-Hey...
A voice that was vague to me. I couldn't concentrate to locate the source of this voice...
I feel... strange... this is something I'm not familiar with...
-Saeko, wake up...
The same voice as before. I still wasn't able to tell where the voice came from.
But now, I open my eyes a little... and am dazzled by the sudden illumination coming towards me. However, I resisted the urge to close my eyes again.
-Saeko-chan!
Now with a clearer view of the scenery, I see that there is a window in front of me, where I can see the beautiful blue sky that I hadn't seen for so long.
And entering my field of vision, a girl with short, light brown hair, light blue eyes... looks at me with a smile on her face. She has a mole under her right eye, which made her beauty stand out.
We made eye contact immediately... and all I could get out of my mouth was an "Ah".
Damn, I fell asleep in class again. The way this girl came to wake me up, I guess it must be lunch time already.
...
... what...?
How long was I actually asleep? I don't remember suddenly collapsing... and I had such a long and vivid dream...
-Nn... good morning, Maria... I'm sorry, I'm causing you trouble again.
This is my classmate, Kamado Maria. She's been my friend for some time now... and she's used to be the one who comes to wake me up when I fall asleep like that.
Luckily, I always have a book with me, because that way, I can be sure that when I take a nap, I won't get a scolding or anything. However... there is something in me, which makes me hug Maria as soon as I regain some strength in my body.
-I'm sorry, Maria... I hurt you in my dream...
-Hey, what kind of dream was it?
-As a American guy, shooting up a gunfight.
-That's worrying! Don't think of doing anything strange, Saeko-chan!
Mm. Yeah, good thing it was just a dream.
-Anyway, can you tell me more about that dream?
-Well... it was strange. The initial memories are fuzzy since we were different... and then I died, to be reincarnated as a vampire girl.
-That sounds like a light novel... Don't you read much of that stuff? Maybe that's why you dreamt such a thing.
-No, I've never read one with a vampire as the main character. They can be the heroines or villains of a fantasy world, even a "meh" character like in Konosuba, but never protagonists.
-"Strike the Blood" didn't have a vampire as a protagonist?
-I've never read it, I don't even know the plot on that one. But anyway, I've never seen the isekai genre associated with a vampire protagonist, and a female one at that.
-You're right, there are only a few isekai novels that have a girl as the protagonist... although, could it be that your time for enlightenment has finally come? We could get rich publishing that! Come on, come on, do you do a draft?!
-Mm, I don't know if it can be popular, Maria... but I can try.
-Finally, we're going to be the female "Kinoko Nasu" and "Takashi Takeuchi"!
-Hey, don't exaggerate! They had more than a single moment of enlightenment... do you think you can draw right now? I don't want us to lose the idea.
-Invite me to lunch, Saeko-chan. Come on, for waking you up and as payment for helping you illustrate.
-Okay, let's go.
I then get up from my seat, and together with Maria, who by the way, is a bit shorter than me, we take a notebook and a few drawing tools to illustrate in the cafeteria while we eat.
Sometimes the boys or girls look back at us, but I do my best not to let them know that I am aware of their stares.
Uh, this is because Maria is basically a celebrity here at school. She's popular with everyone here, so it's natural for us to be seen from time to time.
Sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by being the centre of attention, but still, Maria is my friend. There are also three others that I can call my friends, but I think they are busy with their own friendship circles right now.
So most of the time it's just Maria and me. So, we have learned about each other and realised that we share similar hobbies.
She likes watching anime, manga and reading light novels, and she is also good at drawing in her own style.
Whereas me, I'm the same, I just prefer to take up writing as a hobby.
I used to be ashamed to ask others for their opinion on the things I write as the hardcore otaku that I am, but Maria got rid of all my insecurities.
I'm also a fan of video games and Type-Moon's visual novels, although the bastards haven't published anything since "Mahoutsukai no Yoru", but I forgive them for the "Heaven's Feel" adaptation they've done.
Anyway, this is my life as a student. I aspire to greatness, even if my personality sometimes puts me in awkward positions when trying to interact with others outside my social circle.
Arriving at the cafeteria, I treated Maria to a plate of curry with potatoes and rice. I for my part just had a yakisoba bread and orange juice.
So, in between our meals, we talked:
-There was also this slightly older woman... I think her name was Rivia, or something... she was the "Heroine" who knows the world. She wanted to kill the protagonist on their first meeting but then they became more or less friends.
-It sounds like the relationship between Goku and Vegeta. What can you tell me about it?
-It might be more or less like that... ah, Rivia had some kind of curse. But I don't remember that anymore.
-A demerit for the best character, I understand.
-There was also this girl with cat ears, Ah! And Yasunari-sensei was there too.
-It's clearer to me that it was a bad dream since the old-fashioned chemistry teacher is involved, but I'll take it! There, it's all written down. I think I can do something with this. -. Maria says, dropping the pencil she's been writing it all down with.
I look from the side at the relationship tree Maria has put together, I am completely satisfied with how she did it. I have no complaints about it.
On the other hand, I've hardly touched my food and lunchtime is almost over. So I start biting as fast as I can into my yakisoba bread, passing it around with the orange juice so I don't choke.
Maria noticed that too, and started to swallow her curry as fast as she could.
-Saeko-chaaan, I think it's too much curry for me alone, shall I let you?
-Igh'g oghay. -. I reply with food in my mouth.
Oh, that was very unladylike. I apologise for that.
Anyway, there are times when I treat her to things like that because I know she won't eat everything and that way there will also be something for me after she is satiated.
I can say I have a good appetite, heh...
Once Maria finishes eating, she hands me her plate, which I start to devour at full speed to finish just in time before I go back to the living room. I wanted to wash down the spice with my orange juice, but Maria was quicker and finished it for me.
I just quickly leave the tray with Maria's plate and throw both the bag with my bread and the juice can in the trash.
We both went back to the classroom after that.
And we had what we could call a "normal" day.
But, before I knew it...
-Don't get up! -. My attacker shouts at me.
Just after doing so, I received a kick in my ribs. Such a blow knocked the air out of my lungs in a blunt and direct way.
I had had so much fun today that I forgot this part of my life. The fact that I can't live in peace no matter how hard I try... and I can't do anything to resist the waves of pain that hit me from so many directions.
All this time I have been physically assaulted by a group of girls that I have no idea why they do it. They are just being violent to me, full stop. There are no explanations.
I feel so hurt... that I can't help but want to run away...
I have the feeling of déjà vu... for some reason...
As if I've already lived through all this. Ah, it's because of that dream, isn't it?
All of this has already happened to me, all of this I've already felt, and all of this I've already taken revenge for. A small tear comes out of my eye, just one, which descends and falls on the floor of the girls' bathroom.
At this point, no one will come to my rescue. Not at all.
She... Kuzunoha Satome, pulls out a razor from her pocket. And even though her hand was trembling and she had an expression of fear painted on her face, she went ahead and pierced my stomach with the blade.
-Hyah... agh, ahhhhh! -. I exclaimed in pain, my body retched so hard that my glasses practically flew off.
And my throat felt like it was going to tear after uttering such a voice so suddenly.
The pain and the heat of the blood rushing down from my stomach makes me recognise that this is real life. The bitter real life. One that is far removed from the fanciful dreams I can have.
I can never be happy for more than a few hours... I'm too weak, too fragile, too vulnerable...
-Hey, let's go! Let's leave her here! -. Another one of them shouts, starting to run.
The other two started to chase after her, dropping the knife in the process.
But I don't care about that... I'm slowly bleeding to death in this position, and as usual, there's nothing I can do about it.
Unlike the me in my dream... my will to fight for my life has vanished.
The broken glass of my glasses represents what is left of me by this point. Almost nothing in one piece. My heart is so damaged that I could simply die at any moment.
...
Why...?
Satome... Why did you... do this to me...?
Because of these things is why I could never believe you, liar... you said so many times that you loved me but none of it was true, right?
It was just another way to make fun of me. Another reason to mess with me. And one more way to hurt me.
You made me build up expectations, but the truth is you were never in control of the situation. The whole time you were listening to what your friends were telling you and you never tried to do anything to stop them.
Well...?
You didn't just hurt my stomach, you completely broke my heart.
I fell in love with you, I wanted to believe that the things you were telling me were true, but at the end of the story, I've also been discarded by you.
...
...
...
Satome...
Satome.
Satome.
Satome.
Satome.
Satome...!
-All along, this was your damn plan, Kuzunoha Satome!
I scream to myself, in the abandoned bathroom. Pounding the floor out of the frustration I was feeling inside.
I can't give up.
I can't die here.
I can't let her get away with this.
I'm going to kill her...!
I have no idea where the underlying strength in my limbs came from, strength that made me stand up despite the excruciating pain that was driving me crazy. And the fact that I was at the most critical point in my mind.
It was at that moment that everything fell apart.
I no longer cared about anything that happened from then on.
That was it, where I had already given up on being human.
...
Yes. I get it. This is what it meant to be in Saeko's shoes... to give up so much just to be at ease...