Chapter 10 : Saving a damsel in distress?

Takeshi pushed through his exercises, and managed to finish them. There were no major complications with his body, albeit he had some close calls every now and then.

Once he was done, he went outside of his room. He saw his parents off to work and Issei off to school. He was allowed to ditch school with a bit of reluctance.

After taking a shower and having lunch, the brunet decided to take a walk outside as a way of relaxing his body in the afternoon.

He could have easily gone to sleep to regain energy, but that was the worse out of 2 options. He couldn't just simply stay at home like always.

His final objective was murdering a monster. Well, a Fallen Angel to be exact, but a monster nonetheless.

This wasn't the same as ending a normal person's life. This wasn't an isolated situation. This was a real battlefield, even if it didn't look like one.

Many things were to be noted. The city itself, for example. Knowing where Yuuma was, and where it would be convenient to fight her was one. After that, he needed a specific date when he knew she would be there. He also needed a backup plan of escape. A lone teenager couldn't battle against a swarm of Fallen Angels in the case Yuuma had allies of course.

…He would be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to fighting them all at the same time, but that was beside the point.

Anyway, the point was that Kuoh wasn't a safe place. If Takeshi wanted to increase his possibilities of survival, he had to create a mental map of the city and familiarize himself with it as if it was the palm of his hand. The most desolated places were the most dangerous too, as the lack of humans meant the presence of the supernatural.

He also possessed the advantage of knowledge and a low-profile.

Takeshi was an absolute nobody. He was a fleeting ember in an ocean of fire. At the same time, he also knew that supernatural beings existed. Until he made his big move, no one would be especially interested in him, and that was perfect.

He dressed himself with a dark blue hoodie over a black shirt and his scarf, along with his black jogging pants and grey shoes.

Once he was finally ready, Takeshi got out, locked the door, and started running in an unimportant direction.

After exercising indoors, he was planning on exercising outdoors. It was just a little jog to expand his lung capacity overtime. Strength didn't mean anything if he couldn't keep up with his opponents. At the same time, he would watch any suspicious activity and take note of anything interesting.

Basically, he would just do seemingly normal stuff with a not so normal intention behind his actions.

His legs quickly carried him across the road. His arms did a slight back and forth movement to help his body accelerate better.

Takeshi found a charming side to his completely normal stroll. While it was mundane, and by his logic, repugnant, the motive behind it was serious and important, and that was enough to instantly make it infinitely more enjoyable than anything else he did before dying.

People mostly didn't care about the reason of why something was happening, unless it was a very important matter. People cared about how it was happening, because even the most disgustingly banal motives could look beautiful in the eyes of an artist, a child, or a mentally unhealthy person, depending on how it was performed.

He didn't think so. Anyone would get tired of doing beautiful things for no reason. Putting effort for something that didn't have principles or meaning behind… what kind of fulfillment would such a life bring? No ideals, no feelings, no future. It was nightmarish.

Of course, he was no better. He was just an almost willing slave of routine, doing things for the sake of doing things.

Even now, his motivation was laughable at best. He was 'searching for a meaning', 'trying to fill the void'.

He himself didn't know what the meaning was, or how the void came to be.

The only thing he knew is that he wanted… he needed to feel something. Feelings would eventually lead him to that special place, that warm object of adoration he could devote his person to. Then, he would find the meaning, and consequently, complete his life.

For example, if Takeshi suddenly realized he felt an intense joy in cooking food that people will enjoy, he would be guided by those feelings and keep cooking, knowing that people like it and that he felt better because of it.

The end of that journey would be 'Takeshi ended up becoming a chef, because he liked it when people were happy because of his cooking'.

Needless to say, Takeshi didn't want to be a chef.

He didn't know what he wanted to be, or what he wanted to do in the future.

His feelings were the only key to finding out the meaning. The problem is that those feelings were 'blocked', or at the very least, watered down. He couldn't feel strong joy or happiness about anything, which meant his only way out was useless.

…That was the case, until a few days ago.

And that's why he was running now. He was running to become stronger, and eventually face Yuuma Amano. He would have a deathly encounter with her.

Takeshi could die. Yuuma could die. It didn't matter.

What mattered is that Takeshi liked that kind of situation. If he died, he would do so enjoying a good fight. If he lived, he would manage to keep searching his meaning with new hopes.

It was a win-win situation, and he looked forward to it. That was all to it.

The teen ran and ran and ran. He did so for about an hour. At some point, the usual heartache that was followed by a heart-attack told him to stop and rest.

Accordingly, the brunet came to a halt before a vending machine in front of a park, just across the street. Wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, he approached it.

Just now did he notice how murky the colors of the vending machine looked. And the walls behind the vending machine. The streets too. The trees, the sky, people…

He didn't know if it was inside of his head, but it seemed he cared so little about anything else that his chromatic perception was failing him. Takeshi surprised himself with the weirdest achievements. The colors of the world around him didn't seem as vibrant anymore.

That gave way to a funny thought. Takeshi was unable to kill himself because that would be completely accepting his worthlessness and impossibility of changing his life. But even if he wasn't interested in that, his unhealthy way of living was already killing him slowly, making him fail little by little.

He snorted a little. That would be a genuinely hilarious way of meeting his end. 'Herein lays the worthless trash that couldn't find happiness. His body gave up before his soul did'.

Or maybe his mind would split apart sooner or later. Maybe it already did.

As long as he had anything remotely similar to sanity and feelings left, he would still search. He didn't like the idea of rotting away, even if it was happening presently.

He chose the first cold drink that came to his sight and took it from the vending machine. He cracked the can open with a metallic sound, and the sound of bubbles softly popping from the inside was freed.

As he gulped down the fizzy beverage, a close conversation gained enough vocal intensity for him to listen.

"…Uh… I feel really dizzy, Kabuki-san. Everything is like… spinning…"

A weak feminine voice caught his attention. He looked to a side.

It was a girl, a student from Takeshi's school given her uniform. She had long black hair and a white hairband on top of her head. She probably was a junior.

Her eyes, green in color, looked… vacant. Unfocused. As if she was tired. Her movements were lazy and disordered.

There were three suspicious-looking guys around her. They looked like your usual 20 years old street punks who didn't mean well.

One of the guys had an arm wrapped around the girl's shoulder. He had very short black hair, almost shaved, a black shirt that showed his pathetically long and skinny arms, and baggy dark red pants.

His equally shady-looking companions didn't really register as 'important' in his mind, so everything they said and how they looked like bounced off his machine-like memory.

'Kabuki', the one closest to the girl, showed her a toothy smile, though he failed to appear amiable.

"Hahaha, 'course it is, Himiko-chan~" he told the girl as he got close to her. "And it's all thanks to the little 'candy' I just gave ya!"

He pulled out a small transparent bag from his pocket, wiggling it in front of her.

Takeshi stared at it from afar, and with some effort, he managed to distinguish the contents of said bag.

They looked like circular white tablets or pills. After some seconds, he understood the implications of the scene before him.

The girl was drugged. She didn't look lucid at all, and there wouldn't be much reason for a seemingly innocent high school student to hang out with such individuals.

"Tell ya what, some friends of mine want to have some 'fun' with ya," he explained to the girl, who still didn't quite understand her situation. "You entertain them a while, and then I give you the whole bag! How's that sound?"

"Eh, well…" She didn't look energetic. She was in a trance. "…I… guess it won't harm anyone. But I have to go back home early, ok…?"

He smiled wretchedly. "Yeah, yeah. Don't worry 'bout a single thing. It'll just last a few hours anyway, hahaha."

She didn't understand that she was being played by a fool. Takeshi deduced that they were planning on raping her, use her body for their own benefit, and then discard her like nothing.

Anyone else would have jumped immediately, but… He wasn't sure if he had to intervene.

Did that situation even concern him at all? He wasn't acquainted with that girl, and he didn't have a personal grudge against those guys. It's not like he actually cared what would happen.

At some point, Kabuki took notice of Ayame's presence. He rapidly hid the transparent bag in his pocket, and glared at the brunet with a nasty look some meters away.

"Watcha looking at, pretty boy?" snarled the shady person at the teenager. "Mind your own business or I'll shove that vending machine up your ass."

He narrowed his eyes at the threat.

'I didn't say anything, retard,' he mentally responded, not risking an unnecessary fight against a low-life such as him.

He had much better things to do. Enjoying his drink and then exercising would be a more resourceful way of spending his time, rather than wasting energy with some mundane situation.

…

…

'…Actually…'

A special thought flashed across the boy's mind.

He could exercise as much as he wanted, but that didn't mean he would be any better to fight against a Fallen Angel. He needed reflexes, experience, and knowledge of how to accurately strike someone to deal the most amount of damage.

His blue eyes analyzed the thugs in front of him.

At first glance, they didn't exhibit much proof of being battle hardened nor specially built. However, all of them had some bruises on their hands and arms, which meant they did fight against others before.

Takeshi couldn't see any other possible advantage against him.

…All in all, it was a good excuse. Training to have a good physique was out of question, but working out never meant he would suddenly become a seasoned fighter.

To get better at fighting, he had to fight.

With a new objective in mind, he returned Kabuki's glare with his usual poker face.

"Oh, it's nothing," said Takeshi. "I was just amazed how a girl could be able to be so close to a failed sub-product of society such as you, and not kill herself by the sheer embarrassment you're putting her through."

He rebutted his crude insult with one slightly more refined. He raised a brow afterwards.

"Drugging high school girls is such an underhanded performance. You must really have an inferiority complex, hurting people weaker than you are just to feel you have the slightest bit of control over your pathetic life." Takeshi turned a little, now looking directly at them. "Your parents must be disappointed. If you have parents at all, that is. I wouldn't want to shelter such a miserable failure like you in all honesty."

It took Kabuki some seconds to let that sink in. Once it did, his not so long ago happy face morphed into one of barely contained anger.

He quickly let go of Himiko, and one of his friends got ahold of her.

They were some centimeters apart. Kabuki had a nasty scowl that made his ugly face even more unapproachable.

Takeshi was taller than him, so the scene seemed kind of silly when they were both so close to each other in such a defying manner.

"Ya lookin' to get killed, kid?" he came out to him with the blandest reply ever. "I've had my fair share of little bitches like you, trying to be the white knight in shinin' armor. Do you wanna know how they all ended up?"

The brunet stared down at him with a scarily unexpressive face. There was a hint of contempt on his features, though.

"You don't need to tell me. You'll end up much worse anyway, baldy."

Veins popped up on his forehead, and a forced smile made its way onto his face.

"Any last words, bitch?"

Takeshi closed his eyes, and threw his head backwards.

Then, he opened them and stared at the sky for a fleeting instant.

"Yes."

Suddenly, Takeshi brought his head down with great speed-

CRACK!

-And smashed his forehead against Kabuki's nose.

"Go to sleep, scum."

The strike shook Kabuki's head wildly, throwing him back violently in the process. He lost balance, and supported himself with one knee on the ground. His nose was broken. Blood leaked in great amounts.

"Ugh…" His acquired dizziness didn't last long. He began glaring at him with even more anger. "You little motherfucker…!"

He rushed at Takeshi, ignoring his bleeding injury.

A quick punch aimed at his chest pursued the teenager.

Kabuki's arm was long, meaning he could easily counterattack if Takeshi simply stepped backwards to avoid it.

With that in mind, Takeshi needed to get under his guard instead of simply dodging.

So he tried to use his left hand to slap away Kabuki's punch.

But then, something occurred.

Takeshi wasn't able to describe it correctly, but as he touched Kabuki with his left hand, he felt a strange surge of energy. A momentary, adrenaline-induced reverie.

The world seemed to slow down. His body felt lighter. His muscles tensed up.

His body started to burned up, and his heart started to beat at an accelerated pace.

In that short span of time, Takeshi saw a glint.

While he was throwing his punch, Kabuki stuffed his other hand inside of his pocket, and roughly pulled out a knife.

Under normal circumstances, Takeshi wouldn't have been able to notice that detail. He would have gotten killed before he knew what hit him.

But his senses slowed enough for him to realize this important fact. Being aware of it gave him the chance to think about the best course of action to take. In that incredibly narrow time gap between the end of an attack and the start of another, he quickly pushed his mind to the limits and came up with a fitting plan.

6 seconds passed. Everything was slowly happening.

7 seconds. The knife was out of the pocket.

8 seconds. Takeshi tightened his right hand around the cold drink he was enjoying moments ago.

9 seconds. Kabuki thrust his knife forwards, aiming to pierce Takeshi's abdomen and tear up his stomach.

10 seconds-

Shick!

A screeching sound replaced the fleshy sound that was expected.

The world regained its normal flow of time.

Takeshi felt his hand wet. Kabuki felt his hand wet.

They both looked down.

Kabuki wore an astonished expression. Takeshi didn't.

The knife never got any close to piercing Takeshi. Instead, the boy had intercepted the weapon with the can he was holding moments ago.

Said can was torn open by the knife, spilling out its liquid outside.

Both opponents locked eyes with each other again.

Takeshi didn't waste the chance and pulled the can closer, bringing his opponent with it too. Once he was close enough-

BAM!

-He delivered a left uppercut on Kabuki's chin, slightly suspending him in mid-air for a fraction of a second, before he fell on his back on the ground.

Blood still leaked from his nose, and he had a nasty bruise on his chin now. It didn't look like he would be getting up anytime soon.

The blue-eyed young man admired wordlessly the pitiful state of the person that just tried to kill him.

Then, he set sight on the other two that were still left.

"In this situation, I'm supposed to save the girl and nothing else," he stated as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "But if you want to fight me, then be my guest. It'll be more exciting that way."

They looked at each other, and after leaving Himiko aside, they both ran in his direction with the intention of beating him up. They were saying something, but he didn't care about it. He just wanted to fight.

He smiled at them. "Perfect. But need I remind you, please don't hold back."

Bam!

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