This place never changed no matter how many times Makoto had seen it. The way the moon shine on its place in the sky coupled with coffins lining the road always sent shivers down his spine. He narrowed his eyes as he gazed up to the sky which was painted in eerie green color. It was, for the lack of better words, very eye-catching. And it made his eyes hurt but didn't stop him from looking at it nonetheless.
He sighed, closing his eyes. Chidori just dragged him away from his warm house out to the cold street and ditched him in the middle of their journey. She did look very alerted at that time though, so he couldn't exactly blame her, even if he didn't know why she felt the need to left him. And it didn't exactly stop a migraine from coming.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Makoto twitched, hearing light footsteps coming his way. He quickly and stealthily hid behind one of the coffin.
Someone was nearby. And judging by how light the footsteps were, it was a girl's. But something didn't add up, nobody was supposed to be able to walk around during this time of the day. He held his breath and sharpened his hearing, listening as the footsteps drew near and then fading toward the breathed out and stepped away from the coffin gazing at the back of the passer-by. He could see the back of the Gekkoukan High uniform she wore.
He kept staring at her, seeing her tensed up and walked hastily in a faster pace than before. He shook his head, the girl must have been just another one who was chosen as a pray for the shadows. Just another unlucky soul. 'Insignificant.'
Minako Arisato could sense the unsettling stare disappeared as she moved further and further away. She let out a huge sigh when the dorm she was assigned to appeared in her view. She would be lying if she said she wasn't scared, it was already dark and there was nobody around.
But the dorm looked quite old with big doors as an entrance, could it really hold until she at least graduate? She would think about it some other time, if she remembered. She raised her hand to knock when it opened by itself. She blinked once. Twice. Thrice. 'Huh, that's strange.'
Moving her legs, the girl entered the dorm cautiously. It was empty. She almost raised her voice to call out whoever was on duty to welcome her but another voice beat her to it.
"Welcome."
The brunette glanced toward the source of the voice. It was a red-haired child sitting at the reception area with her elbows on the table and the back of her wrists resting on her chins. She looked like she just came out off a prison judging by her stripe patterned clothing.
"You're late," she continued, "I've been waiting a long time." The weird little kid snapped her fingers and said, "If you want to proceed, then please sign here," the girl pointed at the dossier, which had now opened to the first page, "It's a contract."
"I chooseth this fate of mine own free will."
Minako bit her lower lip. There was something strange here, those kind of words are definitely not the one you would find in a contract. Moreover, did she really have to sign a contract to live in a dorm?
"There's no need to be scared," the girl smiled reassuringly, as if she knew what her guest was thinking, "It only binds you to accepting full responsibility for your actions."
"I'm not scared!" True, she wasn't scared. Unsettled, perhaps?
The girl let an eerie laugh escaped her lips. "Then," she gestured toward the piece of paper.
Picking the pen, Minako gingerly wrote down her name in the blank sheet. Although she was anxious, the child seemed very pleased with her action.
"Very well," the little girl told her as she grabbed the folder, "Time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end. Wishing won't make it go away." The folder disappeared into thin air while she was folding it. "And so it begins," as she said those words, she disappeared, as if melting into the darkness.
Minako blinked again, she fought to stay cool on the outside though she was screaming about how this didn't make sense inside her head. She took in a deep breath and released it a few times to calm herself. The last thing she needed was to freak out. Didn't her grandpa always teach her to never lose her composure? Not like she always heed those words, but she tried to. She always did. And all of a sudden, the brunette wished the train wasn't delayed. She wouldn't need to deal with all this abnormalities and could be resting right now if it wasn't because of that.
"Who's there?" a female voice brought her back from her thought. She looked toward the stairs, where the voice was originated from. She saw a girl with a slightly altered gekkoukan uniform – everything was there except the normal jacket, which was replaced by a pink cardigan. They stared at each other in a surprised manner. Minako because the girl brought a gun with her, and the girl for God-knows-why.
"How can you be... But it's...! Don't tell me..."
The tired girl tensed up and forced her tired eyes to open wide when the stranger's right hand shifted towards a holster strapped to her thigh, which happened to carry the gun. Her hand slowly moved to it, shaking the whole time. Just as she pulled it...
"Wait, Takeba," another girl stepped down from upstairs. Her hair was long and dark red, her eye color matched her hair perfectly. She wore the school uniform of Gekkoukan High, save for the jacket and a different white blouse, a big red ribbon and black knee-high boots with high heels. Unlike the first girl, she had the aura of pure authority, the kind you wouldn't want to mess with.
Minako didn't know who her savior was, but she was glad she wouldn't have any hole lining her body. And as long as that didn't happen to her, she was satisfied. For now anyway.
A.N. : Special thanks to Megunstopable for reviewing last chapter and Jam-Man265 for the message. I'm really happy for it. It's nice to know that people actually like this story :)
I still need a beta-reader and I'm still not sure about the pairings...
Anyway, drop a review please~
Edited : 6 February 2014
