Class was over.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJHSkrkBlC
The teacher turned and left right away, as if she couldn’t stand being in the classroom for even one more second.
Jason—well, to be exact, little nine-year-old Jason Todd—watched the noisy classroom with a cool, steady gaze.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhC3gQ3ex5J
It was a public school deep in the slums.
Most of the furniture was chipped or broken.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqeAJGqrlp
The chair Jason sat on had one leg propped up with a wooden block.
The classroom was loud, Jason thought.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06CDA0MqJ0
The skinny boy stood up and slowly walked out.
He was worrying about dinner.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vA50mzHk1
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a girl still sitting at her desk.
That girl… what was her name again?58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIK4i9Tmma
Nana, maybe.
She was looking at… a book.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7uU4505Vn
Well, calling it a “book” was generous—58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1bKKQ7Cyja
it was more like a stack of torn-up pages.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHq1CLOvQw1
Someone probably ripped it on purpose.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMRpfQVXgsm
Bullying happened all the time around here.
The girl picked up the torn sheets, put them back together, and kept on reading.
Jason thought, It’s not a puzzle.
But then again, that kind of bullying was normal.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZm65UvWOVe
Especially for her.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFSftY6vd3
She came from Gotham’s poorest orphanage.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImAlspDr0s
On top of that, she was mute.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAcmvNZBVWF
That was pretty much rock bottom.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCh5gtzsC2
Made having a drunk for a father seem… not so bad, Jason thought, a little bitterly.
He leaned against the doorway and glanced at her again.
She turned the patched-up pages so gently, like she was afraid of hurting something.
He didn’t say anything.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡer39QF9UEL
Didn’t plan to help either.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3c8ZaUhQv
He just paused there for a moment.
It was Sunday.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPIrkWd0Iww
Todd ran to the church to get the little bread they gave out after morning service.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2lUJ8ubeso
The line was long.
While waiting, he was thinking about the bread—how he’d eat it first,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqtNZEul91R
then go dig through trash bins for old newspapers,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kz3bkiClU
see if there was any news about Robin or Batman.
Jason was lost in thought when he saw the girl in front of him.
Nana was standing there quietly.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVN7w559Ly
No one could tell what she was thinking.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGuEk9IbGc
In her hands was a book.
Jason squinted.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTH1nBy3tto
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
He’d already read that one.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeEVcHYZbJ
Actually, Jason liked reading.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWuRTiHFV5
He went to the slum library pretty often.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7By7n8cno
Even though there weren’t many books,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaKwAtsCsa
quiet things like reading made it easier to ignore how hungry you were.
Jason got his bread.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZewYsdjpJ
As soon as he turned, he stuffed it into his mouth.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpopS8i8qxG
He was starving.
He turned to the right and started walking—58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYdaWdzAFP
then saw the girl again.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaeNUrM47ps
She was spacing out.
Why is she always spacing out? Looks kind of dumb, he thought.
He walked past her and kept going toward his next stop.
The farther he got from her,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7B98ubBSN
the slower his steps became.
Robin came to mind.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11ZIkdlTzl
That teen hero who always fought crime beside Batman.
Jason turned around.
He walked back toward the girl,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQamZq6PRs
who was still staring off into nothing.
He stopped in front of her.
“Hey,” he said.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡazoOvAfpeS
“Who’s your favorite character in that book?”
The girl looked up, a little startled.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9Rz54pm7rm
Then she looked down at the book in her hands—58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Ghqd9mIwg
patched up with layers of tape.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXKvK7RqKN
She didn’t answer.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6uOt7aRoKp
Just blinked, like she was thinking.
Jason waited for a bit, then clicked his tongue and took another bite of bread.
“I like Huckleberry Finn the most,” he mumbled through his chewing.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZFCjjreW5R
“But honestly, they’re all kinda dumb.”
The corners of her lips moved slightly.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnoCtohTiu
It was hard to tell if it was a smile or just a breath.
The wind was a little cold.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN2CW3eWTOn
Sunlight slanted across the torn corner of her page.
Jason kept chewing his bread,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29E2osJcFh
pretending he wasn’t waiting for her to say anything.
The girl watched the boy finish his bread.
Jason rolled his eyes inside.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSU2adBsdEs
What am I even doing, he thought. It’s not like a mute girl can reply.
He looked down and licked the bread crumbs off his fingers.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfNlsRr2jvw
That was his first meal of the day—58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYB7yUw6zX
and probably the last.
The calories burned off fast.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHiByJRS9i
Even the brief feeling of fullness wasn’t planning to stay.
He was going to leave.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCtNPm55RS
Turn around.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOCBTwp0GR
Go back to his world—58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMFurY4EKa
trash piles, torn newspapers,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN4JK8YdPZ5
and that faraway, unreachable Bat-Signal.
But just as Jason was wondering what to do about dinner,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVcMGSfJyY
the girl took a piece of bread from her pocket and held it out to him.
Jason froze.
It was untouched.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaCUR3Qo3T
A whole piece of bread, wrapped in a napkin,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDcfWplEGj
carefully hidden in her pocket—58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4jzsuIzC1l
now being offered to him without hesitation.
Her fingers were a little red and swollen,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡizWbsYIV2w
maybe from the cold,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqb9XxWuBCE
maybe just from standing too long.
“…You’re not hungry?” Jason asked,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8TZTgCPTlH
his tone suspicious,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkvkoNtJhnf
instinctively guarded.
The girl shook her head and kept offering the bread.
Her movements weren’t fast,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHLZzOVq8c
but they weren’t hesitant either.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmkhubH1Pu
It felt like she’d decided this from the start—58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJhK8T7nHX
just waiting for the right moment.
Jason’s blue eyes looked at her face,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvIsG9IhH6T
his mind calculating.
Alright, he thought. If she’s giving me food,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMf687fZcQp
I’ll show her around as a thank-you.
Maybe she didn’t even know where that was.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5wlz0RuXQW
Maybe she’d never been down the road to the right side of the junkyard—58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkC8Ea98MB
where there were mountains of scrap metal,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf7P3JUc4pp
piles of old newspapers,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe8vfPfC0TY
expired magazines,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJYq2DmDxwF
and sometimes even a radio that still worked.
Jason reached out his hand,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtWuQaq5TP
his palm pale from the cold wind.
“My name’s Jason. Jason Todd.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfPCx6JU1F
Wanna come with me to the right-side junkyard?”
The girl hesitated too, just for a second.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMIhuBMr2r
Her eyes widened slightly.
And in that moment,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6jr7mWa228
Jason saw her eyes clearly for the first time.
Amber.
Clear and quiet.
He stared.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlc8TKSXdED
And then—just for a second—58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLb7VFbeNA
it felt like something lit up inside them.
Not obvious.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBlQ11UQLQ
Not bright.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9Ftc7zekO
But like something had… woken up.
He saw his own reflection in them,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmHlbCGBS6
carried by the warmth within.
Like in Pinocchio,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRqbw1IEgNq
when the puppet turned into a boy.58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhkV2j4JYO
When a lifeless stone began to shine,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzNDwFS6zl
sparkling with color,58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjS7GSRFPR
marveling at the arrival of life.
58Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0wqn0qR4r
