Chapter 17

Death was part of life. People lived, died, and there was nothing that could be done about it. I'd seen death- killed a person not too long ago. It still felt like some distant dream. As if it wasn't real.

Could people die so easily? All I did was reach out and curl my fingers and it was over. I barely remember what that girl looked like, but the sickening crunch would probably never leave my mind.

And then there was that woman. She'd died in a fiery explosion without warning. Surely she was confident that everything would be alright. But it wasn't and the one responsible for it all was Minaka. She never had a chance, to begin with.

I blew a sigh and shook my head.

"Seems like no one followed us home," Hans spoke. He closed the curtains and shook his head. "Things just went to shit. Fuck, can't we have one simple day?"

Yeah. I was feeling about the same there. We'd been here less than two a week and a half, but almost every day felt like it had some sort of ordeal for us to overcome. If it wasn't a robot, it was something to do with Minaka.

"Eh, yeah, it sucked," Beinitsubasa said with a shrug. "The lady seemed alright. Shame she died."

A shame? I'd say it was a bit more than that.

Hans stared at her and shook his head.

"Think I'm going to go to my room and de-stress a bit," he said with a grumble. "If you need me, please knock. I probably won't hear you."

With that, he turned around and left the living room. I could really use a distraction too, but there was something I had to do first. I waited for Hans to be far enough away before moving towards Benitsubasa.

She was sitting on the couch, flipping through channels.

"Man, isn't there something interesting on? Just some bad movies and stupid reality tv shows."

I took a seat next to her and calmly sucked in a breath.

"Hey."

She blinked and looked at me, brow furrowing a bit.

"Hey? What is it?"

"…"

"How do you feel about the woman's death?" Out of everyone, she seemed the least affected. I wasn't sure if that was a red flag or anything. The best thing to do would be to talk it out.

"Bad, I guess?" she said with a shrug and turned back to the TV, clicking the remote in search of something to watch. "But people die every day, right? What's so different about this?"

"So you'd feel the same If it happened to me?" Her constant button pressing stopped.

"What? Are you trying to pick a fight?" she said with a huff. "Of course not! I'd be pissed! P-Probably really sad too!"

The corners of my lips rose and I let out a small, relieved sigh.

"Then, do you think you'd be able to kill a person?"

She hesitated, but only for a moment.

"I guess," she replied with a shrug. "I was part of the disciplinary squad. We were basically the enforcers, right? If Sekirei tried to escape, we were supposed to swoop in and beat them down."

She paused, considering what to say next.

"I never killed anyone, but accidents happen, right? I knew that and so did everyone else."

"Ah, ok. I think I understand," I said with a nod. "You're a lot more desensitized to death than Hans or me."

She winced, eyes falling down to her lap.

"Is that bad? Do you think less of me because of it?" There was a hint of shame and disappointment in her voice.

"Not at all," I quickly shot back and reached out with my left hand, stitching my fingers with her own. "I think MBI just… I don't know, messed up your childhood. Death shouldn't be something you just brush aside."

She bit her lower lip and twisted those rosy lips of hers into a frown.

"Probably, yeah. But it's not like I can do anything about it."

What had been done could not be undone. That was the point of the matter.

"That's ok," I said, releasing her fingers and curling my hand around her shoulder. I pulled her closer.

"You're weird," she said with a sigh. "Did this really get to you so much?"

I guess it was her turn to ask me questions. It was only fair after everything I asked, I supposed.

"Yeah. But that wasn't the worst of it," I shook my head, a small ember of anger building inside me. "I honestly wanted to punch that bastard in the face."

Benitsubasa raised a brow.

"Then why didn't you? I was just about ready to do it myself."

"It felt like it would be too dangerous," I said after a moment of thought. "The guy could blow things up by just looking at them. What If he could do that to you and Hans before we could knock him out?"

In the end, it didn't really matter. Hans was as fast as lightning. All it took was a single punch for him to break his nose and smash his face. If I knew it would have been that easy, I'd have done it myself.

"I guess that's why you're the smart one," Benitsubasa said with a shrug. "If the guy could have done that, then we'd have been in serious trouble."

She said with a laugh.

"Hans would probably be the first one to get exploded. The guy has a shorter temper than me, and that's saying a lot!"

I couldn't help but grin at that.

"Yeah, that surprised me. He's usually the quiet one, but he blew up there."

"Yep. So don't worry about it," she said and gave me a quick hug. "Just try and keep us both out of trouble and everything will be fine."

She took a second to muse on her next words, rising from the couch.

"And I guess we'll be there to push you into gear if you're too slow? I don't know. I'm horrible at this motivational crap."

I burst into laughter.

"Well, it's working so far."

She smiled.

"Great. Now, I'm pretty tired. Want to go sleep?"

I blew a yawn and stood up.

"Yeah. Sleep would be good now."

The two of us nodded and headed for our rooms. As we passed Hans' door, we heard the sound of lasers and fast-paced music. He'd probably be up all night playing that game.

But that was fine. Everyone dealt with this kind of stuff differently.

I just hoped tomorrow would be a better day.

=======

Time just seemed to fly. A day turned to two and then to three. Yet not a single peep had come from Minaka. I'd expected someone to at least come and talk to us. Either that or for Minaka to try and make our lives a bit worse. But all had been silent on the home front.

As the days passed, so to did we feel less and less weighed down by death. No one could have stopped it. I only saw the barest hints a moment before the explosion. While the sense of guilt faded, our anger was a bit slower to go.

If I ever saw that asshole again, I'd give him a punch of my own.

As for what we did, well, there wasn't much. We rarely left the house, a bit too cautious that we might get attacked. It wasn't that we were afraid that they could hurt us, but rather that we didn't want to start another fight.

Hans spent most of his time playing that MMO of his. He tried getting Benitsubasa and me into it, but we didn't get too far. It was a bit too slow for me, and honestly, I didn't feel like playing games right now.

Benitsubasa also just sucked at those kinds of games.

"I'm better with fighting games!" she'd told us.

I was a bit jealous of how easily Hans could distract himself with games. The guy could sit in front of his laptop for hours and not get bored.

Benitsubasa had other ideas to distract herself. Mainly, she wanted to keep teaching me how to actually fight.

"You punch like a girl! And not a strong girl, but like, a little girl? No, wait, that's not true… whatever! You need to work on your punches!"

Once again, I was reminded that she was an actual professional fighter. Well, as professional as the Disciplinary Squad could be. When I wasn't using any of my powers, she easily kicked my ass.

"It's fine! Those bruises are like badges of honour! I used to come all black and blue from my training sessions! Man, those guys sucked, but they were great teachers!"

I didn't know what pissed me off more- getting punched repeatedly or learning that someone did the same thing to a younger Benitsubasa.

"Alright. I don't like hurting you, but you gotta learn how to take a punch! So here, grit your teeth!"

Was that what people called tough love? The worst part of it all was that I knew she was holding back. With every punch, she winced. By the end of our little training sessions, I only had a few light bruises here and there.

Of course, that wasn't all. To apologize for it all, she'd give me a few lessons on Japanese and we'd try to work on that translating bond link of ours.

"Sorry. Let me know if I'm going too hard."

Her massages were great though. I wasn't a masochist or anything like that, but I really could go for these massages every day. Granted, they weren't at a professional level, but it was obvious that she'd been practicing. With each day that passed, it all started to feel better and better. By the end of the week, she was at a point that I wouldn't mind paying.

But not that much.

With training being Benitsubasa's distraction, I dabbled in an old hobby of mine. Namely, reading stuff. Clearly, something had gone wrong in this universe. The fanfics and other stories they had here sucked! And that was saying a lot, cause there was some truly horrible stuff back home.

Then again, maybe it was just the fact that I didn't know most of the stuff in this place? There were some familiar shows and books, but they were all changed very slightly. It was enough to make me stop.

With no stories to read, I turned my attention to something else. Powers! Everyone loved powers. I loved powers. There was a single goal in my mind. Learn how to fly with my telekinesis!

It was easier said than done. Lifting up a car was easy enough, but trying to do the same with my body gave me a headache. If it was just that, I could have tolerated it. But compared to lifting objects, trying to move my body was like trying to perform surgery with a pair of winter gloves.

It felt like one wrong move would have me breaking an arm or a leg. In fact, that almost happened. Thankfully, I managed to escape with only a bruised ankle.

Benitsubasa was not happy for multiple reasons. First, it cut into her training and second-

"Don't be an idiot! You need to take better care of yourself!" she huffed while applying an ice pack to my ankle. And she sat beside me for the rest of the day. "When you try this again, I'm going to be there! You hear?"

It wasn't all a bust, though. I couldn't control my own body very precisely, but my clothing was a different matter. I'd tried it a bit later and managed to basically drag myself along by my shoes and shirt. I did accidentally pants myself in front of Benitsubasa, but she didn't seem to mind.

And so, the days continued to pass. Eventually, we did decide to just say screw it. If MBI wanted to start something, we'd finish it. And so, the three of us went out to eat at a restaurant.

It was traditional Japanese food, which Benitsubasa loved.

"You two aren't eating your sushi. Can I have it?"

Both Hans and I gladly gave her our share.

"Thanks!"

And so, with our stomachs full and our mood a bit higher, we headed for home. Or so I thought.

"Actually, a friend of mine says they really wanted something from this store. Do you mind If we stop by and take a look?"

What?

"I'm sorry, a friend?" Benitsubasa asked with a suspicious look in her eyes. "When did you have time to make a friend?"

It was a good question.

Hans blushed and let out a small chuckle.

"Just an online one. It'll be quick."

I turned and looked at the store we'd stopped by. Was this… a figurine shop?

Was this actually for a friend? Eh, I wasn't one to judge.

"Sure."

I hoped he found what he was looking for.