03: We're The Same
It was the early morning and lying on his bed, Kazuma could hear the students walking about in the halls going on there way to class.
"Another day."
"Shouldn't you be getting up?" The strange spirit was watching Kazuma procrastinate. He introduced himself as Terumi. But, unfortunately for Kazuma, that was all he was willing to say about himself. "It is time for school after all."
"It's only fifteen minutes away from the classroom building." He sat up on his bed stretching his arms out while yawning.
"You just don't want to deal with any of those kids." The hooded-man disappeared as Kazuma got up and started to get ready for another day of school.
Once at his classroom, Kazuma took his seat and waited for the class to officially start. The other students were scattered throughout the classroom, talking to each other about different things. Kazuma couldn't help but overhear one of the conversations taking place.
"It's that new kid again."
"I tried talking to him yesterday. He just kind of blew me off."
"Me too. He's kind of rude."
"He probably thinks he's top shit and all."
"I can't stand people like him"
Kazuma just sighed as he looked to the window over to his left.
'There they go again speaking a whole bunch of nonsense.'
"You want to go over there and tell them off?" At the sound of the voice, Kazuma quickly looked behind him and saw Terumi sitting there by the desk. His sudden appearance startled him, making him jolt up from his seat.
"W-What are you doing here!?"
"I thought we've been over this already? And you might want to settle down. You're drawing unwanted attention." Just as he said, Kazuma noticed how silent the class became and they were all watching him with confused eyes.
"What the heck is his problem?"
"Aww did a little bug scare you, new kid?" One of them teased causing some of them to laugh at him. Kazuma was a little puzzled by that sentence however.
'A bug?' Then it dawned on him. 'No one can see him?' It makes sense. Considering he is kind of like a ghost.
"Why are they laughing? Is that supposed to be funny or something?" Terumi looked at them confused. Kazuma decided to ignore him however until he was alone. So ignoring the rest of the class as well, he sat back down in his seat. But geez... They were talking about him a lot more now. It was very distracting.
"Hello." Kazuma looked up and saw that girl again standing in front of his desk. If he remembered correctly, her name was Trinity.
"...H-Hi." She smiled at him and then took her seat.
"Are you enjoying our school so far?" She asked, though she was immediately distracted by the other students being obnoxious about what just happened. Trinity didn't really know what they were talking about since she had walked in right after that little scene. But she knew they were talking about Kazuma and it bothered her.
"Alright kids, get in your seats." Miss Konoe walked in and the classroom quickly became silent with only the sound of the students getting back in their seats. Terumi saw one of them walking towards the desk he was sitting at.
"I guess I should give him his seat back." Just as he was about to sit down, the chair suddenly pulled back resulting with the kid falling hard onto the wooden floor. The rest of the class broke out into laughter and both Trinity and Kazuma looked behind them and saw him on the floor.
"Ooops! Sorry kid, didn't mean to do that. But, why am I apologizing? It's not like you can hear me." Terumi looked over to Kazuma grinning before he decided to disappear.
Classes were over for the day and instead of going back to the dorms, Kazuma decided to make a visit at the school's library. To his surprise, the school had a pretty massive collection. He went from aisle to aisle looking through the different genres; seeing what caught his interest.
"I'm sure everything will be fine." A familiar voice caught his attention. He peeked out from behind the bookshelf and saw Trinity along with that other girl. He remembered Trinity calling her Celica.
"I just hope he doesn't shut me out. I thought we were getting closer too..."
"I wonder how your sister will take it if she found out you and him were a couple?"
"I don't think I want her to find out if that happens..." The two girls continued to talk until Celica took notice of Kazuma who had quickly looked away from them.
"What's wrong?" Trinity asked.
"It's him...Kazuma." Trinity looked over to the bookshelf and decided to walk on over. "T-Trinity, let's just leave him alone. He doesn't want to be bothered by us anyway." Celica tried to get her friend's attention but to no avail, as Trinity looked behind the bookshelf and saw Kazuma with his face buried in a book.
"Hello again." Her cheerful voice made him nervous.
'Why did she come here?' He glanced over at her and saw her covering her mouth with her hand with a tint of pink going across her cheeks.
"Oh my... I would have never guessed you were into that."
"Huh?" He noticed her eyes fixated on the cover of the book he had. He didn't really know what he grabbed actually. He just kind of grabbed the first thing that was available to him in hopes they wouldn't notice him. At least Trinity. But then, he realized a very...'erotic' picture on one of the pages. "W-Woah!" He quickly shut the book and took a look at the cover.
A Book Full of Pussies
And there was a picture of a cat right under the title. 'How clever...' He thought sarcastically. The book looked terrible as well. It was completely worn and kind of dirty... He immediately dropped the book deciding not to think about it any more than he needed to.
"A book full of pussies indeed." Terumi appeared by Kazuma's side taking amusement by his embarrassment. His face was completely red. "Geez kid... You act like you've never seen a vagina before."
"I haven't!"
"I'm sorry?" He was too busy being embarrassed, Kazuma had forgotten Trinity was there.
"I-I wasn't... I mean...!" He couldn't get his words together.
"You're so lame." The hooded-figure just leaned back against the bookshelf and sighed. Trinity saw how red Kazuma's face became. She couldn't help but giggle at his predicament.
"It's okay. You couldn't have known about 'that' particular book anyway." She knelt down and grabbed the book, placing it back into one of the empty spaces in the shelf. Kazuma looked at her confused wondering what she meant by that sentence. "That book is kind of famous here. Everyone knows about it, but no one knows where it came from or whose it belongs too. It's kind of strange in a way I guess. But...you looked like you were...'reading' it."
"I-I didn't know it had stuff like 'that' in there!"
"Oh? Even after seeing the first page your eyes laid on? It seemed like you were quite absorbed in it to me." She smiled, teasing him a bit.
"I wasn't!"
"Relax kid." Terumi sighed again. "It's only porn. No need to get so flustered about it. Also, what kind of seventeen year old boy are you? You should be having sex right now, or jerking off to some porn. What happened to your hormones kid? I thought every teenager went through shit like that?"
"E-Excuse me!" Kazuma turned and quickly walked away from Trinity leaving her alone to wonder if she perhaps offended him some how.
"Get away from me!" A man was frantically stumbling back eventually making it against the wall in a dark alleyway. Standing a few feet away from him stood the silhouette of a man. He couldn't make out his face because it was so dark. The only thing he did see was a glowing, red eye staring right at him. That was when the man realized who this figure was. "You. You're that infamous, Bloodedge aren't you?"
"Just give back what you stole. I'm not gonna say it again." His voice was intimidating but the man didn't listen. So instead, he took out a gun from his back pocket and aimed it right at the man called Bloodedge.
"Look man, I don't have it! It's like what I told that snobby little bitch yesterday, I lost it! Now fuck off!" The man smiled with no sign of letting his gun go. "I can't believe this." He laughed. "You're that bitch's dog huh. Well, either way, I don't give a shit! But you know something, if I kill you here, I'll be well known. No one will ever think about fucking with me!" The man seemed pretty confident. In fact, he was probably already making plans about the fantastic future he seemed so sure of. Either that, or he was just talking out of his ass. Whatever the case, Bloodedge was here for one thing. And this man didn't have it. Unless he was just wasting his time. "Anyway, no hard feelings. But there's still things I need to do. I can't afford to die here just yet!" The second the man pulled the trigger, the silhouette figure immediately dodged the bullet and rushed towards the man. "What the fu-" Before he could finish, a jolt of pain went through his whole body and he soon dropped his gun. The man's eyes widened in shock as he looked down to see the arm of Bloodedge plunged deep within his chest feeling his hand clenching at his heart. The blood that was seeping out was somehow traveling up his killer's arm all the way up to the side of his face and going into his red eye. He didn't know what was going on or how to describe it. "D...Demon... You're a...!"
"Sorry, but there's things I still need to do as well... No hard feelings." The man tried to say something else, despite it getting harder to speak. But at that moment, Bloodedge tightened his grip around the man's heart, squeezing it until it seemed to 'pop' in his hand, instantly killing him. He pulled his hand out, dropping the body of the man who was breathing just a second ago. Any remaining blood that was on his arm was quickly absorbed by his glowing red eye. "Ugh... I can never get used to this feeling."
"Big brother?"
"...?" Saya called out to her older brother, who was apparently daydreaming.
"You weren't listening to me at all were you?" She asked pouting. The two were sitting in a small ice cream shop with Saya having a tall banana split sundae.
"I'm sorry Saya. I just...have a lot on my mind that's all."
"Is your job giving you a hard time?" She asked. She was completely oblivious to what her brother Ragna really did at his job. There's no way he was going to tell her that. He didn't want anyone to know. Jin as well as Konoe knew what he really did but they kind of found out by chance. Unfortunately for Ragna.
"I guess you could say that. One of our guys lost something important to our boss so I had to...fire him."
"That must have been hard for you."
"I guess. My boss can be a real pain. And she's always ordering me around, and giving me messed up jobs like that. So it had to be done. ...I think I'm getting used to firing people now."
"Well, at least you don't have to worry about being one of them." She smiled. "From the sounds of it, I think your boss trusts you. She's always ordering you around because she knows you'll get the job done. It just means you're very good at what you do." She smiled innocently while Ragna couldn't help but feel a bit bothered by what she said. It wasn't her fault though. She didn't know any better.
"Anyway, hurry up and finish that so we can get out of here." He smiled at her, putting his real feelings aside for the time being. "I still have to make dinner you know. You shouldn't even be eating that right now."
"But you said you would treat me after school today. And I've been wanting this during the whole time I was in the hospital."
"I know. Just make sure you eat your dinner too. Even if it is just a little bit."
"Hey, big brother?" Oh no. He thought. He already knew what she was going to ask.
"Y-yes Saya?"
"Do you think...I can try making dinner tonight?" A heavy silence filled the air as she stared at him with her innocent, big green eyes. The question was harmless. She just wanted her brother's permission to cook for their little family. But...Ragna knew better.
"..."
"..."
"..." Ragna reached his hand out and gently pat his sister's head. "...You're so cute."
"You're dodging my question again!"
The night time had come and Kazuma had just finished up his studies. His stomach started growling, reminding him to eat something.
"I wonder what I should make?" He remembered the dorm having it's own kitchen stationed in the first floor. But, when he looked at the time and saw that it was only going on 7P.M., he decided to get something later. He had a feeling some of the boys were down there already. And, well, he just didn't feel like being bothered by them at the moment...or ever.
"Let me guess." Terumi was sitting on the bed. "You're going to starve yourself just because those little shits are in the kitchen?"
"I'm not starving myself. I'm going to eat. Just...not right now."
"Again, because there's shit in the kitchen. I guess I'd be pretty offended too." He snickered. "But, you're human too aren't you? What's so wrong about getting something to eat?"
"There's nothing wrong with it. I just don't want to be bothered by them. The minute I show up, they immediately start talking. I can't stand it..."
"So let them talk. Who cares about them anyway? You're hungry right? So go and get something." Rather than listening to him, Kazuma ignored him and started to examine the tablet once again. He stared at the strange design mesmerized by the drawing. There was something about it that fascinated him. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but...there was something weird about it. Other than bringing a strange ghost with it that is.
"Why won't you tell me more about this?" Kazuma asked.
"Because there's nothing more to say."
"You're lying aren't you?" He was curious. At this, Terumi's face formed a big smile.
"Oh, if there's one thing I can't stand, it's lies." A menacing aura slowly started creeping up at Kazuma. His body tensed up to the sudden pressure he was feeling. "And besides, I can't tell you anything more about that tablet or myself even if I wanted to."
"Why is that?"
"It's because I don't know anything about myself or that piece of stone." At that sentence, Kazuma couldn't help but think about himself. That was when he came to a conclusion.
"You're...just like me."
"What do you mean?"
"You have amnesia." The two stared at each other for a bit as they realized the one thing they both had in common.
"So...I guess we're the same. At least in that aspect. You don't know anything about yourself either."
"Just of the things Relius told me."
"And that is?" Terumi was curious.
"He said he found me in a hospital in the intensive care unit. Apparently, I was in a really bad car accident. That was three years ago. I can't really remember anything from that day. Everything was so hazy. And from all the drugs they had me on, I could barely make out what he was saying either."
"What about your parents?"
"They died in the accident. I don't even know what they look like."
"I guess this Relius person has been like a father-figure to you for these past three years." Kazuma just looked out the window as he thought of the man, Relius Clover.
"I guess, one would think that. But, to be honest, I never once saw him like a father."
"So you hate him?"
"No, I don't hate him. I do respect him in a way. The man is very intelligent. And a lot of the things he'd say or do always seem to make sense to me. But...I couldn't help but feel this sense of uneasiness around him. It felt like he was always hiding something. ...Something very terrible." The two kept silent for a bit while Terumi thought about Kazuma.
'So that's why he's so awkward with everyone...' Kazuma looked back at the clock once again and saw it was a little bit passed 7 o' clock.
"Maybe I should try checking if anyone's there." He decided to make a trip to the kitchen downstairs. When he got up from his chair, a sudden sharp pain appeared on his index finger, taking him by surprise and making him drop the tablet onto the ground. As Kazuma started checking his finger, a drop of his blood fell onto the tablet and Terumi saw it glow for just a brief second before the blood drop vanished. Terumi smiled once again before he too vanished as well. Kazuma looked around wondering if he was still here.
"I guess he disappeared again."
I'm so glad this story got some attention. I was really thinking about what to do with this story and I got a few ideas for it. So I'm glad I was able to get some feedback for it to make me keep going. You have no idea how happy I was *_*
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review! Reviews are quite lovely~