(Prologue: Ness)
I'm falling…
I land heavily on a strange bed of leaves. Rubbing my eyes, I sit up - is this some sort of a jungle? It certainly looks exotic, with vines stretching down from boughs, a tall, green canopy, and swathes of leafy underbrush consuming the ground. The fall took the wind out of me, and I'm breathing heavily as I rise, yet I stand firm, trying to stay alert in this hot, humid place.
I look swiftly around. There's nothing here but a towering mass of trees. I think I'm alone, save for the gentle sound of birds that fills my ears, and the soft rustling in the hedges. I've always loved birds and nature, and all things bright and beautiful. Enjoying the peace, I start walking down a well-formed path, bordered with a range of pretty purple and yellow flowers.
But my happiness is interrupted by a low growl to my side. I dread to look, but I must. I turn.
The Face stares back at me.
I panic, bolting, but it gives chase. In the corner of my eye, I can make out a malformed, shadowy body. Blood red eyes, coarse hair, muddy brown and dirty. It breathes, gruesome and monstrous, so much faster than me.
I steel myself. I turn and face it.
It growls again as it screeches to a halt, bringing itself close to me. I smell noxious, rotting flesh, and its eyes stare into mine, past my exterior, deep within my soul. In that one second, I'm certain it knows everything - everything that I am, everything that I ever will be.
A clawed hand firmly grabs my wrist. The beast's majesty overturns my stomach, great and powerful, yet cruel and unloving.
"Ness... all mine..."
"Get away!" I scramble to break free. "Why won't you leave me alone?"
"Hungry..." it hisses, pressing a cold finger against my lips. I convulse, my stomach churning. But to my right, there's a brilliant flash of blonde. It can't be…
"Let go of him!" Lucas yells, swinging a stick, covered in dirt and panting. Alarmed, the Face recoils, its red eyes pulsating grotesquely. But it raises its fists, yelling in a fearsome act of rage.
"Lucas!" I cry.
"Ness!"
It's two versus one now, and I take Lucas's hand, confidence building up inside me. But something strange begins to happen when our hands link - my palm begins to glow. It's like the fire, the bright fire from the burning forest, from the dream I had on the train. In a moment of rashness, I thrust my glowing hand forward, and from it launches a great kind of fireball, almighty and consuming.
But the flames only anger the beast before us. The fire doesn't even damage it, only spurring it on, and it hurtles towards us. My legs start to shake. All instinct yells at me to submit to it, to let it have its way. Then, suddenly, its mouth opens impossibly wide, and I feel myself lifting, floating, and I scream myself hoarse as the black maw engulfs us whole.
.
.
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~~o00o~~
Chapter 3: Over Fire
(Ness)
~~o00o~~
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.
.
My eyes flash open, and I'm still screaming. The world is caving in, it's dark, so dark, I'm scared, did it get me? Is it here? What if it's outside the door? What if it's outside the window!? It's so cold - just like when it was there before - I pull the covers over my head, in a dire panic.
My blood runs cold as I hear a voice.
"...N-Ness-?"
It's Lucas. Thank goodness. He must've woken up from my screaming. But where am I? I feel around - I think I'm in bed. Okay. It's alright. My screams stop.
"Ness?" Lucas whispers again, fear edging into his tone.
"Nightmare. Sorry," I choke out.
"It's here." His voice quivers. "I think the Face is here."
A thrill of horror courses through me.
"Are you sure?" I say, a bit too high-pitched, the panic returning.
"It was in front of me. I had a nightmare, and it was looking at me-"
Frightened, I pull the covers further over my head. Chills trickle down my spine. All I can think about is the Face, and what it's doing, what it's going to do to me and Lucas. Lucas, so far away, probably shaking just as much as me.
There's silence. Dead silence.
You're seventeen years old, says the snide voice in my head. Grow up and look for yourself.
I lift the covers slightly. The crack of dawn light coming through the window illuminates the room, revealing...
Nothing.
It's just as we left it.
I jump out of bed, running over to my counterpart. "Lucas - Lucas, it's fine!"
The smaller boy doesn't seem to move. He's still buried under his covers.
"Lucas?"
"Are you sure?" he asks hurriedly, his form still shaking.
I nod emphatically. "There's nothing - I don't know what you saw, probably a shadow, or something. We're fine."
Lucas emerges slightly. I see his eyes are glistening a little bit, and I feel a pang of guilt.
"That's the second time I've cried in one night," he whispers. "What's happening to me?"
I'm surprised. Lucas isn't much of a crier at all. I'm usually the bigger crybaby of both of us. It seems that the Face has really gotten to him.
"It's okay," I soothe, moving over to sit on his bed. "It's okay to cry."
"Yeah, I guess…"
"Don't worry about it." I give him a hug. "We're safe!"
"What happened in your nightmare?" Lucas asks, changing the subject.
"Oh," I begin, but I stop. That information might scare him further. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Talking about it will help get it off your mind." He sounds stern, but calmer now. More resolved, at peace. He sits up, emerging from under the blankets, and I cave in, explaining the nightmare. Lucas listens attentively. He's a great listener, saying all the 'yeah's and 'mhm's in the right places, and I can tell he's listening, because his eyes make little movements whenever he hears something that catches his attention.
There's a slight pause after I finish.
"I had the same dream," Lucas says. "Except, well, I was me. Did we share a dream? Is that possible?"
"I don't know…" I say, puzzled.
Fortunately, the topic of dream-sharing ends up distracting us from any thought of the Face, and we end up talking until the morning, and before we know it, the clocktower chimes for breakfast, and we're headed down the stairs.
"Alright?" Villager asks, coming alongside us from his dorm. "Red's going to be a little bit late, says he has to organise his textbooks…"
"Oh, shame," I say, shrugging. "Seen Toon Link anywhere?"
"No sign of him," Villager replies as we descend. "'Course, he might've snuck out and had a party, again-"
"No way, he didn't invite us, did he? He would invite us," I insist. "Wouldn't he?"
"Of course, of course," Villager says. "He'd better, I like a good party."
Lucas makes a disgusted face. It's no secret that he doesn't like parties whatsoever.
"And we're getting timetables this morning," I add, hopeful. "Let's see if we're in the same classes again…"
Suddenly, Toon Link comes dashing down the stairs, ploughing right through us. "Can't stop - watch out - Bowser-!"
Someone roars, and then the mass of Bowser sends Villager hurtling to the floor with a cry. Some other students laugh, as Villager picks himself up with a grumble.
"What a dick! Didn't even apologise!"
Lucas and I laugh as we reach the eating hall, joining the queue.
"We should probably save some food for Toon Link and Red," Lucas decides reasonably, ignoring the violent chasing noises still coming from the corridors.
Villager nods. "What do they like, again?"
"Oh, we'll just have to get whatever's left…" I say, a touch of mischief in my voice.
By the time we're done, we've got ourselves, Red and Toon Link plates of bacon and bowls of cereal. But of course, we're not that generous. Whoever said strawberry jam and oatmeal weren't a perfect combination? Even better, our added layer of jam stays at the bottom, hidden under the oatmeal, so they won't even be able to notice our devious trap. It's genius. I feel evil. I love it.
Toon Link is the first to arrive, sporting fresh bruises from a Bowser-beating. He's laughing though, so there's no time for concern.
"What happened this time…?" Villager asks, the hint of a smile on his lips.
"Well," Toon Link begins dramatically. "Picture the scene. 7 a.m. Bowser, asleep in his office, like usual. So I'm walking down the corridor, and in the music room, there just so happens to be this large, brand new gong."
We exchange a humoured glance.
"So I've got this great gong, in the corridor," Toon Link says. "You know me, I can't just walk past a big metal thing that makes a ton of noise."
"What were you doing in the corridor at 7 a.m.? Breakfast is at 8," Villager laughs.
"Oh, I woke early. Couldn't sleep," Toon Link says. He's a pretty bad insomniac, so it makes sense. "Now, I made sure to avoid Ryu - it was his turn on night patrol duty, see. He was peeking around the art block - I think he was painting something? Maybe a special gift for Rosalina. So, down the west corridor I went, and I just happened to go past Bowser's office door..."
Villager, Lucas and I exchange another glance. We all know what's coming next.
"...See, I just couldn't resist," Toon Link admits. "So, I give it a great hit, like this-!"
He stands up and mimes hitting something with his spoon, and we burst out laughing.
"And it made a wonderful noise, it's a wonderful gong," he says appreciatively, chuckling. "I think Bowser may have heard, though. He went chasing me around, so I hid in the cupboard, you know, the broom cupboard. But that meant I was trapped. The gong's still in the corridor. Bowser stayed outside the cupboard for, I swear, an hour, and you know what he's like, he doesn't let anything go. I had to bolt when he turned his back, but he saw me, and we ran into you all. He caught me in the end, and hit me with the beater for the gong - it left quite a mark-"
"You must have a very high pain tolerance," Villager says. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Oh, yeah." Toon Link beams. "I'm used to it now."
"Whatever happened to the shy, quiet Toon Link?" I ask. "The one that got bullied by all the mean kids?"
"Dead and buried," Toon Link answers seriously. "I'm his clone."
We're momentarily stunned, before Toon Link bursts out laughing again. "Your faces! Come on, I'm not that smart. I guess I just grew out of that phase."
Breakfasts are often like this. Toon Link is wonderfully loud, and brilliantly engaging with his stories. Even if he is a bit of a headache at times, I'm glad we have him around.
Red finally arrives, after what might have been hours.
"What took the time?" Villager asks, his oatmeal nearly all gone.
"I got caught up in a book," he admits. "All about the evolution of the human race, I strongly recommend it. Anyways, is this for me? You are very kind." Red takes his bowl of oatmeal, and Lucas looks a little guilty.
"Aw, you got us food? You guys…" Toon Link sits, taking his bowl as well. "I'm starving."
In perfect cinematic synchrony, both of them put their spoons into the oatmeal. They take a simultaneous mouthful. I brace for the reaction...
"Eurgh!" Toon Link exclaims, as Red tries to force it down. "What is this! What have you done? What have you monsters done?!" Toon Link spits the jammy oatmeal out. "Who was it-"
"Is there..." Red gulps, affronted. "Strawberry Jam in that?"
Lucas, Villager and I all burst out laughing.
"You absolute peasants!" Toon Link exclaims. "Who did it!?"
Villager instantly points at me, and Lucas gives me an evil wink before doing the same. Toon Link turns to me, mock fury on his face, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Alright, you're for it now!" Toon Link exclaims. He advances with his bowl. I stop laughing, alarmed, and I'm far too slow. Toon Link empties the bowl of oatmeal over my head.
Silence ripples through the canteen. The spoon clatters to the floor.
I breathe in and out.
"You - HEY!" I exclaim, fuming. "What the hell!?"
Laughter breaks out amongst the other students, and I turn crimson with embarrassment.
Toon Link is cackling, because of course he is. The whole school is laughing at me. Even the professors! I shake with anger. What the hell was he thinking? I'm a laughing stock - one day into the term, and my reputation is in the grave already.
"Ness," Lucas begins, but I cut him off.
"Don't bother."
I storm out of the hall.
I'm dripping milk and cereal everywhere - it's a mess, everything's a mess. My hair is sticky with jam, my shirt ruined. I want to hide, run and hide somewhere, probably clean up first, but how? Without being seen by anyone who missed it? Oh, whatever, everyone will know sooner or later - this kind of story spreads like wildfire. I head into the boys' bathroom, and strip off, furiously heading into a shower cubicle. We don't have showers or hot water back in Onett. Showers are usually reserved for the very wealthy. They're manual of course, but Onett Boarding School loves to show off with the newest technology. The water washes over my body, calming me a little bit. It'll be alright, everyone will forget... won't they?
I grab my clothes, and wash them under the shower too, before cursing under my breath. Of course, I forgot to bring a towel. Of course! And a change of clothes - goddammit, why can't I be organised, why can't I think things through, like Lucas?
Lucas. Lucas sold me out to Toon Link. I hope he feels bad now.
What an awful thought. About your own best friend? You psychopath, Ness.
I bury my head into my hands. What the hell is wrong with me?
It's your fault. The jam was your idea.
It's my fault. My stupid rash thinking. Now I'm going to be stuck in the shower forever and ever, because I forgot to bring in a towel - no wonder I'm a disappointment to my father! I can't get anything right.
Suddenly, I hear the door to the bathroom slam open, two raised voices ringing out. I hold my breath, very glad for the shower curtain existing - I'm way too self-conscious about my body to be seen.
Your fault again.
"I've told you, it's fine." A firm, yet calm tone. "The Headmaster has it under control."
"It's not fine!" Another voice responds, a lot more panicked than the first. "They don't know of the danger, Ryu. Consider the letters from the parents when they find out - and we don't want all the fees - and all the chaos - and then everything else that could happen-"
"Marth, shush!" Ryu says. "We don't want any students to know."
"People will start noticing the disappearances sooner or later-"
"I told you," Ryu sighs. "I have it under control. Stop being so noisy about it. I know some people that can help."
"But-" Marth insists.
"End of discussion," Ryu says with an air of finality, and I hear the door open and shut again. Marth uses the toilet, grumbling, but soon enough, he's gone as well.
Quiet returns, and I carefully peel back the curtain. Disappearances? I hadn't noticed anyone disappearing. It's only been, what, half a day so far? Nobody can have disappeared in such a short amount of time. Right?
Unless the Face was here last night...
I jump, as I hear the noise of metallic scraping - no, it's fine. That's just people getting up from breakfast.
It's alright, it's okay.
It's okay.
I stop showering to an eerie silence. The gas lamps flicker.
I'm not sure what to do. There's a long walk to my dorm, where all of my clothes are, long enough for everyone to see me butt naked. The alternative is wet clothes, which still wouldn't be great, but I guess I can deal with that...
But someone knocks on the bathroom door. Unusual. Who knocks on a communal bathroom door?
"Hello?" I say, getting back behind the shower curtain.
"Ness! I knew it."
I breathe a sigh of relief. It's just Lucas.
"Hey," I say. "I, uh, kind of have an emergency. I didn't bring any clothes in with me, or even a towel-"
"Ah, you goof." His voice grows louder as he comes into the room. "That's why I brought some here for you."
"..." I'm speechless. "How did you know?"
"I just got that sense." I'm sure he's shrugging. "I figured you'd want to wash… after… and yeah." There's a sound of clothes dropping. "I've left the clothes out here. I'll wait for you."
Lucas heads out, and I feel my face turning pink. I wish I was that thoughtful. I don't know how he knew that I'd forget, although it's no secret that I'm not the best at forward-thinking. He knows me too well. I quickly dry off, and I get changed, leaving the room to see Lucas waiting for me outside. There's a pause.
"You sold me out to Toon Link," I say, blundering.
You're going to be horrible to him? After he did all this for you?
Lucas recoils. "I'm sorry - I didn't think - I'm sorry-"
"It's okay, it's okay - you didn't know what would happen." I backtrack fast, cursing myself. "Now, I overheard some stuff in the shower…"
I tell him. His eyes go wide.
"Disappearances? What if it's the Face?"
"That's what I thought! What do we do?"
"I'm not sure." He turns behind him, checking there's nobody with us, before lowering his voice. "We need to start researching, keeping an eye out. Even if the professors don't believe us, we have a responsibility to look into it."
"But what do we do?" I ask.
"We could check the library."
"No, thank you." I grimace at the thought of scouring those dusty shelves.
"Well, if you'd rather we all died gruesome and grisly deaths..." Lucas gives me those adorable puppy dog eyes.
"Fine," I say, giving in. Lucas has this weird ability to make me do anything almost instantly. It's annoying. He's too charming. "After school today - oh, great, I didn't get my timetable."
"It's alright," Lucas says. "I've got your timetable here." He hands it over.
"Well, thank you for being sensible. What would I do without you?" I take it, quickly scanning it over.
"Also, Headmaster Hand said our detention is tonight. It'll be unusual, apparently."
"Unusual?" I sigh. I'd forgotten about that. "Alright. Hey, what lesson have you got first?"
"Mathematics," Lucas says. I check my timetable. Business Studies. I frown. "It's alright," Lucas says quietly. "At least you don't have Olimar and Meta Knight in your class. Plus - look, we've got Art and Sport together still, and History and English Literature. That's four out of seven."
"You have those two in your class? Olimar and Meta Knight?" I say, horrified. "You tell me if they mess you around, and I'll beat them up so hard that-"
"No," Lucas says firmly. "No fights this term, okay? They got you in enough trouble already."
"Fine," I say, relinquishing. "I guess I should go to Business, then. See you later, okay? At the library. Or at lunch?"
Lucas smiles softly at me.
"See you there."
He turns away, and I find myself staring for just a little while, wondering how I landed up with such an awesome friend.
"Come on in, then!" Professor Wario bellows suddenly, impatiently poking his head outside the classroom. I hurry in to some laughter. "Seating plan…" Wario sneers. "Ness, you can go next to… Bayonetta."
I sigh. Bayonetta is one of those annoying, popular girls. I scan the room for any familiar faces. There are not many.
It feels like this is going to be a long term. I don't even know why we needed to shuffle the classes and the timetables in the middle of the school year, it's not happened before. But then again, Headmaster Hand is unusual like that.
"Money," Wario says, staring around at us all. "Money."
Everyone looks blank.
"Moooooooooooooooooney."
Silence.
"Life is all about money. The more money you have, the more you're worth, yes?"
I sigh in disagreement. Lucas is dirt poor, yet he's worth so much more than me. Villager too - he's not exactly loaded with cash, but he's rich in general awesomeness. Villager's dependable, and knows how to have a good time. Like the perfect mix between Toon Link's chaos and Red's rationality, even if Toon Link managed to be a world-class pain this morning. Come to think of it, I reckon Toon Link just lives to cause as much chaos as possible.
"Do I smell oatmeal?" Popo asks, leaning over to me with a grin. "I think it's coming from over here…"
"Shut it, Popo," I grumble, grinding my teeth.
"Haha, you know it's only jokes, buddy! Don't be a silly goose."
"Sure," I reply.
As if. Popo seems to think to be friends with someone, you have to annoy them every second. He succeeds with annoying everyone. But funnily enough, he doesn't have any friends.
"Your EXAMS are coming up!" Wario yells, making everyone jump. Wario cackles. "That woke you up, didn't it? I'm going to be working you to the bone this term. Everyone here is going to be getting an A, or you've wasted my time, and I'll be expecting compensation..."
I swallow nervously. I'm not sure how he expects us to get an A when he's such a hopeless professor. We've had, what, quite a few minutes of the hour-long lesson already? With nothing to show for it.
"Starting a business!" Wario shouts, drawing a large pound sign on the chalkboard. "To start a business, you need to have an idea." He gets out several large booklets, and whispering breaks out.
"SILENCE!"
A hush falls over us.
"These booklets I bought," Wario proclaims, waving them in the air, "With my hard-earned cash, apparently contain the structure for a complete business plan. I haven't had time to check - what with - anyway, by the end of the term, I expect everyone to have a finished business plan. And I mean FINISHED! This will count towards 50% of your grade. Be warned that I'm a very harsh marker."
Everyone looks at one another, nervous. I stare straight ahead at Wario, in utter disbelief. I knew this term was going to be hard, but this booklet has what, hundreds of pages? And they'll all have to be filled in.
"But FIRST!" Wario shouts. "A quiz on last term!"
There's a collective groan. Last term was a mess. Wario drilled some information into us about his personal business principles, as well as a load of statistics about his own, mostly illegal, businesses. It was all useless, trivial facts like his turnover over the last three months. Nobody bothered to remember them.
"Question one…" Wario snarls. "Hmmm, Bayonetta, you can go first."
She looks attentive.
"What is my first principle of Business?"
"To make as much money as you can, while doing as little work as possible," she says. I'm impressed - I clearly underestimated her. But some boys near the front jeer and cat-call, in the crudest way they possibly can.
"Bayonetta, Bayonetta, she slept with a thousand guys, Bayonetta-"
"Alright, alright, that's enough," Wario says casually, waving them off. If it had been anyone else, he'd be screaming at them, but those boys are all super-rich kids from the fancy Fourth Residential District. They've all inherited huge fortunes from their rich daddies, and as far as Wario is concerned, that's an automatic pass on his first business principle.
"It's alright, Bayonetta," Popo shouts. "We all know those boys secretly jerk off to you in their bedrooms. It's just their way of showing affection!"
The boys all mutter, grumbling amongst themselves.
"Popo!" Nana, his twin, scolds.
"Nana!" Wario sneers, enjoying the show. "Disruptive behaviour? You can have the next question!"
"How is that fair?" Nana protests.
"What is my business principle number two?"
"Life isn't fair, so take advantage of that," Nana says hurriedly. "But-"
"You just answered your own question," Wario says. "Now, Ness! You've been way too quiet. How much money did my business, Wario's Wallets, make in the third trimester of last year?"
"Two thousand pounds?" I say, despite not having a clue.
"Two thousand and twenty," he corrects me, his lip curling. "Disappointing, Ness. Ryu tells me your father makes a fair sum of money. Clearly, you lack his skills. I'll have to write home..."
"No - don't do that!" I say, horrified.
Wario sneers.
"Too bad."
Wario is different from Bowser. Both are awful, but Wario is somewhat smart. He knows how to get to people. Bowser uses pain as punishments, while Wario will dig into your deepest insecurities, and exploit them for his gain. I suppose that's a business skill. My father is going to be disappointed, I'm sure. Again. For the first lesson of the year, this has been dreadful.
Several questions pass by in a dull haze, until the test is finally over. The rich boys answer everything wrong, of course, but they don't get letters sent home.
"Now..." Wario looks around the classroom, greedily rubbing his hands together. "Time to start your business plans! Use the principles, and the examples of my great wealth as inspiration."
"Aren't you going to tell us how?" Nana asks.
"What do you think I get paid for?"
"To teach, perhaps?"
"No!" Wario scowls. "Business Principle one. Make as much money as I can, while doing as little work as possible! Now, get started!"
Muttering breaks out, and Wario returns to his desk, sifting through a drawer full of golden coins. Weirdly, we're allowed to socialise in lessons. Bowser makes us work in total silence, but then again, Wario so craftily made the seating plan that if we do talk, then it'll be extremely awkward for us.
"Do you have any idea what to do?" Bayonetta asks, opening the booklet. It takes a moment to realise she's talking to me.
"Uh, no," I say, sheepish. "This thing doesn't have anything inside it."
"Oh, you're right." She turns through the pages, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, makes me wonder why I took this subject."
"I had to take it because of my father," I admit.
"I have to make money, and I figured this was the best way." Bayonetta closes the booklet again with a sigh. "It's been so, so unhelpful."
"What do you need the money for?"
"Heroin," she says without hesitation.
"Okay!" I exclaim, trying not to sound like I'm judging her.
"You're judging me," she observes, breaking the social fourth wall. "People always judge. But I need it."
"Need it?"
"I need it." She grimaces, a touch of desperation in her voice. "Life on the streets - I got hooked, I tried some once - the withdrawal is bad, man. I ended up courting some guys for money, just to pay for the school term."
I'm speechless.
"Sorry, I'm not usually so open!" She laughs. "God, I must be freaking you out a bit. You're too innocent and pure to know about the street life."
"It's okay," I whisper, worrying that Wario might overhear.
"Y'know, Popo was right about those guys,'' she continues. "You know, the ones at the front. At least half of them have made passes at me. But I turned them all down."
"But why?" I ask. "Aren't they all loaded with cash? Wouldn't that be a better way to get money than… you know..."
She laughs again.
"Funny story - I'm not actually into guys. I'm into girls."
"Oh, okay," I say, despite internally being a bit shocked. Not so many people are so flippant about that kind of thing, especially given the law. It's the sort of idea that's swept under the rug, kept under wraps. Saying it out loud can bring a lot of trouble. Father hates people like that - people who like the same gender as themselves.
The lesson continues with an awkward silence between us.
"Alright! Homework, work on your business plans," Wario cackles, once it's finally over. "I expect a lot of progress."
"Yes, sir," everyone groans miserably, packing up.
"See you around, Ness," Bayonetta says, leaving the classroom with a smile. I follow in a sort of confused daze.
"I'm not actually into guys. I'm into girls."
For some reason, that struck a chord with me. I don't know what it is, maybe it's just the feeling of being different? I'm not sure. Maybe it's just - I've never been too romantic, I suppose? But it's not the time to worry about love, it's time to find my next class. English Literature with good old Bowser… at least I'm going to be with Lucas.
The only good thing about Bowser is that he doesn't play favourites. He hates everyone all the same, snarling round at every single one of us as he waits for us to arrive. I nearly collide with Lucas by the doorway, lost in my thoughts, but he dodges out of the way just in time.
"Ness!" he exclaims, pleased to see me. "How was Business?"
"Fine," I say, coming out of my reverie. "But, watch out. There's a test on all of Wario's principles, and he wants us to write out a whole business plan by the end of the term."
"What?" Lucas's eyes are wide. "I can't remember any of his principles!"
"Neither could I," I say, grimacing. "He's gonna write home to Father."
"Oh, Ness..." Lucas pats me on the shoulder. He knows all too well about Father's expectations.
"Forget the principles and the test, though," I mutter, sounding bleak. "A whole business plan sounds near impossible."
"Well," Lucas says. "Sometimes businesses are partnerships." He looks at me kind of shyly, and I frown.
"You mean, we work together? You think that'll be allowed?"
"It's a viable business model," he says. "I think it should be."
I grin. "Thanks, Lucas. You're awesome."
"No, I'm not." He goes a bit pink. "You are."
"Perhaps we're both awesome?"
"And yet, we must now awesomely attend English Literature with Bowser."
"Bowser is not awesome," I declare, as if it's the harshest insult ever. Lucas still laughs, of course.
We enter the classroom. Bowser's too lazy to make a seating plan, so I get to copy off Lucas's work this term. Unfortunately, a familiar cackle tells me that Olimar and Meta Knight have chosen to sit behind us. Meanwhile, a boy I don't recognise sits next to Lucas, and another boy that I don't recognise sits on the other side of me. Lucas and I give each other an awkward glance.
"Alright? I'm Pit," says the guy next to me. He waves.
"Hey," I say, waving back.
"And I'm Dark Pit," says the boy next to Lucas. "The better Pit, if you will."
"He's wrong. I'm the better Pit," Pit says. "Mother likes me more, after all." It's only then that I realise the pair look nearly identical, except Dark Pit's hair and clothes have a suitably darker colour scheme.
"We're twins," Pit explains.
"Well, kind of," Dark Pit says.
"Not really," adds Pit, confusingly.
"I'm Ness," I say.
"Nice to meet you, Ness."
"Very nice to meet you, Ness."
"I'm Lucas," Lucas whispers, barely audible over the duo.
"Speak up there, buddy-"
"-I don't think we-"
"-Can hear you!"
"I'm Lucas," he says, louder.
"Nice name," Pit says.
"Very nice name," Dark Pit agrees.
Pit sighs. "Don't listen to Dark Pit. He's a suck-up."
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
Lucas and I glance at each other for a fraction of a second. We're thinking the same thing. We have no idea what to make of them.
Bowser eventually comes back into the room, seemingly in a bad mood. He already has a cane in his hand.
"ALRIGHT, you miserable collection of offspring. I'm here to teach you English Literature, and you're here to learn it. So there will be NO talking, NO speaking, NO socialising, and CERTAINLY no communicating!" He menacingly slams his cane on his desk.
Toon Link has his hand up - I hadn't noticed him come in, but I'm glad to see him.
"Yes?" Bowser snarls.
"Professor, they all mean the same thing! You just repeated yourself five times!"
The Pit twins laugh, and so do I, before remembering that I'm supposed to be angry at Toon Link. I stop laughing, and I glare at him instead.
"Haha, hilarious. See me after class," Bowser says, grumbling. "ANYWAY! This term we will be studying POETRY!"
Everyone groans.
"Poetry about LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS!"
Everyone groans louder.
"I don't know why Headmaster Hand didn't want to do the POWER AND CONFLICT poetry, but WHATEVER!" Bowser booms. "Each lesson, we will go through a poem from the list. Today's poem is going to be Sonnet 68, by SHAKESPEARE!"
Bowser opens a book, and ever so slowly copies the poem out onto the blackboard.
"A load of sappy NONSENSE, if you ask me," Bowser declares. "Nana, read it out."
Nana rolls her eyes, clearing her throat.
"Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn,
When beauty lived and died as flowers do now,
Before these bastard signs of fair were born,
Or durst inhabit on a living brow;
Before the golden tresses of the dead,
The right of sepulchres, were shorn away,
To live a second life on second head;
Ere beauty's dead fleece made another gay:
In him those holy antique hours are seen,
Without all ornament, itself and true,
Making no summer of another's green,
Robbing no old to dress his beauty new;
And him as for a map doth Nature store,
To show false Art what beauty was of yore."
Nana stops. I blink. I'm pretty sure that only three or four words in the whole poem were modern English. Lucas is looking blank as well. The Pit twins laugh a bit, uncertain.
"Well, what the hell did all that mean?" Bowser asks violently. "You - Bayonetta, tell us!" I hadn't even noticed Bayonetta in the room. I glance around to see if there are any more familiar faces.
"Well, Shakespeare is obviously talking about his lover," Bayonetta replies. There's a small gasp.
"Impossible!" Bowser exclaims. "How do you know? This..." He jabs his finger against the board. "Is not even in English!"
"It's in old English," Nana says calmly. "Which is, indeed, a form of English."
"Mmmm…" Bowser hums. "I remember Peach telling me she liked sonnets. If it wasn't for that WRETCHED MARIO-"
He bashes his first on his desk, angry now.
"ANY OTHER IDEAS?"
"Well, it's kind of vague," Bayonetta muses. "But I think there's a certain symbolism to-"
"I don't mean about the POEM!" Bowser roars.
"Then about what?" Toon Link calls out, exasperated.
"You're supposed to tell ME! You're all MEAN! ANNOTATE THE POEM, IN SILENCE, FOR THE REST OF THE LESSON! ANY TALKING…"
He hits his cane against his hand, right in front of Lucas's face. Lucas swallows nervously.
"...Then THIS will be your punishment!" Bowser yells, whacking Toon Link in the head.
"OW-"
"QUIET!"
The rest of the lesson passes in complete silence.
Lucas and I hurry out of the room when it finally ends, ready for lunch. I'm starving, and exhausted from being on edge for so long.
The school day is weirdly structured. The morning consists of two lessons, and then lunch. After that, we have a double lesson, before one more lesson to round it off. Each day of the week has a different subject as its double lesson. Science and Sport don't get any, which leaves our other five subjects to have one each. It all comes together so that we have each subject three times a week, except for sports, adding up to twenty lessons per week, four every weekday...
Unsurprisingly, it went over my head the first time I heard it.
After lessons, we have free time to do homework, go out onto the school grounds, visit the library, or even take a trip to the pool. Headmaster Hand likes his luxuries, and with our school heavily favoured by the Onett Council, as well as with multiple generous donations from the worst man in the world, Porky Minch, there's plenty of money to spend.
Porky has done a great job of messing up Lucas's life, but he's also had a go at messing up mine. He was rumoured to be behind the mining explosion in my father's mines, which trapped ten workers and caused us massive debt. We had to pay Porky's construction company to repair the damage, but the prices kept mysteriously hiking up. Porky also often approached me with bribes for information about Lucas, all of which I refused to accept. He tried again with threats, which ended in a fight between me and him, that I miraculously won, before he tried to get charges pressed on me. Father had to pay him off, after giving me a beating for every pound that I'd lost him.
We reach the lunch queue at last. Villager arrives just behind us.
"Hey, Ness," he says cheerily. "Good to see you're clean - Toonie went a bit far, didn't he?"
"You bet." I nod vigorously, and I grin, having an idea. "He's for it, this lunchtime. This has become a war." Mercifully, most other people seem to have forgotten about the oatmeal incident. Besides, it's not like I had a reputation to lose in the first place.
"What's for lunch, anyway?" Villager asks.
"Don't know," I say, shrugging. "I haven't seen a menu, or anything."
"It's shepherd's pie," Lucas says softly.
"What? How do you know?"
Lucas points to someone carrying a plate of shepherd's pie.
"Oh-"
Eventually, we get our portions, sitting down at our usual table.
"How was your morning?" I ask Villager.
"Oh - it was okay!" Villager says. "I was with Mega Man in Trades. He's in your business class next, Lucas, go ahead and say I sent you to talk to him."
"Okay," Lucas replies, with a mouthful of pie.
Trades is a strange subject. It's basically learning how to build things, whilst also learning how to be a blacksmith, and how to do gardening, and use saws, and make obscure wooden shapes. Villager swears by it though, he wants to be a builder and designer when he's older.
"What about you guys?" he asks. We tell him about the unusual Pit and Dark Pit, and I mention the loud Bayonetta.
"Bayonetta?" Villager frowns. "Isn't she kinda, you know…"
"Well, yeah," I say. "But she's nice enough. She's into girls, by the way, so don't get any ideas."
"Into girls?" Villager looks alarmed. "What - she said that out loud?"
"Oh, lighten up Villager." Toon Link grins, arriving. "It sounds pretty hot to me. Illegal activity? Marvellous for the health."
Lucas spits out his food with a mix of shock and laughter.
"Toon Link!" Villager scolds. "You can't say things like that! Do you want to go to jail?"
"What's going on?" Red asks, sitting in his usual seat.
"Nothing, nothing," Villager sighs, as I hit the now choking Lucas on the back.
"Good, because I've had a pretty terrible morning," Red complains. "I reckon the jam incident has given me bad luck." There's an uneasy silence. There's still unresolved tension over that.
"Ness," Toon Link begins.
"It's okay," I say hastily. "But I'll get my revenge."
"Oh. Oh, you're on!" Toon Link grins, the relief clear in his voice. Chaotic as he is, he usually knows when he's messed up.
"What class has everyone got after lunch?" Villager asks, changing the subject.
"Double Maths," I recall, disappointed.
"Double Business," Lucas says timidly. Everyone groans with sympathy.
"I have Double Business as well," Red tells us. "Which I'm not looking forward to! Extended Mathematics is a lot more fascinating. Father said I had to take it, though..."
"Same here," I say wearily. I'm pretty sure all of us have father issues of some kind, except maybe Villager. His mother is the scary one, while his father is more submissive. Unfortunately, that meant Toon Link compared Villager's parents to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth during English Literature last year, and Villager and Toon Link had therefore stopped talking for weeks.
"I've got Double Music," Toon Link says, looking at his timetable. I would've studied music, if it wasn't for Father making me take Business. Lucas and I are part of the school orchestra; I play the harp, believe it or not, and Lucas plays the piano, which of course he's incredible at. Toon Link's thing is the percussion - there are timpanis, cymbals, and of course, the brand new gong that he discovered this morning.
"Lucky," I say, groaning.
"Don't worry, I've got maths too," Villager consoles, which lifts my spirits. Hanging out with Villager is awesome, because there are no awkward silences, and there's no expectation to be someone else. Marth is a decent teacher, too. He's firm but fair.
The clocktower rings. I give Lucas a quick hug before leaving, and I join Villager for our trek to the classroom.
"What do you think we'll be doing this time?" Villager asks.
"I don't know," I say. "So long as it's not too bad."
"Oh, you know Marth. I think he makes up mathematical formulas in his spare time. It will definitely be bad."
"You're not wrong - do you know anyone else in our class, by the way?"
"I haven't seen. So long as it's not Popo..."
"Oh, I thought you didn't mind him?" The news surprises me. I didn't think Villager disliked anyone.
"He's next to me in Geography," Villager says lightly. "He seemed to think that tearing up all my work was funny."
"He kept making weird comments about Bayonetta in Business. I don't like him much."
Someone rudely shoves past us. No surprise, it's Meta Knight and Olimar. But they don't seem to be headed for Maths, instead they're talking in low tones. I shush Villager, and we listen.
"It'll be ready by Friday?"
"Yes, he told us already that it will be."
"Excellent." Olimar rubs his hands together with glee. "Lucas won't know what hit him."
I turn to Villager. He looks just as surprised as me.
What the hell are they planning?
Notes:
-I think most of the general-introductory-stuff is out of the way now, like what subjects they take, and what professors there are. I've got myself a special spreadsheet with the who's in what class, and a timetable each for Ness and Lucas... but we'll be properly moving onto advancements of the plot and advancements of The Gay next chapter!
-Showers did exist at this time, but they were rare. My default excuse for somewhat modern technology continues to be "oh, it's a flashy school, showing off, etc, etc..."
Thank you for reading, and feel free to leave a review! I'll feature any reviews, with my response in the most recent chapter.
~ ReadyForTeddy