~~~~~~~~~~CHAPTER 2: Good morning, bleeding Stranger!~~~~~~~~~~

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

7 a.m.

"Oh fuck... Oh Jesus, my head... My freaking head..."

A silent whines could be heard in room 544. Lavi Bookman, age 20, was laying on his couch and dealing with a headache.

"Good job, you idiot..."

Lavi made a scowl while grabbing his red hair.

"Oh God, why did you invent hangovers? I won't drink anymore..."

He opened his eyes. The room seems to be as normal as usually. Well, maybe it was a little brighter in Lavi's eyes. A little brighter means blinding bright. He hissed as light hurt his eyeballs, forcing them to cover behind their eyelids.

"At least I've got some sleep."

While he tried to regain full control over his body, he felt a jolting pain in his hand.

"What the...? OH SHIT! O SHITSHITSHIT-!"

He ran to the bathroom and put his hand under a tap. Cold water washed away all bloody signs, uncovering a deep cut with a green-glass fragment stabbed in skin. Lavi's eyes were full of horror as he realized that he hadn't got a first aid kid. He tried to pull the glass out, but all his attempts caused a comeback of bleeding. The hand found itself under the tap again.

"Jesus Christ, what should I do?"

He swore under his nose a few times.

"Maybe I should call an ambulance? I should go to hospital!"

He gave up the idea, as he didn't feel like going out today. After all, he was on a hangover and he wouldn't be able to stand all those blinding halogens, noisy apparatus and annoying people. Everything annoyed him today.

"What a great beginning of the day! Glad to know the world hates me."

He joked at himself and let a little laughter come out of his lips. Lavi stared at his hand for a few more minutes. If he didn't react fast, the infection might intrude in the cut and it'd be a lot worse situation. He thought for a while and grabbed a toilet paper, in which he wrapped his damn-hurting hand. 'This should do for a while' Lavi started to consider gritting his teeth and going to "damned" hospital. 'I need some fresh air' He went to his terrace right after he had got rid of his stomach's contents. Those after-alcohol contents.

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The Glorious Street. Skycraper "13". 48th floor. Room 544. Terrace.

It's 7:35. It's a beautiful weather, a beautiful view, a beautiful morning and a not beautiful Lavi's mood. 'Gosh, my head is making me think about suicide...' He looked down at the city. There was always something special for him about living so high. The city under him seemed like a big, living organism, with veins (streets), blood cells (cars) and tissues (crowded places). Just like in human's. A pulse of the city was filled with an energy, which poured into tired Lavi every morning, making him believe that he would find a purpose, in which he would devote himself forever. 'I guess the world will have a break from me today' the redhead leaned himself against balustrade and looked forward. 'Everything would be perfect if not that stupid hand!' he rubbed his limb to turn down pain. 'I wonder how I did it to myself? I must have broken the bottle in my hand when I was over-drunk... Great...' he hissed and tried to enjoy the view.

*Yaaaaaaaaaaawn*

Something disturbed Lavi's usual peace. Since when there was a yawning heard? As far as he could remember rarely does anybody went on the terrace. Reasons? Most of them had an acrophobia. Another most of them were bored with a sight. And maybe about 5% were sensitive to the air pollution. What group does Lavi belong in?

Stretch. Stretch. Stretch.

The unusual sounds came from the neighboring apartment. The 543. Lavi tried to recall the talk with the new receptionist, Lenalee. She said something about occupied room 543. Did she say when? 'About 17:30, before my drunk-arrival' there was an answer. Did she say by who it was occupied? Recall. Recall. Recall. 'Duh, she didn't' no answer provided. He was really curious about the person, after all, he was LIVING in ROOM 543. 'Good Lord, what am I? I don't care what's happening out there!'

Hit. Stretch. Hit. Stretch. One-two-one-two-one-two.

'Well... I guess a little peek won't hurt' said the dark side.

'Are you out of your mind? It's as equal as being a stalker!' said the white side.

'It's not! What is wrong in looking at someone, who's living in a house of the assassination?'

'Curiosity is a first step to Hell'

'Curiosity is a first step to Wisdom'

'Will you two just shut the hell up?' Lavi shook his head. 'Geez, I'm hearing voices due to my headache...' He placed himself near the wall and tried to look through a little hole to see the source of unusual sounds.

Hit. Hit. Hit. Hit. Hit.

The person was exercising. It seemed he was into martial arts, as he hit frequently a plastic bag and made a lot of kicks in the air. 'IS IT AN OLD MAN!?' to Lavi's terror the person was quite small and had a white hair. 'It can't be! He's moving like all heroes in movies!' the redhead was astonished by fast movements, flexible dodges (he's dodging? From what?) and seemingly powerful punches. 'Incredible... I haven't seen something like that for ever...'. Excitement, that feeling was holding Lavi while watching an extraordinary "old man". 'I wonder what is he like?' The only view that he had was "old man's" back. The person picked up a chair and put it in front of him.

*Sigh*

The white-haired grabbed backrest and with a quick, unhesitating movement he jumped. Right now, the person was above the chair, upside down, right hand holding a seat, left hand holding his back. He started to do push-ups. REALLY FAST.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13... 43,44,45,46,47,48,49...

The redhead was enchanted. He forgot about the beautiful morning. He forgot about the beautiful city's view from 48th floor. He even forgot how to breath for a moment (fortunately, a lack of oxygen had alarmed the boy before he could suffocate).

...120,121,122,123,124,125,126...

Only 30 seconds passed.

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" The white man stopped and looked around, probably utterly shocked. Lavi put his hands on his mouth and jumped away from the wall. What had he done!? 'What have I done!?' He slapped his face with a healthy hand and mumbled a few things, similar to "You're ABSOLUTELY great, idiot!" or "Now I'm gonna be treated like a stalker...".

But what was that...I can't describe it. That person... That old man cast a spell on me or something! Is he even a human!? Can a normal human do something like that!? It was like... WOW! Big WOW! I've never seen such a thing in my entire life! Hom much training does it require!? How much patience!? How much will!? I wonder what kind of a person is that old man? Probably really active! But what if he's grumpy, just like other old men? O god, god, god, god, I have to know his martial arts' secrets! I want to do the same!

Wait...

Something is wrong... I hear no counting...

...

He stopped?!

Lavi run to the wall and peeked. There was no sign of the white-haired person! Lavi sighed in disappointment. 'I wonder if I scared him away?' The redhead sat on the floor, covering his face with his right hand. Of course, he couldn't forget about the left one, the pain wasn't very forgettable. Pain... Pain... Physical pain... 'God, I need to do something with it or I'll go crazy!' he rubbed his palm gently. That was useless... He unwrapped the palm from the toilet paper. It looked horrible...

"Bloody hell! Is there everything alright with you, sir!?" He looked up and to the left. Behind the wall, near the balustrade the white-haired "old man" was standing. Lavi stared at him a while, not being able to say a word. 'What the... His... Face... Isn't... Old.' the "old man" had a pure, pale face, without any deformations or furrows (well, something was wrong with the left side of his face, but Lavi was too far to see). Gray eyes were full of concern about redhead's bleeding hand. 'Is... he even an adult? He looks so... teen-age...'.

"Ummm... Good morning..." the white-haired boy blinked in surprise as the redhead had spoken.

"G-good morning?" the white replied. Lavi snapped out of his trance with a little help of his hurting palm. 'Oh God, I'm going to bite it off!' Lavi gritted his teeth and held his hand tighter. The neighbor disappeared. 'Umm... It might sound a little bit off, but... Was I just hallucinating? Stupid, deceitful hangover!' he hit his head against the wall. Headache. Not only inside, but outside his skull too. Another hit. 'Stop thinking about hand!' another hit.

"Oh JESUS!" he run his fingers through his forehead and saw blood. "Oh fuck! What the hell is wrong with me!?" Now he has to deal with a headache, with a cut on his hand and with a head damage.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

Furious knocking... My head is going to explode!

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

In order to stop this noise he rushed towards the door and opened them roughly.

"Sir, are you ok?!" The white-haired boy appeared again. Lavi stood still, mouth and eyes wide opened. The boy had waited for reaction from redhead's side, but all he heard was a wind blowing from room's 544 opened window.

~~~~~~~~~~END OF CHAPTER~~~~~~~~~~