Chapter 13: Operation soul fix

It was finally the 30th, Alice had was awake early despite it being the weekend, when it hit 10:00am she had gotten dressed. Since it was a halloween event she decided to dress up, she went with a space gunslinger, this gave her the excuse to wear a gunsling, but she was obviously gonna keep the actual gun hidden in her bag. Even though it wasn’t a school day she still brought her backpack, she had to bring some things for the event anyway so it she could use that as a cover story. She met up with Clara who was dressed up as…she honestly wasn’t even sure what.

“ Im a soul reaper, obviously,” She say as if its the most obvious thing ever. She was wearing a pink flower patterned kimono over top a black robe. It took Alice awhile but eventually she understood who it was her friend was going as, they eventually got to school and began helping set up for the festival, there was about two hours until it starts and they were nearly finished by the time Alice and Clara arrived. Fortunately the festival was being held outside so they could set things up inside for when the confronted Mr. Harrison's collector, which wont be for a while. They’d have to wait until he goes into the school on his own, which won’t be till later in the afternoon. For now the two had decided to enjoy the festivities. A lot of people had dressed up, even the teachers had, Ms. Luna had gone for a cosplay from the same series as Clara so the two of them got to express their love for the show. Mr. Harrison was also here, dressed in his casual wear, not surprised. Hes not the type to dress up for events like this. Clara and Ms. Luna noticed the lack of halloween spirit on him and came up with an idea, Alice could tell, they both had that look on their face when they get an idea to mess with someone, it was frightening. The festival went on as normal, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, Clara and Alice went around trying the different food stand they had set up this year, this seemed to be Claras favourite part as she took up whatever was offered to her. Alice found Clara talking with Mr. Harrison, she seemed to be explaining her costume to him, or acting as a distraction. Sneaking up behind him was Ms. Luna with something in her hand, from this distance Alice couldn’t really tell, she simply stood by and watched as it all unfolded. Clara took two steps back, when Ms. Luna was close enough she reached up and placed onto his head…cat ears. Mr. Harrison was startled, he reaches up and feels the furry ears that rest upon his head, Ms. Luna and Clara got a good laugh out of it, they stopped laughing when they saw his reaction, I too was surprised. He was smiling, a genuinely warm smile, Clara made sure to get a photo in case he took if off, but he didn’t. It was nice seeing him like this, considering what she knows, he needed more things like this. Another hour had gone by, Mr. Harrison finally made his way back into the school. It was time, Alice and Clara follow shortly after, they carefully made their way to the science room where he was. They startled him again, he wasn’t expecting anyone to be inside as well,

“ Shouldn’t you two be out enjoying the festival?” he ask plainly, Clara was suppressing a smile, she couldn’t blame her, he was still wearing the cat ears. Alice hadn’t really thought about how they would get the collector to emerge, but Clara sure did. “ We broke into you house a few days ago,” she says so simply as if it that isn’t a crime. He didn’t believe her, so she continued. “ We know about how your wife was cheating on you and took money from you, you became a sad alcoholic instead of trying to find a way past it,” again, she says these things so bluntly and with a serious expression, and yet she wasn’t done.

“ I obviously don't understand what your going through since I’ve never been married nor cheated on, but their has to be a better way to handle this instead of sulking about it for months on end,” She finally concludes, Mr. Harrison remain unfazed, his soul however did NOT like what Clara said, it fully manifested behind him, before it could make its move they both made a run for it. The plan was to have Alice keep it on her as she ran a loop around the school while Clara prepped the science room for when they would eventually kill it. The plan wa obviously a lot easier on paper, when they manged to get the lead over it Clara ducked into another class so she can backtrack and make sure everythings ready, Alice stopped at the end of the hall to make sure it was still after her, which it was. Alice had reached the art room, which meant she was on the other side of the school, despite being tired she kept going, stopping now meant death. She could’ve used her weapon to slow it down but it was a gun, guns cause a lot of noise when shot and she was in a shool with lots of people outside which really gave her no other choice but not to use it. Her legs were on fire by the time she completed the loop around the school. She barges into the science room, Mr. Harrison still standing in the same place as when she left. The Collector swipes its hand, slamming into her back sending her flying into the shelves. It did hurt, alot, but it was tolerable. Its… light green eyes? Odd. It prepared to pierce her with its claw, if not for Clara she would’ve been carved open. She had timed her swing so that when the Collector swung its arm it made contact with her blade, severing it clean off while preventing the attack from hitting Alice. She stare in amazement as she watch her friend keep with the momentum, She swung her blade again this time it severed its other arm. Clara seemed to have entered a trance, her pink kimono whirling with her as she take stance, thrusting the sharp blade through the Collectors heart. It had no time to react once its left arm was gone, in what felt like three seconds Clara had managed to kill it. The collector stumbles back, it slides off the blade as it begins to crumble apart, Clara flicks her blade to the ground, the blood that had stained it flicking onto the floor where it would evaporate along with the rest of the Collector, like a samurai she would sheath the sword back into her palm. Clara helps Alice up, Mr. Harrison had crumbled to the floor. Tears ran down his cheek, he seemed to understand what happened so it was understandable.

“ Im sorry, I…I don't know what that was, but it tried to kill you. I tried to kill you,” He says. I doubt either of them really cared for that, but he didn’t know. “ And?” Clara says crouching down next to him, this clearly wasn’t what he was expecting as he was confused now, “ We’ve know about these things for awhile now, and we were fully ready to fight it. So its not really your fault considering how I provoked it to come out first,” Clara says with a playful smile on her face. Clara gave him a quick explanation about the Collectors and promised to explain everything on monday, at least she managed to get him to stop sulking about this. He regains his composure, the look of sorrow melting away all together, you couldn't even tell that he was crying like a few seconds ago, he was good at this. With this our plan to fix Mr. Harrison's soul seemed to have worked, hopefully. They went back out to enjoy the rest of the festival, to memorialise the day Mr. Harrison suggested they take a photo in the photo booth. Alice and Clara took a few, they forced Mr. Harrison to join them, and then Ms. Luna also joined. Alice was able to forget about what they had to do tomorrow, no point worrying about it now, she simply enjoyed her time with the people close to her.