Title: To Love a Beast
Finally graduating from Iwatobi High was one of Makoto's earnest memories, he used to remember it a lot as he walked the streets of Tokyo where he attended college now. His first week was a pain; he was looking to make some friends, not that he was bad at it, but people in Tokyo had a peculiar rush all the time. It seemed as if a never ending rush possessed the people of Tokyo, who never even bothered to look to the side in concern for other people. Worried and overwhelmed by his new education curriculum, and lack of friends, he strolled every street from his house to the college with the goal of familiarizing himself with the big city. The area was crowded enough, but in time it was impossible to get lost (even for Makoto). He knew how to get to almost any place he wanted.
But…
Little did he know that hell was breaking loose in Tokyo, and he was blissfully ignorant about it.
Chapter 1: Reign of Malice
It was 6:00 am and Makoto's alarm went off, filling the room with all kinds of annoying sounds. He stood up and wiped his mouth clean of the little bits of drool he had.
*Yawn* "It's too early…" He whined a bit as he stood up from the bed, picking up his clothes from the drawer. He entered the bathroom, wearing only a short boxer and his half-asleep face. He took a look in the mirror to try and snap out of it. He stared at his reflection while his mind wandered every corner of his head trying to find meaning in his current lifestyle. It usually took him a while to get into motion since Mondays were his nightmare, he had to stay late at college. Water coursed his face and a soapy aroma filled the little bathroom he had. He took another glance at the mirror and gained a little more confidence to start the day.
"Monday, here I come!" He smacked his cheeks and went out his usual way.
It took him exactly 20 minutes from his little apartment in Bunkyō to the university campus. On Mondays he had his introductory courses for infant and childhood psychology. He was studying the early stages of children education. On the afternoon he had to take physical education courses where he had to build his body and submerge himself into the theories applied to children. Tachibana aimed to be a teacher for the most part but he wanted to encourage children to follow competitive sport roles like his best friend Nanase did. He was prepared to make this dream come a reality.
The sound of the leaves cracking and the wind howling were the only company Makoto had. There was an eerie smell in Tokyo today, a deathly scent covered the pathway Makoto walked by. He crossed a street with numerous people at his side, almost a mechanical and fully automated function in his college life. He sometimes forgot to look at both sides of the street, whenever he saw someone start walking he would usually follow that person since he assumed that person also looked before crossing. This particularly stopped since the time he did that and the person in front of him was ran over and killed. It wasn't long before he was already in his classroom with some minutes to spare.
The professor always arrived five minutes late and always came with the same excuse, Makoto used this to try and make a change in plans. Talking to someone was always thrilling to him, he would find the tiniest detail to start talking to someone; he couldn't bear the cold personality of the city people surrounding him. There was but one girl who always talked to Makoto, Amanda Stokes, but she always arrived late to class. She was a foreign exchange student who was very friendly but, just like Makoto, she had no luck in making any friends. Eager to see what was up today, Makoto took a seat in the front and put his backpack on the seat to the right; he opened his notebook and started tapping his pencil, waiting for something to happen. "This time for sure" He thought to himself as he looked around for some conversation. Five minutes in and no one even made a sound, they looked like zombies waiting for something to kill them or take them away from that place.
"I wonder what's wrong with everyone…" Just as he was going to stand up in an exuberated manner, a tall and well-built man sat next to him on his left side. Makoto was surprised at this since no one ever sat in the front, mostly because the professor bored everyone to death. This man took out a notebook and kept searching his book bag for something. Tachibana quickly took this chance and opened his book bag to get a pencil.
"Umm, here!" Makoto stretched his hand over and put a pencil on the tall man's desk. The man looked at him with a very serious face and turned his body to face Makoto's face. "Thanks…" He took the pencil and stared at Makoto's silly face, that face that awaited a lively response. "I don't think I know you" Said the man in a dull way.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Tachibana Makoto. Nice to meet you!" The man kept staring at Makoto, wondering how he could shake him off after the cheerful man lent him a pencil.
Makoto put up a lost face, as if looking for some more interaction with the tall man. He just turned around and it was like Makoto wasn't there. The professor hadn't arrived yet but Sousuke was jotting down some stuff in his notebook.
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your name" Makoto kept pressing for small talk, this time the man looked to the side and a little annoyed he replied: "Sousuke". Makoto immediately noticed Sousuke's grumpy behavior and stopped talking. The classroom door cringed and the professor came in, a chubby mid-forties man carrying a box of donuts was the center of attention now. He was already fifteen minutes late to the class. Sousuke let out a big moan as the man positioned himself in front of wooden podium.
"Mr. Yamazaki, I know I'm late but at least show some interest!" He gave a hearty laugh and briefly looked at Sousuke who paid no mind to whatever sensei was talking about. Meanwhile, Makoto had already written down Sousuke's full name, he was one of the few people who had "interacted" with him.
October 26, 2015.
Yamazaki Sousuke, don't forget!
Despite the class was already 40 minutes in, Makoto's notebook didn't have any of the important notes in it, just the name of that interesting man.
Yamazaki was sitting there, elbow on the desk to hold out his face from dying of boredom. He wouldn't even look to the side, Makoto couldn't deny he was struck by that man's physical charms and there was no going back. He tried to shake that thought off his head but he kept staring back at Sousuke's face. He kept lowering his gaze to look at his teal shirt under his unzipped jacket that matched his eyes and serious face perfectly. Stalking a bit more he went down to his black jeans, thinking on how that type of jeans complemented him perfectly around his obviously worked out body. Lost in impish thoughts he didn't notice that Sousuke's face was pointing directly at him.
"Shit! What am I doing?" He quickly tried to think of something that would justify looking at Yamazaki like that and noticed a quarter lying on the floor and drove his hand out to pick it up.
"Is this yours?" He asked a little nervously to what the big man responded with a simple and annoyed "No".
Class was dismissed and Sousuke quickly stood up, he rolled one sleeve of his jacket up and returned the borrowed pencil. He thanked Makoto and headed for the classroom exit. Just as he's doing this Makoto's eyes catch a small but notable scar on the back of Sousukes forearm, it seemed like a deep cut in a small area. Mesmerized by the moment he didn't say anything but as Sousuke's figure got farther he snapped out of it.
"Take care Sousuke! See you next class!" He shouted this as he smiled while looking at Sousuke's back. Yamazaki turned his back a bit and raised his hand in goodbye without saying anything else.
"I wonder why Amanda didn't go to class today, she's usually here by the time the professor gets here" Our bashful man put a hand in his chin wondering where his wonderfully shy foreign girl was. He didn't pay too much mind to it and exited the classroom too; his day was far from over. Midday quickly came over the campus and Makoto's stomach was eating him from the inside out. He kept tapping his feet on the floor, desperate to get out of his sociology class.
"I'm so hungry, I wonder if I'll find Amanda in time for lunch" He questioned himself while every word the professor mentioned became just a thrill of noise to his ears. The 1:00 p.m. bell sounded and a soft "You're dismissed" was heard. As he's walking in the hallway he noticed Sousuke walking in the Japanese lunch hour crisis. "Ne! Sousuke!" He screamed but the well-built man didn't seem to hear, he got even closer, coursing through the wave of people and caught up with him. He put a hand over the man's shoulder and stopped him.
"Hey! Sousuke, nice to see you again! I didn't know you took classes at this hour too!" Sousuke turned around, letting Makoto's hand slide away from his shoulder. "Yeah" Despite his serious face he seemed a bit more talkative than when they were in class. "Are you grabbing lunch now?" Makoto quickly asked.
"Actually, No" Again the silence stood between them and a little awkwardness filled the moment. Just after Sousuke said that, Makoto asked another question in a rapid succession. "Then, wanna go grab something to drink? Coffee maybe? I'm falling asleep myself! Haha" He started laughing and for the first time Makoto saw Sousuke smirk. "I'm up for some coffee too" He nodded and they both started walking towards the university cafeteria.
"I wonder what they're serving today, everyone's like crazy over lunch"
"…I guess"
"What are you majoring? I don't see you in any of my other classes but you take my morning class"
"I'm majoring Botany, that class is just a free elective course"
"Ehh! Really? That's awesome!"
"You know about Botany?" He looked to the side, changing his expression to a surprised one.
"My mother loved all sorts of plants, she would grow different types of them in our small garden and would tell us how we could tell them apart"
"Us?"
"Ah! I meant my little brother and sister"
"I see… Well, we're here" He got his hands out of his pockets and rolled one sleeve up as they entered the cafeteria.
They ordered some coffee and sat for a while.
"When is your next class?" Makoto asked, interested in knowing what other classes he had in the day.
"None, I'm already out of class" He sipped a bit of his coffee, cupping it between his big hands, sapping the heat of it. "I see" Makoto also slipped a bit of coffee into his mouth.
"Thanks, Sousuke"
"Hmm?" He looked to the side, droopy eyes and eyebrow up like an alert dog who makes a pointed ears expression.
"To tell the truth, I've been feeling out of place since I got here"
"…" Sosuke didn't say anything, but he seemed interested in what Makoto was saying.
"Tachibana was it?" He looked at Makoto firmly now.
For someone who was trying to make friends, Makoto was a bit shy now that Sousuke called him by his name, well it was a start. "H-Hai!"
"Sometimes it's better to be alone, you never know people's true intentions" He said this while drinking the last of his coffee and stood up from the table. "I'll go now, thanks for the coffee"
"No problem Sousuke-kun" Makoto gave a bright smile up and extended his hand out.
"Just Sousuke is fine" He shook his hand and smiled back at Makoto.
"Then-"Before he could finish his sentence Sousuke went away in a rush.
"I wonder where he's going in such a hurry. Well, at least I got to talk to him"
The rest of Makoto's day was awful, P.E. was harsh and he ended up destroyed. He hit the showers, as always everyone minded their own business, not a hint of friendship.
"Sigh…" He washed every part of his body while lost in thought. He soaped and rinsed more than usual, Sousuke's image kept buzzing into his head.
"Why am I thinking this now… out of all the places"
It wasn't that he was always lurking on perverted thoughts, after all, Makoto never did do this for other people he found attractive. There was something about Sousuke that constantly popped up in his head.
"I barely know him, I must be out of my head"
He finished showering and picked up his things already anxious to get home. He started walking but decided to take a different road home, he passed a riverbank and saw some college boys by the riverside. "Must be fun doing that" He thought just as he walked by them and saw a familiar face.
"AMANDA?" He quickly noticed her among the young crew.
"MAKOTO!?" She jolted, her eyes were wide open as if she did something bad and Makoto was right there in the heat of it. Makoto got close to her, not noticing what he was getting into. She pushed him aside with a terrified face.
"What's wrong Amanda? Are you okay?" Almost in an instant a shadow cast over the olive-haired man. He turned around and saw a human-like figure with a shining red iris and a black shadow in his eyes.
"Huh? AGHH" His body hit the floor, he quickly stood up and a line of blood coursed his face all the way down to his chin.
"Makoto! RUN!" Amanda screamed as Makoto looked at her in a sudden panic.
"What's going on!?" Other human-like creatures started jumping through the trees above the wall of the riverside. About three more came and started gushing out the other guys that were with Amanda but for some reason they didn't touch her.
"Please Makoto, Run!" Makoto started getting away but one of the last creatures to arrive got him and slashed his back as he ran. Makoto fell to the floor in pain and as he tried to get up he saw the monster about to gush out his body…
"NO! Stop Ryu! DON'T!" Amanda screamed from behind, begging the monster to stop but he didn't listen. Before the monster could strike, its head fell on Makoto's side and 2 masked people in cloaks started attacking the other monsters. The battle clearly favored the two people in long garments. Makoto was on the floor, his vision getting blurry, all he could hear was Amanda's screams as all the blood of the attackers stuck to the ground. All the human-like monsters were defeated by those two, not a single scratch on them. They quickly approached Stokes who was near Makoto, stuck to the ground in fear.
"Why are you bringing people here! Have you no shame for your kind!?" One of the cloaked men started shouting at the foreign girl. Tears fell down and Amanda couldn't speak a word back.
"Let it be, take care of her. I'll tend to that one on the floor" The other man approached Makoto.
"Don't eat him!" Amanda suddenly screamed but the other man punched her stomach and put her to sleep.
"There, less noise" The two cloaked men looked at each other and nodded in agreement, already knowing what to do from there.
Just before Makoto lost consciousness, he tried to get a look at the man beside him helping him stand up. He couldn't notice anything, until he rolled a sleeve up as he approached him.
"S-So….Sousuke…"