Creative Works

[Jubbz]

 Waffles!$

Chapter 50: Coach Sanchez’ rigorous training! Tetsuo’s Slumber and reminiscence!

**Two hours after school in Meta-time**

Fuka and Alicia, before paying a visit to Tetsuo, decided to head to the hospital, hoping Zero was okay.

Upon arrival to the room Zero was in however, Alicia and Fuka found something quite shocking.

“What?” Hazuki said, looking at Fuka and Alicia, who were shocked to see Hazuki with bandages around her head.

“Hazuki, you were attacked too!?”

“Mmm... well, considering my head’s wrapped in bandages because obviously I was hit in the head with a blunt object, I’d say yes, I was attacked.”

“You didn’t have to be such a smartass about it...” Fuka said, with her eye twitching.

“I just love seeing that twitching eye.” Hazuki said.

“Do you know who attacked you?” Alicia asked.

“Dunno, really. Zero doesn’t know either. But I have a feeling that it might’ve been someone who didn’t want us turning the case around.” Hazuki answered. “Ah, by the way Alicia, I’m guessing you were acquitted since you’re here, right?”

“... yeah...” Alicia answered sadly.

“Hmm... I wonder, who was the real culprit?” Zero asked.

“I’d like to know too. Our companies lost a lot of money thanks to that guy.”

“Don’t worry about it. He’s dead now. Dead in cold blood.” Alicia said, wearing an odd smile...

“...Did... I offend?” Hazuki said, looking down a little, feeling bad about possibly making Alicia angry.

“Well... I’ll tell you what happened at the court house.” Fuka said.

At that moment, Fuka, Zero, and Hazuki spent the rest of the time discussing the courthouse incident, involving Gale Closer and the gruesome death of Alicia’s father, as well as the brutal injuries of most of the students and staff.

“So... her father... was the culprit, and he’s dead due to... Clarissa...? For once, I’m puzzled. Clarissa’s never been the type to even kill someone. I just can’t bring myself to believe she’s that kind of person.” Hazuki said.

“I don’t think she is that kind of person. Gale had to be mind-controlling her somehow.” Fuka said.

“Good thing my cousin knocked her out. It would’ve gotten worse if he hadn’t.” Hazuki said.

“Hey, Hazuki, answer me. Do you honestly believe in Yuno’s story about this city?” Fuka asked.

“...I do. Always have. In fact, it’s just Brittanican instinct, but we witches can tell when something’s not right in a foreign land. This city... something’s way off about it. The events at the courthouse confirmed some things for me. That being said... we’re gonna have to figure out our next move.” Hazuki said.

“I think we should start by watching our backs, you know... whoever attacked us was just playing dirty.” Zero said.

“Well... we are holding a training camp tomorrow...” Fuka said.

“Ah, I see... The clocks work in real time, but Chie slowed time down just now.” Fuka said.

“I see... In that case, Zero and I will go home for now and speak with our parents. We can’t just not let them know. You tell your parents too.” Hazuki said.

“Yeah. Besides, the doc said we can go home today.” Zero said. “Whelp...” He got up and out of his bed.

“By the way, Where’s the training camp?” Hazuki asked Fuka.

“We’re meeting at the park outside of the school. You know the one, right?” Fuka said.

“Yeah, I remember.” Hazuki said. “I look forward to the training camp. I hope it’ll allow me to sharpen my magic.”

**The second day**

Twenty-four hours have passed. Or so it seems... Chie did slow down time after all. So in reality, perhaps it’s really only been less than thirty minutes. Only Chie herself knows the answer to that. However, this state of time could be referred to as a closed-space kind of Meta-world.

For everyone, this is their opportunity to train and become stronger for the fight against the contractors. Shade of course, has declared that he only seeks to fight Tetsuo.

As for the others... they meet up at a park close to the academy, per Sanchez’s instructions.

“Is everyone present and accounted for!?” Sanchez asked.

“Yeah.”  Half of the people gave a solemn reply, while the rest kept quiet, unsure of things.

“SAY IT WITH MORE SPIRIT, GODDAMN IT! Now is EVERYONE PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR!?” Sanchez asked, full of energy.

“SIR YES SIR!!!” Everyone shouted.

“That’s more LIKE IT!”

Hazuki and Zero are also present as well, since they were both discharged from the hospital.

“... Fuka, you didn’t tell me any of the details for today’s training... that it’ll be like a boot-camp.” Hazuki said, twitching as if she were annoyed.

“Why should I? It’s only natural that I’d wanna see your reaction at having to do hard work like a commoner.” Fuka said.

“...**QWOP** you.” Hazuki said, with a sarcastic smile, giving off an annoyed vibe.

“Okay guys, Listen up!!! I own an all-rounded gym three miles from here! We’re all gonna RUN there!” Coach Sanchez.

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?” Everyone screamed.

“You heard me, people! WE WILL RUN! No magic, no PSI, no Teleporting, nothing! You all will work on your cardio and RUN!”  Sanchez ordered.

“And what if we get tired??” Tagami asked.

“**QWOP** FOR YOU THEN!!” Sanchez said.

“Hah! Run three miles? No sweat!”Shuya said. “Follow me everyone! Shuya will teach you all the art of being better than this has-been coach!”

“No, follow ME! Shuya will only lead you people to ruin and turn you into sex addicts!” Sanchez said, then turned to Shuya. “I should make you run around the entire world. ON WATER no less.”

“Don’t be a douche, coach!” Shuya said.

“I’d rather follow neither.” Yomi said.

“Same.” Julius said.

“Me too.” Nami said.

“Hmph! I guess you guys just don’t get the meaning of this. You’ll learn when you do it, so MARCH! RAWR!” Sanchez ordered everyone, letting out a fierce roar as if he were a ferocious lion.

With that, everyone began to run at top speed.

“Ha, this is gonna be fun!” Tyson said smiling.

Ambrose was running next to Tyson and said, “I think I might know why!”

“You two are smart! As my servants, we shall indulge our eyes in the jigging of the boobs around us!” Aoki said.

“ YEAH!!!” They all agreed, running.

“Wait, Ambrose, WHERE WERE YOU?” Tyson asked. “Now that I think about it... do you even know WHY we’re here?”

“Huh? Not really! I just talked to Clarissa and she told me we were having a training camp, so I tagged along! Besides, I had a convention to go to the other day. Why do you ask?”

“Ah... err... Just asking.” Tyson said, and then thought, “Though that’s kinda weird... Well, I don’t go to cons anyway... guess hardcore otaku like him really have it easy.”

Everyone, including the girls, were all wearing track suits. Who wears bloomers anymore in this time and age?

“Ha... ha... ha... ha...” some people began to run out of breath already before even making a mile... like Ribbons.

“Ribbons, my hon! Are you alright!?” Linens said.

“LEAVE HIM AND RUN! Act as if this was Indiana Jones and you just found the treasure and you gotta run from the bolder!!” Sanchez said, running.

“Huh...?” Ribbons closed his eyes for a moment and began to imagine it. And then... “AAAAAAAAAH!!!! I DON’T WANNA BE STEAMROLLED!!!” Ribbons sped up.

As for Julius...

“Haaaa...”

“Ha! Look at that! You’re tired, huh? Looks like I should declare my victory on my bet already! Ready to acknowledge me as the bro who’s gonna marry your sister, have her babies and make her family the best in the world? Ah, I know you wanna.”

“And using me as a... *huff* a footstool...? *huff* Huff* fuuuuuudge off!” Julius said. Suddenly, Julius felt a sharp pain on his back at the crack of a whip. He turned around... to see Yomi holding her whip.

“If you let that idiot beat you, you won’t be seeing me anymore!” Yomi said.

“Oh, come on!” Julius complained. *WHIPPED* “Mmph!!!” Julius grunted in pain.

Yomi cracks her whip and gives Julius a glare saying, “BEAT SHUYA OR ELSE!!”

“*sigh*... Just my luck!” Julius complained, but at the same time, he gained a second wind and began to dash past Shuya. He was careful to look forward and not let her see him smile. He was mentally thanking Yomi in a way for motivating him despite it being in such a roundabout way.

“You **QWOP**, that’s not fair!” Shuya said before running after Julius.

“Last I checked, this isn’t a race!” Yomi said, just after attempting to whip Shuya too, but he narrowly dodged it.

“Wasn’t it you who demanded Julius to BEAT HIM, Yomi-nee?” Nami thought to herself. *insert sweatdrop here*

“And you get back here, you **QWOP**!” Shuya shouted.

“Oh shut up! No way in hell I’m letting you marry my sister!” Julius said.

“GRRR!” Shuya and Julius could only get even more competitive.

“It’s good seeing the youth in high spirits today.” Tagami said to Rosaline.

“Of course. I didn’t know Sanchez could make everyone become so motivated.” Rosaline said.

“I think this is what we all needed, really.” Tagami said.

Everyone continued to run, following Sanchez, running alongside the river bank.

“I wonder why I have to do this! I’m supposed to be at the school finishing that paperwork! *sigh*” Kaori said.

“you just wanna spend quality time with Jin. Hehehehe.” Ribbons said.

“You’re an idiot if you think I’d want to date THAT DRUNK!” Kaori shouted.

“Hahaha, it was a joke, Kaori! Now run like the wind!”  Linens said.

“You forgot to add ‘bullseye’ to the end of that quote! It’s RUN LIKE THE WIND, BULLSEYE!” Ribbons said.

“Oh come on, honey! It was a minor miss!” Linens said.

“It’s okay, I’ll forgive, only if you watch the Toy Story trilogy with me tonight!” Ribbons said, winking.

“Gladly!” Linens said.

“Geez. Couple of love birds.” Kaori said, referring to the gay couple playfully talking about movies.

“They are, aren’t they...” Kevin said with his usual deadpan expression. “But... they have nothing on me and Orihime here.”

“Oh my god. You and that... THAT THING.” Kaori said, clearly cleared out, showing an expression of disgust.

“She’s my girlfriend, not a THING as you call her. She’s quite precious.” Kevin said, referring to his body pillow.  “How come it concerns you?”

“IT BOTHERS ME.” Kaori said.

Unseeable and Rihoko are running side by side, Hakujou is also participating in this, hoping somebody trips and falls, Keito and Kashima are holding hands, and of course, Sanchez, ahead of everyone else, is actually smiling.

Fuka of course, as she watched everyone else... “I wonder... since Tetsu-kun’s power revolves around speed, I wonder what his normal speed is? I... always wanted to ask him that.”

Eventually, after a long run, everyone reached the Gym, known as the Jungle Gym.

“Here it is, people! My personal gym that I myself founded!”

“The Jungle Gym? Who... What kind of pun is that?? HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Shuya burst out into laughing.

“Oh shut up!!” Sanchez snapped.

“I actually think the name’s kinda cute. >_>” Ribbons said, looking away.

“Me too, actually. <_<” Clarissa said.

“HEY!! THAT NAME IS A GOOD NAME!!” Sanchez said. “Let’s just go in already!!”

“Yeah yeah... Hahahaha...!” Shuya said, still rolling on the floor, laughing. Sanchez kicks him in the back while he walked past him.

“Ack! That wasn’t funny, coach!” Shuya said, running after him.

Once everyone entered the gym... everyone was surprised to see many other people there, training. There was jumproping, situps, pull-ups, boxing sparring, punching the punching bag... various forms of training was going on in the gym. It was surprising for a gym with such a punny name.

“Well... uhh... at least hot guys come here.” Ribbons said, sweating because he felt he’d be in trouble for his remark about the gym’s name.

“And ladies too!” Aoki said.

“Since you’re all here now, we’re going to go to the other half of the gym. These guys are probably training for their own reasons and we don’t wanna get in the way.” Sanchez said, leading the group to the door ahead, walking past the other people. Upon reaching the door, Sanchez opens it, revealing an empty area of the gym, complete with a boxing ring, punching bags, exercise equipment, and the walls and ceiling being made of glass, as if the gym was a greenhouse. There was an even bigger yard outside of that area.

This here, is the power section of the training gym! All of the equipment you see here, is designed to withstand your PSI, magic, ghost powers, and Sen-con abilities! Inside, we’ll use these to strengthen ourselves! We’ll keep doing this throughout the entire training session! With time slowed down, we’ll have ample time to complete the training! Every other day, we’ll alternate between two things: Training, and sparring!” Sanchez explained.

“Sparring... against each other?” Zero asked.

“Nope. This is why I brought the teachers here. The teachers and myself are all stronger than you chumps! So we’ll be your sparring partners! Power wise, and physical wise! We’ll also get to pick which of you little rascals we’ll get to whip into shape. The sparring will benefit both parties, because of the drive to be stronger than the other!” Sanchez answered. “Do you understand??”

“SIR YES SIR!” Everyone agreed.

“Ah, I need the teachers and staff to come here for a moment! All the kids will begin their strength training right here and now!”

The adults all gathered together in a circle and began to whisper.

“Okay guys, here’s the plan. When tomorrow comes and it’s time to spar with these kids, don’t go easy on’em.”

“Why not? I’m all for helping’em get stronger, but I don’t wanna beat’em to a pulp...” Tagami said.

“It’s BECAUSE of that that we can’t go easy! Listen. Those people won’t be going easy on them, and these kids... we have to make them stronger! We have to get them ready for future battles!” Sanchez said.

“Sanchez has a point.” Kaori said.

“I believe the saying for this is called Tough Love.” Rosaline said.

“Well, Linens and I don’t use our magic that often, so we might be a little rusty.” Ribbons said.

“I never really used my ghost powers for attack purposes before actually.” Rihoko said.

“Neither have I.” Unseeable said.

“I have.” Hakujou said.

“I don’t really use’em. I have enough weapons on my body as it is.” Archie said.

“I’m not a fan of my losing streak.” Become Death said.

“Me neither.” Rio said.

“All the more reason to NOT go easy on these kids! We’re still stronger, but with us being a little rusty in actual combat, the kids will have at least a small chance! But at the same time, we should be striving to get stronger ourselves!” Sanchez whispered. “That’s what they call synergy, ya?”

“You got a good point. >_>” Linens said.

“That being said, I think it’ll be kinda fun. Those little rascals kinda annoy me every now and again anyway.” Kaori said.

“Heh. Good. With that said, we’ll train ourselves too.” Sanchez said. “Agreed?”

“Yeah!” The teachers all said at once.

“Hey wait... What about the Dulexes? Aren’t they stronger than us?” Tagami asked.

“Way to be a buzzkill.” Sanchez said under his breath, as he knew Tagami was telling the truth. “But to be frank... they too need to get stronger as well. We were all defeated by Gale.” Linens said.

“Except Fuka...” Rosaline said.

“Eh? I thought...” Sanchez stopped mid sentence.

“Don’t you remember? Fuka never got a chance to fight.” Rosaline said.

“Are you saying SHE might stand a chance...?” Kaori asked.

“Well... maybe not alone... remember the Heart Resonance we told the kids? Those two are practically meant for each other.” Rosaline said.  “If only he’d wake up already...” Rosaline said.

“Ain’t that the truth. The way those two look at each other... it’s written all over their faces!” Ribbons said.

“Can’t say this won’t be the same for the other Dulexes though...” Rosaline said.

“What about Chie? Ain’t she obsessed with that idiot?” Sanchez asked, referring to Shuya.

“She is... but whether or not she’s able to steal him away is up for debate. Nami and Yuno of course... they’re still mysteries.” Rosaline said.

“Let’s not wreck on brains on pointless matters and get back to training, okay?” Sanchez said.

********

Meanwhile... at the school, particularly inside of the student council’s meeting room... A total of nine people were sitting at a table. The contractors...the four of them sat on the left end of the table. As for those on the right end... were five people, three males and two females, all wearing suits as if they were agents of some sort. Of course,  the suits are all fitted with a golden smiley face on the left edge of the collar. The eyes and mouth of the smiley faces were made from beautiful onyx jewelry.

“I’m guessing you told them about the tournament and who we’ll be fighting?” A boy with a bright red and yellow bowl cut hairstyle said.

“I only informed them of the tourney and who WE’LL be facing actually.” Norio said, scratching his hair.

“We wanted them to know just who we are!” A girl with short dark gray hair said.

“Eh, Last I checked, the MBI didn’t operate like that.” Weslie said, picking her ear.

“Well, thing is, Gale ordered us to make sure to kill them while having fun.” The boy with the red hair said.

“Hehe, well you see...”

“’SEE’ NOTHING! I didn’t pay you people to fool around! I paid you people to assist the MBI in their deaths!” The red-haired boy said.

“... We don’t care about your orders or what you want. We only care about what we were contracted to do. How we do it is our own decision.” Shade chimed in.

“And who are you? You didn’t even want to be contracted!” The dark-gray haired girl said.

“...someone who despises little **QWOP**s like you.” Shade said, not changing his expression at all.

“WHY YOU!! MMPH!” The boy with the slightly spikey blue hair charged at Shade, who silenced him instantly the moment Shade placed his palm on the boy’s face.

“I will make your brain explode from the inside out if you dare speak again. You’re lucky Norio, Weslie, and Eden even took your offers.” Shade said, releasing his hand from the boy’s face and walking off. The MBI member that Shade just threatened... used every fiber of his being to show he wasn’t afraid of him.

“Ahhhh... well, there you have it. See, it’s not really good to anger Shade-kun, so try not to do so, okay?”

“Oh, he was angry?” Weslie asked.

“Oh obviously! He may never show any expressions but it’s easy to feel a bit of anger after that.” Norio said.

***

As for Shade, he walks outside of the school, with the same expression he always has. It’s hard to tell what this boy is thinking. Not even looking into his red and gray eyes would tell you anything. Of course, Shade had his reasons for not making a contract... He closed his eyes, and remembered that day on Tool Island, where he and Tetsuo fought. With that thought in mind, he jumps high into the air to land on the roof of a nearby building... and begins to skip. Roof after roof, he skipped, heading in a north eastern direction as if he were headed somewhere.

After fifteen minutes of roof hopping, he jumps onto the ground, now in the neighborhood that Tetsuo’s house resides in. After walking forward, ignoring anyone who walked past him, he reached Tetsuo’s house. Why was he here? What made him take this trip to Tetsuo’s house? Before he could even place his foot on the property, he’s called out by someone...

“Oh, Shade! It’s been a while!”

“...” Shade remained silent, and instead, looked at Justin as if he were glaring.

“So what brings you here anyway?”

“Where is he?”

“Huh?”

“Where is he?”

“...Are you... looking for my bro?” Justin asked.

“You haven’t answered my question.” Shade said.

“Ha... geez, he’s making me nervous...” Justin thought, and then answered “He’s asleep right now...”

“...Asleep... How long?” Shade asked.

“Since yesterday.”

“Why?”

“Huh... I thought for sure Shade was on Gale’s side... In a way, that’s a relief.” Justin thought, then answered, “Well... Gale put him in a deep sleep somehow.”

“Will he be able to fight?”

“What do you mean?”

“I wish to challenge him to a proper DUEL.”

“It depends... Dunno if he’ll be awake or not.”

“........................ If he’s not awake in time for our match in the tournament... I wake him up myself.” Shade said walking off. 

“Geez... I hope my bro wakes up quick... he’s been sleep for far too long already. He’s never slept this long!” Justin thought to himself. 

[Jubbz]

*****************************

As for Tetsuo...

He opened his eyes once more, looking at a ceiling above. He remembered the world suddenly shifting it’s gravity, making him fall into the sky above. He thought he’d never impact anything since it’s the sky. He opened his eyes, because he did impact the ground, unharmed at that. Even though he opened his eyes, he lied flat on the floor, on his back. He felt the floor, and it felt very familiar to him...

“This floor... this ceiling... is this place... my old school?” Tetsuo thought to himself.

He finally stood on his feet, which took a small effort because of his fear from falling from such a height. Afterall, he wasn’t even expecting to hit the ground so soon. His legs were still shaking very subtly, but he could feel the effect of that chilling fall.

He looked at his surroundings once more, just to be sure of his suspicion. He saw windows to his left, and numbered doors to his right. It doesn’t take much to realize he’s standing in the hallway of a school of some sort. He eventually saw an image of... a little girl. He couldn’t figure out the true color of her hair due to everything being black and white. However, her hair even covered one of her eyes and looked a bit roughed up as if she had just got out of her bed. This little girl, much smaller than he is, and appearing to be at least thirteen years old, dashed down the hall as if she were late to school. Tetsuo decided to chase the girl for some reason. He didn’t know why he took off after her... he just felt like he had to.

He ran as fast as he could to catch up to her.  She stops at one of the doors, assumed to be a classroom, and opens it quickly. Tetsuo looked at her mouth, and he knew she was speaking, yet he heard no voice.

“She must be apologizing for being late...” Tetsuo thought. He found it strange that he didn’t hear any voices. He assumed the teacher was reprimanding her, which is why she stood outside the classroom. Tetsuo looked inside the classroom, and noticed a few people cracking up while others continued to keep their noses in their books. He knew that some of the other girls were laughing at the poor girl that was late. Tetsuo tried to open the door to the classroom, but...

“Huh...? I can’t... even touch the door!” Tetsuo said, trying to grab the door. He couldn’t just step through it either for some reason. He looked through the glass once more to see what was happening, and then... he saw... himself. A little boy standing up and making the girls stop laughing. It was as if he had stood up for the poor girl outside. Tetsuo remembered. He remembered defending a girl like this.

“So... You remember this much, mm?” A voice rang out to Tetsuo. He bolted away from the door and fell to the floor, landing on his butt. He then began looking around frantically, left and right, quickly getting up from the floor.

“Who... who was that?!” Tetsuo asked, still looking around a bit frantically.

“Don’t be afraid, child of man.”

“W-where are you?!” Tetsuo asked loudly.

“You need not worry about something so trivial. You are having this dream for a reason. I’m sure the chessboard in the log house clued you in on that, yes?”

“...Do you mean... the one with my friends placed as the pieces?”

“I see you understand that much. But please, don’t take too long to find your resolve to stand on your own.”

“Resolve? Wha...” Tetsuo was more confused than ever. This voice... this female voice... It’s not familiar at all.

“You know what happened. In the court house.” The voice spoke once more, in a more ominous tone this time.

Tetsuo stood there, and widened his eyes, remembering... the man he called his father. Gale Closer.

“Your performance was really poor. You looked like a child longing for his father’s acknowledgement.”

“...........” Tetsuo couldn’t speak back. He knew... that whoever this woman was... was speaking the truth.

“So. How do you feel about having to kill the man you call ‘Dad’?” the voice asked once more.

“...!” Tetsuo gasped, knowing that he just can’t argue back.

Whoever this woman was, she continued to be blunt to Tetsuo. Tetsuo knew her words rang truth in more ways than one. He witnessed various reasons why Gale must die. But...

“I suppose it’s hard for you to swallow... so maybe this dream will help you decide who to choose from: Your dad, whom you consider family... or your friends.”

“I don’t know!!! I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!” Tetsuo finally snapped.

“Kindness will only get you so far...  You just have to know where to apply your kindness.” The voice rang out.

“Who are you!? What’s your name?!” Tetsuo shouted.

But there was no response. His voice echoed to no avail. It felt as if he were talking to himself the entire time.

However, the color began to come back on everything... the kids, the walls, the floor... everything. It was as if a movie editor had just remembered to remove the black and white setting from a video being edited. At that moment, several kids began leaving their classrooms. Classes must have ended.

Tetsuo, now able to hear the kids, tried to speak to his younger self, only for him to pass right through his body. He still couldn’t be seen.

“How... am I supposed to find my reason to fight in my past?”

“All clues are definitely presented in this sequence. No exceptions.” The same scrambled female voice was heard, this time accompanied by purple text reading what was said. The text went across the hallway, and went past Tetsuo’s view. It was the Purple truth... something he hadn’t seen in a while. Tetsuo instantly thought...

“Yuno...?”

“Ha... that child couldn’t begin to comprehend the truth of everything herself.” The voice said.

“...Then who are you?”

“It doesn’t matter who I am. What matters is who YOU are.” The voice said, applying purple text to it.

“......” Tetsuo had nothing to say. He instead, sighed, and thought, “I’m really confused...”

Tetsuo began to make his way out of the school. He traversed the halls, making his way to the exit as if he remembered the school and everything about it. It was all coming back.

Once he made it outside, he saw the little girl again. It turns out... her hair is a maroon color. He saw his younger self talking to this girl.

“I remember that girl. What was her name again? Ah... that’s right... it was...” Tetsuo thought, stopping in his thoughts when he heard the girl say...

“I... I...” The girl hesitated. His younger self... had confessed to her. The girl was looking around. She was frantically looking around. If one were to look into her eyes, which could barely be seen due to her hair, one would quickly understand that she was terrified instead of nervous.

“I... like... HATE YOU!!! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!!! I JUST TOYED WITH YOUR EMOTIONS BECAUSE I WAS BORED!!!” The girl screamed. She screamed so loud, everyone on the school grounds could hear her.

As for Tetsuo himself? He saw his younger self thank the girl, put on a smile, and walked off as everyone laughed.

“To this day... I wonder why you did that, Fuka. I knew you were being bulled but... I guess I still couldn’t stop loving you because I thought there might have been more to why you did that. Even so... that still kinda hurt...” Tetsuo looked saddened, wearing a wry smile. He saw his younger self walk away, getting on the bus to go home. Tetsuo himself tried to leave through the gate but... *Wham* “Ow!” He ran into an invisible wall, landing on his butt. Many kids went through the wall, but he himself couldn’t pass through it.

“Great... I can’t even get out of here? Wait...” Tetsuo stopped mid thought and then muttered... “I’m about to run away again, aren’t I...” He wore a saddened smile on his face.

Tetsuo stood still for a second, and then turned around. He noticed that Fuka was gone, along with everyone else. It was as if time has passed by fairly quickly without much warning. He sighed and went left, going behind the school. He remembered that path would lead to the track where all the sports students would be after school. Upon turning the corner... he saw... Fuka and four other girls cornering her. The girls seemed to be snickering and saying something, but their voices were muted.

A minute later though, the young Fuka ran away in tears. “Were they... congratulating her?” Tetsuo thought.

The group of girls that apparently mocked Fuka turned around and looked behind them... to see a man in a simple suit... wearing a yellow smiley-face mask.

“....!!!!!” Tetsuo’s eyes widened in shock. “D-d-d-d...dad...? That’s... dad, right...?” Tetsuo muttered to himself as his voice trembled the same as his hands and feet.

Gale petted the girls on the head... as if they did a good job. The girls all wore smiles on their faces. Gale Closer, a man with only happiness on the mind, was capable of making these girls happy through a simple act of manipulation. It was obvious at that point, but Tetsuo... who believed... no... who still believes in his father... was in total denial.

Eventually... Gale walked past the girls, who in turn, followed him. He approached Tetsuo... closer... and closer... walking in a seemingly slow motion. This made Tetsuo begin breathing deeply as if he was in total fear. It was as if... Gale could SEE the present-day Tetsuo.

“Ah... Dad’s here... he’s really here isn’t he... I... He’s my dad, so yeah... I’m shaking...  I’m shaking out of sheer excitement that he’s finally here to see me! That has to be it... IT HAS TO BE! Yeah...! I’m... I’m not scared of him or anything... I’m just nervous that I want to make a good impression! To be told ‘Good Job, son!’ That has to be right...” Tetsuo desperately thought to himself. However... he also began to remember the day at the court, after Alicia’s trial...

“...despite the fact... that he hurt my friends in various and gruesome ways... Maybe... maybe my eyes were lying that time... yeah... this is supposed to be a dream! And I’m excited to see him!!” But Tetsuo, as he rapidly tried to convince himself that his father is coming to see him... He unconsciously put up a fighting stance. “If so... I’m excited, why am I putting up a fighting stance?! No... I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT MY FATHER!! I CAN’T... But... he almost killed my friends and teachers... I...”

At that moment, Gale was so close that he could touch Tetsuo any moment. But instead, he kept walking... and then passed right through him along with the other girls. After they walked past Tetsuo... he didn’t bother to turn around. Instead, he fell to his hands and knees, and looked down, noticing nothing but drops of water covering the ground.

Tetsuo... was sweating profusely.

“It was fear you felt, you know.” The voice could be heard once again, but it’s unknown to Tetsuo.

“IT WASN’T FEAR! I WASN’T SCARED!”

“You were. It’s useless to deny. Just accept that you were afraid of Gale Closer. Just accept it.”

“WHY!?”

“It’s natural to be afraid of someone capable of killing everyone you care about just so you can overcome it and find true happiness.”

“......I... I... I don’t want to fight my father!!!”

“You have to do it. At this point, you have to choose. Family... or Friends? The Bonds of family are strong. But the bonds of friendship...”

“SHUT UP!!!”

“Friendship... is a varied degree. People do whatever makes them happy. Whether it’s doing something FOR somebody, or doing something that’ll hurt another. Is happiness TRULY worth everything?”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“At the same time... is Despair the answer? This is your trial. You must discover the meaning... if Happiness is really worth it.” The voice said.

“..........” Tetsuo remained silent. “A trial huh... is that why I’m here in the first place...?”

Tetsuo got up off the ground and walked back into the school. He headed for his former classroom and took a seat in the first seat of the second row. The one closest to the window. He propped his legs on the desk, crossed them, and leaned back, staring at the ceiling.

“Happiness huh... hmm... Of course it’s worth fighting for. I think... but... I’m making others unhappy depending on my actions. It’s not like I can read people’s minds or anything. *sigh* I have way too many questions... and I doubt I’ll get even half of them answered here. I really should focus on trying to get out of this world and back to the real world... with Fuka and the others...” Tetsuo thought to himself.

He continued to look at the ceiling, enduring the long and seemingly endless quietness around him.

“Dad... he wears that mask. It covers his entire head. There’s a lot of miserable people in the world now that I think about it... there are people who’ve lost everything and those who had nothing to begin with. And dad wants to make a happy world, but... I think he’s wrong to want to kill those people who are miserable. Happiness... is it subjective? If that’s so, then I’m happy, right? I have plenty of friends, a loving family, and... Fuka... yeah... I can’t stop loving her. Heh. It’s funny. I love Fuka a lot despite all that’s happened. Considering I was right that she didn’t mean it, but how does she feel? Does she behave the way she does to push me away somehow? She acts kind sometimes, but at other times she can be really mean and can snap at the slightest misunderstanding. It can’t be because she’s tsundere or whatever. Tsunderes don’t exist in real life. I think. Wait, if she is Tsundere, that means she likes me!” Tetsuo said, then shook his head quickly to get rid of that thought. “Argh... I can’t think about that right now! I have to figure this puzzle out!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~RECAP~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~

“Hmm... Maybe I should talk about all that’s happened so far... At least everything I know of. I might have an answer then.”

I feel like everything in my life began to change when I had that silly dream of when my brother Justin went off to space. Before he had left, he claims that mom and dad wanted to name me... Trans-Am I think. To be honest, it made me laugh a little because it just seemed so improbable. Even then, I was able to wake up for school with a bit of confidence that things would go well this time. Of course, it was 5 AM and I decided to play some Final Fantasy 228 with an online friend of mine, Shinigami-mon... or at least that’s his handle anyway. I don’t tell anybody, but I also play quite a bit of Eroge and Visual novels in my spare time, and C.C. from Code Geass is my favorite anime girl of all time. Anyway, I got my breakfast from my mom, grabbed my hoverboard, and flew off to school. I could have ran to school with my powers to get there faster, but I’m not the kind of guy to turn people into bowling pins if you know what I mean. >_<

I remember my first day at Decade Academy... I, Tetsuo Kaien, Level 1 psychic, 16 years old, arrive at my new school. It was a special school founded by Principal Jin Soleano Moriya. When I first arrived... I saw that beautiful girl I almost walked into. To everyone else, it looked like I was stunned by her beauty, but to be honest... I knew it was Fuka Majo after a good look at her eyes. Of course, Julius-sempai tapped me on my shoulder and told me to introduce myself, which made me do just that at the spur of the moment. I was startled, but I also played the fool and just acted naturally. I think. I had to thank Julius-sempai for that little push. From there, I met many interesting people.

Clarissa (She has a REALLY LONG last name, so I won’t bother trying to remember)... She’s a strange one, but she comes off as really cute sometimes. Like, the airhead-type that’s not really an airhead. I see the airhead type a lot in my H-games, so I’m glad she’s not just another average airhead. She causes quite a bit of trouble at school from what I heard. She’s also a Class D magician if I recall correctly. She and Julius Maeno are best friends and they’re really close... but a lot of people tend to think they’re a couple, but they always clear it up and clarify that they’re more like siblings. Then there’s Shuya-sempai... he’s really full of himself but he’s also taught me a lot. He’s pretty much the most popular guy in school because of his good looks, grades, and he’s a star soccer player at school too. He’s the perfect guy any girl would want. I thought I’d dislike Shuya at first due to his narcissm... Fuka quickly told me he’s not that bad.  After that, I think I met Zero and Alicia...

Zero (purple hair parted sideways down the middle) is a cool guy who had this calm air around him all the time. He’s always great to chat with, and he’ s not like the typical idiot friend the protagonist an H-game would have. Ah, I’m not saying he’s an idiot! He’s really smart! I’m just going on, comparing real life to an H-game again... haha. He’s a ghost... you can tell by his gray eyes. And there’s Alicia Kozuki (really long, flowing, orange hair, perfect to be a celebrity) Fuka’s best friend. Alicia’s usually full of energy, and she was a Class C (now class B) magician with her specialty in fire spells. Alicia usually reprimands Fuka sometimes whenever she would try to punch me, but not all the time. If she weren’t around, my life would be more like a typical harem show where the protagonist gets beaten to a bloody pulp by the typical tsundere! Ah, of course, it didn’t take Alicia and Zero long to figure out that I had a crush on Fuka. I’m just glad that they didn’t know I knew it was Fuka all along and I’ve been in love with her for a long time now.

I also met Rin Akazukin, one of the most popular girls at school due to her good looks and her... skimpy style of dress. She’s also openly bisexual, so she likes guys and girls equally. She would always be around A Pimp Called Bloo and Heisei Ichimaru. I didn’t know who those two were at the time, but they seemed interested in me for some reason. I hear that Bloo is literally her pimp, and she whores around to get money. Fuka of course, hated that I was getting Rin’s attention, and the two had a fight. I remember thinking of it as a pokemon battle, seeing Fuka’s psychic powers revolve around floral based stuff... making lethal cherry blossoms (razor leaf!), and Rin’s lightning attacks (thunderbolt!). Fuka was actually a level 2 Psychic, and Rin was a level 3. Fuka probably would’ve lost that fight if Alicia hadn’t stepped in to help Fuka and I out, although I got a bit toasted thanks to Alicia’s fire barrier. It wasn’t perfected, so I was burnt a bit. Alicia apologized as a result though, so it’s okay.

However, the fight was stopped by the school security guard, Archie. He was a tall man with a mechanical eye and cybernetic arms too... it was like he was a bionic man. He was a ghost, but that was the kind of body he wanted I guess. Archie took me to the principal’s office, where I met the principal named Jin Soleano Moriya. For a 40 year old man, he sure aged well.  And then there’s his secretary, Kaori Soraguchi. She’s a level 5 psychic who specializes in wind-based stuff. The principal... I expected him to be really stern and mean, but I was shocked a bit to notice that he was drunk. And according to Ms. Soraguchi... he’s always drunk... just for the hell of it... How did he not get liver failure? Anyway, he sent me on a mission to make up for not accepting a challenge. Or more like... having a girl fight for me...

The mission I was sent on involved me going to... Southern India. I took my hoverboard with me and used my power a little to speed up and get there faster than one would think. I love my power sometimes. When I arrived, it was a dust storm caused by the level 5 Psychic, Become Death. When I learned his name, I thought it was a nickname until he made me realize it was his real name. He was a LEVEL 5. I HAD NO CHANCE AGAINST HIM. And the Principal... he wanted me to simply deliver a message to a bald guy in shades guy trying to kill me. Not to mention he had a 20 year old girlfriend named Rio Morika that looked like a twelve year old, trying to squash me like a bug with her hammer! It wasn’t very nice... Of course, I managed to use another part of my power to deflect her attack just when she had me cornered. At that moment I delivered my message, and the next day, they’re security guards at the school too! And to top it all off, it turns out that the principal and all the faculty staff all got footage of the encounter and got a good laugh out of it. I felt like fate conspired against me for a bit.

But that’s what usually happens to Julius-sempai... he and Clarissa may have been mistaken to be a couple a lot, but they both had someone they like. Clarissa liked Kefka Palazzo, a member of the Auto club, ran by his uncle Unseeable Favor (Who doesn’t show up until later on). Kefka’s an Ordinary with a 3000 power level... And not to mention, he’s really mean to Clarissa most of the time, but... with the way she stalks him, I can kinda see why... But it’s okay. They were made for each other. As for Julius-sempai... He liked a senior in one of the classes named Yuna Hakusho. She was a year older than him and he, like many other guys, admired her beauty. Her long, flowing silver hair, and her style of dress just showed that she had a lot of class. In a way, she gave off that ‘perfect wife’ vibe. However, she was the only girl who didn’t like Shuya... which surprises even him to this day. Julius of course, had a lot of bad luck for some reason, as he’d normally think of it as misfortune or fate conspiring against him. Nontheless, his friends tried many attempts to get him to talk to Yuna-sempai, even though he’d clam up the moment he’d get a chance.

The next week, Fuka made me realize I had to join a club of some sort... It was then I met even more people. Fuka dragged me around to various clubs at that time. I remember seeing one of my teachers, Mr. Ribbons being the advisor of some detective club. I saw the Auto club too, which Kefka was a part of, the Bakery club , which Mr. Ribbons’s lover, Mr. Linens was the advisor of. I then saw the archery club, which a girl named Kashima Mashi showed me around. I really thought she was a guy at first, but the tone of her voice made me know she’s a girl right away. Not to mention her hair was green so I was quickly intrigued. Green hair... just like my favorite anime girl... ah, there I go displaying otaku tendencies again. Hehe. At that time, I learned that Julius-sempai is also part of the club, but he rarely shows up. Yet he’s really good. I also met a seemingly shy girl with a twintail hairstyle named Nevada Takada. She’s not as good at archery as the others, but she really tries her best to impress the club president, whom she had a crush on. I then met the club president himself, Marcus Raizer. He wore glasses and 2 years older than me, but he was also a fairly popular guy at school due to his calmness and ambition and good looks.

He and Kashima are childhood friends. In fact, Kashima is actually a boy in the body of a female. Well... you know the whole ghost process, right? The HEART system takes the wandering soul of a dead person who didn’t ascend to heaven and places the soul in a man-made body, thus giving that person a second chance at life. Ghosts usually occur whenever a person who’s died has some deep regret. This is called the “Second Chances” movement!

I was also dragged to the drama club, where I met Andre, a man who sees his life as an everchanging movie. He behaves like he’s always on the stage and the cameras are rolling. Also, he LOVES drama. He jumps at the chance to hear about any drama anyone would be having or any drama that would be occurring. He’s crazy like that. I also met Yomi Kawashima, a beautiful, yet somewhat scary girl. I had heard she hates men, with Shuya-sempai being at the bottom of the totem pole. To her, he’s nothing more than a worm of some sort. Yet, they had a somewhat vitriolic friendship. The only guy she ever really seemed to like at all was Julius-sempai. Speaking of him, he has a little sister named Dora Maeno. Her short stature and her flat chest would definitely appeal to the lolicon out there, which is why Julius-sempai is so overprotective of her to the point where he’d be mistaken to be a siscon. Even I’d thought so! Shuya himself is accused of being a lolicon since Dora’s the only girl he’s seriously fallen for. Julius has a lot of trouble keeping him away from her...

I remember the next day I came to school, Clarissa and Kefka had gotten themselves into a serious fight. Kefka seemed pretty proficient in knives so I think he’s a Knife nut. Clarissa... she was supposed to be a class D magician, but she surprised me using several powerful spells that even A class magicians have trouble learning! She’s really something else when she gets pissed off! The fight was stopped however by Mr. Tagami, the teacher usually in charge of the first year students. Mr. Tagami’s a polite guy and never argues with anybody and just all around very good-natured. He has a 5000 power level as an Ordinary I hear, and he’s really efficient in martial arts! He’s probably a... 20 degree black belt... maybe... is there even a 20 degree blackbelt? Ah, nevermind...

He knocked those two out and sent them to the nurse at our school, whom nobody wants to see. Nurse Hakujou… She’s a hot nurse, but she’s really, REALLY scary! Everyone does everything in their power to never get sick, injured, or hurt even a little, because, she’s sadistic... a very sadistic nurse who wants to hear people scream in pain in her presence. She likes it. I’m glad I never had to see her myself. I don’t think I’d be alive now.

Ah... I almost forgot... another one of my important friends. A certain transfer student from the magical land of Brittanica, Hazuki Himegami. A Class B magician who specializes in shadow magic. She was beautiful like a doll. She was pretty much the same height as me, her hair was well groomed... she looked like a princess. Then I eventually learned that she IS a princess, and she’s loaded! She could probably buy the school if she wanted to! Ah, but I can’t forget the moment when Zero saw her and was smitten instantly. Zero had never liked anyone before but apparently Hazuki had to be a special case. It was that same day that we learned of an upcoming dance, and Zero and I ended up meeting with Bloo and Heisei to prepare for the dance. They wanted to give us a makeover so they could laugh at our efforts to ask the girls of our dreams to the dance. It was then when I realized that Bloo had a parrot. Whatever happened to that parrot anyway? I liked that parrot.

Ah, anyway... Zero... he had more than half of the school’s guys as his competition... and me... I had one bit of competition of my own in the form of a guy named Luke. In fact, Fuka ended up going to the dance with him. That was when Alicia surprised me and asked me out to the dance. I almost misunderstood her intentions and believed for a second that I triggered a flag in my life that may show that she has feelings for me. But of course, upon arrival to the dance, this was a part of her plan to get me and Fuka to dance together. Zero somehow got Hazuki to go with him to the dance, and I learned the reason why Fuka went with someone else was to get back at me for complimenting Hazuki on her looks. Fuka was clearly jealous and she admitted to me that she has anger issues and is trying her best to work those out. We had our talk at the giant cherry blossom tree in the courtyard of the school, with our backs against the tree. That day I felt like I had come to understand her a little better (by only a little anyway.)...

As for why we were outside? Well... The Principal decided to show the school the tape of my adventure to find Become Death, which would’ve humiliated me. Luckily, before the video had much footage shown, Marcus used his power (Which he calls, Sniper’s Pride) and fired an arrow at the right spot which would make the TV shut off completely. Marcus is a level 4 psychic by the way. And as for the dance, it just went haywire when the principal flicked a booger into Kaori’s coffee, which angered her greatly. She went out of control, and used her wind powers to create a tornado in the building and Rihoko had to send the tornado to the ‘ghost zone’ (it’s what they call the ability for Ghosts to ‘cancel out’ magic and psychic powers). After that, Rihoko announced that Yomi became the new Student Council President, which made me remember... They were holding the election for the Student Council before the dance... But I didn’t bother to vote.

The next week, voting for class rep began, and it came down to a draw between Rin Akazukin and Hazuki Himegami. To settle the tie, Yomi made her first move as Student Council prez and ordered there be a sports festival. And if Hazuki beats Rin, she’ll be class rep, and vice versa. But an added bonus, is that Hazuki gets to be Vice prez! Apparently in that week, Yomi and Hazuki became fast friends, and they both didn’t like Rin due to her lack of class and just giving women a bad name. That’s how I was roped up in various sports events, even down to a fighting tournament. I was on team Hazuki of course...

The events were crazy! From the archery contest between Julius and Marcus (which ended with a surprising victory for Julius-sempai!), the swimming contest between Fuka and Nevada, which ended with Fuka throwing the match to save me. >_< She was probably angry at me for falling into the pool... even though someone PUSHED me in... I can’t swim by the way, so that’s why Fuka hurt her ankle trying to save me. The next contest was a lethal baseball match, which ended in a victory for Rin’s team. Hazuki was pissed that her team had two straight losses so far, and she wanted a win pretty badly. The next contest was the triathlon race! Several representatives from each team gathered together... Marcus and Kashima started out first, and then passed their batons to Mr. Linens and Clarissa respectively, and then those two passed the baton to Nevada and Julius respectively. This is when things get a little crazy: Those two had to grab a random paper and then retrieve whatever it said on the paper. Nevada had to grab someone she could relate to... and Julius... he had to grab the person he loves. To everyone’s surprise, he grabbed Yomi-sempai’s hand suddenly! He couldn’t bring himself to just grab Yuna’s hand. Even then, he ran with her, and even finished the race despite a hole appearing in the ground suddenly and breaking Yomi-sempai’s ankle as a result! Julius-sempai is amazing sometimes... I don’t know why he doubts himself so much.

I almost forgot to mention... throughout the competition, there was some mysterious figure trying to sabotage our team! Luckily Alicia was able to stop some of this mysterious person’s plans, but not all of them... She was only able to stop a few plans since she too was able to use her magic, as she wasn’t on either team, and only watched as a spectator.

With Julius-sempai winning the Triathlon, Our scores were tied, and the school’s way of breaking the tie was a fight... which almost felt more like a bout of Mortal Kombat. Almost. Before the tournament though, we had a 3 hour break, in which Julius-sempai took the time to prepare us all some food. The food was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I love his food! And suddenly I’m hungry. But anyway! The first fight was between the team captains, Rin and Hazuki! It was an intense fight, with Hazuki wowing the crowd with her shadow magic, fighting against Rin’s electric powers. However, Rin was equipped with a glove that allowed her to destroy any magical circles Hazuki would use to cast her spells with and used some seeds to restrain her at the time! Ah... must resist thinking tentacle rape... This Tetsuo Kaien is not into that kind of thing no matter how you look at it...

But of course, both Hazuki and Rin were KO’d after one last punch towards each other, and Hazuki had picked me to fight next for some reason.  I already told her I’m a level one. No one listens to me! >_<

Ah, but the fight began after I turned on my flames... and my opponent was A Pimp Called Bloo... who was an Ordinary, with his Sen-con weapon being his own CANE, turning into a Trident. I didn’t even know his power level either at the time, but when we fought, he was clearly stronger than me. So I had to use my brain instead of brawn and outsmart him by using my speed to my advantage! Eventually as the fight went on, our power clashed and really lit up the place as if the Second Impact or the Great Uprising or the Seven Swell was happening. And then Archie showed up to subdue the audience since they suddenly broke into a fight over an argument... At least I can say life is never boring... Hahaha...

As for Zero, he went to see Hazuki in the Infirmary, only to discover her and Rin STILL fighting, but subdued quickly by the nurse, who put them both through a world of torture. Not even a princess or the hottest girl in school is safe from Hakujou’s sadism. I saluted them both for surviving.

Sometime after that madness, Shuya came up to me and proposed to be my sensei in picking up girls and being an alpha male just like him. Turns out Shuya-sempai had taken a liking to me after watching me fight. Also his talk about abs. He seemed pretty obsessed about his own abs, which didn’t seem very normal to me. But after his proposal during Gym class, I did want to Impress Fuka afterall, so we spent the whole week, training, and I had to put up with Shuya being a douche, but as it turns out, he’s not such a bad guy. He even has a little sensibility, and he even set me up on a date with Fuka! From then on, I considered Shuya one of my dear friends!

The next week... was sort of hectic. It all happened so fast, and in the middle of the day too! A boy in a white suit, wearing glasses, and white hair, and having a scar on his left eye... and as it turned out, he was a psychic known as Shade of the South. He was a psychic that used basic telekenisis as his power, but he was REALLY Strong! Even Rin, Heisei, and Bloo carried me off and ran away for some reason as if they knew something! He defeated a ton of people... ALL TO JUST DELIVER A MESSAGE TO ME, from my brother, telling me that he’s coming to my school! However, Shade... he looked into my eyes as he gave me that letter, despite the fact that he loves cat girls (and HIS NOSE BLEEDS WHEN HE SEES ONE Even while still keeping that calm frown on his face) and seems to have an affiliation with wolves, and is Bloo’s little brother for some reason... I sensed something that day, and I’m sure he did too. I had a feeling we’ll fight someday.

Shade of the South is something known as a Contractor... People pay these contractors to do anything for them for a price. They usually request their services through a hidden website called Wolf Correspondance, which can only be accessed at midnight.

The next day, my brother actually came to my school, and I was pretty immature that day I’ll admit. I felt like he stole my friends from me, and thinking back on it now, I have to say I, I think it was stupid of me to feel jealous of my brother. I already felt a little jealous of Shuya-sempai enough, I didn’t need to feel jealous of my brother either. Either way, my brother and I caught up after meeting for a long time, but we met these... what, pseudo Gundam Meisters named Lolicon Stratos, Tieria Hardgay, Emoloser Haptism... and they hate Justin for getting Jihad F Seiei killed or something. I don’t remember them much.

The next week, Ms. Rihoko (Julius-sempai’s math teacher) meets Unseeable Favor for the first time ever, resulting in a bit of dating. Kefka and Clarissa began to spy on them too, which probably made them grow a little closer too. I heard about stories when Clarissa-sempai told me. Unseeable’s was reasonable since he was hit by a car, but Rihoko’s story about dying due to a snake bite seemed a bit... odd. Of course, I also heard that Unseeable is researching Time Travel...

That same week however, we held the culture festival! Everyone had many interesting events, but for some reason, Yomi got on the PA and got more than half the school to go after Julius-sempai. Now that I remember, I think it was to resolve a conflict between having a maid café or having a highschool host club. Julius has it rough, and he eventually surrendered, thus giving the girls the host club. All the guys had to dress in formal attire and speak with a fake French accent, serving the girls. The guys who resisted the most were forced to serve the gay guys. But after that, there was a Romeo and Juliet play that Andre was holding as part of the Culture fest and he talked Julius into playing the part of Romeo since Yuna planned to play Juliet. However... Yuna behaved strangely, acting a little TOO shy in pushing away Julius. It was a play afterall... but as a result, rehearsal was put on hold due to Yuna getting sick suddenly! Julius was in a panic and carried her off to the infirmary. Yomi was then called in as a replacement, and the play went as planned, but not without Yomi herself developing feelings for Julius-sempai due to that kiss.

The next day I heard that Kashima decided to confess her (or his... who knows?) feelings to Clarissa-sempai, but unfortunately, she was turned down. Clarissa’s love for Kefka remained. After the two had a heartfelt talk, Kashima was comforted at least. As for Clarissa herself, she finds her little brother Keito has come to live with her! The Same night though, Julius got a call from Kashima later that night, and was delivered a letter from Yuna. At 12 o’clock in the morning! I just remembered that Kashima and Yuna were friends afterall... Julius opened the letter and found out that Yuna had a map leading to her home!

Julius thought fate finally stopped conspiring against him as he rushed to the church, only to get a rude awakening upon arrival. It turns out her home is a church, and he meets Yuna, wearing a nun’s habit. However, that didn’t stop Julius from confessing his feelings to her! However, he wasn’t given an answer right away... instead, she introduces him to her other side, Yuno. Yuna’s silver hair turned pure black, and her eyes became orange instantly. Julius was in another world... and it was supposed to be in the mind of Yuna... He began to notice something VERY wrong. Upon return to the real world, Julius is confronted by her brother Ryosuke. He fought using his ice powers, but since Ryosuke was stronger, he had to at least fight him off enough so he could escape. Yuno even joined in fighting Julius too, but that didn’t last when Yuna took over again. Yuna took the time to quickly tell him to wait for an answer. With that, Julius barely escaped and he eventually passed out on the sidewalk! Luckily Kefka found him and brought him to Clarissa’s place so he could get his wounds treated.

[Jubbz]

The next day, while Julius rested up, Kefka, while working on an old Trans-Am of his, is mysteriously sent to the past by the mysterious figure from the sports fest! Not to mention he had stolen some important blueprints from the garage! Upon hearing this news, it was up to me, Clarissa, and Unseeable Favor to save him and bring him back to the present before he created a time paradox. As for Kefka himself, he was sent to the year 2008 and caught up in a street racing event against people who looked like us. I guess it’s safe to say they were probably coincidences or maybe ancestors... Ah, I don’t know much about Time Travel at all. Anyway, We managed to save Kefka and his car, which IS the time machine. It was like the movie Back To the Future! Once we came back, Clarissa and Kefka had made up from their argument earlier that day, especially the part where Kefka stole a kiss from Clarissa-chan. Haha...

As for my brother Justin, he came too late when the adventure was over, only to get into a fight with a rival mobile suit! It was so random! O_o

Some time after, it turns out that Yuna rejected Julius-sempai’s confession, and he was heartbroken, and got a fever sometime later from stress (I think). As for Shuya, he interrupted me in my playthrough of this new eroge I had gotten! >_< Ah... but after coming outside, I noticed Shuya was gone! I went all around the neighborhood looking for him, only to run into this boy with the face of a girl I hadn’t seen before. But for some reason I felt like I met this person before. Well, the truth is, some people had abducted Shuya and teleported him to an island called Tool Island! Apparently it’s a place where guys who are considered to be the worst of the worst in terms of social standards, mostly guys full of themselves, are sent to be reformed. It’s also a reality TV show too I hear. That same day Shuya was taken, we were supposed to be going to Hazuki’s castle in Brittanica since she invited all of us!

Our trip was delayed however when Hazuki learned of Shuya’s disappearance as well, and we all decided we needed to save him. Luckily for us, Bloo and Heisei had a ship prepared for us, so we could use that to head for Tool Island and save Shuya-sempai! (Not that he’d ever admit that we kinda did save him... >_> ). Not everyone had shown up for the trip, so only Me, Fuka, Zero, Alicia, Yomi, Bloo, Heisei, Hazuki, Dora, Andre, Kefka, Clarissa, and my brother Justin. For some reason, Andre had dragged Coach Sanchez along too... the coach is known for being really strict and hating Shuya. He’s a Class A Magician too, which isn’t something you’d expect from a gym teacher. Either way, he helped us out in getting to Shuya, and I had to of course, take the lead again, using my speed to zip through the forest and holding onto the string tied to the hot aired balloon everyone else was in.

Speaking of my powers, I never really talked about them much... these blue flames spawn on my hands and feet which give me a major speed boost, allowing me to run fast. These flames also increase my actual strength, but just a bit... And for some strange reason, it has the ability to copy the powers of other psychics when the flame touches any part of a psychic’s lips. I know I acquired their power when the flames change color upon contact... I really don’t understand my power much other than the speed parts.

As for Shuya himself, he meets Jake London, a former butler that worked for Julius’s side of the family. I still remember that he (Julius) and Dora are Hazuki’s cousins, so they’re obviously connected to the Himegami family. Anyway, Shuya told Jake of his plan to get out after calling Dora on the phone to make a bet that if he’s already broken out by the time they get there, she’ll have to do one favor for him. If not, he’ll leave her alone. Shuya’s plan of escape was to start a riot by throwing a chair. Unfortunately, another boy about Shuya’s age named Freddy was hit by the chair, and he was determined to get revenge as a result. Of course, on our way to Shuya, we had a run-in with Shade of the South, and I was left alone to fight him while my friends crash landed deep into the jungle! While I fought Shade, my friends had to fight Become Death’s brother, Kill Die. (Those names... *shudders*).

Shuya runs into Freddy and the two have a showdown. At first, Shuya actually has a little trouble against him, considering that their power levels are the same! However, Shuya managed to overpower Freddy by unleashing his edition of the famous Dempsey Roll technique, knocking Freddy out, and impressing Dora (who arrived mid-fight) in the process.

As for the others, they had to defeat Kill Die quickly before being turned into stone due to his power! Luckily, Coach Sanchez was able to get the job done with the help of everyone else.

As for me... My fight against Shade was tough. REALLY tough. He threw me around all over the place, slamming me against the trees and ground with his telekinesis. Shade had been paid to stop us from saving Shuya by any means necessary. I did my best against Shade, even though It seemed pretty hopeless until my flames touched his mouth in my attempt to throw a speedy punch at him. It only grazed the side of his mouth, but my flames turned light green for some reason. Shade had a shocked expression on him, one that I never thought I’d see. In that moment though, he held out his hand to use his power again, but I did the same thing as he did in the spur of the moment, causing both of us to be in a power struggle until both of us was sent flying into a tree. At that moment Fuka arrived and made an attempt to fight Shade of the south, but for some reason, he decided to postpone the battle and declare that it was a draw. He glared at me for a moment and then left...

After all of that fighting, we went back to the ship, this time bringing Shuya and Jake with us. Of course, we still had to get ready for our trip to Brittanica, so we went back to the city for the time being and let Coach Sanchez off since he didn’t wanna go... That’s when Yuna, Kashima and Keito arrived. Marcus and Aoki couldn’t make it. Julius had already arrived at Tool Island at the last minute after getting over his sickness and getting on just in time. We all had our formal attire ready, and we used Bloo’s ship to take the secret route to Brittanica, which is a giant wave that sits still that goes all the way up to the island, which sits upside down in the sky. The wave had a gravitational ring in the middle of it, so passing through would change the gravity of the ship, but the ring wouldn’t work without the Himegami family crest and secret spell, which Hazuki stood in front of the ship to handle.

Once we were in Brittanica safely, we met with Hazuki’s personal butler, Albert, and he showed us the way to the castle to drop off our bags. Upon arrival, we met with other Members of the Himegami family which included Hazuki’s parents and three sisters, Julius and Dora’s mom and uncle, and their personal butlers and maids. We even met up with Deus Magnus there too (He’s a famous S class magician capable of summoning all kinds of monsters)! We were shown to our rooms, dropped off our luggage, and headed straight for the beach! It was time for some fun in the sun, and I had a lotta fun looking at the girls in their swimsuits. Ah, but Fuka really had me with hers. Ack, I need to get my mind outta the gutter! >_<

Once the sun came down, Hazuki sat us all around a campfire (you knew where this would be headed) and decided to... you guessed it; tell a ghost story. It was about some ancestor of hers, a crazy old guy who wanted to revive a witch or something like that, which got everyone in the house killed including him. It sounded strangely familiar to an anime I heard of involving a witch and some rich guy trying to deny her existence.

On our way back, we found our teachers, Mr. Linens, Mr. Ribbons, Ms. Soraguchi, and Mr. Tagami! They wanted to have a vacation too of course, and we were skeptical but they didn’t enforce school rules on us, which allowed us to relax.

 Of course, when we get back in the mansion and Julius-sempai snapped at his uncle Roscoe, he (Roscoe) was found dead in the kitchen and people thought Julius killed him! But suddenly, people started dying off one by one and pretty fast too! Eventually I was the only one left standing! I closed my eyes, bracing for death, then I suddenly found myself in the dining room, along with everyone waking up. Everyone seemed to be in a daze, not knowing what happened. Then it was revealed that the Himegami family (except Julius-sempai), Deus, and even Kaori actually KNEW that we weren’t dead; that it was all an elaborate prank thought up by Hazuki’s mentor, Rosaline Polignac. Rosaline liked to call herself a witch, not just a mere magician. By the way, the majority population of Brittanica consists of magicians and most of them prefer to be called witches (females) and wizards (males). She’s quite a beauty for a 30-something year old, with her orange hair tied up in a bun and her glasses make her look really mature, like a caretaker. She told us how the prank was pulled off, which really made those of us who didn’t know really shocked, but then we all burst into laughter soon after.

All but one person: Julius-sempai. He felt he had a right to know about the prank and he felt completely left out of a family event, but his mother told him to just get over it and grow up. He stormed out of the dining room afterward. While I kept myself company by talking to Hazuki’s sisters, whom all acted as if they all were interested in me (hehe), Yuna-sempai went to go talk to Julius-sempai. She wanted to be friends again, but Julius found the request to be quite difficult. That’s when Yomi-sempai came in and tried to provoke Yuna. If you ask me, Yomi was right in telling Yuna that it was wrong to want him to be her friend again despite the awkward atmosphere she contributed to. She could only respond by leaving the room crying.

As for Zero... he received a call from a mysterious person, but he knew what it was, so he answered. It turned out to be someone he knew; an employee for his own company, ZeroXinil! Turns out Zero is loaded with cash too, but he’d have to show his nerdy-side if he were to tell people. I didn’t mind that, really when he revealed it to us, but... eh.

Anyway, the person who called was Emma’s  (third oldest) brother, Rolan Crestfield. He came with a plea upon knowing Zero was there too, and requested his help in putting together a plan to... HELP Emma.

As it turns out, Emma Crestfield is the name of the girl who wants to ruin Hazuki. In fact, she was the one who tried to help Rin’s team behind the shadows at the sports fest, sent Kefka into the past, and organized to have Shuya taken to Tool Island, paying Shade of the South to stop us by any means necessary to keep us from helping Shuya-sempai. She’s a real piece of work... Even so, I heard about the trouble and decided I’d convince Hazuki to help us out, which worked out, but not without some injury. She really didn’t like the Crestfield family much, because they’re a bunch of liars and cheats. Especially Emma’s oldest brother, Laguna Crestfield. He’s a psychic like Julius-sempai. And I feel like upon learning that and remembering what Elena-san (Julius and Dora’s mom) said about him being a black sheep because he was born a psychic, I thought Laguna resorted to such underhanded tactics because he didn’t want fate to conspire against him in any way.

Either way, we challeneged the Crestfield Family to a game of Waltz as they put it. The game involved having both parties act like armies in a real-life turn-based strategy game. We all had to participate, but Fuka... she began not feeling so good as the time for the game approached. She instead, told me about the black rose she brought with her for some reason. She told me it’s because her mom made her bring it with her. That probably would explain why Rosaline knew about it and Fuka’s mother too. However, that rose would soon mean something terrible would happen.

Once our preparations were done, we made our move to the Sandoval Desert, where the crestfield family waited for us. They had way more forces and weapons than we did, but we had skilled people on our side! It was a evenly matched fight. Of course, Hazuki thought that the Crestfields wouldn’t mind playing dirty, so she did too by sending a covert team consisting of Julius, Yomi, Yuna, Dora, Shuya, and Hazuki herself. Considering the rules involved an instant win for the side who takes out their leader, Hazuki felt it would be wise to stick with the covert team.

As for the enemy, it consisted of all of the Crestfield Corp’s workers, as well as the members of the Crestfield family. Fortunately for us, Rolan, Emma’s brother was on our side! However, her second oldest and first oldest brothers, Jason and Laguna respectively, brought in their wives and their friends too to help fight against us.

When the battles began, we noticed that the Crestfield family had more people on their side, but we managed to hold our ground pretty well, and the covert team even managed to take out a few hostiles. Everything was going according to plan until Laguna decided to launch a bomb that dropped thousands of mirrors onto the field, which allowed him to use his psychic power to fire a laser at our camp! Things only got worse from there... Laguna predicted everything, as he had his people prepare an interdimensional portal to get rid of the covert team! Dora was almost swept in, but Julius grabbed her just in time, but as a result, he, Yomi, and Yuna all got swept into the portal!

From there, the Crestfield family continued their counter attack, with Jason Crestfield unleashing his earth based magic, creating a huge sand storm! Heisei ran in and fought him by changing his usual guns into a pair of tonfa. As for Fuka... she was the real reason Laguna fired that portal sooner than he intended. For her, that’s the day when her life changed forever. The day she became a Dulex. At the time, I didn’t know a thing about Dulexes... but they were people who bypassed the laws, having two type attributes... Yuno, she’s a Magician/Ordinary. And Fuka... She’s a Psychic/Magician. When she transformed, her hair turned a dark maroon color, and she had a scythe in her hand. She looked as if she was posessed. To be honest, that was the scariest moment of my life compared to everything else I’ve gone through. I wasn’t afraid of Fuka, but I was more worried on what would happen to her from that point. What if she didn’t snap out of it? What if the Fuka I know didn’t come back from that rampage? So many thoughts raced through my mind, I didn’t know what to do. Luckily she snapped out of it, but she fainted right in the middle of the battlefield! So it was up to me to save her quickly! Once I did that, I ran to the Crestfield home base. I didn’t have to dodge bullets on the way there though, thanks to Fuka taking out all of the sentry guns in the area, as well as more than half of the enemy forces.

I went into the base by myself with Heisei following behind me after he defeated Jason.  By that time, I had found myself using my super speed to dodge various traps set up by Emma, and by the time I reached the end of the path, she was gone! Rin told us that Emma already escaped, and she surprisingly didn’t fight us and left the place for some reason.

As for Julius, Yomi, and Yuna... err... Yuno, I should say, Yuno and Yomi got into a huge fight which ended with Yomi being easily defeated. Yuno escaped the other world and appeared in the room where Heisei and I were! By that time though, Alicia, Hazuki, Dora, Zero, and Bloo had already caught up. Unfortunately, Yuno... basically, she kicked our **QWOP**. Hazuki had left before hand to continue looking for Emma, so she didn’t get a beating unlike the rest of us. She defeated all of us, me included, easily and quickly too. However, afterward, she turned back into Yuna and fainted. Julius came back carrying Yomi on his back, and we learn that Hazuki found Emma!

Well, I’d prefer to say that Emma found Hazuki. She wanted an open ground for their fight afterall. Hazuki used her shadow magic and Emma used all her magical gadgets. Despite the difference in levels, it was a huge power struggle, as if I were reading an amazing fight out of a shonen manga. Emma of course, lost the fight, even after she boosted her power with some sort of candy that a magician can eat to strengthen their mana. After Emma’s loss, Hazuki pretty much added insult to injury, letting her know that she doesn’t deserve to be her friend for holding a grudge so stupid. At least that’s what I recall her saying.

The grudge? Ah... turns out Hazuki and Emma used to go to an all-girls’ school together. Emma looked up to Hazuki a lot, and they also had become really good friends. Emma became really attached to Hazuki. Unfortunately for her, Hazuki decided to go to Decade Academy, wanting to do better for herself, seeking only the best in academics and she heard that our school is a great place to develop her skills, despite all the insanity that happens. Emma didn’t take the news too well from her brother Rolan, who informed her of where Hazuki went. Hazuki left without a goodbye.

At least Emma regretted her actions towards us, and when she cried, I almost cried! It was a sad moment, really. Hazuki was actually cold too... I still remember when she kicked me in my mouth when Rolan and I tried to convince her that Rolan was on our side... ouch. >_<

Ah... Well, all is well now. Rin comforted Emma of course, and Emma came to our dinner party to apologize to all of us. If you know me, I forgave her pretty easily. I’ve always been like that, forgiving people easily. What good does it do to hate someone? I guess I sound idealistic, but I just can’t bring myself to hate her for what she’s done. If she’s willing to make amends, then why should I squash her attempts? I was happy to see the others forgive her, even Hazuki... eventually. These days, Hazuki and Emma don’t talk as much as they used to... it’s sort of awkward between them. At least that what I’ve noticed. And Jake... That was the day he met Rin and thought that she’s a beautiful maiden, even though Julius and Dora keep trying to tell him that she’s not as much of a maiden as he thinks. *sigh*

Despite the insanity, I think the trip to Brittanica was really fun with my friends, and I can count Emma to be my friend too. I know Fuka would never agree with me though, and she still kind of holds a grudge against Emma. But that’s just how Fuka is. Hehe.

The next week, the last week of summer, we all went to the summer festival! Seeing the girls in Yukatas was a delightful sight! Especially Fuka-chan. Her curves, bust, and her hair with the flower in it at the time... ah, that was just...amazing. Ah! There I go fantasizing again... it’s not like I triggered a flag with her that time though. >_< I think I should have though. But I should feel happy for Kashima finding a new love in Clarissa’s little brother Keito! The two make a cute couple anyway, and I think they understand each other a lot. Considering that they don’t want to become their original genders again, I can safely say that transgendered people in this day and age have it easy. I’m happy for them.

I think I noticed some relationship developments between Kaori and Deus too! For some reason, I always thought that Kaori would like principal Jin instead... but then I remembered, that this isn’t an anime or manga, and that there’s no way someone in real life would like a guy who’s drunk 24/7.  >_>

And then the last day of Summer came. I remember seeing Julius-sempai outside of the shop where I buy my games. He was talking to Marcus from the looks of it, and Marcus looked absolutely tired! But what transpired that day... I think Julius-sempai just felt like he was just torn on the inside due to Yuna’s rejection, and Yuna probably didn’t realize that her trying to reverse things is only making matters worse for him. Good thing he has someone like Yomi-sempai to help him. Even though he cried that last night of summer, he felt much better.

After Summer... we’re back in school, and it turns out Aoki, whom we thought stayed behind, actually was at brittanica on his own taking pictures of the girls in swimsuits! And... knowing me, I wanted to play hero and say “STOP, vile pervert!” but he had pictures of Fuka too, which I kinda couldn’t ignore. >_> Aoki was discovered and the girls laid the smackdown on him. He had it coming...

Ah, speaking of back to school, we got a few new people who showed up!

First person I’d like to talk about is a guy named Tyson Flaggs. He’s a really energetic guy, and he insists on being manly and the like. Of course, it turns out that he’s the guy who would always fight my brother in those random Mobile suit battles that just happened seemingly out of nowhere. It always reminded me of whenever Peter Griffin would randomly fight that giant chicken-man. It was all self-defense, but still.

Next person... is Shuya’s little sister, Momo. She has a brother complex and wants to jump her brother’s bones. That’s about as blunt as I can get. She’s instantly jealous of Dora because Shuya-sempai apparently talks about her a lot at his home.

Then we have a new guy no one but me has seen before; Ambrose Goldsmith. He’s a class E magician, meaning his magic really **QWOP**. I met him at the game shop, and he told me he’s an otaku. He keeps trying to get me to join his anime club, but I’m not interested. I don’t need Fuka knowing I play Eroge. She’d annihilate me and my games! *shudders*

And then I’d like to talk about a girl named Suzu Klein. She’s into over the top drama the same way Andre is. Of course, she’s also able to take things more seriously than he can, and she’s not a total dramaholic like Andre. But when she gets to talking about it, she just can’t stop. She and Andre are like two peas in a pod.

And remember the Rosaline Polignac, the great witch? She became a teacher at our school! She really loves teaching, so she thought she should lend the school her talents as an S-Class magician. Now Tagami-sensei has a second chance with her! Ah, it was obvious the way he was looking at her!

And... finally, Emma. Emma Crestfield decided to attend our school and accept us as friends. Some of the others were skeptical at first. And things got worse when Freddy and the Ryukyu gang came and kidnapped all of the girls, except Emma, since the gang thought she was a boy due to her appearance. Emma did tell them to do so in exchange for Freddy to get a Remach with Shuya... but that was before the Brittanica plot! Emma wanted to undo the mess she made, so she assisted Zero and I in rescuing the girls, while Julius-sempai and Shuya-sempai went after the gang in a car chase. Archie also gave chase too, but he had to protect the people from getting hurt by Jim’s psychic powers that allow him to manipulate the gravity of an object upon contact with it.

When me, Zero, and Emma made it to the warehouse, we found where the girls were being held! However, two of the gang’s cohorts, Jim and Fujiko came to stop us! Zero and I took on Jim while Emma fought Fujiko (well, more like a struggle to get the containment unit to free the girls...).

Thanks to Zero’s quick thinking, we were able to get out of Jim’s Gravity hold on us, and I managed to land a hit on his mouth with my flames on, allowing me to get his gravity power, which I destroyed the entire warehouse with, and dropped some debris on him, knocking both him and Fujiko out. Once the smoke cleared, Emma had freed the girls, and they both beat the living crap out of Jim and Fujiko.

As for Freddy... he and Shuya confronted each other for another match. Shuya would begin by taunting Freddy per usual, but Freddy surprised Shuya when he unleashed his second sen-con weapon, which is a claw glove similar to that of Freddy Kruger. Shuya however, sent his Sen-con weapon into it’s Second-shift, which is like... umm... a bankai for an Ordinary’s sen-con weapon... I don’t know much about it, but that’s what I was told. Shuya defeated Freddy for the second time, but not without sustaining some injuries. They weren’t bad though, but... apparently the fact that Shuya fought to rescue Dora, moved her enough to actually accept him. However, that triggered another chain of events. 

The Princess of Time. Chie Hayakawa. A Ghost/Psychic Dulex. Shuya’s Ex-girlfriend from middle school.

She scared me a lot. She’s able to manipulate aspects of time! She’s even capable of leaving Shuya speechless. Yes, that Shuya. When I came to talk to Julius-sempai about something (I forgot what... considering what happened next), Chie took a look at me when I told her to leave my friends alone. She stopped time and sent my soul to the past along with her. She wanted to play a game with me, and if I didn’t win, my soul would be trapped in the limbo of time forever. I found it a strange game though... I had to solve the mysteries of some incidents that occurred at their time in Middle school, which revealed a lot about Julius, Clarissa, Shuya, Yomi, and Chie herself. It’s cases of rape and assault... and I tried to counter everything on why Shuya was innocent, but it just felt hopeless. She would always use the purple truth, which is something only Dulexes can use. Anything in purple is the truth, simply put. No need for verification. It’s just as is. However, by the time the last girl was assaulted and the blame of the crimes eventually shifted onto Julius (which lead to a huge argument between Julius and Yomi)... Shuya-sempai and Fuka-chan arrived to my rescue! But my jaw dropped when Shuya slapped Chie. Then Shuya proceeded to point out the truth of the incidents: the girls were just pretending to have been sexually assaulted all along. (That explains why none of them even got up and called for help...)

It’s strange really... I didn’t think Middle school could be so dramatic because of one popular guy. There’s Yomi’s constant abuse of Julius when her man-hate was at in rare form... and his refusal to tell Clarissa anything. Yomi never hit Shuya, because he’d always dodge her assaults, and Nami didn’t care, she was just in it because her sister was. Chie... she wasn’t much of a participant in anything, but she always had her eye on Shuya. It turns out the girls that all pretended their attacks; they all had crushes on Shuya too, but hated how Chie took all of Shuya’s attention. Yomi thought that they were all sick freaks, and Shuya put them all in their place, saying it’s because of things like that that he’ll never look at them. And then kisses Chie in front of them. It was... actually kinda cool to watch. Considering I didn’t attend that middle school. I wanna thank Chie for showing me something so cool.

Me, Chie, Shuya, and Fuka all return to our original time period, and Chie leaves with a tearful goodbye to Shuya. It turns out the reason they broke up was because Chie had to move away, and Shuya broke it off, not wanting to make the relationship long-distance. These days, when I look at Shuya, I wonder if he still might have a thing for Chie-san...

Ah well. Chie of course, decided to live with Yomi, who usually lives alone, and become a new student at Decade Academy. However, at school, she continues to flirt with Shuya. It Turns out she hasn’t given up on him, and is willing to fight for him, despite that he’s dating Dora... These events will not end well.

Anyway, the next day or so, Tyson heard that the student council was holding a Talent show, so he decided he’d round up a group of guys to start a band with! First person he came to was me, and he put me on the drums. But not before creating the Light Music Club. I felt like my life had just become a guy version of K-On. I **QWOP** at the drums too. I never played music before afterall... Then there was Tyson on Vocals. It’s not much of a band. Then Emma came in, and Tyson dragged her in too! She picked up the keyboard and played that. She was actually pretty good! There was one problem though... Tyson was an idiot. He couldn’t figure out that Emma was a girl. He kept thinking she’s a guy. I tried to tell him, but she suddenly told me not to. She even made up a name, “Emmerson” I think. I kinda laughed a little to be honest. We were a band of three, but we needed one more member to play bass. That’s where our club invitations we posted on the walls came in, which got us Kefka! He could play a mean guitar and bass! Tyson decided to take the guitar so he can do vocals. We all needed practice, and Rihoko, being our club advisor, decided to approve of our over time practice sessions, so we could win the talent show! I wasn’t motivated at first because I felt I just got dragged into something difficult, but I felt that urge to win well up inside me. I wanted to win. I wanted to beat our competition, and Tyson did say that if we’re in a band, we’ll impress girls. I thought this would be my chance to impress Fuka with music!

Then the day of talent show came. There were many performances. Suzu and Andre put up a Dramedy act I think... Keito made a song for Kashima with the help of Linens and Ribbons, Yuna wrote her own song which captivated the hearts of many and made Yomi quite jealous, Hazuki and Rin put on some sort of dance-off, which Principal Jin pretty much shocked the entire crowd with his own dance skills, Aoki trolling the audience with a song about his nipples, Julius, Zero, and Shuya singing and dancing to the song Poison... and of course, there was an All-girl band Yomi herself formed. Herself with Bass and vocals, Clarissa on Drums, Kashima on guitar, and Dora on Keyboard I think. Their band was called the Black Roses. Their band had an awesome name. And then there’s our name... the Boxed Gundams. Well, I came to think, We’re awesome for thinking outside the box. Or something. Despite the name, we won the talent show, coming in first place, and winning a trip to New York for a week! I felt proud of myself for winning, and we could all feel glad that we won! And Emma seems to have developed a thing for Tyson during our time together too. As for Keito... his song came from the heart. Kashima kissed him and I definitely thought it was a cute moment.

The next week, Zero made an announcement to the school, saying that he upgraded the OS system in our phones. And announced that he’s the owner of some big computer company called ZeroXinil. He kept it a secret because he thought he’d look like a nerd, but his brother, who calls himself X, talked him into making the announcement. He told us about our new phone systems, and said we could use it to analyze the people around us, showing us their ranking, what type of human they are, how many experience points they have and how many left to reach the next level and so forth. It’s sort of like an RPG game of sorts, where going up the ranks is the same as leveling up. It also turns out that Zero is rich, so if anything, that’s also what made Hazuki accept Zero more comfortably, considering rich people getting together is for the better and it benefits both parties.

Ah, well anyway, Sometime after the announcement, a worker from Emma’s company came and flat out announced that he had finished the time device that she wanted him to work on, and activate it right in front of everyone. The device turned all of the adults except the Nurse (who wasn’t even there at the time) and Archie into babies! That, and several historical figures, wielding the powers of the babified teachers came to the present somehow, and then even Dinosaurs came to our time period! The school was in total chaos! Emma, once again feeling cornered, was saved by none other than Chie, with the use of her purple truth. She stated “Emma is not a traitor” in purple I think. Everyone was shocked to see something so strange as the purple truth. But I think Chie was being cruel at the time, taunting Zero at the time, intending to use the truth to say what Hazuki really feels about him. Shuya covered her mouth, but she only took the time to hit on him.  He’s doing all he can to reject her advances, but she’s coming on so strong, it’s dangerous.

The historical figures... ah, I think I remember Harriet Tubman, Mohammad Ali, Bruce lee, Ulysess S Grant, Roy of Siegfried and Roy, Some Japanese historical figure, Cleopatra, and Jack the Ripper I think. We managed to beat them, but then dinosaurs showed up and things got a little worse.  So we came up with a plan that involved Julius recreating the Ice Age to defeat all the dinosaurs at once, and have Chie send them back to the past. The problem was fighting off the few dinos that threatened to destroy the city, so I had a plan of my own, which involved Mr. Favor giving me a pair of contact lenses that allowed me to see what power I’m using at the moment. I managed to snag Ms. Soraguchi’s powers from one of the historical figures, and I asked Julius to let me have his powers as well. I had already understood my own power after fighting the Ryukyu gang. Using my powers, Tyson and I assisted in fighting off the Pterodactyls flying in the sky, and thanks to Mr. Favor’s contact lenses, I was able to try two powers at once, using Kaori’s power to help me stay in flight, and Julius’s ice power to freeze the prehistoric birds.

During that time, we all heard Zero indirectly confess his feelings to Hazuki! I felt tension in the air even while fighting, but things turned out well for them, as she accepted his feelings! Way to go, Zero!

Sometime later, with the dinosaurs defeated, Marcus and Nevada finally become a couple! Unfortunately, that leads to some VERY BAD THINGS later on. And meanwhile, Keito was moping, wondering what to do, and thought Kashima preferred his original gender, so he decided to go see Dr. Maxwell. However, Kashima, with Clarissa and her father’s help, arrived just in time to talk some sense into Keito and realize that he’s fine the way he is. As for me... I was at a coffee shop across the street from where Shuya and Dora were having their date, and the atmosphere felt tense even from where I was! It was all because I just HAD to witness that moment when Chie stopped time, removed everyone but me and Shuya out of the room... and she passionately kissed him, and he didn’t resist. Chie... she’s showing to me, better than words, that she’s not giving up on Shuya. And she feels that love has made her insane. But I feel like Chie... she’s like an older sister of sorts to me. And I don’t think Chie’s a bad person at all.

Once the weekend came, Me, Emma, Tyson, and Kefka all got ready for our one-week trip to New York! Of course, the second and third place winners got to tag along with us too. Meaning the Black Roses (Yomi, Clarissa, Kashima, and Dora) and Keito got to come along. Unexpectedly, Julius came to watch over his sister wearing girls’ clothes. And it looked like Gothic Lolita clothes too. If we hadn’t figured out quickly that it was him, even I’d be questioning myself. He looked surprisingly good in girls’ clothing, not to mention CONVINCING.

Anyway, this trip was a great experience for all of us! We got to meet Yomi’s twin sister Nami, Kefka’s more or less beginning to accept his feelings for Clarissa, and Julius and Yomi grew a little closer. The highlight of the trip, was Tyson FINALLY figuring out that Emma’s a girl, and that she’s been crushing on him this whole time. I found it to be pretty funny, but heartwarming. Especially when she kissed Tyson ON STAGE. However, Tyson decided that he can’t just jump the gun and date her, saying he’d rather get to know her real self instead. Maybe he can figure out what I’m pondering: Her insecurity claims were her merely being flat chested... Nah... That just seems too convoluted. No girl feels that insecure just because her chest is flat... I seriously think there’s more to Emma than she’s letting on.

In the end, when we’re all going home, Nami actually came back to the city with us! And thus, makes a brand new student for Decade Academy!

A week after getting home, Julius found himself in a dilemma, as he felt that his feelings for Yomi and Yuna need to be resolved once and for all, So he gets the idea from Shuya-sempai to go on a date with the two of them (no not at the same time), so he can help make his mind up. After the dates... or at least right after his date with Yuna, he has a run in with Yuno, who tells him that he had already died before, and shattered his emotions by saying his family doesn’t love him. She then decided to toy with him, but thankfully, Marcus-sempai came to his rescue. As for Chie, she and Yuno engaged in combat, but Yuno emerged victorious with a flawless victory. Shuya attempted to get retaliate, but was taken out FAST. I witnessed these acts, and attempted to fight Yuno-san myself, but that didn’t end very well... She defeated me with a piledriver. Yeah, Yuno fights with mostly wrestling moves. Then she fought against Fuka-chan, which resulted in Yuno’s victory as well, but not without suffering heavy injuries herself.

As for Julius... he spent the night drinking, had a nightmare, and vomited out the liquor he drank. He felt sick, but cleaned his house, went to school, and tried to talk to Mr. Ribbons, but Julius was punched out by Clarissa, who tried to talk some sense into him, as he had gotten into a state where the purple is the only truth. However, upon being knocked out, he took the time to look deep inside his heart, and remembered that he has to pick someone. After some thought... he made his decision: Yomi. He decided to reject Yuna’s feelings, which actually results in something much, much, worse.

Julius is able to find Yomi and get his feelings through to her, but not without ending up in the hospital. However, his mother, Elena came and embraced her son, which really got Julius back to normal, and showed that she really does treasure her son.

The next day however, Julius found himself in some living room-like area, with a giant plasma screen TV. Me, Heisei, and Shuya were also there... as we, the guys, were all strapped down to the chairs. Yuno showed us a lot: Ranging to Mr. Ribbons’ Connection with Yuno, to a man named Gale Closer killing Clarissa’s mom... It was disturbing to say the least... But I couldn’t help but feel it might’ve been somewhat over-exaggerated. Am I missing something in those stories?

Anyway, we were shown a scene in the real world as they put it... shown that Clarissa, due to her past, awakens the artificial Dulex in her. And this happened because she solved the mysterious riddle that suddenly appeared at the school! Afterward, once Clarissa’s insanity kicked in, Ambrose the otaku was the first to die, among many others. Yuno tried to ally with her, but that didn’t turn out so well, as Dulex-Clarissa ended up trying to destroy her actual body. Chie once told me that when Dulexes come outside, they have to hide their real bodies somewhere. If the body is destroyed, the Dulex essentially dies. Then there’s this whole Green Truth business... Argh, a whole lot of mind screw happened, and I really hate recalling these events.

All I want to talk about is Julius’s fight with Yuno, in which he started to lose his sanity, with his eyes showing the mark of the ouroboros. Yeah... turns out Julius-sempai is a Homunculus... in other words, he was brought back as a homunculus by his mother, who studied alchemy from time to time.

Julius defeats Yuno and is ready to kill her, but Yuna interferes, saying that she wants to settle her score with Yuno. Yuno agrees to the duel, (literally) with two classic western guns, which contain only one bullet. One gun had no bullet, but the other did. You know the rest... after the count down, the trigger is pulled... and Yuna falls. Yuna... she died, but not before pouring her heart out to Julius and telling Yuno that her actions were wrong to begin with. After that, her remains went flying to Yuno in the form of energy, as it turned her hair into two different shades: Black and White.

It wasn’t over yet, as a huge smiley face came from above the clouds, looking down on us, saying that he knew Yuno’s plan all along... and these agents in black suits came in, trying to kill us... and then Dora’s future-self came in... Argh... Yeah, it’s complicated. But thing is, all of Yuno’s damage that day was undid thanks to Chie reversing time (or rather, shifting us to another timeline where the deaths don’t happen and Clarissa doesn’t go insane over possession and Jealousy of Julius... or something...)

Some things remained the same though: Heisei, Julius, Kefka, Shuya, Clarissa, Fuka and the rest of the Dulexes, and I... We remember the events. Secondly, we learned who our real enemy is... and third... Yuna doesn’t even exist anymore. It was kind of sad, really... someone who died, no longer remembered by the few people who were her friends... and then there’s Julius-sempai, who felt the most hurt, despite that he doesn’t regret his decision at all, he didn’t want Yuna dead.

At least Clarissa was able to cheer him up in... the oddest way imaginable: A fist fight. That day I learned two things: Julius isn’t afraid to hit a woman depending on the circumstances, and Clarissa’s capable of fighting like a man. >_> those two are **QWOP**, but they’re the best of friends to each other. I think they even feel like siblings.

Ah well. The same day (since time went back), Yuno decided to come clean and warn everyone about Gale Closer and tell everyone the truth about the city. However, everyone but a handful were really skeptical and others just outright didn’t believe her at all. Considering Yuno’s plan all along was to draw out Gale so she can kill him, she decided a different approach was needed. That’s when she and Chie came to me personally the next day... meeting me at my doorstep. Yuno decided that she would need my help because she knows of my powers, but when she went on about Gale, I showed her my access to the CLUB’s files. Yuno smirked as if what she suspected about me was right on the money. I had access to the CLUB’s site. I revealed that I’m the son of Gale... at least according to my mother. The same applies to my brother Justin. In fact, it was Justin who told me how to get into the CLUB’s website and access the secret data stored in there. From that point on, Yuno, Chie, and even Nami all hang around with me now because I’m the only chance they have of killing Gale... unfortunately.

Yuno even went so far as to move in with me. -_-

Ah, I almost forgot the last bit of my memories... the events leading to Alicia’s trial. It all began with me trying to save Julius from the wrath of the Church where Yuna was raised. I arranged to meet the members of the church myself. I wanted to deal with them in the most non-violent way possible, so I thought I’d test to see just to see if I had any power over the CLUB, which goes all the way into the police, fire department, Medical Department, and the banks as well. All it takes is a single text from my phone. Once the text was sent, it made all of the police, doctors, nurses, bank clerks... all of them, surround Ryosuke (Yuna’s brother) and the members of the church, and simply stared at them. From there, I made my escape, but not before running into a girl in a hood, with her hands on fire, trying to burn my face off! Good thing Nami-san and Chie-san saved me! Because if they hadn’t, I’d be dead now! I couldn’t even run with that burning hand so close to my face. Alas, I had also called Julius earlier to warn him of the danger, but he said he’d come anyway if he didn’t hear from me soon. However, Marcus and Nevada showed up to the scene as well, and since they’re with the CLUB... they became bad guys. I really wonder why they turned out that way...?

But after that incident, we had a run-in with the Ryukyu gang, who kidnapped me under Freddy’s orders since he wanted revenge on Shuya-sempai. However, I was saved by Yuno-san, and she offered a deal: Join her or die. Pretty brutal, but they actually complied eventually!

However, a few days later, the dulexes (except Fuka-chan), took me with them to discuss a plan to form an alliance with them and my friends. She wanted to call the alliance, the GPS, or Gale Closer Punishment Squad... Well, they took the C out. It’s weird. But I felt so skeptical because Gale’s supposed to be my father, so I didn’t really know what to believe, but I didn’t want to make someone as strong as Yuno-san my enemy either, so...

Later that night, Alicia was arrested by Nevada and her men, being charged with six counts of murder (All the victims were burned from the inside I think) and two counts of arson! We had to put the alliance planning on hold, and clear Alicia’s name! So we managed to get Julius’s mom, Elena, and Miss Rosaline to help us out! Rosaline, using her intellect, would pose as a defense attorney and prove Alicia’s innocence against Prosecutor Akazukin (Rin’s older brother)!

The trial was shaky at first, and we came cornered, but Rosaline pulled through and managed to prove Alicia innocent! Unfortunately, the REAL culprit was her own father, Oliver. He’s really cruel to have drugged his own daughter and controlled her just so she could commit the fire. According to the law, a person isn’t guilty if they were being mind-controlled, but only if it can be proven with evidence. We didn’t even get to Celebrate. Dad... umm... I mean, Gale showed up, and he used his power to put so much pressure into everyone’s bodies, they couldn’t move! Everyone was swiftly defeated, even Yuno, Chie, and Nami. As for me, I felt so pathetic... I was able to move, but I chose not to. I could’ve fought too, but I didn’t. Dad was RIGHT THERE. I wanted to be acknowledged, I wanted dad to tell me, “Well done, son” or something. Instead... he pats me on my head, and thing I know, I’m in this place.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~RECAP ENDED~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That’s everything I recall... I met a lot of people and made lots of new friends, but I just realized something... I’ve never spoken to Yuna. Not... once...

“OH! Looks like you’re one step in the right direction!” I heard that voice again.

“Huh? Wait... what are you trying to imply?”

“I’m saying that Yuna may or may not be the heart of the mystery you’re supposed to solve... But she’s dead!”

“Then there’s no way she’s connected to Gale... Sure, she might’ve started a lot of events from the beginning, and she is the reason Yuno and I became friends, but...”

“Do you REALLY think that? Ah... but I’m straying off topic. Forgive my forgetfulness. But ask yourself: Is what Gale is doing right, or wrong? Is Happiness good or bad?”

“After thinking it over and recalling all of my memories, I remember many happy moments. Especially ones that weren’t forced! Gale’s trying to force everyone to be happy, and he feels that if they feel sad, or angry, they’re unworthy in living his ideal world! He’s trying to purge all emotions but happiness! Happiness is good, but not like this!” I shouted. And it’s truly what I felt. Gale may be my dad, but why is he doing this? Why is he hurting others just to force happiness on them?

“Oh. You finally got smart. But still... it’s not over. It’s not enough to give you the will to fight the man you see as your father... you have to work on unlocking your true powers. You are the only one who can prevent the creation of a world without emotion and forced happiness. That’s a problem for God afterall. The Dulexes will help you.” The voice said to me... then next thing I know, I find myself in a garden with four brick roads going in four different directions, leading to some towers. My desk I was sitting in to think was still around, in the middle of the concrete.

“Enter. One of them should already be waiting for you.”

“I see... this is getting weirder by the minute... and I wonder. Who the heck are you?” I asked.

“I’m not answering that until the time is right. Until then, let the Dulexes assist you. Also, don’t worry about that Fuka girl. She’ll understand the situation. I think.” The voice said with a giggle. I can’t even make out the gender of who’s speaking. The scrambled voice is really well done to prevent me from making any guesses.

I laughed nervously, and I looked at my surroundings, and decided to head into the tower north of me. Time for step one I guess...

[Jubbz]

There. THERE.

Took my black ass long enough, huh? Yeah, i know you people missed this awesome amazing and fun as hell story to read. 

So i brought it back. Tetsuo RECALLS EVERYTHING at one point in that chapter. You can skip over it, or  read it. Your choice.

Whatever. If you remember everything, all the better. You can cut right to the chase. Because i know how i wanna handle the last few arcs, and i know how to end the story too. It'll take a little while longer, but i assure you, you WILL see an ending. I just hope you like what i write.

So here it is, everyone... the Return of Waffles! Season 4! (Hopefully) the Final Season this time!

[Poke_Nirvash]

It's been a long time since I've read this. And it's still as awesome as ever. Not to mention that the recap was really well written too. Great job, Jubbz!

Edit: I just forgot - I'm no longer posting in that annoying purple text.

[Jingai]

Kick **QWOP** ass.

I'm really glad to see you back at this.

I'm glad for the recall, it really helped remind me of the important things that have happened

over the rpevious 49 chapters. (Emoloser Haptism. I'm sooo going back to read that chapter again. )

Coach Sanchez is getting everyone in shape, probably a good thing with the contractors hanging out,

and Shade on the loose.

Why is it that the mysterious voices that come to the hero can't ever seem to simply say, "Do this dummy."?

Why do they always end up being mysterious.

Great job as always Dubbz.

[Jubbz]

It's good to be back.

[cidthekittyisfun]

i read that as "its good to be black" >_> <_<

[J-Dubb]

[Jingai]

It's good to see you back, and in top form.

Maybe business will pick up now.

[Jubbz]

I'm already writing the next chapter. Whoot, huh?

[Jingai]

Whoot indeed.

I've got to finish something off to keep a promise, then I'm probably
going to be starting something new myself.

[Amunet]

How did I miss you updated this...a year ago.

I've missed this story...and I've finally read the chapter. I loved it!!!! Even now I was able to skim through Tetsuo's recall and remember everything.

It looks like Coach Sanchaz is getting everyone ready for one hell of a fight.

I'm bumping this for the greater good. I really enjoy this story!

[JQuest15]

Lmfao, im surprised you kept my character around for a while xD i mean he turned into a fvcken Dragon. Ish was dope

I know its realy late but that was great. Life has been like if i was

Doing bout a hundred but the track still bumping

Number 8 on N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton.

[J-Dubb]

Did you guys know i was still alive?

[Jingai]

Jerk.

I thought this was a new chapter.

[J-Dubb]

I'll prolly continue this once i get settled into my new home.

...

Well, i gotta actually move first. But that won't be until another few weeks.

[Jingai]

Gratz on the new digs.

Be sure to save newspaper and all that, or better yet, pay someone else to do the moving.

[Jubbz]

So uh, moving cancelled. Drama happened. >_>

[Jingai]

Bummer.
Sorry to hear that, hopefully it isn't too big a problem.

[JQuest15]

---

J-Dubb wrote:
Did you guys know i was still alive?

---

Me? Yes. You had to go Ghost for personal reasons. I can understand that.

Still gonna read this, never thought i'd catch up while trying to handle my own disaster.

Now Im' Back To Some Of That Swimming Pool Full Of Drank.