Well, somehow her first period had passed just fine. Shujin hadn't been discovered by anyone, and the day was proceeding normally. Well, as normally as it could. Hotaru was pretty far from being a straight A student (her many projects took up most of her time, so she generally squeaked by with C's.)
Today, her grades in-class would probably slip even more. She could barely focus on the whiteboard or the teacher's words, being so preoccupied with keeping her little secret safe. She just had to make it through the school day and then...
Hotaru froze in her seat. What exactly was her end goal here? It wasn't like there was anybody here at school who could help Shujin (or help her to help Shujin.) There certainly weren't any other inventors of her caliber in town.
She'd... she'd just have to keep him safe until she'd repaired her shrink ray (and added a 'restore' setting to it.) But... that could take... well, a long time.
Hotaru was dreading that talk with her best friend, but she knew that he'd be stuck like this for at least a month, barring miracles. Some of the components for her shrink ray weren't easy to come by (and weren't exactly on the 'legal' side of things.) Getting a hold of more of them on short notice quite simply wasn't possible. Even if she did her best, it would likely be at least three weeks before she could even start to make physical repairs to her shrink ray!
And that was her being optimistic. Worst case... Shujin might be stuck at this size for months!
"Hotaru! Hotaru!"
"Huh? Shujin?"
"Hotaru, everyone else left the classroom already! You're gonna look suspicious if you don't get a move on!" Shujin hissed up at her from his spot inside her desk, his voice barely audible at his size.
Oh, crap! She'd been too caught up in her thoughts to move to her next class! She'd be late at this rate!
"Aw man, Nakamura-sensei totally said she'd give me detention if I showed up late again! I gotta move!" Hotaru exclaimed, scooping Shujin up in her hands and dashing out the door of the classroom.
"Hotaru, slow down! You're gonna trip!"
------------------
You knew your best friend had cause to be alarmed. This must've been a terrible day for her- as much as you didn't like the idea of being stuck at this diminutive size, you knew Hotaru would only be kicking herself even harder for letting it happen to you in the first place. But if she didn't cool her jets, something bad was going to happen- and you'd already been caught in the crossfire once today. You didn't something to happen to you again.
As luck would have it, what happened next wasn't entirely Hotaru's fault. The short tomboy dashed down the hall and skidded to a stop right outside a crowd of students milling about in the halls. With nowhere to go, she just about screeched to a stop... just in time for someone else to turn a corner at top speed and slam right into her!
Hotaru squawked and toppled over as the much taller girl bowled her over- Ai Sakaguchi covering her mouth and screeching to a halt as she realized what had happened.
"Hotaru-dono! My sincerest apologies!"
"N-no... Ow... It's fine. I'm... not hurt." Hotaru groaned, patting herself off as she was helped to her feet by the bigger student.
Oh crap- where had Shujin gone? He'd been in her hands when Sakaguchi had collided with her, so where was he now?!
Today, her grades in-class would probably slip even more. She could barely focus on the whiteboard or the teacher's words, being so preoccupied with keeping her little secret safe. She just had to make it through the school day and then...
Hotaru froze in her seat. What exactly was her end goal here? It wasn't like there was anybody here at school who could help Shujin (or help her to help Shujin.) There certainly weren't any other inventors of her caliber in town.
She'd... she'd just have to keep him safe until she'd repaired her shrink ray (and added a 'restore' setting to it.) But... that could take... well, a long time.
Hotaru was dreading that talk with her best friend, but she knew that he'd be stuck like this for at least a month, barring miracles. Some of the components for her shrink ray weren't easy to come by (and weren't exactly on the 'legal' side of things.) Getting a hold of more of them on short notice quite simply wasn't possible. Even if she did her best, it would likely be at least three weeks before she could even start to make physical repairs to her shrink ray!
And that was her being optimistic. Worst case... Shujin might be stuck at this size for months!
"Hotaru! Hotaru!"
"Huh? Shujin?"
"Hotaru, everyone else left the classroom already! You're gonna look suspicious if you don't get a move on!" Shujin hissed up at her from his spot inside her desk, his voice barely audible at his size.
Oh, crap! She'd been too caught up in her thoughts to move to her next class! She'd be late at this rate!
"Aw man, Nakamura-sensei totally said she'd give me detention if I showed up late again! I gotta move!" Hotaru exclaimed, scooping Shujin up in her hands and dashing out the door of the classroom.
"Hotaru, slow down! You're gonna trip!"
------------------
You knew your best friend had cause to be alarmed. This must've been a terrible day for her- as much as you didn't like the idea of being stuck at this diminutive size, you knew Hotaru would only be kicking herself even harder for letting it happen to you in the first place. But if she didn't cool her jets, something bad was going to happen- and you'd already been caught in the crossfire once today. You didn't something to happen to you again.
As luck would have it, what happened next wasn't entirely Hotaru's fault. The short tomboy dashed down the hall and skidded to a stop right outside a crowd of students milling about in the halls. With nowhere to go, she just about screeched to a stop... just in time for someone else to turn a corner at top speed and slam right into her!
Hotaru squawked and toppled over as the much taller girl bowled her over- Ai Sakaguchi covering her mouth and screeching to a halt as she realized what had happened.
"Hotaru-dono! My sincerest apologies!"
"N-no... Ow... It's fine. I'm... not hurt." Hotaru groaned, patting herself off as she was helped to her feet by the bigger student.
Oh crap- where had Shujin gone? He'd been in her hands when Sakaguchi had collided with her, so where was he now?!
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March 23
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