Chapter 2: 8 days ago
The chattering of many. That was the first thing he heard. Then the scratching of pens, the rustling of papers, bits of soft whispers. Karma opened his eyes in a crack. Light, blurry white through the glass window. Did he fall asleep? No this wasn't the bed. Did he fall asleep while on his computer? Not that remember anyone of this.
"Did you not get any sleep last night?"
Karma heard a familiar voice say. He cracked his stiff neck up from the hardwood to see a familiar face casually looking at him. A boy about his age, with dark eyes, short black hair and a face are prone to smiling. It was Ayumu flush with life in the same school uniform he saw him dead in not long ago.
"Ayumu..." Karma muttered eyes wide with surprise. "You are alive?"
For a moment Ayumu looked at Karma with a confused expression. "Why would I be dead?"
"You don't -" Karma bit his tongue as he looked around. Dozens of school uniform-clad students were around the arranged obstacles of chairs, desks and a large green board in the front of what was the classroom. "This is the classroom but..."
Karma turned back to Ayumu who gave a confused stare. Then he raised his arm towards Ayumu and said, "Pinch me of something."
"What?" Ayumu blurted. "Why?"
Karma answered, "I just want to make sure that this isn't a dream."
"Ah-okay..."
The confusion on Ayumu's face didn't go away but he complied and pinched Karma hard near his wrist.
"Fuck!" Karma cursed retreating his hand as hissed in pain. "This is definitely not a dream. Was that earlier thing a dream?"
The confusion on Ayumu's face turned into that of concern. "You have to stop playing games all night and catch some help. This is not healthy."
Karma shook his head and then got off his seat. "You are right... I need to wash my face. That was vivid as hell nightmare."
Karma walked away from his seat, making his way towards the washroom and heard Ayumu say, "Take care of yourself."
Karma's heart was pounding in his chest, and he felt a cold sweat breaking out all over his body. It took him a few moments to realize that he was dizzy. He looked around, feeling disoriented. Reality mixed and blended with the dream. Everything felt so silent yet so loud.
Karma managed to make his way into the washroom and stumble in front of the mirror. His hand pressed against the mirror, he looked at his messy white hair and bags under cold blue eyes that lived under terrible pressure.
'Maybe it's all just a nightmare.' Karma thought. 'I really need to catch some sleep.'
He splashed some water on his face, trying to shake off the last remnants of the nightmare. As he looked up into the mirror, something strange happened. Violet light emerged from the hand which lay on the mirror, the light broke into hundreds and thousands of pieces spreading to the length of the mirror. Those glowing pieces of light shifted and changed into strange hieroglyphics and symbols which were in any human language but somehow not Karma. He knew exactly what those symbols meant.
[ My dear Sin Eater.
What a sad hand fate has dealt. The friend Egg54 is dead and everyone thinks it of just a suicide, but we know that's not what really happened. You don't want to be just satisfied by lies given by the law enforcement, do you? Let's see if we can do better and to make things interesting; my Mark. Consider it a gift. ]
The symbols of the message then shifted and changed to display something else.
[ Name: Sin Eater
Vitality: 60
Strength: 70
Defence: 40
Dexterity: 130
Spirit: 100 ( -40 ) ( Growth Locked )
Arcane: 100
Sub Stats-
Endurance: 50
Charm: 40 ( -100 )
Perception: 100 ( -40 )
Status-
Severe lack of endurance
Skills-
???
Quests -
- Fall of Ayumu ]
Karma slowly backed away, the symbols disappearing into nothingness the moment he removed his hand from the mirror. Dizzy from it, he slipped into a cubicle feeling bile rising to his throat.
"I am hallucinating," Karma said to himself. "The symbols on the mirror were just hallucinations, right?"
'No, it couldn't be just that. Am I really back...' Karma started thinking as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. The screen lit up and Karma's eyes darted below the clock to the date - 15th of April.
"That wasn't a dream." Karma thought. "I am really back in the past."
Karma's thoughts went blank as he just stood there processing all that information. The memories of last night - more appropriately the night of 23rd April came back pouring in.
'Would you like to go back 8 days past in time to change an event from coming to fruition?'
He remembered that box and he remembered clicking yes, everything after was blank. Now it happened, he was back in time when Ayumu is still alive.
'I am getting a headache.' Karma ran his hand through his hair. 'I need to go somewhere quiet to process all this.'
"I don't want to do this?"
Karma was immediately pulled out thoughts as he heard a girl's voice in the boy's washroom. It was soon followed by a boy's voice.
"Come on, no one will find out. There is no one here at this time."
'What the happening out there?' Karma stealthy pushed open the cubicle door a bit to peek at the two outside. He saw the delinquent named Rento if remembered the name correctly, he had dark eyes, almost shoulder-length bleached blonde hair and was a bit less scrawny than Karma himself.
"Let's do this."
Rento hurriedly unzipped near the girl whose voice Karma heard earlier. Maeda was Karma's classmate. She was short brown hair, brown eyes, average height and an overall simple appearance. Someone Karma didn't ever expect to find secretly in the boy's washroom with a well-known delinquent.
"But what if someone comes in?" Maeda squeaked.
"No one will come in during this time." Rento persuaded.
About that time the cubicle door opened and Karma stepped out. He made his way across to wash his hands and tried not to look at those two.
"Don't mind me," Karma said trying to avoid whatever the situation brought forth, "I'll be leaving you alone with your privacy."
He turned and walked over to the washroom door.
"Son of a bitch."
Karma heard Rento curse behind him and with striding footsteps the delinquent came between his path.
"Where do you think you are going?" Rento said jabbing a finger at Karma.
"To my class, if you excuse me," Karma answered.
Rento snarled, "Listen, smartass, how do I know you won't tell me?"
"You'll have to take my word for it."
"That I won't. You'll stay here until she and I are done."
Karma glanced back at Maeda. She had a face as though she was about to cry.
Rento then added, "You will stay here in the cubicle, facing the wall until we are all done."
Karma sighed. "Look I am not going to do that, Rento."
Rento shoved Karma back a few steps and snarled, "What do you mean you aren't going to do that? Who the fuck do you think you are?!"
Rento strode closer to Karma preparing to shove him back one more time, but when he was unprepared when Karma swung his right fist at his face sending Rento staggering back.
"I did try to talk it out."
"You bastard!"
Reno's face frowned. He seemed to swell up. He exploded at Karma. Just launched himself forward with his right arm scything around in a giant roundhouse strike. Karma sidestepped his body and ducked under his arm and bounced up again and spun around. He stopped short on stiff legs and whipped back toward his opponent. Both changed places.
'I don't much about fighting but I am sure I have the better dexterity between both of us.' Karma thought.
Rento panicked and came at Karma again. Same move. His right arm swung. Karma sidestepped and ducked and they were back where they started. But Karma was breathing a little heavier than Rento was.
"Stop moving around you bastard," Rento said.
Rento came at Karma again, with no hesitation. Same exact move. This time Karma crashed a fist into his side as he spun under his opponent's arm. Rento bounced straight off of locked knees and came right back. Karma dodged away again and felt the breeze as a hard fist passed an inch above his head.
Karma stood there, panting. Rento was warming up nicely. There was a time Karma had joined boxing classes, he knew that was all, he knew about fighting from that and watching MMA on tv but when it came to actual performance Karma knew that he sucked as a fighter.
Rento swarmed through the air at Karma. Came on like a pile driver. Karma dodged left and put a fist in Rento's face but Rento connected with his left hand and knocked Karma sideways. Karma felt his insides shake as he went down on one knee and got back up just in time to arch around Rento's next crazy lunge.
The fist missed Karma's gut by a quarter-inch and its wild momentum pulled him past him and down a little which put the side of Rento's head right in line for a left hook. Karma let it go with everything he had from his toes on up. His fist crashed into Rento's ear and he staggered back and Karma followed up with a colossal right that shook his jaw. Then he danced back and took a breather and tried to see what damage he'd done.
Not enough for a knockout.
"TAKE THIS!" Rento roared he lunged again and by this time Karma felt too tired, too slow to dodge. Instead, he raised his forearm and braced for the impact, but a moment passed and the impact never came. Instead, he heard a slipping sound followed by a groan. When he looked he found Rento lying on the floor, groaning in pain.
'He slipped.' Karma thought. He hesitated but not long enough for the window of opportunity to slip out of his grasps. He dropped on Rento with an elbow pointed out right onto his centre.
Rento's groans turned into a painful cough but Karma didn't stop. He mounted Rento and threw a fist in his face. It connected painfully. Then it was followed by another one. Then another one. Hammer punches hailed on Rento's face, his lips split and bled but Karma didn't seem to stop.
[ Monster Rento defeated
Fight Difficulty: B
First Fight Bonus + Reward: Golden Key ]
Those symbols appeared in Karma's vision and disappeared not a moment after.
"What are you two doing?!" Another girl's voice shouted from behind and Karma's fist stopped midway. He looked over his shoulder. Naruse Mitsuki stood behind him, the class representative of Karma's class, she was of the same height as Maeda, but with long black hair, a tough face and uncommon blue eyes behind those black oval spectacles.
Karma got off Rento's beaten body and looked back at her.
"It was self-defence," Karma said. "He lunged at me first."
"That doesn't answer the question," Naruse said, "What is happening here?"
Karma saw her eyes move to Rento and then Maeda who shivering in the corner. Karma shook his head and slowly tried to get back up on his feet. Pain ran through his torso from the area Rento had struck him and it hurt worse than anything of recent memory.
"Damn..." Karma gritted his teeth. "If you excuse me I need to get this checked if there are any cracks on my ribs."
Naruse's face turned into a scowl. "I still haven't received my answer."
"That bastard wouldn't let me leave," Karma said, "and went I told him to go fuck himself he attacked me."
Naruse scoffed at Karma. "Watch your tongue, Madarame-san, you are within school premises. Such language wouldn't be accepted here."
"Fuck your rules!" Karma shouted and glared at her. "This day is already mind-fucking enough and I wasn't even able to take a piss in peace. Fuck off!"
Karma walked by Naruse toward the door but not before looking over his shoulder and glaring at Maeda. When he got out he almost fell onto one knee but managed to stabilize himself. The pain was getting worse. His vision flickered and the strange video game-like screen made of glowing purple symbols appeared in his vision.
[ Name: Sin Eater
Vitality: 50
Strength: 70
Defence: 39 ( -1 )
Dexterity: 130
Spirit: 100 ( -40 ) ( Growth Locked )
Arcane: 100
Sub Stats-
Endurance: 50
Charm: 40 ( -100 )
Perception: 100 ( -40 )
Status-
Severe lack of endurance
Minor Contusion
Level 3 Physical Pain ]
'So it's like a game? Is this his mark?'
Karma's body was in pain but his mind was clearer, and less muddled with confusion than before. He then noticed his tight fist clutching something and saw he saw a golden key when he opened it.
'Golden key?' Karma thought, he remembered the earlier message when he was knocked out. 'Monster Rento defeated Fight Difficulty: B, Reward: Golden Key. What is its exact use?'
Karma contemplated for a moment and placed the key in his pocket.
'I'll figure this out later.'
With that, he gritted his teeth and started making his way to the nurse's office.
Inside, he was greeted by the school nurse, Hazuki-sensei. There was hardly any teacher in the school Karma could say knew, but Hazuki was someone Karma knew from his last middle school. She was a kind and gentle woman, with long brown hair, gentle brown eyes with an hourglass figure dressed in a white lab coat. Her expression turned to that shock as he saw Karma's messy condition.
"Karma? What happened?" she asked, her voice filled with concern.
"Don't know, but my left side hurts like hell," Karma said. "I got into a fight in the washroom."
"A fight?" She asked surprised like she never expected Karma to get into a fight. Even Karma himself never expected to get into a fight.
She continued. "Tell me about that later first show me where it hurts."
Karma slowly lifted his shirt and damage was revealed. The bruising on Karma's left side was a deep shade of purple, almost black in some areas, with a few patches of red where the skin had been broken. The bruise covered a large area, stretching from his lower ribcage up to just under his arm. The skin was tender to the touch and felt warm to the hand, a sign of inflammation. Hazuki-sensei came forward and gently prodded at the bruise Karma winced in pain, feeling a sharp ache radiate out from the centre of the bruise.
"It looks bad but don't worry it doesn't seem to fracture," Hazuki-sensei said in a soothing voice. "I'll take care of this."
She applied a cool compress to the bruise, causing Karma to let out a sigh of relief as the pain began to subside. Hazuki then reached for a small jar of ointment and began to apply it to the bruise, her fingers working deftly as she massaged the area.
As she worked, Karma couldn't help but look at her skilful touch. He had never been injured like this in a long time, and was amazed at how quickly Hazuki was able to ease his pain.
"Thank you, Hazuki-sensei," he said softly.
"You're welcome," she replied, a warm smile on her face. "Just be careful next time, okay? Getting into fights is never a good idea."
Karma nodded as Hazuki helped him lie down on the bed. His mind drifted back towards the Mark - the system.
'What is that thing? What are all these gaming symbols? Why the golden key?' But most importantly. 'Can I prevent the events of that day from ever happening?'
Karma at that moment was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice when Hazuki had unbuttoned, unzipped and pulled down his pants and had exposed whatever was hidden beneath.
Karma only came out of his thoughts and noticed when she lifted his member and carefully squeezed a ball of gel over the tip. When he did, he was stunned silent and his body twitched. Hazuki paused and looked him in the eyes. Karma didn't know what she was looking for but she continued, spreading the cool gel around the tip of his penis and down the shaft. He moved again, a sigh leaving his now open lips.
She continued to spread the gel over his skin, watching as his eyes opened, confusion on his face until his vision focused on her. Karma looked up at the beautiful nurse, sitting astride his legs, his quickly stiffening penis in her small hands. He came before he even knew it, semen dripping down the length of his member, mixing with the wet gel that wrapped it.
"Wha - What? ... Why?" Karma stuttered.
Hazuki grinned. "For finally coming to visit me after all this time."
At that moment Karma could think of only one sentence to comprehend all this.
'This is the weirdest day of my life.'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone