Chapter 2: Hope

He began to wonder, was it all real? His whole life? Was Alex Zuki a real person? What was the purpose of his existence? Everyone has a purpose but, every day Alex wondered what he was. Was it his purpose to discover these supernatural abilities we call Kagayaku and Glow? Even though Alex is an otaku and wanted superpowers to exist in real life when he was faced with these superpowers it all confused him and he didn’t know how to feel. It felt weird, he wished for powers to come into existence for most of his childhood, but now when these powers were in front of him, he didn’t like it. It was because his friends were harmed. His power was nice, but to him it was undesired. Even in this subconscious dream-like state, Alex could still think. He thought about what Kuro spoke to him about. Was all Kuro said real? He questioned it, he hated it. He hated the idea that the government knew about these powers, he didn’t want to accept the reality that his dad was lying to him about his job. He couldn’t believe it, no way. If it was true, why didn’t his dad tell him about it, his dad didn’t do a lot for him or his family. Alex Zuki truly knew that there were no gods or any masters in this horrible world.

“Being lonely sucks, but being naive sucks even more. My life is undesired. People say hate will never win, but it always wins.”

Alex said as he continued to dream, he didn’t know why he was thinking this hard in a dream. Normally, Alex wouldn’t have dreams at all but, these past few days his dreams have increased. Maybe it was due to his sudden power usage? Or was it the demon and angel voice in his head interfering with his body? Well, his question wasn’t answered because before he could answer himself he felt his eyelids slowly begin to open.

Finally, they opened all the way. As he opened fully, he could feel his body on something. He was in a hospital bed. As he looked around he saw a hospital-like texture around the room, everything had a white color aesthetic. He was also in a hospital gown. He looked to his left and he saw a window, it seemed it was lighter outside. The sun was rising meaning it was the morning. Alex was shocked, it felt weird waking up once and then seeing night and then waking up again and seeing morning. His body still aches in pain, he touched his forehead with his left hand. His forehead was no longer bleeding; there were now stitches there. Alex instinctively let out a yawn, but when he did he felt a sharp pain in his jaw. He thought that his jaw must still be hurting from when Hijiri punched him.

“That fiery bastard.”

Alex thought, he held in his anger though. He knew he had to assess the situation he was in. So, he was in a hospital. He was in a gown, the doctors must have done some treatment on his face and body. He had bandages on his face. Alex sat up from his hospital bed, he then looked to the left window and saw his reflection the window. His face still looked pretty decent, of course, there were minor burn marks on his chin and cheeks and there were bandages, but besides that he was fine. After that, he began to think about where Daizen and Toroma were and where his mother and sister were. He knew they had to come here since he was injured. Someone also had to pay for the hospital bill. For that, he honestly felt bad for his mom. He didn’t want to burden her with this situation, they already had enough shit going on at home.

“Damn, my bad mom.”

Alex thought in his head. His belly rumbled making him aware that he was hungry.

Alex was also worried about Daizen and Toroma. He knew that they had to have survived the fight because of two reasons. One, he carried them out of the fire after Hijiri left, and two Kuro supposedly slightly healed them. He heard noises from outside the door, he knew it was a hospital so it had to be somewhat occupied. Alex had so many questions that he wanted to answer, he thought about getting up and going outside the hospital room to search for answers, but almost instantly as he thought that the room door opened. A nurse in a nursed uniform walked into the room with a cart that had food on it. She smiled as she looked at Alex and then spoke.

“Oh, you're finally awake Mr.Zuki? Good Morning.”

Alex blushed as he saw it was a female nurse, he instantly thought of the nurse from pokemon. The nurse had pink hair and was very attractive, it reminded him of Nurse Joy. He nodded toward the nurse's question and responded shyly.

“Yeah, I-I am. Good Morning.”

The nurse brought the cart over to the side of Alex’s hospital bed. The food that was on the cart was Gohan (ご飯) – a bowl of steamed rice porridge Shiru (汁) – a bowl of miso soup, Okazu (おかず) – the main dish and 2 side dishes composed of vegetables, and Kouno mono (香の物) – a small plate of pickled vegetables. There were also eating utensils. The nurse kept a sweet smile on her face as she described all the foods on the cart. She then walked over to a closet in the room and grabbed a chair and sat in front of Alex’s hospital bed. Alex didn’t notice the nurse grabbing the chair as he began to scarf the steamed rice, he ate the steamed rice with the chopsticks. Alex likes to scarf down food to resemble his favorite shonen protagonists. The nurse smiled as she watched him eat. She pulled out a clipboard and a pen as she spoke up.

“I don’t mean to interrupt you eating your meal, but how are you feeling?”

Alex took the food out of his mouth as he responded with a truthful answer.

“Well, my jaw still hurts, and my stitches feel weird but other than that I’m fine.”

The nurse happily smiled as she continued to ask questions.

“That’s good, how about your burn marks?”

Alex responded.

“They feel alright, what did you guys do to me? Also, Where am I?”

The nurse spoke.

“Well for the cuts, we applied some ointment and patched them up, and for your burn marks, we rinsed it in lukewarm water and applied antibiotic ointment and put bandages. Also, you are at Tokyo Isshiki Hospital.”

Alex responded.

“Oh ok. That seems simple enough.”

The nurse wrote stuff on her clipboard as she continued to speak.

“Well, it’s good that you can still eat and you feel good. You were in ok condition when we found you last night, you passed out, but glad that you feel better.”

Alex then began to ask a question he already knew the answer to, the question was what happened last night. The reason he didn’t just tell the nurse about the fight between Hijiri, Toroma, and himself was that he knew that it sounded crazy and according to Kuro they would think Alex was crazy also. He also somewhat believed Kuro’s words about society and the government; he just couldn’t get around the fact that his dad lied to him. He took a deep breath as he then spoke to the nurse acting dumb about the situation.

“That’s what my mind is a little bit fuzzy about. What happened last night? How did I end up in the hospital?”

The nurse sighed as she began to explain what happened.

“Well last night around 10:00 pm we got an anonymous call from a young man, he told us that a building was on fire and a few students were in the fire. He gave us the address and then the police and the ambulance rushed over to the alleyway. When they arrived on the scene they saw you and another young man and the young lady passed out on the street floor. There was also a fire behind you in the alleyway. We quickly rushed you and your friends to the hospital and we took care of your injuries and now you are here. You had inhaled smoke and your clothes had burn marks, so did your friends, Daizen, and Toroma I believe. We identified you and called all your parents.”

Alex pretended to act shocked as he quickly replied.

“Oh really?! Oh yeah, it’s becoming clearer to me now.”

It seems Kuro was right, there was no mention of an attacker attacking Alex. There was no mention of no one attacking him, at that moment exactly he realized Kuro was right. Powers exist in this world. His brain was rattled, he instantly lost focus, and he accepted it. Even though when he moved to Japan everyone in Japan told him that powers didn’t exist. He slowly began to accept that fact, but when he was in the classroom and he used his stop time ability he was shocked. In the classroom he started to fully accept it, his powers aren’t real, he was stupid for ten years, but when he used his ability he wasn’t happy. It was bullshit. He had been told powers aren’t real every day of his life and finally when he starts to accept it boom he uses a superpower. He began to hyperventilate, he was going insane, he fell back into his hospital bed, his head landing on the pillow.

“Why me?”

Alex said out loud on impulse.

The nurse noticed Alex was freaking out and began to panic.

‘“Are you ok Mr.Zuki?! Are you feeling well?!”

Alex then heard the nurse's voice and it quickly snapped him back into reality. He didn’t want to show his insecurities or sadness in front of someone so he quickly began to act like everything was fine.

“I’m good… Are my parents here?”

The nurse looked down at her keyboard, she flipped through her pages. After a few seconds, she spoke.

“Yes, they are here. We found out who you were from one of your friends. We found your file and called your parents. They are waiting in the waiting room, give me a second.”

The nurse left the room out into the other inner parts of the hospital. She closed the door as she left.

Alex was now alone, he was a bit nervous to see his mom. He let out a deep sigh, but that's when he realized something. The nurse said “parents” which means multiple, a sudden rush of excitement filled him as he realized that potentially his father whom he hadn’t seen in five years could be here to visit him. He was genuinely smiling, something he hadn’t done in a long time. He waited for his parents to come into the hospital room. His legs were shaking in excitement, he felt as if he couldn’t wait anymore. After two minutes, suddenly, the room door opened. Alex looked to the right, but when he looked at who had opened the door. It was just his mom and sister, it was not that he wasn’t happy that they showed up, it was just he was expecting to see his dad also. The nurse was at the front of the door behind Aya and his mother. He then spoke to his mom and sister.

“Hey, mom.”

He said awkwardly.

Tears flooded down Aya’s and Alex’s mom's faces, they started to cry loudly as they ran toward Alex and jumped on him. They continued to cry as they hugged Alex passionately, Alex hugged them back as Alex’s mom began to comfort Alex and began to express their feelings.

Alex’s mom spoke while tears continued to flood down her eyes. As she spoke she moved her body back and made eye contact.

“I’m so glad you're ok! I was so worried when you didn’t come home last night!”

Alex’s mom said, wiping her tears with her finger.

Aya then spoke as well crying in between her tears.

“Me too big brother, I’m so glad you're ok!”

The both of them continued to cry as they embraced Alex. Alex felt bad about making them worry about him. The nurse smiled as she observed from the room’s front door. Alex smiled as he laughed lightly. He wiped his mom's tears with his right hand as he spoke.

“Calm down mom. I’m good, sorry to make you worry. I’m all fine I promise.”

He then looked at Aya and wiped her tears and pats her head with his left hand.

“I’m good Aya, sorry to make you worry sis but, I promise I’m all fine ok? Shorty.”

Aya sniffed as she lightly cried, she then responded. She stumbled in between her tears.

“O-ok.”

Alex’s mom then spoke up as she slowly stopped crying, she still looked sad but continued to speak.

“T-that’s good. I’m glad you're ok, thank god that you didn’t die in that fire. You're lucky that someone saw that you were injured. I just hope your friends are alright also.”

Alex then responded.

“Yeah, I think they’re good also. We did get lucky. Sorry to scare you mom, and sorry to you too Aya.”

Aya then spoke as she wiped her tears.

“I forgive you dummy, but next time be more careful.”

Alex’s mom spoke.

“I agree. Please don’t give us a scare like that again.”

Alex smiled brightly and widely, his smile was much like the shonen protagonists that he watched. He then spoke happily and made eye contact with both of them.

“I promise you guys. My bad.”

Aya and Alex’s mom spoke happily, they believed Alex. They then spoke.

“Good.”

Alex then realized he forgot something to ask. It was important and it was something he was thinking about before.

“Uh, where is dad? I was kinda expecting him to be here.”

Alex’s mom urgently spoke up responding to Alex.

“A-actually he did call, but he is busy with work. He is across the country dealing with an issue in China. You know he is always really busy.”

Alex's facial expression went blank, in his head he was sad, but at the same time, he was furious. Every time there was something important happening in the family, he would never show up. Alex remembered when he graduated junior high, he was expecting his father to be there. Sure, even before that he wasn’t here much, but he was expecting him to be there. He was happy, smiling, and cheering. He was with all of his friends except Daizen cause he was a year older than him. He waited patiently, but the only people who came were his mother and little sister. Sure, he loved them, but his father had made his mom work so hard. His mom provided for both Alex and Aya. His father did send money every month, but he wanted to see him so badly. He didn’t tell his mom how he felt because deep down he knew his mother was hurting from not seeing her husband in a few years. So, instead of bringing up his father again he just changed the subject and continued to smile.

“Oh ok. Well anyways, do you know where Toroma’s and Daizen’s room is?”

Alex said, looking toward the nurse.

The nurse nodded as she replied to Alex.

“Yes, I know what room they are in. But, are you sure you're in a good condition to go see them?”

Alex nodded quickly and rapidly, as he jumped off the bed onto the ground. He then spoke out loud toward the nurse.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Wasn’t feeling too good before, but now I feel completely better.”

Aya and Alex’s mom spoke up.

“You sure, you just got hurt?!”

Alex spoke up and nodded.

“I’m fine, now Ms.Joy can you take me to Toroma’s room?”

The nurse spoke and bowed.

“Yes sure Mr.Zuki, I just have to speak to your mother Seraph about something. Go wait outside.”

Alex was a bit confused, but he didn’t question it. He walked into the hospital hall and waited for the nurse to come back.

In the hospital room, Seraph (Alex’s mom) and Nurse Joy began to talk about Alex. Aya just minded her business as he began to go on her phone. Seraph then asked the nurse a question.

“So what do you want to talk to me about?”

The nurse spoke up.

“I want to talk about the hospital bill for Alex’s treatment.”

Alex was on the outside of the door listening to the conversation. He felt bad, and the nurse began to tell Seraph all the bills and payments she had to make. Alex listened to the conversation, he felt even worse as he realized how expensive it was. He knew his mom was going to struggle to pay it because it was the middle of the month. Sure, his mom made money and his dad sent money every month, but since it was the middle of the month she had already spent most of the money on stuff around the house. He felt bad because his stupid actions caused it. He also felt bad about lying to his mother about what happened, but he listened to Kuro’s words to lie since they made sense. At the end of the nurse and Seraph’s conversation, Seraph spoke up.

“I don’t know how I’m going to pay for this, but thank you for taking care of Alex. I’ll find out.”

After hearing that, he didn’t know how to feel. He took his ear off the door and was gonna start to think, but before he could start another one of his depressing pessimistic monologs, Nurse Joy opened the door. Alex almost fell on the floor since his back was on the door, but before he did he caught himself and quickly stood up. Nurse Joy then nodded as she asked him a question.

“Are you ready to go to your friend’s rooms?

Alex nonchalantly responded.

“Oh yeah, let’s go!”

Nurse Joy then asked him another question.

“Alright then. Which room would you like to visit first?”

Alex thought about it for a second. He then decided he should visit Daizen since he was closer to him. He also had some things to talk about with Toroma that made him shy so he decided to do that last.

“I’ll go to Daizen’s room first, but before we do that ask my mom if she has any clothes for me to change into. I don’t wanna walk around in this hospital gown, it's embarrassing.”

Nurse Joy nodded, she then went back into the hospital room. After a few seconds, she came out with a black shirt and pants, and with a red hoodie.

“Here you go Mr.Zuki. Go change in the bathroom over there.”

Nurse Joy said as she pointed at the hospital bathroom. Alex nodded and went into the bathroom and quickly changed. After he was done changing, he nodded and spoke.

“Alright, I’m ready to see Daizen lead the way.”

Nurse Joy nodded and began to walk the other way, Alex followed behind her. Alex had his hoodie on, he liked this nice hoodie, it wasn’t as perfect as his anime girl one, but it was alright. They continued to walk throughout the hospital for a few minutes. Multiple nurses and doctors passed by in the background and headed into rooms. Alex wasn’t paying attention, but it was happening right in front of his eyes. He just wanted to see his best friend, Daizen. He was hoping he was ok, he did go through the trouble of taking him out of the fire. It wasn’t all his doing though, Kuro did help also. Nurse Joy then abruptly stopped in front of one of the hospital doors. She then spoke.

“We are here.”

Nurse Joy said as she opened the door, Alex walked in front of her and saw Daizen in a similar hospital bed that he was previously in. Daizen was unconscious and was still sleeping on the bed, but there was a man there he had never seen before. Nurse Joy quickly bowed and exited, closing the door as she left. The man had short spikey vermillion red hair. The man was wearing a black suit and tie, the tie was white and the rest of the outfit was black. There was a deep claw scratch-like scar on his left cheek. Alex looked at the man weirdly, since he didn’t know the man. He wasn’t expecting to see this man, he was just expecting to talk to Daizen. So, Alex just asked who he was.

“Who are you?”

Alex said in a questioning tone.

The man in the suit stood up off his chair, his vermillion hair swaying from left to right as he did. He walked confidently over to Alex and extended his hand.

“I’m Apollo, Daizen’s father. Nice to meet you, you are Alex I’m assuming?”

Apollo put his hand out hoping that Alex would shake it. Apollo’s physical form was visible even with the suit on. His aura seemed dominant and powerful. He was rather muscular but had more of a lean muscular body build. Alex was in pure shock, he never imagined that Daizen’s father was going to be here. He also didn’t expect him to look different from Daizen, sure Apollo and Daizen had similar body builds, but other than that they looked completely different down to the facial features. Either way, Alex shook his hand firmly gripping it, and smiled brightly.

“Yeah, I’m Alex, nice to meet you!”

Apollo replied.

“Firm grip you have there, you know Daizen has told me a lot about you, but before we continue speaking we should sit down.”

Apollo said going to the corner of the room, he grabbed a chair from there and put it by Daizen’s bedside right next to his chair also.

Alex nodded as he quickly sat in the chair, after a few seconds Apollo quickly sat next to him. He stayed quiet for a second but slowly started speaking. As he spoke he looked at Daizen unconscious in the hospital.

“So what happened?”

Apollo asked seriously.

Alex thought about his answer, he didn’t want to lie to him as well. He knew the truth of what happened, they were attacked, but he didn’t want to bring up the fact that he had supernatural abilities. Apollo’s question repeated itself in Alex’s head, Alex slowly began to get stuck in his head as he thought of an answer to say. Should he tell the truth? Or Lie? He couldn’t think of an answer, he was so in his head that twenty seconds passed while he was thinking. At that point, Apollo turned to him and asked him again.

“You good boy? Answer my question please.”

Alex mentally freaked out and just answered.

“S-sorry, I’m just having a hard time remembering I just woke up you see.”

Alex nervously hoped Apollo wouldn’t catch on to his lie.

Apollo stayed quiet for a few seconds, he then seriously spoke.

“Well I’m glad you and Daizen are alive, but I need you to try and remember for me.”

Alex pretended to think for a second, he then lied once more.

“I’m sorry my mind is just really clouded right now.”

Apollo stayed quiet for a few seconds, he stroked Daizens hair as he thought about something. He observed Daizen’s wounds. They were cuts on his face and all over his body, there were also burn marks. He then spoke.

“Daizen was never a weak boy.”

Apollo said, speaking toward Alex. He began to think about Daizen’s childhood. As he thought he continued to speak.

“He always liked to do physical activities, ever since he was young I knew he was going to be better than the rest. He was always better than most other humans, never was normal.”

Apollo thought about when Daizen was a child, he had flashbacks of Daizen beating others in sports and other physical activities. Daizen was always superior in whatever he did, he never lost and was always so modest. Almost too modest at times. Apollo continued to speak.

“I tell you this Alex because I have never seen Daizen be beaten up this bad. He has never gotten injured or hurt in his lifetime. He doesn’t just look like he was burned, it looks like he was attacked also.”

As soon as Apollo said attacked, Alex almost shit his pants. Apollo was onto him and he knew it. He nearly lost his composure, he was lucky that Apollo had his focus on Daizen or his cover would have been blown. Alex pretended to not be shocked as he responded.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t remember much. All I remember is being surrounded by fire, I saw Daizen in the fire also. That’s all I can remember.”

There was silence in the room. It was a white silence, sure it was quiet, but it still was apparent that there was malice in the air. Alex felt it, he knew the malice wasn’t coming from him or Daizen so it had to be Apollo. Alex thought he was caught, he thought that maybe Apollo knew that he was lying. Alex was scared he was waiting for Apollo to say something. The pure anticipation was scaring Alex to death. He just wanted Apollo to say something. Only a few seconds had passed, but it felt like hours had passed. Finally, Apollo turned around and slowly smiled and spoke.

“Well, Mr. Zuki. Thanks for telling me what you know.”

Alex was relieved it seemed as if all the malice that was in the room previously had left. Alex then responded.

Apollo then spoke again before Alex could get a word out.

“You can leave now, I wanna have some alone time just think. You know?”

Alex made eye contact with Apollo. It seemed like Apollo was acting nice, but Alex could feel under that nice exterior was a monster. Something terrible, he couldn’t place his finger on it, but he could sense a dark power from him. He was going to object to leaving the hospital room, but suddenly the demonic voice of Taida spoke in Alex’s head.

“You should leave, foolish mortal. I sense something powerful from him.”

The angelic voice then spoke also agreeing with Taida.

“Yes, I agree with Taida for once. You should leave now.”

Alex was frozen, he couldn’t decide on what to say. He almost forgot that there was a demon and angel in his head, but then out of nowhere, he spoke.

“Alright, Mr.Apollo.”

He then quickly stood up and left, closing the door. Alex wasn’t even conscious of this, he just did it on instinct. It was like the demonic and angelic voices were controlling him. Once he left the hospital room, he snapped back to reality and realized what just happened. In reality, it was the demonic and angelic voice that moved him. Once, Alex was outside of the hospital room. Nurse Joy was outside of the door still waiting on Alex, once she saw him she nodded and spoke.

“Are you done with your conversation with Daizen?”

Alex hesitated for a bit but then decided to answer honestly.

“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t want to interrupt him and his father.”

Nurse Joy responded.

“Alright then.”

They both then left and went down the hallway going to Toroma’s room. Little did Alex and Nurse Joy know they had just escaped a dark situation. What was in the room of Daizen were two monsters, with extraordinary power. To the human eyes, Daizen and Apollo” were just regular humans, sure they were rich, but in reality, they were much more. Somewhat similar to Alex when it came to a special gift. The similarity between Alex, Daizen, and Apollo was that they all had special powers, even if Alex didn’t know it.

As Apollo sat in his seat looking over Daizen, he quickly became emotionless. His eye suddenly changed into one of a bird. A hawk of some sort. His red eyes started to glow as he then suddenly spoke to the unconscious Daizen.

“Daizen.”

Daizen didn’t move, he was still.

Apollo then spoke again louder this time. The wrath in his voice was more apparent than the last time.

“DAIZEN!”

Daizen slowly opened his eyes, revealing he was awake the entire time. His blue eyes were also glowing, and his pupil had an ice spike symbol. Apollo then stood up from his chair as he continued to speak.

“Good. I know you weren’t that hurt. This time, finish the job.”

Daizen harshly breathed as he spoke.

“Yes, Phoenix.”

Apollo smirked as he heard his real name Apollo was a fake name he told Alex to confuse him. He then continued to speak to Daizen.

“Kill that damn time stopper and white swordsman. At any cost, even if you have to use your Aisuai. Like I said, finish the job.”

Daizen sat up as he nodded his head, a blue aura slightly appeared around him. He then spoke in a malicious tone and evilly smirked.

“Yes, Father Phoenix, I will not disappoint again.”

Phoenix spoke.

“Good. I will see you in the inferno realm once you are done. Report back to me.”

Phoenix then looked at the watch on his right wrist. He tapped a few buttons on it and suddenly, a reddish portal appeared behind him. This watch he had could teleport him in and out of the Inferno Realm at any given moment. The Inferno Realm was a place where all the inferno’s lived, a humanoid race of people with the ability to manipulate flames. He then slowly turned around and stepped into the portal, and as soon as he did it closed behind him. Daizen, now being alone and wrapped in bandages, smirked, as he thought about Alex and Toroma. He then ominously spoke.

“We will be seeing you soon. Time Stopper and The White Swordsmen.”