“A better question is what side you’re on,” shouted a new voice from the distance. Everyone turned around trying to locate the source only to discover that they were suddenly surrounded. Many of the faces they recognized as students in their class or other classes in the same year. Even a teacher or two as well were in their ranks, but they all looked worn and tired.

While some bore weapons others had powers on display making it clear that they wanted compliance. They looked ready for a fight. However, Yuki did not want to get involved in something that he did not understand. He stepped out only to draw all of their attention and have threats of attacks aimed at him. The sign of attacks hardly fazed him after everything in Atlantis. He just wanted answers. “What’s going on here? And who is your leader?”

“Like I said before, the question I have for you is what side are you on?” It was the same voice once more. However, this time a shadowed figure stepped out from the second floor of the ruined building.

It took Yuki a moment for his eyes to adjust to the distance, but he recognized them immediately. “Hiroshi?!”

While Yuki might have been stunned in surprise by the sudden appearance of one of his friends, Saki did not waste any time charging straight for them. Anyone that threatened them Saki would not hold back against, even it was a friend. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Hiroshi?!”

Though a blur to Yuki, Hiroshi saw her coming with ease and lifted his hand up. “I haven’t said ‘hajime no ippo’ yet. You’re now my prisoner.”

Saki suddenly came to a stop. “What’s wrong with my body?” She struggled to move, but could do nothing. Then her hands moved to close her palms together. Despite her efforts, Saki found that her body never moved for her. It was not even that she was under restraints or pressure, she just simply could not order her body to do anything. “What the hell did you do to me, Hiroshi? If this isn’t one of your pranks, I swear a kick won’t be enough penance!”

Yumi and Yori made a motion to help Saki as the situation quickly escalated, but Yuki threw out his hands. “Don’t make a move!”

“Yuki?”

“Saki’s in trouble, Hayashi!”

“Yes, and you’ll fall into the same trap if you move a centimeter as well.”

Hiroshi stared down at Yuki seeing that he already figured things out. “Quick to pick up on things I see, Yuki. You played the fool and class clown so well, it’s hard to remember that you actually have intelligence underneath that façade you gave all of us.”

“What’s going on, Yuki?”

The hardened look he saw in Hiroshi’s eyes told Yuki volumes. ‘What the hell’s been going on here? A graveyard with students from our school. Teachers and students lined up like they’re out of some post-apocalypse storyline. This isn’t the UN’s doing. I would have seen a heavier presence in the city if it was. This isn’t a martial law situation. So what the hell happened?’

Trying to think it through in the time that he had was not going to get him to the answers. Plus, the Mizuno siblings wanted some answers. Yuki focused on what he did know instead. “It seems that Hiroshi also has powers, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise. I’m guessing everyone here does. The reason I stopped you is because we’re all under Hiroshi’s power already. His power probably has some similarities with mine.”

Yori stared at Yuki with some reluctant awe. ‘He only just showed off his power and Hayashi already understands how it works? Hayashi’s more intelligent than I gave him credit for. I guess his friend is right. He’s fooled all of us…’

“What is his power?” asked Yumi, feeding Yuki more questions.

“The power we’re under right now is Darumasan ga Koronda.”

“The game kids play?” Yori incredulously questioned. However, when he looked over at Saki and saw her position with her hands clasped together it did make sense. ‘How in the world did he figure all of that out so fast? That’s far too unnatural for any reasonable deductions.’

As though Yumi kept throwing out what Yori needed, she could not stop asking questions. “How do you know? It could be another sort of power like mind control.”

“A few reasons, Saki came to an immediate stop and put her hands together, which is traditional for being captured by the oni in the game and he also mentioned ‘hajime no ippo’, “Taking the first step”, which you say when starting the game. However it goes beyond that, doesn’t it Hiroshi? You’re not restricted to just a single children’s game are you?”

Narrowing his eyes to almost thin lines, Hiroshi even had to admit to being impressed by Yuki’s accuracy. “I’m guessing that part of you isn’t fake after all.”

Yuki felt like he saw some resentment in Hiroshi’s face specifically aimed at him for lying to him. He did present a front to everyone in a way to hide from his past. It was who he had become after the incident. Though it did not change that it was just a cover up to his old self. ‘I’m sorry, Hiroshi. That part of my life was supposed to be behind me.’

“What’s Hiroshi referring to?”

“Probably Hayashi’s book knowledge,” guessed Yori. He was already knew Hayashi long enough to figure out a few of the ways that his mind worked. Once he put it together a lot more of the deductions he made did not seem as farfetched.

“Book knowledge?”

“Enough stalling,” barked Hiroshi. He motioned loosely to those gathered around him. They tightened their position on Yuki and his friends. “I know you’re already thinking up a countermeasure with that power of yours Yuki. One ripple and you won’t be able to finish that thought before your head is on the ground.” Hiroshi’s face ran dark with shadows introducing further harshness to his already severe appearance. He was not the same Hiroshi they all knew anymore. There was lethal intent in his eyes. Blood could almost be seen on him, baked into his shadow.

Chapter 292 – Friend or Enemy

The friend he knew seemed unrecognizable from the one he remembered. There was no mischievous grin eternally painted across his face. No jokes slipped out from his lips. It all disappeared and replaced with cold and merciless figure. “What happened to you, Hiroshi?”

“I’m asking the questions here, Yuki. Which side are you on?”

“Side? What sides? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

The perimeter closed in further on them with Hiroshi losing patience with them. “Enough! Answer the question or die where you stand!”

Yuki ground his teeth together unable to answer him. ‘I can just say that I’m on his side, but would that really be convincing enough for him? I mean anyone with their life threatened would say that. Hiroshi doesn’t look like he’ll go so easily on us, even being friends. Plus, I don’t know what’s going on. While I don’t want to doubt him, there is a graveyard without an explanation and he’s willing to kill.’ All of the doubt made Yuki feel guilty. He was supposed to be his friend, not an enemy. But he could not help but feel cautious of what surrounded him.

Yet as though someone looked to make the answer easier for him, the ground nearby him suddenly exploded. Yumi already had her barrier up to completely protect them. To Yuki’s eyes it seemed as though she saw it coming, even though it did come up afterward. He could hear the sound of the debris dully falling onto her shield.

Immediately, Yuki turned back to look at Hiroshi, planning to yell at him for jumping the gun. However, it was clear that they were not the reason for it. Hiroshi motioned out to his group for them to get into position. Students and teachers alike took his orders and ignored his friends. They no longer seemed to be the most important thing.

Yuki motioned over to Saki. “Hiroshi freed her, Yumi! We need to move from this place. Whatever is happening, we’re just sitting ducks out in the open!” She nodded in agreement and Yori had no complaints. They regrouped with Saki dragging her away from Hiroshi, as she already wanted a piece of him once she realized that she was not under his power. “Saki! We need to understand the situation before you start a fight with Hiroshi!”

“…fine…” she agreed, giving into Yuki’s request. He was too much of a weakness for her. It made her too agreeable, but protecting Yuki was her other duty apart from dealing with any of his enemies. “What’s going on?” She shouted as more stray blasts erupted around them.

The whole area became even more of a battlefield than it felt. Worse was that they stood in a graveyard. This was no respect for the dead, especially as they all knew them. Yuki tilted over his shoulder in the direction of where Hiroshi ran off. He picked cover behind some fallen wall that used to belong to a bookstore.

Retreated to safety behind a more structurally complete building, Yumi hovered away from the group. She moved to the roof as the lookout, while Saki peered out from the corner. Yori stayed down on the ground with Yuki feeling a little useless. Both of the girls had more combat experience than him and more familiarity with their powers. He still did not understand his very well to feel confident in them.

“What do you see?” asked Yuki. He already knew that they had better sight than him. It was one of the many advantages that they received from their powers. The sight of seeing them moving around as he had only read and dreamed of made him a little jealous. They lived his dream. He could only pretend with his power.

“Hiroshi’s group is fighting with another group. It’s another powered group.”

“That makes sense, pretty sure the way things are nearly everyone in the city, in Japan rather, has powers. It’s just up to the individual to discover it. Who is the other group?”

“I don’t see anyone in charge, they all just seem to be doing whatever they want with no structure or command.”

“Yuki,” called out Saki, though her voice shook a little bit. “Hiroshi isn’t fighting strangers. They’re other classmates! Ishihara and Santo among them, even some from my track team.”

“The hell?!” Yuki stepped out no longer thinking about his safety. A stray green blob flew past him sending shimmers down his protective field. His fighting gi resurfaced as a sign that he had activated his power. He flipped his mist around dealing with the strays. “Saki, Yumi, we need to stop this fighting! Our classmates shouldn’t be fighting each other!”

“I thought you wanted to understand the situation first,” Saki reminded, though it was clear in her face she was just as eager to step in as Yuki.

“To hell with planning! I’m not letting anyone else die because of me!” Yuki ran off toward the battle line effortlessly knocking away anything coming in his direction.

Saki had to think a little figuring that Yuki was referring to all of the death they caused in Atlantis. However, she quickly remembered that Kazuhiro died before it all began, at the start of everything. It was what triggered everything. The thought only made it harder on Saki to look at Yuki. ‘He’s still carrying that weight… There’s too many things on his back these days…’ She made her decision long ago to follow Yuki. It sent her disappearing into the fray.

Yumi glanced down at Yori to check on him. Though there was more to it than just that. He saw it in her eyes clearly, though he did not even need that. He already expected it to happen. “Go. I won’t stop you.”

“Thank you, brother!” Yumi hovered off the roof and flew herself over the battlefield. The intensity was so much different from Atlantis. Everyone had the same dark expression as Hiroshi as though they were brainwashed into madness.

Yuki could see his friends going around with the same intention as him. It gave him some much needed reassurance that the world had not completely descended into despair. But he could not rest just yet. In front of him, one of his classmates was did not see a flanking attack. “Takagi! Look out!” Yuki blasted himself forward dealing with the person’s sword with his mist. It fell apart on the individual before the swing could finish.

Unfortunately, that was not enough to stop them. They dropped the remains of their sword and charged in with their fists. Yuki’s momentum put him into the right position to plow into them. It just did not go down as planned. He did in fact hit them, but it barely made them budge. And they were too fast in responding that Yuki only had his barrier to protect him as he dug into the earth from the force.

They quickly refocused their attention back to their original target, Takagi. All of the struggling from Yuki did give Takagi enough time to realize he was under attack from two sides. He, however, could not handle both of them. They overwhelmed him and in a few moments bloods sprayed up along with his screams.

Horror filled Yuki’s eyes watching Takagi murdered before him. It was only made worse by the fact that he recognized the two assailants. “Shunsen? Nagai? He was your friend!” The next moment Yuki immediately regretted saying anything. They turned to him next alerted to Yuki presence, as though completely blind to him before.

He tried to get to his feet, but they were too fast for him. He had no chance against them. Only his mist protected him and barely at that. The weight of their blows could be felt through his defense. Yuki could barely stay on his feet using all of his attention just to shield himself. ‘What’s going on? Why are friends killing each other?!’

To be continued…