Disclaimer - I don't own K-ON!

Genre - Supernatural/Drama

Warning - Alternate Universe, OOC, implied pairings. And, I think it will be gore and blood.

Status:Beta-ed by Musician74Thanks again for your effort to beta this story! I'm really grateful!

Hey, fourth chapter is up! Is this quite fast or too long, maybe? I hope I could update many of my stories because…I think I will not be in FFn soon.


Innocent

Kuroi-Oneesan (c) 2011


/4 – Lifeline/

Ritsu walked slowly towards the end of the stairs on the third floor. An uneasy feeling lingered on her mind and in her heart. Her face was flushed and her breath ragged—she was tired and confused. Where did the corpse go? Why would an innocent girl like Azusa be a victim? What are the killer's motives?—were the questions that flooded her mind.

The brunette sighed long and deep before entering the classroom. She let out a long and deep sigh before going into the classroom."Easy, Ritsu…Keep calm, will ya?" she thought to herself before entering the classroom.

"Welcome back Ri—Oh my god! You're bleeding!" Nodoka suddenly yelled after Ritsu stepped in. The brunette's expression stayed motionless. Nodoka hurriedly ran up to her and grabbed her bloodied shirt.

"No…this isn't my blood," she lied. "I found a corpse at the rooftop, but it's gone now."

The dark-haired girl's eyes widened, "What the-! That's horrible! It's… it's…"

"Yea, I know, I know…don't yell into my ears!" Ritsu covered her ears with her hands. "But there aren't any clues or traces to begin with so… try and forget about it."

"I can't, I'm the student council president, Ritsu…!" Nodoka sighed. "Do you know who the victim is, then?"

"W-Well, yeah, sorta…" the brunette averted her eyes. "It was Nakano Azusa, a freshman."

"I see… I'll try and contact her parents then." Nodoka put her belongings in her bag and was ready to head out the door. "Your detention ends here. You can go home now."

Ritsu grabbed her bag. "Sorry I can't be of any help…"

"Nah, it's okay. It's my job as the student council president."


.

.

.

I always lean on Nodoka for everything

She's…like a dear friend and good babysitter at the same time

She's a great leader, top of the class; she's great at everything I can't do

But, sometimes I wonder…

Is she…hiding something between those dark brown eyes?

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Ritsu slowly walked towards the school entrance and saw someone down by the shoebox locker. It was a girl with a Sakuragaoka uniform and it seemed like she was searching for someone. The brunette carefully observed her. The girl was slender, had long blonde wavy hair, porcelain white skin and thick eyebrows. Her eyes were blue, a clear and beautiful blue which somehow reminded Ritsu of the ocean. She never seen that girl even once in the school, maybe she's a new student?

"…'Scuse me~?" Ritsu said, trying to get the girl's attention with her playful tone. "Are you looking for something?"

Said girl turned and aquamarine met amber.

"Umm, are you a student here?"

Ritsu's eyebrow jerked up, "…Yea, are you a new student?"

"Yes, I am," she then bowed. "You must be my senpai then."

"What's your name?" Ritsu said friendly. "I'm Tainaka Ritsu, the sophomore."

"I see," the girl nodded firmly. "Can you please guide me to the freshmen's class, Tainaka-senpai?"

"No prob, follow me then."

After having turned over a few corners, the two reached the hall where classes from 1-A to 1-H were located. The girl followed Ritsu silently, not asking her anything, or more likely not wanting to ask her anything.

"This is it, pretty easy to remember, right?"

The girl only nodded in response, Ritsu then smiled at her.

"Anything else, then?"

"No, thank you, Tainaka-senpai," she bowed again. "I hope we'll meet again someday."

"I hope so," Ritsu grinned. "Ooh, I'm sorry; I didn't catch your name…?"

"I'm…" she paused for a moment."…Kotobuki Tsumugi, nice to meet you, senpai."


.

.

.

That girl's strange

She is really strange

It's like…I have an awkward feeling about her

Her aura, her way of talking

Something's bothering me

Nah, that couldn't be it…

But I have a feeling that her aura is like…

like Mio's?

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"I'm home~"

Mio greeted her with a small sad smile. She was sitting by the tatami beside the table of the living room. "Welcome back."

Can I ask you something, Mio?" Ritsu put down her bag right next to where she was seated.

"About what? Do you want to ask me something about my abilities as a necromancer?"

"…How can you read my mind so easily like you're reading a book?"

"That's one of my abilities. Necromancers have different abilities," Mio crossed her arms. "For example, there are necromancers who can swap themselves—I mean, like switching bodies—between their masters and their selves; and there are necromancers that could grant their masters the ability to feel zombies around the town and so on. Each of the ability has its own pros and cons."

Ritsu tilted her head, "Urm…what's your ability exactly, then?"

"My ability primarily is being able to read anyone's mind and I also have great healing abilities," the raven-haired necromancer explained. "I have no other surprising abilities than that."

Ritsu began to understand the concept, "I see, I see… then do you know about any other zombie's presence, beside me, around you if you're with me?"

"Absolutely, we necromancers can, but the zombies can't, except for the one with special ability that I mentioned beforehand."

"So if you are with me, then I can read anyone's mind too?"

"Yes, of course…wait," Mio paused for a few seconds. "What are you saying, Ritsu? Do you want to use my abilities to read people's minds?"

"Yeah, but I have a reason—"

The conversation came to a halt as Ritsu heard her cell phone ringing. She picked up, it was from Nodoka.

"Oh, hey, what's up?"

"You lied to me, Ritsu. That Nakano Azusa girl isn't dead. She is safe at home, because when I called she was the one that picked up the phone."

"W-what the—! No! No way! Ritsu yelled out as she tried to defend herself. "I-I saw her dead body! Don't you believe me?"

"I'm sorry Ritsu, but I believe what Isee." The brunette could hear the council president sighing."I'll let this case slide this time. But if you can prove that there was a corpse, then tell me."

The phone call ended. Mio already guessed what happened.

"The body is missing and the girl's alive? Mio turned to Ritsu. "That's an unusually strange case for this whole murder massacre. Is this some kind of joke?"

"Beats me," Ritsu groaned. "Is Azusa a zombie? But that can't be! She can't disappear that fast!"

"Then, you wanna seek the truth by using my necromancing ability?"

"Thanks, I see you understand well, necromancer~" Ritsu offered a hand shake. "I'll need your help from now on then!"

"Call me by my name please, zombie." The necromancer accepted the handshake.

"Fine, Mio~! Aww, you're cute when you're angry—H-HEY DON'T TWIST MY HAND, GAHH!"

"Don't worry, if your hand is broken or fractured, I'll fix it."

"W-wait, wait! That's not a good joke—STOP, MIO!"


.

.

.

Has Azusa turned into a zombie then?

I still thought 'that can't be right'

Somehow, I also thought that there may be a possibility that it's true

Was she a victim or—

Was it a decoy, like Mio said?

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Meanwhile, Nodoka's apartment,

She didn't live alone; she has a friend with whom she shares the apartment as well. Well, not exactly friend. Maybe a 'sister' sounds better. Her name is Hirasawa Ui, Nodoka's childhood friend but she's in a different grade, Ui is younger than Nodoka. Ui would take care all of the householdchores whenever Nodoka was busy doing student council work.

"Welcome home, Nodoka-chan." Ui welcomed her with a bright smile and a bowl of corn soup in her hand. "What's wrong? You look so tired."

"Ah, it's nothing, just busy with complicated student council work as usual…" Nodoka smiled. "Oh, warm corn soup for today, huh? This smells great."

"Here's your rice."

"Well, itadakimasu…"

As the two silently ate, Nodoka began to start a conversation.

"Hey, Ui. Have you ever thought about having an older sister?"

"Hmm? Well, not really. I'm happy wherever I am…" Ui paused. "But it must be fun, having an older sister to talk to…"

Ui is the only child of her parents. They always leave her alone at home to work overseas. That's why she often played with Nodoka when they were younger.

"I see, but if your sister is really clumsy and not dependable, would you still love being with her?"

"I would, she's my beloved sister, after all~" Ui grinned happily. "Um, why are you asking this out of the blue, Nodoka-chan?"

"Ehh… well, nothing. It's just that you're always alone so…" Nodoka coughed. "I just wanted to hear your opinion about it. That's all."

"Don't worry, Nodoka-chan," The younger girl smiled tenderly. "I'm not alone."

To be continued.


A/N: So, gotta guess the next zombies are? I guess the readers could. Then, I put quite lot of Japanese words here, lemme put it into the dictionary.

Senpai – Well, that's common, upperclassmen/seniors
Tatami – a Japanese seating cushion.
Itadakimasu – 'Let's eat', or you could say that it's the first thing we said before storming the meal ^^

Okay then, that's all I wanna say~ see you next chapter!