Chapter I

The rain poured heavily throughout the late evening, the raindrops resembling gun bullets fired from the opaque clouds as they ricocheted from the landscapes below. Trees and buildings remained firm against the dense showers, the soil drenched with rainwater. Even the city lights, usually bright even against typical rain showers, revealed itself to be meager and dim on this night.

The Claver Home, an orphanage, stood obstinate amidst the pounding rain. An exemplary example of Gothic-revival architecture built in the late nineteenth century, it took on the reliable disguise of a safe haven by day; when its daylight mask was unveiled by the coming of night, however, it proved to be a leading academy of young assassins, among one of the most famous in the country throughout the esoteric, underground organizations.

Kouko Kaminaga, a solitary young woman, walked silently in the empty hallway, wearing her school uniform: a customary Victorian, black dress with thick, dark stockings and shoes with pompadour heels that echoed against the stone walls with every step she took. Her elegant, beautiful figure trembled quietly as she walked, her fingers uncomfortably clenched together in fists. She breathed stiffly and soundlessly through her nose, forbidding herself even a minimum luxury of relaxing.

I want… to be done with this assassination business already!

She bit her tongue at remembering this, angry at her failed, pathetic attempt at the Myoujou Academy. It was her chance, the one chance, the only chance at escaping the Claver Home. If she had managed to kill Ichinose Haru, she would have been free from further burdens of living as a trained assassin. Such a dream would have surely been a wonderful, relieving reality had she succeeded.

Kouko came near the end of the hallway, greeted with two imposing, metal double doors. With a small sigh, she opened one door with a hand, prompting the mild chatter from the other side of the door to quiet down. She paused slightly, realizing that her peers had noticed her entrance. Gasps arose, whispers of insults and mocks heard.

"Hey, it looks like Kaminaga failed again!" one boy snickered loudly, pointing at her with his index finger.

Kouko walked into the faintly-lit commons as she walked through the doorway, her eyes glaring stubbornly to the floor as the insults rolled on.

"Haha, at this rate she'll be killed by Sister Christine herself!" another girl sneered, covering a hand over her mouth, an obvious, obnoxious laugh escaping.

"Oy, Kaminaga! Clumsy girl!"

Wordlessly, Kouko walked on, noticing the familiar figure of Sister Amaya standing stoically at the other end of the commons. Doing the best she could to ignore the hurling slanders, she greeted the sister with a nod, a sign indicating she was ready to meet the head director of the Claver Home.

"I see you've made it back, child," Sister Amaya greeted coolly as she met Kouko's eyes, her brows lowering. Was that disapproval in her eyes? Or was it an attempt at analyzing Kouko's expression?

Kouko said nothing, merely keeping her gaze steadfast against the sister's.

Sister Amaya made a gesture with her hand, implying that the both of them walk forward to Sister Christine's office.

At the arrival, Sister Amaya opened the door, forcing Kouko into the office first. Immediately feeling unwelcomed and alien as she had before — Kouko had been in here a multitude of times for being such a failure as an assassin, including her accidental murder of Irena-senpai — she braced herself for the upcoming punishment. Her body stiffened.

It was a small room, its dreary atmosphere accented with curtained, Madrid windows in her vision. In the center of the room sat a prim, mahogany desk, an office chair facing directly opposite of the incomers. The chair swiveled around ominously from the shadows, revealing Sister Christine, her gaze cold and apathetic.

"Kouko Kaminaga."

Kouko blinked once in an effort to help relieve her tension.

"We meet again."

"… Good evening, Sister Christine." Kouko's voice was obedient, but it was clear she made no effort to conceal her shaking emotions.

"You failed at your one chance to pass your assassination final from the last academic year."

"… I understand."

"You will stay back another year yet again."

Kouko nodded, trembling. She could feel hot tears beginning to form within her eyes. "I understand."

Sister Christine displayed no sympathy for Kouko's developing tears. "I will make this warning clear once, Kouko Kaminaga. This is the last opportunity I will give you to live. If you do not pass this coming academic year with decent marks, I will personally send you back to God with Irena."

Hearing this, Kouko froze, her eyes staring at Sister Christine in fear.

"I have made myself clear."

"… Y-Yes, Sister Christine."

"You are dismissed."

Kouko merely nodded, tears rolling down her eyes. She wiped them away with an aggressive sweep of her arm, ignoring the glares from Sister Christine and Sister Amaya as she excused herself out of the office. She would have more time and space to cry when she returned to her single dorm room, after all.

I really am pathetic…

Later that evening, after Kouko had eased herself with a hot shower, she laid in her bed. Exhausted from her tears, she slept uncomfortably, feeling constrained by the grief she had freed. In one hand, she held Irena's cross tightly in her hand, fingers curled around the angles.

Irena-senpai…

She was back at the high-end, tech-savvy Myoujou Academy, along with the other eleven assassins, and the one target to be killed…

Kouko stood in her dorm room, standing in the petite living room. Contemporary furniture accented with a minimalist, geometric design surrounded her: unusually hard leather sofas sat as unerringly as before, a glass coffee table placed in the middle, with smaller furniture taking less note of the room. Behind her, Kouko intuitively knew, was the sparse, but chic kitchen, and to her left, hiding in the shadows of the closed window blinds, was the bedroom and bathroom.

The office desk along one side Kouko once worked at rested against the wall, inviting her to sit down and relax. And then, after relaxing, she would once again, attempt to draw another blueprint, another master plan, another perfect master plan, to kill Ichinose Haru, even if Azuma, an Azuma, Azuma Tokaku, was Ichinose Haru's bodyguard, guardian… It didn't matter, of course, because in spite of the Azuma's cruelly distinguished reputation in assassinating, she was still a human that could be defeated, killed successfully given the right circumstances as well… If she had to kill Azuma Tokaku first before getting to Ichinose Haru, she would do it… Yes, Kouko, she would win this time, and finally, at long last, after persevering, enduring the burden of a life never meant for her, a life as an assassin, she would be free! Free! She would go on—

"Kouko-chan," a familiar, smooth voice called to her from behind, breaking her stream of thoughts.

Kouko flinched slightly, spinning around, immediately searching for the person who had called her name. There was no one in her field of vision; the kitchen in front of her was devoid of any human.

Suddenly, two white arms enveloped Kouko from behind. Initially, Kouko felt herself stiffen, wondering if she would be killed… Death would be better, perhaps, than to try to escape from the damned Claver Home, and she would finally see her again—

But it wasn't Death inviting her to an afterlife.

No, it was—

"Shutou-san," Kouko felt her mouth whisper, her name soft, almost dancing on her lips.

The girl behind her said nothing, only continuing to hold Kouko in a warm, loving embrace from behind.

Kouko struggled to form an image of Suzu Shutou in her head: she remembered vaguely of her thin, graceful figure, her short, light-wintry-blue hair, and her eyes… what color were her eyes?

In spite of the fact that they had spent such little time with each other during the time at the academy, she instantly started recalling the memories. There had been small moments of pleasant, amiable recognition between them: one time, Shutou-san had offered to prepare some onigiri as a snack to share between them. Naturally, Kouko refused, having no need to participate in an extraneous activity when there was work to do. Eventually, though, Kouko had given in; she realized she was lightly fatigued by the studying she had done, and that a little food would only do well in helping regain her energy.

Another time, on a weekend evening, Shutou-san invited Kouko to take a modest walk with her around the Myoujou Botanical Gardens — somehow, she remembered Shutou-san's kindly smile as she asked this; remembering this made her melt inside considerably to a gracious warmth. Of course, Kouko initially refused, claiming she had schoolwork to do, but cut herself short when she realized that there was nothing for her to do for the next class. Stopping herself short from completing her sentence, she reverted to silence before accepting the invite. That evening, they had a genially pleasant time with each other; while the gardens themselves seemed to brim with its natural, elegant beauty, the fact that they had each others' presence was the perfect fragment in making the promenade impeccably and flawlessly enchanting.

And then, there was that other time where Shutou-san had asked, "Shall I fill the bath? You may have the use of my bath salts as well. How does Kinosaki or Beppu sound?"

Kouko averted her eyes away from Shutou-san's eyes as she replied, heading directly for the bathroom. "No, I'm fine with a shower."

At the time of her most crucial opportunity in finishing her assassination attempt, Shutou-san offered a consolation that a part of Kouko would have loved to welcome and embrace.

Slowly, with a subtle, ghostly chill, Shutou-san's arms fell away from Kouko's chest. The warmth that she once carried disintegrated into a neutral nothingness, leaving Kouko confused, wanting her arms wrapped around her again.

"Shutou-san, wait," Kouko said with a hint of worry, spinning around again to look for the girl. Again, the room was completely empty; there was no tangible evidence of Suzu's presence.

Kouko felt her heart heave slightly, disappointed that Suzu Shutou was nowhere to be found.

Kouko woke up in her bed, her eyes still bleary and drained from crying heavily previously. Her hand still clutched Irena-senpai's cross, but Kouko barely noticed it as she thought:

But what color was her eyes?

Outside, the rain stopped pouring; there was no sign that even a single, dark raincloud had occupied the sky above. The full moon shone brilliantly onto the landscape below, its moonlight reflecting pale, crystalline dewdrops falling from the leaves, pooling within the dents and miniature craters of the cobblestone roads. On Kouko's windows, the last, remaining raindrops dripped against the glass, giving Kouko an easy view of the nocturnal grace outside.

And then she remembered.

Suzu Shutou's eyes were gold.

Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold.

Her eyes… are gold…

Stunned, Kouko left herself staring at the window outside, wondering at what sudden epiphany had taken her; she drifted back to a dreamless sleep later, still distinctly entranced by her dream of Suzu Shutou.

If you've made it down this far, either I've kept your interest on a very strong string, or you were just bored and decided to scroll down to see the end of this /boring/ chapter.

Some facts for those of you who are interested: I am going to be away for ten days starting today (June 26) for a summer thing without any Internet access, so I can't upload any new chapters in between then. I'll /most likely/ still work on the later chapters, but know that it'll take a while before any new updates can occur.

Thanks for reading!