Night of the Living Dead: Anita and Tani (Part 4) - *The Revalation

Would a great leader ever allow someone else to make decisions on their behalf? Would someone like that be considered a weak leader? Or would such a trusting person be considered a strong leader? 

Has an echoist leader ever existed? 

The best probable person would be someone between that and a narcissist. Unfortunately, wanting to be the head of a nation or even a crowd of people is an inherently narcissistic trait. One must be fully convinced that they can do the job better than anyone else. Such a thing pushes the pure of heart away from positions of power.

Narcissism is a trait commonly seen as an abrasive fault inside the average world, but it excels mightily in the political world, which is both a flaw in the system that society created, and the structure of which that is solidified daily by the monsters thriving within it.

Tani tries his best to be a narcissist, he has proven that he can be one at any given time, and he does believe he is the best person for the job of Secretary General of the UN. 

It might even be the final rung of the ladder he needs to climb to reach the top of the world, pulling it off will be the grandest of all his feats. Since the very beginning of his ambitious goal he has known what needs to be done, and up to this point there hasn’t been anything challenging him against being that way.

That is, until now.

One simple objection from a person he has thought of as his responsibility has sent his world into a tailspin, implanting doubt in his ability to perform in not only this dire situation, but anything he has thought about going forward. As of this moment, the narcissist he’s honed himself into becoming has shrunk into what some on the internet would call an NPC.

Will he allow himself to continue down this path? If he does, how will it alter his future?

----------------------------

Peeking their heads outside the 4th floor’s janitorial utility room, Anita and Tani are relieved to see that nothing is lurking in the hallway. Unfortunately the computer science room is clear on the other side of this particular floor, which means they’ll have to choose which blind corner to go around.

The wrong decision could mean running into the ghost or the intruder, the thought of which does enough to send a particular frost nipping at their necks.

Tani is wracked with indecision, not trusting his instincts in fear of letting Anita down. He has already proven to her that he isn’t capable of navigating their way through this; at least he thinks as much by what little evidence Anita has shown.

The two look at each other and communicate hesitation through doubtful glances before Anita lets in a sharp inhale and gestures for Tani to follow her. He doesn’t object and silently trails behind her lead.

The tension is as heavy as gravity on the Sun as they slowly walk; yet the gentle light entering from the windows glistening off of Anita’s hair adds an odd sense of levity in the fleeting moments she passes through.

Tani inadvertently slows his pace.

Noticing a little bit of distance between them, Anita reaches out to him while still looking forward. Compelled by the security of contact with her slender hand, Tani grabs it and holds tight. Just a few minutes earlier in the faculty room when she was holding his sleeve, he was surprised by the chill that struck him when she let go.

With the opportunity to retrieve that warmth offered freely in this moment, his body seemed to instinctively grab at it.

Realizing what he’s just done, he can’t help but wonder just how it is that he’s been reduced to this borderline damsel in distress role, and even more alarming is how in the world it is that he’s found himself okay with it.

It wasn’t long ago that he wouldn’t dare take someone’s guiding hand, and not long ago he never would have imagined he’d so easily clasp onto the hand of a girl without so much as a hint of apprehension.

He catches himself in a flurry of thoughts.

Her hand is warm, her grip is firm and reassuring, her tiny back seems more like a super hero than a fellow classmate.

Is this what it’s like to simply let go?

Figuratively speaking, submitting himself to someone else is definitely letting go.

Does this serve his best interest?

Allowing another person to take the role as a leader isn’t anywhere close to a rung on his ladder to the top of the world. Would continuing down this path not be considered a sacrifice of all he’s built up before this?

He 'must' resist.

If he doesn't do it now he’d have fallen far down the rungs already long passed through grit, control and ruthlessness.

He 'must' speak up.

“Anita.”

“Sshhh.”

“No listen.”

Anita twists her body towards him and gives him a face.

Tani scrunches his nose at her reaction. His heart is racing for a reason that has nothing to do with the potential danger lurking just around the corner.

“I don’t like the way this is going.”

“What?”

“The way you’ve taken charge, I reject it!”

“Shhh!”

“No shhh! Why are you the one leading me around right now?? What do you take me for?”

“Is now really the time---”

“Do I look like a child that needs catering to? I’ll have you know that despite my genius even I can be tough if push comes to shove.”

“That’s not why---”

“I am a guy after all, I do have some strength. Don’t you think I am capable of getting us through this on my own!?”

“You’re not doing a good job of it by shouting right now!”

“Why don’t you think I can do it!?”

Tani is resolute in his posture, looking her square in the eyes as though an answer to that question is the most important thing in the world to him.

Anita answers his glare with a tension slashing smile when she says, “It’s not that I think you can’t, I just think that you don’t have to.”

“Huh?”

“You’re allowed to let other people help you, even if that person is a girl.”

“....”

“I want to protect you this time, Tani.”

Tani bites his lip. “You’d rather do that than have me protecting you?”

“Don’t you?”

His heart takes a peculiar beat before he gathers himself.

“I don’t!”

“Then why haven’t you let go of my hand?”

It’s now that he realizes that this entire time he’s been complaining about the roles being reversed, he hasn’t enacted the most concrete rejection of his spot in the night by letting go of her soft hand. Being so consciously aware of what it means to his self image by allowing her to lead him, he’s never once for a second wanted to release his grip.

What he’s willing to sacrifice to hold her hand, is absolutely everything.

Anita can see right through him, there is nothing Tani can do to save face in front of her.

The two lock eyes in the dark while everything around them takes the shape of water.

Everything that is, except a shadowy figure that is gliding around the corner on a direct collision course with Anita.

“!!”

Tani’s heart sinks. She won’t have time to react within the split second it’ll take for the figure to reach them. And although Tani had just resigned himself to her help, he has now been thrust into a very real conflict. 

How much of what he just said did he actually mean? As a budding narcissist of a leader; what is he willing to do to protect this person in front of him? No amount of scheming and dastardly deeds will get him out of this push that has so suddenly become an aggressive shove.

Would a real narcissist risk personal harm to protect a friend?

He doesn’t spare a blink longer to ponder on it, he lets go of her hand as instinctively as he at first grabbed it and rushes headfirst towards the danger.

“Anita look out!!”

Perhaps for the first time in his life he makes a life altering move without an ounce of a plan. All that came before is gone in a rush of adrenaline.

He leaps into the air.

“Ooorryyahh!!”

He sends a thunderous kick directly into the chest of the figure.

“Gggbooohhh!??”

The sensation reaching Tani’s foot is solid, and when the thing in black releases a guttural moan upon being launched backwards and hitting the ground, all the evidence points to a very real person.

Realizing what he had just done, his fingertips and toes are buzzing. There is not a moment to spare however, they need to get to HQ and barricade themselves in before the intruder can regain their senses. Ignoring the figure clad in black writhing on the floor holding his stomach in an attempt to catch his breath, he turns to run towards Anita.

“!?”

But he’s shocked to find that Anita is facing down another menacing figure in black that appeared from around the corner where Tani just was. Being so close, he catches sight of some features not noticed earlier when only passing glances were spared to him. Underneath the feet of the figure is an eerie looking purple light as it slowly glides towards her.

“Anita!”

“Stay back!”

“Eh?”

"I won't let the ghost get any closer to you, Tani!"

Anita sprints forward and the distance between them is closed in an instant.

“H-H-Hold up!” The panicked voice of a girl comes from the figure.

A voice which is promptly ignored.

The figure is served with a brilliant uppercut that connects with the force of a truck.

Not too dissimilar to the famous shoryuken attack in a famous video game from the 90's, Tani is certain the impact created a piercing beam of light. The figure is sent flying away as though she were flung from a catapult.

“Guuuaah!!”

Anita has consciously risked personal harm to protect Tani. And she's done it in a brilliant display of strength.

The blow separates the intruder from the purple light beneath her feet, it glides along the ground on its own for a few meters before spinning uncontrollably.

“A two wheel self balancing scooter!?”

Tani stops the flashing toy with his foot and turns off the power. Shifting his attention to the man crumpled on the ground, he notices another scooter crashed up against the wall. Here is the answer to why the intruders were able to move throughout the halls in such a ghoulish fashion. The revelation of their travel method affords him no relief however, the most pressing question still remains.

Tani runs to Anita’s side before shouting, “Who the hell are you people??”

With a few labored breaths, the girl Anita had uppercut replies, “Oof was that necessary??"

Tani’s face twists, although he could understand a few words, this person just spoke in an unfamiliar language.

“Elisabet, is that you??”

Anita replies in kind, leaving Tani speechless.

“Yeah it’s me alright, I had forgotten how hard you punch Ms Liljadottir. I just wasn’t expecting you to be the one to attack me!” Draped over the girl is a thin black robe with eye holes poked through the fabric, she pulls it from atop her head to reveal herself. “Help me up, will you?”

Anita sighs and lifts the brown haired young woman to her feet. She immediately looks to Tani with her piercing hazel eyed gaze and asks, “So this is the guy, huh?”

“Excuse me?” Tani asks in Norwegian, visibly stiff from what is unfolding in front of him.

“Ugh, you even got him to speak that slop Ms Liljadottir? Yuck.”

“Ahem!” The abrasive sound shifts their attention to the man Tani had dropkicked to the floor. Now standing on his feet and free from his costume, he slides his hand through his black hair and tucks it behind his ears. “I would prefer you not insult Milady’s mother tongue, and respectfully, her legal surname name is Pedersen.”

Tani can understand the man is speaking Norwegian this time around, yet knowing what he’s saying does little to quell his unrelenting confusion. Upon looking at the rather tall man he had kicked, he does recognize him as the person who drives Anita to school every day.

“...The Chauffeur?”

The man gives Tani a neck bow and says, “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,  Akhiro Tani. I am Viktor Aandahl, the Pedersen family’s butler.”

“Uh... n-nice to meet you too?”

“Why are you both here sneaking around the school?” Anita asks.

Lifting his chin, Viktor replies like a soldier addressed by a general. “I wished to test Akihiro Tani’s abilities. I am pleased at what I’ve seen out of him tonight. That was a thunderous kick.”

“This was a test for me?” Tani asks.

“Yes, I know that you have been tasked with teaching Milady how to speak Japanese, however you have been keeping her here at school later and later into the evening as the days progressed. I felt it was time I made sure you weren’t doing anything suspicious. Once I realized your intentions were good it was then that I decided to test out your ability to keep her safe.”

Anita turns to the woman named Elisabet and asks, “And you went along with it?”

Elisabet puffs. “Me, go along with that proper buffoon of a man? Nah, I just thought it’d be fun to scare the crap out of you guys.”

“Then you both deserved your injuries!”

“Sorry about that Ms Liljadotttir.” she replies with a shrug.

“My apologies.” Viktor replies with a quick bow.

“Anita,” Tani tugs at her sleeve to get her attention. “Who’s this lady speaking a funny version of Norwegian? And why is she calling you by a different name?”

Elisabet chuckles and answers in Anita's stead, “She hasn’t told you yet?”

Tani sends her a quizzical glare.

“Aw, how cute.” Walking up to him and invading his personal space, she looks him up and down as though sizing him up. “Having every question answered doesn’t really help if you’re not supposed to know.”

“Elisabet!” Anita places herself between the two. “Tani, I’ll explain all this later.”

“Okay…”

“Come on you two, let’s go home. You’ve had more than enough fun for the night.” Hurriedly pushing the two foreigners along, Anita looks back to Tani and says, “They must've snuck in while we were in our clubroom, I’m sorry they decided to freak us out instead of waiting for me. I really did think that we were dealing with a ghost this entire time, hehe how embarrassing, hehe.”

Anita is showing a face Tani is unfamiliar with, her eyes bashfully shifting to and from him are plainly communicating discomfort, and her laugh is as inauthentic as an actor in a bad film. Even he can tell she just wants to get as far away from here as possible.

“I’ll have them properly apologize to you another time.”

“Wait a second you don’t have to leave so fast. What about your school shoes?”

Choosing to ignore what he said, she replies, “If you could unlock the doors now that’d be great! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“...”

Tani doesn’t say anything else, he simply watches them disappear into the darkened hallways in silence. It all happened so quickly that he’s left just as confused as when he thought there was potentially a real ghost chasing them around. In fact, more questions than answers have just been sprung.

He recognizes the costumes they were wearing as show blacks used by the lighting crew in a play, he assumes they must’ve taken them from the theater clubroom where those types of items are stored. Next are the two wheel balancing scooters, he actually has no clue what clubroom they nicked those from, he’ll have to do some investigation work so he can return them to where they belong before tomorrow.

Most importantly, just who is this Elisabet person and what is she to Anita? Why is she addressing Anita in a different language and with a different surname? Why in the world did her butler find the need to test him in such a fashion? He racks his brain, latching on to potential explanations and dispelling others simultaneously.

Just who is Anita Pedersen anyways?

Tani is struck with the realization that the version of Anita whose hand he was holding exists in a world entirely unfamiliar to him, he truthfully has no idea who she really is. He’s conflicted on how he's supposed to feel about that.

Biting his lip, he makes his way to the computer sciences room and returns to his seat in front of the computer screens. This place was once such a faraway destination for the two of them, and now that he’s made it here alone it feels like an empty prize.

On the screens he can see that the members of his club have just completed all the tasks, all that’s left for him to do is to turn on the lights and unlock the doors so everyone can head back to the Languages clubroom. Even their success feels empty despite how much joy he usually takes from their minor language victories.

Tani opens the doors and turns on the lights without any fanfare.

Emilia, Charl, Ume and Mariko are buzzing with excitement and congratulate each other before taking off their VR headsets. The computer screens in front of Tani go black.

“...”

Spinning in his chair, he lets a sigh escape his lips and looks at his hand. Residual warmth from Anita’s grip is steadily replaced by a bitter cold, though the chill isn’t all physical.

“What am I even doing..?” Clenching his cold hand into a ball, he stands to his feet. “She isn’t my problem outside of school, snap out of it, Tani.”

Walking out of HQ and into the hallway, he makes his way down the hall to his clubroom. Sparing a glance out of the hallway window he's able to watch Viktor's luxury black vehicle exit the school grounds. With them gone, he shifts his attention down the hall where he can hear the footsteps of his clubmates rushing up the stairs to report back to him. 

His chest expands before expelping pent up tension, from here he can allow himself to enjoy the familiar feeling of pride.

“In the end, it all worked perfectly.” Pushing his glasses up the brim of his nose, he grins. “Ha! Despite Anita’s friends trying to spoil it, the mission is an absolute success. I’m still amazing.”

Coming into the now fully lit hallway of the 4th floor is Ume and Emilia, the two have been chatting, and Emilia is even able to let a slight smile push her lips up as Ume showers her with compliments.

“See, that wasn’t so bad now was it?” Tani says with a puff.

“It was bad until it wasn’t.” Emilia replies.

Ume puts her arm around her kouhai and says, “I never had any doubt in my precious Emi-chan!”

“Teamwork is the best bridge to friendship, and to the average lemming of a person not named Akihiro Tani, friends are a great asset for learning new languages. I knew you two would work well together.”

“Why am I not surprised that you’d try to big yourself up?” Ume says in jest, looking at him and pointing her finger. “I’ll have you know, the two of us are no lemmings! We are… eh?”

“Ha! Not until you prove otherwise.”

“...”

Ume stares at him, the energy of her finger’s point wanes and begins to sag.

Surprised by her reaction, Tani says, “I’m only kidding! You’re actually kind of smart.”

Her glare doesn’t budge, she remains silent.

It’s at this moment that Charl and Mariko come from the other side of the hall, the two sharing a conversation in broken English.

Tani jumps at the opportunity to shift the subject and bellows, “Facing your fears isn’t so bad is it??”

“Easy for you to say!” Mariko replies, “I refuse to do another VR night, I’m cutting you off from my tender emotions!”

“Oh, you think you can pick and choose what language lessons to take?”

“Yes, I have rights!”

“Kukuku, I will let you think that for now.”

Tani’s devilish laugh sends chills down her spine.

Charl steps in front of Mariko and says, “Although I didn’t appreciate the bugs, I do want to thank you for your help.”

The unexpected show of gratitude does enough to catch Tani off guard. He clears his throat, “Well of course, we have a mutual interest in your English results, I’ll do whatever it takes to help you with that.”

Getting close enough to Tani to put his hand on his shoulder, Charl’s aura seems to glisten as he leans in and says, “Whatever it takes, you say?”

Tani backs away and shouts, “Anything except for whatever it is you’re thinking!”

“Haha,” Charl flicks his bangs back suggestively. “What you’re doing now is good enough for me.”

Tani purses his lips and turns away.

“That reminds me, where is Anita?”

Tani’s whole demeanor changes upon hearing her name. He bumbles before replying, “S-She had to leave unfortunately, but I’ll have you know that she completed her lessons well before all of you did. You have a lot of catching up to do.”

Charl puts his hand on his chin and tilts his head. “Hmm…?”

“Oh, I see.” Emilia says, “I was hoping to talk to her, I think I can do better at it now.”

“Well good news, my tiny Italian student, there’s always tomorrow! Come come.” Tani guides her away and gestures to the others to follow. “Let’s go home now, it’s getting late!”

Mariko stretches her arms behind her head and trails behind them, “Yeah it’s well past an elite athlete’s bedtime, I haven’t been up this late in a while!”

Charl shrugs his shoulders and follows suit, but he catches sight of the perturbed face Ume is wearing. “You’ve noticed it too, huh?”

“Yeah…” Ume folds her arms disconcertedly and watches as the others gather their things from the clubroom. “...Tani looks sad.”

Night of the Living Dead Anita and Tani: …Success…?