Angel From My Nightmare (Vampire Knight) *Takuma/OC*

03. Shadow in the Background

As she'd predicted, the small collection of books that Harry had checked out from the library didn't last her very long - even when she tried to draw them out. She revisited the library on a daily basis over the next several days to see whether the copy of Hamlet had been returned yet, but still had no luck.

She was tempted to just write home and ask Hideki to bring her copy up to the school if he had the chance, but she still had the Night Class library to check out first. Takuma had said that they had a better selection of classics. That was exactly what Harry needed.

She made her way down to the Night Class building the following morning. Yoko had told her before that the Night Class students studied through the night. So surely that would mean that the aristocrats slept during the day? It all seemed a little bizarre to Harry. For all she knew, the building would be shut and she wouldn't even be able to get inside.

That was why she was hoping that by going so early, there might still be students up and about. Or at least some of the staff who worked in the Night Class building. As long as she could get into the library, then Harry didn't really care.

It seemed that somebody else had the same idea to try the building earlier on. Harry was quite startled to see a brown-haired Day Class girl along the far side of the Night Class building, attempting to peer in through one of the bottom windows. Her bag was sat at her feet on the grass.

"Err, are you alright?" Harry called uncertainly. She was unwilling to follow the girl onto the grass. It looked so perfect that surely there should have been a sign posted, forbidding students from walking on it.

"I'm fine," replied the girl. "I just can't see inside very well – they put these windows in so high."

"So the building's locked?" asked Harry in dismay. Maybe she'd have to come back again later.

"No, everywhere's still open, of course," said the girl, still not looking away from the window.

Harry was baffled. "Um... Why don't you just go round the front then? I'm guessing you wanna get inside?"

The girl turned away from the window for the first time and looked at Harry like she was an alien. "Because we're not allowed inside. Why else?"

That just puzzled Harry even more. Nobody had mentioned anything to her about there being anywhere on the campus that was off limits. "Nobody told me we weren't allowed."

The girl's look turned curious. "Sorry, are you new or something?"

"Yeah, I just started this week," said Harry. Oh, great, did that mean everyone had forgotten to mention this to her?

"Oh! Are you Mr. Harima's daughter?" asked the girl, realisation dawning on her face.

"Err, yeah," replied Harry. She wasn't sure she liked already having a reputation here. Especially when it was for being related to her dopey father. "My name's Tamashi, but everyone just calls me Harry."

"Well, no wonder nobody said you weren't allowed in here!" exclaimed the girl, suddenly excited. She grabbed her bag and skipped back across the grass towards Harry. "You must get special treatment since your dad's a teacher. I'm Kara Tsukiyama."

"Oh, nice to meet you," said Harry, a little taken aback. She hadn't expected to get any special treatment since she was the daughter of one of the teachers. Did she really have free reign when all of the other students had to follow stricter rules? "So... Did you want to come in with me?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind. Let's go!" said Kara enthusiastically, looping her arm through Harry's and directing her round to the front of the building.