CH #11 - Hate

Cast's spinning kick made a perfect trajectory towards its target. With a wide grin showing those white teeth, the nameless opponent jumped back a little, throwing his head back again.

Once again, he let himself sip in the nothingness that only he himself understood, only to reappear a few feet away.

"Actually, I'm a little surprised you actually showed up... I figured you'd try to escape it, or maybe avoid it... I even thought you didn't care about that girl's life enough to come here knowing you might die. The fact is that, as I have already expressed here, I am quite pleased to be here, talking to one of the most promising students at this school..."

His voice was like that of a real devil. A malicious being who knows how to appeal to his victims' desires during a negotiation, and that could be perfectly felt in every word he uttered. Each letter was wrapped in velvet, especially soft and smooth to the ears of the listener. Cast was aware that whoever was there was someone highly persuasive.

He straightened his posture, arranging his back posture, rising at the comment.

"Well, yeah! After all, what kind of idiot would imagine that maybe that girl was someone who deserved to live…!" He replied ironically, keeping a slight smile on his lips. "It's obvious that someone innocent like her didn't deserve to be saved!"

The boy laughed as well, enjoying the Cravache's typical sarcasm. His seemingly innocent and incapable look was enough to make one imagine that he should be treated in an inferior way, or that he could only be looked down upon. However, the scarlet-eyed boy was wise enough not to fall for this kind of strategy.

He raised his arms, in an attempt to appear innocuous and harmless.

"Ah, Cast Cravache… You are certainly an interesting person… That's a fact! And can I tell you something? I like that... I like interesting people, those who can liven up my life!"

Cast raised an eyebrow high, both of his hands clasped loosely in mockery.

"Eh? You've gone crazy, haven't you? Lost a screw in that round, empty box you call your 'head'? You already look like the clown on your own…!" Cast bared his teeth in a menacing way at the end of that comment. "But tell me, how do you know my name, and most of all, what's yours? It's better to speak up… Unless that nickname from earlier did the trick!"

"Well, how could I not know the name of such an illustrious person? The whole school knows you somehow… the defender who helps the weak, who actively fights bullying...! The guy who protects girls from harassment like a real knight in armor! It's you, Cast Cravache, who fights for a noble cause, something highly commendable and respectable... I admire you for that, you know? That ability to act... That desire you have to create a better world... It's all so... pure, don't you think?" He asked, openly gesturing all the emotions he was experiencing.

"Huh… You certainly like to talk, but you didn't answer my last question. Who are you in the line at the bank, 'princess wig'?" Cast questioned, pressing that topic.

"You make me feel bad this way, Cravache! You shouldn't consider a minority as something negative, did you know that? You are committing great discrimination by doing this."

Cast raised his hands up, waving them in the air in an exaggerated gesture. For final satirical effect, he displayed his tongue.

"Blah-blah-blah, feeling bad... Blah-blah-blah, victimhood... Cut it out! Just tell me who you are, or this fist will end up making you tell…!"

Cast raised a clenched fist, which made the boy smile in clear mockery of the attitude.

"Well, well, well... I would never have imagined that the most proactive student in the school, who fights for the general good, would actually be just a big bully who disguises himself as a good guy... It seems that my expectations here were highly frustrated, I would say."

"Oh, sure? That's a shame…"

Cast's patience was reaching the critical limit. The way that student managed to evade personal questions was surprising, always using the questioner's own statements to avoid providing a good answer, or at least one that proved to be minimally satisfactory.

"You better say it already… Who are you? And what do you want calling me here by threatening Sophia?!"

He raised his hands, breathing in what appeared to be a light laugh, and then tried to answer.

"You're like a broken record, Cast Cravache... Always asking the same question... Alright, I'll explain... I'm your complete opposite, 'school defender'." He let himself answer something.

Cast's gaze indicated doubt. What did he mean by that?

"Start explaining yourself, asshole. What does that mean?"

"Why, the opposite is the opposite! We are each other's polar opposites, Cast Cravache. While you actively fight for a goal, I prefer to stay in the shadows... You go out, defend people from delinquents, try to keep the peace within a place where it virtually cannot exist... While me? I just watch it from afar, enjoying the spectacles that vile human nature brings with it wherever it goes."

"Gee, you must be really funny at parties, huh, man?" Cast said, trying to be comical.

This time, it was able to make the other boy laugh. It was a weak laugh and full of ulterior motives.

"But the fact is, I do have one thing that's just like yours, Cast Cravache... We share something very specific, which I'm sure you know what it is."

He paced back and forth across the space, avoiding the puddles of water on the court floor. The place was not very bright, and the light only came in through a single, relatively large opening in the ceiling, letting the sun beams inside. The corners were covered in darkness.

"Cast Cravache, Lira Suzuki... And the rookie, Ryan Savoia... You three are quite exceptional, don't you think? A little different from the others..."

At that moment, Cast held on with all his might not to use his maximum against that student and finish him at the exact moment. Gradually, the boy's breathing became faster and more arrhythmic, and he clenched his fists. The nails slowly dug into the smooth skin on the inside of his hands, generating small but constant pain responses. He should hold back, but he didn't know how long he could do that under these circumstances.

"How much do you know?" Cast controlled himself, preventing the more violent side of his voice from escaping.

"Well... You do know better than anyone what I'm talking about... Or do you think this is all just an illusion...?"

"Illusion...?" Cast's gaze widened.

The boy smiled again in that same bitter way, walking a few steps forward.

"Cast Cravache... Three weeks ago, you acquired a mysterious special ability by opening a white envelope. Since then, you have managed to manipulate the perception of people around you, making them see, hear, feel and even capture flavors and smells that do not correspond to reality. That is your power, a mere illusion. Honestly... It's just my humble and diminutive opinion, but... this is pathetic. Hiding behind lies? Only the weak do that, and this power exhibits just that."

Cast gritted his teeth. It hit him like a personal insult. The urge to end it there and then only rose with every second that passed, and with every word that came out of that smiling mouth.

"But that's not bad! You don't have to feel bad about being trash, after all, you're not the only one! Actually, I can't do anything very big either…" He said, raising his hands in the air, shrugging.

"Do you also have a power…?" Cast questioned, exhaling anger.

"Oh, you can say that! A very weak one, but that involves my personality completely... As I said, I don't like to be a very proactive person, that is, I hate showing off, and mainly, I hate people who like to show off and pose as heroes, as well as you do, for example."

He walked a few steps, and suddenly disappeared from Cast's vision, reappearing a few seconds later, right on the left side of the red-eyed boy, in a short distance of two meters.

"But what did you…?!" Cast hesitated to finish the question, clearly appalled at the possibility of it.

"It's my power! The fact is, I walked all the way here, you just didn't notice!" He replied, once again smiling.

"How did I not notice?! Isn't that fucking teleportation?!"

The black haired boy slid his fingers through it while laughing softly.

"What a shallow way of thinking! That's what everyone thinks when they see this! Everyone imagines that I merely change places immediately! But this is completely wrong."

He moved a little closer, until he was dangerously close to Cast. A stab was possible at that distance, so he had to be extra careful.

"It's like I just said. You just didn't notice. This is my ability, [the power to eliminate my own presence from this plane of reality]. It's not invisibility per se, much less a teleport. I was here the entire time, walking step by step, calmly over here, in this place beside you… Only you didn't see any of this happen, since I technically wasn't here, even if I was. I understand if it's confusing."

Cast distanced himself from him as he walked back a few steps.

"Intimidated? Well, I suppose you have a reason to be. I was blessed with this power precisely because I don't like to show up. You see, I'm not the type of person who enjoys parties, meetings, or anything like that, and so I prefer to go unnoticed in the crowd, keeping myself invisible to the social eyes of others. It seems that this great desire has been transformed into power and guaranteed to me, just as your illusions are a part of you, Cast Cravache. They are your inner demons!"

He kept approaching with a weak, maniacal smile on his face. His hair covered the left eye, and both orbs glowed in a powerful shade of blue. Each step created an echo on the place.

"Just like I have a power that represents my desire to be ignored, not to be remembered… Yours also means something. Illusions... What is an illusion? Simple… It's a lie. You're just telling yourself lies, Cast Cravache. You're trying to run away like a desperate little mouse from something, pushing the dirt of your life under the rug... What's inside that head of yours? Is it something big and dark? How much hate is there? How afraid are you? What are you trying so hard to hide? What are you trying to run away from?"

By this point in the discussion, Cast could feel the veins popping in his face.

"You talk too much..." Cast said, in a violent tone.

The boy's eyes glowed blood red, in contrast to the other's blue lights. He raised both hands, transforming the entire environment of the court into an entirely different place.

"Oh...! So that's Cast Cravache's illusion power! It really is splendid!" The unnamed boy said, watching the changing surroundings.

From one second to the next, everything changed. The floor broke completely, crumbling into thin air, and the already dim light was replaced by near-total darkness. The scene becomes something different.

And then, before their eyes, the court changed shape to that of a house. There were hallways, doors, and stairs, just like any ordinary home. It was a place specially prepared by Cast to attack his enemies. He knew this place like no other, after all, that was an illusion of the location that once used to be his home.

"Oh… A house, huh? I must say that the illusions are very well done! I almost think this place is real!"

Cast became invisible, and silently headed off to deliver the kick to the face that the know-it-all smug so desperately needed.

… … …

"But what?!" Cast yelled aloud, realizing that his kick was caught and stopped extremely simply by something.

The illusion gave way as soon as that strange force threw him to the ground, and the environment returned to the dark abandoned sports court, full of puddles and a few weeds that grew between the cracked wood.

"You must be wondering what happened, right? After all, you had a clean hit!" The stranger scoffed at Cast's fallen and suffering figure, which was slowly rising to its feet. "Well... That was it!"

The nameless boy snapped his fingers, and a figure became visible. That was a person Cast knew very well.

Gradually, that face known for so long and cause of so much pain revealed itself to him. Cast felt his eyes widen, as if they wanted to leave his eye sockets and head for the infinite space. That face belonged to one of the few people who could make him tremble.

Before him was none other than Samantha Wilson, who, to put it quite simply, was the strongest student in the entire school, as well as the biggest current threat to Cast's plans for the future.

"I never said I can erase only my own presence! As you can see, I can do this for others, too. At the end of the day, I am not as selfish of a person as I may appear to be!"

He proceeded to walk, slowly, away from Cast, toward the ruined locker room.

"Well, I'm not the one who will deal with you. I've been hearing that you two already have a certain history from what I came to know... Cast Cravache, on your first day of school, you were beaten by this girl until you couldn't get up anymore, and you were only saved by a shot of luck: a police officer patrolling Oak Street saw the scene happen. Well, I'll leave you two to work out the private problems on your own. I have more to do."

Still on the ground, Cast managed to lift his torso fully, yelling towards the elusive young man.

"Where do you think you're going, you bastard?!" Cast yelled, in disbelief at the situation he'd been placed in.

"My goodness… Are you deaf? I just said! I said I have more to do, for your notion! And besides, I would act quickly if you want to ensure the safety of your little friends... I have dispatched what I dare  call 'special personnel' to take care of them myself."

Cast felt himself overcome with anger, but was also found unable to do anything. The pain of hitting his back against the ground was still sharp, not to mention that other obstacle that had just appeared.

At the end of that, he disappeared into the shadows of that space. Now Cast was alone with one of his worst enemies.

"Don't think I'm working for him. That nerd is just an important piece." Samantha's voice was heard for the first time. It was a strong and characteristically feminine timbre, but simultaneously powerful and deep enough to cause surprise.

To lighten his own mood, Cast chuckled, releasing a sarcastic comment.

"Yeah, I figured it out…! He's the kind of guy you usually make fun of, after all." He said, getting up slowly.

That was Samantha Wilson, a 22-year-old Junior, which is five years older than Cast, also making her the oldest student in the school. She was repeating the year as Junior for the second time, as a result of her disorderly behavior.

"Strong" was a small word to describe his brutality. The girl's feats of strength, while showing in her appearance, could prove questionable in the minds of many, given her appearance. Anyone who looked at the young adult could even see her as a little cute, however, in reality she was a real monster. Just his name was enough to put any teacher or member of the school coordination to sleep.

Straight blonde hair, this time, completely natural – since she herself was the one who started the trend of troublemakers to dye their hair. The whole left side of her head was shaved, and the remaining hair kept not past chin lenght.

Thin arms that masked the power with which they threw punches, carrying a horizontal scar under her left eye, which showed a bluish green tone.

Besides loose blue jeans with skin-exposing cuts on both knee regions and some dirty brown shoes, she used half-beaten clothing, namely a yellow jacket that had a couple of horizontal blue stripes. Said jacket was left unzipped, exposing a gray shirt with unintelligible yellow text on the chest area.

Samantha's clothing was always messy or damaged, and that detail never once have changed.

The violence employed by Samantha has become something almost iconic at the school, turning her into a twisted kind of celebrity. There wasn't a person in the building who was brave enough to challenge her. She had several observations and occurrences in her portfolio, most of them for committing bullying and even acting with extensive aggression with her colleagues and even the management nucleus of the place. It was not uncommon to hear that students were sent to the hospital with a broken arm or leg when they got in her way.

To date, she remained undefeated as the strongest and most violent person at Elderlog High – the terror of the weakest and most defenseless students.

There was no hope to escape her. There were at least two official reports from teachers and school inspectors being liquidated by that girl, and several resigned of their own volition after hearing this. Not even a grown man's strength could match hers.

Cast also had his history with that figure – a revenge story. On his first day of school, he was mocked and completely dominated by her, who made light of his pride and masculinity. Since that day, the desire to end the violence at school had awakened in him, something he was constantly working on.

But now, there was no one to save him from all this. Right now, it was just him against her. He wasn't sure if he was ready, but he would definitely try, after all, that was the path he chose to take after that day.

Cast got to his feet, already recovered from most of the pain. They exchanged glances. A slight smile expanded into something sadistic and deadly on Samantha's lips, and she soon tried to comment on his situation.

"And to think that skinny hairy guy put you in his hand like that, Cast… Did you know I'm even a little disappointed? Seeing my favorite toy being broken by the hands of others..."

Cast smiled weakly back.

"What is it? Are you into me now or something?" He asked, bracing himself for any possible situation. "Look, I know I'm handsome and all... But I don't think it can happen between us, you know?"

Samantha laughed openly at what Cast said. That laugh contained a unique combination of amusement and utter nightmare fuel.

"Look, Cast, I kind of like you. You're not like them... You don't break like them! They aren't fun like you, they don't fight like you, they don't get up like you when I make them fall... They don't resist like you do! And that's why I like you so much... Everything about you makes me want to break you from the inside out, and make you fall at my feet!"

With the expression of a true maniac, Samantha ran towards Cast, preparing a punch.

"Of all my toys, you are the only one who refused until the end to recognize himself in this post. I like your determination... It's fun trying to make it disappear from that face of yours!"

Cast clenched his fists in response. A real one against one to decide the future of everything started there.

"Since that's how it is... Show me whatcha got!"

The two punches collided in an explosion they both felt, but that moment surprised Cast massively, as the instant the attacks met, he realized the difference in strength that still existed between the two.

"What the fuck-" He thought, watching the way the power of Samantha's punch far surpassed the one he delivered.

Contrary to what was expected, the opposing forces did not completely cancel out each other at the moment of the clash, and Cast's biggest surprise came when he felt his fist being forcibly pushed back, even when there was no longer contact between the two combatants.

The force vector of the girl's attack was massively greater than that generated by his attack. Realizing that fact was what made him put even more seriousness into the battle.

"What? Already came? What a fast boy!" She asked, clearly implying something that made Cast spit in fury.

"Oh please, I'm not in the mood for this…!"

***

"I have to get there... I have to catch up with Cast...!"

Headaches, general physical fatigue and an almost uncontrollable urge to vomit. During this entire time, you could say she faked it very well.

Crawling through the corridors as quickly as she could, Lira used the walls as both a method of gaining momentum and a means of stability. She knew that the moment her hand left it, the whole world would start spinning again.

Pausing a little in her weariness, the girl peered down the sleeve of her white garment, taking in those two pairs of red marks on her arm once more.

A scorpion, a spider and two bees. As much as she had made it seem all that time, the pursuit of Ann and the origin of the bugs didn't let her escape unscathed. Lira had at least three types of poison running through her body at that moment.

She wiped the cold sweat that had pooled on her forehead. Her body was shaking. For all that time, she used her maximum focus to ignore the effects of multiple poisoning - which at first was working.

... That is, until he revealed to know a little too much about her life.

The name "Alice Aiken" hadn't been mentioned in years. The topic had been buried and left to rot a long time ago, so… How could he know?

That mere mention was able to destabilize her, to break her shield against that danger, and that was something she couldn't recover.

"Damn..." Lira called out for more of her strength, shaking her head in an attempt to get her double vision back to normal.

Cast had acted strangely. She couldn't tell why exactly, but he seemed to be hiding something – something that seemed to worry him a lot. That had been just before all this had started to happen, so she didn't have time to try to bring it up.

She had to find out, and she would, poisoned or not, fainting or not, falling or not.

Lira's sharp eyes focused on a specific object in the hallway – a garbage can. That, combined with the feeling of having a tsunami in her stomach that was crying to be let out, already told her the meaning of what was to come.

Maybe it could even make her feel a little better.

The girl approached the plastic trash can. Time to say goodbye to breakfast.

***

"Yeah... You fight well… for a girl…! But I'm not even using 10% of my power!" Cast said, clearly bluffing as he wiped the blood from his mouth using the very blue fabric of his sweatshirt.

Both were panting, and on opposite sides of the sports court. Cast and Samantha gave the most of their physical abilities, and for the first time, it could be said that someone was close to matching the strength of the leader of the delinquents, however, the question he was looking for was another...

Cast definitely wanted to wipe out that group. That was the goal that he defined from the moment he lived that humiliation. For him, that was no mere clash, but rather, it meant something much bigger – it was a fight for his own pride.

"Hmmm... I know you're hiding something down there... Don't be shy and let me see!" Samantha said, smiling.

"Something down here? Nah…! That I don't show!" Cast replied, forcing a joke.

The situation appeared to be fine… but only outwardly, and Cast knew it. Throughout combat, Cravache put every piece of his physical prowess to the test, hoping to land a hit.

Samantha's blows were amazing to the limit, and it was almost as if her strength had supernatural origins.

Cast snapped his fingers, and wearing a smile on his face, announced the new direction the fight would take.

"Time to use 20%, so..."

Time to reveal the pinnacle of his power. Cast couldn't hold back any longer, after all, such an ability must be displayed. He opened his eyes, which glowed red, and before long, everything around him shook once more.

Samantha watched as the atmosphere changed in shape. In no time, the court became nothing but a great void. It was not possible for her to see anything. That was the boy's absolute chance of victory.

"Did you like the light show?!" He asked, hidden in his own illusion, his voice reverberating as if it were inside her head.

Cast camouflaged himself in the darkness of his illusion, literally erasing his own presence. He then began to run in smaller and smaller circles around Samantha, so as to confuse her with an auditory illusion, in which he multiplied the noise of his own footsteps, making it sound like several and coming from countless sources.

She looked completely surprised and disoriented in the dark space. Unlike the girl, Cast could see everything, and the court remained normal.

That was the moment to feel every day that feeling of revenge. The boy, approaching completely, prepared a kick loaded with all satisfaction. It would be a single, indefensible strike to the girl's torso.

"Yeah, I kind of enjoyed the light show." She replied, smiling in a look that betrayed his location.

... ... ...

He felt something fiercely grab his neck, and a tremendous force sent Cast sideways. The Cravache could only feel the pain of the impact of his back against the court wall, as well as the pressure of Samantha's firm grip as it encircled his neck.

"But how...?"

That blow should have been impossible to avoid, not to mention the fact of her complete immersion in the illusion... So how...?

Samantha then laughed at his effort, a smile more sadistic than all the others, like a child with a reputation of breaking toys when getting their hands on a newborn pet rabbit. She held Cast's neck against the wall with intense power, even slightly lifting him.

"Looks like it wasn't this time, Cast. But I have to say that you really managed to amuse me." She increased the strength of her grip, causing a clear complaint to appear on his face.

She used her other arm to violently lift Cast's right hand, displaying something that was overlooked by the boy's usually sharp perception.

"What… the shit is this…?" Cast asked between desperation to free himself and curiosity, looking at the object that was stuck in his upper hand.

It was something quite thin, being literally invisible except for the sunlight shining on it – an object possessing the thickness of a hair.

"It's a needle made from my hair. The instant you're stuck with it, we're instantly connected. Do you know what that means?"

Cast didn't respond. The boy's boldness, even when in a situation that did not favor him, was something remarkable.

"I mean, as soon as it touches your skin, I have access to everything you have, whether it's seeing the things you see, hearing the things you hear, feeling the flavors you feel… You understand that. Even the fact that I'm lifting you by the neck so easily is also a result of that... It's not just my strength, but our two strengths combined into one. That is my power."

Noticing the dumbfounded expansion in Cast's gaze, Samantha realized that he had understood the meaning of it well, as he himself was quite familiar with the gift they both received from their white envelopes.

"But, I can't just get access! I am able to 'steal' certain things from people with this ability! Tell me something, Cast... Aren't you tired or something? Maybe a little dizzy?"

"Shut the… fuck up…" Cast replied, with an effort.

He was just laughed at again.

"The thing is, I can steal a lot of things from people, like blood sugar, for example... They pass out right away and end up dying. That sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Hearing that, Cast's mind quickly connected the dots.

"You... Keith..."

"Yeah! There is no way my favorite toy can be dumb! I was the one who stole all the sugar from his blood... Unfortunately, his mouth was too wide open, and was about to reveal our scheme... I was hearing everything through my hair, and so I was able to choose the right moment to start draining it."

"You… Killer…" Cast spat, aiming to hit her face. The act was merely deflected.

Hearing this, she again laughed in a broken way, almost like a panicking bird. Samantha's laugh echoed across the court.

"Now don't be a hypocrite now, Cast… I can feel what you feel myself. You want that too, don't you? Someone else's death? You want to avenge your daddy's death through killing, right?"

Cast immediately shut up on hearing this.

"What the hell, Cast… You have a nice story down there, don't you think? This scent of revenge... of hate... It exhales from every part of your body, and I can smell it... You've suffered so much... Maybe more than I have."

"Shut up..." Cast said hoarsely.

"And because of that, you've accumulated a hatred of the world, and for most of the people who live in it, haven't you? You set yourself goals, tried to forget about it all... You tried your best to achieve these dreams, these false realities... You lie to yourself, Cast."

"Shut up..."

"These illusions, these daydreams of power and glory... You find the meaning of your life in doing this, in showing yourself as stronger than others, and in trying to be something you're not really."

"Shut up..."

"And that's why you fight bullying! Because you need a good goal! You call yourself a defender, a leader... But in fact, you're such a hypocrite... How many people have you hurt in the name of this justice, Cast? Ten? Twenty? No. It was more... Because you need it! You need to feel valid and loved!"

"Shut up..."

"You don't want to feel abandoned, right? You don't want to be that orphan abandoned by his mommy!"

... ... ...

"I said… TO SHUT UP THE SHITHOLE YOU CALL MOUTH. "

Cast's eyes gleamed brighter than ever before. The red now resembled congealed blood, and it burned like the midday sun. With tremendous strength, he removed Samantha's hand from his neck, knocking the delinquent to the ground.

A real demon was born. His anger had never reached such a point. Cast, completely serious on the outside, prepared a fast punch, which drew blood from Samantha's face.

A quick sequence of completely one-sided blows followed that primary action. Cast hit her hard, not saying a word. As much as she tried to resist, that strength and speed were something levels above anything seen before.

Having hate consumed as fuel was what drove Cast. He delivered one more blow, which made the girl hit her head on the ground.

"Show who you really are, Cast... Let me see what you hide..." She said, spitting the blood from her mouth. "Let me see if we're really the same..."

Cast prepared to attack again, but at the exact moment, his energies were drained completely, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

... ... ...

Her body felt heavy, and the face filled with the pain of having encountered this manifestation of everything she most wanted to see.

"Heh. It feels like I won again." She let herself say, stepping on Cast's face.

Samantha laughed in a way never seen before as she rolled Cast's unconscious head across the floor of the court using her left foot, leaving several dirt marks on the boy's face.

"Looks like you weren't all that! One hour you will fall, Cast! One day, I'm going to make you lick those shoes!"

In her apparent ecstasy, the blonde woman ignored the extensive bleeding that was running down her entire face from the countless physical trauma left by his blows. Samantha opened Cast's mouth, fitting a part of her right shoe into the boy's oral cavity, who couldn't react to that.

"I will not kill you… You are too valuable to die! If you go, who else am I going to fight over school?"

Facing her rival's unconscious expression, the girl lowered her face, resting her hands on her knees.

"Even because..."

She quickly revealed what she planned. Aiming right at Cast's mouth, the delinquent let her tongue lead the way. From the red meat, a significant amount of saliva mixed with residual blood accumulated in a large, voluminous droplet.

The disgusting liquid mass poured into the Cravache's mouth, leaving behind a long, thin silver line connecting the two mouths.

"...Hah, no fun…! Looks like I'll have to go..." She said, in a low tone. "Until another day, Cast."

Someone else had arrived there, and depending on who they were, maybe that person had a chance of beating Samantha, given her condition. So the woman got up, hiding in the shadows of the environment so as not to be seen, and escaped through the hallway to the changing rooms.

"Cast? Cast...!" Lira, completely forgetting her condition, ran towards Cast, trying to quickly help him.

And for the first time in that whole morning, the girl found herself unknowing of what to do. The boy in front of her was ruined, all dirty and bloody, having deep finger marks covering his entire neck region.

She was visibly shaking, staring at him as if he had just died, even though the Cravache boy was clearly alive and breathing just fine. Her vision became blurry with tears that streamed unimpeded, and the now sobbing Lira Suzuki brought her head down to his chest.

Only Lira could tell what she felt at the moment. The fear of losing the only person in the whole world she could ever trust was nearly crippling. It didn't matter if they saw her or whatever – she only wanted to make sure he wouldn't leave her, even if that was already proved to be logically impossible, as the boy wasn't critically injured.

But what scared her the most was that sensation – the thing that oozed like a mix between smoke and goo from his body. It was thick, cold and heavy, dense enough to be touched, yet it somehow behaved like a gas. It was that black thing again, the thing she could never fight against. It escaped from every pore of his skin in volume.

But then, it was stronger than it ever was – even stronger than on that day.

"I'm here, Cast… I'm here…" She spoke, reassuringly… more to herself than to him.