Flowers, flowers for me

Aww a kitty- wait what?

Lavender made her way to school easily, still confused how she knew where to go based on muscle memory.

Once Lavender actually arrived, though, she anxiously asked for directions to either the guidance or front office, being led to the guidance office by a nice upperclassmen she sort of recognized as a background character (a member of the cooking club, she thinks?).

After getting another schedule and being led there by the upperclassmen (who's name she learned was Shoku Tsuburaya), she realized it wasn't the first time this other self of her's had gotten confused and done this, in fact it seems to be a reoccurring thing.

Her teacher scolded her softly, seeming to have a soft spot for her, and told her to take a seat and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Most of the day was pretty uneventful, really just school stuff, until around lunch.

Lavender fumbled to keep her cool while figuring out how lunch works here, realizing she has no clue where to sit, meaning she ended up sitting at one of the outside benches all alone, listening to others chatter as if she couldn't hear.

With no idea what to do or who to talk to, Lavender sat and ate quietly, losing herself in her thoughts about what to do about Ayano. Lavender went onto her phone, scrolling through the photos she had of Ayano, a blush rising to her cheeks with a smile tugging at her lips.

Lavender jerked forward, turning off her phone on instinct when hands planted themselves on her shoulders firmly, a loud voice popping up out of no where.

"Found you! You know better than to hide from me, I always find you silly!"

Lavender turned around with a blank face, unimpressed but also used to this sort of greeting from old friends.

Lavender immediately felt her face flush as she realized who was in front of her.

'Is that.. Hanako's gender bend??'

Hanako's gender bend, who she deemed 'Dear' in her head, poked her forehead pointedly as he sat down next to her, clinging into her arm and pouting at her.

"Did you hide from me again or did you just forget where we were supposed to eat together again!"

Lavender made a mental note to make Hanako (was that still his name?) all huffy and puffy again because his pout was adorable.

Lavender quickly made herself look confused, which honestly wasn't very hard right now, and smiled sheepishly.

"Where were we supposed to eat again?" Dear's pout changed into a cute little scowl, his hands beginning to gesture with him as he talked.

"Lavvy-chan, we were supposed to meet up on the second floor and then head up to the roof today! You know you always forget and then I always have to find you, it isn't faiiir, just write it on your hand or something!"

Lavender nodded along, smiling apologetically, her hands taking hold of his once he took a breath and looked as if he was about to start up again, her voice coming out softly.

"I'm so sorry, dear, I was just a bit more confused than usual today, especially because I was excited to pick out a Halloween outfit after school. You know how I get, don't you?" Lavender said with an affectionate look in her eyes, unable to help being drawn to someone so adorable.

Hanako flustered at the term of endearment, his cheeks reddening. "Dear?... Uh.. mhm.. I know how you.. are.." He said this slowly, putting his words together while trying to figure out if he should speak of the sudden pet name, before deciding he didn't need to make it weird.

Lavender observed his reactions, heart swelling at something so sweet, but also feeling a bit bitter, knowing she couldn't really handle sweets all too much. She much preferred something a bit more savory.

And so it went, Lavender has lunch with Hanako, learned some more about her life here from him (which wasn't too much, all things considered. Other her had even less of a life than she did in her world, which was definitely saying something).

And throughout it all, Lavender swore she could feel someone watching her, sometimes with a bit more of a malicious feeling.

Of course, she knew what this feeling was, who this feeling was caused by. Lavender knew Ayano was watching her, feeling rage and jealousy bubble up inside of her because of her little acquaintance. And she loved it.

Lavender knew it was wrong, she knew because she felt sick to her stomach, but she also felt related beyond belief, excited and scared and so, so curious.

Lavender wanted to know how far she could push her cute little stalker, wanted to know how much it would take for her to kill someone, though she knew it wasn't much.

And so Lavender decided to herself that she would speak to Ayano tomorrow, somehow, and she would make both of her little admirers (because she definitely noticed what was going on with Hanako) fight tooth and nail, acting innocent all the while.

Lavender grinned, a satisfied feeling in her chest, when she suddenly stopped on her way home at the sound of a cat meowing loudly.

Quickly abandoning her safe little route home, Lavender steered off into an alleyway, uncaring of anything besides the cute little cat that might need her help.

Lavender walked a good few meters before she saw it, a kitten in a box meowing loudly for it's mother, all alone and shivering slightly from the cold. Looking around cautiously to make sure she wasn't stealing a kitten from a mother, Lavender swept closer and crouched down, her hands coming around to gently lift the kitten up.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you sweety, I'm just here to help.." Lavender uttered sweet nothings to the little thing, her heart swelling in affection for something so innocent and lonely.

As Lavender looked around, she noticed a bit of blood leading up to behind a dumpster, a faint meowing sound, not nearly as loud as the kitten, coming from behind it.

Despite not wanting to see anything so sad as a bleeding kitten or older cat, Lavender forced herself to move and possibly help the poor thing if it wasn't too late.

What Lavender saw, however, was definitely not an injured cat of any kind, but instead a bleeding out teen, also dressed in the same uniform as herself with a cat meowing sadly in their lap.

The injured person looked up despite their obvious pain, eyes widening and their mouth moving as quickly as it could, seeming distressed.

"Move! They're right behind y-!"

And suddenly Lavender's skull throbbed harshly, her vision going black as she fell unconscious, unaware of the trouble she just walked into.