YUUKI - To Move Forward: Prelude 1

Log #216: Biology

The Gyaos is the only species of Shade we have discovered that have evolved significantly since their first interactions with humans. Originally, they resembled massive ravens who only destroyed humanity’s transports, but at some point they began to hunt humans as well. As the years passed by, people began to notice small changes in both their behaviors and appearances, but they still retained their cry and attitude, so there is little doubt that we were actually witnessing different avian species. Currently, their bodies more closely resemble the mythical phoenix. They have also learned a variety of attacking methods, and are ranked among the S-Class Shade. It would be futile to list all of their current abilities, due to their habit of constantly changing and adapting to us—a fact that makes any encounter with a Gyaos some of the most memorable for any Slayer, young or old.

-General Shura Averin

420 BPE

My headache lasted about an hour, my aches about a day, and my coma about a week (not in that order). When I finally awoke, had lunch after two hours, and was deemed ready for visitors, Alison was the first person to enter my hospital room. She explained to me how I had passed out in the cave on a rather large stone, and was soon discovered by Matthew after he picked his stone, a rather bulky, crimson thing. The Slayer-in-training carried me all the way back the Academy in a hurry after he saw my leg, and even brought the stone that I had cradled in my unconscious lap.

I made a mental note to thank him later.

From there, I was immediately taken to the nearest hospital, where the doctors had confirmed what they had feared: I had landed on my leg just right, or rather wrong, and was left with a very broken leg.

After she was finished telling her story, as well as bashing every non-broken part of me for being so reckless (even though she admitted that she didn’t even know how the leg had been broken), it was my turn to tell her exactly how I got the injury. By then, Mr. Darnay and the Twin Beaks had entered the room as well.

I explained how I had sat down for a small break when a man whom I was unfamiliar with joined me, and began talking to me about RdF. From that conversation, I explained, I had come to realize that the man was a member himself, so I had attempted to take him down alone. He had surprised me with his incredible skill, gotten the better of me, and left me stranded with a broken leg. I had crawled to the cave somehow, and passed out shortly after. Due to Francis’s threat, I hadn’t mentioned who the man in the story was, but they seemed to accept it as I had said it pretty well. Of course, Mr. Darnay did have some holes for me to fill, as well as some questions before he was satisfied. Then the instructor left, with a couple handfuls of encouraging words, and I was pelted with questions by the Twin Beaks on how the fight was, what weapon the guy used, and how I’d lost so hilariously badly. It took another hour to calm them down, and usher them out of the hospital room, but after that I was finally alone with Alison.

“So... How are you feeling?” she began tentatively, and I realized this was the first time anyone had actually mentioned my well-being. It was reassuring to hear her be the first to say it, and it made me feel that much guiltier for hiding the truth from her.

“Eh, I’m alright, apparently a week in a comatose state does wonders to aches and pains...not a fan of the whole ‘strapped to the bed’ thing they’ve got going on here, thought,” I replied, painfully grinning. It wasn’t entirely the truth; I was still in serious pain, but saying that would only make Alison more worried.

I couldn’t do that to her.

“Well, the restraints are because of what you did when you first regained consciousness. Apparently as Matthew brought you in, you awoke and began to thrash about furiously, attacking anyone who came close while cursing about your leg. I heard it was quite a show... B-But that’s neither here nor there! It’s good to hear that the pain is mostly gone, but I do hope you will be released from here soon. Mr. Darnay said if you weren’t out within three more days’ time, the class would continue without you. To be honest, it’s a miracle he’s suspended it for this long.”

She was right. As much pain as I was in, I couldn’t stay strapped to this bed forever, and the whole world wouldn’t wait patiently as my injuries healed. I reassured her a bit more, reminded her how much time it’d been already, and soon saw her off, smiling politely as she closed the door.

In three days’ time, I was finally being released from the hospital. They were planning to keep me in there for another week or so, but I managed to convince them of how fine I was feeling, how I couldn’t miss a day of class, how I would be more careful next time, and so on until they finally let me go. Even still, the leg was far from fully recovered, so I left with a cast and crutches, as well as heavy words of warning from the doctor.

As I arrived at my destination, I was greeted by a tearful Rosa, wrapping her arms around my waist with surprising strength, and a more-than-relieved Dad to welcome me back. Apparently in the week I was in a coma, he was able to get the week off from work, and had spent most of the time reassuring Rosa that I would be alright. Rosa had been terrified, wondering what else may have happened, since I had been in the hospital for so long. She still went to Sentinal every day, but at home she would run into our father’s arms, and half the time, she would cry. It made me feel that much weaker to realize how dependent on me my family was, and that I had failed them in the moment that it had really mattered.

It was my fault they had worried so much.

There was more, however, for my father to say. After welcoming me back, and immediately serving a large and delicious lunch, he admitted that he had an announcement to make. While I was “away,” he and Rosa had gone out to an animal shelter, and had a surprise prepared for when I returned. With that, he got out of his seat, and walked to the door to his bedroom.

I watched as he gripped the handle mischievously, bringing a finger to his lips. He barely cracked it open before a small, chirpy little puppy dashed out of the opening and lifted its legs on my good leg, looking up at my face with an indescribable grin on its innocent little face. “It’s a Jack Russell Terrier,” Dad pointed out, as I scratched the back of its ears. “Small, playful, excited 24/7, but a complete pain to train, or so I’ve been told.”

“Hey, he’s so cute! You actually adopted a dog, Dad? How are we going to train him, feed him, walk him, and so on?” I leaned down awkwardly, ignoring a minor ache to rub his belly as he rolled around.

“Well, I was hoping to get more time off at work, so I could feed and train him whenever I have time. I’ll be counting on you two, however, to do most of the walking, if you guys are alright with that.”

This time Rosa cut in. “Of course we would! I, personally, would love to take care of this pup, and Kaze’s on board, too, right?” She looked up at me expectantly.

I’d always been wary of the idea of owning pets, especially after living my life despising the animal-like monsters of Shade. But seeing this puppy...

He was just too cute!

“W-Well, yeah, of course. It would be awesome to take care of such a cute, playful pup! So, what’s his name?”

Apparently this caught Dad off guard, and he stuttered, “I— uh, well, I mean, I was actually planning on letting you name him.”

“Really? Alright, hmm, let me think. He’s a little Jack Russell Terrier, and he is super excited... Hm. Oh, I’ve got it! How about Little Jack?”

“Little Jack, you say? That actually sounds pretty good. Rosa, what do you think?”

I turned to her for her opinion, but to my surprise, she looked kind of sad in her joy. It was the kind of smile like watching one’s child leave home for some big-shot university. In that moment, she looked incredibly mature, almost adult-like.

“I agree, I think that’s a wonderful name, Kaze.”

“That settles it then, right? So, when am I to go back to school? Tomorrow’s fine, right?” I looked at Dad expectantly, and he nodded in approval. No one was in the mood to mention the broken leg.

It was a miracle that Mr. Darnay had been considerate enough to await my return to resume class, but that just meant that we would have to work twice as hard to catch up to the other three classes. We were behind by a week, but there was not a hint of discouragement in our instructor’s eyes as he reminded us of this. During his “short” speech about getting us back on track, my eyes deviated from Mr. Darnay’s face, and unconsciously rested on the face of Francis. In Arcos, he was one of those popular kids, the ones in television shows that led his crew around the campus.

And despite that popularity, not a soul questioned who he truly was.

For a moment, however, I thought I saw his eyes flicker in my direction, then return to the instructor’s. My suspicion was all but confirmed when a slight smirk replaced his previously bored expression.

After Mr. Darnay was finally finished, he let us out to practice archery a bit more, and the students filed out of the room. I looked around for a minute, then remembered how the Twin Beaks were in a different class than I. Instead, I laid my eyes on Alison, and she returned the notion with a wave. Unsurprisingly, I had been third to the bottom when it came to distance weapons, and Alison remained in the top five. While I had the cast on, the doctors highly discouraged any sort of physical training, so I just sat back and observed the action, cheering on Alison and watching my other classmates.

Arcos’s courtyard was divided up into multiple sections, each specializing in training a different style or weapon. The most common subjects, the ones that every student was required to practice, were fencing, archery, hand-to-hand combat, and shooting. Every student at Arcos was competing on a scoreboard for each subject. Currently, the top leaders were: Francis in fencing, Sarah in archery, Matthew in hand-to-hand, and Alison in shooting. At some point, Matthew was a hair’s length away from losing his crown to Sarah, but she literally tripped in the stadium at the last second. Interestingly enough, Matthew had held out his hand, helping her to her feet before finishing the match. He still ended up winning, though.

Francis turned out to be quite the people person; there was not a soul on campus that he couldn’t seduce, not a student to be seen who didn’t enjoy his company. He would tell tales of grand adventures, involve everybody around him in huge discussions, and laugh away any mistakes anybody made. It seemed that nobody disliked the guy.

Nobody at all.

During lunch, all students were free to eat wherever they pleased, and I made up lost time with the Twin Beaks. Since most of the assessments were single-person tests, they were at the bottom of almost every scoreboard. When it came to co-op, however, not a single duo could surpass them. Apparently they actually managed to defeat their instructor in a 1v2 match, an impressive feat to be sure. Not only that, but in the classroom their abilities were unmatched. Even the teacher himself often had to push his own knowledge and intelligence to the limit just to satisfy them.

One day, I told them about what my family doing, and how I had gotten a puppy, courtesy of Dad, and promised them that we could all go see it after school today.

“Really? A pup? Man, I’ve always wanted a puppy...” Tyler looked onwards in the distance, those purple irises lost in some fantasy.

Alex smiled, rubbing his bro’s littler head playfully. “That so? I thought you said dogs were the worst! At least, that’s what you say when you’re killin’ em.”

“Aw, shut up! Those aren’t real dogs, okay? I hate the rude ones who try to bite my head off, but a puppy is something else entirely!” He spun around, and launched all his force into a headbutt of the gods. The massive force collided directly with Alex’s head, and they both fell over, moaning in unison. All the while, I watched them roll around stupidly, too shocked and amused to help them up.

In science class, right after lunch, Alison leaned over to me, and asked me for some help on a question about the Aberrant.

“You do realize I’ve been half-dead for a week, right? Shouldn’t I be the one asking you for tips?” I whispered back to her, trying to listen to Mr. Darnay’s lesson at the same time.

“I know, sorry, but just this once, please? I may be amazingly beautiful, unbelievably elegant, and incomparably humble, but science really isn’t my strong suit! Besides, I know you’re super great with Shade biology! Pleeease?” She clasped her hands together, bringing forth a begging face that was cuter than humanely possible. Endless emotions ran through my head, and even more continued to absorb Mr. Darnay’s words.

I gritted my teeth, and slapped both my cheeks decisively.

“Ngeh... Fine, fine, what is it? Please make it quick, he’s getting into the Gyaos.”

“Someone sounds excited. Anyway, I just wanted to ask about this weird diagram,” she pointed a little finger to a digital image of an Aberrant. Even in anatomical position in a textbook, the humanoid creature looked frightening in its own manner.

“I know that an Aberrant’s primary weakness is decapitation, but the diagram shows something different... Is there perhaps another method I’m unfamiliar with?” The caption below was titled “Weaknesses: Decapitation, Obliteration,” but when I looked up at the image, an arrow pointed to the nape of the neck.

Was that a printing error of some sort?

A few days later, I was waiting on a bench with my lunch, gazing distantly at the uneven sky above. My crutches leaned on the bench right next to me, undisturbed by the gust tickling my skin. Alison was absent for personal reasons, and the Twin Beaks were off messing with the teachers in their lounge. I didn’t really know anybody else in the school, admittedly.

As a result, I was left to eat alone.

I took an emotionless bite out of the ham sandwich in my hands, sighing through the mesh.

The footsteps behind me didn’t bother me. Nobody here had a reason to approach me, after all. I continued to eat, ignoring the stimulation.

But then the footsteps ceased, and a small voice replaced them.

“Hey, Kazuki, isn’t it?” The voice was feminine, young. The voice of someone who didn’t socialize much, like me. The voice I hadn’t really heard since my first day at Arcos.

I leaned my head back and over the back of the bench, and an upside-down girl filled my view. “Hey, uh, Nicole.”

Sure I was surprised, but my previous state of boredom drained the energy out of my voice.

“That is my name. Mind if I sit here? Some jerks took my spot, and this just happens to be a great bench for cloud gazing today.” I scooted over, gesturing awkwardly to the spot. “Thanks. Sorry about the leg, by the way. Must suck to carry those things around everywhere.”

“Eh, it’s not as bad as it seems, really. What sucks is my ban on physical training, haha...”

As she sat down, she pulled out a bar of some sort from her jacket, and took a large bite. Seemed she was as bored as I was.

“You look like you’re having a blast,” I said.

She looked at me, a single chuckle acknowledging my sarcasm. “Actually, yes, I am. I love to look up at the clouds and see what I can find. Sometimes I can make a story out of it, sometimes I can’t. It’s fun to try, either way.”

I certainly wasn’t expecting an answer so serious. But since she was talking, and about something she seemed passionate about at that, I realized the sudden opportunity I’d been given.

This was my once-in-a-lifetime chance to actually be social.

“Hey Nicole.”

“Mhm?”

“Um, well, do you ever... think about a world unlike this one? One without Shade and the Barricade?”

“Huh?”

“I-I mean, you seem so imaginative, so I’d imagine you’d thought about that every now and then. I know I do.”

“Huh. Hmm... maybe. It’d be nice to live in that world, wouldn’t it?”

“Of course it would!”

“Would it though?”

“Huh?”

Was she denying the fact that a world entirely rid of Shade would be better than today?

“Think about it like this. Shade provide a conflict for us humans by being our predators, correct?”

“Yeah...”

“Therefore they are a common enemy for us to unite against. Without unity, humanity would have crumbled under the strain long ago.”

“’Course. What of it?”

“You still haven’t caught on?”

“I pride myself on my protagonist-level density, so please, go on.”

Sigh. “What I’m saying is that the Shade are a common enemy for humans. If they were gone, so would our need for unity. Without a common enemy, people have no reason to stick together other than forged bonds and ties. And I can promise you, those don’t last through the weight of politics. Even with the Shade, RdF is living proof that dissent is an occupational hazard of being human. So let me ask you: what would happen to humanity without the Shade, without a common enemy?”

“...”

She took a bite of her bar, returning her gaze to the clouds.

“So you’re saying a world without Shade is a world where everyone is part of their own Renlei de Fanu? Everyone is a terrorist to someone else?”

“Well maybe not everyone,” she responded, giggling. “A lot of people, though, I’d imagine. It’s a scary thought.”

For a girl who looked to be your average edgy teenager, Nicole was quite spirited. When she spoke of things she found any interest in, her face could light up just as much as Alison’s. Seeing her so lively almost made me want to ask why she acted so silent all the time, but I could sense that that was a topic for another day.

I felt a smile tug at my cheeks. “Well. I’m not so bored anymore, it seems. Y’know, I think you should talk to people a bit more.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, really. We’ve only been talking for what, three minutes? Already you’ve not only made cloud gazing much less boring but completely tipped over my entire view of the world. That’s not easy to do, you know. If you ask me, a lot of people could benefit from listening to you for a bit.”

Of course, I said all this with confidence, but on the inside I felt my heart thrashing at my insides, sweat pouring down my armpits.

Guess I’d forgotten that I wasn’t so different.

I laughed at myself internally.

Instead of talking back or yelling at me for being so bold to say something so outrageous, she simply lowered her head, smiling just a little.

About an hour before school ended, rumors spread about there being a fire somewhere nearby the school. Supposedly it wasn’t your conventional accidental put-out-the-fire type of situation. Darnay’s Class muttered excitedly for the duration of the history lesson, but all the while I felt something strange, almost as if the fire some distance away was affecting me. I had to be excused to the bathroom multiple times, often due to intense dizziness, and eventually I spent the remainder of the school day in the nurse’s office.

The nurse wrote it off as a side-effect of the recovering leg.

At six o’clock or so, I was told to head on home, and I packed up with the Twin Beaks who were pestering me with questions on why I had missed the last hour and a half of school. I brushed them off, feeling that wave of dizziness again, and headed home with them. Every step I took sent a wave of nausea, and often times the Twin Beaks had to bring me back to reality.

What the hell is going on?

As we got to the last corner to turn that led to our house, one last wave of nausea swept me off my feet, and I knew something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

I felt it in the air.

I shook my head once more, and turned the corner.

I ignored my rabid stomach aches to see what was wrong.

I suppose it didn’t matter too much.

What I saw made me throw up anyway.

A few meters ahead of me, blackening the sky in sheets of smoke, was my two-story house, being devoured by a roaring inferno.