Chapter One: Interspecies Outreach Educational Program
Kagome Higurashi's hand scribbled furiously across the test booklet. Her pencil dug into the paper, leaving deep groves of dark graphite in its place. The grooves formed characters, which formed words, which formed sentences and represented Kagome's quick moving thoughts. The thoughts raced ahead faster than her hand could take them down, and her hand tripped over a faulty groove of graphite which would, if left unattended, make her sentence nonsensical. Kagome dropped her pencil onto her book and grabbed her eraser. She ground the little pink bar of rubber into the paper until the mistakenly written character was mostly faded. Then she picked up her pencil and was off again. She turned the page of her booklet, which crinkled against the movement. Kagome then started in on the next page. It was already marred by indentations from her heavy-handed writing.
The students sitting around Kagome were well used to the furious energy she expended during test-taking. The cloud of intensity wafted slowly outward from her, and was certainly at first distracting. Perhaps even a little annoying. But after a full semester of sitting around that energy, her seat neighbors had learned to tune it out. Yuki, one of Kagome's friends, sat beside her and watched as Kagome hunched further over the desk and wrote even faster. Her eyes, six inches away from the paper, were blind to her surroundings. Yuki looked down to her own paper and repressed a sigh. She had finished her essay two minutes ago, but it felt weak compared to what Kagome was writing next to her. She glanced at Kagome from the corner of her eye, trying to stifle her jealousy. All the while, Kagome's pencil scraped out an unsteady beat beside her. It was the loudest sound in the room.
Kagome finished her essay just as the teacher called time. She threw herself back from the booklet, and the awareness of her surroundings came flooding back to her. Her head spun for a moment with the sudden motion, and when she regained her composure the other students were already gathering their things and lining up to turn in their essays. Kagome followed suit, catching up to Yuki in the line. She rolled her wrist and flexed her fingers, now feeling the toll of her heavy handed writing.
"How'd you do?" Yuki asked. Kagome shrugged.
"Alright," she said, "I barely finished. How about you?" Yuki shook her head.
"I swear Kagome, if you did alright, I don't even want to know my grade," she said.
"That's not true!" Kagome insisted.
"No, no," Yuki said as she handed in her paper, "It's true. But you can have writing, I'll stick with my math scores." Kagome handed in her paper and followed Yuki back to their seats. Kagome groaned.
"I hate math," she said, "It's all yours."
This test was in Kagome's last class of the day, which meant she went straight from the classroom to her club's meeting room. Kagome was on the school newspaper—or, to be more precise, she was editor of the school newspaper. She was also the youngest editor in the history of the newspaper. The spot usually went to third year students, the seniors, who had worked their way up from coffee-fetcher to occasional writer to columnist. Kagome had procured a column at the end of her first semester at the paper, and had been voted in by her classmates as editor at the beginning of her second year.
The newspaper staff had already arrived by the time Kagome reached the room where they met. Laptops were open, notebooks at the ready, and Akane Tsukino stood by the door with Kagome's cup of hot coffee in hand. Akane handed the cup to Kagome as she walked in the door, then followed Kagome to her desk, speaking quickly. Kagome put her backpack down and pulled out her laptop.
"We haven't heard back from any of the teachers about the dress code piece," Akane said, "but another second year was written up for unbuttoning her top two buttons and rolling up her sleeves. Minami went to the game on Saturday, but it got rained out so we've got no new sports story. Also, Shiro's mad because you didn't put his story on the first page last week. Also, he's coming in to see you today."
"When?" Kagome asked.
"Now," Akane answered, pointing. Kagome looked up. Shiro Himura, a third year student who had almost been editor, was stomping up to her. Kagome took a quick sip of her coffee, hoping the caffeine would fortify her in the face of Hothead Himura's wrath.
"Higurashi, what the hell?" he said, loudly. Other students around the room looked up in shock.
"Hold on Himura," Kagome said.
"But—" Shiro started to say, but Kagome cut him off, talking to Akane.
"Akane, go over to the teacher's lounge and don't leave until someone agrees to comment on the dress code issue," she said. Akane turned to leave, but Kagome stopped her.
"And tell Minami to go see what the tennis club's doing, we haven't written about them in awhile. If there's nothing interesting, pick another club and hop to it. We've got a paper to get out tomorrow." Akane nodded, and ran over to Minami's desk. Kagome now turned to Shiro.
"Yes, Himura?" she asked. He crossed his arms.
"Why didn't my story make front page last week? You said it was good," he said, loudly.
"Because," Kagome answered, "Koizumi's was better written and more relevant." Shiro's face turned red and he sent a glare towards Nao Koizumi. She shrunk down in her seat, just barely peeking over the top of her laptop at the argument.
"Hey, don't be mad at her," Kagome said, "Write me something worthy of the front page, and you'll be on the front page. Got that, Himura?"
"What does 'worthy of the front page' mean?" Shiro asked, clearly seething.
"It means better than everyone else's work. And you're not going to do that by glaring at second years and yelling at me," Kagome said. Shiro, who seemed to be trying his hardest not to pout, turned in a huff and walked back to his desk. Kagome rolled her eyes. She hated babysitting writers.
By the end of the club meeting, the week's edition of the paper was miraculously ready to print. Kagome sent Akane off to the printers with the master file, then went home. It was a ten minute walk from the school back to her house, but Kagome was exhausted, it was too hot outside, and the short walk seemed like forever. Beneath her backpack she felt her shirt stick to the sweat of her back.
She finally made it home to the local shrine that she and her family operated. They had a house out back, behind the old religious buildings. Kagome lived there with her grandfather, mother, and brother, Souta. She walked in through the kitchen door, calling out:
"Mama! I'm home!"
A faint noise came from upstairs.
"What?" Kagome yelled. The noise—her mom's voice, saying distant and incomprehensible words—repeated itself.
"What?" Kagome yelled again, making her way to the stairs and up towards wherever her mother was. Her mom appeared at the doorway to her grandfather's room.
"Welcome home," her mom said, for the third time. Kagome smiled.
"Thanks, mama," she said.
"How was school? Did your test go well?" her mom asked. Kagome nodded.
"Yes, it went fine," she said, "And we got the newspaper out on time so no disaster there."
"Good," her mom said. Kagome walked into her room, dropping her backpack on the floor. She was about to pull off her sweaty shirt, when she saw a letter sitting on her desk. She froze. Her mom hovered behind her, silent.
"Mama, is that what I think it is?" Kagome asked. She looked to her mom, who was nodding. Kagome felt nerves fill her like water in a glass. Starting in her feet, the tingling filled up her body and the blank noise in her head became higher and higher pitched. She turned on the light and picked up the letter. It was encased in a plain white envelope, with her name stamped on a label and stuck on the front. The return address printed on the envelope was for The Amity School in the Youkai Sector. A small logo was printed beside it, of a globe in red and blue. Gently, Kagome ripped open the envelope and pulled out the letter. With one last glance to her mom, she opened it up and began to read silently.
Dear Kagome Higurashi,
Congratulations on your acceptance into the Interspecies Outreach Educational Program. We were impressed by the strength of your application, and look forward to meeting you and welcoming you to our community of learners.
Starting this spring you will attend the newly integrated high school, The Amity School, in the Youkai Sector. During the school week you will stay in one of our on-campus dormitories in a section of human housing with an assigned roommate. On the weekends there will be a train available to leave the Youkai Sector and visit home. You will receive your housing assignment upon arriving at orientation, but if you have any questions concerning the housing conditions please email h_housing .
You are to report for orientation on May 31 in Taisho Auditorium. Here you will be given your housing assignment, will choose your class schedule, and will get to know your fellow students before classes start on April 1. Enclosed is a ticket for the nearest train station with available transport to the Youkai Sector. You will ride in a private car with other human Outreach students, and a representative of the Youkai-Human Relations Committee will meet you at the receiving station to transport you to The Amity School. Two human police officers will accompany you on the train, so please do not be perturbed by these security measures. While we do not expect any risk to students, the officers are a necessary measure to ensure the safety of travel. Within the week you will receive an email with more details about schedule and class options, but please direct any questions to orientation .
Once again, congratulations! We welcome you to the Interspecies Outreach Educational Program with open arms. It is with high hopes that we embark on this journey to bring together our demon and human communities that have remained separate for so long. As a willing learner and ambassador of friendship, you too play a pivotal role in this journey.
Sincerely yours,
Mr. Myoga
Co-Councilman of Youkai-Human Relations
Former Director of Voluntary Education, Youkai Sector
Headmaster of The Amity School
"What does it say?" Kagome's mother asked. Kagome looked up to her, her blank expression of shock turning into a wide smile.
"I'm in!" she said.
"Oh my god," her mom said, quietly. Kagome nodded. Souta, her ten year old brother, poked his head out of his room.
"What's going on?" he asked. Kagome ran over to him and engulfed him in a hug, picking him up off the ground and swinging him around.
"I got in!" she said. Souta squirmed out of her grasp.
"To that demon school?" he asked.
"Yes, I got into the demon school!" Kagome shouted. She turned to her mother, who was standing behind her and smiling.
"This is great, mama," Kagome said. Her mom nodded, but the muscles around her eyes were tense and her fingers knotted together in front of her. Kagome, still holding the letter, felt her elation begin to subside.
"This is great, right?" she asked.
"Oh, honey, of course it's great. It's spectacular!" her mom said, pulling her into a hug. Kagome leaned back, looking at her mother's tense face.
"Are you okay, mama?" she asked. Her mother nodded.
"Just worried about you," she said, then smiled, "But proud of you, too." But clearly worried.
"I'll be fine," Kagome said firmly, "They've got top security at this place—they've even got police officers on the train with us." It wasn't the train ride her mom was worried about, though. It was the demons Kagome would be attending class with. And this wasn't hyperbole, these were literal demons—youkai. They were supernaturally strong and fast, with abilities the human community could only speculate. Her daughter would now be alongside them, powerless. Mrs. Higurashi tried to swallow her worry, if only to keep from dampening her daughter's excitement. But Kagome was already running downstairs and outside to find her grandfather and tell him the news.
"So Kagome's going to school with monsters?" Souta asked. Mrs. Higurashi looked at him in shock.
"We don't use that word to describe other people, Souta," she scolded, "Demons are not monsters." Souta seemed skeptical.
"Yeah, mom," he said, "But it's still weird."