Part 8: Hearts And Hailstones

Story Three:

Within the next month of a chilly November, nine different students that were on the written note had been hand-selected to be watched over by the Alpha Class Monitor, Toma himself. Being the one to carry that responsibility, he also carried a group of ten Student Council members at his command. They would have to maintain being in the same classes as the ones suspected to die:

Nabira Satsumi

An 18-year-old cross-country athlete (#12 on the team) who is filled with a very high ego. She often undermines anyone who talks to her and doesn’t care much to cause drama with random strangers for small mistakes. She even wears six colorful marathon bracelets from which she boasts about participating in all of them.

Ogato Naru

A 13-year-old girl who is extremely intelligent and loves everything about jewelry. She is fascinated more by the astrological concepts behind each jewel with the hopes of one day working by herself to uncover the history behind them in different parts of the world. She has also heard of the seemingly mythological orange glowing gemstone which is the jewel of her dreams. She wishes to uncover it as she believes it also exists in real life.

Nachi Keizumi

Lover of nature and an online enthusiast for the preservation of water. He is 18 years old and also highly advertises it throughout the entire school thanks to his “Defenders Of The Oceans Club”. He condones trash littering around Dream Academy High and has gone so far as to be the reason why Paradise Park is 100% eco-friendly. Even the president of Animearth supports funding his efforts through the school. He has stacks upon stacks of Dream Academy uniform dress shirts and ties decorated with images of sea creatures on them.

Tachigo Hajishimi

A 15-year-old boy who sometimes is socially awkward also adores this stray domestic shorthair cat whom he gave the name Tachigo Jr. to when finding it alone on the streets and taking it into his home. He had it seen by the veterinarian who consulted with the previous owner of the cat. The owner didn’t want to have anything to do with it, so the responsibility landed in Tachigo’s hands. He now keeps Tachigo Jr. to this day.

Aia Barara

A short 17-year-old girl who wears a blue hair bandanna with her name on it.

She enjoys doing melodramatic theater performances and plays her most infamous role in Dream Academy High as Astrelle The Space Fairy. On the weekends, she also practices ballerina and cheerleader exercises inside her room.

Edahoshi Riyakira

A 16-year-old girl who is the leader of the Debate Club. Her interests are associated with politics and supporting activism for gender equality. She can come off as stubborn, overplaying someone’s intellect when it comes to their beliefs or requests. She also tends to excel in mock trials.

Kibe Kakoua

He is 19 years old and focuses on football as his primary sport and passion. He hopes to create his team called the Kokoua Football League. Their goal would be to go against other pre-existing competitors across the globe to win at least one season of the Animearth Football League. Currently, he has four student players like himself who support his aspirations.

Shinobuki Nozuki

An extremely shy 15-year-old girl who loves watching romance and horror anime. She also sketches her own original private shoujo manga series. While having a very low presence socially and online, her family relationships are very tightly knit. Often she associates with their traditions and religious rituals, some of which can be seen to influence her art style. She also really loves eating pomegranates.

Hanakawa Hayakia

Fashion designer and online influencer who is 17 years old. She comes from a rich family who has turned her into a recognizable brand just by her given last name. She has to jump through many contrived relationships but constantly rejects being part of any one of them to protect her public image.

While Toma and The Student Council tried their best to explain what was going on with the nine inside the principal’s office, there was much-speculated doubt and naivety amongst them after they went inside another room to wait for the council’s plan.

“This seriously makes no sense. How does a school like Dream Academy High believe in apparitions such as ghosts? The kind of logical approach I would take could be finding out who the person pulling these strings is. Not basing this on a critically acclaimed game that someone decided to go psycho over. It’s baffling,” remarked Edahoshi.

Edahoshi was starkly bashed by the brash Nabira Satsumi.

“Bah! You know what’s really baffling? Sitting down next to a bunch of idiots. I’ve done so many sprints in my sleep that I could run circles around your lame-ass whining.”

“Excuse me! I know plenty better than you do about the importance of this situation!” Edahoshi replied, appalled at what Nabira said.

Tachigo interrupted the two sides coming to heads against each other.

“E-Enough! Please, just listen, okay? I know we all have our differences but that’s not going to solve anything if we don’t figure it out now. Toma and The Student Council could use our help.”

Nabira immediately refuted his suggestion.

“Our help? You’re not bringing me into this room of circus clowns. You guys can do whatever you like. I honestly don’t care if any of you die because you all are acting like it’s the end of the world or something. Get over it!”

Nabira stormed out of the room while Shinobuki suddenly started breaking down into tears. Tachigo came to comfort her but it didn’t do much good.

“What a moron! Did you all just see that?! She’s clearly a narcissistic airhead!” Edahoshi pointed out.

“I had a bad feeling this would happen,” muttered Ogato.

“What do you mean?” asked Tachigo.

Ogato stood up and looked outside the window, catching sight of Nabira by herself running across the snowy street. It was beginning to get dark outside as Ogato continued on about the secrets she had been hiding.

“Well, this school was once the foreground of an ancient gemstone. They called it The Fire Forged Within Crystals or, Cacariphem. It was said to contain power beyond the gods. Shattering realities and dipping them into chaos one by one. So much so that it couldn’t be stopped. It was said that there was a curse attached to Cacariphem in every world, no matter its size or stature. That it was done by one of its guardians. He would wreak havoc because—“

Edahoshi impatiently spoke over Ogato out of frustration.

“That is just a bunch of nonsense! You and I, including everyone in here, should know that curses and ghosts don’t exist. Okay? No zombies, vampires, werewolves, superheroes, aliens, gods, goddesses, or espers. It’s all a work of fiction. All of that stuff is in your head. If you can’t accept the logical implications of things the way they are, then you may as well learn the harsh truth.”

“But not everything is entirely built on logic, now is it Riyakira-chan?”

Edahoshi gave Ogato a suspicious look before Aia stepped into the conversation.

“Naru-chan… I don’t want to disrupt anything, but Edahoshi is right. Just like how I play the part of Astrelle The Space Fairy… It gives off the illusional impression that the story we present to the audience is made real using our own wits and emotions. Imagination is just a fabricated perspective of what’s there. No one is going to believe something they haven’t actually experienced or proven is real. Otherwise, we would have a connected tangible interaction with it.”

“Finally! Someone with common sense! Now all we have to do is tell Toma and The Student Council to focus on finding the suspect,” Edahoshi said ecstatically.

“Uhh guys, have you noticed how quiet it's been recently? Toma and the others should have been back by now. I don’t think I want to stay around here if the building’s empty with only us inside. I could hear them discussing in the front. Now I hear nothing,” said Nachi.

Everyone dimmed down their breathing and realized he was right. Upon opening the door, it was like they had suddenly disappeared. A stormy blizzard could be heard causing a ruckus outside, howling the dried leaves about.

“Ah shit, we should have left with Nabira. What time is it?” asked Kibe while Tachigo looked at his watch to see what it was.

“7:59 PM! Why does this always happen to me?! My parents are going to be pissed off at me again!”

As the students wandered through the dim office, they suddenly heard an uncanny glitched-out laughter echoing down the streams of lockers in the hallways. The electric cackle immediately made the students run right back to the backroom where they felt much safer. All except Edahoshi. Tachigo tried ushering her back in with quick hand gestures, but she just stood there unmoving.

“Once again, not a ghost. That laughter is someone playing a trick on us. I bet it’s Nabira! She probably lied to Toma and them. Told them to go home so we would be stranded here while she started this stupid stuff. She’s not getting away with this. Not right now.”

Edahoshi began to walk fast with determination down the dark blue halls, leaving the bright light of the office behind. Nachi, concerned about her safety, ran out of the back and pushed past Tachigo to chase behind Edahoshi. At that point, all Tachigo could do was close the door and use a chair to block anyone from entering in. They racked up as many chairs as possible to make it happen.

“You don’t think Nabira would actually do that to us, would she? To tell them a lie?” asked Shinobuki.

“I really don’t think Toma or the council would stoop that low either to be perfectly honest. M-maybe they are still here, along with the staff. After all, if the office lights are still on, they may have just went to take care of something important. We cannot assume the worst that fast,” admitted Tachigo.

“I’m going to call the police,” stated Kibe.

Meanwhile, Nachi had finally caught up to Edahoshi who was still walking at a particularly quick pace. The only reason why Nachi didn’t cower too easily was due to how much he actually agreed with some of her points.

“Nachi, why are you here?”

“I can’t leave you alone like this. I mean look at you. You’re—“

“Stop. It’s not going to work.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to repeat myself. You should know what I’m saying.”

“I mean I do… I guess? Except there’s a problem.”

“And that is?”

“I think being a little bit more open-minded about how things work could be helpful.”

“Oh sure enough I am, just not the fictional garbage that gets shoved down my throat.”

“Dammit. You’re still not listening.”

“Accept it, I’m no escapist.”

“I get that. All I’m asking is understanding why others believe the things they do. Taking in different perspectives doesn’t necessarily have to change yours. Everybody has a variety of ideas that can be just as compelling and creative as yours. Why can’t we just naturally let others experience what they want to be?”

“Ok mister, you want to know why? I have seen countless times when my peers, the family I grew up with, and the communities I have been around for years… Have all failed at growing up. Instead of experiencing those ideas, they just sit where they’ve always been. Collectivizing it in their minds. They are conditioned to think that changing is scary. Now I see why that is. If people don’t change themselves, everyone else will have a reason to change you.”

“Okay… I mean that is a choice though. You don’t have to choose for people. People can choose for themselves then.”

“That’s the thing Keizumi-kun. Most people won’t really know what to do with themselves if time was theirs. If anything, it would probably backfire. As a result, they would achieve nothing knowing that deep down they never really cared. Procrastination happens like clockwork. Everyone wants to really do nothing. You don’t need to live a life to know that.”

“That is not everyone. No. It cannot be everyone.”

“What’s the point of telling you this? Name one person that you know who hasn’t given up on one dream they’ve had because everyone told them to.”

Nachi stopped with his back to one of the windows in the middle of the hallway. An unmatched emptiness was all that was left. He couldn’t name one. He didn’t know what people wanted to do, but he did see many people die and give up all of what they wanted to be before they could become anything at all. It resonated with him heavily.

“Keizumi-kun… I’ve given up on a lot of my dreams. Not all of them can be fulfilled here. That’s the kind of people we are. No outlet can ever fulfill that. I do however kind of see what you are saying now. About letting others choose…”

Heartbeats beated like the hard rocks of icy hail banging outside. Nachi looked up at Edahoshi who was approaching him quite slowly. The frozen thread between their eyes aligned.

“Those choices… they do have value if you let them. Right?”

In that very instant, the two of them fell for each other. Without a word from either, sirens sounded in the distance.

A hailstone shaped like a heart bled red through the two bodies as they collapsed onto the floor.