START OF WEEK ONE

It is Monday after school when Ayano Aishi kills Midori Gurin.

There were little to no students left on campus to hear Midori's struggling and screaming. Ayano easily lured Midori to the back of the school where she tackled Midori to the ground and began stabbing her repeatedly. Even when the light faded away from Midori's eyes or when her body stopped thrashing in pain, Ayano kept stabbing her with a knife, grinning.

She deserves this, Ayano thinks, she was getting too close to Taro Yamada, smiling at him and being absolutely undeserving of having Ayano's senpai smile back. Midori was getting in her way. She is one of the many problems of Ayano's life but after this, Midori is now a mere nuisance that's easy to get rid of.

Ayano began to calm down, realizing that she was cackling a little too loud. She couldn't help herself, Senpai was on her mind. This is all for Taro, each stab into Midori's chest represented her love and devotion for him.

Just thinking of his brilliant smile sent a fluttering and bubbling feeling to Ayano's heart. These benevolent emotions have never appeared in her life before she met Taro Yamada and she will do anything to have that ache in her heart.

It is unexplainable to Ayano and it is best described as an ache or a weight on her chest. She feels warm and shaky and overwhelmed with emotions she thought she is not capable to have. And it is all caused from one boy.

Ayano doesn't understand it but this ache she feels, it hurts her, oddly enough. That ache she feels constricting, grasping at her lungs and bring shockwaves to her heart.

She should like these emotions right? It is emotions that make a person human, so in theory, that means that Ayano Aishi is human, correct?

Then why do these emotions hurt her?

It feels like she can't breathe around Taro and when she sees him with another girl it feels like there's fire crawling on her skin. It is frustrating and the only conclusion that Ayano has reached is that Taro, her senpai, is hers.

This love that the media, her classmates, and society speak of, it is senpai. Taro is her love and she needs him to feel these emotions. He is the first and only person she has met that brings these emotions and no one is going to take this away from her.

She will make sure of it. Taro Yamada will be all hers and no one will get in her way, no one. The girls of her school will not take Taro away from her and she is willing to do anything to make them go away.

These girls, these rivals, will be gone or dead like Midori Gurin.

That statement was Ayano's last thought of the day, bringing a satisfied smile to her face as she went to bed and dream about Taro. The satisfaction didn't last that long because she saw her at the school gates.

Ayano saw Midori, alive and well, walking out the school gates the next morning. She even waved happily at Ayano like she didn't spend last afternoon stabbing her body and tossing it into the school's furnace.

"What the fuck," Ayano said.

"Young lady watch your tongue," scolded the gym teacher as she closed up the school gate, "And you better start heading inside."

The student did just that, still shocked to her core on seeing Midori. As Ayano quickly swapped shoes in the locker room, she eyed Midori. She was acting like nothing bloody or stabbing related ever happened. It was maddeningly making no sense to Ayano. It was as if life is fucking with her and right now she is so damn confused. Ayano spent all morning to lunch staring at Midori, confused and possibly having her brain shut down from shock.

What god would bring back Midori?

The next thought slammed into Ayano like a freight train.

God, a god, what god or deity in their right mind would do this? She's not one to be entertained by the idea of powerful, celestial beings but if a person is desperate enough, something human or inhuman can happen. Ayano would not get an answer, that's damn certain, but there is someone who could get an explanation.

Oka Ruto, the Occult Club President, was all alone in her club room when Ayano walked in. She closed the door for good measure, if Ayano snaps in some way everyone will be minding their business during lunch and not pay attention to her carrying Oka's corpse. But that might be unnecessary by how Oka fidgeted when she saw her enter.

She was so very quiet and meek, surely not a threat to Ayano.

"Oh, hello, are you interested in the occult?" Oka thumbed the book in her hands, obviously nervous, likely wary of her.

Ayano didn't pay too much thought to her behavior, after all, her mind is still a little fried but recovering. "I have a question. Have you ever noticed something odd or strange about Midori Gurin?"

"Midori, she's the one with green hair. I don't see her often so I wouldn't really notice if something strange is directly from her. You must think there's something supernatural around her if you're here." She again brushed her thumb against the book pages, now having a calmer statue, "How exactly would you define her strangeness?"

"I do not have any knowledge of the occult. I just know there's something wrong with her," Ayano pressed on, "I couldn't make any sense on how strange it is to see her this morning but I know there is something wrong with her and it is messing with my head."

And also it was messing with Ayano's heart. It felt like the opposite of what she felt for Taro, something clearly defined as annoyance and hatred but there was something else too. That unknown feeling didn't matter to Ayano; it was too heavily dominated by the feeling of hatred for her to dwell on it.

"Perhaps she has casted a hex on you," Oka thought. "This is very interesting."

Ayano was about to give into frustration and do something to let out tension, like scream about how impossible it is for Midori to come back to life but then her phone pinged with a new message. A quick glance at the screen had Ayano cool herself down, "That's all I had to say Oka, bye."

Oka didn't get the chance to say anything more when Ayano shut the door on her way out. The occult leader opened her book, one with the knowledge of demons and dark gods, and muttered, "Midori Gurin, there might be something."

Back in the empty hall, Ayano walked to one of the empty classrooms to text the infamous Info-chan. The text she sent read, "Sorry I'm late. I got the information you wanted."

Ayano huff a short breath, she almost forgot about it. Ever since school started, Ayano began making deals with Info to find out which girls can be considered as her rivals. Yesterday, she gave Info a dozen of panty shots in exchange for immediate warnings that Ayano would need.

"This is the first time you're late. You usually get me information at least a couple hours after I pay you."

"And this is the first time you ever messaged me about something not related to Taro Yamada."

"I am not paying to you irritate me," she texted back.

"No but you do pay me to keep you company. You are, at best, my most frequent costumer."

"Information. Now."

"Osana Najimi is planning to confess her feelings to Taro Yamada on Friday after school, at the lone tree in the sports field. I assume you know the myth about that cherry blossom tree."

Well then, another nuisance to get rid of but now Ayano is not feeling over confident like last time. Midori was a quick and easy kill but then she came back alive the next day. Ayano is almost tempted to kill Osana right away but she knows that her brain can't handle another mind freak out this week. She has to plan out this carefully and she needs to make sure that no surprise resurrection will happen again.

Hell, Ayano isn't even sure if Midori is pretending to not know about the murder. Midori might try to expose her as a killer to the school or worse, she'll tell senpai and he won't love her. There is just no clear explanation on how Midori revived but Ayano just knows that she's alive and she might plan something against Ayano.

"Info-chan, I don't think that twelve pantie shots are worth this."

"Excuse me? You are walking a very dangerous line there Ayano, I can tell you're just fishing for more information."

"How about I ask you an easy question, one where you won't be late to answer."

There was a pause before Info replied, "Fine, ask away."

"What secrets does Midori Gurin have?"

This time, the pause was longer enough to make Ayano feel uneasy, just a bit. Info texted back, "I will tell you this, only because your last payment will cover it and also because you're my favorite customer."

"How cute, you're going soft on me."

"Here is all that I am able tell you," she ignored, "Midori Gurin has a crush on no one, obsessed with an indie game and frequently talks to that game developer, and Oka has recently began stalking her."

"How recently?" Ayano quickly asks.

"Oka is now on the roof spying on the Basu sisters and now also Midori as of today."

It is not surprising to Ayano that Info quickly noticed Oka's change in schedule, in a couple of minutes no less, but the way she worded it was odd. All that she was able to tell, Info has never typed something like that before.

Her messages are always direct regarding a person's secrets, that she will always have a hold on those secrets. Info does withhold crucial details and secrets of all the students of Akademi High so it makes sense that there's something that she's not telling Ayano but something feels strange. She has the suspension that there are some mind games being played and Info is hinting Ayano to join.

Ayano is almost hesitant to blatantly ask Info if she knows about Midori's resurrection. Last time Ayano killed someone, Info knew it. This time, Info gave no hint or snarky comment of the murder. Never has Info blackmailed Ayano but that always weighted on her mind throughout their partnership. Instead Info is giving the implication that there are more secrets of Midori.

She asks, "Is this information that you want me to know or information that someone else wants me to know?"

Info doesn't answer.

Lunch ends and she still hasn't answer.

The tight feeling in Ayano's gut grows with the silence.

She just had to ask didn't she?

Paranoid was crawling on her back and nothing made any sense ever since Midori came walking alive today. For the rest of the day, any time Ayano sees Midori she anticipating the moment where the green dead girl announces to the school that Ayano stabbed her and threw her into the furnace.

But no?

Midori is carrying on? Like she wasn't stabbed and thrown into a furnace? Like it never happened?

But Ayano knows she did it (right?) There was blood on her hands, there was the feeling and the rush of plunging the knife into squishy guts and that was real. It was real because she did it and she knows she did it.

And yet Midori walks. (Well, actually, she's skipping in the halls, but that's beside the point)

Ayano's mind is kind of fucked with, her already broken mind state is broken a little bit more, and she didn't know that was possible.

Info was her only hope of getting a semblance of stability while Oka was a desperate attempt for an explanation. Both ends just frustrate her.

When school ended Info still hasn't answer, Midori is alive when she should be dead, and Ayano just tries to clear her head by stalking Senpai home. Maybe dreaming of Taro would make things better.

Thanks for reading!

Edits: Sup I'm editing chapters. I fixed some minor stuff for this chapter. On writing this story I've made it a habit on capitalizing the Club President titles so I'm editing that stuff in the previous chapters.

Next Chapter: Try Again