Lord of Flies: Chapter 1 (Patreon)

The blue haired boy woke with a shout as he bolted upright from his bed. His body was drenched in sweat as his heart beat hard against his chest. The insects hiding inside the room roused from their sleep as they poured out of every dark corner and hidden crevasse ready to attack at a moment's notice. Parts of his body peeled off as they joined the swarm, with his right arm exploding into a veritable swarm of its own, while his eyes scanned his room for his father but his opponent was nowhere to be seen. The fight was… just a dream, a very realistic dream but simply just a dream.

“Mmmm… go back to sleep, Yuri.” Murmured his brown haired companion as she used her pillows to muffle out the sound of the swarm.

Yuri let out a sigh of relief as she recalled his swarm back to their hiding place. Running his left hand against his hair, he pulled back parts of the swarm into his body, letting himself reform and making himself whole once more.

He really should get some sleep but had been growing restless these past few years. While he didn’t have a time limit to finish his mission here in this universe, he’d been aching to kill his old man. He was taking his time, however, as there were still things he could learn from the man but that time was coming to a close. Who knew that learning Magecraft would take ages.

It was paying off with his control over his insects already rivaling that of his old man though. A few more months and he would be far enough in his studies that he could salvage most of the library before the insects dispersed after his death. There was no rush after all, It’s not like the old bag of worms was torturing someone in his basement when he had an heir worth a damn to raise.

“Sorry about that Sakura.”  Yuri apologized as he laid back down on their shared bed. While he took his precious time, he spent most of it preparing for the eventual war. An entertaining war was quite the vague mission description but it was something he could work with.

“You’re doing that thing again.” whispered Sakura as he felt her poke his cheeks.

“What thing?” He deflected as he ordered his insects to crank down the temperature of the air conditioning in their room.

“And then you're going to complain about not having enough sleep tomorrow.” Sakura pressed on as she poked him once more, making him look away.

“I’m not sure what you're talking about.” He denied her accusation.

“That thing when you stay up all night thinking about things like killing your Grandpa or thinking about which magic to learn this week.” Sakura mumbled out as she wrapped her hands around his chest.

“... can you blame me for that?”  He finally conceded to her. She knew him all too well. In saving her from her fate, he was now saddled with her as a fiance. He was going to capture her but she captured herself for him and he couldn’t reject her with a thing like that.

“You two should really make peace with each other.” Sakura then said as she snuggled up to him. If he was going to be honest to himself, he didn’t hate Zouken, he feared him. He was a danger to not only himself but to those he held dear.

“I’ll forgive him when he accepts the bed I gave him last year.” He answered back.

Sakura gave him a deadpan look as she then said “That bed was a coffin.”

That brought a smile to his face. He couldn't think of a better gift than the coffin. It wasn’t your run of the mill coffin, it was a handmade one he designed just for him complete with chains and padlocks along with copious amounts of paper talismans from the Ryuudou Temple. The fact that those talismans burned in his presence all but solidified his opinion on the old man.

“Exactly!” He replied with an unapologetic smile. Her pout was a reward all on its own for his half insect heart.

Sakura sighed as she buried her face against his chest. “We should go back to sleep. Too sleepy to argue right now” She mumbled out as she drifted off to the land of sleep. He nodded as he closed his eyes and soon enough he followed her.

-x-x-x-

Breakfast for the Matou Family could be quite tense to say the least. On one side was the old patriarch of the family, Matou Zouken. The withered husk of a man from a bygone era sat there at the head of the table as he enjoyed his morning tea. The man looked like a second away from falling apart yet he sat there with a smile on his face. Be it spite or sheer force of will, he remained hale and hearty.

On the other end of the table was a blue haired beauty, a perfect representation of the ephemeral and everlasting youth, Makira Yuri; Zouken’s Heir. The only thing maring his face was the frown upon his brow directed upon the person opposite him. The dainty and delicate digits of his left hand tapping against the wooden table while he shoveled food down his mouth. He was not pleased right now especially when Zouken decided today was a day he was going to be joining them for breakfast. He greedily tore through his meal as he looked at the other occupants of the room.

Sandwiched between these two were the other Matou and Sakura. On Yuri’s right side of the table sat Tohsaka Sakura as she enjoyed her breakfast meal. Her knife deftly cut through the pancakes she had stacked up high with its towering high drizzled with maple syrup. On the left side of the table sat a quivering mess of a boy, one of Zoukens remaining grandson Matou Shinji. Technically, He was also his nephew but it sounded weird when he was sort of younger than him biologically. He looked rather pale as he pointedly ignored his eyes and that of Zouken.

“It’s a nice day isn’t it?” Sakura asked as she wiped away a stray drop of syrup from her cheeks. Yuri reminded himself to ask Sakura to jog with him tomorrow as she loved her sweets way too much.

“Quite so Sakura-chan especially when I saw my son’s recent research topics. Mithridatism? It’s about time you dabble in the shadowy arts but I’d recommend you focus more on the eastern arts in your independent studies. Kodoku perhaps or maybe that of Jincan.” Zouken replied as he wore an infuriating smirk upon his face.

Yuri scowled as he clenched his left fist only to be nailed by a marble in the head by an irate Sakura. Zouken himself wasn’t spared as he looked up at the marble embedded upon his forehead which cratered like a paper mache. Zouken snorted as he pulled the brightly shining marble while Yuri massaged his forehead with an annoyed look.

“Yuri, no fighting in the dining room even if Zouken-ojisan is being a dick. Zouken-Ojisan, please remember the sanctity of a Magus’ workshop.” Sakura scolded both boys.

“Not even a little Gandr?” He asked as he rubbed his forehead.

The marbles flew back to Sakura’s hand with a mere gesture as they orbited her wrist. At a closer glance, they weren’t really glass marbles but rather diamond ones. They were expensive baubles but they were quite potent.

“Nope! Now play nice.~” Sakura replied. He and his father snorted as he went back to his meal while his old man went back to his drink.

“So Shinji, are you still joining the Archery Club?” Sakura then asked, focusing the attention of the room on the poor boy who was trying to be as small as possible.

“A–ah. Yeah! The previous captain is about to graduate this year and he’s been asking me to be more active in the club.” Shinji replied as he chuckled nervously.

“Behave ok?” Or else, was the unsaid threat as Shinji flinched and nodded. He had once thought of adding Shinji to the list of people he’d be killing but he’s been rather good now with Sakura keeping an eye on him. Let it not be said that his Sakura was just a demure wall flower.

Things after that were relatively peaceful aside from some sniping here and there. With breakfast finished, Yuri and Sakura went off to go to school for the first day of this year’s class. It was their last year in middle school and just a year away from the war.

“Come on Yuri, lighten up~ It’s the first day of school! The sun is shining, the birds are singing and it’s just a week away until a new tutor comes to Fuyuki after we negotiate with Rin-oneesan.” Sakura said as she hugged him from behind.

Shinji had gone off earlier, wanting to join his friends and probably get as far away as possible from the house as soon as he physically could, leaving him in relative peace with Sakura. Relatively in peace as he could feel her fingers trying to make him smile.

“Come on.~ It’s just a few twitches of muscle.~ It’s not like you haven’t repaired the damage you gave yourself by assimilating more of your hive.” Sakura teased him as he felt his lips twitch.

“See, was it that hard?” She asked as he felt his frown devolve into a full blown smile.

He let out a sigh as he replied, “Still annoyed at the old man. Can’t wait to kill him.” The man was a blight to this world and given how incomplete the process was in converting oneself into a mass of insects, it was going to be a mercy as well. Who knew the process was painful and turning yourself into something so unholy and unnatural would make you experience near perpetual pain? Refining the process was the only way forward.

“Is it because of my other self in another time?” She then asked.

His scowl returned as he replied with disgust tinging his every word, “Partially that and he’s just a dick over all. A perfect magus in every sense of the word.” Everything was but a means to an end but sometimes he wondered if it was just sadism rather than it making sense. Don’t get him wrong, Zouken was a genius. Was being the operative term as the degradation of time had left him a husk of what he once was. What was left was a sadistic monster who kept repeating the process of an experiment that he had long since forgotten the goal or purpose of. It was saddening really as even in this reduced state, he was still something one must fear.

“Can you let him be? He’s already suffering from dementia. It’s not like I won’t forgive him.” She added. Sakura was a saint but that was the problem at times, she was far too forgiving and good for her own good.

“Nope! Once I’m sufficiently strong enough, down the grave he goes.” He replied. Being able to peer into the depths of time through one's dream and having access to every knowledge is good and all until one realizes that a teacher is always essential in establishing the fundamentals. He could compare his situation to that of a student given an entire library. Sure he could read them but if he had someone teaching him, he'd be way way faster.

Sakura pouted as she pulled away from him and skipped ahead. Seeing her all happy and smiling, with innocent brown eyes shining with naivety and goodness was a balm to one’s soul.

“Hey Yuri, I heard from some of my friends that we’re going to have a new student today, an exchange student at that! All the way from America if rumors are correct” She then said, changing the subject.

“Oh?” He asked, a bit curious at that news. The sleepy City of Fuyuki isn’t exactly the place people want to go to as an exchange student. It was kind of weird to see one from the other side of the ocean specifically go to their city when there’s Tokyo and Kyoto. Hell, even Fukuoku City is a better place to study in.

“Yup and I heard she’s a girl! I think her name was… Liz? Laz? Oh Luz! What a weird name” She added as she turned around. It seems that his time learning and studying was about to end when she finally arrived. Things will finally start getting interesting once again this school year.