Marionette

Skies, Chapter Forty Six - Tōsō [闘争]

There was no telling what happened with that situation that had taken place that afternoon - In truth, Amaya was apprehensive about even thinking about it, let alone questioning about it.

Isogai had escorted her right up to the door of her apartment building to make sure she got home alright, and then he left.

She'd received an email from him later that night, informing her that he and Maehara would come pick her up on the way to school for end-of-term exams.

There honestly wasn't much more she could cram into her already sluggish brain in preparations for the morning. So she'd spent what conscious time she had staring up at the pages she'd stuck to the wall of her bedroom, attaching more here and there was words and phrases rose from the depths of her subconscious.

She'd awoken half-sprawled over the edge of her bed, papers sticking to the side of her face as Reiko shook her awake.

The lights were still on, the sun risen, and the clock read 7.11am.

And apparently it was time to go.

The realization that Isogai and Maehara were standing at the door right at that second had drawn a startled yelp from Amaya, and she'd thrown herself into frantic motions to get dressed as quick as possible.

If there wasn't the rare instance of her needing to take these stupid exams to save everyone from the Baka-Five, then she'd be content to just sleep in.

And she didn't like the idea of leaving her friends standing on her doorstep for too long just because she didn't want to wake up.

Thanks to a lack of clothes washing over the past few days, the only articles of clothing she could wear was her shorts, and a short-sleeved shirt.

She swore and cursed as she realized all her long-sleeved shirts had ended up in the washing basket, along with all her pants and the only pair of school-acceptable leggings she actually owned.

So she had to avoid sunlight at all today, unless she wanted her arms and legs to turn lobster-red.

How she wished for autumn to hurry up and make an appearance.

'Sorry! I slept in!' Amaya called out to the friendly duo standing at the door, running as she snatched up her belongings and raced towards the door.

'Have a good day, Amay~!' Reiko sung out, waving Amaya off with a smile.

As Amaya shut the door behind her, she heard Maehara let out a low whistle.

'You should ditch the pants more often, Maya-chan.' The playboy remarked with a grin, earning a surprised look from Amaya as she locked the door.

'If you can convince the sun to stop trying to burn me to a crisp every time I step outside, then sure, I guess...' She responded, though a little sleepy.

'Oh! Then I'll pay Koro-sensei to do something about it!' Maehara announced enthusiastically, bopping a closed fist into the palm of his other hand with a grin.

'Good luck with that ...' She sighed slightly, turning her head towards the still-silent Isogai standing next to Maehara.

'You look like you've at least managed some sleep today, Amaya-san.' Isogai surmised, drawing a small nod from her.

'Yeah, kinda ...'

More like she passed out, rather than slept.

But at least she might be able to focus on the papers long enough to get all the answers down.

The trip to the classroom felt longer than it really was, even though it was greatly speckled with conversation between Maehara and Isogai, with the odd prodding question here and there keeping her from being entirely uninvolved.