01 - Call Back

“Akira~ Come down and eat~”

“…yes mom…!”

It has been weeks since she was brought back to the mansion of the Seieiki family. She used to dislike the confined and restricted area – which was her own room – but right now, it’s the only place she found peace and serenity. She could cuddle herself in the bed the whole day, and do nothing but looking through mangas and animes. She could stay in the confined area and sleep for the whole day, eat nothing and drink nothing but water and tasteless foods.

She’s literally a living zombie.

But her family tried to bring her out, make her cheerful again. Her sister, especially, tried very hard to talk to her and even invited her into parties and karaokes – the things she loved in the past. But right now, Akira just replied with a very polite manner and a weak smile.

“I’m too tired for all of these. I’m sorry.”

That was all that she would say to them.

They were worried sick about her, and thought of things that could make her happy again. They allowed her freedom, and they allowed her to love whoever she wants… but those were not the things that she was looking for right now. She appreciated the love and efforts they were giving to her, and the things they were willing to change in order to bring up the mood. In return, even though she couldn’t be who she was again, she could at least try her best…

To live. To survive.

She will follow their instructions – to graduate and to get a job. Heh, she would even work for their company where she used to hate so much in the past. But all she does right now was just to decrease their worries about the youngest daughter in the family. She knew that, and that’s why she followed through.

And now, she was ready to go back to the school again, and start on a new semester in her second year of high school. She shall not fail the trust of her family, and she shall not fail herself as a human being. She should at least finish this life as a human, and do her best not to shame her family.

She shall forsake the Spirits.

= = =

“Good morning!”

“Good morning!”

“Good morning.”

Compare to how she was one year ago, she was more dignified and disciplined this time. No more fake tattoos and no more outrageous outfits. She no longer dressed herself like a male banchou, and there’s no more fights going around the corner of the school. It was rather peaceful as to compare to one year ago – the teachers were quite happy about this, but the friends… were not exactly as satisfied with this.

“Oi Akira!” A blondie slapped at the back of Akira. She’s slightly taller than Akira, and seemed like a very energetic person. She raised her eyebrow as her dark hazel eyes were reflecting on someone that’s very familiar yet it felt so strange to her. She pointed rudely at Akira’s shirt, and asked, “What’s with this outfit? Where’s your usual suit?”

“Tina…” Akira smiled with a hint of frustration in there. She understood that her current attire really freaked out her friends – since it’s really something that she has constantly rejected. “I think I burned them… somewhere. Haha.”

“What?! Seieiki Akira?!” Another girl came into the scene. Her tied up, long dark purple hair made her seemed like a very steady person, but right now, her composure was totally off by the shock. Her eyes widened as she noticed this girl in front of her was actually her best friend! She checked her all over and even pulled her cheek. “What- I can’t believe you Aki! I mean… look at you! So… feminine!”

“Yes… it really doesn’t seem like you at all…” And yet another girl walked close to the trio. Her long black hair and her demeanor gave out an aura of her being a “Miss of a rich family” – even the shock does not affect her perfect mannerism. “Yuu is right… I can’t recognize you at all! Akira, are you ok?”

“Hahaha, what are you saying Hyori? Of course I’m fine,” The girl in the center of attention could not help but chuckle a bit towards her worrisome friends. True, she has “downgraded” herself into someone that she doesn’t want to be… but hey, she felt more at ease with this right now. After all, she’s not being targeted by the gangsters and the wannabes anymore. It saved her a lot of trouble with her look right now. “Oh hey, the bell rang! Let’s go~”

“Oh? OHHH!!!”

“Okay…”

“Hmm…”

But the suspicion did not end at this point.

= = =

“Akira, spill it.”

“You’ve been missing for months and… look at this! What is this?!”

“Akira… Are you truly fine…?”

Even though Akira was happy that her friends cared about her, but she couldn’t help but feel that the tension and pressure that they’re giving are a little bit too much.

“Sorry, I got to go to the bathroom a bit…” She rose from her seat and – despite Tina’s objection (being held down by her other two friends) – she walked out from the classroom, and into the female toilet.

She refreshed herself and washed her face. She looked into the mirror, and laughed. “Who is this… god. I don’t… look like this…” She smiled awkwardly as she looked into the person in the mirror – it’s a young female with tied up, gentle and long red hair, with a meek-looking body structure covered by the female uniform and a fluffy skirt. There’s a scar on the left side of the cheek, but nothing else were anymore threatening. Her eyes were red, but the passion were no longer there and there’s only horror embed beneath it. Her muscles were not as firm as they used to be.

She’s not Seieiki Akira. At all.

“Ha… Hahaha… What is this… Ha…hahahahaha…” She couldn’t help but gave out weak laughs about how harmless and depressing her appearance looked like right now. She shook her head numerous times looking into the mirror, before deciding that it’s time to return to her classroom.

It was no wonder why her friends were so shocked at her look.

= = =

“Mom, dad, I’m home…”

“Welcome home darling~” An aged lady rushed quickly towards Akira’s side, and hugged her quickly. She carried her bags and carried her books, and smiled warmly at her. “Dinner’s ready in a few minutes. Go bath and come down and eat.”

“Okay…”

Akira took back the bag and books as she finally got rid of the shoes, proceeding towards her room and opened the door. She quickly find the switch to the lights as the darkness was unbearable for her – it reminded her of the nightmare that she has just recently got rid of. She put her bag nicely on the floor and the books on the table, before slumping herself to the spinning sofa, looking at the ceiling for quite a while.

“Oh yeah… take a bath… right.”

She stood up reluctantly and shed all of her clothes off, moving into the bathroom and turned the shower on. The sound of the shower was soothing, and the feel of the water splashing onto her body was refreshing. She closed her eyes for a moment, and let her mind roam freely…

No…!

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

But decided to open them back as it wandered into some dangerous area.

“God… I couldn’t even let myself relax in here… sigh.”

Grinning weakly, she hurried her washing time and get off from the bathroom. She dressed herself and got ready to walk downstairs to eat.

“Akira~”

“Coming…!”

Unbeknownst to her… the part of the desk where she sealed off started to glow, and vibrated vigorously…

= = =

Her school days were peaceful, even though odd question still rise on why her sudden change in appearance and behavior. Akira always replied them with the craziest answer possible, and gave them a cheerful smile… but no matter how cheerful that smile seemed to the others, her friends noticed the strangeness behind it, though they did not voice it out.

“She will tell us when she’s ready.”

That’s what Hyori told the other two – which Yuu agreed and Tina reluctantly had to stick with. But they couldn’t help but worry about Akira – where she would just look into the window for a while, and then flinch at something, where she will shook her head in depression following up with either a helpless smile, or a fearful expression. They do have the same mutual understanding to not talk or question about what happened to Akira in the past few months, and at the same time gave her extra attentions and extra cares. They would invite her out to have fun every day, and tease her on something that might interest her. They tried to make her cheerful again, and did a lot of things to pull her senses back to the present.

“What has happened has happened – there’s no use to force her to talk. Right now, the most important thing that we should do is to give her support and comfort.”

Those are the words that everyone agreed upon and will follow through.

They have been doing this for weeks, for months… and eventually, they are going through mid-term exams. Everyone was having a headache out of it, and Akira was no different.

“Hey! I know! Let’s have a study session every day after school!”

Yuu blurted that out during their study session in the library. It wasn’t too loud, but it was quite loud where there are some people looked at her direction.

“Whoops… Sorry…”

The purple haired girl was so embarrassed and she had to hid her face under her hands, covered by the tall stack of books around her.

“Hahaha… Yuu, you’re just so funny sometimes,” Akira giggled silently while holding back Tina who nearly exploded from the event. Hyori just chuckled softly and considered the idea afterwards.

“Sure, why not? It sounds pretty fun.”

“Yeah! Let’s do it!”

And so, they all have decided on doing that, and also decided that they should have turns at everyone’s house every day. They were pretty surprised that even Akira agreed to them, but it might be the first step closer to the problem that she was facing.

Yeap, they were still pretty eager to find it out.

They started with Tina’s house. It was small, sure, and also pretty messy – which is not good. They used the whole evening cleaning up and tidying the place up, and when they finally found time to study it was already close to dinner time.

Then, they went to Yuu’s house. It was moderate, and pretty neat. But she has pets in her house where Tina and Yuu just spend time looking and playing with them rather than actually study with the group. Akira, who doesn’t really enjoy the idea of “pets” (she only like watching them, but not really a fan in touching them), just sat back and watched them do this, while trying her best to ignore their squeals and laughters and to really study with Hyori – who doesn’t mind anything at all.

After that, they went to Hyori’s house. It was large… humongous, Akira would say. It was even fancier than her mansion that she lived in. She felt like she’s living in a very small house like Tina’s all over the sudden as soon as she stepped into this place. The other two were worse than her – they started to pray at Hyori and hoped that she could bring fortune to them. Not that Hyori mind, but, it wasn’t really a good scene to watch so Akira and Hyori had to stop the other two from doing this. There are too many distractions in Hyori’s place, and nobody really have the heart to study anymore.

Then, finally…

“Uwoh! This is Akira’s house!!!”

“It’s pretty big…!”

“Hehehe~”

The three stepped into the Seieiki’s mansion, and was greeted by Akira’s mom.

“Guys, this is my mom. Mom, this is Tina, Yuu, and Hyori.”

“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Seieiki!”

“Nice to meet you too!”

Once they have finished greeting each other, they were lead into Akira’s room.

“…I did not imagine this.”

“Yeah! I thought she would be messy too!”

“Hey, what do you mean by that,” Akira sighed in defeat as she watched Tina tried to mess her stuffs. “Don’t do that. I’ll get angry. Despite how I am I really dislike it when you mess my stuffs up, ok?”

“Okay~”

“Hehehe… Akira’s house really is quite unique,” Hyori smiled as she touched the figurine on the desk. “This is so pretty…”

“Hahaha! That’s the limited edition of Saint Seiya! It took me a fortune just to get it!” Akira laughed proudly as she showed off her figurines. “And this is the special edition of Madokami! She’s just so kewl in this figurine!”

“Well, I still like Homura better than her.”

“Har??? What are you guys sayin’! Obviously the best character is Mami, right?”

“…I like Kyouko better…”

They chatted about animation and games, and then they went into books and fairy tales. But before they started studying, Tina noticed something.

“Hey Aki! What’s inside this drawer?”

She walked towards the drawer that was sealed with tapes and a tag written “KEEP OUT. DO NOT TOUCH.” She then proceeded to pull the drawer out.

“Wha-?! D-Don’t!”

The drawer was pulled out and the contains were revealed. It was nothing but a strange device in there. It was palm sized, and it was red and black with golden and silver lining. There were a square screen on the top part of the device, and three buttons lined up as a triangle right below it. “What is this…?” Right before her hand could even get to the device, the redhead have already reached the desk and shut it with a bang.

“Do. Not. Touch.”

Akira has never been this angry before. She was glaring at Tina with the desk behind her, and her hands were there to protect the contains of the drawer. The other two were shocked as well, and don’t quite know what to do in this state. Tina was especially fumed as she was pushed away from the desk and was glared with such fury by her best friend.

What was she hiding?!

“Uhh… What was that?”

“That was none of your business.”

“Why Aki? Why?! You haven’t told us ANYTHING and now all you do was to rage because of some sort of strange device?”

“It’s none of your business, ok?!” The redhead exploded. “I have my rights to not tell you anything, I have the rights to keep my privacy. Don’t!” She raised one finger. “Don’t. Question me about this. Ever again.”

“Aki/Akira…”

“Fine! FINE! If that’s what you mean it, then FINE! It is none of my business, none of our business! Best friends have nothing to do with it! Fine! You’re going through this alone!”

“TINA!”

Tina stormed out from Akira’s room, and rushed downstairs. Yuu chased after the blondie while Hyori stayed with the redhead. She looked at Akira with worrisome eyes, and hoped that she would at least say something or do something.

“…fine with me,” Akira soften down and quiet down. She never meant for anyone else other than herself to go through this anyway. I am enough to go through all of these. I will not drag any of you down with me.

“Akira…”

= = =

It was disappointing, to have that event to happen. Though, the study session still continued – with Tina not talking to Akira and Akira being extraordinary quieter than her usual self. The study days passed by quickly and the mid-term exam has come. The students done it in their own way and so does Akira, though, when she have finished answering and forced to stay in the classroom, her mind wandered.

And the horrifying images lurked back in.

She had to do something else to not let that happen again, and she drew…

But the things that she drew were nothing nice at all: They were all skulls and bloods; People hanging themselves and wrist cuts; Word arts of “Die” and “Despair”. After she finished it and when she looked through them, she felt the urge to scream and bang herself to the wall.

She was once reminded of the cruel things she has done to the people and the things she wanted to do to herself.

Finally, when the bell rang and the exam is over, she felt relieved from the darkness she shrouded herself in, and she once again breath in the fresh air and bath in the lights of the sun as she found her friends again.

Yes, this is where she should belong.

= = =

Back to her room, she was all alone again. There’s nobody here except for her and herself. At this time, her family has already hit the bed – she’s alone, on her bed, unable to sleep. She tossed and turned for quite a while, and it’s already past midnight. Akira wondered if she should do something, since it’s over the exams and she SHOULD be doing something (normally).

Smiling to herself, she moved out from her bed, and decided to look through her collections. She leisurely admired all the figurines and arts she has collected through the years, and slowly picked up her old nature of an otaku and found happiness in all of these. Then, she noticed her old pictures. She picked one up, and chuckled at how much she has changed through the year.

At first, she was just a brat who known nothing but wanting freedom and choices. She went street fight and rebel against her parents, breaking their hearts. She smiled bitterly as she remembered how undisciplined she was back then. Akira was also a pretty sturdy fighter with an athletic build. Her hair was far shorter than she has right now, and her eyes beamed with passion and toughness. She had this smirk where she’s convinced that she can do anything as long as she does not give up.

And yes, she was the person who does not give up on anything.

Even after being chased by gangsters, and thrown into an unknown world of mystery, she did not give up. She strived through the challenges and beat down the opponents. Akira has met different people along the journey – and Sapphira, where she treasured the most, was there for her – helping her. But then, she realized that there’s something lacking in her – she lack of strength. Her spirit transformation could only give her so much – she could not even handle an armor ultimate Digimon! She was beaten down quickly, and was left behind. She realized her weakness, and decided to go on a training journey.

At this point, she gained a scar on the left cheek – the one that the armor ultimate gave her. Her appearance changed too. She has longer hair, and she was slightly more muscular. She started to wear more sporty than fab, and went on a lower profile with caps and hoodies. She went through different missions, and joined different teams – notably “Kyousei Gattai”. She experienced a lot, and matured a lot, but her strength did not increase. What was the lack of the spirit? Why the spirit couldn’t give her more? It was then she found out that she needed a Beast Spirit in order to gain more strength.

That was when all hell went loose.

She went to the mountain and train, and met her most grateful teacher – Triceramon. He taught her a lot of stuffs, but it wasn’t enough to bring the merciless Beast Spirit down. She was tortured, and beaten. Even after the Human Spirit helped she was defeated… spiritually. She has never met such monster before, and she could not contain her at all. Even though the Beast Spirit has surrendered to her in the sense of being her spirit, she could not control the Beast Spirit at all.

Eventually, she went on a berserk in a small town.

“Ugh!” Akira had a major headache as she recalled until that point. She backed off from the desk and fall onto her chair. She breathed heavily as she attempted to calm herself down. She held one hand upon her head where it hurt the most, and pushed the nerves to sooth it down. But then, she heard something’s buzzing. She opened her eyes and looked around – shocked as she found out what was happening.

The drawer was GLOWING.

The drawer where she sealed her D-Tector, was GLOWING!

“No… No way…!” Her brain told her not to touch it, but her body moved on its own – following her own instinct – and opened up the drawer. The D-Tector shone so bright that it blinded her, and blinded the whole area. Her whole room was filled with lights, and in the next moment…

…she was in a whole different place.

“Wha- What is this place…?!” Akira looked around, and noticed that she’s not in her room anymore. In fact, she was brought back to a very familiar place. Those rocks, those plants, the scattered data floating in the air…!

“Why… Why…? WHY AM I BACK HERE AGAIN?!?!?!”