~ Thursday, the seventeenth of October, 12:05 ~

The door-frame quickly passed my vision as I flew past it in pursuit of the guy clad in a hoodie in front of me. After they'd finally presented himself to me, I wouldn't just give up on catching him there. After so many hours of going around writing things down in my note, I didn't want that effort to go to waste. Even though that process was different from this one, I was still motivated by it.

My legs were only able to go a certain speed, as my legs moved at a reasonable speed.

Like a damaged hunter desperately trying to chase down prey to satisfy their daily hunger, I ran through the glass-filled hallways with the outlook to the rest of the schoolyard presented to my peripheral vision. But my actual focus laid right in front of me, the actual perpetrator had shown himself for the first time.

Students who hadn't been able to hear the order from their 'god' were pushed out of the way as our chase continued.

- Shit…!

At this rate, they're going to be able to escape! They're a little bit faster than I am, our gap is gradually growing larger. -

I had to do something to close our distance, but as I subtly looked around me, the options weren't that many. At the very end of the corridor, there was a dead stop where you had to turn either left or right. If I was able to close our distance enough to use the moment where they turned to either direction because they would inevitably have to slow down as they turned a corner.

- If I can tackle them or kick them as that slowdown is happening, then I'll be able to confront them properly. -

As I focused some of my last energy from the lunch and coffee into my sprinting, making my speed only slightly faster than the culprit, I thought to myself

- A chance…! -

But as the dead stop neared itself with the speed we were running at, with only 3 doors leading to classrooms left in that corridor, a sudden realization came to my mind.

- Which direction will he go!? -

Depending on which way he went, I needed to position myself in different ways, and time wasn't a factor I could take easy. If I wanted my rushed, anxiety-filled, plan to succeed, I would need to prepare my position perfectly before executing slightly before they turned the corner.

*VVOOOM*

"2 left…"

- Is there any way to know where they'll go? Think, is there any indication from their current position? -

There wasn't any information to take away at all from their statue, speed, leaning, or anything. It was all strangely straight, like a perfectly straight line programmed into their body. Whoever it was must've been well-trained, maybe that was a clue as to their identity. But I didn't worry about that, my head was only filled with confident thoughts of catching the perpetrator. Although the anxiety behind those thoughts also started to bubble up as we passed another classroom door

*VVOOOM*

"Tch… 1 left"

Those thoughts bubbled up even more, my pure passion and desire to catch the person in front of me wouldn't help me at all. The reality would go a certain way, there was no doubt about it. My mind started racing even faster to figure out some reliable to know what direction, but nothing turned up. At the most important moment, my brain was unable to try and find anything that would help, perhaps a 50% chance was the best I could get. The number disturbed me, although it sounded high, the same went for the chance of getting it wrong. What would then happen? A wasted opportunity, all because of incompetency.

- Another wasted opportunity because of me!? Not again…! -

The dead stop grew larger in my eyes, not only because we came closer to it, but its mocking stare became even larger.

"Annoying..."

Irritation drew the last energy I could muster as I sprinted even faster, at the same time as a highly unwanted conclusion came to me.

We were kind of similar.

The concept of making every student obedient to one ringed true in the very depths of my heart, the lust and desire to exploit other's innocence for my own vengeful reasons was something I'd acted on before and drove some of my actions, the seeming hatred for people who judged you and decided what you were in your stead made up my mindset. A desire to be oneself sullied by resistance and dislike for those who'd rejected you.

Weren't we acting on desires that we both shared?

As that thought entered my head, a somewhat reliable clue became clear

- If I have to take a turn, and I don't care where I end up, I usually take a… left, don't I?

So, maybe… -

I had no idea if that guess would make that 50% number rise or fall, but it sat well in my heart to assume that thing. Those confident thoughts returned as I smiled, the corner coming up in only a few meters. I already prepared my position to take them down to the left as they started turning, very slightly, to the left.

- …

Now! -

*KICK*

"Ouch…!"

"That felt good..."

I was suddenly on the floor as I looked around, in slight confusion. In front of me, another body stood. With barely any energy left within me, I felt a burning sensation in my back. As I placed my hand on it, my confusion grew larger as I was the one who sat in pain with my leg curled behind my thigh awkwardly.

- Don't tell me…! -

The person I'd charged at with all I could, the hoddie-wearing perpetrator of this situation I'd planned around and tried to understand, stood completely unscathed a couple of meters in front of me. Like a cruel form of instant karma, I was the one who'd gotten hurt trying to stop the person in front of me. Maybe they truly were a god, an instant divine punishment for trying to tackle down another being. My eyes started turning moist as the previous irritation welled up again even harsher, but the confusion of what'd happened didn't get lighter either. I'd been right about the direction, as I laid down on the squeaky clean floor to the left of that long hallway. As my eyes and ears forced me to look behind, I realized the source of my agony.

A large group of students, seemingly waiting for my arrival, stood right by the right turn. Hungry animals, with the same dead eyes before, stood in wait for their next prey.

I was never the damaged hunter.

I was the damaged prey, lured in by a delicious-looking bait.

I must've been kicked by one of the people in that crowd, who waited for the perfect moment. My attention was quickly drawn to the hoodie-wearing culprit, as they grabbed a hold of their hood.

- Are they confident enough to reveal their face? Are they that sure that I will perish here?-

Under the calm sunlight of an October midday shining through the clean windows mounted to the hallway, a face was revealed to my morbidly curious eyes.

"Of course not…"

I gritted my teeth in the toughest way I had, the frustration made me want to do something drastic as violent anger built up inside of me.

Those dead and empty eyes, belonging to the black-haired expressionless student in front of me, told me everything that I needed to know to answer my question.

"Even into the end…

You're just a coward"

…

~TEN MINUTES EARLIER, 11:55 ~

"I guess we'll experiment a little bit."

Walking down an intersection-like hallway near the cafeteria, Amatsuyu tapped a black-haired student on his shoulder as he was walking to the cafeteria. His eyes facing Amatsuyu's, Amatsuyu said

"Follow me"

"Yes, Master"

Amatsuyu bit his lip and corrected his way of speaking

"Master feels wrong, call me 'God' instead."

"Understood, God."

They wandered a bit up until they entered an empty classroom near the long hallway, and Amatsuyu ordered to the black-haired student he didn't know the name of

"Hit yourself"

Nothing happened, after several moments of waiting with absolutely nothing happening, it was clear. Amatsuyu nodded his head, with a slight undertone of irritation as he wouldn't be able to have full control. He looked at the handbook he'd grabbed earlier during the day and looked through it to find the student.

"Jiko Sanwa, huh?

Alright, I order you:

Hit Jiko Sanwa"

Again, nothing happened, and the same amount of time was given to reproduce the experiment.

"I see… So I can't order them to damage themselves directly, even if I say it in the third person."

Seeing the time tick by, Amatsuyu decided to save further experimenting for later as he said to Jiko

"Alright, Follower Jiko. I have an order for you to execute. You are to run into the cafeteria in 6 minutes, wearing this hoodie I'm giving you, and around 12:05 or so, jump down in front of the exit by the long hallway and run all the way down. At the end turn… Umm, left I guess, and stop there."

After handing Jiko the hoodie he'd brought from home that morning, the student nodded broadly and calculated and said

"Understood, God."

Amatsuyu smirked as he also started walking out of the classroom, heading to the broadcasting room close-by.

- He'll definitely fall for that, if I know him, and his intelligence, enough.

Not only will I be able to rid myself of him, but this will also prove to be an experiment to see how long and more complicated orders work with the followers. Maybe it depends on the individual's abilities, so someone with better memory executes orders like that better.

In that case, I hope you do well, Jiko Sanwa -

…

~12:07~

"He hasn't changed that much, has he?"

Amatsuyu quietly commented to himself behind the mountain of students in front of him. Even though he'd been the one to deliver the crushing kick to Kaharu's back, he'd quickly retreated to a spot behind the swarm of students in front of him, hiding behind their soulless fleshy bodies to veil his identity. As soon as he secreted himself behind those people, a vicious smirk appeared on his face, like he was trying to keep a certain persona up in front of his followers. He thought

- Serves you right, Kaharu! You tried to get in my way so many times! Maybe I should let you live if you beg and growl, hahahaha! -

"…

You're just a coward"

Amatsuyu's eyes shot open as he processed what he just heard from Kaharu. The fact that he dared to question and go against the true leader of all, and insult him right in front of him, in his domain, was the ultimate insult to Amatsuyu's character. He felt a flare suddenly light up in his heart as he stared forth with an unforgiving stare.

- Bastard…! -

*SNAP*

Like that, the horde of students proceeded forth with the snap of his finger. There was no doubt that he made the wrong decision, benevolence could only go so far, Amatsuyu justified it to himself. But it was at the same moment that Amatsuyu realized something strange.

A strange, ghastly, chilling sensation and presence was felt as he raised one eyebrow forth. At the very end of that corridor, many meters dead in front of him, he saw a very hasty and surprised existence stare at the spectacle Amatsuyu started.

The delinquent with the name Kosuto Kokoru sent a chill down Amatsuyu's spine.

…