"Verme-! Hey…you're not her. Who are you?"
Matsumi looked down on her in confusion. A few seconds passed before he snapped out of his confusion and extended his hand to help her up after seeing her nose bleed.
"A-Ah! Sorry..Are you looking for someone?…My name is not Verme.."
She looked at him in confusion after touching his hand. She stood up and wiped her face with her sleeve, trying to stop the blood.
Matsumi's mana started to act up again after she touched his hand. Immediately putting him on guard against this girl he'd never seen before.
"…I was. But who are you?"
"M-My names Heiwa..I'm new in town…I just started at Sakura No Hana today…I'm sorry for causing you the trouble..I wasn't paying attention. That's on me."
"Heiwa…Do you know a guy with blue hair?"
"Guy with blue hair…."
She held her finger to a chin for a second to think.
"I know a lot of people with blue hair…especially guys…"
"Nevermind."
He tried to ignore the feeling in his chest for now, he assumed he was still thinking of that moment in the park.
"I'm Matsumi, I thought you were someone else. You looked like her from behind."
"Huh..Is that who you're looking for? A girl with blue hair?"
"No, her hair is black. I swore I saw her, I was probably imagining it."
"If you're hallucinating then you might be less okay than me and I just got hit in the face..You sure shes here?"
"I don't really know…"
Matsumi looked around, not only was she not here, but he had gotten himself lost in the process of chasing Heiwa.
"Hey. Have things felt strange around here before today? I feel like the atmosphere is getting weird..maybe something bigger may be going on.."
"Before? No, just today. After I met that guy with blue hair."
"….I-I hope you keep me safe from him then if I see you around…I really don't want any trouble.."
"Keep you safe? Why? What's wrong?"
"I heard about a man..there were rumors amongst the girls. He was suspiciously hanging around a few miles away from the campus asking questions. I'm not sure what he's doing but it's freaking all of us out…you might be referring to the same person."
"Do you think so..?"
Vermelha could be seen from a distance in the crowd. She was standing, seemingly looking around for Matsumi. She called out his name, hoping to find him in the crowd.
"H-Hey! Matsumi! Where are you?!"
"Oh, that's her! Hey!"
Calling out his name made him feel better of the situation, he waved his arms around to let her know where he was.
Vermelha's image flashed to Matsumi. Almost like a glitch that would happen inside of a computerized screen.
At first, it seemed like the Vermelha he knew, still looking for him. However, when the two met eyes she immediately changed appearances. Saikyō was standing in the place that she was. He kept his eyes locked with Matsumi for a dangerous amount of time. Almost as if the two were inseparable. Saikyō's eyes slowly panned to Heiwa for a second.
His eyes locked on her being as she looked up at Matsumi. Saikyō met eyes with Matsumi once more before slowly making his way toward his location a bit away in the crowd.
It was him again. He grabbed Heiwa's arm and started to push her through the crowd.
"Start moving."
"H-Hey what's going on?!..W-Woah!"
She jerked at Matsumi's action. Her expression changed to one of extreme worry as she followed him through the crowd.
"It's him."
He started pushing people out of the way. Normally, he wouldn't run away as he had no reason to stay away. But Heiwa's fear of the situation made him think otherwise.
When Matsumi touched the people in the way they started to scream. Soon, the people he started to touch slowly turned to dust, as if it were some kind of comic book fantasy. Saikyō was still approaching as the area, which was very sunny, started to become darker. Almost like the time of day immediately changed.
Heiwa looked on in horror as the civilians started to disperse right in front of her eyes.
"N-No! What is this?!"
It felt like a sudden nightmare. She slowly started to wish she was dreaming. She felt Saikyō's mana creep up on the two, a shiver flashed down her spine as she continued to try and move with Matsumi. More specifically because her and the blue haired man knew exactly who each other were. If she were to get found out, she'd be executed on the spot by Saikyō.
This wasn't normal, not at all. The people in this place were capable of doing things Matsumi never seen before, naturally he assumed this was some other form of magic. The mana in his chest was beating, Matsumi started to speed up still holding Heiwa.
"Does he want to catch you?!"
"I-I don't know who that is! I don't know! I don't know!"
Heiwa started to panic as the bodies wouldn't stop vanishing into thin air in front of her. She made the mistake of looking back, seeing that Saikyō had cut almost all the distance between them. She screamed as she looked forward.
"O-Oh my god!"
"Come on!"
Matsumi slightly bent down to grab her legs with his other arm to put her in a princess hold. He suddenly started his dash away from Saikyō. His eyes darted around their area.
"Hold on tight!"
He ran over to the side of a building, his mana still beating. Matsumi used the small gaps in the windows to place his feet on. He parkoured up the building, going from window to window and jumping in between the two building walls until he reached the roof. At that point he kept running along the roof.
Heiwa's hair flew with the wind as they ran through the air and buildings attempting to flee Saikyō. She watched behind her and kept watch as Matsumi held her. Normally she'd be red from something like this, but her crystal blue pupils had expanded out of an attempt to try and direct Matsumi verbally through what he could not see.
Saikyō hadn't stopped on the ground, and he too ran up through the buildings and through the windows hawking Matsumi and Heiwa down with every step. He smiled as he watched the two flee.
"Man..that Vermelha chick is going to be very displeased when she sees you just waltzing off from me with some other girl. I can't chase you all day..so maybe i'll just settle for her."
Whenever he couldn't get through a gap or a window he used his hand and blew the wall off with his own mana force, the remnants of his energy and aura dripped off the broken wall pieces and sizzled on the ground.
"That guy's magic is intense!"
Matsumi still held on to his balance, jumping from roof to roof, avoiding any destruction that their chaser would cause. After his wall jumping stunt, Matsumi never slowed down as he started to jump from roof to roof.
"If we hide he might not be able to catch us! Quick! Into the parking garage!"
She pointed forward. A few blocks away there was a huge parking garage. The center between first and second city. She held on tight.
"I'm going to use something! I want you to be ready when I activate my technique! Alright?"
"Alright!"
He focused his eyes on the garage, quickly moving directly at it. As he kept running Matsumi was getting faster, he didn't notice it though, his mind was thinking on his destination.
"Tell me when!"
Heiwa's mana entered Matsumi's body as a Turquoise aura covered him and her. Matsumi could feel life energy pouring into him as she shut her eyes.
"Now!"
Matsumi jumped off the roof down into the garage after he got close enough. He held Heiwa close to himself to not hurt her as they slightly rolled on the ground for a better landing. He went deeper inside the garage, still running to lose Saikyō.
Saikyō dashed straight through the garage, sliding down its wall. He moved from beneath them on a lower floor before he cut the two off as they attempted to turn. He reached in his pocket and threw something straight for Heiwa, a small syringe hitting her in the throat.
She coughed as Saikyō's mana skyrocketed, rubble from the ground moving and getting im Matsumi's way.
Matsumi saw the object being thrown at the last second, moving his body just barely so the syringe would only scratch Heiwa's neck flying past them.
Normally he would turn and find another place to run to, but this time his body was almost screaming at him to not stop. He ran straight to Saikyō, maneuvering on the rocks and rubble, showcasing great acrobatic prowess. Until eventually jumping fully over the man's head, using a small piece of rubble as a boost. Matsumi landed and continued his mad dash.
"What did he throw?! Did you see?!"
He hadn't seen it himself, he just dodged it almost on accident. Even he was surprised by what he did.
The blood from the scratch dripped as Saikyō passively watched Matsumi jump over him. Heiwa started to switch extremely hard in Matsumi's arms, a small blue liquid dripped from her eyes and face.