Hello everyone! Sorry for the long hiatus as I have been very busy with school projects. I hope that you will forgive me as I will be uploading Chapter 2 and 3 within two days of each other to make up for the lost time. And to all those who reviewed and read my story, I would really like to thank you guys again, especially to Frayner who has unwavering faith in me. Please do R & R yea? Thank you!
Chapter 2: Where is Hilda?
"Tatsumi! Go and get us some groceries for dinner later. Here is the list!" Oga was ordered while he reclined on the sofa watching a rerun of his current favourite anime "Claymore".
It was Sunday. It was the right of any student to get some rest and relax. This is especially so for students of Ishiyama High who spend half of every single day getting into fights even over the slightest of disagreements. This must be one of the main reasons why the school does not include physical education in their curriculum. Oga's body was slightly sore from all that bone crunching.
"Tsk! Can't you see that I'm watching tv?"
"Are you sure that you want to play that game Tatsumi?" threatened Oga's grim reaper who had swiftly grappled him and locked him in position.
"O..Ok! I give up! Where's the money?" grimaced the powerless ogre against his sister.
With the sweetest smile that she could put on, Misaki gave him the cash and Oga took it sombrely.
"That's my lovely brother. Now get lost and don't come back before you get everything!" Misaki threatened as she kicked his butt towards the door.
Staggering across the living room and putting on his slippers, Oga muttered something about his cursed life involving women and stepped out of the house.
His sister's ungentle ways reminded him of a girl of whom he frequently spends time with. Oga, like everyone else in the neighbourhood, knows almost zilch about her background except that she is from a wealthy family and is well-trained in martial arts. Come to think of it, he officially met her on the day of her parent's wake.
Sitting up straight and portraying a detached countenance, Hilda was a good example of a well behaved child to strangers. Poised as she was, she remained composed even though there were nosy parkers whispering loudly to each other and accusing her of being a 'jinx' and an 'evil child' right behind her. However, our 'good Samaritan', namely Oga Tatsumi, was not taking the insults that were directed towards Hildegarde well.
"Oi! You two!" as he pointed to his future victims of mishap, "Follow me."
With an aura of the devil in the holy church, Oga led the two unfortunate characters out of the gothic building and to its backyard. Upon reaching a distance far enough from the crowd to avoid any commotion, Oga halted with his back still facing the two young men.
The more terrified of the pair spoke up, "Y..Ye…Yes… Oga?"
"Stop talking bad about Hilda! She has not done anything to you so leave her!" replied Oga with his well-defined; medium framed back still facing them.
"We are not the only ones saying those things about her," said the bravest of the pair taking a step forward "What can we do when she's a jinx? What if she —"
"SHUT UP!" bellowed Oga as he pummeled the two unsuspecting characters to the ground, leaving their legs flailing about in the air.
Oga closed his eyes and massaged his throbbing temples, irritated by the two idiots who came to the wake to torment the weak. Or so he thought.
"What do you think you're doing numbskull?" asked Hilda rhetorically as she pointed the end of her black umbrella against Oga's throat.
Shocked by her sudden appearance, Oga stared at her blankly.
"Did I ask for your help, worm? I can protect myself without you or anyone else around here!" an agitated Hilda hissed while digging her umbrella deeper on the spot on Oga's throat which was reddening due to the depression.
With one swift move, Oga gained possession of Hilda's umbrella; surprising her greatly.
"Oi. That hurts my throat," replied Oga, simply ignoring the sudden flare-up by Hilda while rubbing his throat.
"Fool! Stop meddling into things that don't concern you," Hilda countered regaining her stand and snatching her possession back from Oga's strong arms before turning away towards the interior of the church.
"Oi! Y..You don't have to be alone! If anyone pisses you off, just tell me. I'll finish them off for you!" Oga called out, surprised at his own outburst.
Oga was known as the Raging Ogre since middle school simply for his strength and viciousness, beating anyone who dared to oppose him to a pulp. Brawling with his challengers at any time of the day, he simply enjoyed showing off his extra-terrestrial physical strength in that deceiving medium built body of his. He was many things but caring to the public.
Noting that Hilda had stopped in her tracks momentarily before walking off, Oga smirked.
Oga started reflecting on his past actions. Could it be that she is a foreigner? No. Could it be that she is a girl? Hell no. It was because she was alone like him before he met Bakachi, his lifelong and only friend. Looking back, no matter how many times he had planted that idiot to the ground, Leechihi would return claiming that Oga needed someone like him who was not violent and not afraid of Oga's vehemence. It could have just been an excuse for that silver-haired creep to gain a strong, handsome and kind friend like himself when Furuichi did not have any to start with but right now Oga did not mind Furuichi hanging around him at all.
At times Oga beats Furuichi up to show his gratitude to Bakachi for staying with him. Furthermore, Furuichi comes in handy whenever he ran out of victims to test out his gaining strength. Between the ground, wall and the skies, Oga preferred sending his repressive friend to the last option with a simple self-named kick.
Chuckling to himself as he reminisced the times with Furuichi, Oga entered the supermarket which was a 20-min walk away from home. Having been generous to accept Furuichi as a friend, he had done the same to the mysterious Hilda who was now a source of frustration and kept calling him degrading names which he is forced to ignore since he does not lay his powerful hands on girls. How had he degenerated to this when he was "Oga the Ogre"? Making a mental note to give her a piece of his mind when school resumes tomorrow, he proceeded with the task given by a demanding Nee-san who has an invisible leash on him.
After spending an hour in the supermarket locating the items on the list and deciphering his sister's illegible scribbles, Oga headed towards the cashier.
"Eh? It's Furuichi in front of the line!" thought Oga before calling out to his friend.
Furuichi paid for his purchases muttering something to the cashier. Next thing he knew, his head was on the counter. When he looked up, the cashier was holding on to the serial code scanner and was ready to strike again if he pursued his perverted ways. He stood up and bowed his head to apologise before running out of the supermarket for his life.
Man. Women these days are violent! But wait, if they are violent in public, how bout behind closed doors! Lecherichi resumed a flurry of perverted thoughts of the cashier.
Oga could not locate his perverted friend after getting the groceries, thus decided to go home and resume watching "Claymore" which he had recorded using a recording program installed in the television at home.
Whoosh. Oga evaded a stone which was directed at his head. He looked around for the culprit and saw a glimpse of a figure running away into one of the alleys in between the shops that he was passing. That person was going to pay for attempting to assault him. With his quick feet, Oga had sprinted after the culprit only to find that it was a child no taller than his hips.
Holding the protesting child by the collar, Oga interrogated the puny being, "Oi, kid. Why did you throw a stone at me?"
"Let me go! Let me go! I'll bite you!" threatened the child while vainly attempting to do so.
"You better answer me or I will feed you to the crazy dogs at my school."
"Huh? Okay, okay! I'm supposed to bring you here to tell you something. Hilda is captured by some bad guys!"
"What? Where? Wait, you have to be kidding me. That woman could bring down guys with her umbrella. There is no way she would get kidnapped. Hahahah! " said Oga thinking himself smart for a moment though on an average basis thinking was not his forte or way of life.
"She is! I thought so you would not believe me! Here! Look! Her umbrella is broken!"
"Where is she now then? Hurry up and tell me!" replied Oga, urgently shaking the frail-looking youngster.
The child handed him a piece of paper with a message presumably from the people who had Hilda in their custody. He read the paper. There were instructions on how to get to the location where Hilda was kept. He ran towards his house to drop off the groceries. Misaki would have killed him if he had lost them along the way.
"I'm going out for a while. Have dinner without me!" said Oga as he slid the bags of groceries skillfully towards the kitchen and slammed the living room door shut.
Running off again, a couple of thoughts ran through his mind. Did they harm her because she was friends with him? Cowards! He turned a corner to an abandoned building on the outskirts of town, as was described by the letter. Oga tripped over a small pebble, cursed inwardly and resumed running. A normal person would have panted profusely or faint at the pace that he was going. Conversely, Oga 'exercises' on a daily basis with his schoolmates and running that few kilometers was nothing for him.
Upon reaching the entrance of a derelict building, Oga called out, "Hilda! Hilda!"
Silence.
Oga shuffled back and forth to search every room thoroughly to find the place where Hilda was detained. Slightly disheartened at the sight of empty rooms, Oga saw a stairway leading to the upper floors. He sprinted towards the stairs and skipped steps in order to reach the upper floor faster. Every step he took echoed throughout the vast, empty building. He was also ignoring the slight fatigue that he is starting to feel as lactic acid took over his body.
Clonk!
A continuous ringing was heard in Oga's head and his world was enveloped in darkness.
Opening his eyes slowly, Oga adjusted his eyes to the dim lighting of the area that he was in.
"Ughh.." his head was throbbing from the earlier attack.
"So you're awake? Hahaha. Welcome to your nightmare, Oga Tatsumi. Just kidding! Hahahaha. But seriously, if you make me unhappy you could really have a nightmare…" said the mysterious person who had used a voice box to make his or her voice sound robotic and unrecognizable.
"Where's Hilda? Where did you hide her? I'm what you want, so let her go!"
"Impatient, aren't we? Mr Oga, I have a preposition for you. But first, let's get to know each other better, shall we?" replied the mysterious person who was talking at such a slow pace that if Oga was not tied up tightly, he would have knocked him or her out.
"What do you want? I don't have time for games!" Oga said, baring his teeth.
"I want you to help me with something. It is something simple, really. I want you to make Hildegarde suffer. So that she can never see light at the end of the tunnel at all, as the expression goes. Do you understand what I am saying, Mr Oga?"
"Huh? Why me? Ahhh! Just untie me, idiot!" Oga replied.
"You don't need to know anything further than that. As to why I have chosen you, well, you are the strongest person around, aren't you? If you finish the job, you will be rewarded handsomely. Typically all the money you could ever want. Looking at your financial status, I'm sure that the offer is irresistible. Besides, what fun is it to go against someone yourself?"
Oga's face reddened with anger. He could not believe the words that are coming out from that bastard.
"RAAWR!" Oga bellowed while accumulating all his strength to break out from the bind.
His sudden outrage did not shock his perpetrator at all who stood his ground. Oga pounced on the annoying piece of crap but the enigmatic character was quick with his reflexes and evaded the attack. Oga searched for the bastard who talked too much with his angry eyes. However there was no movement that could be seen in the shadows.
"I take it that you are rejecting my offer." the voice echoed throughout the building, "However, I will visit you again to see if you have changed your mind. Goodbye for now, Mr. Oga."
"Oi! Where is Hilda?" Oga shouted to the darkness.
Silence.
Letting out a frustrated cry, Oga resumed his search for Hilda whose life could be even more endangered with his decision. Not long after, he found a doll that looked exactly like Hilda on a chair in the middle of a room. The fluorescent spotlight was shining very brightly on Hilda Doll. Oga sprinted towards the item and checked the doll for any clues. If he cannot figure them out now, he could ask Furuichi at the latter's house later. Furuichi lived a few buildings away from Oga which is very convenient at times like this.
"Cack cack cack… Muahahahahaha," cried the evil doll.
I'd take Hilda any day than this stupid doll! Oga thought and threw the doll to the ground.
There were some crackling noise before the doll spoke again, "The darkness is light, the light is darkness. Seek and you'll find the friendly shadows amongst all the brightness."
"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN DAMMIT?"