19] Is that me? Is that me stronger than me!? I'll F*ing KILL ME!!!

(Shin PoV, City B5 Shopping mall)

Hikari and I are just wandering around looking at things, buying stuff that seems cool, and just having a good time.

Shin- "I wonder what kind of games they have here?" I say this, as I haven't really had time to play games or even buy a game system. Not that I'm really interested, I just wonder what the knockoffs are like.

Hikari- "No clue, but we can go look." She grabs my hand and leads me to a GameGo. The name causes me to facepalm.

***

After getting enough games, consoles, food and other miscellaneous crap, we run into someone familiar.

Ray is walking around with a slushie in his hands, drinking it as he wanders around.

Shin- "Why must we always run into people that we know on the outings!?" I mutter this, but Hikari still picks it up. Unfortunately before she could say something, Ray notices us.

Ray- "Hey! It's Hikari and her overprotective brother!" I silently groan.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Shin- "What does it look like?" I say this, motioning to the mountain of bags.

Ray- "*Slurps drink aggressively* I dunno, a date?" Hikari's face flushes red, and she quickly shifts her glance. Apparently he was joking, because his face and tone seemed rather uninterested as he said that.

Shin- "We're obviously shopping." It's none of your business either way.

"What are you doing?" I shift my stance to a more relaxed one, keeping my gaze lingering on his form.

Ray- "Nothing much, just exploring. I'm rather new here, so I just wanted to see what's up." I suddenly feel a wave of killing intent rush over me, but it isn't coming from Ray. I can tell that he feels it too.

Ray looks around, trying to locate the cause of this pressure. I walk up to him and whisper just loud enough so he can hear me.

Shin- "Don't make it so obvious, the killing intent isn't directed at us. Whoever is giving off this amount of it is strong." Ray nods, but I can see some sweat forming on his face.

Ray- "Do you know where this is coming from?" He whispers back to me. I return his question with a shake of my head.

Shin- "We should just leave naturally, make it seem like we don't notice it." Ray's eyes widen.

Ray- "What about the people here? They might get caught up in whatever is happening, and what happens to the person they're trying to kill?" 

So he isn't like the original Black, it seems he just looks the same. He may be a transmigrator like me, I'll need to study him more. Crap, now I have to come up with a bull crap reason to make it seem like I have a way to save whoever they're targeting.

Shin- "We have to leave so we can observe from the shadows, and catch the culprit off guard."

He nods, and I turn back to Hikari. 

"Hey, we-" I suddenly see someone who may be very important to the future of this world. 

She has dark blue hair, bright red eyes, and an extremely attractive face. The only reason I can even tell that this is who I think it is, is that she's only four feet eight inches tall.

Hikari- "What were you saying?" I quickly snap out of my thoughts, and answer her.

Shin- "I'll be right back, I saw someone I know." She looks a bit worried or something.

"Follow Ray, don't make a big commotion. Tell him that I'm going a different way." She nods, and does what I say.

I immediately activate Hikari's Aura Manipulation and look for the girl I saw previously. Her aura is a fiery orange, with traces of red and a void-like color at the center.

How am I going to get her on my side? I never expected to find her in this place, as she's supposed to be in City C7. I can't just walk up to her and say something stupid...

Her name is Phoenix Light, and she is one of the only pure neutral characters in The Weight of a Tempest. With Phoenix Flames, Wings of Immortality, and Limit Break. 

She's also one of the most powerful characters in the whole novel, if not THE most powerful character. The only problem with making her like me, is that she's totally neutral...

I need to do this correctly, or I'll seem like a creep. 'Hey, I know you're lazy, do you want to live at my house for free?' That's not going to work... 

Maybe I can 'accidentally' bump into her, or maybe jump in front of her to prevent her from being hurt by an attack? That's it! I know what to do.

***

(Phoenix PoV)

I walk over to the store that holds the newest game console, and look into the glass.

Phoenix- "Hmm... ARGH! I wish I had more freaking money!" But alas, I remain broke. I need a friend to mooch off of.

I turn around and huff as I shove my hands into my hoodie jacket. As I start walking back to the entrance I run into someone.

???- "Ah, sorry! Are you okay?" I nod, looking at this stranger.

Phoenix- "I'm fine, I was lost in my own thoughts. It's my bad, I wasn't paying attention." The person looks at my clothes and notices something.

???- "I spilled my drink on you, I'm so sorry!" I look down and see a dark spot on my sleeve.

Phoenix- "It's fine, it's only the sleeve." He shakes his head, and immediately crosses his arms.

???- "No way, I messed it up, so I'll buy you a new one." Well, he said he would get a new one so...

Phoenix- "I guess... Fine, let's go somewhere cheap." His eyebrow raises slightly.

???- "I have to repay you, and I don't think just a cheap hoodie is enough. I'll buy you a meal too, whatever you want. It's on me." I am taken aback by how gracious this person is, and it makes me a little suspicious. Oh well, I'll deal with that after he gives me free stuff.

Just then an explosion goes off, and it shakes the whole building. I sigh and start walking towards it.

"Wait, where are you going? It's dangerous over there!" The stranger runs up to where I am and walks with me.

Phoenix- "I'm going to deal with whatever that was, it ruined my chance to get free stuff." The stranger seems confused, but then holds back a laugh.

???- "Got it! Mind if I join you?" I look at him with confusion.

Phoenix- "Are you sure? I mean, you could die." He shrugs it off.

???- "Meh." I chuckle at his statement.

"What?"

Phoenix- "I just thought that your reaction was perfect, it's exactly what I would have said."

So we walk over to the place where the explosion was, and I see that it's covered in flames.

Shin- "Jeez, lots of fire." On the way here we exchanged names, as the author found it annoying to keep writing question marks when it was obvious who it was.

Phoenix- "It could be worse."

Shin- "How so?" I point to a shambling person through the flames.

Phoenix- "Zombies." Shin sighs and he pulls out a facial distortion mask and puts it on.

"Oh, you just have one of those?" He smiles.

Shin- "I got it as a gift." He then holds his hand out and a black sword thing appears. Okay, I guess I'll let him deal with this.

(Shin PoV)

I dash forward, cutting the head off of that zombie. Only to see dozens more rush out of that store.

"Yikes, not a big fan of these things." I extend my blade and mow through all of them.

"Too bad, I'll have to deal with it anyway in a couple years... Why are they here now?" I walk into that store, before seeing a group of people. They are abnormally tall, with the shortest being at least six feet.

My eyes open wide as I see a face that looks familiar. It's Hikari, just way tall. She makes eye contact with me, before squinting and running away with the others.

"What the heck?"

(Hikari PoV)

I chill outside with Ray, who has a panicked expression on his face. I'm about to say something when an explosion rings out, causing Ray to get serious.

Ray- "Where is your brother? I think his presence is vital, as he was able to calmly deduce the situation." I shrug.

Hikari- "As I said before, he said he was going a different way. I have no clue where he is." Ray makes a funny face before grunting and materializing a huge sword.

Ray- "I can't just stand here while people are possibly getting hurt!" He flickers away, and I sigh.

Hikari- "I guess I should follow him, it IS what Shin said to do."

I activate my Aura Manipulation, to track where Ray went. Unfortunately, being in such a crowded area causes me to get a headache. But I do catch a glimpse of someone who has the exact same Aura signature as me, and it's much bigger.

I disable my Aura Manipulation to see my face attached to the person that is spitting out that immense Aura.

Hikari- "Is that me? Is that me stronger than me!?"