The soil was tainted in an endless pool of blood. The battleground was covered in splattered guts, and there were unending mounds of bodies.
He stared at the corpse of his fallen comrade—motionless and lively just hours ago. The battlefield held a high tone of silence that only the wind could be heard howling in the dry, foggy, plains. "Jason..." the voice of the young boy uttered.
Chad awoke, bringing his upper torso up. Keisha, who was watching over Chad, let out a high-pitched scream, jolting back in terror. The force of her movements was so harsh that her beanie flew out of her head.
"Ah, he's awake." Shoka said, opening a can of soda. Chad looked at the soda she had. It was the exact same one that he stored in the fridge. "Hey, is that my can of pop?" he asked, watching Shoka drink the entire can in one sitting. His attention was diverted out of the blue by the TV running behind him. It was Elmira and Niantha seated on the sofa, hard-focused on a romance cartoon about birds. "Hey, what are you two doing on my TV?!" he shouted.
At first, they ignored his shouting until Chad asked one more time, causing Elmira to change her focus to Chad. "Ah, so you're awake." She returned to see the passionate relationship between a duck and a chicken on television. Chad got to his feet, fed up with this nonsense, though he was still experiencing some lingering discomfort. "What are all of you doing in my apartment?!"
Shoka took a seat by Elmira, joining in on the watch party. "What do you think? We were clearly keeping an eye out for you." It was blatantly clear that they had no intention of taking Chad seriously; only watching a ridiculous romance between feathered animals.
Chad turned to Keisha who was still terrified at the sudden jumpscare that Chad let out. "Oh, and by the way, what day is it?"
"I-It's Tuesday; why do you ask...?" Keisha answered, still visibly shaken.
"Oh, the four of you have exams to do tomorrow, are you all prepared?"
The four of them froze, having the realization hit them. Out of the blue, Elmira screamed, saying, "OH CRAP, WE HAVE EXAMS TOMORROW! WE NEED TO PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER!" Niantha adjusted her glasses, showing a face of determination "Mhm, we must." Chad brightened up, assuming that they were about to leave his apartment. "Great! Does this mean that you'll leave my apartment, right?"
"Right?"
*
*
*
*
*
"Yes, please come by. Thank you." Chad hangs up his phone, only to stare at his stolen bedroom. His room had all four of the girls, sleeping on his bed. "Why did you guys kick me out of my own bedroom?" He recalled the night before, they had all showered and hogged up his bedroom, leaving him to sleep on the sofa. In fact, before closing the bedroom door, what Elmira said to him really struck a nerve. "Just be happy that actual females are going to be sleeping in your bed; something that you probably never experienced before most likely." Even though this statement was true, it still stung. Going back to the present, he walked over to his workstation in his room and took up one of their carefully completed study guides. He smiled, proud to see the hard effort they've done. "Well, I guess I'd let them off the hook for today, they already worked hard enough."
Elmira awoke to the sound of Keisha's morning alarm clock. The other girls had already dressed when she woke up. "Come on Elmira, you're going to be late for school!" Shoka exclaimed, shuffling on her hoodie. Elmira got on her feet and began dressing up as well, not wanting to fall behind the others. Chad, in the kitchen, heard all of the rustling that was going on in his bedroom. He wondered, what the hell are they doing?
However, that didn't concern him for the most part as breakfast was almost done. "Ueehh, Niantha, please don't pull me in that spot, I told you it's sensitive!" Keisha wailed as if she was pleading for mercy. Chad got even more concerned about whatever was going on inside his bedroom.
Finishing up dressing, the girls finally stammered out of the bedroom and paused by the dining table. The smell in the room was exquisite, something that the girls had never smelled before. Shoka slammed her hands onto the table, shaking the table in the process and startling Keisha. "D-Did you make breakfast just now?" she questioned, looking at Chad directly in the eyes. Chad nodded, replying with, "Yes, I indeed have. Do you all want some?" By the time he asked, Niantha already came over with a plate. "No fair, Niantha is already trying to grab some herself!" Elmira said, running off to get a plate as well. Shoka and Keisha soon followed, turning this into some sort of race to get as much food as possible.
Nabbing some bacon and some eggs, they ate it with delight. They couldn't have imagined some basic foods to turn out so good. Elmira with a mouth full of food, asked, "P-President, where did you learn to cook stuff this good?!" while still chewing with no manners at all. Chad gave a cocky grin at Elmira, noticing that she was devouring his home-cooked meals. "Geez, do you like my food that much?"
She adjusted her mannerisms; her face turning red in embarrassment. "W-Well, f-for a complete jerk y-your cooking is okay..." Happy that she thinks his food is satisfactory, he answered her question. "I learned to cook well because back then I cooked for many people in a barren wasteland!" Shoka laughed, believing Chad was joking about his experience. Chad was not laughing though, he followed up with what he said by saying, "I wasn't joking ya' know, I really did learn how to cook in a barren wasteland. When you're low on resources and got hundreds of people to feed, you learn how to manage the best you can."
"Um, President, what type of situation were you in for you to have to feed hundreds of people in a barren wasteland?" Niantha queried.
Chad's expression was hesitant and sorrowful as if it pained him to think about it. "N-Nevermind that, let's just focus on your guys' exam, okay?" Chad said with a seemingly forced smile from Niantha's perspective. The others were too fixated on the delicious food to even pay attention to Chad's words. Niantha then asked another question that tensed the room. "But President, what are we going to do with our original issue? We were attacked and it was the most brutal one yet..."
The mood turned serious in a matter of seconds of that one question. Almost all of them hadn't grasped the situation until now. "President, you stood no chance against Cecil, nor did you even attempt to use your magic." Gulping down his breakfast, Chad said a really important detail that was left out. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you all that I can't use my magic abilities."
The room froze, only for Elmira to shout out in surprise. "YOU'RE TELLING ME I LOST TO SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T EVEN HAVE MAGIC?!"
"Is that what you're worried about?" Shoka said, sighing.
"President, why can't you use your magic?" Niantha knew of the dangers ahead and Cecil was just a little fraction of those dangers. If Chad cannot use magic, they stand no chance of what's to come. Chad was thinking about the question for a moment before answering her question. "Oh, well, I just forgot."
Simultaneously, the girls blurted the same identical remarks in their minds. "I can't believe this guy..."
Keisha, terrified at the idea of them being attacked by more people, quivered. "B-But how are we going to enjoy our school lives from now on if even our only hope can't handle them..." It was a harsh reality that dawned on them. The pressure collapsed onto the girls, who were only just second-year high schoolers. Chad wasn't disturbed about this fact, in fact, he was still ecstatic. "Don't worry, I figured that it could get dangerous from here so I called in backup!" The door to the apartment knocked in perfect timing, leading Chad to open it in diligence.
A girl stepped into the room, one that wasn't familiar to the After-School Study Club. Her black hair, bright yellow eyes, and dress were velvet red, and her appearance was up to high standards. She also had a naturally adorable appearance. Seeing Chad, her cat ears perked up in delight, immediately went in for a hug. "Darling, I missed you so much!" Chad attempted to backpedal from her but was too late. She put her arms around Chad and gave him a lot of love and affection as she nuzzled against his face.
Darling? The President is currently dating somebody? Niantha thought. She was intrigued because, given how annoying the President could be at times, she questioned who would make the extra effort to date him. With her arms crossed, she gave out the question. "Is she your lover?" The catgirl gave a snarky face at Niantha, replying to her in a tone that ticked Niantha off. "Why do you ask, are you jealous?" Niantha's stoic and calm demeanor slowly averted into a mean scowl. "This bitch."
Chad managed to pull off the surprise guest, he introduced her to the group. "So here is the backup that I called. This girl's name is Kotori and she's my supervisor." Kotori smooched on Chad's cheek multiple times, his expression not changing in the slightest. This went on for a few more seconds, making Chad's irritation build up. She continued to nuzzle him in delight, interrupting him every time he tried to speak.
He finally snapped at Kotori, raising his voice at her. "Kotori, how many times do I have to tell you that we're not dating at all! You've been doing this ever since I woke up from that coma!" Kotori giggled at Chad's anger, giving a quirky smile. "You're so cute when you're mad!"
This response piqued Niantha's interest even more. She's his supervisor? She doesn't appear to be any older than the President at all she looks a little bit younger. And why does he have a supervisor in the first place?
"Anyways, there's a good reason why I called her in. Kotori is immensely strong; so strong that I doubt anyone would be able to lay a finger on you all. So I'll let her supervise you all throughout the day, I hope you don't mind." Kotori had all eyes on her, causing her face to light up red. "G-Geez, if you're all staring at me like that I get kind of nervous..." she did a bubbly laugh right after, carefree from the seriousness of the situation.
In unison, all of the girls fell in despair. "W-We're screwed." they all said.