There is a new girl in the class now.

  Aoishii leaned up on the side of the roof storage structure the Academy had. Students weren't really supposed to be up here, but it was a nice quiet place she could spend her hour of lunch. None of the chatter, none of the expectation. Instead she had a chance to think back on a week of misadventure. This new girl was such a weirdo. She was a little cute, but she was completely out of place in a peaceful little town like this. Maybe that is what growing up on the mainland did to you? Unlikely, she was just absurd. It was a bit exhausting, as the girl clearly looked at Aoishii with admiration or something. Why else would Aoishii have to always be there, whenever something stupid happened?

  That was probably unfair. It was more likely that this girl just was a bundle of problems and Aoishii noticed them often enough to feel like she was always around. It was just often enough that people were talking. There was a lot of really stupid theories that had cropped up now, little jabs here and there. The most annoying one was that she was a romantic assassin or something. Sent from the mainland to marry Kenta. Stupid, but not something Aoishii would totally right off. Kenta wasn't the sort of guy that was easily manipulated... at least not by other girls.

  Aoishi took another breath as a clicking noise rang from her left wrist. She'd see the thin band, dangling the phone from her wrist, a little circle with a tiny dive plate. Just enough to be able to sent some messages and chat in real time. Her forefinger curled to press on the phone, as the world muted away. It wasn't a particularly deep dive, but it make reality a bit out of focus as Aoishii looked for the message.

  It wasn't hard to find, a little ping of light in the space around her... the little bunny avatar Aoishii made floating towards it as she opened it up, seeing a group chat with some of her friends. Pressing in another level, she'd transfer in. Usually it was pretty obvious, but Aoishii was pretty talented, she'd shimmer into the chat, as the various avatars were already looking at the large image central to the chat. It showed a tossed bag, the contents spilled out and... clothing scissored up pretty good. A white athletics bra in about five pieces being the central focus.

  Aoishii slipped in a little closer, as various girls were giggling about it, the Bunny Aoishii frowning a bit, as she'd float forward. "Who's stuff is this, anyways?" She tried to keep her annoyance out of her messaging, but that may have come across as a little short. The girl hosting the chat, with the avatar of some kind of rose themed girl, stepped forwards to smirk at the rabbit.

  "Transfer, of course. Does the princess not approve?"

  "She just got here and you already hate her. What did Tsurugi do to cross you so violently?"

  The floral girl scoffed a bit, swaying the rose petals of her hips and laughing. "You act like she hasn't crossed you? She's clearly competition, isn't she? If we are going to back a mainlander, it should be the one that we grew up with."

  "Don't give me that crap. It's not like we get along that well. You just think she's an easy target." Aoishii felt her cool dying out as she approached the girl. Even with such a limited dive, she could probably give the bully one hell of a migraine. Curling a little bunny fist, Aoishii's avatar lunged, before it just... wasn't there. She'd been kicked from the chat, before she could stuff her virtual arm down the flower's throat. What a bitch.

  The thought came with action, as Aoishii surfaced from the dive, and bolted for the door. She rushed down the stairs. Those girls were likely still nearby the classroom. That was a bit of a run, but she was a lot more athletic than some stuck up, obnoxious-

  Aoishii's rage slammed right into a figure a few feet away fropm the roof access door... as Aoishii rolled on top, groaning a bit, as she quickly tried to get up, before realizing she was atop of the small, dark colored Tsurugi Junna. The new transfer student that was so poorly mixing with this new environment. She was cute, when she was stunned like this. The unyielding discomfort on her face was gone. She was pretty sturdy for such a petite girl, maybe that's just normal for mainlanders. Aoishii had always felt she'd excelled pretty easily with physical fitness.

  Still, defending her honor probably didn't have to start with brutalizing her. Aoishii blushed as she picked her self up, holding a hand for the girl. "Sorry about that, Tsurugi, you aren't hurt are you?"

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  "Not at all." Junna was pretty slow to take the hand, but she did. The grip was sort of impressive as well. Her cute face of surprise had become the usual moody and withdrawn look she normally carried. She was clearly a bit uncomfortable, maybe even intimidated? As Aoishii looked at her, it was pretty clear Junna had looked just as completely out of place when she first came to the academy. She was probablly tutored or something extravagant on the mainland, because she had no scope of how the other girls saw her.

  The pair stared at each other for another awkward moment, before the taller Aoishii sighed and grabbed Junna's hand, pulling her along. "I need to show you something... it might be a bit disturbing though."

  "Alright." Junna seemed to have no issue letting herself get pulled along She wasn't particularly heavy and she wasn't dragging her feet, but it still felt like a bit of a chore. It took a bit too long for the girl's feet to follow her word, as Aoishii had to consider that maybe beneath that shell, she was really just a scared girl in a weird environment....

  They'd reach their classroom, finding the other girls having already abandoned it by now. The little storage locker that belonged to Junna was open, as her athletic uniform was laid out on her desk, with the torn up underwear staged on top of it. Aoishii felt a tinge of pain go through her, as she took a moment on her opening words here, before deciding to try to be casual about it, rubbing the side of her head.

  "This is why everyone brings a lock... so idiots can't trash your stuff while you are away. Sorry about that, it's not a very good representation of our class."

  "I see. I was unprepared." The girl just picked up a bit of the cloth with a curious glint in her eye. Aoishii sort of expected her to be crying at this point. It wouldn't be out of place, and this was some pretty nasty buillying... "Please tell Tanaka that I understand."

  "You know it was her?" She wasn't wrong. Tanaka Chie was the ringleader of that chat, the elitist and self-important rich girl who tried to throw her weight around wherever possible...

  "It can't be confirmed, but I noticed she was watching me and my belongings for a couple days now." That girl's voice was so unervingly calm. "I can see her point. I noticed that some other students had acquired locks. Given the general atmosphere, I hadn't considered it something important for just clothing. It was a lack of responsibility. Even though this isn't a military academy, one should still not be so care-free."

  Aoishii stared for a few moments longer than Junna would take to explain mindset. A mental scale was already shifting. It obviously wasn't right, but this was better than dealing with a heartbroken girl right now. It didn't help Aoishii fuel that intense desire of justice, though. She wanted to slug Tanaka for even considering doing this to an innocent girl. Probably still would.

  Junna continued, as she picked up the usable uniform, moving to close the door. "We might be a little early, but no sense in not getting ready for class." Aoishii felt her frustration at Tanaka slowly curl about to face Junna herself. Maybe this girl wasn't really this calm? Maybe she was just really good at supressing her emotions. Some perpetually bullied types might use it as a defense mechanism. Or she might just be an idiot.

  "You are in no way considering going to class like that."

  "Of course. This isn't anything that would cause a concern. It was quite masterfully done. Technically I won't be out of uniform, only dealing with some minor dis-"

  "You are not going like this. Relax, I'm going to drop a dive for the class rep to explain the situation. We are going shopping, for a few items. A good lock, for one. I gurantee the rest of the uniform should probably just be replaced anyways."

  "You think there may be further tampering? Would a schoolgirl have access to anything dangerous enough to warrent this kind of caution?"

  Aoi groaned softly, pressing her phone to leave a quick message, before taking Junna's hand again. She wouldn't bother to argue about it, starting to drag the girl out. "You can't just let people do this sort of thing to you." Her steps increased in pace, as Junna's matched her to keep from being yanked away. Aoishii let her free hand snatch the bundle of clothes from her classmate, tossing them into a wastebin as they neared the entrance hall to the building.

  "I suppose... Will you be fine not attending class, as well?"

  "I'll get an earful, but I'm not about to let you wander the city alone. You don't know where anything is, so it's easier to just go with you. Besides, I want to know a little more about you, Tsurugi. You don't talk to anyone, and you have no sense about you. That's why you are getting bullied, you know."

  "This seems like fairly standard hazing-"

  "This isn't a squire school!" Aoishii huffed as she'd drag her kidnapped transfer student past the school's gates and into the city at large. Junna was making it a bit too easy to get annoyed with her rather than the actual problem. Aoishii tried taking a breath to calm herself, but it was closer to adding fuel to the fire... as she felt her voice raising. And the yelling began. If it was pure stupidity, it was going to get beaten out of Junna. If it was something else.... Aoishii would feel bad later.