A Nascent Kaleidoscope.

I was in the middle of class when I couldn't help but just stare at the ceiling. People talking around me, I heard my teacher lecture about something irrelevant, but my mind was completely unfocused. Even as everyone got up and left, I was still stuck in a daze.

It felt like I had foreign thoughts in my head. I don't know when it started, sometime recently, but I would catch myself thinking of something I had no idea about, in too vivid a recollection to think them mere daydreams.

Was I going crazy? I knew what schizophrenia was, but didn't that come on gradually, not just out of the blue? Maybe I took some really bad drugs…..without knowing? I know I haven't been sleeping well, but it's not like I've missed out on that much sleep… weird things just kept popping into my head. What did vampires have to do with anything? And it didn't' stop there…..why did an image of a red moon keep showing up as well?

"Shimoda-san."

My thoughts were broken as I heard someone call my name, only for my expression to darken as I saw the person.

"Kaichou." I answered automatically.

Souna Shitori, the student council president, she basically ran the school, and everyone knew it. Hell, there were times when she could 'convince' the principal of certain matters. There were rumors that her parents actually owned the entire thing.

But….why did something about her suddenly feel off?

I just ignored the funny feeling I had in the back of my head and pushed down all these strange images that sprang up.

"I need to speak with you, Shimoda-san, please follow me to my office."

With a sigh, I gestured for her to lead the way. I don't really know what this about, but generally people don't like being called to 'her office'. It wasn't exactly far but for some reason I felt a bit of unease with every step I took, though that could be attributed to my current mental state.

"Please have a seat, Shimoda-san." She gestured.

I could only blink as I realized we were already standing in the student council office, and I didn't even notice another member to the side going through some stacks of paper, and a chess board off to the side that caught my eye. I just feel completely disconnected from myself right now.

"What exactly—"

"We need to talk about your school trip application." She cut me off and I could only just shut my mouth at her authoritative tone.

My school trip application…..oh, yeah the Drama Club was going to Kyoto to see a play with the proceeds we earned the past couple years from various school plays we put on. That was…next week I think…sounds about right.

"Your guardian did not give permission for you to attend."

"Pardon?" I blurted out.

"I contacted your guardian after you submitted your application as you are a special case and permission was not granted. I'm afraid you will not be permitted to attend." She said plainly.

Wait what? There was a lot to digest there but I started with the most obvious question.

"What do you mean my guardian?" I had a strange feeling bubbling in my chest. I hadn't 'met' my guardian in the years I lived in this shitty town.

"The one who enrolled you in the school, we contacted him, and he revoked your application." She once again said it as a matter of fact.

"Who?"

"Excuse me?"

"Who is my guardian." I pressed.

"That…is private information, I'm afraid I can't divulge." She replied.

"You can't divulge to me my guardian's information….that sounds like bullshit."

"Shimoda-san, I advise you to watch your language." She narrowed her eyes. "Regardless, you will not be attending the Kyoto trip with your club."

"As the Vice-Director of the Drama club, you're not allowing me to go?"

"The decision is not mine; my hands are tied. I'm sorry Shimoda-san." Her reply didn't sound very convincing.

"Whatever." I spit out, gritting my teeth and balling my fists. I spent a lot of time with my club working hard to raise the money for this trip and suddenly it was all shot to hell.

"Shimoda-san—"

I didn't want to hear anymore; I didn't want to lose my temper, so I just got up and left. Thankfully the school day was over so I didn't have to sit around here anymore, I was supposed to go to my club after class but…..fuck it.

I'm in no mood nor mental state to deal with any of this right now.

I just grabbed my stuff and headed home.

***

I was angry, even as I walked through the door and threw my stuff on the table. I wasn't worried as I let out a shout of frustration, it's not like anyone was here to scold me.

All alone in this empty house.

I had a 'caretaker' that would come every once in a while, I think it's been about a month since her last visit where she merely walked inside, took note of things, and made sure I was still living before leaving again.

The contemptuous gaze she always gave me was very memorable. I was under the assumption that she worked for my 'father', my illustrious 'guardian' that Souna mentioned earlier. That fact that she dressed as a maid gave that theory more credence. After my mother passed away, I was suddenly whisked away here and set up with a living place and my needs taken care of. I don't even have a name to go with his nonexistent face, I've never met the man, nor do I have even the inkling to anymore.

Fuck him, he wasn't there when mother was passing, he doesn't get to be a part of my life.

'Hands tied' my ass. I was looking forward to that trip for a long time. I love the theatre; it was one of the few things my mother and I did together as a child. We weren't exactly 'wealthy' but any stretch of the imagination, money was extremely tight so she would often find some activities that were cheap or free. Finding theatre groups that had free admission was something we did several times.

No, her hands are tied unless you're a pervert with a dragon in his soul. The Idiot and his friends literally break not just school rules but the fucking law, yet she sweeps it all away. Hell, most the school thinks him, and his group are blackmailing her in some way, even if that is a load of bollocks.

Fuck off Sitri.

I just snorted, at her voice still echoing in my mind again.

…..wait what? Where did that come from, a dragon? And her name is Shitori.

I just sat down, rubbing my temples in confusion.

Fuck me, I am not in good shape at the moment. Where is all this nonsense coming from. I leaned back in the chair I found myself in, staring at the ceiling again.

It was easier to focus on my anger than on anything else.

I didn't even want to go to Kuoh Academy, stupid acceptation letter came after I was denied at another school in the next town over. Kuoh Academy was one of the most exclusive private schools in the prefect, but I had my eyes set elsewhere….now that I think about it, why wasn't I accepted where I wanted?

Kuoh Academy is objectively better, but it hasn't been a coed school for long, which is why I didn't want to go there. I didn't know if there would be any weird favoritisms towards the female population. Considering I got into the 'better' school, why wasn't I considered for the others? I sent out several applications but all of them were denied…..

No...It started to make sense now.

So this wasn't the first time….I took a deep breath to calm myself. Why wasn't I allowed to go to Kyoto, why was I forced to attend Kuoh?

Why is a 'father' I don't know forcing me to stay here? What else was being manipulated about my life from behind my back, what else don't I know!?

I refuse to follow your plans.

I can't go to school I choose? You won't let me even leave the town? Fuck it, I quit. Do something about that you asshole. Trying to control my life after being absent for eighteen years, good riddance.

I felt the need to get away, something about this house was suddenly very stifling. Without even thinking I stormed out the front door and hurriedly made my way down the street, not even bothering to take note of the direction I went.

Even as the sky turned dark, I kept moving my feet. I don't really know where I was, it's not like I memorized the entire layout of Kuoh, it was a rather large town. But as I kept going, I got strangely drawn to something, it was a feeling that was nostalgic, but also somewhat foreign. A few turns down an alley and I came upon a scene that was hard to describe.

"The hell?" I heard a shout from a white-haired man, a foreigner? He was standing over the corpse of a…..I don't know how to describe it, a monster? He turned to look at me. "How the fuck did a normie get past my barrier?"

The 'thing' on the ground started to squirm, and without even taking his eyes away from me he held up a weird looking gun and shot it a few times in the head. I couldn't help but take a step back as he eyed me viciously.

I don't know what surprised me more, the fact that he was carrying a real gun or the fact that the corpse of the monster started glowing from the shots and began decomposing at an alarming rate.

"Hmmm…." He rubbed his gun against his head. "I don't really feel on my A-game tonight, usually I got bunch of one-liners ready, but I don't really go out of my way to kill normies." He shrugged and after a blink, he was no longer standing a few dozen yards infront of me but was at my side and a buzzing sound next to my ear.

IS that a fucking lightsaber!?

"I know what you're thinking, is this a fucking lightsaber?"

Wait, what?

"And the answer….is a bit of a letdown. Just know that George Lucas is one litigious motherfucker. And now—" He stopped, the 'lightsaber' pushed against my skin slightly and I felt an almost unbearable pain permeate my body. "Oooh, ooooooooh, oooooooooooh. And just like that, Father Freed is reeling to go for round two."

I couldn't hear him, I fell to the ground clutching the small wound on my neck, the pain left quickly, but the aftereffects left me almost breathless. Was I screaming for a few moments there? I couldn't even focus properly, whatever that lightsaber did messed me up.

"Thought you were some fucking normie, but looks like you some devil bitch. My night just got a lot fucking better. The other bastard stray didn't even say anything when I cut it up, just screamed like a cunt, but you look all put together still." He smiled wide, clearly out of his mind.

I heard what he said, but it basically passed through one ear and out the other. I only had one thought in my mind; was I going to die?

He started swinging his sword all over the place, cutting up a nearby wall and looking at me with his strange smile.

I don't want to die.

As his sword of light hovered above me, I felt something indescribable. It was like, a dam in my head that had been slowly leaking had collapsed. I let out a scream I had been holding in, clutching my head. The world around me seemed to disappear, the only thing left were a multitude of colors that I could only describe as a Kaleidoscope.