The next day, well before their classes started for the day
Releena began to quietly ask around about the new transfer student.
She quickly put together some information about the mysterious new
student, enough to occupy her thoughts until lunch.
From what she heard, it seemed that Arisugawa had been
attending the prestigious Ohtori academy up until a few months ago,
when a band of colony terrorist had attacked the place. Many of the
students and teachers were slain, and some of the stories she heard
mentioned that Juri's roommate was among those who had died.
'She must have been still in grieving for her friends when she
first arrived here,' Releena thought to herself glumly, sitting in the
lunch room among the other students. Juri had held herself apart from
other students with her odd dress and cold manner, her rescue of
Releena coming as a great surprise. 'Though I wonder why I didn't
reach out to her before?' she mused.
There was a small disturbance by the entrance, and Releena
looked up from her thoughts to see Juri making her way over to the
food counter, collecting her food graciously before turning back to
gaze at the crowd. She looked around for a seat a few moments, and
without thinking about it Releena shifted to make a bit of space at
their table.
"Thank you," Juri said softly as she slid into the opening
beside her.
Releena smiled slightly, "The seats tend to fill up very
quickly." She was tempted to ask what had held Juri from coming to
lunch on time, but hesitated.
"The fencing club has matches later this afternoon," Juri
explained softly, "as one of the newer members it was my
responsibility to help set up."
One of the other girls down the table gazed at Juri in
surprised recognition before she blurted out, "You're the Prince!"
"Prince?" Releena looked over at Juri curiously.
Juri looked down at her plate with a soft sigh. "A nickname
that I seem to have acquired," she quietly admitted, "after I won my
first few fencing matches here."
"It suits you," Releena murmured, and wondered where that odd
idea came from.
A band of white skin on her ring finger was visible as Juri
raised a glass, drinking smoothly before putting it back down. "I hope
I didn't embarrass you," Juri smiled at Releena slightly, "by slapping
that jerk. I just couldn't help myself."
"Oh, no," Releena blushed.
"Good," Juri finished up her meal, neatly stacking her plates.
"When are you going to be competing this afternoon?" the girl
who had first identified Juri as 'the Prince' asked her eagerly.
"I'll be in the second set of matches," Juri answered as she
rose to go.
Releena even surprised herself when she quietly said, "I'll
try to be there."
Standing concealed in another corner of the large and crowded
lunch room Heero Yui ate an apple, watching the group talking
thoughtfully. He had also been asking some questions about the young
woman, but not through the normal student's network, and what he had
found out was very interesting, to say the least.
He knew it hadn't been any colony terrorists who had destroyed
the woman's school, no matter what the official press releases said.
It had been a strike by OZ, probably a attempt to root out a possible
source of resistance. There were some odd stories about the school,
and strangely the leader of OZ was said to have gone there.
Heero dropped that train of thought, knowing it was mostly
irrelevant to the current situation. 'I could have evaded that slap,'
he admitted, 'but not without drawing too much attention to myself and
what I can really do.' This Arisugawa Juri was clearly quite
physically capable, and from what he had been able to lip-read, she
was a fencer.
He pushed himself off his position against the wall and made
his way towards the exit. 'I think I'll enter the matches this
afternoon,' he thought, 'and see how good she really is.'
Time passed slowly in classes, and by the afternoon Arisugawa
Juri was almost eager to begin the fencing. She limbered herself up,
stretching out dressed in her white fencing uniform. The fencing hall
itself was cool, and surprisingly the stands were filled with young
men and women.
'Mostly women,' Juri found herself noting.
Sitting near the front row were all the girls from the lunch
table, including the young woman whom she had stood up for with that
rude young man. 'Releena,' Juri had discovered the girl's name, and
how well known she was in the school.
When she had seen the clearly contemptuous way that the boy
had torn that invitation apart, Juri had just seen red. Without even
thinking about it she had forced her way through the crowd and then
struck him across the cheek. She had met his eyes and felt a chill at
the deadness in them, the utter lack of any human feeling.
'What does that to a person?' Juri found herself wondering,
'What can kill the soul so completely?' She looked up from her
troubling thoughts to gaze at her first opponent, and it didn't even
seem a surprise.
Heero Yui met her eyes steadily, "We meet again."
"So we do," Juri quietly agreed.
At the referee's signal Juri slid her protective mask on, as
did Heero. "Ready," the referee raised up a hand, then crisply yelled,
"Begin!"
With a bright flash of silver their foils met, separated, and
then met once again as they gazed at each other intently, searching
for any sign of weakness in their opponent. The two figures were like
statues, waiting for any opening to strike.
'He's good,' Juri admitted.
Like a shot he moved, their blades tangling up as they stepped
in close. "Not bad," Heero admitted, pressing to push her backwards.
Snap!
Heero's blade broke off, the one end flying away from the
crowd luckily, but Heero pressed on. Using what was left of his blade
he tried to twist Juri's foil right out of her hands, but she stepped
back to avoid the maneuver. Swiftly he lunged for her head, trying to
drive the sharpened, broken point of his blade towards her face clear
guard, but with remarkable speed she turned it aside, then touching
him just above the heart.
"Point, Arisugawa! Arisugawa wins," the referee declared.
"Good match," Juri took her helm off, shaking her head to free
her long hair before offering him her hand.
Heero looked down at her hand and smiled slightly. He just
turned away from her outstretched hand and then walked away silently.
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