Time for another chapter. It is time we introduce Lilly and Rin, don't you think?
Alarm clock. It's from my cellphone... But where the hell did I put it? I groggily wake up, looking around. Oh, there it is. I hit the "stop" button and give a look around.
Huh. There are traces of blood on the pillow. I'd probably turned on the wrong way. It isn't anything life-threatening, but can get uncomfortable fast. The other part of my face just sort of gradually crumbles more and more when presented with everything but the lightest touch.
I still can't get it over with... The fact that I can be so fragile even if I don't want to... Eh, curses. Gotta wipe it out somehow. I think I have a spare handkerchief to use. When did the lessons start? At eight? It's... seven past five... Dammit. Most likely I've picked the wrong alarm clock. Oh well... It gives me more than enough time to get myself together and eat something at the cafeteria. And, well, considering the time, at least I won't have to make my way through the hordes of other students. Always look at the bright side of life, complete with a happy whistle tune.
Nurse said that I need to apply the gel only once a day before sleep, so I can omit this one for now. First of all, shower. I need a shower. Yesterday I just sort of fell asleep with my nose in laptop with only applying that gel, so this will be a welcome change.
I silently walk to the bathroom, trying not to wake neither Hisao nor Kenji... Though, to be honest, the latter likely has soundproof walls, considering the amount of locks to his room. Makes me wonder what the hell...
Jumping off my pajamas and putting my glasses someplace safe, I enter the shower, letting the warm water embrace me in its hug. I can feel that the carapace made of dried blood, covering the other part of my face, slowly lets go. It will regenerate, no sweat. Besides, even at the price of minor pain, it's wonderful to have my face splashed with warm water. It makes me serene. Makes me forget who am I and where am I, what is the purpose of this place and what am I even supposed to do here. That's just this kind of detachment you could like. The one where nobody bothers you with their problems and concerns, letting you be.
I used to be a loner for a long time. Agusu was my first girlfriend... But the fact that she disfigured me had some positive values to it. It learned me to be more cynical and more wary of people around me. So far, my classmates didn't prove to be hostile in any way... But who knows? You always have to be wary. There might be another Agusu in there who will somehow get attached to your ugly mug and then throw something corrosive at your good eye.
...Or is it me who's just too paranoid?
Drip drop. The sound of blood... At first those are just single droplets, but with time the red liquid starts to just run down in line, creating a small pool. Most of it is washed away, but some will most likely stay. Gotta wipe it out as well. Don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. My other half of the face is covered in fresh, salty blood.
I absentmindedly exit the shower, put the towel around my waist to not offend whatever poor soul could possibly get up at this barbaric hour and head to the room to dress myself into uniform. Discarding the green jacket, I come out of the room, wearing a white shirt and those green pants, complete with my glasses, a necktie slung over the neck rather than tied under collar and black boots.
Gotta ask for a monocle. Sure, it may look ridiculous, but it will certainly be easier for me to get a hold of it. Not to mention, I can look even more hipster... Oh God, am I seriously thinking about that?
The cafeteria is, as expected, devoid of life. I've noticed only one person in there, that fat guy from my class. Currently he was stuffing himself with something. After ordering something to eat that will not require chopsticks to use – much to my surprise they had casseroles here, so I picked one – I took a sit on the opposite side of my classmate's table. He gives me a friendly look.
"Sup?" He greets. Well, he seems like a nice guy, even if a little... sordid at times. The fact that I've noticed so much as three hot dogs on his plate was only making it worse. "You're that new guy? Pleased to meet ya. Taro Arai." He extended a hand for a shake. Quite surprisingly, it was free of any sticky things that could come out from a hot dog, so it wasn't a problem for me to return the gesture. It was then that I've noticed that he did so using his... left hand?
Arai catches my surprised glance.
"Monoplegia." He explains with a shrug. "My right arm ain't moving anytime soon."
"Oh... Sorry to hear that."
"Eh, I'm used to that." Taro starts stuffing himself with a second hot dog. "And you? Stratoavis, was it?"
"Casper will suffice. As for your question... Sulfuric acid."
"Ouch. That's gotta hurt."
"You bet it did." I give a small smile which, judging from the fact that Arai stopped eating for a while, proves to be a little unsettling. "Heck, it's not that bad though."
"That's some nasty stuff, man." He responds with hesitation. "Someone did it to ya or...?"
"An ex-girlfriend. Yandere." He seems dumbfounded.
"Oh... Uh, sorry to hear that, man."
"I got over it. No sweat." I reply, this time not allowing myself a smile. "To be honest, I only miss one eye and one ear while the other part of me hurts like a bitch. Comparing to... other people..."
"Huh? You mean someone in particular?" ...Heck, I don't even know that guy. He's a classmate, but that's a first time we have a talk. Despite that, I start to carry on, mentioning Shizune, the Indian girl, the girl with one hand, Emi and Hanako. Arai's a dutiful listener or at least he pretends to listen. Nice of him. It has just hit me that all people I mentioned are female.
Weird.
"What can I say?" He asks, starting on the third hot dog. How the hell does he do that? I'm just in a middle of my own casserole. "Shit happens." Yeah. That was so insightful. I'm about to retort with some snide remark when I suddenly hear something like... tapping? Hm. Someone seems to tap a cane around. A blind person? I give a look towards the entrance and... gasp.
This is definitely what a female version of Archangel Gabriel would look like. The girl who has just entered the cafeteria is surprisingly tall for a Japanese, but the blond hair makes me think she may be of mixed heritage like me. She has a bow in those which only adheres to her beauty. To top it all off, the eyes... Oh, the eyes every guy(or maybe even some gals) could drown into, big and blue... And yet, she was tapping the floor with her cane. Blind.
Fate can be so cruel sometimes. This angel will never see how beautiful she is.
"Hello?" She asks with a delicate, refined voice and, oh my God, I can almost feel myself rushing to her and aiding her. Then, I snap back to the real world.
"Do you need any help, Miss?" I ask, giving a slight glance at Taro. He's finishing up his breakfast. The blonde girl lights up slightly, hearing my voice... Though it probably the fact that there's a voice in general.
Not being able to hear and talk like Shizune seems bad... But I'm not sure if not being able to see isn't worse.
"Oh no, I'm fine." She responds, slowly moving towards us. Seems she's pretty acknowledged with the layout of cafeteria as she doesn't trip, bump into any of tables, slowly moving towards us. Well, towards me, now that Arai vanished without a trace. How did he do it anyway? "Will it be a problem if I sit here?"
"Not at all, Miss." She sits just where Taro was sitting a moment ago. She retracts her cane – oh, nifty – and places it someplace safe. "Didn't expect anyone to show up here that early."
"I'm something of a morning person." She says with a smile.
"Oh, right, I didn't introduce myself. Where are my manners..." I manage an awkward chuckle before clearing my throat. To be honest, I'm at least partially grateful that she cannot see a guy in front of her. She seems like a delicate person. "Casper Stratoavis. I'm one of the new students."
"Hanako had told me about you." Hanako? Wait, that would imply the person sitting before my eyes is... "Lilly Satou."
"A pleasure's all mine, Satou-san." She giggles quietly.
"Please, there's no need for formal language. Call me Lilly instead."
"If you insist." For the love of... I've finally met a person who seems refined enough and even she drops the honorifics. I've never seen it in any other school... "Uh... You mentioned that Ike-I mean, Hanako mentioned me..."
"Oh yes." She nods. "She seemed a little... startled when she was describing your meeting." Oh. So she knows about...?
"Startled...?" I find myself repeating. Lilly nods once more.
"Don't worry though. This has nothing to do with your appearance. Hisao also startled her." Oh... So she really is that shy.
"I don't recall him and her meeting."
"They bumped into each other at the lunch break yesterday." She explains, very carefully fishing out a piece of meat out of her bowl of ramen.
Wait a minute, when did she even get that?
"Oh... I see." And that's when I realize what kind of faux pas I've just committed. "I mean... I'm sorry." Lilly seems to take that pretty lightly though as she only chuckles heartily.
"I'm perfectly fine with figures of speech, Casper." She responds with a smile. "There's nothing to be sorry about."
"If you say so, Lilly..." I think I may as well ask her the question. "May I ask something?"
"Go ahead."
"You're not fully Japanese, are you?" She nods.
"Indeed. I'm part Scottish. How did you tell?"
"The hair. It didn't look like it was bleached and Japanese are unlikely to have fair hair. Just before you ask, my girlfrie-" I cut myself off, cursing my long tongue. Thankfully, Lilly doesn't push the matter. How very refined of her.
"I see." And that's when it hits me.
"Do you speak English?" I ask in said language. She seems slightly surprised, but responds just a few seconds later.
"Yes. Quite fluently." Huh. There was some accent in her voice that I couldn't exactly pinpoint. Thankfully, she seems to talk using RP rather than Scottish accent.
"Perhaps this is a... a weird request, but can we... talk with English for a while?" The blonde girl before my eyes smiles slightly.
"Of course."
For some reason, Shizune seems pretty peeved. Not really sure why. For now I need to listen to Mutou's lecture and write notes. The material to remember isn't especially difficult, so it shouldn't be a problem, but you'd never know. When I was younger, forfeiting to make notes quite often was biting me in the ass like a rottweiler. Hanako does so as well and so does Hisao. All in all, the class is pretty silent today. Not sure what to make of it.
When a bell signing the lunch break rings, I can almost immediately find myself surrounded by Misha and Shizune. She's still pissed off for some reason, but doesn't show it as much as she did in the morning.
"Can I help you...?" I ask. Pink-haired girl bursts into her trademark "WAHAHAHA" laughter. I swear, I'll start killing toddlers to regain my sanity.
"Well, of course you can, Caschan." A slight hope in Hanako is lost when I discover the chair next to me is empty. "After all, I need to tell you where the Student Council room is so you can get some proper chopsticks holding lessons." Shizune gives me an amused stare. Yeah, she will be mocking me for a long time because of this.
"Hurray." I manage to utter. Hisao has left already as well. Perhaps he headed to check out clubs or go to library. Now that I think about it, Hanako's most likely to be there...
"Hello! Earth to Caschan!" Misha's voice snaps me out of thought. "And as me and Shicchan were saying, there's a small surprise to all of it." ...I suddenly don't like where this is going.
"A surprise? What kind of surprise?" I ask flatly.
"Oh, you'll see..." The slight teasing factor in Misha's voice doesn't help matters.
"Fine. I suppose I'm your slave for this lunch break." I respond, desperately trying to look optimistic. Both Shizune and Misha frown which cannot be a good sign.
"How mean of you." That's definitely the class rep speaking through the drill girl. The drill girl. Oh God, that sounds all kinds of wrong. "We're not forcing you to anything. You're doing this to us because we're friends, right?" Misha shoots me a smile of a cutie.
...Thank goodness I don't have diabetes or any heart disabilities. Still, her statement surprises me a little. Friends? We know each other so much as two days.
"Friends...? That's... That's nice of you two." I'm truly perplexed.
"Well, duh!" She says before bursting into another laughter.
At the cafeteria, the crowds are as lively as ever. This time, Hisao's not with us, leaving me at the mercy of two female predators. Oh well. They seem friendly, but who knows if they won't try to rip my throat out the moment I say something unfunny.
The lunch time goes pretty fast, with us idly chatting about things, or rather me and Misha chatting while the latter translates everything for Shizune. As it turns out – rather unsurprisingly, if you ask me – Misha's the big fan of J-pop and K-pop. When asked about my musical tastes, there was a longer moment of silence from my side.
"A bit of everything." I decide to settle for a neutral answer. "Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Chopin, European Metal... Scatman John... Suilen as well."
"Tchai-Tcha..." Pink-haired girl has apparent trouble spelling the surname correctly.
"Tchaikovsky."
"Tchaiko..." Huh. Seeing as Misha's out of commission, I decide to just scribble it down on a sheet of paper. Shizune takes it and nods with understanding. I suppose she's heard about him... Wait. She looks at me, slightly perplexed, seeing as I reconsider my inner monologue. Another faux pas. Thankfully my "interlocutor" cannot hear my thoughts. Meanwhile, Misha's still struggling to spell the composer's last name. Suddenly, a vile thought creeps to my mind. Why not having some fun at her expense?
"Hey, Misha..." I start, trying to sound as casual as possible. She looks at me absentmindedly.
"What is it, Caschan?"
"I'm betting one hundred yen that you will be unable to properly spell another word I'll say." Shizune, after "hearing" my words gives me a cautious look and signs back. Misha's smile drops a little, but suddenly comes back in a full grin.
"Don't worry, Shicchan, I'll be fine!" She responds before turning to me. "Alright, Caschan. Shoot." Here's where the funny part comes.
"Brzęczyszczykiewicz." A long, long silence. The fact that Misha's smile deflates into expression that screams "holy shit" is just priceless. Shizune shoots me another inquisitive look, so I decide to satiate her curiosity and write down the word in question on paper. Her eyes slowly go wide as she tries to decipher my bad handwriting. The next look she shoots me is of pure shock.
"B..." Misha's stuck so far as on the first letter. I cannot help but feel a triumphant half-smile when suddenly my silent celebration is interrupted by one word.
"Brzęczyszczykiewicz." Huh? I crack open the good eye and I can see a short-haired and red-haired girl in, surprisingly, boys' uniform, shooting me a look.
Even more surprisingly, she lacks arms.
"'Scuse me...?" I ask bluntly, too surprised at her response to glare at her unused sleeves.
"Brzęczyszczykiewicz." She responds, giving me a bemused glare. "Next time try challenging someone who knows about Polish movies."
"W-what?!" Misha exclaims, taken aback. "Caschan, that's cheating!"
"We didn't even specify the rules..." I respond flatly. "You owe me 100 yen, Misha."
"Oh come on!" She pouts. Before I can go back to the strange armless girl, she's already gone. Since I'm not really that short on money, I decide to go for an alternative.
"Alright, how about that? Since you've lost, you will tell me about that strange girl." I say. Misha almost immediately perks up.
"Rin Tezuka? Sure thing, Caschan!" And so, yet another mysterious girl's name is revealed to me.
And here is the next chapter. Stay tuned for more. Read and review, as always.