Shit. How did I end up stabbed? Multiple times in fact. Both of my friends were unconscious and I couldn't muster up the strength to help them. I couldn't even call for help. My throat was hoarse. Blood covered my new hoodie I bought for this situation. And was that smoke? Mackenzie was definitely at it again. Police sirens wailed off in the distance. They had to be getting closer. I tried standing but my knees buckled with the small amount of weight. Guess all I could do was wait until I bled out or help arrived.
Class 1-E. The first classroom I'd step into. Transferring from America to Japan was no easy task. Especially when you have a lack of social skills. But school here seemed different. Exciting. Unlike my previous education which was being homeschooled. All the lessons were the same. Tutors came in and out droning on about proverbials, formulas, atoms, all of the sort. Finally, I was free from that. Sitting at a desk with like-minded, eager to learn students. It was going to be great.
I stepped into the classroom after a few minutes of psyching myself up. Loud conversations, balls of paper being tossed, one student even reading. To me, this seemed like chaos. But everyone else was used to it.
"Oh, you're the transfer student? That's great, another one." Our homeroom teacher, Mr Yagami said. He kept staring at his phone screen. Overall the conversations seemed to die down. All of the focus was on me.
"My name is Sophie Okiro, it's nice to meet all of you." I stood rigid, fixed in one position. My gaze was fixed on the board at the back of the room. It had nothing interesting; colourful flyers detailing various clubs and activities.
"Well you can go sit next to Alex at the back." He said.
I walked through the classroom and noticed that there weren't as many Japanese people as I was expecting. Roughly 2/3rds of the class was Japanese. As I took my seat next to Alex I noticed my surroundings. Graffiti etched into the desk with small illustrations describing how boring the lesson was. I turned to Alex. She had long brown hair, down to her shoulder. Noticeably, her skirt was much longer than the other girls. Close to her calf.
"Yo. It's always nice to get another student." She grinned.
"Is Mr Yagami always so nonchalant?" I asked. Alex snickered and brought the attention to us. Throughout this entire time I still had my bag on. I dropped it to the ground and fidgeted while waiting for Alex to finish
"You're funny, my girlfriend would like you." Girlfriend? But Alex was a girl. Oh. Right.
We remained in conversation throughout the day. Alex had five siblings, and was the oldest out of all of them. At lunch, Alex said she'd show me where the kendo club practiced. I had practiced a bit when I was younger, but dropped it after a few years. The teachers were strict and I wasn't making any worthwhile progress. But, since extracurriculars were required, my parents signed me up for kendo and allowed me to choose another at school. On the way we had to stop as Alex was bragging about certain details of the school. But if I was being honest I was goading her into it.
Our gym block was separate to the main school building. Nobody was inside the gym hall; you could hear an ant scream. Polished floors, tall imposing walls and a wall of trophies. I found the vibe to be grand and extravagant. How much money did this school even have to spend on facilities?
Something changed. Alex switched from her usual jokey demeanour to being rather concerned. She put her hands on my shoulders and looked me in my eyes.
"Sophie, leave the gym slowly and don't turn back. No matter what happens or you hear." I nodded fiercely and turned away from Alex. A knot formed in my throat and my entire body tensed. These nerves came out of nowhere. I could sense something was wrong. But, I should trust my friends, right? I started moving, somehow, and headed for the gym door. Alex shouted and I heard a thump against the gym floor. I flinched, placing my arms over my head. Starting again, I walked closer to the door. I heard another thud and turned around. Curiosity had gotten the better of me.
Blood stained the once pristine floors. Alex was struggling to stand after being knocked twice. Strangely enough, nothing was attacking her. Her eyes were darting around the room rapidly, following something that didn't even exist. Whatever it was I couldn't allow it to harm Alex much longer.
My feet started running. It took a few seconds for my body to process what I was doing. An invisible, much stronger enemy would not just back down if I told it to stop. While Alex was being launched backwards I grabbed my wooden sword from my bag and swung down as hard as I could. I made contact with what seemed to be an arm. I swung again but was pushed backwards with considerable force. A gust of wind threw me backwards onto the floor. My body ragdolled against the floor before hitting into the wooden panel at the back of the gym.
A stinging sensation plagued my head. Opening my eyes took a colossal amount of effort. All around me was ringing and my surroundings swirled into each other. What had happened? Wincing slightly, I brought my hand down from my head and noticed the alarming amount of blood coming from my head. Slowly, I used the panel on the wall to stand up. Alex was still fighting something and it seemed like a losing battle. I reached my hand out to stop her, but something bizarre happened.
Thin black tendrils appeared from my hand. They were strong and had the consistency of spiderwebs, but seemed as strong as an old tree. They stretched out until they latched around the invisible figure, holding it in place. Alex regained her strength for a split-second, before pointing her hand out. Something happened but suddenly my tendrils lost strength. The black wires flopped to the ground and returned to my hand. Alex rushed over to me.
"Why didn't you tell me you were a Stand User! And it's long ranged too!" She shouted with glee. Alex didn't seem cross for me disobeying her wishes. In fact it was quite the opposite.
"What? Stand User? What are you talking about?" I asked.
"It's quite obvious. In fact—" Alex was interrupted by another girl shouting.
"Alex! What the hell have you done now!" A girl shouted from across the gym. Alex flinched and immediately straightened her posture. Her expression changed from excitement to mock fear. I noticed all of the destruction around us. The cabinet full of medals and trophies was smashed with some being dented. Blood had dried against the gym floor which was muddied from Alex's shoes. And there were various cracks and holes in the building now.
"Chill out, babe. How was I supposed to know there was gonna be an attack." The shorter girl made her way over to Alex, sulking.
"Jeez, at least warn me whenever you're going somewhere."
"And who're you?" The girl turned to me. For a few seconds I was blank, not knowing what to do or say.
"Sophie Okiro, Class 1-E. Do you two always argue?" I said. Alex coughed loudly before the girl had a chance to respond. I could tell that Alex was stifling a laugh.
"I'm Mackenzie. Same class as you. Sorry, I must've been watching a film when you were introduced." She struck out her hand and I shook it. Mackenzie had tan skin, and brown wavy hair. Her grip was firm; like she was testing my strength.
"Yo, Mackenzie, that Stand was a long-range one," Alex said. "The user could be anywhere in the school."
"Both of you are injured. Nobody is attacking anyone else until you get healed. Come on, we're going to the nurse." Alex grimaced and moaned. But it was strange how unusually calm both of them were about the entire situation.
Spotless white floors. Posters detailing what to do in various emergencies. A single bed with no occupant. The nurse's office seemed rather lackluster and stereotypical. Mackenzie nodded to the woman tapping away on her computer. Although we were covered in bruises and blood she didn't seem in a rush to help us.
"Excuse me—" I began.
"Through here." Mackenzie said. Alex grabbed my hand and stepped through the wall.
A gruff older man was sitting on a hospital bed. Currently, he was drinking from a cup of coffee. Steam rose from the cup but upon seeing us he slammed it down on his desk.
"Again? What the hell have you been up to?"
"Yo, Sato. Just the usual," Alex said. "Now if you'd heal us that'd be great!" Mr Sato groaned before moving over to me and Alex. Why was everyone so calm about this?
A menacing aura came from Mr Sato. He was just standing up but I instantly got bad vibes from him. He held out his hand and I flinched. I wasn't expecting a 7 foot tall creature to pop out. It was mostly tall, with slender proportions. Humanoid could best describe it, but it didn't feel human. Things were off. For instance, it didn't have skin colour. Most of its body was a dark purple, accentuated with a lime green. Small details, such as eyes, fingertips and it's elbows and knees were a light blue. It held out its hand to Alex and slowly her wounds were healed. Then, he walked over to me. Any blood staining me was gone. There were no traces of me ever being hurt. And my skin felt a lot smoother too.
I stepped closer to Mr Sato and inspected the apparition standing in front of him.
"So this is what you guys call a Stand? It's so cool!" I said. The creature pushed me away and Mr Sato moved back to his desk.
"We have thirty minutes left of lunch. Think we could take out the Stand User?" Mackenzie said.
"Probably not. They're long-ranged but the attacks were basic. Just high pressure air attacks, you know?" Hearing them talk about this confused me. How could they tell if the Stand was long-ranged or not. I had too many questions for them to answer.
"What happens if we find the user?" I asked.
"It's pretty much impossible. Mine and Alex's Stands are close ranged and we have no methods of tracking." I thought hard for a few moments. Pouting hard, I tried thinking of any ways we could beat the Stand.
"Alex, you said my Stand was long range, right? I could extend it out and move it towards people. That way anyone who attacks is the Stand User."
In silent debate, we all considered my plan. Mackenzie was thinking the hardest about the decision, but it seemed like Alex had made up her mind.
"Yo, that's not a bad idea."
"Of course it is," Mackenzie said. "There are multiple Stand Users in our year who would attack. Not to mention the countless others in different years who won't hesitate. It's far too dangerous.
"Not unless we had a healer." I said. Mr Sato glared at us,
"Fine, but make it quick."
Both Mackenzie and Alex gave me tips on manifesting my Stand. Within a few minutes I had summoned the base form. Dark as the night sky, my Stand was completely black. It completely engulfed my hand. Stretching it out was hard but eventually I got used to it. Slowly, we began a manhunt around the school. Tensions piled up as we entered each classroom. I couldn't see anybody, but it was like I could sense their presence. Each individual in the classroom, doing random things. Some felt more hostile than others, but that didn't prove they could see my Stand. I moved further and further before being stopped in a classroom.
"Classroom 1-B. They've started running. I shouted. A bruise formed on my arm after my wires were attacked. Alex leapt into action straight away.
Throughout the corridor there was only one person that stood out. A boy with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a scruffy uniform. His tie was worn haphazardly, and his shirt was untucked. Moreover he had studded shoes. Nobody with self-respect would wear studded loafers. Clearly, he had to be the Enemy Stand User.
"Alex, Sophie, you take him out." Mackenzie said. Walking normally, we continued down the corridor. Just like two girls would, we started talking about hair, makeup and our pets. He didn't suspect a thing. I used my tendrils to keep him bound in place. Alex used a portal to increase the range of her punch. Her Stand's arm was a dark red. Once the boy fell to the ground Alex left him with some parting words.
"Yo, don't ever attack us again. My girlfriend is far more brutal than I am."
Mackenzie caught up to us at the end of the hallway. People stared at the boy in shock after he randomly fell down. We headed back to the classroom. Using our phones during breaks and lunch was permitted, and special exceptions were allowed with lessons. So, during the rest of lunch, Mackenzie showed me a clip of a Yakuza film.
"Here, he cuts the guy with a sword, pushes it through to get it stuck on the wall and rebounds off the blade, knocking the other guy out! It's insane! They only shot this with one take." She frantically pointed at various moments throughout the movie, explaining trivia and hidden details that popped up later. Though the look on Alex's face told me she'd heard it all before.