Chapter #21 – A Girl Awakens

The following events take place between 11 AM and 12 PM.

“Hey, is that for real?”

“Wow, what’s up with that?”

“Are they on crack or what?”

“Jesus, don’t they have anything better to do with their time?”

In the school grounds, a group of student in the middle of physical education looked up at the roof of the school, where four of their own – that is, students – stood waving a gigantic banner enthusiastically. Well, at least one of them was enthusiastic. The other three were a mixture of reluctance, annoyance and fear. The banner fluttered in the wind akin to the manner a limp corpse floated on a river, except that it was a banner, not a corpse, and that it was in the air, not on the water. So, in a way, it wasn’t really akin. Perhaps a more suitable way of putting it would have been totally unlike the manner a limp corpse floated on a river.

Sanity’s eye twitched slightly, but save for that minor reaction, nothing else happened. Well, a few students random threw themselves off the fifth floor for no apparent reason, but save for that, nothing else happened. Besides, students died all the time. A few more dying wouldn’t change anything.

The reason for all the ruckus? The words on the banner, which read “BE OUR FRIEND, SANITY” in bright red. That, and the fact that the four students were shouting the same thing. Well, at least one of them were. Two of them were muttering, and one was trying his best to look away, as if to say that he wasn’t a part of the whole thing. Not that anyone bought it.

“Sanity, be our fried… our friend…” Fortenra’s words decreased in volume continuously, until he was simply mouthing the words. Not that it made any difference. After all, a whisper from a roof would never reach a person on the ground, unless said roof was like, on the first floor. So to the students below, the fact that Fortenra had stopped talking out loud really made no difference. “God, we look like idiots.”

“Sa~nity~! Be~ ou~r~ fr~ien~d~!” yelled Aine at the top of her lungs in joy. She loved these kind of things. Making friends was a hobby of hers, and one that she rarely got to do, as Sniperville Academy did not condone the making of friends. It was kind of like how science did not condone the making of artificial life. But then again, in Sniperville, rules, ethics and values were about as valuable as a needle in a haystack. After all, needles were easy to come by. What kind of idiot would search for a needle in a haystack? “Be~ our~ friend~ please~!”

“Ismaru, stop looking to the side and help out too, you bitch!” snarled Toastie, her face red with a mixture of shame and rage. It appeared as if Toastie, while not having any problem with her own antics, was easily embarrassed when forced to participate in the antics of others. Which was pretty silly and hypocritical, really.

“…” Ismaru pulled his ninja mask higher, to cover up his blush, and spoke not a word.

—

The following events take place between 12 and 1PM.

“Hey, Sanity! You wanna sit with us?”

Sanity turned around with what mind have passed for an incredulous expression on her face. Anyone who knew Sanity would not have recognized the girl. But then again, nobody knew Sanity in the first place, so nobody recognized the fact that she had what might have passed for an incredulous expression on her face. That, and the fact that her face remained almost as expressionless as usual. The only thing that had changed was the fact that her eyebrow was a bit higher than usual.

A bead of sweat rolled down Toastie’s back as she wilted under Sanity’s glare. “Um… you don’t need to if you don’t want to…”

“Jesus, either sit down or fucking move, bitch! I’m hungry and I need my meat!” snarled Ismaru, still rankling from what the humiliating experience on the roof. All things considered, perhaps his hostility was justified.

Then, with all the eyes in the cafeteria upon her (though then again, there weren’t that many eyes, as most had fled upon Sanity’s arrival) the girl began to walk towards the table where Ismaru, Fortenra, Aine and Toastie sat. Was it a moment of beauty? A holiday miracle? The reforming of a demon? Had the true spirit of friendship, as shown by the group, touched her heart? Everyone’s breath caught in their throats as Sanity stood in front of the table, her arms hanging loosely at her sides.

With a mouthful of food – he could not be bothered to wait – Ismaru looked at Sanity. “Mmrgh mmmm grrrrph mmmmngh!”

At Ismaru’s words, Sanity reached out… and flipped the entire table over. Food flew in the air and drinks splattered everywhere, if Ismaru was everywhere. While Fortenra, Toastie and Aine had managed to move away in time, Ismaru, who had been in the middle of eating, was caught in the mess. Then, without another word, Sanity walked away, leaving the carnage behind her.

Ismaru fell to his knees, staring tearfully at his meatloaf lying listlessly on the floor. “My… my meatloaf…”

Fortenra shrugged. “You probably deserved it.”

—

The following events take place between 1 and 1:10 PM.

“Eh?” Ismaru paused in the hallway as he sensed a malevolent presence surrounding his body. His muscles tensed, and the young man reached for the dagger he kept hidden in his ninja mask. Exactly how he’d managed to hide a weapon in a small piece of cloth, no one knew. Hell, no one even knew that he kept a dagger there, so perhaps it was to be taken for granted that no one knew how he’d managed to hide said weapon in said small piece of cloth. “Who the fuck is doing that shit?”

The hallway seemed to grow darker, or was it the lights going out? Suddenly, the hallway was void of all life, or, rather, it was becoming void of life as the other students in the hallway began to either die with fear in their faces or run away screaming. Dark tendrils covered every nook and cranny of hallway and Sanity slowly made her way across. How slow? Very, very, VERY slow.

—

The following events take place between 1:10 and 1:20 PM.

“My God, you’re fucking slow,” complained Ismaru, with his hands to his hips, as Sanity finally reached the area right in front of him. He crossed his arms and scowled. “What the fuck do you want?”

“…” Sanity simply glared at Ismaru. Then again, she might not have been glaring. Who knew? Most of her face was covered by her long and writhing hair, and it was pretty much impossible to figure out where she was looking. Then again, she stood right in front of Ismaru, so perhaps the young ninja was not wrong in thinking that she was glaring at him.

—

The following events take place between 1:20 and 1:30 PM.

“Seriously, what the fuck do you want?”

“…”

—

The following events take place between 1:30 and 1:40 PM.

“Seriously, bitch, you keep on staring at me like that and I’m going to stab you. With a knife. Made for stabbing.”

—

The following events take place between 1:40 and 2:00 PM.

Ismaru was at the end of his nerves. “BITCH, YOU BETTER-”

Out of nowhere, a fist flew towards Ismaru’s face. Then again, perhaps it was not out of nowhere. After all, it had come from Sanity. Caught by surprise, Ismaru was nearly hit by the fist. Nearly. But really, nearly dying was nothing like actually dying, and nearly winning a lottery was nothing like actually winning the fucking thing. As such, while the fist was fast, furious and fucking surprising, it was also a failure.

With a simple side-step, Ismaru moved out of the way before taking out his dagger and pointing it at Sanity. “Bitch, I’m going to kill you!”

Before he could do so, however, Sanity’s hair grabbed him by the arm, and the two of them made eye contact. Violent images flew into Ismaru’s head, and within seconds the young man was out cold, lying on the floor like the meatloaf he had so tragically lost in the cafeteria. A shadow of what might have been a smile flitted on Sanity’s face for a split second before vanishing into nothingness. Picking up the dagger Ismaru had dropped, Sanity then leaned over Ismaru…

—

The following events take place between 2 and 2:30 PM.

Aine and Toastie had not been trying to spy on Sanity. In fact, they had not been trying to spy on anyone at all. They had just been rifling through the tapes in the security office of Sniperville Academy in search of where their science teacher might have placed the answers to next week’s exams, when Toastie had chanced upon the standoff between Ismaru and Sanity. Then instead of ignoring the footage, she began to play it despite Aine’s protests. Aine’s protests themselves died as the two of them watched what had transpired in the last 10 minutes of the standoff.

A sudden noise caught Aine’s attention, and the girl looked back, surprised, while Toastie continued watching.

“Oh, shit,” uttered Toastie, as the realization set upon her. “I… I can’t believe it.”

“What is it, Toastie? What have you figured out?”

“Sanity… that girl… she… she…” Toastie paused and gulped. “You need to see for yourself,” she muttered, rewinding the tape.

In the screen, Sanity placed a kiss on Ismaru’s bare lips. His ninja mask was in shreds, having been cut off by the dagger in the girl’s right hand.

Aine’s eyes were wide. “Sanity… she…”

Toastie nodded. “Sanity’s in love with Ismaru!”

- To Be Continued…