• Chapter 4

    I woke up, my head pounding and heart still throbbing. I didn’t feel like getting out of bed, but Naomi was glaring at me
    “I don’t care what you say, you’re going to classes!” She growled, glaring at me.
    “Do you take pride in making people angry at you, waking them up like this?” I mumbled, turning onto my stomach.
    “Yes! Now GET UP YOU BUM.” She yelled… Right in my ear. “No. I don’t wanna. Yasuo will be in some of my classes and I won’t live.”
    “You forced me too, just remember that.” Naomi growled as she grabbed my ankles. “Ahhh! What are you doing?!” I yelled, flailing, trying to get out of her grip.
    “You are sooo heavy.” She grunted as I fell off my bed onto the floor.
    “Ow! That HURTS.” I grimaced, rubbing my back. Oh, did I mention? I have HARD WOOD FLOORS. “Well then get up, get dressed. Or you’ll wake up in the middle of the hallway.” Naomi growled at me, throwing clothes at my face. I could tell by her eyes, and her strength, that she meant it.
    I looked at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a light blue tunic that had white swirling patterns scattered across it, and tight black pants (which were more like leggings) that went to my knees. My outfit matched amazingly well with my ear-length raven black hair. It brought out my eyes; witch could either be good or bad. My eyes weren’t normal; they were white like someone who’s blind. I was blind sometimes, others I couldn’t see colors, and sometimes my sight was perfect. My eyes were how people usually recognized me.
    I came out of what was left of my door and walked into the hallway. “We’re late!” Naomi said, grabbing my wrist and practically dragging me across the floor.
    Finally we came to the room Naomi was looking for and she opened the door and shoved me in. “Sorry to interrupt Tomo, we have a new student.” Naomi smiled.
    Tomo was a pretty good looking teacher. He had shaggy brown hair, a sparkling smile. His eyes were a sparkling brown and honey colored mix. He looked calm and loose, he was even wearing a baggy black shirt and jeans!
    “Better late then never. What’s your name?” She asked. His voice was probably enough to make a girl faint.
    “Nozomi.” I said quietly, feeling intimidated within his gaze.
    “And your skills are?”
    “Ice.”
    “And?” He inquired. You see, everyone had at least two talents, but I only had one.
    “That’s it.” I said apologetically. I heard some kids in the class snicker.
    Tomo walked over to two girls giggling and talking. He put his hands on the table, “Am I interrupting something girls?” They looked up at him, eyes wide. “That’s what I thought.” She stood up straight, addressing the whole class, “Now since you have been acting rudely…. Start a one page report on the topic of your choice.
    The class shuffled papers around and got to work on the reports. “I’m sorry about that Nozomi, they usually are great students. You can take a seat back there by Miki Subarashii, the girl with the blonde hair back there, she’ll explain some things to you. Alright?”
    I nodded quietly and headed back to sit by her. “Hello, you’re Miki Subarashii, right?”
    She looked up at me, “Yes, nice to meet you Nozomi. How are you doing today?”
    I laughed, “I got dragged out of bed, I’m not used to waking up so early. Those floors are hard!”
    Miki smiled, “I know how you feel, I’m relatively new here and waking up was sooo hard for me! My friend would jump on top of me, screaming bloody murder.” She laughed.
    “So what are your abilities?” I asked, watching Naomi talk to Tomo out of the corner of my eye.
    “Thunder and ground. Thunder is the hardest for me; I’m still not very good at it.” Miki shrugged, “But I’m trying, the teacher there is really nice.”
    “Yeah, I’ve pretty much perfected my ice, so I haven’t trained for a long time. I’ve never been at an academy before.” I said, nervous of what she would think. I saw Naomi nod to what Tomo was saying, and leave the room.
    Miki and I chatted about acadamy life until class was out.
    I started heading out the door, but Tomo motioned me over. “It seems like Miki likes you Nozomi, I’m glad you two like each other.” Umm OK? You’re not going to set me up with a bunch of people for friends, are you? I thought, slightly worried he would.
    “Yeah, she’s nice. She has a lot of interesting things to say.” I said, wondering why he called me over anyways.
    “So you don’t have a second ability, correct?” He asked. I nodded shyly. “Don’t be ashamed, a lot of people don’t get them until later. I would like to help you figure out which talent you have, if I may?” He offered.
    “Oh, sure. It could be really hard though, are you willing to bear with me?” I asked him; sure he would want to help anyways.
    “Of course. Whatever it takes, I believe you have amazing powers under your shell.” I blushed with embarrassment. My shell? How did he know that I hid myself away?
    “Shall we head off Kaibutsu?” He smiled, starting to leave. Stopped walking and gasped,
    How did he know my real name?





    Chapter 5


    I stepped out into a clearing in the forest I was in yesterday. Tomo smiled at me, I tried to smile back, but I just looked down. “Alright, what’s up? You haven’t been yourself since we left the classroom. If you have a problem with me, say it.” He said icily, leaning against a nearby tree. I looked down. “You said my real name, how did you know it?” “No. I said the name you told me, are you saying that’s not your real name?” She asked. I glared at him; I knew he knew it, why was he saying otherwise? “How do you know it?” I growled between clenched teeth. “Fine. I do know it, happy?” He tossed back. I folded my arms, he knew what that meant. “Alright, I’ll confess. You know my name means twin, correct?” I nodded at him, wondering how this relates to my name. “Well my twin knew your mother and you. He would always call me up, worried about you. He said you always were getting hurt.” Tomo looked up at the sky, remembering what had happened. “I would ask how, and he would tell me he had no idea, probably just got in some fights. He talked to you when you were little, and you told him the same thing you told me. You told him your name was Nozomi, hoping he would leave you alone. But he knew better, he livved under your apartment room, and he heard your name being screamed all the time. He said he never knew why, he just heard it. He would talk to me, asking me why such a beautiful little girl would be named monster.” I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, I remembered it all. The man living underneath us, the time he had asked me why I was crying. He asked me why I was always hurt. I never answered him, but I liked him a lot. He reminded me that not all people were bad. I would sit there some days, just watching him. I would fantasize that he was my daddy, that he loved me and played with me. But my mom found out where I was going off too, she hurt me, yelling. She would scream horrible names at me. “You think you’re too good for us, don’t you Kaibutsu? You think you can be part of this man’s family by wishing? Hah! I should kill you now Kaibutsu, you never appreciated me! I support you! For what? For you to want to live with another man?! You sicken me Kaibutsu! You would only bring shame to him like you do to me, you know that Kaibutsu?!” She would hold me against the wall, smacking me, beating me with anything handy. “When I first saw you, I thought it was you. He talked about you often, sent me pictures of some of the times he found you following him. He talked of you like you were his own child. When I would forget your name I would call you ‘the child with white eyes.’ He would always yell at me for that, he would call you Nozomi, the girl with hope.” Tomo smiled at me, making me cry harder. I slid onto my knees in the grass, holding my head in my hands. “One day he informed me you ran away.” He said quietly, seeming sad at the thought. “He said he looked everywhere for you, that was the day he was going to finally talk to you. He said that he wanted to take you with him, to a place where you were going to be OK. Where you didn’t have to worry anymore. He looked everywhere for you, he even asked your mom. He traveled around after that. But he was watching for you everywhere he went, he said he would find you one day.” Tomo had tears in his eyes, talking about his brother, but why? “Did my brother ever find you?” he whispered. I looked up a Tomo, he was just a boy just missing his brother. He just happened to be a teacher, that wasn’t who he really was. I smiled through my tears. “He saved my life.” I whispered. “I was being chased by dogs, and before Yasuo saved me, your brother gave his life to save mine. He was a noble man.” I looked up at him, and he was smile as well. “I’m glad he died the way he did. He didn’t have long to live anyways. I’m glad he gave it for you.”
    Just then I heard someone stepping through the bushed, who was coming?


    Name Translations:

    Kaibutsu Nozomi
    Monster Hope

    Yasuo Hiroshi
    Peaceful one Generous

    Raidon
    Thunder god

    Naomi Cho
    Beauty Butterfly

    Tomo
    A twin

    Miki Subarashii
    Tree excellent