The next day, waking up to a lonely house, Mina was struck with the thought that she was now in charge and could do whatever she wanted. She dismissed the maid who had come to wake her up and walked downstairs where she took her time eating her breakfast. As she was eating, the chauffeur entered the dining hall and gave her a questioning look. Mina waved him away, saying, “I’ll be there soon.” When her appetite was sated, she lazed around in her room before finally changing into her uniform.

The traffic was light, driving when everyone else was already at work or at school as Mina should have been. She got off at the school gates and the front courtyard was deserted, the wind swirling through and bringing with it the fallen cherry blossoms. Mina took a second to admire the scenery before walking to her locker. She deposited her bag and thought about grabbing her books and going to class but dismissed the thought. Entering a classroom with everyone’s faces on her would be annoying especially if she saw the fake concern of her teacher. She walked around the locker bay before deciding to head up to the library.

As she saw the large shelves filled with books, Mina realised that she had only entered the library once since orientation when her class had attended a presentation by some environmentalist or other. The library seemed to be an empty place with only a few students walking around the shelves or seated underneath the domed roof and the occasional stained glass windows. There was a somewhat ethereal feel in the room that breathed with life of a thousand stories and countless more words but Mina only felt pity for the librarians and accountants of the school who had deemed it necessary to spend money to build a place so redundant. She strolled between the bookshelves and decided to explore the many small rooms that were housed in the library.

All the rooms seemed to be completely different from one another. One room would be full of books, as expected of a library but another would contain sculptures or artworks with not a book in sight. She walked around, looking into a room with her hand lingering on the doorway of the previous one when she noticed through the glass wall separating the room from the library that there was a person inside, studying. She immediately jolted back out of sight then slowly peered through the windowsill into the room.

There was a large window opposite the one that Mina was watching from with the curtains drawn back to allow the sun to shine through. A large wooden desk was in the corner of the room with a female student seated behind it. Her gaze lingered on the student before moving on to the beanbags in front of the glass wall that looked out of place in the gloomy library. Beside the beanbags stood a small shelf holding only a few books. For a second Mina wondered about the existence of such a room when there was a ring of a bell.

Hearing the bell ring, she was reminded that recess had begun and she could return to her classroom, glad to leave the library with its dusty tomes and ancient air. She joined her friends in the classroom; her friends immediately surrounding her. They pressed her with questions of her absence and clamoured around to be the ones to offer her the notes on the missed material. Mina’s lip curled up slightly at the desire of her friends to hold her attention and masked her contempt, smiling sweetly before announcing that she wanted to go to the bathroom.

The group of girls immediately got up and followed her out of the classroom, trailing behind like a shadow. They headed towards the nearest toilet and students moved out of their way, recognising the person at the head of the group as the daughter of Myoui and Co. Emboldened by the presence of her friends, Mina made no move to let people pass until she was bumped aside by a female student. She caught a glimpse of blonde hair as she fell before her entourage descended on the offending student.

They crowded around the books that had fallen onto the floor and stepped around the girl as she tried to pick them up, standing on the books as well as crushing the girl’s fingers, making little effort to hide their intentions. The girl finally stood up and pushed the group away and Mina got up immediately to curse at her. “Watch it, imbecile,” she said as someone helped her steady herself. She was about to release a tirade of insults when the girl fired back.

‘Watch yourself. You’re the one who bumped into me.’

Mina recognised the offender as Hirai Momo and the angry words were stuck in , shocked that someone would dare go against her. Her rage flared up even more as the girl rolled her eyes and her heel, leaving the scene. She restrained herself from yelling after the blonde and one of her friends, Hwayoung, patted her down glaring scathingly in the direction that Momo had gone.

‘That ! Are you alright? Do you want me to educate her a little that she shouldn’t mess with us?’

Indignant and enraged at someone daring to talk back to her, Mina pushed away the hands on her and replied, “Do it. Make her life hell.’

~

‘-contemporaries of Shakespeare’s time were of the idea that fame was the way of further spreading the growing influence of English literature. Many famous plays were written in this era including the satirical piece ‘Every Man in his Humour’ by Ben Jonson.’

Momo finished speaking and sat down as the teacher nodded at her, a large book in his hands. “Thank you for the translation,” he said before motioning to another student. “Now what was the reason that there was such a desire to spread English literature?” The student got up and fired off a response and Momo fought back a si