(Outdated) The King of Elements

The Abnormal Girl and the Mysterious Orphan

"Hey there, Megumi-san. How's it going?" McManus asked from behind the desk as Megumi stepped inside of the office. As a whole, the office didn't look at all different. The dozens of sports trophies were still displayed on three cabinets mounted on the wall behind the short end of the L-shaped desk. "Things going ok between you and Dre?"

"With Dre, yeah. His whore, not so much."

"His whore?"

"Yeah. That Samantha woman." Her anger intensified at the mention of that name. "Have you seen how Dre looks today? I know he can't be comfortable with that hot shirt on."

"Yeah, I guess Dre forgot to tell you about her. Honestly, I don't like her just as much as you do. I had the-" he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he cleared his throat, "misfortune to meet her and her parents when I was in the police department. Can't really say I'm surprised that they raised a bit- um... well, you know how she is."

Megumi nodded, then had the sudden realization of why she came into the office in the first place. "Oh, I wasn't able to find my classes yesterday. Is it ok if you show me to the other classrooms?"

"Sorry, Miss Megumi, but thanks to Dixon's attack, I'm up to my neck in paperwork." Kind of hard to tell with the empty desk standing between them. "Tell you what though, I'll write an excuse for you and Dre to skip swim class so he can show you around. Sounds good?"

Megumi nodded. "What ever happened to Principal Dixon, anyway?" she asked as McManus began writing on a thin sheet of paper.

"Oh, he got canned. Or, at least he's getting canned. Putting his hands on a student was the last straw. So now, I'm the interim principal for God knows how long." He ripped the first slip of paper off of a small, spiraled-ring notebook and began writing on the next sheet. "Because fixing all of Dixon's screw-ups is definitely what I want to do when I grow up." He grunted in disgust as he ripped off the second piece of paper. "You remember how to get to the pool, right?"

Megumi nodded as she took the slips of paper. "I'm going to head to the bathroom and brush my teeth first."

"Okay by me. Just make sure that you pay attention to Dre and junk. Now, go on ahead. Your future husband is waiting for you."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."

Megumi walked down the large brown corridor with an Arkansas flag and an American flag draped down the walls. She ran her fingers on the walls. It was oddly bumpy to the touch, as if it was painted over tacks. It was 7:55, so if what McManus told her yesterday, there shouldn't be any students inside. Great, because Megumi did not feel like talking to anybody right about now. She still wanted to strangle the green out of Samantha's eyes. She passed by two porcelain water fountains with pieces of gum stuck on the faucets and made her way into the girl's bathroom. She made a mental note to herself to bring her own water bottle.

Aside from the marker graffiti here and there on the walls and mirrors, it was relatively clean. The brick, off-white walls actually looked like it had been repainted recently. Megumi dared not to look in the stalls. If it was anything like she heard from TV, she'd rather not risk her appetite. Or sanity.

"Oh! Hey Megumi!" a familiar face called by the sinks. Keiko was sitting on the edge of the sink on Megumi's far left, her short legs dangling freely above the floor.

"Hey, Keiko." Megumi walked to the sink beside her and pulled out an unopened tube of toothpaste and a pink toothbrush in the shape of an anime cat with large, blue eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting in here until Michael shows up. Since no one is supposed to be in the school until the bell rings, I sneak in to hide from everyone else."

"No, I mean, shouldn't you be in elementary school?"

A small grin appeared on Keiko's face as she quickly shook her head. "I'm eighteen."

Megumi felt a small sense of pride knowing that she was taller than someone who was just as old as her. A thought crossed her mind, making her stop brushing her teeth. "Hey. Is Michael, like, your boyfriend or something?" she asked, slightly repulsed at the idea of someone looking so old to go out with someone who looked like a child.

Keiko began laughing uncontrollably as she swung her feet wildly under her. "Michael is my adopted brother." Megumi let out a small breath of relief as she began brushing her teeth again. "We actually met about mmm... five years ago in a forest. I had woken up from a nap and the first thing that I saw was a new friend napping beside me. So I used my fox magic to wake him up." As quickly as she finished the sentence, she covered her mouth with both of her hands. "Please do not tell Michael that I said that, okay?" she asked, almost inaudible with her hands muffling her voice.

"Uh... sure. So did your mom and dad know about you napping in the woods?"

Keiko stop swinging her feet. She shook her head. "I don't know who my parents are. They disappeared when I was young, so for a while I'd been living on my own. I met some very nice people who gave me food and a place to sleep, but when I showed them my powers, they made me leave."

For the second time, Megumi was too stunned to continue brushing her teeth.

"But, I guess that not knowing our parents is something that me and Michael have in common," she said as she gave Megumi a bright smile.

She blinked in bewilderment. Even though she was abandoned as a child, Keiko was still the cheerful young woman that sat in front of her. Megumi wasn't sure if it was her oblivious, child-like innocence or a mature show of character, but she figured that it was something admirable about her. The thought of her parents abandoning her and making her fend for herself began to make her eyes water. She spat the toothpaste in the sink and gave Keiko a big grin as she patted the top of her head. "Yeah, I guess that is something in common." It took all of her strength to maintain her composure.

A loud, low tone played outside of the restroom and echoed throughout the empty hallways. Seconds later, the tone was replaced by the sounds of hundreds of students filling the hallways, chattering to themselves. Megumi wouldn't be surprised if they were still talking about Dixon's attack yesterday.

"Well, Michael is waiting for me outside." She hopped off the sink and rushed to Megumi with a tight hug, catching her completely off-guard. She could only look down at the crown of Keiko's head, befuddled. "See you later, Megumi," she said as she released her, beaming up at her.

"Y-Yeah."

Keiko grabbed the small backpack covered with stickers of cartoonish ponies laying in the sink and strode out of the bathroom.

Megumi stared at the door, perplexed.

"What the hell just happened?"