Chapter 3: The Card
Two weeks passed and I have Kukai and Kairi in on the plan. They both agreed to help me get Nagi out of this mess, but Yaya wouldn't budge. I tried again, even asked Kairi and Kukai to get through to her, but she just refuses to help.
I've gotten used to my schedule here. The teachers are more strict and we don't have as much free time as we did in EAMS. The curriculum is twice as fast as before. I don't mind, I learn fast. However, Kairi and I have been swamped with questions of tutoring. I don't like tutoring.
I walk into my room. I have exactly four hours of free time. If I don't go to lunch, breakfast, or dinner I get deducted points from my final grade. If I am late- I get a lecture-, if I run in the halls- I get written up to Miyake-san-, if I use my wings when I'm not supposed to-
Well you get it. A lot of the rules are ridiculous, in my opinion.
Within a week, I didn't get a fan club surprisingly. Actually, most people don't like me because I'm from EAMS. I found from some of my previous worshipers, that the academy students don't appreciate other schools on their "turf". They are very protective of their school.
In my room I see Amu. She's looking out the window.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" I ask casually.
"Ikuto, Utau and I have been wondering if the plan is still a go," she says. Her eyes don't leave the window.
"I need Yaya on board with me. Without her is like flying without one wing," I say. "I don't understand why she won't help me though."
"She's scared," Amu says.
"I know Yaya's scared of a lot of things like-"
"Not thing; she's scared about you," Amu says. "She doesn't want to lose you again; so she doesn't want you to go. By her not going she knows you won't leave without her. Basic reverse psychology. That girl really is intelligent."
"Then how to I get Yaya to come?" I ask.
"You don't." Huh? "We leave and I guarantee she'll follow to make sure you won't get in trouble. That girl cares a lot about you Rima." I don't say anything after that. "Do you think he's okay? Nagi I mean."
"What? Got an interest for Nagi," I joke. She smiles, but still doesn't look at me. I stand next to her and look at the ocean with her.
"No," she says. "He's my best friend, you know. He was the glue to our friendship – the four of us. I don't know how long we'll continue that friendship with him gone. Such a sweetheart he is; sometimes we thought he was an angel in disguise." We both share giggles.
"Maybe that's why I fell for him," I say. Then I decide to get back on topic. "We'll leave in three days. That'll give us enough time to prepare." She nods.
"I'll tell the others," Amu says. We agree to meet again tomorrow with everyone else before she leaves, saying she has to study. I don't blame her, they give about four tests a day. Even I have to revise everything to remember.
As I waste an hour cracking my min with all the knowledge I can, the door opens. I don't even look up, knowing already it's Yaya. She goes straight to her bed an picks up a book, starting to read it. I know she really isn't and has something on her mind. I wait for her to get the nerve to tell me about it.
"Rima-chan?" Yaya finally asks. I hear the book being put down.
"Yes?" I ask, not letting my eyes leave the page.
"Amu-chan told me that you all are leaving in a few days. Is this true?" she asks. I nod.
"I need to find Nagihiko. The sooner the better. Besides, I won't force you to do something you don't want to do," I say, turning the page. She keeps silent for a while.
"Do you think this is a good idea?" she asks. "Do you even have a plan?" I shake my head.
"If it's for Nagihiko, I'll do anything," I say. "And no, I don't have a plan. Kairi can help me with that along the way."
"I'm not sure this is a good idea," Yaya says. "What if something happens?"
"Then it'll happen. I believe I can do this Yaya. With or without your help or consent," I say coldly. I'm done with her negativity. Yaya doesn't say anything. I close my book and grab my bag. "I'm going over to Utau's room to study." I walk over to the door. I'm halfway out the door when Yaya stops me.
"I'm coming." I stop, but don't turn around. "I'm coming with you." I turn around. Yaya sits kneeling on her bed with her books spread around her.
"You really are?" I ask. I hide a smile. She nods.
"I know how much Nagi-kun means to you. I know I've been selfish by not helping you, but I'm just worried Rima-chan. I really don't want to lose you or anyone else, I've already live through that more than enough times," Yaya explains. I smile and walk over to her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I promise, we'll all come back alive; safe and sound," I reassure her. Yaya smiles back at me.
I go to Utau and Amu's room afterwards. I feel a little guilty about tricking my best friend. What kind of friend tricks them into going into a dangerous journey? That's right, me, because I'm a horrible friend. I keep telling myself that all of this is for Nagi, but how far will I go for him? I don't even know where to start? Will I be willing to die for Nagi?
I shake my head or all those thoughts. I'm getting off-topic. I should keep my head cleared. I have Yaya on my side and all I need is Kairi's brain power to help me think of a full proof plan. Then we go save Nagi and come home. It'll all be good, right?
"Rima, are you alright?" Utau asks. We both sit on her bed. Her room looks exactly like mine, but backwards. I blink a few times and shake my head again.
"Yeah," I say.
"You sure? You spaced out there," she says, picking up a piece of paper that floated to the ground. I nod and look at the wall clock.
"I should get going. It's almost time for dinner, and you know what happens when we're late." Utau rolls her eyes, but nods. I'm not the only one who doesn't like these rules.
I walk out and go to my room door. My hand is on the doorknob when I see movement in the corner of my eye. I turn in time to catch a glimpse of a person in a cloak, retreating down a corridor. By instinct and curiosity, I go own the direction the cloaked figure did, only to find the window in the corridor wide open. I go to it. In the distant, if I squint my eyes, I can see something too large to be a bird flying away.
No doubt a person. But we aren't allowed to use our wings, and even if we do, we always get caught one way or another. The faculty watches us like hawks. As if to prove my point, I see my mathematics teacher on the ground, chasing after the retreating figure. Even faculty won't risk using their wings. The only person I see does is Miyake-san, and in my opinion, he takes advantage of it. My mathematics teacher, Hayashida-san, stops an looks back at the school. His eyes go straight to me. Taking something out of his jacket pocket, reveals to me a blue slip; detention.
I sigh, but nod, closing the windows. It's really not fair. I didn't even do anything! I was just there at the wrong place at the wrong time. As I make my way down the corridor back to my room, something white catches my eye on the floor. Picking it up to dispose of it properly, I can't help my nosiness to read what's written.
There's a thin black line going down the side about 20% inward to the edge of the card. There's another one going along the bottom also 20% inward to the edge. Where the two lines meet, is a single pink cherry blossom flower. Right in the middle with big, clear, readable font says "I Can Help".
I stand there, staring at the card for a long time. I look down and up the hallway, searching for any cameras, waiting to capture the moment of me freaking out about this. Maybe even someone popping out saying "Gotcha!". That has to be it.
"Alright, what idiot was the one behind this? Come on out, I'm not dumb enough to fall for something like this?" I'm replied by an echo. How long will they keep this charade up? I sigh, stuffing the ridiculous card in my blazer pocket and hurrying my way down to the cafeteria. I already have detention once, I'm not risking for twice.
I go inside and slip into the lunch line. After getting food I look around for my friends. I see them at one of the long tables near the back. I sit between Kukai and Yaya.
"Rima, where were you?" Amu asks.
"Running late," I lie. I decide against telling them about the mysterious person or the note, or the fact that I got detention for nothing. Something in the back of my mind is keeping me from doing so.
"Well you should be careful," Kukai says, taking a long sip from his milk carton. "I almost got detention for being a few seconds late to class."
"The rules here really do seem very unreasonable," Utau says. "My wings have been aching to take flight, and the courses they give us don't give us enough time to fly." Ikuto stands up, pushing his lunch away.
"Well, I think it's time this school loosen up a bit." Before anyone can react, Ikuto spreads out his black wings. The whole cafeteria instantly shushes and looks directly at our table. Ikuto takes off, heading toward a big open window. The cafeteria has huge ceilings and is very big, so let me just put it out there when I say, Ikuto had a choice of how high to fly.
Spooking about everyone inside, he flies low enough to grab someones water from their tray. I see the smirk on his face as he signs off just as he flies through the window. The teachers are running around in a farce, trying to calm down the commotion. Everyone else is going crazy and some having panic attacks. Is it really that big of a deal?
I feel the air shift a bit around me and look up. Yaya, Utau, and Kukai are also in the air, their wings out to shine.
"Last one to Ikuto's a rotten Vulture!" Kukai shouts. The three take off in a flash, leaving a few feathers behind. The cafeteria goes into more hysterics. I look over, looking into Kairi's blue eyes. Under all that intelligence and common sense, I see that small playful shine that was developed when he first met Yaya. Smirking, we both let our wings come out and take off in the direction of our friends.
"Kairi, about how much trouble do you think we are going to get in?" I ask. Kairi and I both burst through the windows and into the beautiful day. I breath in the fresh air and let it out with a sigh.
"Who cares?" I think that's the first time I've ever heard Kairi say that. We both fly all the way up to the roof of the school, where we see the others are already there. Kairi and I simultaneously land on the roof.
"Wow, who knew you two were so slow?" Kukai comments.
"It's always the smart ones," Utau agrees. I give her a dirty look. "Rematch?" I nod eagerly and turn to the others. They look as determined as I am; very. We agree that the finish line is at the other end of the campus.
We stand at the edge of the roof and Kairi counts it down. At zero, I take off into the air. I'm ahead of everyone else, but I can see Yaya catching up to me. I feel the wind shift a bit and look just as Ikuto speeds ahead of me. He turns so that his back is to the ground. Both his hands are behind his head casually and a smirk on his lips.
"Gotta keep up, Squirt." Then zooms farther ahead of me. In my moment of distraction, Yaya decides to also take off ahead of me. Growling slightly at my new placement in our race, I pick up speed.
I make my way to slowly pass Yaya and to my biggest challenge; Ikuto. My wings feel tired and my adrenaline rush is running low. For a moment, I think I'm about to catch up to Ikuto, when I feel something cold wrap itself around my ankle. As I'm about to look down, I feel electrical pain soar through my body and I start to fall. I land flat on my back on the ground. My wings twitch violently and I can hardly move. The Sun beats down on my body and I feel like I'm being cooked in a human-sized oven. Was it this hot this morning?
A shadow passes over the Sun, relieving me of the searing pain. However, when I opened my eyes to meet my savior, my hope fell. Miyake-san has a very angry look on his face, that makes me think he is about to hit me. He suppresses the urge to do so and instead sighs.
"Report to my office, all of you; now." The tone in Miyake-san's voice is frightening, but not to me. For me, he sounds like an irritated man. I reluctantly get up, every muscle, bone, and nerve in my body in pain. I crawl out of the hole in the ground and see the others. They each crawl or limp out of holes in the ground like mine.
I look around and see that men in white toxin suits surrounding us. They each hold a large white gun, but a wire extends from the end which the bullet is supposed to come out of. The wire leads to a grapple which is tied around each of our ankles. I've seen those before; their suppose to let out a powerful electrical shock, that can kill, but it depends on what setting you put it to. From the looks of it, the dial seems to be on six. Six? The highest is ten, the kill shot. What is wrong with this school, are they trying to kill us? The damage a six out of ten can do, will cause very intense damage. Which is why that weapon is hardly ever supposed to be used.
Going to Miyake-san's office isn't easy – especially since it's on the top floor. We all fumble up the stairs, the men in suits following us from behind. They don't bother helping us as we're practically half dead. At one point, Kukai carries me on his back, which amazes me at the amount of strength he has. But the strength eventually dissolves and he collapses and I return the favor by giving him my shoulder to lean on. Amu faints once, which forces Utau to help her up and almost drag her up the forever going steps. Ikuto eventually has to sling Kairi over his shoulder and crawls a few flights of stairs. Every time one or two of us lagged behind, one of the men would poke us with the gun barrel warningly.
Every time someone passed us, they would either snicker or give us a look of pity. Apparently this type of torture isn't new to this school. When we finally make it to Miyake-san's office, we're exhausted and in need of medical care. I gasp for breath and struggle onto my feet. I make myself look as presentable as possible and knock on the door. There's a faint "come in!" and we make the final trek inside.
Thankfully, Miyake-san's office has two couches and doesn't say anything when we each plop down in front of his desk, where he patiently sits waiting. Each couch fits three people. Kukai, Kairi, and Utau share one, while Yaya, Ikuto, Amu, and I, squeeze into the other. Amu has to sit on Ikuto's lap, but no one complains. Right now, even the cold floor seems nice.
"I am sure you all know why you were asked to come here," Miyake-san starts. We all do our best to nod. "Very well. Do you know what the consequences of your actions are?" We don't do anything, this time.
"Half of your punishment was the sting guns. We only use them in the most desperate of times, however your actions have left us no choice." Yeah, because a simple "get down from the sky" would be more violent than electrocuting seven teens. I don't say this though. "The other half is detention, two weeks worth." None of us say anything. We all know that in a few days we'll be long gone.
"You seven have to understand that we have rules here at this academy. Rules are made to be followed; not an option to be followed. Without rules everyone is allowed to do whatever he or she wants. I could shoot all of you down right now and I wouldn't get my punishment for it because there would be no rules." I bet he would enjoy that very much. "I do understand that Tsukasa-san's rules were much less lenient than mine, but as you see; who stands as the higher rank?"
My fists clench at my sides. I'm just itching to use my last shred of strength to punch Miyake in the face. How dare he ridicule Tsukasa like that? And to his own students, no less! I can actually picture many more illegal things I can do to this man. I feel a warm hand on top of my clenched one. From the corner of my eye, I see Ikuto shake his head slightly. I can see him saying to me, "He isn't worth the effort." I unclench my fist and hold my composure, for now.
"You will report to room B402 everyday after school for three hours. If you have after school activities, I see that you let your advisor know on your own time," he says. "If you do not attend, I suggest you either have a very good reason or you would like your punishment be increased. Are these rules clear to you all?" We all try our best to nod.
"Good, I expect you look over what you have done, learn from your misbehavior, and see to it that you do not do it again. Now please leave my office and go to the infirmary." We all grunt and limp our way out of the office. I resist slamming the door behind me on my way out.
Instead of doing as he says, we go to Ikuto and Kukai's shared room. It's the closest room we can get to and then men are gone so they can't tell us not to do so. I'm not going all the way back to the first floor to the infirmary.
As soon as the door was opened, I collapse on the floor in a heap. Ikuto and Kukai fish out a first aid kit from under their beds that come with the room. We all do our best to patch ourselves up first before helping each other with the more difficult wounds.
I count eight bruises, around a dozen cuts on my legs, back, arms, and face. My wings have lost quite a bit of their feathers and there is a big scorch on my left big. Kairi estimates that I won't be able to fly for a week. So much for my plan. We try to get some rest before dinner.
Somehow, I'm not tired. My body wants nothing more than peaceful slumber, but my mind keeps whirring around. Nagi is still out there. He's in trouble. I need to find him, to save him. I'll take any punishment from Miyake as long as I bring Nagihiko back home in peace.
"Psst...Rima." I slowly turn around and wince. There's a bad bruise on my side that hurts when I move around too much. I come face to face with Amu. Ikuto and Kukai lay blankets down for us to sleep in. everyone else seems to be asleep except for the two of us. Ikuto and Utau are in Ikuto's bed. Kukai and Yaya are sharing Kukai's bed. Kairi is passed out on the couch and Amu and I willingly took the floor. We both are the more healthy ones of the group. "Sorry did I wake you?" I shake my head.
"Couldn't sleep. Same goes for you?" I ask. She nods and positions herself to look up at the ceiling. I do the same. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"I don't wanna go along with the plan anymore," she admits, biting her lip softly. My calm gaze turns into an intense stare.
"Why not?" I try to ask as calmly as possible.
"Did you know see what happened when we flew around the school? If we're caught escaping, who knows what will become of us. I don't want to take the chance of one of us getting seriously injured or even killed because we got caught; you probably even thought of that." She's right, I did come across the possibility. I sigh.
"I'm still not gonna give up. I already don't like taking all of you with me, and you don't have to go. After this traumatic experience, I'm starting to also second guess myself. Then I think: if Nagihiko and I switched places, would he give up on me?" I whisper softly. "You don't have to go. Just let me know and I won't question."
We keep silence for a while and I begin to think Amu fell asleep on me.
"I'll go, for now. But hear this Rima, when the time comes that this challenge is too great for us, I'm walking away without a second thought," she warns. Amu turns on her side with her back facing me, and soon I can hear the calmness of her breathing, signaling she's asleep.
I already have Yaya, who barely wants to come, and now Amu, who will give up and leave me at any moment. Nagihiko, if you can hear me, I'm starting to wonder if I can bring everyone home safely.
Sorry if this was long to update. I have horrible writer's block .
Since I'm also pre-writing, this story is on a temporary hold. Don't worry it's not long :)
Thanks for the wait! R&R!
~HAHE~