Lu-Uh-du-Uh-dub. Lu-Uh-du-Uh-dub.

My heart pounds in my chest...

Off-tempo and only barely doing its seemingly-basic job of moving my blood around - I hear its every movement slamming around in my eardrums.

For once, though - there's an actual justification for it.

Nervousness...

I'm following my new teacher up a stupidly oversized stairwell to meet my new class.

A new school... A new life...

Well... actually - not so much. More like just picking up the pieces of my old one and haphazardly sticking them back together with masking tape.

A life that shattered four months ago...

...

'Arrhythmia'. A strange word...

"Do you want to introduce yourself?" The freaky-looking teacher I'm following asks as he stops us before the doorway.

Snapping back into reality, I only barely register the question.

After a minute, I shake my head in response.

He accepts my answer before even I do and simply turns around with a nod.

Feeling a bit relieved that I won't have to give a speech, I sink back into my reverie.

'Arrhythmia'...

I mouth it soundlessly as I follow him through the door.

It's a word that's foreign to the tongue. A word you don't want to be in the same room with.

"We have a new student." He introduces me. "Class, meet Hisao Nakai."

With no small measure of reluctance, I force my head up and look over the class.

My new class.

The first thought that crosses my mind is that it looks more like a field hospital.

Practically everybody looks injured in some way:

There's canes and other supportive devices scattered about, a few bandages are decorating our otherwise drab olive uniforms.

There's more than one person who's completely missing some limbs.

This is... my new class?

...

'Eh?'

A small flash catches my vision for the briefest of instants.

At the back of the class, a dark-haired girl has made a movement with one hand as if to cover her face...

Ironically, that concealing motion is the one which caught my attention.

It's a movement I probably would like to make myself right now since I've got twenty-so pairs of eyes on me.

...

Probably not even pairs, actually - in a class like this, you can't even make the basic assumption that everyone has functioning vision...

...

Why is it so quiet?

Finally, the sallow teacher remembers that 'he's' the one who's supposed to be doing the introduction and gives a bland, generic-sounding tirade.

I don't really care. 'Less interesting' means 'less unwanted attention'.

The conclusion of his introduction is followed by a supposedly polite clapping-of-hands and banging-of-stumps.

This... is my new classroom?

"Nakai, you can sit over by Miss Hakamichi over there." He tells me, motioning towards a bubbly looking girl who looks almost ridiculously out-of-place in this sideshow act.

I only nod and begin mechanically moving forward.

'Arrythmia'... A strange word.

To me it's a word that sounds so much like a curse.