Karasu is driving down the road as fast as he could, while the rumbling of the bike echoes all around him. It's a dark night, literally and figuratively. The moon is shielded by the dark clouds with very little light spilling onto the street. His mind is racing. It's all over the place. "Why did he do that? What could have possibly pushed him? Did Hiroshi's parents do something after he got dropped off? Was the situation already bad and he was hiding it?" Karasu keeps asking himself. He's going to give him a piece of his mind. "What the fuck was that bitch thinking? You better have a good fucking reason buddy, or else I am going to beat you up." Karasu says while racing past the houses around him. He makes a turn and arrives on the main road that connects the entire city to its different parts. This is the fastest way to get to the police station for the city.
His eyes are filled with rage and frustration. Does Hiroshi know the kind of danger he put himself in? What the hell does he think will happen to happen to his sisters? Will his extended family want to take care of them? As soon as the last question comes to his mind he slows down… then he stops. 1 single questions pops occupies his mind… "Why did he never tell me about his sisters?" Karasu asks himself, "What could he possibly be thinking…? I will get my answers once I get a hold of him". He needs to get answers. Even though might not be important to know the reason for hiding the existence of his sisters, it's important to know the reason for such a radical action, even though Hiroshi said everything was fine. Karasu looks at his watch 12:56 AM. He can feel himself getting sleepy. He has been exhausting himself throughout the day. This is literally the worst day for all this to be happening. This is too bad! He needs to do something about this. He can't just fall asleep! Not at his time! But it's dangerous to drive right now. If he falls asleep while driving it will be trouble. He might get himself killed like that. He even forgot his helmet, which makes this situation worse. He should get a coffee. He barely has enough money for one canned coffee.
He starts driving again but slower this time. He's looking for a vending machine. Any vending machine will do as long as it has some good coffee. He stumbles upon one in a dark alleyway. The alley is only lit by the light of the vending machine. The blue light fills only the front of it. Parking his bike on one end he walks into the alleyway. There're a few drunkards lying on the ground. Are they even alive? They are way too motionless. As he's thinking about that, he sees one of them mumble something. Ok, they are alive, at least one of them is. He puts his money into the machine and gets his coffee and starts drinking it as soon as he can without burning his tongue. He stands there as he finishes the coffee. When he starts walking away he feels someone tugging on his pants. He turns around and sees that one of the drunkards is grabbing on him. "Hey bro, can you get me another beer?" the man says. Karasu doesn’t have time for this bullshit. "Get it yourself, and don't bother me." Karasu says is a shrewd manner audibly annoyed.
He walks away and gets on the bike. He hears some footsteps of someone walking in the alley. That's obviously a drunkard, he thinks. He pays no heed to it and tries starting his bike. As soon as the bike starts he feels something wrap around his neck. It's a piece of cloth. Someone starts pulling strongly on that piece of cloth. He falls off the bike. What the fuck is happening? This is not the damn time for this horseshit. The cloth is wrapped around his neck in a loop and is really tight. He can't just get out of it. He has only one option even though he doesn't want to resort to it, he has to fight.
He contorts his body throwing it over the head of whoever is trying to strangle him. He then, pulls down with enough force that he throws him down to the ground. He discovered the head-scissor takedown. Karasu frees himself and looks at the person who was strangling him it’s the guy who was asking for a beer. "You were a thief, huh? Too bad, you chose the wrong guy." Karasu says mocking the man, questioning the reason this man attacked him for. What the hell could have prompted such a response? The man continues groaning on the road and Karasu kicks the man in the head making him unconscious. His legs start hurting. He forgot he has too much kicking already. He picks up his bike off the road and get on it. He starts it again and leaves. He's back on the main road. The highway stretches out before him, a seemingly endless patch of asphalt disappearing into the darkness. The only signs of life are the sparse presence of the streetlights, casting a pale yellow glow on the road, and the rustling of shrubs and bushes at the edges of the highway. The silence is deafening, broken only by the sound of Karasu's motorcycle as it speeds down the essentially lifeless road. It's as if the entire world is asleep, leaving Karasu alone in a world of shadows and whispers. The darkness seems to swallow everything in its path, leaving Karasu feeling exposed and vulnerable, like a tiny boat lost in a vast and treacherous sea. He slows down to make sure he's on the right track. While he's busy surveying his surroundings he hears something. He can't put a finger on it. He isn't sure what it is, but it sounds something like a siren. He pulls out his phone and opens the news once again and is surprised to see it.
The police van is still not at the station, but that particular car is nowhere to be seen, or so the reporters say while sitting in the helicopter. These guys seem to be covering this incident closely. "It seems like I will get there before he does." Karasu says to himself, disappointed. He shoves his phone into his pocket and starts driving again. He gets on the highway as he sees the van and other cars approaching. He starts driving faster and faster overtaking the police and staying in front of them. One of the cars turns on the megaphone when they notice him. Once the static subsides, the cop starts speaking, "What are you doing? You are speeding, sir!" Karasu hears this and starts speeding further. "This guy is crazy or what?" Officer-1 says to his colleague. "Should we arrest him? We are still on duty" the other cop says. "Yeah, I think we should. Wait… Is this guy here for the kid we have arrested?" Officer-1 says, speculating Karasu's real intentions. "Then, we NEED to arrest him! What if he's here to free the guy? That could be dangerous especially if he's a mutant!" Officer-2 says. Office-2 starts speeding up as well to catch up to Karasu. As they are driving past the van they tell the van driver to slow down along with the other cars and that they will handle "this guy".
Hiroshi was watching the entire thing and he doesn't understand what is happening. He can only speculate what is happening as he can't hear the cops clearly just bits and pieces. Hiroshi tries to peer through the little window between his compartment and the cockpit, which is overlooking the road. All he sees is a guy on a bike from the actions he speculates this guy is Karasu and says, "Why did you come here? You didn't have to… I am still thankful that you came though." Hiroshi starts sobbing a little. The driver hears Hiroshi's words and calls out to the speeding cops and when they come closer he says, "Hey, this guy seems to know that motorcyclist!" Officer-1 says, "Thanks!" and they drive away and Officer-1 says to his colleague, "See, I told you! I fucking knew it. Now we have no choice but to arrest him."
As Karasu is being chased he remembers something, something very important. He could have used the metal sheet to travel much faster instead of using this bike. He facepalms, and the bike destabilizes, but he recovers using his telekinesis to control the motion of the bike. He starts going faster as the cop car is getting close to him, seeing him speed up they do the same and stay on his tail the entire chase. They arrive at the Police station at around 1:15AM and Karasu parks the bike as the police sirens draw closer. As he steps foot inside the police station the police car chasing him arrives in the parking lot and pull out their guns. "Shit, this can be dangerous for them. Ah!" Karasu thinks to himself and decides to throw himself to the floor, so that the police would arrest him without a fight. They might question him, but that's a small sacrifice. The police come in pointing their guns at the "unconscious" Karasu and they pull his hands behind him and handcuff him.
They try to pick him up but they have a hard time. "Damn! He's heavy!" Officer-1 says and Officer-2 agrees with him. After some more trial and error they are finally able to pick up Karasu and starts moving him to a cell, to question him, once he "is awake". They dump him in the cell and start stripping him of his belongings, like the keys to the bike and his phone. On his phone they see the news still playing, showing the police station from far away saying how the police started chasing another guy.
They hate the media recording this even though they were instructed not to. They leave Karasu in the cell and leave the place to deal with the presence of the media. Hopefully, they can drive them away. Once they leave the place Karasu gets up and breathes a sigh of relief, “Thank god, I didn’t have to fight them.” Those cops would have likely died if they decided to fight him. Karasu starts examining the cell and also trying to eavesdrop and find out, what the hell is going on outside the cell. While being dragged Karasu did see 2 girls sitting together. Maybe they are his sisters? He needs to get there and talk to them, make sure they are doing alright.
Karasu can't just start calling out to be let out of the cell as the cops think that he has collapsed. He starts looking for something… even he isn't sure. "Maybe I should injure my head… then, they won't be putting me in jail for a long and just write it off as me not being in the right state of mind, and hopefully let me go...?"
Karasu looked around the cell for anything that he could use to injure himself. He sees the concrete block made to sit or sleep on, hanging from the wall of the cell and quickly made his way over to it. He raises his head and then brought it down hard on his seat. The impact was painful, and Karasu stumbled back, feeling dizzy. He could feel warm blood trickling down his face. The middle of his forehead is injured. He intended to injure himself enough to get out of the cell, but he might have gone a bit far. He stays standing for a bit and lets the blood paint the concrete slab to make it seem like he was standing there (which he was) after getting injured. But this was to make sure that the cops won't suspect him of intentionally injuring himself. He truly believed this would work.
This is bad. If he bleeds too much he will become unconscious and he won't get to talk to Hiroshi, but he can't try to get out. Not yet. He needs to wait at least 10 minutes… but he's bleeding too much. He holds on to his injury trying to slow down the bleeding. He keeps listening keenly trying to hear someone coming. He stays like that for about half an hour. The part of the floor where he is standing is drenched in blood. It's dark with his blood. He hadn't noticed to see how much blood he has lost, but when he does, he's surprised more than ever before. "This is probably the most of my own blood I have ever seen." He thinks to himself while looking at the floor.
He waits for a little longer. If no one arrives at the cell he will start banging the door to get their attention. Karasu had made sure to lie down on the spot where he was thrown. This should make it seem like he started bleeding soon after he was thrown in, or so he thinks. Whether this will fool the cops is a question that's still up in the air. He can only hope for it. They can gauge the time he bled on the floor from how dry it is. That's the only the way for them to know as they don't have a camera in this cell. This cell does look quite sturdy and could have held his past self quite well. But he can break out of it whenever he wants.
Karasu sits, waiting for someone to come and he scans the room taking in the forms and the structure of it. No space except for a completely vertical air vent. Someone likely won't be able to escape from that vent, plus they have a bunch of cops on top the roof, so escape is much more unlikely, given that the person can't just break the entire building with all the structures inside. But he certainly can. He smirks as thoughts race through his mind and he continues surveying the room.
The metal walls are quite reflective and they also reflect sound very well. This should be able to counter any power that involves controlling heat, creating sound, or manipulating light to use for attacking. "Good thinking. What about Super Strength?" He thinks. He walks up to wall and punches it without using his telekinesis. He felt every bit of his force bounce right back into his arm. "This probably wouldn't have happened if I used my power. But, from the perspective of someone who possesses Super Strength this will certainly end up hurting the person back a lot." He tells himself. He doesn't want to use his power as that would likely damage the cell and he doesn’t want to get a case against himself. He looks at his watch to find that it's not his watch, but rather, a different one entirely.
The cops seem to have replaced it for an old-fashioned analogue watch. "These guys think I will contact someone from outside or what…? That's interesting." He says while speculating their intentions. As he hears footsteps approaching the cell, he sprints towards the door and begins hammering it with his fists, desperate for the attention of whoever is on the other side. He hears a scream. He likely scared someone on the other side. He can hear more footsteps running to the cell. He backs off and is ready to start off with his plan of acting. There is little chance that they will believe him completely but he has to try.
The cell's door opens and he stands with his hands against the wall trying to support his self and keep from falling on the ground. The guards open the door completely and are dumbfounded by the blood all over the place. The woman, who got scared by Karasu's banging, screams at the sight in front of her and faints. They look at Karasu and he's still bleeding. The bleeding has slowed down from before but there's still a lot of blood flowing down his face. His face is painted in his own blood and his hand looks as if it has been dipped in a bucket of blood. The walls are smeared in blood and the floor also has trails of blood from one end to the other.
They quickly evacuate Karasu to get him medical attention, as they can get into a lot of trouble if he dies. The doctor examines Karasu's unconscious body and gives his diagnosis to the cops. This time Karasu really is unconscious. "He has a mild concussion, a small fracture in the skull and is injured in 2 spots. One is clearly visible on the forehead and there's another on top of his head, hidden in the hair. I will need to cut his hair to see it clearly. The top one might be a fracture, but I can't be sure yet. Another thing! This guy seems to have a lot of scars all over his body. Many things have happened, but the most recent one is this scar on his face (pointing at the scar)." The doctor says.
Officer-1: "How did all that even happen?!"
Doctor: "I can't say. There are no clear signs. If your facility had cameras in the cell, we might have had a chance of knowing what happened to his head. You said there was a lot of blood on 1 particular spot. Did you do something there?"
Officer-1: "Me and Hishimura-san threw him in the cell, locked it, and left. Wait… Is it… our fault?"
It's not. Karasu's at fault.
Doctor: "It could be. You should have put him down gently. How many times have y'all been instructed to not treat captives inhumanely? Even if they are criminals, you don't have the right to hurt them. You should be glad I am here to fix your mistake."
Officer-1: "I… I will not do this again. (He rubs his face with both hands) God dammit. (Sigh) I didn't expect something like that to happen. I didn't intend for this…"
Doctor: "You not expecting or intending something never means it won't happen. What can go wrong will probably go wrong. Remember that."
Officer-1: "I am sorry. I will remember that."
Doctor: "Don't apologise to me. Apologise to him. You hurt HIM, not me. This is just a pain in the ass. When someone gets hurt for absolutely no reason, that is."
Officer-1: "Yeah… Sorry… How long do you think he will be unconscious?"
Doctor: "Well, I am still not done. I have given him meds to help in clotting the blood, but I need to cut his hair and give him some stitches. Escort me to my cabin."
The doctor and officer escorting him walk through the mutant captivity side of the facility and arrive at his cabin. The doctor calls for his assistant and starts looking for stitching equipment while the officer is standing in the doorway. There's rumbling and clanking sounds coming from all over the place. It's the prisoners. They want to escape. They are probably screaming and yelling, begging to be let out, but their voices don't make it out of the cell. They are stuck... waiting… for them to be freed. The doctor's assistant arrives and the 3 of them are ready to leave the room.
The doctor walks out, and the officer and his assistant follow behind him. The clanking and banging on the cell doors continue. They reach the room where Karasu is. The bleeding seems to have stopped and the heart monitor seems stable, with the pulse and blood pressure showing in normal ranges. "It looks he can get better pretty quickly with just a little tampering." The doctor says.
The doctor asks his assistant to cut Karasu's hair, while he prepares his suturing tools and the officer is just standing, and she gets to it instantly. Watching them intently, waiting for Karasu to wake up. The doctor asks the Officer to get back to his work, mentioning that it will take a long time for Karasu to wake up and that he won't be waking up before 7AM. The officer is adamant, but he gives in and gets back to work.
First, he checks why all the prisoners have been going crazy as it doesn't happen often, and even if it does, it has never been over 10 people banging on the door. But, today almost all, if not all, the prisoners are banging the door trying to break it down, perhaps. The officer goes to a particular prisoner's cell that he knows cannot hurt him. The Officer creaks open the door looking at the panicking prisoner still banging on the walls, crying for help to be let out of the cell. The prisoner falls to his knees and crawls to the officer begging while holding onto the officer's feet, "PLEASE!! LET ME OUT! I DON'T WANT TO DIE! I WILL DO ANYTHING! I WILL EVEN TAKE THE DEATH PENALTY BUT PLEASE GET ME OUT OF THIS PLACE!! IF YOU CAN'T GET ME DEATH, THEN MAKE ME YOUR SLAVE BUT PLEASE… Please… get me out of here" The prisoner cries, tears streaming down his face as his face get weaker. The Officer is confused and concerned. The mutant in front of him had never acted like this before. This is very odd behaviour even among mutants. He is afraid, way too scared. Scared for his life... but why? Before the Officer could ask any questions to the man before his eyes, the man collapses to the ground, hyperventilating. The Officer now starts panicking; he quickly tries to resuscitate the man. He tries his best, but it doesn't help.
The Officer runs out of the cell after making sure that the man is indeed unconscious. He is running to get the doctor, but the doctor is preoccupied with Karasu. The doctor can't leave just yet. The officer requests, "Please sir, if you don't come with me that man might die!" "I understand, but as I said, I can't leave yet." The doctor reaffirms. "Then do I just leave him be? If he dies, I will be the one in trouble!" The officer raises his voice trying to get the doctor to change his mind. "Just so you know… I HATE WORKING WITH MUTANTS! NOW GET OUT AND STOP DISTURBING ME! And if you STILL want help take my assistant and get lost!" The doctor says, with his voice full of annoyance and anger.
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The officer is taken aback and so is the assistant with the sudden outburst. The doctor gets back to fixing up Karasu, unaware of the fact that the one he is helping is also a mutant. "B-But… this g-" the officer tries to tell the doctor about Karasu, "WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU? GET OUT!" the doctor yells at the officer. The Officer flinches and is disappointed then the assistant comes to the officer and drags him away asking him to show where the collapsed prisoner is.
As the both of them leave, the doctors relaxes and says, "People are crazy these days, buddy. Me? Helping a mutant? Hmm… Not in a lifetime. I'd rather die than help a damn mutant" and as the doctors he continues suturing Karasu's wounds. After a while the assistant returns and informs the doctor that the Prisoner was stable. "I don't want to hear that shit." The doctor snaps, right after she is done speaking. The room falls silent with only thing to be heard are the doctor's metal instruments hitting each other.
The doctor stays focused on Karasu's injuries for an hour, and he's finally done. Now he can rest knowing he fulfilled his responsibility of saving a person. Switching back to the officer, he is sitting in the cell with the prisoner that collapsed previously, waiting for him to wake up. The officer had been watching this man for over an hour now. The man finally wakes up, dazed, confused, but as soon as he's aware of his surrounding he starts panicking again, and once the man notices the officer he jumps on him, holding the officer by his collar, "WHY AM I STILL HERE?! WHY DID YOU NOT TAKE ME OUT OF HERE? I TOLD YOU! PLEASE! I WON'T HURT ANYONE! PLEASE LET ME OUT SIR!!" The officer gets the man off of him and subdues him. "What the hell is happening? What's wrong with you? You don't act like this. What happened today, huh?" The prisoner is panicking and starts screaming, again. The officer turns him over and slaps him, "Hey! Hold yourself together! What going on, HUH?" after some more screaming the man starts talking while in a panicked state, "That… that thing… It will kill me! Please… I don't want to die by that thing. It's ruthless! Too powerful! PLEASE!" "What are you talking about?" the officer says, confused at the prisoner's words. "You all brought someone here some time ago, DIDN'T YOU?" the prisoner asks. "Yes. We brought a man. What about that?" the officer asks. "YES! I KNEW IT! HE WILL KILL US ALL! HE'S TOO POWERFUL! HE WILL DESTROY US! Even if all of us 'MUTANTS' work together, WE CAN'T TAKE HIM DOWN!!" The prisoner says, finally forming sentences that have a clear meaning. "Wait… Are you telling me he is here to kill you all?" the officer asks. "Maybe! WHO KNOWS? I DON'T! All I am saying is, he holds the power to kill us all in one fell swoop. Be careful around him. AND GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" The prisoner says, screaming in the officer's face. "I don't get it… Wait… how do you know that he's that strong? Have you ever met him?" the officer asks with a genuine concern in his voice.
"We all can feel it! ALL OF US MUTANTS! IS IT NOT A PRIMAL TRAIT TO KNOW HOW STRONG YOUR FOE IS? YES IT IS! SO WE CAN FEEL IT! THAT GUY CAN KILL US ALL IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE! You need to do something about him! We all will die!" The prisoner explains this feeling as a primal trait and starts laughing maniacally after his explanation as if he's going insane.
The Officer decides to leave and closes the cell door behind him. This might be a good time to check on the doctor and his patient. The doctor is sitting on a chair smoking a cigarette while looking out of the window and the assistant is writing down a report of the surgery. Karasu head has a patch of his hair removed and sutures can be seen in the middle of that patch. The Officer goes to the doctor and gets his attention. "What do you want now? I am telling you, if there is another Mutant collapsed I won't be coming." The doctor says before the officer had a chance to say anything. "This man… you worked on... Do you know?" The officer asks. "Know what? How he got injured on top of his head? No, I don't." The doctor says assuming a few things that the officer might be asking about. "The fact that this guy was in a mutant cell?" the officer says. The doctor was rocking back and forth on his chair but he stops, as soon as he heard those words escape the mouth of the officer. "What? What did you just say?" The doctor gets up slowly while looking at the officer with a horrified look on his face. He drops his cigarette and grabs the officer's shoulders, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?" Karasu can hear the doctor yelling. "DID I JUST SAVE A FUCKING MUTANT??!" The doctor yells even louder. Karasu wants to get up but he can't open his eyes nor can he move his body. The anaesthesia is still strong.
"No, no, no, no, no! NOOO! I DID NOT JUST DO THAT SHIT!" The doctor says while looking at his hands. "These hands… These hands worked on him." The doctor starts walking to a bone saw as soon as he says this. The officer is surprised by all this and the assistant is stunned, glued to her seat as she has never seen the doctor act like this. The doctor wraps his forearm tightly and picks up the bone saw. The officer jumps into action and holding back the hand that is holding the bone saw. The doctor is trying to cut his own hand. He's appalled at his own actions. How could he have done this? The doctor and the officer struggle for a bit, but the officer is able to get the upper hand and subdues the doctor then throws away the bone saw. "Doctor! STOP! YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS!" the officer says trying to change the doctor's mind. "NO! I WILL CUT THESE SINNING HANDS OFF THIS BODY! YOU HAVE TO TELL ME YOU ARE LYING ABOUT THIS BITCH BEING A MUTANT!"
The assistant is standing against the wall, horrified at what's happening. She isn't sure what should be done. "LET GO OF ME!" The doctor yells at the officer holding him down. "Promise you won't try anything stupid!" the officer says, intending to make a 'deal' with the doctor. "Fine, I GET IT! I won't cut my hands! JUST LET GO!" The doctor says, with a drop of tear rolling down the side of his face. The officer gets up and helps up the doctor as well. The doctor looks at Karasu with disgust filled eyes, as if he would kill him if he could.
The doctor leaves to go to his cabin, and locks the door as he walks in. The doctor is starting to breathe harder even though his lungs are not getting filled to the brim. The sound of his laboured breaths echo through the cabin, and he stumbles to his desk. He sits and lays his head down on the desk. More tears drip from his eyes. "What the hell did I just do…? Why… …" The doctor says while his sadness overtakes him. The tears flow more vigorously and the doctor hit his head on the table, full of despair. He puts his hand in his pocket and fumbles through it, pulling out a photo. It's a photo of him and a woman dressed in a wedding gown. He props up his head and holds the photo in front of his eyes.
"I am sorry, honey… I am sorry… I did something horrible… something unforgivable… how… how could I… I... I saved… I saved some damn mutant… mutants… AHHH!... fuck them!... After all they did to us! How could I…! I have betrayed you… I… I am sorry… so, so, so, so sorry… damn it…" the doctor says, and continues sobbing. In the other room, Karasu and the assistant remain. The officer is nowhere to be seen. Karasu opens his eyes, and looks around the room, while only moving his eyes. After seeing that no one is around, he gets up. He sees the assistant writing something with her back towards him. "Why is this nurse still here?" Karasu thinks, while frozen in place not sure, how he should approach her, or if he should just leave without saying anything. After some time, and a not-so-deep-thought, he decides to simply walk out.
The nurse sees him walking from the corner of her eye and is startled by his sudden appearance. "HEY! What the hell do you think you are doing?" the nurse yells at him. "Leaving…?" Karasu says. "No you aren't! Sit down. There's still something left to do." The nurse commands him. "I… will listen to you just because you are older." Karasu says as he walks back to the bed. The nurse is bent over the counter looking for something and then she realises what Karasu just said, "Wait… How old do you think I am? Do I look older than I am?" The nurse pats her face as she says so. "You are a nurse in a prison. Are you really worried about your appearance right now? Where are your priorities?" Karasu says while having a slightly disgusted look which soon fades away. "Oh come on. I am just joking. I thought you might want to have a lighter mood. The atmosphere has been too heavy even for me, since the doctor found out that you are a mutant." The nurse says. This makes Karasu a bit worried, but he tells himself that he will try to fix things. Maybe he can change the doctor's mind. This could be the first major step towards changing everyone's opinion of Mutants. "Wait… You don't hate me?" Karasu asks the nurse confused by the relatively normal treatment of him.
“No, I don’t. My life’s too short to hate someone.” The nurse says. “What do you mean YOUR life is too short?” Karasu asks even more confused than before.
“I am on a contract. I work with the doctor by he doesn’t really like working with me, although he doesn’t treat me too harshly, but sometimes he just shuns Me.” says the nurse, while looking into the void. She has a thousand yard stare, unclear as to what she might be thinking about or looking for. “Can you explain a bit more?” asks Karasu. “Well basically, I accidentally caused some people to die, then, I was supposed to die by a punishment, but I was allowed to live under the condition that I will help save people’s lives. They made this exception because the only thing available was circumstantial evidence and also because the judge acknowledged that I might not have done anything intentionally.” says the nurse. “That.. does not explain why the doctor doesn’t like you…? You are almost innocent if not completely innocent” Karasu says still waiting for a more concrete answer. “Oh. Yeah, I am also a mutant, although I don’t have any abilities that can cause harm to someone. That also played a part in swaying the judge’s opinion.” The nurse says with a slight smile on her face.
"So, that means you got gene-editing done for treatment?" Karasu asks. "Yes, when I was a kid I had a small tumour in my brain that went unnoticed, until it was late. By the time I was 10, it had grown too much and causing a lot of pain, so my parents decided to get the gene-editing treatment. That ended up making immune system much stronger, so my body expelled the cancer on its own." The nurse says, as she starts wrapping Karasu's head. Karasu flinches a little but then ignores the pain to get this over with. Once the nurse is done she complements Karasu, "Whoa, aren't you a strong guy? I have done this many times and people almost always start crying. You are one of the few. Also, I can feel all your mutant strength. It's immense, isn't it?" "What are you saying? I do train my powers. Anyways, I don't… have any tears anyway." Karasu says. "Yeah, I did see all the scars on your body. How did all that happen?" the nurse asks. "I won't explain, but, all I can say is, I did some dangerous things that could have killed me." Karasu explains superficially. "Wait… Did you attempt suicide? I hope you didn't." the nurse asks with concern in her voice. "No, no. I won't do that." Karasu says.
"Well, I agree with that. Don't do suicide, that shit kills you." The nurse says while chuckling. Karasu also starts laughing at that statement. "Ok, thanks for your help. I am leaving now." Karasu says as he gets up from the bed. "Yeah, you're welcome. It's my job to help people." The nurse says, and continues saying, "While you are on your way… Can you maybe… talk to the doctor? He seems really out of it." The nurse requests Karasu while gazing into his eyes and holding his hand, to hopefully get him to talk to the Doctor. "Yeah, I was… planning on it." Karasu says reassuringly as he bows down and thanks her again. The nurse is taken aback by his gesture, but in a good way. She bids him farewell with a smile.
The doctor is crying on his table with sounds of him sobbing still echoing through. Karasu sees this and decides to slowly walk in. He turns the knob, but the door doesn't open. It's locked. Karasu should find a key, right? He kneels down and looks into the lock and tries to find out the pins and the types. After a studying the lock pattern for a bit, Karasu stands up, puts his hand in his pocket, pulling out a small piece of plastic. He moulds the key into a lock-pick, puts it into the keyhole and starts picking the lock while looking at the doctor through the window.
After some fiddling around, the door is unlocked. Karasu opens the door. This makes enough noise that the doctor is alerted to his presence. The doctor shoots up from his seat and stands with a shocked and disgusted look on his face. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE? HOW DID YOU GET IN? GET OUT! THIS INSTANT!" the doctor says, yelling at Karasu. Karasu stops in his tracks, "Sir, I want to talk to you. I am not here to hurt you." "I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK! GET OUT!" the doctor yells at him again. Karasu stands in place without doing anything, so the doctor turns to his table's drawer. He pulls it out, and whips out a handgun. Karasu raises his hands. "Sir, if you do that, you will have to lose the gun. Please lower it." Karasu says, trying to de-escalate the situation. "NO! YOU PEOPLE KILLED MY WIFE! I WILL NEVER TRUST ANY OF YOU WRETCHED ASSHOLES! IF I COULD I WOULD HAVE KILLED ALL OF YOU!" the doctor says, as he remembers what happened to the woman in the photo. The woman in the wedding gown was his wife. The doctor cocks the gun and takes aim at Karasu head. "IF YOU DON'T GET OUT…." The doctor stops, and puts the gun to his head, "IF YOU DON'T LEAVE I WILL KILL MYSELF!" the doctor says, while threatening Karasu. Karasu doesn't do anything but he looks at the gun with intent. The doctor is confused, "Oh, yeah... You all don't care about human life, right? That's fine by me. I will meet my wife again." The doctor pulls the trigger, but no bullet fires. The doctor cocks the gun again. Pulling the trigger again, but it doesn't work. He pulls out the mag to make sure there are bullets inside. Yes, there are. Then, why won't it fire? The doctor puts the gun in front of his eyes, pointed it at the wall and pulls the trigger. The trigger doesn't budge. He uses all his strength but it doesn't work. "It won't work, sir." Karasu says while staring down the doctor's eyes. "WHAT DID YOU DO?! HUH?" the doctor yells as his frustration ramps up, and his disgust for Mutants like Karasu is taking over his body.
Karasu slowly starts walking towards the doctor and all the doctor can do is watch him, gazing into his soul as he gets closer and closer. The doctor can't do anything. He points the gun at Karasu again as an act of defiance but it's futile. Karasu isn't scared. He has complete control over this situation. He stretches his hand out, "Hand it to me, doc." Karasu says. The doctor is reluctant but he unwillingly obliges. Karasu puts the gun away, and pulls out a stool from near the table and asks the doctor to sit down. "The fuck do you want? If you want to kill me just get over with it." The doctor says as he sits down and puts his hands on his knees. "If I wanted to, I wouldn't have to unlock the door. I can control objects without touching them. Telekinesis, you know?" Karasu says, trying to dispel the distrust that the doctor has towards him. "I'm here to ask a question, a simple one. Why do you hate Mutants?" Karasu asks. He's here to get answers, and he will get them. "I… I…" The doctor fumbles his words, with tears welling up in his eyes, again. He tries to not cry but it's hard to do when that unfortunate flashes before his eyes.
The doctor clenches his coat and his teeth. A tear falls and he starts to speak, "2049 June 13th. It was a Friday. I was out with my wife just on a grocery run. We had been married for about a month now. (Sniffles)" the doctor says, as he picks up the photo off the table and gazes at it with sadness fogging his mind. That date rings a bell in Karasu's mind. "We were both so happy, so cheerful. We were just done with buying the things we needed for a party we were about to host as a little celebration for my friend's promotion… We were talking on and on about how we can make it special for him. I was racking my brain and we were walking down the street when we stumbled on a store with beautiful clothes on display. My wife loved to look at beautiful clothes. They were like an invaluable piece art for her. She stops, but I keep walking. After walking for some feet she called out to me, "Hey, Kenji. Look! Aren't these beautiful?" I turned around and saw that she had her face pressed against the glass with a grin. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement. I tell that we can't be worrying about the dresses right now and that we have a lot of work to do. She looks at me and pouts. (smiles) She looked so cute, so beautiful and precious." Kenji says.
"Then she said, "Don't worry, just wait for a bit. These are too beautiful." And then she went back to staring at them. I could do nothing but wait. I thought, 'Okay. We probably have a little time to spare.' And I was walking towards her and look at the clothes and see what was so interesting about them. Then… then…" the doctor's words are stuck in his throat. They don't come out. He tries, but they don't want to come out. He wants to speak but he can't. Karasu tells him that he doesn't need to force himself, but the doctor continues, "Then, a car flew in. It flew into my wife." Kenji's voice is now filled with rage he scratches his face as he said the last sentence. "'What the fuck just happened?' was what popped into my mind. The car flew into my wife and then into the shop. Only my wife's lifeless body remained in front of my eyes. Her spine was poking out of her fucking back, her head was smashed, eyes were popping out... like… why… WHAT THE FUCK DID SHE DO TO YOU?! WHY DID SHE DESERVE THAT? HUH?" the doctor looks at Karasu, "What's your name?" the doctor says while aggressively pointing his finger at him. Karasu puts his hand up, "Uh… Karasu… Kurokawa, Karasu. Why?" says Karasu. "TELL ME KARASU! WHY DID MY WIFE DESERVE THAT?!? WHAT DID SHE DO TO DESERVE SUCH A RUTHLESS END?!" the doctor says, yelling into Karasu's face while clutching him by both his shoulders. "Haah… I'm sorry. I just…" the doctor sighs again, as he apologises to Karasu. "So… my wife… she was dead, in an instant. No one had time to react, not me, not her, not anyone. I wish I could have done something…" The doctors start tearing up again while taking deep breaths, "Wasn't I supposed to protect her? I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! INSTEAD! I JUST STOOD AROUND JUST WATCHING! THAT CAR JUST SLAMMED HER AND I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! FUCK!" Doctor was now breathing even harder. "Doc… Careful! You could be hyperventilating!" Karasu warns the doctor. "Don't worry. I'm fine… Now… I was shocked as hell. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. It was fucking brutal… I snapped out of it once I heard people screaming. I had even forgotten to breathe. Once I got back to my senses, I looked around and I saw that guy... That bitch had a car lifted over his head, and then I saw him throw it at a building… That time, I could feel the rage… I could feel it burning through me but I also knew that I couldn't take that guy head on. He had super-strength. I wouldn't stand a chance. I stumbled backwards and went over to my wife. All I could do was cry looking into her eyes, and the only things coming out of my mouth were "sorry.", "why", "I didn't protect you." That was all that came to my mind. It still haunts me to this day. I just… CAN'T GET OVER IT! I HAVE TRIED COUNTLESS TIMES!" Kenji says as his voice starts cracking up. Karasu puts his hand on Kenji's shoulder, "I am not going to pretend like I understand how it feels to lose someone you love, in an instant. I have never loved someone as deeply as you loved your wife, but all I will say is. Things will get better. You are still at the bottom, not in terms of career, but emotionally. And, I also know that, when you are the bottom the only way you can go is up." "The story is not over." Kenji continues.
"This went on for half an hour. The police arrived pretty quickly. They used their super-strength personnel to fight this guy, but they were evenly matched. They wanted to minimise the damage, but the 2 of them fighting had the opposite effect. I had to watch the entire ordeal. Buildings were crumbling around me, and I was just sitting there, hopelessly. My eyes were wandering trying to find a reason for all this bullshit. It's been an hour since THAT BITCH has been going on this rampage. The police were able to contain it but not for long. Their officer was getting more and more tired, with no end in sight. Then, someone literally dropped from the sky. It was a guy, wearing a mask and jeans. He stood in front of me looking at the other 2 beat the shit out of the each other. This guy who just arrived, picked up a piece of rubble, with his powers. Mind you he wasn't even touching it. He shaped it into a spear, and plunged it through the damn bitch's chest. And he dropped dead. The guy then just left. To this day, I have no idea who he was but, I am glad he came. The police is too incompetent, is what I saw that day." Kenji says.
"Oh, shit." Karasu thinks to himself, "I remember that day. I also wished I got there sooner. Damn."
"If you were to meet that guy what would you tell him?" Karasu asks, waiting for the answer. "I would tell him, that I wish that he had been around, before things went down. That way, my wife would have been alive right now. But I can't blame him. He still saved a lot of people that day. It's just that my wife wasn't anything special." Kenji says, with a melancholic smile.
"Now, I get why you hate Mutants like me. I can't blame you, sir." Karasu says, as he and Kenji stand up. "Hope things get better from here on out. And another thing: Helping someone isn't a bad thing. As a doctor you have taken that responsibility, and I must say this. I am indebted to you for likely saving my life today." "You are not that bad of a guy, eh? I'm sorry for being rude and also for pointing a gun at you." Kenji says this, and hugs Karasu. "Don’t be sorry. As I said, I won't blame you for acting that way, after what you have seen mutants do, especially after what they did to you." Karasu hugs Kenji back.
They let go of each other. "I should be leaving now. I have some things to attend to." Karasu says while offering a handshake to Kenji. They bid their farewells to each other. On the way he meets the nurse again. "Hey. Things seem to be going fine now. Don't worry. He's in a better mood now." Karasu informs her. "Wait, really? Thanks for your help!" the nurse says. Karasu then walks away and leaving to finally meet Hiroshi.