The Untouchable Dame.
A Platinum - Level Hero.
Trista.
That white existence came down to Haze as if she was walking on invisible stairs. That gait of hers bewitched Haze as he was still staring at the white figure.
Yuna, who was near Harue, also felt the strong presence that she could not ignore. She was trying to concentrate on that figure but all she could make out was a blurry white fluff floating down slowly.
It was undoubtedly because that Yuna did not have her glasses on. It was lost when she got hit by the terrorist.
"Is....it over?"
Harue, who was getting help from the SMF soldier, called out to him.
"Yes. Now hold on to me. I'm going to carry you to the paramedics. They will tend to your wounds."
As he was lifted by the soldier, he felt relieved and tired.
"...Ah.....is that so?..."
He was given a piggyback ride by the soldier. Yet, the slender arms that wrapped around the soldier's neck slowly lost grip.
The soldier also realized that but it was too late to retain his arms. He was about to fall backwards and hit his head first on the concrete floor.
Even Yuna, with her blurry visions, could sense the danger that Harue was in. She hurriedly tried to catch Harue's upper body however they did not make contact.
His body stood still in midair, as if his upper body was laying on something. The soldier still locked Harue's feet in his arms so it was okay for now.
"Be careful with the hostage."
A muffled feminine voice reached out to the soldier that was holding Harue's legs. The soldier twisted his head to that voice's direction, only to be met with the female hero.
He carefully put Harue on the ground and saluted the white-dressed hero briefly, thanking her for the little help she gave. He then re-lifted Harue in a princess carry style, which was safer since Harue was unconscious.
Yuna watched the soldier and Harue exiting the building and she wanted to do the same, but not before expressing her gratitude to the heroes.
"U-Umm...Thank you very much for saving us."
Yuna felt grateful to them as she bowed perfectly.
"Yes little girl, now go to the paramedics and treat your wounds if you have any."
The white female hero, Trista, responded with a low but firm voice. The stoic silver mask was kind of intimidating which was further enhanced by the deep voice.
"Y-Yes, ...it is just that I have...a small favour."
"Hmm?"
"If you don't mind...then can you help me find my.....black spectacles? I kind of lost them."
Yuna made a wry face to a hero, who are suppose to fight villains, to search for her spectacles. She felt uncomfortable to demand such a request to a Hero so she was thinking of retracting her favour.
"Is it this one?"
Nonetheless, Haze was quicker than Yuna as he already was holding onto a spectacle.
Before even Yuna talked to Trista, he noticed that Yuna was squinting her eyes as she was asking for aid. Haze immediately understood the problem that Yuna had so he went to where she was previously caught by the crazy terrorist.
Amongst the small rubbles, he found it but it was cracked on one side. It couldn't be helped because she was caught in such a violent act.
"Thank you very much! For the spectacle and for saving me. Thank you very much again."
Yuna bowed twice as she received the damaged black spectacles.
"Sorry that I could not return it to you unscathed."
"It is not a problem Hero-sama."
Yuna wore her spectacle and bowed one last time before leaving the mall. Only those two Heroes and some SMF soldiers were in this huge spacious place.
"I surrender."
2 SMF soldiers pointed their special assault rifles to one of the terrorists who was still alive but injured.
It was Bigoko who was smirking at the dark blue-uniformed men. He was handcuffed and led to the outside of the mall.
"Hey! Be careful with me! Treat me like a girl!
Bigoko jestingly complained to the SMF but the soldiers ignored his playful attitude which did not break up till his arrest. It was like Bigoko was not even injured.
The crazy terrorist who had powers was transported in a stretcher. He was bound by some sturdy strings to prevent him from escaping in case he was to wake up suddenly.
Haze darted a look at them. Retracting his quick glance, he came in front of Trista with casual steps and bowed.
"Trista-san, thank you for your help. Without your intervention, that hostage would have been killed."
"....."
Haze was indebted to Trista's last-second involvement and he was thankful to her judging by his docile tone. But what he was met was a deep and professional-like voice.
"Your codename."
"Haze."
"Rank?"
"Silver." He replied instantly and unhesitantly.
"...For a Silver, you did a decent job."
"Thank you very much."
Haze was surprised by Trista's remark. He thought he would be rebuked due to that mistake that led to Yuna being almost killed.
He was relieved in his head but that was short-lived.
"I was watching from above and.....do you want me to point out your faults?"
Haze was silent but he did not get upset. He willingly wanted to get advice from his Senpai since they are in the same profession. Trista has without a doubt, the most experience than Haze.
"Please do."
"First of all. Your awareness of your surroundings. With your power, it is understandable that you are not that troubled when there are a handful of enemies. But there are civilians who are near where you are fighting, so you need to be extremely vigilant. Is that clear?"
"Yes."
Trista's tone did not sound like she was scolding him.
"Second of all. Do you really need to do that little gesture of hand to manipulate water?"
"....It looks cool."
Haze scratched the back of his blue mask as he embarrassingly replied.
"It would be a lot cooler to not do it because the enemies won't know when exactly you are launching an attack or do other water manipulation. Try to avoid that."
"...Yes."
It seemed like Trista was using Haze's way of talking against himself. Trista did not get surprised or a little bit shocked by Haze's unexpected absurd answer.
The flow of conversation went into Trista's way.
"Third of all. Your water barrier. It crumbled before even all of the hostages escaped."
"Umm, about that. The water barrier broke down because I used my power to combat the group of terrorists."
"You cannot manipulate water for two or more purposes simultaneously?"
"No..."
"Then practise multitasking. Practice makes perfect. If you progress, increase the number of multi-tasks and on a larger scale."
"Yes."
Some ideas for improvement popped up into Haze's mind. Instead of berating Haze for not being able to achieve such a feat, Trista just gave her guidance to accomplish this objective.
"Finally, your cockiness."
"...Sorry?"
"Your overly-confident behaviour that you addressed to those terrorists, you need to fix that. I understand that young Heroes like you want to look awesome and badass."
"....."
"There was no need to do extravagant moves like that roundhouse kick that sent the terrorist flying to one of the fleeing hostages."
Haze lowered his head a bit which now sounded like Trista was rebuking for his mistakes.
"You could have just drowned him like you did with the other terrorists. Did you feel like you wanted this fight to be a bit more dramatic since he is the Boss? Unnecessary actions will endanger other people and yourself."
"..."
If Trista was following Haze's thought process, then she was right on about that. That is why Haze was quiet.
"Well anyway, I hope that this will never happen."
Trista's normal deep voice returned, meaning that she was no longer lecturing him harshly.
"I will do my best, Trista-san!"
He bowed slightly and retained his sight to his senior.
They were both at the same eye level so they both stood straight and looked at each other.
"I am still inexperienced but I will climb the ladder with hard work and polish myself."
"..."
A few moments of silence surrounded those two as the SMF in the background were doing their final check on the dead terrorists and civilians.
She turned around to exit the mall but not without replying to Haze in a voice which was the least impassive she talked in front of him.
"Do your best."
She went out of Haze's sight, leaving Haze in a daze. She was one of the promising Heroes in Japan.
A Platinum - Level Female Hero, dressed in all white and wore a silver mask. There was only one.
To Haze, he admired such individual. She is also a good Senpai to him as she did not reprimand his mistakes to pressurize him, but gave advice on how to reduce the faults he made.
"Aaaa.....It's going to be difficult for me to stop looking cool."
He chuckled as he jokingly mumbled to himself.
The road to being a Hero the world want is still really long for him.
.....
"Harue."
"Yes, Dad!"
"Did you make this?"
"Yes!"
An enthusiastic 9-year-old boy cheerfully replied to his father, who was staring at a dish that the young boy prepared for him.
What was in front of the middle-aged man was an easy to made dish, omelette rice, also typically known as Omurice.
On top of the omelette, was a sloppy sentence that was written by the ketchup.
The middle-aged man looked at the ketchup and tried to read the sentence. But he did not want to read it clumsily or stutter due to the fact he cannot deduce what was written there.
So he took a glance at a middle-aged woman who was watching this scene. Noticing the man's sight, she smiled and informed him voicelessly about the sloppy writing. The man thanked her by giving her a small wink.
The young Harue seemed to have not noticed their small interaction because he was too impatient on wanting his father to try his cooking out.
A spoon in the hands of Harue's father made him anxious and restless.
One scoop and the spoon had a good portion of the Omurice. He opened his mouth and ate the food. As he was chewing, Harue was expecting for an answer from his father.
His father gulped after finished chewing. It was at this very moment that Harue's uneasiness peaked, waiting for his remark.
A gentle smile plastered on his face as he turned towards the young Harue.
"It is really delicious, Harue."
"Really!!"
An uncontrollable wave of positive emotion was blatantly displayed on that small and cute boy's face.
"You are talented Harue."
".....Dad..."
"And you have a remarkable artistic handwriting with the ketchup."
"...R-Really? Then, did you understand what was written in there?"
Harue was surprised. Even though he was not satisfied with the ketchup part, he still got praised.
To what Harue wanted to confirm, his father wore a genuine smile as he stared into the young boy's eyes.
He spoke with a serene feeling that touched Harue's heart.
"I love you too, Harue."
Harue's eyes slowly became moist as he could not contain all of this emotion that he was flooded with.
He ran and jumped onto his father's arms, embracing him with all his might. Harue's father readily accepted him as he could not make his smile disappear from his wrinkled face.
The middle-aged woman, Harue's mother, watched those two with a grin that could not be helped but appear due to the sight she was seeing.
Harue's face was buried in his father's embrace as tears rolled out his small black eyes.
But as time goes, a screechy noise became louder and louder and louder until it shrouded the whole room.
Then.....
"..."
What he only saw was a white ceiling. He looked to his left and there were medical equipments. He looked to the right and saw other patients.
He struggled to get up but he at least raised his upper body and supported it to the wall behind him.
He looked around and pretty much gathered the information he wanted. He was in a hospital. His bed was near one of the mirrors that could see doctors and other people walking in the corridor.
In that glass itself, he saw a faint reflection of himself. A unique facial feature that rendered him cute.
He is Harue.
He looked down to his body and reminisced about the dream that he had when he was unconscious.
Dreaming of such memory, that made him feel....uneasy. He stared at his white slender hands as he recalled that memory again.
He gritted his teeth as his straight face crumbled to show his true feelings.
That of hate and disgust.
And the words that came out of his mouth, were really not one that suited him.
"...Fucking worthless memories."