*****
Hisao
*****
Yuna and I walked wordlessly down the street. There was a cold breeze against my arms and sent shivers down my spine. I flinched while thinking how I was never a fan of walking out at night. On the other hand, Yuna seemed perfectly fine. It was probably because of the street lights that illuminated our way home from the festival. As long as there was even a little bit of light, she wouldn't have a mental breakdown.
Now and then, my gaze turned to the night sky, a mere black canvas with the only speck of light coming from the occasional satellite. Sometimes, I would turn my gaze to my phone which had a game app open. The game had an auto function and I was doing some routine farming, so my attention to it was minimal at best. Most of my attention, of course, remained on my surroundings and what was ahead.
Except for the buzzing from street lights, the whistle of nightly wind, and the clapping of our shoes against the pavement, our walk home would have been an extremely quiet one, if not for the blaring sirens that suddenly pierced through the peace and made me turn around to an orange glow over a line of rooftops. The faint smell of barbecue suddenly wafted up my nose.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what the orange glow, the barbecue smell and the sirens all meant: there was a fire.
And then came an epic music score from an anime soundtrack I liked and set as my ringtone.
I quickly swiped my finger over the green phone icon and put the phone to my ear. Before I even had the chance to say hello, Mirai's voice screamed into my eardrum, "GET OVER TO THE SCHOOL NOW! IF YOU DON'T, AKIRA WILL DIE!"
"WHAT!? I cried out. "What do you mean by that, Mirai? What's going on?"
"THERE'S NO TIME FOR THAT!" Mirai screamed. "IF YOU DON'T-!"
Suddenly, a familiar girl's voice cut in and said, "Give me that, Mirai. You're no good like that. I'll take over. Oota? It's Isaneko."
She sounded calm, but I could sense some urgency in her tone.
"Long story short, Yasahonou's house caught fire," she continued.
"What!?" I cried out.
"Calm down and listen!" Isaneko snapped sharply. "His grandparents are fine. Mirai used his power when we noticed the fire and saw they made it out before things got serious. But Yasahonou was spotted running away from there. I don't know how, but his grandparents must have managed to find him and brought him home only for that fire to happen."
"So no one got hurt? Everyone's okay?" I calmed down a little and breathed a sigh of relief. But that relief was short-lived when Isaneko replied.
"According to Mirai, yes," she said. "But people are chasing Yasahonou right now. Psychics from both the Soushu faction and the Yamimura faction are gunning for him."
"What? Why? Why go after Akira?"
"Why do you think?" Isaneko snapped again. "It's obviously because they blame him for the fires! Yasahonou definitely looked suspicious running away when he did, which must have set the witnesses off. With tensions running high the last few weeks, everyone's become volatile. They've been whipped into a frenzy and if nothing's done, they'll reach the point of no return."
"But what do you expect me to do about it?" I shouted.
Isaneko sighed.
"I really didn't want to do this," I heard her say, though it sounded more like she was muttering to herself.
"Isaneko?"
"Oota," she said, "I want you to think back to that time we cleaned up next to the canal. Do you remember what we saw floating down it?"
"Of course I do," I replied softly.
How could I ever forget it? It was a dead body, a real dead body. That's not something any normal person could forget. Even now, any mention of the canal was enough for me to dredge up a vivid image in my mind.
"Now imagine Yasahonou was that body," Isaneko instructed.
I really didn't want to, but I ended up doing so anyway. And it stirred up unpleasant sensations in my stomach.
"Can you see it?" Isaneko asked. "Yasahonou's corpse floating down the water, unmoving with a face as blank as a doll's?"
I didn't answer. But my silence was all Isaneko needed.
"I'll take that as a yes," she said. "If you do not hurry, Yasahonou really will end up like that. Do you understand?"
I did.
"I just need to get to the school, right?" I said, speaking softly.
Isaneko still managed to hear me and answered, "Yes. And don't worry about Yuna. Homura will keep her company. She's on her way right now."
As if on cue, I heard rapidly approaching footsteps and looked up to see appear from the darkness, panting slightly out of breath.
When I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned around and Yuna held her phone up to my face. There was just one word on it: "Go."
I nodded.
"Very well," I said to Yuna. "My gratitude. Be safe."
And then I turned and ran. I ran as fast and as far as my legs could carry, to the school where a friend needed my help.
*****
Yuna
*****
I watched my cousin depart to the school under the fluorescent shine of a street light. From snippets of his phone call with Aika, I was able to piece together what was going on, more or less. I understood that Akira was in trouble. Although, I'm not sure that was the real reason why Hisao suddenly made such a scary face. Aika must have said something horrible to get him moving.
He soon disappeared into the darkness, and in his place came Homura who called out to me while waving her hand over her head, “Hey!”
After texting Auntie and getting her permission, Homura took over Hisao as my escort and took me back to her place. She was a lot more talkative than Hisao, wondering aloud what’s going on and grumbling about how crazy things have gotten.
I just nodded my head occasionally, only half listening. Although I was still okay thanks to the street lights, I still felt anxious with the surrounding darkness. But that was not the only reason.
With my hands clenched together tightly over my heart, I prayed sincerely that Hisao would make it in time to save Akira.
*****
Akira
*****
I ran and ran, and ran. I ran as fast as I could, and as far as my legs could carry me.
I had messed up badly. Really badly.
The police had found me while I was living off the street at a nearby city and took me into custody. I tried to keep my identity a secret, practicing my right to remain silent against the officers’ questioning. But it was no good. They eventually found out who I was and quickly called my grandparents.
What followed was a no-brainer. Grandma and Grandpa showed up, bowing their heads in gratitude to the officers for finding me. And then they took me home.
They were, of course, very relieved to see me okay. But they were also very angry at me for running away. The drive home was awkwardly quiet, but as soon as we were in the living room, Grandma and Grandpa immediately started yelling at me, demanding me to tell them where they’ve been and why I ran away in the first place. I wasn’t sure how to respond to them, not because of the way they spoke to me. In hindsight, their reaction was understandable. But telling them the truth wasn’t really an option for me. Just how on earth could I explain to them that I was a danger to them and everyone else around me? That I have powers that I can barely control? That I’m not even human?
But they were relentless against my silence and eventually the tension got to me and I just exploded, literally.
I leaped up from my chair and instantly transformed into a half-beast. But not only that, fire sprung from the couch, the coffee table, and a lamp. The look on my Grandpa’s face when that happened got seared into my memories and I panicked.
I knew I needed to get away, and get away fast. Before I ended up really hurting someone.
And so, after chasing my grandparents out of the house, I ran.
The next thing I knew, there were angry shouts behind me along with the rapid pitter-patter of lots of feet and I craned my head, looked behind me and spotted an angry mob after me. To me, it looked like they were out for blood and I pushed myself to run even faster.
I didn't know where I was going, nor did I care. I just wanted to get away from my grandparents house, my grandparents, those people chasing after me, everyone. I wanted to get away from everyone.
But no matter how fast I ran, or how far I ran, no matter what twists and turns I took, they continued to be at my heels. Their anger reverberated in my ears.
"After him! After him!" I could hear them scream. Their voices sounded young, boys and girls around my age but tainted by madness. "It's him! He's the one who started those fires. He's the one who's been terrorizing us! It's his fault the town's become so messed up! He even burned down his own grandparents' home! We can't let him get away with this! Don't let him get away! Don't let that monster get away!"
Their words were like hooks that clung to my heart only to tear it apart. Why would they say those things about me? Why would they call me a monster?
The answer to those questions was obvious.
Because I am a monster, a monster who burned people's houses down, even my own grandparents. I was a walking calamity who will hurt anyone who happens to be in my way. And I won't stop hurting people. Not unless . . .
Soon a familiar sight came into my view. It was a tall wall surrounding a modest-sized compound. It was a place that had become part of my daily life since I came to this town, and would have continued to be so after summer's end. It was Megugami High School.
As soon as I laid eyes on it, I stopped.
I know. I know. It was a big and stupid mistake. But one I could not help but make.
Except for my grandparents' place, the school was like a second home to me, so when a vision of it burning appeared in my head, I could not help but freeze up.
And when that happened, something hot and hard hit my back and I went crashing against the wall. It hurt a lot, and my vision blurred with tears. In that state, I could see my attackers, but they just looked like faceless monsters to me.
"Get back!" I screamed. "Get away from me!"
I was scared, guilty, and ached fiercely all over. I was also angry with myself for the things I've done and the damage I caused. Needless to say, I was not in my right mind.
I lashed out, desperately swinging hooked fingers at my attackers, only to rake through air because my attackers were too far away. They didn't even have to move, but they still took steps back regardless because flames burst from my claws.
"I knew it!" I heard a boy scream. "He really is the arsonist! Quick! Put him down before he turns us all into ashes!"
"No, stop!" I heard a girl scream.
"What do you idiots think you're doing!?" yelled another boy.
Whoever those two were, they were trying to reel in the others. Whether it was for my sake or the attackers', I didn't know. But their commands fell to deaf ears. No one would listen to the two, or even heard them. The attackers were too consumed by the madness of hate and anger.
Through my blurred vision, I could make out several large shapes, some glowing and some not. I had just enough rationality left to know those shapes were bad news. If I got hit, it'd be game over, forever.
But there was no way I could get away in time. I was tired, stressed beyond max, and my limbs would no longer listen to me.
Ah, this is it, I thought. So this is how it ends.
The shapes flew at me in spite of two people's pleas to stop. They molded together into something monstrous and bright, and overtook my whole world. It was an indescribable view. And then -
"HAAAAAAAAAA!"
I heard a fierce yell, more like a dragon's roar, and everything went dark.
I managed to blink away some of my tears. And when I could see better again, I saw a boy my age slightly bent down, back to me, and holding what appeared to be a sword.
"You okay, Akira?"
"No way. It can't be!"
I was utterly bewildered. I recognized that voice at once, but I could not believe what I was hearing or seeing.
The voice belonged to Hisao. That introverted nerd boy, Hisao. And it looked like he had come to my rescue.
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