I made a new cover! My art skills are lackluster but at least now the header doesn't say HEAD every time I look at it :D

And thank you so much for reading ^^

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I'm not really familiar with Miss Matsuda. I know she's young, early twenties maybe, and she could be quite pretty if she had actually bothered (she did not bother, alas, her hairstyle and glasses are the worst things I've ever seen and it's not like I'm the most fashionable dresser myself). During the few times I've been to the nurse's office, whether to visit someone (people get hurt on mindhack missions sometimes) or to rest from a headache, she is always sitting there not doing much besides playing ridiculous zen music. Which gives me a ever bigger headache.

Now that I'm thinking of it, the zen music is probably a part of the brainwashing too. It probably doesn't have an obvious effect, but little by little it could add up to something big. I wonder if they used machines to brainwash us in our beds every night, just that they didn't go all out so the effects weren't observable. They probably did, I think, considering the nights that I have had headaches—

And all the nights I have been rolling around in bed with my headaches,my roommates' brains are slowly, gradually being invaded. Until the teachers find all their weaknesses, until their minds become vulnerable enough, until the very night that has just gone by, when the teachers decide that it's time for the ultimate brainwashing.

Ew.

"You shouldn't have turned off the machine, little girl," Miss Matsuda is saying, taking a step forward while Shun and I in turn instinctively take a step back. "If you've let it run its full course, your little friends would have been safe and sound, well yes we'll have full control of their brains whenever we want, but when we don't control it, they'll be just the same, they'll still be excellent mindhackers, they'll still be the people you know and love.But you stopped the process in the middle, which means, poor little souls, they're stuck in their nightmares now. Forever."

"No," I whisper.

"As for you, little girl—we should have made sure you died before carrying out this year's grand brainwashing. We were careless. We thought that even though you lived through the first assassination and we killed the wrong guy, you wouldn't be a problem anyway since we could send the rest of the school after you. But we underestimated you."

Personally I think it was less that they underestimated me and more that they overestimated their brainwashed zombie minions because if even I can outrun them and Shun can evade all those weapons they clearly just aren't very good.

Of course, I don't say that. This isn't the time to argue semantics.

"We were careless," Miss Matsuda repeats, taking one more step forward.I notice something shiny in her hand. A dagger, maybe? I also notice Shun gripping the taser in his pocket. "We were careless. We let you kill Yamada, our leader. Silly, silly man. But you won't roam free anymore. It all ends here—"

Right on cue Shun charges at Miss Matsuda, taser in hand. And Miss Matsuda whips out the shiny thing she has been holding. It is not a dagger,but a small, silvery slip of a device. One single click, and Shun falls to the ground screaming.

Miss Matsuda cackles. I've always thought cackling isn't something normal people do because no matter how I try I can't get the sound right, until Natsumi told me once that it's actually really easy if you employ the right parts of the vocal cords, but I digress.

Anyway, Miss Matsuda cackles, and of course I look at her and note her boring bland features and her white nurse outfit and her lack of eyebrow hair and her overly big nostrils and the small device she is holding.

The small device that is apparently giving Shun the headache of a lifetime, since he's rolling around on the ground shouting like someone has stepped on his balls. It's a miracle everyone else continues to remain in deep slumber even though we're making a racket rivaling a rock concert.

I say "we", because I'm screaming too. Shun collapsing like that is scary and I can't stop.

"What did you do to him? What are you doing to him? What have you done to him?" I shriek, managing to brilliantly use three tenses in one sentence. The English teacher, Mrs. Charles, would be proud had she not been outside somewhere on the track field lying amongst countless unconscious bodies. I'm pretty sure that wasn't what she bargained for when she came to Japan to look for a job.

Miss Matsuda cackles again. I'm getting sick of the word. She caresses the small, metallic device lovingly. "It's this baby," she explains. "It's my proudest little creation—not even Yamada can craft this sweet darling! It gives my target one hell of a headache. Too bad it's useless on you, you little bitch, but this ought to be effective." She pulls out a gun from in between her boobs, which would have been sexy had she been any bigger than an A-cup.

I don't like being called a bitch for no particular reason and also Miss Matsuda pronounces it like "beach" but this really isn't the time to care because hello she has a gun.

Also Shun is writhing on the ground gasping for air and it is very uncomfortable to watch so I concentrate on looking at Katsuki's Tokyo Girls' Style posters on the wall, which are quite possibly the last things I see before I die.

Well, at least the girls are cute.

Miss Matsuda cocks her gun. "So, any last words?"

"Let me think," I say, stalling for time even though I know no one will come to my rescue since all the people in school are either unconscious or evil and it's like six a.m. so it's unlikely that anyone will come wandering into our dorm anytime soon.

"Hurry up, clock is ticking." Miss Matsuda grins. She's got a giant pimple on the chin and it's very distracting, so I redirect my eyes to Tokyo Girls' Style, while my right hand reaches for the knife in my pocket. Of course, Miss Matsuda notices.

"Don't even try," she laughs, "you'll be dead before you can even touch me."

She's right, naturally, since bullets travel faster than me. But I grip the knife anyway, feeling its reassuring weight on my fingertips. I know it's just wishful thinking but maybe, if Miss Matsuda is a terrible shot or something, just maybe—

But she handles the gun with experienced suaveness and fires without hesitation. Someone who is that sure of herself can't be a terrible shot. Yet her bullet misses me and lodges itself into an abstract oil painting that was hung above Daisuke's desk, for Shun has launched himself onto her feet and slightly upset her balance at exactly the right moment.

That was the most he could do, however, he isn't in any position for a fight and he knows it. His face glistens with sweat and his lips can't even form words, but he manages to force his eyes open and glare at Miss Matsuda, in a way that clearly says don't you dare.

I take the opportunity to throw myself onto Miss Matsuda. She's rather large for a Japanese lady who's an A-cup and I'm rather thin for someone who eats junk food twenty-four seven but I don't have any other option. Miss Matsuda is laughing like a madwoman now; I don't think she's sane anymore, but then maybe she had never been sane to begin with.

I mean, all she does all day is sit in the nurse's office playing her ridiculous zen music; that would bore anyone into insanity.

She is thrown to the ground, but her hold on her gun is firm. I claw for my (Mr. Yamada's) knife, and Miss Matsuda lifts her gun and pulls the trigger. It misses because I'm kind of on top of her, and bounces off Yukiya's bedpost. Thank goodness it didn't hit Yukiya himself, who's stuck too deep in nightmare world to be aware of anything that is going on.

Miss Matsuda cackles wilder and clicks another button on her small silvery device. Behind me, I can hear Shun screaming like he is being repeatedly run over by a garbage truck. I try to grab the device from Miss Matsuda, but it gives her exactly what she needs: an opportunity to aim her gun right and fire. A thousand instruments are playing in my head, and it occurs to me that this may be the backing soundtrack to my life flashing in front of my eyes before I die, and I sure hope it's a nice tune but Shun is screaming too loudly so I can't even hear it well—

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I scream, Shun is also screaming, and the whole universe is screaming and I cover my ears. And look up.

Miss Matsuda's bullets have missed me; in fact she is no longer even firing at me. Mrs. Sato has appeared out of nowhere (okay I'm pretty sure she just walked up the stairs and through the door but to me it seemed out of nowhere) and now she and Miss Matsuda are apparently having one very exciting catfight. Mrs. Sato is stabbing at Miss Matsuda with some kind of dagger, and Miss Matsuda just keeps firing everywhere. Her silvery device drops to the floor with a clang and I reach for it, but I have no idea how to turn it off and a wrong move just might fry the brains of everyone in the room, so I carefully refrain from touching any of the three buttons.

The catfight is getting out of hand. Miss Matsuda is slamming Mrs. Sato's head on the floor and Mrs. Sato is slashing Miss Matsuda's arm with her dagger and blood is everywhere. I don't have the faintest idea what is even going on, and I sure don't know who to cheer for, so I back away to Shun's side and try to calm him down, which is difficult because I don't think he can hear me through his own anguished screams and the catfight.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

More gunfire. I turn just in time to watch the exciting finale: Mrs. Sato has rammed her dagger straight through Miss Matsuda's chest (oh god) and Miss Matsuda has fired like three bullets into Mrs. Sato's stomach.

I begin screaming again despite myself. I've never encountered so much violence in my life and that's saying a lot because pro wrestling is kind of big in Japan and I've been to some matches with my cousins and even bought one of those towels to support my favorite—

Oh, I digress again.

Miss Matsuda lies on the ground, her blood seeping into the carpet. Her crazed eyes turn towards the sky, unseeing, empty. But Mrs. Sato is still breathing. Not for much longer considering how she has like three bullets in her stomach and how I have no emergency surgery knowledge, but still alive nonetheless.

Her lips move and she fixes her unsteady gaze on me, and I realize that she has something to say. But after all that happened I don't think I could trust her, so I stay warily in my spot.

She raises three fingers, and fold the top and bottom, which is kind of funny because she is basically giving me the middle finger now, but I don't think that's what she means. I hold up Miss Matsuda's device and she gives me a weak smile.

I press the top and bottom buttons, and Shun's screaming abruptly stops. He lies there exhausted, eyes closed, trying to get his breath back. And I finally decide that it's okay to trust Mrs. Sato, and move a bit closer to her.

She did fend off the crazy gun-wielding nurse for us after all.

Mrs. Sato is trembling, her last words tumbling out in small shaky fits."S-save y-your, your classm-mates, y-you still h-have, have t-time, h-hack into th-their m-minds, g-get past their f-fears, s-save them..."

I nod numbly. I don't know what to think. I've always liked Mrs. Sato until like 3 a.m. this past night when Shun told me all about her being one of the "evil guys", yet here she is trying to help us, so I'm not sure what the proper reaction in such a situation is.

Mrs. Sato is still going on. "I'm s-so, s-sorry, m-my b-boy..." I realize that she is trying to talk to Shun. "I-I m-made yous-suffer so, so hard, I, sh-should've s-said no but, b-but, they, th-they h-have m-my ch-children—"

I cover my mouth and feel myself shaking. Out of all the hundred ways to make me cry, dying moms talking about children are like number one on the list, ranking above old and sick golden retrievers and elderly couples holding hands.

I'm ridiculously sappy like that, but moms. And children.

"No..." I whisper, my eyes suddenly swimming with tears.

Mrs. Sato smiles faintly. "G-good g-girl, y-you go, go r-rescue y-your friends, h-hurry or they-they'll be p-past s-saving..."

I nod hard, unable to formulate a reply anymore. It's amazing how I can go from hating Mrs. Sato's guts to crying over her eventual death in a span of like five minutes.

Mrs. Sato's smile fades, and her eyes are pleading all of a sudden.

"M-my childr-dren, Minami, Yuichi, s-save th-them, d-don't l-let them h-hurt th-them..."

"We will! We will! I promise!" I cry, sobbing like no tomorrow.

"T-tell th-them I love—"

And Mrs. Sato's eyes close and all is silence except for Shun still catching his breath on the ground somewhere behind me, and the sound of my own tears hitting the ground.