Class was over.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WT2oImWO2
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfq4l78UDkx
It was a public school deep in the slums.
Most of the furniture was chipped or broken.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK5S7YTOooc
The chair Jason sat on had one leg propped up with a wooden block.
The classroom was loud, Jason thought.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5cZDGfkHKR
The skinny boy stood up and slowly walked out.
He was worrying about dinner.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOd4HLemjSf
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a girl still sitting at her desk.
That girl… what was her name again?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk92V0dGaXZ
Nana, maybe.
She was looking at… a book.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5OBZV07uO
Well, calling it a “book” was generous—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrU96zh1sr
it was more like a stack of torn-up pages.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bEQkBpCwm
Someone probably ripped it on purpose.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡflUGkKomM9
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJ7zWGBjMF
Especially for her.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVApht4hUf0
She came from Gotham’s poorest orphanage.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQsAHRIWcY
On top of that, she was mute.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrY0Ywlhp0B
That was pretty much rock bottom.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbEEpZcxj7
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX6OVSsX8eo
Didn’t plan to help either.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKbbuSikGZo
He just paused there for a moment.
It was Sunday.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZqqKGXozx
Todd ran to the church to get the little bread they gave out after morning service.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoRB6T5l0D
The line was long.
While waiting, he was thinking about the bread—how he’d eat it first,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFF9D2H9zh
then go dig through trash bins for old newspapers,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4StauAur5
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5JWkl9H886
No one could tell what she was thinking.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNy6ATn7vd5
In her hands was a book.
Jason squinted.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDEMKAyqQfP
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
He’d already read that one.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwMVWJnIi2
Actually, Jason liked reading.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJgayzSEL6Q
He went to the slum library pretty often.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJyPPbYDAX
Even though there weren’t many books,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ61yS0WxlNu
quiet things like reading made it easier to ignore how hungry you were.
Jason got his bread.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQKmNIQiye
As soon as he turned, he stuffed it into his mouth.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ceqPQewwx
He was starving.
He turned to the right and started walking—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bWuup8t2A
then saw the girl again.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyPmpgmSPoL
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,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrpUvTOTnz
the slower his steps became.
Robin came to mind.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRoyX788wXr
That teen hero who always fought crime beside Batman.
Jason turned around.
He walked back toward the girl,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrmEc56Bt9
who was still staring off into nothing.
He stopped in front of her.
“Hey,” he said.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYt0KHiLG2U
“Who’s your favorite character in that book?”
The girl looked up, a little startled.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzgTtwn0fY
Then she looked down at the book in her hands—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRSudBZVYp
patched up with layers of tape.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6XQNxun7V
She didn’t answer.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2veob0I4m
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5abPpwLkG
“But honestly, they’re all kinda dumb.”
The corners of her lips moved slightly.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK8ZlP8cWZD
It was hard to tell if it was a smile or just a breath.
The wind was a little cold.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhzxU2WaQp2
Sunlight slanted across the torn corner of her page.
Jason kept chewing his bread,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRLV21UFFLd
pretending he wasn’t waiting for her to say anything.
The girl watched the boy finish his bread.
Jason rolled his eyes inside.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TJsvYvrRN
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.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLKsgHl8um
That was his first meal of the day—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaNFHSRig6
and probably the last.
The calories burned off fast.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgmXYrCBYN
Even the brief feeling of fullness wasn’t planning to stay.
He was going to leave.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLZDkOZ5q8
Turn around.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyA3QR5Tko
Go back to his world—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4BW1lwtea
trash piles, torn newspapers,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvXqORkMEIJ
and that faraway, unreachable Bat-Signal.
But just as Jason was wondering what to do about dinner,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2n78tOPAoi
the girl took a piece of bread from her pocket and held it out to him.
Jason froze.
It was untouched.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDuqsfbxuHQ
A whole piece of bread, wrapped in a napkin,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LVYkPulwh
carefully hidden in her pocket—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqOvcv3Y97
now being offered to him without hesitation.
Her fingers were a little red and swollen,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtVxL6OF4X
maybe from the cold,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBlIjqXeaF
maybe just from standing too long.
“…You’re not hungry?” Jason asked,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfjBdrIm9v
his tone suspicious,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYjMZ00eCo
instinctively guarded.
The girl shook her head and kept offering the bread.
Her movements weren’t fast,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FE0yAxOlO
but they weren’t hesitant either.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrN6a0KgTX
It felt like she’d decided this from the start—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2n128b9eI
just waiting for the right moment.
Jason’s blue eyes looked at her face,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfRfKlre4Ru
his mind calculating.
Alright, he thought. If she’s giving me food,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzWDXHliT3O
I’ll show her around as a thank-you.
Maybe she didn’t even know where that was.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbzGGYgE4z
Maybe she’d never been down the road to the right side of the junkyard—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31ZShLPGLK
where there were mountains of scrap metal,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgKvDOchOf
piles of old newspapers,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBietLoMMeR
expired magazines,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7uwFLnIOl
and sometimes even a radio that still worked.
Jason reached out his hand,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJobcfPqWHC
his palm pale from the cold wind.
“My name’s Jason. Jason Todd.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡumCpkwIhCy
Wanna come with me to the right-side junkyard?”
The girl hesitated too, just for a second.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9yBCE8kziQ
Her eyes widened slightly.
And in that moment,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnolwyeKge
Jason saw her eyes clearly for the first time.
Amber.
Clear and quiet.
He stared.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAdzqq8LvB
And then—just for a second—24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMulwjg5ff
it felt like something lit up inside them.
Not obvious.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡae5CTqZKle
Not bright.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp3Oj3OTwhk
But like something had… woken up.
He saw his own reflection in them,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl0YWVmKB89
carried by the warmth within.
Like in Pinocchio,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw32s9TTDIu
when the puppet turned into a boy.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfwkbdUneqz
When a lifeless stone began to shine,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUTYWRUbWsX
sparkling with color,24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr7CtYyzNwg
marveling at the arrival of life.
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnEIX9QeCi
