So I hope you all enjoyed that first chapter, again right now it's going to just be dialogue copied and pasted but the next chapter is going into more original stuff. So again, I hope you stick with me and enjoy the second chapter. Rookie out...
I look at the bars and start shaking them, seeing if I could get out.
"So you've come to, inmate." Says the girl to my right.
"Inmate?" I ask.
"The you in reality is currently fast asleep." Continues the one on my left.
"The you in reality? What are you talking about?!" I ask.
"You are only experiencing this as a dream." She says again.
"You're in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!" She yells at me, as well as banging against the bars with a baton she had in her hand.
"Welcome." Says the man. I look up to see the man. He was slim, sitting in a purple chair with his legs crossed, he also has a very long nose. "I am delighted to make your acquaintance."
"Where am I?" I ask him.
"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter." He starts. "It is a room that only those who are bound by a 'contract' may enter." This part caught me. "I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember it well. I summoned you to speak of important matters. It involves your life as well."
"Important matters?" I ask.
"Still, this is a surprise…" He says as if ignoring my question. "The state of this room reflects the state of your own heart. To think a prison would appear as such." He says while looking around before his eyes land on me. "You truly are a 'prisoner' of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you."
"Ruin? What are you going on about?" I ask.
"I speak of the end to everything." He answers. "However, there is a means to oppose such a fate. You must be 'rehabilitated.' Rehabilitated toward freedom. That is your only means to avoid ruin." He tells me. I take a second to process this, I was confused, what the hell is going on, what is this place, what's ruin? "Do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion of the world?" He asks me.
"I'd rather just avoid ruin." I tell him.
"Allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation." He says. The two girls then step forward and turn around before taking another step towards me. "Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline; to your left, Justine. They serve as wardens here." He informs me. I look down at the two girls with a tilted head.
"Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like." Justine tells me.
"The duty of wardens is to protect inmates." Caroline starts. "We are also your collaborators… That is, if you remain obedient." She says.
"I shall explain the roles of these two at another occasion," Igor says as the two wardens turn to face Igor. He raises his left leg and crosses it over his right. "Now then, it seems the night is waning… It is almost time."
"Time for what?" I ask.
"Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually…" He says. Just then a loud noise came over the entire place. I had to cover my ears just to make the sound more bearable.
"Time's up," Justine says. "Now hurry up and go back to sleep." She orders. Everything then started to go black for me, though I wasn't gonna go down without getting some answers.
"Wait!" I shout as I grab onto the bars. However, I was too late as everything suddenly went black.
The Next Day…
That dream… it seemed… real… almost too real… was it? I ask myself as I got dressed. I sat on my bed looking down, thinking. Ruin… Rehabilitation… What does it mean?
"Looks like you're up." I look up to see Sojiro dressed up, and wearing a fedora too. "Well then, let's go introduce ourselves properly to the staff about your transfer." He says. I nod and get up off of my bed. "The school you're attending is in the Aoyama district. It'll cost you a bit to ride the train there, and the route transfers are a pain." I nod in response. "I'll drive you there, but just for today. Let's go." He says walking out of the room down the stairs. I follow him down the stairs and into the car where we drove to the school. When we got there Sojiro stopped me and looked at me. "Do me a favor and behave yourself, all right?"
"What makes you think I'll do something bad?" I ask.
"Don't get me wrong-I don't care what happens to you. Just, don't cause me any trouble." He tells me.
"Fine, I won't." I say. He nods and walks inside where I followed him. We soon met with the principal and my homeroom teacher. The principal was obviously not very healthy, with a round look to him, and multiple chins just to add to that look. The teacher, however, was the complete opposite. She had a slender figure, with curly hair to add to it. She was wearing a jean like a skirt and a yellow with a black striped shirt.
"To reiterate, just so we're clear, you will immediately be expelled if you cause any problems." The principal tells me. "Honestly I hesitated on accepting someone like you, but there were some circumstances on our side… You might have done a variety of things hiding in your hometown but you will behave yourself here."
"I will," I answer.
"Remember, if you get thrown out of this school, no other place will accept you. Keep that in mind." He adds. I wonder why I think. He then motions to the woman next to him. "This is the teacher in charge of your class."
"I'm Sadayo Kawakami." She introduces. "Here's your student I.D." She says as she puts the card on the table. I pick it up and nod. "Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office. And, if by chance you cause any problems, I won't be able to protect you at all." She says crossing her arms. "That IS your promise, yes, Principal Kobayakawa?"
"He is responsible for all his actions." He responds.
"But really though, why me…? There should've been better candidates." She says.
"It was a sudden transfer, and your class was the only one that had an opening." He quickly responds.
"If you're done explaining things, mind if we get going?" Sojiro asks. "I got a store to get back to."
"Sakura-san, please keep a close eye on him." The principal tells him. "Don't let him cause any trouble outside…"
"Well, I'll be sure to have a serious talk about the situation he's in," Sojiro replies.
"Come to the faculty office when you arrive at school tomorrow. I'll show you to your classroom."
"Alright," I reply. Sojiro and I then exit the room, but when I turned around to look back at the teacher one more time I could see a gloomy look to her like she never wanted me here to begin with. Partway to the exit, Sojiro stops and turns to me.
"They're treating you like some kinda nuisance…" He starts. "I guess that's what it means to have a criminal record. Turns out your past follows wherever you go."
"Yeah, no respite for the damned, I guess." I say.
"By the way… if you get expelled now, I won't hesitate to kick you out. Got it?" He tells me.
"I'll be careful." I say slightly annoyed.
"Hmph…" I look at him waiting for a response. He just sighs and looks away. "School never changes huh…?" He asks.
"I guess not," I answer. We then walk out of the school and start driving down the highway when we then get stuck in traffic.
"Traffic's not moving at all!" Sojiro exclaims in frustration. "You're taking the train starting tomorrow." He tells me. "So how was it? The school, I mean. Think you can manage?" He asks.
"Yeah, I think I can manage." I answer.
"Now, just don't do anything stupid okay? Still, you were expelled once already. To think you'd re-enroll at a different one. It's not like anyone will be sympathetic with you." He says. He shakes his head and sighs. "... If that's what it was like at school, people might say stuff about me in the future too… What a troublesome kid I've taken in…"
"Then why did you take me in?" I ask him.
"I was asked to do it. And I just so happened to agree to it." He answers quickly after. "I've already been paid for it too." He adds.
"Again, another subway station has derailed Shibuya Station." The radio exclaims. Sojiro's and mine's attention was now on the news broadcast. "This will greatly affect the timetable all across the-"
"...Another accident?" Sojiro asks.
"So that's why it's so crowded," I say.
"There's been a lot of those lately." Sojiro informs me.
"So I've heard." We then just continued driving back to Le Blanc, with me questioning these random acts. Once we got there I entered first with Sojiro behind me.
"Damn, to think there'd be that much traffic… What a waste of time." He says as he enters the cafe behind me. "I didn't even get to open the cafe today." I shrug and walk upstairs. "Here." I turn around to see Sojiro holding up a small book of sorts. "It's a diary. Make sure you write in it." He tosses it onto the table beside him. "You may be under probation, but there' no special limitations on what you do in particular. Besides following the law, that is." He starts to walk down the stairs when his phone went off. He answered it and said a few things walking out of the cafe. I got changed and laid down in the bed and started looking through my phone when I see that app from before.
"Why are you still here?" I ask myself. I then drag my finger over the app and into the garbage bin deleting it. I then close my eyes and look up at the ceiling… Time for another life to begin… And with this, I fell asleep…
The Next Day…
Monday, April 11th
I sat on my bed, wearing my uniform, knowing that I had school later that day. I reluctantly get up and grab my bag and walk down the stairs. As I start to walk by Sojiro he looks up at me.
"Oh, so you actually are going to school?" He asks me. I stop and turn to him.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I ask back. He just sighs and shakes his head.
"Here, I'll feed you. Just make sure you finish it before the customers start coming in." I look down to see a plate with some food on it. I recognize the dish and look up to Sojiro.
"Curry?" I ask.
"What's that reaction for? Just eat it." He tells me. I sigh and sit down and start eating. It was actually pretty good, I could taste all the unique textures in it. I got up once I was finished and started to walk towards the door.
"Thanks for the meal Sojiro." I say.
"No problem." He tells me. "Oh, flip the sign outside to open for me will ya?"
"You got it," I say exiting the cafe. I turn around and flip the sign and walk off in the direction of the subway system. I hop on and after a few line changes, I was near the school. However, it started raining so I was forced to take cover by a building to stay away from the rain. I had my phone open so I could see a more detailed route of where I needed to go when that app appeared again. At that moment another person took cover by the same building as I was and looked in the same direction as I once was. I looked up to the person's face just in time to see them take off the hood. I then see long blond hair fall and looked at the person's face. It was a woman, about the same age as me, with blue eyes, and a curved nose. She looked around in front of her as if she was looking for someone when she finally realized me looking at her. She gave a small smile before looking off again. I finally regained my composure and looked back at my phone. A car pulled up in front of us and the passenger side window rolled down to show a man several years older than me or the girl.
"Good morning." He says."Want me to give you a ride to school? You're gonna be late." The girl then nods and enters the car "You need a lift too?" He asks me.
"Hm? Oh Nah." I say smiling waving my hand. The woman clipped her seatbelt in and the window started rolling up, that's when I saw a certain look on her face, a look of regret, a look of sadness. Once the window was fully closed the car drove off and I stood there with a questioning look on my face. That's also when I heard another pair of footsteps coming from my right and I turn to see a guy with blond hair run past me but stopped as he saw the car drive away.
"Dammit… Screw that pervy teacher." He says to himself.
"Pervy teacher?" I ask myself. The man then turned to me and looked at me with a confused look on his face.
"What do you want?" He asks walking up to me, now suddenly having a pissed off face. "Planning to rat me out to Kamoshida?" He asks me. I was confused, as I didn't know who Kamoshida was.
"What do you mean?" I ask him.
"Huh?" He starts. "In that car just now, that was Kamoshida."
"So that's who that was." I said to myself.
"He does whatever the hell he wants. Who does he think he is, the king of a castle? Don't you agree?"
"The king of a castle?" I ask. At this point, I'm sure it was fairly obvious that I had no idea what he was talking about.
"No, I mean…" He says before stopping making the conversation an awkward one for a few seconds. "...Wait. You don't know Kamoshida? Are you for real?" He asks. "You're from Shujin, right?" He asks.
"I believe so, I'm guessing that you go to Shujin as well." I say.
"What…?" He asks with a slight chuckle afterward. "No other high school's got a uniform like this." He says. He then takes a look at me and what I was wearing. "A second year, huh… We're the same grade then." He says. "Never seen you before though." He continues to look at me as an idea then clicks in his mind. "Oh, are you a transfer student?"
"Yeah, transferred here a few days ago." I tell him.
"Then no wonder you don't know him." He says turning away before turning his head back to me. "This rain ain't too bad. We better hurry up, or we'll be late." He then starts to walk off before both he and I grab our heads in pain, feeling light-headed all of a sudden. "Uuugh, my head hurts…" The boy in front of my says as he takes his hand off of his head. "Dammit… I wanna go home…" He then starts walking off as I take a look up at the rainy sky and just shake my head and follow him.
Present Time…
"There was a subway accident that day. You remember it, don't you?" Sae asks Akira. "I assume you know the uproar that the public calls the 'psychotic breakdown incidents."
"Yeah, I've heard about it once, but what does it have to do with right now?" Akira asks back. She just sighs and then leans onto the table.
"It was all over the news, and one of the victims included a teacher at your high school." She starts. "I've no doubt you've heard about it. On that day… were you still an 'ordinary' student?"
"What are you talking about?" Akira asks her confused. Sae shakes her head and then leans back.
"Let me change the question. You transferred to Shujin Academy, correct?"
"Yeah, I went over this already." Akira says getting a bit irritated. "It's an ordinary prep school anyone can find."
"That's what it should be." Sae says squinting her eyes. "What happened around that time? Tell me everything-truthfully."
Flashback…
With my phone in hand, I follow the boy, as he might have a way to get to the school. I then put my phone away as I follow him down an ally, water crawling down the walls from the water raining from above us. As I stepped in a puddle I hear something strange as I turned behind me to see… nothing. Confused as to what the noise was I continue to look and see if it might have been someone trying to screw with me.
"Wha!?" I hear ahead of me from the boy and I walk ahead to see why he made the noise and what I saw next defied everything I knew.
"What the hell?" I ask as I take a look at the giant castle in front of me, towering above the both of us. "Did we make a mistake going here?" I ask the boy.
"We didn't… come the wrong way though." He says, answering my question. "Yeah, this should be right…" He says looking at it. "What's going on here?"
"I don't know, but I'm gonna get out of this rain." I say as I walk towards the castle.
"Hey, are you for real?" He asks.
"Well do you wanna get your uniform wet?" I counter. He groans and soon follows me as I enter the castle.
"Th-That's weird… Where's the school?" He asks before turning to me.
"Don't look at me." I tell him. "But are you sure we didn't take a wrong turn?"
"N-No! This has to be it!" He says. "I mean, it… should be…" He then has the idea of pulling out his phone. "Out of service?" He asks.
"Where are we?" I ask myself as I look around the area.
"The sign was for the school, right?" The boy asks me.
"Yeah… what's going on?" I ask. Metal footsteps are what we heard next as our attentions turn to someone in a giant suit of armor.
"Who're you? You a student?" He asks the suit of armor. "Man your costume is impressive… Is that armor real?" He asks. He just stands there and stays silent.
"I don't like this." I say as he tries to get the armor to speak up. Another suit of armor approaches as we then back up.
"...H-Hey, what's goin' on?" He asks.
"What is this?" I ask the boy.
"Dude, I don't know!" He exclaims turning to me. The armor then steps closer to us.
"This shit's real." He says before the other suit of armor steps forward. "C-Calm down! Time out, man!"
"We need to get out of here." I say.
"R-Right." The boy says as we turn around to run towards the exit, only to then get cut off from the exit of the castle. "What's with these guys?" The boy asks. The armor then hits the boy's back with the shield on its arm knocking him down to the ground. "Y-You're gonna break my bones dammit!" The boy says before the other suits of armor start approaching us. I look around to try and find a means of escape, only to then see a shield come hurtling towards my face, knocking me out. After a while, I could sense myself coming to. I soon wake up and see the boy from earlier looking at me. I get up from the bed I was laying in and look at him. "You alright?" He asks me.
"Yeah, I'm fine. You?" I respond.
"Yeah, more or less." He answers.
"Good, where are we?" I ask, getting up from the bed with a groan.
"I don't know, but I'm sure this ain't no dream." He then groans as he was getting pissed off. "What's going on!?" He asks.
"I'm not sure." I answer. He was obviously not accepting of the answer as he runs to the bars of the room we were stuck in and started banging on them.
"Hey, let us out of here! I know there's someone out there!" He shouts. He then walks back over to me. "Dammit, where are we? Is this some kinda TV set…?"
"If it was I doubt that they'd knock us-" I say before I get cut off by a scream that echoed throughout the area. I run to the bars and lookout.
"What the hell was that?" I ask. We then hear gasps for breath, as well as the same voice trying to speak.
"Woah… Woah, woah, woah, woah…" He says as well as repeatedly saying that over and over as I continued to look out the bars. The boy continues to speak in fear as I just look out the bars. I then back away as I examine the room, seeing the chains hanging from the wall, along with the other things that were in it before we heard another noise, causing us to lean against the bars another time. However, the only thing we saw approaching us were the suits of armor from before.
"Be glad that your punishment has been decided upon." The armor starts. "Your charge is 'unlawful entry.' Thus you will be sentenced to death." He states, which scares the man beside me.
"Say what!?" He asks.
"No one's allowed to do as they please in my castle." Came a voice behind the armor. The suits create a hole in which the figure could then walk up and what I saw horrified me… It was a full-grown man with a crown on his head, wearing a cape… and only wearing underwear underneath… The boy beside me then looks at the man.
"Huh? Wait…" He starts. "Is that you, Kamoshida?"
"Kamoshida?" I ask. "You mean the guy from the car?" I ask him.
"I thought it was some petty thief, but to think it'd be you, Sakamoto," Kamoshida says. I look at the boy next to me and assume that his last name was Sakamoto. "Are you trying to disobey me again? It looks like you haven't learned your lesson at all, huh?" He then looks to me and walks up closer to me observing my features. "And you brought a friend this time… because you can't do anything for yourself."
"This ain't funny, you asshole!" Sakamoto exclaims, pulling on the bars.
"Is that how you speak to a king? It seems you don't understand the position you're in at all." Kamoshida says angrily. "Not only did you sneak into my castle, but you also committed the crime of insulting me-the king."
"The punishment for that is-"
"Let me guess, death?" I ask sarcastically. Kamoshida smirks as he turns to the suits of armor behind him.
"It's time for an execution! Take him out!" He orders before pointing to Sakamoto. We both back up in fear.
"S-Stop it," Sakamoto says in fear. The suits break open the gate and enter, cornering Sakamoto, ignoring me in the process. "Goddammit," Sakamoto says, with a clear hint of fear still coursing through his veins. To my surprise, he charges the armor suit in front of him and knocks it down. "I ain't down for this shit! C'mon, we're outta here!" He exclaims before looking at me, to which I nod in response. However before we could run the armor to my right delivers a punch straight to Sakamoto's gut, knocking the wind out of him, causing him to fall onto the ground as a result. I grab the armor's waist afterward and try to knock it down as Kamoshida approaches us. Sakamoto then gets on a knee and looks at me. "Just go! Get outta here…! These guys are serious!" He exclaims. I then look at him as Kamoshida smirks and looks to me.
"Oh? Running away, are we?" He says before I look to him. "What a heartless friend you are." He says. I think back to the night where I tried to stop that man as Sakamoto and Kamoshida exchanged some words. He then picks up Sakamoto and throws him at two of the guards. I then try to run and help but one of the suits stop me with the sword in its hand. Kamoshida then starts punching Sakamoto, insulting him with each punch he delivers. Sakamoto then falls to the ground as Kamoshida then spits on him a few seconds earlier. I recover from my flashback to see this happen, however. "...Hmph. Where'd your energy from earlier go?" Kamoshida says. The armor then throws Sakamoto against the wall opposite of me. "I'll have you killed right now." He says. To this I broke, I couldn't just let him die like this.
"Have you lost your damn mind?" I ask him, causing him to turn to me.
"What…?" He starts as he slowly walks towards me. "Don't you dare tell me you don't know who I am."
"What? An asshole with some superiority complex?" I ask, my eyes filled with hate. He then leans in close to me.
"That look in your eyes irritates me!" He says, lifting up his legs before kicking my stomach, knocking me against the wall.
"Come on? That the best you got?" I ask.
"Hold him there… After the peasant, it's his turn to die." He says before turning to Sakamoto. I get up and try to charge them, however to no avail as the two armor sets beside me hold me against the wall, one hand against each of my shoulders. Kamoshida laughs as I then look down… knowing that I may have just failed…
"This is truly an unjust game…" I hear. I then look around to try and find where the voice may have come from. "Your chances of winning are almost none." I then see a blue glowing butterfly, sparkling as it crosses in front of my face. "But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you." The female voice says as soon a dark and gruff voice starts to speak after.
"What's the matter…?" It asks. "Are you simply going to watch?"
"There's nothing I can do," I say.
"Are you forsaking him to save yourself?"
"No, I-"
"Death awaits him if you do nothing."
"What am I supposed to do?" I ask.
"Was your previous decision a mistake then?" It asks. I flashback to the woman again, her calling for help as I was hopeless to do anything when the police arrived.
"I'll be damned if it was." I say, anger plastered all over my face. I then try everything I can to try and escape the grasp of the suits.
"Very well… I have heeded your resolve." The voice speaks out. That's when it happened, a sudden pain coursed its way through my body. I then start yelling out in pain is it just kept getting worse and worse, the pain in my head. The voice speaks as I couldn't concentrate on it as the pain was still getting too much for me to bear. As the voice was done speaking, I had a newfound emotion that coursed through me… rage.
"Execute him!" Kamoshida says.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" I shout out. The suit of armor holding Sakamoto and Kamoshida then look at me after I said this.
"What was that?' He asks, clearly getting angry. The suit of armor then drops Sakamoto as Kamoshida turns to me.
"You heard me, that's enough asshole," I repeat,
"You desire to be killed that much…? Fine!" He says before motioning to the armor to my left. I turn to it only to then be met by a shield impacting against my face, breaking the pair of glasses that I was wearing. Two suits of armor then cross their spears against my neck as I slump down against the wall. However another burst of pain coursed through me causing a gust of wind to blow everything back. However when I looked up I felt something on my face, but it wasn't my glasses, it was a mask of some sort. When I reached up for it I felt like my face was on fire, being burned by the mask that was on my face. When I tried to take it off it was stuck there, I couldn't take it off. So I used all of my strength to pull it off my face resulting in it to rip the skin that was underneath it off and leaving blood in its place. I scream in pain once the mask was off and then lean against the wall. The next moment I couldn't help but look at Kamoshida and grin, my eyes now orange. A blue fire starts to crawl its way around me as well as start to form a figure behind me. I laugh as the fire had disappeared revealing me in a new outfit, chains surrounding me. I chuckle as I then spread my arms causing wind to come and blow the guards off their feet and knock them against the wall. Kamoshida crawls away in fear as I look at Sakamoto with a grin on my face, my hand in the air with the figure still behind me.
"I am the pillager of twilight! Arsène!" The figure behind me exclaims as I then regain myself and start looking at what I was wearing.
"What the hell?" I ask myself.
"I am the rebel's soul that resides within you," Arsène says to me. "If you so desire, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this crisis."
"Lend me your power!" I exclaim.
"Hmph, very well…" He says.
"Who the hell are you?" I turn to Kamoshida, with a look that can only scare Kamoshida more than I already have.
"I'm your worst fucking nightmare." I say with a giant grin on my face.
"Guards!" He exclaims. The guards that we knocked down by the previous shockwave get up and face me. "Start by killing that one!" Kamoshida orders, pointing at me. The guards then start leaking red and black goo before turning into floating pumpkins holding lanterns. "You'll learn the true strength of my men."
"Good luck with that asshole." I tell him smirking. "Arsène! Do your worst!" I exclaim as the room somehow expands, giving me room to do whatever I please. Arsène then rushes one of the floating pumpkins as the other starts to swing its lantern at me. I dodged out of the way and counter with an upper slash with a knife I received when I transformed. I continued to dodge and had finally delivered the final blow to the pumpkin. I then turned to Arsène to see him tear apart the other pumpkin with his claws. I smirk as the area around me turns back into the prison.
"What!?" I turn to Sakamoto and smirk. "What was that just now?" He asks me.
"You bastard!" I hear from my left. I turn to look and see Kamoshida approaching me. "You little-" He suddenly lurched from where he was and hit the ground hard. I then see Sakamoto standing slightly to the right of where Kamoshida was standing.
"You like that!? You son of a bitch!" I then spot the keys as I start to dart out of the cell.
"Grab the keys!" I exclaimed, pointing to the ring on the ground by his feet.
"You mean these?" Sakamoto asks as he reaches down for them.
"No, the ones that are conveniently on your hip. Yes, the ones on the ground!" I yelled as I groan. He soon runs out before I close the door. He locks it and throws the keys in the opposite direction.
"You little brats!" Kamoshida says from inside the cell.
"What was that just now?" Sakamoto asks. "And what are you wearing!?" The outfit I had acquired before had suddenly vanished from me in a blue flash. "It just went back to normal!" Kamoshida bangs on the cell door as he tries to barge it open.
"You bastards!" Kamoshida exclaims.
"God this is effin' nuts!" Sakamoto says.
"Let's just get the hell out of here." I say as I start to run from the cell, that's when I start to take in the environment. There was a river separating another set of cells.
"There's a bridge over there!" Sakamoto says as he starts to run to it. As I get close we see that there was a gap between the sides. I look back to see there was no other place to go. I walk back a bit before taking a running start and jump over the gap. I land on the other side with a grunt as I look back to Sakamoto.
"Come on! You wanna get out of here or not?" I ask as I take a look around. Sakamoto groans as I watch him walk back and jump over. I grab his hand as he reaches the other side of the gap and pull him over. I sigh as I look around. "Now it's time to find out how to get the hell out of here…"
To be Continued…