The Jian

Chapter 33: Little Red Girl

Miku and Zorome hadn't announced their relationship to the squad, out of fear of their "bullying".

Instead, they kept it a secret, until they were discovered months later, and only wore their necklaces under their clothes or when they were alone entirely.

Even if they weren't comfortable with everyone knowing about them, they were more than comfortable about it.

≈ θ ≈

Zero two was itching, to see him.

She could feel that he was different.

She didn't need to see the horns.

She was not alone.

≈ θ ≈

Zero two had been waiting by her window for the longest of times.

And she had felt the cut. She felt the bracelet, not her own, but the one that they had placed on Hiro.

≈ θ ≈

After even more time spent waiting, she had fallen asleep on the window sill. She woke up the next morning, on the floor and in shambles, and was greeted by two adults at the door.

'You have been granted access and permission to attend teaching periods through the school hours.' said the woman of the two.

'What about my darling...' snarled Zero two, still wearing the rumpled clothes she had worn from the night prior. 'You still haven't told me whatever the fuck is going on...'

'All news on Code: 016 is that he will be attending most, if not all of his regular classes.'

Zero two's eyes lit up in hope, quickly quelled by her suspicion and disbelief for the adult's word.

Nevertheless, she went down to the cafeteria to eat the first "public" meal in what seemed like forever but was just two days. She hadn't even eaten any of the food that she was given while confined in her room. Eventually, she stopped attacking the adults that brought it to her, and just sat at her perch by the window.

Her eyes scanned the room and its tables, flicking over each and every soul that sat inside.

She did not find him, nor would she for a while...

≈ θ ≈

Finishing her breakfast in silence, ignoring even more than the usual amount of stares – due to the added honey she ate – she left for Monday's first class.

Nana had decided to start the day off with maths.

Zero two didn't see Hiro through that class.

Time crawled by, dragging along slowly and tauntingly.

She didn't see her darling the entire day.

'Humans are such liars... I was an idiot for trusting them...' she thought to herself.

After the schooling hours had finished, she returned to her room, exhausted from almost no work done, and depressed about not seeing her darling.

It was like a bullet, fast and precise, striking her nose and filling each pore with his scent.

'Zero two?' came a familiar voice.

Zero two cried at seeing him, regardless of it being less than a week since their last seeing of each other.

'Zero two–' Hiro said again, his voice cut off by her sudden pounce on him.

Zero two stood right in front of Hiro, now barely reaching his height. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and her head on his shoulder.