FIVE MONTHS AGO:
"This is Laia, she's like a little sister to me." A young Laia approached me with an angry and jealous expression. "Who are you? And why do you have such a strange face?" she pointed at me shamelessly. "Are you my sister's boyfriend?" Nitta blushed instantly and, desperate, covered Laia's mouth, who continued speaking to me as if she wanted to verbally attack me. "Hehehe... excuse her," Nitta said as she gently pushed Laia away. After that, we sat down to have some tea, and I looked at Nitta. "What do you mean you're not blood sisters?" Nitta let out a soft, delicate laugh and looked at me again with that tranquility she always had. "Do we look alike in some way?" I looked at her, knowing she was telling the truth. "Joseph... I want you to do something for me." The mirror looked puzzled. "What?" Nitta moves a little closer, close enough that her voice sounds like a secret meant only for me. "If anything happens to me... take care of her."
PRESENT:
"They were right... you've always been a parasite, J." Laia watched me with cold hatred. "You only show up to meddle in other people's lives and ruin them." She raised her katana and pointed the blade at me. "Tell me something... Why are you here?" Just then, we started walking in circles, our eyes following each other. "You mean the building?" I asked, still staring at her. Laia smiled and let out a mocking sigh. "No. I mean, why the hell did you come to this place? A simple fetish? Or do you still think you're something you're not?" She lowered the katana for a moment, just long enough for me to think she'd calmed down... but then she raised her gaze again. "If you want to apologize... then do it properly." She tilted the katana toward me. "Let me be your executioner."
"No." Laia was surprised by the response. "You're still alive, aren't you? So I have to make sure I keep taking care of you." I brace myself for a possible fight. "And besides… I have to get rid of that tantrum you're throwing right now." Laia sighs, lowers her head for a second, and then places her hands on her hips, as if remembering how stubborn I always was with her. "I knew you'd deny it." Her voice sounds tired; I close my eyes for a moment. "Of course…"
Out of nowhere, I'm crouching, just in time before a cut slices me in two. The blade passes so close I feel the air shatter, and only one question crosses my mind: "What the hell is on that katana?" I barely start to stand up when Laia is already in front of me. She raises the katana for a vertical slash, so fast I can barely react. I raise both arms and grab her hands before the blade descends. The struggle begins instantly. Her muscles tremble with tension. Mine do too. "idiot..." she spits through gritted teeth as she tries to finish the attack. I look directly at her, clenching my hands tighter. "More respect, girl."
She smiles, barely visible, and releases the katana. The weapon falls to the ground with a thud. Instinctively, I lower my guard for a second... and that second is all she needs. She grabs the collar of my shirt and pulls me with surprising strength. Her knee slams into my stomach, and before I can react, Laia is already in the next move. She looks at me with those hateful eyes and, in the blink of an eye, she bends down to gain momentum. Her right leg rises with brutal precision and slams into my jaw. My head snaps back with the impact. "Wow, that was fast! I train hard!" Taking advantage of my dazed state, Laia rolls across the ground with flawless ease. She picks up the katana from the floor. As soon as she's upright, she swings a slash straight at my stomach, but in that instant, I regain consciousness and leap backward, letting her blade slice through the air where my body had been a second before; the edge grazes my clothing. As soon as I regain my balance, I run my hands over my torso and arms to make sure I haven't cut myself. Nothing serious. I smile slightly and whisper, "I'm still unharmed... that means I'm adjusting..."
But she didn't even finish the sentence; Laia was already at the other end of the corridor, her katana tilted downwards... a trickle of blood sliding down the blade. It took me a second to understand. Right after, I felt something warm slide down my arm. I looked and saw the cut: superficial, tiny... but clean. Precise. She didn't say a word, but she still shut me up. People with monstrous abilities live in this place. And she just reminded me of it without even trying.
"You've improved quite a bit in a short time; she's..."
With a grimace of anger, Laia clenched her teeth without even looking at me. "Shut up. You have no right to mention her." I sighed. "Hey, ten cents, how did you find me...?"
A metallic clang cut me off. Instinctively, I turned and saw three shurikens hurtling straight towards me. I ducked to dodge the first; the second grazed my shoulder and cut part of my jacket; the third forced me to leap upwards. I end up hanging from a huge painting on the wall, using the frame for balance while I look around for where I am...
When I raise my head, it's too late: the katana's edge is centimeters from my face. With no time to dodge, I catch the blade with my bare hand. I feel the cut open in my palm, but I still deflect the katana toward the wall, making it slam into it with a thud. In that same instant (a split second), I see her other arm move. I raise my free arm just in time, blocking Laia's forearm as she aimed a kunai straight at my right eye.
"Want to know how I found you?" Laia uses the strength with which I'm holding her and, using the canvas of the painting for support, propels herself toward me. Her kick whips up and hits me squarely in the chin, making me jerk my head up from the impact and release her arms. "I simply went looking for a man with the most repulsive face I could find."At the same time, she presses the katana with her hand, driving it even deeper into the wall. She uses it as leverage, propels herself forward, and connects with a double kick to my chest that sends me flying against the edge of the enormous painting. I feel the frame dig into my back as Laia, still with both feet planted on my torso, crouches down and grabs my shirt collar, along with my tie, and pulls me toward her. In her left hand, she still holds the kunai, and she aims it straight for my throat. But I react in time. Still dazed from the kick to my chin, I had tensed my shirt collar. With a jerk back, the fabric gives way and tears, leaving a piece between her fingers. In that instant, I grab the edge of the painting with my free hand and let myself fall, ripping the photograph as I slide down. I land on the ground, rolling three times, a piece of the painting's fabric beside me. I get up just in time to see Laia land calmly in front of me, the katana still firmly in her hand.
Laia advanced with light steps, almost dancing, her arms crossed behind her back as she held the katana as if it were a mere accessory. Her smile held a playful glint, her eyes closed. "J, are you sure you don't want to train with me a little longer?" she crooned with a crooked smile. It lasted a second. Immediately, it was replaced by an expression of pure hatred. "And to think that just a few months ago I wanted to be your disciple." She released her hands and spread them apart; I barely glanced down, smiling faintly. "What a capricious child." Laia smiled. "Goodbye, Joseph." I glanced at her sideways. "Yes, but it seems you never listened to me; always be careful." I yanked hard on the canvas of the torn painting I still held in my hand; Laia's foot lifted without warning, tilting her body backward. In her eyes, I saw the exact moment she understood the trap; before she hit the ground, I was already airborne. I jumped on her, one hand covering the other which I had closed into a fist, and I had my eyes closed to concentrate on what was going to be a memory of what Marci told me some time ago.
FLASHBACK
"So..." I said, raising my fist to chest level, "you're telling me that if I want to deliver a killing blow, I have to concentrate all my strength into that single impact?" Marci was advancing gently, with that calm smile and closed eyes she always wore when she was sure of something. "It can work," I replied calmly, "but only if you do it at the perfect moment... when your enemy lets their guard down."
PRESENT:
That was the moment. The one Marci had taught me. But there was one detail that made it more difficult: Laia wasn't my enemy... she was my responsibility. I concentrated all my strength on a single point and slammed my fist into the floor. The impact shattered the entire floor, and we both fell to the floor below. Laia crashed to the ground, rolling; she tried to break her fall with her legs, but the force dragged her until she was sitting, gasping for breath. I fell to my knees, one arm planted in the floor to cushion my fall; as I got up, she did the same as the ceiling continued to collapse toward the floor where we now stood. The seventieth floor wasn't a common area... but a long corridor with luxurious doors on either side. Each room looked like a private suite. The lights were dim, reddish, like the artificial lighting of an expensive brothel; There was a strange smell in the air, a mixture of heavy perfumes, expensive alcohol, and a hint of dampness from the jacuzzis bubbling behind half-open doors. Inside the rooms, I glimpsed perfectly made king-size beds; giant, unlit screens hung on the walls, and gleaming objects—toys, accessories, metal handcuffs, straps—were arranged on the furniture. It was the kind of place where wealth bought silence... and the darkest fetishes of millionaires had a guaranteed space. But none of that mattered now; Laia and I were face to face. Only she... and I existed. We stared at each other. Without blinking, the first to blink would be the first to receive the next attack.
"This place sucks," she said, with a sneer of utter contempt; I looked around and nodded. "Yeah... I really want to get out of this building." Laia crouched down, one leg bent and the other straight, in an agile pose. She sheathed her katana, but didn't let go. Something in her gaze made me tense; I didn't know what she was planning... or perhaps, naively, I thought she would surrender...
But before I could finish thinking, her figure distorted; shadows of her began to appear in different parts of the room, flashes of pure speed. And in that instant, I understood: Laia was showing what she was capable of.