You know that feeling you get when you see a fly or mosquito in your house? It's like, what the heck? This is my house! This is supposed to be a safe place, somewhere I don't have to worry about pests like that! Curse you, fly, for ruining what was supposed to be a perfect day! And then you go and grab the fly swatter, except the stupid thing is so fast that it takes you ages to hit it, and by the time you finally do you realize that now you've got fly guts all over your phone, so you'd better get a tissue to clean it, and flies are so annoying, aren't they?

"Pippi, what do you do in here all day?"

That's the feeling I get when people come into the computer lab outside of class.

I glance to the right for just a split-second to try and get an idea of who it is. Long hair, polka-dot socks, stupid glare? It's Osana Najimi. She's in my class, 3-2, at Akademi High, and while I sure don't know her, I know way too much about her. She's got the subtlety of a whale, and between the weird huff she does every time she gets stuck on a math problem and the way she just about shouts a play-by-play of her life in the hallway, Osana pretty much broadcasts her life to the whole school. Everyday it's always "Watch where you're stepping, Baka!" or "Perfect score, alright!" or "Guh, I'm so BORED!" or "Earth to Pippi, are you there?!"

I jolt the tiniest bit, and I have to clamp down on the panic I feel; I nearly messed up my score! "Why do you ask, Osana?" I say, my eyes still glued to the screen. If I can just keep her at bay for a little longer... I've nearly beaten my high score on Osu!!

"I dunno," Osana says, still not going away. "I just know that you come here everyday before school, during lunch, and after school." Her voice is moving, so she's at least doing something and isn't here for no reason. "I'm curious about what the heck you're up to."

"I'm a member of the Gaming Club, Osana," I say, my eyes still not moving away from the screen. "I play games. It's not that complicated."

She makes that weird huffing sound again, and I really wish she'd get the message to leave me alone so I can just play my game in peace. "I get that, but so is Midori Gurin and a bunch of other people. And I don't see them in here every waking hour of the day."

"Of course not," I say. "And you don't see me here 'every waking hour' either, Osana."

"I was exaggerating, Baka," Osana says with a bite that I think is more funny than threatening. She overdoes it, is the problem. It's just impossible to take her seriously when she scowls so ridiculously.

"I knew that," I say, and now I just have to last a little longer...

"So why don't you answer my question?"

Ugh... "Osana, do you have something important to do here? If you do, just do it, and if you don't, leave me alone already."

"Oh! Thanks for reminding me!" Is she leaving? Thank –

And suddenly my chair is swiveling around, and I'm being torn from my computer, and no, no, no, that's the sound of me losing as all the circles fall to the ground and –

"Osana Najimi!" I stand up and stare down – stare up at the girl who I'm pretty sure just caused me to lose my chance at beating my Osu! high score. "Did you just do that?"

"Do what?" Osana asks blithely, apparently not caring about how angry I seem. "I'm just trying to get your attention."

"Do you even realize –" Except she doesn't realize how close I was, does she? Instead of expending more effort on Osana, I just sigh and ask, "What's the problem?" The sooner she's helped, the sooner she'll leave is what I'm hoping.

"I'm trying to print something out, but it's not working for some reason," Osana says, pointing at a computer a few seats down.

I try to hide my irritation, because the problem is probably not complicated enough to warrant my involvement, and as I walk over to the station I ask, "Can you clarify at all? What do you mean 'not working'?"

"I mean I clicked 'print,' but it didn't print, Baka!" Osana says as if it were obvious. Well, excuse me, princess, but you have to use your words if you're going to be understood.

"Lemme see what the matter is – oh my –" When I sit down and see what she's trying to print, I have to bite my tongue just to keep from gagging because it's a love note, and a really bad one, too. As in the whole thing is pink, and the typeface just looks garish not to mention the font color, and there's even a crudely pasted in lace pattern on the border. So there won't be any real lace, just a pattern in ink. If I didn't know any better, I'd assume that Osana was trying to convince someone to break up with her.

"Wh-what are you smiling at, Baka?" Osana asks. Dang, I must've smiled or something. "Don't make fun of this note! I worked hard on it!"

"Who the heck is this even for...? Aha!" I locate not a name, but a title. "Senpai? Wait, is this that kid everyone calls Senpai?" I ask Osana.

"H-he's not my senpai!" Osana insists, crossing her arms. "I-I don't even need a senpai! This is just – it's just a prank!"

"Sure, Osana..." I decide to try my first guess as to what the problem is and do a bit of clicking... "Thought so."

"You fixed it?" Osana asks, and when I glance back at her she's actually clasped her hands over her chest like some kind of shy schoolgirl. What a tsundere.

"Of course I didn't fix it," I say, stepping away from the computer after clicking "print." "Nothing was broken. You were just sending the note to the wrong printer the whole time." Idiot.

"Really?" Osana asks, and she sounds more doubtful than I'd like. Soon enough, though, she's distracted by the sound of the printer, and she dashes over to just about drag the love note from the machine. "It... it worked..."

"Of course it worked." I sit back down at my computer and start to boot up Osu! again. If I'm lucky, I can get back into the swing of things and try for a new high score again. "I said it wasn't broken –"

"EEEEEEEEEE!" And there goes all the hearing in my right ear. Thank you, Osana! I grit my teeth and glance over, and for crying out loud, she's actually hugging the note. "Now I can finally confess to Senpai!"

"Confess what to him?" I ask, and Osana seems to suddenly realize that she's not actually alone.

"Um – n-not my love or anything stupid like that!" she snaps, going all tsun tsun again. "As if I would even think about liking that baka! Baka!" And she's off.

Finally.

I spend about an hour trying to get back into the zone so I can have another go at beating my Osu! high score, but I just can't quite manage it. Once I'm thrown off, I have a hard time getting focused again. It's sort of an eternal weakness of mine, since it means I don't do well under pressure. I've tried playing games competitively, since I know I'm good, but the minute I'm in front of people – it's like a snap, and I'm not focused, and I can't get focused for hours. Another reason I don't like random people wandering into the computer lab.

When I glance at the time again, it's after five o' clock, and I figure that by now I'd better start heading home. There's no point to staying when I can't get back into the groove, so I shut off the computer, grab my bag, and exit the lab.

And the moment I do that, I pick up the pace of my walking and head towards the nearest bathroom, because dangit, I forgot to take bathroom breaks again! I dash past a staircase to get to the door, deposit my book bag on the hallway floor – because who wants to take their bag into the bathroom? – duck into the nearest one – it's irritatingly dark, like every bathroom at this school – and I start towards the stall, and –

I gag on the smell of blood in the air, and while I'm wondering how I missed that while coming in I see – Osana. In pieces.

And suddenly I don't need to use the bathroom anymore.

The squeak of shoes on the bathroom floor catches my attention, and my gaze shifts toward the sink. There's a student there, washing her hands. Black hair, ponytail, leggings – that's Ayano, from 2-1. I don't really know her – she's not talkative, and neither am I – but she leaves me alone, and I can respect that. And she –

I gag again and stagger backwards until my back hits the wall because her uniform is covered with blood, and I swear that's a circular saw on the floor next to her, and –

She stops in the middle of washing her hands. I freeze. She heard me, she had to have heard me because I didn't have the sense to just run, and now she's turning to look at me, and oh my gosh.

Her eyes are like pin drops in a sea of white, and her head is twitching. She reaches into a pocket, and I can tell by the glint of metal that it's a knife, and it looks like it's been used already. I try to back up, but because I'm already against the wall I just tumble to the ground, and now Ayano towers over me, and why can't I scream why can't I scream why can't I scream why can't I scream –

"Help me," I choke out, but my throat's so tight from fear that I can't make it any louder than a whisper, and why is she taking so long? Why can't this just be finished? I try to force more words out, but I just can't scream, I can't shout, and my body won't move, and she starts to bring the knife closer in, and finally I manage to utter, "Please, I'll do anything! I'll do anything!"

It's not loud, but I'm putting every last ounce of energy into it, and I'm sure that Ayano's close enough to me to hear it... except nothing happens, and she just keeps lowering that knife toward me.

I squeeze my eyes shut, as tightly as I can, and I manage to clutch myself, hoping that whatever Ayano does, she at least does it quickly. I don't want to die painfully! I try to scream again, but still nothing comes, and now the world is nothing but this cold, dark, tile box...

Except – I'm still here. My eyes snap open, and I look up to see Ayano, and she's putting the knife away. I can feel my eyes go wide, and I slowly stop holding myself. "A-Ayano?"

She freezes and glances over at me; her eyes are still pin drops. "Hand over your phone," she says.

"What?" I ask, but before I can even wonder about what's going on, she draws the knife again, and I scramble against the wall to put some distance between myself and her again.

"Do it," she says, and this time I don't wonder. I just pull my phone out and practically throw it at her. She catches it without difficulty, sets it on the floor, and –

"No..." I whisper as she slams her heel down on the phone, cracking it into several pieces, broken beyond repair. I want to ask why, but I also don't want to get stabbed, so I don't say anything. Ayano glances over at me but remains stolid.

"Now help me," she says, but now I can't even muster words, so I just stare, dumbfounded. Ayano gestures towards Osana's body... and I can't look. A queasiness starts to build in my stomach.

"I said help me," Ayano repeats, now more sharply. I shake my head and gasp out, "I – can't – going – feel sick –" Nothing from Ayano this time except footsteps, and –

I clamp my hands over my ears, because no one should know what it sounds like to move a dismembered corpse. I sit like that, on the floor, trembling, my hands covering my ears and cradling my head, for some time before I feel a hand on my shoulder and jolt into alertness.

It's Ayano. Her eyes are still wide, but she's at least stopped twitching, and now she's carrying a cello case. I... must not have noticed that earlier because of the body. "Carry this," she says.

"I-is that..." I trail off. I don't even want to think about it.

Ayano doesn't say anything; she just holds the case out towards me. Though I still feel sick, I take it and manage to stand, even with my legs feeling like jelly. "I'm going to clean the bathroom," she says. "You don't have to look." I nod slowly, but I can't help my curiosity as she turns around and grabs a mop from the corner – though I wish I had. There is a huge puddle of blood in the center of the bathroom, but that's not the worst of it. The worst parts are the trails of blood that branch out from the center. On the walls, on the stall – and I can imagine Osana flailing, struggling, trying not to die, but simply... failing.

I wrench my head away from the sight and turn around to stare at the wall. I don't want to think about it. I don't have to think about it. I don't...

I squeeze my eyes shut. I feel sick again. I wish I wasn't holding the cello case.

I feel a hand on my shoulder again, and I snap around. The blood is completely gone. "We're going to the incinerator," Ayano says. She steps toward the door, and I try to follow, but my knees just buckle, and the cello case clatters to the ground. I wince as Ayano turns to glance at me, and I can't help but start to breathe faster... but Ayano just pulls me to my feet and tucks the case into my grasp again. "Follow me. Don't fall again."

I manage to follow Ayano all the way to the incinerator without stumbling, and once we're there she deposits the saw, knife, and whole cello case into the machine. She's about to turn it on when she seems to notice me staring at her – it's hard not to, since she's still soaked in blood – and she glances down at herself. I swallow hard.

"Take off your clothes, and give them to me," Ayano says, and for a split-second my eyes bug out, and it's all I can do to not sputter in response.

"Pwa – what?" I glance down and find that I'm hugging myself again. "Why?"

"I need a change of clothes," Ayano says. "Because mine are covered in blood." Well, when she puts it like that it sounds so obvious, doesn't it?

I grit my teeth a little and, trying not to agitate her, manage to say, "But what about me?"

"You?" Ayano asks. I grimace and shuffle a bit.

"Well – I mean –" She really doesn't seem to understand it at all. "I need clothes to wear, too, Ayano. I still have to go home." Ayano says nothing and only blinks, and I shift a bit again, uncomfortable.

"I did not think of that," Ayano said. She pauses again, glancing at herself, then at me, then at the incinerator. "Follow me, and be quiet."

We soon arrive at the showers, and while I'm not really sure why I had to be there too – I guess to keep me from running off and telling anyone – I can only assume Ayano's here to clean up. I look away as she strips, showers, and changes into her gym uniform – in record time, too – and she's barely dry before she tells me to follow her back to the incinerator.

Once we're there, she tosses in her clothing and turns the machine on. When I look at the thin trail of smoke climbing into the sky, though, all I can think of is the way Osana bled. Long trails of blood, all over the bathroom floor and wall –

"Hey." I feel myself jolt back into reality, and I turn towards Ayano. She looks considerably calmer, and while her face is still blank, her eyes look thankfully normal.

"What is it, Ayano?" I ask, failing to keep the tremor out of my voice. She stares at me for a long moment, and while her eyes are normal, her gaze is still piercing.

"Don't tell anyone," she says. "There is no proof. I did nothing. Osana Najimi just disappeared on the way home." My mouth goes dry, but I know that Ayano's right. We just destroyed every possible piece of evidence that would link her back to the crime... much less prove that Osana had even been killed in the first place. I force a nod.

Ayano nods back.

And she leaves.

It's all I can do to stop staring at nothing and force myself to find my bag again and walk home.