[This chapter is not for everyone. If you proceed, any "trauma" caused by the chapter isn't my responsibility. Reader discretion is advised.]
Karasu is walking down the corridor of the prison block. The banging continues as he walks forward. He can feel the fear that these prisoners are exuding. The fear oozes from the prisoner's mind and body, like a pitifully weak force, piercing the air and pooling in every crevice of the corridor. This feels majestic. A wave of bliss washes over him, bliss fuelled by others' fear. Karasu has never had this feeling before. He smiles and stands still in front of a particular cell. The prisoner inside seems stronger than the other, in the physical department that is. He walks closer to the door and bumps his face into it. It's as if he can see right through the door even if it's made of metal. He takes a deep breath. "I love the smell of your fear." He says to himself. He can't really smell it, but it tickles his nose like the smell of well-made food.
He can't be the monsters that he hates, the monsters that have already caused him so much torment. But… He wants to see their fearful expressions as they stand before him. HE WANTS TO SEE IT! THAT WILL BE HEAVENLY! Karasu puts softly puts his hand on the cell door, and the door starts morphing. It morphs into a door with a hole in the middle. There's the prisoner staring right back at Karasu. His eyes are filled with tears, snot everywhere, and saliva pooling in his mouth and flowing down his throat from all the screaming. The prisoner sees Karasu and starts screaming hysterically as he runs into a corner of the room. That was a pathetic attempt at distancing himself from the threat in front of him. "Who is this man with head wrapped in bandages? Why is he here? Who could have possibly hurt THIS man? Will he kill me?" were the questions running through the man's head as he laid his sight on Karasu.
Karasu stares at the prisoner while smiling maniacally with his face shrouded in the darkness of his hood. "You are the kind that I hate. And you likely know that I can kill you right here, but REJOICE! Today's your lucky day. I don't have time to play with you." Karasu says calmly while wearing that damned smile and gives a flying kiss. This unsettles the prisoner further, and he starts crying and flailing his hands, asking to be forgiven and that he will atone for the things he did. "PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!" the man cries to Karasu, to try to change his mind. Karasu pays no heed and decides to leave. He puts his hand on the door again, and seals the hole that had formed in the prison door. Once Karasu is done, he walks away, "I am fucking coming for you, Hiroshi." He says to himself as he scolds his friend for the illogical actions that he has taken.
Karasu was walking to the reception to ask for an officer and talk things out, but he runs into one before he could get there. The officer sees him and instantly drops his coffee on the ground. He gets into a defensive position, putting his hand on the gun tied to his belt. Karasu notices a drop of sweat sliding down the officer's face and says, "Don't worry, buddy. I am not here to fight. Get me your superior." The officer pulls out his gun and points it at Karasu's chest, "I don't know what you want, but before I leave, you need to stay in front of me… I will walk you to an interrogation room." "Yeah… that's fine." Karasu says while looking straight into the officer's eyes, as if staring right into is soul.
The officer is unnerved by his piercing gaze, but decides to stand his ground. He has apprehended many hostile people in the past. What can this obedient, docile guy do, right? Karasu follows the officer's instructions and goes to an interrogation room. This one's also made of metal. The reflective surfaces show Karasu the fearful face of the officer who is trying hard to not let his fear take over. The officer knows that mutants can be very dangerous, but he is confused as to why Karasu isn't doing anything. Normally, the prisoners act defensive and possibly violent against whoever is escorting them, but this is different. It's supposed to have been a mutant officer escorting another mutant, but this officer is human, just a normal human.
"Hey, can't you shift me to a more normal room? I hate the look of this room." Karasu asks the officer. "I… Ok, fine. Just don't do anything stupid, okay? Even if you kill me, you can't win against our mutant officers. You will regret your actions if you hurt me." The officer says, as he tries to mask his fear by threatening Karasu. The officer shifts Karasu to another room and says, "Don't go anywhere. You will get in trouble." Before leaving to get his superiors, the officer cuffs Karasu to the table. Once the officer leaves, Karasu looks at the handcuffs, inspecting them to see what might be special about them.
Karasu focuses his power to see if the handcuff could be morphed or broken. With a little push, the handcuff bends and contorts more than Karasu ever expected. Karasu is surprised as hell. He can't believe what he just saw. How can they do this? "Wait… bitch, these are normal handcuffs! What the fuck were you thinking, officer? Are you dumb?" Karasu thinks to himself as he imagines the officer he was talking to, to be quite incompetent. Karasu can hear footsteps walking closer to the room. Karasu fixes the handcuffs by putting them back the way they were. The door swings open and an officer walks in, who introduces himself as "Inuzaki, Masao". This was one of the officers that carried Karasu to his cell.
"You seem to be out and about pretty soon for someone who hurt his head and has a fractured skull. Isn't that right?" Masao starts by questioning him about his injuries. "Well, I guess the doctor did a good work. What can I say? He's a good doctor." Karasu replies. "No, no, no. That's not how it works. However good a doctor is at their job, it wouldn't make them a mystical healer. Look into my eyes." Masao says imposingly. Karasu decides to comply and looks into his eyes. "What are you, mister?" Masao asks. Karasu bursts out laughing, "Hahaha… Oh! Come on! You all already know that I am a mutant. Why are you asking what I am? Huh? Are you confused? Fine, fine." Karasu says and demonstrates his power by moving the light hanging down from the ceiling.
"A prisoner told me a lot about how strong you are. I know you are a threat, so make sure you don't mess up." Masao says, in a serious tone, warning Karasu. "Anyways, what else do you want? Why were you speeding? What were you trying to do?" Masao asks again. "You ask too many questions. Ask one by one. Then you will get the right answers." Karasu says. "Fine, have it your way. Why were you speeding? Let's start with that, ok?" Masao says, obliging to Karasu's demand.
"I am here to meet my… acquaintance. The guy you have arrested. Yamada, Hiroshi." Karasu says with a stern tone. "Why do you want to meet him? We are not letting him go, if that's what you are after." Masao says. "Let that bitch rot. I am here to beat him up. After all that I told him to do and not to do, he went ahead and did something I told him not to." Karasu retorts. Masao is surprised. "Wow… ok… I… didn't expect that. But what exactly did you tell him to DO?" Masao asks. "To inform me if things get bad." Karasu says instantly.
"Oh? Inform you about what?" Masao asks. As he asks this question, they hear footsteps from outside the room. Masao gets off the chair, expecting his superior to come in. "Inform me, if the abuse got any worse."
The superior who was walking into the room hears this. "What abuse? Are you threatening my officer? Huh?" the superior says. "You're rude, aren't you? Introduce yourself, sir." Karasu says. "Talk to me with respect, buddy. I can bury right here, and you wouldn't even know what happened." The superior says. Karasu, being even more dismissive of him, says, "At least tell me what your name is, buddy." The superior having a fierce look in his eyes, getting angrier, yells at Karasu "You insolent motherfucker… (Turning to Masao) Where's my gun?! Bring me my gun!" Masao being caught off-guard gets startled and runs to find a gun. The superior takes a seat and looks into Karasu's eyes, making his hostility clear to him. "You're a mutant too, aren't you?" Karasu asks, "I don't sense any of your 'aura'. Are you even strong?" The superior puts a cigarette to his mouth and says, "As I said, I am strong enough to kill you. I don't feel any of your aura, so you tell me, are you strong?" "You still haven't given me your name." Karasu says. The superior gets fed up and gives his name to Karasu in order to get it over with, "Shidare, Ryugen. Are you done with that now?" "Name is Ryugen, huh? Ok. Nice to meet you… buddy. You are nothing like your name. Haha." Karasu says.
Ryugen clenches his jaw in anger and speaks up, "You are here under charges of speeding. You know we can make it much worse, right?" "Do I look like I care? I am here to beat the person you guys have arrested. That bitch did something stupid, and I want to make it clear to him." Karasu says with a slight sense of urgency. "Your stupidity is going to get you killed like this… buddy! You really think we will let you talk to that bastard? He killed his parents. For what, you ask? He isn't even telling us. If he keeps that up, then he will simply get the death penalty. If he does, then I will be there to watch his pop out of his skull, and I will tie you up and make you watch him die." Ryugen says.
Karasu chuckles at that, taking it as a hollow threat and says, "Oh, yeah? Fucking try me." Ryugen slams his hand on the table and stands up looking into Karasu's eyes raises his hand to punch Karasu but that's when Masao walks in, "Sir, I have got your gun… What are you doing, sir?" "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU FIND THIS DISRESPECTFUL INSOLENT MOTHERFUCKER, HUH?" Ryugen yells at Masao. Masao is startled and steps backwards from this sudden outburst.
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"He… He (gulp)… he was chasing the prison van, so we arrested him." Ryugen lifts his hand off the table to grab his gun. It had left a dent on the metal table. Taking the gun from Masao's hand, he points it at Karasu's head. Karasu puts his forehead against the barrel of the SMG and asks Ryugen to pull the trigger. Ryugen lowers his gun, "Shit… If I kill you, I will be in trouble." "Just say you have no guts, buddy." Karasu says, taunting him. Ryugen gives in and hits Karasu with the body of the gun. Karasu is unfazed, and stares into Ryugen's eyes, "That's all?" "You fuck…" Ryugen says and puts the SMG against Karasu forehead and pulls the trigger. It doesn't fire. What happened? Well, Karasu took control of the trigger and isn't letting it move.
Ryugen gives up, throws the gun and sits down with his hand on his face. His eyes filled with frustration and annoyance. He wishes he could just beat up or even kill Karasu, but he can't, not under the law. He looks at Karasu and sees that he's staring daggers at him. Karasu's fists are on the table and he's staring right into Ryugen's soul. "Now, can we talk? Like normal people?" Karasu asks. "I don't even care anymore. What do you want, asshole?" Ryugen replies.
"I want to meet the person named 'Yamada, Hiroshi', the same guy that you arrested a few hours ago. There's something I want to talk to him about." Karasu says, with authority, still looking into Ryugen's eyes. He's unnerved by the way Karasu is acting. "Why should we comply with that request again?" Ryugen asks with a dismissive tone. "Well, because I have been complying with your requests." Karasu says. "Listen here, you little shit! You have no authority here. We are the ones who are commanding you, not making requests." Ryugen says. "You know what… To ME they are requests, and yes, I am making an active choice to COMPLY. You have no authority over me except for being able to put me in jail. But guess what, you can't because, if I made a mistake, your officers made a much bigger mistake. They injured me for no reason."
Ryugen turns to glare at Masao and says, "You done messed up this time." Masao starts profusely apologising to Ryugen. Karasu butts in and says while giving Masao a side-eye, "Hey, why are you apologising to him? You should apologise to me. You know that, right?" Ryugen stares at Karasu with a ferocious look. He doesn’t seem happy with Karasu, which is obvious. "Can you just shut up, you punk?" Ryugen says as he gets up from his seat ready to punch Karasu. "Oh, right. You were asking me how I was COMPLYING with your requests. Isn't that right?" Karasu says as the punch hits him in the face, throwing his head back. There's a mark on his face now, and a bruise on his cheek.
Karasu raises his hand, "Look here." And the handcuff starts twisting slowly and then it snaps, breaking into multiple pieces. The same happens on the other side. Masao's eyes are wide open with surprise. "Wait, wait, wait. Excuse me, sir? Aren't those supposed to be…? (Gulp) Unbreakable?" Masao looks at his superior, Ryugen. Ryugen is just as surprised as Masao and has a concerned look on his face. Ryugen's hands then start vibrating. He's trembling, but why? He looks at Karasu, and the feeling of fear gets stronger. The fear ramps up as Karasu is standing up from his chair, and moves the table over to a corner without lifting a finger. He's walking closer and closer to Ryugen, who's now fearful and looks distraught.
He starts yelling at Karasu, "HEY, STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME! STAY AWAY!" and he also starts screaming like one of the prisoners. Masao is further taken aback and is also scared. What could be happening that his superior is getting scared and is on the verge of tears? Then… he remembers the words of the prisoner. The prisoner had told him that mutants can feel the strength of their opponent without even fighting with them. How strong is this Karasu guy? Ryugen continues to scream in fear while on the floor, as Karasu towers over him.
After a stare down between Karasu and the mess of superior Ryugen, he finally stops screaming. "I just… love the smell of fear." Karasu says as he kneels down and stares into the void of Ryugen's eyes. "Fine, fine. We will let you meet him. Don't hurt us. You will just end up being hunted down by the government." Ryugen says while still trembling. Masao chimes in with a question, "What the fuck just happened? Are you okay sir?" Karasu says, "I absorbed my aura back in. Every mutant can control how much of their strength seeps out. That strength is what made him scared." He gets up from the floor and says to Ryugen, "If I wanted to harm you all, I would have done it before I even got here. You know I have that power." "Yes. Yes, I know. I am sorry for hitting you." Ryugen says with his voice breaking.
"Now, can I leave?" Karasu asks. "No… don't look at me like that, please. It will take time to arrange a room for you both. We need some time… that's all." Ryugen says, as Karasu stares at him. "Fine then, be quick about it." Karasu replies and goes back to sit on the chair. Ryugen stands up and dusts himself off. He looks Karasu in the eyes and asks a question, "Why were you hiding your strength?" "I am not here to threaten you guys. I could have gone on without threatening y'all, but you gave me no choice. Also, cause of my pride, I had to show you what I am made of. Now, the talk is over. Get going. I don't have all day. There's a lot of work on my hands." Karasu speaks with urgency.
Masao and Ryugen leave the room to do the required preparations before allowing 2 mutants to be in the same room. "Sir, what shall we do?" Masao asks Ryugen. "Why are you asking me? Just go through the normal procedure. Clean up a soundproof room, get some armed guards and that guy... what's his name again? Ah, Hiroshi. Don't forget to put him in handcuffs. That will be VERY IMPORTANT." Ryugen instructs Masao. "Ok sir, got it." Masao replies, before getting to work.
An hour passes by and Karasu had been waiting patiently. He is bored and wants to get out of this tiny room. Should he, or should he not? Boredom and Karasu never had the best relation. Karasu hates boredom, and he wants to get rid of it. He gets up from his chair, swings to the door open and starts walking around the facility. As he's walking around, he remembers the 2 little girls that were sitting with the older, having a worried look on her faces. The younger one was tense with all the things happening around her. The older one was probably worried as she did not know what will happen next. What could they be doing right now?
He should go check up on them, and so he does. He looks for them all over the prison block, where he was, but they were nowhere to be found. He decides to go check in the resting area, and there they were. The younger one of them was asleep on the older one's lap, while the older one was holding onto something as if her life depended on it. This time she didn't worry, but instead, she had a pained look on her face. Karasu backs off for a moment and goes to the closest cell and puts his ear on the door. The prisoner inside was yelling something. It sounded like he was saying things like "Fuck", "Shit", "Die" and also "Let me out (?)". The sound wasn't clear at all. The voice was muffled to the point that it was hard to make out the sounds. They were only barely audible. But Karasu could understand some bits and pieces of it. Was he scared?
Karasu stands in front of the door looking down, and takes a deep breath. His fingers tingle and his hair stands up as if he's feeling colder. He now puts his ear on the door again, and the cries have died down, and the prisoner is now heard sobbing, saying something like, "Finally… (?)", "Live (?)", "Will I?"
"Ah, it WAS my aura." Karasu thinks to himself. He now goes to the resting area once again. The older girl now looks a little more relaxed. Maybe his aura made her uneasy. Now that Karasu stops to focus on the girl's eyes, he can see that her eyes are red and her cheeks seem to be a little wet. "Was she crying?" Karasu asks himself, "Wait… Could it be because of me… in the interrogation room? Aw, man. This shouldn't have happened. Shit." he continues.
He approaches the girl and kneels down in front of her, "Hey, how are you, kiddo?" She draws back and the worried look creeps into her face. Karasu notices this and continues talking to her, "Don’t worry, honey. I am just here to meet your brother. Before I met him, I just wanted to check up on both of you." Karasu says. "Who… who are you? What is your name?" the girl asks. She finally spoke to him. This makes Karasu a bit happy, and he continues, "Well, I don't know if your brother told you about me, but we are each other's… best friends. And… my name is Kurokawa, Karasu." Karasu says, trying to reassure her that he isn't a danger to her.
"Are you… really Karasu…? Tell me… something that only his friend would know." She asks. "Only his friend would know…? Let me think… He used to have a friend named Arima, Kyoko as well. He met me when we were both 5 years and that day I helped him rebuild his sand castle. That was an important day for me, but I can't be sure if he told that story to you." Karasu says.
"He… did… He told about that day. He had a huge smile on his face the entire time. You… really are Karasu..." the girl says, as she gets up from the bench she was on and stands in front of Karasu. Karasu stands as well. Tears were welling up in her eyes and she jumped to Karasu and hugged him. "Whoa!" Karasu says, surprised by the sudden emotional explosion of hers. She starts crying in his arms, which also wakes up the younger one. It surprised the younger girl to see her sister crying while clinging onto a stranger, at least someone who's a stranger to her.
"Hey, you are finally awake." Karasu says, noticing her and greets her with a smile. "Mister, are you okay? And… why is my sister crying? Did you do anything?" The older girl gets off Karasu and goes to her sister and introduces Karasu. "Ooooh. It's great to meet you in person. Brother told us a lot about you. You are cooler than our brother was saying." The younger one says. "Cooler? I don't know what you are talking about. I haven't done anything yet. Before I ask anything, I would like to know your names." The older one introduces herself, "Yamada, Mitsumi" who's 8 years old, and the younger one says her name is "Yamada, Misaki" who's 5 years old. They are both Hiroshi's younger sisters. "Nice to meet you, Misaki. I am Kurokawa, Karasu, as your sister said. Now… what did your brother tell you about me?" Karasu says.
"He told us a lot!" Misaki says. Her eyes are flashing with excitement to meet a new person, who she had heard so many good things about.