Ensemble

Chapter 2 - Ensemble

What lay in front of Akiko’s eyes was a terrifying sight. A dozen or so of her classmates were now turned into ash as black smoke was escaping from their remains. A couple more people had burning limbs, as if they had set foot in a fire, steadily being engulfed by the flames, while some remained unharmed. 

Akiko was stunned and petrified, slowly descending into panic. She couldn’t believe her eyes, thinking that it must be a bad nightmare or an illusion, but the intense smell of burnt flesh soon forcefully set reality straight. This was actually happening. A girl shouting next to her brought Akiko back from the brink of insanity.

“Get away from the window!” It was Amaya.

She’s okay… Akiko’s first thoughts filtered out what Amaya had actually said. 

After giving the command, Amaya grabbed Akiko’s wrists and dragged her as far away from the window as it was possible. Others who were still well followed suit.

“Everyone calm down! In situations like this, it’s best that we don’t panic and figure out what happened,” Yuji-sensei said, trying to ease the remaining students’ minds.

“How can you say that? How do you think we could remain calm? People just fucking died! They perished!” Michi was screaming as loud as she could. 

Her tears were falling down endlessly, making her blond hair stick to her cheeks. She got away with just the tip of her skirt burnt and her hair slightly dirty from the smoke.

“He is right. If we panic now, we might join them soon,” Chang-min stated. “We need to observe everything in order to survive.” 

He barely even had any dust on him, probably being the one furthest away from the core of the tragedy.

Michi quieted down, seemingly agreeing with Chang-min’s reasoning, along with everyone else trying to process what had just transpired. Akiko was also able to calm her mind and take in her surroundings, recognizing familiar faces next to her. 

Haruto looked like he had just come out of a chimney, making it harder to realize who he actually was, but upon closer inspection, his blonde hair remained intact. Although, his left hand seemed badly burnt. Emiko was hiding behind Chang-min, barely poking her face from behind his back. Akiko sensed a hint of familiarity in Emiko and Chang-min’s small interaction, and she had a feeling those two knew each other from somewhere before. 

Other than them, there was a blue-haired boy and a red-haired girl in the corner, practically glued to each other, and a bald guy, who was a bit more on the bulky, obese side in terms of physique.

As Akiko looked around at the people, trying her best to avoid looking at the grotesque sight behind her, Amaya analyzed the situation and came up with a theory.

“I think I know what happened,” she broke the silence.

“Really? You know?” Haruto’s hope shot up.

“Well, not everything of course, but I have a rough idea of the situation.”

“I think I may have an inkling as well, but you go ahead first,” Chang-min voiced.

“Have you guys played that one game before as a child, where you can only step in the shadows, and you need to avoid the sunlight? I think that’s basically what’s occurring right now. We can’t go into the sunlight because, for some reason, it burns us very quickly.”

“Yeah, I was gonna say the same, just without the childhood game. But now that you say that, that’s a good analogy. I was thinking the heat also increased, but we can’t be sure why or how, and it’s better that we don’t try. For now, I think it’s best that we try covering every window or find a dark room without many.”

“The government will do something, right?” Michi asked as she crouched down, burying her face in her thighs and clutching onto her blonde hair.

Haruto tried comforting her by patting her on the back.

“Let’s just do our best to hold out until an official announcement or something, okay?” he said.

“We can’t stay in one place for that long, because the light will eventually reach us, no?” Akiko raised the question.

“Yeah, the next day, it would. Today, the sun will only go higher and down on the other side of the building, so we really should do something today,” Yuji-sensei confirmed.

“Our biggest problem right now is the lack of information. Sensei, is there a safer room, like a storage room nearby?” Amaya inquired.

He started pondering.

“We’re currently on the second floor and in the first classroom from the stairs, which means to reach the storage room, we just have to go down the stairs and to the left until the end of the hallway.”

“Do we want to try going there, or should we try blockading the windows?” Emiko asked the obvious but most important question. 

There had to be a decision.

“Let’s vote. Firstly, we all agree that we should stay together, right?”

No one was against Chang-min’s idea.

“All right. Then those who want to go to the storage room, please raise your hand.”

Everyone raised their hands, except Michi and the bald guy.

I wonder what they’re thinking.

“It seems we’re going,” said the lad with the blue hair.

“What were your guys’ names again?” Michi asked.

“Right, we didn’t get to our turn. I’m Ren, and she is my girlfriend Shizu.” He pointed at the red-haired girl, who bowed slightly.

“I’m Ayumu Tanaka.” Introducing himself, he scratched at his bald head shyly.

“So with that out of the way, how should we proceed?” Akiko looked to Amaya and Chang-min for ideas.

“Let’s grab anything we can that we might need, then go without hurry and carefully look out for each other. Be very mindful not to touch any light,” Amaya laid the plan out.

“Sounds good,” Chang-min agreed.

“Yep,” Emiko joined.

Akiko mindfully approached her table, though she was fine to begin with, so she thought the curtain might’ve saved her and Amaya. Her suspicion was soon confirmed by Amaya, who tapped on her shoulder.

“Akiko-chan, thank you…”

“Amaya-chan? Eh? For what?”

“This morning, you pulled the curtains because you didn’t want me to wake up from the light, right?”

“Yeah, sort of…”

“Even if it was just on a whim, even if it was just by luck, by a feeling or something; thank you for being considerate!” Amaya lightly hugged Akiko, making her face light up in crimson. 

Akiko hugged back, patting Amaya on the back.

“I-I’m glad I could be of help!” She stuttered. “You’re pretty awesome for being this calm in a situation like this.”

“I’m not calm; I just don’t show it. Don’t tell the others, okay?” She nervously winked, slightly letting go in front of Akiko, though only for a moment.

“Gotcha! By the way, it wouldn’t be a problem if I brought my guitar with me, right?”

“Of course not! I would love to hear you play again! We shouldn’t give up hope just yet! Besides, music can be great to retain the morale and good mood of the group. If someone objects, we can just say it’s to block light from behind you or something."

“That’s smart; I like it,” Akiko said.

Amaya timidly looked to the side.

“Thanks…”

Everyone gathered their stuff, including remaining food, drinks, bags, books and a few other things, with the most important items being their smartphones. Not all of them survived, but the ones that did worked perfectly fine. The group agreed to use them once they got to safety.

“Let me lead the way,” Yuji-sensei volunteered and slowly opened the classroom’s door, hiding behind it.