"Hey, Ichiken, wake up. I got you some tea.", the girl quietly whispered. I slowly woke up again and grabbed the tea. "Thanks a lot. By the way, I'm not sure I've you have ever told me, but what is your name?", I asked while drinking the Tea.
"Hana. That's my name. I used to get bullied back in France for my name, that's why I moved here.", she nervously whimpered. I quickly stood up and grabbed her hands tightly, "Hana. Nothing is wrong with your name. It's beautiful, just like you are.", I replied.
"Ichiken, are you.. confessing your love to me?", her eyes began to shine as bright as the stars in the night sky. "Hana.. If I'm being completely honest... I do have feelings for you... For a pretty long time now.", I nervously stuttered.
She looked at me rather surprised but happy at the same time. "I... I don't know what to say. Ichiken.. I.. this is the first time someone ever confessed their love to me... I..",
"I hate this Job man.", a strange voice said outside. I looked back at Hana to see her eyes shining even brighter.
"Is this the right address? Are you Ichiken Shuken? 'Cause you don't look like this drawing at all. Could also be that I'm just shit at drawing..", a voice behind me said. I quickly turned around to see a tall man sitting on the couch.
He rubbed his head while looking at a paper drawing and looking at me. He wore wide white pants and a black, tight T-shirt. He had an eyepatch, covering his left eye and a scar on the left side of his mouth. His hair was brown with a strange white accent on top of it. It was like the hair was turning white. He's also carrying a katana or some kind of sword with him.
I let go of Hana's hands and stood in front of her, trying to protect her. "W-Who the hell are you and how did you get in here!?", I hesitantly asked. "I don't think my name will be too important here. So, tell me. Are you that Ichiken guy?", he calmly answered while standing up again".
I threw a punch at him, which he caught without even looking at me. "Guess, I'm right then.", he shouted while throwing the drawing away and smashing my head against the wall.
"Today's your lucky day shithead! You get to die by MY hands! Isn't that wonderful?", he screamed while repeatedly smashing my head into the wall. "Let's kick it up a notch, Ichiken!". He grabbed me by the face and threw me out the window jumping after me and kicking me down on the floor.
I slowly got up again and he was suddenly gone. He just vanished. I looked around trying to find him, but he was truly gone. Nowhere to be found. "Nearly killing me and then you don't have the balls to finish the job? Come out you wuss, or are you too scared to get beaten by a kid?!", I shouted in anger.
All I could hear was the wind and the birds. They were singing. It was a beautiful sound. It sounded like a lullaby. A lullaby my mom used to sing for me. "Beautiful, isn't it?". I suddenly felt the weight of a grown man on my back, like someone was leaning against me.
"I mean the lullaby. People say, that when you're dead, your brain lives on for another 7 minutes, reflecting your past memories. You think this lullaby is a memory of yours?", a calm voice asked.
I quickly turned around and was surprised to find nobody. "Ironic, isn't it? In your worst moment, you get to relive the most beautiful ones. ", the voice whispered from behind me. I turned around again and there was still no one.
Is it inside my head? No, that's not it. It's something else. But no matter what happens, I need to protect Hana. "Don't worry about the girl, she's already sleeping tight. Dancing with the worms. 6ft under not above. You name it.", the voice got closer and closer each time it spoke.
I looked around me all the time, trying to find the origin of the strangely calm voice. "Give it up already Ichiken. I will kill you, here and now.", the voice whispered in my ear. I threw a punch behind me but only hit the air. "Stop playing around and show yourself you son of a bitch!", I shouted angrily.
The footsteps behind me got louder and louder. Not only louder, but they seemed to move around me. To my left. No, my right! Behind me... In.. front of me? "Where the hell is he!?", I thought to myself.
Something tapped me on the shoulder suddenly, "Boo!". I turned around and saw the strange man raising his Katana in the air. I evaded his attack and countered him by punching him in the stomach, but he didn't even flinch. Instead, he grabbed my face again and threw me away against another wall.
He quickly rushed towards me with inhuman speeds, kicking me in the stomach, making the wall behind me collapse. "Can't you just die already? I'm too lazy to keep doing this. It's starting to get boring after a while, you know?", he mockingly demanded.
"There's no way.. in hell.. That I will lose.. Not now.. Not ever.", I replied, coughing up blood. I rushed towards him, throwing punch after punch at him, which he either blocked or dodged. "You're boring, man..", he sighed, grabbing me by the collar and throwing me on the ground.
"Not even your brother lost this hard to me back then. You truly are a disappointment. You really aren't his blood-related brother. You're disgustingly weak, Ichiken.", he scolded.
I slowly looked up at him, to see him pointing his Katana towards me, the same way Anthony did when he pointed his hand at me. It was like I was lying in front of Anthony again. I could feel everything getting hotter again.
I could see the fire. The burning house. Anthony's beaten up face. My insides melting due to the intense heat surrounding us. His disappointed voice. The disappointed look on his face when he looked down on me. The fire surrounding us. Fire. It was everywhere.. Fire…
Something snapped in me. A boiling emotion inside me was triggered, something like a Trauma. "Go to hell!", I screamed while standing up again. A huge wave of heat surrounded us, pushing the strange man backwards. "Now that's the spirit Ichiken! You finally awakened it!", he joyfully replied.
I could feel the flames rushing through my veins. My whole body was heating up. I rushed towards him, punching him in the stomach again, this time creating a second, more powerful impact after the initial punch, burning his T-shirt where I hit him.
"That's what I like to see!", he shouted. We exchanged punch after punch. It felt like I was finally fighting toe-to-toe with him. I can keep up with his speed! I can defeat him.. No, I will defeat him! I will win! For Hana at least..
I aimed for his stomach again, hoping to kill him in one final blow, but he surprisingly countered the attack with even greater speeds, by kicking me away. I lost focus, the heat in my body was vanishing again. Was I Dying? Had I already lost?
"Come on now.. Was that all you have? You didn't actually think you stood a chance against me just because you landed a couple of weak punches on me. You're simply too slow.", he mockingly explained.
Come on Ichiken. Don't die. Not now. You can't die now.
A strange creature suddenly came out of the wall next to me. It was completely black, jet black. It wore a white worn-off cape and hood. His limbs were slim. It had claw-like fingers. They were sharp, designed to kill. His eyes were replaced with flames. It looked like two, erupting flameballs were put next to each other.
The thing was calm. Studying the strange man's movements and our surroundings. After a while, it finally looked towards me. Reaching out with his arm like a newborn baby. He gently put a finger on my forehead.
I felt the heat rushing through my body again. My blood was boiling, both from anger towards that man and the intense heat flowing through my body.
I fell down on the floor again, trying to breathe. "W-What.. was that?!", I stuttered. "It indeed, has finally awoken. Good job, Anthony.", the strange man announced with a smile on his face. "What has awoken? What are you talking about?", I asked.
He pointed his Katana towards the weird creature, explaining: "That. That's what we call a Trauma arc, or just arc for short. You awaken one by undergoing a Trauma, or by being born with it.
Not a lot of people get the privilege of being born with one, or even awaken one in the first place. Consider yourself lucky. If you die, your arc also dies. If your arc dies in the middle of a fight, you're screwed.
Treat it like a normal human being, form a bond with it, and strengthen it. It's a living being after all, with its own thoughts. The stronger the bond between you two, the stronger you are. Keep that in mind.".
"How do you know all this?", I asked. "None of your business.", he rushed towards me, raising his Katana again.
I continued to punch him, but he always blocked my punches, as well as my arc's punches. We kept applying pressure onto him, hoping he would let his guard down and we could hit him, but he was cautious. He knew something that we didn't.
It was like he was getting faster and faster, predicting the future, where and when we would hit him. Then I saw it. I saw an opening in between some of his blocks. It was just a split second in which I had time to hit him, but I didn't have any other choice.
"Flame Manipulation: Flame Punch!" I screamed, hitting him in his side. But strangely, nothing happened. No flaming effects anymore, not second impact. Nothing. Just a pure punch.
"Oh? Did I forget to mention it? You also have to actually be able to utilize your powers. You don't get them instantly like in some anime!", he scoffed. Was my punch actually useless? Looks like this is my end then...
I looked over to my arc, to see it gone. Did it also die? Am I already dead? Was this really the end? No. I couldn't go out like this. I'm doing this for Hana. Even if she is already dead, and I failed to protect her, I can at least avenge her. And if that's the last thing I'll do.
"This one's for Hana you moron!!", I screamed putting all my strength into one last punch, hitting him in the stomach. It surprisingly worked. Blood was flowing down from his mouth, slowly but there was some. He fell on his knees and looked shocked.
Did I do it? Did I actually defeat him? "You little.. Shithead..", he coughed. He was doing his best not to collapse. Did I actually defeat him, or was he joking? "I'll.. kill you.. you dipshit..!", he kept repeating these words while coughing.
I kept hearing strange noises from above, so I looked up to see my Trauma arc jumping out of the wall. "What the..", I asked myself in disbelief.
He jumped on the strange man, smashing his head into the ground with all its power. I felt the air quickly getting warmer around us, drying out the flowers and puddles of water on the floor. The Trauma arc slowly walked away, disappearing into another wall.
I checked if the strange man was still alive, but there was no pulse. All I saw was a Heart-Shaped necklace coming out of his pocket. My curiosity got the better of me, so I grabbed it and looked inside it.
It had a picture in it of the man and a girl. They look happy together. It also had two names written on the other half of the heart. I was unable to identify one of the names, but the other one said something like "Kuzuma".
I put the necklace away and checked if Hana was alright. She had no pulse. That man.. Was he that Kuzuma guy? He took Hana away from me. My Hana. "I hope you burn in hell for what you did", I scuffed while looking over my shoulder to the man's lifeless body.
I quickly called an ambulance, hoping that they could rescue Hana, but they couldn't. They declared her dead on the spot. Just like the weird man.
I was filled with emptiness. I had so many questions, but no one to answer them. I stopped thinking about the whole situation and just walked away, trying to process what had just happened.
"Ichiken? What happened to you? Are you alright?", my grandma worryingly asked. I went to my grandma's place since she was the only person I could talk to now. I explained everything to her and went to bed.
Hoping it was all just a bad dream after all...