It was ten o'clock in the morning when I headed for Master Kagami's place.
As Kōmori-san didn't seem to want to wake up this morning, still feeling very heavy from all the things we had eaten on the previous day, I ended up walking alone.
The master's house was found in Kuribayashi, at the very extremity of the said neighborhood in fact, where the houses got bigger and the area even more secluded than it could get.
The house- which was rectangular, graceful and stood two-storied tall in the middle of a lawn- was found on a street corner, surrounded by four high walls painted in white, with a large iron gate.
As I approached the latter, it opened and two persons came out onto the street.
I recognized Gakkuri instantly.
'Ane-ue!' she called when her eyes fell onto me. The child appeared to be joyous and it brought a smile of relief on my lips.
'Hello, Gakkuri,' I said, softly, before turning towards the woman who accompanied her.
The latter was of fair complexion, having mid-back length black hair, which matched the color of her eyes.
'You must be Shun Shutsuki!' she said, smilingly, her voice as gentle as her features. 'Kagami has told me a lot about you. I'm his spouse. My name is Yama Gushiken. Nice to meet you.'
Blushing, I bowed down, greeting her, 'Good morning.'
When I straightened up, she was still smiling and I glanced at Gakkuri.
'Thank you for having taken her in.'
'Don't mention it! She's so cute.' She petted the girl's head affectionately. 'Her cousin is supposed to come to visit her at any minutes now and she holds a lot to wait for him at the door.'
'I see.'
Gazing up at the bright sky then, she said, 'It's very sunny today, Gakkuri! I'll go fetch you a hat of my daughter from when she had your age!'
I was a bit astonished. Master Kagami has a daughter?
'Do you want to come inside, Shun?' she asked, turning to me.
'No,' I refused, politely. 'I'll wait here with Gakkuri.'
The woman hurried up inside to fetch the hat.
'Yama-san is so nice with me,' murmured Gakkuri, smiling to herself. But the smile faded almost instantly, her expression becoming tormented.
Getting down onto my knees to be at eye level with her, I took hold of her shoulders and I began telling her what I hadn't had the occasion to say earlier. 'Gakkuri, listen to me, carefully. There's something that I wanted to tell you, something you absolutely need to know. Man's infidelity has got nothing to do with their wives being pregnant! Your mum and dad know it well. They need some times to solve their problems. And when this will be done, no matter what will come out of it, I hope that, one day, you'll be able to patch things up with them.'
Her eyes moistured as she gazed at me, every thoughts that had been torturing her seeming to abandon her, leaving place to serenity.
'Shun!' roared a booming voice, abruptly, and my head snapped around to see Shirane.
The latter seemed enraged, and if looks could kill, I would have been dead right now.
I jumped to my feet as the red-haired boy spurted at me. Unexpectedly, he shoved me brutally backward by my shoulder and I stumbled backward, almost falling to the ground.
I stared at him, staggered by his action.
'Stay away from her!' he snarled. 'I forbid you to talk to her! I don't want a bloody murderer like you to approach my little sister!'
His little sister?!
I was completely dazed.
He wouldn't be Gakkuri's cousin, would he?
'Onii-san! What are you doing?' Gakkuri cried out, grasping his arm.
'Be quiet, Gakkuri, and let's get indoors quickly!' he told her and grabbing the girl's hand, pulled her away with him towards the house.
'Shirane-niisan! No! Wait!' exclaimed the kid, taking backward glances at me and struggling with the boy.
Out of the blue, a mini-van pulled up behind me and the doors slid open.
I didn't even have the time to look around that, a hand clamped over my mouth from behind to prevent me from screaming, while several pairs of arms pulled me inside of the van. And even before my mind could catch up with what was happening, the door slammed shut, and the tires squealed as the vehicle accelerated too fast, speeding away.
Panic shot through my veins and I struggled wildly with the dark figures holding me in their capture, but I was easily overpowered, and my hands tied with ropes in front of me.
When the vehicle skidded to a stop, I was hurled out of it.
One of my kidnappers picked me up, and throwing me over his shoulder, he carried me upstairs into the abandoned building in front of which we had parked.
I trashed around in hysterical panic but it was useless, and I knew that screaming served to nothing either. The surrounding buildings were all empty and all inhabited houses were too far away.
I was dumped brutally onto my back on the ground of the second floor of the building and I scrambled up into a sitting position.
With choking fear, I stared into the eyes of the truants clothed in black suits standing there, grinning wickedly at me. They were four men at all, including the one which had been driving. They were muscular and wore many jewelries, including face piercings.
I couldn't use my ability against humans; that would make me a monster.
'Do you know that you've unnerved people one really shouldn't lock horns with?' one of them sniggered. 'Mr and Mrs Saihara are extremely powerful people!'
They took out wooden and iron bats, laughing maniacally at me.
I felt sick in the pit of my stomach. I knew what was coming. Pain!
'No wait!' declared another one of them, who stepped in front of the others.
He had a more imposing figure than every one of them. He was most probably the boss.
'We're going to have some fun with her first!'
My eyes went wide in horror.
The man shoved me onto my back and straddled my hips, while the others watched mercilessly.
I was definitely sick now. I began struggling again but to no avail and soon, too soon, my muscles grew tired.
My vain efforts seemed to amuse them.
I found myself completely, utterly defenseless. I wanted to scream at that moment but I couldn't find my voice.
'Do you know that you're very beautiful?' the boss said with a slur, cupping my chin, his eyes luscious. 'Just like a small doll!'
I tried to turn my face away, but he seized me by the jaw in an iron grip.
My eyes watered in desperation.
Bending down, he licked my cheek, and I whimpered, pressing my eyes shut, a shrill running down my spine.
***
Shirane Nakagiri flung around when he heard a van stop in front of the gate and he saw a group of men pull Shun Shutsuki inside of the vehicle, before driving away at full speed.
Having witnessed the whole scene too, Gakkuri began to scream, while Shirane stood immobile.
He was stunned, of course, but it wasn't what prevented him from making a move.
The person who had just been kidnapped in front of their eyes was Shun Shutsuki. A psychotic killer. A mass murderer. A bloody psychopath. Why should he intervene?
'Aniki! ANIKI!' Gakkuri cried, shaking the boy. 'Please, do something! Don't let them hurt Ane-ue!'
But Shirane still didn't move; conflicted.
His instincts told him to rush to Shun Shutsuki's rescue, but the carnage she had committed six years ago was a permanent reminder in his mind.
He gritted his teeth together, unable to decide what to do.
'I beg of you! Save her! She helped me a lot! She even saved my life once!' pleaded the child and the boy looked at her, astonished.
'What are you talking about?'
She began telling him everything- speaking very quickly- informing the boy that Shun was the same person to whose place she had found refuge when she had fugued and that the red-haired girl had helped her with her parents.
'And shit!' exclaimed Shirane. He couldn't believe that he was going to do what he was about to do.
Yama Gushiken arrived at that moment with the hat she had gone to fetch, calling, 'Sorry! It took me some time to find it!'
She realized from their expressions that something was terribly wrong but before she could ask about what happened, Shirane was already rushing away, calling at her urgently, 'Please, watch over Gakkuri! Shun has just been kidnapped! I'm going to try to find her!'
The woman was overwhelmed with shock.
She hurried up to Gakkuri's side very quickly and held the sobbing child's shoulders from behind, both of them staring after Shirane, more than troubled.
The redheaded boy bolted onto the street, and ran into the direction which the van had took.
He staggered to a stop when his eyes fell onto a bicycle parked around the corner. The owner had his back turned onto it and was busy talking on the phone.
Without any hesitation, Shirane dashed for the bicycle and climbing onto it, he began riding away with it.
'Hey!' the owner shouted, running after his bicycle and the person fleeing with it.
'I'll return it back to you!' called the red-haired boy, distractedly. His heart was pounding. And crap! If only he had intervened immediately! Where will he find Shun and her kidnappers now?!
His eyes darted from side to side of the street, searching desperately for the blue van, with every second that ticked by, the tension that he was feeling, increasing.
At last, his eyes fell onto a blue van parked at the foot of an abandoned building in an alley on his right.
Was it the same vehicle? He couldn't be sure.
But still he got off the bicycle, dropping it down, and he rushed into the said- building, searching the ground floor for the red-haired girl. When he didn't find anyone there, he continued his search on the upper levels.
Just as he came off the staircase onto the second floor, he jerked to a stop when he finally caught sight of Shun; the latter caught in a terrible posture.
***
Unexpectedly, the weight on top of me disappeared.
My eyes blew open in shock and what greeted my sight was Tadashi who was holding the man, who was at the head of the gang, down on his knees, with his arms twisted behind his back at a painful angle, the demon's foot resting on the latter's spine.
In a brusque movement, Tadashi broke the man's arms by dislocating his shoulders, breaking the latter's spinal cord at the same time with his foot.
The violence of the action caused me to jerk upright into a sitting position and I stared at Tadashi in horror, as he moved on to the other truants, twisting their limbs at unusual and over-painful positions, breaking them effortlessly.
In less than two, the four thugs were lying on the dirty floor, crying in agony.
An indescribable terror coursed through my veins as I met Tadashi's murderous eyes when he turned to face me.
He looked like he could kill.
A whip appeared in his hand.
'You can overcome a demon but you can't take care of four little worms like them?! Who are you mocking here?' he snarled. 'You deserve a good punishment!'
He lifted the whip above his head and I flinched away, my hands shooting up in front of my face protectively, my eyes drawing shut.
The whip came down onto my forearm and sliced through it.
I screamed out in pain, blood oozing out of the long cut to tickle my skin.
My whole frame was shaking and tears were gushing down my cheeks when I opened my eyes again to stare at Tadashi frantically.
He brought the whip above his head again, ready to strike me a second time and I begged him in trembling voice, 'No, please! Stop!'
Out of nowhere, a large imposing figure jumped in-between Tadashi and me, forcing the demon back.
It took me a few long seconds to realize that that person was Master Kagami Gushiken and that he had in fact attempted an attack on Tadashi.
'Nice skip!' he sneered at the demon.
'How interesting your power is! It consists of plunging your arm into the body of a monster and crushing his soul! The tattoo on your arm disappears into the creature's body and reappears on your arm once the job is done!'
Tadashi glanced at me then, gritting his teeth together, before his eyes returned onto the master again, and he bounced backward, breaking out of the window behind him.
Master Kagami ran to the window to stare downstairs, but without any doubt, Tadashi was nowhere to be seen anymore.
The dark-haired man rushed to my side after that and undid the ropes around my wrists, before he picked me up in his arms.
I clung at his chest, shaking violently, utterly terrorized.
He began carrying me away and I caught glimpse of Shirane as the older male told him, urgently, 'Call Tsunan immediately! And tell him to come to Shun's apartment quickly!'
My mind went blank at that moment.
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Onii-san - Big brother
Aniki - Big brother