#(Psst Hajime offer to read to her)

[morethanaprincess-a]

The boy looked at the package, a simple gift wrapped with the store-issued paper at the cashier. It looked so plain and bland that he felt a little insecure –to gift a princess, who can have anything. With a deep breath, he worked up the courage to approach her. ❝ I got something for you. ❞ it was nothing fancy: it was a book, a copy of the Kwaidan to be more exact. It is a book collecting a series of traditional Japanese horror stories.

Autumn, for plenty of reasons, had always been Sonia’s favorite time of year. From the inundation of haunted amusements to the Novoselic Harvest Festival, the princess experienced a certain joie de vivre beyond her usual jubilant, optimistic mood. It was why that, despite the wind and the growing overcast sky, Sonia still chose to spend her lunchtime outdoors. But with the plastic packaging of her beef donburi bowl long since discarded since the end of her meal, she used the extra time to simply sit upon an empty bench and watch the golden brown leaves fall from the tree overhead. Even someone as social, preferring the company of others to her own solitude, needed some time to reflect on her upcoming birthday. As usual, it would be spend in Novoselic and she was due to depart for home later that night. So it was of no surprise to her when Hinata approached her from the Reserve Course campus, wearing what she interpreted as an anxious expression on his face.

“Hinata!” Sonia called brightly, waving in his direction, “Come sit and enjoy the free time we have between classes! It’s a lovely day!” Lovely, of course, was relative. She was just as happy during the brightest, sunny day as she was during a loud thunderstorm. 

But there had been a definitive reason why he approached her that afternoon, beyond a simple hello and inquiry into her day. Sonia smiled, hoping to make him feel at ease as he produced the small, neatly wrapped package. “Oh, you remembered! I did not expect that, but it is a wonderful surprise,” She accepted the present with both hands before delicately unwrapping the paper.

Many people didn’t care for books as a present, especially among the Ultimates. As many of their talents required excessive study of some sort as well as practical application, any downtime was revered and used to decompress and relax. But for Sonia, she could not get enough of her favorite novels, classic and contemporary, comics, short stories...anything that transported her from her world into another. Preferably if mystery, murder, and the occult were involved. So when the paper was removed, the princess could not help but form a smile with her pink lips, tracing over the the cover’s title with her fingertip. 

“I have heard of this Kwaidan, but I have yet to study it for myself,” She murmured, gazing down at the slightly horrifying cover before back to Hinata. This edition was entirely in Japanese, and it would take effort for her to read through the many stories it contained. Written in the early-20th Century, it utilized kanji that she still had yet to master. Her conversation skills were close to impeccable, but reading dense texts was still a struggle. “Thank you, Hinata. I will very much enjoy working to read this myself. I shall learn new disturbing, frightening tales and kanji at the same time!”