005

Katsurou was in school the next day. He sat at his desk, barely paying attention to what Ms. Fuller was saying. His eyes slowly watched over the entire room, wary of anyone who might know who he truly is.

bzzzt, bzzzzt!

Katsurou took out his phone and quickly became alert. He got out of his seat and ran to the door. "Sorry, I gotta take this, it's an emergency!"

"Ah, Katsurou!"; Ms. Fuller called. But he was already out the door.

Katsurou answered the phone. "Uh, hello?"

"KATSUROU!!! THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE ALIVE!!! Whew! Had me worried for a second! Good to hear ya voice buddy. One thing though… WHY THE HELL IS MY RESTAURANT REDUCED TO ASHES?!!"

"Someone attacked me last night…! It was a girl, she had these guns, and then she starting shooting at me, and I guess something blew up…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. A girl? With guns? Are you pulling my leg right now? My patience is real thin Katsurou. What am I supposed to tell the insurance company?!"

"Uh… tell them it was arson. Look, I gotta go though, I'm at school."

The man sighed from the other side of the phone. "Well… since there's no restaurant, that means you're out of a job… and so am I. Thanks a lot kid."

click.

Katsurou looked at his phone. "It's not like it was my fault…"

A dark-skinned man with a mustache wearing a blue suit suddenly came around the corner. The principal. He raised an eyebrow. "Skipping class again are we, Mr. Diaz?"

'Diaz' was Roland's last name. To cover up Katsurou's past, Roland had him change his last name to his. He couldn't very well walk around with the last name 'Valencia'.

"No, I was taking a phone call. It was important."

"What could possibly be more important than your education?"

"It was about work. The fast food place I worked at burned down last night."

"Uh huh. Head back to class. I don't want to catch you doing this again. Next time there will be consequences."

Katsurou turned around and headed back to class. When he opened the door, the entire room looked his way. Especially Ms. Fuller.

"You have some nerve." she said disapprovingly.

"I—"

"Sit down, Katsurou."

Katsurou quietly went back to his seat and rested his head on his hand.

Time passes, and class comes to an end.

Ms. Fuller is writing something on the chalkboard. "After the bell rings, you all will go straight to Room 204 for Mr. Todd's P.E. Class."

The class started to get a little excited. P.E. was one of the highlights of the day. Fresh air, exercise, and best of all; sports.

Katsurou couldn't have cared less. Instead he pulled out his phone and scrolled through social media.

Turned out that the video of the weird creature from yesterday went viral. There was a lot of buzz around whether it was legit or a simple hoax.

"Don't get too caught up in that stuff."

Katsurou looked up to his right. A boy with short reddish-brown hair and hazel eyes was peering over his shoulder and at his phone. "You'll go crazy trying to make sense of what's real and what's not without seeing it with your own eyes."

Katsurou frowned at him and quickly got up from his seat, stuffing his phone into his pocket.

The boy put his hands up in defense. "Woah! I wasn't trying to be mean or anything!"

Katsurou saw that everyone was looking at him again, so he relaxed. "Sorry… I'm just.. on edge right now."

"It's cool, Grayder." He held his hand out.

Katsurou looked at his hand and decided to shake it. "Katsurou."

"I know who you are. Everyone does."

Katsurou left the class. Grayder followed behind. "Rumor is that you're the strongest high schooler around. Undefeated record, even against groups of three!"

"It's really not that serious…" Katsurou said.

"Oh but it is! Man, I wish I had strength like you. I'd be the coolest guy in school."

Katsurou ignored him.

"What do you think. Mr. Todd is gonna give us today? Basketball? Baseball? Soccer maybe? I hope it's baseball."

Katsurou looked back at him. "You talk too much. Since when were we friends?"

"Just now. Didn't we?"

"I don't recall saying such a thing."

"Ah, don't be like that. You'll really end up dying alone if you keep up that sour attitude of yours."

Girls that were coming down the hall waved at Katsurou with flirtatious looks. "Heyyy Katsurou!"

Katsurou naturally ignored them.

Grayder watched the girls pass by. "You don't even say hey back to the girls?!"

"Why should I?"

"I mean, they're gorgeous!"

"I'm not interested in something so shallow."

"What do you mean?"

Katsurou kept a straight face. "If I were to lose a fight today, none of them would even look my way."

Grayder's expression dropped into a mix of admiration and bewilderment. He stopped talking.

—

Katsurou was out on the track in his gym clothes with a group of other students.

Mr. Todd, a six-foot-four former bodybuilder, stood on the grass with a whistle in his mouth and a clipboard in-hand. "Alright, I want you all to line up for me, and when you hear the whistle, I expect to see full sprints all the way around."

Everyone lined up. Katsurou put his hands on the ground like everyone else and readied himself.

Mr. Todd waited for everyone to get ready. He raised his hand, then blew the whistle.

toot!

The students took off.

One of the boys was ahead of the pack by a few feet. He had very long legs, which gave him a physical advantage over the others.

His name was Ali. He was the captain of the track team, and also the volleyball team. One considered a once-in-a-generational talent.

But even the superstar was shocked watching Katsurou run. He sped past every single person on the track, and ended up beating Ali by four seconds.

Mr. Todd hit a button on his stopwatch and looked at Katsurou in awe. "Eight seconds… Eight seconds!!"

Ali caught up to Katsurou and started catching his breath. "Man, you're fast… I've never seen anyone run like that before."

Katsurou looked at him. "Really…?" He then thought to himself. "I wasn't going that fast though…"

Mr. Todd ran up to Katsurou and put both hands on his shoulders. "Diaz. You HAVE to try out for the track team! No, not even try out, just say the word and you're in!"

Katsurou was unbothered. "Uh… no thanks, I'm not interested in sports.."

"Not interested?!! I'll be damned if I let someone of your caliber slip under my radar!! That time you just ran right there?! That was a world record!"

Katsurou looked away. "Cool… I guess."

"What'll it take to get you on the team?! Just say the word and I'll make it happen!"

"I'm good… I don't want the attention."

Ali laughed out loud. "Drop it coach, it doesn't look like he'll budge!"

Mr. Todd dropped to his knees in tears. "I can't believe this…!"

Ali walked past Katsurou, giving him a look of hostility. "I know what you're doing. You'd better stay in your place. I'M the star here."

Katsurou ignored his words and walked towards the bleachers, where about six girls were sitting.

"You were really fast out there. What's your secret?" one of them asked. She was a brunette, with brown eyes to match.

"Exercise." Katsurou replied flatly.

"There's gonna be a party at my place this weekend. Even though you're a freshman, you should come. You're cool."

Katsurou stopped and looked back at her. "How so?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said I'm cool. How?"

"Well you're strong, fast, good looking—"

Katsurou started walking away. "See you later, I don't care."

The girl stood up, a frown on her face. "Rude! I tried to be nice!"

Katsurou sighed as he entered the building and into the locker room. "It's quiet…" he thought. There was no one in sight.

-

Katsurou headed into the showers with a white towel wrapped around his waist. He stopped walking when he heard footsteps behind him. Next came the chuckling. He turned around.

It was Gavin and his lackeys. Fifteen of them. "Hey, loser." Gavin said.

Katsurou frowned. "This isn't a good time. Can't you see I'm about to take a shower?"

"Like I care!"

"None of you could take me in a fight. And you know that."

Gavin pulled a pocketknife out of his pocket. "Sure about that?"

Katsurou looked at the knife. "Over an insult?"

Gavin chuckled. "Yeah, over an insult. I'm gonna make sure I make something clear; NO ONE makes fun of me. Get him!!"

The boys stormed the showers, eager to take Katsurou down.

Katsurou weaved out of the first one's way, then ducked the second, and swept his foot underneath to knock them off-balance.

The third one ran at him with a wooden bat. He swung. Katsurou shifted to the side and jabbed him in his temple, putting him to sleep.

The next three came at him at once. Katsurou grabbed the fist of one and spun him around to use as a shield, after which the other delinquent slugged him in the face on accident.

"You son of a—!"

Katsurou jabbed him in his face, he grabbed his nose in pain.

The next one tried kicking him in the head, so Katsurou ducked under his leg, got behind him, and knocked his head into the wall. He fell to the floor with a nosebleed.

The others started to think twice before running at Katsurou. They slowly backed away. "H-He's crazy!"

Gavin pushed them out of his way. "Move! You wimps couldn't hit a wall if you tried!" He flipped the knife in his hand so that the blade pointed downward.

Katsurou looked around him, to see if there was something he could use as a weapon. He picked up the bat.

—

Mr. Todd was sitting on the bleachers, defeated, when he saw a black SUV with tinted windows pull up into the parking lot.

The doors opened, and out came five people in black shawls and hoods. Each robe had a golden cross on the front. One of the men was wearing clothes unique to the others. He had a blond undercut, blue eyes, and wore white and gold clothing.

Mr. Todd's eyes widened. He immediately got off the bleachers and got down on one knee. "The Council…! It's an honor, what brings you here?" He then thought, "And one of the Seven Angels at that…!"

The man in white and gold stopped in front of him. "Gabriel. One of the Seven Angels. I'm here on classified business. Do not worry yourself." He and the other hooded figures went inside the building.

—

Katsurou suddenly stopped moving. "What is this… bad feeling?" he thought. "Like something is… very wrong."

Gavin smirked. "Get cold feet?" He lunged at him.

Katsurou ducked under the knife and made a run for it. He slid around the corner, grabbed his clothes, and ran out of the locker room.

Gavin turned around. "Heh. He got scared. I'll get him one of these days."

foom!

The locker room door swung open. It was Gabriel. He looked around.

Gavin quickly hid the knife. "What the—?"

Gabriel looked at him. He then quickly lost interest and ran to the same door Katsurou left out of.

Gavin let out a sigh of relief. "That was the Council… are they after Katsurou? What for?"

-

Katsurou sped down the school halls in just his pants, no shirt, and no shoes.

The principal watched him as he sped by. "HEY!! DIAZ!! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!!"

Katsurou couldn't afford to pay attention to his warning. Something was telling him from the bottom of his very being that something was chasing him. Something terrible.

Gabriel made it to the hallway and looked both ways. He jumped, and glowing blue feathered-wings extended from his back. He flew down the hall at breakneck speed, knocking the principal off his feet. "T-The Council?!" he exclaimed.

Katsurou ran out the school's front door and made a break for it. He dashed down the sidewalk, getting faster and faster until an arm reached out from an alleyway and pulled him in. "What—?!"

woosh!

Gabriel zoomed down the sidewalk in a blur, still looking for Katsurou.

Katsurou watched as the blur passed him by. There was a hand over his mouth. He looked at his captor. It was a woman, one several years older than him. She peeked outside, and decided to remove her hand from Katsurou's face.

Katsurou caught his breath. "What was that about?! Who are you?!"

The woman had short black hair. She wore a dirty white tank top and baggy jeans. She ran down the alleyway. "Follow me. If you wanna live, that is."

Katsurou looked back. He made the decision to follow her.

The woman hopped on top of a dumpster and jumped off a brick wall to make it over a tall metal fence.

Katsurou simply climbed the fence.

The woman led Katsurou onto a busy backstreet and headed down another alleyway towards a metal ladder. She climbed up to a flat concrete rooftop.

Katsurou made it up the ladder seconds later.

The woman looked back at him.

Katsurou frowned. "What's going on?! Who are you, where are we, and why am I being chased?!"

The woman smirked. "Name's Andrea. This is my place."

Katsurou looked around. "Why the rooftop though?"

Andrea walked towards a door. "This way."

Katsurou reluctantly followed.

Inside was a staircase of white tile flooring, with white walls.

"It stinks." Katsurou said.

"Deal with it."

At the end of the stairs was a place that looked like a shabby studio apartment.

Andrea dug into her fridge to grab a beer then plopped down on a brown couch and kicked her feet up. She waved her hand lazily. "Feel free to make yourself at home."

Katsurou didn't move another inch. "What… is going on?"

Andrea opened the beer with her teeth and spat out the cap. She took a chug. "So you're a total newbie then?"

"Huh?" He pointed at her dryly. "Are you some sort of gangster…?"

Andrea laughed. "Do I give off that vibe?" She took another chug. "First time being chased?"

Katsurou's expression softened. "She did help me after all…" he thought. "Nah. Some girl tired to kill me last night."

"Oh. I see. Those are Jaegers. Members of the Council who hunt down the supernatural."

"Jaegers…"

"So. What are you? If an Angel is after you, you're definitely not human."

Katsurou stayed silent.

Andrea closed her eyes. "I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say that you're a vampire."

Katsurou immediately scowled at her.

"Hm. So I'm right. No wonder they called out an Angel."

"I'm supposed to trust you?"

"Not really. I'm a demon, so technically we're mortal enemies."