26. Find All the Letters
••●••
'Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible'
— Francis of Assisi
••●••
Seiichirou Okigawa marched in through the Kaisei Academy office doors, posture straight, his chest puffed out. The teachers and secretaries working within the frantic environment gave the rather large male a surprised glance before turning as pale as snow.
Fear coursed through them as they gawked. Seiichirou merely stepped past them without surrendering an interested look in their direction. His gaze was aimed towards the office, and his sights wouldn't be distorted.
"Mr. O-O-Okigawa," stuttered a fellow teacher as he barely kept up with his long strides. He succumbed to the immense amount of fear and anxiousness that overcame him from being in this man's very presence, and was trembling vehemently. His words couldn't even come out willingly from his mouth. "Y-Y-Your work officially starts tomorrow, b-but why are you so set on visiting your office t-today?"
The large army general came to an abrupt halt at the entrance of the principal's office. The young teacher flinched in response. Once Seiichirou's one grey eye turned to the male, his intimidation only reduced the poor teacher into a jumble of distress and fright.
Without warning, Seiichirou let out an boisterous laugh, and it was loud enough to shake the entire room. Intertwining his fingers behind his back, Seiichirou approached the large window popped right in front of him.
The view of the entire school entered his range of vision, along with the laughing and frolicking teens as they headed home for the day. A wide smile crept onto his lips, only intensifying the many wrinkles on his face.
"This school is corrupted." Seiichirou gave the terrified male a quick glimpse, wearing an unnerving smirk.
The large scar extending over his left eye portrayed the general's long years of pain and suffering.
"Tomorrow, I'll become the principal of this academy," stated Seiichirou, his eyes reflecting his amusement. "And conquering its corruption will be my first act of justice."
☻ ☺ ☻
Coming to a halt within the gymnasium, Kazuma shot a brief look at the only male who hadn't walked in yet. His eyes narrowed at him. He was way too stiff.
"Why did you stop?" he demanded.
Ryuu flinched at the question from Kazuma and immediately flushed at the glances his other club members and Hitomi gave him. "U-Uh..." he stuttered in defence. "I-I'm—"
Hitomi went behind the male and took the initiative to push him forward. "C'mon. Don't let your fears get the best of you."
Ryuu tried to resist. "B-But, aren't we going—"
Hitomi already pushed the brunet inside the large gymnasium before he could finish. Ryuu paled instantly when he entered. Him, along with everyone else, frowned at the entrance of the room that had no surveillance cameras anywhere near the doors.
Ayame crossed her arms firmly. She narrowed her eyes into slits. "What's the purpose of bringing us to this place?"
Tadashi swallowed hard, the same question running through his mind. He forced his gaze onto the inexpressive president as well.
Kazuma's violet hues met Tadashi's green ones for a brief interval before he turned and pushed open the door in front of him. He entered the secluded room without another peek. "We don't have time," he murmured.
Everyone hurried after their senior into the room and stopped abruptly at the sight they saw. Two females lay limp on the floor, their bodies sprawled and unmoving. Their complexions were pale, their eyelids half-lidded; if you didn't know any better, you'd assume they were dead.
Jaw-dropped, everyone within the room paled drastically. Kazuma hesitantly approached the bodies, swallowing hard. As soon as he put his fingers to one of the girl's neck for a pulse, he sighed with relief.
"They're alive."
Relief flooded through the teens while Tadashi let out a shaky breath. Thank goodness... They weren't...
Dropping his head, Tadashi put a hand to his chest. The paining feeling that had engulfed him washed away due to the reassurance. Death... He hated the word so much. Lately, it was all he would be hearing. The words slipped out of everyone's mouths so easily, like it was nothing, and even then, it wasn't enough to knock them over.
Why... Why was that? Was it because they were getting stronger? Or, was it because they were all remaining ignorant to the meaning of the actual word...
That once they died, they wouldn't be able to see them again.
Tadashi snapped out of his thoughts once his eyes fell upon the folded envelope strewn on the ground. He blinked, reaching down for the black seal.
"What is that, Matsumoto?" Ayame appeared right next to brunet and he flinched.
He peered over his shoulder to see that the rest of his clubmates along with the SC officers were attending to the two unconscious teens. His eyes shifted toward the white-haired female and then the envelope.
"I'm not sure," he replied. "I just found it..."
Ayame held out her hand. "Let me see."
Tadashi didn't hesitate in placing it into her hands and neither did Ayame in ripping open the envelope. She retrieved the letter inside and read the contents. Her eyebrows knitted together, getting Tadashi curious.
"What? What does it say?"
She held it up for him, and Tadashi's eyes widened.
"A and M?" he read aloud, snatching the attention of the rest of the teens.
Ryuu, Yasuo, Katsura and Juzo rushed to his side to check it out. After reading the two letters printed onto the paper, they blinked rapidly.
"What do those stand for?" Yasuo asked.
Just then, a loud, high-pitched scream enveloped the area, startling the eight gathered. They all spun toward the doorway, getting nothing but a bad feeling about that scream. And without saying a single word, Ayame rushed out of the room to find the source. Tadashi winced before chasing after her, followed by the other members of the CRF.
As soon as they reached the hallways, Tadashi's heart stopped at the sight before him. Many students were murmuring and whispering as a few teachers aided an unconscious male up from the ground. Tadashi breathed heavily as he spun his attention onto the white-haired senior standing a few inches before him. Her violet eyes were glued to the piece of paper she held and Tadashi's eyelids shot up at the sight of yet another black envelope in her hand.
Her violet eyes drifted onto the brunet, her expression as stoic as it usually was. Though, the sight of the letter I imprinted onto the letter sent chills down Tadashi's spine.
"Isamu just fainted!" whispered a girl to her friends. "He was walking normally and then just like that..."
"Is he dead?" asked another.
"Hopefully not! I don't want to witness something like that. It'll haunt me."
"Me too. I don't want to live with something like this..."
The teachers around them heard the whispering and hastily ushered the students away. "He's just unconscious, that's all!" one shouted. "There's no need to make a big deal out of this. Head home for the day. School is over!"
Along with the many students, Tadashi and the other CRF members found themselves being ushered away. Before Tadashi could exit the area, he looked at Ayame one last time. She frowned, and mouthed a sentence he understood immediately:
"Meet me outside."
☻ ☺ ☻
After the CRF members ran off, Hitomi Watanabe sighed. She placed her palms to her hips before directing her attention to the quiet male.
"Kazuma... this is very weird," she said. "That letter—"
The movement of the two females beside him was enough to interrupt Hitomi altogether. They leant down next to them as they both groggily opened their eyes.
Kazuma frowned once he helped one upright, Hitomi the other.
The girl in Kazuma's arms met his eyes and she lurched away, pink colouring her cheeks. "K-K-Kurosaki! W-Why?"
"Are you all right?" Kazuma asked, nowhere near fazed by her reaction.
The girl seemed to snap back to reality and she glanced around at her surroundings. Her gaze fell upon the girl Hitomi was currently tending, and her eyes lit up. "Asumi!"
The other girl's face was etched with shock as well. "Megumi! Why aren't you at home? Weren't you leaving early?"
The girl known as Megumi frowned, knitting her eyebrows together. "I was..." Her face portrayed her surprise. "I was, but... How about you, Asumi? What happened to supplementary classes?"
Asumi flinched. "I... did go." A similar panicked look crossed her face. "Wait... how did we get here?"
They both turned their attention to the Student Council officers, their looks questioning. Kazuma narrowed his eyes at them. For two people who were knocked out just seconds before, their reaction rates were clearly normal... A drug did knock them out, but it obviously wasn't a strong one...
"You don't remember?" asked Hitomi incredulously. "We found you here and you were knocked out! If anything, we're the ones who want to ask you what happened!"
Puzzled expression enveloped the two female's faces.
"We... were?" inquired Asumi.
"All I remember is that I was going home..." Megumi began.
Asumi nodded in agreement. "I was going to the classroom. Then..."
They both shared an alarmed glance.
"Then what?" they asked simultaneously.
Rising to his feet, Kazuma put a finger to his chin. They didn't remember? Then that reduces the drug options to quite a few...
"Never mind that, what are your names?" Hitomi knelt next to the both of them, flashing them a nonchalant smile.
"I'm Asumi Hirota," introduced the blonde.
The black-haired female hesitated. "M-Megumi... Fujimori..."
Kazuma peered down at the two girls. "A...and M..."
Asumi and Megumi...
Kazuma clicked his tongue. "So that's it," he mumbled.
Hitomi peered up in surprise. "What'd you say, Kazuma?"
"Take those two to the infirmary. Make sure they're not hurt," Kazuma ordered, spinning around and exiting the room.
"K-Kazuma—"
Kazuma blocked out her yell as he exited the gym's vicinity.
Alphabetical order. He needed to find all the letters and place them in alphabetical order.
That was what the note meant for him to do.
☻ ☺ ☻
Do you think if I tried, I could finish this story by the end of June? It's my goal that I set up to do haha. That's why I'm gonna (try xD) to pump out as many chapters as I can a day! But it may/may not be possible because this story's going up until Chapter 50 I think. 25 more chapters, plus an epilogue and some extras if I want to, right?
Lol, it seems to far away so maybe I can't xD Haha, what'd you guys think of the chapter anyways?? Comment your opinions!!
-Misty
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