0-segment[L-the-L]

Chimes raise the curtains on humble days,

Precious as a handful of gold dust.

As I walk into class, the girls that normally flock around Shinji Hackee aren't there. Shinji seems to be in a bad mood today. His usual posse of girls is keeping their distance. I'll ask him if something happened.

"What? Like I'd tell you if anything happened to me! Which it didn't. Nothing happened at all. Hey, you know that ice queen Lou Tousaka? She thinks she's so much better than everyone else." You mean tsundere, right? She definitely sounds like a tsundere. "At first, I thought that she would be the only one who understood how lonely it is at the top. I tried talking to her yesterday, but I got nowhere. Maybe I just intimidate her or something." Looks like someone got rejected. "I might've lost a few points for getting violent, but girls who talk back to me get slapped!" Righ—Wait, what? "I'd never hook up with such a violent, stuck up bitch like that, no matter how hot she is!" Looks like someone got rejected, twice. "What a waste. She'd be perfect if she'd just keep her mouth shut. You agree with me, right? RIGHT?"

Looks like there's some tension between Shinji and Lou Tousaka. Knowing Shinji, he probably hit on her and got shot down. "And why'd she take a shot at me? I thought she was going to spinning-star kick me next." Somehow, I take offense to only that phrase. He continues to whine under his breath. I can only imagine how sleazy Shinji was being with her. Normally, his super-aggressive approach works, but obviously it didn't with Lou Tousaka. Life's more interesting when it's got little shake-ups like this.

As if right on cue, Mrs. Merrill barges into the classroom as the bell sounds. She exhaled a relieved sigh, "I made it!" She takes a few steps forward, "Good morning, everyone! All right, no one's absent and since there are no announcements, let's just start homeroom." As soon as she turns to reach for the chalk, she trips and falls as she always does. As she falls, her fingernails drag across the blackboard with a horrifying sound... And thus, another typically mundane day begins anew—

At midday, I seem to be dozing off and not really paying attention to anything. I should start doing something to make myself look less obvious. "...and though the Great War had finally come to an end, regional conflicts still persist. Despite the suffering of the previous generation, battles are still waged thirty years on." Standing behind the lectern today is the school's newest teacher … Beck. Although he's supposed to be teaching math, his lesson seems to have gone off on a tangent. "Now, instead of armies, attacks in ever greater numbers are being carried out by terrorists. And in an attempt to suppress these terrorists groups..." —With that, the bell signaling the end of classes sounds.

And with the end of the day here, the tension in the classroom drops immediately. "All right, let us end here today... Oh yes, before I forget. There is an announcement from the student counselor—Recently, a rise in the number of slashing incidents has made the surrounding area dangerous. With that in mind, keep any detours to a minimum and head home as quickly as possible."

Get home quickly...? Good advice, but I still have to finish a few assignments for the journalism club. Why I'm so gung-ho about investigating the school's "Seven Wonders" is a mystery even to me, but it seems important for some reason. I have to turn in yesterday's report. I'd better go see the Editor in Chief this evening.

There are still some students hanging around the evening, a girl comes up to me, "You're investigating a story right now? Maybe I should join the journalism club, too." Well, you're going to have to write a lot. It's pretty annoying if you ask me.

I'm going to talk with the tanner clothing classmate. So, anything happening, sir? "The editor-in-chief was looking for you. She was going on about you being late with an article." Well, that's great. Mostly because I'm not late and just stalling my submission of my inevitable writing prowess.

"Strange happenings on campus?" A girl is yelling from across the room at the both of us. "I wonder who comes up with all these rumors." No one asked you, lady.

Anyways, another student is looking out of the window here. I wonder what's he thinking about. Could it be something that could help my investigation? "Did you see that punk around? I mean Shinji, of course. Don't say that to his face, though." A man that is afraid to criticize while doing so from the shadows is a despicable man. That should be a proverb, but with better wording. Yeah, someone should fix that.

Well, that's everyone in the classroom. I'll just go out to the hall and see what's going on there. A trio of girls are conversing rather loudly with each other, "Hey, guess what? I just passed this gorgeous girl on the stairs. Could she be the new student?" I have a feeling...

"What? I'm sure you're just talking about Lou Tousaka from class B." Of course I'm right.

"Lou Tousaka? Never heard of her." Are you possibly a harem protagonist?

"You've really never heard of her? Pretty, athletic, smart, classy..." Sounds like a Mary Sue. "...or a stuck-up Ms. Perfect who all the guys adore and all the girls despise." Sounds like a tsundere.

One of the girls is putting on a rather dreamy expression. "It wouldn't be unrealistic to call Lou Tousaka the most popular girl in the whole school."

The one who spoke before gives off an unamused face, "...Are you pulling my leg?"

The last one snaps her fingers like she's giving off some attitude, "Girl, you're so dense you probably wouldn't feel it if I pulled your leg anyway."

"Whaa? I'm not dense … much..." That just means you are. "But … she wasn't wearing our school uniform. She was wearing red. How do you explain that?" Red? Is that a step further than tan?

"I dunno... I hadn't noticed." Since when do people not notice red out of tans and yellows. "Huh? Maybe I'm remembering wrong."

"You would. C'mon, let's hurry to our club." Couldn't you have discussed this in your club?

"Y-Yeah..." Thank you.

Anyway, there's a girl standing outside of my class. What do you have on your mind today? "Mr. Beck...? Everyone says he's scary, but he's actually a good teacher." You've only had one day with this guy … and he talks about current political struggles rather than teaching math.

I walk towards the lobby, when I pass by these ladies having an interesting conversation. "Hey, guess what? I heard this from a friend of a friend, but..."

"Huh? What is it?"

One of the girls look rather excited, "Mrs. Merrill is living with one of the students here!"

"Ew! You mean like romantically? But that's taboo!" And this conversation provided nothing of value to me.

And right before me is the Editor in Chief, "Oh! Our club's ace. Did you find out anything yesterday? Mmhm, mmhm." She's listening intently as I tell her of my adventures. "Interesting. So it was Ashe! Of course there's no entrance to the spirit world. Thanks to you, the article will be great! Are you ready for the next article assignment?" Wait, wha— "The unsolved mystery is... Yesterday, there was a girl dressed in red on the Rooftop. Rumors about 'Little Red Rooftop' are spreading. Go find out what this is all about." Wait a second, I think I already have an idea. "A journalist lets the news guide their feet. To the Rooftop!" All right, all right. Fine.

As I walk to the stairs another student stops me apparently wanting to say something, "Isn't our school weird? I can't put my finger on it, but maybe it's the teachers or the classes." I guess it is. We have a klutz, a suspected murderer, a condescending prick, and a tsundere as a part of the faculty and student body. "Like, everything feels artificial somehow... Huh? Wait, that would mean … that..." I haven't an idea about the subject of your musings. "That's it, that's it! Oops, don't mind me. The crazy sometimes comes out." I think you're hiding something. Tell me. "..." He appears to have gone deep into thought, so it would be rude to keep talking to him.

On the third floor, I see David Turley in standing in the lobby. Maybe he knows something about what's going on. "The girl on the Rooftop? Ah, her... She just happens to be up there right now. I saw her holding the key to the Rooftop a moment ago." Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Also, why don't I have a key to the place? I think I deserve it.

A girl across from us giggles rather loudly to herself, "I see. It's going to be so easy now—" she notices us looking at her, "The exam! I'm talking about the exam!" Really... There's something definitely going on here.

Another girl beside us begins to bring us into a conversation as well. "Did you hear? There was a murder near the school yesterday. A high school kid was killed. It happened on their way home. I live near there, and now I'm scared to go home!" Well, I could volunteer myself to protect you, but since this reporting takes higher priority, I unfortunately must turn down your offer.

Enough distractions, I should go to the Rooftop. I turn the doorknob and the metal door opens silently on its hinges. As a rule, no one is allowed up on the roof, but I can see someone's elongated shadow. The vibrant colors set off by the setting of the sun is enough to take one's breath away. Under the now blood red sky, a single girl looks out onto the town that spreads out below.

Like a figure out of a painting, the girl seems to shine with the same red glow as the setting sun. "What a beautiful sunset..." Something else here looks rather beautiful, too. "I can only imagine how captivating this sight must be for the people who live here. It is indeed a very beautiful scene. A shame that it doesn't really exist." Huh? "On the surface it seems like such a benign, peaceful world. A pity that it'll soon come to an end." There it goes again. "This place is merely an idealized imitation of the real world. And one done in poor taste—I wonder if there's any value to a memory that can only be observed and then left behind." Could she possibly be foreshadowing something? I'm not quite sure if that last statement was supposed to express disgust or disappointment. Definitely a dis- of some sort.

As she finishes speaking, a faint smile forms on the girl's lips as she slowly turns in my direction. Her unwavering gaze makes it seem like she can see things hidden to others. Her eyes seem to shine with an intensity that rivals that of the fiery red of the evening sky. "What's this, a notice from the system? Thanks for bringing it to me." ...No, that's not what I'm here for... "Huh, that's not it? That means you must be one of the generic N—I mean, students..." Wait, you better not be calling me what I think you're calling me. That's offensive, my dear lady. "If one of the irrelevant NPCs can get up here, I guess I'll have to find another place to hang out," continuing to mumble quietly to herself, the girl quickly walks my way. "Oh well, at least this is a good opportunity for me to look one of you over. Stand still, you." Unexpectedly, her finger reaches out and touches my cheek.

A spark, somehow, flashes. "...Wait, what's this?" For a split second, my vision gets fuzzy. Ow... What did you do? "Is this a warning from the system? Direct interference does break the rules, after all..." You know what also breaks the rules? Going to the rooftop. Mumbling to herself, the girl disappears without a trace. It's like no one was ever there at all.

She vanished?

There or not, her form has been indelibly burned into my mind.

"Oh, you're still here. It's almost time to leave school, so you should prepare to go home. What's wrong? You look a little pale." The sound of David's voice pulls me back to reality. I must look completely dazed and confused. Maybe I'm tired, or—

...I'll talk with the Editor in Chief again tomorrow.

In any case, I think the course of wisdom for now would be to go home like David says...

A day will pass if you leave campus.

Leave. Yea, I've had enough adventures for today.

A/N: We're almost there. Then things get to go down.