part 1
It's a beautiful and yet cold winter morning on Akamatsu city, though there was no snow falling yet for this December. But last night's heavy rain had lowered the city's overall temperature to a near freezing state. It starts with a raging squall at 11pm, then it was quickly followed by a downpour at 11:30pm and it goes all the way till morning. Some people even predicted that the whole town would be hit by a tsunami again like a few years back.
But, as morning comes, the sky was so clear that no one would believe you if you tell them there's a storm here last night. There's some grey clouds in sight, but the sunlight could easily pierce through it and warmed the townspeople.
I myself would normally enjoy walking under the morning sun, but today's an exception. Why you ask? Well, the answer to that question is very simple...
It is because I, Akuno Seiji, AM LATE FOR MY HISTORY CLASS!!
“Excuuuuuuse meeee!! Coming through!!”
I skillfully slid past an old lady with wrinkles all over her face. She's riding an old beaten up scooter that I'm sure that only God and herself who knows how old it is. I don't even recognize the scooter's model.
“Young 'uns these days!!” she said while weakly (and shakily) raising her fist toward me.
Sorry granny, but I need to go to campus as fast as I can, or else I'm going to fail on my history class. Again...
Though I'm in economics major, history class was one of the classes that we --students of Seihokami University-- must take and gain credits if we wanted to graduate. If you're wondering about what's the connection of economics and history, you could find evidence that some events in history had made an economic changes on that certain country. Some were minor cases, and some were incredibly major cases that the country almost got broke because of it. I believe the correct term for that situation was "Monetary Crisis."
...
Wait, what the heck am I doing!!?
Why am I leisurely explaining about the connection of economics and history to you now? Argh!! I'm totally late!!
“Uwooo!!!”
Come on! I'm kicking you into high gear, move faster!! My bipedal locomotion system —a.k.a. my legs— quickly picked up speed, it was so fast that I think I could even outrun a motorcycle —the one that granny rode earlier of course.
As I ran, I flipped my phone open to check on the time.
08:21.
Geh!! 9 minutes?? Dammit! The University's still a long way to go! I really, really, really don't want to go 'there' again, but I guess I don't have a choice...
I quickly turned and entered a small alley roughly the size of a single person wide. Traversing the small alley as fast as I could, I arrived at its end, a wire fence that stood three meters tall.
I put my hoodie up to conceal my face. 'Why?' you ask? Well, you'll know the answer to that simple question in a minute. I quickly climbed to the wire fence and jumped to the other side.
The place I dropped into was a large courtyard with articles of clothes hanging on numerous drying pole.
“Kyaaahhh!!??”
Rats, I've been found!
“It's him!!!” screams a girl.
“Panty thief!!” screams another girl, I assure you that statement is 100% false.
“Pervert!!” another girl screamed another false statement, I am not a pervert!!!
And *snap, just like that, there's twenty or more girls staring towards me.
Yes, I think you might have guessed it by now, this place is an all girls dorm, and males are definitely not welcomed, especially me, who often used this shortcut to cut some precious time.
“Sorry!! I'm just passing through!!” I raised my hands up as if I'm being pointed a gun.
A girl with long blonde hair stood on the third floor looking down at me.
“To think you would dare to come into Harukana dorms again, you have a lot of guts huh?” she said with an ojou-sama style.
Well, I did eat a motsuni[1] last night, if that counts as guts then yes, I do have lots of guts. In my stomach at least... oh wait, does my stomach counts as guts too?
The blonde ojou-sama turned gracefully to the girl with glasses beside her. Her secretary maybe? Or maybe her maid?
“Minami, call the cops! The rest of you, catch that pervert!”
I told you I'm not a pervert!
It didn't take long before eight girls armed with broomsticks and baseball bats charged at me. The wise Sun Tzu once said: “Don't wage a war that you could not win,” and seeing the possibility that I will get beaten to a pulp by these girls were high, I started running for my dear life.
I mean, come on, you seriously think I could fend off eight girls with a killing intent that's literally seen by the naked eye? Look! They're burning with some sort of yellow flames there!
“This is a misunderstanding!! I'm just passing throu—!! Ouwaahhh!!” I jumped to my left, dodging the baseball bat swung by one of the girls.
*whoosh!*
Geh, if I got hit by that swing I'd be counting stars above my head. Dammit, I don't have time for this, I'm late!
“Sorry!!” I shout my last apology before I darted towards the front exit.
”Yuka, Shino, stop him!!” the blonde haired ojou-sama barked another order.
Two brawny girls almost the size of Arnold Schwarzeneger (oh crap!) quickly blocked the front door. Seriously, you girls need to lay off the steroids!
“There is no escape for you now, bwahahahaha!” one of the two guardians said.
Wow, even her voice sounds like a guy, it makes me wonder if these two muscle heads were actually guys in disguise.
Sun Tzu also said: “If he is in superior strength, evade him,” There's no chance I'll be able to outpower them, so I'll just have to take another way out.
“According as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one's plans,” Again, by lord Sun Tzu.
I remember one small detail in this dorm's courtyard layout that could give me a chance to escape, but this will be a one shot opportunity. I turned my running path toward the left corner of the dorm's courtyard, a small wire fenced door was there. It was a side exit, and from the dumb looks of the dorms residents behind me, no one from these ojou-samas did notice or even bother to use the moss covered rusty door.
“What???” several girls shout the same question as they saw me running to the side exit.
“Stop him! Hurry up and stop him!!” the blonde haired ojou-sama shouts in panic as she realize what I’m going to do.
The warcries of the Amazon tribe roared again, this time they're all chasing after me, even the general who stood on the second floor quickly descent the stairs to join the chase.
“Gimme a break!! I told you I'm just passing throu- hiii~!!!”
*swish!!* a broomstick flew past me like a spear thrown to catch a boar, followed by a myriad of things these Amazon women could get their hands on. Baseball bat, laundry pole, rocks, garden gnomes (ah yes, that reminds me, this girls dorm were western styled) and bush cutters. These girls are totally crazy!!
“Haaaaa!!!”
*crack!* the rusty door bent open as I kicked it with a flying kick, after all, velocity equals power.
“Gahh!!” I stumbled as I run for my dear life.
Okay, now that's that, off to campus!! I sped up my legs, increasing my distance from the chasing party of the Amazon dorm girls. I have to carefully make sure that they didn't know where I go to. It would be a real mess if they managed to chase me all the way to campus.
Ooh, there it is! The campus' front gate, I can see it! I might just made it in time!
And so I ran again, with all the power I could muster on my legs. I dashed through the hallway, up the stairs, and dashed again at the second floor hallway like my shoes were set on fire.
Ah, this is it!
*BAM!!!* I kicked the door open.
“I'm he—”
The class were empty, no students, no teachers, in fact there's no sign of anyone have been here recently.
"???"
This is not right... Did I mistakenly enter the wrong classroom?
I turned my attention to the wooden door, where a gold colored steel plate was embedded into its center. It reads “class B-6”, that means I'm on the right classroom, but where everybody else? Not even that idiot Kasukabe —the history teacher— is here.
I flipped my phone open, and the digital clock reads 8:30, I'm right on time. So what the heck happened?
“Hmm? Akuno-kun? What are you doing here?” an elderly voice called out to me.
The voice's owner was a guy on his late 50's, his white hair dominates most of his original brownish hair color. He was pushing a cart with cleaning tools and threw a red wiping cloth to his left shoulder. He's Akimoto Shiage, the campus' janitor.
“Eh, I was going to attend Kasukabe's class... did they move to another classroom, Akimoto-san?”
“Oh? Didn't you see the announcement board? Kasukabe-sensei is absent today.”
“Absent???”
“Yes, the other staffs were saying that he got an uncommon cold or something like that. Some of the staff was on the way to visit him right now. It's weird though, I happened to saw him yesterday at the convenience store, and he looked fine to me.”
Darn, of all the time in the world, it had to be today huh? Nice work Kasukabe, next time I meet you, I’d sue you for making me running like P*psi-Man for absolutely no reason.
“Fueh...”
“O-oi, Akuno-kun? Are you okay? You looked pale all of a sudden,” Akimoto-san tapped my shoulder.
“O-oh? I'm fine Akimoto-san, I just need to sit down for a bit, my legs are killing me.”
“Well, you should just sit down and rest then. Anyway, I'm going to clean the third floor, take care Akuno-kun.”
Akimoto-san waved at me and then pushed his cart filled with cleaning products away toward the stairs.
I can feel the strength on my legs were drained, at first it felt like my legs were turning to jelly, making me lose my balance. So I grabbed the handrail at the stairs to support myself.
Then it begins...
Leg cramps… AARRRGGGHHH!!!!
***
Seihokami University, it’s one of the two largest universities here in Akamatsu city (the other one being Tendou University). And as the name implies (it's a combination of the word seihokei for square and kami for god) it was built with a square pattern in mind, with four identical main buildings and a park combined with a cafetaria right on the middle of it. Each of the five story main buildings was connected by a skyway on the second floor. Clubrooms and other minor constructs were scattered along the outline of the main buildings.
The University splits majors on each of the quadruplet main buildings. The humanities and social sciences classes were put on the first building (building A). The second building (building B) houses economy and education classes. While the business and law classes were in the third building (building C). And lastly engineering class along with the faculty office were in the fourth building (building D).
In the middle of the quadruplet buildings, a small park and cafeteria had been made.
The University cafeteria was basically a one square feet food court on the north part of the campus' park, with enough tables and chairs for most, if not all of the students in the academy. It was designed to be an outside eating area, complete with large parasols in case of a sudden raining or snow. And it's located parallel to the university's small park.
The university park itself was U-shaped, hugging the cafeteria area on the north. A few potted plants and trees were put together to decorate the park along with some benches to relax.
Which is exactly where I am right now, sitting on a bench at the campus park doing some self-massage to my legs. Ugh, my feet feels like it's made of lead instead of flesh and bones. I guess all that running finally takes its toll.
“Yo! Seiji, wazzup dude!?” a guy with blonde hair walked up to me.
“Kosuke? Skipping classes again?”
This guy here is Takigawa Kosuke, we went to the same high school together, and now we somehow ended at the same university too. What were the odds to that huh? His hair was blonde because his mother was an American.
“Ouch! That hurt dude, I’m not skipping classes, the teacher said today will be a self study session, because she needs to go to another teacher’s house who got sick. And I left the classroom after he left.”
In other words, yeah, you're skipping classes.
“I wonder who got sick?” he threw himself beside me.
“It was Kasukabe…”
“Oh, so it was him…”
“Yup.”
“…”
For twenty full seconds Kosuke totally silenced himself.
“Wait a sec dude, Kasukabe as in Kasukabe, the history teacher??”
You’re talking as if there’s another teacher named Kasukabe here in the university. Of course it’s him.
“Oh wow, never thought of him of all people could get sick. And I thought he was The Terminetaru, made of solid steel and cybernetic organism, coming to this timeline to make our life miserable, wahahahaha!”
“You’ve watched way too many sci-fi, and it’s Terminator, not Terminetaru.”[2]
“Right, what you said, ahaha,” he continues to laugh like an idiot.
I can’t believe I had an idiot friend like him, I'm starting wonder how did he graduate high school? And entering this university too, did he pull some strings or something?
“Hmm? What’s with your leg dude?”
“I got a leg cramp,” I answered short.
“Leg cramp? Whoa! Did you just run all the way here or something? Ahahahaha!”
“…”
“… no way! You actually did? B-but your house is like a mile away dude!”
It’s just a kilometer actually, but I’ll just let it slide, arguing with Kosuke was not the best choice. I already learned that at high school.
“I don’t have a choice. I woke up late this morning and realized that the morning class was Kasukabe’s, and he's not the guy who would listen to common reason. He’ll just cut my grade no questions asked.”
“And so you ran all the way from your house to campus? What about your bike?”
“Oh, the chain broke last night, so I couldn’t use it. I was planning to fix it today though.”
And that pretty much sums it all up what happened this morning, so I nodded at his question. His jaw suddenly opened with a disbelief look on his face.
“You’re a monster dude…”
Well, coming from a person who almost fainted after running a hundred meter sprint in high school, I may look like a monster.
“I don't think monsters would get a leg cramp though.”
“Oh, right, you have a point there dude. Wait a sec…” Kosuke grabbed his bag and puts his right arm in.
Then he moved his arm with a circular movement like he’s mixing something inside the bag while mumbling “No, not this one. Hmm, not this one too.”
And after a while, he pulled his arm out. In his hand were a clear plastic bottle with yellow liquid inside. The label reads “Strength-O.X. makes you strong like an ox.”
“Here, you need it more than I do!” and he pushed the bottle to me.
Strong like an ox huh? Well, it won’t hurt to try…
I hope…
“Thanks.”
“No problemo dude.” Kosuke gave me a thumbs up while smiling happily.
*gulp* a sweet and tangy taste explodes in my mouth, slightly relieveing me from my fatigue. Funny that it tastes just like an orange juice from a vending machine at the cafeteria...
"Oh yeah, did you hear the news dude?"
What news?
"Apparently, there's a pervert on the loose, the all girls dorm Harukana nearby got ransacked this morning. They say a large quantity of panties were gone, the cops are still investigating this dude."
Ugh, great, just GREAT, now I'm officially a wanted man. An accused panty thief, running from the clutches of the law. If I had a katana in my possession I would prefer doing a seppuku[3] to save me from further shame.
But... what's done is done, no use crying for a spilled milk. *sigh* it's not like I can restart from the last save point or rewind time. Note to self: never EVER take that shortcut again...
"... found you... Se... i... ji..." a faint voice came to my right ear.
My reaction? Isn't it obvious?
"Pbbfffttttt---!!!??"
I instaneously spat all of the energy drink from inside my mouth.
"Eww!!? That's gross, dude!!"
"*cough* What the hell!??" I immediately stood and face toward my right side.
And I saw the culprit, a girl with a waist long black hair stands beside me with a bewildered look. I quickly recognize that miko haircut she had.
"Err... sorry?" she said.
"Yuki... how many time do I have to tell you to stop doing that?"
"That... umm..." she counted with her fingers for a few seconds but quickly gave up on the idea.
She stuck her tounge out and say, "I lost count, ehehe..."
This girl... is unbelievable... I could only sighed at her usual antics of 'ninja walk.' Apparently, this girl beside me had some sort of unique ability to walk around soundlessly, out of sight, and undetected until she decides to make her appearance. Like what she just did earlier.
If there were such thing as an 'all Japan hide and seek tournament', I would bet all my money that she would win it. Not that I have a lot of money to bet anyway.
"I say, you just shaved another one year worth of my life."
"I said I'm sorry..." she made a pointed mouth like a kid that's getting reprimanded by her teacher.
Her name is Oimikado Yukino, one of the few friends I had from my high school that went to this university. Her dream was to become an elementary school teacher, which is also the reason why she took the educations major. Though her mom wants her to be a full fledged miko for the Hoshiyume temple —she's a descendant of the temple's caretaker that's also doubles as priests and mikos.
"Yooo Yuki! What's up dude?"
"Kosuke? Skipping class again?"
"Naw! As I have told Seiji here, I had a self study session dude!"
"And you believe that Seiji?" this time she shot the question to me.
It was a no-brainer, I quickly reply her question with a short answer.
"Nope."
Yukino nodded to my answer with an expression that says, 'I thought so'.
Receiving severe damage by the combination attack of me and Yukino, Kosuke lets out a short ‘Uuu..’ groan, then he sat back dejectedly at the chair.
At that point I noticed Yukino’s clothing. Instead of her usual monochrome combination of a white long sleeved shirt and black jumper, her slender body was wrapped in a small white dress (it’s an equivalent of the famed ‘small black dress’, but it’s white, so let’s settle with ‘a small white dress’ shall we?) combined with a soft cream colored cardigan. To tell the truth, it’s rare to see her dressed like this.
“Yuki?”
“Hmm?”
“Are you going somewhere later?”
“Going somewhere?" she asked, "no, I don’t have any classes after this and I have no plans to meet anyone today.”
"Hmm... is that so?"
So what’s the deal with that dress? If your mom sees you in this get up she'll go berserk you know? And if that happens, believe me, you DO NOT want to be standing on a radius of 10 yards from the 'rampaging goddess'.
"Stop imagining rude things about my mother..."
Eh? Did she just read my mind?
"And before you think of any stupid things, I wear this dress because I wanted to wear something different once in a while."
"Oh... I see..."
I looked her from top to bottom, to tell the truth, the whole white dress thing really suits her.
"Wh-what?"
"No, it's just... you look cute in that dress."
"!!??" a small yet cute shriek had escaped from of her half closed mouth.
Her face suddenly turned red all the way to her ears for no apparent reason, did she get a sudden sun stroke? Wait, that can't be the case. I mean, sure, the day was hot, but I have never heard of anyone who got a sunstroke in the middle of winter.
At this moment, Kosuke who was silently recovering his Hit Points by sitting down at the bench, lifts his head and laughed.
"Ahahaha, Akuno Seiji strikes again! Way to go dude!!"
What? Did I say something wrong?
As I pondered about what I had said to her, Yukino suddenly cuts my train of thought.
“A-anyway, Seiji-kun!”
“Huh? Yes?”
“Do you have any plans for lunch?”
“Hmm, I probably going to eat at the cafeteria again.”
“Is that so?' T-then, would you mind eating together with me? I made too much bento for today and I can't just throw it away…”
B-b-b-be-be-ben-bento!!???
A freezing chill went straight to my spine. My danger senses quickly went off the charts, I have a really bad feeling about this… I guess it’s high time to call reinforcements.
“K-Kosuke, le-...“
But my so-called best friend was gone, as if he was just swallowed by an inter-dimensional black hole just a second before I could finish a full sentence.
Figures, just hearing the 'Be-' from the word bento coming out of Yukino's mouth could very well make whole grown man cry, let alone Kosuke.
...
Okay, maybe I'm just exagerrating things... a tiny bit...
"So? Want to eat lunch together?" she said again.
*ba!* she grabbed my shirt and gave me a somehat happy looking smile that says 'I won't let you escape this time'.
"I-if you insist..." I managed to force a a smile back at her.
Ugh, thanks Kosuke, next time we meet, I'll pay this debt in full... No, make that three-folds with extra interests!
[1] Motsuni is a stewed pork innards
[2] Seiji fixed the word Terminator in Japanese. Kosuke said Terminetaru, while it should be Teruminetaa. And for convenience sake, I changed it into English.
[3] Seppuku, a suicide act to preserve one's dignity, usually used in the warring period.
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