Chapter 32 - Junko ShirogetsuWednesday, October 18th Try to imagine the feeling. The initial relief of having woken up from a nightmare, the greats gulps of oxygen soothing your wary lungs…

  Only to realize you’ve been tossed into another one.

  As usual, my body began to move before my brain could catch up, and the next thing I knew, I was at my sister’s bedroom door. There was no sound on the other side – only my shallow, unstable breaths.

  Knock knock knock.

  No response.

  I needed to see her right now. For her to tell me that the past two days had been nothing but a fever dream, for her to scold me for interrupting her morning yoga, for her to look me in the eye and tell me everything would be okay.

  Knock knock knock.

  “Sis,” I whimpered. “Please, open the –“

  Before I could finish my plea, the metallic handle I’d been grappling swung downwards, out of my grasp, and though the tears were making the image blurry, there she was.

  For just a millisecond there, perhaps everything began to feel normal again. Like it was just another dreary Wednesday morning.

  It was after having rubbed my eyes clean, after having made contact with Mizuko’s own vacant, desperate gaze that the illusion shattered into millions of jagged pieces, bringing down any sembnce of security alongside it.

  By the time I’d found the presence of mind to open my mouth and try to put all the fear that was ravaging my heart into words, I was being pulled into her bosom.

  “…with everything I have.” I heard her whisper.

  “I will protect you with everything I have.”

  I felt her fingers caress my crown, her touch as soothing as her voice, like a lulby. At first, I felt as though I were hugging a stranger. I couldn’t remember the st time I’d felt her embrace.

  Perhaps it was that familiar scent of her sea-salt shampoo, the strange new curves along her historically slender body, or the way her warmth reminded me of Mother’s, but soon enough I lost the strength to form any comprehensible words beneath my irrepressible sobs.

  Her arms tightened around me. I wanted her to never let go.

  The second I’d split off from Mizuko, my priorities were clear. I needed to find out if he’d come to school or not. I knew in my heart that this simple observation would tell me everything I needed to know.

  Leaving behind the empty greetings and gnces of faces I didn’t recognize, I sliced through the morning crowd and, just as I’d hoped, found the one person who could tell me what I needed to know.

  “Aaah!” Emiko screamed, jumping backwards in surprise. “You nearly scared me to death!”

  At my unresponsiveness, she added with a hint of concern, “Speaking of death, a-are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Then again, you’d only be the fifth person today…”

  I had been flipping and rotating my next words in my mind, calcuting the best angle to broach the topic at, so much so that I almost let the golden opportunity pass me by.

  “…What do you mean, fifth person?”

  Emiko stared at me with an uneasy look in her eye, as if weighing up whether or not she wanted to continue. Eventually, she sighed and shook her head.

  “Well…” She began. “Let’s just say you’re not the only one who’s been out of sorts today. That English transfer in third year literally walked right into Mr. Inoue, who was heading to the Faculty Office or something. The resulting coffee stains did not look gm, but you know the teachers love Cumberham, or whatever his name is. I tell you, if any of us pulled a stunt like that, we’d - ”

  Whether she sensed that she was getting off-topic on her own accord, or the sharp gre I gave her alerted her to such, she cleared her throat and cut off her speech, before starting up again.

  “Russy-senpai usually comes to chat to us by the Courtyard by now, but supposedly some of the girls saw him head to the boys’ bathroom and he hasn’t come out since. Even the Tiger, that she-beast, was staring at her locker like it held the secrets to the universe or something. It was like…like all the bitchiness in her had gone on holiday, and you know she hasn’t got much left aside from that.”

  Then there was no mistake. We’d all witnessed the same thing yesterday. Only one thing left to uncover, and I wasn’t sure if I had to strength to.

  “H-Have you seen Furusawa?” I found the words, in the end.

  Her eyes widened in surprise for the briefest moment, but soon enough narrowed in thought, in concentration. I could practically visualize the neural network of Emiko’s myriad connections, her eyes scanning, warping, and wefting through the several nodes and branches until finally, she settled on her target.

  “Ah, Ryota’s friend? The one with the curly orange hair?”

  At my tentative nod, she replied, “…No. Which is weird. The four of them usually hang out by the vending machine down by –“

  As she turned to point to their usual morning haunt, she froze.

  “Wait, huh?” She excimed. “The other two are there, but Nakamura and Furusawa…looks like they haven’t arrived yet.”

  My heart sank. Css starts in less than ten minutes – if either of them were going to come, they would’ve done so by now. Neither of them (especially Ryota as of recent) had made a habit of teness or skipping css.

  I needed to tell Sis. I needed to tell her that –

  “Hey, wait! Junko! Where’re you going?”

  “I-I need to go take care of something. I’ll see you in css, okay?”

  When I had spun back around in my desired path, I felt an impact that almost sent me to the ground. Thinking of yesterday’s encounter, I found myself suddenly missing Ryota, and dearly. I wanted to see his face.

  But when I looked up at who the torso had belonged to, I fought the urge to recoil in disgust.

  “Whoa there sunshine,” Daisuke jeered. “Looking for your boyfriend?”

  “What did you do?” I snapped. I had no patience for this traitor’s games.

  At my accusation, he raised an eyebrow.

  “I have no clue what you’re talking about. You’re the one that ran into me.”

  I took a deep breath and thought it over. Daisuke would have no reason to do anything to Ryota, or Furus –

  “Wait.” The words left my mouth before I could identify them. “…Where were you st night?”

  “In a parallel world with – “

  The impact of my fist having flown into a nearby locker caused the various discussions around us to simmer and in some cases, cease to continue. On another day, as a casual observer, perhaps I would’ve cringed at seeing such a melodramatic dispy.

  Today was not that day, it seemed.

  “Answer my fucking question.”

  Sensing the tone of conversation shifting, I felt his gaze harden and his eyes peer into mine.

  “I went out killing Noise.” He replied matter-of-factly. “How else am I supposed to get stronger?”

  “Likely story. I bet you got bored of killing them, didn’t you? That’s why you went after Furusawa.”

  Daisuke titled his head in confusion, “…Went after who?”

  I was growing sick and tired of his games, but knew that if I said any more, I wouldn’t be able to control my volume.

  “Look, I really don’t have any clue what you’re on about, Princess.” He sighed. “Are you trying to say that something happened to Furusawa?”

  I remained silent, but couldn’t hold his eye contact any further.

  “…Something did happen didn’t it? Is that why the poor bastard’s not around? Did he kick the bucket already?”

  Daisuke then started ughing. He ughed and ughed and ughed, like he’d been told the funniest joke in the world.

  The anger swept up in my chest, and forced my body into action. Lifting my fist from the locker, I locked my eye on his jaw and swung.

  I was disappointed to find that not only had my fist been shot at thin air, but also that Daisuke himself had vanished out of my sight.

  Or rather, was grabbed by the colr and shoved into a nearby wall.

  “You think this is fucking funny?!” Katoru spat as Daisuke struggled beneath his grip. I hadn’t the slightest clue where he had come from, but his eyes bzed with hatred. “If I ever catch your face in there again, I’ll make you regret you were ever fucking born, you piece of shit!“

  The whispers and murmurs that were previously floating through the hall had grown into screams, shouts, and encouragements. Before long, two staff members, alongside some of the third years came along to break it up. Seeing it take more than four of them to pull Liu away, his face fred in rage, sent a shiver down my spine.

  After they’d managed to pull Liu far enough away, they blocked his path back to Daisuke and told him to go home – to which he happily agreed, if the numerous expletives and accompanying gestures were anything to go by.

  My breathing was still hoarse and panicked by the time Mizuko had rushed downstairs to the commotion, and found me there, crouched and crying into my knees. With a firm, but steady hand, she grabbed my shoulder and took me away from the entire scene, away from the pain.

  But upon seeing Daisuke’s sadistic, evil smile from the corner of my eye, I remembered that running away was no longer an option for me.

  It never had been.

  And it never would be.