Kanou Shinka

The alley way. A place a person can enter to either take a short cut, or just stupidly get themselves found by delinquents. Be it from the fractured group of Skill-Out, or even just other jerks that wander the place. In any case, most people-the smart ones-try their best not to enter the alley ways of Academy City. Meaning only the stupid or desperate ones enter, or maybe some thrill seekers.

"Ahhh!" Or in this case, another idiot who thought he could survive this cruel world that is the alley way. Who is it one might say. Why, it's none other than a short boy who appears to be about twelve. He has shoulder-length brown hair, and wears a black hooded jacket with bear ears. He wears black shorts with it, as well as a blue shirt and socks. Although with such an outfit and his face looking rather girly, sadly for the boy he was being chased by certain men with...desires.

"Come on kid, no need to be scared. I just want to show you a 'good' time." A disgusting slob said with a nasty look on his face.

"That's right girly, I'm sure once we get in bed your world will open up." If it weren't for the fact that he was running for his life, the boy would have stopped and thrown up by now. Who knew guys could be so disgusting.

'A-All I wanted was to see Frenda!' The boy thought as he kept running. To get a better understanding of the boy's motives, one must know who he is. His name being Kanou Shinka, just a regular boy, a level 0 at that. However, despite his position of the hierarchy he had made a rather interesting friend in the form of one Frenda Seivelun.

He met her on a certain day and the two became good friends, and while Kanou didn't know of Frenda's rather double life, he still cared for her. Right now though, it's been weeks since he last met her. Maybe a month or two as Frenda no longer hung around him. Making him worry either she got hurt, or just didn't care for him anymore. He sincerely hoped it was the former.

As such the young boy decided to try and find Frenda anyway he can. Having gained a unique advantage to actually do so, all in the name of two words.

Aihana Etsu.

'That name should have brought me an advantage. Yet now I'm stuck running despite having the Number 6's name.' The sixth rank Level 5, a mysterious person that nobody knew about, not even the other Level 5's as far as he knew. Yet due to luck-and a beatdown-he got the Number 6's name.

Because of that Kanou was able to enter places he never even dreamed of, even learning a few things. Things that he was pretty sure he shouldn't have learned. But whatever the game, he always won thanks to his name, so long as he wasn't using it inappropriately.

'Except I didn't think those idiots wouldn't care!' Turns out some people didn't fear the name of Aihana Etsu. He learned some actually wanted to fight him, use their skills against him, or simply arrest him. The worst part though was that while those punks did think he was the Number 6, they instead thought of him as some cute weak girl who just got lucky in getting the power. Wanting to get a 'taste' what a Level 5 would be.

"Gotta get out of-uhh!" Suddenly Kanou accidentally tripped himself from a misplaced soda can. Falling onto the ground, he grabbed his injured leg trying to soothe the pain.

"There you are."

"Guh!" The punks finally caught up to him. All of them looking ready to deal with him in the worst way possible. Even more horrifyingly if they discovered he was far from being a girl.

'Crap! This can't be how it ends. I still haven't found her.' The young boy then shut his eyes, deciding to just endure what was about to happen to him. The degenerates stalking closer and closer, ready to do whatever they wanted to him.

"Yaaaaa!" Only for all the delinquents to fall on their knees screaming in pain as a loud noise affected their ears painfully. The noise was so high, it felt like their eardrums would burst entirely.

"Ahhhhh..Ruuunn!" The leader of the sad group said with all the others doing exactly as he commanded. None of them wanting to go deaf, so quickly they ran away. Once they got far enough, the noise then stopped.

"W-what-what was that?" Kanou muttered as he flinched a bit. The noise didn't affect him too much, but he still felt some pain.

"Hey, are you okay." Hearing a soft voice, the young impostor then looked up where he then saw two people. The first was an old guy that dressed rather nicely wearing a simple grey suit. By his side is a beautiful blonde girl wearing a school uniform that he was certain he saw at some other school. The blonde hair reminded him of Frenda.

The man held out his hand, with Kanou then grabbing it as he groggily stood up. "Uh, yea-yeah, I'm fine...I think." He said shaking his head. "Um, uh, thanks for the help and all, but who are you?"

"Oh, this is Sara, the girl who saw and helped you." The man said pointing to the girl. "As for me, I'm Kamijou Touya."

"Oh, that's nice." The imposter then said. A second later his eyes then widened at the name, swiftly facing the man face to face with some slight fear entering his body. "W-w-wait a second! Did you j-just say-Kamijou...Touya!?"

"Yes?" Touya said a bit confused, wondering why the boy seemed scared now all suddenly. This frightened the poor boy even more. He can't believe he's meeting the guy from all the rumors. The dreaded himself. Granted the name was a bit off by a few letters, but that was probably because of rumors.

Kanou Shinka then made the mistake of saying, "-Kamijou-san?" He asked in a trembling voice. "Y-you mean the Kamijou Touma, or in this case, Touya!? The boy-er-man said to run around the city at night, knocking out even the most mighty warrior with his clenched fist and snatching up every girl in his path no matter how young or old!?"

"..." For a second, Touya was unsure how to feel. It also sadly made him question just what Touma has been doing. He did just hear his sons name after all.

As for Sara, her opinion on Touya's son had lowered once more. Her impression of him not good, and she hasn't even met him.

To bad Kanou wasn't finished, as he then faced the girl with Touya. "I-is she in fact your mistress!?"

Pow!

Suddenly, without any mercy, Sara punched the poor boy in the face with her own being rather red. That was the last thing he saw.

"Hey...hey ...are you ...up…hey…" After what felt like hours, Kanou was slowly stirring up. His face feeling like someone socked him, with his head feeling like someone wacked it with a pipe. Which really amounted to both a big headache and was he felt was a big bruise.

The only thing that stirred him up was a voice that tried to wake him. Slowly, Kanou opened his eyes while ignoring what he was certain is a swelling on his right cheek. Once his eyes opened, he saw a blurry figure that soon focused into a familiar face. The noise then turning into coherent words.

"Oh, good. Your alright." The voice said. "Did you have to punch him that hard?"

"He insulted me. If anything he's lucky that I didn't use my power." Another said.

"Okay, I can't deny that. But he's still just a kid."

"...I guess I can apologize…"

"That's good. And-oh, looks like he's getting up." At that moment Kanou soon remembered everything.

"Gah!" Meaning he also remembered the girl Sara who punched him in the face. He instantly shielded his face while saying, "P-please! Don't hurt me!" Yeah, he became frightened upon seeing her.

"Woah there, don't worry." The man, Touya, then said as he tried to calm the kid down. "Look, I get she might have punched you, but she won't do that anymore. Isn't that right." It wasn't a question.

Sighing, Sara faced Kanou and said, "I'm...sorry for punching you earlier."

"..." Kanou still felt wary of the girl, and honestly didn't want to go near her. Though that didn't mean he was going to antagonize her either. Touya noticed the tension of them, and decided to try and change topics.

"So, um, kid." He then began. "Are you okay, ahem, I noticed you were being chased by those guys from earlier." Kanou could tell this man was trying to change the subject,s o he might as well go along with it. Luckily, it seems that girl listened to him, so he shouldn't have to worry about being punched again. Hopefully.

"Right, those guys." He said with hints of fear from being chased earlier ago. "Just some jerks who thought they could have their way with me. Even though I'm a boy."

"Oh...Is that so." Touya was honestly wondering what gender the kid here was. Glad he finally knew that. Sara on the other hand, thought it was a shame he was a boy. Such a cute face-ignoring the swollen bruise-should belong to a girl.

"Yeah. And I only met them because I was trying to find a friend." Kanou then said.

"A friend? Is something bad happening to her?" Touya then asked as he stood up, Kanou doing the same.

"I'm...not really sure." Kanou admitted. "Some time ago my friend kinda stopped hanging out with me. No messages, no texts, nothing. Like she just disappeared."

"I can see how that's troublesome." Touya knew that feeling. His son Touma did the exact same thing. Never really staying onto contract, only doing so in the moments. Which by the way were rare.

"Exactly!" Kanou said. "And because of that I've been doing whatever I can to find her... With little success." Even with that name, he couldn't find any traces of her at all. Instead all he found were strange things like mysterious black bricks, a drug that boosted abilities, and pieces of what appeared to be a broken sword. He found that one near the Windowless Building.

"Well...don't worry champ. I'm sure if you keep trying, you'll find this girl eventually." Touya patted the kid on the back. Comforting the boy just a little.

"Yeah but...what if...what if she really did just leave me." Kanou didn't try thinking it too often, but a part of him felt the main reason Frenda left him was because of his personality. He wasn't exactly a...manly person. More of a crybaby as Frenda put it and is both timid and easily frightened. What if she just ditched him because she no longer liked him?

"Only one way to find out, right." Touya then told him. "I mean, if you really want to know, then I guess you'll just have to try your hardest to find her. I mean, judging from the way you act, you've been trying pretty hard to find her. Unless your thinking of giving up."

"No way!" Kanou then said. "Even if-even if Frenda did leave me..I still want to find her!" Frenda is his friend, and on the chance she did leave him, he would still view her as such. No way would he give up the search now. Not now, not ever!

"He, strong kid." Touya whispered seeing that this one, while kinda weak looking, had his heart in the right place. "In that case, I wish you luck in your search. See ya." With that Touya and Sara then left Kanou alone, who's resolve to find Frenda increased.

Of course he doubted it would be that easy. Even with the Number 6's name, nothing had really changed. That didn't mean he was going to stop trying, of course. Like hell he'd just stop!

With a small nod he then began leaving-

"Uh!"

-only to bump into somebody.

"Hey! What was that for!? Nya!" Seeing who he crashed into, Kanou saw a very small, very cute, and very familiar little girl with blonde hair, fair skin, and a beret. For a second, he sae Frenda's image over her.

"Oh, uh..sorry." Kanou said.

"Nyah! Sorry doesn't cut it!" The little girl said. "Look what you did to my ice cream! Nyah!" Looking down he then saw a cone now on the cement splattered all over.

"Oh. Whoops." He said.

"Nyah! You have to pay me back. Otherwise, I'll tell my big sister on you. Nyah." That didn't sound good.

"Okay, okay. I'll, uh, buy you a new one." He tried calming her, which seemed to work.

"Good." The little girl said as she then pointed somewhere at a distance. "Then you can buy me a new one now, nyah. Follow me. I have some other friends over there." With a 'hmph' the little girl then dragged the poor boy away from his search, yet strangely he felt satisfied being with this girl. Weird.

'Oh well. I guess I can try finding Frenda another day.' Kanou thought as he followed the girl that reminded him of his friend.

"Oh, which reminds me. Nyah! How did you get such a nasty bruise? It doesn't suit a cute girl like you."

"I'm a boy!"

Another ending here, this time featuring one of Frenda's friends. Who doesn't even realize he found somebody connected to Frenda at all. Makes me wonder if he'll make an appearance in the main story of 'Infinite Possibilities'. Also, did you figure out exactly what he saw and what chapters they belong to? Until next time.