Chapter 1
One night, just like every other boring night she had to endure being in that filthy place called Myojo, Isuke decided to take a turn.
Once again, she had successfully bullied her roommate out of their room's bath for the night. It wasn't difficult to do so anyway.
Sometimes Isuke would hope for Haruki to just put some resistance before giving up on it. All of this this just for the sake of making a commotion and drama, so she could temporarily escape from that miserable situation she got trapped in. The life in that hell hole that happened to be called Myojo, where she was stuck for the second time.
But no. Haruki would always smile and gladly grant her their room's bath.
"We have a good time with the rest of them Isuke-sama." was her usual reply. "You should join us too, just like how you did when we first came here"
Every time Haruki suggested this, Isuke would grind her teeth in frustration and of course refuse. Even if she hated to admit it, using the school's bath with her classmates wasn't horrendous. But of course, that was back when they had to kill Haru, and she wanted to gather information about her competitors and maybe use some of them to her advantage. At least that's what she would say to herself for not actually hating the whole experience overall. But now there was no point in trying to socialize with anyone, or even hold back on insulting them to the slightest.
But even for Isuke, it was hard to frustrate an idiot who basically had no ego to take her bitter remarks personally. This person reminded her of the combats she had during her assassination jobs. Haruki was the type of person to always find a way and remove her knives, guns or whatever weapon she was going to use against her would just smile and brush everything off. A simple, yet greatly effective way to beat Isuke's torturing attempts every time, that is, by not participating at it.
"Nio and headmaster's disgusting ideas" Isuke muttered to herself while heading towards a different direction than her usual way to their room that night. "If only it wasn't for that stupid sudden test"
After winning the surprise challenge, Mizorogi-sensei's wish was that everyone would graduate from Myojo. Of course he had already prepared their diplomas, but the only legit one of the bunch was Haru's. Since the rest of the girls had all been expelled before graduating, these diplomas were just a mere piece of paper Mizorogi-sensei had prepared in the hopes of making his ex students feel better.
Since his wish would have to be a reality no matter what, all of them had to return back at Myojo. Of course Haru didn't have to, since she had already graduated once, but she willingly chose to return too.
"Haru just wants to have fun with her classmates. I want to get to know everyone properly this time" was what the girl said after Nio announcing they all had to go back to school but her.
"Then it's decided" was what Nio slyly had responded, showing a shark-like smile.
Thinking of that moment again Isuke sighed heavily, making a loud groan that anyone who might happened to be in her vicinity or even further than that would hear. It sounded more like a yelling rather than plain sigh. Isuke was so fed up already, and it had only been one week after their re-enrollment at Myojo. That was the reason she decided to take a different turn that night.
Isuke had stayed in the class for an extra thirty minutes than the rest of her classmates that evening. She was yet again the only one to get a perfect zero out of hundred in her test for the third time in a week. Mizorogi sensei could only let that slip for the first few times before finally sharing his concerns about her worrysome performance.
After half an hour of endless tutoring, he still planned on keeping Isuke much longer to properly teach her about the basics of that test. But even a teacher as enthusiastic as him couldn't help but get major chills by Isuke's blood-dripping gaze every single time he would open his mouth to talk about equations and math. Finally, he dismissed her out earlier.
Isuke exhaled. "I guess I could use these idiots for my entertainment from time to time" she mumbled before arriving at the front door of their school's public bath.
She was already wearing her bikini under her clothes so she didn't have to go back to their room and change. Isuke began undressing to her swimwear and was about to enter the bath when an all too familiar laughter from inside stopped her.
"Yo Mahi- ehm Shinya, get these ducks out of my face" Haruki laughed, feigning annoyance as she squeezed one in her hand.
"They are part of the familly now" the smaller girl answered with her usual raspy voice. "Don't you care about their feelings? I thought you were a caring person Sagae-san" Shinya smirked.
"You can't argue with Banba-san" Suzu chimed in.
"Who knows, maybe I would fill my room with stuffed animals too if Chitaru-san wasn't here." Hitsugi added, resting her head on Chitaru's shoulder.
"Now now, it's not like Sumireko-san isn't in Myojo right? She just doesn't use the public bath like us, that's all." Suzu added while relaxing on the pool's edge.
"You sure know how to break any tension, don't you?" Nio grinned at her. Despite everyone knowing her body scars, the blonde would always wear a full body swimsuit every time she was using the public bath. "Seems like everyone is here today" she added. "Well everyone except the usual people anyway"
It was true, the Myojo students had already unofficially established meeting in there almost every night after the class was over. Everyone was usually there except Takechi, Tokaku, Hanabussa and Isuke.
"Tokaku-san isn't the social type, right Haru?" Nio grinned at the girl. Before Haru's blush managed to show, Nio turned her gaze at Shiena "I'm sure you don't mind Takechi missing though"
"God knows what she's up to again. Taking a break from her is always welcome" Shiena replied annoyed, crossing her arms to her chest.
"But..." the blonde resumed "You are lucky you are not in Haruki-san's position"
Hearing her name, Haruki broke off the pleasant oblivion the warm water had driven her into, and her body jolted. "W-What about me?"
"You haven't been paying attention at all, haven't you?" Nio asked on a sham hurt tone. Haruki scratched her neck awkwardly as a response of getting caught "Thinking of your family? Or could it be...your roommate?" she grinned.
"What?" Haruki exclaimed. "I was just relaxing a bit too much, heh. Besides, Isuke-sama always takes bath in our room"
"I admire your will power to put up with Inukai-san's every whim" Nio remarked.
"Yes how can you stand her Haruki-san?" Kouko cut in, finally participating in the conversation "I could never live with her. Especially after what she did to me in the surprise challenge"
The attention of the group was directed at Haruki, who was now fully alert of the effects the calming fumes had been having on her.
"What did she do?" she murmured without her voice clearly reaching Kouko.
"A classic high maintenance personality like hers is certainly not easy to handle. Not to mention narcissistic too" Nio stated as a matter of fact.
Listening to the conversation about her from the other side of that big room, Isuke was ready to barge in and drown Nio right there and then, inside the bath in front of everyone's eyes. A familiar voice stopped her right before taking action.
"I have more serious worries than Isuke-sama's mood swings, you know" Haruki tiredly stated. Her golden eyes reflecting the water's surface, and for a moment making Isuke (who was picking through the door's slits) even angrier for noticing them instead of planning on how to painfully murder Nio straight away.
Deciding enough was enough, a side smile formed on her lips as she decided to retreat back in her room. Was that what Haruki merely thought of her? Sure, she was indeed what they had mentioned. She took pride on it to be precise. But the way her roommate talked about that. It all sounded so...indifferent. Was that the reason why she was able to condone Isuke's eccentric behavior? Because she really couldn't care less whether Isuke was being bossy or keeping quiet?
Suddenly, as she was heading back, a distant memory which Isuke thought had buried deeper than Earth's core reappeared. Little brother...No! That kind of feeling so despicable to her, that Isuke would kill to stop it. Eliminate everyone that would dare to make her feel that way, and focus on loving the things that could never betray her.
Money.
Despite popular belief, money and the power coming along is not the most dangerous threat in the world.
People. Isuke thought, feeling icky with her own body. Her hand grabbed the door's knob, twisted it and got inside. And to even think that she wasn't in a particularly bad mood that day, even having to listen to their pathetic teacher tutoring her.
She sat down in her bed. It was only then that she realized she had been walking on her revealing bikini from the hallway all the way back to the room. A grumpy sigh escaped her lips when she looked down at herself. She was lucky there wasn't any pervert to see her walking like that in the aisles. Not that she would care, because situations like this would validate her. Like every time a stupid guy would glue his gaze on her or get hooked, only to let him down in the end. It was all about the power play.
But that moment she didn't feel like dealing with something like this at all. The fact that she was in an all girls school lowered the possibility, but there were still some perverts there as well. She could even toy with them in the future.
Of course, out of everyone, her roommate was the exception as she never showed any interest for anyone. Sometimes Isuke would wonder if it was possible for someone to spend their whole life like that. Not indulging at anything and just being a machine that only wants to give.
The pinkette planned on marrying a middle-aged rich man just to wait some years to inherit his fortune or convince him into it. It wasn't as if she was genuinely interested in those type of men anyway. The closest she felt on being in love with these people were their wallets, and that's how deep her emotional capabilities could dive into for people in general except her family. But Mama had been in love with her Papa, so at least somehow she knew there were rare occasions this wasn't fake. A mere pretense between two people who just get something to meet their needs from each other.
She learned everything from Eisuke, he had saved her life. Besides, Mama met his husband after a long time of giving up on love. His partner was a simple citizen, not even involved with his type of world. Isuke was glad for him when he announced he was seeing someone. She was just ten years old, but she was able to recognize true happiness in her parent's eyes.
But deep down she knew these things were not for her. She wasn't made for love or to be loved, so she was very lucky to have Eisuke.
After discovering that from a very early age, Isuke's attention turned to power. She came to like the rush of being able to control people's feelings. She didn't have to feel anything by doing so either.
But that night, the more she contemplated over all these useless stuff, the more she came to the realization that she didn't even know how this whacker felt either.
"That idiot...Always babbling around. Just hearing her voice makes Isuke's stomach sick" she muttered laying on her bed. "Tomorrow I'm taking back the nail polish I gave her the other day. She even broke the first one that Isuke was generous enough to gift her. She won't get to keep the second too" the girl concluded on a grin, feeling a temporary satisfaction with her decision. "But no that is not enough for talking like this behind my back." she huffed unsatisfied, standing up of the bed again. "Maybe I should just kill her family...But then again this wouldn't be fun"
Even Isuke didn't like unnecessary murders. No matter how it seemed, money was her only motivation behind assassinations. Besides, even if she didn't want to admit it, Haruki's face was somewhat bearable when she wasn't depressed as hell. And lately, that idiot looked a little more stressed than usual. Not that she would bother to noticing, but she had to see her everyday, so it was inevitable.
Suddenly, her mind took a twist and her eyes shined through the dim light that the room was providing.
I will make her like me.
The light bulb drove the blood rushing through her chest. Make her want me. And when I take my power over her, I will treat her just like all of them.
Concluding on that, she felt a sense of familiarity and safety from it. It was enough to calm her down.
"Starting from tomorr-" this time she talked loud, but before finishing her sentence, the usual sound of the door opening took her by surprise. Choking on a sharp dose of air, she forced herself of talking further before making her plan known.
Haruki tiptoed inside the room, her hair still up and a blue towel twirled around, covering her body. When she used to come back from the school's bath, she would usually find her roommate asleep. Needless to say the girl was nowhere near happy when Haruki would sometimes accidentally wake her up by the loud way she was accustomed of entering rooms. Growing up with so many siblings, everyone was keen of loud noises, and Haruki was able to sleep everywhere no matter what. Isuke on the other hand was a light sleeper and would see red if someone dared to wake her up.
Taking a couple of careful steps, Haruki's feet betrayed her by slipping on the cold tiled floor. Keeping her balance was fruitless. She fell down, only to realize she had been dripping all over the room.
Isuke mentally facepalmed herself at the sound of a loud thud coming from the living room's area. The redhead silently cursed herself, hoping she didn't wake Isuke up again.
Dragging herself to bed, Haruki's eyes widened a bit at the sight of a sleeping Isuke on her bikini.
"Isuke-sama" the girl quietly called, not even sure if waking her up was a good idea.
No response.
"That's a new for you" Haruki munched a pocky as she watched the girl sleeping on bikini without a blanket, facing Haruki's bed.
That was the second time Isuke used a facepalm, only now for herself. Being so abstracted that night that she didn't even put on her clothes when she had the time to while thinking about all that gibberish.
"Goodnight" Haruki whispered covering the sleeping pinkette with a blanket. Despite Isuke being one of the most cold blooded assassins among Myojo classmates, she wasn't actually scarred of her. Not as much as she should anyway, was what Isuke used to think.
That idiot. Isuke resisted the urge to confront Haruki right away for not taking a break of being her weird self. And for some reason she couldn't be as rude as she wanted to when Haruki acted like this.
Hearing the subtle hassle her roommate was making, her curiosity got the best of her, so she slightly opened her eyes to take a peek. A choked-like sound came out of her mouth when she suddenly faced Haruki's toned full back wearing the same as the day she was born- nothing. She was apparently looking for her sleeping clothes inside her drawers. For a moment, she looked at Isuke's direction, not even sure if she heard anything or it was just her being too tired.
Haruki had to pay for daring to upset her, was what she thought before finally falling asleep too.
"All right all right. May I have your attention please" Nio exclaimed, getting up on her chair. After Mizorogi-sensei left the classroom for the break, this was the perfect time for her announcement. Before proceeding she looked at Isuke, who was the only one not paying a single attention, because well, she was still asleep on her desk. "I can't start before everyone is able to hear me" she announced, hinting at Isuke's direction.
"Inukai" a voiced hissed from two desks behind. Tokaku didn't feel particularly fine every time Nio had something to announce, to say the least. She wanted to get over with that as soon as possible and that pinkette was making her life difficult once again. Tokaku's cheeks already started changing into shades of angry red.
"T-Takaku-san. You should ask more politely" Haru advised.
"Isuke-san" Nio called again letting out a big sigh. She was always enjoying situations like this, but people not cooperating was admittedly frustrating.
"Isuke-sama" Haruki tried to help too. At the lack of movement from the girl Haruki knew she had failed as well. No one wanted to disturb Isuke from her sleep, knowing she would not be happy about it. They weren't particularly afraid but after finishing their first year in Myojo, most of them did not want any extra drama going on. It was already hard enough having to go back at that class with nothing to personally gain at all.
Haruki sighed and opened a new box of Pockies. Still absent minded as she was, the second half of the pocky she started munching took an interesting angle and flew out of her hand. She was trained on throwing these, so her fingers had created that motion automatically.
Isuke was finally up, feeling the pressure from a sharp object hit her head. It was landed inside her hair and she could tell what that was the second her hand touched it. She had seen these way too many times to not even memorize their exact weight and shape.
"Isuke's going to kill you" she angrily smiled back.
"Sorry Isuke-sama" Haruki waved at her very apologetically.
"Alright." Nio finally had everyone's attention. "Now that everyone is here both physically and mentally..."
"Please, get straight to the point" Sumireko interrupted with a hidden impatience to her always collected tone.
"The headmaster has decided to bear you some pain of being here again because of Mizorogi-sensei's wish. So she, along with my advice too, decided to make things a little more interesting for all of you." Nio declared almost proud of something that she was supposed to have achieved. Checking her classmates, everyone surprisingly seemed interested, especially after the words "bear some pain" and "Mizorogi-sensei's wish"
"Once again, we're happy to announce there are going to be some new challenges throughout your stay in Myojo. And as you can probably guess, the one who gathers most of the points at the end of year wins and will be granted whatever they wish"
Soon, murmurs broke the pleasant silence inside the classroom. Most of them seemed curious and confused, as well as some enthusiastic minority already, including Haru and Otoya.
"What kind of challenges?" Kouko asked standing up from her seat.
"I don't have time for this again" Tokaku muttered, crossing her arms.
"I don't mind a little fun once in a while" Hitsugi looked at Chitaru, getting a nod of approval from the taller assassin.
"Alright" Nio rubbed her hands, forming her trademark ugly smile. "These will be without a warning challenges. A great variety of them, including physical challenges or even ones regarding your performance in..." she paused wearing a grin "Classes, your knowledge in subjects that Mizorogi- sensei is teaching us."
Isuke flipped her hair. It already sounded painful. But then again, this meant she could win this time. Winning meant money, and that was enough to make her willingly participate, despite the fact that she had to focus on academics as well. She turned her body to look back at the rest of the reactions. Haruki was already smiling, talking with Haru on how if she would win that time, her siblings wouldn't have to be hungry again. Isuke's lips formed a faint smile and when Haruki caught her looking back, she gave Isuke a big happy grin.
Soon, Isuke realized what she must have been faintly smiling as well, and immediately crossed her arms to turn her back at them.
"But careful though" Nio made herself audible once again " There will be some secret challenges too. Ones that you will not be aware of at all. Only the headmaster and me will know about them, and we will reveal the in the end."
"It would be better if we are aware of the challenges before hand" Kouko objected "So we can prepare"
"I hope we get to cut Haru-chii's beautiful hair in one too" Otoya exclaimed happily, gaining a death glare from Tokaku.
"Rules are rules everyone. Try to have fun. You will find out soon anyway" Nio grinned.