Into Another World (The Lost Souls Trilogy)

-False Reality-

Alyona set her stuff down at a table in the library, sitting in front of it. She slowly slid down in her chair, bored, until her chin was touching her chest. "Alyona?"

She abruptly sat up. "Romeo, privet." Romeo sat down across from her, placing his bag on the floor next to the metal legs of the chair.

"What brings you here so early?"

"Papa said I had to go early to school, probably from how many days I missed. I have a lot of homework to do."

"Maybe I can help you." Romeo suggested, smiling at her and picking at a hole in the table.

"If you really want to, be my guest." Alyona starts pulling out the missing assignments; at first it was just a few but the pile grew bigger moment by moment.

Romeo's smile dropped, staring at the stack. "You've missed that much?"

"Da." He stared at her. "It's been a long month." She absentmindedly scratched at her arms.

"Oh, what happened? I mean it's gotta be something if it got this bad. You know I got the flu one time and missed a lot but it wasn't as much as this that's for sure."

Alyona tensed up and grabbed the first assignment, placing it in front of her. "Let's just get started, da?" Romeo glanced over at her, then back to the stack. He opened his mouth to say something but Alyona interrupted him first, "I'm not talking about it, Romeo, I'm here to do work so I don't fail school."

"Well technically you can't fail because-"

"Romeo."

"Right, sorry."

The two of them quickly finished the assignments, the stack piling up from one side of the table to the other. Alyona slumped back in her chair, staring at the fluorescent ceiling lights. Romeo awkwardly watched her eyes trace the black dotted patterns on the ceiling. He opened his mouth to say something but the bell rang, interrupting them.

"Shit," she mumbled, sitting back up and grabbing the stack. Without saying another word to him Alyona ran out of the library, stopping once to pick up a stray sheet.

"Nani? Dō yatte modottekita no?!" Japan's eyes widened in shock.

Aku-no grinned at him and began laughing. "Oh, what? You're not happy to see me? Awe, Kiku, watashi wa kōhai shite imasu."

"What do you want with Aoi?" Japan asked him.

"Nothing bad, I just needed a host, right time, right place... well... for me at least." He chuckled and leaned forward on the table. "Aoi, not so much."

"Leave her alone, Aku-no."

"Can't, I'd die, dumbass." Japan glared at him. "Oh please, you won't do anything to me, Kiku, you'd hurt your precious student." Aku-no side eyed a pair of scissors on the table, a deadly glint in their eyes. "I, on the other hand, can do anything I want." In a split second Aku-no had grabbed the weapon and lunged themselves at Japan.

The blade stopped, just an inch above Japan's eye. Aoi's hands began shaking and she quickly climbed off of him, dropping the scissors on the ground and running out of the room, disappearing around the corner into the flood of students. Kiku tried to follow, but the students for his first period flowed into the class.

"My my! You came back to your senses fast!" Aku-no cackled, Aoi ran into the bathroom in an attempt to calm down, splashing water onto her face and staring down her reflection in one of the mirrors.

"What the hell Aku-no, you could have actually harmed him!"

"But that is the plan, to hurt the nations for my world- no, for our world. We're in this together."

"This needs to stop."

"Alright alright, ningyo, I won't hurt Kiku. How about another target, perhaps China? France?"

"Aku-no..."

"Maybe someone like your sister! Or even your so-called father-"

"Yamero! Atama kara hanarero!" Aoi screeched, thrusting her fist into the mirror. It shattered into thousands of tiny pieces suspended there in the frame, blood splattered across the surface. For a second it seemed like her reflection grinned at her, until she blinked, realizing what had just happened. Blood began to drip down onto the ceramic sink, and then her arm when she held it up to the light. Aku-no laughed in her head, taunting her, daring her to do it again.

Instead she just ran. Aiming for the back doors, where there were no classes. Running across the gym field and into the woods behind the school. She ran until her legs burned, and her chest almost caved in with every breath she took. She ran until her foot got snagged on a root and she went tumbling forward, rolling down a steep hill and landing at the bottom. Her uniform was covered in mud and leaves. Sticks got tangled up in her hair. Aoi gasped for as much air as she could take in, and began sobbing.