CH.50 The Truth of Saori
In the Kurumi timeline, Kurumi has somewhat taken over Saori's place temporarily and says her differences in appearance is a new fashion choice. Some people aren't convinced though because of her personality. But the boys don't seem to mind or notice. Fortunately, Saori's identical brother and sister, Reiji and Asami, are more than willing to help. They also give pointers towards Saori's outside behavior to make the ruse more convincing.
At lunch, Kurumi alongside her children of this time eat lunch on the roof. A homemade lunch from her adult self and uses Saori's box for it. While eating, Kurumi asks her two children.
"So, when I saw you both last time, were you both working for Saori, or was she lying?"
Asami begins to shiver a little as she puts her hands to her knees. Reiji has a smiliar response because they are both terrified of their sister. Reiji is the one to talk as Asami is apparently having a bad flashback.
"Saori threatened us. Asami was the first she and she went after me some time later. She made us get info on people in the city that she planned to kill."
Asami calms a little, but just enough to talk and adds.
"Then she told us to help her with a new issue shortly after you and the others appeared. She held a gun to Emi's head and told us she'd kill her if we didn't do what she said. Emi was sleeping and didn't see this, but it was still horrible."
Kurumi finds that one move odd. Even being violent, Saori doesn't seem the type to kill her own family. Her older self has told stories of Saori's love for her precious younger siblings. Reiji and Asami are both paralyzed from fear to remember much apart from what they told her, so Kurumi will have to find out the truth the easy way.
After school, Kurumi returns to her house and goes into Saori's room. Shido is still in bed without moving or talking. He smells a little like soap because he recently had a bath with help from Kurumi while her younger self was at school. Kurumi searches the house for a recent picture of Saori, something she recently got before leaving. The best she can find is a photo that was taken at Miki's birthday which is dated about a month before she left. Kurumi takes it, holds it up to her head, and uses Yud to look into Saori's past. What she sees surprises her a bit.
Months Ago
Saori's past starts at a time when she was still a loving and caring girl. She gets good grades, works hard, and loves her family dearly. She doesn't have that many friends because of her timid nature, but she does like the few she has.
In this memory, she is handing in a paper she was working on for her homeroom class and that's when her teacher, a rather handsome man, compliments her again.
"That's very good, Saori. You're one of the first to turn this in."
Saori smiles a bit, but that changes when the teacher puts his hand on her arm a little and it makes her uncomfortable as she pulls her back a bit. After this, she goes home with a little uneasiness over that, but doesn't think too much of it. Things like this continued for a while but not too bad.
However, one evening, Saori was called into the homeroom after clean up to talk about something in her report. It is the evening and she is parting with her friends to go into the room. There, Saori spots her teacher looking out the window as the rest of the students going home. She politely asks.
"What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"
She has a smile on her face. The teacher walks to her and says.
"I noticed you smile whenever I talk good about you."
Saori keeps her smile and replies.
"Well that's because I like being complimented by people."
The man gets a bit too close and shakes his head as he states.
"No, it's because you like me. I can tell."
Saori gets a little uneasy as she smiles more faintly and says.
"No, I just like it….."
As she says this, her teacher stands up and gets uncomfortably close as he says in an uneasy way.
"It's fine, I understand…we both have certain needs."
He touches Saori's face and she responds by moving his arm away, but then things get a little violent when grips her hand and says in a little more threatening manner.
"I said we BOTH have needs."
Saori then gets her hand away and she proceeds to run away in fear as she runs without grabbing her bag and stops running once she is out of the school. She stops at the gate and needs to catch her breath near the fence. She looks back at the school with anxiety and thinks to herself.
"Okay, Saori, just smile, go home, and hopefully things will be better in the morning."
Saori quietly returns home and does her work, eats dinner with her family with a smile, and goes about her night like she normally would, but what happened is still in her mind. She hasn't felt that afraid in her life.
She is currently doing her homework in her room with a can of soda and a sandwich for a snack while working. She gets a text message from a friend asking her about a question on it, to which she answers what she got, and continues. While working, a knock comes at her door. Saori answers it and her father is standing outside and she sweetly asks.
"What do you want, father?"
Shido looks a little worried despite having a smile as he asks her with concern.
"I wanted to see how you were doing. You seemed out of it at dinner tonight. So I wanted to ask you if you're feeling okay. Did something happen at school or something?"
Saori denies this and simply states that it must be because she is simply tired from all of her school work. Shido is about to leave but assures her.
"If you any troubles at all, you can always tell me or your mom."
Saori smiles and tells her father that she loves him before he leaves her. Saori returns to her homework and finds more texts from her two friends about homework answers and she answers them all. Saori falls asleep after finishing and tries to get her mind off what happened.
A few days pass with nothing particular happening, nobody says anything, and Saori has gotten her mind off what a happened. However, after class one day, she handed back the paper she turned in and the grade on it is abysmal. She approaches her teacher about this paper immediately and says.
"Sensei, why did you give me a failing grade? Even if it isn't perfect, my paper exceeded the minimum length and I had at least six sources. I should have at least gotten something better than this."
The teacher simply says with a cold look.
"Well maybe you should have done your work better."
Saori lets it go despite feeling awful about a failing grade. She does fine in her other classes, but the one she has continual failings in is the one. A little later, about five days later, her mother is contacted by the school. She receives a phone call from a councilor who noticed the recent failing grades in one of her classes. Kurumi talks with the councilor for about five or so minutes while she is putting away groceries from her recent store trip.
At dinner, the whole family is attending like normal, and Kurumi brings up the phone call while nursing Koji after some of the others have left to go their separate ways for the evening, except Shido who needs to talk as well. The other children are long gone to their rooms or out. Kurumi starts off by explaining.
"Saori, we received a call today from your school about a certain class you've been declining in."
Saori becomes nervous hearing this, but Shido tries to be comforting when he asks her.
"Saori, what's wrong? Are you just stressed out? Is it because of some boy? We're just trying to figure out what's going on."
Saori doesn't want to say anything out of fear of what could happen. So she denies it and makes up an excuse when she answers.
"The work is just getting gradually harder, so I'm just trying to figure out how to do better."
Shido doesn't like that excuse and expresses this.
"Saori, you're too smart for that. I'm not foolish to the think that it's just the work. Up till now, you've been doing great on your homework and assignments. We've gotten notices that your excelling in everything else."
Kurumi nods and states.
"Saori, if the work is in fact the problem, then talk to your teacher, or maybe work a little harder."
Saori nods and leaves the table. Shido and Kurumi are still worried about her, but they decide to give her some more time out of trust for her. Saori sits in her room with a pen in her hand pondering what to do, but her face turns a little red when she nods to herself.
The next day after school, Saori stands in front of her teacher's office and is very nervous and puts her hand on the handle, pulls back a little, but walks inside. Little does she know, she is being followed by two people with a camera. She leaves the school a half hour later with an exhausted look on her face. She didn't do "that" with him, but it was still very uncomfortable. This goes on for two weeks of being harassed and touched while her grades go back to normal.
Things didn't get better either when two of her friends call her to the roof of the school after one of these sessions. Two of them, a boy and a girl, as they hold photos to her and show faked text messages, the ones she sent as homework answers, but modified to be dirty. They tell her they'll make it seem as if that she's having an elicit relationship with her teacher consensually. She tries to get the photos and phone from the two, but they push her away easily. It also ends with her being punched in the face and told she has to get blackmail material on her sister and mother or they'll look the photos and messages. They coldly leave her for the time being as she begins panicking of what to do. She then feels her phone vibrate and she notices a text that reads.
"I'm not satisfied with just touching anymore. If you don't come to my place within the next three days, I'll fail you in my class. Also, I'll say that you've been harassing me after class."
Saori begins panicking more as she breaks into tears while saying to herself.
"What did I do to deserve this?...I just wanted to be a good student and friend…."
She starts crying alone on the roof and is just gradually drowning in despair. She leaves the school after this but can't help but feel like she has no way out. While walking, she spots a building under construction that goes high up. She looks at the ground and then walks towards it. It's currently empty, high up, and no one is really around. She decides to climb it up to the highest point. At the highest point, she can see the ground from this high up and she simply thinks.
"If I die…they can't hurt me or my family at all."
Saori leans toward the ledge and cries some more as she falls off the ledge and as she falls, she sees images of her mother smiling and a black shadow coats her body but Saori closes her eyes as she falls, and then, the sound of a splat is heard.
Saori lays on the ground unconscious with her skull crushed from the impact, her neck broken, and is bleeding all over the ground. Her vision is blurred from this as she didn't die instantly like she thought she would, and she hears a gunshot and she is shot by something. However, instead of it hurting, her skull forms back, her neck straightens, and her bleeding stops. Saori sits up and notices that she is now dressed in her Astral Dress as she looks around her body at her new clothes, but wonders why she didn't die. She hears footsteps and sees a man wearing a suit with a mask, Shinra, and he walks over to her, kneels down, and asks.
"Why did you do that?"
Saori is frustrated when she says.
"You should have let me die. I can't…(cries again) I can't deal with it anymore."
Saori can't stand what's happening right now with her life. Shinra then puts his hands around her face and can sense her despair as he states.
"I know what that's like. If you want…I can make it go away for you."
Saori sniffles a bit, looks at the ground, and tells him.
"I don't care anymore. If you can help me…I won't fight it. I just want to make it go away."
Shinra gets Saori to look him in the eyes and his eyes glow with negative mana and her eyes begin glowing the same way and he lets go of her as her body emits the dark aura and smiles now as she produces two guns and states.
"If those three want to have fun….I'll show them what happens when you fuck with me."
Shinra snaps his fingers and the wicked smile disappears as Saori puts on a more timid look and asks.
"What was that? I heard a voice…my voice…did I…."
Shinra tells her.
"I created her for you. She's you, a you who can fight back. Someone who can use your power effectively."
Saori hears power, but doesn't care as she asks.
"Can she…stop them?"
Shinra nods and Saori stops caring as he snaps his fingers again and the smile reappears as Saori says in a happier tone.
"That's right, Saori. I can put an end to anyone who threatens us. I'll make sure that no one ever tries to use us again."
Shinra introduces himself formally, and asks if she'll join him, and she says yes. It is at this time that Saori learned of her powers. She began using them effectively, a committed many murders using these powers, something her inner self doesn't approve of, but since the aggressive side can handle the bad people, she doesn't fight it.
Present
Kurumi sees the end of what she was viewing and says.
"So, she became that to handle the people who bullied her. I've killed for less, but damn. I can't imagine how helpless she felt. I didn't think it was that bad. (Smiles) But I suppose that taking care of her business is important and in such brutal ways."
Kurumi hears Shido groaning a little in his coma and comments.
"Don't worry, I won't share the gruesome details.
She smiles as she rubs Shido's head but she is still concerned about Saori's ultimate goal in this as well as the identity of Shinra because not even Saori knew by the point the information cut out.