Chapter 1...
...The Search
"Come on! Pull yourself together!" I desperately yelled at her.
"What's wrong with you!" she screamed at me as I shook her by the shoulders. I then slapped her across the face with my right hand, leaving a red mark. She went quiet for a second...
"Now what the hell was that for?!" she angrily shouted at me and punched me in the face. I fell back in shock and watched her stand over me
"You sure have changed and matured a lot, Misaki-chan," I asserted, followed by a raspy chuckle.
"I can't say the same to you Yuuma-chan, and I prefer if you called me by my last name!" she yelled back then started laughing. "Here." She lent me her right hand and I grabbed on. Despite myself being tall, she had enough strength to pull me up.
"Heh, I appreciate it... Itohayashi-chan," I expressed with a smile and wiped the dust off me.
"Knowing you, I didn't expect you getting caught in this mess... I thought you knew how to fend off your enemies!" she exclaimed and humphed at me. I scratched the back of my head.
"I don't know what you're talking about, I can't remember anything!" I clench-worthily replied, showing anger in my voice. Misaki... I mean, Itohayashi playfully punched me on the shoulder.
"Look, how about you work with me and I'll help you find your sister, okay?" she implied. She couldn't have said it in any other way, but I suppose this could do. So I have a sister?
"I could say otherwise... but, it's fine by me. Only because I get to hang around you for the first time in three years," I accepted her offer.
"Two years and 164 days, to be exact," she bluntly replied. Now I'm surprised she actually kept track of the time of when we started heading our own ways.
"I'm surprised you care about the exact date," I said with a smirk. She blushed then shook her head.
"Damn it Yuuma-chan, it's because it was the only time I ever felt alive! Until something very depressing decided to ruin the time I spent with you..." she trailed off, feeling bad.
"So that was the reason... I thought it was because you got bored or I did something wrong!" I exclaimed and facepalmed myself. "I felt like crap ever since!"
"I didn't know... I'm sorry..." she apologised while looking away from me. "Grrr! Enough of this crap, let's get started!" she yelled out of the blue and started walking.
It's been three days since all of this happened. It was like we were in a new world, a world only inhabited by teenagers like myself. The thing that bothered me the most was I can't seem to remember what happened before I came here. It was almost like as if I just got reborn without any memory but still have educational knowledge. Although, the only thing I seem to remember is this girl.
Was it the heart that only kept its place? Or my mind just missed out on something? Doesn't matter anyways, as long as I know who she is, I'm fine by that. This is Misaki Itohayashi, she was my friend three years ago... well, more than just friends. She was the only blonde girl in my class who had a long ponytail that stopped at her waist and sky-blue eyes. She's around three inches smaller than me, but she has considerate strength. Itohayashi also has a strong temper when things didn't go her way, but other than that, she had a really soft side and I was surprised when I found out.
I hid in this deserted building, away from all the other teens, but I didn't expect it to be Itohayashi's hideout until she came in. Apparently she had already assembled a group that works with her in this new place and their intentions are to start living underground. I'm currently standing on top of the entrance to her unfinished underground hideout.
"Hey Itohayashi-chan, when do I get to meet the members?" I asked as I started following her to the exit.
"Soon enough I guess," she supposed. This new world is full of chaos, teenagers are panicking and trying to kill each other for some unexplained reason. They're like... animals in a cage. From what I observed earlier, there's already a big group going around and recruiting people. They are pretty powerful in terms of convincingness and a lot of numbers in strength, at the point they may have outmatched me.
"I got a question, do you remember anything before you came here?" I asked as we started walking on the path in a random direction.
"I remember everything, what about you?" she replied. How does she remember everything? Why can't I remember much about what happened to me? Has it got something to do with psychological incentives or is it just pure luck?
"As soon as I saw you, all the memories of you came into my mind... it was an extraordinarily weird feeling," I told her with a sigh.
"Quit the flirting!" she snapped back then humphed.
"No, I'm being serious..." I trailed off.
"Alright, I'm sorry... now, let's hurry. We need to do a quick search in the school," she obliged and grabbed my right hand.
"Wouldn't that be the most populated area at the moment?" I asked as she started running while holding my hand, pulling me along with her.
"Look, aren't you prepared to take risks when finding someone closest to you?" she questioned while sounding like she was out of breath.
"But what if I can't remember who the someone is? The only thing I know is that I apparently have a sister... and... ah! Slow down please!" I replied and lost my balance a bit.
"You said something... about seeing me and remembering... all the time you spent me with... right?" she said while heavily breathing.
"I think I know what you're getting at... and please slow down! It's not fun running on both legs that you injured just before you realised who I was!" I exclaimed. If I'm right, she's going try look for my sister and get me to see her, which might regain my memories along with her memories back.
"I... can't bother explaining... but I really hope... you know..." she breathlessly responded. She was clearly unfit for all of this, she can't even run 150 feet without getting breathless. We reached the end of the path and then she turned a sharp left, almost losing my balance again.
"How far do we have left? And do you know where you're going?" I enquired and took a deep breath. She then started slowing down.
"Of course... damn it! Look... I've been... to the school before..." she answered.
"Itohayashi, you're pushing yourself too much for my sake... just take a breather!" I yelled at her, she shook her head and whimpered.
"I don't... want to... show you that... I'm weak!" she screamed back. Disregarding her physical strength, she can be very tough, but fragile and delicate at the same time.
"Damn it, listen to me! Besides, it's not going to do us any good if you collapse if we get there, or before we even get there!" I shouted back. There was literally no point in her going this far to be honest. Her determination is unrealistically dangerous sometimes. Before I knew it, she stopped but in a stupid way. She fell to her knees while running and scraped them on the concrete path. Her long, blonde hair in a ponytail tied up with black ribbons was messed up around her back and she was sweating pretty hard. I walked over to her and kneeled down behind her.
"Come on, you're acting stupid now... just take deep breaths," I told her with concern. I put my right arm under her right shoulder and locked my arm around her, just under her collarbone. As awkward as it seemed, she never really gets bothered by these sort of things. I slowly raised her up, just so she could stand again.
"Thanks..." she expressed, still breathless.
"Can you sit down with your legs out in front of you?" I asked. She quickly nodded and slowly bent her knees down. I slowly lowered her and pulled her back towards me at the same time so she could put her legs out. She cried in pain after I put her in a sitting position.
"Damn it! Why did... it have to hurt now?!" she yelled furiously and pounded the concrete with her fists. Like I stated before; she has a strong temper.
"Ugh, I'm really sorry about all this, I should've listened to you... like always," she softly said and sniffled a bit. This isn't the first time she's ever been dangerously determined, she pushes herself past her limit a lot of the time and gets herself into trouble.
I looked at her knees and there was blood and scrape marks on them. I ripped my black long-sleeved shirt's sleeve on my left arm and covered up her right knee with the sleeve, with my left arm still a bit useful, it had the decency to tie up knots. She whimpered in pain which was normal for someone in this situation.
"Hey, sorry to ask but is it alright if you could rip the sleeve of my right arm?" I requested.
"Of course I will," she accepted while wiping her tears with her hands. I position my right arm in front of her so she could comfortably rip off my sleeve and she did. I obtained the sleeve from her and covered up her left knee, followed by another whimper of pain. The damage would've been less if she wasn't wearing very short denim shorts. She also wore a long-sleeved shirt, but it was white and there was text across her chest which read Live and Love Life!
"Alright, once the pain subdues, you should be able to stand again but this time, don't run!" I demanded her. She sighed and playfully punched me on the shoulder.
"I knew that!" she sarcastically shouted, followed with a quick giggle. I looked ahead of the path we were running on and there was a humanly figure coming towards us.
"Crap, someone's coming this way," I whispered loudly. "What do we do?"
"Does he look armed?" she quickly asked me.
"Nope, and... oh crap, he's running!" I yelled. I quickly put my right arm under her shoulder and lifted her up to her feet. She squealed in surprise but then took a few retreating steps back.
"We can take him!" she assumed very positively. I hissed.
"No, not you! Just get back or... try to get away!" I yelled desperately. He was only around 15 feet away and Itohayashi hesitated to my demand. "Oh damn it!" I took a step forward and prepared to punch him but then I quickly saw him take a knife from behind his back. I hissed in shock and instantly jerked my body back, falling on my back. He took a lunge at me while I was on the ground but I swiftly kicked his stomach, which made him let go of the knife. I then put all my strength in my legs and threw him back as I pushed him. I picked up the knife and quickly got up, ran towards him and threw the knife at his right hand, precisely cutting through his hand and disabling some of his fingers. He screamed in pain, but what I failed to realise that he was also left handed and furiously pulled the knife out of his right hand. He swung the knife at my face but I managed to dodge his attack by stepping back. I jumped back, then prepared a roundhouse kick, which should hit his left arm and launched it. I spun around then lifted my leg after an 180 degree spin and managed to kick the knife out of his left hand. Without hesitation I leaped on him and started punching his face, violently.
"My gosh, why don't you just kill yourself, you animal!" I screamed at him, feeling no remorse. I then picked him up by the collar and threw him on the road. "Now stay there!"
I quickly run back to Itohayashi who had a really shocked face. I put my arm around her waist and started power walking while supporting her.
"Yuuma-chan..." she trailed off. I then made sure I was out of the attackers sight so I could refuge in a house for a bit. I opened a door to one of the houses and walked in.
"Uh, this'll do I guess," I supposed. Then for some reason Itohayashi pushed me away from her and then she slapped me really hard across my left cheek. "Damn it!"
"Yuuma-chan, you've changed a lot and... it's starting to scare me!" she cried. My breath hitched and I think my heart missed a beat. She's right, I kind off lost control back there. No... I'm an animal as well!
"You're right... sorry. I acted like an animal and got carried away. Ugh, I'll try to control myself next time," I replied while rubbing my left cheek. She sighed then sat down on the floor leaning against the wall.
"Hey, don't worry about me, okay? I'll be fine!" she cheerfully obliged. I see, of course, she's a tough cookie. She pretty much stood a good chance against me when we got into the hectic hand-to-hand combat earlier, before I managed to calm her down and she punched me in the face. But then again, it's just painful looking at her knees, the blood has soaked the sleeve a little. To be honest, I'm pretty sure everyone knows what it feels like falling on their knees and scraping it. I've actually done it a few times when I played sports. It would hurt so much after a few seconds of scraping it, then after a few minutes, the pain starts to dull and it wouldn't hurt much after that. I even continued to play sports with bloody knees.
"That's good to hear, at least you'll be a really good stubborn wife one day if you meet the right guy," I light-heartedly responded. She stood up easily, like she's never fallen over and gave me a playful punch on the shoulder.
"Are you trying to insult me? If that's the case, you'll make a bad husband if you can't make good insults!" she retorted and pouted at me. She seems so unstable now, I don't get it, if I said something like that to her, I'd probably be in hospital for a few days. I'll just consider this my lucky day.
"Hey, what does that have to do with being a bad husband?! Jeez, you're so typical." I put my right hand on her shoulder and looked straight at her. I somehow got her to blush... but that wasn't my intent. "You ready to go?" I asked her with a grin.
"You bet I am," she replied and winked back. I opened the door and walked out of the house.
"So which way is the school?" I asked while pulling off a fake smile. She grumbled and softly hit me on the back of my head. "Hey!"
"Idiot, who said you're taking the lead?" she retorted with a grin. I know that grin, she used to grin like that every time she was ready for something big or important, it tells me that she means business.
"You lead the way then," I said, then chuckled. She took off in a flash, but I managed to catch up easily. She then took a hard right past the road and then took a left after a whole block. She stopped breathlessly, I looked at my right and saw the school, it looked just like ours but it was more... destroyed. I really hope we manage to pull this off, from what I can see here, there's already kids in a brawl.
"You better be ready for this Yuuma-chan, no holding back, and remember... don't go too far," she said then nodded at me.
"Hop on, we still got 100 metres to go," I assumingly obliged. I crouched down and waited for her to get on my back.
"There's at least one thing that hasn't changed you in... well, if you say so," she nervously replied and accepted. She positions herself on my back and since my left arm can still do basic stuff like tying up a shoelace or picking something up, then I'll be fine. I put my arms under her thighs and lifted her up while she put her arms around my collarbone. I'm so damn thankful she's a bust size A, but she sure has gotten a bit bustier. I take a look at her and noticed her blushing. "Uhhmmm... I know what you're thinking! Just consider yourself lucky that I'm almost flat!" she shyly yelled and quietly whimpered in embarrassment. And what does she mean by 'almost' flat...
"Woah, you sure have gained some weight since the last few years..." I trailed off with a chuckle.
"Yuuma-chan!" she shouted and slapped me on the face. "There are things that girls don't like to hear!" she retorted.
"That... I somehow did not know..." I light-heartedly chuckled and sighed. There's a road approximately 100 metres in length from where I'm standing, which is the start of this junction, and the school gate which also consists of another junction. I started walking on the left side of the road on the path and kept a sharp eye around. The roads looked pretty isolated from people for a while, I have a feeling that the fights are being drawn in one spot, and it might be that school which looks like the main centre of attraction.
"Do you have phone on you, Yuuma-chan?" Itohayashi asked out of the blue.
"When does your randomness cease to exist? Anyways, I left it at my apartment before we came into this place," I replied.
"Oh, I guess I'll have to use mine then..." she trailed off with a disgusted tone. Wait... how did I remember leaving my phone in my apartment? Will my memories start coming back to me at random times?
"What's that about?" I bluntly asked.
"Oh, I'm gonna try call my group for backup, since because you offered this piggyback, I can see further in the school and it looks like hell in there," she asserted. Then she groaned in anger. "Damn it! I forgot to get the vice-leader's number!"
"What's that suppose to mean!?" I yelled back while gritting my teeth. "I guess we've only got one chance, so we pretty much have to give it all we got when we go in."
"Got yah babe," she shot back. "Heh."
"Wait, who you calling 'babe'?" I replied dumbstruck. She's not just tough, but she's overly confident...
We finally reached the school gate, only to be greeted with one side of the gate broken down and the other side with a huge whole through the middle... possible chances of my sister being here? Probably a one in a 100 chance. Possible chances my sister could be among the dead? Well, from what it looks like, I'm pretty sure it's 99.9%.
Wait, I have to stop thinking like that, this is my sister I'm talking about. I'm going to narrow it down to 25% to help me get motivated. But what happens if we die in this world? I should worry about that when I die, but I'm not going to die. I'm going to find my sister and get the hell out of there.
"Is there some way we could arm ourselves before we get into this mess?" I enquired.
"Do you need to arm yourself? You fight pretty well without a weapon and with only one arm," she passively complimented.
"I'd rather safety first, but, you do have a point..." I replied with a sigh. By the time we entered, I started walking faster towards the main building with determination. I could hear the screaming and gunfire from all around here. Wait... gunfire? I heard it from far away, but I didn't really notice it.
"We need to be extremely careful from now on, I'm feeling much better now and more rested. It would be easier and safer if you put me down now," she asserted and slid her body down my back. For some reason I felt so much lighter than I usually did.
"Alright, ah damn it, watch out!" I yelled loudly and tackled Itohayashi to the ground, she shrieked as she hit the ground and stayed down. I quickly rolled over and witnessed a dagger fly past the right side of my head, slightly missing my ear. I forcibly jerked my body back swiftly multiple times as a few more daggers flew right past my head. I looked at the guy who was throwing daggers and he stood on the grass, just outside of the main path to the main school building. I took a quick step forward, but jerked my body to the right to dodge an incoming dagger.
How am I going to get to him now? I can't get any closer to him, I'm just not that swiftly... yet. He's running out of daggers now, I can tell since he's hesitating. I took another step forward then held my left arm out in front of my head. I felt the hurtful recoil after I intentionally let a dagger get thrown in my left forearm. I groaned in pain and jerked my body to the left dodging another dagger but at the same time, I fiercely pulled out the dagger from my left forearm just before I hit the 180 degree during a spin, then I threw the dagger after hitting the 360 degree, at my opponent. At the same time, I sprinted forward but the dagger collided with one of my opponent's incoming dagger, but at the same time, I grabbed the dagger while it was in mid-air and precisely threw at it my foe's left thigh. He roared in pain and stumbled back since he was right-handed, then I roundhouse dropkick him in the chest, hurtling him back a few metres away.
I quickly ran over to him and put my foot against his throat, at the same time I was disarming him and keeping his daggers as a way to arm myself. I took a glance back at Itohayashi but I was surprised when I found out she took out another guy who presumingly came after her. I ran after her, then grabbed her in the arm.
"Let's hurry, we got no time to lose!" I ordered, but I faintly noticed her smile after I sounded a bit more aggressive with what I said. Oh well, she can be pretty unpredictable.
I entered the building but kept my back against the wall. I peeked over and looked to the left from the main entrance and saw a group of five teenage boys with baseball bats and crowbars.
"What's wrong?" Itohayashi asked quietly. I put up five fingers and closed my fist, telling her that there's five enemies who are armed. She nodded and sighed. I grabbed her on the wrist and walked back outside with my back still against the wall.
"We'll wait until they go past any direction... and this gunfire is really distracting me," I said with a despondent look. Itohayashi clucked her tongue and patted me on the shoulder with a serious glare.
"Get. Used. To. It," she said, one by one. I gulped and nervously laughed.
"Don't worry, I will." I curiously looked at the gate and saw my recent foe get shot by some tall girl with a semi-automatic rifle. "Oh jeez," I panicked and dragged Itohayashi back inside. I looked past the wall again to check if the five boys were still there, but fortunately they weren't.
"Can take you it easy, Yuuma-chan," she said with a pained tone. What is she on about? I looked back at her and examined her figure, what I failed to notice earlier was blood slowly pouring out the right side of her waist. She blushed and then admitted nervously, "I kinda sustained some damage recently..." She looked a bit pale then brightly smiled at me. Stupid.
"Damn it Itohayashi, stop trying to stop me from worrying!" I yelled at her, but she instantly took a small step back in shock, with a really sad look on her face. I could easily tell she was trying to hold back her tears by biting her lip and tensing her face followed by a fake smile. But she couldn't hold it in. I was surprisingly shocked when tears started flowing out of her eyes while smiling and before I knew it, she ended up sobbing. The sight of her sobbing uncontrollably was really depressing, I was almost at the point of bringing myself to tears. I've never seen her cry like this before, even though we knew each other for five years. She rubbed her face with her hands and smeared blood all over her face. It felt like time stopped, all the sound was focused on her crying and her presence felt so strong. I guess this is what happens if you get stuck in a war-like battlefield for three days straight.
She fell to her knees and screamed, "I don't want to be here anymore! I want to go home! Please! I want to go home! I want to go home! Kill me Yuuma-chan, please kill me! I can't live on like this! I also can't have you worrying about me like this! I just wanted to live a normal life! A-and... and.. and!" She hiccuped multiple times while she continued to sob with her eyes halfway opened and mouth wide open. I fell to my knees as well and looked at my hands then gazed at her.
I gave her a tight hug then she gasped quietly. She got really quiet and snivelled several times. "Damn it Itohayashi-chan..." I said as my voice broke. I pulled away from the hug with both hands on her shoulders and looked at her. I broke into tears and quietly sobbed. "Don't give me that crap... okay?" I told her with a broken voice.
"Yuuma-ku-"
"Stupid," I cut her off. She whimpered and looked like she was about to bawl again. "We're in the middle of a chaotic place and you're crying!" I yelled with a serious face, then I smiled. I wiped off the tears on my face and light-heartedly laughed.
"But, you c-"
"Don't ever tell me to kill you again, I found that really insulting..." I trailed off and stood up. I offered her my right hand and winked. She gladly accepted and I pulled her up gently since she was wounded. I put my right arm around her waist and carefully walked her with me in the hallway to the left from the entrance. There were stairs to my left and decided to go up them.
"Yuuma-chan, thanks..." she trailed off. I could easily tell she felt embarrassed, from the tone of her voice.
"Look, I promise to keep you safe from now on, and if that promise somehow breaks, I'll commit suicide... but if you don't want that to happen, you have to promise me that you'll be safe in return, so we don't end up with that conclusion," I told her with a slightly serious face.
"I promise to be safe, for Yuuma-chan," she promised with a smile. That's it Itohayashi, now all she has to do is keep it.
It was time to start checking each room to see if my sister was somehow hiding in one of them, but as I opened the first room, I was in for a petrifying surprise... the only type of surprise that made Itohayashi scream...
Author's Notes/Updates:
-The main girl in the prologues and the main girl in the chapters should look like the ones in artwork, the story cover.
-Criticism is much appreciated.
-Prologue - Part 2 is next after this, then Chapter 2 after that.