Archangels of War

To say homeroom was a tiring endeavor would be a gross understatement. Not even mentioning the antics that Erika was going on-a series of pranks and attempted gags on not only me, or Ms. Elmer, but pretty much the entire class. Nobody was safe from her conniving hands and schemes. That was not the only unfortunate thing I had to put up with throughout the hour or so we had of free time before we got the second half of the day. I had to put up with students coming up to me and asking how I ended up being so late to class. Some seemed utterly bewildered at how careless or trivial my reason was, and I didn't blame them for it. What kind of excuse was, 'I let my sister drag me around a mini tour of the school. 

The questions seemed endless, not all of them related to my tardiness. A lot of them seemed to either be aimed at my idiotic reactions to just about everything, or how I had managed to pull of that trick where it had seemed like Ms. Elmer had shot me through the head with a beam of magic. When I explained it, the general consensus was that it was an amazing feat of quick thinking, and speedy spell activation. I on the other hand, didn't really understand why it was so impressive. It was simply activating a magic spell quickly after getting the read on a situation. However, I wasn't about to deny the praise. 

Despite the fact I was being praised (sometimes) most other conversations couldn't even really have been considered that, as it was more of people walking up to look at me while having conversations amongst themselves, like I was some sort of zoo animal. Which made the entire wait feel even worse, as I could hear literally everything they were saying. At one point a group of girls surrounded me, making it impossible for me to find where I should look. After what felt like an eternity, the novelty of Ms. Elmers VIP had worn off, and people had finally started to leave me alone. I breathed a sigh of relief, tired of the endless bombard of questions. I leaned back in my seat, and my hands unconsciously slipped back into my pockets wh-

"Raiden. Sit up straight for me." 

I immediately sat up straight at her voice. That was another thing. Apparently as Ms. Elmers VIP I wasn't allowed to slack off in the slightest. Whether it was a thing of maintaining an image, or a sort of punishment, -which it probably was-it was just another added factor that made the hour wait even worse. Heh, that's like the third time I've said that. From the corner of my vision, I could see someone else approaching me. She had blonde hair and bright blue eyes. I racked my memory for a few seconds. She was- 

"Hey there!" She said in a bright voice and a shining smile. 

I remained silent for a few seconds unable to really speak. I was still trying to remember her name and she had already gone and started a conversation with me. 

"....H-Hi." I wanted to kill myself. 

"Your name's Raiden right." 

I nodded defeatedly, not bothering to even try and speak anymore. I was too mentally drained. 

"I heard a bit from the other students. You were late because you were walking with your sister around the school, no?" 

"Pretty much the story. Terrible reason, right?" 

However contrary to what I would have thought, she didn't think the reason was bad at all. 

"No, I think it's a pretty wholesome reason. You were making sure your sister didn't get lost." 

"I guess." I laughed nervously at her statement. When you put it like that, it sounds like I'm so role model big brother. "I wouldn't give myself that much credit." 

She frowned at that statement. "But those were your intentions, right? You weren't purposely using her as an excuse to skip class or something like that. Were you?" 

"No! -.. Sorry. I mean no, I wasn't." 

After that, the smile returned to her face, and she clapped her hands together. "Then perfect. You had only good intentions, so I think that you have nothing to be down about." 

I froze for a second and simply stared at her for a little. Did I really seem down. No way. Maybe a bit tired, but down? Th- I stopped my train of thought. I looked at her in her eyes, the ones that seemed to have a little bit of shine. I chuckled slightly. She had managed to read me even though I thought I was doing a good job of hiding what i really felt. 

She looked down at me confused, probably wondering why I was laughing. "Is everything, okay?" 

I nodded. "Everything's great. In fact, they couldn't better." 

She still looked extremely confused, however, my own happiness seemed to make her smile, and I could guess that was all a person like her wanted. To make other people smile. 

"If you don't mind, what's your name." She was definitely someone whose name I wanted to commit to memory. 

"Off course I don't mind! My name is...." However, at that moment that bell had rung, and I was only able to catch her last name. 

"..... Hikaru."