Epiones POV
The air in the abandoned music room was thick with a medicinal scent that didn't belong in a school. It was sharp, sterile, and cold, cutting through the usual smell of old wood and dust. Chizuru sat on a piano bench, her movements jerky and stiff, like a film skipping frames. The fluid grace she usually possessed had evaporated, leaving behind a girl who looked like she was struggling to hold her own skin together. She fumbled with the silver briefcase her father had sent, her fingers lacking their usual precision.
"Epione... the case," she whispered. Her voice sounded strange, layered with a faint, electronic static that made the hair on my arms stand up. Oh no
rushed forward, clicking the latches open. The hiss of pressurized vapor hit my face, smelling of freezing iron and ozone. It was a scent that reminded me of a hospital during a power outage. I handed her one of the glowing blue vials. With a steadying breath, Chizuru pressed the injector to her thigh. A soft whir-click followed, a sound like a high-end camera shutter. I watched, breathless, as the grey, translucent tint of her skin vanished, replaced almost instantly by a healthy, sun-kissed glow.
"Are you... sick? Are you going to be okay?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper in the hollow room. "Miss Pillarion seemed so worried, and your hands are always so cold."
Chizuru closed the case, the mechanical stiffness vanishing as her gummy smile snapped back into place. "It is very rare, Epi-chan. A confidential hereditary condition. If the public knew, my family's enemies would see it as a weakness in the Katsura bloodline. It is why I need my medicine to keep my circulation stable. You won't tell, right?"
I shook my head vigorously, my heart aching for her. To have such a burden and still be so bright seemed impossible. "N-No! course not! I was just... really surprised and concerned. I thought you were having a terrible fever."
"I know," she chirped, standing up with effortless grace. "But don't be. I am as sturdy as they come, this happens all the time which I've gotten used to it. Think of it like a vitamin that needed to be taken at a regular schedule, if not taken properly, my body would grow frail and not so very useful, look! I can function properly now" Chizuru explained as she positions herself seated in front of the piano. Placing both her hands on the white tiles like a pro, and In this motion, she plays the keys that is familiar to me; Waltz no. 2. A melody that is familiar, but I cannot remember. She just played it with no mistakes, just enjoying the grace of the ability to okay the tune...
...the sunlight hits the perfect angle directly to the window which makes her have a natural spotlight, only for me to catch a glimpse of translucency in her skin? 'how odd'...
once she's satisfied, she called out to me
"See? Now, let's head out Epione. We have a lot to check on as ordered by Miss Pillarion, don't we?"
"Ah... yeah! You're very skillful this aren't you?" I agreed, trying to brush the lingering images of her grey skin from my mind.
The shift from the quiet music room back into the main hallway felt like stepping from a dream into a cold reality.
The afternoon air in the hallway felt strangely thin. For me, the absence of the usual tripping feet and hissed insults was almost more unsettling than the bullying itself. It was a vacuum, a hollow space where my fear used to live, now filled only by the rhythmic, perfect clicking of Chizuru's loafers beside me. We walked past the trophy cases where the glass was polished to a mirror finish, reflecting two girls who looked like they belonged together, even if I felt like an imposter.
As we rounded the corner toward the lockers, my heart performed a jagged somersault. Standing by the trophy case was the quad: the four girls whose cruelty had been a constant North Star in my map of pain. Mina, Sarah, Len and Jade. They were leaning against the lockers, their expensive bags slung over their shoulders, looking like they owned every inch of the floor.
"Oh no," I whispered, my hand instinctively flying to my forearm, covering a scar that wasn't even visible through my sleeve. I grabbed Chizuru's wrist, my fingers trembling. "Chizuru, this way. Let's go through the library hall. Quickly."
Chizuru let herself be dragged, her head tilted at a curious, bird-like angle. Internally, her eyes seemed to be moving faster than humanly possible, like observing the micro-tremors in my grip.
"Is there a spider, Epione?" Chizuru asked, her voice a melody of feigned innocence. "You're running like you saw a monster."
"Just... just please, hurry," I urged, trying to melt into the shadows of a janitor's closet.
But the hallway was too narrow, and the girls were already turning. The collision was inevitable. I was looking over my shoulder to check for an exit when I slammed right into Mina.
"Watch it, klutz!" Mina snapped, steadying herself. I froze, my breath hitching in my throat. "I... I am sorry. I didn't see..."
"Whatever," Mina rolled her eyes, her gaze flickering toward Chizuru with a mix of suspicion and annoyance. "Look, just because the counselor made that stupid Peer Support agreement doesn't mean we are friends. Seriously, stop following us! We don't have time to babysit you. And don't even think that just because we signed that paper it is some kind of closure. We don't need you. Shoo off... before helping us, help yourself first. You are an eyesore."
The quad pushed past, their shoulders hitting mine with enough force to make me stumble.
I stood there for a moment, feeling the familiar sting of their words, while Chizuru watched them walk away with a look of intense, quiet focus, she looked mildly offended.
"They seemed... energetic," Chizuru remarked, her voice back to its bubbly pitch as she helped me straighten my vest. "Who are they? They mentioned an agreement?"
I took a shaky breath, the adrenaline slowly receding. "It is... it is a condition from the Counselor, Miss Pillarion. Instead of formal detention for what they did to me last month, they are under a Restorative Justice plan. I am supposed to be their guide. I watch over them, report their behavior for action planning, and give them advice when they are supposed to be reflecting. In return, they are legally and academically bound to leave me alone. It is like a personal detention where I am the jailer, but... they clearly hate me for it."
Chizuru's eyes blinked, a slow, deliberate blink. "So, you are their little shepherd? And if they are bad, you tell the school, and they get in trouble?"
"Basically," I sighed. "But it just makes them resent me more. I would rather they just forgot I existed."
"I think it is a wonderful responsibility," Chizuru chirped, looping her arm back through mine. "You are helping them become better people! Though, some people need a lot of... shaping... to get there."
"...I guess you're not wrong there"
"Of course!" Chizuru smiled "People won't act accordingly unless you knock the senses out of them, now let's go to the canteen to have iur early lunch! Since we have one hour free period"
I was about to agree but I remembered something. I paused, my thumb hovering over my phone screen as the calendar notification blinked at me like a mocking eye. A cold shiver that had nothing to do with the music room's air conditioning ran down my spine.
"W-wait"
"Hmm? What's the matter?"
I looked on my phone to check the date
"Ahh, it starts today" I mumbled quietly
"What must be starting today?"
"The peer support agreement...it starts today"
"Ahh...eh?"
....
So that is how we ended up in the back school courtyard. The air was still, and the shadows of the old brick walls felt long and suffocating. The quad was there, huddled by a stone bench, looking over their shoulders as if they expected the police to walk through the gates at any moment. As Chizuru and I approached, Mina looked up and scoffed, her face twisting into that familiar mask of superiority. Behind her, Sarah, Len, and Jade shifted into a semi-circle, their collective gaze heavy with a cruelty I knew all too well.
"Oh, look, the shepherd is here and summoned us," Mina sneered. She didn't stand up, just leaned back with a fake confidence that made my stomach churn. "By the way, did you see the news, nerd? Maybe you should be careful. Whoever did that to those guys might decide they don't like losers, either."
I felt myself shrink, my shoulders hunching up toward my ears. But before I could even open my mouth to apologize for existing, Chizuru stepped forward. She didn't just walk; she placed herself between me and the four of them like a physical wall of cold air.
"Actually," Chizuru interrupted, her voice sweet but carrying a strange, heavy weight. "I think whoever did that very much dislikes people who hurt others. Don't you agree?"
Mina opened her mouth to snap back, but her voice caught in her throat. I watched from behind Chizuru, mesmerized and terrified. Chizuru wasn't blinking. She was watching them with a coldness that didn't feel like anger. It felt like... nothing. A total absence of human warmth that made the air around us feel thick and hard to breathe.
"Let's start the session, Epione," Chizuru said, her eyes never leaving Mina's. "I am very interested to hear what they have to say for themselves."
"Seriously, is this a joke?" Mina snapped, trying to regain her bravado. Sarah and Len nodded along, though Jade looked a bit pale. "Lecturing us right now because we decided to skip the whole class? Even my parents weren't as strict as you! What if I smack you to the walls to wake some senses in you, huh!"
Mina lunged forward, her hand raised to strike. My heart stopped. I braced myself for the sound of a slap, for the chaos that always followed when they lost their tempers. But she never reached me.
With a movement so fluid and instantaneous I could barely track it with my eyes, Chizuru's hand shot out. Her fingers clamped around Mina's wrist like a pressurized steel vice. The sound of the impact wasn't the wet smack of skin on skin; it was a dull, heavy thud, like bone meeting reinforced metal.
"I don't remember rude behaviors being allowed in a counseling session," Chizuru said. Her voice had dropped into a flat, terrifying monotone that didn't sound like her at all. "Continue, Epione. Or... want me to proceed to physical action?"
My eyes widened, my heart hammering against my ribs. "P-please, I also don't want to do this, b-but Miss Pillarion asked me to... we have to cover the points."
"F*** off!" Len hissed from behind Mina, her voice trembling slightly.
Chizuru didn't let go. Instead, she increased the pressure. I watched in a daze as the skin on Mina's wrist turned white, then a deep, angry purple. A faint, high-pitched whine started to ring in my ears, so thin and sharp I thought I was imagining it. It seemed to be coming from deep within Chizuru's arm.
"Epione is talking," Chizuru whispered. The air seemed to vibrate around her. "And when someone is helping you avoid a permanent record, you should be grateful. In fact, you should be silent."
Mina's face went from red to ghostly white. She looked genuinely terrified. "Let... let go! You are hurting me! You are breaking it!"
"Am I?" Chizuru tilted her head, her eyes moving in tiny, rhythmic jolts as she scanned Mina's face. She looked like she was reading a book I couldn't see. "I am simply stabilizing the situation. Epione, please continue."
I swallowed hard, my hands shaking so much I could barely read the paper. I forced myself to finish the script Miss Pillarion had given me. "The second point is about accountability. Miss Pillarion says skipping is a flight response. She suggests next time, you should come to the library instead. I can sign you in there. It counts as a study hall. It is a way to keep your records clean."
Chizuru's grip tightened just a fraction more, making Mina gasp for air. Sarah and Jade stepped back, their eyes wide with shock. "Did you hear that? Epione is offering you a clean way out. She is being so generous. Most people don't get a map. They just get... lost. In warehouses."
The mention of the news made a shiver run down my spine.
"We get it!" Sarah squeaked, her eyes darting to Chizuru's hand. "Library. Study hall. Just... tell her to let go!"
"Epione? Are you satisfied with their acknowledgement?"
"Yes," I said quickly, my voice nearly failing me. "Please, Chizuru, let's just go."
Chizuru released Mina instantly. The girl fell back, hitting the stone bench with a dull thud, cradling her wrist as if it had been crushed in a door.
"Perfect," Chizuru chirped, the flat monotone vanishing instantly as she smoothed out her white blazer. Her gummy smile was back, bright and cheerful as if we were just leaving a cafe. "I will see you four tomorrow morning for the pre-class check-in. Don't be late. I would hate for Epione to have to write a negative report."
As the quad scrambled away, tripping over their own feet to get distance from us, Chizuru turned to me. She looked completely refreshed, her eyes sparkling. "You are such a good mentor, Epione! You really have a way with words."
I could only manage a shaky, breathless laugh. I knew she was strong, but I didn't know she was this strong. My mind kept replaying the sound of her hand catching Mina's wrist. It hadn't sounded like a person. It sounded like a heavy deadbolt sliding into place.
"Are you okay?" Chizuru asked, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. Her touch was light and soft, but her hand was perfectly steady.
"I am fine!" I said, my voice still a bit high and thin. "Thank you, Chizuru. Really."
"That is what friends are for," Chizuru replied, her gait light and bouncy again. While I smiled in response, The midday sun was a relentless glare overhead as we left the courtyard, but the heat outside was nothing compared to the cold shiver still racing down my spine. The image of Mina's purple-streaked wrist was burned into my mind.
"Wow, Epione! Look at the time," Chizuru chirped, checking her sleek wrist watch. "It is exactly 12:00. No wonder my internal clock was humming. It is time for biological refueling!"
I looked at her, still a bit dazed. "Lunch? Right. I almost forgot people have to eat."
"Of course they do! Especially after such a productive counseling session," she said, looping her arm through mine and steering me toward the main building. "A good shepherd needs her energy to watch over the flock."
The walk toward the canteen felt longer than usual. The weight of Chizuru's words about shaping people hung in the air, mixing with the distant, frantic energy of the student body. As we pushed through the double doors, the usual lunch hour chatter was gone, replaced by a heavy, unified hum of fear and excitement.