Tamaki opened her eyes. Wincing, she turned her head.
"Ayae?" she croaked.
"Ah, you're awake!" I put down the coloring book. I ran to the door and peeked my head out. "Guys! Guys! Tamaki's up!"
Dai was down the hallway. She called our other friends, who were gathering water at the water fountain. They came back to join us in the nurse's office.
Dai helped Tamaki sit up. Ayame passed the water bottle over.
Tamaki held her head.
"Careful, you took some bad hits," Ayame said. "You might have a concussion."
"Don't worry, we snatched you some of the good stuff," Dai said, opening her palm. Tamaki took one of the painkillers.
We all tried to ask Tamaki questions, but Setsu hushed us. She said the noise was hurting Tamaki. We needed to lower our volume.
Immediately, we clapped our hands over each other's mouths and nodded.
The painkillers helped, but Tamaki still looked awful. She clutched the sheets.
"I'm sorry, Ayae," she whispered.
I blinked.
She snapped shut her eyes. "I tried. I tried to join you, but I couldn't pass. I'm sorry."
All our friends exchanged a look.
"It's okay, Tamaki. This moron didn't pass either," Dai said, pointing to me.
"Hey!" I said.
Tamaki looked up, confused.
We filled her in. I flunked. Ijouna passed though. So did Hana, Gin, and Michio. They were getting their speeches.
I handed back Tamaki's hairclip. "By the way, you dropped this!"
Tamaki was speechless. Finally, she had a look of resignation. She smiled, holding her hairclip.
"So I guess we're back together again."
"We need a team name," Dai declared.
I seconded that!
"How about… Fantastic Five!" Because there were five of us. I felt proud of myself for coming up with that.
"I vote Power Punch Girls."
"The Civ Crew."
"Odd Squad."
"Lunch Bunch!"
"Oh my god, these are all trash."
"Team Trash?"
"We are not trash!"
"We are total trash."
Tamaki snapped her fingers. "The Dropouts."
We blinked.
Slowly Dai grinned, swinging her arms behind her head. "Hey, yeah, I can get behind that."
Ayame giggled. "Well, that is one thing we share."
"And it brought us together again!"
Dropouts it is!
Before we got too excited, Setsu hushed us again.
For the next hour, we chatted. Ayame had brought pineapple cake. None of us ever had pineapple before, so we were excited for a bite. It was crumbly but so, so good! It was a taste unlike anything else.
Ayame was relieved the cakes turned out well. She had wanted to try something different. Pineapple had been at the top of her list, but the paste only came around once a year. Even a tiny tube was super expensive. Not only that, there was only one recipe for it in the whole village. Setsu had to look through every cookbook to find it.
"What does a pineapple look like anyway?" Tamaki wondered, looking at the gooey yellow filling.
"According to the encyclopedias, they are about the size of a melon and spiky," Setsu said.
"So… a durian?"
I brought the cake for a sniff. "But this smells nice. Durians are gross."
"Not a durian. They are described to have leaves like knives. And they don't fall down, they rise up."
According to legends, the pineapple came from farthest place on earth — the Land of Upside Down. There, you would find a forest so large and so wide, it could swallow our country a thousand times over. It was said inside that forest were the most delicious fruits in the world.
However, it was not possible for an outsider to snatch any of these fruits, because guarding the forest was a thick barrier of thorns, all pointing outward. Trying to get through was like swimming in a sea of swords. That didn't stop many brave and valiant people from trying though.
"And those people all died," Setsu said cheerfully. "Apparently, the forest was protected by a powerful queen. So powerful, in fact, that the First Hokage would look like a goat in comparison."
We fell.
"Then how…!" Dai said.
"It was random. One day a boy inside the forest noticed there was a girl on the other side. Her family had died trying to get in, leaving her abandoned. Not wanting her to starve, he walked out with a basket of pineapples. The thorns only stopped people from coming in, not going out. He had brought pineapples because that had been his favorite fruit."
Setsu told us the boy and girl fell in love. They traded their extra pineapples for other food and goods, then went on to live happily ever after. Meanwhile, the pineapple continued to exchange hands, moving from land to land, land to sea. Some pirates got their hands on it, and it soon traveled sea to sea.
"Wow, so that's why this is so expensive," I said. "It came from the other side of the world!"
Setsu sweat-dropped. "Well, that's the legend. This pineapple probably came from some farm south of here."
"Eh?"
"They're expensive because each plant only grows one pineapple, which needs three years to grow and rots within a month," Setsu explained.
Our jaws dropped. Three years? In three years, we could have went around the world ourselves!
We got so caught up, we didn't notice the sound of people coming.
My friends scrambled to hide me. I wasn't supposed to be there. I got behind an invisibility cloak just as the door opened.
It was the nurse. Behind her was Tamaki's mom.
As fun as it was, the time came for everyone to leave. Ayame, Setsu, and Dai packed up the desserts and waved goodbye. They said goodbye to her mom on the way out. Tamaki's mom thanked them back.
I tried to tiptoe out too but the nurse closed the door behind her.
Damn!
"I came as soon as I heard what happened," Tamaki's mom said. She sat in the chair I was in, keeping her purse on her lap. "They told me you lost to Akimichi in the third round of sparring."
Tamaki didn't look up. Slowly she nodded.
"Have you gone stupid?"
My hand froze before the door handle.
In all my times over Tamaki's house, I had never heard her mom say anything like that. Tamaki's mom was more distant than my dad or Dai's dad, but she was always welcoming. She was polite and well-spoken.
She was still well-spoken. She did not raise her voice. She didn't even sound mad.
Somehow, that only made my hair stand on end.
"You told me you submitted your resignation forms. You told me you were coming to support Uchiha Ayae in her final examination. You are a liar."
Tamaki flinched.
"Mom, I-"
Tamaki's mom waited.
Tamaki swallowed. "I-I thought I could pass."
The silence was suffocating.
"You thought wrong," Tamaki's mom said evenly. "Be grateful it was the Akimichi who put you in your place, and not an outside nin. Your goal is to establish connections with the ninja of this village, not be a ninja. The type of work they do cannot be handled by people like us."
"But Ginjiro-"
"Is a dispensable, low class boy," Tamaki's mom said. "Is that what you are?"
Tamaki said nothing. She was looking away, her eyes wet.
"You claim you understand what you are doing. You claim you have a grasp of your situation. You claim you have Uchiha Ayae under your control. You have lost my confidence in every one of these claims. It is clear to me now that she is not under your control. You are under her control, as I see her pulling you around like a puppet, having you bend to her every whim."
"Ayae didn't make me do this!"
"No?"
"No."
"Then that's worse."
Tamaki had tears falling down her face. Her mom couldn't see those tears for some reason because she never got out of her chair. She never put down her purse.
"You are smarter than this. You are better than this. Look in the mirror. Look and see what you have done to yourself."
Curling in, Tamaki let out a soft sob.
It was the most painful sound I'd ever heard.
.
I angrily tossed the phone. No answer again.
I hated myself. I should have said something back at the nurse's office. Private conversation or no, Tamaki crying was wrong. The more I remembered it, the more everything felt wrong.
Tamaki's mom had always been so nice to us. She let us sleep over. She bought us gifts. She was nothing like Itachi's dad, who would hurt Itachi whenever he wasn't good enough. She wasn't even like Gin's mom, who would yell at Gin whenever he got in trouble. But even if so…
I knew Tamaki. She came out of our senior year with her head held high. The hardship couldn't stop her. The bullying couldn't break her. So for her to cry like that…
"Ayae, you dum-dum!" I pulled my hair.
My dad popped his head in. "Sweetie, any luck with the phone?"
"No," I said sadly.
He patted my head. "It's okay," my dad said gently. "You'll see her again."
I nodded.
"Come help me with something?"
"Sure daddy."
There was one good thing about dropping out. It brought my dad and I closer than ever. We told each other things again. My dad took time off work to be with me. While Gin had to keep training and do all this pre-genin preparation, my dad and I bummed around the house all day. It was great!
One day, my dad wanted to work out. He worried he hadn't been moving enough and was getting too squishy. So we rented one of those workout tapes for the VCR.
In the living room, we watched the people on the television do all these weird moves and tried to follow them. It included lifting your arms to the right, then to the left, then touching your toes and back up. There was another one where we hopped in place. And another one where we squat down like sumos back and forth. And another one where we shook our butts!
The whole thing was super easy. I liked the catchy music. But an hour or so later, my dad fainted on the floor, a puddle of sweat around him.
I pulled his arm. "Come on daddy, one, two! One, two! You need to feel the burn!"
"Burn felt," he said, dizzy. He fell back down.
We went outside too. We bird-watched at the park, crawling up trees. My dad had borrowed two pairs of binoculars from the lab. We brought pads of paper to draw all the birds we saw.
We also tried shogi for the first time. The park had many shogi tables. There would be grandpas who faced off against each other. They were happy to teach us. I sucked epically, but my dad turned out to be super good at it! By the end, he was facing one of the champion grandpas, with the other grandpas rooting him on.
On the other side of the field, we found the grandmas. They did tai chi, but it wasn't like the tai chi I had learned about. This tai chi wasn't for fighting, but for healing. They claimed that if you did this every day, you could live a hundred years! My dad and I tried, but the movements were so slow, we ended up falling asleep standing up. According to the grandmas, that actually meant we were masters! Tai chi was all about relieving stress, so if we could fall asleep, then we had definitely managed to become stress free.
Today was more of a peaceful day. Because it was hot, we had planned on eating watermelons and maybe do a seed spitting contest.
But when my dad led me to the kitchen, I saw balloons and cake waiting for me. Doku was there too, wearing a small colorful hat.
"Happy Birthday!"
I opened my mouth. I totally forgot!
"It's your favorite..."
I snapped my head to him. "Double double chocolate?"
"With extra double fudge and strawberries on top."
I screamed.
The double double chocolate cake was heavenly. My toes curled as I popped another spoonful into my mouth. It was too bad Doku couldn't enjoy any. But he looked happy, especially when I fed him some flowers and a strawberry.
My dad and I might have eaten one slice too many. We decided to walk it off. The district more quiet than usual, but the dessert shop had people. Aunt Uruchi and Uncle Teyaki were at their usual place outside, with Uncle Teyaki flipping through the daily newspaper.
"Oh little Ayae!"
"Good evening Uncle! Good evening Auntie!"
They asked if we would like to come inside for some food. My dad declined. He explained we just had lots of cake. He said it was my birthday.
At this, Uncle Uruchi looked at me with joy. "Your twelfth? Well, look at that, little Ayae's become an adult!"
My dad laughed. "Well, I wouldn't say that."
"But she is, Kenta!" Aunt Uruchi explained that twelve and above were adults. It was when children graduated and entered the adult world.
Uncle Teyaki corrected her, saying I technically never graduated.
He never looked up from his paper, so he didn't see my expression. But Aunt Uruchi did, even if it was only for a second.
"She is," she insisted.
To prove it, she set aside her broom. "Come, let me show you something."
Aunt Uruchi asked my dad if she could snatch me away for a few hours. My dad turned to me, and I nodded, curious of what it was that Aunt Uruchi wanted to show me.
It turned out to be a shrine at the far end of the district, even farther than where Tomoe lived. The building was very high up and big. Everything about it looked and felt important.
The inside was surprisingly barren, although I noticed a lot of old paintings on the walls, most of the colors very faded. They looked to be gods of some sort. I jumped back when one of the walls opened.
A secret passage!
Smiling, Aunt Uruchi beckoned me to join her. We stepped into the hidden hallway and followed it all the way to a door. But the door did not have any handles or knobs.
"When a girl of our clan comes of age, she is shown this place."
Uncertain, I stepped up. "Are you sure it's okay?"
She nodded.
"But I'm not a kunoichi."
"That's okay."
I stared at the door some more.
"I don't have ninjutsu."
I wasn't sure if I was Uchiha, I wanted to say.
But Aunt Uruchi looked confident. So I held my breath and pushed the door. Turned out, I didn't need to push at all.
As soon as my hand touched the door, it turned to air. I stumbled inside. Once I was, my eyes went wide.
"Kunoichi is not decided by some arbitrary test, made up by some school that we built six decades ago."
She picked up a torch.
"Likewise, once given, Uchiha is not a name anyone has the power to take away."
I spun. From wall to wall were names, hundreds of thousands of names, spiraling down like the branches of a tree.
There were enough names to fill a sky. It was beautiful.
"Look."
Aunt Uruchi showed me a name.
"That's me!"
In wonder, I followed the lines up. "There's my dad! And Grandpa Bobo!"
My smile faded. The tree…
It looked like it was dying. There weren't many that reached all the way down.
There was one big branch that caught my eye. Mine was thin, no more than a single line. This one, however, had many lines weaving in and out.
It split in the middle. On the left, it ended with two names.
Uchiha Itachi
Uchiha Sasuke
There were three names on the right.
Uchiha Tomoe
Uchiha Runa
Uchiha Mikazuki
Tomoe had sisters, I remembered. I found Shisui's branch a little further away. He had brothers.
My shoulders lowered.
"What is it?" Aunt Uruchi asked.
"Something's wrong," I said softly. The room was so beautiful but I felt so sad all of a sudden. But it wasn't coming from me. It was coming from them.
I felt so powerless. Even though I could feel their pain, I couldn't do anything to stop it. Even my name… even my name was all the way over there. I was so far away.
There was a pull in my head. It didn't feel good. Holding my head, I told Aunt Uruchi,
"Something is wrong… no, many things are wrong. But I don't know how to make any of it right."
Aunt Uruchi softened. Holding me, she told me it was okay. Because whatever was the problem, I could trust my cousins to fix it.
She told me she had known Itachi since he was a very young boy. He was the cleverest child she had ever seen. Even this very moment, he was testing doors and pushing boundaries, trying to carry the clan toward a solution. Tomoe and Shisui too. They were all thinking hard and exploring options.
I lowered my head. "I should be joining them and finding a solution too."
"You can look for solutions, but you don't have to join them."
In fact, she said, it might be better if I didn't.
Itachi, Tomoe, and Shisui were all extraordinary, even by the standards of our clan. If I were to walk down their path, it would be unlikely I would discover something they had not already. I had to trust that whatever was down there, they would find it for us.
But what if the answer wasn't down that path. What if it was elsewhere. Sometimes, certain things could only come to light if you did things differently.
Aunt Uruchi smiled and told me a secret. She could never do ninjutsu either. So she spent her time baking. While her siblings invented secret jutsus, she invented secret recipes. She got so good, word of her food spread and she eventually opened the shop they had today.
Her shop turned out to be the most important place in our entire district. That was because not only clansmen would come, but also shinobi from all over the village. The Uchiha gained incredible government intelligence. They won over many important people and established crucial relationships. They de-escalated some of the worst conflicts. All because she made good crackers and tea.
What was more, she wasn't the only one. The history of our clan was filled with many people like her. The Uchiha had a reputation for warfare, but wars came and went like the seasons. Before eras of violence were eras of peace, and before we were shinobi, we were scholars and mathematicians, architects and poets.
That was what made this room special. Depending on when you were in history, you could be good or bad, strong or weak, our pride or our shame. It was tempting to look back and erase people that no longer suited the times. It was tempting to say who did or did not count as an Uchiha, who was or was not important.
The first clan lady made the choice to let history stand without that judgment. She believed in perspective, and that whether or not you agreed, every person had a story to tell and a lesson to give.
For people like Aunt Uruchi, this room was a source of comfort. It let her know she could still do things, that she wasn't alone.
And now I knew too. I was different, but I was not powerless. I was not alone.
We looked at the names some more, thoughtful.
"Some of our clansmen think being grown up means being able to blow out a fireball," she said, shaking her head.
She disagreed. Being grown up was about finally being able to see and understand issues, even those that were not your own. It was about being ready to handle the world despite its imperfections.
A true child would only see ink on a wall and nothing more.
She turned to me. "You have grown up, Ayae."
.
"Backpack?"
"Check!"
"Lunch bag?"
"Check!"
"Wristband?"
"Check!"
"Clothes?"
I looked down. "Not naked," I said. Good, because I was not showing up to my first day of normal school without pants. That was the stuff of nightmares.
"You're all set, sweetie!" my dad said, throwing the list in the air.
We hugged each other.
I ran off to Aunt Mikoto's. Sasuke was at the front door, putting on his shoes. Aunt Mikoto was handing him his lunch when she saw me coming.
"Ayae dear!" she said, waving warmly.
I saluted. "Conductor of the Shisui-Itachi-Michio-Ayae-Sasuke express, reporting for duty!"
While Aunt Mikoto laughed, Sasuke cringed. He turned to his mom. "I am now seven," he said seriously.
I leaned in, grinning. "Which is still a kid! I am an adult!"
"Who still needs to go to school!" he snapped back.
We stuck our tongues out at each other.
Sasuke tried his mom again. "I should not have to go with her. According to Father, she is un-suit-able," he pronounced.
"And according to Mother," Aunt Mikoto said, hand at her cheek, "she is so cute. Are those bangs, Ayae dear?"
I nodded furiously. "Mister Fukuyoshi cut them!"
Aunt Mikoto sighed happily, rubbing her cheeks more. Before I knew it, I was squeezed in a hug. "Let me keep you, Ayae dear," she said. "Let me make you family."
"But Auntie, I'm already family!"
"Yes you are," she agreed. "Forever and always."
Sasuke groaned.
Expecting his resistance, I dug into my lunch bag and pulled out my secret weapon. I unwrapped the tin toil.
It was an onion pancake. Sweet pancakes might be ineffective against him, but not even he could resist savory goodness!
The bait worked.
After dropping Sasuke off at the Academy, I headed off to my new school. I ran since it was on the opposite side of the village, past the park and near the downtown areas.
The school building was long and three floors up. Because it was squished between many other buildings that looked similar, it was easy to miss. The sign was small too.
The Dropouts were already outside, Tamaki included. She still had bandages from her exam injuries, but she looked better.
"... told me that!"
"You never picked up the phone!" Dai exclaimed.
While Setsu hushed Dai, Ayame pointed to me. "Well, it looks like Ayae didn't know either."
"Know what?" I asked as I joined their circle.
"Crop top," Dai said seriously.
Tamaki buried her face into her palms.
"Huh?"
"The white half shirt," Setsu explained, gesturing to their shirts. A moment later, I realized they were all white and short. Other school girls were coming in. They were dressed in short white shirts too. In fact…
I looked around.
"There's a uniform?!" They never told me normal school had uniforms! "I thought we just had to wear this!" I said, pointing to my wristband.
Ayame calmed me down. Sweat dropping, she explained there was no school-enforced uniform. Still, there were ways you should dress if you wanted to fit in.
"So basically, a uniform," Tamaki deadpanned.
More girls walked in, giggling to each other. They also wore the same style of shirt. Not a single exception!
"More like… general fashion sense?" Ayame said gently.
Tamaki and I exchanged a look of horror. That was not the way things worked. Fashion meant you dressed differently. Fashion meant not wearing the same shirts all the other students wore. Normal school was all topsy-turvy!
"Don't worry, Tamaki," I said. "I have a solution."
I took the ends of my shirt and knotted it in the middle. There! Short! There was nothing I could do about the color but…
I looked up.
Ayame covered her eyes. Setsu and Dai looked pale.
"What?"
My friends tackled me, rushing to undo the knot. They circled around to keep me from sight, glancing back over their shoulder.
"You can't do that!" Dai hissed.
"Why?" I whined.
"That's the bad girl code," Setsu whispered frantically.
Bad girls, they explained, often skipped school, talked like men, and even smoked cigarettes like men. On top of wearing a knotted shirt and baggy pants, they heated their hair to make it crinkly and messy.
I glanced at my hair. I combed so hard every morning to get it to not look messy. The hair everyone loved was the type Itachi had—soft and dark, long and straight.
"But I thought unmessy hair was good?"
"They don't care about good, that's why they're bad!"
"But bad can be cool," Ayame pointed out.
"And cool is good," Setsu said.
Wah, so confusing!
Tamaki pulled herself together. Head down, she placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Ayae. We'll survive this together."
Tears down my face, I held my fist and nodded. Senior year, we repeated to each other. If we could get through senior year of the Academy, we could get through this.
Luckily, we were all in the same class.
The building was smaller than the Academy, but the classroom felt even smaller. Part of it was the decoration. Classrooms at the Academy were strict and orderly. Here, there were colorful memos and cute magnets. In the back were shelves and baskets and drawing boards. Instead of large tables that seated three to a team, there were individual tiny desks.
There were also more students per class. Everyone was noisy and wild, talking and laughing even though the teacher was in the room. Some students were sitting on the desks, swinging their legs, and the teacher did not seem to mind this either.
Even after the bell rang, there wasn't immediate silence and order. Students finished their conversations and took their time getting seated.
This was the type of behavior of first or second years, not seventh years. It was awesome!
"Welcome back to fall semester," the teacher began. "Hope everyone had a relaxing summer break. Starting this term, we have two additional transfers from Konoha Academy…"
"Flunkies," someone coughed. Some snickered.
The teacher pretended she didn't hear that. "Class, please welcome Koyabashi Tamaki."
Tamaki put on her cutest smile and bowed.
"Hi! Thank you for having me!"
"Welcome!" the class said in unison.
Tamaki and I blinked. They were nice! Some were even smiling.
"Tamaki, please sit by Sayuri."
The girl named Sayuri raised her hand. To Tamaki's delight, the empty seat by Sayuri was a window seat.
"Next we have…" The teacher stared at the paper. The class was waiting, confused. She snapped out of it. "Next we have Uchiha Ayae."
"Nice to meet everyone!" I said cheerfully, bowing.
When I looked up, I was met with silence.
One girl dropped the pencil from her mouth.
"Whoo!" came Dai's voice from the back.
Ayame and Setsu said welcome.
Everyone else was speechless.
Oh come on. Not again!
Ah well, they'd get used to me eventually. I plopped down in my assigned seat, ignoring how everyone turned their head. My chair was metal and squeaked under my weight. To my alarm, my desk had scratch marks and writing all over it. The scratches looked old. The desk itself looked old.
Up front, the teacher recovered and began taking attendance. Afterward, she told us to fill out the first section of our daily dairies.
Confused, I looked around to see what she meant by "daily diaries". Everyone took out a blue booklet from their desks.
I peeked into mine and saw there was indeed a blue booklet in the cubbyhole. The booklet had very thin paper. On every page were the same questions.
What time did you sleep?
What time did you wake up?
How much time did you spend on homework?
What did you do during your time away from school?
What do you aspire to achieve today?
Please write the name of the student with the best performance today.
Please write the name of your friends.
Has anyone you know been behaving strangely?
Please describe other strange observations, if any.
There was a box for the date at the top.
Huh. This test was easy!
Students around me pulled out their pencil cases. Unzipping my backpack, I got out my trusty old scroll.
I forgot how small my new desk was. I had already swiped my fingers across the seal. Oops.
The scroll rolled out, off the ends of my desk and onto the floor. The ends touched my neighbor's foot. That was embarrassing. I was about to apologize when I saw his expression.
He screamed.
Several of my other neighbors yelped or jumped away.
The teacher froze. She ran out of the classroom, her heels trailing off into the distance. After a minute, she came back, pushing another teacher into the room. The students were still frozen in place.
The new teacher approached me like I was a hungry tiger.
"H-hello, miss," he said. "U-um, we would like to ask… I mean, it would be very generous if…"
"I'm sorry, I was just getting a pencil," I said, shrinking. "I'll put this away." It was clear my scroll made everyone uncomfortable. I couldn't understand why.
Then I caught where everyone was looking. It was the weapons.
"Oh!" I said, realizing. "No, no, don't be scared. They can't fall or accidentally hurt anyone. But if they're not allowed…" I went to take them out and hand them over.
That had not been the right thing to do.
The next hour, I sat outside the principal's office.
I wasn't sent there. I had been told very kindly where the principal's office was located, in case I had any questions or concerns with how the school was running. I decided to roll my scroll back up and go. It was best to see myself out before someone had a heart attack.
In the waiting room were two other students.
One was an older girl lazily twirling a pencil in the air. Her head was rested on the lap of an older boy who was fixing a toy of some kind. The toy had round pieces and a string.
A piece he was tinkering with popped out and rolled onto the floor. It stopped close to my seat, so I got up and picked it up.
"You dropped this."
The older boy didn't say anything, staring at me with a bored look. He accepted the piece.
Just as I was about to say more, I noticed his hair. It was very dry and crinkly. The older girl on his lap had crinkly hair too. Her top was knotted.
Closing my mouth, I quickly jumped back into my seat.
Oh no, she was one of the bad girls! And if he was her friend, then he must be a bad boy. I shouldn't—
The piece popped out again, rolling on the floor.
"Sorry, you dropped this again," I said, handing the piece back.
It dropped a third time.
And a fourth.
I didn't even have the chance to sit back down when I heard the plastic drop.
Frowning, I picked it up. I put it back in his hand.
As soon as I heard the next pop, I whipped around.
"Aha!"
Grinning madly, I steadied my balance and pulled myself up from my weird pose. I caught the piece in the air the next time too.
I threw the piece back. To my surprise, he had a good catch, his eyes unblinking.
"What toy is that?" I asked. I had never seen it in any of the markets.
His expression changed, just for a second.
He looked at the toy in his hand.
"Yo-yo."
"Yo-yo," I repeated. I couldn't help but smile. What a cute-sounding name! "Where do you get one?"
"A friend made it," he said.
"Oh!"
I understood now. It was a gift. That was why he was trying so hard to fix it. I was about to tell him that my dad might be able to fix it if he was struggling. My dad could fix anything!
But that was not needed. With a click, his yo-yo came together. At the same time, the door to the principal's office opened. An important-looking man in a suit walked out. The assistant quickly went in.
"Sir, you have a guest waiting, Miss Uchiha Ayae."
I heard an alarming crash.
"What! Why didn't you send her in?"
"You told me to not disturb-"
"Send her in!"
The assistant ran back out. To me, she forced out a big smile. "The principal will see you now."
"But they were here first," I said, pointing to the older kids.
That… didn't matter.
I sat in front of the principal, who was older than most teachers but not as old as the Hokage. He wore thin glasses and had thinner hair. He dressed in a suit, but it didn't look as nice as the other man's. His desk was messy. There were mountains of papers in the corner.
"Would you like some ginger, Miss Ayae?"
I shook my head.
He lowered the box of ginger candies.
"Deepest apologies for this old fool's forgetfulness, Miss Ayae, but it is with great honor that we meet. What may we do for you?"
I closed my mouth. I decided to roll with it.
"Um, I'm new and not used to the rules yet. Before I cause any trouble… does this school not use summoning scrolls?"
"Correct. There is a strict rule against chakra usage of any kind within school grounds."
"Oh… that's not a problem for me. But what about chakra latent stuff?"
He did not look like he understood.
"You know, latent instead of active?"
Nothing.
I frowned. Okay then. I began explaining the difference between the active stage, when you use chakra to make things poof, and the latent stage, when chakra reacts to a person and make things poof, and how you need ninjutsu for the active but you don't need it for the latent and-
The principal interrupted me.
"Miss Ayae, haha, please divulge no more. It's okay, I can assure you no chakra things of any kind is allowed."
"Oh. No weapons either?"
"No ninja tools of any kind."
I lowered my shoulders.
Unzipping my backpack, I pulled out my summoning scroll. The principal paled.
"I'm very sorry for bringing this. I didn't know. But… if I promise to never bring it to school again, can I have it back by the end of the day? It's just… my friend gave it to me. He made it for me special."
The principal leaned into the back of his chair, his eyes never leaving the scroll. It didn't look like he wanted to take it.
"M-Miss Ayae, I apologize for any confusion I or any of our teachers may have caused you. Rest assured, you may bring anything which you deem necessary."
It was my turn to be confused. "But the rules…"
"We will write you an exception to the rules, if that is your request."
That wasn't… how rules worked?
This wasn't how anything worked. I was supposed to be in trouble, and yelled at, and told the rules, so I could break those rules, and get in trouble, and get yelled at again.
Instead, I was frantically telling the principal that no, no, not allowing weapons made sense, we didn't need to change the rules. And then I had to comfort him and tell him that he was not in trouble.
In the end, I patted his head and put a ginger candy in his hand because he was sweaty and pale and looked like he was going to cry.
Exhaling, I closed the office door behind me and leaned back.
The two older kids stared at me.
Laughing nervously, I stepped aside. "All yours!"
.
"... I thought it was just a rumor!"
"I heard this year's ninja graduation was a mess. I wonder if she got sent here as, like, some punishment…"
"I heard it's an infiltration mission. The police sent her to sniff out the you-know-who. I heard they got another convert this past summer…"
"Oh wow, that's so scary."
Talks of me spread. I could hear my name even from students of a different class or year. The whispering was a bit rude, but nothing they said was mean, so I let it go. I figured things would relax over time. As Ayame explained, no clan kid ever came to the school, much less an Uchiha. People liked talking about new or strange things.
Normal school turned out to be hard, much harder than the Academy. We had six core classes in rotation.
Recitals was always first in the morning. The memorization wasn't too bad, but the passages could get long and boring. All the readings were in plain language without encryption.
Mathematics always ended the day. It was the hardest class. The math they did was nothing like the math I did back at the Academy. It made me want to slam my head.
History wasn't that different from my old history classes, but they only covered Konoha and nothing outside. The way they taught it was also strange. The described my clan like gods, when at the Academy, we were a footnote. Some minor clans were praised as all-important, while some all-important clans were downplayed as just so-so. What was funny was how they describe some battles, like how Sarutobi Sasuke used legendary power to defeat Saizou of Kiri. All Academy students knew he won with a poke in the butt.
Civics happened only on Mondays and Wednesdays. We learned laws, rules and regulations, trade, pricing, insurance, and privileges. It was the most boring class, even more boring than recitals.
Ecology was every Tuesday and Thursday. It was nice. We learned about plants and animals, rocks and weather. Sometimes we would even go on field trips to the farms to learn from local farmers.
Moral education happened on Friday. It was my favorite class because we got out and did stuff. This included taking care of our school, like trimming trees or painting walls. We scrubbed streets, picked up trash, made meals for the elderly, and babysat kids for busy parents. After being cooped up in the classroom for hours and hours, I was happy to do anything that let me move!
On top of the six core classes, there were also two supplemental classes. The first was called industrial arts and it was for the boys. They went to a warehouse once a week to do woodwork, metalwork, plumbing and electrical stuff. The second was called domestic arts and it was for the girls. In that class, we would learn hospitality, cooking, sewing, and childcare.
Until domestic arts, I thought math was my worst subject.
"Ayae, how are you this terrible."
Tamaki massaged her temples while Setsu rushed to cap the fire over my pot.
"This is too hard!" I cried.
"We're making miso!" Dai said, near hysterical. "How can you walk across wire and scale buildings but not make fish flipping miso! It's literally the easiest dish after rice!"
"Rice is hard too," I said softly. My dad never let me cook rice without supervision.
Eye twitching, Dai looked like she was ready to strangle me.
I was so hopeless, my friends banished me to dish cleaning.
Thankfully, we had Ayame on our team. Calm and fast, she sliced through all the vegetables with perfect precision. Her knife work was incredible. She single-handedly covered the whole table of duties by herself, rolling dough, flipping pans, and drizzling sauce.
By the time she was done, the whole class came to admire her dishes. She got many compliments.
"Here, Ayae," Ayame said, handing me a stack of used pans.
I happily accepted them. Before I reached the sink, however, my foot slipped on something wet.
"Eep!"
After skidding and drawing spirals with my feet, I rebalanced myself and my stack.
Phew.
There was giggling behind me. Looking back, I noticed one of the girls was holding an upturned glass.
I recognized that blue hair.
Oh no she didn't.
She totally did.
"Blue Hair."
"Flunkie."
"You flunked first!"
"I didn't flunk on my graduation. I wonder what that feels like."
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll know in a few years." I stuck out my tongue.
She pulled down her eyelid.
I tried to keep a mean face but only ended up smiling stupidly. It felt good to see old classmates, even the ones I never got along with.
At the sink, I noticed there was another girl carrying a stack. She was struggling from the weight.
"Let me!" I took the stack from her.
"Thanks," she said, breathing in relief.
I learned her name was Mimi. The other girl on dish duty, Yuuka, also joined our conversation. The three of us were all terrible at cooking, so we bonded over that. Mimi was too clumsy, and Yuuka was too impatient. I was a bit of both, but mostly bad at following instructions. It was hard to keep all the steps straight!
We were optimistic though. With more practice, we would get better. Even the lousiest cook could eventually make a decent miso!
Besides domestic arts, there was one last requirement. That was the apprenticeship. All students fifth year and above had to study as an apprentice somewhere.
For Ayame, the choice was easy. She worked for her dad at their ramen restaurant. Setsu worked in the public library as an apprentice archivist. Dai bounced around a bit. First she waitressed at Yakiniku Q. Then she tried being a filer at the passport house. Then she studied under a bank teller.
The good thing about the apprenticeship was that you didn't have to stick with one job. The whole point was to help us discover where we belonged.
When Tamaki and I got our documents, neither of us knew where to start. Thankfully, Ayame knew how to help. She showed us a worn binder on the classroom shelf. In it was a questionnaire that we could take. Based off our answers, the questionnaire would tell us what type of work we would be good at.
We finished. Ayame took our answers and began adding up the points.
"So Tamaki… it looks like you should be… a risk manager, a business executive, or a director," Ayame said.
That got a huge "Wow!" from everyone.
"I can see it!" Setsu said.
"Yeah, all bossy titles. I like it," Dai said.
Tamaki did not look happy though. "They're all… old men jobs."
She didn't want to be like an old man, working with other old men all day. She had been hoping for something more like… a magazine idol. Or a radio hostess. Or a fashionista!
"Well, you can't be a fashionista if you can't even catch up to the fashion part," Dai teased.
Blushing, Tamaki crossed her arms over her shirt. "Ayae and I are shopping next weekend!"
"We are?"
"We are!"
Ayame giggled. She turned to my answers and added the points. Half-way through, she looked stumped.
"Um, so it thinks Ayae would be good at… plumbing?"
Setsu asked Ayame to recheck her math.
Ayame sweated. Her math wasn't wrong. She flipped through my answers. I had five out of five knowledge on waste disposal and sewer systems.
Setsu insisted Ayame mixed up the question numbers.
I scratched my cheek. "Ah, no, that's true."
I did drain a lot of school toilets during my detentions with Gin. We also had community service in the sewers, so I knew the underground tunnels fairly well.
"Okay, forget that one," Ayame said, gently laughing. "Ayae is also exceptionally suited to be…" She looked up. "A hot springs worker?"
"How!" Dai exclaimed, gesturing to me.
"Oh, no, that makes sense too," I said. I did work as one, even if it was only for a few days.
My friends looked at me, confused.
I realized I never told them, with all of us being so busy back then. So I told them about Miyako. The whole story. I added sound effects here and there.
"... so yeah, I know about baths. Mud, salt, mineral, algae, all of them," I said, nodding.
To my surprise, there was a huge crowd around us.
"Wait, wait, can you go back to the part about the fire duel."
"So does this mean anyone be heir, even a girl? Then why wasn't Lady Tomoe chosen?"
"Weren't you paying attention, her father's not the head."
"But if she kills Itachi-"
"Then the title would go to Itachi's little brother."
"Oh! So then she'll have to kill him too!"
"Or challenge him to a fire duel and win."
"No, no, I don't think that would work. I think he would have to challenge her."
"But die!"
"Yes, yes!"
"Oh my god, your family is just like a historical drama, but, like, now!"
I sweated. Even if so, could they not talk so casually about my cousins killing each other? These weren't television characters, they were my family.
"So let me get this straight, you are the next clan lady!" Yuuka exclaimed, pointing to me. "That must be crazy, being the girlfriend of Uchiha Itachi!"
The crowd went wild.
"Ah! No, no! I think there's a misunderstanding. I'm not- we're not-"
"But the clan head and clan lady get married, don't they?"
"Have you guys already started dating?"
I opened my mouth.
"Oh my god, they say Uchiha Itachi is the strongest shinobi after the Hokage right now."
"Even more than Sarutobi Asuma?"
"For sure."
"No way!"
By my side, Tamaki realized something. "That ring you wore... that's the same one Itachi gave you, isn't it."
I couldn't yet react. Our classmates overheard and leaned in closer.
"Ooh, let us see!"
"Yeah, show us, show us!"
I shrunk.
"Um I… I don't have it anymore."
"What! Did you lose it?!"
I swallowed. "Um, no... Itachi gave it to Tomoe. I'm… not really the next clan lady anymore…"
The crowd gasped. The Dropouts had their mouths open.
"DRA-MA!" one of our classmates shouted. Everyone spoke more excitedly.
"I believe Uchiha Tomoe is the most powerful kunoichi in Konoha."
"They would look perfect."
"They'd be gods!"
"Beautiful gods."
"I ship it!"
"Itatomo!"
Seeing my face, my friends jumped in.
"OKAY, story sharing over!" Dai said, kicking them away.
Setsu held my hands. "It's okay, Ayae, boys make mistakes all the time."
"Do you need us to start hating him?" Dai said. "Because we can hate him."
I finally came around. I shook my head.
"No, no, it's a misunderstanding." My shoulders dropped. "Itachi and I are just friends. And I was never meant to be the next clan lady. I only got pulled in because of some stupid loophole. It would have been bad if Itachi lost his title, so I volunteered to hold the spot until he got stronger."
And now he was. He defeated Tomoe, and all was right again. His dad wouldn't be mad at him.
I just…
I didn't realize the clan head and clan lady got married. I felt silly.
Forcing a smile, I said, "I mean, it makes sense that the clan lady is a ninja."
My friends said nothing.
Ayame cleared her throat. "So… let's figure out that apprenticeship, ne?"
Grateful for the change in topic, I nodded.
"Hm, well, Ayae also has lots of points in loyalty, dedication, and endurance..." She flipped to the back of the binder. "...which should in theory make her good for the life of a…"
Ayame quieted.
"What?" Tamaki asked, pulling the binder over.
I stared at the top word.
Ninja.
Dai threw the binder out the window.
.
White top. White top. White top?
I held the white top to my chest. Wait no, there was a stripe down the back. Wah, why was this so hard!
Tamaki collapsed on the floor. We had been bouncing from store to store for hours.
"It doesn't even look that good!" Tamaki complained. If it were up to her, she'd cut the sleeves, not the bottom.
"White?" I tried, holding up another shirt.
"Beige."
I tried again. "White?"
"Ivory."
"White!" I exclaimed. It shirt fell down to my hips. I looked at Tamaki with pleading eyes. "Can we use scissors?"
Tamaki sighed. "That won't work. You need a hemline, or the threads will come apart."
I pouted. As I was putting the shirt back, an idea came to me.
Excited, I took Tamaki's wrist and dragged her down three blocks. We entered the fabric shop.
"Mr. Shopkeeper!"
A head peeked up over a spool of cloth. "Little Ayae, is that you?"
"Is Emi here?" I asked.
"Out back!"
Grinning to Tamaki, I took her out back. There, Emi was snipping through fabric. Her little brother, Hiro, was humming while flipping through a comic book.
They noticed me.
"Sister Ayae!" Hiro waved.
"Why, hello Ayae," Emi said. "How's your dad doing?"
"Great!" I said. "How'd your mom like the pudding?"
"Wonderful. That bakery is our next go-to. Hiro only goes for chocolate now."
"Good taste," I told Hiro.
Hiro gave a fat grin.
I gestured to Tamaki. "This is Tamaki, my best friend! Tamaki, Emi and Hiro. Emi's a tailor, and Hiro's her helper. They made all my yukata and dance clothes!"
Emi smiled. "Nice to meet you, Tamaki."
Tamaki blushed. "H-hi."
I laughed, scratching my cheek. Emi's smile tended to cause that reaction.
"Anyway, we were wondering if maybe you could help us?" I said, rubbing my neck. "Tamaki and I are going to normal school now, but our clothes aren't right."
They listened patiently to our story. Lowering her scissors, Emi said, "Of course. But you'll need new measurements. Hiro, can you get my tape?"
"Roger!"
After Emi took our measurements, she got to work.
Tamaki and I waited on the bench. I assured Tamaki it wouldn't be long; Emi was very fast.
Tamaki just nodded. She didn't look as excited as I thought she would.
"What's wrong, Tamaki? Didn't you want to go shopping?"
"Oh, yes!" She paused. "I… I'll pay for your shirt."
"Huh?"
"As a belated birthday gift. I never got you a present," she said.
"Oh, don't worry about that. You had a concussion."
She grew quiet.
"Ayae…"
"Hm?"
"Can I tell you a secret?"
I grew serious. I could tell from Tamaki's troubled expression that whatever this secret was, it was important to her. I wondered if it was about her mom.
I was ready.
"Yes."
"I like Itachi."
I… did not expect her to say that.
After coming around, I lowered my voice and whispered, "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."
Even as I said that, I sweated a little. Dai, on the other hand…
Tamaki just stared at me. She opened her mouth.
"It was a secret I was keeping from you."
"Me?!"
"You already knew?!"
Since, like, second grade! None of my friends were subtle about it. Only an idiot-
I buried my face into my palms. "My best friend thinks I'm an idiot!"
"No! Well… but no!" Tamaki struggled. "I just… you never…"
"I never what?"
"I thought you couldn't have known because you never… you know… stopped being friends."
"If I stopped being friends with everyone who liked Itachi, I'd have no friends," I deadpanned. I softened. "Tamaki, you aren't feeling bad over this, are you? You can like whoever you like."
She crossed her arms. "Except it's bad manners to like who your friends like."
"Then the rest of the Dropouts is bad mannered too." I huffed. If anything, it meant my friends had good taste in boys. Itachi was very thoughtful and kind. He tried to make everyone happy. I'd be more annoyed if someone said they didn't like him because of bad rumors.
"No, they're different," Tamaki insisted. "You are different."
"I don't get it," I whined.
Tamaki breathed. She closed her eyes. She had another secret to tell me.
"Itachi doesn't like them back. But I think… I think he might like you."
Oh.
That wasn't a might. "He does!" I confirmed, nodding.
"You know?!"
I was beginning to get offended. "Well, yeah! We hang out. He comes to my dance recitals. He takes care of me when I'm sick. He gets me gifts. And money. He gives me lots of money without question… Tamaki?"
Tamaki had her head pressed against the wall. "That… sounds like a boyfriend. Are you sure you two aren't together?"
"I wouldn't lie about this, Tamaki!" I exhaled. Jeez. "Itachi has a big heart. If he had time to be with more people, I think he would like them too. I think he would do the same things for them as he does for me."
"You think that?"
"I know that!" I said, kicking my feet. "Anyway, now that your secret's out, you want to talk about it?"
Blushing, Tamaki averted her gaze.
"Come on, you know you want to," I teased, nudging her with my elbow.
She caved.
"It was first grade."
Tamaki told me they met on the first day of school. Everything had been new and different. Everyone was crying or shouting. She hated that day. She had been so nervous, she felt like she was going to throw up. And she spent the whole morning being scared she would.
But then, he sat in front of her. They shared the same table.
Immediately, Tamaki saw he was different.
He was so calm. His eyes were so clear.
He didn't look like a boy, but a spirit in the shape of a boy. A spirit with the power to bend the world, to stop time with a single touch.
Whatever came across his way was just… solved. Fixed. Done. He handled every obstacle so effortlessly.
He was so unlike everyone else.
Their table had several loudmouths. They liked to talk often. They liked to talk big. Whenever Tamaki tried to speak, they easily talked over her. It had been a frustrating experience.
On the other extreme was Itachi. He never really talked. The few times he did, he spoke very softly. You'd think such a soft voice would get drowned out at such a loud table. Hers always was.
But no.
His voice, as soft as it was, silenced the whole table. Tamaki noticed with awe how everyone listened, how they gave their full attention, how they differed to him when the teacher came, how the teacher listened to every proposal, how the teacher agreed wholeheartedly and said they would implement those ideas immediately.
The level of composure, of command, that he had was… incredible.
But the moment that Tamaki remembered the best was the moment they made eye contact. And to the teacher, he said, "The ideas were Tamaki's."
Itachi rarely used his voice in the class. One of the few times he did, it was to make sure everyone heard hers.
"It was so silly… like a water break and sharing pencils and switching chairs and stuff I don't even remember anymore… but those things had meant so much back then." Tamaki covered her face.
Tamaki said she had lied. She never doubted me whenever I said Itachi was nice. After all, he was the first person who was ever nice to her.
"Oh screw it, I don't care if you're not bothered by it! I am! I don't want him to marry Lady Tomoe!"
"Hey! Who said I wasn't bothered?"
"Then why didn't you take the ring back?" she cried, shaking me. "Why didn't you put up a fight! It's one thing if it's you, but this is just unbearable!"
"Okay, first of all, I don't want to die," I slurred. Tamaki let me go. I steadied my head. "And Itachi gave it to her. If he wants to do that, I'm not going to tell him no."
That said… I'd be lying if I said I was happy about it.
I lowered my gaze. Since Tamaki was so open with me, it was only fair I was open with her.
There were parts of the Miyako story that I had exaggerated, but there were also parts that I had downplayed. Like the fight. Or how Itachi was out cold for three days. I hadn't seen him hurt that badly since his dad.
Tamaki's eyes widened.
I shrunk. I didn't want to cause gossip or badmouth anyone. I didn't want to say anything that might hurt Itachi's reputation. I knew Itachi never wanted me to see him like that.
But I didn't want to hide the truth and pretend none of that happened either.
"I just don't like Itatomo," I said, shaking my head. "I think Itatama is way cuter."
Tamaki came around.
"Itatomo… I swear, I wanted to slap whoever came up with that," she growled.
"I felt sick," I said seriously.
"I'll take Itaayae any day."
"Ew, that sounds terrible!"
Tamaki sounded out other combinations. "Ayaeita, Itae… your name really doesn't work, does it," she said, sweat-dropping.
"Somehow, I don't think my mom was thinking of that when she named me."
We broke down giggling.
Hiro found us, a bunch of measurement tapes hanging off his shoulders. "Sister Ayae, Sister Tamaki! Come, it's done!"
Tamaki blinked. "Wow, that is fast."
Tamaki and I stood in front of the mirror in our new not-uniforms. The shirts were mid-sleeved, with the bottom cut just above our hips. There was a cute collar and scarf. And they were white!
"This is perfect!" Tamaki said, doing another twirl. "How much for both?" she asked Emi.
Emi tapped her cheek. "Hm, what do you think, Hiro?"
Hiro thought hard. Then, he held out his open palm. "Five ryou!"
Tamaki nearly dropped her wallet. "Five?"
Hiro gave a toothless grin. "To buy another choco-pudding!"
We gave him ten ryou, so he could get a choco-bread on top of the choco-pudding.
After waving goodbye, we hit the streets again.
Our new shirts gave us a huge boost of confidence. We laughed and added a twirl or skip in our step whenever possible. If I raised my arms, I could show my belly button. It felt good in the hot sunny day. We understood why the short shirt was popular now.
Next on our agenda was getting me a pencil case. Several convenience stores sold those, so we went into the closest one. Tamaki found me a cute one with strawberries. Hungry, we also grabbed some of the onigiri from the shelves, as well as two milk cartons.
The store bell chimed.
"Tamaki? Ayae?"
We turned around. It was our classmates — Yuuka, Reina, Nanami, and Masae.
"Oh my god, that's so cute! Where'd you get those?"
Tamaki beamed. We showed off our shirts.
In the end, our groups joined. We became good friends easily, especially since some of them were already friends with our friends. We got nikuman together.
While at the cafe, Reina taught us this card game called Magical Girl Veda.
Tamaki and I were immediately entranced by the cards. They were filled with beautiful human-like spirits in holographic paper. They were also very scandalous, some in revealing clothes or no clothes at all. We couldn't help but blush a little.
"You can play the game in two modes," Reina explained, shuffling the decks. "Love mode or power mode."
I flipped the cards and saw the two sides were different. On one side, all the spirits looked peaceful, with a little story about them. On the other side, the spirits looked fierce. Below their pictures were no longer stories but a number and an icon.
"Which mode is easier?" I asked.
"Power mode, for sure!" Yuuka said. "If you're a beginner, you'd probably want to go with that."
They explained that power mode was simple and a lot of fun. It was a competitive game. All you had to do was keep attacking until you destroyed all your opponent's cards. Once all their spirits were gone, you attack directly and they lose.
"And love mode?" Tamaki asked, curious.
"Love mode is a collaborative game," Reina explained.
Love mode was more complicated. Instead of destroying all the cards, you had to save all of them. You did that by playing hidden abilities, but they had to be performed in the right order. It was a giant puzzle in which every player had crucial pieces of information but was blind to what others knew.
"Love mode is hard," Masae said, frowning. "We've been trying for months and only saved about half. The rules are very unforgiving. You only win if no cards gets destroyed, which is near impossible."
We decided. Power mode it was!
I faced Reina. Behind my divider, I drew five cards.
RED ARCHER. 50. RANGE.
AVENGING ANGEL. 100. COUNTER.
PRIESTESS OF THE MOON. 80. SUMMON.
LITTLE SOLDIER BOY. 20. SACRIFICE.
DARK ILLUSIONIST. 40. STALL.
We faced off. Well, here goes nothing. I picked up the RED ARCHER card and played it.
On the card was a cute spirit carrying a bow and arrow; I liked her immediately.
Grinning, Reina revealed her card: FIRE JUGGLER. Her card destroyed mine.
"Wah!"
As the gravekeeper, Yuuka was dressed in a cloak with a black hoodie. Laughing evilly, she snatched my card away. She also took my next card. And the card after that. I never saw them again.
My deck grew thinner and thinner, while Yuuka's piled higher and higher.
Before I knew it, I was facing an army of Reina's spirits.
I panicked. "Ah! Um!" My hand went back and forth between my cards. I had to keep playing, but I didn't want to lose any more spirits!
"No, not that!" Tamaki shouted, pushing my hand back down. "That one, play that one!"
DARK ILLUSIONIST. 40. STALL.
"Now that one!" Tamaki said, already pulling it from my hand.
AVENGING ANGEL. 100. COUNTER.
All of Reina's cards got destroyed in one blow.
Sweating, I let Tamaki play for me. She picked up the game faster than I did, already combining powers and enhancing attacks and setting traps.
"Oh wow, for newbies, they're not bad," Yuuka said.
Tamaki countered Reina's attack again.
Soon, both our decks were depleted. Reina had three cards in her hand while we had two. But we had three spirits alive on the field while Reina had none.
Reina looked stuck, biting her thumb. By her side, Nanami whispered something in her ear. Reina's eyes widened. She grinned.
From her hand, she revealed THE ICE QUEEN.
"I use her summon," Reina declared.
Opposite of Yuuka was Masae, the gatekeeper. She also wore a cloak but had a white hoodie. She swapped Reina's card with the one she wanted: COLD SPITE. Reina revealed one more card from her hand: DRUNKEN MECHANIC.
With the two cards, she performed a combination. We blinked at the new card on the field.
TIMEBOMB. 0. MAD.
Confused, I got out the rulebook and read the description for the MAD role.
"Eh?!"
"What?" Tamaki said.
"It destroys the whole field if hit!" I cried.
Tamaki tried to hide her panic. Our most powerful cards were on the field. The two cards left in our hand, NOVICE MAGICIAN and LITTLE SOLDIER BOY, were too weak to defend us.
Behind her divider, Reina looked smug. She still had one more card.
Flustered, I flipped through the rulebook some more, looking to see if there was something in there that could help us. Nothing. Our spirits on the field were all attack-centric. Once played, there was no way to make them retreat back into our hand.
I looked at the two cards we kept.
NOVICE MAGICIAN. 10. TRICK.
LITTLE SOLDIER BOY. 20. SACRIFICE.
I noticed Tamaki staring at the latter card.
"Ayae, hand me that rulebook?" she asked.
I did.
"It won't help," I said, already knowing what she was thinking.
SACRIFICE. Destroy this card to save the destruction of one weaker card.
I decided it was best to just not do anything. Reina would not be able to play anything either while TIMEBOMB was on the field. We could call a draw.
Tamaki closed the book. Staring down at Reina, she picked up the NOVICE MAGICIAN card. Before I could object, Tamaki had already played it.
Tamaki didn't want a draw.
"We attack Timebomb," she declared.
"Okay," Reina said calmly.
Giddy, Yuuka wiped the field, sweeping all our cards.
Before Yuuka could put them in the destroyed pile, Tamaki revealed LITTLE SOLDIER BOY. "We use his sacrifice."
"Oh. Sure thing," Yuuka said. She handed back our NOVICE MAGICIAN.
Tamaki took it before handing it right back. "We use her trick."
TRICK. Transfer the aftereffects of this card to another card.
Ignoring Yuuka's shock, Tamaki took back our AVENGING ANGEL.
COUNTER. Increase the power of this card by the damage suffered in the previous turn.
Tamaki looked at Reina, waiting.
Tamaki had fought too hard to settle for a draw. She wanted a victory. And with only one card left, we got it.
We won.
