Hexaflexagon

Persona Ø (Accepting 1 Player)

S^ome_where?

While Masako wasn't really content with the answer of while moving is better than standing around and getting killed, it was better to stay as a group right? She let out a sigh looking at the distorted Nichibotsu, and the rest of the group moving down the street and finally deiced that well they might as well die together and ran after them. This whatever this was felt strange very strange, it wasn't just that it was laid out exactly like downtown Nichibotsu but even the air felt off as if it had substance to it. All Masako knew was that she really wanted to get the hell out of there and quickly and the only way to do that was to find Ms.Saskai and hope that she knew the way out? But how did that make sense? She seemed to be as confused as the rest of them when the giant monster grabbed her, Masako highly doubted that she spent her off days jumping into mysterious holes in the ground and fighting monsters. Whatever this was Masako didn't like it she felt imprisoned with nowhere to go.

As they continued to explore they moved past the ruins of one of Nichibotsu's toy stores, now bombed out and looked like it was set on fire with little toy soldiers and teddy bears with half melted faces scattered about the street. Something is this carnage caught her eye and she quickly leaned down and picked up something that had fallen in the street. It looked like a children's rubber band gun with a handful of rubber bands. Instinctively she picked it up, sure it wasn't the best weapon was it? No not really but a rubber band to the eye hurt a lot right? Even to monsters she hoped. She held it by her side and it was kind of funny but it did bring a little bit more sense of security to herself as she moved forward to catch back up with the group. From where she was they seemed to be approaching the ruins of the police station. She followed suit and soon they entered the distorted ruins where everyone was transfixed by a set of still functioning TVs upon the wall.

Masako found this odd as to her currently they seemed to just be transmitting static until she faced them directly and a picture came into play, almost as if they were waiting for her. Masako knew the scene being portrayed out in front of her. It was from a long time ago and she would of frankly preferred for it to have stayed buried in her head.

Memories.

It was a bright and sunny day and Masako and her mother were walking down the street together. Masako at this point was a little girl at this point no older than four today was a good day because they got to go outside of the house. Masako's mother walk beside her carrying a bag of food from the store that would serve as this weeks food. She was a tall women with long black hair, gentle brown eyes and a calm face who liked the sunshine. She was a biologist who worked with the local university on studying the bioluminescence of firefly's to learn more about the ways they communicate with one another. She and Masako's father were an unlikely pair but they met in university and had been together even since and they made a relatively good team. He was always off somewhere in a business meeting having little time to stay at home. As a result Masako had bonded to her mother, becoming not only a caretaker but kind of her only friend.

It was a beautiful day in Spring and the cherry blossoms where falling from the trees coating the ground in a pink snow. There was not a cloud in the sky and the spring breeze playful brushed against the skin before floating away. They were taking the long way home, to enjoy the day which would take them past the railway tracks. Masako was having fun pointing at all the insects and the birds, generally in love with life. Her mother would tell her some fact about the animal trying to make the sojourn as educational as possible as she usually did. Eventually they reached the tracks and that was when Masako saw the cat. It was across the way, a fluffy white snowball of a thing cleaning itself as it looked across at them curiously. Masako had one goal in her mind, she wanted to pet the cat and throwing caution to the wind she ran across the tracks towards the cat. She did not notice the alarm sounding as the barrier began to close.

Masako's mother saw it all though, she saw her child break free and run for the cat, she saw the barrier began to lower and she heard the train come roaring forward from the distance. Her daughter would never make it in time and in that moment she deiced to act as her own maternal instincts went into overdrive. She slipped under the barrier and ran towards her daughter ignoring the roar of the train is it blew its horn getting ever closer. She ignored it all as a sort of tunnel vision came over her and all she could do was focus on her little daughter still in the path of the train looking at it dumbstruck. She leaped at the last moment reaching her hands out coming into contact with Masako's side and sent her flying out of danger towards the other side passed the path of the train and near the cat.

Masako landed with a thud surprised and a little bit in pain as she scrapped her legs against the ground in her fall. She was able to look towards the way of what pushed her towards her mother who rather than struggling to get up as the train slammed on its breaks creating a terrible demonic screeching noise. But it was already too late, her mother knew that and calmly composed herself together like a proper lady and mouth something to her daughter, before giving her a smile. Seconds later the train came barreling through. Blood was thrown in each direction some of it splattering across Masako's face as the fluffy white cat came up next to her and began to nuzzle the side of her leg.

I love you Masako.

The screen at this point flickered and changed screens as it began to display a different scene a little bit later. It was raining heavily and Masako was with a group of people all dressed in black. They were in some sort of cemetery and Masako was standing next to her father. Her father was a large and muscular man with tired eyes. He had flown in right away from China when he had heard the news, canceling every meeting he had and given up on a million dollar contract. He had spent the last couple of days arranging the funeral and when he wasn't doing that locked in his room so his daughter would not see him cry. Masako was confused, tired and wondering where her mom was. The last couple of days had been numerous different adults asking her a lot of questions and none of these questions making sense, and whenever she asked for her mom all they did was look at her sadly. All she wanted was her mom, where had the train taken her? Why didn't her dad tell her where she was. And why were they watching this box be lowered into the ground? As this happened and the resulting days and years flashed by picture after picture showing as she continued to be a disappoint, large text appeared on the screen.

She's dead because of you.

It's all your fault.

Your Father will always hate you.

And then static.

bzzzzzzzzzttttttttttttttttttt

S^ome_where?

The TV cut back to static as Masko came back into the present. She hadn't notice it at the time but tears were running down her face and she quickly wiped them up hoping that nobody had noticed them. She took a deep breath and centered herself, that was nothing just a dream or something nothing more. Just this batshit crazy world trying to play tricks on her. No you are better than that, you don't let the past deiced the future you make your own options. You still have to get out of here, so you can cry later damn it. It was at this point she spoke her voice shaky as she replied to Dai. "Yeah.... fucking with our heads would be a good way to describe that, whatever that was. I'm starting to hate this place more and more every second. So all in favor of never looking at creepy televisions sets ever again?"

Sekai no Owari no Sora: The Sky at the End of the World

Update

Alright once Sky and Monkey are done I'll post my own character sheet as well as the basic sheets for some of the important NPCs and then we will start! So far with your guys character's I feel this is going to get very interesting, very quickly.

Mass Effect: Omega Serenade

And there you go everybody you can read over the collab right now and also the official end to what I would like to call Chapter 1 or the introduction Chapter as it was. As I hold you over as I finish writing up the Timeskip Post back to the start where everything is going to hell, which is about halfway done right about now.

Mass Effect: Omega Serenade

Collab between Lalia and Hex

"....And that's when he said to me I thought you brought it from the shuttle!" Nik explained talking had slowly evolved into drinking and of course drinking slowly turned back to talking. The Drell had spent the last indiscernible amount of time as most old soldiers do when they drink talk of old war stories. Though these stories were special to a form they were all stories of his interactions with the squad members they had lost. It was his way of honoring them, of giving them the respect they deserved. To mourn for them would be accepting loss, accepting death. Nik had never really learned to accept death and instead choose to honor how they lived. Sometimes he even forgot that they died at all and was able to convince himself that they just had to go away. People also go away sometimes and maybe when he was least expecting it around that corner would be a familiar face.

Time had progressed slowly as it usually did without regard to those it affected. Their only source of estimation being the bottle of liquor that slowly dwindled down with each pass of hands. Once a flowing ocean it was all but a small puddle at the bottom of a prison of glass. Omega was funny like that with no sun or stars to speak you had to make an actual effort to be able to tell even for a moment how much time had passed or how little for that matter. The jubilant celebrations in the street had slowly died down, the roar of people become a distant murmur punctuated by the occasional croak of one of the pipes in the building trying to rush water from point A to point B. It was times like these that the great sprawling pit of darkness seemed almost normal as maybe if you closed your eyes and thought about it you could be anywhere else in all of known space and not the den of thievery and debauchery that it was.

It was these few hours of occasional piece that made it so Nik didn't leave all those years ago. It was at these times when he could recollect and think without having a gun pointed at his head that the thought crossed his mind that maybe it was all worth saving. All the people he had lost, the friends that had died, and the things that he had done. Because maybe if somebody hit harder enough against all of it, the inherent standard state of the system would change. It was something that helped himself get up everyday because for every gangbanger he had shot in the head there had been a normal person just trying to make ends meet.

But who am I thinking all this sentimental crap? You'd think I've gone and become a school boy again. No you know why you're here Nik, you're here because you want blood. Blood to fill the holes they created. Nik shook his head clearing it of the silliness of the midnight reverie that had slipped past his alcohol induced weakness. He passed what little remained of the bottle over to Raya and wonder what was he doing? Nik wasn't the type to share bottles and swap stories. It was easier to drop people by the wayside when it was convenient when you didn't spend the time learning about them. You didn't get hurt that way, because you didn't care. That was his modus operandi it was easier to be a hardass than it was to be a real person, he figured that one out through years of tribulation.

Raya chuckled at Nik's stories as he told them, and for some reason they kept getting funnier. But maybe that was due to the alcohol. She didn't care though, she was having a good time drinking and letting her mind go fuzzy. It had been along time since she last became anything close to drunk, but this was nice.

She had let Nik do most if not all the talking, as she could tell that he needed it. He had too much crap stuffed inside and it wasn't healthy for short lived species, it made life shorter for them. Even though he didn't talk about his early stuff, what he did unload was enough to keep his head. Or at least that was what she thought. It kind of surprised her how little she knew of her leader. But then you didn't need to know much, to know that they have your back or make good calls. Plus, it wasn't like she knew a whole lot about the others either, she just never took the time too. But if she did, knowing her luck if they didn't die fighting they would die of old age. So either way she would be losing a..... a... she couldn't bring herself to even think of the word.

Thankfully Nik passed her the bottle that was now dangerously low to being empty. She stared at the bottle for a moment before take a small swig. The burn that the alcohol when they first started drinking was now just a warm tingling feeling. She handed the bottle back to Nik before staring down at her feet. They had been silent for a while, both with their own thoughts, both either trying to think of something to say or just lost in their minds. They were surprisingly similar the two of them, though Raya was never great with words not like Nik anyway.

At that moment though she was in an internal battle, as a part of her wished to open up and tell someone about her past. But the other side didn't want to talk about it, it didn't want to share. It was her past anyway, her pain and no one else's. Why did she cling to her pain like some prized possession? It was all she had, if she shared it what would she have left?

It was a depressing thought, but she quickly shook her head and looked at the Drell. She smiled slightly before laying back on the bed, with her legs over the side. She looked up at the ceiling and watched as it seemed to dance. "Oh Nik! I see dancing stars!" She said before giggling. Realizing that the sound coming out of her mouth was something new and foreign, she placed a hand over her mouth but it wasn't enough to make her stop.

Damn alcohol!

Giggling that was a sound that Nik almost had forgotten about. He was accustomed to a plethora of sounds but giggling was not one of them. The sense of joy that came from it was a foreign concept, they were not the sounds of anger that he had become closely acquainted with. For those sounds to come out of Raya well it only added to the disconnect. Raya was a lot of things she was a soldier, hard as stone and somebody the Drell knew had gone through the baptism of fire and made it out the otherside. But that was all he really did know of any of the squad. He knew of them as soldiers and not much more than that. He never asked about their families, what happened before they met him. He never needed to ask because it didn't matter to him, they were guns, tools to an end and that was good enough for him.

His attention was drawn to the ceiling and the “dancing stars”. The light that drifted in from the window, the oversaturated neon slowly pulsing was splashed upon the ceiling. Every minute almost upon the dot, the colors outside would switch and the ceiling would be bathed in colors of first blue, then green, red, yellow and everyone in between. These small flashes illuminated the room playing off of the broken shards from the mirror casting them back up into the ceiling and back down off of anything with a shine to it. This drunken rainbow illuminating blue and green faces as they watched the show of light dance above them, a tiny sea of stars in the place without a sun. The Drell finished the last of the bottle and without much talking raised to his feet and walked by the window something on his mind.

He rose the bottle up to where the light was slipping in directly into the path. The light caught in this makeshift prism defused catching on the liquid still clinging to the bottle. The light became diffracted, each color shining through and as he tilted the bottle it warped casted ghostly images upon the ceiling and the room. Shapes of indiscernible height and size morphing and seemingly dancing about. It brought him back to a place far away it was a trick that he first showed his brother one day when he was sick to cheer him up all those years ago. It seemed so close, so vivid that he could almost touch it. But the picture morphed to a hospital bed soon afterwards, Nik got the call hours earlier but he had to ignore it, he had work, he had criminals that needed to be caught, he had his job. When he finally got around to listening to it, it didn't matter. No matter how fast he moved, no matter how quickly he ran, he would always get there too late. He would never did to get to say goodbye, he never did get to say he was sorry.

Then he was back in the present still moving the bottle about playing with the light. He let out a sigh and nothing more, the alcohol at least dampened his memory. He smiled shaking his head and put the empty bottle down upon the windowsill free the continue to cast its own little light show. He walked back over to the bed and laid back feeling the bed catch as he lay there next to Raya, shoulders touching as his attention was drawn back up to the ceiling above. The first words that came out of his mouth was not a question or even a statement. It just was a truth or at least what Nik thought to be the truth. ”We are all terrible people aren't we?”

Raya watched as the lights danced and moved across the ceiling, in her buzzed/drunken state she found it all rather entertaining. She could see the outline of the Drell walk over to the window, she wasn't sure why he did so but the lights on the ceiling suddenly changed. The way they danced reminded her of the time shortly after waking up from her coma. She went into the stripping business, she made a lot of money that way. Though she made more selling herself. g

She suddenly wondered if that was something to talk about, but then that might end up with them talking about why she got into it. Nah, it was best not to talk about such things. Plus she was sure the Drell knew something about her dancing, as she had done some cover work for the team. She posed as a stripper, in addition of getting the information they needed she got over three hundred credits.

She was suddenly pulled from her thinking when Nikusiil laid next to her. She could feel his shoulder rubbing next to her's. Then he asked a question, but she could tell that he didn't mean it to be. Turning her head slightly so that she could see the Drell’s face she smirked. "No..... well at least Daro isn't, she just runs with the wrong crowd." She said coolly before looking up at the ceiling again. She watched the colors dance for a moment before continuing. "I don't think Haze is horrible, he has too much honor. Sure he may have a past but who doesn't on Omega? And Ardan, well I don't know him so I can't say anything really..... You, well you must have some good or else you wouldn't be doing this." She paused again as her thoughts suddenly jumbled together and she forgot what she was talking about.

"All I know Nik..... is that I am a horrible person. I am an Ardat-Yakshi only without the condition, I enjoy the hunt and the kill.... I draw out their death sometimes unnecessarily so, and I like it. So I don't think you guys are terrible, but I know I am." As she listened to her own words she thought of all the people she killed and she felt pleasure and nothing. Yes, she was a terrible person and she had no idea what the Drell saw in her.
"Why did you offer me to be on your team? .... you watched me torture a Krogan worse than Jek did. What made you think a psychotic Asari would make a good addition to your merc group?" She asked as it had been bugging her for a while, she just never had the chance to ask. Until now that is.

"What was it? Seven years ago now? Back when we both were still working independently, I as the lone mercenary vigilante type and you as the ruthless Asari Huntress. We were both hunting after that Krogan. What was it trafficking, murder something or another. When we both eventually got to him and you started to butcher him. Well I saw something you know, I saw something in your eyes."He remembered it vividly, the scenes of that night began to slowly flash through Nik's head like the lights above as he continued to speak

"I saw an all too familiar look in your eyes, a look that a young drell had many ages ago, when he was barely a man. His brother had overdosed and his mother had committed suicide all within the span of a month all that was left of his family gone. The look of anger at the world that took away everything. It is a very particular t anger can not be taught. Maybe that's why I contacted you again later, maybe that's why I did not shoot you on sight, maybe that's why I told you my name. And for the rest of it, you proved that you were strong and capable. I don't care about the past or what you are thought to be because that did not matter to me. What mattered to me then and now is that you did your job well." Nik explained gaze still fixed upward at the ceiling.

"And so that is why you and Jek are different. Killing made Jek into a Monster. You, well I reckon monsters made you into a killer. The same goes for everybody else here. In my eyes, you are no worse then any of the others that I drag around to go dance with death. Maybe your actually better because at least I'll know you'll make it abundantly clear that you want me dead. Because subtlety just ain't your style. " He explained in his stereotypical blunt manner.

Raya kept her eyes on the ceiling as Nik spoke, she didn't even look at him when he revealed some of his past. She wasn't going to make a big deal about it, she wasn't going to pester him with question or pity him. She knew that what he told her, he told in confidence. She wouldn't bring it again or repeat what he told her to anyone, and maybe that was why he said what he did. He knew that she could keep her lips sealed and that she wasn't a gossip. But now that she knew a little about him, she could understand why he was so driven. Losing everyone you love could either break you and make you a mess or it could break you for a moment before making you into something new. Whether for good or bad it would be hard to tell. In this case a little of both.

"You got that right." She said, but to either monsters making her a killer or about her blunt nature was unclear. She just stared at the ceiling and the colored lights that danced there. As she watched the lights she reached out to find Nik's hand, once she did she brought it up to look at it. It looked much like her's only the two middle fingers had a webbing between them, why she wasn't exactly sure. "So I heard if people lick your skin they hallucinate or go on some sort of acid trip." She said as she looked at his hand. Before he could say anything she propped herself up on her elbow and with her other hand she gently touched his chin so he would move his head to the side. Then she licked the side of his face, before laying down again with a slight giggle escaping from her lips.

She watched as the colored lights on the ceiling grew more vibrant, if anything this was mild compared to the drugs she did in the past. Though this was the most fun she had in decades without killing anyone, even if it was just drinking and listening to stories. She was even for a moment happy or at least content, it was something she hadn't felt in a long time.

The two stayed like that for a long time and talked a little bit more but in reality they stayed mostly silent. The hand that Raya had grabbed earlier laying limply in hers feeling the warmth. The face licking had caught him off guard his entire body going stiff and he had to fight the inherent reflex to pull away but in reality it actually didn't feel that bad. Eventually though the swell of alcohol took its course though and overtime eventually the Asari fell asleep next to him. Nik was at this point too tired and too beyond himself to do anything about it and so he simply readjusted her picking her up gently and laying her back down so that her head was upon the pillows and pulled the sheet up over her. He did not sleep though he let out a small sigh sitting at the foot of the bed and for the next hour went over his weapons and his armor polishing and running routine maintenance. When this was finally done he stood up and walked back over to the window peering out at Omega down around him. He activated his omni-tool and spoke gently into it recording another message for another day.

Excerpt From The Journal of Nikusiil Vos.

What do we search for? What is it that drives us forward? Is it just the simple act of living that all races have in drive or is it something more than that. Is it something else that we strive for, something that the alcoholic finds in the bottle, the druggie inside the needle, and the lovers in the arms of one another? A transcendence. an almost religious feeling of belonging and knowing where we are in the moment and knowing that you do indeed belong. People find this transcendence in all sorts of things: be it power, revenge, the company of drinks with friends, looking up into the sky with somebody closer and wondering about life or maybe finding a like soul in the darkness. I've learned in my time here that whatever this dream is sometimes it is the only thing that can drive you forward and sometimes it is all you got left.

End Of Chapter 1

Persona Ø (Accepting 1 Player)

@Blu
Kazuo takes tip from the Persona 3 school of romance.

Sekai no Owari no Sora: The Sky at the End of the World

Blarg. Sheet's finally done, though I'll expand the History if you want.

@Zombehs

Nope everything looks good on my side! You may post to the character tab if it suits you.

Persona Ø (Accepting 1 Player)

Masako registered the rest of the students walking into the classroom with little more than a passing glance: a girl with short hair, a face that she certainly had never seen before and she would later learn to be the transfer student, another foreigner a tall one at that probably dwarfing her in height, another blonde male seemingly ready for the day. Next the two teachers came into the room and to say they were an interesting pair would of probably hit the mark on the head. Masako listened as they introduce themselves and began to go through the attendance list and started to read off the names.

She paid attention with little actual invested interests to the names that were called off, but at least made an effort to try and associate names with faces so if their was ever group work or anything she didn't make a total fool of herself. She watched with that seem effort of half interest as the transfer student introduced himself and all Masako did in her head was just file him away as another genius that will probably make her grades look terrible in comparison. But that was kind of unfair to him wasn't it? Even if he was super smart it wasn't like he meant to make her look terrible or anything, no that was all her fault. She made her own observations about the teachers, The professor seemed like he didn't want to be there at all a sentiment that Masako herself could appreciate maybe he wouldn't be so bad. Ms. Sasaki though seemed to be a little too eager for the prospect of learning about geological phenomenons, in a way that Masako could never get excited about it though she seemed nice enough. The mention of field work made her rise her head a little from her slouched position on the desk. No pens or paper, no having to look at boring textbooks with information that she really didn't care about? And they got to go outside? Well maybe this wasn't going to be the worst thing ever.

---

Noon

The forest was nice, definitely better than any classroom that Masako could be stuck inside at the moment. Being able to hear the birds and feel the wind and sun upon her skin was a welcome change. Though Masako could've never imagined that adventuring through a forest could be boring and yet here they were examining the contour of a slope of a hill with rulers and protractors and taking notes on it. I guess it could've been worse though she thought to herself and that was true to a form they could of been doing it with imaginary hills inside a classroom. At least here they got to see the application of the thing rather than just doing science for science's sake. Then Ms. Sasaki got really excited about a hole in the ground.

To be fair, the geological phenomena that Ms. Sasaki wa getting all excited about was strange but as a counterpoint it was just a really big hole in the ground. But something just seemed off about the whole area, Masako listened and she heard no bugs, no birds and it seemed as if the spring breeze that she could feel just a moment ago suddenly vanished as soon as they approached the hole. It was almost as if it they had entered a little bubble or something. Masako was about to make a comment about it when a giant hand darker than any shadow she had ever seen come rushing out of the hole like some sort of great burrowing earthworm and grabbed Ms. Saskai. The transfer student moved into action first calling for assistance and the rest of the students soon followed after. Though despite their desperate struggle, eleven high school students equals little in resistance compared to the giant hand and they all went tumbling down the hole darkness chasing after them.

***

S^ome_where?

Masako was greeted with a strange sky looming far above her. It wasn't the crisp blue that had pleasantly drifted above them in the forest, no it was now two large chasms of black and white split down the middle where the noon day sun should have been. slowly got up pushing herself to her feet in as composed a manner as could possibly be achieved at the moment. She looked around at her surroundings and noticed very quickly that this was Nichibotsu, the lower district to be exact. Though like the sky above it was distorted, strange, eldritch as if it had been made of washable markers and just dipped in water. The buildings and street looked like a bomb had recently fallen from the sky and cars were flipped or ripped in half. Some of the buildings had been perched at strange angles almost if if they were slowly dripping away and in the far distance the city streets flickered and shuttered as they seemed to have trouble staying in reality.

Masako took a deep breath composing herself and trying not to appear as frightened as she was in her head. Her father had always said a Unmei heir does not show fear. Fear was for the weak and those unwilling to face the challenges ahead of them, fear was for those who did not deserve success. Well yeah that was easy for him to say, he wasn't the one that got dragged through a giant void be an evil hand ended up in some messed up alternate reality. She noticed that many of the others had already awoken and were discussing the plans moving forward. It seemed they were getting ready to go on a search party to rescue Ms.Saskai and maybe find a way out of there. This sounded like the most sensible option of all of them but what then I don't think even Ms.Saskai was prepared for something like this. I don't think anybody was really, and yet here they were preparing to venture out into the great unknown, into whatever this city was.

"Uhh hold on for a second guys. Before we go out on some sort of adventure to go save the day or whatever you are planning have any of us really thought about this for a moment? I mean this isn't some video game guys." She explained as she began to spoke.
"This is real life and we are in a world that we know nothing about beside that it kind of looks like our own and that it is filled with monsters. Monsters mind you that were easily able to overpower eleven of us working together to drag us all down some giant hole in the ground. And we expect to just able to defeat anything we may come across? I know it's our only option and all and I'm not about to let our teacher get eaten or whatever, but did any of you stop to wonder how suicidal we all are sounding right now? So do we have a better gameplan than just hope we find Ms.Saskai and not get killed or eaten or whatever?" She asked the group as they all continued to get ready. Sure it probably wasn't what any of them wanted to hear at the moment but in Masako's mind it was what they had to hear. She needed to at least provide the reality check before they all went gung ho into the jaws of death charge of the light brigade style..

Persona Ø (Accepting 1 Player)

And my post shall be up soon enough. Had to deal with some stuff for work sorry.

Persona Ø (Accepting 1 Player)

April 9th / Sunday / Sunny

The xanthous ball of plasma that had begun its lazy arc through the sky marking the start of the day. It was a pleasant day if any there had ever been, without a cloud in the sky to obstruct the vast expanse of spring blue that stretched across the horizon. The animals outside were active and the chipper of a spear of beards could be heard through the crack of an open window as they flew by Koden Academy. A cool breeze came from the east and with it the scent of pollen and fresh cut grass. It was the the start of the second week of April and the sense of apprehension in the air around Koden Academy was so thick you could taste it on your tongue. Classes started tomorrow and most of the students would be preparing for the start of the new school year tomorrow. Not that many cared for it, most of the student body made up of some of the brightest students in the country. Koden had pride in the fact that in your math class you could very well be sitting next to the future Prime Minister or Parliamentary Chairmen. They had nothing to worry about, though one girl was worried about the approaching tomorrow as she tried her best not to think of it.

Unmei Masako did not like school. Clarification. Unmei Masako never liked school since she was a little girl. The constant drone of the teachers, the boring textbooks filled with information you will never have to know again, the pit of dread that forms in the stomach before a test. She hated it all. Masako would rather be out anywhere running, or doing something productive with her time then being locked in a concrete legalized prison camp for adolescents. In all honestly she didn't even believe that she belonged her with all this prodiges and geniuses and then completely average her. All she contributed in her past two years of attending Koden was being able to run pretty well for Track and Field but even then she was sure they could of found a better smart person that could also run as fast as her. So why was she here?

The shortest and the simplest answer was her father. Mister Unmei was a very wealthy and very powerful man with many friends in the government and the business world. Unmei Heavy Industries like most companies started out as a weapons manufacture during the Second World War. Today it was one of the largest government contractors in Japan and whether people knew it or not they were using Unemi products everyday. Unmei built machinery towed their elevators, they rode on trains riding on tracks laid down by Unmei construction equipment and used cars using Unmei engines. So when it came time for thinking about his only daughters education, well an important man like him dared not send her to the pittle and grime of Public Schools, no she would only get the best and the best was Koden. It was always that way, Masako never got to prove herself in anything because father's money spoke louder than words every time.

She sat slouched on the chair in front of her desk which neatly had a stack of books on one corner and a plethora of different colors of pens in a small square cup in the other. The books were her reading for the year, textbooks that were destined to never leave their same position on the desk and accumulate dust over a slow period of time. Of course she didn't believe that. No this year was going to be "different", this year she wasn't going to lose steam and come crashing to another stand still like last year and barely scrape by. No she was going to seize the initiative, she was going to study, she was going to hand things in on time and she was going to prove that she didn't need her father's legacy to get through life. Yeah like that was going to happen

"No... I got this!" She muttered to herself clenching her right hand into a fist and nodding her head. She stood up and grabbed the water bottle that was on the desk. She was going to go out, probably just run for awhile until she couldn't run anymore. That would help deal with the stress, calm down the nerves and allow her to focus on something else beside school for awhile. Yeah that sounded like a plan.

April 10th/ Monday/ Sunny

The sharp shrill tones of an alarm clock knocked her awake with the impact of a prize fighter. She looked towards the numbers and her mind suddenly jump with recognition she had overslept again had'nt she? Of course she did, she always did whenever it was important at least. She had a very small window of opportunity to be able to get there early and get a good seat but she would have to run. It would require haste and it would require dumb luck. Masako got out of bed well more like fell with style catching herself before her face could slam against the floor. She quickly got changed grabbing the School Uniform for her closet and shrugging it on over her smallclothes: shirt check, jacket that was starting to hang a little too close in the chest area check, skirt despised it but check. Her hair was a mess but there was nothing to do about that now and so she bundled it up quickly and using a simple black hair band pulled it back into a longish ponytail. She threw her books into a small bag which she threw over one shoulder and bolted out the door. It seemed to be the start of another average year.

She ran as quickly as she could, having three near high speed collisions and having to juke out of the way and step onto the finely trimmed grass much to the chagrin of the groundskeeper to make it around a group of chatty girls a year younger than her. Taking the paths that through two years worth of experience new would get her there the quickest with the least foot traffic, She eventually made it to the designated building with time to spare though of course without breakfast and a little out of breath. She cursed herself as things were already getting to a spectacular start and she was already not at all excited to deal with learning at this very moment. What class was she even going to? Oh right geography of all things. Lets look at continental plates and talk about rocks! Yeah like that was going to be anything but a bore. But she had to try, she had to prove that she could do this. Taking a deep breath she centered herself and entered the building.

She got to the classroom just as the rest of the students began to file in. There was a foreign boy with an mp3 player, another boy drinking coffee of some sort in the center looking extremely ready and extremely bored at the same time, an extraordinary chipper young man that seemed to be just a big ball of sunshine, a boy in a very large jacket rather strange with the uniform but nothing major, and wait... Was that a girl or a boy or you know what better to not ask any questions. She moved past them and headed to the far side of the room that boasted the three sets of large rectangular windows and assumed her position in the backhand corner. As soon as she made contact with the desk she brought her hand down in between her arms and sighed hoping nobody would notice her disheveled state. Hoping that she could at least catch a breather before the teacher came in. This was going to be one long year...

Sekai no Owari no Sora: The Sky at the End of the World

Do beasts also have some equivalent of tainted blood or made up 'magically'?

@Skyswimsky

Beasts have mostly lacrimas filled bloodstreams even more than most Magi. But where Magi use it to cast, Beasts seem to use it to "anchor" themselves to our reality.

@Sen
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