A Morning Trip to School

Night ended up dreamless for Mamoru, though he had a feeling in the back of his mind that he had just forgotten a serious dream, which he counted as a blessing. He woke with eyes bursting open and scanning the bedroom. It was early enough that the sun hadn’t even begun to peak over the horizon, but he was wide awake. Next to the high schooler lay the sword with the girl, Hikari, supposedly trapped in it. She had protested a little before going to sleep about him lying her in the bed, but couldn’t offer a rebuttal when challenged. For Mamoru’s part, he just wanted to keep the blade close.

It was perhaps an odd effect of the sword's ‘cursed’ nature, but since getting possession of it, he felt strongly that he wanted to keep it nearby as much as possible. With a yawn, Mamoru sat up and stretched his arms into the air. He could see the outline of his various anime figures sitting on the wall, but it was too dark to make out which was which. Though most were Mirai anyway.

He jumped out of bed and strapped the sword onto his back. There was no reason to turn on the lights to descend the stairs and get to the kitchen; his phone’s flashlight was sufficient enough for that task. Even as he rummaged through the fridge for leftover rice, he didn’t bother with the lights.

Eventually, Hikari groaned in his mind, like she was waking up on her own. It was a strange thing to think that she was somehow sleeping, but Mamoru didn’t bother to press the issue.

Why are you eating in the dark?

“No reason to turn the lights on when I’m leaving right after this.”

Yes, there is, so that you aren’t a weirdo using your phone for light! Mamoru shrugged; he didn’t see the problem. Alright, whatever, are you planning to go Subarashii today?

“Go and do what?” Mamoru left his phone lying screen side down on the table and moved to the sink so he could scrub the dishes.

Get your vengeance! We had a whole conversation about this last night!

Mamoru sighed. He turned off the water and wiped his hands on his shirt before sliding the container into a cabinet overhead. His hands balled into fists, and he pressed them into the countertop while staring at slow, draining water.

“Much as I would like to charge in, there are other things to accomplish first.”

So, you aren’t ready?

“Ready is… I suppose not. For now, I want to explore some leads I got prior to buy… There is a gang downtown selling fetamayuku. We are going to bust up their operation.”

What is fetamayuku?

Mamoru took a deep breath and stared up at the ceiling.

“A new drug. One that I have reason to believe is being distributed by Subarashii to the public.”

Why?

He didn’t want to directly answer that question, given that he wasn’t sure it was all a delusion he whipped up. Surely that company wouldn’t go that far? He hoped in some small part that he was wrong, that the chat rooms he found online were just conspiracy nuts stretching the truth far beyond reason, but then being wrong meant he would have gone out of his way to buy a cured sword for no reason.

“Either way, before we do any of that, I will need some practice.”

Hmm. Well, happy to help. So, if you need to practice, are we going to go to the woods and do some training? Oh, maybe you can run through while a giant wooden log swings down and try to cut it in half!

It would be improper to ask her if she was right in the head, given swords didn’t have any, but Mamoru closed his eyes and breathed heavily. He waited a moment before responding.

“For now, I am going to school, can’t afford too many more late days.”

The reply was short and seemed more a blank response than a shock.

Oh.

Mamoru finished his morning by getting dressed and fastening the sword on his back. It had been a while since he wore the Kendo bag to school. Though he had been smart to rejoin the club, he wondered what the reaction of the other students might be.

You are taking a katana to school?

“You’re in the bag, it’ll be fine.” He was not, in fact, sure it would be fine, but the pull he had to keep the sword close was giving him an emotional response at the mere thought of leaving it at home. Perhaps it was something like an alcoholic might feel when they pondered not drinking. He would just have to be careful not to let anyone see inside.

A quick walk outside just to stretch his legs ended with him firing up his motorcycle and zipping down the quiet streets. It was still dark enough that the red lights on his bike created a red glow across the road, which would surely piss off any passing drivers if they came by.

Soon, he sped into the city, under streetlights illuminating a strong purple hue. It had been a whole week since they turned, but Suba was in charge of maintenance, so he could count on nothing happening any time soon.

Since it was early, he rode aimlessly for a while to kill the time. It allowed Mamoru to see the sunrise, but he wasn’t all too pleased with it. What good did it do if the sun came up? Wouldn’t it be better if the next day never arrived? He tried to shift gear and remembered his bike was electric.

“Stupid,” he muttered before accelerating between cars and around a truck. The driver blasted their horn at the mad biker. For a second, getting run over didn’t seem like a bad prospect; perhaps he would be whisked to another world where he didn’t have to worry about so much. But then, he couldn’t get his vengeance. Mamoru sped up, leaving the truck and other drivers in his dust with a velocity that would give a cop a heart attack.

The school building came into view before long, and he weaved through the gate to park his bike. With a quick motion to deposit his helmet and fix his hair, he felt set to deal with the school day.

“Um. Excuse me?” a soft voice came from behind. It made him jump a little—he hoped not enough to be noticeable.

The girl from the prior day stood just out of arm's reach. Her shoulders were overgrown with purple twintailed locks of floofy hair that curled down around her neck and hid the skin where her shirt had been left unbuttoned. Her skirt matched being shorter than the student handbook would have mandated. Mamoru wasn’t bothered by the getup. His own outfit was sloppy compared to the average proper student.

What bothered him was her expression. She squinted her eyes slightly, and the corners of her mouth were upturned. It came off as smug. Like she was looking down on him despite being a head shorter. He wasn’t too fond of that look; it reminded him of days passed, before he knew how to throw a punch.

Still, some people just have odd resting faces. He shouldn’t jump to conclusions like others did when they saw his leather-wearing, half-shaven head fashion sense.

“Can I help you?”

She chirped back in a high-pitched, but still cutesy voice, “You already like, did yesterday!” Then her tone turned sultrier, “And I was hoping to, like, catch you so we could get to know each other much better.”