Knock knock knock

“Sei! A pretty girl is here to see you!”

“One sec!”

Yami opened his door. In the hallway stood his mother and Alexis. Alexis smiled and waved.

“Hi, Sei!”

Walking into his room, Alexis sat herself on the edge of Yami’s bed. As Yami shut the door, his mother whispered.

“Don’t make too much noise, okay?”

Yami sighed and shut the door. Walking over to his desk, Yami opened a drawer to pull out a notebook.

“Alexis, I assume you came to help me?”

Alexis nodded.

“Yes, but I’d like to know what exactly I’m getting myself into. Why are we researching tattoos?”

Yami handed Alexis the notebook. She began to flip through it.

“As I’ve already mentioned, I do not belong to this world or universe. I have no recollection of any events in this world, yet I still remember my past events from my world.”

“But how could that have happened?”

“In my world, there are humans who have been given a power from a being, presumably the creator of the universe. From my studies in that world, it seems as though people can typically only have one power that they are proficient with. They can, however, study and train, and with a great amount of time, can use other powers, but not completely master it as if it were their own.”

“You say ‘typically’...”

“Yes. About once a century, one of these people are granted the title of ‘Jinsei no Hogo’, the Protector of Life. The Jinsei no Hogo is capable of learning and mastering any power used on them. In my world, I was the Jinsei no Hogo.”

“Wow… So you are meant to protect life?”

Yami looked out of his balcony.

“I suppose so. I still haven’t completely understood what it means to be the Jinsei no Hogo, but I do know that being the Jinsei no Hogo also puts you at risk. It seems that if a Jinsei no Hogo is killed, the person who kills them will have complete knowledge and mastery of every power, known and unknown to man. When I was transported here, I was in one of those situations where I had to fight to protect myself and my friends.”

“So what does all of this have to do with tattoos? Right now, it sounds like you’re talking nonsense.”

“In order to use these powers, someone must tattoo themselves with ink and life essence, the fuel for these powers, these ‘Sirushi Inochi’. You obviously can’t walk around with so many tattoos without being suspicious, though, so you can do extra training to make them invisible, which is why I thought I may have still had them, but I can confirm that I have no life essence either.”

“Why would you have to hide them? Wouldn’t everyone be walking around with the power regardless?”

“No. Like I said, the creator has to give it to you.”

“What do you have to do to meet this ‘creator’?”

Yami stared at the blue sky.

“You have to commit suicide.”

Alexis stared at Yami, who had his back turned to her. His clothes rippled in the wind.

“That’s.. Horrible. If I may ask, what drove you to that point?”

Yami began to remember his life before he became the Jinsei no Hogo. The time he tried to ask out Shippai. When he returned home everyday to be yelled at by his father and sister. Sitting alone in his dark room until late hours of the night. He then thought of everything that happened after. Friendships being built, then destroyed. Akiji slowly dying. The hundreds of people he had to kill to protect himself. Dancing with Shinkai. Fighting Shinkai. Waking up to his mother’s smile. Rikai walking away from him. Yami wiped his face with his sleeve, then turned to face Alexis.

“Maybe another time.”

He grinned at Alexis. She smiled back.

“No need to rush. Take your time! Anyways, let’s get started on this.”

Yami nodded, then walked to his computer.

“So right now I’m reading on the history of ancient uses of tat....”

“Yami… What have you already gone through?”

Two years passed. Yami and Alexis have diligently researched the possibility of echoes residing in this world. During school, Yami and Alexis would go to the library at every free moment they had to find information together. At home, Alexis would fall onto her bed and sleep into the next day, while Yami would stay up until late hours of the night compiling notes and training his body.

Alexis opened the door to the school library.

“I can’t believe how long it’s been since Yami took Sei’s place. From what his mother has told me, the doctors think that it’s impossible for Sei to regain his memories, so right now, Yami has the only explanation for this supernatural occurrence, yet we still aren’t sure of a way to prove anything.”

Walking to the table where Yami and her always met during school, she set her backpack on the ground next to her chair and sat beside Yami.

“Hey, Alexis.”

“Hi.”

Yami didn’t stop scribbling things into his notebook, nor did he glance up to speak to Alexis’ face. Next to the notebook Yami was writing in was four other notebooks, all with wear visible from their usage.

The group of boys pulled into the school parking lot in a black van.

“You guys ready? There’s no going back.”

The leader of the group looked at the people behind him. All six nodded.

“Alright. I already planted the surprise. Everyone put on your costumes.”

The boys walked to the back of the van. Opening the doors, they all opened their own duffle bag. Inside of it was padded pants, padded shirt, a vest, and a face mask, all of which were black. At the bottom of the duffle bag were M16 assault rifles.

“Lock and load, boys. Remember, you have six magazines each. After that, you all have knives.”

The leader looked at the group of armed boys.

“I’ll ask one more time. Are you all ready for this?”

Every boy looked at their assault rifle, then looked back the leader and nodded, except for one boy, whose knees were trembling.

“I can’t do this. I’m going home.”

The leader walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder.

“It’s fine. Go.”

The boy turned around and ran away from the school. The leader aimed his assault rifle at the boy’s back.

“How are your grades looking, Yami?”

“Well, I’ve accepted a while ago that I will be stuck here forever, so I began to actually attempt to learn in my classes. Since freshman year, I’ve had a 5.0 GPA. When I’m not spending time on this, I’m spending it on school. My intentions are to carry these memories back to my world so I can be successful. I mean, this is a whole life we’re talking about. You normally only get one, but I’ve gotten three. May as well put them to good use. What about you?”

Alexis chuckled.

“I’m at a 4.0.”

Yami raised his left hand in the air, but continued to write in his right.

“Nice job! Keep up the good work!”

“Yeah!”

As their hands clapped together, five gunshots were heard from outside.

Yami and Alexis both sat up from their chairs.

“How close was that?!”

Yami gritted his teeth.

“That sounded way too close for something bad not to happen.”

Children in the cafeteria all began to look around, frightened. Within a moment, explosions burst out of the trashcans and from underneath tables. Students all around the school were screaming.

Alexis clenched onto Yami.

“Yami! What’s going on?!?!”

“What the hell is happening?! A terrorist attack? No, a school shooting?!”

Yami shoved all of his notes into his backpack and swung it over his shoulder. He grabbed Alexis’ backpack and put it on his other shoulder. Alexis stood shocked.

“Hey! Alexis! We need to get out of here. Grab my hand, and don’t let go. Don’t say anything, and I’ll get you out of this if it’s the last thing I do!”

Alexis began to cry and nodded her head, grabbing Yami’s hand tightly.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

Yami ran to the entrance of the library. He began to whisper commands to Alexis.

“Stay low.”

Peaking through the blinds, Yami surveyed the halls, yet saw no gunmen.

“Come on. We’re going to run.”

Yami swung open the door. Reconfirming that it was safe to run, he saw a crowd of students running to the same exit.

“Shit. This isn’t good.”

Yami pulled Alexis with him as he ran into the crowd of students that were blocking the exit. As the crowd slowly pushed through the doors, screams were heard from the back of the crowd. Yami turned his head behind him to see one of the gunmen raise his assault rifle. Instinctively, Yami pulled Alexis into his arms, then fell onto her, covering her body with his. Just as they hit the floor, the assault rifle opened fire into the defenseless crowd of children. The screams almost drowned out the sound of the bullets being fired. Alexis looked behind her to see her friends and peers fall over one by one as a red mist flew in the air. She was in shock of the horror. Yami put his hand on her cheek and tilted her head to face him. Their gazes met each other.

“Alexis, don’t look back. You’re okay. Everything will be okay. Just don’t turn around.”

As the gunshots subsided, Yami lifted Alexis over his shoulder and ran to the door. The gunman yelled behind him.

“Don’t run you fuckers! You are really going to let your friends die?”

Yami recognized the voice. It was the leader.

“So it’s you.”

With the crowd moving all at once again, the doors quickly became overwhelmed, and the sound of the clip being inserted into the assault rifle warned Yami. Yami turned to his left and saw a wall of glass. He began to charge at it, being careful to use the shoulder that Alexis wasn’t on. The sound of the bullet being chambered assured Yami that hell was about to resume. Just as Yami broke through the glass, the bullets rained upon his classmates once again. Alexis landed on Yami as the fell onto a bush, then rolled onto the ground. Yami grabbed Alexis’ hand.

“Come on! We have to go!”

Alexis was practically dragged as Yami sprinted to his car, a black sedan. Opening the back door, he helped Alexis sit herself onto the backseat.

“Hey, are you alright?”

Alexis had glazed eyes. Yami examined her to make sure she wasn’t hurt, then gave her a reassuring hug.

“We made it. We’re safe.”

Yami set their backpacks on the ground next to the car. Yami turned back towards the school as the gunshots continued.

“I’ll be right back.”

Yami began to walk back to the school, but was quickly stopped by Alexis, who grabbed his hand.

“Please, Yami. Don’t leave me. It’s too dangerous back there.”

“I can’t just let my peers be killed. We need to stop them. I need to stop them.”

Yami walked away from Alexis, causing her to lose her grasp.

“Yami! Don’t go!”

Yami walked back to the entrance where he had ran from. Bodies of students covered the floor of the halls. Yami clenched his fist. He placed one foot in the entrance of the school, but was quickly pulled back. It was an officer. Behind him, four more charged into the school.

“What do you think you’re doing, kid? Go to the ambulance over there! You’re injured!”

Yami looked down at himself. He was covered in cuts from the glass.

“I can’t do anything.”