Stalker

Pitch black darkness.

Thousands inaudible voices compressed into a single one. Voices ringing like the flaps of bats in a cave.

As the darkness turned a shade of bloody red, the voices earned more clarity.

"Murderer"

Thousands of voices ringing in the bloody red background. He could see their faces. Priests.

The priests under the Fallen Angels he faced that time at Kuoh's church, all glaring and pointing fingers at him. "Murderer" is the only word he could hear from their voices.

Kokonoe collapsed to his knees. The priests began surrounding him while repeating that one word as if it were a chant. From the middle of them, a figure made its way to the kneeling boy.

It was him, the serial rapist from Nagoya. The stray devil. With flames forming in the palm of his hand. His glare of pure hatred pierced through the boy's terrified gaze.

"You..."

The only word the boy could manage to get out fell on deaf ears as the footsteps of the stray devil echoed in the darkness. Gradually getting closer and closer. Until the distance between them was reduced to a few inches.

The stray touched the boy's knee until it caught fire. Burning. The fire spread from the knees to his whole body. His screams of agony the only thing echoing in the dreamland.

_________________________________________

I woke up sweating. It took all of my willpower to suppress a scream. I've been having this dream for the past few days since that incident. Pitch black darkness suddenly soaked in blood, with the faces of the creatures I've murdered.

I looked at the clock seated on the table next to the bed. 6am. I've managed to sleep 4 hours huh... somehow I woke up feeling even more exhausted than I was when I fell asleep. I got out of the bed anf made my way to the bathroom, supporting myself all across the corridor so I wouldn't fall on my ass on the floor.

I stared at my own reflection in the mirror. Heavy eye bags and an expression devoid of any will to live greeted me. My own face. It's laughable how I actually thought I'd been through this before. I pushed that self depreciating thought in the back of my mind.

I grabbed Mother's make up tools. A little skin color on the eyes and it will look ok. Wake up, grab a brush and put a little make up. Hide the scars to fade away the shake-up. After applying the make up, I left the bathroom and made my way downstairs.

When I reached the kitchen, I immediately opened the fridge and grabbed an energy drink. I've been buying this crap a lot lately. I drank it in one go. Else I wouldn't feel like my energy is back to normal levels. It's a shame to admit that I can no longer function normally without caffeine. I'm becoming more and more of a robot doing shit on autopilot. One that needs a large quantity of oil or it will start malfunctioning. Even my last seed of humanity became something else entirely... it's kinda funny. I'm a zombie now. I'll return with an undead army and conquer the world... ha ha ha...

I sighed. My gaze fell on the kitchen table, where there was a plate of omelette rice. Guess this is my breakfast. Thanks mom. I quickly chewed it up, then went to the fridge to grab another energy drink. I looked at my watch. 6:45.

There's still a lot of time until I have to go to school. I opened the window, lit up a cigarette and took a sip of the energy drink. I'm planning to actually savor this one.

These past days since the incident have been crazy, plagued with nightmares and attempts of acting as if nothing happened. And no one seemed to care, but that wasn't really a surprise.

Toujou Koneko seemed to actually be more mindful of me, which I didn't know how to feel about. Come to think of it, she was the one who extended her hand to me when I was in that pool of blood... and for some reason, I could feel the heat in my cheeks going up at the memory.

Hahaha, really? So, what now? Confession, rejection, rinse and repeat? It's a different world but my luck is the same as always.

I decided not to think too hard about it. It doesn't matter.

I recalled what happened after that.

I was on the ground in the fetal position as the fact that I've committed murder sank in. I was losing it, when I heard her voice literally snapping me out of my breakdown. When I opened my eyes, I saw her offering me a hand to get up, and I took it.

"What happened?"

I asked when I saw the others. It seemed like Hyoudou had successfully saved his nun girl and everyone defeated the crows while I was having my little freak out. But I wanted to hear it from them.

Prez spoke up.

"Akeno and I took care of the Fallen Angels waiting outside so they would not interfere with Ise. I knew Ise could beat that Fallen Angel on his own, but she ran away before we could catch her."

Basically she ran away cause Hyoudou couldn't kill her... Should I be jealous?... This dense pervert just got his girlfriend back safely AND avoided bloodshed while I was... committing a massacre...

That aside, shouldn't that creature be taken care of? I'll volunteer, since I already have this blood on my hands...

"Shouldn't we go after her?"

Prez shook her head.

"She won't make it far. More importantly... are you alright, Kokonoe-kun? What happened?"

She looked at me with eyes full of concern, as did everyone else... For fuck sake... I don't need the pity, godamnit.

"I'm fine. I just snapped out of it."

She didn't look convinced. If anything, it really seemed like she was going to press the issue further.

"Just snapped out of it? Really? It didn't look like that to me... If something is bothering you, you can tell us, we're a family after all."

A family, huh? It certainly didn't (and still doesn't) look like that to me, but I was more aggravated by her pressing.

"I'm telling you I'm fine! It's no big deal! Jeez..."

I spoke with a little too much irritation in my voice. I was aware that I sounded like a little kid, but seriously, I hate making people worry about me. It makes me look pathetic.

"If you say so..."

Prez didn't look convinced, but backed away. However, a little further from her, I could see Hyoudou glaring at me.

"That's no way to talk to Buchou! She was just trying to help you!"

Shut the fuck up! You think that I don't know that? You and your fucking self-righteous bullshit should just fuck off.

As I unconsciously moved towards him, probably to knock out the daylights out of him, I felt a tug at my sleeve.

It was Toujou, eyeing me intently. It's not worth it, her eyes seemed to say.

"Ise, it's fine."

Prez said that to the thick headed Hyoudou, who looked incredulous.

"But Buchou..."

He was about to retort when nun girl basically grabbed his arm.

"I also don't want to see Ise-san fighting one of his comrades!"

It seemed like Argento-chan's words had more impact on Hyoudou, cause he looked astonished.

"Asia..."

"Now, now, let's all calm down a little..."

Kiba said that with a smile and a small sweatdrop at the top of his forehead.

I'm calm. I'm actually very calm. While the others were making an effort to detensionate the situation, Senpai is the only one who stayed quiet. Her eyes were on me though, looking at me with... an intrigued look, if I had to describe it.

I wondered what was that about...

I snapped out of my thoughts. Such a stupid argument that was... I'm not proud of putting gas to that fire, but can you blame me? I was NOT at my best. And this white knight just snaps at me from out of nowhere for "hurting" his queen.

He has Argento-chan but wants to go for the big boss... this guy's greed knows no limits.

Harem King huh... you should've been born in a rich family in the Middle East. Or in a light novel... oh wait.

I looked at the watch on my wrist. Tommy Hilfiger, by the way... 7:30 am.

I remember we were supposed to have a club meeting today around this hour, but I didn't feel like going. I'll just tell them I overslept. I sighed.

I guess I'll just play a game on my console until the time to go to school... tho I feel like skipping today. I'll have to think about it...

__________________________________________

I ended up going to school after all. I would have rather skipped, but I suppose sleeping in class counts as attendance too. I hate having to repeat something so meaningless as my high school years.

I don't feel like I have the energy to do anything. These energy drinks I keep sipping on give me enough of a caffeine crash for me to be able to take naps in class. It doesn't compensate my actual lack of sleep, but it's better than nothing I guess.

I yawned. I feel so tired so early in the day.

Just as I was thinking that, the teacher entered the classroom and seated himself in the chair at the desk, signaling the beginning of first period.

And the beginning of my nap until it ended.

"Everyone, before we begin, I'd like you to meet our new transfer student. Come in."

Transfer student, huh?

The door opened to reveal a girl with blonde hair and green eyes. Argento-chan. A girl everyone was already familiar with for going out of her way to wait at the school entrance for one of the most perverted students in the academy.

It's absurd how Prez used her influence to get her enrolled, since she's basically a human girl who was once affiliated with the Church. Whatever. Maybe she's just trying to get under Hyoudou's skin.

It's not my problem, but I wondered. How much killing will we even have to do from now on?...

"My name is Asia Argento. I may be new and inexperienced, but I look forward to working with everyone!"

Kind smile, a bit of stumbling over the words, aka the perfect recipe for success.

Obviously, the class went in an uproar at her announcement. Especially the boys. Of course.

I didn't even have the energy to mentally go over my usual rants, so I settled for taking a seat back and watching the shitshow. At least it provides some distraction from this living hell.

And, as expected, the loudest and most obnoxious beings in the whole room were the other two insects of the pervert trio, Matsuda and Motohama.

"She's a blonde beauty!"

"Bust: 82cm. Waist: 55. Hip: 81"

"Such a pure girl... why is she so over Hyoudou"

"I know right, it's like super weird"

Well, Captain Obvious, did you really have a boner at this revelation? Don't you feel anything about lusting over your friend's girl? Right, why would you, the relationship between you three is so superficial it feels like one of those phony riajuu cliques, except it's filled with perverted losers instead. And you, glasses-kun, stop it, analyzing a bitch's three sizes is creepy. I mean, anyone would fill a report with the local police if they were in the girl's place.

Although Japanese school girls are so sensitive of perverts they stopped thinking deep about things and nowadays everything about boys is stupid and perverted in their eyes. Western girls have the same mindset, but they're more moderate with their views, and they hog all the rich guys for themselves while the weebs and other losers die of too much fapping. You might be wondering why did i leave out the poor but good looking guys. Well, they're lovers to some young wives married to rich but old men. I hate stereotypes too, but it's not my fault they're so common...

As for the gossiping about Hyoudou and Argento's relationship, it didn't really present much interest to me.

"I'm also currently staying over at Hyoudou Issei-san's house!"

Or how to drop a bombshell in such a casual manner. I did say that her introduction caused an uproar in the class, but this line alone sent it to disarray.

"What? They already have that kind of relationship?"

"Poor Argento-chan..."

"She's too innocent to know what's in Hyoudou's mind..."

Well, I can agree on the last one. Tho after everything I don't think she'd be bothered by it that much, especially if it's redirected to her. I mean, she's as head over heels for him as a puppy is for their master. However, this works rather well... the more influence Argento has over Hyoudou compared to Gremory, the more safer I feel. I don't know how, but I can tell someone's level of power. Maybe it's an isekai cheat skill I've got when I came here and didn't know about until recently. And Hyoudou's power goes to tremendous levels, it's just... unawakened, raw, undeveloped. But I feel like it's the power that could destroy even a God. Such a power in the hands of Rias Gremory, a selfish spoiled princess who has no qualms ending lives whatsoever... I can't picture it ending well.

I probably wouldn't have thought that hard about it if that incident didn't happen... I'm such a fool...

I snapped out of my reverie, not liking where my line of thought was leading me. While I was busy being concerned for the future of this world, the boys in the class were busy being concerned over why Hyoudou was living with such a blonde beauty. The other insects particularly grabbed their friend, lifting him by the collar and screaming insults at him. It was such a silly scene.

"You seem to be getting more flags than you're talking about"

Lower the tone, try saying that without the tears in your eyes... see how it sounds.

On the other side, Argento was surrounded by all the girls in class.

"Hey, Asia-san... does the bathroom have a lock?"

Murayama asked this in a manner which seemed to be more of a grudge towards Hyoudou than worry over the new toy he got. Argento chan seemed puzzled by the question but answered nonetheless.

"Yes, it does"

"Make sure to properly check the bathroom and the toilet thoroughly."

"Check them?"

"Yeah. There might be some cameras up there."

"Cameras?"

It seems like Hyoudou, still in the clutches of his retarded friends, had enough of listening into the conversation while the inexperienced Argento couldn't exactly pick up at anything they were implying. So he yelled.

"That's enough, you guys!"

Could you not break my fucking eardrums?

I sighed. I'm the only sane man in the middle of a circus and I'm not even sane no more...

_______________________________________

I excused myself from club activities today. So, obviously, I was in Nagano... that's where I go whenever I'm too bored with life and want to kill time. But now it just feels like I'm running away. I could hit Midorikawa up so we could go do some stuff together, to at least take my mind out of everything, but I guess I don't want her to see me at my worst.

I just got off the train from Kuoh. Since I don't have a plan or anything, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do... so I guess I'm just gonna go with the flow. Like, doing the first thing that comes to mind... but nothing comes to mind. Great. Nothing except things I don't wanna recall. Which is even nicer.

After some minutes of walking the streets aimlessly, I decided to head for the games arcade. I'm sure I could find some boring game to play just to kill time.

Well, I've said that, but I started feeling some chills down my spine. Freezing cold, I'd say as cold as my body temperature... no, it's even lower. Not enough to faze me, but still pretty disturbing. It actually felt like someone was there.

A stalker? Great, now that would be the cherry on the top. I sighed. I'm so sick and tired of this...

I decided to walk at a faster pace. I don't know why would anyone think stalking me is a great idea, but I'm not about to put up with this bullshit. I could fight them, but... if I can help it, I'd rather not fight. Especially after what happened last time I fought.

Thinking this, I reached the corner of the street and headed towards the arcade. The lingering feeling actually grew thinner and thinner, gradually dissipating into nothingness as I was walking down that street. And still. I'm pretty sure it's not just my impression. Strange things have been happening in Nagano lately. First the stray shit, now this... this world is fucking with me. There's no other explanation for all this bullshit that's been happening.

Whatever.

I'm just gonna forget about it. At least for a day.

I miss my loneliness. People are bipolar creatures. You can never appreciate something unless you lose it. That's why you'll always see people in the summer complaining about the extreme heat getting them all sweaty and exhausted and wanting winter to arrive quickly; and when it's winter, they'll always yearn for summer, complaining about the cold, especially after the winter holidays hype blows up. Nowadays you don't even need to be Christian to celebrate Christmas, since the holiday itself no longer means celebrating the memory of Jesus Christ's reincarnation, it's just a pretense for kids to receive gifts from their parents and said parents to drink until they collapse under the table. Once the gifting and drinking occasion blows up, you start remembering that it's too freaking cold and that it was better during summer when you could have fun at the beach in your favorite swimsuit. And it's not just about seasons, it's about weather in general. When it's too sunny, you want rain, when it's rainy, you want sun. Take this analogy to a larger scale, apply it to your most cherished dreams and desires.

Everyone wants to be rich until they get the money and the fame and they realize it's not fulfilling them as much as they thought it would. Of course, in the case of having enough money to afford anything, momentary distractions play a big part in maintaining the illusion that it's still worth it, despite feeling even more empty inside than you did when you were poor.

I'm no exception. I used to want a life in which I actually made some friends or at least had the minimum social interaction, and in which interesting things kept happening one after another. But as some say, be careful what you wish. I used to think this saying was bullshit until just a couple of days ago. I nothing but gave up on the idea and when I finally got a life remotely resembling those once innocent wishes of mine, it turns out to be one that's degrading me into a monster.

I'm only hurting myself thinking of these things, damn it.

While on autopilot, I finally reached the arcade, and as I got in, I looked around trying to decide on what game should I even play.

Lol, let's go for some Mario Kart. I love racing games more than anything else. Back in the day, I used to play a lot of Need for Speed games, but the newer ones were kind of lame. I especially didn't understand what Rivals was about, though I've enjoyed playing as a cop. Of course, my favorite one all time is gotta be Most Wanted 2005. Best racing game ever, storyline and gameplay are simply insane.

I took a seat at one of the arcade machines and started playing. I got surprisingly into it and before I knew it, I spend a two hours playing it. Now, I'm not really that much into arcade games, but this one was actually pretty fun. I wouldn't try it again any time soon since stuff gets boring to me pretty easily. But it's still quite a nice game.

When I got up, I instinctively looked at the seat to my left and saw a girl playing at the arcade machine next to the one I used. Mentally noting that she wasn't there when I came, but I guessed I was pretty absorbed in the game during these two hours I spent racing. I started analyzing her physical features before I even had time to repress myself by my lack of interest in other people as it was usual for me.

Long messy light ocean blue hair, tied in a ponytail, paired with deep purple eyes. The weird thing about these eyes is that their irises were blue instead of black, which was quite the unusual physical feature. To the point one could say it wasn't natural... or she wasn't a human being in the first place. The blue necklace on her neck looked quite expensive... I could compare it to a sapphire pendant, made of Swarowski stone. Nah, there's no way a highschool girl could posses that ice, it's probably fake. She wore a white sweatshirt with long dark blue sleeves, paired with a light brown pleated checkered skirt. My gaze bore me further down to notice she had a brown belt tied on her left leg, which I found pretty weird... but the long dark & light purple striped stockings were nice. Almost too nice, like my gaze was so drawn into them that I forgot to even take my eyes away. The girl didn't seem to notice, though, and was still playing.

Which seemed weird. If you're a Japanese anime gal, you notice when a pervert is staring at you with lecherous eyes. And you knock him down. This is like an unwritten rule.

Something doesn't feel right... Especially if you take into consideration the blue pupils. But I can't read her aura, so I can't be sure about anything. It's just a gut feeling. This has nothing to do with me, I decided in that snap second, and made my way to the exit.

In a snap second, I was back on the streets. Haah. Let's head back home. To the Hongo Station I go.

Except one I got to the corner of the street, I started feeling those chills again. It was a pretty annoying feeling... For how long has the stalker kept tabs on me even? Why would anyone be so excessively interested in someone like me even? That's something I couldn't bring myself to understand, but I think I had an idea who it was... based on one critical mistake they made by unwittingly revealing themselves. What an amateurish mistake.

But the question remains... why are they stalking me? Do they wanna kill me? That bad? Who have I even pissed off this time and why does everything only happen to me once I get into this city? Maybe it's the author's way of fucking around with me after writing something that's gonna give me a fucking ptsd for the rest of my godamn life to the point IactuallywanttoenditsobadlyIwouldn'tevenmindifIgotkilledrightnow ahahhahahahahhahahahahahaha...

I calmed down. Not yet.

I decided to take a detour on some rather deserted streets, but the feeling grew stronger instead of growing weaker. Now it's like my own back was being freezed to death for some reason.

I sighed.

"Okay, striped stockings-chan, that's enough..."

I wouldn't usually make such a perverted comment, but there's no other way of getting this one out of hiding... Or so I thought, but she doesn't come out. I would have mentioned the color of her panties if I saw them, since that's the utmost offense a LN gal can sustain... Sexual harassment, you say? She's been stalking me for three hours, so who's harassing whom here?

The fact that she didn't come out of hiding was starting to increasingly get me pissed. Thoughts like what the fuck does she want with my existence were rapidly descending into paranoid territory, to the point I entertained the possibility this chick was really an enemy... ah, who am I kidding, I'm just pissed off about being followed around.

"I said come out, I know you're there..."

No answer. I had to wonder if she was doing this whole chills thing intentionally or if she was that bad at hiding her presence. Whichever it is, it's really starting to get on my nerves...

I can't take it anymore. Tho I didn't see them, I could basically feel that pair of eyes on my back and it was filling me with a mixture of fear, rage, anticipation, horror, all negative emotion mixed into a single eerie feeling I felt oozing from every fiber of my being. It was eating at my core.

THIS IS ENOUGH! FUCK!

I tried to sense her location. That small alley between buildings, huh? I headed over there, and I caught a glimpse of her figure as she was trying to jump a fence. I quickly brought Ice Glock out and aimed for her shoulder.

She fell down, landing on her ass.

I approached her.

"So, what do you want with me? Answer before I blast your head off."

I'm not in a mood for talking. And it seems neither was she.

I'm tired of this. I moved my feet to her face, ready to land a kick... but before I knew it, there was blood leaking out of them. Claw scratches... When I looked at the girl, her hands were replaced by huge ice claws. Ice... the same power as mine. There's no doubt about it. This girl right here is a Yuki-onna. Ice user, the same thing as me..

"I don't wanna fight you."

Is the only thing she said as it was my turn to stumble and fall on my ass after getting my foot wounded.

And now I was looking up at the girl. From this angle, I could get a glimpse under her skirt. White and blue stripes, huh... just what would be expected out of a girl like her to wear. Not that the information serves me any purpose now... what a pathetic cliche situation.

I aimed a kick at her legs, but she dodged by jumping upwards.

I got on my feet. Needless to say, I don't believe that bullshit about not wanting to fight me. It could very well be a trap. If she was willing to stalk me this far, then it was quite obvious that she would retort to such methods as deception... though I still had some doubts. Why would she want to kill one of her own kind? Someone she doesn't even know in the first place? But I couldn't find a reason and neither did I want to look too deep into it...

My gut feeling told me I had to bring her down and that's the only thing I knew right now.

I launched some icicles in her direction, but she easily dodged them.

"It seems like your power is still dormant... I see."

My power is still dormant? I couldn't wrap my head around anything she was saying.. and even if I could, I wouldn't bother with a reply. Talking during a fight is such a cliche thing to do... unless it's to mentally break down your enemies, then you talking can really bring you some psychological advantage over them. But chit chat is pointless. We don't have to talk to each other since we're trying to shut the other one's mouth forever.

It seems like she isn't moving from her spot, though.

I'm a little confused, but asking about it would be a mistake... I think.

Now, I'm not about attacking my targets, as my current level of power is more fit for dodging my way out until I find an opening and kick it with all I got, but this is pissing me off. It's like she's just staying there, staring me down; she doesn't either move to attack me nor leave me alone. Which was frankly disturbing.

I shot a couple of bullets, but she blocked with her very claws. It was a funny scene actually. The bullets broke some fingers, but they regenerated just as fast. It seemed like I couldn't land a hit and I'm not a close combat fighter either, since the majority of my attacks are long distance.

I sighed heavily. I don't want anything to do with this, godamnit..

It seems like she started to rain down on me too. Her icicles were shaped in the form of kunai knives... That's pretty inventive, not gonna lie. I dodged without a single problem and launched my own spear towards her. This thing quickly became a match of firing and dodging. An apparently evenly matched one, but I could feel her power being leagues above mine. And her ice manipulation was on another level entirely. Watching someone from your own species you barely know anything about move like that, I couldn't help but feel just a little admiration for this weird girl in front of me. She is certainly more skilled and more experienced than me, the only thing I have is my reflexes and some powers I didn't even have enough time to master. I could say I defeated a couple of enemies, but honestly, most of my fights were a fluke.

Meanwhile, while this chick didn't seem to have that much combat experience either, her moves were refined, skilled. She was trained.

That's the crucial thing that made a difference between the two of us. While I was literally improvising out of the few techniques I had, she was using hers at not even her full power. As if she was mocking me. As if she was telling me to just step away and walk with my life. Of course, I wasn't about to do that. I've seen it too many times before, every time you lower your guard, you end up with a hole in your chest, bleeding to death on the floor.

"Time to get serious then..."

So she wasn't serious until now... I see. It makes sense, she was just toying around. Just moking me, nothing more, nothing less. Was it cause I'm so weak the only things I could defeat were some shitty pries-..

Fuck..

I saw the ground freezing before the girl who was slowly making her way towards me. Huge icicles were popping out from nowhere on the frozen ground. But in that split second, I felt like I didn't really care about anything that was happening in front of me. Maybe I was actually suicidal, cause I lunged forward with a spear of ice in my hand. And, just like that, the distance between the two of us was growing smaller and smaller until we were standing right next to each other.

I aimed the spear at her chest, but she jumped past me. It all happened in a split second. She got behind me. I turned around, but I was met with a hand of ice delivering a punch to my gut and, naturally, I hit the floor harder than Jennifer Lopez.

I looked up at the sky. Such a peaceful view... I actually wish it was the last thing I saw now, this blue sky with small clouds around, on this sunny weather. Such a peaceful thing to see when it's the last time you have your eyes open in the world. It's actually pretty funny. Dying in some dark alley right next to the main street. This irony is bliss, I thought as I looked at the blue sky, bracing myself for my end. I will not close my eyes, I actually want to see with my own how the end looks like. Next time I didn't get to see it since I was too wasted.

But, funny thing, the end wouldn't come. I've expected her to deal the final blow any time soon, but she didn't. You'd tend to think that she left, but I could basically still feel her presence around. I guess I just don't understand anything anymore.

It felt like a couple of hours had passed while I was frozen there, unable to get up, just waiting for the end to come once and for all, before the girl's figure entered my vision. She wore a blank expression, but I couldn't help but think she was very beautiful. Honestly, to met my end by such a beautiful creature was more than I deserved. Blue hair, purple eyes... Here I am looking at the Angel of Death with what I presume would be a love stricken expression. Her face was gradually getting closer to mine, the gap between the two of us progressively closing to a few inches.

She closed her eyes.

However, as the distance between us was growing closer, I noticed that I could still breathe. The next thing I knew, I could feel her soft lips pressing against mine.