Diya struggled to his feet. Still hyperventilating, he lunged forward to the front of the alley. Diya watched the employee chase the mugger down the street. Damn that guy is fast. He's 20 meters ahead of the employee! Diya propped himself against the building in order to catch his breath.
"Get back here you bastard!" The employee continued to chase after the man. He's too far out of my range. I have to get closer… Shit! The mugger had picked up a stick and threw it straight for his head. Here we go!
"Watch out!" Diya yelled at the employee. Suddenly, Diya saw a blue flash emanating from the employee and heard a loud scraping noise. Diya flinched at the noise and accidentally bumped into the store manager who seemed mildly annoyed.
Once Diya had regained his composure, he looked back up and saw the stick miss the employee's head. That's impossible, it was on a direct course with his head! Diya watched the stick land on the ground ahead of them. Are my eyes playing tricks on me? The stick is shorter than it was when it was thrown.
"Did you see that?" Diya asked the manager, who was very clearly unamused.
"Did I see what? My only employee until 10 run off after a drunk? Yeah, I saw it!" The man complained.
"No there was a flash of light and then the stick missed him!" Diya reasoned, but the manager had already stormed back inside grumbling. This is terrifying. I almost got stabbed over 1000 yen. But what I just saw makes no sense. There has to be an explanation to this. Even the most bizarre occurrences have some form of explanation if you look!
The storm clouds darkened but Diya steadied his breath. This was the scariest moment of Diya's waking life, but he had to know more. Still shaking, Diya found what little resolve he had and sprinted after the employee and the man.
Damn, this guy is fast. I can't wait to catch him. The employee was excited to catch a no good bastard who mugs kids. No time to get cocky now, he's still 15 meters ahead of me. I still need to get a bit closer. He took a deep breath and rushed forward.
The cashier noticed something moving in the distance behind the mugger. He looked beyond the man and saw his ticket. He's coming up on a busy road. He can't just run across the street and there's a wall so he can't turn! I'll get him when he slows down trying to decide what to do!
The man had already begun celebrating his triumph when he saw the mugger break right.
"Shit!" The clerk was pissed. I didn't think he would run into the construction yard! He followed after the middle aged man.
The hungover man attempted to climb over a set of pipes to get away, but his foot slipped on the way up. He regained his footing and continued his climb. That was close. If I had fallen, that employee would have caught me for sure. He's still 5 meters behind me!
"You think you're safe because you continued climbing?" The clerk couldn't help but to grin. "In the time it took you to regain your hold on those pipes, I got just as close as I needed.
"You must be the drunk one now!" The hungover man laughed "I'm still so far ahead of you!"
The dark clouds finally broke out into rain as Diya reached the construction yard. He approached the entrance and saw the man on top of the pipes and the clerk standing confidently behind him.
"The Hand!"
That's when Diya saw it. Against the dark, rainy sky, a white and blue figure emerged from behind the employee. Diya stepped back, frightened by the ghostly robotic figure. The figure swiped its right hand in between the clerk and the thief, and Diya once again heard the scraping noise resound around him. He watched as what seemed like a strong wind began to blow the man's beard and clothes in the employee's direction. All of a sudden, the man was flying towards the young cashier.
THUD
The mugger landed at the clerk's feet. The cashier smirked and grabbed the man by the collar and stood him up. The man attempted to grab his knife. As soon as it was brandished, Diya saw the ghost swipe its hand, hearing the awful noise again.
"You're about to get it now guy," the mugger said as he thrust his knife forward. The cashier showed no reaction other than a smug look. "What the-" he looked down at his knife and saw the blade was totally missing. "What happened to my knife?!" The man said, cowering before the young cashier. He tossed the wallet to the ground. "Okay take it man! I don't know what your game is, just take it!"
"A big grown man afraid of a guy who barely passed high school. You're pretty pathetic without that knife, aren't you?" The clerk asked while scratching his head.
"Yes! Yes I'm pathetic! Please just leave me alone!"
"I don't think I can't just leave you alone. You tried stabbing a kid outside of my work. That would have gotten police called and I would have had to work late. You almost ruined my day and that kid's."
The man in the red apron grabbed the mugger by his collar in his left hand, and punched him clean in the face with his right. The man fell to the ground unconscious.
"That guy was so annoying." The cashier said to himself as he picked up Diya's wallet. He offered it out to Diya. "This was yours, right?"