Smoke plumes went up as the stench of gas filled the air. Kouta's house had suddenly burst up in flames.
There was a man on the outskirts of the property. Out front in the street. He smiled at his work before looking up. He saw a figure floating in the sky. Then it descended.
It was Kouta holding Kasumi.
"Kouta, your house! It-" Kasumi was genuinely worried.
"I know. It's fine." he said to her. He looked over at the man responsible. But it only made him angry. "Is that...Sano? From school?"
Kasumi got a glimpse of the man. Her eyes widened. "No way!!" She covered her mouth in shock.
"Why?" Kouta let her down and stood up. "Why?! What is all this?!"
"Allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Bassui Sano. I used to be a mercenary for the TPD. They call guys like me to deal with scum like you."
Kouta charged at him only to be blown away by an explosion of fire.
He rolled along the ground before standing back up. "You're...!"
Sano laughed darkly. "That's right. I'm an esper like you. Ironic, is it not?" He ran at Kouta and set off another fire explosion.
Kasumi got up and ran next door to her own house. "Seriously, what is going on?!" She hid behind the house in her backyard and peeked around the corner. "Mr. Sano is attacking Kouta? And he's blowing fire out of his hands!! I have to find someway to help..."
Kouta rolled back along the ground again, his clothes now smoking with holes in some places. "Damn it, I can't get close to him without being burned! Which means I'm gonna get burned anyway!" He sped towards Sano once more. This time dodging the first explosion, but he got hit by the second one. Even still he powered through it, giving Sano a good left punch to the face.
Sano quickly reacted and pulled out a dagger. He swiped at Kouta real fast, resulting in a gash going along his chest.
crack!
Kouta wasn't fazed by the cut, he brought his right leg straight up, connecting with Sano's chin. It sent him off his feet and to the ground.
Kouta hopped on top of him and started beating his face in repeatedly. All right hand punches.
Sano raised his hand. It began glowing orange right in front of Kouta's face.
"Take this!" Kasumi brought out the garden hose and blast it all over Sano. It caused his fire to be smothered out.
Sano looked up at Kouta with a shocked expression. Kouta's eyes glowed. He had a devilish smile on his face.
In a blur, Kouta brought his fist up. It started glowing with his Zen.
Sano grit his teeth. "You people are the scum of the earth! Soon the entire police force will be after you!"
Kouta's deviled expression haunted Sano as he brought his fist down with one quick solid motion.
Sano's body laid there on the ground, blood gushing from his head.
Kouta wiped his hand off on Sano's clothes and stood up with a straight face. "We have to go. And thanks for that."
Kasumi threw down the hose. "Yeah...sure. You aren't worried about your house? Didn't you live there your whole life?"
Kouta took one last look at his burning house. "It's not like I can stay here anyway. It's not safe for you to be here either." He held out his hand. "Come on."
Kasumi looked at Sano. "Is he...dead?"
Kouta didn't budge. "Doesn't matter, we can't be here. Come on!"
Kasumi took his hand. He picked her up and flew away.
--
Takeshi took a good look at Sano's body.
"Horrible ain't it?" an officer said. "He was a high school teacher over at Iwasaki. Just sad."
Firefighters put out the fire in the burning house in the background.
Takeshi stood up. "It was Murakami Kouta."
The other officers close by looked at him. "You sure? We don't actually have any evidence yet."
Takeshi picked up Sano's dagger and handed it to them. "Kouta was cut out of self-defense. Check the DNA. I have somewhere to be."
He got back in his car and drove off.
--
A mob of guys walked up on a warehouse.
"You sure this the place?"
"Yeah this is the place I'm positive."
"It better be here. Or else someone's gonna get it. And it's not gonna be me."
One of the guys opened up the warehouse garage door.
A man sat on top of a stack of wooden crates in the middle of the floor. He was under the shadows, holding a vial of green fluid.
He had tall spiky orange hair and brown eyes. "Looking for this? Too bad. It's all gone now."
One of the thugs pointed an assault rifle at him. "Who the hell are you?! Identify yourself!"
The other thugs also brought out guns.
The orange haired man smiled. "My name isn't important to you guys. You'll be dead anyway."
"Mess with us will you?! Shoot!!"
The sound of shots rang through the air.
"Too slow big guy!" He was behind the mob. "I don't have all day!"
Everyone turned around. "How did he...!"
The thug's vision turned upside down. His body fell to the floor.
The orange haired guy had already broken his neck. "Now for the rest of you."
The sounds of shots being fired were drowned out by the screams of grown men.
A man in a hoodie and jeans walked up on the scene. "I feel like I should be honored to have witnessed that. You're Mandarin, aren't you?"
The orange haired man, Mandarin, turned to look at him. "And who're you?"
The man removed the hood from his head. He was smiling.
Mandarin smirked as he walked back to the warehouse. "Oh, so you're Usako Ban. What do you want with me?"
Ban followed him inside the dark garage. "I could use a talent like you on my side in the near future. I'm gonna turn this city upside down."
Mandarin hopped back on top of the wooden crates. He took the vial out of his pocket and looked at it. "Interesting, but no thank you. I don't work for others."
"You realize that this is Shinya's territory correct? He'll come after you."
Mandarin pocketed the vial again. "Ban. Do you know what was inside this warehouse?"
"Can't say I do."
"Self-healing vectors. Every single one of 'em. Shinya was gonna have those guys come in here and sell them off. So I cleaned this place out ahead of time."
"You're awfully talkative."
Mandarin hopped off the crates. "I don't have anything to hide."
He walked past Ban into the lot.
"You'll regret not being on my side when the time comes." Ban said.
Mandarin held a hand up waving as he left. "I look forward to it. Give me a good show."