"Erm, Yang, very nice to meet you, but I seriously think you have mistaken me with someone else. We haven't met before, and I don't know any Chinese. Sorry if I had a wrong assumption of your race though. Anyways… I think my friend is gonna need that seat."
The young teenager in red kungfu uniform crossed his arms, stared at me with his black sharp eyes while considering something.
"Well, I think we will need to work on this from the beginning. Can you come with me? This is something very urgent."
"Urgent? How urgent?"
"'The world is gonna doom if we don't take immediate action' kind of urgent, I guess."
Who does this teenager think he is? Some kind of heroes who are bound to save the world? Is this some kind of chuunibyou symptoms? Or is he trying to scam me?
Flustered with too many questions, I decided that it is at best for me to screw off as fast as possible from the potential problems.
"I gotta go. I just remembered I have an appointment with my friends. It's fun talking to you. Really."
As I quickly devoured the milk crepe and my espresso and stood up from my seat in the teenage boy's surprise glance, an ear-splitting sound banged into my eardrums. Right after that, the impact from something as huge as a small asteroid hitting the ground rocked the building and knocked me down on the floor. Furnitures and glasses in the coffee store were rolling and breaking, mixed with the scream of the shop owner and other customers. Lights were flashing and many of them popped.
"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?"
"This is not good," whispering to himself, the teenage boy dashed outside as quick as a squirrel, holding something that looked like a toy Japanese katana.
"This is not good? What is not good? Don't go out, you may get hurt!" I screamt to the silhoette of the teenager, whose warning he definitely did not hear.
"Everyone, let's get outta here!" – Ray came swirling like a storm, picked some people who fell on the floor up and quickly lured them to the emergency exit.
"Takehito! Can you get to the safety zone? Bring these people with you. There seem to be people who are stuck downstairs due to the impact. Imma go down and take a look! Also, do not go outside!"
Ray then disappeared as swiftly as when he appeared.
"Everyone, this way! Get to the emergency exit!" – I started screaming too, trying my best so that other people could hear my instructions. There was a little bit of pushing, but they managed to head down the hallway safely.
I would have entered the hallway and hushed too, if it didn't come to my mind that there was still a teenage boy outside. A mixed feeling of anger and heroic rised inside of me, shoving me to go out and bring the teenager to safety.
I stumbled outside with shaky legs and the heavy, gasping breath of someone who hadn't stepped far from home in a long time. The moment I walked out of the café, a terrifying gust of wind slapped my body, accompanied by a piercing, high-pitched shriek that rang in my ears. It was so loud that my knees buckled, and I dropped to the ground, pressing my arms tightly against my head to prevent the sound waves from tearing my brain apart.
When I regained my composure enough to open my eyes, the scene in front of me nearly froze me in place. A giant spider, as large as a two-story building, its body covered in stripes and fur, was waving its legs through the air. Surrounding it were enormous webs, as big as ten fishing nets sewn together, blanketing the buildings in white.
As if sensing my presence, its six enormous eyes shifted toward me. The fangs protruding from its furry mouth sent a chill down my spine.
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING?", I screamed in silence.
Its massive legs, like tree trunks, slammed into the ground. It began lunging toward me and crawled at an incredibly fast speed. With each step it took, the ground shook.
I felt an invisible force push me, causing me to fall onto my back. My eyes were dry from the overwhelming gust of wind coming from the creature, but they remained wide open. My soul seemed to be sucked out of my body by the giant spider's gaping mouth.
"Get up! What are you doing? Get up, move! RUN!"
My mind screamed at me to run from the impending, horrific death, but my stiff muscles refused to budge even an inch. It was as if the suffocating spider silk was tightly binding my body.
The spider stopped in front of me, bringing its shiny, slimy black head closer to my face, letting out a shrill screech. This was it. My life would end here.
I shut my eyes tightly, accepting my fate of being torn apart by a giant insect. My entire life flashed before my eyes as the creature's hot, foul breath blew across my face.
"What have I even accomplished in my life?" I thought. "I wish I had lived a more meaningful life..."
Just as the regrets flooded my mind, the spider let out a painful scream and quickly retreated. Crimson blood spurted from its right side, mixing with the green slime covering its body, pouring onto the ground in a dirty muddy color. One leg or two fell down right in front of my motionless body.
A small, quick figure darted forward, blocking me from the spider. My head was spinning, and all I could see was the flickering light of a katana, as if it were burning right in front of me.
It was the young man who had suddenly appeared in front of me earlier.
"What are you doing? Can't you see it's dangerous? Why aren't you running? And what are you even doing out here?"
I staggered, using every bit of weak strength in my body to stand on my trembling legs.
"Sorry... I thought you might be in danger, so..."
Yang paused slightly at my answer but quickly regained his high alert stance, focused on the spider.
"Yeah. I'm fine. A low-level demon like this can't even scratch me."
"Demon...? What is it, exactly? And, what about the katana you're holding? It's... burning...?"
"If you want answers to all your questions, this isn't the time."
By some strange force, the deep wound on the spider's body quickly healed as if it had never been cut. New legs grew from the severed parts, replacing the lost ones.
The spider retreated. From its stinger, it spat out a massive web of pure white, covering all the buildings around us. Then it swiftly climbed up the largest one, hissing and baring its slimy fangs in a challenge.
"It's healing itself! How are we supposed to kill something like this? We're going to die here!"
"We're not going to die. I'll take care of this demon."