Hallo it's Masoyan~ thanks for joining me again. I had to re-read this series cuz I got lost and couldn't write for some reason. But that's all fixed now and I'm back in action! Updates shouldn't take that long now. Thank you all very much for sticking with me. Have some delish super cake!
Owari no Seraph doesn't belong to me! Enjoy!
Chapter Seven
"What are the results?"
Ashima and Guren were sitting in his office while the rest of his team and the students were in classrooms, taking turns getting asked a series of questions. They finished the psychical part of the training a couple days ago and as Guren expected, his favorite Kuragari didn't do well in that. Same with the auburn girl Unjo and the dark brunette boy Morioka. Ashima had all the papers on her clipboard, thumbing through them as she crossed her left leg over her right.
"A good batch of kids here. Probably the best one I've seen in awhile. I'm sure you're glad to here that Natsuka-chan is among the lowest in the physical tests."
"She'd be the first to go."
"Not necessarily."
Guren swiveled his chair around with an uninterested look. "And why would that be?"
"Yes she's at a rather big disadvantage with her poor physical state from both the beatings and naturally weak body. But if you took any of the other students and put them through what she went through, how many do you think would survive?"
"I dunno. Tell me."
"By my calculations, none of them."
"You're shitting me. Does it have to do with that anomaly?"
Ashima shrugged. "That I can't answer. Once it was detected, all the lesser doctors like myself where forced away. I'm not sure what it is, but Natsuka-chan seems to have a very strong will to live. I don't know the answer to why she does either."
"The vampires must have done something to her then."
"There's no sign of it. No evidence of experimentation in the slightest."
Guren fell silent. 'How can will alone make someone live with what shit that brat went through?' More questions and no answers. The thing that was bugging him the most was the anomaly thing. If the vampires didn't do anything, then maybe her own family did. But why? From the reports, she has three older siblings and none of them looked like they went through the same treatment as Natsuka. What is it about her that made her own family turn against her? And why was he even bothering with all of it?
"But I can tell you this."
Ashima's voice snapped him back to reality. "Tell me what?"
"Her mental state is impressive. To be able to stay calm and stone faced despite her past makes her a valuable asset. In my opinion, having stronger mentality is better than being physically strong when it comes to dealing with demons."
"Yeah yeah. If she can't keep up with the others, then it doesn't matter how good her mental strength is. She'll be dead weight to the team."
"You don't like her much do you Ichinose-kun?"
"No I hate her."
'Then why do I want to know more about her?'
"S-sorry for taking so long. We're almost done here."
"It's okay I don't mind. Not like I've got anything else planned for the day."
"Right of course."
Natsuka was placed in a room with Sayuri who timidly showed her a different photos that varied from starving kids to bloodied corpses. She was also asked questions that specifically targeted her past. As much as she hated having to talk about her dealings with the Akamoto family, she answered calmly. She was wired up to check her brain waves and when she was asked said questions, the waves spiked a little.
"If you're family was in danger, what would you do?"
"I'd let them die."
"Y-you wouldn't try to save them?"
The blonde shook her head. "The only one worth saving is already dead."
Sayuri flinched back from the answer and the tone she gave. "I-I see. We're done now. Again, sorry for taking too long."
Natsuka removed all the wires and pads from her head as Sayuri gathered up the papers. She could tell the older girl was a bit shaken from the seriousness in her answers. And how coldly she replied when asked about the Akamoto family. There's no reason to hide her hatred for them after all they did. Siding with the vampires just so they could live.
"Can I...can I ask you something off the record Natsuka-san?"
"Sure."
"How were you able to live through it?" Natsuka's stern gaze made her shiver. "I-I'm sorry, that was rather rude to ask."
"No it's fine. I ask myself that too. Some part of me wouldn't let me die and even I don't really understand why. When my mother was alive, that's what kept me going. Now I dunno anymore why. To kill vampires sure. But wouldn't it be easier if I just killed myself instead of living through the torture?"
That dark question hung in the air as Natsuka stood and bowed towards Sayuri before leaving the room. She noticed Unjo and Morioka talking with each other and greeted her when she joined them.
"We're just about done with everything now," Morioka said with a look of relief. "Just two more things and we'll be finished with all the testing."
"Then it's the real deal for those that pass," Unjo added quietly.
"Even if some of us don't, there's still other things we can do to help right?"
Natsuka stayed quiet as the other two talked about what they'd do if they passed and if they didn't. Her mind wondered to those questions she was asked. She had a feeling they were more in depth than the other students questions. And she thinks she knows the reason why.
"Natsuka-san?"
She looked up at Unjo. "Yes?"
"Are you okay? You've been angry looking since you showed up."
"I have? Oh sorry. Just thinking about the test that's all."
"What kind of things did they ask?" Morioka questioned.
"About my family mostly. Wanted to see how I'd react if they dug too deep into my past. Probably wanted to know if I'd break. I'm not that fragile."
"Pfft yeah right. All anyone would have to do is diss your mother and you'd lose it."
Natsuka groaned at the snotty tone of Suzumine, but said nothing. The rest of the students had gathered in the hallway after finishing their test. The black haired girl stood there with her brows furrowed and her arms crossed. That green eyed guy from earlier was glaring at her too. The others were interested to see a cat fight. She meet Suzumine's gaze with a nonchalant look.
"What? You going to attack me again Kuragari?"
"I'm tempted."
"Ichinose-san would have your ass kicked out of the training if you did."
Natsuka snorted. "Please spare me your lies. Ichinose sees you as nothing but an annoying sniveling bitch that can't wipe her own ass and has to have people grovel before her. He may say otherwise, but I can see it easy."
"What...how could...that's not..." Suzumine struggled to find the right words as her face went cherry red.
"Sure you've got good grades and people like you. But so fucking what. A vampire isn't going to be impressed and a Four Horsemen of John could care less. You use your status to push your way to the top and expect others to believe in your so called perfect skills. I bet once you're on the battlefield, you wouldn't know what to do. You'd let someone else fight while you sit back like a fucking coward and watch as others bleed because you're pathetic."
A hand came across her cheek hard and she was expecting that. The hit threw her balance off a little, but she stabled herself and faced the extremely flustered Suzumine.
"You better keep your mouth shut Kuragari."
"Or else what? You'll run to Ichinose in hopes he'll believe your bullshit?"
This time it was a fist to the same cheek that was slapped and it didn't stop there. Suzumine pounced her, causing her to hit the floor hard and slapped her face again. The dark memories flashed in Natsuka's mind of her previous beatings, but she pushed them back. She tasted blood in her mouth after another hit to her cheek.
"Suzumine enough."
Her hand stopped above Natsuka's head when Guren's came from the other end of the hall. She angrily got off of the blonde and stomped away in the opposite direction with teary eyes and a still red face. Natsuka sat up, wiping the blood from her mouth and looked up when Guren stood next to her with his usual glare.
"Why didn't anyone stop Suzumine?"
"Because that bitch Kuragari was asking for it," the green eyed boy replied.
"And that's a good excuse to let Kuragari get beaten by a fellow classmate, Sorazawa?"
"She egged on Suzumine. Anyone would strike back if they were bad mouthed. Kuragari's the one-"
"I don't give a damn if you all hate each other." Guren's harsh tone made Sorazawa shut up and everyone flinch. "You're going to need to learn to work together. If you don't, you'll just end up sending the whole team down with you. But if you got a death wish, you're more than welcome to walk outside the wall."
He glared down at Natsuka one last time before leaving down the way he came. He sure does show up at the weirdest times. The rest of them went their own ways while the strawberry blonde stayed on the floor bleeding from a busted lip. Morioka and Unjo helped her up and lead her down the same way Suzumine left. She wondered herself why she didn't fight back? There was a little voice in her head telling her not to and to wait for a better time to unleash her anger. She was pretty surprised that Suzumine got riled up easily.
"You really should be careful Natsuka-san," Morioka said when they reached the outside of the school.
"I can't help it. Not the best at dealing with other people. Especially ones like her."
"But what happens if you're on the same team as her? You'll have to work together."
"Heh that's exactly what 'I'm a dick' Ichinose said."
"Morioka has a point though and so does Ichinose-san. We can hate each other, but when the time comes we'll need to work as a team to protect humanity."
Natsuka stopped and looked up at the sky. "That's a lot to ask for from a buncha kids."
Tada! Seventh chapter completed! Pheeeeew so sorry for the huge gap between updates. For some odd reason I had trouble writing for this series. Major block but it's been smoothed out now hopefully. Please review? Pretty pleeeeeeeeeeease? Thanks for reading!
Ciao amici!
