Questions

" RUNNNN!"

Those are the last words Hikaru heard before he passed out. He woke up at night. He opened his eyes and saw the terrible thing he did. The man that destroyed his life is now dead before his eyes with a big hole between his eyes. He vomited all over the place.

" I feel sick. How did I do this?"

And then he realized his wounds were all healed. He panicked. How did this happen to him? Was it all real? The dream and the man, what were they? He needed answers, and then he saw a little wound on his arm. The blood was going back into the wound then sealing it with what would seem like little red strings. He didn’t really understood what that meant but he couldn’t stand around anymore. The elite force would be coming soon. He couldn’t stay in the dump anymore. The nobles police force is nothing like the one at the store. They had the most advanced battle suits in the city. Which most of the bullets could not break through. He ran into the city and found an alley right near the wall.

" I should be safe here for the time being. But why? Why can’t I forget the image of his dead face? It makes me sick every time. I did the right thing. Then why am I feeling so bad. It’s night so I can’t really roam the streets right now. I should sleep to clear my mind."

'Where am I? Why is everything so dark? Where am I supposed to go? What is my goal now? Wait. There is a spot with some light. Who is there? Mom? It can’t be!'

" Mom! Its me! Mom? Why aren’t you saying anything? Please tell me something!"

" Disgusting."

" What?"

" I said you are a disgusting creature!"

" Why? WHY?"

" Did I give life to you so you can take others?"

" No. Listen. It was self defense. Why can’t I reach you anymore? Where are you going? WAIT!”

" Fuck! That was a shitty dream. Perhaps I should get going. I’m just losing my time here."

He started walking wanting to get near the wall to travel alongside it. As soon as he stepped out of the alley he was surrounded. They were waiting for him.

" Squad 1 to the base. Do you copy?"

" Roger that. Report your situation."

" We found him. We are holding him at gunpoint right now."

" Is he part of the terrorist group?"

" Doesn’t seem like it. He doesn’t seem to be an ability user either."

" What does that mean? Ability user?"

" Did I tell you to talk? No? Then shut the fuck up."

'I need to get out of this quickly. I didn’t get this far to back down now. But what should I do?'

" What did you say sir? Are you sure about this? Roger. FIRE!"

" What?"

As he saw the bullets flying towards him Hikaru thought “NO! This will not be the end!”, and then all his wounds reopened, blood spurted out all over taking the form of tentacles and catching all of the bullets. He couldn’t understand what was happening but then he heard the police men preparing for a second barrage. Hikaru didn’t have time to find out what was happening so he threw the bullets back at the them and started climbing the building with his tentacles. When he arrived on the roof he started running, but something was wrong, he wasn’t running like he normally would, he was three times faster and he could jump from one building to another. “What is going on with my body? I need to find out more about this power. That police man said something about a terrorist group and about me being an ability user. So there are others like me. Maybe in that terrorist group. After I escape I shall look for them.”.

" Squad 1 to base. I have an emergency."

" Roger. Is about the boy?"

" Yes. He is an ability user."

" Is he with the terrorists then?"

" No signs of it. But even if he isn’t I don’t think it will take much longer for them to find him."

" Then should I send someone from the Alpha Squad?"

" Yes. I think you send Tarō. He is itching to kill one of them. Just tell him he is a terrorist. Just don’t let Tarō kill him. If he isn’t in the terrorist group yet he might tell us where those powers come from."

" Roger that. I’m going to send someone with him to hold him back."

Hikaru arrived at the west side of the outskirts. He takes a stick from the ground and draws a circle. He draws a line right in the middle dividing the circle into two sides, the east district and the west district.

" Now, where are they hiding? They can’t be hiding in the east outskirts because that’s where the industrial zone is and it’s heavily guarded so the workers don’t slack off. It’s basically a prison. Actually they can’t hide anywhere on the east side. The rest is just the commercial zone and the entertainment zone if you can call it that. So they are here in the east district. But where? If they are a big group they need supplies for their force so it needs to be close to the commercial zone. I think the safest bet its in the east district right near the middle and south. This is the farthest they can get from the platform while still providing food. But it’s not going to be so easy taking into consideration that the elite force is so careful around them meaning they must be hard to track. There are some pubs in that area, they are really shitty so not many people go there meaning they might go there quite frequently. Worth giving it a shot. Time to go."

When Hikaru gets to the bar he finds only two people. The bartender and a single client which was like a mountain, he was wearing a coat and a hat. He goes to the counter and sits quietly trying to get glimpses of the man. He gave Hikaru an uneasy feeling.

" Hey! Are you going to order something or just sleep?"

" Oh! Sorry. Sure, I would love a beer!"

" Right away sir!"

'That is really how my last money are going go? Can I go back?'

" Aren’t you a little young to drink kid?"

" Joke’s on you I’m actually 19."

" My mistake. I will drink to that! What’s your name?"

" Why do you want to know that?"

" What do you mean? I want to know who I’m drinking with."

" I think this is enough for tonight. Good night sir."

" You might have caught on but it’s too late."

" What’s that supposed to mean?"

" It means that he is here."

The moment he finished his sentence a man entered the bar. He had black hair and black dead eyes, he was taller with half a head than Hikaru and had a nicely build body.

" You mean he?"

" Yup. Tarō! You are free to do whatever just don’t kill him."

" Sure boss."

Without the time to even react Tarō makes contact with Hikaru’s face punching him through the wall and outside into open space.

'What was that? But most importantly why am I not dead? My mouth right now is really a fountain isn’t it? That man is strong. His brute force astonishing. I don’t think I can escape in an open space and it’s not like I have any closed spaces around I might need to get to the center of the city if I want any tall building or closed space.'

" What are you standing around for? You are frightened to the bone? Come on, after all this searching at least entertain me."

" I’m not here to entertain some brainless muscle man."

" Seems like you haven’t lost the fire in your eyes. Don’t worry. I shall remove that!"

" Come at me big boy!"

Not even a second passed and Tarō was already at Hikaru’s throat, but this time it was different. He was expecting it. He managed to dodge and when that window showed up he spit some blood from his mouth but Tarō managed to block it with his hand.

'Damn, that was close. He blocked it all right. But it’s to bad that it doesn’t matter. It’s show time. If I can retract my blood and even turn it into tentacles I might be able to turn it into anything, so I will make it sharp and stab his hand, that should be enough to give me an advantage.'

Hikaru closes his hand as if he were crushing a bug and the blood activated, but the man seemed unfazed. He stopped for a second and proceeded to take his top off. He removed the blood from his hand and there was a scratch left there but instead of blood spilling out there was a shiny spot.

" You think you can defeat me? You never had a chance. You see, this body is artificial."

" What? How? Here we at best have phones."

" You underestimated the dome’s power over you. We are dozens of years ahead of you."

Without even a warning Tarō attacks Hikaru going for the chest, but Hikaru tries to put up, a block creating a spider web but Tarō breaks right through and almost cracks the bone in Hikaru’s arm.

'I cannot believe he is so strong. He stroke so easy through all. I need to take this seriously! But how can I defeat him?'

" I think that’s an easy answer."

" You again."

Hikaru found himself again in the white space.

" You know what I’m talking about, right?"

" If you dare say it…"

" One word."

" Stop right there!"

" Sword."

" You bastard!"

Hikaru grabbed the man by the throat, but with two moves he broke Hikaru’s arm.

" I think the power got to your head. Listen here. I helped you so you survive so I don’t care what trauma you have, you have to survive. Understood?"

'He is right. But I don’t want to touch it again. Do I really have no other choice?'

" No you don’t! You either man up or be swallowed by this world."

"I guess he can read my mind. Then listen to this. Fuck off, you sack of shit! I have no intention of dying here! So you can let me go."

" You sure are a nasty bastard. I will tell you a little secret. When you unlocked your blood powers your body strength and speed increased so they can keep up with your powers until now you didn’t use it at full power because you need to activate either speed or strength at a time and you can’t keep them activated because they drain you of your life force so be careful with it. Now go. See you later."

'I got this far, might as well go all out. It all came back to swords. What an irony, that’s how it started as well. It’s time to teach this prick a lesson.'

" Stopped daydreaming I see. Good. Now are you going to put up a struggle or become a slave of your own free will?"

Hikaru without saying a word lifted his arm pointing at Tarō, opening his palm a wounds reopens, and there a katana is created.

" I see. You have a familiar face. Now I know. Weren’t you the swords fight champion from a crappy family. You were the talk of the town up there, you know that?"

While he was talking Hikaru swiftly took a stance and went in for an attack. He was aiming for his head but Tarō managed to block his blown, but the sword pierced his arm and almost went half way through.

" How are you faster now?"

" None of your concern. You should close your mouth and concentrate on the fight."

Hikaru went in for another attack, this time to the side but while he did that Tarō’s punch was about to make contact from the other side. Hikaru hesitated and dodged while neither made contact.

" I see. Now my victory is inevitable. You hesitated."

" I don’t know what you’re talking about."

" If you aren’t prepared to risk anything you can’t beat me."

Tarō went into offensive, he started sprinting at Hikaru head on without any defense put on.

'Is he a fool or does he have a strategy, either way I need to strike him down.'

Hikaru went for a from above attack.

'Even if I can’t cut his head with my full force I should be able to cut his arms if he blocks. Here goes nothing.'

Tarō didn’t put any defense and Hikaru went in for the strike but before he made contact Hikaru stopped, he saw the exact same scene but when he knocked down Katashi, the moment his life changed for the worse.

" So you really are a hypocrite."

As Tarō said that he broke Hikaru’s sword and punched him in the face sending him 20 meters into the air, jumping after him and kicking him into the ground. Tarō approached Hikaru.

" You have resentment for that sword, but you picked it up anyway that’s why you shouldn’t hold back, that’s why you are a hypocrite and a failure of a sword man. Now it’s time for you to sleep."

In that moment Tarō punched Hikaru in the face knocking him out.

'How did I fall so far?'