Eleven

"That's the Captain, Yurika Misumaru. And that's Jun Aoi, the executive officer, next to her."

"Cool! And who's that in the background?" Mikoto pointed to the woman in question.

"Izumi Maki, one of our Aestivalis pilots. She was a very odd person."

Ruri and Mikoto were spending the evening in their room, looking through Ruri's photos from her life on the Nadesico. It had surprised Ruri to see her roommate so fascinated by her former crew and her life on the Nadesico. She was asking her all sorts of questions and wanted to know the name and details of everyone who came up on the photos.

However, this was typical of the new-look Mikoto. Over the past few days, she'd changed her attitude to Ruri completely. When they'd been alone, she'd been friendly and had talked with her like they'd been pals for years. She was noticeably quieter to her when the other orphanage children were around, but her mean jibes and abuse had vanished entirely. She seemed a totally different girl to the one who had told her she wasn't welcome at Seven Oaks on the first day. Ruri had found this metamorphosis odd, but very welcome. Having someone to talk with was nice, but being able to walk into her room without having to endure a barrage of spiteful comments was an absolute godsend.

"You must have had such an exciting life." she was saying, looking at a few photos of people on the bridge.

"It was certainly interesting," Ruri admitted. "It was a life that suited me." She looked around at the room and murmured, "Certainly more then this one does."

Laying down the photos, Mikoto looked over to her. "Well, you can say what you like about this place, but I've lived here nearly my whole life and personally I like it. It's not as interesting as a space-ship, but I wouldn't want to go anywhere else."

"I can see that. You fit in here. However, we are two very different people."

"Huh?" Mikoto looked around at her. "Just because you're a bit smarter then me!"

"No, it's not just based on intellect. You see, you were raised to be a human. I was raised to be a tool."

"Huh?"

"My foster parents didn't treat me as a normal daughter." Ruri said mournfully. "They never played games with me, bought me presents or talked to me about life and feelings. Everything they ever did to me was done to help develop my logical mind and to further my training as a battleship crewmember."

"Woah. That's kinda weak. Are you saying you're not actually human?"

"Not as you'd understand it. Genetically I am human. However, my mind has been manipulated ever since I was born. It wasn't allowed to develop naturally and because of that I find it hard to fit into any situation which isn't the one I was created for."

"Huh?" Mikoto's forehead furrowed in confusion. "Can you say that in English please?!"

Ruri sighed. "Put simply, my whole life has led up to something, and now that something has come to an end. That leaves me with nothing."

"Oh," said Mikoto. There was little else she could say to that. "But you could change, couldn't you? You could learn to live here, right?"

"I could try. In time I may be able to adapt, but I doubt that I could ever feel completely fulfilled staying here."

"Huh," said Mikoto. "I see," She yawned and lay down on her bed with her eye shut. For a moment, Ruri thought she was going to sleep, but a few seconds later her eyes popped open and she spoke again.

"You know what confuses me?" she started. "You keep saying you don't want to be here, but when that Nergal guy comes and gives you a chance to get away, you turn him down. What's the deal with that?"

Ruri suppressed a sigh at her roommate's ignorance. Weren't her reasons obvious?

"Perhaps I don't enjoy life here. But if I went back to Akatsuki I would be assisting in the mass slaughter of Jovians. I have no right to murder so many people just because I'm not happy here."

"But killing them would be okay, wouldn't it? I mean, the Jovians are the bad guys, right?"

This time Ruri did let out an exasperated sigh. That was such a narrow view of the situation, it was hard to think that she could actually believe that.

"No, things aren't black and white like that. The Jovians are people just like us. They have just as much right to life as we do."

"That's not true!" Mikoto blurted. "There are a lot of kids here who are only here because their parents were killed by the Jovians in the war! How can such horrible people be just like us?"

"You can't judge a whole race just by the actions of a few. The Jovians have families and children back at home as well. They have feelings and can be hurt just like us. I haven't seen their society up close, but I'm sure there are people who wish that both races could just live together in peace."

"But they wanted to conquer the Earth! That doesn't sound too peaceful to me!"

Ruri shook her head. Mikoto clearly wasn't listening to her properly. She tried another approach to the matter.

"I know for sure that some Jovians are good people. Towards the end of the war, I met a Jovian solider named Tsukumo Shiratori. He gave his life trying to build a peace between the two peoples. What's more, he had a younger sister called Yukina, who looked and acted just like a normal Earth girl. In fact, come to think of it, she was very similar to you."

"You're comparing me with a Jovian?!" Mikoto exclaimed, narrowing her sapphire eyes and wrinkling her nose in disgust. She looked truly offended.

"You shouldn't take it as an insult," Ruri said desperately. "There are righteous Jovians, just like there are righteous Earthlings and righteous Martians. Naturally, there are some with evil intentions, but the people of Earth aren't perfect either. If it wasn't for the people of Earth, the Jovians wouldn't even have a reason to be resentful!"

"What do you mean by that?"

Remembering that Mikoto wouldn't know the full details of the dark history of the Jovians, thanks to censorship by the Earth Government, Ruri decided to leave it at that. "Never mind," she murmured, not wanting this conversation to become a history lesson.

"Whatever," said Mikoto with a shrug. "Look, maybe if I met that girl, I'd like her, but for now I can't say I like any Jovians." She lifted up some of Ruri's photos and flicked through them. "So which one is she then?"

Ruri looked over her shoulder. It was hard to find a photo with the Jovian girl in since she was only of the Nadesico for a very short time – and for most of that short time they'd been too preoccupied to think about taking pictures. Eventually one came up. It had been taken at that celebratory party she'd missed – Seiya had given it to her before they'd left.

"That's her," she said. "The red-haired girl next to Minato."

"Right," Mikoto held up the photo to the light. "She does look pretty normal I guess."

"It's just like I…"

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Mikoto's attention had been diverted by another photo. "Are you singing or something?"

Oh great, Ruri had forgotten about those pictures from the talent show. Chiding herself for not taking them out of the pile, she dropped her head in embarrassment.

"Ruri?" Mikoto looked over to her, pressing her for a reply.

"It was this contest." Ruri sighed eventually, her cheeks tinged red. "I'd really rather not talk about it,"

"You mean like a talent show? Cool! How did you do?"

Ruri shifted uneasily, she'd been dreading this question. "Well…" she started awkwardly. "Technically I didn't come anywhere since I abstained,"

"You mean you pulled out? But why?"

Fidgeting with her hands, Ruri said, "Personal reasons,"

"Aw, you spoilsport!" said Mikoto. "Who knows, you might have even won!"

"Who knows," whispered Ruri, looking away. She didn't mention that she would have won had she stayed in the competition and that was why she'd pulled out in the first place.

As they looked put the photos back in their box, they were suddenly interrupted. Their door swung open and, to Ruri's chagrin, it was Leon who poked his head in.

"Hey Mik, you wanna come play on the Gamebase?"

"Okay," Mikoto rose from the bed. "Do you want to come and play, Ruri?"

"Hey, she can't come!" started Leon.

"Oh don't be such a meanie Leon! She's not gonna break it or anything."

Leon grunted unhappily but conceded. "So are you coming?" Mikoto asked Ruri.

"Yes, I'll come," Ruri replied quietly though inside she was a little disappointed that her quiet evening had been interrupted. Although she hardly ever went down to the games room in the evenings, she decided to make an exception this time. She'd enjoyed the odd video game during her spell on the Nadesico and besides, she had Mikoto to act as her guardian against the other, less friendly children.

They descended to the games room, finding it moderately full. Around ten other children were there, all in Ruri's age group. A few of them looked over to her as she entered, but most kept their gazes locked on the screen in front of them. She recognised the game since she'd played it on the Nadesico. It was a fighting game whose title she couldn't remember.

"We play it so that the winner stays on," Mikoto whispered. "Which means Leon is playing most of the time. He's pretty good at this!"

"We'll see," murmured Ruri in response.

The children began to play. As fight followed repetitive fight, Ruri saw what Mikoto meant. Leon did have an edge over the other children, but only because he knew a special move. The others just button bashed furiously, which wasn't very effective and left them exposed to Leon's character's somersault-kick move. Since they couldn't dodge it, they just kept getting hit and Leon kept on winning. Before long, every other child had faced Leon, but no-one had taken a round off him yet.

"Damn, I'm good!" he shouted as he consigned yet another opponent to defeat. Every time he won he insisted on jumping up and doing an annoying pose with his fingers. His unjustified arrogance was beginning to get on Ruri's nerves. So much so that she decided it was time he was put in his place.

"May I try?" she asked, trying not to sound too timid.

Everyone's heads turned to her. Leon laughed out loud. "You're kidding, right? You wouldn't stand a chance in hell!"

"You've never seen me play. How do you know that I won't give you a challenge?"

Leon sneered. "Okay, you can have one go. I can take a few minutes out of my schedule to kick your ass!"

"Idiot," murmured Ruri quietly. Someone handed her a controller, so she proceeded to select her favourite fighter – a Chinese school-girl named Jenni.

"Good luck!" said Mikoto. She'd fought Leon the round before and had been beaten convincingly.

"This won't take long!" scoffed Leon, hefting his controller. The game loaded and the fight began.

"Round 1! Fight!"

For the past twenty minutes Ruri had seen Leon play and had studied his crude fighting style. As a result, she knew to block as soon as the round began. Predictably Leon did his flipping move, but she took no damage. He repeated the move, but this time Ruri timed a punch to knock him out of mid-air. A few laughs came from the watching group as they saw that Leon had taken the first hit.

"Shut up!" barked Leon. "I'm trying to concentrate!"

Deciding to go on the offensive, Ruri made her character dash forward, grab her opponent and begin to pummel him with a series of well placed hits. A few gasps of awe came as the watching children as they saw her fervent finger-work and the on-screen result. Leon's damage meter filled up like glass under a tap.

"Jenni Wins! Perfect! 16 Hit Combo Finish!"

"Woah!" exclaimed everyone except Leon, who threw down his controller in frustration.

"How did you do that?!" asked one of the other boys. His face was distorted by wonder, as if she'd turned water into wine instead of just winning at a video game.

"It's pretty simple," Ruri stated. "It's just a standard combo,"

"Wow!" exclaimed the same boy, his eyes shining with admiration. "You're good at this game!"

"Shut up!" shouted Leon. "It wasn't skill at all! She cheated! It was a complete fluke!"

"No, it wasn't cheating, or luck for that matter," said Ruri calmly. "It was your fighting style that lost you the round. You're too predictable. You keep on doing the same move over and over without any thought for proper strategy. If your opponent didn't block then they'd find it hard to beat you, but otherwise it's hard to see how you could defeat anyone."

"Grr! I'll show you, you freak!" Leon spat, his furious eyes fixed on her. "One more round!"

She shrugged in response. "Fine," They both picked up their joy-pads again, Leon's fiery rage a complete contrast to Ruri's icy calm. "Why is everyone taking this so seriously?" she wondered as it loaded. "It's just a game,"

"Round 2! Fight!" the console announced.

Instantly Leon's character advanced on her. Ruri decided to initiate one of the powerful 'killer-moves' in order to make this more challenging for her. Her slender fingers danced deftly over her joy-pad even faster then before, so that it was hard to see the actual button presses. Ruri's character had begun to glow several funny colours as the move charged. Just as Leon's street thug was upon her, she entered the final button command and released her attack. The screen exploded into several flashing shades of green as Ruri's combatant blasted forward, tearing through Leon's character like a bullet through paper. Player One's health raced instantly to zero, while Player Two's was left unscathed. Behind her, Ruri heard the other children murmur in admiration, while her character jumped up and down with glee at her victory.

"Jenni Wins! Perfect! Killer Move Finish!"

"Wow! That's cool!" exclaimed the same boy who'd asked the question earlier.

Clearly Leon didn't share that opinion. After staring disbelievingly at the screen for a moment, he started to shake his head in disgust and then hurled his controller to the floor with the fury of a well-beaten loser.

"You fucking cheater!"

Ruri looked over at him calmly. Despite her convincing win, she retained her normal blank expression. "That was a legal move," she countered. "They even tell you it in the instruction manual. It is hard to execute though."

"You cheated! You wouldn't have won otherwise!"

"Just accept it Leon. She beat you fair and square," said Mikoto.

"Shut up! I'm just tired at the moment. I would have beaten her any other time,"

"Whatever," commented Ruri. "Incidentally, in the future you may want to control your temper. You'll never be good at games without a cool head,"

"Shut up!" Leon surged up with a shout, making everyone expect Ruri, flinch and edge away. Ruri merely regarded him steadily, her gaze betraying her contempt for this childish behaviour.

"Go on, get lost!" he barked. "I don't care if you're a girl; you're going to get a beating if you don't stop pissing me off!"

"I'd be more then happy to take my leave," said Ruri coolly. She slowly stood up then turned her back on him and started to walk towards the door. Despite the fact his opponent was making her exit, Leon obvious didn't feel as if he'd won the exchange yet, so he darted across to her and grabbed one of her bunches. He viciously yanked it, pulling Ruri's head back and sending a sharp pain into her scalp. She grunted in annoyance and turned back to him.

"What do you think you're doing?!" She grasped his grabbing hand with both of hers and tried to pry it off. No sooner had she touched his fingers, then he let go and pulled back swearing as he did so. Surprised at this retreat, Ruri looked over at him quizzically. Deep grooves appeared in his sweaty brow as gaped at her from a few steps away.

"Fucking hell!" he said. "She is a robot!"

"What?!" exclaimed everyone else, including Ruri herself.

Leon thrust a quivering finger at her. "Look at her hands!"

Everyone looked over to Ruri, who was now realising what the fuss was about. He held up the back of her hand to display it to the group. "Haven't you seen IFS implants before?"

"IFS what?" Leon asked, his eyes narrowing further. Curious gazes from the other kids seconded his question.

"They're nanomachine implants, Leon!" announced Mikoto, smiling smugly since she knew what they were. "Ruri can control a whole spaceship with them!"

"That's crap!" snorted Leon.

"No it isn't!" put in a freckled boy with glasses. "My dad had them! He used them to control his jet-fighter!"

"Shut up, Chad!" snapped Leon, his initial apprehension reverting back to his former fury. "They're so obviously fake! Why would a freak like her have implants?"

"She was on the Nadesico, Leon! You know that ship that was stolen and broke through the Earth defences a couple of months ago? She was controlling it!" Mikoto seemed to enjoy bragging on Ruri's behalf.

"That's pure tripe!" stated Leon, forcing a laugh. "Why the hell would she be on a spaceship? Unless it was taking her back to her home planet!" He snorted another laugh at his lame attempt at humour. None of the crowd made a sound though – they were all looking bemused, not sure what to think about these revelations.

"I was aboard the Nadesico," Ruri said quietly. "You may not believe me, but it's the truth."

"Lying freak!"

"I'm not lying,"

"Then prove it, robot!" Leon folded his arms and sneered maliciously at her.

Without shifting a facial muscle, Ruri shrugged. "I don't see why I should bother. Personally, I'm not concerned with what you think of me." She turned her back on him and began to walk out of the room.

Behind her, Leon laughed. "You see, she's giving up now! She wasn't on any spaceship!" A general hum of laughter emitted from the crowd, but Ruri had already left the room.

"That boy is an idiot."

She'd barely reached the bottom of the stairs when Mikoto caught up with her. She looked a little flustered and Ruri could tell from her fierce eyes that she wanted an explanation.

"Why'd you just walk out?!" she demanded. "Why didn't you stay and stand up for yourself?"

Ruri blinked at her. "Why should I have?"

"Well…!" started Mikoto. "You just have to! Do you want everyone to think you're a freak?"

"I don't know," replied Ruri. "But if all Leon wants to do is insult me, then I don't want to spend any more time in his company."

"Yeah okay, but you have those photos! You could prove him wrong!"

"Yes, I could. But what good would that do anyone?"

"I don't believe I'm hearing this!" exclaimed Mikoto, not nearly as calm as her roommate was. "You could prove that you were on the Nadesico! Leon would feel really stupid if you showed everyone that you really were on a spaceship!"

"You are right, but I'm not like him. I don't need to hurt other people to assert my superiority. If he doesn't believe me then that is his problem. I am content knowing that I know the truth,"

It was clear that her concepts were lost on Mikoto, who just shook her head despairingly. "I really don't get you," she said.

"No. To be honest, I don't think I do either," murmured Ruri, turning and walking up the stairs. Mikoto's mystified stare bored into the back of her head as she ascended. She didn't look back, but kept on walking up with her stony expression present on her face.

"Those who hate wrongly lead us ever closer to self-destruction. Even on the smallest scale, hatred damages us and ends up in an ever increasing spiral of fighting. Regrettably it seems that people place higher value on their hatred then proper reason and find it hard to forgive others. And yet nobody benefits from that hatred, it just leads us closer to destruction. It's madness."

As she pushed open the door to her room, Ruri wondered, not for the first time, whether she truly was the only sane person in this world of fools.