gonna change things up a lil
The man stretched as the box landed in front of the student council building. The whirring of the drones got quieter as they flew away from the building. He jumped off of the box.
"Alright get over here." He said as the box disappeared. The sun was starting to set. "Let's make this quick."
"OI! Satoshi!"
There was a man on the roof of the building. His muscular build is defined by his tight-fitting shirt. He jumped down. The impact created a crater in the ground.
"I assume this is the new guy?" His smile was ominous. His presence alone was a little scary. Satoshi facepalmed.
"You weren't supposed to say my name." He sighed and turned to me. "Haruka, this is Tetsuya Kyuko."
My eyes widened as I jumped backward and got in a defensive stance. A student council member!
"You can relax man. We can't take the things we set." He rubs his neck.
I didn't move a muscle.
Tetsuya walks up and slaps me. "Stop staying quiet, shrimp." He picks me up by the back of the neck and carries me inside the building.
"Shrimp?" I coughed out.
"Be careful with him." Satoshi warned. "He's a fighter."
"Lighten up. You know I'm always thinking ahead in these types of situations." He grinned as he turned to Satoshi for a moment, before looking in front of him. The elegant hallway seemingly never ending.
Tetsuya stopped at a door and knocked on it. The door opened to a room with a large table that looks like a staircase.
"They are here." He said in a suddenly calm, stoic demeanor. I look at the person sitting at the tallest seat. He lets go of me, and I almost fall.
Megumi Kamiyama looked at me for a moment before looking back at him. "Thank you."
"For the record I brought Haruka to the building-" Satoshi muttered before being cut off.
"We don't really care..." He immediately straightened up. Megumi glared. Kimura... was it? Satoshi Kimura?" Her eyes looked him up and down. "You are this weeks bounty right?"
"Yeah. What about it."
I turned to Satoshi in surprise.
"There's a tracker on you. Get out of this building."
Satoshi quickly scrambles out of the room, leaving me and the other student council members.
Megumi got out of her seat and got closer to me. "You don't seem very skilled but at least you managed to survive this long. I'm going to assign you someone to manage you. We do this with every bounty however I realized I started the bounty too early."
So she's an idiot, I thought.
A man walks into the room. He looked more dressed for a colder environment with his thick coat.
Megumi cleared her throat. "This is Daniel Björkquist. He will be the guide assigned to you." She looked at Daniel. After a few seconds of waiting she sighed, "Introduce yourself."
"You heard my name already." His voice was incredibly raspy. "Just call me Batch." The man lit a cigarette and started smoking. He coughed.
"He will be the one assigned to you. Get to know him... or don't. It doesn't matter anyway."
"So are you the only one who does the talking?" I smirked at Megumi before looking at the others. "What about that guy?" I point to the man leaning against the wall, looking at the ground." His blue hair was the only thing that stood out about him.
"He forgot his glasses." She glanced at him before turning back. "You two can leave now."
Batch walked forward before grabbing my shoulder. "Come on kid."
As I walked out with Batch, I heard a conversation start behind me.
"Ms. Kamiyama, we should discuss the Hawaii trip and how the-" the voice got too quiet for me to hear.
——
We got back to my room. I push the broken door out of the way. The place was in shambles from the fight earlier.
"This place is a dump. We can't train here." Batch cracked his neck.
"Am I gonna have to pay for it all?"
"Don't bother." Flowers and vines started sprouting all over the room, putting everything back together while giving it a nice aroma. "Let's go." He climbed up the side of the wall effortlessly.
I looked outside. We were several stories up. "How can I do that?"
"You'll have to learn it now. It's Gunung. Learned it in Indonesia. Get to the top floor without touching the ground or else we are done." Batch smoked before getting out his phone. "I'll call your friends over if it gives you encouragement."
"Can I at least have a hint?"
"Focus on your limbs. I guess..." He takes a big exhale. "That's it." He walked out of sight. "Hey. You are friends of the bounty. Step outside." Large vines shot out in different directions, their initial speed created a shockwave that knocked me off the building.
"Fuck!" I slap my hand on the wall and start turning parts of it into a sword as I fall. I stab it into the wall. "Asshole... Focusing on my limbs? Does he mean just a workout- no... workouts don't let you walk on walls like that-" The sword slid out and I quickly grabbed the hole I made with it, before deforming the sword. The particles flew back into place, flying in a spinning motion.
I look at the two vines in the sky and saw someone was being grabbed by one. "He really is bringing my friends... Alright... how the hell do I get up there..." I deform some of the wall and form it into a knife. My attempt at stabbing the wall fails when the knife breaks when I try to stab it.
"You rely on your powers too much. We're you always like that?" He called out as he walked down the wall, hands in his pockets.
I sighed. "I was taught to not use them but that didn't really stop me." I took apart some of the wall with my powers and grabbed the small hole I had created.
Batch groaned, "When are you going to learn that your powers are not needed to survive."
"Someone with powers shouldn't be telling me that- look just tell me if my friends are alright."
He paused for a moment. "Yeah they are fine." He stepped on my shoulders. "Also... do not... under any circumstances... cheat this." Batch yawned before continuing, "This technique will get you out of fights easily. Could be integrated into your fighting style-"
"Alright!" I interrupted him. "What is it some dumb cliche shit like focusing power into a limb or something cause that would be really stupid."
Batch jumped forward and put his hand on the wall to hold himself up. "Didn't want the blood rushing to my head... anyway yeah. It is. Sorry that it isn't unique enough for you. I didn't invent the technique." He sighed before throwing himself upwards with one arm, slowly scaling the wall.
"This is fucking stupid..." I start practicing.
——
Taka hid behind Sumiko.
"Why did you bring me here?" She glared at Batch.
On the roof of the building where they were standing, a table with 4 chairs were placed. Several plates of food and a rug of greenery gave a calm vibe to the place.
"Relax." Batch cleared his throat and drank some water. His voice was still raspy, "I brought you here because your wanted friend is learning a technique. I wanted to assess the allies he made. From a glance though, I can tell you are stronger than him." He looked her up and down, "The other guy... was it Takahiro? He doesn't seem very strong mentally or physically."
Sumiko pulled a chair out and sat down across from Batch. "You have a lot of knowledge about us... we're you the one assigned to him?"
Taka reluctantly sat in one of the remaining chairs, too nervous to form a sentence. Batch gave off a powerful aura.
Batch scratched his head. "I was, yeah." He smoked. "Right now he is learning Gunung, a technique I learned in Indonesia."
"W-what's that?" Taka blurted out.
Batch glanced at Taka curiously before explaining, "Gunung... I think it means mountain? Basically it is a technique where, by focusing your power core energy into your feet, you can walk on any surface. I forget the name of the group but there is Gunung, Kolam, and Cetakan."
Sumiko yawned, "It's Kekuatan Harimau, isn't it? The power of the tiger or something?"
"I believe that is correct." He nodded.
"So cool..." Taka looked eager to learn.
Batch smirked. "Y'know I could teach you- and you really should learn. You are not that strong right now."
"Yes, please!" Taka clapped his hands together. He seemed very motivated.
"Sumiko... can you go check on the kid?"
"Yeah."
She ran over to where I was and yelled down, "Hey! Haru!"
Her yelling broke my focus. "What- Oh h-hey. Hi... Sumiko." I was out of breath from trying to do the technique. "What are you doing here?"
"Smokey over there brought me here with those vines. You practicing Gunung? Doing well?"
"I'm getting the hang of it."
"Seems like it." Sumiko grinned. "Think you can catch me?" She jumped off the building.
"Sumi-" I grabbed her arm with both of mine but didn't end up falling. "Ko..." I was out of breath.
Sumiko smiled, "You did it." She caressed my face.
I turned to look at my feet, which were holding on for dear life. I move us into my room through the balcony and hug her. "Never do that again... please..."
"It was to help you Haru. I figured... if you had a little push you could learn it."
"What if I didn't catch you? You would've been fine with dying?"
"I knew you were gonna catch me." She moved out of the hug and went to the balcony. "Think you can carry me up?" She laughed.
I look up at the wall I still have to climb. "I dunno... that was on instinct... not really a conscious thing." I sighed.
Sumiko leaned against the balcony fence, "Then we can figure it out together." She smiled.
I stared at her smiling face for a moment before swiftly turning away.
"Are you... blushing? Someone's blushing," She teased.
"Just- just get over here." I put one leg on the wall and managed to hold myself up.
She walked over to me and I picked her up, almost falling to the floor in the process.
Is she just heavy or is it harder to do this while holding someone?
As I got to the top of the building, I threw Sumiko onto the roof. It was much easier that way. I climbed up. The sun was setting in probably a half an hour.
"Is that what you wanted?!" I screamed at Batch.
"Shut the hell up!" He turned and yelled at me before stomping out his cigarette. He turned to Sumiko, "Did he get up here with Gunung?"
"Yeah- ew... you reek of cigarettes. Is that how you are always going to smell like?" She covered her nose.
"Can it." He sighed. "Alright kid... now that you've got the gist of that, we will do combat training. Take a ten minute water break then go to me. I need a drink..." He rubbed and cracked his neck.
— Meanwhile —
"Amari... this plan is foolish. The little one has a lot of machinery. We may very well die." The voice echoed through the dark room.
Amari stretched her arms. "I just gotta get one good explosion from my scales onto the one the kid is on. I need you to work with me, Mars.
Mars stepped out of the shadows. His tall but slender build caused him to tower over everyone. He brushed dust off of his blazer. "Why do you need me? Too afraid to fail again?" His british accent oddly adding a villainous tone.
Ren, who is now wearing an eyepatch, glared at Mars. "Your hellspawn power can give us time to attack him. We'll split the money 30/30/40. You'll get the bigger portion. Is that fair?"
Silenced filled the room. Eventually, Mars sighed and a cloud of ash came out. "You really are a desperate bunch. Tomorrow is the last day of his bounty. I guess I have to come along. Shall we get prepared?"
Amari coughed from the ash. "Yeah, I got one other guy I want to get just in case someone else tries to interfere. Asashiro Kuchiro. We get him in on our plan... we are probably set."
Ren cracked his knuckles. "Well let's get to it then, shall we?"