CHAPTER 9

"Now arriving... the Orange Line, with service to Silver Coast. Please step away from the track until the train comes to a complete stop."

Hana could hear the announcement as she frantically ran to Valleyrun Station. Nooo! My first day of school and I'm gonna be late!

She made it to the sliding doors just as the last of the passengers filed in.

Safely inside the train car, she looked around for an empty seat, gasping for breath. Did Uchiro make it?

"Geez... you act like the teachers are gonna care if you're late."

Hana turned around. Five rows away, Uchiro was smiling and patting the empty seat next to him. "I see you're getting into the spirit of things," he said, noticing her untucked shirt.

"Yes, I felt like being a little casual today even with the uniform," Hana replied with a giggle. "Kari-chan was all like 'ohmygawd, tuck your shirt in, don't be a slob on your first day!' But I never really liked being forced to be all prim and proper. And I like how this school doesn't care."

"I hear ya... I'm non-conforming in my own little way." Uchiro propped up his legs — in bright red corduroy pants — so that Hana could see his Chuck Taylor shoes, one purple, one fluorescent yellow.

"That's so weird that brand-name stuff from our old lives can show up in this world."

"Yeah, but when you get down to it, it's all cheap knock-offs. What I've heard is if people have a good memory of what things looked like or how they functioned, it's easy to replicate those things here. Shoes, cell phones, arcade games, you name it. People around here do grow cotton and raise silk worms, but I heard rumors that the factories make all their stuff from dirt, that they figured out a way to turn dirt into metal, plastic, glass, you name it!

"It's how I've got the biggest Transformers collection at my place now. All the robots I wanted, but I could never afford, like Mega Zarak, Dinobase, the Animatrons and of course the big one, Fortress Maximus. None of them authentic, but close enough."

"Interesting. Oh, I just thought of something!" Hana reached down and tucked half of her shirt in. "Isn't it funny how half-tucked stands out more than untucked?" she grinned as the train suddenly lurched.

Uchiro looked at the blood-splattered window and saw a group of laughing kids in school uniforms. "Sure enough, someone wanted to be sliced up again," he said. "The train doesn't even bother to stop for stuff like that. They'll come back to life, hose it down, keep it running on time."

Hana sat, bewildered, but not as much as last time. "I... bet some of them are gonna show up at our school."

Uchiro grinned and nodded in agreement.

The two joined hands and enjoyed the rest of the trip to Tennosuke.

The first thing Hana and Uchiro noticed was the founder's statue. The clown paint was gone; instead, the figure was now painted to look like Inuyasha, complete with white wig and wolf ears.

As they made their way up the steps, a stocky, muscular man in a school uniform jumped out of nowhere and grabbed Uchiro's shirt. "Gimme your lunch money NOW!"

Hana jumped back, shocked.

Uchiro was startled at first, then looked at the assailant disdainfully.

"Yuka? Seriously? You know money doesn't matter here. You better be glad you didn't get brain-wiped."

Hana breathed a sigh of relief. This is one of Uchi-kun's friends, right? she thought.

"Lighten up, bud... I went through crap like that all the time as a kid," Yuka retorted. "I just wanted to be on the other end of it for once. Actually I'm glad you're going to this school now. Who's your friend here?"

"This is Hana Nakamura. We've known each other since we were babies."

"Yuka Midori. Pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," Hana replied. "Have you been going to this school awhile?"

"Yeah, I'm in my fourth year. I actually graduated after two years, but I had so much fun I decided to re-enroll under a different name!" Yuka laughed.

"He lives in Valleyrun. We're actually neighbors," Uchiro chimed in as they reached the top of the steps.

"Hey, Amelia, you going to the entrance ceremony?" Yuka asked the barefoot toy airplane pilot on the ground.

"Nah, I've already been to two of them," she replied, eyes fixated on the sky. "They get boring sometimes."

"That's Ayane Kozuma. All she wants to do is play with remote-control toys and watch anime."

"We've met before," Hana remarked as they entered the building. "I wonder if she's friends with Tasha, the manga-head."

"The Yuka-meisterrrr!" Another boy in a school uniform — same as the other uniforms but dyed black — was waiting for them at the entryway. He ran up and bearhugged Yuka, rubbing his fist on his head.

"Dude, I just brushed this hair!" Yuka laughed. "This is Ikuro Naoi. He's president of the Journalism Club. Ikuro, this is my friend Uchiro and his friend Hana. They're first-timers."

"Hello," Hana chimed in.

"Hey... so are you trying to bring back the Goth style?" Uchiro asked.

"Oh, you're quite the character... I just like the all-black look. Anyway, welcome aboard!"

"So how serious is the Journalism Club at this school?" asked Hana.

"There's a definite advantage to functioning at a school with no rules and lax enforcement... more freedom, more innovation and less obstruction!" Ikuro said with a smirk. "I'll explain more after the ceremony... not that I can't talk during the ceremony, but it gets reeeaally noisy in there."

Only about half of the students in the auditorium were seated. The rest were playing games, dancing, or otherwise off doing their own thing. There was a DJ in the back fueling the dancing activity, mixing in hip-hop, J-pop, K-pop, old-school disco and house music. There was enough space in the back for a makeshift dance floor.

"I don't think I've ever seen an entrance ceremony turn into a block party!" Hana had to talk louder than usual as the beats blared from the speakers.

"One year, they tried to make a circus out of it!" shouted Yuka. "It was all fun and wild until one of the tigers got spooked and mauled a bunch of students!"

"Don't look now, but it appears the Pee Your Pants Club is getting their groove on!" Uchiro pointed to the cluster of boys and girls dancing with soaked crotches.

"Oh man, that's gonna be awkward if they make a puddle and start slipping and falling!" Ikuro laughed as Hana gawked.

"Is that a... robot?" Uchiro turned his attention to a figure in a business suit, whose face and hands looked more metallic than fleshy, dancing more awkwardly than the others.

Suddenly, the voice of the DJ bellowed from the speakers amidst a heavy metal fanfare. "What's up, my fellow Torpedoes and Torpedettes! Please direct your attention to the stage, cuz it's time to bring in the Big Cheese, the Head Honcho, the Super Sensei, the Number One Torpedo Blaster himself... Give it up for the Principal Boss Man HIROOOOOO KAZEMORAAAAAAAAA!"

The curtains on the stage parted, and out strolled a man with graying black hair, a gray and black goatee, and thick-rimmed glasses. He appeared to be in his forties. He raised his hands up like a politician celebrating an election victory and faced the cheering crowd.

"My wonderful students, even if the majority of you don't care what I say, I give you a warm welcome to our distinctive institution!" Hiro knew most of the crowd wouldn't even pay attention to him, but nonetheless he smiled at the modest plurality of students that stood fixated on the podium.

"Here at Sawai, we understand what you've been through. You may have been put through unforgivable torture at school in your past life. You might be irritated at all the rules the other schools imposed on you. Or maybe you did just fine at school, but were always curious about, what would happen if I did this? Or how would it feel if I did that? Well, no matter what you may hate about a place like this, you've come to the right place!

"And the best thing is... you can still learn things here. Our fake yet knowledgeable staff is programmed to be informative, comprehensive, and helpful, no matter what else may go on in the classrooms. That old saying... 'If you can dream it, you can do it'... is taken to the extreme in more ways than one here at Sawai.

"I won't keep you here much longer. I know you have better things to do. But from the bottom of my heart, I am very pleased that you have chosen our academy, and I hope you do your best at whatever you do! Thank you all, you are dismissed!"

Hiro turned and walked back through the curtains as the partying continued in the auditorium. There, I've done my due diligence, he thought. I myself have better things to do.