Author's Note: Happy new year to everyone! We wish you all a prosperous 2019!

Over the holidays, we made a TV Tropes page for this story. Just search for "Infinite Stratos: Our Darkest Days" on TV Tropes to find it.

The page also includes images made by Miriya for all the characters who have been introduced so far. More will be added over time. Additionally, all the I.S. units used by the main cast have images linked in their descriptions. (Miriya's note: Don't expect too much from them. I'm not an artist, just a Photoshopper. ^^)

Beware of some spoilers for the coming chapters in the tropes. Hope you enjoy it.


Chapter Nine

"Stand By Me"

It was what would have been, on any other night, a perfectly pleasant evening. A cloudless sky, innumerable stars visible to the naked eye and even more appearing as her eyes adjusted to the low light. On any other night, she would have come out just to look at the scenery. It was beautiful here. Beautiful beyond even her sesquipedalian vocabulary's ability to describe. The city lights shimmered in the distance across the bay, along with smaller moving lights of ships and yachts coming and going from the harbors. The lights of the city, boats, and even the stars and moon all reflected in the inky blackness of the surrounding bay.

Josephine sighed heavily while staring at her phone. Even when surrounded by the true depth of the beauty of the world, she couldn't take her mind out of the storm it was swirling in. Even a rare well lit night such as this which allowed her to be outside couldn't take away the sting of what had been done to her. So much going through her mind that she didn't even know where to begin the conversation she was about to have. But getting it all straight in her mind was a chore unto itself, and she didn't have the time. So instead, she simply pushed the call button and brought the phone up to her ear.

While it rang, she put her free hand onto the balcony railing, and as her sleeve lifted up, she saw her wrist, for the first time, without her heirloom timepiece and the standby mode of her Infinite Stratos attached to it.

"Josephine! How are you dear?"

"Hello, mother…"

"Oh my God, you sound terrible, did something happen?"

"A lot's happened… I'm not even sure where to begin. I've tried to sort it in my head before making this call, but that wasn't going anywhere. I suppose I just needed to hear your voices."

"What's wrong?" she heard her father ask, now knowing that her parents were indeed sharing the phone between them.

Josephine took a very deep breath, and as she released it, whatever hold she had on her emotions fell apart along with the sobs and tears that spilled out of her.

"I completely buggered it all!" she exclaimed in a suddenly very Yorkshire accent. "Everything's gone completely tits up!"

"Josephine love, calm down. Take a deep breath. Then start at the beginning and tell us everything," she heard her mother say.


Earlier that day

"Maria. Sit down here," said Josephine in an authoritative tone.

She looked up at Josephine who was holding a hairbrush and then ran a hand through the puffy mess of hair attached to her head.

"I don't know, this semi-afro might start a whole new trend."

"Don't you think people hate you enough without looking like a total slob?" muttered McKenna while tying up her ponytail.

"Maria… Sit!" commanded Josephine.

"Damn it, Josie! This is embarrassing! I can brush my own damn hair!"

"Then why didn't you?"

"I don't own a hairbrush!"

"I'll add that to the list of things we need to remedy come this weekend. No wonder your hair is always an unruly mess on the best of days! Now sit down and let me brush you!"

Maria sat down in the chair in front of Josephine with a loud and annoyed huff. "Yes mummy dearest," said Maria in imitation of Josephine's posh accent.

"How very amusing…" muttered Josephine as she took a handful of jet black hair and started running her brush through it. It was a struggle though because it kept getting stuck in the mess. "Naturally your hair must be as stubborn as you are."

"Lemmie see if I have an extra scrunchie or something," said McKenna while digging through one of her bags. "I'm not confident you can tame that mess with just a brush… Oh, come on! I know I brought a whole bunch when I left home! Where the hell did I put 'em?"

"You don't have a brush. You have no makeup whatsoever. No perfumes… Dare I ask if you're even wearing any deodorant?"

"Of course I am! I'm not Tazzy!"

"Really? I only saw mine and McKenna's on the shelf?"

"I'm using Kenny's."

"Wh… Wha… WHAT?!" exclaimed the Canadian. "WHY MINE?!"

"Because you use spray on, and Josie uses stick. I'll give you three guesses as to why I chose yours."

"You bitch! You could have asked me!"

"Would you have said no?"

"Of course not! You're bad enough without B.O.!"

"Owww! Josie!" yelled Maria. "That hurts!"

"Sit up straight and stop moving your head!" commanded an imperious Josephine while putting one hand on top of the American's head to position it where she wanted it.

"Want me to warm up my straightening iron?" asked McKenna.

Josephine shook her head. "Not enough time. We'll miss breakfast."

"Such as it is…" muttered Maria.


They hadn't even made it out the front door of the dorm building when Maria received the first comment on her hair.

"How can you show your face outside with a hairy animal on your head? Brush it or scrunch it!" exclaimed one of their schoolmates. A German girl with long brown hair named Mia Fischer. One of Arad's seemingly close friends in the class.

Josephine knew it would be worth her while to start keeping track of the who's who of the class. Especially for when the time came for retribution.

Rather than show any sign of weakness, she inwardly cringed hard at the remark. It was as if she were the one on the receiving end of the insult. She had personally spent the better part of the morning fighting a war to straighten out Maria's hair. But even she had to eventually relent and admit that it was a lost cause.

"I try not to anger the beast. You should do the same! Bitch!" yelled Maria in while balling up her fists.

Before she could strike, Josephine and McKenna grabbed her by the arms and pulled her away. Class would be starting soon and being late was simply not an option. They were all in enough trouble as it stood.

She knew that as the day went on, she would have to keep one eye on Maria, and another on Daniella. Since Maria was choosing to blame for recent happenings, it was only a matter of time before something happened between them. All throughout class, she would have to pay attention to the teachers, and she would have to stay alert and ready to instantly react to any situation lest all hell break loose.

She could already feel a migraine building up behind her right eye. Either that or her monthly was set to begin. Or perhaps the universe itself had decided that today was a good day to mess with her and decided that both should be the cause.


When they arrived in class, the first thing they heard was that Miss Orimura would be out for the morning on business. Which presented a whole new level of problems Josephine knew she had to look out for. Without Chifuyu Orimura around to inspire fear, the students would push the boundaries.

Maya knew this as well as she took a very deep breath while she approached the podium. Though she'd already given quite a few lectures to the students, this was her first time flying solo in the classroom. Her heart was beating in her throat as she looked around at the stern faces of her students. It didn't look at all as if they took her seriously.

Well, that wasn't exactly true. Williams and Tremblay both had a great deal of respect for her. And Cross... well, she was another story. She knew how the little raven-haired American felt about her. Subtlety wasn't in the vocabulary of Maria Cross. First, she copied and adapted all her moves for her own use, and now she spends every class gazing at her. Wistfully, adoringly, even lustfully. It was a different expression every time she looked, and it was very worrying that she could now tell which was which.

While Maya Yamada would never in a million years admit it openly, she did find it flattering. But at the same time, it was also extremely uncomfortable. It was an interesting mix of emotions, to say the least.

But this morning, Maria had found something interesting to stare at outside the window. The tell-tale blush on her cheeks told her that she wasn't doing it because she was bored, but because she was in desperate need of a distraction.

Maya was under no delusions that it probably had everything to do with the fact that the young American had now fully regained her mental faculties. And with those faculties came the recollections of time they had spent in the shower together. Under any other circumstances, she knew how highly inappropriate her actions would have been. But even under the given extraordinary circumstances, her actions were questionable at best.

Maya could almost imagine herself trying to explain to the Academy board why she was naked in the shower with a first-year student, washing her body for her… The judgemental faces she imagined on Chifuyu Orimura and the Academy board of directors and headmistress threatened to make her nauseous.

Now she understood even better why Maria was so intensely focused on that fluffy white cloud in the sky. The thought made her uncomfortable enough, she couldn't imagine how much worse it might have been for Maria, being gay, and actually having a crush on her teacher...

It was an awkward situation she'd have to resolve with her student in the near future. No matter what she'd told herself going into that situation, it just wasn't the same as helping her roommate through her panic attacks. No matter how much she tried to convince herself it was, it just wasn't.

All she could do for now was get on with class and sort everything else out in its own time.

Activating the podium, however, lead to the first real 'incident' of the day...

Maya turned on the holographic projector for a diagram to go with her intended lecture and began speaking immediately. For the sake of her own sanity, she had to focus her mind exclusively on the task at hand.

"So, to begin today's class, I'd like to go over some of the basic design principles of the Infinite Stratos and how it has evolved over time to what it is today," said the bespectacled teacher in an awkward yet forceful tone of voice which was more like an imitation of Chifuyu's and simply sounded completely unnatural on her.

Josephine's eyes widened at what she saw while the rest of the class started to quietly snicker.

Josephine felt that migraine she was developing earlier intensify. She closed her right eye and rubbed her eyebrow as if it would sooth the throbbing pain which felt as if Maria were using her eyeball as a kick drum.

"Why oh why did Miss Orimura have to be out today of all days?" she thought to herself.

Instead of a diagram of an I.S. component, there was a picture of Josephine participating in a re-enactment with her fellow Historical European Martial Arts students in England, and Maya was going on about whatever it was she thought everyone was looking at.

"The first I.S. frames were of a bulky design which resembled space suits more than the exoskeletons we know today. This was because they were intended for use in outer space, which necessitated a 'closed design' compared to the more 'open designs' we're all familiar with today."

Maya smiled when she heard laughing and amused snickering coming from her students. It went a long way to relieving her anxiety about conducting her first solo lesson. "Modern I.S. frames can make the older units seem sort of medieval to us today, wouldn't you say?"

The girls laughed even harder until they were all in hysterics.

In the photo, Josephine was wearing a full set of plate armor and wielding a European Longsword in a dramatic pose for the event photographer. She had her hair tied up neatly in a bun with a dark green ribbon so she could wear a helmet, which she now dearly wished she had been wearing for every photograph.

The English girl had enough and put her hand up. "Excuse me, Miss Yamada. Could you perhaps take a quick gander to your right and rectify that?"

"Huh? Wha- Oh no. What's this?"

Whatever boost to her ego had been granted to her from the feeling that the students were enjoying her lecture was now all gone. In fact, her entire ego felt completely deflated.

The class erupted into laughter at the English girl. But for whatever it was worth, both Maria and McKenna turned back to look at her and gave her a smile and thumbs up respectively.

"You look totally badass in that armor Josie!" declared Maria.

"I have to agree, Miss Williams. You do look very heroic! But in all seriousness now. Which of you did this?" asked Maya while looking around.

The laughter in the room suddenly felt like it was directed at Maya for even asking. Josephine had to wonder if she really expected anyone to confess.


Though the earlier scene bothered her, it wasn't nearly as bad as it perhaps could have been. Thankfully Josephine had thus far managed live her life without having any truly compromising photos of herself make it onto the internet, which in this day and age was no minor miracle.

Her hypervigilance towards Maria eventually paid off when math class was about to begin.

The students had all gathered into their respective cliques during the short recess, and on the way back, one unfortunate girl name Hina Yamamoto, the one with the breasts Maria apparently enjoyed too much, and no appreciation for the danger she'd placed herself in, had the audacity to throw what was left of her candy bar onto Maria's desk.

What happened next, happened so fast that anyone who blinked, missed it. By the time the article of trash in question had landed on her desk, the girl was face first on the floor, an arm locked behind her back, just at the breaking point.

The poor girl let out an ear-shattering scream of agony.

Daniella, who was seated beside Maria, jumped in to try and peel the American off her classmate. Maria did let the other girl go, but only so she could strike at Daniella, knocking her into a desk. Josephine had by now gotten up and threw her arms around Maria to pull her away just before she could get into it properly and do actual damage. Meanwhile other classmates came in to hold Daniella back.

"Y'all wanna start shit! I'll take all you bitches on!" screamed Maria at the top of her lungs.

"Shar moota! Let me go! I'll fuck her up!" yelled Daniella at the top of hers.

Meanwhile, McKenna wandered over towards Mayuzumi's desk where she crossed her arms under her breasts and stared down at the bespectacled girl with a hard look in her amber eyes.

"So… How're you doing today? Are you feeling proud of yourself?"

Mayuzumi looked up, met the Canadian's eyes, and then quickly looked down at her desk again with both hands on the sides of her head, covering her ears. As if that would keep her from hearing the consequences of her actions.

"Tremblay? Quelle est cette marde?" she heard her math teacher ask from directly behind her.

McKenna turned around to see the teacher standing behind her. "Ahh. Bon matin Madam Edwards. Comment allez-vous?"

"Pas grand-chose. Ça va ts u bein? Ça trippe tsu?"

Mayuzumi looked up at the two Canadians with a curious eye while they spoke until finally Miss Edwards gestured towards the rest of the class and said something which made McKenna seem far too happy for her liking.

That was when she materialized the right arm of her Infinite Stratos. She then put two fingers in her mouth and gave everyone a very loud whistle just before she yelled her only warning she would give at the top of her lungs. "Everyone cut that shit oot before I blast you with my BASS CANNON!"

But, unfortunately for everyone, she was largely ignored.


Tatenashi was doing her best to stay focused on her work while ignoring the staring coming from the Chinese girl sitting in the front row when all of a sudden her vision became blurred and a pressure built up inside her head.

It wasn't a moment later when everyone in the room started feeling the same effects and another moment after that everyone was holding their heads and screaming in agony!

"Nantekotta?!" screamed Tatenashi as she fell out of her chair and onto the floor with her head feeling like it was about to explode.

"Wǒ cāo! Gǎo shénme fēijī?!" exclaimed Meiying as she too fell out of her chair along with several other girls who were all screaming and cursing in their own languages.


Josephine walked with Maria and McKenna towards the cafeteria in silence until the Canadian decided to break the ice with her friends.

"Sorry about that earlier… Miss Edwards told me to do it."

"What?" yelled Maria. "I can't hear you!"

Josephine looked over at the little American and moved her hair away from her ear while leaning in closer to her, "What did you say Maria?"

"Josie?! I can't hear you either!"

McKenna palmed her face. "Don't exaggerate… I had it on the lowest setting."

"Your fucking bass cannon should be reclassified as a mother fucking torture device!" exclaimed Maria.

"Indeed… That was thoroughly unpleasant!" added Josephine.


The three sat down at their usual table for lunch, but this time with only Tatenashi and Jennifer joining them. They all sat around the circular table in the bench seats and chairs, leaving the one extra chair unfilled which would have been Mayuzumi's seat.

"Itadakimasu," said a grumpy Tatenashi before taking up her chopsticks.

"I've heard you say that before. What does it mean?" asked Josephine.

"It's an expression of gratitude for the food and everyone who worked to make it possible."

"I rather like that, how do you say it? Ita-daki-ma-su?"

"Exactly right," replied the blunette.

"Now if only there were anything on these trays to actually be grateful for," muttered Maria while moving some of her food around in her plate.

"So about what happened in your class today..." started Tatenashi before anyone could get into the American's remark.

"There were people in my class who got migraines…" muttered Jennifer. "How stupidly powerful is that sonic weapon?"

"Powerful enough that everyone in my class was on the floor…" replied Tatenashi.

"I'm sorry… We needed some riot control in our class and the teacher asked me to use it…"

Maria nodded, "Moral of the story was don't ever get hit by Kenny's 'Hand Sonic' thing."

Josephine glared incredulously at Maria. "No. The moral of the story was don't resort to violence!"

"If that bitch didn't want to lose her arm, then she should have kept her filthy germ infested candy bar out of my face! Cause and effect, Josie!"

"I don't suppose it ever even entered into your mind that you had it coming?" asked Jennifer.

"It only happened because they stopped being afraid of me. I need to correct that."

"No Maria, what you need to do is-" Josephine was cut off when used napkins, chopsticks, plastic cutlery, crushed cans, and bits of half eaten food started falling out of the sky and landed on their table, on their persons, and in their food.

As soon as she realized what had just happened, Josephine grabbed onto Maria who was just about to climb up over the divide between their table and assault the students who dumped on them.

She pulled Maria away with her after McKenna shoved the table out of the way to let them get out more quickly. Tatenashi and Jennifer got up from their own seats, not stopping to question what was going on they just moved aside.

A moment later Tatenashi's head turned to look behind her where she spotted a group of girls laughing hysterically. They laughed until they suddenly stopped and looked afraid.

The blunette turned her head again and spotted Chifuyu Orimura staring them down. "Arad, Kuznetsova, Yamamoto, and Fischer… You're all on KP duty. Report to the head of the kitchen staff. Now!"


"If I had known this, I would have brought my bathroom garbage bag instead of my axe to fight her…" muttered Jennifer with an indignant tone, her arms crossed as she stared down at Josephine and Maria.

They were all standing outside the cafeteria building, which was a common area near the three main class buildings.

Jennifer observed that Maria had, for want of a better term, completely lost her marbles. She was hyperventilating, sweating profusely, visibly shaking, and then she suddenly heaved over and threw up all over the floor.

"That's disgusting…" she muttered. While looking away, lest she too vomit up whatever little bit she had of whatever passed for food in the school cafeteria.

Josephine was trying her best to imitate what she saw Maya doing to calm her down. Telling Maria to breathe, to slow down, to reassure her that it would pass if she let it. But it seemed to have the opposite effect which made her feel like she was about to start to panic as well.

So focused on Maria was she, that she didn't even realize her friends had all stepped away. She didn't know what was going on until she herself was shoved aside. She snapped and held out her right hand, prepared to deploy the arm of the Falkirk's Fury and strike at whoever dared to get between her and her friend. That was when she saw that it was Chifuyu Orimura and instantly canceled her attack by spamming her imaginary escape key.

Chifuyu grabbed onto Maria's arm with one hand, and with the other, she slapped the little American across the face. "Pull yourself together!" she yelled at the ravenette.

Josephine and McKenna were both instantly at Maria's side with angry looks at their teacher.

Chifuyu ignored them and focused on Maria instead.

"What in god's name are you doing?!" yelled Josephine.

"You just really hit her!" yelled McKenna.

"Shut up! I know what I'm doing!" she yelled back before staring back at Maria.

Maria responded by snapping her red eyes on Chifuyu's browns.

Once she was satisfied that she had her attention, Chifuyu leaned down until their eyes were level with each other and then yelled very loudly into her face, "Name and rank soldier!"

Maria's eyes seemed to go blank after a brief moment of lucidity and then Chifuyu yelled again.

"Name and rank! Now!"

Her red eyes seemed to regain some life, "...Maria Cross. Acting Second Lieutenant. United States Air Force," she answer in a robotic monotone.

"Current assignment?"

"Test Pilot for the Black Gospel. A prototype third generation Infinite Stratos which I renamed the Meteor."

"She renamed her I.S.? That explains the incomplete data… Sneaky American fuckers." mumbled Jennifer.

"What's today's date?!" asked Chifuyu.

"April seventeenth," answered Maria in the same robotic monotone.

"What day is it?"

"Wednesday."

"When's your birthday?"

"December eighth."

"Do you know where you are?"

"The I.S. Academy. Outside the cafeteria building."

Chifuyu nodded and then took a hold of Maria's arm by the wrist and checked her pulse while looking at her wristwatch. "You just had a panic attack. Your heart rate is very high. You're excused from classes for the rest of the day. Williams, you too. Get her back to your room and keep an eye on her."

"Yes ma'am…" muttered Josephine. While it was undoubtedly effective, she couldn't condone the method. She put an arm around Maria's shoulders and guided her towards the dorm building.

"Was that really necessary?" asked McKenna.

"She knows what's she's doing," said Jennifer in Chifuyu's defense.

"Yes it was, and yes I do. In case you didn't know, the reason you Representative Contenders usually receive military training from your countries is exactly for this reason. Conditioning."

"Were you ever in the military ma'am?" asked McKenna with no small hint of contempt.

"Mind your tone, Tremblay. The answer is no. But I've spent enough time around it to know my business. Which happens to, unfortunately, be dealing with first world child soldiers day in and day out... Now I've got other things to do. See you in class."


McKenna and Tatenashi walked together through the hall of the first year class building until they reached the roof.

"I'm getting so sick of this shit… It's one thing after another. I want my boring life back!" exclaimed the Canadian.

"You don't mean that. We already established you're enjoying the weirdness."

"No. I'm not! Well, at least not this kind of weirdness! I guess Maria tried to remake herself to avoid getting bullied this time around, but it's totally backfired on her. Except I don't think she's gonna go eat herself into oblivion. If Josie and I can't keep her on a tight leash, she's gonna go wreck their shit!"

Both girls approached the railing and Tatenashi looked up at the taller ponytailed girl and smiled brightly. "You're so sexy when you're angry. It really turns me on!"

"Do we need to have another conversation about how I'm both straight and in a serious relationship?"

"Could you two maybe take it somewhere else? Not that I object to same-sex couples, but it makes me uncomfortable when people, any people, flirt in front of me."

McKenna and Tatenashi turned their heads to their right where they spotted Meiying sitting down against the railing with a box of food in her hands.

"Sorry. I got a little caught up in my venting and didn't realize you were there…" said McKenna before moving down to take a seat beside her. "So how're you doing?"

"I wasn't aware that we were on friendly enough terms for you to sit beside me uninvited."

Tatenashi then went and sat down on her other side.

"And I know for certain that you and I are far from being on such terms."

"Well, I don't know any other way to make friends besides sitting down together and talking," replied McKenna.

"What makes you think I want- Hmm? What happened to your hair? And your uniforms are stained," asked Meiying while glancing to both girls.

"Bullies in the cafeteria. One member of our group is afraid of germs, so they started throwing trash at us to trigger her into doing something stupid. It almost worked."

"Yǐ qiáng líng ruò…"

"What does that mean?" asked McKenna and Tatenashi.

"To use power to approach the weak… No, wait, that doesn't make sens... I don't know what the better translation would be off hand, but it implies that only bad people use their strength against the weak."

"That's true. But Maria isn't weak. She has a weakness, but she isn't weak," replied McKenna.

"Everyone has weaknesses, and to prey upon them is dishonorable. If you want to be a bully, kick them when they are down, but if you want to be a champion, fight them at their best."

Tatenashi nodded firmly, "Good advice. So. What are you eating? It looks good!"

Meiying looked down at her vegetable fried rice and spring rolls. "It's exactly what it looks like. I refuse to believe you've never eaten Chinese food in your life."

"Of course I have. I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Why do you think I want to talk to you?" asked the Chinese girl.

"Because you stare at me all day. Either you like me, or you hate me. If you like me, I should talk to you. If you hate me, then I should talk to you."

"You know what I'd want to talk about, and I know what your answer will be. So what's the point?"

McKenna sighed heavily, "Never mind her. So do you always eat up here by yourself? I've never seen you in the cafeteria before."

"I don't eat there for the same reason I'm not eating now. Because of nerve damage, I can't keep my mouth closed properly while I'm eating and nobody will want to see that. It becomes even worse when I bite the inside of my mouth hard enough to draw blood, which I do from time to time."

That was when McKenna spotted the plastic bag full of used up napkins between her and the green haired girl. "So what? It's not your fault."

"You obviously don't know much about Asian cultures. Between my face and the food and blood that would leak out the side I can't close properly while chewing, it will not end well."

"That's messed up…" muttered McKenna.

"It's the way it is. There's no help for it. So. will you two please leave me alone so I can eat in peace?"

"Yeah… Sure," said Tatenashi as she got up. "Come on Kenny. We should let her eat."

"Right… Have a good day Meiying."

"Zhāng, please. Let's not get too familiar here. Tremblay. Sarashiki. Zài jiàn."

"As you wish. Miss Chang."

"Zhāng…"

"Sorry. I'm bad enough with names in my own country," replied McKenna.

"When you said my first name, you separate the syllables too much and it means something else entirely."

"So, how do I say it right?"

"Zhāng Měiyīng."

"Chang Mei-ying?"

Tatenashi had a big laugh.

The Chinese girl shook her head, "Listen to how good my English is. And you can't even say my name." She then sighed, "Just call me whatever you want. But do it somewhere else please. I'm very hungry and eating is a slow process for me."

"Sure… Sorry to bother you."

"Your intentions were good. But it takes more than good intentions," answered the Chinese girl.

"Oh hey. Before we leave. Quick question for you. Are you interested in martial arts at all?" asked Tatenashi.

Meiying tilted her head at the Japanese girl. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm looking for members for the Judo club. They could shut it down unless we get enough members to justify the funding for it."

"I don't even want to be in the same classroom as you. But you're inviting me to be in the same club as you?"

"Yeah. I guess that was a stupid question. But come on! Judo is a lot of fun!"

"I'm afraid I'm not interested in Judo. I train in Wushu and Jeet Kune Do."

"Judo is a very effective art you know!"

"How many people do you see on TV using Judo?"

"None that I can think of, but what's that got to do with anything? TV and real life are totally different!"

Meiying sighed, "I told you I could have been an actress. I wanted to be in Wushu movies. Since I was very little."

"What's Wushu?" asked McKenna.

"Kung-Fu and stuff," answered Tatenashi.

"Kung-Fu means 'great skill' and Wushu means martial art. Anyone can have Kung-Fu. A tailor, a blacksmith, a chef, even a taxi driver."

"So the question is, do you have Kung-Fu?"

"At the risk of sounding arrogant, yes. I have Kung-Fu! I watched all the movies growing up, I know all the actors, all the styles, and I train every day."

"So where do you train here?"

"By myself, in my own time. I have no one to spar with yet."

"So why not join the club and spar with real people? You'll learn new stuff."

"You just said it was a Judo club, not an MMA club. It would ruin the integrity and harmony of your dojo if you start training with people from different styles."

"Hmm… You know. I should probably talk to the club president about that. An MMA club isn't a bad idea. The only way to get more members would be to broaden the recruitment pool and open up to different styles."

"That's your business. Now can I please eat?" said Meiying before the bells chimed that it was time to return to class. "Nǐ zài gēn wǒ kāiwánxiào ma?!"

"What's that mean?" asked McKenna.

"Are you being serious! You just wasted my entire lunch break!" she exclaimed while getting up and packing away her food.

"Sorry… But if it's any consolation, we didn't get to eat either."

"It isn't… I need to take in a lot of calories every day for my exercise routines and now I'm going to be very hungry for the rest of the day! Nǐ tài hǎo la!"

"Dare I ask what does that-"

Meiying walked past and McKenna promptly closed her mouth after getting a good look at the sour expression on the good half of her face. Even pacifists have their limits. It would probably be better not to provoke her.


Josephine left her stained uniform in a basket by the front door before heading into the bathroom to shower and wash the gunk out. As she turned on the shower, she felt the disgusting traces of food grease and other things she didn't want to think about slip off her body. The thought of touching any of it with her fingers to clean it out filled her with even more disgust, but it had to be done. As she shampooed her long sandy blonde hair, she wondered if this was how Maria felt all the time.

But then she realized that she knew it was so much worse than that for her. It was this feeling, combined with the panic she'd feel in the darkness. Then she couldn't help but envy, only for a brief moment, Maria's ability to switch off her empathy. The thought of what it must be like for her brought back memories of too many of her own experiences. Which then lead her to feel guilty for even considering the idea that turning off her empathy could ever be a good thing.

Understanding was more important than comfort. That discomfort was what people needed to feel to be driven to action. Too often people simply change the channel or close the tab. That behavior extended to the real world where people would put on noise-canceling headphones and walk right by the starving homeless people without sparing a penny. It can't affect you if you can't hear them beg. People simply choose to stay lost in their own worlds rather than face their miserable reality.

In the so-called 'first world', you don't need to turn on the TV to see starving people in some distant land. You only need to look out the window. Perhaps that was the reason so many new apartments across the U.K. were being advertised with the inclusion of custom display windows? Why be forced to see the real world when you could just open your curtains in the morning and be treated to a view of galaxies or some tropical paradise instead?

Technologically induced apathy, now available in paper thin super ultra high definition with high dynamic range! And for a limited time, for only £1000 extra, you can have glasses-free 3D for that added depth!

The thought made Josephine so furious she spit on the shower floor, as if spitting in the face of some vulgar pedo-oligarch in central London after he pinched her bottom at a bus stop and offered her a ride in his expensive sports car followed by a night in his exclusive Kensington flat.

Such was his audacity that he actually believed he was a white knight riding a green Lamborghini coming in to rescue a supremely beautiful maiden from the indignity of riding a double-decked red limousin through Knightsbridge in the height of tourist season at rush hour. Then as if to compound the humiliation, people looked at her as if she'd grown a second head for refusing his extremely inappropriate, criminal, unwanted, and uninvited advance! As if she should be ashamed that she wasn't a golddigger!

She punched the shower wall in anger before thoroughly shaking that disgusting memory out of her head. A memory that made her feel so dirty she felt the need to wash all over again.

Oh, how she loathed London, and how she never wanted to ever set foot in that accused city ever again. But to work in government, she'd be compelled to live somewhere in that modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah. Leeds was no better to be sure, but it was home, and home was where the heart was.

Their world was horrid enough as it was. There was simply no need to go out of one's way make it worse for anyone. Including Maria. She didn't have to do it to anyone, and nobody had to do it to her. Josephine just hoped that the vivaciously vulgar American had learned a lesson from all this.

It didn't matter that this was all of Maria's own making. All may be fair in love and war, but these people had all lowered themselves to truly despicable acts. The question she now had to consider was, how could she lead her side to victory without losing the moral high ground. She had to be successful. Failure wasn't an option. The ship's course had to be corrected. Josephine had to lead by example.

She would show them exactly what could be achieved from the high ground.

Just as Obi-wan Kenobi showed Anakin Skywalker.

"It's over Anakin. I have the high ground!" she recited to herself in imitation of Obi-Wan Kenobi's voice and giggled. The self-amusement seemed to have done the trick to cheer her up from her depressing thought process.

"You underestimate my power!" exclaimed Maria from outside the shower.

Josephine widened her eyes before instantly feeling the sting of the shampoo, "Ack! Oh, this... this is so embarass-" she started before she heard the toilet flush.

"AHHHHHHHH!" she screamed while jumping out of the suddenly extremely hot water stream.

"Achievement unlocked: Payback!" exclaimed Maria while clapping her hands together excitedly.

"Hahahaha! Well played Maria! Well played!"

"Thank you! Thank you very much!"

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better now thank you. I'll let you get back to it. May the water force be with you."

Josephine laughed loudly before she managed to get out her answer, "I'll be finished in a moment."


After her shower, she sat at the dining table in a t-shirt and sweatpants with a towel around her wet hair, a mug of tea in her hands. Maria sat opposite her with her own mug of tea, seemingly lost in thought.

"Maria? What's on your mind?"

The ravenette slowly set down her cup and took a deep breath. "I've already told you way too much. You don't want to be getting inside my head. You're afraid of the dark, and believe me, it's very dark in there."

"May I at least know what exactly is the cause of this fear you have?"

"Will you tell me the reason for yours?"

Josephine nodded, "That's fair. It's not a very dramatic story, but, as you know, we don't have any money. Most children go through a phase where they're afraid of the dark and want their parents to come, be with them, and put them at ease…"

She had to pause and take a deep breath to steady her nerves, she set down her cup and rubbed her sweaty palms on her sweatpants briefly before she continued.

"I didn't have that. When I was going through that particular phase, my parents were working night shifts. They also worked day shifts. Frankly, I've no idea when they ever found time to sleep back in those days, but I digress. For a while, they couldn't afford the electricity and it was cut off. I was on my own so much in the dark… Trapped in my own mind…"

She paused again, and took another deep breath. "Being trapped in the dark. Alone. With naught but the monsters in my head for company. Thinking thoughts I should not utter. It had an effect on me. A permanent effect on me. My parents blame themselves for it but it wasn't their fault. The situation was what it was, it was either that, or we starve. At least I understand that now… I doubt I shall ever forgive myself for how I treated them back then. I was so upset with my mother and father for leaving me all alone. It wasn't as if they could afford a babysitter while the electricity was off and the bill collectors were harassing them."

"What about your grandmother? Weren't you two very close?"

"She came to live with us after this. As a result of it in fact. My parents didn't want to trouble her, but in the end, they had no choice. They couldn't just leave me all alone while I was that young. At least not any more than they already had. But I suppose as a result of it I was more mature and independent than most other children my age. The first time a child successfully uses the toaster to make herself food, should be a moment of celebration shared with a parent. I had to share that moment with an imaginary friend."

"Heh… Yeah. Good ol' imaginary friends for company…"

"All my friends were like that. Until I met you and McKenna. Funny enough, my friendships with the two of you are the first real ones I've ever made. Such as they are."

"Really?" asked Maria with a raised eyebrow.

"Indeed. The only other friends I have are people I've never met," she said while gesturing towards her laptop. "My guildmates. I suppose I've always had an easier time dealing with them in the simplistic context of the games we play instead of the convoluted context of the real world… That's why I feel like I'm always walking on eggshells with the two of you. I'm never quite sure what to do, what to think, what to feel… I've never had such experiences before now."

"I think you've done just fine. But for what it's worth. Whatever you screw up, I'll never hold it against you. Even if you can't do that for me."

"You're wrong. I can. And I do."

Maria smiled a rare genuine smile. Not a sarcastic, smug, or arrogant smile, but a warm smile which made Josephine smile back.

"So. I've told you mine."

Maria nodded and took a deep breath. "When I was living in Alaska I only had one friend."

Josephine nodded.

"Eventually… We started dating."

Josephine raised an eyebrow at that.

"Then one night I was sleeping over at her house."

"Please don't tell me a dirty story…"

"No. Nothing like that. At least nothing exactly like that. We played that little game, 'Show me yours, I'll show you mine.' Well. She did. I didn't."

"So I suppose that you're long-winded way of saying you're not going to be telling me the story of your mysophobia?"

"Mysophobia? That what its called?"

"Indeed. And fear of the dark is called nyctophobia."

Maria sighed and picked up her teacup, "Good to know."

The blonde girl sipped from her tea, she supposed Maria wouldn't be forthcoming today.


At one of the arenas, Jennifer Hawkins flew at breakneck speed around the arena while firing her beam rifle into whichever of the six Uchigane's she was up against had the audacity to try and intercept her.

"Stop showing off Hawkins…" she heard her teacher say to her over the comm, "Slow down and fight them properly."

"You mean give them even more of a handicap…" she muttered back.

"Yes. Slow it down. No ignition boosts, and no leading them around the arena. You're also fighting them at range when they don't have any ranged weapons. So stop being a coward and fight them up close and personal!"

"You put us into this fight six against one, but I'm the coward?" she demanded while slowing down to let one of her opponents catch up, and then she stabbed her with the tip of her long shield while replacing her beam rifle with her axe to brutally hack into her shield energy.

Another Uchigane came in from behind her current opponent, she reversed away to gain some distance and then threw the full power into her thrusters. The engines snapped to life and accelerated her forward while she brought her leg up to kick the girl in the chest and knocked her all the way down into the arena floor.

She then turned around and finished the job she'd started earlier. The first opponent came at her with her sword held high. Jennifer blocked the blow with her shield and then hacked across her midsection with the axe to drain the last of her shield power.

She hovered in the Kestrel while waiting for her classmate to recover from the knockdown blow she'd just delivered. "Come on! Get up!"

"Screw you Hawkins!" she yelled back. "So you lost to that newbie bitch! Stop taking it out on us! You're supposed to helping us to get stronger!"

"Oh really? Maybe you should think of that the next time you decide to pick on me in class!" she yelled before rapid switching to her beam rifle and then proceeded to unload on the girl while she was still down.

"Damn you! You're NOTHING without an I.S.!" screamed another classmate as she charged her through the air with her Uchigane's sword. She brought the giant katana like blade down over the blonde Australian only to be blocked by her giant shield.

"And you're nothing with one," she said calmly while swapping back to her axe which she then used to hack at her new opponent which forced her to back off in a hurry.

Jennifer almost yawned as she rapidly dematerialized her axe and replaced it with her beam rifle. She aimed the weapon and started firing on the retreating Uchigane.

A third unit came in from behind her, she spun around and started flying backwards while shooting at the advancing Uchigane.

"Hawkins! I told you to lay off the ranged attacks!" yelled her instructor.

Jennifer grumbled while swapping back to her axe, she then flew between two Uchiganes, hitting one with her axe, and slamming the other with her shield as she passed between them before kicking a third and then turned to intercept the oncoming blow of a fourth with her shield before retaliating with her axe.

She half expected her to say no shield either since the Uchigane didn't have one either, but that request never came.

Jennifer ramped up the intensity of her offensive, abusing her classmate's lack of three-dimensional tactical thinking and using the simple addition of up and down to evade and outmaneuver them while dealing blow after blow. She almost imaged Maria's stupidly smug smirking face on each of them as her blows connected. It made each strike of her axe that much more satisfying. It wasn't like her classmates had any sport to offer without the help of her imagination.

"Come on Miss Taylor! How are we meant to compete with her? The Kestrel is three times faster than the Uchigani on base specs! Her custom unit is three times faster than that!"

By the end of it all, Jennifer glanced at her shield energy which hadn't even lost a single point, and then looked around at six Uchiganis which would probably spend the rest of the week in the repair shop.

"For all the talk they can muster, they're so damn weak… You had all of last year to train and get up to at least the level I was at when I first got here! But look at you now! Six against one and you're just piles of scrap! How pathetic!"

"Hawkins!" she heard over her communications system.

"Yes, Miss Taylor?"

"Stop talking! You're meant to be helping them get stronger! Not the other way around!"

"I can't help it if they spent the last year slacking off. When they were out getting stuffed with cock I was in the arena training day and night. Even with me holding back, they could only last two minutes a pop. If their boyfriends perform the same, it would certainly explain their charming dispositions."

"Two minutes is an eternity with a Representative Cadet!"

"Weren't you a Representative Cadet yourself? I feel sorry for your boyfriend if he thinks two minutes is an eternity."

"Get out and hit the showers! Before I really get mad!"

"Yes ma'am!"


"You're nothing without an I.S.!"

Those words echoed in her mind while she stood under the water in the locker room shower. It felt nice to finally be able to wash up after having all that disgusting food thrown all over her. But it simultaneously felt rotten to know her classmate was right about her. She really was nothing without her I.S. and she knew it.

"Man… What the hell is her malfunction? She went apeshit out there!"

"Shhh! She'll hear you!"

"So what if she does? What's she going to do?"

"Yeah. She was Miss Orimura's favorite last year and it went to her head. She can't do anything except beat up on people during training. She's salty because she only ranked in ninth place despite being personally trained by Brunhilde herself!"

"No. She's salty because of what happened to her sister."

"What happened to her sister?"

"Supposedly she did a joint training exercise in America and her I.S. crashed, now she can't walk."

"Shame that didn't happen to the Devil. Then we might actually be able to train in peace and get ranked ourselves!"

Jennifer clenched her teeth and balled her fists until she couldn't stand it anymore, "OI! I CAN HEAR YOU FUCKING SLAGS! SHUT YOUR MOUTHS BEFORE I COME OUT THERE AND SHUT THEM PERMANENTLY!"

"Making threats from the shower Hawkins?" she heard her teacher say from behind her door. "I think you're overdue for a lesson in restraint. Get out of there and get suited back up. You're going to fill in all the divets you made in the arena."

"Yes ma'am…" replied Jennifer through clenched teeth.

"And have it done before sunset! I have to grade your mediocre homework!"


Jennifer worked her I.S. with a big shovel to move dirt around and fill in the craters she blasted with the bodies of her classmates. By now both she and her Kestrel were covered in dirt and she'd have to shower again. It was made worse by the fact that her hair was still wet and catching all the dust she was throwing up into the air with her every movement.

"You're so unbelievably useless. With all the special attention you got from Orimura last year, I expected a lot more of you. You have no restraint, and your attitude is deplorable. You call yourself a Christian, yet you act like a trollop. So what is it with you? What is your problem?"

Jennifer's teeth clenched as she listened and finally she snapped and turned around with a powerful stomp of the Kestrel's large foot.

"You're my problem! You disgusting limey WASP! Why don't you jump into this hole and let me put you out of my misery!"

"Oh my! Look at the pair on you!"

"I'm so sick of this! You've been on my ass since day one! You let everyone in the class say and do whatever they want to me! You slap me in front of everyone! Make me look weak and pathetic! You're supposed to be a teacher! What are you trying to teach me exactly? If it's how to be a better bitch, you're doing that FLAWLESSLY!"

"Are you finished?"

"I haven't even started!" she exclaimed before tossing aside the giant shovel. "Did I do something to offend you? Or do you just think you can stick it to Miss Orimura by sticking it to me?!"

"I see you also have an inflated sense of self. I can correct that as well. After you're finished with these craters. You're cleaning the locker room. Showers, toilettes, floor, I want them all so clean I can eat off them. If the lesson still doesn't take, we can try something else until it does," she said before turning around to walk away from the arena.

Jennifer sighed heavily. "Thank you, Lord, for your patience in trying to teach me humility. But I'm worried you're wasting your time… and I might shoot your messenger if this keeps up..."


After she finished with her 'punishment' Jennifer emerged from the locker room with a sour look on her face when her phone went off. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out to see who was calling. 'Unknown Number' said the display. She answered the call and put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hǎo jiǔ bú jiàn!" she heard a girl say ecstatically over the line.

"Rin?!" asked Jennifer.

"Who else?!"

"Oh, you don't know how badly I needed a nice surprise like this! How are you?"

"I'm doing great! I was just thinking of you and thought I'd call. I miss you a lot!"

"I miss you too. I miss hanging out with you on the weekends, and I damn sure miss your food!"

"Yeah… It's a shame about the restaurant..."

"Yes, it is. I'm so sorry about your parents."

"Thank you…"

"How're you getting along with your uncle?" asked Jennifer while taking a seat on a bench.

"He's always busy. Too busy to talk to me. I haven't been able to make any friends here… After what happened to the last girl, I have bodyguards following me around and it's so annoying! I can't get even a moment to myself! Sorry… I didn't mean to yell there."

"It's ok. You need to vent, I'm here to listen," she said reassuringly.

"Everything's just so intense. It's one thing after another I don't have any time to myself at all."

"That's an understatement. I'll never forget my pre-training it was the hardest thing I've ever done. You have to grow up a lot faster and it really does put a lot of pressure on you. I did my best to prepare you for it, but it's all up to you now. All I can do is listen and encourage you."

"You did, and you are! I wouldn't be here now if I didn't have you helping me. I owe you so much!"

"Just be happy, and let me see you here next year, kicking ass and taking names!"

"That's a promise! Say. Have you by any chance seen Ichika?"

"I think it's better for everyone if I stay away from that boy. I don't care who's brother he is, the next time I see him, I will hurt him."

"What do you have against him?"

"The fact that he's too stupid to live? The way he doesn't understand your feelings for him? It pisses me off so much! I'd strangle him if he had a brain to deprive of oxygen! You could do so much better than him."

"Haha! That's why I miss you so much! You get me like nobody else does!"

"Why don't you call him yourself if you're so curious about him?"

"WHAT?! NO! HE SHOULD BE CALLING ME!"

"Eeeeesh…" muttered Jennifer while holding the phone away from her ear. "Someone's developed a temper. Hope she didn't learn that from me..." she whispered to herself.

"Yes, he should. But we both know his head has the density of osmium. Remember what the density of that is?"

"Twenty-two grams per cubic centimeter! I remember! I remember everything you taught me!"

"That's my girl!"

"Jenny…"

"Talk to me. What's on your mind."

"I'm kinda… scared."

"About what?" she asked while leaning back. She crossed her legs and made herself comfortable to listen.

"What if I don't make it through the pre-training? The competition to get here was so intense, and they never let me forget how quickly and easily I can be replaced..."

"Even getting to the Academy doesn't stop that. There's always someone waiting for the chance to take your place. The trick is to not let the fear rule over you. You need to learn how to own that fear and let it fuel you."

"Is that why you like climbing stupidly high stuff?"

"Exactly. I'm not suggesting you go and climb a crane. But I am suggesting you find something to use that fear on. Learn to accept it, and get past it instead of letting it hold you back. Every single day, you have to push the boundaries, take chances, go beyond what you think you're capable of. Reach your limits and work to exceed them. And keep doing it better than the next girl."

"I understand. I'll do my best not to let you down."

"You couldn't possibly let me down. I love you so very much and I'll always support you. You hear me? I'll always be here for you no matter what. Any time. If you just wanna talk, or if there's anything you need. Just call me."

"Do you still want to come to visit China? They told me they'll give me two weeks off in the summer to do whatever I want. So if you're not going back to Australia then-"

"Hell yes, of course I still wanna see China! And I can definitely set aside two weeks for it before the Mondo Grosso. By the way, would they let you travel to see it?"

"No way. They're going to make me watch it here and study the fights, and test me on it after. But yeah. Come to China! It's gonna be so amazing! I'll make a good plan for us so you can see all the really good stuff!"

"Don't forget about the wall! I want to run on it. I wanna start on one end and just go, for as long and as far as I can in one sprint. It's a bucket list thing."

"Promise! Oh. And one more thing."

"Name it."

"I just got offered a new modeling job, but the contract is… I'm not sure I understand it. It has all these stupidly long and complicated terms and conditions. Could you take a look at it and advise me? I have a lawyer here who is supposed to advise me, but I don't trust him."

"Nor should you. Send it over to me and I'll go through it and get back to you as soon as I can. And good job on not just signing stuff without understanding it first. Remember they'll always try to exploit you in any which way they can! The lawyers working for Representative Pilots more often than not also work for the companies and agencies. So no, never fully trust them to have your best interests at heart."

"I remember. That's why I wanna run it by you first. I trust you to give me good advice."

"I appreciate that. Anything else? I need to go in a minute. A friend invited me for dinner and I don't want to be late."

"A boyfriend?"

"Are you serious? This is an all girls school…"

"So you don't have a boyfriend?"

"No. I mean, I have someone I'd be interested in. But I don't think he's interested in me."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. Every guy I know ends up friend-zoning me. It's supposed to be the other way around damn it!"

"So what's for dinner?"

"Clever girl. You know me too well. I've no idea what's for dinner, but when you get here, I advise you to stick to the Ramen in the cafeteria. Order anything fancier than that and you're playing Russian Roulette. Except you get the Hershey Squirts instead of a bullet."

"Hershey squirts? What's that?"

"Umm… Yeah… You know those bottles of chocolate syrup?"

"Yeah?"

"You know the sound they make sometimes when you squeeze them?"

"Yeah? Oh, wait! No! NO! EEEEEW!"

"Yeah. It isn't pretty. Lemmie tell ya."

"Please don't tell me! Good thing Ramen is my favorite."


McKenna opened the door and almost fell into the dorm room from exhaustion.

"Welcome home dear," said Josephine from in front of the stove.

"You will not believe the shit I've been through today…" said the exasperated Canadian as she stepped in and shut the door behind her.

"Have you had a chance to shower?"

"Yeah. Right after training…" she took a sniff of the air. "What're you cooking? That smells amazing!" she asked, suddenly sounding more energized than when she first walked in.

"One of my favorites. Black Bean Soup."

"I'd make a joke about how much soup you cook, but I can't because they're always amazing and filling."

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying them. I would love to cook more of a variety, but with this tiny refrigerator, I'm afraid to get too much."

"Makes sense. At least we're not big snackers."

"Indeed. By the way, I invited Jenny over for dinner. Could you extend an invitation to Tatenashi? I'd like to get us all together to discuss the current situation and my plan for resolving it."

"Sure. But. Where's Maria?"

"IN THE SHITTER!" yelled Maria from the bathroom.

"Sorry I asked…" mumbled McKenna as she walked into the living room.


Tatenashi, McKenna, Maria, Josephine, and Jennifer all sat around the table and ate. Tatenashi and Jennifer both wore matching clean uniforms of the same styling, except with the bluenette wearing a yellowish vest, and the blonde wearing a white vest and had the sleeves of her shirt rolled up. Josephine sat in a bathrobe and had a towel wrapped around her head to hold up her damp hair. McKenna wore gray sweatpants with a Canucks hockey jersey while Maria wore a torn up old plain white t-shirt that seemed five sizes too big for her, black pajama pants, and treaded socks.

The first thing which had to be done was to get Tatenashi and Jennifer up to speed on the situation and the players involved. That was when Tatenashi dropped the bombshell on Maria's head which hit her like a garbage bag.

"You should probably know that Mayuzumi was the one who did it."

Maria slammed her fist down into the table hard enough to rattle everyone's plates and glasses. "That fucking cunt! Why didn't you tell me?!"

Josephine instantly reached out an smacked Maria across the back of the head hard enough to send her face into the table.

"OWWWW! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" cried out Maria while everyone was stunned into silence by Josephine's hard and angry glare.

"Hah! Serves you right!" exclaimed a very amused Jennifer.

"I tolerate a lot from you Maria. But I do not ever want to hear that word at this table. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"So I should leave the table to use that word then?"

"You know very well what I mean. Do not use it. That is where I draw the line."

"Damn… Fine. Fine. Sheeesh. You could have just said something you know…" muttered Maria while rubbing the back of her head and nose with both hands.

"Now that you're behaving like a proper Class-Rep, I need to make you a proper paper fan to go with it! Then you can whack Maria around anime style!" exclaimed an amused Tatenashi.

"Mind if I ask what the big deal is Josie?" asked Jennifer. "In Australia we say it all the time, very casually in fact."

"I just don't like that word. May we leave it at that for now?" replied Josephine.

McKenna took a moment of the awkward silence to make a mental note on Maria's behavior just now. She almost broke someone's arm earlier today for a lot less. In fact Maria's reaction to the candy wrapper incident was almost instantaneous and brutal violence. But Josephine almost broke her nose and all she did was curse.

"Aaaannnnywaaaay…We stayed quiet because we knew you'd react this way and we didn't know what to do with the information at the time."

"Maria. Think about how they must have felt for a moment," started Josephine. "She was their friend. They trusted her. They worked with her on Tatenashi's personal unit. They studied together. They let her into their heads, and probably into their hearts as well. McKenna spent a night in her dorm. That's a level of trust. Then McKenna gave her hospitality in our room as well. That's another level of trust. We tolerated it in spite of our feelings towards her. We respected Mayuzumi because we respect McKenna and Tatenashi. That meant something to them. So imagine how betrayed they must feel?"

"Speak for yourself. I didn't remember showing her any respect."

Tatenashi chuckled at that. "Respect? No. Tolerance? Acceptance? Yes. You never tried to throw her out or make a stand to deny her entry. This is your room too, and thus, you have the right to refuse to give hospitality. So don't lie about it, Maria. I think you were starting to like her."

Maria rolled her eyes. "She still hated my guts. So what's it fucking matter?"

McKenna pointed straight at the ravenette, "It matters a lot because it's why we kept our mouths shut. You don't like anyone. So the fact that even YOU were starting to accept her, says a lot."

"That's so not true. I like all of you just fine!"

"I'm only here for them! Don't lump me into your social circle! I still hate you with a passion!" yelled Jennifer.

"Yeah. And that makes me even wetter for you!"

Tatenashi started laughing. McKenna and Josephine each palmed their faces while Jennifer turned red and started fuming.

"You are disgusting!"

Josephine looked up and decided it was time to nip this and move the conversation forward. "Ladies, please! Now that we're all on the same page. Perhaps it's time we started examining our options for dealing with the situation?"

"Shā yī jǐng bǎi."

All eyes turned on Maria.

"It means-"

Jennifer interrupted with a harsh voice, "Kill one to warn a hundred. I know what it means."

"Impressive! How do you know that?" asked Maria.

"I speak Mandarin. I practically lived with a Chinese family last year. They taught me in return for tutoring their daughter for her I.S. preparations."

Josephine chuckled, "You see? You have common ground. You're both interested in languages. I'd love to see you two trading notes instead of insults."

"Like that'll ever happen…" muttered Jennifer.

"So do you actually have an idea?" asked Tatenashi. "Or are you just showing off your Mandarin?"

"If it were entirely up to me-"

"Oh this should be good!" scoffed Jennifer.

"I would play their game back at them. Show them how a pro does it. She wants to hit at my worst fear. I'll hit hers even harder."

"For argument's sake, let's pretend for a moment I would actually allow you to do that. Which for the record, I absolutely would not. But say I did. What would you do to her?" inquired Josephine.

"I'm not sure yet. But I'll find her weakest spot. I'll beat down everyone she knows until someone gives me something good."

"Are we actually listening to this?" asked Jennifer.

Josephine nodded, "Right. I move to veto that idea."

"Seconded," muttered Jennifer.

"Thirded," added McKenna.

"Fourthed," said Tatenashi.

"The motion carries…" said a rueful Josephine.

"Alright, Josie. What have you got?" asked McKenna.

Josephine nodded, "You inspired hatred. That was your flaw, Maria. To quote from a much wiser person than I; 'A prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred.' Meaning that you need to learn how to be feared without being hated because fear inspires subservience, and hatred inspires revolt."

"What's that from?" asked Tatenashi. "I like it."

"Machiavelli. The Prince. Chapter Seventeen," supplied Jennifer.

"Never took you for a reader of Machiavelli."

Jennifer shrugged, "You're not the only edified chick at this table."

Josephine smiled at the Australian, "I think we're going to have a long and wonderful friendship."

"Aww. They're in love!" declared Maria.

"You be quiet!" yelled Jennifer.

"So here's what I would do. If the goal is to inspire fear without hatred… Adults will tell you that it's simply best to ignore bullies until they go away, or worse, to simply report it and let the staff handle it. That's one of many reasons why traditional school education is not in any way conducive to education, the life lessons imparted do not translate to the real world, to say nothing of the actual coursework. So if we just wander around trying to be diplomatic and negotiate a cessation of hostilities with everyone, or go to Miss Orimura, we're only going to look weak and compromise our negotiating position,

To avoid that, we have to approach this in such a way that we can approach our peers from a position of strength. Now we can't just fight each of them in an I.S. duel, but we can play their game back at them without actually crossing the red line I can still see Maria thinking about…"

Maria looked up at Josephine and blushed.

"So. The solution is a measured and precisely targeted strike. Show them we have the capacity and the will to fight this war to its conclusion and emerge victoriously. Hopefully, this will make them think twice about how they choose to escalate matters going forward. Now, how do we achieve that you may wonder?"

As the girls listened to the plan, even Maria's face lit up with pride at the deviousness being displayed by her friend.

"Alright. That's what we're going to do!" exclaimed Tatenashi.

"Agreed. I'll go get what I need," added Jennifer.

"Same here! Oh, this is gonna be great!" added the bluenette.

"And I guess I'll go do our laundry," said Maria while standing up.

"No Maria. I'll do it. You just stay here," said Josephine. "The last thing we need is more people throwing garbage at you when we're not around to control your fight or flight responses."

"My response is always to fight!"

"That's what worries me," she replied while standing up with Jennifer and Tatenashi. "We're lucky Miss Edwards was the one to catch us in our kerfuffle. If that had been Miss Orimura, you'd be expelled by now."

"So this whole plan is sort of like putting on a play isn't it?" asked Tatenashi.

"Something like that," replied Josephine. "All the world's a stage. And all the men and women merely players."

"When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?" asked Maria.

"When the hurlyburly's done, when the battle's lost and won!" recited McKenna.

"That will be ere the set of sun," said Josephine.

"Where the place?" asked Maria.

Jennifer and Tatenashi blinked and then stared blankly at the trio.

"Upon the heath!" replied McKenna.

"There to meet with Macbeth!" declared Josephine.

"What the hell have you been taking? I think I want some," remarked Tatenashi.

"I come, graymalkin!"

"Paddock calls!"

"Anon!"

"Fair is foul and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air!" they recited together.

"And… Exeunt!" declared McKenna.


Josephine set the laundry basket down in the corridor with a sigh. It was so rare to get moments alone to digest the rollercoaster of events that seemed to follow her and her roommates around the school. Today seemed to be the day where she'd have that in abundance.

As she fiddled with the door handle, she thought about Maria and her inevitable retaliation. It was too late to distance herself from it all she supposed. As their roommate, she was inextricably linked to McKenna and Maria both. Besides, the attack on Maria was an injustice, she was loud and crazy and a bit obnoxious but she didn't deserve that trauma, she'd already had enough in her life. Maria had certainly given her a great deal to think about, and even more to rethink.

Josephine sighed again, it was no use trying to analyse what would happen in such detail tonight. Her machinations needed cooperation from everyone, and everyone's skills too. For now, all she could do was make Maria's life more comfortable, both to help a friend and hopefully mitigate some of the fury that she no doubt still felt from being humiliated as she was.

Josephine placed the basket neatly on the floor and began sorting through the laundry and separating them into coloured, white and dark piles so they could be washed in separate machines at the same time, each student had a few sets of the standard I.S. Academy uniform which, rather annoyingly, consisted of white, red, black, and gray. Did it not it occur to whomever set the uniform in this place that such a thing might go wrong? Which pile were the uniforms meant to be washed in? Separately as their own? Mixed color load?

Poor planning and organisation, she thought to herself with a slight smile, she'd do things differently if it were up to her. Maybe one day it would be? She knew she wanted to make a positive difference to the world but governing also requires sweating over details and even details as simple as what colour the uniforms should be could make a difference over the lives of students. But perhaps she was over thinking. That too was one of the flaws she knew she had.

As she contemplated their uniforms and hesitantly bundled them into the washer along with the rest of their white laundry she heard footsteps in the corridor outside and prepared herself for some company to appear in the washroom with a smile, being alone with her thoughts was nice enough but menial tasks like this one often lead her to procrastinate if she wasn't forced to do it. She shook her head and began piling in the dark coloured washing, debating for a moment where to put her favorite green sweater before deciding it belonged with the coloured laundry and set it aside for the third load.

She didn't have time to turn and look before the door burst open and the light was banished from the room. In an instant, her capacity for rational thought had been extinguished with the lights. It was like a fist of ice clenched around her guts, spreading an arctic chill up her spine and throughout her entire body.

She slumped to her knees and then onto her side, her body suddenly becoming stiff and heavy.

She cried out in terror as the crack of light from the hallway outside was extinguished by someone closing the door.

She squeezed her eyes shut, her face already soaked in salty water as she sobbed, clutching violently at her chest in panic.

She tried to speak, to plead for the light to return and for whoever it was to stop whatever they were doing.

But all that came was sharp intakes of breath, followed by shaking moans of agony and fear.

She curled into a ball to try and regain some semblance of control but her arm was violently wrenched off her legs by an unseen hand.

She felt her watch, her I.S. Frame's inactive state, being torn off her arm.

She yelped and cried, clawing and flailing in with her right arm at her attacker.

She kept her eyes firmly shut as she sobbed again, more each one getting louder and scratching her vocal chords until all she could feel was a painful lump in her throat.

She clenched her teeth so hard her gums started to ache but she felt the strap of the watch being undone, and finally, it was mercilessly and painfully removed from her wrist.

Her attacker thrust her arm to the ground and triumphantly walked away.

The door must've been opened again for them to leave the room but she didn't notice any light.

She remained curled up on the floor in between the rows of laundry machines with only their rumbling noise for company.

Josephine sobbed as loudly as she could until nothing but whimpers and ragged breath remained.


McKenna sat at the computer desk to finish her homework while Maria sat on Josephine's bed with her guitar, strumming a familiar tune which she just couldn't name, but knew.

Before she could say something about it, her phone vibrated and she quickly looked at it to see a message from her boyfriend.

"You haven't texted me today?"

"Sorry I was busy." she typed back. "Chick drama."

"1440 minutes in a day and you couldn't use one to message me?"

"Sorry, sweety. Just getting bullied by our classmates. So I was distracted."

"Nobody ever bullied you here at home."

"Yeah. I guess that's why I have no idea what I'm really doing in this situation I'm in. I feel so lost and alone right now. I'm just going with the flow of my roomies and I hate it."

"You need to grow up. That's all there is to it."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because you're being lead around by those cunts who are getting you into trouble that you wouldn't be in if you didn't hang around them. Just worry about yourself and your own problems. Problem solved. Make sense?"

"No. It makes no sense. Why should I turn my back on my friends?"

"Oh, they're your friends now? Haven't we been through this? See what I mean about you needing to grow up? Not everyone has to be your friend. You delude yourself into thinking strangers give a shit about you. They don't. You're just there. And they're gonna use you. Same as your 'friends' here who just always got jealous of you. When you got a boyfriend, everyone got jealous and spread rumors about you. When you built your first racing drone, nobody cared about your achievement but me. When you became an I.S. pilot they spread even worse rumors about you."

"What rumors?!"

"I didn't tell you about that because I didn't want you to feel bad. So how do you feel now?"

"Pretty shitty…"

"Well. That's fine. Once you reach the pinnacle of shittiness, there's nowhere to go but up. :)"

McKenna clenched her phone and teeth tightly. "So what should I do about the bullies?"

"Nothing. Just uninvolve yourself and everything will work out. You weren't involved before and things were fine weren't they?"

"Apparently not… I need to think about this."

"You'll see I'm right. Don't forget the game on Saturday. Let's talk while we watch it. Then it'll be like we're watching it together."

"Sure. Talk to you soon."

After she put down the phone, the rhythm of Maria's guitar got stuck in her head immediately and she glanced up and directly at the ravenette. "Hey, Maria! What the hell is the name of that song?! It's pissing me off now!"

"Just something I got stuck in my head while thinking about that beautiful as fuck desert rose Josie made friends with, then I started remembering Arizona and Nevada and testing the Meteor out in the desert. It's a song of a story of how… I've been through the desert on a horse with no name, it felt good to be out of the rain." she sang with a very heavy emphasis on the title in the lyrics. "In the desert, you can't remember your name cuz there ain't no one for to give you no pain. Laaaaa, laaaaa, la, la la la, la la la, laaaa, la!"

"Alright! I get it! Quiet down before we have another home invasion!"

"Fuck 'em."

"You're even worse than my boyfriend!"

Maria shrugged her shoulders, "Why? What'd he do this time? It'd be good to know what I'm competing with."

"Neither of you have a fuck to give."

"What can I say? It's the best way to live. No disappointments that way. Now I wonder what's taking Josie so damn long?" wondered Maria while setting aside her guitar.

"She's probably taking a while because it just takes a while to presoak the panties of a little anal retentive bitch we both know. You know, the one who leaves more skid marks than a getaway car..."

"You really think pretty low of me don't you?"

"Yes, I do. You haven't exactly given me, or anyone, any reason to think better of you. It's your own damn fault. It's your fault we're in this shitty situation. It's your fault Jenny's sister is a fucking quadriplegic, it's your fault Josephine got humiliated in class today, and it's entirely your fucking fault I got thrown into those fucking lockers! You know how much my back still hurts from that shit?! And by the way, you should also be doing your fucking homework!"

"Why? Once the others get back we're going to go get started on Josie's plan?"

"Just get it out the way so you won't worry about it!"

"But I'm not worried about it? I can do that shit in my sleep."

"Alright, miss smarty soiled panties. Solve this!"

Maria sighed while standing up, she put her guitar down on Josephine's bed and then stepped over to glance over McKenna's shoulder. The brunette was pointing out an algebra problem with the tip of her pen in her textbook.

"X is negative three," said Maria before going back to sit on the bed.

"You're guessing! You can't do this shit in your head!"

"Solve it yourself and see."

McKenna growled from her throat. "I don't know how…"

"How'd you pass your entrance exam if you don't know how to solve linear equations?"

"Scored flawlessly in everything but math. Got an exemption because of my other abilities and skills… Now I'm boned because I can't do this pointless shit."

"Alright…" said Maria while she started pacing about. "Let's evaluate your math level and see where your education was deficient. Answer me as quick as you can. Two plus two?"

"Are you serious?"

"Very serious. Eight plus nine?"

"Seventeen…"

"Twenty-nine minus eighteen?"

McKenna squinted her eyes and then Maria smacked her across the head when she started using her fingers. "That's where you failed! No fingers!"

"So what?! Everyone uses their fingers!"

"I only use my fingers for music and masturbation. Ten times ten?"

"One hundred and eeew!"

"Don't pretend you don't do it too, I've heard you in the shower! Twenty-three times nine?"

"Uhh… Can we stop for a moment and talk about you eaves-"

Maria smacked her again. "'Stay focused! Ninety divided by three?"

"Stop hitting me or I'll hit you back bitch!"

Maria pulled up the chair beside McKenna and sat herself down. "You can't reliably do basic math. That's why you're struggling so much."

"We're not all human calculators! I can do basic math if I have some paper to write it out. I can't just solve problems in my head!"

"So you need to visualize to do math?"

"Yes."

"Didn't you ever make a multiplication table when you were in elementary?"

"Yes! Of course, I did!"

"You didn't memorize it? Did you?"

McKenna sighed very deeply. "No… I was lazy and distracted. I didn't think it was important."

"Honestly. Neither did I. I was also kind of a dumbass when I was little. If it didn't involve music, I didn't give a fuck."

"So how'd you get up to this level?" asked McKenna while tapping on her book. "Actually wait… I'm wasting my questions," she said while pulling her phone out of her pocket.

"What I really want to know, no, what I have to know is… How the hell did you go from THIS..." McKenna held up her phone with a picture of the younger and much heavier Maria. "To THIS!" she exclaimed while pointing at her.

"Holy fucking shit! I haven't seen that big fat bitch in such a long ass time! Glad they didn't post that picture up in the classroom."

"Would you answer me?"

"Simple. I just started to watch what I eat."

"Going in or coming out?"

"Oh! Oh, you're funny! I do subtraction with a treadmill, but you do it with your fingers!"

"Up yours!"

Maria blushed and lewdly spread her legs. "By all means. After all the practice you've had in the shower I'd love to test you," she said salaciously.

The Canadian sighed and facepalmed. "You're so screwed up in the head. You and Tatenashi both!"

"Yes, we are. Now for your problem. You just gotta go back to basics. Solve basic math problems and work on your memory retention. My math tutor combined guitar music with math and it helped me a lot because it kept me interested long enough to learn what I needed. The brain's like a muscle. You gotta train it. Some exercises are just more fun than others, but as the saying goes; 'friends don't let friends skip leg day'! Or in this case, Brain Day. You're not going to remember algebraic formulas if you can't quickly tell me what a hundred and thirty-eight divided by two is."

She quickly turned back to her homework and tried to ignore the ravenette but the question gnawed at her until she finally folded and did the division on paper… Then she turned to the grinning American and smacked her one upside the head.

"One more question. What about your eyes?"

"What about my eyes?"

"How did they turn red like that?"

Maria picked up her acoustic guitar after sitting back down on Josephine's bed, she strummed a couple of chords while keeping her gaze up at the ceiling.

"Will you please tell me?"

Maria strummed another chord, and then another.

The Canadian turned around, frustrated with the lack of an answer and returned to her homework. But then the seemingly random chords turned into a very recognizable tune.

"She's a good girl, loves her mama. Loves hockey, and America too. And she's a good girl, crazy 'bout Bieber. Loves Jesus, and her girlfriend too…"

McKenna raised an eyebrow. She put her pen down and turn back around to look at the little American and listen to her singing. She didn't know anything about guitars herself, but her older brother played, and played well. Maria too played very well. But there was something to be said of the sound which emerged from that instrument. A familiar quality of sound. It was rich, dynamic, powerful, and just generally full sounding.

Maria's guitar was jet black with only some small bits of white detailing around the sound hole, and the outer body. The fretboard had a white leafy vine design going from the bottom to the top. She leaned in for a closer look at the final fret which had a signature inlaid into it, Maria's own. She next looked up to the head of the guitar which said 'Martin' vertically with a C and an F on either side of the M. Which was a name McKenna did know, her big brother had one just like it that her father commissioned for him as a university graduation present. Hence why she didn't immediately recognize it. Her brother's instrument was more traditional with plain wood colors instead of the black hole affair Maria was holding, and of course, hers was configured for a left-hander.

She found it very odd that someone who had no money could afford to carry around an over ten thousand American dollar custom built dreadnought style acoustic guitar.

"And it's a long day... livin' in Anchorage. There's a freeway, runnin' through the yard! And I'm a bad girl, cause I don't even miss her. And she's a bad girl, for breakin' my heart…"

"Now I'm free! Free fallin'! Yeah, I'm free! Free fallin'!"

McKenna felt her heart ache at the sound of that chorus. The way Maria's voice carried it, it was a sound which came to her directly from a tortured soul.

"Now all the wolves are, walkin' by the river. I'm headed south now, to someplace strange. And the good girls, are happy and warm. While this bad girl, is flyin' away!"

"Now I'm free! Free fallin'! Yeah, I'm free! Free fallin'!""

"Free fallin', now I'm, free fallin', now I'm, free fallin', now I'm..."

"I wanna fly down, over Las Vegas. I wanna write her... name in the sky! I wanna free fall, down into nothin'. I wanna leave this... world for awhile..."

"Now I'm free! Free fallin'! Yeah, I'm free! Free fallin'!""

As Maria finished singing, there was a loud knock at the door. McKenna turned to go open it when the door seemed to just open itself right up. She got ready to kick the ass of whomever had the audacity to do such a thing when she saw that it was just Jennifer and Tatenashi walking in. She relaxed her aggressive posture and sighed in irritation.

"Sorry about that McKenna. Tatenashi seems eager to compete with Maria in the arena of impropriety."

"You noticed that huh?" replied the thoroughly exasperated Canadian.

"Anyway, the singing is way too loud. Keep it down! And I brought my drone," said Jennifer.

"And I got costumes from the drama club!"

"And could you please explain to this dim-wit that we're not dressing my three thousand dollar drone up in a costume! And yes, I'm asking even though I know subtlety is a concept lost on the whole lot of you!"

McKenna got up and walked over to see the expensive quadcopter drone in Jennifer's hands. "That's a nice freaking drone you got there!"

"Why do you even have one of those?" asked Maria. "You don't strike me as the type who'd use it for voyeurism…"

"And that is why we'll never allow you to have one of your own. I use this to film myself doing parkour and urban free climbing. It's a hobby."

"Oh, I love that stuff! Got vids on YouTube?" asked McKenna.

"Yes. But nothing recent. Miss Orimura made me stop after an hour-long lecture about everything I did wrong which lead to half this city using anti-climb paint on just about everything..."

"That must suck for you," remarked Maria with a smug smile.

"Not as much as it's going to suck for you if you don't wipe that shit eating grin off your face!"

"You got any footage on this drone to watch while we wait for Josephine?" asked McKenna to change the subject before they really got into an argument.

"No. But I can put some of my recent private stuff on YouTube up on the big screen if you wanna see?" answered the Australian while getting her phone out of her pocket. "I'll connect this to the TV and put it on for you. I did a climb in Tokyo before school started. Only three hundred forty-nine meters but it was a nice view from up there."

"Only three hundred and forty-nine meters? What's your record?" asked Tatenashi.

"Doesn't count since my footage got confiscated when I got busted by the police, but it was seven hundred and fifty meters."

"Holy crap! Where was that?"

"Dubai. Not a place you wanna go to jail in. After three nights in a detention cell with a bunch of smelly Asian hookers and runaway Indian housemaids they made me sign some papers and deported my ass back to Australia."

"That sucks."

"Not really. I hate it there. I just went last winter to do that climb. It was the tallest active crane in the world at the time. So, let's see Tokyo at night. It's one of my favorite views in the world!"

A short while later the four girls were all seated on the floor next to Josephine's bed watching Jennifer climb the ladder to the top of a tower crane in the middle of Tokyo at night. The view alternated between a head-mounted camera she wore and her drone's footage which followed her along.

Jennifer had just reached the platform with the operator's cab and was taking a moment to show off what she was about to do. The jib of the crane was almost vertical from where she was filming from, she had a long and very steep climb to reach the tip of the crane. The person with her was saying something in Japanese. She didn't reply, but gave him a high five and the pair proceeded to climb on different sides of the jib.

"Is that guy your boyfriend?" asked Tatenashi. "He's talking to you like you're his girlfriend."

"No. He's just a good friend and fellow YouTuber who's into the same stuff as me, so we collaborate from time to time when the opportunity arises."

"That's crazy! I've totally gotta try doing this shit!" exclaimed Maria.

"Do you wear your I.S. while doing these climbs? I mean, if you fall, your absolute defense will kick in," asked McKenna while watching closely.

The point of view perspective constantly made it seem like Jennifer was always about to fall off. The wind made the ultra high definition footage shake as the camera couldn't be kept steady, but she kept going, it was only thanks to what the Canadian knew was intensive and laborious post-processing to eliminate as much camera shake as possible that the footage was even watchable.

"Yes. But its deactivated and stored in my backpack. The safety net defeats the whole purpose."

"One more quick question then. Do you check the load capacity of these cranes before you climb them?" wondered McKenna.

"Why would that matter?"

Tatenashi beamed a wide smile at the television, "She's probably wondering the same thing I am. Does that crane really have what it takes to hold up your — GIANT — STEEL — BALLS?! Damn girl! You're standing on the tip with the wind blowing hard and taking a selfie!"

"Yep! She's totally not the stuck up boring bitch I thought she was!" exclaimed Maria. "That's fucking awesome! And holy shit you look so amazingly sexy up there!"

Jennifer rolled her eyes, "Please keep your praise to yourself. Both of you!"

Maria then quickly stood up. "Alright. I'm officially worried now. I'm gonna go check on Josie. She's taking way too long."

"Yeah. I'm coming with you. It's been almost two hours…"

"Why don't we all go?" asked Tatenashi.

"No. You two stay here in case she comes back," answered McKenna.

Maria grinned at them, "You can get started with the costumes."

"We're not dressing up my drone!" exclaimed Jennifer, to which Tatenashi pouted.


Tatenashi and Jennifer sat in awkward silence at the dinner table. The blonde decided to kill time with social media while Tatenashi just looked around.

"So…"

Jennifer looked up from her phone at the bluenette and then back down at her phone.

"Sorry. I just realized I don't actually know you."

"There's no reason we can't be good strangers," mumbled Jennifer.

"Awww. Don't be like that! We're like Uniform Friends! Uni Sisters!"

Jennifer looked up from her phone for a moment at her and then looked back down again. "Sure. Whatever."

"Grr! You're no fun!"

Jennifer giggled all of a sudden.

"What's funny?"

"I have this friend in Australia who's a cop and he just sent me a pic of him arresting someone for roofing. He said he's glad I don't do that anymore. So I just sent him back the selfie I took in Tokyo from the climb I showed you earlier and said 'I've reached new heights since then'. He showed it to the guy he arrested and then he asked my friend to ask me out on a date for him."

"Damn! And I thought you had the biggest balls of steel I've ever seen. Is he good looking at least?"

"Not really."

"That's disappointing…"

"Not really."

"What about the cop? Is he hot?"

"He's ten years older than me…"

"That doesn't answer my question."

"He's not bad looking."

"How'd you meet him?"

"He arrested me for roofing."

"Damn… So how was jail in Australia?"

"Pretty shit. My parents were very pissed off. My sister just wanted to see the videos of me up on the roofs."

Tatenashi sat back in her chair and smiled at herself. "So what is it about urban climbing that you find so amazing?"

"It's not just urban climbing. I like climbing everything. Started when I was a kid, getting up trees. Then the roof of our house. Then the roof of my friend's house. Then the roof of my school building. Then the roof of my friend's apartment building."

"Never been afraid of dying?"

"Of course I'm afraid. That's what makes it such a rush!"

"So you're a hardcore Catholic and a hardcore adrenaline junkie? How does that work?"

"You got me talking to you. Maybe try earning some respect and friendship before you pry into my personal belief system that deeply?"

"You're one tough nut to crack. You know that?"

"I know no greater compliment."

Both of their heads snapped to the entranceway as the door flew open.

"Tatenashi! Get my phone and call Miss Yamada! Quick! Tell her we need her here!" yelled McKenna as she and Maria brought a catatonic Josephine into the room.


Josephine was tucked into her bed with Maya sitting beside her, McKenna standing on the opposite side. Meanwhile, Maria paced back and forth across the living room while Tatenashi and Jennifer remained seated at the dining table.

"I'm sorry I can't be more help here. But what Miss Williams is going through isn't like what Miss Cross had to endure. They're very different responses triggered by very different things. I'm out of my depth here," explained Maya. "All we can do for the moment is keep the lights on, and hope she snaps out of it on her own."

"Fear of the dark is evolutionary for us. We fear the dark because we're vulnerable in it. It's when we can be attacked by predators we can't fight off because we can't see…" explained Maria.

"Yeah. I read that as well," added McKenna. "Which makes this all so much worse. Because what they did is reinforce her phobia. Whatever gains she made against it in her life, could pretty much have been entirely undone now."

"Yeah. And that pisses me off even more!"

"Do we have any idea who could have done this?" asked Maya.

"Safest bet is that Arad girl. Mayuzumi was feeding her dirt about all of us which she gained while she was in our confidence," explained Tatenashi. "She was the one who dumped the trash all over Maria. So it stands to reason that she was somehow involved in this."

"That's terrible… This is really going much too far now!"

"It hasn't gone nearly as far as it's going to go!" exclaimed McKenna. But before she could walk away, Josephine grabbed her by the wrist. "Josephine?"

The blonde pulled her friend down and whispered something to her.

"She's saying her watch is gone?" explained McKenna before it suddenly dawned on her. "Oh shit! Shit! Shit! That bitch took the Fury!"

"WHAT?!" exclaimed the entire room all at once.

"Her watch is the standby form of her I.S. unit…" explained McKenna.

"We know. Or at least. I knew. Gah! Doesn't matter! We need to get it back!" exclaimed Jennifer.

Maya stood up, "We need to report it right away. The theft of an I.S. unit is a very serious problem!"

"No fucking way you're reporting it! They'll shit can her for sure! If I lost the Meteor I'd be fucked for life! I don't think it's different for anyone else!" yelled Maria.

"We can't have an I.S. unit unaccounted for! This is serious!" exclaimed Maya.

"Miss Yamada! This is HER LIFE! Give us eight hours to get it back. If we can't before then, go ahead and report it. Can you do that much at least?" asked McKenna.

"What she said! We'll get it back," pleaded Maria. "I don't beg for shit! But I'll beg you for this if I have to!"

Maya shook her head. "You're all really putting me in a very bad position here… I could lose my job. You could all lose your status as well… But I'm sure I don't need to explain to any of you what's at stake. I'm sure you've all been given the same lectures I was given when I became a Contender."

McKenna nodded. "Yeah. We all know what we're asking for."

"What's the book Josie was reading on that first day? The Musketeers?" asked Maria.

"Yeah. All for one, and one for all. We're all in this together now. Josephine wouldn't back down for any of us. We won't back down for her."

"They're right…" added Jennifer. "Josephine's the most ambitious of us all. I couldn't just sit here and watch it all be taken from her just because Maria's a bitch and blew things way out of proportion."

"This isn't my fucking fault!"

"YES, IT IS! NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF NOT FOR-"

"HEY! Stop it now! Both of you!" yelled Tatenashi with indignant fury. "We can assign blame later! Right now we have bigger problems. A war's been started, and I think everyone in this room has chosen a side. So let's act like it and start solving problems instead of making new ones!"

McKenna widened her eyes at the bluenette's sudden change in demeanor. Her features seemed to harden and take on a serious edge to them which sharply contrasted with her generally more playful eyes and body language.

The worst thing about it though, was that it was actually attractive.

She shook her head and eradicated that thought.

"We're all here for Josephine! So everyone get your shit together and set everything else aside. We don't have time for anything else! So let's focus and start getting shit done!"

"Jawohl mein führer!" exclaimed Maria. "So what's our first play?"

Tatenashi nodded, then looked directly into Maya's green eyes. "Miss Yamada. Will you be giving us the time we need? This is all kind of moot if you're not willing to stick your neck out for us."

Maya closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "I shouldn't. But I will. In your place, I'd do the same thing. So please don't make me regret it..."

"We won't!" exclaimed Tatenashi with finality on that topic. "Jennifer. You're on recon. Send your drone to the top floor, third room from the left and see what Arad is up to. If she's even there right now. I doubt it. But it's worth a shot. Meanwhile, I'm going to go to the security office and check the footage from the laundry room. Just to ensure we're after the right culprit…"

Tatenashi then glanced over at Maya, "And other things…" she added cryptically.

"They won't just let you walk in and watch those recordings!" protested Maya.

"Let me worry about that Miss Yamada. Please just stay with Josephine take care of her for us.""

"Hold on a minute! Who the hell put you in charge?" asked Jennifer.

Without answering the Australian she looked at McKenna, and then at Maria. "Kenny. Maria. You two need to DISCREETLY go to Mayuzumi's room. Make her talk. Do whatever it takes. We don't have time to play nice. We need to know everything she knows, and we need to know it an hour ago!"

"With pleasure!" exclaimed a grinning Maria while cracking her knuckles.

"Yes. Exactly. With pleasure!" added McKenna.

"No seriously! Who the fuck put you in charge! I'm your senior damn it! Don't boss me around!"

"If you're not going to do what I asked. Just say so. We don't have time to squabble and nobody else is stepping up! Normally I'd say Josephine would be in charge. She's the brains behind this ad-hoc abomination of a team we've got here. But since she's down for the count, I'm stepping up. Good enough?"

"I didn't say I wouldn't do it. I just want a clear chain of command… And a clear chain of responsibility and accountability!"

"Either we fix this, or we're all cooked. Remember, there's no margin for error. Now get to work!" she commanded.

"Yes ma'am!" yelled Maria and McKenna.

"I'm going to regret this…" said Jennifer and Maya in unison.


Maria and McKenna walked down the stairs of the dorm building towards Mayuzumi's floor. Both were still in their 'house clothes' consisting of ragged oversized torn up t-shirt and hockey jersey. But Maria had put on the black and red sneakers Jennifer bought her, and McKenna wore her worn out converse.

"Is it bad that I'm so fucking turned on by Tatenashi right now? She was amazing!"

"Yes. It is bad! This isn't the time to perv out!" replied an angry Canadian.

"You might claim to be straight, but don't pretend you didn't get excited by it! I saw the look on your face when she shifted into that 'commander mode' of hers," said Maria as she stepped ahead to open the stairwell door for McKenna.

McKenna shook her head. "Can we focus on what we're going to do with Mayuzumi?"

"Relax. We got this. I figured we'd just make it up as we go along. Maybe a good cop bad cop routine?"

"It's going to be more of a bad cop-worse cop. You don't know how royally pissed off I am right now," she replied as they walked down the hall.

"Yeah. You're pissed off, but Mayuzumi is about to get pissed ON," exclaimed Maria before she started banging on the door. "Kitty! You fucking skank! Open the door!"

"So much for being discreet… You and Tatenashi are really cut from the same cloth," mumbled the brunette.

"Go away or I'll call security!" Mayuzumi yelled back through the door.

McKenna facepalmed, "Great Maria. Good job! Ten out of ten!"

"Yeah? Watch this," answered Maria while pulling out her crucifix.

"Asking God for back up?"

"Hehe! You're so funny! No, I made a deal with the Devil to get my own great powers... ACCESS," she said while a holographic light show projected from her cross over the door lock.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked McKenna.

"Just watch," answered Maria with a smugly satisfied smirk.

A moment later the door unlocked and she pushed it open, leaving Mayuzumi sandwiched between the door and the wall.

"Ahhhck!" cried out Mayuzumi.

"Hello Kitty!" exclaimed a happy Maria.

"Get off me bitch!" yelled Mayuzumi. The door smothered her against the wall and made it difficult to breathe. The handle dug into her hip and caused her a sharp shooting pain.

"Not until Kenny and I get done talking to you," she heard Maria say coldly from the other side of the door.

Mayuzumi tried to push herself free but couldn't move at all. "How the hell are you so strong?! You're tiny!"

"I'm strong to the finish, cuz I eats me spinach!" sang Maria.

McKenna leaned against the wall so she could see both Mayuzumi and Maria. "Actually Maria… Can we talk for a moment about what the actual fuck you just did with the door lock?"

"What about it? Electronic locks are even easier to pick than analog ones."

"No. They aren't. Two fifty-six bit encryption doesn't just get cracked in five seconds flat! Especially not by someone who can't even disable the fucking parental controls on the cable box!"

"Are you two really going to do this right now?" asked Mayuzumi.

"That's what I'm wondering. We're supposed to be giving you the third degree!"

"You couldn't have stolen a master key… Miss Orimura would have found you out instantly. No. No! You fucking created one! And you used your I.S. to do it! Now it all makes fucking sense! That's what your unit's Image Interface System is! Electronic Warfare!"

"Congratulations you figured it out! Can we get back to the matter at hand? Like getting Josie's I.S. back?"

Mayuzumi widened her eyes, her pain suddenly forgotten. "That's how you shut off the security system and set off the sprinklers! You bitch! You set me up and got me kicked out of the maintenance club!"

McKenna glared angrily at Maria, "And you fucking nagged me for an hour straight to disable the parental controls when you could have done it your damn self any time you wanted! The passcode was even the manufacturer's default… ZERO ZERO ZERO ZERO!"

"Well, I didn't know that!"

"Exactly! You don't know anything! Yet you've been gifted what is probably the most powerful and devastating weapon system the 21st century has ever known!"

"I'm pretty sure your sonic cannon is more powerful… Except for hacking the audiovisual system to play music to make people dance to, the ACCESS system is useless in arena combat."

"Hand Sonic can make people's ears bleed sure. But you could hack ATM machines and get all the cash you want! Why the hell are you always broke?!"

"Because I'm not a thief, and people would ask too many questions if my wallet was always full."

"How do you have so much music in your I.S. then?!"

"The Pirate Bay!"

"You just said you're not a thief!"

"No. I'm a PIRATE! YAAAARRR!"

"STOP IGNORING ME!" yelled Mayuzumi.

"Then tell us what the fuck happened to Josephine!" yelled McKenna into Mayuzumi's ear.

Maria looked to her left and saw some other girls gathering to see what the commotion was all about. "Someone just attacked our roommate in the worst possible way! Anyone who doesn't get the fuck out of my sight is gonna be the next suspect we interrogate!"

It didn't take long for the hallway to clear after that statement.

"Heh. Without Daniella, they're all spineless!"

"What happened to Williams?!" asked Mayuzumi.

"Like you don't know!" yelled Maria as she shoved the door into the Japanese girl even harder, causing her to scream in pain.

McKenna leaned in to be close to her ear, "You knew she was scared of the fucking dark! Because I made the mistake of trusting you! Now I'm correcting that mistake! Someone trapped her in the laundry room, shut off the lights, and stole her I.S. frame! So you'd better fucking start spilling everything you know!"

"I swear I had no idea Arad would do anything like that!"

"You told her Josie was scared of the dark, what the actual fuck did you think she would do with that information?!" yelled McKenna.

"I'll explain everything! Could you please just get off me?! This really hurts!" yelled Mayuzumi.

McKenna looked at Maria and slowly nodded. Maria then quickly stepped back and slammed the door shut, letting Mayuzumi fall to the floor and clutch her hip where the door handle had been pressed into her.

Maria scowled down at the Japanese girl. "We're waiting…"

"Fuck you… That really hurt!" exclaimed Mayuzumi with tears in her eyes.

"If Josephine could talk right now. She'd probably have something to say about how much what was done to her sucked too," remarked McKenna.

"Arad really stole her I.S.?"

Maria nodded, "She did. So come on. Spill it!"

"I didn't want to be involved in any of this…" she said softly and then looked up at McKenna with her wet eyes. "Arad turned the class on me. She manipulated everything. They made me go talk to you. Make friends with you…"

McKenna balled up a fist and clenched her teeth tightly.

"I didn't want to hurt you. After I talked to you. I did really want to be your friend. But I also wanted you not to be involved with Cross and Williams because of how toxic they were…"

Maria crossed her arms and huffed in annoyance.

"Then Arad came to me and wanted to know what I'd found out about all of you. But I didn't want to tell her anything. I didn't want to be involved anymore. But she started yelling in public about how I had sexually harassed her. Then she told me she would tell everyone that I'd done things to her if I didn't help her…"

McKenna knelt down with a sour expression as she gazed into the bespectacled girl's wet eyes. "So I'm guessing that's when you started telling her how to hurt us. You told her about Maria and Josephine's phobias…"

"Yes…"

"So the only reason nothing's happened to me is that you had nothing on me?"

"I told her about your boyfriend. But I guess she thought it was useless."

"Yeah. Her boyfriend is pretty useless," remarked Maria.

McKenna glared at the American who simply shrugged.

The Canadian then knelt down to glare into Mayuzumi's eyes, "Moving on… What did Arad say she wanted with Josie's I.S.? She can't use it without scrubbing its user data. No way she can do that on her own. And even if she did, I don't believe for a moment she's got the chutzpah to actually use it in school, in front of everyone. So what's she thinking?"

"I don't know… All she said was that she wanted to get rid of all of you because Representative Contenders and Cadets are the problems with the system. Or something like that."

"She's got ambition. I'll give her that," remarked Maria.

"She does at that. So any idea where she might be now?"

"None… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I betrayed you, Tremblay… I didn't want to!"

"If you didn't want to. You wouldn't have!"

"I had no choice!"

"YES YOU DID!" snapped McKenna. "Josephine's catatonic because you were afraid of someone spreading rumors about you!"

"You don't know how bad that would-"

"I don't care! Say what you want about Josephine and Maria, they'd never stab me in the back! They'd never stab anyone in the back!"

Maria nodded with a big grin and a thumbs up, "Yeah! Friends stab you in the front!"

McKenna turned to glare at Maria sideways.

"I can't get kicked out of school… If I lost this opportunity my family would disown me. You don't understand how strict my parents are."

Maria glared dangerously down on the pinkette, "Oh cut the sob story! 'Boo-hoo my parents would disown me' Fuck you! Fuck you a lot! Fucking spineless cunt! You got three years of BOARDING SCHOOL and then you're on your own! Who gives a fuck about your parents?! You could have done what your heart told you to do, but no, you're weak! You're so fucking weak you got made into her bitch! Fucking loser!"

"Maria! Take a breath, calm down, and save it for Arad," she said before turning back to Mayuzumi.

Mayuzumi ignored Maria and focused on McKenna. "I don't want you to forgive me. I just want you to know I'm sorry and that... I really did want to be your friend."

McKenna glared at Mayuzumi and sighed. "I'm considering giving you a second chance. But I'm still not sure if you deserve it or not."

"Giving someone a second chance is like giving them a second bullet after they missed you with their first," remarked Maria.

McKenna groaned in irritation, "I hate to agree with her on anything, but she's got a point. Why should I trust you now?"

"You don't have to. Let me earn it. Please let me help make this right."

"Bitch! Do you see my hair! You threw garbage all over me!"

"Arad made me do that. She was here in my dorm room, and she forced me to do it… No! Wait! Fuck you! I'm not sorry about that! You deserved it! You peeked up my skirt, you framed me for the sprinkler thing, and you glued my shoes to my locker!"

"Not my fault you're dumb. If you thought those were bad, just wait and see what happens to you for the garbage thing!"

"Shinjimae!"

"Achievement unlocked: Spinal Regrowth!" exclaimed McKenna.

Maria nodded, "Doesn't that feel better than just sitting down and taking it?"

Mayuzumi looked up in bewilderment before drying her tears with her hands, "It does…"

McKenna extended a hand down to Mayuzumi. "I decided I'm keeping you." her eyes flashed with a hint of maliciousness which Mayuzumi would have expected from the American, never from McKenna. "Your soul is mine now," she added with a playful tone which didn't match her facial expression.

"Thank you…" Mayuzumi said softly while reaching out to take the brunette's hand, who then pulled her up to her feet.

"But you will have to answer for what you did to Maria," she said sternly. "Then you two can go back to hating each other on a more even playing field."

"What?!"

Maria cracked her knuckles. "Kenny. Remind me to tell you later how much I love you!"

"So. Mission accomplished. Think you can contact Arad and find out where she is now?" asked McKenna.

Mayuzumi shook her head. "Whenever she wanted something, she came to me. If she's not in her room, I don't know where she would be."

"You must have something on her? Anything at all? Or did you only gather dirt on us?"

Mayuzumi shook her head, "Sorry…"

"Don't waste your time. The Kike's all done with her."

"She said she wanted to get rid of all of us. So what would be her next move?"

"She doesn't have to do shit now. You think after winning the lottery with Josie's IS she's going to take her winnings back to the casino? Hell no. She's gonna go cash out. Question is where?"

"Let's hope Jennifer and Tatenashi found the answer to that…"


Back in room 1042, Maya was helping Josephine change her beddings. They removed the sheets, duvet, coverings, everything. Then stuffed it all into a black garbage bag which Josephine then took from Maya and put out on the balcony.

"Thank you… You didn't have to do all this. I'll get the sheets sorted sometime tomorrow. For now, I just don't feel ready to go to the laundry room again."

"I told you I don't mind taking it down and washing it for you."

"I couldn't allow you to do that for me, Miss Yamada. Though I appreciate the offer," she answered while going into the bathroom. Maya walking behind her.

"I understand, and again, I'm so, SO sorry about all of this, Miss Williams."

"Call me Josephine. When you consider all we've been through in the short time we've known you, I believe formality is little redundant. So far I've seen you naked, and you've seen me piss and soil myself… And you helped me clean up after myself..." she said while retrieving some cleaning supplies.

Maya sighed and shook her head at the absurdity of that statement. "Then I suppose it's alright for you to call me Maya then. Just as long as you don't do it in class."

"Good. May I also ask that we never speak of this again?" she said while walking back over to her bed. There she sprayed the mattress and started rubbing it in with a brush.

Maya nodded, "I was just about to ask you for the same… But I'm so sorry I turned out that light… I thought it was disturbing you… My mind was running in circles and I wasn't thinking at all!"

"I thought we just agreed to not speak of it?"

"Yes… I just needed to say sorry… I'm so sorry."

"You didn't do it with malice. So why apologize so much?"

"It's a culture thing. You need to live it to understand it."

"Well, in any case, I forgive you. Can we not speak of it now?"

"Yes. Sorry."

"There you go again."

"Sor- Heh. I guess I do apologize too much."

Josephine smiled while she finished up with the mattress, she then walked to the kitchen where she left the brush in the sink, and then went to put the cleaning chemical away and then started washing her hands.

"Maya? May I ask you a serious question?"

"I can't promise I'll answer. But sure!" exclaimed a suddenly bubbly Maya.

"Why are you helping us? Helping me? Why would you risk your job to let them try to sort this on their own?"

Maya put a hand to her chin and took a long moment to contemplate it while Josephine dried off her hands.

"Well. I never had my I.S. stolen from me. But I can imagine what it must feel like, and I know what's on the line for you if anyone ever found out about this… I also know what it feels like to be a Representative Contender and be isolated from your peers because of it. Sure. Some get lucky and end up in classes where their peers idolize them. But most of the time… It's just a lot of resentment."

"Why does it have to be this way? Try as I might. I just can't understand it," she said while walking back out of the bathroom and into the living room. "May I offer you a drink?"

"Oh. No thank you."

"Then take a seat with me?"

Maya nodded, "Sure. Now back to your question. Have you ever looked at someone driving a fancy car? What do you feel when you see that?"

"Pity…"

"Pity?"

"Yes. I pity them. I pity them because I know that for the price of that expensive Rolls Royce, they could still have a nice car, and put the excess into their community. Say they put three hundred thousand pounds into a homeless shelter. They'll never have to turn anyone away. They could feed the refugees of the Sahara War for months… They could fund cancer research. There's so much good that can be done with that kind of money. But when I see someone waste those possibilities on a fancy car or an oil painting of their favorite selfie… I feel pity. Even disgust. I'd dare say it borders on hatred."

"To someone like Arad, your I.S. is your Rolls Royce. It sets you above your peers. It gets you special privileges and attention that they'll never get. But those feelings you described, pity, disgust, envy-"

"I never envy anyone with money!"

"I don't think that's true Josephine. If you've ever imagined yourself in their position, doing the things you just described with the money instead. That is envy. You envy them because they can do the things you can't. You feel anger at them because they don't. It's the same thing when a regular student looks at a Representative Contender."

Josephine slowly nodded her head. "You make a compelling case. So compelling that I am now compelled to rethink the matter entirely."

Maya reached out and put a hand on her student's shoulder. "Every coin has two sides though. While someone in your position has privileges, they also have responsibilities. Immense responsibilities. Even by the time they graduate, they'll never truly appreciate how much time and training it takes to handle a personal I.S. at its limits. They'll never understand how much we've sacrificed for the opportunity, and they'll never know how much we treasure the rewards we reap from all that hard work. And they'll never know what it feels like when it's time to part with our precious mechanical partners."

"You do realize that some, or I'd even dare say most people with money, inherit their money? They don't actually work for it. They just spend it."

"Has anyone inherited a personal I.S.?"

"Not that I know of…"

"Then there's the difference. To them, it's something you've been handed. They've never gone through the pre-training programs. They can read about it, yes, but they can't appreciate how difficult it actually is without enduring it themselves. You can't make them understand it. It can only be understood by those who live it. Who feel the pressure, who feel the competition chasing after them, hoping and praying for us to make a mistake so they can swoop in and take our place."

"That's true… So what should I do about it?"

"There's nothing you can do except what you've been doing. Stay true to yourself. Be better today than you were yesterday. Be better tomorrow than you were today. As long as you can do that, you're still in the fight."

Josephine couldn't help but smile. "I think I see why Maria looks up to you so much now."

Maya shook her head and giggled, "Oh goodness no. She only likes me for my fighting prowess and my breasts."

Josephine giggled as well. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but she's not into large breasts. She says she likes you because of your glasses. She finds them cute."

Maya's giggle turned into a laugh, "Well that's a first!"

Josephine smiled and sat back in her seat. "Hopefully it won't be the last. You're a good person Maya. I'm glad to know you. I just learned something very valuable from you that's going to make me rethink a lot of my preconceptions."

Maya smiled brightly at the blonde, "I'm just glad I finally found something I could teach you. It means there's hope for me as an instructor. Assuming I don't get fired by the end of this."

"For what it's worth. I have faith in them."

"I hope your faith is well placed. For both our sakes."

"If in the off chance they do fail… You're welcome to sleep on my couch."

"If they fail… I might have to. I don't have any savings. I blew it all on a big world tour after I graduated."

"That sounds amazing! Tell me all about it! Where did you go? What did you do? What did you see?"

Maya smiled and started telling stories of her recent travels which Josephine listened to with wide-eyed wonder.


Later that evening…

"So that's what happened… I've let you down. I've let everyone down."

"It's going to be alright love. Whatever happens, we'll support you." said her mother.

"You haven't let anyone down…" said Maria while bringing out her double bass onto the balcony.

"She's right for once. We've got your back," added McKenna while stepping out as well.

"When did you two get back?"

"Right about the time you started telling them about Tatenashi…" replied McKenna. "I'm sure your parents must be thrilled that you have such an eccentric friend. I know mine already hate her. To say nothing of Maria."

Maria sat herself up on the balcony railing and suddenly started talking loudly into Josephine's phone, "Hi mom and dad! Don't worry about Josie, we're gonna take good care of her and pay that 'slag' back with interest!"

"My mum says she'll be holding you to that," replied Josephine with a small, but growing smile as she wiped away her tears.

"Good!" exclaimed Maria while she leaned down and used her bass for support while she started playing it.

"When the night… has come."

"And the land is dark." sang McKenna.

Josephine cracked ber brightest smile of the night, and possibly brightest smile either of her roommates had ever seen. "And the moon, is the only, light we'll see..."

Josephine's parents quickly realized that their daughter had forgotten to hang up the call and simply sat together and listened to them singing.

Then they all started to sing together in something resembling harmony, "No I won't. Be afraid. Ohhh I won't, be afraid. Just as long, as you stand, stand by me."

Maria got out the bow from its holder on the front of her bass and started moving it across the strings. While they all sang the chorus together.

"So darlin' darlin' stand, by me, ohhhh stand, by me, oh stand, stand by me. Stand by me."