A crimson droplet slipped from her fingertips.
It struck the fractured concrete with a quiet tap.
The rain washed over the ruined streets, but the blood remained vivid.
The blood flowed through the cracks in the broken road before disappearing into the rubble below.
The orange walls surrounding Omori flickered violently.
Their brilliance faltered.
The countless particles holding the cube together began to scatter into the air like embers carried by the wind.
In only a few seconds…
The force field collapsed completely.
Yoshida's body trembled as her face tightened in pain. The three grotesque spears of living flesh retracted from her body, crashing onto the ground.
She immediately fell to one knee and thought to herself.
"Something isn't right here…"
She tried to analyze the situation. She first looked in the direction the spears had come from. After that, she reassessed her formulas and her current situation.
Now that she looked more closely, the clothing that was intertwined with the spears became apparent.
She then thought back to the people who got wounded from the explosion earlier.
Suddenly, a horrific realisation hit her. One of the spears had the same clothes as the child who was tugging on their parent beneath the rubble.
And then the rest fell into place like dominoes, the other two being the man who fell face down from a distance and the other being the lady with several shards on her.
Now it became clear to her: Omori used some flesh-altering ability on the people closest to her and turned them into weapons to strike her.
It's the same ability that let her regenerate her arm and hide herself within the driver's body earlier.
But now one question remained on her mind.
"How did she manage to get through Tenzetsu Kekkai?"
Her breathing became uneven.
A faint gasp escaped her lips as pain finally caught up with her. Though no vital spots were hit, the amount of blood loss was immense.
"…Ah…"
The strength in her arm began to fade.
She stumbled forward as she barely managed to keep herself upright.
For the first time since the battle had begun…
She looked vulnerable.
I stood frozen.
My eyes refused to look away from the blood staining the road beneath her feet.
My thoughts stopped.
My body refused to move.
Only disbelief remained.
"N…no…"
Beside me, Kubo's expression darkened.
The calm composure he had throughout the battle disappeared.
Sweat rolled down the side of his face as his eyes widened behind his sunglasses.
"…Impossible."
His voice was in utter shock and barely above a whisper.
"Between the combatants at G.O.S.S.I.P, Yoshida is one of the strongest amongst them."
"She trained for years honing her techniques and fighting ability…"
"I don't understand it!"
"Tenzetsu Kekkai activates on its own even if its owner doesn't see the attack coming!"
"Why is it an exception now!?"
Omori straightened up.
"I told you before that her abilities have vulnerabilities."
Omori raised her index finger.
"First, her ability may look invincible at first sight."
"It's still not perfect."
"She still hasn't gone through the synchronisation process that prevents it from becoming unstable."
Additionally, she raised her middle finger.
"Second, when you erased my arm."
"I couldn't perceive or attack you at that time."
"But I figured out the reason why."
"You manipulated the electron distribution of the air molecules surrounding you, altering the refractive index of the medium."
"Every photon reflected from your body had its trajectory subtly altered before reaching my eyes."
"Visual data perception requires 13 milliseconds to be processed by the human brain."
"But my enhanced perception requires me only 2 nanoseconds to do so."
"Yet you managed to erase my arm and move five meters away from me."
"It's the same way light travels slower through water than in the vacuum of space."
She clenched her teeth with a hint of annoyance that she had been figured out so easily.
Omori cackled again as she covered half her face with her hand.
"But what you failed to understand was something very crucial."
"Your ability is separated from its autonomous execution and the mathematical formulas you base your calculations on."
"To prevent harm to your body from acceleration and inertia, your autonomous ability was forced to extend the effect inward into your body."
"Your ability was stabilising the molecular bonds of your own body and distributing the force evenly, creating an intense form of physical resistance to basic physics."
She then started to laugh maniacally as it finally dropped on Kubo when he said.
"Now I understand…"
"Yoshida's emotions must have spiked earlier when she fought Omori!"
"Because of that, she—"
Omori abruptly yelled out.
"THAT'S RIGHT!!!"
She then grabbed onto Yoshida's collar as she looked her dead in the eyes.
"Your imperfect ability was because of your stupid obsession with your brother!"
"Because of that, the spiking created an after-effect delay, one long enough to take you out that easily!!"
Kubo and I listened from a distance.
"Goddammit!"
Kubo said abruptly, out of frustration.
"It took G.O.S.S.I.P researchers years to figure out her ability precisely. But it took that monster nearly five minutes of observation to come to an analytic deduction for her to get the upper hand!"
"I have to call for backup!"
Kubo said, frustration evident in his voice.
But, I couldn't stand here any longer. She was about to get taken out by her. I looked around my surroundings as I noticed Kubo's gun tied to his hip.
Without a second to spare, I took it out by force and ran to both of them.
"What are you-"
Kubo realised then what I was planning to do.
"HOSHIRO! DON'T!"
"YOU WILL ONLY ENDANGER YOURSELF EVEN MORE!!!"
Kubo's voice became a distant blur, swallowed whole by the roaring pulse in my ears. Instinct didn't give me a choice.
Before my mind could register the sheer idiocy of what I was doing, my hand ripped the sidearm from Kubo's hip. My feet shoved off the fractured pavement, driving me forward.
"What am I doing?"
Wind whipped across my face, cold and sharp.
"I didn't even want to get involved in this in the first place…"
"So why…"
"Why me, why always me!?"
"Why does my body force me to move on its own like it's second nature!?"
Every step felt heavy, like running underwater, and yet, my body refused to stop.
"I didn't know this girl who claims to be my sister even existed a couple of hours ago…"
"I'm not a hero, I can't protect anyone, all I do is bring terror to other people…"
It wasn't heroics…
"I'm just an empty shell, devoid of everything and everyone."
It wasn't courage…
"At least…that's what I always thought until my body began to do things on its own."
It was the frantic…
The ugly panic of someone reaching for a lifeline in a dark sea.
"It made me realize something, this wasn't instinct anymore."
"It was all just pure desperation to protect someone."
A desperate, terrifying need to protect the only person who had looked at me like I mattered.
"I wanted to cling onto something and there it was finally."
"What she was doing to me, has made me feel things I never understood or experienced."
"How does someone who has always been blind suddenly become capable of discovering the unknown world?"
And that made me realise one thing…
I can't let this happen anymore!
I WON'T LET IT HAPPEN!!!
"HEY!"
Yoshida and Omori's heads turned in my direction. I directed the gun towards Omori. I pulled the trigger three times, aiming at random points of her body.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The next thing I knew was bullets hitting the ground as if they hit an impenetrable wall.
"Aww, did the lost soul try to save his little sister?"
I stood frozen for a few seconds, completely stunned.
"Sorry, but you'll need a gun that can wipe out buildings before you can put even a scratch on me."
Without hesitation or any plan, I threw the gun towards her head as I dashed to her forward trying to catch Omori off guard.
I ran towards her, trying to get her away from Omori. She stretched her arm towards me.
"Onii-san…"
She said in a struggling tone, still in pain.
"Yoshida!"
I stretched out mine towards hers until.
"How chivalrous, the big brother saving the little sister."
"I'll put you out of your misery you poor lost soul."
Omori crouched as she picked up one of the bullets that she had been hit with earlier.
"You see, controlling my anatomy and having enchanted senses aren't the only abilities I have."
"This is a technique that requires a hefty amount of energy from the body, but the results are more than worth it."
Suddenly, black lines surged across the skin of her arm, coming from the back of her neck and caressing her left cheek.
"This is known as FUYASU, this specialized technique grants the rare capability of matter and energy amplification."
"Allowing the user to systematically elevate the potency of any object or force to one hundred times its original capacity."
She got back up as the bullet in her right hand balanced on her index finger, while the thumb tucked underneath it aimed straight at my back.
"For example, if I want to flick this bullet right here."
…
[FUYASU]
Abruptly, I could hear an impact coming behind me, as if something broke the sound barrier like a private jet coming at Mach 5 speed.
She then, in terror, said.
"ONII-CHAN! BEHIND YOU!!"
My head turned in the direction of the incoming force. The next thing I knew…made everyone's face go cold except Omori's.
Blood splattered the street as the bullet flew right past her head.
The bullet zipped past them and plowed through a row of several buildings, reducing each to rubble in a rapid chain reaction of collapse.
"No…"
Kubo said in horror as he couldn't accept what he saw happening in front of him.
"HQ!"
"CALL BACK UP IMMEDIATELY!"
"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!"
"GET TO MY ACTIVE COORDINATES, YESTERDAY!!!"
Kubo spoke in a hurry to his watch, but unlike him, all I could hear was her calling out to me.
"ONII-CHAN!!!"
One heavy blink later I hit the cold dirt face-first.
The world blurred until only Yoshida's voice remained. She ran up and pulled my head onto her lap.
She screamed with every last fraction of strength in her chest. That sound became my whole world because my brain could no longer process anything else. I was locked inside my own failing head.
Her hands pressed down hard to cover the massive gap stretching from my lower belly to my upper chest.
Darkness pressed in from all sides while a deep cold flooded my veins. First my vision smeared into useless shadows. Then my legs vanished beneath me entirely. I tried to stay awake through sheer force of will, but my eyelids slowly gave out eventually.
"Onii-chan, please stay with me!"
Her tears spilled across my cold face. Her gentle touch was almost beyond my reach. It hit me all at once that no woman had held me this way in a very long time.
She had been the only one to touch me since I walked out of prison. Everything around us kept slipping away into darkness.
"Onii-chan!"
"It wasn't you who ki-"
That was the last thing I heard before the light in my eyes dove out…
(It wasn't me)
The last thing she said. What did she mean by that? It was like she wanted to say that I wasn't to blame for something.
And then, there was nothing left anymore….
My entire world was gone, not that there was any left to begin with.
"Truly, a fool's ending."
The grumpy familiar voice could be heard, echoing in the darkness.
"You're one to talk, a freeloader like you shouldn't talk about who is the real fool here."
I spoke out to the voice in the dark.
"Mhm, your remarks are ambiguous as always."
"But you did heed my advice."
"So calling you a fool wouldn't be all that true."
I let out a defeated sigh.
"Yeah…"
"I am in my weakest…"
"I'm going to die and so will Yoshida and the others if I don't save them."
The big dragon then let out a loud breath through its nose.
"That's a joke, right?"
"You?"
"Save them?"
"What do you think this is, some kind of Shonen anime where the protagonist gets a power boost at the brink of death and defeats the villain?"
"I am not to be treated as a Deus Ex Machina."
"You can die for all I care, I'll just find someone as pathetic as you."
The dragon laid its head down on the floor of the abyss.
"Someone who doesn't know who they are, is doomed to die the worst death possible."
…
I stood there, staring at Yin with utter emptiness. I couldn't deny what they said or find a response back. From the very beginning, I lived in the dark and ended in the dark…
"HOSHIRO!!!"
Yoshida, cradled his head against her chest. Her voice yelled out from the bottom of her lungs as her tears rolled down her cheeks falling onto my lifeless face.
"I'm so so sorry…"
"I failed you again…"
Footsteps could be heard approaching behind Yoshida. The green-haired girl's face twisted into an inhuman smile, unnaturally wide and utterly sinister.
"Yes, very good girl…"
"Feed the Miasma with your despair. This shall be the very beginning for the manifestation of our saviour."
Omori then raises her hand, as more spear-shaped objects levitate in the air right above her head, pointing towards her.
"Let's feed the Miasma until its heart's content-"
Right then, before she was about to strike Yoshida. A man with black glasses and a tailored suit jumped in between them holding what looked like a lengthy grenade that was inches away from Omori's face. She was taken by complete surprise as he, with his index finger inside the pinhole, yelled out.
"FLASHBANG!!!"
An inconceivable light, escaped the grenade. The brightness burned through Omori's eyes. A burn so bad that it broke the blood vessels in her eyes. She let out a deadly screech covering her eyes.
"YAWHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
While Omori was distracted by the pain in her eyes. Kubo took Yoshida's shoulder pulling her away from my body.
"Yoshida, we have to run!"
"NO!"
"LET ME GO! I WON'T LEAVE HIM BEHIND!"
She struggled against Kubo, still refusing to lose hope for him.
"There is nothing we can do about your brother, but right now you are top priority and we can't risk them getting onto you like this any longer!"
Kubo then managed to overpower Yoshida's strength pulling her away from the streets. Yoshida's arm stretched towards me from the ground covering the streets with his blood.
"AHHHH!!"
"I'LL SKIN YOU ALIVE FOR THIS!!!!"
Omori shouted with an ear-splitting scream. She aimlessly shot her meat spears in every direction blindly.
The spears pierced through all concrete objects nearby.
They managed to dodge the spears and hide behind a wrecked car.
"Damn it, how did we end up this way?"
Kubo thought to himself as it then finally hit him. Analyzing the situation they were currently in.
"This must have been planned from the very beginning."
Kubo sat on the pavement beside Yoshida, leaning his back against the wrecked car as he chewed on his thumbnail, staring blankly into the haze.
"Of course it had to be."
"The First Waters had to know about Yoshida's stepbrother and how it would affect Yoshida. Earlier when I checked Yoshida's mental state. It was indeed spiking above her usual state."
"The reason why the girl didn't ambush us earlier was that she had to be sure before attacking."
"She must have seen the stats on my computer light that reflected on my sunglasses from the rear-view mirror."
"When the moment came when she was certain, she took the opportunity to strike at that moment..."
Kubo turned his head toward Yoshida. She was still in tears over what happened to Hoshiro.
"Ten minutes of hell until HQ arrives with their team."
"I've certainly put myself in a ton of shit this time."
Omori was destroying her entire surroundings, rampaging across the entire streets with her eyes still blinded by the light and blood.
"I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU WISH FOR A QUICK DEATH!!!"
"Yin, please help me."
"I know you can save me from this situation!"
"You've done it before back in the prison when you released one of your seals!"
The dragon's words finally pushed me to my breaking point.
"Tell me Hoshiro, what does someone like you hold any value to a world that completely rejects you?"
"You've lived most of your life in prison and it took you a couple of hours outside prison just to die."
"The person you even tried to protect, you don't even acknowledge her as your sister yet you tried to protect her knowing deep in your heart that there was that sort of connection."
"How is someone like you supposed to save anyone if you can't even save yourself?"
I ground my teeth as I clenched my fist. The dragon's words finally pushed me to breaking point.
"I DON'T KNOW!"
I, for the first time, let out my frustration.
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW ANYTHING!?"
"HOW CAN I KNOW ANYTHING IF ALL I KNOW IS EMPTINESS?!"
"IS IT SO WRONG OF ME TO WANT TO UNDERSTAND!?
"TO FINALLY HOLD ON TO SOMETHING REAL!"
"TO FINALLY KNOW SOMETHING REAL!"
Hoshiro then fell on his knees as he looked down in utter despair.
"Yoshida…"
"I never knew a girl like her existed…"
"No…"
"I am lying…"
"I always knew…"
"I wish I could have told her, that I was afraid, that I did want her to see me, that I really did need someone."
I slowly bowed my head in frustration into the floor.
"Omori was right…"
"I am a lost soul…"
…
The dragon stood right up, in front of Hoshiro.
"Hoshiro…"
"Raise your head."
"You are no dog, you are who you are."
"But for you to understand that, you must understand yourself first."
"So, raise your head, Hoshiro Kamakiri!"
Hoshiro slowly raised his head, and in the next blink, he found himself in a completely different space.
The aesthetic of a room designed for a ten-year-old. I was seated at a child-sized chair and table, a hint of blank confusion struck me as I looked around.
"Where am I…?"
Toys, dresses, fairy tale books were all around the room.
"Why do I have a hint of Deja vu hitting me all of a sudden..?"
Before him, a heavy wooden door creaked open to reveal a small hand gripping the edge. A young girl stepped into view wearing an ornate princess dress that swept the floor.
She had short blue hair and vivid sky blue eyes paired with an innocent, glowing smile. In her hands, she balanced a simple tray bearing a porcelain teapot and cups.
"…"
"Yoshida…"
I spoke in a low tone.
"Alright, are you ready for the tea party?"
(˶>⩊<˶)
Her voice carried the exact cadence as Yoshida's, only pitched up into a bright, childlike tone.
"Tea party?"
I muttered, staring down as she carefully set the tray onto the small table.
She began pouring the tea with a fluid, captivating elegance that completely held my gaze. Every movement was seamless and deliberate, far beyond what anyone would expect from a child her age.
She lifted one of the brimming cups, glided around the table, and held it out to me.
I stood completely frozen, utterly lost on how to react. Bewilderment paralysed my mind as I looked straight down into her bright eyes. Watching how her tiny hands supported the warm porcelain right in front of me.
"Here!"
"…"
My hands reached forward and grabbed the warm cup.
"Thank you."