The beginning: Black Rose bloom
Chapter two: The nurse's office
In the latest Martha's obsessed television show, a boy encounters his childhood friend at his new school. As soon as their eyes came in contact, the girl dashed wildly to his side and embraced him in tears of joy, regardless of everyone starring at them.
However, this was the exact opposite.
In my scenario, I meet a childhood prisoner from what seems to be a science laboratory. The last time I saw her in my dream was when she was caught by a scientist. This only meant that I escaped, leaving her alone to my guess, tortures. When I first saw her, an uncomfortable silence stretched our classroom time packed with tensions in the room. And she was glaring at me, not embracing me with tears of joy.
Her discreet, calculating eyes gazed straight at me, unfazed. My head was buzzing with unexplained questions, flickering every second, but for now, I pushed all of them aside, and thought of something to say to her.
"Maybe we walked past each other at some point." Everyone flexed right away after hearing my voice.
"Perhaps, but-"
"Okay! If you know each other why don't you sit next to Izayoi-san?"
My head immediately snapped to Martha who was obviously not reading the atmosphere, because the goofy smile that only appears whenever I mention the girl from my dream was surfacing on her face. I felt like strangling her for making me sit next to a girl who apparently despises me.
"Of course." I spoke dryly, giving her a menacing look for a split second, and walked over to the vacant desk next to Izayoi Aki. After I sat on my desk, Martha scrambled through the papers inside her work bag quickly. She skimmed the paper, and then fixed her eyes to everyone.
"Well, class, welcome to high school! I am sure all of you are excited for your first day of school! It's too bad that Yusei is the only new student in the new class. Maybe, others will come as the year come by." Martha started off jubilantly, flashing her friendly smile.
"We only have on announcement; let's see, we have freshman orientation at the main hall, so you guys will be missing whatever your next block is. Also,"-Martha's grin widening-"I'm an expert at counseling, so if you have any problem, especially in romance! Report it to me immediately!"
Everyone excluding Izayoi cracked up with laughers. From corner of my eyes, I saw her winking at my direction. I smiled a little bit from her joke, hoping that her message was not for me, but for everyone else.
"Since I'm finished with all the announcements, you guys can socialize for the last 5 minutes. Oh and by the way, Yusei is open for dating, in case you are wondering!" Martha chirped happily, and skidded outside the classroom. I just pretended that I didn't hear the last sentence, and decided to avoid Izayoi Aki for now.
"Hey Yusei!" I spun around to see the twin from my introduction was standing in front of me. "So, how do you like the Academia? I was wondering, but which school did you went before coming here?"
"Rua," my voice slightly uncertain whether if I said his name correct. "I like here very much. I was homeschooled by Martha back at the Satellite City." I responded to his question.
"Wow, so you came all the way from the neighboring city of Domino. I didn't know that!" Ruka joined in to our small conversation.
"By the way, do you know Aki before you came to this school Yusei?"
"No, I don't think so." I lied.
"Trust me; you do not want to get involved with Aki, Yusei. Me and Ruka known her from last year in middle school, and boy, was she too scary! I mean, she was always moody and cranky whenever anyone comes to her, and say hi, but no! She had to say 'Disappear from my sight within three seconds, if you want to taste pain.'" He mimicked her voice, rolling his eyes, and then glancing at Izayoi Aki's direction, reassuring himself that she did not overheard him.
"I mean that was downright rude! No wonder why she has no friends. I'm telling you, she's a sadomasochistic person!" Rua boasted without catching a breath, and was ready to say until Ruka interrupted him.
"You have no right to judge a person like that, Rua! I mean, look at it this way; what if she had a past that changed her from what she used to be, and what she is now? I mean do you even know what sadomasochistic mean?" A pang of guilt emerged in my chest as hearing Ruka's wise words.
"I mean like, she could have got a boyfriend who dumped her for a stupid reason?" Rua joked halfheartedly, as more remorse surfaced in my heart. No, I abandoned her for the sake of my own life.
"Because of her indifferent, cold, attitude despite the undeniable sublime beauty she withholds, she was named the "Black Rose". A rose that signifies death and hatred was named after her." Ruka quietly murmured.
Before I could react to her horrific nickname, the bell screeched across the classroom.
"Okay, let's get going, Yusei. We can talk about this later." Ruka gave me a sad smile, and headed to the door with Rua. I followed behind them, trying to cover my anguished expression washed over my face.
What have I done? From the fragments of the dreams, I can't judge whether if it is just a hallucination or the reality, but all the pieces and bits from my dreams seemed too real. If so, why was she here at this Domino High School? Have she escaped from that ruthless dungeon? What did they do to her that changed her from the girl in my dream and the girl in present? What happened to her before I met her or at least when I was gone if the pieces and the bits of my dreams were true?
I stared at the floor blankly, slowly striding.
Out of the blue, I felt a sudden tug on my hand.
Before I had the chance to see who it was, I found myself dragged inside a room quickly with my mouth covered. Panic surged through my body as I tried to break free from the hold.
"Shhh…be quiet." A familiar voice whispered to me gently. I succumb to that soft voice of reassurance or trap, and relaxed. "Fudo Yusei, you must not panic." A soft burgundy locks cast down cheek. A pair of hazel eyes met mine; it was Izayoi Aki. When she released her hand, I just sat against the door, starring at her.
"We are at the nurse's office. Now that we are alone, I want to ask you again."
"Ask what?"
"Don't avoid the question!" she seethed the word harshly. I flinched at the sudden change in her voice.
"As I told you, we might have walked past each other at some point, now let's go. We don't want to miss the freshman orientation." My hand reached to the doorknob quickly to escape from this very topic.
Then it happened.
From the ground, a wild plant erupted from the ground, accompanied with collections of dangerously sharp thorns. Instinctively, I backed away as the plant found its way to wrap around the door knob again and again till the doorknob was now a ball of thorns. In the center, a rose bud bloomed slowly into what I feared the moment I saw it – Black rose.
"Now," She snapped out of my horrific wonder, aware of her existence, and opened her mouth again, walking in front of the door, now covered with thorns, and roses. "Tell me again one more time. I do not have any intention to harm you, but if you still avoid my question like a three-year-old infant," She raised her right hand, and then snapped in the air, like she was waiting for something to come.
"There will be consequence which will involve losing your limbs." The roses which were hanging loosely on the door immediately shot in front; the distance between the roses and me was less than one centimeter apart.
"I never met you in person." I started out; my ears became aware of the snarls from the roses. "But, I had…indefinite flashbacks about you." Izayoi's eyes started to widened, nodding to continue further.
"And it involved me as well; we were in some sort of laboratory, and I remember we were fond of each other. There were cage walls which separated us. We were around ten, I think." I squinted my eyes, trying to surface the dreams I had previously.
"I could never get those dreams out of my head. Almost every night, they always visit relentlessly on different shards of memories based on it. We talked together; we cried together; we laughed together; and…" we loved each other, I think. I restrained myself to not add that. Martha was influencing me more than I thought with her romantic fantasy.
"And…?"
"In the recent one, I remembered that we were trapped in the room with fire. I was at the window, trying to lift you up, while you were still on the ground."
"What did you say in the dream?" she asked quietly.
"'We promised we will run together.'" My voice spoke out, surprised that I didn't think about it before I said it aloud to her.
"You are lying."
"What?" Confusion took over me, but mostly, it was the anxiety of losing which of my limbs – my arms or my legs.
A sudden tackle from the black roses caught me off guard, resulting me to crash backward on the empty bed. Before I can sit up to explain to her that that I was talking truthfully, without knowing if it was a fact or not, she lunged toward the bed, following with her dominions of roses.
"Stop, Aki!" My voice rang out of my mouth, desperate. As if there was a red light in this room, she halted as response. "Look, I'm telling you all I know. There will be no point if you kill me first, without knowing what I still have to say." God, I sounded like a puppy begging for forgiveness of his master.
Something traced downward from her eyes. Her voice became hoarse, small hiccups were heard. Her eyes were shot up to its widest, incurring red puff. I suddenly ran up to her in a flash; in a blur, I was at her side. Stupidly, I took her in my arms, patting her back, without thinking whether if it was to lure to her trap, but I felt something nostalgic about her very presence. It suddenly triggered my senses to comfort her, even if she was trying to cut off one of my limbs with her supernatural power.
"Who are you, Aki?"
Unexpectedly, she came to her realization of the state, and pushed me away.
"Who am I? That's the secret I will never tell. You are a sexist Fudo Yusei."
She gave me one last glare before she headed to the door. All the plants vaporized like a magic, before she touched the door knob to head out. I stared at the air in amazement. I slumped to the bed, wondering if for the last ten minute actually happened.
First, Izayoi Aki drag me into the nurse's office, then demand me about what I know about her. Second, black roses grow out of the carpet abnormally, and she denies about what I know. She pushes me on to the bed, ready to cut my limbs, and the next thing, she cries in front of me. Thirdly, I make an idiotic move; I consul her for no reason, when she was trying to kill me. Without any thank you, her last line is that I am a sexist, just because I try to make her feel better when she cries out of no reason.
A sigh of relief escaped from my lips, and my body still felt rigid. Instead of a freshman orientation, I got death threats from the girl in my dream.
This was going to be a one hell of a year, Martha.
Sooooooooooooo sorry for not updating for sooooooooo long!
r&r
- black seraphidian