Chapter 2
Mizuno Ami hated the first day at a new school She especially hated this one,, even if it had been her own idea. It made more sense to move closer to the scene of the disturbances. It made even more sense to get them all together in one place, where they'd be less vulnerable. Where they could support each other. It made sense. Every time she ran the simulations it made more sense. She just wished good sense wasn't so lonely. "Well, well, well. Looky what we got here." Ami cringed at the hateful voice. Shakily she looked around to find the halls deserted except for herself and the four boys who now surrounded her. She'd been so careful to never be alone, never wander off. And now a moments inattention . . . " Hello joro-chan." Ami shrank back, only to run into a hard, rank smelling body." "Ohhh. Dashi, I think she likes me. Do you like Aksi little baita?" "I. . .I have to go now. Harnanu Sensei is waiting for me." Ami lied desparately. "No he's not. The only one waiting for you is us. And we've found you."
"Hey, Cha. Maybe she's itachi. Are you itachi little joro?" "Heh, heh. If she's itachi she just hasn't had the 'right one'" Cha unziped his pants and to Ami's horror started to fondle himself. She tried to avert her head but Aksi grabed her hair and twisted her around to face Cha. "Look at what you're missing! Now you're going to have some fun, more fun than those stupid books." Aksi grabbed Ami's book bag and emptied it on the floor. "After Cha's broken you in I'll make a real woman of you." "Oh god, oh god , oh god." Ami closed her eyes. She wished she wern't such a coward. Even with the others she was a coward. She could plan and analyze. She was a master strategist. But she fell apart under pressure. She was a coward. Tears of shame and humiliation leaked out of her closed eyes. She felt hands fumbling under her dress. Hot, fetid breath hit her in the face. "Hello butt wipe." Ami felt the hands holding her drop away.
"Gekken! When did you get. . . I mean I didn't know. . ." Ami opened her eyes to see the four boys cringing against a wall and . . .in the open doorway. . . a figure lounging in the shadows. "Cha, your fly's unzipped. Fix it." Cha fumbled with his pants, trying to restore his manhood to its small, somewhat shabby nest. "Uh uh, Cha. Just zip it up." Cha looked into the shadows with pleading eyes. "Now, Cha. All the way up." Cha squeezed his eyes closed, took a good grip on the zip and pulled . . . Ami cringed at the metal on flesh rIpping sound. She cringed again as Cha hit the ground weeping; locked in a foetal position. "Aksi, Dashi, Tai. What did I tell you about keeping your hands to yourself?" "Please Soban. We didn't mean it. It was just a joke."Aksi turned to Ami in desperation. "You're O.K. right. You knew it was just a joke, right? Right?" He reached for Ami, spittle flying from his mouth "For gods sake, say it was just a joke!" Ami cringed away from Aski as the figure oozed from the shadows. "Who are you?" Ami looked up at the voice. "Mi . . .Mizuno, Mizuno Ami." Ami kept her eyes firmly on the floor, hoping the submissive posture would save her from this new and unknown threat. "Mi . . .Mizuno Ami." The voice mimicked "You're new here. And stupid. Not a good combin . . ." The voice broke off suddenly. Through her tears Ami could see a shadowy figure move toward her scattered things. "Are these yours?" "W . . .what . . .?" "These books." The voice was impatient. "Are they yours?" Ami cringed inside. Some people . . . usually Ami knew, people with loud voices and hurtful hands, didn't like books or the people who read them. But books were her friends . . . her escape from a world she didn't understand . . .a hostile and bewildering world.
"Yes . . .yes they're mine." Her head came up defiantly. "And I want them baeeeeep!" Her sudden defiance was extinguished as a strong had caught her under the arm and lifted her effortlessly to her feet. "What's this say." A book was thrust suddenly before her face and Ami jerked back slightly in surprise. "Uhhh . . .Senjimon . . .The Thousand Character Classic." "That's kanji." The voice was accusatory. Before Ami could think up a reply another book was pushed in her face. "This . . .what's it say?" "S . . .suppression of in vitro Lymphocyte Responses by Chlo . . ." "What language is that?" "E . . .english. It's about . . ." "This . . .what's this." "Abhandlungen von Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel . . .' "Is that English too?" N . .no . .Deutsch . . .uh German, I mean . . ." "These aren't text books." "No. They're MY books. Give them back . .. right now." There was a moment of hushed silence as if God were holding his breath. Even the weeping Cha fell silent . . . stunned. A thunderbolt did not obliterate Mizuno Ami from the Universe. Instead the voice came again, less cold this time. "You read kanji . . .English . . .German." The voice stumbled over the gajin words. "What else?" "What else . . .?" "Do you read?" The "idiot" was implied. Ami blushed. "Ummm. French, Italian, Chinese, Russian, a little. Also . . ." "How many books . . .how many books do you have . . .your own books." "Oh . . .oh dear." Ami wrinkled her nose in what was, unknown to her, a adorable fashion. "That's a hard question. I really haven't been cataloguing them the way I should." Already her earlier terror was forgotten, subsumed in her passion for her books. "But at last count, and this is really just an estimate, but at last count I had twelve thousand . . .not counting paperbacks and magazines." "Twelve . . .thousand?" "Well, it's just an estimate. I'm always buying . . ."
"Did you hear that . . .twelve thousand books . . .not counting paperbacks and magazines." There was laughter from the boys who'd been tormenting her and Ami was suddenly pulled back to reality . . .a reality that was not kind to quiet, contemplative thinkers. Was not at all kind to a small, shy girl who liked to read. Aksi reached, grinning for her. "Pick up her books Aksi." "Huh? But I thought . . ." Aksi spun through the air and smashed face first into the wall. Ami could hear a cracking sound as his front teeth snapped off in the wall. "Pick up her books . . .carefully. And don't bleed on them." The figure dropped Aski in a heap and turned toward Ami and light from a window spilled across . . .her face. It had to be . . .her . . .because of the girls uniform. But the face. Ami cringed as the face came full into the light and she could see the jagged puckered scar that ran in a great sweeping curve from her left brow, down across her right eye and stopped just below her chin. The slight lurch in her gait drew Ami's eyes down . . . suddenly she was glad for the long skirt that hid . . .mostly hid . . .the terrible injuries to those legs.
Unwillingly Ami raised her eyes to those of . . .her rescuer? Newest tormenter? She swallowed a little gulp of fear as she met the other's eyes . . .eye really. One a brilliant ocean blue, the other a milky white. Damaged and blind, or mostly so. The result of whatever injury had made the scar. Automatically Ami tried to match the visible injuries to possible causes. "You're going to be late to class. Aksi." The figure . ..Soban, Ami suddenly recalled the others had said. Soban turned to the battered boy gingerly returning her books and things to her bag. "Aksi . . .escort Mizuno Amisama to her class. Explain that it is entirely your fault . . .yours and your . . .friends that she is late. If there is any question . . .tell them to see me." "Yeph Phobhan." Aksi mumbled through his ruined mouth. "And Aksi?" The boy turned terrified eyes to Soban. "Mizuno Amisama is a very important person. She is a scholar. She has probably forgotten more in the last five minutes that you could learn in your entire miserable worthless life. She could be a national treasure some day. You on the other hand . . ." Soban paused for a moment. "Escort Mizuno Amisama to her class . . .and anywhere else she needs to go. Make sure that she is not disturbed for any reason." "But Soban . . ." Soban had already turned away. Aksi scuttled over to Ami and turned his battered, frightened face to her. "Please Mizunosama . . .come with me?" Ami stared at the mysterious figure that was now looming over the small group of cringing boys, then looked down at the equally cringing Aksi. "A . . .all right. Let's go to class."
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