Picture This

Most civilians gave up their spots in line for any student, and so Mia & Serena and Jeanne & Nuiko were able to get early seats on their train the next day. This day was then ruined when all saw Kirihara shoving her blood-soaked self through the crowd, and made her way to their carriage to sit down.

"I ran in to a Revenant on the way over. Got some good news once I scanned the guy." She waved her tablet out: she had ranked up. "That'll be #2 once the fourth-years graduate. Pretty fucking good for someone who had to fight solo her first year, eh, Serena?"

"Uh, I guess." muttered Serena.

"No thanks to my former mentor over there. If she was ever president, that office would be a pigsty in a week. Dogs and cats could walk in and shit all over the place and she wouldn't notice. Serena, lemme tell you something about Jeanne, since you're the only person here who doesn't know her. When she was 'mentoring' me last year, she's in the infirmary for half the fucking year - probably more than that - with what she tells me are these 'Dream' comas. Firstly, I've never heard of that shit in my life, because Revenants can't harm their hosts. I mean, I can't even cut myself with Carve, and she's fucking telling me that it's sending her in to comas and shit. You believe that?"

"…I dunno."

"Sheesh, you're still so quiet. You gotta learn to stick your voice up more. Otherwise you'll end up like one of those people who can't just stick to shit, like they're stuck in a tar pit. That's how Jeanne is, anyway. She's always hated me, too - I don't know whatever the fuck I did that made me stick up her ass so much. But so - so, she falls in to comas all fucking year and leaves me to fight by myself, and the second she doesn't have to mentor me - not that she did much of that, anyway - she's all better! No more comas. Real fuckin' convenient. I mean, did you expect me to believe that shit, Jeanne?"

Jeanne said nothing.

"You gonna say anything, or are you just going to stare out there like someone's pulled your brains out through your ass?" Kirihara laughed. "Actually, maybe someone did do that, because you used to be 3-star and now you're living in some dingy 2-star shithole."

Nuiko snorted. "Jeanne's a better hunter than you ever could be."

"That's a good joke. What the fuck would you know about hunting?"

"I *was* rank #1, and-"

"-yeah, keyword being was. Who's president now, exactly?"

Mia was about to speak up, but Kirihara continued: "I guess you must've put all your skill in to little Jeanne here, because it sure never did me any fucking good. It must really piss you off that everyone here'll be calling me President Kirihara next year, and I didn't ask for one fucking bit of advice from you OR her on how to use Carve, either."

"As if it's that difficult a Revenant." muttered Mia.

"What was that? C'mon, speak-"

"-no, Mia's right." said Nuiko. "How many of your kills are just you stepping on Carve and running somebody through? The rest of us have to use our own two legs to get in range against people who run away, climb over buildings and everything fucking else they do to get away from us. Don't think nobody knows about that sick shit you pull with civilians, either."

"All I hear is a bunch of excuses. Sheesh, were you this much of a sour bitch when Aimee beat you? How much of her cunt did you have to suck for her to let you sit in that president's chair?"

"You wanna keep bringing up Aimee? Fine. Since your brain's too small to get that she *proves* my point, lemme make it clear to you. Aimee has a transportation Revenant, too, and it's even easier to use than your's - and she did beat me with it, but she's made up for it by not being such a bitch like you. You know that even if you could get to rank #1, everyone'll spend the entire summer hoping you get assassinated? That's something to be real proud of. And by the way, if it wasn't for Jeanne training you properly when she wasn't in a coma, you would be rotting downstream in some fucking river right now."

"Watch your fucking mouth or I'll shut it for you. Permanently."

"Hahaha, *you*, shutting *my* mouth? That's some joke. You're nothing but a mental case who gets off on cruelty. A pathetic bulldog that shits in its corner and looks around to see if anybody's watching. I hope you try that tough girl shit with Matoi when she beats you so I can see your dumb ass get charred to a fucking crisp, because otherwise, you're never going to get what you deserve - you're not worth the effort. Let's go, Jeanne."

"That's it? You're just going to fucking leave?"

"I don't turn my back on anyone I respect." Nuiko turned, and walked in to the next carriage with Jeanne.

"Goes double for you!" shouted Kirihara after her. "Goddamnit all." She turned to Serena, who was lodged in her phone. "You see how they fucking treat me? Isn't that some shit? Goddamnit it, I'm so fucking sick of everyone at this goddamn school judging me."

Serena said nothing.

Now, you may think that Kirihara, upon seeing that she had thoroughly pissed everyone off, would then angrily stomp off or try to argue with Mia about her earlier comment. She did nothing of the sort. Instead she sat down in the opposite seat from Mia and Serena, said nothing for the rest of the ride, save for occasionally looking over at Serena.

To make a brief digression, let's assume that you have been in another person's house before. Even if you have only been in the living room, spotting an open doorway allows you to see a light in another room that indicates the candle sitting on its nightstand, a mirror allows you to see another door and the section of bed that peeks past it, and a turned-over clothes basket allows you to remember a door you passed by earlier, and only now realize that it was the laundry room. To enter one room of a house, then, is to enter all rooms of the house.

It is the same in narrative. Every event contains every other event whose memory it triggers, and it was in Kirihara's expression and in these glances that might provoke sympathy that Serena recognized why she had dated her ex-boyfriend for nearly a year.

As they arrived to the next town, Jeanne & Nuiko notified Mia that they would need to change stations tomorrow morning, and decided to go there early to buy their tickets.

Jeanne & Nuiko began to step underground to the main area, then heard screaming as they came into the main area with train tracks across -

- and a bloodied scene met their stare, dozens of corpses scattered around with a man standing amidst them, a camera hanging from his neck and gasping as he saw Jeanne & Nuiko - "-I-I - wait, I don't have a Revenant -"

" - YES HE DOES!" shouted one of the survivors, backing away to the left wall; Jeanne glanced left and saw a few others huddled there, and in the next instant -

- an explosion blasted them in to chunks of blood & gore; Nuiko winced as she shrunk them before they could hit her, felt something bend underneath her heels, and in the next instant -

- an explosion erupted at their feet; the shockwaves blast them with the speed of a hundred away, front of their legs torn off as they flew, ground scraping their back as they landed. They shot to their wounded feet -

" - swell." nodded Nuiko, hastily swelling their skin anew, far less experience a medic than Serena; but they had no time to rest. They started their rush forward again -

- and the keen end of a photograph pierced Jeanne's shirt; she shrieked, seeing a set of knives printed -

" - Dream - steel -" she winced, spraying the front half of her shirt armored, seeing their foe rise to his feet ahead, camera's lenses extending outward. A spray of Nuiko's shirt armored, and the two started running, a hundred feet separating the two still -

" - Lunation!" shouted the man, turning his camera's aim high; a dozen photos erupted outward and hit the ceiling -

- and the explosions erupted above the two, chunks of rubble falling with the speed of rain upon them -

- but a swift sweep of Nuiko's hands shrunk them minuscule, and down fell the microscopic rubble around. She scooped them up again, throwing the rapidly-growing projectiles forward -

- that smashed their foe's skull in; the pain staggered him back, one-handed aim on his camera as they surged, only fifty feet separating two -

- but with the speed of light, another dozen photographs burst outward, knives threatening to shred them alive as they flew -

" - swell." groaned Nuiko -

- and a wall of concrete erupted ahead, floor swelling and catching the projectiles, blocking their view of the man as they stumbled in to it.

"I - sorry." laughed Nuiko, and Jeanne nodded, spraycan readied as she aimed ahead. Nuiko glanced up to the ceiling; and the women were in-tune.

A pillar erupted at their feet and brought them to the ceiling, hasty spray of Dream carving an entrypoint a above; and in to the sudden burrow they climbed, Dream clearing a path of water-concrete as they crawled like rats through the ceiling, degenerate fucking drug addict bitch and one-eyed dwarf synchronized.

"Spray so we can get right on top, right?" said Jeanne, spraying another section ahead; behind, they heard a shout, and in the next instant -

- a fire erupted at the other end, blaze starting to claim the enclosure, smoke strangling the women -

- but a spray of Dream above turned another section of the ceiling to water-concrete, dousing bizarrely the flames, second spray beside to ventilate the fumes as they started their crawl ahead again. A hole was carved from below ahead, and in the next instant -

- a photo of gas hit the ceiling, green clouds bursting outward -

- but a spray of Dream turned them liquid, Jeanne laughing as the water-gas fell back upon its owner below.

"Gotta do better than that." she grinned, only a dozen feet separating them from the hole now; they reached the burrow quick, and as they readied to sweep down -

- they heard a dozen explosions start behind & below - Nuiko held her hand out -

" - feeling - particles getting blown up - he's blowing up the wall -"

- Jeanne nodded, and with no time to waste, the women swept down -

- to at last land feet-first in their foe's previous position; they turned with the speed of light back to their's -

- and saw their foe at the prodigal wall, hands a flurry of movement and placing photos -

- of a dozen drills; the wall began to buckle inward, dozens of holes drilled in to its support -

- and collapsing the middle of the wall. With no time to waste, the man swept away, starting to flee as he passed the wall -

" - swell!"

- and the two ends swelled, crushing his left leg between -

" - L-Lunation -" he winced; a sweep of his hands behind, and the wall corroded, freeing him as they saw him rush away again, stairs leading up&outside -

" - fuck." groaned Nuiko, and the two women started their rush that felt eternal again, a hundred feet still separating them as they ran along the lobby -

- a hasty spray of Dream on the floor ahead, and the two braced themselves as they leaped upon it -

- and the traditional rubber floor launched them forward and behind the man, only thirty feet separating the two as he rushed up the stairs -

" - Dream!"

- a spray of Dream hit the stairs, turning them liquid, the man starting to fall -

" - Lunation!" he shouted, throwing a photo at his feet -

- and the gust of wind blast him with thr strength of a dozen away and out of the subway, disappearing above as the women kept their rush going, hasty spray of Dream turning the misshapen stairs solid again as they ran -

" - shrink." panted Nuiko, snapping off the guardrail as they started up the stairs, shrinking it for latter as they came up -

- and came out to the sidewalk, traffic in full swing beside, man fleeing down the sidewalk ahead. He cut right and through the cars, vague movement of hands as he weaved between. The traffic stopped as they saw the women, and as the two cut on to the sidewalk, line of buildings on each end -

- they saw him run down a sidewalk at the other end, disappearing down the street corner right.

"Let's - not that way." panted Jeanne, gesturing vague to the road. Nuiko nodded, and the two kept up to one of the buildings, Nuiko holding the microscopic pole high; it swelled and extended along the road to the other end, and up the women climbed, stepping like acrobats as they rushed across the road a different path -

- and wincing as every car exploded below, rushing quick and avoiding the brunt of the shockwaves as they ran over, keeping over the next sidewalk to the apartment complex across. The tip of the pole reached one casual window, and in the next instant -

- Dream sprayed the glass liquid, and in to the apartment's living room they swept, forty-year old bachelor who would buy a '87 flat primer Camaro during his next midlife crisis on the couch beside -

" - uh - Urasaria!" panted Jeanne, and the women gestured vague as they ran across the room, out the door to the hall behind. They cut left and rushed down the hall, seeing a second window ahead, and as they reached it quick -

- they felt with aghast senses a volley of explosions begin at the floor below, dozens of shockwaves blasting the foundation apart; no option left, the women leaped out the window in a rain of glass -

- and landed on another sidewalk below, building starting to collapse and totter behind -

- but a sweep of Nuiko's hands behind, and the wall swelled behind, makeshift repairing it and forcing it to collapse the other way, Dream readied for any rubble above -

- and there, across the street was their foe, fifty feet separating them and he, building collapsing behind as the three stood, parked cars between. His camera's aim raised forward again -

- and a dozen photos entered the women's chest, suddenly setting them alight -

- but the next scene was instant.

Nuiko's nails slit their palms, blood draining out; the women shrunk to a microscopic size as the blood fell, and as the red douser claimed their bodies -

- it extinguished them instantly, and the women gagged as they swelled to a normal size again. Nuiko stepped carefully forward, coming up to one parked car and shrinking it to a toy's size; she caught it up and hurled it, swelling as it landed direct on him -

- but a wild spray of photos hit the vehicle; and in to a hundred pieces fell the automobile. No option left, the man rushed at them, and as he came twenty feet away -

" - Dream!"

- a spray of Dream hit his feet, turning the ground below liquid -

" - Lunation!"

- a sweep of a photo of wind at his feet, blasting him forward and out of the trap -

- but saw with aghast eyes the man blasted forward again, photos readied as he flew -

" - swell!"

- and a pillar of concrete swelled ahead, throwing him skyward -

- and the two panted as they felt a set of photos land on their heads -

- and as it started, Nuiko pulled her tablet out.