It was dark. The school was silent, with not even the sound of activity. After all, it was the middle of the night. No student was present.
And yet... the redheaded girl walked the halls. The school's patron god still had yet to notice her... so she would take advantage of what she could.
She was small, slight, with short hair up in a ponytail. She had found herself taking a liking to Japanese clothing, but really... there was no real significance in her choice of outfit. What mattered was the purpose she was here for. Her sandals clicked as they hit the floor, and she turned to ascend the stairs. It wasn't long, really, before she reached the door to the roof.
The girl waved one hand, and it silently swung open. She stepped out into the moonlight, and grinned.
Her mouth was filled with sharp, carnivorous teeth.
It wouldn't be much longer, now.
The daylight hours at Otsuki Academy were much more of a bustle of activity. Students filtered in and out of various rooms, spoke with one another or with teachers, prepared for clubs as the school day neared its end, all manner of different activities were occurring with more fervor then usual. After all, it was October. And that meant one thing.
The Academy Tournament was rapidly approaching. Every single capable student would be called to fight for the ultimate prize, to calim victory in the tournament at last. Unfortunately, there were many among students and teachers who had doubts to say the least. After all, what could be said about a school that had managed to fail in the last round with every single tournament. At first, going so far had been something to be proud of, but year after year of failure had painted a poor image in the minds of many of the people at Otsuki. At least the principal seemed unaffected.
Local families, however, still threw in their support for the academy.
And the drive to succeed for the Maiden of the Moon was rather high even among the doubtful.
The small girl, who looked no older then a child in spite of her nature as Goddess of the Moon, sat in the middle of the school's courtyard, within the impressive Shrine that had been built there.
This close to the tournament, her thoughts were commonly on a hope that this year would be different, that the students would claim victory appropriate to one of Japan's most powerful deities.
This time, however, this was not the case.
The image shimmered. It was faceless, masculine figure in full body-concealing armor. Its hand was placed on the hilt of a superheated machete, a very basic form of combat.
In an instant it had been cleaved apart. The hologram shattered. scattering shards of data through the air that dissipated into nothing. The combat training room at Otsuki was always open to students who desired to hone their skills, and today was no different. The short girl's pristine blade, blue paneling running up the side of the elegant katana, glimmered as she slide it back into its sheath. The hologram reformed, and her blade flashed again, shattering it.
"Hmph, this kind of training program's useless," she complained, straightening, her eyes narrowed. It wasn't going to help
her, now, was it? It was just a waste of time. She could already strike out at an opponent before they could move. Why was it the only program she was allowed to access without a teacher or older student's supervision so overly simple and uninteresting?! It was absolutely inexcusable in her eyes. She had enough skill to take on anything that the training programs could throw at her. She knew that much.
The dark-haired girl grumbled to herself. They let her fight mock battles. They let her into the tournament. So why wouldn't they just let her pick her own stupid training programs?!
... Mock battles.
That's it!
Determination in her eyes, Adachi Ruriko turned to face the doors of the training room.
The next person who walked through that door would be her opponent.
The blonde-haired girl sat, reclining, in a seat in a mostly-emptied classroom. Ah, soon the tournament would be upon them... and now that
she was there, their victory was assured. This fact was so rock-solid in her mind that no doubt could assault it. And as such, she was quite a bit more relaxed then many other students. After all, why bother getting excited when you knew you'd win, no matter what? It was somewhat amusing to see some of the other first-years panicking about it. Ah, if only they knew, they could take it easy as well.
... Speaking of which, she had been intending to meet her maid here. The only one who was also attending the Academy, at least. Where, exactly, was she?
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