The Dormouse • ALICE IN BORDERLAND

xi

POCKY STICKS

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DAY 5-6

When Michiko was twelve, she transferred middle-schools for the first time. The reason? Shinobu Keiko. At first, Michiko thought her classmate was trying to make friends with her. It had been two years since that night, and Keiko was the first person to actually show her kindness. She gave her a smile, greeted her in the mornings and told off other people who laughed at her. She looked at her with eyes that held no hatred.

It was all a lie.

Michiko made the mistake of opening up to Shinobu Keiko about who she really was, about who her parents were. Mahiru had told her to keep it a secret. For good reason as well. Keiko had smiled at her, told her she wouldn't judge her for the actions of her parents. Michiko went home that night with hope in her heart that she'd finally found someone who could see through the monstrous perceptions her father left behind.

The next morning she walked into class to find her desk vandalized. Monster. Freak. Murderer's Child. All that and more were scribbled and etched permanently into the wood. Michiko looked down at the words, angry tears springing to her eyes. Laughter erupted from the corner of the room, and Michiko turned to the group of girls whispering in the corner, looking at her with cruel smirks and too much hatred in their eyes for people as young as they were.

And stood front and centre, lips curled up tauntingly, was Shinobu Keiko. Gone was the sweet smile she had given her yesterday.

Michiko could feel the anger rising in her chest, burning and raging inside of her. But she quelled it, determined to prove to these immature children that she wasn't the same monster her father was. She sat at her vandalized desk and shut out the whispers.

She spent the following month as an outcast. No one dared approach her, either scared of her or scared of becoming like her. Of being cast out like some wretched vermin. She endured everything. The vandalism of her property, having to clean up her backpack or re-write notes because her notebook had been chucked down the toilet bowl. The taunting comments as she stood by the shoe-lockers. The shoving in the hallways.

But there was one thing that made her snap.

"You should just go and die like your stupid mother."

Michiko could take the insults about her dad. She could even handle them calling her a monster. But nobody spoke badly about her mother. Ever.

Michiko ended up suspended because she broke Shinobu Keiko's nose and ripped out a chunk of her hair. As Mahiru dragged her out of the principal's office, she passed by the girl on the way out, holding an ice pack to her nose and being fussed over by the teachers. Catching her eye, she sent a smirk in satisfaction when Keiko flinched away from her cold gaze. Good. Let her think she was a monster. Michiko found herself not caring anymore if people thought that way. The Shinobu Keiko's of the world could be scared of her all they wanted.

Endo Kirika was the name of the girl they'd picked up from the station.

She insisted they call her Kirika or Kiri for short.

Michiko learned very quickly that she didn't much care for Kirika. She was loud. Too loud. And far too bubbly for her liking. She liked to talk a lot, filling the silence with the most random discussion topics she could think of. And she smiled far too much for their current circumstances. She reminded Michiko a little too much of Shinobu Keiko.