CHAPTER 1
Aftermath
Two months—it’s been two months since the war between the two greatest countries have ended. Lots of people are recovering from those dreary times, some more than others. Some in fact have gone right back to their daily routines. This could be said for one family in particular, the Valentine family—a rather wealthy, high-powered family.
“Miss Akari, your father requests that you get dressed and join the others for breakfast.” chimed a petite girl, with tightly curled hair that barely breached the edges of her shoulders.
“Ugh—” replies another girl, lying lazily in a bed with snow-white bedspread, straying off the edge, “why bother, today is going to suck just like yesterday!” she roared with annoyance seeping into every word.
The young maid stood silent in the doorway, halting any movement, afraid of further fowl mood based responses. With her hands tightly clenching the frame of the doorway she spoke, “Mmm… miss, your father really would like you to join… you know what happened yesterday.”
Akari rolled off her back onto her stomach, the cotton white sheets still draped over her, thoughts of yesterday morning rushed back into her consciousness. Yesterday… yesterday was the day she ignored her dad, and he chose to wake her up himself. This task wasn’t that difficult considering what her father was capable of. And Despite her best efforts to grip the backboard, refusing to get out of bed, her father (who was capable of lifting well over a hundred tons) easily pulled her off. The experience left her arms feeling like jello that entire day; imagine being yanked by someone who could demolish a building… by himself… without the use of machinery.
“FINE!” Akari shouted.
Despite agreeing to get up, she took her sweet time doing it. She made no real effort to hurry her progress either. She went through the routine of brushing her teeth, washing her face, fixing her hair, and getting dressed.
In the hallway she bumped into her older brother Renton Hikaru. Renton stood at 6’0. He was a 17 year old with lavender hair that was styled with most of it slicked back, only leaving a small mass hanging loose on the left side of his face. He was slender and had toned muscles that visibly showed through his black shirt.
“Well look who’s up—“Renton commented.
Akari patrolled forward without commenting back. She was in no mood for idle banter. They both made their way down the second floor stairs, roaming even more halls afterward. Finally they reach the kitchen.
“Well, it’s nice to see that the two of you could join us—“said Rimmy, Akari and Renton’s father.
They both sat at the long black polished table, food lying in two designated places for each of them. Akari sat across from her mother, Nina Valentine. Nina had pale blue eyes, fair skin, full lips, and pink hair styled in a short bob that sharply angled at the ends. She made eye contact with no one as she ate her meal.
The meal began, and all were quiet. The clinking of forks and spoons slapping against the plates rang throughout the dining room.
“Now that everyone’s here, I have to something to say-- “Nina began, her eyes now focusing on Renton and Akari, both seated next to one another across from her.
Here it comes -- the verbal bashing, Akari thought to herself. She knew that her actions at school yesterday wouldn’t go unpunished. She clenched her palms together under the table, trying desperately to calm the turmoil from bubbling to the surface.
“Your uncle and I are going to Kikyou to finish some business matters—“Nina began.
I guess she won’t do anything, thought Akari, feeling the convulsions dissipate instantly.
“We’ll be gone about a week or so. Anyway, your Aunt Miranda and cousin Angela are sick, and to avoid Jacob from catching—“
“Hold on—“Renton interrupted, “your not seriously suggesting Jacob is gonna stay here… with us?”
“Well—“
“He’s too out of control. He’ll make this place into some kinda circus.” Renton continued, feeling more at unease with every second.
“Oh. And he’s supposed to be like you? Mr. Anal Retentive. If everything’s not just right, you throw a hissy.” Akari reflexively added.
“That’s not true. Besides how am I supposed to act? Like you? Like him? Like some wild child?”
“Yeah, like you could--”
“Shut up.”
“Hey, Renton. If I don’t eat my pancakes just right, will you back hand me?” Akari joked mockingly.
“Enough!” Rimmy bellowed. “Can’t you two ever be the least bit nice to each other once in a while?”
“Either way, he’s staying here until they get better, so no whining.” said Nina.
Both Renton and Akari were silent, each giving one another a soul shattering glare out the corners of their eyes. They always had an unofficial verbal bashing competition going on. They didn’t hate each other—they had been doing it for so long, the smack talk just seemed like a reflex to both of them. All the same, Akari was pleased to see that all was forgotten from yesterday’s fiasco.
“Akari—“
“Ah, crap” Akari said under her breath.
“I talked to the head Mistress of the school. I pulled some strings and kept you from getting expelled. Next time I won’t do anything. Now, while I’m gone, I don’t want you getting into any trouble. I don’t want to see any more incidents like the one yesterday. You got that.” Nina’s tone was cold and calculating. Although Akari knew that Nina loved her, she sometimes got the feeling that she was her least favorite of the three kids-- Renton being the second and little five year old Tsuki a resounding first.
“But it—“Akari defended half heartedly.
“But, what?”
“Don’t worry sweetheart, Akari will behave herself… won’t you?” Rimmy interrupted with a warm smile.
Akari looked to her father. Unlike Nina, Rimmy wasn’t the kind of parent to put one child in front of the other—he loved all his children equally—equally, but for different reasons. Akari could always count on her dad. She often thought it might be due to his power of empathy: the ability to tap into the emotions of others. It gave him better insight into the emotional state of others, making him far more understanding. Not to mention the fact that Akari was a total daddy’s girl.
“Yeah—“Akari replied, feeling less threatened.
“Well, fine then.”
“You two should hurry, or you’ll be late for school.” Rimmy added.
“Great. School.” Akari said bitterly.
Both finished their breakfast and headed outside to the front courtyard, lined with stone pathways, floral gardens, and fountains. Renton went around to the back of the mansion and retrieved his car, pulling right in front of Akari. The car was a new model—polished black exterior, sleek-clean cut sharp edges, and not to mention fast.
The drive to school always took about thirty minutes. After passing through barren grass filled plains lined with dirt roads, they arrived in the city of Port Kanegami, the second most developed city in Botan, only behind the Royal City (And really the only two large cities in the country, as Botan was mostly rural). Port Kanegami had buildings that glistened in the bright sunlight, towering high above the concrete pavement below. The streets were flanked by little shops, stores, restaurants, etc. Even further down the road was the boardwalk. The boats and ships lined across the pier. However, despite the advances of the city in the past years, it hardly could compare next to the industrialized cities of Kikyou, the most developed country in the world.
Smack dab in the middle of the city was the school district, ranging from elementary schools to high schools. These schools were for the upper crust, the wealthy, as they had to pay a fee each semester. Some did manage to scrape by each go around, just barely paying off what they could—being that even some poor and middle class families enrolled their children. This was one of the best schools the country had to offer after all.
A few minutes after they arrived in the city, they drove up to the school. The high school was extravagantly large. The outside was bright white, with large vertical windows evenly scattered, concrete pavement, which was flanked by grass and gardens, led straight to the stairway. Up the stairs were two large white framed doors.
Renton parked his expensive car in the student parking lot, careful not to position it too close to the others. Passing by other students, they made their way inside.
The inside, like the outside, was equally extravagant. The floors looked like polished-glossed over marble. Bright sunlight pierced the large vertical windows, creating a more brilliant sheen on the floors. There were vivid depictions of the Goddess through out various hallways-- the Goddess, who many saw as breath takingly beautiful, with long golden blonde hair that nearly touched mid back, fair skin, thin lips, bright blue eyes, and wearing five gold-studded bracelets on each wrist.
Akari and Renton had separated, heading to there respective classes. Akari walked the hallways pensively, gripping her school books tightly to her chest.
“Hey—“a familiar voice called out, “hey, Akari. Wait up.”
Akari turned, only to see that a girl was coming straight for her. She was tall, standing at 5’7, with grey eyes, thin figure, and her hair was dark brown, thick, with loose curls that touched her shoulders. This wasn’t the person Akari wanted to avoid; this person in fact was Akari’s best friend, Cloey Delacroix.
“Hey, Clo,” Akari said, relieved.
Cloey finally caught up with Akari, now both walking at the same pace side by side.
“Guess what?” Cloey chimed enthusiastically.
“What?”
“Megan stayed at home today. It seems that after you mangled her face in that fight yesterday; that she’s too embarrassed to come to school. I bet she has, like, bandages covering her entire face.” Cloey laughed, pleased at the idea. Akari looked down at the floor as she walked, smiling to herself.
“I bet you’re like a hero. Megan is such a bitch, a popular bitch… but a bitch none the less,” Cloey continued,” anyway, there’s something I need to ask you about later at lunch.”
“Sure—“ , Akari agreed, in no way ready for lunch, not because she was fearing the talk that Cloey wanted to have, but because there she couldn’t avoid the one person she didn’t want to see.
Cloey turned into another hallway leaving Akari to walk the rest of the way alone. Akari strode into her Geometry class, and sat in her usual spot, next to her friend Alyssa Tate. Alyssa was Akari’s height, 5’4. She was pale with fair skin, curly crimson red hair that was pulled back into a small puff of thick curls, green eyes, and rosy lips that seemed more vibrant when against her light complexion.
Alyssa glanced at Akari and her expression immediately turned from pleased to sympathetic. Akari knew why. Alyssa, like Akari’s father, also had the power of empathy. She probably knew exactly why Akari was dreading this day.
“So, how are you doing?” Alyssa said, already aware of how Akari was doing.
Akari sat in her seat unresponsive.
“I understand—“
Akari liked that about Alyssa. She knew when Akari wanted to talk and when she just wanted to be left alone. She wasn’t one to pry into the affairs of others, but she was always there for emotional support—if needed.
Akari got out her textbook while the other students chatted. While waiting for the first bell to ring that would start class, she looked over her homework comparing her answers to the ones on Alyssa’s paper. As usual, about a third of her answers were wrong, so she quickly changed them to mimic Alyssa’s—but still keeping some untouched, so as not to seem obvious. Alyssa wasn’t really the kind of person who minded when people copied her work, but she did prefer if they at least attempted the work before resorting to her.
The first bell rang and simultaneously the teacher walked in. The lesson was dull as usual. Akari, not to mention a few other students could barely stand to listen to something they probably wouldn’t even remember when the class was over. The bell rang. Again, Alyssa and Akari had the same class for second period, Religious Studies (a required class for everyone). And just like before, time seemed to move slowly, which was just fine with Akari—she didn’t even want to think about lunch. She had one more period to go to before lunch.
After a while, second and then third period passed, and lunch time was here. Akari, Cloey, and Alyssa stood in the lunch line together, grabbing whatever looked good. After they paid for there lunches they stood around scanning the room for their usual table. There it was, next to the windows. At the table were their usual lunch buddies: Renton Hikaru, Ken Amano, Andie Winter, and finally the person Akari didn’t want to see… ever, Sol Amano.
Akari froze in her spot—her heart felt like it was being stabbed over and over, but she didn’t die. It was unbearable. All the events and the emotions from yesterday came rushing back into her head. She had wanted to avoid this very moment since she woke up this morning. She knew it was coming. It was inevitable. The conversation from yesterday was flawlessly engraved in her mind.
“We need to talk.”
Akari didn’t like this ominous feeling enveloping her. She saw enough romantic movies to know that that phrase never meant anything good. She wanted to object, but her voice was in a knot, she could barely speak, choking out small gasps of air.
He pulled her along by the wrist. His touch was warm. Sol’s skin was always a few degrees hotter than others, most likely due to his abilities. Sol’s touch usually gave Akari security, but not this time. She feared what was to come from this.
Akari recognized were he was taking her. They were heading toward the gym. There usually wasn’t anyone in there during this time. He obviously wanted to avoid any scenes.
“So you wanted to talk?” Akari could feel the unevenness in her tone.
“Yeah—“Sol took in a deep breath. “I think we should—“
“We should what?”
“We should… break up.”
It took a while for what he said to even register.“What? Why!?” Akari howled, her voice becoming uneasy.
“It’s just… not a good time for me… to be in a relationship—“His voice was hallow, cold.
“What the hell are you talking about!?” Akari roared, her uneasiness gone, now replaced by anger and confusion. “How isn’t it a good time?”
“Look. I want to make this a clean break, alright.”
“Am I… am I not good enough or something?”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Then… did I do something wrong?” Akari could feel the tears forming at the corner of her eyes.
Sol remained quiet. He was blank, unemotional. He held himself very stiffly, not like his usually casual posture. His eyes were narrower, his fists were tightly clenched. He gaze was cutting.
“Is there someone else?” Akari whimpered.
“Is that it? You want someone else?” While she spoke the words, her spirit began to shatter. Her emotional state crumbled. As her hands quivered, she wringed her fingers along the golden-studded bracelets around her wrists, as if it was a way to vent all her frustration—it wasn’t working. She inched closer, reaching for his face.
Sol turned away. Akari saw that his hands were quaking. His ice blue eyes were shut close, his mouth— complete with a small silver ring hooked around his full bottom lip— twisted. He let out a deep breath, his black collar changing position from the moving adam’s apple, and turned back to look Akari in the eye. His brow was furrowed. He looked completely livid.
“Please don’t do this.” She pleaded.
“It’s over Akari. Let’s just leave it at that. Alright.” He ended the conversation. He looked furious, but the words didn’t come out that way.
“Fine.” Akari reluctantly agreed— cheeks still soaked from the flowing tears.
Sol left Akari standing in the gym alone. She was completely numbed, unmoving. Her mind was racing, going over every detail of the conversation. She couldn’t comprehend… couldn’t comprehend his reasoning. He never said—he was being evasive. She didn’t want to believe that the reason was for something like infidelity. Sol was stubborn when it came to showing his emotions, but he wasn’t the type of guy to cheat.
A while after that Megan and her group of popular girls came to Akari and made a few remarks about her break up.
“I knew he wouldn’t keep dating some pathetic freshman loser. He probably found someone waaaay better.” Megan laughed, now pinching Akari’s nose shaking it.
The words normally wouldn’t be hurtful, but Akari was definitely not going to take anything, especially not now. Megan gave her a little smack on the cheek to finish up her insults—Akari lunged at Megan, starting a complete brawl. A few of Megan’s friends jumped in along with Akari’s support, Ken and Cloey. The fight became more intense when one of Megan’s friends began using powers (Humans with powers, like Cloey, Alyssa, or Nina, were rare, taking up about 1% of the human population.) The fight dragged on for a while, only to be interrupted by school security. It was quite possibly the worst day Akari ever had.
Akari’s mind drifted back to the present. Still standing motionless, Akari stared on at the table.
“Do you want to sit somewhere else today?” Alyssa said.
“Yeah, we don’t have to sit there. There are plenty of empty tables. This cafeteria is freakishly large after all.” Cloey light heartedly added, trying to liven up Akari’s mood.
“Yeah—“Akari mumbled.
They sat at one of the tables centered in the cafeteria, which was directly under a dome like roof, with painted images of the Goddess, all the high priestesses from history, and other holy symbols.
Akari didn’t like this. She didn’t like being the weak one. She didn’t like being the one that had to sit at another table—not that she really had to, but it would have been extremely uncomfortable for both if she hadn’t. She was trying to keep herself together. It wasn’t easy, but she seemed to manage as she sat, twiddling her fork clumsily around the sauce covered noodles. She wondered what he was thinking… what he was feeling. Was he feeling the same way? She had a way of finding out, but decided against it.
“Hey, guys—“, said an incoming voice.
All three girls rotated to see that Ken was walking to them with tray in hand.
“Hey Ken” chimed Cloey.
Ken sat next to Alyssa who was directly across the table from Akari and Cloey. Ken was a Zekkou boy (Zekkou: A ‘gift’ from the Goddess, the Zekkou are a species similar to humans in appearance. Usually noticeable by their trademark studded bracelets and collar, which are irremovable. All of them, unlike humans, are born with powers). Ken was Sol’s younger brother by a year. He was lanky, with dark blue eyes, and tousled sandy blond hair that was just long enough to cover his eyebrows. The studded bracelets around his wrists were blue and the collar black. He also had a bandage strapped across his straight pointed nose.
“Shouldn’t you be sitting with the others?” Akari spoke, her index finger tapping the table top.
“No. So—um I mean… someone at the table is being a douche.”
All three girls knew whose name he was about to say.
“Akari, there’s something I need to talk to you about—“said Ken.
“Yeah, so do I… but mine can wait ‘til later—“Cloey added.
“About?” Akari mumbled.
“About the fight yesterday—“said Ken.
Alyssa looked on at both of them pensively. She was unintentionally tapping into Akari’s emotions—the feelings were just so strong that she couldn’t tune them out. She was hurting now too.
Ken started, “Remember during the fight when you used your power, and we all thought it didn’t do anything?”
“Yeah. “ Akari didn’t like her power. It was too unreliable. Probability manipulation, hah, more like big sack of nothing, Akari thought to herself.
“Well, I went home… and---“Ken hesitated, “I flew.”
Akari looked up, mood completely changed.
“Yeah. It was amazing. Sol and I were--- I mean… I was playing football, but it went over my head. The next thing I knew, I’m up in the air.” Ken said. His Expression was bright, his smile was wide--- annoyingly so.
“What?” Akari accused, seething with envy. Ken couldn’t fly before. Her power finally does something useful, but it happens to someone else.
“Are you sure you didn’t just jump really high?” Cloey questioned.
“Pretty sure. I was floating for like two minutes… it was really hard to get down.”
“Now it’s official! Yesterday was the worst day possible!” Akari stormed off, leaving her half full tray behind.
Akari bulldozed through the hallways, maneuvering around anyone in the way. She didn’t really know where she was going to go, but she knew she didn’t want to head back to the cafeteria. She passed room after room. Finally, she stopped at one door. She opened it and on the other side was a stair case that led upward. She climbed the stairs, her thoughts were everywhere. As she ascended, the place she was in looked more familiar. She knew where this staircase led to. She reached the top, stopping in front of a door. She opened it. Obnoxiously bright sunlight stabbed through the opening. Akari walked out onto the roof of the school.
The roof… the place were Sol spent most of his time when he was ditching class. He also spent some lunch periods here too, but he was obviously spending it in the cafeteria this time. Being in this place didn’t hurt as bad as she thought it would. As long as he wasn’t up there, it was fine. She stepped out even further, bathing in the warm glow of the sunlight, arms stretched out, her pale blue eyes shut tight. It was about eithy- three degrees, and the sky was cloudless.
Behind her was the sound of approaching footsteps. Was it him? Akari turned around hesitantly, preying it wasn’t him. She gazed at the person standing in front of her. It wasn’t him. It was Renton.
“I saw you run out. And you weren’t sitting with us today.”
“I think it’s pretty obvious why I didn’t want to sit there today—“Akari interjected, feeling frustrated just talking.
“Yeah… I know. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Why do you care? I’m a wild child remember? It’s what I do—“Akari mocked, recalling this morning’s argument.
“Yeah, well, you’re still my little sister. I do care Akari… even if we argue… a lot.”
Akari was unresponsive.
“I know you’re hurting, and I know there’s nothing I can really do to make it stop. But I’m here if you need me. How he broke it off wasn’t exactly that great… and to be honest he’s not that great of a guy. He’s… he’s just not for you. I know you’ll get better. You’re tougher than that.”
Renton inched toward Akari and wrapped his arms around her. He felt a little self-conscious, and knew Akari probably felt the same way—the two weren’t exactly known for their close brother sister relationship. Yet, even in the awkwardness, it was very heartfelt, and he truly was trying to calm her. Renton began to feel his shirt become soaked with tears. He placed his hand on her head— fingers brushing against her ebony black hair— and stroked her head rhythmically trying to soothe her. She needed this. She needed to let it out—finally. It had been bubbling up for a while. She continued to shed tears for another good minute.
The classes after lunch were slightly more bearable. The pain Akari was feeling hadn’t completely gone away—it was very much still there. She still didn’t want to see him, be around him, and especially talk to him—at least for a while. She wanted to forget. Forget everything about him, who he was, what he was like, and what his favorite thing were… everything. Still, she knew it’d be next to impossible, especially since she had been crushing on him since they were little kids. They were both so different from their respective families; it seemed natural to her that she was drawn to him. What was his reason for the break up? She knew he had one. She just didn’t know what it was.
Soon the school day ended. Akari walked out the front doors of the school, walked down the cemented pathway, stopping in a spot were the cement was laid out in the shape of a circle. In the middle of the circle was a fountain, the streams of water danced around the sculpted Goddess statue. Kids were sprawled out on the edge of the large fountain, playfully splashing water around.
Not too long after, she spotted the familiar black car pull up just beyond the fountain area. Akari sat inside, immediately noticing that the music wasn’t the usual tune that played in the car. It was one of her favorite singers. She looked at Renton, noticing a small sign of reluctance on his face. She knew he hated this singer, and that he was playing it for her sake.
The pop-ish melody continued to play for a while. They were well beyond Port Kanegami at this point; now driving along the country road heading home. Akari looked out the window contemplating over all that had happened in the past eight hours. She decided that it definitely wasn’t going to be easy to get over this… this thing, but she was going to make an effort, at the very least. She also decided that it’d be best if she avoided Sol—at least for the time being. It would probably be easier to get over him that way—she hoped. She also thought about what Renton had done for her. It was kind of small, but it meant a lot to her. She turned away from the window and reached her hand to tap on Renton’s shoulder.
“You can change the station back if you want.” She said while pulling out ear buds and a small, silver, rectangular device out of her backpack. She appreciated his effort, and offered up a small grin to show it.
Renton gave a vague nod and reached for the radio. He roamed several stations, most of the sound heard was static. This far from a town or city, there weren’t many available stations; however, the one he was looking for was always available. The static ceased. Slow, soft, melodious music rang through the car interior. Along with the cool breeze from the ac, the smooth flowing pulse of the music seemed to have a calming affect for both Akari and Renton. Being of a classical nature, there were no words to this type of music, only the melody of the piano. Renton could appreciate popular music, and understood the work that the artists went into when they played their songs— however, despite that, he still preferred classical or instrumental, with the occasional rock band.
They both sat quietly in the car; the sound of two distinct clashing melodies could be heard. Shortly after the end of another song, an emergency news letter was being made.
“Late breaking news—“
