ARC I:

Antinomy

Chapter VIII

CONSIDERATION


I slowly opened my eyes, the first image I see is the white ceiling above me. What happened last night? Oh, that's right. I had a small argument with Emigrace and some issues with my squad the yesterday. I must've crashed on my bed after that. She did say I need some time to myself to think, I guess I subconsciously followed her advice and fell asleep. Well, falling asleep isn't going to solve any problems.
Concluding with that, I threw my blanket off me, I look down and see that I still had my uniform on.

I whispered to myself, "I should take a shower soon."

I lifted my body up, and set my feet on the carpet flooring of my dorm room. I glance at my clock; 5:00AM. I woke up at my usual time, usually I would use this time to either study or read a book or two in the library. Looking my currrent state, I should really take a shower in the bathhouse, that way, I can take my mind off the drama from the previous day. I wander over to my closet and grab my extra uniform from the hangers and grab my bag of shower supplies. Then, I walked over to my door, slipping on my shoes. I was about to turn my door knob when a strong stench punctures my nasal senses and forces me into a sudden stop. I pull my arm up, and dug my nose into my armpit, I instantly pull away in disgust of my own body odor.
I fiercely grip my doorknob and open the door into the dark hallway. I close the door behind me and lock it with a key in my bag. I trailed off to the school's bathhouse from there, located at the back of the long hallway.
The school's dormitories are split by gender, therefore the bathhouses are gender divided. There is only one thing connecting the boys' dorm and the girls' dorm is the intersection which leads to the bathhouses, not that it matters to me.

The corridors were dark, only lit by the dim sunlight coming into view from the windows of the hallway, but other than that, it was dark. I arrived at the bathhouse, it wasn't a long walk, easily five to ten minutes. There was no one coming from the girls side of the hallway, which was good.. I didn't want to bump into anyone this morning, especially not Selena, she would blow her top off if she saw me this early. Well, she doesn't seem like the type to wake up early in the morning, she strikes me as the type that would always wake up late and blame it on someone else, that's the cliche way of looking at it.

"There's no point in talking about her now," I whisper to myself, walking towards the bath house.

There was a red door and a green door side by side, the red door with a gold plate screwed into the wall beside each. "BOYS" on the red door and "GIRLS" on the green door. I opened the red door, peering into the dark locker room. The light switch was right beside me, I flicked it on, and the bright lights burns my retina, and I shield my eyes with my arm, waiting to adjust to the current light level. I removed my arm from my line of sight and walked towards the nearest locker. I opened it, just your average high school locker. There a horizontal pole at the top, I hung my fresh uniform there. I stripped off my sweaty clothes and stuffed them into the locker, from there, I wrapped a towel around my waist and grabbed my bag of hygenic supplies and headed into the shower room.
I opened the sliding doors and peered into the shower room. The flooring, walls and ceilings were made with sliver tiles. There were no panels to divide each shower head, only a shelf and towel racks under them. I placed my shampoo and my case of soap on the shelf, I hung the plastic bag on the rack. I pulled off my white towel and hung it on the towel rack. I slowly turned the shower knob, and set it to warm temperature, and sure enough, cold water pelts my body as if I was standing in a sudden downpour. I sighed at the cold temperature, it froze my already freezing body. Having to deal with cold water early in the morning is not a pleasing activity. Even though being a student-soldier, you would think we are trained to adapt to certain temperatures, well, that is the case, but for me, I wasn't perfect in that aspect. My body is sensitive to the cold, and I have a much better time in hotter climates. So I try to endure the spine-chilling feel of the ice-cold water moisturing my body. I think of it as a training exercise so I can tough it out, it just recently became a tradition of mine to train my body under cold climates by using the cold water from my showers. The temperature of the water heats up and I sigh in relief and began scrubbing my pale body with my bar of soap. It was unorthodoxed to some people to scrub your body with the bar of soap but that doesn't phase me a bit. I continue scrubbing my body, smiling at my own thoughts. I would say I'm well built, but I don't have anything outstanding about my physical appearance, aside from my long hair. I am healthy by an extent and I do have muscles from day-by-day training but that's about it. I'm not crazy buff, but muscular enough to get the job done, I don't really need to push myself to the extent. I felt at peace in the shower room, no one to bother me, and the warm water washing away the grim and dirt off my body. It felt really peaceful in the long run.

I hear the loud sound of the sliding doors opening. I look in the direction of the sound, I see a familar brunette in the doorway with a towel wrapped around his waist. Yuro looked at me with a surprised expression and instantly turned away, covering his mouth with the palm of his hand.

I called out his name, "Yuro?"
He jumped up in surprise, "oh.. Kazu, I didn't know you woke up this early..." he said slowly as he turns around to face me, as if being on guard.

Yuro was the person I wanted to run into the least, having either Scarlet, Selena, or Xiu in this situation would be much better to handle than someone I showed random interest in his sob story and pissed off the next day.

I turned around, facing the sliver wall in front of me, "this the normal time for me to get up, normally I would be in my room, reading or studying, but since I haven't showered, I decided to switch up my schedule," I explained.

I have no idea what to even say to him, sheesh, if this continues, it'll only get awkward by the second. Well, I have to apologize to him sooner or later, and I guess now would be the most ideal time since it's just the two of us.
I hear the sound of someone turning the shower knob next to me, I peer over and get spooked by the sudden sight of Yuro and his slightly tanned body.
He smothered his right palm with soap and rubbed his right arm, covering it in soap suds and washing it off with the cool water under the shower head. "Well, I always saw you as the type of dude who would get up early in the morning for school," he said quietly.

I laughed, "ha ha ha.. I had similar thoughts this morning."
He perked up, locking eye contact with me, "really? I guess friends think alike!" he smiled profoundly.

Friends? Just the sound of hearing it causes my body to shiver in shock. I didn't think he would call me his friend still after what happened yesterday.

I looked at him, confused, "friend..?"
He nodded, "yeah, you're my friend, isn't that right?" his bright smile hit me in my heart.
My confusion turned into a small frown of doubt, "after everything I had done?"
He laughed a bit, but still maintained his warm smile, "oh, hahaha.. of course, I'm still mad about how you handled my story, but you're still my friend,"
I sighed in relief, "that's good to hear. But listen, I really am sorry for saying what said and performing the actions I had during that last fight," I said dreadfully.
He waved his hand playfully, shrugging it off, "dude, it's fine, honestly. You know, I actually went with my gut about you getting up early so I can try fitting into your shoes. So I can, you know, feel your pain, man," he continued to maintain eye contact with me.
"That sounds very much like you, Yuro, ahahaha," I laughed, amused by this actions.

This is a really heartwarming experience for me, I haven't really interacted with a person in such a familiar way, and for some reason, it feels normal for me. I never felt so natural to a person before, so this strikes me as odd and I'm unable to to comprehend it, but it brings me at ease that my friend doesn't hate me.
He grabbed his bottle of shampoo and poured some on his palm, he rubbed his two hands together and began scrubbing his hair violently, digging into all the dirt into his hair and cleaning it out. "I'm sure Xiu and the rest of the girls think the same way," he reassured me.

I smiled back, "really.." continuing to rub my body with the bar of soap I still had latched in my hand.
"Well, to be honest, I'm not so sure about Selena to be honest. She wasn't always the forgiving type of person," Yuro laughed.

I expected that response from him, I thought.

He curled his hand into a fist, "anyway, I promise one day, I'll learn everything I can about you, Kazu! So promise me you'll spar with me again!" he smiled cherrfully.
I nodded sharply, "I promise."

We had a small conversation about what had happened after I was kicked out of Emigrace's office, just minor things that weren't really important but they were fun to talk about. We finished our showers and headed back to our dorm rooms to get ready for school in about another hour or so. So I had enough time to grab some breakfast at the school's cafeteria. Here's how it works in our school, in our daily missions, we get something called "Ascension Points," otherwise abbrivated as "AP," around ten of them is the equivalent to one US dollar. We use these points as money in this school, they can only be used in this school, and are useless anywhere else. We accumulate these points on missions as our reward, depending on how well we do of course. We receive these points usually at the end of the day, we don't have paper forms of currency, it's just in the form of a plastic card linked to our online account which holds all of our points. Well, before we graduate, we can convert all of our points into paper currency which we can use in Dillith, the main city of the Darkness Faction.

I arrived at the cafetria, looking around, it seems a few students are already filling the huge lunchroom. The lunchroom was just a hard wooden floor, thousands of tables in rows and a counter where you can order your food up front. There are also four cylinder support beams in the building, supporting the huge, marble ceiling above. I trailed my way to the counter, ordering just a simple breakfast sandwich, which was about sixty-five points, $6.50 in USD. I took the breakfast sandwich from the counterlady and said my thanks, and I trailed my way to an empty seat at an empty table. I pulled out the seat, setting myself down and began digging into the sandwich I had paid for. It was a simple BLT, nothing too special, I'm not the pickest of eaters but this would do for now.

"Hey, isn't that Kazu Yuuki?" I overhear a female student say.

I didn't turn my head around, as that would give my position away and they would know that I overhear them. So, I continued to eavesdrop.

"What about him?" her friend asked.
The girl scoffed, "ugh.. didn't you hear? It sounded like he had an argument with Emigrace."
Her friend seemed uninterested, "... yeah so? That shit happens."
"No, you don't understand! He actually had an argument with someone! The robotic Kazu actually showed some emotion for once!" the girl blew up as if it was the end of the world.

It was just some simple gossip, nothing too special, nor is it anything I should care about. Things like this happen in high school, after all, high school isn't always about rainbows and puppies with sunshine sprinkled on top like a cupcake. At first sight, the cupcake is pleasant to look at, but once you eat that cupcake, you reveal the true mold of high school, a desolate place where barely any good things will happen to you unless you're popular. I'm not popular, if anything, I'm imfamous at this school. That girl from the other day said hinted at it herself, that people talk about me in either negative or positive ways.

I sighed and shook my head to clear myself of those unsavorly thoughts and decided to drown myself in this sandwich I'd bought.
"Woah dude, did you hear? The last portion of the Calamity Project is in a few months!" an ecstatic male student said to his friend.
"Yeah, finally. I was wondering if we were ever going to fight them again! It's fun fighting them!" his friend admitted.

Some of our peers treat this as a fun, little game, I thought.

"Man, I'm not looking forward to the Calamity Project," another male student passed by.
His friend looked at him, interested, "huh? Why not?"
"It just.. feels wrong you know? I wish I could just quit, but my family is counting on me to excel in this school. I have no other choice, if I quit, we'll be exiled by the Darkness Faction, so I feel forced and pressured. It sucks," he said dreadfully.
"Yeah.. you're right," his friend agreed in the gloom.

Some people started to harsh reality, I thought.

Another pair of students passes by me, carrying a neutral expression on their faces, carrying out a normal atmosphere and a state of familiarity.

I bite into my sandwich again, fueling my thoughts from my surroundings.

What that guy said was true, you do get exiled if you quit the academy. It is an act of treason if you do so, that's why. You are granted special information that the brass doesn't want to release to the public, such as the rigorous training exercises at the academy, and overrall sensitive information that may ruin the reputation of the school in general, so I've heard. I don't have a family anymore, I guess I can count Emigrace as my family, but she has no relation to me whatsoever. She only took care of me because she had to, I know she cares about me, but this train of doubt just can't leave my mind. It's heartwrenching, and made me feel alone for a small while. But I still have my friends to help and also.. apologize to.. damn.. living life is hard, isn't it?
I stuff the last bite of my sandwich into my mouth and water it down with some water, allowing me to swallow it easier. I learned this trick a while ago, if you eat a piece of bread and drink some water with it in your mouth, you can soften the bread so it'll be easier to eat. Pretty useful in the long run. I stood up from my chair, grabbing my tray and putting it near the counter at the front. There, they take your finished tray, scrape off any unfinished food, and wash it. Pretty simple stuff.
After finishing my meal, I hurried off to class, passing by numerous people who were either eating and talking to their friends, or gossiping about pretty much everything involving me or the academy. These things cannot be avoided, but I would like to know the thought process of everyone at school, just so I can see what they're thinking. Why? Because I'm curious.

...

The school day has ended on a decent note, but not a good one for me. Throughout the day, I have been bumping into the other trio of my squad between classes, and in class. It was awkward between us, but we really didn't have anytime to apologize to each other and make up. So it was evident negativity towards me.

...

I could remember it vividly. I bumped into Xiu on my way to my first class; English II. I happened to turn the corner and make eye contact with her. Which turned into an awkward situation mind you.

"Hm?" I looked at Xiu intently. She narrowed her eyes at me and frowned, "oh, it's just you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked without thought.
She held her books tighter, "nothing.. really.."

A few seconds passed by and she charged right through me, passing by me and running off into the opposite direction. Right after that, I shrugged it off and continued walking down the hall, wondering what a weird situation that was. I understood I was in her way, and stayed there for a reason; to apologize.
Yet, I couldn't let the words out of my mouth. I assumed it was the wrong place to say it so I decided to find her later.

...

In my second class, Health Education, Scarlet was my desk neighbor. Of course, I knew this long before I become her friend and joined her squad. But, I felt this.. invisible wall between us and every time I would take a peek, I would feel an immense aura coming from her, almost as if she was trying to reject me. This one time when our eyes met simutanously..

".. What are you looking at?" she said viciously.

On reflex, I look away auomatically. I never knew these girls would be so different, Yuro was so understanding, but these girls are quite frankly, the opposite of that! I suppose it had to do with my knowing Yuro far longer than those two, but I hope Selena would be understanding. Oh wait, this is Selena we're talking about, yeah, she's probably going to react in a similar manner. At that point, I wasn't aware that I already buried myself in my own thoughts, ever so frequently, my teacher had to yell at me to wake up and pay attention. I could heard a few giggles here and there, but one more promiently near me was Scarlet, at least I thought it was. From there on out, I was daydreaming on purpose for a bit just to catch a glimpse of Scarlet giggling, in the end, I did, but it got old after around five intended attempts.

After class ended, I tried to speak to Scarlet, but she bolted out of the classroom before anyone did. It was strange, very strange.

...

My fourth class, Combat Training, we were standing under the blazing sun, listening to a lecture by my professor. At this point, everyone had taken off their blazers because of the instense heat, who would blame them?

At the corner of my right eye, I saw Selena's back a few feet away from me. For some reason, she still had her blazer on, was she cold? Even I, who has no problem in the heat, took my blazer off, so this struck me as odd and unusual. Even from my line of sight, I could see a few sweat drops or two from her forehead.

"... I should leave her be.." I mutter to myself and continue listening to the lecture about parrying attacks.

There was nothing strange that happened for the remainder of the lecture. For this class, the routine was thirty minutes of pure lecturing, and the last fifty minutes of sparring, using things we've learned during the lecture. It's pretty much a class where you have to pay attention, some lessons drown out to the next day, but that's no big deal to us now.

Our professor announced, "alright class, your lecture is over. Now begin training session, you can pair with whoever you want, just make sure to put the knowledge you've gained today into action," he said, clapping his hands together, signaling the end of the first portion of class.

Everyone started spreading out amongst each other and paired up, I was about to leave but something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I turned over, and saw Selena summon her Keyblade and jump up high in the air, and descend downwards towards me.
My eyes widen at this sudden course of action, I summon my Two Become One, and held it up, preparing to block the incoming dive. She dove downwards, pulling her arm back and swung downwards with all her might. A loud bang of metal reverbated throughout the area as sparks flew in connection of out blades. She was still airborn, trying to break my defense with her strength. I pushed her back, taking a chance to strike, I missed. She landed just a few feet away from me, breathing heavily and eyes locked on me.

I spoke up, "hey, at least give me a heads up before you chop my head off."
"It's not like I care, just fight me already so we can get this assignment over with!" she roared, leaning forward and dashing towards me at fast speed.
"Dammit... I didn't ask for any of this," I cursed to myself.

I brace myself for impact. At the point when we are only a few meters away from each other, she hopped a few feet above the ground and prepared to strike. I swing my blade at around the same time she does, intercepting the attack and successfully parrying. The force of the clashing blades bounced back, causing the both of us to pull back a bit.
I can hear the cheering of the other students in my class around us, roused by the sudden spectacle.
We spent the remainder of the class duking it out in front of everyone, and as a result got everyone else inching to fight. In the end, it was a good enough conclusion to class for our professor, as everyone was putting in more effort than usual. But for me? I was busy dreading this conflict throughout the entire thing, Selena just wouldn't let up, she kept coming and coming, no end to her attacks and I was forced to stay on the defensive. Her reaction to me was worse than what I initally thought, infinitely worse. I thought my life was in danger at that moment, I didn't get a moment of rest.

"What's with everyone today...?" I sighed as I lunged my tired body all the way to my sixth class.

...

Well, that's the story. My only hope is that I'll be able to apologize to them sooner or later, if not, right away. I guess it's just a sudden surge of emotions that were aimed at me, like the time I bursted out at Emigrace last night. In that case, I understand what's going on, if not, then it's "that time of the month" for them.
I marched over to my dorm room, passing each and every door leading to a staff member's office room. The entrance to the student dorm was through the facilty hallway, I have no idea who's design choice it was to do that, but it's a bit inconvient for delinquents. Not that I've seen any delinquents at this school, nor did I care if there were. At this point, I just wanted to keep to my thoughts in my room. I wasn't in the mood to talk to Yuro or the rest of my friends today, especially what happened today at school.
When I finally reached my dorm room, I immediately slam the door shut and locked it once I got inside. Probably disturbing my neighbors with action, but in all honesty, I couldn't help but slam it, I was frustrated with today after all.

"And it started on a good note too.." I mutter my last thought.

I set my backpack I had been carrying all day on my bedside. I lazily threw my tired body onto my bed. Lacking all energy to read or do my homework given today, it was far too stressful to even think about it.
A good five minutes of pure silence passed. I hear a loud knock at my door. At that moment, what seems like a strong current of electricity flowed through my body and granted my energy as I sprung up and wandered over to the door in a panic.

"Who is it?" I asked, calmly.
Three female voices spoke simultaneously, "it's us," I knew these voices all too well, as a wave of confusion engulfed my mind.

Why the hell are they here? I thought.

"You three shouldn't be allowed here," I spoke in a much lower tone.
Yuro spoke up, "nah, don't worry Kazu, I'm here to escort them!"

Thanks a lot, I thought, sarcastically.

I sighed in frustration, "well, what's your business?" I asked bluntly.
"We came to apologize what happened today and yesterday," Scarlet explained.

Well, it would do no good if I just shut them out. I was going to do it myself, but since they're coming to me, I might as well accept their wishes and let them in, I thought.

I opened the door for them and they came barging in, with Xiu knocking me down to the ground, all four of them laughing in delight and joy.

"What the!?" I yelped in surprise.
All four of them got off me and helped me stand back up. I smiled a bit in amusement of their surprise but quickly turned it to confusion. "What's this about?" I asked, still surprised.

Xiu ecstatically jumped up and spoke up immediately, "all four of us got together during lunch break and talked it out. We were being judgemental yesterday and didn't acknowledge your reasons for it. So, we decided to forgive you after hearing what Yuro and Emigrace said," she smiled brightly.

I rubbed the back of my neck, "oh, so it wasn't a big deal then?"
"Of course, it was a big deal," Selena butted in, "but after hearing you had no control over yourself, we can forgive you just this once," she said rather seriously.
"And what was with the weird awkwardness today?" I looked at each of their faces, which were hung out of guilt or embarrassment.

Did I say something wrong? I thought.

Scarlet giggled playfully, "haha... well~ I was still a bit angry.. haha.." she tried to laugh it off but the awkward air left her in awe.
I turned my attention to Selena. She spoke, "I was angry too, so I decided to direct my anger towards you during combat class," she pouted.
"It was before lunch for me, but I was kinda nervous around you.. because you were scary back there when you took down that Heartless by yourself. That dead stare and empty voice when you were speaking to us gave me the chills, almost as if you were a ghost," Xiu said honestly, but still shaking.

These reasons are all understandable when you get down to it. From what I heard from them, I seem to have betrayed the plan and took it down myself, I bet they're angry because I endangered my own life. But really, this group of friends I have is a very interesting bunch indeed.

I laughed a bit, "hahaha.. I believe you guys, I accept your apologies. But I'm also sorry for endangering my own life like that,"

They all laughed in unison, "hahahaha!"
"Kazu.. hahah... why are you apologizing!? Hahaha... you didn't have any control over yours...elf! ahahaha... there's... no need to! Hahaha!" Scarlet tried to explain, but due to the laughter, she was holding her stomach tightly and was unable to calm down.
I smiled widely and laughed along too, "hahaha! I guess I was frustrated over nothing!"

That's what I said, but I'm still bothered by the fact Emigrace doesn't know a thing about me, and I cannot know for sure if she's lying or telling the truth. Why would she lie? She cares about me, and she would tell me the truth because she would want me to know. But what if she doesn't want me to know? In that case, why does she want me to stay ignorant to this dormant power inside me? There are so many questions that leads to an answer and to another question based on my doubt and fear, things that I don't want to become reality and things I want to be reality.

The room echoed with our laughter, with me stuck in my thoughts for the day. The rest of the day was perked up with idle conversation about school and homework, and by the end of it, everyone left and returned to their dorms. I sat down at my desk, engulfed in my favorite novel I picked up a month ago, "Dark Blight," by Unknown. Of course, "Unknown" is only an alias for the author. This book tells the adventures of a boy with mysterious dormant talent ending up in another world separated from his friend, and his journey revolves around finding his friend and making new ones along the way. Quite a revieting tale, well, it isn't top notch., critics would give it lower than average reviews. I only found it entertaining, but I admire the author's efforts.

A voice picked up in my earpiece, "Kazu?" Emigrace called out.
I tapped my earpiece, enabling my mic, "what is it now?" I say rather bitterly.
"Now~ don't be a sourpuss," she purred.
I sighed, putting down my book, "please get to the point,"
"I'm watching you," her tone went downhill, going from one-hundred to zero in a matter of seconds.

Her bone-chilling dead man's tone made every hair on my neck stand up as I gulped down everything I was feeling prior to this conversation. As they are replaced with feelings of anxiety, stress, and nervousness. I'm still unable to display these emotions properly but I am certain about it.

She giggled deviously, "that's a nice book you have there, 'Dark Blight," was it? You have terrible taste."
I narrowed my eyes and swallowed my feelings, "what is your gain here?" I asked.
"Nothing of the sort, Kazu, you know I care about you," a slight whimper follows after her statement.
"What's wrong? Hey..." the line cut to static, "hey!"

I jumped from my chair, staring intently at the door, "what the hell is going on here?" I pressed the button on my earpiece, disabling my mic. Following that, I made a run to Emigrace's office, opening the door loudly and making a mad dash towards her office. I heard a few doors open behind me, I could feel their confused glances on me, but I didn't turn back to explain, I needed to find out what was wrong with Emigrace. She's my only family left, I don't know anyone else, if she's gone I can't even begin to imagine what cruel things life has in store on this rugged path I'm running on.

I made it to her office, I tried to open the doors, but they were locked.

"In that case...!" I extended my hand and summoned Two Become One, and pointed it at the twin doors in front of me. An orb of light started forming around the tip of my Two Become One, then directed a single beam at the door. The door pulsed with the energy of the Keyblade, I heard a sound of the door being unlocked. I withdrew my Two Become One to my side, running at the door and kicking it open with huge force.
"Emigrace!" I yell desperately.

I am greeted with the scene of a dark room. A single lamp light on her desk, her feet kicked up on the top of her desk, and her face hidden in shadows. A tense atmosphere fills the air.

"I'm so happy that you're here now, Kazu," she spoke, her soft voice was gone, it was colder, as cold as the tone Ayako gave me when we first met.
"What the hell is going on?" I asked, but she only returned laughter as a response, "Emigrace!" I screamed.
"No need to get so angry, you need to relax, now have you given it any thought? Your elusive past?" she said rather devilishly.

I nodded sharply. "of course, I did. But nothing comes up as an answer, only a chain of doubts and plausible conclusions. If you know anything, tell me at once!" I said boldly, marching over to her desk and slamming both hands down.

She laughed uncontrollably, "hahahaha! ahahah! Why are you acting so high and mighty? It's almost as if you think you run the damn place..!" she mocked, then continued in her prior tone, "but.. you don't,"

She is entirely different, much more different than the Emigrace I knew before, the soft, kind person that cared for me is no longer in front of me.

"What happened to you?" I asked.
"Hm? Nothing at all, I'm still the same old Emigrace you care for!" she said in a higher tone.
I slammed my hands down the desk again, scaring her a bit, "cut the bullshit! Tell me!"
"Oh~ when did you become a feisty little devil? You even developed emotions to boot. I knew you were interesting from the moment I saw you seven years ago," she smirked, "but I didn't realize you were going to be a soft cry baby, turning to your friends for help," she scoffed, "teenagers are so fucking naive."

I lifted my hands off her desk and brushed them to my side, then rolling them up into a fist and raised it up to my face, shaking. "You aren't Emigrace, are you? The Emigrace I knew would never say such profound things!" I jumped up and punched her from above, only to realize that it was a doll with a speaker all along. I gripped at the clothes the puppet wore and punched it again.

"I was tricked..!" I hissed.
The puppet coughed, "you're.. so fucking... naive."

I gritted my teeth, punching it again and again, repeatedly without stop. I felt pain in my hand, but I didn't care in the slightest. I was tricked, I was tricked with someone imiating the voice of the person I most cared about in this school. I was preparing my last punch but a bright light caught my attention. I stood up, my eyes widening at the sight of the entire Advanced Division and Vice-Commander Thalus shining flashlights at me.

"What the.," I said in awe.
Vice-Commander Thalus narrowed his eyes at me and shouted, "Operative Kazu Yuuki! What is the meaning of this?!"
I hold my hands up and explain, "please understand! I was set up!"
"Oh?" he hummed in disbelief, "you expect me to believe that?"
I held up the wooden puppet I was punching earlier, "see? I was deceived!"
He stomped his foot on the ground, "and what made you attempt to punch the puppet!?"
I gritted my teeth, "this puppet was impersonating Emigrace and said crude things about me, I couldn't take it so I punched it," I admitted.
"I'll have to give you to the brass," he sighed, signaling to the rest of them to apprehend me.
They took me away, using handcuffs to restrict my arms. I was escorted out of the room and then saw Emigrace running towards me in a panic, "Kazu? What happened?"
Vice-Commander Thalus spoke up, swirling his crimson red hair with his index finger, "Kazu Yuuki was found in your office, yelling and beating up a puppet dressed in your clothes," he explained, showing her the puppet that was being carried by some of the Advanced Divison members.
She stood there in shock, looking at me in concern then turning back to him, "then why are you taking him away?!"
"Because he created a big fuss," he said in a carefree tone.
She lost her cool, grabbing him by the collar of his uniform and held him up close t her face, "don't give me a bullshit answer," she growled.

His calm demeanor remained intact, not changing in the slightest by her immense anger, which surprises me.

He quietly spoke, "don't forget, Emigrace, you are his guardian, and as such, you'll be faced with punishment alongside him," he smiled.

She scoffed in response and released him, softly shoving him to the side as she walked off in frustration.

"Geez, what a troublesome woman," he sighed, "take Kazu Yuuki to the lecture chamber, we might as well cue him in on the Calamity Project while we're at it. A tad bit unprofessional, but it's better than not knowing a single thing in two months."

I struggled, trying to break free to catch up with Emigrace. I didn't know what to do right now, but I felt that it's more important to be next to Emigrace at this very second. They noticed my movements and sucker punched me in the face, leaving a bruise on my left cheek.

"...!" I groaned in pain, but it was honestly nothing to me in the long run, I knew I was going to feel more pain later.

Dammit. Why... why!? All I wanted were answers, that's all I needed to end my doubt and frustrations. At least, I have my friends still, but I'm glad Emigrace wasn't the one saying those inhumane things, I thought

END
NEXT TIME:
CLASHING

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Back to the one-week upload schedule, I hope it stays that way for a while. As always, enjoy the remainder of the day, and don't forget to leave a review! C'mon, don't be shy.