"How the hell did you even get so many cuts on your face?" Satori asked while patching the cuts left behind by the shattered glass.
"I fell," lying to her felt worse than I'd imagined, but telling her that I don't recall how was not really an option.
"You expect me to believe that?" Done patching everything up, she withdrew her hands and just glared at me with squinted eyes for a moment before whispering. "Someone hit you, didn't they?"
Looking around at the other students, I made sure nobody was listening before giving her a response.
"I'm telling you I fell, that's that. Besides, it doesn't hurt anymore," even though she was trying to help, I couldn't keep my tone mellow after just having that frustrating talk with Miss Yuuko.
Shrugging her shoulders, Satori huffed up a sigh of defeat. It seemed she'd given up, but I sincerely doubt that she wouldn't bug me for the matter later.
"If you say so," wearing a bittersweet smile, she pulled her legs into her desk and turned towards the front. "God knows how you even deal with these things all by yourself, and to be honest, I wish you were more comfortable talking to me about your problems."
Resting her head on the back of her hands, she kept staring at the blackboard while talking to me. Seeing her dreamy eyes looking through the air, I felt my heart weighing heavily.
'She's better off not knowing.' I said to myself.
"Anyway," caressing her wrist, she turned to look back in my direction, but before she could speak her eyes widened in shock from seeing something right behind my shoulders. "What happened?!"
Jumping out of the chair, Satori rushed off behind me. Following her with my gaze, I saw Akane standing by the classroom door with a white eye patch and a white bandage wrapped around her skull. Petrified by her condition, I stared at her in pure shock wondering what could've possibly happened.
"Satori, get away!" Akane growled at Satori right as she was about to touch her body. "I don't need your help, okay?!"
"W-what?" Understandably shaken, Satori was frozen on the spot.
Walking around her Akane made her way towards her desk. Settling right in, she acted as if nothing at all had happened and simply buried her head in a thick book that I'm sure she'd never even opened beyond the cover.
"Akane, wha-" As I tried to call out to her, she shot me with a threatening sharp gaze that screamed at me to leave her alone.
Whatever had happened, she was obviously not in the mood for talking. Unfortunately, I knew what she was feeling, and why she didn't wanna talk even though she was obviously hurt more than physically.
'Those girls from yesterday, they must've done something.' Being the only ones along with their boyfriends who weren't in class, it was clear that whatever had happened to Akane, they were the culprit behind it. 'I need to know what happened.'
The sudden ringing of the school bell broke my chain of thoughts. Indicating the start of the first lecture, it had all the students from the corridors rush into their classes. Soon enough the teachers arrived and began to teach. Unlike most days, however, I couldn't focus on the lesson since it was Miss Yuuko who was teaching us the first lesson of the day. She too shot me some nervous glances, but mostly kept her eyes away to avoid the guilt.
Nothing changed…Everything had remained the same as yesterday. In fact, things seem to be growing more and more dire, and the hope that I was aching for seems to be growing increasingly distant. Carrying such thoughts in my head, I was off on my way back to my home. Before leaving the school, I tried to talk with Akane but still wasn't willing to talk about what had happened.
'This makes it the second day we haven't walked home together.' Being used to having Akane beside me on these lonely trips often helped me forget about my problems even if for just a little while. But now that she herself was dealing with something, I don't know exactly how to clear my head of troubles.
In an absolute state of delirium and dismay, I made it back home. Looking at the entrance alone was enough to tire me already. Again the bickering, the howling, the fights, and even now even when I'm in school I can't rely on my teachers to help me combat the bullying. Making everything even worse was the fact that all my money was gone, and probably blown off on drugs by my own mother.
'A month more huh? A while longer?' Curling my fist, I heaved a heavy sigh as I started walking closer to the entrance.
"H-Haru what are you doing?!" With fingers inches from the doorknobs, I heard my mother's voice from within calling out my father's name.
The voice was soon followed by the sound of steps rushing away from the hallway. I knew I should've stormed in and confronted whatever it was on the other end, but my body was petrified by the screams that followed my mother's words. I've never heard something so chilling, something so raw.
"D-dad?" Reluctantly I nudged the door open.
Peeking inside from the small open gap, I saw a hazy image of my father looming over my mom. The sight made me gasp for breath, which in turn altered my father. Slowly turning towards the door with a blood-dripping knife between his fingers, he looked at me for a moment without a word.
"Come in…" He said, beckoning me closer with the knife.
Ignoring his words and him altogether, I tried to focus my uncertain vision on my mom lying by his feet. A trace of steaming blood ran down her toes, and her legs twitched like an animal left to die by a butcher.
"M-mom…" I don't remember what came over me, or why I felt my eyes tearing up, and yet I straggled closer to her, hoping she wasn't gone. "No, don't-NO!"
Like the instinct of a chick running up to its dead mother, I dashed towards her while my father still loomed over her.
"I'm sorry," he whispered and struck me down just like he did to her.