My eyes opened.

In front of me was a large classroom. Students sat in front of me, looking down at something. Desks, chairs, and books. An idle sound as papers were flipped.

“Your tests are being returned” 

The teacher, Aura-sensei, walked around our classroom and placed a wad of paper on our desks. The paper in front of me had 98% written on it in big red.

“Nice perfect score!” someone behind me exclaimed.

Ha? In what way is a 98% a perfect score?

I turned around.

The student's face was looking the opposite direction of me, at another kid.

As expected, he was not talking about me but rather Rei Hirano, not me. Of course, he got a 50/50. He was a smart student that I knew a bit.

"Alright, If you're not satisfied with your test score, you should’ve studied harder. We'll be moving on to today’s lecture and a new unit.”

Aoki-sensei dismissed the commotion of people discussion their scores and continued her lecture.

I took a look at my hand. The pain was gone, there was no writing on it. It held a smooth purple stone that I found last night.

It suddenly occurred to me that I fell asleep.

“Was this class that boring?”

I murmured, staring at the purple stone. Was this rock the thing that caused that dream? I didn’t even understand what that dream was.

I rubbed my forehead, thinking I was just tired from the late night I pulled yesterday.

As my focus cleared, I took a look at Aura-sensei’s lecture. Derivative problems littered the board, making it quite an eyesore. Instead, I took out one of my physical chemistry textbooks for some other class.

"Ah... What a school day. So boring."

I dragged around the halls after leaving the classroom. The bell had just rang, and I was tired. As I dragged my feet against the ground, I suddenly bumped into something.

"...huh?"

"Oh, Ayato! Sorry I didn't see you!"

In front of me, a man with a long beard and glasses waved to me apologetically. His name -Kim-sensei. The advisor of the volunteering club, and well, my homeroom teacher. And as expected of a passtionate club advisor, he spent no time delaying his grand question.

"Are you coming to the volunteer club today?"

"Yes, I was heading there right now."

"Great! Today's an important day because we will be assigning which pods you will be in and cover the information behind tomorrow’s volunteer event!"

Tomorrow... what? I guess I wasn’t paying attention to my email. Tomorrow will be Saturday... Well, it is not like I have much to do tomorrow.

“Ah, okay.”

“Well, I have to grade the tests from last period so I’ve got to go now. See you tomorrow!”

“Yeah, see you! Bye!”

I waved to him as he hurried off.

I entered the room.

Around the classroom, there were around 18 people. Of all, there were two faces I recognized. My younger sister Kazane Hinode, and to my surprise, Rei.

I hurriedly got into a random seat, where no one else sat by.

"This is the second meet of the year! For those who missed the last meet, I am Saitou, the secondary advisor for this club. Today, we will be assigning pods for the year. They’re chosen at random with biases towards the survey last week."

Saito-sensei walked around the board, looking at everyone before she switched the screen to a chart.

I squinted at the chart.

Pod D.

Ayato Hinode.

Kazane Hinode.

Ayaka Hirano.

Rei Hirano listed.

Rei was in my pod. With his sister I suppose? I didn’t know much about him, so for all I know, It could be his brother too.

My sister ran up to me, her light brown eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Hey! My friend Ayaka was also put into my pod. She got her brother in the pod too, so it should be pretty easy for everyone to get to know each other!”

I scratched my head, wondering why I never knew about Ayaka. Did she just, never talk about her?

“So basically Ayaka and you put each other as well on the preferences and so you guys were fated to be put in the same pod?”

“Yup. Anyway, I’m going to talk to Ayaka now. See ya!”

I watched my sister run towards a girl. So this is Ayaka, huh? Rei’s little sister.

“Ayato,” a voice said from behind.

I turned around and saw Rei.

His short, black hair and his sharp eyes stood him out form the crowd. putting a hand on his hip.

Something about talking to him made my leg shake. I took a breath, which seemed to untie the knots surprisingly well.

“How is everything going?" Rei asked.

“Okay, I guess”

“I see.”    

Rei glanced back towards Ayaka and Kazane who were chatting.

“I didn’t know you had a sister,” I said, driving my foot into the ground to stop my knee from shaking.

“She doesn’t really like to draw attention to herself.” Rei paused, staring at his sister. He glanced at the clock. “Anyways, we should probably get to the group.”

Me and Rei headed over to their table, just in time to hear Ayaka and Kazane chatting.

“Yeah, I planted trees for Earth Day last year as well, so I should know how to plant trees,” Kazane said.

“I see...” Ayaka said, giving her a nod. In her nod, she noticed us. Her dark black hair glistened as she slowly turned her head towards us. Her mouth opened, almost as if she wanted to say something, but just as fast, she closed it, taking a breath.

“This is Ayato,” Rei said, looking at me. “He was from the chemistry club a while back.”

“The chemistry club?” Ayaka asked, tilting her head. There was a sparkle in her blue eyes while she was thinking. “Oh, I almost forgot. It’s been a while since then.” She cleared her throat. “Were you that guy that was always at the back tables?”

I blinked. What a funny way to be remembered. Then again, there were only 10 people or so in our chemistry club back in junior high.

“Well, I guess you could describe it like that.”

Ayaka nodded, her eyes wandering to her nails, leaving the conversation blank.

Kazane coughed, as if to clear the air. “Rei huh?” she repeated, looking at him. “We never met, but I did hear a lot about you from my brother.”

“Is that so?” Rei asked. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Kazane.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Kazane replied, nodding.

As the heavy silence filled our conversation, Kazane looked around. “Anyway, we were just talking about the event tomorrow. I asked Ayaka if she had experience planting trees. And she did because of last year, that Earth day event.” Kazane remarked.

“You mean the thing they had you do at the end of junior high?” I asked, my eyes observing the ground. Surprisingly, there were quite a bit of cracks in the marble-like material. Maybe it was by design.

“Yeah, that event. Tomorrow’s event is something like that, probably.”

“I don’t remember that event being particularly difficult,” Rei said. He tapped his fingers on the desk. “Though I wouldn’t say it’s the most fun either.”

I suppose we weren’t good at driving conversations, because there was a long moment of silence again. As I opened my mouth to say something, Saitou-sensei cut me off.

“Well, it seems that it’s getting late,” Saitou-sensei interrupted. She paused, before glancing at the clock. “Tomorrow’s meeting at the park is at 16:00. Take care, and I hope to see you there!” The teacher turned off the projector.

The four of us stared at the ground, as if wondering what to say.

“Well, it seems that our first meeting for the year has been adjourned,” Rei said, looking up.

“Yeah,” Kazane said. She gripped the edge of her backpack. “May we meet tomorrow.”

I nodded. We waved to Rei and Ayaka. After saying our goodbyes, I left the room, with Kazane trailing me.

“Something doesn’t feel right.”

I thought for the 13th time. As I stared at the ceiling, the uncomfort in my stomach floated around. Having finished school, I was taking a good long rest. It seems though that the uncomfortable feeling was still there. 

“Fourth rook?” 

I asked aloud, staring at the place where my hand burned. I turned my hand over, but neither side showed any signs of a purple burn. Maybe I was just tired.

The only response to that was the silence of the white, plaster walls and the wooden fan above my head.

“Um, Ayato, you alright?”

As I turned, I saw Kazane, who was observing me with a cautious gaze. Her brown hair swayed as she put her hands in her pocket.

“Ah, it’s not anything in particular!” I said, smiling and waving my hand around.

“Really?” Kazane lifted an eyebrow. “Well, if you say so,” she said, turning away. Kazane went back upstairs.

What an embarrassment to be seen in such a state, rambling nonsense to myself. My eyes wandered the room and saw the purple stone that laid on my desk.

“There’s no way that things are not normal, right?” I asked the rock. “I’m just tired?”

The rock didn’t respond. As I expected, it didn’t say anything back. After all, it was just a normal rock after all. But because it didn’t respond, as what people say, not responding means no. Things were normal, and I was just tired.

Even so, as I stood up from my bed, there was a feeling in me that pushed me to think, “There is something special”. Or at least, that was what my father told me. And that’s what I believed as I did chemistry. Special people live special lives with special moments, I suppose.

As I told myself that, the feeling of uncomfort left my stomach.

A doorbell rang and echoed in the house.

 “I’ll get the door!” Kazane yelled into my room. Having nothing to do, I left my room and went down the stairs.

“Kazane, where’s Ayato?” my dad’s voice called.

“Oh?” Kazane sounded surprised. “Hey Ayato, dad wants you!” she yelled.

I walked down the stairs to our front door, finding my mom and dad waiting. “What is going on?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.

My dad glanced at me for a bit. “I need to discuss something with you,” he said, his hands inside his pocket. Was I getting in trouble for something? I observed his face, trying to extract any useful information, but alas, his poker face skills were too good.

“Oh, ok...”

Kazane shot me a glance as me and dad walked up to my room. I laid down on the bed, while he took a seat by the desk.

A moment of silence passed between us.

“So...” my dad started. He seemed to be struggling to put the words out. At that moment, he noticed the purple stone lying on my desk. His eyes widened, and the veins in his forehead stuck out. Immediately, he snatched the stone.

“Ayato, how did you get this?” he asked. The wrinkles in his forehead creased as he glared at me. I sensed he was mad, so I immediately coughed and looked away.

“Well, I found it in the cubby place in the kitchen.”

Dad sighed and looked at the stone. When I first found it, there wasn’t a crack in it. Now, there was a crack and some light seeping through it. It occurred to me that I might have broken something very important. The words, “I’m sorry” bubbled in my throat, but I couldn’t get them out. They felt like cheap glue to cover up the situation I was in.

“Just as I remembered,” my dad muttered, running his fingers through his short, curly hair. He put it in his pocket. “Well, I guess there’s no turning back now.”

As he turned to me, the poker face he had was completely gone. His face was soaked with expression. Sadness. Relief. His eyes stared at me, observing my reaction.

“Ayato, what would you do if I told you to quit school?”

His words almost made me choke on my own spit. “Huh?” I asked, my eyebrows furrowing.

My dad let out a smile, one so sad that it was proof smiles didn’t mean happiness. “Oh that’s right. I was the one telling you to work hard and try your best, wasn’t I?”

“I... I’m not quite sure what you are trying to say.”

“Ayato.” My dad suddenly stood and got loud. “You are going to die.” As he said that, some black smoke left his hand.

You are going to die.

You are going to die.

You are going to die.

The smoke coming from his hand was the same smoke in the dream. There was no fire, there was no machine in his hand. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. It had to be a prank. A magic trick. He was quite good at that. He always did that when me and Kazane were kids.  Or maybe I was too tired. There’s no way he could say I was going to die casually like that.

“I’ve kept it too long for everyone’s own good,” my dad mumbled. “Ayato. Kazane. Unfortunately, it came to this day for you guys to die.”

I was starting to think that my dad got drunk or something, because the words he was uttering did not make sense. Then it came to me, he was suggesting I was going to die. Suggesting that we were going to die.

As my dad studied my expression, he let out a smile. “That’s what I get for holding it from you for seventeen years, I suppose.” My dad took a breath. “Well, this is going to be a long explanation.”

“Dad... What exactly are you saying?”

“The humans known as Ayato and Kazane are most likely going to die today.” My dad paused for a second, seeing that I wasn’t understanding what he was saying. “Let me show you what I mean.”

My dad slowly slipped the sleeve of his long sleeve up.

“Exhaurire!”

Before I blinked, a deep purple light stretched across his arm, illuminated the room with a purple aura. A dark typhoon slammed against me. When I reopened my eyes, there was nothing but smoke in the room.

“Huh?” escaped my lips, as I could not find the words to say. What I had seen just now could not be described by any of the world’s laws. The thing that happened just now... It wasn’t something that I could process in a few hours.

“As I thought,” my dad said, slipping the sleeve back on. “It had no effect on you.” he paused.

“The chemistry laws you studied in the years of high school, the physics laws that you went through the pain of learning. The years your mother went through to get her degree,” my dad started. “I would know how hard it is to study. I studied hard too. That’s why, it’s a shame, really.”

He looked at the smoke that rose from his arm.

“That everything is so useless when you die.”

His words left me speechless. There was no way I could understand, even the slightest bit, what was happening. Why was he saying I was going to die? My father let out a laugh.

“Dad I don’t get what you mean by dying. How-”

“Ayato.” His voice hardened as he turned to me. “The stone killed you.”

A dark light formed around his hand. He turned around and looked through the window.

“The world is a lot more complex than you think.” my dad said. The dark light hardened into a shard as he pointed it at my face. Instinctively, my hand shielded my face from the shard.

“The shard can’t hurt you, no matter how much energy I put in,” he said, lowering it. “But it will likely end your life.”

End your life.

End your life.

End your life.

“Are... you going to kill me?” My voice shivered as I asked the question. Ice spread through my body as I pondered what he was going to say.

“Yes,” my dad said. “Although I suppose our definitions of kill are different. The human in Ayato is going to die. It will die the moment you realize that there’s more to just living.”

Seeing that I didn’t understand what he was blabbering, my dad finally smiled. “I guess this is the only way to have you understand, is it?”

At that moment, the dark shard flew at me.

“Wai-!” Before I could finish my scream, I instinctively raised my hands to brace for the impact. When I opened my eyes, the shard was lying on the ground. It dissipated into dust.

“I told you, there’s no way it could hurt you,” my dad said, letting out a yawn. He glanced at my horrified expression, before closing his eyes. “There’s so much you need to know. But I guess it is a lot to digest.”

Just then, the fire alarm rang from all the smoke.

“Well,” my dad said, his smile vanishing. He looked at the fire alarm across the hall. “Well, I should probably fix this first. I’ll be back in a bit.” He walked to the door exit. “Hey, Ayato,” he said, turning his head towards me.

I gave him a blank stare.

“I’ll be back a bit later to discuss some more. If you have questions or need help, you can always come to me,” he said. “Also.” His expression darkened. “Don’t tell anyone other than your mom and I about the dark matter. Not even Kazane.” He waited for my acknowledgement. Despite not understanding what he said, I nodded. My dad smiled and left the room, leaving me staring straight at the wall.

You are going to die.

The world is not that simple.

What in the world could he be talking about? Those shadows and smoke. There’s no way it wasn’t a magic trick right? I was just tired. That’s all.

I laid down in my bed.

I’m going to get some sleep...

“Ah!”

My body jolted upwards, my breath heavy and ragged.

“... Huh?”

I was in a dark room, with a desk and a bed. Oh... It was my room. The black, metal alarm clock on my nightstand read 4:00.

“I fell asleep,” I murmured to myself. The sound of crickets chirping echoed from the window.

You are going to die.

I stared at my hand. Maybe it was just a dream. After all, there’s no way I slept for 11 hours. But the words my dad said didn’t leave me.

The human Ayato is going to die.

Ah... There’s no way I could sleep with that on my mind. I got off my bed, listening for sounds from outside. No footsteps. No doors opening. The silence of the night.

I left the room, and in front of me was a stair that went downstairs.

Everything is so useless when you die.

Hearing it from my dad’s mouth made me want to think it was false. But it wasn't like I never thought like that myself. I walked down the stairs, making sure to keep my footsteps as quiet as possible. As I entered the living room, I heard a voice that I would never expect at 4 in the morning.

“... Ayato?”

Kazane sat on the couch, her brown hair fell messily as she hugged her knees.