Within a certain room nearby, a frail – looking 13 year old girl was busying her hands by fumbling the blanket covering her knee – caps, through her small and smooth fingers. Without any sense of awareness for her situation, or awareness of those beginning to surround and comfort her, Aria bawled continuously over the blanket that hid most of her body.

While it indeed covered her, the arms that played with parts of the blanket’s edges actually hugged around the timid child’s knees at the same time. She was almost in an upright fetal position, crying without a single response given to the nurses while remaining engrossed in her own complicated thoughts.

What she thought about was…

The past incident of the villain’s invasion. In that moment, she could do nothing but panic. Panic and scream. And her scream is the exact cause for her and her classmates getting discovered by the villains. Her scream…

...Her stupid scream! She was embarrassed and scared. After all – she was a very well-behaved girl that never sought out trouble or danger. She attended school in order to find a better way to help rescue those unfortunate people around the world without much chances at survival and bring positive changes to the world, all the while. This incident came as a very huge shock to her psyche. Both her ideals, as well as her confidence were virtually shattered.

She felt foolish and heartbroken. After all, no matter what was said to her at the moment – as far as she was concerned, she killed Alyandrea, and she caused Ophelia to lose both of her tough, intimidating and extremely powerful arms. The same arms that could even force Harvey the Muscle King into the hospital!

Why was that, you may be asking?

Well…

She may not have gripped the blade or pulled the trigger against her own comrades, but it was her own irrational behavior and screaming that brought despair and death to her own classmates – her friends!

…

.

.

After all, it was her screaming that led the villains right to the gym all three girls had been taking refuge in.

She exposed their position!

Aria righteously blamed herself because of this one fact alone and it was the only thing she needed in order to convince herself of this current belief she’s sporting underneath her tears:

That she indirectly killed Alyandrea. And she may have even caused Ophelia to die as well, since she only remembered Ophelia’s last arm getting chopped off before her vision dimmed. Yet another woeful tale of remorse for her to cry over: after causing everyone so much trouble with her unnecessary screaming and untimely wailing, she fainted!

...She had the gall to faint! She knew they would give her looks of pity. It’s certainly happened before, after her mother died. But…

She also knew what was hidden deep within their hearts. Behind those pity – filled eyes his a scornful gaze that would inevitably blame her for the trouble that her loud yelling carried.

Furthermore, for a split second only, Aria actually had the nerve to think, “But if they both died, will anybody even know that I screamed?”

Aria: “(Stupid Aria, I would know! It was my fault that this happened to everyone… all my-) *Sniff* (…All my fault!)”

Her tense nerves crumbled in an instant after she woke up, remembered her final memories, learned about her survival but saw that she was alone.

She immediately came to the worst possibility in her mind, and took this as the sad – but – actual conclusion. And after that thought, Aria began to suffer from an immediate mental breakdown.

Why? Because Aria hated herself for thinking this way. For being so fearful of the blame strangers would throw towards her, she even considered for one second only, that she could get away with it – that maybe, their deaths was in fact, filled with both good and bad sides to them!

...She wants to die, but is far too scared of death to follow through.

And with each thought that she uses to berate and scorn herself, she begins to hate herself more and more.

She is truly a coward, and Aria hates herself for it.

…

And then, there was her book. She instinctively looked to her right upon reaching the lowest point her own self – loathing could bring her to – and naturally, she spotted her book on top of the stand beside her bed.

Her book! The very same one that she had lost because Ophelia threw it high and far!

…

Ophelia. Recalling her made Aria’s reddened eyes discharge once again, and more crying ensued. She wasn’t even sure if she was happy, angry or sad at this point.

The honest 13 year old was scared, depressed and confused all at once, so she could only continue to cry in her own discomfort and distressing emotions.

This was the scene Mr. Abrams walked into. A nurse followed suit almost immediately, rushing past him after the homeroom teacher froze his steps at the door.

What was she crying about? Perhaps… did something go wrong? Go wrong… obviously it did! She probably has no recollection of the events after her ‘big move’!

…If it was really her, that is. But considering her circumstances and the man that was most likely targeting her, or her belongings… she no doubt, held some special secret.

And from behind Mr. Abrams, outside of the lone girl’s patient’s bedroom entrance, two boys about her age, one younger and one older, popped their heads out intending to catch a peak at her situation.

The ever popular top ten hero and homeroom teacher glanced at these two.

Aria.

Noel.

Ian.

Rise.

Ophelia.

Each and every one of these five students hold such terrifying backgrounds that they inevitably suit the old and morbid saying; ‘Curiosity killed the cat’.

The rest of his current semester’s students aren’t such simple children, either.

But why were so many curious freaks gathering in his class? Did Principal Leyman really know about this before assigning them to him?

...No, of course not. He must have been following his intuition or instinct like some lucky psychic or beast. Maybe he had an idea, but this man… at least, in Mr. Abrams’s experience with the guy, he never had a genuine understanding of the entire picture. His knowledge was always half-assed, or three-fourths-assed at best.

So then why…

…

…

…

Regardless, there’s no use in dwelling on it now. Mulling over such strange things at a critical juncture like now wasn’t exactly professional of him, but what can he do to comfort her? Mr. Abrams was never good with pep talks.

He didn’t know what the best thing to say would be, so he opted for his most suitable opening remark to attempt comforting this scatter-brained girl that didn’t even notice their arrival, thanks to her tears.

Mr. Abrams: “...I don’t know what you’re crying about Aria, but if this is about getting Alyandrea killed, then stop worrying so much. Nobody died and in fact, thanks to you, everybody ended up living with nary a scratch. Aria, thank you, for saving my students.”

Aria: “...*Sniff* Wh-What? What are you…? I… I don’t get what you’re … *Sniff* ...saying. I didn’t *Sniff* I didn’t save anyone! In fact - *Sniff* it was MY screaming that got her… that got everyone k- ki- Kille-”

Mr. Abrams: “Forget that bull - crap. What do you expect of yourself, a 13 year old brat with barely enough living experience to read and write, when highly experienced mercenaries come knocking on your door with an ambush?! Stop acting conceited – it’s already a blessing that you didn’t faint right there. Catching a victim unconscious is definitely easier for their line of work to get the job done. You think falling unconscious would at least prevent your scream from attracting their attention? Then tell me, Aria: where would you have gone, if they were coming in through the front entrance and the stairs were at the end of the lobby - fully in their line of sight? Furthermore, from what I can tell, one of them was a mid to long - ranged specialist. And the gym was in between both girl and boy lobbies – even closer to their entry position. You had no chance of getting to a higher floor, the other end which led to the boys lobby and dormitory was sealed off from you, and villains had already infiltrated that side so the second entrance was also cut off. You were without options, so blaming yourself is silly. Understand? I am the one at fault, for allowing monsters like them to get close to you.”

Aria: “*Sniff* …But I… I stll got them killed quicker. I-”

Rise: “Bah! They died because they were weak. What does that have to do with you? So you screamed. And? Like the teacher said – those crooks would’ve tracked you guys down anyways! You were already sitting ducks! Heheh.”

Noel: “It’s not nice to laugh, Rise. And Aria, hey. If you really want to blame yourself, then that’s okay. Besides, you’re not the only person in our class who’s doing that. But, if that’s the case then… why not just change the parts about yourself that you don’t like? Wouldn’t that make you feel better?”

Aria: “…...(Is life that easy, to change myself whenever I feel like it...?)”

---