As the winds move, second turn into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into days, days to weeks, weeks to months; months into a stupid year filled with nothing besides killing, digging, sweating, and farting!
A lazy, asexual, gender-switcher, Haka Sora, decided to take her female form, pulling herself out from her 30-days slumber thanks to the loud hammering sounds. Petite, pale and cute, she puts on a bright silver yukata, matching her cascading waist length hair. Drowsy, she steps out of her wooden cabin, yawning.
"Sora thought, if he skips his after sleep nape, he would catch him before he starts, but that doesn't seem to be the case."
She muttered, her big, round eyes directed to the setting moon.
Performing a little dance to chase away the sleepiness, Sora sets to the giant hole in the ground. The tunnel, dark, loud and uneven, released a soft scent chocolate —her imagination. Grabbing on to one of the ropes connected to reach the bottom, Sora slides down.
Reaching, the hammering sounds intensified; nonetheless, she looked at the culprit with admiration, her crystal eyes scrutinizing.
Wanting to help, she takes a hand-sized pickaxe, digging the ground.
...after an hour, she made a fist sized joy, prompting her to scream in joy, dancing.
"Sora did it! Sora, really, really did!"
A minute passed; she puts down her schmuckiness, looking at the red-hair causing the noise. Gulping her saliva, she anxiously walks toward his direction.
'He must have healed now. Talking to him during the past year would have undoubtedly killed me.'
Bracing herself, she heads toward the hole he was digging. Sitting at the age, Sora's crystal eyes glared at him with curiosity,
"Derniere-san, just how did she make your heart move... to give you such life in your actions? You mistakenly talked about 'her' that time, don't deny it?"
—You talked to yourself about her last year, but Sora will keep that to himself.
Hearing that sweat voice, Lucy got the déjà vu creeps all over. He didn't make many friends nor did he care about them, but there were people too unique for him to forget, and they all knew about 'her.'
Halting his actions, Lucien looks at the cute silver-haired girl.
Staring straight into his eyes, Sora's smile deepens.
'The look on his face up close has got deeper... more calm.'
Placing her small head into the inside of the palm, she teases, "In case you've forgotten, it's me Sora, a boy by the way."
Lucien immediately felt exhaustion sinking into him.
'Do you still not know the difference between a girl and a boy?'
—You're are clearly a girl, now.
Not bothering to show an expression, he throws his weapon out of the hole, muttering, "You are someone hard to forget... for me, at least."
As a person born with only 7 emotions, Sora didn't know how to react. Closing her eyes, she tried to something; then again, it was only stupid of her to do so.
Opening her eyes, she sighs, saying, "You finished quite early today? Is something wrong? Do you need a hug or kiss, maybe?"
Lucien helps himself out of the hole, not minding her playfulness. Picking up his hammer, he expressionlessly asks, "You could've used 'this' appearance to escape the age regiment. Why did you have to be a boy?"
Sora stood up, sucking. She remembers telling him that the other appearance was the girl, and this was the boy.
To get back at him, she jumps to his back, crying herself. "Why wouldn't I come here? I wanted to comfort you on your loss! Your mother was one of the people who appreciated me, you know?"
Liars.
Lucien knew that she only found out because people were talking about it. This, however, alerted him that something grim took place; he didn't want to open her wounds.
Uncomfortable with the silence, Sora asks, "What are you doing now?"
It's a question jobless fools hated to hear the most, since the answer hurt. However, this was not the Earth we know, and Lucien had so much to do.
"At the moment, I'm in the midst of creating a martial art. I can't just swing my hammer. My attacks need to coordinate and flow. Every move has to connect like a math equation, but with various interpretations which can be complex and simple, extended or reduced depending on the formula used."
'Math?'
Sora couldn't help but blink, she did the basics like any mortal girl. However, something like equations was set for Tama-Artist descends, and she immediately knew this had to do with Akane.
'How does he even do it when he can't read? Drawing a stick-man is impossible for him...'
"You should too,' before she could say a thing, he adds, "I'll teach you."
"I hate learning!" She complained.
"This is why you don't know the difference between male and female."
"Ahh!" Sora's head turned tomato red, "You've crossed the line Derniere!"
***
"They are seven of us, Scarlet is the oldest. The remaining 6 were born on the same day with a memory that never forgets, and the ability to live without food." Shinji muttered, looking at the moon from the window of his cabin.
Inside, papers written by his blood scattered about, containing characters from Kanji, Mandarin, Hellenic, Vedic Sanskrit, together with some of his own languages.
Turning around, the young man kicks them in fury.
"Why is it always me?! Why did this birthmark rob my ability to sleep in that 12ᵗʰ month called Toka?! Isn't my sickness and multiple personalities enough?! Why does the universe hate me so much?!"
Picking up a clay pot, he coughs blood, before throwing it on the ground. In the next moment, he punches the wall, hurting his fragile hand, prompting him to waltz out of the room.
Picking a soft twig, he starts to attack a tree trunk like a swordsman, muttering out loud:
"Light gives birth to Life, which then gives reflections, producing shadows whom give birth to darkness."
He moves on to another topic.
"To accomplish my dream, I've to kill something great. However, with how pathetic I'm, I don't see that happening by a long short, unless a miracle happens. Hahaha, the being is a producer of miracles. I'm fucked, but I have another plan in store."
Then another.
"What they teach us in school is wrong: the earth is not a sphere; however, a jagged, curving terrain that gives the illusion of a sphere from those not above a certain point. There is a lot of free space, that's waiting for people to settle, yet in the outside world, they're places putting a restriction on the number of children per family."
An hour of this madness passed, then suddenly....
"Scholar-san! You're up already!"
"You really are a man of dignity!"
Shinji scowled. In the next second, he relaxes his face, putting on an amiable smile. Laying his frustration aside, he greets his team.
...unexpectedly, he had memorized all their 782 names.
As he engaged in small chat with his goons, his gaze lands on the girl who stole a potion of his idiots during the last year called New Age 181
A moment of silence envelops them, before he recites:
Ugly, is the day I saw you,
Beautiful, is the day you die,
Peace, I only know without you,
Rest, I'll get when you die,
You made our dream of being together a lie;
That day I touched your lips,
I remember it like yesterday,
Your lips gave me a heavenly bliss,
I wanted to be with you when you die,
Now, I'll show you horrors till you die.
Tsukino couldn't remember, nor care about his broken heart, snickering in his direction. Likewise, the two immediately exchange vicious words even taking about the things clothes hid.
***
Arriving at the bottom of the rock-tunnel, the mortals got to work, some rested waiting for a turn.
Seeing this, Shinji frantically looks at the holes Lucien dug. Seeing the one with small carvings, he jumps in, and Tsukino mirrored his move by going into another —she is a girl -a beautiful one-, not a barbarian.
Lucien had done some extra work for Shinji, as part of their deal.
Gazing at the markings left by Lucy, Shinji sighs helplessly -- it was the art of someone who couldn't write. The Main Character, nevertheless, understood: Lucien mirrored the moves of animals to convey his message.
'Don't dig any hole I dug. Get out once you're done reading.' Shinji translated after an hour, or so, of looking at the gibberish.
Without wasting time, the Main Character rushes out of the hole. As he was about to get out of the place, he remembers about Tsukino.
The young man curses loudly, "Damn it! Trifles!"
Before he could go to the girl who was doing her two-hour work before resting, Tsukino had reached the stage Lucy avoided, causing the whole hill beast to violently shake.
Brrr!
In the end, Shinji was forced to yell, "Everyone! Get out!"
However, it was too late.
Boom!!