Neko tried not to show how enchanted she was with her school. Not only was it huge, but it seemed to have everything! But it was confusing. Doors to classrooms lined the hallway of whatever floor she happened to be on right now, an endless labyrinth of possible classrooms for her to get lost in. She followed Mi-chan closely, worried she�d enter the wrong room on accident or something. She had gone back into memorization mode, trying to devote everything to memory so that she wouldn�t get lost tomorrow or the next day, or whenever the first time she had to find a classroom without Mi-chan�s help. The day would surely come, she had to be prepared.
She was pretty sure she could get back to her locker from her first class, Japanese history, but she wasn�t so sure about the next one. And what would happen after she had five and a lunch period?
Everyone had seemed super-nice, at least. A lot of her classmates seemed very concerned about her, more so than about Mi-chan even. Some of the students seemed to think that Mi-chan was more likely to skip a day than she was, and thus showered her with all their concern. Yet they didn�t seem to notice anything was wrong with her� or if they did, they didn�t ask about it. So she just did what Mi-chan had said: smiled and nodded, and told them she had been running a temp and that Mi-chan had been staying with her to make sure she was okay while their parents were on the moon. It wasn�t a lie � she had been sick, just on Saturday rather than Monday and Tuesday.
And Mi-chan had been very helpful. Whenever Neko needed a name, she just consulted Mi-chan and received one mentally. It was quite advantageous.
By pre-calculus, things seemed to have settled into a sense of normalcy.
�Okay, kids, time for a pop quiz. Hope you all did that limits homework I�ve been assigning you.�
Neko and Mi-chan balked at the news. There was no way either of them figured Neko�d make it through a quiz.
Their teacher, Umino-sensei, handed out the quiz, and Neko looked at it warily.
*Don�t worry! I�ll try my best to help* Mi-chan thought to her.
Neko looked at the first problem. It didn�t seem too hard. If she just substituted the infinity anywhere there was an �x�� well, she�d get zero it seemed.
*Okay, I got zero for the first one* Mi-chan informed her.
*Me too!* Neko thought back victoriously.
Mi-chan gave her a look. �You can do this?� she mouthed.
Neko nodded. *It�s practically just substitution. Besides I think I glanced at this chapter in the math book.* She continued on with further problems, not bothering to wait for Mi-chan. She was on a slight high from her victory in math and in doing so well sending messages to Mi-chan.
*In that case, I have my own quiz to worry about, thank you very much!*
Neko struggled to keep from giggling. She was glad for the break from Mi-chan though. All this psychic messaging was making her exhausted and giving her a headache to boot. Comparatively, the quiz seemed like a piece of cake.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko handed in her quiz just as someone entered the classroom with a note. Umino-sensei glanced at it and held it out to her. �How convenient! It�s for you, Mizuno-san,� he said.
Neko tried not to freak out as she looked the note over. It told her to come to the administration office during lunch. She went back to her seat slowly wondering what it was about. Did somebody notice she was acting bizarrely and report her? Did she break some rule Mi-chan hadn�t disclosed to her? Did they know Mi-chan was helping her out via their psychic link?
*What does it say?*
*Aah! Get out of my head! They�ll know!*
Mi-chan sent her an inquisitive look. *What are you talking about?*
Neko felt a bit sheepish as she began to calm down. Of course, nobody would know that they were using their psychic link. That was the point of using it. *It- It said to go to the office. What�d I do?*
Mi-chan shrugged. *I�ll go with you at lunch. Don�t worry about it.* She returned to her quiz and left Neko to fret about the note.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi walked beside Rika and Toyuke through the halls to their calculus class, making special note that the twins weren�t at their lockers as they passed. Mi-chan had called her last night and told her about the agreement the twins had made, and Tenshi wanted to get an idea of how accepting of her Neko was truly going to be. She wasn�t fooling herself, she knew Neko probably hadn�t changed her opinion of Tenshi, but perhaps she had cooled off a little. Tenshi was half-hoping that she could aspire to where Jian-wa had been with Neko a few days after he had betrayed her. Having heard from several sources that he wouldn�t do so again, Neko had fought just as hard as he had to get him back to the same level of trust that he had enjoyed beforehand. Tenshi hoped that with the testimonials she knew Mi-chan, Jian-wa, and even Jasper had been giving Neko, that this idea she seemed to be clinging to, in which Tenshi was this evil creature to be hated, had begun to diminish a bit.
But it appeared that she was destined to remain in the dark on the subject until the actual date, for neither Neko nor Mi-chan was here, and she was skipping Kempo to prepare for the date and, as such, wouldn�t see them there either� that was if they even decided to go.
Her stomach churned at the thought that Neko might take one look at her at the Mizuno�s front door and slam the door in her face. Or that she might refuse to come out at all. She didn�t know what she would do then. As it was, she wasn�t quite certain what to do. How could she make someone fall back in love with her when the person was resolved to hate her?
�Tenshi-san, are you okay?�
Tenshi instructed herself to breathe again. �Hai,� she gulped. �But we�ll see how I am tomorrow,� she said under her breath.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The administrative secretary handed Neko a bouquet of flowers almost before Neko had handed her the note. Apparently Mi-chan had been in this office a couple times before, and the lady recognized her as a Mizuno twin.
Mi-chan watched her guardedly as Neko read the card attached to the collection of daisies, carnations, and lilies.
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