They left the restaurant a little while afterwards, giving Haru enough time to let the wild call to her in the restroom. Walking by the sidewalk, Haru was a bit nervous. This was her first time going to Kuoh, and indeed, her new school for good. It had been years that she had been staying at her old one that going to a new one for reasons beyond her own ability to manipulate was a strange feeling, but at least she wasn't going to let herself down again.
It may have been kind of her fault that the incident happened in the first place, yes, but only because of the influence by that crazy bird girl. At the very least, staying there would have had absolutely no chances of her staying there without any problems, because as far as she could tell, the only reason she got away with becoming a whole 'nother person to the perspective of her classmates and teachers was because of her Jedi mind tricks. Besides, it was a fresh, new start with new potential friends, teachers and acquaintances. A blank slate wherein absolutely no one knew who she was except as either an eccentric crossdressing female elementary school student, or as a very effeminate male school student. In a sense, she was lying to herself and her friends just by going ahead with her stupid plan, it seemed.
Huh. Well, not like it matters now. She could see it through when it happens. As it is, all that she needed to feel was excitement and happiness. And it's all thanks to the magical girl right next to her, who was skipping happily across the sidewalk at a pretty fast pace. She wasn't sure what would've happened if she didn't meet either of them, and she would've been pretty sure it might've been very bad. Either way, new blank slate, she can work in a better impression to the school populace than she did with her previous school, yadda yadda, you get the idea.
Still. The point still stands, even if it felt as if she went through this very same conversation multiple times before. How would they react? She was pretty sure that she could just as easily ask Sona on the way there, but she was a few dozen meters away from her already, so yelling at each other from this distance would probably cause some commotion. Yeah, better than nothing she hoped.
"Huh… Wait!" She looks back up and realizes very quickly that Sona was beginning to lose her completely. The clicking of her boots wouldn't even be heard of with normal ears, but with enhanced senses like hers, she could still hear her loud and clear. Her heartbeat skips, and she begins to prepare herself to run towards Sona and her stupid cosplay stick, sticking out like a sore thumb. And she set off, leaving behind a large dust cloud at her wake.
"Wait a second! Sona, wait for me!" Haru runs up to where Sona is, who had outran Haru during her inner monologue and slow walking. She was, after all, walking with her own brand of very fast fast-walking. She was a quarter of a mile away from her, and they just barely reunited with each other before Sona could take a right, the jerk. "Why did you just leave me behind there!? I could've gotten lost, I don't even know where the school is! I—"
"Shh, Haru. Now's not the time." Haru looked a tad bit miffed, but refused to respond. All she did was scowl a little and changed her pace to match Sona's own. Sighing deeply, she contemplates still if going ahead with this was a particularly good idea. The thoughts drift slowly away from their current situation as she thinks of more fantastical things, the thoughts that would typically enter the mind of a youth like him (well, you should get the idea) with all the nerdy stuff that such a thing would entail.
Not a single thought focused on her current attire, the distinct appearance catching the eye of most adults passing by, but that was mostly because she simply forgot she was wearing it in the first place. There was a distinct feeling of detachment going on here, but nothing too serious. For her part, as she walked along the sidewalk, the only thing she felt that mattered was the occasional, painful squishing on her belly as they went by, which reminds her that she didn't go home to eat lunch this time around. She only ever did that at school, which might mean that her parents would get worried, wonder what happened to her, she'd feel desperate, and…
Nah, she knows they'd understand. Either way, it's only a little while longer before she gets to the school, and all that she needs to know is why it's taking so long to get there. They started from the park, which was practically a halfway point, right? It has to be just a little longer, right?
"Hey, Haru. We're almost there." Sona's voice caught her off guard, and from their position she could see the academy in all of its glory. Standing tall and elegantly, the school looked more like a manor and house than a school than anything else in her opinion. Everything looked like an antique, with a certain degree of quality that guaranteed that she would at least have a good education here. Not that making her first impressions of a school based on their building was a good idea of course, but at least it meant that the people working there were quality, and just as old as the school building which meant actual experience.
Or something. She didn't really know where that line of thought was going to lead, but that was the best opinion she could make at the time. Well, it wasn't important, but it was probably very cynical. Whatever cynical meant, she thinks, since that's a word she only ever heard from the adults in the past...
They arrived at the school gates a little while after that, and from there Haru could bask in all of the school's glory. It was a lot fancier than what she would expect be as a school, with all the bustle and cleanliness, and some bells and whistles she didn't associate with a school. Although there were no classes for the rest of the week, dozens of students still went in and out of the premises, and here and there she could also see a school teacher walk by. The school was definitely much bigger than her older one, in many more ways than she could imagine.
Sona stood quietly along the side, letting Haru suck it all in. She had to admit, she felt much the same too when she first saw the building herself, but as it was, they needed to get going. First things first, she needed to get Haru to meet up with the Guidance Counselor to get her paperwork and have the basic rundown be done, then she could give her that tour around the school. She grabbed Haru's arm and dragged the girl away with her to the right room, though all Haru was capable of doing there was follow after her now sore and aching arm.
Haru and Sona walked down the hallways to the Guidance Office, while Sona gave a quick breakdown of the facilities that they passed by. Of particular note was an old, decrepit building in the distance that she could see. When she asked Sona about it, she responded, "Ah, that's the old school building. The school doesn't really use it right now, but a friend of mine has been talking about renovating it a little bit for their own uses apparently... I don't know what exactly what she meant by that, but I do see her go in and out of sometimes anyway." That was all the information she received from that, and they ran off afterwards. Despite that, she couldn't really shake off the feeling of being watched.
Just as they were about to reach the offices, Haru felt something cold go through her. Her feet started shaking and she felt a strong sense of anxiety just by looking at the suspiciously open doorway. She slowed down her pace, wanting to reach after Sona to make her stop and reconsider but failing, just in time to see her open the door. When the door opened and she looked through the small crack on the wall, she saw someone particularly important to her life. Almost instantly she contemplated about running away from the school entirely and never looking back, but she didn't have the luxury to choose.
Sitting speaking with one of the teachers was her mother, mirthful and happy, apparently talking about some embarrassing childhood memories about her from the muffled voices that she could hear outside. Off to her side she could also see her father, reading through an old newspaper with a small cup of coffee in front of him on the glass desk. She wouldn't be so embarrassed about her parents, if it weren't for a cold breeze making her acutely aware that she was wearing a skirt and blouse. The very same skirt and blouse she wore for that Halloween party a few years back with Shidou, where Shidou went as the boy and she practically volunteered to dress up as the girl.
The familiarity of the scene, with the obvious fact that her father went out of his way to set up everything for her just in case she needed an actual magical girl outfit for whatever reason, and with how obnoxiously irritating it could be to explain to her parents why she went ahead with it anyway… It would be a very painful scene to go through. But how could she hide from the problem when the problem was practically staring right at her face to face? It was insane, and all she could think of then was to figure out a smart way to hide from her parents without making it all too obvious.
Slowly, she turned around just as Sona called her parents and the guidance counselor who were telling them the presence of their daughter. She walked heavy but silent steps on the paved floor, trying to avoid making them acutely aware of her presence within the facility to no avail. A moment after, she tried to leave the building up until Sona called her to come inside, just as she tried to step back to twist her torso facing the other direction. She froze and looked back, seeing Sona and her mother stare right at her, her mother having a very strained face with a smile that promised death while just behind her stood her father, sweating bullets.
She smiled weakly, and Sona palmed her face, and responded, "Don't worry Missus Namikaze, I'll talk to you about it later. Haru, could you come over here! It's your parents, they came here before you!" Haru nodded blankly and turned around, walking to the Guidance office stoically, not quite ready to face the music, and resisting the urge to soil her panties.
On the doorframe, mother and father looked at each other funny. The mother stared at the Father, whose only immediate concern then was the hungry tiger. Haru's mother, still flat faced, responded in return. Her head craned mechanically, and instantly her mother goose instincts activated, causing her to respond to her husband's treachery. "We're going to talk more about this in detail later. Right, dear husband?" Haru's father blankly reacted to the remark, still processing the fact that the (mostly) joking clues he had left behind in the house were taken seriously. He nodded, refusing to dig too deep into the topic.
They sat down on the comfy couches inside the Guidance Office and waited. They had her sign some papers, writing everything down as needed and so on. The one thing that she managed to avoid having to answer was the topic of her gender, seeing how the whole scheme decided upon was that they would go out of their way to promote the incredibly dumb scheme for the sake of doing so. The hope was that the student body would either take it as it was, thinking that Haru was simply that girly and being more of the pretty type of boyish. A little bit of both, androgyny that would allow the eventual flow of male and female students. Or otherwise, more than likely it seemed, they'd figure it out almost immediately, but won't dig too deep into it because they'd figure that some incredibly elaborate and pointless stuff was happening in the background.
Point was, they only announced the transition to a dual gendered school a week ago, which was something they were planning already, but hastened in order to accommodate certain particular individuals. They had estimated the likelihood of the boys becoming equal in number to the girls to happen within a decade, primarily because of the potential stigma sticking to a school that would keep new students from enrolling. Technically speaking they wouldn't announce it outwardly, but allow male students if they applied. A case of, "You didn't ask, dear," but applied to an entire school. This would bring great trouble to the school at the end of the day, but they could compensate eventually.
For what it was worth, the fact that they were still going ahead with this and with the full support of the school faculty at that was hilarious to consider. For Sona, anyway. Haru stayed out of the festivities to avoid embarrassing herself.
Even if they found out about the scheme and wanted to out it for whatever reason, they had countermeasures in place. That was all that they needed to know, at least, but Haru had an inkling of the idea that they wanted in place. Mostly hypnosis related, since it worked for her old school.
They've laid out everything they needed for school, a prototype of the uniform that they needed her to wear for all three stages of school plus female variants in case she needed or wanted to, and some other miscellaneous stuff. The textbooks were already provided for, all the payments done by Sona's family in order to procure a strong independent ally. And that was it, for the most part.
They did ask however, why Haru was prancing around in the magical girl costume despite her explicit request to be recognized as a boy for the next few years. If she actually wanted to do that, then what was the point of dressing up in that then? It was illogical. And most importantly, it was dumb, because just a few hours earlier they saw a post on the internet of Haru in the very same outfit walking around the streets of Kuoh with Sona. It wasn't very surprising to see Sona there since she was old news in town now, but with Haru by her side and cosplaying? An unknown with a popular kid? Yeah, that would actually raise too many eyebrows.
Haru stayed silent throughout the whole discussion of the thing looking calm despite the uncomfortable conversation going about her, but inside was a completely different story. Inside, she was screaming to the heavens, realizing the implications that were put out there for her to consider. She didn't necessarily consider the potential catastrophe that might've happened as a result. Though catastrophe may have been a strong word to pertain to such a thing, if she actually wanted to hide it as an incredibly elaborate secret then she should have been well aware that some people might figure it out immediately. Fact was that she wasn't wearing anything to hide on her face or whatever so they might still recognize her from wherever the hell they saw her on the street, or in one of the pictures that they uploaded on the internet.
Or that was the idea at least, according to the counselor. In any case, as much as she wanted to respond, there wasn't much of an idea that she could put out as a remedy or solution, so she was mostly at an impasse. There were solutions pinned here and there again, but nothing that was solid. A lot of people would recognize then, there wasn't much else they could do that wouldn't incur unwanted attention, and so forth. So the solution then was... to do absolutely nothing. To do nothing remotely direct, that is.
They'd recognize that there was a really big breach of privacy, they shouldn't ask, and that Haru simply enjoyed cosplaying as his favorite characters, which was technically true anyway. Wouldn't diminish the rumors, of course, and the potential stigma directed against her, but it was something to work with for now. In fact, they even had the very same Halloween picture of Haru and Shidou modified to look like Haru's current form, but it was mostly the facial features that were changed since that was all they really needed to fix. After all, when the question was brought up, Sona came to her defense, explaining thoroughly about Haru's attempt in making her happy just earlier. She elaborated on the magical girl getup, how she knocked herself out trying to give her big introduction, and the help that Haru gave to her. It was all still very stupid, but when Sona saw the empty looking eyes pleading for help, she just had to.
Haru had to ask though. "Why isn't it such a big deal that you're wearing a magical girl outfit, but it is for me?" They all gave her blank stares, and Haru scratched the back of her neck nervously. "Y-Yeah, I know that I'm a special case, but you'd think that she'd have caught some people in the eye. In fact, I don't think that any of the people we passed by made it such a big deal except for me, a-and they only noticed me but not her and... Oh. That was the point wasn't it?" They all nodded. "Yeah, I figured as much," she says, looking down, slightly dejected.
Sona smiled at Haru with the best impression of a big sister that she could create without basing off her own big sister, and responded. "Well, you aren't wrong, Haru-kun. Almost everyone is unfazed by me wearing this because I've been wearing this for much longer." She adjusts her glasses, by which Haru notes that the lenses have fogged up like the ones she's seen in anime. "In fact, I've been scouting out the town as a magical girl myself for almost just as long, both mock and literal. It's something, and also something I expect you to follow up as one of my subordinates! Do you understand me, Haru!" Her glasses take on a much brighter shine, enough for her father to move an arm up to block the light going his way somehow.
She puts them down, and asks. "Any other questions?" Haru's mother raises her hand, and Sona acknowledges it. "Yes, Missus Namikaze?" The mother coughs into her hand and responds.
"Is that the other reason why Haru is wearing that? Because I remember my dear Husband Minato going out of his way to find the old dusty thing, stuffing it inside a chest, and digging a hole inside of our garden to give Haru something to wear. To dress up as a member of a troupe." All eyes went to him, who sputtered, "I thought it was a good idea at the time! And besides, Haru was enough of a magical girl as is when we first met your older sister, so it came to my mind automatically when we were looking for stuff for her to wear." The staring stopped. "Thank you."
Sona coughs once more, and responds, albeit a little forced. "Yes, I do kind of expect Haru to come join me in my missions across the country as support. I've made it my mission to do justice, and prevent evildoers from getting away with their crimes. That isn't a joke, I'd like to actually do that. We'll be superheroes. Vigilantes. I'm sure you get the idea?" Sona smiled, but Haru didn't respond. "It won't be politically motivated, don't worry. I won't even try to manipulate you into doing something you wouldn't want." She smiles. "Either way, I do need both you and your parents' permission to go ahead with this, because it's all optional at the end of the day. If you would, Ma'am?"
Namikaze Kushina sat down in contemplation. She looked at her husband, who nodded, after which she looked at Sona straight in the eye. "Haru might have always been the type of child to help people no matter who they are, but... Can you guarantee her health?" Sona considered this, and responded.
"Not necessarily ma'am but," she put her palm up to let herself speak. "We do have countermeasures for that as well. Healing magic, fixing her up, the like, and I've already been told by my sister that she's a lot tougher than she looks. She can heal herself a lot faster than I could, for one thing, and that says a lot." She shifts uncomfortably. "It might be a bit irresponsible to just rely on regenerative abilities that haven't been fully tested yet, but it's the best solution we have."
Haru's mother looks conflicted herself, and even if she wants nothing more than to have her stay at home and be at peace (lol reword this), she knows very well that wouldn't be what Haru wants. It would be a very big waste of her abilities. Abilities to help people, almost to the point of selflessness, but not quite as Haru would seek glory for herself at the same time. Such is life, but she has made her choice already. She looks at her husband one last time, and they both respond. "We accept... Only if Haru accepts as well."
The gazes shift to Haru once again, who feels the pressure building up on her, her gaze now moving downwards to her twiddling fingers. Would it really be such a good idea, risking her life every other day saving people who might not even know they've been saved in the first place? Maybe, maybe not, but she wasn't all that ready to give up on the opportunity regardless. It wasn't what she would've wanted, it wasn't what she wanted either, so what was the best choice here? Her teacher did say after all that opportunities like these don't come so easily, so it's ultimately the choice between not going for it and having a fairly mundane lifestyle where not much had changed from before, or otherwise, and living the life of excitement that she's been looking for so long.
She's almost tempted to leave it all behind, turn a new leaf and simply use the Sitri family's generosity to get what she wants in life, but that... that wasn't fun. That isn't why she was chosen to get this Master-Servant thing in the first place, and what would she do then without all the hustle of something like this? She didn't really know, and in fact, she'd imagine it to be very boring indeed, and legitimately dangerous. What use would her powers be if she didn't flex her muscles every now and then? She wouldn't be able to protect her parents, her friends. She sighed, thinking it through.
She's mostly solidified her choice on the matter at this point, but there was just one last person to ask their opinion for. But Nobu hasn't responded to anything for the past few hours at all, so what was she going to do to get her to respond? Walk straight into her mind and bash her in the head? Honestly, that was stupid even for her. Almost instantly after saying that, however, she whited out to the horror of the surrounding spectators, eyes rolling inward and slamming the table, and she suddenly found herself somewhere else.
Inside her mind, she "popped open" a door to her inner mindscape. Opening it, she enters the room, looking around the fractured replica of her home. She found the person she was looking for in the living room, and she stared at the demon king sitting on the seiza position while facing the television with her eyes closed. The television itself was powered on, but nothing but static was on the screen. But she would guess that the television represented what she would normally see as the outside world, or something like that. Sighing deeply, a large bead of sweat falls off her cheek into the floor, which she notes disintegrated almost instantly.
Walking over to her, she pokes on Oda Nobunaga's face. "Oi, Nobu." She was hoping that she was wrong the entire time and she didn't actually fall asleep during a very important meeting. Nobunaga's face falls to the side, and she sighs even deeper, shaking her side to side to no avail. "Oi, Dairokuten Maou, wake up." Sighing harder, she coughs into her hand, three times, the third time even building up some phlegm in her throat that she runs towards the restroom sink to spit out. Palming her face, she thinks of something cute and obnoxious to shout at Nobu, and a lightbulb literally flashes above her head. Cupping her hands near Nobu's right ear, she shouts as loudly as she can. "Nobu-chan, asobou yooo!"
No avail. She groans even deeper, and stomps on the floor like a child with a tantrum. She did resist the urge to stretch her hair like some kind of immature school girl at least. Waiting for a bit, she notices something interesting on the side.
She sees a half uneaten cup of ramen to the side, noting that it still felt very hot despite existing inside a metafictional space (not necessarily her exact wording, but you get the picture), and decides, in a move of desperation, to throw it at Nobu's face. Although it stuck to one side of her face with the noodles and soupy, salty broth slowly dripping down her side, nothing actually happened to her, not even a twitch. Frustration building up, she shouted at her, shook her even more, and even punched her, still, to no avail. Her irritation has reached such a boiling point that she was almost crying, but that wasn't all that was left just yet. Taking one step backwards, she considered her options and moved to scratch the back of her head until she looked at her open palm. She readied her stance, and prepared for the bitch slap of a lifetime.
Scratching one side of her face, and wiping very greasy sweat (what she thinks it is, at least) on the other with her sleeve, Oda Nobunaga yawned loudly. "Hrmm... what? Haru, what are you doing here...? Huh?" It was at that exact moment that Haru was to slap her, that Nobu decided to wake up. Unfortunate.
"Hmm?" *SLAP*. "Ooogh!?"
"OF ALL THE DAMN TIMES YOU DECIDE TO FALL ASLEEP YOU USELESS SPIRIT, IT'S NOW!? YOU IDIOOTTT!" The power of the slap was enough to push Nobunaga right outside of the conveniently airconditioned (they don't actually have an airconditioner yet) room, right into the endless white void outside. Nobunaga blew right past the flimsy imaginary wall, and was sent reeling at the uncharacteristically tsundere approach to her nap. Her torso stood up, and she processed what had just happened, with her gloved hand rubbing the stinging portion right where she slapped her.
Rubbing it still, she asked, in a confused tone. "-Haru...? Are you alright...? I mean, are you feeling alright?" The angry clone wearing a magical girl outfit didn't reply, still stuck in the pose she had left herself in the moment of the strike. She stood up still, and pushed a bang out of the way of her eyes. Breathing in deeply, confusion sets in as she looks at the hand she slapped Nobu a few yards away with. It was obvious that she was incensed, but she didn't normally resort to violent action like what she had just done, so she's asking herself in the inside what she had just done.
Running at her, she carries Nobu on one side, shouting. "Nobu! Are you feeling alright? I'm so sorry, I didn't know what I was doing, I did that by instinct!" Still dazed, Nobu gave Haru a blank look. She sighs, and responds. "We can talk about that later, what did you want to say?" Haru smiles weakly, and begins to explain.
Moments afterward...
"So you're telling me that the Sona girl you met earlier wants to form a team with you?" A nod. "Like, a tokusatsu style team up? Flashy poses and all that?" She gestures something with her arms, to which Haru palms her face.
"Maybe not exactly like that, but it's close... Look, you know what I'm wearing right now, right?" She gestures to the flashy white dress, and Nobu nods. "It's a magical girl troupe. I'm not sure what Sona's planning exactly besides fulfilling her middle school fantasies, but it's a lot more serious than that. Because for one thing, it lets me go around the country fighting crime and keeping the status quo, or whatever she meant by that. Uh... Being a superhero and stuff." Jazz hands to represent waving and portals was done, convenient. "Portals and transportation were already provided for so I don't have to go to wherever I'm needed physically with a car or your body's superspeed." She rubs the back of her head nervously. "It's... something like that at least, and I'm still undecided in that regard, but..."
"You want my own honest opinion about it?" A stare, then a nod. "Well, why don't we go for it? After all, I saw another spark in your eyes that you didn't quite have before, Haru. Something's telling me that you're going to gain a lot out of this on your end." Haru's eyes moved downwards after that, and Nobu followed after. It was a magical girl stick, reminding them both of the ridiculousness of their current situation. "Well... For the most part at least." A chuckle.
"Either way, you have to tell them something, somehow. So uh... Go out there, kid. Take care of yourself." Haru nodded, gladly following after the advice.
Her vision whited out once again, and she found herself inside one of the school's faculty offices; right where she was a while back. Back in the inner sanctum, Nobunaga was witness to the violent dispersal of light that represented Haru's consciousness inside the inner world, and sighed. She looks at the broken down wall, and the mess left behind at her wake, and especially the pungent smell of instant ramen. She stands up, and with a flash of light she was now dressed in a maid outfit, broom included. "Well, I may as well clean this up while I still can. Haven't cleaned up after myself in a while, at least. Hehehe..." She whistles while she mops up the mess of imaginary ramen inside the metafictional space of Haru's mind.
Haru rubs her eyes of all the sand left behind in them, and opens her eyes. Seeing the concerned looks of the people she was just talking to a while back made her shiver, so she elected not to ask. She takes her hand up to silence them for a little while longer, while she processes her current situation. A minute later, she was done. Now that she's done, however, she can let them be, so she puts her arm down to let them speak.
Her mother spoke first. "Haru... Are you feeling alright? You... fell asleep just as we were about to ask you what you felt about it... The proposal, that is." Her mother slowly passes a cup of water to Haru, who accepts it and drinks it eagerly. "If you're not feeling up to going for it like what she asked you, it's fine but..."
"No, mother, it's fine." She breathes out, and smiles. "I just had a talk with myself a little bit, no biggie." The smile turns into a grin. "I'm going for it. I accept."
"But are you sure it's alright—" Her father was cut off by her, Haru. "Yes, it's totally fine. I think that a certain somebody inside of me is okay with it, after all. Has something to do with that smudged up magic circle at least, and that's all I could say about it." The cryptic nature of her last sentence didn't fix their worries any, but they chose not to push it.