"La la la, la la la laa..."

The black-haired girl sung distantly to herself as she walked through the empty school corridors.

"La la laa..."

Lightning struck the dark night outside the school windows, revealing a knife dangling in the girl's hand and a school uniform so drenched in blood that all that could be seen was red and crimson. 

"La la laa... oh."

The girl stopped.

Then, she turned around to glance at the trail of blood following behind her, peering into the darkness of the school corridors. 

"I forgot."

She walked back and the sound of someone screaming pierced the night air, echoing across the empty school.

~x~

Have you ever felt like some of your memories are not yours?

Like hazy recollections of a different life, or looking into the mind of someone that was you but wasn't really you.

It was a difficult feeling to translate into words, especially when that memory floated out of my grasp when I awoke and became merely a vivid dream that I couldn't remember.

I rose from my bed, rubbed my eyes and heard someone screaming from the living room down below. 

Immediately, I ran out of my bedroom, down the stairs and found my mum standing at the door to our house, holding a letter in her hand with tears in her eyes.

"E-Eita..." Mum glanced up at me with a shaky smile, "You've been admitted into Kurai High School."

"W-what?" I said.

Instead of elaborating, mum blew out my eardrums with another shriek of joy and ran over to crush my face into her chest. 

"I'm so prooooouddd of youuuu!!" Mum shook me left and right like a ragdoll within her embrace. "I can't believe it!! My lovely son!!"

After waiting for her to calm down, dad came down to the living room as well.

"What is it? Did something happen?" Dad asked.

"Yes!" Mum said, "Eita got admitted into Kurai High School!!"

"K-Kurai...!" Dad said, "You mean, the 'Kurai'...?"

"Yes! That 'Kurai'!" Mum replied.

Dad stared disbelievingly at my mum for a second, then said, "Are you sure? Let me see the letter..."

After reading and confirming the authenticity of the letter, dad glanced over at me with stunned eyes.

"Well, son..." Dad patted a hand on my shoulder, handing the letter over to me. "Congratulations."

Taking the letter, I slowly read the contents of the letter.

[Dear Eita Tagawa,]

[Congratulations. You have been admitted to Kurai High School based on your results in the Senior High Entrance Examinations.]

[Kurai High School is a government-sanctioned private boarding school founded by Tokashi Segawa to develop and research exceptionally gifted and talented children across Japan.]

[Your enrolment begins next week, please find details on how to travel to the campus in the attached booklet.]

[Yours Sincerely,]

[Tokashi Segawa]

[Headmaster at Kurai High School]

~x~

Unsurprisingly, Kurai High School was situated at some rural mountainsides in the middle of nowhere.

I stood outside the school, toiling a suitcase of my belongings as I glanced past the school gates at the many large nondescript white buildings that made up the school.

It was a very spacious school, fenced in on all four sides, with boarding dormitories and all the facilities a school could possibly ask for. I guess since the school was government funded, they didn't really have to worry about money.

"Eita Tagawa?"

A man wearing black sunglasses and a grey administrative uniform stood by the school gates, waiting for me as I walked over. 

He was the tour guide that they had mentioned in the booklet attached to my admission letter.

"That's me." I said. 

Without a smile or any other greeting, the man waved at me to follow him as he walked me around the school, giving me a very dry tour of the school as though he was a robot that had been made to look like a person. 

Hey, I wasn't complaining since I wasn't fond of small talk and arbitrary social customs myself. In fact, I appreciated that he skipped all that nonsense.

The school was still in session as we strolled through the campus and I could see students in beige uniforms attending classes, doing various sporting activities and some even walking around casually. It honestly surprised me to see nothing out of the ordinary and I was even feeling slightly disappointed. 

Eventually, we reached the dormitories where I would be staying and we climbed the stairs to the second floor, reaching a room with the numbers '203' written at the front of the door. 

"Here is your room." The man, who had never bothered to introduce himself, handed me a student card and I glanced at him briefly for a second, before realising what he meant.

Taking the student card that had my photo and identification details on it, I waved the card over the scanner in front of the door and heard the door unlocking.

"Class will begin for you tomorrow. Make sure to check your student handbook, it will be on your desk in your room." The man said, then turned around and left me by the door before I could ask any questions.

Wow. That guy must really not like social interaction. Perhaps even moreso than me.

With a shrug, I opened the door to my room and stepped inside with my suitcase. 

It was like a toned-down version of a hotel room. It had all the basics of what you needed to survive but no excessive luxuries. Heck, I was even surprised to find that I had my own bathroom.

"Hi."

A gentle voice called out to me from behind, surprising me, and I glanced around to see a black-haired girl somewhat younger-looking than me standing by the door to the room that I had left open. 

"Hey..." I turned to face the girl, unsure of what to do, "I'm Eita Tagawa," I gave a small polite bow, "Nice to meet you..."

Clearly the girl was a student as she was wearing the same beige school uniform that I saw all the other students around the campus wear earlier. What I wasn't sure about was what a girl was doing in what I presumed was the boy's dormitory. 

She seemed to know what I was thinking just from looking at my face, "The dormitories here at Kurai are co-ed." She said, "I heard you coming in from next door."

"Ah," I said, "Seems like my tour guide conveniently forgot to mention that."

"Mr. Okamoto is a funny guy, isn't he?" She laughed lightly in a cute manner with a hand to her mouth. 

"Funny?" I repeated. "I thought he was a humanoid android."

The girl giggled, "Maybe he's been sent back from the future to kill us."

"Figures." I said. "Wearing sunglasses indoors was a dead giveaway."  

Then we both glanced at each other for a second and laughed. 

The reason that I normally didn't like talking to others was because I was born with an uncanny ability to read people. Simply by talking to a stranger for a few seconds, I would be able to see their true nature, and the fact of the matter is that the inside of most people's heart is hideous. I didn't get that same uncomfortable feeling I usually felt around other people with this girl. 

"Anyways, so I guess you're going to be my next door neighbour for the time that I'm enrolled at Kurai, huh?" I said, remembering that she said that she heard me from next door. 

"That's right." The girl smiled at me and I realised she was not only cute, but very pretty. Her long lashes complemented her violet eyes. "Room 204. My name is Shika Kuwata. I hope we can be good neighbours."

She bowed courteously in a manner that hinted at a traditional upbringing. It was a lot more graceful than the half-ass bow that I had given her. 

Then she rose and said, "If you need help with finding your way around Kurai or anything, please don't be scared to come knock at my door at any time and ask!" 

"Thank you, Shika," I smiled, "I'll be honest, I usually don't like talking to people but you're probably one of the few exceptions I've come across."

She laughed again, her milky skin blushed with a slight pink. "T-Thank you, Eita... Anyways, I probably should go now, I've already disturbed you long enough."

"Not at all." I said, hoping I didn't push it too far with my previous comment. "Thanks again for the welcome, Shika."

She nodded, acting slightly more timid than she was before. Maybe I really did push it too far. Dammit.

Just before she closed the door, Shika called out to me, "Eita...?"

"Yes?" I said.

"Um..." Her violet eyes flickered downwards, she looked like she was hiding herself behind the half-closed door. "Do you..." She hesitated, "Uhm... want to have lunch together tomorrow...?" 

I blinked.

"Of course!" I said, then laughed lightly, "It's not like I have any other friends around here yet, so yeah, definitely!"

"R-really...?! Um, I mean, okay! I-I will see you tomorrow then...!"

The door closed, leaving me alone in my room.

Looks like Kurai High School wasn't too bad after all.