:: Attempt 03 | Falling Sky ::
"Only those elements time cannot wear
Were made before me, and beyond time I stand.
Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here."
- The Inscription upon the Gate to Hell,
Canto III, The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
x + x
"I'm in Class C then.." Tsubaki mutters uninterestedly as she glances at the sheet of paper in her hands. It rustles as she folds it into a neat square, tucking it into her bag. "Not that I expected to be placed into a class higher than D." She adds after a brief pause, shifting her hold upon her school bag.
I shrug in return, adjusting the straps of my messenger bag.
Despite her earlier timidity, I find Tsubaki to be quite an amiable companion. She isn't overly bubbly, cheerful, or anything of the sort; she's quiet, yet thoughtful. And I appreciate her insights on the simplest of things.
At the very least, she will manage to fit in with her classmates.
Unlike the class that I - due to evident circumstances - will be attending. (Perhaps I should also mention that it's mostly due to a certain bastard's interference.)
"Which class are you attending, Aoi-s--" I shoot her a look, to which she smiles sheepishly, scratching at her cheek as she averts her gaze. I sigh in return, unfolding the slip of paper the Chairman sent to me approximately an hour before.
"C-Class A?!" She gasps in surprise, shakily folding the piece with trembling fingers. She looks up at me, and a wry smile tugs at my lips as I nod in affirmation.
"Not to be rude, A-Aoi, but.." She stammers, gingerly fiddling with her fingers. I sigh yet again, placing a hand upon her shoulder. She stiffens immediately, relaxing only slightly as I lift my hand and poke her square upon the forehead.
I smile at the bewildered expression upon her face; gray eyes wide with uncomprehension, her lips parted slightly. I can almost see the gears turning in her head as she tries to come up with something to say.
It's amusing, to say the least. And no, that statement isn't meant to sound strange.
A look of understanding crosses her features not long after, and a glimmer of concern is palpable through her questioning gaze. Are you going to be okay? She seems to ask.
"That's the section where Asano--"
"I'll be fine, Tsubaki," I say as calmly as I can muster. "Now let's go; we don't want to be late on our first day, do we?"
She nods in return; her dark, chin-length hair bobbing up and down as she takes her place at my side.
Our footsteps click upon the pristine tiles as we weave through the mass of gathering students. I remain placid, boredom influencing me to open the book within my hands after I briefly adjust my headphones. Tsubaki keeps her steps in time with mine; eyes darting from side to side in faux apprehension. I can audibly hear her wince each time a rude student shoulders past her, and amusement further stirs within me.
I can see why Father assigned her to this mission, I muse, observing the alertness barely concealed in a flurry of faked nervousness within her eyes. She is a natural at deception.
Finally, we slow to a stop beside an open doorway; a plain, monotone sign indicating that the room is Class 3-C. I raise my hand in farewell, a reassuring smile upon my lips as Tsubaki hesitantly entered with an exaggerated sigh.
With that done, I continue on my way, flipping through the pages with ease.
"Now it falls all around me,
Did I think I could run away?"
Yet there is no such thing as an infinite paradise. Everything came to an end, after all.
I abruptly slow down my footsteps as I narrow my eyes at the spectacle before me.
The devil himself is standing guard right outside the door.
Mildly irritated, I keep my gaze upon my book; RED's "Falling Sky" blaring from the headphones I wear. (Surely, gadgets are allowed on campus, right? Quite unlike that Catholic school in the Philippines I infiltrated years ago..)
I walk slowly, regardless of the stares I'm most likely getting from my fellow schoolmates - male and female alike. In all honestly, I prefer to be alone with my thoughts; as such, I'm usually thought of as 'emo', an apathetic fifteen-year-old incapable of showing interest in the activities which normal teenagers of my age often chose.
Not that I care. I withstood more than my share of scathing insults in this lifetime.
Dante has just rushed down the Mount of Joy, the Three Beasts close to his heels [1], when the demonic incarnation snatches the book out of my grasp.
Ire bubbling deep within, I look up from my empty hands; fingertips longing for a sharpened dagger or a Glock. Infuriatingly familiar purple eyes meet mine as I remove my headphones; all the while biting my tongue to rein in my growing frustration.
He just didn't know when to give up the ghost, did he?
"Watch where you're going, Aoi," Gakushu utters placidly, Dante Alighieri's "The Inferno" securely within his palm - and out of my reach.
Mentally, I throw barrage after barrage of foul curses - some which might earn me a tongue-lashing from either 'Seis' or 'Quattuor' - directed at this vile bastard. Physically, however, I cross my arms beneath my chest, regarding him with a blank stare.
"Do you expect me to have two pairs of eyes? I was reading, thank you very much, until you oh-so-rudely interrupted me. Would you mind returning my property?"
He simply looks at me in mild amusement, "You could have found time to read somewhere else, not while walking. It may have caused a disaster - I suppose you already know that, Aoi, don't you?"
I bristle at his implication. I'm no ignorant child, for pity's sake. "Perhaps you might've known that taking another's property may result in a 'disaster' as well, didn't you? Yet reflect upon your actions. You committed the opposite of what you are implying right now, Asano. Now tell me, why should I follow your example?"
A dry smile quirks his lips at my reply. "I didn't imply anything of the sort, Aoi. It may be just a result of your assumptions."
I pinch the bridge of my nose, shaking my head. "Oh, and you would be the master of such doings, wouldn't you, Shu? After all, you didn't know all of the facts, yet you based a conclusion off of your baseless deductions. How utterly smart of you, don't you think?"
And with that, I pluck the book out of his open palm, adding a flick on his forehead for good measure. (I might've dealt a more serious blow, yet the scandalized glares of the feminine student population at my back somewhat discouraged me to do so. It's far too early to blow my cover, after all.)
He remains silent, following me inside the classroom as I slide open the door. Here goes nothing, I suppose.
''"Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here." How perfectly fitting,' I muse.
'Now, how awful are the faces of the demons contained within this classroom, indeed?'
x + x
< ? >
I watched the house - all I ever knew - burn down to ash, to nothing but dust.
"Ashes, ashes, we all fall down," so goes a line from a popular nursery rhyme. And though the cinders sting my bloodshot eyes, though I can't move my numbed limbs, I can't help but wonder.
Wonder why the skies still seem so bright, so beautiful, full of twinkling stars in the night when all I see before me is a maze of burnt husks. Shells of once-lively homes.
Wonder why they whisper of condolences, of stupid, stupidly ugly lies when I know - know - that they're lying. Lying to my face when I've already figured it all out.
Wonder why they pray to the unseen, murmur wishes to blocks of granite lined up in uniform rows just because they could.
Wonder why I'm still here when all I know has been erased - like the writings on a stupid blackboard after everything - and gone forever.
I can't take back what's lost. I can't say 'I forgive you,' when it's a flat-out lie.
I've lost it all. I can't figure what I should do, where I should go, what's happening because if I follow what they say then it's wrong wrong wrong--
They don't know what I'm supposed-- what I have to do. And if they don't know, how would I be able to?
x + x
< Third Person Point of View >
In the days before, there wasn't a thought in the minds of the students residing in the top of the proverbial food chain that there would one day come a personage of countless differences to their class.
They prefer to keep things the way they are; in subsequence, contentment had long since pervaded their senses.
A studious silence coats the atmosphere - an air of tension straining to break free from its icy bonds. All of them want to claim the top, to tower over everyone else their age.
'I will be the best.' Such thoughts enter and plague the minds of the students of Class 3-A.
Yet as of this moment... The studious air dissipates as tension grips each and everyone of the class's occupants. The beast has long been freed from its cage, so to speak; a viper slithers within their midst, ready to strike. But there isn't such an elusive thing like silence as a collective cacophony of hissed whispers, murmuring and the like pierces the air as one such personage enters the room; unruffled, so she appears.
"Who's she?" A voice asks as soon as the girl takes her place at the very front of the class, eyeing the collective number of students as she does so.
"Hey, do you think she's related to that delinquent in Class E?"
"Akabane, you mean? There's a slight chance she is, look at her hair.." Another whispers after an awkward pause from the first two who spoke. A wave of unease filters through the entire population of Class 3-A.
A boy from the back of the class suddenly whistles, a sly glint in his eye.
"Man, is she a foreigner? She's quite the beauty!"
The rest of his so-called 'friends' laugh at the remark, clapping his shoulder. One of them props up his glasses, taking a closer look at the quiet redhead who was still gazing at the class with a peculiarly calm aura.
"Scottish? Nah, maybe British or something... Definitely European.."
A muffled thump resounds in the midst of the classroom as four students stand from their seats, hustling to get to the internally seething newcomer. Curiosity invades their senses as the sight of the apathetic redhead stepping into their class alongside a silent Asano Gakushu coerces rumors to slip past their lips.
"Do you think she's Asano-kun's girlfriend? Maybe she's from another school so we didn't hear of her before.." A sibilant whisper from one of the girls snakes through the tension-filled atmosphere. Several muffled gasps follow soon after; horror, envy and hatred burning within the feminine population of the class.
"That's impossible! Look, she's even wearing our uniform!" Another girl immediately protests.
"Maybe she transferred here so she would be near him?"
Questions fill the normally studious students' minds as they - as one - look over to where the mysterious redheaded girl stands.
Will their countless questions be answered?
Perhaps.
x + x
< Hanazono Aoi >
I purse my lips into a thin line as four males stride over towards me amidst the whispers of my new "classmates". In all honesty, where did they get all the basis for these idiotic rumors? The complex structure of the human mind appears to be quite simplistic at times, indeed.
"How merciful is Fate to grant me the pleasure of meeting a beauty like you." An - admittedly - handsome boy around my age utters smoothly, smiling a little too forced to be genuine. I raise an unimpressed eyebrow, tightening my grip upon my messenger bag - a futile attempt to rein in my waning patience.
How dare he attempt to flirt with me? Me, of all the girls in this academy?
"What an idiot.." I mutter beneath my breath, stepping beyond the male's reach. A frown wrinkles his possibly self-proclaimed 'handsome' features, and I wrinkle my nose in disgust.
"Merciful?" I say flatly, rocking back on my heels as I remove my headphones altogether. "Perhaps sadistic, as it has allowed me to fall prey to disgusting imbeciles."
As though in a domino effect, all four look at me in surprise - the first having a wry smile adorning his features. I eye them without interest, digging my fingernails further into the paperback book in my hand.
"Where did you come from?" Yet another one of the company asks, a suspicious brow raised as far as it could go. His nose remains haughtily turned up in the air as he watches me with what looks like utter curiosity within his eyes.
"San Francisco, California." I force a smile, tilting my head to the side. The latter simply walks even closer, a sneer fixed upon his lips.
"Is that so? What's your name then?" He pauses, his lip curling in distaste. "That sorta accent of yours don't sound American at all."
"Oh? So you may have noticed that I am of Spanish descent then, is that it?" A sardonic smile is all I offer then. "To be frank, I presume you didn't live in America long enough to gain the ability to discern whether I possess the aforementioned accent you seek. A year or so at most, I believe - perhaps somewhere in Los Angeles?"
Pure, unabashed surprise cloaks his features. I let my grin grow wider, smiling mockingly at the boy. "How did you know..?"
I raise an eyebrow, holding up a hand as I count off the 'reasons' he sought. "Firstly, there's a hint of American slang in the way you speak. Secondly, such patterns of speech are commonly used in California, majorly in the areas of San Francisco and Los Angeles. I suppose you.. How shall I phrase this? 'Hung out' with several teenagers there with the same manner of speaking, is that it?"
A satisfied smile takes hold of my lips at their stunned expressions - albeit the other three looks somewhat confused. That same smile turns into a disapproving frown, however, as I sense a hand placing itself upon my shoulder. I turn, scowling at the sudden contact.
"Aoi," a trace of amusement laces my name as he speaks, the sound sending a brief shiver down my spine. He gestures towards the Imbecilic Four - what I now dub the males who dared interact with me as though I'm lower than they are. (I almost snort derisively at the thought.) "Don't be rude to my friends, will you?"
A dry smile adorns my lips at his words. "I didn't know you had friends of the same gender and age with you at this school. Of course, I should have expected it, shouldn't I? After all, 'birds of a feather, flock together'. Am I right, Shu?"
"'Shu'?" The Imbecilic Four repeats after me in a confused chorus, gazing at the strawberry-blonde male to my left in questioning.
Gakushu strains a smile, not yet removing his hand from my shoulder amidst the jealous glares the girls in the class. I might have rolled my eyes, if only to provoke them further. However, I myself am getting irritated at the constant attention I'm getting due to such assertive actions from a certain male. It only further stokes their curiosity - and envy. As a result, I slap his hand off my shoulder, much to the surprised gasps I earn from the feminine audience.
I imperceptibly release a pent-up sigh.
"Aoi, meet the other members of the Five Virtuosos: Araki Teppei," - he gestures towards a boy with glasses, still staring at me with shock - "Koyama Natsuhiko," - a manic, glasses-wearing boy with disheveled hair - "Sakakibara Ren," - Oh, so that's Mr. Flirtatious Bastard, then? - "and Seo Tomoya."
The English-speaking boy goes last, and I restrain a mocking smirk .
"A pleasure to meet you." I say, mostly for the sake of courtesy.
"Everyone," Gakushu addresses the entire class, whose whispers fades into silence soon after he speaks. (Obviously due to their utter obedience of this holier-than-thou bastard.) "This is Hanazono Aoi, my childhood friend," he pauses briefly, eyeing me out of the corner of his eye, as though daring me to object. I feel a chill pass through me before he even speaks - a sense of foreboding.
Without warning, I take hold of his right hand, glaring at him - Don't tell them about the agreement, I think heatedly. A smile - genuine, this time - graces his lips as he holds my hand securely within his grasp..
..raising it to his lips and pressing a kiss to my knuckles. Only a few centimeters from where the ring rests upon my finger.
I won't lie - my face immediately flushes as scarlet as my hair, and I avert my gaze. A chuckle slips past his lips as he lowers his hand to his side, still holding onto mine.
If there's a state worse than before - as the girls glare at me with envy - there is now.
"She's also my girlfriend, and has been for a while now."
I look up at him as he calmly tells the lie; my stomach churning as though I had just plunged off a cliff. Trust me, I know how that felt like. (I would rather not describe that though.)
You aren't satisfied by feeding me lies, are you, you bastard? I think just as the teacher enters the class in a flurry of confusion. You dare involve the entire school into this mess?
But, it's better than telling them the entire truth, right? A voice inside my head argues. At least no one would think of you as his fiancee... Just as his girlfriend, if that's any consolation.
What did I get myself into?
-To be continued.
[Word count: 3,051 (Notes excluded.) Originally written: December 6th, 2015. Edited: July 11th-12th, 2016.
Changes: Minor edits; new events.
[1] Dante... The Three Beasts - A reference to the first scene in Canto I of The Inferno, where the main character is found escaping from the aforementioned 'creatures' (which are representations of sin).
Peace out,
Zoe]