A snapping sound could be heard in Nico's mind, his memories flashing through the state of war, the firing of guns and the visions of bodies dropping, the snapping getting louder as the memories got more tense.
"Oi, snap out of it! C'mon!"
Lite was snapping her fingers in Nico's face, causing him to wake up from the flashback, shaking his head as he looked back down at her.
"Right.. You're the winner of that death game. I remember, you were a fucking lunatic!"
Nico shouted out, Lite grabbing him by his collar to pull him down to her height, gritting her teeth.
"What do you mean by that!? You calling me a psycho!?"
The two bittered with each other, before The Leader intervened, splitting them apart as he stood between them.
"Alright, settle down. I thought you two already knew each other, seems I was correct. You were winners of the horrid death game that took place 2 years ago."
Lite gained a smug expression, acting all highly as she placed one hand on her hip, the other playing with her pigtail.
"Yeah, and I was the FIRST place, so I'm the better one!"
Nico looked at her as if she were an idiot, flicking her on the forehead as she flinched back.
"The score was based on kills, I don't think you should boast about how many innocent people you killed."
Lite froze for a moment in realization, shaking her head frantically before hopping up, and kicking Nico in the head. Like Nico, Lite had a prosthetic gained from the death gain as well, instead being her leg.
"Whatever! Shut up! I'm better!"
She shouted out, The Leader raising his hand as his ring glowed, suddenly Lite's yelling made no noise no matter how loud she shouted. When she took realization of this she started yelling at The Leader for a moment, still muted, until she punched him in the gut, causing him to lose concentration as her sound returned.
"Whatever.. I heard you two saved the day so I wanted everyone to celebrate… but everyone else declined so I'm forcing you to come with me..!
Nico looked reluctant to doing so, though The Leader's gaze could be felt through the smiley mask as if he was demanding Nico to go. Nico sighing.
"Yeah, sure.. Where are we going?"
Lite placed her finger to her lip, smiling with her sharp teeth as she ran off, Nico a bit startled as he followed her.
"You'll see, c'mon!"
Lite ran through the streets, being extremely fast, or at least faster than Nico who had trouble keeping up. She led him through the city before suddenly stopping, entering a cafe. The cafe had its curtains down, so Nico could't peek in, not knowing what to expect as he walked in.
"Surprise!"
A crowd of people shouted, Nico's old class, before the incident standing there. Nico was surprised at first, but then realizing who they were he glared at Lite with disinterest, who still carried her stupid smug face.
"Nehehe! I invited your whole class from years ago! I mean, you haven't seen them since then, right?"
Nico frowned as the group crowded him, asking him questions like where he's been, why he suddenly disappeared, and questions about his vigilante job.
"Alright, give him some space guys."
The crowd settled down and backed away a bit from Nico, through the crowd Ikite walked to him. Nico wasn't exactly interested in talking to Ikite, especially considering how embarrassing Ikite's double date must've been when he didn't show up.
"How ya been, dude? You disappeared for a whole year and suddenly came back fighting crime.. Gonna explain?"
Nico sighed, spotting Lite as he pulled her by her pigtail to him, her quickly kicking him in the shin in retaliation as he let go.
"Ow.. 2 years ago I crashed on the way to the restaurant. Then I woke up a-"
Lite covered Nico's mouth as he struggled around, which resulted in her kicking him in the shin once again, this time knocking him down on his knees.
"Ah, Nico, I'll explain!"
She cleared her throat, keeping her hand over Nico's mouth as he muffled in annoyance.
"So you see! Both Nico and I were suddenly invited to join a.. Special technology program! As you can see we're both amputees, Nico obviously lost his arms in the car crash, but now we have these super cool robot limbs!"
Nico eventually stood back up, pushing her hand off his mouth. Lite smugly smiled as she smacked him on the back when he attempted to talk again, causing him to cough.
"Ahaha! This um, technology program wanted to use us to test the new technology they were gonna use in the army! If you've seen Nico on the news you've surely seen his awesome explosion arm stuff!"
The group all looked in intrigue, chatting about it with one another. Nico realized why Lite kept shutting him up and nodded to her before sighing. Out of random, some snobby fat guy gained everyone's attention. Nico always hated this classmate.
"Ahem! What are you incels cheering for?? Don't you know Nico's a terrorist!"
The guy's voice was irritating as everyone quieted down to his point, thinking about it. In a sudden he was whacked in the head with a rolled up menu, a girl standing next to him who Nico couldn't recognize.
"Eh, who's that?"
He pointed at the girl. She seemed simple and boring, having straight brown hair with a matching eye color, someone you could never spot in a crowd.
Ikite looked back at the girl, before looking at Nico. He grabbed the girl's hand and brought her to him, smiling as he stood between them.
"Yeah, this was supposed to be your date before you went mia.. Kind of a dick move but it's understandable considering your position."
The girl looked up at Nico, she wasn't like the other girls in his past school, showing no actual empathy towards him. She lent her hand out, which Nico gently shook, her arm twitching from the cold metal of his prosthetic.
"I'm Kiara.. We've never really met before, but what Ikite says is true."
Ikite nodded, crossing his arms as he looked back and forth at the two of them, plotting something. Lite carried a devious expression as well, standing across from Ikite.
"Yeah, she's really smart. Like booksmart and stuff, not an engineer like you."
Nico glared at Ikite before flicking him in the forehead. Forgetting that Ikite is just some regular guy he fell right back comedically, everyone having a quick laugh about it.
"I know what you're planning, quit it out."
Ikite sat up, chuckling to himself, as the fat guy from before stood up as well, riled up as he went to complain again.
"Did you guys not hear me!? Nico causes more damage than the criminals he says he stops! Stop laughing with him!"
He pointed at Nico, before stomping to him, and throwing a bunch of punches to his chest, none phasing Nico as the guy seemed to get hurt more than he did, running out of breath.
The group started muttering again, realizing more and more that this was true, as Nico and Lite looked around frantically. It was true that Nico was a bad vigilante, some crimes being better if he hadn't shown up, as Ikite shook his head, ringing the bell on the counter.
"If you guys actually did research instead of just watching the news' lies, you'd know that, despite a few incidents, Nico lowered the crime rate by 20% in the last year."
Lite butted in as well, pacing her hand on Nico's shoulder as she nodded.
"Yeah, and Nico quit being a vigilante recently. It doesn't matter anymore!"
The group started being a bit more positive, before kicking the obnoxious guy out. Ikite walked up to Nico, shaking his hand afterwards.
"It's good to have you back, Ryoto."