In A Place unknown void of space and time, 2 entities finished their battle to the death. The background begins to fade as one of them walks to the fallen.
image [https://imgur.com/xRbUpDG.jpeg]
Covered in wounds and scratches, armor, claws and long blood covered hair, the other on the floor battled and scarred, bleeding to his ultimate demise.
The winds blow the dust away as one questions the other,
“Did you achieve it?”
To which he replies,
“Yeah.”
Taking a pistol out and ending his misery.
`Bang`
[Beep]
[Beep]
[Beep]
.......
The alarm ferociously ringing in the morning waking one up. Set at 7:30 but snoozed till 7:41.
`eyes open`
"Another dream."
[Time: 7:41 am
location: Hotaru Residence, Kagoshima
Date: 2016/04/11]
He keeps his hand to the ceiling light, sweating a lot.
"That dream felt real, my illusions keep on dragging me even in my dreams?"
Ch.1
-The Dream Where It All Began-
He goes to the bathroom to freshen up. To take a good look at himself, he zooms in on the mirror. A long scar cutting right through the right eye ran down. His fuzzy green hair from the night's sleep.
His eyes were black and centered with a white pupil.
Very unusual for a human.
[Ninomiya Hotaru
Age: 17
Student, and next candidate to the Hotaru Project]
He comes to a stop, the metal object stuck to his chest. It was small and had been there since he was a child, it made some sort of beeping noise as well when he felt like he was drifting from reality.
“Does it help with my condition? The doctor did say yes.”
A million unanswered questions barged into his mind that he couldn't start with a particular. He touches it, placing his hand on his chest. I'm still alive was all that he could think of.
“Alive?”, a voice asks him in his head.
An unbearable pain screeches his chest, he grabs his chest.
A sudden flash of memories hits him,
A small girl, shadowed by the light behind her telling him,
“You have to live.”
He falls raising his hands towards her as a blast hits.
Ninomiya snaps back to reality, “Again.”
He holds the base of the slab and gets up. Exiting the bathroom the slab seems to have been crushed but he didn't notice it.
A phone call can be heard.
The call drops before he reaches it. He checks the notifications to see who the caller is.
It was his dad, with two missed calls. He ignored them. Below that notification, there was a message from Akise. "Come fast. School starts at 8,". That catches him off guard. He didn't know that, but he couldn't have known. Because today will be his first day.
He doesn't bother to check out the notifications piling up below that.
Ninomiya takes a quick shower and dresses up for school. He calls his chauffeur to pick him up and heads to the kitchen. There, he finds a young woman sleeping on the couch. It was his sister, Hiori. He grabs his lunch cautiously, making sure he doesn't wake her up. She must've fallen asleep while eating, as a bucket of ice cream lies on the small table in front, melted.
Hiori mumbles something in her sleep, “Just one more upgrade just oneeee one more ti-.” Before she stopped and said, “I will win.”
He gives a sigh of reaction.
Ninomiya says, “You really spent the whole night playing games?”
He holds a blanket and places it on top of her.
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He spreads butter on bread and rushes outside, holding a cup of milk in his other hand. The car waiting for him was ready to leave. A maid holding the passenger door open for him to enter bid him farewell when he stepped him.
"Have fun on your way to school, young master," she said before gently closing the door.
From the window, he could see the front view of his mansion. With a beautiful garden atop a hill, the workers and maids did their best to bring life to the otherwise ghost house. But it was home for him.
The gentle breeze coming from the sea to scan the compound would turn his attention at the sight of the majestic mountain. He would always wonder what lay behind that beautiful mountain. And what about his life, the reality as he knew it? What about the dream he has had for all his life?
Were they all true?
He could sense a profound mystery somewhere. Sometimes, he would strain himself trying to uncover the hidden truth lurking underneath reality. But to no avail.
The color of sakura blossoms gives a sharp contrast to the colors of his thoughts. That brings his head back inside the car. Gulping down milk after finishing his bread, he orders the driver to drive faster. He looks at his watch. Only 7 minutes remained.
The car arrives at the school gate just on time. Once inside, Ninomiya rushes to the building.
Everyone outside and in the windows gazes upon him like he is someone.
[Background Whispers](“Hey! Look he is here.”
“The next candidate? His son?”
“I heard he is filthy rich. But he lives like a peasant.”)
“That's right, wealth. My life was filled with it. As the world’s wealthiest man is my dad. Of course he won't let me attend such a school without having guards.”
The chauffeur sweats alot, as the AC depicts a temperature of 101°F inside the car.
“Damn it, why do I have to be the one to always do it?”
A person on the radio speaks up,
“AL reply.”
The chauffeur replies, “On his way to the building over.”
“Confirmed visual over.”
“All units on standby.”
[In the school]
Rushing up, he meets Akise in the staircase.
"Yo, Ninomiya.", said Akise
"You mother fucker, why are you here instead of inside the classroom.", Ninomiya replied with an annoyed face.
A grin on his face.
Akise hits him with the lie, "I lied, class begins at 8:15."
“I knew it-”
Ninomiya shrugs it off like any other friend would,
"Well whatever, let's go."
Akise replies,
"I was excited, you know. Seeing you in my school, sharing a desk with you. I'm happy you came."
Ninomiya then asks, “Well, I think I'll do fine today. It seems under control.”
Akise looks towards him speaking with a high tone,
“Your condition has been going okay, how many events did you have today?”
Ninomiya looks happy, “Only 2 times. Regularly it's 270 per day.”
His bland honesty was eh... Awkward and uncalled for.
"Nino, tell me. Are you..." Akise paused for a bit to emphasize what he was about to ask next, "Happy?"
Heh? That was sudden. Was he happy? Ninomiya could only stare at him, with his mind in the thinking abyss looking for an answer he feels uncomfortable.
He first thought of Hiori. Then he thought of his father and his late mother Emma. Finally, he thought about their family business. Was he happy? He has almost all the things a man would want, wealth, family, a friend.
He turned 17 just a while back can't be bothered to just say,
"Yes.”
A faint voice asks him, “you didn't protect us did you?.”
Ninomiya sees a field of red grass with black blood on top.
He snaps back to reality. He holds his right side of his head, squeezing firmly on it.
Akise asks him about his condition,
“Yeah I'm okay.”
After a bit of comfort Ninomiya calms down.
Ninomiya was suffering from a condition where his life was divided into a conscious and an illusion-like state. Scans showed his brain had been badly damaged, a part of him was erased in some horrific accident. Due to that he lost whatever memory he had, even including language. There would be haunting encounters and unreal imaginations, probably linking to his old life.
These panic attacks came out random and the only way to get him out of those was to shake him off from it or wait for him to snap himself out of it.
The students enter the classroom.
“Oh, Y'all are here Akise and Ninomiya.”
Ninomiya looks at them and his lips go on auto pilot to whisper,
“They know us?”
Akise hears him,
“Of course they do, because we are famous.”
[8:15 AM]
[Tsurumaru High School]
[Class-1 B]
The teacher comes in, everyone takes their seats, Akise was assigned another seat a bit to the right of Ninomiya.
After attendance, the teacher introduces a transfer student named Akame.
Ninomiya looks at the door as he feels an uneasy feeling. His white pupils contract as she enters the door, he feels a sort of attraction. Akise is surprised he displayed emotion to someone else than him.
“I'm Akame Hoshino, Age 16.”
That was the introduction she gave, not a good one.
He notes it.
The teacher makes Akame have the vacant seat at the side of Ninomiya. Ninomiya never felt such a presence in his life. A sudden illusion takes him over. Seeing a red haired woman in front of him instead of the black haired Akame, he pauses.
Akame looks at him, “Hey, how much are you gonna stare at me? Creep.”
Akise quickly rushes to shake him off.
Ninomiya looks at his hands, mutters “Red hair.” Akame hears him and clenches her fist.
Sitting in the class, Ninomiya never felt this much pressure on him.
Introductions go by and the classes as well.
[Lunch Break]
[12:04 PM]
[Roof]
“Hey Akise, that new girl is suspicious. P.E. is on par with me, has excellent English, knows history too well. It's like-”
Akise cuts him off,
“You’re overthinking it man. After school, go and apologize for what happened this morning.”
Ninomiya realizing
“You're right I should.”
As Ninomiya’s pupils fall into a deep illusion, he begins to mutley say, “My offering is for you.”
“I will serve-”
A bright light wakes him up, Akise shaking him off.
“Hey are you back?”
Ninomiya sweatingly says that he was okay.
“You are not an okay man. You need to relax here. Don't fall into one until you're home.”
Ninomiya looks okay, “Sorry I made you care.”
[Tower 3]
“Everything seems fine now, subject out of illusion.”
[Radio]
“Good, continue surveillance.”
“Yes.”
A figure was behind the guy surveying,
“Are we done?”, a female spoke.
A silent shot is fired from a pistol that went through his head, killing him on spot.
She puts her fingers on the earpiece,
“Akari, I'm in position.”
Bzzt,
[Noise]
“Proceed as planned, main target ‘Akame’.”