Haahh...

It was cold this morning. I walked steadily through the rain, holding an opened umbrella, going to school. It was my first day there.

My new orphanage’s owner arranged me into that new school. I changed school way too frequently. I had lot of bad records on my previous schools. Troubles always flocked around me. People always picked on me. I learned that being weak attracted bully. So, I changed myself and caused quite a commotion on my previous schools by acting like the bad guy. I was a rebel during my younger time.

But now, I felt tired. I was determined and wished for not to change the neighbourhood I lived in again.

I will return to the old me. I wished to return to the old Kisaragi Kazue, who loved to socialize and had many friends.

I will make this the last time I moved through school.

No matter how many times I moved around. I never got used to it. Constantly changing the living environment wasn’t that fun in the end. I had lived like that for more or less than ten years. It was started after that incident on the winter. When my father was... killed.

After the incident took place, instead of further investigating. The police closed the case rather quick. It was masked as a robbery homicide, despite none of our wealth was touched at all.

I remembered.

That night, I woke up from the loud noise my father produced with the culprit. Tables thumping, glasses shattering, they were the sound of them struggling.

I slowly opened the door and peeked from the narrow opening and I listened.

“WHERE IS THAT THING!!” I saw the back of a dark suited tall guy yelled at my father as he stomped toward him.

"I really don't know!" Father exclaimed, trying to convince him.

That tall man kept sweeping things down from the surface, causing loud noises as they hit the ground. He opened every drawer he saw. He was searching for something.

Right before he turned around, before I could see what he looks like under the moonlight.

Father grabbed him by the shoulder and turned that tall guy back to him with force. That guy stumbled on his feet.

“Please don’t!” Father begged as he frowned.

“I know that cursed girl is here”

“N-No!!”

That guy broke free from Father’s grip. Then he pushed Father away while he turned to his side as he moved toward the door beside mine. I gasped and accidentally bumped on the door causing it to bounce and thud. That guy stopped moving as he noticed.

Both Father and him turned their head toward the source of the sound in sync and they saw me. Father looked greatly astounded.

“Kazue!! HIDE!!!” Father cried out lout as he leapt toward the guy.

He wrapped his arm around that guy tight to his chest. He put all his strength into his arm pulling and lifting that guy. They struggled, they bumped on every side of the wall. They spun by the window’s side, where moonlight shone and shadow formed by the window’s muntin. They moved in and out from the moonlight.

After a while of struggle, that guy finally broke through Father’s grasp. He pulled out a black metal thing from his pocket as he turned around. He pointed it toward my Father.

BANG!

A piercing sharp blazing sound produced by the short metal piece he held was heard and followed by a spark of light from it’s muzzle. It was a gun.

“Arghhh!!” Father jolted back and groaned in agony.

He moved his hand toward his stomach, where blood started to soak through the cloth and spread rapidly. He stumbled to the side of the wall to support his body as he loses his strength, sliding down to the ground.

I was frightened.

I didn’t understand what I saw. I slowly moved back with eyes glued on the narrow opening of the door. Then, I let myself fall to the ground and crawled deep under my bed. My breathe was all over the place. My heart thumped so hard as if it was about to rupture. All I could think of was the order my Father just gave.

Creaakkkk.....

I could see a quarter of the door from under the bed as it opened slowly, making uncanny creaking sound before it thudded on the wall. I clasped my hand around my mouth as my breath was getting heavier.

I saw his black leather shoes, moving into the room. They stopped for a moment. Then I heard the sound of my wardrobe being opened. Then he started rummaging with my belongings.

I closed my eyes and trembled.

The footsteps were getting closer to me. He uncovered the blanket on my bed thinking I might be hiding under it.

Father.... I am scared.

I tried my best holding my tears. My nostril starting to get blocked. My cheek and eyes felt so hot. My vision was getting blurred from the gathered tear on my eyes.

That guy was standing right in front of me. Seemed to be about to crouch down.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

“It’s police!! Open the door!”

The self-proclaimed police officer pounded on the main door. I shuddered on relief but still holding my breath.

That guy jolted and stopped mid way. He straightened both his legs.

He clicked on his tongue and uttered,

“I will be back!” As he leapt and sprinted out of my bedroom door.

I heard the window slid open followed by a few steps to the balcony then his trace of sound vanished.

The polices broke in afterward, making noises as they saw my father lying helplessly. Immediately, tend to him. I crawled out from my hiding spot. I ran anxiously and stumbled on the way out. Ran to my father's side.

“Father!” I cried and held his hand on his stomach.

The blood transferred to my palm, it was warm and it gave me shudder. The floor was stained with a pool of his blood.

He used his last strength to raise his bloody hand and caressed my cheek.

“Kazue... listen to me closely” His breath was short and faint. I looked at him with tears rolling down on my cheek. I hold his caressing hand. The warmth of his hand started to fade away.

“Y-Yes... Father”

“That thing, your mother left for you... I hid it in your favourite plush...” He explained while frowned in agony as he was holding down the pain he felt at the moment.

“Always keep it by your side... It will mask your... presence.......”

Father puffed his last breath. He left this world.

He left me alone in this cold winter.

Father didn’t have any relatives and my mother’s existence was shrouded in mystery. The police made a decision to send me into an orphanage.

It was too sudden for me. I couldn’t let go of what happened that night. The police didn’t catch the murderer. There were no clues and traces. There was nothing left from that murderer. So, the police stopped investigating and simply stamped it as a robbery case.

I was so furious knowing that they closed the case. I rebelled and caused trouble for every orphanage I went. Because they had to bail me out whenever I was sent in to the police station during my rebellion phase.

All my father left was this thing. I did as he said, about the thing he hid inside my bear plush. It was hidden within the zipper of the plush.

It was a letter and... a pendant.

I raised my hand to the chest level and stroke the pendant as I walked amidst the rain.

He lost his life all because of this damn necklace.

It was a shiny moon shaped gem wrapped mystically in the silver frames. They were crafted in a very detailed way. A very well-done piece of accessorize. It might hold an awesome hefty price tag on the market. It pained me for just looking at it. Because, it reminded me of the horror of that night, which I would never ever forgot.

Before l realized, I was already at the school's front gate. I raised my head up and tilted the umbrella I was holding to observe the school I will be attending for my next two and half years. Hope so, if I don't move to different orphanage again.

That school gave a strange feeling to my chest. Every step I took in make me feel heavy and somehow dizzy. Maybe, it was the lack of sleep that got me. I wasn't able to sleep well last night after all.

Screeechhhhhh!!

A shiny black vehicle stopped right before me. I was startled as the water splashed and reached my legs. My socks were soaked wet. Then I turned around to see whoever that came out from that car.

An old looking uncle came out from the driver door with an umbrella on his hand, hastily moved toward the passenger's door. He opened the door to get a student out. That student was sheltered under the umbrella.

She had a medium long brown hair with its end curled in completed with a nice airy bang adorned her flawless forehead. She got a quite lean figure, seemed to be an athletic person. Her face was flawless and even from any bumps, not any slight pores could be see with naked eyes. She got a pair of piercing sharp grey eyes and an unwavering small lip.

She tossed her hair from aside to her back with a straight face, and then she moved toward the entrance steadfast. She walked pass by me, whose leg drenched wet because of the car she once rode, not feeling any guilt. She didn't notice me nor glance at her attendant. She walked on her own pace.

Later on, I learned that I was assigned into the same class as her. Her name was Sasaki Sumire.

It was rather weird to be transferred into the mid semester. Every student here had formed their own groups. I thought I will be isolated in the class, but apparently, my classmates flocked around me during the class break.

"Kisaragi-san, your hair is so long and smooth, how do you maintain it?"

"Yeah, tell us what shampoo brand do you use!"

"Your skin is so pretty! Are you a Caucasian mix?"

Mountain of questions were thrown all over to me. I used to have messy front hair which covered part of my face. It was quite an effort in the morning to comb them tidy. I did it for the sake of this, for the sake of what's happening right now. I wanted to leave better impression to my classmates and it actually surpassed my expectation.

"Uhm... I-" Before I finished my statement.

The sound of a metal shrieking on a ceramic surface echoed intensely throughout the class room, muted the students around me. It was a sound made by the girl who sat two rows next to me when she abruptly stood from her seat. It was Sasaki. Followed by two girls, they went out of the classroom with a flustered expression.

***

The next morning.

I came to school to found my indoor shoe was snipped into a rickety state.

I was dumbfounded.

I glanced from side to side. Seeking for any suspicious person who might be the culprit. My heart thumped so fast.

"Oh my... that's awful!" Someone approached me while speaking in a compassionate tone. She lightly tapped my shoulder as I turned to the source of the sound.

That person was Sasaki.

I looked at her with doubt. She never talked to me, moreover about what the hostility she showed yesterday. She looked like an extraordinary proud person. What would a person like her care about me.

"Who did that? Did you offend anyone? But, you just transferred here yesterday" She continued as she moved to my side.

"I... don't know" I answered her hesitantly while glanced back at the state of my shoe.

"Ohh... my. Good luck for you then!"

I caught a glimpse of her snickered face before she moved out from my line of sight.

I had unsettled feeling about that.

My intuition was proven to be true. For the next week, every day, my belongings were destroyed. My seat will be knocked down. My newly changed shoe, both indoor and outdoor, was cut. My umbrella will disappear. Even my uniforms were cut open. I had a hunch for whoever that did all this. But, I was helpless.

The students who once gathered around me started to avoid me. At first, they showed me sympathy. But then after four days straight, they steered clear from my way. They looked alarmed whenever I approached them, they will turn away in a rush not giving me a chance to speak. I knew it was her doing. They avoided me whenever she stared at them.

Sasaki Sumire.

Students were fear of her. Her family had greatly affected the finance of this school. Which made her stood equally as the principal. No. Maybe above the principal. She owned the school after all. Rules did not apply on her. I wondered why such a person study as a student here. It wasn't a school for all the riches after all. She could be just send to a more prestigious academy at the city. Despite that, she's here.

She's here to show her power and step on the weak.