Not too far from the academy building were the dormitories, two large and curved buildings that split in the middle, having a fountain at the middle that leads towards the two buildings. The dorms are separated between genders, one building is for men and the other building for women.
Kimura was in the left building as he was on the rooftop of the dorms, having his phone sit nearby replaying a recording of sorts.
“Remember, backstep, then one two for people who like to stay in the middle area.” A Feminine voice came out of the recording
“Backstep…one two!” Kimura did exactly what the recording said.
“Sway left if it’s a right hook and the opposite if it’s the other way, then gut punch into an uppercut.”
Kimura sways right into a right hook to an imaginary abdomen into an uppercut where he would strike where the jaw would be.
“Now try the combination. I’ll give you three seconds to catch your breath.”
Kimura backs up a bit as he takes a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling as he raises his guard up.
“…and go!”
Kimura throws out a one-two punch into a small step in throwing a gut punch into an uppercut then a right straight. Imagining that a retaliation happened, Kimura steps back into another one-two with his right hand leading this time. Kimura then swayed underneath an imaginary left hook as he threw a kidney shot into a left uppercut. To finish off he goes for a textbook counter punch as the timer rings from the recording.
Kimura gasps for air as clapping can be heard from the recording.
“You did it Kenji, the combination you’ve been wanting to learn for so long. I hope you could master it and change it up.”
Kimura walks over to the phone as he pauses the recording, setting his phone down as he starts practicing the combination.
One-Two, Step in, sway into gut punch then into right uppercut. Backstep, repeat to the kidney…then counter or right hook…
Kimura repeats the combination as Kimura decides to mix up the combination, throwing out the one-two punch but instead of swaying to the right, Kimura parries the hit and does a quick jab before stepping in and doing a gut shot. Stepping back, he takes a couple of deep breaths as he walks over and picks up a bottle of water and drinks it.
“I have to thank dad when I decide to go home.”
Kimura taps the pause button on the video as he exits out of the video player, looking at his phone as he just stares at the background he has. The background is an image of himself and two other friends in a selfie vertically rather than landscape.
Kimura softly sighs with a small smile, but he goes into his gallery and into the videos section, opening to 14 videos. Every video was titled Kenji with the number 1 to 14, tapping the video Kenji_2.
***
Woosh!
The door to the Medical Longue opened as Kimura walked in, seeing Korvos, Erudis, and Suharu still recovering.
“What are you doing here so early? It’s six in the morning.” The Doctor called out.
“Oh, I just…came to check in, that’s all.” Kimura replied.
“…You seem awfully hesitant.”
“……”
“Do you miss Ishimura Academy?”
“Huh?” He turned his attention to the Doctor.
“Do you miss the academy? I know about your history with it, I was there when it burned.”
“……” Kimura paused looking a bit somber.
“…Sorry, I just wanted to know since you’re the only survivor…” The Doctor apologized.
“I-It’s fine doc…I…I do miss my pals sometimes…” Kimura replied with a heavy sigh, grasping his right arm for comfort.
“I see…” He sighs briefly before switching the topics, “They’re okay now, all of them are still asleep like rocks. Suharu took quite the beating but she’s a strong girl, she’ll manage.”
Kimura turns his attention to the three, seeing them sleep in their own sleeping positions. Erudis was sleeping flat on his back, shuffling a little leaning more on his right a little. Korvos was sleeping on his left side, drooling a bit from whatever he’s dreaming about. Finally, Suharu was sleeping on her right, curled up in a fetal position as she slept quietly.
“What about the student near the student council? The one that Wei-Hu was taking care of?”
“Oh him? Wei-Hu took care of his injuries, surprised she isn’t an assistant around here.” The Doctor jokes about it.
“Ah, that’s great to hear.” Kimura sighs in relief.
Kimura lingered in the medical room for a bit watching over them from the doorway as he sat in a chair, his arms crossed as his bag sat leaning against the cabinets beside him. The room was quiet as the sun was barely rising as it became 6:35 AM. The Crack of Dawn had begun to rise as Kimura waited for another twenty minutes.
Yawwwwnn…
Korvos was the first to wake up as Korvos sat up, wiping his mouth as he then rubbed his eyes. Kimura looked overhearing his medical bed creak and saw his silhouette appear from the curtains.
“Morning Korvos.”
“Huh…? Kimura…?” Korvos moved his curtains.
“Yeah?”
“What are you-” Korvos yawned a bit before continuing, “-doing here so early in the morning…? It’s the crack of dawn…” Korvos rubbed his eyes again.
“I could say the same for you waking up at the exact same time.”
“Anyway…What are you here for…?” Korvos questioned him.
“Remember yesterday? You wanted to talk to me.” His tone shifted.
“Oh…right…”
Korvos got up from his bed and peeked to look at the other two, checking their conditions as he then walked over to Kimura and sat in the chair beside him. The doctor sat in his chair as he was on his computer.
“So, the transfer student is the Ishimura kid…”
“Something wrong about it?” Kimura looked at Korvos.
“Nah, not really…I thought all the students from Ishimura were dead honestly.”
“……”
“Everyone knows it, but you break those rumors by being the only survivor y’know.” He turns his head to look over at Kimura.
Kimura takes a deep breath, sitting down in a chair internally, he’s replaying the events that happened five years ago. The sounds of fire sparking, explosions, and the sound of screams and cries for help ringed in his ears, shaking his head.
“Something wrong Kimura?” Korvos asks worried.
“No…No everything’s fine.” Kimura responded a bit dry.
“Continue what you were going to say…” Kimura politely told Korvos.
“Oh. Alright then uhm…”
Korvos wasn’t expecting Kimura to suddenly just tell him to keep talking, their conversation ended when Kimura went silent, but he thought up of a conversation topic.
“Have you heard the news lately?”
“What? Who still watches the news??”
“Uh…everyone? Do you not??” Korvos asked confused.
“Not really, I just see it when I open my phone.”
“Well to tell you the short version, there was an Esper found dead yesterday within an alleyway, his mana was drained out of his body.”
“Jesus…What happened to him?”
“The autopsy report that they gave to the public showed he had a burned tattoo mark on his forearm.”
Korvos pulls up the article on his phone, scrolling by swiping up as he reaches the autopsy report and the image of the burned mark on the man’s forearm. He hands it to Kimura as Kimura takes his phone and looks at it himself. [Image below]
The photo shows bruises on the man’s head, chest, and abdomen, several cuts along their shoulders to their wrists as well as two cuts to their Achillies Tendons, making it near impossible to escape. However, Kimura stared at the symbol as his eyes widened at it.
“What is it?” Korvos spots his reaction.
“I…I’ve seen this symbol before…”
“You have? That’s impossible though, we’ve just seen this yesterday.” Korvos responded.
Kimura hands the phone back to Korvos as he gets up, walking over to the open window to get some fresh air as he places his hand on the window frame, sticking his head out as the wind rustles upon his head.
“Mr. Kimura?” The Doctor asks.
“I-I’m fine Doc…”
He leans back in, pacing around the medical lounge.
That symbol…those people that day were also wearing the same symbol all along their clothes…They…they must be connected to Ishimura Academy’s downfall…
Kimura was still pacing around thinking to himself as he was trying to recollect his thoughts. Just as he kept pacing back and forth, Erudis was the second to wake up, hearing Kimura pacing back and forth woke him up.
“Can you guys keep it down…I’m trying to sleep…”
“Erudis, It’s 7:48 in the morning…”
“MY WORKOUT ROUTINE!!!” Erudis shoots up wide awake.
“Looks like that got him awake…” Korvos wasn’t surprised.
Korvos looked back at Kimura was still distraught about the symbol, he quickened his pacing while still in his train of thought ran on.
“Kimura, how about we talk about it during lunch? Our classes will start soon.”
“Huh? Oh, sure.” Kimura looked over, stopping his pacing as he nodded slightly.
Korvos sighed as he got out of the bed, stretching as he walked over to the doctor, putting his wrist out as he had a white wristband on him with a QR code on it.
The Doctor scanned it as the scanner beeped green, the white wristband unlatching itself as it flopped onto the desk.
“You’re good to go Korvos.”
“Thanks Doc.”
Korvos then walks out of the medical lounge as Kimura followed suite, walking into a hallway packed with students so suddenly. Korvos and Kimura were confused about what was going on here.
“What’s going on?” Korvos asked a female student.
“It’s Kumiko and Wei-Hu, Kumiko’s suddenly gone berserk all of a sudden!”
“Berserk? Kumiko’s not like that.”
Korvos replied, scooting into the crowd as Kimura followed in, squeezing through the crowd. As they got closer and closer, there were less and less people in the way as they both squeezed through.
Both then witnessed what the female student was talking about, multiple students that tried to intervene littered along the floor unconscious. Kumiko’s eyes were a deep red as both could feel an overexertion of mana leaking out of Kumiko.
Wei-Hu slammed her palm against Kumiko’s side as Kumiko retaliated, seemingly unaffected by her attempt. Wei-Hu’s eyes glowed as she parried Kumiko’s punch, pushing it to the side as she right hooked Kumiko across the face.
“Sorry Kumiko!”
She apologized with every hit as she kept stepping back to gain distance as Kumiko threw a straight punch, Wei-Hu blocking it with a cross-guard block as her feet were dragged alongst the floor.
Wei-Hu lowers her cross guard as her nose was bleeding and broken as well, she then notices Korvos and Kimura on the other side as she breathes exhausted.
Just as Kumiko was going to dash in towards Wei-Hu, she stopped to turn around as she sensed Kimura and Korvos nearby. Both dashed towards Kumiko as she lashed out at them.
***
One Hour Before
Kumiko and Wei-Hu were walking alongside each other as Kumiko was snacking on a muffin. Wei-Hu looked over at Kumiko as she started up their conversation.
“Do you think it was a good idea for Korvos to give your title to me?”
“Well, it’s his choice, I can’t really do anything about it, but hey, lookout for any competitors.” She chuckled.
“I’ll certainly try.” Wei-Hu laughed along, smiling a little as she then thought up of something, “Say, why did you fight the girl named Asuka?”
“Oh her…Well…I saw she was smuggling something into the school grounds to another student. I was just doing my job until Kimura intervened and basically beat me and my group to a pulp.”
“What did you see? You couldn’t have just chosen to pick on someone without a reason.”
“Well, that’s the thing, the thing she smuggled in was some weird red dust in a small glass container.”
“Wait…did you say red dust…” Wei-Hu stopped as she looked at Kumiko.
“Yeah? What is it something bad?” Kumiko stopped as well, looking at Wei-Hu.
“What was the label…!” Wei-Hu suddenly grasped her shoulders tightly.
“Wha- Wei-Hu! What’s-”
“WHAT WAS THE LABEL!!!” Wei-Hu shouts at Kumiko shaking her a bit.
“I-IT WAS DRIED RED SIPHON!!!” Kumiko shouts back out of fear.
Wei-Hu’s eyes widened as she let go as her mouth began to tremble. Kumiko or anyone else has seen Wei-Hu this scared before.
“Where is it…” Wei-Hu mutters.
“What?” Kumiko questions.
“WHERE IS IT NOW!” Wei-Hu shouts.
“AH! I-IT’S IN THE STUDENT COUNCIL ROOM!!” Kumiko shouts back, never being pressured this hard by Wei-Hu before.
“We have to hurry!”
“Wha- Hurry for what?!?”
Both began quickening their pace into a run as they ran through the hall, students moving out of the way as Wei-Hu was shouting at them to move out of the way.
“MOVE IDIOTS! ITS SERIOUS!!”
Kumiko was a little scared at this serious side of Wei-Hu as they ran towards the Council room as Wei-Hu Slammed the door open, seeing a student in the room without authorization.
“HEY YOU!!”
Without hesitation the person turned around and fired something towards Wei-Hu’s way, However Kumiko activated her mana, taking a serious step as she cracked the floorboard and blasted towards Wei-Hu, shoulder shoving her out of the way as Kumiko took the shot straight to the face, a puff of red dust exploded along her face as both fell.
Wei-Hu fell as she landed on her shoulder, turning to see Kumiko beside her convulsing on the floor, clawing at the floor as she struggled so suddenly.
“Oh shit- Kumiko!!”
She quickly crawled over, and she tried to see Kumiko’s face, then suddenly she stopped convulsing as she grabbed onto Wei-Hu’s wrist with a tight grip. Wei-Hu winced at the pain as she got a good look at Kumiko’s face, seeing her red eyes staring right at her, her pupils dilated.
Wei-Hu then felt herself take a gasp of air out of fear as out of instinct Wei-Hu punched her hand, breaking out of her grasp as she jumped back quickly.
“EVERYONE!! GET AWAY FROM HER!!!”
Wei-Hu shouted as Kumiko within a blink of an eye Wei-Hu was blasted out of the window, flying out and over the garden, smashing into the walkway above the garden as she tried to catch her breath.
“Kumiko!!”
She shouted at her as she tried to reason, to see Kumiko jump at her with a wide grin on her face. At that point reason was out of the window as Wei-Hu braced and puts her guard up, being blasted out of the walkway and into the other side of the academy building, students rushing out of the way.
Wei-Hu felt the pain to her bones as she winced more, dodging out of the way as Kumiko changed her direction on the fly, jumping at Wei-Hu as she grabbed her by the throat and slammed Wei-Hu down into the ground. Kumiko laughed maniacally as Wei-Hu’s back was repeatedly slammed into the ground, forcing her to activate her mana.
She then rebounded off the ground as she gained more airtime to grab onto Kumiko’s arm, spinning around as she locked her legs just behind Kumiko’s neck, both having each other in a hold. L…Let’s see who chokes each other out first…! Wei-Hu was willing to keep her firm hold on Kumiko’s arm and neck as Kumiko then swung her into some lockers lined up along the wall.
BAM
The sound of metal denting along a person’s body was bone crushing as Kumiko then slammed her against the windows, Wei-Hu’s grip being unaffected as Kumiko grew more enraged, spinning in a circle before smashing Wei-Hu again into more lockers, this time breaking them in half as both their grips finally loosened up.
Wei-Hu dropped to the floor gasping for air as Kumiko rubbed her shoulder and arm, feeling a numbness from Wei-Hu’s grip. Kumiko then looked at Wei-Hu with anger in her eyes as Wei-Hu got up, taking a tai-chi stance.
Kumiko then rushed in as Wei-Hu stood her ground as they began their fight, Wei-Hu parried her punches as she rebounded her fists towards her sides as she used her open palms across Kumiko’s body, however Kumiko didn’t seem affected by any open palm strike Wei-Hu was landing.
That Drug is enhancing her mana flow and numbing her pain receptors…Where did that girl get such a thing…
Wei-Hu thought as she continued the battle with the enhanced Kumiko up until Korvos and Kimura’s arrival.
