How did I to get myself into this mess?
Besides the panicked clamor of my shoes, the halls of the school were silent and unsettling. Barely visible classroom doors sailed by in a blur and the lack of light felt suffocating. My pursuer would surely hear my noisy footsteps and my heavy breathing. The thought unleashed a flood of perilous feelings that yanked at my stomach. I could feel the adrenaline stretch my veins, throwing my limbs into locomotion. I would not let it end like this, not after accomplishing so much.
I slid a few feet as I came to a sharp turn and scurried back into motion like a bat out of hell. The wall on my left was now lined with broad windows, revealing the eerie night sky. No stars, only the cloudy moon. Just a blanket of darkness. The distant silhouettes of trees stood still in the stagnant air. A small laugh licked at my ears, the laughter of death. It shocked the hairs on my neck into stiff rigor mortis, and I pushed reserved energy into my weak legs. No.. NO! Get away! I will not die like this.
I was careless. An ear wrenching crack split the night air as I landed on one of my ankles at a bad angle. My body hit the tiles in a muffled crumple, and slid a few feet before hitting the end of the hall. The skittering clack of my broken glasses scraping along the floor sank my heart further. I sat up and tried to drag myself along the blurry wall in a futile attempt to keep going, but something stopped me.
An unyielding force snagged firmly on my slacks, holding me in place no matter how hard I scratched at the floor. I turned over and looked into the faded eyes of my assailant, ghastly orbs implanted in a face of ghostly skin. They were wide and piercing, sending a shiver down my spine with their unrestrained insanity. Dead eyes.
I could see my reflection in the shimmer of a silver blade, the image of a pathetic and broken boy, a corpse. My throat swelled and felt like cotton, paralyzed. I could not scream. The blade drew up, pointed now at my chest. My body could not muster the courage to respond to my brain's pleading, begging my arms to work. I could not move. I watched as the sharp steel's ascent came to a brief stop, and sailed into my heart.
A jolt like lightning threw me into the air, stretching my eyelids apart and bending my abdomen. I sat up in my bed, wide awake and soaked in sweat. My breathing was loud and heavy, as though I had just surged through a marathon. I clenched at my chest and tried to settle my heart. It threatened to burst forth from its frame.
It took several minutes in a cold shower to finally bring my panicked heartbeat back into my control. What a nightmare, whatever it was about. Only brief flashes of it remained in my memory. Something to do with the school and the fear of eminent doom. No surprise there considering my situation. My situation... I guess I truly am in this world to stay. Would I ever see my home again?
I stared out the window in my room, wrapped in a beige towel. The smallest pink strokes in the sky told of the sun's awakening. The alarm clock on my nightstand read '6:24'. I shut off the alarm that would ring within the hour.
The same sounds from yesterday morning repeated and breached the walls of my room. I threw on a clean uniform from the closet and headed to the kitchen with hope for a hearty breakfast. I found it unique just how quickly I adapted to this new environment. The woman in the kitchen looked up from her cooking to hand me a scowl and point at the food on the small table.
"You didn't bring back your lunch box," she chastised as I took a seat. "We don't have any others, so unless you want to keep your food in your backpack without a container, you'll have to eat the school's lunch for today."
"Sorry, Mom," I sighed. "I must've forgotten it in the classroom. I'll bring it back after school today." Of course, I knew I had left it on the school roof. Those gruesome sandwiches really took me for a loop. I looked down at the plate of food set before me. My eyebrows flew up.
Eggs with toast and bacon. How bizarre, but then again I guess my mother in this world is also from the U.S. I cared little at the moment. With a fork as my weapon of choice, I began the unceremonious task of shoveling food down my gullet. My appetite roared, I hadn't eaten anything yesterday except a bite of Katsura's homemade lunch, which I promptly spat out. My mother said something about chewing my food properly, but I could barely hear her over the meal rushing into my system.
My leave this morning was less than eventful in comparison to the previous day. I closed the front door and took in the cool morning air, fresh with car exhaust. It was more fresh than AC quality at least. I guess. As I hefted my backpack and strode along the lonely sidewalk, I noticed a noisy couple up ahead. It looked like a large guy hitting on a girl, his arm against a building with the girl leaning on the wall. Flirting this early in the day? Kids these days I swear...
The figures were brought into better focus as I tread closer. I immediately recognized the girl as Katsura, and knew right away that whatever this guy was doing, it was against her will. I cemented my feet in place, unsure of what to do. He was a decently sized guy, at least a couple hundred pounds. He wore some kind of black biker jacket, like a greaser or some other stereotypical street rat. I could hear Katsura's stuttering from where I stood. My blood began to boil and sear my skin.
Fight or flight. I could just skip cross the street, ignore everything, turn a blind eye. My lungs inhaled a deep breath and I wiped my glasses clean. No. I swallowed my cowardly intentions. If I just let this guy carry on, my conscience would never let it go. Too many of these dirtbags got away with this sort of crime. Plus, he could be causing her to grow unstable. I stood for another moment, then marched forth with a backbone that I had no right to own.
I was about ten feet away when Katsura's violet eyes locked onto mine, pleading for my help. For being a potential murderer, she sure carried a strong sense of defenselessness. The scruffy man taking advantage of this cut off his sentence and traced her gaze to my face. His black hair wound up into the air in a comical fashion, forcing me to hold back a laugh. Fear sure had a way of making things seem funnier than usual. I prodded at the bulge of my cell phone in my pocket.
"What are you looking at, four eyes?" he grunted with a sneer. Openly hostile with a primitive insult. Alright, great.
"I'd get out of here, guy," I threatened, scowling with a false sense of bravado. "I don't think she wants an unhygienic troll such as yourself invading her personal space."
"Ooooh, that's some mouth you got there, kiddo," he grinned with crooked and yellowed teeth. "Me and the lady here are just getting to know each other, you should skip off to your preschool before you get hurt."
Preschool? How absurd, I looked older than Katsura. Right? "Fair enough," I yawned, imitating impatience. "I just hope the lady agrees with your story when the police get here."
The bent nose on this guys face twitched and his lip pulled up in an ugly grimace. "You think I don't know when some punk is bluffing?," he spat, his body language betraying his confidence.
"Do you really want to take that chance?" I frowned thoughtfully, reaching into my pocket and pulling out my cell phone. "I called them on the way over. Are years of your life in jail for sexually harassing a minor really worth it, as opposed to just going on your way?"
"Dammit," he cursed, eyeing my phone with a sudden urgency. "They'd put me away forever this time." He tossed a few grumbles and then backed away jerkily before spinning and running down an alley.
I held my steely gaze until he was out of sight before I released a ragged breath like a hot air balloon. My bones wobbled in their sockets, but I held strong. I looked to Katsura, and dashed to her side, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"A-are you alright, Katsura?" I asked with concern decorating my face. I searched her body with flashing eyes for any signs of bodily injury. "He didn't hurt you did he?"
"No," came her quiet reply. She looked fine enough, just a little flustered. I've never been in a situation like this before, a reoccurring theme in this world apparently. She still seemed uncomfortable. I looked at my hand and retracted it in a heartbeat.
"Sorry," I gasped. "I'm just relieved that went way better than it could've. I never actually did call the police." I really didn't want to deal with the local authorities, I don't even know what the emergency number for Japan is.
She looked up at me, a whisper of a smile curved her lips and I felt a reassuring wave of ease wash over me. Katsura would be fine, and I had just managed to scare off an ogre twice my bulk. I should get some kind of hero of the city award. Okay, ego, calm down.
"Would you, um, like to walk together?" she blushed, eyes bouncing about away from my direction. What is with all these girls being so timid? Did I just have some kind of intimidating aura about my person?
"Oh, sure, I mean I guess there isn't much choice," I laughed as I sent an awkward hand to the back of my head and rummaged through my hair. I needed a trim. Did anime hair grow?
Katsura responded with a gentle nod and we set off for the train station, side by side. The walk was silent, but not at all embarassing. The atmosphere actually held a refreshing calm between the two of us, not a word needed to be said.
When we boarded the station platform, Makoto was there to greet us with a wave. Katsura looked back at me with another smile and a quiet "Thank you" as she walked over to the boy's side. He was obviously surprised by my presence. I wondered if my fabricated status as Saionji's boyfriend still nagged at him.
"Ah, Rupert, I didn't know you lived in the same area as Katsura," he said with innocent curiosity.
"Yeah, I actually ran into her yesterday," I admitted. "I didn't know her at the time of course, and we didn't exactly have the most pleasant of run-ins."
I ventured a glance at Katsura and she merely blushed, but strangely held on to her smile. She embodied every appealing aspect of a porcelain doll, but every time my thoughts strayed to the cuteness of any of these girls, an image of a crimson stained blade flashed through my memory. Never let your guard down, these kids were capable of painful atrocities, no matter how innocent they may look.
But still, she was undeniably cute. Right? Could a being made up of a multitude of still drawings be considered attractive? They weren't real. The scientist in me briefly took over. I lost myself in the questioning corridors of my mind again, unknowingly reaching a finger forward. A soft, fleshy barrier enveloped and stopped further advancement, and Makoto flinched. He rubbed his cheek with a look that made me want to break down into hysterics.
"What was that for?" he asked with a voice of concern.
"Sorry, Makoto. I was just testing a theory," I replied with a cheesy grin. "I've been finding myself lost in thought more and more these days."
Unfortunately, it was just as I predicted. The people in this surreal world felt as real as any flesh and blood individual back home. Maybe it would have been best for me to have left the topic alone. Now it would be harder to disconnect myself from them as being only fictional characters.
The route to school floated by without much conversation. At one point, Makoto said something about a festival of some kind, but my thoughts were elsewhere. Katsura responded to him in her quiet, airy voice while he went on loudly. I'm sure these two would rather bond than have me butt in. I still needed to think of a plan to separate them.
When we entered our home room, Saionji acted every bit the same as she did the previous morning. Not a hint of our talk from yesterday played upon her attitude. If I were to hold true to my word and help her with Makoto, we would have to talk sooner or later, but right now she seemed more preoccupied with teasing the boy. Our discussion would have to be in private anyways. I hoped she had ideas.
Classes sped by at the rate of your average slug, if that slug were hampered by a treadmill. It was no use. Eventually my head hit the desk so hard that the clang of the impact woke me right back up. Snickers erupted around the room and the teacher fixed me with a bored look. He must have thought my action to be a jab at his lecture. The bell of lunch's arrival sang like a chorus of angels, tuned by the hands of beauty itself.
A flurry of students later, and I found myself out in the hall, fighting the tides of uniforms. I needed to get to the roof and retrieve my lunch box before I forgot. Afterward I'll scope out the cafeteria and judge its delicacies. My navigational skills had finally proven reliable after I found the stairs to the roof. I skipped to the top and barged through the door, eager to get back and eat.
The sun shined its universal greeting, a friendly sight from something I had always deemed an enemy. I never liked hot climates, and I preferred the night, but for the moment the sun graced me as the only thing that had followed me from home.
The rooftop was nice when a group of loud and unpredictable kids didn't crowd it. A comforting breeze mixed with the refreshing air and cleaned my suit of the building's artificial coolness. It tousled my hair like a father playfully greeting his son. Would those kids come up here often? Maybe I could have lunch on the roof in peace and think properly for once.
I could see my lunch box from where I stood, a lonely object forgotten on the ground beside a bench. Katsura's meal completely destroyed my appetite at the time. No doubt its untouched contents would spell an unholy sight after braving the elements for a whole twenty-four hours. I had reached down for the box when the creak of the roof access caught my ears. My body spun around and I feared the authority of a faculty member and the thought of detention. Haha, of all the nonsense going on, detention was probably the least of my worries.
"Rupert?" came Saionji's curious tone. She walked out from the shadow of the doorway, one hand clutching a lunch container while the other braced her hair against the wind.
"Oh, uh, hey Saionji," I replied, my dreams of eating here peacefully withering away. "I was just getting my lunch box, I completely forgot it yesterday." I snatched the box up, brushing away the thought of peeking inside.
"Heh, I was wondering why you came this way," she laughed feebly. "So about yesterday..."
The last dregs of hope I had for a quiet moment died in the pit of my stomach. I looked around her figure to the darkened doorway, anticipating other arrivals.
"Don't worry," Saionji assured, noticing my gaze. "Makoto decided to eat lunch with Kotonoha in the classroom. It'll just be you and me up here." Her tone only sank by the tiniest decibel, but nothing escaped my keen senses. I tried my best to conjure up a comforting smile.
"Sure, let me just get something from the cafeteria, I'm starving."
"You don't have to eat that slop," she chortled with genuine amusement this time. "I brought some extra food for you as thanks for, you know. Deciding to help me."
"Well, I don't know," I said with crossed arms, cogitating on the thought. "I've been having pretty bad luck with other people's homemade lunches lately."
"Pshh, don't worry about it. I pride myself in being a decent chef when I need to be," she gleamed with a toothy grin. People around here sure loved showing off what they could do with food. Maybe this time around would prove less detrimental to my health.
"Alright," I gave in. How could I deny free food that someone put time into? "Let's see if you kill me or not."
As it turned out, her cooking skills surpassed Katsura's level by far, though that said little. Nonetheless, it tasted fair, albeit a bit unusual compared to what I'm used to. There were these little cubes of egg, some rice balls, and other stuff that I payed little attention to before it disappeared into my mouth. Usually my composure would remain unbroken in the presence of others, but I felt myself slowly becoming relaxed around these people. Maybe all my worrying was canceling out my self-consciousness.
"You're cooking is amazing, Saionji," I managed to mumble through a mouthful. My manners had dissipated with the wind.
I could tell my compliment struck a delicate cord by the way her entire face froze in a grateful expression, smudges of red painting under her eyes. "Thanks, but don't talk with food in your mouth, dummy," she huffed as she watched gleefully. "And call me Sekai."
I looked to her with bulging cheeks for a second before bobbing my head in compliance. I had honestly forgotten about the whole first and last name stuff.
"So," the girl said as I continued to stuff my face. "When you said you wanted me to succeed where you failed, what did you mean by that?"
I turned to her with inflated cheeks like a hamster, unprepared for such a question. With a painful effort, I swallowed the mouthful and let out a thoughtful breath. Did I really say that? I'd call anyone uttering a line like that a complete drama queen.
"You could say I've been in your position," I replied after a moment of thought. "I went through the painful process of having feelings for someone without ever knowing if they shared the same. Hardly likely in my case, though I never found out. Since we're friends, it would pain me to see the same happen to you. The world doesn't need more people like me. We are friends, right?"
She stared in a mix of slight surprise and confusion. Did I give out too much personal information on my love life? Perhaps, but I needed to tell a believable story so she would trust me, and the truth often was.
"Y-yeah, of course we're friends," she chimed with a reddened face. "This would be difficult to do otherwise. So what are we going to do?"
So impatient. Must she be so lively and unrelenting?
"Hmm. I've been trying to come up with some kind of plan," I said, rubbing at my temples. "But I haven't thought of anything worthwhile. I have another friend who's also helping me out. He kind of has a crush on Katsura."
"You're dragging more people into this?" she laughed, velvety hair bouncing with each breath. "You really are making friends fast."
"I don't know what it is about this place," I marveled as I adjusted my glasses. "It somehow managed to hatch my inner social butterfly I guess."
Sekai found further joy in my self revelation. "So what about you? You're acting as this grand matchmaker but don't you want to find a girlfriend or something?"
"Uh, you've seen me right?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow and pointing at my squarish glasses. "Even if I wanted to go through the trouble, I'm not exactly Prince Charming. I have a pretty bad effect on girls, as you've experienced. And I've been wondering, am I intimidating or something?"
"You're not so bad and no, you're far from intimidating," she comforted, which had the opposite effect on me. "I mean yeah, you're an idiot, but you're also kind. You're really not that bad looking either..."
"It's fine," I said abruptly, my eyes wide. We both resembled cherries in our complexion. "I appreciate it, but for now, let's just focus on helping you, alright?"
We spent the rest of lunch tossing silly ideas at each other, none generating much hope between us. Makoto and Kotonoha were already going out, which was already beyond most hope. Only I knew that. Detaching Makoto would take little effort, as many know, but Kotonoha's oddly resilient loyalty would present the real obstacle. Catching Makoto as a cheater would just send her over the edge mentally, she would never fault him. I needed to figure out how to work Kotonoha into breaking her attraction from him, but just what did she see in the guy? It's like trying to get a robin to stop loving the air.
"Maybe we'll just have to tackle them individually," I groaned as we began packing up to return to class. "I need to talk with Makoto about something first, but you should invite him to hangout after school. You shouldn't have too much trouble convincing him, I already know he likes you. It's Katsura I'm worried about. We can't just have him break up with her..."
My reveal of Makoto's feelings came as an obvious surprise to Saionji, who wore a face of bewilderment. "What do you mean you already know he likes me?"
I averted my gaze from her. Oh well, I might as well tell her before Makoto says something about it. "I sort of convinced him that you and I were going out, to gauge how he felt about you. As I predicted, he responded with tangible jealousy. So yes, you can rest assured knowing that he does return your feelings."
She blinked in astonishment. "You told him we were going out? Like, as a couple?"
"Er, yes," I muttered uneasily. "That's not too much of a problem, is it? I plan on hinting to him that you're not really into the relationship and that he should be the one with you."
"O-oh," she stammered, trying to avoid my analytical view.
"Are you alright?" I asked. She seemed to be holding something back, but I had no clue what.
"It's nothing, really," the girl chimed with a sudden cheerfulness. "It just makes me happy that you're doing so much to help me."
"I'm helping both of you," I reminded with a pointing finger. "As well as Katsura."
"Mmm," she hummed absently as she picked up her bento box. "Ah, we should keep in contact, let me see your phone. Makoto told me how you can't read and that you'll need help with your homework."
I handed her my phone with an embarrassed grimace. "Heh, yes well, I don't think homework will be such a problem for the time being."
Her slender fingers danced upon the keys of my cell phone for only a few seconds before she was finished. I was never that quick even with my old cell phone.
"There," she winked, holding the device out. "I also went ahead and put in Makoto's and Kotonoha's numbers. They shouldn't mind, though I would let Kotonoha know beforehand so she isn't caught too off guard by your nonsense. But really, you should let me help you with your homework. It would be terrible if my personal cupid flunked out."
"Thanks," I grunted, a little put off by the idea of doing homework. Never cared for the stuff, and I haven't even glanced at the assignments. There weren't many, mercifully. Did she call me cupid? "I'll get back to you on the homework thing when my mind isn't preoccupied."
"Remember," I whispered into the girl's ear as we approached the entrance of our classroom. Clusters of students hurdled by, desperate to make it to class on time. "Make plans with him as soon as possible as often as possible."
Sekai looked at me and I detected a brief note of apprehension in her expression before it changed to confidence. She responded with a curt nod and entered the room. I followed after, still wondering why she continued to hesitate so frequently. Was she still unsure whether to trust me or not? Whatever, as long as she remained as in love with Makoto as she was in the show, her part should be easy.
"Hello, Katsura."
The elegant girl perched at one of the many large tables the quiet library had to offer. She pulled her small nose from the depths of a thick book, peering through a pair of reading glasses I had no idea she owned.
When classes had ended, Makoto evaporated into the crowded halls before I could catch him so I came to the library to talk with Yuuki, but he had asked me to wait while he finished up his library duties. Then I found Kotonoha.
"Oh, hello, Hudson," replied her tiny voice. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," I teased. "Shouldn't you be out on a date with Makoto?"
A bright rose blossomed and colored her fair face. "N-no, we only just became a couple, so we're taking it slow. I'm usually here every day after school. Do you read a lot?"
"Well, I did back home," I admitted with a nostalgic fondness. "It was one of the few things I spent most of my time doing. Of course, I can't read anything here."
"Oh, that's so sad," she said with soft sympathy. "This library has a lot of good novels you would probably like."
"I wouldn't doubt it, I read just about every genre," I smirked. "Do you mind if I sit here?"
She shook her head lightly, and I helped myself to a seat.
"I'm just here to wait for another friend, so don't let me interrupt your reading."
And with that, she beamed with closed eyes and delved back into the pages of her novel. From the cover, it looked like some kind of romance story, with a boy and a girl standing side by side entwined in a tangle of hearts. Hmm, those stories would probably be the rare exception to my list of reading material.
"Um, Hudson?"
"Hmm?"
Kotonoha was looking up at me from her book again, and I noticed that the blush on her cheeks had yet to take its leave. Was it hot in here?
"W-would you like to walk home together?"
This girl was just full of surprises. "Sure, if you can stand my company. I'm also still getting used to the train system, so a friend is welcome with open arms."
She nodded with a timid smile and returned to her book. The minutes began to stretch as I waited. The library remained still, with the exception of the scratching of turning pages and murmurs from talkative students. The ticking drone of a clock played a hypnotizing beat on the air. Before I knew it, fatigue took the reigns once again, and I closed my heavy eyelids.
"Hudson?"
I jerked my head off the library table at the sound of my name. The cool surface of this wooden table proved to be an inviting place to rest my eyes. That was until this interruption.
"Yes?" I called wearily, sliding in my seat to face my disturber. In the edge of my peripheral, I could see Kotonoha shifting uneasily. Tawny hair, slim athletic build, and a bouncy ponytail. Yep, I found myself in the company of Katou Otome once again. Instead of the usual uniform, she wore the t-shirt and dark shorts of a P.E. outfit. She still looked uneasy, but she seemed to have improved since our last encounter. I noticed her posse was absent.
"Do you think now would be an alright time to take those photos?" she asked innocently. Damn, I had completely forgotten. This is what I get for agreeing to things without thinking.
"Oh, um, does it have to be now?" I questioned softly, stealing a glance at Kotonoha. She remained glued to her book, but her face seemed worried.
Otome's eyes shifted and she wore a delicate frown that immediately had a guilt-inducing effect on me. Her nervous atmosphere had returned in full force, spreading to me like a cold. Her ponytail bobbed with the tiny nod of her head. Well, I did tell her to just find me at school whenever, so this is the price I pay for careless words.
"If you insist," I said as I creaked up from my seat. "I'll be back in a bit, Katsura."
Otome sent the silent bookworm an intense look that I could not decipher and, without another word, turned and strode for the exit with the gait of a girl on a mission. I assumed I should follow, so I did. I noticed that Yuuki was no longer at the front desk when we walked by. I dug out my phone to text him when a horrific realization occurred to me. I can't read these texts. How had that not hit me over the head before?
Just when I began to panic, the subject of my stress began to vibrate in my hand. After a hesitant moment, I flipped it open. My attention focused on the miniature image of a flashing envelope in the corner of the screen, which I believed meant I had a text message. I pushed down on a button that I hoped would open the text up and almost cried aloud at what greeted me.
AN: Hoo hoo, you guys are making me blush more than someone outside an anime should. Also, if anyone is interested, I doodled a crude sketch of Rupert on deviantART. The link to my deviantART is on my profile. The picture is labeled "Rupert Hudson".
It's just my personal take on Rupert, so of course as the reader, his appearance relies entirely upon your imagination. I don't cherish my drawing ability nearly as much as my writing, as you can see by the amount of images on that account.
Once again, thank you for your thoughtful and kind reviews!