[SPECIAL: A Girl Named Dina...]

Her reflection served as company.

If no one else noticed the space she'd kept for herself, pressed against the corner, back guarded with two desks shielding her, it would be for the best.

The teacher was always late. Whether or not they even arrived was up to chance. Whether or not they taught was up to chance. It didn't help that she always arrived as early as possible.

There was nothing but overcast and drab architecture outside the window, but if she looked preoccupied, she'd stick out less. So she kept to herself, quieter than a mouse, still as a statue, postponing the torment.

But it couldn't last forever.

"Oy."

Her nose stopped. She intensified her gaze.

" 'Looney', innit?"

Useless.

"Guard dog's ran late now. Wuz'at about?"

She hoped her breathing hadn't grown too loud.

"'Cus she woke up 'n went 'the runny bitch ain't worth the effort' didn' she!?"

The others had joined in.

"See I never got that about you, you're too good to go n' sit with us lower vermin, yeah?"

"She's a gross fuckin' specimen herself, keep her over there! We'll catch something!"

"Now now now, let's have it from her! What makes YOU so damn special?"

She was too rattled to answer. A sudden bang on her desk forced a jump from the child, and laughter from the others.

"Poor bitch, she'll wet herself any second now!"

Her shaking eyes were forced to a spot near the middle of the other students.

"S'alright. Look, we even saved you a seat! See, aren't we a nice bunch?"

"Go on then! Join us! Be a part of the discussion!"

If she did, if she didn't, it wouldn't matter.

"I'm fine right here."

"FUCK WUZ'AT!? SPEAK UP, LOONY!"

'I said I'm fi-"

Milk slid down her head.

"Fine then, you smelly bitch. Have one more reason, yeah?"

She kept herself calm. The emptied carton bounced off her head, and for a time, the stunt was the talk of the class.

BANG!

It didn't last long.

"Oh of course the bloke's not even here…!"

Her ruby eyes immediately locked onto her, and then to the others. "Mh. Odd," she mused before strolling toward her target.

Somehow, every carton exploded at once as she walked by, dousing everyone but her.

"Yo, Luna!" she greeted amidst the disgusted screams and groans, throwing down her bag, and then herself, onto a chair.

Luna sat a bit taller, even with chocolate milk all over her; after all, everyone else was much the same.

"Hi, Dina," she smiled. Her own sky-blue eyes twinkled.

"Chesta's come down with a case'a the sniffles, sorry sod. Speakin' of, seems everyone's gone'n soddened 'emselves with milk. Bit of a weird day, yeah? What, is this some holiday I don't know about or what? An' if so, why the heck're we all in school for it?"

Luna slyly smiled. "You really didn't need to do that…"

Dina innocently tilted her head. "Huh? Do what?"

"YOU KNOW WHAT, YOU FREAKY SHIT!" The same kid from before shot out of his seat. "MONSTERS LIKE YOU OUGHT BE BURNED LIKE CLOUDHUFFERS!"

The ruby-eyed girl glanced at him, before kicking a desk into his chest. "Language, twat."

"Dina…!"

"Oh stop, I didn't hear a crunch."

"I did!"

"Er, well… look at 'im! He's standing fine on his own!" She pointed to the boy, who'd begun struggling to his feet, hacking saliva and snot.

"SH...ITTY... FREAK EXTRAOR... DINAIRE...!"

"Aw, he's got moxie!" Dina slanted her eyes, giving him a fanged grin. "I like that."

He stood there for a moment in fear, before backing out of the classroom in a staggered run.

Dina shrugged. "Ah well. Can't all be winners. 'Cept me."

Luna thwacked her on the back of the head.

"Ouch…!" She turned to the blue-eyed girl. "What gives?"

"You could stand to be more considerate, you know."

"... I don't follow."

"How do I…"

"SPAURK!"

Dina smirked. "We'll talk more at lunch, yeah?"

Luna smiled. "Of course."

With a twirl and an "I'LL KNOW!" to the other students, she departed.

The sole blue-eyed girl twiddled with the desk's chipped wood.

"You're the strongest, right?"

"Sure am," Dina verified between munches of potato crisps.

The Caelum Civitatus loomed over the black-haired girl. "With all that power you have, you're practically a demigod."

"Demi?"

"Dina…!"

Before Luna's narrowed eyes, the ruby-eyed girl lowered her posture. "S-sure, I'll take demi."

"As I was saying… you're so far above everyone else, it's like an adult around toddlers and even that's underselling it. But everyone has that, it seems."

"Mate I've got a C in Language Arts. Please."

"Power over someone, power over something. And everyone abuses it."

Dina's eyes locked in.

"I'm not saying you do but, you really enjoy being top dog, don't you? It's becoming concerning."

"Come on, Luna, I just like putting jerks in their place."

"And where is that place exactly, Dina?"

"Away from you."

Luna looked away.

"Are you really chastising me for punishing pissants? 'Cus I think I'm going soft, personally."

"No, it's… just…" She rested a hand on Dina's shoulder. "You're strong enough to have options. You don't have to bludgeon others, just 'cause you can. You don't need to worry about self-defense. Am I right?"

"Options…? Like, what? Asking them nicely to leave you be? Gatherin' them in song like the movies?"

Luna stared through Dina, as if expecting a retort to leave her mouth if there were just enough time.

"... You're too nice for your own good, Luna." Dina went in and hugged her. "Will a piggyback on Dina Airlines cheer you up?"

"I'm just sick of it, Dina."

"Hm?"

Her face sank into Dina's shoulder. "It's just a food chain. And I'm on the bottom. If I don't cling to you, I'll be eaten."

"Luna, I'm-"

"You could break it." She clung onto her, tighter and tighter. "You're the only one who could."

Dina's face cringed in frustration. "What are you- how then?"

"I don't know, I just-!" She cooled down, not before leaving a wet spot on Dina's shirt. "I'm sorry, I just started and-"

"No, no, it's fine. I… it's fine to let things out, when we're alone like this."

"..."

"... Luna… I know I'm wrong, but… if I did something… permanent… would that be what you meant?"

Her azure eyes shot open. "N-no! No of course not! I-I wouldn't! I'd nev-"

"Calm down mate, I know. I was just verifying, y'know."

"... good."

"... yep."

"..."

"... 'Cus I'd do it right now mate-"

"DINA!"

"Ah yeah I'd kill, like, trillions on the spot in your name worldwide, hell with it-"

"YOU'RE HORRIBLE!"

"I'd just call it blood sacrifices to my precious moon goddess at that point, I'd get RELIGIOUS, and VERY QUICKLY, I've already got my shrine, all I need's a death cult on the rear-"

"STOP IT YOU BEAST!" Luna squealed with an uncontrollable grin, pushing Dina with all her might.

"Finally dropping the serious act, are ya!?" the ruby-eyed girl laughed.

"Knowing YOU, there was a chance you'd do it, you loon!" the azure-eyed girl huffed. Dina's head plopped onto her shoulder.

"Say, Dina… can I come by your house, after school?"

Dina had a think. "... Nnno."

"What?" There was a genuine tint of shock in her voice. "Why not?"

"Because… it's a secret!" Dina tilted herself off Luna. "Don't worry, you'll like this one!"

She wasn't as subtle as she'd like to believe. It was obvious, her intentions.

Luna's heart sank behind her chest.

And as such, she kept a smile. "Oh! Lovely! I can't wait!"

It looked off to the ruby eyed girl. But a smile was a smile. "Right!" She to the school roof's doors, waving all the way as she careened through them without a care.

Luna waved back. She looked at her clothes, smelt them. They still reeked of milk.

She teared up.

Dina checked her watch. 6:59 PM, on the dot, as planned. She smiled deviously while zooming through the warm-toned clouds.

"(There's no way she coulda seen this coming!)" A giggle escaped through her teeth. She landed on the roof, intent on spooking her friend with a surprise entry through her window.

She wasn't there. In the house, certainly, for she felt her weird signature. But even as she opened her unlocked window, there was no sign of Luna.

Dina then heard her voice.

Drowned by one larger, angrier. Spiteful, nasty, slurred.

Her expression slowly lit aflame. Her hand lunged for the handle,

And then Luna's voice reached a shrill high. Something shattered.

Just the sound froze Dina. The banging of random surfaces continued. As did the enraged yelling. As did Luna's shriller voice, breaking and pleading.

It was different. Too different.

Dina's hand trembled. It recoiled from the handle. A wave of nausea slowly brought her to her knees. For the first time in her life, a petrifying fear took hold of her. Her mouth made a whimper, and she immediately clamped it shut, leaving her with her own sputtered, scattered breaths. The fear of having been heard, the acknowledgement, forced up tears.

She couldn't move. She could hardly breathe. Only think. Each one more harrowing than the last. Not until the violent noises subsided.

The sounds of slow footsteps up rickety stairs triggered flight. She ran for the window, desperately trying to close it. She leapt off, trying to speed off through the sky, but fell. Her ankle bruised in the mess of a landing, but she didn't care.

She sprinted into the night.

Dina hadn't slept.

She cried and woke up.

But if she didn't at least check on her, she'd be an even worse friend.

Knck-knck-knck.

She had to keep herself in place. Nothing but trepidation.

"(We'll… we'll have to talk about it. She won't be able to hide all that. Something… something'll be on her skin, I just know it.)"

"(But that's just it, isn' it? She'll know that. She might never talk to me ever again because of it. She might avoid me for the rest of our lives. There's no way she'd open the door for me.)"

Footsteps echoed behind the door.

"(What if it's her stepdad? Will… what'll I do if I see him? What if I do nothing?)"

"(What am I if I do nothing? B-but it's her father. He's supposed to be her father…! Why'd he do it then!? How could he!? How could I just ignore that!?)"

The door handle turned. Dina mentally braced.

"I…! I've gotta do something!"

The door opened.

.

.

It was worse than she could've possibly imagined.

"Dina! How've you been?"

There was Luna.

She was smiling. Not a scratch visible on her pale skin.

The same smile she'd seen a thousand times. More.

"Come! Come in, it's Saturday after all!"

Dina looked as if she'd seen a ghost.

"... Dina?"

Luna seemed to catch wind of it — the ghost.

"... I… forgot something!" Dina stepped off slowly, as if to not anger it. "Back at my flat, I'll… I'll be a moment…"

Luna stood still, as if it'd leave should she not move. "Oh. Sure, that's fine."

She saw her off.

"Dina?"

The ghost grabbed her shoulder. It iced her from the neck down.

"My window was cracked open last night."

"... You didn't catch cold from any drifts, did you?"

"No."

"Hheh… hehehe-heh, heh… then that's an… odd thing t-to keep updated on, isn't it?"

But ghosts didn't exist. Just the notion was silly. So they laughed it off.

"What? You mean to tell me the goblins in my room aren't good enough of a starter?"

"That's a jump! Think you're just goin' senile on me, Loon!"

"No, the goblins did it, I swear!"

They shared a laugh about it.

"Oh watch it there, mate, lying's a sin!"

"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK!"

Dina reached down into her pocket and grabbed her wallet. "Oh- bloody…! How's that, magically there all along?"

Luna crossed her arms with a sassy smirk. "Ah, but a liar now, am I Spaurk?"

Dina surrendered with a giggle. "Jokes on you, I've hardly read the thing!"

Luna grabbed Dina'a arm, dragging her into the house. "Let's hurry before the lil' devils steal the snacks, too!"

She entered, and her eyes wandered.

They tracked emptied bottles of weird shapes and sizes, and stones with odd markings, from the dulled couch to the stained, fragmented kitchen tiles. As they traveled up the stairs, she tracked more cracks and chipped wood than ever before.

But her room was the same. Same as always.

"I remembered you'd scarf down just about anything not nailed down, so I just asked my father for these cheap biscuits. That ought to sate us for the day, yeah?"

Her eyes and mouth looked stitched together. A murder victim's final moments atop a lover's first.

"Yeah," Dina chuckled. "Great!"

The tv flared before them.

"I've got more of that anime you seem to 'love' so much!"

"D'OH, LUNA!"

"I'm not gonna stop until you're converted...!"

"(It's fine. She's… fine.)"

Luna cracked wise.

"(All this time, she's been fine. She's not even bothered. I can let it go. I was concerned over nothing. So just… relax.)"

Dina laughed along.

"(She's fine.)"

Dina held the phone.

The world had frozen around her.

Her father had stopped apologizing. Nothing came from the phone.

It began to crumple in her shaking hands, before falling to the ground.

She pushed away her desk, moved back her chair. Both creased the floor and splintered through the air.

She eyed the door, and then an open window. She climbed through the window, and paused.

Briefly allowing the information to stir.

A shockwave suddenly rocked the classroom, Dina disappearing with it.

It didn't matter how fast she was going, it wasn't fast enough. Her eyes traced over the low-rise city, scanning every last building for familiarity.

And then she saw it.

[ BGM: Cristobal Tapia De Veer ‒ I Remember Everything (She's Just a Girl) ]

Lights that flashed red and white.

And with it, a fading life.

She landed. Her father noticed, dropping his phone mid-call in shock. She didn't hear him.

The thoughts she had at one point screamed at her.

Because that was Luna in that bed.

Her ki seeped away with every step. Guilt weighed down on her movement.

"Hey…" she croaked.

She couldn't catch up with her. The walking speeds of mere mortals seemed supersonic.

"Wai-...!"

She tried giving chase before her knees buckled, scaring her into a shriek. As they did, the vehicle began to move.

"No…!"

She pled with her own limbs, but they ignored her. She pled with her conscience, but it only showed her what she'd ignored weeks ago.

"N-no… n—nooo…"

She whimpered. She wept. She keeled over and, from the depths of her mind, hated herself.

That night, she'd ran.

That morning, she kept running.

She wouldn't allow herself to see anything else.

It swallowed her mind. Her sobs turned to hysteric wails, like that of a dying animal. Sorrow fed disgust and vice-versa.

An ungodly burning pit in her stomach began to spread. She wanted to vomit or die or feel anything beside that agony, but she could not.

So she screamed.

And slowly, steadily, the amalgamation of emotions took a form.

Rage.

The despair in her screams were slowly overshadowed by a deeper, unearthly echo, that of something hundreds of times the girl's size.

The pavement and blacktop all around her began to crumble and crack, like the tiles she'd once seen. It reminded her, and tormented her further. A bottomless rage without limit continuously expanded, changing the sky from blue to a dark grey. A red lightning infected the heavens without mercy until it was all that could be seen.

Her eyes strained. They began to lose their ruby sheen, drowned by a feral blank ocean. She shook like a reactor on the cusp of overload.

And from there, her hair burst into a furious golden flame. The noise that followed was human no more.

The local law, those on and off their feet, raised their simmering weapons toward the beast.

"LOWER YOUR WEAPONS!"

"SIR GET BACK-"

"I SAID LOWER YOUR DAMN WEAPONS!"

The officers followed. One slowly approached the golden berserker as it howled in place with a fanged maw.

"Here, Dina."

He whispered, as if talking to a fawn.

"Da's here. It's alright."

Proximity felt like an open furnace, sounded like a volcanic eruption. Contact felt like stepping in. He felt as if he could die at any moment, but he didn't know what would happen if he let go.

So he stayed there, eardrums fit to burst, skin screaming.

The inferno began to die down.

And teal eyes returned, filled with tears, staring into the sky hopelessly as she cried in a deathly croak.

"It's alright."

The culprit had been caught. Rage wouldn't bring back her friend. She was left with the hate she held for herself.

So she sat there on her knees, and cried.

And in the distance, forsaken hands caressed a heart-

"Hhhh—!"

Dina awoke from the dream. For a time, she blankly stared into the ceiling.

She then sat herself onto her feet, hunched over, and rubbed her wettened face.

"(... red lightning… so she was right.)"

She sighed, remembering Selaine's words from the day preluding the tournament. With a look over, Kazikum was slumped on the kitchen table, her fridge open.

Though with an initial tired glare, Dina shot a smile his way. "Thanks, dickhead."

She donned a cap and bag. Soon, she rechecked an order, swung the door open, and continued to live.

5/25/2024 PATCH NOTES: Dina now has a theme for SSJ.

Yo, OP Here.

So here's Dina's SPECIAL chapter, around 40 after Neoru's. Yeah this one was reeeeally fucking dark. The chapter that's being uploaded today will be about fifty-fifty and should invoke this one pretty damn hard.

So uh I genuinely don't have that much to add here.

See ya.