Several students from all years were heading to classes through the huge iron bridges. Among them was Aiden, a normal boy, except for two things: Since he can remember, for a reason that no one has been able to identify, strange black smoke appears in front of his eyes. The other reason, the horrible incident he witnessed last night.

The warm morning made it normal to see students with some buttons unbuttoned or sweating, despite the uniform being designed to be more effective in the face of temperature changes than a uniform made of normal fabric. Aiden was no exception, except for the reasons why he was sweating were different.

Ice-cold sweat ran down his back, and his heart was beating abnormally fast. He felt that his eyes would shoot out at any moment because of the pressure at the back of his skull.

He stopped at the entrance of 2C, quickly scanned the classroom, and for a moment massive tranquility befall him, before returning to his tense reality.

«She hasn't arrived yet. Probably, won't at all either, after all that. Ah! What was I thinking?! Of course, she won't come to school. She most likely ran away. Why didn't I call the police immediately? Does that make me an accomplice?»

Aiden was getting deeper and deeper into the never-ending and hellish cycle of his thoughts. At that moment someone touched his shoulder from behind, he thought he would scream, but managed to control himself at the last moment.

—Hey, what's going on, Aiden? You don't look superb, like, at all today.

It was Saya, who had just arrived and saw Aiden standing in front of the door of another classroom that wasn't his.

—Ahh, Saya. It's nothing —with a horrible exhausted face, Aiden left Saya behind and walked to his classroom, straight to his seat.

Noticing his presence, Blair, who was already inside, approached the downcast boy.

—Are you ok? If you're sick, I can take you to the nurse.

The considerate and concerned expression on his face would have been all that Aiden needed to feel better under normal circumstances, but the tremors in his chest were anything but normal.

—It's true. You look terrible. Did something happen yesterday? —Even Saya was showing interest in Aiden's condition.

—It's nothing to worry about, I just didn't sleep well —said Aiden.

Under normal circumstances, he would be eternally grateful, and a little moved, but he could only focus on one thing. As long as he didn't have to face her, he could continue pretending that everything is fine, but once their eyes meet, he couldn't even be certain how he would react.

At that moment, as if she was playing with his heart, the voice of the person he most wanted to see and avoid, reached his ears. "Is Blair, the representative, here?" Aiden's eyes widened as he saw the person who pronounced those simple and friendly words, standing at the door, beautiful, like the first time he saw her. His skin was completely covered in goosebumps as he heard the sound of her steps entering the classroom. He closed his eyes and, in an attempt, to repress his emotions, he clenched his fist as hard as he could.

An immense tension, followed by rage, then terror —a combination he had never experienced before—, ran through his body when he realized that, even with her standing in front of him, he could still act normally.

But his torment was far from over.

—Hi, Aiden, good morning —said Maika, leaning her body towards Aiden's who was downcast. Whether it was out of courtesy, since they met yesterday, or for some hidden reason, Maika extended her greeting upon seeing him.

Should he ignore her? Should he respond? He wanted to scream with all his might, for everyone in the classroom to hear what he saw last night. A multitude of ideas crossed his mind several times in the longest second of his life.

Finally, he decided on an action. Aiden lifted his head just a little to keep the minimum eye contact possible, if possible, he wanted to keep it out of question, but as he looked up, he saw Maika's smiling expression. Despite her cute, casual smile, what Aiden felt was a rain of repulsive emotions.

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—Yes, good morning.

—What's going on, Maika? —Interrupted Blair, not noticing Aiden's cold response as since she saw him this morning, he has been like this—. Is it about showing you around the school?

—Yes, I wanted to know if it was possible to do it today during recess.

—Sure, no problem. That actually makes things a bit easier for me. You don't have a problem with that either, right, Aiden?

—If it's okay with you, then I have nothing to say —Aiden added to the conversation, always keeping his gaze on the floor.

With that, the reunion ended, without anything significant or striking. Maika said goodbye, and Aiden kept observing her intently as she crossed the door.

—Did I make a mistake? Am I dealing with a complete psychopath?

The hours of class passed, and Aiden paid zero attention to the topics discussed, all he did was force his body to maintain control.

The first hours of the morning passed as slowly as they never had before in his entire school life.

Once it arrived the long-awaited recess, Blair, very excitedly for some reason, pulled Aiden to fulfill her duty of showing Maika the basics of the school. If they were to go on an extensive excursion, recess wouldn't be enough, insisted Blair. Even taking the automated electric transport that pass through each faculty, it might not be enough, she added on the way.

The young people walked calmly through one of the hallways that connect the faculty buildings, teaching the facilities with brief descriptions, but Aiden was concerned with his own hellish rendition of school at the moment.

—The library is in that direction, the main cafeteria over there, and the—said Blair. Her arms moved her as a seasoned tour guide would.

In other buildings, you could see people walking back and forth or sitting, eating and talking.

Aiden, on the other hand, didn't hear anything that his companion had said so far, his concentration was solely on Maika. Observing every detail in her behavior.

—How can she act so normally? Why doesn't she show a little remorse on her face? Can a human do such a thing and not feel anything?

His own internal voice was the only thing he heard. Aiden tried to hide his emotions as much as possible, but then an event happened that almost made him explode.

—Maika, if it's okay with you, would you like to go to the commercial district on Saturday after morning classes? Now that we're friends and all, haha.

Aiden stopped when he heard Blair say those words.

His thought started to run independent of his frozen outward self. Why did she just call her a friend? After what she did, how could anyone feel, hell, even fake that while burring their consciousness? Is she really that good at hiding her true nature, or are they all just blind?

He couldn't bring himself to even look at Maika, and instead stayed silent, fuming inside. He felt an overwhelming sense of betrayal, and despite catching himself feeling that way, it only made him angrier to have fallen by whatever trick Maika had used to even make him feel betrayed.

—Sure. I need to restock soon. —Said Maika and continued with a big smile—. You don't know how grateful I am, as I am new, it's still hard to talk to others. I was surprised yesterday when you approached me and said, "Do you want to be my friend?" with a serious expression. Hahaha. You're so cute.

—Call me by my first name, Melody, Blair is my last name. Everyone is so formal with me, maybe because I'm the delegate?

—Are you sure it's not because of the aura that surrounds you? —Said Maika cheerfully and then added, after a quick chuckle. —Ok, but Meldy has a nice ring to it as well. It's so hard to choose.

—You know what? Blair is fine!

Both girls exchanged charming smiles, and the tension on Aiden's face grew with each word. A repulsive feeling took shape inside him. The honest and pleasant way in which Maika pronounced each word and how both girls smiled at each other would drive him crazy.

Did he really witness what happened last night? Was he not going crazy, imagining things? And then.

—And, of course, you too Ai-- —Meldy stopped when she saw Aiden stepping back.

Without turning, he said: "I'm sorry, suddenly I don't feel well, I'm going to the nurse's office." Without waiting for an answer, he continued walking, each step a little faster than the previous one.

This repulsive feeling and the scene from last night, with the one from a moment ago where she smiled honestly without a care in the world. Both scenes collided violently in his mind, incompatible like water and oil, as if one wanted to forcibly overwrite the other.

The young, rebel-haired boy locked himself in the first bathroom he found. His hands were shaking, he couldn't get rid of both scenes from his mind, but the internal struggle resulted in more of that feeling of disgust.