Back in the present day...

When past Kaguya drifted to sleep is when present Kaguya woke back up. It was but a short flashback, to a very unsavory moment in her life, but it was somewhat cathartic. She felt refreshed, like she just took a long nap. She smiled as her precious silver moon shined before her, reflecting as bright as her mother's warm smile. She sat up and took a long, drawn-out breath in. It felt crisp like the cool autumn morning. She was still inside, but at that moment everything felt so clear, like a veil had been lifted from her eyes. Two tears rolled down her cheeks, one from each eye. She wiped her watery eyes with her sleeves.

"It's been a while, huh? Since I've really stopped to smell the roses," she said aloud to an empty room. She held the moon in front of her, talking to it like it was another person. "Haven't seen you in minute. Sorry, I guess you just... faded into the backround after a while. Something tells me you don't mind all too much. Either way, thanks for that, old friend. I needed it. Say, this would look really weird to anyone looking, wouldn't it? Though I could that about really any point in the last half hour."

She quietly laughed to herself. "Come on, then, we have to go make Mother proud," she told her inanimate accesory as she put it back in her hair. She checked her watch. It was 16:02, 32 minutes after the end of school. She set aside 45 minutes for her meeting with Jehnova, expecting something more grandiose and entertaining than what really happened. It was a little dissapointing to say the least.

Although, when she remembered the way he reached out to her and held her on the way to the infirmary, she couldn't help but blush a little. Her smile got a little wider, her heart beat a little faster, and a very strange feeling came over her. It was a warm feeling, a comforting feeling. It was telling her that it was all okay, because he was there. She couldn't help but think about all their short prior meetings. Before, it was little more than a detour she took in her day. But in the new light of the day's experience, it was... different. Thinking about his gruff voice and his toned muscles made her feel light-headed.

She shook her head and lightly clapped her cheeks twice to bring herself back to reality. She ignored the feeling for the time being, telling herself that she had better things to worry about. She got up, taking a second deep breath in, and then out. She made her way back over to the sink, looking herself in the mirror, finding a disheveled mess. Her hair was matted and unkempt with strands splaying off the usually well-combed blanket, her uniform was crinkled everywhere, and she generally felt like she hadn't groomed herself in days.

Kaguya Fortuna looked herself in the mirror with a twisted mix of fear and disdain. She shakily uttered, "I-Is that... m-me?" She took a step back, hands instinctively moving to stroke her hair, a nervous tick of hers she picked up from her mother. When she felt the hair near her face, however, it was wet. She didn't know why until she looked in the sink. The sink's bowl and outer rim was covered in water. But no one else could've used it recently. As the metaphorical gears in her head began to turn, she looked down to her feet to find a puddle.

It was from that panic episode she had mere minutes ago. And yet, it felt so long ago it had already left her mind. She remembered how aggressively she had tried to wash her face to snap herself awake. But she hadn't fallen asleep. That all really happened. She recalled all the horrid things they... no, the things she told herself. When she ran to take her father's call, the call that snapped her out of... whatever it was she experienced, she was over by the sink. She was so focused on holding up a pretense of composure, she hadn't even tried to process what was going on.

She cupped her hands over her face, then moved them upwards to rub her temples with her palms. She took a long breath in, let out an exasperated groan, turned back to the mirror and slicked her hair back with her hands. "...You don't have time for this. You have somewhere you need to be. You need to get it together. Now. I need to get it together." She sighed and closed her eyes, then clasped her hands together, seemingly in prayer. She chanted to herself, "Placidus. Pacem. Cogita. Audentes fortuna iuvat."