My Greatest Blessing and My Greatest Mistake [Part 1]

     By his college years, Izumi began to work two jobs as a server at two different cafes in the city in order to pay off his tuition. His mother continued to pour money into what she believed to be his well being, causing them to struggle to pay bills on occasion. Hence, he worked not just for his education, but to help keep a roof over their heads too. Arguments between the two would ensue upon him telling his mother that he’s fine and he doesn’t need therapy, even lying a few times and saying the medication worked, but Kanae knew her son all too well to know when he’s lying, so she kept him in therapy regardless.

     One of the server jobs was at a normal café, which paid about fourteen dollars an hour. On the other hand, his second job which paid a more handsome eighteen dollars per hour was more...eventful. He worked at a cat maid café and became fairly popular as unfortunately, feminine men were highly sought after at the time, and Izumi was very dainty for a male. His skin was as perfect as porcelain and his slim figure and soft voice made him a hit in the café, earning him bonuses and tips constantly. He was quite disappointed in himself for accepting the job, especially due to the occasional creeps he would get, but the pay was good and if he didn’t have so much to pay for he would only work the one job. 

By comparison, college felt slow and overwhelming to him. If he wasn’t working on papers he was working in a café or helping his mother at home. He never had time for a relationship, a social life, or anything outside of work, school, and his family, which included Eiji, who became the one person he really maintained contact with on the daily. Even worse, after Izumi graduated with his bachelor’s in journalism, he didn’t feel as happy as he thought he would. His mother, Eiji, and Lala were happy for him, sure, but he didn’t feel it. Izumi came to see that he couldn’t even enjoy college with the workload he had, and he couldn’t even enjoy the degree after the fact because he couldn’t find a job in the industry. 

So, he continued to work his server jobs, while on the side he searched for a job as a photographic journalist. He hoped to be able to write about whatever he wanted, but he knew that such a dream couldn’t be achieved for years to come. It would probably be yellow journalism for a few years, if he could even get into journalism in the first place.

     Exhausted, he walked alone on a cold spring night with no real route in mind. He had already been walking for a few hours, but he just wanted to clear his head, figure out what to do. At this point he was already twenty-seven and five years had passed since he graduated from university with debt still haunting him. He wondered if it was worth it, just to see his mother smile the way she did that day–No. It was. 

In time, fate would take its turn and carry his steps, leading him to the wheat field from all those years ago. He’s never seen the field at night before and he came to notice that the field was especially hard to see through at night as it was almost completely pitch black.

At least this is still here...come to think of it, I haven’t even tried to find that guy. I completely gave up after college started. As the cold air sifted through his hair, Izumi hugged his jacket, pulling it in closer. I should probably head back, maybe I can still catch a bus. 

He took his phone out of his pocket to check the time, about 8 p.m., and it would take him at least thirty minutes to reach the next bus stop. I think the last one is at 9, I should be able to make it but maybe I should walk faster to be safe.

The sound of a car coming down the empty street caught his attention, as he looked back in hopes that maybe it was one of the locals so he could ask for a ride to the bus stop, but as the car approached, he became uneasy. It was moving at high speeds, and as the car swiftly loomed in, the heavy tint of the windows became more and more apparent. He picked up the pace in the opposite direction, wondering if it would be a wise idea to run into the wheat field and hide, but before he could implement his plan, the car came to a sharp halt in front of him. Several men, many wearing normal street clothes with lackluster covering over their faces, came out of the car and grabbed him. Before Izumi could yell for help a man covered his mouth with a cloth and his consciousness faded.

     Rope dug into his wrists and ankles and the violent shake of another finally woke him up. Around him were several men and the area seemed to be an old warehouse, judging by its smaller size. Izumi still struggled to see clearly as his vision was still hazy, but surprisingly, his mouth wasn’t gagged. This at least showed him that screaming won’t help so negotiation was his best option, but whatever they wanted, it wasn’t money. If they just wanted to rob him they wouldn’t have gone through all this effort. Did they want to kill him? That would make more sense, but it didn’t look like they had any weapons...still, it wasn’t completely ruled off. Plenty of murders have been committed without the use of a weapon.

“What do you want from me?” Asking couldn’t hurt, he thought to himself.

“You’re that server right? From the maid cafe?”

Oh no, he tried to shake off the sparked fear.

“Why are you asking me? Go through all that effort and now you’re concerned if you got the wrong guy?” Izumi wanted to try taunting him. If he got him angry, there was a chance that he would make a mistake. At the least, it would buy him some time to figure out what to do. Some of the men started laughing amongst themselves at his comment, infuriating the man who spoke, who yelled at them to shut up.

“There’s no way you aren’t. You wanna know why we kidnapped you? Because everyone wants a piece of the pie, we were just the first ones to take the initiative.”

The man motioned to the others, who began to undo Izumi’s ropes. He tried to shake off their arms, but he couldn’t even shake off one man, let alone six. Small towns are strange in the fact that either events like these rarely occur, or they commonly occur, and he wondered if it has always been the latter and he never realized it. They pinned him against the ground and he shut his eyelids tightly, hoping that it would will it to stop. That he would be at home with his mother and Lala. His mom would be downstairs on her laptop, photoshopping a photo for work while watching TV on the recliner, and Lala would be sitting on the couch beside Izumi. He never liked any of the late night shows, most were usually graphic, and ever since that day, he became ill at the slightest hint of gore. Yet still, he refused to believe that was the only side of that man who he never came to even know the name of. Izumi always referred to him as…

     A crunch and a splatter. 

Izumi opened his eyes in confusion, feeling the weight of the men who pinned him down disappear.

“Apologize, won’t you?” A tall man threw down the kidnapper before Izumi’s feet, who unconsciously retracted from the man as he held in his disgust. 

The kidnapper struggled to speak as blood poured from his mouth. He reached outwards towards Izumi, and for a brief moment, Izumi felt pity. He felt the overwhelming fear in his eyes and knew that he once experienced something similar, caused by the same man. Shortly after, the kidnapper’s hand dropped down along with his head, lifeless.

Attention shifting back to the inferred perpetrator, Izumi’s eyes widened as he began to process the figure. The man in the hooded red robe lined with black fur. His hood was down, as it usually was, his eyes glowing, and his robe masquerading the stains of blood on the rest of his clothing. What was a new sight to Izumi was his right arm, which was a staticky black and his fingers were long and sharp, nothing like normal human hands. They were more like the talons of a carnivorous bird than anything else. The right sleeve of his robe seemed like it was burnt off, yet simultaneously merging with his skin to transform his arm, but as far as he could see, his left arm was normal.

The red robed man sighed, “Maybe I should’ve been a bit more careful, but people like him piss me off. They flock together to take down someone they could’ve overpowered by themselves, and for what? Do they feel more dominant after? A power high is it?” The man clicks his tongue and kicks the body aside, wiping the blood off his talons using his clothes. “They’re not even worth eating, pieces of shit.” 

He holds his right arm outwards and the staticky black retracts and reforms into the sleeve of the robe as he regains his human right arm. Using his left hand, he reaches for Izumi, who backs up immediately. The crimson cloaked man sighs once more. 

“I get it you’re scared but do you really think that I would hurt you after showing the others no mercy?” Izumi glared at him, still a bit distrustful, he gets himself up. “Well?”

“Thank you...for saving me.” Izumi mumbled, his eyes looking downward. He had no idea what his intentions were. Maybe he just wanted to finish the job. He was too unpredictable for Izumi to let his guard down.

“At least look at me when you say it. It’s not everyday I help someone, especially a human, for no reason.”

Izumi reluctantly looked up. “Thank-” He made eye contact with the strange man. 

He never realized how enchanting his eyes were until he was a few feet in front of him. When Izumi was younger, he did notice that his eyes were different colors, but he never saw his face up close. The tall man’s face was well formed, as though made by an artist who envisioned the definition of striking as a person. His right royal blue eye complimented his left amber orange eye incredibly well. What added to his eyes was the glow that they had. Typically, one would find such unsettling, but the glow was soft; it was more something that made the eyes a bit sharper and brighter than something unnaturally glowing. The main unnatural thing about his eyes though were the white lining his pupils had, yet they only seemed to compliment his eye color more than distract from it. 

His shoulders were broader than he remembered, but Izumi couldn’t distinctly tell his body shape due to his clothes. At the very least, he seemed to have an athletic build, if not a bit more on the muscular side, but since his muscles weren’t bulging through his clothes, he figured he wasn’t heavily built. A wave of a hand in front of his face snapped him out of his trance.

“Kid? You alright?”

Izumi became flustered and his ears red hot. “Y-yes! Thank you!” He bent in a 90 degree bow as quickly as possible and lifted his head once more.

“What’s your name kid?”

“I-Izumi! T-technically Mitsue Izumi but–”

“Izumi, don’t over complicate it. I actually want to talk to you for a sec. You mind? Or you got some plans?”

“Ah- actually…” Izumi thought about his mother, who is probably worried sick at this point. “I need to get home, my mom-”

“Yea, right, I get it. I’m more of a night person though so after you sob to your mom you got time to talk?”

“Tonight?”

“No seven years from now. Yes tonight. The sooner I see if you’re worth my time the better.”

Izumi wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but he wasn’t about to let his opportunity slip by. He’s been waiting for this opportunity since he was a child. “I-I can do tonight. I just need to talk to my mom first.”

“Sure. I’ll drop you off and you can go in and talk to her and I’ll meet you in your room, sounds good? Oh, and don’t tell her about me, or you know, this.” He gestured to the room around them, which Izumi forgot was now filled with corpses.

“What are-”

“I’ll take care of it, no worries. I’m not gonna pin you for something you didn’t do. No point in it anyways.”

“And how do you plan on taking me home? Do you have a car?” Izumi started to realize the stupidity of his question as it came out, but it was too late, the well formed man was already laughing at him.

“Pfft car yea sure I have a car, it’s right here.” Before he knew it, Izumi was swept off his feet and held like a bride by the red robed man. “Hold on tight yea?”

In the blink of an eye they were outside and the man was effortlessly hopping over buildings. With each jump he would launch several meters into the air, the wind pressure was enough for Izumi to have to shout to hear himself.

“How do you know where to go?!”

“I can trace your scent back. I have a keen nose you see.” He shouted in response and smirked pleasantly at Izumi, which caused him to avert his gaze. In no time, they arrived at Izumi’s home. “Go do your talking then kid, I’ll be in your room.”

“How are you gonna get in?”

“Don’t worry about me just do your thing.” He flicked Izumi playfully between his eyebrows, but it still stung.

Izumi rubbed his forehead, his brows now furrowed. “You never even told me what your name is.”

“Wraith.” He smiled slyly, his teeth showing. They were sharp, like that of a lion or bear. With every passing moment with him, he learned something new, more than he knew before today, and Izumi liked that.