(Hi hi, and welcome back to Freezing Hearts! So, st week, I recommended Rain, by Jocelyn Samara. This week, it’s “I want To Be A Cute Anime Girl”, by Azul Crescent. A heartwarming, beautifully-drawn and entertaining webtoon, IWTBACAG is well worth reading, even if only a few pages a day. I absolutely can’t stress just how much I love this one. Anyway, chapter time!)
As the debris-filled fog slowly dissipates, something breaks apart within. Satellizer’s now visible, her volt weapon deployed and in hand. She looks pissed, from what little I can see through the vapour and her bandages. Ganessa leaps high, raining down blow after blow, before nding, her face gripped in a mask of shock, before Satellizer’s a few metres behind her. The chains shatter, severed in impossible-to-catch strikes, as Ganessa’s uniform shreds, blood spattering the sidewalk, the redheaded Pandora crumpling like a dropped doll.
Just when it looks like everything’s finally starting to settle down, Ganessa struggles to her feet, a nasty grin on her face. Her volt texture reinforces itself, her uniform regenerating to cover her body once more, as a pilr of brilliant light begins pouring from her. Chiffon screams something about ‘Pandora Mode’ that’s lost in the din, but I don’t hear it all.
The next thing I know, Satellizer’s flying through the air, and, true to form, Kazuya interferes again, catching her before she skids all the way across the street. He just can’t help himself, can he?
Satellizer gets that look on her face and starts moving away from him, before those chains sh out, wrapping around her and hauling her into the air. Chiffon attempts to use her authority as student council president in order get Ganessa to back off, but she’s again ignored. It doesn’t seem right to me, but right now, there’s more important matters on the line. Two of those weights reformat into circur saws, rotating faster and faster, a literal blur, before the overzealous rank-one unches them, savaging the suspended Satellizer with wilful abandon.
Finally, she’s left hanging there, half-stripped, deep welts and gashes covering her skin. Kazuya, as if he’s not already done enough damage, throws himself between the pair, arms out, as if that’ll help somehow. A short exchange of words occurs between them, and Ganessa sps him once, hard, across the face. Not undeserved, true, but an unnecessary action that really didn’t make her look all that good.
As the bck-haired boy crashes to the ground, Satellizer goes OFF. The same intense light that Ganessa unleashed explodes again, but even more blinding and unbearable, bathing the whole area in turquoise. The chains restraining the blonde shatter like they’re made of paperclips, Satellizer’s volt weapon appearing in her right hand, as the two Pandoras charge at each other.
The light makes it practically-impossible to see, but, the next thing I know, Ganessa’s down, almost-nude, her blood spattered over the pale yellow brickwork of the small pza. As Satellizer turns, Ganessa strains to sit up, shouting defiantly about how she won’t accept this as a loss, before two bdes appear at the still-luminous blonde’s face. Two of the teachers, one of whom looks like the school doctor thanks to her bcoat, are giving a stern warning to Satellizer, probably about the chaos that just erupted over the st few minutes.
It seems that, for their actions, both of the Pandora will be confined to the ‘brig’, while Chiffon hurriedly escorts myself and the Boy Blunder to the principal’s office. The head of the academy, Sister Margaret, hands us both a small bck object with the school crest embzoned on the back in raised white lines. It seems to be both student ID card and data-recording tool, and I bow slightly, pocketing it, as she announces, “the staff here have no input on which Pandora and Limiter form pairs. It is entirely decided upon by you. Take time, and make your choices with confidence. I hope you will both become fine Limiters, and work hard alongside your cssmates and partners in all your endeavours.”
She dismisses us, and I find myself stuck walking alongside Kazuya as we head for the men’s dormitories near the school’s main building. I can already tell that spending too much time with this guy is likely to be hazardous to my health, if not my sanity. Luckily, it seems each student has their own room, so no need to camp out in the library or anything to avoid an unwanted ‘roommate’.
He’s in Room 302, while I’m in 404, the next floor up, and I leave him to his affairs, ducking out as a stocky blonde boy pauses to chat with Kazuya, making my way up to the fourth floor and using my bck ID tablet to unlock my new room.
After putting my belongings away, I take a quick shower, changing into more comfortable clothing, before heading for the refectory on the ground floor for a te dinner. I dine on chicken and rice, steamed vegetables, and a portion of some kind of sponge pudding with currants in it, before I head back up to my room. Sleep eludes me, and I spend most of the night perched on the window seat, staring up at the full moon, shining far above, letting my mind rex and empty, and the trials of the day fading into the back of my mind. This is better. Peace. Calm. Nothingness. The outside world, reflecting the inside of my heart…
A few days pass, and I start to learn more about the academy and my fellow students. Kaho Hiiragi of the Pandoras, and the Limiter Arthur Clipton, both of whom seem… nice, at least. The food here is awesome, and it’s free, too! There are so many different people here that it’s hard for me to focus, all while still wrestling with my own issues and debating whether I should stay.
My low compatibility with Limiter-grade Stigmata is proving to be a sore subject. Despite the many Pandoras attending West Genetics, I’m not holding out much hope that one would pick me over someone more compatible. I listlessly stir my fork through the half-eaten meal on my pte, causing Kaho and Arthur to share a look that I don’t quite catch.
The blonde boy pats my shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, Akira. No need to fret, I’m sure you’ll find yourself a Pandora in no time! Although, it’d be hard to match Kazuya’s… determination to keep hassling the Untouchable Queen. This is the third day in a row he’s tried to talk to her while she’s getting her food.”
I barely raise my head, still pying with my food. The maise that’s affected me more and more throughout my life is stronger than it’s ever been, an almost constant barrage of feelings, sensations, and other stimuli that I don’t understand. After my first night, I’d spoken to the doctor who’d helped put an end to Ganessa and Satellizer’s ‘duel’, and requested some sleeping pills. She’d taken a blood sample and approved, thankfully, so I can at least pass the nights in peace.
With a sigh, I drop my fork, standing up and carrying my half-finished tray to the disposal, before leaving. There’s still about an hour till my next css, but I want to be alone. I wander out of the cafeteria, heading ckadaisically for the roof. Pushing open the door, I emerge onto the ft, windy rooftop and note the tall fences surrounding the edge. Kinda pointless if you ask me. Any Pandora who’s suicidal would be able to slice through chain-link fencing like wet paper.
I sit down and lean against the wall, letting the shade cover me, and close my eyes. Up here, where there’s no-one else… I don’t feel quite so awful. I’m able to just… be. Sadly, it doesn’t st. A quiet, gentle voice breaks my reverie. “What are you doing?”
Opening one eye, I swivel it to look in the direction of the voice. A girl is standing there. Her crimson uniform backlit by the sun. A Pandora student. I can’t tell for sure, but she seems a bit older than me. I sigh, closing my eye again. “I was… trying to be alone.” A few soft footsteps, and then the rustle of cloth. Cracking open my eye again, I see that the strange Pandora’s sitting nearby, resting her back against the wall, just like me. What’s her deal?
She’s a petite, tall young woman with short, dark ginger hair, a zy smile, and light grey eyes. I close my eyes and try to ignore her. Maybe if I pretend she’s not here, she’ll leave me alone… yeah, fat chance of that happening.
“So… you’re new here, aren’t you? Have you found a Pandora yet?”
I twitch. That’s the big question I do NOT want to answer now. Too bad for me. If I lie, she’ll know, and if I stay silent, she’ll badger me more.
“No… I haven’t. I… I don’t know if I should have a Pandora….”
That seems to get her attention. “What? Why?? You’re a student here, after all, aren’tcha?”
I give up and open my eyes. “Look, miss, the reason I don’t feel like I should have a Pandora… is that my compatibility with Limiter-type Stigmata is a maximum of 30%. I’m a liability. Whereas other Limiters can produce a Freezing field for up to two minutes, I can manage twenty-five seconds. How can I risk the life of someone I’m supposed to be partnered with, when I’m so weak that their death is all but guaranteed?”
I turn away, about to push myself back onto my feet and leave, before a hand takes mine. “You’re wrong, you know. You may think you aren’t as strong as someone with higher compatibility, but you have much more potential than they do. Someone who’s already strong doesn’t work as hard. You’re aware of how far you have to go, that’s why people like you push yourselves harder than anyone else. “
I stop. No-one has ever said anything like that to me before. That’s… Wait… I don’t understand. She thinks I’m stronger than someone like Arthur, or that idiot Kazuya?
I turn to face her. She’s looking me dead in the eye, with an expression that isn’t pity or disgust, far from it. She’s giving me a look that screams respect, of recognition from one warrior to another, even. Her face is almost alight with emotions that I don’t quite know how to put into words. The next thing she says blows my mind.
“Your name is Akira Shimizu, isn’t it? I’m Chihaya Rengoku, and as you might have guessed, I’m a second-year. I’d like to formally ask you to be my Limiter.”
As I stare at her in shock, she produces a small, handmade card with her name, student ID, and room numbers written on it in wide, looping penmanship. She gently pces it in my palm. “Congratutions, Akira. You just got your first Room Invitation. Think about it, okay? Take your time, I won’t mind!”
The strange, carrot-haired girl leaves. Rengoku Chihaya, huh? I look down at the neat little rectangle of card in my hand. She must’ve been raised in a Western manner, judging by her use of personal names before family names. I can’t fault her openness, though. If she’d wanted to mock me, she’d had plenty of opportunities.
As I head back down from the roof, I bump into Kaho. She’s flustered and out of breath, like she’s been running.
“Akira, where did you go? Arthur and I couldn’t find you, so we split up. Then someone said they saw you going up to the roof, and I panicked. I was coming to check on you.”
I must still have an expression of complete and utter confusion on my face, since Kaho checks me over to make sure I haven’t been beaten up, or self-harmed or anything. Slowly, I open my hand, and she takes the small card, before dropping it with a squeak.
“You got a Baptism invite?!?!”
