Chapter 14

Tenma let out a loud groan as he leaned against the nurses’ office closed door.

“I can’t believe we are missing the second festival of the year…” Tenma groaned out in pure aggravation, Cameron scoffing in response.

“At least you got to see the first festival. I was hoping to get to see this one but I guess not since Emily can’t take care of herself…” Cameron muttered back to Tenma, the same level of aggravation in his voice.

Inside the nurses’ office, Emily walked back and forth, Eddison watching her with a worried expression on his face. The nurse let out an annoyed sigh as she turned away from her desk to face Emily.

“Can you please stop pacing around? I need to get ready for the students that will be coming in for rest. And aren't you supposed to be preparing letters for the parents in case some kids don’t make it?” The nurse asked but Emily didn’t answer her questions.

“Why hasn't he woken up yet? It's been almost a full day!” Emily asked in a panicked tone, glancing over at the still sleeping Illaden. The nurse sighed once again and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I have already told you, the cut was deep. Not deep enough to be fatal but deep enough to do a number on the poor kid. He needs time and energy to heal. If you try to rush it, it's just going to take longer.” The nurse explained before turning back to her desk, continuing to work on the papers resting on her desk. Emily continued to pace around the room until Eddison stepped into her path, giving her a soft smile.

“I’m sure he will be fine. The more he rests, the stronger he will come back.” Eddison reassured her, Emily letting out a disappointed sigh before she took her seat on the chair next to him.

Meanwhile…

“Alright! Hello everybody!” Doku’s energetic voice ran around the stadium, a large round of excited screams and cheers following close after. As the cheers slowly came to an end, Doku took a small breath to continue to her welcome speech.

“As you all know, today marks the day of the second festival of the school year! And although it is just me here with you today, I'm sure I can speak for everyone else in the council when I say that we are all so happy everyone came to be here for your fellow students.” She announced in her usual cheery tone, another small wave of excited applause and cheers going through the seats. Doku then drifted her attention down to the center of the stadium, gazing at the ten students that stood with weapons in hand.

“Now as for you ten. I’m sure you all are very eager to get the fighting started. But before we do, allow me to give you all some encouragement.” Doku started before she cleared her throat.

“As you all know, especially you second and third years, Emily sees these festivals as a show, with you all being the performers. I can assure you that she will be going over this festival once she is able, so let’s make her proud, and let's put forth our best performance! Let’s make this festival even better than the first!” She exclaimed into the microphone as she stood up from her seat.

As if setting off a chain reaction, students began to stand up from their seats as they clapped. Many students began to yell words of encouragement to the ten students standing in the center of the stadium, Vicky being one of the students to get up on her seat as she began to clap and join in the yelling. Jay let out a small laugh seeing how excited everyone was getting, the smile on his face being quickly wiped away once he saw May stand up while clapping, a bright smile adorning her face. Jay stared at her while she stood, not understanding why she was joining in with the crowd.

‘She has only been in one festival at this school and now she's acting completely different than how I thought she would.’ Jay thought to himself as the commotion slowly calmed down with students sitting down, their yells and cheers quieting as well.

‘But I suppose since she trained with dad...She is probably more used to stuff like this than I think she is…” He finished his thought before turning his attention back to the center.

“Please excuse me, I got a little carried away.” Doku said with a small chuckle into the microphone before she took her seat once again, clearing her throat.

“But with that, I have nothing else to say other than the words to start this. I wish you all the best of luck and with that, begin!” Doku exclaimed into the microphone before setting it down.

As she said those few words, the center of the stadium was in sudden chaos. The ten students selected began to make sudden and violent moves towards each other, any sense of decency now void from their minds. Although it was difficult, Jay managed to keep his eyes on the main three; G.U.T., Hue, and Nara.

It was an interesting sight, to say the least, with Hue moving around the arena at a great speed while somehow managing to protect Nara from incoming attacks from the other students. While Hue seemingly bounced around the arena, G.U.T. was trying to catch up to him in order to take him out but she couldn’t due to his unpredictable behavior, the exact opposite of what she was told would happen.

G.U.T. stopped for a moment to catch her breath but her break was cut short after she heard Nara’s voice.

“H-Hue! Slow down!” Nara called out to him as he changed direction once again, using his knife to stab a student square in the middle of their back, making them fall to the ground.

As Nara came to a stop, one of the other students made a B-line for her, coming up behind her. G.U.T. saw this and moved over to her with great speed, raising her weapon of choice for this festival, a bat with long and rusted nails coming out every which way. The student only had time to grab onto Nara’s uniform before G.U.T. got to them, swinging her bat into the side of their face. G.U.T. then shoved Nara to the ground before turning to face the student.

As soon as her bat made contact with their face, the student fell to the ground in pain, a loud and painful shriek coming from the student’s mouth before G.U.T. hovered over them with a large grin, raising her bat in the air before bringing it down onto their face with a great force. She repeated this action for a few seconds, blood from the student spattering on the dirt and on G.U.T’s already stained uniform.

She let out a small chuckle before turning to Nara, who had yet to get up. Nara flinched and covered her face with her shaking arms as G.U.T. moved over to her. She grabbed the collar of her uniform and with one hard jerk, yanked Nara up to her feet. She gave her a confused yet frightened stare as G.U.T. began to knock the flesh off her bat to the ground.

“I’m not after you, it’s your pathetic excuse of a boyfriend I’m after.” G.U.T. told her before taking off in a sprint, trying to get a general sense of Hue’s movements that were seemingly sporadic in nature with no real pattern.

Jay watched in nervous anticipation as the ten students started to dwindle. Occasionally Doku would call a name and an injured student would make their way to the wall before leaning against it. Jay took a glance to his right to see Vicky with a large and stretched grin across her face, flames of excitement swirling in her eye as she watched the remaining students fight.

He felt a nervous smile make its way to his lips, happy to see that his friend was enjoying herself but he also felt somewhat put off by how much she was enjoying it. He then glanced at May, not surprised to see her focused expression.

He felt his smile grow larger to see how hard she could focus on fighting but not on her own school work. He then raised his hand and flicked the side of his sister’s head gently, snapping her out of her trance. She gave him a confused stare, Jay turning to face the center again.

“You should really pay attention to the people next to you, too.” Jay teased as he crossed his arms. May stuck her tongue out in annoyance before turning back to the center.

In that short time they were turned away, the seventh student had been disqualified. As the dust settled in the center, the excited voices of the students turned into hushed whispers as the last three stood. Standing a bit away from Hue was G.U.T. with a pleased smile across her face, Hue stood wounded with a knife in his shoulder, the blood from the wound slowly staining his uniform. Nara stood a bit away from the two, just far enough to avoid any attacks that may or may not happen.

Hue grabbed onto the knife in his shoulder and with a scowl yanked it out, letting out a loud groan of pain. Hue then threw the knife to the side, gripping onto his own with his other hand.

“You b***h!” He yelled to G.U.T. with venom laced in his words, his calmed and cheerful expression now reduced to rage.

“I’ll dismember your f*****g body and make Jackie eat your organs!” He exclaimed as he got his knife ready, about to charge her. G.U.T. in reaction to this began to laugh hysterically.

“Yes! Keep cursing at me! Keep throwing threats! Keep showing me just how weak you really are!” She exclaimed with another hard laugh.

“After this festival, You’ll be dead and Nara will finally be free from the hell you've been putting her through! She’ll finally be mine!” G.U.T. prepared her bat and took a step forward but, little did she know her last sentence would spark Nara to take action.

Soft gasps filled the seats as Nara ran out between the two, holding her arms out. G.U.T.’s face dropped once she saw this, confused as to why she did it. Hue let out a scoff upon seeing this.

“Nara, get out of my f*****g way.” He said in a low growl.

“I-I can’t...I can’t just let you get hurt like this!” Nara told him, never looking back. This made Hue’s angry expression grow worse while G.U.T.’s smile crept back onto her face.

“Nara~ Be a dear and move for me. I’m about to free you, don’t worry. Soon, we will be together and I’ll protect you from everything that can possibly harm you! I’ll love you like you should be!” G.U.T. explained but Nara shook her head, making G.U.T.’s smile drop once again.

“I can’t let you hurt him... I love him too much to just stand to the side,” Nara responded with a shaken voice. G.U.T. stood there for a moment before slowly shaking her head.

“No...No! You shouldn’t be saying that!” She screamed, making Nara flinch.

“You should be running over to me with your arms open! You should be thanking me for taking you away from him! How many more times does he need to hurt you before you leave him?! How many more scars does he need to give you before you finally have enough?! Do you need to go blind before you come to your senses?!” She asked with anger slowly building in her voice, her voice growing louder with each question asked.

“Stop!” Nara yelled back, taking G.U.T. and Hue by surprise.

“You say that you’ll love me, but you know almost nothing about me! All you've been doing this entire time is threatening the people I love! I could never love you like I love him!” Nara exclaimed as tears began to go down her eye. Nara slowly put her arms down and crossed them, hugging herself. G.U.T.’s eyes went wide and her shoulds fell for a moment before she gripped onto her bat tightly.

"Is that so…?" She asked Nara with a calm tone, Nara nodding. G.U.T.'s face was still for only a minute before anger and rage took over. 

"Then...If I can't have you, no one can!" She exclaimed before lifting her bat and running towards Nara. 

Hue ran forward and reached out to Nara to pull her back but he was stopped by Nara taking two steps forward before taking out a knife she had hidden in her jacket. Before G.U.T. could swing, Nara closed her eye and shoved the knife into G.U.T.'s side. 

Before she had any time to react, Nara pushed her to the ground, her hands trembling in fear and sorrow. G.U.T. hit the ground and dropped her bat. She moved her hand to her side and with the rest of her energy, pulled the knife out. She winced at the pain but smiled as the feeling of exhaustion took over. 

'Good job…' She thought to herself before her eyes closed, her body forcing her into an unconscious state. 

"G.U.T. is unable to fight; therefore, she is disqualified! Hue and Nara, you two only have fifteen minutes remaining." Doku's voice boomed over the speakers, not a single student making a sound as they all watched. 

Nara let out a shaky breath before wiping the tears from her eye. 

"I-I'm so sorry. G.U.T.." She whispered to herself before turning around to see Hue right behind her, making her flinch slightly. He put his hands on her shoulders and gave her a small smile before pushing her to the ground. 

"Nara, you have fallen twice; therefore, you are disqualified! Hue, congratulations on winning the second festival!" Doku exclaimed with joy in her voice as she stood up and began to clap, the rest of the students in the seats doing the same. 

After a moment of applause, Nara stood up and so did Doku from her chair. 

"Alrighty, this concludes the second festival of the year. Students, please make your way out of the stadium and those in the center may leave if you are able. Those who aren't, please wait and you will be moved to the nurses. I hope you all have a great day and don't forget to stop and smell the flowers!" Doku explained before turning off her microphone and leaving her spot. 

May, Jay, and Vicky stood up as well, following the crowd of students leaving the stadium and heading to the main building. 

"Wasn't that awesome?" Vicky asked while turning to the siblings. 

"My bet was totally on G.U.T. I guess that's what happens when you let your emotions get in the way." Vicky stated as she began to skip down the hall. 

"Yeah, I guess so." Jay commented, not having much to say about the festival. May simply nodded in response, sending a smile towards the skipping Vicky. 

"You a*****e!" An angry voice cut through the hallway. The three looked at each other and followed the voice to the nurses’ office, seeing Jackie standing next to G.U.T. as she laid in one of the beds, still unconscious.

Jackie was facing Hue, who was getting his shoulder bandaged by the nurse. Eddison moved over to him and put a hand on Jackie's shoulder but he moved it off. 

"How dare you say that to her!" Jackie yelled once again and Hue just giggled. 

"The b***h shouldn't have stabbed me." He responded with a grin, making Jackie even angrier. He was about to say something else but was cut off by the nurse speaking.

"Alright. You're all good." The nurse said as she patted his other shoulder. Hue got up and glanced over at G.U.T. before leaving, May, Jay, and Vicky moving out of the way for him.

Jay then took a step into the nurses’ office, looking around until he saw Emily still sitting by Illaden. Jay looked at Eddison and tapped his shoulder. 

"How is she doing?" He asked gently and Eddison turned around and gave him a smile before rubbing the back of his neck. 

"Not too great. Illaden was supposed to be awake by now…" Eddison said with a soft sigh. 

"And the others had to clean up after the festival, so it's just me here right now." Eddison added before turning to Jackie, who was staring at G.U.T. Jackie watched as her face began to grow a look of discomfort. 

"Um, Mrs. Sherry?" Jackie called in a worried tone. He then watched as the discomfort grew before tears began to spill from her closed eyes. 

"Mrs. Sherry!" Jackie called once again, this time the nurse came over, along with Eddison. 

"What's happening?" Jackie asked in a panicked tone before putting a hand on her shoulder, shaking her. 

"G.U.T.! Wake up!" Jackie called out but Eddison stopped him, pulling him back a bit. The nurse smiled and let out a soft laugh. 

"She's probably just having a nightmare. It's best that she waits it out." The nurse explained before walking over to her desk, Eddison hugging Jackie from behind. 

"She's going to be alright." Eddison told him in a soothing tone, Jackie nodding. 

Suddenly, G.U.T. sat up in bed as she panted heavily, holding onto her chest. She looked around the room and let out a sigh, letting go of her chest.

“Oh thank goodness! You looked like you were having a nightmare and then you started crying and I couldn’t wake you up!” Jackie exclaimed before he almost threw himself onto her, hugging her tightly. She flinched a bit from the pain in her side but smiled slightly as she put an arm around Jackie.

“Alright, get off of me.” She said with a rough voice as she dropped her smile, Jackie quickly getting off her. G.U.T. got up and grabbed her uniform jacket from the side of the bed, putting it around her shoulders before looking to the nurse, giving her a slight wave before leaving the room.

"I'll see you later, sweetheart!" Jackie called out to Eddison before following her out. Emily let out a worried sigh as she glanced at Illaden. 

"When is he going to wake up…?" She asked out loud before Eddison went over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.