A deafening crash stuns the narrow hallway of fleeing students. The light breeze accompanied by dust particles, which can be felt shortly after, indicates that an opening has been created somewhere within the old building’s walls. My gaze carefully rotates to where my back previously faced. Amongst the layer of smokescreen, a pile of rubble covering dead bodies is revealed, and on top of it a large, dark humanoid figure, trampling over its victims.

It’s here. Descended to us through this old and crumbling building. Now, a dozen eyes lay upon the unholy sight. Its mangled yet robust body frame. A thin layer of flesh and skin barely covering the skull, revealing its exact outline. Empty eye sockets beneath its thick horns running out of the forehead. And finally, the foul smell the beast emits. Everything is now visible to us, clear as day.

The school’s hallway becomes filled with cries of terror as the students try to push their way out of the building, using the single exit that has not been cut off. Joining them would be the optimal decision, yet I cannot bring myself to move. My mind is in chaos and my limbs deprived of strength by fear, planted, as I watch the demon before me step closer and closer, climbing down the debris.

"N-no, stay back!"

To my surprise, as I yell out, the monster stops and gives me a chilling evil grin instead. Then something unthinkable happens to my sight. Some kind of a disturbance in my vision. Through the view I have before me phases another image, almost as if I’m having a vision of two events happening before me at the same time, fighting over my attention. These images swap each other out and show me a feminine figure standing in the demon’s place in irregular intervals. I can make out her long straight hair flailing behind her as she speaks.

“The time is near. Prepare, for my rebirth is imminent. Yuuna Argento.”

At that very moment, I wake up.

"Huh…Where am I?"

A sudden beam of light strikes through the branches of a tree above me; it’s a direct hit to my sight as if I was not confused enough already, but it also is an efficient way to wake up. I rub my still-tired eyes and look up at the sky.

It is a beautiful day with a sky clear as the blue oceans and a gentle spring breeze. I often like to gaze upon it every morning as I lay beneath this freshly bloomed cherry blossom tree. It’s giving me a nice cool shade, but that’s just a bonus.

I sit up and then begin to stretch my arms while yawning.

"Finally. I knew that I would find you napping out here."

The voice enters my right ear and almost leaves through the left. I navigate to the source with my sight and shortly spot a girl crouching near me. The two golden eyes of hers look vicious with the combination of a disappointed face she’s putting on for display.

"Oh…hey..."

I say in a sluggish manner.

“Don’t ‘Oh…hey..’ me! I was trying to wake you up for several minutes! I swear, did you not sleep? You look like you are about to fall apart!”

If I recall correctly, a nightmare woke me up several times. I couldn’t help it.

The crouching girl who dares to interrupt my peaceful rest is my older sister, Lena. Hair so short it stops beneath her neck, so black it could consume light around her. But despite those dark colors, her eyes shine with a bar of bright gold, just like a ray of light piercing through the darkness. She is always dependable and kind, but her words have the power to inflict mental scars. Currently, at the age of sixteen.

She’s about to go on a rant when another girl’s voice starts echoing in the near distance. Together, we respond to that voice and redirect our gaze. A girl is running towards us while waving.

"You are late."

Lena and I pronounced in unison.

"Sorry, I couldn’t find my necklace! I always put it somewhere and forget."

That’s a lie. She was touching herself again. The girl out of breath connects her hands for a praying sign before Lena, while closing one of her eyes and slightly sticking out her tongue. She then looks at me, her expression goes from playful to a disappointed sort of expression.

“How was your beauty sleep, Yuuna?”

“What are you talking about?”

I answer as I rub one of my eyes.

“You are drooling all over the place.”

Oh, she’s right.

This is my second older sister, Charlotte, fifteen years old. Possessing black hair hanging down to her hips, accompanied by two crimson eyes as red as blooming roses - It goes well with her tanned skin. A big rack too, and not just that, she's squishy in all the right places. She is known by the people around her for her beauty and laziness, which often brings her to sleep, hence the ‘Sleeping Beauty’. She’s currently the tallest of us three.

She oversleeps so often that we usually don’t bother waiting for her, but since school is starting again, Lena has put in extra effort to get her ready in time. And yet, she still somehow managed to make us wait.

For just a few seconds, Lena looks at her with a serious expression before letting out a sigh.

"Whatever, let's just go. We don’t want to be late on the very first day, do we now?"

She then gets a hold of my hand and pulls me up to my feet. It’s time to march through the town of Hikone. A small town in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the darkness of a forest spread miles across. Its population shouldn’t be more than a thousand, but I’m no expert on that matter.

The streets are surrounded by houses built out of wood with floors of hardened earth and a thatched rooftop. Their openings are sealed off with sliding doors or windows. Most of the architecture is made this way, just for a few exceptions. For example Mayor’s mansion, that guy is living in a castle. Oh, how I wish that I could live that man’s life. Lazying around all day long as I’m protected from danger by countless guards. Just like a princess.

I’m stuck in my little daydream when I suddenly bump into something and knock it over, or rather someone. I’m struck by a terrible odor, almost as if I’ve crossed paths with a bunch of rotting garbage. But that’s not the case. It’s a child boy with a gaze saying it wants something from me. His clothes resemble a dirty piece of cloth. His body is covered in all kinds of stains, from dirt… to bruises. It’s one of those children. What does it want? Help? I don’t want to deal with it, but I also don’t want to be mean to it either.

As I attempt to organize my thoughts in hopes of finding a way out of this situation, I’m suddenly struck by a feeling of heavy pressure. I glance from left to right and find myself in the center of several gazing pairs of eyes. Everyone passing through the street has the same hateful look on their face. I can feel their negativity seeping into me and my pulse rising as my body trembles with it. I can’t deal with a bunch of people staring at me.

“There there, take this and share with your friends too. Okay?”

In an instant, I feel at ease after I catch one of my sister’s soft voices. Lena is crouching down and offering the child her entire lunch that she has made for today. She’s helping the boy without a thought about what the bystanders think of it. It doesn’t affect her.

The kid springs up with joy before bowing with gratitude and running away with its new possession, soon disappearing into the crowd of people moving through the street. Lena then brings her attention to me with a gentle smile, almost as if she’s checking if I’m alright. My eldest sister is really kind, sometimes too kind for her own good. Whoever stood by to observe is now returning to their original path and the circle made of people falls apart.

“Was it alright to give him your food?”

I ask my sister as she stands up and looks back in the direction of the child.

“Would you rather leave him starve to death?”

She answers my question with another. I can’t find any words to answer her with.

“Just so you know, I’m not giving you any of my food.”

Charlotte adds to the short conversation with her little selfish remark. I wonder if the kid will be alright.

The people of this town go by a strict rule. In a few words - become a warrior for the people or you’ll be abandoned by the people. Children are trained from a young age to be just that. If they refuse, they are thrown out onto the street. To most adults, we are just potential tools of war. Though, I was lucky to be born into a kind family.

As you can tell, the adults here have their pride when it comes to fighting, or maybe hunting is a better word. It’s not people they fight, but nightmarish monsters that crawl to earth from the pits of hell. In other words, Demons. What once used to be just a myth became a reality just a few hundred years ago. Nobody knows how or why they came, but one thing is certain - humanity wasn’t ready for this kind of threat. As a result, it has been split into parts and scattered across our land.

Now things are different compared to back then. We have been blessed with powers strong enough to protect ourselves. We simply call those powers “gifts”, they are pretty much like a special ability of some sort. And even then there are a few exceptions. The chances are close to none, but if I child fails to show any signs of gift possession by the time it’s ten years old, the child is labeled as defective and is abandoned after.

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“Hey, look. I can see the school. Are you excited for your first day?”

Lena asks me with curiosity. I nod, but I can’t say I’m all that interested. Suddenly, I catch the sound of a thin and hollow metal object hitting a hard surface, coming from one of the dark alley paths leading into a small opening between the houses - It’s a sound familiar to me. As divert my gaze towards the source, I catch a glimpse of someone in the distance, just before they disappear behind a sharp corner. I guess someone just knocked over some garbage.

I’m about to continue down my original path when my eyes catch something else lying on the ground a bit closer. I don’t know what it is, but something about it has caught my attention. The rooftops of the neighboring houses connect and shelter the back street from sunlight. I end up ditching my sisters to have a better look at it. What is that? It’s covered by something but doesn’t look like garbage. Why does it feel so odd? It’s really hard to see.

I casually move on, with each step bringing me a better picture of the thing before me, until some kind of liquid splatters beneath my foot. For a moment my attention is stolen. Is that water? It looks kind of dark, and why is there such a metallic scent in the air? No…

With a mind filled with nothing but questions, I come to a dark realization. That puddle isn’t made of water. It’s blood! Then that means…

What I’m looking at indeed isn’t trash lying around, or just some kind of an object. It’s a person. I pull off the cloth covering the bleeding person in hopes of helping them, but it’s too late. It’s just a child, its expression is filled with pain and still open eyes are the first thing I see. I recognize this kid. It’s the boy from earlier. He’s… dead.

Struggling to keep my stomach’s contents where they belong, I lean to the wall and avert my eyes just a bit behind the corpse. There I spot Lena’s lunch box with food scattered all around it. The child didn’t even get to enjoy that much.

“Yuuna! Where did you go?!”

They’ve noticed. I should go back before they find me here. It’ll be better if they don’t know about this. And just, like that I turn my back on the victim of this unforgivable act, that our people commit. There’s nothing I can do but turn a blind to it and move on. That’s the kind of world humanity lives in now. Cruel and unforgiving.

———

A three-story tall box structure made of stone and supported by wooden pillars as it carries tiles on its roof - our old and crumbling military school. A sudden breeze passes, gently moving my hair tied in a ponytail to the side as I stare down the building. Thoughts of the scene I’ve witnessed earlier still float around within my mind. Charlotte speaks up from my rear. She’s standing a few meters behind me together with Lena.

“C-c-c-cold! There’s no way it’s spring, we probably got the season wrong. I think we should retreat to the warmth of our home until the school actually opens.”

Is she trying to make excuses? Or is it for comedic purposes? She’s always like this.

“Get a grip, will you! You might as well warm yourself inside the building since we are already here.”

Lena fiercely grabs one of her ears. Her victim starts crying out in pain before suddenly switching to what could be arguably a sexual tone…

“Kyaaa! Save me! I’m being assaulted!”

Right, she has a thing for embarrassing us in public too. Hearing her moans and seeing everyone’s eyes on us, I immediately face-palm myself as I stare at the ground. A few moments later, the wind blows again, this time somewhat colder and more vigorous, strong enough to rob the cherry blossoms of their petals.

One of those petals happens to fall toward me. I extend my palm and let the petal land on it as I gaze upon the bright pink flower. It looks so beautiful yet feels so fragile compared to your everyday leaf.

“No spacing out, Yuuna. We are going to be late.”

Lena warns me just before she suddenly grabs my arm. It startles me, and the pink cherry blossom petal escapes my grasp.

“No! My petal!”

I desperately but quietly yell out whilst extending my hand towards the flower, slowly gliding to the ground. Lena’s grip is strong. I can’t escape even if I want to. I might as well let myself be taken away. So long, you won’t be forgotten.

"Look, it’s her. The defect of the S rank"

"How did someone like her get in? She's just a stain on her family’s bloodline."

"Tell me about it. I feel bad for her sisters."

"Smoking hot! I wish I were in the same class as her..."

I can feel a lot of eyes on us. Our break was so peaceful I nearly forgot this feeling. In response to the gossip among the students, Charlotte stops in her tracks and faces the students standing on the sidelines before yelling out.

“Which one of you punks said that?! I’ll smash your teeth in-”

She’s halted by her older sister before she gets to continue with her threats.

“Charlotte, it’s alright. Come, we’ll be late for class.”

And so we continue as if nothing has happened. It’s sad to see that nothing has changed since the last school year. The people are as discriminant as ever.

———

I walk into the classroom; there’s nobody here yet. Charlotte ran off to somewhere again, hopefully she isn’t getting into a fight. I place my bag on the desk, then instantly do a one-eight turn and kick the desk in front of me to the back of the classroom.

“Assholes. All of you.”

What did Lena do to deserve this kind of hateful treatment? We would be better off if everyone was slaughtered by a demon. They can rot in hell.

I let out a light sigh just after abusing a desk that had done nothing wrong to deserve it. Luckily I came early and managed to release my anger before anyone could catch me, or so I thought. A male voice sounds from the entrance direction and pronounces my name as a question. It’s a voice I haven’t heard in quite a while, and so I respond accordingly. With aggression.

"Huh? Ya want sum?”

“N-no… thanks.”

Two people are standing there. Charlotte and the boy in question. I can see the confusion in his expression. On the other hand, my sister seems to be showing a tad of surprise.

“You could have let me join in.”

She said jokingly. The guy standing next to my sister is Hidiku Kikuchi. Medium-length hair covered in a shade of black just like Lena’s. In addition to that, his blue eyes are as dark as the deep seas. His height reaches one-hundred and seventy-four despite being the same age as me. He also has a thing for Lena. You could say we are childhood friends, including his other two siblings.

“You should stop growing.”

I say as I have to ascend my gaze; otherwise, looking him in the face is impossible. At this rate, he will become a giant.

“What do you mean? I’m not that tall yet. Just wait a couple more years.”

He then smiles. Is he taunting me? Is he making fun of my height? No, knowing him, he’s just being oblivious as usual. The next thing I know, we are interrupted by the students flooding in. First class is about to start, we should catch our seats. Hidiku proceeds to do just that. He’s followed by Charlotte, holding her pillow with her arms up in the air.

“Yay, nap time!”

I accompany them in silence. Charlotte is in the same class as me despite our age gap because our school organizes us by rank rather than age. There are seven ranks in total - F, E, D, C, B, A, and S. The three lowest ranks are on the first floor, the next two on the second, where we are located, and the last two on the third.

What’s the difference? Well, apart from combat and study ability, there are different levels of luxury for each rank, which means rewards, lunches, and even classroom appearances. The rank of students is decided by exams held on the second day, meaning tomorrow. Last year I managed to get out of the rotten classrooms on the bottom floor to C rank. This year, I aim to skip B rank and go all the way to the top!

Meanwhile, given Charlotte’s ability, she could have easily been enjoying her luxury in the higher ranks together with Lena. But, well… she’s too lazy to study.

———

The bell rings, and our fourth period ends. It’s lunch break time! For this break all of us get together, meaning my and Hidiku’s siblings. Normally we would do it behind the school where the garden is located, but unfortunately, I’ve noticed that there’s some outside work being done there today. So instead, we are meeting up in our classroom instead. I don’t think we’d be welcome up in the higher-ranking classes.

“At last! Nap time!”

“But you have been napping this whole time.”

Hidiku chatters with Charlotte in the background as I begin to fuse four of our desks to create one larger. Then the first awaited person arrives - Lena. Though weren’t expecting her to come alone. Hidiku’s older sister usually tags along since they are in the same class and basically best friends.

“H-hey, Lena. Long time no see. Isn’t my sister with you?”

Hidiku blushes as he sees Lena again after a while. That’s cute.

“She’s helping our teacher with carrying some stuff, so I went ahead.”

We then sit down at our forged large desk, except for one of us. Hidiku lets out a mild sigh and leaves towards the exit. Tracking him down with my gaze, I catch a glimpse of someone peeking through a small opening between the door and its frame. And with a pretty intensive stare at that. Is that…

Hidiku slams the door open.

“Just come and join us already-”

Hidiku is suddenly caught off-guard as the person before him swings his arm. It’s blocked successfully.

“Oh, you are approaching me? Instead of enjoying your time with the others, you have come for me?”

“I can’t drag your buttocks to the table without getting closer.”

That’s an exchange of cheesy lines alright. The guy’s Enmei, Hidiku’s older brother. Currently, at the age of fifteen. Hair just like his younger brother’s, with a combination of clear green eyes. He’s even taller than Hidiku, no wonder his younger brother has a strong belief in his growth. If I had to guess, I would say it’s one-eighty.

The brothers stare into each other’s eyes with an intense atmosphere surrounding them. Are they about to kiss? Then, a loud female yell can be heard, coming from the corridor. No, it’s more like a certain someone’s war cry. The guys seemingly investigate the direction of the loud noise, and their faces turn pale shortly after. Oh well, I will miss them. Well, one of them.

I get up from my chair just in time to catch a glimpse of the girl student diving one of her knees into Enmei’s face, at what could be described as lightning speed. Hidiku’s older brother is sent flying from the door’s entrance further into the school’s corridor. I’m left speechless, Charlotte notices me staring down the classroom’s exit.

“Yuuna, you are staring pretty intensively there. Did you see a ghost or something?”

“No, but there might be one haunting this place soon enough.”

My two sisters redirect their focus to the hallway when the girl that just struck Enmei starts yelling again.

“Oh, they are at it again.”

Charlotte isn’t all that surprised. Can’t blame her though.

“Should we go stop them?”

Lena asks despite her tone showing more curiosity than concern, and so we get up from our seats. When we get to the crime scene, Enmei is lying on the floor, and Hidiku is holding the girl back, locking her arms up with his own.

That’s Himari, the guy’s older sister. Sixteen-year-old petite girl, about a hundred and fifty-two centimeters tall. Her hair and skin tone are engulfed by pure white, drawing out her bring red eyes. Apparently, her unnaturally bright looks are some kind of a genetic disorder. She’s kind to the people around her but strict when it comes to family. She can be very short-tempered at times… very.

"HOW DARE YOU LAY YOUR FILTHY HANDS ON MY PRECIOUS LUNCH! I PUT A LOT OF EFFORT INTO MAKING THAT SO THAT I COULD SHOW IT OFF TO EVERYONE! NOT FOR YOU TO HAVE IT FOR BREAKFAST. HOW ABOUT YOU MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN FOOD FOR ONCE!?"

The rage-overflowing girl still manages to stomp Enmei’s testicles. Once, twice, and finished off with a kick. Wait, he isn’t moving. Is he dead?

“Sister, please stop! He’s already out cold!”

Hidiku then looks before himself, as if though he has realized something and mumbles to himself.

“So that’s what he meant this morning.”

***

[This morning]

Hidiku descends the stairs from the second floor, still in his sleeping clothes, as he spots Enmei leaving unusually early.

“Where are you going this early? There’s still plenty of time before our classes start.”

He asks with a sleepy tone in his voice while rubbing one of his eyes.

“Hidiku, I’ve just unleashed great evil into this world. That evil will soon awaken, so I must prepare before I face it. It will be a tough and dangerous journey. Hidiku, remember. No matter what happens, I will always be your big brother.”

The boy is left standing on the staircase in confusion.

***

[Back to present]

Hidiku’s gaze is sent back at his older brother; tears start streaming out of his sockets. What the hell is he crying about?

“I will never forget you, big bro!”

He yells out. Enmei's expression changes to a gentle smile despite being unconcussion. He now looks like he’s at peace. He might just be dead at this point. And the cause - flattened testicles.

So much for our peaceful day before ranking exams. I just hope nothing will screw up tomorrow.