Expressing Regret First, Then Regain The Spirit

The warmful morning within Neo Tokyo was now not at the usual time as the citizens couldn't be seen walking on the sidewalk, roads, and even most of the buildings. Electric vehicles also didn't drive on the roads and the majority of the building filling was empty too with no sound or clear presence of people emerged inside.

Silver scouting drones flung on near higher spots of the building as they persistently scanned the surroundings from left to right. Translucent green flashes pierced out through each of the neon-green eyes of the scouting drone when they locked their sight toward the windows, taking a temporary stop.

Several N.T.P.D cars with a blue line and red lines latched on the door, parked on most of the spots on the sidewalk and the armored policemen roamed around every area of the city. Some of them cautiously held their riffles in a strict guarding position the more time they continued their survey of every spot of the city area.

One of the N.T.P.D officers, Tabata rested his back on the right door of his car being parked on the spot beside the lively tree. He blew out the relieving smoke to join the morning sky above when putting away the black cigarette, forming a pity look when his mind flashed a picture of the past.

A short clip video of the dreaded violet twister-like explosion danced around as it consumed every citizen who was sadly fallen into disintegration. The haunting memory clip left Tabata gritting his teeth in bitter irritation and showering his entire forehead with frantic sweats, reluctantly released a sigh.

'That weird freakshow said he wanted to come back, damn it!!' Tabata murmured through his mind in an infuriating frustration scorched within his head and continued. 'The only thing I can count down is Chemistra.'

Tabata placed the cigarette in his mouth and thought, 'She might find a way on neutralizing the blood so I can put them into my magic statue.'

'A blood belongs to a creature that is not even from in this dimension.' Tabata bickered, shaking his head and recollecting a moment when he alongside other heroes invaded The Distrunian base. 'I thought facing Distrunian was already a difficult one. Especially when Zero fell into a coma.'

'However, this monster proof something else.' Tabata added.

He pulled away the black cigarette for him to blow out the clean smoke away from ever resurfacing within his mouth. An idea of statement finally fell into Tabata's grasp as he widened the shocked frown and dauntlessly dropped his jaw.

'That thing proof an almost unbeatable power is not always the case on defeating heroes.' Tabata thought, holding his racing heart as the boiling guilt widely streamed through the core of his mind and gasped shortly.

'Instead, a simple incident of failing to the citizens did the effective job of scaring our minds.' Tabata added, closing his unnerving eyes briefly.

Tabata shakily shook his head and presumed, 'The worst on facing that defeat was Sparror. My god, I just hope you are fine and take a rest. It's okay if you didn't want to do heroic activity for now.'

"Sir, sir, sir Tabata!" A female voice shouted within Tabata's ear, freeing him from the wondering thoughts as he exhaled a surprised gasp and pinned his affirmative glare forward.

The fellow female officer, Asaka with a stern expression appeared within Tabata's sight as he crossed his arms in a firm demeanor. Curiosity painted Asaka's winced lips, especially when she glanced from left to right. The curiosity shortly ended by the older officer released a commanding cough.

"Officer Asaka, how's your observation?" Tabata asked.

Asaka sighed and said, "Nothing suspicious happen so far, Sir Tabata. But I might need to do a recheck in the South Area too."

"Thank you for the report," Tabata said, thankfully nodding his head.

"Anyway, I had questions related to the recent incident." Asaka changed the topic of the discussion and she bit her lips with hesitation kicked in. "Do you think the Superheroes will be back?"

Tabata rolled his eyes and groaned, "Of course, they'll be back, officer Asaka. The incident may hurt them deeply, but I'm very sure their strong fighting spirit wash away all those thoughts."

"I'm just asking." Asaka agreed, feeling a flowing nervousness through her senses.

Asaka sighed and said, "Because I'm worried they gonna be one of the heroes being traumatized to the point they give probably giving up"

"Let's just not think that way, Officer Asaka," Tabata reassured, letting the hopeful thought shine brightly through his head as he firmly closed his lips.

After hours of feeling despondency, Hatoshi partially formed a gladful smile as he gazed down at his forehand being placed on the left side of the table already reverted back to normal. A short chortle was let out when he glossed over the recovered forehand, giving time to absorb the relief by inhaling the fresh air located in the surroundings.

"Hatoshi." A voice of his close partner called out his name, intrigued him to glance to the right.

His joyful eyes watched Yuna carrying two sets of plates, presenting the delicate breakfast as the savory smell flowed into the schoolboy's nose. He cravingly licked his lips with him and patiently perceived his eyes toward the two plates placed in front of him and unveiled the food. An enlarged creamy-orange, square-shaped Tamago was the chosen breakfast menu for him to feast on.

Hatoshi bowed his head briefly and said, "Thank you again, Yuna."

Yuna giggled and replied with a cheerful tone as she neatly placed her Tamago on the right side of the schoolboy, "You're welcome. Enjoy your breakfast."

Hence, the schoolgirl occupied her seat beside Hatoshi who grabbed the fork and cut little pieces of his food. She happily watched her close partner take a bite of the pieces and hummed in enjoyment as he chewed the food, extending her warmful smile and a sheepish chortle.

The clean chortling noise attracted the schoolboy who recently swallowed the tasteful pieces of his breakfast, welcoming Yuna with a blissful smirk. They both traded their joyful stare with one another before releasing a jocular giggle, ready to engage in the comforting-morning conversation.

"How is the breakfast I made?" Yuna asked enthusiastically.

Hatoshi eagerly nodded and replied, "Very delicious. I like how you balanced the sweet and the salt taste of the "

"Ah…great to hear that from you," Yuna mumbled, nodding her head and opening the gladful nod.

Sudden, perturbed thoughts jolted inside Hatoshi's head as he furrowed down his eyebrows in a little bit of anxiousness. He also gritted half of his teeth and shakily placed the fork on the plate, convincing the worried eyes to color Yuna's entire face after witnessing her close partner begin to dwindle in discomfort feeling.

Hatoshi grunted and spoke with a brittle tone, "Yuna before I started to tell you the last night's incident, let… I ask you…this question first."

"How do you feel….after I….recently exposed…the lie about my secret identity?" Hatoshi asked, feeling nervousness frosted his voice.

The schoolgirl assuredly nodded before she latched her gentle palm below her close partner's right cheek, providing a comforting aura as Hatoshi closed his eyes for short seconds. A condolence smirk painted Yuna's face when she tilted her neck to the left and joyously released a high pitch giggle.

"I'm fine," Yuna assured, resting both of her hands and continuing to prolong the statement of her feeling regarding this condition, spreading her shimmering gratefulness. "You had a valid reason for your lie, Hatoshi and the thing is you already did many good things as Sparror, so of course, I will never be mad at you."

"Sorry to say this, I actually never believe you're an operator," Yuna added, pinching her chin in an elated demeanor. "Because you kind of person would choose as the direct Superheroes rather than the main in the shadow "

Hatoshi shook his head meekly and countered, "You got a good point on that."

"Also I'm even happier that your lies didn't involve cheating or other bad stuffs." Yuna avidly extended the bold-strong point of her argument.

A bitter satisfaction shimmered brightly through Hatoshi's mind as he released an out loud burst of laughter. He even tapped his close partner's shoulder and widened his well-pleased grin, exposing his commitment to maintaining their relationship in a smooth and stable way.

"Even though there are a lot of beautiful girls out there, they are not special like you, Yuna." Hatoshi remarked.

Cohesive laughter of joyfulness and soreness broadcasted all over the diner room as both Hatoshi and Yuna felt their throat cackling. Moreover, the schoolgirl sighed away to fade out the narrow uncontrollable laughter when her starving mood centered her attention on the Tamago.

She briskly grabbed her fork near the left side of her hand, cutting the small pieces of the meal when her nose breathed in the inviting tasteful smell. The intricated Tamago's piece fell into Yuna's opened mouth and chewed it in a prompt exuberant with her humming, attracting Hatoshi's sight. He indeed ended his laughter with a single sigh and centered his poised sight onto her.

Afterward, freezing uncertainty inundated Hatoshi's head due to the shivering opened jaw of franticness unfurled toward his close partner's sight. Condolence look was freed on resurfacing on Yuna's gaze, step by step lifted her unnerving left hand.

She firmly closed her lips and landed her gentle palm on top of Hatoshi's palm, awakened a surprised gasp, and sharpened his focus. He forcibly let out a deep sigh of relief, washing away the uncertainty from ever shackling his path and sharpening his flaring determined eyes.

Hatoshi swiftly flipped his forehand and gripped the soft palm of his close partner, tightening his assertive grip. Regardless, the confidence in resuming conversation took the more stern and mellow atmosphere as the schoolboy locked his closing lips in a firm demeanor.

"Alright, here is the story…in summary. So when I finished my fight against some big monster, I was sent back to the building's rooftop, filled with civilians." Hatoshi foretold the beginning of his past experience with a little bit of dread flowing through him. "Then, I…saw you still being chained and a weird jewel that became the off-switch of the bomb."

"Yes the building itself was not only being covered by a barrier, but it's also…somehow contained a bomb too," Hatoshi added with an assured tone.

A despairful mood repulsed Hatoshi's very mind as he tremblingly staggered his jaw, shedding a single regretful line of tear on his left eye. Luckily, he remained to keep his confidence by shaking his head and sharpening his assertive glare.

"I went to the weird jewel and tried to destroy it for making ake sure…..the civilians were safe first," Hatoshi reluctantly continued the flow of the story before he gave a brief pause of the unsettling shock by frigidly bit his lips. "However…Mr. Cloverland, the one bizarre monster pulled off his hideous trick."

A brief pause from Hatoshi's perspective entered the conversation with more despondent tears that went out and rained down on the holding hands. Yuna hurriedly stroked her tender touch below his tearful right eye, blessing him with another spark of confidence as the schoolboy strengthened his grip.

Even though raining tears kept rapidly drop, his ignorance came into instruction for the sake of unfolding the complete story of the horrific incident. An encouraging nod was cleanly commenced by Yuna, ensuring Hatoshi safely secured the stronghold spirit of barricading the burning burden.

"Mr. Cloverland released a lightspeed blasting bolt toward you and it raised me..unstable panic when my super sense suddenly activated." Hatoshi bittered, overflowing by the thought of horror when he indirectly played the video clip. The video clip of him as Sparror teleporting his close partner into safety from the elusive and vast blasting bolt.

Hatoshi groaned and muttered, "I…. let the desperation and the panic feeling win as I immediately teleported you to safety without any second thoughts."

"Because of my flames touching the crystal, the explosion…happened!!" Hatoshi flabbergasted, shoving a whimpering eyebrow, and cried. "I let all of those innocent people…die just for the sake of…preventing the possibility of losing you, Yuna!"

"If I can…think clearly back then, I could create a shield construct or even catch the blast with my other construct!" Hatoshi added and continued to expose his regret, releasing a short scream of releasing the haunting pain. "I'm very….disappointed with myself to be honest!!"

Hatoshi harshly tapped his chest and shouted "I'm…really am!!! To the point…Right now, I'm kind of losing the courage or will as..a Superhero!!"

"Let me repeat this one more time, I'm sorry for letting you…seeing…me like this." The schoolboy mumbled, bowed down his tremoring neck in an apologetic demeanor. "This is..what happened when my main motivation as a hero is for…you."

The conversation went into a grimaced flow as Yuna's motionlessly clouded her shocked face with freezing sorrow. The schoolgirl also continuously gritted her teeth and felt the cold shivers in her fingers, being showered by the exact same harrowing guilt her close partner suffered and endured the heating torment.

Capturing the sign of dread residing in his close partner's face pushed Hatoshi to hurriedly close both of his eyes. Waterfall line of tears on the schoolboy's staggeringly, whimpered eyes dropped onto either the holding hands or the table, almost resembling the wild raindrop in a cloudy sky.

Guilt, uneasiness, and dejection covered the atmosphere in the diner room as the high schoolers were stunned after the horrific story of Hatoshi's failure recently reached the conclusion. They didn't even lock their eyes on one another with Yuna's grief-stricken forced her to shut both of her eyes.

A single teardrop shed from one of Yuna's closed eyes and sluggishly started to depart her fingers, trying to end their reassuring holding hands. The short, past memory clip of her being knocked out with electrical strings bound her limbs, forcing her to shed another line of tears on her right eye.

Luckily, the intoxicated dejection didn't last long in lingering in Yuna's thoughts when she opened her eyes once again. Sultry red flashes cleanly glimmered within her eyes, flowing the schoolgirl with the stream of incitement as she washed away unnerving her tears.

Although the red flashes dimmed out from Yuna's eyes, the feeling of incitement still lingered even in her beating heart. All the feelings of despondency and sorrow vanished just like the wind passing by after she released a long-deep sigh of bitter relief.

An insistent grin emerged on Yuna's lips, encouraging the schoolgirl to strengthen her grip on the holding hands. She confidently landed her other tender palm to folding Hatoshi's trembling holding hand, awakening his surprised expression through him dropping his jaw and opening his staggering eyes. Staggering-whimpered eyes that kept dropping waterfall tears.

"I felt responsible too in this incident," Yuna confessed with a stoic tone.

"Yuna d-" Hatoshi couldn't reach his finished sentence when his close partner cut it off when she grunted.

"Even though I couldn't join you in the fight, I'm still going to help you regain your heroic spirit back," Yuna remarked sternly, sharpening her rigid glare toward Hatoshi who was caught in an unbending surprise. "I even promise to provide you endless emotional support and always stayed by your side no matter what."

"That's my only way… to pay respect toward those unfortunate innocent people," Yuna added. "For now."

Eventually, Hatoshi cleaned the waterfall tears from dropping more to the surfaces and briefly chuckled after capturing the firm words and the rigid glare of his close partner. The schoolboy happily giggled before strengthening his holding grip, embracing the soothing acceptance toward the future help his close partner would provide to him.

"Thank you very much, Yuna," Hatoshi assured with an unrelenting gladness showered him, sluggishly unveiling the wide smile of placidity. "So Yuna, let us find the most effective way starting from now."

…

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