Discussion about workplace tour.

It's always evening by the time the tumult on the school grounds quietens down. From this room, one could see the last rays of the sun as it descended into the Tokyo bay, giving way to the darkness lurking in the high and distant sky.

"Ohhh… so the hour of darkness has arrived, huh…?" the young man whispered as he curled his hand into a fist. As he did so, the synthetic leather armlet he was wearing made a slight tightening sound. Staring fixedly at the 1kg wrist weights through his sleeve, he let out a sigh. "The time to break the seal has come…"

Not a single voice responded to those words.

…even though there were three other people in the room.

The one who looked at the three of us in turn, obviously expecting us to say something, was Zaimokuza Yoshiteru. And the one who utterly ignored him and went on reading with silent contempt was Yukinoshita Yukino. The one who stuttered bewilderedly as she looked at me and Yukinoshita with silent pleas for help was Yuigahama Yui.

Naturally I ignored everyone and carried on reading.

I think Yuigahama had summoned the courage to ask him what's wrong, I think he answered her. I say think because I was knee deep in a novel, my favourite author had released the fifth book and I was on cloud nine.

I was distracted from book-chan when Yukinoshita snapped her book shut which Zaimokuza flinched in reaction.

This ought to be fun.

"I thought a writer was someone who actually created something…" Yukinoshita said. "So you've written something, I take it?"

Zaimokuza's whole body recoiled and he made a garbled sound like his throat was clogged. Both of his reactions were annoying as hell. But strangely enough, Zaimokuza had stronger nerves than usual today. He was back on his feet immediately, coughing exaggeratedly.

"…ahem. That's only true for today… for I have finally obtained my desire. I'm on the road to El Dorado!"

"What, did you win the prize?" I asked, had literature standards fell when I was not looking?

"N-no, not yet… h-however, it's only a matter of time!" Zaimokuza declared cockily, acting all high and mighty for some reason.

Yukinoshita, please. Crush him.

Zaimokuza threw his coat back with a flourish. "Hahaha, listen and be amazed!" he shouted with renewed vigour. "On this occasion, I have decided to venture forth to a publisher for my workplace tour! In other words - you get it, don't you?"

"…"

"Urk! In other words, it is time for my talent to be recognised. I'm making connections."

Zaimokuza proceeded to grinned vacantly at nothing in particular. It was honestly creepy how he mumbled, "The studio will be… the casting will be…" to himself. And besides, there were a whole lot of crap publishers too.

Still, there was something strange about all of this. "Zaimokuza, I'm amazed your group listened to your opinion."

"What? You're making me out to be a weakling... well, whatever. On this occasion I just happened to encounter two other so-called otaku. I didn't even say I wanted to go to a publisher and it turned out they wanted to go too. They were giggling and cackling and whatnot. I'm quite sure they were into that recent BL fad. Love conquers all, and so I said nothing to object."

Well it was liberal of him. I didn't really mind BL, heck some of my favourite novels had gay hints in them. In the pursuit of ignoring the crap moments in this world I have explored a lot of stuff.

A lot. And a variety.

....

Some which I regretted with all my being. Ignorance is bliss after all. Locked away in the deepest recesses of my mind, a dark outlook on life. Born not from reading about villains and heroes but about monsters who look like a human, talk like a human and act like a human. On the surface they are humans but they actions make them monsters.

Forget the Sadakos, Kayakos, parasites and ghouls. I was talking about fellow human beings that would rape, murder and burn just for fun.

We are monsters, Lord of Flies had showed me that in word form. Since reading it four years ago there have been stories that I have read that show the monstrous side of humanity.

One of the nicer examples was the first story of Jigoku Shoujo:

It all starts with Mayumi being entrusted with her classes' hard-earned donation money, 100,000 yen. As she puts the money in her schoolbag she is unaware that she is being watched by the class bully, Aya. Skip forward and the class is excitedly putting up their appreciation certificate for the donation, but all is not as it seems. Mayumi had lost the donation money and had been forced to borrow the 100,000 yen from Aya to be able to cover the missing cash.

Thus starts Mayumi's blackmail, and eventual torture, by Aya Kuroda. Although Mayumi had managed to repay Aya the 100,000, through shameful means, having stole the money from her mother, Aya claims that this only covers the interest and proceeds to extort the poor Mayumi, escalating the blackmail into attempts to prostitute Mayumi for a free dinner. Having taken photos of Mayumi in the grasps of an older man, Aya threatens to expose Mayumi to the entire school community if she doesn't continue to support her and her friends financially. This all drives Mayumi to seek the only assistance available to her in her situation.

She accesses the Jigoku Tsūshin, and Ai Enma soon makes her entrance. Mayumi is transported to Ai's sunset world where she receives the black straw doll and is promised Aya's immediate transport straight into the depths of Hell the moment she unties the red thread from the doll's neck. However, there is always a price, Ai tells Mayumi that when she dies her soul will also belong to Hell, she would never know the joys of Heaven, being left to wander, in pain and suffering, for all eternity. Mayumi is horrified by her glimpse of Hell and although she keeps the doll, she doesn't untie the thread straight away.

But of course, Aya doesn't stop there. Mayumi is called to the headmaster's office as a picture of her with an older man has been posted on the school's server, he is disgusted. This drives Mayumi to untie the thread, sending Aya spiraling into a world of horror and exposing her as the one who stole the donation money and ruining Mayumi's life. Even after watching herself do it, Aya will not admit her sins to Ai's three assistants, Wanyuudou, Ren Ichimoku and Hone Onna. Therefore, she is consigned to an eternity in Hell, waking in Ai's ferry-boat on her way across the river Sanzu. Even though Mayumi is now marked by Hell Girl's fire symbol tattoo on her chest, a constant reminder of her future damnation, Mayumi manages to pick up her life and move on, resuming her former place in her school's community and retaining her status as a model student.

That was one of the nicer ones.

The main character managed to find a way out, though she will go to hell for all eternity.

That was one of the nicer ones.

There was an anime music video that I watched called Cruel World.

Again, that was one of the nicer examples.

I pushed the dark memories out of my head by distracting myself with what was currently going on. Yuigahama refused to look at Zaimokuza's face. "You should've partnered with someone the same type as you…" she said, sighing.

But Zaimokuza was too far gone. There were some things he refused to concede because he was among people with the same hobby.

"I see, it's the workplace tour, huh…" Yuigahama uttered with deep emotion. "Hey, Yukinon, Hikki, where are you going?" she asked us hesitantly.

My choice was going to be mock by Miss Icy so I let her go first to answer the question while I formulate a believable lie.

"I think I'll go to a think tank somewhere - a research institution. I'll choose from there."

The fact that Yukinoshita had already worked out what she wanted to do exemplified her tendency towards quick decision-making.

Someone kept pulling on the sleeve of my blazer, snapping me out of my reverie. What do you think you're doing, you punk? I thought believing it was Zaimokuza, swinging around.

It was Yuigahama. She had brought her face close to mine without my knowledge. She smelt ridiculously good, and her glossy hair brushed against my nape. It was the first time I'd ever felt so physically close to Yuigahama. Much to my annoyance, my heart started beating erratically.

"H-Hikki…" she breathed against my ear with a sweet-sounding sigh. It was enough to make my ear unbearably itchy.

Personal space, personal space personalspacepersonalspacepersonalspace! On the plus side she had accidently managed to banish the dark memories/thoughts that were trying to be suppressed.

"What's a thinkie tank? Is that a society of tanks?" She pronounced the word like an old woman would.

I think this is the first time I would ever say this but Yuigahama, never change.

"…Yuigahama-san," Yukinoshita said with an exasperated sigh. As Yuigahama pulled away from me, Yukinoshita launched into her explanation. "You see, a think tank is-"

Yuigahama nodded eagerly to show she was paying attention. The two of them were easing into an impromptu study session. Watching them through the corner of my eyes, I embarked on the terribly important business of reading my novel again. By the time Yukinoshita had finished explaining to Yuigahama what a think tank was along with related details, fifteen whole minutes had passed.

"Have you decided where to go, Yuigahama-san?" Yukinoshita asked.

"Yeah. The closest place."

It appeared that the airhead had lived up to her name and forgotten she had asked me. For the great service she had done for me, I didn't mind.

The evening sun was close to the sea. From our room, I could see the surface of the sea sparkling in the distance. The fourth floor view provided a view of the baseball club sweeping the grounds, the soccer club carrying the goals, and the track and field club packing away the hurdles and mats and so on.

It was about time for club activities to finish for the day. At the same time my eyes drifted towards the clock, Yukinoshita snapped her book shut. Incidentally, Zaimokuza flinched as soon as Yukinoshita made a move. Man, was this guy easily frightened. Maybe I should tell him about the Rail Tracer?

I don't know how, just how it came about since no one actually decided on this, but Yukinoshita closing her book was the unspoken signal for club activities to end. With brisk, consummate ease, Yuigahama and I also started preparing to go home.

In the end, no one came to our club asking for help today either. For some reason, the only person who came was Zaimokuza, and we really didn't want him here.

I wondered if I should have ramen on the way home…

All of a sudden, I heard a short, rhythmical rap on the door. "Who's that tapping at the door?" Now that my blissful ramen time was interrupted, I glared at the clock sourly. Please don't be a raven, it wasn't even upon a midnight dreary!

If it was Sensei, I had the perfect revenge in mind.

If I hated a teacher, all I had to do was to loudly zip my pencil case when there was only five minutes left in the lesson. By doing so, it was a sub conscious signal for others to also start to pack away, even though there was still five minutes left on the clock. I've see teachers scream in anguish at the phenomenon. Hey, who told you to pack way, the teacher would say, there is still things I need to go through!

Serves them right, people who mess with me don't get away scot free.

Anyway, club activities are over, don't come now. Have some consideration. Unless ...

I turned towards the door as Yukinoshita said, "Come in."

"Sorry for intruding." It was a cool male voice, the sound of which would instantly put you at ease. Ah of course, any student who had their own club activity to attend, could only come until after it was over. I'll forgive you for now, unless your request is stupid.

However, the person who entered was not one I would expect to ever show his face here.

This should be entertaining.