Solitary

[leigh]

May 8th, 2003, Thursday
About 5:30pm


Claire sat alone at a table, her books and notes laid out in front of her. She needed to study more, become better and better. At her old school, she had been the one with the best grades in her class. She had become used to being the smartest; it had been easy for her. Her position had made her lazy. It hadn’t been necessary to aim for her personal best, she had simply settled for the least she could do while still maintaining her status. But Claire knew she couldn’t do that anymore. The students here all had advantages over her. They probably all had more money than her, and all of the ones she had seen were far more attractive than she was. So she had to be the best at something. And this was the only thing she was good at; the only thing she could be proud of. This was everything. Claire couldn’t lose at this. She wouldn’t let these other students take her future away from her. She would be the best. Being here, at this school, was a privilege that Claire wouldn’t waste.

This sense of determination provided Claire with a surge of energy, and she dove back into her studies, reading and rereading the text in front of her until she understood each concept completely. There was an upcoming test, and she couldn’t afford to get a less than perfect score. Bent over the pages in front of her, Claire alternated between reading and furiously scratching down notes to look over later. She wasn’t going to be lazy anymore. The freshman silently decided that from now on, she would truly do her best. It was the only way she could make things better.

[Yasuda Erina]

English was, by far, Erina’s worst subject.

The first year made her way down the hall, tapping her chin as she mumbled sentences in the unfamiliar tongue. “My name… is Erina Yasuda. I like… the eat? Waaaah, this is no good!” How she had failed to hear about the English test tomorrow, she was uncertain, but the moment one of her volleyball teammates had mentioned it, she had panicked and rushed out after practice. Stopping before her destination, she bowed and clapped her hands together. “Library-san, please make me super duper smart~!” With that, she pushed open the doors and entered the unfamiliar territory.

Her first few steps were cautious, but not hesitant. The quiet of the room struck her immediately, and she glanced about the area, unsure what to make of it. Places like this were good for studying, right? Still, the quiet was a little daunting. Slipping her hand into her schoolbag, she grasped her textbook and shuffled over to the nearest table.

She flipped the book to a random page, then seated herself and squinted at the text, willing it to make sense, but the words remained as unintelligible to her as ever. With a frustrated groan, her head dropped facedown onto the table with an audible thunk and stayed there for several seconds.

This place… was really boring. At least when she studied at home, she could play music and eat food… Though admittedly, she didn’t get much done.

Finally lifting her face, she gave the room another once over, this time allowing her gaze to rest on another student seated a few tables away. She looked… fierce. Erina watched with slight awe as the girl’s eyes darted from textbook to paper and her hand scribbled notes in a brisk manner. If she stayed in the library long enough, would she be able to study like that too? So far, she didn’t feel any different. It’s magic! She has the secrets! Her eyes widened at the thought, and for a brief moment, she imagined the girl’s textbook replaced with a spell book, a pointed black hat resting on her head.

Leaving her bag and book behind, she wandered over, still gawking, and placed her hands onto the table in front of the girl. “How do you do that?” she blurted, the wonder and admiration apparent in her voice. “Oh, um, I mean…” Standing up straight and bowing properly, she began a second time, smiling brightly. “Yasuda Erina of 1-A~! Please share your amazing secret study powers with me~!”

[leigh]

Claire was in her zone; she was completely focused. With each sentence she read and re-read, with each reminder she scribbled briskly into her notebook, she felt more and more certain that she would be pleased with her score on the upcoming test. All the stress and tension seemed to drain out of her body; when she was this focused there was no room for any other feelings. Clair felt confident; she was doing the one thing she knew she was good at. She would get an incredible grade on the upcoming test and on every test after it. She had absolutely nothing to worry about.

Nothing except, of course, the girl whose hands were suddenly being slapped down on the table near Claire’s open books. “How do you do that?” the girl inquired suddenly. Without waiting for Claire to react or explain to her fellow student that she was clearly too busy to be bothered, the girl removed her intruding hands from Claire’s table and bowed, introducing herself and asking Claire to…to teach her to study? What? The strange request took Claire aback for a moment, and for several seconds she simply stared confusedly up at the smiling student, unsure of how to respond. Was this girl really serious? This couldn’t be happening. Why did Claire of all people have to be the one this oddly cheerful girl chose to bother?

“Uhh…I’m Kimura Claire, and I’m in class 1-C.” Claire knew that you were supposed to end a greeting like that with something like ‘nice to meet you’, but she didn’t feel as though that would be true in this case. Besides, the girl seemed so oblivious that she doubted she would even notice her small lack of etiquette. And if she did, then Claire would simply be glad to be left alone sooner. She really did need to study more.

“Actually,” Claire continued, trying to act uninterested without being completely rude, “I’m not sure that studying is something you can teach someone. But maybe if you sat over at that table and watched me, you could try doing the same things I’m doing. That might help you a little.” Claire motioned with her head towards the nearest unoccupied table. She knew that her fellow freshman wouldn’t actually learn anything simply from watching her, but perhaps the answer would satisfy her, and Claire would be left to study in peace.

[Yasuda Erina]

“Kimura-san.”

Erina repeated the name with a nod, committing it to memory as she always tried to do. She noted the foreign sound to the girl’s first name, but otherwise said nothing of it. Her attention had already been claimed by the idea of potential friendship and the acquirement of this girl’s… magic. Hanging on Kimura’s next words, she leaned forward to listen, eyes alight with curiosity.

“Is that how it works?” she wondered, her gaze drifting to the books she had abandoned, a few tables away. She quickly hurried back to scoop up her belongings, then returned promptly to Kimura’s table, taking the seat across from her. It would be easier to watch her this way. The magic would probably rub off better if she was closer, too.

“Thank you very much, Kimura-san~!” she chirped, laying out her English book in front of her. “I’ll try very hard to follow you, okay?” She beamed at her peer, then began to observe her closely, eyes flitting between her open textbook and rapidly filling notebook. What was the secret? It didn’t look much different from the setup she had had previously. Confused but still eager, Erina picked up her pencil and aligned her own notebook to mirror that of the studious girl across from her.

There! She felt smarter already.

Grinning to herself, she placed her pencil tip near the top of a blank page, hovering a centimeter above the first line. Kimura was writing a lot of things. Was that the magical part? What was she supposed to write though? Tentatively, Erina lowered the point, stealing another glance across the table as lead met paper.

English. She was studying English today. So she had to write… English things. Right…?

“I… study… the… the English. And Kimura-san… Help.” She mumbled the words as she wrote them carefully across the top of her page, then paused to admire her work, humming quietly as she swung her feet back and forth. "Studying, studying~ Magical, secret studying~"

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[leigh]

Wow…From the very start, Claire had been given the distinct impression that her fellow student was at least somewhat naïve just by her eager, guileless countenance, but this was…shocking. Simply being oblivious was one thing, but this…Had she really convinced the girl that, by simply sitting across from Claire and mimicking her position, she would somehow suddenly be better able to retain information? Did she actually think good studying skills were contagious, and that simply being around someone who possessed them would cause you to pick them up, just by proximity? How strange. Well, as long as the girl didn't distract Claire, there was no harm in her sitting with her.

Deciding to simply ignore this strange, eager girl, Claire again lowered her head and returned her attention to the page, willing mind to go back to focusing on the all important task of studying. The interruption had thrown her off, and she couldn’t remember exactly where she had left off, so she started back at the top of the page and began reading again. She read the first paragraph, but she just couldn’t focus. Why had she allowed herself to be distracted so easily? She needed to focus. Claire closed her eyes and took a deep, slow breath, then opened her eyes and read the paragraph for a second time.

There. Simple. She had only been thrown off for a moment, and now she could delve back into her studies with all the focus and enthusiasm of a moment before. Nothing was going to throw her off, not with so much at stake. She carefully read a certain fact that she felt certain would be on the test, scribbling the information down into her notebook for later. Soon, all thoughts of distracting girl were gone, and Claire’s mind was once again wholly devoted to her studies.

Or at was, for close to a minute, before Claire’s thoughts were interrupted yet again.

"Studying, studying~ Magical, secret studying~"

Claire was jolted out of her thoughts. Was the girl really…Singing? While she studied? Did she think it would help..? How strange. And to call studying magic…It annoyed Claire. If it were magic, it would be easy. If it were easy, there would be no point to it, and Claire’s accomplishments would mean nothing.

“It isn’t magic,”she said shortly. She instantly regretted it. Now she would have to talk to the offending student, wasting even more time.

This really wasn’t going as planned.

[Yasuda Erina]

“Eh~?”

Kimura’s brisk comment interrupted the spontaneous song, and Erina raised her gaze from her notebook to make eye contact with the girl. For a brief moment, she simply stared, brown orbs fixed curiously on the honey-colored ones opposite her as she seemed to take a second to comprehend the statement. It isn’t magic… Then she smiled.

“But I think it’s very, very magical,” she began, her tone cheery but firm. Perhaps it wasn’t real magic, like the sparkly, cool kind in TV shows, but it was still magical to her. “Because only someone special could master it, I think!”

That meant Kimura was a master magician! Ah, no, that didn’t sound very cute at all. She was… Yes, a magical girl! An amazing magical girl who defeated big, scary exams! Erina didn’t feel very magical herself, but with Kimura helping her, surely she could learn something amazing! Just the idea made her eager to return to her studies… And that was certainly a new and exciting experience.

With that, she returned to her notebook, humming away, but the brief digression had caused her to lose focus, and she began to doodle a smiley face at the top of the page. “La la, studyi-oh wait, that’s not studying, silly~”