Chapter 2: The inverted diamonds (Parts 3-4)

Chapter 2 Part 3

— I'm off, Seji-sensei.

Today is a new day and I head to school as usual, arriving a bit late and going straight to my seat.

It seems like a routine now for Kenji to come to my desk every day; I wonder what he wants today.

— Hey, Uraseku-chan, Hiroki's been asking about you all day, I think he wants to see you.

— What, Hiroki?!

I press my head against the desk and bring my hands to my forehead; I'm highly alarmed by what Kenji just told me.

Damn, what have I done now?! Just when I thought today would be a quiet day!

— Oh, don't tell me... maybe he's fallen for you.

Kenji puts on a mischievous face; this must be like the tenth time everyone's made that face!

— Anyone would think you're a girl with that hair...

— Enough, no one said anything about my hair! And besides, I'm not attracted to any guys!

I retort to Kenji, but then something happens that leaves me blank: Hiroki has entered the classroom and is coming towards me with an annoyed expression.

— Uraseku, go to the rooftop after school; I have things to discuss with you.

After saying that, Hiroki returns to his seat; everyone in the class saw us, I'm definitely a dead man...

Kenji can't contain his laughter.

— Whoa! Looks like Hiroki wants to tell you something; better clarify that you're not a girl from now on, or you'll leave him very hopeful!

I raise my voice at Kenji again.

— How can you be so happy?! That guy is going to kill me!

I bang my head on the table again and bring my hands to my forehead.

— The rooftop isn't a place to kill someone, and besides, if that's what I wanted, I would've done it a long time ago.

— Alright, get out of here!

Kenji can't help but laugh as he heads back to his seat; Hiroki heard everything I said, but it seems he doesn't care.

Although it seals my fate, I'll go see him on the rooftop after school...

Then, our science teacher, Huevito-sensei, enters.

— Let's see, said the blind man... Good morning, students!

Lately, I haven't been able to concentrate in class because my mind has been occupied with other things.

I fear my nearly perfect grades might start slipping...

I try to pay as much attention as possible in science and Japanese classes.

This goes on until lunchtime.

I decide to meet up with another friend from school, Fujisaki Makoto, the current student council president.

Makoto has been my friend since shortly after I moved to this country; you could say he's someone I trust a lot.

He and I decide to have lunch together this time.

When I tell him what happened, he can't help but laugh at what went down with Kenji.

— Haha, so that's why you got mad at Kenji?!

— Hey, this is pretty serious...

— Oh, come on, don't be like that, buddy, cheer up!

Makoto tries to lift my spirits, but at a time like this, I'm only thinking about eating because I haven't had breakfast.

— Alright, forget about that; let's eat.

— Well, now that we've changed the subject, would you be interested in joining the student council?

The bite I was about to take of my food was interrupted by that question.

— Why? I don't know how I could be useful to the student council.

— Oh, please, Uraseku, we all know you're actually very smart!

Makoto pleads earnestly; I really don't want to join the student council; it's too much responsibility.

— I'll think about it; I don't think I have much time for that right now. In the meantime, plan my funeral.

— Haha! Relax, I'm sure he just wants to talk.

Makoto and I continue eating.

Once we're done, I hear a sweet voice; it's Miru-chan.

— Uraseku-senpai!

— Oh, hi, Sakurai-san!

— Hi, Fujisaki-san!

Apparently, Makoto and Miru-chan know each other.

— Do you two know each other?

— Yes, Miru-chan is the student council secretary; she's a very helpful classmate.

— I haven't been in the student council for long; it's only been three days. I didn't find the perfect moment to tell you, you'll know why soon enough.

So Miru-chan is part of the student council; if I needed a reason to join, here it is...

I get up from the table very seriously with my head down and tell Makoto:

— Makoto-san, I accept your invitation to join the student council.

— That's the spirit, Uraseku-chan! What made you change your mind?

— … Nothing, I just wanted to, that's all.

I turn away blushing.

Miru-chan smiles.

She was looking for me because she found a bearer of a diamond nearby.

We can't talk about this near Makoto, so we decide to discuss it somewhere else.

— So Ai has found another bearer...

Kibō emerges from the diamond.

— It's the diamond of peace; we must go retrieve it.

Miru-chan seems worried; it's our lunch hour, so I don't think there'll be much of a problem if we step out.

— Miru-chan, let's go.

— Really?

She looks at me in surprise.

— Yes, the sooner we do this, the better.

— Understood... I'm ready, senpai.

Miru-chan, Ai, and Kibō are excited.

We leave the school undetected and quickly head towards the location of the signal.

Finally, after a short journey, we arrive at a small hill.

There sits a girl leaning against a tree, dressed in punk attire, with black hair and red-tipped ends, and a small cat on her shoulder.

I suppose it's normal to get a bad vibe from her...

Chapter 2 Part 4

The girl looks quite sad; there's a lot of blood on her back and on the tree where she's leaning.

A teru teru bozu spirit approaches to greet Kibō and Ai; we've definitely found the bearer of a diamond, but she doesn't seem to be doing well.

— Brothers!

— Yasuragi!

Kibō and Ai greet their brother; it appears his name is Yasuragi.

Neither Miru nor I know how to approach her; we both feel a bad vibe, but apparently the girl knew, so she started speaking.

— So you've come...

— Did you know we were coming?

— Yasuragi knew you were coming.

It seems she did this so that we would find her; she doesn't seem to be in a good situation.

She and I could be going through a similar situation...

Miru-chan starts to get frightened.

Yasuragi approaches us with a concerned look.

— She has issues; I'm afraid she won't listen to what you want to tell her. She just wanted to be detected by you so you know of her existence.

— What sense does that make?

Miru-chan has been very quiet since she arrived.

I quickly notice the girl has a cut on her face.

I take the initiative; I approach her and kneel down to be at her eye level.

— Ah!

She's a bit surprised; I don't think she expected me to get close.

I reach out and move her hair aside a bit to see the cut on her face more clearly.

— I see, so the diamond is rejecting you...

Being at a considerable height, the wind blows and gently lifts my hair, revealing two healing cuts on her face.

She seems surprised but pouts and pushes me away from her.

— You're too close.

I quickly get up from the ground.

I notice she left a bloodstain on my uniform because her hand is covered in blood.

She's bleeding a lot, not just from the cut on her face but also from her back.

If her diamond is on her back, it would make sense that she wanted to remove it because it has hurt her badly.

— Yasuragi, do you know why she's bleeding so much?

— She tried to remove the diamond because it's hurting her.

Just as I suspected.

Miru-chan breaks her silence and says:

— Don't your parents notice these wounds?

— Huh?

The girl doesn't seem too happy after hearing that from Miru-chan.

— Aren't they with you to take care of you?

— Enough already!

The girl gets agitated; a powerful celestial aura with black overtakes her, Kibō, Ai, and Yasuragi don't seem to know what's happening.

Thanks to the strong aura emanating from the girl, a strong gust surrounds us; Miru-chan breaks her silence and says:

— She's bleeding a lot; we should take her to a hospital!

Yasuragi responds:

— I think it would be better to leave her alone!

— But...!

I don't think that's the most convenient; we mustn't let the diamond matter come to light. If a doctor sees it, they'll start doing strange tests.

— Miru-chan, it's best to keep the diamond matter a secret; I think Seji-sensei will know what to do!

The aura disappears along with the strong gust.

I take a deep breath before continuing.

— Seji-sensei will know what to do; right now, we can't take her to him.

Now addressing the girl.

— Hey, you'll have to wait for us to help you.

— Are you sure we'll come back for her? I'm really worried.

I try to calm Miru-chan.

— I'm sure he'll know what to do; don't worry.

Kibō and Ai decide to bring Yasuragi with us; Miru-chan and I return to school.

— We promise we'll be back; you have nothing to worry about.

As we leave, the girl starts laughing uncontrollably while crying and then says:

— If you really cared, you wouldn't have left me alone... like my parents...

The girl lies down on the ground, and the aura reappears even stronger and with darker tones.

A huge gray cloud begins to form above her.

Miru-chan and I return in time for classes.

During them, I look out the window and wonder:

— The diamond of peace... the diamond chose her, so why is it rejecting her?

Yasuragi, who is under the table with Kibō, tells me:

— Right now, she doesn't feel at peace.

— Then why did the diamond choose her in the first place if she didn't feel at peace?

Yasuragi's gaze turns sad.

— At first, her thoughts and soul were peaceful, but I didn't realize she was surrounded by her parents' fighting; what she wanted most was peace, and I confused it with her strongest feeling.

— So the diamond brought her more trouble; it started rejecting her, and she tried to remove it because it was hurting her... she must be really depressed.

Kibō analyzes the situation and says:

— I fear something will happen... I sense a very evil aura; I think the diamond is reversing.

— Reversing?

— Yes, she no longer feels at peace; it seems she's starting to want the opposite. This will cause the diamond to reverse and transform into the diamond of unrest. If she can't control her emotions, the diamond's power might be too much for her and kill her...

Right after Kibō said that, lightning strikes very close to the school, and it starts raining heavily.

Seji-sensei in the pupusería feels bad vibes.

— Chie... it's raining, and it's not winter.

— S-Seji-sama, a diamond is reversing.

This is bad, very bad!

— Ah!

I stand up in the middle of class with a worried look.

— Zeido-kun, what's wrong? Return to your seat.

The teacher asks me to sit back down, but no one here would understand this situation.

I quickly run out of the classroom with Kibō and Yasuragi.

Yasuragi looks very worried and tells me:

— This is bad... she's approaching.

— I must find Miru-chan.

I know she should be in the gym receiving physical education classes, so I head there.

I open the door forcefully, drawing the teacher's attention; it's not his name, but I call him Pipo; he's very rude.

— Argh! What's this fool doing here?!

— Pipo-sensei, I need Miru-chan!

I run towards Miru-chan, grab her hand, and together we leave for the hallways to wait for the moment when the girl arrives.

— U-Uraseku! Is something wrong?!

— This is bad...

The teru teru bozu spirits talk as we run through the hallways; Ai says:

— Can you feel it?

All the spirits nod; they seem to know what this means.

I still don't fully understand, but I know it's not good, and it requires our intervention.

Little by little, the atmosphere darkens.

Yasuragi's face takes on a hopeless expression.

— The diamond of peace... it has already reversed.

— Why is she coming here?!

I shout very worriedly at Yasuragi.

The expression on Kibō's face changes to one of concern.

— When a diamond reverses, its bearer must sever the spirit of their diamond to make way for another; in this case, she seeks to end Yasuragi, the spirit of the diamond of peace, to make way for the spirit of the diamond of unrest...

Why does no one say this when we ask?!

— How will we stop her?!

— We must reverse the diamond, and everything will return to normal; it will be very difficult to do that since we can't force someone to be peaceful; they must acquire it on their own!

If this continues, the diamond's power might end up killing her!

I think I know what needs to be done; I'm not sure if I can do it, but I must make that girl feel at peace again.

Final part of Chapter 2

— I know what we have to do, but you must prepare yourselves; we'll use the power of the diamonds...

Just then, a loud crash resounds in my classroom.

All my classmates rush out of the room in a panic.

The girl has come, just as we expected; she's looking for Yasuragi to make way for an evil spirit.

Filled with fury, she says:

— Where... is... Yasuragi?!

This will be our first battle against someone; we must use the power of the diamonds here at school, so I suppose there's no longer a need to hide their existence.

She could die if she's not controlled; I don't want to hurt her, but I will make sure everything returns to normal. I hope I can do it...

I hope I can save her life...