It was early August and typhoon season had finally hit the suburbs of Tokyo. The hurried chatter and footsteps of busy commuters were momentarily drowned out by the heavy rain, which even subdued a little of the street noise from downtown. The newsmen spoke for hours on end about the weather, continuously repeating that this was the heaviest downpour that the Tokyo area had seen in one hundred years and they even counted the number of days since the rain had started (they were up to two weeks now).
However, it was no cause for celebration in Mae's neighborhood. Entire apartment buildings' foundations began to crack and the school had to be rebuilt because half of the classrooms had flooded. The adults half-joked, half-grumbled that soon they would have to take a raft to work and the teenagers moaned over all the possible shopping they could be doing. Only the children were excited about the rain. School had ended early, there were now so many puddles to muck about in and mud to throw at each other. It was a child's heaven and a parent's nightmare.
In fact, everyone was just beginning to adapt to the new lifestyle until catastrophe struck: one of the apartment complexes whose foundation had been severely weakened began to lean sideways one day. Everyone who lived there took as much possessions as they could carry out with them and the whole suburb had to evacuate. The building wobbled for a moment, as if it was unsure about collapsing in the first place, and promptly fell to the ground, crashing into another set of apartments as it fell to the ground.
Among those affected were the Tanakas, a family of four whose home had been in the second building and was directly in the path of the collapse. Their entire life was in ruins and only a few weeks later, the national disaster relief still cleaning up the mess, the awful men came to their hotel room.
"We can assure you, Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka," one of the strange men said, brushing off the mud from his dark suit, "that your boy...-"
"Ichiro," Mr. Tanaka interrupted, brown eyes flashing behind his slightly out of shape glasses, "And what do you want with our boy anyway? Where is this 'school for the gifted' you want to bring him to? And why are you attempting to bribe us to send him there?"
The child in question sat quietly on the cheap bed, chubby little fingers playing with a lock of his black hair, and his younger sister, no more than an infant, was cradled in his mother's arms.
"Mr. Tanaka," the other man sounded like he was trying to be reassuring but he sounded more bored than anything, "Your son is special. Certainly you know that. He's been doing impossible things ever since he could sit up, correct? According to your statement earlier, he was able to make the houseplants suddenly burst into bloom since he was approximately three years old. So that means that you've been encouraging him to hide his gift for two years now. Wouldn't it be better for him to be taught how to use his gift and be able to control it? He'd be taught by the finest teachers in the world and be secured a job in the future. Do you really wish to prevent your son from becoming happy? Do you want to prevent him from serving his country?"
This last line was tinged with accusation.
Mr. Tanaka's face turned purple. How dare the man even think that he and his family were unpatriotic. They paid their taxes, obeyed the laws. He had even served in the Japan's Young Farmer Corps for a short time last year.
"Now see here, you -"
The man's partner stopped him with a stern finger as Mr. Tanaka was about to let out a stream of curses.
Mr. Tanaka locked his fingers together and said nothing but his wife whispered, "What about Mae? Is she special as well? Will she have…a gift?"
The man shook his head and muttered, "It is impossible to tell at such a young age. When we questioned you, you reported not seeing anything strange with your baby. She is most likely not a candidate for Alice Academy but," the man gave a short look at the babe in her mother's arms, "if she begins to show unusual abilities, simply call the number on the card we gave you and a teacher from the school will come out to decide if the child is eligible to come to our institution."
A few silent minutes passed, the only sound was the rain still pouring down, and Mr. Tanaka seemed to finally get his voice back, "Why are you offering money to us to send him to your school?"
The first man answered, "It is to pay for your new house, Mr. Tanaka. We are under the impression that your home was recently destroyed in the collapse earlier this month. Once a family's child is enrolled in Gauken Alice, the school provides for any tragedies that may occur to that family, to keep the child's mind focused on school and to provide that same child with a home to return to once they have graduated."
"Will my Ichiro not be able to return until then?" Mrs. Tanaka asked pleadingly, rocking Baby Mae in her arms.
"Madam," the same man replied, leaning in a little, "it is imperative that your boy not leave Alice Academy's learning environment. Any disruption in the courses and he won't be able to keep up with the others. There are also some security issues, mostly dealing with the exclusive atmosphere of the school. Some parents without gifted children may…find it helpful if they have a student hostage with them when they come to enroll their own. However, if young…young…Ichiro proves himself to be an exceptional student and role model, he may obtain a pass to visit his family over the summer break."
Another stretch of silence and Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka nodded.
They knew two things: their son was going to this academy, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
Ten years later…
It was the last day of summer break before the school year started once more. Mae Tanaka had decided to use this day to the fullest: she helped her friend, Chihiro, finish the summer project at the library, bicycled over to the bookstore (with Chihiro in tow) and bought a couple of new novels on sale (all the while having to listen to her friend blabber on and on about if she was going to be in the same class as that cute new boy who moved in last month), and she took a nap at Chihiro's house until her mother came to pick her up.
Still yawning and thinking about the dream she had (which involved her favorite idol dancing with the all-star starter on her school's baseball team), she asked, "Why'd you come a pick up so so-so-soooon? I thought you said six 'o clock."
Her mother remained silent, gripping the steering wheel tensely, and her eyes were fixed firmly on the road in front of her.
Mae stared at her until her mother replied, "I picked you up early today, Mae-chan, because we have some special visitors waiting at home for you."
This woke her up a little more, at least enough for Mae to pick up on how strained her mother's voice was, and she looked out the window at the park they were passing, mumbling, "I never get visitors that aren't Chihiro or study partners."
Picking up the volume a little, her mother sighed, "Mae. It's about school."
"Huh? But I've been doing well. I even got on the honour roll last year. Mr. Ito said-"
"It isn't about how you're doing at this school." She interrupted, now pulling into the parking garage, "Some people from the city are here to offer you a chance to go to a new school."
This made Mae even more confused and she muttered, "But…I like this school…"
Her mother practically yanked her out of the car and stalked up to their apartment, answering, "I know you like this school, Mae. But this new school is incredibly exclusive and they're offering you a full scholarship to attend it until the end of college. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you. Besides, you're smart. You'll fit right in."
She hung her head silently, knowing that there was no way she could win when her mother was this way, and said, "Yes, ma'am. I'll take the scholarship, ma'am."
There was still a little bit of fight in her after years of having an overbearing mother - at least, she hoped. She
Mrs. Tanaka looked at her daughter disapprovingly. She had been expecting much more of a fight, even from the usually quiet Mae, but she shook herself mentally.
No. Fighting was bad. There was nothing to fight about. This scholarship was good for the family. This whole business was to protect their children's future. Yes. The academy was good for her children, she decided as she opened the door. She was just being silly. Yes, just silly.
"So, Miss Tanaka, you understand what brought you to the Academy's attention, correct?" An ageless, tall man sat across from her at the dining room table, "You have been informed of the conditions upon which this scholarship has been given, as well?"
Mae shook her head and muttered, emotionless, "No, sir. I have not been informed of why this scholarship has been given to me."
"Well," the man said briskly, "some 'undisclosed sources' have reported to the Academy that you are, as my superiors would put it, in the possession of 'a god-given gift' and have been exhibiting said 'gift' for the past four years."
"And what gift would that be, sir?" she asked with interest.
"That, Miss Tanaka, is what I am here to investigate," he sat his briefcase on the table and unlatched it, revealing an array of objects, ranging from a slightly unraveled ball of yarn to a stuffed bear, "Please, choose the item that most interests you."
She stuck her hand in the case and grabbed a brightly colored piece of origami paper, holding it up to the man and looking for his reaction.
Nodding, the man pulled out a notebook and wrote a few words down with a ballpoint pen, and without looking up from his writing, he asked, "And what do you want to do with that paper, Miss Tanaka? It is highly important that you answer truthfully."
Mae said immediately, "I want to fold this paper, sir. I want to make it into something."
"Good, good. Now, fold it for me."
Grasping the edges of her paper, she carefully folded it, methodically checking and rechecking her work, until a perfectly made paper crane sat in her palm.
"Is that all, sir? Is that i-"
The man made a gesture with his hands.
Mae paused for a moment, mouth gaping, as the crane began to peck at her hand, soon stretching its wings and flying gracefully through the air, landing in the strange man's hand.
"Hmm… It is obvious that you cannot control your Alice very well, perhaps at all," he mumbled, scratching down a few more notes and then looking up at her, "What you have just seen is what you can do, albeit with the help of my Amplification Alice. It is the hidden power inside of you and the academy, Alice Academy, can help you further explore that power. Now that you have been debriefed on the nature of your scholarship, will you accept our kind offer to be among your own kind?"
Looking at her silently crying parents who were standing awkwardly in the kitchen, Mae hesitated.
"Well," the man said in a businesslike manner, further emphasizing this with an outstretched hand, "Are you coming to Alice Academy?"
She thought for a moment.
Mae nodded and her mother clenched her fingers around the kitchen counter, her father stared blankly out of the window.
They had just lost their child to the Academy for a second time, and they were again hopeless to bring her back.