The Waking Read Online Free

gakuran uniforms, a military-influenced style, for boys. Perhaps the nearness to the ports of Miyazu City helped explain the embrace of the naval dress. Not that Kara minded. The fuku might be itchy, but she thought the uniforms were really cute.
    More than half of the students came from the Miyazu Bay area, and rode bicycles or took the train and then walked from the station. But Monju-no-Chie School had earned an excellent reputation, and privileged families from all over Kyoto Prefecture sent their children to live there. Boarding students resided in a second building located across a grassy sports field behind the main school.
    Her father had given her the choice as to whether she would live with him in the small house the school had provided or in the dormitory with the boarding students. Maybe next year, if this grand experiment of theirs worked, she’d live in the dorm. But for now, she wanted to begin and end each day with her dad. Besides, she’d have a lot more in common with the students who came by train and bicycle than with the privileged kids who lived at the dorm.
    Who are you kidding? You don’t have anything in common with any of them.
    Kara hurried up the front steps, merging with the flow of students. Sakura had already vanished inside the school, and though many of the boys and girls snuck glances at her, none of them seemed ready for conversation. Once again, she was on her own.
    Just inside the door, a group of girls clustered around, sneaking shy smiles behind upraised hands, whispering to one another. Kara would have thought their gossip was about her, were it not for the immediate reaction they had to her passing. Most of the Japanese students were far too respectful to outright stare at her, but not these girls. They appraised her frankly, and the tallest girl—her shoulder-length hair veiling one side of her face—cast a dubious glance at her. She turned to her fawning friends and rattled off a snide comment.
    “Look at the bonsai,” the girl said. “Cut away and moved far from home. No roots at all. How long before she withers?”
    The girls began to laugh, and Kara overheard the tall one’s name—Ume.
    She tried to breathe evenly, told herself to keep walking. How many times had her father reminded her how important this first day would be? She had studied local customs, understood that propriety ruled here. But this Ume girl had insulted her, and letting it pass would only make things worse in the future.
    Kara turned on her heel and strode directly up to the girl, who must have been a senpai —a senior. Ume had either assumed Kara couldn’t speak the language very well or didn’t care that she’d been overheard. She looked down quizzically.
    “Though she is cut away from where she grew, this bonsai is healthy and strong. She will survive, as long as she can keep her roots from being choked by weeds.”
    As soon as she had begun speaking, the girls had fallen silent and looked at her in surprise. Kara’s Japanese was not flawless, but her father had been teaching her the language almost since she began to speak.
    “ Oo jyozudesune ,” Ume replied.
    Skillful , a comment on her command of the language. She’d heard it a lot and understood that, though it might be a compliment, an element of condescension went along with it.
    Kara bowed her head slightly. At home she’d have called the girl a bitch. But this wasn’t home.
    “Grow tall, bonsai,” Ume said.
    Despite her earlier rudeness, she had abruptly become the most respectful, pleasant, and welcoming face that Kara had yet encountered.
    “Have you chosen a school club yet?”
    “Not yet,” Kara said.
    “If you like soccer, you would be welcome in our club.”
    The other girls looked surprised, even irked. As the other students continued to stream in through the main doors and gather in the corridor, Kara smiled thinly.
    “I don’t have the talent for the game. But I will cheer when you play.”
    Kara took a deep