“Woahh…” Baru couldn’t suppress his gasp. It took a lot out of him not to swear out of habit in front of his father. The room wasn’t very large, but it was the contents that made it jaw-dropping. On the left side of the squared room were a dozen monitors displaying complex scripts and blueprints of devices that Baru couldn’t even begin to describe. And also–

“Wait a minute…” he scrutinized one of the monitors on the top right. “Dad, why is that girl shirtless? And why is she bending dow–”

“AHUMMMMM!” Kenzo rushed to his keyboard and deleted the screen, quickly replacing it with the default wallpaper of a green hill and blue sky.

“Nothing!” his father’s voice jumped up an octave, a drop of sweat running down his forehead. “I was doing research for human anatomy, son. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

Baru tilted his head with a shrug. “Okay.” That certainly explained why the girl was shirtless. But something dawned on him. “Wait, Dad, what does that have to do with Tech?”

“Ahh, what a good question indeed…” He turned pale, then twisted his head around, “Woahh, look at that! This is one of the first devices I created way back then! Sure brings me back!” Kenzo pointed to a large cylindrical device on a workbench on the opposite side of the room.

“Dad, you didn’t answer my question–”

“Woahhhh, look at this! Do you know what this is, son? This was the very first attempt to replicate a Sense Gun that utilizes the power of one's Sense to create physical bullets! Isn’t this neat? I remember using this one on a Hoggrin– A Hog monster– way back when it stumbled into our village. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah…”

His father was clearly trying to avoid the question. Why do I get the feeling he didn’t want me to see that? In any case, Baru was more curious about the technology and his father's work.

The room was grim, most of the light being produced by the monitors on the left side, but there was just enough to see everything on display. Shelves cluttered with various tech parts and empty energy drink bottles added to the chaos, reflecting how messy his father was. Workbenches laden with tech tools–not human anatomy tools as Baru suspected–were scattered throughout the room. There was also a small shelf with an array of different figurines, oddly unclothed–

“DON’T TOUCH THAT!” Kenzo saw him reaching out to one of the figures in curiosity. “I mean… these very expensive figures help me when I’m trying to draw in different angles…” he regained his composure with a cough.

“Wow, you have so many hobbies that I never knew about. Why’d you never tell me?”

“That is a very fair question, my son,” he knelt in front of him with a smile, “one day, you’ll inherit these hobbies too.”

“But I don’t like drawing–“

“SHHHHHHHHH……” Kenzo put his index finger over his mouth to shush Baru. “You’ll understand, one day, my child, you’ll understand.”

“Is Ami also destined to like these hobbies too?” asked Baru.

“Ehhhh,” Kenzo avoided his gaze, “It's more of a boy thing, ya know… Anyway–”

Baru was confused about why drawing and anatomy were only for boys, but his father knew a lot more than he did, so maybe he would understand when he got older.

“Dad, are you going to show me the claw of the White Tiger monster yet?”

Kenzo, still flustered and slightly regretful that he hadn’t cleaned up sooner, nodded to his son. “Yes, it's time I showed you what I’ve been working on for the past ten years, and also what’s causing monsters to stay away from this place.” His father grew serious as he marched over to one of the shelves and pulled out a standard book. Laying the book on the cluttered workstation, he opened it.

“A book? Why?” Baru stood beside his father as he began flipping through the pages.

I thought I was about to see the claw– Baru’s impatience running thin suddenly stopped as a cluster of pages in the middle of the book refused to be turned. Baru's eyes widened in realization.

“The middle part of the book is an empty compartment that looks like regular pages. But if you go to page four hundred and forty-two, you’ll see a magnetic page that opens up the hidden space, just like this…. Click!” Kenzo flipped open a thin magnetic page only to reveal–

“A key?” said Baru, slightly underwhelmed.

“Yes, a key.” Kenzo reached out and took the modern key from the hidden compartment. “What? Did you think I was going to put the device in here? Of course not,” he chuckled. “I’ll show you where I put the claw. Don’t worry.”

Kenzo walked up to the room's brick walls with strained eyes, looking for something while grasping the key in hand. Scratching his head embarrassingly, he murmured slightly.

“Shit, where is... Maybe I hid it a little too well.”

“Did you forget where you put the–”

“No, I didn’t!” Kenzo cut him off. “I-I was just admiring what a great job I did hiding it. That’s all.”

That sounded like a lie. But his father was much more knowledgeable than he was and had so many unique hobbies like anatomy and drawing.

“Ahah!” Kenzo exclaimed with triumph, finally finding the keyhole. “I mean… Yep, this is where it is, son. I was testing to see if you would find it! It looks like you failed, sorry bud.”

Giving out a cough, Kenzo’s key slid inside an unnoticeable hole in the wall. Turning the key, something audibly clicked before a large square chunk rolled out of the wall like an office drawer.

A hidden storage drawer? Baru was expecting the key to unlock a safe or something along those lines, but this was so simple and blunt that no one would care to look for it. Unless the basement caved in, then it would be over.

“Ah, my beauty!” Kenzo exclaimed as he pulled out a necklace from the storage compartment. Attached to a long metal chain was a small cylindrical pendant, barely the size of his pinky, filled with an odd green luminescent liquid swishing inside. Baru couldn’t help but feel underwhelmed again.

“So, where’s the claw?” he frowned at his father.

“This is it.”

“You’re joking? Where’s the claw part? That’s just green liquid inside a pendant.”

Kenzo’s nerve twitched. “That’s the reaction I get after showing you? Come on, a little more enthusiasm would have been nice!” he lamented.

“I’m sorry, Dad, this just isn't what I had in mind when you said a claw from the king of monsters.” Baru shrugged. Maybe his father was a liar all along.

Kenzo sighed. “If you would let me explain a thing or two, I think you would have a different reaction. The green liquid you see here is the claw,” Kenzo revealed as he shook the pendant.

Baru blinked in confusion while his father continued his explanation.

“Sadly, the only way to amplify the claw’s potency was to break it down into a powder and conduct various tests. After long months of trial and error, I was left with barely scraps from the arm-sized claw I found that day. But eventually, I succeeded in amplifying the little DNA I had left,” he explained, then muttered darkly, “But my research wasn’t exactly all too pleasant either…”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing,” Kenzo shook his head, his expression becoming distant as if recalling something dreadful. “In any case, Baru, I want to make one thing very clear. There is a reason why I won't share my invention with the government that goes far beyond my concern for my family's safety.”

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“Like what?”

His father looked at him intently and chuckled. “Hmph, it’s not something a kid should get himself involved in.” Kenzo patted Baru’s head with a soft smile.

“Is it something perverted?”

“Wha– wait, you knew that I was….?” Kenzo froze as his son innocently looked up, not understanding why he was so flustered. “I mean, no, it's not perverted.”

“Okay, Dad,” Baru beamed, not a single corrupted twinkle in his eye.

“Scared me there for a second,” his father chuckled amusingly.

“Why?”

“Nothing, but I won't lie this time. It is perverted.”

“Dad's a pervert?” Baru gasped, then wondered confusedly. “I don’t know what a pervert means. I just know that girl across the street keeps calling me that.”

“Oh lord,” Kenzo massaged his eyes with a sigh. “I really need to keep a better eye on what you do.” Although he was worried about his son’s behavior, he couldn’t help but smile. “Sure do remind me of myself when I was your age. Aoi called me a pervert, too, when I first met her. Yeesh, I got an ass-beating from my mom that day.”

“Being a pervert isn’t good, is it?” Baru noticed.

“Definitely not, but it’s a part of our nature, whether we like it or not,” Kenzo reassured him. “Just don’t let it get the best of you.”

“So, is it like anger?” wondered Baru.

“I suppose every emotion and impulse can be a good and bad thing to some extent. Just like being too perverted is bad, being too kind is also just as destructive.”

“Why? What bad can come from being too nice?”

Kenzo pointed at his heart, “This…” he poked him, “there will be some who take advantage of your kindness.” Fidgeting with the White Tiger pendant, his father continued. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t be kind; I’m saying you deserve respect just like anyone else. Don’t sell yourself short or willingly take hate from others to be the better person. By not acknowledging this, you’re telling yourself that it's alright to be in the center of hate and humiliation.” Baru felt the pendant being placed in his hands by his father. “Don’t hate anyone, not because they deserve your empathy, but because you deserve peace.”

Baru felt the rough steel of the cylindrical pendant as he fidgeted it between his fingers. The green liquid swished back and forth as if it had a mind of its own.

Baru smiled. “I didn't understand a word you said, but this pendant is kinda cool now.”

“Of course, you didn’t,” Kenzo snorted. "I wasn’t expecting a seven-year-old to understand that. But maybe one day you will.” He proudly ruffled his hair.

“Dad, can you stop doing that? My hair always gets messed up!” he puffed.

“Whoops, sorry, it’s just a little hard to resist because you have the same exact hair as I do. It's like patting myself on the head!”

“Why would you want to pat yourself on the head?” Baru suspiciously glanced at him.

He cleared his throat. “Fair enough.”

Putting his father's annoying embraces aside, Baru wanted to ask one last question.

“Can I test this out–” Before Baru could finish his sentence, a loud creaking noise erupted from the staircase entrance. Someone had opened it.

“Dear, come out here quick!” his mother’s voice sounded from the tunnel’s stairway. “There’s a mouse in the house!” She squealed in fright.

“Great,” Kenzo sighed, “your mother hates rodents. It's a good thing she hasn’t seen an Arokai yet. She would flip out.” Kenzo rushed to the stairs, but halfway, he paused and exclaimed to his son. “Baru! Put the pendant away, and I'll lock it when I come back!"

“Okay!” Baru answered while his father disappeared from the basement.

Clutching the pendant in hand, Baru took another glance at the hidden compartment in the wall and thought to himself.

What if… I took it? Just for a little bit? I just want to see if a monster will stay away from me in the forest. As long as I've got this, I'm protected, right? He pondered the idea of playing it off like he put it away and returning it later. His father wouldn’t know, would he? All he had to do was sneak the pendant back into the basement without his father knowing he had taken it outside.

What if…

Baru snuck the pendant into his pocket and closed the compartment as if he had put it away. He rushed up the stairs with an excited smile, putting his hands in his pockets so his parents wouldn’t notice anything.

What if…

“Baru? Where are you going?” his mother asked him as he reached for the door knob.

“The storm is over! I’m just going to go play with my friends for a bit!” he said.

What if…

“Oh, okay, well, be careful. It's slippery out there,” she warned him while Kenzo was giving loud grunts in the kitchen as he attempted to catch the mouse.

“Don’t be too long,” Ami pouted, “you promised we were going to play.”

What if…

“I’ll play when I get back!” he replied to his sister, barely being able to control his heart from pounding.

He opened the door, rays of sun peering through the dark grey clouds and the wind coming to a halt. The storm had finally stopped.

What if…

----------------------------------------

“What if… I didn’t take the pendant…” Baru stared at the entrance of his house with horror when opening the door.

His heart stopped, and with a convulsion, he vomited.

“Blood…” Baru noticed the pools of blood on the ground. “Why is there blood on the ground?”

Crunch! Snap!

His mother's head was being eaten. Why… Why was his mother being eaten?

Gruesome sounds of snapping bones and flesh being torn apart rang in his ears. Three bodies were piled onto each other in front of the staircase of his house. A large monster the size of a bear and with the features of a raccoon skillfully tore his mother's head from her body. It licked its chops and salivated, chucking the head of a beautiful blonde-haired woman into its mouth.

It was gone... just like that, the woman he had known all his life was gone. She was crushed in the jaws of the monster like it was a grape.

“Mama?” Baru gagged, his legs failing to keep him upright as he fumbled to the ground. He couldn’t move his body. It was useless. He felt as if he were in a dream; No...this couldn’t be reality. He couldn't accept it.

“Dad?”

Tears... they just couldn't stop. He didn’t even know when he had started crying. Just like his mother, the monster snapped and twisted his father's head, chucking it into its mouth. Blood spurted out of Kenzo’s neck like a shower of rain, a few drops landing on Baru’s young cheek.

His throat went numb.

He wasn't sure if he was screaming, even though he felt his vocal cords burn in agony.

The only thing he was able to hear was the violent ring in his ears, overriding his ability to hear his own screams of anguish.

Baru's cries... they were muffled, but they existed. But why was he crying? Why couldn't he do anything else? He was just standing there like a statue, watching as his family were torn to shreds, as if they were fresh-farmed chickens.

Hate... he felt so much hate at that moment, yet he wasn’t able to lift a finger to help his family.

He was weak, he was dumb, he was a childish boy who only thought about himself.

In the midst of the ringing in his ears and the soundless screams, he managed to think to himself. Or maybe it wasn't actual thoughts.

No.

They were feelings. His mind couldn't form a sentence. The emotions he felt were preventing him from doing such a simple task.

Selfish.

Take pendant.

If only.

Didn't do that

The pain he was feeling was far bigger than simple concepts of grief. It was the simple realization that his life had grown meaningless.

In life, the only thing all humans wanted... was a connection to others. Without that, life had no purpose in living.

The only ones who were able to live on were the ones that had a connection to themselves.

And most people didn't.

He didn't.

Alone... He thought

Alone...

Pain...

Al#n?...

P@?n...

A!o?e...

.

help

----------------------------------------

“…Big…brother…” Ami’s voice shut off the never-ending ringing that engulfed him. Baru jerked up to meet his sister’s dull eyes staring at him. Ami’s legs and arms were stripped away from her body as if the monster specifically wanted to torture her and watch as she screamed in agony. Blood was dripping from her eyes as if they were a manifestation of tears.

“AMI!!!!” Baru screamed with the last ounce of energy he had. Gripping the pendant with such anger, it broke, and the liquid burst in his clenched fist. His anger overrode his body, giving him enough strength to get up.

Gasping for air, Baru let out an ear-piercing cry and threw his clenched fist at the monster. The fiend growled with fear as Baru swung at it, its long grey hair spiking up threateningly. Its mouth bared in defense, making its long teeth that had crunched his parents visible. Its long, misshapen snout pointed down as if cowering before him, and its long raccoon-like tail curled. Before Baru could make contact, Ami’s last words whispered from the puddles of blood.

“Fight…”

That's right... It was already too late. What could he do? What could he say? Apologize? Cry? Scream? Beg for forgivingness?

It was all...

so...

so...

Meaningless.

Even so... a seething hatred that he couldn't suppress bubbled inside of him, like vomit that couldn't be released.

Those simple words they.... they made so much sense to him.

At that moment, all he could think about was sinking his short nails into that monster's flesh until he reached its organs and felt its heart burst like a balloon in the palm of his hands.

He wished to hear its cries of pain, Its cries of pitiful helplessness as he tortured it over and over again, the same pain it had inflicted on the people he loved.

Baru was overwhelmed by it. He was drowning in his own hatred, and it was impossible to escape.

Just fight.