Chapter 7:

O1999 - Ivy Freeman

This Boredom of Mine

???: [Mo…morning, Cl…class…!]

???: [OHAYOU GOZAIMASU, NANOCHI!!]

Only one student out of the 23, or more precisely, 22 plus one machine, currently present in class replied to the teacher with the fervour of a waterfall. The rest of us of EI7, at best, mustered a murmur.

Ms. September: [Thank… y… you, Mimi. That was indeed a very good greeting.]

Ms. September's default stuttering stopped. In its place was the constant stream of information waiting to break through the floodgates that is limited by word of mouth.

The doubts and insecurities she would often show were all but gone, having switched to her "working mode".

Brazenly, she wrote two simple huge letters on the board.

She had to jump to reach the top of the board, prompting John, who was sitting right in front, to offer to help her but she carried on without needing his help.

Ms. September: [Greetings, a form of communication to inform the world that you are here. There are more ways to greet a person than there are countries in the world, stemming from the myriad of different ever-evolving cultures.]

With a small wave of her hand, she continued.

Ms. September: [But a simple "Hi" tends to be universally understood due to how simple the gesture is.]

The lesson barely started but it was slowly interrupted by a ruckus by the door.

Just when everyone noticed the commotion, the classroom door was immediately swung open.

Three figures, fully covered from top to bottom, burst into the classroom.

The air they gave off was completely foreign compared to the equally enigmatic guys in hazmat suits that would occasionally roam the Institute, revealing nothing other than the sound of their breathing and the ever-so-often whine about the poor working condition they are in.

These three in front of us did not display such laid-back attitudes.

Their full-body clothing revealed nothing of their physique and their helmet with an opaque visor shed no light on the expressions that they could be making underneath all those layers of protection.

That is if they are even human underneath.

They had not made much movement ever since their sudden intrusion but they were not standing idly as well.

Every twitch of the muscle, every breath of air taken, and every action they had committed seemed deliberate and intentional, almost as if militaristic.

I could have sworn the chill I felt up my spine was due to the brief scan of the surroundings made by the first person, even though there was no way for us to know where they were keeping their eyes trained at.

That or it was the sight of the rifles they had in hand, muzzle pointing straight to the classroom, that shook me to the core.

The air was tense like a bow drawn and ready to shoot. No one could speak or do anything out of fear of firing the metaphorical arrow prematurely, or at least that's what I assumed to be going through the heads of the rest.

No one except for Ms. September.

Ms. September: [But of course, greetings are not only limited to what words could offer. Language barriers exist that might prevent the proper communication of one's intention to the other. But!]

The three riflemen shifted their weapons and centred their aim on Ms. September, who had her back turned to them as she continued to jot down key notes of her lesson on the board.

Ms September: [That is when physical actions come in.]

The moment she completed her last syllable, the three riflemen depressed the triggers of their weapons and let loose a barrage of rounds on our homeroom teacher.

The sound of bullets firing off in quick succession at such close proximity was a deafening experience that prompted many of the students seated at the front to cover their ears.

There was no way she could survive this.

Was the immediate thought in mind amidst the hail of bullets but it was quickly dashed out when it was observed that none of the bullets reached their mark.

In fact, all of the bullets were deflected at the last minute by an unknown force, seemingly at the command of Ms. September.

She made absolutely no attempts at dodging or stepping out of the line of fire of the riflemen. Instead, as if mocking their inability to harm her, she began making a slow and relaxing stroll towards them.

A normal person would have died many times over under the same circumstances.

No, they would have died many times more since these three are professionals, judging by their strategic reloading in turns, allowing for a constant stream of suppressive fire to be rained on Ms. September at all times.

But because it is the Edward Institute,

Because it is Ms. September,

None of what they hoped to occur happened in the end.

It was a long and slow stroll.

The riflemen had enough time to switch out and empty their magazines four times.

Ms. September still remains unfazed and unscathed.

She walked up right in front of the first man, unfaltered by the flash suppressor that was two centimetres away from touching her temple.

Behind her was the presence of a thin tail with its tip ending with a heart shape, one that we have never seen taken shape beside her ever before.

However, with the ease that she was seen controlling the thing, one could easily assume that she has been living with her tail ever since the day she was born.

The way she had the tip of her tail directed at the three of them emanated more pressure than their empty rifles as they stood on the floor littered with empty cartridges.

It was as if Ms. September has already gotten everything under control,

But the three riflemen would still refuse to throw in the towel.

They acted immediately and simultaneously, a swift sequence of activities done in quick succession and seemingly without any prior communications, yet each sure to a tee what the other will be doing to support one another’s endeavours:

The first and third man threw away their empty rifles at the unarmed woman, then each brought out a dagger and a pistol respectively with the intent to deliver a killing blow to her.

The second person remained unflinching, rifle and eyes still on their target, most likely for intimidation purposes but we all have a clear idea who are the ones getting intimidated here from an outsider's point of view.

Unsurprisingly, their plans were easily thwarted by a simple flail of Ms. September's thin tail, or I would assume to be her tail at work, seeing how it disappears for but a duration of the blink of an eye but in that exact moment, all three riflemen's weapons were sent hauling towards and were imprinted within the wall beside.

With another flail, the first and third man were sent flying out of the classroom, making some rather unpleasant noises of things that shouldn't be broken, breaking into pieces too small to be counted.

The second man was still stuck in a high alert position, hands as if holding a rifle even when his rifle had been buried within the wall beside him.

Ms. September walked up to the last man standing and said all but a single word.

Ms. September: [Hi.]

Even before we could register what she just said, the last of the three riflemen too was "politely invited" out of the classroom, bringing half of the door along with him.

Ms. September: [Ivy, Clas, I leave the rest to you all.]

Leaving behind just one set of simple instructions, she left the classroom through the half-destroyed door the riflemen exited by.

So many questions left unanswered,

Yet, it has become the Institute norm to not expect any answers to be clearly conveyed to you, if at all.

It might even be the case that going out of your way to look for answers would yield the same results as doing absolutely nothing at all,

But that said, who could resist a good mystery?

A brief but passing thought, one that was quickly shadowed by the spectacle that resumed:

One by one, all of the classroom windows were closed shut with an additional layer of metal shuttle rolling down from above, blocking off any and all light to enter.

The only two entrances, and therefore, exits, within the classroom were also slammed shut. Even the half-destroyed door had its pieces come hovering back into position as if someone had rewind the clock to unmade all the damage previously dealt.

Only when the whole classroom was isolated from any form of the outside world does the classroom lights, the only source of luminosity in the room, begin to dim to the abyssal dark.

~~~

The abyss, absent of light, only lasted for a moment.

Or it could have lasted an eternity,

But there was no objective way to tell time.

All I knew was when the light returned, I was no longer sitting at my desk in the classroom of EI7.

???: [How could D2 Branch let such an assault happen? What are they even doing!]

Sitting in front of a foreign table, a loud complaint sounded off from above.

???: [The damage is already done, no use complaining, Elaine! We have to support them in whatever way we can!]

Said another voice coming from the other side.

The new room we were in was in disarray. Everyone present was busy with their own individual preparations for something, except for me who could barely grasp the situation.

Elaine: [Oops, do move aside, Ko. I'm a bit busy now! I'm gonna need some time to change, so the rest of you, HANG ON WHILE I DO!]

The one they referred to as "Elaine" jumped down from above and dashed past me with a bunch of clothing in hand, narrowly failing to crash into me head-on as she made her way to what I would presume to be the changing room.

Wait, isn't that…

???: [I will be the first to leave then. Maigo, stay put here. Ko, I don't know how you ended up here, but HI! Big sis, see you outside!]

A familiar figure rushed to the door and shot us a smile, before closing the door behind him.

Ko: [Wait, JOHN!]

John was gone before my words could reach him, although I have a feeling that he would not stop even if he did hear me.

The room was quiet again but my heart was far from calm. In fact, It felt even more tumultuous than before now that I was finally left to my own devices.

I could deduce that I was in John and his sisters' room but that was about it.

The two bunk beds within the room refuse to tell me any more than that.

???: [...]

Interrupting my turmoil was one of the people still within the room.

In one swift motion, she flipped over the mattress to reveal what was underneath:

A cache of weapons from big to small,

From firearm to melee,

From inorganic to breathing.

I kid you not, some of the things in her cache were pulsating and crawling around but despite the abundance of choices available to her, she merely retrieved a pistol and a revolver before putting the mattress back in place.

???: [...]

As she wore her holster around her chest and tucked her revolver in, the eldest sister among John's three sisters, Ivy Freeman, gave me a long and hard look.

She did not say anything,

Nor did I ever see her say anything before,

Not even to her fellow siblings,

But her eyes spoke all that needed to be said for her.

With a cock of the pistol to chamber the first round in, Ivy held the pistol with both of her hands and exited the room right after John.

Remaining in the room was a certain Maigo, the youngest sibling of the four, stuck in a fetal position, slowly quivering on the upper deck of one of the bunk beds.

There was also Elaine, currently changing and me, but the both of us would be leaving soon.

Elaine to whatever chaos that is happening outside,

And me, back to the safety of my own room and not intruding on others, even if this was barely my first time stumbling into my classmates' room through the lockers.

Maigo: [...]

With eyes stuck to absolutely blank space, Maigo was in no shape to respond to her surroundings.

Ko: [...Hang, in there, Maigo, your brother and sisters will be right back with you! They will solve whatever that is happening outside in a jiffy!]

Even I doubted my own words the moment they left my mouth but doubt is the last thing she needed.

Reassuring as I could be, I shot her a thumbs-up and a smile, the best mimic of a smile I could muster with John's smile a few moments ago as a template.

Maigo: [...]

In her dazed state, she did not even turn her head over to acknowledge.

Having tried what I could, I began to vacate their room.

I know for a fact that I wouldn't want anyone to see me when I am weak.

Although, I could have sworn I caught a glimpse of Maigo raising a weak thumbs-up in slow response just before the door closed fully.

~~~

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire",

Is the best description for my choice,

For what lay ahead of me beyond the comforts of the lockers are countless corpses clothed from top to bottom, unconscious and unmoving not unlike the three riflemen that busted into the classroom of EI7 earlier on.

Upon closer inspection, calling them "corpses" might be a little premature since there is no blood forming around them nor are there clear open wounds found on their fully-clothed-and-fully-protected bodies.

Their thick clothing notwithstanding, the faint rise and fall of their shoulders could be observed if one squint hard enough.

Either they have been knocked out cold through non-lethal means or

The means to halt them was so overwhelming that…

Shuddering at finishing that thought, I decided against dwindling in the middle of the hallway and continued to do what I originally set out to do.

Thankfully, the lockers' compact design to resemble a standard school locker meant that it is only a few steps from the entrance to John's room to my room.

However, it doesn't make it any more efficient to get to my destination if the few steps in between are littered with unconscious bodies.

Carefully, I tiptoed my way over, with the added caution introduced to avoid awakening any of the fallen riflemen from their "much-needed" slumber.

The door to my room is just within my arm's reach but upon reaching out for it, three shots landed where my hands could have been if I did not stop myself part-ways.

Three shots that could be seen imprinted near the small handle of the door as the faint smell of gunpowder drifted through the air.

Thinking back about it, the most logical and safe route to doing things back then would be to duck into the sea of bodies below and use them as cover, seeing as how the majority of them should come from the same organisation with the same uniform covering them from top to bottom.

Alternatively, I could also make a beeline out of the new attacker's line of fire in order to secure a safer spot.

Any of that would be better than the whole lot of nothing I am doing right now!

Hands still hovering in mid-air, it was as if my body lagged and refused to connect back to reality.

Every second spent hesitating was a second more for the attacker to walk closer but all I could do was shift my eyeball to catch a glimpse of him:

A person covered from head to toe, leaving no skin exposed and brandishing a rifle with its barrel fixed on me. No different from the guys lying on the floor around me right now.

Attacker: [Put your hands behind your head and turn around. I will not repeat myself.]

What escaped the thick helmet was not a familiar voice;

Well, familiar in the sense of organic and natural.

Instead, it seemed to be derived from a machine, not an organ.

Amidst those thoughts, I slowly complied with the inorganic and distorted voice.

Facing the entrance to my room, one last possibility dawned upon me:

Perhaps I could just open this door in front of me and…

A barrage of fire sounded off behind me and my life flashed before my eyes.

I guess…

This is it…

Huh…?

Enrolling into this weird school,

Interacting with all things related to the Edward Institute,

This is where I ended up.

Hmm…

Even so, I guess it isn't so bad after all.

Although I would have wanted to die a more dignified death…

But,

It ain't so bad after all!

???: [How long are yer gonna be scared shitless like that, huh, Ko!?]

Right after that loud exclamation, I felt a light knock on the head and heard the sound of something light dropping near the space behind me.

Ko: [Let me just reminisce for a bit more, my life just flashed before me, you know that!]

???: [Ya ya, make it quick, we got a school to save.]

Ko: [Roger that, Boss…]

"It ain't so bad after all"

MY ASS!

Everything here had the probability to kill me without leaving a single trace behind or warp reality without any sort of prior notice, both of which are results where you are considered lucky already,

And you tell me

"It ain't so bad"!?

No, it isn't bad,

It is MUCH MUCH worse than "bad".

It is downright H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E, all caps lock on.

If fate exists,

Then it must be a sadistic one, plunging normal everyday folk into a school as crazy as this just to see how we would react.

And you know what, fate, destiny, convergence or whatever you would call it:

I will not be deterred so easily.

"Boss": [How long more are yer woah hey watch out there! Why in the blue skies did yer do that for? The lockers did nothing wrong now, did it?]

Blood continued to drip down the fist I had planted into the locker door in front of me.

I will survive this Edward Institute,

NO MATTER WHAT YOU THROW AT ME!

Squeezing my fist a little tighter one more time, I finally let it go and turned around to face the "Boss".

She was wearing a school uniform like any other student from the Institute, albeit with the extra addition of a fedora over her head.

The fedora was old and had seen much use over the ages. One can see it becoming a discoloured grey compared to the silver-grey that it came with the moment it was originally purchased.

Yet it still, without a doubt, exudes an air of care and concern that its owner had poured into when cleaning and maintaining it over the years.

All those details of the fedora were, unfortunately, overshadowed by the prominent pair of fox ears poking through the fedora.

Catherine Valentino, or more respectfully referred to as the Boss by the rest of EI7, lackadaisically rested her Thompson submachine gun on her shoulders, its muzzle still smoking from the torrent of bullets it released.

Catherine: [Yer ok there, Ko? Need any help?]

Ko: [Sorry about that, Boss. All good now, let's go.]

Striding over the bodies of fallen riflemen and that one attacker that put me through such a healthy mixture of emotions, I placed myself next to the boss and her slender body before shooting her a thumbs-up.

Catherine: [Good to hear! The rest had all gathered at the west staircase. Apparently, that's where these goons are coming from.]

It was a short exchange before we broke into a run for the west staircase.

Catherine: [And Ko?]

Ko: [Yeah, Boss?]

The Boss spoke as we ran through the school hallway.

There were no rules that Edward Institute has explicitly stated that we cannot run along corridors.

Catherine: [Yer owe me a lollipop.]

Ko: [Eh?]

Leaving behind us as we made our way to the west staircase were not just the sea of unconscious and disarmed goons,

But also one cola lollipop on the floor, slowly melting in front of the lockers.

~~~

Saying that the school is big doesn't exactly encompass the nuances that are within the Edward Institute.

However, the school is big,

That is an undeniable fact.

As big as a skyscraper in the middle of a city could physically be, or maybe even more so metaphysically speaking.

However, infrastructures are in place to make getting from point A to point B within the school building to seem less of a chore.

There is, of course, the "lifts" that, differing from the conventional sense, not only able to transport a number of people up and down the building, but also to any location in the world as long as it is behind a door.

That alone had already made getting around a school to be as simple as ordering pizzas over the dial phone.

However, what about during times of emergencies, or more precisely put, every alternate day?

Having my personal room through the lockers scrambled and mixed up with those of my classmates just a few days prior, I can't say I am optimistic enough that the same bug/ glitch/ strange phenomenon would not happen with the "lifts", no offence to whoever or whatever that had been manning their daily functions.

Even more so now in a time when armed personnel have infiltrated the Institute and are spreading rampant chaos.

That long preamble aside, I would just like to lightly complain about how tiresome it is to cover any distance in the school by foot.

Catherine: [Yer ok, Ko? Yer are wheezing like a squeaky penguin and yer face seems paler than usual…]

Lightly complain.

Ko: [...I'm …fine …Just …need …catch …breath …]

Catherine: [Yer see, the problem with young boys like yer is that yer all never know when to quit when yer need to.]

I may not be able to lift my head up but I could feel the Boss slowly shaking her head in disapproval.

Catherine: [Yer best be running more often, lest yer risk being unable to run when yer body needs it to.]

Leaving those words behind, she began to join the offensive against the intruders at the west staircase with her Tommy gun blazing.

Now that my head has cooled off, there was really no reason for an untrained and unarmed civilian like me to be at the frontlines.

Not to mention, the extra attention the active combatants had to divert to ensure my safety,

That is if my safety is even something of the Institute's concern.

???: [Oh, it's Ko again, still not sure how you ended up here, but nonetheless, HI!]

It was the sound of a cheery voice that broke my train of thought, a familiar cheery voice.

Ko: [...Hi …John …what's …up …]

I was able to muster a disjointed response in between deep breaths and whatever that was I used to control my breathing.

John: [The situation so far is pretty much under control: The guys with guns are coming from within one of the "lifts" beside the west staircase but big sis along with the D2 Branch had been steadily preventing any of them from stepping foot onto our level.]

There it was, yet another reaffirmation that my presence was wholly unnecessary now that the situation had been more than properly dealt with.

Although, it is true that throughout our "trip" around the school so far, we had only discovered the fallen unconscious bodies of the intruders and none from Edward Institute.

Ko: [Heh heh… it sure… is nice… that all of… the enemies... are attacking… via one side only!]

John: [That sure is nice, isn't it? Anyway, your hand looks like it went through quite a bit, best get it patch out ASAP…]

He pointed at the hand I used to punch the red solid metallic locker door a few moments back.

Why did I do that for?

Ko: [Yeah, it actually hurts like nobody's business like you would never believe it. Got any cloth or something I can wrap around this with?]

John scoured the pockets on the clothes he was wearing and fished out a cute handkerchief, the kind that would prompt one to change their opinions about him for a bit.

John: [Here you go, but I'm going to need it back once you are done with it, it means a lot… wait, did you mention "one side" just now?]

Stopping his hand just short of handing his treasured handkerchief to me, his mind backtracked to our conversation a few exchanges back.

Ko: [Yeah, "the enemies are attacking from the west side only", that's what I said in between catching my breaths, I guess I really do need to…]

John: [Sanguine Hectic Idiomatic Time! IVVVY!!]

Out of the blue, he cut off my sentence and my promise for the future and exclaimed his eldest sister's name at the top of his lungs, loud enough that one could almost feel the blood he would be spitting out.

Within two seconds, a gallant figure holding a pistol appeared beside him as if on command.

Following behind Ivy was the fedora-wearing Tommy-gun-wielding foxear-ed girl that we all called the Boss.

John: [Defend east side.]

That was his only instruction but both girls knew exactly what needs to be done, seeing as how they broke into an immediate sprint, departing from the current supposed frontlines.

Ko: [Wah… what should I…]

My eyes shifted between the gradually-disappearing backs of the two going on a mission and the one that gave them that vague mission, currently stuck deep in thought.

Ko: [...Fi …FINE, I WILL GO!]

It was a situation not unlike the fight-or-flight response and I would never be able to tell which could possibly be considered the "right" choice.

Snatching the handkerchief out of John's hand half outstretched, I wrapped it around my injured hand and followed after the two that were making their way to the east side.

John: [I could only hope it is nothing.]

Ignoring the dangerous mutter John left behind, I reaffirmed a promise to the me of the future:

I guess I really do need to exercise more!

[End of Chapter]

***_****: [...and here we are, all running towards the east side…]

Ko: [SADISTIC!]

***_****: [...who?]

Ko: [I WILL SURVIVE…]

***_****: [Yeah, of course you would, you are the…]

Ko: [...NO MATTER WHAT YOU THROW AT ME!!]

***_****: [FINE FINE, I'm sorry, ok! It just… happens, that is the setting we found ourselves with. Any complaints like this loudmouth, Ivy?]

Ivy: [...]