When he walked into the classroom, he stirred up all kinds of emotions from the students in the class. At most, they feel very uncomfortable. What’s most prominent about the Eurasian boy, who’s in the same age as them, is that he has a pair of deep set round eyes with tapered eyelids containing uneven eye colors. A mixture of brown, gold, and blue. It's a rare mutation called segmental heterochromia. Although it is a mutation, it doesn’t make him look hideous at all. Instead, he looks extremely beautiful and the uneven eye colors make him stand out more, exuding an attractive charm. His hair is dark in color and styled in a pixie cut. Yet, under the light, they can clearly see a hint of brownish gold shining from the strands of hair. He has thin lips that is quite pale in color but that does not diminish the fact that this boy is a beauty. But it is not this unparalleled beauty that made the students in class uncomfortable. It is the fact that this boy brings them back to three years ago. Particularly, the sadness of that year when their classmate, Kliment Miyamoto had went missing and had never been found since.
“I’m Kirill Miyamoto. Nice to meet you,” the boy at the front of the class introduced himself with no hint of warmness about him.
The students in the class are all separated by tempered glass cubicles for the purpose of social distancing. One class can only cater to 12 students. Despite of them all being vaccinated, the whole world had changed due to the pandemic that hit a few years ago. Before entering the school, the students will go through a machine that will disinfect them and their belongings and then they will go through another machine that will detect their body’s temperature and oxygen level in their blood. Once they passed, they can take off their masks and face shields and put them in their respective lockers. Those that did not pass will be sent to the health center immediately to be tested whether they are positive or not with the virus. After school ended, all students are given regulated tasks to help disinfect their class and equipment before leaving the school. It has become a new norm to everyone.
Everyone understood. This is not Kliment, their former classmate. This is his twin brother, who had lived in Japan for as long as anyone can remember. They had only heard that Kliment has a twin brother. But they had never met him. This is the first time that they saw the twin brother. Despite of the difference in their temperaments, it is only natural that he looks strikingly similar to Kliment physically. But if one looks closely, they’ll notice the slight difference in the shapes of the segmental heterochromia in the eyes of the two. But most of them would not be able to remember it clearly as they did not have the privilege to look closely into Kliment’s eyes most of the times. That is except for Stepanov Chenkov. He remembers. He smiles to himself upon seeing the familiar-looking boy at the front of the class. His emotions are unreadable.
Kliment was Stepanov’s best friend since elementary school in that small town of Krasniy (Красный) which means ‘red’ in English. This is because the town is famous for its’ autumn season where the leaves of the trees in the area mostly turned to striking red in color and in spring up until summer, there are those famous red floral flame trees planted all over town with their bright red flowers bloomed for a very long period of time. The unique soil of the town enabled it to grow so many species of trees which will not grow anywhere else in New Russia thus earning its’ own unique name of Krasniy.
As the twin brother of Kliment walks over to his designated cubicle which is right in front of Stepanov’s, he can’t help but to notice the boy that was seated calmly in his own cubicle. In the few seconds that their eyes met, the boy was looking at him with a smile that is charming yet also dangerous in its’ own way. But the danger can only be sensed by Kirill. It was unseen. It was only felt. Like the wind. Kirill decides to ignore him completely.
The girl who seated next to Kirill suddenly whispers quietly to him, probably noticing the way Stepanov was looking at him. “Don’t mind Stepan. Kliment was his best friend so it’s understandable that he will get emotional seeing you,” she said with a sweet smile on her face.
Kirill did not return the smile. Instead, he looks back at the girl blankly before responding. “None of my business. Or yours,” he simply said and turn to look to the front again uncaringly. He heard a chuckle coming from the boy seated behind him. It annoys him but he chooses to pretend to be deaf.
This rude response shocks the girl next to him but she could not utter a single word so she looks down on her table, her face red from both anger and embarrassment.
Kirill is not here to make friends. He’s here to find Kliment. In the corner of class where no one pays any mind to, only Kirill can see a boy who seems out of place and time. The boy who’s looking right at him begins to form a dimpled smile. Kirill almost smile back at him. He almost smiles back at the illusion image of his twin brother.
“I’m sorry I came late due to the pandemic,” Kirill spoke quietly all to himself in his head. “But I’m here now. I will find you, Kliment.” He looks at the class, forming suspicions to everyone around him. Anyone in this room can be the one. The one who had murdered his twin brother. “I will find you and your murderer,” he swore to himself.
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