Marionette

Skies, Chapter Nineteen - Chūgakusei raifu [中学生ライフ]

Amaya had no idea when she'd fallen asleep, but morning came far too soon.

She had no idea if she'd fallen asleep in the middle of explaining to Reiko just who Koro-sensei was, or if she'd fallen asleep at some point before it, but it honestly didn't matter - she didn't really remember anything, anyway.

At least not at first, she didn't.

She offhandedly wondered if she'd fallen asleep while waiting for Yuta to come home, and everything else was just a very rare and weird dream that wasn't her memories making her relive them.

She was woken to the sounds of movement around her, that of quick, excited footsteps belonging to Reiko amidst quiet, hushed words from the girl in mention.

Even on the cusp of waking up, she could already tell that she was going to be exhausted all day.

Gingerly she lifted herself upright, pulling her right arm from beneath what felt like the blankets of her bed, her fingers gently rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as a soft groan escaped her. She hated how tired she'd been feeling of late, but she had nobody to blame but herself for it.

And in immediate response, the hushed words had cut off.

'Good morning, Amay!' Reiko suddenly exclaimed as she came barreling over, causing Amaya to recoil in fright as something suddenly landed on her legs.

She found herself instinctively scrambling backwards, only to fall backwards off what turned out to be one of the couches in the living room with a startled squeak.

She landed with a rather audible crash, a pained whimper escaping her as white dots danced in front of her closed eyes.

Yep, her cursed luck had decided to greet her first thing.

Why couldn't it be tardy just once?

'Is it comfy down there?' Came Karma's drawling voice all of a sudden, causing Amaya to squint up sleepily.

She found that he was standing over her, a smirk clear across his face.

It appeared that Reiko had thrown herself onto the couch when she'd come to greet Amaya, but she couldn't see anything much further.

'Shut up...' Amaya muttered beneath her breath.

He snickered in response, not the least bit bothered by her muttered words.

'Are you going to get up?' He questioned her, burying a hand in his pocket as Amaya continued to frown up at him.

'No, its oddly comfortable here.' Amaya responded.

'Really?'

'Yep.' Amaya agreed, letting her eyes close on her.

In truth it was a little bit uncomfortable lying there on the floor, but she didn't have the energy or the will to force herself to get up.

However it appeared that she wasn't going to get her way.

All of a sudden she was grabbed beneath the arms, drawing a startled squeak from her as she was then hoisted up onto her feet with surprising ease.

'Oi! I was comfortable, damnit!'

'That's not my problem.' Karma drawled out with a smirk, however Amaya's attention was snaffled up by something else completely.

Reiko had let out a small laugh as she leaped off the couch to come to a stop just a few paces in front of Amaya.

Amaya stared for several long seconds, a blank look at her face as she found that Reiko was not in her home clothes, nor was she in her school uniform. Instead, she was wearing the sombre uniform of Kunugigaoka Middle School quite happily.