Aihara: “[It’s his own fault. It’s his own fault. It’s his own fault. It’s his own fault. It’s his own fault. It’s his own fault. It’s his own fault.]”

  Aihara is lying on his bed in his room. His legs are horribly crushed. Kogiri was only able to treat them roughly in a hurry. The bandages are too loose and soaked with blood. Even the bed itself is covered in bloodstains.

  Aihara just lies there. He convinces himself that Najun is to blame for his injured arm. He told him not to touch it, but Najun did not listen.

  Aihara: “I am the victim. Every time something happens, I black out. I can never be myself.”

  In the middle of his short self-dialogue, he hears a knock at the door. It slowly opens, and a grinning man enters the room.

  ???: “Hellooo. How are your legs doing?”

  Aihara: “There you are, demon. The one who took my legs.”

  Kiyomori: “Ha, I had nothing to do with your injury.”

  Aihara: “But it was your son. A son’s actions can be traced back to the father.”

  Kiyomori: “And how do you know it was my son?”

  Aihara: “Instinct.”

  Kiyomori: “You couldn’t come up with a cheaper excuse?”

  Aihara: “No.”

  Kiyomori touches Aihara’s legs. Aihara is obviously suffering from hellish pain. Kiyomori greatly enjoys the suffering unfolding before him.

  Kiyomori: “The tough Aihara Sakiko, also known as Shark, crying from pain here. Should I give you a painkiller?”

  Aihara: “N-n-no, i-it’s f-f-fine.”

  Kiyomori: “Strange emphasis in your words.”

  Kiyomori lets go of Aihara’s legs and lies down on the bed next to him. Both lie there like little children who are not tired yet but have to sleep because they have school the next morning.

  Kiyomori: “May I ask why you and your horrible family did this to us?”

  Aihara: “As I already said at the tribunal, none of us did this to you. Even those who are not here would never do something like that without my permission.”

  Kiyomori: “What if you gave them permission?”

  Kiyomori makes himself comfortable in the bed by pulling the blanket over himself. He already seems almost sleepy.

  Aihara: “I did not allow them to do anything even remotely like that.”

  Kiyomori: “How can I be sure that you are telling the truth?”

  Aihara: “I am telling the truth.”

  Kiyomori: “I don’t know that. That’s why I’m asking.”

  Kiyomori turns around so that he can see Aihara. Aihara cannot turn, so he rolls his eyes as far to the side as possible to roughly see Kiyomori.

  Aihara: “What is it with Michinaga Fujiwara?”

  Kiyomori: “He offered his help before the tribunal. At first I thought it was too risky, but eventually I agreed.”

  Aihara: “You know he is known for being a liar. Wasn’t his nickname the King of Lies?”

  Kiyomori: “I don’t know myself…”

  The sentence is interrupted by painful groaning, as if Kiyomori were a glitch in the matrix.

  Aihara: “Don’t overstrain your brain. I know men like us have to keep secrets.”

  Kiyomori: “Thank you for your consideration.”

  Kiyomori: “So it really wasn’t you?”

  Aihara: “No. Please never ask me that question again.”

  Kiyomori: “I still don’t believe you, unfortunately. I wish there were a way to verify that you’re telling the truth.”

  Aihara: “So do I.”

  Kiyomori: “[He seems to have calmed down again. It’s like he’s a different person. Strange guy.]”

  Aihara: “I don’t know why, but somehow you’re different than last time. We’ve met before. Back then, you weren’t so provocative or humorous. You were more cold and ordinary. What happened to your character?”

  Kiyomori: “Maybe I awakened. Or maybe I’m being controlled.”

  Aihara: “By whom?”

  Kiyomori: “By feelings?”

  A phone rings. It’s Kiyomori’s. It’s a FaceTime call. He answers, and suddenly a very deep voice speaks. From the conversation, Aihara hears that Kiyomori is talking to someone named Berserker. They discuss the results of their mission. Kiyomori even mocks Aihara to his conversation partner while lying right next to him.

  Aihara is not interested in the conversation and closes his eyes. He goes over the entire situation in his head again.

  Aihara: “[Where is Ino? What is Michinaga planning? How am I supposed to prove that we are innocent? When will the next blackout come? What will the verdict of this tribunal be? Where is ??? and what happened to her?]”

  These questions do not all have to be answered—but how, and by whom?

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Kiyomori: “Do you want me to show you something?”

  Aihara turns his head toward Kiyomori and looks at what he is showing him. The FaceTime call is still active, and through the camera he sees a girl lying on the ground. She has red hair, a thin chin, a jacket with the Sakiko crest on it… It’s Hina. She is bleeding from the forehead and is half unconscious.

  Berserker: “Talk, you brat.”

  Hina: “S-save m-m-me, Naki… Aihara. I-I’m s-s-sorry. I c-c-couldn’t s-s-stop them…”

  She now completely loses consciousness.

  Kiyomori: “Don’t kill anyone until I tell you to.”

  He hangs up and places his phone on the dresser next to the bed.

  Kiyomori: “I know, it’s dirty, but Michinaga had the idea, and I thought it was a good one.”

  Aihara looks at Kiyomori tiredly. He shows neither reaction nor resistance.

  Kiyomori: “I assume we’re about to fight?”

  Aihara nods.

  Kiyomori: “I assume it will be a fight to the death?”

  Aihara nods again.

  Kiyomori: “That will be difficult in this room. Let’s think about where we could go.”

  Kiyomori pulls the blanket further over himself and lies down. A few moments later, both beds—and the entire room—explode.

  The destruction reaches all the way up to the roof of the tribunal building. Two human-sized holes next to each other.

  Kiyomori: “Those poor architects. They’ll have to rebuild everything.”

  They face each other at the edges of the two holes. Aihara is flying with the help of his Birth-Ability, as his legs are useless. Kiyomori stands there, jealous of Aihara’s cool entrance.

  Kiyomori: “Despite your crushed legs, you’re ready to fight me. I call that the head of a serious family.”

  Aihara: “I won’t stay like this for long. I can feel it. It will return soon.”

  Kiyomori: “Really? Are you putting one of your facets away? I’m happy that you killed my brother, robbed us, and set traps.”

  Aihara: “We didn’t—”

  Kiyomori: “Shhh, I know. Blah blah blah. Let’s start slowly, like real magicians fighting.”

  Aihara: “Our world has no magicians. Only humans with magical abilities.”

  Kiyomori: “You don’t know everything about our world.”

  Aihara raises both arms, lifting two massive boulders from the ground.

  Kiyomori claps twice, and behind him appears a broad creature sitting on his shoulders.

  Aihara smashes both boulders toward Kiyomori, but he shows no sign of moving away.

  Kiyomori: “You can do better than that.”

  The creature on his shoulders unleashes its claws and crushes the boulders. Next, they attack Aihara, but he flies high into the air.

  Kiyomori: “How cool.”

  The claws of his creature chase Aihara through the sky. He moves them as if he were wearing a jetpack. The claws are not fast enough and are recalled.

  Aihara: “Tricksters don’t mess with magicians.”

  Kiyomori: “A nice saying. Then why don’t you live by it and challenge a real magician?”

  Kiyomori: “Your death will seal the end of the Sakiko family—and thus my victory. It was nice chatting with you like at a sleepover party, but as you can see, it’s over.”

  With a cracking sound, wings suddenly grow from Kiyomori’s back. With a single flap, he is already at Aihara’s height.

  Aihara: “Where did those wings come from?”

  Kiyomori: “Birth-Protection: Survival of the Fittest. The monster on my shoulders is my flesh, which has taken the form of something with the best adaptive abilities. But by now, I’m so skilled that I can place my own head inside and transform my body into almost anything.”

  Aihara: “I didn’t ask for an explanation.”

  Kiyomori: “But you got one.”

  They fly toward each other. Their bodies collide, causing a powerful shockwave. Kiyomori’s monster releases its claws again and chases Aihara with them.

  Aihara: “[Those claws don’t look very stable.]”

  Aihara presses his hands together, as if crushing a small ball between them. Suddenly, all of the creature’s claws break. It screams in pain and shrinks back onto Kiyomori’s neck.

  Kiyomori: “Aw, look what you’ve done. Now it doesn’t want to fight anymore.”

  Kiyomori flies toward Aihara, but Aihara presses his hands together again.

  Suddenly, Kiyomori’s body elongates—behaving more like rubber. Aihara can no longer compress his body.

  Kiyomori: “My body adapts to everything.”

  With a punch to the face, Kiyomori knocks Aihara out of the sky.

  The fall further damages Aihara’s legs severely. He has to suppress a scream of pain.

  Kiyomori: “If I remember correctly, your ability is closely tied to kinematics. You are able to manipulate forms and types of motion. Those two boulders at the beginning were shaken by our appearance on the roof. Then you increased their motion to the maximum level and moved them—almost like telekinesis.”

  Aihara: “Almost.”

  Kiyomori’s arm transforms into a massive lizard arm. Using his wings, he quickly reaches his opponent and rams his claws into Aihara’s chest.

  Kiyomori: “Checkmate.”

  Only after saying this does Kiyomori realize that his claw never touched Aihara. His attack simply stopped.

  Aihara: “Don’t forget: I am stronger than you.”

  Aihara manipulates the movement of the attack and twists Kiyomori’s wrist—then his entire right arm. All that remains is a small, twisted, blood-soaked knot of flesh.

  Aihara grabs Kiyomori by the neck and strangles him. His neck stretches like a snake as his head moves through the wind.

  Kiyomori: “You won’t kill me. I survive everything.”

  His teeth sharpen, and he bites into Aihara’s neck. This time the attack succeeds, and Aihara starts bleeding.

  Aihara: “Pain is just a—”

  Aihara releases Kiyomori and collapses onto his injured legs. He ignores this fact and clutches his head. The scream he lets out is not filled with pain, but with fear.

  Kiyomori’s body returns to that of a human, and his creature emerges from his neck.

  Kiyomori: “Was my bite that bad?”

  Aihara continues screaming, completely ignoring the fight and his opponent. Kiyomori sits down in front of him and watches curiously, waiting to see what will happen after this episode.

  ???: “The blood flowing through you is your certain victory. I am your blood. No matter who fights you, with this blood you will defeat them. Just allow it.”

  Aihara trusts the unknown voice in his head and lets his arms fall. His screaming stops.

  Kiyomori: “Is round two starting now?”

  Kiyomori forms his wings again and jumps—but this allows Aihara to press him into the rooftop. He makes sure the roof does not break, but it is still extremely painful.

  Aihara: “Aaaaaaah!”

  This scream sounds satisfied, yet still inhuman. Kiyomori, pressed against the ground, transforms into a human-sized worm, using his wings as the shell of his new skin. He slithers smoothly across the ground and manages to escape the pressure.

  Aihara’s crazed eyes follow the worm’s movements. He smiles grotesquely until his gums show and flies back up.

  Kiyomori remains in his worm form, but the creature that had been sitting on his shoulders the whole time grows. It becomes larger than a normal human. It has four arms and a face hidden behind a grille. Its lower body is bound to the worm beneath it.

  Aihara: “So I just have to allow it… then I’ll do that too!”

  He flies down and crushes his new opponent’s face. It regenerates quickly and wraps Aihara with its claws. With a powerful throw, Aihara is hurled into a nearby mountain. The creature releases its claws again, but this time Aihara twists their movement so that it impales itself.

  Aihara: “I am uncontrollable.”

  Aihara flies back to the roof and rips all four arms off the creature. He even stuffs one of the arms into its gridded face.

  ???: “Luna, what do you think of this fight?”

  Luna: “It’s exciting, but honestly, we should probably leave.”

  ???: “My name is Michinaga Fujiwara, and I never leave a battlefield that hasn’t ended yet.”

  Luna: “You’re not even fighting.”

  Michinaga: “That doesn’t matter. We need to witness everything that happens here so we can provide a good report.”

  Luna: “What do we do if the Taira win?”

  Michinaga: “We celebrate and officially become partners with them.”

  Luna: “What if they lose?”

  Michinaga: “Then we disappear—just the way you want.”

  Michinaga: “Come to think of it, it was so easy to make them believe it was the Sakiko. You just need good planning and good words.”

  Luna: “That’s incredibly cruel. You’re aware that an entire family—an entire bloodline—will never have a good life because of you.”

  Michinaga: “That’s exactly what puts me in a good mood. As the head of another great family, I must think of us first.”

  Luna: “You don’t care about your family at all.”

  Michinaga leans his head against Luna’s.

  Michinaga: “Don’t forget—I’m kind, but I’m not stupid. Don’t overdo it.”

  Luna: “How did you even manage to trick the Taira family like that? I mean, how did you commit all those crimes?”

  Michinaga: “Trade secret.”