The excruciating pain continued through the night. Akino awoke the next morning with a knot in his stomach, his insides twisted around with dread, just like it had so many nights before. Sweat dripped from his forehead and onto the damp pillow beneath him. Sitting up, Akino recollected the events of the day before, instinctively covering his mouth as if he were about to vomit again.
Akino sat in his bed with his hand over his mouth for a while. The rising sun peaking from the window beside him shed light and warmth onto his expressionless, cold face. Begrudgingly, Akino lowered his hand to his neck once more. The scar tissue on his nape shrunk significantly since yesterday in the street. It wouldn't be long till there'd be no evidence of his head being eaten off.
Eaten off.
Akino lowered his legs onto the floor. He stumbled towards the door where his uniform was so neatly hung over. He dug through his pants pockets until he pulled out a pencil; a thick, purple, mechanical one.
'Will I have the strength to do it today?'
The boy pushed his back against the door, his uniform softening the blow. Beads of cold sweat ran down his face and hands as he aimed the pencil. He paced his panicked breath and straightened his quivering legs before stabbing himself in the stomach, eyes closed in fear. What he assumed would be a wave of excruciating pain, even worse than the emotional pain he woke up with, never came. He opened his eyes, noticing that the pencil never even made it through his shirt.
He groaned loudly, close to tears. He lifted up his shirt and stuffed the end of it in his mouth to keep it up. His breathing accelerated as he aimed the pencil again, this time with no barrier between it and his flesh.
'If they were right, then I'll regenerate, just like that! Just like how I did when that bastard creature chewed off my head! If I didn't die from that, then I shouldn't die from this!'
"I shouldn't die from this!"
"Akino?" Sakagami opened the door from behind him ever so slightly, peaking through the crack she left open. "Why are you yelling?" Sakagami's eyes travelled to Akino himself, who had his shirt up and a pencil in his hand. "…am I interrupting something?"
Akino looked back at her, his speech muffled by the shirt in his mouth. "Oh," he said, spitting out the ends of his shirt, dropping the pencil, and backing away from the door. "No, sorry. I was just having a bad dream."
She smiled, opening the door more till she could see him and his room in its entirety. "How are the pills working? They aren't defective, are they? The pharmacy's shipping company was in a rush when they came a few days ago." The woman rested her hands on her hips as she continued. "Hell, they didn't even ask me for a signature."
"The pharmacy gets their supply from the higher-ups," Akino mentioned, wrapping the ends of his shirt into a ball to wring the saliva out of it. "Things have been hectic up there, I'm sure they were being rushed or something."
Sakagami rolled her eyes. "You'd think since they're so strict about the pill laws that they'd actually deliver them on time."
'Pill Laws… that's right. We're forced to take them so nobody goes out after curfew. They have a schedule build inside them, so that they sleep for a pre-determined amount of time… so the Compactors and Omegas can do their thing. Matoi explained that to me yesterday, didn't she? Or was it Makina?'
Sakagami shrugged. "Anyway, school is starting soon, so you better get going."
Akino nodded, immediately retreating back into his room to start his day, prompting Sakagami to close the door and leave.
Akino bent his knees, leaning over to grab his journal from under his bed. Standing back up, he flipped through it, seeing only the first few pages written in. He sighed, admitting to himself that his dreams have lead him nowhere, nowhere new at least.
"He always says the same thing…" Akino closed the journal. "But…," he continued, shoving the journal into his briefcase, "I do remember one thing. I don't have the time now, but when I'm alone at school, I'll be sure to write down everything about the pills."
'Could it be that they're brainwashing me? No, that's not it. I've gone days without taking it.'
Shrugging it off, Akino travelled his path to school, uniform on and briefcase in clutch. The day was nice. The skies were bright blue with no clouds. The sun was bright, the air had a comforting warmth to it, the people walked singe-file, and the news wasn't as grim as it had been the past month. It was the first day Akino had been outside since lock-down started.
No, he was out during lockdown.
The brutal thoughts of his 'resurrection' of sorts filled his brain relentlessly. The best he could do was dedicate all his focus on the trivial things of everyday life. Oh, how he wished to be normal again.
'I was never normal. As much as I hate to admit it. This is my… destiny.'
The school bell rang just like they had everyday before he got involved, before he dug too deep. The student looked around him. In the middle row sat that girl, Matoi. Not too much further from her was Yukino Shota and her boyfriend, Slacker. In front of him was the other girl, the girl he knows so much yet so little about: Makina. Her purple, double braided hair and short black jacket.
'When was she going to where her school uniform'? Akino asked himself this quite often.
'Why does Matoi never slouch in her seat, doesn't she get tired of sitting up right everyday?'
'Yukino never fails to wear a full face of make-up. What is she trying to prove? She already has a boyfriend.'
'Miki used to carry a comb with him everyday to school when we were little. Why doesn't he anymore? His hair needs it.'
'Your head got bit off and you lived.'
"Damn it," Akino mumbled in frustration, unable to distract himself.
His eyes travelled down to his desk, where his index finger bled onto the corner of his assignment. Cursing under his breath, he twisted his body to retrieve his briefcase that sat behind him. Grabbing it, he dragged it up to his desk with the intention to find something to wipe up the blood. When Akino used that very hand to open the briefcase, however, the scar of the paper cut was gone. He looked over his briefcase to his assignment, his blood was gone as well.
Disturbed, Akino closed his briefcase, accidentally noticing Makina staring at him from over her shoulder. It wasn't long before she turned her head, minding her own business.
Bell after bell, class after class, assignment after assignment, it was all nothing more than dressing onto Akino's already stressful first day back at school. The obnoxious bell rang again, and the sound of clattering desks and chatter soon followed. Akino got up, leaving a stack of papers and briefcase on his desk as he went downstairs to lunch, passing through the doorway and between the cluster of students.
Suddenly, someone pulled Akino by his wrist towards the wall. Turning around, shocked, Akino spotted Makina with her grasps tight around Akino.
"What do you want?" Akino asked.
"I need to talk to you," Makina demanded.
"What, then?"
Makina strengthened her grip on Akino's wrist, causing him to wince in pain. "Firstly," she said, "do not give me attitude, subordinate. Do not forget that you're still on my shit list. I'll take you out without a second thought and you're regenerative crap won't hold me back." She released Akino from her grasp, pushing his hand back to his side. "Secondly, I want you to know that I have absolutely no problem with you killing yourself to get yourself out of this mess. I do not want you on my squad, and frankly, that is the only way you can get out of it." Makina lowered her pitch, "death would be the only thing that could save you from Hetsu's manipulation."
Akino broke eye contact, lowering his head to the floor as he was reminded of his dire situation yet again.
"But," Makina said, her voice determined and dominant, "if I know you at all, you're way too persistent to let me tell you what to do. So I expect you to show up whenever my squad needs you to."
Akino's eyes widened.
"You won't be fighting Compactors, lets get that straight right now. You'll be supplying us with food, water, and whatever I ask you to."
Mrs. Mikami walked towards Matoi, who remained in her desk doing homework even after the others left for lunch. Ms. Mikami's heels alerted Matoi to her presence, looking up to see her looming over her desk, so close that Matoi could smell her perfume
"Hi, Mrs. Mikami," Matoi welcomed nervously. "What are you doing?"
Mrs. Mikami smiled. "Skipping lunch again, Matoi?"
The studious girl nodded.
The teacher sighed, patting Matoi on the shoulder. "One of these days you're going to shrink up and starve to death! You'll be nothing but a snail's shell!"
Matoi giggled, resting her pencil on her desk. "Is that so? Well, if that's my fate, then its bound to happen. It'd be useless to spend my energy to prevent it. Besides, I got other things to spend my energy on."
Mrs. Mikami pushed her luscious black hair back, laughing. "Really? Is it school you'd want to spend your energy on?"
Matoi looked back towards her papers. "Yeah, I guess."
"Well," Mrs. Mikami resumed, playing with her hair, "keep spending all your energy on homework and you'll have no energy left! And how do you get energy?"
Matoi smiled sarcastically. "Food."
"Yes, food!" Mrs. Mikami raised her arms emphatically. "So, hurry up and finish what you're working on and go down to the cafeteria. If I come back from the break room and see you sitting here, I'll punish you, okay?"
"O-of course, ma'am," Matoi complied, quivering in her chair.
"Good." Mrs. Mikami stepped back into the hallway, closing the door behind her.
Matoi stared at the door for a few seconds till the sound of the teacher's heels faded away. Instantly, Matoi jumped up from her chair and marched towards Akino's desk. She grabbed his briefcase, opening it up and scouring through it like a starved vulture or a detective pursuing a criminal. She pulled out his brown leather journal and observed it.
"This must be it," she concluded.
She opened it up, spinning through the pages till she spotted writing.
"Journaling was always his hobby, ever since I met him." She flipped another page. "Here, here it is," she said to herself, "the dreams."
Akino nodded his head as Makina continued her angry ramblings. It felt like his stomach was pulling him towards the staircase towards the cafeteria every time Akino got a sniff of the cooking from below. Due to Makina's nature, though, Akino had no other choice but to stand in front of her and nod his head. At least it distracted him from his other thoughts.
The word 'persistent' circled through his mind. Makina was right. Akino and her both knew he was too persistent, too dedicated, to let this revelation get in the way of his goal.
Why spend his energy dwelling on fate instead of using it for a greater cause?
'Is fate even flexible? Could I change it?'
"Your evaluation is tomorrow after school. I wont be here, I'll be at the Grand Hall, but I expect to see you there."
Akino nodded, his consciousness returning to the topic at hand. "Y-yeah, I'll be there."
"Akino," a voice said from the distance.
Makina and Akino turned their heads.
"Matoi? Why aren't you eati-"
Matoi grabbed Akino's wrist, the same one Makina grabbed earlier. "Sorry, Makina, I need to borrow him," she said condescendingly before pulling him further down the hallway.
Matoi lead him around the corner like a dog on a leash. Empty classrooms quickly drifted by as Matoi sped her pace. After a while, they arrived in the middle of the empty scenic staircase. The tall windows let the two of them bathe in sunlight along with the bird passerby's.
The brunette pulled Akino's journal from out of her skirt pocket and pushed it into Akino's chest for him to grab, taking him by surprise.
"You wouldn't tell me so I found out myself," she claimed.
Akino gripped the leather binding angrily. "I told you about it in the infirmary!"
"No, you mentioned it. You aren't a very good liar, Akino," Matoi told him. "You've been dreaming of these things your entire life and you never once consulted one of us?!"
Akino clenched his fist. "I thought you were a friend. First you off your body and now you do this- snooping through my stuff?!"
Matoi snarled. "Please tell me you've talked to a doctor about this."
Akino waved the book in front of her face mockingly. "Well?! Just how much have you read?! All of it?!"
"No," she replied, "all I read is that you've been seeing purple lights when you wake up. You seriously need to get that checked out! What if its like some kind of epileptic thing?!"
Akino sneered. "That's all?"
Matoi raised her shoulders, tense with guilt. "…and that you've been having hallucinations about a man telling you weird things about the human race."
"Matoi!"
"Look, I'm sorry! You're lucky I could read any of it with your ineligible handwriting!" Matoi said, crossing her arms.
Akino turned around, frustrated, unable to look her in the eye. "Of course you'd do this. You always read crap you shouldn't."
"I'm not the one who risks his life digging into some kind of personal agenda!"
Akino glared at her over his shoulder. "Don't 'personal agenda' me. You have one, too. You selfishly threw away your humanity just so Makina wouldn't get too comfortable with me."
"That isn't it at all!"
"That is it, Matoi! It's quite obvious!"
A long silence drug out through the staircase. The two of them stared at each other eagerly.
"…"
"…look," Matoi said, "you pose good questions. There is a lot of things you wrote in that book that I never wondered about. They deserved to be answered."
Akino's interest piqued, but not without hesitancy.
"I… I think that if the both of us confronted her, Hetsu would budge." Matoi stepped forward insistingly. "She's got a strong will. After all, her name translates to 'Iron Fist.' But she shouldn't expect us to be loyal to her if she isn't honest with us."
The boy looked down at his journal, proudly.
"Your evaluation is tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah," Akino replied.
"That's when we'll ask her."
"Nobody is supposed to go with me, though."
"Is Makina going to be there?" Matoi asked.
"O-oh, yeah, she is," Akino admitted. "But I still don't think Makina will be allowed in the testing room."
"Makina is the Grand Hall's favorite. She can get away with anything, and so can I," Matoi declared.
"But-"
Matoi stepped towards him, resting her hand on top of his, the two of them holding his journal together.
"I'll go too. I'll be sure to be by your side… just like I always have, Akino."