"Haru-kun, could you pass that box over here?" A young woman wearing black glasses asked the "young boy" close to her with a smile on her face, warmth oozing even as she adjusted her frames rather messily. "I hope it wasn't too much for me to ask you to help with fixing up the Student Council room. You're a friend after all, and…"
Wearing a spiky ponytail, she took off her jacket and put on a chair near her to keep cool during the cleanup. She was handsome, one of the very handsome pretty boy types. This was Namikaze Haru, former boy-turned-girl-turned-boy again thanks to some very convenient shapeshifting powers. This particular transformation was labelled the Kipposhi one thanks to resembling the attire that she had worn during her tenure as The Fool of Owari.
"Nah, don't you worry all too much!" The "boy" remarked to her, smiling all the same despite the strain she was holding onto with nary a sweat. A few hours earlier, the elder girl by roughly a year organized a small event in the room to celebrate her induction into the school almost a decade ago. The rough paperwork and the long trail of excuses they needed to get there in the first place was interesting to say the least, and it was pretty obvious how much they needed to stretch their limits before her life as normal human could have ended for good.
It's been years since that fateful day she turned into a girl, and though Haru was very much inclined towards her more feminine side nowadays, it was the simple fact that they registered her as a guy despite the school not officially becoming coed until a few months back that complicated many, many things. It would be hilarious to write the reason why, but it would take too long. That suited her just fine, however, because over time Haru figured out a new place for herself, with new friends that were both supernatural in nature and totally mundane. She was satisfied, to say the least.
As it was, she had to take a male identity within the school, and the fact that normally it seemed as if Oda Nobunaga was as flat as a board until she went out of her way to increase her bust size made it easier on her to take such an identity, which mind you, was pretty easy to go back into. Well, it didn't matter too much. She'd just turn into a guy when she went to school and it'd have been pretty easy to go incognito as a gorgeous, long-haired and pint-sized girl whenever it was safe to. The transformation wasn't as useful as the Avenger spirit origin, anyway.
She took another box, full of old merchandise from the few weeks of fame that they shared when they participated in that convention a few years back, to a shelf on the corner of the room. A shine sparked to the side, and Haru walked over to the box to see some through it. An old poster of Levia-tan, the Type Redline book that they made such a big fuss about before they realized they could make big bucks out of it, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Volume 28 for… whatever reason.
She saw something else that intrigued her, however, something very familiar. It seemed to be the exact same stick that Sitri-san appeared to be holding before they met. It was slightly bent to the side; its paint began to scratch off and its steel beginning to rust. It made her feel a little melancholic seeing it in such a dilapidated state considering how much she used to associate it with Sona, but it has been years since either of them had seen it after all. She spoke up.
"Sona-san… Wasn't this part of your old costume?" She waved it in front of her, with enough stress to finally dislodge it permanently, at which point she awkwardly tried to stick it back together. "I'm pretty sure you used this all the way back until we were 14, when I dressed up as Prisma Emerald and you as Magical Sitri-san, name pending in those Sentai operations that you and your sister officially sanctioned." She smirked, seeing the dark look on her face. "So, I am right! Why'd you drop the gimmick? I actually liked prancing around that skirt whenever we blasted another evil jackass's face with our magical superpowers."
Sona Sitri breathed deeply, and stood up from her desk. She slowly walked over to Namikaze Haru who now held a rather neutral expression to contrast her menacing one. Huffing deeply, she gave a mocking laugh.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Yes indeed, Haru-kun, you've found me out. That is indeed the very same magical girl gimmick that I stole from my sister." With a dark glint in her eyes, she muttered. "It's the very same. The same design as my elder sister's, in fact, and with the press of a button I could dress up in the same stupid outfit that she made herself all those years ago."
Swiping it straight out of her hands, she squealed. "And I had absolutely no idea where it was, or how it came back to me! So, you're telling me it was here the entire time? I had no idea! Thank you so much, Haru! I lov—. Actually, scratch that part, you might get the wrong idea…"
A gulp, and a confused sigh. "So… Why did it seem like you were so offended by me pointing that out at first? You seem as passionate as you were like when we first met, you know…"
"Oh no, I'm not offended." She took off her glasses in a shoddy attempt to look cool. In Haru's opinion, it just barely worked, but she still looked far too stern to make any lasting effect. "I just grew up." She snapped her fingers, and a shirtless Genshirou Saji took the time to pull up an open electric fan from the other side of the room to give her some air.
With her hair flying in a not-at-all elegant fashion, Sona Sitri shed her mask as the untouchable Student Council president to return to being one of Namikaze Haru's closest friends. That is to say, a chuuni. Evidently some things had to be passed down from sibling-to-sibling, but even this was getting a bit ridiculous.
Coughing on her fist, she put one hand on her chest—though not in that way—and another arm stretched to reach into the beyond. "Because you, Namikaze Haru, refused to grow up, and I have. Do you understand that?" From what she could understand, Sona gave her take on Haru's utter refusal to take down the Gundam figurines (that she got paid for during those operations) that she hung on her wall. Though to be fair, one of those Gunplas cost almost 9000$ in American money, so having such a collector's item would have proved to be a pretty interesting bargaining chip when reselling old figures.
Pausing for a bit, Haru looked down for a moment to consider that. She was right in a way but… Um. She looked back up. "Aren't you the one ordering poor Saji-kun here to give you that anime flying hair thing, though? I mean, you're complaining about me being chuuni still but you're the guy going out of your way to slave your pieces to do such an inane thing at the end of the day."
Mildly miffed, she gave her a look. "Can't you give me some for once? Really, you're not that fun to talk to, Haru-kun. Fine, I'll let him be."
Saji put his shirt back on and went back to dusting the ceilings. Sighing deeply, she continued on, her mature attitude returning relatively quickly. She adjusted her collar and gave her a warm smile.
"Well, you know Haru. I just wanted to go back a bit. Those fun years interacting with you was such a breath of fresh air compared to the dead air I keep getting with all those other Devils who refuse to see me as anything more than the Sitri family's heir. It was fun, you know."
"Yeah… I can understand that. But you know," she smiled. "You can start by letting us do those Sentai exercises again." A blank stare chilled her very soul, but she did her best to ignore the feeling. They went back to their duties afterwards.
Once most of the cleanup was finally complete, Haru breathed deeply while looking at the now cleaned up room.
She looked to her side and saw that everyone else was ready to go home by now with the sun beginning to set in the horizon, and was preparing to go out. Picking up the bag, she was just about to leave the room until she felt a tug on her left sleeve. Looking back, she realized that it was Sona doing it, with a pretty deep blush on her face making her feel a little reserved as well.
Eyebrows raised, she asked Sona. "What is it, Sona? You seem sick right now… Do you need to go to the clinic?" Ignoring the fact that there should logically be no reason for Sona to be sick since she technically has completely different biology to normal human beings, who knew because she certainly didn't, all Haru could do was stare at her and shake her head awkwardly from her perspective.
In any case, she shook her head a little bit more and tried to mouth something. She opened her mouth "Haru, I…" and closed it all the same. She looked up to look at the taller "boy" with a meek look in her eyes. "Haru, I just wanted to tell you that…" They shut once more. The spectacled girl was unable to vocalize her response, too shy to make a decent response on her own.
Blinking a little more, Haru leaned her head to the side while trying to process what was being said. "Sitri-san, if you need some help to walk there, I could—"
"No, no, don't you worry." Smiling weakly, she continued. "Haru, I just want you to go home now. Okay? Take care of yourself."
She breathed in deeply, and walked back to look at the windows. "Don't you worry about little old me?" A watery whip formed in her hand. "I'm warning you now." Though that was fairly halfheartedly.
Getting the hint, Haru picked up the pace and walked as quickly down the hallways to the bottom floor. Sighing, she looks at the stick now stuffed inside of her inner breast pocket. Looking back behind her, she could hear giggling from all of the other students inside of the clubroom. Saji in particular had a grin that could be very well described as shit eating.
Adjusting her glasses, Sona sternly faced away from them all. "It's not that easy to do, you know… she's a close friend and all, but I…"
From the side, observing the awkward exchange, Rias gave her take. "Sona-san, I think it's best that you tell her how you feel straight to her face. You're close, aren't you?"
"Close like siblings. Don't you remember that she went out of her way to ask my elder sister to become her elder sister as well? Honestly." She rubbed her shoulder. "I don't know what else to say to her. She's too hard a nut to crack, especially since she's too focused on her duties nowadays to even focus on anything else at the moment…"
"You'll get her eventually. You don't have to worry."
"I'm not sure what to do if I'm too late, though…"