"Class, this is our new student. Would you like to introduce yourself?" My new homeroom teacher spoke confidently, looking me in the eye.
"Mizuki," I spoke in a hushed voice, afraid of speaking so much as beyond a whisper.
I was incredibly nervous and anxious to get out of there. Even so, I knew I would need to distract myself from being bored all day, waiting ever so patiently for trouble to arrive at my doorstep. Not even within two minutes of being in the classroom, people were already staring and whispering about me. Even the teacher and principal were staring me up and down and judging silently amongst the room. It almost scared me, how silence really could be deadly.
All I could think about were the beads of sweat running down my neck and temples. I wasn't comfortable being judged or even being stared at. It just didn't work well with me. I've always felt embarrassed about how I was born, and people talking about me behind my back wasn't a good feeling. It felt so embarrassing, that's why I've always preferred slipping into the shadows where I wasn't noticed or bothered
I felt a stare burning through my skull and turned around. The hair on my neck stood up and made me feel like the hairs were pricking my delicate skin, making me feel very uncomfortable to the point where I rubbed my neck for it to stop. When my head slowly turned to face the person behind me, I stepped back a bit, making room for them. The person behind me was a boy around my age, maybe a year older or so. I couldn't get a good look at him before he shoved me out of the way using his shoulder.
The only thing that stood out about the kid was the fact that everything he wore was black or dark gray, while everybody else in the class was wearing normal clothes. He plopped down in his chair and stared at me for a while. I gulped, turning back to the teacher. I mouthed to the teacher that I had no clue what to do, and she signaled me to sit down in the back of class next to the creepy dude.
"Kai, you are assigned with the task of having to show the new girl around the school," The teacher, who I now knew as Mrs. Cho, said accordingly.
"Tsk."
I think I'm gonna name that guy something more appropriate. Like- oh, I know! Creepy dude! There we go!
I chuckled, not expecting Creepy Dude to hear me. The guy twisted his head to stare me down so fast I thought he would break his neck. Of course, I didn't want trouble on the first day, but I wasn't going to act like a little punk just to please him. I slumped in my chair, slouching as I propped my chin up with my fist. Slowly, yet surely, I fell asleep somehow through Mrs. Cho's lecture.
And by lecture, I mean Mrs. Cho chewing out a student for drawing on their desk. Though she was loud, I managed to drift off into a world of darkness. A noiseless, peaceful, calming, utterly pitch black slumber. Yet the next thing I knew, I was awoken by a deep voice calling me. Immediately, I had awoken.
I knew I had always been a very light sleeper, but I never knew I could be awoken by just a noise alone. I groaned mentally and opened my eyes after a moment or so, only to see Creepy Dude in front of my desk with his arms crossed. He groaned and told me to follow him, to which I obeyed his silent command.
"C'mon. I gotta give you a tour before the next class starts," I nodded slightly, showing that I would follow when I picked up my bags.
"What's in those bags?" Creepy Dude asked.
"M-My stuff," I replied reluctantly.
"Like what?"
"My clothes, school supplies, just stuff."
"Why did you bring your clothes? Why don't you just leave them at home or something?"
"I don't have a home," I muttered in a low voice so that he wouldn't hear.
"What was that?"
"N-Nothing. Don't worry about it. C-Can you give me the tour now?"
"Sure, I guess."
I couldn't tell if he was bored or if he was curious to find out what was in my bags.
Should've put my bags in my locker when I had the chance. Goshdarnit. Whatever, I'll put my bags away after the tour.
"This is the third floor. The first, second, third, and fourth floors contain the classrooms, washrooms, stairwells, and water fountains. The fifth floor is the rooftop, very few people go there mainly because it's a long way up. I assume you aren't interested in having your feet break, are you?"
"I don't mind the walk."
"Heh, you're a weird one. Anyways, the first floor is where the cafeteria, library, Starbucks, computer rooms, recreation areas, and lounge areas are. You got all that?"
"Yeah. Damn, is this one of those rich, private schools or something?" I mumbled.
"Yup, pretty much. Except, this is a public school, private school, and everything in between. We're the biggest school in Tokyo. We share this campus with the biggest private school, the biggest middle school, and the biggest college. We are the biggest and most popular, yet hard to get into Highschool. We're split into separate sections. Section A, the private school building, Section B, the middle school, Section C, which is us, and Section D, the college campus. We even have our police department, all of this is paid for by our government."
I pulled out the piece of paper I had in my backpack and asked him what it all meant.
"What do you mean? What, never been to a public school before?"
"Nope," I answered, having an awkward feeling surround me.
After a few painstakingly awkward moments and hearing Creepy Dude sigh finally, he snatched the schedule out of my hand and stared at it for a moment before shoving the paper into my hands.
"Well? C'mon, or else we'll be late," He grabbed my wrist and started dragging me to my next class.
"You have the same classes as me, so long as you follow me you won't get lost. You got that?" I pulled my wrist away from him, rubbing it gently.
"I can walk too, ya know?" I murmured slowly.
"Tsk. But you're slow, so keep up, alright?"
I nodded, walking beside him with my head down ever so slightly. I sighed, wondering if everyone was like this in the real world.
"What?"
I heard Creepy Dude interrupt my thoughts. I side-eyed him and gulped, he wasn't at all intimidating yet he had a cold look in his eyes. But before I could examine his features his glare turned sour, forcing me to look away before I could embarrass myself further. He sighed, tugging on my sweater.
"C'mon, our next class is class 31-C. Let's go."
He urged me forward, to which I followed him to our class. Once we got to the class and slid open the singular wooden door, everybody's eyes were on me. I felt sick to the stomach, I hated feeling nauseous. Yet I despised being stared at so much so that it obliterated any room to say otherwise. The teacher looked me up and down before looking at her schedule.
"Name?"
"Mizuki. I go by my last name," I replied.
The teacher stared at me blankly before looking at her clipboard.
"Alright, you sit next to Kai in the very back."
I bowed gracefully and strolled briskly to the back of the class. Everybody's eyes were on me and I loathed the feeling of being watched closely. My throat felt like it was being pinched and was burning, I couldn't swallow nor speak for that matter. I looked at Creepy Dude, who I now knew as Kai, and sat down next to him. I set my backpack down next to me, getting my pen and notebook out.
"Today, we are going to be learning about the Fall of the Other Side and how it came to form the Newfound Nations. Mizuki, you need not participate."
Pfft. I learned this along with my teammates on the first day of school back in Canada. Before I escaped, of course.
"Anyways class, back in 2020 there was a global pandemic that affected everybody in the world, even the animals. Well, it affected almost everyone. While everybody else in the world suffered and dropped dead like flies, there were a handful of people that settled in either one part of the world or the other. These handfuls of people slowly populated the world again."
Already learned this. I know exactly what she's going to ask, this is the ancient history we're talking about! Everybody already knows this stuff!
"First question, what did the scientists who discovered this disease call it?" The teacher asked.
I looked around at the room, scanning for any hands being raised only to see not even one finger in the air.
Does nobody know this? Or are they just lazy?
I raised my hand reluctantly, I hated attention but wasn't going to let the teacher sit in silence and confusion as to why nobody was answering.
"Yes, Mizuki?"
"They called it Covid-19, or coronavirus for short."
"That is correct! You get five percent extra credit for being the first and only one to answer," Everyone in class stared at me as if I were a genius.
"What? Nobody else learned this stuff?" I asked questioningly.
Nearly everybody shook their heads. I was surprised at the fact that no one had learned this sooner. This is the history about how the world that we live in came to be, how do they not know this?
Now I'm getting the feeling that their past teachers were lazy, I thought to myself.
"Okay, moving on. When the world was colonized once again, the people moved on with their lives. But amongst them were five girls born with supernatural abilities that still cannot be explained, which are called peculiarities. Each of them was born in a different country. One of which of born in Newfound Canada, one in Newfound America, one of them in Newfound South America, another in Newfound Central America, and one in Ancient Japan, which is here. These peculiar teens were brought to Canada to form the group well known as Gen Z. As you might have heard on the news or will hear on the news soon enough, four out of the five girls with those peculiarities died in a recent battle in Newfound Canada. The ringleader's whereabouts, identity, peculiarity, and the opinion of the people on whether she is alive or not is still up for debate."
Though she put almost half of the class to sleep through her lecture, I was surprised I was still listening. It was almost like she was a news reporter, spilling nearly every detail while still being neutral.
"Miss?" I saw a hand shoot up into the air, followed by a familiar voice ask a question.
"Yes, Kai?"
"How did five teenage girls form such a powerful group?"
You freaking delinquent. I will murder this guy with my bare hands! He seriously doesn't get the picture?! I mentally facepalmed myself, rolling my eyes in the process.
"Well, when these girls turned ten years old, they were taken to Canada to be trained mentally, physically, and emotionally. They were trained to be muscular and lean physically, strong and hard mentally, and void of any emotion when it comes to anything that's in their field."
"What do you mean by 'in their field', Miss?"
"I mean, when it came to battling enemies, capturing them and sometimes executing them if they didn't cooperate. They were trained to be lean, mean, killing machines from when they all first turned ten years old and found out what their peculiarity was."
Another hand flew into the air and suddenly everybody was interested in what the teacher had to say.
"How do you know all of this?"
"I took a trip to Canada to see how things worked. I wanted to see how everything was running there. I got to see some of them train together. It was hard, harder than to get into what they called the 'White House', but it is possible."
"Really?! What did they look like?!" A girl squealed.
"Well, I don't know their names, but I remember what they look like. One of them had light brown hair, dimples, and amber eyes, she was also quite tall."
Lin.
"Another had almost white hair, white eyes, and pale skin."
Angelixia.
"The third one, if I recall correctly, had red hair, blue eyes, and lots of freckles on her face."
Yua.
"The fourth one had deep brown hair, black eyes, and was fair-skinned. One of her eyes had a scar on it, a claw mark if I remember right."
Ahma.
"What about the fifth one, Ms. Ling?"
"I didn't see the fifth one. I have reason to believe that she either trained alone or wasn't there when I arrived. I also have reason to believe that the leader of Gen Z is the most powerful, and strongest of the group."
Well, at least she did her homework. Lin. She and Angelixia had the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. Lin's Peculiarity was Forever Fire. She was sort of a pyromaniac, she was obsessed with fire. She would even create tiny flames and place them in our palms for us to hold oh so gently as if they were children.
It always felt so alive, like it was a part of her. Angelixia's Peculiarity was the opposite of Lin's. She could freeze anything she saw. She used to make weapons made of ice for us to play around with when we weren't training. Yua's Peculiarity was mind control, she could make anyone do anything at her will. I remember she made one of the lunch ladies make her pizza instead of oats, it was really funny to see the guards try to stop her.
And Ahma's Peculiarity, it was spectacular and beautiful. She could make acidic, black rain. It might sound horrible, considering that it was black acid and disintegrated anyone it touched, but we weren't affected by it. We could hold droplets of the black rain in our hands, seeing our reflections through it and having Ahma form it into our favorite shapes. I remember it was always so fun hanging out with the four of them. The only time I wasn't allowed to train with the rest of the girls is when an unexpected visitor came all those years ago, which I now know was Ms. Ling.
Who knows that after all of these years, I would get to meet the woman who visited us long ago, and not even realizes it, likewise with Ms. Ling.
"Though I didn't get to meet nor see the leader of Gen Z, I've always wanted to meet her," Added Ms. Ling.
Well wish granted, you just did, I chuckled lowly.
"Is something the matter, Mizuki?" Ms. Ling asked.
"Nothing. But I mean, anything's possible. If the leader of Gen Z was alive, then you might've possibly walked past her without even realizing it. It's sort of a mind boggler, thinking of the possibilities of seeing her without even giving it a second thought. She could be in Japan right now and we wouldn't even know!"
Pfft. They don't even realize I'm giving them major clues.
"Well, I mean, that's true. But how would she even get here if she was stationed with her team in Canada? She's a teenager, she couldn't possibly get enough money for a ticket here. Who knows if she's even alive? She could've been captured or something," Kai piped up from beside me.
"Just a thought. Don't need to get so worked up about it."
I placed my hands behind my head, side glancing Kai and leaning back in my chair. It wasn't before long until lunchtime rolled around the corner. I had already packed my things and put my bag in my locker. Once I had closed my locker, I was greeted by Kai leaning against his locker.
"Hey. I'm sorry for being rude earlier," Kai managed to croak.
"It's fine."
"Do you wanna go eat? The lunch here is pretty incredible."
"Sure," I replied.
I wonder what the lunch here is like. Is it like the dumplings I had last night? Man, that would be amazing.
Before I knew it, Kai gently grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the cafeteria. I smelled scents that I had never smelled before. I saw food that I had never seen before. I saw so many faces look in our direction as Kai and I went to go grab our trays. I stared at the food in awe as we continued walking in line.
"What are you waiting for? Just tell the lunch lady what you want and she'll put it on your plate. Have you ever been in a lunch line before?"
"We never had this luxury."
I responded, still marveling at the masterpieces that sat before me. Before long, Kai had started ordering for me. I opened my mouth in protest but Kai had insisted I sit back and watch. I felt embarrassed having somebody order for me, especially with almost everyone's eyes on me, watching my every move. I had a knot in my stomach as Kai pulled me forward to the counter space where the lunch ladies gave us our food.
I bowed slightly before turning away from the lunch lady to follow Kai. He led me to a table where only us two and a few others sat. I slid into a spot directly in front of Kai, setting my order down in front of me. I was almost drooling when I heard Kai interrupt my thoughts.
"What are you waiting for? Eat up."
"I-. It almost looks too good to even eat. It's like a masterpiece," I mumbled slowly.
"It's fine. Go ahead," Kai urged me.
I waited a few moments, the other people that were at our table glanced at us occasionally in confusion.
"Here."
Kai huffed, taking my plastic fork. He stabbed some of the food on my plate and held the fork up to my mouth, insisting me to eat.
"I-,"
"It's okay, just eat."
I hesitated slightly, not sure if I should. Against my own will, I ate the food that was on the fork. I groaned, surprised that food could taste this good.
"It's so good!" I drawled, my taste buds very pleased.
"There's only one thing that's missing," I paused.
"And what's that?" Kai wondered.
"Spice," I declared with one word.
After that, I put a lot of pepper and green sauce on my order. And to my surprise, I ate the whole thing in under five minutes. The next thing you know, I looked up to see Kai nodding his head in approval. I looked behind him, only to see a bunch of guys and girls shaking their heads in disapproval, whispering among themselves while shooting me cold looks. Kai looked in the direction I was looking, only to look back and murmur something in my ear.
"Don't pay any mind to them. I've been here for a while and from what I've seen and heard, they're brutal. They even beat people up to the point where people have had to go to the hospital. I still don't know how they haven't been expelled yet."
I nodded my head, showing that I understood the severity of the situation. It was only then that I got a good look at Kai, without any interruptions. He had jet black hair, pale skin, and misty gray eyes. He was tall for his age, causing me to look up at him while he had to look down. The only thing that was off about him was the fact that while everybody else in school either had a white or black aura, Kai had a gray one, just like me.
It was impossible to have a gray aura unless you had a peculiarity as well. It could have been a trick of the light possibly, yet I knew better than that.
"Great! Now that we've got that out of the way. Can we start over, please?"
It almost sounded like Kai was pleading for forgiveness. I had no clue why he sounded so sad and regretful, but I accepted his apology and plead.
"Of course."
"Great!"
Kai cleared his throat audibly, outstretching his hand for me to shake.
"My name is Kai. Kai Ambrose," Kai said with a solemn tone.
I giggled, not expecting him to do that. I shook his hand and did the same.
"My name is Mizuki."
"Alright then! Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Mizukage."
"Likewise, Mr. Ambrose."
And with that, we finished our food and went to our classes once again.
3, 541 words.