First Circuit

The first chapter

NightCore: War

     The 1^st Circuit

 

     Monday, that first day of High School, was when all this started. Normal days like that were supposed to keep going. My name is Akira Takashi, and this is my story regarding the end of the world.

 

     The alarm clock to my right started screaming at me; breaking the half-sleep trance I’d been enjoying. I reached out, barely opening my eyes, but my hand couldn’t find the off button. Suddenly its screams were cut short. My eyes snapped open to find Sayu, my little sister, sitting the wrong way in my desk chair. The alarm clock was playfully displayed in her outstretched right hand.

      “Mmn, hallow… what time is ‘t.” Sayu frowned at my question with distaste. She kept glaring for what felt like a whole minute, making me wonder what was wrong. I sat up, keeping the covers from slipping past my bear chest, and whipped the sleep from my eyes. When she didn’t leave I began to ask her what was wrong, “Good morn-”

      “You are supposed to walk me to school today, Akira. I’m going to be late if you don’t hurry up and get dressed!” with that she stormed off, but before slamming the door Sayu stopped to stick her tongue at me. She acts like a total kid sometimes.

     Well, fun; looking at the clock I could tell Sayu had at least an hour and a half before her school started; plenty of time. Regardless, I still got up and changed into my new school uniform. I’d only worn it once before today- during the class registration and the entrance ceremony- so it still smelt fresh unlike some of my causal outfits. Fortunately the High School uniforms for guys are a year-round one; I didn’t have to remember to switch between winter and summer uniforms. My grade level- Freshmen- had to wear a separate navy blue vest as part of the uniform. I’m not sure what color the other classes had to wear, but each class has differently colored uniforms.

     I walked carefully downstairs; I was still a little out of it. Sayu was eating some breakfast at the kitchen table. “You know, you still have more than an hour before your school starts right? It only takes five minutes to walk there.” Sayu ignored me and continued munching on her toast.

     I fixed myself some cereal and ate it quietly. Sayu didn’t say a word; this wasn’t normal, she should be jumping up and down with excitement. What was wrong? “Alright, alright I get it. Just let me finish eating and I’ll walk you to school, ok?”

     Finally, Sayu smiled.

     Many minutes later we were walking her to school: my old junior high. “This is your first year here, isn’t it?”

      “Yes, it looks like a nice place.” Sayu replied.

      “Heh, just pray you’re not in class 2-B like I was. Kira-Sensei won’t let you get away with anything!” I said jokingly. Sayu wasn’t laughing though; dang I hope this doesn’t become a trend. “Hey, come’ on was I really that bad?”

      “Hm? Oh, sorry I wasn’t paying attention.” Sayu had a faraway look in her eyes.

      “Well, pay attention for five seconds then I’ll shut up, ok?” she looked up at me, “Junior high is supposed to be fun, so relax a bit.”

     Sayu grinned, “Heh, says the master procrastinator.” I must have made a face because she started giggling to herself and she couldn’t look directly at me.

      “Hey, that’s not funny!” I protested, but she was already back to smiling.

     I left her at the front gate, waving as I walked away. In the distance I heard another kid tell my sister how she was lucky to have such a nice older brother; I didn’t look back, that would have embarrassed both of us.

     On the way to my new school I thought about how peaceful life was. Nothing extraordinary ever happened here; it was like everything was planned out so this town avoided the world outside. The town was situated at the base of a forested mountain range that formed a bowl-like valley. The town itself was pretty rural; nothing like the big cities Kyoto or Osaka. The Sakura trees bloomed the same time each year, and the wind predictably blew east in winter and west during summer. Everything seemed to roll in easy cycles here. It was really comforting to know that nature was on our side.

     I turned the next corner and finally got my first glimpse at my new high school. The school was built on terraces since it was closer to the mountain range, but you would never have guessed that at first glance. The perimeter of the school had a tall front wall that obscured everything within from view. Even if I could see over those walls there was still a row of trees peeking out over the top. I crossed the street, joining the hoard of students; I noticed then that I hadn’t heard any cars for a long while. The setting still felt really peaceful to me. At the main entrance gate there were two older boys in school uniform checking our ID Cards. In addition to their uniform (complete with a dark green vest) were dark green armbands and Police caps. I stepped into line, taking the time to look around. Past the gate I could see a double row of Sakura trees on either side of a cement pathway. At the end of the path it was hard not to notice a giant bronze Earth. It sat in the center of a circular courtyard, a knee-high concrete wall for sitting wrapped around its base.

     The line was moving extremely slow. In front of me a group of three friends chatted with their backs to the students in uniform. The students with uniforms waved another student- a guy with messy spiked hair the shade of a black night- through, inching the line slightly forward. At least, the line might have moved had it not been for the three in front of me; they wouldn’t stop talking. I looked past them and was going to point out the line to them; but, something odd about the atmosphere suddenly stopped me. The girls in front of me fell dead silent then. Everything around me faded to a shade of grey; nothing moved: no birds’ song, no trees rustling in the wind, no idle student chatter. It was as if time stood still and I was the only one who noticed! Then I heard it; one of the boys in special uniform yelled clearly, “Die, you despicable scum of hell!” that was followed with a clashing noise like metal on stone.

     What was that? The two special uniform students had ran off, so I peaked around the wall to see what was going on. The boy they had just let through jumped onto the globe and taunted them with a middle finger- no, his middle claw. His entire hand had become an animal’s, a black-furred lion’s hand? “As if! You’re a hundred years to early to challenge me!” It shouted down at them.

     One of the boys shot something like a chain out of a silver decorated gauntlet that hadn’t been there before; aiming it straight for the half-student half-demon thing. The chain pierced through the heart and broke through the back. Black blood and smoky mist gushed out of the wound from both sides. Most of it splattered on the globe but some fell on the students below (they didn’t move even though all hell was breaking loose in front of them). The demon spat some more of the black gung and tried to speak, “Damn, so close.”

     It burst into a black cloud, leaving behind nothing but the distinct taste of iron on the air. One of the two boys asked his partner, “Hey, do you think we got it?”

     The other shook his head dismissively, “No, they don’t die that easy. Especially not the ones like him, the ones that look human never die without putting up a fight.”
      “Well, let’s clean up.” His partner, not the chain using one, took off a card from his belt. I couldn’t tell what was written on it because of the distance. A high pitch screech and blinding blue light radiated from it. The light blotted out everything else, and for a moment I couldn’t hear anything. When I opened my eyes again the world was full of color and sound; I was somehow back to my place in line. The girls in front of me noticed the line and stepped forward to have their ID Cards checked. Time was restored, and not a trace of the skirmish remained. The blood that had splashed hair and uniforms was gone. I looked over and sure enough the golden Earth globe was clean too. It was as if the world had chosen to ignore the event. I decided to put off thinking about it too; maybe it was just a daydream. Someone behind me tapped my shoulder.

      “Hey, do you want to keep me waiting? Watch the line.”

      “Eh-ah sorry.” I didn’t want to look back. I didn’t want to deal with anything at the moment, so I just stepped forward in line. Instead of letting me be, she grabbed my shoulder and leaned close to my ear. I could tell it was a she because long, blue-streaked hair flicked my cheek, making it itch. My face felt hot and I hoped it didn’t show. I looked away, determined to break contact as soon as possible; too much was happening too fast too early in the morning for me to be making rational decisionts right now. She whispered in my ear with a voice like fire, “Pretend like you didn’t notice ‘time stop’, and they’ll leave you alone.”

     So it had been real? That had really just happened? I swallowed, “Sure, but you owe me an explanation.”

     I could tell she was smiling, “Fhu-, okay. I’m Michigo Haruka, see you later.” She pushed ahead of me in line. She had a red ribbon hair band and she carried just a brown briefcase over her shoulder. She was definitely from my class grade because her uniform had navy blue. I took note that she was slightly shorter than I was, just in case she showed up attain. If I was lucky, maybe she’d explain everything.

 

     The next time I saw that girl was in class; the teacher assigned her the seat right behind me. I just wanted to turn around and ask her what had happened back there, but I couldn’t in the middle of class.

     There was something else bugging me too. From the moment I’d walked on campus I’d felt an intense buzzing in the back of my mind. It made me somehow acutely aware of the school boundaries. I must have been getting paranoid. At one point the buzzing got so bad I couldn’t hear what the teacher was saying.

     Finally the bell rang for lunch break. She took of right as I looked away to gather my things. I scrambled out of my desk and packed up in frenzy. Chasing after her wasn’t easy. I lost her at the staircase; she could have gone up or down. Oh well, I guess she wasn’t ready to talk to me yet. Well, since I’m here I might as well go eat on the roof.

     I walked up the staircase and passed through the already open door. At that moment, the buzzing in the back of my mind stopped and my eyes were drawn to one particular spot in the sky. It felt like there was an invisible box around the school, and something had broken through that box. I heard something crash to the floor beside me. It was a lunch box, and all its contents had spilled out. I looked up to see where it had fallen from; immediately I wished I hadn’t.

     The wind was blowing in an unfavorable direction right then as I looked up to see the girl- Michigo Haruka, I still didn’t know which name I was supposed to call her- staring up at the sky. She glanced down at me at just the wrong moment. She covered her skirt and leapt several steps back. Her face was red when she started shouting at me, “Pervert! Get out of my sight!”

      “I-I’m sorry,” I faced the floor and turned to go. I would have gladly ran down the staircase had there not been someone in my way. Politely, I glanced up; it was the same black haired guy from before. The same student who had turned into a demon earlier! “Excuse me!” I yelled as politely as I could, pretending not to recognize him. He didn’t budge. He just stood there; analyzing me like an animal would its prey.

      “Just stay there a bit, I might feel like punching you soon.” He stepped into the light, still between me and the staircase. She jumped off the staircase roof and somehow landed beside me. Michigo Haruka glared directly at the black haired boy.

      “Daikichi Sai. Why in Hell’s name are you here. I thought the boys down at the front gate impaled you.” I began to hope that whatever grudge she had against him was enough to make her forget her new grudge against me.

      “Why shouldn’t I be here? This is my home; after all, I am a cat you know.” Yeah right, as if that explained anything!

      “Save me the trouble of having to kill you,” she pointed to the high chain link fence around the roof’s ledge, “jump off please.”

     He gave her a dark toothless smile, “Sorry, I can’t do that. I’m not just here to give you a hard time; as much fun as that sounds. No, I’m here to kill that fool who thinks he can take over my territory. Look up, you’ve both probably noticed it by now; there was a hole in the barrier.”

     Michigo Haruka looked up at where he was pointing; the same spot I’d noticed earlier. Now that I thought about it, the buzzing sensation had returned. “The hole has already been patched. Really, these barriers are so weak.” She took a breath, “well, where’d that demon go?”

     Without skipping a beat he replied casually, “I don’t know. I came up here to find out.”

     This whole time I’d been listening, and they’d left me out entirely. “So, basically they’re both idiots.” Oh wait. I said that out loud; not a smart move. They both turned towards me, glaring. Michigo threw a punch for my gut and Daikichi shot his foot at my face.

     They both yelled in synchronization.  “What did you say?!” Michigo shouted.

      “Take that back, Idiot.” Daikichi stated.

     Neither made contact because I’d seen it coming, but the black haired Daikichi followed up with a punch to my gut. It was odd, I’d expected him to at least break a few ribs with that punch; however, aside from the air being knocked out of me I didn’t feel much pain at all.

      “Oh yeah, I forgot he was there.” Michigo Haruka stated after I recovered.

     Well, what did I expect? They really were crazy. I stood up and grabbed my bags; I didn’t want to stay around people who threw punches at the slightest irritation. I’d ask Michigo Haruka after school tomorrow or something. “I think I should get going. I still have lunch to eat.”

     I was five steps away from the staircase entrance when Daikichi shouted back at me, “Watch out!”

     Something hard slammed into my back and knocked me to the floor. Whatever it was, it was heavy enough to roll off me when we landed. That also didn’t hurt nearly as bad as I thought it would. I stood up again, feeling as if nothing had happened. I looked around to see what it was that had knocked me over. I’d suspected Michigo had kicked me, but she hadn’t moved from the other side of the roof where I’d left them.

     Then I noticed the metal porcupine sprawled out on the floor. At first glance it appeared somewhat normal- normal for a porcupine anyway- but it had noticeably large vampire fangs and curved claws. The other two ran over to me. Daikichi started talking first to himself then to me, “Hmm, wind wards maybe? I don’t know… Man, what’s your secret. Who are you?”

      “What do you mean? I just tripped or something.” I didn’t care what he had to say about me. He was crazy.

     Michigo Haruka looked past me at the metal porcupine. “That just landed on you. If you were a normal person, you’d be dead. Not that I care, there’s a three story drop over there if you want to die painlessly.” So she hadn’t forgotten. Wait, was she trying to make me believe that a metal porcupine had fallen from the sky, landed on me, and hadn’t filled me with a thousand holes?

      “Oh well, I’ll finish him off. He deserves it for trespassing on my territory.” The black haired boy pointed at the porcupine dramatically, “Lance of skies, Blade of sound, Judgment of the heavens.” I heard the pop of static electricity and noticed my arm hair stood on end. Michigo Haruka had taken several steps back, probably to avoid messing her long blue-streaked hair. Whatever the boy was chanting, it seemed to be causing this weird electric phenomenon. He pointed to the sky and real crackling yellow electricity gathered at his finger. He pointed back to the porcupine, releasing the gathered energy in one great burst. “Tell the old devils the Lightning King of Cats Daikichi Sai said hello!”

     Not only was the porcupine blown away- it became a wisp of black smoke upon impact- but an entire chunk of the roof fence was too. The black haired boy, Daikichi Sai, whipped his forehead as if it was sweaty. “So how was that, Haru the Twin-Dragons?” It took me a moment to realize he was referring to Michigo Haruka.

      “Pathetic, that trash was already dead. Go find a home, stray cat.” She pointed to the hole in the fence he’d blown away.

      “…mew-kay. One day you’ll be begging me.” He winked and ran off the roof through the fence gap.

     I was about to go check to see if he was ok; I mean, who wouldn’t? Nobody could survive that fall. Michigo Haruka took a step towards me, “Don’t worry, he’s a cat so he’ll be fine. You, on the other hand… go follow him.” She pointed again to the hole.

     D-did she really want me to die? “I didn’t even see anything; just leave me alone or explain what’s going on!”

     She appeared to reconsider for a moment, but then her expression hardened again. “We are even from this morning. But, if you tell me what you are I’ll reconsider killing you; and I might give you a hint.”

      “Why do you want to kill me so badly?” I asked.

      “I’m the one asking the questions. Now answer me: what are you!” She took a few more steps closer, close enough that she could have punched me. I wasn’t scared of a girl’s punch- it’s not like this was an anime- I was more worried about why she knew that black haired Daikichi Sai.

     I let her have it then, “Fine, I’m a time-traveling alien from another dimension and I can shoot plasma from my fists.” She took a step back, her eyes opened wide. Her expression told me she believed me. “H-hey, I’m just kidding…” I tried to smile it out.

     Her mouth opened slightly, but she closed it and turned away from me. “I-I knew that. Don’t say stupid things.” Liar.

      “Listen; I don’t know what’s going on or what you’re asking me. I have never been anyone other than myself. I am me; nobody else.” I didn’t know what else to say, what else should I say?

     She sighed angrily, “Fine, lets do process of elimination. Have you ever seen the ‘Time Stop’ before?” she said it as if Time Stop were a physical thing, not something that had happened.

     For now I decided to answer her questions. I’d hammer her with my own later. “Not before this morning.”
      “Good. Ok, do you have any ancestors who fought WWIII?”

      “World War Three? There’ve only been two world wars!”

     It was like she wanted me to fail. “Excellent. Now, tell me all you know about demons.”

      “Demons? Like the monsters from hell?”

      “Exactly, what do you know about them?”

     I blinked twice, making sure I understood the question. “…Just that they serve evil. Is that Daikichi guy a demon?”

     She frowned at me, “Daikichi is half-demon half-cat. Well, you scored 100% average. Damn, I still don’t know what you are.”

     It was time to question her now. “Can you just tell me what is going on of maybe show me some proof? Why am I seeing demons shooting lightning and why does time stop?”

     She gave me a look that said ‘if I told you I’d have to kill you’. I didn’t buy it. “Look, I won’t tell anyone, I just want to know I’m not going crazy.”

     Her face relaxed a bit and became more somber, “The entire world is going crazy. We are in the middle of World War Three, and next to nobody can know it. If by the end of the week you choose to pretend this isn’t happening, you will forget this ever happened. You really don’t want to be part of this world, trust me.”

 

     The bell signaling the end of lunch had rung when she finished speaking. She ran off to class and didn’t talk to me the rest of the day. What did she know that I didn’t? Why we were in World War Three, and who were we fighting? What did demons have to do with any of this? All these questions raced through my mind, but not a single one of them offered any solution. There was no way I could have known how deep I was already entrenched in their fight.

Author's Note

This is the best I can do on my own. I need reader input to grow.