The Repentance of Saki 03

I don't remember anything after I blacked out, because I blacked out. The last thing I remembered before fainting was that girl glaring at me in fear. When I woke up, I was in my bed at home. Perhaps that day had been a dream, I thought. It wasn't. I gathered my consciousness from the realm of sleep, and sat up from bed. It was then I noticed, I was in nothing in but my boxers. Where had my uniform gone? Then I noticed one other thing. These boxers were fresh. Not at all the ones I put on before. What takes the cake is that I found when I got dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen. On the counter was a hot breakfast, still steaming. It was a fresh plate of eggs and bacon. With it a note, addressed "To Izanagi". The note read

"Dear Izanagi, I hope you like the meal I cooked for you. I worked really hard on it, I poured my heart and soul into it, even. I was really scared when I heard that you were attacked and fainted. When I went to get you, I went ready to kill the people who attacked you. But when I got there, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were already dead. I also noticed that while the one guy had a bloody knife, you were laying on the ground without a scratch. So I assume what happened was that you caught them off guard and you killed those three. I'm so proud of you! You're finally getting back at all those horrible people who treat you like garbage for no reason. If killing them is weighing on your consciousness, don't worry about to much. I think you did the right thing. They deserved every bit of pain they got for treating you the way they did for such a long time. I would have done it if not you, so don't worry, it would have happened anyway. But, I also hope I was able to help by taking you home and cleaning off the dirt. I even made a homecooked meal for you. Please enjoy it. I really look forward to when we can be a family together. Love you, always. -Saki".

I was a murderer too. I became like her, though our circumstances are different. Maybe being grateful for her help was okay. No, it wasn't. She was still the killer who took my family and friend away from me. That note just made me angry, so I threw it out. I was really angry. Does she think she can make up for what she did by making a meal and bringing me home? Why does she know where I live anyway? Well, that one didn't come as a surprise to me as she is a psycho. But does she really think I'll just forget everything over one little favor? If she plans to apologize, she can apologize by finding a way to bring back my parents, Keiko, and Shika back, then doing it. I thought. Then, I thought again. The snakes. What happened to the snakes? What happened to the Jagiri? At the mere thought of the Jagiri, I began to feel it inside. It was within me, it had given me its power. I felt a newfound power. I reached my arm out, and commanded that power like it was natural. Twin snakes came spiraling out of my hand straight through the air. I used the snakes to catch an apple from across the kitchen. The snakes sank their teeth into the apple, draining the apple of its life essence. Near instantaneously, the fresh apple was rotten to the core. I could feel its energy flow through the snakes, then into me. I had taken in the life force of the apple. I retracted the snakes back Into my hand. After that, I gambled with my own life as an ante, and ate Saki's breakfast. It tasted good, and wasn't drugged. Her food, however, made me slightly less angry at her, even if just a microscopic amount of the hatred had lifted. I felt disgusted at myself for enjoying the help of someone who I despise so much. Even worse, I felt disgusted myself for even thinking "maybe she does care about me, and is just sick in the head?". Then, it clicked. If Saki had brought me here from school, and I awoke in a new pair of boxers, just what other morally questionable things did Saki do to me while I was out? I quickly forgot about that notion, though.

I dressed myself in a clean uniform, and got ready to head to school, since it was morning when I woke up. But I questioned whether or not I could even show myself at school anymore. I was hated and feared enough as things were, but taking the lives of three students isn't something I can atone for. I also wasn't sure about her. I didn't know how she would react to seeing me. I also wasn't sure if she had kept yesterday to herself or told everyone, That I killed them. That I'm a monster. That I have snakes. I ultimately decided to go to school anyway, because I had nothing else to do. When I arrived, I heard no talk of murders from anyone. Even more odd, no one was bad mouthing me as I walked past them. The final slap to the face was when I walked through the main doors. A new mystery had begun. A student was there, and he said hello to me and greeted me with a smile. Was I hallucinating? During my walk to class, no one said anything to me like the student at the door, but no one was shit talking me either like they normally do. Then, during roll call, the homeroom teacher actually called out my name. I was used to the usual treatment, so I said nothing. Instead of receiving the usual treatment, when the teacher looked at me she said "Izanagi, if you're going to show up, at least let me know you're here when I call on you." I wasn't hallucinating. I was being acknowledged.

A strange phenomenon it was, and it got even more strange. The homeroom teacher announced "We have a new transfer student to introduce to you. She will be joining the class."

"Hello. I'm Yokota Saki. Please treat me well." With a polite bow, she found her seat, which was by fate or coincidence, next to mine. The name Saki set me off instinctively. Could it be her, or is it a coincidence? I asked her "Can I speak with you after class?" "Sure." She responded. That was the first time someone had said something back to me in years. After class, I went to a more private location to talk to her, in case it was her.

"Is it you? Did you write those letters?"

"Yep, it was me!"

I was utterly shocked, and equally angered. I grabbed her by her uniform's shoulders and pushed her against the wall. Since the incident, I had been mentally preparing myself for this confrontation, but I was still scared.

"Why? Why did you do that? Why did you take them away from me? Those were my closest people! And you just killed them!"

The pot of my anger was boiling far over.

"Woah, I was kidding!" She said, as I shook her against the wall. Truthfully, I wasn't trying to shake her. I was trembling myself, and had been dragging her with me.

She said "When you said about writing letters, I thought you had just gotten some notes from a secret admirer. I didn't know this person did that to you. Sorry." with a remorseful yet intrigued expression.

"Why would you joke about something like that?"

"Because I didn't know, sorry."

"Even if it was just a secret admirer or whatever, no one would appreciate that kind of jo-"

My arm. The snake. Started to glow black, and hurt. The venom of one thousand snakes was in my veins. I screamed through gritted teeth and slouched to the floor, against the wall.

"So it's you." She said. Doing my best to put the pain aside, I said "What?"

"The Jagiri chose you."

"How do y-you know about that? I only knew because of a voice in my head that told me years back."

"Well, that's because it was me who told you."

"What?"

"I was the one who told you that the Jagiri has chosen you as its successor. Though, I didn't know who it was I was talking to until now."

"No way."

"I can explain whatever you need me to later. But now, you've got places to be. By the way, let me properly introduce myself. I'm Yokota Saki. Just call me Saki."

"Not gonna happen. You're Yokota to me."

She shirked her head away and said in a muffled voice "That's rude."

"Sorry, I have my reasons."

"Well, Whatever. Let's get going."

"Where are you taking me, Yokota?"

"To the refuge."

I was injured, and the Jagiri's powers were showing no signs of resurfacing to heal me like the previous time, so I obliged her and followed her. This choice didn't affect my attendance record, since I already was marked present for the day. It wasn't skipping school, so I had no qualms about leaving for medical treatment. As I walked around the corner with Yokota, I felt a presence, one which I dismissed as either a snake, or nothing at all. What I didn't realize then, was that she was watching. The girl that talked to me first. The girl that was there as I was mercilessly stabbed, and watched. The girl who betrayed me. She saw.

I got in a car with Yokota. It wasn't a bright idea to get into a car with a stranger, but I had no choice but accept the help she offered to her injured classmate. She had no liscense for sure, but she was an excellent driver. I napped during the ride, which Yokota had at one point mistaken my slumber for my death. When the car stopped, she brought me to a new location; another school. This one, however, was abandoned. And very run down. It was obvious that it had no maintenance for a long time, and was practically a house of cards. As I walked in, the wooden floor creaked every step. The floor and walls appeared ready to collapse when blown on. The glass on many of the classroom doors were broken when I walked down the halls, and all the clocks had been frozen, like the school itself was a location removed from history. Yokota gave me the gist. "This used to be a prestigious school during the twentieth and early twenty first century that many of Japan's most influential people graduated from. But it was shut down and abandoned after an accident."

"Accident?"

"It wasn't really an accident. A girl was murdered on school grounds. Not too long after, several other students were killed on campus. One student even committed suicide. Following all that, it became useless for the academy to try and save face, so they shut the school down. An accident is just the cover story that most people tell you if you ask about what happened."

"I see." I felt that I should be a bit scared considering the location we were in, but I reminded myself that I was a murderer. That alone made me not afraid for some reason.

Yokota added "The rumor is that the first girl to go had died with such an immense hatred for her murderer, she remained as a spirit and killed her killer as well as claiming the lives of those other students It's also said that the ghost of the first victim still roams this building. That's the story anyway. Who knows, if it's true, maybe you'll get to meet her. Hehe." She was poking fun at a serious matter.

I said "Well, if I were on the verge of death because harm was brought unto me by another, I would be full of hatred too. It's only natural to want to get back at the one who killed you. And I'm sure that if I found myself to be a ghost after I'm killed, I'll definitely use that opportunity to swiftly end my killer. I guess, I understand that girl and her feelings a little at least." I spoke as if I hadn't already taken the lives of three who tried to take mine. After I spoke, I felt a presence from behind, one I had not sensed the moments before. When I turned around, there was nothing to look at.

"You're a weird one, Izanagi." Yokota said. She brought me to a strange location in the school, an old music room. In the room were nothing but a blank worn out whiteboard with no markers to speak of, several collapsible chairs, and a grand piano. Immediately, Yokota sat down at the piano. Soon after, I heard a melody like no other. It was unique, I had never heard anything similar ever. I couldn't see her hand movements, but the song was so beautiful, I could only picture her fingers gently caressing the keys in an elegant manner. The song was short, and I found out it was designed that way, because a panel on the wood wall in the back of the classroom opened up. "Let's go." Yokota said. I was already blindly following her when I thought "The piano sequence made the secret passage open." As we walked into the passage and went further down the newly opened corridor, the door shut on its own. It must have been on a timer. At the end of the corridor, was a pit. a pit with a pole in the center. Looking down the pit, it was black. What was down there was unknown. "Down you go." Yokota firmly yet cheekily blurted. She pushed me into the pit, but I caught into the pole. They say curiosity killed the cat, but I was too damn curious, and it was obvious that Yokota had no intentions of helping me out. I braced myself to brush off not just my current injuries, but the burn marks I would receive from the pole's friction. With an agreement to myself to just deal with it, I slid down. I spent at least fourty seconds sliding straight down on the pole. Just how deep was this abyss? When I reached the seemingly non existent bottom, my feet met with steel. It was a metal floor. I detatched myself from the pole, and looked around. It seemed to be a pretty close quarters environment. On top of that, I was surrounded by women giving me either a look of pure surprise, or a happy and excited look. "What is this?" I asked.

A tall, slender woman with complex features appeared, descending from a set of stairs I hadn't even noticed. But, she did answer my question.

"We are Mikoto."