Head Hunters

Chapter 1

Makoto's POV
"Makoto, wake up! Makoto, answer me!"

"Mako Chan... is that blood? A stab wound...?!"

"Makoto!"

A stab wound? No wonder it hurts so much. An immense amount of pain ebbs through my body, the loss of blood making it almost impossible to hold onto consciousness. I can barely make out who's who, they're all blurs that blend into the surroundings. Where even are we? I just wanted to help Mai.

I'm grateful that you've done so much to help me. But this is an unfair game, our foe is too powerful to take down with brute force and you know it. You lost your battle against him, but fight on. Don't give up yet, please don't. We're all rooting for you, you may have lost the fight, but you can't lose the war... you can't die. Remember what you want to do and use that as a source of motivation and energy, remember how we all cared for you and each other, remember how you helped me so much...

Remember...

Slowly, I open my eyes and find my head resting on the hard wood of my desk. I must've fallen asleep whilst doing my homework; my body must hate me, when I should be sleeping I can't and when I shouldn't, more often than not I can't help it. 16:30, I should really be going home now, I'd rather avoid walking home in the dark whilst it's the middle of winter. However, I do feel bad for ditching the other student council members, but I did have a huge pile of homework to do and the school library is always quiet anyway.
As I begin to pack my things, I find an old newspaper amongst the pile of worksheets.

After her several week long disappearance, Shin High School student Mai Kimaku was found decapitated in one of the school's classrooms.

What? What's this doing with all my schoolwork? How old even is this thing? January 4th 1999, it's just over twenty years old. Decapitation. It's certainly a more unpleasant way to go, but then again, is quick and painless. And she went missing too? I wonder what was going through that girl's head those last few weeks of her life. From what I can infer, it seems far from happy. Curious about the paper, I stuff it into my bag along with everything else and begin to make my way out of the library.

Though the journey home typically doesn't take more than ten or fifteen minutes, as I stride home I can't help but feel like someone is watching me and I continuously force myself to stop to search around. When I'm mere minutes away from the apartment, I spot a girl standing by a yew tree, staring me down intensely. Wanting to get home, I shrug it off and keep walking, although even when I'm back in the comfort of my own bedroom, reading the rest of the newspaper article, I can still feel her eyes on me.

Sighing, I grab my phone from my bedside table, curl up under my duvet and begin scrolling through the messages I received since I got home. Most of them are from either Ren or Goro. Ren excitedly ranting about who knows what, and Goro updating me about what I missed whilst I was in the library, absent from the student council meeting. I read through each text from Goro thoroughly, taking in all the information I need. I'm the Vice President of the student council, I need to know this stuff. As for Goro, he's probably the only person who actually remembered most of what happened in the meeting considering he's our somewhat glamorous President. Haruko has tried to convince him more than once that he only became President for popularity but I don't think that's true. At least, not completely.
Goro's an erudite student, with good grades and a charismatic personality. If I were the President, I'd just cause us trouble, I can't stand talking to anyone but my friends and occasionally my parents.

After reading the text, I place my phone down and turn to lie on my back. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot the girl again. Immediately, I jump up, and end up crouching awkwardly on my bed.
"Wh-who are you?!" I stutter, backing away until my back hits the wall. "Get out of my room!"