Senritsu
The hot cocoa in my hands warmed my numb fingers. I breathed in its scent as I brought it close to my face.
"You still have a long way to go" the boy across from me said.
I gave him a dissatisfied look for interrupting my hot cocoa session.
"I know" I said simply.
Silence went on between us, finally I said something.
"So tell me, Takashi, what road do you ride?" I asked.
"That's a pretty personal question" he commented.
I rolled her eyes.
"I hear your getting pretty popular in the A.T. world" he commented.
"Oh you mean that vacant position everyone's talking about?" I said offhandedly.
"Its true you know, the position. It was almost forgotten. After all, most of the regalias but eight disappeared. Luckily, the positions weren't forgotten. Seems like the Sonia Road isn't the only one to have a queen" Takashi smirked.
I stared down at the warm brown liquid in between my hands.
"Yeah, but I'm just F-class. How can they possibly expect me to be, to be..."
I couldn't say that word. I couldn't. What was some F-class newbie doing at the king level of A-class. Ridiculous.
"Yeah well its not every day a girl faces down a team with five people by herself and wins the Parts War. Not to mention, has the most ridiculous strength. Rumour has it that you outran the Fang King" Takashi said.
I froze. If I outrode the Fang King then...That presence was...No way.
"That was Agito" I whispered.
"Hm? Yeah Agito Wanijima. He's the current Fang King" Takashi said, not noticing my shock.
That meant Agito knew. He had too. There was no way he had chased me that one time I had seen him and he didn't know it was me. My hair was a dead giveaway. How come this had just occured to me? Stupid, stupid me.
Then why hadn't he turned me in? Not out of sympathy that was for sure. Maybe he wasn't entirely sure it was me, or he just couldn't find me. Yet that day when Kaito came to the house he told me to stay upstairs.
"So I'd watch out though, he might come after you" Takashi warned.
I let out a short laugh. That was an undertsatement. Agito had to be toying with me. There was something wrong with this equation. Although it did kind of piss me off.
"Hey you okay?" Takashi waved a hand in my face.
"Huh? Yeah. Thanks for the challenge earlier" I said fake smiling.
We said our goodbyes and left. Agito was still on my mind, but it didn't take long before the thrill of AT riding and the wind to push all my worries away. I felt myself melt into the normal tricks I pulled mid-air and fast speed.
I was glad Takashi had a mock F-class dash with me, it helped out majorly. Even though it wasn't serious, it was nice to have a friendly match with someone. I jumped onto the building and stopped. For a second, I just sat there, letting the air blow, putting ripples in puddles on top of the building. I felt a song come to me. Without even thinking about it, I began to sing.
Mou anata kara aisareru koto mo
Hitsuyou to sareru koto mo nai
Soshite watashi wa koushite hitoriboche de
Ano toki anata wa nante itta no?
Todokanai kotobawa chuu o mau
Wakatteru no ni kyou mo shite shimau
Kanawanu negaigoto o
Hanasanaide
Gyutto te o nigitte ita
Anata to futari tsuzuku to itte
Tsunaida sono te wa atatakakute
Yasashikatta
I ended the song only after the first refrain.
"How long have you known?" I asked without turning around.
"Well aren't you quite the trickster", the way he said it made me mad.
"Don't call me names. I can't believe it took you this long" I replied shortly.
"Who said I didn't know already?"
I whirled around.
"Then why!? Why didn't you do anything!? Why didn't you say anything!?" I yelled.
He regarded me levelly.
"Don't just stand there! Say something!" I snapped.
He was leaning on the water tower's support legs in shadow. He tipped his head back slightly, making me lose sight of the rest of his face.
"Guess you get to take a trip downtown then huh?" was all he said.
My first thought was, I can't go there. If I go there and they call my dad, he will be devastated I got in trouble with the police.
"Not if I beat you" I said the words almost immediately.
He picked his head off the beam and laughed.
"You think you can beat me? I'm the Fang King. All you are is some shitty F-class rider" he smirked.
It happened to me in gym all of the time. I would be running and one of my ankles would pop. It would hurt so bad I almost fell over. I soon learned that a similar thing happened to the riders of the Sonia Road. Nitrogen bubbles got in your joints, expanding them and stretching them, creating the ability for more flexibility and speed.
I heard the constant tick in Agito's AT's shift just the slightest bit. I immediately went to the side, narrowly avoiding him. He turned faster than I thought he would, and right before he grabbed me, I dropped off the ledge of the building. It would tear up my AT's but I slid down the side of the building using the side of my wheels. I jumped off near the bottom.
My speed had improved, but unfortunately Agito did have potential for the Flame Road. He was ultimately faster than me. Possibly. With my road combining the Sonia and Sky Road, I had a slight possibility of outrunning him. But I didn't want to outrun him, I wanted to fight him.
I flipped over a fence. I felt my spine twist and pop. The pain that arched up my body almost made me land wrong. I had a bit of the edge here, but not alot. I could hear Agito's shadow behind me, creeping up and giving me chills. I turned fast and went down an alleyway. I jumped over boxes and trash cans making sure to knock some of them down.
I felt the wave of energy surging behind me and at last second jumped onto a fire escape. A Leviathon fang went through right were I was. I wasted no time jumping up and down other various fire escapes. I crossed across the two buildings.
I smacked my AT's together so the wheels stopped. Keeping my legs together and bunched up, I ran my hands under my wheels, causing them to spin. I flipped in mid-air, sending back to Agito a Cursory Blade. It was a thorn I threw back in a cirular motion. I wasted no time in checking behind me as I emerged from the alleyway.
I looked down to see my AT's were still in the process of changing. If one thing sucked about this, it was that they took forever to charge up. The dark, violet slashes on my AT's were curling and turning into vines that wrapped around the base of the black AT itself. I could feel myself getting lighter, little by little. The bottoms of my AT's were activating the vents inside it. I could feel the thorns start to uncurl inside of my AT's to wrap up my legs.
I was panting slightly. I stopped on top of another building. I looked behind me to see nothing. Frowning, I took one step forward...and was blown off the building by an explosion behind me. It took me a second to come to my senses, and when I did, I twisted in the air.
The thorns emerging from my AT's and wrapping around my legs reached out and swung back up the building using a fire escape. It shot me above the building. Holding one leg above the other, I pressed the button on the tip of the bottom of my AT.
The wheels collapsed on the AT and the vents appeared. The thorns uncurled from the inside, and wrapping around my legs, crackling with electricity. I couldn't use a heat mirage to trick Agito so I settled for another type of illusion.
It was still something I had just recently installed in my AT's, but I was still going to try. As gravity grabbed onto me to pull me back, I charged up the electricity around me. I sent it off as a shockwave, creating an illusion of another me.
I landed and went behind Agito as he wasted no time attacking the mirage. The mirage almost immediately disappeared as he engaged in a fight with it. He spun around to attack me when he realized that he was tricked. Too late, I had swung my leg up and got him across the face. I thought he was going to fall, but he stayed standing.
I saw him push down on his AT's and heard the ticking inside them shift a little faster. He was immediately in front of me, giving me no time to attack. The kick to the stomach hurt, but I was forced to push on. He twisted throwing the hooks attatched to him at my face. I flipped backwards, but they skimmed the back of my thigh. I felt my skin break and a little trickle of blood run down the back of my leg.
I was only wearing shorts unfortunately. My shirt started with a mesh one underneath, a cut off tank top, and then a shirt that was shorter than the tank top. Not my most prefferable choice for a battle, but I had not choice.
"Looks like I got first blood" Agito rasped.
He seemed so changed. Normally he was mellow or really pissed off. Here, right now, he seemed rogue and wild, untamed and bloodthirsty. It was almost a shock.
You've always known he was an animal first, human second.
Yes, that was right. Akito had told me how Agito rode for him. He rode the Fang Road for him. He was the king of the road and honestly that was also nicknamed King of the Beasts. To be an animal first and human second was only reasonable. It explained why he was enjoying himself so much at this moment.
"I believe that a little blood won't stop me. Sorry Agito, you have to do better than a scratch" I said sweetly.
He came forward quickly. I blocked his side kick with my forearm. It hurt so much more than I thought it would. The pain that resounded in my arm brought tears to my eyes. He came back at me. I wouldn't have enough time to flip and send any thorns at him. Nor was I able to conjure up any electricity at this moment. Well shit. I did what first came to mind. I dropped down and dodged his move. My AT's pushed me to the side but one of the hooks cut off a little bit of my hair. I stood frozen for a second as I watched the hairs drift down.
I stood, rage boiling in my stomach. I may hate my mother, but my hair was all I had left of her. Everything else was gone. How dare he ruin what precious thing I had left of her. I felt the gears in my AT stop running the electricity through them briefly. As soon as it started up again, I threw a fang at him. It wasn't a fang exactly though. As much as I tried, I couldn't duplicate the ability to throw a fang and have it synchronize with the thorns in the AT. Probably because they were total opposites, but I was still irritated.
It was a thorn I was able to bend and stretch thrown like a fang. It was called Bloody Thorn. It held all of the backlash of a thorn and had the force of a wind attack. I couldn't muster enough energy to add electricity to the attack though. The sudden stop and release of the electricity charged up in my AT was something I could only do rarely.
Not only did throwing a Bloody Thorn tear up my hips and knees, the stop and overcharge burned out pieces of my AT's. I had only three back up pieces of a certain type of rock I required to keep the energy from exploding my AT's. The rock though immediately crumbled to black dust after one Bloody Thorn though.
The Bloody Thorn had thrown Agito backwards and I knew he wasn't expecting that. Unfortunately, because my hair was covering my eyes at the time, I had been off my mark and it had cut Agito from the left side of his hip to the middle of his chest. I put my hair in a ponytail with an elastic band I had on my wrist.
"Looks like I've drawn the most blood Agi-kun. And trust me, I won't miss my mark next time" I said sweetly.
He growled at me.
"Bitch, you tore my shirt".
"You cut my hair!"
"Its just hair" he snorted.
"And that's just a shirt" I sent back.
I could hear the sound of my own AT's following with a slight crunching noise. It was from the crumbling rock inside. It would clog up the vents I had that kept me just the slightest bit off the ground. The vents made my steps lighter and quicker.
We went back at each other again. A hook came slicing towards my face and as I flipped back to avoid it, I tried hooking my foot under his chin. He dodged it and came at me. If I blocked his attack with my arms his AT's would shred them to pieces, if it hit me, I was done for, and I had no time to dodge either.
I was forced to flip back again. The burst from the vents on the bottom of my feet flipped me back, and I crossed my ankles. Before I landed, I sent a Crossed Spike at him. He responded by throwing a Leviathon Fang at it. The attacks clashed together with a huge snap of light.
I could hear my AT's gears shift inside. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold up much longer and my AT's weren't meant to be put in battle just yet. I hadn't finished modifications to them yet. I could see my thorns bending back by the slightest. I cursed under my breath. It must've not been strong enough by a hair.
The strength needed to send that thorn attack came from my ankles. They were sore and ached from the pain of them popping. I couldn't move from here and I knew the strength of that fang would knock me off the building. So when it came back and I flew off the building once again, I wasn't surprised.
At first I didn't want to move. I let myself fall. If I hit the water running in the river by this building at this speed, it would knock me out. The wind whooshing around me was so cool and comforting. Why am I fighting him? I'm going to lose. This fight it is pointless. But. But. I couldn't lose. I had to prove I could do this. I had to do this for me.
I opened my eyes. I turned and faced the water. Right before I hit the water I activated the full mode of my vents. Like I said, they took a while to activate fully. The vents blew extremely hot air out merging with the hot water on the top. It blew me up. I raced down the river, using the warm air to keep me afloat.
I spun around the other way and headed back towards the building. I let the vents spew one more blast of hot air. I shot into the air and once again, I snapped my AT's together. The wheels stopped spinning. I spun the wheels with my hands and flipped backwards.
The Cursory Blade spun his way like a circling scythe. He was once again forced to throw a fang at it. It wasn't a Leviathon though. I was a bit impressed he could see the fangs considering the were only visible through slight distortions in the air.
I landed on the building panting. I could see the black haze cloud around my vision. My legs were slightly shaking. My hips ached and ankles throbbed. My knees were keeping up the steady weak feeling like I might drop at any second. Pain arched up my body, an aftereffect from the fangs I'd taken.
This time the two attacks stood there, neither of them bending. A high pitched whine started up and grew louder. Right before I covered my ears, they exploded in all directions.
I blinked the white light out of my eyes. I sat up. I felt something wet on my face. My nose was bleeding. I had a split lip. I tried to get up and realized I couldn't. I saw Agito across from me, getting up too.
I could hear his AT's going tock, tock, tick, tink, tink, tick, tock, tink. That certain pattern I could tell meant that if his AT's took another wave like my Bloody Thorn, they would be out. The problem was standing up.
I rolled onto my one knee. Slowly I stood up. I prepared myself. What I wasn't expecting was Agito to launch another fang at me. In desperation, I threw the Bloody Thorn. They clashed together, the white light blinding me again. I couldn't believe Agito could keep up so many Leviathon Fangs. I could barely hear Agito's AT's now. It just went, clink...clink...clock. Not good.
I felt myself collapse to the ground. My legs felt poisoned the way they had given out so fast. Pain sat on them like a fast activating high pitched whine started up again. As it got louder, I stood up. The blast came as a shockwave again, but I stood my ground. When it was over I felt myself sway back and forth. Agito was panting, but was still standing.
"I guess you won huh?" I joked.
He looked over at me. I felt the world suddenly start moving around so fast, that when I landed in someone's arms I realized I had fallen forward. The person swung me up bridal style.
"Jesus Agito, did you have to tear her up?" a familiar voice said.
"What the fuck? She was the one who cut my shirt!"
"He cut my hair" I mumbled.
The voice laughed. I opened my eyes a crack. The person carrying me was Akira. Why was Akira here? This guy... Akira was like my right hand man. Always helping me out.
"Still I can feel her thighs already swelling up. Just what on earth were you guys doing? Everyone was talking about bright lights and some AT battle. They said they thought you were battling, but didn't know who the other one was. Claimed it was some new king" Akira said.
"King? Like hell. She fell off the building twice."
"Who is this anyway you were fighting?"
"Are you stupid? Its our maid genuis."
"What!? How long has she been riding AT's?"
"I had a suspicion and turns out I was right. She got into it with me though."
"Are you sure she's okay?!"
"Of course she is! She cut my shirt didn't she!?"
"Is she the rumoured one of the Whisper Queen?"
"Yeah but I don't know what they saw in her."
"Stop pouting. I saw that last attack before I got here. That Bloody Thorn actually matched your Leviathon's Fang. That's a feat only a King could pull off".
"Whatever. So what do you plan on doing with her?"
"I'm taking her home. Do you know where she lives?"
"Why the hell would I know where she lives!?"
"I do. I'll take her home" a new voice said.
"Who the fuck are you?" Agito snapped.
"I'm Takashi, her friend."
"Its fine" I muttered.
"If you say so.." Akira said.
They passed me off and I felt Takashi jump off the building. I wasn't sure if I fell asleep, but the next thing I knew, I was in my room being laid down.
"Thanks Takashi."
"Yeah.."
I turned to look at him.
"What's wrong?"
"Why did you fight him? Agito Wanijima I mean."
"Because he threatened me and I had to prove a point".
"You could've been killed!"
"Thanks for the support".
"Whatever".
"Wait". I said, but he was gone.