Sharp Rain

The bike idled a few meters away from them, the engine humming low and steady. Then the rider lifted one hand — fingers spread wide toward the sky.

Rei’s stomach turned cold.

The air seemed to hold its breath.

Then, with a motion sharp as a blade, the rider turned his hand downward — pointing straight at the woman.

The sky answered.

Every suspended drop of rain, every bead of water hanging midair, suddenly fell — not in the gentle rhythm of a drizzle, but in solid violent strikes.

The drops came down like knives.

The woman gasped and raised the umbrella instinctively. For a heartbeat, it held. Then the fabric shredded under the assault — dozens of holes tearing open as the sharp rain cut through. A few drops slashed across her cheek, leaving thin, stinging lines of red.

Rei didn’t think. He just moved.

“Look out!”

He lunged forward, tackling her to the ground just as the rest of the rain speared into the pavement where she’d been standing. The sound was deafening — hundreds of tiny impacts like broken glass on stone.

They hit the wet ground hard, rolling into the shallow gutter. The shock of cold water bit through his clothes, but he barely felt it.

For a moment, there was only the sound of their breathing.

Rei looked up. The umbrella lay nearby in tatters. The masked rider was still on his bike, his hand lowering slowly. Even from here, Rei could feel the weight of that gaze behind the mask.

The woman pushed herself up slightly, wincing. Blood streaked her cheek, but her eyes were sharp, alive.

“What the hell was that?” she hissed.

Rei didn’t answer. Instead, he grabbed her arm. “We have to move.”

“What—?”

“Now.”

She got pulled with him as they ran.

Boots splashed through puddles, breath ragged in the thick air. The rain hadn’t returned — it hung above them, unnaturally still, as though waiting for permission to fall again.

Behind them, the engine revved.

Rei risked a glance back. The masked man had swung one leg off the bike, now standing beside it. His gloved hand rose again, fingers got dragged through the air. Rain around him began to quiver, rising slightly off the ground like they were weightless.

Rei’s heart hammered. “He’s—he’s doing it again! Hurry!”

A sudden crack split the air behind them. The rain — or what should’ve been rain was closing in, Rei quickly took a turn around a corner store. Multiple hits struck the corner wall like a burst of shrapnel, carving tiny holes into the brick.

They hid around the corner. Both were panting, soaked, and shaking.

Rei pressed a hand against his chest, trying to slow his breathing. “Who was that? What is going on?”

The woman looked around, eyes scanning every angle like someone trained for danger. “He’s a Freak,” she said quietly. “Water manipulation maybe.”

Rei swallowed. “He almost killed you.”

She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she looked toward the street, lips pressed tight. The faintest tremor ran through her hand. “He sure was trying to.”

“Why tho?” Rei asked.

Her gaze flicked to him. For a moment, she looked like she might answer — but before she could, the distant wail of sirens cut through the quiet.

Both of them froze.

Rei peeked around the corner. The masked rider had stopped in the between them and his bike, his head tilted slightly as if listening. The sirens grew louder, closer. He turned slowly, eyes narrowing through the mask’s hollow sockets.

Then he saw it — the security camera above the shop sign, its small red light blinking steadily.

For a long second, he stared straight into it. Then he sprinted to his bike and swung a leg over, he revved the engine once, and sped off into the mist.

Rei and the girl stayed crouched in the shadows, watching as the sound faded into the distance.

Only when it was gone did Rei finally breathe out.

He turned to her. “You… okay?”

She touched her cheek, fingers coming away red but shallow. “I’ve had worse.”

Rei tried to laugh, but it came out thin and shaky. “You’re way too calm for someone who almost got killed.”

She gave him a faint smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

Blue lights cut through the fog before Rei could fully breathe out form the previous situation.

Soon after the cops arrived on scene, they jumped out from the police cars with riot shields and rain coats, pistols drawn clearly eager to fire.

“Freaky freaks come on out and play!”

multiple cops laughed at their colleagues joke

but to their disappointment there was no freaks around just two afraid kids that needed to be taken care of, after some questioning and prolonged processes the two of them were let go and told to go home.

“So where do you live, is it close?” Rei asked to make himself sure she would get home safely. “Well I’ve sent for a taxi to pick me up” Just as she said that a black cab pulled up. “Well this is mine” She said as she walked up and opened the door. “What’s your name by the way?” Rei looked on with a hint of confusion. “It’s Rei, Rei Arata”

A faint smile formed on her lips “Kuroe Haya” she said with a pause before continuing.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “For back there.”

Rei rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. “Anyone would’ve done it.”

“Not everyone would’ve moved,” she said, a faint smile ghosting across her lips. “But you did.”

Before he could answer, she turned and stepped inside. The door closed quietly behind her and the car started to roll.

Rei stood there for a moment, listening to the rain. His pulse still hadn’t fully calmed.

Finally, he looked down at his hands — at the faint tremor still running through them.

When he looked up again, he could almost see it, the masked rider’s pale mask, the way the raindrops had hung suspended in the air.

A shiver ran through him.

The sirens were gone now. Only the rain remained.

Rei turned toward home, the sound of thunder echoing softly across the hills — a warning that the calm was already breaking