Chapter 2: Chapter 2 Awakening From A Dream

"Oh my god- please autograph this!!"

"No, me, first!"

Students raced to talk to him; he was being escorted by a group while getting flooded with autographs.

He couldn't even remember their faces. 

At the moment, being a celebrity was something he never wanted.

They guided him from the doorstep of his car to his classroom. 

He wondered if their help was even necessary. He had done his best to express disinterest in them, all to no avail. He needed help to get out of the situation, so it was a win-win.

He was finally relieved from the barrages of self-introductions of the students when his friend Akise showed up. Being with Akise always made him comfortable. The students bid him byes and went to their respective classes.

Ninomiya asked while looking at the door of the class that had written 1-D on it,

"1-D, huh. Loads of freshers. That's my class!?"

Akise, in reply with a normal reaction,

"Yes, boss. You and me. That's our class."

Akise was a part-timer working at his company; even if he was a student, he had enough computer knowledge, and his father had known Ninomiya's father for a long, and we were excellent friends. But he was downright carefree about everything. He would make Ninomiya spend much of the company's money for their selfish entertainment. Ninomiya would hesitate at first but end up enjoying it a lot once the deed was on the doing. The man who doesn't feel like spending riches often sends it to calm and keep him happy.

He's a real trouble to be with, thought Ninomiya.

 But it was only Akise who could distract him from his problems.   

As they entered the class, it was empty.

They took the benches at the back, as what classic students would do.

As friends, they ended up being deskmates. The first class would begin at half-past eight. Akise had lied about it starting at 8, so they could have some free time.

"Oi, what the fuck, bro! I had my ass off, but I guess I can forgive you.", Ninomiya with a shocked tone.

"I was excited, you know. I'll see you in my school, sharing a desk with you. I'm happy you came."

Akise giggled, 

"Yes. You even agreed to repeat a year just to sit next to me.", Akise

With a faint smile,

"Heh heh. I can't let others steal my bank account now, can I?" Ninomiya

"Yes, but you didn't have to say it out loud.", Akise

 Ninomiya thought his bland honesty was eh... Awkward and uncalled for. But strangely enough, Ninomiya liked it.   

With a serious tone,

"Nino, tell me. Are you..." Akise paused to emphasize what he was about to ask next, "Happy?" 

Heh? That was sudden. Was he happy? Ninomiya could only stare at him, with his mind in the abyss of unknown memories before he came into consciousness, before giving him an answer.   

He first thought of Hiori. Then he thought of his father and his late mother. Finally, he thought about their family business. Was he happy?

He looks up, and Ninomiya begins to imagine someone..... 

"Yes."

What he meant, from the deepest corner of his heart, was no. He had lived a life that wasn't what he had asked for. He had not asked for extravagant riches. They could only comfort his body. But no amount of money could comfort his soul. 

No amount of spending could shake off his guilt. He wasn't guilty of birth that had killed his mother.

 And his sister was blind. But here he was, saying he was happy. He didn't think Akise would understand him if he had told him otherwise.     

He sometimes wondered if he could be like his dad, solving every problem with money. But his money couldn't cure his sister. When problems couldn't be solved with money, he would just avoid them. 

But somewhere, that one memory is still vaguely just there.

It eats up from the inside when he digs deeper.

The metal object, the one in his chest. The origins were unknown to him.

Ninomiya stepped out from his thoughts when the teacher announced his arrival. 

The teacher was a man in his 60's.

"I'll start the class 15 minutes before schedule since you're here pretty early." 

As the other students entered, they were shocked to see the man with the green hair Ninomiya Hotaru and the teacher announced starting the class fast.

The students all groaned in unison, except for Ninomiya. 

Since it was day 1, the teacher pointed out.

"Right. So, before we give our introductions..."  

The teacher turned his head towards the door. Everyone else followed. A new student? 

"Come in, Akame."

[SFX: Shoe Step Clatter]

Jaws dropped, pupils in their eyes expanded, and they all stopped doing what they were doing. Nobody could take their eyes off her.

They first noticed her long red hair, as red as cinnabar. Red eyes, with depth stretching beyond infinity. No, her right eye was blue. Ruby and sapphire. Skin as smooth as silk, radiating beauty out of this world. 

The way she walked gave them goosebumps. Stern and disciplined at the same time, a graceful teasing. You could tell at once that she was a beauty with brains. 

She wouldn't just be the school's top hottie. She would also top the school in sports and academics. Perfect physical score tests gave her a good base report before enrolling altogether.

Tests were given as entrance enrolling, and Akame topped in every subject and activity.

"Alright, class! Stop staring at her like she's already your girlfriend. She probably has a boyfriend who's way more good-looking than any of you.", Ninomiya said harshly.

Akame's fired a sudden look of discontent at him.

 The rest of the class knew what that meant. Their hopes shot up. She was single! 

"Eh? Should I not have said that?" Ninomiya

"Sorry!"

He apologized to her while trying to hide his nervousness. It was as if she was the teacher and he the student. 

"Okay, miss Akame. Be seated. Now, 30 students! That makes the class population a perfect multiple of 10."  

The boys made bets in their heads on where she would sit. There were only two empty seats at the back. Should they rush to get there? If they did, their current seat would be vacant. And she would sit there instead. If only they could get their deskmates to abandon leave them... 

Even Ninomiya had fallen under her spell. And act quickly, he did.

 He signaled Akise, who understood immediately. After all, Akise loved their friendship, but he also loved money. So he left Ninomiya's desk and occupied another seat. 

Akame noticed what was going on. She would have to sit with him. Ninomiya felt confident that she would.  

She steered heads as she walked towards the empty seat next to Ninomiya. Ninomiya expected her to greet him properly. After all, plenty of girls would kill to talk with him; as the saying was, money is everything.

But Akame ignored his overly friendly attitude as she sat next to him. 

"She'll talk once she's seated herself?" Ninomiya thought to himself very curiously. 

But she didn't. 

The teacher asked all the students to introduce themselves to the class. Ninomiya paid no attention to anyone. He waited for Akame to speak to him. He waited. And waited. 

The first-row students were all done with their introductions. It was now the second row's turn. 

At last, acknowledging that she wasn't one to talk, he decided to break the ice himself.

"Hi-?" he said with the most pleasant smile he could make, "Hello."

That must have worked, right? But no. Akame shot back with crossed eyes. She was irritated.

"Let them give their introduction. You wait for your turn to speak."       

Ninomiya was greatly offended at her response, but he just had to bite the bullet. 

Now came the third-row students' turn. And eventually, it was Akame's. She stood up. 

"My name is Akame, no surname. Age 16. An orphan in the town of Paragus. Was raised by the local townsfolk and schooled privately by a professor..." 

Everyone waited for her to say more about herself. Her hobbies, the type of boy she liked, her favorite music, her home address.

"That's it," she said and sat down. 

Then Ninomiya stood up. He only had one thing to say. 

With confidence,

"I am Ninomiya."

That was it, and he quickly sat down. He was a no-bullshit guy, and he wanted to make that clear to everyone. 

The teacher looked stunned. Ninomiya's introduction was disrespectful, considering how passionately others have done theirs. But he was rich. And everyone knew who he was. So the teacher didn't scold him. Money was everything!

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Soon, the introductions were complete. The actual class began right away.   

After three classes, they had their lunch break.

Akame didn't eat and soon left for the roof.

Ninomiya would constantly scan the area to spot Akame. Akise noticed this and started teasing him. 

When the bell rang, he quickly returned to the classroom. Akise knew perfectly well why. 

Another three classes and the school ended. Everyone hurriedly went home, perhaps to tell their friends about Akame and Ninomiya. Everyone, except for Ninomiya, Akame, and Akise.

Ninomiya had played his cards well. Since Akise was repeating grades despite having passed the final examination, he was made the class president because money is everything. Ninomiya had him make the classroom clean-up duty so that he and Akame would be together. Since there were 30 students, each team had to have three members. Naturally, Akise was his choice. He would act as Ninomiya's wingman if the need arose.   

"The richest man, cleaning a floor run over by peasants, huh! Interesting. Should be a headliner tomorrow," Akise remarked.

Ninomiya laughed at his joke, "It's all part of the duty."

Meanwhile, Akame avoided both of them. She wiped all the windows and the chalkboard. When she was done with them, she wiped all the desks and benches. She didn't speak with any of them. 

"So uhh-" Ninomiya with a confident tone but a little scared.

" No- leave me alone.", Akame with a harsh voice.

Ninomiya kept on searching for an opening, but she wouldn't budge. Akise could do nothing to help. So once they were done, they could only look at each other in silence.   

Just then, the school bell rang. Once. It sounded a bit off. The bell wasn't supposed to ring at this hour, and it wasn't the school bell.

"Well, that's odd," Akise said.

"What's odd?" 

"The tower bell. Why did it ring just now? Who could've..."

It wasn't the school bell; it was the tower bell.

Ninomiya said,

"Perhaps a lost cat?"

"Perhaps a bird?"

"Perhaps a- person?"

Ninomiya thought he could engage Akame in the conversation.

"What do you think, miss Akame?"

She had already packed her bags and was ready to head home. 

"Could be anything," she said. And walked out the door.  

Akise and Ninomiya looked at each other. 

"What are you waiting for? Just follow her. Quick!"

Ninomiya didn't even call his chauffeur. He followed her right away. 

He made sure he maintained a distance between them. He didn't want to make his advancement too obvious. But the gap between them began to close, however. 

Soon, they were walking next to each other.

Akame was sweating, not because he was next to her. But the person was following her when she was kind of busy and wanted to get things done.

 It wasn't long before Akame reached her home. There was a small apartment building. Before entering the apartment gate, she had to shoo off the tailing dog. 

"What do you want?" 

Ninomiya couldn't decide on what to say. He had a lot of things to say. 

"I... Uh... We..." he was confused.

"If you have nothing to say, just shoo off already."

"Care to join me fo-"

"No."

She was impatient. Just when she was about to turn away, her wristwatch sounded a loud alarm.

They both sensed something was wrong. It was a warning. Akame acted quickly. It was her alarm, and she knew the meaning of this.

Before he knew it, Akame had grabbed his hands. She began dragging him as she dashed aimlessly. She was frightened. She looked left and right to map the surrounding. 

Since the apartments were far from the gate, they ran into the open colony of houses.

Ninomiya didn't know, but Akame did. Her alarm wasn't an ordinary one. It was a radar. And right now, the radar had detected an unwanted presence—a threat. 

Loud Bang! 

The ground cracks from a single point, 

Ninomiya is utterly scared and shocked.

Akame suddenly came to a halt. She dropped onto her knees. Ninomiya finally realized what had just happened. Akame had been shot. The bullet had penetrated her left leg, just below her knees. 

The face of uneasiness shined on both Ninomiya and Akame.

 

But she didn't complain, and she didn't cry out in pain. She was calm. Ninomiya swooped her into his arms and began fleeing the spot.

She cried,

"Put me down, you idiot. You'll die if you carry me with you."

As they were running 

She took some blue liquid out of her pocket and drank it; the wound healed on the spot.

Ninomiya heaved no attention at her words. He was focused on saving both of them from the unknown assailant. They had to run out of the shooter's field of vision.  

[Assassin P.O.V]

The assassin loaded another bullet, a special one.

[SFX: Reload]

The assassin pulls the trigger while having their eyes on the scope.

While Ninomiya was running with Akame.

They both heard another loud bang. Ninomiya fell face-first to the ground. 

Akame fell a few meters away in a spot where the assassin couldn't see.

Suddenly, he could feel nothing. He could hear nothing. He saw Akame's face. Her blue and red eyes stretched in disbelief. She gasped at the unsightly horror that had just unfolded before her.   

He finally realized what had happened. He had been shot through the chest. Shards of metals were scattered all over. His school uniform was torn to shreds. The bullet had caused the metal object plastered onto his chest to break.

Without warning, the sky turned red with purple clouds. Time had stopped for a short period, but Akame could move freely but how.

Ninomiya's senses came back to him. What had just happened? Why were they being shot? He couldn't believe he got shot.  

When he got up as if nothing had happened, he was astonished again. How was this possible? He just stood there. Akame, still on the ground, was so shocked that she couldn't bring her hands to rub her deceived eyes.  

"Who are you?"

It was Akame. Ninomiya can't be a mere human, she thought to herself. No way. He could not have been. 

"What?" 

Ninomiya did not understand her question at all. 

It was then that he realized what lay before him. Akame's left leg, which the first bullet had impacted, showed no sign of bleeding. He could remember now. The sound wasn't that of bones breaking, nor was it of flesh tearing. When the first bullet hit her leg, he was sure he heard metals colliding. And sure enough, her leg was metallic.     

Akame was a cyborg. 

"No, who are you?"

It was Ninomiya this time. But then, who was he? How did he get up after getting shot straight through the chest as if nothing had happened? 

Akame, still in disbelief, had seen it all. Natural laws were just broken before her eyes; only a few existed who could. The bullet coming towards her had changed its course and went for Ninomiya. No, it was as if he had absorbed most of it.

After seeing, time freeze, the color of the sky turns purple, and the surviving Ninomiya after being shot.

It was just a minor time freeze for a short brief time, but enough to confirm it.

She knew now. It was simply unmistakable. So, she bowed down on her knees.  

"At your service, my king!"

"Huh?"

-Chapter 2 END-

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