"Nadia!" cried out a voice in the distance.
"Shit," said Nadia, picking up the pace.
"Nadia!" cried out the voice again.
"Just keep ignoring him, maybe he'll go away," Nadia mumbled to himself.
"Come on, Nadia! Wait up, will you!" yelled the same voice.
"Alright fine, wha-" before he could finish, Luke launched himself on him, wrapping an arm around him. "What the hell, Luke!" yelled Nadia causing surrounding students to stare in the direction for a few seconds.
"Well it seemed like you couldn't hear me, I had to get your attention somehow," said Luke removing his arm around Nadia.
"Anyway, what did you think about the first day of high school? Meet any cute girls?" nudging Nadia with his elbow.
"The first day was alright, I wasn't paying attention to what was going on in class or the students in my classes, so who knows," replied Nadia shrugging his shoulders.
"Man, you're so lame!" said Luke in disappointment.
Nadia and Luke kept walking towards their shared dorm room, Nadia wasn't in the mood for talking, so he ignored Luke rambling. The dorm was built like a mansion; it had a large yard, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. The boy's dorm is located on the left side of the building while the girl's dorm is located on the right side of the building. When they entered the building, they didn't see that many students, not like they care if there were people or not. They have arrived at their shared room, Nadia put his hand in his pocket to pull out his room key. Unlocking the door they enter the room to begin their usual routine of watching TV, making dinner, homework, and relaxing. The sun had finally gone down, which by this time Nadia and Luke went downstairs to talk or watch T.V.
"Can't believe we're first years already, time sure does fly by," said Luke with a smile.
"I know right, it feels like just yesterday when I first met you with that small dorky smile of yours," grinned Nadia.
"Hey! At least my small dorky smile wasn't as bad as that mop looking haircut you had," laughed Luke.
"Yeah, we don't talk about that, but I have to admit we did look stupid and were pretty awkward when we lived in America," said a chuckling Nadia.
Luke and Nadia happily continue talking about old memories that soon came to an end when a sudden crash came from outside, causing them to jump out of their seats.
"What was that?" asked Luke nervously.
"I don't know, all I know is that it came from outside. I say we should go check it out," said Nadia lifting himself from his seat.
"How about I...um...s-stay to watch the building, you know j-just to make sure no one tries to break in," Luke said nervously, avoiding eye contact.
Nadia just shook, his head rolling his eyes, seeing that Luke is still such a scary cat. Walking to the window next to the door, Nadia starts looking out the window before walking outside. He could see that some trash cans were knocked over, he let out a sigh, thinking it was probably some annoying animal had knocked them over. He slipped his jacket and shoes on before opening the door to head outside to pick up the tipped over trash cans. Slowly making his way to the trash, he continued to scan the area just in case it wasn't an animal. While picking up the bins, he noticed someone was hiding behind the tree and would peek every so often, waiting for him to leave. Nadia pretended he didn't see the hooded person before walking in the opposite direction from the tree. Nadia started to walk away, making the person think he was leaving, sadly luck was not on their side. Before they thought they were in the clear, Nadia ran back to sidekick the hoodied person with his left leg, causing another loud crash.
"Who are you?! Why are you sneaking around here?!" yelled Nadia.
The hooded person lifted their head, glaring at him, Nadia's eye widened, realizing that it was a girl. Nadia stood there dumbfounded, wondering why there was a random girl outside the dorm, he could tell she wasn't a student here based on her appearance. Nadia stood there trying to figure out what the hell to do next, but before he could function again, he was suddenly crushed, from someone who jumped out of the tree. Nadia's brain slowly started to function again, he could see he was being pinned to the ground by some random guy.
"Want me to break his bones? I'll make it hurt just like that sidekick," the big man said.
"Huh!? I had the right to kick her! For all, I know you two could be thieves or something! Who do you punks think you are coming around here, knocking things over!" Nadia yelled, trying to escape from the guy's grip, but little did he know he was just making his situation worse.
"Hey blondie, has anyone ever told you got a big mouth?" said the girl pulling the hood back, letting her brown hair fall.
"So what if I do! At least I'm no-" before Nadia could say another word, the female shoved her shoe in his mouth, causing him to choke on her shoe.
"Now that you finally shut up, are you going to let me explain or what?" questioned the brunette, watching as Nadia continued to squirm on the floor. The brunette was about to start talking again, not caring if the blonde chooses to respond or not, but before that could happen, she was interrupted by the front door bursting open.
"Don't worry, Nadia! I'll save you!" yelled Luke slamming the doors open, holding a metal baseball bat.
With eyes closed, Luke starts to swing the bat hoping to land one hit on the male stranger. He somehow manages to hit him on the second try, but the hit didn't even faze the guy, if anything, it irritated him. The male starts to give Luke a demonic stare making him feel small even though he was taller than the man.
"Ha..Ha..um...No hard feelings right, b-buddy?" laughed Luke nervously while awkwardly patting the males back.
The guy gets up and replaces his hands with his foot to continue pinning Naida on the ground, then grabs Luke by his shirt and launches him into the air sending him who knows where. Nadia, on the other hand, is starting to lose his patience, not like he had any at the start. He stubbornly starts to push himself off the ground, and with what strength he had left, he lifts the guy onto his shoulder, ready to launch him just like he did to Luke. The girl watches as the blond surprisingly picks up her friend and throws him a couple of feet away to the other side of the fence, who is at least twice his weight class.
"Now, this is where you explain what the fuck you're doing here cause if you don't, I'll just call the police to deal with you," said Nadia whipping the sweat off his forehead, glaring at her direction.
"Sure, but could we at least take it inside before it gets colder out here?" asked the girl.
"Fine, but pull any funny moves and you're dead, got it?!" yelled Nadia pointing at her.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Geez, are you always that freaking loud?" sighed the girl in annoyance.
Ignoring the girl's question, Nadia motions her to get inside along with her friend, who is just now walking into the front lawn. Once the guy walks inside, Nadia closes the door walking towards the dorm's living room. The two strangers started following the blonde, looking around the new area. They watch as the blonde takes a seat on one of the couches and motioning them to take a seat on the one facing him.
"To start things off, why are you guys here?" questioned Nadia.
"Look, we didn't come here to steal or anything. The reason we came here is because we heard that a kid who goes to this academy is the son of a pretty good fighter. We also heard that he's also a fighter and could surpass his dad someday at least that's what the town people said. We were hoping to "befriend" the guy or at least talked to him about helping us become better fighters." replied the brunette.
"It seems like you heard about my father and me, but why do you guys want to learn how to fight?" says Nadia raising his eyebrow.
The female looked at him with a surprised face, "I would have never guessed you would be his son, but life is just funny like that. We come from a village called Kansō-chi, located close to Okinawa, it has been about a month since the place and citizens were destroyed-."
"Wasn't the village reported to have been destroyed by a storm or something? That doesn't explain why you guys want to learn to fight, also, are you guys homeless now?" interjected Nadia , not letting the female finish explaining.
"I was getting to that part blondie," said the slightly irritated brunette.
"Just double-checking," replied Nadia crossing his arms.
"Right... Like I was saying, that's what the people claim to have happened, but that is not what truly happened. The village and people weren't wiped out by a storm that was strong enough to kill the people living there. When the police and investigators arrived, they could see the destroyed homes and shops from afar, but they couldn't ask the villagers what happened. Wanna know why? Well, that's because when they got closer to the walls, all they could see were bones." The brunette paused to make sure he caught everything she was saying.
Nadia was a bit caught off guard by their story and nodded, saying she could continue.
"We don't know what exactly happened, but we for sure know that what happened to our village was no accident. I lived in Kansō-chi since I was five, we didn't own anything of much value. The only things the village was known for was its temple and the Katō clan family who protected the Kansō-chi citizens. On that day, he and I were sent into the forest to collect some herbs for the medical center. Instead of going back right away, we ended up playing tag. We didn't realize that there was a storm until we noticed it was getting dark. We were pretty far in the forest and decided to start walking back to the village. The hard rain began to fall faster, so we decided to pick up the pace a bit. After an hour or two, we were getting closer, and we could see the village walls from a distance. When we arrived... we saw the flesh and bones of the people we once knew, worried about our families we started running to our homes. We went our separate ways, I started to run to the Katō estate but when I got there. I could see a man with long red hair who was wearing a mask that I've never seen before. He stood there in an amusement watch as a shadow-like monster ate my mother alive while some of her flesh was melting away. She spotted me standing in front of the door of the main building, turning her head enough, making sure the man wouldn't notice. I could see the pleading in her eyes, begging someone to stop the pain, I took a step wanting to help her. Before I could continue, she slightly shook her head saying "no," and with a sad smile, the last thing she said was, "I love you, now run." In the end, I ran, grabbing him along the way running to the city a couple of miles away from Kansō-chi to get help. We were told that your father was good friends with my grandfather, so we came looking for him. We also heard he was a great fighter who trained in Kansō-chi with the Katō clan. I want to be able to get revenge for our people and kill the man who killed my mother. That's why we came looking for you because we had no clue where to find your father," said the brunette, who was starting to stand up after telling a whole story.
"As the only daughter and only last head of the Katō family I vow to avenge my people so... Will you please let me train with you in order to become strong and fulfill my promise!?" exclaimed the brunette bowing hoping he would say "yes."
Nadia sat there dumbfounded not knowing what to say, the story sounded absolutely insane, it was basically non-realistic.
"Listen, glad you want to learn from me and my dad and all, but how would I know you're not making all of this up?" Nadia questioned while scratching his head.
"I know it sounds crazy and all, believe me, I want to think it was all a nightmare... but you got to believe me, please. I'm not one to ask for help or beg, but you're the only connection I can get leads from, I'll do whatever it takes to repay you, I promise on my life I will," insisted the brunette not moving from her bowing position.
Nadia stares at her, trying to make up his freaking mind, whether to believe her or not.
"Alright, just stop bowing already," said Nadia.
The brunette stops bowing and turns her head to smile at her friend, who nods in response.
"First thing first, how exactly do you plan to pay us back, if you don't have anything? Secondly, even if I try to help you, I can't let you stay in my room, or else I'll get in trouble for letting a girl live in my dorm," explained Nadia.
"I'm not sure yet, but I'll find a way to repay you. Well I could sleep outside I guess," said the brunette shrugging her shoulders.
Nadia took a deep breath and shook his head, "no, I said I would help you, so give me a sec to come up with a plan," Nadia said in a calm voice.
The brunette and her friend look at each other, waiting for him to come up with something.
"I got it, so my dad trains fighters, and like you, know I train under him. I'm going to see him tomorrow, so you guys can come to the gym with me and train. I'll then introduce you to my dad and explain the situation, my dad is a pretty generous guy, so you don't have to worry about him saying no. In return, you guys will help us out at the gym in any way you can, also when we train, I don't want any half-ass commitment, so you better give it your best," said a stern Nadia crossing his arms.
"So, what do you say shorty, do we have a deal?" asked Nadia, reaching out his hand.
"Yea, you got yourself a deal blondie," said the brunette, taking his hand to seal the deal.
While the two were shaking hands, a certain someone finally made it back from wherever he landed.
"Nadia, I'm back, is that guy still out there? Please tell me they're gone, I almost peed myself-..." Luke stops mid-sentence, not expecting to see Nadia shaking hands with them.
Luke's eyes widen, blushing in embarrassment, realizing he just admitted he was scared of the two strangers, especially since he can now see that the other person was a female!
"I-I must be in the wrong building, ahaha..." said Luke in panic, quickly sprinting out, closing the door right behind.
"Um... Is he okay?" asked the confused brunette.
"Oh him? Yeah, don't mind him, he's just weird like that, especially around females," snickered Nadia. "I'm Nadia by the way."
"I'm Bettina, and my friend over here is Oliver," replay Bettina, pointing to herself, then at her friend.
"Well, nice to meet you guys, so you guys will stay the night in my dorm just for tonight, then in the morning, I'll take you to my dad," explained Nadia.
It seems like a distant memory to him now. The memory started to fade from Nadia as he started to regain consciousness.
"I remember when she told me what happened in their village. Why does it feel familiar with what she told me when we first met..." thought Nadia.
Slowly gaining his vision back, he realized they were no longer home.