Makoto was making her usual rounds when she heard glass break followed by a scream. She ran in time to see a male student run away from Sadayo Kawakami's classroom in a panic. Makoto hurriedly went inside.
"Ms. Kawakami, what happened?!"
Sadayo was on the ground with shock on her face and close by was an overturned table with shards from a broken mug scattered below the white board.
"That student..." Sadayo stuttered, "I was explaining the issues with his grades and he got so mad! He took my mug right out my hands and threw in then flipped the table!"
Makoto hurriedly helped Sadayo up. "You're not hurt are you?"
"N-No..."
"I'm gonna try and stop him, sit tight!"
Makoto ran out of the room and in the direction the student went. This was the fourth time she's heard of a student acting aggressively. Something bad was going around and it was only getting worse. Makoto looked all around, but the student seemed to disappear out of thin air.
"Damn it... I'll have to report this. Huh?"
Her phone was buzzing in her pocket. Makoto took it out and answered, eyes still going over the campus grounds for the student.
"Hello?"
"M-Makoto...?"
"Haru? Babe, what's wrong?"
"I-I did something bad..."
Makoto raised an eyebrow. "What happened? Are you ok? Where are you?"
Haru's voice shook. It sounded like she was crying.
"I didn't mean to do it! I don't know what I was thinking!" Haru sobbed, "What's wrong with me Makoto...? Please help me!"
"Where are you right now?"
"O-Our dorm..."
"I'm coming."
Makoto glanced back hesitantly at the campus grounds, thinking about how scared Sadayo probably was and the violent student she had yet to identify.
Regrettably, she broke out into a run towards the girls dormitories.
————
The sound of pencils scratching on paper seemed to be the only thing keeping Ren at ease. That and the sound of Yusuke's voice as he hummed to himself. Ren glanced up from his sketchbook to watch as Yusuke put away some art supplies, continuing to hum, possibly not realizing he was doing it. Ren cracked a smile before he resumed drawing.
"You've got such a soothing voice," he said.
"Oh, do I?" Yusuke laughed, "You're not the first to say that. Does everyone really think it's soothing?"
"Hell yeah. You could do ASMR with a voice like that,"
"I ought to consider that,"
Yusuke put up another box before stretching his arms and going to see what Ren was drawing. All over the page were lovely designs for luxurious ball gowns.
"They're beautiful," he said with a grin.
"You think so? I'm not too sure about some of these,"
"This one right here, I'd wear that one. It's very pretty."
"Ah...!"
When Yusuke pointed out one of the designs his chest met Ren's back. His hand grazed Ren's arm when he pulled it back. His other hand was leaning on the table, caging Ren in. He tensed up at the familiar contact, stealing a few nervous glances at Yusuke. Ren let out a gasp when he felt lips brush against his neck and turned his head away.
"Hah... we shouldn't do this..."
"Did you not enjoy the last time?" Yusuke's voice was soft.
"No, it's just... we agreed this wouldn't happen again,"
"Is Sakamoto still failing to notice your advances?"
Ren bit his bottom lip and dropped his gaze. Yusuke brought a hand up to hold Ren's face before leaving more rough kisses on his neck, teeth grazing his skin and threatening to bite. A high-pitched moan left Ren's mouth and he had to grab the table in front of him.
"Forget him for now..." Yusuke muttered, "I'm here for you..."
Ren shut his eyes when Yusuke was pushing his shirt sleeve aside so he could suck on a spot by his shoulder. Ren's mind was going hazy. He almost went along with it, but when he heard footsteps quickly approaching the door, he snapped out of it and pushed at Yusuke's chest. They separated just before Hifumi kicked the door in.
"Kitagawa?! Kitagawa, we gotta talk!" she barged in, red-faced and breathing heavily.
"Togo, that's no way to—"
"Shut the fuck up!!" Hifumi shrieked. "I looked at my grade in this class, why the hell do you hate me?!"
She slammed a fist on a table. The sudden and loud action startled Ren, making him drop the pencil he was holding.
"Togo! I don't hate you! Your grade slipped because you haven't been doing the work in class properly—"
Hifumi screamed loudly, cutting Yusuke off once again. She pulled her hair and continued to scream.
"I draw the shit I'm supposed to draw! I do everything Madarame assigns, what am I doing wrong?!"
She started scratching at her arms, which were red, covered in nail marks, and beginning to bleed. Ren was shocked at this side of Hifumi. She'd never cause a scene like this, and those scratches? Yuuki was right, something strange was going on...
"Miss Togo, look at yourself! What is this, is there something going on I don't know about?"
Hifumi started to stutter and whine, tears streaming down her face. She continued to scratch at her arms but with a single hand spasm, she began clawing at her neck. Yusuke was quick to grab her wrists.
"Togo, stop that! Ren, I'm sorry, I need to get her to the nurse!" he cried.
"Aiyaaaaaahhh!! Don't fucking touch me!! I'LL KILL YOU!!"
Hifumi pushed Yusuke away from her and then kicked over a desk covered with boxes of colored pencils. Ren gasped and jumped back against the wall as pencils scattered all around. Yusuke got back up and grabbed Hifumi's arms, twisting her around and pinning her down against a table.
"Ren are you ok?!" he cried.
The younger male nodded, shaking.
"I'm taking her to the nurse! Agh! Togo, stop that!"
Yusuke dragged Hifumi away, screams of anguish coming from the girl. Ren slowly moved away from the wall, processing what just went down in front of him. Terrified, Ren stuffed his sketchbook and pencils back in his bag and hurried out the classroom.
"Fuck this, fuck this...!"
Ryuji was walking close by when he saw Yusuke dragging an angered Hifumi out of a building, followed by his friend who looked more than scared.
"Ren! Hey, Ren!" Ryuji hurried to catch up with him. "Ren, what just happened?"
The noiret stuttered and pushed up his glasses. "I don't know... Togo-San was really mad and she started screaming and kicked a table over. Fuck, you should've seen the way she was scratching her arms, it was awful!"
Ren didn't mention what happened between him and Yusuke before Hifumi showed up. He couldn't.
"Wait, really? Damn..."
"Wh-What?"
"Earlier today I saw Okumura, she had thrown this rabbit at a wall and then she started screaming while stabbing it with her heel—"
Ren exclaimed and covered his ears.
"I don't want to hear that! Shut up!" he cried.
"Fuck, sorry..."
Ryuji put an arm around Ren and spoke in a soothing manner.
"Are you freaked out over Togo? Do you need a second to breathe...?"
Ren nodded, almost crying. Ryuji brought his friend over to a bench under a tree and they sat down. Ren kept a hand over his mouth, trying not to sob out loud. Everything was coming together; the people present during the chemical explosion weren't acting right. They were all sick.
He glanced up at Ryuji, at the worry in his brown eyes.
No, no, it wasn't possible. Sweet, energetic, fun-loving Ryuji would never do any of the insane things Ren had witnessed.
It wasn't possible... right?