Chapter 7: White Hood

After his school hours, Kazuki had arrived home. He left his school bag inside, but he wasn't going to stay there for long. He decided to go for a walk, and so, he changed out of his uniform and put on his favorite white hooded jacket. After carefully closing the doors, he left his house. He strolled in town, passing in front of the cafe where his friend Shun worked. The bartender took notice of him.

"Hey boy! You're that Shun guy's friend, aren't you?" he asked, cordially.

"Yes, actually I am…" he was taken aback by the man's greeting, but he answered nonetheless "I suppose you're a colleague of his..."

"Look, if you're looking for him, he got out about six hours ago..." He shook his head.

"I guessed as much..." Kazuki replied. Then, he kept on walking "Good afternoon.". The barman waved him off as well.

As he walked, the gray-haired boy rose his gaze to the heavens, in pensive mood. The sky was dyed scarlet by the gentle light of the sunset. It was an enchanting sight, one of the kind that someone like Kazuki would stare at for hours, one capable of sparking a rain of thoughts into the heads of dreamers.

Unfortunately, his trance was interrupted by the sound of a ringtone. He was getting a phone call. He picked up the phone and answered "Hello?"

"Good afternoon, Aokage-kun!" said a calm female voice from the phone. "How is today going?"

"Ah, good afternoon, Tohno-san!" he replied, quite anxiously "So far, my day went well. How is yours going?". The boy's nervous tone made the woman chuckle, then she answered:

"Same here. Do you happen to have any news about Kuro?" she asked. There was expectation behind her voice.

"Takagi-san? I'm sorry..." Kazuki answered, his tone becoming thoughtful "But I haven't seen him for a month. Must have to deal with a lot of work..."

"I see..." The woman was slightly disappointed.

"Well, the last time I had seen him, he told me that he had to work on a hard case, that apparently no one had been capable to solve..." He explained.

"Yeah, he had told me the same." she replied "But I can't help being worried about him, given the nature of his job..."

The woman stopped talking, and anxiety grew in the gray-haired boy on the phone, who couldn't help but ask "Tohno-san? Is something the matter?"

"I can sense something… It seems to be something dangerous" she answered. He could tell she was tensing up, but her voice scarcely contained any trace of fright.

"Can you tell me exactly where do you sense it?" Kazuki had a feeling about what she was talking about.

"Not far from the mansion, under the hill."

"I'll be there in no time!" the boy steadily increased the pace of his walk as he talked "Can you see if there are any people down there?"

"I don't see any." the woman replied.

"Thanks." Kazuki said, gratefully, before hanging up the phone and putting it back in his pocket. Then, he ran to the location given by the woman. Upon his arrival, he noticed creaking and faint steps from a nearby building. He put both his hands behind his back and released some small sparks of blue light from them. The sparks flew in the windows of the building as if they were fireflies, and a few seconds later a brilliant blue light shone inside it. Two people, a man and a woman appeared. Blood was leaking from their bodies, staining their clothes and dripping from their eyes and mouths. Their eyes were blank. Kazuki gasped at their sight, stepping back.

"Ru...unn..." the woman uttered weakly. Both her and the man were in pain. The gray-haired boy's expression calmed, as he was quick to grasp the situation he was in. He stood where he was, simply shaking his head in refusal. He closed his eyes, preparing himself. The two cried out in pain as they both charged towards Kazuki.

"Don't worry..."

Kazuki whispered as his eyes quickly opened, revealing light blue irises and a golden light in the center of the pupils. He hit the woman and the man with the palms of his hands, with strength and speed, as they came to him, repelling both of them.

"Soon, you'll be yourselves again..."

...

Berserker had just missed the policewoman standing before him, but this time he was sure to hit her with his sword, since she was beginning to feel the tiredness weighing on her body and on her mind. Suddenly, the warrior clad in golden armor saw an owl appearing from the wall near the two of them and lunging towards him. He avoided it and tried to slash it, but it dissolved as the edge hit it. It was then that the brute noticed something. A young man with a white hooded jacket was standing before him, the hood covering his head. A katana was hanging at his left side. His eyes had shining blue irises and a faint golden gleam could be seen in his pupils.

"A… Aokage-kun…?" the policewoman said, surprised of seeing the boy there. Berserker roared at him and charged towards him.

"No!" the policewoman yelled, fearing for the boy's life. He quickly avoided Berserker's slash and punched him in the back. He had managed to deal damage to him, as a slight groan of pain escaping from the brute proved.

"I'm sorry you had to see this, Torikawa-san..." the boy said. His words were for the policewoman behind him.

"Aokage-kun..." Her answer was thoughtful. She had just witnessed a side of him that she never knew of. It wasn't a full show of it, but he still had exposed himself.

"Don't worry, I can handle this!" he finally said, drawing his katana and preparing himself to confront the brute. With another roar, Berserker swung his sword, but his opponent was quick to repel the slash with his katana.

"Be careful!" Akane shouted to his young friend as he fought.

Kazuki skillfully parried all of Berserker's slashes and, when he was open, he hit him with a roundhouse kick. He was about to hit him with the other leg as well, however the brute managed to grab the leg and hit it with the sword's handle, in an attempt to break it. He could still use it, though. Berserker swung his sword once again, but Kazuki moved aside and punched him in the chest, pushing him back. He then hit him on the same spot with the leg that his opponent tried to break, pushing him even further. He then charged at his opponent with his katana, and so Berserker found himself on the defensive. After various blocks from his opponent, he managed to land a slash on his chest, when…

"That's enough!" an arrogant voice said as red lightning bolts thundered from behind Berserker towards Kazuki, who managed to block the attack with his katana. The brute tried to seize the moment and hit his opponent, but he jumped back just in time. However, another person was already right behind him, a young man in black jacket, wearing a cap, hitting him in the back with a flying kick. The strike pushed Kazuki towards Berserker, who punched him in the chest.

"Aokage-kun!" Akane shouted as she saw that the boy was in danger. She tried to shoot the young man with the cap with her handgun, but he parried all the shots with his hand, which was glowing of a red the other hand, he signaled to the brute behind him to step back, to which he complied with great submission. Kazuki tried to hit him with a 180 degree swing of his sword, but the young man defended himself with the same hand that protected him from the bullets.

"Sorry to cut in!" The man said, with a smirk.

The gray-haired boy tried to hit his opponent with a kick, but he jumped back, only to lunge back at him and hit him with a barrage of punches, each one getting stronger and stronger. Some of the punches managed to hit their target, others didn't, as he managed to block them. The last punch of the combo was grabbed by Kazuki as it was about to land on his chest, but it wasn't enough: a red lightning bolt sparked from the fist and struck the boy, putting him in intense pain. Also, it weakened his block, reaching his chest.

"Pretty persistent, are we?" the young man with the cap commented, amused. He hit Kazuki's forehead with a headbutt. Kazuki stepped back, and so Berserker was able to grab him and pin him onto the ground. His forehead was slammed on the floor. He could turn it, but he couldn't rise it, as the brute's hand held it still. He coughed up a gush of blood, which stained the floor, and blood was about to trickle down on his face.

"Let him go!" Akane shouted once again, and tried to shoot him once more, but he caught all the bullets and launched them back at her. She crouched in order to avoid them, but the man with the cap seized the moment to lunge at her and hit her in the stomach with a fist empowered by red lightning. The policewoman spurted blood from her mouth as well as she couldn't do anything but lay on the wall behind her.

"I need to talk a little with your friend." he said, before moving away and going back to Berserker and the boy pinned down by him. At his partner's sign, the brute stood up and he took his place, pinning Kazuki down. He made his head turn, checking his neck for something, a sign, a seal…

"What?" There wasn't a trace of the seal on his neck. He checked his left arm

"Are you kidding me?" there was nothing of the sort, not even there. He checked his right arm, but it was clean as well.

"You're a magus, but you're not a Master?" he said. His frustration was clear to be seen. He stood up and punched a wall.

"Dang it!" he shouted. He then turned his head to the woman lying on the wall. She was bleeding.

"What a bloody mess! I hate killing people for no reason!" he commented, with a bored tone.

"You son of a- ugh!" Kazuki said. He was heavily wounded from his fight. The man with the cap looked back to him. "Please, tell me that you do at least know about all of this..." His stare was cruel, yet it had something in it that slightly resembled a plea.

"That guy's name… Was Berserker, right…?" the gray-haired boy replied, with difficulty because of his wounds "You must be… His Master…!"

"Phew, good." He sighed of relief, then he moved down the sleeve of his jacket in one swift motion, revealing a strange symbol drawn on the skin of his right arm. It was divided in three pieces and was glowing of a faint red light "Correct. I could see that you were holding back, was it for that policewoman?"

"What do you… know?" Kazuki angrily uttered, glaring at him. Blood was beginning to trickle down on his face.

"Is she a friend of yours?" He almost made the boy snap with his reply. In fact, he clenched his fist and moved his arm.

"Don't you dare talk about- ugh!" the pain from his wounds prevented him from moving any further. The man came closer as he took off his cap, revealing his black hair. He crouched down to him and grabbed the hood of the white jacket, so that his brown-red eyes could stare right into the gray orbs of the boy on the floor.

"I could say the same. There's a reason for this. It's nothing personal, but I have to do this, you don't know anything about it." His expression was serious as he talked.

"Then… Why…?" Kazuki asked, still glaring at him. At that question, a smirk rose on the young man's face

"Why don't you find that out for yourself?" he replied. He then let go of the hood of the white jacket and walked away. The boy tried to crawl towards Akane, but the drops of blood were falling on his eyes, clouding his vision.

"I could sense what you can really do, boy." the man with the cap said as he left the alley with his Servant. "You know what? I like you."

...

These memories flashed in the boy's mind as he pushed back the two.