It was a new day at a new school, and Usagi Tsukino was looking forward to it about the same amount as she’d anticipate her next visit to the dentist. Which was next week. Hooray.
Was it any wonder, then, that she’d spent her last night of freedom reading every single comic she owned? Was it any wonder she’d spent her entire final day spending her allowance one coin at a time in the arcade? Was it any wonder that she’d gorged herself on any food she could get her hands on, done anything at all she could think of just to distract herself from the stress of the unknown coming around in the next day?
Was it any wonder that she was running late?
“Talk about a way to make a first impression!” she moaned as she pushed her still sleepy muscles into more action than they’d seen in weeks. “I haven’t even had time for breakfast yet!”
It was a peculiarity in the web of fate that this particular girl had such a bright future ahead of her. A reincarnation of the princess of a doomed kingdom? She barely seemed to fit the role. Usagi had less grace than an intoxicated lemming lost in deep space. Her personal motivation could only be measured by way of electron microscope, her ambition less solid than a politician’s promise and her depth of fantastical imagination just about as great as the same. She was a lazy dreamer with not a seeming drop of regality within her whole being.
And yet she would be compelled to face many trials. She would be placed under the most enormous pressure time and time again, forcing her to take action where others could not. Each of these occurrences would in time shape her, mould her, compel her to mature emotionally. Usagi would become braver. Parts of her previous personality would leak through, mingling with her current one, developing her into a person that was indeed royal enough, charismatic enough, charming enough to rule the world.
… Unless something went wrong, and certain traits began to leak through much sooner than they should have. For our previous description was of the Usagi from yesterday. Today on the surface she may seem the same. But deep down underneath is another issue entirely.
Just as the bell rang she stepped within the door to her classroom and collapsed into her seat with deep, deep breaths and a lingering regret over her own foolishness. Yeah, okay, so she’d gotten a lot of attention for showing up at the last minute, but did they all have to stare at her like that? Whatever. Unfortunately there would be little time for such things, as the teacher soon entered and began the introductions, running through the class in alphabetical order. It reached her turn far quicker than she might have otherwise enjoyed.
“Usagi… Huff… Ugh… Usagi Tsukino. I… like playing arcade games, reading comics, and my role model is Sailor V! She’s so smart and cool and strong!”
“Thank you, Miss Tsukino. Please sit down. Now that introductions are out of the way, we need to start thinking about who will be class president. I want all of your votes in by the end of the day. Responsibilities for this position include blah blah blah, boring stuff you don’t remotely care about, blah blah blah blah blah.”
Between her deep breaths, Usagi had to chuckle to herself. Goodness, what poor sap would get saddled with all of that? It sounded so tedious, and such a time killer too! Honestly, she didn’t even really think it mattered all that much. After all, it wasn’t as though she’d even really pay all that much attention to the job or anything. Just so long as Naru didn’t get it or something. Nah. No way. It’d probably go to some nerd or someone cute or something.
The school day went by as most do following that point. Boredom, lots of writing, useless stuff that went right in one ear and out the other. If nothing else, Usagi was glad she was in the same class as Naru; that did somehow come as a relief. The two of them could gossip together after class, pick out the cute guys and whatever.
Though there was something weird about the way Naru was staring at her like that… “What? Is there something on my face?” she suddenly asked.
“Did you do something with your hair today?” Naru asked. “There’s something different about you, and it’s driving me insane trying to figure out what it is.”
“Huh? No, not really. Different how, exactly?”
“I dunno, you just seem kind of… prettier, I guess. Maybe it’s just the new uniforms or something.”
Usagi just shrugged it off. Whatever. Naru was obviously trying to butter her up for a favour of some sort. Doing a pretty clumsy job of it, though.
“Um, excuse me? Usagi Tsukino?” a whiny, nasally voice interrupted all of a sudden. Usagi turned around and suddenly found a letter being thrust into her hand by a short boy with glasses thicker than her pile of failed tests. “P-Please accept this confession! My name is Umino, and -”
“Uh, thanks, I guess?” Usagi said, taken quite aback. She’d never been confessed to before, and had always imagined her first would’ve at least been some tall handsome guy with slick black hair… Preference for a mysterious aura… Maybe wearing a snazzy tux and offering her a single rose.
Not some dork for whom showering was apparently an occupational morning hazard.
While she probably would have been rude under normal circumstances, instead Usagi took a slightly more… diplomatic route. “Do you mind if we get to know each other a bit better first? I mean, it’s the first day of school, none of us really know one another -”
“That - That’s perfectly alright!” Umino said, his voice elated in spite of her not saying yes. “I’ll - I’ll speak to you later, alright?”
And off he scurried down the hall, all but dancing and yelling “She didn’t say no!” Usagi could still somehow tell he was at least thinking it. Naru lay a hand upon Usagi’s shoulder and shook her head.
“Sometimes you’re too nice for your own good, y’know that, right? Should’ve booted him away the first chance that you got. Now he’ll be following you around like a lost puppy the rest of the year.”
“I dunno. If he’s even half as smart as his glasses are thick, we could easily ride his smarts through school. I guess I just felt kinda bad for him all of a sudden.”
“Um… Excuse me?” a small voice called from behind Usagi. She turned around once again, this time coming face to face with a girl of mixed heritage. Definitely a bit of westerner in there. “M-My name is Molly, and my parents recently moved back to Japan. I’ve been trying to make some new friends, and… And I was wondering if you might like to hang out sometime?”
“Sure, I guess so. I mean, why not?”
And on it went throughout lunch. No sooner had Usagi stopped talking to one person when another would come along to say hi. By the end of it, she’d met so many people, been introduced to so many new names and faces that she doubted she’d ever keep them straight. On and on it went… What the hell was going on around here?
<hr>
It was the end of the school day now, and the teacher was standing in front of the blackboard. Usagi was staring at it wide eyed, slack jawed, barely moving. This had to be some sort of nightmare. Or a joke. Or something. A single name lay upon the board. Beneath it were tallies. Lots and lots of little strokes, each adding up to make the same character over and over again. Each time a slip of paper was drawn, the name written on it would be read and a stroke would be added to a character underneath the name, until all five were done and a new one would begin. All under the same name. The only name on the board. The only name anyone had even bothered to vote for class president.
Her name.
The last slip was drawn out, and Usagi almost regretted not voting when the room broke out into thunderous applause. They were all so happy that she’d won, it felt like she’d be betraying them somehow if she refused. This was wrong! This was all… It was just so wrong! Why had she been the one to get a unanimous vote? What possible quality did they think she possessed that would make her a natural leader?
As Usagi would soon learn, it was simply the fact that she was a living, breathing inspiration to those around her. Whether she meant to be or not.
- Skip ahead a few months to when Usagi finds a cat being picked on by some kids.
- The next day, Usagi starts her unwanted role as class president.
- After school, Usagi’s newfound supernatural ability to attract people draws a lot of attention onto her.
- Other side effects soon make themselves known.
- Something else
I assume Usagi simply didn't bother voting. Looks good, I liked the touch of adding 'Molly' in particular.
ReplyDeleteOne question I have about the concept is, is she highly inspirational to the point where others might view her as a worthy rival to compete against? Or is she so otherworldly inspirational that no one thinks badly about her?
Option #2 sounds a little dry just on its own. Maybe there's a meeting of class presidents she has to attend where the student council is formed?
It's certainly possible that some people might react to her in that way. I leave it up to whoever wishes to right it, including possibly the whims of my future self down the line.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, Usagi didn't bother voting because she honestly doesn't care about that sorta stuff. Figured someone else would get it. If that wasn't explicit, I should probably make it so.