Dawn begins to rise before the warehouse that serves as a shelter and lair for
Kantou's disciples. However, a sort of partial darkness, for some reason, is
still a factor present. Perhaps because of the rainy weather that had not yet
fully cleared, or perhaps it is due to the countenance of a man determined to
accomplish a goal urgently. A few sparse drops of the rain that refused to die,
adorned the dawn that rose behind the warehouse and inevitably illuminated
the face of Benji Shoyo, a boy who seemed to have lost the reasons for which
to live. However, in his expression, a new goal was clearly perceived, but it
could also be noticed that Benji, despite being determined, that what he
wanted to achieve would not give him back even an iota of the happiness
that was taken away from him.
Standing in front of the warehouse, keeping the drunkenness aside and
sorting out his thoughts, Benji gets another slap in the face from his brain,
another wave of thoughts regarding Mikasa, Hinata, and the Tigerlilly. Benji is
tired, he brings the tip of the bottle to his mouth again as he subtly waves the
bat in his other hand. Overriding the thoughts clouding his vision and after
taking that drink, Benji looks up and parks it right in front of the main doors of the warehouse.
"Hey! You wanted Benji Shoyo, well here he is!" added Benji, after a deep
and mournful battle cry that chilled the blood of the lower-ranking members
within Kitawari's organization. Inside the warehouse, some gang members
begin to back away. "Hey, snap out of it, coward," Izaki said to one of the
Disciples, pushing him to the front. "Izaki! Open the doors, don't be rude, we
have visitors..." shouted Kitawari, sketching a smile on his face. Izaki, who
smiled broadly, took two limbs and they began to open both doors of the
warehouse.
To everyone's surprise, no one was there... Benji had disappeared. "This is a
waste of time..." starts to say Kitawari, bringing her hands behind her waist
and turning around. "That boy is just an old memory of someone who was
worthwhile. Jail killed the courage that made him valuable. It's a pity. We'll
be at the Tigerlilly soon and I want you all active and very focused on our
objectives."
At that moment, a slight sound immediately alerted Kitawari's reflexes, but it
was too late to react effectively. The smile of relief of one of Kitawari's men
when he realized that Benji was not out there, was erased by Shoyo himself,
who with a bat, after entering the warehouse by breaking the sale, disfigured
the face of that Disciple with a powerful impact. The face of that subject was
flooded with blood and was unrecognizable. Benji lay unmoved, staring at
the bleeding subject at his feet and raising his gaze to Kitawari, who
swallowed thickly and quickly removed his expression of astonishment to
replace it with one of forced smugness. "Benji Shoyo... We meet again. I
suppose by now you'll be regretting not accepting my proposal. You know,
I'm not surprised that you know I was the one responsible for what happened
to your nice family." Kitawari says, without moving from her place. Izaki and
the others lay fully alert, but none of them moved. Benji wasn't moving
either, just staring at Kitawari with an expression so neutral it bordered on
sinister. "Listen to me well, Kitawari, you have two options... The first is the
simplest and the most sensible one, join us, become part of the Kantou
Disciples again, and resume your post doing what you do best, which is not
being an assistant to an old mechanic, we agree on that, right?" asked
Kitawari, but he was not getting a single change in Benji's frozen expression,
who was only slightly moving his bat that was pointing down, still dripping with the blood of the first fallen disciple.
"Or... your second option, which is to take a beating from the 30 current
members of this organization. But for this second option, I want to
emphasize something and that is, if you are stupid enough to choose it, the
beating will be so horrible, that not even the police will recognize your face,
Benji. Are you listening to me? I will see to it that you are torn to shreds,
among 30 members..." Kitawari was beginning to lose patience with Benji's
silence and his expression.
Shoyo still doesn't respond and Kitawari lets out a sigh, allowing time for one
of his gang members, who sneaks up behind Benji, to arrive and do his job. In
a matter of a few more seconds of silence, the gang member holds Benji
tightly from behind, applying a Full Nelson and rendering him partially
useless. At that moment, another gang member comes down from the
second floor with a thick wooden board and without much thought impacts
Benji's skull with great force, causing him to fall to his knees on the ground.
Both gang members feel an inexplicable satisfaction in understanding that
they knocked Benji down. Even Kitawari again draws a smug expression on
his face and, giving a half-whisper to himself. "Pathetic..." the sound
produced by the impact of the blow had not quite dissipated when it was
entirely overshadowed by the origin of what ended up being an imposing and
mournful menacing cackle from Benji. Both members at Shoyo's sides stood
perplexed as they watched Shoyo stand before them. Kitawari, for her part,
eyes wide open, began to turn to Benji with a shocked expression.
"Now you are all going to die..." said Benji, who looked like the
personification of hatred and revenge on earth. Quickly and using grotesque
movements, Benji grabbed one of the gang members next to him and threw
him to the ground in fury, stomping on his head with force. Then, using the
momentum of the same movement, Benji throws the other member also to
the ground and starts stomping hard on the heads of both of them as if they
were a couple of annoying and disgusting cockroaches. At that moment, in
front of Benji, Izaki runs past, uncontrollable fear had gripped the cowardly
heart of the gang member, who was trying to run away. Benji grabs his bottle
of alcohol by the tip and throws it straight at Izaki's head, causing him to
collapse to the ground, unconscious.
Benji stands up, picks up the bat from the ground, and starts walking towards
Izaki, swinging his bloody weapon to the rhythm of the massacre symphony.
Standing right over Izaki, Benji decides to take the now broken bottle of
alcohol, and without any prior comment or gesture, Benji stabs the back of
Izaki's skull with the split bottle, causing the gang member's blood to splatter
on his unchanging face.
Another gang member lunges at Benji uttering a war cry, which is silenced
when, in a rather quick movement, Benji flips the face of that gang member
with the bat, as if it were a ball that had to be taken out of the field to then
sing the Home run. The Disciple of Kantou falls on a large group of gang
members behind him, scattering them. Everyone was perplexed for a few
seconds, swallowing thickly and looking at Benji's face, which at that moment
lay completely red, covered in blood.
Kitawari observes the situation and his patience begins to fade completely.
His plan of watching Benji suffer was not working out at all. *I'll have to opt
for a drastic solution," thought the gang leader, who without thinking again,
decided to head to the second floor, to his office. Benji decides to follow him,
but Kitawari's men react and go after him. Benji starts to climb the stairs on
the first floor to head to the second floor but is accosted by Kitawari's men
from all directions. Benji's advance is halted and a massive exchange of blows
ensued with surprising superiority on the part of Benji, who was only one
against an estimated 8 gang members. Striking at the weakest points, Benji
disposes of a large portion of his criminal adversaries, but in the process loses
his bat when, as he gets closer to his destination, he is randomly pushed and the bat goes flying in the direction of the second floor.
Taking a considerable amount of blows and kicks, Benji loses a bit of
consciousness but his iron will does not allow him to fall. However, one of
Kantou's Disciples takes advantage of this moment to push Benji in a
direction that the gang member evidently did not consider before doing so,
because without anyone noticing, Benji collided with a lantern that was lying
quite low, at the top of the stairs. The lantern fell to the ground and the fire
soon made contact with the alcohol that had spilled from the bottle when it
broke against Izaki's skull. The fire began to spread and that ended up raising
Benji's alert again, who reacted and, taking advantage of the fact that
everyone was watching the fire that had suddenly broken out, Shoyo used a
couple of gang members who were on the threshold to enter the second
floor and threw them against those behind him.
A ball of gang members formed in the stairwell and the weight of them all
falling towards the first floor eventually knocked those climbing up out of the
fight.
Benji knew that the situation had become complicated and he had to end it
all as soon as possible. Shoyo started to run and found a door that was
already open, there was Kitawari, forcing a drawer that he did not want to
open, and finally, after a couple of seconds since Benji appeared in the
doorway, he could open it. Inside the drawer lay a pistol, Kitawari took it, but
by the time he lifted it ready to aim it at Benji, Benji was already so close to
him, that he was able to do a headbutt so hard that Saitama fell to the
ground, stunned. Benji walks towards Kitawari and stands over him, ready to
unload on him a barrage of blows, but Kitawari acted faster and took Benji
off his back with a powerful kick to the stomach that threw Shoyo against the
wall of the room, which shook a little. At that moment, a little dazed, Benji
closed and opened his eyes tightly, trying to focus well towards an irrelevant
point in the room, but precisely at that point was his bat. Benji smiled at the
sight of it but Kitawari was starting to walk towards where he was.
"Stand up, Benji, you asshole. die like your mother died!"
exclaimed Kitawari, approaching Benji as he raised his gun pointing it at Shoyo.
At that moment, Benji remembered his mother, remembered the promise he
made to her which he still, at that critical moment, was struggling to break to his late mother.
Benji got down on his knees, without getting up completely and closing his eyes, for a few seconds, he accepted death at the hands of Kitawari Saitama.
The gang leader was taunting Benji, admitting with impetus that he was
responsible for Mikasa's death and for Hinata being in the hospital.
Benji knew this perfectly well, but Kitawari's words were like a dagger slowly entering his stomach.
Anger began to run through Benji's body again, from the soles of his feet to
the top of his skull. Kitawari was already on top of Benji, the sound of the gun
safety was sort of a catalyst that awakened the beast. Benji's eyes snapped
open *That's enough... it's time to end this. I will not die at the hands of this
piece of shit* this thought occurred in Benji's mind, less than a second after a
shot grazed his cheek, and as he lunged in the direction of the bat. Before
Kitawari could understand how the hell he missed, the next thing Kitawari observed was Benji's bat heading at indescribable speed towards his face,
impacting his jaw with ineffable force and power. Kitawari Saitama's body
lifted off the ground, falling with a thud after a twist in which a trail of blood
from his mouth ran from side to side across the gang leader's desk. On the
floor, unable to utter the words he wanted to, Kitawari tries to open his
mouth, but the lower part of his jaw as well as his tongue, are shattered and
blood falls like a waterfall from his jaw.
In a pathetic and desperate act, Saitama quickly pulls a knife out of his jacket,
but by the time he looks up, the next thing he sees is Benji's bat which is
again heading towards him, but in this case in the direction of his skull.
A loud "crack" is heard throughout the room and the rest of Kitawari's body ends up falling to the floor, while the glow in his eyes begins to fade.
Kitawari now bleeds out on the floor of what used to be his office, Benji
watches him with no remorse in his gaze you could tell that Benji seemed
pleased to rid the world of Kitawari Saitama. "I tried to put all this behind me,
I tried to lead a life that my mother could be proud of...
But now she's gone, you ended her life for no reason other than greed...
and now with those cold, dead eyes as you lie dying there, your life is ending too."
Benji said, crouching over Kitawari's body and bashing his skull from above with the end of his bat. He did it again and again, the blood in his eyes wouldn't stop him, he didn't miss, with each impact his moans combined more and more an unhealthy mixture of satisfaction and guilt.
Scenes of his life with his mother and sister were passing and changing with each impact on Kitawari Saitama's disfigured face.
Benji had begun to utter a cry of great frustration and was beginning to tire, Kitawari's face was pulp and the tip of the bat was now just whipping the ground beneath the crushed remains of what used to be the gang leader's face.
Only the heat of the flames beginning to warm Kitawari's body and the sound of sirens approaching in the distance brought Benji out of the psychotic frenzy he had fallen victim to.
Falling now into uncontrollable despair, Benji lifts his head and notices the flames approaching the door of the room.
He runs out of there and realizes that the debris and fire will not allow him to climb down, so his only option is to keep climbing. Benji continues upwards, running, dodging falling debris and dousing the fire on his clothes, which seem to be embracing the entire warehouse with hellish fury.
Finally, with great difficulty, Benji manages to catch a glimpse of the staircase that possibly gives access to the roof.
Shoyo runs up there and opens the door with a third kick since the first two had no effect.
Coughing and covering his eyes, he manages to get out of there and finds a small room where the electrical system was located. Right next to it, a vertical ladder which Benji began to climb at full speed until he reached the top and opened the hatch that led to the roof.
When he got there, he slammed the hatch shut and began to paint at an incredible rate. He was short of breath, had first-degree burns, and couldn't stop looking around frantically.
Benji, terrified, was beginning to realize that there was no way out of there and that the flames would soon claim his soul.
Young Shoyo sighed deeply and began to walk forward on the wide rooftop, watching the sunset and catching its last rays of light. Inevitably, the tears began to come on their own and unable to help himself, Benji collapsed to his knees on the rooftop floor.
"To think that I could do the things I've done and get away with it without a hint of remorse, but now look at me..." the young man's crying increased exponentially.
"I'm sorry, mother... I've failed you, I've done everything wrong, but I'm willing to pay for it..." says Benji, ceasing his crying a bit and wiping away his tears.
Resolutely, Benji begins to walk towards the ledge with the sound of the warehouse crumbling behind him. Once standing there, he reaches into his pocket, pulls out a note he had inside, and with a slight, tired smile begins to read.
"I miss you, my son. And I can't wait for you to be home, where you belong" on the same note, attached, the Tigerlilly's address. Swallowing thickly and blocking back tears with a warrior's momentum, Benji lifted his gaze, looked up at the sky, and closed his eyes.
"Thank you, mother, and thank you, sister, for loving a delinquent like me..." said Benji in a whisper to himself.
Then, he turned around standing on the ledge, dropped his mother's note, and, as a last move, Benji Shoyo fell defeated to the only enemy that could beat him, himself...
And so, young Shoyo puts an end to his life, dropping his body from the rooftop of the warehouse.
A year later, on a normal day in Kantou, the Tigerlilly is crowded with people. The clientele is incessant and a number of what seem to be female employees are making sure that everything is running smoothly.
A girl's voice is heard from the crowd of female employees, but this one is a little closer to the reception desk. "Hinata! Hurry up, you must be the one to attend to the investors."
Says the girl's pressing voice, worried.
"In a minute I'll be there... it's your job to get me that minute." Said the sweet girl's voice in a condescending tone, causing the other girl to smile.
Hinata, who looked completely recovered, was getting ready to face a group of investors willing to work with her. In just one year, the girl seemed to have matured a lot.
Maybe because of the losses, maybe because of the accident she suffered... who knows.
However, before leaving, Hinata went to the window, where she looked at the sky and, being unavoidable, her eyes filled with tears that she managed to hold back.
"Mother... Brother... wherever you are, I want you to know that I am still here and that I will take care of Tigerlilly as my priority mission in this life. I know you both would have wanted it that way.
I miss them, I want them by my side, but I know that will never ever be possible..." it was here that Hinata almost collapsed, but there was no time for that and her courage was boosted.
"I will continue to tell this story of how great we were and how great we will continue to be.
Thank you, Mother, thank you, Benji, brother..."
The End.
Written By: Desmond Harris