Soul Eater ZZZ

Chapter 1: Kygema

"Wow, those are a lot of stairs."

I looked up the mountaining set of stairs that were in front of us. It seemed as if it could go on forever, although it doesn't since the DWMA is at the very, very top. Now I really wish I had brought a backpack-type of suitcase instead of a roller one. A duffel bag would have worked too, but it was too late to think about that. It was time to go to the DWMA.

When we started climbing the stairs, I first thought the climb would be faster than it looked. However, as twenty-minutes of pure climbing passed, combined with the Nevada Desert heat, my belief dwindled into a hope that we would get to the top while we were still young. My body language showed my fatigue too: my shoulders were slumped down, my feet almost dragged along each step, and my left arm was dragged back when my suitcase was pulled up each staircase. My breathing was also heavy and my head hung down.

"Come on, Kygema! You can do it! If we managed to climb those stairs on the Great Wall of China in middle school you can climb these!"

I looked up toward the voice of optimism. It was my childhood friend, Sakura Inori, but she has me and most people call her Cherry. Ever since I was five I knew Cherry and stuck with her as my best friend from that point on. As I grew up with her, I thought I knew everything there was to know about her.

Then one day something happened and Cherry suddenly turned into a katana sword in the middle of lunch at school. After that incident, our school in Kyoto had no idea how to react to her since it was the first weapon the city ever experienced, so they expelled her saying that she was a threat to the students. They also put me under a careful watch in school since I was associated with her.

When she was expelled the news of her being a weapon spread fast, and many schools refused to accept her as a student because of her difference. Soon, she began being homeschooled for two years. The news of her being a weapon must have spread really far because during the second year of her homeschooling, she called me asking if I wanted to go to Las Vegas with her.

***

"Is it for a summer trip?" I asked. "Summer doesn't start until another six months. I know you've been homeschooled but have you forgotten when summer started already?"

Cherry laughed. "No, I haven't forgotten, and it's not for a summer trip. I got this letter from a place called the DWMA, Death Weapon Meister Academy. They said they heard about me and that people like me can help the world with some training, but, I don't want to go alone so I was wondering if you'd like to go with me. I remember how you said you always wanted to go to America."

By that time I had looked up the DWMA on my laptop; it was located near the center of Nevada. She was correct, America was my dream country. While I loved Japan, America seemed to have everything I student would want. Hastily, I agreed and got permission from my parents and Cherry did the same. Then, within a couple of days we were on a plane to Nevada.

***

"Cherry," I panted. "How do you still have enough energy? We've been walking up for nearly twenty-minutes. I feel like my legs are about to collapse!"

She remained silent for a bit, then said, "I don't know. Maybe being able to transform into a weapon also grants me extra strength? Maybe I'm just excited to go back to a real school again and be treated like everyone else. It'll feel so good to be normal once more!"

I smiled. I was glad she was actually looking forward to something other than leaving her house for a thirty-minute period. I was about to add to her "happy feeling" statement when all of a sudden there was a screech, pathetic groaning and complaining, and the sound of heavy objects repeatedly hitting the ground. I looked up to see what made that sound and saw a boy tumbling down the stairs, carrying a pink bunny suitcase which he held on to for dear life.

Cherry and I stared in shock and awe as the boy continued to tumble down the stairs. We looked at each other and laughed.

"See?" Cherry giggled, pointing to the boy who was now in the distance. "That is what will happen if your legs give way. Stay strong!"

I nodded with a smile and gained a newfound energy, not from the falling boy inspiring him, but from Cherry's unwavering optimism. I began running up the stairs, calling to Cherry to keep up. Running up the stairs of death wasn't probably the best thing to do, but in the moment I just ended up running. It so happened that I ran to the top of the stairs, then stopped abruptly. Behind me, I could hear Cherry running up and panting slightly.

"Why did you have to run?" she asked. "My shoes aren't meant for running."

I didn't respond, and she looked at me, shaking my shoulder, following the direction I was looking at.

"Hey," she said. "What's so- Oh my..."

She caught a glimpse of the DWMA, it's perfect symmetry and mass size was enough to make her speechless.

"It's amazing! Can't you believe we'll be going to school here?"

"S-Sure," I stuttered.

She looked at me, somewhat unimpressed with my reaction. "You don't find this amazing?"

"I-I do..."

"Then what else could be more shocking and amazing than the DWMA?"

I reached over to her head and lowered her gaze to match mine, and pointed ahead. There, in front of us, on the western side of America in one of it's hottest deserts, was a Black Bear.