Well, I'm here again for chapter two...still waiting for more answers to that poll.

Let's get this trainwreck moving.

I maneuver myself through the halls well enough, finding my homeroom of class 2-1. As near as I can tell, everyone in this class has all their limbs; whatever's going on with them must be inside, or very well hidden. As roll is called, nobody seems to care that there's a student sitting where a (presumably) empty desk once existed. Or maybe they do care, and nobody wants to ask? Most people here seem fine with their various disabilities, or at least they've learned to live with them; maybe asking is some sort of taboo, or only reserved for close friends.

I notice a trio over in the corner: a blonde, a brunette, and a blue-haired girl, all leaning in close and seeming to whisper.

Egocentrically, I wonder if those murmurs are about me. Maybe it's the fact that my name isn't Japanese, and I don't look Japanese? I'm not originally from Japan, so both of those would be valid ideas. Do they wonder what my disability is? I'm no fool, I know I only got into Yamaku on spit and a prayer, but that's a tale for another time.

My eyes scan the room, and I know my expression is one of anger. I don't intend for it to be that way, it just...is.

There's no real teaching going on today, so I allow myself to meditate through the flame and the void. When the teacher calls on me, I don't release it. I stand, give my answer, and sit. He probably thought I wasn't paying attention, since my eyes were closed and my face was tilting down.

Well, screw him. Maybe he's learned his lesson now. Maybe not. Either way, doesn't really matter to me. As long as I can hold the flame and the void, I can do anything.

Class continues, and then changes. I'm still holding on through math, English, Japanese, and history. I let go during lunch, and resume it afterward. Once all of the classes are done, I go to the nurse's office.

He's a nice enough guy, though I don't particularly enjoy his humor. After getting blood into my body, since I can't make enough of it on my own anymore, I thank him and leave.

I'm cornered in a hallway, quickly enough, by the trio I noticed in homeroom. "Slae'im." The blonde says.

"That's me. You are?"

"Lilly Satou."

"I'm Misha. Shicchan is deaf, so I translate for her! Wahahaha!"

"A pleasure." I give them the most mind-numbing, get-on-with-it sort of stare that I can come up with. It's a cross between glaring and rolling my eyes, and it's generally proven effective

Lilly can't see it, unfortunately, but Misha and Shizune both seem taken aback...until Shizune gives a wicked grin, like I'm some prey to be hunted down. Lilly, though, can hear the sarcasm in my words. Poor Misha, she has to suffer the full effects of my wrath alone.

"I don't appreciate your tone...my friends and I just wanted to welcome you, since we're the junior representatives for the student council. Does that deserve your reaction?"

"It does when you approach me out of nowhere after I leave the nurse's office, then spread out to surround me so that I couldn't escape without beating the three of you into the ground."

There's no way that could have been Lilly's idea, and I've relegated Misha (after her classroom performances and the fact that she's Shizune's translator) to a position of secondary importance in my mind. Even as Shizune receives my words through Misha, my glare is fully focused on her and she knows without a doubt that she's made a mistake.

"That's rather...violent." Lilly observes.

"I'm a violent person. It's part of what landed me here."

I place the bait, waiting for one of them to take it, when I hear something behind me. Turning, there's a twin-tailed girl running through the hall on a collision course with me; stepping aside would mean that one of the three girls behind me would be hurt, and I'd hate for that to be the impression I leave. With that in mind, I tense my body and watch with no small amount of amusement as the girl slams into my metal chest plate and rebounds off of me, to the floor.

"Jeez! What are you, a wall of bricks?"

"You're the one who ran into me."

"Ah, Ibarazaki. You should know the rules about running through halls by now. Fortunately, nothing happened this time...but what if this man had weak organs in his chest? You could have killed him."

"We've had this conversation before, Emi. Please don't make us tell you again."

Emi looked down, sullen, before pushing herself up and bounding away.

"She ran away." There was no questioning in Lilly's voice.

"I take it she does that a lot." If anything, Lilly's unseeing assessment is what gave that away.

"Yes." All three of them answer at once, though Shizune only signs.

The next day, I make an effort to not seem too angry or tired; rather than hold to the flame and the void, avoiding all emotion and speaking only when spoken to, I give off a few smiles and introduce myself to other students. They don't ask about why I'm here...maybe they can see the hints of scars peeking out from my collar. Maybe they don't care. I wouldn't put either option past anyone, given that I don't know them very well.

As the lunch bell rings, and I wander through the halls, I decide to skip lunch. I've avoided my meditation for a little too long, and what better place than one renowned for its silence?

I sit down on the floor in the middle of the fiction section, and the void is all that exists within me. There's a girl sitting on a beanbag just a foot or two away, and every so often she raises her eyes to look at me. Does she think I can't tell, or is she just scared? I do tend to give off an aura of anger, or so I've been told. It's helped keep me from getting into unneeded fights over the years.

"Yes?" My voice is...softer than usual. This girl is obviously far too shy to approach with loudness or anything that could possibly seem threatening.

Soft voice. Soft words. Not easy for someone who's more used to fighting their way out of a situation than talking.

"I...um..." She looks down. "Sorry."

"It's okay. I just noticed that you keep looking at me. Anything you want to ask?" Gentle. Placid. Calm. A sunflower reaching out toward its namesake.

"No."

"You're wondering what I'm doing here without a book."

She looks taken aback, but nods in embarrassment.

"Meditating. It's quiet here, so I came."

She stares glumly at her lap. "Sorry."

"Oh, I can talk and focus at the same time. It's easy, once you manage it the first couple times." This is going well. Much better than I might have thought. "What's your name?"

"...Hanako."

"I'm James."

The bell rings, telling us to go to class, but we both stay...this time, in silence.

The lines flow through my mind as I practice my stances out in an empty field, now that the sports teams have gone inside.

Idly, I realize that I'm singing aloud as I do this, but the void allows for no thoughts other than the task at hand.

"Lord of battle, I pray on bended knee for a conquest by the rising sun. I wait for thy command with flame and blood at hand...glory, and a broken sword. I am the master of the world, I have no fear of man or beast, born inside the soul of the world. Riding hard, breaking bone with steel and stone, eternal might I was born to wield!"

My actions are becoming faster, more brutal, less polished. My ferocity won a large number of fights I might have lost if I'd kept solely to the void.

"Silently we bide our time, soon we'll pay you back for all the wrongs you've done our kind, for the stabwounds in our backs! You think you're save, well, live your lie; there's no way you'll escape the day that all things living die: the day we rise again! When Fenris' father will summon us, and we will rise from death...one million warriors with foaming mouths to challenge life itself!"

I have become a whirlwind, muscles screaming at me that they are too weak to give me what I am demanding from them.

"Raise your swords up high, hear the black bird's cry, show no fear! Attack!"

Defeated enemies line my vision, imaginary though I know they are, and I ram into them with all the power I can muster. Turning around, swinging my arm, I knock away a rock that was aimed for my head. Whoever threw it at me, they can wait.

"Kneel! You all shall kneel to me, or death will set you free! You all shall kneel to me! Fall! You all shall fall to me! Vengeance will be sweet! You all shall fall to me!"

I catch the second rock and throw it back the way it came. With a final scream, the flame in my mind explodes with the void it has consumed, leaving my body worn down and my mind empty of all thoughts but victory. I drop to one knee, then, and slam my fist into the grass-coated earth.

Standing, I look to where I threw the second rock. It's buried halfway into a tree, and beside it is a startled (and clearly frightened) girl from the track team.

"You wanted something?" I said, not quite glaring, though my displeasure was evident in my tone.

"I just...I saw you come here when we were leaving, so I stayed to watch what one person would do in an empty field. I got curious to see just how aware you were...how did you know?"

"I felt them coming." A lie, but an honest one. After years of fighting, you develop a sort of sixth sense to incoming attacks. While I would never have been able to predict those rocks coming at me, I could feel that something was coming to hurt me...so I stopped them. I'm actually impressed, I've adapted well to my body's slowed reflexes. Maybe, though, I moved much faster than normal on demand?

I'm not sure.

"What's your name?"

"James. Who are you?"

"Miki!" She smiles, clearly trying to feign that she's no longer afraid of a man who can bury a smooth rock into a tree from ten yards.

It's almost pitiful.

"Next time, Miki, be a little smarter. That rock could've killed you, easily. Before I had to come here, I broke bones for a living and all else came second."

She nodded, the fear shining in her eyes.

"Go."

She bolts, and I go back to the middle of the field before dropping. Staring up at the stars, unable to sleep, I'm struck by something I rarely feel: guilt.

I could have killed her. Easily. Throwing the rock back was a reflex, but it could have caused her death. What if she hadn't been able to dodge?

I'm not used to these questions. I don't want them. My life before was simple: Beat everyone, don't look back. Now, though, I need to be more aware of other people. This is a school for the physically disabled.

The sickening feeling in my stomach lasts well into the night, before I come to accept my actions. After that, I take a walk around the grounds and wait for the morning to come. I consider going back to my room and taking the sleeping pills, to help with my insomnia, but decide against it; the night is young, and it's time for the dead to be remembered.