1 Dead Reckoning

They say that the world is built upon the hopes and dreams of the ones that came before and that the next

generation must be the ones to keep building that bridge to a supposed promised land. That humanity is

nothing without its hopes and dreams. Yet in the end, it is humanity that often squashes those dreams and

burns down their hopes. Such contradiction is the way of man, for what is a man without flaws. A

common man is one who rips down the world with their presence, and a common woman is one who

burns the world with her words. These are not people, but mere infections, bugs that are designed by a

supposed greater power that has everything within its web.

But what if there was a man with no flaws, no weaknesses, and possessed no contradiction? A man like

that would be an anomaly and they would be a menace to society and mankind. They would be...

"Kibe!" shouted a voice, Nori Kibe. A young man who was in his junior year at Sawa High School. His

eyes opened as he had fallen asleep. He looked around himself, the library was empty. Had he fallen

asleep? But doing what? What could have possibly-

"Oh." Kibe said calmly as he looked down at what he had been reading, It was a book about human

studies and the philosophy of equality.

"Do you know what time it is, young man?" shouted the voice again, Kibe looked up to see it was a

woman, middle-aged, blonde hair and sharp brown eyes. Her outfit was a blouse with flowers and a small

hairpin on her left side. The moisture taken in from her face was almost next to none, her eyelashes were

all perfectly cut to the exact same length, and he could see her lipstick was a rose-like shine, but not too

out there to where it seemed she really wanted to dress up. Her face was void of scars and or blemishes to

her face. She looked like the perfect woman.

"Almost too perfect." Kibe thought to himself as he looked at the woman deeper.

"A blouse? She is either a woman with a cat or she is suffering through some artistic career struggle at the

moment. No doubt parents are the cause, her face is not really that clean. One could easily tell she wears a

type of formula. Ultra-Lightweight perhaps? No, definitely not. Judging from her face and the structure

and the separation of her eyes. The overly assertive voice too. She has about two blackheads and one

pimple. But looking at her shape and body weight I'd say she might find another one soon, likely on her cheek.

Her hair isn't naturally blonde. Likely brown." Kibe thought to himself as he then got up and got his stuff

together, he set his laptop into his school bag along with his papers. Kibe looked at the older woman,

bowed, and walked away. The woman made a pouting expression as she then huffed and walked away.

Kibe left the library and saw that it was close to nightfall.

"...Darn, I guess I did fall asleep. Then again. Reading something you already know can be tiresome."

Kibe said calmly as he started walking towards his home. He'd eventually stop at a street when he heard

some commotion from across him to his left. His eyes moved towards the noise and saw it was the

chattering of girls from his school. Unlike him, where his uniform was black and white with a dark tie,

they wore the same thing, except with a skirt.

"Hey, hey. Look who it is across the street." said one of the girls, she nudged her friends, and they looked

over and saw Kibe waiting for the light to change. The girls all looked at him, each of them thinking he

was a bit weird to be out so late. Especially when it's so late.

"Why is he out all alone?" said one girl

"Yeah, it's kind of creepy." said another girl

"Maybe he's going to a fancy hotel? I mean look at how neatly dressed he is." said another one

"I say we get his attention and find out. Hey! Oh, cute booooy! Where you off to so late?" asked one of

the girls, but her question received no answer as Kibe simply walked forward once the light went green.

All the girls looked at one another a bit confused, did he not hear her? Or was he just simply ignoring her?

They really couldn't tell. His face showed no expression. Kibe continued to walk down the street and

towards his home. He walked down these streets hundreds of times, yet every single time. The street

always seemed to be changing in one way or the other. Either it was construction, a stray cat that had

arrived from a neighboring neighborhood or maybe even a new face driving or walking through. "This next exam is going to be nothing short of a disappointment." Kibe thought to himself as he

eventually got home. Once he arrived, he opened the door and entered. He looked around for a moment,

he noticed that his mother's shoes were gone. He looked over and saw her coat was missing too.

"Seems like she went out again." He said calmly, he then got himself comfortable and began to cook

himself some salmon and rice. As he ate his dinner, he thought about some of what he had read today.

"Talk on human psychology is a topic for constant boredom. The human mind is complicated, irrational,

and always ready to make the opposite choice of what should be a rational A or B. People love feeling

different, some may not always, but the fact remains. Humans adore feeling different. It is hardwired into

this generation, the past, and definitely the ones to come.

But it can't be helped, I guess. We're doomed." Kibe said calmly as he took a bite of his salmon. After

eating, he cleaned the dishes and washed his uniform. His eyes lingered on it for a moment as it went

through the washing cycle. The glass allowed him to peer into the washer, possibly mocking him for its

simplicity. Later he'd be in bed lying down. The one time where he never thinks of being critical, or never

double looking or studying something. The one time where he can feel human.

The next day Kibe would wake up, and he'd quickly yawn before he sat at his bed. Every day he woke up

three hours before school started. He didn't want to, just seemed as though his mind always precalculated

what he needed to do during his early morning and would wake him to accomplish just that. His eyes

would dart through his room, nothing really to show. He had a desk, some books on calcs, brane

cosmology, and the dictionary of obscure sorrows. His floor had no rug, it was already a rugged floor. His

bed had gray sheets and a black cover. One pillow. His closet was filled with some casual clothes, but

most of them were long sleeves and plaid designs. All picked by his fashion nut of a mother. He didn't

care for any of these...besides the books. He then stood up and began to do stretches, he stretched his

arms, his legs, and his hips and back.

"Is my life truly so bland? Seems as though I walk along a line of- Hm?" Kibe stopped mid-sentence as he

heard some people talking outside his window, he walked over calmly as he looked outside to see a girl

and a boy. One with dark lavender hair and the other with blonde dirty hair. He looked at them both, they

were clearly arguing over something. Though it's not like it was hard for Kibe to tell what it was, without

needing to read their lips he easily assessed it through their body language. The girl was waving her arms

around and even though she wasn't in a view to which Kibe could see her mouth or face. Reading the

boy's expressions he could see that he was in discomfort or despair. A breakup. He could tell the girl was furious with the boy, from what Kibe could gather from looking at the boy his

appearance showed shyness, vulnerability, and even worse. A greater reflection of a liar. Liars always

wear guilt in their eyes, never their faces. It's easy to tell a liar from their eyes. Faces are too easy to mask

and too unreliable, but the eyes of a human never lie. Kibe said as his eyes remained focused and yet calm

as he watched them. The boy wasn't fighting back nor speaking, a clear sign of guilt and regret. From the

slouched position and the lack of eye contact and the irrational behavior and inappropriate shouting from

the girl- yeah, the boy was a cheater. And not in games of chess. That's when Kibe noticed the boy's

uniform and the girl's. They were from Sawa High, his school. Information to use for later perhaps?

Maybe.

Kibe then walked away and went downstairs, As he did he noticed his mother's shoes were at the door,

not her coat though. Forgot it? Likely. He walked to the living room and of course, found her slouched on

the couch completely passed out. Her long hair was all over her face and her clothes messy. She had a

bruise on her face, from a fight no doubt, and of course a barf stain on her pants. He walked to the kitchen

and made her some water and set it down.

"Hey," he said in a calm voice as he gently tapped her face, she didn't wake up and instead turned over.

He didn't pay any mind as he just went about the rest of his day. He went to the bathroom for a moment to

shower before getting out and getting ready for school. He put on his outfit, tied his shoes, and made

himself some toast before walking outside with his school bag in hand. He looked both ways down his

street. The sun was beating down and he could feel the morning wind hitting his face and going through

his hair.

"Another day." He said as he commenced walking to his school. Walking down the same street yet again,

except this time he noticed something. Other students walked near and by the same path he took, but this

time a new face was there. He saw the girl. She was the odd one out of the crowd, however ordinary she

appeared. She was like a glowing light in the darkness to Kibe.

"Who is that?" Kibe asked himself as he had never seen her before, not even among the numerous

students he'd encountered did her face ring a bell to him. His eyes were locked on her. Her figure was

average, and her weight was definitely around a hundred-seventy-five pounds. Her cup size looked to be

around B size and her hair was a deep black. Likely conditioned, it was way too glossy. Kibe moved

along his path as he saw this girl walking across the street from him. He never got a look at her face, but

he knew he needed to see it too. Though he had a good idea of what she seemed to look like from the front too. "Blue eyes for sure. Sharp nose? maybe. She most likely wears no lipstick or makeup either." Kibe

thought to himself as he then decided it was time to see this girl. He recognized the street they were going

down. It had another route that led the same way and even intersected with itself on another street. This

benefited him as he could be alone and still see this girl. Kibe then stopped at a crosswalk, there were no

cars. He couldn't hear anything approaching. His eyes moved to the right as he then pressed the button. At

that moment he heard cars coming.

"The world can be predicted; all actions are met with a reaction. Nothing is done without something else

happening." Kibe thought to himself as he faced forward. The light came signaling him to go on as he

walked across the street. He noticed the girl made a right to go down the street he had known she would

take. He continued on his path down the alternate route. Noticing his environment for anything else new,

he saw nothing. The same homes, restaurants, and even older folks sitting and smoking outside too.

"Hi there Kibe! Have a nice day at school." shouted a man across the street, Kibe made momentary eye

contact before giving a quick nod and continuing to walk. He couldn't risk stopping for a moment

otherwise his moment would be ruined. That's when he approached the corner of the street. A building

blocked him as he looked at the few inches in front of him leading to the intersection of both streets. He

then heard the shuffling and clicking of shoes. They weren't loud enough to be heels of a woman and

didn't have the weight of a man's foot. They were younger, in fact, they even sounded a bit timid from

how little space came in between each step. Could it be her first day at this school? Was she a transfer?

His mind thought of a couple of solutions, but as he did his body moved back a few feet as he got a

running start and started to do a slight job. That's when he and the girl smashed into one another. As he

figured, it was her. She fell while Kibe caught himself before his body could make any moves to recover,

saving himself the strength.

"OH MY! I-I'm sorry! I didn't hear you coming!" said the girl, Kibe's eyes met hers. They were blue just

as he said, with no lipstick and makeup either. An average-looking schoolgirl. He gave her his hand as he

helped her up and then took a knee to pick up some of her stuff that spilled over. The girl took a few steps

back, she was worried about her skirt getting looked at by Kibe. Though he didn't care about those kinds

of things.

"So, where are you from? From how you carry yourself I'd say you're from a more middle-class origin.

Likely the town of Ushin? " Kibe said calmly as he handed the girl her things. She nodded at him. "Yea, how'd you guess?" the girl asked as Kibe got up and fixed his uniform.

"Nothing, it's just that a lot of the transfers come from there," Kibe said calmly, though that wasn't entirely

true. Ushin had plenty of higher-class students, but none of them walked by foot to school.

"What's your name? I'm Gima Akia," she said introducing herself, Gima Akia? An odd name for

someone who looks like the most average human girl on the planet, but Kibe knew that to get her to

confide in him he'd have to play it a bit more natural.

"That's a pretty name, I'm Nori Kibe. Class 1-S, you?" he asked

"Class 2-B." she said, however her whole expression then changed, and a face of sorrow and depression

just washed over her like a tidal wave. Kibe tried to understand just what could have set this sudden mood

change into swing.

It couldn't be a dead loved one, a pet maybe? no, breakup? eh, not a chance. He just for the life of him

couldn't get an understanding of just what kind of sorrow this girl was expressing. Her face looked like

something otherworldly to him.

"What's wrong? something I said?" Kibe asked

"M-My bag please." Akia asked, Kibe looked at his hand holding it and then gave it to her, Akia grabbed

her bag and then ran off past him.

"Thank you for the help!" she shouted to him, bowing as she ran off down the street, Kibe waved a quick

bye before his whole person and personality changed back to what it was. His eyes lingered on her for a

moment before he crossed the street and made his way to school. Once he got there, he had some time to

kill before school was fully in session. So he went to the library, Sawa High was a pretty massive school.

When the school board announced its construction, they spoke about how they had a few more funds to

pour into the school. Since then, it's been known that the school is one of the biggest in the entire district. It's nothing special, no elite classmen and no special courses to be taken. It's just an average school with

normal humans.

"And me," Kibe said to himself as he proceeded to walk through the large black gates and went ahead to

his classroom. He walked up the stairs to his classroom which was on the second floor. As he made his

way there, he saw many students chatting and playing in the hallway. Though his eyes would never turn

to them. He already knew them, already knew their purpose as he passed by. He eventually made it to his

classroom which sounded a bit noisy from the outside. He stood outside his classroom for a moment as he

heard banter going around.

"I heard a recent rumor that the security guys got cameras in the bathrooms." said a male student

"Really? Even in the girl's bathroom?! That's wild. What perverts" said a girl student

"Yea, it's really gross. Hopefully that isn't true." said the male student, Kibe's eyes looked to his left as he

saw them left.

"Hey did you catch wind that the music group is looking for a new singer? Heard their old one caught a

bad illness. Some kind of mouth disease." said a girl student

"Oh no, I hope Sakura is ok, she has such a beautiful voice." said another girl student. Kibe then looked

back at his homeroom door.

He opened the door and saw all of his classmates. It then went a bit quiet as they saw Kibe enter.

"Hey Kibe, welcome to class." shouted one girl, Kibe knew her voice without even looking at her.

"Ouchi Mi, an airhead, she was loud and very, very friendly. She wanted to make friends with everyone

when she came here. Her hair is a sort of jasmine color, her eyes were a pure blue, and an ocean-like aura emanated from them. Her sole purpose is just to be a loud girl. Nothing out of the ordinary and nothing original." Kibe thought

to himself as he closed the door behind him and went to his seat which would be in the center of the class.