Chapter 1: The Summon

“Ne, ne! Sempai! Doko e iru no (where are you going)?”

I turned around to see the smiling face of Ayame Tofukuji.

Both of us attend Fudai Academy which is located in the upper area of Fukuoka, Japan. The bite of the winter wind stung at our legs and I cursed inwardly at the short skirts of our school uniforms. Back in California, I had attended a private school that allowed for a casual dress code, meaning that I could’ve worn whatever the hell I wanted. However, schools in Asia are rigid in their dress code and when I tried to rebel against the uniform rule by dressing in street clothes, I got sent up to the principle’s office with my mother apologizing profusely for my disobedience. Then, I ended up sitting on my knees on our hard living room floor as my mother lectured me on the ways of listening to the rules. My mother left me to sit there for an hour just to think on my actions and I lost the feeling in my legs and ended up passing out. After that episode, I listened to whatever the teachers said and did everything they told me to do. Although, that didn’t keep me from cursing them in my mind.
“
It’s cold, isn’t it, Hitomi-sempai? It’s not cold like this where you used in live in America, right?” asked Ayame and I quirked a brief grin at her, as I tried to pull up my socks so that they’d cover a bit more skin. Unfortunately, that left about 4 inches of skin starting from the top of my knee to the middle of my thigh exposed to the biting wind and Ayame pulled me back up with her small hands.

“Don’t worry about that. You can always wear the white stockings. But since it’s still fall, we can’t wear it until next week, sempai.” I merely nodded at Ayame’s words and she linked her arm through mine. Seemed like everyone was accustomed to the chilly wind but me. Then again, they had their entire lives to get used to the winds. I had only arrived two months and it was still warm then…

At first, when I first started to attend Fudai Academy, I thought it was really odd how much “skinship” was shown. Skinship is just a combination of skin and ship…like friendship. Unlike America, in Japan, people are really free with their feelings and you can always see schoolgirls holding hands with their friends, or boys hugging their friends in front of everyone. No one thinks anything of it…and that’s one of the things that I like about Asia. You don’t have to try to hide your feelings…you can just let them out like the breeze.

School had just ended 10 minutes ago and students were streaming out of the double-doors of our third-story high school. In Asia, high school is 10th through 12th grade, unlike American schools, where high school is 9th through 12th grade. Everywhere, people waved to other people and to Ayame and I. Ayame was popular with everyone even though she was only 10th grade, because she was so nice and kind to everyone, plus she was quite cute with her short black hair and 5 foot frame. Besides, behind the round face, was a brain that was hard to beat. She would always score higher than anyone in her grade in the monthly exams and she was a talented pianist. I was well-known by everyone because I was “the girl from America” and because of that one time when I rebelled against the uniform rule and also because I happened to be pretty decent looking and was good at sports, such as kendo and archery. Also, I wasn’t stupid myself and always came out in top 5 in the entire school.

“Sayonara, sempai!” yelled out an eleventh grade by the name of Mai who was in the archery team and I waved back.

“Ja, Mata ne, Mai-san.” I yelled back and Ayame pointed past the gates to a black car that was waiting at the curb, practically right in front of the gates, Another reason that little Ayame was popular. Her family was rich and it wasn’t the new kind of rich. It was the kind of rich that went back generations and there were rumors that her family descended from the shoguns and when the Tokugawa reign ended, her ancestors held top positions in the Meiji government. All I know is that her family owns stock in many companies and own an electronic company called Fujiwara Inc, and that they’re filthy rich. That’s why Ayame always has a car drop her off and pick her off, partially because her family wants to show off the wealth and also because they’re afraid that some rival company will try to kidnap their children. That’s also why Ayame’s other two siblings attend other schools. Her older brother, who’s also a 12th grader like me, attends Kaisei Academy which is reputed to accept only the smartest students of Japan, is called Tsubasa and he also gets picked up by a car and her younger sister called Kanae attends a nearby middle school called Kanon Middle School, and SHE also gets picked up by a chauffeured car. All three of them are driven to their palatial home in the outskirts of Tokyo at different times and different locations of the home. Like I said, their parents are way too paranoid.

A black uniformed man stepped out of the front seats and opened up the back door for Ayame who quickly unlinked her arm from mine and winked at me, before jumping into the car. The chauffeur/bodyguard nodded to me before stepping into the car. I could vaguely see the waving hand of Ayame through the tinted glass as the car drove off and I smiled.

‘Ayame…’ I thought fondly, and then turned back to walk home. Just then, someone stepped into my line of vision and also blocked my way.

It was a tall, extremely pretty looking guy who looked to be about early/middle twenties. His hair was long and hung in a ponytail that trailed down the back of his black quit and his eyes were covered by black Matrix-style shade. I could hear the students whispering in awe as they walked past us, gaping at him. It was hard not to. Even though I try not to pay attention to the opposite sex, this guy was pretty impossible to just ignore. I could see a faint lump at the hip of his suit.

‘A gun…?’ I thought to myself and merely shrugged. He was probably looking for someone else and I was, no doubt, just in his way.

“Sumimasen…” I muttered and tried to walk past him but just then, his hand swept out and grabbed my arm. I could hear the whispers intensify and I heard someone whisper to someone, “Ne, Kaoruko? Did Hitomi have a boyfriend…?”. My face grew pink and I tried to wrest my arm from his tight grasp without making too much of a scene.

“Let go of my arm…” I whispered fiercely at him.

A faint smile appeared on him lips.

“The young Master wants to meet you.”