The Painful Bliss

The next morning, after that weird incident, I woke up before Xiba., she was close to me but this time it was way under the water. She was in bed with me! I slipped out soon as I woke up. Being up close to her may infect me or my will.  Later I freshened up and was staring at myself in the mirror hanging above the sink in the bathroom, its side had picked up a significant amount of rust and half side of the mirror was foggy and it made everything on it look blurry, as I was staring myself on the other half of the mirror which was still reflecting my human face clear but my mind was clouded with thoughts about what happened to me yesterday. It was something that most people don’t experience in their lifetime.

“Do I for real need to survive?” “I guess Shin was correct in a sense that my life was insignificant as even if I die today nothing in this world will change or cease to change cuz’ of my death, the trees will still grow the air will still flow, the corrupted will still gain and the outcastes will still be shunned and eh! The humanity he said? Is still going to prevail, and changes will occur to the minds of humans whether this experiment results in success or fails miserably. These so-called far-sighted will be still conducting experimenting on other humans and when they will find a remedy for death or the greater good, as they say. Their necessary evil will be justified; only to create a class of elite nobles, they exclusively might be able to afford this greater-remedy, it will all create an unjust system which will cause panic among us, and this will lead us to extinction.”

“Extinction of human morals you say? The code and laws we all should live by?” Xiba was listening to me all along and here I was going all out philosophical. She was wearing one of my shirts, why is she even wearing it? Didn’t she get any of her own? Ahh! She does tend to understand the gist of things I utter as if she was someone with a similar mindset as me, maybe she isn’t as evil as the others at The Hope.

“Oi, Ed why are you saying all this stuff to yourself? If you being alive or not doesn’t make any difference according to you, then I guess staying alive and optimistic is better than being perished and lamented, won’t you agree?. Not that your life matters much, you are pretty worthless as I see hehe.” Yeah keep on teasing, guess she isn’t like me after all hun? I thought.

She playfully leaned toward me and uttered. “Well, your life does matter to me—I mean us at hope.” She grinned again. Ah, Miss! I guess you spilt some beans, I don’t think she is into me or there is something to care for. There was silence for a moment as if we were couples who just started dating, well I gotta break the silence.

“I should get ready now or I’ll be late for school.”

“Yeah, you are correct I should too.” Yeah, I just forgot that she is going to stick with me!

“You should at least try to hide it. I can see clearly on your face how unpleased you look when you heard I’ll be joining in too. That hurt me ya know?” Why did she puff her face while saying ‘That hurt me’, are we in a relationship or something?

“Yeah, whatever.” I finally dressed up and was ready to leave, she got prepared earlier than me and was waiting for me.” Guess the proverb that girls take a lot of time to get ready does not apply to high school girls or is it just her?

We left the house together but then I heard the same voice which I’ve been hearing since my childhood days, the voice of Mika calling me. “Hey, Edra; good morning!” Why does she look suspicious toward me or rather Xiba?

“Where were you yesterday? I visited your place but you weren’t there.”

“Err, I was just visiting my parent’s grave.” Whew! I got a good excuse there, I soo want to keep Mika safe can’t risk her just for my selfish reasons. She pouted a bit and then glared at Xiba. She definitely won’t be happy with the agreement I am in with the fellas from The Alpha Hope. She grabbed me by the collar and pulled me closer to her, she is a little shorter than me so I leaned a bit downwards.

“Who is she” She whispered while arching her eyebrows and her face was throwing a rather unpleasant vibe towards Xiba.

“She? Aaa..., yes!”

“She is my cousin Xiba and she is staying at my place.” Yeah! Get two birds with a single arrow. Her arched eyebrow sank a bit and her puffed face went back to normal. Now that she knew we were technically siblings, there won’t be any more misunderstandings.

"Yeah, another thing, she'll be joining our school with us as well." I know it's a lot to take in, I hope Mika doesn't enquire much.

“Ah-hah! Sorry for that, hi there my name is Mika Hanawa, I am Edra’s childhood friend.” She is soo pretty I never knew Edra had any family left. Xiba wasn’t that happy with the Idea of being Siblings or whatnot. Well, who cares what she thinks.

“Yeah, hi my name is Xiba Hurano and I am supposed to be Ed’s cousin.”

“Hahaha, isn’t she funny?” hey you, you better not make things weirder as they already are. Xiba grinned a bit and that made everything clear that now my school life was also fucked. They both were on a kinda similar vibe as Mika was already making small talks with Xiba. Guess having a girlfriend makes things easy, especially for girls. Hmm…

“Hey Edra, Good morning.” Xiba gazed at this random dude with fiery eyes and why is she pointing at him while looking at me with that goofy smile?

“Good morning Dan.” Mika usually doesn’t greet random dudes. Who was this guy again? Have I met him somewhere? Even he looked at Xiba rather strangely, which makes me wonder who he is?

“Edra what happened you don’t seem to recognize me?” Recognize? I don’t even know your name!

“Ah! It looks like I don’t recall meeting you.”

Oh, I see; so this is the situation, hun? He forgot about meeting me. Does he even remember anything about the day before yesterday? “Say Edera do you recall what time you arrived at the school the day before yesterday?”

“The day before, hmm…” Wait-what? Why is my memory blank? I remember waking up and that’s pretty much it, did I get some kind of temporary amnesia from the experiment or something?

“I… I do” I usually meet Mika at 8:10 am and it’s a 20-minute walk to the school, so let's say if we were not interrupted we would reach school at around 8:30 or 8:35 at least. Let's go with 8:37 then? It's not like we are robots and will reach school at the exact time as in our minds and we don’t even walk at a uniform speed, so 8:37 it is.

“So, what time was it Edra?” He seemed rather curious.

“Yeah, we arrived at 8:37 am on that day.” Take that, unknown curious mate. He placed his hand below his chin and stated. “You are wrong! You arrived a little late as you stumbled across a dude that day.” What? Is he kidding? I don’t have a clue about what he is saying or tripping across anyone or arriving a little late.

Did I for real forget about that day? I was sweating, Mika and Xiba noticed that and tried to ease up the situation.

“He was up late last night studying so he might be a little underslept, give him a break.” Thanks, Xiba you do come in handy sometimes.

“Yeah, Edra is one of the top students I can picture him working hard up late in my head too.” She agreed with Xiba, they both were wholly getting along smooth by just meeting a few jiffies ago.

“We should hurry up or we will be late for school.” It smelled like Mika was also trying to avoid any further enquiry and was feeling unpleasant watching me get tensed. I am truly blessed to have a friend like her. I added to it too. “I agree we should move along or we will be a little late yet again.”

Dan replied, “Cool, let’s move then, don’t wanna be unpunctual on my second day.” Second-day hun?

We reached school on time and the day was moving along like usual, the teacher was rather in a good mood that day, I heard it was her marriage anniversary but instead of taking her day off our homeroom teacher Shibika Kizashi was still attending the school, guess she loves her job.

Even though everything seemed just normal, the normal didn’t last long, I wanted to spend my day like any other student but instead of that here, I was perturbed because of the experiment and specifically concerned about what happened to my memory back there.

I tried every way possible to recall, ran a lot during our PE period, ate extra nutritious food during lunch break, and even kept repeating the date I lost my memory about in my mind, but I got nothing. I even yelled out loud during practical experiments class and embarrassed myself in front of everyone. In the end, nothing came back to me after all that hassle.

The school was almost over, everyone was progressing to their respective club rooms and some were just leaving directly for their home. But as one of the top students, I was also part of a club that anyone in my class didn’t expect me to join at first. But here I was standing next to the clubroom’s door with Mika along with me, she was a part of that club too. And out of nowhere, even Xiba joined in. The club that we were standing in front of was The dance club.

Xiba rolled her eyes towards me and spoke out wearingly. “Hey Ed, why did you join such a lame club? I thought you were smart.” Mika was offended but didn’t respond.

Xiba struck a chord which no one should ever strike, as Mika was the one who made me join in with her. I was not in any place to say no as she was for real, crying like a baby to make me join this club. If I had control over my choices I would've rather joined the go-home club.

Mika was shooting daggers at me as if she was expecting me to defend ‘the honour of the dancing club.’

So, I tried. “ahem-ahem, you know dance is pretty essential for humans, even before the arrival of writing, dance was one of the things that were present at that time. Traditional, ritual, celebratory dances helped pass stories of the past era from one generation to another when our earliest cultures used to evolve using oral and performance methods only.”

“Plus, modern science has stated that dancing can help reduce weight as it is a form of physical activity and is good for our health.” Mika was astonished by my little explanation about the importance of dancing. Thank God that I read that article before bed a few weeks ago it sure did help, thanks to hypernet gods. (Hypernet is the Internet in Jahan)

“Aaa! Did you read it somewhere Ed? Almost felt like you were giving a speech at UN.” She wasn’t expecting me to spit history just cuz she thought it was a boring club.

And we should protect the culture as fellow huma— aah! what am I thinking almost Imagined myself giving a speech like an older man at the UN! (United Nations is the same as United Nations in the real world)

Mika was getting exhausted at this point so she yelled at both of us. “Can you both stop wasting our time over here! Need to enter the room to join the dance club, you know!”

Wasn’t she the one forcing me into that speech?

As we entered the clubroom, we saw two seniors sitting next to the table, which was placed at the end of the clubroom. They were totally into each other. Both didn’t even notice us walking in.

“Good afternoon Aki senpai and Fuji senpai.” Mika was quick to greet them and she even startled the love birds.

Mika enjoyed their company even though she usually prefers to stay close to me most of the time but here in the dance club, she found some quality friends.

“Ha-ha Ha! Good afternoon Mika we were just… discussing some matters related to our class nothing quite interesting.” Fuji Asuma was the shy type of guy nonetheless he ended up falling for Aki Miharu the most extrovert he could’ve ever gone for, but they've been friends since middle school so guess that helped.

I pulled out a chair from the corner of the class and sat down on it, the class was mostly empty with one big table in the corner and six chairs. Most activities include dancing, as the name suggests. So there was nothing much required except a few chairs and a pair of speakers for music.

“Who is this new girl joining us today here?” Aki senpai inquired.

“She is Ed’s sister she will be joining the club today.” Xiba had no time to introduce herself as Mika did that in a jiff but as my sister, not even her name. Is she picking a fight with her?

Xiba then cut through and introduced herself. “My name is Xiba Hurano” She looked at Mika and said, “For your info, I am not his sister I am his cousin.” She introduced herself to senpais but glared at Mika while saying that.

“Well, it’s the same, you are his sis after all.” Mika was persistent and here I thought they were BFFs now.

Xiba sighed and slowly uttered, “Hun! Whatever.”

She then proceeded towards the chair and grabbed a chair and sat down close to me. Then Fuji senpai introduced her to the club’s activity and other things related to the club, as he was explaining stuff I felt something weird as if my senses were instructing me to watch out and all of a sudden, we felt an earthquake. The school building was quivering and it seemed like someone was doing it using their hands like a titan. Everyone got under the table except for Xiba, she was alerted and it appeared she knew what was coming. The earthquake came to a halt, we didn't know what was going on except for Xiba, she was still alerted and on guard. Following the earthquake, we heard a knock on the door, even though the door was unlocked the knocking continued without a break.

“Yeah, we heard you, you can come in.” Fuji Senpai yelled out loud while still being under the table he was under tension as Aki senpai was too close to him.

Even after the confirmation of Fuji senpai the knocking persisted, it made Xiba furious and Xiba screamed out. “Come out you jerk and stop hiding behind the door!” Just as she was saying that someone kicked the door and the door came flying towards Mika, it was so close to her it seemed that it was going to hit her, I panicked and jumped in front of her but Xiba saw that and she performed a cartwheel on one arm while bashing that door with her foot so hard that it changed its direction.

“Woooow.” Everyone said at the same time.

I looked at Mika and she was looking at me; she was awed by Xiba’s performance.

“Thanks, Ed.”…Ed? She never calls me that.

“You should be thanking Xiba, she is the one who saved both of us.”

Xiba glared at me and nodded her head as if she was trying to convey something to me. It was unclear what she was trying to convey but I got the gist of it that it wasn’t something pleasant, something bad was about to happen, and we were all tensed.

But soon after the smoke was settled we saw someone, she was a girl and everyone was shocked as if they had witnessed something sinister except me, as I was still profoundly confused. So I tried to ask her myself.

She doesn’t seem much of a threat what’s the worst that could happen. I reasoned with myself.

“Hey, you there…” She rolled her eyes towards me. “Who are you and what are you doing here? It wasn’t you who did this right?’ I mean how can a girl like her! Do anything like this... She didn’t answer for a brief moment but instead smiled at me.

“Hey, quit that smug smile and answer why are you here?” Xiba appeared affirmative about that strange girl being the one who did all this. “Wait a minute; Soya Harisha is that you?” Mika uttered a name that I’d heard for the first time. Again? “Do you know her?” I asked.

“Yes, and what do you mean by ‘do you know her’ we met her the day before last. I don’t remember you being that forgetful.” It does look like we met another mate alongside Dan that day, hun? It made it clear, that my memory was all gone about that day.

"Y-Yes I do remember her, aha-aha.” It didn’t sound convincing but what else do I have in my arsenal except accepting what was given.

“Oh, looks like you guys knew her, well I hope she was a good girl with you all, cuz I ain’t going to give her any chance being a goodsy girl with me, huh!” I got the idea that Xiba held no respect for this girl whatsoever.

“Is goodsy even a word poor puppet-girl? People like you don’t change even after a transformation like that do you?” That hit a nerve on Xiba and she got frustrated, I had never witnessed a look on her face that intimidating.

Dan came out of nowhere and swiftly entered the room. Where was he until now and why is he here? I asked myself.

“What's cooking in here? Seems pretty murky.” Dan was curious about stuff that didn’t have anything to do with him.

“Nothing much Dan, I was just here to say hi to my friends, especially Edra.” Soya knew about Dan as well. I was the only unacquainted here.

“What do you want from him?” Dan questioned Soya.

“What do I want? I want something the same as you.” She was suggesting something. There is no way that she could somehow be related to The Hope or rather The Bio-Switch. I thought.

“What could it be?” Dan responded.

“Edra; we want Edra as well.” As well? She really might be from The Bio-Switch.

Hearing that made everyone curious and shocked at the same time. So Fuji senpai tried to make things clear. “Y-You both want Edra? I knew he was quite popular, but among both girls as well as boys is news to me.” He said timidly. You really don’t know how to read the environment, do you Fuji-pai?

Aki senpai tried pointing something as well. “I also heard that you were interested in both girls and boys, it might—"

“Shut up!” Soya made it clear by interrupting Aki senpai that it was not something that she was cooking in her mind. Aki senpai stood frozen like a statue after hearing that loud and not-so-girly sound from a cute-looking girl. It can intimidate anyone, even me.

The atmosphere of the room got tense and silent. We were effortlessly able to hear the mixed-up voices and footsteps from outside. No one was trying to say anything, nor anyone was trying to question anything.

I wanted to break the silence, so I tried to raise my voice. But before I could’ve gotten any chance, Mika yelled out loud.

“Can you both shut your nonsense and…”

“ …that weird attitude, what's going on here? You both claim Ed-Edra like he is some kind of tool or something, but he is indeed not--.”

“You don’t have to preach any further, I know what he is and what he will truly become better than anyone.” Soya’s response really pissed off Mika; her attitude was even beginning to bug me as well.

Furious Mika was familiar with me right from the age of six. Set ought to reply to the unwelcoming Soya.

“Better than anyone? You didn’t know anything about Ed a few days ago, and now you became the all-knowing?” Mika said that with a little high tone than her normal speaking voice. Even though I was shocked to see Mika acting like that. But., someone specific was not pleased by it.

Soya didn’t respect Mika’s response, so she tried to reveal what was going on with me.

“Oh well, I might know some things about our dear Ed here…”

“…Which might be quite shocking for you to hear.”

“What are you talking about!?” Mika inquired with a shudder. I started feeling sick, so I attempted to stop Soya.

“Hey! You need to stop this! What will you get by doing this?” I knew she just wanted to make things tough for me but I can’t take any risk to involve Mika in this mess I am in by any means.

“Han? Don’t you think you should be more honest with your best friend about what’s happening with you? And here I thought I might make things easy for you. Guess you are just a coward after all. Coward people are likely to do that, and they can never change eith--.”

What happened after that shocked everyone present in the room. All we heard first was a slapping sound. Mika interrupted Soya with a slap.

“You don’t know a single thing about Edra; You call him a coward? He is the most dauntless brave person I've ever known. You will never comprehend what he has gone through, nor do you know what’s going on within him. He lost the only family he had very early on in his life and he still manages to stay collected and calm.”

“I used to think I had issues in my life. Small things like, not getting my favourite coloured dress also used to annoy me a lot. But watching Edra, holding up resolutely even in difficult times…”

“…made me realise how insignificant my problems are, compared to his. He is not a coward but a persevering person whom I adore and always will.”

“Haha hahaha hahaha, you are quite a girl. Mi-Ka.” Watching Soya break up like that set everyone present in the room a bit off, but I was concerned about her actions. She might even hit Mika back. I thought. My intuition was alarming me about that.

I wasn’t wrong as Harisha attempted to fight back against Mika. Right before she was about to make contact with Mika, I somehow managed to jump right before her and took the blow on myself. She may seem like a normal girl but she had a monstrous strength. Her punch wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. It hit me hard, so hard that It pushed me back a little. Was she actually intending on hitting her like that?

“Ah! Tsh .” I sighed.

“Are you alright, Edra?” Mika asked.

“Yea, yes, I am alright.” Even though it does hurt a bit, it isn't something to worry about that I can't handle.

“Oh aren’t you a tough boy? Trying to protect a weak girl.” Soya was scornful.

“You really like to run your mouth, don’t ya?” Xiba’s said, her eyes glaring at Soya like a wild animal on his prey.

“Han!!!” Soya was getting eager to fight Xiba.

“Then, why not you try and fight me? Let's see who is more capable of running what!” Soya manages to make Xiba persuade on fighting her. As soon as both of them launched into each other, Dan interrupted. He gave Soya a look and Soya fell back.

“Why are you interrupting, Dan?” Xiba enquired.

“I think we can settle this without a fight. Right, Soya?” Even though Soya didn’t seem much pleased with the idea of talking things over. She still somehow didn’t deny Dan’s idea.

“Han? What do you mean?” Xiba wasn’t pleased either. “She is just an animal she doesn’t seem to work with reason, Dan.

“Don’t worry Xiba she has to.”

“What do you mean has to? Do you really think I would do as you wished?” Soya was showing a bit of denial.

“Hmm.” Dan smiled slyly. “You work for The Bio Switch, don’t ya?”

“Yeah, So what? It's not something I am trying to hide.” Soya wasn’t much concerned about Dan at all.

“But the thing is, I know the one who controls you.” Hearing this, Soya became distressed. “You are just a mere marionette as well. Why don’t you just leave Edra alone? In return, I will seal my lips.” He whispered it while standing close to Soya.

“Ah ok, Guess I have to end this performance right here, but before that, let me close it with a bang,” Harisha smirked and directed her eyes toward Mika.

Close it with a bang? No, there is no way she would do something—I was in the middle of my thought as my instincts were screaming at me. Something erroneous was about to happen.

Soya hurled an attack on Mika, her leg was soo fast that it was creating an air-bending sound. I panicked.

“Mikaaa!”

“Aaaaah” Mika screamed.

Her blow landed and it hit her. That’s what I thought at first.

But as I got a hold of my sight, I saw Soya’s foot on Xiba’s face. She came in to save Mika but that hit caused her a lot of damage. She was sent flying backwards near the clubrooms window.

“Xiba! Yo-You are bleeding.” I said hesitantly.

“Hah.” Mika sighed. “Even Monsters bleed Edra.” She smiled while replying to me.

“Monsters?” What does she mean by that?

Xiba hadn’t recovered yet and Soya was moving toward her. Fuji and Aki senpai got scared shitless and even cramped themselves under the only table in the clubroom. Soya was trying to cause trouble again.

“You got in my way yet again, when will you learn you pathetic mon—" Soya was interrupted.

Interrupted, by a punch that I delivered straight to her head. It just caused her head to move towards the left a bit. She stood there like it wasn’t causing any unease or pain to her. Everyone was shocked.

“Hmmm aaahhh, what are you?” I screamed and asked. What is she? What is going on?

“I don’t know anything about it. You are here for me! So why are you causing trouble for others? Leave everyone alone!” I was standing in front of Xiba as I yelled my words at Soya. Xiba wasn’t expecting me to say that.

“Haha ha hahaha haha, the funs just started. We expect great things from you Edra, we all do.” Soya was unclear about her motives but all I knew after that was, that she might be trouble for us in future. I can’t remain as open as I used to be.

As she was leaving, she looked at our senpais they both got startled and as she reached the door she said. “The person you were trying to protect now does not need any. After all, monsters do bleed but that blood is their due that needs to be paid.” Then she left.

“Tch” Xiba wasn’t happy with that remark.

Xiba soon picked herself up and announced. “We should leave, it's getting quite dark now and remember everything that happened here will never leave this room. Is that clear?”

“YES” Fuji and Aki senpai agreed with no object. They were terrified enough already.

“Ok, we are leaving see you soon yall.” Fuji senpai said diffidently and they both left the room as fast as an old Concorde.

Dan was rather calm and he left the place without any see-offs. Mika, Xiba and I left the school together. Xiba and I accompanied Mika till she reached her house. While we were on our way toward Mika's place, we dwelled on some memories we spent together and laughed a bit. Xiba was quite filling in the space without being a weirdo. Mika didn’t question me anything about what happened back at school. She does not want me to panic.

As we reached her place she told me. “Say Edra, should we go for Kareoke as we used to.”

I nodded and agreed with her. “Take care.”

“Bye-bye,” Xiba said with enthusiasm.

“You look in quite a good mood,” I asked.

“You are correct I should be crying right now? If you want me to, I can.”

“Quit being sarcastic, you look weird when you act like that.”

“Well, you were not satisfied with enthusiasm right now.”

“AH-ahem, leave it. Let's head home.” As I replied, she patted my head and said.

“Try to enjoy yourself a bit” I was looking into her eyes, were those always purple?” I shied away.

Who in their right mind can enjoy themselves while being so deep under many issues and problems.

“Hmph, who said I don’t? let's move already”

Alright alright. She smiled back at me as she answered.