Ch. 9 Surprise, surprise!
We told Max the news. He took it quite well, but he also asked me if I'm sure that this is the last. I told him I was sure. In my heart, I didn't feel as if this was the last one. It was a feeling and I couldn't be quite sure if this one is the last. Half of me thinks it's a fluke and I totally should not worry about it. The other half took it not so well, and it is sticking to the thought. In my mind, I stood between two sides. I couldn't follow either of them.
I snapped out from this little tug-of-war happening inside my brain. I look up to see Max and Gabby leave. I began heading to my class as well. The noise level wasn't all that bad with my headphones. It helped me drown out half the noises. Nothing changed much. I did get better with my sense of smell. I soon got used to all the new smells. I even can figure out what some of the smells are.
I also started to wear clothing that works for me. The previous ones couldn't work out for me. It was sad as I only had a few clothes that didn't bother me. It was tough because of my sense of touch. I guess I could talk to Gabby about this. I'll tell her when we meet during study hall. I might as well tell Max too. I have nothing to hide at this point. I shrugged to myself and brought my focus back to class.
These days I've become distracted by my new senses. It was hard at first, but now I think I am getting used to it. The bell rang and I walked to my next class; It was a second-period study hall. I sat down in the same place as always: at our table. At the very table, there sat Max and Gabby were sitting across from each other. I came and sat down next to Max.
I was the first to speak at the quiet table. "I've gotten used to my new senses."
Gabby gave a small smile, "that's nice. I feel there's a ‘but' coming."
I gave a small smile back to her, "but there's a problem with my clothing situation."
Max gave me a ludicrous look, "you? A clothing situation? I never thought I would ever hear it from your mouth. You know, it's something Gabby would say."
I give him one look. A look that said I was unamused. I ignore him and continue, "a majority of my clothes bother me. This is because of my skin's new sensitivity. I did find a couple of clothes that didn't bother me, but that's a very small amount."
Gabby's face lights up with glee. Oh, no. What is she going to suggest? "You know what we should do? Go shopping! I was planning on going today. Why not come with me? It can be fun."
Max thought about her words for a moment. He then shrugs and says, "it's been a while since we hung out. That's other than y'all's house. We could also go to other places as well. So Gabby, where were you planning to go?"
Before Gabby could answer Max's question, I intrude myself into the conversation. "Hey. You guys can't go on making decisions like that. You guys also can't continue talking like I'm not here."
Gabby gave a small laugh, "Okay, but are you okay with this?"
"Sure, I got no plans. Except, maybe studying. Max is also right. We haven't been hanging out besides at our house. Plus, I want to lose a few nerves." Those nerves? Yeah, they are the feelings I want to shake off. Maybe hanging out with my friends is going to help me calm those nerves down?
The three of us continued to talk about our plans. We also helped each other with our homework during study hall. I suggested that if we do this, then there will be less stuff to worry about. We would also have more time to do stuff after school. The bell rang, we left the study hall.
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3rd. POV.
Kota walked into his fifth-period history class. He sat down in his assigned seat. The teacher walked into class and the chatter amongst the students stopped. The teacher spoke.
“On Friday we will have an assembly. All classes will all be cut short. Now, just because classes are short doesn't mean you can skip. Attendance will be required of you all." The students were still quiet. The teacher, seeing no responses continued, "With that announcement out of the way, I can start class. Your finals for this Trimester will be on the rubric. All the things you need to know about it will be on this rubric."
A student at the front raised their hand, "Sir, will this rubric also be online?"
“Yes, it will be." The teacher continued and began his lessons. They mostly consisted of basic summaries of different units the students will learn about. Fortunately for Kota, no seating changes yet to happen. That was going to happen tomorrow. Kota now had a preference for the windows. He wanted to be near them for fresh air. Fresh air was important to him. If it was the past, he wouldn't mind changing seats. He would want to be near the doors. But now, he wants to be near the windows.
The fresh air just felt right to him than the bad smells of humans. He always knew humans were bad. He just never realized how much of them are bad or good. So far everywhere he goes the bad outweighs the good. Now that wasn't good for him either because it personally affects him. But it's not like he can walk up to people and tell them to think of bad things. Of course, even if they were told they wouldn't stop.
They are these types of humans after all. The bell rang but the teacher told the students not to leave yet, for he had one more announcement. "The schedule for tomorrow is available online. Second and third lunches will be merged." Kota took notice of the last thing mentioned. Kota was grateful that he and his friends ate in the infirmary. He didn't want to think about being in the cafeteria. He didn't want to think about the increase of bad smells. If he collapsed the first time, then he will collapse from the volume of people.
The bell rang and the hallway was filled with students coming from the second lunch. Kota was part of the group of students who were heading for their third lunch. He doesn't go to the cafeteria, he walks over to the infirmary. He greets nurse Connie then looks out the window as he waits for Gabby and Max.
What could be seen outside the windows were some green space. There are a few big sugar maples, some quaking aspens, and some bushes. Of course, there are other trees as well but Kota couldn't identify them. The sugar maples were probably his favorite. The way it's bright red leaves stood out is what he liked the most. He then began to think about what this area would look like when it fell. Before his thoughts could divulge further, Gabby and Max came in.
He looked away from the scenery and went over to their little table. Gabby gave him his lunch and began opening one of hers. Gabby was lively as she talked about where they could go. Max brought out his iPad so they could look for a good place. Throughout lunch, they chatter and plan for the places they want to. From beginning to the end Gabby was excited in this whole process.
The bell came and Gabby, for a moment, became sad. Kota didn't want to see her sad and he tried to cheer her up.
“Gabby you'll see us after school."
"Right. What am I getting sad for?" She realized she felt a bit silly for being sad when she can see them later. She, Max, and Kota all went on their ways. Gabby skipped away thinking about how much fun she'll have. Max rolled his eyes at Gabby's energy and excitement. Kota gave one smile as they bore heading off in his direction.
****
It's the seventh period and the day was almost done. Kota just had to get through this one class. He had to, it was the last hour. He also couldn't skip or leave early this time around. They did a few warm-ups then they did their required laps around the track. After that, they played a couple of games available at the gym.
The gym had two Basketball courts. On court held dodgeball. The second one held Basketball. He joined the dodgeball game. Kota figured if he got hit with a ball he can sit out. If he could sit out he would sit the furthest away from everyone. That was the plan.
He walked into the court thinking of this plan. The game started; all balls at the center, lines of students on both sides, and Mr.Bridge at the sidelines with a whistle. He blew the whistle and students moved. There was thrill, and excitement in the air. Kota did get affected by the smells a bit.
A ball was flying fast towards Kota. He then realized that he didn't think his plan through. He forgot about his touch, but it was too late. That ball came to him and landed in his face. It took a moment for him to register what happened then a plain flooded mind.
In his mind, there were only complaints, and screaming at the pain. Normally, if he gets hit with a throw that hard. He'd get a bloody nose, but it wasn't that alarming and he would walk away fine. This time around he won't be walking away, he'll be knocked out. Kota never knew the extent his sense of touch was. He never wanted to find out either. The pain wasn't something he was fond of.
People were shocked to see him get hit. They were even more shocked since he fell to the ground with a bloody nose. Mr.Bridge also saw this scene. He asked some students to take him to the infirmary. His assistant was here today. It was just him to supervise the students. Two students volunteered to help. They carried Kota to the nurse. Nurse Connie told them to put him on a bed. After they placed him down, they left and went back to the gym.
Nurse Connie took out some clothes. She used them to wipe away the blood on his face. She also checked his nose to survey how much his nose might be broken. Kota flinched when she was checking him. She also noticed him flinch. She took note of that. Once she was done she went back to her desk.
The winds rustled the white curtains of the infirmary. Paper has shuffled around as nurse Connie continues to work. Ten minutes had passed. Kota woke up and looked at the big clock hanging in the room. By now there were only nine minutes of class left.
He silently cursed at Tsuki, but he was more so frustrated by what he took.
He wanted to know what it was that he took. He asked Gabby about it and nothing came up in her grandmother's stuff. He then thought about that blue crystal. They did say to use that to contact them if Kota had any questions. Kota sat up and looked at the nurse. She also looked up at Kota.
"I see you are awake now." She wrote something down, "if you want to leave early. You might want to give this to Mr.Bridge when you go back to class."
He thanked her and accepted the slip. It took him a few minutes to arrive at the gym. He handed
Mr.Bridge nurse Connie's note. Mr.Bridge looked at the slip and told Kota it was fine to leave. That or if he feels fine then he is more than welcome to stay. Kota said it was okay and that he was heading into the locker rooms.
The locker rooms were very empty. He showered, changed, and packed up his stuff. He left the locker room. He exited from the back. He ended up finding himself in the hallways. He followed one of them down to the library. He opens up his phone and messages his friends.
[Kota: I forgot about my sensitive touch during Gym. Why did I choose dodgeball? Welp. I ended up being knocked out. I also got out of gym class early. How about you guys?]
[Max: I'm pretty much done with my art. You okay man? ]
[Kota: Lucky! Switch me. I don't want to be in gym class anymore. And yes, I'm okay. I got sent to the nurse. Everything is fine now.]
[Max: I'm glad to hear that you're okay, but wasn't gym class like your favorite class?]
[Kota: It was, but now...It sucks! I don't like these new senses. They're nice and all, but everything isn't normal anymore. Btw I'm at the library.]
Meanwhile, those two were texting, Gabby was in yet another predicament. It was either keep her books and not have them confiscated. Or continue to read them and possibly have her precious books confiscated. She went ahead and did the latter because she couldn't help herself. She had to know what happened next. If Gabby had to rank her addictions it would be food in the first place and reading in second.
The teacher saw Gabby reading but she decided to let her off today. There were only a few minutes of class left and they won't have much to do tomorrow either. The bell rang and brought Gabby out of a trance. She closed her book and noticed the teacher didn't take her book. In her mind, she was doing all sorts of flips in excitement. She then opened up her phone as well. She stopped at her desk. She was worried about Kota then she saw that he said he's fine. She sighed with relief. She went over to the library. She saw her brother and sat down by him.
“So where's Max?" She asked and looked at the library's collection of books.
Kota looked at his phone and said, "he said he's coming over."
Gabby lightly tapped the table. "So are you ready?"
“Ready?" Kota repeated. "Ready for what?"
“Shopping you silly." She smiled and Max came over to the table. They discussed where they wanted to go. They all went into Max's car.
"So the Garden Square Avenue it is," says Max. He starts the car and heads over there.
Garden Square Ave has lots of good commercial stores, but also where a lot of the entertainment is. They went around some stores and found clothes Kota could wear. After that, they went over to the arcade.
“Man, I haven't been in months!" Exclaimed Kota.
“Well, don't get too excited, brother. Max is gonna beat us again. He's too good at arcade games." She whispered like Max couldn't hear them. Or at least that's what Kota thought. Gabby was whispering but didn't sound like whispering to him.
Max was the one smirking while Kota and Gabby were losing horribly. It is always like this when they go to arcades. It's the same whenever they play card games with Max. The day went by fast for the trio. Gabby looked at the time and decided that it's time to go home. They needed to make dinner soon as well.
Max dropped the siblings off and went home. Gabby changed and started cooking. Kota soon went into the kitchen and helped Gabby. Soon their mom came home. She came home to the smell of food as always.
After dinner was over Kota went upstairs. He did his nightly routine. After that was done he walked up to his bed. He stopped and looked at his glasses. He picked it up and muttered to himself, "I guess I will never wear you again." He put the glasses back on top of the drawer. He also brought out the blue crystal. He looked at the thing and wondered how he was supposed to contact them using it? He simply gave up trying to think about it. He left it alone and placed it next to his glasses. Tsuki did say when the time comes Kota will know how to use it.
*****
Kota's POV.
Hanging out with my friends did calm down my nerves. However, it wasn't enough. I still had this bad awful feeling hovering over me. I couldn't shake the feeling. Maybe if I just sleep on it might disappear? I lay there on my covers and yawned. That one yawn somehow made me go to sleep.
*****
I woke and felt some uncomfortable pain. When I woke up it was still very dark out. The moon was high and bright. My sheets were soaked with sweat. I didn't know what the time was so I had to check my phone. I opened my phone and was greeted by its bright light. My eyes adjusted a bit to the light and then I saw the time. It was 3:30 AM, Friday. That's too early.
I turned on the flashlight to check the situation with my sheets. The phone’s light revealed a dark red spot. The red color stood out in the white sheets. Freaking out, I went into the bathroom with trembling legs.
When I went into the bathroom I discovered something shocking. Was this also an effect? @#$&, why did I get this effect? I kept chanting curses in my mind. But the bad awful feeling didn't disappear. I couldn't care about that feeling hovering over me when I was still in shock.
I left the bathroom in fumes, mostly I felt embarrassed. I walked to my drawer. I grabbed the blue crystal. I stared at it in my hands. I cursed at them and threw the crystal on the ground. You say I can contact you with it but how? I wanna know what it is that you gave me.
My body started to feel heavy and drowsy. I didn't want to fall on the floor so I stumbled over to my bed with my remaining energy. I didn't know what was happening but I think it has something to do with that crystal. My vision was consumed by the darkness as I blacked out.
I opened my eyes finding myself standing in front of a person. That person had black hair and red eyes. My surroundings weren’t my bead room anymore so looked at the red eyes glancing at me.
I hesitantly asked this person, "excuse, who are you?"
"Me?" The man smiled, "I'm Tsuki. Looks like you finally decided to talk to me."
"So this is what you actually look like?"
“Yes.” He then somehow managed to conjure up chairs and a table. I was taken aback but soon I quickly adapted and sat on the chair. It's strange I can't smell anything from him.
I gave him one look before I said anything. "Do you know what you gave me?"
“Yes, yes I do. What I gave you that night was Pandora's pill."
“Pandora's pill?"
“Yes, and it seems like it's finished. Like its name suggests it's a pill that grants you gifts and curses, but it's all random and unknown."
“Wait. You know how long it lasts?" I was shocked.
“Yes. It lasts for seven days. Some say it's seven because there are seven letters on Pandora's name. They also believe it's because there are seven colors of a rainbow. But it seems like for you it lasted in six days. That's very unusual."
I took a sigh of relief. It's not seven days. I looked up at him, "can you also see what my effects are?" I was curious about what this man was.
“Yes, I can." He gave a small smile, "I can also see that last one. I can tell you're quite shocked. I can tell you one thing is that your outer appearance won't change. Well, I see one thing has changed. I also gotta say your effect is also the first I've seen."
“You never have seen it happen?"
“Be glad, others died from taking this pill. It may have given them gifts, but it also gave curses to people. Most of these people take this pill to gamble. They gamble so they can become strong from the good effects."
I shuddered. To think I would have died. "But wait, how would you know I would not die? You didn't give this pill to me knowing that death is a possibility." I got a little angry at that last one. The thought of someone playing with my life isn’t a great feeling.
“Yes, I did give you this pill knowing you could die. However, I'm very
positive about my predictions, and what I pick. When I saw your probability score I just had to give you that pill. It was too good a chance to pass up."
“Probability score? Is that how you knew I wouldn't die?"
Tsuki nodded at me, then he conjured up some tea. Once he sipped his tea he answered my question, "your probability score is the highest I've seen in a human in a long time. You're also the first person I've seen get this effect. You might see it as a curse, but others might see it as a gift. It is fine though, you'll probably never use that gift. It doesn't disrupt your current body's functions. Everything will be normal."
I didn't know what to say to this man. I looked at his face for lies, but it seems as if everything is all true. All I could do was be mad at him. I scowled at him thinking about my missing dick.
“I could get back right?”
“These effects are also irreversible. You’re neither a man, nor a woman and you can’t change that.” He put his hand on my shoulder, “so you might as well give up right now." The man smiled as all my hopes were shattered. I wanted to get away from this conversation. I have my questions answered about the pill. I shot an angry look at the man.
“Another thing I should add. Since you longer have the ability to give life—to procreate—you also don’t need much to sustain your life. Anything you eat becomes magic energy instead. To be honest I don’t know how it led to that.”
I didn’t want to continue talking about myself so I shifted the conversation. I need to move with grievances for my missing part.
“Magic...Is that why you choose Michelle? I know she's a witch but why her?"
“That's one of the reasons. The other was that she's a very powerful witch. Sadly, most of that power is dormant. Her eyes are green because of my power. Since I was in her body and I have a lot of power the green eyes showed themselves."
What he said did make sense to me. In here, I don't know where I am but his eyes are red. It's red like that other guy. I looked around for Rico.
Tsuki noticed that I was looking around.
As if he read my mind he said, "Rico is not here right now. He's communicating to his brother Chet. His brother is on their other side. Mostly he's monitoring the humans of our world." The world around us started to flicker, or that's what I thought it did. Tsuki looked up from his tea. "Oh, it looks like time is almost running out. Any last questions?"
“I know witches can't be easily possessed. So what are you? Are you a higher being?"
“Yes, you could say I am some kind of higher being. You see, witches are still human. I’m something above humans " He paused for a moment then said, "since you are interesting I will give you my blessing. Those that receive my blessing really don't call it a blessing." He smiled at me once before saying in a laughing tone, "I won't tell you why that is. This is one that you'll have to find out on your own. Also have fun figuring out what kind of higher being I am."
Tsuki's laughter faded as the place started to fade from my vision. I soon work back up in my bed. I looked at my window. It's dawn right now. I did my morning routine: brush, fix up my hair and wash my face. I then walked over Gabby's door and knocked at her door.
I was pretty embarrassed and awkward. I told her that the effects are done. And that the thing I took that night was called Pandora's Pill. I also shyly told her about my last effect. She was a bit surprised at first but then she told me it's okay. She really is the best older sister I could ever have. I also told her that Tsuki is a god, and then he was the one who told me about the Pill.
I also said I have a bad feeling about today. This feeling is now becoming stronger. I told her to bring her grandmother's stuff. It couldn't hurt because classes were cut short, and there was an assembly today. She trusted me and began to pack a lot of stuff. Once I finished telling her everything we went down and ate breakfast.
We finished breakfast and mom drove us to school. This time around we didn't tell Max about my effect. I felt that it was too weird to tell him, and I also wasn't sure how to break the news to him. Sis respected my decision. Not much happened today. All the classes were very short, they were ten minutes. The longest was the 5th hour as it held lunch.
My seating chart in history class only changed my one seat forward. I was still at the windows. Lunch also went by quickly. All classes after lunch are mostly a self-study class. Which was fine by me. It was the assembly. That assembly changed a lot of things. The three of us found each other at the perfect time, and Michelle, no, Tsuki walked up to us and said something.
He let's all hold hands with a smile. We were all pretty terrified of and obeyed. Before we could understand what's happening the surroundings had changed.
******
Here I am. We're now caught up. I have all my effects, and I finally learned about the pill. That day it wasn't us that was dragged into it as well. It was everyone at the assembly.
