As Itsuki looked up, his eyes fell on a girl standing beside their teacher. Her hair was a deep, lustrous black, cut in neat layers that framed her sharp yet elegant features. Her eyes, equally dark, contrasted with her pale, almost luminous skin. She was beautiful—striking, even—but that wasn't what caught Itsuki's gaze leaving him frozen on his seat.
When she walked into the classroom, he saw it again. Hovering just behind her was a figure, a monstrous being like the one he had caught a glimpse of on the man in the train earlier that day. But this one was larger—far more intimidating. It floated in silence, with elongated claws stretching from disfigured hands, its maw split open to reveal jagged, sharp teeth and a tongue that lolled obscenely. Its eyes, pits of pure blackness.
Itsuki's breath caught in his throat.
Almost instinctively, his eyes flicked to the teacher—and there too, something clung to him. A similar creature to the one he had seen on the man in the train, with its head buried deep against the teacher's chest as though resting.
Itsuki's thoughts spun. "I'm dead and this is hell. It has to be.'
As he remained frozen in place, lost in thought that made him feel the weight of the fear that clinged to him even more, he noticed the girl's eyes slid toward him. Just for a moment. Brief, almost imperceptible. But enough. And in that fleeting glance, her lips curved into a subtle, deliberate smirk. Small and sudden enough for others to not notice.
"Go on," the teacher said. "Introduce yourself to the class."
The girl bowed lightly.
"I'm Amane Fujirawa. Nice to meet you."
That was all it took. Itsuki shot up from his seat and bolted. He tore through the hallways until he crashed into the restroom, stumbling into a stall. Dropping to his knees, he emptied his guts into the toilet.
Gasping for breath, he lifted his head—only to retch again.
"What the hell is happening to me?" he muttered between coughs.
He sat slumped for a while, drained, before finally flushing the toilet and dragging himself to the sink. Cold water splashed over his face. For a moment, it grounded him—until the sound came.
The same one he had heard on his way home from school.
He spun around. But just like before, it was nothing.
Turning back to the mirror, he slapped his cheeks with both hands, muttering, "Relax. You're imagining things. None of this is real."
He lowered his head, drawing in a shaky breath before looking back up at his reflection.
"Probably just hallucinations caused from fumes from the city. Yeah… that's all.'
He repeated it until it felt true enough, then splashed his face one last time and made his way back to class.
By the time he returned, Amane had already taken her seat. The teacher glanced at him. "Everything alright Itsuki?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Itsuki replied quickly. But as he spoke, he noticed—the thing that had clung to the teacher was gone.
He scanned the room again. Amane sat just beside his seat. "Of course this bloak put her there'. And strangely, the monstrous being that had hovered over her was gone as well.
Itsuki sat down slowly, unsettled. "Where did it go…?' he asked himself as he took subtle glances across the room. He forced himself to believe it had all been hallucinations. Nothing more.
The rest of the day passed in a blur. Teachers came and left, and eventually, he dozed off on his desk.
The bell's sharp ring snapped him awake. Groggy, he rubbed his eyes and muttered under his breath
"Fucking shitty dream again…'
He subtly turned to his left, running a hand through his hair as he sat up. That was when he noticed Amane. Sunlight spilled through the window, washing over her skin and making it shimmer faintly, almost mesmerizing. He found himself staring until she turned her head slightly in his direction.
Itsuki panicked, jerking his gaze toward the window in an instant. After a moment of convincing himself she hadn't noticed, he dug into his bag. Took out his Headphones and Lunchbox, slipped the headphones on and opened his packed lunch as he debated whether to eat or starve himself. If he went hungry, he'd probably drift off faster. And even if the dreams always left him shaken, he was still too carefree to ever deny himself sleep.
In the end, he sighed and unwrapped the food. "She must've gone out of her way to make this… a peace offering maybe. Probably thinks I'm avoiding her because she did something wrong'. He muttered a quick "Itadakimasu" before digging in.
"Too bad Seiji's not here,' he thought to himself. "He just had to fall sick the one day I start seeing whatever these things are.'
He kept eating until, he raised his head to look up.
The teacher stood at the front of the class not too far from the door, chatting with a group of girls from another class. And clinging to him was the same abomination Itsuki had seen before. Its arms wrapped greedily around the teacher's chest, its head twisted at an impossible angle, lips curled into that same grotesque grin he'd first seen on the train. Worse still, it seemed to be stroking the teacher's chest with clawed fingers, almost tenderly.
The chopsticks slipped from his hand. Bile surged up his throat. He wrenched his eyes to the window, whispering under his breath—
"You're just seeing things. Just seeing things…"
But when he forced himself to look again, it was still there. Still caressing. Still grinning.
He ripped off his headphones, stuffed his lunch away, and was about to leave when a voice stopped him.
"You see it too, don't you?"
He turned, startled.
"…What?" His voice cracked with discomfort.
"The demon," Amane said plainly in a calm voice, eyes fixed on the teacher. "The one latched onto him."
His chest tightened. "A demon?' He followed her gaze—back to the teacher, back to the writhing, smiling thing. "Is that what this is?'
"I do," he admitted quietly.
Amane turned to him, her eyes sharp. "I know it disgusts you. I can see it in your face. So… don't you want to do something about it?"
Itsuki hesitated for a moment. "What is she on about? Why should I even listen to her? She had something even worse behind her before. And now she's asking me to—'
She broke into his thought as she calmly packed her books into her bag. "Our teacher is a scumbag. A pedophile with no self-control. The demon latching on him thrives on that corruption—pushing him further, deeper into it. Right now, he's just laughing with those girls. But in his heart, he's already defiled them a hundred times over." She zipped her bag shut, voice dropping lower. "And one day soon, he'll do it in person."
Itsuki's stomach twisted. He couldn't deny what she had said—everyone knew what kind of man their teacher was. His charm and family's money made him untouchable. No one had proof, but no one doubted it either.
"…How do you know all this?" Itsuki asked, glancing between the smirking demon and Amane.
"That's not important," she said firmly. "What matters is that you and I deal with it. I know you don't want to keep watching this filth any longer."
He studied her face. Her eyes carried a sharp sincerity that left little room for doubt. Still, questions gnawed at him—Why him? How did she know he could see them? And who exactly was she?
"I'll go along. She'll probably do all the work anyway, and then she'll have to answer me afterward. Win-win.'
"…Alright. I'll help. What do we do?"
Amane looked back at the teacher, then spoke in a steady voice.
"We wait. After school ends, meet me at the handicap part of the parking lot. I'm going to get lunch right now."
With that, she slung her bag over her shoulder and got up.
Itsuki glanced back at the teacher.
"It's gone," he whispered.
Amane's voice lingered calmly in the air before she left.
"It's not. You just have a lot to learn."