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Crisis Zero
Ch.4 The Assassin

Ch.4 The Assassin

               From the back, Hanabi seems like an innocent and normal 16-year-old teenager, but in truth she is the princess of the Van Astrea family of the Zero dimension. It has been two weeks with Hanabi around and ever since she’s here, life seems to be more interesting and meaningful, I guess having her around isn’t that bad. *bell starts ringing*

  “Alright class is dismissed!” Hanabi walks up to me with her bag in her hand, “Hey Souta, can we drop by the arcade again? I want another stuffed animal to accompany Sniffles.” “But we have to shop for groceries first, Yukina gave me this list of items to buy.” A smile beamed across her face as she grabs my hand, “Let’s go!” Just as we passed by the school gate, there she was again, a girl probably around the same age as Yukina with long silver hair stood outside Sendou High’s school gate seemingly stalking me. It’s been 3 days already, I have noticed her near my house, the market where Yukina and I go to buy groceries and recently even my school, I ought to do something about this.

  “Souta don’t space out! Hurry before the arcade gets crowded!” Hanabi whips the list of items from my hands and ran off to the market without me. Now’s my chance to ask that girl…and in that short span of time, she was nowhere to be seen. “Whatever, Hanabi wait up!” Before long we were at the market, “I’ll go find the top half of the list and you find the bottom half, got it? We really have to hurry before the arcade…” “Ok I got it.” I took the bottom of the list and made my way to the fruits and vegetables section. At the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of the girl again. “Hey, you over there.” She turned around and stared me in the eye and quickly left the store. “Hey hold up!” I ran after her without hesitation and soon enough I caught up to her.

  “You’re fast for a human, I’d give you that.” The girl looks at me calmly and sits down on a bench beside the river. “Thanks for your compliment non-human, do you mind me sitting next to you?” “Not at all.” I sat down on the bench making sure I left a significant gap in between us. “So…my name is…” “You are Souta Kentaro, son of Hinami Kentaro, a student at Sendou High, currently 16 this year and lives with your sister and this girl who calls herself Hanabi.” Holy shit, is she some major league stalker? Why would such a pretty lass like her stalk an unsociable, degenerate shut-in like me? Stop, think straight that’s obviously not the case so, who is she? “So I’m guessing you are stalking Hanabi right? I mean you can’t possibly be stalking me right?"

  “Stalking? You? You indeed have a sharp eye, so my hunch was right, you did notice me after all. Well look, I have zero interest in both you and your sister but this Hanabi girl, do you know who she is?” What does she mean? “She’s just a normal girl, nothing wrong.” I have to keep her identity a secret regardless. “I see, so she hasn’t told you yet, well she is known to those in the Zero Dimension as Elizabeth Van Astrea. A criminal in both dimensions, she is wanted for being an accomplice in co-creating Crisis Zero, I am sure you are wary of that incident. She is responsible for multiple demon lives so I was sent here by under a contract to kill her. I hope you can understand…” “Souta! There you are…where were you? Did you get the other half of…why is she here?” Hanabi drops the groceries on the floor, seemingly ready for combat against this girl. “Souta, get behind me, she is dangerous.” Hanabi dashes in front of me, placing her body in between this girl and I.

  “Hanabi, you know her?” “Yes, she is an assassin under a contract by a rival demon family, people nickname her Tsukuyomi. Why are you after me too? Did Tetsu hire you? I can’t believe you still work for that brat, he clearly wants the Van Astrea gone so he can rule over the Zero Dimension!” Tsukuyomi snickers, “I do this for the money, I can’t be bothered with the Red Crimson clan or you Van Astreas. Yes you are right, he did hire me and promised me sanctuary and protection from those after me. Goddess of the Moon, please heed my call, Tsukino-ha!” A blade curved into the shape of a moon appears in her hand, if I don’t do something now, shit is about to go down...

  “Hey, put the weapon away alright, you wouldn’t want to cause a commotion, we can talk this out alright…” Before I knew it, I felt a sharp pain in my leg, a minor gash formed on my calf as I fell over in pain. “Souta!” “Hanabi stay there, don’t fight her…” Normally in these circumstances, I would save myself and run, but for some reason, my mind kept telling me to stand back up and protect Hanabi. What am I doing…fuck… “Souta Kentaro, please stand down, do not interfere with…” I placed my hand onto her arm, “Put the sword away, please…” *smack* Tsukuyomi sent a spinning kick to my side knocking me back down onto the floor. Regardless I endured the pain and quickly got back up only to get kicked down again and again, “Just stay down human, please, I don’t usually kill those that aren’t part of the deal…” However, no matter what she said I knew if I couldn’t convince her to stop, Hanabi will surely die...

  “Tsukuyomi, please stop. Souta stand down please, why…” Hanabi falls onto her knees, “Stop…stop…Souta…sorry…” At this moment, I couldn’t feel my right leg anymore and the pain has succumbed over my will power, I collapsed onto the ground motionless. Is this the end for me? Hanabi…no…come on Souta move! Come on! Tsukuyomi quickly turns her attention to Hanabi, ready to finish her mission once and for all. However as she walked past me, I reach out and grabbed onto her right ankle, fuck I have to save Hanabi. “Run…Hanabi…get Yukina for help…don’t look back just…run…” “Souta, no…I’m not leaving you behind…”

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  “Souta Kentaro, why are you willing to go so far to save her. You are dying, anymore attacks from me, you might really die…so why…is she forcing you? I can eliminate her and you will be a free man, you don’t have to…” “You’re wrong…Hanabi is nothing like what you think she is. Before I met her, my life was always boring, every day was the same shit over and over again. I dreaded going to school and the only reason keeping me going was my sister. But ever since Hanabi came, every day seemed more fun and exciting, even a total shut-in like me started to look forward every day with her around. You call her a killer? A tyrant? She’s nothing like that, her father might have been a total douchebag but she…she is nothing like him! So why am I risking everything for her, I honestly don’t know for sure how this is really worth it but…I can’t just let a girl get killed without trying to protect her…besides without her, I would lose hope in life again…so please…spare her…” My body gave in at that moment, I felt my grip loosen and my vision started to fade. Souta, at least you can die knowing you tried, god damn it, was that really worth it, Yukina…sorry…Onii-san let you down this time…Hanabi…please make it out alive...

  “Where am I?” My eyes opened up again and my vision came back to me, in front of my eyes, I could see Hanabi placing her hands above my chest. Her hands were glowing green as sweat starts dripping down her face, her eyes eventually caught my eyes and a sudden relief overcame her worn out look. “Souta! Thank god! You aren’t dead!” Hanabi hugs onto me tightly and I could feel warm water rolling off my back, “Hanabi are you crying? What happened, where is Tsukuyomi?” Hanabi doesn’t respond and continues gripping onto me tightly, her tears flowed down fast and free. “Hanabi…” Yukina walks into the room with tears on her face, “Onii-chan!” She lunges forwards onto us and wraps herself around my left arm. “We thought you weren’t going to make it…Hanabi…thank you!” I placed my left hand over Yukina’s head and gently cuddled her. “How can I possibly leave you alone in this world Yuki, I’m your only family left, I will never leave Yuki…” Yukina got up and smiled, “I know that…but don’t ever scare me like that again, Hanabi probably has a lot to say to you…*sniff* *sniff* I’ll leave you two alone for a while…” As soon as the door closes, Hanabi sits back up straight.

  “Souta…Souta…why would you do something so stupid for me…we barely know each other…why idiot!” Hanabi clenched her fist and gently punches me in the chest. I reach out and wipe away the tears on her face with my thumb and smiled. “I just did the right thing, I can’t let a girl die, not a cute girl like you…” “What…idiot…idiot!” Hanabi suddenly pushed her body forwards and gave me a kiss. I could feel her lips enveloping mine as she tugged me closer towards her. Her fingers rustled through my hair as her body continued to inch forward. Soon enough my back was lying against the bed with her slender, curvy frame pressed against my body. I moved my right hand over to cup the back of her head, gently tangling my hand in her hair. I could feel her heartbeat through her shirt as it pressed against my bare skin, without thinking, my left hand reached below as I placed it underneath her skirt, against her panties. “Souta…” Hanabi gets back up in a sudden motion and fell off the bed, “Ouch…” I quickly got up too and helped her up, “Sorry Hanabi I didn’t mean to frighten you, what was I thinking…” “It’s fine although you did catch me by surprise…” Hanabi’s face turned red as her eyes darted to the side seemingly embarrassed about our actions beforehand. “Souta, sorry I…I shouldn’t have kissed you…I was just so happy and…you risked your life just to save me…you are my hero…I…I lo…love…” Hanabi suddenly turned away and darted out of the room, leaving me in a state of shock. Did she just say she loves…don’t think too much, it was in the heat of the moment, she probably didn’t mean anything, that kiss was just a thank you kiss…I…urgh…

  “Kentaro.” A figure appeared behind me as I spun around in fright. “Tsukuyomi? What are you…” She places her finger over my lips and examined my body, “So she completely healed you, even your internal organs…that girl…she must be really tired and weak right now.” Tsukuyomi sits down on my bed letting out a sigh. “So what happened after I was out.” Tsukuyomi looked back up at me and smiled, “You were right, I was fooled this whole time by Tetsu, after seeing what you did, you couldn’t possibly be lying about who she really is. Besides, what you did kind of moved me, she’s lucky to have a dependable man like you.” “Are you blushing…?” She gets back up and the blade forms again, “Do you want to die this time?” I shook my head intensely mostly cause I didn’t really want to die, obviously. “So…if you don’t complete your mission what happens?” She turned around and looks up through my window.

  “If I don’t turn up soon, Tetsu will realise something is wrong. He will send more men after Eliza…Hanabi and he will probably come after me as well. I lose my chance of being a freeman and a life of peace. Souta Kentaro…you better take responsibility over me…because of you…my life…I hate you…” *hmph* She’s definitely blushing… “If that happens, Tsukuyomi, can you help us? With you…we can probably defeat anyone after Hanabi.” She walks back towards me and kneels down, “I have decided, Souta Kentaro…as much as I hate you…you are a noble and compassionate man. I…I…Tsukuyomi hereby vow to serve you as your protector and your follower…” What is happening right now, the same girl that tried almost killed me is kneeling down and doing all this…what… “Never mind that, just be our friend and help us, besides do you have a real name?” Tsukuyomi looks up at me and shakes her head, “I don’t really have any faint memories of neither my childhood nor my name…” “Well, what about Kyo, cause I feel like Tsukuyomi is too long and calling yourself a god is pretty weird…so just Kyo, does that sound good?” Her eyes lit up and she jumps out at me, embracing me tightly, “Kyo. Kyo! Sounds good to me, thank you so much master!” Master…huh…what is happening with my normal peaceful life!!!????

-End-