Samuel J. Livingston's Story

After a few moments, the door finally opened, revealing the Italian boy from earlier. But his composure had did another flip; it had returned to it's original smugness. Although The Devil's voice was trying to be comforting, he could feel the seething anger that was radiating from his crimson red eyes.

Samuel honestly could care less about what this person felt about him. However, it was within his best interest to be as diplomatic as possible. So, he played the part.

"I apologize for barging in, especially the first time. I was out of my place at the dining hall, considering the fact that that French girl didn't even need my help," Samuel laughed nervously while giving off a warm smile.

"Anyways, may I come in? I wanted to try again with our friendship, as well as try to meet the girl that's also in this room with you. I actually never caught your name, either." He peeked over The Devil's shoulder and noticed Sherry sitting on the floor.

- Sherry Hisakawa -

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"You were concerned. How very sweet of you Signora Hisakawa. I am truly touched, and well it's simple reall-", Sherry was about to correct his assumption but the person on the other side of the door seemed to beat her to it. Considering she had seen Samuel just down the hall a little while earlier and the fact that he not only displayed curiosity in her case and a sort of hospitality for interesting boy across from her, it would most likely be his dark head popping round the door.

She was right, She couldn't help the small smile that lit her face as her observations were validated by the tell-tale sigh of agitation entering Mr. Sins posture, and turned her head to look at Samuel, her hands placed delicately across her knees where she had seated herself upon the floor and watched their interaction with open curiosity.

Mr. Sin placed a somewhat convincing smile on his face before greeting the other boy, if it weren't his words and positioning in front of the door she might of even believed the smile herself, but she had not spent hours watching to be so easily fooled.

Samuels response made her want to begin clapping, she could already get a feel for what would happen between the two boys and was already feeling ahead of their personalities and conversation styles. Each boy loved to put on faces for others and yet that only made her want to know more. Again, she read through the 'honest' apology the boy attempted to portray and found herself desperate to inquire why he was disguising his opinions. It wasn't in an attempt to avoid hurting Mr. Sins feelings and so there must of been another reason... One of those human things...

She startled slightly as Samuel turned to address her, lost in her musing of her observations and forgetting that she was actually present in the room and not a simple third person spectator. Immediately she rose, it had been drummed into her so many times as a child she barely noticed she had bowed her head slightly towards the two boys.

"I apologise for not introducing myself Mr. Samuel, My name is Sherry Hisakawa. I am unfortunately unaware of your own surname and am not able to address you appropriately.", she paused before tilting her head ever so slightly before asking a question, "It is clear you hold no warm for each other Mr. Sin and Mr. Samuel and yet you willingly enter each other company. I was under the knowledge that when one held a distaste for another, they would avoid each other?", she finished, blinking up at them.

On the outside, Samuel kept his composure. On the inside, however, Samuel legitimately felt like he had gone pale. What the hell?! I've clearly underestimated her capabilities by a longshot. However... Samuel studied her body language and her expression; she was expecting an answer, although her large eyes were incredibly dull and emotionless.

...She's extremely blunt and inconsiderate of morals, but she doesn't look like the immoral type. I'd say that she has simply had so little interaction outside of her little bubble that she doesn't know how to act like the average person when communicating with others.

Yes. That was it, Samuel thought to himself. After cleaning up his mental composure, he responded to Sherry.

"It's Livingston; and it's nice to meet you, Sherry. As for that question..." Samuel drew a blank, and he suddenly started to panic again.

I can't think of a reply at all, she's almost completely disabled me with a single question!

After a moment, Samuel was able to come up with a viable reply to Sherry's question. Viable to the average person, but to Sherry...?

"Well, some people just don't work like that. It seems as though The Devil and I fit into that category of people who have other means of..." He glanced over at the Italian boy with piercing brown eyes. "...Ridding the distaste from relationships they have with other people."

Samuel topped it all off with a slight grin in Sherry's direction.

Samuel was unfazed by the sourness in The Devil's words, as well as the hatred that blatantly emitted from the Italian's eyes. He knew that the kid would fight back; it was simply second nature for a person such as him. He was slightly irritated, but he tried to stay on the positive side of things.

Before he could respond, though, the Italian boy finished off a pretty nasty insult, gave Samuel a glare, and slammed the door in his face. Well, that was rude ... it can't be helped, though.

Finding nothing better to do, he started walking away back towards his own room before realizing that he had completely failed at what he wanted to do. However, Sherry's rude comment will probably get her thrown out as well. If that's the case, then I haven't completely failed yet.

Halfway between The Devil's room and his own, he leaned up against a wall, crossing his arms and planting one foot square on the wall, while the other was flat on the ground with his entire leg extended. Samuel closed his eyes, waiting for when the girl left the room.

- Sherry Hisakawa -

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Sherry watched the reaction to her question, taking in as much information as possible as Samuel attempted to answer her, though from the look of his skin tone and eyes she could make out minor inner terminal and possibly shock but at what she was not sure, picking up on those type of emotions could be quite tricky, however whatever he was experiencing did not seem to hinder his response as his composure he seemed so proud of returned before he began speaking.

His answers were riddled with pauses, the reason for which she found herself curious about. Surprisingly the two young men had managed to catch her interest repeatably with their interaction, behaviour and inner terminal.

"Well, some people just don't work like that. It seems as though The Devil and I fit into that category of people who have other means of... Ridding the distaste from relationships they have with other people.", Sherry listened carefully but found herself vaguely disappointed because it would seem that the boy was not telling the truth, especially considering Mr Sins immediate response following Mr. Livingston answer.

They were not ridding their distaste for each other, and in fact seemed to be doing the exact opposite if the way Mr. Sin blocked Mr. Livingston's entrance into the room along with his comment, the glare and the sudden slamming of the door in the other man's face. The noise made Sherry jump as her view of Mr. Livingston was cut off and she was forced to turn her gaze to the burning hatred of the Italian.

'Interesting, it would appear I have upset him. Not particularly surprising', she thought to herself as he began his little rant. It was not anything new and she found herself bored listening to the same thing everyone always criticised her of, if it had been anything besides her manners then she might of decided to pay attention... or at least put more effort into remembering what her senses inevitably picked up, turning her head to look out the window as his words went in one ear and out the other.

Once he had finally quietened down, she turned her cold gaze back to watch him for a moment. "Are you quite finished Mr. Sin? I am fully aware of my blunt questions, however it is not my problem if you take offence.", she sighed once more, the disappointment seeping through her as she made her way towards the door.

So Predictable.

"Threats bore me Mr. Sin, I request you refrain from them in the future and think of a less predictable way of intimidation. I still find myself curious about your previous problems, however I can see that trying to get the answers I desire from you would prove tedious and particularly unpleasant.", Moving towards the closed door, she glanced back over her shoulder one last time at the other, "Goodnight Mr. Sin.", with that Sherry opened the door and walked out into the corridor.

Walking down the corridor, she couldn't help but raise her eyebrow slightly when she caught sight of Mr. Livingston leaning against the wall. Approaching him, she stood just in front of him and looked up at his closed eyes, blinking twice at his cool demeanour before opening her mouth.

"What is it you require from me Mr. Livingston? Try as I might, I am unable to figure out what it is you desire from me.", she paused briefly and thought back to the lecture she was given less then a few seconds ago and quickly tacked on a forced smile, "If I may be so rude.".

Her eyes filled with mirth for a second as she thought of what her nanny would say had she just heard her, then it was gone and she was watching the boy with her piercing gaze once more.

Samuel heard the door open and close again, which was quickly followed by footsteps headed in his direction. He felt as though he wanted to laugh out loud in triumph, but he remained calm. In his mind, time felt as though it had slowed tenfold; he could imagine the gears turning extremely slowly in a clock he had put together in his thoughts. Every second was crucial.

He knew based on the tone of the taps that the shoes made every time they contacted the floor, as well as the pacing of said shoes, that it was Sherry approaching him. Samuel had succeeded after all, despite the encounter with The Devil.

"What is it you require from me Mr. Livingston? Try as I might, I am unable to figure out what it is you desire from me."

She paused. It was even better for Samuel that she didn't understand his motives.

"If I may be so rude."

He slowly opened his eyes. The petite girl was looking up at him with a forced smile. After a moment, he gave off a friendly expression and spoke.

"It's okay, you're not being rude. I've actually wanted to speak with you ever since we met in the dining hall. It was a bit disappointing that you didn't acknowledge me there, but it's okay; you don't have to apologize."

Samuel stood up straight, putting his hands into his jacket pockets, keeping his gaze locked onto Sherry's eyes before continuing.

"I've noticed many oddities about this place, which is making me think that there is an ulterior motive for us coming in the first place.

"There are multiple reasons as to why I think that this place has more to it than it lets on. The first is the abundance of cameras. I counted four coming from the front entrance of the building to the dining hall. Considering the size of the building, I'd estimate that about 25 to 30 cameras are littered throughout the campus.

"The second is the fact that there is nothing nowhere commemorating or acknowledging past students that have attended this place. No signs, no pictures, no words describing the past classes. This is the 'shakiest' out of all of my reasons, since I simply haven't seen the entire campus yet.

"The third and final reason, and the strongest out of them all, is the fact that we have these." Samuel held up his Tarot card, Strength, with his index and middle fingers clamping the card at the bottom and to the center, keeping it positioned in the air.

"Unless the person or thing who assigned the Tarot cards had the most perfect day of their life at the time, there's no way they'd be able to know unless they had prior knowledge of our personalities and capabilities.

"Why did I tell you all of this? It's because I think you and I can team up and get to the bottom of this mystery. So what do you say?"

- Sherry Hisakawa -

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Sherry listened quietly as Mr. Livingston explained his conspiracy theories. Though it would appear he had made adequate observations of his surroundings, he had obviously chosen to look for something instead of keeping an impartial view, however she was not one to insult his methods.

"Mr. Livingston I would appear to me that though you have made accurate observations of this academy, you seemed to have lacked evidence for your suspicions.", Sherry cleared her throat slightly, shifting her weight and turned her gaze to one of the cameras situated at the end of the hall. It appeared to lack any form of microphone which would suggest why Mr. Livingston had been comfortable to discuss his theories with her in the open instead of in private.

"These oddities, as you so eloquently put it, might prove to be quite reasonable if one was to look without bias. Your first observation about the cameras is to be expected, there are an abundance of them. However, there are also an abundance of students who preformed badly in their psych evaluation. Though all students here show an incredible skill in a particular area, many are unstable or bordering on mental breakdown and therefore must be constantly observed, or else this school would not of been allowed to exist by law."

"Your second claim, as you said is weak, however if you assumption is correct it could also be safe to assume that there is no such ritual of past commemoration practised at this school possibly due to the students standings, requests or possible futures. Do not base your assumptions of this school on those you past attended, for they are clearly different and therefore will most likely preform differently."

"And finally, as you stated, these,", Sherry pulled out her own tarot of the star, sparing it a slight glance before placing it away, "are not perfectly assigned. There is irony of course, however I can tell you that the Tarot card of the star is to represent a joining of spiritual essence and the earth, if this were a perfect representation of me, then I would of had to have been a individual who had a firm standing in the real world with others and a heightened sense of anothers emotions, However, as you would agree, I am not this person."

"Considering the abilities of the students surrounding you and the obvious success of this man we call headmaster, it is clear he would also demonstrate extreme skills in certain areas.", raising her eyebrows at the boy, she turned and began to walk down the hall at an even pace, pausing however once she was only 10 feet away, "I find you interesting Mr. Livingston. However, I also believe you hold motivations that will cause you trouble one day, and until you are able to provide me sufficient evidence, one based on fact rather then belief, I am not interested in working with you. If you should decide to discuss with me further, you will find me either in my room, the library or the schools laboratories."

"Goodnight Mr. Livingston."

Sherry turned back and continued her way down the corridor to her room. The day had drawn to a close, and class would begin soon.

He couldn't believe Sherry's prowess; one by one, she had obliterated everything odd he had noticed. Then again, those reasons were exactly what she had labeled them in the beginning of her explanation; suspicions. Samuel himself didn't know enough about the school and it's secrets. However, he knew for a solid, absolute fact that his suspicions were correct in that there were ulterior motives for these teenagers from all around the world to meet up and do normal "core" studies. Those three words simply didn't seem to fit with the atmosphere of the school. He also felt correct that the headmaster had known about everyone attending long before the letters were sent to all of them.

Nevertheless, Samuel was unable to act on mere suspicions. He had to have solid evidence of paranormal or supernatural occurrences. And that meant waiting it out until something popped up.

He walked back to his own dorm. Although he was pretty tired from the events of the day, not to mention the large amount of jet lag weighing him down, he had already started thinking about how to come back and inch in closer to Sherry Hisakawa.

--------------------THROUGHOUT THE WEEK--------------------

Samuel lazily opened his eyes, rubbing the drowsiness out of his eyes with closed fists. He sat up first, allowing his mind to wake up for a minute before doing the same routine he did at home; go to the restroom, get dressed, clean himself up. He also ate a quick snack from the miniature fridge he had discovered from the night before.

He was in the middle of biting his snack, which was a cinnamon bun, when he suddenly froze. Shit, I completely forgot about that stupid partner system the headmaster had talked about... However, Samuel didn't forget about who his partner was; Hanako Asato, another petite girl that he had only glanced at in the dining hall last night. He didn't know her capabilities, which made him slightly curious.

Finally, he had gotten his schedule. He figured that he should simply keep an eye out for suspicious occurrences and be more reserved; based on the looks that people had given him, they didn't like him in his loudmouth, confident persona that he mostly used. Perhaps he would be able to even make an acquaintance or two in the week.

Most of the week flew by extremely fast, even for someone like Samuel. He made no contact with Hanako Asato, nor did he honestly care; he had only seen The Devil a couple times, but neither of them had interacted with each other. The biggest disappointment was not being able to even see Sherry at all. Not once. But it wasn't like it was the end of the world if he didn't reach back to her immediately; he could wait it out.

On the last day of the week, though, he had finally been able to get back in touch with Chess Belle, the same girl from the dining hall.

- Sherry Hisakawa -

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The week had passed like every other in her life, except this time it was spent in a new location though this hardly changed much. Sherry had spent the first 2 days of her stay at the academy looking around the school and best configuring herself to its layout, though every now and then she would notice pactuliar changes which she could not of mistaken but that was the only probable explanation for said changes.

She limited her interaction with others over that week, preferring spending time alone with the academy's large literary selection as well as investigation the composition of chemicals made in ionised conditions, along with multiple other scientific queries which would plague her mind late at night. So much so, that she rarely got any sleep at all.
She did not see Mr. Livingston again that week, and only glimpsed other students in passing, though she failed to call upon her supposed partner for the week Mr. Inokire and felt, what her nanny would of been pleased to announce, was a vague sense of guilt though she quickly rid it from her mind.

Upon recieving her schedule for the first day of lessons, Sherry quickly noted that study hall, a curious first chose however she could imagine the period being used more as orriontation, if nothing else. It would surprise her if many attended but then considering the students who attended the academy she could not make this assumption just yet.

Deciding it was time to test her theory, she pulled on her School Unifom, of which she had 7 identical copied neatly lining the wardrobe. It was not particularly eye catching and most would consider her dull for choosing the same outfit every day despite uniform not being a requirement. Grabbing up her bag which contained a ideapad laptop and some light reading (Philosophical history of mathematics and applicational science), she popped her thick rimmed glasses on and her her lab coat, one she was often never without before making her way down the hall and to the room of her first period.

Upon entering she found herself face with three other students, a petite girl with Snow White hair, a boy with light brown hair and another boy with long green hair. The young girl and boy shared similar facial structure so were closely related, most like siblings, while the young genderfluid male, obvious by his chose in appearance and the way he was holding himself, shared a close bond to the Young girl. Sherry had not bothered with names when she had arrived at the dinning hall and now found herself regretting her decision, leaving only one solution. Interaction.

"Good afternoon, my name is Lady Sherry Hisakawa. I did not designate myself the task of taking in your names at the dinner last week and was wondering what they were?", she asked while standing in front of the small group of three. She had already sighted the seat nearest the window at the back of the room as her own, it would allow her to avoid the teachers queries so that she could continue with her own personal study rather then have to suffer repition of the professes words. However, maybe she would be lucky and this school would prove more proficient in hiring.