Walking

Ramon stepped out of his hotel when the sun was low in the sky. His sombrero and poncho shimmered slightly whenever the light caught it perfectly.
     He walked out of his hotel quietly, and started wandering through the streets of southern Tokyo, making his way north towards the Skytree.
     He passed by a pharmacy that was selling things he knew wouldn't help with his headache. 
     The slight bustle of the city never stopped as his walk in the night took him by a laundromat. He tried to distract himself by thinking about how maybe he should've told Percy to rent him a vehicle as well, but it was too late to do anything about it now.
     The distraction lasted approximately fifteen minutes.
     He made it to an intersection.
     His head hurt as he watched cars drive by.
     There were adults, mostly his age, driving them; it was already late in the evening. He wondered what they did with their free time.
     As he crossed the intersection, he figured that at least some of them had families they were providing for. They probably had jobs they didn't enjoy very much, but they stuck with it anyway because that was what they were called to do. 
     He clenched his fist and kept walking.
     Slowly, as the minutes of his walk turned into hours, his thoughts gradually narrowed. His mind withdrew into itself as all his mental power was devoted to one thing. He could feel himself losing his grip on the moment.
     His brown eyes focused suddenly, and he snapped back into the present. He reminded himself of the first rule of being a Twisthunter.
     It was the hardest one to follow; he remembered when he first heard it. He had been standing at the firing range with Percy as his instructor, firing shot after shot into regular, circle-shaped targets. He had been doing well.
     "You're doing rather well." Percy had said.
     "Thanks. My father taught me." 
     Percy had snapped his fingers, and the targets had disappeared. Ramon had looked at Percy, confused, but Percy redirected his gaze out to the firing range. 
     The targets were now shaped like young women.
     "Ramon, you passed the written and oral exams, so I know that you understand why the targets are shaped like this."
     Ramon had frozen completely. His grip on the practice gun had loosened. Percy kept speaking.
     "If you cannot do this, you may simply walk out of this facility. You may always return home."
     Ramon had stared at the target.
     "Most cannot do this. Those who can are forced to undergo intense psychiatric evaluations." Percy said soberly. "If you are too eager, you will be barred from becoming a Twisthunter on the grounds of probable insanity. Likewise, if the motion of killing ever becomes routine or thoughtless, you will be discharged from the Twisthunter Task Force with little fanfare." The British man's voice was nearly monotone, but there was an undercurrent of urgency in it. 
     Ramon's hands had trembled as he raised the gun towards the target.
     "Ramon Cortez, do you know the first rule of being a Twisthunter?"
     Ramon had faltered.
     "N-never... never let your guard down."
     "Incorrect."
     Ramon had been surprised, and turned to look at Percy. The British man was ten years his elder, with black hair that sat atop his head elegantly. He had a pointed nose and piercing green eyes, but his weak chin made his countenance somewhat odd.
     "That may be what the UN claims our first rule is, but it is not what should be at the forefront of your mind." Percy had told Ramon. "Whenever you are on a job for the T.T.F., keep the following words in mind; make them your mantra. Whenever you find your mind wandering, say these words aloud, because they will make sure you do your job to the best of your ability."
     Ramon crossed over a small bridge as he kept walking through Tokyo.
     His lips moved.
     "Stay sane." He said quietly.
     Those words were what made him remember the faces of all the young women he'd had to deal with. He could never forget them. He could never let their names fade from his mind. Percy had told him that the moment they stopped being women and became numbers, it was time to quit. 
     Unfortunately, Ramon had an excellent memory.
     By the time it was midnight, he had tread the same circles of thoughts in his mind over and over again. He shook his head and sighed as he stopped procrastinating and began thinking about the actual hunt he was performing.
     There were a few distinct possibilities in his mind. Perhaps the Twister had the ability to conure dragons out of nothing; an ability like that would be hard to counter, but at least her body wouldn't change. She might have possessed the power of turning other people into dragons. If that was the case, then the need to find her was exponentially more urgent.
     He bit his lip as he passed by a fish store. The moon was directly above him as midnight made itself known. He wrapped his poncho around himself a little tighter as he kept walking.
     It was unlikely that her power involved turning people into dragons; if that was the case, and this was her first usage of it, then she was probably a bad egg even without the mental deterioration that always came with the powers a Twister had. He rubbed the bald spot on the back of his head.
     Of course, it probably wasn't her first usage. Twisters powers always started out small, almost inconsequential; but the more they were used, the more powerful they became. In all likelihood, the woman had probably been using her powers in secrecy or for her family, and this was the first time they had gotten 'out of control.'
     He dug his nails into his palms as he remembered how many times he'd heard families make the argument that they could keep their child's powers 'under control.'
     His pace picked up as he passed a cram school. 
     Highways passed him, as did gardens, theaters, dealerships, and many more men driving in their cars late at night.