Division-A

Episode Eleven. (May 23th, 2123. Division-A, South District.)

The excruciating pain continued through the night. Akino awoke the next morning with a knot in his stomach, his insides twisted around with dread, just like it had so many nights before. Sweat dripped from his forehead and onto the damp pillow beneath him. Sitting up, Akino recollected the events of the day before, instinctively covering his mouth as if he were about to vomit again.

Akino sat in his bed with his hand over his mouth for a while. The rising sun peaking from the window beside him shed light and warmth onto his expressionless, cold face. Begrudgingly, Akino lowered his hand to his neck once more. The scar tissue on his nape shrunk significantly since yesterday in the street. It wouldn't be long till there'd be no evidence of his head being eaten off.

Eaten off.

Akino lowered his legs onto the floor. He stumbled towards the door where his uniform was so neatly hung over. He dug through his pants pockets until he pulled out a pencil; a thick, purple, mechanical one.

'Will I have the strength to do it today?'

The boy pushed his back against the door, his uniform softening the blow. Beads of cold sweat ran down his face and hands as he aimed the pencil. He paced his panicked breath and straightened his quivering legs before stabbing himself in the stomach, eyes closed in fear. What he assumed would be a wave of excruciating pain, even worse than the emotional pain he woke up with, never came. He opened his eyes, noticing that the pencil never even made it through his shirt.

He groaned loudly, close to tears. He lifted up his shirt and stuffed the end of it in his mouth to keep it up. His breathing accelerated as he aimed the pencil again, this time with no barrier between it and his flesh.

'If they were right, then I'll regenerate, just like that! Just like how I did when that bastard creature chewed off my head! If I didn't die from that, then I shouldn't die from this!'

"I shouldn't die from this!"

"Akino?" Sakagami opened the door from behind him ever so slightly, peaking through the crack she left open. "Why are you yelling?" Sakagami's eyes travelled to Akino himself, who had his shirt up and a pencil in his hand. "...am I interrupting something?"

Akino looked back at her, his speech muffled by the shirt in his mouth. "Oh," he said, spitting out the ends of his shirt, dropping the pencil, and backing away from the door. "No, sorry. I was just having a bad dream."

She smiled, opening the door more till she could see him and his room in its entirety. "How are the pills working? They aren't defective, are they? The pharmacy's shipping company was in a rush when they came a few days ago." The woman rested her hands on her hips as she continued. "Hell, they didn't even ask me for a signature."

"The pharmacy gets their supply from the higher-ups," Akino mentioned, wrapping the ends of his shirt into a ball to wring the saliva out of it. "Things have been hectic up there, I'm sure they were being rushed or something."

Sakagami rolled her eyes. "You'd think since they're so strict about the pill laws that they'd actually deliver them on time."

'Pill Laws... that's right. We're forced to take them so nobody goes out after curfew. They have a schedule build inside them, so that they sleep for a pre-determined amount of time... so the Compactors and Omegas can do their thing. Matoi explained that to me yesterday, didn't she? Or was it Makina?'

Sakagami shrugged. "Anyway, school is starting soon, so you better get going."

Akino nodded, immediately retreating back into his room to start his day, prompting Sakagami to close the door and leave.

Akino bent his knees, leaning over to grab his journal from under his bed. Standing back up, he flipped through it, seeing only the first few pages written in. He sighed, admitting to himself that his dreams have lead him nowhere, nowhere new at least.