Bittersweet: Truth and Dare

"Nani ga okotta ka o o shiri ni narimashita ka?"


"Eeh... Watashi wa oboete inai kano sei ga arimasu."


The incident from the library was... traumatic and unbearable. 


I...I didn't know what to do back then. I was just sitting on the table with my friends when all of a sudden, this guy with a baseball bat and a girl wielding a knife barged in and started causing havoc. Smashing the glass windows, shelves, tossing chairs, kicking tables and knocking books. And then all these girls, including me, ran out of the chairs and started screaming. 


What scared me the most was... one of our classmates got killed.


I hid behind the shelves, careful not to be seen. That guy with the baseball bat smashed the shelves. He even attacked girls with his stun gun before he could find me. I escaped and found myself hiding under the computers before they were smashed, but I was unseen.


But how? Who were those two? Why are they attacking us like this? What did we do wrong?


"Hahaha! Anata wa mada nani mo shitte inai...."


I controlled myself from fidgeting.


I mean, seriously... what is going on in here?


When I walked out of the classroom carrying my books and my backpack, I saw that orange-haired guy talking to that brown-haired girl (whose hair is almost similar to mine) about something. Speaking of Ryuu, I wonder why a lot of people become insecure and repulsed when they see him, as if he's like a grim reaper about to suck in their souls? The other one, Aika, the raven-haired one, everyone thought she's like a psychic who can predict their fates. 


But then, I've heard rumors about the consecutive and mysterious deaths of two twins. Tsukiyoru Arashi and Yoake. 


Arashi hanging himself on the ceiling and covered in slit wounds. 


Yoake stabbing herself on the head several times.


I assume the culprits are Harugii Ryuu and Momoko Aika. When I heard Takashi-sensei tell everyone that they're purely born as official siblings, I had doubts. My own ideal image of siblings are identical eyes for example, or even the same hair color. But when I forced myself to spit it out on Ryuu's face, he just gave me that bitter look.


Ryuu has orange hair and green eyes.


Aika has black hair and blue eyes.


"It's all in the heredity of their parents." one friend told me. "All children are born with that, you know. They're not like they have identical eyes or hair or even skin. But observe their personalities. They're almost identical."


I don't see any similarities. But they're right. It depends on the heredity.


I was snapped out of my distraction when Ryuu walked past me. His eyes are still the same I can almost imagine a dark aura surrounding him already.


That's weird.


I haven't seen Aika since then. 


Oh, I remember. She was paralyzed from Kaori's stun gun, and the girl who ended up getting killed along with her partner Itou. Ryuu used some kind of a lethal injection. What shocked us is that instead of pressing the needle gently, he JABBED it abruptly like it's a dagger. He carried the paralyzed Aika in his arms and followed Takashi-sensei all the way to the Treatment Room.


I'm having no idea what's happening in this place. I mean, I just transferred here two years ago and my life became normal and stable. 


Knowing this is my chance, I followed him. I saw his green eyes look behind. I keep my composure as I entered inside the room. Ryuu suddenly disappeared in the darkness and I was left in front of Takashi-sensei's working table. 


I'm aware they might not be aware about my trespassing.


"Well, what do we have here?"


Uh-oh. I guess they are.


I turned around and to my big surprise, Ryuu was there standing a few meters behind me. He wore the same black lab coat that he and Aika wore when they were in the library. His green eyes looked serious, calm and cold. I stood erectly and bowed.


"Sumimasen," I apologized. "I'm sorry for trespassing."


He approached when I see him spinning a scalpel between his fingers. Its sharp tip shimmered with a seductive glow. His footsteps made their way to Takashi-sensei's working table but he didn't sit on his chair. He just stood there, pacing.


"So, what's your purpose?"


I bit my lip and swallowed. "Harugii-san, do you have something to do with the death of Tsukiyoru twins?"


Instead of twitching, he remained calm. His face is still the same. 


"To be honest, yes." he replied. "You have arguments?"


Damn. He figured it out.


"Matsumoto Hikaru-san," his lips formed a smirk. "The transfer student for two years. Looks like I'm not mistaken." he said in an almost mocking tone. 


"Harugii-san," I said. "What's the fluid you injected in them?"


Ryuu's smirk didn't get wiped out. He flipped the scalpel like a coin and caught it on his hand. He fished out two syringes from his lab coat pocket that are contained two colored fluids. A golden fluid. And a purplish fluid.


"Which one?"


I swallowed again. I pointed an almost trembling finger on the purple one. "T-that. I-is that the lethal injection?"


"Lucky guess," his smirk grew demonic. "Once injected, the victim will die within two to three minutes."


I gasped. Two to three minutes?!


He switched it with the other one. "While this is the drug which is mistaken for a barbiturate when it can actually make the victim commit suicide."


"Like?" I controlled my temper.


"Hmm... let me see. Choking himself with a rope. Stabbing himself on the head or some parts of the body. Claw on his own throat." his gaze turned on me. "You know what I mean. The fingernails dig themselves into the skin until it hits the blood vessels."


I reacted. "That's impossible!"


"It is!" he said coldly. "That happened before you even transferred here. Hikaru-san, do you have any idea about the dark history of this school?"


Dark history..?


"W..what do you mean?"


He snorted. "You've spent two years here and you don't have any slightest idea. You thought school life is normal here, but the existing students here are trying their best not to let the newbies know about it. It's up to them to find out themselves."


"What the heck are you saying?!" I yelled. "Don't you realize what you're doing? You're destroying innocent lives!"


His eyes widened like how a demon glares. "Innocent? Innocent, you say?"


Then he let out a cold and demonic laugh. It was the first time I heard him laugh but not like a maniac, compared to Kaori's. 


"You got it wrong, Hikaru. The victims we terminated are mostly guilty for murder. Let's face it. You don't know Yoake's background of assaulting several students and murdering them. Even Arashi did, only it's not included in the case report. A while ago, you saw Itou and Kaori caused havoc everywhere and they even killed few students. You think you'll define them as innocent?"


He... he's right. Murdering people is not innocent... but what they're doing... 


"You can't go around killing people with those injections! It's against the law!"


He snorted again. "Hahaha! Look who's talking! The victims are the ones begging to be killed. We even spare them by rehabilitating them. But a lot of them reached level-five syndromes. When that occurs, there's no stopping it. Their minds are dominated. Rehabilitation can be useless, because even if they promise they won't do it again, there's a chance they would."


Syndromes? Psychological diseases. I... I haven't thought of that.


All this time everyone suffered from those without even telling me?!


"Don't expect anyone yelling an epidemic is spreading, because it existed in this place for a hundred years. The lucky ones are not affected. The common effect of the syndrome or the disease is killing his close friends or innocent loves and then he'll end up killing himself."


"Whatever that is, you should stop right now. It's causing harm." I said abruptly.


"You know, if you have this position, would you dare try to reform the patients who are born psychopaths? Counseling them is useless. Because their minds are already distorted. Like I said, there's no stopping it. Even if you interpret your advice with feelings it won't work." Ryuu took the scalpel again and spun it around between his fingers like a mini baton. "And now you're begging us to stop? But what can we do? Even if you call rehab experts, it will only be waste of money."


"Heh," I snorted. "What's your point?"


"A  lot of former psychologists here have done that before. They only ended up bankrupted when they find out it was useless. They used medicines for nothing and ended up dumped inside the trash."


"Tch. You should know that Arashi and Yoake's souls are not peaceful because you killed them."


"Hold on, Hikaru." He held out one hand. "Duh. The twins committed suicide. I can tell you're absent-minded."


"I mean, you made them kill themselves!"


"Hahahaha!" he laughed bitterly. "See? You don't even know the entire story!"


I flinched. My heart pounded wildly.


"WHAT IS IT?! TELL ME!"


"Arashi died because he hanged himself and attempted to destroyed himself due to personal depression. The syringe found in his room was not ours. He stole it from here and injected himself. Yoake, guilty from her murders, became a victim of the psychological disease and forced Aika to inject the drug into her before she could protest. She stabbed herself on the head several times in front of Aika."


"Is it me or are you making them all up?"


His face darkened. He tossed me two folders. They landed on my hands. I read them one by one and saw the files with the official stamps and the genuine signatures. Even the actual dates. I read the files as my eyes widened. I felt my hands trembling.


...I was wrong. They didn't made them up. It... it was true. Ryuu and Aika did nothing...


"Now do you believe me?" he asked.


I avoided his gaze. I tried to endure this private humiliation but then I saw Takashi arriving on the scene. 


"Ryuu," he said. "Who's your guest over there?"


"Matsumoto Hikaru. She trespassed in here to file her complaints." Ryuu replied. "Sensei, how's Aika doing? Is she fine?"


Takashi nodded. "Of course. She was almost severely paralyzed from the volts. She can barely move. But she needs an estimated seventeen-hour sleep for her to recover completely."


Seventeen hours? Whoa... that's a long time length!


"As for you, Matsumoto-kun," Takashi-sensei turned to me. "I was listening to your conversation. You know... we know you can be superior to us but there's nothing you can do. You heard what Ryuu told you, and I hope you keep them in mind. Because you are already too late, there's no way you can stop the syndromes and diseases to spread and distort one's mind. Especially the ones murdering other students, they needed to be sedated or even terminated."


I fought back the tears that are stinging my eyes. "I...I'm sorry." I put down the two files. "I guess I'll be leaving. I'm sorry for trespassing..." I sadly went out of the room. 


They were right... there are tons of psychopaths. This school is inhabited with psychopaths.


Ryuu and Aika managed to control their senses... that's why they're not affected.


"Last thing," Ryuu chimed. "You have to be careful, Hikaru. You can be a victim right now."


"W-what do you mean?"


"Syndromes or even diseases don't choose victims or even days to distort one's mind. They can occur anytime. Careful, because you can be experiencing mental disorders right now."


"Uhmm... no, I'm really stable."


"That's good. But you gonna have to prove it."


Huh? What does he mean?