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.
