Imagine Tomoe Hotaru gathered up her books and headed towards the door of the classroom. She had not reached the doorway by the time the class began to mutter behind her. One of the older boys leaned against his desk. "And the little witch slinks off to join her shadows." She hurriedly headed down the hall which was uncharacteristically empty. He followed her. "I wonder if she will cast a spell on us?" A boy blocked her path. "Maybe she already has, I thought I was cursed when I took that test today." Hotaru tried to go around them, but more boys crircled her. They all laughed and she drew into the center. "Leave me alone." she said weakly. Further comments from the bullies were stopped by a tenth grader from the high school leaning on the main bully and singing in a strong tone. It seemed to flow like speech though. "Turn back, old man, foreswear your foolish ways," her voice was smooth and sultry. "All now is earth and none may count her days." She grinned and weaved through the circle singing, "Da da da duh da." "Met thou, her child, whose head is crowned in flame." The younger boys were seemingly entranced by this sempai (1). "Still wilt not heeİeeİeed, thy inner voice proclaim." She was back at the leader. "Turn back old man," To another who was watching from a desk in the hall. "Is your seat comfortable sir?" "Turn back old man," she examined another's watch. "Hmm, i like that," She stepped into the center and grabbed Hotaru's hand. "Foreswear your foolish ways," She pulled her with her, but the boys were too stunned to move. "See ya later we're headed to the front of the theatre." She led a disbelieving Hotaru outside. * As they cleared the exit Hotaru examined the older girl. She had her hair pulled up in a braided bun that was fastened with a wooden stick down the center. She wore a red long sleeve shirt made of velvet and blue jeans. Her eyes sparkled mischeviously. "AŞarigato (2) sempai." The girl nodded and extended her hand in an American fashion. "I am Imani Seira." Hotaru took it and gave it a light shake. "Hotaru Tomoe." Imani could see the thoughts behind Hotaru's eyes. "You want to know what I did." Hotaru nodded. "I've never seen anything like it." Imani grinned and stood straight. "I will explain as I walk you home. My effect has only been known to last for fifteen minutes and I don't want them to be angry at you on my account. They'll forget by tomorrow." Hotaru nodded. "Arigato Imaniİsempai." "Just Imani," she said. "No need to be formal." They headed in the direction Hotaru led. "What I did was a verbal paralysis. I shocked them. It's one of my talents." Hotaru nodded. "You have a beautiful voice." Imani laughed cheerily. "Thank you, my three friends and I are here on a music scholarship from America. We run a music program in the Middle School. I'll be here for at least two years." "Do you go to the High School?" Hotaru asked. Imani shook her head. "I am on home teaching. I like to spend my time at the school." "What do you do in your program?" Hotaru asked. Imani grinned and spinned happily. "We sing, we dance, we write songs, we rewrite songs, in short we do a lot. It's tons of fun, if you can get into it." Hotaru seemed intrigued. "What do you mean?" Imani looked around. "Life has a rhythm, Hotaru-chan. If you can follow it, you can do a lot. Can you hear it?" Hotaru looked into imani's exited face and laughed, but shook her head. Imani grinned. "I'll show you." She pointed to a house where a man was hammering nails. "Do you hear the thumping. That is part of the rhythm. Focus on it. Listen to your heartbeat and put the two together." Hotaru focused on the thump and then her heartbeat. They were counter beats. She saw Imani move into step with the rhythm. "Now for the music. Do you hear the birds?" The birds filled in the music of Hotaru's rhythm. She unconsciously began to dance. The sound of cars made a random addition that kept her on her toes. The bel from the train tracks joined the melody as she and Imani moved down the street. Hotaru suddenly realized she stood in front of her house and stopped. She wasn't out of breath like she usually was after such a workout. Imani grinned at her. "You felt it, the rhythm, the passion." Hotaru nodded and felt her heart filled with happiness. "I have to go." she said sadly. Imani nodded, but did not lose her smile. "If all parts of the rhythm were always present we wouldn't enjoy them as much. Until tomorrow Hotaruİchan." Hotaru went into the house and sat to do her homework with a light heart. * Hotaru grinned as her adoptive parents arrived. "Sorry we're late, the car got stuck." Tenoh Haruka said. "That's alright," Hotaru said. Michiru eyed her curiously. "You seem happy." Hotaru nodded enthusiastically. "I met a sempai from America today who runs a music program in our school. She's really cool!" Michiru grinned and looked at Haruka. Hotaru cut in, "NOT like that. She stopped the bullies with just a few lines from a song and they were paralyzed for fifteen minutes." Haruka looked impressed. "Just words huh, interesting girl. How old was she?" "Fifteen?" Hotaru guessed. "Two years older than you," Michiru commented. "That probably helped the affect on the boys. Was she pretty?" Hotaru gave her withering glance. "That has nothing to do with it." The doorbell rang and Hotaru ran to get it. Haruka smiled. "It's good to see her getting friends." Michiru nodded. "This girl sounds very interesting." She frowned absently. "Her description reminds me of something, but I can't quite remember." They all heard a surprised exclamation of, "Imaniİchan!" from the living room and wandered in. A girl with long red hair stood at the door. Her hand held something behind her back. "Are you free?" Hotaru-chan nodded, but was too shocked to speak. "So am I," Imani sang in a vaguely South American accent. Music seemed to gather around her to Hotaru's ears and filled in the melody. "What a fortunate coincidence, maybe you're my reward for my effort there tonight," Her tone and facial expression changed to a possibly more feminine look. She danced inside but her package remained concealed from the three the whole time. "It seems crazy but you must believe, there's nothing calculated nothing planned," She turned to Michiru and Haruka. "Please forgive me, if I seem naive, I wouldn't want you to misunderstand." She turned back to Hotaru. "But please understand, I'd be good for you. I'd be surprisingly good for you." "I don't always rush in like this, seven hours after saying hello, telling strangers I'm too good to miss, if I'm wrong I hope you tell me so. But you really should know I'd be good for you. I'd be surprisingly good for you." She went down on one knee and held out her prize. It was a bouquet of rolled music papers. "Would you join my music program?" Hotaru burst out laughing as the music ebbed. "I know that wasn't a come on. I'd love to join the program." Her normal attitude fought back. "But I'm not very good with music." Imani stood and jumped back as if in pain. "Hotaru-chan, don't say that. You caught it this afternoon. Music comes next, but the rhythm is first." Hotaru regained her smile. "Yeah, I did." Imani gave her a sisterly hug. "Good, I'll see you in school tomorrow. We meet in room 219 during lunch periods and after school." Then Imani noticed the two. "I am Imani Seira." Haruka held out her hand. "Tenoh Haruka." Michiru smiled at her. "You have a wonderful gift, Imani-san. I am Michir-" Imani's eyes widened in shock. "You're THE Michiru, the violinst." Her eyes glazed. "Michiru told me I had a wonderful gift." Hotura hit her playfully. "Wake up silly, she's my adoptive mother." Imani gave her a sudden hug. "THANK YOU!" She calmed down. "When I was in America I found a tape of Michiru-san's music. I could find no one who could play the pieces." Michiru blushed. "Thank you," Imani wandered out the door. "I can now die happy." * "What do you think of her?" Michiru asked when Hotaru had gone to bed. Haruka seemed confused. "You two seemed to very caught up in a song that had no music. Her voice is beautiful, but...." Michiru frowned. "To a trained ear there was music. It seemed to be in the world around her." "She seems nice and Hotaru really likes her." Haruka said. "She seemed totally out of her depression." *2* The next day, Hotaru brought her lunch to room 219 where a small group of people sat. Imani immediately noticed her. "Come in," There were five people apart from Imani. One boy was Imani's age with short red hair. He was introduced as Mark.The next seemed older, with long dark hair. His eyes twinkled merrily. He was introduced as Brian. The next was a girl with long blonde hair. She was Nyale. Two students were also there. She recognized a voalist from the school chorus, but the other was a boy who was constantly in trouble. He grumbled, "Why is she here? Imani smiled and looked to the other sempais. "Vote." Nyale nodded. "Aye," Mark nodded, "Sure!" Brian, "Of course," Imani nodded and looked to Hotaru. "Welcome to the Wordsmiths. I am the Word smith of words." Nyale smiled. "I am the Wordsmith of Dance," "I am the Wordsmith of Life." Mark said. Brian bowed. "I am the Wordsmith of Music." The recalcitrant student looked around. "What am I DOING here?" Imani smiled at him. "You are here to gain credits so you can pass eigth grade." Hotaru sat down. "What just happened?" Á Brian explained. "We are an insular group from America. We work as a team in a task we choose and we will not give up until we win. Our task is to educate the people here of the significance of music and silence." Hotaru looked up sharply. Mark continued. "Those here have no realization of the rhythm of life. They vcontinue in disarray." "They flit from one thing to another because they don't understand the dance that follows the rhythm." Nyale said. Imani finished in a low, but clear tone. "How can the rhythm, themusic, the dance, and the words be understood if there is not first silence?" Hotaru was stunned. She had always seen Silence as the end. These people saw it as a beginning. A ray of hope filled her. Imani broke the mood by putting in a CD. "Let's see you catch the rhythm of this." It was very upbeat music by South American singers. The two other students watched as Hotaru let herself be pulled forward by Nyale. "You've heard the rhythm. Follow it." Hotaru saw that the girl was weaving complicated patterns and despaired. Nyale shook her head. "Start simple." She just moved her feet. Hotaru followed. Nyale's hips moved and Hotaru followed. Hotaru was amazed. She felt complete balance and wholeness through the rhythm. When the bell rang Imani stopped her by the door and and gave her a chain. It was silver with a quill and scroll on it. "You are the Wordsmith of Silence. Welcome." *******