Stay

I attempt to walk over to the door.

I don’t hear the sound of pencil scribbling anymore.

All of the students have suddenly stopped moving. They simply sit at their desks with their heads lowered, their faces hidden beneath those strange clouds. The silence is so deafening that I can hear my own breathing.

I look toward the teacher.

She hasn’t moved.

Her back is still facing me, and the piece of chalk in her hand is still pressed against the blackboard. Whatever she was writing has been left unfinished.

Then she speaks.

“Please sit down.”

Her voice is completely calm.

That’s what makes it worse.

I glance toward the classroom door.

It’s only a few meters away.

“I’m leaving.”

The teacher doesn’t respond immediately.

The chalk in her hand gets pushed further into the blackboard.

“Class is not over.”

I look directly at her.

“I know.”

“Then please return to your seat.”

I don’t move.

There is something about the way she says it that makes the room feel smaller. She isn’t asking me to sit down anymore. She’s telling me that there is no other option available.

But I can’t stay here.

If I remain in this classroom, who knows what will happen.

I take a step toward the door.

The teacher’s head turns slightly.

“Please return to your seat.”

I keep walking.

Another step.

The sound of my shoes against the floor has never been more audible.

The teacher’s head tilts even more.

“You are a student. Class is in session. Please return to your seat.”

“No.”

“You must remain until class is dismissed.”

I stare at her.

“I’m not your student.”

CRACK

The chalk in her hand snaps into pieces.

The teacher stops moving.

The atmosphere around her has become colder.

I can’t actually see her face beneath the clouds, but somehow I can tell…

She’s angry.

“Please return to your seat. Last warning.”

I feel something stir inside me.

The same feeling I experienced every time I ran into one of those creatures in the other world.

Something is about to happen.

The Princess speaks.

< Do not hesitate. >

I take another step.

“I’m leaving.”

The teacher raises one hand.

And then…

PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT

The words echo loudly through the classroom.

Her head is practically upside down.

My legs stop.

I grit my teeth.

She leaps at me.

I barely have enough time to react.

I throw myself to the side as she flies past me, her hand reaching for where my head had been a moment ago.

I hit the floor hard.

My shoulder slams against the ground, and a sharp pain runs through my arm. I roll onto my back and look up.

The teacher is already turning around.

Her movements are completely unnatural.

There is no hesitation.

She simply twists her body toward me as if her joints were water.

“Please return to your seat.”

Her voice is calm again.

I scramble backward.

“No!”

She lunges again.

I raise my arm instinctively.

“Stay down!”

Her body freezes and slams into the ground.

I stare at her.

It worked.

The teacher is being forced into the ground, her body shaking violently as she struggles to get back up.

I quickly get back onto my feet.

My heart is pounding.

< Now! >

I don’t need the Princess to tell me twice.

I sprint toward the door.

The classroom seems to stretch as I approach it.

It feels like the door is getting farther away.

“No…”

I push myself harder.

The students are still sitting at their desks, but I can feel all of them watching me now. Their heads turn in unison as I run past them.

I reach the door.

My hand closes around the handle.

I pull.

Nothing.

I pull harder.

The door refuses to move.

“Goddammit, open!”

Behind me, I hear something.

A chair scraping against the floor.

Then another.

Then another.

The students are moving.

“PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEAT.”

The teacher is moving again.

Her hands press against the ground. Slowly, she begins to lift herself back up.

I grip the door handle again and pull with everything I have…

“Come on…”

I pull harder.

The handle doesn’t even budge.

Behind me, the sound of scraping chairs grows louder.

I glance over my shoulder.

The students are standing now.

All of them.

Their movements are slow and stiff, but they’re beginning to walk toward me.

None of them says anything. They just keep coming.

The teacher gets back onto her feet.

Her head is still hanging at that unnatural angle.

“Please return to your seat.”

“Shut up. I said I’m leaving.”

I pull again.

It should be easy. All I have to do is open a door.

But somehow, I can’t.

I can hear my own heartbeat.

Why won’t it open?

< There seems to be some kind of force that is keeping the door closed. >

What’s that supposed to mean?

< You are my knight, you should know what to do by now. >

< Overpower it. Show everybody in this room that you are above them. >

I stare at the door.

Above them.

My grip tightens around the handle.

The students are getting closer.

I can hear their footsteps behind me.

“Please return to your seat.”

The teacher looks like she’s about to leap at me again.

Authority.

I focus on the door.

“Open.”

Nothing happens.

“Open!”

The door handle shakes.

It’s working.

I don’t have much time left.

I grip the handle even harder.

I can feel the presence of the students behind me.

I don’t look back.

But I can feel something touching my shoulder.

A hand.

“Please return to your seat.”

I freeze.

The voice is different from the teacher’s.

It’s not from the teacher.

The hand tightens around my shoulder.

I try to pull away.

“I said I’m leaving.”

The student doesn’t let go.

Another hand grabs my arms.

Then another.

“Please return to your seat.”

“Please return to your seat.”

“Please return to your seat.”

My feet slide against the floor.

“No!”

I yank myself forward, gripping the door handle with both hands.

The door opens slightly.

Just a crack.

Cold air spills through.

“Come back.”

It’s one of the students again.

More hands grab me.

“Come back.”

I can feel their fingers digging into my shoulder.

“Come back.”

“I’m sorry.”

I tighten my grip around the handle.

“But I can’t go back.”

I plant my feet against the floor.

The students pull harder.

I refuse to move.

I can feel the power inside me.

That pressure.

That authority.

I force every last bit of it into my hand.

“Open.”

The door trembles violently.

My shoulders feel like they’re going to snap.

My arms begin to shake.

“No.”

I pull with everything I have.

“OPEN!”

The door violently swings open.

The force pulling against me suddenly disappears.

I stumble forward.

I nearly fall through the doorway.

I catch myself against the wall and look back.

The students are still inside.

But they have stopped moving.

All of them are staring at me.

The teacher stands behind them.

“Class is not over.”

I run.

My feet carry me down the hallway as fast as they can.

The lights above me flicker as I pass beneath them, filling the hallway with brief flashes of white.

I don’t look back.

I can still hear the students’ voices in my head.

“Come back”

“Please return to your seat.”

But I keep running.

I can’t afford to look back.

The hallway seems to stretch endlessly in front of me.

Left.

Right.

Another hallway.

I have no idea where I’m going.

I just keep moving.

< Yusuke. >

“What?”

< Stop. >

My breathing is heavy.

I slow down and look around.

It’s just an empty hallway with some lockers on the side.

But then I hear something.

A faint sound coming from one of the classrooms.

Someone is crying.

I stare at the door.

< Someone is inside. >

I walk toward it.

My hand reaches for the handle.

I hesitate.

Then I open the door.

“Is anyone there?”

A voice answers from somewhere in the darkness.

“Please…”

I step inside.

A figure is sitting underneath one of the desks.

They’re curled up against the wall, trembling.

They slowly look up at me.

And unlike the students in the classroom…

They have a face.

For a moment, neither of us says anything.

The person looks about my age. Their clothes aren’t a school uniform. They’re wearing a jacket, jeans, and a pair of shoes that have long lost their colour.

Are they a civilian?

They stare at me like they’re not sure if I’m real.

“You…”

Their voice is shaking.

“You’re not one of them.”

I shake my head.

“No.”

The person looks past me, toward the open door.

Their expression changes immediately.

“Close it.”

I glance back.

The hallway is empty.

“What?”

“Close the door.”

They scramble out from underneath the desk and hurry toward me.

“Before she finds us.”

I look at them.

“Who?”

The person freezes.

Then, from somewhere down the hallway—

A faint sound.

Footsteps.

The person’s face goes pale.

“The teacher.”

I turn toward the hallway.

The footsteps are getting closer.

Slow and steady.

The person grabs my arm.

“We have to hide.”

Another step echoes through the hallway.

Closer.

The person looks toward the door.

“She’ll find us.”

They pull me toward the opposite side of the room.

We barely make it a few steps before the footsteps stop.

Silence.

The person freezes.

I look toward the door.

Nothing.

Then—

“Please return to your seat.”

The teacher is standing in the doorway.

The person grabs onto me.

“Don’t let her take me.”

I step in front of them.

“Stay back.”

The teacher tilts her head.

“You are a student.”

I say nothing.

She takes another step.

“Please return to your seat.”

I raise my hand.

“Stay down.”

The teacher stops.

It worked.

Is what I thought, but her body suddenly jerks forward.

I barely have enough time to react.

“Skipping class is forbidden.”

Suddenly, two ruler-shaped objects manifest from thin air.

“Are those rulers?”

STAB

The rulers fly into the civilian and pierce them through the stomach.

They collapse onto the floor.

“Hey!”

The teacher steps toward us.

She looks at me.

“Please return to your seat.”

“Don’t come any closer!”

And then she looks at the civilian struggling on the floor.

“THREE STRIKES. YOU’RE EXPELLED.”

She raises her hand.

I instinctively step in front of the civilian.

“Stop!”

The teacher doesn’t even look at me.

Her attention remains fixed on the person lying on the floor.

“Three strikes.”

The civilian coughs.

Blood begins to spread across their shirt.

I look at the rulers sticking out of their stomach.

They’re still alive.

Barely.

I grab their arm and try to pull them away.

The teacher raises her hand again.

“EXPULSION.”

“NO!”

I throw my hand forward.

“STAY!”

A sharp pain spreads through my body.

But the teacher’s hand stops.

Her body freezes.

But she doesn’t look at me.

She keeps staring at the civilian.

“EXPULSION.”

I stare in horror.

“No, no, no.”

I put the civilian on my back and head towards the door.

The teacher’s hand twitches.

“Come on!”

I carry them through the doorway.

The moment we’re through the doorway, I slam the door shut.

I lean against it, breathing heavily.

I don’t know how long I can keep her like this.

But for now, there’s something more important.

The civilian on my back.

I gently lay them on the floor.

Blood is still pouring from the wound.

It doesn’t look good.

“...They’re going to die.”

< Not if you listen to me. >

“Princess?”

< Do as I say, and he will live. >

“Okay.”

< Put your hand on their wound. >

I do as she says.

< Now, give me your energy. >

“How do I do that?”

< Just close your eyes and trust me. >

I close my eyes.

I feel something move through me.

Then out through my hands.

The bleeding suddenly stops.

The wound begins to close.

I can’t believe it.

It’s the same thing that happened to me.

“That’s what you did with me.”

< Yes. >

“This is great, they’re going to liv—”

My knees go weak.

A wave of exhaustion hits my body.

“What happened?”

< That is the cost of saving another’s life. >

< You will simply have to endure it. >

My breathing is heavy and uneven.

“Yeah… that’s fine with me.”

My movements have become sluggish.

But it’s okay.

For the first time since entering this place, I feel relieved.

I carefully lift the civilian onto my back.

“We need to get him out of here.”

< Agreed. >

I look down the empty hallway.

The classroom door remains closed.

For now.

I turn away.

And start walking.