[b][i]Eaglecrest High - 4:30 PM[/i][/b]

"A-Akiko-senpai, here is the monthly expenditure..."

Akiko looked up from her desk at the Student Council's new treasurer.

[b]"Ah, yes."[/b] She said, [b]"Thank you."[/b]

She took the sheet from the nervous girl's hands and gave it a quick once-over. She was a new transfer student at Eaglecrest, she had come from Japan just like Akiko had. There were many Japanese students in Eaglecrest, even though it was technically an American school. The new transfer student was incredibly nervous, which was somewhat understandable, but she had gotten the position of Student Council Treasurer by herself which said something of her abilities.

[b]"This report is good,"[/b] She said, handing the paper back to the girl. [b]"You're doing fine you know,"[/b] She added, [b]"You don't have to keep asking me about each report."[/b]

"A-ah, yes Akiko-senpai..." The girl said as she turned away

[b]"Oh, one last thing, Reiko-san,"[/b] Akiko said, the girl's name suddenly coming to her mind, [b]"Just call me Akiko."[/b]

The girl nodded and gave some kind of weak acknowledgement before turning away and leaving the room. Akiko was the oly one left in the room now, and immediately, the smile faded from her face.

[i]People change so easily.[/i] She thought. [i]Well, it doesn't really matter does it?[/i]

She'd watched people enough to learn their patterns, how they tended to react, common strengths and weaknesses. Not out of any specific desire to read people, but simply because there was nothing else to do. But now she knew the limits, and she'd grown bored yet again. She looked down at her watch.

[i]The car should be here now.[/i] She thought, [i]I should go.[/i]
[h2][/h2]
[b][i]Kozue residence, Akiko's room - 5:00 PM[/i][/b]

Akiko lay back in her bed, idly staring into space. Her mother wasn't home yet, the maids always left her alone...

She sighed. [i]Why is there never anything to do?[/i]

She looked over to her bedside table, an old carefully folded note and a gleaming golden revolver lay on it; inherited from her father. She took the note and read it again. More for old time's sake than anything, she'd read it more than enough. He had died so many years ago, leaving her and her mother confused and bewildered...

[i]I still don't understand...[/i]

Putting the note back onto the table, she instead picked up the golden revolver, the only other thing her father had left for her. She ran her hands over the cool, lustrous metal of the gun, savouring the cold feeling on her skin. It was oddly comforting, even with its history.

Her father had taken his life with this revolver, and if what the note said was true, so had his father, and a few more fathers beyond that. It wasn't as if the gun was cursed, but...

She sighed again. [i]Thinking like that isn't going to help.[/i]

She turned onto her side, removing her glasses and reaching out to put them on the table in front of her. Then she curled up where she lay, and closed her eyes; revolver still in her hands.