadn't really known each other for all that long. Maybe it was just too soon for them?

However, he made himself stop thinking about it when Miki began explaining her reason for being at the school. Claircognizance... why did that freak him out so much? It was becoming almost certain that there was at least one person per enhanced sense. "Your reason is very similar to mine," He said, a small empathic smile on his face.

[Nicolette]

Haruka listened to the girl's explanation, and upon hearing Rai's comment in return, she felt a pang of jealousy. They both had abilities, and their abilities were similar. They belonged here at the institute.. While Haruka was only here because she was smart. She could remember a lot of things, but that didn't mean she had an actual gift...

Miki looked up, her gaze landing on Rai and curiosity screaming from her expression. "What is your reason, Aikaryu-san?"

And Haruka felt another pang in her chest. Why did Rai's name glide so perfectly from the girl's painted lips?

[Faye]

Rai, focussed on the subject at hand, didn't notice Haruka's feeling of being the third wheel. He felt like he could relate to Miki a little more now that her gift was out in the open between them.

However, the rememberance of his past made his own smile curve down into a frown as he thought about it. He didn't want to dig too deep into it, he decided on just skimming over the surface, "Well, instead of seeing things like you did, I heard things, I have the gift of clairaudience, my parents sent me here to get some control over it as well," He answered, their footsteps entering the cafeteria.

Blinking, Rai didn't realise they had walked this far already. "Well, um, Miki, this is the cafeteria."

[Nicolette]

Miki flushed just slightly at hearing Rai's use of her name, but tried to keep her face hidden as she looked around the crowded cafeteria. In some ways, it reminded her of home, but a lot more diverse than just a bunch of Japanese people.

"Oh, I would not even know where to begin to find and order food..." She said, a small frown sliding across her pouty lips.

"Aikaryu-kun could always show you the way..." Haruka mentioned from Rai's other side, her voice slipping slightly icier than it had previously been, though the change wasn't very noticeable. "I would join you, but I have some things I need to get done for a class." She glanced up and Rai. "I'll see you later..."

Haruka had not missed how Rai had slipped up on Miki's name. It wasn't something she should become upset about, especially since it could have just been a mistake, always switching from English to Japanese, but she wasn't going to let it just slide... Especially with how nice her name sounded coming from his lips. She let her hand slip away from his and move to touch her bag.

Breaking their eye contact, Haruka turned and left the cafeteria, starting down toward the SFF office. Maybe Kyerin could find something for her to do.

[Faye]

Rai blinked. Was this girl daft? Surely it wouldn't be that hard to grab a tray and stand in line, requesting to the lovely lunch ladies behind the counters of food want you wanted.. would it? Maybe it was just different from Japan and he had forgotten. Probably, Miki seemed like an intelligent girl, but what would he know?

He was about to tell her what to do when Haruka began speaking, his face fell, a frown pierced his lips and he barely got in a word before she walked off. "Haru-chan.." He whispered softly, his hand moving to grab hers again but missed, the emptiness only growing. Although something angered him, how dare she treat him like that? He had done nothing wrong at all, or was caring for her suddenly a crime? His face turned sour, "Oh whatever, then," He muttered under his breath, the tone appearing annoyed and irritated.

When he turned to face Miki again, however, he painted a fake smile across his lips, a fake sparkle twinkled in his eye and he gestured to the trays, "Well then, Miki-chan," He said, putting emphasis on the suffix, "How about we get you something to eat?"