Shockwave!!

The loud sound of a weapon firing. It’s somehow a thing I’ve grown to be accustomed to. Despite thinking for a long time, I’d never get used to it, the last few days have changed something inside me. I’m for sure not the same anymore. The person known as 02189 may have died when that missile hit me back there.

…

I feel stunned. It’s as if I was hit by a car. My body flies through the air as I try pointlessly to get at least Mayu out of the way. Both of us crash into the wall behind us.

A resonating feeling spreads through my body like ripples caused by a rock dropping in a quiet lake. The attack had first and foremost hit my insides as the physical pain of being thrown against the wall doesn’t even register.

I can’t breathe. I desperately try to inhale but it’s no use, even with my mouth open I can’t-

BAM!!

A heavy and blistering pain now strikes my face. A warm flux gush from my nose, as I feel a ferric aftertaste in my mouth. This is bad, I have to do something.

I frantically try to open my eyes, despite my natural reflexes keep demanding them to say close in face of the unknown danger I’m currently in. When I finally unclose my eyes, I can only see the blurred figure of a person standing in front of me.

Before the second impact forcibly made my head make its full recoil motion, I grit my teeth and with my arms and legs, throw my body sideways pushing against the ground.

“Oh! That’s surprising! I didn’t expect you to react so soon after that attack”

I staggeringly get up, my legs are shaking uncontrollably and I still can’t clearly see or hear my foe, but at least I’ve regained breath.

“Arf, Arf, Arf…”

My senses are slowly coming back as I see that figure carrying Mayu and putting her inside the wooden hatch, locking it afterward. It’s like when you wake up after a deep slumber, your body can’t move the way you want it to. Despite demanding my legs to run toward her, I knew I couldn’t react in time to aid Mayu.

“What you think you’re doing!?”

I mustered up a lot of strength only to speak a simple sentence like that. If I can gain even one second. If this is enough to distract this person just a little, then…

The weapon is once again pointed in my direction. This is bad, really bad!

I instinctively cover my face with my forearms bracing for the impact but it doesn’t come.

“I’m just testing you. I wanna see with my own eyes what a person capable of destroying a mech is made of!”

“!!”

A lot of thoughts came to my mind. Despite the most logical conclusion being that this person only knew of what happened in the battle before because Kaede had simply told them, the way they spoke tells me otherwise, it is as if they know the capabilities and the strength of a mech.

“W-who are you!?...”

My heavy panting muffles the sound of my voice, despite my attempt to make myself as clear as possible.

“You’re right, excuse my rudeness. I suppose I should introduce myself…”

I seize the time I gained with this brief exchange to give a good look at this person and finish recovering my breath.

It’s a youthful man, he’s wearing lab coat and glasses with messy dark hair that disrupts the otherwise serious appearance he has. Despite having a harmonic featured face it’s distorted by a malicious smirk and a scornful look.

Leaving the looks aside, the weapon he’s carrying doesn’t seem like something that could be produced normally. Not only the format is unusual, with a concave plate as the barrel, but it also appears to be something sloppily made. Even from this distance, I can see wires hanging out and chunks of metal crumpled together.

“My name is Junpei Hideki. It’s an honor to finally meet you”

“I don’t know if I can say the same, especially after what you’ve done to Mayu-chan”

Ren gives a challenging glance at the man as he continues his introduction:

“I’m Renichi Haku. I don’t know what you meant by saying you’re ‘testing’ me, but I’ll ask you to stop this at once!”

“Interesting… this name of yours, you always had it or it’s something the people from here gave you?”

Again, this is not a strange question by itself, but the way he puts it, the way he emphasizes his words…

“Mayu-chan gave me this name!”

A brief silence takes place.

“I see how it is…”

“Haku-san, please try to not die, ok?”

I intuitively project my body sideways doing a jump roll at the exact moment the man pulls the trigger. Looking back, I only see dirt and dust flying around as a loud sound reverberates the entire room.

It’s as I thought. This weapon is not conventional, it does not use ammunition. It seems to direct sound energy toward a target in front of it, in other words, it’s a shock wave weapon!

“You did good dodging that, but you can’t win only by jumping around, you know?”

Uhh!?

I get it now…

“You had a bug on Kaede, hadn’t you?”

“Very well, you pass the first test! It was the easiest, but you at least aren’t a disappointment!”

BAAAAANG!!

In a rapid movement, Ren jumps toward Hideki and lays on the ground covering his ears at the same time.

Arg!!! My head! It’s as if it’ll be cracked open!

“You shouldn’t have gone near the blast so carelessly, even if you mitigated its effect by dropping on the ground”

“This weapon usually just stuns the victim, but once you get too close, it could blow up an organ or two, you know?”

With his vision even more blurred, Ren sees a boot coming for his face, now understanding it was what hit him back when he was tossed against the wall, Ren instantly puts his head down headbutting the man’s kick.

Surprised by the unexpected action, Hideki leaves his guard open, Ren sees the opportunity and rises while trying to grab the gun. As a side effect of being stunned by both the blast and the kick, Ren is easily pushed away by the man in white cloak with a shoulder strike.

“That almost got me, but it’s the end now!”

The man is a hair away from pulling the trigger again when he notices. Ren was not trying to disarm him; he had just pulled one of the wires that were sticking to the weapon.

“Damn!”

WOOOSHH!!

A direct punch hit Hideki’s face; his lab glasses are launched into the air as the hand continued to sink into the man’s right cheek. The gun also left his hand and dropped to the ground, between Ren’s legs.

However sudden and sharp the punch was, Hideki still wasn’t knocked out. He quickly grabbed the young man’s arm, and with a combination of fast leg movement and an understanding of weight center and pendulum, he launched Ren into the air and subdued him.

Dazzled by the sequence of hits, Ren struggled on the ground, trying to leave the arm lock the man gave him.

“I’ll ask you some questions now. Try to be the most concise and honest you can with your answer, or I’ll break your arm, ok?”

“…”

Putting even more force into the arm lock, Hideki repeats:

“Okay?”

“Hmmg, o... ok”

“What do you want from us? Who sent you here!?”

“The hell you talking!?”

Hideki once again presses Ren’s arm even more.

“Arg!!”

“What did I say? Now spit it!”

“Nobody… I already know you heard and possibly saw everything on that battlefield!”

“That’s exactly why…”

“!?”

“That’s exactly why you’re so suspicious. A Violet would never defect!”

“Ughh!? How’d you know that!?”

Silence shrouds the ambient before it’s interrupted by Hideki’s soft chuckle.

“Because Junpei Hideki is also a name that was only given to me here”

“Also, the title of ‘professor’ is just that. It’s only a title…”

“…”

“My true identity is no. 01663”

“And I’m a Blue…”