Chapter 2
"Please study until page 35 by next lesson. Class dismissed." Those were the final words of the teacher who taught Japanese literature. That also concluded the first school day for me at Juuban High School. I was packing my books into my bag as quickly as I could. I wanted to go home as soon as possible, I had plenty to do. I had to do the laundry, cook dinner and there was also that thing with Cerberus.
I hurried towards the door, not greeting anyone. I did not do that on purpose, but I was that much in a hurry. With quick steps I walked through the halls of the school, trying my hardest to avoid bumping into anyone. I turned around the corner at the end of the hall. That's where I bumped into something. Or someone.
I heard the sound of books and notebooks hitting the floor, one after the other. I halted and turned around. "Sorry!" I exclaimed as I bowed down quickly to help pick up the books I caused to drop. I bumped into a short girl donning a slightly longer hairstyle than me. She had black hair with a strange blue shine in it. Her eyes were slightly droopy, but very kind and calm. They were a deep azure blue. She wore three blue ear piercings on either earlobe. They stuck out.
As I handed her, her 1st-year physics book she gratefully accepted it as she smiled at me. "Oh you're a 1st-year?" I asked out loud, upon seeing that 1st-year book. "That is alright. I was not paying attention either." She said apologetically. She took the book from me and nodded. "Yes, that is right. I am Mizuno Ami from Class 1-A." She introduced herself.
I gave her a sheepish smile: "no, no, I should've paid more attention." I quickly stood up and took my turn to introduce myself. "I am Hakuba Sofia from class 2-A." "Oh, what a coincidence. Senpai is also from Class A?" she asked surprised. I smiled at her, looking down at her as she was much smaller than me.
I held eye-contact longer than I usually would and somewhere along the line the smile I had, faded. Something about this 1st-year was off. Not only was I perceiving her presence and obvious calm and soothing character, it seemed like I could feel it, as well. She never averted her eyes, no matter how uncomfortable she obviously seemed to feel under my gaze.
Eventually I snapped out of it and put on my poker smile again. "It must be some type of destiny, then… Mizuno Ami." I mysteriously remarked as I walked past her. She turned around and followed me with her eyes. I couldn't see it, but there was a gravity in her gaze, like I had disturbed her with my words. "See ya later, Mizuno." I said, without turning around, waving nonchalantly.
Ding dong. After a short pause a black-haired man with gray eyes showed up on the intercom. "Could you open up, I forgot my entrance pass." Cerberus frowned and stayed silent for a while. He closed his eyes eventually and sighed deeply and turned off the intercom. The automatic glass doors opened up and I quickly went through, with the shopping bags I was carrying in addition to my school bag. I made a stop at the local super market on my way home to buy some groceries.
I walked to the elevator and pushed the button. Luckily the elevator appeared immediately for a change. I was about to go to my floor which was on the 18th. The story as to why I lived in such a luxurious place like this on my own, even though I am only a high-schooler is a story for another time.
When I arrived at my door I grabbed my keys to open the door to my apartment. Once in the hallway of my apartment I put the heavy bags down and sat down to take off my shoes. I let out a big sigh. I still had to make dinner, clean around the house. I was badly craving a hot shower too. The laundry had been piling up since the day I moved in, which was a week ago. I left that off while unpacking all of my belongings. I really needed to get to it.
While I was thinking of the huge list of things I still had to do I heard footsteps. Human ones, of course. Cerberus obviously transformed back to his human form. His footsteps stopped right behind me. He dropped something on the floor. It sounded like plastic. I looked at my side and saw it was my pass he threw at me. I looked up at him to see what his deal was. He could've just given it to me like a normal person.
"You think it makes sense to forget your own entrance pass?" he coldly asked. The way he looked down at me had a feel of superiority and arrogance. It ticked me off. "I guess I didn't think it was that important... Since I knew someone would be here to open up for me." I answered, maintaining eye-contact with him. He let his cold angry gaze linger on me for a while, before he turned around and left wordlessly.
I had secretly hoped he would help me with the groceries here, but I guess that was too much to ask. I carried the groceries all the way to my kitchen and put the bags on the countertop. I'd make dinner first. I was starving. What should I make, though? It should be something quick and simple. I rummaged through the bags, hoping to get some inspiration. I grabbed a potato, an onion, a carrot and the chicken breasts I bought from the butcher's shop. I had the ingredients for a curry. Curry rice, it is. I also grabbed a curry sauce mix from one of the bags and left the needed ingredients on the counter top.
All the other groceries I stowed away as quickly as I could. After I washed the chicken breasts, I cut them in bite-sized pieces. I grabbed a pan and put it on the stove, turning the latter on. I put two tablespoons of olive oil in the pan. Afterwards I quickly peeled the onion and started cutting it in long wedges.
While I was cutting the onions I was thinking I hadn't heard from Cerberus in a while. That's when I saw him walk out of my bedroom. He had put on his long leather coat and was walking towards the hall, stopping right by the entrance to the kitchen. He stared at me for a while.
"What are you doing?" he asked. The tone with which he asked the question didn't sound like he was genuinely curious. Rather, it sounded like he was outraged at the fact that I was cooking. I finished cutting the onion and put them in the pan together with the chicken. I decided to give him my attention after I was done with this. With a sizzle the chicken and onion started to cook. I quickly sprinkled some salt over it and put a lid on the pan.
I was about to peel the carrot when I felt a cold hand grabbing my left wrist. Hard. It shocked me, but before I could protest I was aggressively turned away from the countertop, forced to face my aggressor. It was none other than Cerberus, of course. "What's your deal?!" I yelled angrily. "What do you think you're doing?" He asked me, his tone calm-sounding, but I could see the fury in his eyes. His grip around my wrist was not getting any gentler. I was too angry to notice, however.
"I am starving, so I am making curry." I mustered all my patience to spell this obvious fact out to him. "And why are you making curry, like you have all the time in the world, is what I am asking." He bowed down a little to be on the same height as me. His face way too close to mine for comfort. "So you're saying I should starve instead?" I asked not wavering, not allowing him to intimidate me. "I am saying why didn't you order something quickly so we could get to our training. It's enough that you have to waste your time in school, because you're a minor. We have no more time to waste than this!"
He pulled me away, dragging me out of the kitchen. I tried to resist, but he was obviously stronger than me. He had superhuman strength. "Let go!" I hissed through gritted teeth, while trying to pull my wrist out of his grip. "You're coming with me." He halted and turned around and glared at me in the most threatening way I ever saw someone glare. "Now." He added eerily soft at the end.
No matter how threatening or scary he was trying to be, I couldn't leave the pan on the stove. My place would burn down in a matter of hours. Also, I was not going to waste my money on take-out. I was living on an inheritance and I didn't want to waste all that money on food and non-sense. By the way. If he thought I was wasting time in school why didn't he cook me something, while I was away?!
Seeing as pulling my arm wasn't going to work, I kicked his shin to distract him. I didn't think it would hurt him, but to my surprise it did. He let go of my wrist. I used my regained freedom to walk towards him. I was so angry I smacked him right on his left cheek. There was a small pause of silence between us two.
He obviously couldn't believe what just happened to him as he remained in the position I rendered him in. With the force of my slap I had turned his face showing me his profile. I just angrily looked at the cheek that was slowly turning red, not giving a damn about how he felt or what he was thinking at the moment.
"Cut it out!" I shouted. "I just came home from school and I am starving. I am not ordering take-out, because it's a waste of money and because I already did the groceries. I am making curry rice right now, whether you like it or not. If you wanted me to not waste time on cooking and doing the groceries, then you do that while I am not at home! What have you been doing the whole day, huh?!"
He just stood there, not moving. His face still in the same position after I slapped him. He slowly put a hand on the red spot on his left cheek. Well, I wasn't going to wait for him to react. I turned around and went back to cooking, since I believed I had made myself clear enough. I quickly checked on the chicken and onion to see whether they hadn't burned in the meantime, but luckily they had not. I would have to hurry up with the carrots and potato, though. I went right back to it.
"The enemy is on the move. They have set their eyes on the next target. They sent a team of 3 soldiers this time to take them out." Cerberus finally said. I had just started to cut the carrots when he said that. I immediately froze. Was that why he was so agitated? That he felt that there was no time to waste? Guilt washed over me. But wait! If the enemy was on the move he could simple go and rescue whoever it is that needs rescuing, just like he did with me. I immediately said that.
"Then it should be enough if you go alone, right. If it's rescuing someone, it's better you go alone. You're strong and powerful. Not even a bullet can stop you, whereas I need protecting everywhere I go. A bullet could kill me." I looked at the sharp knife I held in my hand. I held it up and turned to face him. "Even this puny knife could kill me."
Somehow my words agitated him again. He turned around abruptly. "That's why I need you to come with me and train!" He shouted for the first time this evening. This time it gave me a scare. I had never heard him shout until now. "H-how is that going to help that person who's being targeted right now..?" this time my protest was more timid than before. "It isn't." he said with determination. My eyes widened with shock.
"So you're just going to leave them to die?" I asked in disbelief. He looked down. Seemingly in shame. "Yeah." He simply answered. I didn't know what to say to that and just gawked at him in disbelief. He seemed to lose his patience more and more with every second we wasted on this discussion. In frustration he took two big steps towards me and grabbed my shoulder. "Which is why I need you to come with me and start training as soon as possible."
"Hold on! Why aren't you going to save them yourself?" I asked in confusion. "If you know they're being targeted now, leaving them to die to train me seems poi-", before I could finish my point he cut me off speaking with such intense fury and frustration: "BECAUSE THAT PERSON WOULDN'T BE THE FIRST!" I felt a shockwave of some sorts emitting from him for a short moment. The pan that was on the stove flew away and hit the wall, its content spilling over the floor. With a pang the lid fell on the floor as well. The chopping board landed on the floor with a loud sound as well, the cut carrots scattered around the countertop and kitchenfloor. The fridge was pushed to stand on one side and almost fell over completely, but it fell back on its place with a loud thud. I could hear the contents of the fridge scrambling around with the sudden and biggen movement. The kitchen was in chaos in a matter of a second.
But that was the last thing I was worrying about. I slowly put a hand in front of my mouth, restraining a gasp. "There are so many people being targeted by that organization that I can't keep up. I have been fighting them alone for years now and I can only blame my negligence and arrogance that I let them grow this powerful before gathering allies… Before I knew it, their operations spanned the entire globe." he suddenly started to explain himself, looking down, avoiding eye contact.
"She will not be the first person I failed to save, nor will she be the last, nor will she be the only one." I couldn't believe my ears. So there were more people being attacked by random military-men, just like I was? And even worse. They have operations outside of Japan?! More people went through that horrible experience, not even knowing why they were being targeted? Dead-silence settled between us. I didn't know how to reply, but there was one question lingering on my mind…
"W.." I almost forgot how to speak. Cerberus looked me in the eyes, I couldn't focus my sight, however. I was so in shock I just stared at a random spot in space. "Wh-who is the target…? Do you have a name?" I asked. He averted his eyes again. "What does it matter, you won't be able to hel-" I grabbed his collar. Not out of aggression or anger, I was more doing it out of desperation. I grabbed him by the collar of his anthracite dress shirt. "Give me a name!" I yelled. He gave me a troubled look, but finally gave in.
"Mizuno..." he started to answer my question. As I heard that last name my eyes and mouth simultaneously flew open. I lost all strength in my body. I slowly let go of his collar. "Ami…" he finished. I dropped to my knees and mumbled, as if in trance: "Mizuno… Ami…"
