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Spring, 2188 – One year before the Gamilon War began

Shiori scribbled one more thing in her notebook. Her classmates milled around the room, talking with their friends or finishing up assignments due that day.

She thumbed through the notebook. Five more days. She tapped the date written at the top of the page, April 14th.

"What're you doing?" Saito Knox, her long-time friend, now a third year, pulled a chair beside her desk and sat in it backwards, arms propped on the back of the chair.

"Nothing. Just something for after school." She shut the notebook and slipped it into her bag.

"You have a good time with Tanaka last night?" said Saito.

"I guess…" Shiori took out her notes for her first class and pretended to peruse them. Why is it weird to talk about my botched date with him?

The teacher walked in, and Saito replaced the chair. "See you later."

"Bye." Shiori gave him a short wave before everyone prepared for roll-taking.

The teacher started to call names. "Akira."

"Here."

Shiori tucked her notes away, and her fingers brushed the first notebook – the one with notes in it about this coming Saturday – Saito's nineteenth birthday.

"Enamoto."

"Here."

Does he want anything? Shiori traced a faint scratch on her desk. Yeah, to get into that new military program.

The teacher called a list of others – all present – as Shiori stared at the door.

Saito's been working so hard the past few years. She propped her chin on one hand. I guess being a third year is hard. I know I'm not looking forward to it.

"Lee."

"Here."

I hope I can find something else he'll like… It's not as if I can get him into the Space Marines – or whatever they're calling that new group.

"Matsuhiro."

"Here."

She fiddled with her ponytail, pulling the hair band a little tighter as a few strands escaped.

"Nagakura."

What if he doesn't like what I get him? No, he's too polite to say anything.

"Nagakura?"

Maybe I can get his vintage uniforms boxed up – so he can display them.

"Nagakura?"

The girl behind Shiori poked her. "Sensei's calling your name," she whispered.

"Oh! Here." Shiori blushed a little. Great… Second week of school, and I've already made a fool of myself.

After classes ended, Shiori rushed to the dance club building to change, but before she left the girls' changing area, she checked the mirror. Good. It's still covered. Her hand hovered over the little spot just below the left corner of her mouth. The dark spot had caused her grief all through her younger years. Boys and girls alike teased her – called her Spot or asked about her witch mole. When she reached junior high school and changed schools, she started covering it up. No one even knew she had it – except maybe Saito.

She rushed to the wrestling club gym and found Saito already dressed and just starting his weight routine in the small training area set to the side of a roped off practice ring in the middle of the room. No showers in the back.

Saito sat on one of five weight benches, curling a ridiculously heavy dumbbell with one arm.

Shiori shook her head. Boys… She stretched and then sat on the next bench and set up her own weights – nowhere near what Saito could lift, but more than several of the wrestling club could handle. She flagged one of the team over and asked him to spot her while she did a few sets on the barbell.

The young man looked at her and Saito curiously. "You're not part of the wrestling club," he said.

"Nope." Shiori set her hands on the bar grips to make sure her handle on it was sound. "We just work out here after school."

"But isn't there a bigger weight room in the main gym?"

"Sure," said Shiori as she got ready to lift the bar off its supports. "But we'd have to deal with the meatheads who hang out over there." She took the full weight of the loaded bar and started her bench press routine. She finished her set and notched the bar. "The wrestling club coach and captain said we could come here whenever we want as long as we don't get in the way too much. Saito spars with the team sometimes. Says it keeps everyone on their toes."

The kid gave Saito a look of trepidation. "H-him?"

"Yep." Shiori took a few deep breaths before starting her second set. "Wanna do a few rounds with him? I'm sure he wouldn't mind. He always likes good competition."

"No. No, I'm fine." The kid stood as far away from Saito's bench as he could without getting too far from Shiori.

"Okay." She finished her third set. "Thanks for spotting. I'll let you get back to your practice."

"Yeah. O-okay." He hurried off to the far side of the room and pretended to be interested in a bulletin board tacked up with colorful notices, but he kept stealing glances back at Saito.

Shiori waited until the kid was far enough away not to hear her and then burst out laughing.

"What?" Saito set down his dumbbell. "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing." She grinned. "Nothing at all."

After her workout session with Saito, Shiori made it halfway to the girls' showers in the dance club building before she realized. Great. Forgot my water bottle. She headed back to the training room, walked in and stopped.

Right next to the practice ring – three feet from her water bottle – stood Tanaka, her date from the night before. He was talking with one of the second years.

Maybe he won't see me. She sneaked over to her water bottle and snatched it, trying to keep her face turned away from him the whole time, but the second she touched the bottle…

"Hey, Nagakura."

"Hey…" She reluctantly looked up at Tanaka.

"What're you doing here?" said Tanaka, his usual, self-assured grin firmly in place.

"I just forgot my water." She held up the green and orange bottle and started back toward the showers, face a little red.

"Since when are you part of the wrestling club?" said Tanaka before she took two steps.

"I'm not." She stopped. "Saito likes to train with them, so I usually come along too. We've trained together for years."

Tanaka rolled his eyes. "Right. Knox and his Marines stuff. Doesn't he ever get tired of that?"

Annoyance rose in Shiori's throat. "At least he has a goal."

Tanaka laughed. "Yeah. Some goal. 'I wanna go out and get shot at,'" he mocked.

"It's better than sitting around doing nothing in an office all day," she snapped.

Tanaka snorted. "Whatever. You coming to Dad's retirement party with me this weekend?"

Shiori sighed. "I guess."

"All right. See you later."

Shiori took her chance to escape.

Shiori unlocked her family's apartment door and stepped inside. She slipped off her shoes and tucked them into the shoe cubby by the door. She donned a pair of house slippers instead and tromped to her room as she flipped through her comm calendar. She muttered as she looked.

Then instant her door shut, she pulled out her notebook from this morning – the one with details in it about Saturday, and Saito's birthday.

"Tanaka's party is at ten, so…" She thumbed through another page or two of notes. "Maybe it'll be over by two." She wrote something else in the book, then dialed Ako, her long-time friend who'd gotten into another high school in the next town over.

Ako answered on the second ring. "Shiori-chan! How was that date?"

Shiori groaned. "I don't want to talk about it."

"That bad?"

"Don't get me started. The worst part is he thinks it was great."

Ako huffed. "Boys."

"Tell me about it. So, Ako-chan, what're you doing this weekend?"

"This weekend? As in five days from now? I don't know. Why?"

"Does your brother still work for the recruiting office?"

"Yeah. He's still there – does something in the data center. Why?"

Shiori tapped her chin. "Does he get to talk to anybody who sees the applications?"

"Don't know. I'll have to ask. Why do you want to know?"

"I'll tell you later, Ako-chan. Talk Wednesday?"

"O… kay. You're still weird, Shiori-chan." Ako hung up.

Shiori scribbled in her notebook again before popping into the kitchen for some food and then settling back into her room to work on her personal experience essay, due next week. Her parents weren't home yet, and probably wouldn't be for some time. That gave her plenty of opportunity to work in peace.

Tuesday morning, Shiori was almost to her classroom when Tanaka hurried to catch up with her. By the time she knew it was him, it was too late to pick up the pace and lose him.

"Hey!" Tanaka shouldered his backpack a little higher. "Wanna come with me and the guys down to the café after school? I hear they just put that great triple-espresso shot back on the menu. Wanna go chug a couple a those?"

"No, thanks." Shiori pretended to check her books to make sure she had everything for classes. "I've got to meet Saito for a training session."

"Why don't you just let Knox work out by himself? He's got plenty of time to train for that stupid Academy spot. Dude's a rock already anyway. Come on. It'll be fun. We can go burn off that espresso running around town – maybe check out that new car showroom downtown. They've even got a simulator set up," Tanaka said. "Never tested out one of those fancy sports cars before. Wonder how fast they are."

Shiori gritted her teeth. "I said, no, thanks."

Tanaka rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Be sure to wear that red dress my mom bought you to Dad's party. Everyone will be wearing red because –"

"– your dad's company colors are red and silver. Yes, I know." You only said that fifty times during our date.

"Good. See you after school."

"I said, I'm not g –"

Tanaka walked away.

Shiori growled at him and bristled as Tanaka joined his buddies at the other end of the hall. What a group of numbskulls! At least they're in the other class instead of mine.

Shiori walked into the classroom a little earlier than usual and pulled out her notebook for the coming weekend. She flipped it open to the beginning of her scribbles about Saito's birthday, but just as she got to page two, a chair scraped close to her desk.

"Hey." Saito sat.

Shiori shut the book, startled. "Saito! Sorry. I didn't see you."

Saito grinned and waved off her outburst. "Got my application in for the new Space Marines division."

"That's great! When will you hear back?"

"Couple months." Saito was obviously a bit disappointed at that, but not discouraged. "How's your essay coming – that one you told me about? Isn't it due next week?"

Shiori sighed. "Yes… and I just can't get it to cooperate. I've written it five times. Five." She held up an open hand. "But it just isn't right."

Saito nodded. "You'll get it. You always do." He stood and put the chair back. "Got to get to class. See you later."

Shiori waved as he left.

Shiori changed into her training clothes and headed for the wrestling club building. Halfway there she hid a frustrated groan.

"Where you goin'?" Tanaka stood in her way, looking perturbed. "Why aren't you dressed to go downtown? What are you wearing?" He poked her bare arm. "Hurry up. The car show starts in an hour. I wanna get there when it opens, otherwise we won't get a turn in the simulator."

Shiori took a stern stance. "I told you I wasn't going."

"No, you didn't."

"Yes, I did. Now get out of my way." Shiori shouldered past Tanaka, brushing her face hard on her own shoulder in the process.

"Going to sweat with that muscle-bound maniac, aren't you?" Tanaka said.

Shiori bristled, whipped around and snapped, "He's not a maniac, Tanaka. He's my friend. And a better one than you."

Tanaka pointed at her face. "Whatever. Don't forget to wear that red dress this weekend." Tanaka left without a backward glance.

She rushed to the training session a minute or two late.

Saito looked up as she entered. "You okay? You're steaming worse than fresh rice."

"Fine," Shiori put her bag and water bottle down.

"You look good without the makeup, by the way." Saito picked a dumbbell and hefted it.

"Hmm?" Shiori sat on the adjacent bench. "What do you…?" My shoulder hit my face. She scrambled to get out her compact mirror. Oh no… Her mole stood out more prominently than ever, and makeup smudged her work-out tank sleeve. She took out the concealer she brought everywhere.

"You look fine." Saito set his weight down.

"But –"

"It fits you, Shiori-chan. Stop worrying about what other people think."

Reluctantly, she put the concealer back in her bag. All through the session, she expected someone to walk by and whisper about her mark. But no one even seemed to notice.

Wednesday morning Shiori called Ako. "Find out anything yet?"

"Yeah. Koichi can get in touch with someone. Turns out he's friends with one of the vetters. Why? You thinking of joining the military?"

"No. I'm asking for a friend."

"It's Saito, isn't it? I'll send you my brother's contact info. You can work this out yourself. I already owe my brother way too many favors."

"Thanks, Ako-chan." Shiori waited a second after the call disconnected to make sure the info came through. She glanced through it once and filed it away for later. She applied her usual makeup, but as she held the concealer over her mole, she stopped. Maybe I'll leave it off. Just today. She slipped the concealer into her bag, just in case, and went downstairs. She slipped on her shoes and headed out the door to school.

That night, after a long day of avoiding Tanaka, and no negative comments on her face, Shiori pulled out all five versions of her personal experience essay and read them through three times.

None of these say what I want them to. She smacked an open palm on each paper, going down the line from nearest to farthest, like she was ringing a line of buzzers. "Why is it so hard to say what I mean?" She got up and paced the small bedroom, hands folded at the small of her back.

The reminder on her comm chirped. She took a few deep, calming breaths as she stood beside the window looking out on the lamp-lit city and called Ako's brother. "Good evening, Koichi-san," she said. "I'm Ako-chan's friend, Nagakura Shiori."

"Oh, Nagakura. Ako-chan talks about you all the time sill. You must be a … second year?"

"First year," she said. "I just turned sixteen. Ako-chan's almost a year older than me."

"That's right. What brings you to me? I know you didn't call to gab about high school."

Shiori hesitated. Just say it! "Ako-chan says you know someone in the recruitment office."

"Yes. And?"

"You know that new unit… the Space Marines?"

"Don't tell me you want in on that. It's just going to be a bunch of meatheads pounding hulls in EV suits…"

"No. It's not for me. I have this friend – he really wants to get into that program. He's been training for years. Ever since he was little, he's wanted to be a Marine, and when they announced the new program, he wouldn't stop talking about it. He already finished the application, but his birthday's this Saturday, and I really hoped he could hear back by then –" her words tumbled out like clothes stuffed into a too-small closet.

"Okay. Okay. I'll see what I can do," said Koichi.

"Y-you will?"

"Yeah, sure. That program's gonna need enthusiastic people. Might as well point recruitment in the direction of one. Good for administration – lets them see something they did work for once."

"Thank you – thank you – thank you, Koichi-san! I'll gratefully repay this debt as soon as I can."

"Don't mention it, Nagakura."

The call ended, and Shiori jumped two feet in the air. "Yes!"

"Missed a great show the other day." Tanaka came up behind Shiori and put a hand on her shoulder. She swiped it off.

"I'm glad you and your friends enjoyed yourselves."

"Wanna grab a burger after school?"

"A burger? Really? You know I can't stomach all that grease." Shiori started toward her classroom.

"Just one's not gonna hurt you." He followed her.

"I said no." She stopped and turned on him, eyes fiery. "Get to your own class, or you'll be late."

"Whatever." Tanaka started to his own classroom. "See you after school."

Shiori's patience stretched tighter than piano wire, but not nearly as strong. She bit her tongue so as not to scream out her frustration in the halls. When Tanaka was out of sight, she went into her own class, a little angry cloud floating above her head.

"What's got you steamed?" Saito sat beside her.

"Tanaka's a block-head."

Saito laughed, a deep, rumbling like a giant cat's purr. "Yup. He is."

"And he won't leave me alone." She frowned and dug her nails into the desk. "I wish I could clobber him right in the hall." She growled. "But I'm not getting in trouble for him. He's not worth it. "

Saito nodded and put his chair back. "Try to enjoy your day."

Shiori ducked Tanaka after school. He popped into the wrestling club a little later but left quickly when he caught Saito staring at him.

Shiori noted the exchange and smirked.

That night, after another day with no concealer, and no remarks about it, Shiori sat with her essay again and started a new version, this time on the computer.

The first beginning was fine, the middle a bit boring, but workable, but the end… She groaned and erased the entire thing.

The second attempt went much the same. Horribly.

On the third attempt, she was ready to throw the tablet computer and holographic keyboard out the window.

"Why won't you cooperate?" she said into a small mirror mounted on the wall near her desk. "Why won't you just say what you need to say and be done with it?" Her mole stared back at her. She touched it, remembering Saito's words at the club. "Stop worrying about what other people think."

But nothing helped her get a better grip on how to word her essay – or what to put in it – and she went to bed with a headache.

Friday classes flew by, and after school Shiori headed for the dance club building as usual. Nearly three quarters of the way there, Tanaka jogged up beside her.

"Hey. Where you headed? Wanna get some coffee? Or – I know a good sushi place. What about that?"

"No, Tanaka." Shiori stopped. Tanaka skidded to a halt a few steps ahead and faced her. That was when the piano wire snapped. "Stop pestering me. Our date last week was awful – the most horrendous experience I've ever had. You took me to a carnival and never asked me if I wanted to do anything or go anywhere specific. You just dragged me from booth to booth stuffing your face with anything you saw. And then you dragged me to a movie I hate and didn't even notice when I spent half of it in the bathroom puking up those disgusting friend tofu balls you forced me to eat. Get over yourself, Tanaka!" She set her bookbag down near the edge of the sidewalk and perched both hands on hips. She gave Tanaka her most frightening glare.

"Hey, not my fault you have a weak stomach," he said.

"That isn't the – If you can't think about anyone besides yourself, you don't need to pretend you do."

"Who's pretending? You'll be over this misunderstanding tomorrow at Dad's party. It's going to be so great. We've got –"

"I don't like you, and I'm not going to your stupid party!" Shiori started to grab her bag and move past Tanaka.

"But you said –" he grabbed her arm as she passed him.

Shiori slung her bag away and cut Tanaka off with a good punch. She flipped him on his stomach and sat on him, twisting his arms back as he yelped.

"I said, I'm. Not. Going. And don't you ever touch me again. Are those words small enough for you?"

Tanaka nodded furiously, eyes wet with tears of agony.

Shiori let him up and a rush of triumph surged through her. I did it… I said what I wanted to say.

Saito appeared next to her. "That's one way to get him off your case."

Shiori dusted off her hands as Tanaka ran back to the school building like a terrified bunny. "I don't think he'll bother me again."

Saito laughed. "Not after that."

That night, Shiori's comm chimed.

A message from Koichi, "Recruitment will call your friend tomorrow afternoon."

Electric excitement buzzed through her, and as she tucked into bed, it was no use trying to sleep.

"Shiori?" Saito opened his family's apartment door. "What are you doing here? It's Saturday. And why the nice dress?"

Shiori smoothed the red dress' skirt and extended a small, wrapped box. "Happy birthday."

"Mom and Dad are at work, but come in." Saito waited for her to enter before he accepted the gift.

"Go on. Open it."

Saito popped one side of the paper and peeled off the rest with a loud crackle. He opened the box lid to find an old lapel pin with the Marines' emblem on it. "Thank you!" He carefully placed it back in the box and closed the lid. "But I haven't heard anything from the recruitment office y –" His comm buzzed. He checked the caller info and immediately picked up. "Hello? Yes, this is Knox." His eyes brightened like a child on Christmas morning. "Yes! Yes, sir! As soon as the school year ends. I'll be there." The call ended, and Saito stood still as a post for five shocked seconds. "They – they accepted me…"

"Of course, they did," said Shiori.

Saito closed her in a huge bear hug. "I know you did this somehow. Thank you."

She pulled back and gave him a sheepish grin. "Don't mention it."

"You still look a whole lot better without that makeup." He tapped her mole.

She swatted his hand. "Whatever."

Monday came, and Shiori passed in her essay, finished Saturday night. As the week's teacher's aide collected the rest of the papers and took them up front, the last line of her essay made her smile.

"When you don't know how to start, don't wait for inspiration. Go find it."

Author's Note:

It's hard to believe this is the last entry for this collection. It was great to get to work with Nagakura since I haven't really done a whole lot with her outside of a few chapters of "Fortress of Evil."

Well, hope everyone enjoyed this collection, including its two contest-winning selections, "Plan," and "Home." If you haven't had a chance to check them out, feel free to hop on over to either of them - or any other entry in the collection, for that matter.

Next post we'll head back to "Seeker's Prayer" and find out a bit more about Dara and her search for her missing daughter, Princess Mariposa.

Until then, happy reading and writing,

dtill359