Painful Cries

The whole area in and around the place that used to be a beautiful family restaurant was chaotic; all kinds of sounds—the flickering of the flames, the thudding of distant steps, and shouting men—echoed in the area, among many others. But the only sound Alvin could hear was the sound of his feet as he stepped on the gravel on the floor.

There were many things going on at the same time, but the only thing he could see was not the sight of a burning kitchen but a kitchen full of people that moved with precision while poking fun at each other from time to time.

He found himself standing back in the past, among the only people he felt the familial warmth with. The memory lived in his heart like it was happening at the moment.

Fugetsu was unlike any other restaurant. Unlike the chefs of other five-star restaurants, who treated their co-workers as mere stepping stones on their path to promotion, the chefs at Fugetsu operated as a cohesive team, more akin to a family.

The memory of chefs who made mistakes being scolded by an old man of short stature with a hunched back flashed through his eyes. The old man looked like everyone owed him money, but he still helped them correct their mistake.

Alvin turned his head towards one of the counters and saw a young man around his age, working with a warm smile on his face, his eyes twinkled behind the thin glass frame on his nose as he worked on his dish while instructing the rest at the same time.

"Matsuoka…." The first word that came out of his mouth sounded more like a desperate cry for assurance than a simple call.

The young man seemed to have heard his words as he paused in his step before slowly turning towards Alvin.

Alvin flinched and staggered backward in horror upon seeing half of Matsuoka's face burned to the point his skull was visible. Yet the smile on the young man's face never faded.

"You finally… CAME." As the young man named Matsuoka replied, his voice grew distorted and heavy. Alvin felt the world around him shatter like a fragile piece of glass, and he was now standing in the middle of hell itself.

He then realized it was no hell!

It was reality that had taken the mask of hell to stare in his face, to show him what despair looked like.

Alvin blankly stared at the two bodies lying before him on the ground. They were half burned; the taller body had a metallic glass frame on its face that had melted into the face of the young man, showing the severity of the flames he had felt before dying.

The face of this man was beyond recognition, but Alvin instantly knew who he was.

Underneath the man was a small body belonging to an old man who had his hands tightly wrapped around the taller one. Shock and panic could be seen in his aged eye which was barely covered by torn pieces of the eyelid.

Thud!

Suddenly an array of rushed steps echoed in the hall, loud enough to catch anyone's attention, but no one seemed to pay attention to them. Even Elara and Vanessa, who had been standing behind Alvin, a little distance away from him, paid no heed to them.

Suddenly a group of firefighters led by a burly middle-aged man stormed into the kitchen from the other side, opposite to the two women.

"Hands up! Get away from those bodies! This is a warning!" Firefighters tensed, seeing Alvin slowly crouching towards two burnt, dead bodies and raising whatever weapons they had on hand.

The commander took the initiative to step forward, but he instantly tensed when he saw Alvin ignoring their presence and slowly touching the bodies with his hands.

"Hands in the air, young man!" The Commander warned from a distance while subtly glancing towards his subordinates. Due to the distance between them and the burning pile of debris in their path, their group was unable to clearly see Alvin's appearance. The smoke in the air had been hindering their vision.

Almost immediately, Alvin broke down and fell to his knees with a thud. The group of firefighters froze upon seeing Alvin breaking down and hugging the burnt corpses, pressing them against his chest.

"Matsuoka… Old man…" Tears streamed down Alvin's face as he kept calling to them. The longer no one replied to him, the more he cried. "Answer me… don't leave me. Please!"

His voice sounded croaked yet pleading; those who were able to hear his desperate cries felt their soul twisting in sympathy. Alvin slowly rocked in his spot; his cries grew louder and more desperate, and he kept repeating the same words over and over again.

The firefighters had no idea what was going on, but the commander seemed to have realized something.

His grip on the axe he was holding loosened as he thought, 'Could it really be a lucky survivor?' He wondered, but his grip tightened as soon as it loosened. 'No! How could someone even survive so many explosions? Even if he is not the perpetrator, this guy is suspicious.'

"Everyone move in from all sides and subdue the man before us; I want no mistakes. Make it quick." The commander whispered with a barely audible sigh. He signaled the group to fan out, and so they did.

They slowly charged towards Alvin from different sides, slipping through the burnt debris or avoiding it. The commander also moved towards the young man with slow yet steady steps, ready for any possible reaction they might get.

Elara and Vanessa frowned seeing their movement, as they were about to make their move to stop this unwanted group from interfering with Alvin's grieving; something happened that made everyone, including the firefighters, stop and look at Alvin, who was still kneeling in the middle of the kitchen holding two bodies. In his arms pressed to his chest.

But this time, something was different.

A purple hue of smoke had manifested around Alvin; it continued to rise upwards as the sound of Alvin's wailing grew louder and louder.

And soon…

"Argghh!" Alvin snapped his head backward and let out a growling scream. His cries pulsed out and echoed in the far distant forests. As if affected by his emotions, the energy also reacted.

BOOM!

A huge burst of energy erupted with Alvin as the center and pushed away everything, be it the debris walls or even the whole squad of firefighters flying out like rag dolls.