Seiran Academy

Chapter 3

Minako was relieved to find that her dorm room was empty upon her arrival that night. Belle had already set up her room but she did not seem to have wanted to stay afterwards. Minako sneered at Belle’s tastes in décor. There seemed to be nothing but a poster, and the poster was of an all-girl group that was known for their trashy looks and synthesized singing. Minako looked to her side of the room and the boxes that had been moved for her by a private helper and sighed. She was exhausted and was not exactly in the mood to start putting up her things. She took out enough to help her through the night and stopped, looking down at the silky material of her nightgown and feeling odd about putting it on. Minako had always been the roommate of Mariko while she was away at school. She was allowed to be herself and wear the light blue silk that felt smooth against her skin.

Minako locked herself in the bathroom and decided against the blue silk and put on her sweats and her T-shirt. When she walked out of the bathroom she was surprised to see that Belle had snuck in and was now lying on her back on the bed staring at the ceiling. Upon hearing the door of the bathroom creak open Belle’s eyes fell on Minako and lingered a bit too long. Minako could not put her finger on what it was exactly that made her uncomfortable about Belle, but every time those beautifully dark eyes went over her Minako felt like hiding.

“You know,” Belle said in way of greeting, “there are some guys who prefer a girl in sweats and a T-shirt.”

So much for feeling any more comfortable. “Good thing I don’t room with a boy then,” Minako deliberately undermined the idea of a ‘guy’ or even the phrase ‘man’ when addressing the population of males. Belle caught it and let it slide.
“What if I’m some crazy lesbian who arranged all this just so I could see you naked, even once?”

Minako laughed nervously and went over to her bed. She felt Belle’s eyes watching her crawl into the bed. “Can you explain to me why you want to be friends with me?” Minako asked as she kept back turned to Belle, afraid to meet the other woman eye to eye.

“I told you already, you have a secret that fits right in with the rest of us,” Belle explained.

“So you were raped?” Minako ventured. It was giving away her secret, but not completely. She had been afraid to say the word out loud, she could not remember a time when she had ever said it out loud to anyone at all in conjunction with herself. What had made her decide to say it with Belle? She hardly trusted the other girl.

“It’s more who did it that interests me,” Belle said honestly. “You are a victim of your family. I find that fascinating.”

Minako sat up in her bed and glared at Belle through loose strands of golden tresses. She felt her heart pounding hard in her chest, threatening to break through and land on the floor between them. “Fascinating?” Minako nearly screeched. “What part of my torture makes it fascinating?”

“We are all victims of our family,” Belle continued to explain. “Nemesis, Sage, and I are all victims of our family, and you are as well. We thought you would fit in just nicely.”

“Every child is a victim of their family,” Minako pointed out, avoiding the topic as best as she could. “How are you three any different?”

“That is for them to tell you,” Belle pointed out.

“No, I mean you,” Minako snapped. “Tell me; what is your story, since you seem to know mine. Why are you a victim of your family? What makes your situation so untimely horrible that you feel you should start a little clique and become a real ‘victimized’ friendship?”

Belle only smirked a quirky smile that was almost a shade of what Nemesis’s had looked like in the library. The quirk made Minako nervous and she found herself going back under the covers afraid to hear Belle’s answer.

Much to her chagrin, and still unhappiness, Belle did not want to tell her the answer. “I think once you become our real friend, I’ll tell you all about me.” The room fell silent and the world began to stop. Minako suspected that was all and reached behind her to turn the lamp off and was surprised to see Belle leaning over her. Belle placed her palms flat on the bed on either side of Minako, her face kissing-close to Minako’s. “Are you my real friend, Mina-chan?”

“No,” Minako snapped stubbornly, slowly backing up on the bed as Belle moved in closer. She could smell the sweetness of a tea mixed with something obscure on Belle’s breath and realized where she had been tonight. She and those awful boys had most likely been out drinking, and now in Belle’s drunken nature she was harassing the golden child of Seiran Academy.

“Then I guess I will just have to convince you,” Belle continued, shifting her leg onto Minako’s bed and nearly crawling over the other girl. Minako was pushed completely against her bed now, staring up at Belle, her heart thrashing in her chest.

The subtle knock at Minako’s door had both Belle and Minako jumping away from each other. Minako raced to the door and flung it open, then flung herself at her best friend, never having been happier to see Mariko in all their lives.

“Mina, you are all flushed,” Mariko pointed out, returning the embrace.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on the loser floor?” Belle cut in cruelly.

Minako turned to Belle in anger before her friend could even react to the cruel words. Minako stomped over to the other side of the room and felt her hand stinging before she realized she had brought it across Belle’s cheek. Belle looked surprised but unfazed, though her cheek was swelling up fast. “What makes you so high and mighty?” she nearly screamed. “What makes you think that it is right to treat someone else so horribly?”

“Minako… it’s all right!” Mariko called in her quiet voice. “Mina…”

“Do you protect the lesser because you could not be stronger?” Belle asked in her snide way.

“I’m protecting her because you are a bitch,” Minako snapped.

“I think you are trying to compensate because you could not fight off your step-father when he raped you,” Belle said, a little too loudly. Mariko gasped, and several other voices joined in. Minako was well aware of the crowd that was now gathering outside of her room. Her cheeks were flushed, her body hot, and her anger boiling. “You just lied there and took it, over and over. I know all about you Aino Minako.”

“You are a bitch!” Minako screeched, then lunged. She landed on Belle and the two of them fell into the bedside table, crashing directly against it, the lamp falling over and breaking and causing complete darkness. This did not keep Minako from using her perfectly manicured nails against Belle, shredding at every inch of her body that she could reach. Minako did not know if Belle was fighting her off, or trying to hit her, but the only pain Minako was aware of was from the bedside table slamming into her side.

“What’s going on in here?” a teacher’s voice bellowed, distractedly pushing through teenage girls who gawked in at Minako’s fury, though they could barely see her through the hazy darkness. Minako felt a hand on the collar of her T-shirt, pulling her back and away from Belle as she continued to kick out and try to break skin on the other girl. Belle stood up, a light was flicked on, and Mr. Evans stood holding Minako away from Belle with all of the shock of the world in his eyes at seeing one of the best students in his orchestra, and one of the top marked students of the entire school, trying to kill her roommate.

“There’s nothing else to see here,” he growled at the other girls, who quickly dispersed, all but Mariko who stood there, shaking, ready to defend her best friend.

“Mr. Evans,” she began quietly.

“Shinobu-san, you and I can talk in the morning,” he said to her, a bit more calmly but still not kindly, to the other girl. “I want to deal with these two now.”

Mariko glanced one last time into the room, but not catching her best friend’s eyes, those pale blue eyes only glaring at the devil across the room sitting on her bed wiping away spots of blood from her lip, Mariko left quietly.

“You, out in the hall,” Mr. Evans demanded of Minako. “You,” he glanced at Belle as Minako padded out into the hall, trying to grasp a good hold on her anger, “are you all right? Do you want to go to the infirmary?” Minako hated the kindness he was showing to such a cruel girl and she realized she slammed the door behind her as she left the room and plodded further into the hallway, anything to move further away from her dorm room. What a first day this turned out to be.

“I’m fine,” Belle said, brushing off Mr. Evans attempts at convincing her to go and see a nurse. “She hits like a girl!” Belle screamed at the door.

Minako mentally mooned Belle’s reaction. She was a girl, she was allowed to hit like one.

Mr. Evans stepped out into the hallway and looked over at the young blonde. “You really did a number on her,” he explained. “What has gotten into you? I’ve never seen you violent, and I have known you for almost four years.”

“She said some pretty rotten things,” Minako said defiantly. “She started off insulting Mariko, then she aired out my secrets, and this morning, oh don’t get me started on what she had to say to me this morning!”

“Is that any reason to hit her?” Mr. Evans said with as much patience as he could muster.

EVERY REASON! Minako’s mind was screaming. Instead she calmly said, “No,” and turned her back on her teacher once more, very much aware now she was wearing only a thing T-shirt and sweat-pants, and for some reason Belle’s snide remarks of, “some guys like that,” was flitting about in her mind.

“Belle does not seem likely to bring this to the attention of the principal,” Mr. Evans explained, and Minako hated he used her name so familiarly. “If she does not, I will not say anything, but I expect tomorrow, after Nemesis does his little show, that you will sit and talk to me and explain what would make such a perfectly calm girl go nearly mad with anger.”

“Yes, Mr. Evans.” It was all she could muster. She felt humiliated, and there was no telling how many of the girls had heard what Belle had said, and how many of them would believe it, and how large the rumor would be by tomorrow’s afternoon classes. Minako felt humiliated and lowered her head to stare at the floor. She heard Mr. Evans step up behind her, she felt the air stir where he reached out his hand to touch her, but he never completed the gesture. He stopped, pulling his hand back and simply walked away, leaving her there alone to stew in the silence of the dark corridors.

When Minako did return to her room she found Belle still sitting on her bed, bloodied, but mostly cleaned up. Belle’s eyes caught Minako, but instead of reacting like any normal girl would have done Belle smiled wickedly at Minako and responded, “You owe me,” then turned off the unbroken lamp and rolled over to bed. In the dark Minako picked up the remains of her lamp, noting that the glass shards had already been cleaned away by the terror in the other bed, and then returned to bed. An end to an horrible first day.