Neo Sing-Sing Orbital Youth Detention Center
Planet Cayennestar, DGTO Military District 3552 – Betelgeuse Star System
Alexa Pearl Mallory, her hair arranged in a classical cornrow, was in this wretched place for two weeks now, having been thrown in after she was found guilty of narcotics possession in her home planet, and the second such time to be sentenced, the first one being at another detention slammer like this some years ago, when she was then thirteen and charged for theft.
Once again she wore the regulation brown jumper suit (with her serial number) and regulation sneakers, and she had to go through the usual routine.
Being a street gang member, she was used to this, no shit, as the first one was completely educational: getting the usual rough treatment, of being harassed on the first day, then caught in a brawl the second day, isolation for two days, and then some amount of sizable reputation.
She knocked out the other bitch trying to get a grab at her ass, took away the upper teeth and the nose. They never touched her since then.
Anyway, to make the story short, it took Alexa two years before being set free, to roam the neighborhood again, back in her habitat, in the ghetto of the industrial planet that was Queenstar, selling a synthesized variant of crack. The going was good until some asshole in the crew sold her out.
Today she was among several thousands of girls congregating in the detention center’s huge cafeteria, a sea of brown filled up with chatter, watched over by roving butch-like matrons in starched blue uniforms and riot gear. She had a minor reputation now, thanks to a tattoo marked on her wrist, that marked her as a standing member of the New Bloods, the oldest street gang in the galaxy since the Great Emigration after the war.
Which meant that she can afford to have a seat, unlike the FNGs who had to be broken first before being accepted into the snakepit.
They called her Lex, and that was all. Until she noticed a girl coming towards her, dressed in the same brown jumpsuit and carrying a laden tray, except she was being escorted by a couple of stern-looking lady wardens.
Then it dawned upon Lex that there was a vacant seat opposite hers, and this girl, with dark purple hair (cut into short bangs) and a seemingly calm facial expression, took her seat and placed the tray onto the table.
As she watched her eat a bowl of noodles with chopsticks, Lex wondered, How long she was in this shithole? What’s so special about her?
She noted that this other girl had no tattoos or heavy scars or whatever that indicated of any past violence, or carried a demeanor worthy of a gang leader, a true queen of the penitents.
Lex hoped that this girl wouldn’t grab her by the lapels, so she asked, straight-to-the-point: “I’m in because of some crack, so what you’re doing time here for?”
The oriental-looking girl stopped eating, and her eyes stared back at Lex.
“They put me here because I sang and danced against the law,” the other girl said in an almost smoky voice. “For that I’ve been given twenty years.”
“That’s fucking weird,” Lex remarked. “What do you do for a living back then?”
“I’m an idol before coming here.”
Lex blinked. “What?”
“We’re basically performers of pop music,” the other girl said. “We mostly sing and dance, and try to make people happy no matter what problems they have. We also try to go to them no matter where they are, even in places where entertainment is banned completely.”
Immersed in the rough urban life, Lex had never heard of idols, just so much gangsta rap and freestyling in her home planet, but this was really a new concept for her… and why do somebody had to be jailed for singing? What kind of shit the anal-retentive government and the pigs were into?
“My name’s Lex,” she said, deciding to warm up to the conversation. “Lex Mallory, from Queenstar. What’s yours?”
The other girl sighed, smiled and said, “My name is Atsuko Maeda the Thirteenth. Nice to meet you… and you can call me Acchan.”
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Author’s Notes: I wrote this for an hour, after I came up with this idea, wondering what happened to Acchan the 13th, and why she disappeared. I was also inspired by some of my viewings of Majisuka Gakuen.
As always, comments or criticisms are welcome. Thanks for reading.
光と水 / Light and Water 