Chapter 1

Again. I had that dream.

Again. She appeared before me.

"****…" It was always so strange. I could see her lips, calling my name. But, I could never hear her voice. Just this ringing in my ears that shut off everything else from the world.

Another strange thing was, I didn't know her. I never saw her face, not even her eyes, but the tears that came down on her cheeks, I felt fall on my face. And her lips, those that looked so soft and delicate, like rose petals, mouthed my name.

Those were the last, and only things I remembered before I woke up. It was always like that. I knew I dreamt of more, I could feel so much pain. But, right when I opened my eyes, it disappeared. Only the feeling of my heart becoming tight, and the sight of her standing there.

I want to answer her, at least once. To ask, who are you, and, why do you keep appearing before me? But I can never find my voice. And before I realize…

It's already too late.

*TAP* *TAP*

Pebbles… The sound of small pebbles at my bedroom window woke me up from my daze.

*TAP* *TAP*

I slowly got up and opened the window. As I expected, there was Ayumi, standing there with her bike waiting for me outside.

"Hey, you finally up, sleepyhead?!" she screamed out at me. She was always so loud. "C'mon, Riho-chan! We're gonna be late!"

"Alright, I know! I'll be down as soon as I can, okay?!"

"Better hurry up!"

I closed the window and quickly ran down the hall to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth and washed my face in a breeze. Morning's like these always get me fired up for later in the day.

After fixing my bed hair, I ran back to my room and changed into my uniform. A button-up white shirt with a short black skirt and matching ribbon, the school badge just at the crease of the tie. Nothing too fancy to think we're rich school girls, but simple enough that it makes us look cute and intelligent.

*TAP* *TAP* *TAP*

Again. Of course, if she was screaming, it'd most likely be, "Stop staring off into space!"

It was always a habit of mine. Whenever I'd be talking to people, I'd suddenly start to zone out without even noticing. So much, that even Ayumi's loud screams are unable to reach me.

I checked myself one last time before grabbing my bag and heading out.

"Took you long enough!"

"Sorry. I forgot to set my alarm clock."

"Excuses, excuses." We both giggled as she said that. She never got mad at me for oversleeping or dozing off when I'm supposed to be listening to her. She understood me.

"C'mon, let's just go!"

"Un!" She and I always walk to school together in the morning. No matter how long she waited on me, or no matter how loud her screams became as time passed, we never left each other.

She was one of my first best friends. It was already clear to me that I was different, and everyone thought I was weird. Yet, she never looked at me weirdly. She accepted me as her friend.

"I don't care how weird you are. What I say is, the weirder, the better!"

At first, I was a little shocked when she said that, but after she introduced me to Nakanishi-kun and Sakura-chan, I found there was kindness in her words as well.

"Oi~ Sakura! Nakanishi!"

Just up ahead were Nakanishi-kun and Sakura-chan, already standing at the entrance gate.

The two were clearly an item, that can be easily noticed by anyone. And knowing them, it was sweet. Even though Nakanishi-kun wasn't always the cool or suave type, Sakura accepted him flaws and all.

As for Sakura, she was like a princess to the school. She was perfect in almost every way. It really shocked, but also very much relieved Nakanishi-kun, that she accepted him to be her boyfriend.

"How's the lovely couple~?" Ayumi said as she pinched Nakanishi-kun's cheek, causing him to blush.

"I see someone's as hyper as usual. Put a lot of sugar in your cereal again, midget?"

"Hey! I am NOT a midget! I'm not even that much shorter than you!"

"You keep telling yourself that."

"Mou~"

The two of them didn't always get along. Whenever they fought, me or Sakura would always break them up before it got ugly. But still, they always managed to make up one way or another and remain friends for this long.

"Alright, you two, that's enough." Sakura said as she waved her hand in between them and stopped their argument.

"You two are getting along as usual, huh?"

"NO WAY!" They harmonized at my little joke and turned their heads away from each other.

"Ohayou, Sakura-chan."

"Ohayou, Riho."

...

Sakura has to go through a morning routine. After we got to school, she went for a daily check-up in the infirmary. Once before homeroom, and one afterschool.

As I said, Sakura was almost perfect. She had a heart condition. It's only been 3 weeks since she was discharged from the hospital and allowed to come back into school, but she still had to take medicine and didn't participate in sports or physical activities.

The three of us just waited outside the infirmary for her as she had her check-up. As always, Ayumi and Nakanishi-kun would be arguing while I stared off into space. Sometimes, they'd snap me out of my trance to settle one of their arguments, but most of the time, they let me be if I was too far off in my world.

"I'm back." Sakura walked out of the infirmary with a smile. "Things went well."

"That's good to hear. The other day, you started coughing while we were talking on the phone, I got kinda worried."

"Aw~ you're too sweet, Kanato."

I smiled on the inside seeing them so lovey-dovey. I've never had a boyfriend myself, only a few crushes. I still don't know what it's like to be in love, so it makes me happy seeing them like this.

"Nee, Riho-chan, did you finish your homework for third period?"

"Oh no, don't tell me you fell asleep and forgot to do your work AGAIN, midget."

"I did NOT and stop calling me midget!"

"Why else would you ask if she did it unless you needed to copy off her? Hahaha."

"I wasn't. I was just asking. Nothing's wrong with that, right, Riho-chan?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Sayashi, please tell this midget she needs to do her own homework~."

"Riho-chan, tell this klutz to stay out of other people's business, and DON'T CALL ME MIDGET!"

"Midget~~~"

"OK, that's it!" Ayumi grabbed his shoulders as he held one hand on her head and restrained her. The two were attracting attention. I stepped in between them and pulled them apart.

"Both of you, CALM DOWN! You're acting like animals!"

The two pouted and looked away from each other again.

"Speaking of which," Sakura brought up, "have you guys been reading about all these recent animal attacks?"

What? Animal attacks? I didn't hear about this.

I looked and saw Ayumi shiver as the thought of the attacks ran through her spine, and Nakanishi-kun just looked away as he bit his lip.

"Yeah, I heard about that."

"There's been a lot lately. I'm kinda worried."

"What attacks?" I asked them, awkwardly.

"You really live in your own world, huh, Riho-chan."

"No one knows what causes them. At first, everyone just thought it was a wild dog or a wolf, but the attacks become more violent and also frequent."

"I saw one picture on the news that showed a girl who was seen at one of the attacks. She was unconscious and covered in blood when the witness saw her, but when the police and doctors got there, she was gone. Left without a trace."

I shuddered a bit at that thought. That is scary.

"Don't worry! Us students of Kuran Academy have the best protection we can get!"

"Yeah. Besides, Ishida, you're so small, I'm sure you can slip out if you get cornered by one! Hahahaha!"

"Hey, I thought I already told you, I'm NOT that short!"

I sighed, seeing them fight. They really are hopeless.

"Guys, please, calm d-"

Just then… I smelled something.

A gentle scent… It was….

"The scent of lilies…"

"Eh?"

"What'd you say, Sayashi?"

I felt a cool breeze and looked to the right. There, walking past me, was a girl with long, silky black hair. I only saw her back, not her face.

But, something inside me tugged. It pulled my chest and I felt a familiar tinge of pain from somewhere. Something told me, I had to see her.

My feet just moved on their own and went in her direction. Even when Ayumi and the others called to me, I ignored them. I just kept following her, trying to find her. I finally caught up and saw her standing in front of my classroom door, talking to a teacher.

Is she… a transfer student?