Now Comes the Hero for Justice

The news helicopter hovered overhead, doing its best to keep out of the flight path of the flying demons while still focusing on getting its footage. “We can’t get any closer?!” the cameraman shouted over the whirling helicopter blades, the crowded interior filled with reporters.

“We can if you want to get killed!” The pilot shouted back, clearly hating this particular assignment.

“Don’t be a coward!” the cameraman said. His confidence quickly turned to terror as an okubi appeared before them, filling the frame as the floating head grinned, her mouth full of sharpened, yellowed teeth.

“Gouki says this is a private party. Sorry, but you have to die…” the okubi growled, opening her mouth as she charged at the news copter. However, her growl turned into a scream as an arrow shot through the back of her head, sticking out of her mouth.

“Could someone tell the news people to go away?” Mayumi asked, her bow turning back to the street as she shot a shinigami coming at her.

“It’s a shame! I know it’s super dangerous, but I look ultra cute in this outfit!” Mizuki said as she rode on the back of an oni, her whip around his neck as she strangled him.

“Arrow exorcist…I give up…please shut her up…” the oni choked out. Mayumi sighed, granting him mercy and putting an arrow between all three of his eyes. The oni fell and Mizuki quickly hopped off his back, using a containment stone to pull the demon from the criminal he possessed.

“Cover me while I get this guy secured!” Mizuki said as Mayumi turned her back to her, her bow singing as she fired arrows at nearby demons.

“No problem!” Mayumi said. Within moments the demon was gone, an exhausted man in his place.

“Actually, big problem! These guys keep coming, and I don’t know about you, but I’m running out of containment stones! This is  bad!” Mizuki said, pulling the unconscious man to a nearby officer who got handcuffs on him.

“I know. I haven’t been in a fight this big since the D Day years,” Mayumi said. “At least if we die here, Harry burned the book. Gouki can’t get anything from this.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Gaku being thrown between them, slamming into the wall of the police station and leaving a small crater.

“Why do I keep getting thrown…” Gaku moaned as Mayumi and Mizuki pulled him back to his feet.

“What threw you?” Mayumi asked. Gaku raised his hand, pointing down the street. A towering skeletal gashadokuro lumbered through the canyons of the city, at least five stories tall, smashing police officers and laughing at their misery, the sound like a rock slide on a frozen mountain.

“Oh come on! Where did he even come from?!” Mizuki said.

“They apparently hid the bones around here last night,” Gaku said.

“And waited until we were tired,” Mayumi said.

“They’re jerks, but they’re smart jerks,” Mizuki said.

The gashadokuro reached for a police officer who had fallen to the ground, a bullet in his leg, when his hand was stopped by a massive wall of muscled flesh. “Don’t think your size matters, skinny!” Takeshi bellowed as he slapped the giant skeleton's hand away with a burning smack. “I’m the big man here!”

“Let’s go, guys! Can’t let the big man hog the whole feast!” Gaku said, leading the girls as they charged the demon, weapons in hand.

Behind the gashadokuro Reo and Hinata continued their battle with Yami, the professional assassin beginning to wear them down. “This is what I’ve missed for so long!” Yami cheered, stopping Reo’s fist and backhanded him. “A real fight!”

Reo and Hinata nodded to each other, initiating a move they had practiced for situations like this. He ran at Yami, his katana slicing through the air. Yami moved to block it, ripping a car door off and using it as a shield. However, at the last moment the katana disappeared. The bat demon’s eyes widened in shock as Reo moved slightly, the katana appearing in Reo’s other hand. The maneuver threw him off enough for Hinata to grab him, holding him still long enough for Reo to deliver a savage blow to Yami’s neck.

“Gah! Good…good one! Misdirection! I respect it!” Yami said, pressing a hand to his bleeding throat. The siblings got ready to make another move, but Yami unfurled his wings, moving with a blistering speed and grabbing both of them by the throats. “But your sword nearly took my damn head off! Some salaryman asshole isn’t bringing me down!”

He threw Reo against a car, the bone crunching crash forcing a gasp of pain from his mouth. Yami turned his pain filled eyes to Hinata.

“As for you...” he sneered. He slammed Hinata face first into the concrete, sending jagged cracks out from the impact. “You waste all this power!” Yami stomped on Hinata’s head several times before kicking her into the side of a building. “What does it get you?” He wrenched a manhole cover out of the ground and hurled it like a discus into Hinata’s gut. She cried out in pain, doubling over and clutching her stomach as Yami marched slowly over to her.

Reo struggled to get to his hands and knees, watching as the demon rained blow after blow onto his sister. This was the true power of a demon. Smiler was a relatively weak man whose insanity brought out the power of a world ending demon. Yami, however, had his own power amplified by a yamachichi. This was not the demon’s strength tearing through them. It was his.

“Hinata…I’ll…” Reo strained to say, coughing up blood. Yami gave him an amused look.

“Be right with you, big brother. Little sis is going beddy bye,” Yami said, cracking his knuckles, ready to deliver the final blow.

Something changed in Reo right them. His fists clenched, a white hot anger like nothing he had ever felt before washing over him. Through his rage he got glimpses of his past. A little boy in glasses who felt powerless, alone for so long with successful parents who were always busy until he had a little sister who was so fragile and small. What he did have were his superhero shows. Tokusatsu heroes who never gave up, who always triumphed over the evils plaguing their lives. He buried his hope under the responsibility of caring for his sister, only letting it show when she was sick, laying in a bed, unable to get out. He would give her an Ultraman or Kamen Rider toy, telling her not to give up. And then one day the monsters were real, and he had the chance to be a real hero.

“I am…”

Yet he wasn’t. His guilt clouded him. Unable to save his parents. Unable to do anything to cure Hinata, watching her make the decision to become possessed by a demon to halt her dying body. He wasn’t a hero. He was a man playing hero.

“I am…”

Demons are creatures of human belief. It was what Reiji said in his diary. If it was true, then belief was power. Belief, hope…justice.

It was time to see if those rules only applied to demons.

“I…AM…”

Reo struck a pose, an elaborate motion which evoked memories of his childhood heroes. Yami looked at him curiously…until his curiosity turned to fear. Energy surged over Reo, consuming him in bright and vibrant light. It exploded outward, and Yami had to shield his eyes for a moment. When he and Hinata could see again Reo was transformed.

The figure before them was an armored warrior, bright red and white with a skin tight body suit and a helmet with a black visor and silver mouth on it. On his back was a katana, pulsing with energy. On his hip was an ornate, powerful looking gun. A scarf trailed from his neck, blowing in a wind seemingly made only for him.

“What?” Yami crooked out.

“Reo…” Hinata said with a proud smile.

“I AM…A HERO FOR JUSTICE! AND YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HINATA AGAIN!” Reo cried out, the hero ready to fight the monster, fueled by hope and belief.