06: Life Is A Game

"Not here either." Deep within the forest of Ayatsuki Academy, Ragna searched around keeping an eye out for any abnormal looking stones. To his luck, there were none. "Tch... How the hell am I suppose to find a small stone in a big ass forest? That stupid rabbit." His annoyance grew as he thought about Rachel making him do, what seemed to be, the impossible. "It's like looking for a needle in a haystack!" A branch suddenly whacked him in the face as he was passing by more trees. "Goddammit!" Clearly, he was not having the best day.

He finally came across what looked to be an entrance to a cave leading downward. Since he had no luck around the forest, he might as well try to search for something in there. As he continued to go deeper into the cave, the air around was getting thicker and harder to breathe.

"Damn... It's so dark in here I can't even see anything..." He tried to force himself to continue on just a little bit longer. But he was coughing due to the heavy atmosphere and was unable to move on any further without feeling like he was going to suffocate. "Why is the air so thick in here?" Then he remembered what Rachel had told him before.

"Do not stay there any longer than you have to. I cannot guarantee the seal will not notice you if you prolong your visit."

"Maybe the power of this seal is stronger in here... That stone might be nearby after all."

"AAHH!"

"!?" The sound of someone screaming made Ragna quickly go back the way he came and out of the cave.

"What the hell was that scream just now?" He prepared himself for anything just in case danger would come to him. It sounded like it came from much further ahead towards one of the school buildings. "I wonder if I should go check it out?" He thought about it for a bit and then decided to just go see what it was. If it was anything he should worry about, he'd rather find out about it now then be ignorant about it later.

It took a while, especially since the power of the school's seal was really having a strong effect on him, but Ragna was finally able to get a view of the school. So far there was nothing out of the ordinary. Everything seemed to be fine. It wasn't until he got a bit closer and recognized the body of a girl sprawled out on the ground in a pool of blood.

"I guess that scream was from you." The sight of the body didn't faze him. He'd seen his share of corpses. Most of them were from him anyway and most of the time, they looked much worse than this girl. He looked up checking out whatever open windows he could see. There were only two open. One being on the fifth floor and the other on the tenth. It wasn't impossible to believe falling from the fifth floor of this building would kill someone instantly, but Ragna couldn't help but feel something dark and suspicious coming from the tenth floor. "I bet my gut she fell from there." Speaking of his gut, he had to cover his mouth due to his stomach feeling like it was about to spill out of him. It wasn't because of the dead body, but rather because of this seal which seemed to be getting stronger the more he lingered around. "I should probably get going now otherwise I won't be able to leave..."

"I think it came from over here." Ragna heard a voice from the distance as well as the sound of multiple footsteps getting closer to his position. If they caught him here with a dead body, it would certainly not look good for him.

"I better leave now." Without any hesitation, Ragna quickly left the scene. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to get very far once again because of the seal.

"You sure you heard something?"

"I'm telling you, it sounded like a scream." The sound of two girls talking were getting closer. Ragna had no choice but to hide behind one of the trees since his body got heavy and he lacked the strength to force himself to continue.

"Heh... Today really isn't my day huh..." He leaned his head back against the tree hoping no one would bother to look over here.

"We were pretty far away. You sure it's here?"

"I don't know... It's more like...I feel it in my gut." After moving the final bush out of the way, one of the girls froze in her tracks.

"Celica?" Trinity saw her friend's face look pale and in fright. Once Trinity turned her head to see the sight before them, her eyes widened and she covered her mouth in shock of the scene. "Oh my god..." The two were silent until Trinity developed the courage to walk a little closer to the body.

"No!" Celica grabbed Trinity's yellow sleeve; her hands trembling the whole time. "Don't go any closer! This...this feels really terrible!"

"I think...we know that girl..."

"Huh?" Celica looked at the face of the body and indeed recognized it. "Isn't that...?"

"Keri..."

'Celica?' Ragna caught a glimpse of the young girl before collapsing on the ground.

"?" Celica thought she heard something and decided to look further.

"Where are you going?" Trinity asked.

"I think there's someone here..."

"We should call the NOL." Instead of listening to Trinity's words, Celica continued on. She felt something familiar was nearby. She wasn't sure how to explain it, but it was a lot more safer than this dark and evil feeling that had taken over the atmosphere. She scanned the area and went further in finally seeing a familiar figure laying on the ground.

"Ragna!?" She quickly rushed over to him hoping the same fate didn't befall him like Keri. But after she got on her knees and took a closer look at him, he was still alive. However, he was breathing heavily and was breaking out in a sweat. She touched his forehead with her hand and was surprised by how much he was burning up. "He has a really bad fever."

"Celica what are you doing? We should-?" Trinity was surprised once she saw Ragna resting his head on Celica's lap. "Ragna? What is he doing here?"

"We should get him out of here. He's burning up." Trinity saw her friend's face filled with worry over Ragna. She was a bit concerned about why Ragna was here in the first place as well as why he was so close to the body of their former classmate. But seeing how Celica's focus was all on him and his condition, she would help her dear friend out and get Ragna out of here before anyone else comes.

The sun had set for the day and the skies had darkened. The night had come. Kazuma didn't notice the time however. Ever since he came back to his room his whole body was shaken up and he sat in the corner of his bed.

"You've been like this for a while already. When are you going to accept what you did and move on?" Terumi sat on his chair watching Kazuma holding his knees to his chest.

"How do you expect me to just accept!? I'm not a murderer!"

"So I've noticed..."

"It was the same as earlier today. My body...I wasn't in control." Kazuma looked at his trembling hands before looking up at Terumi. "It was you wasn't it?"

"Are you really placing all of the blame on me?"

"But it was you wasn't it!?"
"Yes, and no." Kazuma was confused by Terumi's response. "I'm not the only one who pushed that girl."

"No! I didn't want to kill her!"

"Oh? So you admit you wanted to fuck her."

"Huh!?" Terumi started to snicker as he stared at Kazuma's face.

"Don't play dumb with me. I know exactly how you were feeling at the time."

"I wasn-"

"When her soft hands started to touch you in ways you've never experienced. How she was pressing her body against yours. She wasn't bad looking either. She was pretty hot. Don't lie to me. I know for a fact that you were quite turned on by her." Kazuma didn't know what to say. He couldn't deny Terumi's words because it was true. He did feel a bit aroused when that girl became so forward to him. He didn't like her whatsoever, but his body at the time was craving her.

"I did what was best for you."

"What was best?"

"If you had fucked that girl, she would have had you wrapped around her finger. You would have ended up just like that dog of hers. You know I'm right."

"But, did she really have to die?" Terumi just snickered at his response.

"She was just unlucky. Wrong place at the wrong time, I suppose." Regardless, it didn't help Kazuma at all. He knew where Terumi was coming from, but she didn't have to die. Surely there was another way. This man, Terumi, Kazuma knew there was something off about him ever since he appeared in his room. "Look kid, you're bored, I'm bored. Just think of it as a mild piece of entertainment."

"This isn't a game!"

"But it is! That's what you don't seem to get!" Terumi's gaze was intense. "Life is all a game. You just have to know how to play it. Let's face it, as socially awkward and weird you are, your life isn't going to get any better than this. That's why I'm here. Think about it, you finding me has to be more than a coincidence. It's like we were made for each other." It did come across Kazuma's head for a bit. About him of all people finding that strange stone tablet. He tried to blame it on luck, but something told him it was more than that. Like it was planned somehow.

Kazuma took out the tablet from his pocket to look at it. He noticed a small crack had appeared on the upper corner of it.

"That wasn't there before."

"Hehehee..." Terumi was snickering. Kazuma looked up at him wondering why he was laughing. "Don't mind me kid. I'm just...enjoying myself."

"...I see." Kazuma averted his gaze back to the stone. 'What have I gotten myself into?'

The sound of the door unlocking was heard, and upon it's opening walked Saya entering her home. The first thing that came into view was her living room to her right, and the small kitchen to the left. Neither room had her dear brother Ragna in them. He was most likely working, much to her disappointment. She decided to head straight to her room and get started on her homework as a way to pass the time until her dear brother came back. Before she entered, she saw Jin walk out of his room and his eyes came into contact with hers. She quickly averted her gaze away from him and hurried into her room. Jin said nothing to her and just continued to walk pass her.

Two hours had passed since Saya went to do her homework and not once had the two siblings spoke to each other. It was a quiet evening but despite how silent it was, it was a very heavy and nerve wrecking silence. During the whole time she worked on her homework, she would hear Jin walking around from time to time. Each time he passed by her door, Saya's body would tense up. It was as if he was stalking her somehow. It might just be her paranoia, but she wouldn't put it passed her if the former was true.

Now that she thought about it, Jin hadn't said a word to her since she came back from the hospital. Not that she was complaining or anything, but it seemed odd. Usually he would talk down to her and make her feel worthless every chance he got. But he didn't even so much as give her a dirty look. Maybe he was just too busy to pay her any mind. Ever since he got accepted to the Military Academy, he was always studying. Sometimes he would be home late because he would stay at the academy for a bit longer. She had hoped tonight would have been the same. At least she wouldn't have had to worry about him lingering around the halls like some kind of ghost.

She smiled at the thought as she remembered a certain fear her dear brother Ragna had. If Jin was a ghost, there's no way Ragna would have ever come back to this house.

The sound of her stomach interrupted her from her thoughts and she realized that she hadn't eaten anything since she came home. She decided to go into her kitchen and look for something hoping Jin wouldn't be around.

In her kitchen, Saya looked through her cabinets and fridge for something quick to eat. As she looked, Jin came into view as he headed for the front door.

"Where are you going?" She asked out of curiosity though she wasn't sure why she should even bother.

"I don't feel the need to answer trash like yourself." Saya looked down to the floor feeling a little hurt from his words. He opened the door and headed out locking it before walking away. A heavy weight was suddenly lifted off of Saya's shoulders once Jin was gone. She was curious about where he was going at this time of night, but immediately disregarded it as it would just interfere with her time of peace and tension free.

AN: Hey all! So it has been quite a while since I last updated. I didn't forget about this story, just that a lot of things had been going on in my life so this story had to be put on hold for a while. I've been writing it still during the time I was gone so I'll try to upload them whenever I can. Also, thank you all to those who reviewed! It really does make me happy to see I'm not just writing it for myself. I love it when others read my stuff and tell me their opinions of it so please review away! :)

And just to add, I was finally able to play BB:CP. That was pretty cool. But now we have to wait another 3 or 4 years for the next game. Stupid cliffhangers…...