Part Two - 03 | In Every Corner

A cold sensation tickles your lips. Your consciousness, which once had slipped from your fingertips, returns all at once to open your eyes. Your senses come somewhat intact again, your fingers instinctively reaching for something, anything close to you.

All you feel is the ground. Cold chiseled brick and crumbs of dirt. You're lying face-down, your mouth kissing the floor. Slowly you pull yourself up, look around to try and find Linia, but within your blinking vision, your assailants are nowhere to be found.

Or so you thought. Just as you decide all is lost, the blonde boy flickers into sight before you. You look up and find him crouched in front of you, the grin on his face as mocking and resilient as before.

"Wakey-wakey," he chuckles. "Wouldn't want to miss the show, now would you?"

Weakened still by your former loss of consciousness, you fail to form complete sentences, but you still attempt this herculean task because you know Linia is in danger.

"Linia," you croak. "Linia. Where is..."

The boy sets his hand on top of your head, grabbing you to turn your neck. The moment he does so and lets out a small chuckle afterward, your half-lidded eyes land on a band of shadowy silhouettes standing within a dark, discreet alleyway tucked sneakily into this desolate part of Ranoa streets. You keep having to blink your eyes to reignite your senses furthermore, every little movement too much for your dwindling energy to handle.

When you finally have enough sense to see thoroughly, you see Linia among the silhouettes — which aren't really silhouettes at all. One female academy student holds Linia in a grip you'd only find professional fighters using, while three other students stand back and take shots at Linia's face.

Again and again they slam heavy fists into her jaw. One of them eventually pauses the act of torture and gets close to the beast-girl's weary face.

"I could do this all damn day," he says, cackling like a hyena. "Hehe. You had this coming. Meow for me."

In response, Linia barely wiggles, silent. Her body is far too limp. Even still she has enough guts to deny them their heinous demands.

"I said, meow for me!" The student raises a fist to her jaw, threatening to strike it again. That's when Linia whimpers and stops wiggling, as it is now useless in her position.

"M-meow..."

"Hehe, what a bitch!"

Yet another thump can be heard as Linia's face is struck.

You try to stand but the blonde boy crouching before you holds you down. You meet his eyes, heat flashing through yours.

"Now, now," he says. "Do you really want to protect her, of all people? Think about it. Linia and her sister have done nothing but terrorize lower classmen for years. Don't you think they're even a little deserving of punishment?"

"Not like this," you say though you struggle to speak clearly. "This is wrong."

"And they aren't? Is that what you're saying? The things they do to innocent people... is it not enough to garner payback?" The look in the boy's eyes is absolute. He goes from grinning to displaying a completely deadpan face as he turns to stare at the poor, helpless Linia being beaten and humiliated in the alleyway.

"You're a victim too," he whispers. "Everyone who steps foot into this academy ends up being targeted in some way by those sisters. So why are you protecting them?"

You pause to consider his words. It's hard to say, but you think you're protecting them because you've already put them through enough on your own. Surely that was enough payback.

The boy faces you again, his hand still gripping your head. "Do you feel something for them? Is that it? Are you such a helpless masochist that you've fallen for a pair of good-for-nothing delinquents who torture and ruthlessly assault those ranked below them?"

"No," you say. "No..."

No? No...? That's not it, right? No...

"Then what is it?" His hand grips you tighter, sending a tinge of sharp pain through your head. "You know well, just as we do, that the sisters deserve punishment more than anyone else. For everything they've done, every single student they've hurt. Including you."

Why do his words resonate with you? Somehow, his persuasion touches the old you. The you that had been worked into a depressed state because of the Doldia sisters. The boy's words cut deep, leaving no room for questions. It is as if his eyes are reaching into your very soul, pulling out every answer before the question can even be spoken.

"Boss..."

You almost feel yourself gasp at the sound of Linia's trembling voice. You look over and find Linia's eyes searching for yours. Pain fills her face. She opens her mouth briefly to speak again, but she is silenced when one of the students again launch a right-hook into her face, laughing all the while.

It is a collective, cacophonous sound of joyful torture.

The blonde does not let go of you. "Don't get any ideas. Try to move and I'll impale you with ice."

Hearing this, you only assume he's not a silent spell caster. So with your senses now fully intact, you break out of the boy's grip and stand up tall, watching him back away.

He holds out his arm, quickly going through an incantation. A band of icicles begin to form in midair around him but he is not fast enough for you.

All you needed was some time to rejuvenate. Now, you're going to make sworn enemies out of these rebels.

You send forth a blast of hot air, not only instantly melting the boy's ice, but also sending him stumbling back onto the ground. He hits the floor hard with a groan and a thud. You watch him a second longer to ensure he's down, then you turn toward the alley.

As soon as you spin around, the muscular student that had caused you to lose consciousness once before is already running at you again. You're left with a minuscule time window to react but you make the most of it, weaving quickly out of arm's reach and sending pulses of wind energy to your palm. You stamp your hand on the underside of the student's torso when they fail to grab you, release your energy, and watch as they're lifted up into the air.

"W-woooahh!!!"

Thunk!

They land and smack the ground, out for the count just like that. You're already on your way down the alley, your eyes darting between the last three students who fearfully back down further into the dark. The girl holding Linia's arms glances quickly to her friends.

"Do something!" she cries but even her friends are trembling. They know it'll take them a minute to cast any spells, so magic is off the table. With this knowledge, the student with the broken glass bottle lunges forward, letting out what could be called a cowardly battle cry.

Effortless, you move out of the way, the glass just barely missing your face. Before the student can react and strike again, another blast of energy trickles from your fingers, knocking the weapon from their hand.

Being disarming seems to stun the poor student and you immediately follow it up with a solid punch to their jaw, your fist infused with wind energy to further increase the force of impact.

Particles of magic splash off their skin as you strike like a tiny green firework.

They're knocked out. The final two students cowardly scurry away. The girl who held Linia dropped the beast-girl, leaving her limp on her knees, blood dripping from her mouth.

"Fuck this! I'm out!" cries the girl who leaves her friends behind.

You watch the group disperse, focused now on a trembling Linia rather than those who have been bloodying her face.

"Linia," you say, getting down to her level.

She hangs her head, letting the blood roam free from her mouth and spill to the ground in a scarlet puddle. "Don't look at me," she whispers, her voice broken with pitiful defeat. "Stop it — stop staring at me, Boss..."

You silently heal her bloody wounds. This time she doesn't react very much, still on her knees with her head down. No more words come to her. She must feel ashamed to have been beaten so easily. In front of you, no less.

"Get up," you tell her.

"But I'm—"

"Quiet. I said, get up. Pursena's in trouble too, remember?"

Linia's ears twitch at the sound of her sister's name. "I can't... I can't fight right now."

"I'll handle that part. Just get up, I'm not leaving you here."

"Look at you!" cries an arrogant voice from behind you. You know it to be the voice of the blonde boy whose name you still don't know. "Look at you! I can't believe you're actually helping her! What kind of idiot would fall for those scumbags?!"

You look over your shoulder at the boy to find him holding his bruised leg.

"You're a fool! A fool, I tell you!" he shouts. "But you can't always be a hero, you dirty masochist." He chuckles, his lips curling into a nasty half-scowl, half-smile. "By now, that ugly mutt is in total agony. And you've got quite the walk to get back to campus, hehe."

The more you stare at him, you get the feeling his blue eyes are going dimmer. He tilts his head, a maniacal smile plastered on his face. "Pursena sure does love to stuff her face with food, doesn't she? Just like the dog she is. Hehehe."

He laughs, a crazy, guttural burst of lunacy.

"It would be quite a shame if someone fed that dog some onions, wouldn't it?"