Change: New World

Bitter Determination

Hina’s slight gasp rang through my ears.

I threw furtive glance her way. The girl who crouched down besides me, who was leaning against a Oaken shelf of books had her eyes solely fixed on the group in front of us. Her breath quickened while I could see a slight tremble in her lip.

Reading human expressions isn’t really all that hard, but it isn’t so easy either. But even someone like me understood the significance of the face Hina was currently making.

After throwing another glance behind me, to see what the other two members in our party were currently doing, I cautiously placed a free hand on Hina’s shoulder. I could feel her light trembling shaking her body like a autumn leaf. I added more force into my grip, as if to call her back from whatever delusion she was heading into.

With a small shake, Hina finally noticed, and broke her gaze. She turned to look at me. Her expression showed a bit of longing, one I couldn’t directly look at.

“Hina, don’t be reckless…” I warned with a whisper.

“Yes… I-I know.” She replied back, somewhat half heartedly. “Don’t worry Hide, I’m not an idiot.”

Although such a response was uttered, her overall demeanor didn’t serve to convince me in the slightest.

Brushing away my lingering worries though, I refocused in on the group in front of us. By now, they had gotten very close to our current location. At most, they were less than 30 feet from where we were.

With such proximity, the vague, blurry outlines turned a bit more detailed.

The group consisted of 5 people, 2 girls and 3 guys. Two of them were most likely foreigners, transfer students from a western country like England or France, going by their golden blonde hair color. These two were respectively both guy and girl, and looked similar enough to be siblings. They were situated at the back of the group, and were unarmed, although given the fact that they both had one hand constantly behind them, a hidden weapon wasn’t out of the question.

The rest were most likely Japanese. One guy had an aged face and a somewhat broad shouldered body. He was considerably older than the rest of the party. Appearance wise, he was probably a teacher or a staff member, that would explain why I felt an odd sort of familiarity upon looking at his somewhat sunken in cheeks. A dark brown haired girl was next to him. This person was probably pretty, I mean, even I could tell her sharp eyes and “sculpted’ face held some charm, despite the dirt and grime that covered it.

Both of them each held a wooden bat in their hands.

And finally, their was their leader, or at least, what looked like their leader. He was of average height, and had a pair of rectangular spectacles adorning his face. His short hair was a bit messy looking, and his right cheek had a bandage on it, but it was clear he was good looking. Another one of those archetype pretty boys.

He was the only one with an actual weapon. An all black clad short sword, one that resembled the item I acquired from my earlier encounter.

The group all held vigilant expressions, one dyed every inch with caution and experience. Without an exchange of words, the bespectacled youth motioned with his free hand, and in response, the rest of the group all began surveying their surroundings, each of the four inspecting a different direction.

They all surveyed the 2nd floor library vigilantly and with obvious purpose. From how I interpreted it, it wasn’t just an action spurred by caution, but rather one made with expectation. It was as if the group knew something was amiss.

As if to further confirm with my rambling thoughts, the spectacled youth’s voice abruptly rang out. A voice with a hint of masculinity and pubescent vigor reverberated in this silent sanctuary.

“I know you’re in here. There’s no use hiding.”

Although that was what he said, he didn’t particularly direct his words towards a specific location. More so, despite how close he was to us, it wasn’t like he was looking directly at us. In fact, he was more or less turned away from us.

-He knows someone’s here, but he’s not sure where?

It was that sort of situation. He was certain that they were not alone, but nonetheless, he still remained unaware as to our existence. Ideas and various reasons began to sprang forth in my mind.

Could it be a weird detection skill? If so, then it’s a severely lacking type of detection skill?

I remained calm, forcing myself to swallow down the slight anxiety that his sudden declaration caused.

I threw a quick glance towards the rest of my party, a bit worried as to how they would react.

Cielle, who was positioned the furthest back was her usual quiet self. I couldn’t make out the expression on her face thanks to her typical cascade of black hair, but from the time I’ve spent with her, I’ve began to be able to somewhat interpret her body language. For instance, her raised shoulders, and the biting of her lip indicated she interpreted a similar tension from the surroundings. Fortunately, her reaction was ideal, The pack in her hands had already been opened, and a small portion of [Black Gemini] had already began flowing out.

Hina, who was positioned closest to me, showed a blank expression, although the expression of familiarity never left her face. In fact, she had on a wry smile as if to say, “As expected of him”. Really, this type of childhood familiarity was something I was unaccustomed to.

Although what strikes me as odd was the lack of reaction from Cielle’s part. If my assumption is correct, and this spectacled youth was indeed the student council president whom Hina shared a “childhood friend” type of relationship with, then shouldn’t Cielle also be acquainted with him? Maybe it was the sort of relationship where Hina met him in secret or something. I’m not sure.

Despite the gnawing worry I had from seeing Hina’s current expression, seeing as how she made no move to act, I sighed in relief.

What was worrying though, was the last member of our group.

For a while now, I’ve heard a constant rattling of teeth from behind me. The noise was slight enough that it was even hard for my enhanced hearing to pick up, so their was no possible way the bespectacled youth could have heard it, but nevertheless it was quite a worrying sound.

I turned to face our past hostage, and the sight before me was just as I expected.

A nervous wreck of a girl who had bulging wide eyes that swerved frantically in all directions. At this point, she now gnawed on her fingernails instead of gnashing her teeth, all the while a constant stream of cold sweat trickled down her face.

It was understandable, her nervousness that is. After all, she did steal from them not to long ago, and probably caused some unneeded animosity between both parties. I could imagine that the feeling was something similar to a criminal who's been put on trial.

I stared at her fixedly, not willing to speak out loud in fear of them hearing us. My enhanced hearing has made me extra cautious about making any unnecessary noise, after all I’ve lost my reference point for what a person’s regular hearing is. I hoped that my rigid stare was enough to calm her down, although usually, things don’t work that well for me.

She ignored my stare, or rather, she stared past me and towards the still vigilant group in front. Cielle, who noticed my distress after a single glance, put a somewhat reassuring (?) hand on top of Cher. I’m not sure whether it was enough, but for now, I’ll leave her in Cielle's care.

I focused my attention back onto the other party just in time, as their leader once again spoke. This time his voice was a noticeable octave higher. “Oi! I already know you’re in there! If you’re planning some sort of surprise attack, then forget about it!”

-Rather vigilant, are we?

I floated a wry smile. Seeing another person’s caution to this extent, reminded me of myself. From the guy’s perspective, he guessed that we knew about his current location, which all the more put his part in a disadvantageous situation, since they knew we were here, but not where our exact location was.

“Come out already!” He screamed again.

In an attempt to even the playing field, he’s trying to coax us out.

But still, this leaves the question of how exactly did he figure out we were here? As I thought, was it really a detection skill?

Well, despite his intentions, I remained stoic and stood at my current position. I internally debated whether to confront him, or further wait, when something unexpected happened.

“Hii!”

With a shout, a figure that originated from behind me bolted forward. In her wake she knocked down a couple hardcover textbooks which warranted a pain filled “Uuuu...” to groan out of Cielle.

This person, this person whose face was twisted into an ugly expression, whose cheeks were smeared with blood and tears, whose trembling figure shook like an autumn leaf… This person was obviously Cher.

I internally sighed while placing a frustrated hand in front of my face. It seems like even Cielle wasn’t capable of calming down this type of half broken crazy. I shot a glance behind to see Cielle, rubbing her head pitifully as she locked eyes with me. Her normally covered hair was partitioned due to the impact of the books. She showed me a rare expression, one that seemed to say, “Sorry.”

Since I’ve already made sure she was okay, I turned my attention back towards the commotion, and threw a slit between my fingers, I quietly observed.

“O-oi, this girl!” One of the blonde students, the male one instantly cautioned as one of his arms grabbed onto something behind his student blazer. His eyes instantly flashed in recognition, and his face twisted into a scowl.

As if to speak out his thoughts, the blonde girl next to him spoke, “It’s one of Satou’s people! I recognize her face!”

-Well, that pitiful expression of Cher’s is pretty hard to forget…

While such a useless thought popped up into my mind, the opposing group had already entered into a fighting stance.

The spectacled youth stood in front of Cher, his sword raised at the ready. The rest of his team began to expand out, forming a half circle around the still shaking girl.

Knowing that her spur-of-the-moment dash wasn’t going the way she thought it would (whatever way that was), she helplessly raised her arms out in futile effort. If she had a white flag right now, she would surely be waving it.

“I-I-I..!” Although she tried saying something, seeing the weapons all pointed at her, caused her speech to buckle in nervousness, resulting in a series of pitiful stuttering.

“You… what did you come here for?” Amidst Cher’s stuttering, the President initiated conversation. “Satou should already know full well by now that we don’t have any more food!”

“And if you’re here to get the food we “retrieved” from three days ago, then don’t bother!” The brown haired girl added. “You guys stole it in the first place, we were just taking back what’s ours!”

This girl directed a particularly hate filled glare at Cher, which only caused her to shrivel up even more. “”N-no! That’s not why I’m here!”

Cher’s frantic pleading was displayed for all to see. It really wouldn’t be surprising if she started groveling at this instant.

“Then what?” The President continued, ignoring Cher’s current mental stability, “ If you’re not here for that then why are you here? Did Satou send you? Are you alone?”

A barrage of questions, none of which Cher answered. Instead she threw indiscreet glances towards our direction. Seeing her current expression, I could only think that the face of regret really matched her.

“Answer!”

“Hiii!!”

The atmosphere was obviously deteriorating at this point. Cher took several steps back, only to be followed by the encircling group in front of her. It wasn’t long till Cher’s backwards motion stopped, blocked by a brown oak shelf.

From our side, I could see from the corner of my eye, Hina's worrying expression. Although I tried to ignore it, the stabbing glance of hers was quite nerve wracking. As if to say, “You have to do something,” she continuously shifted her gaze between me and the situation in front of her.

This situation was indeed bad, and only worsening as every second passed by. The clear animosity and Cher’s own ineptness at answering only further fueled this situation.

Their leader, while doing a commendable job at restraining the others, was obviously slipping in power. The hate, which I can only imagine has been constantly fueled by bad mouthing and the past events that occurred, only further unhinged the rest of them. This was especially noticeable within the teacher and the brown haired girl’s faces.

Imitating a tightly pulled string finally snapping, the brown haired girl couldn’t take anymore of it, and finally dashed forward. She quickly closed the gap, moving a bit too fast for the rest of her party members to react. The wooden bat in her hand held high and just as it smashed down onto Cher’s already smeared face-

BAM

A crunching noise reverberated throughout the room.

The wooden bat, which should have hit Cher was currently blocked by the hilt of my long sword.

The Brown haired girl’s shocked expression momentarily registered in my mind before I put a bit of force into my arms and pushed her back. The girl in turn staggered backwards, but her expression quickly turned cold as she once again gripped her bat in a battle position.

-This is somewhat troublesome….

I inwardly sighed. This time around, like last time, I cautioned Cielle and Hina not to move into action unless things get seriously bad.

While I thought about what to do, I threw a quick glance towards Cher. Her face was more shocked than the brown haired girl’s.

Really? Was it really that surprising that I’d come and save her? After all, I am human. Even I have a bit of altruism in me, plus I can’t just watch a girl die so casually like that.

While internally sighing once more, I whispered softly at Cher, “Step back. You’ll get in the way.”

After seeing her comply and move away from the corner of my eye, I redirected all my focus on the group in front of me.

I looked over everyone of them first. Almost all the members sported shocked expressions. All of them that is, except the President. He had a bold smile plastered on his pretty boy face. His expression seemed to say, “The unexpected visitor finally showed himself, huh?”

“The unexpected visitor finally showed himself, huh?” The President worded out my interpretation, as he raised his sword high.

“...”

I continued staring at them while I raised my own sword up in response. Although it looked like I was just staring, in truth, I monopolized on this stalemate, and used [identify] in an attempt to grasp the power of the people in front of me.

-[Identify]!