ANNABELLE

The pace at which Shishimori drove was fast. It was clear as day she was in a hurry but this wasn't the fastest she had ever driven with me in the car.

But I simply allowed myself to be carried. Asking any question would be too overcomplicated for me so I simply paid my attention to the window. The sky was pretty damp and moody. Rain was most likely approaching but I feared for the worst.

If it were to rain, I might fall right asleep any time.

"Not gonna ask where we are headed?" Shishimori's voice reached out to my ear, soft and mysterious.

"It's just a basic job ain't it? Warps have been appearing quite often for sometime now." My eyes darted to the simply normal sky or so it would seem at first but if concentrated enough a massive hole was gaping from the sky.

It looked ominous and the clouds never seemed to cover it. In my eyes it was a pitch black void opening up on the sky.

Fifty years ago that hole came out of the blue, cliche but true. Ever since then there have been sightings for paranormal entities we call warps began showing face. Yes ever since we've been engaging in a battle that showed no signs of stopping just us losing more of our humanities and the warp evenly increasing, adapting.

In the end it was our loss. Normal human bullets couldn't kill them so we had to step things up and after countless of research we humans created weapons specifically to kill and hunt the warps.

That was two years after the hole opened up. Humanity was pretty much on the verge of a nationwide extinction if we had spent a little more longer.

Warps come in different forms which was why no ordinary human could simply just walk right up to them without getting killed in a grotesque manner.

A hunting organization was created in this very city to hunt down this warps and yes despite me being this adorable nineteen year old I was being sent to the battle field alongside my comrade Shishimori.

"I don't wanna work." I sighed in frustration.

"In the end your ability and talents are useful."

In the end Shishimori wasn't praising me, technically she was but not for the same reasons you'd want to be praised.

The void executioners. And we were classified as executioners. Our only existence is dedicated to killing the warp and nothing else.

That's right nothing had changed despite being here for over five years. People died in the most the horrifying ways. No I don't wish to remember.

Why was I involved in something as dangerous as that? I who enjoyed simplicity or to be more in fact I who preached the world of being gray was indirectly contradicting myself. I want to be simple yet I do such an overbearing and dangerous work. I claim the world is gray yet I indirectly challenge that philosophy but in the end I don't disagree with my ideologies.

Morality, ambiguity, death, the after life, what were all those? Were such an important concept for the balance of the world? The universe?

In fact what makes up the universe to begin with? We as humans didn't originate anything. A being we refer to as "God" did then wouldn't it be good to say "God" created warps? Did he intentionally hope to cure this gray world? Then why fight?

"Humans don't wanna die I guess?" I came to that conclusion with my eyes glued to the hole in the sky.

Do I fear death? Everywhere was dark. No this was my head, my mind.

A voice, a unwarranted voice and that voice belonged me. In this empty spacious void we call the mind I myself was disagreeing. No was disproving a certain thought I came up with.

I do not fear death but at the same time I don't see any reason to why I should die so sudden or early. I had been risking and sacrificing my life that idea never once came into my head.

"Then if I were to hold a gun point blank to your head would you shiver? Or whimper?" The other me, the other voice in my head asked.

"Probably not..."

Everything to me was simple. If I can dodge the bullet I would but if my only option was to get shot I would take it. It's that simple.

"We're here."

Shishimori snapped me right back to reality and from the window our destination became clear.

"A school?"

"Yoi High School to be more precise."

"Hold on Shishimori!" My eyes widened in horror as she stopped to park the car.

Without even batting an eye at me she opened her door and exited it as I watched her in horror.

"Y-Y-You know I can't handle crowded places."

Shishimori shut the door before I could finish. Complete ignorance to my delicate state.

In the end it didn't matter. I followed right behind Shishimori. The moment we walked into the school hallways, eyes were instantly laid on us. It was clear as day whatever they were thinking.

'Who are these people?'

'What's up with the chick's outfit?!'

Although those were the simple thoughts the most rampant question was.

'They look different.'

We walked quietly through the hallway.

I waited, leaning on the wall for Shishimori to ask for directions.

I walked up two stair cases to reach our destination. A close room which read 'staff room'. My eyes squinted while I read it.

"We're entering now."

Shishimori commanded and opened the door only to be greeted by the sight of five adults.

Two women, one in her fifties and another twenties just based off eye value and three males all who were most likely thirty and above.

All surrounding a girl who was in their sailor like school uniform, crouched on the edge of the room while being cornered by the adults. My eyes scouted the room. Books littered everywhere with desks.

The staff room. Now I understand.

"Um." Shishimori made sure her tone was heard and the five adults turned to face her.

The lady in her fifties walked right up to Shishimori, worry in her eyes.

"Are you two perhaps void executioners? Nice to meet you I am Kino the principal of this school." She bowed gently.

"You have a well built establishment." Shishimori complimented, a faint smile breaking off her expressionless mold.

"This guys are void executioners?" A bald man from among the adults frowned at our way. "A pity looking lady and a kid? Really? Do these people take our lives as jokes?" He arrogantly commented.

You say that but we're the ones who die protecting people like you in the very end.

"Mr. Takada, that's enough." Kino furrowed her brows at the arrogant man. "Sorry, he can be quite the handful." She bowed again.

The stench of book, different perfumes filled the air. It was a pleasing sight alongside the ceiling fan that blew strongly made me feel at ease.

"No it's fine, may I ask what the issue is." Shishimori went right into business, an intent concentration from her.

"Yes, to be honest one of our student might actually be possessed by a warp."

I looked right at the girl. She rolled herself up into a ball so seeing her face was rather difficult.

"What makes you say that?"

"She went berserk during lunch break by stabbing one of the students with a knife." Mr baldie Takada spoke, his voice anxious.

"Yes and she was never this violent before." Mrs Kino finished, her worried face drowning even further.

The situation was pretty much understandable. A female student suddenly went on an outrage and stabbed a student with a knife. And not to mention the principal herself had to confirm she was never a violent student to begin with.

There were instances. No they were pretty much common occurrences whereas a warp would infiltrate into the body of a human completely mutating one's body to be a suitable host but think of it as a parasite. No human would naturally survive being controlled by the warp simply because it's killing "You" but not the body itself. Being violent was indeed a trait to a human controlled warp simply because it was hard to control your own emotions but that wasn't a factor to decide alone if she was controlled by the warp or not.

"Can we speak to the child ourselves?" Shishimori asked.

Without hesitation the principal nodded with agreement. Shishimori walked right up to the girl with me right behind her.

"Um." Shishimori went on her knees, her tone soft.

No response from the girl whatsoever but now that I was closer I caught a nice glimpse of her. She looked rather nerdy but a cute one.

"Shishimori has anyone told you that you suck at interacting with kids."

"First time I've heard."

"Let me handle this." I declared with a half baked protest.

Shishimori looked over her shoulder, eyes wide.

"I wasn't expecting you to take the lead."

"..."

Without any more questions Shishimori got up and made way for me to do my thing.

"Psss." I whispered at the girl.

Her body shifted a little.

"Don't worry I'm a kid just like you."

Upon hearing that she slowly positioned herself. She sat down while hugging her knees. Just like how I saw it, her entire demeanor preached nerdy while maintaining a rather cute outlook.

"Adults are kinda of a drag ya know? They act like they truly understand you only to make the biggest miss and they think their solutions are always viable cause they are older." I spoke with a smug.

The girl just pressed her face on her knees, hoping to not make eye contact with me.

I never really succeeded at human interaction but why she simply reacted to my voice and not Shishimori? It was most likely cause I was of similar age. If she really wasn't affected by the warp I assumed something was wrong with her mentally but the feeling of understanding a human other than your own felt too ambiguous for someone as oversimplified as I was.

"I like your hair." I said, not out of randomness but I felt like it was something genuine.

She raised her head and laid eyes on me. With an eyebrow raised she finally spoke.

"It's just basic black what's there to like."

"I like simple things! But just because you have black hair doesn't mean you can't stand out with it. Millions of people play soccer but only one will reach the top am I right?"

"I guess... um."

"It's Akuto."

"Akuto?" She let my name leave some sort of lasting impression. "That's an interesting name."

Interesting. I get told that a lot.

"I already told you my name, you wouldn't mind telling me yours?"

"Annabelle." She answered pretty quick. "Um you guys are those warp executioner right? Why is a guy your age there?" Annabelle cocked her head to the side.

"How should I put it? Does it matter?"

"It kinda does I mean, you're out here risking your life I assume. Don't you wanna have a normal life?" Her brows pulled together and the grip of knees tightened.

Her words left me confused. What exactly was normal? In a world like this where you death is obviously guaranteed what do we define as normal. Working a normal nine to five job? Falling in love? No I wouldn't understand because I don't think I deserved a shed of normalcy because I wasn't normal in my own rights.

"Enough about me, do you understand the situation you're in?"

Annabelle looked away and laid on her knees again.

"They must think I'm abnormal right? In the end it's their fault!" Her tone rose. "I thought to myself I could have a normal high school experience, but all I do is get bullied by some pretty girl. Every single day I was the class laughing stock and they went as far as to 'accidentally' kill my puppy, my only source of happiness."

"Do you have any parents?"

The world around me began to turn dark.

"Nah who cares about them."

I could hear it, I could feel it, her clenching jaw, her grip tightly increasing with each words she made.

"Why? What's wrong with being nerdy? I can't just change how I look ya know? Why do I have to be the scapegoat? Why did my puppy dog have to die? Why do I have to be alone? Why am I getting bullied? Even if I acted emotionless and bear with it, it still hurts."

It... hurts.

IT... hurts....

IT HURT!

IT HURTTTTTTTSSSSS?!

?!.

What she feels wasn't just mere pain but after years of solitude, that built up rage must have been the main cause to why she attacked her classmate in the first place. Her words were enraging, engraving at some point I almost got scared of hearing Annabelle herself talk about her feelings.

I subconsciously tilted to face Shishimori who simply watched with a wide stare.

The adults made their way to intervene to the situation but Shishimori stopped them.

"Tell me? Was I wrong for what I did?! I did the world a favour cause those guys won't grow up to be decent individuals in the future after all."

Now she was acting cocky, trying to believe her sense of justice equaled her sense of morality.

"Then is this what you truly want? Whining? Crying, getting angry at other people for your own fragile self?"

"What."

"Annabelle, killing is never the answer. Your pain shouldn't be a metric for how you are to act in this case. No matter how far I try to look it you held yourself so far and yet broke it not cause you simply couldn't handle it but because you wanted to direct your rage at something. You asked me why did I join such a dangerous occupation such as killing warps?"

A faint smile grew on my face.

"In this world you have to contribute to something. Even if I wanted to I have no choice but to fight. I see many die, I've killed many warps. I wouldn't know much about justice, love, friendships or bonds, hatred. I'm just living the life I was unfortunate to be in. That's why if a loser like me Akuto can stand this strong so can you."

"Akuto?"

"Who cares if you look like a nerd? I like nerdy girls? Who cares about your dead puppy?"

"...."

"If you wanted them dead could have asked me in the first place. It doesn't matter... the world I know is already tainted and only a selected few should be allowed to keep such a balance don't ya think?" I sighed.

"Y-you really are a strange person Akuto."

"I get that a lot."

Wouldn't you say the situation was fixed? Throughout my dialogue with her I didn't feel or sense anything that could lead to a warp possession. She acted sane throughout the whole process then.

Where was the original warp?

My gaze a side eye to the adults, until it rested on Mr baldie.

"Shishimori!" I roared and charged for Annabelle hugging her to the ground as the air went deafening.

It was too fast to see. Shards of glass poured right on my frame while I covered Annabelle. Curious I looked and I couldn't believe what I was witnessing.

The walls had multiple long line marks. Not just any ordinary one at that. The lines were sharp and had dig into the wall almost as if the sharpest blade in the world was used to slice the very wall. No not even a blade would accomplish such a feat.

The entire staff room was a mess. The shreds of papers made from the books fell to the ground, the tables and chairs all sliced into multiple pieces.

I who held unto Annabelle then felt something warm right beneath my feet. I checked and blood.

All four adults were dead, their body on the ground beyond any form of understanding. The entire room felt like corpses, blood, sorrow, pain and a banana fragrance.

"Are you alright Akuto?" Shishimori approached me not a single scratch or wound on her body.

"Yes, it seems Annabelle is unconscious."

"I see..."

A slow clap echoed through the silent staff room, and our attention focused on the source.

"I didn't think a teacher would be the warped possessed."

"Warped? Oh please you know my name already don't you? It's Takada to you." A malicious grin came right after.

I understand now.

"When we first got here it was indeed true that Annabelle had a sign of warped manifestation but through our dialogue I was starting to think my theory was false and she was normal as they come until I came to a realization. There was still a warp. I could feel it until you attacked. You were controlling both the baldie and the girl weren't you? Such isn't impossible."

"Now that you've figured that out, what happens next? Want a candy?" Baldie's voice felt disoriented more like distorted befitting for a warped.

"No I just find it pretty interesting. You must have completely taken over that mans body but yet to came to his school everyday, taught and roamed with students up until then I doubt this school made any calls to the police so you never actually hurt anyone but you attacked now. Why now? Don't tell me you genuinely wanted a normal life."

"Extermination, human extermination and control is our only motif."

The man's body began horrifyingly morphing. His eyes violently shifted to the far corner of his face while he snapped. Such a bizarre phenomenal and yet the warp was visibly concentrated on us.

"Orders." Shishimori asked fully focused on the warp.

"Isn't it obvious?! Kill that thing!!"

Shishimori right before my very eyes pulled out a long black katana. It edges glowed pale blue.

I had been working with her for a while now and not once have I ever understood how she manages to reveal her weapon. Where does it even come from?

The warp made no waste and attacked. The air split right before him. No blade visible but yet it parted clearly along the unseen edge.

Shishimori waited for a mere second then dodged! She ducked perfectly and dashed at the warp with a quick burst, and gracefully struck the warp. The blade cut through the neck and its head flew clean off.

Blood splattered everywhere but yet the warp didn't stop. With its headless body it ran right at Shishimori. It aimed at grabbing her but she gracefully avoided its right hand and swiftly cut it clean off dodged the punched by the left hand and sliced it as well. Then planted a kick to the chest of the body.

The warp retained its position and- A thin glint flickered then vanished but yet Shishimori blocked whatever it was casually. With each swing she made sparks of light glowed as she parried each of the warp's attack.

Its attacks were not visible to the eyes. A sharp non existent blade that could most likely cut through anything other than Shishimori's blade.

The way it moved was fast and looked pretty flexible so I assume it was a whip with a very sharp edge to it but we wouldn't know. For a normal human they would have been in pieces but Shishimori dodged, blocked and parried them showed she wasn't a normal human.

There are stories of people who possessed the sixth sense so maybe she was an exception although that didn't mean I couldn't see it. I could but I wasn't always a straight on fighter just a simple backup.

My eyes darted right back to the unconscious Annabelle then right at Shishimori.

"We need to limit as much casualties Shishimori!"

I spoke as the warp's lost limbs and head began to grow at an exponential rate.

Shishimori clenched her blade tightly.

That was when I noticed. Light glowed from all sides of the warp's back and I immediately grabbed Annabelle and leaped out of the window. I hugged her frame and looked below my feet.

"Hikes we're like ten meters in the air?!" I couldn't help but grin at my oh so intelligent idea.

I rolled up into a ball in order to protect Annabelle's fall and I crashed. Pain jolted around my body but disappeared right after. I got up and gently placed Annabelle on the ground.

"Ah that's right my cellphone... I forgot it didn't I."

I sighed and then looked up at staff room window, where I had jumped from and a massive slash on the wall spawned mid air. Its marks visible right from where I observed then that wall collapsed. No the entire staff room was split into multiple pieces. Dust and debris erupted from the after effect.