Sokudo: Villains Always Win (ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ)

Chapter nine | it's an emergency

Chieko couldn't sleep that night. She watched the news report until the end, and it turns out that there was another shocking fact. All of the missing people were former superheroes. It gave some reason as to why one of them had looked so... familiar. She had seen him before, but she still didn't know where.

That one question kept her up until ten pm, she had gone to bed at seven thirty. She eventually fell asleep, but when morning arrived and she was abruptly woken up at six, it felt like she had just closed her eyes for a minute. She really didn't want to get up, she needed more sleep before she could deal with school, which would drain all of her remaining energy as soon as she arrived.

She never skipped a day, let alone a class before though, and she wasn't about to. So despite her body begging her to stay in bed, just for a little longer, she forced herself to get up. She could already tell today was going to be slow and tiring, but maybe that'd be a good thing. She's had too much action in her life recently. She needed a break, but school was the exact opposite of a relaxing time.

It only took her a few minutes to get dressed and walk down the stairs to find her mother making some grilled cheese sandwiches. School started at nine thirty, but she always arrived an hour early and got up three hours before. So it shouldn't hurt to shut her eyes just for a couple of minutes, she had plenty of time to get ready, even if it took her half an hour to arrive at school.

Her mother noticed Chieko drifting off to sleep on the stairs, and was honestly surprised to see her daughter ─ who usually had no complaints waking up early, having trouble staying awake. "Chieko!" She said, quickly snapping her daughter out of her trance. Shaking her head, she forced her eyes wide open and ran down the rest of the steps.

"Ready, mom!" She called back, rushing into the kitchen, before realizing she had forgotten her backpack in her room. "Oh wait, my bag," she spun around on her heels and high-tailed it back up the stairs, though almost tripped over her own feet.

In her room, she glanced around for her missing item, and found it before the thought that she had possibly left it somewhere could cross her mind. She let out a quiet sigh of relief, grabbing the bag and heading out of her room and back down the stairs, slower this time to make sure she wouldn't trip.

On the kitchen bench was a plate of cheese sandwiches, Chieko quickly grabbed and stuffed it into her mouth. "I'm heading out, thanks for the food!" She said with her mouth still full, as if she didn't realize her mother could barely understand a word she said, looking at her with a confused expression but soon connected the dots.

"Okay, make sure you have a good time at school!" Her mother smiled and waved, and Chieko did the same. Certain that she had everything with her, Chieko walked out the door. She instantly got a cold breeze when she stepped outside, and hugged her shivering body.

She really wanted to stay home, but she knew she couldn't, so she didn't bother to ask. She'd just have to deal with her troubles alone, even if that includes a mean trio of school girls. Didn't they have more important things to do than bother her and everyone else? Like, homework? Hopefully that meant they wouldn't be in the same year in a couple months' time.

The cold breeze and string winds didn't bother her much, but the large crowds of people sure did. It didn't take long for her to find herself in the city, which she quickly noticed was more popular than usual. It came to a point that she couldn't even see in front of her anymore, she couldn't see where she was going and she just couldn't get away.

She thought about using her ability to run past the people and escape the maze, but the memories of coughing up blood into her palm flashed through her mind. She felt sick. Taking in a gasp of air as if she had just started breathing again. She shook her head, disposing of the useless thought and continued pushing through the crowd. Lucky for her she had woken up so early, or else she'd surely be late.