You would think that a girl who'd been raised by nuns and was attending a Catholic school would have been to the Church on the hill more often than once a week.  Hikaru, alas, had not had cause for making this the case as much as one would think.  All of her errands for senpais and senseis had rendered her quite the busy little bee since starting school at Miator not too long ago.  All of the smiles and words of gratitude told her that her efforts were appreciated, and a word of thanks went a long way toward brightening her day.  Slowly but surely she'd even begun to learn more about the place that would be her home for the next few years of her life.  It was actually pretty neat to learn about all the storied history of the stately Miator Girls' Academy, all of the epic tales of girls who had come and gone wearing the green and black.  This was her reason for heading to the Church on a day other than a Sunday.  

Having read a few stories about how girls would go there in times of need or to meet a friend from another class or school, Hikaru thought it would be worth investigating.  The building was beauteous and huge, much more impressive than the humble chapel she'd prayed at back at the orphanage.  For someone like her it might as well have been the Sistine Chapel or St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican for how impressive it was.  Tentatively she'd pushed the door open with a gentle touch, afraid that anything more might cause harm to the elaborate exterior.  Obviously the angels who watched over the place would frown at any such damage from a girl who was attending a fancy ladies' school.  Once she was inside she thought she heard something odd - a recorder?  Here?  Odd, that.  Hikaru moved deeper into the seemingly endless church to look for the source of the recorder music.  It drifted lightly on the air, guiding her ever so softly toward the girl who was performing it.  She looked almost Hikaru's age and had pigtails, which came across as really cute to the Miator newcomer.  Maybe this was someone she could make a friend with?  For a bit she just hummed along with the tune the girl was playing before risking a tap to the shoulder.

"Um.. hello there.  I heard you playing.. um.. wait, I mean, it was really pretty so I wanted to find whoever was playing and.." she began to speak, then bowed in introduction, "My name is Hikaru, it's nice to meet you?" Somehow her greeting had turned into a question, such was the girl's nervousness at the encounter.

It was time for an adventure.
Ruri was tired of the same old boring classes all the time, and she needed something to spice up her life.
So, and adventure was in order. But the question was, where to? She had already hiked through the woods, and gone to the zoo, and done lots of other fun things. So what could she do now? She thought about it for a long time, walking around outside and wondering where she could go. Not shockingly, the pigtailed girl ended up getting lost in thought and when she looked up, she was nowhere near where she had started her journey. Well, look at that. It turned out that while wondering about what to do for an adventure, she had wound up adventuring in the process!

It took her a minute to realize where she was, but quickly took sight of the high steeple reaching up into the sky. Ah, she had appeared at the chapel! Well, she hadn't explored in here before. There was a first time for everything! The small girl walked up to the massive, ornate doors, and after gathering her confidence, walked in. The room inside was huge, filled with stained glass and long rows of benches. The lights were slightly dimmed, with the sunshine gleaming through the windows in rays. This place had the potential to beautiful or spooky, so Ruri kept her guard up. You never knew what could be waiting for you at any moment. She wondered around the room a little bit, before deciding now was an appropriate time to get her recorder out. Maybe she could summon some ghosts, or ward them off. Or maybe there would be animals living in the walls that she could lure out and train. The mystery of it all was the allure! She still wasn't very good at the recorder, but everyday she slowly got better.

While she was playing, she wandered over to a large post on the side of the church and leaned against it, facing the wall. She was positive that if she stayed here long enough, something exciting would happen. Suddenly, something touched her. Eek! The ghosts were here! She jumped a foot in the air, letting out a small screech, and flailed around, grasping her heart. "Hey, you! Ghost! Get away from me.....?"
As the violet haired girl regained her composure, she realized it wasn't a ghost standing in front of her at all, but rather a girl. Someone who looked to be about her age with cute black hair. As the other Miator student gave her introduction, Ruri tilted her head. "Did you come here for an adventure, too? Sorry I thought you were a ghost. My name's Ruri." She paused for a minute. "I'm glad you liked my recorder. I've been practicing alot."

While she was playing, she wandered over to a large post on the side of the church and leaned against it, facing the wall. She was positive that if she stayed here long enough, something exciting would happen. Suddenly, something touched her. Eek! The ghosts were here! She jumped a foot in the air, letting out a small screech, and flailed around, grasping her heart. "Hey, you! Ghost! Get away from me.....?"


Hikaru had already seen her fair share of spooky things on Astraea Hill so the girl's outburst put her on alert.  Previously she had assumed that only the woods were haunted by some kind of spirits, probably mean ones judging by how burnt the big tree by Spica had been.  That was the sort of environment in which vengeful ghosts would probably make their home, trying to avoid the light of day while they stalked their prey.  Did the church have ghosts haunting it as well?  The twintailed purplenette's sudden jump made Hikaru's heart race as she began to panic at that very idea, eyes darting about the vast empty spaces around them.  Not that you could always count on seeing ghosts since they had a nasty tendency to become incorporeal and all that.  As had become a common occurrence her legs began to tremble a bit as she tried to find something to hide behind or under in order to avoid attracting such spirits' attention.  Then, thankfully, the girl stopped freaking out and realized that Hikaru was in fact not a ghost at all.

"A ghost?  Is this place haunted or something?  Here I just thought the woods were haunted, but the church is too?" she asked Ruri fearfully before regaining some of her own composure.

With her legs still trembling a little she said, "Nice to meet you Ruri.. I promise I'm not a ghost.. um.. what do you mean an adventure?  I guess I did come here wanting to explore, so does that count as an adventure?  Your recorder is impressive, actually!  I'm not really any good with music myself."

It seemed like she had scared the raven haired girl quite a bit, so much so that her legs were shaking. Oops. As Ruri caught her breathe, she put her recorder in the pocket of her dress. Hopefully she hadn't scared Hikaru too badly to make her leave, it was always nice to meet new people and make friends. In fact, she was even more excited for this adventure now that she had someone to share it with. That is, if Hikaru decided to join her.

Listening to the girl's questions, she shrugged. "I don't really know if this place is haunted or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was. Ghosts can be anywhere, probably. But I bet ones in a church would be really nice." Her eyes widened as she look at Hikaru in shock. "The woods are haunted?! No way! That's amazing!" Ruri mentally added that on her things to check out list. She noticed the other girl's legs were still shaking, and felt a little bad. She would have to be more careful with her reactions in the future. It was pretty ironic though, that Hikaru scaring Ruri had ended up scaring Hikaru.

With the same blank expression on her face as she had had the entire time, she continued her conversation with the girl. "Sorry for scaring you, Hika-chan. Yeah! Exploring is an adventure! Does that mean we can explore together?" Her eyes lit up at the prospect. "Oh, thanks," she replied. "All I know how to play is the recorder. I like to sing too, but I'm not very good at it. My older sister is though. She used to sing all day and keep me up at night."

"So, what do you think is around here? Hopefully not ghosts, but I bet we could find some really cool stuff! Did you come here with a goal in mind?"

---

{{sorry for the short post, I'm on a time crunch tonight.}}

"Uh-huh, the woods by Spica have ghosts in them - real, actual spirits haunting them!  There's this one big scary tree in there that gets a lot of spirits around it and they don't really like living people to disturb them.  I'm surprised I didn't get possessed or something when I got lost out there," Hikaru responded to Ruri, still afraid at the very thought of the tree.

The orphan transfer student was honestly looking for any indication that the church was not haunted in the scary way the Spican woods were.  She had been convinced by her experiences in those woods that the burned up tree was indeed haunted by spirits without her best intentions in mind.  Some were playfully messing with her, others were genuinely looking to avenge their situation upon the living.  If the magnificent church was also haunted by similar spirits then she might have to find a chapel or something to pray at instead of attending services in the church itself.  Anything would be better than risking being haunted by vengeful spirits when you were trying to pray!  Ruri assured her that the church ghosts, if there were any, would be very nice ones.  Trying not to reflect too much on her experience in the woods she took a deep breath and calmed her mind.  No reason to be afraid if the ghosts here were going to be nice.  Her legs had stopped shaking by the time that the twintailed girl suggested they explore the church together.

"Exploring the church together?  Of course, that sounds like a lot of fun!  And don't worry, I'm just a bit afraid of ghosts and stuff like that," Hikaru responded to Ruri with a smile finally reappearing on her face, "It's still pretty neat that you know how to play an instrument at all, I don't think I could manage that.  Your sister sounds really interesting too.."

Then she pondered the girl's question before shrugging, "I'm not really sure what I came here for today, besides wanting to look around without a big service going on.  It's so much more massive and quiet when we're not all here for something important.  So I guess every inch that I explore of the church will be well worth the time spent exploring.  I'll be happy to follow along with whatever you'd like to see... besides helpful ghosts.  Maybe some kind of secret hidden messages from girls in previous years?  Or a hidden trove of things from those kind of girls!"