School Days: Anthology

"Write a shitty school dance omake you faget! :3 " - Iron Galley

Rowan stood on the sideline, watching the dance with a wistful expression on his face. He hadn't been able to get anyone to go to the dance with him. He tried to ask Lady Crescentia out to the dance, but was rejected by her at every attempt this past week. It hurt, but he’s made of pretty strong stuff so it didn’t sting for very long. Becoming an active friend with his deranged classmates surely toughened him over the past few weeks. Surely she'll give him a chance one day, but today is just not that day.

He even attempted to ask several other girls out to the dance, and the only girl in his class he asked out was Katrina 'Kat' Zeng, and was once again declined as she said she's holding out for someone else. Obviously she was waiting for Matthew Alexandrov to ask her to the dance, but it's quite unclear if that's going anywhere. Katrina has yet to arrive, and last he saw of Matthew he was lurking by the doors, but now he's no longer there.

Matthew's companion; Patricia Hereward seems to be enjoying herself with having previously danced with Gavriil, Caleb, Anthony, Valerian and is currently dancing with Classy. It looks as though she's only dancing for the fun of it with no underline meaning behind it... Well, he hopes she doesn't have an ulterior motive, for all he knows she could be trying to win over the loyalty of the men within their class. Valerian seems to be unaffected by her charm, but he cannot really tell of Classy; he's an actor so it's difficult to get a read on him half of the time. Although Caleb, Anthony and Gavriil seems to be enchanted by some spell with how they linger near her.

Although despite feeling left out he does feel pleased knowing that some of his friends were able to take someone to the dance. But he still can't believe Ian and Kelly actually came to the dance together with Ian all prettied up, no doubt one of the female members of the class had to help Ian with his make up, wig and clothing. He even shaved off his precious beard. He suspects Miss Tanaka had a hand in this.

Is it odd for him to think that Ian looks quite attractive? The boy looks to be built like a girl under all of that make up and clothing despite the muscles, although he has a voice that skirts close to being borderline annoying, but he suppose it's not his fault for him trying to sound like a girl tonight. His tone sounds like one of those girls trying too hard to sound cute, but it's all in good fun so he can't really complain. He does envy them though...

"What's a good looking young man such as you doing here alone?" Red blinked, realizing that someone was talking to him. Looking to the direction of the voice he saw a beautiful young woman in a white military-esque school uniform staring at him with her arms crossed under her breasts. She is a tall, slim woman with an angular face with long, straight dark hair with a blue tint and piecing blue eyes, and has rather thick eyebrows and a bust that rivals in size with Patricia's.

“Are you talking to me?” He asked, earning a chuckle from her.

"Who else would I be talking to?" The dark haired girl replied. "We’re the only ones here." His eyes widened at the fact that someone such as herself would choose to talk to him.

"Oh, uh," Red looked around and saw that she was right; it was just the two of them. Everyone else was either at the dance floor doing their jig, or at the snack table eating whatever salty and/or sweet snacks they have here. "I guess we are." He gave a quick scan of the gym, and spotted Ian shoving snacks into a bucket with Kelly nearby, clearly Ian wants to eat the snacks for lunch for the next few days and Kelly just can't bother to stop Ian from hogging the snacks for himself. Not too far away he saw Barbara and Tyro standing near the dance floor looking undecided if they want to dance or not, he's not too sure what they are, but he ships them. It's also good to see Tyro being able to stand, and move around without wincing in pain. He supposes his quick recovery was thanks to Nurse Barbara.

"Surprised that someone would talk to you?" His attention was brought back to her as the woman spoke, she then straightened out one of her aiguillettes. Is she wearing a modified military dress uniform? And if so is she just wearing the accouterments as a fashion statement? Or is this just her costume for the dance?

"Quite surprised that someone would talk to a 'blockhead' such as me." Red answered.

"Who would call you a blockhead?" The woman asked, but then continued. "I heard some things from the teachers, you seem like a very capable person." She then smirked when she saw the slight bewildered look on his face. Red was quite surprised that someone doesn't see him as a dork or nerd, but instead capable. No one outside of his class room recognizes the skills he has, and even then his skills are used to aid his class mates do some criminal activities. He doesn't appreciate being used by them, but what could he do? If he doesn't then life at school would be far more difficult than it already is.

"Satsuki Kiryūin." She greeted, and moved to stand next to him. She was just as tall as him from what he can tell, well, she is wearing heeled boots so that must' have helped gain some inches.

"Rowan Ingeniare." He greeted back. "You're not from Hassian, are you?" He never seen anyone like her, it's very difficult to not notice someone with such thick eyebrows and blue tinted hair while carrying around a scary looking sword... Is that thing functional or is it just a prop for the dance?

"Canterlot," Satsuki replied. "I was invited to the dance by this Institute’s Headmaster."

"Oh, well, uh, welcome to Hassian," Red responded awkwardly. She chuckled again, turning to smile at him.

"You're a fan of Star Trek?"

"Maybe?" He answered cautiously, in the past many people made fun of him for simply enjoying old sci fi shows and movies. Hopefully she isn't another hater. Why doesn't anyone give Star Trek a chance before they bash on it?

An amused look appeared on her face from his response, and continued speaking to him.  "Your costume, it reminds me of those expendable soldiers in the old tv show." Now he would've been shocked that someone as beautiful as her would know anything of Star Trek, but his mind was elsewhere at the moment; It's surprisingly odd how he can hear her clearly over the music, you would think he would have some difficultly talking to others considering of how high the volume for the music is at.

"Oh! Yeah, this isn't much of a costume per say..." His Star Trek red shirt is more or less his every day tunic... He isn't trying to show the world how much of a nerd he is. It's just that he seriously thinks he looks good in red, and since he's a fan of Star Trek and is an engineering student... You can see why he would wear the red shirt every day.

"Am I making you nervous?" She asked.

"Uhm...a little? I'm not very good with meeting new people, especially girls... "At this she raised one of her thick eyebrows at me, but allowed me to continue. "Most of the time they just think I'm a dork, and sometimes swing swords at me," Red replied as he shuddered at the memory of getting chased by a sword swinging Ava for hours on end a few weeks ago. How is she allowed to walk around the school with that thing? There's students out there who get expelled for carrying knives, but why is she not being targeted by the faculty? Could it be that Alexer and Aoi are protecting her or something?

"They swing swords at you?" Hearing her concern voiced brought him out of his inner reflection, he needs to stop getting lost in thought, but before he could reply she quickly continued. "Why don't we dance? Isn't this why we’re here?"

"Dance?” He repeated. "Uhm...sure..." Red stepped away from the wall, she placed her sword on the table next to them, and he held out his hand to her. They walked out onto the dance floor, and got in position like the other dancing couples on the floor. Red was tensed up as he never been in such a position before with a girl.

Satsuki was smirking at him, full of confidence that Red wished he had. "Don't be so nervous."  She commented.

"Sorry. Never danced with a girl before." Red admitted. Sure, he danced in the past, but never with a girl. That's something he never bothered to attempt in the past, but now he truly wished he at least had some experience dancing with girls this intimately.

"I feel touched knowing that I'm your first." She stated, and partially teased as they continued to move with each other. He sighed, and soon become less tense and simply moved with her. "Here we go," Satsuki gently spoke as they continued to slowly move together in rhythm. "We're getting there. You’re slowly getting calmer now, you just needed someone to talk to."

Red chuckled. "If you say so," he replied, feeling the need to keep conversation going before awkward silence befalls the both of them, he asked a simple question. "How are you liking Hassian so far?" Hopefully she isn't having too much of a rough time here, seeing how many delinquents tend to jump the new kids and visitors.

Satsuki breathed out at this, then responded."My days here were rather dull."  Red nodded and inwardly braced for her to rant how awful some of the students are. "Although tonight is starting to be my favorite day here. You seem to be one of the few people who isn’t troublesome unlike most of the boys here that are so brutish, hesitant or annoying." Red chose not to comment about the her statement of the male population here, she isn't entirely wrong about the delinquents. Although it's a bit dotty with her finding the less violent individuals of the school to be troublesome, but is quite surprised how calm she was when speaking of these trouble makers. "You seem level headed, skilled, intelligent and composed. Surely there are girls here who must enjoy your company." She continued.

"Oh no, not really I’m afraid," He was quick to reply which slightly surprised the girl. Sure there were  girls in class he got along just fine with, but he could hardly say that they find any real interest in him.

"Their loss then," Satsuki responded. The song ended, and she decided to end the dance. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, surprising the young engineering student. “Thank you for the dance, Rowan," she said, her lips close to his ear right ear as she spoke. "Maybe I'll see you around?" Red was not quite sure what he did, but somewhere within him he knew he nodded numbly, his brain on overdrive as he tried to make sense of what was going on. Satsuki gave him a smirk before turning and leaving the dance floor to retrieve her sword.

Rowan Ingeniare was left on the dance floor stunned.

Poor Red was completely unaware that he had been dancing with the enemy.