Chapter Text
He's swinging the blade around, clearly trying to intimidate her.
Well, trying meaning that he’s succeeding because, in truth, An doesn't have a single clue on what to do or say.
Because sure, this specific hallway’s a hot spot for class skippers and dress code violators to hide from the committee and all, but that's for petty school crimes. Kamiyama may have a very diverse student body filled with all types of personalities, however, An was of the mind that there were no actual violent delinquents at the school.
This is probably one of the worse— worst ways to be proven wrong.
"You're just pretentious, Shirashi! I hate it!" He shouts, spittle flying all about. "Just because you have a fat mouth and a dream, you get love and adoration.” He points the knife at her. “And what do people like me get?"
"Please—"
"NOTHING! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
He approaches her, and An finally realizes that she shouldn’t have put herself in this situation at all by running into a dead end. Adrenaline spiking her, she considers somehow ducking under him, but she can't bring herself to move forward. Her legs feel far too much like jelly in her absolute failure of a fight or flight response and all she can manage are a few steps back before being stopped by the wall behind her.
She feels all too much like a deer moments before its death to the claws of a lion.
"God, I really hate people like you." He flexes his arm like he's raring to punch her but stops short, remembering he's holding a knife. He instead smiles, pure malice dripping from his every pore. "That's why I'm going to make you finally understand."
"Hey…” An trembles. “Don’t you think people are going to come looking? We’re still in—"
Her jaw snaps shut when the point of the blade ghosts against her chin. Her throat tightens at the way his pupils shrink.
Her fear paralyzes her, An's body registering in every way that she's in actual danger. That she might die here, never be able to see Kohane, Akito, Toya, her parents, or any of her other friends ever again. She'll never sing again or achieve Vivid BAD SQUAD’s dream of surpassing RAD WEEKEND.
"You and I both know no one hangs around this spot, Shirashi." The cold metal rests on her throat. "And even then, I don't care if I get caught, so long as I take you down with me." He leans forward, staring in her eyes, far too close . She sees nothing but pure malice in them. "Because I really can't stand you."
It's those words that finally give An the pump to react, and before she can even think it, her leg flies out, kicking something solid as she stumbles to the side to run.
She hears his hiss, hears his all too heavy footsteps swiftly start behind her, feels the force that yanks her back by the hair.
And she fights desperately for her life, kicking, punching and screaming as loud as she could. She tilts her head away when he tries to cover her mouth and she manages to roll out from under him as he grasps at her blazer. She hears the thing rip as she jumps up while he tries to scramble to his feet.
He looks nothing short of deranged, hands open as he goes for another lunge at her which she barely evades. It's then that he looks at her dead on, and freezes entirely in place.
An is in no state to question, her mind running in overdrive at the brief pause. "You're— hah— insane," she pants. "You're absolutely insane."
But he only continues to stare at her, opening his mouth—
—right as an orange haired blur tackles him from the side and they both land with a sickening crunch against metal lockers.
An recognizes that it's Akito landing heavy punch after punch to the boy's face just as Toya steps into her view, a phone to his ear. His other hand extends and retracts multiple times towards her.
"Shiraishi— We— It's going to be—Don't panic. Do not panic— Everything will be alright—" Oh he's rambling a lot. Like he looks really scared. "You're going to be fine so long as we— huh— oh. 110? We're at—"
An notices that the body being pummeled by Akito has stopped trying to shield his face and is instead flopping around like a ragdoll, which is definitely not good.
She pushes past Toya, panicked.
"Oh god! Stop! Akito, you're going to kill him!"
He turns to look at her with raw fury, his mouth even snapping open to snarl, before his expression quickly morphs into horror.
"W-what the fuck—" he quietly says, instead. Toya desperately tries to step in between them the moment he starts reaching out. "An—!"
"A student reported shouting and possible violence, what is going—" An turns around, and the teacher who had just approached immediately shouts in alarm, before her demeanor instantly changes.
"Get her on the ground this instant! I hope those are the emergency services! You!" She points at Akito. "Get off that boy and stay where I can see you—"
An watches students begin to gather behind the screaming teacher before Toya blocks her view again, speaking slowly, still on the phone.
"Shiraishi, please lower yourself onto your back, carefully," he says, stiff as he looks down at her abdomen.
"Why—?" she asks while lowering her view to see what he's looking at—
The knife handle sticking out her stomach.
There's a knife in her stomach.
"There's a knife in my stomach."
".....yes."
Next thing she knows, she's on her back, feeling strangely serene as Toya crouches over her. It's too loud with too many voices overlapping around them, though. The screams and shouts seem to come from all directions, An even hears her name multiple times in the commotion.
She recognizes voices, tries to crane her head to see—
Toya gently tilts her head back to him.
"Please focus on me, Shiraishi." His expression visibly cracks. "Deep breaths, you need to—"
The rest of his words warp and twist in ways An doesn't instantly understand, but she's able to figure out the gist of it. To relax and all that. But, strangely enough, she's already feeling pretty calm.
She grabs his trembling hand.
"In four, hold seven, out eight, right? Can you do it with me, Toya?"
"I..." Toya's face softens slightly. "Of course, Shiraishi."
In.
Hold.
Out.
In.
Hold.
Out—
A blazer is thrown at him, followed by three others as the voices around them grow ever the more suffocating. The teacher seems to be yelling instructions, judging from how Toya leans back to listen.
"Please lift yourself up." An wouldn't have even realised he's talking if it weren't for how he squeezed her hand. His steady voice is almost inaudible amongst a sudden further surge of chaos as other classes come. "But be careful—"
"I've got it, hold on."
Toya's hands feel tense as he slides folded blazers under her, propping her up awkwardly. She sees students move around her, she sees terror, disgust, shock. More adults arrive, waving away the students. Some are being shoved back by Akito. The first teacher shouts things An isn't currently able to process.
She remembers something though. So she tugs at Toya's sleeve.
"Practice."
Toya blinks.
"Practice... is probably canceled now, right?" She doesn't wait for him to respond. "Someone should probably tell Kohane."
Akito, who had just stepped over to them, gapes, while Toya nods and hastily begins tapping on his phone.
"She should know," he solemnly agrees.
"Wait—are you fucking serious? Wait, Toya! Don't send that—"
"It's done." He taps some more at the phone before quickly standing up with his eyebrows set, making his way through the crowd and out of An's sight.
Akito stares after him.
"He's taking a picture of the guy ," he relays.
An pouts, her eyelids feeling heavier.
"Why not a picture of me?" Akito's head swivels to her.
"Fuck, you're out if it," he responds, his voice wavering, his hands are open, coated in blood, looking almost bloated. "An, hold on, don't—"
An's vision begins to kind of blur at the edges as she nods.
"Don't go to sleep or something, I know," she breathes, smiling. "So cliché."
Akito squats next to her. He's staring at the knife. She can't have him do that, it's no good.
"Hey, hey Akito," she calls. "Do me a favor?"
His lip is trembling as he meets her eyes. There's splatters of blood on his cheeks, what looks like drops in his hair.
The teacher screams something fierce.
A lot of blood on his jacket and shirt, too. She hopes it isn't his.
"Can you do me a favor, Akito?" She repeats, clearer.
"What?" He weakly answers.
An tries to muster her most stern expression.
"Get your hands checked out as soon as you can."