The air is still and the room is so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. As the early dawn arrives and the sunlight starts to stream through the shutters, the sound of an alarm can be heard. 'Beep beep!' As a loud alarm disturbs the once still room with its call, a hand reaches out to smash the snooze button. Kiryu's hand flails around in the general vicinity as his face is buried in his pillow, wishing he could catch a couple more z's. After a couple of seconds of his hand hitting the air, he finds his target and slams it with much force to ensure the snooze button is hit. But after a couple of seconds, he realizes the absence of the weight of the clock on his hands. He hears a loud thump on the ground and the sound of gears breaking. Kiryu lifts his head out of frustration and curiosity. When he was getting up, it revealed his messy hair, the pinnacle of bed hair, and his shirt was absolutely drenched in sweat. But the most notable thing about his appearance is the tear marks under his eyes. As Kiryu pauses and looks around the floor of his room for his alarm clock that fell to the ground, his eyes notice some springs and gears rolling on the ground. Next to them, coincidentally enough, is the alarm with a slightly large indent on the top of it. As Kiryu sees this, still drowsy, he says, "Wow! I knew it was cheap, but I thought it would be stronger than that..."
He recovers the clock and sets it back up. He fiddles with the gear system, and with a stroke of luck, the clock starts working again. "Thank God..." He breathed a sigh of relief, and he thought, "Actually… I could probably call the old man, and call in sick since he probably already knows about what happened to my bro by now, I think he would understand, right?" Kiryu mulled this thought over for a while but then realized "Last night, someone was running away from me while I was on the ground... While I don't know if they saw my face or not, it would be really inconvenient if they came up to me and exposed me for attempting suicide… I don't really like the idea of being branded as a suicidal maniac, so maybe I should lay low. I'm totally gonna have to skip school… But my face was all bloody- Screw this, I gotta make sure. Only one way to do that..." Kiryu reluctantly pushed himself up and started to walk towards his closet door to put on his school uniform. As he opened the door he saw hanging on a rack in the closet, his torn up uniform from last night. "I'll probably need to throw that away later." Kiryu thought as he reached for the torn up clothes, he heard a rumble; his gut seems to be having a hissy fit because of his terrible eating habits."But first, food… Man, I hate breakfast..." Kiryu thought as he quickly put his clothes on and rushed out of his room. As Kiryu made it to the living room, he saw that his sister's bag was missing. "Seriously, why does she insist on working so hard?! Her brother died yesterday, and she's still going to school. This woman..." He said as he clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Whatever! Maybe that's how she keeps her mind off things. Good for her, yeah, yeah, good for her man."
The pain of Kiryu's hunger starts to intensify even more, and Kiryu starts to briskly walk to the kitchen and open the fridge. As he opened the fridge he saw that it was full, which was a bit of a surprise. "Well, at least I got stuff to eat. Thank God at least I'm a little diligent." As Kiryu pulled out his phone to check the time, he realized it was eight A.M. "Shit, I'm late!" Kiryu grabbed some vegetables, frozen ham, and some bread and ran out the door to school. He swiftly put his sandwich together and ate while on the move. He couldn't enjoy it, but at least it was something. As the time approached near 8:30, Kiryu finally got in front of the school building. As Kiryu stopped to catch his breath, he saw someone. A familiar face with yellow hair, and standing next to him was another familiar face with red hair. As Kiryu ogled them, hunched over, someone came up behind him "Hey! K-Yu my boy!" Kiryu turned around to see a tall skinny boy stretching.
Student- Beak! Level - 7.5
Power- Stone Skin! - He makes his skin turn into a stone-like material in looks and durability! Unfortunately, he can't move his fingers or toes in this state, and he can only change back and forth once every minute! Victory for him is only a stone's throw away!
School- Tamago High School!
Style- Manifestor!
Beak laid his hand on Kiryu's shoulder and said, "I never see you this early in the morning! Where have you been lately?! It's almost like you've been avoiding me, huh?!" "Ahh, n-no I would never, I just had a lot of school work to finish, y'know, as usual," Kiryu responded as Beak gripped his shoulder. "You seem a little tense." Beak said, sounding worried. "Err, umm, I didn't get good sleep last night." Beak's face started to have a devilish smile creep across it. "Aww too bad! Here, let me help you stretch! You need it after all, you're as tense as they get buddy." Before Kiryu knew it, Beak had already taken his hand off his shoulder and pulled it up to smack him in the back. As Kiryu turned over his shoulder to look at Beak's hand, it had already turned into a fist and it was coming down to strike him, he wasn't fast enough to dodge it sadly. Bang! Kiryu fell to the ground because of the hit to his back and started furiously coughing on the ground in front of him. "Gak! Why does this hurt so much more than normal?!" Kiryu thought, still in extreme pain. This was worse than anything he'd ever felt before, his nerves rattled and his bones and muscles reeled. As Kiryu looked up, on his hands and knees, still dazed from the impact he saw a foot coming towards his face, and a tooth fell out as he was flung two to three feet.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit! This hurt so much more than ever before, ack..." Kiryu thought, terribly pained. "Was it because a tooth fell out? Shit… It hurts!'' Someone from the crowd around him stepped out and said, "Stop." As Kiryu looked to see who it was, he realized it was another familiar face; it was the blue-haired girl from the night before; the one that shot lightning. "Beak! As a pawn, you can't be making a scene in front of the school like this! Your job is to make sure people get to class. Understand?" As she said this, Beak turned around really quickly to address her. "Ah, yes I forgot, I forgot! I was just teaching this cripple some respect you see, he bumped into me without saying sorry." He was madly scratching the back of his head, trying to avoid her rage. Tezza was surprised by the schmoozing. "Cripple?" Tezza muttered. "Mhm, well... Do that on your own time, but don't get in the way of others." "Yes of course, sorry about that, I won't do it again!" Beak responded in an apologetic manner. After a second of silence, the late bell rang. "Saved by the bell..." Beak said as he started to walk off. "They're all like that…" Kiryu thought as he got up off the ground and coughed up some blood from the lost tooth. Before he could get going, someone quickly flew past him. Kiryu initially looked up to say sorry, but when he saw Sheila walking very quickly to the building, he was too scared to say anything. He shut his mouth and stayed silent. As a couple of seconds passed, he realized that she couldn't care less if she bumped into him or not. "Weird…. I wonder what she's up to." Kiryu muttered.
Kiryu decided to get out of there as soon as possible, after all, he needed to bounce. He already made enough people interested in him, and now wasn't the time to stick around, and risk dying for real. Kiryu began unintentionally tailing Sheila, and he realized that he wouldn't be able to tail her for long, as she was going straight to her class."Thank God we have the same class… I feel like sometimes I get ahead of myself." Kiryu thought to himself. He followed Sheila to his class, and sat down in his respective seat. Before Sheila entered, she peered into the classroom with a look of nervousness on her face. "Man, for some reason, it feels good to be back in class. I can finally take a load off and just chill out for a little bit. Everything in these past few hours has just been… So off. First Reji- Then my own little suicide gone wrong." He starts contemplating everything, yet he wouldn't get the time he needed yet, after all, class would start any second now.
"Hey, good morning class!" The teacher, Mr. Wright, came into the class pretty promptly, with his classic attire: A blue suit, accompanied by very smart shoes. "I hope everyone has been having a good morning so far! Especially you Kiryu, you're lookin' a little sappy. I hope everything's been okay for you bud." Mr. Wright lays his hand on Kiryu's shoulder, but then quickly heads off to his desk. "So… Class, today we're gonna begin our lessons in anatomy. Today we're gonna begin with the organs, ain't that fun?" He gave out a little chuckle. Kiryu was sure Mr. Wright was aware that biology wasn't that fun, and he tried to lighten up the class as much as possible.
While the rest of the class was entertained, Sheila was just there, on her phone. Kiryu peered over at Sheila's phone, and saw… Someone who was just laying there in the middle of some sort of plaza... Kiryu was now really starting to panic. From the image he saw, his face wasn't visible, but just the fact that he was there was terrifying enough! Kiryu got himself to stop panicking after he realized that he was in no danger, as long as no-one identified him. "So class, first off, we're gonna start off with the brain. I would ask you what the brain does… But you guys are brainless already, I won't burden you all too much." Mr. Wright gives out a wink, and starts smiling. His snarky comments were always a sight to behold, even if they weren't that funny.
Mr. Wright paces around the room, looking for a student to call on. Him and Kiryu locked eyes unintentionally, but Kiryu's fate was sealed. "Kiryu… Ya mind tellin' the class a little something about the brain?" Kiryu was shocked, and screwed. "The brain uhh… Is the main control center for the body I think. Controls the nerves, emotions, and a bunch of other stuff I can't bother to think about…" Kiryu chuckles, and Mr. Wright gives a thumbs up. "Kudos Kiryu! On the ball! The brain is indeed the main control center for the body." Mr. Wright took out a marker, and drew a pretty accurate model of the brain on the board.
"Now, Sheila, can you tell me what the thyroid does?" Mr. Wright looked at her in an inquisitive manner, flipping the marker in the air and catching it with a certain kind of finesse. Sheila returned his inquisitive look with a look of disgust and uninterest. "It's umm… It controls uhh…" "Come on Sheila. You got this, you're smart…" Sheila began sweating. "Why should I even care? I don't wanna answer…" She slumped down in her chair, letting out a sigh, and tried to avoid Mr. Wright. "Yo, Sheila-" "I said I didn't want to answer." Sheila said angrily. "Come on, it'll be quick-" Sheila threw a fast and surprisingly powerful punch; despite the fact she was a healer. This was no super powerful punch, but for a healer it was something to behold for sure. It was obvious that she trained for a while to get the balance of speed and power down. Unfortunately for Sheila, her punch was dodged at lightspeed by Mr. Wright, who was now directly behind her. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't be too quick, missy. You only had one chance, and you blew it." He smiled, and Sheila punched again. Yet again, Wright disappeared. "You're gonna get very hurt Sheila-"
All of a sudden, one of Sheila's friends comes to Mr. Wright's aid. "Sheila, you're totally psycho. You're literally beating up a teacher." Sheila glanced over at her friend, hesitated for a moment, then threw an absolutely perfect 'one inch punch' that would even make Bruce Lee shiver. As her friend fell to the ground, Mr. Wright grew visibly tense. Sheila threw another punch which was promptly dodged at lightspeed once more by Mr. Wright.
Another one of Sheila's friends attempted to intervene, yet he was thrown skillfully over the shoulder, and directly at Kiryu. "Yaaah!" Sheila screamed, as her friend hurled towards Kiryu. Kiryu was smacked in the face, and he fell to the ground, with the boy on top of him, groaning in agony. The boy promptly got up, and started harassing Kiryu. "Hey, you fucking ingrate! You're in the way, cripple!" The boy then tried to kick Kiryu, but he rolled out of the way, and stood up to face his new adversary.
"You think you're so slick?" The boy threw a punch, yet, it wasn't that strong, and Kiryu was not only able to dodge it, but had enough time to signal Mr. Wright for help. "You're really in my way now-" Mr. Wright came up behind the boy, and held his punch. "Not so fast." The boy began shivering, and Mr. Wright promptly threw him to the ground, and you could hear a loud crack.
Sheila witnessed this, and backed away, her eyes filled with shock. She stared at Mr. Wright, who then pulled up his sleeves. "So, Sheila… Still up for a fight?" He closed his eyes, and put on a menacing grin. "N-No! Please!" She tried to back into the wall, but was met by a certain man standing right behind. In a split second, Mr. Wright expertly turned his body, and roundhouse kicked Sheila into the wall, with there even being an impact mark on it. Mr. Wright let his leg go, and Sheila dropped motionless on the floor, now unconscious from the blunt trauma.
Kiryu stood there, mouth agape. Mr. Wright scoffed. "You kids ought to learn how to fight for real." He took Sheila and the boy by the collar, and carried them out of the classroom, and slammed the door.
Kiryu was still astonished by what happened. "A fight… Where I didn't lose?" Kiryu inquired to himself. He looked at his hand, which was for once spared from being bloody. "I owe it all to Mr. Wright… But maybe, just maybe some of it was me too. Just a little bit of finesse goes a long way, I guess."
Immediately after he finished that thought, the intercom turned on, slightly startling Kiryu. "Mr. Como, would you please come to the office?" The woman over the intercom said. "Yeah, yeah, of course. I'll be there real soon." Kiryu answered back, still reeling from his close call with that boy from earlier.
He exited Mr. Wright's classroom, and made his way straight to the office. He still felt the adrenaline from the fight, so he decided to jog his way to the office. For once, he felt a sort of carefree attitude. He opened the door to the office with vigor, and shut it behind him. "Mr. Como? The principal is waiting for you in his office." "Thanks…" Kiryu said, proceeding to make his way to the principal's office.
The principal sat in his leather chair, staring out the window, seemingly absent-minded. "Ah, Kiryu Como. Please, take a seat." He gestured to a free leather chair, a good deal smaller than the one the principal was sitting in. He sat down, and faced the principal, still staring out the window, something must have been on his mind.
"Kiryu… My condolences. I heard about your brother's death, and I called you here to say I'm truly sorry…" He faced Kiryu. "He was a great student, one of our greatest at the school. I even knew him personally to a degree, and I saw his selflessness and the care he put into his work every single day." The principal continued with his speech, which Kiryu thought was very odd for the usually careless school staff. "I know it must be difficult for you, and because he was so honored, and because he is your brother… I would like to offer you one week off from school to recompose yourself. I know it's hard… But I hope this can calm your nerves a bit." Kiryu pondered the thought for a second or two, then said: "Yeah, I think that'll do just right. And umm… Thank you for understanding…" Kiryu began to get all teary when he thought of his brother. "It's no problem, really. Please, you may take your leave." Kiryu stood up, and made his way to the door. "And one more thing… I heard what happened in Mr. Wright's classroom today." Kiryu froze, awaiting his punishment or whatever scolding awaited him. "Nice moves." The principal gave him a thumbs up, and Kiryu returned the gesture.
Kiryu exited the room, jubilant over receiving a break from class, even if it only was one week. He paced down the hall, blissfully, and opened the door leading out of the school. He heard faint footsteps behind him, yet he was too drunk on ignorance to really notice.
The sun shone on his face, and for once, Kiryu felt like he really shone back.