“Brother, breakfast time!” That was all Kenji heard before feeling a powerful blow to his forehead. Yelling in pain, the young man found his younger sister holding a metal ladle (probably the object that had caused the blow moments before).
“Yui… Why do you always have to wake me up like this?” the young man complained, rubbing his forehead and glaring at his 13-year-old sister.
“If you want me to stop, then start going to bed earlier and getting up on time.” Yui crossed her arms.
“Look who’s talking, the girl who stays up late watching TV…” the 15-year-old grumbled, instantly regretting it as he received a second blow, this time to the back of his neck. He clutched the spot in pain. “But it’s true!”
“Well, the truth hurts,” Yui stuck her tongue out at her brother as she headed for the door to leave the room. She was stopped by a question from him.
“Were you able to say goodbye to Mom?” No, she was already leaving when I woke up. She left quickly, and I heard her take a call as soon as she opened the car door.” Yui looked at the floor, disappointed.
“She’s been working harder than usual lately. She gets home late and leaves early, it’s been like this all week, and I haven’t even been able to say goodbye…” Kenji scratched his head in frustration. He really felt bad about not having seen his mother these past few days, more than seeing notes or messages from her apologizing for her absence. Once Yui left her room, the boy lay back, staring at the ceiling.
“Was what happened yesterday real?” he wondered, recalling the fight he’d had with the inhuman being the night before, unsure whether to call it a dream or reality. He quickly glanced at the wound on his arm, only to see it was almost healed. “This thing…that’s where that energy came from, and that sword, right? What the hell happened?”
After spending a good while mulling it over (making up theories, like that the thing was an alien and that he was now infected, a theory he dismissed because he still seemed normal), Kenji decided to change and head to school. Several times before leaving, the boy rubbed the wound on his arm, only to feel nothing unusual, just skin healing.
Streets of Karinome (9:30)
The most common sound in the streets was the angry honking of horns from workers stuck in the daily traffic jam. The disheveled young boy saw that the scene seemed like any other day.
Intrigued, Kenji walked through the same alley where he had encountered the creature the night before, without seeing any trace of the blood that had fallen on the asphalt.
"If there's no trace... then it didn't happen?" The young man scratched his head, confused. Determined not to worry about it for now and to get to class on time, he began to think about other things. "Did I do my English homework?"
Suddenly, a scream startled Kenji. Turning in that direction, he saw a wall of a nearby building shatter into pieces, sending debris tumbling into the street and causing several cars to brake suddenly. Footprints began to appear on the street, causing people to start running in fear.
Then, Kenji saw it. A strange, 3-meter-tall, humanoid creature (except for its head, which looked like a badly hammered nail), with two wrecking balls instead of hands, was walking down the main street. The boy quickly noticed the creature's resemblance to the figure he had fought the night before: a whitish/pale blue outline and body, plus the zipper that served as a 'mouth'.
"No...it can't be..." The air grew heavier around the boy, and his legs hesitated for a moment. Fear began to fill him as he saw another one of those creatures with his own eyes. Why was there another one now, and a bigger one at that? It was almost as tall as the statue in the plaza!
Suddenly, he noticed something: a little girl, maybe eight or nine years old, kneeling with a bruised knee, as the monster slowly approached. Although it didn't seem to be going after her, she was about to be crushed by the creature's foot.
Before Kenji could even realize it, his body was already racing toward the girl. Even though his mind screamed at him to stop, telling him it was too dangerous or that he didn't even know her, he couldn't stop running until he leaped and tackled her before the creature's foot could crush her.
The girl, clearly terrified, hugged him tightly, while a stunned Kenji tried to process what had just happened. Had he just risked his life, even though fear had overwhelmed him? He had faced an inhuman creature before, but this was beyond his comprehension!
"T-Thank you..." the girl whispered weakly, beginning to loosen her grip on the boy. The teenager looked at her for a few seconds, then glanced around, checking for any concerned adults. He saw nothing but a building full of people taking cover.
-“Quick, go to that-!”- Kenji couldn't finish saying the sentence, because when he turned to look at the girl, she had already disappeared from his side.
With even less time to react, the bewildered young man barely managed to jump back before one of the creature's demolition orbs nearly struck him. It seemed to be searching for something, judging by the way it moved its 'head' in various directions. It started walking (leaving Kenji behind), approaching the building that served as a refuge for frightened civilians.
The boy had to think fast, before innocent people got hurt. Quickly, he noticed a car missing a door, and an idea struck him. The creature was almost about to raise its demolition hand against the building when a loud, annoying noise echoed through the street.
Stolen story; please report.
"Hey, idiot!" Kenji's voice was followed by another honk, as the monster turned to face the little nuisance.
That's when he got its attention, though it clearly wasn't in a good mood.
The creature quickly raised its demolition orb arm, then lowered it, intending to crush the young man. Kenji managed to dodge the attack by running in the opposite direction, only to be struck in the back by the orb as it returned to the monster's hand. Getting up, sore (which surely left a bruise on his back), he saw that he was standing in front of a construction site. He quickly thought of a plan upon noticing two elements: the beams that supported the construction entrance, and a rusty shovel, possibly belonging to the construction workers.
"Come on, try again!" the teenager confidently challenged the creature, which only stomped on it in obvious frustration.
The being raised its arm again, launching the demolition orb once more at Kenji. The young man grinned before leaping to the side, narrowly dodging the orb, which crashed into the columns, causing all the platforms and bricks to tumble down onto the monster's arm.
"Take this!" The boy wasted no time, and with a surge of adrenaline, he grabbed the shovel and began to slash and strike the creature, causing it to let out small whimpers of pain at the contact of the heavy, rusty object.Even so, the air grew tense. The boy's strategy, however successful it seemed, didn't last long. The creature managed to extend its arm quite quickly and struck the young man, sending him crashing into the car he had used moments before. The pain from the sword's initial blow intensified, and Kenji knew he would feel that again later.
As the monster prepared to crush Kenji, he closed his eyes, bracing for the impact. But…
“Nako: Blue Flame Spiral!”
Suddenly, a column of blue fire slammed into the creature, burning its skin and revealing something unique: a glowing stone, connected by black pathways to every part of its body, almost like a heart with its veins.
The creature quickly howled in pain before collapsing to its knees. Suddenly, a strange light appeared beneath it: a tear in the street, the same one through which the creature Kenji had faced the night before had emerged. The creature (despite its large size) entered through this crack, disappearing from the street.
Silence settled over the block as the dazed teenager breathed heavily, the adrenaline draining from his veins. He tried to see where the fire attack had come from, hoping to see who had saved him. Unfortunately, he only saw a male figure vanish.
Getting up and catching his breath, Kenji resolved to get out of there as soon as possible (mainly because it was already 9:50, and he would almost be late for class). Waiting until he was sure from a distance that the people in the shop were alright, the young man started running towards school.
Little did he know, a short female figure was watching him, hidden in a corner.
"I have to tell Grandpa..."
South Sea High School (9:58)
"So you finally woke up in time, Arata" Hanae said, looking at him with a friendly smile.
"So, it's not easy to fall asleep when Yui's like an alarm clock with a ladle in the morning" Kenji shrugged, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"Is your wound getting better?" Airi asked curiously, taking her English book out of her backpack.
"Almost as good as new," he replied, showing his nearly healed wound.
"Is something wrong? You seem more agitated than usual," Daichi asked sleepily, noticing Kenji constantly looking around.
"It's just... I don't know if I forgot to do my English homework." The disheveled teenager half-lie, because while he was afraid of the appearance of another creature and the recent events, he was also afraid he'd forgotten his schoolwork.
"Page 14, activities 2 and 3," Tsubasa said, without looking up from her book.
As soon as Sunako entered, the day took a rather ordinary turn: lengthy lectures with the professor's indigestible ramblings, or the momentary snores of students (mostly Daichi) who had fallen prey to the master's secret technique: teaching without the threat of exams.
It was precisely in the middle of one of his English lectures that Kenji became lost in thought about what had happened that morning. Specifically: Why hadn't he been able to use the sword again? If he remembered correctly, the weapon had appeared in his hand when he was in danger the night before. Hadn't he been in real danger that very day?
Once again, he was frustrated by his inability to find answers to problems that surely no one would understand.
Meanwhile…
“Are you sure this boy is capable of using spiritual energy?”
“I-I don’t know completely…but from what I saw, he was able to see the Echo.”
“Then that’s something… Do you think your grandfather knows him?”
“Not personally, but he was the one who chased the Echo away today. He must have been in the same place.”
“For a retired Echo Chaser, Dad takes his job for fun now.”
“It’s better than staying home smoking those herbs or falling asleep before you can finish each sentence”
“Saruka!”
“Sorry!”
“Anyway…go find him. I think Dad will want to know that someone like that exists these days.”
“Y-Yes, Mom…”
Exiting South Sea High School. (4:05 PM)
Is it just me…or is Hunigaki getting more and more flirtatious with Mr. Sunako every day?”- Tsubasa asked the group as they all left the school.
“I think they’d make a good couple,” Airi smiled, imagining a romance between the two professors.
“And I think they’d give us less talk about history and more talk about their dates” Hanae said, scrolling through her phone.
“As long as what happens in their adulterous affair comes up on the exam, I’m fine with it,” Kenji shrugged.
The limousine arrived to pick up Tsubasa, who said goodbye to the group and greeted the butler. Hanae’s mother appeared in her car, picking up her daughter as she said goodbye to her friends. Daichi’s mother arrived in a classic car, greeting Kenji and Airi warmly as her son got in and greeted the couple.
Before the boy could offer to walk his friend home, one last car appeared. Airi’s father honked, causing a small grimace of disappointment to cross the girl’s face. Saying goodbye to Kenji, the young woman got into the vehicle, with her father waving to the young man and starting the engine. Soon, Kenji was alone. Sighing, he started walking home, wondering what his sister, or especially his mother, might be doing at that moment. However, the young man stopped when he noticed a small figure in front of him.
"Oh...you again..."The young girl, the same one the orange-haired teenager had saved earlier that day, stood before him, looking at him blankly. "You disappeared earlier today," Kenji began, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm glad you're sa-"
"I need you to come with me," the girl interrupted him sharply, pointing behind her.
"W-What? Now?" The young man looked bewildered by the request.
"Yes, now. It's urgent," the girl affirmed, this time making it sound more like an order than an invitation.
“What do you need me for?” Kenji crossed his arms, frowning, his eyes wide with distrust at the girl’s words.
Instead of answering, the girl made an unexpected move. In the blink of an eye, she vanished, leaving the teenager bewildered. However, she soon reappeared in the same spot… this time with something in her hand.
“M-My backpack?!” The orange-haired boy was stunned to see how the girl had snatched his backpack in the blink of an eye. He realized he no longer had his backpack on. How did she do that?
Without explanation, the girl turned and started running, taking Kenji by surprise. As he began to chase after her, he quickly noticed the vast difference in speed between them. Despite appearing much younger than him, she was almost twice as fast, pulling ahead and nearly disappearing from sight.
“Who the hell is this girl?!” Kenji mentally cursed himself for not being able to match the little girl’s speed, even though he didn’t know how she could be so fast. “Hey, give her back!” he yelled, even though he knew it probably wouldn’t work.
No sooner said than done, the girl kept running.
Hello again! To be honest, in my final draft this chapter is extremely long, so I think we'll leave it on a cliffhanger for now. Don't worry, we're only halfway through the chapter.
Again, I appreciate the views this story has received. Thank you for taking the time to read it!
With nothing more to add...
What are the creatures Kenji is encountering? Who is the mysterious girl who just stole his backpack? And more importantly, who was the mysterious savior who defeated the beast?
All this and more revelations in the next chapter!
