"Yurui?"
The voice reaches me again.
I turn and see a friendly-looking girl watching me. She's wearing a nice mid-length skirt. Her top resembles the school uniform, but it's custom-made and tailored to fit her. Her hair is neatly tied into twin ponytails, one on each side. And that smile, warm and bright, makes her face glow like the sun. The kind of smile that makes you want to talk to her.
But that bright, friendly face is the most deceptive thing about her.
She's easily one of the vilest and most physically violent out of the bunch. Whenever she does something awful, she plays it off like an accident.
And everyone believes her.
Every.
Single.
Time.
She's gotten away with so much that she barely even bothers pretending anymore. At this point, she's practically openly violent.
I don't know what to say to her, but I know something's coming. There's no way this bitch would pass up a chance to drag someone down.
I step back from the door.
"Um, sorry, Kika. I was late to class, so I was just thinking about how to explain myself to the teacher."
I'm telling the truth. It's not like I have anything to hide.
Still, she gives me that look. That fake, pleasant smile dressed up as concern.
"But Yurui, that's no good. The longer you stand here, the more class you miss."
She smiles and leans closer.
"You'll make the teacher mad. You know how she gets when she's mad, right? You shouldn't make adults angry, you know..."
Before I can react, Kika grabs me by the arm and starts pulling me toward the classroom.
"N-no, w-wait!"
I stammer in protest, waving my arms frantically, but it's no use. Kika swings the door open wide and loudly announces,
"I'm back."
The whole class goes quiet and stares at us. Their judgmental looks cut straight through me, as if I where made of glass. The teacher ignores me completely and turns to Kika instead, and I let out a small sigh of relief.
"Kika, I told you that you were only allowed to go out for five minutes, and you've been gone for half the lesson. Explain yourself."
Kika awkwardly rubs the back of her head.
"Well, you see, Miss Maevis, I went to the bathroom to do my business, and then I saw this one..."
She points at me.
I go pale.
This can't be good.
"Sitting in a stall all by herself, hiding, trying to skip class."
"That's not true!"
I object at once, but judging by the angry looks everyone is giving me, it's obvious nobody agrees. Which isn't surprising. Who in their right mind would side with a complete social reject over the most popular girl in class?
Kika turns back to me with an innocent expression.
"Yurui, did you forget already? You were hiding in a bathroom stall. You said you'd forgotten to do your homework, so you were just going to ditch class."
"Lies!"
I protest desperately. I was so caught off guard that I completely forgot my original goal, to lie low. Instead, I ended up dragging all the attention onto myself. Even worse, every bit of it is edged with contempt.
The teacher steps in, and her mere presence shuts everyone up.
"Now, now, kids. Stop all the bickering."
She says it coldly, without the slightest emotion in her voice.
"What Kika is saying shouldn't be hard to prove."
For a second, I actually feel smug. This might be my chance to expose the most popular girl in school in front of everyone. Nice payback for all those years of torment.
But I couldn't have been more wrong.
"Yurui, do you have your homework with you?"
The teacher asks coldly, without even looking at me.
The question catches me off guard, and I start stammering.
"W-what does t-that have t-to do w-with..."
The teacher looks straight at me with her cold, unmoving eyes.
"Do you have your homework or not?"
"N-no."
I force it out, keeping my head down.
That same familiar creepy smile spreads across her face. She looks like some kind of monster wearing a human skin and trying to imitate our emotions. I brace myself, already knowing what's coming.
"Yurui, come to my office after school."
A shiver runs through my whole body. No amount of bracing helps when I hear those words.
I want to protest. I want to say something in my defense, anything at all, but nothing comes out. All I can do is stand there, frozen with fear.
The teacher glances at me.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Get to your seat already."
I'd love nothing more than to go back and disappear into my desk, but the whole thing has shaken me so badly that my legs are too weak to move. So I just stand there, shivering a little. From the outside, I probably looked like a complete wreck. And to be fair, I kind of was.
Then Kika grabs the back of my collar with one hand and my arm with the other. She turns and slams me full force into a desk.
My vision goes blank.
When it finally comes back, God knows how much time has passed. Everything is still blurry, but I can make out Kika leaning over me, pretending to be concerned.
"Oh my, are you okay, dearie? I didn't mean to push you so hard. I guess I'm much stronger than I thought..."
I look around and see the whole class snickering quietly. Yoshiro is sitting in her seat, looking down at me smugly.
Ah, whatever. I don't care anymore.
I feel something dripping down. When I touch my forehead and look at my hand, it's smeared with blood. I ignore it, push myself up, and pull out my chair.
"I'm fine," I mutter as I sit down.
At least I hope my uniform is okay. At this point, I'm so done with all of this that I don't even care what any of them are going to do to me. Torture me? Kill me? I genuinely don't care anymore. Even the teacher's office doesn't seem that scary now.
Giving up, huh.
Doesn't feel that bad.
Honestly, I should've stopped resisting a long time ago. All it ever does is leave me worse off. If I'm going to get torn apart anyway, I might as well stop making it harder on myself.
I can see the other kids whispering and snickering to each other, but I ignore them. My vision is still blurry from being slammed into the desk. Everything looks like one massive smear.
"Yurui, pay attention when I'm talking."
That familiar, terrifying voice cuts through my head.
Usually I'd be shaking in fear, but now I just don't care. I hum quietly in acknowledgment and keep sitting there with a blank stare while blood slowly drips from my forehead onto the desk.
Then it feels like a massive weight has been lifted from my head.
The blur is gone.
All the sounds come rushing back, like the whole world has snapped back into place. I can hear everyone snickering and talking about me out loud, laughing at me without even trying to hide it.
I liked it better when the world was just a blur.
For a moment, I seriously consider smashing my head into the desk until everything shuts up again.
Instead, I take the less destructive option.
I cover my ears with my hands, lower my head onto the desk, and mutter over and over,
"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up."
Again and again, trying to drown out the mocking laughter and sneers.
After a while, I get tired and uncover my ears.
Silence.
Nice.
Sometimes I wish I were deaf. Sure, there are plenty of ways to mess with a deaf person, but no one is fucked up enough to bully a deaf kid, right?
Then I remember the kind of people I'm dealing with and come to a disturbing realization.
Never mind.
It'd probably be worse.
The teacher's voice cuts into my thoughts again.
"Let's go over the basics once more. You should all know this like the back of your hand, but it never hurts to be careful. You never know. Tests these days love to include easy questions like these, hoping to catch people off guard."
The class grumbles.
The teacher smiles.
"Okay, kids. Does anyone know how someone can become blessed?"
Silence.
She keeps staring at the room expectantly with that same cold expression.
Some kid whose name I don't even know raises his hand.
"Yes?"
The teacher nods at him.
"You can receive one at birth, anytime before you turn eighteen, or buy one from Miracle Inc."
The teacher claps her hands with that exact same unmoving expression. Somehow that only makes her look even creepier.
"That's right."
Her smile widens just a little, so slightly that only someone paying close attention would notice.
"Thanks to Miracle Inc, there's now yet another way to become blessed."
She pauses, and the class breaks into loud chatter and murmurs.
Then she continues.
"Since most of you are already aware of this, Miracle Academy is directly affiliated with Miracle Inc in hopes of nurturing future talent for the company. With that in mind, the company has decided to extend the program. From now on, all top-performing students will receive a blessing at the end of the school year. And not just a regular blessing, but the very best Miracle Inc has to offer."
The classroom erupts into loud cheers, laughter, and the excited voices of hyped-up kids.
A hard throbbing starts pulsing through my head. After getting hurt over and over all day, I've become extremely sensitive and nauseous. The noise pounds against my skull until I collapse onto my desk, feeling like I'm about to vomit.
Someone kill me, I think desperately. I can't take this anymore.
Then the kids' laughter gets swallowed by a loud rumbling noise.
I clamp my hands over my ears, pressing as hard as I can.
"Please, just make it stop. I can't take it anymore."
I mutter it quietly as my head throbs so hard it feels like it's about to split open.
Then the school roof swings open.
Wait.
It's not supposed to do that.
I stare up at the open sky that suddenly appears above us.
Have I gone crazy?
I look around the classroom. The room has gone quiet. The kids are staring at something with wide eyes.
I follow their gaze and see it.
A massive centipede-like monster towers over one corner of the classroom. It has a huge head with catfish-like whiskers, two massive horns, and six sharp eyes. Its face looks more like something out of a sci-fi movie than an actual centipede.
"Heheh, maybe it's going to kill us all."
I chuckle.
The idea is a little amusing.
Maybe even comforting.
I honestly don't know what to feel anymore.
I just want all of this to end.