Airi Vuorinen was running in the halls. This alone was hardly a novel occurrence, although the lack of blue-sashed students appearing thus far was a pleasant surprise. Recently she could swear that they had been following her... which could be a function of her generally making their jobs rather easy, but still. No, the only truly interesting feature of her pell-mell sprint for the doors to take her outside was the only thing she, in her mad dash for freedom, failed to notice as she vaulted down the stairs, long legs taking them in leaps three at a time.

Eyes widening as Airi took in the blue-haired figure bent at the foot of the stairs (wearing a maid's costume... dusting? an incredulous voice observed), she swore to herself and called, "Look out!" as she tried to arrest her momentum, stumbling and finally grabbing the handrail to avoid completely smashing the smaller girl. As it was, her tiny body was pressed between Airi's and the wall, her head just even with the swell of Airi's bosom.

"I'm so sorry!" she gasped out, stepping back. "Are you all right?" While normally abrasive, the Finnish girl had a definite protective streak, and this fragile creature was certainly triggering that. "What were you doing cleaning the steps like that? Is this some kind of detention?"

A simple task that I loved to do for free the school had decided to give me as a campus job and pay me for! Sugoi! I was in heaven, of course they didn't tell me not to wear my favorite outfit to do it in so I had woken up early and thrown it on before even Saffron woke up that morning and went to work cleaning the halls in a maid's outfit; though the skirt of it was a little small, it was still longer than the skirt of the uniform here!

I was simply cleaning the stairs on my knees with a new dust cloth; these stairs hadn't been used in awhile so a dusting was definitely necessary. I took my time until I got halfway down the landing where the stairs turned when I heard a voice call down shouting 'look out!' I had a five second time to look up before I was nearly crushed against a wall with my head caught between the woman's breasts.

"ā , kamisama！ hotondo watashi ga shibō！" ((oh god! you almost killed me!))

I exclaimed catching my breath as best I could as I shivered in the aftershock of terror that came with what had just happened.

"it is alright but may I ask Why are you running through the halls like that???"

I asked after she stepped back before I'd answer her question.

"the school pays me to do it so I can afford the food that isn't offered free... did you know you can buy sushi in the cafeteria if you have a campus job?"

"Ah, well," Airi shrugged. "Impatience, mostly. I've been cooped up inside all day, and wanted to get outside. Usually this staircase is deserted, so the odds of killing someone in a mad dash are pretty low."

Her eyes swept over the maid outfit, a smile pulling at her lips as the full effect of the adorably, innocently sexy ensemble hit her. "I didn't know that, no," she answered. "Do they require you to wear that outfit, or do you just do it for fun? It's very cute on you."

I could never pull it off, she laughed to herself, then tried to picture herself in the small student's outfit. Hm... all right, so I could never pull off the 'innocent' portion of the persona... but I could probably knock a couple people on their asses with the look, all the same, she thought with a grin.

Shaking her head, she said, "Sorry, I don't even know who you are. I'm Airi Vuorinen. Who are you, and what brought you to Shokushu?"

"This outfit? It's my own work. It's always nice to clean in it. they offered me extra money if I wore it. It's like being paid to wear your favorite dress to work!"

I giggled faintly offering a little twirl that sowed off my garter and just a hint of my white and blue stripped panties before I stopped and curtsied to the woman before me even before I was offered a name to call her.

"Airi? That's going to be really strange... I'm Airi Katsuragi!"

I thought simply looking her over for a minute in thought.

she'd be cute in a maid's outfit like mine!

It was the only thought to pass my mind until she finally asked why I was here at shokushu. my smile faded away and I shook my head slightly.

"Can we please not talk about that Vuorinen-chan? It's very painful for me to speak about."

Airi's smile broke into a full laugh as the other Airi performed a little spin- a spin that offered such interesting information as the fact that she was wearing garters and that her panties were striped blue and white- she really is adorable, Airi thought to herself.

The information that Airi was being offered extra pay to wear her maid ensemble gave her pause, as it was creating an uncomfortable pattern of the administration officially condoning objectifying clothes for the students, and her suspicious mind made an intuitive leap: How much do they know about the monsters on this campus? How many hysterical girls do you have to hear from and turn away as crazy before it goes from being a ridiculous rumor to an active cover-up?

Her thoughts taking a dark turn seemed to be mirroring her conversation with the other Airi, whose smile dimmed to a sad expression as she requested a new subject. "Of course," Airi said quickly, "sorry to have brought it up." She conjured a quick smile as she heard the -chan attached to her name, and asked, "Saa, Katsuragi-chan to itte mou ii ka?" [Is it all right if I call you Katsuragi-chan, then?]

Switching back to English, since she'd only learned very basic Japanese since she'd begun studying it at Shokushu, she said, "And you said that this dress is your own work? It looks great on you; I wish I could make something for myself like that, but I can't sew to save my life." She had been in a hurry to get outside and find something fun to do, but she was enjoying chatting with this cute Japanese girl, and any time spent diverting her time from class was an improvement. She didn't know many of the other students well, not having been here long herself; it could be good for her to take time to make friends, instead of throwing herself into her solitary excursions across campus.

"Oh, you can if you really want to but, Airi is fine. Or you can call me Sora if you don't want to sound like you're talking to yourself senpai."

I giggled faintly to her as I placed down the dust cloth before I looked down at my dress and nodded once more to her. I liked making cosplay costumes, even if I didn't make normal clothes, I liked these better; they were soooo much cuter!

"Well I can teach you if you want Or I can make you clothes. I have a copy of this dress I had made for my mom who was about your size. you can have it if you want to."

Of course, the skirt might be a little short on this girl but, I didn't think it would make a difference to her at all. it would only be cuter showing off a little bit more leg.

A light beeping could then be heard and I looked at my pocket watch smiling to the taller Airi with a nod.

"We can go get something to eat if you'd like and talk more. My shift is over! Sushi? my treat?"

Airi laughed again, her mouth twisting into a wry smile as she agreed, "That might be good. As for teaching me to sew... past experience says that that wouldn't go over well. Aside from my total lack of skill, I don't sit at tasks like that very well for long periods of time."

She paused in surprise at the offer, considering that she had just met Airi... Sora. Sora seemed sensitive about her past, though, so she skipped that inquiry delicately, saying instead, "That's a generous offer, but since I really don't know when I'd actually wear it, I wouldn't want to take something that used to be your mother's-"

A quiet beeping interrupted Airi, and she responded to the invitation with an affable nod. "Sure, the combination of good conversation and free sushi is too much to miss."

"Sugoi!"
I exclaimed taking Airi's hand with a smile and soft giggle before I began quite literally dragging her being me towards the cafeteria the entire time singing in the most beautiful voice a song of one of my favorite idols that I worked with a long time ago. I loved the simple melody of the song. I only stopped to look back to make sure she was following and ask.

"Why not tell me about yourself as we walk Airi?"

I was really trusting, was probably why I'd been raped twice in one day and two more the two days after it, I just was incapable of NOT trusting someone, too innocent. Innocent despite all that had happened to me and all that saffron tried in vain to stuff in my brain.

((http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12UdIg_wIGQ))

Airi laughed in surprise as the smaller girl seized her by the hand and began energetically pulling her towards the cafeteria. She silenced herself as the other Airi burst into song to listen to her voice, something out of a musician's fondest dreams.

Blinking as Sora paused to ask her a question, Airi paused for a second, wondering what to tell the girl. She'd never met someone with such an aura of genuine innocence, and honestly, she wasn't quite sure what to do with it. What could she tell her? "What do you want to know?" she asked, reluctant to revert to her usual persona and wave her spotted past as proudly as she was used to in front of the angelic-voiced girl.

(Cute song, by the way! ^.^)

((one of my favs ^..^))

"I dunno, anythinng really I never judge people, I just like to know about my friends."

I was quick to call people my friend. I still am to some level or another. I continued oto walk with the other Airi getting a few odd glances given I was walking around in a maid's uniform and pulling a much larger girl along with me. it was probably an adorable sight.

"I can start though, I'm from hokaidou japan, and I've never had a meaningful relationship in my life until I got here."

Meh. Airi mentally shrugged at herself, unsatisfied with the answer; it seemed to underline her friend's innocence rather than reassure her that she should tell her her story. It was odd, since normally Airi viewed such wide-eyed naivete as a handicap one was best divested of quickly... but somehow, in this place, she didn't have the heart for it. If she can keep that kind of innocence here... Well, she could just give her story out bit by bit as well, and abridge it on the fly.

"My family's an old Finnish bloodline living in Sweden. They have more money than what's good for them, and more snobbery than that." Airi considered for a moment, and then said, "I suppose I didn't really have any meaningful relationships until England; I got sent to boarding school there when I'd disgraced the family name in too many Swedish private schools."