Magic Duel

As the rain began to fall, Ichiyo's father's worry grew.

"I know she has Water Manipulation Magic Ability, but it's been a while since she's come out from home. I'm afraid something might have happened to her," he fretted, his concern evident in his voice.

Chika placed a gentle hand on her fiancé's arm, her tone soft yet reassuring. 

"She certainly hasn't lost her way. She must have stayed with Izumi-chan when she noticed the rain. Even though we know her Magic Ability, we also know how much she hates being wet. I'm sure she's waiting it out at Matsuo's home."

Mr. Takahashi sighed heavily, the weight of his fears etched on his face. "I hope so... I just have this gut feeling that something might be wrong... I wouldn't forgive myself if I lost her too..."

Chika hesitated, her eyes lowering briefly as if lost in thought. "Hyobe," she began softly, then paused, choosing her words carefully. "I... I wouldn't survive losing another child I care about, like I lost my daughter too..." Her hand instinctively moved to clutch the fabric over her chest, as if holding the pain in place. For a moment, she hesitated again, her voice trembling slightly as she continued, "Let's go after her."

Hyobe turned to her, gratitude softening the lines of his worried expression. "Thank you, Chika..."

Mr. Takahashi stepped closer, resting a firm, comforting hand on her shoulder. His voice was steady, filled with quiet determination. "It's not going to happen ever again, Chika. I promise."

[At Seiji's place]

Ichiyo and Hideaki stood in battle stances in front of the apartment building.

Their bodies soaked through by the unrelenting rain.

Tension crackled in the air as they prepared to engage in a magical duel.

Seiji, in the meantime was observing everything from the apartments passage. He was curious where the fight would lead but also was wondering from what source that girl got information about Hideaki staying at his apartment...

"The duel will be as we stated... No additional weapons except your Magic Ability!" the girl said

"Fine! Let's get over it!" Hideaki replied

The girl seemed to feel very confident...

Out of nowhere, she charged towards Hideaki with a dazzling aquamarine light emanating from her hands. Further behind her, a powerful stream of water pulsated, hurtling towards the murderer with great force.

Hideaki was caught off guard, being immediately hit on his stomach.

It caused him to topple into a nearby puddle.

He gasped and sputtered, expelling saliva from the force of the blow.

"Bleh! W-What the hell was that!?"

A barrage of water projectiles came at Hideaki, making him panic, and mostly harshly beaten up by them.

As the assultion soften a bit, he quickly tryied to gasp air.

Meantime, Seiji was analyzing the scene from upstairs
'So she got Water Manipulation Magic Ability... That explains a lot.'

As the girl prepared to deliver the final blow, her phone suddenly vibrated, startling her.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Hideaki quickly jumped on her and knocked her to the ground, his hands glowed with red aura making Ichiyo's nose bleed.

Then, he began to grab the little amount of blood that dropped from her, but seeing it wouldn't be enough for his twisted bloody weapons, he started to scratch her with his nails to get more blood out of her body.

The girl's screams of fear and pain filled the air.

Seiji immediately ran towards them "Hideaki, stop it!! What the hell are you doing to her!?" he demanded, seeing how rough the killer was handling the girl.

"I'm trying to fucking win!! What do you think I'm doing huh!?!"

"But damn it, not in such a brutal way!!" Seiji acted quickly, positioning himself between Hideaki and Ichiyo. He separated both from each other yelling furiously,

"Enough!"

"Shut up! She can use magic as she wants! I want the same!" Hideaki screamed back.

With a metallic snap, he locked the handcuffs around Hideaki's wrists — this time so tight there was no easy way to slip out.

'Huh!? Handcuffs again!? What an annoying idiot!'  Hideaki growled 

"I said enough!!" Seiji shouted at them.

"NO!" Hideaki retorted back and began to toss around to free himself from the clutches.

"I have to defeat him!" Ichiyo screamed in desperation, feeling beaming pain from the scratches.

"No one will beat anyone!" Seiji said in rage while holding Hideaki tightly.

"Let me fucking go!!! Because I don't have a knife to make bigger wounds, I have to deal with it else way!!"  Hideaki yelled and in one moment, he managed to break free from Seiji's grip, lunging at the girl. "And that else way is this!!!"

He tackled her to the ground and bitten his nails into her as a large animal paw with sharp claws. With each taken blood sample, he hardened it and hit her hard with it, making her bleed more.

His moves were strong and rapid, almost as the animal beast that attacks their prey.

He was desperate and his top priority was to win this at any cost.

'This fucking girl was going to win huh!? It fucking enrages me even more!!'

Suddenly, using his own magic, he forcibly drew out as much blood from her as he could, causing her to scream out in agony.

Seiji tried to block Hideaki movements, but the killer as soon as he saw him, made Seiji bleed his nose as well.

The pain was unbearable, and it left Ichiyo feeling absolutely terrified,

With each passing second, she began to weaken more and more,

"S-stop. . . please.. if you keep doing this.. I.. I...will lose...."

Hideaki grinned sadistically. "Hehehe!!! Yes I know!! Now... Let's see how your own blood can turn into a weapon against you!!! Hehehehe!!!"

Despite her attempts to speak, Ichiyo found herself choking on her own blood as Hideaki managed to bring some of it through her mouth.

Everything was happening so fast that Seiji didn't know what to do first.

'Save Takahashi-san or subdue Hideaki?'

He rapidly thought through his mind, analyzing the possible outcomes as he was blocking his nose bleeding, but the truth was that he was running out of time every minute.

After drawing enough blood, Hideaki made a dozen sharp bloody arrows out of it and aimed them all at Ichiyo,

"Move even an inch and I'll drive them all into you at once!"

"N-No! please! I-I want to live.. I-I don't want to die!" the girl was screaming. Blood stains surrounded her everywhere...

Hearing the girl's agonizing pleas, Hideaki sneered,

"Hehehe..." Hideaki locked his eyes on her, grinning sadistically "I will torture you to the point you will have no strength and you'll die!! Ahahahahahaha!!!!"

"N-No!" The girl tried to use her water control Magic Ability from the water puddle nearby, but as soon as Hideaki noticed it, he quickly stabbed one arrow into the girl's hand. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

"I told you something about moving!!! Fucking bitch!"

After stabbing her hand, Hideaki raised his other bloody arrows with a twisted grin, ready to finish Ichiyo.

Before he could move further, strong arms suddenly locked around him from behind.

"I'm saying this for last time. Enough." Seiji's cold voice cut through the chaos.

Hideaki gasped as Seiji's arm pressed firmly against his chest and neck, pulling him back in a chokehold — not enough to choke the air out completely, but tight enough to immobilize him, to force his body still. The pressure was undeniable, commanding.

"Calm the hell down," Seiji hissed into his ear. His grip tightened slightly, reminding Hideaki of the absolute control Seiji had in that moment. "You're not killing anyone here. Do you understand me?"

Hideaki thrashed for a second, the bloody arrows trembling in midair, but Seiji's hold only grew steadier, heavier, suffocating his frenzy with cold precision.

"Breath. Stop this madness. Now."

"Tch! Shut up!" Hideaki hissed,

Seeing that his roommate won't listen to him, Seiji gritted his teeth from frustration "You will be stopped, this or other way!" Seiji growled in frustration. He saw the girl's eyes begging for mercy.

"Takahashi-san, RUN NOW!" he shouted

The girl anticipated the outcome and managed to roll aside.

Hideaki kept struggling to break free from the hold, but Seiji drove his knee into his back and yanked him harder, slamming Hideaki's body against the ground.

The arrows wavered before collapsing, making the blood splattered around them.

"As long as I'm here, you won't lay a single finger on her." Seiji growled coldly, pinning him down with the weight of his body. "Try to break free... just try. Let's see who runs out of breath first."

"Tch! L-let me go!" Hideaki was trashing around to free himself.

"I won't let go until you fix what you fucked up!" Seiji pointed at Ichiyo who was shaking all over,

With a sharp tug on the handcuffs, he dragged Hideaki upright. "You are going to return the blood that you took from her and mend the wound!"

"Not until I win!"

"You're fucked up!!" Seiji yelled at him.

"Okay! you won!" Ichiyo admitted, realizing her defeat against the ruthless killer, "You won, you infernal monster! Just... Save me! P-please! I don't want to die like my mother!" the girl pleaded with desperation in her voice.

"Huh..?" Hideaki raised an eyebrow at the girl's words.

Ichiyo had tears in her eyes "What y-you think you idiot, why did I want to duel you?" she felt how tears were streaming down on her cheeks "You were the one who murdered my mom two years ago!"

"Huh..? Your mom?"

"Yes! When I heard that you were in Tokyo, I wanted to take revenge on you... avenge my mother's death!"

"But.. how do you know it's me!? Huh!?"

"The police found out that you did it. Your name and what you did back then was reported in the news... Miyahara Hideaki - the serial killer from Kyoto strikes again... this time killing an innocent woman who was going to work... And that woman was my mother... They showed it later after investigation from the dead body. Your name was stuck in my ears... Your face in my memory... I won't forgive you this!"

"Tch!"

Seiji looked at Ichiyo's wound and pressed Hideaki, "Patch her wound. NOW"

"Okay okay!! Tch! Damn..."

Seiji carefully released Hideaki.

The programmer was watching him closely in the meantime.
'Shit... If she's gonna report us... It will be over.'

Hideaki used his magic to heal the wound he had inflicted on Ichiyo, but he was secretly angry that he couldn't finish her off.

"And her blood loss?" Seiji asked

Hideaki grumbled and with a sigh he obediently listened to Seiji askings.

Seiji helped the teenager up. She was all shaking, but sensing the presence of Seiji — a caring, yet calm and composed aura in this madness, beaming from his persona, made her calm her nerves a bit.

"Please, don't be afraid. He won't touch you again — I promise," Seiji said firmly, keeping his voice calm but steady. He glanced briefly at Hideaki, restrained on the floor, then back at the trembling girl.

'I need to try to convince her to eventually not go to the police...'

"I-I..." ichiyo hesitated to answer "I... I need to check s-something..." her trembling hand reached for her phone as she remembered that she had missed call. When she looked at her phone, she froze.

10 missed calls from her father...

Several from her friend...

"Oh God..." they all were sending her into a panic.

Seiji noticed the screen by the corner of his eye "Is it from your dad?"

"Y-yes. . . He's worrying about me. I... should be going back."

"But in this condition..?"

"I'll be fine..."

The rain was calming down... There were less and less heavy drops that fell from the grey sky that surrounded them all...

"I hope you're not gonna report us!" Hideaki added all pissed.

"N-no... I won't report you... We had a deal..."

Hideaki walked to her, with the intention of wanting to ask her one more thing.

Ichiyo jumped nervously seeing him approaching her so suddenly.

Seiji noticing it called out "Hideaki, come back here. Let her go."

Hideaki wasn't bothered and asked out directly "Just out of curiosity..." he started as he was closer to her. "How much cash do they want for my head..?"

"O-oh.. It's.. It's not true..." She responded nervously, trying to compose herself. "I made up this story to force you to duel..."

"WHAT!?"

"Stubborn jerk," Seiji muttered, observing them.

Seeing that Hideaki won't listen to him, he stepped up,

"I'm gonna say that to you one more time. Let go." Seiji whispered to his ear. "The last thing we need is more bloodshed and chaos."

But Hideaki's frustration continued to grow. The realization that he had been tricked pissed him off. His fists clenched tightly as he struggled to contain his anger.

Ichiyo's heart skipped a beat at the thought of Hideaki attacking her again.

"I.. I'll be going now... I-I'll be fine.." she said hastily.

'I want to get out of there, before he could do any more harm to me.'

"I.. just need some rest... I'll text my father t-that I'm fine..." she added. She took out her phone and texted quickly.

"In that condition you should be driven to hospital," Seiji pointed her out. His eyes narrowing as he examined her pale face and trembling hands.

"I-I'll get over this," Ichiyo replied, her voice uneven, weak. She tried to steady herself, but when she shifted her injured hand, she hissed through her teeth, the sound sharp and involuntary. "I... I have to go back... I'll be fine, I l-live nearby."

Her steps were unsteady. Each movement pulled at the wound, sending waves of burning pain up her arm. She pressed her free hand against it, trying to keep pressure, but blood still seeped through the soaked fabric. The rainwater dripping over her skin only intensified the sting, and with every few steps, she drew a shaky breath, the sound half-sob, half-sizzle of pain.

Seiji's gaze followed her in silence, calculating. He folded his arms, but his voice came low, sharp enough to cut through her stubbornness:
"You won't last long walking like that. If you collapse halfway, no one will be there to help. Think carefully before choosing pride over survival."

Ichiyo froze mid-step, her body trembling, then slowly shook her head. "I... can't. I just need... to get home. Please."

Seiji's jaw tightened. 

He stayed silent for a moment, watching the girl tremble as she clutched her phone, the screen still lit with missed calls.

'She’s rattled to the core… but she isn’t lying. If she meant to betray us, she wouldn’t be stammering like this. She’d already be dialing emergency services.'

His eyes shifted to Hideaki, restrained in handcuffs, then back to Ichiyo.

'I’m letting her walk away. I need to trust that she’ll keep her word — not because I believe in promises, but because she has as much to lose as we do. That’s a risk… but calculated risks are better than desperate chains. She is a teenager with something that we don't have — a normal life to hold on to. Reporting us would drag her into something far messier than she wants. She doesn't seem to be stupid. She knows that. She needs this to end as much as we do.'

He exhaled quietly.

"Do what you want, but don't say you weren't warned. Refusing treatment in your state is gambling with your life."

"I-I understand... thank you for helping me," she bowed shakily, her wet hair clinging to her face.

As she walked away, she bit her lip to muffle another cry of pain. Her figure wavered with every step, shoulders hunched, each hiss escaping her mouth betraying the agony she was trying to hide.

Seiji watched her retreat, his mind already analyzing.

'Stubborn girl... she won't make it far like that.'

But he didn't move yet — his cold eyes stayed fixed on her path, weighing whether to let her vanish into the rain or quietly follow at a distance.

Suddenly he noticed a man and a woman. They looked to be in their 40s.

As soon as Ichiyo noticed them, she ran over to them as fast as she could. When she saw her father, she joyfully jumped into his arms. The woman who was next to her also hugged the teenager. After releasing the family embrace, Ichiyo looked at Seiji and Hideaki again. She smiled sincerely at them.

Seiji smiled back at her with a sense of comfort
'So they must be her parents...'  

He thought, running in his mind, analyzing the possible ways that Ichiyo managed to get to them.

'If such a girl managed to get to us, then the police will get even quicker...'

Hideaki's mood was not as positive, his expression sour as he watched the exchange.

Suddenly, Ichiyo's father ran to them. "Gentlemen!" he began panting.

Hideaki quickly hide behind Seiji.

Mr. Takahashi took a big breath, "Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter! If it wasn't for you, those thugs... I don't even want to know what they could have done more to her... Thank you for that..."

Seiji smiled at the man, "You're welcome. People have to help each other, don't they?" He played along.

"Of course. Thank you... With all my heart!" Ichiyo's father bowed deeply in gratitude. Then, he returned to his loved ones. Overcome with emotion, he hugged his daughter tightly and escorted her and the woman back to their home.

"So she kept silent about us as she said..." Seiji added.

He turned to Hideaki and smacked him hard on the head.

"Ouch!" The killer screamed from the sudden hit

"That's for all the action! You're lucky Takahashi-san was nice enough to not say a word about you!"

"Tch!" Hideaki hissed.

"Now let's go home. You'll catch a cold and you will just whine above my ear that you're sick."

They went back to Seiji's apartment.

"Oh and I need to cut your nails. You're quite dangerous with them.." The programmer said as he stared at Hideaki's bloody hands.

"U-uh.. They are my second weapon of choice!" Hideaki blurted out.

Seiji sighed "We're gonna cut them anyways..."

"And what about those stupid handcuffs!?"

"I'm going to take them off once we'll be back in the living room."

As they climbed up to the apartment, Seiji couldn't help but feel a tinge of worry about what Hideaki might do next.