Tainted Land

Green, everywhere it was green. Tatsuya never knew what to make of it. Sure, he knew that Yuki caused it after that earthquake destroyed their school. But what did that exactly mean? Just saying that it was Yuki’s fault didn’t really answer anything. And saying that the city was different was just as vague. It was weird and strange, he never really knew what to expect around the next corner. Most people just hid themselves in their homes, a smart choice.

Why did he not follow their example? He had been doing the same mostly. School was closed, most places were closed. It was pointless wandering around. Only someone looking for trouble roamed about in their town anymore.

An unsettling thump made it through the streets towards Tatsuya. ‘Something’s coming…’ He immediately jumped over the nearest property wall and climbed up the massive twenty-meter tall tree. Such things never existed before, in a city that had no room or place. Nature no longer cared if civilization had room or could accommodate them. They just grew and everywhere. This one destroyed half of the house in the process of growing.

The unfortunate homeowners were the least of his worries. Climbing the tree served two purposes. It put him in a better position to scout the noise, but also kept him out of notice hopefully. Near the top of the tree, he poked out on one of the branches. “Now where are you…” he whispered to himself. Following the noise, he tracked it back to a strange boar-like monster. It looked like someone crossed a boar with a lion and possibly even a dragon and then just mixed all of the parts up. Only the boar shape seemed to be there, but it was nothing that used to exist before.

More than ten blocks away, he had a long time to wait before it left the area. “Really not used to this yet. I know things I shouldn’t be able to.” He knew that his ears heard things too far away and too quiet normally that he never would have before. The slight vibrations in the earth from that boar he could feel. It was unnerving what he knew. Sure it saved his life and improved his chances of survival, but it wasn’t something he was used to dealing with. Every time he heard or felt something, he was completely convinced it was just around the corner. His mind hadn’t adjusted to how vastly different his body had changed. “Did you do this for our sake, Yuki? Did you know that we’d need this to survive? Is that why?”

Chapter 315 – Tainted Land

Free to move again, Tatsuya arrived at his destination. The only reason he came out into the hell of their city anymore. “Hey man, still talking?”

Rows deep into the cemetery, Hiroshi lifted his head up from the grave he had likely been staring at for hours. “I’ve lost any more words at this point.” His voice trailed off at the end almost as if trapped by an invisible hand ripping them away into hiding.

Despite the front that Hiroshi put up for Yuki, Tatsuya knew the truth. ‘He acts strong and brave in front of everyone else, but he can’t stop thinking about it. I wish Yuki was still here, it might just be a façade for Yuki’s sake, but he’s in a better state around him. He can’t be dwelling on this forever…’ Tatsuya walked up behind Hiroshi placing a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s hard, Tatsuya. I keep seeing him in my mind. I know the truth, but that doesn’t help things. I still have this urging, feeling…disgusting feeling…I need to blame something, someone. It’s wrong, he’s my friend and he’s not at fault.” His body was shaking. Tatsuya could nearly hear the way he was fighting with his body. “How are you managing all of this, Tatsuya? Unlike me, you’ve been friends since you were five. Compared to you I barely knew him and I’m more of a wreck here.”

‘On the contrary…I just know, like you for Yuki, the front is important. Without it we’d all fall apart.’ His room would tell Hiroshi a completely different story. In fact, focusing on the changes in his body had been the only thing that helped to get his mind off Kazuhiro. Even if it was just a distraction, a way to forget, it was needed. He had lost things to destroy.

Sanity was a precarious thing.

“Death happens to everyone,” answered Tatsuya, “I have my memories of Kazuhiro. So he lives inside me. In that way, he’s not dead.” It was all just a bunch of self-deceptive bullshit, but if it worked to get Hiroshi out of his depression he would say anything.

“That’s a positive way of looking at it.” He seemed to be contemplating the different perspective.

Tatsuya didn’t really plan to give him time to fall back. He had his attention and he was the most awake he had been in a while. “So what did you call me out here for?”

“The school. You’ve heard the rumors or seen the strange things happening, right?”

Seen might have been the more accurate option for Tatsuya. He hid himself away from the world and his city. So hearing any sort of rumor was nearly impossible. But while he came out to the cemetery it was hard not to notice something odd in the distance. It was the opposite direction of the cemetery, but something happened at the school. “It was a joke to think that they could just pick things up like nothing happened. You think it’s the UN peacekeeping forces?”

Hiroshi rubbed his chin in thought. He finally started to look like the friend Tatsuya knew. “It’s the only guess right now. But we know that whatever Yuki did changed us all. So maybe some thug got it in their head to try to do something.”

Since Hiroshi seemed to be aware of more of what was happening than him, he pushed for information. “What are these rumors?”

“Someone’s built an army at our school and claiming the city for their own.”

‘Explains why he thinks that it could be some thug with powers. The whole thing sort of seems like a lottery, so some probably have stronger or more useful powers than others.’ However, a rumor was still just a rumor. They hardly knew anything about what was going on in their city, their home. He knew that wouldn’t set right with Hiroshi. That seemed to be the main driving force for keeping his sanity. “The school just opened too, depending on when this happened a lot of classmates may have been caught up in this.”

Turning to look in the direction of their school, Hiroshi’s determination surfaced. The face that couldn’t be turned away from a decision. It was the same reckless look that Tatsuya saw when they became friends. For all of his laziness, he had a bad habit of helping others. “Which is why we need to go find out what happened and if something has happened to our friends. We need to save them!”

‘You’ve left me with a difficult responsibility, Kazuhiro. Only one of us is left to keep our friend from blindly following his more stupid and idealistic side.’ Generally, any sort of trouble they got into in the past was pretty minor stuff. Hiroshi did have a habit of actually making things work out when it seemed impossible for them to go as planned. He was dead set on seeing those doing wrong served for their error and making sure the innocent were not involved. “You know this sort of thing seems more suited for Yuki and his little group that he’s collected. They actually seem to have abilities and know how to use them. We still don’t know what we have, if anything useful.”

“But Yuki’s not here,” Hiroshi noted, tilting his head over his shoulder at Tatsuya. Another unfortunate truth. Neither of them knew what happened to Yuki or Saki. It had been weeks since they heard or seen them. “We both know that Saki more than any of them would have immediately caused trouble when she learned about the school. Same with Yuki, he’d follow her if he didn’t go first.”

“They’re like someone we know.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hiroshi turned away from Tatsuya, focusing back on the school. It was their goal, even if it was a bad idea. Someone needed to do something. “We don’t know what happened to them. Maybe they’re captured, maybe Yuki went to explore Japan to find a way to fix it, sounds like something he would do. Whatever the case, none of them are here. It’s just us and we will have to do.”

“Two against an entire army?”

“A rumored army.”

“Because that makes me feel any better.”

“We’re just scouting for now.”

It was his job to keep his friend safe from reckless actions. However, there was no talking him out of it. And it wasn’t like he disagreed with what Hiroshi wanted to do. If their home was in danger, he wanted to do something as well. He just knew how Hiroshi’s plans went, usually sideways before they were successful. “You know I’ve got your back.”

“Thanks man!”

The walk to the school had to come to a stop before they could even get in range of it. They came to a stop just out of sight of a fight. Hiroshi peaked around the corner a second time. Even before they were able to see it, they heard something happening and approached with caution. “Damn! What’s going on? I’m seeing the UN fighting people from our school.”

“The UN has gone too far if they’re fighting a bunch of students!”

Hiroshi crept out slowly with Tatsuya. They hadn’t been spotted. So if they could get a jump on them, they might be able to save their friends from being beaten up or worse by the UN soldiers. However, just as they were ready to make their move to save them the fight ended.

What neither of them realized until it was too late, the soldiers were just defending themselves. They had been ambushed and only a couple remained alive. The rest were already dead by the time they arrived at the scene. The last two died before they could do anything. It all happened before their eyes. Then the worst happened.

Once dead, the students tore into the soldiers with their powers or just through brute strength. It was a completely savage and unearthly sight like out of a horror movie. Organs, bones and blood were everywhere. It soaked their black uniforms making it difficult to read any of the gore on them.

Both Hiroshi and Tatsuya covered up their mouths and held in their urge to throat up. They were too close to the whole thing. Any sort of new noise would alert them to their position. A strange sort of fear kept their body in check. At least until they left. Once it was safe, their bodies couldn’t hold themselves back any longer.

“What the hell was that?” yelled Tatsuya, hoping he no longer had anything left in his stomach to toss up. His throat burned and mouth stank of acid. Worse was the image of people he knew doing such things. Remembering it again just made his stomach start to choke once more. It had nothing left and so all he had was pain. It was all he could feel anymore.

Hiroshi leaned up against the wall of a building resting his body. He didn’t know what he had seen. It just seemed impossible. “I don’t know. It’s a nightmare.” Rejection seemed to be the only thing that he could do to justify it in his mind.

“This is a whole hell of a lot worse than your rumors.”

“…yeah…”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hiroshi!”

“I don’t know!”

Tatsuya jumped over and pushed him down to the ground flat just as a light flashed over them. “There’s someone still here.” He looked around trying to see where the attack came from. But there was too much in the way.

“I thought they left!”

“Maybe they heard us, I don’t know! But it doesn’t matter right now!” Tatsuya dragged Hiroshi up against the building around the corner. It was the only cover they had at the moment judging from the angle of attack. He looked around the corner still looking for them.

Hiroshi was shaking not knowing what to do. It only made sense. Neither of them had really been in a fight, a real fight like this. Street brawls that Yuki did or just the angry student didn’t have any comparison. This was someone looking to kill them. The lethal intent ran so thick it soaked through his skin. ‘Damn…what are we going to do? Neither of us are ready for this. I’m used to hiding, not fighting.’

Something suddenly ran through the wall barely missing them. Only a thin trail of light could be seen through all of the exploding brick and mortar from it bursting through the wall. It wasn’t safe for them, even for cover. They ran around trying to stay ahead of their attacker while the building turned into ruins.

Escaping to a completely different building, their former protection finally collapsed in a pile of smoke. Coughing through all of the dust and debris, they quickly became familiarized with their situation.

Live or die.

A simple binary.

Hiroshi came to the realization first and grabbed Tatsuya. “Hey man, you know roughly where they are at this point?”

“Huh?” It snapped him a little out of his paralysis, but his mind was still playing catch up.

“I’m going to be the decoy, you get around behind them.”

“What?! Are you crazy?” Another blast of light came through the building stopping any arguments. Hiroshi just stared at him. He was telling him to run. A plan, a terrible plan, but their only plan. Tatsuya nodded begrudgingly and waited for Hiroshi to make his move.

Like all of his reckless plans, it seemed to be working. Hiroshi did everything loud and easy to spot to make the enemy follow his movements. It gave Tatsuya all the time he needed to start looking for the source. All of the lights throwing across the area gave him plenty of points. He only needed a few seconds to know exactly where they were now until under fire. ‘I’ve got you…’

It took longer than he wanted to sneak around, but in a minute he was in position. The sounds of Hiroshi still playing decoy urged him forward even in his hesitation. Up there was another student most likely. Someone he knew. ‘Who is it? Someone I know or someone I passed by in the halls? What’s going on here?’

Tatsuya couldn’t hold out. He jumped up to the rooftop making his move. The turned figure was in the perfect position. He couldn’t tell who they were, but they were trying to kill Hiroshi. They were all he knew. He could fight, for Hiroshi.

Charging at them while still turned away, Tatsuya grabbed them from behind and lifted them off the ground. It was all just a spur of the moment. He needed a knockout. So he went with the move he knew, the one he saw Saki do a few times in class, usually to Hiroshi, a German Suplex. He figured with enough force and more on the head that he should be able to drive them unconscious.

The unplanned force actually sent the individual through the roof of the building. Cracks shot out around them before the whole thing collapsed, dropping them both down on the second floor and then the first floor.

Coughing and dazed, Tatsuya tried to find his balance as Hiroshi came rushing in. “Hey are you alright, man?! What the hell did you do?”

Waving through the smoke, he tried to find Hiroshi. “Just a little thing I saw someone else do.” He then looked over at the student he attacked. Hopefully, they were out. And by the looks of it, they didn’t seem to be moving. However, Tatsuya froze in shock.

“Where are you?” Hiroshi called working his way through the building. Tracing through the smoke, he managed to find Tatsuya. “Hey man, what’s wrong? You hurt from the fall?” He just saw Tatsuya looking down. In confusion, he stared down and staggered back in surprise. “It can’t be…Sakura?!”