35. Magnet power vs. brainpower: I won’t give up!

“Come at me.”

Lei sneered at Ray.

“Since you ask me so politely…”

They rushed at each other. Ray quickly took out two objects from his pocket and squeezed one. A spurt of superglue came out as he pressed it against Lei’s palm. That took Lei totally off guard, and he couldn’t dodge. Luckily, it seemed that his right hand was the one that had been activated, because Lei was instantly thrust backwards, towards his first target: the ground he had just touched before. The impact was brutal. I heard a crack, and the young Sunclaw cursed:

“Oh shit, my hand!”

Was it broken? It seemed so. Anyway, I was surprised. I didn’t expect the plan to go so smoothly. Ray was pale as he stepped forward.

“A-Are you okay?”

“Ray, way to go!” I cried out, standing up from my seat. “Don’t worry about him, he broke his hand himself. Punch him now until he gives up!”

“B-But…”

What was he hesitating for? Lei was trying to detach his hand from the ground, but the glue was hindering his movements. He brusquely laughed.

“You knew about my power, you jerk. How did you know I activated my power on my right hand though?”

“I didn’t know. I had a second tube of glue just in case. It’s allowed, isn’t it?”

“As long as it’s not venom or acid, those tricks are fine,” Yordo nodded. “Pepper sprays and the like are out though.”

“Aha… I see. Aya-aya, you got me good,” Lei admitted.

Were they going to chat for long? The fight wasn’t over yet. If Ray were to lose that one chance to win…

“Lei!” Sally suddenly yelled, looking away from her cellphone. “If you lose, I’ll beat you up.”

“Ray, fight!” Linah cheered him up, standing by my side. She sent her fist fly across the gymnasium: it punched a wall before returning to its owner. I caught Yordo cringing.

“Linah!” Lei complained, breathing hard. “Am I not your brother? Why are you siding with him?”

“Lei, stand up!” Linah said then with a grin, and she pointed her fist at him. “Or I’ll make you give up now.”

She naturally didn’t interfere, but that made Lei react: suddenly, his hand made a strange movement to the right and detached itself from the glue. No way! Did he use his power to attract his hand to another target just to free himself? He surely didn’t make the condition of his hand any better by doing that. Seeing his contorted face covered in sweat, I guessed it hurt like hell.

“Haha,” Lei laughed stiffly as he stood up. “Let me ask you one last question, Ray. How do you know so many things about my power?”

He was up again. I got why Ray didn’t punch him when he was down, but since Lei was going to be warier from now on, it was likely that he had lost his only chance of winning.

Still, I was fascinated. Some weeks ago, I would have never imagined Ray would be able to put such a defying face when he answered:

“I just do my homework.” Then, his expression wavered. “Er… Aren’t you going to give up? Your wrist is broken, isn’t it?”

Lei tilted his head, grinning.

“Yeah, it’s broken, you damn bastard, that’s why there’s no way in hell I’m gonna let you win now. You were making a fool of me, I’ve gotta get my revenge, right? Be ready, I’ll go all out.”

He didn’t let Ray pull back: he pounced on him. Odd enough, he didn’t use his power and sent a kick at Ray with undeniable agility. When I was working with the Cheetahs, I had learned some tricks about street fighting, but I couldn’t compare those with Lei’s movements just now: he hit Ray several times on the sides with his left palm, then kicked him again, making him bend over. Was Lei Sunclaw a martial artist?

Anyway… I couldn’t stand seeing Ray got beaten up like that. He couldn’t fight back at all. I left the grandstand crying out:

“Ray!”

‘Don’t come.’

His words resonated in my head. I stopped dead one step away from the court’s line. Under the kicks, Ray was curling up, his arms protecting his head. Why? Why didn’t he let me in?! Did he have some kind of plan? No, he clearly didn’t! One of the backup plans was to use the flashlight I had given him, but from what Yordo had said, pepper sprays weren’t allowed, so he couldn’t use it. Was he hoping for his power to wake up? But, if it did and he lost control, would he be unconscious again for days? Crap. Why wouldn’t Ray accept my help? Lei had said he was fine with fighting the two of us. I didn’t know if I could do something myself against that monster, though…

The most worrying thing—or perhaps the most relieving—was that Lei was obviously going easy on Ray. He didn’t hit his head even once, nor kicked really hard.

Suddenly, he clapped Ray’s nape. Ray brusquely fell, face up. His back had been caught by Lei’s magnetic field. Then his left and right arms were caught too, attracted to the ground as if shackled. Lei loomed over Ray.

“You know how to use qi to strengthen your body but you… really don’t know how to fight,” he said, disappointed.

Ray gasped, trembling from the pain.

“That’s because… I had never fought before.”

Lei froze in shock.

“You have… never fought? How’s that? … Oi, then you should use your shadows at least! Or are you thinking I’m not worthy of seeing your power?”

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He punched him in the face.

“Look, you’re bleeding now. If you don’t use your power, I’ll smash your hand.”

He stamped on Ray’s hand. Ray let out a scream that filled me with horror.

“Enough,” I whispered, shaking from head to toe. “Enough, enough…” Just why had I encouraged Ray to fight? He hated violence in the first place! “ENOUGH, RAY, JUST GIVE UP!” I exploded.

“I… don’t know how,” Ray groaned.

“You don’t know how? Oh, you just have to say ‘I give up’,” Lei said.

“No…” Ray was breathing hard. “I don’t know how to use my power.”

Lei paused, then snorted.

“You’re kidding me, right? You had your quirk when you were eight years old, and you still don’t know how to control it?”

Didn’t he know it already? Didn’t he spar with Ray just because he wanted to crush him? From his expression, I only understood now that it was not the case. Lei totally didn’t know he was challenging a guy who couldn’t fight.

“You serious?” Lei fell back a pace in astonishment. He frowned. “Then… why the hell did you accept the spar?!”

He had released Ray from his magnetic field. Ray sat up, massaging his arm.

“I…” He got to his feet, tottering. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to lose. I didn’t give up yet.”

“Seriously? Man, that’s a spar, you know. The participants are supposed to be able to fight. If you can’t, then let’s not. I’m not a sadist like my twin brother. Just say ‘I give up’.”

Ray shook his head. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Why wasn’t he giving up? I let out a nervous guffaw.

“Haha, Lei, you just said you gave up, you moron!” Before Lei’s puzzled expression, I turned to Yordo. “Does it count, sir?”

“No.”

“Thought so,” I smiled as I heard Linah snort in laughter behind me. Dammit…

Lei chortled.

“Aya-aya, you almost got me worried there. Things like that don’t work in a real fight anyway. Oh, but in a real fight, giving up is sometimes not an option either so… I like it when my opponent’s got some guts. However, let’s change it a bit. How about you let your ‘friend’ join in?”

“Don’t be foolish, brother.”

The sudden voice made us all turn to the entrance of the gymnasium. A second Lei, black-haired, young, but with a lot of piercings walked in. Axel Sunclaw entered the game court and stopped before his brother.

“You broke your wrist. How lame of you.”

“Axel, what are you doing here? We’re in the middle of a fight—”

“I heard he can’t use his power. Lei, why do you want to show off to a weakling like that?”

“About that, I didn’t know, I—”

“How can you make a pushover like that your sparring partner? You’re lowering yourself by doing so and disregarding the Sunclaw’s reputation by the same occasion. Just go take care of your injuries, stupid little bro.”

Lei’s face turned red.

“Don’t tell me what to do! And I’m not your little bro, we’re twins! Get out!”

“No, you get out.”

They glared at each other, then suddenly Lei threw a punch, Axel dodged it… I soon lost count of all their attacks. Seriously, what was wrong with those twins? Did they hate each other that much?

As it was clear that the spar had degenerated into a fight between brothers, Ray walked out of the court.

“Well… Guess they forgot about me.”

“Haha… I think it’s for the best. Those brothers are crazy. How’s your hand?” I asked.

“Mm. It’s not broken, I think.” Ray was observing the brothers’ fierce fight with a mix of awe and anxiety. He swallowed hard. “Armen… Do you think I made a fool of myself?”

At that moment, Lei screamed as he lunged at Axel:

“I won’t!”

I raised an eyebrow. He won’t what? Now that I thought about it, I didn’t know what Axel’s power was. Lei was using his, but Axel wasn’t. Or was he, and I just couldn’t see it?

Anyway, Ray’s face was getting redder by the second. I laid a hand on his head.

“Who doesn’t make a fool of himself on his first fight?” I paused. My friend was so ashamed and upset it made me smile. “You really aren’t used to being a loser, huh. You’re funny when you put that face, Ray.”

“The hell—?”

“But, in the end, you broke his hand, and you didn’t give up. I think you did well for your first spar, considering you were against Lei Sunclaw.” Ray just nodded. I added: “I’m not consoling you: I’m saying that sincerely.”

“I know. I’m just…”

“Frustrated that you couldn’t fight back at all?”

Ray breathed in and slowly calmed down as he gave a nod.

“I guess. Fighting… is definitely not for me. Sorry for telling you to stay out of this.”

“Bah. You wanted it to be a one-on-one spar, right? Besides, I don’t think we could have defeated him anyway. Just take a look at how he’s fighting the piercings guy.”

“Kurikurikuri… Kurikurikuri…”

The sudden squeak made us lower our eyes. A strange creature had entered the gym with Axel. It had big, round ears, the body of a baby white seal, and a shaggy, black tail. “Kurikurikurikuri…” was the sound it made.

I stared at it, enthralled. It was… cute.

As soon as I thought that, the strange seal turned his black eyes at me and crawled towards me, repeating:

“Kurikurikurikuri…”

“Curry is a kompa,” Linah said, startling me. She had left her seat to join us. “It’s a magical creature that is attracted by positive emotions. It’s said that they eat them, but it’s not like they steal them, so don’t worry.”

That cute little creature ate positive emotions? Could it be a kompa ate emotions the same way the undead ate wasted lifeforce? Its eyes were so luminous despite being dark…

“Is it okay if I touch it?” I asked.

“Go ahead. Kompas don’t bite.”

Meanwhile, Sally and Yordo finally had decided to intervene in the brothers’ fight and were separating them. “Cut it out already!” the medusa was grumbling.

I crouched. Curry’s white hair was short but soft like feathers. Or so I imagined it to be, since my hand could barely feel it. Still, I could feel I was touching it. Did the path that Kaspar had created in my body have something to do with that change? Likely.

A sudden hand grabbed my wrist.

“Don’t touch my pet.”

I looked up. Axel’s eyes were as blue as Linah’s and… as cold as ice. A strong shiver raced through my core. What was this sensation? Even though my heart didn’t feel anything, my core was filled with fear. As Axel let go of me, the sensation disappeared, but it left me nervous. Was he an emotion manipulator or was it just my imagination? “Kurikurikuri…” The white kompa drew backwards. I stood up, managing a smile.

“Sorry, I didn’t know Curry was your pet.”

“You’ve got some guts to come here, Ray Styxer.” Axel had turned to Ray, ignoring me. “I have to give you that. It’s a shame you don’t know how to use your power. I had hoped we could have formed a strong group at the training in January… yeah, we’re going too, didn’t you know?” I flinched inwardly. No way, those guys were going to the same training as us? What bad luck… Axel added: “No matter how amazing your power is, if you can’t use it, you’re nothing more than a nobody, a worthless worm.”

A surge of indignation washed over me. How dared he…?! I turned to Ray. The young necromancer had slightly widened his eyes in surprise. He didn’t talk back. He wasn’t used to being insulted like that.

Axel added:

“Yordo, take my brother and Ray Styxer to Doctor Ben.” As Ray was about to protest, he cast a piercing look at him saying: “We can’t let Doctor Styxer’s son go out covered with bruises, can we? Please.”

The way he said it, it didn’t sound like he was begging for anything. So Axel Sunclaw was that kind of guy: he acted like he was the only guy responsible, the only one who had the right to boss everyone around. Still, unlike others, it seemed like second nature to him. It was as if he had grown used to it since he was a kid.

As Yordo was leading Ray and Lei out of the gymnasium, Linah said:

“Armen! How about we wait for your friend then go have lunch? I’ll treat you guys… What? Do you have something else to do?”

“No, not really, but—”

“Then let’s do it! I’ll get a change of clothes. Wait for me!”

She took the elevator just like that. I had no time to think of a good reason to turn her down. That meant Ray would have to eat a double portion again.

I had decided to wait outside, when Axel laid a hand on my shoulder.

“You… let’s talk.”

The medusa, who was about to leave, raised an eyebrow.

“Axel, don’t make more trouble.”

“I just wanna talk with Linah’s friend, sis. What’s wrong with that?”

Sally’s eyes squinted, then she smirked.

“Mmpf. Do what you want.”

I didn’t agree though? Axel’s arm was pulling me back into the gym… Crap. Should I excuse myself and run away? But I had told Ray I would wait for him. Plus, I wanted to know what kind of guy Axel really was. And what kind of power was his.

Axel locked the door. Curry was squeaking by his side. A sinister teenager and a cute kompa together… They really didn’t match up.

I looked at Axel quizzically.

“What is it that you want from me?”

Axel shoved his hands in his pockets, giving me a nonchalant look.

“How about a spar?”