Carefully placing a red bookmark inbetween wide pages, and closing the leatherbound book shut, Yohan gave a small stretch as his mind had finally reached the point where he couldn't take in any more studies. It was great to refresh the mind every now and again, especially whilst enjoying the pleasant temperature and ambiance provided by a space like the roaring surf. Popping the thick book under his arm, Yohan gave a brief yawn. Perhaps he'd settle for calling it a day a little early tonight.
It was a shame he couldn't find Onyx or Alina quite yet, but... he was sure they'd be just fine. As cruel as the Destructed World was, it didn't bring any harm to one's real self. He was sure of that now.
Weaving through the walkways of the Roaring Surf with a slight, relaxed smile on his face, he'd pretty much only just entered the Student District before he noticed something strange.
Extremely strange, in fact.
Is that...
The awkward glances of what few people were around the area helped him spot this... girl, running around in...
Oh, Christ almighty!
Yohan blinked twice, before abruptly averting his eyes. Two seconds of seeing
that pretty much gave all the information he needed to know. Her hair was long and of a mousy blonde, and looked like it should've been much more well-kept than it was. Just like the situation with Onyx, she was lacking clothing. Whilst her clothing situation wasn't as
disastrous as Onyx's that fateful day, running about at speed certainly wasn't doing her any favours. But despite that, the feature he'd been paying most attention to was that one, unmistakable, gleaming golden eye that he himself possessed.
She was coming this way. Fast. He really didn't understand the context of the situation, but he could make one firm guess: Marionette. Whilst he didn't want people to get the wrong idea about him, he knew one thing for sure: he damned well wasn't going to leave her to run around and eventually get a thump from a Student Disciplinary member for acting in such a way.
Thinking fast, Yohan whipped off his jacket
"Excuse me! Miss!" Yohan boldly exclaimed, puffing out his chest and putting a hand out to try and stop the girl whilst deliberately looking away from her.
"I'm not going to... you know, so don't panic, all right? Besides, you can't just go running about like that... you're going to get yourself arrested!"
Yohan offered the jacket to her, before speaking in a quieter tone as he gave her a glimpse of his aurellion eye.
"...I'm like you. So, please... just take the jacket?"
It seemed like he wanted to say a lot more, but he didn't have the time to do so without the risk of her just running past like a headless chicken. The girl looked beyond terrified, so perhaps she was beyond saving.
But he'd still do his damnedest.
It was the duty of any fellow student to help someone in such a dilemma, rather than just stare of laugh... which seemed to be just about what everyone else was doing.
"Goodness! To think I'm the only one who'd help out of the crowd here!" Yohan spoke up loudly, giving a fake glare to the crowd.
"Why don't you all move along? It's clearly not her day." It sent most of the glances away, slowly, but surely.
In her mindless charge through the street, she could
feel eyes upon her, each one glaring daggers, each one just waiting to claim her life. Fully giving into her self-preservation instincts, her slender legs carried her onwards, stumbling a few times but kept her pace, weaving, and shoving. However, sooner or later, her luck ran out as she literally bumped into someone.
"Aaah!" Eva yelped, trembling in taller stranger's presence. Was this the black-haired red-eyed assassin disguising as a Disciplinary Committee member?
"E-... evis-...!" The blonde stopped her stuttered chant when she heard his voice, far too gruff and deep for a woman, this one wasn't her murderer.
"Ha..." Heaving a sigh of small relief, she looked up at him, widening her eyes at the sight of a golden eye, the very same eye she had.
"You..." This was enough to pacify the panicked girl. Eva stood still, slowly taking the offered jacket then covered her body, blushing hard as she became incredibly self-conscious of her indecency.
"T-... thank you." The blonde murmured. She stuck close to him as the fellow blonde dismissed the gathering crowd.
Breathing deeply a few times, Eva's heart somewhat calmed down as she took her time to process everything. Likely there was nothing in her room, she freaked out on her own much to her chagrin.
"You're like me so... so can you tell me what's going on? What are those visions? The maddened world? And... and why are there people trying to kill me?" She rambled but there was no way she would pass up this chance. It greatly soothed her to know someone else was stricken with the same curse. This meant she wasn't going insane.
"You're quite welcome; no need to look so bashful! We've had worse cases of public indecency in Ringrange. One of my other friends would be delighted to tell you about that, if he were here..." Yohan jested in a chirpy tone. However, his look turned to a serious one as the girl finished talking. She didn't... she didn't know about anything?
"...Of course," Yohan nodded, before looking around him.
"but first, let's go somewhere less... public. Otherwise people will think our conversations are fueled by hallucinogens. And, er... to put it politely... could you not stand so close?" the young student cleared his throat,
"I don't mean that to be rude, it's just that I don't want people to get the wrong idea, that I'm... you know. Being devious."
With that out the way, Yohan made a small gesture for the girl to follow, heading to somewhere that wasn't absolutely heaving with people.
"It's curious that it's only just started affecting you... I assumed everyone 'started' at similar times. Curious indeed..." Yohan pondered aloud as he led the female student somewhere a bit less crowded. Once he was satisfied the density of people wasn't so sparse, he turned, giving a slight smile as he began to explain.
"Well then! I'll explain this as simply as I can... you're going to have to forgive me if this all sounds very strange." Yohan stroked his chin as he looked for the words.
"...What's happening is currently unexplainable and defies all logic. I have no answers for how it's happening. Every now and again, at seemingly random, short intervals... your body is going to be 'transported', to some sort of different, dreamlike world. It changes every time, and there's always some sort of... ticking. I'm not sure what it all means. None of us really are. But it's almost as if the world is implying for everyone to..." Yohan struggled to find the words.
"...Kill each other. Before 'time' runs short. If the dangers of the world doesn't do that already."
"Don't worry too much, though! Whilst it's true you can feel pain in there, and it's also true you're bound to go through some sort of... 'nightmare'..." Yohan's face creased up at the memories of his own,
"...You just have to keep in mind that the injuries you obtain in there won't affect you here. As long as you keep yourself safe in real life, nothing bad's going to happen to you. Always keep that thought in mind, and it'll help you pull through, however long this lasts."
Yohan turned his head downwards from his thoughtful look, offering a hand for the young woman to shake.
"It's true some try and kill others in those 'fake worlds', but I think the most of us are still sane at least. And they'd know better than to try and hurt you here. As reassurance, you have my word I won't harm you, if I meet you in that place." He paused, remembering his manners.
"I'm Yohan Rye, by the way. A pleasure. I've been murdered three times so far! How about you?"
Easier said than done, just because he said there were
worse offenders in the offshore academy didn't mean her situation was any better. She went out into the streets, out in the public, clad only in her nightwear! What truly helped her was his coat, it was oversized enough to cover her whole body as her hands kept it close to cover her front.
"I-... I'm not sure I want to hear that story..." Eva murmured then silently agreed with his initiative to a more secluded location.
"Ah?! Uhm... sorry."The shorter blonde stepped away from her male counterpart upon his request, she didn't even realize she was violating his personal space until now. People might get the wrong idea, yes, the last thing she wanted was them being taken by the disciplinary committee for public indecency.
Following her unlikely new ally closely, Eva looked up at his back,
"So there are more people like me... like us?" It seemed whatever affecting her wasn't new, further proven by the sword bitch's remark of this being her first time.
"Tell me more." By now, she had calmed down as they take a spot in a quiet corner.
"H-hehe... I'm sure... you can hardly surprise me after what I went through."Unexplainable, defying logic, laughing in the face of all established science. Indeed, these words portrayed the world of madness she was forced to experience.
"Transported... Kill..." It made sense now, why the whole world went mad, why she was shot in the head the first time and stabbed through the chest the second time.
"Everyone went insane... just like the world itself." In the end, however, it was all a dream, a very lifelike dream but a dream. It still didn't explain why their 'powers' stayed with them in the real world. The nightmare just added more salt to her mental wound.
"A-alright... yeah, keep myself safe..." So when it happened again, she must defend herself with all she's got. The supernatural ability she received, the power to cut objects clean in half with just one word, it could be useful.
Eva flinched at first from the offered handshake but after a short moment of hesitation, she shyly took his hand,
"I... appreciate that." So they could be back each other up, huh? Or was he merely gaining her trust just to kill her later, like that woman? She had no way to find out, not right now.
"I'm... uh... you can call me Eva." Three times?! He got it worse than she did, assuming he was telling the truth.
"Twice..." She sighed,
"What did I ever do to get into this mess?"
Placing his hand back in his trouser pocket with a slight smile, Yohan gave a nod as he memorised the name.
"Eva, you say? That's a nice name," he commented. In truth, he was sort of indifferent to how it sounded, but any sentence that calmed her down was probably worth throwing out there. Although she was certainly looking much better than before, something about her demeanor was still...
on edge.
Was he catching suspicion in some of her glares, or was that just his imagination? Either way, it was understandable.
The male student's eyes squinted a little in thought as the festive sounds of a distant carnival roared every now and again in this otherwise quiet alley. Leaning against a wall, he slid down into a seating position against a dirtied, brown-brick wall.
"The chances are you didn't do anything. At first... I thought it was a 'punishment' as well. The memories are faded, now, but... I believe I've done things I wouldn't be proud of. We've all done bad things, I'm sure, but me..." Yohan stared at the floor, resting his hands on his knees. His smile faded for a moment.
"If there's a heaven, I don't think I'd be going there. Let's just say that."
"But I know decent people who are in the same predicament as you and me. To my knowledge... they haven't done anything to 'deserve' the torture those nightmares can provide. We haven't been picked because we're 'sinners'. In fact, it all seems so... random," Yohan paused,
"...But, for some reason, maybe that ever-changing world picked us. I don't know why they would. What victims I've seen are so... different from each other. It's not like there's a theme. Perhaps we're just unlucky?"
His eyes widened a little. Wait, 'unlucky'...? He shouldn't be using words like that. For all he knew, such negative connotations could be unjustified. Swiftly, he corrected himself.
"Well - maybe 'unlucky' isn't even the word to describe it. It's unpleasant when you're in there most of the time, there's no doubt about that, but we're still okay now, aren't we? And... in truth." Yohan scratched the back of his head
. "After all the times I've died... I've felt 'better' and 'better' each time. Not 'better' as in 'stronger'... I couldn't give a monkey's about my power, as bizarre as it is. But 'better' as in... 'happier'...?"
He looked up with a smile.
"So don't worry. Maybe it's not all despair. Whatever you decide to do in that place... I think the best thing to remember is to keep a clear head and don't lose yourself. You know?"
...
"...I hope that's all helpful. I have a terrible habit to drone on a bit sometimes..."
There was no need for her to give out her full name. If this... 'Yohan' was someone who wanted to kill her, he'd likely already know everything about her anyway. It didn't sit right with her to just blurt out her identity to someone she knew barely an hour ago. So it wasn't some divine punishment, merely a product of chance, then why did that fortune teller seemingly knew everything. Most likely explanation would be that she was one of them too. Then again, she didn't have the golden eye, the gypsy must've covered it somehow.
"I-if you were just defending yourself... I'm sure they are justified." The girl gave Yohan a small smile,
"Had I known better, I'd... do what was necessary to survive. Even if it's just a dream, the pain I felt was vividly real." She might not remember every exact detail but the sheer pain was definitely among them. She didn't believe in God, even if there was one, the concept of the Creator wasn't something so simple that humans could just personify in a robed bearded figure floating on a cloud.
"Hmph..." Eva spat,
"The person who last murdered me certainly enjoyed every second of it. Just because we are sane doesn't mean there aren't psychopaths out there." If she saw that sword bitch again... she'd eviscerate her in half, yes, make her feel how it was like being split in two.
"M-maybe... I certainly don't want to experience any of it if I have a choice." She turned her mismatched eyes away, facing towards the end of the alley where the lights of Shiny Fiesta adorned the main street.
"Huh?" He felt 'better' because he 'died', what kind of delusional statement was that? She knew it, he experienced 'death' so many times, he became desensitized. It made sense since he had no say when he'd be pulled into the madworld again.
"You just got used to it." Damn, that statement felt so wrong, getting used to being murdered.
"Easier said that done but thank you." She hugged the coat closer to herself.
"I... I should get back, I'm borrowing your coat for now, please."
"...You're quite welcome. It's nice to help a fellow student in the same sort of predicament. And, you should know..." Yohan brushed his hair to the side, getting up back onto his feet and wiping particles from the back of his trousers.
"...I can't confirm it, but I believe if you end up as the last survivor... you get 'something'. What that something is, I'm not sure. But know this: people aren't killing you just out of spite. One of my fellow 'gold eye's told me something about an 'Empress' of such, but... it's all too vague to know for sure. Power is bound to be at the root of it all, sadly."
With that, it seemed he'd told her everything he had to say. It had been nice getting everything out, but it seemed Eva had to take her leave for now.
"Oh, ah... of course... rather late, isn't it?" He kept quiet for a while. It looked like he wanted to say something else, and eventually - whether it mirrored his thoughts or not - he got it out.
"Just... erm... if we meet again... please try and remember to return that old thing. I'm rather fond of it. Guh... uhm... good night."
Yohan's parting words stumbled out somewhat awkwardly as he gave a small nod and smile of departure, holding his leatherbound book tightly under his arm.
With that, the two parted from the quiet spot within the Student District, sounds of festivities distant in the cool, night-time air.