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Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Defying Dialogue [Prologue]

A knock was heard on the door. Everyone's head turned to it, staring at it for a while. One of them squinted his eyes, eyeing the door suspiciously before someone opened it. A purple haired man wearing a butler suit appeared behind the door. One of the people inside scowled, one of them sighed after. Behind the purple haired man, there were two people—man and woman, holding hands, a smile plastered on their faces.

“I brought the guests,” the purple haired said to a blonde man inside the house.

The blonde man scowled silently, but then nodded anyway, thanking him. “Thank you, Gakupo. You are dismissed.” Gakupo nodded, and then left the room. A pair of blue eyes were watching him leave sadly, which is quickly interrupted by a harsh whisper beside her.

“Don't stare, Luka,” said a woman with short black hair harshly, glaring at the one named Luka. Luka clenched her fist, putting it against her chest as she said, “I apologize, mother.” The mother—Lola was her name—just ignored her. Lola walked toward her husband.

Leon, the blonde man from earlier, and seemed to be in his thirties, approached the guests, his mouth curved into a wide smile. “Al,” he greeted the guest, calling out to the man. He offered a hand-shake to Al, which Al gladly accepted to.

“Leon,” Al greeted back, accepting the hand-shake that Leon offered gladly. He smiled back.

Lola stood beside her husband, smiling at the green-haired woman that was standing beside Al. The green-haired smiled back, bowing slightly before saying, “long time no see, Lola.”

Lola laughed lightly, her hand covering her mouth. “Long time no see indeed, Sonika.” Then both of the women hugged for a short time.

Lola and Leon guided their guests to the living room, where Gakupo stood, putting four cup of teas on the mahogany table. There were also one of their children, namely Luka, sitting on one of the couch. Lola frowned, her face turned sour. “...Luka, please go elsewhere. Leon and I have guests, you don't need to interrupt,” she said, trying her best to be polite to her first daughter in front of their guests.

A small yelp escaped Luka's mouth. She turned her head to her parents and the guests, then stood up abruptly, bowing ninety-nine degrees. “I-I apologize, mother,” she said again, and then rushed to leave to living room.

Lola scowled, but then Leon nudged her in the hips, making her yelp like Luka did. He smiled at the guests, telling them to go and seat at the couch, as he leaned to Lola and pushed her toward the couch. “Look, I know you hate her—me too—but we're in front of Al and Sonika. We cannot act rude to our... child... in front of them,” he whispered to her ear, “understand?”

Lola gulped. She felt intimidated by Leon—and she always did. She nodded. “Yeah...”

“Good,” said Leon. The both of them sat at the couch across the couch that Al and Sonika sat onto, separated by a long mahogany table, served by teas made by the one and only Gakupo. The butler stood motionlessly beside the couch where Leon and Lola sat onto with his hands behind his back.

Leon started a conversation, “so, why were you here again?”

Al clasped his hands together, smiling widely from ear to ear. “Right!” he said enthusiastically. “I was thinking that, can I buy half of your gold mine, Leon?” Al asked, trying to be kind and polite as he can be so that he can get a yes as an answer. But Leon wasn't the type to be easily bribed.

Lola, being the co-owner of the mine, widened her eyes out of shock. She quickly glanced at Leon, who's the real owner, reacting to it. He was frowning, tapping his cheek with his hand lightly. It was a complete silence for a few minutes, leaving Leon himself to think.

Leon wasn't the type to just give up his things, so he would never give his things up, especially over just a friend who's not even that close to him. Al offered to buy it for two million Adroll*. This shocked Leon a bit, since two million is a quarter of all of Al's money. Leon isn't having money problems, so he doesn't need that much money at the moment. He still had so many in his hands. And so, he decided.

A warm and polite smile appeared on Leon's face, replacing the frown. He shook his head, surprising the couple in front of them. “No, I don't want to sell my gold mine. Even if it's just half or even a quarter.” The answer made Lola sighed in relief. He continued, “I do not accept the offer.”

Leon snickered seeing the twitch on both of the couple's face, especially Al. Al's family had been their rival—or friend—or both, since seven years ago. But they're close, they're kind, so they don't fight often. There are conflicts, but that never last long. Leon took a sip of the tea—it was Earl Grey. His favorite.

Al took a deep breath. Leon knew that Al wasn't the person to snap or to suddenly get angry, so he didn't have to worry about it. And he's right—instead of snapping, Al smiled. “Is that so,” he said calmly. He sounded like he was holding something back. Probably his anger, Leon suggested in his mind. “It's okay.”

Then they talked about anything that came first to their mind. The first one who talked was Sonika, bringing up their children who just married another noble across the world. It surprised Leon and Lola, since neither of their children had gotten married yet. Luka is in the age of marriage, but ever Leon and Lola asked her to marry someone, she always refused. Then there's their second daughter, who is in the age of marriage too. Her name was Miku. Miku was their favorite child, aside from their son, Len. But she refused to marry someone, because she hasn't found someone for her. There is their third daughter too, Rin, but she wasn't in the age of marriage, even though she seemed so excited for marriage. Their topic was changing from here to there, until Sonika, ironically the first one to brought up the conversation, interrupted.

The green-haired raised her hand, smiling politely at the owner of the mansion. “Um, may I please use the bathroom?”

Lola was the one to answer, “sure, of course.” She turned her head to Gakupo, who was still calmly standing there without a word, making it easy for people to forget that he was there. “Escort her to the bathroom,” Lola commanded.

“As you wish, Milady,” Gakupo answered politely, glancing at Sonika who was walking toward him. Her expression—she was disgusted. Gakupo let out a sigh. It was usual for him to get disgusted by people, so it was fine, he thought. Gakupo turned around to the direction where the guest bathroom is placed. “This way, miss,” he said as he started walking.

On the way there, Gakupo looked back once in a while, making sure that Sonika doesn't run away. And every time he does that, Sonika scowled.

“Do you think that I am going to run?” Sonika asked harshly, but still trying to be polite.

Gakupo closed his eyes, answering, “yes.” A sigh followed.

In no time, they already arrived at the guest bathroom. Before Sonika went inside, she glanced at the butler who's standing quite far from the bathroom. She opened her mouth, whispering something that Gakupo didn't catch. But before he can ask what she was saying, she was already in the bathroom. Gakupo took a deep breath, and stand still, not moving an inch.

Minutes passed, but Sonika hasn't come out yet. Normal people would get irritated by now, but Gakupo is different. He's a butler, a trained butler. He had to be calm. He was still waiting for Sonika to get out of the bathroom. He didn't even hear the toilet flushing. He didn't even hear the door creaking, signing that it had been opened or something similar. Ten minutes had passed, but Sonika still hasn't come out. Gakupo started to get worried—not worried of her, but worried of the house. Of the family that he is serving.

Fifteen minutes passed. Gakupo started to think that it's taking too long. Girls are sometimes do something else in the bathroom, like putting up make ups or tidying up their hair or something alike. But that'd make noises, and until now, Gakupo doesn't hear any suspicious noises at all. And that was something that made it more suspicious, no sound at all.

Gakupo checked his wrist watch once again. Twenty minutes had passed. Gakupo was getting anxious by the fact that Sonika hasn't come out from the bathroom. He decided that he'd check her out in the bathroom. He was just checking, don't get him wrong, because if she disappeared, he'd be killed by Leon. Not serious.

He approached the bathroom's door and pushed it slightly. The bathroom was all white, from the wall and the tile floor and the bathtub, they're all white. He winched slightly, trying to find the green-haired figure from the door. But he found no one. His eyes widened, a small gasp escaped his mouth. There was no one in the bathroom, no green-haired figure at all. No Sonika, nothing.

“...Oh no,” he muttered to himself. “Don't tell me...”

Gakupo rushed to the living room, back to where Leon, Lola, and Al are. It took him just one minute to go there since he ran. At the living room, there they were, Leon and Al, but no Lola, laughing at each other's joke. He felt guilty that he had to change the mood, but he had to.

It seemed that his footsteps attracted their attention that both of them turned their heads to Gakupo. Al was the first one to talk, “where's my wife?” Al asked firmly, referring to Sonika. Gakupo ignored him politely by shaking his head. The butler walked toward Leon, who was staring at him sharply. Gakupo leaned down to his ear, whispering something.

Leon's eyes widened. “—What!?” This caught Al's attention. He repeated his question from before, “where's my wife?!”

This time, Gakupo answered. He turned his head to him, staring at Al in his eyes. “She's—“ But before Gakupo can finish his sentence, something interrupted him.

AAAAHHH—!!”

A scream.

Every head turned to the direction where the scream came. It came from the fourth floor. Al's eyes widened hearing the scream, his fists clenching. “It's Sonika!” he shouted, and then without much talking again, he rushed toward the fourth floor. He was followed by Leon and Gakupo from behind.

It didn't take the three of them long to go to the fourth floor. At the end of the corridor, there were all of the family, standing in front of a wooden door with a warning carved on it. They were surrounding something that looked like a body. Al looked down to their feet. There was a pool of blood beneath them, making Al almost throw up. But what truly shocked him was the body that they were surrounding.

The body had scars on her arms and her dress was completely torn. There were also stab wounds on her stomach, and her right hand wasn't attached to her body. Her right eyes were gouged out, staring at the ceiling lifelessly.

Al's eyes widened once more, his teeth clenching as his body shaking. “SONIKA!” He shouted, approaching the lifeless body that were on the floor.

He crouched down, holding his wife's body. He can't fight back the tears on his eyes. He shook his wife's body violently, hoping her to wake up. “Sonika! Sonika, wake up!” he turned his head to the family behind him, his face looked so awful. “What did you do to her!? She's de—“ he stopped. His face which looked awful before, turned even more awful. He looked scared. Afraid. He didn't move an inch when he saw what is in each of the family—including the butler's—eyes.

Their eyes were red and lifeless. Leon and Lola's eyes weren't red—Leon's eyes were normally brown and Lola's eyes were normally black. Gakupo's eyes were normally purple too, the same color as his hair. He met their children too—Luka's eyes were supposed to be pink, Miku's eyes were supposed to be teal, and Len and Rin's eyes were supposed to be blue. But all of their eyes are red right now. Something wasn't right.

Al noticed that Len was holding a kitchen knife in his hand tightly as he glared at him. “Should I, father?” He asked to Leon in monotone. Leon answered, “yes.”

Then Len walked toward Al. He even walked inhumanly—he walked like a doll. Slowly, stops, slowly, stops, one step, stops, one step, stops. When he was in front of Al, he raised his knife, and stabbed Al's head. Blood spluttered out from his head before Al's body turned limp, and his body fell on top of Sonika's body. His eyes were still wide open even though he's now dead.

“What a beautiful scene,” Rin said, smiling sweetly. “A couple died together. It's like Romeo and Juliet!”

Leon let out a short sigh. He turned to Gakupo, saying, “you may clean this up. Incinerate the bodies, too.”

“Yes, my Lord,” Gakupo bowed down, and then he left to take some things to help him clean the bodies up.


All of them left after that, except Miku, the second daughter. She stared at the bodies calmly, her eyes were still dead. She was frowning, she seemed to think about something. Then, after a few minutes, Miku sighed, turned around, and left the bloody scene.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Kano's Social Media Secret

Rate: T
Pairing: KanoKido
Fandom: Kagerou Project
fuck you

Kido held the plastic bags on her right hand, while her other hand was busy holding another small plastic bag as she pressed the bell beside the door. "Oi," she called out from outside, "someone in there?" she said, waiting for at least someone to open the door for her, since her hand is full with plastic bags of ingredients for cooking. And most of them are for Konoha.

She tapped her foot against the floor, waiting for someone to open the door, but no one came. Annoyed, the green haired slammed the door with her fist. "SETO, KANO, SHINTARO, KONOHA, WHAT THE FUCK, OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR, LIKE, PLEASE?" she shouted, and then took a deep breath, before continuing with a calm tone, "my hand is full here."

"C-Coming right up!" A high-pitched yet still boyish voice came from the other side of the door. Kido took another deep breath. Finally, she thought. Her fingers were getting red the longer she carried the bags. The weights of the bags were making her hands tired of carrying them from the store to the apartment. Emergency: she needs help.

She heard footsteps from the other side of the door. It was getting closer, closer, and closer, until it stopped. Then the door opened, revealing a boy with cat eyes and dirty blonde hair that was swept to the right. The boy was holding a phone—an iPhone. His phone, to be exact. Kido knew this guy very well, since they've been taking care of each other with a frog-look-alike boy since God knows when.

The boy still smiled sheepishly at her, despite the death glare that she gave him. “Sorry, sorry~!” he said as he attempted to wink at Kido. He scratched the nape of his neck awkwardly, saying, “I was too... focused on this new game I downloaded.”

Kido didn't care about this new game he downloaded. Without anymore talking, she just shove half of the plastic bags to him, and then after he took it to his hands, she shove him inside, and closed the door. “Kano—Just shut the hell up and put those in the kitchen,” she said.

“Alright, alright~” Kano put his iPhone in his pocket and walked towards the kitchen with three plastic bags on his hands. Kido followed him slowly from behind, trying not to—or trying to conceal her presence with another three bags on her hands.

The green haired boyish girl looked around. The apartment seemed quiet, and in fact, it is. Kido furrowed her eyebrows, a frown appeared on her lips. “What's up with the silence?” she asked to no one in particular. But of course, the only other person in the room answered her.

Kano shrugged, “Seto said that he's in the mall with Mary. He said that she wanted to buy new clothes,” he said, putting the bags on the dining table. He took out his iPhone from his pocket and began to type the password. “Shintaro, ENE-chan, and Kisaragi are going home—I mean, to their house. You know, the Kisaragi house, since Shintaro said that he needs to see Tono again, and Kisaragi is going with her,” he continued in one breath as he tapped the screen of his iPhone. “And Konoha and Hibiya are just taking a stroll in the city.”

Kido stared at the liar for some seconds, squinting her eyes. “You're not lying, aren't you?” she asked, neither full of doubts or believing him.

“Of course I'm not lying!” the cat-eyed boy said without taking his eyes off the iPhone screen. Somehow, this annoyed the green-haired girl. She twitched, and looked away, unpacking the things inside the plastic bags.

“Sure,” she replied coldly as she reached out the things she bought from the store, putting them outside the plastic bags. She sorted the things neatly—on the right, she put the things that can be put inside the fridge (e.g: syrup, drinks, juices, negima, tomatoes, stuffs), and on the left, she put the things that cannot be put inside the fridge (e.g: salt, baking powder, sugar, stuffs).

She glanced back at Kano as she put the things inside the fridge. She watched him played his iPhone. He seemed so into it, that to her, it felt like she's invisible, once again. She groaned silently, and took the salt to her hand, putting it on the shelf. She can hear as Kano's fingers typed against the screen. The typing sound was so loud to her that she can't even concentrate. A vein popped up on her forehead and sweat running from her forehead to her chin.

Kido turned her head to Kano. “Oi,” she called out to him. Kano heard it, that he turned his head to her. “Yea?”

Kido tried to peek at what Kano was doing, but he hid the iPhone below his hoodie. “No no no no, no peeking!” he said. She only let out a sigh, letting him to do his thing again and she continued sorting things.

Putting the last thing on the shelf—a pack of sugars—she massaged her forehead. She couldn't take it. She couldn't take being unnoticed like before, like when she was a child. It's okay if the ones who didn't notice her were strangers, but this time, it's him. It's not okay. It's so not okay. She should say it to him. She should tell him to stop playing with his phone and notice her—notice her presence, notice her thoughts, notice her feelings.

She took a deep breath. You only live once, she thought. Kido whipped her head to the cat-eyed. She can feel her face heating up, going from normal color to bright red as her breath began to be unstable. She can see him there, standing in front of her, grinning to himself as he stared straight to his phone. Kido gritted her teeth. She needs to say it right now. No—she must.

“Kano—” Kido called out to the said guy. But instead of turning his head to her, he just stayed right there, being the asshole he is, grinning to himself like a stupid guy, tapping on his phone.

Kido bit her lips. How can he not hear her? She took a deep, deep breath, and then with all of her energy, she shouted, “Kano, you dense stupid son of a bitch!”

This time, she got him.

The blonde cat-eyed boy took off his eyes off his iPhone screen to her. From Kido's eyes, Kano's expression looked like he was confused. Kido gulped, didn't know what to say next. She didn't plan it from the start and to the end, so she didn't know what to do. She watched as Kano raised one of his eyebrows, “yeah?”

“U-um—“ Kido opened her mouth, trying to say something, anything, but nothing came out. She glanced away from him, avoiding Kano's confused eyes that were looking straight at her eyes.

She needs to tell him now. This feeling that she felt since the time the two met, the feeling since the two of you talked, the feeling since the two of you exchanged smiles. She must tell him right now. She took another deep breath. God knows how many breaths did she take today. Closing her eyes, she opened her mouth, and these three words that she expected to be loud and clear, ended up being a whisper:

“...I...love...you..?” And uncertain. Though she is certain about it. Her quivering voice made it like that.

Silence screamed between the two. Kido didn't know if Kano was staring at her, confused, or opened his mouth, dumbfounded, or smirking, thinking of something to do to her. Probably the second one, she thought.

One, two, three, four, and five seconds passed, a single laughter erupted between the two of them, breaking the silence completely. A laughter that sounded so amused, so happy, so satisfied, and so mischievous. She realized it immediately.

It was Kano's.

Kido's face turned rosy red after a few seconds into Kano's laugh. She, who was looking away from him, quickly whipped her head to him again, opened her mouth to say some beautiful words. “You fucking cunt—!” Kido shouted to him, which only made the boy laughed more.

Kido bit her lips when Kano showed her his iPhone screen as he laughed. There, there she was, saying the same embarrassing words over and over again. It was “I love you.” Kido's eyes widened, her body felt so numb, being humiliated by only one person like this. Kano had shared the video of her confessing to him to a social media—Instagram.

“You freaking—!” She snatched the iPhone from Kano's hand, startling the boy, and scrolled through Kano's Instagram profile. What she had found out really shocked her. Her eyes widened once again, her hand that was holding the iPhone was shaking, and her face, once again, turned rosy red.

Kido scrolled through Kano's Instagram profile with quivering hands. The username was KidoUnited and it has 681 followers. The following were only five. She tapped the following, and the only six people he followed were ColaShin07—who had only around fifteen followers, DeerS3xual—who had ninety four followers, KisaMomo—who had numerous of followers, YaoiH4nds—who had a lot of followers, but not as many as KisaMomo's, MATERNITY08—who only had, like eighteen followers, and F00DSONLY, who only posts pictures of foods—mostly negimas, yet has about two hundred followers.

She went back to Kano's Instagram profile, and scrolled to see the pictures and videos. Literally all of them were her pictures in various poses and clothes—mostly her normal clothes, though. There was a picture where she was wearing a skirt, looking so embarrassed. There was also a picture where she was giving Kano her middle finger. There was also a picture where she was only wearing a towel with her body wet and her green hair in a bun. And lots of others.

“...W-What.. the fuck is this... Kano?!” she demanded for an answer, whipping her head to the oh-so-innocent looking Kano. He was still grinning as if he hadn't done something wrong.

“Kano!” She called again, but he just laughed. “Don't tell me all this time that I thought you were just busy with your phone, you were actually shooting some pictures and videos of me?!” she shouted at him, knowing that all this time, he was actually deceiving her.

“Well, ma~~~ybee~~” Kano nodded curtly, and smirked. “Shh,” he put his finger against Kido's lips, silencing her. The cat eyes stared straight at Kido's eyes. It was mischievous. Kido didn't know what is he going to do next. She can't read his mind.

The two of them stood just like that for some moments, and then, after that, without expecting this, Kano slowly brushed his lips against hers, much to her surprised. The feelings she was feeling is unexplainable—it was a mixture of embarrassment, happy, surprised, shocked, and pleased. No angry, hard feelings. She was pleased. Much to Kano's surprise, she returned the kiss.

A few moments later, the first one who was out of breath was Kido. She broke the kiss hesitatingly, scared that if she do that, Kano would be offended. But he didn't. Instead, he licked his lips, swallowing the trail of saliva that was on his lips before. He chuckled. “You're so cute,” he said, making her face heated up.

He pushed her against the fridge and snuggled to her warm neck. “I love you too,” he said, his voice muffled against her neck, tickling her.

Kido's eyes softened. She raised her hands and slowly caressed the blonde's hair. “...Yeah,” she said. She then closed her eyes, trying to relax into the position.


Little did Kido know, that Kano put his iPhone on the opposite side of the two, recording all of the things the two were doing—from confessing, laughing, to snuggling to each other. He recorded them all, and all he's going to do next is to share it to the social media—YouTube.  

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Forget-Me-Not

BAB 1??


Kedua mataku terbuka secara perlahan. Sulit untuk membukanya, dikarenakan kelopak mataku masih terlalu berat untuk dibuka. Otakku sepertinya masih ingin beristirahat lebih banyak lagi.

Huh, tetapi sepertinya nasib berkata lain.
Aku bisa melihat seseorang diatasku—dan walaupun penglihatanku masih sedikit kabur karena cahaya lampu yang hampir membuat mataku buta, aku masih bisa melihat surai rambut yang unik yang dimiliki oleh orang itu. Silver warnanya, begitu pula dengan kedua matanya. Aku sangat mengenal orang ini.
Hikaru Hamano. Dia adalah teman sekamarku, dan salah satu temanku yang paling dekat disini. Hikaru termasuk murid yang rajin—ia selalu bangun pagi dan selalu mengerjakan pekerjaan rumahnya. Walaupun begitu, nilainya pas-pas-an. Aneh, padahal ia sudah seperti orang pintar.
Ia mengguncang-guncangkan tubuhku sekali dua kali dengan lembutnya. "Hayato-kun, bangun..." ujarnya. Suaranya terdengar sangat lembut untuk seorang lelaki, hampir mirip dengan suara perempuan. Aku mengucak-ucak mataku, mencoba untuk membuatnya terbuka lebar.
"Hngg..." Aku menguap lebar dengan tanganku menutup mulutku dan menengok ke arah orang itu beberapa detik, mengedipkan mataku, lalu menutup mataku kembali. "5 menit lagi..." ujarku dengan malasnya. Suaraku terdengar serak entah mengapa.
Aku mendengar Hikaru menghela nafas, kemudian diikuti dengan sebuah "baiklah... Jangan salahkan aku kalau kau telat, ya," lanjutnya datar, tetapi aku mengabaikannya.
Tempat tidurku berguncang sedikit setelah itu, dan berat yang tadi ada di sebelahku pun hilang. Hikaru sudah beranjak dari tempat tidurku rupanya. Bahkan tanpa mataku, aku bisa tahu bahwa Hikaru sedang berjalan. Telingaku yang tajam menangkap suara pintu dibuka, dan dengan itu aku tahu bahwa ia sedang berjalan keluar. Pintu pun ditutup, dan sekarang aku bisa tidur sepuasnya.
Tunggu.
Jam berapa sekarang?
Seketika kedua mataku terbuka lebar, membiarkan mata biruku melihat kain lebar yang menutupi tanganku. Aku segera melemparnya ke lantai dan mengambil iPhone-ku yang ada di bawah bantal, dan menekan satu-satunya tombol yang ada di bawah touch screen-nya.
Jantungku hampir lepas ketika mengetahui jam berapa sekarang ini. Jam digital yang tertera di dalam iPhone-ku itu seakan mengejekku yang sudah sangat telat ini. Angka nol muncul tiga kali dan angka tujuh muncul satu kali.
Aku telat. Pakai sangat. Aku kesiangan karena tadi malam—aku tidur jam tiga pas. Sekarang aku telat, dan aku tahu itu salahku.
Aku tahu aku telat, tetapi, walaupun aku sangat ingin bergerak, aku tidak bisa bergerak. Tubuhku tidak ingin bergerak. Seperti dirantai. Mataku terbuka lebar, menatap layar iPhone-ku dengan ekspresi terkejut terpampang di wajahku. Sesekali kedua mataku akan berkedip, membersihkan bakteri dari bola mataku yang merah akibat mengantuk.
Satu detik, dua detik, tiga detik. Dan menit pada layar iPhone itu pun berganti.
07.01.
Dan dengan kecepatan bagaikan cahaya, aku turun dari tempat tidur yang super berantakan—dibandingkan dengan Hikaru—dan berlari ke arah lemari. Letaknya ada di pojokan di pokok ruangan, dan—BUK!
Entah apakah karena aku berlari terlalu kencang atau memang mataku masih belum terbuka sepenuhnya; aku secara tidak sengaja menabruk lemari. Kepalaku terbentur dengan lemari kayu tersebut, mengotori dahiku dengan noda benturan.
Aku merasakan sesuatu mengalir dari dahi ke hidungku. Aku berdiri, memegang kepalaku yang sedari tadi berdengung, dan menghadap ke cermin. Air merah itu mengalir dari dahiku secara perlahan, dan akhirnya menetes ke lantai. Aku menghela nafas. Biarkan Hikaru membersihkannya lah, pikirku sembari mengusap-usapkan kakiku terhadap darahku yang ada di lantai. Tidak, tidak jijik. Untuk apa jijik dengan darah sendiri?
Aku kembali menghadap ke lemari dan membukanya, lagi-lagi disambut oleh beberapa pakaian—baju santai, berbagai macam celana, pakaian dalam, et cetera. Mataku langsung tertuju kepada kemeja biru dan celana jeans.
Aku mengambilnya dan secepat cahaya, bajuku yang tadi—lebih tepatnya piyamaku—sudah terganti dengan kemeja biru dan celana jeans yang tadi.
Asrama ini—asrama Aventurn—membebaskan murid-muridnya untuk memakai baju bebas. Tentu saja, dengan syarat: rapi dan sopan. Yang kupakai sekarang ini kan sopan. Walau agak tidak rapi sih, heh. Dan tentu saja semua—atau kebanyakan, karena tidak semua murid patuh akan peraturan—murid mematuhinya, karena ada seorang guru disini yang super killer dan semua orang takut kepadanya.
Kembali lagi ke tempat tidur, aku mengambil tasku yang ada di bawah tempat tidur dan berlari ke pintu. Untungnya bagiku, Hikaru selalu membereskan bukunya sekaligus milikku sebelum ia tidur. Tepat sebelum aku keluar, aku mengambil jaket kulit kesayanganku yang digantung dengan rapi di pintu. Aku tertawa kecil.
Hikaru memang anak rajin. Seingatku, terakhir kali aku menaruhnya di kursi komputerku. Aku menggelengkan kepalaku, “dasar.”
Setelah membisikkan terima kasih, aku memakai sepatu sneakers-ku dan membuka pintu kamarku, dan dengan kecepatan secepat cahaya, aku berlari menuju kelas X-B, kelasku untuk tahun ini. Sekarang sudah semester dua di sekolah ini. Atau lebih cocoknya, sih, asrama. Asrama Aventurn.
Asrama Aventurn sudah berdiri sejak tahun 20XX, dan sudah merupakan salah satu asrama paling tertib di dunia. Asrama-asrama di dunia memang terkenal akan ketidakteribannya, tetapi kata-kata tersebut tidak berlaku bagi Asrama Aventurn. Memang, murid-muridnya ada yang nakal, tetapi tidak ada seorang pun yang memakai narkoba atau obat-obat terlarang. Bahkan, tidak sedikit orang kaya yang bersekolah disini.
Dan aku, Itoh Hayato—atau biasa dipanggil dengan namaku yang lain—Arthur Clayton, termasuk dalam kategori murid-murid yang nakal itu. Bukan berarti nakal mesum, melainkan lebih ke nakal yang tidak pernah mematuhi peraturan sekolah.
Suara langkah kaki ku bergema di sepanjang taman. Aku baru saja meninggalkan gedung dorm lelaki. Tentu saja, dorm lelaki dan dorm perempuan dipisah. Kedua dorm tersebut berseberangan, dengan sebuah air mancur indah yang memisahkan keduanya. Di bagian utara air mancur tersebut berdirilah sebuah bangunan yang sangat besar—gedung utama Aventurn, dimana murid-murid belajar dengan tekun. Tadi itu sarkastik.
Dengan cepat aku berlari ke arah pintu besar yang ada disana.
Pintu itu tidak otomatis—aku harus mendorongnya, dan itu akan membuat perjalananku ke kelas lebih lama lagi. Aku tidak peduli—kudorong pintu coklat yang elegan itu sekeras-kerasnya, hingga tukang kebun yang sedari tadi menggeleng-geleng melihatku terburu-buru ini berteriak. Aku meminta maaf, dan segera memasuki gedung itu.
Udara dingin adalah sesuatu yang paling pertama menyambutku. Biasanya aku akan menarik nafas dan berpikir bahwa udara air conditioner ini menyegarkan, tetapi saat ini aku mengabaikannya. Tujuanku saat ini adalah berlari menuju kelasku. Tempatnya berada di lantai satu di paling pojok.
Setelah beberapa menit berlari, aku akhirnya berhenti di depan sebuah pintu. Aku berlari sangat jauh—tetapi aku sama sekali tidak lelah. Nafasku masih stabil, dan tidak semua orang bisa seperti itu.
Sembari aku berhenti tiba-tiba, sepatuku membuat suara decitan nyaring yang mengganggu telinga. Maklum, lantai bersih dan sepatuku adalah sepatu basket.
Aku menatap ke atas, ke papan dimana sebuah tulisan dituliskan disana. X-B. Bagus. Aku menghela nafas untuk kesekian kalinya pagi ini, dan memegang gagang pintu tersebut. Kemudian aku terdiam.
Aku mengingat pelajaran pertama hari ini—Sejarah. Tanpa kusadari, aku mendecikkan lidahku. Sialan, ujarku dalam hati. Aku bisa merasakan jantungku berdetak kencang, bersiap-siap akan ocehan guru yang sedang dalam perjalanannya ke telingaku. Menghela nafas lagi, aku membuka pintunya. Aku akan menggunakan trikku yang selalu gagal itu.
Aku menempelkan telingaku ke pintu dan menguping penjelasan guru dari luar. Suara lelaki terdengar di telingaku, sedang menjelaskan tentang Sejarah—aku tidak mengerti, aku tidak bisa Sejarah. Bagus, sang guru sedang menerangkan. Aku menggunakan ini sebagai kesempatanku untuk masuk kelas secara diam-diam.
Kubuka pintunya dengan perlahan, dan mengintip sedikit. Dari pintu, aku bisa melihat sang guru sedang menjelaskan apa yang sedang ia jelaskan sambil menghadap ke papan tulis, menulis sesuatu. Surai rambutnya mirip dengan surai Hikaru, tetapi kali ini rambutnya lebih pucat lagi—putih pucat. Warna kulitnya pun nyarin menyamai warna rambut guru itu.
Kesempatan emas, pikirku dalam hati. Aku merangkak di lantai dan membuka pintunya secara perlahan dan hati-hati dan sediam mungkin agar sang guru tidak menyadari keberadaanku. Tetapi, tentu saja, murid yang terdekat dengan pintu pasti menyadarinya. Orang itu menoleh ke arahku dan mengedipkan matanya untuk beberapa saat. Aku mengabaikannya—aku harus cepat-cepat ke mejaku. Mejaku ada di pojok baris kedua dari belakang—ayolah.
Dan entah apa hari ini memang hari sialku, atau memang murid sialan itu sengaja melakukannya. Murid perempuan bersurai pirang dengan beberapa highlight di rambutnya yang berwarna merah muda itu menunjuk ke arahku dan dengan suara yang lantang, ia berteriak, “Oh, Arthur Clayton baru datang! Mr. Clayton, Arthur baru datang!” Aku menatap mata biru tua perempuan itu dengan tajam, yang ia balas dengan tatapan mengejek yang membuatku kesal.
Tentu saja, semua kepala, termasuk kepala sang guru, menoleh ke arahku. Beberapa terkekeh, beberapa tersenyum pasrah, beberapa hanya menghela nafas. Mayoritas, sih, terkekeh mengejekku. Aku berbisik kata-kata indah kepada perempuan itu dan akhirnya berdiri sambil memasang senyuman bodoh dari pipi ke pipiku.
Di ujung mataku pun, aku bisa melihat tatapan datar yang ditujukan kepadaku dari teman sekamarku. Seakan-akan tatapan itu berkata, “itu salahmu sendiri, Hayato-kun.”
Jarak antara diriku dengan si guru jauh, tetapi aku bisa merasakan hawa panas darinya walaupun ia sudah seperti seorang yang dingin. Mata merahnya seakan menatap jiwaku, dan warna merahnya sangat cocok dengan rambut putihnya dan kulit putihnya yang nyaris sama dengan warna rambutnya. Sudah berkali-kali aku menatap balik kedua mata itu, tetapi tetap saja hasilnya sama—aku mematung.
Maafkan aku, kakakku yang tersayang~” ujarku, dengan keras mencoba untuk terdengar santai dan tak bersalah. Tetapi alhasil gagal juga, karena keringat dingin sudah terlanjur mengalir dari dahi ke pipiku. Seperti air mata, bedanya ini dari dahi, dan bukan dari mata.
Guru itu menggeram, memegang lebih erat spidol yang dipegangnya, dan mungkin spidol itu akan hancur beberapa detik kemudian—atau hanya aku yang melebih-lebihkannya. “Jangan panggil aku kakak disini, Arthur. Panggil aku Mr. Kenneth,” ujarnya kepadaku.
Nama guru itu Itoh Hibari—atau dengan nama lainnya disini—Kenneth Clayton. Dia kakakku, umurnya lima tahun lebih tua dariku—21 tahun. Dia bekerja disini sebagai guru. Guru muda ganteng yang terkenal akan perempuan ganjen disini.
Mungkin kebanyakan orang akan berpikir yang pertama masuk sekolah ini adalah kakakku, lalu aku diminta oleh kakakku untuk pindah sekolah kesini. Nope, salah besar. Malah, kebalikannya.
Aku mendaftar disini secara diam-diam karena suatu alasan, walaupun kakakku memintaku untuk bersekolah di sekolahnya yang dulu. Untungnya, aku diterima di Aventurn (dan aku bingung sampai sekarang—aku 'kan bodoh—kecuali dalam Bahasa Inggris dan olahraga—dan mengapa aku diterima di asrama tingkat tinggi ini). Namun, teman kakakku bekerja menjadi guru disana, dan ia pun memberitahku kakakku. Aku pulang saat itu dengan ketakutan, takut akan teriakkan kakak yang akan menggema di telingaku. Tetapi saat aku pulang, ia hanya menggelengkan kepalanya, menatapku pasrah dan menepuk kepalaku pelan sembari berkata, “dasar remaja.”
Aku sayang kakakku.
Hibari seakan ingin memarahiku. Tatapan matanya sungguh mengerikan. Ia menghentakkan kakinya ke lantai, membuat bulu kudukku berdiri. Namun, secara tiba-tiba, tatapan matanya berubah menjadi tatapan terkejut, pupil matanya melebar, seakan aku menumbuhkan kepala kedua.
Ia menunjukkan jarinya ke arahku, dan berkata, “Hayacchan, dahimu kenapa?”
Aku berkedip beberapa kali. Kata-kata yang baru saja diucapkan oleh kakakku masih diproses di dalam otakku. Beberapa detik kemudian, proses itu selesai. Aku memegang dahiku, dan merasakan air kental yang tadi. Oh. Darah.
Oh, ini,” aku tersenyum polos. “Aku tadi nggak sengaja menabrak lemari. Keras pula,” ujarku dan diikuti dengan tawaan kecil.
Hibari menggelengkan kepalanya, berkata sesuatu yang aku tidak dengar, lalu kembali menghadapku, tangannya dilipat di depan dadanya. “Obati saja dulu di UKS,” ucapnya. Sesuatu di dalamku sepertinya meledak karena kesenangan yang berlebihan.
S—sungguh...?” Tanyaku, tidak yakin akan kata-kata kakakku barusan.
Sebuah senyuman lebar muncul di sepanjang mulutku saat kakakku mengangguk. “Iya, suruh Ms. Flynn mengobatinya.”
Dengan segera aku pun mengangguk, “b-baiklah,” jawabku. Sebelum pergi keluar kelas dan ke UKS, aku menaruh tasku di mejaku—pojok baris kedua dari belakang. Setelah itu, aku memberi kakakku sebuah hormat hanya untuk bercanda, lalu dengan segera meninggalkan kelas, dan berjalan santai ke arah UKS.
Selama perjalanan, aku hanya bisa memikirkan satu hal: aku bersyukur punya kakak sepertinya. Sepertinya aku harus menceritakan sedikit dengan kakakku itu.
Pertama, bnyak orang juga mengira bahwa kakakku itu kakak angkat karena ia sama sekali tidak mirip denganku. Rambut putihnya seperti salju, dan kulitnya yang hampir menyamai warna rambutnya, juga dengan kedua mata merahnya itu. Aku? Aku punya kulit normal, tidak terlalu putih dan juga tidak hitam, dengan kedua mata biruku dan rambut pirangku yang berantakan.
Tidak hanya fisik, kami pun juga berbeda di dalamnya. Hibari tidak pintar dalam olahraga—tenaganya sedikit. Ia bahkan tidak bisa menaiki sepuluh anak tangga tanpa menghela nafas pendek. Aku berbeda dengan kakakku. Ingat 'kan, saat aku berlari dari dorm lelaki hingga kelas? Aku bahkan tidak lelah sama sekali. Kalau itu kakakku, pasti kakakku sudah pingsan.
Hibari pintar dalam pelajaran penting—sejarah, geografi, matematika, dan lain-lain. Sedangkan aku? Hah, jangan ditanya lagi. Aku bodoh—sangat bodoh bahkan. Kecuali dalam bahasa inggris, olahraga, dan komputer. Itu, aku sangat pintar.
Mengira kami bukan saudara kandung? Salah besar. Ia memang secara biologis kakak kandungku. Itu fakta. Kalau tidak percaya, lihat saja akta kelahirannya.
Kakakku itu seorang albino. Dia terlahir sebagai albino, membuat rambutnya putih dan kulitnya putih pucat, juga matanya yang merah terang itu. Menyeramkan jika dipandang untuk pertama kalinya, tetapi jika kau sudah mengenalnya lama, pasti tidak menyeramkan. Kakakku baik—sangat baik, bahkan.
Aku dari kecil dirawat oleh kakakku. Aku tidak pernah mengenal orangtuaku—aku hanya tahu nama mereka, diberitahu oleh kakak. Nama mereka adalah Itoh Goro dan Ran. Kata kakakku, aku mendapat rambut pirangku dari ayah, sedangkan mata biruku dari ibu.
Kakakku itu super duper baik. Pernah, sewaktu aku masih kecil, sekitar umur 6 tahun kalau tidak salah, aku meminta sebuah Nintendo 64, karena dulu yang trend dikalangan anak-anak umur 6 tahun adalah Nintendo 64. Dan tepat esok harinya, yang pertama kulihat setelah membuka mataku dari tidur adalah sebuah Nintendo 64. Ah, betapa senangnya aku waktu itu.
Sungguh, aku sangat bersyukur mempunyai kakak seperti dia. Jarang ada kakak seperti dia. Aku tidak ingin dia meninggalkanku—sama sekali.

* * *

Mataku tertutup, dan aku hanya bisa melihat kegelapan saat ini, tetapi aku masih bisa merasakan tangan lembut sang guru kesehatan di dahiku, mengusap-usap dahiku dengan sebuah kapas putih yang lembut untuk membersihkan darah kental tadi.
Sepanjang perjalanan kesini, darahku menetes ke lantai, membuat orang yang sedang membersihkannya memarahiku. Tadi pagi tukang kebun, lalu orang bersih-bersih lantai. Apa lagi nanti?
Aku menghela nafas saat aku sudah tida bisa merasakan tangan sang guru di dahiku lagi. Aku pun membuka mataku dan mengusap mataku yang kiri. Pipiku memerah ketika tahu seberapa dekatnya wajahku dengan wajah sang guru ini. Dengan segera aku mendorong kursi yang kududuki mundur.
Guru itu memiringkan kepalanya, “ada apa, Mr. Clayton?” tanyanya ramah, diikuti dengan senyumannya yang bagaikan senyuman malaikat. Mungkin ia bidadari yang jatuh dari surga.
Aku menggelengkan kepalaku. “T-Tidak...”
Begitukah?” Aku mengangguk untuk menjawabnya. Kemudian ia mengambil sebuah kapas lagi, dan berjalan ke arah wastafel yang ada di pojok ruangan. Aku mengikuti setiap gerak-geriknya.
Guru ini adalah Ms. Flynn. Emily Flynn, nama panjangnya. Dia adalah guru tercantik di seluruh Asrama Aventurn. Dia sangat terkenal di kalangan lelaki rendahan—kau tahulah, yang mesum. Tidak sedikit lelaki yang pura-pura sakit hanya untuk bertemu dengannya.
Rambut pirangnya sangat lurus mencapai pinggangnya dan sepertinya tidak kusut. Aku tidak pernah memegangnya, jadi aku tidak tahu. Matanya pun menakjubkan—mata yang berwarna merah muda itu bersinar, dan selalu menarik perhatian orang-orang disekitarnya. Senyumannya pun tulus. Senyumannya itu adalah senjatanya yang paling ampuh.
Tetapi ada satu hambatan bagi mereka yang ingin mendekatinya.
Oi,” sebuah suara berat dan serak menggema di sebelahku, dari kasur yang satu lagi. Aku menengok ke arahnya, dan mataku tertuju ke sepasang mata hijau-biru yang juga menatap mataku. Tatapannya tajam—lebih tajam dari tatapan kakakku. Menyeramkan.
Jangan menatapnya, tanah liat,” geramnya kepadaku. Jika aku seekor anjing, telinga dan ekorku pasti sudah lemas karena ketakutan.
M-Maaf—!” ucapku dengan segera, dan memalingkan wajahku.
Beberapa detik kemudian, aku melirik kembali ke orang itu. Untungnya, dia sudah memalingkan pandangannya dariku. Orang ini sedang asik bersantai di atas kasur dengan sebuah rokok di mulutnya. Ia menghisap rokok itu seakan rokok itu sebuah permen. Asap rokok itu melayang-layang di udara. Membuat polusi lebih parah saja, orang ini.
Orang ini adalah hambatan yang tadi kubilang. Peter Auttenberg, namanya. Kelas XII, jadi aku tidak berani melawan. Jika ia hanya kelas XI, aku masih berani melawan. Pacar Ms. Flynn.
Ia mempunyai rambut yang unik—rambutnya berdiri seperti habis di setrum dan berwarna biru. Ia pernah berkata bahwa rambut birunya itu asli dari lahir, dan adiknya juga mempunyai rambut dengan warna yang sama. Matanya pun juga unik. Ia heterochromia—mempunyai dua warna mata. Mata kirinya berwarna biru, sama dengan warna rambutnya; sedangkan mata kanannya berwarna hijau. Sangat unik, aku jadi iri.
Peter adalah berandalan nomor satu di sekolah ini dan di kota ini, kota Arlergie. Ia sering bolos sekolah, suka sekali merokok, pergi ke klub malam, bahkan bergaul dengan tidak benar. Tetapi tidak sampai menggunakan obat-obat terlarang. Yang kutahu, ia tidak se-brengsek itu—demi pacarnya.
Ms. Flynn datang dengan sebaskom air dan kapas dan plester di tangannya. Ia menaruh baskom air itu di meja di sebelah kasur yang kutempati dan menaruh plesternya di sebelahku.
Ia menengok ke arah Peter sebentar, dan menghela nafas. “Peter, sudah berapa kali kubilang kau tidak boleh merokok? Itu tidak baik bagi kesehatanmu!” ocehnya, tetapi Peter hanya menjawabnya dengan sebuah “hnng” dan memalingkan pandangannya, tidak terlihat peduli.
Peter memang kelihatannya tidak peduli dengan Ms. Flynn, tetapi sebenarnya ia sangat peduli. Dan ya, memang disini diperbolehkan menjalin hubungan dengan seorang guru, dengan alasan, “cinta itu tidak mempunyai batas.”
Ms. Flynn pun menyerah. “Baiklah,” ucap Ms. Flynn kepada dirinya sendiri, kemudian membasahi kapas itu dan menempelkannya di dahiku. Dingin rasanya. Dingin itu merambat dari dahi ke seluruh tubuhku, membuat seluruh tubuhku seketika dingin. Aku mengambil selimut dan segera menutup tubuhku dengannya. Ms. Flynn menatapku dengan aneh.
Mr. Clayton, kau kedinginan?” tanyanya, dan aku hanya mengangguk.
Setelah membersihkan luka dan membersihkan darah yang sudah kering, sang guru menempelkan plester di dahiku. “Yap, sudah selesai!” Ujarnya dengan senyuman lebar, menandakan ia bangga dengan hasil kerjanya.
Aku membalas senyumannya yang manis itu dengan senyumanku yang biasa kugunakan untuk menggombal perempuan. “Terima kasih, Ms. Flynn,” ucapku. Dan sepertinya aku merasakan aura pembunuh datang dari si rambut biru. Aku harus cepat-cepat pergi dari sini.
Aku pun turun dari tempat tidur dan membungkuk kepada Ms. Flynn—sekalian kepada Peter sekaligus meminta maaf—dan segera berlari kembali ke kelas X-B. Saat perjalanan kesana, aku sudah tidak melihat tetesan darahku lagi di lantai. Mungkin si tukang pel sudah membersihkannya. Baguslah kalau begitu, aku tidak repot-repot membersihkannya.
Beberapa menit kemudian, aku sampai di kelas. Aku tidak mendengar bel apapun sebelumnya, jadi mungkin masih pelajaran Sejarah. Dan benar apa tebakanku.
Pada saat aku masuk, Hibari masih ada disana. Ia pun menyuruhku untuk duduk dan diam, catat semua apa yang ada di papan tulis. Dan jika ada yang ketinggalan, pinjam catatan milik teman. Aku menatap temanku yang duduk di sebelahku. Oh. Derek, si jenius kelas X-B. Untung saja dia pintar—selalu ranking satu.
Ey, Derek,” panggilku.
Rambut hitamnya yang lumayan panjang sedikit berkibar saat ia menoleh kearahku. Ia menatapku dari kacamatanya, “nanti pinjam catatanku,” ujarnya datar dan menatapku dengan datar juga, “iya, aku tahu. Sudah biasa, lagi pula.” Hahahaha.

* * *

Detik demi detik terlewat dan menit lewat menit terlewat. Sudah dua puluh menit sejak aku kembali dari UKS, dan seharusnya bel berbunyi sekarang. Aku sudah bosan mendengarkan penjelasan kakakku yang panjang lebar tentang sejarah luar negeri yang tidak penting.
Kenapa kita harus tahu sejarah luar negeri? Kenapa kita harus tahu sejarah negara kita sendiri? Yang penting 'kan, kita tahu sejarah kita, bukan? Sejarah kita adalah sejarah yang paling penting. Jika kita tidak ada sejarah—tidak ada masa lalu, kita tidak bisa melihat ke masa depan. Masa depan juga penting. Tetapi menurutku, masa lalu itu lebih penting daripada masa depan. Karena, masa depan bisa berganti. Kau bisa mengganti masa depan—tetapi kau tidak bisa mengganti masa lalu. Masa lalu juga bisa mengubah kita dengan cara membuat kita mengingat sesuatu yang ada di masa lalu. Contohnya, jika saat ini kau sedang melakukan sesuatu yang pernah kau lakukan, tetapi kau lupa caranya, masa lalu bisa membantumu. Coba ingat, dengan menggambarkan sesuatu di pikiran. Itu akan membantumu—aku biasanya seperti itu.
Ah, aku baru saja memikirkan sesuatu yang dalam. Jarang sekali.
Aku mengentuk-ngentuk mejaku beberapa kali karena bosan, membuat suara berisik yang mengganggu orang-orang di sekitarku. Aku tahu, karena beberapa orang sesekali melihat ke arahku, dan menatapku tajam. Tetapi aku tidak merasa bersalah sama sekali—malah, aku merasa puas. Aku puas hanya dengan mengganggu orang lain demi kesenanganku sendiri. Tapi tentu saja, aku tidak pernah mengganggu orang lain secara keterlaluan. Aku tidak pernah menindas orang. Malah kebalikannya. Apa aku bukan orang yang kelihatannya sering ditindas? Aku sering ditindas. Tetapi tidak sampai melukaiku, tentu saja. Maka dari itu aku tidak masalah dan membiarkan mereka.
Arthur,” suara kakakku menggema di telingaku. Aku menoleh ke arah Hibari yang sedang mengajar sambil memasang ekspresi polos. “Ya?”
Hibari menghela nafas terlebih dahulu sebelum berkata, “beris—“ namun kata-katanya telah dipotong oleh suara nyaring dari surga. Suara bel tanda pelajaran berakhir.
Semua murid menghela nafas mereka, dan aku tahu mereka berusaha untuk tidak berteriak karena pelajaran pertama telah selesai. Aku pun begitu, menghela nafas pula, lalu tersenyum lebar. Satu pelajaran lagi sampai istirahat pertama.
Hibari mendeham keras, menarik perhatian semua murid, dan juga membuat sekelas diam. “Baiklah, pelajaran akan dilanjutkan hari Kamis,” ujarnya sembari membereskan buku-bukunya. Setelah itu, ia melambaikan tangannya dan pergi keluar kelas. Um, apa hanya aku saja atau tadi sebelum ia keluar kelas, kakak menatapku? Aku menggelengkan kepalaku. “Mungkin hanya imajinasiku.”
Setelah ia meninggalkan kelas, aku memasukkan buku Sejarahku ke tasku, lalu menoleh ke arah Derek, yang kulihat sedang mencari sebuah buku dari tasnya. “Hey,” panggilku. Ia menoleh.
Ya?” Ia berhenti melakukan aktivitasnya dan mengangkat kedua alis matanya, “ada apa, Clayton?”
Habis ini pelajaran apa?” tanyaku. Aku memang tidak hafal jadwal pelajaran—dan tidak akan pernah hafal.
Latin,” jawabnya.
Mataku melebar sebentar, kemudian sadar akan tatapan aneh yang diberikan Derek kepadaku, aku langsung menggelengkan kepalaku. “Oke deh, thanks!” Dan ia hanya menjawab dengan sebuah anggukan kepala.
Kembali menatap mejaku, mataku kembali melebar. Latin? Batinku. Latin— oh, tidak. Aku memijat-mijat kepalaku walaupun kepalaku tidak sakit atau apapun—hanya untuk menenangkan diriku sendiri. Latin—si guru killer akan datang. Si guru killer...
Pintu kelas terbuka, dan seketika sekelas terdiam. Sembari mengeluarkan buku Latin dari tasku, aku menatap pintu kelas. Disana, terlihat seseorang dengan kemeja abu-abu dan rambut biru muda. Seperti milik Peter, tetapi warnanya lebih muda. Dia memakai kacamata, dan tatapannya terlihat serius—salah satu ciri-ciri guru killer. Di tangan kirinya, ia memegang setumpuk buku Latin; dan di tangan kanannya, ia memegang sebuah tongkat besi tipis. Tongkat itu digunakan sebagai ancaman untuk murid-murid yang tidak mendengarkannya saat ia menjelaskan, untuk murid-murid yang tidur saat pelajaran, untuk murid-murid yang tidak mencatat penjelasannya, untuk murid-murid yang tidak mengerjakan tugas, dan lain-lain. Itulah mengapa guru ini, Lloyd Collins, menjadi guru yang paling killer di Asrama Aventurn, juga wakil kepala sekolah.
Dan yang paling sering terkena hukumannya adalah, tentu saja, the one and only Peter Auttenberg. Siapa lagi? Ia 'kan yang paling nakal di asrama ini.
Mr. Collins berjalan dengan cepat ke meja guru, dan segera duduk di kursi guru. “Selamat pagi,” ucapnya datar dalam Bahasa Inggris biasa. Tumben, biasanya ia menyapa kelas dengan bahasa Latin. Mungkin dia salah minum obat?
Mr. Collins! Kau salah minum obat, ya? Kok pakai Bahasa Inggris?” teriakku dari belakang. Semua orang menatapku seperti aku orang gila atau aku telah menumbuhkan kepala kedua, atau aku mempunyai permohonan untuk mati. Hah! Tidak seperti kebanyakan orang—kecuali Peter—aku tidak takut sama sekali dengan Mr. Collins. Aku hanya takut dengan kakakku sendiri, karena. Ya, karena, karena.
Aku bisa merasakan aura gelap Mr. Collins bahkan dari sini. Auranya menyeramkan, memang, Tapi, untuk apa takut? Bukan berarti dia akan membunuhmu, iya 'kan? Tersenyum polos, aku melambaikan tanganku kepadanya. “Ada apa, Mr. Collins? Sick? Yah, kalau begitu, jangan masuk saja! Itu lebih baik, baik akan kesehatanmu!” Dan baik akan kami para murid juga.
Aku melihat Mr. Collins menghela nafas. “Arthur,” panggilnya. Tangannya menandakan ia ingin aku kesana. “Kemari kau,” ujarnya. Tatapannya sedingin es, membuat bulu kudukku merinding. Tetapi aku tetap mendatanginya.
Aku berjalan ke arah Mr. Collins dan tersenyum sepolos mungkin—memasang tampang orang tidak berdosa. “Ada apa, Sir Collins?”
Dan, BUK!! Kepalaku dipukul oleh Mr. Collins. DENGAN TONGKAT BESINYA.
Aku meraung kesakitan sembari memegang dan mengusap-usap kepalaku yang tadi dipukul oleh Mr. Collins. “Sialan—!!” bisikku. Aku mengusap kepalaku berkali-keli sambil meraung-raung kesakitan untuk beberapa menit selanjutnya, lalu menghadap ke arah Mr. Collins. Dengan muka yang memelas. Palsu, tentunya. “Ma-maa—“
PLAK!! Yang ada ia memukulku lagi. Aku bisa merasakan benjolan di kepalaku akibat pukulan Mr. Collins. Sial. Aku meraung kesakitan lagi. Yang lain hanya tertawa melihat kesengsaraanku ini. Well, mungkin memang sedari awal ini kesalahanku karena telah meledek Mr. Collins. Aku kena batunya, eh.
Arthur,” panggilnya. Aku segera menoleh ke arahnya dan memandang matanya. Masih menyeramkan—matanya biru, tetapi seperti merah di kepalaku. Aneh. Mungkin aku pusing karena dipukul oleh Mr. Collins. Padahal tadi aku baru ke UKS.
Ya?” sahutku.
Mr. Collins menunjuk ke arah kanannya dengan tongkat besinya. Aku mengikuti arah yang di tunjuk oleh Mr. Collins, dan mataku berhenti di ujung tembok. Ujung tembok. Oh.
Aku menoleh ke arah Mr. Collins lagi, berharap ia bercanda. Tetapi setahu Mr. Collins, ia tidak pernah bercanda, kecuali kalau ia bilang begitu—hah. Saat mataku bertemu dengan matanya, aku segera mengalihkan pandanganku lagi dan berjalan ke ujung tembok dengan agak cepat. Keringat dingin mengalir dari pelipisku. Mataku melebar.

Senyuman liciknya memang mengerikan.

Divergent's Movie Rant

DIVERGENT'S MOVIE RANT
I want to be brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest.”

Okay, hello. My name is Hanako, as you all know. And I'm going to rant about the recent new movie, Detergent—I mean Divergent. WARNING FOR MAJOR BIG SPOILERS. Don't say that I didn't warn you.
Recently, I just finished this book called Divergent by Veronica Roth and immediately fell in love with the series. I am currently reading Insurgent right now, the second book of the trilogy.
I fell in love with the story right from the start. It is set in a dystopian world, where the society has been divided into five factions. Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the kind), Candor (the honest), Erudite (the smart), and Dauntless (the brave). The main character, Beatrice Prior, or Tris, was born in Abnegation. But she wasn't sure of herself whether is she really selfless or not—because she thinks that helping people is very hard, not like her brother, Caleb, who thinks helping isn't that hard.
When teens in each factions reach sixteen of their age, they will have to take a test—aptitude test—to determine which faction is the best for them. Most of the time all teens got their own faction from before, but sometimes the different one. But Beatrice is neither of those.
She's a Divergent—a threat to the factions, or so the Erudite thought.
I read it and I was amazed by how addicting the story is—I want to read it again and again, but I'm also curious about Insurgent so I read that first. I imagined Four as a calm and cool guy with the face of Shiloh Fernandez. I imagined Tris as a skinny short girl with the face of... Amanda Seyfried—or Dakota Fanning. I imagined Christina as a pretty girl with short black hair and long legs like... I don't know. Caleb with a face of Freddie Highmore. And Will, like Max Irons with glasses or someone alike—or Logan Lerman HAHAHAHA. I imagined Al with the face of Ron Weasley but with black hair and larger body I'm so sorry—or Jesse Eisenberg. I imagined Peter as a cool and fucked up cool guy like David Henrie.
Then I heard there's gonna be a movie adaptation of Divergent. I was so excited and all jumpy with my friends because we were soooooo fucking excited to watch it. Until we watched it.
It was horrible. Actually, it's not, if you haven't read the book. The storyline is too fast—it's like a summary of the Divergent book though it's a movie adaptation of it. I was very disappointed.
I'm not saying that the acting is horrible, or the scenery is horrible. No, that's not it. The scenery is good and more than I expected and imagined—except for the chasm. The acting is awesome—except for when Tris is trying to mimic the walking dead Dauntless soldiers—the soldiers should be walking in synchronize. And they don't. Not that I care, though.
The actors are also different from what I expected. I am quite satisfied with Christina, Tris, Caleb, and Four's actor/actress, but the other ones, man... Especially Peter. Damn, that guy, I thought he was cooler. When I see his actor—I went blind. No offense, Miles Teller. Not that I mind with the actors and actresses—what I really mind about is the storyline in the movie.
It's totally fucked up.
It missed a lot of important scenes and characters! Well, I don't mind if they just skip the small or big unimportant scenes such as when Four was drunk (though I really want to see that) and Tris's bed is spray-painted the word “Stiff” by Peter.. But really? The important things man— Below are what is in the book but not in the movie:

  1. First of all, Uriah. WHERE THE FUCK IS URIAH AND HIS BROTHER AND HIS FRIENDS? I don't know. There was a black guy running when Tris goes with the Dauntless born initiates and I thought that was Uriah. I said to my friend “eh isnt that uriah” but my friend said “no thats not uriah dude” and I went “WHAT”.
  2. Second, Edward's death. That one is important—where Edward is the greatest Dauntless transfer initiate of all, and Peter got jealous and stuff and then the latter stabbed Edward's eye with a fork(?). Just because Myra and Edward is a complete side-characters, that doesn't mean they don't have to appear in the movie! They should've make Tris reacts to the scene and where she and Christina clean the blood and how Edward and Myra go factionless because of Peter.
  3. Third of all, Molly and Drew. Yeah, I know Molly and Drew are such assholes and they work with Peter and stuff. But that doesn't mean they have no respect, right? They have to appear in the movie too—and in the same way as the other characters! Yes, I know Molly appears in the movie, but they didn't even mentioned her name. What the fuck is wrong— ugh. Drew didn't appear in the movie at all which made me disappointed. The hell? Guys, show some respect to Drew, he was injured most of the time!
  4. Fourth of all, the battles. You know the battles, right? Part of the initiation? Yes, of course you know that, whether have you read the book or not. But you must be unfamiliar with the battles below if you haven't read the book—it's not in order:
  • Molly vs. TrisYes, there might be Molly vs. Tris in the movie, but that's not all. They fight twice in the book, and only one time in the movie. The first one is when Molly beats her up and Tris looses to her. And then the second one, Tris won and Molly was angry to her. She planned something to get her revenge. You remember in the movie where Peter was reading about Erudite's bullshits about Abnegation? That is supposed to be Molly's revenge in the book. I noticed how Molly is staring at Peter when he reads it—probably that's because she's the one who planned it. This makes Tris went crazy and on a rampage because they insulted her family—no, her former family. Remember faction before blood? That's one of Tris's weaknesses.
  • Will vs. Al
Okay, maybe the reader won't remember this one because it was the first battle in the initiation. This is where Will confidently thought that he would win, but no, Al won. Will didn't expect it, but Al suddenly charges at the former and grabs his arm and punches him hard in the jaw. That's when Will lost consciousness. This is an important battle, explaining how Al got his first point, and though in truth, he's weak and then he breaks until he no longer breaths.
  • Molly vs. Edward
    This battle isn't really important, so I don't really care.hhhahahaha
  • Al vs. Drew
    Veronica Roth herself doesn't show this one in the book, but Al did mention about it. So it's absolutely not necessary to be shown.
It's not all, but those are the ones I can remember.
  1. Fifth of all, The Visiting Day and Robert and Tris's reunion. This two are important too! Like, in the movie, instead visiting Tris on the visiting day, her mother visited her when the Dauntless went to the Amity. Isn't that just annoying? When Tris saw something in Amity, I thought she's going to meet with Robert. But nope dope, it's her mother. WHAT. THE. FUCK. She is supposed to go meet Tris in the visiting day, and then she introduces herself to Four! Goddammit, film.
  2. Sixth of all, the flag. This is important too, very important, in fact. Even though you won't see it well in the movie, it is very well described in the book. The one who took the flag in the Paintball game is actually Christina—but in the film, it's both of them (Tris and Christina). It disappoints me because Christina should be the one who took the flag—if so, she will give Tris a patronizing look, telling her that it's enough for her to make the perfect plan. If so, Tris would be hurt, and it will be great in the movie.
  3. Seventh of all, the aptitude test and the simulation. I don't really care, but I am bothered by the fact that one of the aptitude test is gone. The one where someone asked Beatrice about a serial killer or something, and she knows him, but she lied to the guy. Also, half of the simulations too—the last initiation stage. They're completely different from the one in the book. I caN'T.
  4. Eighth of all, the code when Tris went to their family at the end. There was supposed to be a knocking code, told by her mother. It is “knock two times, three times, and then six times” if I'm not wrong. But there is a code, not just barge in to the room just like that in the movie. Sighs.
  5. Ninth of all, and the worse of them all, is Al's death. I am so disappointed in this one. Al's death is more than just go-kill-Tris-with-Peter-and-Drew-because-I'm-the-last-one-because-of-her and she-didn't-forgive-me-and-I-decided-to-go-to-take-an-eternal-holiday-in-the-chasm. No! The movie makes it seems like that, but it is more than that. At first, Al thought Tris only as a friend. But then after the knife accident with Al, Eric, Four, and Tris, he began to develop a feeling for the girl. Al is the first one to break down during their first night in the Dauntless dormitory. He also seems broken after he went to the second stage of initiation by fear. He experiences night terrors, and often waking up screaming.
    And then twisted by jealousy of Tris's development, bitterness, desperation, and depression of his own, Al joins Peter and Drew in their attempt to throw Tris into the chasm, murdering her. But Al merely wants to scare her. Then when the other two begin to touch Tris in inappropriate places, he tried to stop them. Later, he attempted to apologize to Tris, but Tris didn't accept his apology, even threatened him that if he come closer to her again, she'll kill him.
    I won't hurt you. I never wanted to... I just want to say that I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I just don't... I don't know what's wrong with me, I... please forgive me, please...”
    Depressed, afraid, and remorseful, Al jumped into the chasm, thus ending his life.
    In the aftermath of Al's death, Tris calls his suicide selfish yet Eric calls it courageous. Tris said that if he was truly brave, he would have admitted his mistake and left Dauntless instead of taking his own life.
  6. Tenth of all, Tori. In the aptitude test, Tris didn't ask about the tattoo Tori has. But that's important—it's a reason for why Tris's decided to get a tattoo. Ugh gdi man.
  7. Eleventh of all, the not so simulation drowning. In the book, there is a part where Tris is actually drowning, not in a simulation. It's the execution from Jeanine for her since she is no use anymore. This is where she met her mother. Her mother saved her from the water box, and then ran together. In the movie, Tris was going to be executed in a different way—a shot on the head. That's when her mother arrived to save her. Different, yes?

There are still things about the Divergent movie I want to talk about.

They made the important characters—Christina, Will, Al, and Molly—looks like some freaking unimportant side-characters. Even Peter looks like an unimportant side-characters. Drew and Uriah—they didn't even appear in the movie.
Christina should be a girl who always comforts and protects Tris when she's weak. Talk girly things when Christina said to Tris that Will kissed her. She and Will are the ones who always protect Tris when she looks weak. Will, too, same as Christina, is the one who is responsible for her rash actions. He always calms her down like when Peter reads Erudite's articles about Abnegation.
Al's actions are a lot too. Like when I said in the ninth scene that's in the book but not in the movie. Also, he confessed to her indirectly, like, that should happen in the movie. It'll be awesome.
Uriah. Uriah also plays a big role in the story. Uriah, Marlene, and Lynn. When she is with them, Tris feels strong.

I also don't like that the fact they change most of the dialogues and scenes—like when Tris went to Erudite's compound. She is supposed to find Caleb by punching a man(?) and then that's when Caleb arrives. And when she talked with Jeanine—in the book, Jeanine sounds like that she didn't trust her, but in the movie, she trusted her. Same by when Four and Tris were caught. In the movie, Jeanine said that she thought Tris was a good girl and stuff. But in the book, Jeanine said that she always thought that Tris a good girl.

The scene with Four—Tobias also. It's completely different. In the movie, they are all of the sudden in a balcony, and then they kiss and stuff and then Four showed his tattoo. What in the actual fuck? No, just... No. That's not realistic. In the book, Four showed it when the two are alone in his room after the last and final initiation test. Where he said his famous quote: “I want to be brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest.”

I also think that they didn't show Peter's cruelness enough. They only showed Peter reading Erudite's bullshits about Abnegation, and then when he and Al and Drew (notsureiftheotheroneisDrewbecause) attempted to throw her to the chasm. They should, because Peter is beyond cruel. Stabbing Edward's eye, harassing Tris with Molly and Drew. He's beyond cruel. They only show Jeanine's intention of destroying “human nature” (or so that the film said). Erudite's evil intention.

They also mainly show only the Tobias/Tris pairing. More Four/Six, less friendship. I don't like that. You can live without romance, but you can't live without friendship, right? Tris's friendship with Uriah, Christina, Al, Will, Marlene, and Lynn is important. You can't just not show that beautiful friendship of theirs.

I don't know whose fault is it. The book or the movie. The book is too long—but the movie can always be divided into two parts... So I don't know which one is right. What do you think, though?
The characters are also a lot. But you can't just shove them not important characters away, right? No, of course not. Who's the director again? Oh, Neil Burger. I give you 4/10 in this one, sorry. But VERONICA ROTH I GIVE YOU 100/10 TO THE NOVEL, CHEERS.


Okay, I think I'm done ranting. And with this, Hanako's out!
Black Tiny Hand Bobblehead Bunny