—
Major trigger warning:
⚠ contains mentions of blood, gore, and sensitive topic. Read at your own risk ❗️
—
The next teacher was in the front, and your mind dazed off to the man Natsume warned you about. However, your thoughts were cut short when you saw a chicken alarm clock floating on top of Mikan. Alarmed, you created a portal underneath it, and another one outside the window, throwing it out right before it rang. Sumire, who was beside you, glared at you, rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms, “You want to be targeted too? Alright. It’s your wish.”
All of a sudden, Sumire covered your eyes and mouth while Jinno continued writing at the board. You couldn’t let out a noise, let alone see what’s happening due to her hand covering you. Then all of a sudden you heard a thud, and Sumire let go of your eyes.
Your eyes widened as it could, seeing a trash bin directly in Jinno’s head.
“It was Sakura, sir.” Sumire excused, pointing towards Mikan. “And—” before she could speak, you slapped your hand over her mouth. Since you were at the back, Jinno didn’t see what you’ve done. In fact, it was Mochiage, who lifted the garbage bin with telekinesis then putting it on top of Jinno’s head. Your eyes were pleading, afraid for your life.
“How dare you?!” You whisper-yelled towards Sumire as Jinno proceeded to down-rank Mikan’s star, making her a complete no-star rank. “Why would you do such a thing?” Your eyes were brimming with tears now, in pity for Mikan’s situation. She didn’t deserve this. Sumire’s eyes widened upon seeing your state, not knowing how to react.
Eventually the class ended, and Sumire couldn’t face you as you walked towards Mikan, comforting her for the harsh words Jinno said. Something in her clicked when she saw you on the verge of tears. Was it guilt? Her conscience?
Not a word was exchanged between you and Sumire afterwards, and surely after a few hours, it was now dismissal. While walking outside with the party, you ended up wondering what your star rank is, because at the end of the day, you don’t have a rank either.
“Now I wonder, what is my star rank?” You asked your friends. Hotaru turned back, “Star rank only evaluates your alice, behavior and other factors. Since you haven’t done anything stupid so far, your star rank is still undecided.”
“Although your star rank can go up or down, it mostly depends on how you behave.” Tobita added.
“Wait, so technically I’m a no star too? Because I do not have a ranking.” You asked, eyes widened in shock. Hotaru nodded, and you sulked alongside Mikan.
“I guess we’ll sleep together for now, Mikan.” You sulked, and she nodded in agreement. “Hey you!”
Before we could turn around, Sumire dragged you and Mikan by the collar of your uniforms, claiming that the two of you need to clean the classrooms.
You were assigned to clean the large clock alongside Mikan, as a current no-star. You smirked, holding the cloth as you stood before the clock tower. “Hah! This will be easy.” You created a portal underneath you and one right in front of the gigantic clock.
Using the portal as a platform, you stepped on the edge and proceeded to wipe the glass. It was the height that scared you deeply, but it amazed you due to how you can see everyone and everything. Mikan popped next to you, and the two of you proceeded to clean together, sharing talks and laughs here and there.
Unbeknownst to you, a certain someone was watching your every move.
Eventually, you finished walking to the dormitories with Mikan. She saw Hotaru, and she immediately ran towards her, leaving you alone outside the building. You smiled at them, and the wind rustled, causing you to turn your head back. There you saw him, staring at you from a distance.
It was the man that Natsume warned you about. Your eyes widened, he was smiling at you.
That smile certainly looked dangerous.
He was walking towards you, wearing his mask. Alarmed, you took a step back and hurried inside, but his voice made you halt. “What you did back there amazed me.” He commented, applauding at you.
You turned towards him, furrowing your brows. He stopped a foot away from you, unmoving. “You were watching me.”
“Bingo.” You were about to run inside but stopped once he held your arm with his gloved hand. “I forgot to introduce myself. You can call me Persona.”
“Have you ever heard of joint class? It is a class where middle schoolers and elementary students share a class together, you want to know more?”
“Ugh- let me go—”
“There are five class types.” he pulled you closer, “Latent type, this is where the most common ability users reside. Technical, as the name suggests. Somatic, it has something to do with pheromones and physical alice. Special ability, most eccentric and useless alice.”
You continued to resist, until Persona ended up letting you go.
“The last one is the Dangerous class type.” He did not need to explain more, you already understood what he was implying. You backed away from him, shivering. A part of you played Natsume’s warning multiple times, but your gut tells you that if you run, something bad will happen.
“I’m not the one to do these usually, but I am proud to welcome you to the Dangerous class.”
You felt your world going blank, feeling your limbs weaken from what he said, “what?”
His smirk widened, beneath that mask, you could see he’s staring at you in a condescending, sinister manner. “Oh please, don’t tell me I know your alice better than you?”
You remained silent, waiting for him to finish.
“Portal manipulation. An idiot will tell you that you belong to the Latent class, but I know better than that. And I promise you, I do.” He crouched down to your eye level. “Now, tell me, do you want to know the real purpose of your alice?”
Something in you felt twisted by his words, almost in a sense, manipulated. Deep down you couldn’t stop the curiosity that wondered within you, how could portal manipulation be deemed dangerous? “How can you tell?”
“Come with me, I will show you.”
Mikan was calling out to you, wondering why you disappeared so suddenly when she thought you were behind her all this time. She walked out of the building, there was still no sight of you. The sky was turning dark already, so she was starting to get worried for you. Only the air greeted her features, the cold shivering air that made her shake in the cold.
You were brought inside the principal’s room, "Principal Kuonji, I bought them like you've asked."
"Perfect, oh how perfect. Her alice is the most suitable for this mission." The principal beamed, and you felt a shiver crept down your spine. The principal was hiding behind huge curtains, deeming you unable to see a single thing through.
But you know it, you could hear how malicious his voice sounds, something about him is off-putting already, and eccentric in a negative way.
Swallowing the lump in your throat, Persona and the principal had a private talk together, before one of the bodyguards who wore black suits and sunglasses held your hands together behind your back.
You felt a thick, heavy collar being put around your neck. You flinched, feeling it's cold metal biting through your skin from the tightness.
Soon the guard let you go, and you collapsed on the ground.
With your widened eyes, you stared at your wrists in horror. Finally grasping the danger of the current situation, you created a portal underneath you, only to flinch terribly as you felt an excruciating pain swerve throughout your body.
You were electrocuted.
Although it was only for a split second, the pain already marked its way throughout your body.
You cried, collapsing onto the ground.
"Stand up, let's go." Persona muttered under his breath, you shakily complied, anger lacing through your face.
"What did you do?"
"Just something that would make you obey."
"Bas—" You were once again cut off by the electric shock surging through your veins. Having no choice, you ended up going with him against your will, tears streaming down your face.
"I can control your alice now also. Don't make me end your life here." Persona threatened you, and you immediately became silent afterwards, eyes widened in fear.
Persona guided you to the huge gates of the academy, making sure to keep an eye on you in case you try to escape. He was lying when he said he could control your alice, but he wanted to make you afraid and lessen the possibility of you escaping, considering that your alice would be very good for sneaking.
The gates opened a little, and a black colored car was already waiting from outside. You entered first, eyes widened as it could. Persona sat beside you, keeping his gaze fixated on you.
"You'll finally figure out what your alice is truly about. I'm excited." He cooed, tucking your hair behind your ear as he watched you tremble in fear. As the car started to take off, you looked out of the window silently and ignored Persona’s presence completely.
After a long ride, you saw the car stopped by a warehouse, with many suspicious looking men inside it. They have tattoos, some of them are smoking, while some were playing games.
You suddenly had a bad feeling, something in your stomach tells you what is about to happen will change your entire life.
Persona opened the door, and you hesitantly followed him as he walked inside the warehouse with his hands in his pockets. You followed closely behind him like a scared puppy, your eyes darting across your surroundings, feeling extremely unsafe.
Persona gently pulled you out behind his back.
"How much would it be for the ransom?" He asks, his voice sounding smooth and collected. You shivered in fear upon feeling his gloved hand caress your face from behind.
"They look quite attractive. I'd say around a hundred?"
"Hm, alright." Persona leaned down a bit and whispered into your ear while the man started to prepare the money. "Now, this is your mission."
A long tense silence has passed.
“Create a portal around their abdomen.” Your widened eyes started to shake violently, despite your reluctance, you complied with what he said and created a warp around the old man’s stomach, who looked down in shock.
“Yes, just like that.” He held your shaking hand tightly, putting his mouth next to your ear, “Then close it.” The old man turned his head back and saw you reaching your hand out with tears in your eyes.
"Hey, what does this mea—"
Your eyes widened further as you shrieked upon hearing his voice. At this point you were trembling in fear. Noticing your unresponsiveness, Persona gripped your throat tightly, causing the tears that were building up in your eyes to drip down. “Close it.”
You cried out, tightly closing your eyes as you closed the portal. What you heard next was the sound of the man’s screams and squelching sounds. As you opened your eyes, the sight in front of you made your knees weaken, collapsing right into Persona’s arms as you let out a horrified scream.
The old man’s body was sliced into half, blood dripped out of every hole in his body. You could see the bones and intestines hanging out, the once pink color now turning pale from the loss of blood that pooled underneath the limbs. Blood also splattered on your clothes, your hair and your face.
You turned towards Persona and clung around him tightly as you continued to scream in his chest, shaking terribly. Your mind was twisted, at this point you don’t know what to feel, your alice just killed off somebody.
He gripped your cheeks tightly, “We’re not finished yet. There, look.” You turned your head back and saw the people now running away and screaming shrilly in fear. “Hurry, they’re escaping. You know what would happen if you let them escape?”
“Haah…” You let out a scream, and before you knew it, your alice had gone berserk. Several people laid on the ground, lifeless and sliced into half. More and more people collapsed until all the screams surrounding the warehouse died down. At this point the whole warehouse was bloodied, with all people sliced into half.
“You did a great job.” Persona embraced your trembling form tightly as your screams echoed, your mind becoming blank. He comforted you, rubbing your back as he hummed a song in hope for you to calm down. Despite his actions, there is contempt hidden behind those hands.
"Now do you see it?" He turned your head around so you would be looking towards the corpses you just mutilated using your alice. "Deep inside your portal manipulation, you can manipulate boundaries if used correctly. That's how you get from one place to another. That's how you use your alice."
"No, stop!" You cried out, shaking your head as you tightly closed your eyes.
"If it wasn't for you, it would take a bit long for us to kill them. But you just did it in under one minute. I will give you a reward."
He carried your fragile, bloodied form towards the car, one of his hands pulled two stars out of his pocket and handed it to your bloodied hands.
"Since you just had one of the hardest missions for the first time, I'll give you a bonus star for it."
"What do I need this thing for? You just made me kill! This is how you reward me?! Let me go! Remove this collar!" Persona chuckled as he rubbed his face with his hands.
"Alright, I will. I'm not hard to talk with."
With one click, your collar fell off.
By the time you got to the academy, it was midnight. Your eyes were never the same again. It was blankly staring, hollow and lifelessly shocked from the trauma you had to endure.
"Go to sleep, you still have a lot to do afterwards." Persona fetched you to your new room, leaving you alone inside, bloodied. But seeing you unmoving, he scratched his head in exasperation, knowing he will have to deal with an extremely traumatized kid.