Post by Sophie on Nov 3, 2022 15:16:05 GMT -5
Koriyona Second Prefectural Elementary School was the only elementary school that serviced the entire town of Nakatsugawa. It usually served as the town’s combined middle and elementary schools, but there were currently no children of middle school age in Nakatsugawa. The town had a population of just over a thousand people, so only six children attended the elementary school there. A single teacher was charged with educating the students, only two of whom were in the same grade level.
The students attending were Nao Ishiwatari, a pink-toe-tarantula Kumo, age six; Chinatsu Kuramoto, a tiger-wolf Kumo, age eight; the Minami twins Yuina and Honami, both southern black widow Kumo, age nine; Ayaka Sakurai, an arrowhead orb-weaver Kumo, age ten; and Kei Kuramoto, a tiger-wolf Kumo, age twelve.
The morning started as it usually did. Kei was head down on his desk, fully asleep with drool dripping down his arm. Ayaka was already nose-deep into today's workbook, trying to get a head start on the day's lesson. Chinatsu was trying to quietly unwrap a piece of chocolate she had gotten from a dagashi shop the other day. Nao was staring out the window until she heard the crinkling of Chinatsu’s wrapper, at which point Nao was tapping her pedipalps over and over in front of her desk. “Chinni-sennnn! C’mon pleeease? Egawa-kensi always says we should shaaaaaaare. Please gimmie just onee?”
“I only have one Nao-kas!” Chinatsu barked back in a hushed yell. “Be quiet! You’re gonna get me in trouble.”
“You’re not supposed to bring candy to school, Kuramoto-kas.” Ayaka had looked up from her workbook, her eyebrows twitching in annoyance. “Kensi’s gonna get mad.”
This time, Kei spoke up. “Hah. When was the last time Egawa-kensi got mad at anyone besides Yuina or Honami?” His voice was tired and lazy, and the moment he stopped speaking, his one eye he’d open to speak, shut, and his face planted back into his desk in restful sleep.
“She yells at you every day. You just sleep through it, Kuramoto-kan.” Ayaka tried to snap fast enough for him to hear before he could fall back asleep. With a sigh, Ayaka looked back. “Chinatsu-kas, can’t you make sure your brother actually sleeps at night? What’s he doing all day that he’s always exhausted once he gets here?”
“How should I know, Ayaka?” Chinatsu questioned while sneaking her candy into her mouth as the topic had turned away from it. “Mom’s all gungho about the harvest.” She spoke with her mouth full of chocolate and put her hands above her shoulders. “Maybe he’s been helping out too much.”
Ayaka rolled her eyes and buried her nose back into her book. “Aya ayaa!” After giving up on getting candy from Chinatsu, Nao skittered over to Ayaka’s desk. “Will you take me to Kagayama’s after school?”
“I have to study for next week's test Nao-sen. I don’t have time to take you to the dagashi shop. I bet Yuina and Honami will take you. I’m sorry.” Ayaka patted Nao’s head with a half-hearted smile.
Nao frowned and looked around the room. “But they’re not even hereee. Please, Ayakaa, it's only a little ways from the bus stop. Pretty pretty pretty, please?”
“If I say yes, will you let me study?” Ayaka conceded.
With a quick nod, Nao responded. “Mhm! I promise!” A satisfied smile graced the young girl's face as she skittered back to her desk.
The sliding door of the classroom opened, and their teacher, Meo Egawa, walked in. Meo was a Triangulate Cobweb Kumo with slick black hair that just reached her shoulders. “Good morning, children.” She called out in a calm singsongy voice. As her eyes scanned the room, she frowned. “Where are Yuina and Honami?”
To answer her question, the Minami twins burst into the room together, entirely out of breath. “Sorry we’re late!” Yuina, the taller of the two, called out.
“It’s her fault! It was her turn to make breakfast, and she didn’t cook the rice.” Honami snapped, shoving Yuina forward.
“Because you kept me up all night with that stupid book!” Yuina growled.
Honami grabbed her sister's hair and glared into her eyes. “Cuz you begged me to read it to you idiot!”
“Hey! Enough!” Egawa called out. “Just take your seats so we can get started.” Grumbling, the twins went to their seats and hung their backpacks on their desks. “Alright, now that everyone’s here, I have an important announcement for everyone.” This got everyone’s ears to perk up, as typically Egawa would’ve just had them get started on their workbooks and bury her own nose in whatever light novel she was obsessed with this week.
“Today, we have a new student.” Before she could get another word out, the kids burst out in excitement and began chittering between themselves. Even Ayaka joined in on the conversation. Egawa clapped twice and held up her hand until everyone’s attention was back on her. “I expect all of you to treat our new student with kindness and respect. With that said, why don’t you come on in and introduce yourself.”
Egawa gestured towards the door she had left open. Everyone’s eyes locked on the young girl who walked in. She was short, extremely short. Standing only at five feet tall, she could almost be classified as a dwarf in Kumosenkan if not for one mitigating factor. She was human. Immediately all the Kumo girls began whispering to each other.
“She’s human?!”
“I’ve never seen a human in real life before.”
“What’s a human doing in Nakatsugawa?!
“Are all humans that small?”
“There’s no way she’s really our new classmate, right?”
“Enough now.” Egawa clapped her hands again. “Honada-kas, please introduce yourself.”
The human girl was noticeably shaking. She clutched her lunchbox tightly and stared directly at the floor. Her hair was curly golden blonde, rolling well down her back. The dress she wore was a pastel pink with frills. Her red leather backpack clung to her tight as a vice grip and shook as she did.
With a bow at a full ninety degrees, the girl began to introduce herself. “M- my name is Sora Honada.” Her voice was meek and shaky; even when she pulled up from her bow, her eyes remained on the floor. “I- I’m ten years old, and I’m in fifth grade. I m- moved here from Fuyonouso. I hope we ca- can get along.”
The class was still stunned by the fact that there was a human in the room with them and even more that she spoke Shusuguris perfectly. Once the children realized Egawa was glaring at them, they all responded together. “I hope we can get along.”
“Alright, everyone. Your exams begin next week, so please work on your assigned workbook pages. If you have any questions, I’ll be up front all day.” Egawa announced to the rest of the class. She offered a smile to Honada and handed her a stack of paper books.
Honda took the workbooks in her left hand and clutched her lunchbox in her right. All eyes still fell on her as she began to make her way toward the only open desk in the room. As Honada made her way to the back of the room, it felt like sand filled her legs. Once she reached the available desk, she frowned at the cushion on the floor. “Uh… um. Egawa-kensi. Is there a chair I can use?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Honada-kas. I’ll see if I can go find one.” The teacher stood up from the desk she had just sat and began to head out. “Everyone be on your best behavior; I’ll be right back.”
Once Egawa had left, Honada hung her backpack on her desk and set her lunchbox and workbooks down. With a pounding heart, she looked over at her desk neighbor and tried to smile and wave. Ayaka Sakurai looked back at her with a crooked expression. “Is, is that a Princess Reito lunchbox?”
“Y-yeah!” Honda grabbed it and held it out for Ayaka to see. It was a simple metal lunchbox with an embossed picture of Princess Reito in a yukata waving. “She’s really popular in Fuyonouso.” Her voice picked up a little.
“Isn’t she popular everywhere?” Honami interjected a bit coldly. “I mean, she’s the princess, right?”
“Y-yeah.” Honada answered. The tiny amount of light that had found its way into her voice was now gone. “I guess that’s true. S-sorry.”
Ayaka went back to her book but kept talking. “Why are you apologizing?”
“F- for thinking liking Princess Reito would be interesting and bothering you,” Honda answered and just stood behind her desk, staring at her unopened workbook and clutching at the frills of her dress. “I’m sorry.” A lump in her throat choked up her words.
“It's fine,” Ayaka answered without looking up, continuing to work on her math.
“You really have a Reito Lunchbox?” Honda had to look up to see who was talking, and she was the young pink-toe-tarantula Kumo standing in front of her desk. The young girl’s hands rested on the desk with her head looked up at Honada.
Honada couldn’t match the first grader’s gaze but still tried to engage. “Uh-huh. Do you wanna see?” While Nao nodded, Honada handed the box over.
“Woooww! She looks so pretty!” Nao cheered with a bright smile at the box.
“R- right?!” Honada perked up just a little again. “I used to have a little charm of her on my backpack, but I lost it.”
“Aww!” Nao looked up and frowned. “I’m sorry, Honada. Do you wanna go look for it?”
Honada laughed a little. “No, no. I lost it a while ago. I don’t think we can find it.”
“Oh… okay.” Nao’s frown deepened. “I’m really sorry.”
“It’s really okay! Don’t worry about it.” Honada assured.
“Do they have lots of stuff like this in Fuyonouso?” Nao asked once again, smiling at the lunchbox.
“Mhm!” Honada cheered. “All my favorite shops had Princess Reito stuff!”
“Woah. The city is awesome, huh?” Nao giggled. “One time Ayaka went to Komoro, and she brought home a Princess Reito poster! She made us all come over to see it.”
“Shut up, Nao-sen!” Ayaka called out, her cheeks reddening a bit. “I’m not into childish stuff like that anymore!”
“Don’t you still have that poster hung up above your desk?” Honami teased.
“I said shut up!” Ayaka jeered, thoroughly flustered. “My mom bought it for me, so it’d be a waste not to hang it up.”
“Liking Princess Reito is childish?” Honada asked, feeling a bit uneasy. “All the kids in my old school loved her. Even the sixth graders.”
“Woaah, really?” Nao chimed in again. “Sixth graders in the city like Reito and Ayaka doesn’t. Does that mean she’s not fashionable?”
Honada waved her hands in front of her face. “I- I’m sure Ayaka is-”
“Don’t call me Ayaka.” She interjected pretty harshly.
Honada flinched. “Right. I’m sorry. I don’t know your last name.”
“She’s Ayaka Sakurai! She’s in fifth grade.” Nao pointed at Ayaka. “That’s Kei Kuramoto. He’s a sixth grader, and that’s his sister Chinatsu! She’s a third grader.”
As Nao pointed over at the Minami twins, they spoke for themselves. “I’m Honami Minami, her older sister.”
“By thirty seconds!” Yuina Protested. “I’m Yuina Minami. We’re in fourth grade.”
“I’m Nao Ishiwatari! I’m in first grade!” Nao cheered. “You can call me Nao-sen since that’s what everyone calls me.”
“Oh, thank you, Nao-sen!” Honada smiled and patted the young girl on the head. “You can call me Sora if you like.”
While smiling, Nao looked up at Honada and asked, “Are you really a human?”
“Nao!” Ayaka yelled. “That’s rude. You can’t just ask that.”
“No, no! It's okay.” Honada assured. “I’m sure it's really w-weird to have a human join your class.” She took a few deep breaths before continuing. “M-my mom got a job out here, so I had to move schools.”
“Where’d you come from, Sora-sen?” Nao asked
“Huh? From Fuyonouso. I thought I said.” Honada responded, a bit confused.
“She means originally. Where were you, like, born?” Ayaka tried to clarify.
“Eh? I was born in Fuyonouso. I lived there my whole life so far.”
All of the Kumo collectively looked at her, confused. “But, where did your parents come from?”
“My dad’s from Attatyuki, but mom was born in Fuyonouso too.”
“Where did your family move to Kumosenkan from?” Kei finally chimed in.
This didn’t clear up Honada’s confusion. “N... nowhere? We’ve always lived here.”
Before the group of Kumo could speak out a collective “Really?” Egawa returned to the room. “Alright, enough chit-chatting. Get back to your workbooks.” She was carrying a chair very clearly designed for a Kumo. It was large and cupped, so the eight legs hung off either end, with absolutely no back support. “Will this be alright for now? It’s all I could find.”
“Y- yeah, that’s fine. Thank you, Egawa-kensi.” Honada awkwardly climbed into the seat. Once she got up, she tried to put her legs in the middle of two of the four on the left side of the chair and slid way back into the seat until just her ankles were hanging off the edge. After attempting and failing to scoot her chair forward so she could work, Honada decided to just stand at her desk.
For the next few hours, all the students tried to keep busy working to prepare for the next week’s exams. Everyone threw casual glances at Honada, and Honada anxiously peeked around the room, feeling the pressure on her. Her heart pounded in her chest, making it incredibly hard to focus on the work in front of her. But while peeking, she noticed Ayaka jamming her pencil into the workbook.
“Um, are you okay Sakurai-kan?” Honada asked, trying to distract herself from her own discomfort, both from the social situation and from hunching over a desk.
“I’m fine!” She growled, gnashing her teeth back and forth.
Honada walked over to Ayaka’s desk and looked at the problem she was working on. “If you need help, I’m really good at math. Is it okay if I help you?”
“If you insist. I doubt you can help since this problem is basically impossible.” Ayaka complained and turned the book towards Honada.
“Oh, you’re right. This one’s really hard,” Honada affirmed. It was a three-digit number multiplied by another three-digit number. Because of the move, Honada was a bit behind and had never solved a problem of this level before. Still, she could apply what she had already learned, she walked through the problem with Ayaka, and they figured out the solution together.
“So it’s… forty-nine-thousand, twenty-two?” Ayaka asked once she had solved it, hoping to compare it with Honada. In truth she was hoping to show up Honada.
“Yep! That’s what I got too!” Honada smiled brightly over at Ayaka while still hunched over her own desk.
Ayaka smiled a bit. “Should we go check with Egawa-kensi?”
“Mhm! Sure!” Honada cheered.
Both girls walked from their desks up front, and Ayaka asked their teacher to check their work on the problem. “Wow, Ayaka, great job, you’ve really improved.”
“Um, actually Honada-kan helped me.” Ayaka spoke a bit meekly.
“Then I should be congratulating you, Honada-kas. It's your first day, and you’ve already done a better job teaching Sakurai-kas math than I have.” Egawa joked. She softly patted Honada’s head and then stood up. “Alright, everyone, let's take a break for lunch!”
As the two girls walked back to their desks, Honada spoke up again. “Um, you can just call me Sora if you want.”
“Isn’t it a bit early for that?” Ayaka questioned.
“Y-you don’t have to! I’m just saying you can.” Honada continued, once again tightly gripping the frills of her dress. “I’d- I’d like to be friends with you, Sakurai-kan.”
“You’re pretty bold, aren’t you?” Ayaka laughed a little and joined the rest of the Kumo, who had pulled their desks together for lunch.
“M- mom says it's my best feature,” Honada responded, trying to sound confident. That quickly wavered as she saw the six Kumo already sitting together. Defeated, she sat at her desk and pulled out her lunchbox.
“Sora-sen!” Nao called out. “Aren’t you gonna eat with us?”
“Yeah, c’mon, Sora-sen.” Ayaka echoed with a smile, waving her over.
Sora perked up again. “Really? I can join you guys?”
Yuina and Honami shared an odd look. “Well yeah? Why wouldn’t you?”
“Okay!” Sora cheered and pushed her desk to join in on their impromptu dining table. Everyone had already started eating their bento lunches. Sora opened up hers, and on top of everything was a small piece of paper. A note from her mom. Embarrassment quickly flashed across Sora’s face as she snatched the paper and stuffed it into one of her pockets.
The note probably would’ve gone unnoticed if not for that, but now all eyes were once again on Sora. “What was that?” Yuina pressed.
“N- nothing! Just…” Sora tried to think on her feet, but it certainly wasn’t her forte. She stumbled over her words for a few more moments before speaking again. “Just the paper that covers my bento!”
This assuaged no one's bewilderment. “Paper that… what?” Honami asked. “Is this your first time having a bento lunch?”
“No! It’s… all the rage in Fuyonouso.” Sora tried sounding confident as she held up a finger and nodded. “It helps keep your food fresh.”
“Alright,” Ayaka confirmed. “What’ve you got?” The Kumo asked, peeking over into the box.
“Oh, I’ve got hamburger steak!” Sora answered with a smile. “It's my favorite. My mom made it for me this morning.”
“Aww, lucky!” Nao cried. “I got sandwiches.”
“Do you want some of mine, Nao-sen? I’ll share with you.” Sora offered.
“Really?! Yes please!” Nao reached out with her chopsticks, and Sora passed over half of one of her hamburger steaks. “Aaah! So goood! Your mom’s the best cook ever!”
“Is it really that good, Nao-sen?” Ayaka asked, intrigued.
“Mhm! The best!” She nodded, her mouth still half full of hamburger.
Ayaka frowned. “Aww. I want some.”
Sora joined in on the frown as she had already taken a bite out of the second steak. “Do you want the other half of what I gave Nao-sen? I’d be happy to share with you, Sakurai-kan.”
“No, it’s okay.” Ayaka shook her head. “You can call me Ayaka, by the way. I’m sorry for telling you not to earlier.”
“It's fine! You don’t have to apologize, Ayaka-sen.” Sora smiled. “Um, if you really want some hamburger steak, do you wanna come over to my house for dinner? I bet I could ask my mom to make it.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Sora.” Ayaka waved. “I don’t like hamburger that much.”
“Isn’t hamburger your favorite, Ayaka?” Chinatsu interjected.
Ayaka slapped her forehead. “Chinatsu, I’m trying to be considerate here.”
“You don’t have to be considerate!” Sora blurted out. “I mean. You don’t have to go either if you don’t wanna. But I bet my mom would be thrilled if you came over.”
“Oh, okay. Then sure, Sora, that sounds like fun. I’d love to go.” Ayaka answered with a smile.
“Sora-seeen, I wanna go tooo!” Nao cried out. “I want more hamburger!”
Sora chuckled. “Of course, you’re invited too, Nao-sen. All you guys are if you wanna come.”
“That sounds nice,” Kei answered, lazily stuffing rice into his mouth. “But Chinatsu and I have to get home right after school to help with the harvest.”
“Our mom’s pretty strict.” Yuina continued. “We have to ask a week ahead to hang out at someone else’s house.” Honami nodded along.
“That’s alright. Maybe next time?” Sora opened up. “Anytime you guys wanna come over, just let me know.”
“Oh! Sora-sen!” Nao called out. “If I’m gonna go to your house, will you come with me and Ayaka to the Dagashi shop? Ayaka promised to buy me some candy!”
“I did not! I said I’d take you. I never said I’d buy you anything.” Ayaka snapped back, lightly slapping her head to scold her.
“Ayakaaaa please!” Nao pleaded with her hands pressed together.
“I’ll buy you something, Nao-sen,” Sora promised softly.
Nao cheered. “Yaay! Thank you, Sora-sennn!”
“Alright, everyone!” Egawa called out. “That’s lunch. Let's get back to work now.”
“Okaay!” Everyone called out and began to get their desks back into their regular positions and clean up their lunches.
The rest of the school day continued without any incident. “Alright, everyone, good work today. I’ll see you first thing tomorrow. Honada-kas, are you ready to head home?”
As Sora was putting her workbooks into her backpack, she answered. “Actually, I’ll take the bus with everyone. If that’s okay.”
“Are you sure?” Egawa asked. “Do you know how to get home from the bus stop?”
“Mhm!” Sora assured as she put on her backpack. “I’m sure I can figure it out.”
“I’ll help her out, Egawa-kensi,” Ayaka assured the teacher.
“Me too!” Nao called out. “I’ll help Sora!”
Egawa and Sora both smiled. “Alright then, have a good night, everyone.”
All the kids left the school together. Ayaka led everyone over to a metal signpost with a picture of a bus on it. “How often does the bus come?”
“It only comes when school starts and school ends,” Kei answered. “It’ll be here in ten minutes or so.”
“Isn’t it a public transit bus, though? Doesn’t it have a like, usual route?” Sora questioned.
“Yeah.” Chinatsu answered. “It goes to other places during the day. It just takes us here when we need to.”
Once the bus arrived, it was only a short fifteen-minute ride to the stop in the middle of Nakatsugawa. Once all the kids got off, the bus slowly drove off. The Minamis and Kuramotos were quick to head off. “See you guys tomorrow!” Sora cheered, waving as high as she could.
Each of the kids returned a meek wave back before disappearing into the town. “Soraaaa, let's gooo!” Nao cried out before grabbing the human’s hand. Despite being four years younger than Sora, because Nao was a Kumo, she was still a few inches taller than Sora.
Sora laughed and happily went along with the young Kumo, and Ayaka was not far behind. Kagayama’s Dagashi Shop was only a few blocks away. The building was old, and like every other building in town, it was mainly wood and paper. It was two stories high and had big windows letting the fall sun into the store.
Once the trio walked in, the owner initially greeted them quite cheerily. “Nao-sen! Good to see you!” She was a bit on the older side, her hair already starting to grey, and she recoiled just a bit upon seeing the human with them. “Who… who’s this?”
“I’m Sora Honada. I go to school with Nao and Ayaka now. It's a pleasure to meet you.” Sora bowed again in a staunch formal greeting.
“I’m Kaede Kagayama. I own this place.” She looked the human up and down carefully. “Are you new? I don’t think I know any humans that live here.” Intentional or not, Kagayama put a noticeable emphasis on ‘humans.’
“Mhm!” Sora tried to answer with a smile. “It’s my first day here.”
“Kagayama-kama is so cool! She used to live on a battleship! And kick human butt!” Nao cheered and lept into a forced hug with the woman.
“Nao!” Ayaka called out in protest. Kagayama cringed and gave a wary eye to Sora.
Sora looked at Kagayama with her mouth slightly agape. “You’re a veteran?”
“Y- yeah. I am.” She answered with her lips pursed and eyebrows ruffled.
“That’s, that’s amazing, Ma’am.” Sora bowed again. “Thank you for your service and for keeping all of us safe.”
Kagayama relaxed and smiled just a bit, the wrinkles on her face shifting along. “It was my honor to serve the Empress.”
“Kamakama, Sora said she’d buy me stuff! You got anything new?” Nao cheered.
The older woman chuckled. “You just made a new friend, and you’re already extorting her with your cuteness, huh?” She patted Nao on the head.
Nao looked confused. “What’s extorting mean?”
“Hehe. Nothing, don’t worry about it, Nao-sen. We just got some Sumiyoshi gum. It changes flavor as you chew it.” The shop owner handed the little Kumo a rectangular paper package with a cute cartoon chick character on it.
Easily distracted as all six-year-olds are, Nao grabbed the pack and cheered. “That’s so cooooool! Sora, can I get it?!”
“Mhm! You can get whatever you like, Nao-sen.” Sora answered with a smile.
“Can I even get two things?” Nao asked, looking up at Sora with eight gleaming puppy dog eyes.
“Sure! Even two things!” Sora giggled. “You too, Ayaka. Whatever you like.”
“Thanks, Sora.” Ayaka smiled just a bit. “That’s really generous of you.” She then went to explore about the store to choose her snacks.
Sora did the same but froze when she saw the big glass door in the back. “You have a refrigerator here?!” Running up to it revealed dozens of cold drinks. “No way! You have Ramune! I thought I had to let that go when I moved out here.”
“Yeah. I just had that installed last month.” Kagayama commented. “I thought it’d be a lot more expensive than it was.”
While Kagayama was talking, Sora had grabbed three bottles. On her way to place the bottles on the counter, she grabbed a box of pocky as well. Nao had grabbed a bag of chocolates to go along with her gum, and Ayaka had grabbed a bag of chips as well as soy sauce rice crackers.
“You’re gonna drink THREE Ramunes?!” Nao questioned with absolute bafflement on her face.
Sora couldn’t help but laugh. “No! No, two of them are for you guys.”
“Sora, isn’t this too much?” Ayaka asked
She shook her head. “My mom gave me some extra money in case I made friends!”
“Your mom sounds really nice, Sora-sen.” Ayaka smiled. “Next time, I’ll buy you something, okay?”
Sora’s smile widened all the way across her face. “Y- yeah! That would be great!” She was less excited about the prospect of getting something in return and more about Ayaka wanting to hang out with her again.
“Is that all?” Kagayama asked, totaling up all the items everyone had brought up. “That’ll be a hundred and thirty-five yairen.”
“Can you make change for a five hundred piece?” Sora asked, opening up her small coin purse and placing a single metal coin on the counter.
“Your mom gave you five hundred yairen?!” Ayaka called out. “You’re so lucky.”
“It's just cuz I was starting a new school today!” Sora tried to clarify. “She doesn’t usually give me this much.”
“Well, thank you for sharing it with us. That was really nice of you.” Ayaka smiled
“I should be the one-” Sora was cut off by a sudden shout.
“Ayaka!” Everyone’s eyes turned toward the source of the voice. An older arrowhead orb-weaver Kumo stood at the door of the dagashi shop. “What are you doing here?!”
Sora’s eyes darted between the woman and Ayaka. “M- mom. I… I was just taking Nao-sen to get some snacks.”
“Is that so? You know you’re not allowed to get candy on a weekday Ayaka. And what are you doing here with that?” The woman pointed at Sora.
Sora tried to speak, but her voice caught in her throat. She stumbled several times trying to talk, but Ayaka beat her to it. “Th- that’s Sora Honada. She’s my classmate. She was treating us.”
“I don’t care if she was saving your life!” The woman screamed. “You know you’re not to associate with any fucking humans!” Before anyone could say anything in protest, the woman grabbed Ayaka by the ear. “Nao-sen. I know you’re only six, but you should know better too. Go home right now. I’ll be telling your mother about this.”
Once Ayaka and her mother were gone. Nao was left with Sora. “You should go now, Nao-sen.” Sora’s voice had lost all of its color as she held back tears to speak. “Be safe.”
“Oh. Okay, Sora-sen.” Nao collected her snacks and put them in the bag that Kagayama had offered. Sora put the cold soda into the bag and forced out a smile. “Thank you very, very much, Sora. I’ll see you at school tomorrow!” Nao then launched into a hug. “You’re super nice.”
A few hot tears spilled from Sora’s eyes. “Th- thank you, Nao-sen.”
“Okay! I’m gonna go home now! Bye-bye!” Nao broke off from the hug and waved as she jogged out of the building.
For a moment, Sora couldn’t move. She didn’t until Kagayama offered her a handkerchief. It did well to dry her tears, but it didn’t do much for her heart. “You can return what she picked out if you want, Sora-sen.” The woman offered.
Sora turned to see the two sodas, her snacks, and Ayaka’s still left on the counter. “N-no. I’ll take them to her at school tomorrow.” She decided while putting everything into a small bag.
With a somber expression and tone, Kagayama searched for something comforting to say. Nothing came. “Okay. I’ll see you around then, kiddo.”
“Y- yeah. I’ll see you.” Sora didn’t match her gaze and just collected her items and left. The moment the door closed behind her, Sora began to bawl. Tears streamed down her face, and she ran. The town was no maze, and thankfully, her home was fairly close to the Dagashi shop.
The door to Sora’s home burst open with a loud clatter. Down the hall and to the right, her mother called out. “Welcome home, sweetheart. How was-” She stopped asking once she heard footsteps stomping up the stairs. “Sora..?”
Sora’s mother cautiously followed up the stairs after her daughter a few moments later. “Sora..?” Her mother called while softly knocking on the door. The wooden raps did little to drown out the weeping of the young girl. “Did something happen at school?”
“Just leave me alone.” A breathless voice called back. “I don’t wanna talk to you!” She cried between gasps of air.
“Sweetie…” Her mother called out while opening up her bedroom door. Sora was collapsed, face down on her bed, shoving her face into her pillow and gasping for breath.
“Get out!” She screamed. “I said I didn’t wanna talk to you! Just leave me alone!”
This aggressive rejection wounded her mother, making her flinch for just a moment. “I… Sora…” Her voice wavered for a moment, but she held as steady as she could. She walked over and sat next to her daughter's bed, and patted her back. “I know first days are hard. I remember when I started middleschoo-”
“You don’t get it!” Sora lifted herself off her pillow and stared at her mother with puffy red eyes. “You went to the Fuyonouso school for human girls!” Sora slammed her face back into her pillow and gasped for breath.
“Oh.” Deep down, Sora’s mother already knew what this was about, she just hoped it wasn’t. “Sora…” Her mother climbed onto the bed and lay next to her daughter. She hugged her tightly for a minute without saying a word. Sora didn’t stop crying, but it did slow down a little.
“I know how hard it is, honey. I was a human living in the densest concentration of Kumo in the world for thirty years. Every time I stood in a line, someone cut in front of me. Anytime some woman was having a bad day, they would scream or swear at me.” Sora didn’t respond, but instead of full-on bawling, she was only sniffling now. “I was ten years old when war broke out with Ulster Gaelia, and people would throw their drinks at me. They all looked at me like I was their enemy.”
Between sniffles, a very meek. “I’m sorry.” Came from Sora’s pillow.
“It’s okay, sweetie.” Her mother squeezed her one more time before petting her head softly. “I’m telling you this because I want you to know you’re not alone. No matter what happens out there, when you come home, I’m always going to be here, and I’m always going to be on your side. I promise.”
“You have to pinky promise.” Sora almost whispered between hiccups.
Her mother chuckled gently. “Then you have to give me one of your hands, sweetheart.” She reached for one of her hands from its vise-like grip upon the pillow. “Pinky promise.”
“Pinky promise,” Sora repeated as her mom kissed the back of her head. The two lay in bed together for a few minutes without another word. Sora’s mother just softly petted her daughter’s head over and over until Sora sat up. “M- mom?”
“Yeah, sweetie?” Her mother sat up with her and met her gaze with a kindly smile.
“Why do we stay here?” Sora choked after she asked.
Her mother’s face twisted. “What do you mean?”
“Why,” Sora’s eyes began to tear up once more. “Why do we stay here when only terrible things seem to happen here?” After finishing her question, she broke down again and fell into her mother’s bosom.
“Oh, Sora…” Trying to stay strong, her mother held her daughter close. “Not only bad things happen here. There are some bad days, a lot even, but without a second thought, more of them are good than bad.”
“But you just said all that bad stuff you had to go through.” Sora clenched her mother’s arms as tightly as she could. “It's so bad here. They all want us to leave, so why don’t we?”
“Because no one gets to decide what’s best for us but us.” Her mother explained. “This is our home just as much as it is theirs. They don’t get to decide that it isn’t. This is where I gave birth to the love of my life, and I will not let that go ever. We’re just as much Kumo as everyone else.”
“It’s… it’s just so hard, Mom.” Sora cried.
“I know. I know it's hard, honey.” She agreed. “But every day, it gets a little easier, and that’s what makes us strong. Remember then note I left you in your lunch?”
Sora looked away, feeling a bit guilty. She reached into her dress pocket and pulled out the folded sheet of paper. “I… got a bit embarrassed and stuffed it away when I was eating lunch with everyone.”
“Eating with everyone?” Her mother’s voice beamed with intrigue. “I thought today was terrible.”
Sora laughed and hiccuped. “It wasn’t at first. I was really nervous at first, but there was another girl my age I got along with. I helped her with a math problem even though I didn’t know how to solve it at first. We worked on it together, and we got it.”
“That’s my girl!” Her mom cheered.
“Then she invited me to eat with the other five kids when lunch came.”
“There are really only six other kids in your class?”
“There are only six other kids in the school!” Sora laughed for a second. “There’s a six and twelve-year-old in my class now!”
“How does that work?” Her mom scoffed.
“I’m still not sure,” Sora answered. “We just did workbooks today.”
“So, honey, what happened that made the day bad?” She asked carefully.
“Well, um. One of the girls, Nao-sen, she’s the six-year-old, invited me to go to the dagashi shop with Sakurai-kan, the girl my age. We were having fun until her mom came in.” Sora’s voice started to shake just a little. “She started yelling at Sakurai about hanging out with… with me. She looked really scared.”
“You’re the sweetest girl in the world.” Her mother cooed and hugged her tightly.
“Huh?” Sora questioned, her brows furrowing. “What do you mean?”
“Some lady barges in and starts yelling about you, and your first concern is a friend you just made.” Sora’s mom squeezed once and kissed her forehead.
Sora giggled just a bit. “Her mom was so scary. Not like you at all.”
“I wonder if Sakurai-kas is feeling as bad as you are now.” She pushed just a bit.
Sora thought about that for a moment and leaned into her mom. “Nuh-uh. She probably feels worse. I bet her mom yelled at her even more when she got home.”
“You’re so kind, Sora.” Her mother beamed. “I have an idea, why don’t you write her a letter? Let her know you still wanna be friends, that she can always confide in you, and stuff like that.”
“I really like that idea, mom!” Sora cheered. “I’ll do it right away.” The girl hopped out of her bed and began to dig through her backpack for her pencil case and a piece of paper.
“Good girl.” Her mom patted her head a stood up. “I’ll go get your dinner ready while you work, okay?”
“Thanks, mom. I love you.” Sora smiled, her eyes still red, but the tears were gone.
After an hour of writing, Sora only lost focus when her mom placed a plate in front of her. “Jeez Sora, I’ve been calling you for ten minutes.” Her mother said with a chuckle. On the plate were fried chicken rice balls.
“Ah! I’m sorry mom!” Sora cried.
“No, no, it's okay. I’m very proud of you. Keep going, but make sure to eat, alright?” Her mom smiled as she left the room.
Sora worked on her letter for the next few hours until her mom walked in to see her asleep at her desk. Crouching down, her mom kissed her cheek and whispered. “Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.” Moving with care, she picked her daughter up and cautiously lifted her over to her bed.
Sora woke up early the next morning and was out the door with the sunrise. With a big smile on her face, she waved to her mom with her lunch in her other hand. “Bye mom! I’ll see you tonight!”
At the bus stop, as if she was waiting for her, was the arrowhead orb-weaver Kumo named Ayaka Sakurai. Sora’s heart pounded like a jackhammer in her chest as she walked up to her. “I… Um… Sakurai-kan.” She quickly dug into her backpack and pulled out the letter she had spent the entire night writing. “P- please read this.”
The Kumo girl took the note and looked at it for a moment and then back to Sora. “Just leave me alone, Honada-kas.” In three swift tears, Sakurai destroyed the letter and tossed it to the ground. With the shreds of the letter, so too went Sora’s heart.
The other Kumo showed up together. Nao was giggling and holding Kei’s hand. Once she saw Sora, she began running. “Sora-sen!” She called out with a song in her heart.
Sora looked away, tears spilling once more from her eyes to the floor. “I- I forgot something. I gotta go.” She barely managed to whisper before sprinting as fast as her two legs would carry her away. Sora didn’t show up to school that day. Nor the next.
The students attending were Nao Ishiwatari, a pink-toe-tarantula Kumo, age six; Chinatsu Kuramoto, a tiger-wolf Kumo, age eight; the Minami twins Yuina and Honami, both southern black widow Kumo, age nine; Ayaka Sakurai, an arrowhead orb-weaver Kumo, age ten; and Kei Kuramoto, a tiger-wolf Kumo, age twelve.
The morning started as it usually did. Kei was head down on his desk, fully asleep with drool dripping down his arm. Ayaka was already nose-deep into today's workbook, trying to get a head start on the day's lesson. Chinatsu was trying to quietly unwrap a piece of chocolate she had gotten from a dagashi shop the other day. Nao was staring out the window until she heard the crinkling of Chinatsu’s wrapper, at which point Nao was tapping her pedipalps over and over in front of her desk. “Chinni-sennnn! C’mon pleeease? Egawa-kensi always says we should shaaaaaaare. Please gimmie just onee?”
“I only have one Nao-kas!” Chinatsu barked back in a hushed yell. “Be quiet! You’re gonna get me in trouble.”
“You’re not supposed to bring candy to school, Kuramoto-kas.” Ayaka had looked up from her workbook, her eyebrows twitching in annoyance. “Kensi’s gonna get mad.”
This time, Kei spoke up. “Hah. When was the last time Egawa-kensi got mad at anyone besides Yuina or Honami?” His voice was tired and lazy, and the moment he stopped speaking, his one eye he’d open to speak, shut, and his face planted back into his desk in restful sleep.
“She yells at you every day. You just sleep through it, Kuramoto-kan.” Ayaka tried to snap fast enough for him to hear before he could fall back asleep. With a sigh, Ayaka looked back. “Chinatsu-kas, can’t you make sure your brother actually sleeps at night? What’s he doing all day that he’s always exhausted once he gets here?”
“How should I know, Ayaka?” Chinatsu questioned while sneaking her candy into her mouth as the topic had turned away from it. “Mom’s all gungho about the harvest.” She spoke with her mouth full of chocolate and put her hands above her shoulders. “Maybe he’s been helping out too much.”
Ayaka rolled her eyes and buried her nose back into her book. “Aya ayaa!” After giving up on getting candy from Chinatsu, Nao skittered over to Ayaka’s desk. “Will you take me to Kagayama’s after school?”
“I have to study for next week's test Nao-sen. I don’t have time to take you to the dagashi shop. I bet Yuina and Honami will take you. I’m sorry.” Ayaka patted Nao’s head with a half-hearted smile.
Nao frowned and looked around the room. “But they’re not even hereee. Please, Ayakaa, it's only a little ways from the bus stop. Pretty pretty pretty, please?”
“If I say yes, will you let me study?” Ayaka conceded.
With a quick nod, Nao responded. “Mhm! I promise!” A satisfied smile graced the young girl's face as she skittered back to her desk.
The sliding door of the classroom opened, and their teacher, Meo Egawa, walked in. Meo was a Triangulate Cobweb Kumo with slick black hair that just reached her shoulders. “Good morning, children.” She called out in a calm singsongy voice. As her eyes scanned the room, she frowned. “Where are Yuina and Honami?”
To answer her question, the Minami twins burst into the room together, entirely out of breath. “Sorry we’re late!” Yuina, the taller of the two, called out.
“It’s her fault! It was her turn to make breakfast, and she didn’t cook the rice.” Honami snapped, shoving Yuina forward.
“Because you kept me up all night with that stupid book!” Yuina growled.
Honami grabbed her sister's hair and glared into her eyes. “Cuz you begged me to read it to you idiot!”
“Hey! Enough!” Egawa called out. “Just take your seats so we can get started.” Grumbling, the twins went to their seats and hung their backpacks on their desks. “Alright, now that everyone’s here, I have an important announcement for everyone.” This got everyone’s ears to perk up, as typically Egawa would’ve just had them get started on their workbooks and bury her own nose in whatever light novel she was obsessed with this week.
“Today, we have a new student.” Before she could get another word out, the kids burst out in excitement and began chittering between themselves. Even Ayaka joined in on the conversation. Egawa clapped twice and held up her hand until everyone’s attention was back on her. “I expect all of you to treat our new student with kindness and respect. With that said, why don’t you come on in and introduce yourself.”
Egawa gestured towards the door she had left open. Everyone’s eyes locked on the young girl who walked in. She was short, extremely short. Standing only at five feet tall, she could almost be classified as a dwarf in Kumosenkan if not for one mitigating factor. She was human. Immediately all the Kumo girls began whispering to each other.
“She’s human?!”
“I’ve never seen a human in real life before.”
“What’s a human doing in Nakatsugawa?!
“Are all humans that small?”
“There’s no way she’s really our new classmate, right?”
“Enough now.” Egawa clapped her hands again. “Honada-kas, please introduce yourself.”
The human girl was noticeably shaking. She clutched her lunchbox tightly and stared directly at the floor. Her hair was curly golden blonde, rolling well down her back. The dress she wore was a pastel pink with frills. Her red leather backpack clung to her tight as a vice grip and shook as she did.
With a bow at a full ninety degrees, the girl began to introduce herself. “M- my name is Sora Honada.” Her voice was meek and shaky; even when she pulled up from her bow, her eyes remained on the floor. “I- I’m ten years old, and I’m in fifth grade. I m- moved here from Fuyonouso. I hope we ca- can get along.”
The class was still stunned by the fact that there was a human in the room with them and even more that she spoke Shusuguris perfectly. Once the children realized Egawa was glaring at them, they all responded together. “I hope we can get along.”
“Alright, everyone. Your exams begin next week, so please work on your assigned workbook pages. If you have any questions, I’ll be up front all day.” Egawa announced to the rest of the class. She offered a smile to Honada and handed her a stack of paper books.
Honda took the workbooks in her left hand and clutched her lunchbox in her right. All eyes still fell on her as she began to make her way toward the only open desk in the room. As Honada made her way to the back of the room, it felt like sand filled her legs. Once she reached the available desk, she frowned at the cushion on the floor. “Uh… um. Egawa-kensi. Is there a chair I can use?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Honada-kas. I’ll see if I can go find one.” The teacher stood up from the desk she had just sat and began to head out. “Everyone be on your best behavior; I’ll be right back.”
Once Egawa had left, Honada hung her backpack on her desk and set her lunchbox and workbooks down. With a pounding heart, she looked over at her desk neighbor and tried to smile and wave. Ayaka Sakurai looked back at her with a crooked expression. “Is, is that a Princess Reito lunchbox?”
“Y-yeah!” Honda grabbed it and held it out for Ayaka to see. It was a simple metal lunchbox with an embossed picture of Princess Reito in a yukata waving. “She’s really popular in Fuyonouso.” Her voice picked up a little.
“Isn’t she popular everywhere?” Honami interjected a bit coldly. “I mean, she’s the princess, right?”
“Y-yeah.” Honada answered. The tiny amount of light that had found its way into her voice was now gone. “I guess that’s true. S-sorry.”
Ayaka went back to her book but kept talking. “Why are you apologizing?”
“F- for thinking liking Princess Reito would be interesting and bothering you,” Honda answered and just stood behind her desk, staring at her unopened workbook and clutching at the frills of her dress. “I’m sorry.” A lump in her throat choked up her words.
“It's fine,” Ayaka answered without looking up, continuing to work on her math.
“You really have a Reito Lunchbox?” Honda had to look up to see who was talking, and she was the young pink-toe-tarantula Kumo standing in front of her desk. The young girl’s hands rested on the desk with her head looked up at Honada.
Honada couldn’t match the first grader’s gaze but still tried to engage. “Uh-huh. Do you wanna see?” While Nao nodded, Honada handed the box over.
“Woooww! She looks so pretty!” Nao cheered with a bright smile at the box.
“R- right?!” Honada perked up just a little again. “I used to have a little charm of her on my backpack, but I lost it.”
“Aww!” Nao looked up and frowned. “I’m sorry, Honada. Do you wanna go look for it?”
Honada laughed a little. “No, no. I lost it a while ago. I don’t think we can find it.”
“Oh… okay.” Nao’s frown deepened. “I’m really sorry.”
“It’s really okay! Don’t worry about it.” Honada assured.
“Do they have lots of stuff like this in Fuyonouso?” Nao asked once again, smiling at the lunchbox.
“Mhm!” Honada cheered. “All my favorite shops had Princess Reito stuff!”
“Woah. The city is awesome, huh?” Nao giggled. “One time Ayaka went to Komoro, and she brought home a Princess Reito poster! She made us all come over to see it.”
“Shut up, Nao-sen!” Ayaka called out, her cheeks reddening a bit. “I’m not into childish stuff like that anymore!”
“Don’t you still have that poster hung up above your desk?” Honami teased.
“I said shut up!” Ayaka jeered, thoroughly flustered. “My mom bought it for me, so it’d be a waste not to hang it up.”
“Liking Princess Reito is childish?” Honada asked, feeling a bit uneasy. “All the kids in my old school loved her. Even the sixth graders.”
“Woaah, really?” Nao chimed in again. “Sixth graders in the city like Reito and Ayaka doesn’t. Does that mean she’s not fashionable?”
Honada waved her hands in front of her face. “I- I’m sure Ayaka is-”
“Don’t call me Ayaka.” She interjected pretty harshly.
Honada flinched. “Right. I’m sorry. I don’t know your last name.”
“She’s Ayaka Sakurai! She’s in fifth grade.” Nao pointed at Ayaka. “That’s Kei Kuramoto. He’s a sixth grader, and that’s his sister Chinatsu! She’s a third grader.”
As Nao pointed over at the Minami twins, they spoke for themselves. “I’m Honami Minami, her older sister.”
“By thirty seconds!” Yuina Protested. “I’m Yuina Minami. We’re in fourth grade.”
“I’m Nao Ishiwatari! I’m in first grade!” Nao cheered. “You can call me Nao-sen since that’s what everyone calls me.”
“Oh, thank you, Nao-sen!” Honada smiled and patted the young girl on the head. “You can call me Sora if you like.”
While smiling, Nao looked up at Honada and asked, “Are you really a human?”
“Nao!” Ayaka yelled. “That’s rude. You can’t just ask that.”
“No, no! It's okay.” Honada assured. “I’m sure it's really w-weird to have a human join your class.” She took a few deep breaths before continuing. “M-my mom got a job out here, so I had to move schools.”
“Where’d you come from, Sora-sen?” Nao asked
“Huh? From Fuyonouso. I thought I said.” Honada responded, a bit confused.
“She means originally. Where were you, like, born?” Ayaka tried to clarify.
“Eh? I was born in Fuyonouso. I lived there my whole life so far.”
All of the Kumo collectively looked at her, confused. “But, where did your parents come from?”
“My dad’s from Attatyuki, but mom was born in Fuyonouso too.”
“Where did your family move to Kumosenkan from?” Kei finally chimed in.
This didn’t clear up Honada’s confusion. “N... nowhere? We’ve always lived here.”
Before the group of Kumo could speak out a collective “Really?” Egawa returned to the room. “Alright, enough chit-chatting. Get back to your workbooks.” She was carrying a chair very clearly designed for a Kumo. It was large and cupped, so the eight legs hung off either end, with absolutely no back support. “Will this be alright for now? It’s all I could find.”
“Y- yeah, that’s fine. Thank you, Egawa-kensi.” Honada awkwardly climbed into the seat. Once she got up, she tried to put her legs in the middle of two of the four on the left side of the chair and slid way back into the seat until just her ankles were hanging off the edge. After attempting and failing to scoot her chair forward so she could work, Honada decided to just stand at her desk.
For the next few hours, all the students tried to keep busy working to prepare for the next week’s exams. Everyone threw casual glances at Honada, and Honada anxiously peeked around the room, feeling the pressure on her. Her heart pounded in her chest, making it incredibly hard to focus on the work in front of her. But while peeking, she noticed Ayaka jamming her pencil into the workbook.
“Um, are you okay Sakurai-kan?” Honada asked, trying to distract herself from her own discomfort, both from the social situation and from hunching over a desk.
“I’m fine!” She growled, gnashing her teeth back and forth.
Honada walked over to Ayaka’s desk and looked at the problem she was working on. “If you need help, I’m really good at math. Is it okay if I help you?”
“If you insist. I doubt you can help since this problem is basically impossible.” Ayaka complained and turned the book towards Honada.
“Oh, you’re right. This one’s really hard,” Honada affirmed. It was a three-digit number multiplied by another three-digit number. Because of the move, Honada was a bit behind and had never solved a problem of this level before. Still, she could apply what she had already learned, she walked through the problem with Ayaka, and they figured out the solution together.
“So it’s… forty-nine-thousand, twenty-two?” Ayaka asked once she had solved it, hoping to compare it with Honada. In truth she was hoping to show up Honada.
“Yep! That’s what I got too!” Honada smiled brightly over at Ayaka while still hunched over her own desk.
Ayaka smiled a bit. “Should we go check with Egawa-kensi?”
“Mhm! Sure!” Honada cheered.
Both girls walked from their desks up front, and Ayaka asked their teacher to check their work on the problem. “Wow, Ayaka, great job, you’ve really improved.”
“Um, actually Honada-kan helped me.” Ayaka spoke a bit meekly.
“Then I should be congratulating you, Honada-kas. It's your first day, and you’ve already done a better job teaching Sakurai-kas math than I have.” Egawa joked. She softly patted Honada’s head and then stood up. “Alright, everyone, let's take a break for lunch!”
As the two girls walked back to their desks, Honada spoke up again. “Um, you can just call me Sora if you want.”
“Isn’t it a bit early for that?” Ayaka questioned.
“Y-you don’t have to! I’m just saying you can.” Honada continued, once again tightly gripping the frills of her dress. “I’d- I’d like to be friends with you, Sakurai-kan.”
“You’re pretty bold, aren’t you?” Ayaka laughed a little and joined the rest of the Kumo, who had pulled their desks together for lunch.
“M- mom says it's my best feature,” Honada responded, trying to sound confident. That quickly wavered as she saw the six Kumo already sitting together. Defeated, she sat at her desk and pulled out her lunchbox.
“Sora-sen!” Nao called out. “Aren’t you gonna eat with us?”
“Yeah, c’mon, Sora-sen.” Ayaka echoed with a smile, waving her over.
Sora perked up again. “Really? I can join you guys?”
Yuina and Honami shared an odd look. “Well yeah? Why wouldn’t you?”
“Okay!” Sora cheered and pushed her desk to join in on their impromptu dining table. Everyone had already started eating their bento lunches. Sora opened up hers, and on top of everything was a small piece of paper. A note from her mom. Embarrassment quickly flashed across Sora’s face as she snatched the paper and stuffed it into one of her pockets.
The note probably would’ve gone unnoticed if not for that, but now all eyes were once again on Sora. “What was that?” Yuina pressed.
“N- nothing! Just…” Sora tried to think on her feet, but it certainly wasn’t her forte. She stumbled over her words for a few more moments before speaking again. “Just the paper that covers my bento!”
This assuaged no one's bewilderment. “Paper that… what?” Honami asked. “Is this your first time having a bento lunch?”
“No! It’s… all the rage in Fuyonouso.” Sora tried sounding confident as she held up a finger and nodded. “It helps keep your food fresh.”
“Alright,” Ayaka confirmed. “What’ve you got?” The Kumo asked, peeking over into the box.
“Oh, I’ve got hamburger steak!” Sora answered with a smile. “It's my favorite. My mom made it for me this morning.”
“Aww, lucky!” Nao cried. “I got sandwiches.”
“Do you want some of mine, Nao-sen? I’ll share with you.” Sora offered.
“Really?! Yes please!” Nao reached out with her chopsticks, and Sora passed over half of one of her hamburger steaks. “Aaah! So goood! Your mom’s the best cook ever!”
“Is it really that good, Nao-sen?” Ayaka asked, intrigued.
“Mhm! The best!” She nodded, her mouth still half full of hamburger.
Ayaka frowned. “Aww. I want some.”
Sora joined in on the frown as she had already taken a bite out of the second steak. “Do you want the other half of what I gave Nao-sen? I’d be happy to share with you, Sakurai-kan.”
“No, it’s okay.” Ayaka shook her head. “You can call me Ayaka, by the way. I’m sorry for telling you not to earlier.”
“It's fine! You don’t have to apologize, Ayaka-sen.” Sora smiled. “Um, if you really want some hamburger steak, do you wanna come over to my house for dinner? I bet I could ask my mom to make it.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Sora.” Ayaka waved. “I don’t like hamburger that much.”
“Isn’t hamburger your favorite, Ayaka?” Chinatsu interjected.
Ayaka slapped her forehead. “Chinatsu, I’m trying to be considerate here.”
“You don’t have to be considerate!” Sora blurted out. “I mean. You don’t have to go either if you don’t wanna. But I bet my mom would be thrilled if you came over.”
“Oh, okay. Then sure, Sora, that sounds like fun. I’d love to go.” Ayaka answered with a smile.
“Sora-seeen, I wanna go tooo!” Nao cried out. “I want more hamburger!”
Sora chuckled. “Of course, you’re invited too, Nao-sen. All you guys are if you wanna come.”
“That sounds nice,” Kei answered, lazily stuffing rice into his mouth. “But Chinatsu and I have to get home right after school to help with the harvest.”
“Our mom’s pretty strict.” Yuina continued. “We have to ask a week ahead to hang out at someone else’s house.” Honami nodded along.
“That’s alright. Maybe next time?” Sora opened up. “Anytime you guys wanna come over, just let me know.”
“Oh! Sora-sen!” Nao called out. “If I’m gonna go to your house, will you come with me and Ayaka to the Dagashi shop? Ayaka promised to buy me some candy!”
“I did not! I said I’d take you. I never said I’d buy you anything.” Ayaka snapped back, lightly slapping her head to scold her.
“Ayakaaaa please!” Nao pleaded with her hands pressed together.
“I’ll buy you something, Nao-sen,” Sora promised softly.
Nao cheered. “Yaay! Thank you, Sora-sennn!”
“Alright, everyone!” Egawa called out. “That’s lunch. Let's get back to work now.”
“Okaay!” Everyone called out and began to get their desks back into their regular positions and clean up their lunches.
The rest of the school day continued without any incident. “Alright, everyone, good work today. I’ll see you first thing tomorrow. Honada-kas, are you ready to head home?”
As Sora was putting her workbooks into her backpack, she answered. “Actually, I’ll take the bus with everyone. If that’s okay.”
“Are you sure?” Egawa asked. “Do you know how to get home from the bus stop?”
“Mhm!” Sora assured as she put on her backpack. “I’m sure I can figure it out.”
“I’ll help her out, Egawa-kensi,” Ayaka assured the teacher.
“Me too!” Nao called out. “I’ll help Sora!”
Egawa and Sora both smiled. “Alright then, have a good night, everyone.”
All the kids left the school together. Ayaka led everyone over to a metal signpost with a picture of a bus on it. “How often does the bus come?”
“It only comes when school starts and school ends,” Kei answered. “It’ll be here in ten minutes or so.”
“Isn’t it a public transit bus, though? Doesn’t it have a like, usual route?” Sora questioned.
“Yeah.” Chinatsu answered. “It goes to other places during the day. It just takes us here when we need to.”
Once the bus arrived, it was only a short fifteen-minute ride to the stop in the middle of Nakatsugawa. Once all the kids got off, the bus slowly drove off. The Minamis and Kuramotos were quick to head off. “See you guys tomorrow!” Sora cheered, waving as high as she could.
Each of the kids returned a meek wave back before disappearing into the town. “Soraaaa, let's gooo!” Nao cried out before grabbing the human’s hand. Despite being four years younger than Sora, because Nao was a Kumo, she was still a few inches taller than Sora.
Sora laughed and happily went along with the young Kumo, and Ayaka was not far behind. Kagayama’s Dagashi Shop was only a few blocks away. The building was old, and like every other building in town, it was mainly wood and paper. It was two stories high and had big windows letting the fall sun into the store.
Once the trio walked in, the owner initially greeted them quite cheerily. “Nao-sen! Good to see you!” She was a bit on the older side, her hair already starting to grey, and she recoiled just a bit upon seeing the human with them. “Who… who’s this?”
“I’m Sora Honada. I go to school with Nao and Ayaka now. It's a pleasure to meet you.” Sora bowed again in a staunch formal greeting.
“I’m Kaede Kagayama. I own this place.” She looked the human up and down carefully. “Are you new? I don’t think I know any humans that live here.” Intentional or not, Kagayama put a noticeable emphasis on ‘humans.’
“Mhm!” Sora tried to answer with a smile. “It’s my first day here.”
“Kagayama-kama is so cool! She used to live on a battleship! And kick human butt!” Nao cheered and lept into a forced hug with the woman.
“Nao!” Ayaka called out in protest. Kagayama cringed and gave a wary eye to Sora.
Sora looked at Kagayama with her mouth slightly agape. “You’re a veteran?”
“Y- yeah. I am.” She answered with her lips pursed and eyebrows ruffled.
“That’s, that’s amazing, Ma’am.” Sora bowed again. “Thank you for your service and for keeping all of us safe.”
Kagayama relaxed and smiled just a bit, the wrinkles on her face shifting along. “It was my honor to serve the Empress.”
“Kamakama, Sora said she’d buy me stuff! You got anything new?” Nao cheered.
The older woman chuckled. “You just made a new friend, and you’re already extorting her with your cuteness, huh?” She patted Nao on the head.
Nao looked confused. “What’s extorting mean?”
“Hehe. Nothing, don’t worry about it, Nao-sen. We just got some Sumiyoshi gum. It changes flavor as you chew it.” The shop owner handed the little Kumo a rectangular paper package with a cute cartoon chick character on it.
Easily distracted as all six-year-olds are, Nao grabbed the pack and cheered. “That’s so cooooool! Sora, can I get it?!”
“Mhm! You can get whatever you like, Nao-sen.” Sora answered with a smile.
“Can I even get two things?” Nao asked, looking up at Sora with eight gleaming puppy dog eyes.
“Sure! Even two things!” Sora giggled. “You too, Ayaka. Whatever you like.”
“Thanks, Sora.” Ayaka smiled just a bit. “That’s really generous of you.” She then went to explore about the store to choose her snacks.
Sora did the same but froze when she saw the big glass door in the back. “You have a refrigerator here?!” Running up to it revealed dozens of cold drinks. “No way! You have Ramune! I thought I had to let that go when I moved out here.”
“Yeah. I just had that installed last month.” Kagayama commented. “I thought it’d be a lot more expensive than it was.”
While Kagayama was talking, Sora had grabbed three bottles. On her way to place the bottles on the counter, she grabbed a box of pocky as well. Nao had grabbed a bag of chocolates to go along with her gum, and Ayaka had grabbed a bag of chips as well as soy sauce rice crackers.
“You’re gonna drink THREE Ramunes?!” Nao questioned with absolute bafflement on her face.
Sora couldn’t help but laugh. “No! No, two of them are for you guys.”
“Sora, isn’t this too much?” Ayaka asked
She shook her head. “My mom gave me some extra money in case I made friends!”
“Your mom sounds really nice, Sora-sen.” Ayaka smiled. “Next time, I’ll buy you something, okay?”
Sora’s smile widened all the way across her face. “Y- yeah! That would be great!” She was less excited about the prospect of getting something in return and more about Ayaka wanting to hang out with her again.
“Is that all?” Kagayama asked, totaling up all the items everyone had brought up. “That’ll be a hundred and thirty-five yairen.”
“Can you make change for a five hundred piece?” Sora asked, opening up her small coin purse and placing a single metal coin on the counter.
“Your mom gave you five hundred yairen?!” Ayaka called out. “You’re so lucky.”
“It's just cuz I was starting a new school today!” Sora tried to clarify. “She doesn’t usually give me this much.”
“Well, thank you for sharing it with us. That was really nice of you.” Ayaka smiled
“I should be the one-” Sora was cut off by a sudden shout.
“Ayaka!” Everyone’s eyes turned toward the source of the voice. An older arrowhead orb-weaver Kumo stood at the door of the dagashi shop. “What are you doing here?!”
Sora’s eyes darted between the woman and Ayaka. “M- mom. I… I was just taking Nao-sen to get some snacks.”
“Is that so? You know you’re not allowed to get candy on a weekday Ayaka. And what are you doing here with that?” The woman pointed at Sora.
Sora tried to speak, but her voice caught in her throat. She stumbled several times trying to talk, but Ayaka beat her to it. “Th- that’s Sora Honada. She’s my classmate. She was treating us.”
“I don’t care if she was saving your life!” The woman screamed. “You know you’re not to associate with any fucking humans!” Before anyone could say anything in protest, the woman grabbed Ayaka by the ear. “Nao-sen. I know you’re only six, but you should know better too. Go home right now. I’ll be telling your mother about this.”
Once Ayaka and her mother were gone. Nao was left with Sora. “You should go now, Nao-sen.” Sora’s voice had lost all of its color as she held back tears to speak. “Be safe.”
“Oh. Okay, Sora-sen.” Nao collected her snacks and put them in the bag that Kagayama had offered. Sora put the cold soda into the bag and forced out a smile. “Thank you very, very much, Sora. I’ll see you at school tomorrow!” Nao then launched into a hug. “You’re super nice.”
A few hot tears spilled from Sora’s eyes. “Th- thank you, Nao-sen.”
“Okay! I’m gonna go home now! Bye-bye!” Nao broke off from the hug and waved as she jogged out of the building.
For a moment, Sora couldn’t move. She didn’t until Kagayama offered her a handkerchief. It did well to dry her tears, but it didn’t do much for her heart. “You can return what she picked out if you want, Sora-sen.” The woman offered.
Sora turned to see the two sodas, her snacks, and Ayaka’s still left on the counter. “N-no. I’ll take them to her at school tomorrow.” She decided while putting everything into a small bag.
With a somber expression and tone, Kagayama searched for something comforting to say. Nothing came. “Okay. I’ll see you around then, kiddo.”
“Y- yeah. I’ll see you.” Sora didn’t match her gaze and just collected her items and left. The moment the door closed behind her, Sora began to bawl. Tears streamed down her face, and she ran. The town was no maze, and thankfully, her home was fairly close to the Dagashi shop.
The door to Sora’s home burst open with a loud clatter. Down the hall and to the right, her mother called out. “Welcome home, sweetheart. How was-” She stopped asking once she heard footsteps stomping up the stairs. “Sora..?”
Sora’s mother cautiously followed up the stairs after her daughter a few moments later. “Sora..?” Her mother called while softly knocking on the door. The wooden raps did little to drown out the weeping of the young girl. “Did something happen at school?”
“Just leave me alone.” A breathless voice called back. “I don’t wanna talk to you!” She cried between gasps of air.
“Sweetie…” Her mother called out while opening up her bedroom door. Sora was collapsed, face down on her bed, shoving her face into her pillow and gasping for breath.
“Get out!” She screamed. “I said I didn’t wanna talk to you! Just leave me alone!”
This aggressive rejection wounded her mother, making her flinch for just a moment. “I… Sora…” Her voice wavered for a moment, but she held as steady as she could. She walked over and sat next to her daughter's bed, and patted her back. “I know first days are hard. I remember when I started middleschoo-”
“You don’t get it!” Sora lifted herself off her pillow and stared at her mother with puffy red eyes. “You went to the Fuyonouso school for human girls!” Sora slammed her face back into her pillow and gasped for breath.
“Oh.” Deep down, Sora’s mother already knew what this was about, she just hoped it wasn’t. “Sora…” Her mother climbed onto the bed and lay next to her daughter. She hugged her tightly for a minute without saying a word. Sora didn’t stop crying, but it did slow down a little.
“I know how hard it is, honey. I was a human living in the densest concentration of Kumo in the world for thirty years. Every time I stood in a line, someone cut in front of me. Anytime some woman was having a bad day, they would scream or swear at me.” Sora didn’t respond, but instead of full-on bawling, she was only sniffling now. “I was ten years old when war broke out with Ulster Gaelia, and people would throw their drinks at me. They all looked at me like I was their enemy.”
Between sniffles, a very meek. “I’m sorry.” Came from Sora’s pillow.
“It’s okay, sweetie.” Her mother squeezed her one more time before petting her head softly. “I’m telling you this because I want you to know you’re not alone. No matter what happens out there, when you come home, I’m always going to be here, and I’m always going to be on your side. I promise.”
“You have to pinky promise.” Sora almost whispered between hiccups.
Her mother chuckled gently. “Then you have to give me one of your hands, sweetheart.” She reached for one of her hands from its vise-like grip upon the pillow. “Pinky promise.”
“Pinky promise,” Sora repeated as her mom kissed the back of her head. The two lay in bed together for a few minutes without another word. Sora’s mother just softly petted her daughter’s head over and over until Sora sat up. “M- mom?”
“Yeah, sweetie?” Her mother sat up with her and met her gaze with a kindly smile.
“Why do we stay here?” Sora choked after she asked.
Her mother’s face twisted. “What do you mean?”
“Why,” Sora’s eyes began to tear up once more. “Why do we stay here when only terrible things seem to happen here?” After finishing her question, she broke down again and fell into her mother’s bosom.
“Oh, Sora…” Trying to stay strong, her mother held her daughter close. “Not only bad things happen here. There are some bad days, a lot even, but without a second thought, more of them are good than bad.”
“But you just said all that bad stuff you had to go through.” Sora clenched her mother’s arms as tightly as she could. “It's so bad here. They all want us to leave, so why don’t we?”
“Because no one gets to decide what’s best for us but us.” Her mother explained. “This is our home just as much as it is theirs. They don’t get to decide that it isn’t. This is where I gave birth to the love of my life, and I will not let that go ever. We’re just as much Kumo as everyone else.”
“It’s… it’s just so hard, Mom.” Sora cried.
“I know. I know it's hard, honey.” She agreed. “But every day, it gets a little easier, and that’s what makes us strong. Remember then note I left you in your lunch?”
Sora looked away, feeling a bit guilty. She reached into her dress pocket and pulled out the folded sheet of paper. “I… got a bit embarrassed and stuffed it away when I was eating lunch with everyone.”
“Eating with everyone?” Her mother’s voice beamed with intrigue. “I thought today was terrible.”
Sora laughed and hiccuped. “It wasn’t at first. I was really nervous at first, but there was another girl my age I got along with. I helped her with a math problem even though I didn’t know how to solve it at first. We worked on it together, and we got it.”
“That’s my girl!” Her mom cheered.
“Then she invited me to eat with the other five kids when lunch came.”
“There are really only six other kids in your class?”
“There are only six other kids in the school!” Sora laughed for a second. “There’s a six and twelve-year-old in my class now!”
“How does that work?” Her mom scoffed.
“I’m still not sure,” Sora answered. “We just did workbooks today.”
“So, honey, what happened that made the day bad?” She asked carefully.
“Well, um. One of the girls, Nao-sen, she’s the six-year-old, invited me to go to the dagashi shop with Sakurai-kan, the girl my age. We were having fun until her mom came in.” Sora’s voice started to shake just a little. “She started yelling at Sakurai about hanging out with… with me. She looked really scared.”
“You’re the sweetest girl in the world.” Her mother cooed and hugged her tightly.
“Huh?” Sora questioned, her brows furrowing. “What do you mean?”
“Some lady barges in and starts yelling about you, and your first concern is a friend you just made.” Sora’s mom squeezed once and kissed her forehead.
Sora giggled just a bit. “Her mom was so scary. Not like you at all.”
“I wonder if Sakurai-kas is feeling as bad as you are now.” She pushed just a bit.
Sora thought about that for a moment and leaned into her mom. “Nuh-uh. She probably feels worse. I bet her mom yelled at her even more when she got home.”
“You’re so kind, Sora.” Her mother beamed. “I have an idea, why don’t you write her a letter? Let her know you still wanna be friends, that she can always confide in you, and stuff like that.”
“I really like that idea, mom!” Sora cheered. “I’ll do it right away.” The girl hopped out of her bed and began to dig through her backpack for her pencil case and a piece of paper.
“Good girl.” Her mom patted her head a stood up. “I’ll go get your dinner ready while you work, okay?”
“Thanks, mom. I love you.” Sora smiled, her eyes still red, but the tears were gone.
After an hour of writing, Sora only lost focus when her mom placed a plate in front of her. “Jeez Sora, I’ve been calling you for ten minutes.” Her mother said with a chuckle. On the plate were fried chicken rice balls.
“Ah! I’m sorry mom!” Sora cried.
“No, no, it's okay. I’m very proud of you. Keep going, but make sure to eat, alright?” Her mom smiled as she left the room.
Sora worked on her letter for the next few hours until her mom walked in to see her asleep at her desk. Crouching down, her mom kissed her cheek and whispered. “Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.” Moving with care, she picked her daughter up and cautiously lifted her over to her bed.
Sora woke up early the next morning and was out the door with the sunrise. With a big smile on her face, she waved to her mom with her lunch in her other hand. “Bye mom! I’ll see you tonight!”
At the bus stop, as if she was waiting for her, was the arrowhead orb-weaver Kumo named Ayaka Sakurai. Sora’s heart pounded like a jackhammer in her chest as she walked up to her. “I… Um… Sakurai-kan.” She quickly dug into her backpack and pulled out the letter she had spent the entire night writing. “P- please read this.”
The Kumo girl took the note and looked at it for a moment and then back to Sora. “Just leave me alone, Honada-kas.” In three swift tears, Sakurai destroyed the letter and tossed it to the ground. With the shreds of the letter, so too went Sora’s heart.
The other Kumo showed up together. Nao was giggling and holding Kei’s hand. Once she saw Sora, she began running. “Sora-sen!” She called out with a song in her heart.
Sora looked away, tears spilling once more from her eyes to the floor. “I- I forgot something. I gotta go.” She barely managed to whisper before sprinting as fast as her two legs would carry her away. Sora didn’t show up to school that day. Nor the next.