Zeno Act 4 Chapter 18 Crumbling Facade

You ever have those days where everything was going smoothly? The times where atleast it was calm and undisturbing? You know those days were everything was 'fine' until, for some reason, it all comes crashing down one way or the other... If I knew today was going to be one of those days....I would have NEVER agreed to let Ohgi take me on this little tour.

....It if it wasn't for her.....I wouldn't have ended up this way. So cold, uptight....cautious...emotionless.....I wouldn't be a walking husk of what I used to be....

Now I have to force myself to look "aproachable". Because of her.....I would have "fake" everything I got left.

It was her fault why this facade of mine was born.....and it will be today that it would her fault why that same facade will crumble through everything between my fingers.

~~~

Me and Ohgi was walking side by side down a couple flight of stairs before exiting onto the second floor. The main hallway was getting busy with foot traffic. Students was travelling to and fro. Some of the girls thought it was a good idea to stand in the middle of the road to hold a converstation. With every passing second the walking route was growing smaller. With us transporting Wiz's cargo, the crowd wasn't doing us no favors. Despite that though we had no intention on going back on our word.

"I'm rather surprised Wiz comes here too."---"What is she? Your lover?" Ohgi teased at me. I bumped into him slightly as a response. His pile of materials almost slipped from his grasp, almost falling by some random passerby. "Hey watch it!"----"Sorry!"

"She's attractive, but we're nothing more but co-workers."----"Co-workers?"----"You know the convience store me and your Dad works at?"-----"Oh! Damn if such a hot girl worked there why didn't you tell me?" A small perverted grin slid across his face. "Because its none of my business?" I responded speaking as if it was only logical.

"Don't tell me. You plan on making a move on her?" I followed up. "Eh." Jesus..that smile of his died ten times over.. "I don't make moves on anyone just because of their looks you know." he replied speaking in a more mature manner.

Obviously he took matters like this seriously. He despises playboys who thinks girls are just toys to fool around with.

"Not like you had moves in the first place." I snickered. "I will smack you." It only lasted a second or two, but in that moment we was chuckling together.

I may not express it often, but I actually enjoy the meaningless banter between the two of us. It helps me tune out the more...serious matters from my brain.

"You know I'm honestly surprised you called her attractive."----"What you mean?"---"No offense or anything, but honestly you seem to give off mad asexual vibes." Asexual huh....hmm. I guess I wouldn't be surprised if I ever got a reputation like that. "Well I can assure you my friend. I am a perfectly normal heterosexual male."----"Oh yeah? Prove it then."

How the fuck does a person prove if they are straight or not? My tone of voice and eyebrows shifted into a more "the fuck?" type of manner. "Relax. I was just joking."

"Jesus. You can be such a headache you know that?"----"And you can be such a tsudere sometimes." He chuckled at me again. Listen here you idiot. I'm not doing this on purpose alright?

I swear...the more I talk with him, the more opprotunites I give him to talk more then he should. So to my distaste, I closed my eyes as I swallowed my words and replaced it with a bitter sigh.

"Hey watch it." Ohgi called out to me, trying to warn me of something. Though by the time I realized what he said the banners had already flew from my hand. Of course I came into a collision with some student.

"Ow..." the boy groaned slightly. His head and ass in pain. Our accident had knocked the two of us off our center of gravity and tumbled to the floor. That....shouldn't have happened so easily. Sure I'm not too up on my guard right now, and I'm not saying toppling me over isn't impossible but to do so would require some moderate and intentional effort.... "Sorry about that..." I replied. "No no. Its mostly my fault." replied the male...now that I listen closely doesn't it sound rather obstructed?

As I come back to gather what spilled over, I glance over to the student in question. The boy looked a bit on the average side. He had  black hair with a roughish extertior, almost similar to mine and Ohgi's hairstyle. Three bangs hanged behind his ears and in between his blue to red gradient eyes. However there was four things that stuck to me as striking.

One. He wore a thick plated black face mask that covered only his jawline with strict looking strings attached to his ears. It look similar to a muzzled beast if that helps with the description.

Two. On the men's department he was a tad short. Perhaps five two? Nah maybe you could round it up to five three..

Number three was the last but most important. The boy looked young, about a year or two younger then me perhaps. But that face of his....My sixth sense tingled a bit in his presence. This....sensation was on par with a veteran soldier who returned home from war.... It wasn't intimidating like that Shayna character from before, but it was subtle as if some powerful instinct was being.....suppressed? His eyes seemed to tell a tale that even I might have a hard time reading.

As for number four....no I won't jump to THAT conclusion yet. I would need to have a private talk with him to confirm my suspicions.

"You good mate?" the boy asked. Becoming lost in my analysis of him, I had just realized he was extending his hand to pull me up. Of course since I was taller than him he had a bit of difficulty doing that....or so I thought.

His grasp was firm, yet ice cold. Just touching it almost sent shivers down my spine. His pull on me was steady, yet strong. He practically pulled me upward as if uprooting loose garden weeds.

"A thousand apologies sir, however there is a place I need to be at the moment." He took a stiff bow, addressing me like I was some overseas military major. And before I knew it he had ran past me. After processing what just happened for a quick second, I look back behind me. Like a ghost he disappeared into the crowd without a trace. Not even my sixth sense could pick up on that presence I felt....

"Who the hell was he?" I asked. Ohgi came up next to me, glancing in the direction he took off. "I don't know, but you do know he ran off with your wallet right?"----"Huh? Oh I know."----"Wait so you're going to let him get away like that!? If we ditch these and hurry we should be able to catch him in a minute flat."----"Don't bother. Me and you probably stand a chance, but I know his type. If he's on the level of what I assume, chasing him would just end up being a waste of time for all of us. Besides hunting him down in the first place would be pointless." Ohgi was confused as to what I meant by this.

Remember when I thought how in order to topple me over would require 'intentional effort'? Yeah, I was already suspicious of him the moment we collided. Somewhere during the little scene he tried to pickpocket me. After successfully obtaining what he was searching for he quickly made a getaway exit....or so how the illusion would go anyways.

Since it would be annoying to explain it into words for Ohgi, I decided to protray what I mean through actions. I reached and unzipped the small and subtle satchet I carried on my hip. After flipping through some organized contents, I pulled out an exact replica of what my wallet looks like.

....hmm well I guess the better word would be the 'original'.

Inside that wallet obviously held all my money, ID, other private licenses and information a normal citizen would need. "Wait....but didn't he just?" If you can put two and two together then you should be able to figure out that the one he made away with was a convincible looking counterfeit.

The counterfeit one was in my pockets and my real one was strategically placed in my statchet. I'm aware of the multiple types of pickpocketers that exists, and more importantly I know how to deal with each of them accordingly. I could go on and on of the simple, yet complex looking way of how I play my cards to keep myself safe from these situations....but honestly I'm not in the talkative mood right now and I'm sure you don't want me to talk your ears off either.

"So you didn't lose nothing?"---"He did manage to run off with a couple of bucks and a nice looking wallet, but thats about it."----"Wait...so he DID steal something."---"Yeah, but its nothing more but chump's change by comparison. If he knew he failed at getting something, he would only be interested in coming back to me again."

Besides if I really wanted to hunt him down and get back what he took I already have the most important detail. "Plus.....I know his face now."

~~~

"You arrived at your destination. Kendo club right on your right." Ohgi said in a tone similar to the voice of a GPS navigator system. According to him it should have only taken us five or six minutes to arrive, but with the crowd we had to endure the walk for a whole eleven. During that time I started to feel familiar gazes that felt more hostile by the passing minute.

Fortunately it wasn't that gaze from yesterday, but it was the "homing missiles" I sensed earlier today. Even now I could tell that he was being watched by observant eyes. What the hell did they want with him?

I looked towards Ohgi hoping for some sort of answer. However his expression told me he was pre-occupied with some other matter. His face quickly became flushed with worry and tension. His hand was hesistating to reach for the doorknob.

"You good man?" I asked. No response... His state of breathing slowly increased. It was as if he was trying to muster up courage. Whatever this club was....or whoever was on the inside had terrified him. I quickly assessed my enviroment.

On the exterior there wasn't much to observe. The door itself seemed normal besides the sakura petal art painted on it. There was two small armor stands standing adjancent to it. The right side one wore a martial arts robe get-up with the second wearing something similar to kendo/fencing training armor. There was of course windows to peer inside, but the indoor blinds were closed. I could only make out the constant footwork and grunts of the students training. I even scanned the surroundings with my sixth sense. Nothing special on my 'radar'.

"Ohgi?" Still in a near petrified state, his mind seemed to wander into PTSD-like thoughts. A cold sweat struck him. After a minute of this scene I decided to take the initiative.

I grabbed the doorknob and push it by a few inches. Its not locked and I don't see no signs of it being booby trapped. Guess its safe? So why was Ohgi so on edge?

Well....about that...

That answer immediately came to me after I fully opened the door. The moment my eyes laid upon that lady....

...

.......

.....Every ounce of my logic and reason died on an upside down cross.