"Nishizumi? Nishizumi Miho?"
Three people were playing cards, 4 were in a discussion. Some were reading, some were almost sleeping, some stood ready for the class to begin.
"Present," she called out, going back to flipping through the syllabus. She had never needed to take the General Studies course, always enrolled into the Tankery course since Middle School, and under private tutelage in her younger years, so this was all slightly new information to her.
Nothing she couldn't handle though. Not for a Nishizumi.
"Okay, that's everyone," the teacher called out, shutting her attendance book close and taking out some chalk. On the board she began to write some equations down, "Now, welcome to Physics 1. In this class, we will learn…"
Lunchtime
When the bell rang, Miho quickly gathered her items, and scampered out of the classroom. She didn't want to be caught up in the lunch rush, and stuck in the hallways.
Grabbing a bento from the cafeteria, she exited the building, and made for the Sports Complex. She took her seat at the top corner of the bleachers, and started eating her lunch alone, aimlessly flipping through the latest edition of Sensha-Do Insider that she plucked off the magazine racks this morning on the way to school.
In it, there was much that you would expect from a tankery journalism magazine. The latest news from the Federation, major acquisitions of each team and how they might augment them into their tactics, op-eds from so-called 'experts' that are completely spurious, and news about every major team as well.
Flipping over to that section, she was greeted with a full, double-page spread decked out in red and black art shades. In the faded background was a picture showing the lead commander Katushya of the Pravda team, riding on the shoulders of her second-in-command, Nonna, as she energetically waved around the championship flag to the applause of their team following the win of last year. Reading into it, Miho was greeted with the headline: PRAVDA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM; KUROMORIMINE VYING FOR FORMER TITLE
Following the major upset of the 62nd National Championship from last year, in which Pravda High School rallied to beat reigning champion 9 times, Kuromorimine Girls Academy, the stakes are high for this year's match.
Pravda High School, under the leadership of Commander 'Katushya', had vowed to fight with, "the tenacity and ferocity of the Red Army at Stalingrad'' [1] to keep their position, in the hopes of establishing the next championship streak following Kuromorimine's loss of their 9-year streak. There has been no indication of Pravda enacting any changes to hold this position, but they show confidence in their abilities to secure a second win this season.
Having lost last year's match due to the malfunction and near loss of one of their tanks in a storm, Kuromorimine has shown promise to try and regain the title. Spokesperson for the team, Commander Kojima Emi, says, "The Kuromorimine of this year is not the same as last. Over the past year, we have done all that can possibly be done, and all that must be done, in order to ensure the continued success of the team." Commander Kojima did not respond to a request by a Sensha-Do Insider reporter on the whereabouts of -
"H-hey! Give that back! Give it back!"
Miho raised an eye, and dropped her gaze from the magazine to below her, where the noise came from. Through the slits in the bleacher seats, she could make out several figures, all around in a circle. They were taunting a girl in the center, holding a bag up in the air as she jumped up and down trying to grab it. All of them were laughing at her.
"You limey, give it back!" She tried to jump and grab it, but the leader just laughed it off some more, and pushed the girl in the air, dropping her on the ground.
"Hah, you hear that, girls?" The leader said, raising the bag up above her head and presenting it around as a trophy. "Ol' Paddy here wants me to give it back to her."
She put her finger on her lips, and made a faux-thinking face for a moment, "I'm thinking…no," she leered at the girl on the ground.
Miho rolled her eyes, and closed her magazine. Putting it down on the bleachers, she took her phone out, aimed it, and dropped it through the slits, hitting the bully right on the head.
"Oi! Who did that?!" She yelled accusingly, glaring up above her.
With a bored look still on her face, she stood up, and walked down the stairs, walking off the balcony and rounding the corner behind the bleachers. "Hey." She said to the group, who rounded around to see her, "Did anyone see my phone?"
The leader, a slightly shorter girl with mousy brown hair braided on her shoulder, threw the bag to the girl on the ground, knocking her back down, and faced Miho fully, her phone in one hand gripped tightly, "This it?" She snarled, waving it in the air.
"Yeah," Miho said, holding her hand out. "Can I have it back?"
Predictably, the girl decided not to hand over the phone. Instead, she tipped her hand, and let it fall to the ground, tumbling in the dirt. Not taking her eyes off Miho, she brought up her foot, and slammed it down on the phone, snapping it in two.
"How's about you be a little less clumsy next time?" She asked, grinning coyly. "Otherwise, you might end up breaking your phone again."
Rrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggg
The bell sounded off, and the rest of the students began to return back to class. The group of girls began to pick up their stuff, and walk back to the building. The mousy girl, taking both her bag and the bag of the girl they were bullying, began to walk towards Miho and past to go back, only to be stopped by an outstretched hand from MIho.
She glared at her, and sidestepped to continue, but Miho stepped in tandem and blocked her off again. Growing more agitated, she tried to get around Miho and past, only for Miho to constantly block her off. "Hey! Get off me, I need to get to class."
Miho, still with a bored look on her face, stared at the girl, and nodded towards the girl on the ground. "Give her bag back, and you can leave."
"Who are you, my mother?!" She growled, shoving Miho back slightly, "The bag's mine now. What are you going to do about it?"
Miho, rather than respond with words, only shifted her foot slightly at the blow, balancing her. Instead of saying anything, she took her knee, and jerked it into her chest violently, sending her stumbling back with a painful groan.
"Oh…you bit-" Miho then took her by the head and threw her off to the side, putting her off-balance and face planting into the ground.
Miho picked up the bags, and dragged her feet on the ground, kicking up dirt and muddying the girls uniform. "Next time you put your hands on me, I'll send you to the ER."
The girl, knowing she'd been defeated, growled at her, before bolting away and back to the building.
The other girl stood up, as Miho dusted herself off, "T-thank you very much!" She exclaimed, bowing slightly, "I don't know how to repay you."
"47,000 yen would do it," Miho said bluntly.
"Eh?!" The girl said, stumbling back at the high cost. "W-why?"
Miho rolled her eyes, and pointed back down at the ground, where her imported Iphone 4 laid, snapped in two. "I don't care how you get it, but I want it back."
The girl kept stuttering, astonished at the demand. Miho didn't care much, instead leaving the girl and walking out of the bleachers, grabbing her stuff and heading to school.
When she walked into class 15 minutes late, the teacher called her over.
"The Headmistress would like to see you," she said. Miho, sighing again, picked up her stuff and walked out of the classroom. Instead of heading to the Headmistresses office, though, she began to walk home.
"Hey! You there!"
Only to get stopped at the gate by one of the Disciplinary Committee members.
A few minutes later, she was seated in the Headmistress office, being read her charges.
"One count of Assault of a fellow student, two for attempted theft of personal property…"
Two for theft? She knew the charges were already bogus, but she didn't even try to take anything.
"Two for disturbance of peace, an attempt to bail trial, and unexcused leave of school grounds before the end of the school day."
She finished reading off the list. Taking off her reading glasses, she wiped them down, looking quite stern at Miho while doing so.
"Never," she began, slipping the glasses back on her nose, "in my 15 years of working here, have I ever seen such a list of charges."
She threw her hands up, exasperated. "On the first day no less!"
"Did your charges include the testimony of the girl they were bullying?" Miho asked lazily, as she stared blankly at the Headmistress.
The Headmistress looked shocked for a second, and then grunted slightly, regaining her composure. "For some reason, no. While we did bring her in for questioning, she wouldn't state anything to the contrary, simply agreeing with whatever is on the paper."
"What is this, the American Judicial System?" Miho asked, looking slightly agitated.
"Fortunately, no," she said, looking quite pleased with herself. "We don't post bail of any sort, whether in cash or by serving time in detention. No instead, Ms. Nishizumi, you will be required to come in on Sundays to serve community service hours, equal to or exceeding no more than 12 hours plus the number of charges for items of the Third Order."
Great, on Sundays. Her one free day away from this place. She sighed, and began to drum her fingers on her lap, trying to think up solutions to get around the sentence.
This was not missed by the Headmistress. "Alternatively," she explained, clearing her throat and pulling out a letter from her desk. "The Sensha-Do club has heard of your actions, and are willing to negotiate a lesser time requirement in exchange you serve-"
"I'll see you on Sunday." Miho said, getting up quickly, and walking out the door before she said anything else.
"And you might want to add another charge for unexcused absence!" She called out from the hallway, as the bell rang to signify the end of the day.
AN: AN: Knock wood, but man am I on a roll so far!
Also, I think I need better naming patterns. Cheap one-or-two-worders are cool, but not helpful