After a few hours, the bell rang. Histoire shrugged. "That's the bell. See you tomorrow." I stayed around a bit afterwards. Histoire sat down to read. She looked up and realized I was still there. "Mr. Kenji!" she exclaimed. I got up. "I apologize, but I have something to ask you." Histoire grinned. "Ask away, ask away." I asked what I'm pretty sure you all want to know. "Is Sarah Kinsley Purple Hea- "Histoire zipped towards me and covered my mouth. "Shhhh! I'm trying to keep Purple Heart incognito here!" She leaned to my ear. "Yes. Sarah Kinsley is Purple Heart. Her true human name is Neptune. I assigned her to keep tabs on students." Histoire backed off. "Actually, I don't really know why I'm keeping her incognito, she is leaving tomorrow anyways." She froze, as if realizing something. "Wait a minute. What the hell are you still doing here?!" I was startled. "Huh?" She went on. "You are supposed to be at the dueling club!" I tried to answer. "But- "
"No buts! Go! GO NOW!" Suddenly I was flung down the hall, out of the building, and all the way to the arena. My backpack was slung over my shoulder. I walked in. I grabbed my katana. I was the master at these types of weapons. II walked into the stadium. Immediately I was being stared down by all my students. I looked at Sarah and said, "I have a request." She looked up and replied, "Yeah?" I pointed at her. "Sarah Kinsley, I challenge you to a duel. Or, should I say Purple Heart?" Chatter started around us. Sarah clapped slowly. "Guilty as charged. How'd you know?" I pointed at her face. "You are the only one in the school who has purely light purple eyes." She grinned. "Now just so you know, I do NOT play to fight fair…" One bright flash of light later, and there stood Purple Heart. "I play to win."
I shrugged. 'Nice. I hope this will be a good duel." She stared me down. She was waiting for me to make the first move. I stared her down with the same intensity. The first one who moves typically loses. Anyone who knew how to duel knew this. I pulled out my sword. Purple Heart pounced and swung her sword at me. I was quick to block the blade with my own. Purple Heart grinned. "Impressive." She swung at me again. And again. I blocked each strike with rapid succession. Eventually, she began to be a little hastier with her strikes. Seeing an opening, I landed a punch on her jaw. She stumbled a bit, allowing me time to recover. She recovered and aimed a kick at my face. I dodged and kicked her other leg, knocking her off-balance. She recovered quicker and she sliced like crazy. Unable to catch her blade, I realized I needed to finish the fight quickly. She hit me with the handle of her sword, and I was dizzy. With the balance I had, I took the handle of my sword and slammed it into her rear. "I know this is not very effective, but-" Purple Heart fell over, clutching her butt as her face turned a bright red.
"Ngh…. Holey crap, that hurt." She whispered. I fell over as my strength left me. I smiled softly as Purple Heart shifted back into her brunette self. She grinned. "See you later." She walked off. I watched her prance out of the arena. Sheathing my blade, I stood up. The Heathers swarmed me. Kikimora spoke first. "You can't deny it. You were totally flirting with death right there." Azuki spoke up next. "What about security systems?" Kikimora glared at Azuki and snarled, "Shut up, Heather." Azuki looked away dismissively and replied, "Sorry, Heather." Kikimora smiled. "See you later, Sensei." I nodded in response. I watched them walk off. I decided very quickly to catch up with Stacey. She was a girl I had found in an old cardboard box. She was the same age as I was- twenty. I went into my dorm, collected the pudding and walked back out. I spotted a pair of red sneakers. They were just lying in an old bush. I picked them up, swapping them for my blue ones. I put the blue ones in my bag. I started to run in them. I realized, is it me, or does it feel like I'm going a little more than fifty miles per hour? I stopped, skidding for a few feet before I came to a complete stop. A cop car had pulled up beside me. The cop got out and rubbed his eyes. Wordlessly he showed me the speedometer and it read, 75 MPH.
No wonder I thought I was going fast… I broke the speed limit on foot! He told me, "Go on ahead." I continued to run towards the village. I stopped at the village, but I was not lucky this time. I went flying and crashed into my neighbor's garbage can. Rubbish flew everywhere. But he was too preoccupied with his video games to notice. I walked inside my shed. I had half of it built to be a repair shop and half to be Stacey's home. She was not in the shed. I checked the house. My dad was busy doing dishes. No Stacey. I knew she didn't know how to get into the basement- I didn't even know how to get in! I checked anyways. The seal on the door was broken. The door was ajar as well. How did she break the seal rumored to be created by Gold Heart, the leader of the fabled Fifth Nation? I creaked the door open and stepped inside. I felt cold. I walked down the staircase that seemed to go lower and lower.
I saw Stacey standing by a giant bookshelf, with a blank look on her face. I walked closer. "Stacey? What's wrong?" She looked at me. She looked sad, but happy at the same time. She smiled softly. "I no longer go by that name." I was confused. "What are you- "She continued to stare me down. "My true name is Mega Drive. I was resurrected by a warlord to do his bidding. Now I remember. I was humiliated and executed for killing Gold Heart. He was the only male CPU. His nation collapsed soon after my defeat. But I hunger for revenge… Ha…ha…ha…" she began to twitch. I tried to stop her. "This is crazy. Snap out of- "She pushed me aside. It took me a second to recover, but I chased her up the stairs. When I came to the shed, I noticed that all thee doors were shut. I opened a door and stepped outside… and stopped. The entire town was ablaze. I stumbled through the streets as I saw things- the dismembered corpses of my neighbors… the townsfolk. I could not believe what I was seeing. I rounded a corner. Stacey had two soldiers attacking her. She cut each of them down without hesitation. She looked at me with a blank expression. She slowly walked towards the hill. I chased her to the hill.
When I was near the top, I saw my sister huddled next to a body. Dad. She slowly got up, reaching for my father's sword. She ran at Stacey. "DAMN YOU, YOU BITCH!" Without hesitation, Stacey sliced her sword. Stacey must have been gentler, because there was no blood- my sister was just flung backwards. She tumbled down the hill. I picked her up and carried her to one of the mattresses near the one house that was still mediocrely standing. I whispered, "Wait here." I took out my sword and ran up the mountain again. I stammered. "What… the fuck have you done?" She stared back. "How about you lie down and die like a good dog?" I did not back off. "I respected you… I cared about you…but… Damn you!" I ran at her, sword raised, my rage boiling over. All it took was a clean slice. With that, I could no longer feel my hand. It landed on the ground with a soft plop. Pain and blood blossomed from the incision that had slashed across my chest. Stacey looked sad. "It didn't have to end like this, you know. You could have just surrendered, and you would have been my bride." I growled. "You make me sick." I slammed my body into her. She shrieked as she tumbled down the steep slope of the cliff face. I felt cold as shock grasped me. I collapsed.
But instead of losing consciousness, I remained in a paralyzed state. I heard the soft thump of boots meeting earth, and I could hear the eerie sound of a motorcycle. I heard a voice I had heard before. "Over here! A survivor!" It sounded like one of the Basilicom aides… IF? I heard the footsteps get louder and louder as whoever it was rushed to my side. It was indeed IF, with a panicked expression. "Shit! He's losing a lot of blood! Get a gurney!" Within seconds, I saw another person- Purple Heart. She came to my side. "This is the boy I've been telling you about. He's the one who beat me in the duel." The two chatted for a bit, then their gazes rested on me again. As if sensing my consciousness, Purple Heart rested her hand on my forehead. "Listen, Kenji. We are taking you back to HQ. Compa will take care of your wounds there. Now sleep." Something in my brain clicked, and I slowly faded into the darkness. I let it swallow me.