Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Fight

In the midst of the chaos in the warehouse, Hiro broke through the window and landed on top of Bandito’s unaware boss. He kicked the pierce rocket out of his hands.

The boss swung his metal arm at him, who leaped backward to dodge. “Who the hell are— No way. You? You of all people?”

Hiro pointed his pistol at him, his hands trembling. “D-Don’t move!”

The boss stood up, casually brushing away the dust from his shirt. “Don’t tell me you actually staged this whole attack? Where’s the thanks I get for letting you bury your old man? Hell, for saving your life?”

“I-I said don’t move!”

“I even offered you a job. Why in the world would you waste such a golden opportunity?”

Hiro shook his head. “I… I can’t work for you. Not for scumbags like you.”

The boss whistled. “Ohoho! Sharp words. You here to get revenge for your daddy, then?”

“Tch. Shut it.”

“You even brought these girls with you—if you can even call them that. What are they, monsters?”

“Shut up! Or I’ll shoot!”

A muzzle protruded out from his metal wrist; he aimed it at Hiro. “Please. You look like you’ve never held a gun in your life. Do yourself a favor and just surrender. You’re not fit for this kind of life.”

Hiro only responded with a cold glare. Each second felt longer than the last as his breathing grew more and more unsteady.

“Heh. What’s wrong? Scared? You should be. I’d shoot you right here and now, but you actually did me a great favor by bringing those girls in. If you can convince them to stop their attack, I’ll consider sparing you a second time.”

Hiro took a step back and aimed at the boss’s legs.

“Oh? Gonna shoot? You don’t have the balls.” The boss shot at the ceiling, causing Hiro to flinch backward. “Three seconds. Drop that gun and raise your hands. Three…”

Hiro couldn’t see straight. It felt as though the very air was choking him.

“Two…”

His trembling finger hovered over the trigger.

“One…”

Unable to find the strength to shoot, he decided to give up and jump behind a nearby crate.

The boss guffawed. “I don’t even have to shoot! You’re practically pissing yourself!”

“Damn it! It’s just one shot. Why can’t I do it?” Hiro tucked the gun inside his pocket. “Screw it! I don’t ne—”

BANG!

A bullet tore through the crate, leaving a large hole at its center. Hiro barely managed to duck in time, though a portion of his hair was singed.

“Hiding’s useless!”

Hiro crawled behind the crate beside him, but that too was destroyed by a single bullet. He weaved around from crate to crate as they’re destroyed one by one. Plucking out one of the loose planks, he lobbed it at the boss’s face. However, this was easily swatted away with one hand.

“Ha! That was desperate, even for—”

Hiro’s pistol had been hurled at the boss’s nose, causing his hat to fall off. While he was still recovering from the blow, Hiro ran up to him and rammed his fist into his jaw. However, instead of toppling down, the boss stood his ground and responded with his own fist jabbing into his foe’s stomach. Hiro keeled over, falling to the ground.

The boss took aim and shot. Hiro rolled to the side just in the nick of time, but a piece of debris from the floor pierced his cheek. Blood splashed into his right eye. In the corner of his other eye, he saw the boss taking aim once more. He quickly scrambled to his feet.

The gun fired; Hiro tilted his head back as far as he could. The bullet barely scraped his chin. While the boss was reloading, Hiro hurriedly picked up his pistol from the ground and charged at him. With his full weight, he tackled the boss to the ground.

He struggled to keep his gun steady. “Don’t move.”

“Tsk. It’s a miracle that I haven’t blown your guts to bits yet. Just how lucky are you? Heh, even so, I bet you still can’t shoot.”

Hiro couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. In an act of desperation, he smacked the boss’s cheek with the side of his gun.

The boss spat out blood and smirked. “See? What did I tell you?”

Hiro struck him with his pistol several more times. Beads of his sweat dripped down onto the boss’s bruised face.

“Pathetic. You came all this way just to chicken out in the end.” The boss grabbed on to Hiro’s sleeve.

In a panic, Hiro plucked his hand away and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew into the air and pierced through one of the windows.

The boss burst into laughter. “Nice shot! That was point blank too!”

Hiro aimed the pistol at him once again. “I said DON’T MOVE, damn it!”

“Enough with the empty threats!” With no hesitation, the boss grabbed Hiro’s gun and pointed it away from himself. He then thrust his metal arm upwards, uppercutting his chin. Hiro flew into the air, dropping his weapon.

Meanwhile, the boss regained his footing. He tried to raise his robotic arm, but it fell back down. “Tch. One of the bolts came loose.” He lifted the arm up with his other hand and directed its muzzle at his opponent.

Suddenly, a red blade spun toward him, slicing his metal arm off. The blade fell on the floor; it soon melted into a puddle of red liquid. Hiro looked at the direction it came from; he saw Haruka giving him a quick thumbs up. He nodded in response.

“Getting help from your friends?” The boss cupped his hand over the remainder of his arm. “Fight me one on one, coward! Then maybe you can have half the balls your old man did!”

Hiro snapped. “Keep Miles out of your damn mouth!” He sprinted toward him.

The boss threw a punch at him, but Hiro seamlessly dodged and followed up with a low, sweeping kick. Giving him no chance to recover, Hiro pounced on him.

The boss caught his fist. “Oho? Did I strike a nerve?”

“Shut up!” Using his other hand, Hiro grabbed the boss’s hair and smashed the back of his head against the floor repeatedly. Cracks began forming on the concrete’s surface. His opponent grasped his wrist, but failed to pry his hand off. He felt the boss’s grip loosen with every blow.

As Hiro was about to slam his opponent’s head once more, he felt something wrap around his hand. Haruka had summoned a whip to stop him.

He snapped his head toward her. “What do you want?”

“Don’t kill the target.”

“Ah…” He took another look at the boss. Blood oozed out from the back of his head. His eyes were rolled back; he desperately gasped for air. “Sorry. I got carried away.”

She let go of his hand and knelt beside the boss. “I don’t think he can speak anymore.”

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay. I saved another one. Just in case.”

He glanced at his dying foe. “If so, can I ask you to leave? I want to… finish the job.”

“Don’t do it.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t kill him. It’s not worth it.”

“You’re telling me that now?! When you let me tag along in the first place? It’s not like he’s gonna give you any info.”

“You don’t know what it’s like to kill someone. It changes you.”

“Shut up! What do you know about me?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. But killing is never worth it.”

“Then why do you do it, huh?” He looked behind him. Piles of withered remains filled the warehouse. “I don’t wanna hear that from someone like you.”

“You’re only going to hurt yourself.”

He grabbed the boss’s collar. “If there’s anyone doing the hurting, it’s him. He deserves way more than what I did to him.”

She held his trembling hand with her cold, blood-stained ones. “Once you kill, you can never go back.”

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He shook her hand away and got off the boss. “I don’t know. It’s just that it… It felt really good. Like I was finally getting back at him for everything he’s done.”

“I was watching you earlier. You can’t even shoot a gun. Killing isn’t for you.”

“But…”

“Let me kill him. I’m already used to it.”

He spat at the boss’s face. “Fine. I’m tired of seeing his ugly mug anyway.”

Haruka stabbed the boss with a needle that protruded from her wrist. It didn’t take long for his body to shrivel up into a pale mass of flesh just like the rest of his comrades.

Hiro looked at her in disgust. It didn’t make sense to him that someone who committed these vile, abominable acts for a living would tell him not to kill. To him, her actions seemed fake, contradictory—a hypocrite.

His thoughts were interrupted by Maki’s loud voice.

“WOOOO! Look at all this stuff!” She strolled around from corpse to corpse, taking whatever wallet and jewelry she could put in her bag.

“She looks like she’s having a blast,” Hiro said.

“Ignore her.” Haruka stood up.

Maki waltzed toward them and picked up the boss’s metal arm. “Ugh, you tore through the joints. You couldn’t just cut his flesh off instead?”

“I was just trying to save Hiro.”

“And you couldn’t save the arm? Whatever. I ain’t into scrap metal.” She carelessly tossed the arm behind her. “Now, then… Time for the real fun! Where are the pierce rockets?”

Hiro pointed at the crates behind him with his thumb. “I saw their boss messing with one of them over there.”

“YES! I’m comin’!”

While Maki darted away from them, Hiro noticed Haruka walking back to the entrance of the warehouse. He decided to follow her. On the wall, a large red blob caught his eye. Stuck in the middle of it was a member of Bandito, whose mouth was shut tight by the same red substance as the blob.

Haruka sent out a whip that tore off the sticky liquid from his mouth. Immediately, he began yelling in desperation.

“H-Help! Is anyone still out there? Get me the hell away from these monsters!”

“Quiet,” she said.

“What do you want from me? I already told you I give up! Let me go!”

“Who is your new client?”

The man glared at her, refusing to answer.

The tip of her whip sharpened into a blade. She placed it right under his chin. “Talk.”

“L-Look! I have no idea! I just carry stuff around and help with deliveries.”

Haruka nudged her blade against his neck. “Stop stalling.”

His eyes shied away from her cold, expressionless gaze. “I’m not! I’m serious!”

“Are you sure?”

“Y-Yes! I don’t know anything!”

She stabbed him in the arm. It grew incredibly thin; its color was swiftly drained. Before the paleness could reach his neck, she drew her blade back.

He took long, heavy pants; his teeth couldn’t stop chattering. “M-My arm… What did you do?”

Haruka gestured at the bodies around them. “Make your choice.”

“Okay, okay! Just s-stop! Look, I really don’t know anything, but there’s a name that’s been hoverin’ around the past few weeks: Shimazaki.”

She cocked her head to the side. “The governor?”

“Man, I got no clue. That’s all I got, I promise! Please, just let me—”

Her blade pierced through the center of his neck. Before blood could even spill out, his body withered like the rest of the corpses.

“Hey, you two done over there?” Maki lumbered toward them, carrying as much loot as she could in her arms, with one of the pierce rockets sitting above the pile. “Can you help me out here?”

They walked over to her. Instead of lending her a hand, Haruka chopped her on the head. Everything she was holding scattered on the floor.

Maki stomped her foot. “HEY! What was that for?”

“Leave them behind. We don’t need dead weight.”

“Speak for yourself!”

While the two were bickering, Hiro looked around at the bodies. “Hey, you two didn’t happen to find a guy with purple hair, did you?”

Paying no attention to him, the girls continued their heated argument. To his disgust, he decided to search around the Bandito remains. In due time, he found the man he was looking for. His body was leaning against one of the crates, pale and incredibly thin.

“Ew… I guess I have no choice.”

He rummaged through his clothing until he found a ruby necklace inside one of the vest pockets. On its back were the inscribed words:

To my beloved Jay:

My love. My joy. My life.

—Harold Walker

He clutched the necklace in his hands. On his own, Hiro knew he would never have gotten the necklace back. His mind contemplated on what would’ve happened if he didn’t bump into Haruka. A slave working for the people who murdered his best friend, unable to leave lest Granny Jay would get hurt—that was the life waiting for him.

He turned to the two squabbling girls behind him. In a twist of fate, fleeing away and cowering in fear were no longer his only two options. He now had a third choice: to fight. And if he was going to fight, he knew the decision he had to make.

“I’m sorry, Granny Jay. I can’t stay here anymore. I’m going to get stronger.

“Hey, who’re you talkin’ to over there?” Maki asked while cupping her hands over her mouth.

“Ah, sorry. I was just thinking about things.” Hiro stuffed the necklace inside his pocket and approached the girls.

“Ooohhh! Like what? Joinin’ us, perhaps?”

He nodded.

“Hell yeah!” She threw her arms up in celebration. “So, whaddya think? Was it fun?”

“Fun almost getting killed? Yeah, sure. Totally.”

“Nah, nah! Did it feel good gettin’ revenge?”

He paused for a moment. “Actually, yeah. Earlier, it felt great. But now, I don’t know anymore.”

She shrugged. “Eh, you’ll get used to it over time. So, what’s the verdict? Wanna be a proud member of Lionheart?”

Hiro took a deep breath. “I’m still not sure how I feel about you guys being criminals, but… I mean, even the police are taking the side of whoever bribes more. If that’s the case, you’re either a criminal or a victim.”

“Exaaactly! You either get tossed around or do the tossin’. For me, that’s an easy choice. What about you?”

He looked around at the lifeless warehouse before locking eyes again with Maki—this time, with newfound determination. “If this is what having strength can do, then I want it. I wanna make my own future. To decide what happens in my life.”

“Then you’ve come to the perfect place.” Maki extended her hand to him. “We’ll show you what true freedom means.”

He shook her hand.

“Welcome to Lionheart, Hiro!”

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