A/N: Welcome back to the Call for Blood! Sorry for going missing for a couple of days, but my drive to write suddenly vanished. Not that it stopped me, as I'm back with Chapter 5- Blade! Enjoy!
Chapter 5- Blade
"I thought sleeping on the futon was bad, but that couch is a fucking nightmare!" Adam said, before he cracked his back. "Ahh, I needed that!" he said, before his eyes narrowed. "Why did I sleep on the couch, again?" he asked himself, in his groggy state, before he heard his bedroom door slide open. Turning round, he saw Yukari stumble into the room, her hair an absolute mess. "Morning, Adam." She said, before stretching her arms. Looking at the time, Adam's eyes widened. "Oh, shit! We've got less than an hour and a half to get to school!" he said, before Yukari grabbed her bag and ran into the bathroom, slamming it behind her. Sighing, Adam went into his bedroom, grabbed his school uniform, and shut his door, before he stripped off his dirty clothes, and threw on his uniform, before he opened his closet, and grabbed his Hidden Blades, slamming them on his forearms, before he grabbed his jacket, and slid it on, obscuring the devices from view. As he finished straightening his collar, he heard the bathroom door open. Closing the closet, he opened his bedroom door, revealing Yukari in her own uniform, while grabbing the two school bags next to it. Holding out Yukari's, he asked her, "Looking for this?" Nodding, she took the bag, and smiled. "We should get going." She said, before Adam nodded. Grabbing his keys, he held the front door open for Yukari to exit first, before he shut the door, and locked it behind him. Looking at his watch, Adam said, "Best get going.", before looking to Yukari. "Lead the way. I usually take a… different route. But, I suggest we'd run." He said, before Yukari nodded, clearly remembering his alternate route of travel. "Alright then. Just stick close." She said, before dragging Adam down the street by his hand. Eventually, they reached the school. "Huh." Adam said to Yukari. "I'll need to remember that route." He said, as the students started to file inside the building. As Adam went to enter the school, he was stopped by a voice calling his name. "Hey, Robertson!" Turning round, he saw Izumi striding towards him.
"What's up, Izumi?" Adam asked, before Izumi smiled. "Couldn't help noticing you and Yukari entered the grounds together, despite the fact that you both live at opposite sides of the town." She said, before Adam blushed slightly. "She stayed over at mine last night. She felt safer that way." He explained, before Izumi smirked. "And there was no... ulterior motive to letting her stay over?" she asked, before Adam's eyes widened. "I swear, there wasn't! We're just friends, after all." He said quickly, causing the Head of Countermeasures to, unbeknownst to Adam, think to herself, "You are an idiot if that's all you think she is to you, Adam. I've seen how close you two are." Simply smiling and nodding, she jerked her head towards the school. "Well, if that's all, we should get going, before Kubodera wonders where we are." She said, before Adam gestured up the stairs. "Lead the way."
After settling into the class, Adam's eyes flashed towards Yukari, and saw that the girl was looking towards him. Winking at her, Adam saw Yukari blush, before looking back at her desk. Smiling to himself, he saw Kouichi walk in, causing his smile to fade. "Even though Izumi said that Takabayashi's heart problems were already present, I can't help feeling that Sakakibara had a part to play in his death. I mean, we did only make him a non-existent yesterday, then Takabayashi keeled over. It's too convenient." He thought to himself, before clenching his fist. As Kouichi sat down, Adam's gaze went over to the door again, just as Kubodera walked in. After the class settled down, Kubodera stood up a bit straighter, signifying that he wanted to address the room. "A terrible tragedy befell this class yesterday, as we lost one of our number. All we can do is wish the best for our classmate Takabayashi's spirit, and always remember to follow the class rules." He said, before a number of eyes darted towards Kouichi, Adam's being among them. "Someone gives me the word, I'm dropping him." He thought to himself, before he saw the teacher put a piece of paper in front of him. Sighing at the subject paper in front of him, he dove into his bag, and retrieved the necessary textbooks. "Piece of cake." He thought to himself, before he saw Kouichi look round the room, and stand up. Even though Adam saw a couple members of the class tense up, Kubodera included, nobody acknowledged the boy as he exited the room. Putting his head back down to his paper, Adam was sure he heard Kouichi faintly say, "Huh, so that's what they're doing.", before entering the room again, with nobody acknowledging him once again. "Seems he's starting to catch on." Adam thought, before he looked up, and saw Yukari smiling at him. Returning the smile, he got back to his work, and zoned out…
1 month later…
A month passed, and no other deaths connected to Class 3-3 occurred. Adam had gotten used to the presence of Yukari, who had stayed at Adam's house every night. This, embarrassingly for the pair, raised a lot of rumours that the two were dating, but they quickly quashed the rumours, to the disappointment of many. Due to this fact that the two were practically living together, they helped each other out with work for school, and soon enough, the months had rolled into July. This served to bring a chill to the air, and an unimaginable tension in Class 3-3, just in case the Calamity struck again. Even though the Calamity hadn't claimed yet another victim, Adam spent almost every second he wasn't working with Yukari researching the previous Calamities, hoping to find a possible solution.
One day, Adam and Yukari had met up with Izumi and Takako, and were walking towards the school, when Takako tapped Adam on the shoulder. "Can I talk to you in private for a minute?" she asked, before Adam nodded, and allowed himself to be dragged off round the corner. "Right, well, I've been wanting to ask you this for a while, but I wanted to do it in private." She explained, before Adam nodded, and gestured for her to continue. Taking a deep breath, she asked, "Those murders that occurred at around the same time as the first couple of Calamity related incidents. You'd disappear early in the school day, then the bodies would turn up." She said, before Adam's eyes narrowed. "What you driving at, Takako?" he asked, before she scowled. "It doesn't take an idiot to put it together, Adam. What I'm getting at is: Are you the killer from a few months ago?" she said, before Adam clicked his tongue, and looked at the ground. "Dammit." He said, before looking back at her, and she saw his eyes had darkened slightly. "Was I really that obvious?" he asked, with a darker tone to his voice, before she shook her head. "I just bet you weren't expecting to be found out by a fellow student. Relax, I won't tell anyone, not until you do. Just, if it comes to it, I think 3-3 could use those skills of yours." She said, before walking back round the corner to rejoin Izumi and Yukari, leaving Adam alone. Growling slightly, Adam slammed his fist into the wall in front of him. "You know what you need to do, Adam. No one can know about you." A voice inside him said, before he shook his head. "Tenent one: Stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent." He thought back, before he cracked his neck. "Now, I better catch them up." He said, running to catch up with the girls…
Soon after, the small group was entering the grounds, and looking round, Adam noticed Kubodera walking towards the school, the librarian Mr Chibiki beside him. "He doesn't look too good." Adam thought to himself, noticing Kubodera's pale complexion and poor state of dress, before he shook his head. "Probably nothing." He thought to himself, before he joined the rest of his group in walking up the stairs to the class. After conversing with his friends for a while, he sat down at his desk, and waited for Kubodera to come in and start the lesson. Eventually, the teacher slid the door open, and stumbled to the front of the class. Placing a large black bag on the stand in front of him, he said, "Good morning, everyone. I would just like to say, I am sorry.", causing a couple of students to look at each other in confusion. "I only wanted to get us all through this struggle, so you could all graduate alive and in good health." He continued, unzipping his bag, and reaching inside. "But, I am sorry to say, that I have reached the end of my road, and I wish you all luck for the future." He finished, before pulling from the bag a gleaming kitchen knife. As he brandished it, the sunlight beaming through the windows glared off the blade.
Suddenly, Kubodera started to flail the knife around, making some crazy noises while he did so. To Adam, it looked like he was trying to fight something off. Looking round, he noticed that no one was moving, clearly frozen still by shock, before his hand went inside his jacket, and clasped around the handle of a throwing knife. "I risk blowing my cover, but better that, than letting another person die." He thought to himself, before he lifted the knife. Just as he started to rise to his feet, Kubodera suddenly grabbed his knife with both hands, and plunged it into his neck, to the shock of the whole class. Even Adam came to a dead stop. "Dammit!" he thought, putting the knife back in his pocket, before Kubodera pulled the knife to the side of his neck, causing him to fall backwards onto the classroom's blackboard, before a spurt of blood shot from his neck, unfortunately covering poor Yukari, who just so happened to be sitting directly in front of him. As Yukari stared at Kubodera in shock, he continued to pull the knife through his neck, before his neck erupted in a fountain of blood, showering over the entire class. As a few drops of blood hit Adam's face, he raised a hand, and wiped it off, before he saw Kubodera fall to the ground, the knife flying from his hand, and landing next to his body in the slowly growing puddle of the teacher's blood. As the class looked at their teacher's lifeless body, Adam saw one of the students, Aya Ayano, clasp her head and scream, before the door slid open, revealing Mr Chibiki, who took one look at the scene before him, before turning to the class and saying, "Everybody, outside, now!" As he finished, the class ran out of the room screaming. As Adam went to exit, he saw another female student, Yumi Ogura, had fell out of her chair in shock, and was kneeling on the floor, staring blankly at the wall. Stepping over to her, he shook her gently, breaking her out of the trance she was in. "Yumi, let's go." He said, before she nodded, and allowed Adam to lead her out of the room. As the pair got into the corridor, Adam walked Yumi over to Ayano, before heading over to Izumi and the rest of the Countermeasures group.
"How could this have happened? We implemented a new countermeasure." Izumi said, before Adam placed a hand on her shoulder. "There was no guarantee that it would work. The countermeasure you tried before already had a 50/50 chance of success to begin with." He said, before the girl nodded. "So, what now?" she asked, before Adam sighed. "I think at this point, there's little point in pretending the countermeasures work anymore. The Calamity is in full swing, and the only thing we can do, besides giving up and accepting it, is try and find a way to stop it prematurely." He explained, before Izumi nodded. "So, what exactly are you saying?" Yukari asked, before Adam looked towards Kouichi and the eyepatched girl. "Since the countermeasures failed, we should make those two exist again." He said, before the group gasped, and look at Izumi, who hesitated, before she nodded. "Alright, those two will exist again, but there could be retribution for this." She warned, before Adam nodded. "There's no other choice." He said, before he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "First Yukari's mother, then Mizuno's sister, then Takabayashi, now Kubodera. All of these people died for nothing other than a stupid curse." He said, before embedding his fist into the wall. "FUCK!" he shouted, causing the group to jump. Placing a hand on his arm, Yukari said in an effort to calm him down, "Adam, there's nothing you could have done." Snapping his neck towards her, Adam sighed, before nodding. "You're right." He said, lifting his hand off the wall, only to have it grabbed by Yukari. "Does it hurt?" she asked, before Adam shook his head. "I've had worse scrapes." He said, before he saw Takako looking at him, her eyebrows raised, as she clearly understood the meaning behind his statement. "Something up, Takako?" he asked, before she shook her head. "Just wondering what you meant there." She said, before Adam smirked, and said, "I wasn't taught to take my hardships lying down back in Scotland." He said, before Takako nodded. "Fair enough." She said, before Adam saw Sakakibara and the eyepatched girl head up towards the roof. "I'll go and talk to them." Teshigawara said, before Izumi nodded, and allowed him to follow the pair. "I'm heading up too" she said, before going to head after him, but Adam looked at Yukari, who nodded, before he said, "I'm coming with you." Nodding, Izumi said, "If you want.", before Adam walked up to her. "I wasn't asking." He said, before heading up the stairs, leaving her to follow him.
Up on the roof, Adam saw Teshigawara, Kouichi and the eyepatched girl standing at the railing of the roof, where he and Izumi walked over. Looking over to Izumi, Adam gestured to the trio, signifying she could talk up first. Nodding, she walked over to the three, and said, "I'd get ready if I were you.", to Kouichi. "What are you talking about?" the boy asked, before Adam spoke up. "You two might exist again, but I'd get prepared for possible retribution from the other members of the class." He said, drawing Kouichi and the eyepatched girl's attention. "They'll blame you two for the countermeasures failing." He said, before Izumi nodded. "Well, if the class had told Sakakibara about the rules somehow, we wouldn't be having this conversation." The eyepatched girl said, before Adam looked to her. "I don't believe we've ever been officially introduced." He said, before extending a hand. "Adam Robertson." He said, before the girl shook his hand, and said, "Misaki. Mei Misaki.", causing Adam to nod. "Pleasure to meet you, Miss Misaki." He said, before a voice cleared their throat. "We should get back downstairs. We need to explain this to the class." Izumi said, before all the others nodded, and followed her back down the stairs, and as Adam leant against a wall, Izumi explained the new situation to the remaining members of Class 3-3.
As the questions started to erupt around the class, Adam walked over to Yukari, and held up a key. "I'm heading home, but I may not be there when you get back, so I had this cut just in case." He explained, before Yukari blushed and took the key. "Thank you, Adam." She said, before Adam smiled, and left the company of his friends, quickly hurrying out of the school. As he walked along, he became lost in thought, and as he stepped out to cross the road, he heard the honk of a car horn, causing him to turn rapidly, before diving to the side, dodging the vehicle as it sped past, and rolling to his feet. "Oh, no you don't!" he thought to himself, before he grappled up to the rooftops once again. "So, seems the Calamity targeted me." He thought to himself, before he pulled up his hood, and took off running. "Well, if it wants to kill me, it'll need to try harder than that." He continued, as he vaulted through his window. "Right, time to get ready for work." He said, as he changed out of his uniform, revealing his robes underneath, and threw it in the washing basket. As he pulled his hood up, he spied his Calamity file on the desk, open on the "Victims" page. Walking over to the desk, he picked up his pen, and scrawled, "Shoji Kubodera, teacher of Class 3-3, committed suicide in front of the class by stabbing himself in the neck with a knife.", before placing the pen to the side, closing the file and placing it back in the drawer of the desk. "Right, time to go to work." He said, before running up to the window, and leaping out, grappling up to the roofs, before sprinting off.
Eventually, after running across the roofs, Adam decided to take a breather, resting against a chimney stack, as he struggled to regain his breath. As he looked over the streets, he saw a large car park, which he saw a hooded man enter. Looking round, the figure headed straight for a pitch-black Dodge Charger. "This can't be good." Adam thought, as he felt his breath return. Grunting, he pushed himself off the chimney stack, before leaping off the roof…
As the hooded figure stepped up to the car, he looked round, before kneeling, and starting to pick the lock of the car. After a few seconds, the lock clicked, causing the figure to smirk, before he opened the driver's side door, and slid into the seat, not noticing Adam had slipped into the back seat, the shadows masking his face. As the thief busied himself, Adam rolled his eyes, before clearing his throat, causing the thief to turn in shock. "You know, in the future, if you're going to steal cars, don't fucking dress like a car thief, mate." Adam said, before the robber looked at him in fear. "Who are you, you a cop?" the figure asked, before Adam rolled his eyes. "Seriously, you seriously think I'm a cop? Cop covered head to toe in black robes, and kitted out with blades?" he asked, before the robber tried to hurriedly exit the car, before Adam yanked the door shut with his grapple. "You know, you have the mind of the genuine scholar, mate." He said, before the robber rolled down the window. "Yeah, that's good, get out the window." He said, before the robber fell out the window, and looked back in the car, noticing Adam had disappeared. As he looked around him in fear, he heard Adam yell "HEADS UP!", before turning to find Adam's legs wrapped round his neck, and flung to the side. As Adam rolled to his feet, the robber pulled out a knife. Raising an eyebrow, Adam said, "Really?", before he moved in a flash, disappearing in a blur, and stabbing the thug in the neck, watching the man bleed out. "Not a smart move, mate." He said, before he heard sirens in the distance. "Oh, shit!" he whispered, before taking off, leaving the body behind.
After running for god knows how long, Adam reached the rooftops across from his house, but he saw his group of friends further down the street. "You gotta be fucking kidding me!" He growled, before taking a running leap, quickly grappling through the window, and rolling to his feet. Immediately, he ran to his wardrobe, and threw his robes off, quickly changing into some casual clothes, before stuffing his robes under a pile of clothes at the bottom of his wardrobe, and closing the wardrobe doors, before hearing the front door click open. Peeking his head round the door, he saw Yukari and the group enter. "Hello, Adam! The others wanted to get some studying done, so I invited them over. That okay?" Yukari asked, before Adam shrugged. "Fine by me. Got some stuff I need to study too." He said, grabbing his books out his bag. Walking out into the living room, he said to the group…
"Alright, let's get to work!"
A/N: And another one bites the dust! You know, as I write these chapters, is it bad that I hear that song every time I write in a death due to the Calamity? Ah, fuck it. Not as if I have anything else to listen to. Anyway, see you all next time, in Chapter 6- Boat. Madman out!