Kairi smiled as she stared at the grand Amelia's Academy for Strong Women's front doors from the courtyard. She never got past its brilliant splendor. The academy was four stories tall, as tall as the boy's version, with a large golden insignia of two A's in a circle with a smaller SW underneath plastered just above the double door entrance. It was a plain white, with windows well taken care of, and the corners of the building were rounded, for good feng shui.

Feng shui was just one of the things the school taught. The curriculum was one for the society's next leaders, and covered a wide range of topics. There was a religions class that focused on a different religion every day, karma, feng shui and pure spirit class, to keep one's spirit pure and give them good judgment. There were strategic classes, diplomacy classes, foreign language and policy classes, and mathematics, English language, chemical and physical science, and a history class that took the history of each country (or in Europe's case, continent) and dissected it liberally into bite-size pieces.

Twice a week they had a physical education class. It first taught them basic ways to free themselves from an assault, then proper physical defense, like punches, ending with complicated twists and combinations. The second semester focused more on weapons such as swords, daggers, staffs, and knuckles. There had used to be a gun lesson, but the government of this country had banned guns a year earlier, though there were still many who smuggled and hid them under their jackets.

Kairi smiled, softly feeling through the growing green grass by the trees. She had worked tirelessly to get here, because it was in her best interest. She was going to become a great leader, perhaps a military commander or advisor, and help solve the world's problems. This was her dream.

The bell tolled and rang throughout the grounds, a high pitched wailing. Across the fields that covered the ground in between, the guy's school bell rang out in a deep baritone groaning. The lunch period was nearly over, and it was about time Kairi go learn to speak in Arabic. She turned, with one last look at the beautiful flowers surrounding the twenty foot high walls around the school and courtyard. Then she bustled inside.


Around 7 o'clock, Kairi returned to her dormitory room early and closed the door with a heavy sigh. She would admit it to herself; it was exhausting to learn at this school. Even though classes got out at 5, most stayed in the library until much later, trying to decipher languages, math problems, and learn proper form for roundhouse kicks. She was early, having done her English essay over lunch and her extra math problems earlier that day at breakfast. She kicked off the large clunky black shoes that weren't part of her school uniform. The school uniforms required socks and closed shoes, but you could choose what kind. The rest of it consisted of a cream long sleeved and puffy shirt, with a darker yellow polo over it, and a navy blue loose ribbon tied around the neck. This was coupled with a limp gray skirt that ended just above the knees. It was comfortable, at least.

A few steps inside the room and her cell phone rang. She glanced at it: it was Sora.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hi, Kairi!" Sora chirped on the other end.

"Ergh. What are you doing, calling me so late?" She scolded him quietly.

"I'm sowwy. I was tired of listening to Riku talk about his next date."

"Ah, I see your problem." Kairi had been best friends with Sora and Riku for years, each of them having the same dream (although Sora wanted to be Secretary of Defense and Riku wanted to be an established congressman). They kept their friendship up through phone calls and the occasional meeting when the school gave them overlapping days off.

She spoke with him for a while, and then to Riku when the phone was switched, and hung up after a while. She sat down with some popcorn and turned on the television to see what was on. Just as she found something good, a rolling ball of energy came bouncing into the room, towing a much less energetic girl.

"Ahhh! I can't believe I actually managed to get that essay in on time!" Selphie said, rubbing her eyes and dropping Namine's wrist.

"You're welcome…" Namine grumbled, having double- and triple-checked Selphie's essay.

"You're too late! I just got off of the phone with your silver haired beauty!" Kairi cooed. Selphie turned a brilliant shade of pink.

"No!" She cried, aghast. "Man. I was actually hoping he would listen to me for once." She joked.

"I still don't understand why you like him," Namine said, setting down her backpack and slipping off her black slippers. "He's kind of a prick. And a pimp. But not the good kind."

"There's a good kind of pimp?" Kairi marveled.

"Yes, there is!" Selphie cried, indignant. "He's one of them!" She flew onto the couch and nuzzled there.

"Maybe you shouldn't speak so loudly," Namine mumbled, pulling her gray knee-length socks up from halfway down her shins. "You know how this school is."

Selphie grumbled. "I know. I don't understand it though. Didn't they say, when we were kids, that it was just fake?"

"Not anymore." Kairi said, staring up at the ceiling.

"Yeah… But really, who ever thought that would happen? I mean, the academies are practically identical."

"Original the girl's academy was a smaller version of the boy's academy, made for middle school students. Eventually the academy decided to let girls in, but that had a host of problems, so they shut down the middle school and changed this to a girl's academy." Namine recited almost from memory. Kairi marveled at her knowledge.

"That's still a ridiculous reason." Selphie growled.

"But it kind of makes sense…" Namine protested.

Kairi shook her head and went to sleep. Early to sleep, early to rise, less likely to die. She chuckled grimly.

"Wait, Kairi, did you hear about the girl they found at the halfway point across the field?" Selphie asked her quickly. Kairi turned to face her friend, and then shook her head.

"They found a guy next to her. Apparently the others ran when they saw the campus police coming, but it was too late for her. The guy was beaten up pretty badly; he's still in critical condition. But the girl…" Namine trailed off.

"It wasn't fair. One of them used a metal pole. We're not allowed to have metal because stuff like this happens!" Selphie grimaced as she imagined the scene.

"Know who the girl was?" Kairi asked, slowly.

Namine shook her head. "Some junior named Rinoa. No idea other than that."

Kairi shook her head in pity, and then quietly stamped to the bedroom. It was a depressing thing that the school had no problems with this kind of thing, but she knew the reason why.

It had been fifteen years since it had started, but the campus was locked in an all-out bludgeoning and murderous war.


-nod, yawn, sleep-

EraTomo