The realm was engulfed in infinite darkness, causing anyone to barely able to see even the
slightest inside it.
My eyes was straining to see through the murk of the realm, even though my sight was above that of the average human.
I could not recall why would I have been here, only that I knew was that I was trapped here, in an endless realm of darkness, as if I was walking through a maze with little to zero way out.
Somehow, I could feel unease was creeping inside me every second I took a step, but I chose to ignore it, for I thought it was merely distraction.
Then, a voice echoed across the realm. Its tone was rasping, enough to send chills ran up and down the spine.
"Where were you when she needed you? Where were you when she was helpless?"
At that moment, a heaviness settled in my chest. I could feel the weight of it, crushing me every second I breathed.
"You are weak, and you called yourself Armorer? Heh, don't make me laugh!" the voice taunted me.
I knew it was merely distraction, yet the guilt I felt was real, like a quite ache at the back of my mind.
Because I knew, I was the one to blame.
Out of thin air, here he came...
The darkness.
No face, no physical body, just a darkness being molded into existence, emerging as a sillhouette.
Wielding a sword on his right hand, he walked slowly, menacingly towards me, trying to instill fear on me.
Thus, I changed.
With a sword on my hand, I rushed to him, intending to strike him down for good. Then...
*CLING!!!
*CLING!!!
*SWIFT
I fell to my knees. Pain ached on my right body.
"Urghhh... It hurts..." I muttered under my breath.
With a single strike, he took me down.
I was lying helplessly on the ground, while the pain slowly getting on me.
Then, the darkness stood while I was lying.
"You are nobody." he said flatly.
From my eyes, I saw the sword aimed at me lying. Before I could move, the sword was thrusted, and...
*GASP!!!
"That dream again, huh?" I slapped my face hard, making sure that I was awake.
I rose from the old mattress stained with tough grime and searched for my shirt, which was hung on the wall of the room.
As I put my shirt on, I looked at the screen of my phone.
"5.20 am. Better get ready for now." I thought to myself before going to a pool of water at the back of my room. It was time to take a shower.
The water was cold, something that I disliked so much. However, I couldn't shiver anymore, for I got used to it after a long time.
Once I wrapped myself with towel, I went to find the school uniform hanging at the wall above the old mattress.
In front of the mirror, I carefully tucked the uniform inside the trousers and pulled out a comb, properly managing my hair so that it will not look messy.
It's getting longer. Maybe I should cut it sometimes later.
I will.
***
It was 5.50 am, and there was nobody inside the class 4-RK. Well, the orange hue from east barely emerged, so it was understandable.
The echoing silence somehow became the thing I would really fond of. That was why I loved being early in the morning.
All homeworks were done, so I guessed I would just leaned at my seat and got relaxed for a while.
Until they came.
The silence eventually drowned under the sound of laughter and chatters, which displeased my ears.
One by one, the classroom was filled with my classmates. I could hear them talking about the latest movie that coming out, the concert from a KPOP group that will be held at capital of the country, and even the fans of football pouring out their heart over the loss of their favourite football team.
Unlike them, I don't have the time to immerse myself into distraction, even if I wanted to.
Because I knew, there was always a battle that I had to win.
Then the clock ticked at 6.45 am, thus everyone returned to their seat, expecting the teacher to show up.
Two minutes after that, Madam Ein stepped inside the class, our homeroom teacher. She was teaching History. The air immediately smelled like the scent of floral, maybe it was the perfume, the one with the brand I could barely recall.
Once she put her large bag under the teacher's desk, she pulled her glasses out before wearing it on the bridge of her nose.
"Ehem, class. Attention, please?" Madam Ein gazed at us, causing everyone to straigthen their posture and shift their attention to her, all while I was still leaning, eyes closed.
"Today, you will have a new classmate. So, lets drop the cliche part. I hope all of you will be good friends with her from now on."
Some of the girls gasped, while the boys, some of them had their jaw dropped upon hearing the word 'her'.
Well, any boys would be excited in this case, but not me for sure, for I was too busy to invest myself with the distraction.
However, the distraction will always find its way to me, much to my dismay.
"You may enter now." Madam Ein looked at the door while calling someone.
And, a girl stepped inside and stood before us. Her hair were tied neatly like a ponytail. Judging from her face feature, she was Japanese.
"You may introduce yourself in English." said Madam Ein.
Thus, the girl spoke.
"Hi everyone. My name is Amane Fujisawa. I am from Fukuoka, Japan. Nice to meet you all." the girl bowed down before offering a warmth smile to all of us.
My classmates were genuinely left in awe, most likely because she was a foreigner, and we rarely encountered one on normal occasions.
"Your sit is at the back, Fujisawa. You may go there." Madam Ein pointed the girl her seat, prompting her to walk to the back.
When she passed through my seat, I could smell the scent of luxury perfumes from her uniform.
She most likely came from a rich family, but what would a Japanese family do here, in this small town of Simpuna?
Then, Madam Ein continued to speak.
"Alright, here is one more thing. Our new classmate is not really fluent in English, and I am not considering to change my teaching language. So, I might need someone who can teach her Malay, someone who can speak fluently in Japanese."
Crap. That was all I could say.
I knew what that meant, and I knew who was the person.
And I was right, all the eyes were looking at me, as if I was found guilty over an unforgivable crime, the moment I opened my eyes.
"Iru, I heard you are fluent in many languages. Care to consider it a try?" asked Madam Ein.
*Sigh
Even though I don't give a damn about learning History in English, I still had to consider my classmates, who was quite struggling with English.
*Sigh again
"I'm in."
"Good. Then you can sit next to her from now on." Madam Ein suggested.
Crap. I didn't prefer to sit next to a girl. It wasn't that I was shy about it, but that was... I didn't know. I just didn't like it.
So I pulled my bag and walked to the seat beside the girl.
The moment I took my seat, I caught the girl stole a glance at me. So I turned to face her, and she immediately turned away to her notebook, filled with scribbled words from Japanese.
"What's wrong?" (Translated from Japanese).
The girl was silent for a moment, before she turned to me with a shy look.
"Are you the one who is going to be my Malay tutor?" she asked with a timid voice.
"Yes."
"Ohhhh, by the way, I'm Amane. Nice to meet you." She bowed down a little .
"Iru. Hope you get used to this school faster."
"Looking forward to work with you." She offered a faint smile.
"I don't think you want to." I muttered.
She flinched a little at the moment, thus turning to her notebook again with unreadable face.
I believed she was offended with my words, and even though I didn't mean it, I thought it will be better if she sees the bad side of me.
Because she didn't know who I truly was.
For the first time in a while, I had to sit at the back of the class, and right beside me was a girl who was soft and polite who barely knew any Malay words, but now she was offended.
Will this matter become any worse? I had no idea.
***
The first session of class had ended, but it was still a long way before we called it a day.
Right beside me, Amane put her history textbook under her table's drawer.
"Iru?" Madam Ein called me from her desk.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Actually, I have an important task for you." She said, her tone was serious.
What kind of important task that required a person like me to be involved?
"What is it?" Our eyes met.
"I think I need your help to show Amane the whole school, and maybe help her when she need assistance, like telling her what she need to do here, something like that."
Yeah, giving the task of a tour guide just because I knew Japanese, which was not my favourite job.
"I believe my task is only to be her translator in class. I don't think she will feel comfortable if I have to be with her every single hour in this school."
"Just for this first week, okay? Until she makes herself some friends then you have to stay by her side." said Madam Ein.
"Alright then." That was all I could say.
So I returned to my seat, thinking of the choice that I had made.
"Just for this week, and right after she is fluent in Malay. But what if it takes too long?" I thought to myself.
Sighed
Never mind, I just had to face it, like I always did.
When I looked at her from the corner of my eye, I could see the make up tutorial video from her phone.
Girls, no matter how reserved they were, will always act like one.
*Bell ringing
It was recess time, and I found myself walking side by side with a beautiful girl from Japan, which will be the best topic for a gossip among the students.
"Is cafeteria still far away?" (translated from Japanese) she asked.
"Not really."
"Ohhhh..... "
The cafeteria was always full of students, especially during recess. You can expect to get inside easily, but it was a one-way ticket.
As soon as we reached cafeteria, I tried to make sure she won't get lost from my sight, especially in the crowds of students, to the point that I even watched over her while she was buying her meal.
Luckily, it didn't take me too long despite the long queue.
"Stay close to me."
She only nodded.
However at that moment, I saw her fingers moved randomly inside her pockets, as if she was searching for something.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I think I left my wallet." she turned to me with a hopeless face.
So I pulled my notes out of my pocket and paid for the meal instead.
Eventually, we made our way out of the crowds and headed to the classroom back.
While on our way, she spoke something to me.
"I'm sorry that you have to pay for my meal. I swear I will repay my debt later."
Why should she be sorry over this small debt?
"It's nothing. Consider this is your first day's luck." I brushed it off.
"But... "
All of a sudden...
*Ground trembling
And it could only mean one thing,
KAIJU.
"What is happening?!" she tried to get a hold of herself before falling to her knees.
And before our eyes, the kaiju appeared from the ground.
It was Gargan, a brown-colored kaiju with herculean strength. Its grip strength was no joke. Its yellow-colored torso provided protection that was hard to penetrate. With a single horn on its nose, it could fatally wound its enemies when it managed to deliver the blow.
Thus, I ran to Amane and helped her to get on her feet.
"Iru, what should we do?" Amane was losing her composure at that moment.
"He will come." I assured her, because I knew that someone will.
"Who?"
"The Armorer."
I was right.
Gargan was wreaking havoc on a village several kilometers away from school, destroying everything in its path and suddenly got a flying kick on its head.
*Growl
It fell to the ground,
And from the other side, emerged the warrior who will appear to save the day.
ARMORER SWORD.
Standing at 60 meters tall, the black-and-neon-colored Armorer stared at the creature, intending to make it pay for its crime.
Irritated, Gargan charged towards Sword at full speed, and the latter was likewise, giving everything they got.
While the two gigantic beings combatted each other, I saw a chance to bring Amane away from the danger.
It was only that something was getting on our way.
As the two kept pushing each other to their limits, Gargan decided to play dirty by unleashing its giant fireballs. To make matters worse, the fireballs was shot in all directions.
One of it was hitting the ground outside of the school, causing the ground to explode before sending flying debris towards us.
What a bad timing.
Seeing Amane who was barely able to walk yet, and the debris getting closer every second,
"There is no choice." I thought to myself.
I immediately lifted her up before flickering us away to safety.
And we were seconds away before the debris hit the ground near the teacher's room block, which was the place we stood before.
*BOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!
That was close.
I let out a heavy sigh before turning to Amane, and it seemed like she was caught by surprise and awe. Her eyes were in disbelief over what had happened.
Before she could speak any words, I immediately asked her to shift her focus.
"Are you alright?"
She only nodded, jaw dropped.
So I put her on the ground, and we both made our way to the classroom.
I couldn't get her to suspect me as some kind of superhuman, so I decided to stay inside the classroom, while Sword did his job, something that I couldn't believe myself to do.
Even though my previous action was enough to prove that I was superhuman.
Eventually, Sword emerged victorious during the battle after he slashed Gargan on its throat with his blade.
Well, that wasn't family friendly at all.
Nevertheless, the peace returned, even if it was only for a moment.
***
*Bell ringing again
Yeah, it was time to call it a day, after the whole ordeal.
The hallways was filled with students heading out of their classroom. With the mix of various odours from the students' sweated uniform, coupled with the noisy sound of laughter, it created an atmosphere that could suffocate oneself to death.
Just exaggerating, by the way.
And yes, I was choosing another way out. I always did.
However, I didn't expect someone to do as well.
As I was walking out using the back gate, I could hear footsteps audible several meters away, following me from behind.
So I turned back, and she was there.
"Why are you here?"
"I just want to pay my debt from earlier." said Amane, her voice was as timid as ever.
I walked a few step towards her.
"You don't have to. Like I said, consider this your lucky day."
"But that doesn't make me feel any better." she insisted.
This girl was quite headstrong than she looks.
Then, an idea popped up in my mind.
"Okay, okay. You can do me a favor instead of repaying me."
"What is the favor?" she tilted her head.
So I leaned closer to her ears, whispering the words.
"Stay alive for me, would you?"
Her eyes expressed surprise. She seemed speechless from my point of view.
Were my words intimidating? I didn't think so.
The message was clear.
Just stay alive. It will be the best for you.
Believe me.
"By the way, you have to turn right two times to reach the front gate if you were to use this back gate, in case your car will fetch you at the front."
Thus, I left her behind to go home.
For there was something that I had to do, something important.