SE: A Tainted Soul, A Pure Promise

Chapter 3: Who Is She?

"The name's Maka. Maka Albarn. It's a pleasure to be your partner."

Wait a minute...Albarn...does that mean...she's the deathscythe's daughter?!

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A pestering beeping came from the side table. I groaned and rolled away from the sound. "It's too early to be up..." I concealed my face and ears under the quilt and my pillow. That's when I realized why I was getting up so early. I hopped out of bed. "It's Monday! I almost forgot! I start at Shibusen today! I gathered up what I needed for my shower and I dashed to the washrooms. Quickly, I started up the steaming water; I jumped in and shampooed and conditioned my hair. I then soaped my body to rinse. In all, that took about 15 minutes. I then went and got dressed. I wore my light blue boxers and topped it with a pair of tan jeans. Next, I threw on my orange t-shirt on and pulled on my black leather jacket. I slipped my black shoes on and walked over to the mirror. Combing through my hair with my hands, I slid a black hairband into my snowy locks. I cleansed my pointing chompers and made last minute check-ups. "Alright, I think I'm ready."

I retrieved my bathing supplies and returned them to my room. Then I headed back up to ground level to start my first day.

The halls were flooded with the  acknowledgment of companions uttering 'how was your break?' or 'I missed you!' I was dreamily being gazed at by what appeared to be freshman ladies. A vein pulsed in my forehead. Honestly? I continued on to discover my destination. I passed a lady holding a clipboard with golden wavy mane clothed in a yellow and black long-sleeved dress that came down to her ankles. She also wore an eye patch with a zigzagged yellow pattern over her left eye and showed her saffron iris in the other. I watched as some students walked into her classroom saying, "good morning, Marie-sensei!" Oh so that's who Marie-sensei is... So I followed the others and passed by the woman.

"Good morning! You don't look familiar. Are you new?" I nodded in response to her sweet voice and smile. Looking down at her notes. "Then you must be...Soul Eater?"

"Yes, ma'am. You're Marie-sensei, right?"

"Mhhm! Go ahead inside and look for your last name in the piles of paper for your schedule."

Again, I nodded and entered her class. There were numerous piles of paper lining her steel desk. "So it's by last name...then I gotta look for the 'E' pile..." My schedule was at the top of the heap. "Ahh, 'Eater,' there it is." I examined my class roster.



Mon., Wed., Fri.: Combatant Classes


period 1- Mjolnir, Marie; homeroom
period 2- Grace, Vasily; Targeting/ Firing Range
period 3/4- Barett, Sid; Close Combat
-lunch-
period 5/6- Nygus, Mira- Self-Treatment&Survival
period 7- Dow, Asha- Stealth Training
period 8- Stein,  Franken; Specialized Training


Tue., Thu.: Academic Classes


period 1- Mjolnir, Marie; homeroom
period 2- Chiri, Sekai - World Geography
period 3/4- Barett, Sid; Algebra I
-lunch-
period 5/6- Stein, Franken; Earth Science
period 7- Nygus, Mira; Health/P.E.
period 8- Dow, Asha; Teacher's Assistant



"Hmm...odd schedule...interesting classes..." Folding my paper and stuffing it into my pocket, I was off to find myself a seat. The class had a lecture-room set up and was quite spacious. To the left, I saw more gawking, starry eyed girls as I dragged my feet by.

"Woah, who is he?" I heard a brunette whisper.

Her ginger friend gossiped back, "I don't know, but he's totally hot! Look at him, he's so laid back and cool!" Seeing her sigh and stare to the ceiling to fantasize, I grumbled and benched myself a couple of rows above and several seats away from them.

"Ignorant...they don't know anything about me and they've already got a crush going...this is great. I'm capturing more attention than I want..." I groaned into my palms. The first warning bell rang just then. "Huh...? I'm early? I didn't even realize..." The bustling in the hallway increased as the scholars scurried to class before they were caught after the last bell.

At that moment, I heard a pleasant voice. It sounded slightly childish but at the same time somewhat mature. I feel like I heard it somewhere. "I'm sorry I'm late, Marie-sensei!"

Ms. Marie smiled. "No, no! It's okay! The next bell hasn't rung yet! Go ahead take your schedule off my desk and find a seat." I made an effort to keep myself from seeing who it was. It was probably just my imagination anyway.

"Thank you!"

Just forget about it, Soul...There's no one you could possibly remember here. You just moved here! That's when I couldn't take it anymore. I had to see who it was. So I set my ruby eyes to the origin of the recognizable tone. It's her!

That girl from the market! She went to Shibusen, too? I gaped at her the way I hated how others did to me. But I couldn't help it. It was tough to look away...

She had her hair in a twin ponytail style, and her attire was that of a white long-sleeved casual button-up with a mustard-colored sweater vest atop. Her neck was lined with a deep-green and white tie. Over all of that was a charcoal trench coat that was perfectly fit around her torso and trailed off the end like a cloak. A red plaid miniskirt draped her hips and she also wore black boots with white buckles. Her petite frame made her look like a high school freshman, but this was a sophomore class, so I'm sure she wasn't as old as I thought. Is that really her? She started her way up the pews of the lecture room towards me. Then, I saw her eyes. There was no mistaking it. I remember looking down into those large olives just less than a week ago. It is her...! She abruptly made eye contact with me. I was taken aback and skipped a heartbeat. Shit...why am I so nervous?! I don't even know her!!

As she glided nearer, I could smell her perfume...it smelled like...sweet petals. It was a lovely aroma. I was given another dainty grin, the same one she had given me at the store. "Hi." Again, the same way she had said when I was grocery shopping.

I felt my cheeks begin to pink. NO, NO! You don't know her! Don't be a dork and have a crush already...jeez. I might as well turn into one of those girls that are all head-over-heels for me... I attempted to play it cool. "Hey." I leaned back onto the back of my chair casually. She giggled and went to her seat. I sighed, "Man, getting all blushy like that is so uncool..." Rubbing my eyes, I added on, "...and over a flat-chested girl like her...? Ugh, I'm so lame..."

The last warning bell rang and Marie-sensei shut the door. "Okie dokie, class! Let's get started--" She tripped over her own feet and stumbled over to her rolling chair; it almost rolled completely away from her but she managed to grab a hold of it to just barely save herself from a faceplant. A shaken chuckle escaped her, "oh, hoho, clumsy me! I need to be more careful, huh?" She regained her poise and spoke in a more serious manner. "So today I will be officially writing down your partnerships! Pair up! Ready?"

The class stirred with excitement. I looked around to see who was ready to partner up with one another. There were two girls wearing the same outfit, one with pink short hair that came just above her shoulders and the other with long chestnut hair down to her chest. They obviously desired partnership with each other. I scanned the area some more. A guy that sported a bald cranium and a pair of horn-like gelled hair and glasses with a swirly pattern on them looked as though he wanted to buddy with a guy with visors. The next pair my view came across were of a guy with corn-rows, rayband specs and had two kids with him. I guess those would be his partners...?

"YAHOOOOOO! TSUBAKI, YOU WILL BE THE GREAT BLACKSTAR'S PARTNER, RIGHT?!?!?!?!" A kid with spiky blue hair was making a commotion on the opposite side of the room.

The girl he had been talking to, apparently Tsubaki, responded, "of course, Blackstar!" She meekly smiled at the obviously conceded boy.

I didn't realize anyone was sitting next to me until I heard an explosion of laughter to my right. A large-breasted girl with chin-length blonde hair wearing a blue and white cowboy hat, red belly shirt, white tie, and puffy jean shorts was hysterically laughing at a nosebleeding boy on the ground; he had black hair with three white lines on the left side and was wearing a black suit. A taller girl that looked related to the other blonde wore the same outfit, only she had jean pants and somewhat smaller breasts. She also had longer hair.

"Come on, Kid! Get over it! It's just your name! Why don't you write it in all caps? It'll be symmetrical then!"

"Liz...YOU'RE A GENIUS!" He spouted tears of joy. What's up with this guy...? He got up and scrawled on a piece of paper. When he held it up to marvel at it, I could see that 'DEATH THE KID' was etched into it. The so-called Kid embraced the said Liz, "Thank you, Liz! You've saved me!"

"Jeez, gimme a break..." Liz was up-front about her irritation with the boy. "Your damn OCD makes me wanna hit you sometimes..."

So that's why he freaked out. I took my eyes away from the drama that had just been displayed at my side. I skimmed through the class once more and saw 'Olive Eyes' again. She was reading a book all alone. Ahh, so she's a bookworm.

I had no idea that I had been staring at her for some time until Ms. Marie tapped my shoulder. "Soul, would you like to be paired with Maka?"

Maka. "Uh, sure." Marie-sensei motioned for Maka to come over to where I was. She followed the order and came right over with a tiny bounce in her strut. The teacher walked away to go pair up more of the students. "H-hey, again."

"I'm Ma--"

"No, wait. Don't introduce yourself to me yet..." I wanted to tell her what kind person I was before I knew her full name. "Uhm, after school, will you meet me at the dance studio...?"

"Uhh...sure, I guess so." She smiled that same smile that kept making me so nervous.

I tried to maintain composure. I shone my jagged teeth and replied, "cool." She took the empty seat to my left.

"Well, until then, just call me Maka, okay?"

"Alright. Then call me Soul." Though I asked for no introductions, we still managed to go against my wishes to an extent.





It was now seventh period. I have to go to, "Stein..." I mumbled to myself. I looked over each door to see which one was his class.

"Going to Dr. Stein's class, too?" Maka had come up behind me. "It's this way." She looked over my shoulder at my schedule that was held in my hand, "cool, you have him for your last two periods like me!"

"Uh, yea, I guess I do." We sauntered along the hallways until we came up to the
professor's door. We entered and I was surprised to see the man before me.

Everything had stitches-- his face, his lab coat, his shirt, his chair, heck, even his classroom walls had stitches! But that wasn't the only thing, he had a screw going in through the left side of his skull! I had to admit, it was pretty cool to see all this, but at the same time, strange.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Stein. You're Soul?" He pointed a finger at me and I nodded so he continued, "oh, Maka, how are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"No one else is in this class?" I asked. The second warning bell for the next period had just alarmed and there wasn't one other student trying to cram into the class.

"It's specialized training. Every Academy pair has their own unique class to attend to strengthen their individual abilities." His eyes hid in the glare of his glasses. "Now let's begin." He had a table covered in a stitched cloth in the middle of his classroom. "Come over here and remove the cover."

Maka and I walked over and pulled the sheet off at the same time to reveal a number of odd weapons before us. There were gauntlets, katanas, staffs, crossbows, and  scythes laid out in front of us. There was nothing really special about these weapons, except for the fact that they look more like wall ornaments rather than something you'd use for a battle.

"I know this is strange artillery, but there is a reason why I've shown these weapons to you. In the past, we had to endure skirmishes against witches and demons. I know this is also odd, but it is quite true. That is why this city was created along with the school. For hundreds of years we brawled these creatures but eventually extinguished them using these sorts of weapons. Nowadays, this school is like a military school. Everyone is taught to use guns, knives and other common weaponry; the special classes that are suited for students that have a desire to be something other than a Regular are given those classes. But, to be safe, we would like to keep some students educated in the art that our ancestors used against the fiends we had defied and defeated long ago, in the case that they make a return. It is quite unlikely that the reappearance of these savages will occur, but we are better safe than sorry. So, would you like to wield one of these weapons?"

"I sure do, Dr. Stein. I want the reaper's tool. " My partner stood firmly unbent and followed up with, "I mean, after all, it is a family tradition to wield a scythe."

"That's what I was expecting from a girl like you." The scientist smiled and awarded her with the blade. "So, what about you, Soul? Do you wish to wield one of these weapons?"

I was hesitant. I mean, I didn't have any connections to a scythe like Maka did. She was at least familiar with the apparatus. "I think I'll stick mostly as a Regular...but, I'll practice using it just in case I need to back up my partner." The professor glanced at me questioningly. "I mean, if that's alright--"

"Oh, it's completely fine. It's still helpful. You'll be here on your designated days, but you will only be learning basic techniques; Maka however, will commit to memory more advanced tactics." He lit a cigarette and took a long drag. "Oh, and Maka, you will be taking a scythe home to practice, understand?"

"Yes, sir, I do."

"Good. Then let's start with how to seize and spin the weapon."




"Hey, I need to go get my stuff from my locker. Go ahead to the dance studio and prepare what you need to," Maka said as she dashed to gather her belongings.

"Sure thing." I went off to search for the dance studio. If I remember clearly, it was pretty close to the dispensary... I let my legs listen to my instinct and was pleased to see that they didn't fail me. I opened the door to see a wide, wood-paneled floor with mirrors in the place of walls. In the far right corner of the flat, a baby grand piano sat awaiting me to produce a musical note out of it.

I hated to perform in front of people, but this girl...Maka...she made me feel like showing my true self to her. I wanted to throw this away, but I guess I found another person who would make that impossible.




I know that I barely know the chic, but I swear, there was something about her that compelled me...even if I really didn't want to admit it.