Kurou entered the bar dressed up in rags, immediately catching everyone's attention. From what he could see, there were more than 20 people in there, all men. "Not a single woman? Lame." Kurou thought. The ugly figures his eyes spotted were varied, but equally unpleasant: an eye-patched bald dude, standing still while looking at him; several bearded pals, some of them gray, some of them not, gathered around a table; a one-armed old man, sitting at the counter, two muscular dudes drinking something from big mugs, some other guys around another table, and a barman behind the counter, looking at Kurou over his glasses. All of those were dark-colored, african-looking people.
Kurou thought it was a real drag to be the center of attention at such a moment, but what the hell. He took a seat next to the one-armed man and asked for whatever those guys with the big mugs were having.
"You can have a beer if you show me the money", the bartender said, looking down at him with a serious face.
"I'll have the money by the time this mug is empty", Kurou said, not raising his eyes.
The bartender chuckled at the weird response and brought Kurou a beer, clearly intrigued by this pale stranger with red eyes.
"By the looks of it, you're not from this continent", the one-armed man spoke up."Mahmoud", he raised his mug, introducing himself.
"Wasup, Mahmoud?", he answered. "Kurou", and raised his mug as well.
Since Mahmoud kept waiting for an answer, Kurou forced a dull smile. "Yep, I'm not from this continent. To be honest, I don't even know how I understand what you're saying".
"I don't think I follow. How do you not understand what I'm saying if we are speaking normally right now?" Mahmoud asked, displaying a hint of surprise.
"Yeah, it sounds crazy, and maybe it is. But I have no clue which country this is. I suppose you guys are african, right? But I never learned any african languages, so...that's that", Kurou explained.
"We're Egyptians", Mahmoud said. "This is a small town near Abu Simbel called Mehet. You're an odd one, that's for sure".
"Mehet...never heard of it. I'm not a geography guy anyway", Kurou said, taking a big sip of the not-so-cold beer and making the ugliest face possible.
"Hahaha, it seems you're not a fan of our beer...too bad, buddy. That's all we've got around here", Mahmoud opened an ugly smile full of yellow teeth. "This city is poor and our beer is warm, but we are not burglars, murderers or rapists like foreigners like to paint us. At least not the most of us. There's always a rotten apple, you know."
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
"I've heard stories about that. It seems women are treated...differently here", Kurou pointed out. "Not sure why, though".
"We do what we can, but you know how things go. No matter how many good guys are doing things right, a single bad guy can ruin everyone's reputation", Mahmoud replied, gazing at his empty mug. "Get me another one, will ya?" he called out to the bartender.
Kurou fell silent for a moment as Mahmoud focused on his impending refill. He realized that despite drinking a large mug of strong beer, his body felt no effects. Additionally, his hearing seemed exceptionally sharp compared to before. He overheard the bearded men at the nearby table casually discussing their assault on a woman the previous night.
"Is this a result of the transformation? Am I some kind of superhuman now?" Kurou mumbled to himself, prompting Mahmoud to cast an inquisitory look his way.
"What's that you're muttering, buddy? Already drunk?" Mahmoud teased. "Come on, let me buy you another one. You're good chat".
"Thanks Mahmoud, but I think I'll pass. I'm not that good of a chat, nor I want you to spend your money on me. As for the beer I had, the bartender should rest easy, I'll fetch the money for it in a sec". Kurou said, standing up and walking casually towards the table where the bearded guys were seated.
"Look, a dead man walking", one of them said, and they all bursted out laughing. "Watch out for this guy, he might already be a ghost", another one said, raising the laughter.
Kurou joined in their laughter, a fake laughter that made all of them stop and look at him with a stern face. As soon as they stopped laughing, Kurou fixed his gaze on the man who was talking about the assault and asked in a loud voice.
"How did it feel, huh? Raping her? Was it nice, you piece of shit?"
All the guys sitting at the table stood up, and the man's face Kurou was directing his words got filled with rage.
"What are you saying, white trash? Say that again!", he screamed.
Kurou said even louder: "Can't you hear me, deaf fucker? I asked if you liked raping her!"
The man threw the table around and jumped on Kurou's neck, holding it with one hand and punching his face with the other. "I'm gonna kill you, you son of a bitch!" he screamed while punching the shit out of Kurou's face.
After twenty punches or so, the man got tired, and feared Kurou had died by his hand. "Cowards are all the same", Kurou said, his face fully-recovered, albeit covered in blood.
"What the fuck!", the man screamed again. This time Kurou avoided the blow, delivering an elbow to his arm, breaking it.
The man screamed in agony, and Kurou screamed in agony as well since his elbow hit the floor.
The other men were ready to intervene, but Mahmoud's loud voice filled the place.
"ENOUGH!".
All men backed away, to Kurou's surprise. He stood up and cleaned his bloodied face. "Are you some kind of big shot here, Mahmoud?".
"I'm just someone who has lived enough to earn respect by his own means. Now get some money from that loser there and pay the bartender".
Kurou took a few bucks from the man's wallet, gave them to the bartender while receiving a disapproving look, and walked towards the exit.
"Kurou", Mahmoud said. "Be careful out there, okay? I don't know who you are, but I can see you're kind of crazy. Don't get killed for nothing".
Kurou laughed out loud and stared at the old man. "If I get killed, my friend, you can pay me that beer in Hell", and left.