継続は力なり

Another day of torture was upon the naïve foreigner.. As she turned to walk into her classroom, she looked to see writing scrawled onto the board at the front of the room.

'What the hell is that written across there..?', the foreign girl thought to herself. She took a couple steps forward to discern what it could mean.

"Maa.. How terrible, ne~?", one of the girls standing near the board spoke; Amelie knew the voice all too well.. It was the bitch-squad's captain, Emi.

"To think that someone our age could have done such things... I guess where she's from, it's just different, ne~?", Kairi added with a tinge of sarcasm.

"I know~", came the reply from the tallest girl as she spun around to see Amelie's confused face. "Oh? Well look who it is~"

"...What... does that say...?", Amelie asked, squinting as hard as she could in futile attempt to read the characters.

"Oh~? You still can't read most kanji, ne~? Shall one of us read it out loud for you then, gaijin~?", the bitch captain asked the short blonde.

"...I guess...", Amelie muttered with a sigh.

"I'll do it then!", she shouted, spinning around to face the board. "Murrei-san, the gaijin transfer student is an ugly, dirty slut. She has had five abortions since the age of fourteen!", the captain said with a gasp of mock shock and disbelief. The other students in the class were divided with gasps of disgust and snickers; No one felt sorry for the girl...

Amelie's eyes widened, "NO WAY!! THAT'S A LIE!!!", she spat out furiously. "WHO WROTE THAT?!"

Of course, no one answered to her demand.

"Shit...", Amelie cursed under her breath as she grabbed an eraser and started wiping the board clear of the slander; the bitch squad looked on as she did.

"Surprising, isn't it?", Emi spoke first. Amelie stopped erasing for a split second, but continued on until there was no sign of the hurtful characters.

"You should be thankful for that, gaijin~ At least now all the boys know to stay away from you~", Kairi said with a smug grin and crossed her arms. Amelie turned to retort to the words, but was cut off by the last girl; the brawn of the operation:

"Not that any of them were interested, anyway~", she said with a giggle. The three girls laughed condescendingly as the blonde foreigner returned to her desk, cursing under her breath.

"Shut up... You wouldn't last five minutes in an American school...", she fumed and looked up at the three. "And who the hell said I was interested in some guy anyways?! I'm still a virgin, you know!"

Not the best thing to yell out in Japanese at that moment...

"Oh? Well, that's not what they're saying around the school~", Emi announced, bringing her hand up to her mouth and laughing loudly. Amelie had to think for a moment what she was talking about.

"Eh?! What do you mean by that?!"

Ayane, the tallest one brought out her cell phone to show the foreigner a picture of the blackboard writing.

"Everyone has seen it by now.", she said with a smirk. "Even Yasu-senpai~"

Amelie stared at the writing in disbelief. How someone could do that to anyone, was beyond her.

"So... cruel...", her voice wavered as though tears could escape her eyes at any moment.

"Consider your reputation... Trashed~ Just like your desk~", Kairi sang out with a giggle.

"You had your chance to get out. You're getting exactly what you deserve, gaijin!", the smallest one spat out with a death glare.

"I said... I wasn't leaving.", she replied lowly, crossing her arms. "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, after all."

"I see...", Ayane muttered, then smirked so evilly that the American girl felt shivers run up her spine. "This isn't the end, after all.."

"Bring it on...", she spat, furiously and glared at the three. She had nothing to lose... And she sure as hell wasn't going to turn tail and back away from something like this.

"How fun....", Emi spoke, a grin slid across her face; An evil grin to match Ayane's.

"Then we should step up a bit, ne? Aya-chan~? Emi-chan~?", Kairi suggested with a flip of her loose ringlet curls.

"Of course~"

Amelie couldn't help what flew out of her mouth at that moment; It was starting to get too much to bear for the foreigner.

"... Ugly faces, you all hide behind such perfect masks, don't you~?", she said with as menacing a look as she could muster up.

"You'd better watch your mouth, gaijin~"

"Get to your seat, Nihonjin. Hurry, ne? After all, a gaijin can't concentrate on studying and listening to your gums flap at the same time~", the girl taunted to the three.

"Oh, really?", Emi got up at once and stalked over to Amelie's bag, snatching it from it's resting place and dumping the entire thing out the window. The other two looked on in satisfaction, waiting for the poor girl's reaction.

"The hell did you do that for?!", the American girl cried out. Her wallet, her cell phone, and everything else of value was in it. Her text books.... She immediately shot out of her seat and ran out the door, cursing in her native language.

"That's not all I have in store for the gaijin~", Emi revealed, proudly and waltzed off to her rightful desk.

"Interesting~ Mind letting us know about it, then~?", Kairi said with a giggle.

"Of course~", Emi drew out a beat-up looking cell phone from her blazer pocket and smirked victoriously.

Just then, the door of the classroom opened and their teacher, the man in his early thirties walked in, doing a preliminary head count. "...Seems that one is missing... Murrei-san, I think....", he said with a sigh. He looked at the desk, hoping that he was wrong; He had seen the girl just then, running off toward the school courtyard....

"And so close to time for class... I don't think they take school very seriously overseas, Sensei~", Kairi sang out. The older man sighed once more.

"I suppose she is the only one that will suffer then...", the instructor muttered under his breath as he walked up to the front of the classroom.

-

It had been a few days since the last, and most devious blow to the girl's reputation. She had been walking deep in thought, wandering around aimlessly and trying to make sense of what was starting to happen at school.

"I thought it was bad when they were bullying me... Now they're ignoring me..? What the hell am I supposed to do about that?!"

"This is so unfair...", she said with a sigh. A familiar figure was gazing up at a billboard advertisement, and she knew exactly who it would be... Well, she hoped.

"At least he shouldn't ignore me...", Amelie said, then began waving her hand. "Oi! Yasu-san!!"

No reply.... Her heart sank.

"Are you okay?", she spoke softly, trying not to startle him. One good look at the model on the advertisement spoke a thousand words to Amelie. She drew closer to the man, but his eyes stayed where they were.

"Rei-san is really amazing, isn't she?", she asked with a smile.

"Oh... Sorry, I was a little lost in thought...", the blond man murmured. He didn't take his attention away from the sign, and it pushed Amelie to tell him the information that she had been looking up for him.

"It's fine... um.... ... seven.. hours... Tokyo is seven hours ahead.. I think..", she looked up at the nearly six foot man, hoping that he might just glance down at her.

Even that much would have made her happy.

"I see... Thank you...", he said with a bow, and turned his attention back to the lovely wavy-haired beauty on the huge poster.

"You admire her, don't you?", Amelie asked. The male nodded slowly, and drew out three words:

"In a way..."

"'In a way'..? Never mind... my... little brother said that she goes to our school. I haven't seen her yet, though...", Amelie spoke, running her hands through the length of her waist-long blonde hair.

"She's starting a bit late... Right now... She's in Paris.", Yasu sighed, reaching out for the magnificent beauty in the poster.

"I see...", Amelie choked on her words. "That's why you asked about the time difference, isn't it, Yasu..?"

"You... admire Rei-chan also, don't you?", he questioned, dodging the uncomfortable query. Amelie nodded and smiled. "She's always been... So popular...", Yasu said with another sigh. An uncomfortable silence fell between the two.

"... I should go home. Dad and Take-chan are probably worried as is...", the girl mumbled. Her feet stayed where they were; She couldn't just leave him, she didn't want to...

"I... should go also...", Yasu spoke quickly, drawing his hand away from the poster.

"See you tomorrow then, right..?", Amelie asked, but didn't wait for an answer. She traipsed off with her schoolbag in tow, and her head down.

"... Tomorrow...", the male said, longingly. He stared at the picture one last time before departing the opposite way.

-