Kuroha is now standing right in front of me, looking down at me with sharp eyes
She slowly opens her mouth.
"I didn't even really use my ability..."
"...I told you I'd show you... that women are superior."
thunder sounded in the distance.
"Do you see it now? Give up, do what I say and be a good boy."
Silence... only the rain is pelting down on us.
...
"Kuroha?"
i get up
?
"Fuck off"
"You still dare to–"
?!
A sudden gust of wind rushes past me towards Kuroha.
Kuroha blocks with both hands.
She is thrown back several meters through the rain
"Olivia?"
"Jin!"
"Are you okay?"
" You're bleeding!"
Olivia is bombarding me with questions again, but I'm glad she's here.
"I'm fine, but she' not.".
I point at Hana, who is still lying on the floor, bleeding.
Olivia's face grew more serious.
"Is that Ms. Shirakawa?"
"Her name is Hana"
"Yes, Hana Shirakawa is her full name..."
"...She contacted me and said that you need help."
'when did she...she is really good at making sneaky phone calls'
Olivia looks at Hana, then her gaze wanders to Kuroha.
.
"Jin... what happened here...who is she?"
"Her name is Kuroha... she tried to rape me."
"She did what!?"
Olivia looks at me with wide eyes
...
I tell her what happened and about the fight.
Olivia's expression grows grim.
"Have the two of you finally finished chatting?"
"Your name was Kuroha right? You're going to regret this"
Olivia turns to Kuroha and stares at her with wide dead eyes. Her eyes resemble those of soldiers with PTSD, just angrier.
Olivia slowly walks towards Kuroha.
I stay several meters behind Olivia.
Not because I wanted to.
Because I knew better than to get between them.
Olivia's clothes were already soaked through, strands of wet hair sticking to her face. She looks completely different from the caring person I knew.
Her eyes are locked onto Kuroha.
Cold.
Angry.
"You're going to regret this," Olivia said.
Kuroha smiled.
"You've been saying that for the last thirty seconds."
!
Olivia disappeared.
I barely saw her move.
A thunderous crack echoed through the street as her foot struck the pavement, and a wave of rain exploded outward from where she had been standing.
"Too fast..." I muttered.
Olivia reappeared directly in front of Kuroha.
Her fist was already moving.
Kuroha barely managed to raise her arms.
*BOOM!*
The impact sent her sliding backward across the wet asphalt.
Her shoes carved two long lines through the water before she caught herself.
Olivia was already gone again.
She appeared on Kuroha's left.
A kick.
Kuroha blocked.
Olivia vanished.
A punch from the right.
Kuroha twisted away.
Another attack.
Then another.
I couldn't follow all of them anymore.
The only things I could properly see were flashes of Olivia's movements and the violent splashes of water left behind every time she changed direction.
Kuroha was being pushed back.
Hard.
"She's not even giving her time to breathe..." I said under my breath.
Olivia appeared above Kuroha.
She brought her leg down.
Kuroha jumped backward just in time.
*CRACK!*
Olivia's heel smashed into the pavement, sending chunks of asphalt flying.
Kuroha landed several meters away.
She looked at Olivia differently now.
The smile was gone.
"You..." Kuroha muttered.
Olivia slowly raised her head.
"What?"
"You're faster than I expected."
Olivia's expression didn't change.
"Bad for you bitch."
She vanished again.
Kuroha's eyes widened.
Olivia appeared behind her.
Kuroha turned—
Too late.
A fist slammed into her stomach.
The force lifted her off the ground.
She flew through the rain and crashed into the side of a parked car.
The vehicle's alarm immediately started screaming.
Kuroha dropped to one knee.
Olivia stood several meters away.
Her breathing was steady.
"Stay down."
Kuroha wiped blood from the corner of her mouth.
Then she laughed.
That laugh made something inside me tighten.
"You're angry."
Olivia's eyes narrowed.
"Very."
Kuroha stood.
"And you're getting careless."
?
Olivia disappeared.
Kuroha did the same.
I blinked.
For half a second, I thought I had simply lost sight of her.
Then Olivia stopped.
She looked around.
"Kuroha?"
Nothing.
Only rain.
The alarm of the destroyed car continued to scream in the background.
I looked around as well.
"Where did she go?"
Olivia didn't answer.
She stood completely still.
Her eyes moved across the street.
Then—
A sharp sound came from behind her.
Olivia turned.
Nothing.
"What the hell..." I whispered.
Kuroha was gone.
Not hiding behind a building.
Not running down the street.
Gone.
Olivia suddenly moved to the side.
A blade cut through the space where her neck had been a fraction of a second earlier.
'where the fuck did she get the blade from?'
.
Kuroha appeared for an instant.
Olivia immediately attacked.
But Kuroha disappeared again.
"She's using her ability or something" I said.
Olivia's expression hardened.
"No kidding."
A punch came from Olivia's blind spot.
She blocked it.
Kuroha appeared.
Olivia grabbed her wrist.
For one second, I thought she had her.
Then Kuroha vanished.
Olivia's hand closed around nothing.
A kick struck Olivia's ribs from behind.
She stumbled forward.
"Kuroha!"
No answer.
Another attack.
This time from the left.
Olivia blocked.
Another from the right.
She blocked that one too.
But the pattern was impossible to predict.
Kuroha would appear for less than a second before disappearing again.
Every time Olivia tried to chase her, there was nothing to chase.
The rain made it worse.
There were thousands of moving droplets, countless reflections, and shadows everywhere.
And somewhere inside all of it was Kuroha.
Olivia wiped blood from her lip.
"You think this is going to save you?"
Silence.
Then Kuroha's voice came from somewhere behind her.
"It already has."
Olivia spun around.
Nothing.
Her expression twisted with anger.
"Stop hiding you coward!"
A laugh came from the darkness between two buildings.
Kuroha always suddenly disappears and reappears later. At first, I thought it was invisibility.
But...
'It's not invisibility.'
'It's something more complicated.'
She wasn't simply becoming invisible.
She was disappearing from our awareness.
Even when I knew she was there, my eyes struggled to find her.
Olivia slowly lowered her stance.
"Fine."
Her voice was quieter now.
"Then I'll just get faster..."
She vanished.
!
*Woosh*
The entire street seemed to explode.
!
Olivia began moving at full speed.
She ran through the street, across walls, over parked cars, and through the narrow spaces between buildings.
Her movements became impossible to track.
But unlike before, she wasn't chasing Kuroha.
She was attacking the entire area.
Her fists shattered streetlights.
Her feet cracked pavement.
She tore through metal railings and smashed the sides of abandoned vehicles.
Every impact created a shockwave that sent rain flying in every direction.
'Isn't that very irresponsible for a police officer... She must be very angry.'
"Kuroha!" Olivia shouted.
No answer.
Another explosion of movement.
Then—
!
"Found you."
Olivia stopped.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then Kuroha appeared.
Only a few meters away.
Her eyes widened.
Olivia had somehow caught her.
Kuroha immediately tried to disappear again.
But Olivia was already moving.
She grabbed Kuroha by the arm.
"Argh! Damned!"
Kuroha struggled.
Olivia swung her.
Kuroha slammed into the ground.
The asphalt cracked beneath her.
Before Kuroha could recover, Olivia was already above her.
A punch.
Kuroha rolled away.
Another punch.
She barely avoided it.
A kick.
Kuroha blocked with both arms.
The impact sent her sliding across the street.
She tried to disappear again.
Olivia was faster.
She appeared directly in front of her.
A knee struck Kuroha's stomach.
Kuroha doubled over.
Olivia grabbed her by the collar.
"You've been running around attacking me from the shadows."
She pulled Kuroha closer.
"You think that makes you stronger?"
Kuroha coughed.
"No."
Her eyes suddenly sharpened.
"It makes me harder to kill."
She vanished.
Olivia's grip closed around empty air.
I saw her appear behind Olivia.
Too late.
Kuroha struck Olivia across the back.
Olivia stumbled.
Kuroha raised her hand for another attack—
But Olivia turned.
Their eyes met.
And Olivia smiled.
It wasn't a friendly smile.
It was the kind of smile that made me realize Kuroha had made a mistake.
"Got you."
Olivia moved.
Kuroha tried to disappear.
Olivia was already there.
A punch hit Kuroha directly in the face.
The impact sent her flying.
She rolled several meters across the soaked pavement.
she didn't move.
Olivia stood in the rain.
Her chest rose and fell.
Her fists were clenched.
She walked toward Kuroha.
Kuroha slowly pushed herself up.
Blood ran down her forehead.
One arm hung awkwardly at her side.
Still, she tried to stand.
Olivia stopped in front of her.
Kuroha looked up.
.
"You won..."
Olivia stared at her.
"Yes."
...
"Hana... I'm sorry for being such an asshole."
Kuroha's knees gave out.
She collapsed onto the pavement.
The rain washed the blood from her face and carried it toward the nearest drain.
.
The street looked like a battlefield.
Cars were damaged.
The asphalt was cracked in dozens of places.
And Olivia was standing in the middle of it all.
She looked exhausted.
But she was still standing.
I walked toward her into the rain.
"Olivia."
She didn't look at me.
Her eyes remained fixed on Kuroha.
"Olivia, are you okay?"
"Yeah."
Olivia finally relaxed her fists.
Thunder rolled somewhere above the city.
At least the rain is easing up a bit.
"Jin, I'm sorry."
her eyes became sorrowful
"I'm sorry you have to go through something like this again..."
"...The fact that you're worrying more about me than yourself, and that you're so calm again even though something so terrible has happened to you once more... I don't want to imagine what you went through before."
She turns away from me.
...
"Olivia... are you...crying?"
"I'm not crying... that's the rain."
Olivia said in a stuttering voice.
...
...
"That's not the rain... Olivia..."
"It is!"
"it's not"
"It is!" Olivia cried out loud in a tearful voice.
"It is..." I repeated with a small smile.
.
.
.
__________________________
To be continued