Tails walked down the halls holding a toast in his mouth. He was late for the first day of school, and that was not a good way to make a first impression in a new neighborhood. Unfortunately for the kitsune, fate had other plans in store. He bumped into someone as he turned around a corner, falling down onto his butt and dropping the toast.

"Sorry!" He yelped, staring back at the purple swallow he just bumped into.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" She yelled back at him, picking up the books she dropped.

"S-Sorry..." he muttered, blushing as he watched her as she leaned over, giving him a good view of her physique. Tails blushed furiously, and this did not go unnoticed by Wave.

She flicked his nose and said to his face, "Wave."

"Huh?"

"My name, dummy. I'm a sophomore, but come by to my table at lunch, won't you?"

"Uh...sure?" Tails replied, not really knowing how to respond to situations like this.

"Awesome. See you around, cutie." Wave walked away, leaving Tails blushing like a tomato, confused beyond his mind's capabilities.

He was jolted awake from his trance when he realized he was going to be late for class. Thankfully, he made it with seconds to spare, but he couldn't focus on the class at all. Lunchtime approached sluggishly, like a snail, and Tails felt his heart pound faster than ever as he ran to the cafeteria.

When Tails arrived, he looked around for the beautiful avian, hoping that whatever she said earlier wasn't a joke. Someone tapped his shoulder from behind, making him turn around to see the purple swallow standing right there.

"Hey," She waved at him, a green hawk and a silver albatross standing beside her.

"H-Hey," Tails answered, trembling nervously. "Are those two your friends?"

"Yup! Jet, Storm, this is Tails. I want to have a bit of a chat with him, so why don't you guys go sit by yourselves for a bit?"

Jet and Storm shrugged and walked away, leaving the two by themselves.

"So, why did you want to see me, Wave?" Tails asked, sitting down on a nearby lunch table. Wave sat across from him, eating an egg salad she brought from home.

"What did you think I wanted to talk about, dork? Algebra? I think you're cute. I also hear that you're a very smart kid. I like smart boys." She leaned forwards, "Don't tell anyone I said this, but spending time with idiots like Storm every day really does something to one's brain."

Tails blushed and stared down at his PB&J sandwich. "I mean, thanks. That's nice of you to say. So anyway, I was thinking maybe we could grab fries or something after school—"

"Hold that thought, Einstein. You free tonight?" She interrupted him midsentence.

"I think so. Why do you ask?" Tails brushed his tails, feeling them get all bushy under his hands.

"I'll tell you later. I suddenly have to go. Sorry," Wave got up and rushed over to the crowd, disappearing among the people, not letting Tails see where she went. Tails groaned and waited for the rest of the day to pass so he could speak with her again.

Tails walked out of the building after school was over, waiting for Wave to come and pick him up so they could do whatever she had in mind. He sat down on the stairs and patiently sat there for a while before noticing the lack of people walking out through the door. After about half an hour of playing with his hoodie and jeans, he came to the conclusion that Wave was not going to come and get him, and sighed. He got up and left, heading straight home.

Tails' room was nothing special. He had a poster hanging on the wall he bought as merch, and next to it was a window that let the sun in. On his desk was a Mac, and a computer that ran on Windows 10. Tails took a bite out of the McIntosh as he placed his bag down. He changed from the shirt and shorts he was wearing and lied down on his bed. It hurt feeling betrayed like this, but that was life.

Tails glanced at the clock on the wall after a while. 8 p.m. already? Time sure does fly when you—

There was a knock on his window that caught his attention. Assuming it was just a branch or something, he went to check it out but was surprised when he saw a beautiful purple swallow standing there, instead of a piece of lumber. Tails quickly unlocked the window and let her in.

"Hey, shorty." She climbed in, holding a six pack of Coronas. "Sorry about earlier. My dad abducted me." She looked around the humble room and smirked. "Nice room. Are your parents' home?"

"Uh, I live with my mom, but she never comes to my room." He shut the door behind him and locked it anyway.

"Ooh, locking the door too? What did you think we were going to do~?" Wave flirted, laying on his bed in a seductive pose.

Tails blushed hard and stammered his response. "I-I mean, I'm not allowed to have friends over this late and you have a pack of beer with you and—"

"Relax, Tails. I'm just messing with you." She put on somewhat loud techno music to drown their conversation. "Come on. Have a drink." Wave passed him a can while she popped one open for herself, taking a large gulp.

Tails hesitated for a moment before taking it from her hand and took a sip. He scrunched up his face in disgust as a bitter taste filled his mouth.

"First time drinking?" Wave teased, already downing her first can.

"Might be my last time too." Tails placed the can down on his desk next to the Mac, and sat next to Wave on his bed. His legs were pressed together and his back was up straight, sitting very uncomfortably.

"Loosen up, cutey," Wave smacked him on his back, "Finish that can, and let's have some fun tonight, alright?"

Tails nodded hesitantly but his heartbeat enthusiastically as he grabbed the can from his desk.

1st pov, Tails

I woke up the next morning feeling a little sick. I only drank two cans and I already felt this bad. Damn. I looked to my side and saw the spot my... Girlfriend? I looked to my side and saw the spot she stayed while we drank. Was she my girlfriend? I honestly had no clue.

Girlfriend. I like that though. Should I ask Wave whether we are dating, or would that come off as being too much of a virgin? Either way, I changed out of my pajamas and put a shirt on over my bare chest. We had a lot of fun last night, but she left before we could do anything too crazy. I told her that she shouldn't be going outside at 1 am after five cans of beer in her system, but she assured me that she would be okay as she fell out of my window.

After packing my bag. I walked down the stairs, made myself a bowl of cereal, and headed straight to school. At school an old friend of mine who didn't come yesterday due to illness greeted me.

"Hey Tails," She said happily, waving her hands at me.

"Hey, are you feeling better today?" I asked as we walked down the halls together.

"Yup. What about you? Did you manage to make it through without me being there for you?" She teased. What was with girls and teasing me?

"Of course, I did. I don't need you to babysit me all day." I rolled my eyes in response to that. "I even made a friend. Well, she might be more than just a friend."

"Really? How did that happen?"

"Well, I was walking-no, running down the halls because..."

"Yes?"

"..."

"Tails?"

"How long have we known each other?"

"Since we were 6, right?"

"..."

"Tails is something wrong?"

"Sorry. I guess my head is still messed up after drinking last night. I could have sworn I was late for class by the time I arrived at school, but I wasn't."

"You drank last night?" She stared at me in shock. She wasn't one to do such things either, so this was a big deal for us.

"Yeah, I'll get to that later. I bumped into Wave, and she spoke to me and..."

"...Yes?"

"...I'm sorry, I need to find Wave. I'll speak to you later"

I ran towards the sophomore section of the building, looking around for Wave. How did she know my name? I haven't told her my name before she introduced me to her friends. And why was this bothering me so much?

I was stopped by a familiar looking albatross. It was Storm, that guy from yesterday standing next to Wave at the cafeteria.

"Hey, has Wave been with you this whole time?" He asked, stopping me dead in my tracks as he spoke. He was a massive dude.

"N-No... I haven't seen her since last night."

"I don't think she came to school then. That's weird..." He just walked away, leaving me even more baffled than before.

The school ended and during that time I haven't seen Wave at all. Only when I was walking out of the building did I find out what happened to her.

Storm and Jet were talking to two policemen before glancing behind and noticing me. They shouted at me to come over and patted my back before leaving. Weird.

"Were you close to Miss Wave Pado?" The police officer asked. He was a brown dog and his partner was a black squirrel. They seemed to be holding a file in their hands.

"Y-yes, I would say that. What happened?" I asked nervously. Talking to policemen was difficult for someone as shy as me.

The two men stared at each other before taking a photo out of the file and handing it to me.

I didn't even recognize what it was at first.

Something very red was wearing clothes. Upon further inspection, there was some sort of curves on this red thing that resembled a face. I guess the saying that anything looks like a face when you draw three circles is true. My guess was that it was some crude clay sculpture a child made?

"What is this?"

"Would you even understand what it is if we don't tell you ourselves?" The squirrel sighed as if he felt bad for me.

"I mean, not many people would realize what this was at first glance," The dog said and stared off into the distance. "Do you recognize the clothes?"

"No, I don't recognize these red clothes."

"These aren't red."

"What do you mean?"

"These are white clothes."

"I don't understand."

"Kid, it's not a very difficult sentence. These. Are. White. Clothes. It's only 4 words long. The 'clothes' is the noun and the 'white' is the adjective."

"I'm not saying that the sentence is hard, I'm saying that you're not making much sense. These clothes aren't white."

"Yes, they're red."

"Then they're red clothes."

"Well I suppose by that logic you could call them red clothes. But before this happened the clothes were white." The dog concluded.

"Before what happened? Wait, are you saying all this red stuff is-"

"Yes, it's blood."

"Whose blood— no, please don't say—"

"It's Wave's blood."

Oh

She's very hurt right now

"So how is she right now?"

The dog sighed and handed the photo to the squirrel as if he was done talking. The squirrel tapped the photo where the red blob was.

"Why are you showing me this blob of clay?"

"It's not a blob of clay"

"Then what is it? You two are just beating around the bush constantly. Just tell me what it is."

"It's a face."

"What?"

"It's a face!"

"A face made of clay?"

"No, it is not a face made of clay."

"Then what is it?"

"Well, I assume that most of it are muscle. I think some of this is fat and this part is the cartilage? I'm not an expert in biology."

"Wait so you're saying this is..."

"This is Miss Wave's face. Or, it used to be."

"Used to be?"

"Well, the skin, eye, fat, and bones are mostly removed so I don't think you can call this a face anymore."

"You're... joking with me?!"

"I don't make such harsh jokes, kid"

Oh dear.

I screamed. I screamed loudly but nothing came out. I just collapsed on the floor as my legs gave out. My breathing was uneven and my brain felt like it was about to explode. I took the photo from his hand and leaned in to see it better in the shade. Now that I knew what it was, it made a lot more sense. I could see what it truly was. Her face.

The tissues were ripped apart. The eyeball was gone, and the nasal cavity was torn open to the point where I could see the paranasal cavity. The area between her eyes had a hole that should not have been there, and inside were some connective tissues.

"Urk."

Some very strange and unusual noises were made.

"Oh dear, please be careful."

"Huh?"

"You're mucking up the photo. Please be more careful."

Oh. I puked. Am I sick?

"Sorry." I covered my mouth but the stomach acid kept leaking through my fingers.

"She was found like this in the middle of an alleyway. We assume she lied down, drunk, and vomited all over her face."

"What does that have to do with this?" I asked.

"We found some stray dogs that were covered in blood. We followed where they were coming from and found...her."

"We believe the dogs ate the vomit off her face and that led to her demise" The squirrel continued, handing me a napkin.

I blinked.

More stomach acid spewed from my mouth.

Oh dear.

Oh dear.

Oh dear.