A couple of hours had passed, the afternoon had taken the central spotlight as the next sky performer for Neo Tokyo City. The blinding light pierced through everything and Masafumi High School was included.
The school was an enormous cotton white three-story-tall and bulky square building with a giant holographic petal logo climbed on the middle building peaks and a bold golden sign said "Masafumi High School, The School For The Best" latched beneath the logo. Extension of rectangular shape took place on the left and right side and almost equal sizes with the main building.
On every rooftop, there was a transparent honeycomb bubble that became borderline with the blue sky. Clean white table and four available seats, occupying every row as possible. Many Masafumi students took over the white table and placed the opened up meal boxes as a noise of students talking enlivened the whole rooftop.
Hatoshi and Yuna had their seats on the very right corner, with two empty seats glanced at them. The high schoolers placed their meal box in four spaces and were poured by different kinds of foods that were ranging from karage, square-shaped rice, creamy mayonnaise, and a band of sliced carrots.
"Eh, Hatoshi." Yuna called out his name while chewing.
Hatoshi furrowed his eyebrows and sharply locked his stare on her at the same time he swallowed the food.
"Oh please, you are about to say that the food is bad and I can cook better than that." Hatoshi sarcastically replied.
"No, I am about to say this food is now delicious," Yuna said in a cheerful tone after the food fell down onto her stomach.
Hatoshi's face was tackled by a surprised face and sharply locked on her. While Yuna gave away the enjoyment of expression on him and took another piece of the karage, chewed and swallowed in the process.
"The Karage is pretty crunchy, flavorful, and not dry," Yuna commented with enjoyment, took over her tone, and closed her eyes.
"I agree with that too." Hatoshi admittedly agreed by throwing a smirk.
His eyes looked upon the mayonnaise sauce that became a lonely piece of itself. Furthermore, a new idea was brought onto Hatoshi, raising their eyes and glared at Yuna.
"How about the mayonnaise sauce?" He asked with a glimpse of a smile.
"It's actually quite good too." Yuna joyfully replied.
"I am glad to hear that."
The lunchtime was still presumed for the high schoolers and two male students, the muscular students with messy black and yellow mixed hair and the eyeglasses student with a black carpet hair that matched his head, stumbled on them.
Each of the two carried their meal box that was about to be placed on the table and gave a welcoming smile to the two high schoolers who replied back with a smile too.
"Finally, Mr. Kaido's group presentation was over." The muscular boy groaned.
"Yes, it is, Naoki". The glasses boy added with a gladness "And finally, we can have our break time."
Yuna giggled while chewing and Naoki seemingly threw a smile. Afterward, she sighed tiredly.
"At least both of you are lucky, unlike mine." Yuna whined in a sorrowful tone "I needed to do my presentation in the afternoon tomorrow because Rena didn't present in the class."
"That's pretty sad for you." The glasses boy admitted his sympathy.
"The worst thing was Rena got into a Gazer Man attack this morning. Even though her injury wasn't truly fatal, she still needs a recovery that would take more than one day."
The glasses boy gave fearful eyebrows that he locked on Yuna and his forehead began to cry a sweat.
"And, you are aware that Mr Kaido won't accept any reasons, even for that." The glasses boy spoke up in discouragement.
Afterward, Yuna was drowned in regrets and silence that caused her to put her head down. Hatoshi looked and pity came onto the boy's face. Naoki also gave out a pity look onto Yuna too and The glasses boy was stunned in confusion.
"Yeah, and you don't seem angry or pissed about this," Naoki exclaimed in an admiration tone.
"Well, I just don't like to express it because it will be just a burden," Yuna spoke with a relaxing tone.
Hatoshi scratched his back as he watched three of his friends, still influenced by the burden of Mr. Kaido's class today. Therefore, an urge for help lingered on his stare to relieve them especially Yuna who have a presentation time, gotten delay due to her presentation partner got an injury from the recent Superhero activities.
"I know Mr. Kaido is kinda unfair." Hatoshi said in a sympathetic manner, "But, at least you can try to consult with him for the right day of your group presentation. Rena's condition can be a good excuse that you can't perform tomorrow, Yuna."
Yuna glared her surprised face at Hatoshi who seemingly still maintained his relaxation and chill. Even Naoki and The glasses boy shot their disbelief onto their fellow friend.
"Hey, Hatoshi, are you serious that your reasoning will work on Mr. Kaido?" The glasses man mumbled in disbelief.
"I guess so" Hatoshi replied and explained with a relaxing tone, "Superhuman problems are now a global concern since our government fully paid insurance and damage caused by that. It's probably a higher chance that even strict teachers like Mr Kaido will accept the excuse."
"Another fun fact our history material was related to Superheroes, so? It would be easier to accept it." Hatoshi added with a smirk.
Naoki released a little laughter and Yuna began to sigh with relief. Furthermore, she could raise her head again with confidence.
"Damn Hatoshi, you really have a good point." Naoki praised in an excited manner and pointed at The glasses boy with a commanding voice, "Right, Satoru."
Satoru was unfazed and he bit his lips with an impressed expression.
"Yes, indeed a good point, Naoki." Satori murmured in acceptance.
Yuna locked her eyes onto Hatoshi, she felt a surge of happiness that was ready to be exploited in her face.
"Don't worry, I will try your way, Hatoshi." Yuna exclaimed with a cheerful tone.
Naoki gazed upon Yuna's smile that caused him to steam a red face and smile of obsession on her unawareness. Satoru shook his head and stared at The Muscular student in an annoyed expression.
"What a simp!" Satoru whispered in a deep voice.
The high schoolers presumed their lunch. Laughing, smiles, and joy were all captured by the atmosphere on four of them.
Unbeknownst to people below, especially the high schoolers, a fiery flaming humanoid with yellow bright eyes stood on top of the sky body easily. Its observation eyes were sharpened like an eagle especially towards and crossed both of his arms. The Humanoid grew an interest toward Hatoshi who seemingly could be suitable for other purposes.
…
***
Orange light began to overwhelm the bluish sky and as a result, turned the surface into a mixture of yellow and blue. The light looked upon Neo Tokyo city below. Sidewalks and roads were not being conquered by the crowd recently.
However, wild and unfamiliar things debuted on this quiet afternoon. A black sedan car with a violet line all over the doors constantly took left to right. Inside the car body, there was a bearded man, spread a line of tears and kept jabbing the steers in despair.
"Why, why, why did this shit happen to me"! The man shouted on top of his lungs.
The car decided to play music with a smooth gentleman's voice and he said, "Yame, Yame, Yame...Yamete". Instead of relief coming by, a more despiteful expression invaded the beard man's mind when the music played and jabbed even harder the steered.
The music was very noisy that outside sight could capture especially with some people on the sidewalk either looking annoyed or even closing the hearing hole on their ear with bare hands.
The speed for this car was even higher than usual rules. as it vastly passed by the other cars in rushing demeanor. A dark blue screen on the right side of his car pointed to a green calculation number that reported "170 km per hour"
It was proven when he continuously almost dealt a serious blow onto a greyish yellow pickup car with the green line when passing by it. Another one was, he did the same thing towards the red sports car with a neon blue line, but different from other cars as the angry bell freely released. Moreover, the bearded man ignored the sight of the bell and kept pressing the pedal that launched a speed of 170 km into 230 km on the screen.
"Why, did you fire me Himekawa!" He hysterically screamed in the car.
An armed officer who had a batch of white holographic NTPD words planted on his back quietly parked his huge white motorcycle with neon blue lines across left to right and NTPD signs parked beside trees nearby. Specifically, the tree on the right side of the sidewalks and barricaded by a blue holographic shield guarded the bulky stem.
"Sir, Habata, I just saw a civilian riding a car with a speed of more than 200 km." The officer reported while he tapped on the white earbud that roamed in his earhole before a question had proceeded in a concerned voice, "Should I follow him?"
"Yes, but be careful." A man with a deep voice was cast out from the earbuds.
Although the drunk man had passed many cars in a rude manner, The two high schoolers, Hatoshi and Yuna, walked across the sidewalks that had a seemingly empty Terminal waiting for them. The glasses body presented a slideshow that featured spicy instant ramen noodle, Tomori with a fiery torched background behind.
"Hatoshi, your idea was proven successful". She exclaimed with a happy tone, "Mr. Kaido decided my presentation day will be held on Friday next week."
"Told you, it will work." Hatoshi confidently replied.
"It's also proved that Mr Kaido can also be a nice person".
Hatoshi chuckled joyfully and Yuna threw a tantrum. Afterward, she locked on him with curiosity.
"What's the matter, Hatoshi?" Yuna asked
"Actually I already knew from the beginning that he was a nice person," Hatoshi exclaimed in a relaxing tone.
"Hmmm…". Yuna hummed before she guessed, "Is it a strict person who always has good intentions?"
"Some of it like Mr. Kaido does". Hatoshi explained, "But not all of them, some strict people were either be biased or just couldn't understand others concern."
Yuna happily nodded and their eyes met the entrance door across the terminal and they saw a little kid with a green T-shirt, joyfully playing with the action figure of a robot that had a body similar to an airplane. He steered left to right and murmured a plane engine sound.
The kid immediately entered the border and swiftly moved forward alongside the toy plane. A curly and short hair woman frowned in annoyance towards the kids.
"Be Careful, Shinji!" The woman yelled.
Shinji ignored it and kept falling deeper into his obsession playing alongside his plane buddy. The kid movement was getting closer to the high schoolers' reach and Yuna gave away her giggling smile.
"That kid reminded me of you when you were still six years old". Yuna said in a jolly tone "Especially when you played around the park with your Marchman toy".
Hatoshi threw a sheepish smile at her and locked his eyes onto the kid. It gave him a nostalgic feeling of his childhood where he walked around with Marchman on his grips.
"Yeah, I agreed with that." He replied in gladness.
"And what happened to your Marchman figure?" Yuna added a question
"Uncle Sasaki gave it to a neighbor's kid."
The trumpeting sound of a speeding car blew its sight on their hearing. Both Hatoshi and Yuna were fearfully stunned due to the kid still busy spending time with his action figure while he didn't realize there was a high-speed car nearby.
Yuna glared terrifying eyes and held tightly Hatoshi wrist with her shaking hand. Hatoshi clenched his fist and shook up his legs in horror.
"SHINJI, GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!" The woman cried out loud.
Shinji was only stunned in confusion as he turned towards the speeding car sound that got nearer. The perpetrator was none other than the black sedan that ran at high speed and moved in an unstructured way, sometimes taking a bit of the left side or taking a large part to the right like a drunk driver.
"Hatoshi, please don't...do this!" Yuna pleaded in distress, "I beg you!!"
"Don't worry, Yuna, I will be fine," Hatoshi said with a comforting tone.
He threw away the red backpack that had been held since the morning and escaped from Yuna's grip. Thus, she was frozen in fear like a statue as she witnessed her close partners get closer to the boy in a rushing run.
Shinji could only watch as the menacing car approached closer to him with tears of defiance dropped from his eyes socket. The bearded man sipped a glass bottle of alcohol and harshly threw it onto an empty seat.
The woman kept screaming in distress as Hatoshi already got closer to the boy. While Yuna relented the frozen state by her open arm that locked on her dear partner. Soon, it changed into very pale white in the blink of an eye.
"Oh shit!" The Bearded man shockingly screams as he finally witnessed the helpless boy.
Hatoshi swooped and pushed the boy away with the sudden push he iniated. The boy landed in safety, even though his shoulder made hard contact with the ground, causing him to scream. However, luck wasn't in Hatoshi's grasp with his motionless body staring at the car that really closed within his range.
The bearded man pressed the brake pedal, but only gave a tiny effect for the car to stop and an overwhelming distressed expression consumed his whole face. Hatoshi's closed his eyes with an acceptance smile as a gulp of blood showered the lower sky with a sound of squashing hit sang upon the scenery.
This orange light afternoon turned into a bloody nightmare for the surrounding especially Yuna who agonizingly screamed on top of her lungs, watching Hatoshi get hit by the high-speed car in front of her naked eyes. A moment she would remember the rest of her life.
"Awaken now!"
An old man tapped his wooden staff onto the rough black void room and a blazing wave engulfed the surface. The room used to be corrupted by darkness, burned by the fiery depth, and changed into a room entirely made by flames.
The flaming ground lashed out and spawned a scorching humanoid figure. The humanoid figure made its last breath to spawn back Hatoshi into reality in a well-healthy condition without any bruises or heavy injury marks. As if he was instantly reborn on the world
"Welcome back, boy." The old man greeted the confused Hatoshi with an echoing flaming voice.
…
***