Weakling's Recruitment

The man in formal clothes was on the ground as he stared at Shiro, with eyes full of fear. Shiro looks at the man, with a portion of his face covered by a massive horn going upwards towards the top of his head, his right arm still having a spike similar to the ones that punctured the beast from his bullets earlier.

The man in formal clothes gasps in fear as Shiro looks at him.

(?) : “EEK..!”

Suddenly.. The horns and spikes on his body began to melt as his body passed out onto the ground.

The man in formal clothes is surprised; he’s in complete shock as to what has just happened. He gets closer to Shiro’s body for a closer look.

He realizes it’s a regular human, as his body is completely passed out on the ground.

(?) : “It’s.. just a man.”

The man in formal clothes immediately crawls over to Shiro’s passed-out body, only to see him passed out and covered in blood.

The man stares for a while, as he begins to have second thoughts.

He takes out his sword-like needle and hovers it above Shiro’s torso, seemingly to kill him.

He hesitates as he fails to pierce Shiro’s heart, and he puts the sword-like needle aside.

(?) : “Do I kill him..? ARGH..! But he just saved my life.”
(?) : “What even is he..? A human..? A beast..? A mix of both?”

He stares at the ground for a bit before taking out a yellow injector with a sharp needle on its tip and a button on the top.

He injects it into the side of Shiro’s neck, exactly where his pulse is.

…

Shiro wakes up, panting and catching for air. The man in formal clothes jumped as the booster he had injected came into immediate effect. He fell onto the ground and picked up his sword-like needle and pointed it at Shiro, while his face was still covered in fear.

(?) : “DON’T KILL ME..!”

Shiro sits upright, looking at the man with confusion in his eyes.

SHIRO : “Huh..?”

Shiro’s mind struggled to keep up with what had just happened. As he looks over the beast’s corpse, it begins to melt into ashes

…

His car.. His only car.
A battered hip of twisted metal now leaning dangerously to one side. fuming with smoke coming out from its hood. A car, once filled with moments with Sheena.

He looks over his wrecked and totaled car.

The man in formal clothes stumbled backwards onto the ground as he was barely holding onto his sword-like needle while it was pointed towards Shiro

(?) : “W-.. WHAT ARE YOU..?!”

Shiro ignores and doesn’t even look at him.

His thoughts felt scrambled, like someone had shaken his head. His clothes were still soaked in blood, some of it his and some of it from the beast. His body still remembered the sensation of half of his skull splitting open.

He touches his face.

It was smooth, unharmed, and untouched. As if his skull wasn’t split open just earlier.

SHIRO : “..Sheena..?”

The man in formal clothes approaches him, with his sword-like needle wielded as if he were ready to attack.

(?) : “D-.. DON’T MOVE! OR I’LL GET YOU BEHIND BARS!”
- Shiro snaps back into reality.
SHIRO(: “Huh..?”
- He sees a man wearing a suit beneath an orange jacket, whilst holding a sword-like needle, positioned like the man was ready to attack.
SHIRO : “Relax..! I’m human..!”
- He says as he puts his hands in the air.
(?) : “B-.. But those horns..! They just came out of you! I’ve seen dozens of beasts and humans, and I can tell which is which!”
SHIRO : “What do you think am I then..?”
(?) : “Uh.. Uhm..”
- The man scratches his head as he puts the sword away.
(?) : “No idea..!”
- Shiro stares blankly as he drops his hands from the air. He looks over at the man, up and down as if he’s inspecting him.
SHIRO : “Are you-.. a beast hunter..?”
(?) : “Uh.. yes! yes, I am!”
SHIRO : “A beast hunter running away… like a baby.”
- He stares blankly at the man.
SHIRO : “How are you a beast hunter running away like a kid?”
(?) : “I GOT NO CHOICE, MAN!”
(?) : “It was either this or.. prison.”
SHIRO : “P-.. Prison..? What did you do so horribly that you had to choose being a beast hunter or being in prison?”
(?) : “IT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS..!”
- The man looks away, before turning back again towards Shiro.
(?) : “But I’m a changed man now, so don’t judge me by my damn past!”
SHIRO : “O-.. okay..”
- Shiro looks over his wrecked and totaled car once again, as his face shows how devastated he is.
(?) : “Wait a minute.. are you.. a mix of both?”
SHIRO : “Of.. what?”
(?) : “A beast.. and a human.”
SHIRO : “I.. I don’t know.”
SHIRO : “I’m only really alive right now cause of… well, this. Weird things happened after I ran away from my town.”
(?) : “You’re a runaway kid..?”
SHIRO : “NO! I-.. Okay, you won’t get it.”
(?) : “Alright..”
- Silence for a while. As Shiro keeps looking back at his wrecked car, reminiscing about the times he had with Sheena in that vehicle.
(?) : “I GOT AN IDEA!”
SHIRO : “Huh..?”
(?) : “I’m in a lot of debt right now, and I need to do these beats hunting stuff to pay it all off.. so what abou-..”
- Shiro cuts the man off.
SHIRO : “Damn.. you’re a criminal and have a bunch of debt on you?”
(?) : “Shut up!”
(?) : “As I was saying.. What about you work with me?!”
SHIRO : “As..?”
(?) : “A Substitute Hunter!”
(?) : “You butchered that beast without any problems whatsoever! aaand since you’re a runaway kid, I’ll offer you a room at my place!”
- Shiro stares at the man.
SHIRO : “Look, man.. I don’t even know how my abilities work or what you even call this thing in me.”
SHIRO : “There is NO WAY I’m trusting a guy who has a criminal record and has debt!”
(?) : “Look! I suck at beast hunting, every hunt; I scream, run, almost die, and run more!”
(?) : “But you killed it! heck, you even butchered the thing!”
(?) : “And NOT as an official Beast Safety Control Member! They’d dissect you if they knew what you are! I mean, unofficially work with me! I’ll split the earnings, and I won’t say a word to anyone about your… beast abilities, I guess.”
- Shiro stares at him…
SHIRO : “Why should I trust you?”
(?) : “It’s a win-win situation! You do my job, you get some cash and a home, and you’ll be safe!”
(?) : “What makes you think I can even stand a chance against a guy I just watched butcher a beast I was running away from!”

Shiro thinks about it for a while. It’s a weird, drenching feeling, especially after losing everything and running away, but maybe, just maybe, this is a way of restarting his life. Even with all the questions in his head, he considers the offer.

SHIRO : “Fine.. Maybe it’s not so bad.”
(?) : “Great! My name’s Kui, Kui Kizunishi!”
- Kui offers Shiro a handshake.
SHIRO : “Shiro.. Shiro Hiyoshi.”
- The two shake hands.

It was all so sudden: being attacked by a beast, losing his car, and being offered a job as a substitute hunter. It all happened so quickly, but maybe this is how life is in Chiba City.

Shiro grabs his things from his totaled vehicle. It’s mostly covered in debris and some glass. It’s all a mess, but he manages to grab most of his important and valuable things that were in the wreck.

The two walked together, leaving Shiro’s wrecked car behind… as he looked back towards it, remembering such cherished memories with it…