It was 7:00am on Monday morning when my alarm had gone off.  I had dreamt once more of being trapped in a room made entirely of webbing and had been gradually weaving my way throughout it, but it was hardly something I could focus on entirely once I woke up.

I was in a situation that was worse than I could imagine, but I had so little information about it, that I decided it would be best to gather information for now.

As I began to prepare for my first day with the students, I knew I had failed to follow Toki's suggestions over the course of the Sunday.  At least Akane had removed my inability to think badly about my situation, or about her, instead I could think freely about her, though my gut still told me she still held a strong connection over me.  Maybe she removed any ineffective layers of her control to prevent us from getting becoming immunised to it?  I couldn't be sure.

Out of the conditions I had requested, I insisted that she did not bring any harm to the class and I.  Though I didn't know any students yet, I knew how it would go by the end of my stay.  I don't want to have any more regrets when it comes to my students...  But that's a story for another time.

Though I didn't believe Akane when she claimed to agree to my conditions, I had decided that this was the best I could do for now, I couldn't afford to think about messing with her for now.  Maybe if I could wall off this mind of mine as Toki had insisted I could at least make her think I was at her mercy...  Unless she already knows I've thought that too...

In the evenings I'll try this wall building thing, but that aside, it's best I just focus on my new students.  Besides, I need to understand more about these powers they're developing, their states of mind, what they know about their situation themselves.  All of it.

As I proceeded to leave, I began running the names of different students, their mental illnesses and traumas through my head.  I wasn't entriely sure what to expect, except for chaos given I'd be working with a new class, but there was one student in particular who sounded like the biggest challenge within.

Shugo Okamoto, violent and angry, kicked out of multiple schools.  He came from a violent home and it sounds as if he's someone who talks with his fists.  He's flagged in Akane's notes as the class bully, but also as their primary spokesperson.  The mistake most teachers make with kids who become violent is that they tend to believe increased discipline is the answer, but when studying teaching, I actually had a minor focus in trauma and I knew for a fact that these kids were often desensitised to discipline.

Reality is, you can't throw discipline at a kid with a complex background or be condescending to them, or demand for them to just 'grow up' or try compete with them when they were given regular beatings by a parent.  See, a lot of the time, they'll just prefer to take the punishment, because 'fuck you'.

"Eaaargggh..."  I shook my head in frustration.  Akane had refused to allow me to check into the school recreation floor early.  If I had to guess why, I'd say she wanted our first meeting to be in the classroom setting for whatever reason.  It would have been nice to get a feel for what they'd be like first.  Oh well, here goes nothing.

The school recreation area consisted of a large hall, a swimming centre and gym, but it also held other recreational rooms the students could use after school and on the weekends.  A cinema, games rooms, library and lounge area.  According to her reports, this Shugo character had caused several problems there since his stay.  Lighting fires, stealing equipment and opposing orders as a general rule.  To be fair, I couldn't blame him, given his situation.

I arrived at classroom 4, preparing everything I could before a few musical notes chimed through a PA loudspeaker in one corner of the room.  Akane's pre-recorded voice echoed throughout the facility.

"Attention students, you now have 15 minutes to arrive at [SC-G] - Classroom 4.  Tardiness will result in appropriate penalties".

After the echo faded, there was silence.  Sitting down, resting my head in one of my hands, I felt somewhat nauseated by the atmosphere here, so oppressive, how can these students be expected to smile here, let alone learn anything.

With 10 minutes to go, I hear a quiet rattle in front of me and see a rather short young girl already perched behind a desk.  Her dark hair is cut short and is held back with a couple of red pins.  She was taking a variety of animal erasers out and lining them along the desk and appears to be in deep concentration.

"Don't be scared, we just have to do our best and then we can all go away."

This kid, uh, Miki Fujimoto, well, she made me laugh a little then.  They can be so damn resilient, but this girl, there was something a little offputting about her delivery, but what I was more worried about was how she knew I was nervous.  "What makes you say I'm scared?  Can you kids read my mind too?"

Little Miki shakes her head.  "Oh I wasn't listening to you Teacher,  I was listening to the doggie over there!"  She turns slowly with a smile, pointing to a space underneath the PA speaker and security camera.

To my horror, sitting in the corner is the shadow formed wolf of my nightmares and visions, growling as it sees me acknowledge its presence.  Only this time, it doesn't disappear, it just sits there, staring at me with angry burning red eyes.