Atdonus High

Episode 9: The Boy That Writes

Middle of Who-Knows-Where.

Who-Knows-When

In Atdonus highschool

7:45am, a boy entered the classroom.

He was sleepy, with dark rings under his eyes. The boy stood 181cm tall, with some muscle on him. His hair was a spiky blonde, unkept because he did not have time to comb his hair. His eyes were a light blue, like the colour of the sky.

He sat down at his seat, trying not to fall asleep. Not long later, someone tapped his chair. That was Eva and Yuki’s first interaction.

Yuki was a simple man, he did what he liked, when he liked. He tested out several personalities for a hobby of his. He wanted to see how people would react under certain scenarios. He even stood up to Azel for his hobby. Though he looks like a gangster, he was far from it. He liked talking to people about random stuff, staying up late, his hobby and eating instant ramen. He disliked watching movies, being sleepy and math.

He had even thought that he was the most normal person in the school. He loved writing and even got a publishing company to help sell some of his works to the masses. He was somewhat successful, seeing that a few people really enjoyed his work. He loved doing it, he simply kept it a secret from others.

He spoke to Eva, even accidentally falling asleep. He felt something off about Eva, she seemed familiar to a few of the characters he had to scrap. She was like a black canvas, easily influenced with no sense of self. He always had those characters rejected when he submitted his draft. His editor told him that he needed more passion, a dull character like that, despite his explanation that the character will evolve, would not sell. He had almost given up on creating his perfect story on someone like that, at least, until he met Eva.

She was the definition of those characters, from his short interaction with her. He wanted to watch her evolve as she finds herself, with him at her side. If the story was genuine enough, maybe he could even get his picky editor to accept the idea. At some point, he had gone too much with a lie, ending up with inviting Eva to play games with him.

He silently cursed without showing it on his face. The only things in his room was a table, chair, a bunch of paper, a laptop, a lamp and a blanket for sleeping. There were no games to be found anywhere, he was in deep trouble.

He tuned out of class, trying to think of a valid reason to go back on his words. The only possibilities he could think of was to bring her somewhere else, run away or tell her he was busy. Some of those might work, but he needed to take a risk.

Thinking hard, unknowingly, he fell asleep in his seat, eventually being woken up by Mr. Andrews not long after.

10:03pm, it was the day before.

Yuki was typing out his manuscript leisurely, thinking of fresh ideas and future ideas to add to the story he wrote. He searched up a few words, adding them into his work for some flare. At that time, in the silence and darkness of his room, the only things illuminated were the lamp and his laptop.

The paper scattered under his arms as he typed included a few scrambled ideas, along with a few character designs. He wrote a novel, but he needed to send in the rough character design so they could make the cover art. He was ready to end it there, but a sudden text from his editor stopped him from doing so.

‘Can you potentially finish your manuscript for the next volume today? Your deadline is almost here.’

He looked at the message and sighed, sitting back on his chair. He had an entire chapter left to complete, a few thousand words to type. He put on his glasses and started typing out the story as fast as he could. He was so focused that he did not notice the time flying by.

“Done and done!” He exclaimed, stretching.

He had sent in his manuscript to his editor for her to check his work for any mistakes in spelling, vocabulary or grammar.

He yawned, getting his blanket.

He laid down on the floor, ready to call it a day. His eyes closed, his head too tired to think about anything else.

7:20am, his alarm clock rang.

Yuki woke up slowly, his body shaking with helplessness. He had worked into the night before, but he never worked that late. Yuki had only slept for an hour because of his job.

11:30am, the bell rang for lunch break.

Yuki rested his head on his desk and closed his eyes, determined to make the most out of his lunch break. Almost instantly, he fell asleep, ignorant of those around him.

Meanwhile, Eva looked around to see what she could do. She saw the other girls form groups among themselves, all except for Evelyn and herself. With nothing else to do, she turned towards Yuki. The new ‘not reading’ thing was hard for her, she felt bored and restless, yet excited to catch up with what she missed out.

She went in front of Yuki, wanting to get his attention. When she noticed that he was sleeping peacefully, she immediately stopped any attempt of conversation. Instead, she sat down in Angela’s seat, crossing her right arm over her left on the desk. She rested the side of her head on her arms, pretending to sleep while she looked at Yuki.

His expression was peaceful, none of his muscles working, so it was like to most natural a person’s face could be. It was tranquil around him, his eyes closed as he took small breaths in his sleep. Eva could not describe it in words as she saw him. He almost seemed like a few of the characters she read about.

For the next hour or so, she just stayed there, staring at him.

She may not know what her favourite coffee is, she may not know how to live life normally, but she definitely knew that she was interested in who Yuki Herro was.

12:30pm, the bell rang.

Hesitantly, Eva moved back to her own seat, leaving Yuki to still sleep. She stopped herself from picking up a book before crossing her arms, looking in front to try and pay attention to class.

It was not long before Yuki was woken up by a teacher.

3:10pm, class ended.

Students started slowly streaming out of the classroom. Yuki, instead of leaving for his dorm, decided to put his head down and sleep in class. He rest his head, ignorant of what was around him.

Eva saw him and got up from her seat. The sound of her chair dragging on the ground almost woke him up, but Yuki remained asleep. In the silent classroom, the sounds of footsteps echoed as Eva walked to the seat to the right of Yuki. She silently moved the seat out and sat down, resting her head on the table and looking at Yuki. Oddly, her vision felt brighter than usual, her sight clear through her glasses.

In her world of fiction, she could never imagine something like it, reality was a beautiful thing. In her sight, the silent classroom and Yuki. She stared at his face, taking in all the details.

“How pretty...” She whispered.

Yuki, still asleep, was unaware of whatever just happened. Eva, on the first day of trying to be normal, was good because she met a single person. Yuki had talked to her, he was nice to her, even his appearance radiated kindness. She wanted to be like him. She wanted to be normal. By being around him, by looking at him, she was hoping that she could find out what she liked, how she would act.

Accepting reality was not an easy thing, she could have ended up depressed after no one spoke to her, she was grateful towards Yuki for accepting her, whatever his reason may be.

Silence hung in the air.

Eva was thinking about how the situation seemed familiar to some of her books, but instantly dismissed the idea. She had been reading since young while her parents fought. She could clearly remember her parents arguing through the night. It got so bad that her mother was forced out the house, accompanied by Eva herself. She read to ignore what was going on, believing that reality was an ugly thing. Dull, ugly, uninteresting to her. She stared at the boy, a small smile on her face, he was the embodiment of what she wanted to be like. He did what he wanted, what he lived without much though for others.

She paused, thinking. Was it something she wanted to be? Or one of the characters she read about?

Before Eva could fully think about it, she could hear something. From outside the class, there were footsteps as someone approached. The slight chattering got louder and louder until it was right outside the door. A voice spoke, “Yeah, I forgot something, hold on a second.”

A girl entered the class, and looked around the class, noticing both Eva and Yuki. She looked at Eva, then at the table Eva was at. Eva wondered what time it was, how long had she been staring at Yuki?

The girl was pretty. Eva looked at her, she was around 170cm tall, with a slim build. She looked like a model, her black hair straight and glowing with a headband under her hair, along with a red cloth draping from the headband, flowing down the right side of her head and face like a half veil. Her eyes were soft and mature, her arms and legs long.

“Um... why are you at my seat?” She asked Eva.

“Eh...” Eva muttered, unsure of what to say.

The girl waved her question away, not wanting to pressure Eva. She walked up to her and reached down to under the table, allowing Eva to slightly look under her half veil. Eva noticed that there was nothing wrong, it was probably only her fashion sense. The girl told Eva, “I don’t really mind it, just don’t touch my stuff, okay?”

“Y-yes...” Eva replied.

She did not have much experience talking normally. The girl took a step away before turning around. “You’re that girl that always reads, right? Sorry, but I don’t think I know your name.”

“Eva Hardner.”

“Scarlet.” She winked at Eva.

Scarlet looked around the class one last time, looking at Eva and looking at Yuki. She turned and left, waving behind her, her red veil trailing behind her, reaching halfway down her neck.

After she left, Eva felt something in her chest. She managed to somewhat talk to another classmate, it was interesting to meet and talk with her. She wanted to try talking more, but was afraid that they might refuse her. Even still, her heart was beating fast, her eyes wide, her faced twisted into an uncontrollable smile. She felt like she was in the sky. Was that how it felt to be a normal person? She enjoyed the feeling, to reconnect back to the real world.

Eva looked around for some time, happiness exuding from her. She looked at Yuki, wanting to tell him about it, but he was fast asleep, his peaceful expression managing to calm her down.

Eva took a deep breath and calmed down, resting her head on the table. Despite having ‘calmed down’, she still could not contain her excitement.

For the next half an hour, she stared at Yuki, her eyelids getting heavier, her eyes losing focus until she inevitably fell asleep.

5:38pm, Yuki woke up.

He sat straight, stretching his back, reaching back and stretching his arms. He extended his legs and stretched them too. He yawned, scratching his head, messing up his already messy blonde hair. He blinked a few times to adjust his vision, looking around while at it.

The class was silent, except for a soft snore. He looked to his right and jumped out of his seat, shocked. Eva was also sleeping, her glasses at an awkward angle, her eyes closed and she snores ever so soft. Yuki calmed himself down and cleared his mind. It was good material for his writing, but it was weird to look at a girl while she slept. He coughed, trying to wake her up with no success.

He went up to her cautiously, tapping her shoulder quickly before pulling back his hand. Eva’s body shifted as she went through the same process as Yuki, stretching, yawning. He noticed that most girls would not do that so publicly, but ignored that statement.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

Eva looked in his direction and her face flushed red. She stuttered, “Um.. I was... I...”

“Never mind that.” He sighed. “We should probably leave soon.”

Eva nodded exaggeratedly before rushing to pick up her bag. Yuki pulled his bag up to his shoulder and walked out of the classroom, Eva trailing behind him.

After a few steps along the hallway, the awkwardness between the two got to the point where even Yuki felt uncomfortable. He coughed and told Eva, “About the games... Sorry, but I lied, I don’t really play games.”

“Really?” Eva replied, curious. “Then what did you stay up late to do?”

“I sketched a few things, not that good at it though.” He laughed slightly.

When they reached the ground floor of the school, Yuki waved Eva goodbye, watching as she walked back to her dorm. Yuki turned the other direction, walking towards the garden, the sunset behind him. He held a serious look as he approached someone waiting for him.

A girl sat on a bench right outside the hedge maze, holding a notebook. He walked up to her and said, “Did you do anything to her?”

She looked at him with her left eye. “What could you mean?”

Scarlet, a read cloth reaching down half her neck covering the right half of her face and head. Yuki pointed at the notebook in her hand and said, “I know the kind of person you are, Scarlet. I’ve know you for far too long.”

Scarlet closed her notebook and got up, walking past Yuki. She whispered when walking past him, “Apologies for leaving early, I have a party to attend to.”

Yuki clenched his fists and scowled. “You keep thinking you can do whatever you want, don’t you?”

She smiled at him, now between him and the building. “So?”

She walked off towards the gate. She waved behind her. “As a writer, you should know how to stop people, right? Do not think you are so clean, I did this all for you.”

At the gate, the guards blatantly ignored her as she walked past. She entered a car and was driven off. The driver looked back and asked, “Where to ma’am?”

“Hm... Let me see...” She smiled. “Maybe I should buy a new dress first.”

She smiled, half her smile covered by her half veil.

Back in the school, Yuki was internally screaming. He had known Scarlet for some time, but he could never grasp her ambition or aim. She gathered all these individuals in the same place, what was her goal? He had seen too many people break down because of her, all of it was like a game to her.

He looked at the school compound.

7:49pm, Scarlet entered a building hall.

She still wore her half veil as she walked around the party. She was a high schooler,by far one of the youngest in the party, yet one with the most presence. She smiled as people talked to her.

Congratulations on your school life.

You’ve done many great things.

As expected of ‘his’ daughter.

Scarlet tuned out of those disgusting compliments and looked ahead.

7:30pm, Yuki had already showered and was at his seat once again. He wanted to forget about Scarlet, how she had kept him as close as she could, how she messed with him. That girl had almost driven him to depression once before, the only thing getting him out was his writing. His stories, stories he thought of, stories he loved. He Bagan working on the next volume of his publish.

Meanwhile, Eva was in her room, hugging a pillow and thinking back on what had gone on that day, feeling oddly happy.

7:40pm, Azel was looking through his shelf.

He looked, trying to think of what he could recommend to Pandora. She seemed down recently, so he wanted to cheer her up, especially since the next day would be his first day since his suspension. He wanted to help Pandora as much as he could.

7:10pm, Alex and Angela were in Angela’s room.

“We’re going back to class tomorrow?” Angela asked.

“Yes.” Alex replied.

“What’s the point? Do you even go to class?” Angela asked.

“Of course I do not.”

Angela laughed and waved him off as he left the room. Whether they were separated for a few seconds, a few hours or a few years, their feelings would not fade. Even after their highschool lives ended, and they were to return to prison to receive their punishments, their feelings would not fade. At least, that was what they believed.

7:20pm, Mr. Connor was reading through the class list again.

He tried not to be careless, reading through every one, finding out a few things about the students. However, no matter how hard he searched, there was one missing. He found it weird since that person stood out quite a lot in class, always drawing his eyes to her. Scarlet’s information was unavailable.

Scratching his head, he let the matter rest and went off to his dorm room.

8:00pm, at a party.

Scarlet looked through her notebook. Inside, it contained the names of every student, their personality and their past. It was all a game to her, the entire school was like a chessboard, the students the pieces.

She sat in the corner where no one else was looking, thinking about how she could spice things up. After all, as long as Yuki Herro remained silent, no one would know who she really was.

The student ‘Scarlet’ was in fact, not a student. She was sixteen years of age, the school was four years of age. At the mere age of twelve, Scarlet had managed to set up a school with influence of her father.

The principal of Atdonus Highschool, Scarlet, enters.