The application sheets were a mere formality, everyone knew that. By the time they crossed the desk of what SHS pretended was there admissions office, the girls were as good as accepted. The only thing that kept them from being deleted or thrown away the moment they were received was the fact that they made for a good starting points for individual files. And when it came selling time, some buyers appreciated a complete and full history.
Even so, they were basically just given a passing glance and then ignored by the 'men' in the office.
Expect this time.
“I'm telling you, something seems off about this girl,” one such 'man' said to the other.
His partner rolled his eyes, and finally took the sheet the other was holding and scanned it briefly. “Name: Asao Yumi. Age: 27 --”
“Twenty-seven! With a face like that?” the first man said.
“So? She's got a baby face,” was the bored retort. “If she keeps it, she'll be worth extra.”
“Plus, how many 27 year-olds apply for college prep school? And have you ever seen a personal picture posed like that? Its like she trying too hard! Seriously, a kimono?”
His partner shrugged, “So she's a late bloomer. Who cares? 'Sides it says here she prefers to dress in kimono's on her personal time. Classy. Better than some of the harlots we got strutting around here. There is something to be said for mystery of anticipation, you know. Lemme see here,” he went on, reading the sheet. Place of birth, Camp Springs Maryland. American national of Japanese decent. Eye and hair color brown, Caucasians-like skin tone, trimmed pelvic hair --”
“That's another thing! Most of the girls skip that part! We have to find out during screening!”
This latest interruption was ignored. “Oh, this is cute. Poor thing is only 5'3” inches tall, but her weight is pushing 140. 'Bout time we got ourselves a curvy girl. And a 34 D to boot! Daddy like. Even with the mole on her left breast.”
“Just look at her background though! Kinda thin isn't it?”
The rest of the application was skimmed. “Hmmm, stuck on the mean streets of DC. Military father took off on her immigrant Japanese mother as soon as she popped out a little girl. Life in relative poverty, only thing she had going for was her intelligence, scored high in school, but couldn't get a scholarship to the school she wanted to go to, glad Shokushu accepted her, yadda-yaddd-yadda. Nothing' I haven't seen a million times.”
“That's just it!” said the first 'man'. “It generic! Too generic! It almost sounds like a copy/paste!”
“You're being paranoid,” said his partner. “Here, look at her hobbies. Gaming and computer programing. Bet she fancies herself a hacker too. That seem more real to you? Likes swimming too, probably tying to work some of that baby fat off. And here, she speaks English, Japanese, French and German. Declared majors? Nano- and biotechnology That kinda bares out her claims at being a some kind of brainiac.”
“Yeah but look here! Cant see a thing without her glasses. Considers her self open, and maybe a little too trusting. Like being on her own because she bends to wills stronger than her own even when she knows its not good for her. I'm betting she's an overachieving submissive, eager to please for the sake of praise, probably due to long unresolved daddy issues?”
“So?” his partner said tossing the sheet aside. “She sounds perfect.”
“Too perfect! That's what I'm trying to tell you! Listen, remember that Playtoy project that the Earth governments tried to get working?”
“Yeah. It was a total failure.”
“The project head was named Dr. Yumi. And get this: They never found her body!”
“Give me a break, you think this girl is the missing Dr. Yumi? Why would she come here, of all places?”
“I think she's looking for the prototype. I think she knows how to fix it. I don't got to tell you what'll happened to Shokushu if that thing ever works the way its supposed to.”
“You're off your nut. First, no Earth woman in their right mind, let alone a child prodigy like this Dr. Yumi was supposed to be, would ever come to Shokushu if they knew what this place was all about. Second, even if she was Yumi, any tech she'd tried to sneak in to fix her wayward toy would be confiscated or destroyed en-route to the planet. Third, even she got past all that, say she fixed the prototype. So what? They'd both still be stuck on the surface until graduation. At which point the good doctor would be headed for the pitts, and the playtoy would be stuck on the surface, unable to affect anything beyond the student body. And even if it proves problematic when fixed, we'd take it out. We've done it before when push came to shove, we can do it again.”
There was silence for a time before the first man said, curtly. “Fine. But I'm still letting Niceman know about this. We need to keep an eye on this Asao Yumi. A very close eye indeed.”
With that, stormed out the office, the slamming of the door behind him generating enough win to blow the application and personal picture off the desk and onto the floor.
