Second Encounter

“What…are you doing here!?” Ruiko and Sekai asked simultaneously,

“You should be in the hospital!” Sekai said in surprise.

“I…” Ruiko clenched her fists and relaxed them, “Just go.” Ruiko brushed past her, but Sekai moved along with her.

“Listen! You’ll never escape if you don’t tell other people what’s going on!” Sekai insisted,

“If I tell you what’s really happening, you’ll die.” Ruiko shot back at him, “No two ways about it.” This finally caused Sekai to falter, and Ruiko took the opportunity to move away from him.

“Come on, she clearly doesn’t-” Antei insisted, but Sekai brushed her off, a move that left her shocked.

“I know what you’re involved in is dangerous…” Sekai sighed, “But still…! I want to help!”

“You’re an idiot.” Ruiko didn’t turn around, clenching her fists. “After all, you’ve seen…you can really just say something as cliche as that!?”

“Yeah.” Sekai took a step forward, “I can.”

Sekai was about to reach out toward her, but without warning, a loose metal pipe came flying out from nowhere, spinning dangerously and barely avoiding his outstretched arm before clattering against a nearby wall.

“What the hell!?” Antei said, shocked. “Did you do that?!”

“I did.” Ruiko confirmed, “Next one won’t miss.”

“We’re just trying to help, you freak!” Antei shouted, “No wonder you’re being hunted if this is how you treat people!”

That last comment truly set her off, and Ruiko whirled around to face them at last. “Who the hell do you think you are!? You know nothing about me!” She screamed and a shockwave of force emanated from her, rattling loose signposts and causing several loose articles to fall over.

Instinctively, Sekai and Antei crossed their arms in front of their faces, shielding themselves from the ominous radiation of force.

“You don’t…you don’t understand!” Ruiko turned away from them, and Sekai could’ve sworn he saw the signature glitter of tears as she bolted away.

“Tch!” Sekai began to start after Ruiko, but Antei grabbed his arm.

“Are you nuts? She’s clearly not mentally well and she has some kind of weird power, and you’re going to chase her like some kind of protagonist?!” Antei argued,

“She needs help,” Sekai said simply, and pulled away from Antei to chase after Ruiko.

“You damn idiot…” Antei muttered to herself, clenching a hand in front of her chest.

⸻

While all this was going on, a group of unmarked black vans was ominously approaching their location.

“She’s on the move again!” Hina announced, staring at a screen with a bright red dot once again beginning to move.

“Why did she even stop in the first place?” Hoshida wondered, and Hina shrugged.

“She gave us a start on her at least.” Hina shrugged, “Don’t ask me to read her mind, I’m a scientist, not a miracle worker.”

Hoshida leaned in over the screen, before grabbing his chest mounted radio. “Vehicles 3 and 4, prepare to head them off by the bridge.”

“Ashikawa Bridge?” Hina tilted her head curiously at him,

“We will funnel her there, tight space, she can’t do a whole lot on it.” Hoshida explained,

“Wow, so you do have some higher thinking capacity in that metal dome of yours.” Hina remarked,

“You shouldn’t even be here,” Hoshida shot back, “You should be minding your own business in a lab in Hokkaido.”

“Ruiko is my own business.” Hina shot at him, all of her usual sarcasm and bite gone, replaced with a cold, scholarly demeanor unbefitting of her youth, “The I.K isn’t a joke, it either kills its victims or turns them into superhuman Immunes - or both. As our healthiest Immune, Ruiko is far too valuable to leave to you and your gang.”

Hoshida didn’t respond, simply taking a drag of his cigarette.

“Don’t smoke in the van, haven’t you ever heard of second-hand smoking? It’s a real thing you know.” Hina scolded the older man, who promptly sighed, before briefly opening the back door of the van to exhale and throw out the cigar before closing it quickly.

“Better?” He asked, and Hina sighed.

“I was asking you to quit smoking all together…” Hina shook her head,

⸻

Ruiko finally stopped, only to hear the distinctive sounds of someone running behind her.

“You’re persistent.” Ruiko said bitterly,

“I won’t leave you alone.” Sekai smiled softly,

“You’re not a hero for doing this.” Ruiko stated, “Just a dumbass.”

Sekai didn’t say anything, and she continued: “You probably think I’m just some girl to be saved, and you’re the lucky guy who is going to do it. News flash: I’m not. This isn’t going to end neatly, Serpentine won’t just stop coming after me, and even if they did - the I.K Virus won’t cease to exist either. Someone will always be hunting me, no matter what.”

“Maybe.” Sekai shrugged, “But…I also know that if I don’t do this I’ll always be looking back with regrets.”

“So you’re not even a dumbass, just a selfish asshole.” Ruiko said bitterly, “I’ll say this one last time: I. Don’t. Need. Saving!!!”

Making a lifting motion with her arm, a nearby trash bin elevated supernaturally, following the movements of her arm.

Ruiko swept the arm forward, and it surged forth towards Sekai, leaving him with no time to react as it caught him head on, sending him flying with it and leaving him gasping for air.

“Jackass.” Ruiko muttered softly, “If you had simply kept living your life…If I hadn’t gotten involved with you…”

With those words, Ruiko kneeled before Sekai, who had been knocked unconscious.

“I didn’t mean to hit you so hard…I’m sorry.” Ruiko gently patted his hair,

‘I might not have known you for long…but you’re a good hearted person.’ Ruiko thought to herself, leaving Sekai alone as she continued running.

⸻

After a few minutes Sekai finally came to, groaning in pain, ‘What the hell…?’ He wondered, ‘What happened?’ He pushed the trash bin off of himself,

‘I lost consciousness…? For how long!?’ Sekai wondered, forcing himself to get up, and aggravating some newly formed bruises.

“Damn it…! I don’t want this to end without me doing anything!!” Sekai muttered to himself, stumbling forward a little, only to be forced back as a convoy of vans passed in front of him.

Unmarked, black, vans.

“Is that Serpentine!?!” Sekai said to himself, ‘They must be heading in the same direction as Ruiko…!’

“I have to save her…! I don’t want these endlessly repeating days!” With those words driving him onward, Sekai moved forward to save a girl for the first time.

⸻

Hoshida watched the monitor in the van with a hawk-like gaze. “She’s moving right as we want her. Stay just close enough so we can nab her once she gets on the bridge.” Hoshida ordered,

“We got it Boss.” The driving mercenary stated,

“Come on now Ruiko…” Hina muttered to herself worriedly, “Just give it up…!”

“We’re coming up on Ashikawa Bridge now, it seems she’s encountered the other squads.” Hoshida noted, “Is the area clear?”

“We’ve closed down local roads, and the police have been ordered to stand down. There will be no interference this time.” A second operator working beside Hina confirmed

“Alright, here we are.” Hoshida grabbed a firearm, a modified rifle designed to fire tranquilizer rounds.

“Let’s get our wayward citizen.”

⸻

Ruiko was trapped.

There were no two ways about it. As soon as she saw the vehicles on Ashikawa Bridge, she’d tried going the other way, only to see more vans pulling up behind her.

Ruiko steadily began to back towards the railing as tens of Serpentine members steadily surrounded her.

“Ruiko!” Hina stepped forward, “It’s time for this to end. We all know how this plays out.”

Ruiko gritted her fists, looking around, she realized there was nothing she could feasibly move, except maybe…

Raising her arms, she extended the telekinetic force to the one primary threat, their guns, but right as she did so, she felt a sudden sting in her right shoulder, followed by a chill that quickly became a limp coldness.

“Not happening.” Hoshida stated, as Ruiko clutched her paralyzed arm, the numbness rapidly spreading.

‘I made a promise, I can’t let it end here!’ Ruiko thought to herself, as she desperately began looking for a way out…

Despite initially losing sight of the vehicles, it wasn’t all that difficult to find them considering that after a certain point, the street became virtually one way.

Forcing himself to work through the bruises, Sekai was nonetheless forced to slow down and hide once he saw the parked vans.

‘It’s the same guys from before…they’re called ‘Serpentine’, that’s what Ruiko said.’ Sekai thought to himself.

Taking a brief look at the situation, it seemed like they were focused on Ruiko, something Sekai was more than happy to take advantage of.

Walking as quietly as he could, he managed to move along the railing and behind a van without getting spotted. Upon peeking inside, he discovered that - to his luck, it was devoid of people.

Ducking inside, he looked around, his eyes falling on a rack of assault rifles.

‘Guns…’ He swallowed, it was one thing to have a gun aimed at you, it was another to pick it up and aim it at someone else.

‘I won’t have to shoot anyone, I just have to scare them.’ Sekai picked one of the rifles up.

Right as one of the Serpentine mercenaries decided to return to the van.

Immediately, Sekai did the one thing he could, and aimed the rifle. “Don’t move!” He called out, and for a brief moment, the mercenary did freeze, only to smirk to himself.

“You won’t shoot me,” He said confidently, relaxing his stance.

“How do you know that?” Sekai said, waving the gun in an attempt to intimidate the man.

“Well for one…” He began,

“The damn safety is on.” With those words, the mercenary rushed down Sekai, the teenager was at a heavy disadvantage, and both parties knew it. Sekai managed to press himself to the side of the van, letting the Serpentine member tackle empty air before he promptly hit the man on the back with the assault rifle.

The Serpentine mercenary, however, was not so weak as to go down with just that. Getting up easily, he launched himself at Sekai, throwing the pair out of the van with a yelp from the younger boy.

“Thank god we get zip ties.” The man gloated as he forcibly bound Sekai’s hands.

Sekai tried to struggle, but could do nothing against the physically superior man as he pulled him up and dragged him away.

⸻

“Someone get over here! I found this kid stealing a gun!” Ruiko heard a mercenary call from the back, and she immediately paled.

‘Please no.’ Ruiko shook her head, ‘Please don’t let it be him…!’ He was supposed to still be unconscious, but safe.

So why, then, was a mercenary actively dragging a struggling and ziptied Sekai in front of Hoshida and Hina?

This question seemed to be at the forefront of Hoshida’s mind too as he sighed.

“For fucks sake…” Hoshida groaned, “Sekai Kaeru, exactly what are you doing out here? Why were you stealing a gun from us?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” The high school boy shot back, “I’m trying to save Ruiko.”

Hoshida seemed genuinely surprised for a moment, before breaking out in voracious laughter as he bent over to meet Sekai at eye level: “You’ve read one too many manga, kid. How do you plan on taking on dozens of armed and trained men by yourself?” Hoshida chuckled, and Sekai didn’t answer.

“Well…shit.” Hoshida straightened up, and Hina raised an eyebrow.

“You know this kid?” The teenage scientist questioned, and Hoshida shrugged.

“‘Know’ is a strong term.” Hoshida said offhandedly, “I’ve encountered him before, yeah.”

“You tried kidnapping me. And you’re still trying to kidnap Ruiko!” Sekai accused,

“Just in the line of work.” Hoshida waved him off, “Listen, you seem like a nice - a little delusional, but nice - kid. If you promise not to speak about this, then we’ll drop you back home, and we’ll forget all about you.”

Sekai scoffed, “Is the same offer extended to Ruiko?”

Hoshida pinched the bridge of his nose, “...You’re making this harder than it needs to be.” Hoshida muttered,

Hina groaned, “We have no time for this, just administer the kid an amnesiac or something. Who cares if he loses a few hours of memories.”

“Or years.” Hoshida added, and that finally snapped Ruiko out of her surprise.

“Leave him alone!” She started forward,

“...Huh?” Hina turned towards her,

“Leave him alone.” Ruiko insisted,

“No can do Princess, Serpentine works strictly under the radar, witnesses are a big issue.” Hoshida said, pulling out a handgun.

“Wait!” Ruiko extended her working hand, the numbness had not faded, and had even spread, she knew she didn’t have much conscious time left.

“I-I’ll go back with you.” She muttered,

“Wait - seriously?” Hina raised an eyebrow, “You’ll just come back if we let him go?”

Ruiko clenched her hand, and was about to say yes, when Sekai suddenly shouted: “Don’t do it! They’ll probably get rid of me anyway!”

“Don’t you ever shut the fuck up!?” Hoshida stated, pistol whipping the boy to the asphalt of the bridge.

Ruiko gasped, but Sekai continued. “It’s true I don’t know what’s going on…but I know that what Serpentine is doing…isn’t right! I’m probably doing it to look cool - but even so, I’ll fight for you!!”

“That’s it.” Hoshida said in frustration, cocking the pistol, he placed the metal to Sekai’s forehead.

“This gets real, right here, right now.” Hoshida said, “Buzz off, or we kill you.”

“...” Sekai didn’t say anything, he was shaking, he was terrified.

'This is it. He’s gonna kill me.’ Sekai thought to himself, closing his eyes, ‘I am such a dumbass…’

Hina wasn’t saying anything, but seemed lost in thought and was disinterested in what Hoshida was doing.

That left Ruiko.

It was then she could almost hear an innocent voice weakly saying:

‘Hey…Ruiko, promise me…promise me that we'll see the world?’

Ruiko closed her eyes, and sighed.

“No.” Ruiko proclaimed, as the ground began to tremble ominously.

“Oh?” Hoshida turned his head to her, “Have something to say?”

“Yeah…” Ruiko began to take a step forward, a sudden gust of wind sweeping up her long silver hair and exposing her horns, the fading light of sunset at her back.

“I’m not letting you…do whatever you want anymore!!”

And as she shouted those words, a solid pulse of pure telekinetic force radiated out from her, unnaturally bending light itself.