Note: Age of Fuji and Tezuka : Second year students. A.K.A. The age of Momoshiro and Kaidou in the anime. ) Therefore, this takes place one year before the events in the manga and anime.

Tezuka's Would-be Letter, One

Hello. Father and Mother. It's the first day, and I'm hating it already. No, I don't miss you.

They confiscated our food. And the fat people here like giving us lectures. That's basically everyone, by the way. In paraphrase, what the fattest guy said was, "From now on, you will not entertain any thoughts of 'fun'. Your lives are of no value. You were sent here because you suck to hell. It's my job to make sure you bloody pay for it, so don't try my tricks. We will not hesitate to use violence. You will talk only when we speak to you. You will only answer with "Yes, sir." Anything else will not be tolerated. You will obey everything we tell you to do without question or complaint. Is that clear?"

That particular guy also likes glaring. And, he has a problem with his grammar. Only, I put it into its grammatically correct form for you to read.

Because I answered with 'yes', I deserved to have my face bruised by his fortunately, ham-like and fatty fist. The impact was enough to fling me onto the ground. And I didn't want to get up. But he spat on my face, and made me. I didn't want to submit to him. The oversized and obese creature of an obviously low IQ. But there's nothing much you can do when the guy is overweight and sumo-wrestler sized.

Today I learnt to answer. With 'Yes, sir.' And always to keep my eyes on the ground. Because if you don't, you get hit. If you don't listen, you get hit. And if you answer... well, you get hit.

I also learnt that I was vermin. Scum, a son of a bitch, loser. And they can hurt us. Because you signed the indemnity form releasing them of any responsibility should we get hurt. Ingenious.

After that, for my insolence, I had to run laps. I hadn't learnt my lesson yet. I answered back. So he made Fuji run laps too. I told him he had a fracture. A wounded knee. Like they listened. And for that, we got ten more laps.

It was my fault that Fuji had to run despite his injury. And the fatty spared no time in reminding him so. I don't think Fuji is angry about it. But I feel guilty.

He could hardly walk to the field where he was supposed to start jogging. He hobbled there anyway, and started on the first lap. The pain overtook when he rounded the second corner, and he passed out. The fatty came over, looked at him, and told me to continue jogging, because Fuji could continue his rounds when he came to.

So I carried him, on my back. The once white bandage was saturated in blood, and his face had gone white from excessive blood loss. The blood ran down his leg, and stained my clothes as well. Fuji awoke around the fortieth lap. But all he said was 'don't let your guard down' before he slipped back into unconsciousness. My turn was to come. The fatigue caught up with me five rounds to completing the stipulated sixty laps. And I lost consciousness too.

Fainting, is not a pleasant sensation.

When I came to, it was in the middle of the night. And Fuji was going around the field, hobbling painfully. Somehow, we completed our laps. We had to.

Technically, you are not going to read this. Because even though we're forced to write home once a week, they censor our letters in case we write anything negative about the program. They also kindly offer suggestions for what to write, if we are stumped. The letter you will receive will contain an imaginary account of the swimming trip we had yesterday. The last letter I wrote was confiscated, and they left me without dinner for three days.

But they will not break me. Because I am never going to let my guard down. Never again.

--Tezuka

P.S.: I hate you for sending me here.

--

He was bullied again, as usual. This time they had broken his spectacles, and he was crying. Every free period they dragged him onto the muddy ground, pulling his hair, or breaking his nose. Today, it was raining. Raining very heavily, and his tears were lost in the onslaught of dilute carbonic acid.

"Why do you do this?"

The question had stumped them.

"Uhh. Uhm… 'cause it's fun?"

"Yeah! It's fun!" The five gorillas nodded in assent with each other. Then, seemingly disconcerted, they left him alone, scratching their heads. And he remained on the ground, soaked with mud, and covered with bruises from the blows they dealt him. Tezuka curled up in a ball, wishing that he could leave this place forever.

"Tezuka!" Fuji caught up to him with ease. He shrank back against the wall, not wishing to face the friend he had been trying to avoid.

"Let's go." He smiled with his eyes half-closed. They walked in peaceful silence, and Tezuka was relieved that his friend had not noticed a thing. When they reached the block four houses away from their homes, Fuji stopped.

Tezuka raised an eyebrow at him.

"What is it?"

Without answering, Fuji seized his left arm. Started, Tezuka tried to break away from his grasp. But Fuji was an expert at both judo and karate. Tezuka's muscles were of no match. Calmly, and without effort, Fuji held his left arm still, and rolled up the sleeve of his coat. Numerous blue-black bruises stained his skin. He closed his eyes in defeat.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He spoke quietly. Tezuka's eyes flickered open to see Fuji staring into them.

"I didn't want you to get hurt."

"I'm able to take care of myself."

"But it's five against one! Even you-"

But Fuji had walked off ahead of him. Tezuka made no attempt to catch up, and he was left alone for the second time that day. Then, he got up, and walked around the neighborhood, slowly getting drenched. He had an umbrella but didn't bother. Who would?

--

Tezuka's Actual Letter, One

Hi, mother and father! This place is great! Everyone is nice, and no one ever yells. Just yesterday, we went swimming, and I caught a fish. I'll be doing my best to become a different person, so don't worry about me. I'm eating well and I love doing all the activities here.

Till next time, then!

--Tezuka

P.S.: I love you for sending me here!

--

A/N: Thanks for reading this story! (: The main motivation behind our collaboration venture was to adapt the reality of the horror behind these facilities into a story, just so more people will know what's happening. Tezuka and Fuji's story here will be based on accounts of many people who suffered in these boot camps. For more information on what actually take place, please refer to the links below:

/deaths.asp

/thayerlearningcenter.asp

(The links won't work.. so I'll put spaces in between. Please remove the spaces, and take a look.)

www . / thayer learning center.asp

www.isaccorp. org/deaths. asp

We hope you have enjoyed this story, and constructive criticism on how we can improve it is always welcome!

edit: The first chapter has undergone a severe amendment in the style of narrating, because I thought it sucked. -Vio.

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