Chapter 13: The new student.
"Girls, I present to you Ai Haibara, a former student of Bellwall, who has just moved to Ooarai." Hana announced, addressed to the female students of the class.
At his side Katyusha bowed.
"Be kind and treat it with respect."
"Yes, president!" The girls replied in chorus.
At that point Miho came forward, who got up from the counter and held out her hand to the newcomer.
"I welcome you to Ooarai."
Kat smiled and squeezed it.
"You are Miho Nishizumi, right?"
"Exactly, the captain of the sensha-do Ooarai team."
"I heard about you ... After the recent tournament you became a real celebrity."
At those words the girl blushed.
"Now, choose a desk. Afterwards you can chat as much as you like. "The teacher urged her, a woman in her thirties with red hair tied in a tail, brown eyes and a busty breast, wearing a pair of glasses.
"If it's possible, I would like to sit next to Miho, Professor ... Professor?"
"Kyoko, Kyoko Hayashi."
"Professor Hayashi."
The bespectacled looked at Miho.
"Well, if Nishizumi agrees ..."
"Yes, Hayashi-sensei." The girl replied.
"Then settle down next to her."
The blonde nodded, sitting down at an empty desk next to Miho's.
"Usually that desk is occupied by Mako Reizei, but it has not been seen for three weeks."
"Hana explained everything to me." Katyusha stated.
"Well ... Nishizumi, go back to your place."
"Yes, prof!"
Meanwhile the other girls talked to each other, and the subject of the discussions was the new student.
"Damn, how short is she ..."
"Since when are the new students admitted during the year?"
"She has something familiar ..."
Damn it ... Let's hope they don't unmask me right away!
Kat thought nervously.
At the same time Mako wandered aimlessly through the streets of the floating city; although it was an enchanting day her soul was torn with pain, which had tormented her for about three weeks, more precisely from the damn day when her grandmother Hisako, the last affection left, had left this world.
Start flashback
Mako, in the company of Miho, Hana and Yukari, was walking through the streets of Oarai, the birthplace of Mako. She and the others had arrived there a few days before, to visit Hisako, her grandmother; the old woman had agreed to host them at her home (Mako's parents had died years earlier in a car accident).
"Damn ... Where will Saori be hunted?" Miho wondered, worried.
"She'll have gone for a ride." Hana told her.
"And your grandmother, Mako?" Yukari asked.
"She will go to the post office to collect her pension."
"Does she go alone?"
"I offered to go with her, but she refused ... She says I have to be with my friends, and that she can go alone, she doesn't need a nurse."
"Aren't you afraid of being robbed?"
"No ... Here crime is practically non-existent."
Miho nodded, then looked around. In fact, this was a quiet and apparently peaceful place. People were engaged in everyday activities: street cleaners cleaned the street, shopkeepers awaited the arrival of customers, cars went back and forth, etc. At one point, however, her attention was drawn to a group of people standing in a parking lot; they were gathered around someone or something, and between them there was a policeman. Everyone had an expression between anguish and upset.
"What's happening?" Yukari asked curiously.
"Let's go see!" Propose Hana, walking with the others.
When they reached their destination, the girls noticed that the onlookers were watching an old woman lying on the floor on her stomach. Looking at her better, especially Mako, they were horrified: in fact it was Hisako, her grandmother.
"What's going on?" Miho asked, worried.
"This poor old woman had a heart attack." A woman with short brown hair and blue eyes replied.
Upon hearing the news, Mako felt herself die: she opened her eyes, suddenly turned pale and opened her mouth in a grimace of pure terror.
"GRANDMA!" She screamed, slinging close to the old woman.
She tried to shake her, trying to revive her, but did not get results. In short, the tears began to come out copiously from her eyes, streaming her cheeks.
"Grandma ... I need you! I NEED YOU! Don't leave, please! You're the only person I have!"
"The only person? We don't count anything?"
Asked Yukari, earning a dirty look from her teammates. Mako ignored her question, continuing to cry hard, calling her beloved granny. In front of that heartbreaking scene everyone felt sad, including Hana and Miho, who started crying. After a few minutes an ambulance arrived, but the attempts at resuscitation were in vain, as the woman had by now exhaled her last breath.
End flashback
That memory for her was equivalent to a brand on her forehead: a terrible pain at the moment, which never ceased completely, and which was there to remind you of the disaster that had struck you, devastating as the earthquake / tidal wave of the 2011, which had devastated the Tohoku region. Now she was alone, she no longer had a family ... And that made her feel bad, a lot. At one point he sat on a bench, while a single tear streaked her cheek.
Why must fate be so cruel to me? Years ago I take away my parents, now my grandmother!
She thought, shaking her head.