It's nice not to care about what people will see; even the locals glance and stare, but they know about the shadows, so they don't freak out. Imagine walking carelessly on a side road with a black, massive, inhuman being in the city. They will be screaming and going berserk, probably crying for help, or maybe they will take a picture and a video to post on social media.
Is it strange to feel free in the most dangerous perception of others' eyes?
Xin...Are they doctors?
'They look like it.'
I see a couple of people wearing white lab coats leaving the place. I watch them leave and get inside. Seeing no one on the first floor, I go downstairs, and Xin takes the bag full of heavy bottles, walking behind me. I'm about to go straight to find Mr. Laith, but I see the guy, Emris, is still in the ring training so hard I can see his sweat dropping on the stage like a drizzle. I halt myself to watch him, and I turn back to Xin, who is carrying the bag. I try to search for an energy drink inside the bag for him since I don't know what he prefers, so I pick three types of them and lie down at the corner of the stage.
I notice his coach shifts his look to me, and I bow to him a little and let them be before the white-hair guy turns to see me. I don't see anyone on another stage, and I peek to see them in the resting zone.
There's Raden sitting on the couch, looking concerned for a person who is lying down on another couch.
Hmm?
"...Hi, I'm back."
I shyly interrupt.
Raden faces up to look at me and flinches again like the first time we saw each other.
"..."
And he shifts his eyes to Xin behind me.
Is he scared of him?... his shadow looks scarier, though.
"I bought drinks..."
I tell him, taking the bag from Xin and putting it down on the coffee table.
"Thug."
He looks inside the bag, and he's startled.
"That's a lot."
Raden.
"I don't know which ones you guys like...and who is this?"
"Team leader."
"What happened?"
I ask bafflingly, with my eyes open up wider.
"You did."
He responds.
"!"
I open my mouth.
That kicked? I turn to Mr. Laith, who has a white bandage wrapped around his head. I lean my face to see.
"...Ah..."
He tries to open his eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Laith."
I quickly tell him while I'm facing and over him, blocking the light above.
"...Roelle? You're back."
He talks to me with low, cheerful energy.
"Yeah, with drinks. Would you like some?"
I ask him, and about to turn to pick a drink, Raden has already opened the soda can for his team leader.
"Rookie."
And then the man's voice calls out. I turn to see it's the buzz-cut coach.
"..."
He pauses a bit after seeing Xin.
Then, Xin disappears.
"Yeah, you come."
He talks to me.
"Yes."
"Mr. Raden, you can choose anything you want, but the banana milk is mine, Thank you."
I tell him before quickly following the coach.
"..."
Raden awkwardly stops looking in the bag.
"Heh, I like her..."
The team leader makes a sound in his throat and has a smirk on his face.
I'm following the coach, but I spot the three bottles still on the edge. Perhaps he doesn't like energy drinks. I hurriedly run back to the bag.
"!!"
Raden is on pause again after I steal the bag from him.
I search for a water bottle and take it.
"Sorry."
I tell him to run back to the stage and put the water bottle beside the other drinks. Then, Emris comes to the corner. I look up at him, seeing him looking at me with confusion.
"Water...for you."
I tell him.
"Are you coming?"
Then, the buzz-cut coach comes to me and asks because I take so long to get after him.
"Yes!"
Coach leads me to another stair that leads down to another underground. Everything is dark, and then the coach turns on the light. Showing a huge stage with no fences or a ring to protect around the stage. I see nothing on the empty stage at the center of the room.
I follow him to the stage and get up there.
"Call him out."
Coach looks at me and waits for Xin to appear on the stage.
"...Xin."
Then, the black shadow under my feet spreads and expands out behind my back. It congregates in one place and evaporates mid-air, starting to form the shape of legs, body, neck, and shoulders and then spreading to arms and then the face, with all the tiny lightning floating around his body.
And my height is on Xin's hip area.
Coach is looking up and watching him transform.
"...What did you call him?"
He asks me.
"Xin."
Coach steps closer to Xin's body and observes him. He looks closer and raises his hand to touch his body.
I look at Xin. He's taller than his usual form.
Don't eat his head.
'I won't.'
Then, Coach touches his body and applies pressure to the skin. It's hardly plunging down.
'But, his head is so...bally.'
Stop it.
He keeps on observing with his eyes and his touches. He grabs Xin's arm and squeezes it.
"Can it do it...mid form?"
He asks.
He probably means not fully strong form...
'Umm...'
Then Xin starts to fade the dark, deep black into a window that is covered with a black film that can thinly see through.
"..."
Coach uses his hand to push through Xin's body, deeper and deeper, but not pass through to the other side.
"Hm."
He looks up at Xin with no face, smirks at him, and suddenly slides his foot back and throws me a fist.
"!!!"
Ha..
I'm a little stunned.
Xin uses his palm to block the coach's punch before it hits my face.
'This mother...Fu--'
No. Xin, calm down. He's just testing.
"..."
"I want to see how fast he can go."
Coach releases his fist and tells me.
"..."
"How fast do you want to see it?"
Xin speaks with his echoing sound.
Heh,
I'm surprised.
"...I'm craving some crepe....in the city...you know the franchise's crepe...it's quite famous."
"Poof!!"
And Xin is gone, leaving his smoke tails floating.
"How long...have you been with it?"
Coach asks.
"Xin. His name is Xin...and 15."
"When you were 15..."
"Poof!"
And then Xin's back.
"!!"
Coach is holding the crepe without realizing it.
"No, 15 years."
I correct him.
'Ew, I don't like crepes.'
You had one?
Then, I glance at the crepe that the coach is holding. It's gone halfway.
"You ate it?"
I ask out loud.
"Um."
He makes a turbulent sound.
"Hmpt..."
Coach makes a sound this time.
"Laith told me that you saw a Murking fight before."
"Not up close, Coach."
"Murking is not just using your own shadow's strength or borrowing them to help the capacity to fight…The main character is you; the punches, the kicks, and all the movements are from you directly. The shadow is just a hidden ability that you click the button on. It charges inside your body and lets out its power together with you."
"..."
I listen intentionally.
"And another button some fighters might not have... it's a Shadow's specialty. If your shadow has it, you can press the magical touch for the fight...That means you have to cooperate together very, very well to bring out the best in each other. That is Murking."
"..."
"If you notice the fight...the shadow isn't just standing and visible to the audience, right? Because it runs into your skin, pores, cells, and veins, it will come out when you turn on the nitro...metaphorically. So...he needs to learn about your body and know every single cell of your body parts. He needs to know how to hide, when to show up, and when to release the power without you telling him constantly."
"Easy, I know every part of her."
Xin's echo sound rises up.
Really?
'Yes.'
"..."
I glance at Xin, including Coach. Then, he turns to me for the confirmation. I raise my shoulders a bit.
"That...*Sigh. How about you try... go into her veins."
Coach seems unsure of Xin.
"..."
Xin's form disappears, turns into a shadow, and slides through my legs, my hips, up to my waist, chest, arms, and neck. He shrinks the size to make it thinner and thinner against my skin. Finally, the thin, black ink lines follow and are on top of my actual veins.
It feels like I have black blood running through me at this moment. And then Xin gets passed through my skin and inside my veins.
"!"
I flinch.
Ha... It feels... strange.
'You're not hurting, right?'
No, it tickles.
My skin is back to normal. I raise my palms to see I can see the black lines running through thin skin over my hands and inside my palms, like plunging the blood up and down clearly.
I look at Coach and wait for the next step.
"Start training tomorrow."
"...hehe."
I'm surprised and then start to chuckle.
"I'm hired, right?"
I ask him, but he ignores me, leaves us, and gets up the stairs.
"Wooo!"
I shout out and raise my fist, waiting for Xin to come out. He hits my fist back.
Xin was right. I might find my people.