6 months later

"Banto, I'm home!" Shouts Ari.

"Good, I just finished dinner." I respond

"Great, I'm starving."

"Long day?"

"You don't know half of it, people can be draining sometimes, I had this lady scream my ear off because her doctor prescribed the wrong meds to her like it was my fault." She takes off her jacket and hangs it up and pulls out her chair. I had been living with Ari for a while now, to the outside world I was Tatami Banto, Ari's roommate, she gave me her mother's old family name in case anybody asked for it while I was out. I had taken up cooking rather quickly, perhaps I had prior experience in my old life. We had a routine going, in the morning I would get up and make breakfast for us, she would leave, I would tend to the farm during the day, do chores around the house, maybe go out and run some errands, and at night I would make dinner and she would come home. Sometimes Ari needs to go out late at night for work, she always comes back really tired the next morning, it's strange that her pharmacy would have her go in for the day, send her home and then call her back later but she says they are just short staffed and need her for the night shift sometimes. I worry about her sometimes, being out so late, the news says crime is rising around here, and I don't want her getting hurt on her way back from work.

"Mrs. Daikata from the market says hi, I was able to get quite a bit of money from the spinach and broccoli I grew, apparently they are in season right now." I say.

"That's good. Hey Banto, I have to go out again tonight, it's an emergency apparently, pain in the ass." She responds.

"Dammit, I was hoping we could watch a movie tonight."

"How about this, this weekend with the money I get from the overtime, how about we go out to the movies, maybe get dinner, my treat."

"That sounds nice, but I'm picking the place this time, you ought to learn that there is more to a good restaurant than good reviews."

"Fine then Mr refined taste." She replies with a smile.

Later that night

"Banto, I'm heading out." Said Ari.

"Ok, be safe Ari."

"Don't worry I will," she says with a smile as she closes the door behind her.

I walk over to the living room to watch some TV and notice something on the table, it's Ari's phone, she must have left it. Mind as well bring it to her. I grab the phone and get out the door. The elevator closes as I exit so looks like I'm taking the stairs. I rush down the stairs and reach the first floor, Ari is already out the front door. I run to her but before I reach her I stop and notice her walking towards a car I don't recognise. She opens the passenger side door and I can briefly see a shady looking man I don't know driving the car. Who's this guy? What's Ari doing with him? I need some answers, I go and grab my bike from outside and race after the car. It's hard to keep pace with the car on bike, but with the traffic in the city it's not impossible. After a bit of driving the car turns towards the docks. What's Ari doing at the docks? Only thing at the docks is.. Oh no. The News was talking about rising crime, and if the TV I've been watching is anything to go off of, docks mean a shady crime deal. Is Ari getting involved with criminals in order to support us? I know I can't just walk up to her now, so the least I can do is watch her to make sure she is safe. The car stops at a clearing surrounded by some shipping containers, there is a crane overhead and some spotlights illuminating the area. I park my bike and quietly climb a nearby container and look over. Inside the area is another car, three more shady looking men are surrounding it. Ari and the driver exit the car and the leader of the other group speaks up.

"Kukizono, Saishi, it's good to see you two." The man says.

"Cut it Geshuri. You got the money?" Ask the Driver.

"That depends, you have the goods?" The man named Geshuri replies.

Ari takes a case out of her bag, it's black and has the words 'NOZAMA PHARMACY" written on it. What's Nozama pharmacy have to do with this? Wait, is Ari selling prescription drugs or something?! Oh this is bad, real bad. My worrying is stopped when she opens the case, it's not drugs good, but almost immediately my panic resumes as it's something even worse.

"BULLETS?! What's Ari doing with bullets?! Is Ari an arms dealer now?!" I think to myself panicked .

Geshuri picks out a bullet and inspects it. he puts it back and seems satisfied

"Looks good to me, I'll take them." He says.

"Good, that'll be the agreed upon Million yen?" Replies the driver.

A MILLION YEN?! What are these bullets made of? Gold?

"Oh I don't think so." Says Geshuri.

"Huh?"

One of Geshuri's men pulls out a gun quickly and shoots the Driver in the leg.

"AAUGH!"

"What the hell!? Geshuri, what the fuck are you doing?!" Ask Ari.
"Eliminating the competition, with these bullets, along with our stockpile, not even the entirety of the hive could stop us." He replies.

"Bastard! You won't get away with this." She says baring her teeth.

"Oh ho ho, you wanna fight? Ok then, I'll oblige." He says, signaling to his men.

Suddenly there are four bursts of air and heat as Ari and the three men seem to explode into red wind. I'm blown back and fall off of the container, lucky the sound of the explosion masks the sound of me falling. I look around the corner into the clearing and see four new figures. In Ari's place there is a bug-like creature, it has wings hanging down it's back, antenne on its head, bladed forearms and looks organic with a hard exoskeleton. The three men are replaced by rat-like creatures, they have long tails and snouts, along with bone claws on their arms, and grey fur, the one in front appearing to have extra, bone-like growths on him. They all get into prone fighting stances and attack. Ari quickly punches one of the smaller ones in the chest, he goes flying back, I could barely see her fist go out. The other two charge her, she blocks one with her forearm, seemingly hurting it on her spiked wrist, she then kicks him in the gut and throws him away. The largest one pounces at her and scratches her on the shoulder when she tries to dodge, black blood coming from the wound. She growls and jumps at him, using her wrist blades to slash his chest. He is sent back as one of the other creatures joins him. Wait, where did the other one-

"HEY!"

I turn and see the creature looking right at me, I fall backwards and try to crawl away.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

He grabs me and lifts me up easily, his claws digging into my shoulder a bit.

"Hey boss, I got a witness." he says.

He holds me up, Ari freezes in place.

"What?! Banto!? What the hell are you doing out?!" Ask ari, her voice a bit distorted.

"You forgot your phone and I saw you get into the car, I followed you on my bike and wanted to make sure you were ok." I respond.

"Ah, ain't that noble, this guy seems pretty close to you Kukizono, would be a shame if he," he walks over and places his claw on my neck, drawing blood, "got hurt."

"Don't fucking touch him you damn rat!" She shouts.

"Ok, on one condition," he says menacingly, "turn back into a human and stand still."

"Don't do it Ari, just run." I say.

Ari clenches her fists and straightens up, another burst of wind happens and she reverts back into a human.

"Ari what the hell are you doing?" Ask the still incapacitated driver.

Ari just stands still as the leader walks over and punches her across the face, she is shot to the side and falls to the ground.

"ARI!" I shout.

The leader walks over and picks her up, he then punches her again, knocking her into a container, denting it.

He's hurting her. He's hurting my friend. I'm powerless to stop him. I can't help her.

It's just,

so,

goddamned,

INFURIATING!

I feel a burning rage inside me burst forwards, my vision goes red. I feel the goon let go of me as a burst of wind surrounds me.

"What the hell?!" says the Driver as he looks at me in shock.

The two goons go flying backwards as if hit by a car head-on. The wind dissipated and I looked towards the leader, who had paused beating Ari to look at me. I look at him, and I feel only one thing

RAGE.

KILL!

KILL!

MUST KILL HIM!

KILL THEM ALL!

AN: Thanks for reading! C&C appreciated