Chapter 7: Another Random Encounter

The principal and the teachers were meeting in the campus board room.

"Principal, what should we do about the student Ayame Yuuna? She beat up a professor half to death. The martial art instructor is still in a coma." A teacher asked the principal.

"I agree. We cannot let this go unpunished. But how will we punish her?" Another teacher agreed while asking a question.

"We have to suspend her... no... we have to expel her from the school." A teacher added.

"No, no. We cannot do that. It has been quite a while since we had a talent like Ayame. She is an excellent student." An old teacher said. "Plus, we have another problem."

"What is it?" A teacher asked.

"The upcoming interschool martial arts tournament! She is the only one who has a chance to win. If she wins, it will greatly help our school." The old teacher explained.

"But we have to expel her. Otherwise, the students would think they can get away with violence against the teachers." One of the teachers said.

"No! I have decided!" The principal announced.

The other teachers looked at the principal.

"Ayame is too good. We cannot expel her. We must take care of her. Additionally, we need to find a better martial arts instructor." The principal said.

"We only have four months left. If we fail to teach her the appropriate skills, she might not come back alive." The principal continued.

"How about we just send another student. We won't take a huge loss if they lose in the tournament. They will not take the lives of weak opponents. But if we lose Ayame, we will never have a chance to win against the other schools again." One of the teachers said.

"How about this? We'll get a new martial art instructor. And if Ayame doesn't improve in those four months, we will choose another student as a scapegoat. And then try again on the next interschool tournament." The principal proposed.

"Let's do that." All the teachers agreed.

***

Ayame woke up. It was already 4 am.

She sat up and looked around.

The park was dark and silent.

She checked her body and her bag.

'Good, I wasn't assaulted or robbed.' Ayame thought.

She sat on the bench until the sleepiness wore off.

She walked back to her house.

Her mother was sitting on the sofa, waiting for her daughter.

"Ayame, you're late." Her mother said.

"I'm sorry." Ayame apologized.

"I haven't seen those clothes before. Are they yours?" Her mother asked.

"I borrowed them from a friend." Ayame lied.

She looked at her mother, her eyes full of questions.

"Who is this friend?" Her mother asked.

"Nobody you know," Ayame replied.

"Did you get into trouble?" Her mother asked.

"No." Ayame lied.

Her mother sighed.

"You're lying, aren't you? Tell me, Ayame, what's going on? I can't help you if you keep your problems to yourself." Her mother said.

"These past few days, you've started going home late at night. Your Dad and I are worried." Her mother continued.

"I'm fine, mom," Ayame answered.

"Tell me, where did you go? Did you meet anyone there?" Her mother asked.

"I'm very sleepy, mom. Let's talk tomorrow."

She walked upstairs, ignoring more questions from her mother.

She took a quick shower and immediately went to sleep.

***

It was still dark when Ayame woke up.

Ayame could hear her tummy rumbling, and she decided to check if there was food from the fridge or the table.

There were none. She checked her phone and saw she had a text from her mom.

"Ayame, we'll be late tonight, so just order food with your phone."

Ayame put her phone back in her pocket and got dressed.

Rather than ordering food and having it delivered, she opted to go outside and buy it herself.

She liked walking in the neighborhood.

She walked to a nearby convenience store and bought some microwaved food and water.

Then she crossed the street and walked down a path that led to the park where she likes to hang out.

It was quiet and peaceful.

She ate her food on the park benches.

After she was done eating, she meditated.

Ayame opened her eyes and checked the time.

It was already midnight. It was time for her to return home.

As she walked back to her house, she noticed a man following her.

"Has the Yakuza found me?" Ayame asked herself rhetorically.

She entered a dark alleyway and waited for the man to do the same.

As the man entered the alleyway, he pulled something sharp out of his pocket.

"Undress, or I'll stab you." He threatened.

"Ahh... so that's it. I completely misread the situation." Ayame chuckled inside her head. She remained calm on the outside.

Ayame raised her hands up in the air and smiled seductively.

"How about undressing me with your own two hands?" She said.

"That sounds great. But I don't want to waste my time." The man said.

"Don't worry, I won't bite." Ayame chuckled.

He pulled the knife closer to her neck.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes," Ayame replied.

The man took off his top.

"Ok, here I go." The man said.

The man ducked down and began undressing her.

Both of her hands were right above the man, while the man was ducking down without his guard. It was the perfect setup for a double elbow chop.

She struck.

Two of her elbows made contact with his head.

The man fell down on the ground unconscious.

She grabbed the man's top, compressed it, and inserted it into his mouth to make him quieter.

She took his knife and wrote something on the man's back...

"I am a r#pist. Do not follow my example."

Underneath that line, she drew a symbol of an eye with a forward slash ( / ) over it.

The man screamed as she carved those words on his back.

"Consider that my autograph, bastardo," Ayame said before flipping the body and using his knife to stab his eyes, rotating it 10 times before moving on to the other eye.

The man screamed in the process, but no one could hear him due to the gag in his mouth.

He eventually died, and Ayame walked away from the crime scene and began to head back to her house.

She threw the knife in between the trash cans and walked away.

She arrived at her home safely.

The lights were still out.

"They haven't arrived yet?" Ayame asked.

She walked upstairs to her room and changed back into her pajamas.

She was about to sleep when she remembered what had happened after activating Meikyou Shisui.

She needed a way to train her ability and increase its duration. And so, she decided to order a tennis ball launcher online.

She then went to sleep and was woken up by a knock at the door.

"Ayame, it's already morning, wake up and eat your breakfast!" Her mom shouted at the door.

Ayame groggily woke up and took a set of clothes as she went into the bathroom to shower.

When she was done bathing, she went downstairs and ate breakfast.

She didn't have anything planned for today.

But she did want to go outside and practice her ability.

"It might take some time before the tennis ball launcher would arrive. I guess I'll do workouts for now." She thought.

Ayame went upstairs and changed into her workout clothes.

Then she put on her shoes and walked down the stairs.

She jogged as she searched for the local gym.

She arrived at the location of the local gym.

"Strange... I remember it being here." She said while looking confused.

Ayame opened her phone and looked for nearby gyms on the map.

She found the gym she was looking for, but it was in a different direction.

'Was this caused by the changes in the timeline? I should check the map next time.'

She also noticed another strange thing... the countries in this world have different names.