"Murasa, you need to get up and study." Said a voice that was very familiar, my own voice. The pre-recorded message, used as an alarm, kept repeating until I grabbed my phone and turned off the alarm. I was free from the sound of my own voice. I felt myself sigh in relief, "Finally..."

I calmly got off the bed and walked to my clean desk with folders and binders on the sides. I grabbed the folder on top; Science, Chemistry to be exact. I looked through my summarised notes, remembering key words and numbers from the paragraphs. I kept yawning repeatedly every minute or so and it distracted me from studying effectively. "I-I just need some coffee." I whispered, trying to convince myself. As I was walking through the empty corridor, I heard my mother moaning another man's name instead of my father's. "Typical." I stated monotonously, before yawning once again.

"Oh my god, my husband will be here in half an hour. Kano, you have to leave now, I will text you, okay?" I heard my mother say in between gasps and moans, before walking away, ignoring everything that just happened. 'Infidelity must run through both my parents' bloodlines.'

I walked into the almost completely empty, bland kitchen. I prepared everything and started making my coffee, yawning repeatedly throughout the process. As soon as it was ready to drink, I gulped down at least half of the mug; eager to get back to studying. 'Anything to become famous for being a 'genius''.

Staggering back into my empty, impersonal room, I heard the sound of jeans and fabric as well as scrambling until a door was slammed, the house cloaked in silence. I sat on my desk and continued trying to study, looking through paragraphs of what would be complete nonsense to the average 17 year old student. I heard a buzz, signalling that its time to get ready for school. 'Get changed at 7:16, pack bag with the notes and folders at 7:24, throw in some money for lunch at 7:28, leave the house at 7:30. Like a well-oiled lock.'

I followed through with my routine flawlessly as usual, finally walking out the door. I tightened my grip on my shoulder bag and I walked down the bland staircase, hearing familiar voices chattering away.

As soon as I made it to the front of the apartment complex, I heard cheers from my friends. "Hey Mura!~ You are always out at the same time! You are so prepared!" I heard one with short, hair that was dyed a dark brown say. I nodded before gesturing to start walking, "Let's go?"

"Okay!" I heard the two girls reply to my question. We started walking, following the exact same route that we always take. "Aw, I just remembered that we aren't in the same school! I wish we were smarter!" The other one whined before clinging onto my arm, "Hey, hey. Can't you dumb yourself down so you can be with us in the girls' school?"

I sighed at their typical behaviour, "You ask me that every morning and the answer is always the same. No." Her face suddenly dropped, losing its cheeky and vibrant smile. "Fine. Be like that. Oh, did you do my homework?"

I nodded, grabbing out my folder and slipping out the small amount of pages for the homework. I gave it to her quickly before walking at a faster pace, the girls needing to walk quicker to catch up. "Sweet!~" She said before practically throwing it in her bag, leaving it to get scrunched by the weight of whatever she has in there. I muttered under my breath before thinking about how they don't have to worry about getting a good education because they don't want to be a doctor or lawyer etc, they want to do something 'fun' like singing but they suck, they just don't know it yet.

I felt the stress build up in my muscles and they tensed from time to time, along with a pounding headache that started pulsing with the usual stomach pain from the stomach ulcer. 'Why do I have to deal with this?' My parents don't care about me, they only pushed me to believe that they wanted me to be famous but if they did want that, wouldn't they at least tell me to study more? They don't, that's what is causing so much stress. They made me study at a young age before practically ditching me, it shows how much they care about my own well being. 'Maybe they want me to make money to give to them?'

I felt all the information from the months of studying flashing through my mind, making me feel distressed and uneasy. I felt thoughts, that I pushed away by keeping myself busy with my studies, arise and pester me. 'If you die, you will be at peace. You won't feel stress from not being cared about because you can't do or feel anything when you are lying, immobile, in a wooden box, 6ft under.'

"That's right." I whispered under my breath, causing the two girls to look at me. "Huh? What did you say?" I shook my head before looking at the directly in the eyes, "Nothing, nothing at all. Just revising answers for my practise questions."

"Typical, Mura~" they both sang before they saw their school's fence. They skipped quickly, with an upbeat tune in mind whilst I planned something that I've always wanted to do, during the walk to my high school. 'You made the right choice.'

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

I sat on my chair in the middle, next to the window. I listened to the teacher, hearing, "Turn to page 247 in your textbooks, on the discovery of Ajins." As soon as I turned to that page, I saw images of where the first Ajin was found, statistics and characteristics of the first Ajin. I was slightly intrigued but when the teacher said, "This won't really appear on the exams..." I knew that I had to ignore it so I could remember more important things for the exams.

"Just something you should know." He said, his white hair appearing oily in the dim sunshine. 'But it's not in the exams so it's not something we need to know then.' I sighed quietly, listening to the teacher say that "Ajins are immortal beings." Then why bother trying to capture them? If they are immortal then they can't die. They would probably just go insane, making them even more dangerous if the videos of experimentation on Ajins is true. I missed the sentence before he said, "We don't know if that's absolutely true."

I wonder if anyone has actually succeeded in killing an Ajin, a soldier of god. "We've also heard reports that they 'emit a peculiar voice.' That's all the information that has been released to the public." 'A peculiar voice? Well, that's not all that is released to the public, is it?' I looked to the side of the room when I heard whispers, "I've heard this is an Ajin experiment." Then another asking, "What?" in disbelief.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were being experimented on, they can be used to test their mental capacities or find possible weaknesses or even test new military devices, especially weapons. They are useful for society in that way. I wonder why no one thinks like that, maybe they just don't want to believe the government is doing something like this.

I zoned out and opened my mathematics folder, remembering the different physics equations and formulas before I heard the amount of Ajins that are actually in this world, or that have been discovered. 46 Ajins out of 7 billion people in 195 countries, not including Taiwan. There are only two Ajins in Japan, no wonder there might be experiments on them; they're rare as hell.

Suddenly, I heard, "There's even a possibility that an Ajin is in this very room." Silence engulfed the room for a few seconds, almost suffocating me. From the corner of my eye, I saw the idiot, known as Watanabe, throw his hand up and once recognised, he stood up. "I heard you get a massive bounty if you capture an Ajin." 'Bounty? Like a fucking hunter talking about its prey. Isn't it meant to be the other around?'

The teacher answered, walking slowly from side to side, "The bounty may be a rumour but there's probably some kind of reward." Then he quickly said an example, "For example, asserting ownership over your prey."

"Prey?" I heard someone say before I turned around in my seat. 'Kei Nagai. Absolute genius but horrible at sports.' I saw everyone else turn towards him questionably. He moved back slightly from surprise before the teacher asked, "Nagai, do you have anything to add?" He looked around before answering, "No, nothing."

The teacher prompted him, "You have a question, don't you?" Nagai looked down at his desk with his blood red eyes before standing up, looking at his friends as he did so before looking at the teacher with wide, curious eyes. "So, Ajins aren't human?" As he said this, he broke eye contact a couple of times. The teacher made a sound of confusion before answering, "Huh? Of course."

Nagai looked away awkwardly, "Of course." He said, sitting down and everyone turns away from him, looking at the presentation.

"Anyway, turning to the utility value of Ajins..." I kept looked at Nagai even when everyone else in class had looked away. He laughed awkwardly, looking around the room quickly before looking up at the teacher who is reading from the presentation. I sighed before turning towards the window, spying for anything weird to look at, finding nothing.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

After school had ended, I started walking out of the boys' school that had accepted me for my intelligence. They decided that it would be better for me to attend this school because it has a higher rate of people going to university than the girls' high school.

I stopped, seeing Nagai turn the opposite way he usually takes. "Isn't he going to go to cram school today?" I whispered under my breath before feeling pressured to study, feeling that annoying, painful itch in the back of my brain. I started walking in the direction that Nagai failed to go in; to cram school.

It didn't take long before I finally saw the building that is both old and new. I walked in, knowing I'm early for the first class I have.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

As I was in the middle of the Social sciences class where we were currently learning Business studies, I heard people in the back of the class whispering, "Isn't that Kei Nagai?" One male asked in disbelief before another male confirmed, "It is Kei Nagai. He's an Ajin?" I felt shock run through me before everyone in the class started to freak out, even the teacher was checking her phone for the news, "100 million yen?" She exclaimed in shock.

I sighed before sauntering out of the class since there is no point in being there anymore. No one will be trying to learn when an Ajin has been confirmed. I yawned again, feeling the headache come back and the thoughts pressuring me once again. I started to feel like my body is shutting down, feeling like I'm half dead. 'Is it because I haven't had proper sleep in a month?'

I practically wobbled down the corridor, my mind leading me somewhere I don't know about. I black out partially but could feel my body still moving, climbing up stairs. Finally, I felt my hand lazily push a door open before I pushed myself to concentrate, making me realise that I'm on the rooftop.

'Why did my mind bring me here?' I asked inside my mind before hearing an answer reply in my mind, 'To die, of course. You already self-harm when you have enough time to go to the toilet. You push yourself to the limits and pretend that you are fine when you aren't. This is a gift for you to get better, death.'

I felt almost like I was brainwashed until I realised that this is my true self I have been covering. The depressed, self-harming, suicidal girl who doesn't know if she can be what her parents ordered her to be. 'Life is boring anyway.'

I slipped off my shoes and placed them near the edge of the building along with my school bag. I climbed up the large fence that borders the roof, I prepared my self before finally standing up on the top of the fence, feeling the wind almost push me a couple of times. "I can't handle this anymore. I can't keep convincing myself that life is okay. That my life is fine." I whispered to myself before hearing the door open, "Damn, brats. Always talking in class." Said a young male teacher, "All because of that Ajin and the reward. The reward is probably just bullshit." He lit up a cigarette and starting smoking from it. He finally saw the shoes and saw me.

"Oh my! Get down from there! Are you trying to kill yourself?" He yelled, dropping the cigarette and stepping on it. He ran towards me but he stopped when I said, "Yes. I just wanted to end my pain."

I moved my body weight forward before I zoomed down, not feeling fear but peace. The wind moved my hair around messily and my uniform flowed around.

I felt a excruciating pain for a second then nothing. 'Peace, finally.' Was my last thought.

Suddenly, I heard screaming and sirens. "Oh my god! She's dead!" They screamed before my mind answered, 'But I'm not. How?' I suddenly felt anger at the fact that I can't even kill myself until realisation hit me, 'I'm an Ajin.' I felt more anger at the fact that I would never feel the peace of death.

I heard someone walk over to me before feeling my neck, making me flinch, "She's alive?!" A male yelled out before stepping away quickly. I started to stand up, practically crawling until I found balance. I looked around, seeing black particles covering my body and hands. "Call the police!" Someone screamed before I gasped, I may want to die but I don't want to experience what the government has in stall for me. I tried running but I saw a male in a white tuxedo and hair to match, a girl with a black suit on and short, choppy black hair. "You aren't leaving, Ajin. Two in one night. How interesting." The male said before taking something out of his jacket, a tranquilliser gun. He suddenly pulled the trigger before I grabbed the nearest human, a female who is around 30 years old, from a meter away. She was frozen in shock.

I covered my body with hers, causing her to be shot with the tranquilliser, making her go into the state of unconsciousness. "How..." I heard the black-haired female say. "I was lucky to be born with fast reflexes." I stated before feeling something sharp dig its way into my back. I felt everyone slow down in my system, slurring my speech and making my body slowly lose control. "What... are... you.... going... to... do to... me?" I muttered, I turned around slightly, seeing a man in a black suit. "Everything that causes you anguish." The man in white said as I felt my consciousness leave me.

Everything went black and a movie of my whole life played through my mind like it would in a theatre.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

I felt myself go back to consciousness, feeling pain everywhere. I could feel a sandpaper like wrap being wrapped around my face but it never went to my body. I then felt something making two 0's and a 4 on the wraps, they're writing my number. The fourth Ajin to be found in Japan.

I felt control over my body and could feel the texture of a crappy mattress you might find in a cheap hospital or clinic. I tried to move my hands but I felt rope around my wrist, keeping them bound together and it was the same with my ankles. I could only move my knees and thighs apart. I heard a rigid buzz from what sounded like a speaker before a familiar voice started ringing through the room. "Hello, number 004. Welcome to your new home. We'll explain what we will be doing. We will be testing how much it takes to make an Ajin go insane, using physical, sexual and mental abuse. Let's see how much you creatures can truly handle."

Then the speaker went off.