BLOODY KILLING GAME

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“At what point do dreams become nightmares?... Or were they nightmares all along?”

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A dead cherry blossom trees swayed outside the lightly frost-stained windows. Its pallid branch drooped down dully and chunks of missing bark littered its surrounding, but despite all the prominent signs of decay, the tree stood stubbornly upright; a facade hiding the lifelessness inside.

With a sigh, I turned my attention back to the front of the class, glancing disinterestedly at the grey-haired teacher that was droning on about Japanese history while pointing at a whiteboard behind him.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

I glanced up at the clock at the corner of the wall. Class was going to be ending in about exactly one minute from…..

Now.

60, 59, 58…

I was counting down the seconds in my mind, as I always did. But this time, it was because there was something I had planned to do after school today.

45, 44, 43…

I glanced down from the clock, at a girl sitting in the front of the classroom. A head of jet-black hair, tied with ribbons, falling down to her back, and a pair of striking pale-violet eyes staring fixedly at the whiteboard.

Luna Iwasaki.

She was a new transfer student, coming in to our school, Musashi High School, exactly one year ago. But from that point onwards, she had already managed to become one of the most popular students at our school. Achieving stellar academic results and even excelling at physical education classes, it was no wonder why everyone took an instant liking to her.

To top it off, she even had the beauty to match her storm of perfection with a pretty face that was untarnished by even a single flaw. Dark, velvety eyelashes, and rose-pink lips that seemed as soft as silk, there was no doubt that this girl was an absolute looker.

That was why I had planned to confess to her.

Today. After school.

Now at this point, one has to be thinking that I must be equally as charming. Perhaps golden hair with blue eyes and a chiselled face, or the sole heir of an incomprehensible fortune. But alas, that was not the case.

I was not foreign, I was fully Japanese with dark black hair, falling over brown eyes, standing at about 175cm tall. And sadly, the only fortune that was coming my way was probably a beat-up car and a small village house all the way away from Tokyo, at Okinawa where my parents lived.

Then, why is it that I was undertaking such a madman’s task with not even a single speck of light at the end of the tunnel? Well, despite my mediocrity, there was one thing that I did believe in. And that was to be a person of strong character. A true man. A gentleman, if you will.

Such delusion, right? But that was what I honestly believed in.

Say what you mean, and mean what you say. Yada, yada.

I couldn’t let my feelings go unheard. I wasn’t going to bury them inside my chest, and die, thinking about the life of regret I lived.

If I was going to die, I wanted to be able to say that I at least did everything I wanted and tried my hardest.

That was me.

Ryo Otsuka.

With that as my resolve, I nodded silently to myself.

15, 14 13…

I started placing my things inside my bag, still flicking glances at Luna every now and then. The problem was going to be trying to get her alone with me. I mean, sure, I had a big mouth, but I wasn’t exactly in the position to be grabbing her off randomly.

We weren’t friends, and we had only spoken to each other maybe five or six times over the whole year of her being at this school due to bumping into each other or some class-related duty. To be honest, I didn’t even know if she knew my name!

Truly, this was a difficult task.

5, 4 3...

Well… I still had to do it.

The bell rang, and the noise of chairs shuffling filled the room as students began packing their things.

“That’ll be all for today.” The teacher, Mr Ito, was saying, but no one was paying attention. “Thank you everyone. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” Then he began gathering his stuff off his desk.

I was still staring at Luna’s back, trying to muster my courage and think up of a plan. The original plan was to follow her, and wait till she was alone, but now that I thought about it, it probably wasn’t realistic since she always had her friends with her.

Gritting my teeth, I collected my school books and pens off the table, chucking them inside my bag.

I could see a girl with mahogany-brown hair chatting to Luna at her side. That was Akane Fujii, her best friend at school.

Students were now leaving the room, and I waited a bit, pretending to fix my bag as I watched Luna. Three other girls had now joined her at her side, as she headed out of the classroom.

T-too much fucking people!

“Yo!”

Something smacked into my back, almost making me spit out my tongue, and I turned around to flash an annoyed glance at a boy with hazel-brown hair and black eyes.

Eiji Kondo.

“What is it, Eiji?” I returned my eyes to Luna’s back, walking with Eiji out of the classroom.

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“Jeez, you’re moody today, Ryo.” Eiji laughed, following me at my side. “I thought I would just chill with my best friend after school to forget about all that history bullshit.”

“Right…” I wasn’t really listening to him.

“Let’s go hit the arcades, Ryo!” He made guns with his hands, pretending to shoot at something. “Gah, that lesson was so boring, I need to let off some steam!”

“Right, right.” I nodded. We were out of the classroom now, joining the flock of students that were eagerly trying to leave the school building. “Listen, Eiji. I’m not free today. I’m afraid you’ll have to go to the arcades alone.”

“What?!” A look of genuine shock fell over his face. “Since when aren’t you free, Ryo? Don’t kid around with me, man!” He gave me a puppy look, pleading at me. “Come on, Ryo. I don’t want to go alone! What do you have to do that’s more important than arcades?!”

I glanced over at him, unaffected by his pleas.

“I’m not free today, Eiji. No amount of crying is going to move me.”

“What are you doing then? If not arcades!”

“Something important! I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

I wasn’t planning on telling him. In fact, I was just banking on the immense probability that he would had forgotten by then.

“No, man, this is huge. You don’t usually have something to do after class. You gotta tell me, Ryo.”

Tch.

Damn this moron. I gotta give him something or he would never leave me alone.

“Alright, Eiji, but you gotta promise not to tell anyone.” I hissed at him.

“Who is there to tell?” He asked.

That was a good point. Eiji’s only friend was me, and it was also the same situation for me. As one could probably guess by now, we weren’t really popular students.

I lowered my voice, glancing around to make sure that no one was listening.

“I’m going to make a confession…” I said. “…to Luna Iwasaki.”

“WHAT?!” He bellowed in my ear, and I flinched, moving back with a scowl.

If there weren’t so many witnesses around, I would had probably punched him in the face by now.

“You’re going to what?!” He lowered his tone, his face in disbelief.

“You heard me.” I said, glancing forward to keep track of Luna who was walking a few paces ahead of us. “I’m not going to repeat myself, Eiji.”

“B-but, Ryo…” Eiji stared at me, then followed my eyes, to look at Luna’s back. “It’s impossible man… for guys like us…”

“Don’t lump me in with you!” I raised a hand to my temple, rubbing my growing headache. “Anyways, you never know until you try!”

Eiji turned his eyes back to me as though I had suddenly fell down to the ground and started eating dirt.

“Anyways, now that you know…”

I placed my hand on Eiji’s back, pushing him forward. “Go to the arcades on your own.”

“Don’t you want a wingman—”

“No!” This idiot… “Just leave! I’ll do this alone, Eiji. I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow.” I flung my hand, gesturing for him to scamper off. “Go Eiji. You’re a good friend. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Nodding unsurely, Eiji gave me one last look. “Goodluck man…” Then he turned away, walking off into the crowd of students that were heading out of the door to the school building.

Thank god, he’s finally gone…

I turned my eyes back to Luna. She was about to head out of the door of the school building, but stopped. Her friends turned to look at her, and she said something to them, bowing, before turning around.

What?! What was going on?!

I stepped quickly to the side, trying to hide among the wave of students.

Then, I watched Luna as she headed back into the school building… alone.

This… this was too good to be true!

I was wondering for so long how to get her alone, but now it seemed that it wasn’t a problem any longer! Punching the air for joy inside my mind, I quickly followed Luna as she paced back the direction she came from, her jet-black hair flowing behind her.

Strange…

She was heading back to the classroom. I glanced around the empty corridors and cursed underneath my breath.

Shit, there was no one around. Now it seemed pretty obvious that I was following her… but…

I glanced at the back of her head.

She doesn’t seem to have noticed yet…

She took a turn, entering the classroom.

Did she forget something? Maybe she left something at her desk…

Dammit… this looks pretty weird for me to follow her in like this, but it might be my only chance to get to talk to her alone…

Gathering my courage, I strolled to the door of the classroom, then turned inside.

She was at her desk, her back turned towards me. She seemed to be searching her desk for something.

I took a deep breath.

“He-hey, Iwasaki-san!” I feigned a voice of surprise. “You’re still here…”

Hearing my voice, Luna turned around, her pale-violet eyes gazing at me. She didn’t seem surprised, seeing me.  

Looking at her directly, she was even more prettier than I thought.

“Oh… Otsuka-san…” She said.

She remembered my name!

“Yes… I left something behind.” She laughed, leaning back against her desk. Her voice cracked slightly at the end, as though she was nervous. That was weird. She’s usually very calm and collected.

“Listen, there’s something I gotta tell you…” I started. “I hope it’s not a bad time.”

She shook her head vigorously. “No, no… it’s fine… what do you have to tell me…?”

There was a strange expression on her face. Jumpy, nervousness, excitedness… I couldn’t really tell what it was, but it wasn’t like I was paying much attention anyway. I was too busy figuring out what I was going to say.

Glancing downwards at the floor, I rubbed the back of my head.

“Iwasaki-san… the truth is…”

“Yes…?”

“I-I’ve…” I was about to say it, but felt myself changing my words. “…I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while…”

She nodded encouragingly, staring at me with a fixed look and reddish cheeks.

“Um…”

I was still staring down at the ground, my words stumbling over each other.

“The… the thing is…”

What the fuck, Ryo?

You’ve already managed to get her alone! Stop wasting her time!

I wanted to lift my hand up and punch myself in the face for being so hesitant, but it probably wouldn’t put me in a positive light in Luna’s perspective.

“F-fuck…” I cursed underneath my breath.

“I-is everything okay, Otsuka-san…?”

“Yes, totally!” I raised a palm up, indicating that I hadn’t completely lost my sanity.

I straightened my back, then stared her in the eye, taking another deep breath. She gazed back at me, that same strange expression still on her face.

“Iwasaki-san!” I said in a loud, clear tone.

“Y-yes…?”

With my eyes still staring directly at her, I said the words that I had been meaning to tell her for the past month.

“I like you! Please go out with me!”

As soon as the words left my lips, I quickly bowed my head, closing my eyes in anticipation for rejection.

Ah…

I had finally said it.

It felt good.

I didn’t understand people who kept their feelings buried inside them forever, and never let it out.

I mean, sure, she’s going to say no and make up some excuse like that she needs to focus on study or that she has someone else, but at least I could rest my mind in peace.

I continued waiting, my head still bowed and my eyes still closed.

…

Silence etched on across the classroom and empty school building.

…

Hang on, this wait was getting way too long now.

Something was quite clearly wrong.

Perhaps she had simply ran away after hearing a confession from someone as lowly as me…

But that couldn’t be possible, could it? I didn’t even hear a single footstep!

As I was about to raise my head up, something crashed into me and the ceiling and walls switched places.

A dull pain spread across my back as I hit the ground, and I was now suddenly staring at the wall at the front of the classroom, an upside-down view.

What the heck…

I glanced slightly down, where the ceiling was, to see Luna’s face directly above my head by about a few inches, her soft body resting on top of me.

She was so close that I could feel her breath on my face.

It smelt good…

—Wait, what the fuck?!

What the flying fuck was going on?!

Did she trip over and fall on top of me?!

Why the heck am I lying on the ground with Luna on top of me?!

Instinctively, I tried to lift myself off the ground, but felt Luna pushing me back down, her hands at my shoulders.

My brain was slowly starting to work again, and I managed to utter some words out of my mouth automatically.

“I-Iwasaki-san, what’s going—”

“I was waiting so long for you to say those words.”

Luna talked over me, staring down at me with a yearning look, an expression that I had never seen on her normally composed face. Her cheeks were crimson red and her breathing was heavy. We were so close, I could smell shampoo on her hair.

“Listen, just let me get up first—” I tried to say.

What happened next was unbelievable.

Something truly out of the left field.

Extraordinary beyond imagination.

Luna’s long dark eyelashes fluttered closed, her face started leaning in, and her delicately luscious lips pursed at me.

Then, the feeling of her silky soft lips pressed against mine and I felt the weight of her head pushing down at me. All brain activity in my skull ceased to function and I forgot how to breathe.

Time truly seemed to stop.

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