*(Izumi)
The morning wind brushes by, rustling a familiar uniform that adorned my body. My beige vest with brown highlights fit closely to my body, as if hugging it. My white button shirt brushed against my stomach, a sensation I havent felt in a strangely long while.
For a moment, the pull of gravity stopped acting on me. I could only describe it as walking on the night sky. The ground was soft and would give way under my feet if I stood there for too long. It was dark everywhere. The stars shone and disappeared, as if mocking my fate.
In the distance was a far away light. It was different from the city lights I was used to. It flickered similarly to the stars in the night sky, but it had a roaring intensity to it. It was fire, the crisp smell of burnt flesh waft all the way to where I was standing. As I got closer, I could faintly see silhouettes of bodies on the ground. They barely resembled bodies at that point, but I could make estimates of their identities. It wasn't that hard, we were in the middle of nowhere, who else could they be?
Of course, I never expected something this drastic to happen. I was vaguely aware of some petty conflict between my classmates. Why would anyone expect a middle schooler to set their cabin on fire? Rika Kazumi. I can't identify a specific person's corpse anymore, but it was obvious that the culprit was Rika. That was because she was standing to the east side of the burning cabin from my perspective. She was the only person left alive aside from me and somehow, she had also noticed me even though I was a bit of a distance away. She had good eyesight,ruffled black hair and tanned skin. She had clean features that indicated a decent amount of self care and a very fit figure compared to the average student.
I had overheard from the staff's office that she may have been a war refuge. Her family was affluent enough to send her here, but that didn't stop the others from ostracising her. Perhaps she grew sick of it and decided to light it all on fire. She was the only one in a good position, her job was to throw the trash onto a bin outside the cabin, and burning the cabin from the outside won't set off any alarms.
When our eyes met, she ran towards me. I could only be puzzled, if she wanted to get out of this in the best position, she should frame me. Anyone could see that, even a meathead like me could comprehend the simple concept of a scapegoat. When she got closer, it looked like her eyes were calm but her face was not. Such an odd way to describe such an odd expression, I couldn't understand her motive.
Before long, she had started to throw punches. As she exercised regularly, she had a good amount of stamina and strength. Her centre of balance was also well kept, even over the absurdly soft ground. It was fortunate that I was trained in using a few types of swords. In modern times, swordsmanship was a sport rather than a method to kill someone, more emphasis was placed on being able to move well and read the situation. I had learned a few methods of using my footwork so I could dodge her punches, though not with ease.
Her fists had started to graze me and she was connecting her kicks to other attacks. Having to block her kick with my knuckles was very taxing, especially since I was just a kid. But so was she. Eventually, she devolved into flailing around like a small child. She was very fit compared to the other students. Even my own stamina may pale in comparison, but in the end she was just a child. I doubt she had the force or will to actually kill me. It's very hard to kill a person, even more so as a child. Not that I would ever try.
I had practiced really hard, got hit by a bamboo sword countless times. Even though I was in protective gear, it still hurt like hell. So I knew, with such weak punches this child was throwing, I wouldn't die at all. Rika was probably a name she picked up when she moved here, her language proficiency was fluent so she must have been here since young. In other words, she was quite normal.
"Haa~ haa~ haa~, are you going to throw me into the fire too?" (Rika)
"Too?"
We stared at each other blankly at the same time. If we both didn't start the fire, who did?
"Was everyone else inside there?"
"... Yeah, it was normal when I went out..." (Rika)
"Well, it'll be okay."
"How are you so sure we won't get framed?" (Rika)
"We can be each other's alibi. Besides, the person needed to mess with the smoke detectors, they probably died too."
"..." (Rika)
Burning the cabin from the outside didn't mean that the smoke detectors instantly become useless. Perhaps the heat was getting to my head so I couldn't think straight. I think I also got mad just like Rika, and wanted to kill her thinking she was the culprit. I rushed to a conclusion, but since she got mad and attacked me first, it cooled my mind. If I thought about it more closely, the culprit would run away as fast as possible and pretend they didn't know anything. It was a cabin in the middle of a forest. It used to be a site for logging, so it wasn't too dense, I couldn't sleep so I went to admire the night sky. I guess everyone else died in their sleep.
"What do we do now?" (Rika)
"... I don't know... My phone isn't receiving any signals this deep in the woods. Do you remember the way back? "
"No... I only know where the nearest road is, since I have to dump the trash in a bin located there. I don't remember which side of the road was the way back." (Rika)
"That's good enough. Vehicles usually come from the right side of pedestrians, so the right should be the way back."
"Wow... I didn't notice." (Rika)
It was like I was swallowed by the sea of stars again. Everything was horribly dark, and trekking the uneven road was a frightful obstacle to go through.
"I know this is too late, but it's too dark. I feel like I'll fall into a deep hole somewhere if I continue on." (Rika)
"... If I use the light from my phone the battery would quickly run out. It's been less than an hour, should we head back and salvage a shelter from the reckage of the cabin? "
" Yeah, I guess that's all we can do. "(Rika)
When we came back, we hid behind a tree. That was because there were many shadows lurking around. Shadows that stood blocking the light of the burning cabin. That moved as swift as a shadow as well, their movements utterly inhumane. Some were even grotesque, walking on 3 or 4 legs. A liquids was noticeably splattered across the ground, under each of their steps.
We noticed right away. They were covered in rags, rags made out of our school uniform. A familiar badge of a classmate's was stuck to one of the rag wearing creatures. It's metallic shine gleamed brightly under the embers that danced into the night sky. Soon, a bright white light consumed the entire area. We were barely outside of its range, it blinded us unlike anything we've gazed upon before.
It had ended in an instant, but the sight of those horrifying creatures had been burned into my memories. The light dissipated with all the creatures gone. They vanished, but everything else was still as normal. Every ruined object and destroyed structure layed in the exact same place. The light did nothing but chase away those creatures. They never came back, so we used the cabin as a make shift camp fire to sleep around. As the forest was not that dense and the trees were rather sparse, there were little to no animals living around. The ones that did live around weren't threats to our lives.
After having seen things in the night, we'd rather not talk about them. We forced ourself to sleep, it was the best way to forget about those scary things. Even though the fire warmed one side, the other side of my body was cold. I could only grit my teeth before it starts to chatter and bear with it.
The next day we headed down the road. And we found out why it was so uneven. Even if it was poorly maintained, it felt like the ground could crumble under us last night. That was because there was a landslide. The road was filled with rocks from a nearby mountain. The mountain was a bit further away from the cabin, so it did not affect our lodging. But instead, the road became nearly impossible to traverse. Vehicles rarely came by this road as is, if it has been reported that there was a landslide, no vehicle would ever come here. Everything was in a mess. From our situation to our solution and finally, to our mental states.
The rocks were quite high, as if we had to scale a tiny mountain to go back home. Thankfully, we brought whatever we could find from the remnants of the camp. From barely usable tools to burnt rags. While Rika was averse to it, I was pretty much looting from the dead. Not that they need those things anymore. Most of the bodies were left as charred corpses of carbonised black flesh.
"... Should we climb over it and continue? It'll be wobbly and we may get crushed..." (Rika)
"... No, if we had rushed we would have died yesterday. We should take this slow too, maybe we can walk around it by going through the forest."
We trekked deeper into the forest, determined not to get lost. Eventually, we found our way back. The news was suppressed as the school didn't want the information to get out, they paid heavily for it to not be published. Everyone went on with our daily lives as if nothing had happened. Well, it was hard to do that when only 2 students were left. The respective families held their funerals and Rika attended some. It turned out that she actually got along with some classmates, she wasn't in a situation desperate enough to burn down the cabin.
The perpetrator was entirely someone else. We didn't know nor did we ever find out. We never talked about those weird creatures we saw, I chalked it up as a hallucination from the stress. Was that my most painful memory? My classmates dying in a cabin fire, odd creatures showing up at night and having to walk home. The damage control afterwards, such as moving to another school and making new friends didn't have as much of an impact.
When the news got released, the death of my classmates and a single teacher was attributed to the landslide. They had already reported the landslide, so revealing it to the world as an accident was the best way to catch as little attention as possible.
My field of view was covered with a purplish black fog, before it dissipated to show the demon panthers. They weren't much of a threat, they were easy to cut down like paper. I certainly felt anguish and guilt for that situation. I was strangely calm then, doing my best to survive while Rika was there. Yeah, of course I would be scared back then. Getting lost is not normal, much less have people you interact with daily suddenly die. It was aberrant. Maybe I got therapy afterwards, I don't remember much of it anymore.
I hope the others are doing okay. I've moved on from mine, so the impact is much less drastic. If they don't move on, I suppose they'd be traumatise.
***(Kaorin)
Everyone had gathered in the classroom. It was rather quiet. Most of us were staring in some direction, most likely in thought. I conquered my own test, I can't say the others did. There were a couple of them who were crying.
In a moment, the door shifted with a fast swing. Jein sensei walked in with a small stack of papers. My heart beat loudly and quickly as the she got to her desk. She had dark grey hair and wore a black button shirt and black miniskirt. It was a norm for her to look like she just went to a funeral as she always wore a full black outfit. She had rectangular spectacles that framed her face. She looked to be in her early twenties to late teens.
"Ahem!" (Sensei)
She cleared her throat loudly as someof ours clogged up from the anxiety. It felt like my heart stopped to listen to the results too. Though, I believe the test had been passed, there may have been other criterias I was not aware of.
"...... You all passed!" (Sensei)
Most of us cheered, this was a turning point in our lives. As we finally managed to get our licenses, life would be much smoother. There were certain jobs we had to do to live here, as most things weren't free. It was mostly work related to monsters, as they have appeared exponentially more since The Great Disaster.
I hugged Myuu in elation as the other students stepped up to get their certificates.
"... Your body is kind of small." (Myuu)
"Eh? But we're the same size..."
This joy was shortlived.