Random Persona: Shomba of Coming Soon

Shomba of Coming Soon

This character is not a new comer to the horror genre and she seems to be a close relative of kuchisake onna [probably because of the carved sides of her lips] but let me tell you one thing...  --> She's awesome.

Yes. But she had me confused for the first few parts of the movie. I mean... what could she possibly gain from killing cinema workers who know nothing about her plight? Ghosts do things for a reason, right?

Let's move back to her past... 

Shomba used to be an actress who played the role of a very old lady [Shomba]. Her real name wasn't revealed all through the movie (I think...)

Shomba is a weirdo who gouged children's eyes out. Why the old lady does this is unstated (probably because the movie in the movie wasn't the main attraction). Furthermore, she kept the kids alive even if they're already blind and it's a bit peculiar. She seems to be kind to them since she feeds them and all... but after the eye-gouging part, they all act like her minions. Eventually, the villagers find her and hang her.

Unfortunately, during the shooting of the last scene, the actress' safety constraints weakened due to the number of times they had to re-shoot the hanging and she ended up getting hanged for real.

Now... anyone who watches her dying moments will be chased around by her vengeful spirit. And once she gets a hold of you...

She'll gouge your eyes out and you'd automatically become a cast in her little movie. 

(c) GMM Tai Hub

Doomsday High Chapter Two: Introductions [UNEDITED]

I woke up after another black-out. Rena was beside me, and lots of other people were anxiously waiting for me to come around. I got up, looking at them one by one. All of them were unfamiliar but their gazes showed friendliness and concern.

“My head hurts and I don’t know anyone. How am I supposed to recover?” I asked myself, rhetorically.

It took me a moment to assess the situation – we were all safe: me, Ryan, Squall, Rena, Carlo and Annabel – and I was lying on a really comfortable couch in the middle of what seemed to be a wide living area.

“We’re in the T.V room,” Squall informed me.

I propped myself up to a sitting position, looked around, and noticed that there were actually three sofas in this room, sitting close to each other. In the middle was a round glass table and on top of it was a first-aid kit. Beyond the couches was a 70” plasma T.V which was suspended in mid-air with the aid of a really thin chain. The walls were colorful and filled with drawings of characters from Japanese cartoons. Fifty-one doors circled the whole room, with the largest standing right beside where two huge built-in bookshelves stood. It was a gateway to a battlefield.

I looked at the floor and saw that it was made of see-through glass. Below the glass was a wide collection of stuff toys.

“Gay, isn’t it?” A dark-skinned guy asked me. His hair heavily glossed with gel and it stood up in a way that it made him look like a shark. His accent told me he was from Asia. Probably from a country in the Southeast.

“Shut up, Dave,” another girl told him. This one had straight hair and was fair-skinned. She had big eyes and long, thick eyelashes. She was a midget but she looked really cute.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll shut up,” Dave snapped at her.

“Uhm… Guys… Wouldn’t it be better if we introduced ourselves first?” A tall girl with fair skin and long, dark, curly hair told them. She looked at me and grinned, “I’m Bernie. Bernadette Ferrardo actually. But please just call me Bernie.”

“Ken,” I told her. “Ken Takanashi.”

“Welcome to the family,” Bernie said as she took my hand and shook it gratifyingly.

“I’m Patty Denise!” The midget told me. “Welcome to Section 12.”

“I’m Dave Zentamir,” The dark haired guy stated, folding his arms across his chest as a sign of authority.

Next on the line was another girl with long, straight hair and yellowish skin. She stood up from the couch to my right. She also had big eyes and long eyelashes. Her cheeks were pink and puffy. She was extremely thin. “I’m Cristine Weathers.”

As she sat down, the girl beside her stood up. This one had waist-length hair and olive skin. She had twinkling, coal-black eyes and she was hugging a stuffed toy. “I’m Roni.”

“Veronica Gale,” Dave said, rolling his eyes.

“Shut up, Dave,” Roni told him. Apparently, they loved telling him to shut up.

Roni beckoned another girl who was sitting on the couch across her to stand up. This one had light olive skin, round eyes, a button nose and small lips. She was adorable and rowdy at the same time.

“My name’s Angela,” She said, looking at me. “I prefer to be called ‘Jay’.”

“She’s C and Belle’s little sister,” Squall told me. “It’s not obvious since she’s taller than the both of them. She’s your senior but she’s only 14 in mortal terms. She was immortalized at 13.”

“Cool,” I said.

The boy standing behind Jay looked at me. He had big round eyes and tan skin. His face was cursed with pimples and his black hair, lifeless without the gel, spiked downwards.

“Jeck,” he said. “Jeck Maroon.”

“Moron,” Jay jerked in a joking tone.

“Whatever,” he retorted before turning around and pulling a PSP out of the trouser pocket.

“Is that everyone?” Squall asked them.

“Not yet!” Another girl shouted. She practically emerged from nowhere. She had a thin layer of black-brown hair with white highlights, tan skin, big eyes and a petite frame. “My name’s Ivy. Ivy Randall.”

“Now is that everyone?” Squall asked again.

“Yes,” Carlo confirmed before looking towards me. “Call me ‘C, okay?”

I nodded.

“I’ve told Rena what you already know,” Ryan said to me. “So now let’s move on to what you both are completely clueless about – the grades. Everyone in this school must have the best grades mankind could ever imagine. If you Ace a test, it means more supplies to your section. Supplies are materials… blades… gunpowder… bullets… anything that could help you in the killing spree. You two haven’t been given a regular test so we’ll have to create a weapon for you two from scratch. It’s the same for every freshman in this school.

“Aside from supplies, good grades come with a bonus. That is, you could get anything you want when you want them. If you want a PS Vita, ace a test and it’s in your hands.

“You can get good grades if you avoid getting done in. The main reason why you’re hunted down is to lighten the competition. Like I said earlier, if you ‘die’, you won’t be able to lay a finger on anyone or your lessons for a whole week. That’s more than enough to pull you behind.

“The only places where ‘killing’ isn’t permitted are the clinic, the library annex, the classrooms, and the dorms. Everywhere else is unsafe. Of course, the training course is the most suitable area for a good challenge, but it is bounded by rules.

“Number one, it could only be used at the right schedule, which is noon. By then, students of every section are required to attend a face-off of their representatives. However, getting done in while inside the course doesn’t count. You’ll be resurrected and you won’t have to be suspended.

“Number two, once the training course is off-limits, you are not allowed to use it as an area for a killing spree. If you do this, you’ll be disqualified,” Ryan’s look turned serious for a moment. “The same rule applies to all the places where killing sprees are abolished.”

“Disqualification is a nasty thing,” Squall said. “Five of our former members have been disqualified. It’s the main reason why most of the quarters are unoccupied.”

“Moving on,” Ryan stated, clearing his throat. “Once you are a student in this school, you are immediately immortalized. If  your section fails to accomplish a year, you’ll all have to repeat it since you have all the time in the world to do so.

“Our parents were once students of Doomsday High, and it is a requirement that we, their children, attend this school,” Ryan paused for a moment, as if waiting for a question or a reaction from me and Rena.

“Why didn’t they tell me anything?” I asked myself. “That they were immortals. That Doomsday was a school I had to attend. They should have prepared me for all of this.”

“They probably didn’t want you to back out,” Squall told me. “Doomsday High is a really good school, if you put aside the killing sprees, that is.”

“But they should have told me something in the least,” I said.

“Maybe there were things that are better known later than sooner,” Rena told me as she held my hand. “Maybe during the break, you could ask them.”

“I guess,” I whispered to her.

“Love bugs,” I heard Annabel mutter from behind me.

“Cooties,” C whispered in a sing-song tone.

“Moving on,” Squall continued. “The schedule is arranged so that there are only two sections running around the school at a certain period of time. That way, killings are more challenging. Tomorrow, our Section’s schedule collides with Section 1’s.

“The Schedule works in a way that once you’re out of the classroom, you could meet up with your seniors and team up with them before going to your next class. It’s going to be tough. Teacher’s won’t give a crap if you come in late after a killing spree,” Squall chuckled. “They behave as if nothing bad is happening. Heck, they won’t even care if their students are covered in blood.”

“Is everything clear now?” Squall inquired.

I nodded before looking at my ankle. The gauze had been replaced but the pain was still there, albeit not as sharp as earlier.

“It’s 1am. We all need to sleep. School starts at 10 for all of us tomorrow,” Roni said. “By the way, Ken. Your quarter is that door.”

Roni pointed towards the first door to the right of bookshelves. I murmured a thanks to her as Ryan helped me up and supported me once more. I used my good leg to propel me forward, hoping that I wasn’t heavy for the seemingly malnourished guy.

I took the privilege of opening the door since, to state the obvious, the quarter belonged to me. The knob felt cold and it had a lot of dust on it, as if it hadn’t been touched for years. The door swung open easily and I was greeted by perfume and a really narrow walkway.

We went through the walkway slowly. Once we got to the end, the air changed. For the most part, it was much colder and more welcoming.

 To my surprise the room was fairly huge, but it had the same familiar atmosphere I knew – home.  On the center of the room was a small, well-made bed with white sheets. Beside the bed was another door – probably the bathroom. The floorboards were made of mahogany and the walls were decorated with paintings. On the left side was a bean chair, a 32” plasma TV, an Xbox 360 and a PS3. Next to the TV was a huge shelf filled with books and video games. On the right side of the room was a table which was armed with reference materials, school supplies and a laptop. Sitting in  front of it was an office chair.

I limped to the bed and collapsed on it, allowing my body to rest on its softness.

“This place is great,” I whispered as Ryan hovered above me.

“We could do some modifications if you like,” He informed me. “This place is yours, after all.”

“No,” I told him. “It’s perfect just the way it is.”

“Okay then. Rest well,” I heard him say as I shut my eyes. The door slammed shut and I was alone once again.

I let my consciousness drift slowly into a dark abyss, hoping that this was not a dream. I had met a bunch of people I liked so much that I didn’t want to leave.

My eyes fluttered open to the sound of someone knocking on my door. I sat up and searched for a clock, pressing a head on my temple upon realization that there was none. I laid back down on the bed, its softness deterring me from acknowledging the knocks.

“Ken. It’s time to wake up,” I heard Ryan say.

My foot was aching in pain again.

“I’m up!” I yelled at the door.

I hefted myself off the bed, not bothering to arrange its now-wrinkled covers. I sighed as I limped forward, my feet protesting with every step. I dropped to the floor and the sudden impact resulted in a loud bang. I winced and rolled on my back to ease the pain.

I heard the door click open and a few hurried steps before Ryan and Squall entered my vision. “You okay, kid?” They both asked, simultaneously.

“Does it look like I’m okay to you?” I told them before a groan escaped my lips.

“Jesus help us,” Ryan muttered, doing the sign of the cross. I looked at him, puzzled. He was staring at my foot.

I managed to help myself up to a sitting position and looked at the gauze that was wrapped around my ankle. It wasn’t stained with blood. What horrified me was that it was green – which meant that the wound had gone worse.

“Your wound’s infected,” Squall shook his head. “Damn blade must’ve been poisoned. We need to get you to the clinic.”

“What about my suitcase? I need to retrieve it,” I told them.

“C and Belle could fetch it for you. Those two like to look around the lost and found,” Ryan told me. “Of course, that won’t stop them from encountering an enemy section so—they’ll be risking their lives for it.”

“They’re going to risk their lives for a suitcase?” I asked, raising a brow.

“Technically, yes” Ryan said. “Now come on. You’re going to miss breakfast. You need to eat quickly. We’ve also got to do something about that wound of yours.”

Ryan and Squall helped me up. It was Squall’s turn to carry me. I grimaced at the thought that I had to depend on someone in a school where survival is the first and foremost option.

I was led to the living room once more. Ryan grabbed a remote-looking object sitting on the center table and pointed it towards the two huge bookshelves. He let his eyes rest on the right shelf and smiled as it sank down, revealing another room –the dining area – behind it.

“Secret passages,” I whispered in a blunt tone. “Nice.”

Squall almost lifted me as he made a step towards the room. It seemed to take forever before we made it inside.

The dining area was fairly wide as. There was a long banquet set in the middle, and most of the seats were unoccupied. Hoisted above the banquet was a really expensive-looking chandelier. It was suspended by a golden chain which was connected to a glass panel that restricted another band of stuff toys from falling onto the table. On the right side of the room was a huge air conditioner.

I took a seat next to Rena. Dave was sitting on his “throne” in the center of the banquet, behaving like he was the president. He landed jokes on everyone. He hadn’t even touched his food. Annabel was munching on her bacon while C joined in the hullabaloo. Bernie was singing something random – she was singing a  biography of everyone in the room. Ryan and Squall took a seat close to me before they too began creating a ruckus.

Rena laughed as Roni told her a crude joke. I nearly gagged. To state the obvious, they were throwing green jokes across the table and none of them seem to mind.

Ivy and Cristine were too busy laughing at Dave who threw punch lines at Squall. The poor guy knew that the joke was on him, but he seemed quite unaffected. In fact, he laughed his butt off like a crazy old loon. Jay threw peas at Jeck whose attention was consumed by his PSP.

“Uhm… Guys,” Ryan stated, worry straining his voice. “Ken’s wound is infected.”

The dining area suddenly fell silent, with only Jeck’s PSP beeping away as his fingers rammed against the buttons on the said device. However, the silence was short-lived.

“How about amputation?” Annabel suggested, looking at me with a sadistic little smile. “With no pain killers.”

“I’ve been considering amputation, but the infection might be spreading. For all we know, it could’ve reached half of his body but the morphine’s preventing him from feeling most of the pain,” Squall told her calmly, as if the girl wasn't threatening to torture me. “Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. I’m not familiar with drugs and their effects.

“None of us are familiar with anything related to that matter either. But if it is spreading, then it must be progressing slowly. Look, he’s still standing,” Bernie said. “If the infection was that bad, he would have gotten done in by now.”

“Maybe I got done in overnight,” I suggested, popping a bacon into my mouth.

“No… If you got done in, you’ll be lying in the clinic without our knowledge,” Bernie told me. “Anyone who gets… uhm… killed… is retrieved there. We don’t know how it happens… It must be some sort of magic. Regardless of where a person dies, they always end up in the clinic.”

“I see,” I told her.                    

                             

“Either way, we’ll have to send you there so that the nurse could check on your wound properly,” Bernie said.

“Why don’t we go there now?” I asked them.

“Because while we’re dining here, Sections 2 and 5 are out there on a killing spree,” Ryan informed me with a warning tone. “The least we could do is finish eating and give you a first-aid treatment before preparing for classes. Some of us could even skip our first classes and take you there. However, we would risk getting caught up in a brawl with Section 5 and 10.”

“Look. It’s not like we’re going to let you get done in on us,” Roni told me. “You’re lucky. Other sections are strict. The seniors don’t give a crap about what’s happening to their new recruits.”

“Trust us, Ken,” Ivy said. “It’s not because we have a bunch of weird people in our section doesn’t mean we’re not being honest with you. What you see is what we are. Sooner or later, you’ll become someone different and we’ll learn to accept that.”

“This school does things to your head,” Annabel said. “So don’t be surprised if you develop a second nature. Eat up and stop worrying. We’re wasting precious time.”

“Squall and I would accompany you to the clinic,” Ryan reminded me. “C and Belle would retrieve your suitcase.”

“I need to go with them,” I told him. “It’s my property. It’s my fault I lost it. At least let me go with them before we head to the clinic.”

“Hell no,” Annabel protested, slamming her bandaged left fist against the table. “You could barely even stand up and you’re volunteering to assist us? What are you? Suicidal or something?”

“I’ll accompany you to the clinic,” Rena told me. “Squall gave me two guns to use at my disposal. I’m armed.”

“I’ll go with Belle,” Roni informed them. “I’m not gonna let my doll get tangled up in a mess she’s not supposed to be in.” She winked at Annabel who, in turn, cringed at her gesture.

I nudged Ryan on the side of his stomach with my elbow. “Is she--?”

“Roni’s a little bit into girls,” Ryan said. “Only a little… I think… She has a boyfriend in Section 11.”

“Isn’t that kind of rough for her?” I asked.

“No… They support each other quite well,” Ryan mused.

“That’s awesome,” Rena breathed. She startled me a little but Ryan’s voice was high-pitched for a man and it wasn’t easy for him to lower it, so she probably overheard the conversation. She continued, “I mean… They’re out to kill each other yet they love each other. It sounds a little cliché but it’s cute.”

My head shot up to the sound of a chair being pushed backward. Annabel stood up and gave me a good glare before moving towards the opening which led to the living room. I noticed that both her hands were wrapped in bandages. I sank back in my seat. That kid scares me to bits.

Dave whistled before standing up. “That’s her signal. Let’s stop wasting time. Finish your meals and get out of here before Belle chases us around with her chainsaw.” He looked at me. “She can’t kill us but she’ll end up hurting one of us anyway.”

I didn’t think twice in lifting myself off my chair, though doing so only made me fall backward. In the end, I could practically picture myself splayed painfully and motionlessly on the floor. I couldn’t move. I was practically pinned.

In the next few seconds, Rena was by my side. She draped my right arm over her shoulder, then with all the force and strength she could muster, heaved me up to a standing position. I had to lay my weight on her, which was very embarrassing. I took the chance to look at her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed in worry and concentration. Before I even noticed, Squall had taken my other arm and they both maneuvered me out of the dining hall and into the TV room.

I was appalled when I saw Annabel kneeling in front of the center table, preparing the supplies with her wounded hands.

She was humming a random song. A rare smile grazed her face. She seemed like a different person, now that her mood had lightened but her very presence still shook me.

“You’ve prepared them,” Squall said, calmly.

Annabel nodded and lowered her head. She stood up as Squall and Rena placed me on the couch. They held me like I was a fragile package waiting to be delivered. My ankle was screaming in pain and I gritted my teeth to hopefully get rid of the pain, even for a short moment.

I nearly jolted when Annabel started unwrapping the gauze around my ankle. I sank back and heaved a sigh of relief. She was still humming as her fingers carefully untangled the green-stained bandages. I could see the way her face shifted with disgust once the wound was uncovered. I didn’t know if it was out of panic or shock, but Annabel dropped the thick layer of cloth and ran off without a word.

I managed to get a good view of the bandages from my perspective and I wanted to scream out. The bandages had maggots roaming around the end.

“This is far worse than I had expected,” Squall muttered to no one in particular.

“What the hell did they put on that blade?” Ryan asked as he hovered beside me. His eyes were downcast, staring at the bandages as he stepped furiously on the maggots.

Jay huddled to my side, seemingly hearing the ruckus. She had a shocked and worried look on her face, but her attention wasn’t on me. It was on the ground as well.

She glanced at Ryan who was too busy rummaging the first aid kit. She shook her head and yelled, “Goddamn it Ryan! We need to take him to the clinic now. We can’t risk watching him get done in on us now! Even if the poisoned blade was the cause, the first examination is already through. He’ll be suspended for a week.”

“The wound’s not spreading. It’s eating him from the inside,” Ryan told her. “It won’t kill him but we might have to resort to amputation, just like Belle had suggested.”

“Which is why we need to get him to the clinic now,” Jay snapped back at him, matter-of-factly. “Any damage to the body can’t be healed unless you die, but the clinic might be able to do something to lessen the complications.”

My head suddenly started spinning. My left leg felt numb. I couldn’t see my left foot from my current angle, but I could tell that the wound was horrid. The bandages were practically describing it for me.

Ryan lifted my left foot up, and I closed my eyes to ease the sudden pain. I hollered out and practically yelled at him to drop my foot.

“How are we gonna take him there? He might get killed,” Squall said.

“Grandfather,” Jay hinted before glancing at me with a smirk.

****

Bernie made me drink pain killers before re-bandaging my foot. Then Squall gave me a pistol to arm myself with. Ryan used the remote-looking device and used it to open the left bookshelf so that he could drag out a wheelchair.

Bernie decided to tag along so that she could have “some fun”.

It turns out that Bernie uses a unique type of bomb for a weapon. It came in the form of paper cranes. Once they made contact with another person, they would explode. I asked her how she made them but she never told me a thing.

Rena had an M16 on her sleeves but Squall said that she’ll have to replace it with a more unique weapon soon since Section 12 was ‘different’.

It took a lot of work for them to maneuver the wheelchair all the way up to the first floor. I was just enjoying the view. 

After moments of pushing and heaving, we were cascading down unexplored hallways in a wretched attempt to get to the clinic before this wound takes my life away.

It wasn’t long before we encountered students from Section 10 and 5. A few of them took notice of our small escapade and didn’t have second thoughts on finishing us while we were vulnerable.

Bernie busied herself by throwing paper cranes toward interested attackers. I watched in plain eagerness as the cranes clung to a victim’s cloth before transforming them into a small pile of powdered ashes.

Rena seemed to have more difficulties. The M16 was a little too heavy for her and she had to bear its weight while shooting her targets.

I recognized the boy with heavy Hispanic accent as he charged towards me with two cutters. Squall handed me over to Ryan so that he’d go head-to-head with the lad. We continued to run.

There was blood everywhere, but none of the students seemed to have “died” yet. Unable to hold back, I aimed my pistol at an unwary brunette who had successfully beheaded her attacker. I pulled the trigger and fired.

Head shot. She dropped down. Dead.

I looked at Squall who was still busy stabbing the Hispanic boy mercilessly. I opened my mouth to tell him to stop.

“The more gruesome the better,” Ryan told me before pushing me forward.

We weren’t moving fast enough. Before we even knew it, another girl had Ryan’s right hand nailed to the wall with a pair of scissors. She was green-eyed and ginger haired. I jerked back before aiming my pistol at her, but a boy pinned my hand and ceased my gun, rendering me unarmed and vulnerable.

He had only began to laugh when Bernie’s paper crane took him by surprise and blew him to smithereens.

I took a look at Ryan whose right hand was still nailed to the wall. His face contorted in pain as the girl pushed the scissors deeper into his palm. In the spur of the moment, two blades were jabbed straight into her head, piercing right through it – one protruded through her forehead, the other through her mouth.

Squall was holding her by the hair. He had used his actual weapon – a gigantic pair of scissors.

He grinned at me before he used his foot to slam the girl to the wall just so that he could take back his scissors. He broke her neck in the process and the bones cut their way through her flesh. He flung her to the ground like she wasn’t even human.

I suddenly recalled Annabel’s words.

“This school teaches you to become what you least expect to be – a monster.”

The words echoed in my head like some sort of warning. Even as we took off entered a more peaceful hallway, her voice sent chills down my spine.

The hallway was intriguingly empty.  It was provided with elevators for our use.

Ryan hurried towards the nearest one and jammed the “down” button with a bloody fist. We had to wait for a few seconds before a bell rang and the elevator doors opened. We hurried inside the cramped area. The elevator doors shut automatically and we were transported to the first floor.

Squall took hold of the wheelchair before we scrambled out of the elevator. The clinic was hidden by a gallery of empty hallways, but it didn’t take long before we eventually found it.

The wide expanse of medicine-scented walls encompassed me. Most of the beds were already occupied. The casualties were concealed by curtains. For a moment I wondered what it felt like to be dead, but my head kept darting back to my wound that I found it hard to ponder.

I looked around and caught sight of the British girl Annabel sawed into half yesterday evening. She looked at me and lowered her head. She was sitting on a bed close to the entrance. The one next to her was vacant so Ryan pushed me towards it.

Across the British girl, partially hidden by the curtains as he laid unconscious on the bed, was the Hispanic boy from earlier. His body had gone back to normal, which was both uncanny and relieving.

To his left was little miss ginger who had nailed Ryan with a pair of scissors. She was also unconscious and unscathed. The “patients” next to her were too obstructed by the curtains so I couldn’t see any of them.

Ryan parked the wheelchair while Squall and Rena lifted me on the bed.

Bernie went off to call the nurse. The said person was busy scribbling notes on the farthest side of the clinic.

My foot seemed heavy. Moving it was impossible. Simply trying to do so brought a huge amount of pain to my upper leg even though I had pain killers in my system.

“What happened to him?” The British girl asked, concern straining her voice.

“None of your business,” Rena retorted sharply. “Psycho.”

“Rena… It’s okay,” Squall reassured her. “We’re inside a clinic. No one’s out to kill each other.”

“My name’s Arthuria Coldwell,” The girl said, looking at me. “Student Body President.”

A short silence ensued.

“I’m really sorry about the rope and the attempted ‘killing’. I just had to do it. You were all easy targets at that time. I was waiting for the right chance to bring at least one of you down,” she said. “It’s for the top students list, okay? I don’t want to be an enemy. I just want to stay on top.”

“Section 3 is the section with the most number of students. They have been on the top student’s list for three years in a row since Arthuria became student body president,” Squall explained to me. “They’re clinging tightly to that position.”

“This school is all about competition,” Arthuria said. “There are rules to follow while you’re in the classroom, but once you’re out, you make the rules.”

“This… school… is… nuts,” I told her between pants.

I was rather surprised when the nurse huddled next to her and gave me the same worried expression. The nurse’s eyes scanned me profusely before it landed on my left ankle. She gracefully undid the bandages and gasped.

Arthuria’s attention also darted towards my ankle and she covered her lips to prevent the words that might just come out of it.

Rena looked at me worriedly and I gazed into her eyes to read the message behind them, but there was none. She was speechless.

“Crap,” Ryan murmured, loud enough for anyone close by to hear.

The nurse went towards the cubicles and came back with a syringe that had a needle readily attached to it and a small glass bottle. She dipped the needle  it into a bottle and allowed it to absorb as much of the liquid inside it. Then she walked towards me and jabbed the needle into my arm, injecting the liquid intravenously. I thought about the purpose of the liquid as it flowed into my bloodstream. I only realized that it was an anesthetic when black clouds invaded my vision and I was slowly lulled to sleep.

Random Persona: Gasai Yuno of Mirai Nikki

The 2nd diary holder, Gasai Yuno, hides a lot of secrets. For one thing, her parents once pressured her so that she'd become the perfect daughter. This eventually leads them to locking her up in a cage. Unfortunately, her unresistant repose was already concealing the murderer inside her, hence leading her to kill her own parents.

Her diary is the Ai no Nikki [Diary of Love] which, instead of recording her daily activities, holds a record of AmanoYukiteru's actions. The reason is because she is in love with Yukiteru, much to the point of murdering anyone who gets in the way.

She is obsessive, psychotic and a little cute but all that wraps into one hell of an irritating yet fearsome character who gains the upper hand in the survival game.

Mirai Nikki is an ongoing anime series. Watch it to know more about her...

Beat of the Week: Chizuru by the Gazette

(c) Sony Music Entertainment Japan

The Gazette is a band from Japan which specializes in music under the Visual Kei Genre.

Chizuru, which is Japanese for a Thousand Paper Cranes, is a song they provided as a background music for the ending credits of a Japanese-dubbed version of APT, a Korean horror movie which circles around an apartment and the cataclysmic events that take place in it.

The video contains some clips from the movie to compliment the song. It's something you may not want to miss.

Doomsday High Chapter One: The Unknown [UNEDITED]

“Squall! He’s awake!”

I found it hard to process the voices in my head, but in the least, I could hear them. My eyes opened slightly. It was the best I could do to identify where I was. I willed my vision to come around since everything was very blurry and all I could see was a pandemonium of colors. I tried to focus on one object, but my dizziness prevented me from doing so. My head spun round and round till someone caught my shoulders. I looked up.

“Hey!” She greeted. It was the girl with the blond hair.

“H-Hey,” I murmured a greeting back.  I got up and rubbed my hand on my temple.

“You lost a lot of blood,” another voice said. It most positively belonged to Mr. Chubby. “You woke up a little late and now we’ll have to fetch a bunch of people on the way back to the dormitory. However, we can’t risk having a dizzy, motion-sick person around so if you need a little rest, please tell us.”

“N-No… I’m good,” I told him, looking up.

“So Ken,” Mr. Chubby said. “First time running a course, eh?”

“Yeah,” I told him. “Weren’t you holding a giant shuriken earlier?”

“Yes, but it’s not mine. It belongs to someone named Cristine. You’ll meet her later. Anyway, let’s talk about you. You making it through the course was expected from a Takanashi. Your parents were once an icon in this school,” The other guy – The “Asian” – told me. “By the way, I’m Ryan. Ryan Chen. Mr. Huggable Chubby Teddy Bear beside you is Squall Clause.”

I smiled at Squall. Good thing I discovered his name before I got used to calling him Mr. Chubby.

“I’m Rena. Rena Yamasaki,” The blond said. “So your name’s Ken?”

“Yep… You heard em’,” I told her, grinning. “Stupid name huh?”

“No… I think it’s cool,” she said, complimenting me. I can’t help but lighten up a bit. She was so adorable.

“Now, now. No lovey-dovey stuff until later,” Squall warned us. “We need to get to our dormitory, remember? Are you sure you could handle it Ken?”

“Yep,” I confirmed before swinging my legs to the side of the bed. I noticed the large amount of gauze wrapping around my left ankle. Was the wound that bad?

I hefted myself up, forcing all my weight on my own two feet. I lost my balance for a moment but I quickly regained it by resting a hand on the bed. Ryan had his arm draped around me as he supported me. He seemed to like helping others a lot.

It was then that I noticed how large the clinic was. In fact, it was hardly a clinic at all. Several beds – separated by green curtains— were arranged in a neat row. The aisle that divided the place was wide enough to accommodate a stretcher and lots of doctors and nurses, had it been a hospital. Near the exit was a cubicle for the school nurse. A huge air conditioner hung over the end of the aisle, giving the room a comfortable coolness.

Ryan and Squall helped me walk out of the clinic. What greeted us outside was a huge hallway dotted with frescoes on its walls and ceilings. In-between some of the embedded paintings were windows which allowed an unperturbed flow of sunlight There were no air conditioners in sight but the area was very cold and comforting. The floor was made of marble. I grinned in amusement.

“Breath-taking isn’t it?” Ryan asked. He was now bearing my weight since Squall wanted to act like the tour guide.

“Yeah,” I gasped.

“Well… There’s more where that came from. Let’s go to the library first,” Squall told me. “The twins are waiting.”

“Twins?”

“Yeah… Carlo and Annabel Rezef,” Ryan said. “They weren’t in the field earlier, so they didn’t see you win the course.”

“Oh.”

“I can’t wait till they get a load of you,” Squall guffawed. “It’ll be like poking their noses and shouting ‘Told you we’d get first placers this year!’”

“What are they like?” Rena asked, rather enthusiastic about who we’re about to meet.

“Well C’s a good guy. But Belle is different,” Ryan told her.

“She’s friggin’ bipolar!” Squall said.

“Bipolar?” The word rolled itself off my tongue like I was saying it the wrong way.

“She’s not really bipolar,” Ryan joked. “It’s just that Belle is shy and she expresses her shyness in… different… ways. Her personality is very unstable.”

We stopped at the foot of a spiral staircase which was decorated with a red carpet and accentuated  with golden railings. Wrapping around it were walls filled with replicas of paintings by the infamous Leonardo Da Vinci.

“Easy now,” Ryan said as he took the first step. I followed shortly, hoping that he could support my weight.

Each step made me feel dizzy but we got to the next floor in a matter of minutes anyway. We took a left and I glanced behind me every now and then to check if Rena was still walking behind me. She smiled at me to confirm her presence. I smiled back.

“Pffft… Love,” Ryan said to me in a harsh whisper.

“W-What?” I stuttered.

“You like her, don’t you?” He asked me.

Ryan whistled. “Don’t bet on it, kid.”

We stopped in front of a gigantic, arch-shaped door with half a heart for its knob. Hearts… how nifty… Judging from my experience earlier, you could lose half a heart and regain it in minutes.

“This is the library,” Squall said as he opened the door and beckoned us inside. “After all of you. And of course, Ladies first.”

Rena was the first to step into the library, Ryan and I followed.

The library itself was huge – gigantic. Comparable to a museum. Three large air conditioners were suspended above me to ventilate the whole place. There were hundreds of tall, well-made, wooden bookshelves. Each aisle was provided with a huge, arch-shaped window and a sofa which could accommodate about eight people at a time. There were no librarians in sight, which I found rather bizarre.

To my right, partially concealed by a wooden, Spanish-style divider, was an open sub-room filled with computers for e-research. Each unit was open and ready-to-use but no one was operating them. Talk about electronic waste.

Ryan finally let go of me and I walked forward to the middle of the library where a huge atlas of the world was sitting. I marveled at a huge map of Oceania before flipping the page. I was about to read about the resources you could find in the said country before my mind processed the sound of a working chainsaw.

Within seconds I was lying on the floor and a girl was on top of me, straddling my torso. The side of her face was concealed by the blade of a chainsaw – its teeth moving perilously around it in a rapid motion. I swallowed hard and tried to act as brave as possible.

“Who are you?” I choked at her.

“Does it matter?” She asked me.

“Belle!” I heard Squall scream. “Don’t attack him! He’s a comrade!”

Annabel was lifted off of me and I propped myself to a sitting position. Another boy – Presumably her brother, Carlo – was holding her by her shoulders. She turned her chainsaw off, but she didn’t drop it.

Annabel was almost pale-skinned. Her left eye was big and circular, while her raven hair partially concealed the eye patch which covered her right. She had a small, button nose to compliment her features. Her lips were small and pinkish. She looked like a doll – a killer doll.

Her brother, on the other hand, was tan with curly brown-black hair. He appeared to be less intimidating but his expression was guarded.

“No. Killing,” Her brother whispered before moving towards me. He took my hand and helped me up. “I’m really sorry about this… Whoever you are… My sister doesn’t like it if someone disturbs the peace of this library.”

“This library is now Section 12’s territory,” Squall said. “The owner of this school is making a new one which everyone could access.”

“By the way. C, Belle… This is Ken and Rena,” Ryan introduced us with a smile. “We’re really sorry for the rough—”  Ryan  shot a glare at Annabel “—First Impression but at least it’s all settled now.”

“She just tried to kill him!” Rena yelled.

“Listen, newbie,” Annabel pressed firmly, raising her chainsaw and pointing it at Rena. “In this school, everyone is taught to become what they least expect to be – a monster. Killing would be a daily habit.”

“Annabel! Shut up!” Squall yelled at her. “We’ll talk about this in the briefing.”

“The rest of the sections must’ve finished theirs hours ago,” Annabel said. “You’re wasting time. If these nutshells won’t have their brains cracked before sundown, they’re as good as dead.”

“Okay. Fine. Tell them a few things,” Squall told her. “But please don’t be too harsh on them. They’re freshmen for crying out loud.”

“I know, I know,” She said, reassuringly. She turned towards me and Rena. “Now listen, and listen good. This school is not called Doomsday High for no reason. Each and every student need to know a thing or two about weaponry. What weapons are you two good at?”

“I’m good with guns. My father taught me how to use them,” Rena informed her.

“Good. How about you, runt?” She asked me. Squall and Ryan must’ve been joking when they said she was shy.  She’s got an attitude. “Well?”

I didn’t know if I had to be sincere or honest with her, but I had to admit a few things in the least. “I’m spectacular in paintball.”

“Judge yourself. Does that mean you’re a good marksman?”

“I guess,” I replied.

“Guessing’ doesn’t always win the game, newbie,” Carlo said. I nodded groggily at his sudden remark.

“Moving on,” Annabel began again. She cleared her throat and continued, “ Training courses for all years are held at noon. I don’t want to explain further. There’s a schedule which came along your registration form.”

“Oh shit! I left mine in my suitcase earlier!” I shouted, my voice echoing through all the far corners of the library.

“Where exactly did you leave it?” She asked me.

“At the gate. I ran too quickly,” I admitted.

“He got first place earlier,” Squall said to no one in particular. His words caused Annabel to look at me peculiarly.

“I-Is that so?” She asked, stammering. She looked at me with a terrified and surprised expression etched on her face.

“Yep,” Squall told her before forming a “T” with his hands. He was looking at Ryan. It must’ve been some sort of signal.

Ryan walked towards me and whispered in my ear. “Belle is more afraid of you than you think. It’s when she knows how dangerous you are that her fear shows.”

“Oh,” I murmured. “I see…”

Her expression changed all of a sudden like a girl falling out of a mood swing. “I-I’m sorry. I-I didn’t know I-I was dealing with someone important. I really am. You’ll be able to retrieve your suitcase in the lost and found tomorrow. It’s near the entrance. Y-you wouldn’t miss it.”

“Uhm… Thanks?”

“W-Welcome…” She stammered back.

Rena walked towards her and without further adieu, she hugged her. “Kitty!”

“A~nyway! Before anything else happens, we should get to the Dormitory so that you’d see what it’s like. Belle, hold your chainsaw. An enemy from another section might attack. C, where’s your scythe?” Squall said looking around.

“I’ll go get it,” Carlo told him before disappearing into the mass of bookshelves.

“Let’s hope you don’t get lost then,” Squall said to the empty space where Carlo once stood.

We waited for the guy to return. He must’ve had a flawed sense of direction since it took him half an hour to find his scythe hidden underneath one of the sofas in the nearest part of the library – the A-B section. I brought my palm to my face at the obviousness of its location. His scythe, however, made me pull the gesture back.

It was double-edged with extremely sharp rims. He must’ve been cleaning the blades a lot judging from how bright and shiny they looked. Standing next to it made him look shorter. He held it close to his chest before spinning it round and round in a clumsy expedition.

“Come on now, C. No showing off,” Ryan said. “These two don’t have a weapon yet and we’ve got to get to the dormitory before sundown.”

“Okay then.”

Ryan picked me up once more and we took the lead since having us tailing behind would mean “sudden death” according to Squall. Carlo and Annabel guarded the back, eyes darting here and there for a hidden attacker.

“What’s with this school?” I asked Ryan.

“Well, for one thing, students have to kill each other,” Ryan explained to me. “We we’ll inform you about everything at the briefing but knowing a little wouldn’t hurt. Rena would be informed about it later anyway. Anything else you’d like to ask?”

“Why do the students have to kill each other?” I asked.

“Well, for the most part, if you don’t kill someone in the school, you’ll be… disqualified,” Ryan paused, as if waiting for another question from me.

“What happens when a student is disqualified?” I inquired, staring intently at him.

“The student is erased. Don’t ask how the ‘erasing’ is done,” He told me. He cleared his throat before continuing, “Aside from disqualification, there’s also the top student’s list. It’s not every student for himself in this school. One section requires awesome camaraderie because only one section gets to make it to the list of top students. Each section has to finish each other off while maintaining the best grades possible…

“If you get the highest score in an exam, you’ll have one object you want so badly. If you make it to the top student’s list, you get one wish granted. There is one thing you couldn’t wish for though – that the killings would cease.”

I stayed silent and lowered my gaze. I waited for more information from him.

“One section has one hundred students, more or less. Section 12 is weak because we only have more or less 15 students, including you and Rena. If all the students in one section get done in, they’ll all be suspended for two months. That means no slaughtering for two months. No lessons for two months.”

“Wait…. But they’re already dead—“

“They don’t technically die. They’re resurrected in 5 minutes or so. If a student gets done in once, he or she’ll be suspended for a week. If he or she gets done in twice, that’s makes two weeks. Is that clear enough for you?” Ryan looked at me with a questioning gaze.

“Clear,” I told him.

“Now. Once you’re in this school, you become an immortal. That’s how you’re resurrected.” Ryan grinned.

 Immortal?”

“Didn’t your parents tell you that? What did you expect? That you’d get bitten by a vampire?”

“No. My parents didn’t tell me a thing about—“

“Attacker! From Section 3!” Carlo shouted, interfering with our discussion.

He raised his scythe and swung it to a shadowed figure in the corner. The figure avoided him easily and nearly struck him down with its sword.

“Run!” Annabel yelled as she turned on her chainsaw.

Squall took the lead and we followed him in a desperate attempt to avoid getting done in. A kaleidoscope of sounds encompassed me at that moment – Annabel shouting, Carlo yelling at his sister to move away, heavy footsteps, blades clashing, chainsaws roaring, bodies being decapitated.

I closed my eyes before I heard someone catch up to us. I glance behind to see Annabel chuckling. Her uniform seemed even darker now that it was heavily stained with blood. Her hands and her chainsaw was bathing in the red liquid.

“Brother s-stayed b-behind,” She grinned sadistically. “T-There were two of them. I-I f-finished one off.”

Rena wrapped an arm around her to pull her along... All of us ran as fast as we could.

“We’re taking a left! There’s a narrow staircase over there! It’s a shortcut to the dormitories!” Squall yelled. He maneuvered his stocky body to the said direction and disappeared.

Ryan swerved to the left, taking my weight along with him. He half-ran and half-dragged my body towards the stairs. Squall was right.  It was very narrow --only enough to accommodate two people between it-- and it cascaded downwards in a spiral fashion.

As we descended the staircase in furrowed desperation, the pain in my leg increased dramatically. It was practically yelling at me to stop running. I groaned.

“Morphine’s fading, huh?” Ryan told me.

“Morphine?”

“Yeah,” Ryan said. “Your wound was a lot worse than we had expected. Since a lot of things had to happen in one day, we decided to drug you a little to ease the pain. I guess it’s wearing off now.”

“Talk about wrong timing,” I murmured in my raspy voice.

We continued running. Adrenaline helped push me further. The staircase seemed endless. My feet ached so much that I had to depend on Ryan to carry me.

I heard Annabel scream and jam her chainsaw into something – another attacker maybe. We paused and glanced back up. I was right. An unidentifiable person had tried to lay his hands on us. The attacker’s right shoulder was bleeding severely. The rest of his appearance was partially concealed by the darkness of the staircase. He was using his good hand to cease Annabel’s chainsaw.

Squall was covering the front and he couldn’t do anything but watch since I and Ryan was blocking his path. Annabel’s hands were now bleeding – she had to grab the blade of the chainsaw since she had no other choice. Rena was by her side, helping her.

In the spur of the moment, a crescent-shaped blade appeared from above and beheaded the attacker. The now motionless body fell down and the head rolled in an indefinite direction. I managed to grasp a few features before it disappeared into the dark abyss in front of us. The attacker was a male with a bald head.

Carlo filled the empty space where his victim once stood. Rena grabbed Annabel’s wrist whilst Carlo grabbed her chainsaw and we all began hiking down the stairs once again.

“How many steps more?” I asked.

“Only a few… We’re about to reach the underground,” Squall retorted.

Then we jolted to a stop. Before us was sweet, smooth, marble grounds, a dozen gigantic arch-shaped doors – 6 to the left and 6 to the right, each set apart by spaces filled with surreal frescoes.

“Let’s run. Someone from the other section might come out and attack us,” Squall lurched forward and started running. “Section 12’s dorm is the last door to the right.”

“Hey Ryan… Are they allowed to kill us when we’re inside the dorm?” I asked, partially ignoring the pain in my foot.

“No,” Ryan said. “It also means disqualification.”

I wanted to interrogate him a bit more, but I tripped over what appeared to be a rope and I hollered in pain. I looked at my ankle and noticed that the white bandage draped over it was now completely red. I closed my eyes and bit my teeth in agitation.

“Another weakling,” I heard a familiar voice say before Annabel’s chainsaw roared to life.

I opened my eyes just in time to see Annabel stabbing another attacker –the British girl from earlier— straight in the face. The teeth of her chainsaw were moving rapidly once more, causing some of the girl’s facial remains to splatter everywhere. I gasped in horror as Annabel brought her chainsaw down, slicing the girl’s body into a very clean half. Blood sprayed all over the floor and some even landed on my face like rain drops.

“That was… Bad-ass,” I commented, in-between pants.

“Bipolar… and sadistic,” Squall stated, matter-of-factly.

Ryan helped me up once more and we propelled ourselves to Section 12’s dorm. The door opened automatically – as if the people behind it were expecting our arrival. All of us dropped to the floor, one by one, landing on top of each other, forming a human haystack.

Random Persona: Min Ah of the Doll Master

She's as innocent as she is a killer. That's Min-ah -- a  shy, mysterious and beautiful young girl who lurks around the doll museum for the sole purpose of watching over her owner, Hae-mi.

Truth be told, Min-ah is a humanized soul of a doll whom Hae-Mi loved with all her heart back when she was young.

What drew me to this character was the fact that she'd do anything for the sake of her owner's safety. It made me think about Toy Story 3... though Toy Story and it's colorful roster of characters isn't what I'm trying to imply here. This character is an epitome of loyalty in its best and worst form. For one thing, she's gullible -- which means she's willing to do what's wrong for the sake of what she thinks is right. For another -- she's a killer, which is bad in all the good ways.

Min-Ah also has a very innocent face, compared to most other killers. The last time I encountered a character like her was in The Orphan. She could easily switch from angelic little doll to vengeful demonic puppet.

Min-Ah may not thoroughly be a monster, as opposed to the characters who bear close similarities to her, but she still has her own murderous intents.

Doomsday High Prologue [INITIAL DRAFT]

It had been three successive weeks into the summer vacation when I received a letter of acceptance from a boarding school I knew nothing about. And even though a nagging voice at the back of my mind deterred me from taking further consideration of the letter, my parents had me enrolled in that school without my permission a few days later.

My thoughts were jumbled as I hauled the suitcase to my parent’s old white minivan. The said vehicle had a few unfixable dents on its side – a product of my father and his habit of driving in a drunken state –but the damage never really mattered. As long as it’s still usable then my parents won’t think about disposing of it. They were extremely thrifty despite having over a million dollars in their bank account.

My feet felt heavy as I pulled the suitcase along the pavement. I sighed in annoyance.

“Don’t forget to send us an e-mail when you get there,” my mother reminded me with a smile.

My mom had ginger hair which flowed past her shoulders.  She looked extremely young for her age – 42 – and she had the personality of a teenager. Many of my friends in middle school thought she was my sister, which I found rather offensive for 15-year-old me.

I looked at dad who was pushing the suitcase into the back of the van. He looked young as well. At age 45, he is still as giddy as a high school student. He had the good looks I never inherited – tall, tan-skinned with perfect brown hair and green eyes. My female classmates would swoon in his presence without even knowing that we were related.

I looked at my reflection on the minivan. Albeit distorted, I could make out the disappearing freckles across my nose. My brown hair was disheveled since I never had the habit of combing it. My skin appeared to be very pale – probably because I had just came out of the hospital. I was very sickly, and my parents thought of that as a “disadvantage”.

I gazed at my clothes. My jeans seemed a little tattered even if they were new. My jacket –a memento of my dead uncle— covered most of my upper body. Its zipper opened slightly to reveal the black shirt beneath it.

“Do you have the registration form?” My mom asked me, inspecting me from head to toe. “Remember. You’ll need to have it close to you at all times.”

“It’s in the suitcase,” I told her.

“Honey, our son knows what to do already. He’s growing up and for god’s sake, he’s already in high school. Give him a break,” my dad said as he swung the door of the minivan open.

I got in half-heartedly. My parents were so excited to send me to school. If only they knew how much I was against them. For one thing, I had read the letter the school had sent but it was both stupid and irresponsible of me to have missed the school’s name. The only detail my parents told me about it was that they once attended the same school back in the ‘good old days.’

I grimaced as mom and dad got into the car. They had glowing smiles glued to their youthful faces. I didn’t want to bring them down by telling them how much I hated their decision.

We pulled away from the yard in a brief moment. I took a chance to look at the house. It would take three to four months before I’d get to see its cream-colored walls and rusty rooftop again. I would even miss the street lamp which flickered every now and then because of its faulty wiring.

“It’s going to be a long ride there,” I heard mom say. “You should get some sleep. You need a lot of rest. We’ll be at Doomsday High when you wake up.”

My head raised itself at the name, disbelieving what I just heard. “Doomsday High?”

“Yes,” my mother confirmed her statement. “It’s a weird name for a school, I know. The owner must be some sort of geek.”

I shook my head. “Mom! Dad! You just sent me to a school with a weird name. My friends would think that I’m joking when I get back here for a vacation!”

“Then don’t talk to them about it. That’s what I and your father did when we were students there,” mom said, matter-of-factly.

“I don’t want to go to a school with a name like that. It’s practically screaming my own death!” I yelled.

My mother’s expression changed into a dark one. “Go to sleep. You’re going to have lots of fun when you get there,” she told me, dismissively.

How weird could this get? My mother never gives any person a dark expression like the one she just gave me now. She only gives it to our neighbor’s golden retriever which annoyed her so much to the point that she ripped its head off and threw its remains in a river where it could never be retrieved. I was watching when I saw her do those things, but I remained silent about it. I didn’t want to picture my mother as an insane animal killer.

I sank back into my seat and closed my eyes. Sometimes I just had to forget that I belonged to a very bizarre family. What else could they be hiding from me? What could they possibly get from sending me to a school I’ve never heard about? I shook my head lightly and decided to let my thoughts off for a moment. Some sleep should remedy the thread of questions that had spun in my head.

*****

Waking up was the most unrealistic thing that has ever happened to me. Everything appeared as if I was dreaming. I was lying on stale concrete and my suitcase was right beside me, looking like an abandoned, unmoving puppy. The minivan was gone. My parents had taken off like I was some kind of wild animal they desperately needed to set free.

I got up slowly, and scratched my eyes.

I noticed that everything was far too vague. Pieces of asphalt clung to my skin, making me feel all the more irritated. The dust in the air made me aware of the fact that I wasn't wearing my jacket. I looked down on myself and noticed that I wasn’t in any of my normal clothes at all. I was wearing a white polo shirt with a logo of sorts embossed to its side. In place of my jeans were a pair of black trousers. I looked at my feet. I wasn’t wearing my dirty white sneakers either. I was wearing a pair of clean leather shoes.

What the hell happened during the trip? I mentally asked myself.

I picked up my suitcase and looked ahead. Further on was a huge castle-like structure standing majestically in the middle of nowhere. Clustered at its gate was a small number of students. They were so few that I could easily count them with one look – 17 in total, 8 girls and 9 boys, including me. They were all wearing their prescribed uniforms. Unsurprisingly, the boys were wearing the clothes I had on as well.

The girls were wearing black dresses which ended with a series of white frills a few inches above the knees. Covering the upper part of their dresses were burgundy-colored, long-sleeved blazers endowed with a ribbon around the collar.. Their legs were concealed by a pair of long white socks and their feet were shielded by black shoes. I turned away before I was caught observing.

Before I had completely diverted my attention, one girl spun around and glanced at me. With blond hair and piercing blue eyes, I found her insanely attractive. We locked gazes for a moment.  I grabbed my suitcase and walked towards her just as she turned back around.

My presence didn’t seem to capture any of them at all. Their awareness was consumed by the gate which prevented them from entering the premises, or probably what was beyond it. The coffee-colored, castle-like structure loomed over all of us like a stalactite which was going to fall at any moment –even if it was about a hundred meters away from us. I stared at it, mouth slightly agape.

“When are they going to let us in?” One boy with a heavy, Hispanic accent asked. I glanced at him. He had brown hair and his skin was very tan like he'd suffered a lot of torture from the sun.

“Probably never,” a girl answered him.

Their conversation went on longer but I didn’t bother to listen. I was too mesmerized by the breath-taking scene in front of me.

The structure was sitting snuggly behind a really wide school yard which could be briefly described as an expanse of evenly-cut elephant grass. In the middle of the field was a road which could easily accommodate hundreds of people. It stretched to a huge, hollow arch in the castle which appeared to be an opening to the lobby. Lining the side of the road like welcoming soldiers were trees with pink leaves that hung on thin branches that swayed against the wind. The trees were undoubtedly the famous Sakura trees of Japan. My dad had told me stories of how beautiful the trees were when the blossoms bloomed. My life had been spent in America so I never got to see one... Well at least, not until now. 

All of a sudden, the gates screeched open, bringing me back to reality. My eyes strained as I watched more students clad in black, burgundy and white spill out of the arch and unto the front of the school building. There were hundreds of them and yet they occupied only about a quarter of the school yard. 

One girl marched forward, her skirt bouncing with every step she made. She had red hair which fell to tiny ringlets past her shoulders. She possessed blue eyes and her skin was porcelain. She stopped halfway across the road and curtsied rather gracefully.

“Welcome,” she began, a thick British accent staining her musical voice. “To Doomsday High!”

At that instant, the students behind her began to reveal weapons – some were holding swords, others were holding spears. But what attracted me the most was a small group to the farthest right. Although I couldn’t see most of them due to the sudden showcase of weapons, I could make out one chubby boy holding what seemed to be a gigantic shuriken.

“The exam is about to start,” the girl with the British accent added.

The students with weapons instantly lined up. I focused on the farthest right, where only a few stood. They were holding a bunch of uncanny stuff – things you could only see in video game – and that was more than enough to pique my interest.

“Freshmen!” The girl shouted, bringing my attention back to her. “Here’s the first exam for the semester! You’re going to run to a certain Section. Getting to that Section without getting killed means a hundred points.”

She snapped her fingers and backed away quickly just as the trees lining the pathway sank down. The ground shook for a moment as huge, circumferential blades popped out of the ground in their place, running across the asphalt like pendulums.

“Don’t worry. If you’re bad at this, you’ll only get done in. You’ll be resurrected in a few minutes,” The girl informed us. “I know what you’re thinking. This is sick! Well, welcome to Doomsday! Start running!”

The moment she said that, some kind of impulse propelled me forward and I was forced to run towards the first blade, leaving my suitcase behind in the process. I easily avoided the blade since it zoomed right across me before I could even get to it. The second blade almost had me though. It barely missed the back of my head as I ran past it.

I looked at the third blade. It was as tall as half of my body but it moved extremely fast, which meant I’d

 have to jump over it, but the fourth blade was directly in front of it and it popped up and down from the ground in a tentative motion.

I decided to close my eyes and count on my luck. I ran forward and jumped, hearing the third -- or was it the fourth? --blade rip a part of the fabric of my trousers. I collapsed back down and looked ahead. The fifth blade suddenly zoomed before me, missing my nose by a centimeter. I hastily got up.

The fifth blade was just about as tall as me but it was slower than the previous ones. That didn’t mean it was as slow as a turtle though. The sixth blade was easy to avoid since it moved vertically, but if I had been unwary of it, I would be diced very easily. I watched the fifth blade move past me once more before lurching forward toward the seventh blade.

I didn’t want to gloat but I was the first one to make it halfway across the course. Acknowledging that fact didn’t do me any good. I could hear the screams of my former “companions” as they made their way through the dangerous course. They were nearing my location so I had to move.

I breathed a sigh. The eighth, ninth and tenth blades were just ahead of me. The eighth blade moved much faster than its two successors, and each blade was taller than the other. It was hardly escapable. I decided to watch for a moment and think of how to get through them.

My attention darted back to the eighth blade. It was moving too fast. The ninth blade was incredibly slow, but if I walked past it without thorough observation of what was to come, I would definitely get sliced by the tenth –and tallest—blade. I didn’t want that to happen despite knowing that I would be resurrected. The “resurrection” thing was too good to believe.

“Need a little help?” I heard a voice ask me.

I looked at my side and blushed a little. The girl I had taken short notice of earlier was standing beside me. Her left arm was bleeding severely.

“You’re injured,” I told her. It was a stupid thing to say, but I couldn’t think of anything else.

“Ha… I’ve had worse,” She said, looking down at her wound before looking ahead. “The last three blades. We’d better hurry before the others catch up. If that happens we’ll be stuck in this part of the course like helpless sardines.”

I heard someone screaming from behind us and I chose to shut my eyes to block my thoughts from narrating theories of what had happened to that person.

“I’ll go first,” I told her, opening my eyes.

She nodded. “Yep. Definitely not the situation for you to become a gentleman.”

I waited for the ninth blade to zoom past me before closing my eyes once more and running ahead. I opened my eyes instantaneously and doubled over in pain as the tenth blade caught the side of my left foot. I maneuvered it quickly, else it would be sliced off. The blade left a thick gash in its wake. My actions made me fall to the ground with a heavy thud. In a few moments, I felt a certain weight crashing on top of me. I groaned in pain. Blond hair splayed in front of my face like a wavy waterfall.

I shifted myself so that both me and the blond girl would be lying motionless on the asphalt.

“Could you at least manage a better landing?” I asked her.

“I think I broke something,” she said, obviously not interested in answering my question.

We helped each other up and tried to look as normal as possible before limping to the group on the farthest right. I couldn’t help glancing downwards since a lot of blood was escaping my foot.

“We’re going to the same group?” She asked me.

I looked at her and nodded, noticing the smile on her face.

“That’s good. I wanted to join them too. They look nice,” She told me.

The group on the farthest right cheered as the British Girl yelled into the air. “For the first time ever… Section 12 gets the First and Second Placers! Congratulations!”

I looked up as the members of Section 12 surrounded us in a group hug. There were only less than ten people standing in the line to welcome us but my head was spinning too much for me to discern all of them.

The chubby boy from earlier entered my sight and cleared his throat before saying, “There are more of us in the dormitory. The others thought we’ll be getting noobs again this year.”

Another boy – dark haired, round-eyed and sun kiss-skinned—joined him. “We’re not exactly the strong type so we’re proud that you two chose us. Compared to the other sections, we could easily be counted. We’re also different from the others since we fashion our own weapons. We’re a lot friendlier than the others too so I do hope we’d all get along.”

I nodded nonchalantly as black dots clouded my vision.

“What’s your name?” I heard the chubby boy ask.

“Ken,” I told him. “Kenichi Takanashi.”

I managed to hear him tell me that they were going to take both me and the blond girl to the clinic before we head to the dorm for the briefing. I felt relieved. Then my mind darted back to the abandoned suitcase which I had left at the start of the course. They should be able to do something about it. For now… I needed to rest.