Akira woke up the next day, thinking that last night was a dream. He didn't hear the voice of Syn in his head, and so he breathed a sigh of relief. The second he got up however, he could hear the faint sound of the shower being left on.
With a look of death in his eyes, he approached the slightly opened bathroom door. Steam from hot water was slowly flowing out of it.
"..."
He pushed the door open, and immediately saw the floating shadow, scrubbing himself with a shower brush.
The second Syn noticed him he got angry and started throwing shampoo bottles, toothpaste and whatever else he could grab onto.
"Can't you see I'm taking a shower here!??"
"You don't even have a proper body!? Do you need to shower??"
"I don't care! Get out! pervert!"
Akira quickly ran out while slamming the bathroom door shut. His routine had been shattered once again.
He lazily walked back to the living room, and was shocked to see the mess Syn had made. Numerous cupboards were open and even broken. The wrappers and packets of snacks were laid out on the floor, and even food was spilled everywhere.
It seemed Syn could move about freely, even without him.
The TV had been left on, so Kai was about to turn it off. What it was playing had caught his attention ever so slightly.
"At 23:45, another family had been brutally murdered. This time it was a family of 3. A mother, a father and their 14 year old son. It appears it's been done by the same Borrower who's been committing this string of murders all across Babel city. But rest assured the police and returners are doing everything they can to catch and stop him."
This was what Moreau had been warning him about. The murderer only targeted families with homes, so he wasn't particularly worried.
Syn quickly flew out the bathroom before immediately flying into Akira's body, propelling him forwards ever so slightly.
"Akira! There's a place you humans call school, am I correct? We must depart to this place, right this instance!"
"No. I leave for school at 7, it's 6:05. I need to get ready first."
A long shadow began to extend from Akira's chest, which began to pull him out of the living room and towards the door.
"Hey— I said no—"
Syn slammed Akira into the door, but he still refused. Due to Syn being very complicated, Akira arrived at his lecture 30 minutes late.
**
The exhausted Akira sat down in his usual seat in that lecture hall. He ran as best as he could, but arriving on time was an impossibility.
The professor seemed to be talking about Borrowers once again.
"Bonjour mon ami, you were late for the first time. What changed?"
Akira was so angered, he didn't even want to give Germaine a hint of his time.
"Hello???"
The entire lecture would be like this. Once it ended, Akira quickly ran off before Germaine could catch up with him. His body felt... strangely active that day. As he did, Syn began to say something strange.
"Akira, that person. He spoke strangely? Explain it to me."
"He's got a habit of mixing French with his English."
The idea of foreign languages was new to Syn. This was the first time he had heard of other languages outside English. Akira then asked,
"Your from another world, right? You just happened to speak English there?"
"..."
Syn did not answer. However, he did say something else.
"That green person. He's got a foul smell on him."
After a short visit to the library, it was now time to head to the café. Once he recalled what happened the other day, he was feeling very hesitant.
He was walking down a very normal street, until he was suddenly dragged down another dark alley by a hand.
Another hand grabbed him by the neck, before lifting him up into the air, and pressing him against a wall.
"Your the guy ratchet used as a hostage, right? I've been looking for you."
He looked to be around the same age as Akira. His face was covered in piercings, and his black hair had a single orange trail. He also wore an outfit reminiscent of a biker, with the Black bone gang logo on its back.
Akira struggled to breath as he tried to speak.
"Wh— why—?"
"An awful lot of our members have been getting arrested, or being killed! It's pissing me off!"
He threw Akira further down the street, making him crash into a skip bin. The gang member put a brass knuckles on his right hand, while also charging it with Aether.
"The names Jericho. If there's someone to blame, then blame society!"
He quickly threw a punch at Akira who dodged it by ducking. Jericho's fist hit the bin, blowing it up.
"You dodged it?"
The impact from getting thrown should've paralyzed Akira at least. However, he was no much faster and more durable than the average human, so he was largely unaffected.
"Akira, I can't possess you. Use my power, and kill him."
"I don't know how!??"
Jericho then kicked Akira while he was still on the floor with enough force to send him tumbling through a wall. He crashed into the side of a building, breaking the wall down into an empty, abandoned room.
"My power is malice. I used my malice against the humans who tested on me, as the key to use my powers in vessels. Is there someone you bare malice towards? That will be the key to using my power."
Akira tried to think. There was Shinomiya? But he didn't really hate her, but was more scared of her than anything. Germaine? No, he doesn't exactly hate him, but finds him annoying and inconvenient.
Jericho opened up the palm of his left hand, from which a bright blue ball of Aether the size of a football appeared.
"This one will kill you for sure."
Seeing Akira struggle, Syn decided to do it himself. Since he was inside Akira, he had access to all his memories, even the ones he forgot over time. It didn't matter how small or irrelevant it was, Syn could see every little detail, of every little moment in Akira's life from the day he came out of the womb.
And there was a particular memory which left a strong mark on Akira's mental state. A memory which Syn pulled to the surface.
"This will do. This will do nicely."
Akira began to experience a vision of the past. A memory which he recalled while he was taken hostage, one which he wanted to bury.
He was but a boy still living in Japan, around 7 years old at the time. Dawn was setting, and it was time for him to go home. Once he got back however, he was alarmed to see that the door had been slightly left open.
With fear in his eyes, he slowly entered the house, and the first thing he saw was a trail of blood.
"Mom?"
He walked down the corridor, but it didn't take long for him to discover the truth. The corpse of a woman in a blue apron laid on the floor. Her chest ripped open with blood pouring out of it. She had been dead for a long while now.
Akira screamed as he fell onto the floor. When he did, some of the blood stained his hands.
"Ahhh... —MOM! WHY!?"
He backed away but, he felt his body hit someone's leg. Slowly he turned around and saw it, a tall figure dressed in black wearing a blood red Oni mask.
"Your late."
**
"Blue Knuckle!"
He smashed his right fist into the ball of Aether, propelling it towards Akira. Before the attack even hit him, the slash of a black and red shadow split it in two. The two halves then exploded, enveloping Akira in a cloud of smoke. Jericho was shocked with the sudden change.
"I understand it now. Someone I bare absolute malice towards. If it's anyone, then it would be that person."
As the smoke disappeared, Akira's right arm was stretched out. There was a strange sword attached to it, but it was more like the canine of a giant beast. The blade was further attached to an eyeball surrounded by the black and red shadows. It twitched before locking onto Jericho.
[Black beast Manifestation: Right Talon]
Akira was hearing and seeing words that didn't belong to him or Syn, but right now, he regarded it as noise and simply ignored it. He would deal with this before checking them out later.
"What the hell is that!? An Aether beast? But I don't feel any Aether from it at all?? It's freaky, I'll keep my distance."
Jericho took a couple steps back, while charging another ball of Aether in his left hand, but Akira suddenly began to sprint towards him. He was much faster than before.
He easily split the ball in half, before punching Jericho in the gut. The force from the punch sent him flying out of the Alleyway, onto the street and crashing him into someone's car.
The random people walking on the streets instantly noticed. Some ran away, some started to record, and others called for the authorities.
From the Alleyway, Akira slowly emerged, however he seemed slightly different. Not only did he have the blade on his right arm, but his face was now partly covered by Syn's shadow.
His right eye was covered as 2 extra eyes stayed in its place, and his whole jaw was also covered, but it exposed a set of inhuman sharp teeth.
"What the hell are you?", Jericho asked, but the answer was obvious to Akira and Syn.
"I don't know either."
As Akira slowly approached Jericho, he quickly charged up and fired another blue knuckle, but Akira split that in half too. The two parts crashed and exploded into the buildings behind him.
Jericho charged up another ball of Aether, but this time he ran towards Akira and would detonate it in front of him. Likewise, Akira would try to cut down Jericho before that would happen.
Unexpectedly, Jericho ducked and smashed the Aether orb into the ground. As it exploded, the ground beneath them blew up, creating a hole into the swears.
Since Akira wasn't expecting this, he landed hardly on his back. The filthy water stained him, but Jericho managed to stick the landing.
"Look. I don't know who the hell you are, but rest assured, this isn't the end of this. Next time, I'll kill you."
He quickly ran away into the darkness, leaving Akira behind. He was about to chase him, but then the police had appeared far too quickly.
Of course, Elodie Moreau was leading them. He and several other officers aimed their guns at Akira.
"All right put your hands up. You'd save me less paper work if you surrender yourself now."
Akira made eye contact with Elodie for a short moment. It was brief, but Elodie thought he recognised him from somewhere.
Akira quickly ran away into the depths of the sewar, while Elodie and everyone else quickly opened fire. Naturally, Akira got away.