Marionette

Skies, Chapter One - Chīsai tori [小さい鳥]

[Book #2 - Skies Arc]

It felt like it had been many long weeks since Amaya had been back in Tokyo.

It felt like months since she had seen any of her friends.

And now she was back.

There was no word that she could find to describe just how happy it made her feel to receive such a warm welcome from the whole of her class like that. From witnessing the rather disgusting sight of Koro-sensei beginning to fill the room with gloop from all the crying, through to a slap to the back of the head from Maehara before he then dragged her into a hug instead, Amaya was probably the happiest she'd been in quite a long while.

Koro-sensei had let out a rather startling exclamation at Maeharas sudden hug however and proceeded to furiously write in that journal of his, though Amaya was probably the only one who'd noticed through all the chaos.

The day had gone rather simply after that initial stampede of the majority of her classmates rushing over to greet her - After the long trip back from Hongu, Amaya had bid everyone farewell at lunch time to head home and collapse.

In fact, Koro-sensei had insisted on it after everyone had settled down and noticed that she was particularly sleep-deprived.

Amaya had gotten home, and proceeded to crash on one of the couches. She hadn't even woken up when the twins had gotten home, or even at all that night.

She'd slept the whole of Monday away, a testament to just how tired she really was.

A familiar prodding to the side of her face drew consciousness back to her, as well as a familiar edge of irritation.

She rolled onto her side, away from the prodding that was annoying her and curled a little into a ball with a small groan.

And yet all she received in response was a small chuckle, belonging to who Amaya knew to be the evil red-head, obviously having wandered into the apartment all on his own again.

'Amay.' He spoke in an attempt at getting her attention.

Amaya refused to respond to her shortened name, relaxing into the couch a little more.

'If you go back to sleep, I'm going to do something horrible to you.'

That was a very familiar string of words, however Amaya knew for a fact that she'd never heard him say that before.

They were her own words repeated back to her.

She still refused to yield, despite the fact that he really was going to follow through on his threat, like always.

There honestly wasn't much he could do to her that he'd never done before, so she wasn't too bothered - He'd drawn on her face with permanent marker, buried her in a mountain of books, covered her in a giant pile of sherbet before applying just enough vinegar to have it madly fizz up, and even gone so far as to drop a cracked egg right down her top before.

And after the whole bathtub incident, she'd be very surprised if he tried anything with water ever again.

The couch she was lying on shifted ever so slightly, and for some reason it made her feel a little uncomfortable.

Just what the hell was he up to?

However she didn't have a chance to wonder about what it could have been - All of a sudden, the cushions of the couch were lifted from beneath her with great force, so violently that it not only threw her off the couch in a rolling motion, but a startled scream to escape her as she crashed inelegantly to the floor.