Part 4

Location: Burnside Ave., The Bronx, NEO New York City

Time: 7:24 P.M.

The Bronx.

NEO New York City.

A city closed off in its own little world.

Dusk

The sky was orange, turning lavender as the night sky started to show.

The white city

The city of white buildings is enclosed in its own little world.

The sun was setting in the walled-off city, and as it did, the light reflected off the white skyline buildings, turning them a bright orange.

"Damnit"

The voice came from Haruko Matsumoto as he was walking down the street, kicking a soda can along his path.

After his detention and that crazy ordeal, he was finally walking home down a quiet street.

"Fuck, I thought that would never end."

As Haruko continued walking and kicking the soda can, a small robot came and swept it up, which caused the teen to frown.

"Way to kill the fun, buzzkill bot." The small robot paid no attention to the teen and scurried away.

"Yeah. You better run," Haruko whispered to himself.

Everything around the teen was quiet as he stood in his quiet neighborhood. Haruko reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone to check the time.

The time was 7.25 p.m.

The teen looked up at the darkening sky; he could see the distant stars, the moon, and a blue magic sigil in the sky. It was a truly beautiful sight to behold. As nightfall approached and the day was almost at an end.

The teen kept staring at the sky.

"You know, if you don’t pay attention to your surroundings, you can walk into traffic.”

The voice broke his concentration.

"But I don't have to be the first to tell you that, my dear.”

Haruko lowered his head and turned his body left toward the source of the voice.

His elderly neighbor.

She was sitting on her porch, reading a book.

"Pretty late out even for you, wouldn’t you agree?" The voice came from an elderly woman.

"Yeah, I know; it's just that I just got out of detention late, and now here I am," Haruko replied.

"You know how Reiko feels about you racking up detentions." The elderly woman began to rise and walk to her house.

That statement caused Haruko to grin.

"So, did she happen to leave by any chance?"

"Yes, she left a little while ago.”

"Oh, alright, then I guess I will see you later."

"Alright, don't be out too late; people tend to act crazy at night during a full moon.”

"Thanks for the tip, but I don’t plan on doing much tonight aside from staying home.”

"Alrighty, then good night." The elderly woman entered her house, closing the door behind her. The porch light quickly turned on after that.

(A full moon, huh?)

The teen looked up at the sky.

(After everything that has happened today, I doubt that my night can get any crazier.)

Lowering his head, Haruko began walking to his home.

The quiet night.

The Matsumoto residence.

A small, two-story house.

Three rooms.

Two bathrooms.

Entering through a brick fence with a black gate. Haruko Matsumoto opened the front door of the house.

As he entered, he took off his shoes to switch to his black house slippers with red stripes on them and walk into the dark living room.

(Huh.)

Barely visible.

In the living room, all the lights were turned off.

Haruko took off his jacket and placed it on the coat rack.

Everything was dark. The only light that came into the room was from outside the large living room window.

Haruko began walking into the living room and turning on the lights.

It was still quiet.

Haruko placed his bag on the hallway floor and began to walk out of the living room.

"You intruder"

It was a small voice, but Haruko could hear it.

"Huh"

"You will rule the day you decide to break into the Matsumoto house.”

The voice was getting a little louder now.

Haruko attempted to turn his attention to the source of this voice but was kicked in the back.

“Gahh!!!" Haruko blurted out.

Haruko was kicked off his feet and fell to the floor.

Pain.

On the floor, Haruko looked up at his attacker.

She stood there.

"This house is protected by a mage in training. Alexis Matsumoto!"

Blank.

Alexis Matsumoto

Haruko’s twelve-year-old sister.

A young female with bright blue eyes and black hair that came down to her shoulders, with a slight ponytail on the right side of her head.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Pain.

"Oh, it's just you," Alexis said as all the excitement died down in her voice.

"What……the….hell…..is…..your…….problem, you witch?" Haruko mumbled as he looked back at her. "Why the hell did you attack me?"

She placed her hands on her hips.

"I wasn’t expecting you back this late.”

"Wasn’t expecting... I live here.”

Alexis stood over Haruko.

"Hmm, why are you so late anyway?"

"I had to stay for detention," Haruko said as he began to pick himself off the floor.

Alexis walked into the kitchen.

"Ow my back."

Now on his feet, Haruko wobbled to the couch in the living room and began to lay down on his back.

Haruko could hear noises from the kitchen.

"I’m on cooking duty tonight, so what do you want to eat?"

Haruko took off his slippers and laid there on the couch.

"What is there to eat?"

Alexis opened the refrigerator.

Um, there is leftover chicken, chili, eggs, tortilla shells, and ground beef. There is other stuff that you probably won’t eat.”

"You know me so well, little sis."

(Wait.) Haruko thought.

"Hey, what cheese do we have?"

Alexis picked up the shredded cheese bag and jar.

"Four Cheese Mexican and Salsa con Queso”

Haruko sat up on the couch.

The answer was clear to him.

"How about burritos tonight?"

"Fine, I’ll make you burritos. Consider it your birthday present.”

"The whole thing—you’re not going to have any?" Haruko said as he laid back down on the couch.

"Nope, not tonight. I’m staying over at a friend's house down the street for a study group. The Mage Association entrance exams in England are coming up. The new semester starts in September.”

Haruko stared at the ceiling in the living room.

"You’re going to enroll."

"Yup"

"Between you and Jayden, you guys are really moving up, and me..”

Haruko stops himself.

"……and me"

Nothing.

While Alexis was a spellcaster and Jayden was an Esper, Haruko had nothing.

Not speaking, Haruko just stared at the ceiling.

Haruko," Alexis's calm voice spoke out.

She was standing next to him.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?" Haruko answered back.

Alexis looked at him.

"You’re not depressed because you don't have any powers, are you?"

There was silence in the living room.

"Wha-of course not; why would you say that?" Haruko quickly replied as he turned to his right, facing away from Alexis.

"You’re sure"

"I mean, it's not that I’m depressed that I don’t have any abilities. When I was younger, all I would think about was watching the both of you and hoping that I could be like you two."

Haruko laid there.

"Jayden is one of the city's strongest espers, and with the way you’re going with your studies, you’ll probably do well. I just-"

"Haruko"

Haruko took out the red ponytail scarf, undoing his hair, and looked at it.

"I just have to find my own way in the world.”

Haruko stared at the world on the ponytail scarf, written in black.

NEVER GIVE IN.

Those words were spoken to him.

‘Plus, if you two start slacking off and I take my studies seriously going forward, it would be you two watching me. Haruko said as he grinned, still facing the sofa."

With Haruko lying on his side and his hair mostly out of the way, Alexis had noticed something.

A bandage.

‘Haruko, what happens to your check?"

"Oh, this Haruko touched the bandage on his check."

"I got into a little altercation after my detention."

"An altercation."

"It was more like an armed robbery."

Alexis grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it on Haruko.

"What were you thinking? You could have been killed."

"I wasn’t thinking,” Haruko said as he turned on his back.

Facing the ceiling, he glanced over to see Alexis angrily staring at him.

"I know what you’re going to say; it's probably the same thing Reiko would have said. That I was being reckless and that I was thinking straight.”

Haruko sat up on the couch.

"People were in danger and needed help, so I helped them. I would rather not waste any time deciding whether I should or should not help someone. I don’t have any abilities, but I’m not completely useless, and aside from this cut and the damage to my jacket, I pretty much walked or ran away unscathed."

Alexis looked at him worryingly.

"You got lucky this time, but..”

"I won’t be so lucky the next time," Haruko finished her sentence.

Haruko cut Alexis off.

Alexis was shocked.

"You got lucky a few times, and you're already thinking of next time. You almost died awhile back; don’t you remember that?"

Haruko stared up at her and looked away.

Yeah, I remember. It wasn’t the wrong choice to help then, and it wasn’t the wrong choice now.

Haruko sat there.

"There is no getting through to you, is there?" Alexis said as she slowly removed the bandage from Haruko's cheek, but stopped when Haruko placed his hand on hers.

"Don’t go removing people's bandages.” Haruko said.

Alexis looked at the cut on the cheek.

"It doesn’t look too bad if you want; I could probably heal the rest.

"Heal the rest….how are you going to do that? Are you going to kick the cut off my face?"

Alexis chopped Haruko in the gut.

“Gahh!" Haruko yelled out as he laid back on the couch, kicking his legs.

Alexis walked to the kitchen and grabbed an apron from the rack.

"Now I’m happy you don’t have any powers; God only knows the stupid things you would get into.

Haruko grinned as he laid down on the couch.

"To be fair, if I had any powers, just one, protecting others is exactly what I would do every single time.”

As Haruko lay there on the couch, he grabbed his ponytail scarf.

"I’m going to take a little nap; you can put my food in the fridge for when I wake up."

"Alright, no problem," Alexis said as she put on the apron and turned on the stove.

Haruko stared at the backside of the scarf and at the words.

NEVER GIVE UP.

(Every single time.) Haruko thought to himself as he drifted to sleep.

_____________________________________________________________________

In the living room of the Matsumoto residence.

Haruko Matsumoto's eyes opened as he woke up.

It was quiet.

Most of the lights were off.

Haruko sat up on the couch. Glancing outside, he sees that it has gotten dark.

Taking his hair out of his mouth and wiping his mouth free from drool, Haruko began to stand up. As he did, he began yawning and stretching.

Haruko looks at the clock.

8:35 P.M

"Reiko will be back in the morning, and Alexis didn’t say what time she would be back."

Haruko walked into the kitchen.

"I pretty much have the house to myself.”

As he walked into the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator and took out a can of orange soda and a plastic container of food. When he grabbed both, he closed the door with his foot and headed up the stairs to his room.

The master bedroom

Haruko Matsumoto had the largest bedroom in the house. Originally meant for Reiko since she was the renter, she switched to Haruko because she felt the room was too wide. The room had its own walk-in shower and walk-in closet.

Haruko walked inside the room and placed the container in the microwave on top of a mini fridge. He soon started the microwave for three minutes.

Now that he was in his room for the first time in a couple of hours, he had time to look around.

"Holy shit, this room has gotten out of hand."

Quite frankly, the room was a mess.

There were clothes spread out across the floor and empty soda cans.

Haruko sighed.

"I better get this room clean, or I’ll never hear the end of this," Haruko said as he grabbed a trash bag and started cleaning.

After a while, all the trash was cleared and collected in the bag. Haruko threw his clothes into a pile on his bed. As Haruko was finishing up, he heard the microwave ringing, and he knew the burritos were done.

"Finally."

He picked up the clothes on his bed and dumped them in the hamper.

The room is much cleaner now.

Haruko walked to his microwave, took out the container of food inside, and placed it on the kotatsu in his room. He then walked towards the black curtains on his wall and pushed them aside, revealing the huge balcony outside.

He opens the sliding window to let some air into his room.

Another perk of the master bedroom.

Haruko paused as he stared at the skyline of the city.

He could see the bright light of the skyscrapers of Manhattan, the mountainside, and the walls of the city.

"A really peaceful night."

Haruko looked to the sky to see the bright full moon glaring at him.

Among the endless number of stars and the magic symbols in the sky, the moon looked really nice tonight.

Haruko could smell his burritos.

"I better get to my food before it gets cold," Haruko said as he turned around to head back inside, leaving the balcony door open.

Boom!!!!

He took a single step inside before there was a loud sound.

The entire balcony shook.

It was close.

Haruko turned back to his balcony when he saw it.

Something had landed there.

There was smoke all over his balcony.

"What the hell?"

Haruko saw it.

It.

Somewhat.

Through the smoke, I could see two small, bright lights at the center of what Haruko would see.

Haruko could see the silhouette hidden in the shadow.

It was large and beastly in appearance.

Its eyes were glowing white, brighter than the moon.

The smoke slowly started clearing out.

Haruko could see horns on top of her head. Its arms are long and thin, with spikes coming out of the elbows.

The large figure swung its tail, and the rest of the smoke cleared out with a shockwave.

Haruko could see the creature in its entirety.

A monster of legend.

A creature of myth.

Something that should not exist.

A dragon.

"What the..."

Haruko had seen plenty of manga and anime to know that the creature before him was a dragon.

Something that shouldn’t exist but was now in front of him.

The dragon's body was blue, and its chest and arms were black, with small pieces flaking off and dispersing in the night sky. The dragon’s wings were pitch black with glowing blue markings.

"So, this is where the smell is coming from.”

A distorted voice broke through with a reverberating echo.

It spoke.

It was a female voice.

"Wha...."

Before Haruko had a chance to comprehend, the creature's body twitched.

The creature's limbs started to peel away.

It has claws, then hands, then arms.

Next were its feet, and then its legs.

All the arms and legs disappeared.

POOF!

The head had split down the middle and disappeared, revealing the head of a small girl.

A girl.

A petite girl is now kneeling on his balcony.

She looked no older than Haruko.

Her eyes were closed, but Haruko could tell she had thick eyelashes.

The girl had brown skin that complimented the moon in the sky.

Her silky, dual-colored hair was blowing in the wind. The front and top of her hair were blue. The rest of her hair was black and had reached the floor.

Slowly, the girl stood up to her feet.

The girl opened her eyes and stared at Haruko.

Blue eyes.

The same color as the blue part of her hair.

Her feet touched the floor.

"Mortal"

The girl spoke. Her voice without the echo.

Haruko was quiet as he watched on.

"Mortal, I am a GOD, and I demand that you feed me."

"Huh?"