Even though Alex received the beating of his life, he decided to go to school anyway. He kept thinking how did the Hairy Hulk know his name. Of course, Dr. Watson or someone else could have told him, but that still doesn't explain why he deliberately went only after him.
It was as if he was fueled by anger, hatred, and rage. Alex was lost in thought and didn't pay much attention to his surroundings when he bumped into someone.
'Watch it.'
'Sorry, Hikaru.'
Hikaru gave a threatening look and went away. Hikaru sure has been acting weird.
'I-I'm sorry, Hikaru.'
'Can't you see where you're going?'
Hikaru had been acting strangely ever since the concert incident. To put it simply, he became rougher. Something inside him changed or rather snapped. Hikaru was a well-dressed, well-spoken, and polite guy.
But lately, his hair is all distorted. He had bags under his eyes as if he was awake all night and gave out an aggressive vibe. He had become tired like he was sleep-deprived.
It was actually his fault for bumping into Alex, but the coarseness of his tone made Alex apologize.
Today was the chemistry lab period. Hikaru was more sleep-deprived today than the other days, and it had Alex concerned. The students were paired up and started experiments in the lab. Since Hikaru was a genius, he could use any chemical he wanted and do his own experiments.
He was busy mixing and making unusual compounds and ingredients while Alex watched him with the corner of his eyes.
He then picked up a hazardous chemical, his partner had no idea what Hikaru was doing, but Alex did. The slightest mistake could be lethal.
'Um…Hikaru, maybe you shouldn't mess around with that today, just to be safe.'
Alex said it with a kind voice. And when he said that he meant ethanol, which Hikaru was about to pour on potassium permanganate mixed with concentrated sulphuric acid. Those who love chemistry know that this won't end well. This mixture is highly flammable when mixed with even a little ethanol.
'No one asked you.'
Hikaru sharply replied and proceeded. His hand squeezed the dropper and poured more than he had intended. This caused an extremely exothermic reaction and exploded, breaking many beakers.
Hikaru had a breaker of ethanol, and it caught fire. Soon other chemicals that could also burn helped the fire grow, causing the sprinklers to turn on. The lab was immediately evacuated.
Hikaru was at fault, but the school excused him since no casualties were caused. Him being a genius also helped. The incident was simply regarded as an accident.
Hikaru was advised bed rest as he showed signs of physical weakness. He was appointed to a doctor by the school. As he went outside of the school, he took out the slip where the appointment was written and threw it on the ground.
--Maybe that night did more mental damage than physical damage.
Alex decided to follow Hikaru. He thought Hikaru was heading home and wanted to tail him just in case something happens.
Hikaru was on the route to his apartment, but unpredictably, changed directions, going into the city. Alex was curious to know where he was going.
Hikaru kept walking and arrived at a clothing shop. He went inside and changed his clothes, buying new ones. He bought a new pair of jeans with a hoodie and walked out, completely changing his appearance.
'What is going on in his mind?'
Alex kept on tailing Hikaru. He kept walking and arrived at a local library. After thoroughly checking if anybody he knew was around, inside and out, he stepped in.
He sat at an empty table and waited there motionlessly. Alex went inside the library and saw an employee's uniform. He changed into them to blend in and began stacking books on the shelves.
Hikaru patiently sat there for half an hour. Finally, another person wearing the same hood he did came and sat on the table's opposite side. They talked in a low voice. Alex wanted to know what they were talking about but couldn't risk getting closer.
He feared the guy he was talking to might be a drug dealer, and Hikaru had picked up a destructive habit.
The closest he could get was 5 meters, behind a bookshelf. He thought about what he could do, and an idea sprung into his mind. He grabbed a pen and some papers and got behind the nearest bookshelf. He pulled aside a book to peek through.
He wasn't able to see Hikaru's full face but saw his lips moving. That was enough for him. He had recently learned how to lip-sync, and it was time to put it to use. He copied Hikaru's lip movement and wrote down what he thought he said.
That was only half of the conversation.
The conversation was very confusing and kept taking unexpected twists and turns. Despite it being only half of the dialogue, Hikaru said some words he shouldn't have.
--Maybe I'm interpreting it wrong.
After roughly 15 minutes of talking, the hooded man got up and left the library. The final sentence that Hikaru said was very confusing.
--Did he just say, Watson?
Alex had to wait till night to get the other half.
When the night arrived, he called Jason, asking him to get the footage of that library toady. Jason got him that in 5 minutes. Alex looked at the different cameras and found the one which covered the section where Hikaru was.
He forwarded it to when the hooded man came and zoomed in enough to barely see the lips movement. He repeated the same procedure and copied the lips movement writing what he understood.
The conversation was now complete.
'You know you can't do that, Hikaru.'
'I'll do whatever I want. It's all so I could destroy him.'
'Be that as it may, you cannot stay in that form for too long, or else you will start to lose intelligence.'
'I know that.'
'Also, the transformation serum and the reverse serum both take 30 minutes to lose their effect. If you inject them after 30 minutes, they won't work.'
'I don't care.'
'I do. It's a pain to make the serum again. You must not do that again.'
'But last night felt so good. I was crushing and smashing him, he was so weak.'
'Yes, you obtained magnificent results.'
'But… I don't want to kill anyone. I just want to be with her.'
'Don't worry. If he is not here, she will be yours.'
'But I don't want to win her over this way….You did say I can pull out anytime I want.'
'Of course, You can leave whenever you want.'
'The transformation does have some nasty side effect. The final exams are coming. If I…if I beat him there, then I won't need to use the serum.'
'We only want your benefit. You can leave if you beat him in the final exams, but if you don't…'
'I know that's why I am here.'
'Well, I think we have chatted for long enough, goodbye, Hikaru.'
'Goodbye, Dr. Watson.'
Later that night...
'Hey Jason, I think we might have found out who our Hairy Hulk is.'
'Meet me tomorrow.'