That night Rosaline, who had been helping in the infirmary, finally makes it back to her room. She walks in and sees a young girl sitting on a bed, blankets wrapped tightly around her. Only her pale face and green eyes are visible.
"Y-you..." The girl stutters.
"Sorry, I was trying to help out a bit. I'm Rosaline Cuthre." The girl slowly stats taking the blankets off. She's quite small, with dark brown hair all in disarray. "What's yo..." Rosaline is cut off when the girl jumps out of her bed and runs over, hugging her.
"I'm so scared! Don't leave me alone in this place! I don't want to die!" The girl cries as she holds on tight to Rosaline.
"Ah, d-don't... Don't cry." Rosaline says, unsure how to respond. She holds her arms out to the side, not hugging back at first. However, as the girl continues to cry Rosaline slowly wraps her arms around her, trying to comfort her. "H-hey, it'll be okay." It takes some time, but soon the girl calms down. The two sit on her bunk, the bottom one.
"I-I'm sorry." She says through sniffles and light tears.
"It's fine." Rosaline says with a light sigh. "Like I said, I'm Rosaline Cuthre. What's your name?"
"Hana Yamada."
"Alright. You should get some sleep." Rosaline stands.
"No! I... I can't sleep li..." Hana starts. Suddenly banging and crashing can be heard. Hana screams.
"Calm down." Rosaline sighs. She had hoped for someone a bit more prepared and less whiny. Still, this school is filled with kids like Hana, not like Rosaline. "It'll be alright. You should get some rest. We don't know what will happen tomorrow. I'll be right above you, so don't worry." Hana nods, then curls up in her blankets. Rosaline gets into one of her bags in the corner and grabs some pajamas. She starts to change, but stops as the banging suddenly becomes louder. "Someone nearby." She mutters to herself. She can see Hana trembling in her bed. She whimpers with every crash and shout of agony. Rosaline watches her a moment, then holds up her hand. A few moments later the noises stop. Rosaline continues changing, then goes to get into her bunk. Hana turns and looks at Rosaline.
"D-did you do that?" She asks. Rosaline stops and looks at her.
"Yeah. My kanji means control, but it was easier if I read it like suppression to suppress the sounds. You should fall asleep quickly since the noise will come back once I fall asleep." Rosaline then continues up to her bunk. She curls up under the blankets, and it isn't long before she falls asleep, and the room is once again filled with the sounds of the other students...
"Hana, you should be a little quicker." Rosaline says as she heads for the door. She got ready quickly, but Hana is still trying to find her socks. Her hair isn't brushed either.
"Wait! Please!" Hana shouts as she pulls out some socks and puts them on. Rosaline sighs and turns around, watching the small girl struggle to get herself together. Rosaline is 5' 8", while Hanna is around 5' 1".
"Come on. We're up earlier than normal so that you don't run late to anything, but at this rate you just might." Rosaline says, her voice coldly and unforgiving of the girl's dilemma. Hana puts on her shoes and stands.
"O-okay! Ready!" Rosaline shakes her head and taps on her own head.
"Your hair." Hana reaches up and frowns.
"Wait for me!" Hana searches for a brush. Rosaline shakes her head some more. "I'm sorry! Please don't leave without me!" Hana shouts as she pulls her brush out and tries to brush her hair quickly. She winces as she yanks her hair, desperate to get herself ready so Rosaline won't leave her. Rosaline leans on the door, watching Hana. After watching a minute of Hana struggling and making her hair worse Rosaline sighs.
"Okay, enough." Hana stops and looks at Rosaline. "Come here." Hana hesitates, then stands and walks over. Rosaline runs her hands down Hana's hair, and as he hands slide down the hair it untangles and straightens itself out. When she reaches the bottom she makes a quick flicking motion and all the loose hairs fly over into a small trash can. "How do you normally style it?"
"Ah, i-its..." Hana is surprised. Rosaline's ability is awe inspiring, and even more so her mastery of it after only one day.
"Hana, style?"
"O-oh! Right. I-it's normally a little curly." Rosaline looks at Hana's hair, then, with a quick flick of her wrist, Hana's hair curls itself.
"There. Now let's go." Rosaline walks out, leaving Hana as she gently grabs her hair, still amazed. "Hana!" Rosaline calls from the hallway.
"Sorry!" Hana runs out after her. The two walk in silence to the dining hall. When they walk in Hana is amazed by the amount and kinds of food available. "This is..." Her sentence trails off.
"Yeah. Get rid of the monsters and this would be an amazing school." Rosaline says as she grabs a tray and starts grabbing food.
"Rosaline!" She and Hana both look to see Akke waving from a table.
"Who is that?" Hana asks.
"We met yesterday. His name is Akke and he's one of the few people that came here actually prepared." Rosaline says with a quick, cold glance at Hana They quickly reach the end of the food and head to the table. Hana looks at Rosaline's tray, it has eggs, hash, sausage, bacon, and several cinnamon buns, along with some milk.
"Thats a lot of cinnamon buns." Hana says.
"Yeah. I have a bit of a sweet tooth." They two reach the table and sit in empty seats across from Akke and next to Usuko.
"Is this your roommate?" Akke asks.
"Yeah. This is Hana." Rosaline says.
"Hey. I'm Akke."
"I'm Usuko." The two introduce themselves, then Akke returns his attention to Rosaline.
"Think there will be another blight today?" Akke asks as he takes a bite of some eggs.
"No. It's too cloudy." Rosaline takes a bite of her eggs as well. "But they looked like they were thinning out so I could be wrong."
"Well lets hope there isn't one." Usuko pushes her glasses up. "Most of the students could use more time to recover and understand what's going on."
"That's what everyone needs. Some time." Akke takes another bite. "But I don't think the rest of their lives would be enough time to deal with what we're going through."
"Yeah... To be honest... I'm a bit in shock myself." Usuko takes a sip of her coffee.
"You too? Thank goodness. I'm not the only one!" Akke starts laughing. "I was so shaky when I went to bed! I mean, sure, I knew what was coming, but when the adrenaline is all gone it finally hit me, all that fear. I was worried that you two were alright and I'm just some chicken!" He continues to laugh.
"What about you Rosaline?" Usuko asks.
"I fell asleep alright.. I can't say it's really affected me that much." Rosaline pokes at her eggs. She suddenly feels a little awkward. Even these two, who were so prepared and did so well, they had some real fear. Why is she so unaffected by what's going on?
"You are tough!" Akke smiles. "This is gonna be great... Oh, Hana, right?"
"Ah, y-yes." Hana looks up from her tray and at Akke. She had been quiet and looking down, ashamed of her own lack of knowledge and large amount of fear.
"So, what about you?"
"Wh-what do you mean?" Hana sinks into her seat the slightest bit.
"Well, we don't know each other well, but we got some basics down. We all knew about this school because we had siblings come here before. What about you? Why did you come here?" Akke says as he stuffs some hash browns into his mouth.
"I... I just saw the flyers and the island... I didn't... I didn't know what was gonna happen." Hana quietly says as she sinks further into her seat.
"Oh." Akke's smile disappears. "I... didn't realize..." He raises an eyebrow at Rosaline. She sighs.
"What's your character?" Usuko asks. Everyone looks at her Usuko.
"Oh, uh..." Hana looks down again. "H-healing." She quietly says.
"That's great!" Akka's smile returns. "Hey! Since there probably won't be a blight you could do a lot of good without worrying about getting too tired before a fight!"
"I... I hadn't..." Hana looks at Akke. "I didn't think about... doing that..."
"We can go with you too. We could go after school, and maybe during lunch." Usuko smiles. "We'll all do what we can for the injured. They're all our allies after all."
"I... I'd like to do that." Hana smiles as she looks at Usuko.
"Rosaline, you gonna go?" Akke looks at Rosaline. She doesn't respond at first. She doesn't WANT to.
"Yeah, I'll go." She fakes a smile, then returns to her food. Akke and Usuko continue their questions for Hana, but Rosaline tunes them out. She eats her fill, chugs her milk, then stands. "Sorry, I'm gonna go on ahead." She puts her dirty dishes with the rest, then heads out of the cafeteria, out of the building, and into the yard. She looks up at the sky. It's still some thick clouds. It looks like it may even rain. "I thought I was just prepared but... Is there something wrong with me?" She looks at her hands, then down at her body, and then up at the sky again. "I... It's just the stress." Rosaline turns and walks back inside. "That's it... that... must be it." She quietly says to herself as she heads to her first class of the day. When Rosaline walks in she takes the same seat as before. More students file in, and her three new found friends join her upfront. Rosaline sees the other students. Most seem worried. A few hold weapons, a staff, a sword, and even a couple of guns. Finally the teacher walks in, Mr. Sodo. He stands in front of the class.
"Before we get underway I'd like to announce that there will be no blight today. Now, we'll begin. I want you to open your books..." He continues on, and a collective sigh of relief escapes the students as they begin their first normal day of school...
During lunch the group sits together, working quickly to finish their food so they can hurry to the infirmary. As they eat a few students walk up to them.
"Hey, you were all so amazing yesterday!" A boy says. He's really skinny and has very short black hair.
"Yeah! The way you picked up the earth like that!" A girl excitedly exclaims, her short brown pigtails bobbing as she hops up and down.
"Thanks." Akke says with a smirk. "We are pretty amazing."
"You've got to join us." A second girl says. She's tall and has fluffy red hair that reaches down just below her shoulders. "We could use more competent people."
"No thanks. We're not interested in joining some random big groups or anything."
"Are you sure? It'd be really helpful." The girl says with a pouty face.
"Yeah. Thanks though." Akke takes a big bite of a burger. Rosaline catches a quick glare before the girl returns to a sweet smile.
"Too bad. Let me know if you change your minds." She turns and leaves, the others following her.
"What was that?" Usuko questions.
"Why didn't we join them? Isn't more people better?" Hana asks.
"Not necessarily. My sister told me that sometimes these groups get really violent towards other groups. It can cause problems if you get a couple of big rival groups and then something goes wrong. They'll sabotage each other and in the end more people die than would have if everyone just worked together as one."
"O-oh." Hana looks down at her food.
"Well, lets hurry." Usuko says, then she takes a sip of her drink. "We want to get help to as many people as we can."
"Right." Hana smiles at Usuko. When the group finishes their food they head down to the infirmary. Inside they find many injured students. It's bad. Hana starts shaking and instantly her hand flies up to her mouth.
"She's not ready for this sort of thing." Rosaline says to her other two companions.
"Relax. If we don't get her used to things when it's easy she'll fall apart during the middle of a fight." Akke says. Rosaline shakes her head as Usuko and Akke comfort Hana. After a minute Hana stops shaking. She takes in a few deep breathes, and then she walks over to the nearest person to her. He's lying on a bed, his left arm and both legs are wrapped up, but blood leaked through and stained the bandages.
"H-how do I do this?" Hana quietly asks.
"It's all about your imagination." Akke smiles. "Put your hands out over him and close your eyes." Hana does as told. The boy wakes from his light and pained sleep.
"Wh-what are you doing?" He croaks.
"Just watch." Usuko says with a smile. "Okay. Hana, picture him healed. Imagine his wounds closing, and his body being fixed. Use that image." Hana nods. It takes a few moments, but everyone watches as a soft light blue light comes out of Hana's hands and floats down onto the boy. It then quickly spreads, engulfing every injury on his body. Then suddenly the light shatters, and as the sparkles vanish into the air the boy sits up.
"It's... I'm..." He quickly unwraps his arm. It looks as if nothing was wrong with it. "I'M HEALED!" He shouts. He unwraps his legs, laughing with excitement. Hana looks at the giddy guy, a light of hope flickering in her eyes.
"I... really... I fixed him." She quietly says. "I fixed him!" She shouts.
"That was fantastic!" Usuko shouts.
"Come on! Lets go a step further!" Hana looks at Akke in confusion. He smirks and turns to the rest of the room. Several people have turned their attention to the group. "Hana, take in the image of everyone in here, of all the pain and the problems. Then hold out your hands and close your eyes. We'll finish this in one go."
"O-okay..." Hana obeys. Akke looks at her.
"Good. Now, just like you imagined that guy being fixed I want you to picture this room. You need to see your power flowing through it, filling the room to the brim with healing. Imagine it reaching every person in here, fixing all of their problems."
"I-I'll try."
"You can do it!"
"Come on healer girl!" Rosaline looks at some of the people who are cheering for Hana. Hana smiles a little. Then she concentrates. This time her power slowly comes out of her hands, then practically explodes into the room, filling every crevice with the comforting light. It surrounds everyone, and as Hana opens her eyes she is able to watch all the injuries, big or small, being engulfed by the light. Her eyes go wide and reflect the beauty in front of her. Even Rosaline, who had held back her excitement and waited by the door, takes a few steps forward, mesmerized by warming power. Then, in an instant all of the light shatters. It shimmers as it falls to the ground, disappearing into nothingness.
"I'm better!"
"She did it!"
"My arm!"
"I can walk!" Shouts of joy fill the room as people jump out of their beds and remove their bandages.
"I did it!" Hana shouts as she jumps up and down. "I really did it!"
"That was amazing!" Akke shouts.
"So beautiful! I can't believe that!" Usuko grabs Hana's hands. "That was so cool!"
"I know!" Hana giggles. As they talk revel in their excitement Rosaline stands in silence. After a few moments she quietly walks out the door and starts walking down the hallway.
"Why... Why am I so angry suddenly?" Rosaline asks herself. She has no response to her own question. When she turns a corner at the end of the hallway she spots the girl she had met at lunch.
"Oh, Rosaline." The girl smiles. "You look upset. What's wrong?"
"I... Don't really know." Rosaline says. "It's none of your concern though." She tries to walk past the girl.
"My name is Dena by the way. And I bet if we talk you'll feel much better." Rosaline stops and looks at Dena.
"What? Are you a therapist?"
"I can be." Dena motions to an empty classroom. "Why don't we talk?" Rosaline sighs.
"Fine." They walk in Rosaline sits at a desk. Dena grabs a chair and pulls it up on the opposite side of the desk before sitting down.
"Now, why are you walking around all alone and so upset? Don't you have friends?" Dena questions, her same sweet smile on her face.
"They're in the infirmary." Rosaline runs her fingers through her hair. "Hana... Pulled off something pretty amazing. Her ability is healing, and she just healed everyone in the infirmary in one go. Someone so pathetic, who hasn't got a real clue of what it means to come to this school..." Rosaline grits her teeth. "Even Akke and Usuko are impressed and like her. She's just some pathetic kid who doesn't have any good reason to be here. She'll be useless in a fight, but Akke and Usuko don't get that."
"Oh? So she came here without a clue what's going on, right?"
"Yeah."
"And yet she's being looked up to and praised as if she's something amazing. That's sickening." Dena shakes her head.
"What made you come here?" Rosaline questions. She certainly isn't a fan of Hana, but she doesn't know anything about Dena, and certainly doesn't trust her.
"All of my siblings came here, and none of them came home." Dena looks at Rosaline with a dead serious expression. "I want to ruin the life of the stupid headmaster. I've done all the digging I can, and I found out quite a bit." Rosaline leans forward.
"I already know all of that." She says. "My eldest brother came here and made it out. He told my other older brother and I everything when we asked about it."
"So you understand what we need to be doing, and why we need to create a group of the strongest people, right?" Dena smiles again. "Rosaline, if we ban together then we can destroy this place. Your power was amazing. What was your word anyways?"
"Control."
"That's perfect!" Dena stands and holds her hand out to Rosaline. "I know your pain. I've lost my family to this horrid place. Help me destroy it once and for all." Rosaline looks at Dena's hand, then she reaches out and grabs it.
"Alright." She stands and they shake hands. "What do you need me to do?"
"We'll have a meeting after school." Dena turns to the door. "Meet back in here." She walks out, leaving Rosaline alone.
"This should work out just fine. I mean..." She walks out as well, heading to her next class rather than returning to her friends. "If you put people who understand and know what to do together it should benefit everyone..." Her walking slows. "This should work out just fine, right?" In the pit of her stomach she feels something heavy weighing down on her. "Right?"