Typical Anime Cliche Quest: Version "Urban Fantasy"

[Suzu]

I decided to head straight to the rooftop. It should be pretty quiet out there, especially at this point of time, when the next lesson was about to start. I however had no desire to attend them. I suppose I have the reputation to protect, but I do not pay trivial matters like any attention.

I wandered through the hall, usual hustle and bustle still in the air. It was my definition of normalcy: faceless people with their faceless problems talking about faceless topics. I sometimes wished to be like them, but more often than not, the opposite was true. I heard my name, spoken in hushed whispers, but I decided not to pay this any attention: if those faceless people wanted to point and stare, that was their problem.

I found out to my great relief that the set of stair leading directly to the rooftop was empty of any students or teachers. I walked up to the normally locked door and pulled a set of keys that was given to all student council members. In theory, they should be used in case we stay late to finish any possible work that might arose in the future.

I refused not believe in such theories and unlocked the door with a swift, yet graceful movement. I do not believe that people are made to follow rules. In fact, I am sure that blind belief in those rules makes them obsolete. I therefore do not accept those heavy shackles that people call rules and because of this I am a valuable member of the student council.

I opened the door and felt the strong gust of warm, spring air that carried the smell of flowers in bloom on my face. I found that experience rather pleasurable. I protected my eyes from the blinding light with a palm of my hand, but still was able to see a human's silhouette that looked more like a shadow than anything.

It took me a few seconds to let my eyesight adjust and I saw a normal-looking guy. I also saw his face. It was the first face I saw in ages. I cannot call this face particularly beautiful or graceful or even aesthetically pleasing. In fact, his face was rather plain.

"I dislike people that like to snoop around like you."
​

[ ] "I, on the other hand, dislike people that say they dislike people for any particular reason."

[ ] "In this case, why are you here? It's not snooping around, if I simply came here to take a nap."

[ ] "I am a student council member, investigating a suspicious student activity. I do not snoop around."

[ ] Write-In.

 

[Suzu]

"I am a student council member, investigating a suspicious student activity. I do not snoop around" – I let this white lie of mine slip from my tongue. In the first place, any lie can become the truth, when certain circumstances match. In this case, since my excuse was as brilliant as this, he had no way to discern whether my words were honest.

"I dislike people that abuse their authority, too," said the frowning boy, while sending non-subtle glances at the armband adorning my right hand from time to time. "I dislike people like that even more than I dislike catchy songs from various advertisements or people that are too friendly with me.

I see: he really was a troublesome person. In other words, a worthless excuse of a human being and literally biodegradable waste. I was being kind this time since people need to face their inner demons and imperfections, so they can truly turn into diamonds and shine.

In this case, nothing can be changed, though: a piece of trash will stay a piece of trash no matter what. I heard that it takes hundred years for plastic to rot, but hopefully, this man will rot away faster than this.

"I order you to give me your name, class, whether you attend any clubs or committees and also your social security number. If you decline my request, I will make sure to serve you the proper punishment, all according to this school's rules."

I am a reasonable person. I needed his name and class for obvious reasons, and his social security number was needed to later find out more about this boy and keep tabs on him. In the first place, with my noble and honest pedigree, taking care of such a poor commoner is my social responsibilities. In no way I ever bored any ill intentions.

"I see. I dislike this part of you as well. I am Kimidori Hideo, a freshman student from the class 1-A. I do not attend any clubs since I dislike friendship, hard work and team spirit, but am a member of library committee since I do not dislike silence and loneliness, and regrading my social security number… Isn't this a completely unnecessary and dangerous topic?!"

I was surprised: 'till this very moment, this dimwit sounded only bored, like he was about to fall asleep, and refused to look me into eyes, but now he is cocky enough to shout at me, an honest and well-meaning person that felt mercy upon his poor soul.

"It's very necessary since I feel obliged to monitor your afterschool activities! It is my duty as a proud and righteous member of the student government to take care of problem students like you, whether I like this or not!"

"I am not sure to what exactly retort first. It's not only tyrannical to intrude upon my private life like some sort of a delusional stalker, but also… why am I considered a problem student already?! I didn't do anything that was against the rules, didn't I?"

"I implore you to reconsider this statement: not only did you break the rules by accessing the rooftop without any supervision from a teacher, but you are also late for your lesson, which is two offences already. I can also add insubordination to your direct superior, i.e. me, to this list."

"Is this a school or army?! I do not have any time for… shit, I'm already late!"

In that moment, something inexcusably bizarre happened out of blue: with a single leap the problem student jumped through the metal fence around the rooftop, landed safely on the ground and made a dash to the school building with a speed of a car or so.

I stared at the place where he stood a few seconds ago, not sure what exactly happened right now.

[ ] I will forget whatever happened right now and pretend this encounter never really took place.

[ ] I will check his name and class in the archives later and pay him a visit.

[ ] I will take a sick leave and simply go home. It's too early for a mess like this.

 

[Suzu]

"Likewise, I do not care about the problem student's opinion. What I do care about however, would be an explanation."

"I am not a problem student, damn it!" – the impudent boy shouted at me, but then abruptly stopped dead in his tracks, gaping at me like a clownfish. I could have used any other species of fish, but in order to describe this person, only clownfish would be most suitable. "I thought your curse lasts as long as you want to, frozen witch! I'll have you know that I dislike this kind of sudden comedy gag very much!" – he pointed his finger at me, yammering some nonsense in general direction of the girl, who nonetheless still smiled, even facing a rabid dog like this.

"It's quite a coincidence, greenie! I dislike those kind of gags as well. If it were me, I would have been ashamed of myself for making something like this with my own hands" – she cheerfully replied, spinning in wheel chair like a small and excited child. "That said, I certainly don't remember ever saying any details about my curse to you, greenie! And it's quite fine as it is, no? I believe that the things are okay the way they are now."

I wanted to ask what she meant by this, but suddenly found myself tied to the wheel chair, the same chair the girl was spinning in just a moment ago, or a chair that was extremely similar to that one. I checked: both my hands and legs were tied, but the knots clearly were an amateur's work at best. I could escape any moment I wanted, but there was a possibility that this odd phenomenon might happen again.

"If I were you, I would have stayed the way you are now" – said the blue-haired girl from somewhere behind me. I wanted to turn around, but that seemed like a hard thing to do at the moment. "I know this all seems very mysterious, strange, frightening, embarrassing or plain bizarre to you, but this whole situation will be resolved pretty soon. I can promise this much!" – she sounded pretty happy, even though I didn't feel any happiness at all.

"In this case, maybe you can lessen the knot on my hands for now. It's pretty uncomfortable." I was sure that the mastermind behind these strange phenomena was the girl herself, since my last encounter with that boy proved that by his inaction. If he was the one making those "blinks" happen, then he could've used them that time, too.

"I'm sorry, but I am too knowledgeable of pop-culture to allow such a blatant escape attempt like this. I'll simply wait until our cleaner comes, and while I am it, read some manga" – I surely didn't click my tongue in irritation at this – "If you want, you can watch anime with me for now. I waited the whole day to watch this one, you know."

"It's not like I care about finishing this mission!" – I heard someone shout above me, definitely female. After some time, I heard a door open behind me and two pairs of footsteps coming closer. "I think all of you are brilliant people. I am pretty sure I am the most stupid person in the room!" I heard her angered shouts resonate across the room.

"Oh, so you think so too…" – I heard the sound of someone slapping someone's head. I knew this sound particularly well for an unspecified reason. "I dislike violent girl like you" – said the green problem student, only for his companion to respond with: "I care about your opinion very much."

"Is that so? I feel grateful… I mean, I dislike the way you talk so much since it confuses the hell out of me."

​

"I care very much about this, too" – said the mysterious girl and twirled my chair around. I faced this girl head-on, and her reaction turned to be quite surprising. She owlishly blinked at me, sighed and put her head into her hand, muttering something akin to "I love you all so much sometimes"

"I knew you were smart, but not this smart! You geniuses cannot see her face, right? It's not like she is one of us, no? Hey, you cannot see my face, can you?"

[ ] "I can see your face clearly, indeed."​

[ ] "It's true. I cannot see your face."

[ ] "I… am not really sure."

[ ] Write-In.

​

 

[Suzu]

"I can see your face, indeed."

"It's not like I am happy about this" – said the girl, her face turning into an angry grimace – "I do not expect you to explain the current situation to her" – she pointed her slender, elegant finger at the duet of weirdoes that kept looking at me with eyes full of sheer amazement. In other words, the moment this strange girl said those words, since the moment I accepted the fact that I was able to see their faces, their whole attitude towards me turned from mild boredom into something completely different – hope and worry.

"I suppose we really should tell you. It must rather harsh to deal with a curse on your own" – said the "blue" girl, twirling in another wheel chair like a kid – "I suppose you have a lot of questions, but let me ask you first: what do you see instead of normal human expressions? It ought to be quite important in your future!" – her gestures were wild and untamed, flailing her arms around too much and articulating with an almost inhuman vigor. "In the first place, not unlike you, we have problems in understanding normal humans for the same reason."

"In my case, their faces don't change at all, while greenie here sees everyone like they all refuse to look him in the eyes, and that scary lady over there can see only the opposite of the expression her collocutor shows in reality. In other words, we all are certified screwballs like you!" – I was a tiny bit disturbed by her cheerfulness at the face of such self-condemnation, a sentiment shared by other people in the room. "I dislike how painfully honest you are sometimes. I'm not sorry for being a screwball, though" – shrugged the boy, while looking a bit embarrassed.

"It's not like I want to be normal!" – said the odd girl, looking happy as well – "I absolutely love this!" I wondered for what exact reason those people liked shouting so much. "I cannot see anyone's face since I was in elementary school. It looks like someone scribbled them with a permanent marker to me." If I were to be honest, then I would be completely honest since I hate sloppy and half-baked things to my very core. "I never thought there were any other people like me in this world, though. I suppose that were I to be born normal, my character would have been different."

"Isn't this wishful thinking?" – I ignored the green-haired buffoon in favor of paying full attention to the bluish, human-shaped ball of energy – "Oh, but there are always people like you in this world, be they people that have the same taste in fashion, or people that like monthly-issued manga like I do, or people that are different from the normal like how all of us are!" – I stared at the three of them, at loss what to say since I never saw anyone smile so brightly and cheerfully in my life before.

"It's not normal to be abnormal! I know this sounds moronic, but the fact is that you're not alone anymore. If I were you, I would surely have a put a smug grin like this!" – she pulled the corners of her mouth with her fingers, creating a "smile". "I dislike this optimism very much!" – suddenly interrupted the boy, looking ticked off – "It's not like we are cozy bunch of friends! If anything, I dislike all of you and the only reason I'm here is because tagging along with your crazy ideas is the only way for me to get cured!"

"It's not like I agree with you" – said the blonde girl – "I consider you all my friends and like the way I am now. I absolutely love the way everything is now, so I don't feel resentful of this gift I have. I… I don't want to see my brother's smile at all." In that moment, everything turned silent and perfectly still. "I know this all seems sketchy at best for you" – said the blue – "but the thing is, we are here to take care of some urgent business. If you want to, we will introduce to people with the same problem, but only after the mission is finished."

"I believe you should go home now" – said the boy – "I think it would be for the best for you to go home and pretend nothing of this happened for a week or so. It's also would be better if you refrain from watching news for some time, too."

[] "I suppose there is a grain of truth in your words, even though you're a trouble-maker. I should go home"

[] "I am still not convinced! I demand a more detailed explanation. I will not change my mind simply because of this!"

[] Write-In.