Chapter 5: The Realization. Part 2: Ok then.

Finally, after all of the detours, they went outside of the mall. There was an outside restaurant which had outside tables and outside chairs without other people sitting at different tables. There was also a staff room in the kitchen behind all the tables and chairs, but it was positioned at the back of the restaurant. A woman behind a booth was in front of the restaurant, Fuzumi and her friends walked up to the booth where the woman was. The woman was in a black suit uniform with a name tag by her on the right side of her chest which read Ibuki and as soon Fuzumi walked up to the booth she bowed and spoke.

“Welcome to Kento Bento! How may I help you?”

Fuzumi smiled as her green eyes made eye contact with Ibuki’s yellow ones. She spoke politely and excitedly.

“Yes, can we get a table for us five?”

Ibuki nodded as she spoke.

“Yes, you can just follow me please.”

Ibuki said as she turned around and began walking to a nearby table. Once she made it to the table, Fuzumi and all of her friends were behind her. Ibuki spoke up while she turned back to the five of them.

“Sit here please, someone will take your order soon.”

Ibuki said as she walked to the staff room and the kitchen.

Fuzumi, Daizen, Hiroto, Toroma, and Alex sat down at the white table and sat in their seats. Each of them also put their bookbags on the floor, while the food came they began to converse about the most random things. Alex started the conversation with a question for everyone.

“Who would you guys say is the biggest anime fan here?”

Fuzumi, Daizen, and Hiroto instantly after hearing Alex’s question pointed at him and simultaneously said.

“You.”

Toroma lightly giggled in the background.

Hiroto spoke up and told everyone why he thought Alex was the biggest anime weeb here.

“You embarrassed yourself on the first day of Junior High by coming to school in a White Clover cosplay and made weird anime references.”

Fuzumi instantly spoke in surprise.

“Oh yeah, I remember that!”

Toroma stayed quiet as he was interested to hear the stories even though he was there when it happened.

Daizen spoke next.

“I don’t think Me, and Alex had met yet at that point.”

Toroma spoke.

“Wait, how did you guys all meet Alex? I’m kind of interested now.”

In that instant, Hiroto spoke up as he smirked.

“Well I don’t know how the others met but this is how I met Alex, well at school at least.”

Three years ago, at Senbuki Junior High it was a normal day. It was the fifth day into the year of Junior High. There were a bunch of students in a classroom, most of them were just writing down notes while others conversed with their peers or slept. Hiroto was in class listening and copying the notes that were on the board. The female teacher stepped out of the room for around five minutes beforehand, most of the students were socializing and talking but, Hiroto was different. He stayed studying and continued to do his work. The teacher eventually came back and when she came there was a black kid with a black robe that had a Black Bull on it. He also had a black headband that had a Black Bull symbol on it. A backpack on his back as he stood there quietly. The boy was short around 5’4 and was skinny. The teacher spoke up as she clapped her hands loudly, grabbing the attention of all of her students.

“Attention students, may I please have your attention for a quick moment?”

Every student looked up once they heard the clapping, Hiroto didn’t look up since he didn’t care he was too focused on his studies.

Once the teacher noticed that she got most of the student’s attention, she then continued to speak.

“We have a new student in our class!”

All the students looked towards the dark-skinned boy with black hair with interest since he didn’t look Japanese because his skin color was much darker. He also seemed to be weirdly smirking as the teacher continued to talk.

“He is a transfer student from America.”

As soon as the teacher said he was from America the students' faces changed as they began to whisper among themselves. Still, the teacher continued to talk. Hiroto didn’t care, he didn’t look at the boy and continued to keep his head in the books.

“So everyone tries to help him out with his Japanese. He only knows a little Kanji and Romaji ”

The teacher then shifts her head over to the boy’s ear and begins to whisper.

“Now go write your name on the board.”

The boy nodded as he slowly walked over to the whiteboard that was in front of the classroom. There was a marker holder on the bottom of the whiteboard, the boy reached for it and grabbed it with his index finger and thumb. He then began to write his name; it took around twenty seconds but he eventually got it done. When the boy was done writing his name, the students looked at the name on the board and it read “Alex Zuki.” It was weird because in Japan you are supposed to write your family name first then your given name but they just chalked it up to him being new to Japan.

Alex looked younger, he was twelve years old at the time. He also didn’t seem to be sad or depressed like he is now, maybe it was because he still kept in contact with his dad or maybe it was because he hadn’t been ridiculed by his peers yet. Once Alex was done writing his name, he quickly turned around as a smirk came onto his face. His just dyed hair swung back and forth. His hair was just dyed and spiked, this was because he wanted to fit the White Clover cosplay on perfectly. He was somewhat disappointed when no one noticed or recognized his White Clover cosplay so he said one of the main character’s famous lines.

“I’m Alex Zuki! I might have no magic but I’m gonna be the wizard king!”

Alex said as he yelled, mixing his Japanese words with his English ones.

Hiroto finally looked up as he heard the name Alex Zuki, his eyes and Alex’s caught each other. The thing was they knew each other. His and Alex’s father both worked in the government together, their fathers told them to be friends since they lived right across the street from each other. But they never clicked as friends, they never talked, they just knew of each other so Hiroto didn’t care about him. He also felt bad at how Alex made a White Clover reference. Little did Alex know Otakus weren’t so open about Otakus and usually lived a double life, but since Hiroto was focused on his work he let out a sigh and let Alex do whatever he wanted.

The teacher and fellow students looked at Alex weirdly, some of them got the anime reference and some of them didn’t, but most of the students didn’t get it or thought it was weird. Alex had a smile on his face as he didn’t realize how weird his anime reference would be in real life and how weird it would be out of context. The teacher then just spoke to change the conversation.

“Anyways, you may pick a seat by the way. Sit in any open seat.”

Alex nodded as he soon began to go through the rows of students and desks. Every time Alex passed a student looked at him, and gave him a mean, and hostile look. But in reality, he wasn’t worried about that, he just wanted to sit next to Hiroto. He walked to the desk that was in front of Hiroto’s. After Alex sat down, a few minutes later she began to get back into the lecture. In the middle of the lecture, Alex turned his head around at Hiroto when he did. Hiroto looked up at him and wondered why Alex was looking at him. Alex quickly and semi loudly spoke toward Hiroto.

“Do you watch Hentai?”

“What? Whatttttt?!”

Hiroto's eyes widened as he yelled loudly in shock, most of the students heard him also and looked at Alex weirdly. That’s when the story ended for Hiroto. Hiroto stopped telling his part and started speaking toward Toroma in the present day again.

Toroma giggled at Hiroto’s story, He then began to ask a question as he laughed.

“Did he really ask you that?”

“Yeah, he did.”

Fuzumi spoke as she was lightly giggling also.

“I wouldn’t doubt Alex to say something like that, he asked me out on my first day of school.”

Daizen spoke up also.

“That sounds like Alex.”

Alex’s face was red from embarrassment, he was embarrassed because he knew they were true, but then Alex spoke up, speaking at an insult at Hiroto.

“Well, at least I didn’t have to watch the eight episodes of endless eight. You even have a T-shirt on it!”

Hiroto nodded as he began to admit what Alex said.

“So? At least I don’t obsess over hentai.”

They were all about to go and tell their stories about how they met Alex but then a waiter came up to the table and spoke to the five of them.

“May I take your orders?”

Alex spoke up immediately since he was hungry.

“I'll take some chicken-flavored ramen and a soda!”

The waiter quickly wrote down what Alex said and nodded.

“Ok, Anything else?”

Daizen spoke up next since he was also hungry.

“I’ll take a Kake Soba and some water.”

The waiter wrote what Daizen said also.

Hiroto then spoke up next about his order and went into all of the technicalities of his food and what he wanted.

“I want a smoked lightly grilled barbecue Yakitori and also some white rice fully cooked with lightly sprinkled Furikake seasoning and finally water with a lemon in it.”

The male waiter was slightly annoyed by Hiroto’s technicality but still, he wrote it down.

Toroma spoke up and then said what he wanted.

“I’ll just take Kare Raisu (Curry Rice) and some water.”

Fuzumi smirked and happily said what she wanted to eat.

“I’ll take some sushi and a soda, that's it.”

The male waiter nodded as he wrote down everything the five of them wanted, he then left and went to the staff/kitchen room.

In the meantime, the five of them continued to talk about various things it switched around. Their conversations didn’t stay in the same place for too long. It didn’t matter because, in these moments, all of them were happy and smiling. Sure they all had their problems but, throughout this day and these days they hung out with each other and they felt as if they could forget their problematic lives by smiling and laughing. After the food came they continued to have their fun but while eating.

Hiroto spoke up throughout the conversation.

“I love flies!”

Fuzumi shook her head.

“Eww gross.”

They kept talking, cracking jokes, tickling each other, and talking about what music they liked. It was fun, but little did they know danger was soon to go to the group. They were blind to it, but that danger was just around the corner. After their meal, they all split the bill and began to leave the restaurant as well as the mall but when they got outside the mall the four of them started to question Fuzumi on why she hadn’t called a uver yet so they could go home. They were outside and it was around seven pm and it quickly started to get dark.

Fuzumi spoke up nervously as she began to explain.

“Well, my mom said I can’t spend any more money because we are kind of short on it at the moment. Uvering here actually took around thirty dollars.”

They all looked disappointed but then began to ask each other questions.

Alex then turned to Daizen as he asked him a question.

“Uh, what about Daizen? you're rich, can you order a uver?”

Daizen shook his head.

“My mom doesn’t like me using her credit card for stuff online for some reason, So no I can’t.”

Alex then looked at his phone, It had the time display on it, it read 7:15 pm. He checked his phone if he had uver but with no luck, he didn't. Most of his phone was anime game apps or social media. He saw a news notification that talked about a burning building. He also noticed he had multiple texts from his mother asking about why he skipped some of his classes today. He decided he would deal with that when he got home and would prepare for the punishment he was about to get. He then spoke to Hiroto.

“Damn, well I don’t have uver. Do you Hiro?”

Hiroto shook his head from left to right as he responded to Alex.

“Well no. I don’t, I don’t see a need for it since I don’t own a credit card.”

Alex sighed as he then turned to Toroma.

“How about you Toroma?”

Toroma spoke.

“No, I don’t. I have no credit card, there would be no point.”

Daizen then spoke towards everyone grabbing their attention.

“Guess we are walking home yeah?”

All of them individually let out a sigh after they realized they would be walking, but surprisingly, Alex sucked up and then spoke toward everyone.

“Well we better get walking then, don’t want it to get too dark.”

Alex said as he began to walk on the sidewalk, his friends caught up behind him and they all began to conversate. It was a long walk, they were conversing the whole time before they walked and even at school so when they hit the halfway point of the walk they were quiet and just focusing on walking. After thirty minutes they made it back into their home town. One by one they began to leave and go to their houses. First, it was Fuzumi.

Fuzumi stepped aside from the group and stepped to the side.

“My house is this way, I’ll see you guys tomorrow!”

Fuzumi said as she bowed and then began to happily skip away.

Alex, Daizen, Hiroto, and Toroma nodded as they spoke.

“See ya tomorrow.”

Alex tried not to look at Fuzumi’s behind, but he was a teenage boy. He couldn’t help it, so he looked quickly and then stopped and continued walking. After a few more minutes of them walking, Hiroto then spoke up.

“My house is forward, I got to go this way.”

Alex looked confused, Hiroto and Alex live right across from each other so he wondered why he was cutting off from the rest of them.

“We live right across from each other. Why are you walking that way?”

Hiroto used his middle finger to push up his blue glasses as he responded.

“My mom wants me to grab some groceries, it will take a while so don’t wait for me. I’m also gonna watch some fly documentaries when I get home so I can’t play any CraftMine tonight.”

Alex and Daizen nodded as they individually gave Hiroto a high five and a bro hug before he left. After Hiroto left, Daizen headed out. He spoke before he left. Toroma stood there since he didn’t know them that well and didn’t feel comfortable high-fiving them or hugging them.

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow. You two walk home, my house is this way.”

Alex nodded, as he waved Daizen goodbye as Daizen walked into a dark alley disappearing into the darkness after a few seconds. Once Daizen was gone, Alex looked at Toroma as they made eye contact, and as soon as they did he looked away quickly. Alex then looked forward, as he did he spoke suddenly.

“W-well we should get going right Toroma?”

Toroma nodded nervously, as he followed Alex.

“Yeah, Coming.”

Throughout their walk, they began to talk about the powers that they had. They walked side by side. It had already become nighttime by this point. Alex and Toroma had a conversation, since everyone else was gone they finally felt comfortable talking since they could relate to each other's similarities. In the middle of their walking and their conversation, Alex stopped and asked an interesting question, but he stood still and looked Toroma in his eyes seriously.

“Do you think there are more people with powers?”

“That can’t be true! It would be in the public by now wouldn’t it?”

Alex paused and thought about it before responding.

“Who knows, I mean you and I have powers. Remember it only takes two people for it to be considered an outbreak. Who knows, there could be others just like us that are keeping it secret just like you.”

Toroma stopped thinking as he looked down, he then responded with a slightly sad tone in his voice.

“I-i mean it could be true. I just hope it isn't true. That could cause more violence in the world than there already is.”

Alex replied slightly agreeing with Toroma.

“I agree with you on that. That could make things worse, I honestly hope that it isn’t true but I’m just being logical.”

Toroma nodded.

“I guess so.”

Alex’s face got red as he thought about something. He noticed this from looking at Toroma all day. He noticed little things that made Toroma seem feminine and seem like a girl. Maybe it was because of Alex's delusional anime standards. He also found Toroma cute and Alex knew he liked girls. So, he had to ask the question. He stared Toroma in his eyes and spoke.

“Are you a gi-”

But something stopped him from speaking, he was cut off by something. It wasn’t something unknown, he felt a hot almost fire-like presence surrounding the environment. Fear filled his body as he suddenly realized and recognized this feeling. It was the same feeling he got when he saw Toroma use his glow and powers, but it was different, he didn’t know where the presence was coming from, the aura resonating from this feeling felt powerful and filled with heat and fire. The feeling was at a certain place, and Alex knew the person or thing was close and that they were similar to him and Toroma. Alex looked at Toroma to see his reaction, he then said something.

“Do you feel that?”

Toroma nervously nodded.

Alex was scared, the fear was deep in his mind but still, he wanted to check it out.

“Let’s check it out, I have a feeling the person is similar to us.”

Toroma spoke as he nodded.

“I got that feeling too. I’ll follow you.”

Alex frantically ran toward the fiery presence, as he ran he realized he was running back to where he was before. Toroma was dash running behind Alex, he wasn’t running as fast as he could but just to keep up behind him. They weren’t running too fast since they had their school bookbags on. Alex walked on the sidewalk for around 10 minutes, every few seconds he knew he was getting closer. He was so close, once he got closer he felt a cold chill for a brief second but it quickly disappeared and was replaced with heat. He also heard yelling and arguing but then it quickly disappeared also. He was walking backward and he then noticed he was on the street where Daizen and Hiroto had left. He then looked to the left where the dark alleyway was. It was the same alleyway where Daizen went through and that’s where he saw it.

“........”

Alex had nothing to say, all there was, was fear. As he turned left he saw something he didn’t think he would ever see. He saw a short white man, he was around 5’4 and has a short slim muscular build. He had red spikey hair that goes all the way up and resembles a stalagmite, He has multiple mini spikes on his head. His shoes consisted of red-colored shoes and he was wearing red shorts. Alex noticed he also had a hoodie on with his sleeves rolled up, the red-haired man also had a fire-like aura surrounding him and his aura felt much stronger than Toroma’s and Alex’s.

Multiple collapsed bodies had burn marks, all of the bodies were laid face down and they seemed to all be dead or unconscious. Alex was scared, but what topped it off was when he looked at the nearest body by the red-haired man. He noticed it was his best friend Daizen due to his blue hair and school uniform. Daizen was in a pool of his blood, Toroma saw the scene also and immediately activated his glow, but that’s when the scarlet-haired man spoke.

“Oh. The White Swordsmen and The Time Stopper are here. I’ve been waiting for you two. I Hijiri Raitā is gonna kick your weak human asses!”

Hijiri said as he laughed maniacally as he closed his eyes.