Prologue

Hikiru Ito read over the letter again

‘…everything has already been taken care of…your first day of term starts in two weeks…I’m sorry that you will have to come in mid-term, but under the circumstances we don’t have much of a choice…make sure you find me once you get settled down…all you have to do is look for my sign…I missed you lots and can’t wait to see you; ~ E .N’

Sighing heavily, she looked at the other pieces of paper that came with the letter. Several sheets stapled together included a note of welcome, school rules, code of conduct and supply list. There were also two maps; one of the school another of the surround lands.

The school was pretty big; at least 5 or 6 floors. She traced her fingers along the map. They had on-site campus dorms and shopping plaza. Of course, the school was separate from the mainland. It rested on an island near several major towns. Her fingers lightly grazed the ink map. Lougetown was only two knots away. And it also looked like the famous Ocean-going restaurant Baratie was floating around there too. She smiled slightly.

‘Maybe going there wouldn’t be such a bad idea…’ she thought as she looked around the rather small, depressing apartment she lived alone in. it had been two months since her local high school was closed down. She needed to enroll and attend a new school soon before they shipped her off to the military base. Looking back at the map, she saw a big black ‘X’ scribbled on the campus map. Smiling slightly she said aloud, “two week huh? Better start packing.”