ACT III – CORE-COLLAPSING INFERNO
Part III: Make Sense of the Disaster
She might have figured out what Kar Devibolt had wanted to do from the moment Feoria released her deva, but a part of Reimei simply didn’t want to believe such a thing was possible. Which caused a significant delay in her reaction – one she knew would have great consequences later on.
The pulse emitted by Feoria’s body reached a number of students beyond the four she was meant to help keep alive by absorbing some of the heat from Kar’s flames while he gave the command in his mind to put out those flames. And if Reimei was indeed right, mind control particles had just been spread amid all those students via the pulse.
Her actions now ruled by panic, Miss Scarlettail poured multiple water waves over all her schoolmates she thought had been infected in the hopes to expel the particles from their bodies, not realizing there were two sources of electricity nearby. One was Hikaru, who was about to go on a rampage by cladding himself in normal-colored lightning while shooting bolts in different directions, the other being Obur who was trying to restrain him with his pink-colored lightning deva.
All those Drama Club members, including Feoria and Ayli, were electrocuted instantly, just then the burning quartet having been put out, but Kar’s surprise at the mass electrocution causing his deva to go out of control again before he could fully turn back into his human form. Another wave of his hellish flames was unleashed, Obur no longer being able to hold back Hikaru as he leapt at his grandfather with a roar, Mr. Devibolt’s attempt to defend himself from the coming attack only making things worse.
His deva fused with that of his grandson, leading to a reddish-blue-purple blast that tore apart the whole room, Reimei using more of her waves to block the debris from the ceiling that was about to fall and the desks and chairs that were pushed toward her, everything else in her surroundings being enveloped in smoke and dust. Due to the tremor caused by the blast, the scarlet-haired beauty was barely able to keep her balance, coughing from the smoke spreading around and trying to see through it to check on the condition of the others as things finally quieted down.
First she saw Yuki, who had taken the weight of the some of the debris with her superstrength to prevent it from falling on a few of her terrified classmates, another pile nearby being blasted off by Obur’s pink bolts, who immediately leapt at Hikaru and Kar after they had just cleared the part of the room they were in to keep fighting. The Literature teacher landed between them and used a pulse of his deva to push both of them further away from the other, eventually several other Drama Club members moving away all the surrounding rubble with their devas.
All the damage done could finally be assessed then: 9 students had burns from Kar’s hellish flames, 15 – burns from Hikaru and Obur’s lightning coming in contact with Reimei’s water, 7 had suffered injuries from the falling debris and blasted desks and chairs, the remaining 22 club members having only bruises and scratches on them. Merely the shock from this sight was sufficient to stop the mad genius and his grandfather from fighting any further, instead looking around now and realizing just what their squabble had led to.
Yuki went over to Hikaru’s side next to try and console him as he had as heartbroken an expression on his face as Reimei had ever seen from anyone, getting ready to go to him as well when Obur pulled her to himself instead, having the most serious look on his face out of everyone in the room.
(Obur) ‘There’s no time to feel sorry for what happened. Taking care of everyone here comes first. Mei, Yu, the two of you and Hikaru are the only ones who came out unscathed, so I’ll need your help with this.’
(Kar) ‘Let me help as well. This whole thing started because of me, after all, so …’
The roar thorn out of the young Summerbolt’s chest then with all the fury his body could muster terrified Reimei to an extent where she started shaking. It echoed across the room and far beyond, making everyone who was doing something stop dead in their tracks, Mr. Devibolt himself having become petrified by the hatred in Hikaru’s eyes.
(Hikaru) ‘GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE AND NEVER COME BACK!!! OR I’LL KILL YOU!!!!’
Kar turned his gaze from his grandson to the Literature teacher after that, bowing with a most guilty expression.
(Kar) ‘I am very sorry, Obur. Everyone. I’ll be waiting outside the school if you need any help. Turn to me for whatever you need.’
The regional education manager finally let the room, Zoran entering in his place along with a few other teachers and a handful of students, their eyes goggled from surprise moving from the destroyed premises to the wounded Drama Club members and back, eventually zeroing in on Mr. Segune.
(Zoran) ‘Obur, why was Kar Devibolt here? And what exactly happened?’
*
All the wounded youngsters were taken to headmistress Neana Ilre to be restructured to a healthy state, her deva being able to fix most of them, though by the end of the healing session the former school nurse was more than exhausted, the students treated by her – all the more so. She said they would need plenty of rest, which meant any of them going to rehearsals was out of the question for the next couple of days and what was worse, there were the nine burnt by Kar.
As it turned out, hellish flames really were a very different deva from all the others, not only being impossible to put them out except via the user’s command, but the wounds inflicted by them also being much more difficult to heal. Even with Neana’s restructuring, a lot of the damage remained, which was why those nine had to be transferred to a hospital to receive continuous treatment with healing devas.
Kar Devibolt promised to cover all the expanses for the treatment and apologized to the nine’s parents, as did Hikaru who accompanied them on the journey to the hospital along with Yuki, Reimei and Obur. From there the latter quartet went back to Sunbird, by the time of their return the mad genius looking even angrier than before.
Even Miss Iceflame’s attempts to calm him down had failed this time, which was a first, as unwise as it seemed, the scarlet-haired beauty deciding to talk with Hikaru after her with the hopes of cheering him up at least a little. This all happened while they were moving together toward the combat training grounds next to the school where Zoran had called his whole class to meet after their club activities for the big revelation.
(Reimei) ‘It’s not your fault alone, Hikaru. And Segune-sensei said it himself. What good will blaming yourself do now? It’s not like you can take back what happened.’
(Hikaru) ‘I just … I just really wish we could’ve won this year.’
(Reimei) ‘You mean the Club Cup? Is it really that important to win a trophy like …’
As angry as he seemed while walking, when he stopped and made his three companions look at him, the young Summerbolt had become ten times more furious, scaring Miss Scarlettail again.
(Hikaru) ‘It is to me, Mei!!! It’s not just about beating the other clubs! It’s about what that trophy means!! Talent scouts come to events like Club Presentation Day to check out the students and pick someone they might recruit!! And though they’re interested in everyone, the members of the club that wins the cup are always the ones who’re most sought after!! With the limited opportunities for deviants like us, this is the best way to secure our futures!!! And I was planning to secure mine with that play!!! Mine and that of all the other members!!! So that we could keep working together even in college and start making big plays and movies of our own one day!!! This was supposed to be our starting point!!!!’
Similar to his loss of control back at the Drama Club rehearsal room, releasing so much energy had taken a toll on Hikaru, needing a moment to find his balance again and return his breathing to as normal a pace as possible under these circumstances. Yuki even supported him to ensure he wouldn’t fall down, both her and Obur looking at the mad genius with eyes as sad as Reimei felt guilty at the time.
After what the young Summerbolt had just said, it finally made sense to her why everyone was so fired about winning the Club Cup. And that made her feel even worse for the present state of Hikaru’s dream, not even knowing what to say to him after angering him with her ignorance. Luckily, the white-haired beauty still supporting him intervened just in time.
(Yuki) ‘We could go after Kar if that would make you feel better.’
(Hikaru) ‘No. Forget it. Mei’s right. No matter how much I kick his ass, it won’t change what happened. If even Ilre-sensei’s restructuring can’t do anything more, I guess it’s hopeless. I’ll just call it quits with the play and hope for better luck next year. Maybe I can help some of the other guys from the class with their clubs’ presentations so at least they can get picked by a talent scout.’
If there was ever a time for Reimei to share her suspicions about the cause of the whole rehearsal incident with the trio around her, it was now. But at the same time she was worried how they would react to a disturbing theory like hers after having gone through so much already.
As alert to her hesitation as ever, Yuki was the one whose intervention would determine how events would unfold once again despite all of her scarlet-haired classmate’s misgivings.
(Yuki) ‘Something wrong, Mei? You want to join the fight against that bastard Devibolt, too?’
(Hikaru) ‘I told you I don’t plan to fight him, Yu.’
(Yuki) ‘Yeah, but you’re thinking about it every day, so I try to always be ready for a pummeling if you finally make up your mind.’ – Reimei was saved from the ice maiden’s attention only for a moment, right after which she turned her gaze from Hikaru back to the transfer student – ‘So how about it, Mei? From what I know, Kar’s pretty strong, so any help would be welcome.’
(Reimei) ‘No, I … I just think the reason why he set those students on fire wasn’t to ruin Hikaru’s play or anything like that. I think it’s something else.’
Both her classmates and especially Obur became curious after hearing that, stepping closer to her to make Miss Scarlettail increasingly nervous and make her doubt if sharing anything further was a good idea even more.
(Obur) ‘What makes you say that?’
(Reimei) ‘Mr. Devibolt knows better than anyone else his flames can’t be put out so easily. And being regional education manager, I’m sure he’s quite familiar with the devas of all his grandson’s classmates. So he must have known Feoria’s help would be needed to absorb as much of the heat from his flames as possible while he gave the command to cancel them.
Just when she intervened … I saw him smiling. Like that was what he had wanted to happen. To have her release her deva right then and there. And then I remembered what Garasu-sensei had said about the mind control plot. That mind control particles could be spread to others by a powerful release of the deva of someone who’s already been infected.’
Reimei paused to see how the three would respond to her suggestion, Yuki seeming to dismiss it right away, Hikaru being in deep thought over it and Obur still being in a state of shock.
(Yuki) ‘That doesn’t make any sense, Mei. You’re saying Kar Devibolt is in on the whole mind control thing? Why would he get involved in that? And how could Feoria even get infected with mind control particles? She hasn’t been close to anyone infected while they’ve released their deva.’
(Hikaru) ‘We haven’t been with Feo non-stop, Yu, so we can’t know that for sure. Maybe something like that’s happened and she just hasn’t told us. What do you think, sensei?’
All three youngsters turned to Mr. Segune to give the final verdict, the albino having gone from surprise to a distressingly angry look.
(Obur) ‘I don’t know about Feoria, but what Reimei said about Kar being involved … that just might be true.’
A chill went down Reimei’s spine the moment she heard that.
For some reason she had hoped with all her heart Hikaru’s grandfather wasn’t involved. Maybe because the demon he could turn into and the man’s presence overall terrified her. Or maybe it was a deeper feeling, an instinct even, that she couldn’t yet understand.
Miss Iceflame and the young Summerbolt looked plenty shocked in their own right after Obur dropped that bomb of a statement, the Literature teacher raising his hands to try and calm them down before they could shower him with a million questions.
(Obur) ‘You’ll get what I mean after you watch Mara and Rafael’s interrogation tape. Now let’s go. The others are probably already waiting.’
