"Move, get out of my way!!" Toshirou pushed his schoolmates, including his Senpais aside as he ran to class 2B. Panting heavily, he slid open the door with a large bang.
"Oi Chi, where are you?!"
No response.
'Tch, dammit!'
"Hey you, brown haired girl over there!"
The girl in topic pointed to herself nervously. It's not everyday you hear the Toshirou call out to you.
"M-me?"
"Where's Chiyo?" Toshirou questioned.
"Ah - she's behind you."
He quickly whipped his head around and saw Chiyo tapping her feet slowly on the ground while gazing straight him.
"Now something's definitely wrong." She said. He clamped his hands on her shoulders and held it tightly making her flustered at the action. She used the opportunity to fully make out his appearance. His hair was a bit disheveled and sweat clung to his forehead. His shirt wasn't tucked in and he was breathing heavily. Short, harsh breaths fanned across her face as he held her.
She gently lifted his hands off her shoulders and squeezed them softly. "Take a deep breath, it's alright, just take a deep breath and calm down, okay?" She soothed.
His breathing began to have an even rhythm, his tense hands slowly relaxed and his shoulders dropped in relief.
"Sorry about that." He said.
"Don't be." She replied.
Toshirou suddenly remembered why he came in search for her. He rested his hands on her shoulders again, albeit more gently.
"Listen to me, you need to get out of here! There's no time to lose!"
"Eh? I don't understand."
"I'm sorry but I can't explain right now, you have to go and deliver this letter to Kaa-chan as well." He put a letter into her hand.
"Wa-wait a second, isn't this.."
"Yes it's the same one." He interrupted. "Look Chi, do you trust me?"
He held her face in his palm and gazed into her eyes, his glittering azure blue eyes staring directly into her hazel ones.
"Do you trust me, Chiyo?" He asked again.
She held the palm on her cheek.
"I do."
"Then listen to me, okay? Don't ask any questions. Take the letter and run, don't talk to anyone on the way, don't look at anyone either, just run till you reach my house."
She nodded and took the letter from his hand. With her school bag in hand and without a second thought, she dashed out through the back door of the class.
'Everything's going to be fine. I trust you Toshirou-kun.'
Toshirou breathed out, as a heavy burden had been lifted off his chest when he saw Chiyo run out of the classroom.
'Arigatou Chiyo, but now I've got another problem to deal with.'
"Aosaki-san what's going on?"
"Why did Arisugawa-san run away?"
"Teme, making our one and only Chiyo-chan go home."
'Oh yeah, I forgot that her classmates were still here.'
"Well, well, lookie here. Your time's up."
Toshirou looked up and saw Kuroma standing by the door.
"Nothin's gonna save you now, Aosaki."
A third interrupted them, making both males to turn their heads towards him. "Who.. who are you and what do want in this class?"
"Huuuh?" Kuroma looked to the side and saw the boy talking to him, the class president of 2B to be exact.
"If you have a problem, both you and Aosaki-san should take it out outsi-"
"Urusai!" Kuroma hit him with the back of his palm. The impact so strong it made him fly into the whiteboard. Everyone gasped at the action and some people rushed to his aid.
'Tch, runnin' around like ants.' "Shi'ne!" A powerful gust of wind came from Kuroma and threw everyone away into the walls of the classroom. Toshirou brought a desk in front of him to absorb the impact but the blast was still strong enough to push him back. The windows also shattered as a result.
'F*ck, what the hell was that?' Toshirou said as he stood up from the floor. He looked around him and he saw everyone on the floor, mostly likely unconscious.
"So you're still awake? I guess that's to be expected, you did block the blast with a desk after all."
'I didn't see anything but I felt it. My body moved on its own accord. Why?'
"Why the worry? I wasn't even using up to 5 percent of my total."
'And he's this strong?'
As if hearing his thoughts Kuroma added, "This world lacks the abundance of divine energy that we have in Sekaila. Because of that our strengths are reduced to about 95 percent which is deadly annoyin'. Normally, a single flick of a finger should've destroyed this building."
'Talk about bs if I ever saw one.'
"Don't sweat the details, you're gonna die anyway." He attacked Toshirou with another jab to the the face. Toshirou dodged again and jumped back a few meters.
'I can't allow myself to engage him in hand to hand. It's game over if I do so.'
"You're probably thinkin', 'I can't allow myself to engage him in hand to hand' aren't you?"
'He saw through me!'
"If you won't come, then I'll have to come over to you!"
In a flash, Kuroma was in his face. He punched him in the stomach, spun and gave him a roundhouse kick to the face.
"Pwah!!" Toshirou spat out blood as he crashed into the wall, forming a huge crater on it.
His body was numb and he couldn't move. Pain coursed through his entire being and the only thing left of his self control was what prevented him from screaming out in pain. He felt something pressing hard into his shoulder.
Kuroma stood over him, putting pressure into his shoulder with his right leg. He pressed harder and Toshirou made a pained sound as he felt his scapula crack.
He wasn't smiling. He looked down at Toshirou with a dull expression, similar to the one Toshirou always bore.
"After everythin', you didn't even give me a good time."
'Like hell I'm going to leave here. I haven't- I haven't even told Chiyo or Kaa-chan goodbye. Damn, I don't even have a girlfriend yet. All that thinking I did was for nothing? Come on Toshirou, get up, get up dammit!'
"Come hither Kurosensha."
<*Kurosensha - black horse*>
A dark circle with some markings on it appeared in the air and Kuroma pulled a black sword with a red line running across the middle from it. He pointed the dark blade at Toshirou.
"Begone."
Toshirou shut his eyes as the sword was thrust at him.
'I'm still alive?'
He waited for the contact but it never came. He heard an audible clank and Kuroma hiss out in pain alongside some strings of curses.
"Yare, yare, you really are a handful." A female voice spoke.
'I know that voice, it's...'
"Yeah, it's me, Toshirou."
He opened his eyes and his gaze fell upon his teacher, her dark hair sifting in the wind, and her back to him, was standing in front of him with a sword, similar to that of Kuroma's but with a blue line instead of red.
"Sensei?"
"Don't try to talk. You're in a pretty bad shape."
"You bitch!!" Kuroma had recovered from the injury on his hand. "I thought you weren't gonna show up!"
"I 'thought' I told you to stay down Kuroma."
"And did you think I would. Ha! You're pretty ballsy showin' up your face after all this time."
Takezawa was clearly not amused by his rambling. She shifted her gaze to Toshirou who was still on the floor.
"Be healed."
A green light enveloped Toshirou and his body began to reform itself to its former state. The broken bones fixed themselves and the cuts and bruises were gone as well.
"Can you move now?"
He shifted his arm and he felt no pain there. He moved his body and slowly stood upright.
"Arigatou Sensei." Toshirou said.
"It's alright." She replied. "It's partially my fault that you are in this position."
"You'll explain to me later. Right now, we've got to take care of him."
"No, Toshirou. I have to take care of him. I cannot allow you or anybody else to be affected by him again."
"You're not goin' to get rid of me that easily." Kuroma said. He slashed his sword at Takezawa but she defended with her own. Shifting to the side, he pointed the sword straight at her and pushed it forward. She moved her head to the right and hit the sword away. He brought back the sword and swung it at her head, she held her sword by the hilt, upside down and blocked the attack. Takezawa drew her blade back and struck him on his left shoulder. The attack connected and blood spewed out of his shoulder. But, he didn't allow that to deter him. He followed up with a punch as a decoy which she blocked, and thrust the blade straight at her. As she hit the sword away, she put her sword in its scabbard, her hand on the hilt and bent low to his stomach area.
"Hollow."
She removed the sword from its scabbard and struck him on his stomach. A white light emitted from the attack and pushed him to the back of the class. He crashed into the wall, broke it and entered into the next class in a pile of rubble.
For someone who wasn't easily surprised, this sure had Toshirou on his feet. It's so real it's almost scary. No, it's frightening because it's reality.
"I need you to stand behind me, Toshirou. It's going to ugly from here on out." Takezawa said.
'This is all beyond me, but I can't help this feeling of unease that grows within me.'
"Distract him, I've got a plan." Toshirou said.
She turned her head to him. "Didn't you hear what I said? This is going to be dangerous! There's a possibility that I'm not going to make it out alive. This isn't a place for a high school student to be in!"
"I'm not naive, Sensei. Don't think I haven't noticed; your breathing pattern is uneven, your eyes expresses weariness, even your form is staggering. You probably can't maintain this position for long. If anything, you should stay down and let me handle this."
"Like you did a couple minutes ago"— She put her weapon down and held him by the collar —"This is not a game Toshirou. Trying to act all cool and calm is nice but it won't save you here. Yes, you're right, I can't keep this up very long and since this world lacks divine energy, I'm weakened and can't go all out. But if it's to keep you, Arisugawa-san and Ruri-chan safe then I'll gladly lay down my life."
'She doesn't get it at all.'
"Nice moves you've got there." Kuroma emerged from the pile of rubble and dusted his clothes. "Honestly, you took me by surprise with all that flashy swordsmanship."
Both teacher and student got into a fighting stance when they heard his voice.
"Unfortunately for you, I've gotten pretty stronger since the last couple of years." Kuroma raised his sword above his head and gazed at them with a sadistic grin.
"השמים השחירו ועננים הביאו דם. באותו אופן ת" "לכהות באויבי ולצבוע את גופם בצבע אר"
Toshirou couldn't comprehend what he just said. 'I don't understand, what is he saying?'
All of a sudden, the sky became dark. A strong breeze enveloped the entire building and lightning flashed across the sky.
'He still had this much power left?' Takezawa asked herself. 'This is bad.'
Kuroma let out a laugh and said, "This is end of the line for the both of you. Rain!"
"Toshirou look out!"
Bolts of lightning straight out from the sky struck the building. The entire construct was enveloped with white lightning and was electrocuted in and out.
Everything was fried. The desks, chairs and walls were all blackened by the assault.
'I don't feel any pain.'
Toshirou opened his eyes and lo, he saw a transparent green shield with whitish markings running up and down it as if it were alive, in the shape of an oval on him and on everyone else in the class.
'Don't tell me...'
He saw his teacher standing awkwardly with her hands by sides. Her body burnt and charred by the lightning. She slid the wall to the floor and coughed up blood at a frightening rate.
"Sensei!!" Toshirou ran to her side and held her in his arms before she could collapse.
She tried moving but she was badly in shape to do so.
"Don't." Toshirou said to her.
'How could I let this happen, goddammit!'
"Are you finally in despair. Have you finally given up. Even your only hope is no match for me. What a befitting end for the son of Nathaniel." Kuroma said, walking towards them and dragging his sword on the ground.
Toshirou didn't look at him and still kept his gaze on his teacher.
"Let's put an end to this, shall we?" Kuroma raised the sword and swung it down full force at him.
"Aosaki!!"
A figure pushed Toshirou away from the blade and received the impact in his stead. With widened eyes, Toshirou looked to his right and saw that a boy with dark green hair and some fringes covering his left eye had been stabbed in the chest with the black sword.
"O-Okinawa."
Kuroma removed the sword from the boy's chest, clearly not amused that he missed another chance, making the green haired boy to drop to the floor bleeding profusely.
Toshirou gently dropped Takezawa onto the floor and rushed over to Okinawa's side.
"Oh no, no, no, no. We can't have that now, can we?" Kuroma raised his sword to slash him again.
Toshirou slowly moved his head and looked at Kuroma with a dark look in his eye. Kuroma briefly stopped, startled at the expression.
"Get back."
In an instant, an invisible force pushed back Kuroma. It happened so fast it left him no time to react. Toshirou shifted his gaze to the boy on the floor.
"You idiot, just what were you thinking, no, where the hell did you come out from?" Toshirou removed his blazer and tore the sleeve out. He used it to pressed the wound on his chest to reduce the bleeding.
"G-gomen, I, ugh, I was unconscious but when I came to, the only thing I remembered was coming out to meet you." Okinawa breathed out.
'Did Sensei do this to everyone in the building.'
"But why were you coming to meet me?"
He coughed up blood.
"To thank you."
"For what exactly?"
"It's because of you, that I had a chance at Shiori-san. I came personally to thank you, Aosaki-san. Urgh!" More blood came out.
"You didn't have to go this far." Toshirou didn't know when fear began to gather in his eyes. "You could've protected yourself. You could've run away to save yourself!"
"But then you'll be gone. No one wants that."
"What about you? You, you haven't even gone out on a date yet with Taichou. Your life would be cut short." His face contorted with pain. "Didn't you want to live?!!"
Okinawa smiled and brought his hand up in a fist bump. "Don't cry man. You're supposed to be the cool one. I don't know what's going on but what I do know is that, this was the right thing to do. We've never talked and we've never hung out together, but that doesn't mean I can't do something good to you. It's not the way life works." His breath became softer and softer. His eyelids were beginning to close gently.
Toshirou saw his hand and returned the fist bump to him.
"Cool." Okinawa said, before completely closing his eyes.
Toshirou bent his head low. A silent cry he did. Tears of anger, agony, sadness splashed onto the wooden floor. He quietly sobbed his heart out, frustrated with himself as to why such things happened in this world.
"F*ck that hurt like hell. What the f*ck happened?" Kuroma said. He saw Toshirou on his knees with a limp body in his hands. He suddenly broke into a smile.
"That's good, that's great! This is splend-"
"Urusai, Baka." Toshirou said in a deep voice, with his hair covering his eyes.
The tone of his voice made a chill run down his spine. 'Did somethin' happen to him.'
"What's this? You're now becomin' serious?"
Toshirou didn't speak. He walked over to Takezawa— who was unconscious but in better shape than before— and picked up her sword.
"I almost lost myself." Toshirou began. "I, was acting unusually panicky, a stark contrast with how I normally behave."— he looked at the blade in his hands, observing it carefully and admiring the sharpness — "This is all new to me, and to be quite frank, if this were any other person, they wouldn't have gotten this far. They'd have probably kicked the bucket a long time ago."
Kuroma stopped in his footsteps. "What are you going on about?"
Toshirou said nothing.
Kuroma looked closely at him, monitoring his movements and usually behavior. What's up with him. Somethin's different. His right arm held the blade while his left was by his side.
Wait his left. His sight zoomed in on his left hand. Something was falling off from it. It looked like sand particles and they were shiny.
'No, it can't be sand. Wait, glass?'
He looked at the palm of his left hand. What he saw shocked him; cracks were formed on it and tiny glass particles fell from it. 'Just what exactly is that?'
"Have you realized it yet, Kuroma?" Toshirou said with a cold voice.
'Tch... this is getting on my nerves. Just what the hell did he do?'
"You said you've been watching me all these years but if you didn't know about this, then you're gravely mistaken. This is an illusion technique. The trigger, was you gazing at my left palm."
"There's no way! Damn you!" Kuroma said, angrily.
"Just like a mirror, everything action taken, is the opposite of what I do."
"You bastard!" Kuroma grit his teeth at him. Toshirou raised the sword with his right hand.
'He's going to attack with her sword? Wait, if it's mirror-like that means he's behind me.' He quickly turned his back to Toshirou and jumped backward expecting to see him to attack him from behind. But to his greatest surprise, there was no one there.
"Shi'ne." Toshirou's voice came from behind.
'Crap, it was a lie.'
He wasn't fast enough to respond and so Toshirou slashed the sword across his chest. The wound so deep, sprays of blood splattered all over the wooden floor.
Kuroma spat out blood as he staggered backwards.
"Teme!" He growled at him.
Toshirou didn't spare him a second before grabbing his neck, moved his right leg forward and swung it back, using the back of his shin to kick his heels, making him unbalanced and pushed him to the floor. Kneeling atop him, he stabbed the sword through his stomach. Blood splattered from the force of the stab onto his face staining it red.
He stabbed him again and again and again and again, over and over in different spots on his body.
In the shadow of the moonlight, the only thing could be seen was the splashing of blood everywhere.
"F*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck!!" Kuroma cried out in agony as Toshirou mercilessly pierced him over and over again.
Finally, he let up. Toshirou stood over him, his cobalt blue hair designed with crimson. His hands bruised and calloused with holding the sword tightly for a long time and an expressionless, dull face which made it all the more gruesome because telling what he was thinking was quite impossible.
"What happened, how, *puawh*— he spat out a large quantity of blood— "how did you urghh"
"The moment you gave me thirty seconds to run, your fate had already been sealed. Minus some factors, everything went all according to plan." Toshirou sat on the floor beside him.
Due to the immense pain, Kuroma could not even look at him. "Wha-what plan?"
"This is gonna take some time"— Toshirou held the sword and dug it into his right ear, and chopped it off making him scream out in pain — "As a reward for myself, I will cut off your body parts as I see fit."
Blood spilled from the side of Kuroma's face, the spot where the ear had been cut off on Toshirou's clothes but it did not faze him one bit.
"If you were paying attention, you'll know that Chiyo is part of the arts and crafts club and the best if I do say so myself."— he sliced off the other ear, sinking the blade into the flesh. Kuroma cursed at him but it fell on deaf ears— "You see this rope. It looks like a crack doesn't it?" He brought up a thin, small rope with different branches, much like the cracks you will see on a mirror. At the same time, he put the sword into his left eye, twisting and turning the blade in its the socket.
"Arghhh!!" Kuroma hissed out in pain.
"I told Chi to make this for me on the night when my mother told me the truth about my father. I expected sooner or later, that someone would come after us. It always happens in the movies." He removed the blade from Kuroma's left socket and put it in the right one. He did the same thing, twisting and turning the sword, spilling red liquid from his eyes.
"I simply put the rope on my palm and gathered some of the broken window glass from floor."
"When.. when did you do this?!" Kuroma groaned in pain.
"Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. With your state of mind, all I had to do was put the rope on my hand and release some glass particles to the floor. It was a bit difficult, because I almost lost all hope but when Okinawa came"— his voice suddenly became soft— "I remembered what I originally intended to do."
"Then that attack, where did it come from?"
"It was probably Sensei who did that. I don't have that kind of power."
He removed the sword from his eye and placed it across his hands.
"You.. you're crazy. To think you could do something like this without even a second thought. You're no ordinary human."
A pool of blood surrounded the both of them as rain began to fall in the outside night.
"That's not something I'd like to hear from you but I'll make it be your last words." Toshirou stood up and stretched his back, cracking the stiff bones in them.
"Last words? Ha! I might've lost my ears and sight but there's no way you are going to kill me, you weak and pathetic half-breed."
"Really now."
Almost instantaneously, the sword Toshirou held was found in the forehead of Kuroma. He pierced the sword deeper into his forehead, killing him in the process. The last expression on Kuroma's face was that of shock before giving up the ghost.
"How,"— Toshirou pulled the sword from his head and swung it downwards, wiping the blood off it onto the floor— "annoying."