My eyes open, but I'm not in the dusty attic of Leblanc. I look down, and see an expanse of road, with me standing over the yellow line. I raise my hands and idly note that I'm in my costume. Everything I see is out of focus, as there's a sort of washed-out afterimage that follows every movement. I look to the side and see nothing, just an expanse of blackness. I try to step forward, but my foot refuses to move. Looking down, I don't see anything that could deter it and try again, only to meet the same result.

'Get away.' Slowly, panic start to take over, and my legs begin to spasm in a desperate attempt to free themselves. Moving my hands to them, I try and gain some sort of leverage, but nothing comes from it. My fingers tear through the fabric of my costume, the bits of torn thread accompanied by a trail of crimson liquid and twitching muscle. 'Get away from here.'

I see a faint light growing in front of me, and my shadow rising to meet it. Only until it's too late do I realize that the light is coming from behind, and by the time I turn around I only see two large, mad beams of warbling light racing towards me. I raise my arms up - 'Why bother' - in a pointless effort of protecting myself. It makes the lights veer unnaturally to the side, and I hear a crash follow suit. Metal grinds against glass against metal against skinagainstboneagainstagainstagainstagainst-

Suddenly I'm in front if the wrecked machine – NO - and I look towards the mess of a vehicle. The car is lying on its crushed roof, glass strewn about - 'You did this' - and the feeling of guilt nearly drowns me as I rush over to the scene. I try to call out, but I only feel liquid crimson burst from my lips as I do so. I stumble, and the voice of a child in pain rings out, echoing across the void of this roadhell. I bring myself back up, and as I open my eyes, I see my hands except they're not my hands. They're small, childlike. I sit up and look further down. My body has shrunk, and I'm wearing plain clothes. There's glass scratching it open revealing spilling meat.

"Kuro?" I hear a dying cry and look up. I'm inside the car. Blood rushes to my head from open wounds and from inside me now that I'm upside-down. In front of me is Hell. I see her face again, only her this time. Her eye is no longer where it should be, leaving only a black hole. She stays unnaturally still and stares at its - Murderer - child. "Ah, there you are." A voice rings out in a sing song voice a parent uses when playing with their children.

"No." I whimper, and more blood flows from my mouth. It slides into my eyes, burning them with hot fury. Hands grab me from behind, and I foolishly look back to see what it is. There's a metal container, its doors wide open, showing the empty blackness of its contents. Five pairs of emaciated, unnaturally long arms reach from within its depths, the skin from them peeling back to reveal thin, twig like bones. The darkness of the container smiles, and the arms pull me towards it.

"I'm sorry." My warbled voice says, and I see that I'm back in my costume. Five pairs of eyes emerge from the container, wild and angry. Veins burst from them and rush to me, piercing my costume. They peel back, and I'm being skinned as the outfit is pulled by them. My muscles are bare to the glass of the car, and it writhes against them. As they're ripped apart, I feel my child-self emerge from them. It crawls from my chest and throttles my neck, black voids where its eyes should be boring into my soul and judging it.

"iT DoeSN't maTter." The child speaks, and the voices of everyone I've hurt ring around in my head, as if the words are being directly implanted into my mind. "YoU StIll dId THis." The child forces my head backward, and I look back to see the maw of the darkness open around me. It laughs as it brings its teeth down on me, making me scream in agony.

"no need to scream. this is what you want."


4/11 Early Morning


My eyes shoot open, and a choked scream comes out of my lips. My breath comes out in quick gasps, and I feel a cold sweat forming around my body. Letting out a tired breath, I slowly sit up from the bed, taking a moment to look around. For a second, I don't recognize that I'm in the attic of Leblanc. The feeling of dust coursing against my skin reminds me where I am, and it creates an odd sensation that's akin to mud when it meets my sweat. I let out an annoyed sigh as I put my legs out to the edge of the bed, bringing a hand to wipe my brow and massage my temples. The all too familiar sensation of a headache begins to form, and it only serves to highlight the images of my nightmare. A shaky breath comes from my mouth as I try to clear the hellish scenes from my mind, but all I accomplish is bringing them back to the forefront of my thoughts, repeating in front of my eyes even now.

I slap myself across the face, probably with more force than necessary, and my vision swims with lights. The pain from the action gives me something to focus on, and the sharp stinging is a welcome change of pace from the dull throbbing and invasive visions, allowing me to wake even further. It didn't do anything for my now splitting head, but I could easily deal with that old wound. Blinking in order to get my eyes more into focus, I look back out the window to see how long I was asleep for.

The sight of dark buildings and minimal light is all that greets me. Confused, I peer further outwards form the window to try and see the moon's position in the sky, only to come up short due to the dark clouds that reflect the city's lights. Getting off my bed to grab my phone from my discarded school pants, I tap the screen to see the time.

"Four thirty-seven..." I mumble out in disbelief. It couldn't have been later than twelve when I got back to Leblanc yesterday, at the very least. If I had just passed out like that, that meant I would have slept for about sixteen hours. I couldn't even remember the last time I got that amount of uninterrupted sleep, but the most prevalent thought in my mind at that realization was just how much time I had wasted. "Damnit." The word forces itself out through gritted teeth, coming out like a rabid snarl. I knew what went on in this city every night, every day, and yet I had just spent all of yesterday afternoon accomplishing nothing!

A car horn honking; its driver yells at the drunkard wandering the intersection.

A sharp smack; two men, fighting in a bar. People cheer and shout as the owner tries to separate them.

A knife slices through flesh. A man drops, dead instantly from a punctured aorta. His killer drops the weapon and runs.

I bring my hand up to my ears in shock, letting out a small scream of pain. Gasping for breath, I try to force the sounds of the early morning from my senses. I had let my guard down, and my powers had responded in kind. Forcing myself to calm down, I put a cap back on them and try to quell my rising anger. The phantom feeling of a sharp intrusion spreads throughout the center of my chest, and I clench my fist around it, trying to close a wound that I knew wasn't there.

I stay there on the edge of the bed for a long while, taking withering breaths to get my nerves under control. I wring a hand through my hair, gripping it in useless frustration, my body tensing and writhing like a spring threatening to burst from the seams. 'There's nothing to do about it now.' I concede to myself, but it doesn't do anything to stop the familiar feeling of worthlessness.

Forcing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I get up and survey my room in order to find something to occupy my time. Remembering that I wanted to continue cleaning, I grab the supplies from where I left it on the bottom of one of the many segmented and tall shelves that populated the attic and set them on the table next to the entrance. My hands reave themselves across the floors and surfaces of the attic, taking out my temper along with the quickly depleting dust and dirt that stained them.

When I had calmed down enough to stop doing that, and to also avert putting a few new holes into the room from the amount of force I put into my arms, I head downstairs to grab a box of garbage bags, then set out to collect the various number of forgotten items that had piled up here over who knows how long. As I finished filling a bag, rather than go through the front door and walk to the back of the building, I simply opened my window, crawled down the wall, opened the dumpster and then threw the bags into it from the attic. The morning smells of the city helped to put my mind at ease, and did wonders for the growing headache I was starting to get, but that was soon overtaken by the odor of the dumpster, nearly making me pass out from how rank it was. I managed to steel through it as I deposited the multiple bags of discarded trash that littered the attic.

Completing that task, and noting the reduced smell and feeling of grinding dust in the air scratching against my skin, I quickly grabbed more cleaning solution and got to work in dispensing with the rest of the remaining attic grime, reaching into the areas that were difficult to normally get to by crawling along the walls. I have to put more force into it in order to get in the various creases of the walls in order to clear them of whatever filth they contained, and I feel like I'm close to putting a few holes in the place with the amount of pressure I'm exerting. Thankfully, I'm able to continue without incident.

As I finish up with the walls that are adjoined to the floor, I jump onto the rafters, making sure to put as little weight as I can onto them. I hesitate when I hear a bit of a groaning noise, but as it subsides, I continue with my task, eventually finishing the rafter I was on and reaching towards the roof of the attic to get it started.

However, as I pressed down on a specific spot of it, a loud groaning noise reverberated throughout the small room. Stopping for a moment to inspect the area, I couldn't see anything to indicate that I had damaged it in some way. Letting my senses reach out, despite the protestations of my body telling me not to, I can tell that the area I pressed on was unlike the rest of the roof above me. It was hollow, but there was a small section of walls that bounced off whatever sounds that came into contact with it. Looking around in the darkness, I soon found a faded latch, and it's only after I pull it that I detect why that's a bad idea.

A cloud of webs and clumped up dust crashed against my face, causing me to cough violently let go of the rafter, which was followed by me hitting my head against one of the shelves as I landed in an undignified heap. As I laid there, hacking up my lungs in a matter akin to a chain smoker and cleaning off the mess that had made home on me, I took a moment to reflect on my current state.

I had such enhanced senses that I could tell the layout of a multi storied building down to the finest detail, allowed me to know where a person had been, what they had eaten, and what they were about to do based on what muscle in their body twitched. I could tell what grains of dust came from where and how long it had been collecting into the same space.

Yet in spite of that all it took to take me out was a small cloud of dust. God help me.

It was honestly a miracle that I have lasted this long at all, if all it took was a bit of dust and reckless stupidity to bring me down. Grumbling at my idiocy, I wiped the last bits of dirt and webs from my face and got back up to inspect what I had found.

The door hanged from the roof, swaying slightly and spreading more dust as it did so. I cover my mouth by bringing my shirt up over it, and climbed back up the wall and peered into the new hole left in the roof. I came upon a small storage area that was covered in filth, and my eyes screamed in protest at having to expose themselves to it, but I managed to ignore the feeling and scanned through this newly discovered area of the attic. There wasn't much room in it, and it was obvious that the place hadn't seen use in some time. Given how dirty it was compared to the room when I first moved in, it wouldn't surprise me if Sakura didn't even know that it existed.

However, all of those thoughts left the forefront of my mind, as I quickly looked over to the box that held my costume. Well, at least my laziness was somewhat productive, as it seems that I had stumbled upon a perfect hiding spot for my ensemble. I peered once more into the forgotten hole in the ceiling, taking a reflexive twitch away when I did so, and immediately got about to cleaning it with a fervor that surprised me. I ignored the feeling of dust sawing off my skin and choking my lungs as I did so, the earlier feelings of anger fading away and fueling my arms as I scrubbed away from my awkward position on the rail. I eventually decided to clamber into the tight storage space, pointedly ignoring the telling sound of creaking wood as it protested under my weight.

By the time I was done, the space was practically gleaming, like it was given a new wax cover by a professional team of cleaners. That was good, because I wouldn't settle for anything less, but when I peered my head from the top of the roof and saw light shining in form the windows, it told me that I had spent a bit too much time in the ceiling of my coffee shop attic room.

I took a moment to reflect on the absurdity of that sentence as I dropped off and picked up my regular phone to see the time. Six twenty-three. Throwing it to my bed, I scrambled downstairs and made sure to grab my wallet from my forgotten school uniform, making my way to the bathhouse. I bid the owner good morning as I put the same payment from yesterday on the counter top, and he gave me a simple hum of acknowledgement. I quickly undressed and scrubbed away the built-up filth that had made home on my body, its removal feeling like I was shedding off an old set of skin.

Drying up so firmly that it felt like I was raking iron mesh across myself, I quickly got changed and spied the clock hanging in the owner's office. Six thirty-nine. Seeing as how I had plenty of time still left, I relaxed from my earlier rush. I took a quick moment to enjoy the smell of the early morning in Yongen-jaya, breathing in the refreshing smell of morning dew from the cold evening evaporating in the air. It helped to bring a calmness to me that I very rarely had the opportunity to experience. So much so that I even let my senses wander for a bit, letting them slowly wash along the surrounding area in a warm embrace.

"Hurry son, you'll be late!" A mother calls out, her voice carrying nothing but warmth.

"Good morning Tokyo! I hope that you've all prepared you're umbrellas cause we're going to be experiencing some light showers later in the day-"

Spices and sauce mixing together, rice boiling, coffee beans being grinded down into – Wait a second, that was happening just a few feet in front of me, meaning that...

I quickly dashed to the front door of Leblanc and wretched it open, being greeted by the unimpressed visage of Sojiro Sakura. Whatever feelings of calm I had were thrown away as I saw him standing behind the bar of the café, his arms crossed and his head bowed down, eyes closed and mouth in a thin line. He looked up and gave me a questioning glance. For whatever reason, it made me freeze on the spot, as if I got caught doing something I shouldn't have.

A small part of me pointedly noted that, yes, I very much was caught doing something I shouldn't have been.

"Here," he started neutrally as he lightly threw his left arm towards me. I reflexively shot a hand up to catch what he had thrown at me, and the jingling sound it made told me what they were. "You forgot it." He finished with a sigh, sounding like a mix between tired and annoyed.

My body refused to move for a few moments, as realization dawned on me that I had forgotten to lock the door even though I had acquired a pair of keys. True, I did the same thing yesterday, but being caught in the act made it seem more serious than I was treating it. I was brought out of my stupor when Sakura spoke up again.

"Went to the bathhouse I take it?" He asked, but his tone of voice made it obvious he already knew the answer.

I gave a weak "... Yeah," as a response.

"This the only time you've used it?"

"... No. I used it yesterday as well." I answered truthfully, looking down in shame. Sakura let out a hard breath through his nose at that and brought his hand to pinch its bridge.

"When you didn't have a key." He grounded out. He presented a severe glare at me afterwards, the most emotion I've seen out of him since yesterday's episode in traffic. "Look, I've got no problem with you cleaning up after yourself, but don't think you can just sneak out of this place whenever you want, especially when you don't lock up." He pointed at me to emphasize himself, and even though he wasn't yelling, the anger in his voice was strong enough to reverberate throughout the small cafe.

"I'm sorry," was my pitiful reply, and the only one I could offer. I couldn't even look him in the eyes when I said it. Sakura made a sound like he wanted to say something else, but deflated at the last moment and brought a hand up to massage his head.

"I'll let you off the hook this one time, but don't do it ever again." He finished, then pointed upstairs. "Go get changed. Breakfast will be done shortly." I looked up at him in surprise at that, to which he responded with a challenging eyebrow. "Got a problem with free food?"

"N-no." I sputtered out.

"Get a move on then before I change my mind." At that I finally moved, an awkward hurry in my steps as I went up to the attic.

When I got up there, I brought my hand up to look at the keys I had forgotten, and felt nothing but a well of disgust grow in my stomach at my disrespect towards Sojiro Sakura. Even with my misgivings about his attitude, it did nothing to excuse my own towards him. He had taken me in, which was obviously a challenge for him given that he ran a business, and had shown more patience than anyone else likely would have with someone like me. Yet all I had done with that was take advantage of his kindness, leaving his shop unlocked and unattended.

"I'm despicable." The words leave my mouth, and I make sure to feel the bite they give me.

Letting out a tired breath, I lazily got changed into my uniform, welcoming the feeling of cotton trying its best to shear my skin off. Grabbing my wallet, phone, and pocketing the keys, I made my way downstairs. I'm greeted by the growing aroma of freshly made curry, and looking to the bar I can see a steaming plate of it accompanied by a mug of coffee.

"Hurry it up. I've got customers coming soon." Sakura stated tersely. I took a seat and gazed at the plate, its smell embedding itself in my nose. It wasn't unwelcome, and the various spices I could tell were used in it made me realize that I hadn't eaten anything for two days straight.

However, before I could enjoy the plate, I brought my hands up and clasped them together, resting my forehead against them. 'Oh Lord, I thank you for this offering, and ask forgiveness for my actions so that I may earn this gift. Amen.' I made the Sign of the Cross after finishing and grabbed the spoon I was offered. I noticed a raised eyebrow from Sakura-san, but ignored it as I prepared myself to eat the meal. I took a breath, readying my mouth for the numbing invasion of spices and flavors it was about to experience.

After the first bite, all of my worry was washed away in a swathe of tastes and sensations that I had never experienced before. My usual concerns with food overwhelming me were dashed, and I can say with certainty that Sakura-san was an excellent cook. I nearly forgot my manners and scarfed down the whole meal in a matter of seconds, but managed to control myself. The food almost tasted just like Yu-

I stopped myself before I could stumble through that line of thought, and the memory of the person I had hurt the most brought my mood plummeting away from my earlier experience.

"Enjoying yourself?" Sakura-san asked with a light chuckle, causing me to look up at him in confusion, thankfully tearing my mind from that previous detour. "You look better compared to yesterday at least." I flinched slightly at the mention of my breakdown, and I looked at Sakura-san with a guarded expression. "Yeah, I noticed. It's why I let you out when you asked." So. He did notice. And now that I knew he let me out of that death trap for my sake, it only worsened my feelings of guilt at the way I had acted towards him. "Mind explaining what that was all about?"

Christ, I couldn't make heads or tails of this man. One moment, he's non-caring and apathetic, the next he's asking if I'm okay after having a near panic attack. I felt my left hand tighten around my leg, and I fumbled around with the spoon in my other hand, trying to find a way to explain what I was going through on the ride back from the school.

"I don't," I started, and Sakura-san's tight posture at how pathetic I probably sounded told me all I needed to know about how sad I must have looked, "like cars." I can hear a car horn blare off in the background of the city, and I quickly get control of my senses to prevent another incident.

"... Okay." That was all Sakura-san said as a reply, and it was probably the first time he sounded so soft towards me. My trembling breath made itself known, and an awkward silence broke out in the café. Sakura-san let out his own tired sigh after a moment, and mumbled to himself, "What a troublesome kid I've taken in."

"Why did you take me in?" I asked before I could stop myself. I looked at him from my seat, and he looked at me, his face scrunching slightly at my sudden question. He scratched the back of his neck for a moment and looked away, as if embarrassed at what his answer was.

"Someone... asked me to. And I just, well, happened to agree to it." He sounded so sheepish as he finished, not even bothering to look at me when he did so. I was left dumbstruck at his reply, not knowing what to make of it. He had just... decided to take me in? For no reason at all? I looked down at the plate of food in front of me, contemplating what I had just learnt.

Sojiro Sakura. The name echoes in the forefront of my mind. He isn't family. He isn't a friend. A man who did his best to appear as uninterested as he possibly could about me and my situation, yet his actions told me that here was another side that he did his best to try and hide. A side that took in a complete stranger for no reason at all. A side that cared. My hand idly picked at the curry with my spoon, fumbling bits of food onto it. Food that he gave me in spite of my earlier disrespect towards him. I slowly brought my hand up, readying another bite.

'Perhaps I was wrong abou-'

"Besides, I was already paid for it."

I recognize the sound of metal being snapped in half before I feel the hot fury that shoots throughout my body. The remaining bit of broken utensil bends and flattens in my grip as its other half bounces against the bar, spilling food along its surface. Sakura, this stranger, looks at me in shock, his face paling the second his eyes meet mine. I bore my glare into him, and it takes all of my willpower not to jump over the bar and strike him for what he said. He probably thought I was going to do just that given how much he was squirming under the weight of my gaze.

"I see." The words come out like a strained snarl from my mouth, and I shoot out from the stool, snatching my bag from where I left it. Sakura makes an attempt at calling after me, but I ignore him as I wrest the door open and slam it closed. I don't care whether or not I broke the damn thing from the force I put into it, and the people I rush past give me a wide berth when they notice my forceful walk. A local officer even tried to stop me, but at one look to my face he wisely backed off.

'Because he was paid to. Of course. What else was I expecting?' Paid for it. Like I was an unimportant business transaction. Like I was just some product that caught his attention. Just like-

The image of a woman I know begins to impose itself over my eyes, and before I recognize it my fist shoots out to the side on instinct, shattering the brick and mortar it comes into contact with ease. I stay like that for a while, ignoring all of the jumps and startled reactions of the people around me.

"Because he was paid to." I whisper to myself. Paid for it. That's all I was to him. That's all I was to this city. All she was to this city. My fist further grinds into the wall, and my breath comes out with a ragged edge to it. My teeth grind against each other, and the muscles in my neck tighten in anger. I stay there for a moment, letting myself fume and vent. Feeling a prick in my hand, I look to my right and see the wall I had punched into, my hand practically embedded in the concrete.

"What's his problem?"

"He on drugs or something?"

"Freak."

The voices of people passing me by reverberate around me, acting like a judgmental choir that breaks me from my fugue. My hand retracts from the wall, bits of destroyed stone and dust spilling out from the impact center and off of my hand as I massage it. Whatever pain I felt from the action didn't register with me as I stewed in my fury. A wave of shame soon overwhelms those feelings as I walk away from the site of my outburst for letting my anger overcome me like that.

'Why am I even so upset over him?' The question pierces through any other feelings I have at the moment. 'What else was I expecting? For a man who I didn't even know to take me in out of the kindness of his heart?'

It wasn't even that I was upset for my own sake over the reason Sakura gave me. Honestly, I didn't really deserve anything else. It was only that what he said hit too far close to home for me. It was a reminder of her... the one person whose life I ruined just by existing.

…. But that wasn't the whole reason though, even if I didn't want to admit it at the moment. The real reason I reacted so negatively, outside of everything else...

A heavy breath left my lungs, and I rubbed the bridge of my nose in order to stymie my now settled headache as I entered Shibuya Station. I got on the train as it rolled up, and I welcomed the overcrowded car's wave of feelings and sensations on my power as a distraction from this increasingly depressing morning.


4/11 Morning


'Why the hell did I say that?' Sojiro Sakura only had Kurokuya Kouzai under his care for three days, and he already felt like he had no idea what he was doing.

He let out a snide laugh at that. "Did I ever know what I was doing?" He asked himself, blowing out a trail of smoke. The café both unfortunately and thankfully had yet to receive its first wave of customers, so he was able to get in a quick bit of relief before the morning commute.

Sojiro liked to think of himself as someone who was able to get a read on someone with only a few interactions. It was a necessary skill to have in the restaurant business, especially with an establishment like a café where interacting with people who were in wildly different moods was a part of everyday work. He thought that he was being smart when he had gotten a hole in the wall spot to open up shop, hoping that the type of people he would interact with would simply mind their business and enjoy the sort of easy silence that came with a location like this.

He wasn't impressed when he found out that wouldn't be the case.

People would come in and talk about anything and everything that was on their minds. How their bosses were riding them at work, that kids these days were too disrespectful, that the weather wouldn't make up its mind. That the world was going crazy and how nobody was doing anything to fix it. The usual. It wasn't that Sojiro was an asocial person. It was just, nowadays, he preferred to mind his own business.

Then she came in.

It was late, and he was just about to get ready to close up when she shambled in, picking the booth that was closest to the door and dropping like a dead sack into it. He felt tempted to say that he was closing to get her to leave, but when he saw how she was holding herself, how she just sat there, making no attempt to order something, like she was doing her best to disappear from the rest of the world... he just couldn't kick her out and feel right about it.

So, he went up to her, asked what she wanted to order, and she looked up at him with the emptiest expression he had ever seen on another human being. Then the tears came, and for once he decided to really listen to someone who came into his shop. He came back with two cups of coffee made from his best beans as she composed herself, and he sat down.

Then she talked about her family, and Sakura went rigid at the cruel irony.

She talked about her brother; how he was born with some sort of illness that caused him pain for his whole life. How after the first bit of good news the family had gotten about the condition, his parents died in a car accident. Then she had to take care of a sick kid on her own, and eventually ran into problems doing so. The type of dress she was wearing, or rather, what little dress there was, told Sojiro enough about what those problems drove her to.

And throughout it all, Sojiro Sakura felt nothing but a rising feeling of guilt in the deepest part of his chest.

Then came the little brother's arrest, and how she felt that everything she had done had been for nothing. How she had failed to take care of the last family she had.

It was that last bit that finally made Sojiro blurt it out. The kid was lucky enough to be put on probation, but there was no one willing to take him in after it was decided that he was going to have to relocate. She was at the end of her rope. And so, he told her that he would take him in. The look of hope in her eyes actually seemed to make them literally light up, as if it was the first act of kindness the poor girl had received in a long time. As he thought back to that moment, it probably was.

Sojiro wasn't expecting that taking care of a delinquent for a year was going to be easy. He knew that he was going to probably get some push back from the kid in the way that all teenagers felt they needed to do against all authority they came across. Especially from this kid, when Sojiro connected the dots of who he was.

Then he met the boy, and he had no idea what to make of him from day one.

"And now I just screwed it up after day three." A cloud of smoke drools out of Sakura's mouth as he speaks to himself, his voice barely above a whisper. He brought a hand up and scratched the back of his head in frustration. "What the hell am I doing?" A wry chuckle came out of his lips a moment after asking that. He thought about who was waiting for him only a couple blocks away and the various ups and downs the both of them went through.

"Yeah. Like I know." Sojiro Sakura put out his cigarette and flicked it into a bin. He got to work on setting up shop for what was looking like to be a slow day, idly noting the rain outside.

"Hopefully he'll have a better day at Shujin."


4/11 Morning


The train, as was to be expected, is cramped from the morning rush and commute. I manage to ignore today's earlier episode by focusing on the minutiae around me. When that got too overwhelming, I grabbed the student handbook and read it in order to distract me while the train transported me to my destination. Then I finished reading it and was left with nothing to do. Not even the suffocating atmosphere of the train car was enough to keep my attention.

Joy of joys.

I let out a breath through my nose, trying my best to prepare myself for the day to come. While I had no strong feelings towards Shujin or school in general, it was always difficult for me to just sit around all day and feel like I was doing nothing important. My enhanced senses didn't make doing that any easier.

Thankfully, the train stopped at my destination before I could ponder on that thought any further. Stepping onto the platform, I was greeted by the rush of invading sensations from the new environment. A hiss of pain escapes me, as I was usually smart enough to prepare myself for that sort of thing. Guess I was still distracted from today's altercation.

My eyes narrow at the reminder of Sakura's earlier comment. I push my way past all of the crowds in the station, forcing the event to the back of my mind. I wasn't in the mood to dwell on that, and doing so wouldn't do anything to help me at-

"Damnit, I forgot my umbrella."

The comment from one of the people in the station reaches my ears and causes me to stop for a short moment. 'It's raining?' I let my senses expand, and sure enough I can hear the pattering of raindrops outside the station bathing the streets in a sheet of cool humidity. Already I can feel the cold air brushing past my skin, letting me feel a levity from the coarse cotton of the uniform and the stifling train station. Without realizing, I rush to the exit, gently pushing past all of the people in my way.

When I finally run past the last steps, I'm washed in the feeling of little needles of cold drowning out everything else. I stay there a moment, letting my earlier discomfort be replaced by the cleansing rain, basking in the liquid relief.

It was strange. Despite the fact the rain could feel like a hailstorm of glass trying to shear away my skin, I always enjoyed the feeling of it on my body. The little pinpricks of water landing on me, splashing into small particles of water that danced along my body's surface. The cold becoming a blanket from everything else, dulling the entire world from my senses. For the few moments where there was rain, everything felt normal. Everything wasn't so loud.

"Hey!" It didn't last, as I'm brought out of my reverie by the voice of a girl calling out to me. I look to my side and see her, her red tights and white sweater immediately standing out. Her hood was up, but I could easily see the blonde hair spilling out from it. "You're gonna catch a cold." She strode out from under the awning of a storefront, grabbing my hand. Her soft skin held mine in a form grip, and a protest forms itself in my throat. Touching was always an unpleasant experience for me, even outside of the fact that whenever I was being touched, it was usually because I was being punched in the face. It was no different here, as despite the well-manicured and cared for hands, the feeling of different chemicals and lotions that populated its surface and the girl's pores felt like a rake against my hand.

I don't say anything to stop her though. It was a sensation that I was well used to by now.

The girl eventually brings me underneath an awning, and soon I feel the enveloping cold of the rain grasp me in a tight embrace. Despite this, I don't shiver, relishing the cold replacing the overbearing rush of stimulus from the crowded underground. She thankfully let's go of my hand, bringing hers to the rim of her hood and pulling it down. Her blonde hair billows out into two pigtails, and her face comes into full view, her white skin being complimented by a pair of soft blue eyes. It takes me a small moment to see that her jacket matches mine, meaning the girl is a fellow student of Shujin.

She turns to look at me, and gives a small smile. I feel an awkwardness rising in my stomach, not knowing what to do next. I look away from her, watching the lessening rain hit the sidewalks. A small huff comes out of her mouth at my response. I feel a pang of guilt at that, and cursed my lack of social graces. Some would think that being able to hear a multitude of conversations happening all around you would be a boon to one's skills at talking to other people. Such was not the case, as I had years of experience to testify to that cold fact.

A horn tears both of us from our unpleasant quiet. The girl jumps, but I look to see a nondescript car idle along the curb, stopping in front of us. The window pulls itself down, and I see the driver's flat face lean over the passenger seat to speak to us. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." His voice is sickeningly polite, almost sounding staged. My back tenses up at just hearing it, but it takes me looking into the man's eyes to understand why. I recognize them. They're a plain brown, nothing special about them. A color that I've seen countless times before; the kind of eyes that were made to look inviting when you stared into them.

The kind of eyes that when I saw them as a young boy, I walked to the other side of the street to avoid.

"Looks like it'll be coming down pretty hard for a while. Need a ride?" The man asks a question, but I can tell it wasn't directed towards me. I could see his pupils dilate slightly from here, and I could tell what it was they were looking at to elicit that reaction. Who they were looking at.

"Yeah, thanks." I look to the girl out of the corner of my eyes in shock. There was a slight hesitance to her voice as she answered, and it told me all I needed to know. This man was targeting her. This man already knew her. This man was comfortable enough to offer her a ride to school despite, from my point of view, being a complete stranger to her, meaning they had to be within repeated contact in order for that to be acceptable. Then it dawned on me. The only reason something like that would be acceptable to begin with.

This man was a staff member at Shujin.

"You coming?" His controlled voice brings me back from my unsettling revelation, and I look to see that the girl had already entered the passenger seat. Her downcast, uncomfortable expression was enough to inform my next decision.

"Yes." I can feel the man's knuckles tighten slightly on the steering wheel, and the forced smile he gives makes me want to take his car and crush it with him still inside, but I stifle that idea and take position in the back of the vehicle, occupying the seat behind the girl. Her posture is still rigid, but I can feel a little less tension in her body as I buckle in. Whatever apprehensions I feel towards vehicular units is dowsed and lit aflame, and I focus all of my attention on the man. We soon enter back into traffic, and he drives at a sedate pace. I idly see someone from the sidewalk run up to where the vehicle was parked, his yellow shirt contrasting against the black of the Shujin Academy blazer.

"Screw that pervy teacher!"

"Don't think I've seen you around school before." He speaks, and spies at me through the rearview mirror.

"I'm just transferring in." My voice comes in at its usual monotone, and it takes all of my willpower to keep it like that. Despite his efforts, I could easily see the frustration and thinly veiled contempt behind the man's eyes, and it made my skin crawl and tense in anticipation.

"That's right, that is happening today." He replies in what he probably thought was a cheerfully conversational tone, but I could hear the... smugness in his voice, like he knew the answer to some question that only he was aware of. "Good to see that you're already making some nice friends before even arriving at school."

My hand tightened around my knee, recognizing the tactic he was using immediately. He was marking territory, while reminding his victim of how much control he had over them in order to dissuade any rebellious thoughts, and the slight tightening of the girl's posture told me it was one he used regularly.

"What do you think Takamaki-san, he seem like a nice guy?" I glare at him, and I can feel my hand tense further in my lap. The girl, Takamaki-san, doesn't even bother to look at him as she weakly answers.

"He's fine." A safe, neutral reply. Her voice is barely audible over the sounds of the car and pattering rain outside. A small chuckle came out of the man's mouth at that, and the smile he had made my stomach lurch at how plastic it looked.

"I didn't catch your name." My statement wiped the infuriating expression off his face, and the barest hint of a glare was sent my way through the rearview mirror.

"Suguru Kamoshida. I'm the P.E. teacher at Shujin." He turned to look at me from the side of his eye, and I could easily see the sick perversion hiding behind them and his words as he continued. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just cause you're starting late." I stared back at him, meeting the challenge in his tone with my own impassive and vindictive glare. He waited for a moment, probably expecting some sort of reply.

The only one I gave him was a challenging stare, daring him to slip up in his charade.

"Hmph. Not very talkative, are you?" He turned back to the road, and past him I could see the parking lot of what I could only assume was Shujin Academy itself. "Then again, maybe that'll be a good thing." What the hell did he mean by that?

Kamoshida eventually parks in the lot, and I couldn't get out of the damn car quickly enough. I waited for a moment to see Takamaki-san exit as well, her face scrunched up in a tense expression. "Well, here we are." The disgustingly fake kindness in the gym teacher's voice made it feel like ice was being sent down my spine, and Takamaki-san noticeably deflated at hearing it. He looked to me, and the condescension in his eyes made what he said next replace that earlier ice with infernal rage. "You go on ahead, I'll take Takamaki here to class."

"No." The word was immediate, and the steel tone of my voice made the two of them twitch in shock. Before he could have a chance to reply, I continued. "You'll be busy watching the front gate for straggling students, so I'll take Takamaki-san to class." The extra emphasis I put on the honorific made Kamoshida's eyes widen a fraction, letting him know that I noticed that little mistake he made.

Not referring to someone with an honorific was only reserved for the rude or those closest to the individual being referred to. For a teacher to not use one for a student could only be seen as incredibly inappropriate. I relished the twinging of neck muscles in the man's countenance, both likely from my subtle barb and his annoyance with me interfering with what he considered his. He managed to force another fake smile on himself though, even as he closed his eyes as he replied.

"Well now, aren't you a kind one." He walked away after he spoke, not looking back until he did so again. "Hurry up to class new kid." He opened his eye again to look straight at me, and for some reason he actually sounded rather pleased with himself. "Do try and enjoy yourself this year. It can be hard for students transferring in to... adjust." He left the two of us in the parking lot, and the feeling to smash his car to insignificant little pieces of scrap looked more and more appetizing every passing second.

I turned to look at Takamaki-san, and it was obvious that she was beyond rattled to anyone who knew how to look. Despite her best attempts to hide her unease, her posture was tense, and her wide blue eyes were trembling in shock. "Let's go." I speak up, and she blinked in surprise at my bluntness. I walk towards a side door of the school, and I hear the raucous conversations of students bouncing off the hallways of the drab building. Takamaki-san stays rooted to her spot before walking to catch up to me, brushing past me as I hold open the door for her to enter. I watched her as she did so, but she herself refused to look me in the eye. I closed the door behind me, and I was once again left with a feeling of awkwardness at the silence between the two of us as we walked through the halls of Shujin, not knowing what to do in order to broach it.

"Do you even know where the classroom is?" Takamaki-san's tired voice rang out, thankfully breaking the quiet between us with the sudden question. I cast a glance down to her, but she still refused to meet my own gaze, looking forward with an empty look to her features.

"No." I answer truthfully, and she let out a scoff at my response. Honestly, with my enhanced senses I likely could find out where my homeroom was, but I was supposed to meet Kawakami in the faculty room before going to class.

"Then what are you trying to do exactly?" There was a hint of an accusation in her voice this time, and the sudden change in attitude surprised me for a moment.

'I'm Kurokuya Kouzai. I masquerade as a vigilante who, due to the type of criminal he often faces, am incredibly adept at spotting sexual predators, and as such I'm trying to keep you safe from one who has free access to you since you go to the same school for several hours in the week after just knowing you for ten minutes.' God, if only I could just say that. Would make things so much easier. "I just want to help." I offer that up as a meager response, and Takamaki-san's expression sharpens into an annoyed grimace.

"Help with what?" Again with the accusatory voice, and this time I'm truly lost on how to respond. After a moment, it seems that whatever patience she had for me was evaporated she cut in front of me. "Look, I'm not interested in whatever it is you're trying to do, so don't get your hopes up." She turned and walked away, leaving me stunned at how blunt her dismissal. I was left standing there for a few moments, the passing students in the hall brushing past me giving no attention to the scene that transpired.

With nothing else to do, I started to trudge towards the third floor, preparing myself for the rest of the school day.

"Isn't that him? What's he doing with Takamaki?" My attention is caught by a pair of girls behind me down the hall, but I continue through the school.

"Eww, does that mean they're together?"

"But wouldn't that mean she's cheating on Kamoshida?" At that sentence, my blood runs cold and I stop where I am on the stairs, accidentally causing someone to bump into me. I'm too distracted to offer an apology.

"Hah, not surprising. This is Takamaki we're talking about. Totally like her to do it with a criminal."

….

I continue to walk to my destination, and the more I do so, the more and more unease I feel in the put of my stomach.

Why did I get the feeling that something more horrible than I once assumed was going on at this school?


Author's Note:

Happy New Year everyone! Thank GOD it's finally over!

Sorry for the late upload on this chapter. My procrastination knows no bounds. If you think the couple of weeks late I am on this chapter is bad, know that I'm crossposting on Spacebattles and I haven't updated that page in a year. God help me.

The reason for this is that I've been having a lot of problems with the formulation of this fanfic, mainly cause I keep on going back and forth between whether I want to make it a Spider-Man like setting or a Batman like setting. Given how much I've typed for the Spider-Man setting I just want to continue through with it, but since I know what's about to come down the line for this story, I just get decision paralysis when I write this since the themes and characters more fit Batman. I'd like some input on your own opinions on this, but I'll keep on writing as much as I can in the meantime.

With that out of the way, we learn a bit more about our quiet and reserved protagonist's past (seems like nothing too serious happened) and his skills at social interaction! To those who think that the scene with Kamoshida might seem a bit heavy handed, Kurokuya, while not being very good at interacting with people on a personal level, is very good at seeing through the masks people put up due to his enhanced senses. Much like Daredevil, he can tell when people are lying and are uncomfortable/scared/happy etc. And, simply due to the kind of criminals he deals with and the rough circumstances he grew up in, he knows what to look for in a person to be able to tell whether or not they can be trusted or not.

With all that said, please enjoy the story and review! I'd love to hear your thoughts. Hope to see you till the end.