A Place Under The Stars
Chapter 1: Red Pen
Every word of the summary was spelled wrong, the sentences were choppy, and the handwriting was hardly legible.
Narumi sighed and face palmed, it was sad—very sad for someone in the middle school to produce this kind of work. He wasn't as disappointed as he was distraught, though, because he knew why Tsubasa had written such a mess. The Elementary School Principal had been sending him on ridiculous missions for the past few days, and it was becoming hard for Tsubasa to keep his grades up.
Sighing, Narumi set the summary down and stared up at the ceiling. Suddenly, the door to the lounge flew open and three figures whizzed into the room, knocking over a table with a pitcher of water and slamming to the ground.
"Ow! That huuurt-"
"Tsubasa!"
Again, Narumi shook his head and stood up before walking to the front where Tsubasa, Misaki, and Tonochi were piled on the ground.
"Having some fun are we?" he chuckled and lay on the ground by them. The three students jolted and stared as Narumi lay on the ground on his stomach. He smiled at them and laughed. "Oh you should see your own faces right now! You all look so scared! I'm not going to hurt you or anything…now do you want to tell me why you would be skipping class?"
The three jolted again and scuttled to their knees, obviously frightened that either Narumi was going to bust them, or another teacher would walk into the room and kill them instead.
Narumi yawned and lay his head down on his folded arms, still looking towards the kids.
"Tonochi, your Japanese grade is slipping, it isn't exactly a good thing for you to be skipping class right now is it?"
"S…sorry."
He turned to Misaki, "Your grades are fine…but I'm still wondering why you'd skip class…" he glanced at Tsubasa and then back to Misaki. "Oh wait, nevermind."
Finally, he looked straight at Tsubasa. "Mikan is all right…just calm down and focus on your school work, okay?"
Tsubasa looked away and didn't respond.
"Tsubasa," Narumi sat up straight and smiled. He kneeled forward and gazed longingly at the boy. Tsubasa shuddered and began to back away.
"Hey! Narumi-Sensei! Hey wait a minute-"
"You'll be happy now right?" Narumi giggled, using his Alice sparingly—as always.
Tsubasa smiled, "OF COURSE!"
"Good! Now all three of you, explain to me why you were cutting class to come to the teacher's lounge!" He was still using his Alice, because he knew these three well, and he knew that they were all tricky little fiends that lied very well. He had experienced their tricks many times before, and was prepared for them as well.
Misaki started, looking down at the floor she stated, "We were...um…curious…"
This threw Narumi off; he stopped using his Alice and raised his eyebrows. "Curious?"
"About the festival." Tonochi continued.
That was right! The Annual Alice Showcase Festival was coming up! It had been fantastic last year, though there had been many difficulties surrounding much of the Technological Class and their failed amusement park.
"So what were you guys snooping around for?"
Tonochi smirked, "We thought that we could see what this years play was going to be for the Somatic Class. You know, word is going around that you're going to direct it again this year."
He resisted letting his jaw drop and instead hid his emotions with a fake smile. "Now who told you guys that?"
The three responded, "Nodacchi-Sensei…"
Narumi stood up quickly and ran to the door, he swung it open and immediately ran out of the Teacher's Lounge and towards the Special Abilities Classroom. When he reached the door he threw it open and screamed into the room, "NODACCHI!"
The students stopped their laughing and swung their heads to look at him. The room had become a desert of silence, and complete mum that froze everyone in their tracks. Nodacchi was standing in the front of the room, smile bright and perky.
"Ah, Narumi," he said, "What do you need?"
Brushing a loose strand of hair behind his ear, Narumi laughed and said slowly, "You told your kids that I was directing the play for the Somatic Class this year?"
"Well it's true right?" Nodacchi gave Narumi his own original smile that seemed to act upon many students as if it were a pheromone Alice backed smile.
Narumi gave a nervous chuckle and leaned forward toward his colleague, "Nodacchi-Sensei…I am not…NOT…directing this year's play for the festival. I just refuse-"
"Narumi-Sensei! Aren't you going to do it?" a student pleaded loudly from across the room.
"Please Sensei!"
Soon the room was filled with cheers and pleas from the students, all jumping up from their seats and yelling at Narumi. He backed away from Nodacchi and staggered towards the door. He couldn't speak, his mind was racing with a nostalgic turbulence of his aching past. Shaking his head, he tried to get rid of the numbness that was controlling his body. Last year he had volunteered to direct the musical, but that was so much different than this year. After what had happened with Yuka and Shiki…and Mikan…he had no desire to work himself this year at the festival.
"Narumi?" Nodacchi's voice echoed in his head, pounding out a loud rhythm of his own name. "Narumi, are you alright? You're…"
"Why is he shaking?"
"What's wrong with him?"
"Narumi-Sensei?"
Narumi wasted no more time, he dashed from the room and ran down the hallway, ignoring the teacher's lounge where Tsubasa, Misaki, and Tono stood outside of the door waiting for him. He ignored their screams as he rushed by them, leaving them startled and flustered, just like his mind.
The things he had tried to forget, the past he had tried to hide, it was all starting to come back and grab at him now! He wanted to forget Yuka, he wanted to forget Yukihara-Sensei, he wanted to forget Kaoru, he wanted to forget everyone that had made his life so crazy—
And had given him a life in the first place.
No! It wouldn't happen, he'd shut every thing out. He had all ready shut them out when Yuka had left before hand, but ever since her reappearance, his memories had been itching to break free.
"No…no…no—leave me alone!" He screamed in the empty, spinning hallway and slammed against the wall. The area around him was a blur, and he heard echoes of far off voices calling his name.
"Narumi-Sensei!"
"Narumi-Sensei, are you all right?"
"What happened, Narumi-Sensei?"
"Narumi?"
"Narumi!"
The familiar voices melted into distant moans and were replaced by other echoes. These new voice that blocked out everything around him were strange, they were hating, they were…
He cringed as he saw them…
Those red eyes…