Imprinted

[TRIGGER WARNING! 

The following content contains material that may be harmful or traumatizing to some audiences.] 

Eirin could not hide the frustration she felt after Shade's remarks. It was not her intention to make Shade receive a cruel punishment, but she wanted to be of help to him. However, a thought soon popped into her head, making the teenage girl stop and look back in the direction of the queen's office. 

The teenage girl starts doubting if Shade Cromwell's actions were because he wants Eirin to stop remembering about the awful event that happened to her. But she soon scoffed thinking that there was no way that infamous Shade Cromwell would do something like that. He was not the type to think of other people's feelings after all. 

Despite that, Eirin could not leave where she stood. 

— 

 "You can't possibly send him to another mission," Mr. Arthur could no longer hold back his voice. "He's a student, not a weapon." 

 "You're saying that now? Oh, please. As if you people haven't been using me to clean all your shits all this time." 

 "Language!" 

Shade rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "What do those oldies want me to do this time? Kill me? If I could, I would." 

 "Shade!" 

Both Mr. Arthur and Queen Regina were flabbergasted by what they heard from the young man. 

 "It is another mission for the black star. It is not yours to claim." 

 "Oh, great. That sure makes this better. I am punished and got to deal with those weirdos again." 

Regina sighed. "Your upperclassmen are not weirdos. Do not say such words about them." 

 "Yeah, right. Just say the mission and let me out of this shit hole." 

Mr. Arthur slapped his forehead in defeat, while Regina just sighed deeply. There was no way for them to redo the hurt this young man had gone through. 

On the other hand, Eirin stayed waiting outside the school director's office, wondering about what could be taking Shade Cromwell so long to come out. She started biting her fingernails, anxious that Shade might be receiving heavy scolding. Even though she does not have proof that Shade Cromwell did it for her sake, the guilt of not being able to help him causes her to feel terrible. 

 "You definitely should learn how to respect your elders." 

Eirin flinched after the door opened and she heard Mr. Arthur screaming those words. 

 "Yeah, right, Grandpa." 

Shade went out of the room and bumped into Eirin. He rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue before walking away as if he had not seen anyone at all. 

Eirin grabbed Shade's shirt while telling him to wait for her, pulling the young man back to her with her pure strength. 

 "I need to ask you something." 

Eirin saw the dark aura surrounding Shade as he faced her with a frown. 

Shade swatted Eirin's hand. "What?" His eyes glinted red for a moment before he said, "I thought you hated me? What is there for you to say?" 

Those words made the teenage girl wonder when she told the young man that she despised him. She would always think of it, but she does not have a memory of saying it aloud. 

 "Did you... stopped me from talking about what happened because you didn't want me to explain the harassment I went through? Because it might hurt me?" 

Silence and nothing but silence. Eirin thought that this silence was Shade's answer, but she was wrong. 

 "You think too highly of yourself, Luxfield," Shade scoffed, but his eyes sparkled leaving Eirin with her head tilting. "Why would I, Shade Cromwell, do something like that for a weakling like you?" 

Eirin grimaced and balled her fists. She watched Shade as he walked away from her, thinking of how much of an asshole he was. Out of anger, Eirin removed her right shoe and threw it at Shade's head, not expecting it to hit him. 

 "You little!" 

Eirin ran as fast as she could after seeing how angry Shade had become after being hit in the back of his head, but she soon remembered that she could not possibly leave her shoe with that monster. 

 "Ha!" 

Eirin laughed so hard after Shade missed catching her. Despite her heart beating like a drum due to nervousness, she felt unbelievably happy seeing how much of a failure Shade had become after getting hit in the head and not being able to take revenge. 

 "That little shit," Shade muttered while laughing as soon as Eirin was no longer in sight. Mr. Arthur who witnessed the young man laughing alone made him worry a lot for his mental stability. 

  'Serves him right!' Eirin thought while running away. After getting out of Shade's line of vision, the teenage girl dragged her feet in exhaustion to the dormitory. Memories of what happened earlier were still vivid in her head, but the news of those same perpetrators being burned alive and seriously injured made her think of Shade instead, wondering how someone could burn people without mercy at all. 

Eirin entered their room and there she saw Coleen, sitting on her chair and working on something on her desk. 

 "You're back." 

Eirin did not expect that her roommate would talk to her. She still hasn't gotten used to being talked to by Coleen McGuffin who's been ignoring her and showing hostility towards her since the very beginning. 

 "Y-Yeah, I'm back." 

The teenage girl walked towards her bed and Coleen glanced at her. 

 "What happened to your stockings?" 

That was only the time Eirin had realized that she walked through the hallway with her ripped stockings and a bruise on her knees. This explains all the gazes she received from the other students on her way to the dormitory. 

 "Just fell somewhere. Not a big deal, really." 

The vagueness in Eirin's answer made Coleen shrug and look back to her desk. "Well, while you and Shade were gone, Ms. Hockenbury added new homework for us to do. You should check it out." 

Hearing Coleen talk to her as if they were normal colleagues made Eirin feel a little comfortable in their tiny space. It helped her alleviate the pain she had felt today. 

 "Also, if you think you don't get something about these lessons, you can ask me. I've been studying the history of Proprius and Næra ever since I was a child." 

The usual snob and hostile Coleen McGuffin were nowhere to be found, instead, Eirin saw a stuttering adorable girl with her vibrant purple hair tied in space buns, and a flushed face as if embarrassed. 

 "Thank you. I'm glad to have you to rely on." 

Eirin excused herself and went to the bathroom. She saw her smiling reflection in the mirror, and her smile soon vanished. Staring at her disheveled appearance, her dark brown hair was in a mess, her clothes were unwrinkled, and her stockings were all torn apart. 

 "Disgusting." 

Eirin removed her clothes and threw them into the trash bin. She drenched herself in the cold water and scrubbed her legs and arms until her skin got all red and tears were rushing out of her eyes. 

 "Why won't it come off?" 

Despite all the scrubbing she did, the filth didn't leave. The handprints of those men that will never vanish, it was a reminder of something painful. Something she shouldn't have gone through. 

As she got out, her skin was burning in pain and was still reddish. 

 "That was a long bath," Coleen said, witnessing as Eirin got out of the bathroom with her hair still dripping wet. She knew something was different with her roommate, but she also knew she didn't have the right to butt in. After all, she treated Eirin like she was nothing. 

 "I just... felt dirty." 

The day went on and the remaining classes were suspended. Most of the students were forced to stay inside their dormitories. During dinner, Eirin became wary of her surroundings as she continued hearing gossip about the explosion that happened. Just the sound of male students' voices made her flinch every time and it was awful. 

When the night came, Eirin stared at the empty ceiling, waiting for herself to fall asleep, but the time kept passing by with her eyes wide open and her mind wide awake. 

 'I need to fall asleep.' 

Eirin closed her eyes, waiting for the drowsiness to come, telling herself that everything was fine. The door was locked, and it was the women's dormitories. No men would be able to get inside. As the cold air seeped into Eirin's body, giving her comfort as she tucked herself in her warm blanket, she soon drifted into the dreamland. 

But she soon opened her eyes, and she was back in a familiar setting. With all the glass cabinets on the side, the long and wide table is painted with lacquer. It was the laboratory room, that same laboratory room that had exploded. 

 "It was all your fault." 

Her head took a full spin, and it was not until she felt a weight on her stomach that she realized that the same senior guy she met earlier was right in front of her. She was back lying on the ground, defenseless and powerless. 

 "You shouldn't have flashed your beauty all over the place." 

The men laughed and their voices filled Eirin's head while their faces started distorting with the tears blurring Eirin's sight. Their hands started touching every part of her body. Eirin could not scream, and she could not move her body either. All she could do was look at them with tears in her eyes. 

 "Let's burn her after." 

A flame engulfing the whole laboratory room caused the senior men to vanish in sight, leaving Eirin alone and ragged on the floor. As the flame grew bigger, Eirin could feel the warmth that was surrounding her. Before she could even stand and run away, her eyes opened, and she could feel the pain of falling off the bed. 

Eirin panted and looked around the dark room just to realize that she was back in their dorm room, and everything was just a dream. She tried to catch her breath, but her roommate's grunts caught her attention instead. 

The teenage girl looked in Coleen's direction. With her trembling knees, she sauntered towards Coleen's bed and saw how the other girl was drenched in sweat and kept struggling in her sleep. 

Eirin leaned forward to look at Coleen's face, but her eyes soon widened upon seeing how pale the girl had become. It was an awfully familiar situation. Fear crept into her heart as she quickly touched Coleen's hand, searching for warmth. 

The teenage girl heaved a sigh. Relieved, that's what Eirin felt after Coleen started breathing properly. Although her face was still paler than usual, Eirin tiptoed back to her bed after making sure that everything was fine. 

However, the nightmare caused her to stare at her ceiling, afraid of falling asleep again.