Five Days Later
        Ami sat at her dining table with a heavy rug over her shoulders to keep her warm and protected despite the warm weather due to her recent illness.  With her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, she concentrated on writing a practice essay for her exam one of the traditional Japanese texts written in the ‘old tongue’.  She had read and analyzed the text before she had been taken away six months ago, along with the other texts which were possible analysis questions; she had missed six months of education, but she was quietly confident that her previous diligence would pay off.  She wrote without hesitation as she worked on the previous years’ questions and exercises that Haruna-sensei had given her three days ago, oblivious to the loud chattering of her friends sitting behind the wall of books she had erected between them.
        The wall of books included all the subjects that she had enrolled in: advanced mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, psychology, advanced computer programming, English, English literature, Japanese, Japanese Literature texts and exercises placed in a specialized order of the amount of study she still required herself to do.  The next subject on her list was psychology and she was anxious for Dr Daiki to come and pick her mother up for dinner, for she had question that she wanted to ask him about the research of American psychologist Lenore Walker about her application of dogs’ response to electrocution, to Battered Women’s Syndrome.  She was extremely fond of him, despite having only met him a few times in the hospital, but she would be forever indebted to his humanity in his role of allowing Asuka’s letter to remain a secret.
        She was so absorbed in her writing that she did not hear the man in question ringing their doorbell, nor her mother, dressed in a tight black spaghetti singlet top, a loose pair of navy blue slacks, hurrying past whilst flinging a long navy blue chiffon ‘shirt’ with silvery-white pearl thread embroidery of patterns on her shoulders.  Thus, she nearly jumped out of her skin when a paper airplane came crashing on her forehead, and Dr Daiki standing at the other end of the long dining table with a grin of satisfaction and his usual twinkle of mischief in his eyes.  She smiled, “good evening Doctor Daiki.”
        “Good evening Ami-san, I see you are well on your way with your studies, and good evening to all your friends, how is your studying coming along?.”
        The girls quickly introduced themselves to him when he looked at each of them expectantly.  Meanwhile though, Ami unfolded the airplane and wrote a small note inside, she then pulled a small piece of sticky tape to reinforce the strength of the tip of the paper airplane, and quickly refolding it again under the covers of her little ‘wall’.  She looked up with an air of over-innocence when he spoke once again, “and how is your psychology coming along?”
        “Very well, although I did have some questions about Lenore Walker’s experiment with dogs and comparing them with female behavior.”
        He laughed heartily at that, “I can give you two reasons, one would not be fit for a young lady’s ears, and the other, we can discuss that after your exams.  Now,” he took a look at his watch, “I believe that we have somewhere to go Doctor Mizuno.”
        “Thank you girls for coming and spending the evening with Ami-chan, I appreciate it so much.”  Doctor Mizuno said as she retrieved her purse from the couch.
        Ami smiled at her mother, dressed so elegantly and with a voice so sophisticated, yet her eyes divulged her exhilaration with their glimmer.  Her mother had been looking forward to this evening, a continuation of the previous, she had called it, but Ami knew that there was more, after nearly fifteen years without having a life out of work and looking after a child, it was the excitement of spending a personal relationship with a gentleman.  She had at first hesitated in agreeing to this invitation since she had not wanted to leave Ami alone so quickly after the loss of Asuka, but Ami had assured her that her friends would be able to accompany her for the evening, upon hearing that, her eyes betrayed her heart - the anticipation of a schoolgirl on a date.
        Ami groaned inwardly as the bell rang, she had no idea who it would be, although she knew that whoever it was, he or she would hold her mother back from a pleasant evening.  She was surprised however, when Haruna-sensei had appeared in the hallway behind her mother, “Konbanwa Haruna-sensei!” (Good evening)
        “Mizuno-chan, desuka?”  (how are you?)
        “Daijyobu, Haruna-sensei.” (I’m fine)
        “I’m sorry for visiting so late in the evening Ami-chan, but I had just spoken to the Board regarding your situation, and we have also received a response to the Education Department - we wanted to offer you something in relation to the exams that your mother and I had spoken about earlier and your present condition…”

Flashback
        There was a quiet knocking on the staff room door, Sakurada Haruna ignored it while she shook her head at yet another one of Usagi’s famous ‘I got thirty percent’ test papers.  Another member of staff must have heard it, since she heard the door sliding open and some quiet whispering from that direction.  She heard footsteps approach her and looked up at a face that she did not really recognize but found strangely familiar, “sumimasen, ohayo gozaimasu Haruna-san (excuse me, hello), I am Ami Mizuno’s mother, Mewagi Mizuno.”
        She looked at her for another moment before responding, yes, she had seen this woman on the news less than a fortnight ago talking calmly about her daughter’s condition, “Mizuno-sama,” she bowed in response.
        “I am here on behalf of my daughter, to discuss her situation.”
        “It is such a pity, she is such an intelligent student, but I’m afraid that she has missed so much of school; she will have to stay back this year.”
        “Actually Ami-chan asked me to come and speak to you regarding this matter, she would like to take the examination, this year, and enter the final year next year without any special consideration from you or the board.”
        “But that is impossible Mizuno-sama, she has missed six months!”
        “She would like to try.”
        “Mizuno-sama, I realize that you are concerned, but the final exams are only a fortnight away, staying back a year will not harm her future at all especially when she is so young, her birth-date is on the boundary for acceptance in this school year, by normal standards, she has already skipped a year.”
        “Haruna-san, I spoke to her about resting, and staying back for the year, but it is she, herself, who is adamant about continuing her studies despite her illness.  She is determined that she will participate in the exams no matter what, even if she is still in hospital, she has even asked me to transport her books to the isolation unit.”
        “She does realize that should she not pass this time, if she was to repeat the examination there would be a penalty of 5 marks incurred in each subject, does she not?”
        “I believe so, but she doesn’t want to ‘just pass’, she means to pass well.”
        Haruna-sensei laughed, “she is accustomed to gaining full marks, but we don’t want to push her too hard in this particular examination.”
        “Precisely, Haruna-san, she wants to be able to join her friends in their final year, and she wants to prove that she is still capable… please.”
        “Let me speak to kocho-Toukairin (Principal Toukairin) first then.”

        “We have decided to allow you special consideration in the examinations and defer your testing dates for an extra fortnight.  That should give you a little more time to prepare for those exams, and perhaps help you lift your results slightly.”
        Ami smiled broadly at her teacher, “arigato gazaimashita (thank you very much -extra grateful) Haruna-sensei, but I will be ready in a fortnight, I have been studying hard, and I am sure that I will be able to do my best by then, but I am grateful for you, kocho-Toukairin (Principal Toukairin) and the board’s application.”
        “Ami-chan doitashimashite, ganbatte kudasai! (you are welcome, do your best)”
        “Hai! (yes)  Haruna-sensei, I have written several answers to the past exams, would you be able to take a look at them when you have time?”
        “Of course!”  Haruna-san smiled at her star pupil as she saw her pick up a large pile of papers and slid them into a brown manila envelope, then, approach her slowly, pulling her rug tightly around her shoulders.  “I will return them to you as soon as possible Ami-chan.”
        “Arigato! (thank you)”
        “Ittekimasu, sayonara, oyasumi nasen. (I’m going, goodbye, goodnight)”
        “Itterraishai sensei! (safe journey, teacher)”  Haruna-sensei bowed, as did all the members of the room, then she retreated and left the house.

        Mewagi Mizuno looked at her daughter with pride and smiled, before she had a chance to speak, Kendo Daiki had stepped towards her daughter and placed his hands on her shoulders, “Ami Mizuno, you are a very brave and strong young lady to move on like that, you should be proud of yourself.”
        Mewagi caught her daughter blushing under the intent gaze of a man, not just for the compliment, but also for the fact that he was holding her shoulders.  It was then that she realized how much her daughter had needed a male influence in her life, she sighed; it was such a pity that her previous marriage ended when Ami was so young.
        She caught herself though, from staring at the slightly paternal relationship that had formed before her eyes, when Ami’s laughing voice interrupted her thoughts, “I’d better let the two of you go, before my mother turns into stone waiting for you.”
        Kendo smiled at her daughter and turned back to her, “well Mewagi-san, shall we go?  I believe that we are being thrown out of the house.”
        Mewagi returned his dazzling smile, “I believe we are.”
        Taking his arm, they began to approach the foyer of the house together, until Kendo suddenly stopped short and slapped the back of his right knee with his free hand.  Mewagi turned and laughed when she saw a paper airplane with a hardened ‘nose’, Kendo chucked, almost hysterically as he picked up the airplane.  He gave Ami a look, despite the fact that she was hidden behind her books, they could all see her suppressing her laughter.  Opening the airplane, he showed her the note that Ami had written, Mewagi burst into laughter once again when she read her daughter’s handwriting, “good luck tonight, break a leg - my mother might look after you, if you are nice.”
        Shaking their heads, they left together, “you have a good girl there, Mewagi-san,” he began, “her mind is almost as deviously impish as yours.”
        “Is that a good thing Kendo-san?”
        “To be so devilish, not necessarily although I have to admit that it is quite endearing.  But right now, yes it is a good thing, it shows that she has the strength to rebuild her life after her dear friend Akiyama-san’s passing, it is a very good thing, you have every right to be proud.”
        “Thank you for your permission.”
        “Shall we?”

        “What did you write in that note Ami-chan?”  Minako demanded.
        “Just good luck, and umm… the English phrase - break a leg’…”
        “Break a leg?  Ouch!”  Makoto said, wincing at the thought of her previous injuries when she was still actively fighting other students from her hometown.
        “It’s just a phrase, it means good luck, and I said that if he was good, my mother might take good care of him.”  Ami said as she shrunk behind the wall of books.
        “You said what?  AMI-CHAN!!  I am shocked!!”  Minako screamed loudly as she began to double over in laughter and hysterics.
        “You are shocked by that?  I am shocked by Ami-chan refusing an extension for her exams!” Usagi suddenly wailed, “how could you?!”
        Minako and Makoto sat up straight at that and slowly stood up from their seats, “you refused a two week extension when you had missed six months of school?  Ami-chan, do you have a fever or something?  Are you sick?”
        Ami shook her head furiously, “no, I’m not, I had already read the texts on the material before I was taken away, I just need to re-read the notes that I made before, I know that I know it, I know that I can do it if I want to.”
        “But still!  I’d kill to get that chance!”  Usagi practically screamed at her.
        Ami was silent for a moment, “I did, twice, two people, I killed two people,” she began to shake as tears accumulated at her eyes.  Everyone gave Usagi a long cold hard stare for her sudden outburst of insensitivity, she buried her head in her arms for a brief moment before raising up and looking at each of them in the eye, “I can’t, I can’t just sit here and grieve for them.  They wouldn’t have wanted me to do that, they would have never forgiven me for given up the only things I am good at… I have to pass, not just for me, for them as well, its like, I have an extra burden now, as Kendo-san said, I have to be brave… I have to put it behind me and do better than I have ever done, because its not good enough to just pass for myself, I have to pass for them as well…”  She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and opened them, her newfound courage and strength evident in the quietly solemn expression in her eyes, “I have to live for the future.”

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