Chereads / R;Rebiirth / Chapter 4 - Chapter IV: Clash of Ice

Chapter 4 - Chapter IV: Clash of Ice

Act: 4

As they dashed at each other, clenching their fists tightly, winding up for a striking blow.

*Bam!*

A small gust of wind emits from both fists after pressing up against each other, directly staring one another down.

A small grin can be seen on Taku's face.

He then takes a huge leap backward, gaining distance from Shizu.

"Why'd you back up, ya scared!"

"Tch"

'That punch sure the hell hurts, and my right arm won't stop shaking from it. The time he spent at the Dojo when he was younger sure seems to be paying off, but I ain't losing yet!'

"Me, scared? Hah you sure do have some guts to say that I'll show you why I backed up. My turn to show you what I'm made of."

"Ice Fragment!"

Taku lifts his right hand spreading his fingers out, as a blue Star could be seen appearing in front of his palm and then disappearing, within an instant thick shards of Ice start to materialize and launch off towards Shizu.

"Here's a little trick I learned: let's see how you like it!"

"Oh shit"

Without any hesitation Shizu leaps to his right avoiding the ice and landing on the ground, noticing the ice didn't stop shooting it began to make its way towards him. He stood up without a moment to waste and started running in the opposite direction of where the ice was.

Looking to his right he sees Taku idyll standing, moving his arm in the direction of where he is running trailing behind him.

"Come on Shizu, that all you've got, can't run forever."

'He's right I can't just run but what other choice do I have? I can tell for sure that he's a ranged fighter so if I find a way to zone in on him, I may actually have a chance of winning?'

'If Shizu just plans on running then I have something that can stop him.'

Lifting his left hand, Taku shoots out a much bigger shard of ice in front of Shizu.

"Wait!"

Attempting to stop Shizu slips from the sand beneath his feet causing him to lose balance and fall onto the ground. Looking over at Taku he puts both hands up in a blocking position forced to take the hits of all the ice.

*Slice.*

*Suuick*

Loads of ice continue to fire directly at him, cutting his leg and piercing into his arm. Blood dripped onto the ground as wounds became deeper and deeper.

"Ah-hh!"

"M-my bod-y! It burns!"

"RESURRECTION!"

Lifting his right arm into the air a bright light shines from his hand, leaving part of his chest open for ice to puncture him.

The ice proceeds to stop hitting Shizu as Taku puts his hand down curious about that light, an enormous amount of dust forms blocking his vision of Shizu.

'Just as planned. It was my only shot and it seemed to work.'

"A light..?"

As the dust began to fade away, a spiky shadowy figure launched out at full speed towards him.

"Huh?! Ice Fragment!"

"Do you think that will work on me a second time!"

Right as the shards made their way towards him within a split second, he slid to avoid the attack, putting his left hand out on the ground gliding himself then running towards him in a ducking position.

"How about this!"

"Ice Wall"

Switching from Ice Fragments, Taku puts both of his hands down, then whips them up in a waving motion, summoning a splash of ice in front of Shizu.

Leaping into the air, he avoids the wall of ice that had appeared in front of him. Ripping out three pieces of ice that had been resting in his arm, launching them back at him quite fast.

Avoiding two of the shards, one had punctured Taku in the lower portion of his rib cage.

"Shit, you'll pay for that one! Hitting me with my own ice!"

Panicked, he calls upon a much bigger Ice Wall.

"Don't hide behind your ice now!"

Clenching his fists, Shizu winds his right arm.

Punching the wall of ice, he creates a hole falling towards Taku. Switching hands winding up his left fist to deliver the final blow.

Taku's eyes widened.

'I won't let it end here!'

Falling closer to him, Shizu spins around and punches Taku right in the jaw, launching him a couple of feet back.

*Thud*

"Cough!"

"..."

"...."

Taku stumbles a bit before standing up with bits of blood dripping from his nose.

"..."

"The winner is Taku!"

In the distance, a pillar of ice shaped like a rectangle had been sticking out of the ground with blood tainted on top of it, underneath lies Shizu, unconscious.

The announcer looks over at the knocked-out body.

"Can we get someone to take him off to the health office?"

A familiar voice can be heard in the distance.

"I will take care of him"

A young lady with long pink hair appears before them, picking up Shizu and peacefully walking away.

Squinting with the only functioning eye, Taku is left with a slightly confused look on his face.

'Was that Chisaka Hinako just now?'

- - - -

One hour later.

Regaining a bit of his conscience, Shizu wakes up with a dazed look on his face. Noticing a lady had been passed out on the bed he was sleeping on.

"Zzz-shww"

"Hinako..?"

'She's kind of cute when she's asleep. Wait?! What am I saying, more importantly, I wonder why we're both here..?'

"huh.."

"You're awake!"

Hinako gave off a gentle smile.

Jumping on Shizu and hugging him tightly.

"Ow-w!"

Shizu's face became red.

"They're.. To-ouching me..!"

"You had me so worried, running at him like that was reckless, you could have gotten worse injuries, I'm just glad that you're ok now."

"Sorry for making you worry.."

"I really thought I had it in the bag.. What happened to me?"

"From what I can tell when your punch made contact with his jaw, he released a pillar of ice coming from the ground that had struck you in the face and sent you flying."

"Knocking me out and leaving me in this bed.."

'I wonder how Taku is though.. I hope I didn't hurt him too badly.'

"Question? Has class started yet?"

"Yea, about 30 minutes ago.. I think?"

"I'm going to head back to class, would you mind giving me your hand to help me stand up, Hinako."

Hinako's face slowly turned red.

"Y-ea. Only because you still need to take it easy!"

She quickly grabbed his hand, helping him up off the bed but continued to hold his hand.

"Hey.. you're ok to let g-"

"Hur-ry up!"

They continued holding hands until they made their way back to his class.

Stopping in front of the classroom door, Hinako lets go of his hand.

"So, this is where we depart, I'll cya later Shizuu!"

"bye..?"

Hinako walks away and right as she turns the corner a man stood in front of her with short dark blue hair and glasses.

"Why are you so attached to that boy?"

Her eyes lit up as a sinister grin formed on her face.

"The same reason you are!"

- - - -

Opening the classroom door, he notices Taku sitting at his usual spot with his hand resting on his face.

"Taku? You, ok?"

Turning his head, a nasty bruise had covered the left side of his cheek.

"No.. That punch hurt like hell."

Seating himself at his desk

"At least your injury wasn't that bad compared to mine. I didn't know you planned to unleash hell on me that fast."

"Eh, you managed to hold your own pretty well, by the way, that light.. What is your Star Marking?"

"..."

There was a long pause before he spoke up.

"Number 2, Star Marking of Resurrection"

"Huh!.."

"You mean to tell me that you had something that was useless the entire time!"

"..."

"Yea... Thanks for reminding me.."

Grabbing his bag and standing up from his desk Shizu chuckles a bit.

"The bell is going to ring soon, so I'm just going to head home.."

"Uh-alright?"

Without saying a word, he leaves the classroom and heads home.

- - - -

Instead of heading home, he takes a different route than usual, this route had led to the Dojo he used to attend.

Upon arriving at the tall fancy Dojo, Shizu opens the door to be greeted with a dark empty room.

"Shishou! It's me Shizu..? Maybe he's not here?"

"..."

"Shizu. I haven't heard that name in a long time. What brings you here."