As I begin to glide up.
I feel a stinging feeling upon my palm.
It doesn't hurt much.
It felt like a liquid, a droplet, I assumed from a cup.
And I question why I felt so calm.
For it wasn't clear like water but crimson as blood.
And then I look up.
Falling front of me is a limp mass.
It smites the grounds with a great crunch.
As the dark blood begins to flood.
---
Excerpted from the journal of Chitaku Itagashi
"April 14th, 2014
Goodbye homeschool. Today was my entrance ceremony into an actual school for the first time since I was seven. So far, I'd say my social skills have rusted.. alot. Even yet, I managed to make some new friends on the first day, a considerable achievement for someone like me. Yep, Odayakana High School. I heard a lot of good things about this place when I was about 8-9 or something. So far, it seems this school hasn't changed too much from what I've heard. Faculty members have proper bragging rights courtesy of this place's impressive academic rating and college acceptance ratio, which appear even better than when I last checked them back in '09.
I'm not sure if I have a problem or anything, but I only now just realized that my new friends are mostly female, no surprise. It's mainly gold nuggets (girls) in a pile of horseshit (other boys with a few exceptions). The first one worth mentioning is Meidogāru Nihonjin, who, after the assembly--I still can't get off of American terms--gave me a tour of the place. It was short and sweet, in stark contrast to the sheer size of this place. (Curious about the "East Wing" though.)
Right, Meidogāru; she's a cute one, very kind, and overall a picture of high-school perfection in
the eyes of anyone who's only seen her for a day. In fact, she's also a new entry. I don't know much else about her though. I've also taken interest in a friend of hers, Sakuya Samato; a quiet artist, an unusually interesting nobody, and for as asocial as I heard she is, she's pretty cute, and that's it to the extent of my knowledge.-
...
-Now that I have my friends out of the way, I'll talk about the staff. First up, the teachers, of course. For my first hour--assuming that's what they call it in Japan--I have Mrs. Scarlette. I didn't ask for her first name--what I get for expecting a syllabus--but from what I heard, albeit from word-of-mouth sources, she was, and I quote, "formerly one of the best police officers in her younger days." So, for all intents and purposes, I am being taught the ins and outs of Calculus by the face of the law. If I was still the person I was at seven, we'd probably not get along well. Hell, maybe she'd arrest me on the spot if she so much as heard about what I did back in Chicago... Sorry.-
...
-and then there's the one girl I hate: Dayutta Joel; 3rd-year daughter of the devil. The two of us, already, are on pretty bad terms. I shudder to even think about her, so without going into too much detail she's basically the polar opposite of Meidogāru.
Other than that, I'm just an observer; nobody watching from the shadows. You've got your music clubs, nerds, environmentalists, artists, directors, businessmen in training, everything else, and a pair of clones who I observed engaging in some "intimate" interactions. So I am sure that I'll have the time of my life here. This is Chitaku Itagashi; intellectual nerd and Japanese-American, signing off for today.~"
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AITO NO CHI
PART I: Introduction
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Thursday, October 1st, 2015
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Sat at two adjacent seats, a school girl, second-year, and a senior boy faced eye to eye. The girl cracked a smile, blackness surrounded them, the only light stood above them, casting its brightness upon them and giving them tall and slender shadows. She leaned toward the boy before her.
The scene changed, she was leaning her head on her sleeves with her eyes closed. The teacher was talking, it was Mrs. Scarlette. As enraged as Meidogāru was for the recent event being but a dream, she contained herself. After all, she didn't want to harm her standing with her favorite teacher. Nor did she want to disturb Sakuya, her closest friend, sitting right next to her. She decided to keep quiet, all she had to do was wait and maybe Kukki would end class early so they can talk before lunch. Only wait, she thought.
'(7.9 x 102)(9.5 x 102)'
Chitaku, now a second-year male; a sophomore, pondered this for a few seconds, glaring daggers at the problem through his frames.
'7.505 x 105'
For as amazing as he was at Algebra, he really wanted to finish this so he could be allowed to move to
one of the laptops at the back of the classroom and subsequently prove that he can and will become '12 on a 10 point scale of bad.'
"It's almost lunchtime, students." called the teacher. It was always like this, he had no time to beat the big badasses and return to the green fields of Earth. At least the big badasses were serving bento today.
He adjusted his comfortable scarf and hoped for the best.
She hoped and prayed that somehow she had finished her classwork before she dozed off. She had to have, right? No time to make guesses, she had to be sure. She stared down at her desk. There wasn't anything there. Probably dropped it, she thought. Great timing too, right before she had to wait until lunch passed and she got home, right when she couldn't do anything.
"Meidogāru-san, something the matter?" said Ms. Scarlette, seeming a bit confused.
"Y-yes," Nihonjin replied, "I think I dropped my work somewhere. Do you know where i--"
She was interrupted by her teacher. "Sweetie, don't you remember?"
Remember? What did she have to remember, that she screwed up her work so badly that her teacher took it from her?
"Uh, remember what..?" questioned Meidogāru.
Kukki replied, "You volunteered earlier today to go deliver something to the staff office, that's why I excused you from your work."
Meidogāru blinked a few times. The last hour was all a blur to her, she only remembered falling asleep in her first period. This is her first period. "Oh.."
*growl* "(I can't wait anymore)" *growl* "(I cannot take this and leave in one peace)"
Even though Chitaku had finished his work, his unrelenting stomach had glued him to his seat, thus rendering him unable to move until the bell rang. Mrs. Scarlette continued to speak in front of the class, giving vague hints to struggling students. Chitaku took a glance over at the dazed student who had been informed regarding her excuse from classwork. "(Girls and their fantasies)" he thought to himself..
With his brain back on topic, he thought to himself that it must be time, once again, for the class clown to spur.
What a relief, she thought. In the time she was asleep, she forgot such an important detail that saved her from having to slave over a desk. She looked over to her short friend to her left, Sakuya, no longer working on what classwork she had and instead drawing in her notebook. Typical of an artist like her, to have finished busy work first and worked on what beautiful works she might have stuffed in that massive brain of hers. Or what horrors she could conjure up from the back of her head with her weird and twisted fetishes. No, not Sakuya. She's not like that. Meidogāru continued to rest her head on her own arms, waiting and watching the clock. Soon, she thought. Lunch will be soon, and she could eat away that emptiness in her stomach. And meet a certain someone from her Music Club, just maybe..
And then came moans and groans attributable to starvation. As everybody collectively looked around, they eventually turned their attention to Chitaku Itagashi, who had fallen on the floor and began to beg for food and water like a deserter in the middle of the Sahara. It wasn't long before he stumbled out of the classroom.
Eventually, the holy gong sounded. It was finally time for lunch. Lucky day happy day, the cart was already being pushed on it's way down the hall in which he currently occupied, about 3 dozen bowls of bento on it's cold, metal shelves--12 standing on each of the three shelves--and it made Chitaku visibly drooly. He then quickly regained his composure, grabbed a bowl, and thanked the rather well-dressed lunch-lady. His food in hand, he waited for his peers to exit the room--which took longer than usual to
happen, given it is almost always instantaneous. Fusing with the crowd, Chitaku walked up to the roof as everyone else was, at least from what he could see.
It was all daisies and roses until he felt a heavy and painful impact make contact with the right side of his head. The sudden attack made him nearly drop his fresh meal onto the staircase, although he managed to save it. His ears ringing and his cheek throbbing, he was almost completely stunned. It took a few short seconds for him to regain full consciousness. A few students were staring at him, but it wouldn't take long for him to notice a second batch staring at the figure to his right. Dazed and confused, Chitaku turned around to see the irritated face of Dayutta Joel, whos first period class was directly adjacent to Chitaku's.
Dayutta's pretty face and seductive build almost masked her intentions, she seemed so innocent and beautiful. She stared down Chitaku, opening her mouth and barking out a sentence in a harsh and cruel voice.
"I didn't bring my lunch, or my money this time. Mind sharing, Junior?" she said with ill intentions reeking from her breath, though that could just be whatever she had for breakfast--at least it wasn't the dorito breath of Chitaku's sister.
"The cart is probably just down the hall which connects to your classroom. If you can make it in time, you might just get the last bento. Of course, if you're willing to run through the horde.." Chitaku said that with a reluctant smirk. "(What am I doing? I gonna get my ass kicked for this..)"
Dayutta put her hands into fists, making a growling sound before she grabbed Chitaku by the collar and lifting him up. "The hell are you telling me to do, waste my time chasing a cart? Like hell I will, how about you share your shit?" she harshly said, seeming to be just at the edge of her temper and ready to get set alight with rage.
"Okay okay, I shall share with the one and only Dayutta Joel-san," said the suffocating Chitaku. He had not imagined a girl like her could be strong enough to lift up a whole man. Nevertheless, this was the only way out of hell itself from what Chitaku understood. Her grip broke and Chitaku was let to touch the ground again.
Dayutta crossed her arms and waited for Chitaku to hand her some of his food, like the selfish jerk she was.
"Wait, now?" Chitaku was fine with eating anywhere, anytime, in any situation, but right here, right now, and within this chain of events seemed odd even to Itagashi-kun. "At the very least can we go to the roof and eat there?" Chitaku realized what he said, which could be easily mistaken for eating together.. like.. lovebirds.. ugh.. "(Is this the part where I get hospitalized?)" thought the near-doomed Itagashi.
Dayutta gritted her teeth in an aggressive way. She seemed seconds from snapping and attacking right then and there. Regardless, she huffed and barked out another few sentences in her cruel and harsh voice. "Yes, now. What else would I mean, baka?" she said, clearly this time really on the edge. No way was she going to last another few seconds calm, her hands were balled into fists and her heels digging into the floor. Only a matter of seconds now..
"Understood." said Chitaku. It was amazing even to him that kept his cool in this event, let alone his lungs. Using a plastic fork that came free with the bowl, he took a piece of bento out of the bowl and reached it out to Dayutta. Dayutta snatched the fork from Chitaku and carefully grabbed the piece of bento with her teeth and took it from the fork, afterwards handing the fork back to Chitaku and swallowing the piece she bit away. She seemed to be slowly regaining her cool, her hands no longer in fists and her legs positioned as they should be rather than aggressively. All was well once more. For now.
Meidogāru sat at a bench with her Senpai, a senior boy, the same she viewed in her dream. "The duet is at the end of this week, you have those lyrics memorized? I think I've repeated them and the notes so
many times that I could play it in my sleep, heh.." She said, with an obvious shy nature in her tone. "I memorized them enough to say them fluently, but not enough to go off the second verse by memory." said Senpai.
"Oh, I can rehearse it with you back at my place? Or yours?" said Meidogāru with an unrevealing tone in her voice. "Oh.. uh, sure." said Senpai with a subtle smile. "I'll leave it up to you as to who's place we go to." He looked at Meido-chan and saw a cute smile along with closed eyes, plus a head-tilt. He assumed that means agreement. "My place it is?" She said with a high-pitched and happy tone of voice. "Sure." said Senpai in agreement. He thinks he knows she loves him, but he can't be too sure; that'd be like skimming through a romance story at fast speed. Besides, it's not his concern.
"Anybody? No?" asked the art teacher. Only about 3 of her 21 students appeared to be in deep thought. This wasn't good, even if the teacher herself found contemporary art boring, three students was not going to cut it. In an impulse decision, she scanned the room for anybody willing to speak up in the quiet room. "Samato-san?" addressed the teacher. In response, Sakuya rose from her seat with the blankest of expressions.
"My brain fails to process what exactly I should be feeling. As an artist, I do not find anything I see to be affecting myself in any way, shape or form." said Sakuya in her ever-so-monotone voice. Art styles, it always put a lasting opinion and impression in Sakuya's head. She couldn't appreciate art outside that which had been painted or drawn professionally. Clearly her opinion was not the one to be voiced relevantly.
"Oh, uh.. that's nice." said the art teacher. She had just witnessed something very, very interesting and yet agreeable. Sakuya Samato was one who's words are to be reckoned with. It even caught some boys off-guard too. The teacher can only wish she had this level of brilliance. Sakuya adjusted her glasses, from which point she remained silent. Her previously unbroken silence never telegraphed her intentions, and her newly found silence was no exception. She focused again on the teacher in the front of the room, not making a sound nor movement, save for her breathing and blinking as per usual.
The Twins, their nickname. Kokoronobyōki and Hiretsu, the twin cousins sat adjacent to one another on the bleachers of the gym, as their "seats" always were assigned to. Not an eyelash out of place could tell these two apart. They were exact to the fingerprint. All except for their personality. Kokoronobyōki, violent, cynical and bash; Hiretsu, schizophrenic, shy and loving.
Sprinting, covered head-to-toe in sweat and a few drops of his own blood--in part due to this morning, Chitaku sprinted towards the flying rubber spherical object which these petty humans call "a volleyball." Chi himself was decently strong, but not athletically strong. He could never measure up to his "heroes"--which all have in common the fact that they wear some form of power armor. He is, however, very mathematically gifted; able to predict the trajectory patterns of nearly any object in half a second. As the "volleyball" torpedoed towards him, he realized that he made a minor miscalculation: if he kept this maneuver, the ball would sail right past his fist. No matter, his brain recomputed this in mere milliseconds. It was time, he swung, he felt an impact, and before he knew it, another point for Team Nihonjin.
"That's another one you owe," teased Kokoronobyōki in a joking manner. Hiretsu rolled her eyes. She reluctantly shot her gaze to her cousin, who grabbed her by the back and forced her towards herself. Hiretsu seemed reluctant, but as soon as her cousin's lips met her own, she stopped her useless struggle. Every time team Nihonjin scored, it was another kiss Hiretsu owed to Kokoronobyōki, and every time the other team scored, another one Kokoronobyōki owed to Hiretsu. It only lasted but a second, long enough for Kokoronobyōki to get pleasure out of it and end it in time to watch the next play with her cousin.
A couple of students gave Chitaku high-fives and fist bumps. As the teams began to assemble
back to their positions, Chitaku saw in the corner of his eye a very odd combination of flustered and irritation on Dayutta-san's face. Does this mean.. she lost a point on purpose? No, that's impossible. Then again, Dayutta did kinda have to owe him back for the bento today. The expression kept on Dayutta's face for a good few seconds. She didn't want to lose this next point, no way she will. This time was their time; Her time. Time to make a comeback.
Before he knew it, the volleyball was soaring high above him, towards Team Joel's side of the gym. Chitaku observed as the rubber mass bounced back and fourth between the two teams for a good while. It wasn't long before he noticed the ball heading in his direction. This was his chance to prove his theory. As he sprinted towards the volleyball, which was about to hit the top of the net, he also saw Dayutta Joel-san sprinting for what could possibly be her opportunity to completely smoke Chitaku. They both leaped at seemingly the same time, this was the golden moment.
"Students, drop what you're doing!"
Chitaku's focus had suddenly shifted towards the shivering female figure in the right-most entry to the gym. Before he had the chance to react in any way, he was impacted in the face with the heaviest of blows. It felt leathery.
As Chitaku and his body drifted down he could catch sight of, through one of the windows, a small girl. There was a look of sheer terror on her face and she was spazzy in her movements. She was hacking, coughing, almost looking as if she was on the verge of throwing up.
And she kept on. Not stopping for one second.
She was choking on something, obviously.
Something like an impossible occurrence happened, Dayutta stopped what she was doing and hurried toward the choking girl with a huge sense of urgency. How out of character.. At least that's what one would think. Dayutta stopped by the choking girl upon reaching her location outside the gym. Wrapping her arms around the girl's stomach area, she attempted to force out whatever the girl was choking on. Sudden squeezes every few seconds, just like she learned from her mom. She called out anyways, the girl couldn't be choking on anything for all she knew.
"Someone, anyone? Get this girl some help!"
It was like a jolt of electricity had just been sent though Chitaku. He didn't quite know what it was that awakened him, but nevertheless he felt warm for about a second, and subsequently he was up and at his maximum functionality. Chitaku did not hesitate for a second to check on the girl in peril. Dayutta had just performed a few rounds of CPR on the little one, yet no attempt was successful.
It was strange, until it crossed his mind that maybe she wasn't choking on an object. If that's the case, then the next place to go to would have to be the nurse's office. "Joel-san, let me take her to the nurse's office." asked the anxious Chitaku.
Without hesitance, Dayutta let go of the girl. For once she actually listened to someone besides herself. "Just hurry up then." said Dayutta, moving out of the way for the recently awoken Chitaku.
Chitaku grabbed and lifted the damsel in distress over his shoulder, then started running as fast as he could over to the side entrance of the school. His mind was racing, and so was he. His sudden burst of adrenaline was unexplainable, indeed, but this was no time for questions. Now was the time for action; the rush hour; the last stretch. He actually made it to the nurse's office before he even knew he
made it to the nurse's office. "Nurse! We have a choking student! Please for the love of god do something!" exclaimed the exhausted Chitaku. The nurse looked just as distressed as Chitaku. The little first-year let out a few more coughs and gags as the nurse ran over to take the her from Chitaku's arms. Chitaku desperately hoped that this little one was going to be alright. The nurse, laying the girl out on a bed, attempted to locate any possible presence of an object in her throat. A little bit of CPR for a moment failed to do anything. No matter what the nurse tried, there appeared to be no object that the girl was choking on; not even any liquid matter: her throat was practically empty. At this point, the only explanation for this, in retrospect, could be the presence of hazardous chemicals in the body. Chitaku, who had been observing the ordeal in complete confusion, decided to step out and wait for a miracle. First thing to catch his eye as he walked out of the nurses office were his gymmates. Dayutta was glancing at the wall between her and the nurse's office. Meidogāru had a worried expression on her face, not to mention she had her hands over her mouth. Nihonjin's senpai was trying to comfort Meidogāru, telling her that everything was going to be alright. Everything was going to be alright, that was what Chitaku wanted to think.
He had been sitting on the sidelines watching as blood was shed on a regular basis here at Odayakana High. It was unexplainable, but he had a gut feeling; a feeling that he was done. He couldn't let another soul pass on within this campus, only in the time of his rush had he realized that there will be no good coming out of doing absolutely nothing. He isn't going to let the devil's deeds be done on this campus any longer, but there is nothing he can do to help in this situation. All there is to do now is to wait for a utter miracle.
She returned still vomiting like a PS2 glitch, and the students were waiting for a response from the school nurse, whose face harbored a neutral expression before saying that the little one will most likely live to see another day. Everyone was happy to see the little first-year was alright. Thank goodness everything was alright. This little soul had emerged from the nursing room with a few chunks of vomit dripping from her chin; a hell of a tummyache at best. But that has passed, and although it was just another rescue on the campus, Chitaku saw and felt it as a new beginning.
The school day had just ended. Dayutta was 'talking' to Meidogāru and her Senpai, Sakuya was overhearing a nearby conversation regarding today's incident, Kukki had just exited campus area--half-eaten cookie in hand, and the Twins were just heading out the front entrance--arms linked like a chain. This is what Chitaku saw as he walked to the door of the nurse's office. Once at the doorstep, he knocked and waited. It was but a moment before the doors opened and Chitaku found himself face to face with the nurse, who had just changed into her casual clothing. "So," asked Chitaku, with a raised eyebrow, "what was it?"
The Nurse cleared her throat whilst walking, turned to look at Chitaku and spoke. "I'm not sure exactly what happened," said the Nurse in a monotone voice. "However, whatever chemical she ingested must have either been prematurely rejected just in time, or it never went to her bloodstream. Either way, the girl must have an amazing immune system. I'm not sure how the chemicals got from her bloodstream to her stomach and back out her mouth, but I think you can ask her that?" However she spoke, the Nurse seemed rather unsure in her words. She really did have no idea what happened, even if she was meant to know everything in her field.
"Understood. I'd better catch her before she leaves. Maybe I can siphon some information out of her and find out exactly what happened," said Chitaku, with his index finger rested on his chin. "Honestly, I can say that with such assurance, given what this school's been through."
The Nurse let out a quiet sigh. "I'll let you off to your own affairs then," said the Nurse as she began heading back to her original direction. Perhaps she didn't want to talk, or hear about the events of the school's past. Either way, her abrupt interruption said something.
"Hey moe-chan?!" called out Chitaku. It was about the right time, he subsequently managed to find Kukki and the first-year mouse having an apologetic conversation. "Oh hey Mrs. Scarlette." greeted Chitaku. "Hello, little kitty. What's your name?" he said with that cheerful voice people use when talking to little babies. "I'm Neko." replied the girl. Kukki smiled and turned her gaze over to Chitaku upon hearing his voice. "Hello there, Mister Hungry," said the cheery Ms. Scarlette. "Kukki-sensei, I formally apologize for today's incident in first period. I shall make it up to you whenever we are both collectively available." stated the kneeling Chitaku. Neko gave a slight chuckle at this--her cuteness held no bounds, it would be unimaginable that anyone would want to hurt her. "Oh, you don't need to make it up to me," said Kukki. "I can tolerate that kind of thing." Kukki crossed her arms as she spoke.
"So Neko-san," asked Chitaku. "what do you remember happening before your incident?"
Neko gave an expression of surprise at this question. It came so suddenly and without warning. "Oh, uh..," she began in a meek tone of voice, "well I was going to eat my lunch... I went to the bathroom beforehand.. so.. I don't know how my food was.. contaminated or something. All I know is that after I ate it.. I started coughing.. hacking.. I couldn't feel anything."
"Huh, interesting," said Chitaku, index finger rested on his chin. So if it was chemical poisoning, either it was hidden in the noodles or it was ingested even earlier than that. Whichever way you look at it, someone attempted to eliminate this girl. Nevertheless, it was almost clear to Chitaku, that it has begun once again.
"Kukki-sensei, try to get some information from the chemistry teacher, ask him if anything happened to go missing today. Neko-chan.. watch your step." ordered Chitaku. "I'll see ya gals around." And with that, Chitaku jogged over to the bike-rack, unchained his black-painted mountain bike, and just like that he was off to home.
The sound of fingers brushing across a wall filled the empty halls of the abandoned East Wing of the school. Down walked the slim and fine figure of a girl, clad in the student uniform. Her white hair reflected the sunlight in an almost artistic way as she walked into the room which the sunlight shined through the window, to which she looked out of. A view of the outside, the path surrounded by the beautiful, purple-leafed trees. Her real focus was on the three conversing. Looks like her bidder had failed to deliver on what they wanted, as if she cared. What happened between them wasn't her concern, it was theirs.
The wind against his face; the cold air of Autumn embracing him, Chitaku enjoyed as he had decided to take a leisure ride about town rather than go home immediately. There were no curfews in place, so he could go wherever he wanted whenever he wanted.
Chitaku, at a high point, looked out among the town.
The town of Odayakana, a coastal tourist attraction. First built from wood and canes in 300 AD--ruled by a Feudal lord and remaining that way for a long time. It stayed largely under the radar until 1750; about the age of European Imperialism. British forces converged and conquered the bamboo-technology village and almost immediately began modernization.
This made Odayakana the first place in Japan to be modernized and the only place in Japan the imperialist Brits even touched.
The local culture was roughly like a manchild of English and Japanese customs combined. A lot of the practices unique to Japanese culture are either altered or completely turned on their heads to match with Western culture. English was the default tongue here. It was rare to even hear the Japanese language so much as uttered by mouth--not completely, it still stuck on company labels and signage.
This stuck even after the redcoats lost control in 1829. Rather than gradually reform back to national customs, the Jap-English culture stuck with it.
Some might call it weird.
Others fascinating.
One thing's for sure though, Odayakana is definitely unique.
Finally, a breath of fresh air. Or at least whatever the air coming from the house is like. "I'm home, mom!" called Dayutta with a cheery tone, closing the door behind her as she entered her house. She was greeted by her Siemese Cat, who jumped onto her shoulder from a nearby counter. She sniffed Dayutta's hair and looked at her face. The cat spoke, "You left the litter box uncleaned this morning. I had to shit in my own shit. Hope you're happy." replied her cat in a cocky tone of voice. "Oh Haruhi-san, that was an accident." said Dayutta. "I promise, I'll go clean it now." Haruhi rubbed her head against Dayutta's own and hopped from her shoulder to the ground. "Next time, I use the couch." threatened Haruhi.
"ONCE YOU BEAT THE BIG BADASSES AND CLEAN OUT THE MOON BASE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO WIN, AREN'T YOU? AREN'T YOU? WHERE'S YOUR FAT REWARD AND TICKET HOME? WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO END THIS WAY!" read out the on-screen text. This was literally the sixth time he'd beaten this episode this year. Chitaku had already began to think he should install some custom WADs for once. Nah, maybe later, it's already 10'o'clock; bedtime. There was just one more thing he needed to do: write.
"October 1st, 2015
Today marked another beginning if you know what I mean. A new student named Neko almost died today, but I brought her to safety just in time. I had a whole plethera of weird feelings in those moments, almost anomalous in way. Whatever it is, I can't shake the feeling of familiarity associated with them. It is likely that today's incident was another attempted assassination, just putting that out there."
He paused and skipped a line.
"It is and has been pretty obvious for a while that Odayakana High is not a safe place. The highlight news of today is already widespread across town, maybe even beyond. Either way, it is that time again. The time to remain alert at all times and trust no one. Not even your friends. This is Chitaku Itagashi, signing off for today.~"
Before wrapping up for the night, he felt strangely compelled to look back a bit. He would look back to his entry of his second day of his first high-school year as a reminder of just how interesting life in Odayakana High School really is..
"April 15th, 2014
What I experienced today was something of an adrenaline-induced nightmare, almost. I can see now why some people were reluctant to go into detail about Odayakana High School: it's changed in the past few years apparantly.
I don't even know where to start other than start comic and end dark.
So I found out today the horrible truth: there were no custodians in Japanese high-schools and that meant we had to clean up the premises after classes and/or clubs. I got assigned the one job which was the very fourth incarnation of hell itself: MOPPING."
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Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
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His second day at Odayakana High wasn't as interesting as the first. At best, it was simply mundane; and soul-rending at worst. Good news, Chitaku has been assigned at the side of Meidogāru. Bad news, Chitaku had been assigned at the side of Meidogāru to do janitorial work.
"Ugh~," groaned Chitaku, who at this time was somewhat more selfish and sarcastic, yet not too far from the boy he is a year later, "why do we have to clean up a mess the grunts can't handle?"
"It won't be that bad," assured Meidogāru. "It won't be that long a task, think about it."
Meidogāru. Optimistic even during times like these, that was her.
"We could even make some sort of game out of this?" she offered. "You know, keeping things interesting. If you don't want to work with me, that's fine. Just allow me to do the work and you can at least just hand me supplies when I ask for them." Chitaku looked somewhat flustered. "Uh.. no it's okay. I was just trying to add humour to a mundane task. I'll still clean." Meidogāru looked Chitaku in the eyes. "I don't know if I said before, but I'd prefer that all parties involved, I don't count myself, are happy during the task. If you're happy doing equal, or less, work than I am, I won't stop you. Just tell me if you don't want to work. I'm more than happy to do your part in addition to mine and say you did it too." Chitaku, about as red as a tomato, replied, "Well, uh.. at least I should do s-some work." Thing is; Chitaku had a small crush on Meido. He didn't know of any other boys she had her eyes on, plus she looked like an angel. "What does thou want Itagashi-san to do? C'mon.. hey, the water bucket's mix filled with gunk. Shall I go refill it?"
"Only if you want to," replied Meidogāru. "I can always help, if you want."
"No no, princess. I can go run off and back in less than a minute or two. Don't wear you legs out for me," said Chitaku with a sheepish smile. "You're very sweet," she said in a cute and innocent voice, smiling back. "Thank you very much, Itagashi-san."
Off he went. He was a fast runner, but that wouldn't do him much good here, carrying a near full plastic bucket and all, therefore walking was ideal and the action he took. Upon exiting the boys' room, he managed to catch auditory stimuli of what seemed to be two girls arguing upstairs. They were probably on the top floor from the sound of it. Chitaku decided to go check it out, previously thinking that he and Meido were the only sentient beings remaining on campus.
Upon setting foot onto the second floor, the argument shifted to grunts, then to sounds of roughhousing, and then silence. Chitaku continued slowly, not saying a word. The utter silence was broken only by his footsteps. At the foot of the stairs to the third floor, he felt something drop on his hand, it was warm, but small. It was, indeed, a liquid. Chitaku raised his hand to take a closer look. This drop was crimson red in colouration.
Suddenly, a large mass had fell from the top of the third floor right in front of Chitaku. It took mere seconds for him to comprehend the dead female student which was dropped right before him. Blood continued to flow out of her chest from the looks of it and her skin was pale; as if drained.
His focus then turned sharply to a shadow slowly lumping it's way down the staircase.
He had to hide.
He found a nearby supply closet and slowly and quietly shut it.
It was damn dark, darker than night, in this closet. He heard footsteps meet the second floor and drew his breath in and held it.
Safety was only an illusion. Not even a minute later, a blood-stained girl opened the door rapidly. She carried with her a knife, and a wicked twisted expression. She took one look at Chitaku and her expression dulled as she prepared to attack. Chitaku attempted to lunge past her, barely escaping with an open cut. Chitaku gripped the wound and ran towards his homeroom. He daren't look back, leaping straight into the room and locking the door behind him. He stepped back from it, waiting for some kind of attempted force entry. He instead got a few gentle knocks, almost mocking him and terrifying him at the same. Afterwards there was silence and Chitaku shuffled gradually towards the locked door, almost placing his head upon the wall.
Chop. An axe at the door. Like something out of a horror movie, the girl took a damn fire axe and started chopping at the door. She was determined for certain. And she wasn't about to give up. The blade edge had nearly wedged itself into Chitaku's skull. He jumped back in terror. The door wouldn't hold for long, as it had already been penetrated from one chop. He took this time to lock the other door and find some, any, means of defense. A pencil? A chair? Yes, a chair, a large object and a decent chance at stopping fatal blows. Chitaku grabbed one and placed himself against the adjacent wall. Seconds later, the door had a visible gape. The girl threw aside the axe, being able to reach her hand through the gap. The girl adjusted her position a bit to get her arm in better, behind her stood a silhouette of another girl, her figure was slim and average, but her shadowy appearance gave her a villainous look. Regarding the current situaton, that meant yet another threat.
At least, that's what it looked like. The shady figure began sneaking up on the girl, before breaking into a charge and ramming her into the door, which forced the door open, and had the shady figure tackle her. The shady figure was Meidogāru.
The girl let out a grunt when her body hit the floor. Her face buried in the floor, she couldn't see the face of her attacker, of whom looked up at Chitaku, scanning him for possible injuries.
"Nihonjin-san?" exclaimed Chitaku. He relaxed his improvised weapon, only to raise it up again when he saw the large kitchen knife in Meidogāru's hand. "I-is that.. a-a-a..?"
Realizing she was openly carrying a weapon, she quickly dropped it, despite the situation she was in. She instead put her free hand on the back of the girl's neck. "I.." Meidogāru couldn't form a proper response. "I just.. she was.. She was going to kill you! I was.. going to kill her.." She looked down in shame, scared of what judgement Chitaku may pass on her. Likewise, he began to gradually step back, attempting to get onto the far side of the classroom. The orange light of the evening cast a pessimistic mood upon the room, reflecting Chitaku's uncertain fear and negative emotion.
Without thinking, she let go of the girl and looked at Chitaku. She tried to say something, but nothing would come out. She couldn't justify her actions, she tried to kill a girl. How was she going to explain herself?
That was the least of her worries. With the newfound freedom, the girl turned around and shoved Meidogāru off of her and to the ground. She grabbed Meidogāru's knife, putting her free hand on Meidogāru's neck."Please, do try to struggle," the girl teased. "Your coward friend over there seems uninterested in helping you anyways, so I can take my time here."
"Let me go!" Meidogāru shouted at her.
"Hmph," the girl grunted. "You're loud. Hold still." She placed her free hand harder down on Meidogāru's neck, starting to choke her. "There, nice and quiet."
More like frantic and loud. Chitaku, in witnessing this, had taken a sharpened pencil and wedged it into the girl's shoulder, almost immediately causing profuse bleeding. The girl screamed in horrific pain standing up and dropping the knife, in doing so letting Meidogāru go. Just as the girl was about to pull the pencil from her shoulder, Meidogāru picked her knife up and stabbed it through the girl's heart. The girl went quiet, looking downwards shortly in shock. Barely seconds later, she went limp, and Meidogāru yanked the knife out of the girl and stumbled backwards, obviously feeling some kind of remorse or guilt.
"My god.." lamented Chitaku, "I.. We.. just killed someone.." His expression was nothing short of reflecting Meidogāru's.
"I-I.." said Meidogāru, trying to say something logical. "I'm.." She dropped her knife again, falling to her knees. "I-I'm sorry, I s-shouldn't.. I shouldn't have k-killed someone.." Covering her face, Meidogāru slumped forward slightly. Chitaku looked at Meidogāru with virtually no expression other than complete bewilderment towards her and himself. Meidogāru's hands were stained with blood.
Chitaku knelt down and hugged Meidogāru to make her feel better. Only then, Meidogāru's quiet sobs were heard. She clearly felt guilt, though her feeling it seemed unusual. As if she wasn't supposed to feel
such an emotion. Though she was human, like everyone else, it just felt wrong, seeing her act like this. Regardless, she dared not make any movements. She kept her hands to her face, her quiet sobs just barely heard. "Hey, I know you're upset. But can you just tell me something?"
Chitaku stood up and sat on his desk. "I have a feeling you're hiding something from me. Yesterday you seemed as if there was some kind of conspiracy in this school." Chitaku eyeballed Meidogāru with a sharp gaze. He didn't mean to put any pressure on Meido, but he was going through some stress too, what with murdering someone and all. "What is it?"
"...So then Meido explained to me what the hell was going on. She explained to me that over the years, Odayakana High School had become the hunting grounds for archetypal persons known commonly, in the moe fandom, as 'yanderes.' This term is like a portmanteau of the two Japanese words 'yanderu,' meaning 'ill,' and 'deredere,' meaning 'lovey-dovey' or something like that. In this case, the former means 'mentally ill,' as in psychotic, crazy, and often murderous. From these clues, one can easily figure out what yanderes do: they kill on the motivation of love. Often they're obsessive, harming or killing anybody who they see as a 'love rival' of sorts; or possessive, harming or killing their love interest as a way of making him/her stay with [them]. As mentioned earlier, whereas there might be only one or two or a few more in the common school, this school, Odayakana High, is full of them.
In this exposition, I discovered that Meidogāru, too, is somewhat of a yandere. Don't worry, she means me no harm and we happen to get along well as long as I don't interfere with her business."
He put the diary away and climbed into his bunk.
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Friday, October 2nd, 2015
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The very start of a new day, early in the morning. Barely anyone could have been awake, the sun had barely risen and very few were headed to school or their job. Plenty of time to wander around, sleep in, eat.. or investigate.
The device had been beeping constantly for ten minutes past it's activation time. Chitaku, finally awoken, turned the damn thing off. 5:20 am, he had set it earlier than usual for this occasion. He would find out what is going on this time around and hopefully uncover a possible culprit. He took a quick shower, got dressed, ate his breakfast which he had prepared the night before, and headed out the door at 5:36 am.
By the time he arrived by the bike-rack, Kukki was already waiting by the front gate. Chitaku, running over to Kukki, said "Okay, what did you find?"
"The chemistry teacher said there was one chemical missing." said Kukki "It was highly poisonous if ingested according to him." Kukki didn't turn to face Chitaku at the current time. She seemed to be busy focusing on the gate, for a reason unbeknownst to Chitaku. "Uh, what's wrong?" asked Chitaku. Kukki looked over to Chitaku, her expression montone. "Nothing. Standing here gets boring." replied Kukki. "Especially when you have to stand here for an hour." Oh, so Kukki is the watchdog at this time. For as obedient as Chitaku was, he needed to get in there immediately. Although he didn't have reason to hurry, for all he knew the perpetrator could be on campus right now, attempting to destroy possibly valuable evidence. It really didn't matter whether or not Kukki wanted to go in and investigate too, this was her job and she couldn't violate school policy. He had to convince her somehow. "I need to be here early Kukki-sensei, to deliver some equipment for a science lab experiment today." stated Chitaku. "All you had to do was say so." said Kukki with a smile. "I don't have the keys with me, but I can give you a
lift up over the wall." With that, Kukki walked over to the wall and faced her back at it, cupping her hands in front of her and crouching slightly. She looked at Chitaku and beckoned him over. Chitaku jogged over towards Mrs. Scarlette, slowed down to a walk, put one step upon the cup of Kukki's hands, and was thrusted up, all in a few seconds. Chitaku can't believe he actually got away with that. Forget it, now is detective time, in which Private Investigator Chitaku Itagashi is a Private Investigator. First things first, the chemistry lab. Perhaps the criminal mastermind or one of his/her henchmen had left behind some clues. Chitaku proceeded to enter through the right side entrance. Strange.. unlocked. "Ah~. Is it that our evildoer is already on the scene?" he said to himself. First priority is a means of entering each room, the janitor's closet has a set of keys for each room. It's on the first floor too.
A sudden noise was heard, a locked door was rammed open, out bursted a girl, her uniform torn up a bit, herself covered in blood. She ran right to the door across, ramming it open. She seemed uninterested in finding any keys. However shortly thereafter she slammed the door shut. From the occupied room, all that emitted from it was breathing. Loud, uneasy and strained breathing from the girl. As well as footsteps and objects being thrown about. She seemed to be in distress, or just having a bad day.
"The hell?" exclaimed Chitaku in surprise. What in Jesus' name had Chitaku just witnessed? A girl, who looked like she had just recently crawled out of the 56th level of hell itself, had ran across the hallway into a classroom. Is this the evildoer or the evildoee? Chitaku proceeded to sneak up to the recently slammed door. Just open it up a crack. Just a crack. ..Nothing. Chitaku, clearly level headed, summed this up to a scapegoat having been sent out to do something about this.
Keys obtained. Chemistry lab is on the second floor. It only just now occured to Chitaku, the security cameras..right, they're only on during school hours, strange decision at best.
A surprised grunt was heard from the room, it was from the girl. She must have noticed the slightly cracked door a little late. Footsteps approached the door, becoming more apparent and rapid as they closed in. Hide. Chitaku hid in the janitor's closet, behind a ladder.. He had anticipated this to some degree, pulling a hammer out of his school bag. The occupied room's door opened, out stepped the girl. Heavily breathing and pacing up and down the hall, she searched for whatever, or whoever, opened the door. "Nuh.." groaned the girl. "Hidey.. Hidey seeky.." The girl was soon heard leaving the hall to search elsewhere. Away from the hiding spot.
And, as if to add to the danger, she bore in her right hand a large knife soaked in blood. This is exactly what Chitaku had wanted and not wanted out of this investigation, which had just turned into a survival mission. Silently, he exited the janitor's closet and paced up to the second floor.
The chemistry lab, Chitaku turned the keys and opened the door. Overall, the scene was pretty clean. Immediately, Chi-kun searched the room for clues, all the while attempting to keep a "low profile."
It wasn't long, there was a finger smudge on the north-easternmost cabinet. As long as this is preserved until mid-day, Chitaku could analyze this mark with better equipment. He could take the time to draw it now, but not with a ill-intentioned girl wandering around.
What's next, a chainsaw? He'd love to see that.
"Alright, what else is here?" Chitaku, looking around for a few more minutes, found a discarded handkerchief in the trash bin. It reeked of sweat and body odor. This could either be nothing or everything right here in his hands. There appeared to be nothing else of interest, which could mean this person wasn't here for long when they stole the poison.
He readied his hammer once more and proceeded slowly out the chemistry lab, slowly and gently sliding the door shut. Chitaku took a quiet, deep breath--in.. and out--and proceeded to look for a temporary hideout. Although nobody was in visual range, he could faintly hear the footsteps of who he can only assume to be her just a floor below. He was right above her. She was right below him.
Then, *tap*.. he had gently hit the door with his hammer inadvertly. It was subtle, but it was
enough to echo through the halls. Just enough to alert once more the girl. It didn't take long, she took no chances and her pace increased to running as she hurried up the stairs. She was coming, and fast. There was no time to hide. She was coming. It was time to run. Her footsteps were almost near enough for her to be in sight, but her words surely were within earshot.
"Chances..!? None! Take.. None take!" the advancing girl shouted like an illiterate child.
"Coming! COMING! COMING!"
The sight had embedded itself into Chitaku's vision. That girl, shouting like an innocent child, dashing full speed towards him. What made it worse was the crooked smile she was wearing. That damn, bloody smile. Chitaku was absolutely paralyzed until she was about 5 meters away, which then he began to run for the hills. There's no way he can face that thing, at least not at the current moment. Although the girl wasn't the fastest, she never slowed nor tired out. As if she had some kind of infinite lung capacity or something. Her knife was raised above her head as she ran, she was clearly determined to give and keep chase and ready to strike as soon as she got close, if she got close. But she never stopped, not to take a breath, not to rest her legs. She kept going. Something wasn't right about her. Chitaku hadn't dared look back from that point on, but he hadn't ran like this in a year. Stopping is not an option here, but he could barely make out her footsteps getting closer. "(Maybe the staircase can slow her down.)" Chitaku thought to himself as he began to rise, 2 steps per footstep. Sure enough, the girl followed Chitaku up the stairs. She only went 1 step per footstep - Aito No Chi, give it a read sometime