MORPHING: 001

"Do you know that we have an animal gene inside of us?"

These topics that I hear from my friends, I often wonder if it's true or not. Are humans like us even animals? It is said that society only adapted to change which is why we consider ourselves different from the rest of the animal kingdom. We are more advanced and much more intelligent than those who are only controlled by their animal instincts. Humans and animals are different. But if you ask me, I don't think they are so far off. Even if we do deem humans as competent, we can never take off the reality that some are still being reigned by their own animal emotions. The greed, selfishness, and the need to consume and to reproduce, are all done by many.

"Humans are animals."

When I said this I didn't mean literally but now I think I can say to myself how literal it is. Because why would a fellow human chomp off the head of another?

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The ticking of the clock, the teacher's inaudible lectures, and a group of friends cautiously sending letters to each other by passing them over. Seisuru could only watch them from afar in mild interest. He wasn't the type to join in the group's comedic acts because of the fear of being caught by the teacher, but he couldn't erase the feeling of envy. The dull lectures made him yawn which is why he wanted to join in the little game that they are playing. But he can't ignore the fact that his seat is too far away from his friends.

"Seisuru!"

With that loud whisper, the black-haired boy switched his attention to the one calling him and found his childhood friend waving a paper at him while ducking low. With a look of puzzlement, Seisuru watched how the latter would point at the paper he was holding and then pass it over to a few more students to reach him. Receiving the note, the nonchalant student, who was excited to get rid of his boredom, opened the letter with a hesitant gaze before reading it. The paper was a bit crumbled due to it being folded which is why it was a bit hard to read the faded words that are jotted down on it.

"Do you know that humans have animal genes?"

Eyebrows furrowing in confusion, Seisuru's eyes, which were filled with enthusiasm, suddenly turned into bewilderment. 'What the hell does this mean? Don't tell me Ayaba's reading those facts on the website again.' Was his thoughts while taking out a pen from his bag and then started scribbling on it as well.

"Stop reading science facts." He passed.

"Why not? It's interesting and will be a good source of knowledge." Receiving the reply, Seisuru's face wrinkled skeptically, he wasn't used to when his best friend had this weird way of talking to him. Though it indeed made him laugh for a second there, it just amuses him how Ayaba has this kind of interest but when it comes to school, he tends to just doze off in the middle of class. With a shrug of his shoulders, he started writing a reply again and passed it.

"Why not listen to class for a good source of knowledge?" He watched in interest as his friend read that note from him and fumed in annoyance. Seisuru can even see that comical mark of annoyance on his forehead. Because of that comment, the two bickered back in forth using that type of communication. Their classmates were even starting to be intrigued and annoyed with how they passed the papers through them, slightly bothering them as they listened in class.

"Well yeah? You're even studying but you still ain't the top in class." Ayaba to Seisuru.

"But at least my study material ain't the Guinness Book of Records." Seisuru to Ayaba.

"I'm so going to burn your comic books at my house." Ayaba. Eyes flashing in rage at the threat of the friend, Seisuru's noisy writing eventually caught the teacher's attention. While he was immersed in thinking of a comeback, the teacher quietly sneaked himself behind the lad and peeked silently. The other students could only stare with a sweat, hoping that Seisuru would notice the lecturer already but to no luck, he continued writing like crazy. However, all the fun and excitement ended as soon as the teacher snatched the paper off the student's hand as he was going to pass it again.

Sweating with a jolt, Seisuru would look at the teacher with an awkward smile before looking away. "Care to explain this, sir Hizaki?" The teacher would ask, walking in front of the class and reading what's written on the piece of paper out loud, "I'm going to burn your 18+ comics at my house too then"? Oh, my, sir Hizaki. Who are you pertaining this to?"

The whole laugh would snicker at the tease meanwhile Ayaba and Seisuru are currently busy blaming each other for the commotion that they caused. Their face is sweating and red from too much embarrassment. The teasing didn't extend for so long, since the next thing they knew, they were sent outside to do sit-ups in front of the hall. The whole class immediately went quiet upon seeing the two walking out of the class with a look of disappointment and pity. But they couldn't be all depressed about it, since they hate the class anyway.

"Dude, why did you talk about my 18+ magazines? Now my parents are going to find out." Ayaba would retort with that visible tear coming at the corner of his right eye. The latter stared at him with a roll of his eyes, "You deserve that, you threatened to burn my comics." He muttered with a squint which the friend would reply with a chuckle. Both of them know that this much bonding time is quite wholesome to be shared. They find it something to add to the memories that they currently have. Happiness and enjoying their high school life together, but didn't the world have that kind of quote that people would say to each other in times of hardship?

𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳.

Seisuru didn't understand what that meant at first the first time he read it in a school newspaper, but now he does. Especially when he noticed the smoke that was starting to leak in the school hallway. "What is that?" Ayaba would ask in a whisper. By the time he noticed it, Seisuru would shrug his shoulders, not realizing the impending danger that was about to befall them.

"Is the school on fire?" He mumbled to himself, but this smoke, isn't it supposed to be white? Why is it color green? "Is the art club pranking someone again? Those idiots. They didn't listen when the principal told them about it, " Ayaba snorted with a wave of his hands, showing how disappointed he was about the club but the latter didn't listen to him, instead, he only eyed the smoke. That's when it suddenly increased in volume and fogged up the place.

"What the?"

"EUKH!?"

As soon as they inhaled the gas, their chest suddenly tightened in pain. Their hearts beat faster as if they are running away from something. Seisuru coughed out saliva as he felt suffocated by the smoke, now they were sure that this wasn't the art class pranking. This is something else. Holding his stomach, Ayaba also started vomiting along with him, their drools dripping along the side of their mouth. It felt like a thousand sharp crystals started forming in their insides, this prickling feeling was something that would traumatize them. Falling to the floor, Seisuru heard the screaming of pain from inside the class, their eyes widened in shock at the gruesome riots.

The fog dissipated after a few moments, and catching their breath, the boy stood up and assisted his friend. "What was that?" Ayaba panted while being draped against the wall, but the question didn't shake Seisuru in any way, because what he saw inside left him begging for this day to only become a dream. Inside their class, as he was watching from the class window, he saw a couple of his classmates' bodies turning into these weird organisms. They look like animals but it was so deformed that some of the human limbs are still sticking out. Just like this student, his head forms into an orca while his hands remain flabby as he holds a boy on his shoulders and starts devouring the twitching student.

"What is happening...?"

A girl's scream erupted from somewhere in the school. What's happening? What are these things? Seisuru couldn't move in fear, he watched how the humanoid Orca threw its hands in the air and started wreaking havoc and eating the people inside. Most of them also changed forms but they look like different animals like a fish, a bird, and this giraffe who had its neck broken because of the height of the room. Is he dreaming? Can he wake up? How did this happen?

"Seisuru!" Shocked by the friend, he finally found his reality back. He couldn't stop shaking but Ayaba's assurance made him nod, "Let's get out of here first. Questions later, " Ayaba told him as the other only nodded his head while sweating. Slipping on their vomit, they darted in the opposite direction of the hallway, in every class that they passed, bloodshed happened. Guts splattered across the glass windows and screams of turmoil echoed in the whole area. They could only distract themselves while running instead of getting their feet frozen from shock at those screams. While in the middle of moving, a window glass suddenly broke out and splattered everywhere on the floor. There, a gigantic elephant-shaped human suddenly flew in through the window, its tusks hitting debris as another animal-looking human swayed its way in beside the wounded elephant. From the looks of it, it's some kind of a lion.

"We need to get out of here, Seisuru. They are going to fight." Ayaba would say, grabbing the latter by the wrist and pulling him away so that they'll move to the other corridor. "But the monsters are there!" He reasoned out while trailing behind him, "I'm sure it's busy. We still can't get past there, Elephants and lions are natural enemies. It would be harmful to us if we get stuck in their fights." Seisuru could only gape at his friend and Ayaba shrugged his shoulders, "I found out about it in the facts book!"

Chuckling despite the situation, Seisuru and Ayaba successfully reached the end and took the stairs down to the first floor. Seisuru taking the lead, he saw first-hand the situation downstairs, he hoped that it was going to be better but it was worse down there. Bodies are seen all over the floor and animals are fighting over the bodies that lay there. The boy gulped in nervousness at the sight as he shook his head, "It's going to be dangerous, we should find others to..." Voice trailing off at the sight, a morbid silhouette reflected upon his eyes, it was the stature of the orca standing tall behind the childhood friend, its head completely formed, blood stained on its sharp teeth.

"Seisuru, what's wrong?"

"AYABA, WATCH OUT."

About to grab the friend's wrist, what happened next surprised him. It was the scene of his friend not grabbing his hand but instead, Ayaba sacrificed his safety by turning around and grappling the orca with his weight, pushing it back, and pinning it against the stairway. The creature started shaking in restraint, pulling back his head before taking a large bite on the latter's shoulder. Ayaba moaned in pain at the dislocation of his shoulder, the orca's teeth sinking so low on the skin that he could feel the tooth hitting his bone. At this moment, Ayaba could only yell.

"Seisuru, go out now! Run away!" The friend exclaimed. Seisuru stood there stunned, he tried grabbing the friend away to save him but Ayaba jerked his head and refused his help, even kicking him away and saying, "I'm alright, come on, Sei. Run away!"

"I'm not going to leave you here, Ayaba!"

"Don't let my shoulder go to waste, damn it! You stupid comic idiot, run!" Foot thudding from upstairs, a group of animals started rushing out of the second floor, Ayaba looked once more at the friend and nodded at him. Seisuru's eyes which were already wet with tears could only turn back, he's such a coward. Leaving his friend for his safety, he knew Ayaba should be the one to survive because he knew everything, unlike him who always relied on others. As he was running, he could hear the very own painful whine of his friend, he couldn't look back in fear that he might be freezing in his tracks again. But his problem didn't stop there, the animals that came from the second floor were headed in the same direction as he was.

"H-Help!" He shouted while trying to outrun the herd of animals that were about to trample him, the sight of that disfigured bodies and eyes that were filled with hostility, he almost thought that he would have the same fate as Ayaba soon. He can feel his very own legs giving up on him, Seisuru was once confident of his strength and yet now he's trailing from these creatures that can easily feast on him. But just about when he was to trip over debris, a pair of hands grabbed him from the side, immediately pulling him inside a room and locking it behind him. The animals who didn't notice his disappearance, continued running, it was a complete stampede.

"Wha—"

"Quiet down if you don't want to be eaten by those creatures outside." Gazing at a pair of gray hues, Seisuru blinked his eyes in relief. "I'm a teacher, now you can calm down. Breath." Immediately draping himself against the door, those were the words that he wanted to hear ever since the smoke happened. The woman in front of him is indeed a teacher, she has beautiful pink-dyed locks and eyes that almost look like they are glowing. She couldn't almost look away from her.

"What are you looking at kid?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, miss. I was just confused as to why you didn't turn into an animal like them."

Having the expression as if Seisuru said something wrong, the student would tilt his head in confusion. The teacher was glaring daggers at him but then he realized he did say something wrong. Now that the professor was standing in front of him, he could see the Adam's apple of the male from where he sat. "For your information, it's Mr Hinato, for you. I believe that that we might be immune to the smoke that happened earlier, that is why we are the only ones who survived here."

"We are not the only ones who survived." Seisuru mumbled in a small sob, wiping the tears that formed once again in the corner of his eyes, "My friend was supposed to be the one here and not me. He sacrificed himself for me." He wept, hugging his knees close to him. That time when he is already sure that both of them will be safe and will get out of there, was fate too cruel that he has to experience this?

The teacher would only look in a bit of sympathy, "Well, your friend indeed has it rough. But at least he doesn't have to concern himself about what's happening here anymore." Hinato would comment with a cross of his arms, eyes gazing elsewhere. Standing up, Seisuru's eyebrows would furrow in uneasiness, and look at what the teacher was looking at. His eyes only widened in shock, The room they were in had a glass window and from the gaps of the curtains that Hinato closed, he could see the animals and humans raging everywhere. The campus and even the city streets were filled with animals crossing and chasing humans.

"What's happening to our city?"

Hinato would shake his head. He doesn't know the answer to Seisuru's question, but he does know one thing.

"𝙄𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙏𝙤𝙠𝙮𝙤 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙥𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜."

The Tokyo Morph. 2023.