...er here!
...ome help!
...ll alive.
She could hear snippets of a conversation, barely able to make out what was being said between her aching head and her ringing ears.
She slowly opened her eyes, seeing a middle aged man in a police uniform bent down in front of her.
He looked down at her with dark brown eyes, that, along with his grey hair, showed his age.
"Good, you're awake." the officer said. "Can you stand?"
Not trusting her voice at the moment, she slowly picked herself off the ground.
The officer nodded. "Just… don't look around, ok? I'll take you to safety."
He began to lead her towards the front of the train.
Against her better judgment, she stole a glance at her surroundings.
Bodies…
Young, old, men, women, children.
Bodies everywhere.
She quickly shut her eyes again, resisting the urge to throw up as the officer helped her off the train.
She saw another two police escorting the train engineer.
There didn't seem to be any life in his eyes, and a strange black ooze flowed from his mouth sent a shiver down her spine.
The officer led her to a small group of other survivors.
There had been at least a hundred people on that train.
Only a handful had survived…
"What's your name, kid?" the officer asked.
"M-Makoto Niijima." she whispered.
It might just have been her imagination, but she thought she saw the officer's eyes widen.
"Ok…" he muttered. "Then let's get into contact with a family member."
"The engineer survived despite his injuries but was not able to explain his actions." the reporter announced. "The police are currently looking for a possible motive."
"Those subway tracks have been deteriorating for some time." her boss muttered. "Seems that the Ministry of Transport turned a blind eye."
"Is that all it is, I wonder?" Sae wondered aloud.
They both glanced at the television, where the reporter showed numerous other similar incidents.
"You think it's all connected, then?" the SIU director asked.
"These incidents have been happening more and more frequently as of late." she pointed out. "Even the driver said he had no idea why he accelerated. It's just like…"
Her boss sighed. "Like your father's incident, then."
"It's been three years since these incidents started to occur." Sae mused.
Her phone started ringing, stopping her from thinking about it any further.
"Apologizes." she quickly said to her boss as she answered the call.
"Hello… What?! Makoto was… ok, I'll be right there!"
She quickly hung up, turning to face her boss.
"I have to go, Sir." she excused.
"Don't you have a meeting to attend?" the man asked.
"It's an emergency!" she exclaimed. "Makoto was on that train!"
She quickly rushed out the door before her boss could ask any more questions.
The SIU director sighed, leaning back into his chair.
He wasn't exactly a superstitious man, but he was beginning to believe that family was cursed.
She sat there, shaking, trying to get the images of the bodies and the engineer out of her mind.
"Makoto!"
She whipped her head around, seeing her sister running towards her.
"Sis!"
She immediately ran up to her elder sister and hugged her.
"I-I-"
"Shh… It's ok, Makoto." Sae whispered. "Let's go home."
She turned around to thank the officer that had helped her, only to find that he was gone…
The drive home was a quiet one, but as soon as they got home, Sae sat her down and questioned her.
"Are you sure that you're ok?"
"I might bruise later, but I'm… ok." she responded.
"Are you sure?" Sae asked. "What exactly happened?"
"I'm not sure." she admitted. "One moment, everything was fine, but then the train started going much faster, and we crashed. There were… so many bodies… and..."
She felt her sister place her hand on her shoulder.
"Are you really ok?" Sae asked, concerned.
She needed to be strong.
She needed to be strong.
"Y-Yes." she stammered. "It's just… the engineer…"
"What about him?"
"What I saw him… he had a dead look in his eyes… and a weird black ooze flowing from his mouth."
"I see…" Sae trailed off. "It's just like…"
"Hmm?"
Sae shook her head. "It's nothing."
"I wasn't able to get the groceries…"
"Don't worry about that." Sae dismissed. "Do you think that you'll be able to go to school tomorrow?"
She still felt a little shaken up, but… she knew how important school and studies were, as her sister had often told her.
"I… I'll be ok." she promised.
"I'll drive you to school tomorrow, then." Sae offered.
"Are you sure?" she asked. "I know that you have work."
"It's fine." Sae insisted. "Why don't you get some rest? You must be exhausted."
She nodded, heading to her room to turn in for the day.
She checked her phone one last time before bed, only to find the same app from this morning was back on her phone.
"Didn't I delete this before?" she muttered.
Once again, she deleted the app, plopping down onto bed, drifting to sleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.
4/11 Monday
"Thanks again for this, sis." she expressed, thankful for the ride to school, especially since it was raining.
"It's no trouble." Sae responded. "Anything been happening at school?"
"Well, we're getting a few new transfer students." she answered. "But one of them is…"
"A criminal. You told me." Sae grumbled. "I don't know what they're thinking, letting someone like that into Shujin."
As the student council president, she had been informed of his record beforehand.
"He assaulted someone, correct?" Sae asked. "Just don't get involved with people like him, and-"
"Focus on my studies, I know." she finished.
Sae nodded, dropping her off in front of her school and saying goodbye.
As she walked towards the front steps, she saw her gym instructor, Suguru Kamoshida, holding a stack of papers and greeting students that walked by with a massive grin on his face.
...Or at least, he was smiling until a male student with black, messy hair passed in front of him. She saw Kamoshida scowl, and they had a short conversation before the student went into the building.
As she approached, however, his expression shifted almost unnaturally quickly.
"Ah, Niijima-san!" Kamoshida greeted. "Good morning!"
"Good morning." she greeted back.
"Say, you heard about the train incident the other day, didn't you?" Kamoshida asked.
"...Yes, I did." she nodded.
"There sure have been a lot of dangerous incidents lately, hasn't there?" Kamoshida noted. "You know, I'd be happy to give you a ride anytime."
"Thank you, but I'll be fine." she answered. "My sister drove me to school today."
"Well, the offer is always open." Kamoshida grinned.
His eyes widened as one of the papers he was carrying dropped to the ground.
"Could you get that for me, Niijima-san?" Kamoshida asked.
"Of course." she nodded, bending over to grab the paper and handed it back to him.
"Thanks." Kamoshida said, suddenly a massive grin on his face. "By the way, the principal wanted to see you before class."
"He does?" she asked. "I'll be right with him, then."
She walked into the school, making her way to the Principal Kobayakawa's office and knocking on the door.
"Come in, come in!" a deep voice called.
"You called for me, sir?" she asked.
"Niijima-san!" the principal grinned. "I had something very important to ask of you."
"What can I do for you, sir?" she inquired.
"You recall the transfer student that I informed you of, yes?" Kobayakawa asked. "The one with the record?"
"Yes, sir."
"The reason that we admitted him to this school is we believe that we can reform him." he explained. "And part of that has to do with his academics. I was hoping that you would be able to assist in that regard."
"E-Excuse me?"
"I was hoping that you'd be able to tutor him after school." the principal said.
"T-Tutor him?" she stammered. "W-Well…"
"It would look very good for the school, and you as well, if we were able to reform a criminal such as him." he brought up. "We would appreciate it if you were to do your part."
"Sir, I'm not really sure about this…"
"You've performed excellently these past two years." the man frowned. "I would hate to see you falter now, with university right around the corner for you…"
That was true. She wanted to do everything that she could to help her get into a good college, and something like this would help…
It was a little worrying, but she would do as she was told, lest she trouble the principal.
"Very well. I'll tutor him." she agreed, forcing a smile. "We can study in the library."
"Wonderful!" Kobayakawa smiled. "Let's begin today then. I'll make sure his teachers inform him."
"Would that be all, then?" she asked.
He nodded, sending her off to class.
Before she could actually reach her class, however…
"Niijima-san! Niijima-san!"
She turned around, seeing a female student running up to her.
She wore the standard student uniform, had long black hair, and red rimmed glasses.
"Have you heard about this?!" the student asked, holding out a newspaper. "As the star member of the newspaper club, I made it myself!"
"We have a newspaper club?" she mused.
She took the newspaper, only to gasp at its content.
A criminal at Shujin?! The truth behind the new transfer student!
The article went into detail about the transfer student's record, something she shouldn't have known about.
"How did you find out about this?!" Makoto hissed.
"E-Everyone at Shujin's been talking about it!" the girl stammered.
"Then someone must have leaked his record…" she concluded.
"I-I guess so…"
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, um…"
"Takayo Tachibana!" she greeted. "And no problem, Niijima-san! I wouldn't want anyone getting involved with someone like that!"
"Right…"
She thanked Takayo once again before heading to class.
For once, she found herself struggling to concentrate on classes. Between the train incident, her tutoring appointment, and the leaked records, she found it difficult to pay attention.
Thankfully, her instructors didn't seem to notice, and before she knew it, classes were over for the day.
She made her way to the library, only to find that the transfer student wasn't there.
Was he not going to come? Principal Kobayakawa could hardly blame her if he was a no show. Honestly, what was he thinking, having her tutor him? She could defend herself, sure, but he had assaulted someone.
"Excuse me."
She hastily turned around, seeing the same messy haired boy from outside.
"Do you know where I can find Makoto Niijima?" he asked.
"That would be me." she responded. "I assume you're Ren Amamiya?"
"Yeah, that's right." he nodded. "Thank you for taking the time to teach me, Niijima-senpai."
She was a little surprised, but appreciative, of his politeness.
Aside from maybe his hair, nothing about him screamed 'delinquent'. She wasn't sure what she expected, but he looked normal.
"You're welcome." she replied. "Let's find a table and begin, then."
They sat down at a nearby table, beginning to unpack their textbooks.
"Cute pencil case."
"H-Huh?"
He pointed to the cute, fluffy panda design on them.
"It's… Buchimaru…" she whispered, a little embarrassed.
As much as she wanted to come across as mature and responsible, she couldn't help but continue to use the old pencil case her father had gifted her more than a decade ago.
They pulled out the rest of their things, but before they could get any studying done...
"Hey, is that the transfer student with the student council president?"
"Niijima-san should be careful. I heard he's a Yakuza member!"
"I heard he carries a knife everywhere he goes."
"I heard he's an elephant tusk trafficker."
She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance.
Rumors here spread far too quickly.
"Rather loud for a library, huh?"
She glanced over at Ren, who forced a slight chuckle at his own words.
For some reason, he was still smiling.
A part of her was worried about being alone in the same room as him, but she had promised the principal that she would tutor him.
"Would… you like to go somewhere quieter?" she offered.
"Ok." he shrugged. "Lead the way, Niijima-senpai."
She brought him over to the student council room, trying her best to ignore the whispers from the students who saw them.
"What's this room?" Ren asked.
"The student council room. I'm the student council president, so I have the key to it." she explained.
"It's a lot quieter in here." Ren noted. "Guess we can finally get some work done."
They brought out their textbooks, and much to her surprise, he seemed to have a decent grasp of the material. He still needed help on some of it, but he managed to make a good amount of progress.
Still, she couldn't let her guard down. He was still a criminal, after all.
Eventually, she noticed he was beginning to slow down.
"Want to take a small break?" she asked.
He took a deep breath, putting down his pencil. "Yeah, a break sounds good."
After they had put their notes to the side, she figured that now would be a good time to ask about the rumors.
"About your record…"
"...I think we should focus on studying." he insisted.
"They told me about your actual record, you know?" she said.
"Oh…"
As an awkward silence fell over the two of them, she looked at the time on her phone, only to find that app still on there.
Curiosity getting the better of her, she tapped it, only for it to ask her for a name.
"Shouldn't we get back to studying?" Ren asked, a little forcefully.
She put her phone away, planning to look at the app more later.
Right now, she needed to find out how everyone found out about his record, and report to the principal.
"Before that, I want to know if you told anyone about your record." she inquired.
"No. Why?"
"I was wondering how it leaked." she answered.
"I think that it was a staff member." he theorized.
"What?!" she gasped. "There's no way a staff member would leak your record!"
"So… did you do it, then?"
"Why are you accusing me?!" she exclaimed.
"Well, the only people who knew were you and the staff members, so…" he trailed off.
"That's… true." she admitted. "Then I suppose it would have to be a staff member. But why would they do such a thing?"
"Sure it wasn't you?" Ren smirked.
"Oh, hush!"
Ren let out a chuckle before his expression turned serious.
"That gym teacher, Suguru Kamoshida… I think he might have done it." Ren said.
"Why do you suspect him?" she wondered.
"I'm pretty sure that he doesn't like me." Ren told her. "He was scowling at me this morning. And… he gives me skeevy vibes…"
"There are a few… unsavory rumors about him, I'll admit. But I try not to pay them any attention." Makoto explained.
"Why not?"
"He's an adult; an authority figure." she explained.
"Why does that matter?" Ren wondered. "If he's acting like a pervert or a jerk towards students, shouldn't that be investigated?"
"I told you, they're rumors." she argued, narrowing her eyes. "I'm surprised that you're so willing to believe them, considering you're a victim of rumors."
"I didn't say we should instantly believe the rumors, just investigate." Ren countered.
"We're in no position to question him." she pointed out.
"Then what's the point of being the student council president, if not representing and protecting the student body at Shujin Academy?" Ren asked.
She paused. On one hand, who did he think he was, coming in here with a criminal record, and saying things like that on his first day?! On the other hand, a staff member had, at the very least, leaked his criminal record, and possibly more...
"The members of the volleyball team… after practice, they're always covered in bruises." she recalled. "They claim it's just special training, but…"
"Does that sound normal?" he asked.
"No, but-"
"I was talking to another student." Ren mentioned. "He kinda looked like an athlete himself."
"Who was it?"
"Ryuji Sakamoto was his name." Ren told her.
"He's a troublemaker…" Makoto sighed.
"...Well, he told me that Kamoshida views this school like his own castle." Ren recalled. "If that's true, I could see him thinking that he could get away with whatever he wanted."
"We shouldn't be talking about an adult like this." Makoto stressed. "We should just be getting back to our studies."
She should just ignore him. He was just trying to turn her against the staff. Why should she listen to a delinquent like him?
"N-Niijima-sempai…" Ren muttered.
"What now?"
"W-What's going on with the sky?!"
She looked out the window, only to be met with a dark, purple sky…
And that Shujin Academy had been transformed into a giant castle.