| I definitely left too early. And was up way too late researching. Prosthetics are expensive. I could open up—oh, a text from Francois-san. | |
| Good Morning Rei, we are coming down now and should see you soon. Sincerely, Francois. | |
| Okay, that’s pretty cute. I should let her know that with other people that’s going to look weird, though. | |
| “Rei!” Just a few minutes later, I peek up from my phone and see Francois-san waving to me with Achard-san just behind, leaning on her cane. I guess Francois-san was right about the leg. Francois-san walks slowly, being careful to not leave Achard-san behind. They almost look like sisters. “Sorry if we made you wait long. I’m not used to the style of clothing here and I might have been stressing too much about appearances…” | |
| Wow, I mean, I look so frumpy in my old hoodie compared to her. She’s wearing a long and very pretty white dress with a form-fitting red sweater vest over it. I don’t think I have seen her in it before but she does look great. For someone who probably has even less of an idea than I do about what’s currently trendy, she’s nailing it. | |
| “You look great,” I say, meaning it sincerely. | |
| Francois-san smiles at the compliment, looking right at me. Oh , this is going to take some getting used to. “Thank you, Rei, I hope my hair looks okay too. It’s not how I usually wear it but my old style needed a lot of help to get right and Catherine said I just wear it straight here.” It's hard to imagine her long blonde hair as anything other than its usual simple straight style. It’s so smooth and pristine. | |
| “It’s good, very good!” Oh God, Rei, keep it together. You sound even more awkward than usual. | |
| I can see Achard-san roll her eyes behind Francois-san. Francois-san just smiles again and God, if I could melt it would be dangerous to be around her. “Thank you, Rei. I tried to play it safe. I like your outfit too. It feels like you.” | |
| Okay, Achard-san, you don’t need to snicker. I’m sure Francois-san meant it, but my clothes really aren’t that nice. “Thanks, sooooo , we have economics first. That’s probably not going to be easy to dive into right away so I can sit next to you for that. If your lackeys ask, you can say I’m tutoring you.” | |
| “That’s actually not the worst cover. Her grades haven’t been doing well. She could even say her mom is making her do it,” Achard-san adds in. Yeah, that’s a good idea. After all, there’s no way someone like Francois-san would even look my way otherwise. | |
| “Mother…right, yes, I can do that. Wait, did you say lackeys?” Francois-san asks. | |
| “Yeah, you always seem to have two other girls around you. It’s like your mean girls squad.” | |
| “What—” | |
| “She’s not going to understand the reference,” Achard-san sounds a bit annoyed. “You need to use things she can understand.” | |
| “Oh, right, your, um, entourage?” That will make more sense, right? | |
| “Oh, do you know who they are?” | |
| “Nope.” I let the P pop. I mean, why would I know them? I barely even had a chance to talk to Francois-san before this all happened, and it’s not like I cared about her lackeys at all. | |
| “What do they look like?” Francois-san asks. | |
| “Hrm, one is a little taller, brunette, and the other is shorter and has pink hair.” Did one of them have freckles? | |
| “Loretta and Pepi!” She says excitedly. I’m not sure if they will live up to her expectations from that reaction. “Now that you mention it, you did always call them my minions before.” | |
| “That’s probably them,” Achard-san throws in, ignoring the minions part. “Can we get moving? It takes me longer to get there you know.” | |
| “Do you want to take a bus?” I ask. | |
| “No, it’s fine, I like the walk. The cane is usually fine. Let's just get moving.” She seems eager to move past the topic. | |
| “Let me know if you need anything, okay, Catherine?” Francois-san gives Achard-san a polite nod. Achard-san definitely seems like she’s not used to this yet, but she doesn’t make a big deal about it. She seems eager to get to class. | |
| Our walk goes by quickly even though we’re moving more slowly than usual. We try to cram in a bit more prep for class before we get there, but honestly I think we’re going to have to go back through my notes to the beginning. At least it’s still early in the semester. I allotted some extra time for the walk on account of Achard-san so we should still be pretty early to class, hopefully without too many people around. Once we get to the building, we stop to get breakfast from the cafeteria. It doesn’t take too long to finish our meal. | |
| “Oh, I might need to use the restroom,” Francois-san says. She looks around, unsure of where to go. | |
| “Sure just—” | |
| “It’s out that door and to your left, Claire.” Achard-san cuts me off. Francois-san notices and there is a look between her and Achard-san. | |
| After a second or two Francois-san sighs,.“Fine, but be nice .” Achard-san just gives her an extremely fake smile. Francois-san mouths ‘I’ll be back’ and turns to follow the directions to the restroom. | |
| And then it’s just me and her roommate slash friend. | |
| Cool . | |
| Achard-san takes her time finishing her coffee. “So…” I attempt, but it doesn't really help the awkward mood. | |
| Achard-san puts her drink back down. “Right…” She sighs. “Look, this is kinda messed up and I appreciate you being there to help, but also Francois-chan is my… friend and I don’t know the first thing about you.” | |
| Great. We’re having this conversation already. I can’t stop my nervous chuckle. “Yeah, I really didn’t know Francois-san before this happened. I mean, we share classes and I think we’re in a similar course of study, but I never really got a chance to talk to her.” | |
| “Didn’t stop your massive obvious crush on her, did it?” Achard-san mentions oh-so-casually. I nearly choke on my own cup of coffee | |
| “What?” I say, coughing. Rei, don’t think about how much you’re blushing. Count primes… | |
| “Trust me, Claire can be clueless when it comes to crushes, but even she is noticing this.” She motions her hand at me. “And sure, she thinks you two are married or whatever but she is still loving this.” Catherine takes another sip of coffee. “Not to be too harsh, but you’re kind of a walking stereotype.” | |
| “Noted.” I clear my throat. “What is your point, exactly?” I do not need this. | |
| “Eh, look, sorry, that came out worse than I meant. I’m not great with people. I don’t know. I don’t get whatever this is between you and her. She’s in a very vulnerable spot and I worry about her, okay?” Achard-san fidgets, feeling awkward even having to say this much. | |
| “I … I don’t want to hurt her. I’m trying to help.” I offer. | |
| She sighs. “Yeah, cool, just making sure we’re on the same page.” She leans back and seems content to let the silence return. | |
| “Err, what was she like, y’know, before this happened.” I needed to say something. | |
| She groans and takes a moment before answering. “I guess you already know she lost her dad, from the talk last night. Well, it happened when she was really young. There was a car crash in Paris, and lucky me, I was in the other car. Hence the leg, and…hrmm, no, that’s me stuff. Anyways, after that the two of us often got bundled together. My dad pretty much ditched me—don’t ask—and while Claire’s mom was picking up the pieces and getting their business back on track we spent some time with Claire’s extended family, the Sousse, in the Alps. We bounced from country to country for a bit before settling here.” | |
| I guess that’s good to know. “I was asking more about how she acted before this. But thanks for sharing all of that.” | |
| Catherine shrugs. “I don’t know, she acted really shut off after the accident. She was better when she was a kid from what I heard, but losing her dad hit her hard and her mom was always busy. I don’t like trying to psycho-analyze my friends, but honestly she seemed kinda depressed, or maybe detached? Superficial? It’s weird seeing her like this. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, but honestly I’ve never seen her be even a fraction as… okay as she seems now.” | |
| “So…this is better, then? It’s not like she’s a completely different person now, right?” | |
| “Errr, people are going to notice, even if she tries to act ‘normal.’ It’s a big change. It feels like she woke up or something. But yeah, I think it’s better because before she was just…not great, honestly. So don’t fuck it up, I guess.” | |
| Great, no pressure. The way Achard-san is eyeing me doesn't really help either. “I—” | |
| “I’m back.” Francois-san announces herself, looking pleased. “I was worried that the restroom here would be more complicated, but at least our public restrooms aren’t too different.” | |
| “You took your time.” Achard-san says over a sip of coffee. | |
| Francois-san clicks her tongue and flicks Achard-san on the forehead, after she sets her cup down. Achard-san looks surprised and rubs the spot, but leans back and lets a small easy smile settle in. “Look, I wasn’t expecting the sinks to just turn on. I thought they had broken and they kept turning off and on…” | |
| I can’t help but laugh as Francois-san tries to explain the situation, “They have a sensor for your hands. You just have to have them in the right place.” | |
| “I sort of figured that out, but I spent at least a minute trying to find a knob.” She laughs. At least she isn’t too embarrassed by the situation, and even Achard-san chuckles a bit. “She didn’t bully you too much while I was gone, I hope.” | |
| “No, it was good.” I mean, she did kinda grill me, but I understand why. | |
| I take a sip of what’s left of my coffee, and Francois-san chooses that moment to shoot me a smirk. | |
| “Good, only I’m allowed to bully you.” | |
| That sends the coffee up my nose and sends me into a coughing fit. Francois-san just leans back, looking smug and unfairly attractive. I am so doomed. My grave will say “killed by teasing and gay panic.” | |
| “Okay, I want no part of this flirting.” Achard-san blanches, sticks out her tongue as she pushes herself up from her seat. “I’m going to my classes. Have fun with your otaku, Claire.” | |
| And she walks away and disappears out the exit. | |
| It’s just me and Francois-san now, and she smiles when she catches me looking over at her. I’m not meant to last, am I? “I just wanted to get a little bit of flirting in before we can’t.” She certainly has a mischievous glint in her eyes. “You’re very cute when you blush, but I would rather not share it with others.” | |
| One, two, three, five, seven, eleven, thirteen, seventeen… | |
| “It’s not too much… is it?” The glint is gone, replaced with concern. She looks like she wants to lean over towards me. She glances at my hands fidgeting on the table. | |
| “No! Yes?” I let out a nervous chuckle. | |
| “Sorry, sorry, you said you wanted to take it slow… I can wait.” Francois-san retreats a little, her eyes looking unsure and a bit sad. | |
| “No! It’s okay!” I blurt out. | |
| Francois-san looks at me intently, like she’s trying to see my thoughts. I feel a bit exposed. “Rei, you don’t need to push yourself. It’s fine, really. I’m just being a bit impatient. It’s hardly been a day, after all, at least for you. And you have a bad habit of putting others before yourself.” | |
| “I do not.” I try not to pout, but Francois-san just hums in agreement and takes a sip of her own coffee. I don’t, right? | |
| “So, what does that mark on your sweater mean?” Francois-san asks, changing the subject. | |
| “Errr.” I have to take a second to remember what I threw on this morning. Oh, it’s this one. “It’s a hoodie, cause y’know, it’s got a hood.” I give the hood a flick and it pops up over my head. She gives an ‘ahhh’ and it’s honestly adorable. “And ummm.” I point at the logo which is probably what she was asking about in the first place. “This is the symbol of a game. It’s kinda nerdy otaku stuff, err, right, that’s not helpful to you. It’s, ummm—” | |
| “In our past life you sort of explained what games, well, video games, were like. We have games back in Bauer too, of course.” | |
| “I did? Oh, right, umm, okay, yeah I could show you some later if you want. But yeah, this is the title of the game.” | |
| “The game is called P5?” Francois squints like she’s trying to see something she must have missed. | |
| I slap my forehead, annoyed with myself. “It’s another acronym, sorry. It’s short for Persona 5. That little mask is part of the logo.” | |
| Francois-san hums and takes another sip of her coffee, and I just feel awkward. I’m really selling myself now, aren’t I? “I would like it if you showed me some of these games, if you don’t mind. You sometimes talked about them, as well as novels and, umm, ‘manga’ I think you called them. You said you even used to write some prose for them. You would occasionally write some when we were together too. It was lovely.” | |
| Oh God, is she talking about fan fiction?? It's embarrassing having your crush lay out exactly how much of an otaku you are, even if she lacks a lot of context. | |
| “Though I must confess, the first bit of prose of yours that I found left me so embarrassed. It was before we were together. You had written a silly and fanciful story where we were knights fighting the forces of darkness. I wish I hadn’t ripped it up now, but you had threatened to make two thousand copies of it.” She lets out such a lovely laugh, but… I WHAT? Oh god this sounds way too similar to the daydream I had last week. Oh Goooooooood why? | |
| I shrink in on myself. “I’m sorry I was such an otaku. I’ll find a hole and bury myself in it later.” | |
| “Oh don’t be so melodramatic, Rei, it's cute.” She tries to soothe me. She actually cares… oh, this really isn’t helping me calm down, though. “Though would you mind explaining what an ‘otaku’ is? It’s at least the second time you’ve mentioned it and Catherine mentioned it too. It sounds familiar. I’m sure you said it before in our past life, but I don’t think you ever explained it.” | |
| Huh? She looks genuinely curious, and it doesn't seem like she’s trying to tease me about it either. “Oh, well, ummm, I guess the easiest way to explain it without context is someone who gets way into certain kinds of media , like kinda obsessively into it. Huh, I guess you didn’t really have any media like that. Okay, so like, imagine if a play becomes really well known throughout the whole country and is really easy to watch and see and some people really get into, like, the story, or maybe the characters, or two characters’ romances. Or like, a singer gets really popular with a lot of people. Or an athlete. You had those, right?” She nods. “Okay so yeah, sometimes there is a whole subculture that talks about those things, and sometimes it gets derided for being too obsessive or whatever. Like, sometimes people make costumes of their favorite characters—” | |
| “Or write their own prose?” Francois-san asks. I wasn’t expecting her to be, well… really listening. | |
| “Yeahhh, we call it fan fiction here. The term otaku is not always meant politely, but it’s not always used negatively, either.” | |
| “Okay, I think I understand it, but I expect more context will help. I do want to see some of this media. I love seeing you get passionate about things. Oh, if you don’t mind, that is.” How is she always so nice to me? She’s been so calm and collected, at least when she isn’t teasing me… stop that, Rei. She has to see how awkward I am, right? I don’t feel like I deserve all this confidence she has in me. I can’t see myself measuring up to the Rei she has in her mind, at all. I saved her, she said, but how can I do that when I can’t even feel composed around her? And she looks at me like there is nothing else in the whole world. | |
| It’s all I wanted just a few days ago… and now? Am I going to lose it if she realizes I’m not like her Rei? | |
| I… I need to make sure that she gets what she needs first. I shouldn’t be so caught up in how inadequate I feel with everything she’s going through. We need to take this one step at a time. | |
| She is important right now. | |
| Not me. | |
| “Sure, no problem at all! But we should probably start heading to class before the rest of the students get there. Are you ready, Francois-san?” | |
| She just beams. “Of course. After all, I’m with you !” | |