A Broken Outline:
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A streak of red appeared in the corner of Akari-chan's vision and the mild-mannered girl instinctively reached for the box of tissues to pass to poor Chitose. When seconds had passed with no hand responding, her full attention was drawn over, guessing the fantasist must be quite incapacitated this time. And indeed she was right …in a way.
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No longer immersed in Kyouko's latest doujin effort she saw a moment frozen in time, like something out of a comedy anime. Kyouko and Ayano were as pale as ghosts and paused halfway through one of their now obligatory daily "lovers tiffs", Kyouko's arms locked around the tsundere's waist as transparent protestation had been vollied back at her. Most of all, though, it was their eyes which caught Akari's gaze. Wide, shivering, starting to tear, and both staring perpendicular from each other towards Chitose. Chitose. The silverhaired girl lay on the floor. This, of course, was hardly unusual, particularly in the Amusement Club's annexed accomodation.
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There was blood! …Of course there was blood, it's Chitose! While it was always a concerning matter for any of the friends, they had grown accustomed to the twin's unfortunate ailment, and as Kyouko would probably point out, it did have a "moé" element to it. Except, the longer Akari looked, the more something didn't seem right. Was it the silence? The 'Chashitsu', the school's purpose built traditional tea house, now abandoned by the defunct society, had a typical, pervasive stillness that even surpressed the youthful energies of the interlopers. This calm was frequently only accented by the wind as it rustled through the surrounding minature forest ….'No, ..no that isn't wind is it Akarin' she thought to herself. It was breathing, heavy breathing. Akari blinked, there was more to this. The blood, there was, well, a lot, not just 'a lot', but 'a lot for Chitose!' …more than ecchi thoughts could typically muster. The redhead started to feel unsettled, though she couldn't identify why. But then for this at-average girl to miss the obvious was a defining personality trait.
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It was pooling around the still laying girl, and they were all just sitting around looking at her. Akari thought it looked like the cartoonish memories of events in her head, like a nosebleed would in a gag manga - a sudden geysering of scarlet, backward fainting, out cold, and then a growing *lake* of blood even Neon Genesis Evangelion would be proud of.
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Akari laughed internally, but only for a second. Even she could see this was over the top. Finally it came into focus. A black object, a round, mottled, large black thing, with two decorative flourishes …a handle and a spout. And it lay two feet or so from Chitose, a trail of blood running between them. Something cast a shadow over the no longer laughable scene, Chinatsu-chan.
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Akari stared at the girl with candy floss hair. Standing alone, hunched over, holding herself with one arm, her posture dramatically rose and fell with each deep laboured breath. Crimson speckles glinted in the wavering afternoon light. On that arm ...and her legs, and the white tunic of her uniform. Unable to comprehend what she saw, Akari slowly became aware of sounds around her. Kyouko was stuttering through sobs "Chi- Chi- ..Chi-" and Ayano had started to scream hysterically. After a time that felt simultaneously like a year and a second, a sudden bang and girlish shout of "SHUTUP!" brought silence to the club room again. Chinatsu's enflamed face was raised and visible.
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"Sick. … All of YOU! … And she was the sickest.
Perverts. Teases. Cold-hearted. Liars. Dead."
Akari's throat tensed as that last one was addressed directly at her.
"I came here with pure intentions, to learn the sacred art of the tea ceremony. … Instead I was tricked into your web of games. Your stupid fantasies. Your cosplay."
That last one was particularly heaped with vocal contempt.
"Your time-wasting. An..And my heart has been played with, teased, tormented, tortured, crushed.
M..My love …My LOVE is a pure force… not like the sick lusts this dreamer wallowed in… and flaunted, in public!"
It seemed like the first year had more to say, but nothing further came.
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As if taking the pause as a cue, the until now stunned blonde suddenly hauled herself and the purple to their feet and started to dash over, Ayano crying out "Ak-ar-", but they both flinched as Chinatsu swung down and grabbed the cast iron teapot, brandishing it with unrequired conviction. Changing tack, Ayano bolted in the opposite direction and literally dragged her more foolhardy compatriot out a side door, all the while screaming what sounded to Akari like "Run".
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Chinatsu's short form now loomed into Akari's vision, increasingly dominating it as she stepped closer. Gears started to turn in the redhead's mind. Fear. Forbodding. A recognision of something. The look in Chinatsu's eyes. The isolation of the tea house ran through Akari's consciousness, a thought of her onee-chan, Akane, and for some reason, memories of a ceiling in Chinatsu-chan's house. A voice called out to her, but it sounded muffled, like it was inside herself.
"Akarin, run away. Run away. Run away and it'll be ok."
Strangely it seemed to be her own voice. With that she started to feel faint, not quiet there, like she was becoming invisible, just an outline.
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Disconnecting from reality Akari's consciousness retreated to a safer place, and in doing so insulated her from the following twenty six minutes, and until well after the teachers would arrive. After the police. After the painful medical swabs. The last thing she experienced was Chinatsu resting a hand on her shoulder, and whispering in her ear "The dead-hearted won't return my love, but then, they won't reject it either".