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The lights above them flickered. They illuminated the dark room only to light it up for a split second. Repeat. Dark, light, dark. The sounds of leaking pipes in the background. The deep throbbing of their body remained but lessened substantially. Trying to remember who they were seemed impossible as the time went on. Somewhere, deep inside their mind, the answers lay dormant. Not that they would ever awaken. Questions never to be answered. Who were they?Why were they here?How could they forget who they were?It seemed worthless to question what was happening. All their questions were met with the same mind-numbing silence. They were lulled to death by the sound of monotony. Though, death seemed better than whatever hell this was. Nails. Nails were in their arms. Pinned to a wall. Was that where the dull throbbing was coming from? Their entire body hurt. There was no way to tell where the pain was coming from. Maybe it was coming from their arms, but everything else hurt, so it didn’t really matter.The lights came back on. Another day was about to start.It was all the same.
Chapter 1: When the Eyes Open
Akira was confused by the scene in front of him. Who were these people and what were they doing? In the middle of the street, two males were fighting over something that was being thrown around so much Akira couldn’t get a grasp on what it was. One stood at a taller stature with brown eyes and blond hair. The other was shorter with black hair and piercing blue eyes. Not that Akira could see them too much as the two squabbled back and forth. It was hard to tell if they were friends or not because of how they were acting. Akira had really just wanted to get to where he needed to go without issues or delays. The world had other plans it seemed. Not sure what was happening, Akira stood there for a minute just to listen and watch whatever was happening. “Give it back!” The shorter one screeched as he tried to tackle the other to the ground. The other one stood strong despite his best efforts. Akira, with the brief pause, was able to see that they were fighting over a book. The taller held it high in the air, past the other’s reach. “Not unless you can reach it!” The taller one turned around sharply in the direction of Akira. The same Akira who had not worked up the courage to speak up. “Hm? Who are you?” Akira could feel his gaze run him up and down. He held a neutral face as he did this which was… good? Akira swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke up. “Akira Kurusu.” Akira murmured out. The boy gave him an odd look in response. Akira felt a surge of panic run through him. If what happened was already out, he was screwed. The shorter boy, while the other was distracted, took the book from the hand that had slightly lowered. Once the book was taken, the taller turned around quickly. “Hey!” The shorter boy stuck out his tongue in response and darted away. The taller sighed and turned around to face Akira once more. “Sorry about that. Nice to meet you, Akira. Name’s Ryuji Sakamoto. What brings you to our little town?” Ryuji gave Akira a large, seemingly genuine, smile. The question itself caused Akira to calm down substantially. He wouldn’t have asked that if Akira’s… incident got out. “Let’s just say, a lot had happened in the past month.” “Fair. I can’t think of a moth that something hasn’t happened. Guess that’s life for ya.” Ryuji gave a soft laugh. “Where you heading anyway? I owe you after what happened.” Akira shuffled his feet as he debated his options. Akira was tempted to refuse the offer. He didn’t know Ryuji and, while he seemed incredibly nice, there was always the chance that wasn’t the case. At the same time, Akira was lost, and it wasn’t like he was going to find his way there anytime soon. “I could use some help. I’m so lost.” Akira pulled out his phone and showed Ryuji the location. Ryuji gave him a large grin, one a location certainly did not warrant, and nodded his head. “You were on the right track. It’s close by.” Ryuji stated, turning around and signaling Akira to follow him. On the way, Ryuji started explaining what had happened earlier. The shorter’s name turned out to be Morgana. Ryuji had only been teasing him about the book. Fair enough. Teasing friends seemed to be pretty common practice. That made it sound like Akira had no friends or that he was some alien. He did have friends at one point or another, but none were ever that close. Akira ignored the rambling his mind had decided to do. It wasn’t that important if he had friends or not. His life was set for him. Get good grades, attend a nice college, get a job that pays well. That was the life set in front of him and friends didn’t affect this goal. The two eventually arrived at where they needed to be. A 5 story behemoth of a building casually sat in front of him. Akira had known he was going to house with other people, but Jesus Christ. Akira had still expected it to be a home . Ryuji saw Akira’s pure bewilderment and gave another short laugh.“It’s large, right? God, the first time I was here I nearly shit my pants. You get used to it eventually. Think of it as a collective building for people like us.” Akira found the description odd but ignored it for the time being. Ryuji and had seemed pretty similar as they had been talking. It wasn’t a leap in logic to think that’s what Ryuji meant. Ryuji causally walked into the building leaving Akira to hurry to catch up. Many unfamiliar faces greeted Ryuji; most seemed friendly enough. After what felt like a mile, even though it was only a few feet, Ryuji had led Akira to what seemed to be a front desk. Akira shrunk under the stares. “Hey, Ryuji! I see you brought our newest member. Hey there! My name is Minako Arisato. I’ll be helping you with getting settled in.” The girl in question had brown hair and brown eyes, both with this twinge of red that was hard to miss. Even with her height, she was intimidating. Akira was sure that she didn't mean to be, with how bubbly her talking was, but she looked like she held power. Akira nodded too dumbfounded to say anything.“I’m heading to my room. Take care of him!” Ryuji walked towards the direction of his room, or what Akira suspected to be his room based on his statement. Minako gave Akira an encouraging smile making Akira think she may have not even heard Ryuji. More importantly, her smile… It was so familiar. Akira felt words getting caught in his throat. What he wanted to say was beyond him, but there were words wanting to push themselves through. “Follow me to your room.” Akira followed her subconsciously. Minako led him to an elevator that was right next to the front desk. It seemed to be a standard elevator as they entered. In fact, everything thus far had seemed normal. Far too normal. Normally, a house would have something odd to anyone not living there. Whether it was a plant in an odd place or odd markings on the wall. It felt more like a hotel than anything.“That ring you’re wearing is really pretty.” Akira’s thoughts were caught off by Minako's comment. Akira raised his left hand and held it with his right. On his ring finger was a simple silver band. “Yeah. I don’t remember how I got it, but it means more than anything to me.”“That’s nice.” Minako's face had morphed into this… sadness. She still gave him a happy grin, but Akira could tell there was something more. It was fairly odd that he wore a ring on his wedding ring finger, but why would she be sad about that? She seemed saddened by his explanation, not the ring itself. The elevator dinged and the door opened signally that they were at their destination. It was the 5th floor and only had 4 rooms from the look of it. Odd. He had counted several more on the first floor. Were there rooms bigger? Minako led him to the end of the hallway to the last door on the left. “This is your room. You’ll meet the other people who live on this floor eventually. There are others besides me and you.” Akira gave a swift nod. “Make yourself at home. Make sure you come down to the first floor before 6pm. Dinner is served then.” Akira checked the time on his phone. It was currently 4pm. Minako gave him one more smile and made her way back to the elevator. Akira smiled to himself as he opened the door to his room. Akira was immediately greeted by the warm embrace of the room. Akira shut the door and took a few more steps in. He had expected it to look like a normal school dorm, but it looked more like an apartment. It was just a bedroom with a bathroom, but it felt like something more. In the middle of the back wall, there was a large window. Underneath the window was a queen-sized bed. The comforter on the bed was basic black, but the frame of the bed was a beautiful dark oak. On the right side of the bed was a nightstand. It was fairly basic, the same dark oak as the bed with nothing really on it besides a small clock. The walls were a creamy beige with white trim. The room was beautiful, not only that, but it was functional. It came with a desk and bookshelf on the same wall as the door. Plus, there was a bathroom. Akira had no complaints. Akira sighed and plopped his backpack on the desk before flopping onto the bed. This was gonna be a long year.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Akira made it down to the kitchen at 6:15. It was earlier than he had expected if he was honest. The dorms weren’t hard to navigate or anything, he just didn’t know where was going. Akira was finally able to get a full headcount as he walked into the kitchen. He could count about 20. 20 other people. Nothing he had been told before the transfer could’ve prepared him for just how many people he was going to be living with.“Yo! Glad to see you made it on time!” Ryuji threw his arm on top of Akira’s shoulder as he stood next to him. “Mona, meet Akira. He’s the new transfer student.“Pleasure to meet you, Akira. My name is Morgana Wright.” Morgana looked pretty normal, but also rather child-like. Styled, short, black hair, big blue eyes, round face. He held a “forever young” vibe to him. Morgana put on his hand for Akira to shake which Akira took.“You’re so formal!” Ryuji whined as he draped himself further on Akira. “C’mon, we have someone who wants to meet you.” Ryuji dragged Akira over to a table, tables looked like they sat 4 people, with a girl sitting at it. She had blonde hair and teal-blue eyes. Akira sat down with Ryuji on one side while Morgana sat next to the girl.“Ann, this is Akira. Akira, Ann.” Akira another nod and relaxed in his seat. Ann was giving him a reassuring grin making him a lot less worried than he used to be.“A transfer, huh. What floor are you on?” Ann asked, waving her fork at him. It seemed like an odd question to ask right after an introduction. Then again, the number of rooms on each floor seemed to vary. Why was that? God, Akira did not need to panic at the moment. His mouth functioned before his brain could kick in.“Fifth.” The 3 went silent before bursting out in confusion.“What!? I’ve been working my butt off and I’m only on the third!” Morgana proclaimed looking utterly defeated.“Me and Ryuji are still on the first!” The yelling seemed to cause the attention of someone because Akira saw him silently watching from the corner of his eye.“I’m confused. Are the floors like ranks? How does that even work?” Akira’s panic was overridden by his pure curiosity about the floors. The others looked a little dumbfounded that he didn’t know. So, it was common knowledge.“You don’t know?” Ann questioned almost sounding like she wasn’t believing him. Akira shook his head. He had no clue. “I guess we should explain things then- ““Ann. Not now.” The guy who had been watching interrupted them. Akira didn’t give a single shit as his brain was short-circuiting. He was beautiful. He had blue hair and grey eyes. It was hard to tell how tall he was when they were sitting, but he couldn’t have been very tall. Akira had to shake his head a bit to prevent him from staring too long.“Oh. That doesn’t make any sense though. Shouldn’t he know?” “And he will eventually. In fact, would you mind coming with me for a second?” Akira nodded and stood up. Akira turned out to be right about how tall he was. He was as short as Akira, well, he was a few centimeters shorter. Akira and he turned to leave the kitchen. Where were they going? They entered a hallway before they finally stopped walking. “I’m sure you’re confused.”“I think that’s pretty obvious.” Akira didn’t know why he was so comfortable joking with someone he didn’t even know the name of. It was… intriguing. He gave a small smile and fuck. Akira wasn’t even sure what he was feeling, but it was something. There was something else though, there was something hidden in his head. There were memories that were waiting to surface. Why did everything have to be so complicated?“I’m just here to make sure you’re adapting alright.”“I am. Well, besides everything about this place itself. Other than that, everything is making perfect sense.” Akira was talking without thinking and it was turning out wonderful for once. He gave a short, soft laugh and it was the most relaxing thing Akira’s ever heard.“That’ll be enough for now.” Another smile and Akira’s felt heart skip another beat. What. The. Fuck. Akira didn’t know what was happening. There was no way he liked someone after literally knowing them for 2 minutes. It would fade quickly.“Sorry, this is off-topic, but do I know you? You seem so familiar, yet I can’t place my finger on it.” His eyes shifted to disappoint, yet they were so soft and filled with this hope. “Yes… and no.” He took a pause. “You don’t remember, do you?”“Not really. You feel so familiar.” Akira shook his head as he tried to remember. His memory wasn’t the best to begin with. Though he remembered things really well after a certain point of his life, but that was ridiculous. He had a bad memory, that was it. The male just sighed and dipped his head. “I’ve gotta go.” He turned around sharply to walk back to the kitchen. Akira reached out and grabbed his arm.“Wait! I don’t even know your name.” Akira noticed that on his ring finger there was a gold band. It was so pretty and so- “Minato Arisato.” Minato shook off Akira’s hand and continued back to the kitchen. Arisato? That meant Minako was his sister… or the just had the same last name. Who knew. Akira felt the pain of separation as he saw Minato walk away. Akira barely knew and yet, he was already so calming to him. Before they had talked Akira had been on the edge of a panic attack. Akira didn’t know Minato viewed him anymore either. At first, they got along like they had known each other for years. Now, Minato had brushed him off and left without another word. It was so confusing.Akira shoved his hands in the pockets on the sweatshirt he was wearing and made his way to the elevator. He didn’t feel hungry after the encounter. His mind kept being dragged back to it, but he really didn’t want to think about it at the moment. Maybe he just needed sleep for tonight and then everything would become clear to him. Just maybe. Akira heard the ding that signified he was at his floor and walked out of the elevator. Akira opened the door gingerly and closed it behind him with the same lack of force. The bed looked very inviting, but it couldn’t have been very late. What else was Akira gonna do though? Akira gave up and buried himself in the bed. School started tomorrow. Ha. That was gonna be a nightmare.Akira woke up exhausted. Guess going to sleep that early didn’t help him in the slightest. His limbs screamed in protest as he tried to move them. He was tempted to go back to sleep and forget about everything, but he had school. Akira forced the protesting limbs to move to grab his bag and change. He hadn’t looked at the uniform yet as he really didn’t care. All school was to him was a place to prove that he could get good grades. He had the path he was set to follow. Akira opened the bag on his bed to look over the uniform. Overall, it was pretty basic. Black pants, a white button-up, and normal black shoes. Akira took a brisk shower before putting on the uniform and heading down to the first floor.Akira waited in the entry hall for a little bit for Ryuji. He seemed nice enough and the last time he tried relying on his phone he had gotten severely lost. The more time that went by the more Akira realized Ryuji had probably already left. Damnit. Akira sighed and turned on his phone. It was better to try his luck than wait for longer than he already had.“Akira. Are you waiting for someone?” Morgana appeared in front of Akira which totally didn’t scare Akira. Morgana bore the same uniform as his except for the khaki pants instead of Akira’s black.“Kinda. I… I don’t know how to get to the school.” Morgana snickered as Akira put his phone away.“I’ll take you there. I wanted to get to know you better anyway, so this is a win-win.”“Thank you.” Morgana nodded. The two made their way out the door and towards the school. Akira enjoyed the silence that they shared for a short time, but he also didn’t mind when Morgana started talking.“I didn’t see you after you talked to Minato. Was everything alright?”“I mean, yeah. I was tired after all that happened, though.”“Fair. It was a lot.” Morgana took a small pause to point out some streets so that Akira could find his way to the school tomorrow. “Do you know Minato?”“Not that I know of.” Morgana gave an odd look at his response but didn’t say anything about it.“You’re an odd one, Akira. I think we’ll get along well. Anyways, we’re here.” Akira looked in front of him and was faced with the mountain that was the school. Desert Rose High-School. It looked pretty standard. Akira didn’t know why he expected something else. Maybe it was his nerves controlling his thoughts once more. “Do you know your classroom?” “C-3, I believe.” He remembered being told it was that classroom, but he wasn’t sure about anything at this point.“That’s my classroom. Here, it’s this way.” Akira followed Morgana into the building and to his classroom. Akira sat down in an empty seat and looked around the classroom. Ann seemed to be in the class as well as someone he vaguely recognized.The class started and ended unceremoniously. The teacher was boring to listen to and the subject wasn’t much better. Akira knew he should’ve paid attention more, but he couldn’t will himself to. The only reason he was planning to get into a good college was because that was the life his parents had set up for him. Akira shoved the thoughts to the back of his head as he walked through the halls to get back to the dorms. As he walked, he was stopped by a teacher. “Hello. My name is Mrs. Bates. Would you please join me in my office?” Akira nodded; he had no reason to say no. He followed Mrs. Bates to her office, which seemed decently sized. Once they were both inside Mrs. Bates closed the door and motioned him to sit down. She sat down opposite to him. She looked intimidating if he was honest. She had a pink blazer over a yellow shirt, the outfit didn’t match at all, and a gleam in her eyes that could kill a man with a glance. “Look, I’m going to be straight with you. We don’t accept your kind here.” Akira recoiled in his seat.“E-excuse me?” Akira stuttered out of confusion. “Look, I don’t know about your old town, but fags like you aren’t accepted here.” Mrs. Bates hissed out her words with poison. While Akira was very proud to be bisexual, that info wasn’t out to anyone here yet. It confused him the more he tried to rationalize how she knew or even assumed anything like that. “Ma’am, with all due respect, what is that supposed to mean?” Akira’s anxiety dropped as he leaned forward. He didn’t leave out the poison in his own voice.“Rumors spread fast, Mr. It was impossible to not know at this point. Just don’t do any of… that on school grounds and I won’t get you expelled.”“As a teacher, you’re listening to rumors. How is that professional?”“Quiet! You respect me or you get out of this school!”“Goodbye.” If he was honest, he didn’t even listen to the last thing she said. He couldn’t give less of a shit about what she had to say. A teacher listening to rumors. How pathetic. Akira stopped his thoughts once more. No. He couldn’t call a teacher pathetic. She was his superior. He ignored the overwhelming part of his brain that told him that she was pathetic and that it was fine to call her as such. Still, the idea of rumors spreading already was unsettling. Akira was so caught up in thoughts that he walked headfirst into someone, causing them both to fall.“Ryuji!” Akira scrambled to get up and help Ryuji up. “I’m so sorry for running into you. I was just so caught up in my- ““Dude. It’s cool. Calm down. It was only an accident.”“Yeah, I guess. You’re okay though?”“Yes. I’m fine. Let’s head home, you look like an utter wreck right now.” Akira knew Ryuji was right. Akira had been so pissed only a minute before, but now he was back to being an anxious mess. He and Ryuji started walking back to the dorms when Ryuji spoke up once more. “I don’t know if you’ve heard already, but there are some pretty nasty rumors going around about you.” Damnit. So rumors were spreading around.“Wonderful. Lovely. Fucking stellar.” Ryuji gave him a look of understanding before continuing.“I know it’s not my right to barge in, but some weren’t very pretty. I can tell from yesterday that you don’t want to talk about your old homelife, and I completely understand, but- ““I really don’t want to talk about this right now.” Ryuji gave him a sad pout but nodded. “Though, it would be helpful to know what the rumors actually are.”“Well, there’s one about your sexuality which doesn’t matter. The other basically consists of you selling yourself out for some quick cash.” Wonderful. Fan-fucking-tastic. “There’s probably more that I don’t know of.” Akira felt an urge to get angry at Ryuji, but he didn’t do anything wrong. Akira felt his head fill with panic. The more people who knew, the more likely he was going to be questioned. Ryuji had been right about one thing, Akira hated talking about his home life. Everyone had a complicated story; Akira just hated telling his.“Thank you, for telling me that is. I can’t believe there are already rumors.” Ryuji gave a curt laugh to lighten up the mood.“Kids are fast. Kids are also scarily creative with them. I remember this one time…” Ryuji went on and on about this one rumor that had gone on about him. It was relaxing to hear him tell the story. It was also extremely funny and fitting.As they entered the building Akira and Ryuji parted ways. Akira quickly went up to his bed and sat down. His mind raced with the possibility of what the other rumors could be. On top of that, that teacher was still someone who existed at the school. What would happen with her? Would she bother Akira again? Akira felt the world drift away as a panic attack set it. What a great way to start the year.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Akira found his way down for dinner but hid in his hoodie. The rumor was most definitely out there. Akira stalked his way into the kitchen, avoiding eye contact with the various stares that surrounded him. He didn’t dissect what each stare meant; he already knew. He saw Ryuji with Ann and Morgana, but he didn’t find the will to face them after all that happened. Akira grabbed some kind of food and sat at an empty table. He hoped, prayed, that no one else would sit next to him.“Hello there.” A girl sat across from him. She had brown hair and red eyes. She commanded power as Minako did. “My name is Makoto Niijima. You… You looked lonely sitting here alone.” She sounded sweet, but there was an underlying tone of intimidation. Akira didn’t have the energy to tell her to leave, nor did he really want to tell her off, so he nodded slowly at her. Makoto gave a soft smile. “I hate to start with this, but the rumors are worrying.”“Oh.” Akira didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to tell anyone how true or not true the rumors were. The past was the past and Akira didn’t want to explore it. If anything, he wanted to leave the past in the past.“I’m not here to question you. Trust me, we’ve all dealt with rumors here. I’m just here to say you can talk when you want and if you want to.” Akira dropped his gaze to the table. He didn’t even know how to react to that. He was never offered anything like that. What had he even done to deserve the opportunity to talk about his petty issues and “troubled” past? Why was Makoto even concerned?“Thank you.” Akira’s voice was soft, barely audible. He didn’t know what to say, but Akira wasn’t going to let Makoto’s kindness go without thanks. She was being kind to him and even though he hadn’t done anything to deserve it, she deserved thanks. Makoto said something else, Akira couldn’t hear it, but she did point over to a table. Akira followed her finger to a table with Minato, Minako and someone else. Akira nodded slightly towards and walked over to their table.“Hey there!” Akira looked at the table as Minako waved him over. Akira sat in the only empty seat, the tables sat 4, which happened to be next to Minato. Minato was more focused on the table then anything happening. “Sorry for interrupting your conversation, but we wanted to talk to you.” Minako explained with her usual pep. Minato looked up for a second and offered a look of concern before returning his attention to the table. “This is Souji Seta.” Minako gestured to the man next to her. He had silver hair and eyes. He had a twinge of familiarness, but it was weaker than the other two. Or was he just getting used to it?“Nice to meet you.” Akira shook Souji’s hand across the table before retracting his hand to back underneath the table. “We’re to talk about this building and everything surrounding it finally. We’re sorry about not telling you earlier. We had to confirm something beforehand.” Souji explained, resting his head on his hand. That made enough sense. Minako took over explaining after that.“This building is for what we call Questioners. We explore a world not quite like ours. It’s called The Distorted World.” A sharp pain ran through Akira’s head, but he ignored it. “You’re here to help us and learn of that world.” Akira nodded when he noticed something on the table in front of him. It was a purple gem that looked almost like an amethyst. The light shined through it causing it to dazzle.“That will let you go whenever you want. Make sure you only go when you are in this building.” Akira went to question why, but he was more distracted by the fact that Minato was at least talking to him. It was muttered, but it was good enough for Akira. Minako nodded and smiled at Akira.“We’ll explain more tomorrow, I promise. After school stay in the main hall. We’ll go then. Make sure you get some rest tonight. The…” Minako trailed off. Akira wasn’t sure why, but she continued soon enough. “The first trip in can be exhausting and we wouldn’t want you passing out.” Akira opened his mouth to talk, but Minako shook her head. “Tomorrow.” Akira, though confused, nodded and stood up from the table to make his way back to his room.Akira sat on the edge of his bed, thinking as he normally did. Why had he been transferred so specifically? Sure, Minako said that he was transferred to help them with whatever, but how had it been timed so perfectly? Did his parents also know about it all when they transferred him? Maybe Akira should’ve been more concerned with The Distorted World that they brought up, but that more excited Akira. It really shouldn’t have, but Akira’s life had been nothing but doing exactly as he was told when he was told, but that wasn’t the law in another world, was it?Akira woke up in a better mood than he had the day before which wasn’t that odd considering that he went to bed early with a clear head. Akira quickly got ready and made his way downstairs. He still didn’t know his way to the school all that well, so it was best to get a head start as to not be late if he happened to get lost. As he walked through the main hall, he saw Ann leaned against a wall. She was most definitely waiting for someone, so Akira just brushed it off and kept walking. However, Ann made her way over to him.“Hey, Akira. I seemed to have missed the person I was waiting for, so would you mind if I walked with you instead?” Ann asked in her usual chipper voice. Akira nodded swiftly. Her slightly panicked at the idea of her bringing up the rumors, but it was best if he got to know the people who lived in the dorm instead of avoiding everyone. Ann gave him a bright smile as they walked out of the door.“Who were you waiting for?” Akira wasn’t very good at small talk as he never really practiced it, but he was genuinely interested. Akira had only seen her with Ryuji and Morgana, but neither of those two seemed like the type to leave as early as they were for school.“Makoto. Oh, wait. Have you met her yet?”“Yeah. I have.”“Good!” As they walked Ann told Akira a multitude about Makoto. Apparently the two were dating and boy did Ann have a lot to say about her girlfriend. Akira was glad they had each other though. Ann seemed genuinely nice from the interactions she and Akira had. Ann stopped her stories and facts eventually though which led to a brief moment of silence. “How was your first day here? I didn’t see you after school, so I didn’t have the opportunity to ask.” Akira felt a rush of guilt for not talking to Ann, but let it drift over him.“It was eventful.” Ann gave a curt laugh to Akira’s sentiment.“That’s fair.” Akira and Ann had a few more seconds of silence before they reached the school. Ann made an off comment about how she was going to go see Makoto before classes started and then was off. Akira made his way to his classroom swiftly, keeping his head down. It was best if he could go the day without any trouble. Akira sat down in his seat and waited for class to start. Eventually, Morgana made his way into the classroom and they talked before classes began.Classes were just as boring as Akira had expected. Though, that hadn’t been different in his hometown either. Still, Akira was expected to have good grades, so he forced himself to get at least a little bit of information from the teacher’s rambling. Besides the actual classes, there were some stares and whispers, but that was something Akira was used to handling and wasn’t that distressing. Akira had hoped to escape it when he transferred, but that was never a guarantee. It was always just a dull hope.Akira made his way back to the dorms alone. It wasn’t that he wanted to be alone, but rather that no one had approached him to walk back with him, so he wasn’t going to go looking for someone. It was nice to walk with friends, but the streets were strangely comforting to walk along when he was alone. It wasn’t the same kind of relaxation that had confused him with Minato, Minako or even Souji, it was just relaxation from the subdued sounds of the city. Akira had really paid no mind to anything like that in his old town. He hadn’t cared enough to. Every day back then was the same, so the simple comfort of a street was long forgotten for dull colors and sounds.Akira found himself smiling regardless of the bleak tone of his last thoughts. It really was nice to get away from everything that had been happening. He had needed it more than he ever could’ve predicted. Or, maybe, he could’ve if he had paid more attention to himself. It was pointless to think about the what if’s now, but Akira lingered on the thought for a little while longer. What had his life back then even been? His entire life passed him by, and he hadn’t even paid attention to it.Akira walked into the dorm and saw Minato, Minako, and Souji already in the main hall. He felt bad that he had made them wait for him as he dawdled, but they seemed to be talking amongst themselves. Akira walked over to them feeling slightly nervous as, even though he was excited, he had no idea what was to come.“Are we bringing anyone else besides Akira?” Minako asked looking over specifically to Minato. Minato seemed to process the question for only a second before answering.“If you want to bring your team, you can. Though, I would recommend only bringing one team. More than that would be too many people at once.” Minato explained. It was more of a leader tone than Akira had heard before. It sounded nice which Akira quickly shoved out of his head. It was just a tone of voice, Jesus.“Right. Hey, Akira, who have you met so far?” Akira found the question odd, but he complied.“Ryuji, Morgana, Ann, and Makoto. Why?”“That’s who we’ll take then.” Akira gave her a confused look until she explained. “It’d be best if you were exploring this new world with people you’ve already been introduced to instead of trying to introduce people and the world.”“That makes enough sense.” Minako nodded and left to go get the people she just mentioned. While she off, even though it was a small amount of time, small talk sparked between the small group of 3. Minato seemed a lot more comfortable than he had been yesterday. Good. Minako returned with the other people who seemed semi concerned.“This is the group that’s going?” Morgana asked looking over to Minako questioningly.“Yup. It’s better to not overwhelm someone so new.” Morgana nodded but held a suspicious gaze in his eyes. There was a moment of silence before Minato made his way to the center of the main hall. In his hand was a gem that looked radically similar to the one he gave Akira. He raised his hand which caused the gem to glow until the room shifted from the dorms to, what seemed to be, a ballroom. Minato, who used to be in his school uniform, shifted to an entirely different outfit. Black skinny jeans, with blue lines on the sides with a belt around his waist. A white t-shirt with a black collar and belt. All topped off with a black jacket with blue stripes on the arms, like the pants. Now that Akira looked closer, he also had a cloth mask around his neck, though he probably did put it on, it was black with a blue outline. As Minato turned around Akira saw that one of his eyes turned blue.Akira found himself looking around in confusion, which caused him to notice that everyone’s outfits have changed. He went to push up his glasses, but his glasses weren’t on and on his hands were bright red, fingerless gloves. Around his neck was a red scarf that situated so that it flew behind him when he walked. He had on black pants and a black shirt with grey patches on the shoulders, waist, and sides of the legs. Plus a belt with a knife or dagger holder. It was weird to have changed into, but Akira liked the outfit all in all.“What is-”“Our outfits change here. There’s a whole long explanation, but basically, we have outfits for what we do here.” Souji explained, walking forward. He had on a kingly outfit on that was mostly black with accents of gold. He had a cane and a crown to top off his outfit. Huh. Not to mention his one yellow eye. “What is our job here?” Akira asked tilting his head slightly. Minako stepped forward. She wore a brown shirt that had a descending neckline, left to right. The right arm didn’t have a sleeve, but it had a pink glove that started a little above the elbow, it ended right before her hand. The glove had a dark brown band before the pink started. The right side had a dark brown, semi-leafy, pattern. She also had two belts wrapping around her torso. She had black shorts that ended before the knee. When the shorts ended it had two pink ribbons. One on both sides. She had two belts on her thighs, one of both sides. The left one was placed a little lower than the right one. To top everything off she had dark brown boots with decorative belts. One of her eyes was also bright red. “Well, first, this is Sulito. It’s a kingdom. Souji, as you could probably tell, is the king here. There is another kingdom adjacent to us called Velogo. It’s too much to explain now, but we infiltrate that kingdom to get information to stop a war bound to happen.” Akira felt himself stagger as the information was told to him.“I-”“It’s okay. It’s a lot to take in right now.” Minato walked towards him and offered him comfort in a simple sentiment. Akira found himself relax as it was reassured that everything would be explained later.“I’m a bit lost. Akira has his outfit already?” Morgana asked, once again stepping forward. He wore a black shirt with rolled-up sleeves and a yellow, open, collar. He had tan pants and two belts. One around his waist tightly, the other was a lot looser. One of his eyes was yellow.“That is correct, yes.” Morgana looked confused at Souji's statement but Ann stepped forward. Ann walked towards Akira excitedly. She wore a brown shirt with sleeves that ended at her elbow. At the end of her sleeves were red triangle patches. The shirt ended above the bellybutton. She had black shorts with a belt around her waist. She had white knee-high socks with red streaks with brown shoes. It looked a lot like her.“I love your outfit! Very mysterious!” Her eyes were bright and wide. One of her teal eyes was red. It was very alarming, but cool if Akira was honest. Akira laughed lightly which cause Ann to light up more.“I like yours too.” Ann almost bounced on her heels. She really seemed excited. Makoto walked up beside her girlfriend and put her hand on her shoulder.“Don’t get too excited. We still have a job to do today.” Makoto had one purply-grey eye that matched her grunge-like outfit. She had a grey sleeveless shirt. She had purple elbow-length fingerless gloves that had a grey band on each end. She also had black jeans. What Makoto had that no one else had thus far was some armor. She had spaulders and one arm guard on her right arm. Conversation broke among the group. It was nothing informative, it was just friends talking. Akira smiled fondly as the group talked amongst themselves. Akira felt a hand be placed on his shoulder which caused him to be turned around. Minato was behind him with a subdued smile.“C’mon. I want to show you around and explain some things.” Akira nodded though he was confused. Minato seemed a lot more friendly like he was in the first interaction they had. Minato led Akira out of, what turned out to be, the castle. From the castle, they walked to the streets of Sulito. In the streets, there were plenty of people. Well, they weren’t exactly human. Akira went to ask, but Minato already began explaining when Akira opened his mouth.“The people here are culled Sulitans. They’re monster-human hybrids to put it simply.” Minato’s face held a fond smile as he explained it to Akira. “They mean no harm though. Really. They’re human in almost every way we are.”“What do you mean by that?”“Well,” Minato took a second, “They experience emotions like we do, for starters. They have empathy, compassion. They each have their own personality.”“Huh.” Akira wanted to say more, but words escaped him. What was there to even say? The Sulitans sounded like humans, as Minato had explained, but there were so many questions that he wanted to ask but figured it would be better not to. Most presently, where did the Sulitans come from? Though Akira couldn’t help the itch of curiosity, he kept his mouth shut.“I’m sure you’re also curious about Velogo at this point. Hell, I wouldn’t blame you either. I don’t want to dump too much information onto you’re your first day, but, if you want, I wouldn’t be opposed to telling you the basics.”“That sounds great.” Akira hated the way that he said it, but Minato seemed to take that response as good enough. Why would he not? Akira shoved out his thoughts as he normally did. Too much thinking.“Basically, Velogo wants a war. It’s… too complicated to get into now, but it’s revenge for something that happened a long time ago, in essence. We sneak into Velogo to get information, and sometimes other things, so that we can best prepare or avoid war altogether.” Minato paused and looked over at Akira. “Make enough sense?”“Not really, but it’ll do.” Minato gave a curt laugh and faced back towards the street.“That’s good enough for me.” Akira opened his mouth to say something but paused. What did he want to say? This wasn’t the first time that had happened either.“There’s something I don’t remember, isn’t there?” Minato looked down at the ground as Akira asked. That just proved that was indeed something he didn’t remember. What was it? Was it important? What-“Yeah. There is.” Unlike the voice Minato used earlier, this one was soft, quiet.“But you can’t tell me for whatever reason?”“Unfortunately, no.” Minato stopped in the road and looked over at Akira. Akira, albeit confused, stopped wit him. “Honestly, I have no fucking clue what’s going to happen when we get back to the castle. I can’t tell you much, but a lot of shit is going to happen, I can guarantee it. Just…” Minato paused and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jackets. “Keep yourself safe.”“Thank you?” Akira tried to make it not sound like a question, but the entire speech made absolutely no sense to Akira. Minato shrugged and began to walk back towards the castle. Akira rushed to catch up but slowed down when he did.The entire way back was quiet, but it was a nice kind of quiet. Well, it wasn’t a perfect silence. Akira was still confused, but there wasn’t any tension between Minato and him, so that was a good thing. He at least now understood why the tension had been there in the first place. There was some part of the past that he didn’t remember that had to do with Minato, Minako, and Souji that they still did. It did seem to only be them, so far, as no one else had the sense of familiarness that those 3 did. Though, he may have not met another person involved, if there was one.As they neared the castle Akira felt himself tense a bit. Minato mentioned that when they got back, shit would start going down. That could’ve been hyperbolic, but with everything else that had happened, it really didn’t seem like it was.“Oh, right. One more thing to mention.” Akira looked over to Minto as he began talking once more. “There are some names to get used to as they’re probably be used.”“Oh?”“Basically, Minako, Souji, and I have names that are used more so in Velogo, but it’s complicated.” Minato shook his head slightly. “That made no sense. Just know that if you hear The Blue Lion, The Chaos, and The Yellow Canary they belong to me, Minako, and Souji respectively.”“Should I ask why or just leave it at that for now?”“Leave it.” Akira nodded and looked back towards the castle. They were nearing it at this point. The whole nickname had confused him more than he would admit. Why? Where did they come from? Who used them? Akira was told to leave it though, so he did.Eventually, they were inside the castle once more. As if knowing something was already going down, Minato slipped on his mask that had been resting on his neck. Akira, knowing that something was definitely about to go wrong based on that reaction, kept his hand near his dagger. After inspecting his outfit more, he realized that inside the dagger holder was a dagger. Who would’ve thought it?As Akira and Minato entered the ballroom. Minato immediately drew a long sword that had been in its holder. In front of them was something that looked like the Sulitans outside, but different. More… feral in a way. Akira readied himself as a fight was definitely about to break out.So that was what Minato meant.