[Chapter 28]
Shadow Boxing
(Part II)
I notice Luck wobbling and breathing heavily as he suddenly fell to his knees. It was so suddenly that it made us worry for his sudden fatigue showing from nowhere and we approach him.
"Hey, are you okay?" I ask.
S. Luck continues breathing heavily and struggling to even respond my question.
"Luck, don't push yourself with this form. Even I can tell you can't handle the power of your true self." S. Ayakane spoke, serious.
S. Luck closed his eyes as he listens to S. Ayakane recommendation and his sharp aura slowly vanish from the area which made my breathing more at ease.
Luck chuckles weakly, "I guess so, I wanted to stay a bit longer to show Kae the potential we have," Luck sigh, depress. "I didn't expect for my form to last a mere minute." Luck smile sadly.
"I was good with Ayakane; you didn't have to go that far for me. You always push yourself too hard, you know?" I spoke.
Luck smile a bit happier as he gets up and cleans himself from any dirt.
"If you say so." Luck smile.
"Now, we need to find the best route to gather each and every member before they cause an uproar in school," I explain.
"Alright, I could give you a hand this time." S. Ayakane giggles.
"Really? I thought you were still been very seclude." Luck asks a bit shock.
S. Ayakane giggles at Luck reaction since she was indeed very less informative toward given out their location previously. Which question her motive for helping us now rather than staying quiet about it since Shadow are on a completely different set mind from what they told me so far.
"Tell us," I said.
S. Ayakane began walking quietly through the right hallways and Luck tilts his head at her action. Regardless, we silently follow her guidance as we carefully navigate the corridor from anything suspicious coming from her. She strangely stops at the student council room and I could hear some discussion is being made in that room right now.
"Here it is, Luke or more precisely, Luke's Shadow is currently in that room, in particular, doing something." S. Ayakane smile.
"I can hear talking coming from the door. Ah, it must be important!" Luck excitedly comments.
Luck didn't hesitate to enter the room as I hesitate slightly but I need to enter so we can find his whereabouts. We enter into a heavy debate between the person we are looking for, Luke and other student parts of the body of the student council.
"But Sir-"
"Didn't I explain myself, I, Luke Autumn am declaring war on carrots!" S. Luke smirks as he pounds his table.
"Luke, I don't think that's possible.." A boy nervously answer.
"Indeed, Prez you are acting a bit strange today and as your student council's treasurer. I have to veto this law you ask." A well-compose girl agrees.
We became speechless at this meeting as Luke is having a war against the food system from what I can gather. Luck deeply think on their discussion and nod to himself about something on his mind.
"He does have a point, you have my vote." Luck smile, approvingly.
"My, you want a war to happen? I feel sad for you since I quite enjoy the experience of murdering anyone that stands in my way." S. Ayakane smiles evilly.
I sigh at their opinion on S. Luke's law which I notice those two have some common similar to related and engage happily. Despite that, I didn't become thrilled to see this discussion to go any longer. S. Luke glares at his fellow peer as he didn't like their opinions since they don't agree with his law.
"I am above the law; I decide what can be done and what can't be done. Which is why-" S. Luke pause, as he glances at us. "Oh, I didn't see you there." S. Luke spoke.
The entire attention of this room slowly turns to us which I didn't enjoy as I look away from their gaze. Although, Luck was the opposite of my belief and became the center of attention luckily.
"Hey, I hope we didn't bother you or anything. We like to talk to you about something important." Luck explains.
For once, Luck's attention seeking to help me from speaking with them and having all of the attention. The student began mumbling among each other but S. Luke raise from his chair like a throne and turn to his peers.
"Everyone, dismiss. We can postpone this meeting at a better time." S. Luke command.
Everyone was confused by the odd order but they silently follow their prez's order. While they left the room, each and every one began talking about our sudden entrance.
"Well, it looks like we made our self well-know. I can almost feel my popularity raising." Luck spoke, drooling at his goal.
"Luck, dear, you are drooling again." S. Ayakane smile.
Luck quickly wipe his drool away from his mouth and focus his attention toward the big threat of this room, Luke's Shadow.
"I notice your presence coming closer to my throne room, so, why coming here, friend?" S. Luke command.
"They want to hear your cause and judgment." S. Ayakane smile.
I could see shock from his expression before bursting into laughter by her answer and S. Ayakane didn't flinch to his behavior.
"Y-You asking me, your king for his motive and beliefs?" S. Luke laughs.
"But, Ayakane did." Luck spoke, confuse.
S. Luke laughter stops as he mentions S. Ayakane reveal and he turns to her as she smiles proudly at her trust on us.
"You are ridiculous; you aren't even a Shadow no more if you tell them such things." S. Luke angrily state.
"Even so, I am happy to trust them with my life now and you should too. You are just holding back your true feeling and being naive." S. Ayakane reply.
S. Luke angrily looks away as he took his seat and gently resting his head on his right hand. He thinks about what S. Ayakane said and glance at us as he remains in that pose.
He sighs, "What are you two seeking our help for; we aren't even welcome in this world by no one. What makes you so high and mighty to decide such possible outcome." S. Luke spoke, sadly.
Luck felt a bit sad to hear his friend talking bad about him and feeling his pain like he always feels. I decide to stay on the backline as I let Luck do his thing as a leader and he took a step forward to him.
"Because we are your friend, the others will agree to this and we don't care if you are a Shadow. We will still welcome you with open arms and wait patiently for you to accept us." Luck explains, calmly.
"You are so cool Luck." S. Ayakane smile.
S. Ayakane became impressed by Luck speech and he smiles to see her childhood friend's shadow agreeing to this ideal. S. Luke became silent through this and looks down to think more about it.
"I always hate the things the adult's decision..." S. Luke trails off.
I began thinking about his consciousness since I know Luke has been very busy with a certain case years ago and most responsibilities befall him during his freshman year.
"You are most likely referring to the case of the missing victims and most precisely, the first casualty Zoey who went missing," I explain.
"Wow, you know that much?" Luck spoke amazed, "It took me a while to gather that info myself.." Luck mutter.
S. Luke twitch at my mentioning about Zoey and he weakly pounds the table as I hit something deep.
"Damn it, if only I had more power like I do now. Then maybe, I could save her..." S. Luke sadly answer.
"It is ironic, the person you want to save so bad is now our worst enemy back at Hotspot. It is almost unfair." S. Ayakane comment.
The atmosphere became gloomy as I became confused by this statement and Zoey is dead for sure.
"What do you mean Zoey is our enemy? Didn't she disappear and the police classified as so." I question.
"No, Zoey is in Hotspot but..." Luck spoke, but struggle to end it.
"She is dead, she told us so." S. Luke finish.
What? Is this really true?
I became shocked at the case slowly open itself by the hand of mere students with unknown power and I had my suspicions with that case myself.
"Which is why I hate their law, their power on a ruling. People can make hasty decisions like that without thinking!" S. Luke spoke, angrily.
"It must be hard seeing people pushing around even though you have this supposed power everyone gave you." S. Ayakane explains.
Luck felt sad for Luke having to go such hardship on his own and feeling bad for not helping his peers with this power. S. Luke jump on top of the table and crossing his arm while looking us down.
"Therefore! I judge the law; I won't let peasants do whatever they want for their own selfish gain! Only I, I make the ruling and choose what is law and what isn't the law. I am a king; I stand above all and rise above all!" S. Luke proclaim, confidently.
S. Luke sound like a spokesman just like what his title suggests and I felt secure with Luke on power on that throne he cherish so much. Luck appeared at his speech as he smiles and S. Ayakane enjoys another ally joining our side once more. S. Luke smile proudly as he absorbs all the glory to himself and jumps down to regroup with us.
"Okay, that's my belief on the whole thing so peasant-" S. Luke pause, thinking, "No you knights, Let's find this solution in the name of your king." S. Luke smirks.
"Sure, let's find the answer to this perplexing case together like a team." Luck smile.
"My, it would be fun for all of us to find the person doing this thing so we can punish him deeply." S. Ayakane giggles.
"That would be nice, but we can't rely on hope and we need to make get moving," I said.
Suddenly, the bell rang across the building and into the room as our time was up for the early morning. I sigh at this predicament since I have none of the members on my grade and I have to wait for lunch to do something about it.
"Luck, what's your plan now?" I ask.
"Return to class, as usual, I have Jane in my class so I can talk to her or calm her down as best possible with the help of Luke now. Meanwhile, you two look out for Jennifer and talk to her if you get the chance." Luck explains.
"I think I won't meet our poor little Jennifer since she is on the 1st floor and I am all the way on the top floor." S. Ayakane reminds us.
"What a pain, I wish school has given us more time to deal with this." S. Luke sighs.
"Its fine everyone, let's just return to class and meet up at lunchtime like always. Anyways, good luck guys." Luck smile.
Everyone felt a bit at ease hearing from our leader praising us for the job and we all head toward the staircase leading to our designated grade. We reach the 2nd floor together as this is the sophomore floor and my stop.
"Well, this is your stop huh? I am sorry for bothering with this little activity of the Paranormal Club. You are probably bothered by it." Luck nervously chuckles.
I see Luck taking my consideration of the situation which I never meet someone who felt worried about my opinion and feeling. Although it may be true I hate having the attention and walking around to help an individual, I still felt like this could be a good experience like he mention.
"Don't worry about it, I choose to do this on my own free will. I will get used to it at some point." I answer.
Luck smile at my answer sounding a bit more positive and they depart together as they took the stairs. I began thinking deeply about their Shadow of Luck, Ayakane, and Luck.
Shadows are a strange individual to have such personality and differ from their original self. Those Shadows represent their dark side of what they believe or maybe something they don't want to show to everyone...quite interesting...
[Luck POV]
We reach the junior floor as S. Ayakane became a bit sad for our little departure since she has nobody in her class like us.
"I guess this is goodbye.." S. Ayakane mutters, sadly
"More like see ya later, we will meet again so don't feel sad," I reassure her.
I want her Shadow to feel more comfortable being away from me since I know her feeling of loneliness and she is very fragile. S. Ayakane smile at my answer which was a good reaction compare to her grin or giggles as she tries to hide something. She went on her own upstairs to her classroom while I join S. Luke on ours. We arrive at the classroom on time with time to spare as we notice Jane seating in the table.
Odd, she was here the entire time?
We took our seat as Jane notice our presence and she smiles at me which confused by her smile showing on her face.
"You finally show up, I really want to see you." S. Jane spoke.
"Why is that..." I mutter, caution.
S. Jane grip her hand tightly as she glare at me, "I want to fight you." S. Jane reply.
"No can't do." S. Luke spoke.
S. Jane glare at S. Luke as he shrugs and glances behind to remind her of the people around us and how this will affect her.
"Be at peace for once, you don't have any idea the law here so obey my order." S. Luke spoke, seriously.
S. Jane click her tongue while looking away as she became quiet and not looking at us as she wasn't interested in talking anymore. We decide to wait for the others before doing anything too harsh and the class resume as normal.
September 1
Wednesday
Lunchtime
The bell rang as the student began to go to the cafeteria and S. Jane left the area without out us.
I sigh, "Is she mad?" I ask as I scratch my head.
"Most likely, I did calm her down but it made her mad in the process." S. Luke responds.
I became a bit angry at myself for not talking to her about it and I decide to gather Jane and Jennifer Shadow at long last.
"Let's go, Luke, we need to quickly find the other two before the bell rings," I announce.
"Got it." S. Luke nod.
We made our way to the cafeteria to meet with Ayakane and Kae who are probably waiting for us in the cafeteria. We descend down to the 1 st floor to reach the cafeteria and we bump into those two are waiting at the entrance.
"Luck, Luke, why are you running down so quickly?" S. Ayakane asks, curious.
"Well, we actually saw Jane in our class and she quickly left the class when the bell rang so I was wondering if you two have to see her around here?" I ask.
"Not really, I haven't seen Jane on this floor." Kae answer.
"Then she must be elsewhere..." S. Luke mutters.
As everyone began to think about Jane disappearance I notice some student running away from the exit leading to the back of the school building. The fear mark on their face made me feel uncomfortable as I imagine the worst and I quickly made my mind to charge outside. I burst open the door to find S. Jane fighting with guys outside and she seems very thrilled with her fighting. I became very worried about her consequence of her action as I see the guys having trouble beating her and fearing her as they run away. I couldn't let her do this to herself since we all care about her safety and I need to speak with her about it. I approach her as she smirks at me when she notices my presence and ignoring the others students.
"About time, I was really hoping to get your attention like this quickly." S. Jane proudly announces.
"Well, it works that's for sure.." I mutter, sadly.
I smile poorly at attempting to ease the situation and ignoring what she needed to tell me back then. She glared at my weak smile as I shrug since I am not sure at what to do to make her feel happy.
"You! I-Grrrr!" S. Jane growl.
She began charging at me as she kicks me away as I have no chance to fight against her Shadow and I felt the ground scraping my back. I grunt at the pain from my stomach and back while I focus on talking to her. I get up as I felt tired of using my Shadow form and fatigue slowly catching up to me.
"People are all the same. You trick us into thinking you are nice and then you will one day stab me in the back! Why should I trust someone who will betray me?! You're all like Jackson!" S. Jane angrily explains.
Jackson?
"I won't betray you...you know that already but it seems you are still stubborn about it..." I answer, struggling.
I place my hand on knees as I catch my breath and feeling her strength from that kick of hers. Despite my answer, S. Jane ignores my warning and began charging at me. I sigh as I close my eyes as I couldn't dodge the attack with my current health.
"Stop."
I gasp at Luke's voice and I open my eyes to see him stopping S. Jane attack with his right hand grabbing her hand. She glares at S. Luke as he was angry at her deed and probably hurting me in the process. In that moment, the student began to whisper and looking at Luke.
"The Prez is here.."
"That girl has done it now. She will be kicked out of this school for sure."
S. Jane glare at the students around here and causing them all to flee from the area as the others arrive just in time. S. Ayakane and Kae came to my side as they reach for my arm to lift myself up.
"Are you okay? That was really dumb of you to approach a Shadow like that." Kae comments.
"I will hurt her..." S. Ayakane mutters, angrily.
I smile weakly. "I am alright; it was a typical hello on her own way so this is nothing. I am just tired of using my Shadow form for too long" I explain.
I took a step forward to feel the pain from her kick as made me fall but those two kept me up as I chuckle at the situation. S. Jane became a bit calmer and sad from seeing me like this as if she is already regretting her mistake.
"What do you guys want? I want to this battle to be one on one." S. Jane said.
"Sound unfair to me, Luck is already tired as it is and you want to fight him like that? You are a spineless coward if you continue." S. Luke chuckles amused.
S. Jane became furious, "What did you say!? Why don't you come down from your high ego for a bit so I can kick your ass!" S. Jane angrily answers.
S. Luke smirks as he gladly follows her recommendation and they began to take their stance. I didn't enjoy my dear friend fighting with each other and it pains me so much seeing this outcome. I grunt as I hop toward them to stop them but I fell down on the floor between them and I had no support from the girls. They look at me as they felt sad from my struggle to stop this fight and I chuckles as I turn to them.
"Please stop, I don't want to cause you two more problems and I hate seeing my friend fight each other." I smile.
They both look away from each other as they finally calm down and Kae came to get me which I thank her while S. Ayakane watches S. Jane's movement just in case.
"What's your cause and judgment Jane? You know very well what we can for since you may saw one of this two doing such thing." Kae explain.
S. Jane grunts at Kae quick thinking and I became shocked to find this information coming true as I wouldn't guess.
"So what if I did? Why do you all want to know my personal stuff? I keep a wall for a reason you know?" S. Jane answer.
"It is call trust, my dear Jane, It may do you some good if you trust us with your personal stuff and have faith in us just like we do with them." S. Ayakane playfully explains.
"Of course, trust your king with your little problems and I squash anything that may cause you any slight hesitation." S. Luke smirks.
S. Jane became quiet after heating those two Shadows speaking their mind about this ordeal and I felt happy gaining their complete trust. Kae was indeed learning more about us and watching the Shadow growing. Suddenly, S. Jane chuckles amusing at their speech and turn to us with a weak smile.
"Don't you hate fate? The unavoidable string that binds us all into a specific path and no other person can change such possible outcome. It pains me so much to see myself having to be alone all the time because of this and I really do want to change that." S. Jane explains.
Everyone began to listen to S. Jane's explanation and I smile thinly at her cooperation which made me proud of her to finally break the wall herself.
"I judge fate!" S. Jane proudly announces as she touches her chest, "I won't allow fate to do whatever it wants any longer and only I, I alone can change anyone fate for the better and for the friends I truly care for." S. Jane smile.
The rest smile at her smile shining as she felt so better at speaking her true feeling with everyone and I instinctively clap at her speech.
"Nice job Jane, I am proud of your progress." I happily said.
"S-Shut up!" S. Jane angrily spoke, as she blushes.
"Awwww, look how cute and innocent you look right now. Don't worry; your big sis will take care of you now." S. Ayakane smile.
"Heh, I supposed fate can be bothersome to you but to a king, it will bow down to me." S. Jane confidently speaks.
"This is intriguing, at the beginning you hate us but once you tell your true hidden turmoil. You become good to some degree, why is that?" Kae asks, curious.
The Shadow laughed at Kae's question which puzzles her even more and I sigh with relief to have gathered almost everyone but Jennifer.
Yeah, where is that little girl hiding?
"In any case, should we grab something to eat before lunch runs out on us?" I suggest.
"Ugh! Not me, I cause a ruckus early there so I think I pass on that..." S. Jane mutters.
"How about we eat in our club? It will provide comfort and solitude from those pesky peasants lurking around there." S. Luke recommends.
"Here, here, I for once agree to that plan." S. Ayakane happily agrees.
"Then let's get moving then, I am rather hungry." Kae sigh, "For once..." Kae whispers.
With the brilliant idea of Luke, we all head toward our club which is close by so we didn't waste any time of reaching that place. As we enter our club, I became shocked to see Jennifer eating by her lonesome in my chair and look at us as she slurps her cup of noodles on her mouth before stopping.
"Vhat?" She asks while having food in her mouth.
"You were here the entire time?.." I sigh.
S. Jennifer tilts her head at my sigh and quickly nods to my question which answers my question on finding her being difficult. Despite the strange find, we all began taking our seat and luckily I had foods store for such occasion like this. I pass everyone food as they began to dig in while I approach S. Jennifer sitting on my seat.
"Now miss, are you going to tell us your cause and judgment too?" I ask, smiling.
"Nope.." S. Jennifer glares.
I smile weakly as I knew the answer to that question and I also know she is far the most stubborn one of them all. I gently grab her entire body as she yelled at me for pulling a stun on her and I took my seat while gently put her back on my lap.
"What are you doing!? Your perv, a bet you enjoy touching a little girl and stuff!" S. Jennifer snarls.
"No, not really. If you behave like a kid then I will treat you like a kid." I explain.
I could hear S. Jennifer grumbling as she continues to eat with us and I join her taste in food with a cup of noodles as well. This view, it reminds me of the good old time we spend each other and looking for a strange family. Although we lack some people here and there, I still enjoy this reunion with everyone. I smile as I think of this and I couldn't hold back this wonderful feeling.
Like a family huh? Yeah, it sounds good to me and I do see them as a family to me...I will risk my life for them…
[Chapter 28 End]
