Doomsday High Chapter 6: Comeback [UNEDITED]

A ray of treacherous sunlight peeked through the windows of the library as a bell rung from a near distance, signaling the start of school hours. I hurriedly stood up and paused for a moment, inhaling the scent of old books and mahogany.

In front of me was a table filled to the brim with reading materials and sitting behind it was Annabel and her two bodyguards, Ai and Mai.

Ai and Mai took their time to introduce themselves last night. It turns out they were twins and like Annabel and C, they die at the same time.

Ai and Mai explained a lot to me… Starting from the reasons why neutrals existed and why they didn’t quite like section 12.

It turns out that neutrals were people who didn’t want to join a section because siding would be too hard for them. Neutrals exist voluntarily, so they’ll only stand their grounds until their leader leaves or if they suddenly choose to join a section. The first neutral entered Doomsday High a few years after the said school came to existence.

Like other freshmen, he had to run the course to a desired section. He got first place that year, but unfortunately, he didn’t like the looks of anyone, so he walked into the school without a word. Sections attacked him, fearing that some freshmen would follow his example… and follow they did.

When he graduated, he eventually took over the whole school and became the Principal. His name is Rey. His surname is unknown. And if there’s something anyone should know about him… It’s the fact that he’s Ace’s ancestor… and he’s still inarguably young and alive.

As for why they hate Section 12, this probably started around the time my parents were studying here. The sudden siege in the library and the wiping out of all neutrals during the siege seemed to get to them a lot.

Back then, Section 12 was brutal and fierce. Students broke all the rules just to get to the top students list. They broke into the Principal’s office and forced him to give the library to them. At first, the principal refused and a few members started disappearing into ashes, however, 12 didn’t back down. They won the Principal over with their guts and the disqualification process stopped right away. The library siege followed.

Annabel stirred in her sleep. She seemed to be more peaceful than ever. 

 “It’s Thursday, 8 in the morning,” Mai said from behind me as she shoved a book into a shelf. “In thirty minutes, you have a class in Biology with Leonard-sensei, Ken-chan…”

“Looks like you know my schedule better than I do,” I said. “Don’t neutrals have a schedule to follow too?”

 It was then I realized that I didn’t even know my schedule. Usually, students have to select the subjects they would be studying the whole year round but not in this school. During yesterday's conversation with Ai and my, I had found that the students of Doomsday High are sorted out and shoved into their respective classrooms.

“Yes. Ours is more complex than those who belong to a section,” Ai replied in Mai’s stead. She was sitting on top of the same bookshelf while swinging her legs to and fro. The grin on her face told me that she was enjoying the view.

“Unlike students who have a schedule assigned by the school three days to a week after they choose a section, we plot our own schedules so that we don’t get into fights. We want to have a really peaceful high school life. It’s our everyday goal. Unfortunately, we can’t escape from sudden attacks,” Ace suddenly stated, appearing right beside Ai. There must’ve been a ladder behind the shelf they were sitting on.

“You seem to be confident. When you and the twins walk down the school hallways, what do you do when other sections suddenly attack you?”

“Simple. We run,” Ace said with a playful smirk. “We’re fast runners. Some sections prefer to trade information with us and sometimes it gets a little dirty. I don’t want to get done in or disqualified especially now that I’m about to graduate and leave this wretched place."

“The thought of you leaving is very appealing,” Annabel said as she rose from her chair. “Your very presence irritates me.”

“Oh! You’re awake,” Ace smirked again. “Just when I thought you would never wake up!”

 “You moron,” Annabel hissed. “And you!” She pointed and glared at me. “Go to your classroom, you imbecile!”

“But—But two unknown sections might be fighting outside and I don’t even have a weapon,” I explained to her.

She pressed a palm to her forehead. “I almost forgot. You ran out of ammo yesterday. Darn.”

Annabel’s gaze swept across the library. “Does Mai have her Gatling gun?”

“No. I believe not,” Ace said.

“You liar,” Annabel hissed.

“What are you going to do with a Gatling gun? You can’t fight. You’ve been suspended,” Alexandroff informed her, matter-of-factly.

“I can’t fight. But he can,” she said, pointing at me.

“I don’t know how to use a Gatling gun,” I said in an indefinite protest.

“I’ll teach you. It’s gonna be a little noisy though… You can use the bookshelves as your target,” she said.

“That’s not nice of you, Annabel. I thought you’d be more refined,” Ace mocked. “Using my poor shelves as slaves. Guess you’re still as ill-mannered as always.”

“Wanna die?” Annabel asked, looking up at him.

“You can’t kill me,” he retorted, smugly.

It was then the doors to the library erupted open and two unknown students marched into the room disdainfully. They scowled at me like I had just murdered their parents.

One of them was a redheaded girl with piercing ruby eyes. She spoke with a thick, Italian accent. “Shame to see Section 12 wipe out a whole section without their trump card.”

The other one was a stocky blonde whose voice boomed across the room as he spoke. “Looks like Section 6 underestimated you guys. But now that we’re here…”

“You two are from Section 5,” Ace said, familiarizing their faces. “The freshmen who came last at the first exam.”

“We came last because we were late,” The redhead said. “If we had come early, we could have fed this guy to the blades.”

“You two finished the course in no less than ten seconds,” Ace said, fascinated. “You even came out unscathed.”

“We were trained,” The blonde said. “Fourteen years of training is more than enough to keep us alive in this school. However… there seems to be a slight… problem.”

“There’s a bug we need to fix,” the redhead said, walking closer to me. The smile on her face stated that she appreciated the fact I was standing before her. “It’s you, Takanashi.”

I walked out of her way and stood right beside Annabel.

“Miss Rezef,” The redhead said. “I believe you’re having a rough time. How does it feel to be suspended again?”

Annabel was letting her temper get to her again and she marched fumingly towards the redhead. Ai and Mai grabbed her and pacified her before she could do something stupid.

 “That’s enough taunting,” another voice said. This one was feminine and dangerously familiar… It sounded like…

“Bernie?” I whispered, looking at the lady who was just walking into the library.

Confused by the sudden turn of events, I started, “Bernie. What--“

Annabel spanked me on the back of my head. “You idiot!” She whispered to me. “She’s not Bernie. She’s—“

“I see that you ruffians from Section 12 have been taking care of my filthy little sister,” the girl said.

I looked at her right in the eyes. I could swear she was Bernie. She had the same face… same hair… same voice… The only thing different was the dark, unfriendly aura she was carrying.  Bernie had something that made anyone comfortable whenever she was around. This girl didn’t have that characteristic.

“My name’s Olivia,” The girl said. “I’m Bernie’s twin sister.”

“Evil twin sister,” Annabel corrected rather incredulously

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

“Finally. Should we give the guy a beating before killing him? Or should we drag him outside now?” The blonde said.

Dragging me outside probably meant that they could kill me there.

“Still as impatient as ever, Apollo,” Olivia’s stare fluttered across the ceiling before she looked at me. “Drag him outside. Now.”

Annabel pulled me behind, “Run, you idiot! Avoid them!”

I quickly took to my heels and ran. I looked ahead while keeping my ears trained to the footsteps behind me at first. It took a moment before the annoying sound vanished. I was hopeful that I had lost them, but I  couldn’t keep my hopes up. They were probably thinking of ways to catch me. The only strategy I have now is to run away from them.

Only when I was lost in the endless array of bookshelves did I realize how huge this library was. It was almost like a labyrinth of some sorts…  It was even bigger than the library Section 12 had seized.

Left. Right. Right. Left. Another left. I was in a huge maze and there was no way out of it.

“Libera, I’ve seen him!” I looked up and much to my surprise, Apollo was running on top of the bookshelf to my right. I made a left turn just as the aisle ended just to see what he would do.

He was jumping from shelf to shelf. It almost made him seem very inhuman. He was like a flying buzzard waiting to be swatted, and as badly as I wanted to smash, slice or shoot him, I had no weapons on me and killing was prohibited in this library.

It took me some time before I found my way back to where Annabel and the others was and I was so filled with the thought of escaping Apollo and Libera that I didn’t realize what was beyond the entrance of the library.

I ran out of the area and stopped posthaste. In front of me were students of Section 5, all bent on killing me. They immediately started loading their guns. I closed my eyes, only to have them open due to the roar of a chainsaw and the repetitive banging of a Gatling gun.

I needn’t look back because Ai was right by my side. She was holding a chainsaw and its blade was carving ugly holes on the floor.

“Belle-chan couldn’t help you so we decided to do her a favor and take her place!” Ai told me with a reassuring smile.

“We really, really, really idolize Belle-chan,” Mai said, huddling over to cover me from behind. “So we copied her weapons.”

The next few seconds were blurry, with only the sounds of Ai’s chainsaw and Mai’s Gatling gun filling my ears to the point where it hurts. My head started pounding, but I couldn’t go anywhere considering the fact that I was surrounded, with absolutely no weapon on me, and only two girls guarding me. I have to admit, I felt incredibly weak.

That was when they came racing towards me.

Jeck had hacked through the crowd with his newly-repaired axe and Dave was right behind him, shocking people with his electro-gloves. Following them was Rena who was wielding a spear of some sorts, and she was moving in fast. She was trying to grab something from the inside of her blazer, hence making her more unaware of the growing number of attackers who were now encompassing her.

She stopped on her tracks and I managed to hear her yell one word before she was completely blocked by her assailants.

“Catch!” 

Precision. It was the one thing that helped me see the two objects she had thrown towards me. They were pistols – one was colored a luminous silver while the other was a lucid black.

I hurriedly caught the both of them with my own two hands and examined them as fast as I could. The hole where the bullet would go through wasn’t shaped normally for both guns. Thin hollow rectangles took the place of the usual hole where the bullets would go through. It pretty much explained why the head of both pistols were considerably wider. The magazine which was supposed to contain the bullets was also evidently bigger.

Knowing that asking questions wasn’t a good thing to do given the current time and situation, I began shooting.

Then the questions started flooding my head.

“What… are these?” I asked myself.

I had known that regular bullets wouldn’t be able to come out of the pistols, but it still surprised me to see blades coming out of them.

A tan guy with dreadlocks suddenly came to my side and lit a grenade.

“Nice weapon you’ve got there buddy,” He said. “Blades instead of bullets. How convenient.”

He threw a grenade to the farthest part of the crowd and pulled me away before the gunpowder took effect.

“The name’s Ruben. I’m a neutral,” he said. “Ace said you needed some help. Unfortunately, that’s the last of the grenades we have. I’ll be going now. See you.”

The grenade exploded.  The blast could have caused a few walls to fall apart or may have even created a hole in the floor to say the least, but the insurmountable amount of bodies that laid where the grenade landed told me that the whole place was holding itself together so strongly that it was almost miraculous.

Then I began making up for the lost time by shooting anyone I saw as a threat. Section 5’s numbers started deteriorating significantly and I knew that we were going to win.  

I looked into the smoke caused by a grenade and noticed a figure coming out of it. Without really thinking, I pointed one of my guns at the smoke and pulled the trigger.

Indeed, there was someone lurking in the smoke, and when the area had cleared and Section 5’s number had decreased dramatically, with only a few members fighting off Section 12, I quickly neared the body and stared at the person I had just… killed.

Yes, their likeness was remarkable indeed. I didn’t know if I had just killed Bernie or Olivia but considering they were twins then I might have killed them both.

Bernie/Olivia’s corpse laid there with her eyes open. A circular blade was buried firmly into her forehead.  For a moment, I had thought about disqualification, then someone tapped me on the shoulder, ultimately interrupting me.

I looked around to see a familiar, friendly smile.

“Next time, be a little more gentle. Dying hurts,” Bernie said. Since Olivia was her twin, she couldn’t get away unscathed. She had a wound on her forehead – the exact same place I had shot Olivia, but it wasn’t deep enough to kill her.

“You’re a strong pair,” I told her.

“I know,” Bernie said. “Now it’s off to classes for all of us.”

***

Run. If you’re a student of Doomsday High, it’s the only thing you could think of once you’re heading to class. And it’s not because you’re going to be late.

If a horde of killers was trailing behind you, would you even have the time to think? Well maybe yes, if you were the really calm and composed type. But calm and composed weren’t a part of my traits.

Room 302 is a lab located on the 3^rd floor. The rooms are really messed up in Doomsday High. I could see the reason why students get lost so easily.

Rena had a map and a time table with her, but surprisingly, I had none. Perhaps it was also inside the envelope containing the registration form. Perhaps I had thrown it out of the window along with that envelope out of impatience.

How stupid of me.

We clambered a staircase which was believed to be a shortcut to the third floor. Since it was still undoubtedly going to be a long trip, some students took advantage of the time and began killing each other off.

I was told by Rena not to look back, but nobody could help it if they’re curious. I took quick glances to see what was happening from behind.

Someone was lying on one of the steps and he was missing his head. A girl tumbled right beside him with a Swiss knife pressed deep into her chest.

When we reached the third floor, the killings continued. I had to shoot down two students who were already loading their guns.

Rena made a quick left and I followed suit. In no less than a second, room 302 was right in front of us. When we got inside, our teacher, Professor Leonard, was already dissecting a frog out of unambiguous boredom.

He peered at the entrance to the lab from behind his thick eyeglasses. His hair, already a shimmering silver, whitened all of a sudden as if he wasn’t expecting a bunch of bloody, battered students to enter the room out of the blue.

“Oh. You’re all here,” he stated in a low voice. “I thought none of you were going to come.”

“Sorry we’re late, Sir Leonard,” Rena spoke for the whole class first. “We were a little… preoccupied.”

“I understand,” Sir Leonard said before beckoning everyone to take their seats.

***

Running again. I believe that’s how it’s going to be each day in Doomsday High. I and Rena had to run from Biology class to History, which was located on Room 402 on the same floor.

Our History teacher, Miss Gradenko, was young… Or at least, she looked young. She told the class that she was only twenty seven, though I don’t know if she meant it in mortal or immortal terms.

She explained that the teachers in Doomsday High were hired as mortals, and like the students, they were transformed into immortals because they had physical contact with the Unknown.

She also explained that all the teachers were given the task to turn their students into great leaders so that they’d lead a successful life on Earth. After all, if you’re successful, mortals would hate it if you die. Not unless you’re a chipmunk-sounding pop star who hasn’t undergone puberty at 15.

Still, I hate the idea of being spoiled and rich. If immortality and wealth is what you want and all you have to do is to die a million times for it, then be my guest.

After a very long introduction to Unknown history, she went on with the lesson.

She droned on and on about how the Unknown came to be and how it wasn’t meant to exist in the first place. The Unknown is a place that was meant to balance the equilibrium of the entire universe, but humans were not allowed to have contact with.

The first human who entered the Unknown was killed by a grim reaper. Grim reapers have the power to take away immortality, but they couldn’t do it if you could fight them.

Immortals could damage grim reapers physically partially because they are already gifted with the ability to surpass death. Of course, death still has ways of catching them by surprise (like disqualification) so they have to be careful and keep a watchful eye on themselves and their surroundings.

History class was short since Miss Gradenko dismissed us early, but we chose to leave the classroom last. Some of the students decided to seat back and wait as well. Most of them were staring daggers at me but I didn’t care.

When the students lost their  patience and stalked out of the room, I and Rena took our cue and ushered ourselves out of the classroom.   Rena and I had to run to a pre-training course meeting at the main library. And we couldn’t get there without a fight.

We had a run-in with a three of our classmates (all were probably from Section 11). We had to knock them out just to be fair. However, I can’t expect no one to go after them in our stead. They might already be dead a few minutes after we left them lying on the ground.

Our journey to the main library was more silent than ever. Rena probably hasn’t recovered from yesterday’s incident. To top it off, Sarah and J.R were nowhere in sight. They were supposed to be our classmates in History.

“Where are they?” I asked, half-rhetorically.

“Who?” Rena inquired. Even if she was clearly not in the mood to talk, I was grateful that I managed to make her speak.

“Sarah and J.R?” I questioned.

Rena’s gaze was fixated ahead as she answered, “They got done in earlier. They’re probably back in the dorm but who knows? They might still be in the clinic.”

I followed her gaze. “I see…”

Silence.

“Look, I’m sorry about yesterday. It’s just that… I wasn’t thinking when I said those things to you. You could just forget about it,” Rena said.

“I don’t know if I should... you know… Forget,” I told her.

When we got to the library, it was empty. Rena and I had to roam around in search for a familiar presence, but there was nobody inside it. We were the only two souls entangled in another series of shelves.

I sighed as we stood by the entrance, waiting for the rest to come.

“Maybe they got caught up in a killing spree,” Rena said.

“Maybe they went back to the dorm,” I told her.

“They can’t do that,” Rena objected. “They always hold meetings here. It’s much more convenient. Besides, clambering all the way back to the dorm sounds like a death sentence. You know how long the staircases to the underground are!”

“Okay, okay. Calm down,” I said, rolling my eyes exasperatedly. “We’ll give them 10 minutes. If they don’t show up, they’re definitely back in the dorm.”

“What will they be doing there?” She asked me.

“Probably talking to Annabel,” I said.

“If they wanted to talk to her, they could do that here. Annabel knows a lot of secret passages to the library,” she informed me.

I breathed a sigh. She was right. I could faintly recall someone telling me something similar on the first day... Or was it the second? 

I was about to respond when the doors to the library were forced open and our History teacher, Miss Gradenko, moved into the room in one-fluid motion.

 “Oh, you’re both here. I sort of… lost my way,” Miss Gradenko explained with a smile.

Teachers couldn’t be killed, so they could walk around the school with ease.

“What are you here for, Miss Gradenko?” Rena asked with extreme politeness.

“I was looking for the other library,” she said.

She probably meant the annex… where the neutrals are lurking.

“It’s on the first floor,” I told her.

“It’s that far?” She asked with a disappointed sigh. She definitely didn’t want to climb down staircases, most especially spiral ones.

“If you ever get injured on your way there, the clinic’s on the second floor,” Rena informed her. “The students could take you there. They won’t really harm you anyway unless a stray bullet finds you.”

Miss Gradenko sighed again. “I guess there’s no helping it. See you in class tomorrow, kids.”

And with that she was off.

Speaking of injuries, I looked down at the prosthetic that had replaced my left foot. I had completely forgotten about it.

“Don’t prosthetics take years of getting used to?” I asked, half-rhetorically. It was true anyway. Our neighbor’s daughter got caught in an accident which took away her lower left limbs and she hasn’t even learnt to walk until now.

It was weird for me to be walking normally.

“The nurse said that the prosthetic she used on you was one of the more advanced type,” She said. “It looked pretty normal to me but then you got the hang of it in no time and that was more than enough to convince me that what the nurse said was true. I guess it’s the type that prevents a person from taking walking lessons and lets anyone go straight for the kill. It’s really convenient in your part.”

I stayed silent.

“Maybe the nurse understood that you’d be all giddy about the killing spree. Guess every student here is the same,” she said. “Wake up-Eat-kill- study-kill- study-kill-eat- study- sleep.”

“That’s not far from the usual wake up-survive- sleep kind of thing,” I told her.

“It is…” She said. “If everything here was normal, nobody here would be programmed to kill. Killing is a very different term from surviving, Ken.”

“You have to kill to survive,” I told her, matter-of-factly.

She sighed, defiantly. “You have a point.”

“I wonder,” I started. “Why was I sent to this school in the first place? Everyone here wants to be in the lead. I only want to be on the very back of things… You know… while actors perform onstage, I’ll be the one preparing the props. I wasn’t born to be successful. I was born to be a coward. Heck, I didn’t even have any friends in middle school.

“When I got here, I wasn’t prepared for anything. I didn’t think ‘Hey, Ken! It’s a new school! It’s your chance to be a new person!’ Instead, I thought, ‘My parents sent me here. They’re such douches.’”

Rena laughed even if I hadn’t meant what I said as a joke.

“Then I realized Doomsday High is different. Way different. I mean look at it. I’m in Junior High and I’m already being trained to conduct massacres. What’s the use?”

“You need to avoid getting killed by death angels after you graduate,” Rena pointed out.

“I know that… but… what else? Aside from death angels, what else? Nothing, right?” I said. “I mean, come on. Some of us are bound to become death angels even if the school is highly against it.  We’d eventually grow tired of picking on only one thing at a time. It would be like playing a computer game and you’ll be stuck on the same level. It’s sickening.”

Rena breathed heavily. “You know, my mother…  She was irresponsible… She let the death angels have my father, and then she re-married a mortal. It’s the main reason why I have a Japanese surname. Not that I’m against it. Mr. Yamasaki is a good guy… In fact, I wish he was my real father. I just don’t have the guts to call him ‘dad’ yet….

“He wanted me to go to a normal school… Grow up like any kid… Get married, grow old… Then die, like any mortal,” She sighed. “I wanted that too… But I often had nightmares about what my mother did to my father, and overtime I got scared of death itself that I decided to turn down the future Mr. Yamasaki had prepared for me. I had never seen him so broken.

“Since mother had contact with the Unknown, she was the one who brought me to this school. Before I left my home, Mr. Yamasaki was crying. Seeing him like that tore me apart.

“Now that I can’t fear death, I solemnly swear to myself that when I leave this school, I’ll become incredibly successful… So that he’ll know that while I was making my decision, I was also thinking of him as my father.” Rena finished her story with a depressed sigh.

“That’s pretty unselfish of you,” I told her.

“No. It’s selfish. Mr. Yamasaki had done everything he could to make my life as perfect as possible. The only thing I could have done in exchange for it was to live normally and avoid putting myself at risk,” she said. “Being in this school is hurting him. He knows that I could die a thousand times here. That I would suffer a lot of pain here. He is very much aware of that, Ken. And unlike us who can’t fear death once we’ve entered Doomsday High, he alone would experience the trauma I should be feeling now. “

I stayed quiet. She had just summarized her whole life story. Surprisingly, I wanted to hear more.

Then the doors opened again and in came our history teacher, breathing erratically.

“M-Maybe I…” She started, panting. “Maybe I could… get some reference materials… from here.”

***

“So tell us, Professor,” I began, giving her a look of curiosity. “What’s your research about?”

“Oh nothing… Well at least, nothing of the usual,” she told me, glancing back with a smile as she navigated through the nearest aisles with me and Rena trailing right behind her just for the heck of it. She continued, “I’m one of the… newer faculty of this school… I guess I should know more about its history.”

“I see… So you have a vast knowledge of Unknown history,” Rena paused for a moment. “But you have only little knowledge of this school.”

“Yes,” The professor glanced back again with an acknowledging smile. “I’ve been studying about the Unknown during most of my mortal life. But I never believed it to be real. I guess it was just out of plain, immeasurable curiosity. I never expected to be involved in it.”

“So now you want information about this school,” I said in realization.

“Precisely,” the teacher nodded. “I want to know how it came to be. I want to learn about its past. About the grim reapers that want to annihilate its very existence. I want to know more.”

Rena gasped. “Teacher, believe me when I say that if you know about the grim reapers, you know a lot about this school.”

“Oh but that’s the only thing I know about it, darling,” the teacher opposed. “I couldn’t help but get information from that young lad at the main library. What was his name again… Andy… Alex…”

“Ace,” I told her.

“Oh yes… Ace,” she said. “Such a talented  boy. His two subordinates are my students and they discovered my research papers while they were cleaning up the classroom. Those two just love to clean up messes.”

Probably Ai and Mai. 

The teacher rambled on while looking for a book related to her subject matter. “They told me that if I needed more answers. I could ask Ace some questions. It would come at a cost though. Luckily, the very same day, some Section 3 students were talking non-stop in my classroom and I decided to eavesdrop on their conversation a little bit. I gave him every detail of what I heard.”

Oh… He’ll love that, alright.

“Wait a minute. Section 3?” I queried. I could feel my own eyes widening. “What were they talking about?”

Miss Gradenko sighed. She definitely didn’t want to talk about the same thing twice. “It was about the training course today. They said something about a trump card and the fact that it’s going to be their Section versus twe—“ Miss Gradenko stopped. “You two are from Section 12. How many are you in your section?”

“Somewhere between 20 and 30,” said. “Why?”

“According to them, today’s training course is a massive one,” Miss Gradenko said, looking at me in the eyes. “It’s Section 3 versus Section 12 in an all-out brawl.”

I choked at her words.

Maybe they’re gonna select members from the section to participate in the course. That’s got to be it. Unfortunately, events in this school are pretty unpredictable. It might be one of 12 versus all of 3.

 “Rena! Ken!” A familiar voice called out from someone, somewhere near the entrance of the library. Ace…? What’s he doing here?

“Rena-tan~! Ken-chan~!” Two, simultaneous, squeaky ones followed. It’s got to be Ai and Mai. Hands down.

“Hey idiot!! Show yourself! We’ve got about 40 minutes to the training course! Our section’s gonna die if you don’t show up.”

Annabel? Well you can’t easily identify her voice since it changes with her emotions.

“Kennyyyyyyy!!! Where are you????!!!!!!”

Roni. No doubt about it.

“Maybe I could—“ Patty started, but she was cut off by a simultaneous “No!” .

Seriously, what the hell was she planning?

“Ken! Rena! Where the heck are you guys?” Another voice called out.

“That’s C, isn’t it?” Rena asked me. It was then I realized that she had been asking me questions while I was trying to identify the voices calling out to the both of us. 

I sighed. “Let’s go.” I looked at Miss Gradenko. “Good luck with your research, ma’am.”

She nodded and smiled. “Good luck to you too, Mr. Takanashi.”

Another Random Post... about Another.

"Shishin wa... dare?"

I was browsing through a schedule of recently-aired anime episodes, when I stumbled upon this unique title. Back then, only one episode was available for streaming online and I didn't think twice in grabbing the chance to watch it since it really piqued my interest.

And damn... what a roller coaster ride this anime put me through.

Unfortunately, I was so hooked to the series that I keep forgetting to take screen shots while watching the episodes. That means I'll have to steal pictures from the internet again.

Episode one is only the introduction of the key characters, the sickly Sakakibara Kouichi and the strange Misaki Mei.

The significant event in episode 2 is when Misaki's dwelling place is revealed. She also removes her eye patch, but what's under it isn't revealed until episode 3.

Episode 3 is the episode in which you'll kick back and... react.

The deaths continue on to the last episode. I won't say anything else other than WATCH IT IF YOU HAVEN'T! It's a great anime! Kind of like FD on a more supernatural scale (if FD isn't supernatural enough for you!).

Doomsday High Chapter Five: A Scarlet Heart [UNEDITED]

Sarah glared at me as I stood before her. She was so short that she had to hold her head up high just to give me a good look in the eye. She held her fists to her side, clenching them tightly. Anyone could easily tell that she was irritated.

I had to take her and J.R to an empty side of the clinic where no one else could hear our discussion. Rena might perceive my actions wrongly (if she minds), however, I would prefer it if she chose to give me the cold shoulder because arguing with her would be really bad at a time like this.

I faced the two new recruits,

“What’s your motive?” I asked them.

“We swear to god in heaven that we have no motive,” J.R. answered for her. “Haven’t we gained your trust, Sir Takanashi?”

“Sad to say, no,” I said. “You had me going a while earlier, but someone opened my eyes for me. You two are planning something and it’s definitely not good.”

“Bastard,” Sarah said, grinning sarcastically. “If killing was permitted in this clinic, I would have beheaded you by now. You’re so stupid.”

“Dropping the act now, are we?” I said, jesting.

“There’s no reason to put up a façade now that you’ve seen through it,” Sarah told me with a whip of her hair. “Our motive… well, it’s sort of your business actually. As far as I know, it includes you.”

“Let me start things off with Adeline… She’s Arthuria’s elder sister, and she wasn’t too happy about the disqualification,” J.R. revealed. “Arthuria was informed about it while she was in the clinic and she altered the timeline of the training course so that Section 3 would go up against Section 12. It’s a pity that you single-handedly defeated two really strong students from our section. Our president perceived that as a bad sign. She thought she had to do something quickly.”

“Go straight to the point,” I said.

“Our point is, we’re not infiltrating Section 12 to know what you guys are planning,” Sarah said. “We’re infiltrating Section 12 to kill you Mr. Takanashi. Once you get out of this clinic, we’ll do whatever we can to take your life. A one week suspension is enough to bring you down.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” I said.

“That’s what you think,” Sarah said. “You’ve done something terrible to Section 3. You’ve stained our reputation.”

“This school is not about reputations,” I objected.

“Then what is it about, Morisaka? Killings? The top students list?” Sarah barked back. “Maybe it is, but Section 3 has a reputation to uphold. We believe that the more fearsome one is, the faster he’ll achieve that well-deserved position in the list.”

“Fuck the list,” I told her. I was beginning to lose my composure. “Fuck that fucking list for god’s sake! I didn’t do anything wrong! I don’t get the reason why all of you are so obsessed with the list!”

“Obsession isn’t the right term. It makes us seem like psychotic…” J.R. said. He was so calm that it was pissing me off.  “We don’t have to repeat a goddamn thing, Takanashi. If it comes down to it, I’ll have to kill you myself.”

“You don’t have to kill me. I’m clearly not against anyone here,” I said in a crude attempt to convince them that I’m not their enemy. “I don’t even know why Dave made me the trump card.”

 J.R. hissed. “Quit lying, you goddamn mother f—“

“Let’s not sink to vulgarity,” Sarah said, resting her hand on his shoulder. She faced me. “Hope we’ll be less profane in our next conversation… If we get strike another one this proper.”

“Shut up,” I told her. “We’re not done.”

“If this must go on, I’ll have to add that I’m surprised, Morisaka,” she said. “I thought you’ll be more… confident in yourself. You always resort to degradation. It’s making us feel… guilty.”

“Guilt is for people who have a conscience,” I snapped at her. “Clearly, you have none.”

“We have no use for it,” she said. “Guilt and all things related to it are for the weak.”

“Being weak is not as bad as you think. Being weak has its own advantages,” I told her. “Section 12… We may be weak, individually. But after the short time I’ve been here, I’ve learned that weakness is—“

“Great, more drama crap,” Sarah cut me off. “You’re weaklings. That’s all there is to it.”

“Weakness is almost equal to strength,” I completed. “Section 3 is strong, but the rest of Section 12 could wipe all of you out.”

“How could they? They’re trump card is a wimp,” J.R. smiled..

I clenched my fists, drew my hand back, braced myself and shot it forward, aiming directly at J.R’s chin. The guy drew back instinctively and slammed himself on the wall, leaving him cornered. I raised my right hand and made sure it hit his face good this time. The guy winced upon contact and reduced himself to the ground, holding the side of his eye tightly.

Sarah hissed behind me and I glanced back reflexively to slam her on the wall, right beside where J.R. was leaning. She cried out in pain, but I didn’t care.

“Y-You’re insane, man,” I heard Dave say from behind me. I turned around to find all of Section 12 huddled together just to see the little spectacle I made. “That was unexpected.”

“They got on my nerves. They got what they deserved,” I said with a shrug. I felt better the moment I landed a fist on these two, but I can’t say that I didn’t feel guilty. After all, I questioned them and they gave me an answer. But the discussion got pretty out of hand, and they ended up verbally insulting me so this was probably the best way to end it.

“Wondered what they told you,” Dave said.

“They told me that they were out to kill me,” I informed him. “They know I’m a trump card. I wonder how—“

“In this school, once a trump card is declared in one section, the announcement is aired on every television in every dorm’s living area,” Dave explained. “As for Arthuria… She must have worked up a plan quickly. She must have sensed that you will be our section’s prime defense. That’s why a few minutes after you gained your position, we were infiltrated by these two worms.”

“Should we send them back to Section 3?” I asked.

“That’s for them to decide,” Dave told me. “However, considering the fact that they are highly deterred to kill you, we’ll have to take them to the dorms. As much as possible, we could persuade them to become one with this section. But before that, we should go to the library annex. We need to talk to someone there.”

“Who might that be?” I asked.

“You’ll find out later,” Dave told me.

Annabel, Jeck and C joined us in our journey to the library annex. We had to be cautious, since Annabel had been suspended due to her “unawareness” and she could neither wield weapons nor lay her hands on the enemy.  She couldn’t die again either, lest her suspension will be extended.

It wasn’t long before a foursome from Section 6 got in our way. Three boys – all sporting hulking bodies—, one girl – raven haired, alabaster-skinned –- and they stank of metal and blood. Judging from our current location, they were headed for the clinic, probably to pick up supplies or the like. Either way, they were also interested in attacking us, so we had to fight back.

Aside from paper cranes, Bernie loved using two long, leather whips. She held her alternative weapons tightly as she ran forward to give the girl a good beating.

Dave and the others encouraged me and Annabel to run ahead, but that was a terrible idea. Apparently, Annabel’s vulnerability had piqued their interests and my being a trump card had an effect too.

Two of the attackers; one a short boy wielding a sword and the other a tall, stocky dude holding a jackhammer, took on us.

I held out my pistol and pulled the trigger only to realize that it didn’t have any bullets left.

I ducked instinctively as the short guy’s sword flew past my head. Thinking of this as my chance, I delivered a knee to the guy’s stomach, sending him backward. The other guy tried to nail my brain with the jackhammer, but he missed terribly as Annabel pulled me out of the way.

We ran forward with the rest of Section 12 trailing behind us.

I glanced back in time to see Dave electrocute the jackhammer guy with his gloved hand.

We stopped at the staircase where lots of students from Section 6 where standing. They were staring at us, waiting for our section to make a move. It almost seemed as if they were anticipating our presence.

Dave smiled. “Looks like you’re the main attention here, Ken.”

“What? Me?” I breathed. “Shit. They can’t attack me. I can’t even attack them. I have no bullets on me.”

“That’s their advantage,” Dave said. “You’re the trump card. They want you to make the first move.”

Dave pulled out another pistol from the inside of his blazer and threw it to me. I readily caught it, bearing its weight for a slight moment. Even the small guns were heavy.

“Another temporary weapon,” he told me. “Once Willia—“ He shook his head. “—Decimo’s done making the weapons for you and Rena, we’ll hand them to the both of you right away. For now, you’ll have to manage with a bunch of common stuff.”

I nodded at him.

Guns started firing the moment I turned to face Section 6. Their aims missed, thanks to Jeck’s fast wits. He a few steps in front of me, swinging his axe to and fro in order to deflect the bullets. Sharp clangs could be heard as bullet met blade. Jeck’s axe was so strong that it withstood penetration.

“What are you waiting for?” Jeck said, glancing at me. “Shoot, damn it!”

I stared at him wide-eyed for a moment. “Can’t we be more conservative with our ammo?!”

“Shut up and shoot!” Jeck yelled.

Unsure of myself, I moved a little to the side and began shooting. Using two hands to hold a gun always made it more convenient, but shooting while standing was clearly less comfortable than sitting.

I managed to bring down two shooters before the third one got me. A bullet shot straight through my left shoulder. The pain was unimaginable. I had to pull myself down to a sitting position while clutching the wound.

Ivy ran and positioned herself behind me. She started shooting arrows in my place.

Bernie ran ahead too. She started swinging her whips in a circular motion while dodging bullets. Anyone who tried to shoot her missed badly and received a good spank from her.

It was hard to watch everyone else fight, especially when pain was eating my head up.

“Let’s get you back to the clinic,” Dave offered.

“Hell no,” I protested. It surprised me that I could even speak.

“The bullet’s still in there. If it dug in deep, it might damage your arteries. You’ll end up dead if that happens,” he warned.

“Dead is better than anything right now,” I said.

“Dead  is a state you wouldn’t want to be in. You’re not gonna help if you’re just gonna sit there,” he informed me. “And you’re not gonna help if you get suspended too.”

I shook my head, knowing that he was right. They’re always right. I stood up on my own. Then the worst happened. 

One shooter from Section 6 caught everyone by surprise and shot Dave on his right shoulder. He was propelled backwards due to the sudden force applied on him. Then he dropped and slid slightly down the staircase.

Ivy and I grabbed him with my good hand before he could roll all the way down.

I looked up and noticed that all of Section 12 was fighting now, and their trump card was too weak to give them a good head start. They were all doing good though. None of the students had managed to lay a bullet or a finger on them. It pretty much proves that they were trained well.

“Ivy,” I started. “It looks like our section’s full of fearful bastards.”

Ivy smiled. “Blame it on the Davester.”

We hurled Dave up the stairs while the rest of Section 12 fought in our place. The pain in my left shoulder was still there, but oddly, I had gotten so used to it. It was still torturous, but not to the point that I would black out again.

Dave groaned. “I could manage. Ivy, you should go back and fight with the others.”

“No,” Ivy protested. “I’ll take you to the clinic. That nurse had better get that bullet out of you before you do anything else.”

“I’ll take myself there,” he said. “Section 12 needs you now.”

“No. They need their trump card, and as you can see, our trump card is right here next to you, bleeding his life away too,” Ivy said. “If one of you gets unconscious, who’ll have to do the rest of the work?”

We reached the next floor, and Sarah and J.R. greeted us along the way with a heavy frown on their faces. They joined us in our walk back to the clinic.

“Lucky you didn’t kill us, Takanashi,” Sarah began. “Killing isn’t permitted in the clinic. The consequence is disqualification.”

“I didn’t intend to kill you,” I said. “I just needed to shut the both of you up.”

“Your methods have forced us to pay respect to you,” J.R. said. “Surely, we wouldn’t want to be knocked out twice by the same person.”

“We’ve decided to join Section 12,” Sarah said with a sigh. “For good.”

I looked at Ivy and she gave me a knowing nod.

“Looks like you’re bleeding shit,” J.R. told me.

“I’m a lousy trump card, remember?” I said.

“Unaware, but not lousy,” Sarah told me. “We’re all freshmen after all. We just need to beat ourselves to shape.”

We reached the door to the clinic and marched back inside.

The nurse looked at us with a questioning glance and frowned. “You again?”

“Yes,” I said.

Ivy led us to the back of the clinic where two empty beds stood seemingly isolated from the rest.

I climbed the small platform and raised myself to the bed as the nurse busied herself with another syringe and a small, familiar bottle.

“No. No more sleepers,” I opposed.

“Retrieving the bullet’s going to hurt,” she told me.

“I know. But I don’t want sleepers. I only need to get rid of this bullet,” I said.

The nurse apparently read my expression. “It’s another killing spree. You want to help.”

I nodded.

“That’s well off with me,” she said as she turned around and marched back to her mini office in another part of the clinic.

I sighed.

It wasn’t a moment too long before she returned holding another small, glass bottle and a cup full of water. 

The bottle one was half-full with pills. She handed it to me.

“Take two tablets,” she said. “Swallow them whole. Don’t chew. It’ll help ease the pain.”

“Is this morphine?” I asked.

The nurse smiled. “Just take it.”

I followed her instructions and watched as she moved back to Dave and injected him with the anesthetic. She also bandaged his arm while talking with Ivy about a bunch of stuff I failed to listen to.

Ivy began her walk back to the killing spree at the stairs. The two new recruits followed her.

Before she went, Ivy paused to look at me.  “When you’re done, check on Dave before running back to us.”

I nodded.

By the time she had disappeared, the nurse was back by my side with a pair of scissors, and she started cutting her way through the sleeve of my uniform to get a good look of the wound.

She examined it for a moment, observing the deep hole the bullet had caused.

“Goodness,” she started. “I wonder how much it took for you to resist all that pain.”

“Not a lot,” I said.

“Well…” She said, pulling out a pair of forceps. “This will hurt a lot. If you feel a little pain, take the part of your sleeve that I cut off, twist it real good and bite it. The morphine will block out most of the pain, but there’s no telling what could happen.”

“Try me,” I said.

The nurse grinned. “You’re one of a kind… Takanashi.”

****

I didn’t know how long the bullet retrieval process took, but to me, it seemed like years. I could feel the forceps digging into my flesh. The morphine helped a little but its effect was small. The nurse also had to walk here and there in short intervals since Dave was losing a lot of blood. She had to move back to her office… to a blood bank which was located right below it… and back to Dave’s side. She bandaged the bullet wound momentarily so that she could tend to mine while he waits in deep sleep. 

After the nurse had re-bandaged my shoulder, I glanced behind my shoulder to find Dave who was still very unconscious. His whole bed was stained with blood, but fortunately, the wound had stopped bleeding.

“Don’t worry,” she reassured me.  “He’s going to be fine.”

I looked back, unsure whether I should leave Dave behind or wait till he wakes up. The nurse still needs to tend to the bullet, and that would take a long while.

I decided to give the nurse a nod as a go signal.

She smiled as I hopped off the bed. It was then that I realized the clinic was almost full again. I walked the aisle in search  for a student from Section 12. Much to my surprise, there were none.

My mind processed a lot of information, including the fact that I had no weapons on me. I even had no memory of where I dropped it. Deciding that I could get another weapon when I reach the others, I took to the heels and ran out of the clinic..

My feet made a loud squeaky sound when I halted at the edge of the staircase. I was expecting an ongoing fight but there was no one around. Figuring they could be somewhere else, I decided to descend the staircase.

The end of it was dark and there was barely a sound or a soul about. I ran in circles in search of someone.

I ran through more unchartered hallways, hoping that I wouldn’t encounter someone while I was weaponless. I looked at the number above each classroom I passed, and watched them increase significantly…. 101… 103… 205… 207…

I kept running in circles till I ended up at the foot of the exact same staircase. I was lost.

“Psssst,” I heard someone call. Judging from the pitch of the voice, the person calling out was definitely a girl. Maybe Rena…

I turned around. There was no one there.

“Psssst,” she called out again.

“Rena?!” I yelled.

“It’s me! You idiot!” The voice said. At this point, I was able to familiarize the voice as Annabel’s.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Right here!” She called back.

I let my ears do most of the work while my brain pinpointed her location. The source was nowhere around me, so I looked up.

She was hanging high above with a rope tied to her legs, suspending her in mid-air. If she falls head first, she’s doomed to be suspended for two weeks. I couldn’t help but smile at her state. She was clinging tightly to her skirt to prevent gravity from pulling it down.  She looked like a piñata that deserved some whacking… Now if only I had a really tall stool and a bat…

“Stop smiling. You’re taking this as a joke, aren’t you?” She said.

“No… No…” I objected, somewhat panicked. After all, this is Annabel. She’ll find a way to get out of her mess (eventually). But if I don’t help her get down soon, she’ll kill me…

Well, maybe not kill…. But she might make me see hell.

 I looked around for weapons. Aside from a damaged arrow and a slingshot, there was nothing left of the killing spree from earlier.

“There’s only a broken arrow… and a slingshot,” I informed her.

“You could shoot! Use your brains and hands and cut the rope!” she snarled.

“Why didn’t your brother help you get down from there?” I asked.

“I was running a little too fast. I guess I blacked out before I was caught in this stupid booby trap,” she told me. "I guess none of them saw me." 

“They could see you from the stairs,” I said.

“Not when they’re too absorbed with the fight,” she told me.

I took her point and climbed the staircase. I reached a step where I could easily cut the rope with the arrow. I loaded the arrow into the slingshot, aimed carefully and fired.

The rope cut easily and Annabel came down fast. She landed with a heavy thud. Her body had to graze the impact. Fortunately, she saved her head… and her life.

“Sorry,” I told her.

She groaned. “My head hurts… dang it…”

“How long have you been up there?” I asked.

“I don’t know… I only came around a few minutes before you clambered down the steps,” she replied.

She tried standing up, but she was still a bit shaken.

“Maybe we should get you to the clinic,” I said. “Dave’s there. He could use a companion.”

“Darn it. Not the clinic again. I hate that place,” she told me.

“Then where?”I asked.

“The dorms sound good,” she said.

“Great. I don’t have a map to the place,” I told her.

“Dang it. I’m bad at directions too.” She pressed a palm to her forehead. “Maybe we could try the library annex. Dave mentioned that we’ll need to go there, but now he’s knocked out so there might’ve been a change of plans.  It’s much safer there though. We can’t get killed.”

“But I don’t know where that is too,” I said.

“No problem,” she told me, pointing to the dark hallway behind me. “It’s just two lefts ahead.”

The trek to the library annex was silent, and there were no attackers, much to my luck. Annabel was a little dizzy. She told me it was the effect of hanging upside down for a really long time. She seemed calm all the while, and her legs were shaking as she walked. She kept falling down too. I had insisted on helping her but she told me she didn’t want to look weak, so she kept walking on her own.

“It’s here,” Annabel said, stopping in front of a huge black door. She gingerly opened the doors and crashed into the library, letting her dizziness get the best of her.

I looked ahead to realize that there were a few people in the library. They were not wearing their uniforms, but they were definitely students. Two if the small population in the library were girls, both looking astoundingly alike, wearing black, gothic cocktail dresses that ended at their knees.

They were incredibly cute, and they even walked simultaneously as they made their way toward the entrance. Both were sporting short hair with bangs framing their foreheads. The only thing that told them apart was their eyes. The girl on the right had beautiful emerald-green eyes while the girl on the left had a pair of blazing hazel ones.

Annabel hoisted herself up to a kneeling position.  When she looked up, she immediately backed away. “No… not you two again…”

The two of them smiled before running toward her. I thought they were going to do something really stupid like try to kill Annabel, but then I remembered that killing wasn’t permitted in the library. Nothing stopped me from trying to block their path. They quickly re-routed about me and got to Annabel in seconds.

I expected them to draw her out of the library but what I saw left me a little dumbfounded. They were hugging her like a long lost sister.

“We thought you weren’t going to come back here,” the emerald-eyed one said.

“Let go of me!” Annabel yelled at them.

“Hey, hey! Take it easy on her. She’s been hanging upside down for minutes,” I warned them.

They looked at me and spoke in chorus. “Who might you be?”

“Ken Takanashi,” I said. “Section 12.”

They looked at each other before looking at me again. The sapphire-eyed girl spoke first. “What’s your relationship with our Belle-chan?”

“I’m her friend,” I said.

“Her boy…friend?” The emerald-eyed one asked.

“Hell no,” I told them. I could hear Annabel shouting the same thing from behind the both of them.

“Okay then,” They said simultaneously. “What’s your business here?”

I could swear the question was directed at me and not at Annabel. They were looking at me curiously. I could even hear my conscience saying that if I told them we’re going to use the library annex as a temporary refuge they would send me out.

I cleared my throat. “I… We—“

“Well, well… If it isn’t another pair of ruffians from Section 12,” a masculine voice said from above. I looked up.

Sitting on one of the gigantic shelves of the library was a guy who looked like he had scored a good vacation somewhere on the beaches of a tropical country. He was wearing one of those Hawaiian shirts anyone could get in a souvenir shop. He even wore beach shorts to match. In his hand was a ruler pointing directly at Annabel.

“And look who decided to make another appearance. Your brother was here a while ago,” he said.

“Don’t you think I already know that?” Annabel said in a raspy voice. 

“Hmm… I just felt the need to inform you... for free, of course,” the guy retorted before jumping down. Gravity didn’t seem to have an effect on him. He landed on his feet. “Section 12 wanted a little bit of facts about Death Bringers and the likeliness that they would attack again.” He looked at me. “They even asked for your family’s history.”

I gave him a questioning look because clearly, I don’t see the reason why they needed to investigate me.

“You seem to be one suspicious person, Takanashi,” he said, walking in circles around me. “Your parents were once insane killers in this school… But here’s the catch.”

He paused for a moment. “They didn’t belong to any section. They were neutrals.”

He looked at Annabel warily and continued talking. “They usually formed alliances with people who refused to take sides. They held meetings in the main library, and eventually, they made the library their own dorm. Then, the former Section 12 infiltrated the library, forcing them out. You see, Section 12 submitted a letter to the principal, allowing them to use the library for their own selfish purposes. That’s how ruthless Section 12 actually is. I wonder how your parents would react if they find out you’ve joined their least favorite section.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked.

“Simple. My role here is to give information… advices… like how an ingenious game hacker would give other players a bunch of tricks and downloadable cheats,” he said.

All of a sudden, a huge book flew out of nowhere and hit the guy straight in the head. He flew down, with the book still intact to his face. Seemingly unaffected by the impact, he hurriedly shoved it away and stood up.

“Ouch,” he murmured.

“I needed to shut you up for a while. You’re scaring Ken,” Annabel said.

“You didn’t need to hit me on the head with a dictionary,” the guy told me.

“It was the first thing I laid my hands on,” Annabel said. “By the way, you didn’t even introduce yourself to Ken. You’re so rude.”

“You’re the one who’s rude! You’re the one who’s throwing dictionaries at a senior!” He fought back.

“You deserved it,” she said.

“I didn’t deserve it. I was giving him relevant –“

“Information,” Annabel completed the sentence for him. “It’s the same thing over and over and over and over—“

The guy picked the dictionary up and threw the book back to Annabel. She was smart not to catch it since the book was huge and landing an impact on her lithe hands could break her bones. Instead, she gracefully avoided it.

The two girls from earlier clapped their hands and laughed a little. They were obviously engrossed with the little spectacle.

That was the moment Annabel got really angry. “Wanna die, Ace?”

Ace looked at me and pointed at Annabel with his thumb. “She’s mad.”

Annabel began chasing Ace round and round the library. I could practically hear them tossing books at each other from beyond the seemingly endless array of shelves.

This was definitely going to be a long night. 

Doomsday High Chapter Four: Facts [UNEDITED]

Ivy and the others dragged me and Rena to Section 12’s library before the training course ended so that we’d avoid the risk of getting hunted down by our new foes from Section 3. Those suckers might be planning for a better comeback so we had to move quick. Besides, Section 12 had a lot to explain about how Annabel died.

When we got to our destination, words started spilling out of Bernie’s mouth. She talked about how twins were often known as the weakest links in the entirety of the Doomsday High student body. She mentioned that twins had the disadvantage of being connected to each other by heart – which means that if one dies, the other dies along with him or her. In rare cases, however, the twins are connected only by body, so if one is injured, the other bears the pain without the existence of the wound itself.

“It’s a bit unexplainable. Triplets, quadruplets and the like don’t have to suffer the same kind of burden… This school just loves to mess with twins,” Bernie told me.

“Anyway, this does mean that Annabel is pardoned from the suspension?” I asked.

“No,” Ivy retorted inquisitively. “Dying as a contender in the course has no consequence. However, dying while watching the course does.”

“Awareness is a part of discipline here in Doomsday High,” Ryan said. “Unfortunately, Belle wasn’t aware, and neither was C. The boy’s luckier though. He died in the middle of the training course so he won’t have to face suspension. They’re both probably wide awake in the clinic right now, but they’re stuck there till the end of classes.”

“Can’t they be traumatized?” I asked, raising a brow. “Death must be painful.”

Bernie sighed. “Students of Doomsday High can’t fear death. Tell me, when you set foot in this school and discovered that you were at a terrible risk of dy- of getting done in, were you scared? On the first exam, did the blades terrify you?”

To both questions, I shook my head.

“Even the thought of getting diced by Anna’s chainsaw doesn’t really scare you, correct?” Bernie asked.

“Yes,” I said with a hint of realization. Anna may scare me, but the first time she tried to behead me with her chainsaw, I didn’t even feel the slightest tinge of fear. Maybe shock would be the more appropriate term for what I felt.

I decided to round up my near-death experiences since the day I came into Doomsday High. Whenever someone tried to kill me, I fought, not because I was scared of dying. I fought because I wanted to live things out and win. “This school really does things to your head.”

“We know,” Ivy said.

“So… Now that I’ve made a discovery, what else is new?” I asked.

“Well, because you pulled off a little stunt at the Arena of Demise, I’d have to declare you our trump card,” Dave said. “It’s a little too big of a responsibility for you since you’re a freshman, but our section hasn’t had a trump card since the day Dayrl left to strengthen his stupid little character in that game called war—what was it again? War make? War create?”

“Warcraft,” Jay rolled her eyes. “Idiot.”

“Yes. Warcraft,” Dave cleared his throat. “Anyway, he’s too busy playing his life away. His parents have given up on—“

“Excuse me,” I interrupted, raising my hand. “I have no idea who this Dayrl person is.”

“He’s C, Jay and Belle’s elder brother,” Dave told me. “Quite a nice fellow. He’s a great strategist too, but he never attended classes since he believes he could make do with his knowledge of computers. Like I said earlier, he used to be our section’s trump card, but with the grades he received, the school had no use for him, so they shoved his name out of the records. He could make a comeback as a freshman, but he doesn’t seem interested in returning here. For one thing, this school doesn’t suit his tastes. He prefers the non-realistic gaming world where he could fantasize about becoming a god.”

“He’s the main reason why Section 12 designs weapons based on ones from video games,” Jay said, pressing a finger firmly to her chin. “In fact, if he’s still around, we’ll find it easier to design a new weapon for you and Rena.”

 “Anna and Jay have tried convincing him to come back,” Bernie said. “He won’t budge.”

“Why would he? He doesn’t even like us,” Ivy said to no one in particular. The whole place quieted down in reaction to her statement.  In the momentary silence, the only the sounds of our breathing could be heard.

This went on for a while. Then Ivy decided to break the silence by muttering, “What if he… becomes one of them?”

“It’s possible,” Roni told her. “He hates it here.”

 “But he has siblings studying here. He can’t join them if they’re bent on killing everyone in this school,” Bernie objected.

“He won’t care if he’s already one of them,” Ivy told her.

My ears were flaring. I couldn’t relate to the conversation, much less interject my questions or reactions to all the words that flew out of their mouths. Their expressions were filled with worry and anxiety. I was about to shout something random, but Rena beat me to it.

“What’s them?” She asked.

There was silence again, but this one was short-lived.

 “They’re a group of Reapers,” Dave started,  “The students of Doomsday High decided to call them the Death Bringers. They want to bring down this school because they have the power to do so. To explain things further, I’ll tell you a brief history about our school.

“The world as we know it is divided into four parallel sides –Heaven, Earth, Unknown and Hell.. Our school is situated in the Unknown.

“The only way you could access the Unknown is if you come from a generation of Humans that have already entered this parallel universe. These Humans are the students of Doomsday High and their ancestors. Once you’ve made it in, you become a citizen of this universe – an immortal.

“When you go back to earth, your immortality must be kept a secret. If anyone finds out, you’ll have to kill that person. That’s one of the main reasons why DH students are trained to kill. Another reason is that there’s another group that’s out to get you. They’re called the Reapers. Reapers hate immortals, and a small group of them is going all out to bring Doomsday High down."

“That group is called the Death Bringers,” Rena interjected, eyes widening with realization.

Ryan nodded. “Some death bringers have been students of Doomsday High who’ve rejected they’re life here. In fact, our history teacher mentioned that the Death bringers have attempted to attack Doomsday High once.  That was probably the year before your parents graduated, Ken. They might know the story.”

“Too bad they didn’t tell me about it,” I retorted.

“Anyway, we ended up explaining a lot of things here,” Dave said. “Twins. Dayrl. Death Bringers.”

“We should get to the clinic,” Bernie said. “The other sections must be in their dorms by now. All coasts might be clear.”

“Might be,” Dave told her. “We can’t be so sure.”

I couldn’t let the library now. There were lots of questions floating above my head, and I needed to have at least one of them answered.

“Wait,” I said, raising my hand. “Before we go, I have one last question.”

“What is it?” Dave asked, askance.

“Who is Tommy… and Decimo?” I inquired. My senses stirred for a moment, as if I was asking the wrong questions, but I proved myself wrong when Dave answered straight-forwardly.

“Tommy is a student of Section 12. Guess he didn’t introduce himself. He shares his room with Will-- Decimo. They don’t get along well, but they seem to be setting their differences aside for the sake of our section. Without them, Section 12 will be wiped out over and over again,” Dave told me. “They’re room is located behind the bookshelf next to the one that hides the dining room. You’ll have to descend an almost never-ending staircase to get there.”

“Why is that?” I asked.

“If you look at the architectural design of Doomsday High, you’ll see that every quarter in each dorm are lined up like the steps of a spiral staircase. Your quarter, being the very first one, requires only a narrow walkway to your room. The Second quarter requires a staircase that descends to another room which is located below yours, albeit not directly. This goes on and on to the fiftieth quarter, which is Tommy and Decimo’s room, and it is located at the very bottom of the spiral.

I nodded my head to signal that I had understood every word he meant, though not completely. There were still a lot of questions stuck in my head and that prevented me from comprehending Dave’s explanations.

Dave stepped towards the exit. He probably thought that there was nothing else to talk about. The others sighed in relief, thanking heavens that we were finally going to leave, but then the doors to the library opened all of a sudden, and Arthuria made her way inside along with two other students from Section 3.

One was a short, tan-skinned midget with sleek raven hair and a very innocent smile. You could tell she was a freshman. The other was a young man in his teens. His legs were shaking out of probable nervousness. Obviously a newcomer too.

“What happened to Adeline?” Arthuria inquired.. She needn’t shout the question to shed her grief. 

“She got disqualified,” Dave told her. “She lost her mind after Jeck killed Keith. She couldn’t control herself. No one could. She got consumed by anger, so she went ahead and did what she wanted without knowing the consequences. “

Arthuria inhaled sharply. “How am I going to explain this to Keith?”

“I don’t know,” Dave told her. “He might beg for a re-match with Jeck. The guy’s the main reason why his girlfriend’s dead and gone anyway.”

Arthuria sighed. “I don’t want that. Even if all the Sections are at war with each other, I don’t want that.”

“No one wanted this, Arthuria,” Dave said. “Either way, we can’t turn back time. We didn’t expect a disqualification to occur on the first week. It’s too early for things like this. The freshmen are probably stricken. They can’t fear death, but they could feel all other emotions… sadness… worry… shock.”

“I know,” Arthuria whispered before glancing back at her two companions. “You two, introduce yourselves.”

“I’m Sarah,” the tan midget said. “Sarah Primera.”

“I’m J.R,” the boy said, glancing away. “Just… J.R.”

“I’m going to hand these two to Section 12,” Arthuria said. “You guys need them the most. With that said, I’ll be on my way.”

Arthuria looked at my direction and smiled. “Good job on the training course, Mr. Takanashi. Looks like Section 12 has a new trump card.”

I nodded.

“Don’t hog the spotlight to yourself though. Your fame could put you at risk,” Arthuria warned me. “You better take good care out there, firecracker.”

She walked out and with a snap of her fingers, closed the doors behind her. Another momentary silence ensued.

Dave cleared his throat. “So we’ve got…”

“More problems,” Jay finished the sentence for him before turning towards the new ‘recruits. “Welcome to Section 12, newbies.”

The two new kids nodded before huddling to my side.

Sarah grasped my arm. “So you’re Ken Takanashi!”

“Surprised you made it out of the course alive, man! You’re awesome!” J.R said. “I got done in on the first blade!”

“Now, now. Enough with the praises,” Dave told the both of them. “We’ve got to pick up three other members at the clinic.”

“The giant-axe dude, and the one with the scythe?” J.R asked. “You’ve got lots of cool weapons at your disposal.” He ended his statement with a sigh.

 Sarah looked at Ivy and yelled, “You’re the girl with the boomerang-slash-bow! Cool win, earlier. Your opponent barely even reached you.”

“It was a matter of luck my friend. I call my baby, the boomer-bow,” Ivy informed Sarah before picking up her weapon which she had conveniently laid on the side of the bookshelf behind her.

“I want something like that too!” Sarah shouted, excitedly.

“You’ll get it soon enough, “ Dave said. “For now, we should really get going.”

“Where to?” Sarah asked.

“The clinic,” Dave retorted, smiling at her. I couldn’t really tell if he was getting pissed off. It was obvious that he was in a hurry though. “We need to fetch Jeck, C and Belle.”

“Now?” J.R. asked.

 “Yes, yes,” Dave told him, rolling his eyes. He beckoned them with his right hands. “Now come on. We need to head to the clinic.”

The two new recruits nodded before following him like he was someone that needed to be guarded. Dave had an unsure look plastered on his face. He definitely wasn’t confident in the suddenness of the situation.  

I followed shortly after them, half-consciously dragging Rena along with me. She seemed unsure of herself somehow. She glanced at me for a moment and lowered her head back down.

When all of Section 12 had spilled onto the silent hallways, I pulled behind with Rena following suit. We joined Ivy and Bernie, who had chosen to cover up back. They were talking about stuff using their mother tongue. Knowing that they were not in the mood to talk with anyone else,  I looked at Rena who still seemed pretty upset about things.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“I don’t think we could trust the new recruits,”  she whispered.

“Why?”

“Section 3 must be plotting something. I don’t know what,” she said. “I mean, how could they just selflessly turn over two new recruits when they definitely need them? It’s uncanny… bizarre. It’s making me puke.”

“I don’t think they’re the kind of people who’d betray us – well at least not now,” I told her.

“Look at this school, Ken. You can’t tell who’s who. The students. Everyone. They’re personalities are almost unstable – probably on the psychopathic level. Though I can’t really put them in the ‘psychopath’ bracket because they’re clearly sane enough to control themselves when the situation calls for it. However, they’re still bound to kill for what they want, and what they want is the top students list—“

“Arthuria is trustworthy, Rena. Squall said so himself. Even C told me that Section 3 is 

'nice and approachable'.”

“Even so. Athura tried to lay her hands on us… On you. And it’s for the sake of that fucking Top Students list, Ken. You heard her when she said that.”

“I know. But Arthuria—“

“Arthuria might be faking her personality for the sake of being loved, Ken. Don’t you think it’s a great strategy? To foil our minds so that she could slowly make her advancements—“

“I—“

“Don’t be a fucking hypocrite, Takanashi. I don’t fall in love with hypocrites.”

With that said, she stomped ahead.

“Damn. Quarrel,” I heard Bernie say. “What were you two talking about?”

“Nothing in particular,” I retorted.

“Nuh-uh,” Bernie countered. “I heard ‘Section 3’ over and over again. What’s up? Something wrong with the new recruits?”

“Obviously,” I replied. “Rena seems to be having a problem with them.”

“Tell me about it,” Ivy said. “They seemed so… fake… I can’t pinpoint if they were trying so hard to fit in or if they were putting up an act. Don’t tell me you didn’t notice…?”

“I’m bad at detecting lies,” I told her.

“That’s good on your part. I’ve noticed that you’re a bad actor. You’ll make your doubts a little too obvious,” Bernie said.

“Do you think they could hear us?” I asked, glancing up ahead.

“If they had the ears of a bat, yes,” Ivy replied.

“Rena must hate me right now,” I told them.

“Don’t think so,” Bernie said with a playful shrug.

Silence attacked us once more. It’s been what? The third time this happened? Either way, Section 12 has been quieting down a lot, and I didn’t take it as a good sign. Over the years in my past, normal life, I had learnt that silence within a group meant that the group wasn’t getting along well.

“Be wary!” Dave yelled from up front. “Attackers might come out anywhere at any time. You can’t predict the nature of their attack, so we might be wiped out easily.”

“That’s the disadvantage of sending us all out in the open,” Bernie stated rhetorically. “You idiot.”

“Some of us could have stayed behind, but it’s too late to say that. We’re already vulnerable at this stage. Some of the students from other sections may be hiding behind classrooms,” Ivy said.

We made a short halt at the foot of the familiar spiral staircase. The grand paintings  on its side had been stained heavily with blood. The carpet had darkened due to the spills. We made our way down slowly and cautiously. The staircase was a good place to be cornered, so we had to be very alert.

“Almost there,” Bernie said in a hush whisper.

When we reached the end of the staircase, we took a right to a white, rectangular door with a sign that said ‘Clinic’ written on it in bold, red letters.

“Finally,” Bernie whispered.

“So far, nothing bad has happened,” Ivy said, breathing a sigh of relief.

We formed a circle around Dave who had taken it as an obligation to open the doors to the clinic. The smell of medicine and the sounds of patients groaning as they came around greeted us. Colder air swept over us as we made our way inside.

“Finally. Took you long enough,” Annabel said. She was sitting on the bed nearest to the entrance. She seemed very well. Jeck was right across her, and her brother was on a bed not too far from hers.

Bernie, Ivy and I decided to huddle closer to her.

“You won’t know how nervous we all were,” Bernie told her.

“Yeah. And we’ve got new recruits,” Ivy beamed. “From Section 3.”

“Is that good news or bad news?” She asked.

“Mostly good. Partly bad,” I told her. “Rena doesn’t seem to be buying them. They seem a little too peculiar.”

“Tell me about it,” Annabel sighed. “Who would believe that Section 3 would give away two of their members easily?”

“Well Arthuria practically handed them over to us,” I told her, matter-of-factly. “She’s the Student Council President.”

Annabel shook her head. “You see, this school permits transferring of Sections on the first week of your life as a freshman. After that, you’re a part of your section forever. There are conditions though. If you join another Section and that Section isn’t what it turned out to be, you get to go back to your original Section or turn yourself over to another which suits your tastes. It’s only been four days into the first week so--”

“The newbies could act like spies,” I finished. “When they get the information they want, they could always go back and report to Section 3.”

“Precisely,” Annabel told me as she stretched her hand out and ruffled my hair. “You’re finally starting to come around, kid.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I asked.

“Mostly good. Partly bad,” she retorted, smiling.

I turned away from Bernie and Ivy so that they could both talk to Annabel. I waded my way to C who was already conversing with Rena. They’re expressions were serious, but when they saw me coming their way, they chose to stop talking.

“Is there another problem?” I asked Rena.

“No,” Rena murmured. She walked past me, slamming her shoulders against mine.

“What were you two talking about just now?” I asked C.

“Nothing,” he replied.

“I may not have enough evidence to prove that you two were talking about something important, but if I’m not mistaken, you two were dead serious a while ago,” I said. “Is it about me?”

C put up a poker face for a moment before letting it go. “Yes. Yes it is.”

“What’s the problem this time?”

“Rena… She doesn’t want me to talk about this in front of you. My lips are sealed, bro,” He said.

“Can’t you at least give me a hint?” I begged.

“Sorry bro,” C told me. “No.”

“Darn.”

“You might want to ask her yourself,” C suggested.

“You saw what she did earlier. She just told me off. She doesn’t want to talk,” I said.

“Maybe not now. Wait for her to cool off.”

“Sure. How long will that take?”

“Patience, bro,” C reassured. “You know how girls are sometimes. They let their emotions get the best of them. Just do what I say and wait till she cools down. You might be able to strike a smooth conversation.”

“Thanks,” I told him.

“No problem,” C replied.

I moved away from him and decided to go to Jeck’s side where Sarah and J.R. were standing by themselves. I needed to have a good talk with them. I had to set Rena aside. They were more important. I needed to know what their intentions were…