The day following when the snake insignia on my forearm lit up and caused me an immesurable about of pain, It remained faintly lit, faint enough to be concealed by a long sleeve shirt. So, I put one on and headed to school. As usual, nobody talked to me. Not a single teacher calls on me or says my name during attendance. They just look for me and mark me based on that, and skip my name on roll call. Even the educators feared the curse. The curse is bullshit, It's all Saki's fault. She killed all the people I knew. It's her fault I've been alone for my whole high school life. If not for her, My family and friend, as well as my teacher, would still be alive. But she had to kill them. Because she's selfish. She wanted me all to herself, and she sees anyone else close to me as a threat. Selfish. So selfish. Why does she have to be so selfish? Is it too much to ask to have friends and family? Is it, Saki? It must be, because you took them from me, deeming it unfit for me to have anyone else but you. You piss me off, Saki. I hate you. But if you did all this for me, so we could be together, why don't I know who you are yet? You said we would meet soon, so what's taking so long? Do you think I still have a shred of patience for you after experiencing the hell you made for me? If this "love" of yours is real, you would have came to me already. Maybe you plan to kill me. Perhaps that's your endgame. You're going to kill me and carry around some part of me so we can be together forever. Or maybe you'll kill me, and then yourself. Maybe that's what your master plan is. The most romantic thing of them all, together even in death, right, Saki? Right? Is that what you wanted? If it is, feel free to kill me. Go ahead and carry my head in a bag so we can be together always if you want to. Kill yourself, even, if that's what you want to do. I don't care. I don't care about anything anymore. Nothing matters. I've lost everyone and everything, and no one else will come for me. All I have are the snakes. The snakes my not be very happy that you tortured me more than they did for a change. Perhaps the snakes will come for you soon. I hope they do. Please die, Saki. Whoever you are, die. I hope everything dies, including myself. All hope is gone, all has been forsaken. And if you think you can come running at me with open arms and I'll embrace you, come back to reality. The one you destroyed. If I have to live, if I have to shoulder the pain that is living, then so do you. And I'll hold you accountable for it. I'll make sure you stay alive and feel the pain that you made me feel. Perhaps you might like it, you could see us sharing pain as a form of bonding. But I won't, because I hate you. If you die, wonderful. If not, that's also wonderful, because I get to make you feel the pain that I feel. I hope you get the retribution that you oh so rightfully deserve. Go fuck yourself, Saki. You made such a mess, and you can't even fix it.
Those were the thoughts I had that day while sitting in class, mindlessly writing down study material in my notebook. Honestly, I had no idea why I was even taking notes. I had no idea what I was doing at school. I had lost everything. Whatever happens after that point doesn't matter. Nothing will make them come back, so why not let loose and do whatever the hell I want? Is what I thought. But I didn't. I sat and paid attention to class as best as I could. I sat in the midst of a whole room of people who never talked to me because they were scared to, and I acted like everything was fine. The truth was that two years had passed since the murders, and my life had been on a constant downward spiral ever since. Acting like all was well and good would get me nowhere, but it's not like I can face my problems head on. Because she wouldn't reveal herself. For the time being I let the emotional distress and mental strain get to me. I sat in class silently and took notes, doing my best to ignore the snakes. After class, while I was getting ready to head to my lunch spot on the usually off limits roof, I suddenly became overwhelmed with shock.
"Excuse me, are you Kagawa Izanagi?"
The shock was so overwhelming, she almost walked away because I didn't say anything for a good minute. "Y-you're not afraid of me?" I struggled to speak, because she was the first to speak to me since my first high school year.
"I don't believe in curses." She said.
"Do you need something from me? If not, you really shouldn't talk to me."
"Wanna eat lunch with me?" I took her offer and off we went to the cafeteria. As we entered together, I got very weird as well as menacing glares. I overheard things like "Look, the snake prince brought a girl with him" and "he must be blackmailing her" being spoken by the other students. I was used to those sorts of comments, but it hurt more than usual that time, because I had someone with me. "Let's take that table over there, since it's away from people." when we sat down, I felt an aura of amicability coming from the girl. "So why are you associating with me?"
"Be cause no one else will. Also, you intrigue me. Tell me about the curse that everyone dreads so much."
"It's a sensitive subject for me. But on the first four days of school, my parents, my only friend, and my former teacher were all killed in the same way. People found out, and I was ostracized."
"Sounds to me like you just got caught up in a serial killer case. A curse is unlikely."
"I'm relieved that someone out there has a functioning brain."
"Hey, don't you wish you could make everyone see the truth?" Hell yeah I do, but it's not like anyone would believe it.
"It would never work."
"Maybe it would, because I have an idea."
"What is it?"
"Lunchtime is almost over, let's discuss it later. Meet me outside the faculty office door after school."
That's what I did. I didn't want to flake on the first person to talk to me in who knows how long. So I waited. When the school day ended, I went outside the empty faculty office. In the end, I got there before she did. I waited about an hour actually, before she came.
"Sorry about the wait, something came up." I told her it was alright, and that I just got there. Classic.
"So, let's talk about my idea. Walk with me."
I hate to admit that I was so nervous, I don't remember what her great idea to restore my reputation was. I was so stressed and nervous about talking to another person, the only thing I could think about is the possibility that I become overwhelmed with snakes. I also subconsciously noted that there were no other students in sight, none to be seen other than me and her, though I didn't think much of it. What I did notice and take foremost note of was that she had dropped her confident, charismatic attitude she had before and replaced it with a shy and evasive attitude, whether she was aware of it or not. When I looked at her, she would blush a little and turn her head away from me. I was caught up in my own thoughts that I missed her genius plan and before I knew it, we were approaching the school's rear courtyard. She asked "So, what do you think of my idea?". Not hearing a word of what she said, naturally, I said "I think it's a great idea." "I'm glad." She said.
As we were walking down the steps to the back of the school. She had gone silent, and I couldn't hear her foot steps anymore. Not long after that, I felt a sharp pain course through my entire back. I turned around, to be met with three male students. The one in the front of the group was holding a crimson stained knife. I put together that I had been stabbed. By the time I did that, the same student had put his blade in me several more times. I took the stabs, and fell on my back. From the corner of my eyes, I saw her standing in the school's back entrance. When she noticed me looking at her, she flipped her head the other way like she had done while we were walking, except this time she was holding back tears.
"Finally, the curse will be taken care of, and no one will suffer again. We finally got rid of this monster, and it's all thanks to her." Is what the student who stabbed me said. I heard his two buddies cheer in agreement with him. When I looked at her again, the mix of blood as well as my expression of despair, pain, and fear, caused her expression to match mine, as well as forcing her to hold back vomit. She was visibly sick to the stomach. I should have predicted this outcome. She betrayed me, just like everyone else. I did nothing to them, yet they all turned their backs on me. She was the same. Just like them. "I don't believe in curses" my ass. She lied to me, so she and her friends could kill me. Through the pain, the one thing that was on my mind wasn't snakes. It was the one thing that shouldn't have been on my mind. "Sa-" For a few seconds, I almost drowned from coughing my own blood. "Ki.." My vision started to fade. As I was blacking out, I started to see them. The snakes. They were there, wrapping their skin around me tightly. I knew they were there, yet not. But they felt more real then they usually do. I did not fear or struggle against them. I embraced them. I accepted them.
"Good work, cutie. Let's go, we'll show you a really good time." He said to her with a devilish smile. "Okay." She said. As the four of them began to leave the area, she turned to me and silently moved her lips to say "I'm sorry." Yeah, right. That's what Saki said when she killed all I had. So why had she been on my mind as I laid on the ground with multiple stab wounds?
I heard a voice then. "The time has come, child. It is time for you, and for it to awaken." The snake insignia began to engulf the entire area in a bright black light, brighter than the last time. The pain in my veins was greater than the last time as well. I thought I was going to die. Wasting what I presumed to be my last words, I spoke a phrase that wasn't what I wanted to say. It was like my body and mouth were taken over, yet it was myself who said it. It was like I was saying it against my will, like I was being controlled, yet I chose to say it. With my assumed last breath, "Come, Jagiri." I said. It answered my call.
My vision turned green. I could see snakes covering my entire body. Yet, it wasn't in my head. They were real. Simultaneously, large, long snakes emerged from the spots on my body where I had been stabbed and grabbed the three students who had hurt me. They were hoisted and suspended in the air, being wrapped and twisted by the snakes. The snakes were contorting their bodies, melting their flesh with a divine venom, bones poking out of flesh, creating the biggest, and only blood fountain display I had seen. I felt it then. The Jagiri was in me. It had given me its power. When the snakes finished their work, the three students were dead. I killed them. They were twisted, broken, and partially devoured. She, the fourth, was untouched throughout this. Because I didn't want her to her hurt. She had betrayed me, but she still put her fear of the curse aside and talked to me. She was just doing the work of those three. She can't be all bad, I thought. So she wasn't hurt. When the snakes were finished with the three, they returned to within me, and my wounds were all healed. As I stood up, I noticed I wasn't standing I was ever so slightly hovering above the ground. Floating is the closest word to what I was doing. At the same time, my body visibly pulsed on the outside with a dark energy, akin to black lightning. I could feel the same energy inside my body too. "Go." I said to her. "You don't need to be hurt." I wanted her to go as far from me as possible, because I had no idea if I could control myself or the snakes. She responded by heeding my words and running, but not before shrieking and yelling "Monster!". She still treated me harshly, after I spared her when she betrayed me. I suppose I was destined to be rejected and feared forever. "You have done well, child. Now rest, for there is more work to come." I heard in my head. My eyes began to close on their own, and I collapsed on the ground. My vision faded to nothingness.