Akira looked up at Hoshira-sensei, quickly standing up as the two on the floor seemed to be fine at the moment, and gave a firm nod. He didn’t really care for the power boost, he was in this to keep people safe from this maniac. At least, that’s what he told himself, but deep down, Akira knew why he was truly after this monster, this Ghoul.
Revenge.
Flash back to the night of the second day since the incident
Akira was rushing through the back alley ways of Academy City, dressed up in his full vigilante ensemble, a sense of urgency and panic in his movements as he tore through backstreet after backstreet. His squad, 3 other vigilants consisting of an Esper, a magician, and a normalish, were struggling to keep up with him, but voiced no complaints, that same sense of panic present in their own furious pace.
Tonight he was supposed to be meeting Akane, the youngest of the founding members of the Vigilants at the age of 13 and one of his top information gathers, she was a level 3 Invisibility Esper that was supposed to have met him in a secret location to hand him some info she’d gotten on the White Chapel Ghoul. However, when he arrived at the meeting place, all he found was a pink cellphone with a little green frog keychain on it. That was Akane’s phone, but where was Akane?
A feeling of ice cold dread had entered his veins as he picked up the phone, his eyes widening as he saw the lockscreen. It was Akane, a petite girl with mid-length black hair, her body crucified to a wall and covered in cuts and bruises, a phrases carved into her stomach.
Better hurry, she doesn’t have long
Photoshopped into the picture were coordinates to what he guessed was her destination, and he gave them a passing glance before he bolted off, hoping beyond hope that he wouldn’t be too late. But alas, it was for not.
He arrived to the grisly scene of Akane’s bod, except she seemed to be missing both her arms and legs, what looked like teeth marks edging the wounds, and numerous holes in her body. Only the shallow rise and fall of her chest let him know she was alive, if just barely. Akira was at her side in an instant, looking down at her with a look of helpless sorrow as he knew their was nothing that could be done. Her head turned as she approached, a pained smile coming to her face as she saw him coming.
“Hi, Aki-nii,” Her voice, while light in tone, was weak, every word she said seeming to be a struggle. The others arrived, including Akane’s brother, Kenshin, who froze in shock as he saw his sister’s condition, falling to his knees with tears falling from his eyes. Their magician came over, hands out as he used his healing magic to ease her pain and allow her to say her final words. But before she could say any more, a voice called out from a near-by alley.
Trigger-Switch
A boy and a girl of around high-school age came out, both showing their Judgement-seals. “Halt, what are you doing-” The boy was suddenly cut of as a sterm of red bolted out to strike him hard in the gut, smashing him into a near-by wall and leaving him unconscious. The girl screamed out, turning to face the foe, only to come face to face with a single red orb of intense rage, and underneath that, a deep sorrow, before she was grasped around the throat by a tendril of red, being lifted way up high, then thrown back down hard enough for her to bounce, the pain causing her to scream in silence before she too faded into unconsciousness.
Akuma stood before them, four tendrils out and pointed at the two, ready to let out all of his rage and frustration on the two and leave them as nothing more than a bloody mess, when he felt a hand grip his shoulder, He spun around quickly, grabbing who ever dared to stop him by the throat, his tendrils turning to them. But Kenchi was resolute, pointing to his dying sister in silence.
“Akuma,” he said, knowing like the rest of the vigilants about Akira’s condition, “she doesn’t have long left, and . . .she wants to speak with you. I’ve said my good-byes, time for you o say yours.”
Akuma didn’t move for a moment, but he eventually released his grip, pushing past Kenchi to cooly walk over to where Akane lay. She smiled at him, a shadow of the cheerful grin she always brought to the hideout. She was always the little trouble-maker, always abusing her ability to play pranks on them all, Akira and Akuma especially. Even now, she seemed almost like she was going to spring up and say, ‘Fooled you!’. But even Akira wouldn’t be that optimistic about this situation.
“Ohayo, Aku-nii, I haven’t seen you in awhile.”
Should’ve tried harder to get Akira mad with your stunts he thought, but from his mouth came nothing but stone cold uncaring, he refused to admit how much he was hurting right now.”If you’re going to die, then hurry up and do it already. We have better things to do than moan over your useless carcass.” He was the true devil, the evil half, the sadistic killer, he wasn’t supposed to care if one of his pawns died. Kenchi and the others seemed to get pissed at Akuma’s words, but Akane only chuckled in response.
“Aku-nii, you’ve got to learn. . . how to be more honest with yourself. It’s not healthy to keep all that emotion bottled up inside of you.” Akuma offered a ‘Tch’ in response, turning away from the group.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, you little brat, you were nothing more to me but a pawn and a tool, nothing more. No use getting depressed over a broken tool, just like their is no use getting emotional over a failure of a pawn.”
“A pawn, huh,” Akane took on a weak, yet still very mischievous grin, “then how come I found a poem you wrote about me in your room at the base. Doesn’t it go, something like this:
You are a light in my life, a joy that I cherish
You I would protect with a burning passion
You, who accepts both sides of me with open arms and open mind
It is you that helps keep me sane, you that keeps me from the depths of despair
If I lost you, I don’t know what I would do
So never leave me, Akane, for I truly care for you`”
Akuma said nothing, his one visible eye over-shadowed by his hair, his shoulders shaking ever so slightly.
“Akuma-nii,” her voice was so weak, it could barely be heard, “It’s okay to cry, you need to let it out.” aNd with that final word of wisdom, Akane passed on.
For a long while, there was nothing but silence, the shaking of Akuma’s shoulders becoming more violent as sobbing could be heard. Tears flooded from his eyes as he fell to his knees, releasing all of his anger, hatred, and sorrow out in one painful burst, before he sunk to the ground, Akira once more.
“AAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKAAAAAAANNNNNNEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
End of flashback
In that memory, which had only taken up a split-second of real-world timex Akira and Akuma found a strange form of synchronization, as it was one of the few times they shared emotions so whole-heartedly, and everything that Akira knew about the past few days was transferred to Akuma. He knew everything, so he found no need to say a word. But his entire demeanor had changed, going from kind and caring, to dangerous and unstable. Thee way he held himself was like that of a hunter, his eyes becoming sharp and piercing as he glanced at everyone in the room, before focusing on their blue-skinned teacher.
“So then, when do we start hunting down this White-Chapel bastard,and how many pieces do I get to cut him into before it’s deem torture and I have to stop, Causing in truth, I’m hoping to carve him into very small pieces, right after I make him chug a pint of Acid- blood down his gullet. Sure that would be a fun sight to see.” Akuma chuckled darkly, barely contained rage shining in his eyes as his foot began to tap wildly.
