Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Hollow

While walking back towards the city. The sickly pale girl with the somewhat neat and messy hair was still under one of the trees closer towards the city and was still scribbling down notes on a notebook that was covered with some type of leather that came from a monster. The notebook had an insignia on it but due to how she was holding the notebook Reiki could only see half of it and couldn't see the other half of the insignia. 

A few seconds later she stopped scribbling then bent one knee she then pulled out a type of mini shears and cut the herb as close to the ground as possible. With a small whiff of the herb she then reached out from her satchel and pulled out a jar with a red lid inside the jar we're different herbs but had the same features. Those herbs should have the same properties to them... A jar that can prevent them from clashing with each other and preserve them... I wonder where she bought it. If it can even be bought by normal means. Reiki thought to himself. With a quick twist of the red lid caused it to easily open then immediately caused the air around the two of them to be enveloped with the smell of all the herbs inside the jar. 

The smell wasn't too overwhelming but it wasn't too faint. It had a sweet smell to it when Reiki took a quick whiff but the lingering smell changed to something similar to the smell of vanilla and a hint of cinnamon. But it only causes him to start lightly fanning the scent closer to him with a few more whiffs and more concentration he was able to smell a few of the herbs in the jar. After concentrating, Reiki was able to notice the subtle difference of the herbs. 

Hmm... Sky blue Rosemary, Crushed eight-leaved sage wrapped using light feathered grass, and that burnt caramel... Reminds me of Nitroglycerin but I'm pretty sure it's Minced Pyne. And I think I smell something rotten... It should probably be just some herbs that are somewhat rotten but it has a hint of it still burning... Blue Burned Tri-gon? He mused to himself. Before he knew it the sickly pale girl already put the lid back on with a twist. The jar with the red lid was closed again as she gently placed the jar in front of her so she could look at it even when she was scribbling down her notes.

With Reiki's limited knowledge of Potioneering, Herbology, and some knowledge he learned by other means by his previous life some of the things that people think that some things would have a certain smell are not actually true. If you take nitroglycerin as an example that's the main ingredient for dynamite people would assume that dynamite would smell sulfury like gunpowder. But in reality, nitroglycerin actually smells sweet, similar to burnt caramel. It also applies to the majority of the herbs in herbology like Blue Burned Tri-gon smelling like nitroglycerin and vice versa due to factors like the environment and humidity greatly affects the plant's growth and overtime would then mold the plant's attributes. As the sickly pale girl kept on scribbling on her notes without taking her gaze off her notebook she said. "Hey, kid... Isn't time for you to go home," she said in a complete monotone.

"Still studying herbology sick nee-san? Why not take a break?"  Reiki replied like an innocent child without missing a beat.

With that, the sickly pale girl scoffed softly but with Reiki's heightened sense's he was still able to easily hear it. Still having her back facing at Reiki she said. "It's something that a kid like you would never understand. Unlike you, I have something to work towards. It's called Ambitions. But you wouldn't know." After finishing her words she lightly shook her head and a small smile merged on her face even though she had her back towards Reiki. He was still able to notice it even by using her subtle movements.

With that Reiki didn't even bother to play nice with her so he replied with a hint of coldness. "Well, at least my goals won't have the possibility of going to prison if I get caught. A piece of advice when making something illegal. Always make sure you have a way out. Especially when making a potion without proper license and registration. But a sleeping potion? Is all that work even worth it?" Flash Max Distance. Reiki casted and instantly he was gone without a trace.

『 Flash has been activated. Mana Cost: 6,250 』

With that, the sickly pale girl suddenly jolted and stopped scribbling on her notes and she finally turned her head around so fast that it was possible her neck would break under the speed. So she could take a look at him but to no avail, there was no one there. After looking at the same spot for a few seconds she looked back at her notes and closed the book using one hand. Then after carefully collecting a few more herbs around her. She opens the jar with the red lid again and carefully placed all the herbs she obtained in the jar. With a simple twist, the jar is once again closed and the sickly pale girl stood up from her previous position and started to walk back towards the Akihabara.

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Roughly 110 Feet Away

Reiki was sitting on top of a tree branch as he looked towards the direction where the sickly pale girl went as he thought. I need to meet up with that girl soon. Loose ends are safest when they're cut off. The sooner the better. As he jumped off the tree branch and landed back on the ground and started to walk back towards Akihabara.

As he slowly walked back Reiki's surroundings slowly changed from trees being here and there to a variety of buildings, some with billboards. Some of the buildings were maid cafes, Arcades, and most stores that's somehow related to anime merchandise. Reiki took this chance to absorb the sites. 

The sun was perfectly set on the horizon as it gave the sky a mixture of rich dark and light amber color. Some of the buildings were already starting to light up their buildings which only complimented the color of the sky with bright billboards and an abundance of colorful lights. Reiki lightly whispered. "Now that's a sight to behold." As he found a random bench to sit on he waited until someone on the behalf of the rich bishoujo, he waited on the bench as the sun slowly set.

As Reiki watched an endless amount of people walking the streets, some of the people wandering the streets were students about to go back home and call it a day. Some were workers with their colleagues trying to find a place to eat. Reiki did nothing but watch the people go about their day in peace as he waited patiently.

Not long after, an adult male looking about his early thirties wearing a black suit with the usual a black-tie, earpiece, and dark sunglasses was staring right at him. As the black-suited man approached him as he slowly walked passed by the crowd, eventually he was standing in front of Reiki and said. "Let's go. The mistress is not fond of waiting." He said with a commanding voice. The man in the suit easily looked like a bodybuilder. The suit on him looked like it was a couple of centimeters too short for him. The man had a rich brown-ish skin and black hair just like any other Japanese. He wasn't handsome but wasn't ugly either, he had his own charm that came from his masculinity.

Reiki didn't reply and just kept on staring at him with the intention of angering the man. "You..." The man in the suit said in a cold and irritated voice as he slowly clenched his fist. Before he was able to do anything immediately he took his right hand next to his earpiece as he put on a respectful expression and as the man quietly listened to his new orders a few seconds passed. As the man in the suit took a deep breath and said in a neutral tone. "Forgive my rude behavior. If you're willing to overlook it and come with me I've been told that the mistress is willing to explain and apologize for this misunderstanding."

As he got up from the bench Reiki said in a bland and monotone voice. "Let's just get this over with." As he walked towards where the black-suited man went behind him Reiki heard the man breathing deeply again trying to keep his emotions in check. Well at least her lapdogs are well behaved. Reiki thought to himself as he kept on walking without looking back.

As the black-suited man started to walk towards Reiki passing by all the buildings and shops after passing a few intersections they took the third left and he saw a large black SUV vehicle parked in front of a somewhat small to the medium ramen shop. While looking at the ramen shop the man opened the back door of the SUV indicating to get in. Walking towards the car he nonchalantly he went inside and made himself comfortable sitting on the left side of the car with his seatbelt on as he simply stared outside the car window. The man in the suit opened the door to the driver's seat as he sat down and started the car as he adjusted the car's rear view mirror. As the man adjusted the rearview mirror he started to observe the kid in the backseat. The kid was neither fat nor scrawny, a bit on the pale side with his skin tone, and his looks didn't even come close to the word handsome, the only word he could describe the kid was normal. 

With a small smirk on his face forming, he kept on 'adjusting' the rear view mirror but when he tried to look at the kid's face. With a side glance with Reiki's head still looking towards the car window one of his eyes was looking straight at the rearview mirror. The man in the suit stared at the reflection of Reiki's eyes for barely a second before he suddenly jolted as he accidentally cracked the rearview mirror due to him putting too much force. He didn't expect the kid to side glance at the rearview mirror at the same time he coincidentally tried to look at the kids face.

Reiki didn't say anything as he returned his gaze towards the car window. The man in the suit gripped the wheel until his knuckles turned white and then he suddenly felt a delayed chill up his spine. Because he sensed something that wasn't supposed to be on him... Or more likely on any kids, the man sensed and it was cold and indifference. The man in the suit grew up in an orphanage the was eventually bought by a mysterious buyer along with all the orphans. From that point onwards his entire life changed. 

All the healthy orphans were subjected to grueling training and the others that were too weak were taught in different regards like making bombs, acting, lying, and were specially trained to memorize loads of information within a short period of time. All the while growing up and facing countless situations where he could easily end up dead he could easily say 'I've grown accustomed to facing death and danger' very few things can make him as frightened as he is now. Yet when he looked at that rear view mirror in that split second his instinct told him one thing... Run. 

He wasn't surprised when he found out the kid behind his seat was a killer. What surprised him was he only felt that type of gaze when he was serving the company and this was one of the few experiences that he couldn't forget even if he wanted to. The moment when he saw that gaze from that kid. Memories that he forcibly tried to forget started to replay back in his head.

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Somewhere At A Desert Camp

He was wearing a simple camo and holding onto a modified AK-47 that was powered by a mana crystal instead of the regular ammunition. The people he was with we're all the orphans he grew up with. Even though they never really had the chance to hold a simple conversation all of them here on the battlefield took the grueling training side-by-side and we're able to complete it. 

Despite the lack of communication they still had a strong sense of camaraderie with each other. It was just another day when they needed to stop and rest and he just so happened to be on patrol. It was as quiet as it could be with the sun at its highest peak and you could only hear the sound of gusts of wind from time to time and the sound of their vehicle that was hauling the cargo. When all of a sudden from his far left the part of the sand was lightly quivering and then a man popped up with his lower half still in the sand. 

But every pair of eyes was only staring at what the man was wearing and it was four packs of C4 that were powered by a mana crystal that was placed right on top of his heart and he was wearing ragged and ripped clothing and wore some makeshift mask with some of the cloth trying to prevent sunburn on his face. As the man was holding a button with one press a deafening explosion was heard. With one explosion a dozen soldiers were near the blast radius, some that were too near the blast radius had instantly died on the spot while the people near them weren't as lucky as to receive a quick death.

A handful that was able to survive the explosion could only wish they were dead. Some of them had lost a limb revealing bone and parts of burnt flesh as blood continued to gush out. A few were bleeding internally and blood was coming out of their eyes, mouth and ears. And the ones that were able to limp had no lack of wounds and burned parts of their body.

After one soon came another explosion... And another... And another... And another. Soon half of them were left. As this team was mostly made out of greenhorns they all started to flee the moment half of the explosion rang out but the instructors were able to snap some of the soldiers to listen and start to shoot at the oncoming onslaught. The sound of gunfire was roaring as dozens of people wearing the same ragged cloth and mask as they sprinted towards the camp. 

Right now everyone in the camp was frantically shooting and kept on changing the modified magazines as fast as possible because everyone that was running towards them was equipped with the same C4 and wired to a mana crystal. Every bullet that hit the kamikazes chunks of flesh was ripped off and started to bleed profusely with bones and intestines were exposed the rest weren't fazed as they kept on running towards the camp. 

As some of the kamikazes died from the gunfire but every person they killed one of the kamikazes another one of them picked the dead body and continued to run towards them. But it wasn't as if they weren't afraid of dying, you could easily see the fear of the kamikazes from their very eyes. At this very moment even if the young man wearing a simple camo was holding a gun and killed a few of them everyone felt the same thing, fear. As he started to run out of magazines to switch he ran at the nearer to the center of the camp next to a table as he frantically tried to grab as much as he can carry back to the rest suddenly he vaguely saw a few distant figures.

With binoculars on top of the table, he picked them up and saw a man but he couldn't see him clearly because he wasn't in the right direction and was currently listening to the complaints from two out of the four of his subordinates. The man pulled out a gun and with one shot each towards the two who were complaining aimed at their head. Blood and pieces of bones and pieces of flesh splattered and both of the bodies fell on the sand with a small thud sound with a bullet sized hole from their head resulting in blood beneath both their corpses.

As the man turned to face his direction he stared at his eyes and saw that the man's eyes were hollow and looked like it could swallow the light that was coming close to it. His gaze could easily pierce anyone's will and start to make them question themselves when confronting him. With an indifferent attitude to human lives, he didn't even blink when he killed two of his own men. His eyes were as dark as to when there was no moon at midnight he wanted to look away but he couldn't. 

This type of man that didn't care about the process and only needed the result he wanted. As long as he got the result he wanted, no price is too much. At this moment he knew that the most dangerous person was not the one who always resorted to underhanded tricks, poison, or complex schemes. The most dangerous person is the one who already gave up or threw away all of their humanity.

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Back Inside The Car

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The man in the black suit jolted slightly as he tried to regain his calm by taking a couple of deep breaths even though the kid's eyes were still lacking a few things but if he gave him time he would be just like the person in that commanded the kamikazes... Or worse. As he started the engine and started to drive the car outside of Akihabara and towards the forest.

A few minutes flew by as the black man in the suit took a few detours and the long way to try and confuse his sense of direction eventually the driver stopped and opened up the compartment of the car and took out a sack the was roughly the same size of Reiki's head, a night blinder, MP3 player, and one over-ear headphone.

He passed it to Reiki, he didn't even look at him, the man just kept his eyes on the road. But contrary to his expectation Reiki took everything and looked at the MP3 player and browsed through the library and picked a random song he put on the night blinders then the over-ear headphones and lastly the sack. As the driver looked at Reiki for a few seconds in astonishment then continued on to drive.

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About Roughly Half A Mile Later

Reiki still had the items over his head as his wrist was held by the man who drove the car seeming to subtly threaten him any rash moves he made would result in a broken hand. As the man leads him towards a luxurious house somewhere hidden in the forest. As the man approached the house two more men in black suits were guarding the front door and opened the door without asking any questions.

After heading inside the house another door was guarded by one guard with a quick order from his earpiece the guard opened the door and Reiki was lead into another room. The moment the door opened and fragrance immediately were easily spotted and he thought. Food?

Reiki slowly removed the items on his head. He saw the bishoujo sitting in a chair with a medium-sized rectangular table that was filled with different food from steak, pasta, sushi, and haggis. Different cuisines were laid on the entire that was filled to the brim. With a complete set of tableware from chopsticks to knives and spoons.

With a smile the bishoujo said. "Don't just stand there, Akihito. Sit." As she pointed to the opposite side of the table with a single chair. But Reiki didn't sit and without hiding anything and just coldly replied. "What do you want?"

"Aww don't be so reiki Reiki." The bishoujo said and continued. "Now le-" But before she could finish Reiki interrupted her and said. "Stop beating around the bush and just say it."

With that, the bishoujo no longer smiled and said. "Fair point. That's some pretty interesting stats you have for a kid. I wonder what would happen if I don't know if someone were to 'accidentally' spread a rumor about you and your family." Reiki didn't reply. But at this point due to his hair, she couldn't see his eyes as she kept ongoing. "Well since you hate beating around the bush so much let me get straight to the point. The day when you leave this realm you're gonna take me with you no questions asked."

She looked at Reiki and nodded and said. "You don't need to be afraid of me, I can help you. I can get you resources so that you can grow unhindered so many backdoors I could open so you could have a smooth journey but lie to me..." She let out a giggle and said. "Well, let's just say your family will be the first ones to 'disappear' you're a smart boy so you should understa-." But yet again before she could finish she got interrupted by Reiki. "Sure." The bishoujo smiled and tried to say. "Go-." But she noticed Reiki walk forward and using his left hand he picked up a knife from the table. At this moment a butler in the shadow was currently looking coldly at Reiki with the intent to kill at a moment's notice. Reiki casted Flash.

 『 Flash has been activated. Mana Cost: 500 』

[System: Target Has Received 1 Damage.]

[System: User Has Hit A Vital Point Tear I Bleeding Will Be Applied For 1 Second.]

With the knife in his right hand, it was only inches away from the bishoujo's face with the butler suddenly popping out from the shadows holding a red dagger that was inches away on Reiki's head.

The butler looked handsome and tall and his skin was leaning on the lighter side he was currently holding Reiki's left hand behind him with his right hand holding a red dagger ontop of Reiki's head with a cold and murderous look the only reason why Reiki was alive was because of the bishoujo was currently holding her hand up slightly indicating not to kill him. The atmosphere was both quiet and tense depending on what the kid says next could decide if he dies or not. The bishoujo didn't even flinch at what just happened, she looked like she didn't even consider the possibility of her dying. 

Reiki said. "If the day comes when I go to a different realm I'll make sure to tell you first in person." The bishoujo nodded in approval but before she could say anything again he continued. Until this time his unkempt and scraggly hair was still covering his eyes. As he slowly moved his head to stare at the bishoujo face to face. And all she saw was Reiki's jet black eyes that were cold, indifferent, and more importantly, hollow the more she looked at his eyes she slowly felt something that she had never felt in her entire life and it was fear. 

Fear from a boy who just a few moments ago had bright eyes and looked like he didn't have a care in the world now he looked like a person that was missing a reason to live another day and wouldn't even blink at the sight of a mountain of corpses as big as Mt. Fuji. "But threaten me again... I'll Make sure you'll lose everything you have and more." 

Reiki said more as a statement than as  a threat. "You don't need to provide me anything I'll find you if I need something other than that. I don't want you going through my business." With that Reiki dropped the knife to the floor and picked up a napkin on the table using his right hand and passed it to the butler and said. "Here you're gonna wanna wipe that blood off. It's gonna be a shame to stain that coat you have." 

The butler didn't say anything and looked at him coldly but then he felt a small trickle of blood from his throat. He wasn't the only one that was surprised. The bishoujo who was calm now showed an interest face as he looked at the flesh wound on the butler's throat. As the butler took the napkin from Reiki and lightly tapped the light wound on his throat that was already starting to heal he still had traces of surprise on his face.

"... Do you need a ride going the way ba-" Reiki instantly cut her off saying. "South-east from here, about roughly more than half a mile, is where Akihabara is." As he walked towards the door he turned his head and said. "As I said I'll find you when I need to." and casted. Flash Max Distance.

"Mistress should we find an opportunity to kill him. With your current relationship with him I'm afraid that" The butler said as the moment Reiki was gone.

"No. Don't be too hasty I just wanted to make sure to leave an impression on him whether it was bad or good didn't matter. I can always make an opportunity so that he can have a more favorable opinion of me." As she said that she was only staring at the place where Reiki teleported and sank into immediate silence thinking about something with a serious expression.

"Mistress?" The butler asked as it was very rarely that the mistress was thinking about something with that look

"When he teleported did you sense any fluctuation of mana?" The bishoujo asked the butler. He thought about it and didn't reply but he looked as if something grave has happened and kept quiet.

After a few seconds of thinking, she finally said. "It looks like I have to make sure he has a favorable opinion of me then."

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At The Roof Of The Luxurious House

『 Flash has been activated. Mana Cost: 6,250 』

『 Flash has been activated. Mana Cost: 6,250 』

『 Flash has been activated. Mana Cost: 6,250 』

Reiki repeatedly casted flash from room to room. At the third one he was finally at the top and was holding his left hand with his right hand.

[System: User's Left Shoulder, Elbow, And Wrist Have Been Dislocated.]

[Hahaha, that's what you get from using more than what your body can withstand, kid. Hahaha.] The voice that gave him the coordinates for Q sounded again roughly a day later. It continued. [But I have to give you some credit for being able to make that pretty boy bleed and the looks of their faces were somewhat amusing but the good part was they both didn't even see when you attacked.]

Reiki kept quiet and asked. "Care to explain what you saw?" The voice spoke in a disdained voice [Please, they may have not seen it but to me, with how fast that attack was I would have been able to slash you more than 500,000 times.] Reiki replied. "Bullshit." But after a few seconds passed there was no reply. That voice comes and goes whenever it feels like it. Reiki thought and casted flash again towards one of the trees that were nearer to the house. Flash Max Distance.

『 Flash has been activated. Mana Cost: 6,250 』

Reiki was now on top of the tree as his entire left arm joints were dislocated after a few seconds passed there were already some light bruises on joints. As he tried to relocate his joints Reiki didn't even notice that his eyes were still the same as he left the room. Hollow, Cold, And indifferent.

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