The Void Above - Chapter 10

Kichirou arrived at the apartment at around 7pm and was immediately greeted by the smell of a meal. Looking at the usually cluttered, messy lounge table, Kichirou realized it was completely clear, save for the presence of 2 plates. Each was adorned with steaks, rice, and an assortment of different vegetables. The steam emanating from them indicated they were prepared quite recently.

"Go, sit down."

Jane's voice came from around the corner, surprising Kichirou, as he couldn't see her at the time. Kichirou wanted to ask what exactly it was about since they normally ordered take-out pretty exclusively for dinner, but he decided it could wait until later.

"Alright, I'll sit in my usual spot, then."

Kichirou began to take his normal spot at the table, seated on the floor, before Jane interrupted him.

"Wait. Before you go, take this."

Jane tossed Kichirou a sort of cushion to sit on, and Kichirou thanked her, and sat on the cushion. It was quite comfortable compared to the floor he'd normally be sitting on, and he was quite grateful.

"It's brand new, got it while you were out doing all the exams. I'll join you soon, just give me a second."

Kichirou looked over to the kitchenette area, a mess from Jane's many mistakes while cooking, though what she managed to make in the end impressed Kichirou, at least the way it looked had impressed him. He saw Jane typing some sort of message on her phone, but couldn't quite interpret what she was doing. Letting curiosity get the better of him, Kichirou attempted to do something only he could do.

'The symbol…!'

As Kichirou finished drawing the symbol, the cloudy distortion surrounding his eyes grew even thicker, and his visual prowess increased by a considerable amount, however, before he could make out anything on Jane's phone, she was done doing whatever she had to do and shut her phone off, putting it away in her right pocket.

'Damn… maybe next time?'

Kichirou released the symbol's enhancement, and the distortion surrounding his eyes cleared a bit, and he began to experience the world around him as a normal human once more.

Jane walked over to the lounge table placed in the living area, handing him a drink as she passed his seat and navigated to her own area of the table, placing a cushion similar to the one she gave Kichirou on the floor beneath her before sitting down.

Kichirou took a small bite of the steak.

'Good!'

Kichirou, still hungry despite having gotten food on the way home, was still hungry, and began devouring the food so fast it appeared as though he had forgotten to swallow it.

"Woah! I didn't think it'd be that good. If you like it so much, eat as much as you'd like!"

Jane took pride in Kichirou's enumeration with her meal.

"I haven't cooked anything like this since I came down here, so I'm surprised you like it."

Kichirou hooved down all the food in the blink of an eye, going back for seconds and eating those in a flash as well.

'Why am I so hungry? I already ate a full meal at the noodle house, so I shouldn't be this- Ngh!'

Before he could finish his thought, Kichirou felt a sharp pain in his temple.

Clang!

Kichirou dropped his fork onto the table, clutching his temple with his left hand and his left arm with his right.

Fwoosh!

An outburst of purple-blue energy came out of Kichirou's eyes, almost like an extremely powerful version of what had been covering his eyes before the strange man came and gave him control.

"What's going on?!"

Jane stood up in a hurry, violently shaking the lounge table by accident. As she ran over to check on Kichirou, the outpouring of energy became even stronger.

Kichirou was unsure of what was happening but felt a mysterious urging. He was being called by something, but who, or what, was calling him was uncertain.

'Again…?'

"There's always something isn't there…? I'll leave you to it this time, there's not much I can do anyway…"

Kichirou felt a hint of defeatism in Jane's voice, but couldn't linger on it, as he felt himself slowly slipping away from the realm of the conscious.

As he fell unconscious in the real world, Kichirou woke up in the mysterious void yet again. This time, however, he was met with a familiar scene.

"Hey there. It's been a while for you, hasn't it?"

The voice of the man who had given Kichirou finer control over his power rang through his mind, as though he weren't talking, but transmitting the information directly into his brain.

"It's not even been that long, and you're already having this issue? Well, I guess it's to be expected, considering just how incompatible you are with all of this."

'Compatible? Already?'

Kichirou began to question just how much the mysterious man knew. His formal clothing gave off the impression that he was from Kichirou's world, but how could he be sure? In fact, the closer Kichirou looked, the blurrier the man's face appeared to get, like looking at his actual self was impossible for Kichirou at the moment.

"What do you mean by 'Compatible'?"

Kichirou decided to ask what'd been weighing on his mind most.

"You don't need to know just yet, it won't do you any good. As this place assimilates to you, it'll unlock more for you, and you'll be able to figure it out alone."

'What does he mean by 'Assimilate'? I don't understand this at all.'

The strange man kept Kichirou completely in the dark, which was starting to get on his nerves.

"If you know so much about this place, why don't you just tell me?"

Kichirou had spoken in an annoyed voice, but the man remained completely calm, as though Kichirou were merely an ant before him.

"It'd be better if you figured this out on your own, everyone does it that way. Our situation is quite unique, though. Not only are you naturally completely incompatible with this area, but, I'm also here, which is disrupting the space's assimilation with your conscious."

Kichirou hadn't caught on to much of what the man had said, but he did know that, if they are to share this space forever, they should, at the very least, have a basic understanding of one another.

"I'm Kichirou, what's your name?"

Kichirou extended his hand outward, gesturing for the man to shake his hand.

"You can call me…"

The man thought for a second before finishing his sentence.

"Patrick. You can call me Patrick"

Patrick took Kichirou's hand, and yet another burst of purple light blinded Kichirou.

"I guess there are some good things that come from my presence here. I can fix situations like this pretty easily."

While listening, Kichirou felt a sensation in his throat, keeping him from speaking after the man finished talking, leaving him with the sole option of continuing to listen.

"When things like this happen in the future, I'll fix it before you end up here for the time being, though you'll need to learn to control these things on your own, I don't plan on being here for you forever, after all."

With an even brighter flash of light than before, Kichirou closed his eyes, and when he opened them, saw Jane in front of him, and she started to speak.

"Oh! You're back?! You scared me for a second there."

Kichirou looked around, noting that he was still in the living area he had been in prior.

"How long was that going on for?"

Jane thought for a little bit before responding.

"You were only really out for around 10 seconds or so, why?"

'What? I swear it felt like I was in that void for at least 30 minutes. Maybe time flows differently over there…'

Kichirou made the only reasonable assumption and continued on.

"No, it's nothing. Just curious is all."

Though he had revealed the void as an area to Jane, he still felt as though telling other people about this whole thing was a hassle, as it was difficult even for him to understand.

"Well… Whatever. I can't force you to tell me, and everyone has some things they keep to themselves. If I can ask, though, where'd you get that cloak?"

Kichirou looked down at himself, and only then remembered he was still wearing the combat. It resembled more a caped coat than a cloak. The edges, rather than being smooth, eventually separated from each other, causing the end of the coat to have three distinct endings that only met as with each other at around Kichirou's hip. He hadn't noticed the hood, but it did have a very cloak-esque look to it, and Kichirou enjoyed the aesthetic.

"I found it in the corner of the little armory or whatever it's called. There was an incident with my last match, so I couldn't give it back."

Kichirou looked at the left arm sleeve of the coat, and realized that the sleeve was still intact despite his entire arm having been cut off, coat and all. 

'Perhaps it has some sort of regenerative ability?'

"Okay then, I'm sure they won't miss something that was collecting dust in some corner anyway. It's gotten pretty late, though, so it's about time we headed to bed, isn't it?"

Kichirou looked at the time and began to feel drowsy.

"You're right, it's about time we went to bed."

Jane cleared off the table before heading to her bedroom. Suddenly, in the middle of her walk, she stopped, and turned her neck to face Kichirou.

"Oh, and by the way, combat training doesn't stop just because you've taken the exam. We'll be getting up early tomorrow, so get some sleep.'

Kichirou lowered his head, dejected, knowing his hopes of a peaceful week of doing nothing at all had been swiftly crushed

"Alright…"

'Goddamnit…'