Chapter 06: Liars All Around Us

Sayori opened her eyes. She's in a bed. It's a small room, there is a familiar smell here. It's the smell of some kind of disinfectant. Sayori didn't move from the bed. She remembers what happened to her. She thought of removing the blanket that was covering her body, but couldn't muster up the courage to do so. She tried her best to deny the fact that she had lost one of her legs. She closed her eyes again, trying to pretend that she didn't exist. Sayori is a strong girl, she should be able to accept the cruelty of this system and move on, yet, for some reason, she felt empty inside. Almost as if something was stuck in her throat, making her unable to cry.

The door slid open. A female with an apron entered the room.

- "I see you're awake now. How do you feel? Is there any dizziness?"

Sayori didn't reply. It should be obvious to the doc how she should feel right about now.

- "This is a hospital, right?"

- "No, it's the academy medical unit. Your injuries weren't fatal, so there was no need to move you to the emergency room. We were a little concerned because you were asleep for so long. But it's good for you to get much rest as possible, so this was for the best."

Sayori didn't respond to this either. She processed everything the doctor said, and then slowly removed the blanket. Both of her legs are intact, there aren't even any bandage, nothing. Almost as if whatever happened back then was just a bad dream, a nightmare. She looked back at the doctor, her eyes completely blank and expressionless. The doc seemed a little worried.

- "Hey? You feeling okay? Does your head hurt?"

She kept staring at the logo of two black wings on her apron. So many questions within so short time. Right now she needs some time to think this through, and she needs answers. She wants to ask how she was brought here, but she doesn't yet know if they are treating her as a Sirius or a commoner so she isn't sure if she should bring up the matter by herself. Since it's Nightfall, It is very much possible that she was rescued by some pro Sirius at the last moment and either she lost her Sirius permit in the forest or it was temporarily confiscated due to her incompetence while she was unconscious, which could be very troubling.

- "You siblings are very much alike, you know," doc said with a disappointed tone, "None of you are fun to talk to. You're brother, yes I understand, he must be worried sick about you, although he never shows it on his face, but his dead eyes are proof enough for me to guess how hard it must be for him. But at least you should be more responsive now, even for your own sake, and your brothers. Huhhhh....well, he should come by to pick you up after class, so rest up as much as you can," she left the room.

Sayori froze. Her....brother, she said? She doesn't have any siblings, none. And there's no longer anyone who'd call her a sister. Nothing is making any sense.

*"Someone will be visiting me after class. I'll wait."*

Looking around, she saw some apple slices in a bowl kept on the bedside table.

*"Come to think of it, I didn't really meet up with Lisa Akane after I changed courses. Given that I changed courses under her authority, would it be considered rude to not go and see her?"* Cyrus held his thoughts for a second, *"Ehh, of course it'd be rude. But again, I have something important to do after classes today.....so what's it gonna be?"* His eyebrows twitched a little. *"Welp, a few minutes won't hurt. Probably. Besides, this is important too."* He looked around.

Right now he's in the class. They're being taught about various healing spells and skills in this period. *She's not even teaching the deeper parts. What am I even learning here?*

*Crrrrinnngggggg* The bell rang in the corridor like it's screaming for its life.

*Ah would you look at that,* Cyrus started packing his books, *what convenient timing. I was getting bored anyway.* He got up and started walking. His destination, the teachers room.

The atmosphere in the teachers office is quite tense today. There seems to be a meeting currently being held among the teachers, some of the students are also present. The topic is quite serious. Recently a group of pro Sirius went missing on an extraction operation. Later a member of the group was found, gravely injured and barely clinging to his life, which led to the discovery of the corpse of another. The body was terribly mutilated and disfigured. According to the survivor there should be two more crew members who are still missing to this day. A search and rescue operation is currently being carried out under the authority of Colonel Lionheart.

- "So, I'll be going over how much information we currently have on the missing employees. What we've confirmed so far is that they were separated before they could even start the scavenger hunt. The reason they decided to split up was, in Sir Julio's words, they sensed "an unknown entity" lurking in the forest. After that, while searching for this suspicious entity, Julio suddenly started feeling extremely nauseous and suffocated and fell unconscious at one point.

He did confirm that there was no sign of any gate being open, so I'm guessing it couldn't have been an Emory attack."

- "So, what you're suggesting is, some mere ghouls did THAT, to a group of four professional Sirius? Is that what you're suggesting? Do you truly believe that?"

- "Well, since there was no sign of a gate opening up, it may not be just ghouls, it might be a pack of leeches, they're fairly troublesome to deal with. It might not be completely impossible for a pack big enough to actually corner them if they're separated. Unless of course" Lionheart looked at others, "You guys think a bishop has escaped? Hmm?"

- "That IS INDEED a possibility, true. But that'd be, well, a little problematic, even for us. Yes, since we don't have enough mentee at hand right now. " Alastair yawned.

- "We'll have to make do with the greens this time."

- "I can't have that, not on my watch. The third years, I believe are at least capable of watching themselves. But the first and second year students? Impossible. They don't even know yet what we actually do and why we do it." Lisa Akane looked quite serious about this."And", she waved a photo of the deceased Sirius in her hand, "Just look at the wounds. I'm pretty sure you guys at least have an idea about what may have happened with him. Or would you like to hear my doubts? Huh?"

- "Ah enough! We'll continue this later, in the presence of the Grandmaster. Right now call off all the search parties and seal off the southern forest area. Nothing leaves or enters that part of the forest unless Estemoff says so. This concludes our today's meeting. Now go, get to work."

- "So both of you got selected as well?"

- "No, so far it's just you, I have applied for the operation, haven't been selected yet. I'm not sure about Karma."

- "Same here. I also only applied. No news about getting selected yet. But you know, if I know Lisa Sensei, I'm pretty sure she isn't going to let any 2nd years participate in this.'

- "We can't be sure. This is serious matter, and Lionheart has quite a bit of influence on the other teachers here at the academy. Besides, Lisa Sensei can try to stop us from participating, maybe, but not each and every single one of the second year students. Not everyone is under her authority, you know. Take Kieran for example, if Wolfie is okay with this operation he'll have to comply. I'm good either way though."

Yami, Karma and Kieran were heading towards the teachers office. All three of them has been called to the office for the current search operation.

- "Well? How's second year so far?" Karma looked at Yami.

- "As usual. Nothing that interests me so far, to be honest here. I thought there'd be more fieldwork, actual execution operations, not search and rescue like the one they're recruiting us for right now."

Suddenly, all of them stopped talking and looked in front. Something seemed to have grabbed their attention. Staring forward for a few minutes they only saw a few students walking in the corridor.

- "For a second there I thought I'd see Wolfie."

- "Yeah no shit. He must be nearby, since it's the teachers office."

Yami didn't say anything. He kept staring with slightly narrowed eyes.

- "What?" Kieran followed Yami's line of sight. He's starting at a guy, standing in front of the office room. He looks abnormal in some way but Kieran can't figure out in which way.

- "What? You know that guy?" Kieran looked back at Yami.

- "Uh-huh. Yeah."

It's Cyrus. Apparently he had to meet up with one of the homeroom teachers of second year students, Lisa Akane. So he's here too.

- "Been long?" Yami walked up to Cyrus.

- "Hmm? Oh, hey, it's you. How's it going?"

*Oh hey it's you? Was he expecting me or is he just uninterested in general?*

- "So-so." Yami opened the office door. "You're here for.....?"

- "Nothing special. Just to meet lisa sensei and tell her my transfer went smoothly."

- "Ah. I see." Yami opened the door.

- "Well, we're also going to meet up with sensei, so allow us to accompany you."

The environment inside the office was rather cold, for obvious reasons. They looked around, finding Lisa Akane sitting at her desk. She looks somewhat tired and annoyed.

- "Sensei"- Yami called with a rather monotone voice.

Lisa Akane looked up at the mob of students.

- "Ah students", she asked, "how can I help you?"

- "We were here about the rescue team selection."

- "All four of you?", Sensei sighed, "Well, go back. The team selection has been called off. No students will be allowed in the teams-"

- "Yet." Before Lisa could finish her sentence, another familiar voice interrupted her. The students looked at the source of the voice. It was Alastair Wolfe, homeroom teacher of class B-2.

*Oh, so he was here after all. Huh.* Yami thought.

- "We'll notify you in time", he said, "You, as in all of the student body. Y'all." He smiled, looked kinda fake to Yami, "Well then, off you go."

Yami looked at Lisa Sensei, as if he was asking for permission. Lisa sighed, again.

- "Well, you heard him. Nothing much to know here. Go now."

So now, since things got cancelled, they had to head back. Kieran went back to the dorms, and Karma had to meet up with some upperclassmen for club activities. So now there were only Cyrus and Yami walking together.

- "The patches under your sleeves look new to me. Occupational hazard?" Yami looked like he's quite relaxed.

- "Hmm.....ye. sorta."

- "So how's life here in the campus?" He looked at Cyrus.

- "So-so, I'd say. Although I must admit", Cyrus looked as bored as ever, "for one of the leading academies in the country, Nightfall sure is peaceful", he said, "A bit too peaceful."

Unsure of what Cyrus is trying to say, Yami looked at him.

Cyrus smiled. "I mean yeah, Sirius from the academy do get hurt, but that's part of the job. Nothing goes within the campus so far as I've seen."

Yami was somewhat amused. *That's a funny way to put it. Naive.*

- "You'll see"- is the only thing he said.

- "Indeed."

Yami was taken aback a little by his response. *Indeed? Is he expecting something?*

- "Well, where are you headed?"

- "Must take care of some business" Cyrus said in an awkwardly serious and overly childish manner, almost comically funny, "I'll be taking my leave then", he suddenly said.

- "Huh? Oh." Yami was a tad bit startled by the sudden change in Cyrus's behaviour, but he always found this guy a bit weird. "Okay then, I'll leave you at it then. Until next time."

- "Uh-huh." Cyrus put in his earphones.

*Hm. I see...* Yami thought while looking at Cyrus's direction as he walked away.

*So, at the end of the day, this "brother" of mine didn't show up.* Sayori was quite restless at this point and was wondering if she should take her leave.

*But I don't have any information on my permit. It's better to wait and see.*

Just when she was thinking all this, she noticed the door open. A boy, about her age walked in. He had deep blue messy hair, white oversized sleeve's top and slightly baggy jeans on. Pretty weird choice of fashion. He looked as if he's bored, or simply doesn't really care. Patched up bandages can be seen from under his neck. Some bandages are sticking out of his sleeves too. He's carrying a paper bag.

The boy sat down on the chair beside the bedside table without saying anything.

*Is this the guy?*

- "Um-"

- "Apples."

Sayori got confused at this point. *Huh?*

- "Apples, you like them?" Cyrus was looking at the empty bowl on the table.

- "Good. Good. I like apples too." He put the bag on the table and opened it. It seems there are more apples in it.

- "I'm not good with knives, so you'll have to do with them as is. Besides, it's more nutritious with skin on." He looked monotonous, but his voice was soft, and kind. He talked smoothly without any hesitation, as if he really was a very close relative of hers. Sayori got a strange feeling as though she had heard this voice before.

*Close relative of mine,huh? Wait....huh?"*

- "E-excuse me, but", Sayori was never the nervous type, but the situation was indeed quite confusing, and for some reason she was feeling strange, so her voice cracked just a little, "I'm afraid I don't know who you are. If you could explain what's going on here-"

- "Right." Cyrus looked at her, his eyes tranquil as a calm ocean, voice smooth and deep. "Before anything else, I believe this belongs to you." He took a thin small card shaped piece of metal out of his pocket. "Right?"

Sayori widened her eyes. It was her Sirius permit.

*So either this is the guy who brought me here on his own while I was unconscious, or he's representing the academy and is sent here to investigate,* She quickly thought, *well, this is the way it's supposed to be so I don't have any problems with this, I just hope they don't confiscate my permit.*

- "Yes." A rather short answer.

- "Hmm. Well, you can have it back" Cyrus extended the hand he was holding the permit in. "Go on, take it."

Sayori hesitated for a second, but it was clear that she was relieved and now much more relaxed than she was a few minutes ago.

- "Thank you very much. Now might I please have an explanation of the current situation? I really am very confused right now."

- "I found you in the forest, unconscious. I couldn't abandon one of us, could I? So I brought you back here. I can guess you might be confused about the me being a relative to you thing. The "I'm you're brother" thing was a misunderstanding on the nurses part. They asked if I was related to you in any way for information, to avoid hassles I nodded. They must've mistaken me as your brother then. I found your permit lying beside you in the forest, I have a general idea what a pain losing it might be, so I didn't report it to the academy, since your injuries weren't serious, I figured it would be best for you if I returned it," Cyrus stopped. "That answers your questions?"

Sayori kept silent for awhile, as if she was trying to figure something out. Finally, she lifted her face and looked Cyrus in the eyes.

- "No. I have some questions. You found me first, then the permit. How did you know I was one of "You"?"

-"Since it was your first day- yes, I know it was your first day yesterday at Nightfall- you might not have noticed, but we're in the same class. I sit diagonally two seats ahead of you. I happened to have remembered your face", Cyrus said, calm and collected as usual, "I have a good memory."

- "Y-you are? I didn't-"

- "Apples tend to oxidize and get a brownish colour if left uneaten." Cyrus proceeded to point at the apple slices.

- "Huh? O-oh." Sayori took another apple slice.

- "How did you heal my injuries?"

- "I didn't. I only brought you here, and you didn't have any serious injuries to begin with."

*It doesn't feel like he's lying, there aren't any unnaturalness in his posture. But then again.....that was too real to be a dream. I mean, I was dying, the pain was real. Which means there was someone else, who found me before this guy, and saved my life.*

- "There wasn't anyone else?"

Cyrus kept staring at her with bored expression ignoring the question, then replied, "No."

- "Well, I believe my work here is done." Cyrus stood up. "You should also head back to your home. Oh and," He looked back at her and smiled once again, "My name is Cyrus. Since you're new here, I figure you don't know anyone. Although I've made a few acquaintances here, I'm pretty much the same. So I hope we can get along. Do feel free to contact me if need be, since we're in the same class." Cyrus proceeded to leave.

- "Wait! I...um..." Sayori paused for just a second, then shook off her hesitation. "I'm Sayori Kanzaki. Glad to make your acquaintance." She also smiled back at him. "I don't plan on delaying my stay any longer, so could you please wait just a moment while I take my leave from the nurses office?"

Cyrus slightly tilted his head, it looked kinda childish. After considering for a few moments, he simply said, "As you please."

As Cyrus waited outside the nurses office for the girl Sayori to return, he kept staring at the sky. *It's a beautiful day outside. I'm sure we'll have some Intriguing days ahead of us, or so I hope. It's only been one day for me here at the academy, I already had to rescue someone from certain death. It's good if she thinks of it as a bad dream. Sometimes it's okay not to know everything. I'm glad I got to make some acquaintances here so soon. Reality can be rather funny sometimes. I hope nothing bad happens to anyone in the future days.*