While Yuki might have been stunned by the sudden appearance of one of his friends, Saki didn’t waste any time charging straight for them. Ahat threatehem, Saki wouldn’t hold back against, even if it was a friend. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, Hiroshi?!”

  Though a blur to Yuki, Hiroshi saw her ing with ease and lifted his hand up. “I haven’t said ‘hajime no ippo’ yet. You’re now my prisoner.”

  Saki suddenly came to a stop. “What’s wrong with my body?” She struggled to move, but could do nothing. Then her hands moved to close her palms together. Despite her efforts, Saki found that her body never moved for her. It wasn’t even that she was under restraints or pressure, she just simply couldn’t order her body to do anything. “What the hell did you do to me, Hiroshi? If this isn’t one of your pranks, I swear a kick won’t be enough penance!”

  The siblings made a motion to help Saki as the situation quickly escated, but Yuki threw out his hands. “Don’t make a move!”

  “Yuki?”

  “Saki’s in trouble, Hayashi!”

  “Yes, and you’ll fall into the same trap if you move a timeter as well.”

  Hiroshi stared down at Yuki seeing that he already figured things out. “Quick to pick up on things I see, Yuki. You pyed the fool and css so well, it’s hard to remember that you actually have intelligenderh that fa?ade you gave all of us.”

  “What’s going on, Yuki?”

  The hardened look he saw in Hiroshi’s eyes told Yuki volumes. ‘What the hell’s been going on here? A graveyard with students from our school. Teachers and students lined up as if they’re out of some post-apocalypse storyline. This isn’t the UN’s doing. I would have seen a heavier presen the city if it was. This isn’t a martial w situation. So what the hell happened?’

  Trying to think it through iime that he had wasn’t going to get him to the answers. Plus, the Mizuno siblings wanted some answers. Yuki focused on what he did know instead. “It seems that Hiroshi also has powers, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise. I’m guessing everyone here does. The reason I stopped you is because we’re all under Hiroshi’s power already. His power probably has some simirities with mine.”

  Yori stared at Yuki with some relut awe. ‘He only just showed off his power and Hayashi already uands how it works? Hayashi’s more intelligent than I gave him credit for. I guess his friend is right. He’s fooled all of us…’

  “What is his power?” asked Yori’s sister, feeding Yuki more questions.

  “The power we’re under right now is Darumasan ga Koronda.”

  “The game kids py?” Yori incredulously questioned. However, when he looked over at Saki and saw her position with her hands csped together it did make sense. ‘How in the world did he figure all of that out so fast? That’s far too unnatural for any reasonable dedus.’

  As though Yori’s sister kept throwing out what Yori needed, she couldn’t stop asking questions. “How do you know? It could be another sort of power like mind trol.”

  “A few reasons, Saki came to an immediate stop and put her hands together, which is traditional for being captured by the oni in the game and he also mentioned ‘hajime no ippo’, “Taking the first step”, which you say when starting the game. However it goes beyond that, doesn’t it Hiroshi? You’re not restricted to just a single children’s game are you?”

  Narrowing his eyes to almost thin lines, Hiroshi even had to admit to being impressed by Yuki’s accurabsp; “I’m guessing that part of you isn’t fake after all.”

  Yuki felt like he saw some rese in Hiroshi’s face specifically aimed at him for lying to him. He did present a front to everyone in a way to hide from his past. It was who he had bee after that happened. Though it didn’t ge that it was just a cover up to his old self. ‘I’m sorry, Hiroshi. That part of my life was supposed to be behind me.’

  “What’s Hiroshi referring to?”

  “Probably Hayashi’s book knowledge,” guessed Yori. He already knew Hayashi long enough to figure out a few of the ways that his mind worked. Once he put it together a lot more of the dedus he made did not seem as far fetched.

  “Book knowledge?”

  “Enough stalling,” barked Hiroshi. He motioned loosely to those gathered around him. They tighteheir position on Yuki and his friends. “I know you’re already thinking up a termeasure with that power of yours, Yuki. One ripple and you won’t be able to finish that thought before your head is on the ground.” Hiroshi’s face ran dark with shadows introdug further harsho his already severe appearanbsp; He wasn’t the same Hiroshi they all knew anymore. There was lethal i in his eyes. Blood could almost be seen on him, baked into his shadow.

  Chapter 292 – Friend or Enemy

  The friend he knew seemed unreizable from the one he remembered. There was no mischievous griernally painted across his fabsp; No jokes slipped out from his lips. It all disappeared and was repced with a cold and merciless figure. “What happeo you, Hiroshi?”

  “I’m asking the questions here, Yuki. Which side are you on?”

  “Side? What sides? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  The perimeter closed in further on them with Hiroshi losing patieh them. “Enough! Ahe question or die where you stand!”

  Yuki ground his teeth together, uo answer him. ‘I just say that I’m on his side, but would that really be ving enough for him? I mean ah their life threatened would say that. Hiroshi doesn’t look like he’ll go so easily on us, even being friends. Plus, I don’t know what’s going on. While I don’t want to doubt him, there is a graveyard without an expnation and he’s willing to kill.’ All of the doubt made Yuki feel guilty. He was supposed to be his friend, not an enemy. But he couldn’t help but feel cautious of what surrounded him.

  Yet as though someone looked to make the answer easier for him, the ground nearby him suddenly exploded. Yori’s sister already had her barrier up to pletely protect them. To Yuki’s eyes it seemed as though she saw it ing, even though it did e up afterward. He could hear the sound of the debris dully falling onto her shield.

  Immediately, Yuki turned back to look at Hiroshi, pnning to yell at him for jumping the gun. However, it was clear that they weren’t the reason for it. Hiroshi motioned out to his group for them to get into position. Students and teachers alike took his orders and ignored his friends. They no longer seemed to be the most important thing.

  Yuki motioned over to Saki. “Hiroshi freed her, Yumi! We o move from this pbsp; Whatever is happening, we’re just sitting ducks out in the open!” She nodded in agreement and Yori had no pints. They regrouped with Yori’s sister dragging Saki away from Hiroshi, as she already wanted a piece of him once she realized that she wasn’t under his power. “Saki! We o uand the situation before you start a fight with Hiroshi!”

  “…fine…” she agreed, giving into Yuki’s request. “What’s going on?” She shouted as more stray bsts erupted around them.

  The whole area became even more of a battlefield than it felt. Worse was that they stood in a graveyard. This was no respect for the dead, especially as they all khem. Yuki tilted over his shoulder in the dire of where Hiroshi ran off. He picked cover behind some fallen wall that used to belong to a bookstore.

  Retreating to safety behind a more structurally plete building, Yori’s sister hovered away from the group. She moved to the roof as the lookout, while Saki peered out from the er. Yori stayed down on the ground with Yuki feeling a little useless. Both of the girls had more bat experiehan him and more familiarity with their powers. He still didn’t uand his very well to feel fident in them.

  “What do you see?” asked Yuki. He already khat they had better sight than him. It was one of the many advahat they received from their powers. The sight of seeing them moving around as he had only read and dreamed of made him a little jealous. They lived his dream. He could only pretend with his power.

  “Hiroshi’s group is fighting with anroup. It’s another proup.”

  “That makes sense, pretty sure the way things are, nearly everyone iy, in Japan rather, has powers. It’s just up to the individual to discover it. Who is the roup?”

  “I don’t see anyone in charge, they all just seem to be doing whatever they want with no structure or and.”

  “Yuki,” called out Saki, though her voice shook a little bit. “Hiroshi isn’t fighting strangers. They’re other cssmates! Ishihara and Santo among them, even some from my track team.”

  “The hell?!” Yuki stepped out no lohinking about his safety. A stray green blob flew past him sending shimmers down his protective field. His fighting gi resurfaced as a sign that he had activated his power. He flipped his mist around dealing with the strays. “Saki, Yumi, we o stop this fighting! Our cssmates shouldn’t be fighting each other!”

  “I thought you wao uand the situation first,” Saki remihough it was clear in her face she was just as eager to step in as Yuki.

  “To hell with pnning! I’m not letting anyone else die because of me!” Yuki ran off toward the battle line effortlessly knog away anything ing in his dire.

  Saki had to think a little, figuring that Yuki was referring to all of the death they caused in Atntis. However, she quickly remembered that Kazuhiro died before it all began, at the start of everything. It was what triggered everything. The thought only made it harder on Saki to look at Yuki. ‘He’s still carrying that weight… There’s too many things on his back these days…’ She made her decision long ago to follow Yuki. It sent her disappearing into the fray.

  Yori’s sister gnced down at Yori to che him. Though there was more to it than just that. He saw it in her eyes clearly, though he didn’t evehat. He already expected it to happen. “Go. I won’t stop you.”

  “Thank you, brother!” She hovered off the roof and flew herself over the battlefield. The iy was so much different from Atntis. Everyone had the same dark expression as Hiroshi as though they were brainwashed into madness.

  Yuki could see his friends going around with the same hopeful i as him. It gave him some mueeded reassurahat the world hadn’t pletely desded into despair. But he couldn’t rest just yet. In front of him, one of his cssmates didn’t see a fnking attabsp; “Takagi! Look out!” Yuki bsted himself forward, dealing with the person’s sword with his mist. It fell apart on the individual before the swing could finish.

  Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to stop them. They dropped the remains of their sword and charged in with their fists. Yuki’s momentum put him into the right position to plow into them. It just didn’t go donned. He did in fact hit them, but it barely made them budge. And they were too fast in responding that Yuki only had his barrier to protect him as he dug into the earth from the force.

  They quickly refocused their attention back to their inal target, Takagi. All of the struggling from Yuki did give Takagi enough time to realize he was utack from two sides. He, however, couldn’t hah of them. They overwhelmed him and in a few moments blood sprayed up along with his screams.

  Horror filled Yuki’s eyes watg Takagi murdered before him. It was only made worse by the fact that he reized the two assaints. “Shunsen? Nagai? He was your friend!” The moment Yuki immediately regretted saying anything. They turo him , alerted to Yuki's presence, as though pletely blind to him before.

  He tried to get to his feet, but they were too fast for him. He had no ce against them. Only his mist protected him and barely at that. The weight of their blows could be felt through his defense. Yuki could barely stay on his feet using all of his attention just to shield himself. ‘What’s going on? Why are friends killing each other?!’