Mitakihara High School of the Dead
Chapter 1: Tame Compared to What Will Follow
"Sayaka, you'll be late for school!"
With a regretful glance in the mirror, the young blue-haired freshman pulled herself away from the mirror. "Coming, Mom!" Her bow was decidedly lopsided, and the wrinkles in her shirt had remained impervious to her attempts to try and smooth them out. Running fingers through her untidy, shoulder-length hair, Sayaka grabbed her favorite hairpin from it's place on her nightstand. Pulling back at her brilliant turquoise hair, she frowned at the sense of clinging dampness. Overslept. Again.
"Sayaka!"
Rolling her eyes, the young woman strode over to her desk, sweeping the various books and papers and pens littering the table into her backpack. Yawning, she bent over to pick up a long, lumpy duffle bag, straightening with a grunt. Glancing at the shelf of trophies above her bed as she left, she couldn't help perking up a little, looking forward to afternoon practice.
"SAYA- oh, there you are. You're going to be late-"
"Yeah, I know, Mom. Thanks." Sayaka used that ironic tone of voice that drove her parents up the wall. Always with the nagging, sheesh. She grabbed a slice of bread, looking at the toaster hopefully before glancing at the digital display on the microwave. Dammit.
The television was on in the background. Pictures of helicopters, and a shot of a city, nothing that held her interest once she saw the footage was from Tokyo. "-residents are being asked to remain calm, but avoid contact with others as much as poss-" She got her news exclusively from the internet.
"You'd better hurry," her mother said meaningfully. Sayaka sighed, turning toward the door.
"-virulent strain of flu. To repeat-"
"I'll be home late. Practice." The last word was muffled as the blue-haired freshman walked out the door, stuffing half of the piece of bread in her mouth as she left. Grinning with her mouth full at the sight of her mother's expected look of disgust, she kicked the door shut behind her.
" -the Emergency Disaster Countermeasure Office is requesting that all residents within the greater Tokyo area avoid-"
"No Mami-san today?"
Madoka grinned at her friend's obvious disappointment. The pinkette had waited patiently for Sayaka at their usual spot by the park; the walk to the high school being in a different direction that they'd taken the previous year. She'd been just about to leave, despite her determination to give her friend every chance to miraculously appear as the minutes ticked by… and then she'd seen her, lugging that large bag under her arm and jogging down the street. After a brief, breathless greeting, her first reaction had been to notice the missing blonde.
"She was going in early this morning, something about a project she was working on." Madoka shrugged, the studies of the older girl being a mystery to her.
"Wonder what she's working on," Sayaka wondered aloud, heading off in the direction of the school.
"I don't know, but it's probably something science-y," the smaller girl guessed.
Azure eyes sparkled with mirth. "Madoka-chan, do you remember-"
"-the time Mami-san did all those cooking 'experiments'?" the pinkette finished, laughing at her friend's startled expression. It was a common memory that Sayaka brought up, and one that she was fond of as well. "Yes, I certainly do! I gained five pounds that week!" She couldn't help giggling as the blunette reached out and poked her in the belly.
"You could do with another five pounds," Sayaka half-joked. Madoka was still one of the smaller girls in their grade, and had been slow to… blossom. Before her friend could get self-conscious, she continued an earlier train of thought. "We should get her to do that again!"
Madoka eyed her friend, considering. "I doubt it would be difficult to convince her. If you asked, I just know she'd-"
"M-me? I'm n-not asking her," the blunette stuttered, color flooding back into her cheeks. Madoka grinned up at her innocently.
"But, if you want cake so bad…"
"She'll do it if you ask her!" Sayaka half-suggested, half-implored. They'd begun hanging out again with the amazing blonde earlier this year. The three had known each other casually in junior high, but hadn't seen much of the older girl once Mami had made the transition to high school.
"Did you like the cake… or hanging out with Mami-san all week?" Madoka asked craftily. The blunette at her side stumbled, nearly tripping before pinwheeling her arms to catch herself.
"What? What are you… That cake was delicious, and you know it!" Sayaka fumed, mortified at nearly falling on her face.
"Okay, okay." Madoka grinned, disarming the blunette's suddenly sour attitude. "With midterms coming up, maybe she'll be able to hang out a little more. Afterwards, I mean," she finished.
Sayaka sighed. That was a long time away. Two weeks… Seems like the only time I see Mami-san is walking to school, and now I don't even get that. "That'd be nice. Oh, and I have practice after school. If you don't want to walk home alone, you could come watch..."
"Hello Kaname-san! Miki-san!" The green-haired young woman strode up to the pair of friends at Sayaka's locker. The blunette stopped trying to stuff her backpack into the damn thing and turned to look at their old friend.
"Good morning, Hitomi-chan!" Madoka greeted, just like it was the old days.
Like she always does, thought Sayaka. The blunette simply muttered "Hey."
Hitomi had been busy taking advantage of all of the opportunities her family's wealth had provided. She had always been popular and admired, but intensive after-school cram sessions had turned her into something of a phenomenal student. Add to that her participation in several extra-curricular clubs, and the fact that she was still dating Kyousuke, and Sayaka wasn't sad that the green-haired girl had been moved into a higher tiered class.
She wasn't happy. Or jealous. Just… not sad.
The elegant young woman grinned widely, looking entirely sincere. She made a show of digging into her tiny, obviously designer flap bag. Madoka, knowing full well what the black bag was, and represented, with it's interlocking diamond pattern, and the regular and backward "C" crossed in the middle. "I have those tickets I was telling you about." She held out four laminated cards, each proclaiming Mitakihara Symphony along the upper edge.
"Oh, thank you Hitomi-chan! You are too kind." Madoka smiled, accidentally bumping into Sayaka's rib with her elbow before taking the offered tickets and slipping them into her much more modest shoulder bag.
"Yeah, thanks." Azure eyes narrowed. "Four?"
Hitomi grinned even wider, if that was even possible. "I thought you could bring a date. Both of you," she suggested. "Or, failing that, a friend?"
There was an uncomfortable pause; a bell rang and Hitomi excused herself. "Hope to see you there," she called, retreating down the hallway and joining up with a small cluster of friends Sayaka hadn't even noticed.
Blue eyes exchanged a look with pink, and the two girls shook their heads in unison.
'So, are we gonna go?" Sayaka whispered across the aisle, eliciting a quick shake of Madoka's head before she turned back, pretending to pay attention to what their math teacher was talking about. Some kind of complex geometry unit. Sayaka sighed, looking at the pinkette out of the corner of her eye as she, too, faced the front.
Maybe she is actually listening to this, Sayaka mused, scribbling a stick-figure fight scene absently in the margin of her notebook. Her friend still had some growing and, er, filling out to do, but the blunette was amazed at the change in her lifelong friend during the past year or so. She'd long ago abandoned the pigtails, and wore her hair straight and long. The start of high school had seen a dramatic shift in the girl's determination, as well. Sometimes, Sayaka thought the only reason she hadn't flunked English yet was because of her study sessions at the Kaname house.
Like all school buildings in the city, the majority of Mitakihara High School was designed with an emphasis on openness, and here the designers had taken the concept to its extreme. Much of the building, including most of the inner walls, were entirely composed of glass. This gave the students a feeling that someone was always watching them, which the administrators pretended was good for character and helped reinforce positive social norms.
Sayaka unconsciously found her gaze drawn to the window. It was promising to be a beautiful day. The vista was impressive, the school sitting atop a modest hill, the panorama of Mitakihara displayed in the distance. Scratching at her nearly-dry scalp, she vowed to get up on time in the future. She'd been so rushed, she hadn't had a chance to stop and appreciate the fact that spring was finally here.
As she stared out at the manicured grounds, the blunette's eyes were drawn to movement. The entrance to the school was a wide iron gate; a gate that was locked shut once the final bell had rung. Someone had apparently overslept even worse than she had; someone was at the entrance. Squinting, she saw a hand grasping between the bars, futilely searching for the latch that would open it. Sorry, not gonna work, you poor bastard, Sayaka thought. She knew from experience that the door was locked with a key, and your only real chance was to somehow get over the eight foot security wall.
Sayaka jumped in her seat as something tapped her shoulder. Looking back, she saw the new girl giving her a strange look. Brow furrowing in consternation, the blunette mimed "What?" before the girl pointed toward the front of the room before adjusting her thick, unflattering glasses.
Nosy little- Sayaka turned forward, to see the front half of the room, teacher included, gazing at her expectantly. The few seconds of silence stretched on uncomfortably. Blue eyes flashed to the side, seeing Madoka's undersized hand clenching and unclenching. Three fingers, then four fingers. Three, then four, again.
"Um… seven?" Seeing the look of dismay on her teacher's wrinkled old face, she blurted out "Just kidding! It's thirty-four, duh." She held her breath.
"Very good," the aging man said, his voice sounding almost disappointed.
His voice droned on, and Sayaka glanced back, wondering what circumstances had led to that poor fool being so late-
Someone was approaching the gate, striding across the lawn with harsh purpose. Wincing in sympathy, Sayaka realized it was the Head Groundskeeper, Hokannin-san, and that hard-ass would ensure that whoever was out there would regret their tardiness.
The figures confronted one another; the one outside obscured by the wrought iron gate, but Hokannin-san's posture looked menacing enough to tell the tale. Still, the figure kept reaching, stupidly fumbling for a non-existent way to open the gate. The Head Groundskeeper reached out, grabbing the student's hand and fumbling with the lock. Undoubtedly she was about to see him grab the offending student and drag them to-
Sayaka gasped aloud as she watched the large man seem to run headlong into the gate, head and shoulders slamming into the wrought iron bars. Watching with uncomprehending eyes, the blunette noticed the man begin turning his head, and with dawning horror watched his feet kick and writhe against the bars. One of his arms began clawing at the air behind him, the other seemed to have disappear into the gate-
"Oh my god!" Sayaka cried, drawing the entire class's attention as she watched in horror. "What the f-"
"Miki-san!" Sensei's voice held a distinct note of warning. "What is the meaning of this outburst?"
The teacher's harsh shout snapped the blunette out of her shock. "There's something out there, it attacked Hokannin-san!" Heart pounding, Sayaka pointed out the window, to where she'd seen the Head Groundskeeper fall backward as the gate lurched open, leaving behind something hang disturbingly between the gate's framework of iron.
Nothing. There was nothing at the gate. "But… I saw…" The class continued to stare at her, a few of the girls beginning to whisper behind their hands. Yori, a boy with spiky black hair, snorted in disbelief. Nakazawa looked like he thought it was a joke, and even Mazushii looked like she felt embarrassed for her. Madoka looked at her with sincere concern.
"Perhaps you are suffering from something," the man said, trying to sound nonchalant, but something in his voice made Sayaka wonder if he was afraid of something. Nervous, at least, all of a sudden. His look was calculating. Had he seen it? "Do you require a visit to the nurse?"
"No, I'm fine, but he might be hurt-" Suddenly the whispers got louder.
"Miki-san that is enough! Please report to the infirmary, unless you are being intentionally disruptive with another ill-conceived attempt at humor? Perhaps Assistant Principal Tetsuo needs to have another discussion with you-"
"I'm going!" the blunnette muttered furiously. She glanced at Madoka. "Could I be escorted by the health-"
"I highly doubt your particular ailment requires that another student's learning be disrupted," the man stated firmly. A little wild-eyed, and followed by waves of whispers that trailed in her wake, she left the room and headed toward the nurse's infirmary.
"Psst." Madoka turned around, bewildered. Usually only Sayaka whispered to her during class, who could be talking to her? She saw the black haired new girl who sat behind Sayaka, a transfer student from another city, staring at her. Surreptitiously, the girl tossed a small wad of paper, but Madoka was unprepared and merely watched it bounce of her shoulder to the ground, her small hand twitching seconds too late. The black haired girl, Homura something, was looking at the paper in disappointment.
While their sensei fiddled around with shapes and formula on the interactive screenboard, Madoka stooped over and slid the paper close with the tips of her fingers, grasping it and sitting up with a guilty expression on her face. Nobody, luckily, seemed to have been paying attention. Not even Masumi, who'd been staring at her all morning. She double-checked; the purple-haired girl was staring at the teacher, but as soon as Madoka glanced at her she turned her head, smiling nervously.
I wonder what's wrong with Masumi-chan? Usually, the girl was so friendly and talkative, but recently she'd been… awkward. That was the word. Shrugging, the pinkette bent over her secret message. The note read: Is your friend sick? -Akemi Homura.
Smiling, the pinkette shook her head as she wrote, No. She's just imaginative sometimes. -Kaname Madoka. She neatly folded the paper into a triangle and tossed it to the transfer student. Her throw was poor, but the black-haired girl's hand deftly picked it up and unfolded it.
Just as she was beginning to understand what the sensei had been discussing, something bounced off the back of her neck. She half-turned, seeing the guilty look on the pale girl's face. She smiled to dispel the thought of any bad feelings, noticing and grabbing the refolded paper. It was a triangle, just like she'd folded it. Hadn't she read it? Opening it, Madoka realized the girl had responded, and folded it back up just like she had.
Have you heard about the sickness? The teachers aren't mentioning it. It sounds bad.
Madoka re-read the message. What was this girl talking about? Homura had joined their class a few weeks ago, and remained perpetually on the fringe. She sat alone, didn't really contribute much in class… if Madoka hadn't been so busy, she would have made an effort to welcome her to the new and undoubtedly strange class, but she just hadn't had the time, other than the standard pleasantries.
Now, she couldn't help wondering if the girl was a little unbalanced, like some of her classmates thought. She turned, catching the purple eyes of the transfer student watching her intently, and felt herself blush. She started to write a response, thinking hard. No, I haven't-
But then, she remembered something in the background this morning. Her mother was away on business, due back in tonight, so it had been her father's duty to wake everyone up, which he did in his customary way. As the public radio announcer's deep, calming voice had boomed throughout the house, Madoka had largely ignored the political news and information regarding foreign conflicts in places that had little meaning to her. But there'd been something about a virus; some kind of corn-teen or something, and she remembered it had been in a big city. Maybe Kyoto? She crossed out what she'd been writing. What do you know about it?
She passed the note back, this time landing it on the girl's desk. She saw her purple eyes devour the words eagerly, an excited sparkle dancing in them as she looked up at the pinkette.
Sayaka had stopped in a hallway near the bathrooms, the only rooms without walls you could see through. She'd made her way to a spot overlooking the entrance. She couldn't see much. Was that dark spot a stain? Was that a branch over there, or… Shaking her head, the blunette blew the hair out of her eyes with an exasperated puff of air. Maybe she was seeing things, or had misinterpreted. Sighing, but with a vague sense of relief, she turned to head back towards the nurse's office, trying to think of some way she could be sick.
She stopped, an icy chill running down her back. Turning back to the window, she looked at the gate, watching.
It moved. There must have been a breeze, because the gate swayed inward before slowly closing. Sayaka knew that this gate would never, ever be left open by any of the custodial staff, most especially the Head Groundskeeper.
Feeling her stomach tying itself into a knot, Sayaka bolted for the stairwell. She had to get a better look, figure out what was going on. Someone in authority needed to know about what she saw… but they needed to take her seriously. She was the proverbial girl-who-cried-kappa, but if she could find some something, some kind of evidence...
Madoka was getting scared. Akemi-san had described some graphic symptoms; the fever, the spasms and vomiting and rumors of bleeding from all manner of orifices. She'd then gone on to suggest that this problem was more widespread than the government was letting on. The pinkette was at first skeptical, then nervous, and increasingly felt panicked at the thought of some contagion. But it was just some isolated outbreaks, right? This is something the government has been preparing to deal with. Swine flu, bird flu… so many contagions seemed to develop inside their great neighbor China, it had been national policy to implement security measures for just such an epidemic. Right? Like, they had vaccines and stuff ready, didn't they?
Stuffing a discarded pencil in the doorway to prevent it from shutting and locking her out, Sayaka crept across the courtyard, steeling her nerves. She glanced back and forth, but there was nothing, no movement, anywhere. She imagined the stares of her classmates, the entire front of the school able to see her as she strode the last dozen meters.
She'd sighed, actually, as she approached. A sense of absurd relief as she noticed nothing. What she'd seen outside was a lump of discarded clothing. The gate was open, but there was no-
Five meters from the gate, she saw the dark, glistening wetness, a red-brown smear leading across the lush, green lawn. Away, toward the loading docks.
I have a really bad feeling about this. She eyed the gate; if her suspicions were at all justified, something horribly dangerous was inside the wall. Mass murderer, serial killer, homicidal maniac… now might be her only chance to escape.
Shaking her head, she bolted back toward the main entry. Nobody knew. She had to warn them. She had to keep her friend safe. Feeling the weight of an awesome responsibility descend on her shoulders, Sayaka tore through the hallway on the way to the infirmary.
Homura read and re-read the pinkette's responses, noting the girl's sincere need for reassurance. Sadly, she shook her head. She was just about to scrawl a hasty response, spurred on by Madoka's yearning glance back at her, making her heart do funny things for a moment. It hardly mattered that the girl looked especially at the wrinkled, folded paper on the transfer student's desk. A gentle chime caused everyone's heads to turn, staring at the speaker hanging in the corner of the room.
Madoka felt a pang of foreboding, wondering what would cause the principal to give a school-wide announcement in the middle of second period.
Pale faced, Sayaka burst through the infirmary doors, shouting about people getting murdered. The nurse had silenced her with a stern exclamation of disapproval.
"I'm telling you, I saw his arm ripped right off!" Sayaka said forcefully, drawing several strange looks from the few other student's in the infirmary. Someone was laying on a cot, covered in a blanket, occasionally shaking from a fit of coughing.
"Miki Sayaka, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You're upsetting these students," the nurse waved vaguely at the occupied chairs, and Sayaka noticed that the other students were looking at her like she was crazy.
"But-"
"Go back to class, young lady. I don't have time for your foolishness, some people here are actually in need of medical attention," she finished, glancing over at the girl on the cot. She looked at Sayaka closely for a moment. "You haven't been feeling…. feverish, have you?" she asked, as if the thought had just occurred to her.
"Um, no, not re-"
"Then get out of here!" she roared, causing several of the other students to jump.
Chiming preceded an announcement of some kind. Sayaka stopped just outside the door, listening.
"Students and faculty, this is Principal Akira. I'm sure some of you have heard talk about some kind of outbrea-, er, illness that's going around." I knew it, thought Homura, sitting on the edge of her seat, purple eyes sparkling with excitement meeting the worried pink pair that glanced back at her. "I've just received word that the EDCO has issued a city-wide warning, and will be implementing a brief period of voluntary quarantine." Oh no! worried Madoka. "School will be cancelled for this afternoon; after third period, students will-"
No school! celebrated Sayaka automatically, before there was a loud banging noise over the intercom, and the principal's voice got stern.
"Excuse me. Excuse me. Hey! You can't just barge in… Hokannin-san? W-wait, are you… oh god, what's wrong with you? Are you sick? My god, man. Your arm! Are you… no. No! NOOO! Get off me!"
Behind her, Sayaka heard the nurse making shushing sounds to the worried murmuring of the students in her care. The blunette, wild-eyed, took off down the hallway, heading back to her classroom. Madoka!
Everywhere, throughout the school, students were turning to their neighbors, wide-eyed, shocked looks seeking some kind of solace as the sounds got progressively worse. An inhuman growling, like a wild animal, faded in an out. The could hear a struggle, grunting sounds, paper rustling, something falling over. "AHHH!" came an amplified cry, and everyone winced or put hands to their ears as they heard a grown man begin to scream. "NOOO! HELP ME, SOMEONE HELP! GOD NOOO! AGGRURGGGUGGgguggghghh-" the last was a hideously clear gurgling, liquid sound, and then a low, horrifying moan echoed throughout the school.
Madoka was looking at the speaker, waiting to hear their principal come back on, announcing everything was alright, it was all a joke. A strange, confusing, crazy joke. Homura glanced briefly at their sensei, who was himself staring at the source of the hideous sound, a blank, shell-shocked look on his ancient face.
The low, terrible moan grew startlingly loud, and, horrifyingly, impossibly, a second, equally hideous moan joined the first, low and monstrous over the intercom, an unholy duet that reverberated through the glass halls.
If you're squeamish, probably best to stop now.