Operation Ex1: Jun

For Yuri Otani, life was hell. Sometimes every day, but at least on a weekly basis. As she sat in her desk awaiting the start of homeroom, she dreaded the day. "This sucks. I hope there aren't any aliens today. That'd just make my day easier." "Hey, perk up, Yuri!" Yuri lifted her head to see the face and curls of Miyu Tamaki, her only "normal" friend. "Aren't you at least glad to be in class B, now? I heard you did awesome on your mid-terms." It was true, of course, that there was a silver lining to the events of the past couple of months. Despite having Kasumi literally go crazy and Kumi actually die (and almost getting merged with an alien herself), she did get an email from them. Apparently, Kumi had somehow been resurrected (though Yuri wasn't keen on the details) and the two were going to be staying in California for the time being. "Great."

After that, she was still a member of the much-beleaguered and underfunded alien fighters of Hinode Junior High, despite wanting no part of it. At least with good mid-term scores and a lot of prodding from Monami (she was a senior after all; that, and the position of alien fighter was technically equivalent in level to a member of the student council) and Miss Hisakawa (who had been temporarily sent to help them, but since returned to Elementary School 9), she had been bumped up to class B, with her friend Miyu.

"Guess what? I've got two, juicy big rumors!" Miyu held out her right hand in a V, indicating the number for her half-dazed friend. She smiled in front of her blond curls. "What is it?" "Well, first is, I heard that Miss Hisakawa got fired." Yuri frowned. "Fired?" Miyu nodded. "Yep. They say that Miss Okada replaced her with a new Alien Party advisor, after all the stuff that happened." "Oh." Despite not knowing whether to fully trust her former advisor, the news was somewhat disheartening. "But, this school just opened a new slot for a counselor, so everybody thinks she's going to apply for it." Yuri nodded. "Okay. What was the other one?" Her friend grinned. "There's a new student. A transfer student to Class B. No one knows anything about him…or her. All the girls are hoping for a hottie, and I overheard Namiki and his friends joking about wanting a girlfriend. So, we'll just have to wait and see." Just as Miyu had intended, Yuri had caught the bait and forgotten her dread of the day's possible duties.

"So, when's this person joining our class?" "Right now." Yuri hoped the new student was a girl; except for Miyu she didn't know anyone in Class B, so making a friend seemed like a good thing. "All rise!" The student's representative's voice indicated the entrance of their teacher, Mr. Masuda. The bespectacled man cleared his throat. "Good morning, class. As you may have heard, we have a new student this morning. Please welcome her to Class B." At the sound of "her", the previously silent class erupted in a slew of whispers. Masuda-sensei turned towards the door. "Come in, please." Yuri could not totally see from where she was sitting, but watched as the person walked in to the middle of the class room, and immediately turned right and picked up the chalk. From the back, the new student looked like a boy—she was wearing the same slacks as the boys, as well as a long-sleeved uniform jacket (with the standard issue brown school bag on her back) that Yuri had never seen before. Her hair was a reddish-brown that Otani assumed to be natural. It was cut short, almost square, along the back. The clacks of chalk finally stopped.




"Shinosaki…Junko." The girl swiveled on her loafers to face the class. Further gasps arose from the peanut gallery. The new student was…different than what people were expecting. With her face, her short, boyish haircut, and a small but not entirely nonexistent bust, she might have had a sort of cuteness to her…maybe. Any cuteness that she might have had was overshadowed by her facial features. Shinosaki had rather imposing-looking steel grey irises set in rather sharp eyes. There was a large, linear scar that went vertically from her forehead through her left eyelid to her cheek, where it met a horizontal cicatrix running beneath her left eyelid. There was also extensive scarring on her chin along with what looked to be the remains of large gashes through her left ear and on the right side of her neck. The net effect was that Junko Shinosaki appeared as if she had come fresh from a war zone.

"My name is Junko Shinosaki. I go by Jun. Age, 13. I'm now in class 1-B. Pleased to make your acquaintances." The alto voice matched her appearance. Jun went into a rather curt bow before she straightened herself and took a deep breath, running a gloved hand through her hair. "That was awkward." Although she was wearing the standard "sailor" blouse, Jun was wearing the navy slacks out of the boy's uniform, along with a matching uniform jacket that Jun hadn't seen anyone else wearing. However, the combination was school-approved if not awkward and she had gotten affirmation of it earlier that morning when she had talked with the principal.

After an uncomfortable silence, Mr. Masuda asked, "Are there any questions for Miss Shinosaki?" A brief pause ensued before a girl raised her hand. "What school did you attend previously?" Jun's darted back and forth in thought momentarily. "I was home-schooled. Before that, I attended Elementary School 26, out in the country." The teacher frowned. "Never heard of it." "It closed down a while back." "I see." Another hand went up. "What are your hobbies?" Jun grinned. "Surviving." The class went into a confused silence. "Sorry. Just a joke. Let's see…I like reading…some athletics, and I do a bit of scientific research sometimes. You know, on my own…for fun."

"Do you have someone you're seeing?" Jun squinted as she raised her right eyebrow. The now grinning young man subtly straightened his tie. "Um…no…" Miyu raised her hand. "Yes?" "Aren't you hot in that jacket?" "Not really." "What dorm building are you going to be in?" "I actually live around here, so I'm not in a dorm." Namiki was next. "How come you're wearing gloves? What's up with that?" Jun's hands, which had previously been hidden almost behind her, went back to her sides. At the end of her jacket's sleeves were extremely thin white leather gloves. "Oh, these? I was in an accident was I was a kid, and my hands were really badly burned." Jun lowered her voice. "It's kind of embarrassing." "Oh, sorry." "It's okay."

A few more questions were answered, before Jun addressed Masuda-sensei. "Sir, can I ask you a question?" "Certainly." "Just for my reference…are there any class officers in here?" Masuda sifted through some papers. "Let's see…Miss Hirano, she's in the first row, is our student council representative, and…Miss Otani is in the Alien Party." "Thanks. Where may I sit?" "I believe there's an open desk behind Miss Tamaki, isn't there?" Jun nodded, walked over to the desk in question, took off her bag, and sat down. She scooted her chair in, leaned her bag against the leg of the desk, and sighed. "Now class, I'm afraid that we've gone two minutes over on homeroom, so I'll have to speed up a little. Now, as we know…" Yuri looked at the new student momentarily before she turned her attention to the lecture. "She sounds like me…a little."

• • •

A couple of periods later, Class 1-B found itself around the room-sized oval-shaped table that dominated their Lab class. "Hey." The recipient of the interjection ignored. "Shinosaki?" Jun turned her head left, and noticed the girl sitting across from her. "Yes?" "You said you were good at science, right? Could you come here for a second?" Jun got up from her seat and walked around the edge of the table.

"Did you see that?" Miyu prodded Yuri in the arm. "See what?" "I think something's wrong with the new girl's eyes. She didn't notice Ayame until her head was practically sideways." When Jun returned, Miyu got up, went over to the new girl and questioned her. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but is something wrong with your left eye? Like, is your vision in it really bad or something?" Jun sighed. "Are these people always this observant of the 'new kid'?" Jun clicked her pen shut, turned her chair towards Miyu, and without further warning, used her right hand to hold her eyelids open before striking her left eye with the closed tip of the pen. Miyu cringed. Tink. Jun then tapped her eye with her gloved finger. "I don't have a left eye. This one's fake, so yes, I'm blind in my left eye. Are you done?" Miyu nodded quickly. "Yes. Sorry to pester you." Jun sighed. "What a day."

• • •

Lunch period came entirely too late for Jun. Rather than go through the hassle of buying something off the lunch line, she had made her own bento lunch earlier that morning. She had found a tree on the edge of campus, eaten her lunch, set her watch, and taken a nap. She had, however, woken up roughly five minutes before her alarm.

"What?" Jun woke up groggily only to find her vision dark; she felt fatigued and her neck felt especially strained. Then she heard what sounded like a gurgled shriek from immediately in front of her. It snapped her to clarity. Jun placed a hand just in front of her face. It was stopped a foot in front of her by something mildly soft. Jun fumbled around on the ground for her school bag. She opened it, dug into the bottom, and removed a small cylindrical object. She unscrewed the lid off of the syringe and primed the autoinjector. Jun quickly found an appropriate location on her neck. A quiet hissing emanated from the unit as the internal spring engaged.

Twenty seconds later, there was another screech, followed by a feeling that was a distinct combination of an IV being carelessly yanked out and waxing strips being ripped off dry skin. The basketball-sized object on Jun's face tilted and fell off onto the hard dirt in front of her. "A Jane." The parasitic alien quivered before it gave its version of a scream. As Jun felt the eight welts on her forehead where its tendrils had been moments before (which weren't bleeding but were leaking a clear fluid), the alien started melting. Starting at the tendrils, the Jane's flesh crinkled and turned to a soup of green blood and fluid, visibly dissolving at a seemingly impossible rate. In a few seconds, all that was left was an empty husk and a pool of liquid. Jun touched her face again. The welts had closed and because of the way a Jane separated its victim's skin she probably would not be able to even find the welts at the end of the day. Either way, it had drained enough out of her that she felt wiped. "Damn thing." Jun capped and put the now-empty autoinjector syringe back in her bag, before returning the bag to her back and returning in the direction of the school.