Yes, yes. I'm here. This chapter's probably why the story's T rated. And no, I'm not talking about sexual context; I'm talking about mature language, aka bad words.
The bell rang and we got out of the PE locker rooms.
"That was boring." Tomoko says.
"Don't say the obvious." I reply tiredly.
"At least we have lunch now!" Emi says smiling.
"Yeah, only one class left then." Katsumi states. I sigh. Katsumi and Emi are always the optimists.
Exactly not really, Emi's the only optimist. Katsumi is just saying the facts. Tomoko's the pessimistic one, and I'm a nobody. That's what I realized through the past few days. Emi can play basketball, Katsumi can do art, and even Tomoko can play the guitar. And me? I can fold paper into origami. I'm Plain Jane.
We reach the E.A. and take our food. We then go over to our table and I see Katsumi holding the school paper from morning. I forgot to look at it.
"Hey, Katsumi. What does the school paper say today?" I ask. The date today is July 5th and the school newspaper always comes out on Tuesdays.
"They have an article of how hot it'll be this whole month. They have one about those monthly mystic things. And they have one about how half the newspaper class will be gone next year and they're scouting for recruits." Katsumi says.
"Maybe next year, they won't be so overdramatic then." I say jokingly, taking a bite of my taco.
"Hey, they say this week will be the hottest of the month." Katsumi says, still looking at the newspaper.
"Yay, then maybe we can go out for PE next week instead of staying inside." Emi says.
"We should have a water gun fight." I suggest.
"Ootsuki requested one for sometime this month." Tomoko says simply.
"Well, hopefully she's persuasive." Emi says. If we do have one, I'll have to buy a swimsuit. Actually, I have to buy it anyways; we're doing swimming in August for PE. I sigh, remembering what Ryuta gave Daiki and I two days ago.
(START OF FLASHBACK)
"I'm back from cleaning the school." I say as I walk in the dorm room. I look at the clock and it's 2:21 PM.
"Yay! Oh, and we have mail today!" Emi says.
On Sunday morning, someone slips mail under every dorm. I've never gotten mail, and I never expected it either.
"Where's everyone?" I ask I pick up my wooden sword, training with it.
"Tomoko went to the town and she took her guitar. Katsumi went to her empty art classroom to paint." Emi replies.
"That's typical of them." I say swinging my sword around. Emi comes up to me.
"You got mail!" Emi says. I go over to the front of the door and take the letter.
TO: SHIZU SANU AND DAIKI MORI
FROM: RYUTA SANU
If Ryuta gave us mail, it must be kind of important. We're not allowed to go to boy dorms, so I'll just wait tomorrow. Or not. I remember Daiki's dorm number was 37.
"I'll be back!" I say walking out of the dorm with the letter. I went out so fast I forgot to let go of my wooden sword. I go out of the girl dorm hallway and into the boy dorm hallways. They have 4 halls while the girls only have 3. I go through the 2nd hall and knock on dorm 37. Genji opens it, looking bored.
"Where's Daiki?" I ask.
"Being a rule breaker I see." Genji says grinning.
"Just tell me." I say rolling my eyes.
"I'll tell you if you do someth-" Genji starts but I stop him putting my wooden sword right below his chin.
"Tell me." I say more simply this time.
"Middle balcony and you should know that by now." Genji says still grinning. I've never seen him not grin. I leave without saying anything. I go out of the boy dorms, up the stairs, and all the way to the middle balcony. I see Daiki sitting on one of the couches.
"What's up cousin? Here to give me a birthday present?" Daiki asks.
"Last time I checked, your birthday was a week ago." I reply. "Anyways, we got mail from Ryuta."
"The Ryuta?" Daiki asks smiling a bit.
"What other Ryutas are there?" I shout. We pause for a moment.
"You don't think anything bad happened right?" Daiki asks losing his smile a bit.
"Only one way to find out." I reply and open the envelope. We sit next to each other and read it silently.
Dear Shizu and Daiki,
How are you guys? The others and I miss you two, almost desperately. We haven't seen each other in 6 months. I decided when you both turn 14, I'd send a letter. So since Daiki just turned 14… you know the rest. Please don't worry about us, live your lives at the academy like I did.
Here's an overview. Kouki can walk now. Ume is starting to learn words. Akio is the same, which makes me laugh. Souta is missing you guys the most. Chou seems grown up at just age 8. Yuina's more efficient now. Kazue is wise as usual. And me? I'm getting cooler by each day.
Everyone wants to see you guys, but we know you two are training or trying to make points. (Which, by the way, spend them for your selves.) Keep doing that. Hope you are smiling now, because I am. Stay strong, bye.
With love from the family,
Ryuta
Tears fall down automatically while I'm reading this.
"You crying?" Daiki asks. I nod my head. Daiki is smiling.
"Why aren't you?" I ask.
"A man doesn't cry." Daiki says. I laugh a bit. Daiki hands me a tissue.
I blow my nose and stop crying. "Where did you get the tissue?" I ask.
"At the restroom, took a whole bunch." Daiki answers. I burst out laughing.
My laughter stops after a while. "Well, I'm going to go. Is this your favorite place now?" I question.
"Yep, I like it a lot." Daiki says.
"Even more than tape?" I ask. Daiki laughs evilly.
"Never." He says and continues to laugh evilly.
"Bye~" I say walking out of the balcony.
"See you." Daiki says in response.
(END OF FLASHBACK)
"Hello? Shizu are you there?" Katsumi asks. I snap out of my thoughts.
"Sorry. I'm here, what were you guys asking me?" I question.
"Are you interested in any guys yet?" Emi asks smiling.
I immediately thought of Ken, which was weird since he's a retard. However, he doesn't hate me, he only hates my kind. Maybe if he got to know me better, we could be…. friends. Wait, no. People like him don't change. Never mind.
"Not interested in any guys yet." I answer.
"Oh come on Shizu." Emi says smiling. "I know that look you just had. You were thinking about someone."
"How about you? You think a lot of guys are cute/hot but there has to be one you're particularly interested in." I say changing the subject. Emi blushes a bit.
"Nice way of changing the subject." Katsumi states.
"I have trained." I respond arrogantly.
"Since we all know Tomoko likes Junsei," Emi states and Tomoko chokes a bit on her soda, "How about you Katsumi?" Katsumi looks down at the table.
"I don't think a woman needs direct love with a person, and same with a man. I think there's nothing wrong with not having a lover. You just need friends to support you." Katsumi says a bit seriously.
"Is there a word for the type of person you are?" I ask.
"Girl power of course!" Emi says. Katsumi mentioned it was for males too, I think with a raised eyebrow.
"Independent." Tomoko suggests. Katsumi said she needed friends though!
"I think it's called single." I say. Katsumi nods her head. "Then maybe you'll turn out to live with 9 cats." We all laugh and the bell rings. We all get up and put our trays away.
"I'm off." Katsumi says and walks away.
"See you guys!" Emi says and starts jogging down the stairs.
"Bye." Tomoko says and walks away.
"Bye bye~" I say and start to walk to the library. I go through the doors of the library, walk past Hano (A/N: Librarian) with a small hi, and sit at my far table. The second bell rings.
I take out my swordsman notes. Tonight we have to memorize the simple parts of a sword. The hilt, the blade, and the scabbard are the really simply parts. There are still other parts of a sword. Plus, the samurai and knight have different types of swords so we have to memorize for both. When I finish memorizing, I pick up my wooden sword. Tanaka told us to bring it today.
I remember I spotted with Katsumi a few months back. I beat her pretty easily. We're training with each other at least once a week now. I touched my wooden sword from side to side like it was a real sword. Tanaka was right; a wooden sword can hurt a lot.
For general class with my scary teacher, we have to get a book on the history of Lual, our country. The author is Sai, just Sai. I go over to the history section of the library and find the book easily. It's pretty fat, 2 inches of paper. Well, there's nothing else I have to do except fold paper.
Right now, I'm trying to make an origami dragon. I saw the instructions online and now I'm trying to perfect it. I try about 3 times and I finally get it. I look at the library clock, there's still 7 more minutes. I decide to take a peek at the history book. I flip over to a random chapter that's titled "The Void Period".
(A/N: The italicized information you're about to read might change depending on future plots, I'll tell you guys when it does, if it does.)
The Void Period is from XX87-XX06. It was also when the country of Lual was isolated. Lasting for 19 years, nothing important happened until XX06 when the user bracelets were finally perfected. Kumi Academy then opened during XX07.
That's the summary but the actual chapter is way longer. I go over to Hano to check out the book. She scans my bracelet and says I'm really to go. The bell rings and I go behind the bookshelves.
I decided to do this rather than going to the bathroom. I slide my wooden sword so it's half the original size. I put it in my school bag that also turns black like my uniform when I put on my mask. I put on my mask, have a different hair color and style, and tap my card three times. I'm in front of Ken's room and I open the door quietly. I see Ken lying on the couch, as usual.
"Hey Mask Maid! No coffee today, it's too damn hot. Add the outside heat coming through the windows and myself; this room becomes an oven." Ken says. How does he change so fast? Only 4 minutes past since the bell rang.
"How may I serve you?" I ask plainly. Ken smirks.
"I want you to open the first cabin to the right of my coffee machine's table." Ken states. I go over and open the cabin. I see a few matchbox that say 'for emergency' on it. I also see a couple mini wooden fans. "Get two wooden fans and fan me for an hour and then you're free to go."
I pause for a moment. Ken has an air conditioner and three wooden fans on the ceiling. Why the heck would he want me to fan him? He has a refrigerator and freezer too! I give a mental sigh. I grab two fans and go over to Ken, still on the couch. He's playing with his yoyo.
11 minutes past, and of course my hands get tired from fanning Ken, so I stop. I put the fans on the coffee table and my hands automatically fall to the floor. I'm sitting with my knees on the floor and I'm right in front of Ken's face.
"Why did you stop?" Ken asks in a mocking tone.
"I need to rest." I say trying not to seem tired.
"Don't be a lazy pig and start fanning me bitch!" Ken shouts. I don't respond. Ken laughs. "See? Street people can't even fan someone for an hour." He continues laughing. I have to continue, I need the points.
I try desperately to lift up my arm but I can't. I sit there for a few minutes while Ken keeps tossing insults at me. I wait and my arms can finally lift up. As I'm about to start fanning again, the lights in the room shut off.
Katsumi told me yesterday that during really hot days, there's a chance of a black out. I didn't expect it today, although I never expect black outs anyways.
It's completely dark, I now noticed the window Ken has is dark tinted. I wonder why I never noticed. I still serve Ken, so I go over to the chore that had the matches.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ken asks when he heard me open the chore. Of course we can't see each other that clearly.
"Wait a moment." I say simply. I take the matches and after 2 attempts I finally get a fire going. "There." I go over to Ken who has been quiet.
"…away from me." Ken mumbles.
"Repeat what you said sir." I say holding the match carefully.
"I said KEEP IT AWAY FROM ME!" Ken shouts. He's breathing hard. I'm in front of the coffee table, and Ken is behind it. I lean over the coffee table.
"Are you okay?" I ask letting a bit concern go through my voice.
Then, almost like a tiger, he jumps over the coffee table and onto me. I squint my eyes because it's a little hard to see. He also has a wooden ninja knife on his hand. A kunai. This is an awkward position, but no time to think about that. I think Ken's in some kind of trance. And I'm still trying not to drop the fire match.
As he's about to possibly stab me, I roll my body the other way. I run to my school bag that I left right next to the door. (The match dries up now since I run so fast.) As Ken's running to me, I quickly open my school bag and get my wooden sword. I pull it so it goes back to its long form. Yes!
Right as I'm turning around Ken reaches me. My sword is luckily positioned so it can go against his ninja knife. I'm squatting on the floor while Ken's bending down.
"Fire, fire, I HATE FIRE!" Ken shouts. I'm still gripping my sword and Ken is still gripping his knife. Finally, I use the remainder of my strength, to toss his knife across the room with my wooden sword. Never go against a swordsman in close combat. The lights go back on.
"Snap out of it!" I scream. I see Ken widen his eyes and look down. He slows squats down and hugs his knees. I reach for him, to comfort him.
"Don't come near me! It's because of your people! All because of them! Get out, and never come back!" he shouts. I hesitate. "GET THE FUCK OUT!"
Now it's my turn to widen my eyes. I slowly grab my school bag and wooden sword. I leave him there.
I take off my mask. I sigh and head to my dorm room. What do I do now? Of course, I'm not going to go back. His face was so full of hatred it made my body feel numb. My heart was pounding through the whole thing.
I'll just try to pay off my dorm rent with the points I get in the weekends. I have 74 points right now. Exams were this past Friday so that's why I have a good amount. So I think I can last for the rest of the year. Or I hope.
(A/N: Let's just say that Ken has a door sensor that senses Shizu's bracelet every time she comes in his room, and at the end of the month, 50 points go into her account for her dorm rent. Problem solved.)
I reach the dorm and open the door with my bracelet. I see Katsumi, and just Katsumi.
"Oh, you're back early Shizu." Katsumi says smiling. I force a smile back.
"Hello. So Katsumi I have a question." I say.
"What is it?" Katsumi asks looking prepared.
"Well, I heard some people talking about the principal's son." I say. That was a lie, a complete lie.
"Mhmm. Ken Takeda, the one that's nice to everyone." Katsumi replies. That was also a lie, but who can blame her.
"Yeah, what happened in his past?" I ask trying not to sound desperate. Katsumi makes a solemn (new word in general class) face.
"People don't talk about it much since he's always so happy. All I know is that his mom died in front of his eyes. We still don't know the culprit for some reason." Katsumi says in a low voice.
"How about his dad?" I ask. His dad was a high level user if he was the principal.
"His dad was attacked the same time his wife was. It was like a whole group of people against him." Katsumi says. I feel sympathy now. "Anyways, less about the sad stuff. Want to go practice against each other at the training rooms?"
I nod my head. "Hopefully not many people are training right now." I answer. As we're walking to the training rooms, I'm lost in my thoughts. I have a feeling today won't be my last day of going to Ken's room.
I tried not to make Ken sound pathetic, sorry if I did. He's not pathetic; he's just had some problems in the past.