It was morning. The alarm on the clock on her bedside desk went off, Fruh eventually shut it off.
Her sleep, although early, was not restful, her mind wondered about her character and kept going back to it. She stared at the analog clock she had silenced. She saw that it wasn’t long before she had to make her commute to school. She thought about it and thought against it, but then settled on getting off the bed.
Eventually, she got out of the shower and got dressed. She picked from the small pile of clothing she had. No special designs or special accessories. Just plain. She eventually walked over to the full body mirror that hung on her room’s wall. The 5’2 high school student examined herself, then noted a new sticky note on the mirror. ‘Am leaving early. Be careful on walking to school. Call me when you get off. -Uncle’ it said. She frowned, then crumpled up the note. Tossing it into the mesh trash bin nearby with a dozen similar notes.
She examined herself again, though her mind eventually drifted to what happened last night, to the threads and the results. She looked at the mirror and she saw something odd. She blinked. For a second, she saw someone different. An older blonde who stood way taller, who looked rather sad.
Fruh was confused. Who was this person? She reached out. Another blink and she saw that she was reaching out to her own reflection. Fruh froze, her mind tried to make sense of it. She then heard her flip-phone’s alarm go off. She looked at the time and she decided to go ahead, going out of her room and heading out the apartment.
Now she was back in reality…Begrudgingly so.
Down the familiar concrete stairs and past the building’s glass and metal main door. She went through the apartment complex before arriving onto the streets of Sunnyvale, San Jose. A short walk then to the nearest bus stop.
While she walked down the all too familiar clean streets of San Jose her mind wandered, she thought about the events of the previous night. If Kotone couldn’t open up to Morgan, Leonor, or even Mardock, then who else would she open up to? Her parents are a sea away, and she has no relatives in Not-Manila that was close to her. Fruh could not think of anyone who could help Kotone in that world.
This started to worry her. What if she can’t move on? What if she-
Beeeeep!
The sound of a car horn snapped her back. She seemed to have stopped in the middle of a pedestrian lane and the light was green. She rushed to the other side, where the bus stop was. The driver of the car she blocked shouted out of the window, he might be even given her the middle finger. Fruh tried to snap out of it, she tried to focus. She waited for the bus, she tried to keep her focus.
Focus.
“Kranz.” The teacher called out.
“Kranz.” The teacher called out again. He could see her clearly, but she didn’t budge. He started to grow irritated.
“Kranz!” The teacher called out, he almost shouted even. Fruh snapped out of her trance.
“Y-Yes!” She says as she stood up in attention.
“It’s only been a weekend and you’re already so unattentive and lazy. In any case, I hope you did your studies over the weekend because…” The voice of the teacher soon became distant, faded. Fruh looked down at her desk, her worry over Kotone had taken over. What if she could force Kotone to talk? Would she talk to her parents? To a cousin? A professional? Fruh thought about it, but she realized Kotone wouldn’t.
She wouldn’t talk to a professional, to an adult. She wouldn’t talk to anyone. She knew she wouldn’t talk-
“Ms. Kranz, are you even listening?” He asked, irritated beyond relief. She froze.
“Y-Yes.”
“Alright, repeat what I said then. Or else this whole class is getting an F.”
She not only made a terror teacher mad, she was kicked out of the classroom on the note that she got the whole class an F for their December break homework. Fruh had other things on her mind though which helped pass time until the school bell snapped her back. It was lunch time if she could recall. She looked to see the teacher leave the classroom. He stopped to glare at her.
“Principal’s office, later. Ms. Kranz.” He says, then he left. Fruh watched him walk away, the students followed. Most stared at her, some simply passed her, then there was one who bumped into her really hard.
“Thanks a lot, Kranz. Pathetic shit.” The person said, Fruh watched the culprit walk off.
It was lunch time. Fruh decided that maybe a meal could help. She went through the motions of buying from the cafeteria lady when she looked for vacant spaces to eat people denied her.
“Sorry, this seat is taken.”
“Sorry, we’re waiting for a friend.”
“Sorry-“
She didn’t need to hear it a third time to get the memo. She walked over to a nearby wall looked at the cafeteria that was populated. Filled to the brim, yet she saw no familiar faces. She saw no one she recognized. She saw familiar cliques taking most of the seats, they all gathered together with their fellow talented or experienced members with no one to oppose them. If only she was talented enough to join one so she had a seat, she frowned when that reality settled in.
There was no use complaining, she thought. She’ll eat while standing. She stared at what she got on her tray. Fish and mashed potatoes, paired with some bea-
She finds her tray flipped and her food splattered on her clothing and self. The tray fell to the floor as she began to realize what happened. She looked at the nearest person who stared at her.
“Umm, are you ok-”
She grabbed the guy by the collar.
“You think it’s funny?! To mess with some stranger?!” Fruh shouted. The cafeteria grew silent.
“I-I-I-”
“You don’t know what I’m going through alright?!” Fruh shouted, “You’re not going to understand!”
“Ms. Kranz.” Says a third party, she froze when she recognized the voice. She turned to find a stern lady, standing by her was her teacher earlier.
“My office. Now.”
It was one thing to anger the angriest teacher in the staff, it was another issue altogether when she was grabbed someone by the collar and shouted at them. The latter already warranted her uncle being called, but the former wanted a meeting with the said uncle. A face to face meeting so that he could suggest to them on ‘how to punish their child for their incompetence in his class’.
Despite the efforts of the principal to calm the angered teacher, calling Fruh’s uncle to the school would satisfy the man. Her uncle did arrive, then ensued the half an hour of shouting and ranting in the principal’s office. The soiled Fruh sat outside all throughout, but she can hear him scream and shout. Most of the time it snapped her back from her thoughts.
It eventually stopped, and the teacher stormed out. Possibly with one fewer hairs on his head. Fruh watched him leave, but he then turned to her.
“You, useless foreigner! Show your country some pride for once! Have you no shame!”
He then left. She turned to look at the door where her uncle stood. A middle-aged man who sported a standard coat and had curly black hair, with a few strands of white hair mixed in. Standing by him was the principal.
“Forgive him mister Phillips. He is…of the volatile kind.” She said.
“I understand. Though, I have never seen a man so angry about such simple things.” He commented, he then looked to Fruh. He sighed. “And I never heard you grab a boy by the collar and shout at them.”
Fruh kept quiet, then she looked down. “Sorry uncle Arthur…” She muttered though she expected that he didn’t hear it. He reached out but stopped before he patted her shoulder. He pulled back his hand.
“…Come on.” He said, he walked ahead. “…Miss Grace allowed me to take you home.”
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