A/N: Welcome back to the Call For Blood. Enjoy!
Chapter 2- Dollhouse
The next day, Adam settled down into his class, and was ready to listen to Kubodera's rambling, but his attention was drawn to a fellow member of the class, who he learned was called Sachiko Nakajima, asking the girl Adam had saved the previous day, who was called Yukari Sakuragi, "Did you hear about that murder down by the riverside?" As Yukari shook her head, Sachiko leaned in and continued, "He was found this morning, with a single stab wound to the neck. Some say he was mugged, but I don't think so. Too perfect a killing. No, I think it was premeditated.", causing Yukari to pale. "You mean…this could happen again?" she asked, before Sachiko shrugged. At the back of the class, Adam leant back in his chair and smirked slightly. "Something amusing, Robertson?" the voice of Izumi Akazawa asked, causing the boy to crack an eye open and look at her. "Nothing that you'll understand the meaning of, Akazawa." he said, causing the so called "Head of Countermeasures" to glare at him. She opened her mouth to retort, but the door to the class slid open, revealing Kubodera and the assistant teacher Miss Mikami. Closing her mouth, Izumi walked over to her desk. Following behind the two teachers, in came the same black haired girl with the eyepatch Adam had noticed watching him from the roof the previous day. Walking over to the weathered desk, the girl lowered herself into it. Taking a glance over at her, Adam thought, "I should ask, but then there's the fact that Akazawa told me to treat the occupant of that desk like they don't exist. Couple that with the fact that the wankstain of a Principal has told me to follow any advice that Akazawa and the other students give me." he thought to himself, before he sighed. "Fuck it, I'll play along, for now at least. Doesn't seem like she's very talkative to begin with." Finishing his thoughts, Adam turned his gaze back to the front of the class, where the two teachers were getting ready to start the lesson…
After a few minutes, Adam groaned, and got up from his seat. "Mr Robertson, where do you think you're going?" Miss Mikami asked, as Adam slung his bag over his shoulder. "Seeing as I'm a fluent speaker of the English language, I feel as if I'm wasting my time, so I'm going to the library." The boy explained, before Kubodera nodded. "Very well, but I ask that you take Miss Izumi with you. She doesn't need to be here, either, seeing as she's completed all the work for now." he said, causing Adam to look to the girl in question, who simply glared at him while she packed up her things. "Fine, then, lead the way, Miss Izumi." He said, before letting the girl lead him out the room. After a minute, the two reached the library, which they entered, and Adam immediately sat down at a table at the window, took out one of his books from his bag, and started to work through his tasks. While he intended to work quickly, he was caught off guard by a bag being placed on the table in front of him. Looking up, he saw Izumi slide into the chair opposite him. "Can I help you?" he asked, before Izumi smirked. "Be honest, Robertson. You weren't planning on coming here. If Kubodera hadn't told you to bring me along, you would have gone home." She said, before Adam smiled faintly. "You're too smart for your own good, Miss Akazawa." He replied, causing the girl to adopt a smug smile. "Comes with the position." She said, before Adam sat up a bit straighter. "Which position is that, the Head of Countermeasures?" he asked, before Izumi nodded. "But what are you putting countermeasures against?" he asked, before Izumi's face darkened. "You don't need to know." She said, before Adam scowled. "Really, because I believe I should at least know why everyone looks at me like I'm the suspect in a murder trial." he said, before Izumi glared at him.
"Alright, I'll put this as simply as I can. But, on your own head be it." She said, before she took a deep breath, and continued. "Class 3-3…it's cursed." She said, before Adam raised an eyebrow. "Cursed?" he asked, before Izumi nodded. "Each year, thanks to an extra person in the class, a person connected to the class dies each month." she said, before Adam's eyes widened, as he remembered the previous day, and Yukari's fall down the stairs. "And these deaths, I'm going to presume they look like accidents?" he asked, before Izumi nodded. "I presume you're referring to Yukari's 'accident' yesterday?" she asked, getting a nod from Adam. "Well, the curse affects not only the students and teachers, but their families, within two degrees of separation." She continued, before Adam's eyes narrowed. "So, that includes siblings, parents and grandparents." He guessed, before Izumi nodded. "Alright, so why are you telling me this?" he asked, before Izumi's face darkened. "I think that the extra person was here before you arrived, meaning the curse has already started, so you can't be held responsible. Yesterday, Yukari would have died, if you hadn't saved her. But, her mum was in a car crash yesterday as well, and she died." The girl said, before Adam nodded. "Alright, I believe you." He said, before Izumi looked at him in confusion. "You're taking this remarkably well." She said, before Adam smirked. "With the amount of shit I've seen in my life, I've learned that nothing is impossible." He said, before he closed the book he was reading, placed it in his bag, and leaned forward again. "So, one last thing." He said, before Izumi straightened up slightly. "What's the deal with the non-existent person? The one with the old desk?" he asked, before Izumi sighed. "To try and ward off the curse, one countermeasure that was devised involves treating someone like they don't exist. This makes up for the extra student." She explained, before Adam sighed.
"Well, if that's all, I'm going to head." Adam said, getting up to leave. Nodding, Izumi said, "Be careful out there." Smirking, Adam looked back and replied with, "Always am. Tell Kubodera where I went." He said, before he walked away, waving farewell to Izumi before the door shut. "Huh, that boy's… interesting, to say the least. If the calamity is underway, he strikes me as someone who could be a valuable help to the class." Izumi thought, before getting up to fetch a book from the bookshelves…
After exiting the library, Adam went up to the roof, and looked out over the town. Going behind the stairway, he started to remove his school uniform, revealing his Assassin's robes underneath. Opening his bag, he clipped his weapons and supply pouches on, before stuffing his uniform into his bag, pulling up his hood, and leaping off the roof, landing in the top of a tree, before starting to leap from branch to branch, ending with a roll on the ground, and sprinting off. Exiting the gates, he grappled up to a rooftop, and used the forward momentum to continue his running. Eventually, he decided to slow to a halt when he heard a scream. Looking over the edge of the rooftop he was on, he saw a man struggling to pin a woman against a wall, a knife in his hand. Sighing, Adam leapt off the roof, landing next to the pair, and startling the man. Looking to the woman, Adam jerked his head to the side, causing the woman to nod, before she said, "Thanks.", and took off.
Cracking his knuckles, Adam said, "You call yourself a man? Last I checked, men didn't beat on women, and still be able to call themselves a man.", causing the man to growl. Almost immediately, he tried to throw the knife at Adam, who simply sighed, raised a hand, and caught it. Tossing it away, the Assassin said, "Really?", before the man launched into a punch aimed at him. Raising his hand again, Adam caught the fist, and started to twist, causing the man to fall to his knees. "Usually, I'd just cripple you and be on my way, but you're that pathetic, I'm not even going to waste my energy." he said, before flicking his free wrist, his Hidden Blade springing from the mechanism. "See you in hell." He said, before bringing the blade down…
Later, after scrubbing the blood off his blade at his house, Adam decided to go back out for another rooftop run. Climbing back onto the roof, he decided to head to the general area of the school, and took off. Getting close to the school gates, he stopped when he saw a figure step out of the gates, and ducked behind a chimney stack on the roof next to him. Peeking out, he saw the eyepatch wearing girl from earlier walking down the street. Deciding to follow her, he kept himself at a safe distance, and ducked behind chimneys when she looked back. Eventually, the girl entered what looked like a shop, and if the dolls Adam could see in the window were any indication, he was going to hate this place. Ducking behind a chimney stack, he pulled his uniform out of his bag and quickly threw it on over his robes, hiding his hood under his jacket, stuffed his gear in his bag, and leapt off the roof. Landing on the street below, he walked up to the shop, put his hand on the doorknob, and entered the building.
Inside, Adam saw shelves full of dolls, causing him to shiver slightly. As he went to walk further in, a voice caused him to spin round. "Are you here to buy something?" the source of the voice, which was revealed to be an elderly woman standing at the till, asked, before Adam smiled. "Just browsing." He said, before the woman's eyes locked onto his school uniform. "Ah, are you a student at the school?" she asked, before Adam smiled. "Yeah, I am." He said, before the woman nodded. "Well, in that case, I can say you get a discount on any doll you purchase. I can also put on a cup of tea if you'd like." She asked, before Adam held up a hand. "I'll hold off on the tea, thanks." He explained, before the woman smirked. "Well, take as long as you want. I have no other customers." She said, causing a shiver to erupt up Adam's spine. "Okaaay…" he said quietly, before turning to look around the shop. After walking round the main shop, he decided to check the lower level. Walking down the stairs, he saw a number of dolls that were even more unsettling than the ones upstairs, but the most unsettling was the doll in a coffin, which heavily resembled the eyepatch-wearing girl from school.
Stepping over to the coffin, he examined the doll's face, before a voice cleared their throat, causing him to spin round, coming face to face with the eye patched girl. "It's scary, isn't it? How much it looks like me." The girl asked, before Adam nodded. "Who are you?" he asked, before the girl sighed. "Even after being told to ignore my existence, you still follow me to this place." She said, before Adam's eyes narrowed. "She noticed. What the fuck?" he thought to himself, before the girl smirked. "I could tell it was you." She said, before Adam smirked. "You're good, girl." he said, before going to walk past her. "I suggest you don't come back here." the girl said, before walking through the curtain behind the coffin and disappearing. "Right, I'm getting the fuck out here." Adam whispered to himself, taking one last look at the doll in the coffin, before taking off up the stairs. "Oh, that's you off?" the woman at the till asked, before Adam nodded. "Yeah, I didn't find anything that struck my fancy, so I'm heading off. See you." he said, before exiting the shop.
Outside, Adam let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "So, seems I've got a lot to think on." He said, before noticing the clouds above were starting to darken. "Shit." He thought, before grappling up to a rooftop and running home...
A/N: There we have it! I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. See you lot next chapter. Madman out!
P.S. Also, if you're thinking why I use random words like "Umbrella" and "Dollhouse" for the chapter titles, the reason is because those words do relate to Another in one way or another, Umbrella referring to the method of Yukari's death, and Dollhouse for the doll shop.