[b]"Bye bye!"[/b] Mariko called back to her acquaintances. The speed with which she'd managed to pack her bags might've surprised anyone who didn't know the velocity of the average teenager desperate to leave the last class before weekends began. There had been mini sonic booms as parts of her skin broke the sound barrier. 

Mariko paused outside of the front gates, breathing in that fresh country smell artists were fond of calling 'pastoral' and cynics called 'cowpats'. A full year at Yamaku had trained her, like a Pavlovian dog, associating that smell with freedom. She took a few, tentative steps down the steps, and joined the quickly thriving crowd of people who swarmed like cicadas in june, and made her way through the thick iron doors and down the hill path towards the little anonymous village where she could stock up on breads, meats, assorted vegetables, pills, and a few little indulgences. 

As she walked, she idly undid her ribbon. The ghastly thing had been rubbing against her all day, and her own attempts to correct it consistently made things worse. At least a guy's uniform had collars that weren't stiff as all hell, even if neckties were some strange alien mystery that TV constantly said needed two people to unravel. Or weird seams on the blouses that made Mariko's already ruler-straight figure even more obviously lacking. 

The view in june was nothing special. She took long strides on the path, enjoying the walking more then the actual journey, shivering at the slight breeze coming in from the east, and humming a simple little ditty no one would ever bother to write down.