"We Don't Negotiate With The DEAD" (Part 2)

"Here you are, Kazuya. . . Two of the most dangerous creatures in world in the very same room as you right now. My sister, she needs you for her plan to succeed. She decided that if she can't have you nobody can."

I was ignoring the voice in my head, desperately looking around for another exit. Dozer began coming closer, as the "queen" began laughing more and more.

"They're all after you. They won't stop hunting you until you've either joined them, Kazuya. And if they can't have you, they'll want you dead. Everyone in this world will be your enemy from now on"

The exit was blocked by Dozer, drawing nearer every moment. The only way out was. . . I slowly turned around to look at the classroom windows. No. . . I couldn't do it. It was a death trap. I was on the third floor of this building, and if I jumped out of that window. . . Even if I survived every bone in my body would break once again, and the horde of the liches outside would come finish me off.

"Kazuya, you've constantly measured yourself to the extent of a normal mortal. A mere mortal could survive after that fall, but they wouldn't be able to escape that horde with those broken limbs. However. . . You aren't a mortal anymore. . ."

There was not a single thought that crossed my mind in that moment. No plan of action or careful consideration of my options. Without any plan, I rushed for the window, desperately clinging to the little hope that the voice had given me.

'You aren't a mortal anymore. . .'

That wasn't something that I wanted to hear from anyone. That moment, I realised briefly, that I didn't fear death. I might've not been immortal, but killing me would be hard enough for a simple three story fall and a horde of mindless murderers. No, that wasn't going to kill me at all.

Before I reached the window, Dozer had caught up to me attempting to grab me quickly, but I kicked off the ground with a power far superior to my own. Flying through the air, I connected with the window. The sudden pressure on my entire body as I forced my way through the glass, was quickly relieved. Suddenly. . . CRACK. The entire window shattered, and I flew straight through.

The shattered shards of glasses began cutting at my entire body, as some of them cut their way through my clothes. I had multiple large shards stuck in my legs.

"Ciao, Kazuya-kun. We'll see each other soon enough again" The "queen" shouted from the classroom. I would've expected her to be more angry or frustrated like the villains in comics or movies. She knew we would meet again, soon enough.

Despite the growing pain of the glass shards in my legs, I didn't want to focus on that. When, I looked up for a moment, I saw it. . . The rising morning sun.

I didn't realise that so many hours had passed since I first arrived at the school. The sun, however, didn't mark the passing of time, but rather the strength of my hope. Because of the little hope that I could cling onto, I had leapt from the tallest floor of a building, falling to my eventual death. 

Hope is the only thing a human being can rely on in the end. Hope doesn't betray people, because it doesn't save them or fix their problems. It guides them. . . It was hope given by someone else that guided me here. . .

Thus, Kazuya's heart stopped beating, as the final breath left his mouth before his corpse plummeted downwards. With the distance that he had reached away from the school he was right above the gymnasium when he crashed through the glass roof, falling down towards the floor.

Harano Michi (原埜導), deprived of all hope, she desperately attempted to help tend to one of the wounded students. Suddenly, the loud noise of glass smashing echoed through the entire gymnasium. She looked up, watching the young boy falling, before his lifeless body hit the floor.

- - -

Michi's first name (導), means guidance. You'll find out later why that is.