Andromeda

“I’ve come for you, Yuki Hayashi. I need you to save my people and I need your power!” Ayumi shouted at him sounding almost desperate, but pulled back quickly looking away gathering herself back. It was enough to make Yuki jump back a couple steps taken completely back by the change once more.

He did not understand what was going on anymore. ‘Is this some joke that she is playing on me? Is Hiroshi near?’ Yuki looked around the school grounds trying to make some sense of what was happening hoping that there might be some student laughing behind him. But he saw no one like that and anyone he did see was enjoying their lunch. ‘Who is this girl? She sounds like something out of my manga? Did she talk to someone? Is this a joke from her?’ Yuki stared uncertain back at Ayumi thinking that he could read her for something, but she had already changed her stance and expression three times in the matter of a minute or two. He was not certain how good of an actor she actually was and what was the real her. ‘Gah! I can’t tell. What does she want?’

Chapter 4 – A Troubled, Hopeful Mind

“What’s wrong with Yuki? Why is he looking so scared of that Ayumi?” Saki said gripping the window seal tightly enough that the glass was rattling and cracking a little. They had been watching the silent exchange between the two making guesses between each other about what they were saying. Most were simply joking filling the gaps in with silly romantic drivel. But Saki had remained quiet until this sudden change from Yuki. ‘Something troubling him. I can tell. He looks scared or confused. What did she say?’

Hiroshi was pulled away from his joking by Yumi, who had been equally quiet in her staring at the scene, to point out Saki’s increasing ‘Yuki Protection Meter’, which happened to be reading very close to a six (out of 10, it should be noted that she launches attacks at a mere four meaning that she was restraining herself quite a bit at moment). Yumi did not know what to do, as well as knowing full well that she could not hold her back. Hiroshi blended panic and fear together well seeing Saki putting her knee on the window looking ready to leap out of the building. He rushed to Saki grabbing her back to the waist using the room’s wall for support against her, she was stronger than even him and he knew it too well. “Saki! We’re on the second floor! You’ll get yourself hurt if you jump!”

“Hiroshi? Let go of me…right now!” Saki said with that six turning into a seven now and a raging boil finally pouring out unleashing from Saki. Whether it was Yuki jumping back again or Hiroshi holding her down did not matter anymore, the trigger had been snapped. Hiroshi wrestled with her on the floor after his full weight had managed to pry her free of the window landing her on the floor in a very unladylike position with her skirt up close to her face. “Let me go, Hiroshi! This is your last warning!”

“Oh my!” Yumi said shyly and blushing turning away.

He struggled with her more on the floor with neither realizing the situation that she was in or how odd they looked at the moment. The other students needlessly were grinning to themselves before Yumi’s instincts kicked in. The boys were chased out by the change in Yumi to protect whatever dignity that Saki might actually have left, which was a good question at this point. “I’m not letting you jump out of the window, Saki! If you want to rescue Yuki so badly use the door and stairs like everyone else.”

“Huh?” Saki came to a stop a little surprised that Hiroshi was willing to let her go. “Fine…” Her struggling came to a complete end and she stood up once Hiroshi let go. She pushed her skirt down completely and ran out of the classroom.

Yumi watch the blur of Saki before turning back to Hiroshi confused now that she had returned from chasing off the immature boys. “Why did you let her go? Weren’t you trying to protect Ayumi?”

Hiroshi dusted off his shirt as he stood up looking out the window at Ayumi and Yuki still talking. He leaned down against the dented metal left from Saki. “I know she won’t kill the girl. Besides I care about my own life as well.” Hiroshi let out a shuddering sigh out loud as though he was thinking about something that scared him.

Saki rushed down the stairs and towards the front of the school seeing the light from the noon sun blinding the outside. When she finally stepped outside looking around to get her bearings she found Yuki standing by the tree, but Ayumi was gone now. She looked franticly around for the new girl to give her a piece of her mind, but she had missed her chance. ‘I’ll see her in class. She’ll get what’s coming to her…’ Saki focused back on Yuki rushing over to him finding him staring, nearly devoid of life in his eyes, at the ground. “Yuki? Hey, Yuki!” She frowned looking a little frustrated, but this was nothing that she would not be able to break through, she did know Yuki forever since they were little kids. “Hey, Yuki its lunchtime!”

She gave a sigh of disappointment that food was not snapping him out of it. ‘Must be a little more serious. What did she do to him? I’m going to make her pay for this…but I’ve got to get through to Yuki.’ A few attempts of shaking him and knocking or possibly pounding reality into him were not working as well. ‘He’s really out to lunch… guess I’ve got no other choice.’ Saki stepped around putting her mouth to his ear and whispered softly to him. “Yuki, those bullies are burning your manga you keep in your schoolbag.”

“What?! My manga’s burning?” Yuki said suddenly shattering the barrier between him and the world. He turned over to Saki, who was looking a little embarrassing and sweating, grabbing her by the hands to plea to her. “Please stop them, Saki!”

“One track mind…” she said under her breath not surprised by his reaction. It was actually what she was expecting from him. “It’s alright, Yuki.”

“No, its not. They’re burning them! You’ve got to stop them!” he said with panicked words beginning to shake before her.

‘How many times have I used this on him and he never gets a clue…’ Saki pulled free from Yuki’s hold grabbing him by the shoulders to get him to stop shaking. “Hey, listen to me. It’s alright. They aren’t burning them.”

Yuki stopped immediately staring at her confused. “But you said that they were.”

“Get a clue, Yuki. You were spacing out again and I couldn’t get you to snap out of it. They never were. I just told you so that you will come back to reality. You’re so naïve sometimes.” Saki turned away crossing her arms either angry or disappointed, neither of which Yuki was going to figure out.

“But why would you do that?” he said pulling on her arm to get her to look at him again.

Saki refused to look at him now. “I found you staring at nothing after talking to that Ayumi girl.” She was not sure if she heard him say something, but it seemed to have triggered something in him pulling him back into that state he was before. Saki panicked not realizing that he was going to fall back in and turned around grabbing for Yuki before he was lost again. “Yuki! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it. Come on, snap out it!” She shuck him violently making his head rattle around to bring him back, though it only seemed to daze him now. “What did she say to you? Tell me!”

Yuki was left dizzy and barely able to stay conscious with Saki shaking him so hard. Once she finally stopped he could think straight, a little, on what Ayumi had told him. It had been difficult for him to believe and the story was even more unbelievable. He could not accept it no matter how much that he wanted. Yuki turned his head away while Saki still held his uniform by the cloth just below the collar. “Nothing…”

“I’ve known too long to let you go at nothing. Tell me what’s wrong, Yuki!” Saki pulled him in closer to her so that he could not attempt to ignore her, though being held made that impossible anyway.

Yuki did not want to talk about it. He was not even sure why he was told. Nothing made any sense about the whole thing. “I said its nothing! Leave me alone, Saki!” Yuki pushed her back into the wall breaking her grip from her stunned reaction. She stared at him confused uncertain what to say while Yuki was breathing heavily. He could see how worried she was about him, but he turned away anyway. “I’m sorry, Saki. I need to be alone right now.” Yuki ran off Saki not willing to follow him.

“Yuki…”

“Saki? What happened?” Hiroshi said arriving with Yumi and Yuki’s other friends. However, he did not get anything from Saki and Yuki was nowhere to be seen anymore. He looked down at Yumi confused and back at Saki.

Yuki ran until his body was pounding too hard for him to continue any longer forcing him to drop to the grass. He found himself somewhere in the back of the school near the track and field section. He fell back into the grass letting the angled ground give him a reclined view of the clouds. Yuki closed his eyes trying to get the thoughts off his mind, but they only swirled around him refusing to allow him to forget. ‘Argh…I wish it could be true, but this is reality and those things can’t happen. The only place it can happen is in my mind. Even I know that. How could she tell me those things…’

“I’ve come for you, Yuki Hayashi. I need you to save my people and I need your power!” Ayumi shouted at him sounding almost desperate, but pulled back quickly looking away gathering herself back. It was enough to make Yuki jump back a couple steps taken completely back by the change once more.

“My power? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have any power. I’m just a normal person.” The thought of normal made even him hesitate for a moment knowing there was some irony to be had in that statement. ‘I guess some would probably disagree.’ However, his concern was on what she was talking about, a power that he did not know about.

Ayumi had finally gathered herself and composed her stance once more looking at him deadly serious. It was this expression that made Yuki unsettled the most of anything she might have said. “You have a power inside you that you don’t understand yet. You saw what it is capable of this morning.”

“The tree again? I don’t have the power to created spiritual energy gathered from the air and form it into an arc that can cut through a tree. That was just in my mind. But how could you even know about that?” He stepped forward demanding some explanation from the girl that actually would make some sense to him. All of this fantasy talk, while exciting to him, was not something that he could handle as a joke.

“You’re correct in that you can’t do that. That is not the power that was talking about.”

“Huh? Now you’ve lost me completely.” Yuki stepped back seeing that this was not going where he was expecting. Now there was even less that was clear to him. She had seen him this morning, but she saw something else as well. “You aren’t making any sense.”

Ayumi seemed like she should have been aspirated by Yuki, but if she was she did not let it on keeping the stone walled face as before. She blinked was once prior to starting to explain in a more understandable manner, relatively. “The power that you possess is not limited to something so mundane. The power that you have is as limitless as your imagination.”

Yuki still did not understand what she was getting at she was still speaking in abstracts that only seemed to make since to her. He scratched his head a little in frustration unable to wait for her to make real sense. “My power…my power. Limitless as my imagination? That’s all you talk about. When are you going to make sense?”

“I was just about to explain that to you if you didn’t keep interrupting me.” She narrowed her eyes for a moment to get the point across making Yuki back down and remain quiet. Ayumi returned to her emotionless features and resumed her explanation. “As I said your power is limitless. What I mean by that is that you have the power to create anything with your mind and make it become reality. Which is what you experience this morning. That was a sampling of your power which has been sealed away until recently.”

“For real?! I have the power to create anything from my mind?” Yuki said suddenly glowing ecstatically with the thoughts of what he could do with such a power running wild through his mind. All of his dreams and fantasies could become reality and he would never be bored again. He jumped up taking hold of Ayumi leaving her a little uncertain by his change in reaction. “That’s so cool!” His cynicism seemed to have evaporated quickly with his change of heart about the story openly accepting. It was a dream come true after all for him. He started laughing out loud as thoughts were going through his mind. Then he turned down at Ayumi turning it all off staring at her. “Come on. You’d think I’d believe that story. At least it works, but that doesn’t mean just because it works it is the truth. I’m sorry, Ayumi, your people are going to have to be saved by someone else.” He turned away patting her on the head ready to walk away with his cynical attitude surfacing. ‘It is a shame it can’t be true. It’s a cruel joke to play on me, but I wouldn’t fall for that.’

Ayumi grabbed his arm stopping him from leaving. “I’m not done.” She held his wrist firmly making it difficult for him to pull free and when he did attempt he found her grip to be strong, as strong as Saki. He turned his head back at her he looking a little surprised. “There is more to it. The reason I need you is because of your power, but not for what it is rather the strength of it.” She could see that she had his attention again even if he was looking confused further. “What I mean is this. I served the previous ruler of my people as one of his elite guard and I was close to him. But he is dead now and there is a power struggle for the throne since he had no heirs, or so we thought.”

Yuki stopped struggling now hearing more of her story and turned back to face her once more. He could tell that she at least seemed to believe what she was saying or acting very well at it. He was going to have to go along with her until she was done or he would never be allowed to leave. “And what does that have to do with me? I already told you that I’m just a normal student.”

“We thought there were no heirs, but I found that was not true. You are in fact the only true heir to the throne of my people.”

“How can that be true? My parents…” Yuki paused for a moment having trouble with the words. “I know who my family is. Are you telling me that I’m adopted or something crazy like that?”

“Exactly. The Hayashi family adopted you from your true father for reasons that even I couldn’t find. All I know is that they knew each other somehow and you became part of their family instead never telling you the truth.”

“Adopted? You can’t be serious. You are making even less sense now and I didn’t think that was possible.” Yuki turned away looking at the ground no longer certain what was wrong with this girl. He just wanted it to be over so that he could leave this farce behind and have his lunch. She could not talk about his family like that. He would not have any more of it. ‘I’m not going to think about her anymore. She’s crazy, than me…’

“The only reason you didn’t accidentally discover your powers was because your father sealed them in your mind so you would be as you say a ‘normal student’. However, now that he is dead that seal is crumbling and you will learn that you have powers that you must control or you will be ruled by your imagination.”

There was a dark shadow over Yuki’s eyes with his ears being closed to what Ayumi was saying anymore. Yuki found his moment when she had loosened her grip on his wrist and broke free and walked away putting a distance between them so that she could not stop him. The darkened features of his face suddenly changed for him as he remembered his happiness. “I’ve heard enough fantasies today. It was interesting and would make a fun read, but it’s not real and I’m hungry. See ya!”

Ayumi rush around him before he had the chance to realize that she had moved. ‘She’s fast…like Saki…’ She was staring at him intently like before saying through her eyes that she still had even more to say.

His eyes opened up from the words that floated around him that Ayumi had spoken. Yuki had recovered enough from his run and tired of recalling memories. He stood up letting his cloths slide down in place as he walked back to the school to get his lunch. “I can’t believe that I even thought the she was…I don’t know what I thought. Well she’s crazy now. It’s a shame and she seemed so nice too.” Yuki dug his hands into his pants pockets still feeling exhausted from the experience. “Ugh…I’ve got to sit in front of her for the rest of the year...can this lunch get any worse?”

On cue as though it had been waiting for the right moment Yuki saw a bright red light coming straight for him and he somehow he knew it was not safe. He dove into the grass as the sphere of light crashed into the ground setting off a sudden explosive that dug into the ground. Yuki was sent back even further rolling across the grass coming to a painful stop at a tree trunk. The explosion continued to persist making him wrap his arms around his head to protect him from debris sent flying. He could feel pieces of cement run across his skin digging in before passing on leaving blood to drip slowly.

The light had faded away and the explosion soon after it allowing Yuki to release himself. He slowly pulled himself up against the tree holding his right upper arm that was bleeding more than the rest of his scraps. A large piece of cement had dug in deeper leaving him stinging and heavy amounts of blood dripping down. He looked up from his injury at the smoking crater that had been a part of the sidewalk to the track and field grounds. But now he could only see a column of smoke rising and a person that was floating in the air near the third floor of the school. Yuki’s eyes had suddenly widened in shock having difficulty believing what he was seeing now. “Floating…he’s floating in the air as though he was standing on something. What’s going on now?” Yuki pushed himself off from the trunk stepping forward looking at the strangely clothed man looking down at him. “Who are you?”

“I’m not important, Yuki Hayashi. All that you need know is that I’m here to kill you!”

Yuki let out a gasp of surprise and pulled back falling against the tree once more. His memories went back to the last thing that Ayumi had told him before she left him alone. He could not believe it.

“There’s one last thing I have to tell you. I’m not the only that knows about you. I tried to keep my search a secret, but I was discovered. Those struggling for power of the throne will not allow an heir to ever appear to take the throne. I’ve come here now because you’re in danger. Assassins have been sent to kill you before I can take you back to claim your birthright. Your life is in danger, but I will be here to protect you and keep you from harm.”

Yuki could not believe it, but there was no denying the man above him. No matter how he wanted to think about it there was nothing holding him up. ‘That explosion just now…I would have been dead if I hadn’t moved. Is he really trying to kill me? Was she…was it all…the truth?!’

To be continued…