Demonic Sadist System

Maybe she could have just waited, got pancakes with Takemi and had a nice day. Maybe she could have done that if years of familial badgering about the importance of good attendance weren't hammered into her. That and she had a test first period. That was the only important part about class today.

So here she was, frantically making her way across a full parking lot to get in late and hopefully have enough time to finish a test and then probably collapse in the library or mess hall or something. Much better than pancakes. Totally worth rushing Takemi out the door and-

HOOOONK blared the car that practically backed into her, skidding just past the bumper. That was close, she thought as she blurted out a frantic apology towards the exasperated looking man that was behind the wheel.

Vehicular altercation now behind her, she was at least only a few minutes from class upon clearing the parking lot. She checked the time while pausing to catch her breath. Ten Twenty Seven. So she was late, her hair was a mess even by her standards, nearly got hit by a car and this was more running than she'd ever wanted to do in her life, but on the bright side…

It wasn't as bad as last night? God this week s.u.c.k.e.d already she mused and shoved her phone back into her purse, took a deep breath and, well to call it sprinting or running would do a disservice to those sports, she rushed off as best she could.

Just one flight of stairs up to the classroom. One flight of stairs. Stairs… Well, the elevator would be just as fast. Plus it would give her a chance to catch her breath, which she desperately needed. The AC cooled air that hit her face when she entered the hall was refreshing, yes, however it also stole all the energy from the adrenaline she'd been running on and made her feet feel like they were encased in concrete as she trodded over to the elevator.

Inside the small elevating room she checked the time again. If it was a long test she might not be able to finish now, but she wasn't a bad student. One good thing to come out of having a social life so thin you could scoop it with a spoon was that you had less stuff to get in the way of studying.

Something did catch her eye and distracted her on the ride up as she tried to focus on the time. She had two new notifications. Normally she would have at least checked what they were about, but they were both from the weird app that she still needed to report to… someone. Test first though.

The elevator shortly came to a stop on the second floor with a gentle bob. Hitomi was bouncing on her feet as the doors started sliding open, readying herself to get this over with and get back on track to a normal day. It was therefore with extreme anxiety that she stepped out into the hall and turned to hurry walk straight into an oncoming body.

She didn't bump into them though. She wished she had, but she didn't. If she had just bumped into them she would just apologize, maybe they'd get mad and tell her to watch where she's going, apologize again and then rush off. Simple, normal, anxiety inducing circ.u.mstances.

Instead what actually had happened was that she swerved out of the oncomers way so hastily that she smacked her shoulder against the wall, which made her step backwards where her feet stumbled into an area a decorative plant was sitting in. Her fumblings to catch the poor shrub were less successful at ending the scene than they were at making her lose her already shaky balance and tumble to the floor with the thing.

All in front of whoever she had just made sure NOT to bump in to. She rubbed her head and started picking herself up off the ground, trying not to glance up to see whatever kind of reaction was being given to her.

"Holy crap, what the f.u.c.k was that?" The expression the guy was giving her was certainly not one she really wanted to garner. Ever. From anyone. It was somewhere between contempt and entertained. Perfect. "First time walking or did the shrub steal your boyfriend?"

"Uhhh," Hitomi could only really respond with some half muttered noises and the starts of a few words. She picked herself up along with the plant and tried to step aside to clear the hall so they could both get on their way, forget all about this point in their lives and grow old and wrinkled far, far away from here.

"Forgot how to talk to? Ehh, whatever." He shrugged and started forward past her again when the realization hit her that she knew him. Well, not knew in the personal sense, but knew of in that she'd seen him before. In one of her classes. Not that someone like him would be hard to notice just going around campus.

He was probably a little taller than Takemi with really bright blonde hair, probably dyed. Always wearing trendy clothes and generally standing out in a crowd, wide shoulders, strong jaw. Hell his eyes probably sparkled when exposed to natural light. So in short, a member of a different species than Hitomi.

She shivered a bit just thinking that if he spread this around people would call her a clutz or a freak and it would be middle school all over again. Luckily, and she was genuinely thankful for this for once, she was not the memorable type. So now it was time to just brush this off like so much dust-

"Say, aren't you that girl who did some stupid project on mushrooms or something?" She froze and her neck creaked to look back. He'd stopped, for god knows why, and was now looking at her with some sort of realization. "Yeah, yeah, mushroom girl." He chuckled and shook his head. "Geez, you freaks are always good for a laugh, I guess."

Before she could protest or defend herself he continued on his way, stepping into the elevator chuckling as the doors closed behind him. Not that she would protest in any way. He probably didn't have THAT big a circle of friends anyways. And so he remembered her research report on fungi from class. And thought she was a loser. No big deal there, he wasn't any different from the other thousand people that would think that.

She consoled herself with that as she slumped her way to her class. Just as she was about to pull the door open a loud ping sounded from her pockets, almost making her jump. She pulled out her phone worriedly, wondering if she'd somehow got tagged in something for that mess a minute ago.

Instead, there was a third notification from the strange app. Before she put her phone back it expanded the notice

It read: 'Target Identified'

Huh?