Chapter 2 Tension

[ Four Years Later]

.....Ze.....?"..... "Zen... wa.....U!"...."ZENO!"

( "Zeno"..."Zeno!"...."Wake up dude." )

The sudden physical jerks woke me up from my trance like slumber. My drowsy head hit the table and the pain that followed after created recoil that jumpstarted my groggy senses, excluding my sixth sense.

"I'm UP! I'm UP!" I looked back and forth around the classroom. The sense of vision didn't clear up properly as it had a bit of diffuculty adjusting to the atmosphere and light.

When it did clear up, the first thing I noticed was the confused/concerned gazes from the other students. Congratulations...I made me make a fool outta of myself. My left hand balled up into a fist, and it had the intention to cave the skull of whoever woke me up so violently.

"Ohgi?" A black seventeen year old male stood a couple inches away from me. He had a black afro-ish type hairstyle with deep critus orange eyes. "Nah its your mom." He smiled at me as he obviously spoke sarcastically. A heavy left swing came in for contact only for it to avoided by the target's backstep.

"You only dodghed that cause I'm still tired." It took alot of effort to spill those words from my lips. Afterwards I buried my face into the desk. "Yeah yeah."---"Why the hell did you wake me up in the first place?" ---"Cause its almost time for us to leave school? We got one more period then we gotta dip."

I was confused to what he meant. Guess my synapses aren't firing properly right now. No surprise if you consider the.....dreams.

Ohgi dared to approach me futher. I threw a couple more sloppish slaps here and there, but he dodged without the need of much effort. When he came closer, I noticed he was trying to peer closer into my pale looking face.

If it was obviously anybody else, maybe my body would've properly moved out the way and try to maintain distance, but since I knew it was Ohgi my guard and reflexes was still pretty lax. Hoping someone didn't sedate me at one point, I muster up the effort to throw one half assed remark.

"The hell you want getting in my face? Your looking hella' gay right now."--- "Yeah you definetly woke up on the wrong side of the chair."--- "Damn that's crazy. It's like someone woke me up." I replied, giving zero fucks whether my fake smile looked geniunine or not.

"Shit sorry I did that. I forgot it was 'that' time of the month."--- "If you wanted to get smacked so badly why didn't you be straight up with me?" We both teased at each other. It was obvious one was more...aggressive with the other.

"Did you have that dream again?"---"You say that like I have other dreams in the first place, and its nowhere near a dream. That shit is a nightmare to me."

"Bruh.... you only been asleep for like what five minutes? How could you sleep hard enough to see that?"--- "Wait I was asleep for five minutes??"

Both our eyebrows raised at each other. This time one was more concerned for the other. Conflicted about whether I should worry that nightmare felt longer than usual, or the fact Ohgi knew the exact time of my nap, one thing for sure was that doing a little bit of this back to back verbal duel had helped me adjust these senses of mine. I finally noticed that my phone was laid out next to my right shoulder. It was still on with the battery saver mode activated. Which meant those minutes wasn't a lie.

"Seriously....."--- "You know its not a good idea to be having your phone out and unguarded around this place my guy." Ohgi reminded me that this was school. A place filled with bored, and/or nosy ass children who will gather any sense of blackmail or dirt just to make some worthless gossip to pass the time.

"Oh relax. I know damn well you wouldn't even think about checking it out without my permission." Ohgi thought his concern went over my head. Well he can just blame it on the sleep. At any case I clench up a fist as tight as possible, knowing all too well that another remark is coming my way.

"Yeah, cause I know all the shit you into." Another left swing came in for a hit and miss.....also for future reference, I don't have no particular fetish that can be made fun of....

....okay maybe there is one but I'm not sharing that.....

"Anyways. We got some time before the next lessons start up so go freshen yourself up at the bathroom or something. You look like a mess." I sighed and agreed. I turned the phone off and peered over through its muddled reflection. A messy pale skined figure of a face was barely made out on the touch screen. My bangs looked messy and out of place, with a little bit of droll on the side of my cheeks. To add on to the mess my lips looked drier then a desert.

Slightly disgusted, I pocketed my phone and try to stretch out as best as my body would allow me. My feet felt numb but atleast I could walk without my knees buckling like an old man.

"I'mma catch you at the lounge area then." I made plans to see him later in about.....ten or thirty minutes later? "Yeah. I'mma grab me some cold refreshments at the vendors."--- "Your ass better get me something too." It was only fair. "Fine fine. Whatchu' want then?"--- "Coffee. It should wake me up."---- "Warm or iced?"--- "Doesn't matter." I don't really like or dislike a cup coffee regardless if its instant or made of fancy beans. And whether it was warm or cold doesn't matter all that much. It all tastes the same anyways. I'm just after the caffine to help me wake up.

I see Ohgi nodded before he left the classroom and disappeared around the corner. I heave in one more sigh and do one more mini stretch when I stand straight up. Alright. In times like these an old habit starts to kick in.

[ "Whenever waking up from a sleepy ruse, it's highly important to readjust your senses and put them straight into practice." ]

Wise words an old master of mine once taught me. Well its not like its necesarry to practice taste and touch right now so instead I focused on the other three, or rather four.

First I adjust my eyesight here and there. Starting with closer and larger objects like my hand, I then start to expend my range of vision and the field of focus. From a single chair and taking it futher to focusing on other students, I generally try to take in as much visible data possible.

[ "Your ears can 'see' more then your eyes. Rely on them to cover your blind spots." ] The wise words continued futher.

Recalling the later half of that, I could remember the sensation of being blindfolded and being forced to map out an unknown acre of land off ears alone.....but thats a story for another day.

Flinching slightly to the difficulties I endured in that flashback, I contiune evulating my senses. I haven't turned around yet to see the other half of the classroom yet, which made things perfect. I closed my eyes and began to tune in.

The sounds of some girls chattered about in one group while the rest of the boys was just chilling doing their own thing. This time I took the hearing deeper. I focused on the sounds of flipping pages, and textbook slamming of sorts. Feminine school slippers clicked and clanked about the textile floors.....but what the hell was that ear grating sound? Someone writing some chalk on glass or some shit?

That sound completely broke my focus, but atleast I knew the major senses I rely are still intact and is now up to speed.

Ever since that incident happened, I have been afraid of my senses becoming dull. While I may not train them as much as I once have, I have been keeping them up to speed. In fact I daresay it would take someone experienced in the art of stealth to catch me off guard.

After properly confirming my surrondings, I slowly turn about in a full one eighty to see the complete backside.

One thing I noticed a majority of the students had in common was the fact they looked either painfully average or exteremly intimidating. When my gaze met with another individual he returned the favor with a glare that exuded some sense of malice. Atleast my sixth sense could still pick up on someone's hostility.

I quickly turned my head around, and went to collecting my things. With my statchet in hand, I slowly but surely left towards the bathroom.

~~~

While I was on my way to the bathroom, there I took in the sights of the people and kept cautious of my surroundings and observed the people passing. Both male and females, there was many unruly folks. Deliquents camped throughout the halls, and many people was loiterting. What made it worst was few teachers paid any regard to the situation around them, and to those who did only resulted in exerting pointless effort.

Despite all that the school infrastucture wasn't shabby at all. While it was clear that it could use another paint job here and there, it was a bit clean, and there wasn't too many unpleasant smells through the main halls. Though small, there was a bright side I wanted to focus upon. I would only spend two short years of my life here before the sweet sweet graduation ceremony.

After bumping into some people who were quick to cuss me out, and a small crowd here and there, I finally made it. Thankfully I didn't need to use the actual stalls and only needed to "freshen up" as Ohgi put it.

Surprisingly the bathroom was pretty empty despite the werid smells, but I dared not to breathe in the mysterious toxins that lies in public restrooms.

I stood right in front of a counter in the middle end of the room and looked at my own face. "Five minutes huh....." That nightmare felt so surreal to the point even the details of time was accurately recreated.

That moment had changed the course of my life and the family's situation altogether. The cries of my sister constantly replayed inside my mind. Crazy how its has been four full and complete years since then, but not even a single day has passed where it hasn't not haunted me. It was driving me insane, and there was phsyical evidence to prove it.

I am a sixteen year old white skin male with black and brownish hair. Which meant I was not at the age to be having grey strands of hair, but grey hairs I did possess. Though the strands of hair was small and didn't come in bunches, it was somewhat visible when under the right light and angle. To my knowledge only myself, Ohgi and a couple of doctors were aware of this, and even then thats still too many people I want to have that known to.

According to the doctors this was the result of a stress induced PTSD incident. They said similar things had happened with animals, but its quite rare for humans. Guess I was some exception huh....

Now that I looked closer in the mirror, I noticed a couple of bags under my silver eyes which indicated prolonged lack of sleep. My face pale as a sheet, almost drained of color and vigor.

I sighed at my reflection, who in turn seemed disappointed in me. Ignoring my reflection's reaction I turned the faucet on and ran my face through some nice ice cold water. Inside my satchet there was a comb, a brush, along with some coco butter balm to smooth out these chapped lips. By the time I finished however there was two very familiar boys standing on opposite sides of me.

To my left was the tall, and somewhat buff teenage guy who stared at me menacingly eariler. Towards my right was the polar opposite of him. He was short, scrawny and looked like someone's henchmen in those mobile game ads.

Ignoring the two chuckling idiots, I pulled out a stick of chapstick, only to notice the two of them chuckle louder. "Oh god, this guy even got lipstick." The tall guy laughed harder with his friend. "Hey you got some masacara in your purse too? Shit I want to be 'on fleek' as well!" The corny comedy made the laughter multipliy.

What the fuck does the slang term 'fleek' even means in the first place?

"Its not a purse.... its a satchet. More convient then a backpack. Also this is lip balm. It doesn't even have an odor to it." I stated, trying to tell them in a manly way, but so as long they don't touch me physically I couldn't care less if they mistook me for a girl.

Even still, by instinct(?) I did a double take on myself in the mirror.  I didn't seem to notice anything feminine about my appearance. Sure I didn't have thick arms or iron clad abs but my thighs was well toned for my age. My figure was slender and was 'designed' in a way to efficiently 'minimize' my presence and blend in to the crowd whenever needed.

In layman's terms I had the body that nearly mimicked that of the average highschool male.

"Yeah yeah, well I think your saying all this shit to the wrong people."---- "Yeah, after all this is the Men's bathroom! Its not a place for you females to be invading."

I faced palmed myself. Just being here with the two of them started to get annoying. I don't want to sound like a senile military elder, but fuck it. Kids these days have too much time on their hands. After one more check here and there in the mirror I redefined my posture and tried to walk out as manly as possible.

.....or well atleast tried to when I felt a sudden grasp over my crotch.

"THE FUCK!?" For once my emotionless face breaks out into a sudden expression of surprise and anger. A surprise to me, but to be expected to be honest. "Ayo bro! He actually got something down there! Isn't that crazy!?"---"Nah bro, you gotta be cappi----!!!"

Mr. Tall & Annoying couldn't even finish his sentence when he witnessed the scene that followed. I immediately removed the arm and flicked it away. In that motion my body goes down memory lane, mimicking the motions of the past I twisted my hips about in a near one eighty degree angle, give or take some change, and lifted my left leg and swung into a sidekick. The heel of my shoe collided into the left jaw of Mr. Short and Unbearable resulting in a powerful horizontal axekick.

The kick itself didn't have much initial force poured inside, since I wasn't aiming to kill the guy, but it was enough to make his right side of his head collide into the side of the sink. A thud sound was heard and a small crack was embedded inside the counter.

At the heat of the moment I didn't give two fucks about the guy since I was acting on mere reflex, but in the back of my head I seriously hoped I didn't kill him somehow.

"Yo! Yo! YO!" The other man exclaimed, his voice expressing surprise and rage broke me free of any lesser thoughts I wasn't aware of. After the swift leg, I turned my attention to Mr. Taller. He was already in a fighting manner ready to throw some jabs my way. "That was my brother YOU BITC-------!?"

Deja vu this man has gone down this road before

He couldn't finish sentence, before another powerful kick came from over head and whacked him hard into the temple. Poor guy was so busy trying to monolouge he didn't raise his guard. Then again I did wind up my kick pretty quickly. He didn't pass out but his whole body succumbed to pain and numbness before simply falling forward, staggering in pain.

"Wha....the....uck...." Both of them was completely paralzyed by the sudden atacks. Coming back to my senses...or snapping back into reality I realized I had two people put into a violent daze. Ignoring their groaned breaths, did this perhaps out of instinct, I check their hands and neck for a pulse. They was alive.....just crippled.

With the local rubbish dealt with, I clapped away the imaginary dust from my hands, and sighed again. After washing my hands again, I planned to walk out and go rendezvous with Ohgi.....

But something....intense caught my attention. My sixth sense flared up and out of reflex my guard tightened....or so my body assumed. In reality my body froze a bit in place, tensing up like I was struck by a weak petrification spell.

In that moment even my sense of time seemed to be placed off balance. Seconds later the sounds of handclapping appeared in the background.

Upon hearing this my body slightly broke free from this odd curse and I turned back to look behind me.

"My my, dude. You got some moves to lay down don't you?" Coming from one end of the stalls came a white looking male(?) with a black cap, a navy blue jacket that had realistic white wool lining, and beige jeans. The casual attire looked uncommon but was quite fashionable. The cap however was pulled down by the man's fingers so his eyes was obstructed. His demanor was very suspicious, but his voice made him seem friendly. He turned the faucet on, and washed his hands, before trying to reach for a handshake.

I didn't return the favor. I wasn't trying to be rude or anything, I was just trying to discern just who was this character. If what I felt is exactly what I thought it to be then I could gauge the "power scalling" of this man.

"Where you watching? Do you know these two bozos?" The man chuckled, his grasp lightened a bit and the edge of the cap lifted upwards slightly. Taking advantage of this moment I threw my most sharp yet subtle gaze to scan his facial features.

The chin, the cheeks, the upper neck all shared a pale light yet well toned skin color. The neck did seem to be missing an important feature, but I glance over that while I contiune examining. From the features I can see for right now I assume this man's age range was similar to mine. Possibily the age of me or Ohgi.

Exactly six seconds of his chuckling passed before ending. "Both yes and no~~." My eyebrow raised, his vagueness made me increase my guard and wariness. "I was just minding my own business. No need to be so.....uptight." The word 'uptight' told me something about this guy. Guess he wasn't the only one paying close attention to me.

"I came out to the part where you slept them, which again was awesome as hell."----"Oh I thought you had sprung a trap on me or something."

"Nah I'm more a hands on type of ga...I mean guy." He stumbled on his words a bit, but what he mean by 'hands on'? "You good?" ---- "Yeah minor hiccups. Sorry."

"At any case I'm sure the two of us got things we gotta do, so I guess catch you later tater?"

People still use later tater as a saying?

Well anyways I noticed he slowly, yet casually approached me closer. I took one step out of caution, curious to see what he planned next. With every step he took I could feel an odd sensation crawl up my spine.

What was it? Nervousness? Intimidation? Fear? Before I knew it he had passed me with the mere intention to leave. I looked to the mirrors on my left to see him leave like the Flash and he dip out with his hand waving through the air in a goodbye bunny gesture.

When he left I took another sigh, and waved my hand over my heart. As if I went out for a light jog through the harsh summer heat, my heart beat faster then usual. Steading my breath and slapping my cheeks, I looked back to the two boys who was laid out flat on the dirty floor.

Before I could understand what the hell happened many other boys entered in the bathroom, and became curious as to what transpired.

To avoid any unnessecary suspision, I decided to slowly flee the scene.

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"Yo, these two fools over here....don't they seem familiar?"---"Yeah, I know these boneheads anywhere. Aren't they with Alucard's gang?"---"Damn, and that kid just now. Who the hell is he?"

"Beats me. I haven't seen him around here till yesterday. He probably a transfer or some shit."----"Guy just got here, and he already throwing the hands?"

"You think we should call up Vylad and keep an eye on that 'em?"---"Nah, Leave it to me. I'mma make sure all the newbs get checked."

"And what about these two deadbeat losers on the floor?"---"They with Alucard right? Then fucking leave em' to rot for all I care."