Kazumi opened his eyes and heard a scream. A girl had flinched when she saw his eyes open suddenly. Kazumi sat up and rubbed his neck, feeling sore and tired.
The girl came in to practice tennis by herself since the TriSP meeting had finally finished. No one had any idea what the contents of the TriSP meetings were like and the mysteriousness excited most but annoyed someone like her.
She was frustrated they decided to use the gym as their meeting spot and for what? Were they practising a performance or dancing? None of the rumours had anything to go on and so they were just exaggerated stories and they joke about what went on.
Since outsiders much older than middle schoolers were invited, the rumours were jokes about an Illuminati new world convention or that aliens had body swapped with some of the students and they were making plans about taking over the school.
She had come in close to see through the door window and eavesdrop but the two middle-aged men guarding the door had stopped her. Angry, she tried interrogating them but they didn't utter a single word.
The blank look in their eyes was very creepy. It's like they were brainwashed zombies. She started to feel that the idea about school was taken over by body swappers was a credible theory.
Now that she entered the gym and saw Kazumi, the school delinquent who was beaten unconscious. She was now scared by the TriSP conspiracy.
'Is TriSP a front for some kind of fight club for old rich men? A schoolkid fight club? Yeah, that must be it!'
She was feeling proud of herself for figuring it out. She couldn't wait to tell her friends about her theory. Maybe she'll start up a rumour and watch it grow.
She walked off and didn't ask if he was okay. He was a troublemaker so it's best not to get involved. Her feelings were right because he called out and asked if she was alone.
"Oi. Are you deaf?"
"..."
"HEY!"
She paused.
"What? Sorry, but I have somewhere to be." She continued leaving.
"Sigh."
Kazumi got up, cricked his neck and then flitted towards her. He grabbed her by the ear and then dragged her across the floor.
She screamed and tried to get up but he was pulling her too fast for her feet to take hold. She tried hitting him but he didn't respond. Kazumi threw her in the storage room.
"Ahh! What the hell is wrong with you!" She yelled in teary animosity.
"Hahh?" Kazumi approached her.
She kicked at him but he grabbed it and pulled in. Then he held her neck with his arm in a hostage-type lock.
"Right, you couldn't hear me because you were deaf eh?"
He dipped his finger in his mouth and positioned it in her ear. She opened her eyes wide in consternation when she felt a cold prod on her ear.
"Wha. What are you doing!"
"Hah? I can't hear you!"
The ear canal could never fit a finger yet he plucked it in. Blood had burst out of her ears caused by the immense pressure of his finger entering.
Unspeakable pain invaded her neural network as he obliterated her cochlea and the vestibular and cochlear nerves connecting to it.
He then began to slap her teary and snobby face. His mouth salivated but he was too infatuated with the look of suffering on her face that he drooled. He put both hands on her arms and held her still. Seeing the look of a starving carnivore, she shuddered. Not from the killing intent he emitted but by the fear of getting eaten. Death by killing is different from death by eating.
She hyperventilated. Kazumi imitated her. He inhaled when she inhaled and exhaled when she exhaled, while his opened mouth inched closer and closer.
"Ahhh!"
***
Junpei walked back home solemnly. He had regretted losing his composure and killing a parasite out of hate. If he died, who would protect his little sister?
He fondled the rainbow flower pin on the left breast of his blazer. Ever since he fought off the big guys who bullied her, she had bought him the pin from the pocket money she saved up during year 7.
She had tried to make him into a hero since then. Using any excuse about what the pin represents. She had said that if everyone at school was protected, then she would also be safe.
Junpei held his chest tight. If his sister found out what he was up to, he would die from a heart attack. Junpei was involved in the raids but always as a lookout. He would prevent escapees from leaving the house but luckily that hasn't happened yet.
Now his guilt will double. Daichi had told him to double their harvest as punishment, which was standing at 30 people per night. At this rate, he would have to let Hanae sleep alone at night. Their parents had split up and they lived with only their mother. Their mother was... no longer here.
He walked depressingly and looked at candies through the lolly shop. One in particular had caught his eye. Koala's March.
These were koala shaped cookies with cream filling. The cookies had many different pictures of koalas doing different things printed on them. They were her favourite animal which was pretty strange since they were animals indigenous to Australia.
Her room was filled with brown little koalas rather than cute little teddy bears but Junpei didn't mind. He'd buy her as many bears-no, koalas as he wants to cheer her up.
As he walked by the window, he saw someone in the reflection, stalking him. He acted like he didn't notice and made a turn away from the direction of his house.
'Who the hell is following me! Did Daichi send him to spy on me?'
He was already half-way home. He felt stupid for not noticing sooner. He kept walking and making a few turns here and there.
He backed into the corner and waited for his pursuer to turn the corner. He waited for a moment. Then another.
'Why isn't he coming out?'
He started to wonder if his stalker found out and refused to follow him in.
"Waiting for me?"
Junpei turned around and readied his fists. Hikaru was standing in front of him looking relaxed.