Time never waits.
It delivers all equally to the same end.

You, who wish to safeguard the future,
however limited it may be...

You will be given one year;

go forth without falter,
with your heart as your guide…

6 APRIL 2009 19:30

SHHHHHHH

SHHHHHHHH

The water in the bathroom sink runs like a waterfall.

So does the sweat on the young adolescent girl's face.

She's sitting on the floor of that very bathroom, bright pink clothes dyed and scented with the immense saturation of sweat, with a gun pressed against her forehead.

Her thumbs wrap around the trigger.

Her breaths quicken ever so….quicker.

The sweat won't stop pouring…

SHHHHHHHHHH

The not-so-silent ambience of the water crescendos as water begins to spill over the sides.

Her mind tells her to hurry up, and that she can pull the trigger.

But her body says otherwise, as it convulses in terror at the notion of pulling that trigger.

The convulsions become far too strong for her mind, body, and spirit to handle, and she drops the gun, her breaths slow to a normal tempo, her skin stops breeding new beads of teenage sweat, and she lays her head back against the sink.

The drops of water spill on her face.

But she's far too exhausted to notice.

SHHHHHHHHHHHHH

6 APRIL 2009 23:48

Dreamless dorm, ticking clock

I walk away from the soundless room

Windless night, moonlight melts

My ghostly shadow to the lukewarm gloom

Nightly dance of bleeding swords

Reminds me that I still live

I will burn my dread

I once ran away from the god of fear

And he chained me to despair

Burn my dread

I'll break the chain

And run till I see the sunlight again

I'll lift my face and run to the sunlight

This damn song again…..

The song continued for a seemingly endless period of time, while I looked out the train windows. A beautiful skyline whizzed by me at what seemed to be a million kilometres per hour.

Iwatodai City…

A city of enchanting dreams and haunting memories.

I stared at my reflection in the pale glass train window. The figure that peered back at me was a skinny and frail young man of average height wearing a Gekkoukan High School uniform with headphones in his ears. The face was a pale face that seemed incredibly ambivalent to all that was happening around him, and the eyes were dull, empty bluish-grey eyes, having seen their fair share of dread of misery over the years.

Those who know me (which amounts to a very little sum of people), know me by the name of Makoto Yuki. I am seventeen years of age, an age filled with shifting emotions and awkward adolescence. I lived here in Iwatodai for the first ten years of our lives, before our parents died in a fatal car accident. I still remember that day clearly. I almost perished just like them. There were several odd and peculiar things that happened that night, but I cannot seem to put my finger on what those things were.

My twin sister, Hamuko, slept on my shoulder. In her ears were a pair red earphones, mirroring mine. She wore a Gekkoukan High School uniform, just like me, and had her brilliant auburn hair tied in an eloquent whatever-I-don't-know-girl-hairstyles-thing, with barrettes spelling out the Roman numerals "XXII". It was always her lucky number, as our late parents married at the age of twenty-two. She always loved our family, just as I did. Instead of cursing the earth and walking alone, which was and still is my planned way of continuing on with life, she always honored the fallen ones and marched on with her head held high, even though she was of small stature and frail heart. To this day, I still admire that quality in her. This persona was given away through her eyes, which burned a brilliant hue of red, the opposite of my dull, bluish-grey eyes. It's strange how our respective personalities can basically be spelled out just through our appearances.

We were heading towards Iwatodai Dormitory, in order to prepare for our first day of our second year of high school. We were to go to Gekkoukan High School, a school of which we were wearing our school uniforms already, for our stay here in Iwatodai, however slight a time that might be. We, as twin siblings moved from relative to relative, country to country, horrible experience and harsh society to horrible experience and harsh society.

However, all the praise I gave her did not change the fact that her awkward position of cuddling me on the train ride gave me sores all over my body. How annoying, I contemplated to myself, as I vainly attempted to sleep by leaning my head against the pale glass window of the train car, flattening my hair. The train jolted violently as we passed what seemed to be a dilapidated section of track, and I grunted and grimaced from a deep, blunt pain in my temple, as my skull lifted for a brief moment from the car, and then proceeded to slam again into the window.

My headphones fell out just as the pandemonium occurred and "Burn My Dread"

transitioned into some obscure pop track.

"Urgh!"

Hamuko shook ever so softly and woke from her highly irritating and uncomfortable slumber (Well, at least for me.). She looked at me with a glint of concern in those eyes. The red irises had shots of bloodshot fatigue stemming from the center of her eye. It looks like a thunderstorm in her eyes.

"You all right, oniichan?"

I came out of our mother's womb, like literally twenty seconds before she did, so she says I'm like a big brother to her. Well, after all, I did take care of her after Mom and Dad died, so I guess she's in the right.

She was still in that stupid, disconcerting position on my shoulder.

Gods, I swear I have tendonitis in that shoulder now. And a concussion.

"I'm fine, Hamuko." I muttered under my excruciating breath as I, as calmly and politely as humanly possible, shoved her head off of my shoulder. She let out a long, extremely high-pitched yawn as she checked her phone for the time.

23:57

Suddenly, like a stage play cue, exactly as she opened her phone, the announcer announced in his extremely irritating announce-y voice:

"NEXT STOP: IWATODAI. IWATODAI."

We began to pack up our things as us, and several others, stood up slowly, shook out limbs which hadn't seen action in several exhaustingly long hours, and clumsily paced our way to the train's exit.

We stood outside the train on that night.

An impenetrable black curtain of night sky loomed above us.

An immensely large gibbous moon stared its lonely stare at the earth, it's translucent white body absorbing beauty from the night sky and the eyes that perceive it, like a jealous thief.

"We should probably start heading to the dorm, oniichan." Hamuko stated. Even in her highly fatigued state, she always was so energetic and full of life.

"You're probably right. Let's go, Hamuko."

However, as soon as we could begin ambulating to our destination, a curtain of green clouds, in its immense stealth and depth, swept over the city, encapsulating all of Iwatodai in its mysterious jade majesty. The moon became of the same hue. Like the gods were waving their hands over the entire world, all the power in the city went out in a flash.

But that was not the most startling occurrence of this transformed night.

All the people in this bustling train station became imprisoned in jet black coffins with a tinge of red on the outside.

Everyone but us, shielded by black.

That was not the first of many nights of terror. We encountered it every night in America, just at a different time. We forgot the time zone shift. However, that fact did not make the happening any less horrifying.

Hamuko let out a scream that pierced the midnight, as I reacted quickly and embraced her in a protective hug.

"Aaahhhhh!"

"Calm down, Hamuko! Let's just keep moving! This happened every night. Different time zones, that's all!"

With that reassuring fact, she seemed to calm herself a little. She was still shivering.

I would be lying if I wasn't either.

"You're right, oniichan. But can we please hurry? To someplace safe, maybe?"

We walked slowly to the dormitory, her arms still embracing me in her perpetual spook.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally made it to the quaint building.

While it was dark and gloomy outside, we could still make out the fancy, gargantuan dormitory building. Emblazoned above the double front doors were the letters "IWATODAI DORMITORY."

The doors were quite surprisingly unlocked, and we walked in the door. Hamuko finally let go of me.

Upon entering the dormitory, we could instantly see, even with only the faint brilliance of the candle on the reception desk, that this was a high-quality dorm, with couches, TV sets, tables a-plenty. At least we would be staying in someplace nice.

However, that speculation was brought to a halt with the startling sight of a boy in the darkness. The boy wore what seemed to be tattered prison clothes. He had blue hair and faint bluish-grey eyes, just like myself. The resemblance could not go unnoticed. Before Hamuko or I could speak, we were greeted by the odd, mysterious boy.

"You're late. I've been waiting a long time for you."

Gods, even the voice sounds strangely similar to my own.

Before I could respond, the boy snapped his fingers, and just like magic, a thick, tattered red book appeared on the reception desk. We looked at him with a look of bewilderment and a tinge of fear.

"Now if you want to proceed, please sign your name there. It's a contract. Don't worry, all it says is that you'll accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usual stuff."

I was about to ask him what the hell was going on and how in the hell it was considered usual, but the book violently flipped open and shut me up. Hamuko has remained silent this entire time. When I peered into the contract, I found that all it said were the words

"I chooseth this fate of mine own free will."

Thinking why the hell not, we signed the contract with our names. However, we were still very skeptical.

"No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end. You can't plug your ears and cover your eyes." The boy said, and then proceeded to take the contract from my hands. It then, much to our horror and confusion, vanished into thin air.

"And so it begins." The boy chuckled. He disappears as well.

Before I can promptly ask Hamuko what the hell was going on, a voice shouted, in its seeming surprise and terror, the words:

"Who's there?"

Those words, and the shouting tone that clothed them, made us freeze in place.

The source of those words came down the wooden staircase. It was a beautiful young woman clad in brilliant pink sweater and short black skirt, as well as leggings of the same color. She had short light-brown hair and a choker with a bright red heart shape emblazoned on it. In her soft brown eyes was a glint of fear and worry.

"Konbanwa, we-" I started, but before I could finish my greeting, she reached for a part of her I did not even notice.

A gun in a holster on her thigh.

I didn't really care and wasn't scared of her, but Hamuko was terrified. She clenched my hand and prepared for the inevitable-

"Takeba, wait!"

All three of us turned around and saw a stately young woman, barely older than us, with deep wine-red hair and elegant clothing coming down the stairs. She seemed unfazed by the situation, much like myself, and quickly stepped in. A sharp noise resonated through the stifling air and the power came back on.

The stately woman walked towards us three.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live at this dorm."

Her voice was as elegant as her appearance. The brunette girl in pink clothing asked,

"Who are they?"

Her voice was as beautiful as she was. Before Hamuko or I could answer, Mitsuru Kirijo answered for us.

"Makoto and Hamuko Yuki. Transfer students. It was a last minute decision to assign both of them here. Makoto will eventually be moved to a room in the boy's dorm."

Miss Pink Girl had a worried look on her face.

"...Is it okay for him to be here?"

Mitsuru had a look of contemplation in her piercing eyes.

"I guess we'll see…."

She turned to me.

"This is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you."

The look of worry on Miss Pink Girl's face turned to a look of nervousness on Yukari Takeba's face.

"...Hey."

The glint of fear in Hamuko and I's eyes turned to warm, welcoming eyes.

"Nice to meet you." I said, bowing to Yukari.

However, her nervous countenance didn't change.

"...Y-yeah, nice to meet you too….."

I thought Hamuko would greet her as well, but she seemed to have different plans. She was always much more direct than I was.

"Why do you have a gun?"

Yukari was a bit surprised and fidgety about Hamuko's blunt question.

"Um, well, it's sorta like a hobby….Well, not a hobby, but-"

Mitsuru calmly interrupted her ramble.

"You know how it is these days…. it's for self-defense. It's not a real gun, of course."

Despite being confused by Mitsuru's statement, I continued the conversation.

"Is this the girl's dorm?"

"No, it's not, but... Umm, how should I explain it...?" Yukari answered, bewildered.

"Unlike the other buildings, this one is co-ed. It's not your typical dorm, though. I'll explain it to you later when I have the chance." Mitsuru explained.

Not typical? How? Is it because of that boy?

Hamuko then promptly let out her signature girly yawn, a signal for Mitsuru to send us off to our rooms.

"It's getting late, so you should get some rest. Makoto, your room is on the second floor, at the end of the hallway. Your things should already be there. Hamuko, I'll show you to your dorm. You may follow me."

Hamuko looked back at me, then followed Mitsuru up the staircase. After the two disappeared into the stairwell, Yukari broke the silence.

"Oh…...I'll show you the way. Follow me."

We ascended the stairs and came out on the second-floor hallway. It seemed Hamuko's room was on a higher floor. We walked to the end of this hall, and I saw what had to be my room, on the right side next to a window peering out onto the nighttime city. I briefly peeked out and saw that the sky had turned to normal. Must have been an hour since the train station. This usually took about an hour, and then everything returned to normal.

"This is it…..pretty easy to remember, huh?...Since it's right at the end of the hall. Oh yeah, make sure you don't lose your key, or you'll never hear the end of it….any questions?"

Oh, certainly.

"What's that contract for? Does that kid live here too?"

Yukari seemed to be wildly confused by my inquiry.

"What contract? And what kid? What are you talking about? C'mon, it's not funny."

She seemed to reply in a tone that was a mix of anger and confusion. A few seconds of awkward silence passed before she handed me the room key.

"Um….can I ask you something? On your way here from the station, was everything okay?"

It wasn't okay, but I decided to play dumb, because I knew she would get worked up if something happened. She seemed to be that kind of person.

"Yeah."

"I see….never mind, then."

She then started to slowly and tiredly walk down the hallway, away from me. But then she stopped and turned her head.

"Um…...I'm sure you have other questions, but let's save them for later, okay? Anyway, good night."

Yukari then walked out of sight. She seemed like a nice girl. I then walked into my new room, closed the door, and basically fell asleep as soon as I hit the surface of the bed.

And thus ended the night where it all began.