9/03
It was something in the wind.I’m convinced that was what tipped me off first. After all, the way my face was being buffeted, it would only make sense that it was where I picked it up.
An unsettled feeling in my gut. Not like I’d eaten something bad, but maybe it was closer to feeling like you were about to. An uncalled-for spark of apprehension that I couldn't place a cause for, but in turn caused my face to quirk, much more effectively than the oncoming wind’s touch ever could at this point.
“Something wrong, Luke?”A gentle hand rested upon upon my shoulder, belonging to my passenger. It being September 3rd, my trusty bike had logged dozens of miles a day routinely now, both as a cardiovascular training tool, and as a chargeless taxi.
“Ah, nah. Just got a weird feeling.” I replied calmly, glancing back up over my shoulder for a half-second. “You noticed?”
A half-second was more than enough for me to recognize Bianca Nuit’s face smiling down at me. My newest teammate was currently managing to stand behind me, using her semblance at a minor degree in what was the closest thing I’d ask for to payment for my services. She was increasing our total gravity well, weighing me down about half-again more than usual. Combined with the drag from her outstretched wings, I was ensured a workout two steps beyond the usual and she got extra practice manipulating gravity.
Symbiosis at it’s finest.
“You’re pretty easy to read, when it comes to tensing up.” she explained,
“Better tone that down for the tournament, eh?”...Was I really?
“Sure! It’s plain on your face! And we wouldn’t want our opponents to pick up on that, would we? I’d hate for you to let them know if they’re getting the upper hand…”“Why would we let them start winning in the first place?!”
They don’t know me as well as you, anyway! Who was to say I was an open book to a complete stranger?!
Even as my retort was in the middle of leaving my mouth, the impeccably balanced faunus girl tutted, even going so far as to raise a finger to lecture me like I was a disobedient grade-schooler.
Put that down and hold on! I don’t care if you can fly!
“Ah-ah-ah! You can’t lose your cool so easily in a fight either, you know.”“How many layers does this test have?!”
The winged girl allowed herself a light chuckle.
“Maybe it’s just nerves?” she asked, switching tacks as I leaned us into a left turn.
“...Maybe. The pressure’s on. I thought it was bad enough just working to qualify, but...”
“We’re moving up to the next level, now that we’re in the running.” she said, completing the thought.
“Oh, it should be coming up right here.”Case in point on that front: The place I was taking her to was none other than the home of Akari Hansode, a local Sojutsu master. Her just so happening to live in my town made for a good excuse for the Faunus girl to “drop in and say hi”, which effectively meant one part catching up with me about our non-training activities over the current break, and two parts warding off a game of twenty questions from my sisters.
Granted, I'm not entirely complaining about it. As tiring as it was to pull aggro off of Bianca, Dawn was right about her looking great in a Yukata once she managed to be talked into trying it on. I would happily treasure that memory.
We pulled to the spear-wielding savant’s house in a slow, grinding stop as she ramped up the gravity at the last minute. Despite it forcing me to grit my teeth and sweat a little harder, this was actually my idea. As the team’s primary tank, or more accurately, damage sponge, I would need to learn how to counteract a lot of momentum, right? It made sense to at least get a feel for that in a setting that didn't involve logs, hills, and the odd boulder or two.
I shivered. Once Gurren-sensei and my Mom had learned I had qualified for the Vytal tournament, they’d decided that nothing would prepare me better than torture. They realized this wasn't a Rocky movie, right?
I'm not their Mightiest Disciple!
“Thanks for the ride!” Bianca chirped, hopping off of my bike and dispelling the effects of her semblance upon us.
It felt nice to be 145 pounds again, let me tell you. There's only so much that being in insane condition by normal standards can do to offset an effective jump from Featherweight to Heavyweight.
“No problem,” I replied, meeting her salute with one of my own. “Thanks for the workout. You going to need a ride back?”
“Probably! I'll let you know, okay?”“Sounds good to me.”
That was, if she had it in her text after today’s lesson. While not a member of the local Martial Arts Mecca, Hansode had enough of a reputation as a deadly practitioner and hard taskmaster in her chosen form of combat to receive an invitation to the Summit of Fists, apparently multiple times. And that, if you knew the quality of the Masters within the Summit, was an enormous feather in her cap.
Osmium-lined handbag one second, deadly spear the next, Bianca’s weapon of choice came to life in her hands even as she knocked upon the door.
I blinked.
Maybe Hansode-sensei was the type to Hobbes you once you entered the training grounds, preaching something about always being ready?
Flying at you with a spear as soon as you open the door…
I’ll be fine with getting beat up with regular martial arts, thanks!
“Oh, Luke?” I paused my motions to leave. “What's up?”
She put on a pensive, slightly concerned look that didn't hide completely the mischief in her eyes.
“You WILL be able to give me a ride, right?”I started at the implication.
“I'm not gonna give out that easily in three hours! If I did, I’d have to just resign from the tournament!”
Today was a light day anyway!
“Juuuuuust checking~” came her singsong reply. If she wanted me to let her walk that bad, I'd be happy to!
The door opened, revealing a tall woman in her mid-thirties, with red hair that almost looked to catch the light even in the shade of her doorway and, of course, a gnarly spear in hand.
“Train hard!” I called, beginning to pedal away and leaving her with no potential escape.
“She will!” came the reply. I'll admit, from her ascetic reputation, I half-expected that the Sojutsu master wouldn't even acknowledge my presence. Putting on my best smug “got you back” smirk for Bianca, I turned and waved--
Only finding a door slamming shut.
Huh. Guess she was still in a hurry to get started, at least.
I glided down the street in a meandering path back home, previous troubles now forgotten.
And maybe if I had listened to them, I wouldn't have experienced what happened next.
Nothing much happens in our town. Equally, there's nothing much to keep oneself entertained that you can pass by on an errant ride. Sure, if you look, there's some typical establishments-- Food, Drink, Gym, Summit of Fists-- but by and large, this small city is in the middle of nowhere and quiet.
The end result?
A lot of time to think to yourself and wander. To get lost, in thought and body both. Especially after having your first real free period of the day, away from something that was SOME form of training.
It was a hell of a routine, and a routine straight from hell. Having to live through it day in and day out for weeks on end...
Any chance I got to think for myself was welcomed graciously.
It still felt unreal, being a qualifying member of the Vytal Tournament like this. I had scarcely believed it to be a possibility. Not that I doubted the abilities of my teammates in any respects, that is. They're all perfectly capable of winning this thing.
Jack's blinding speed and voracious appetite for combat knowledge all but ensured he'd make the grade, and give most everyone he could be matched up against fits.
Same with Cian's marksmanship, ever-growing arsenal, and defensive barriers. She was starting to become a tiny, one-woman army that could attack from afar with impunity.
Bianca and her wings alone presented her with a host of options the others lacked. While the third dimension was accessible to hunters like us, few could truly master it like she was capable of, and none would be as at home in it. Throw in her crushing semblance and growing skill with that spear, and she was quickly turning from "Angel" to "Valkyrie".
I would never doubt their capability. Not if you held me at gunpoint.
After all, they usually did that anyway.
But me, on the other hand... That was where I could have never pictured it happening. Compared to them, I'm just a two-bit fistfighter who's really only good at bouncing back from the hits I take.
And in this case, not even that was a good thing. The matches are decided by Aura percentage, so while I'm at least a reliable sponge in the field, in the tournament, my preferred method of "get beat up until I win"...
Actually, I'm a flat-out liability in my current state.
Depressing news, isn't it?
As I pulled into our driveway, I ran through a scenario in my head for what must have been a thirteenth time.
My team somehow carries me through the preliminary round. After that, it's we choose two of the four of us to advance to the semifinals, with combat skill obviously at the forefront.
Even if it's a foregone conclusion, I'll volunteer to stay behind. Not out of cowardice, but because I don't want to hold us back anymore than I have to.
Honestly, was that all I was training for?
The door's open, so that means at least one of my family should be home. Between a huntress, a police officer, and two girls who think they're power rangers, we're usually pretty smart about locking our doors.
Usually...
Why was it so quiet?
April usually has the TV running right around now. Especially since fall is Dragonball rewatching season.
The only girl I've ever known who flat out
wants to be Goku...
"I'm home!" I announced, as is customary for our family. I always did so, even back when I had been mostly a distant, downcast young man in high school. After all, forgetting to once earned me a spinning side kick to the gut, and that's not fun.
No response came my way. What, are they listening to music in their room? Dawn had become fascinated with this one Atlesian singer ever since she'd found her on Soundcloud...
Well, no, that couldn't be it. If they didn't hear me, then their music would be loud enough for me to hear, in a house this quiet.
They
were home, right?
"Those girls..." I muttered, walking forward. "If they forgot to lock the front door of all things..."
My foot clanked into something, and I paused, looking down. Key word being "clanked", as it wasn't just an ordinary thing lying around.
It was a giant screw.
Wha?
Picking it up, I found it was actually kinda light for the size, but still. What in the hell was a gag-sized screw doing here? Was this some insane project?
They had better not be building a Gundam. The last thing the world needs is those two in a mech!
Sighing, I walked into the kitchen, placing it on the countertop as I grabbed a much earned bottle of water. Honestly, I didn't even want to know. I just wanted them to stop.
I took a long drink, before noticing something out of the corner of my eye--
And spat it out in horror. There, on the walls.
Deathly still.
All color drained from their hair.
Listless, vacant expressions on their faces.
My sisters...
I was shocked so still that my heart forgot how many beats to skip, and stopped altogether.
My sisters were hanging from the walls with massive screws impaling them through their chests.
And then I noticed what was in the middle.
Inky black hair.
Inky black eyes.
Inky black uniform.
Snow-white smile. Taunting in its innocence, and wider than any ever should be.
A young man about my age, about my size, and about my look was sitting there on the fireplace.
Sitting there on the fireplace and casually, playfully, irreverently tossing a screw up and down.
My eyes could not have gone wider. I must have looked like a deer caught in headlights in that brief flash.
Then, even as my brain caught up, he said it. In a voice just like mine, if I was trying too hard to sound cool and taunting. My blood froze, horrified--
「
Okaerinasai.」
And then boiled with raw, molten fury.
It was a flash of maliciousness that had flickered through for a mere instant, with a carefree smile soon spreading upon the black-clad boy’s expression as a replacement.
「And look, this isn’t my faul--」
It ran in sharp contrast to the white-hoodied hunter’s flash of horror, that was quickly replaced with enough aggression to fastball the nearest thing on hand right into the former’s face.
“YOU SON OF A BITCH!”The scream tore itself from his throat, heralding the projectile’s crunching impact upon the bridge of his counterpart’s nose.
The boy's hands flew to his face as he let out an incredulous warble in response.
「A
water bottle? Really, who does that?」
As his hands lowered, he was greeted by the sight of the previously abandoned screw following the same trajectory in a tight spiral.
“I’LL KILL YOU!”「Ah--」
Less than a foot from his smiling face, the screw vanished into thin air. Without a trace, the projectile was not so much disintegrated as removed from existence. One second it was streaking through the air, the next it was no more.
It gave the rational part of Luke, so much smaller than usual, pause for a fraction of a second—
Before he redoubled his efforts, vaulting over the countertop and launching himself towards his opponent at top speed.
「I was wondering where I’d left that one!」
The impossibly candid comment slipped easily out of the black one’s mouth as he flung himself sideways, just in time to evade a flying, metal-wreathed fist that crashed straight through the grate of the fireplace behind where he’d sat.
“RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGH!”He ripped his fist free, using the violent turning motion of the hips involved to fire a scything kick that whizzed just past the black one’s nose, inches away.
Raising his arms in an irreverent mockery of a shrug, the target landed and continued to speak as though he wasn’t in the middle of a serious attempt on his life.
「Sheesh! Who’s the evil one here, anyway?」
He rose one of his hands with the question, making just enough of a show of waving it to raise Luke’s guard even as he surged in on him.
「Well, it’s
supposed to be me, but look who’s doing the destruction and--」
He was forced to dodge to the side again as Luke attempted to stomp through his teeth with a stepping side kick.
「--trying to kill people! You know if I defend myself, it isn’t my fault.」
In one of the rarest events of Luke’s life, he was nothing more than a brick wall when it came to talking.
“
Shut up!”
This guy…
Twisting his weight with the speed and fervor of pure, animalistic rage, Luke gave him a more honest, impactful response by burying his fist into the boy’s gut with a murderous shovel hook.
This guy hurt his sisters!Having all the wind forcefully driven out of his body, the boy’s body jackknifed, folding him double. This in turn carried his head downward, crashing straight into a knee strike that snapped it back upright and made him see stars.
There was no way in hell he was letting up from here!
And let up he didn't. Grabbing the boy by his lapels even as he staggered backwards, Luke yanked him back in and hammered home a salvo of heavy punches with his free hand, switching back and forth from head to body, cross to uppercut to hook and back again.
With each consecutive strike, his foe wilted further and further, something the enraged martial artist could feel from the shrinking resistance to each impact.
Somewhere, something about that struck him as off. An instinctual suggestion that all was not as it seemed.
On the seventh punch, he figured it out. Between the sensation of the boy actually pulling away and the lopsided grin that had returned to his now significantly bloodied face, Luke understood even through the haze of red.
He wasn’t
wilting—
He was
rolling with the punches.
「Y’know, you fight a lot less like April-chan than I’d think.」
Now it was readily apparent, as the boy found time to both catch the next strike upon the meat of his arm and taunt him with his own voice.
And his sister’s name.「Yes, I’d say you--nngh!-- Fight like a younger man!」
To hell with this guy and his attempts at being cute. If he wanted to try and defend…
「Admirable…」
Then Luke would
smash straight through him.Yanking the boy forward by the collar one final time while he made his inane movie reference, the eldest Schwarz built up every ounce of his strength into one final punch.
「But mistake--」
Apparently too caught up with pretending to be a Big Guy to protect himself, the bastardized clone was completely decked with a crunching set of knuckles, finally flying free from Luke's grip and crashing into the fireplace.
The perfectly intact fireplace.
That was the first thing to give him pause.
The second was the massive screw, now embedded into the wall behind him.
The third was the chunk of his own side it had taken out of him, starting to knit itself back together.
Ghhhgk!!「Like I was
say-ing,」
The boys rose, waving his hand over his face and smiling. Smiling with all of his teeth, blood in his veins, and no bruises, scrapes, or lumps in his skin. The mouse under his eye was gone. The stretching of his uniform was entirely undone.
Everything was in pristine condition.
It was like he hadn’t ever been touched.
「Admirable.」
The boy pulled two more screws out of nothing but thin air, his empty smile taking a decidedly smugger turn.
「
But mistaken!」
Breathing heavily, Luke lifted his guard once more, as shock and exertion brought his mind back into the driver’s seat.
... I couldn’t treat this guy like he was just some punching bag. This guy had revealed his ace in the hole— a semblance just like his, a method of healing that far surpassed modern medicine’s best.
Except it wasn’t just healing of the body. His eyes flicked to the uniform on his small frame, the fireplace behind him. Both looked absolutely untouched by the entire ordeal. Whatever weird regenerative power this boy had extended far, far beyond the scope his own.
He was starting to understand, upon reflection, how he’d managed to take out both of his prodigal sisters.
...And pin them to the wall like picture frames.
He now regarded his opponent much, much more warily.
“...What the
hell are you?”
「Glad you asked!」 came the chipper reply. 「Because now I get to do the cool Trunks schtick! Or, well, kinda. You've played Legend of Zelda, right?」
This breakneck switch between combative to casual took Luke aback more than maybe even the ridiculousness of the question itself.
“Y-Yeah, a little.”
「Easy enough to work with! So you at least know about Shadow Link, right?」
Oh no…“You're not saying…”
「Totally am.」
The smile was friendly, and almost reached his eyes.
「I’m you, Me-chan!」
I knew it.
I didn’t want to know it, or even consider it, but deep down I knew it. He, from the moment I’d seen him, given me the feeling of looking into a distorted carnival mirror. The reflection wasn’t perfect by any means, in fact, it was
intentionally wrong.
But it was still a reflection, and he was still a reflection of me, no matter how wrong he was.
「More specifically, I'm you, but stronger. And you're lucky I'm in a good mood, too, or else I'd never forgive you!」
Th-The nerve of this guy!
“Like
you're one to talk!” I shot back. “After what you’ve done to my family! Why the hell are you attacking us?!”
「Pfft.」
I take it back. I couldn't have been related at all to this callous bastardization.
「You’re so mean! First dehumanizing me and then making big old assumptions? You're a real piece of work for a relative of main characters.」
What did he mean, “assumption”? How much clearer than impalement could you even get?!
「Aw, don't give me that look. Really, all that energy you spent accosting me coulda gone to checking on them.」
I flinched. He had a point there, as little as I wanted to admit it. April and Dawn’s safety should have been a priority.
… No, wait a minute!
“You'd have just attacked me too, and then we'd have all been in trouble!”
「...」
He planted one screw in the ground to raise his hand to his chin, before shrugging.
「Good point. I wouldn't pass up an opportunity to screw you like that.」
Wh-
“You're not even going to try and defend yourself?!”
「I gotta hand it to you, Me-chan! For a heroic good guy, you secretly have a pretty devious mind, don't you? I totally see how we’re the same person!」
“Don't praise me for assuming the worst of you! At least get offended like before!”
「But if I do that, then it’d kill the whole routine, Me-chan!」
“This is a fight, not a comedy sketch!
You hurt my sisters!”
「It’s not? That's a shame, Me-chan, you make for such a good tsukkomi when you're willing to talk! TL Note: “Tsukkomi” is the “straight man” in a traditional eastern manzai comedy duo.」
“Don't give translator’s notes in the text! You're breaking up the atmosphere and verisimilitude! Leave that to the translation team!”
「Ah, but we could use some levity, you know? You're always so grim for a good guy. We need to change the atmosphere anyway!」
He tapped the wall he’d pinned Dawn to, and somehow made a hole by… erasing it.
The wind blew through as the entire section of wall was just
gone.
My eyes bugged. It was just like the screw from earlier. Just like his injuries. Just like the tears in his shirt and the destruction of the fireplace.
And undoubtedly, whatever he'd had thrown at him by the two white-haired girls that were now falling to the ground in tandem.
「See? It's nice and cool in here now, and so much more roomy! In fact, I think I’ll go outside and take in this fresh air to the utmost!」
I ran over to the girls, checking back all the while to keep my eye on the other me.
He folded his arms from outside, as if waiting on me.
I extended a very particular finger in response, which prompted a blase shrug.
「Hey, if you ever read Shonen Jump you'd know we need a wide open space to have a real confrontation. Do the thing and let's get outta here.」
Do the thing.
Ensuring the well-being of my sisters was just “the thing” to him.
I couldn't believe he was me, no matter how "me" the action of using manga as an example was.
“
April! Dawn!”
I may not have been fast enough to catch them as they fell, like the hero character he kept pegging me as, but I could at least mitigate the damage until proper help arrived.
Only…
I flipped the two over, expecting massive entry wounds from the screws--
But found nothing of the sort. In fact, aside from scrapes and bruises, which were next to nothing for these two, all I had to cure was that white hair.
It wasn't a shiny, feathery white like Bianca’s was, but instead more like all color had been drained from their formerly black hair.
White hair.
No wounds.
Listless, limp bodies.
Still breathing.
None of it added up. No matter which way I crunched the details together, I couldn't piece together what exactly has been done to them. Even Gratia’s aura stealing didn't leave people with white hair.
I looked at him again.
Still shrugging, with a look that somehow conveyed
I've got all day despite still being that innocent smile.
“What…”
I've always been said to be easy to talk to. Fun to talk to. A good person to talk to.
In reality, I was just slow, and had a lot of questions to ask.
“What did you do to them?”
At this point, I was a bit late to be asking this question, but it had to be done.
「Your timing’s pretty terrible, Me-chan. Luckily, I'm here to save the series from boring protagonists that suck all the drama away.」
If anyone was sucking out drama, it was him.
「Come with me if you wanna know. We’ll take it outside, like a proper fight!」
He beckoned me, before turning his back and beginning to walk, whistling a tune that I wanted to say contained the lyrics “Head Cha-la” somewhere in the song proper.
I looked to the two girls on the floor, lying there in a disheveled heap. Uninjured, but clearly unable to fight.
If he got past these two terrifying prospects with no trouble, then I was almost certainly walking into a defeat of my own.
“...Sleep tight.”
If that was the case, then so be it. Letting this insane version of me run around to wreak havoc was not an option.
“Big bro’s got this one.”
And as bouncy and whimsical a guy he seemed, I couldn't keep him waiting now, let alone stand him up.
I stepped through what used to be the wall of my house, followed him into the open.
We didn't talk much on the way there. That wasn't to say it was for his lack of trying, either. Every few steps, he would say something about 「This town looks exactly the same」 or 「Check out that chick on the bike, that leather jacket is so hot」 or 「Wah, why so cold again, Me-chan?」, and each time I would only offer either a grunt or a quick, three-words maximum answer.
I could tell he liked to talk. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of a good conversation, because I was firmly convinced he did not need not deserve an inch more from me than he'd already gotten.
「Hey, Me-chan, Me-chan! What about that field in front of our lonely Valentine’s Day Bench? I bet that'll be free!」
I sputtered, and if I had a drink I’d have probably spewed it out in surprise.
“Wh-what the hell are you talking about?!”
An inch more he had. Turning to me with wide, tearful eyes, the smaller boy grabbed me by the shoulders.
「You don't know? Really? Could it be that one of us isn’t hopeless with girls?! I'm—
I’m so—」
What.
「
I’M SO PROUHOUHOUHOUD OF YOOOOOOU! ME-CHAN, YOU REALLY ARE THE BETTER OF US!」
Why is my enemy, who took childish glee in taunting me and bringing harm upon my family, who I was only walking with to take our very-much still active fight to a more open place, blubbering into my chest like he was
none of those things?
“Umm.”
I didn't even know how to break it to him that he was wrong. I could only find it in me to wriggle free from his grip.
Ugh.
「Aaah… I'm sorry, I just got a little hysterical knowing there’s hope for a Luke out there like me.」
He wiped his face with a sleeve, before smiling again and returning to that shrug, one eye closed in a wink that carried no hint of good nature whatsoever.
「That’ll just make it all the better when I
screw you good.」
Uh. Context: He was referring to his weapons of choice.
Unless I was into that kind of thing, he added, in which case, ew, I was even kinkier than he was and needed to lay off the BL doujins.
I didn't dignify it with a response.
He chuckled, and reiterated. Hearing that guy’s laugh was about as pleasant as taking a Louisville to a sack of kittens, by the way.
「I’m not good with words much, y’know. Not like you. I got a 33 in Language last year!」
E-Even I managed a 71!
With some extra credit…
「But what I wanted to say was, it's going to make it that much sweeter when I take someone talented and lucky like you down.」
“You’ll have to kill me. Good luck trying.”
He chuckled again as we strode past the Bench that Most Certainly Had Neither Name nor Special History Attached to It In Any Way.
「That’s the first time anybody my age has ever wished me luck! And with such a cool line, too, I can't wait to hear it in the anime.」
“What, we’re getting adapted?”
「Yep! By Studio DEEN!」
I glared at him. I didn't care how bad his luck was, I'm not letting them near me!
“Then our show is gonna suck!”
「Hey! Don't bully them!」 my alternate fired back, taking his spot in the conveniently empty section of field. 「And, maybe if the source material wasn't so bland with you and this world full of huntsman heroes doing huntsman hero things, you'd have the budget and clout to bring in someone good! Like A-1 Pictures!」
This
guy.
I scoffed.
“What, you want everyone to have the same face as Kirito?”
He made a 「bleh」 sort of expression, but stood his ground as I took mine, staring him down.
「It’s not that bad if you ignore him… Fine, what about…」
He puzzled it over.
「Toei!」
“Have you
seen Dragon Ball Super? Whatever we are, we aren't a big enough show for it anyway.”
「Dogakobo?」
“We aren't cute girls doing cute things.”
「KyoAni?」
“We aren't moe enough. They wouldn't take the risk, or want to pain their animators to do this.”
「I’m super moe! Fine, Trigger!」
“I love them, but I thought we were talking about
having a budget here.”
「Madhouse.」
“Not enough action. Send them to BASL.”
「Bones?」
“See Madhouse.”
「Sunrise!」
“We’re neither mechs nor comedic nor idols.”
「Arrgh! Gainax, Gainax!」
“After Anno and Imaishi left with their respective teams, I don't even know what’s left of them. Do they still exist?”
「Shaft!」
“As much as I enjoy a broken neck, I don't think we’re trippy or meta enough. I bet they're
still not done with Kizu.”
「That’s why I'm here! I bring Meta like nobody’s business! Roosterteeth!」
That
had to be a joke.
“Weren't we getting an
anime adaptation?”
「Not if you keep bullying these studios like this
REEEEEEEEE!」
Not once did his stepford grin drop. A screw appeared from thin air in his hand, and I took my cue to rein the conversation back in.
“I'll ask again: Why are you here?”
「Well, simply put? I dunno. Might have been sent here for some reason, but I figured I wouldn't sweat the details, you know?」
“Sent here? You mean from another dimension?”
I had some strange maybe-experiences with that myself…
「Yeah! Man, you're annoyingly sharp! Comparing myself to you, I come out the loser every time!」
He smiled a little wider, a purely malicious action. “
And I hate (you) it.”
Woah, what was
that?“Did you just drop that speech pattern there?”
「Eh, a slip. Nothing too major. A-ny-ways, I'm from a world that's pretty similar to yours! In fact, it's practically the same!」
“So a parallel universe…” I began to pry. If he liked to talk, I needed to know what I was dealing with.
Purely battle strategy.
“What jobs did Mom and Dad have?”
「Cop and Huntress.」
“Any sisters?”
「Two, just like you!」
“
And you still attacked them?!”
「If they were mine, I would have anyway. Not my fault.」
Breathe. Woosah. I began to circle warily.
“What schools did you go to?”
He dutifully rattled off all the schools I'd attended before Beacon, and asked why I felt like playing 20 questions instead of fighting.
“Because I do, just answer them. In your first year of high school, di--”
「Easy there, Me-chan. That's a painful memory you're bringing up for us both, and you know it.」
“... But did it--”
「Refuse.」
“Please?”
「Denied.」
I grimaced. That… That
might have been the split I was looking for. While it was a bad time for me too, even setting me down the hopeless path that encompassed most of my high school career, I still pulled through in the end and got to where I was today, right?
What stopped him from reaching the same conclusion?
「I’ll throw you a bone, Me-chan, if you let it lie. This is a pretty good offer from a villain like me, after all! I’ll warn you though, I’ll
never forgive you if you turn me down!」
I was surprised that someone so carefree was willing to bite the bullet and bargain with me over it. Was it really the same event after all?
Maybe his version took a much more painful turn.
Or maybe, I’d buried the pain more than I had realized…
“Alright.”
He already wasn’t forgiving me once over for earlier, so I figured it best to not push my luck and take what I could get.
「Good thinking! Anyways, I’ll tell it straight, since we’ve already got too much fat to trim from the story as-is, Me-chan. Any more, and people will get bored and stop reading!」
So hurry it up.
「I’ll tell you this much about it: That was how I got my Semblance. I dunno if it’s how you got yours, but that’s the story for me.」
“That damage negation?”
My eyes narrowed. How did that incident get him to the point of wiping it all away like that, especially since he obviously had such a vendetta left?
「Close! You’re on the right track, Me-chan, but I’m not gonna give you the satisfaction of figuring it out on your own.」
He beckoned me over.
「It’s a secret, so I can’t say it too loud.」
I took a half step forward and leaned in—
Something huge and metallic swelled in my vision. Not a foot in front of my face— a screw. It flew from his hand with ridiculous, arrow-like velocity, forcing me to drop awkwardly to the grass with barely a hair’s breadth of clearance.
He just tried to sucker-punch me with one of those things!「Ah, maaaan! Reflexes at a knife’s edge? You’ve got no notion of fair play.」
“I’m training for the Vytal Tournament! Of course I’m gonna avoid lethal attacks like no tomorrow!”
「Vytal, huh? Of course. You must be adding up so many positives if you’re making a serious run at it…」
I raised my guard, as the screw was replaced in his hands. I could sense, instinctively, that we were about to get rolling again.
「But that’s the thing, Me-chan. Where you’re a Plus—」
I settled into a stance, ready to keep mobile. As I had been taught long ago, I remembered the most important thing when reading someone else. Eyes on their
body, not their face. This way I had a better read on what they were doing—
And I didn’t have to look in those blank grey pools of his.
「I’m a MINUS!」
His weight shifted an impossibly tiny bit, and before I knew it he was already sending his second screw downrange at me.
But before I knew it, I was also moving, sidestepping this one completely. Far be it from him to let me pause for even a moment, however, because I was soon reduced to dodging, dipping, ducking, diving, and dodging in a dead sprint across the field.
And from within, he never let up with his rant either.
「Some people are different! Pluses are full of positivity, and Minuses the ones full of negativity! You may be all about human strength, know how to dodge, and be able to heal…」
What the hell was he on about? Was this some sort of philosophy I slept through in literature class?
Abruptly, a screw appeared from the wrong direction. Perpendicular to the others, hitting an almost-blind spot, and more than corrected for my course.
I planted my foot in the ground, twisting with every ounce I had. This was going to be tight…
Too tight.
In fact, it gouged deep into my shoulder.
“Hrrgk!”
I spun around to complete the twist—
And he was in my face instantaneously, forcing me to grab his two screw-shaped hand spears with a hand and an armpit before they could stab into me too.
「But I’m a champion of human weakness! Even if you can dodge, I can
aim! If you can heal, I can
hurt! And if you create,」
We struggled for a moment, jockeying for control of the weaponry. I was slightly more muscularly built, and had been put through grueling amounts of strength training in preparation for such moments—
「I’ll always
destroy!」
But he didn’t take my superior physical capability and leave it there without at least three grains of salt, instead driving a knee in my gut that winded me, just as I had breathed in.
「Lying, cheating, stealing, anything goes in our world! Those of us without talent need it to take down the elites, after all!」
We broke apart, and I gasped for breath, mind racing. He wasn’t having any of that, and immediately chased me down with a kick to the neck.
「People like you are holding us back!」
He clubbed me over the head with the heavy end of the screw, and I pulled back just enough to barely not see stars as pin and blood both blossomed across my brow.
「You take advantage of our happy foolishness!」
He drove a screw straight into my shoulder, robbing me of an arm to block with until I got rid of it.
Easier said than done, with the way he kept coming at me!
「Heroes always rise to greatness by treading on the backs of their lessers!」
A punch straight to the nose made my eyes water and my vision flash white for a second.
I staggered back, ripping out the screw while he covered the space I’d put between us. Blood came pouring freely as a result, but that thankfully meant less than nothing to me.
Open wounds heal more easily than closed.
Granted, any inflicted by his screws seemed to be healing abnormally fast, even by my standards…
「So why not tear the whole thing down? You can’t possibly call it
just when it’s like that, right, Me-chan?」
I saw the black blur rushing towards me and dove sideways, tucking into a roll for maximum distance.
For a guy ranting about being a liar and a cheat, he sure came straight forward a lot…
「Oi, oi! This isn’t Dark Souls! I-frame abuse is the kind of thing that makes people like me happen, you know!」
“You’re right…”
I shifted my stance by a factor of millimeters, lowering my center of gravity in preparation. I’d need to time this perfectly, so the less steps I had to go through, the better. The more time I needed to execute, the smaller my window would be.
Would you look at me, I thought wryly as I waved him in, all of a sudden talking like I’m some sort of expert.
He obliged me again with a manic look on his face, launching forward at a speed that almost looked closer to flying than a powerful dash. And yet…
I could see it coming. Even as he ate up the ground between me, spurred on by both my open challenge and solid stance, I saw it coming. He knew I wasn’t going anywhere.
Just a little closer…
I made a minor adjustment.
I wasn’t planning on it anyway. I wanted him to come at me. With everything he had.
And from what I had seen, despite his talking a big game of underhanded tactics, he would earnestly give me what I was begging for.
He thrust the point of that screw straight for my eyeball--
NOW!“I’ll abuse your
momentum!”
With precision halfway achieved through constant practice and halfway plain dumb luck with my timing, my left hand lashed out even faster and caught his wrist in an iron grip as it came in. In an even more insane-sounding action, I stepped in and twisted, presenting my back fully to an attacking opponent—
But one that was already overextended and overcommitted to his attack, now far too close to adjust. I had already lowered my center of gravity by getting my hips below his, so when I grabbed the base of his arm with my right, I had positional advantage in doing so. Whomever has the lower and sturdier base wins, and flying at me like that…
It was a gimme.
His charge carried him directly to me, and I capitalized with all I had. My grips on the arm locked, I wrenched down, turning the entire outstretched limb into a lever—
And lifted my hips into his with a short, bursting motion, knocking his already off-balance base all the way out from under him.
He had no control any more. His only point of contact: my leveraging grip, and my shoulders and back.
Which made for a perfect fulcrum.
All these moves, their uses, and placements had been drilled into what was essentially subconscious thought for the past two months.
The end result?
Ippon Seoi Nage.A shoulder throw from hell, send him sailing in a perfect arc over me for what felt like an eternity before all that weight, momentum, and my own downward force sent him crashing into the earth.
The impact sent a small shockwave through both the ground and his body, flowing all the way up into my own arms.
I let go, and he lied there, still. Had I managed to knock him flat out with that? They say if you don’t know how to fall and you get caught by surprise, these can really mess you up…
Panting and feeling like everything was on fire, I tested the waters.
“Had… enough?”
I barely managed to grunt the words out to his prone form between gasps for air, and hardly had the energy to even glare at my downed opponent.
This sensation of tiredness— what the hell was it?
Was this exhaustion from the adrenal dump, or was I still spent from all the exertion earlier? Fighting like this after doing some resistance training, cardio, and trying to
rip this guy’s head off?
Maybe.But… why did everything feel so
dulled, then? What had I done to cause that?
What exactly had I even just done there, for that matter—
!!At that point, I knew something was up. Hardcoded information like that didn’t… just…
I looked down, and through my chest, with a phillips head instead of the usual cross-head, too little pain to make sense, and no bleeding at all, was one of his screws.
W-When did he— While I was throwing him?
「I’m not done,」 he growled, rising to his feet. He stumbled a bit, too. Was his aura running low?
This was probably, aside from the one burst before, that I’d heard him address me in a tone that wasn’t faux-friendliness.
「Not yet.」
On shaky, worn legs, he stalked forward, balling his hand up into a fist.
「I'm not done with you yet. You and I are finally
even now!」
I could only manage a blank, confused look.
Even? What did he mean, “even”?
His march completed, Minus stared straight into my soul with baleful eyes —
And belted me in the face.
For clarity’s sake, it wasn’t like I was caught completely off guard. Intellectually, I knew the punch was probably coming. Visually, I could see the initial motions of it coming.
But, physically, I couldn’t react to it coming. The eyes to see it in full, the sheer speed available, both had left me.
That was the dullness. Reflexes, senses, physical capability— everything I had spent agonizing hours upon hours of honing to a very fine point had been dulled.
No, not
dulled. Blunted outright. If I had to estimate, I was operating at 50% under minimum capacity.
How?!That screw?
Heaving my arms up to block a kick aimed at my head, I growled my dissent and threw a slow, awkward punch back.
It connected, but he grit his teeth and returned it to me. I did likewise, and we were soon drawn into a sloppy brawl.
Blows of all types, punches, kicks, knees, even the odd elbow, all we smashed straight into each other’s guards and faces. They weren't pretty, or clean, but they came straight through and without pause from either of us.
A slugfest where the only thing in contest was will and grit. The kind of fight where it wasn't a measure of who was better, but of who would break first.
「That look always--gets me!」 He stated, throwing a punch halfway through the sentence as if to surprise me. 「You have no idea what’s happening to you, do you?」
“It's pretty clear that you--” a laborious kick of my own, in the same sentence-interrupting style. “Did
something!”
「Heh…」
His grin took a different turn, now making him look like some sort of shark.
「You're right. That's the last bits of my Semblance afflicting you. Which reminds me--」
We traded crosses to the chin, both knocking eachother back on wobbly legs and rubbing our jaws from the impact.
Even my recovery was slowed at an alarming rate. I could feel it still being there, but I knew I couldn't rely on it like I could before. Just like my skills. Just like my knowledge.
Could I rely on
anything?
I felt…
abandoned.
「I was gonna play nice and tell you what it is, wasn't I?」
“I've been wondering for a while now…”
In spite of myself, I admitted it frankly.
「It's called Imaginary Numbers! It lets me erase things instantly, like they never even happened. Your rampage, for example.」
“...So you weren't repairing the damage?” I cautiously ventured.
「Nope, I erased it's very existence. It's all fiction now.」
I swallowed, processing this newest information.
If his semblance was erasure, then…
!!“Th-Then this screw is--!”
「Pff. I'm not that lucky.」 He stated. 「That's one of my special applications I came up with, true. It's something I've always liked to call
Bookmaker.」
He jabbed a thumb to his chest. 「I've removed any differences between your state and mine. Your heart, skill, power, technique, all of them are on my level now. That screw is a conduit of everything that makes me who I am straight to your soul. I haven’t attacked your body, I’ve attacked your heart itself.」
So that's what he meant. He wasn't getting even with me, he was evening the playing field.
「Unfortunately…」 he continued, 「I’m not too skilled with Aura and all that, and it’s hard to erase something that people hold onto so strongly as who they are. So,」
He threw up that
what-can-you-do shrug.
「I guess you caught a lucky break. If you can get that screw out, or get it to go away by knocking me out, you’ll be back to your normal Vytal-ready self.」
That was a relief to hear, but there was something about it that didn’t sit right with me. Well, nothing about it did, but something in particular about the line of our conversation.
“Why?”
「Why what, Me-chan?」
“Why tell me that?”
「Because it doesn’t matter, Me-chan.」 he responded, as though it were the most simple thing in the world.
「It doesn’t matter if you know or not, because one way or another, you’d have figured it out.」
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He wiped the sweat from his forehead, prompting me to do the same.
「Haven’t you been paying attention, Me-chan?」 he said in a chiding tone. 「
Nothing ever goes my way. That’s a Minus’s life. For those of us trodden on, beaten down, and cast out, it’s something we have to accept and fight through.」
“...I can understand that.”
「You really think you can? When you’re so surprised at seeing the world through my eyes, walking two feet in my shoes? I doubt it, Me-chan.」
Well…
Maybe. He may have had a point there. If this was how the world was to him, dull, lifeless, and grey, I couldn’t understand. If he really was alone like this, if he really was burnt to bitterness like this, if he was so down on his luck that he had to put on a cool front to just get by, I couldn’t understand.
Even at my lowest point in my long 18 years on the planet, I didn’t think I could have understood this. I shut myself off, but never wanted to strike back like he had. I told myself that the winning move of the game was to not play, but he decided to tear the whole thing down.
Why was that?
“Then help me.”
I couldn’t understand it, but because of his sneak attack, because of his Bookmaker, I could feel what was there. This massive, almost painless screw in my chest was, more than anything, a window inside his head.
And I wanted to know how he got there, because I could feel that he, at some point,
was me too.
He blinked.
「Huh?」
“Tell me why you keep doing this. Why you continue to fight on if everything’s beating you down. Why you play the villain when you want the world to be just. Help me understand. Without putting on any airs or wearing any masks.”
Even if you’ll want to die pulling it off. Even if it’s extremely painful for you.
“Just this once, tell yourself plainly.”
「...」
His mouth set into a firm line and his hands balled into whiteknuckled fists.
He looked at me with eyes that were no longer empty.
He looked at me pridefully.
Angrily.
Remorsefully.
Determinedly.And in a voice that carried no hint of the two-faced, almost sarcastic nonchalance from earlier, he spoke.
“There are some people who can get away with whatever they want in this world. People who have the masses at their backs, people who can impart their mark on everyone else without a care in the world. You want to know why I wanna force-feed them some justice of my own?”
He took a deep breath.
“Because I wanna beat them.”
…
Well how about that?
“Even though I’m not cool, or strong, or just, or kind, cute, or pretty, I wanna beat the strong, just, kind, cute, and pretty people.”
His voice shook with an unidentifiable emotion, but carried on.
“Even though I wasn’t blessed with talent, even though I’m stupid and have a bad personality, even though I’m not studious and am misguided, I wanna beat the talented, smart, good-natured, and overachievers of the world.”
“I wanna beat those with friends when I have no friends.”
“I wanna beat the hard workers when I
suck at working hard.”
“I wanna beat the born winners when
I can’t win to save my life.”
“I wanna beat the happy people when I’m flat-out
miserable!”
“
Even if I’m hated! Even if I’m despised! Even if I’m useless!”
He was practically shouting now, coming to a crescendo that tore straight from his soul.
“I WANNA PROVE THAT I’M BETTER THAN THE MAIN CHARACTERS!”His words hung in the air, as he panted and I regarded him in a new light.
And then the evening wind blew through, and I responded to his feelings.
“I get it.”
“You don’t.”
“
I do.”
His eyes dared me to back up my claim.
“Did you forget those two monsters you Bookmakered before I found you? Did you forget when I told you I was training for the Vytal tournament? Did you forget that
we’re the same person at our cores?”
“...”
“I know what it’s like to be surrounded by
monsters. Every single day, I wonder what I’m even doing there at Beacon, whether I’m cut out to become a Hunter, if I’m smart enough, or strong enough, or even hard enough of a worker to walk amongst them.”
“That doesn’t--”
“I know what it means to want to prove yourself worthy! I know what it means to struggle every day! I know what it means to lie to yourself, and I know what it means to try and hide the pain of grinding on! I'm doing it every day, just like you!”
“What about justice?!” he countered, “What about fighting for the people who have nobody else to fight for them, fighting for people who
can’t fight on their own?! What about every outcast
just like us, huh?! The people
nobody ever tries to save! How is becoming one of the elites going to help with that?!”
“I’m becoming a Hunter,” I answered, stepping forward and feeling, for what felt like the first time in an eternity, a fire in my heart once more. “So I can save
whoever the hell I want! Whether people want them to be saved or not! Whether they’re worth being saved or not! Whether
they want to be saved or not!”
I stabbed the air with my index finger, almost like I was trying to send it straight into his chest.
“
Even if they’re a guy like you, Lucas Schwarz.”
"Saving me... saving people who don't want to be saved..."
He snickered, raising his fists one final time.
“You’re so adamant about saving, huh? You’re a real selfish guy, you damn Plus. Didn’t our uncle ever tell you that people can only save themselves, anyway?”
I mirrored him, even letting out a wry chuckle of my own. He had a point. I could only help most people, even as a Hunter, but...
“Yeah, I’m as egocentric as Greed himself. But if there’s one person I can really save, it’s gotta be me, right?”
We charged forward, cocking our fists for all we were worth.
“So grit those teeth, you Minus bastard…”
And get ready to crawl back up from here.
“Because no matter how long it takes,
I’m gonna save you too!”
We met at the center of the field, and threw with every fiber of our being. We each knew the other had nothing, or next to nothing left, and banked the weight of our ideologies, our hopes, our dreams, our goals, and our very identities on one punch apiece. Everything came down to this.
His arm and mine came within practically a hair’s breadth of colliding before
slamming into eachother’s cheeks, the impact rattling both of us to the very core. What a perfect way to end a fight like this, in hindsight—
A cross counter.
We stood there for a moment, locked in place, neither man willing to deny himself and all he stood for victory--
And then we both dropped. I fell to a knee, while he slumped and crashed unceremoniously flat onto his back.
「Aaaah, dammit!」 he said with a content smile on his face, and tears welling up in his eyes. 「It’s my loss, and I'm happy about it! What the hell is this?」
So he was back to his normal self, huh?
I looked down, intending to look him in the eyes, but stopped halfway.
The screw in my chest was corroding. Rusting away at an extreme rate, falling apart before my very eyes—
And then it was gone, and the world returned to its full color.
「It seems that once again, I couldn't win.」
Thank god.
Now all that was left was a long, long rest.
When I woke up, I woke up to stars.The moon was rising, and the sun had long since left the sky, and the dark canvas was pockmarked with twinkling white specks. Not even a trace of the golden-red light that had painted the battlefield we'd chosen.
...I had to have been out for a couple of hours, at least, then!
My eyes widened—
And I noticed the figure watching over me, with an expression on her face I couldn’t quite read.
“Bianca?”
“Luke.” she responded neutrally.
“Welcome back.”“I take it I didn’t need to come give you a ride?” I ventured, content to lie there a little longer.
I think I saw her snicker.
“Well, it’d have been nice, but I think you showing up with hair as white as mine would make me think I lost it a bit.”“M-My hair’s white?”
Had Bookmaker not worn off yet?
For that matter, was Minus still around?!
I bolted upright, head on an alert swivel.
This time, there was no mistaking her laugh.
“Relax, relax. It’s back to normal. You’ll have to show me how you got the color to fade back in like that, though!”“Mm.”
I couldn’t find a trace. The screws, the gouges in the earth, even my wounds and the tears in my clothing—
All gone. Like they were all fiction. Like the damages were measured with imaginary numbers.
“So, what were you doing out here that was so important you ignored five calls, anyway?” she asked with what I was halfway sure was an imitation accusatory tone.
Standing up and dusting myself off, I still mumbled my apologies to be on the safe side.
“Sorry, just…”
I couldn’t really tell her I fought an alternate universe version of myself, could I? There was no way something so outlandish would even for a moment be believed by anyone, so as regrettable as it was, I couldn’t tell the truth.
...Or maybe I could.
“Just thinking about the tournament some more. Why I’m entering with you guys, what I can do to make myself better… who my worst enemy in it will be.”
“And?” she said expectantly.
“Who’d you come up with?”One more test, huh?
Well tough luck, Miss Nuit. I just had a cram session the likes of which you’d never believe. One that told me more about myself than what I was working towards. One that I desperately needed to keep me in the game. One that told me where I came from, and where I could have gone.
“I think it’s myself.”
“Ha!” she cried, clapping me on the back approvingly.
“I’m glad you realized!”And as we walked back, making light, somewhat tired conversation, I couldn’t agree more.
Cherrytree,
RPM,
Hibachi90,
tadcfnaf,
Blair,
Raineh Daze,
Plank Sinatra,
cosmiccowgirl,
sillykins