Chapter Text
I felt a weight on top of me when I woke up, and just now I'm realizing what it is. It smells like alcohol and the couch beneath me is ratty and scratching my skin. The man on top of me is dead asleep, so I'm able to maneuver out from under him quite easily.
I immediately feel grimy and disgusting.
"I've gotta get clean..." I mutter to myself. I run as fast as possible to the bathroom while keeping quiet and step into the shower. I crank the faucet, hoping for it's cold jets to hit me, but instead only a little trickle comes out. He must have forgotten to pay the water bill again.
I can shower at school. That works. I step into the mirror's reflection. What greets me back I don't recognize, I never will recognize. Pale skin. Bloodshot maroon eyes. Shoulder length tangled red hair. I painfully brush out my hair with my fingers and put on my school uniform- a long grey sweater and a blue skirt with knee high white socks. I can't find the red ribbon that goes around the collar, so I decide to I can pick one up at school instead.
I sneak into the kitchen and look through the pantry and fridge: only condiments and a few stale saltines. You've gotta go shopping today, Himiko. I eat the crackers, leaving a few for the man on the couch.
I grab my backpack and my house keys and leave, locking the door behind me. It's freezing outside, and there's a heavy fog that has set over everything. I look up at the sky and I can't see any blue. Even the sun itself is dulled.
As I swallow the last of my crackers, suddenly I'm reminded of what happened last night and am overcome with nausea.
"Shit..." I mumble, swaying and hitting the side of someone's house. Before I know what's happening, I'm throwing up my crackers and everything I had eaten and drunken the night before, which wasn't much so I'm left heaving up nothing for half a minute. Everything sways before me. I feel disgusting. I feel so dirty. I have to wash all this dirt away. And for that to happen, I have to get to school.
So I keep walking. I pull out a book from my backpack with shaky hands- my favorite book of all time. "The mysteries of magic and the occult" By Aito Asahi. I've read it probably 20 times- I think I may have the entire book memorized at this point.
There's something wonderful about not knowing something, about something being magic. Something unexplainable. Even if it's not for long, I love escaping into the world of magic and occult. Whenever something bad is happening to me, I just imagine myself as a strong and powerful mage from another era. It distracts me.
A shadow is casted over my book. It's my school, Sakura High School. It was named after the woman from the first danganronpa game that died.
I head over to the gym quickly and put my stuff in my locker. I glance around to make sure no one is in the locker room with me, and then take off my clothes quickly and run into the shower. I pull the curtains shut as tight as possible.
I turn on the faucet and let the hot torrents of water slowly remove the grime and dirt I had felt on my body. I let out a minuscule sigh of pleasure and wash myself thoroughly, before wiping myself down with a towel and exiting the shower stall with the towel tied around my chest.
I'm about to grab my clothes from my locker when I hear a gasp.
"What- what the hell are you doing here?! There's another hour before school starts!" Someone shouts behind me. I clutch my towel closer to my body and spin around, eyes wide. Oh no. This isn't good.
It's Kaede Akamatsu. Anyone who goes to Sakura high school knows to fear and respect her, otherwise you're dead meat.
She has chin length blonde hair with two longer pieces in the front. She has purplish eyes that are always narrowed. Usually she wears the school's sailor uniform, except her's is cut so her skirt is much shorter. She's incredibly cute. She's chubby and has adorable freckles- but her personality is so vicious and sharp you could cut with it. She's also wearing just a towel, same as me.
"I said what the hell are you doing here, magic girl!" She shouts, storming up to me and grabbing my towel to pull me closer to her. She's pretty short, but I'm shorter so she has leverage.
"I just needed to shower..." Her hand on my chest is making me uncomfortable and I desperately want to wiggle out. I realize that she wouldn't be here to shower unless she didn't have water at home either. That's strange, I though she would have been rich or something due to how mean she is. Guess your class doesn't dictate your personality.
"You tell anyone I was here, and you're dead." She shoves me away, face red. She gestures over to the baseball bat she constantly carries around, presumably as a threat. I watch her strut away into the showers. I shut my eyes and try to control my breathing. It was Kaede who touched me like that, not him. It was just Kaede, the most vicious and meanest bully of the school. Trying not to panic, I put on my regular clothes.
After that I find a supply closet I can hide in and read my magic book until the first bell rings, signifying it's study hall. I make my way to the library and sign the attendance sheet.
"Where's your ribbon, Ms.Yumeno?" I hear a voice say. I glance up to see my teacher, Ms.Todaka.
"I couldn't find it..." I mumble to the ground, ashamed. I was going to go to the school lost and found to borrow one, but after the Kaede incident I was too shaken up to do anything of the sort.
"Sorry, where?!" She shouts this time. The library goes silent and I feel a hundred different eyes of a hundred teenagers on me.
"I couldn't find it, ma'm!" I say louder, hesitantly staring her back in the eyes. She makes a tsking sound with her tongue and pulls out a ruler. Everyone gasps and starts whispering to each other, but I am filled with a mounding sensation of dread.
I shut my eyes tight and hold out my wrists, bracing for the pain. It comes, and keeps coming until it's over. I open my eyes and my wrists are bruised and bloody. It's okay, though. I've had to deal with worse. I slowly walk to a computer, still feeling all eyes on me. However when I sit down the conversations around me explode once again into the drone of chatter.
I hate my life. I hate everything right now. I wake up, foodless, dirty, get harrassed in the locker room, and then whipped on my wrists with a ruler until a bleed. And it's not just today. Every single day I'm miserable and bloody and dirty. I should just kill mys-
"Are you okay?" A voice next to me says. I face towards my right to see a concerned looking girl with greenish blackish hair and green eyes and-
And she's beautiful. There's just something about her. She's not particularly gorgeous or tall or busty- she's just really pretty. She has a small birthmark right below her mouth and a small slit in her eyebrow. Her hair is loose and falls over her shoulders like the way a waterfall would fall into a river. She's chubby like Kaede, and her cheeks are round and accentuate her eyes perfectly.
"N-yeh" What the hell did I just say? It was like a cross between no and yeah. I find my face reddening.
"Nyeh? That's so cute! What an adorable catchphrase!" She giggles. Her laughter is contagious and I find myself smiling.
"Y-yes, I'm okay." However right as I say that, blood from my wrists splatter onto the table.
"Oh no! Um, here, I have some bandages. Can I put them on you?" She asks, tilting her head slightly to the side when doing so. I nod, intrigued by this kind girl on such an unkind day.
She pulls out cotton and gauze from her bag and puts the cotton on my wounds, then wraps the bandages tightly around the rest of my wrist.
"This'll do for now, but please see a nurse when you get the chance!" She says sternly, patting down my hand. Her touches are so much softer and nicer.
"Nyeh," Why am I saying that all of a sudden? "Thank you. What's your name?" She pouts. Oh no, did I say something wrong?
"Himiko, we've had like 3 classes together since junior high! I guess you never noticed me?" She looks a little hurt, like I really should know her. I guess I'm too absorbed in my book or daydreaming to notice her. Or anyone for that matter. I don't have a single friend at this school. I spend all class spacing out and all day after school working, making dinner, or at the library. There's no time for friends when you have a full time job of being a loner, I guess.
"It's okay! We never formally introduced ourselves," She must have noticed my uncomfortableness. "My name is Tenko Chabashira, nice to meet you."
"I'm Himiko Yumeno. It's nice to meet you too." The bell rings, interrupting our conversation.
"Damn. Well, see you later Himiko!"
Tenko stands up and walks out of the library. She seems to be a good 6 inches taller than me- but she slouches when she walks and kind of hides herself. She seems... insecure.
I float through my classes, one by one, in a sleepy manner until lunchtime. I can't afford food so I just end up at a table full of geeky kids who I barely know.
I was so absorbed in my book that i didn't even notice that someone was calling my name.
"Himikooooo!" Someone is tapping my arm.
"Huh?"
"Did you do the homework in science? Shuichi is wondering." It's a boy with purple-ish hair, gesturing over to a shy looking boy wearing a hat and holding a monokuma plush. That must be Shuichi. The names come rushing back. Right. Shuichi and Kokichi.
"Yeah. Here." I hand them the homework, and Kokichi starts signing to Shuichi, who signs back. Huh, that's weird. I didn't know Shuichi is deaf. I really should start paying attention in class more. Whatever, says my inner voice. Not like you'll know them for much longer.
I watch curiously at their silent conversation for a few seconds. Kokichi seems to be completely fluent in sign language, and Shuichi answers just as quickly.
"Woah woah woah WOAH you guys, no gang symbols in our good school cafeteria!" Taunts a voice. I look above the two boys to see... a monster. I pale, and I'm about to scurry away from the action like usual, but another monster pushes me back onto my seat with force.
"You're not escaping again, magic girl." Kaede snickers, spinning on her heel and joining the other bully.
"Kaito, how should we punish these dirty gang members?" She says, resting her head on the shoulder of the taller, purple haired boy.
"Leave us alone, guys. You know Shuichi is nonverbal." Oh, so he just doesn't talk. He's not deaf.
People in the cafeteria are starting to stare at my table now. Think, Himiko, think! How can I get out of this situation without getting hurt? I glance around at the table of the geeky kids I sit with. There's this girl with blonde hair and a short nervous looking boy- Miu and Keebo, I think. They're robotics kids. Not going to be much help.
There's Shuichi, who is petrified with fear and holding onto his Danganronpa stuffed animal for dear life. No help at all. Kokichi looks like he's ready to fight them- but he couldn't be 2 inches taller than me and is incredibly skinny. Kaede and Kaito are both stronger and taller- and Kaito has a baseball bat he carries around everywhere.
That only leaves me. I gulp and stand up, my entire body shaking like a leaf.
"L-l-leave them alone!" I shout, but it comes out more like a squeak. I may not be as strong or tall as the bullies- but I've had plenty of practice at dodging people who want to hurt me.
"I think this redhead needs a lesson too, Kaede. Hand over any money you got, ya hear?" Kaito says, strutting over to me, and bending down with a menacing look in his eyes.
"I don't have any money!" I tell him. "Please leave!" I swear he looks nervous for a second, but then his eyes are filled with that familiar bloodlust.
"Himi-" Kokichi starts, sounding worried, but Kaede interrupts him.
"Fine, it's fine Kaito. We can teach her a different lesson." She lifts up Kaito's baseball bat, and I hear a collective gasp. I can see even the teachers watching in interest instead of intervening. I'm petrified. I can't seem to make my body move. Well, I might as well just let my life end here.
"Do it." Another gasp.
"Kill me. I don't care." It's like my brain is on autopilot. I'm completely detached from the situation, like I'm floating above it all.
Kaede lowers the bat slightly, eyes showing concern.
"Wha-" Kaito grunts, interrupting her.
"Agh! Fine, I will!" He yanks the bat out of the blonde's hands and swings it down upon my head.
CRACK!
The last thing I hear is someone yelling my name.
Stay strong, I think to myself. You're Himiko the great mage... you can do this... Himiko the great.... the great...
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