Weak

"Hurry up! Otherwise you'll be late"

"I know, I know, I hurry up as fast as I can! But you? Rather than sit idle, would you rather come up with some ideas where I could take Amber?" said Luis as he dressed up.

"Why would I know that? Which one of us is dating her?" replied Zeke as he was sitting on a chair with his arms crossed at his chest.

"Please Zeke, think of a few places too...right now I'm focusing on..." were Luis's last words before he tripped over the pants he was trying to pull on and fell off.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm good" he replied while he lying onb the floor with his eyes spinning.

Zeke got up to help Luis get up.

"Thank Zeke"

"You're welcome, anyway, if you keep saying you want me to help you with some ideas there are a few places that come to mind now. You can take her to a movie in the new district, I was with Yuki here and I can confirm that the area is quite beautiful, or you could go to the mall. But don't forget what she would like to do is also very important, because if she say she doesn't want to many people around you should take her to an area not as crowded as the mall, such as a walk in the park"

"Ok, seems fair, other ideas do you have?"

"Well, there is always the option to take her to a restaurant if she want to eat, and there are some good restaurants nearby"

"Ok, having a meal, noted, anything else?"

"Hmm, that's all I can think of now, these are the places where you can take her on the first date, but I told you, these are the basic places, it depends a lot on what she wants to do"

"Yeah I know, but do you think this will be enough?"

"What do you mean by 'enough'?"

"Well, taking her to a movie, after that to a walk, after that going to the mall, after that taking her to a restaurant"

"Idiot" said Zeke hitting Luis in the forehead.

"Ouch, that hurts"

"I hope you don't think you're going to take her to all these places"

"Why not?"

"Idiot" said Zeke hiting Luis again "You don't have enough physical time for that much. The first date should be special, not long"

"Well, then what should I do?"

"Think of doing something she would like to do"

"As would be?"

"I don't know, I'm not going out with her, you're going out with her, you should know what she likes"

Luis started to panic. He gnaws his nails as he walks around the room in a circle saying the same thing.

"Oh sh*t, oh sh*i, oh sh*t, oh sh*t, Zeke I'M SO DEAD NOW! WHAT SHOULD I DO?!"

"First of all, calm down" he said slapping Luis's back.

"Ouch that hurt too, you know?

"Yes, but didn't you feel better now?"

"Not really, I feel my feet soften and my stomach hurts"

"Calm down Luis, it will be ok, try to inhale and exhale" he said as he puts his hand on Luis's shoulder.

"Ok, ok, you're right, I just have to take a deep breath and exhale slightly afterwards, c'mon I can do this, inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale...inha...le, ex..."

Luis began to sweat and breathe much harder than he had before. It seemed that the breathing exercises did not help him much, they even made the situation worse.

"IT'S GETTING WORSE ZEKE! I CAN'T CALM DOWN, I'M SO NERVOS AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M GONNA DO..."

"I said...CALM DOWN!" he replied putting both hands on Luis's shoulder to calm him down.

"Let's think for a second, ok? You're already talking with her for a few days, right?"

"Right"

"Good, now let's think, what you know about what she likes to do, or to see"

"Well...I do know that she likes to cook, a lot"

"That wonderful, knowing this you could take her to a restaurant where she can see how professional cooks are preparing the food, this could be a nice experience for her and a chance to learn from someone better than her"

Luis remained silent. He put his hand to his beard, sitting and thinking about what Zeke had said.

"You know...this is actually a really good idea. How did you do that?"

"Did what?"

"This, how did you come up with such a good idea?"

"I can't say it's the best idea though, I'm sure that if you're thinking enough time you can come up with other ideas much better than mine. The secret is to be a good listener, when it comes to people in general, not just girls. Being a good listener gives you many opportunities"

"Not that, I already know this, I was traveling and talking with a lot of peoples, do you remember?"

"Then what did you mean?"

"I was referring to how you managed to stay calm and come up with such a good idea"

"How did I do it? Well...the answer is very simple. Amber seems like a nice person to me, so the thought of seeing her happy feels good, and she's barely a friend to me, instead, for you she is a much more important person, now imagine her image, being happy and feeling good that she came out with you, how do you feel about this?"

Luis was silent for a few seconds, imagining what Zeke had just said. The image of Amber was already taking shape in Luis's brain.

With a simple outfit, with her brown hair, untied and left to the wind that blows lightly. Her blue eyes, a blue of the color of the celestial landscape that existed at that moment, with a faint shade of white, similar to the color of the clouds, eyes so mysterious that they make you get lost in them. Behind her is the sun slowly sinking into the sea that Luis imagined...a view truly...

"...Perfect" said Luis.

"So? Did you manage to do it?" asked Zeke.

"Yes...I did it, and I must say...she looks..."

"Perfect, yes I know you just said that"

"Wait, did I say that out loud?" asked Luis as his face turns red.

"Yes, yes you did"

"Please forget what you've just heard then..."

"I won't, more than that, I will constantly remind you of what you just said, for a very simple reason"

"Zeke please don't, it's pretty embarrassing..."

"Luis...I don't think seeing the beauty of someone else is a reason to be embarrassed, on the contrary, you should be proud of what you just said, not be embarrassed"

Luis remained silent.

"Look Luis, remember how did you saw her. You said she was 'perfect', right? Then tell me, are you going to disappoint this 'perfect being'? Do you really want to do it?"

"I...I...I don't want to!"

"Then tell me, it is really that hard to think to some nice places where she would like to go? And to do something that she would like to do?"

"No... No it's not!"

"Then tell me, where are you going to take her out?"

"First, to a fancy restaurant where she can see how food is made, I'm sure she'll like it. After this we could go to the mall to the pet store, she said she really likes dogs. After that if we're already in the mall, we can go to the cinema to see the new action movie that she said she would like to see..."

Luis stopped talking for a few seconds. Zeke became a bit worried.

"Are you ok Luis?" he asked.

"Zeke...thank you, I really don't know what I would have done without you, you saved me again"

"You don't need to say this Luis, I'm just doing what any other friend would do"

"Yeah... but even so, thank you, for real"

"Ok, ok no more sentimentalism, do you forget that you have to go to a date?"

"Right, we should go"

The two left Luis's apartment, then split up halfway to Zeke's house, because Luis had to change direction to go after Amber. Before taking different paths, Luis once again thanked Zeke for all the help. After separating, Zeke pulls out his phone and called Yuki.

"Oh hey Yuki, how are yo..."

"Have you thought about giving a sign of life? I thought you were already dead" Yuki said, interrupting Zeke.

"What a nice greeting from you"

"At how long has been since you last called, you can't judge me for believing that"

"Well, look, I didn't die, aren't you happy?"

"Find out yourself from my voice whether I am or not"

"Well, I would do that if you weren't so emotionless. You make me think you don't care if I'm okay or not."

"You already know the answer to this question" she replied.

"Yes...yes I do. But anyway, there's another reason I called you, are you free tonight for a training?"

"I always am"

"Good, so do we meet at our place?"

"No"

"No? What do you mean by no?" asked Zeke confused.

"I mean no, we'll not meet in that place"

"Ok...? Then where?"

"Come to the location I will send you and we will discuss here"

"O...ok? I guess"

"If you don't have anything else to say, see you here, bye"

"Wait, I do ha.." were Zeke's words, but they were too late, Yuki already closed, making Zeke a bit frustrated.

"What happened to her? She seemed out of sorts. Hmm, I think even female demons go through 'that' period. Anyway, I hope the place she chose is good enough"

At that moment, Zeke receives a message from Yuki with the location where she wants to meet. Zeke checked to see exactly where this place was, and to his great surprise, it was a place known to him.

"Why exactly this place? There's nothing special about it...well, probably because it's abandoned, and it's quite close to me. I'm not complaining, but...I prefer the old place, but what to do, if she wanted to change it, I have nothing to do."

Zeke started walking towards the received location. After less than half an hour of walking, Zeke arrived at the location sent by Yuki. It was an old abandoned factory. Being a late hour, there weren't as many people in the area as during the day, so Zeke had no problem sneaking in. Once he was inside, Zeke saw Yuki launching some attacks, from the weapons she made with elemental magic, in the air.

"I see you've already started training without me. As for the location, it's pretty nice I could say, I'm not necessarily a fan, I honestly prefer our old place, but this one is not bad either"

Yuki stopped training. The weapons she created disintegrated in a matter of seconds, but she remained very quiet. She stood with her hands on her chest without saying anything, all she did was to look at Zeke.

"Why do I feel a tense atmosphere between me and her?" Thought Zeke.

"Are...you feeling good...?" he asked.

"You are much quieter than usual"

But her answer was something that irritated Zeke a little.

"Yes...I'm good, let's start the training session now" was what she said, without any other emotion. But Zeke decided to ignore it for now.

"Maybe it's something she doesn't want to talk about yet" was what he thought.

"Ok so, do we start with some hand-to-hand combat or do we get some 'weapons'? To be honest with you, I'd rather do some weapon training today, I feel more in the weapon mood today than in the close combat mood"

"Close combat today"

"O...ok, but can we also do some weapon training today? I really want to do it"

"No, we don't have enough time, now come"

"Oh...ok" Zeke felt a bit disappointed after Yuki's answer.

"C'mon, attack me" said Yuki.

"What?"

"What you've heard, attack me, until I decide to attack you first"

"Do you really think this is a good idea?"

"Yes"

"Okay, but don't complain if I'm too harsh with you..."

Zeke didn't have time to finish his sentence, because before he realized it, he already had to avoid Yuki's, who was in front of him. Fortunately, he managed to do it until something bad happened.

"What was that?!" he screamed.

"I told you, if you don't move fast enough, I'll attack you first"

"So you were really serious"

"You know very well that I am always serious in everything I say and do. Why do you think it would have been different this time?"

"So you really want to do that?"

"You were the one who said you wanted to train tonight, I don't understand what the problem is, and we've fought each other before"

"Yeah, but don't like this, that attack could have seriously injured me"

"That's what you get if you're not fast enough, but don't worry that wasn't the only attack"

Yuki used her elementary magic and, like the first time, got in front of Zeke before he noticed. Face to face, Zeke managed to look into Yuki's eyes, those eyes... blood-colored. They were the same eyes he first noticed when they met, and just like then Yuki attacks Zeke, only this time it seems to be different, her eyes seem to emit a very strong feeling of...

"Sh*t, I don't have enough time to dodge this attack, I have to block it!" Thought Zeke. He crossed his arms using them as a shield, but Yuki's attack was so strong that it didn't matter. The attack was so strong that it threw Zeke flying at one of the walls of the building.

Once he fell to the ground, Zeke realized that Yuki was not joking about this fight, and that she was very serious.

"If that's what you want us to do...well, let me see everything you can do."

"Don't worry, this fight won't last long, I doubt you will resist..." Yuki said, attacking Zeke. This time she used her right fist to aim at the area of Zeke's face, but something interesting happened, Zeke grabbed Yuki's fist with one hand, and with the other he was holding on to his wrist, because her attack was strong enough to break it. He blocked her attack before hitting him.

"...this attack" she continued surprised by what happened.

"I told you...it's not good to underestimate me"

Zeke took his right hand off his wrist and grabbed Yuki's wrist, then turned his body ninety degrees, wielding all his strength in his back and hands, to lift her up and throw her to the ground.

At that moment, Yuki realized that it had happened exactly as Zeke had said, and that she had lowered her guard around him because she had underestimated him.

"Okay, I have the advantage now, I can do it!" Thought Zeke...but to his disappointment this was not the case.

Once Yuki fell to the ground, she fell on two legs, not being hurt at all by Zeke's attack.

Even worse, when she fell to the ground, she grabbed Zeke by the wrist, leaving him without the option to flee, then used her leg and attacked Zeke on the leg, causing him to fall to the ground.

After Zeke fell to the ground, Yuki gets on top of him and grabbed his hands, holding them to the ground and immobilizing him.

"Well, I can say that this time you exceeded my expectations, but to be honest with you, you are still weak Zeke, I'm sorry to tell you this"

Zeke started muttering something.

"Hmm? Did you said something?" Yuki asked, bringing her head a little closer to Zeke's, to hear what he had to say.

"I...said...DON'T GET FUN OF ME!" Zeke shouted, giving Yuki a head butt, dizzying her and making her fall off him.

Zeke managed to get up, only this time he was very angry. Yuki got up from the ground and started running towards him. Once she reached him, she launched a wave of punches at him, but Zeke managed to avoid all her attacks, but that made him move away from the center of the room, getting too close to one of the walls. Before he knew it, Zeke had hit his back against a wall.

"Oh no! she caught me in a disadvantageous position"

Yuki took advantage of this opportunity and attacked Zeke again. Like the first time, Zeke managed to avoid her attacks, which were so strong that every punch she hit the wall left a hole.

When she saw that she could not hit him, and that he was trying to escape her attacks, Yuki tried to use her left foot to immobilize him. Her blow was strong enough to make a hole in the wall and stop Zeke from dodging to his right.

"Do you really think you can escape?"

"Yes I do"

Zeke slipped through the gap between her legs and managed to escape that corner. Even though it seemed like the fight between the two was balanced, the atmosphere between the two was far too tense. Zeke had already begun to breathe harder and sweat his palms.

"I didn't make fun of you, that's the truth, you're too weak Zeke, look how hard you breathe, and your stamina is almost over. This fight will end in just a few attacks"

"I recommend you not to talk in advance, and see first how true what you just said is."

"Well, don't blame me if you can't move anymore after all this."

Yuki started rushing towards Zeke, and Zeke was ready to block any attack. Yuki started launching attacks with all four limbs on Zeke. She aimed to attack any free spot found in Zeke's defense.

That's how her wave of attacks began, her right fist, blocked, her left fist, blocked, her right fist again, blocked, her left fist aimed at Zeke's stomach, blocked. A kick on Zeke leg to unbalance him and hake him fall, Zeke jumped over it, after which he made a backflip using his hands, and retreated a little further back. Even though Yuki failed to hit Zeke at all, traces of sweat were visible on Zeke's face, large drops of sweat running down his red face. Breathing doesn't help either, Zeke was already breathing much harder and harder than before.

However, Yuki seemed to be in perfect shape to continue the fight, no sign of sweating, perfect breathing, no wound after the fight with Zeke, it seemed like she could have continued for a long time from that moment.

"Looks like that's the limit of your powers, Zeke"

"I'm...not...done..." he said, breathing hard.

"No, you're done Zeke, see, that's what I don't like about you, you force yourself to push your limits when it's useless anyway, you're weak Zeke, you can't beat me now, and you can't beat Hals by yourself either"

"Don't...do that..." said Zeke in a lower voice.

"Do what?"

"Don't call me weak! You know very well that I am doing my best to become stronger" he said in a nervous breakdown.

"I have even made great progress! Do you think that in the beginning when we met I could have fought with you one on one? No! Of course not, but look at me now, I can face you in a close fight, you couldn't hit me at all"

Yuki remained silent for a few seconds, but after that she asked Zeke in a lower voice.

"Do you call this progress...?"

Her voice start to tremble, and in a nervous breakdown she told Zeke.

"SCREW THAT! Just because you manage to avoid my attacks doesn't mean you've made progress , if you want prove me that you've made progress, summon a weapon, right here, right now!"

"Yuki..." he said.

"Let's end this fight here, it's obvious that something happened to you, and you know that you don't have to hide what's going on, and that you can tell me everything, right?"

Yuki remained silent.

"Look Yuki, I was really bothered by what you said about me, you know I don't like when you're calling me weak, you know I try to become stronger and help you, so let's end this here, tell me what happened"

Yuki was still silent. An oppressive silence was left between the two, until, Yuki broke the ice, saying something very harsh...

"Don't..." she said very quietly, looking down, with her dark hair covering her eyes.

"I don't understand what you say Yuki, please say it louder"

"DON'T TAKE ME WITH 'you can tell me what's going on'. YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON. BUT YOU ARE TOO BLIND TO OBSERVE. I've told you so many times that what we do is not a game, and that many lives depend on what we do now, as long as we don't act faster Hals will take more and more lives.

And look at you, it been three months and you still cannot summon your weapon, you know it very well, I can't summon my sword anymore because I give you a part of my powers to save your life back then, you should be the main force right here, and still look at you, you still afford yourself to live your normal human life, well, you'd better stay with that than get involved in the fight with HALS!

That's how you all humans are! You can't see what's really important! You're too selfish to see that!"

"Yuki...what you say now is really..."

"Don't take me with 'Yuki what you say is really'...just stay away from me and from everything that means Hals, demons, and anything else that to you humans can't understand, because you're not strong enough to face everything that will eventually come"

"Yuki, you can't be serious, we've spent so much time together already, we've known each other for three months now, and you know you can trust me. If the reason you want to kick me out is because I'm weak, I'll work harder! Yuki I can't give up now, you need to understand that!"

"It's too late, I gave you the chance to show me that I was wrong in the previous fight, and I have to admit, even though you exceeded my expectations, you are not strong enough to be able to carry everything that will follow. It's over Zeke"

Zeke was very tense at the moment, he didn't know what to do, even if he wanted to contradict Yuki at that moment, somewhere deep inside him he knew she was right, he knew he was too weak to deal with everything...but even so, something made him take a stand...it was Luis' story that pushed him to tell Yuki everything he had to say.

"Yuki! Luis's mother was killed by a Hals! You don't understand how much this made him suffer! I understand how much suffering Hals causes in people's lives! THAT'S WHY I WANT TO BECOME STRONGER! I CAN'T GIVE UP NOW, YUKI! I don't know exactly why you want to take me away from you, but I know this won't do us any good! We're a team, Yuki, we have to fight together!"

"I told you Zeke, it's already over, this 'team' you are talking about is being dismantled right here and now. We have nothing to do with each other from now on"

"Yuki..."

"Don't be sad, look on the bright side, you can get back to your normal life that you wanted, you're even doing better than when we first met, you have a more stable job now and you have friends. You're doing well enough that you don't need to worry about Hals from now on. That being said, farewell Zeke, I enjoyed being a 'team' but it's over" she said as she began to make her way out of the building.

"Yuki...you can't be serious...Did you forget our date? Did you forget how much time we spent together in the last three months? Did you forget that the first time we met I managed to summon the weapon? Yuki! Wait a little longer, and I'll be able to summon it again. I promise I'll get rid of Hals no matter what! I just want everyone to be happy, that includes you too! I promise I will make the world happy no matter what it costs me! So just wait a little longer! And I will definitely become stronger!"

Yuki was about to leave the building, and she didn't look like she was going to stop. Zeke started running to catch up with her, but by the time he came out the door that Yuki had just left, she was gone. Zeke looked around, but no sign of her.

At that moment...he realized that Yuki was right, and that from now on, he would slowly get closer to the normal life he once wanted. But in his mind, he was thinking of something else, all the moments he had spent with Yuki in the last few months, every fight they had fought together, any reply they exchanged with each other, the moment they first met, now passed before his eyes, but no matter how hard he tried to get close to them, these memories easily drifted away from him...that was the moment that made Zeke realize that...

"I don't want this...I don't need a normal life anymore...I want...to save those who want to live a normal life...I really don't know what happens to you...Yuki...but something seems strange to her, I could see...the sadness in her eyes and...Yuki...I don't know why you've done this, but I promise you, I will get stronger, and I will help you to get rid of Hals no matter what"

Zeke started training alone after that, since there was no one in the area. He started with a normal workout to strengthen his muscles, after which he took an old pipe from the ground and began to use it as a sword to train his senses. He began to throw the pipe from side to side, meanwhile getting lost in thought.

"I don't understand...is she so upset about everything I've done? It was all very spontaneous...I still can't fully understand what happened...

So much has happened in the last few months now that I'm thinking...First of all, the appearance of Yuki in my life changed everything, if it weren't for her, I would probably still be an ordinary student, I would have led an ordinary life, everything would have been normal.

After that...Luis appeared...and he had a major contribution in my life too, being my best friend, he would have helped me get rid of the feeling of loneliness, even if it wasn't Yuki...but still...he couldn't have filled the emptiness in my heart...because eventually he would have started dating Amber even if it weren't for Yuki, and then I'd be left alone even if I have a best friend...no one can live alone, no matter how isolated they may be...we humans are beings who need other beings, we need relationships with other people, we need to socialize, to go out, to laugh, to cry, we feel good, we feel bad...that's what makes us humans!

And I...I have a chance to find out what it's like to be different...there's no other man in this world who has demon powers...so as a great man used to say 'With great power comes great responsibility...; so Yuki I don't know what happened to you...

Now that I'm thinking about it...I don't know much about you...I don't know what your life was like in Hell...I know a little about what you like...but that's not enough! Yuki! I want to learn more about you! I want to help you! Just as you helped me when I was alone.

I want to help you, and Luis and everyone! I want to help as many people as possible so that no one suffers because of Hals!

And I want to keep you close...because you've already become an important person to me...even if the day comes when you have to leave...until then, I want to be by your side...Yuki!!

With a strong thought in his mind, and such a burning feeling inside him, Zeke uses the pipe and cuts into the void for the last time, creating a strong current of air which hit one of the pillars supporting the building, cutting it in two. Fortunately, the building was still supported on the other pillars, so there was no problem with the collapse, but what Zeke just experienced was different...

"What...just...happened?" he wondered at that moment.