"Long time no see, Akari."
She remembered when Taneki told her this late at night. She rolled around her bed, groaning about how she just stood there, and never really said anything that could be considered a whole sentence.
After a while, she laid on her back and stared at the ceiling of her room. It seemed as if she had a lot going on in her mind.
"You don't look to good. Is it part of why you're so late today?" Fumiko told Akari while walking to school the next morning.
"Yeah. I had a long night." She had bags under her eyes and her posture was loose. She looked really tired.
Fumiko knew that the only reason she would end up like that was because of Taneki.
"Did you speak to him? Taneki, I mean."
"Hmm. How should I put this." She thought while grabbing shoes from her locker. "It wasn't much of a conversation, to be honest."
"I knew it. He ignored you too. That little..."
"woah woah woah. Calm down. That's not what happened."
"I'm gonna rip the skin outa his meat and make him beg for mercy!"
"I know you didn't mean to, but that sounded so wrong."
Akari tried to explain how it all went down while they walked to class, but she hadn't gotten to that part about the conversation when they heard loud laughter coming from the class. They got distracted and wanted to know the reason for it.
When they looked inside, they saw everyone surrounding the desk that belonged to Taneki, and he was standing right by it. Some were laughing, while others murmured unclearly.
They got closer to the scene and asked about what was happening. One of the classmates pointed at the desk and told them to have a look. When they did, they were shocked by what they saw.
"What? W...Why?"
His desk was filled with slurs and other bad words. From corner to corner, the desk was filled with curses and allegations.
Stalker, creep, shit head, hope you die, asshole, monster, pervert, motherf...
"Good. Your here." Someone told Akari.
"Hagiwara. What's going on?"
"It seems that someone saw the two of you meet."
"And?"
"They're spreading rumors that he was stalking you. In fact... Hmm." He pulled out his phone. "Take a look at this."
He showed him a picture. It was when she was crying in front of him. Someone took a picture of that moment and made it look like he made Akari cried.
"What? What the hell is this?"
"Its you. Your here." A classmate noticed Akari standing amongst them. Now they all surrounded her.
"Are you okay? What did he do to you? I heard he hit you. Do you want to sit? I can walk you home from now on."
"Eh? But this was two days ago."
"Two days?! You must've have suffered a lot mentally, all alone. You never told anyone."
Akari was too confused to respond to them. It kind off made the situation worse. She was more focused on something else she noticed.
The marker that was used to write the words, its ink. The color of the ink used was originally black, but it slowly changed color to purple. Then she remembered.
"Fumiko..."
She looked at Fumiko who also seemed to notice it. She panicked.
"That's my marker."
A few days ago, Fumiko was refilling her marker ink when Akari noted that she was using the wrong ink. She added purple ink instead of black.
"It wasn't me." She said softly. "I would never do this. Someone must've stolen my marker. But who?"
"The bigger question should be why?"
"What's going on here?" That irritating voice filled the room. Riku.
"Glad you're here." Someone told him. "This must be why you avoided him while in middle school. Has he always been like this?"
"Hmm? Who are you talking about?" Akari caught on to his fanned innocence. So did Hagiwara.
"Taneki, of course. That guy is a monster."
"No wonder he always stays alone."
"He's a creep."
"A pervert."
"A man that makes a girl cry? What kind of man is he?"
More and more people kept saying things like that. All while Akari and Fumiko looked at his reaction. But he didn't react.
"Say something dammit!" Fumiko shouted at him. "Are you going to let them continue saying things like that about you?!"
He didn't respond, making everything that was being said about him more believable.
Akari looked at Riku. He was hiding behind other people with a grin on his face. This was obviously his doing.
"Calm down, Fumiko." A student told her. "We believe you now. We know what kind of person he is thanks to you."
"Huh?"
"Yeah. Akari is lucky to have a friend like you who stands up for her."
Akari understood it now. The reason for using Fumiko's marker. To make it more believable. And judging by Fumiko's reaction, who didn't deny the claims, it seemed as if they got more than what they wished for.
That's how it all began. All the bullying and mocking. That was the day that sparked a wildfire in him that would come to spread to them in the future.
Akari tried to tell their homeroom teacher to take action, but she had the absolute worst answer she could've said in that situation.
"That's just a thing that youngsters do. Don't think too much of it."
"You've gotta be kidding. Please tell me your joking."
"Class is about to start. You should leave."
Akari was irritated. The frustration from that answer made her feel like tearing open her head and forcefully plucking out that memory. Of all the things he could've said, he chose that.
But she knew that there was a reason. He never maintained eye contact and, judging by how much his words fumbled and his sweat, he was scared of something.
What did Riku do? Why? I don't understand.
'This is the type of shit you see in a poorly written story that gives you high blood pressure all the way through to the end because of the dumb characters.' She thought angrily.
She wanted to find a way to end it all. But when?
1,2,3 months passed. The situation never changed. 4,5,6. Still the same.
At that point, it felt way to unrealistic. And it became the new normal. That was until...
"Hey, Fumiko." Akari asked.
"What's up?"
"Have you seen Taneki since the weekend?"
"No, not really. He's been absent for two days now."
She began being worried.
"Yo, Riku!" Someone shouted. "You wanna go to karaoke after school? Itsuki said that he's buying us drinks."
"What? No I didn't."
"Since you offered, I can't refuse. I'm gonna have to warn you though, I drink expensive stuff."
"But I'm not buying anything."
"Can I join you?" Someone else asked.
"Of course. Anyone else?"
A large group gathered and they began making plans. Fumiko was about to join them, but knew that Akari would get mad and decided not too.
She was right. Akari seemed really angry at them. And at the fact that no one was worried enough to ask about Taneki.
She was angry that Riku got away with ruining someone's life while he enjoyed his.
She made the resolve to discuss a way forward with Taneki once he comes back. But he was absent the next day too. And the day after that, and the day after that.
For a whole week, he didn't come to school. Now even the students noticed it and began discussing it. That's when a few of them revealed the last time they saw him.
They talked about how they met him one night on the previous weekend. They noted that he came out of a convenience store around midnight. The others were confused.
"He went shopping at the middle of the night?"
"I think the bigger question should be what the heck a group of high schoolers were doing at night outside."
"Well, let's just say that a sleepover backfired."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
They continued talking amongst themselves when the homeroom teacher walked in. It was time for roll call.
The teacher called out to each student to confirm they were present. But Akari seemed to have been lost in thought.
"Takumi Nakahara. Absent again."
Akari kept thinking. The last time he was seen was close to midnight. Something must've happened on that night. It makes sense. No one saw him on the next day. But what could've happened.
Just when the teacher was about to check Takumi as absent, they heard weird noises coming from the back door. Like it was being banged multiple times. They wondered what it was.
Through the window, they saw Taneki walk across to the front door. Then he opened it and walked in with a backpack.
"Hmph. I was almost worried." A girl at the front said.
"Worried. Why would you even consider thinking about him?" some other girl said."
"Now now. Let's stay quiet class." Taneki footstep's could be heard as he approached the teacher at the front. "Takumi, you know you were late today right?"
When she turned to face him, her eyes widened because of the nail gun that was pointed at her. Then a nail came out of it straight through her eye. Her body dropped to the ground like a ragdoll. Instant death.
The girls at the front screamed. Everyone was too shocked to speak properly.
"She's dead..."
Another person at the front vomited.
"What?" Akari was confused.
Taneki pulled out two hammers from his bag and began stricking everyone with it, one by one. He struck once. But he didn't hit a spot that would kill instantly.
The ones that were hit screamed in pain. Their screams could be heard from neighboring classes. It was horrific to hear.
Some tried running through the back but the door didn't open, even after so many people struggled.
Another tried running from the front, but he threw a hammer at his head that struck him with the back claws. They sunk into his skull and he died instantly.
Hagiwara tried to tackle Taneki, but he overpowered him. He grabbed and twisted his arm then used the other hammer to strike his collar bone and then his head.
"What?"
Blood kept spattering around the class. He blocked the front door and struck anyone who tried to run.
The window was not an option. They were too high.
"What's going on?"
Riku was the last one. He hit the back of his neck and broke his spine. Then he hit him again, and again, and again, until he was quiet.
Now there were bodies all over. Blood covered the walls and the desks. It was quiet.
"What's going on?" Akari was still on her sit. Her mind seemed to have been broken. But she was brought back to reality from the banging on the door.
Someone was loudly banging on the door. Both of them wondered who it could be. Then Akari heard the window opening.
When she looked, Taneki was looking at her. Their eyes met. She didn't immediately realize that he was standing on the window.
He dropped.
Akari ran to the window and looked down. He was on the ground. His arms and legs straight. He looked relaxed.
"How did things come to this?" She wondered.
Suddenly, she felt like her heart was pierced. It was like a spear came right through her.It didn't hurt. There was no warning.
Her body remained hanging on the window.
The door finally opened. An injured man ran in. His arm was broken and covered in a bandage. He looked around the bloody room. There were bodies all over. But he was more focused on the window.
"Is that her?"
He walked there and looked at the body.
"It is her."
Then he looked at Taneki's body on the ground.
"I couldn't do it. I had the opportunity, but nothing changed. Why?"