Jayden at Akademi
Chapter 1: First Day
Finally, after several hours, the plane landed at Tokyo International Airport. Jayden was among the last to step off the plan. Strapped around his shoulders was a large backpack that contained a lot of personal possessions like his laptop, a few USB sticks, and a several million yen. The air didn't smell to different than that of Mother Base, as Japan was surrounded by ocean. It did, however smell cleaner than Angel City, what with their cars polluting the air and whatnot. A sense of joy filled Jayden as he had a mighty urge to explore Japan's culture. He always loved to study culture, as he had discovered when he was with Coyote. He will never forget those times. It plagued his sleep, although not as frequently as it used to.
He reached the bottom of the steps with haste and made his way toward the inside of the airport. Inside should be his informant and close friend, Dan. They were brothers, or so the Japanese government believed. As written on their forged passports and Visas, their last name was Yamada. Half Japanese, half American.
Inside, Dan was waiting among the chairs, his arm resting on both chairs at his sides. "You could've waited for me at the gate," Jay chided.
"And miss this incredible view? I don't think so."
Jayden looked behind him at the view of the landing strip and buildings and chuckled. "Yeah. Grey buildings. What a view."
"At least it has trees." Dan laughed before he stood up. The companions embraced quickly before pulling apart. "How's your Japanese?" He said in Japanese.
"As good as it can be." Jayden replied in the same language.
"Jeez, your accent sticks out. Oh well… it can't be helped given the time you took to learn the language. Still, not bad though."
"Yeah. Anyway, let's get started. Take me to our place."
"Yes sir."
Once the trunk was packed with suitcases and bags, Dan gave the taxi driver his address and then closed the window, separating the driver from the passengers. It has been a long while since Jayden had smelled car fabric. Unfortunately, it was covered by the artificial scent of roses.
Jayden buckled his seatbelt. "Anything I should know before we begin the debriefing review?" he asked in English.
"Yes." Dan said. "First. Don't expect speaking English will give you complete privacy. There's still a surprising amount of people here in Japan who understand English. That being said, we will debrief at the apartment."
Jayden nodded. "Has transportation been accommodated?"
"We live about 20 miles from the school. Even where we are, getting to the transit is difficult. So I figured the fastest and cheapest way to travel around quickly is through motorcycles. Just be careful because metro areas can be quite dangerous."
"I'll keep that in mind. Does Akademi allow motorcycles?"
"They will. I took the liberty of making phone calls."
"And so the only issue now is getting in," Jayden pondered.
"Don't worry about it Jay," Dan said reassuringly. "If you keep your facial hair to a minimum, you'll easily look 7 years younger."
"What about signatures? Surely they need a parent to sign it."
"We can forge a note stating that your parents are overseas for the better half of the year. They'll give you all permissions to do things on their behalf."
"You think they'll buy it?"
"As long as they're getting their money's worth, they won't give a shit. It's a pretty prestigious school, and if you can handle tuition, you'll be fine."
"And we do have enough for tuition?"
"Last I checked."
"Sou…" Jay said quietly before momentarily spacing out. "So how will the payments work."
"They want to make sure that you're serious about their education," Dan said matter-of-factly. "They expect a deposit of about 400,000 yen before you're allowed to take your first day of class. Then you have to pay the remaining 800,000 by the end of the first month. Then every year is 800,000 yen."
"I see. They want to see whether people are committed first."
"Exactly."
Soon, trees began to take the landscape and they were now going uphill. Jayden had the window cracked so he would never lose the scent and feel of the cool salty air. Only now, the air had become grassy.
Japan's metropolitan area from afar looked better than Angel City on its best days. It was clean and well formed. Even better if you actually lived in the city. But Jayden was much more grateful that he didn't live in the city during this mission. After what had happened with the previous city, he generally stayed away from living in them. Somehow, living outside in a smaller town was safer and more secure to him.
"Tell me about Akademi," Jayden inquired.
"It's a very prestigious high school. Only the richest go there. You might have to change your attitude about the wealthy."
Jayden was silent. He didn't hate wealthy people. He hated the mindset that wealthy people had. That it was necessary to step on people to maintain your power. For a time, he went completely against it, killing those who weren't for the people. In a system where the checks were nonexistent and there was no balance, he was the enforcer. When he was alone, he felt powerful...
And now, with an army, he felt even less powerful even though the numbers and force gave him more power than he needed. Than he wanted even.
That being said, he hated the reason why he had to do this mission. But he had to grin and bear it for the lives of all those who depend on him.
"How close are we to home? We've been driving for a while now."
"Not too far. It's up there in that town. Buroda Town. And the Town we just passed is Shisuta Town."
"Good. I want to get started."
"Patience Jay. There are a few things you need to understand about the customs. First, you have to keep clean. It's bad to keep your place dirty. If these guys saw your room at MoBa, they'd think you'd be possessed."
"I see. So I gotta keep clean. What else?"
"Next, you need to be respectful. This society is very dependent. They care very much about one another's opinions. Reputation is a big thing here. Even bigger if you have to go to Akademi. So you can't just go in with a straight asshole attitude. You have to actually care what others think of you. I know it's been a long time since you did that, but you'll learn quick."
Jayden scoffed. "Darn. I guess I gotta start caring about shit."
"Yes sir."
Finally they pulled up to the apartment building. It was tall and had other trees surrounding it. The building was on a slight slope on the mountain. Cars had to curve their wheels when the parked to keep them from sliding downhill.
The building was nice in a very classical Japanese way. It looked like it was built in the same fashion as a temple.
Dan grabbed luggage in each hand and lead them to their rooms. Jayden got a room opposite of Dan's.
"Onsen is available to the tenants during operating hours. This is a hotel but our connections allowed us to fill these two spaces at a highly discounted rate. The only problem is that we must buy our own food. It only makes sense."
Jayden set a luggage in his room. It was white, clear and clean, with a bed, a couch, a TV, a desk, and a kitchen. I have to keep it this way, he thought. No messes.
"Where is the best place to get food?" Jayden asked. "I didn't see any supermarkets."
"You get them at convenient stores." Dan said as he set down the remaining luggage before turning back to the assisting cab driver. "Arigatou Gozaimasu."
"Ah, arigatou," Jayden echoed and bowed.
"Domo," the driver said before taking his money and going on his way.
Once he left, Jayden turned back to Dan. "Convenience stores?"
"Yeah! In Japan, they sell legit groceries. Or if you don't want to, you can always go to a restaurant. I don't think your kanji is that great yet, but you can manage. It's also a great way to absorb the culture."
"I'll give it some thought." Jay replied as he unpacked his private laptop. "Alright, let's get started."
"Alright, now that our computers our synced, we can go ahead and do our in depth debriefing." Jayden said. Dan was beside him with an energy drink looking into the laptop. On the other side was four screens. One had Van, director of technology branch, Karen, Director of Peace, Aka Military, Flow, Director of People, health and Agriculture, and Dopper, runner up VP. Dan was VP and Jayden was President.
"How's Japan?" Karen asked with envy.
"Don't know, I haven't even had my first meal yet." Jayden replied. "Focus people. Dopper, take the lead."
"Roger that." He said before pulling up an infographic. "Here is Akademi. It's a square building with about ninety students so far. Very prestigious. Our goal is to establish contact with Hiroyuki Saikou."
"The President of Saikou Corp," Flow said.
"That's right. The most powerful corporation in all of Japan. Some even say that they rule Japan themselves."
"But why would we need to establish contact with them?" Karen asked. "We can manage without them, can't we?"
Everyone all stayed silent.
"Alright," Karen said. "What didn't you tell me this time, Jay?"
"Our supplies are dwindling," Jayden replied. "We can no longer rely on our clients as they are running out of supplies and money."
"Guess even the most powerful sometimes have a hard time paying their dues," Van jested.
"Because they ran out of money," Jayden replied. "And therefore, we are running out."
"Okay," Karen said. "How do we go about extorting Saikou? We just go up and ask or something?"
"Hiro Saikou isn't exactly someone we can talk to," said Dopper. "He is barely at Saikou Corp offices. No one, even his VP, knows what he looks like."
"Have you tried hacking the mainframe?" Karen asked.
"It's impenetrable without conducting a Stealth Op and planting Assailant," Dan replied. "I tried tracking down IPs and attempting to hack wi-fi's. Everything I could think of was no use. Saikou has some of the best firewalls. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the hackers inside was as skilled as I was. Collectively anyway."
"Focus. Dopper."
"Right. I had sent someone disguised as a potential investor to survey the building. He didn't see much but he was allowed to look at the server room. It's looked behind five steel doors. Even a Stealth Op will be difficult."
"So how do we do this without getting killed?" Asked Flow.
"This brings us back to Akademi. We have not seen Hiro Saikou yet. But intel has confirmed that his daughter, Megami Saikou, attends Akademi. She is to inherit Saikou Corp upon her father's death. If we ever want to establish contact with Hiroyuki Saikou, this is the place to start."
"Have you gathered any intel on Megami?" Jayden asked.
"Yes. She is, quite understandably, perfect. She's a powerful leader, fierce combatant and certified genius."
"Apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
"Needless to say, it will still be difficult to get a hold of her. You must befriend her first. And that will be a challenge. You'll have to find a time when she's free."
"That can't be too hard," Jayden replied.
"If she's gonna head the corporation someday, she'll barely have free time." Dopper said. "Still I'm sure you'll find a way. Us back on Mother Base will try to find a way to get into the mainframe. Flow will try to manage what remaining resources we have. Flow, what's the estimate of time we have to strike out this deal?"
"If everyone on Mother Base ate three meals a day and only consumed about 7 bottles of water and spared the rounds… I'd say about 5 weeks." Flow closed her eyes. "I sincerely hope that this works Jayden."
"Alright," Jayden replied. "It'll work. We already have the reputation. The hardest part is getting in touch with Megami. After that, Saikou can't ignore us. If they have a military force beneath them, then they'll be among the most powerful around the world."
"What if…" Dan started. "What if Saikou backstabs us?"
"We don't show him our full potential right away. Our good name only tells how much we want it to tell, but in reality, if we found Saikou, we can take him down whenever we wanted to. If on the day he decides to betray us, we'd still have the upper hand."
"But what about-"
"The money?" Jayden asked. "So long as we keep on Saikou's good side, well have it. But I'm not afraid of Saikou. There's only so much he can do to slander an independent nation of mercenaries. He doesn't know we have five nukes and are in development of a moving nuclear silo. We have firepower out the ass… point is… don't worry about Saikou. I'll deal with him."
"Alright," Dopper said despondently. "Anything else to discuss?"
"I think we're all on the same page," Flow said.
"Good," Jay said. "Oh by the way. If anything should happen to me, Dan will take over. Top priority is to find Saikou. Others will continue taking care of your branches as necessary."
"Roger that," they all said in unison.
"Jayden out."
Japan was quite the place to live in. The beautiful Sakura trees were blossoming into beautiful pink buds. The scent filled the air, turning everything sweet smelling. It was much better than the stupid perfumes people wore back in Angel City. The one that always made him choke.
He had also liked visiting the local convenience store to stock up on food. In Japan, the convenience stores were different than in Angel City. They were actually convenient. They had food, both fast and otherwise, along with other things a person might need to live, like chargers, cables, and such. He did all of his shopping first, buying eggs, beef, chicken, and veggies for later. For now, he bought onigiris, rice balls with either a pickled plum or some fish within.
The sushi rice was beyond amazing. Nothing like he had ever tasted. He pondered taking some of the cooks on the way back. If the food was this good all the time…
He stopped himself there. He realized he was just enjoying the culture, as it was still quite new to him.
He had no issue speaking with the convenience store clerk. They had a conversation about how thick Jay's accent was. Jay had told him that he was new and the convenience store owner nodded. Jay then paid for his items and left.
Five onigiris, a shave and side buzzcut later, he was on his way to Akademi with a forged note in hand and a bag of money. He really did look much younger with his shave, as he did when he was eighteen. However, he would have to come up with a story about his facial scars. One ran horizontally across his nose under his eyes. The other down his right eye. He had remembered that he almost lost his eye that night. But the most questionable of all his facial scars was the one on his left part of his forehead, right below the hairline. When Dr Ramirez fucked with his mind.
It wasn't that it was a small scar that made it questionable. It was it's place… and the dots that were parallel to it on both sides. Like it was stitched.
A good ten minutes later, Jayden sped through the neighborhoods on his motorbike, and followed the GPS exactly. The town he was in was definitely wealthy. Everything was kempt and huge. He was not surprised that Akademi would be so close to here.
He swung his motorbike into the entrance. The gate was closed, though the smaller gate for individuals only needed to be buzzed. It was the weekend so there was nobody here but the afterschool administrator. Jayden threw his bag on his shoulder, held his helmet and rang the buzzer.
Time to put my Japanese to the test.
"Hello. Welcome Akademi High School. We are unable to assist you at this time. Please leave a name and phone number and we'll contact you as soon as possible."
"Anou… my name is Jayden Yamada. I'm here to-"
Immediately the speaker buzzed.
"Ah Jayden-san." Said a man in Japanese. "Sorry about that. Please come in. I'll meet you in the front."
The iron-barred door slowly slid open. Jayden, the ever vigilant soldier, kept up his guard as he reluctantly walked in.
Already, the atmosphere of the school was heavy. Almost like something had happened. His time with Coyote and Flow honed his natural instincts. He would have to inquire about it later.
The guidance counselor was already at the front by the time he got there.
"Jayden-san. Over here!" He waved before running up to Jay and shaking his hand. He only seemed to eye the scars temporarily. "I'm the guidance counselor for the school. At least for today. I'll be dropping in on Mondays and Wednesdays."
"Yes," Jayden said. "So what do we do first? Registration?"
"I thought I'd show you the amenities first," he said with a bow. "Come inside.
"The school thrives on self empowerment. We expect each student to take care of it as well. That way-"
"You can divert the money towards other resources."
"Yes. And I know you might have the urge to cut me off, Jayden-san. In America it might be okay. However, in Japan, it's seen as quite rude."
Jayden looked at the counselor kindly, though many would think his scars implied otherwise. "Ah. I'm sorry!"
"It's okay. As long as you learn!" He continued to talk as he walked. "The school is three stories high with a rooftop. Classes begin at 8am with a break for lunch from 1-1:30pm every single day. Then the school day ends at 3:30pm and the school officially closed at 5pm. Each student is expected to do about 45 minutes of cleaning every single day. You can do that in the morning or after class. Just keep up with cleaning and don't cause trouble and you'll do fine with the staff.
"Here are the lockers. Usually, every morning, you will remove personal belongings and place them in here. There isn't a cafeteria so students are advised to bring their own lunch. It also cuts down on the staff. We also have plenty of clubs here. We have cooking, music, photography, occult…"
"What was the last one you said?" Jayden asked.
"Photography?" The counselor quickly replied. "Anyway, you'll find the perfect fit for you here. We also have track and a basketball court if you like that kind of thing. Here is my office!" He opened the door for Jayden and followed him in. "Now Jayden-san. Let's discuss the manner in which you get into the classes. We have an assessment examination here if you'd like to take one."
"Yes I'd like to do it right away." Jayden replied.
"Today?"
"Yes. I'd like to be in by Monday."
"That seems highly unlikely, Jayden-san. We have to factor in processing times and such."
"It's a shame," Jayden said. "My parents were willing to compensate but you seem dead against it at this point." He began to pack his bags.
"Ah wait!" The other said. "I… suppose we can make an exception."
Jayden smirked. "Glad we see on the same page counselor." Jayden reached into his bag and pulled out a smaller bag. "Inside is 15,000,000 yen along with a note from my parents. It should cover tuition, expenses, and such. Whatever is left over, you can pocket. Just make it so that I'll have classes come this Monday."
"Yes Jayden-san." He said with a grin. "Shall we begin the testing?"
The testing didn't take too long. Jayden tried his best, but he wasn't too bent on getting a good score. That wasn't his objective. However, his score wasn't too bad. Passable actually. He was then given a uniform. Almost immediately after, he was given his classes, almost like the previous conversation about 'processing times' didn't really matter after all.
The assessment slightly surpassed most of what the counsellor had expected. Jayden seemed just slightly better than average on most subjects. He was highly proficient in his critical thinking skills and psychology. English was a no brainer. However, he was slightly lacking in mathematics and highly deficient in Japanese. He spoke the language better than he could read it, it seems. He was just about average in science and health.
He quickly returned home afterwards. His mind had gone blank from concentrating too hard. He began filling the shelves with study books like more advanced Japanese books, and English reading books among other things. On the lower shelf, he had placed some electronics that he brought over. The more simple things like USB sticks and his two laptops. Then on the tallest shelf, he placed some valuables. Only two valuable possessions were worthy of this spot. The latest picture of a black woman with a black girl. The older was a woman by the name of Joanna. His first love. The younger was their daughter, Edith. She would be about nine years old now. He hasn't seen them since god knows when. He often wondered if Edith thought of him as often as he thought of her.
The next item was a diamond arrowhead with a circle bore out the body big enough to fit a finger. He had gotten it from Coyote, his second love. He would always remember the way she looked at him when he watched her, helpless…
He immediately set down the arrowhead and backed away to the fridge. When he finally had eaten his fill, he decided it was time for bed.
On the first school day, Jayden had to admit that he was kind of excited. He actually got off the base and had to disguise himself as a high school student. Dan agreed that with his uniform and a clean shave, he did look the part, aside from his banged up face. After a quick shower, Jayden made his bed, threw on his uniform, his bag with lunch, and hopped on his motorcycle.
Traffic from town to town wasn't too bad. After all, more took the transit to school and work.
It was 7:00 am when he finally revved up to the entrance of the school. He managed to turn a lot of heads. The majority of their curious faces turned into fear when they noticed his prominent scars. He paid them no mind.
He hopped off his motorbike and walked it through the center of the mass. Everyone had already moved out of the way except for a girl with black hair, black stockings and red eyes. She quickly got the idea. Jayden gave her a kind nod and passed her.
Once the initial shock of having a new, American student wore off, everyone went back to their ways. Jayden still couldn't shake that heavy feeling that he had felt the day he was here. And it seems like the students could feel it as well. A lot looked sad. Some on the verge of tears even. Especially the boy in the front.
Jayden knew immediately that he wouldn't be welcomed in any circle at first. His first and only destination at the time was the rooftop. Once on it, he sat down at a lone seat, eyeing the front of the school. There were built fences behind the railings on the edge, which was strange.
Once he began hearing voices, he turned to see a girl in green on her phone, talking annoyingly to herself. There was another girl in jet black hair with spider stockings and a red band on her arm. She was peering at something around the corner before she noticed the pair of eyes staring at her. She looked at Jayden in surprise before turning a deep red. Jayden was about to wave but she had hurried off.
Great way to start socializing. If only Dan was here to help. Jay then took out his cellphone and began to text.
J: Hey
D: Moshi moshi! How's school?
J: Got plenty of weird looks. When a big burly American with facial scars come walking in, it scares everybody.
D: ah don't worry about that. If you're having trouble making friends, a good way to start is by joining a club.
J: how do I do that?
D: easy. Just ask. Anyway, I got a project I need to do. Catch ya later.
Jayden walked over to the balcony behind the green haired girl and overlooked the plaza. He tried to find Saikou among the crowd. Long grey hair. Probably has a lot of friends surrounding her. Nothing. Maybe she'll be in class…
The bell rang, then he rushed to his class. He ignored the surprised looks once again. But he couldn't ignore the teacher.
"Ah you must be… Jayden-san. Everybody! Meet our new student. Jayden-san! Tell us about yourself."
Jayden slowly stood up. "Anou. My name is Jayden Yamada. I'm American. And I'm happy to meet you all."
Everyone began whispering. Jayden hated being the center of attention. His job most of the time was being the opposite of that. Hiding in the shadows and what not.
"Yamada-kun, you can take a seat over there by Oka Ruto."
There she was again. That black haired girl with red band and spider stockings. Oka Ruto. The moment she heard that, she almost jumped in her seat.
He walked over, excusing himself and sat down. As he walked by, he noticed a flower on a lone desk. Everyone was averting their eyes from the flower.
He sat down beside Oka, who kept her face down toward her desk. Jayden decided to mimic her and pull out the same textbook she had on her desk.
"Alright everyone," the teacher said. "As you all know by now, Osana Najimi committed suicide over the weekend."
Jayden's eyes turned to the flower on the desk.
"She was a dear friend, and student. And whatever happened to make her do this, we should all do our best not only to commemorate her, show respect to her family and friends, but also take this as a learning experience. For many of you, this is your first encounter with dying. Suicide is especially painful. But take this opportunity to learn that our time on Earth is finite. Cherish your friends and family. Tell them you love them. Appreciate the things you have. And together we can pull through. Her death won't be in vain."
Some of the students were already sobbing. Jayden saw another student, the one in black hair who stepped out of his way this morning. When the teacher called roll, her name was Ayano Aishi. Something about her felt familiar.
After roll was called, he noted that Saikou was not in class.
When lunch time finally came, Jayden's mind was half asleep. It had been a really really REALLY long time since he just actually sat there and listened. Occasionally, he tried to make small talk with Oka but when she did respond, she was always soft and quiet.
He decided he would go check out the plaza first. When he opened the doors, the first thing he saw was a fountain where a boy sat with his head down. The fountain had an ingeniously beautiful architecture to it.
Of course, groups were separated into cliques. Hot girls on one end, jerk boys in another, however, there was a tiny section reserved for a memorial.
Jayden felt the eyes on him as he passed through the crowd. The eyes released him once they realised he was walking towards the memorial. There was a headshot picture of Osana Najimi. She had orange hair and the longest pigtails Jayden has ever seen. She was beautiful and too young to be taken. Based off of the things everyone had said about her, she seems like a nice person. Maybe things were going on behind the scenes.
Jayden knelt down to both knees. He clasped his hands in his laps and closed his eyes. The plaza was suddenly silent. The memorial was blessed with some sort of cherry perfume, probably Osana's favorite. He whispered a silent prayer he had learned from the Kuri tribe.
They believed that the gods and goddesses had eyes that constantly watched over us. And every negative thing that happened was a conflict between the gods. Natural disasters and ill omens. But you had to keep faith to calm them.
It is also believed that those who passed were to become stars at the edge of the galaxy, their eyes watching over us.
Once the prayer was over, Jayden muttered "Osai Kta Mukti." Bless the stars. It could also mean good luck.
When he turned around, the eyes averted their gaze and returned to what they did originally: talking to anyone but the outsider. Jayden went back inside.
It was about time he immersed himself into the schools social circle properly. However, he had no particular interest in photography or cooking, was terrible at music, and could probably beat the master in the karate club. However, one particular club did peak his interest… the Occult Club. He was no stranger to strange things after all. So he took a deep breath and opened the doors.
Oka Ruto was reading in the center of the pentagram carpet, surrounded by the students who wore the same arm band. However, when she heard the door open, she immediately gasped, jumped, and dropped the book. She averted her eyes from Jayden.
"A-anou…" she whispered.
"Dont worry about me." Jayden replied, feeling the occult eyes on him. "I hope you guys don't mind if I watch."
"U-um… t-thats f-fine..."
Jayden really had to listen to hear her. She slowly knelt down to pick up her book and looked back to Jayden one time before taking a deep breath and continuing.
In the moment, where Oka had been stiff, quiet, and reserved in class, she was quite open when reading the book. She seemed at peace, which was something Jayden never really got.
The candles and incense began to burn down and halfway through, the five minute bell rang. It snapped Oka from her reading trance and the other students hurried to put their books in their bags. Oka did so slowly as Jayden walked up to her.
"Anou. Ruto-san."
She was stiff again. "H-hai."
"I just wanted to say that what you did was pretty cool."
She blushed a deep red, though with her hair it was hard to see her face. "R-really?"
"Yes really." Jayden smiled. "I mean… the whole occult club seems pretty cool. I'm really surprised you were able to push it through administration."
She looked at Jayden. As her face grew more red, she grew more quiet. "It… it wa-"
"Ruto-san. You really should speak up more."
Her hand shot to her mouth. "I'm sorry!"
Jayden laughed. "It's fine. Just know that if you want to be heard, you need to speak louder."
"H-hai…"
"Anyway, Ruto-san. Let's get to class. You can tell me about the occult more on the way."
"OK…" They began to walk to class together slowly. "Well the occult isn't exactly what people think it is. It's more… normal than people think…"
Jayden smiled. It was like talking to a different person than the Oka he knew before. "Yes. I imagined so. Who do you in the occult worship?"
"The Dark Ones…"
"There's more than one?"
"Y-yeah…"
"Ah sou… how do you feel about how others see the club?"
"A-anou…" she was getting nervous again.
Jayden paused for a moment. "If you ask me, I'd say that it's no worse than other religions really. In America, there is always something going on with human rights and whether God granted it. I always said this. 'At least the devil accepts everyone.'"
Oka giggled, covering her lips with her fingers. Jayden paused slightly, and even a few eyes looked their way. Then Jayden smiled and started laughing as well.
"That's true…" Oka said, her face still red. "I've always felt the same way. Why should I be judged?"
"Well that's the thing. Everyone's gonna judge you no matter what. I know a lot of people judge me because I'm American. Or that i have a lot of scars on my face."
"Ah… Jayden-kun if you don't mind me asking, where are those scars from?" She was beginning to speak louder now.
"I don't think our friendship is there yet, Ruto-san. Perhaps at another time."
"I-i see…"
There was a moment of silence between the two. "Ne Ruto-san…" Jayden said.
"H-hai…"
"Did you know Osana Najimi?"
She paused. "Najimi-chan… I didn't know her that well. We talked kind of. But she really didn't deserve what happened to her." Her voice grew quiet once again. "If only i talked to her. I-I might have been able to s-save her…"
"Ruto-san…" Jayden placed a hand on her shoulder. "None of what happened to Osana is your fault…"
She paused and looked down. "I'm sorry…."
Jayden smiled. "You should stop saying that. You didn't do anything wrong."
"Ah i-im-"
"Ah ah ah." He said with a smile. She stopped mid sentence and continued walking. "Anou... Ruto-san…"
"H-hai…"
"Have you tried using the occult to talk to the dead?"
She paused once again before giving a reluctant answer. "Y-you might think i-im- crazy…"
"I'd think you'd know if I thought you were crazy."
She gave a reluctant answer. "... O-okay…. I have… I don't do it often but... I did try to contact someone recently…"
Jayden raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"N-Najimi-chan…"
"Anything?" He said after a moment.
"Only one word… 'push'... Kind of strange, isn't it?"
"It is…" Jayden said. "Hey… where do I sign up?"
"F-for what?"
"The Occult Club?"
"E-ehh?" She said with a high pitch. "Anou… I'll add you to the list later t-toda-" suddenly, Oka slipped and would have fallen on her back had Jayden not caught her in his arms.
For a moment, they looked into each other's eyes. When Jayden could finally see her eyes, they were beautiful as the night sky. Why would she feel the need to ever cover those beautiful eyes?
She turned a hard red and quickly got to her feet. "E-excuse me…" she whispered then scurried away as quickly as possible.
Jayden then picked up his pace and hurried to his class and sat down next to blushing Oka.
Still no sign of Saikou.
The teacher stated that there would be a Psychology project later down the line. A presentation on any psychological test. A lot of students detested the idea but Jayden paid no mind to it. He loved psychology. But if it was a presentation… he needed a partner.
When class was finally over, Jayden said, "Ruto-san."
"H-hai."
"Would you like to be my partner?... For the psychology project, I mean?"
"A-anou…" she began to turn red again. Others were sniggering, which made Oka retreat further into her shell.
"Don't listen to them," Jayden said. "Say what you mean to say."
"I-i… I'm not good at psychology…"
"You'd be good at anything if you study it," he said with a smile. "We can do this together!"
She gulped nervously and nodded. "A-alright then…" She pressed her forefingers together and looked down. "Anou… I-Im about to go to the Occult Club… did you want to come?"
Jayden scratched his head. "Ah… I don't think I'll be able to make it because of cleaning. But… I can walk you there, if you'd like?"
The leftover class started whooing and Jayden turned to them.
"You all need to mind your own business!" Said the teacher. "No teasing in my classroom. If you aren't gonna clean, study, or do club activities, go home!"
Everyone nodded and shuffled their items.
"Let's go, Ruto-san." Jayden said.
"H-hai…"
Once they were out the door and finally had some privacy, Jayden chuckled a little bit. "Ruto-san. You're always so quiet."
"I-Im…" she was about to say 'sorry' but cut herself off. "It's… just the way I am."
"I'm glad," Jayden said. "Be who you are. Don't care what anyone else has to think."
"What does… Jayden-kun think of me?" She said hesitantly.
"Well I've only know you for one day, Ruto-san. But from what I can tell… you're pretty cool."
"I'm… cool?" she blushed.
"I think so. It's cool to be one of the few who openly invites someone into their circle. Ruto-san is a lot more social than she thinks."
"I'm not that social…"
"Social enough to invite me into the Occult Club." He chuckled. "Besides, Ruto-san… it doesn't matter how I think of you… it matters how you think of yourself."
She stayed silent.
"How do you think of yourself, Ruto-san?"
"A-anou…"
"I promise I won't tell." He smiled.
"I… I think… I'm weird…"
"Ruto-san I'm sure you don't actually think that. People who think they're weird don't continue to be weird. Like if the Occult Club was weird to you, wouldn't you not do it?"
"S-sou desu ne…" Oka said in agreement. "Then… I don't really know how I feel about myself…"
Together, they arrived at the door to Occult Club. Jayden grabbed the door handle and opened it. "I think you should find out."
Instead of going inside, she stayed outside. "But… how do you find that?"
"Meditating is a good start…" he said and thought for a second. Then a lightbulb went on in his head. "I got it. If you promise to meditate at least 30 minutes a day," he grasped the textbook that she held close to her chest and gently pulled it away. "I'll promise to study the Occult for 30 minutes." He raised his hand for a handshake. "Deal?"
She was clueless for a minute. "A-anou…"
"A handshake is the American way to ensure bets."
She giggled at the gesture before shaking his hand in her weak grip. "Deal."
He smiled and looked inside. "Is it always this empty after school?"
"A lot of the others have to go home," she said. "So it's just me."
"What about your parents?"
Oka turned around and gave Jayden a sweet polite smile. "I got to catch up on the Occult. See you tomorrow, Jayden-kun."
He decided not to press and instead nodded. "Ja ne."
He walked down the hall with the book in hand before he heard the Occult Club door open again.
"Jayden-kun!"
Oka was running back towards him with another book in hand. Once she reached him, she quickly swapped books with him. "Sorry! This one is the one with my notes! Ja ne!" And before he could say a word, she was behind closed doors again.
She is inhumanely fast!
After cleaning, the time neared 4:30pm. He wasn't even done mopping this god forsaken hall yet, but these guys never really left a huge mess. The big mess is where the delinquents are right next to the incinerator. They always leave cigarette butts but no one says anything because they're fucking delinquents.
But Jayden had put in his time for the day so he squeezed the mop dry and dumped the water into the sink. Before he could put the mop away, he heard "Hey. Jayden-san, right?"
He turned his head. The boy sitting on the fountain at lunch. "That's me," he said.
"My name is Dattoboi Yamada. But Datto is fine. Most just call me Senpai anyway."
Jayden smiled. Another who didn't seem too put off by the scars. "What can I help you with, Datto-san?"
Datto-san laughed. "Don't treat me so informally. I'm a friend."
"Alright. You know, I haven't eaten my lunch yet. Can we go to the plaza?"
"Sure."
Once outside, the wind felt quite chilly. The smell from the memorial did seem to diminish over time and the Sakura leaves began to pile up.
"I noticed you praying at… Osana's memorial at lunch…" Datto said.
"Yeah," Jayden bit down on his onigiri. "We're you two close?"
"Yeah. She was my friend since childhood."
"I'm sorry."
"It's just… I don't get it… I didn't know she had those problems."
Jayden set his onigiri hand on his knee and swallowed his bite. "If you don't mind, Datto-san… how did this happen?"
Datto began to sniff. Then he dried his eyes. "She committed suicide. She jumped off the roof of the building."
That explains the fence on the roof.
"Why?" Jayden asked.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. Her note was kind of vague. It said…" he began to sniff harder. "That she's sorry she couldn't help…"
Jayden wrapped an arm around Datto's shoulder to console him.
"It's just… she never mentioned anything."
"Sometimes they never do," Jayden said. "It gets very personal at times. Sometimes they don't tell even their loved ones."
Datto-san began to sob and they just sat there for a few minutes.
Jay remembered all too well the dangers of keeping secrets. The secrets he had kept from his loved ones actually jeopardized them. He had no intention of keeping deadly secrets anymore. With the exception of one.
"Sorry about that, Jayden-san." Datto said after finally calming down.
"It's okay," he said and clapped his hand on Datto's shoulder. "You just lost your childhood friend. You're right to cry."
He smiled. "You know. For a big scarred American, you're really nice."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Don't take that offensively!" Datto said before drying his nose. "I mean to say that you're nice!"
Jayden laughed. "I'm kidding. Don't worry. I'm generally a nice person so long as you don't screw me over."
Datto laughed and scratched his head. "I guess so. Anyway I noticed you were walking with Oka-chan today."
Jayden finally ate his final piece of onigiri. "Yeah?"
"Are you a part of the Occult Club?"
"Yep."
"Ah sou… obviously you know that the Occult Club is… kind of weird right?"
Jayden shrugged. "Doesn't bother me really. I would prefer to be around less people."
"How so?"
"A lot more friends means more of a chance for someone to betray you from your circle."
Datto laughed. "Guess I have someone likely to betray me then."
"You have that many friends, then?"
"A lot," he said. "And a lot of girl friends too."
Jayden made no comment to that.
"But you really are something, Jayden-san." Datto commented. "No one has ever told me that having too much friends was a bad thing."
"Maybe it's preference," Jay replied. "I personally don't feel too comfortable with too many people knowing who I am or where I am. I'm the type of person that likes my friends close."
"Then I hope we can be good friends." He said and clasped his hand on Jayden's shoulder.
"Just don't screw me over," Jay chuckled.
Datto laughed and stood up, brushing the dirt from his legs. "Oh. One more question."
"Yeah?"
"What do you think of Oka-chan?"
I think you need to mind your own business, is what Jayden thought about saying… but he thought of a better idea.
"I think that everyone is painting Ruto-san and the Occult Club in a negative light. I think that before people begin fearing something, they should understand it better. I think that you can still think a person is completely fun to be with despite their religion. If you can enjoy a book from an author who did terrible things, why can't you enjoy the company of someone who has different beliefs than you?"
Datto was taken a little back by his words. It was not the kind of words he was expecting, but nonetheless, he smiled. "You really are something else, Jayden-san. I gotta go grab a few things before heading home. Ja ne."
Jayden smiled as he left. He figured that Datto would probably not be a bad person after all. He did confide a lot to Jayden in a short span of time. Literally a few minutes.
Beep beep beep!
Jayden looked at his phone. Dan. He answered.
"Hello?" Jayden said in English.
"Hey. It's moshi moshi to you!"
"Fuck off."
Dan laughed. "Anyway, go somewhere private! I have something I want to talk to you about."
Jayden quickly ran indoors and found a closet at the corner by a nearby exit. The closet was full of musical instruments and their cases. It smelled like musk and molding fur.
"What's up?" Jayden said.
"Alright. Don't be mad but… I can't find a way to get Megami Saikou's information. I cannot remotely hack the school mainframe. It's pretty well firewalled."
"So if we can get her address, or even her phone number, we can contact her? Got any ideas?"
"One does come to mind…"
"Let me hear it."
"You remember Assailant?"
"That's the USB program that steals whatever information is on computers."
"Exactly! What you need to do is plant it in one of the computers."
"I can't! Most of the computers are utilized during the day. The student computers are probably hooked up to different servers so we probably can't use the gaming club."
"That's why it needs to be a staff computer. Why not admins?"
"So you need me to do a night op?"
"Exactly! Especially since security is pretty minimal. We will talk more when you're home. Ja ne!"
Jayden hung up the phone before looking around the interesting closet. In the center of the large closet was a huge music crate. It seemed different from the rest. There was less dust on it, and there were indentations where it used to be. It had been moved… Recently…
He unlocked it and opened. Inside was a woman with long blue pigtails. Her eyes were shut and she was breathing lightly. Her neck had a red dot.
Tranquilized.
Jayden took out his phone and texted Dan.
J: Security here at night's about to get beefed up.