“You’re fident that you’ll kill me.”

  Shaking his head, he corrected everyone’s natural instincts it seemed. “I’m not here to kill you. I’m here to stop you. There’s a difference.”

  She ughed a little at the ion that Yuki still g to despite everything. “You’re not going to be able to do anything with that sort of mi.” Suddenly, Yuki disappeared and reappeared in front of her swinging his fist. ‘What?! Whe there?’ Takako barely had a ce to put up her arms in defense. However, his fist went right through as he faded away.

  Yuki stared at the results, appearing back where he stood. His eyes narrowed a little with some slight disappoi. ‘Figured as mubsp; She’s got the same weird prote against my powers. I’m going to have to get more creative if my powers won’t do anything to her.’

  It took Takako a moment to shake off the whole experienbsp; Once she uood what happened, she smirked a little. “Pying trie.”

  “No more than you.”

  “What are you referring to?”

  “I mean this . I know you have some illusion cast over the room. That little punch you gave me let me into that.” He still didn’t know why she did it. ‘It’s a meaningless effort as far as I’m ed. She’s not doing anything with it. So what cast the illusion?’

  Her shoulders lifted a little in her shrug to casually throw off the decration. “You didn’t give me a lot of time to up. I ’t be having a messy room for the King.”

  “I’m just an average high school student right now.”

  “Now who’s casting illusions,” she shot back at Yuki.

  Remaining on edge around Takako, Yuki didn’t know wheack from her would e. Not that he would be able to see it, he knew. Everything had to rely on his powers' reas. He left everything up to the faith of his powers he made to battle someone like her.

  Betweehs, she disappeared and then appeared on the opposite side of Yuki. She spun around her arm taking him out at the nebsp; However, her ha straight through him rather than hitting anything solid like she expected. “Eh?” A fake?”

  “That’s right,” answered Yuki, eared in a different part of the .

  Ahat she couldn’t target Yuki so easily, she unched something at him. It just was a light kick of her foot, but it still shot like a bullet at him. A small piece of debris that did in her illusion, though remained real to her. Blowing through Yuki’s head, blood sprayed back all over the walls. His body fell over, slumping against the wall.

  Shock went through both Takako and Hiroshi, uo believe that Yuki just died so simply. “Yuki?!” yelled Hiroshi, not wanting to believe the sight. Laughter came up from the other side of the room where Takako stood. He gred over at her helpless to do anything.

  “That athe—“ Interrupted in the middle of her ughing, Yuki appeared swinging his fist again at her. She had no defense up at the moment. He capitalized on her weakness, ramming his fist into her fabsp; This time it ected, throwing her out of the with bsts sounding off as she broke through wall after wall.

  Yuki stood defiantly looking down the hole where he sent her. “Amateur…”

  Chapter 353 – Mind Games

  Nearly as muoise broke through the darkness of the school as Takako returned. She had a healthy looking bruise on her face from the punch that Yuki gave her. Along with it in apa, fusion and surprise painted her eyes and mouth. “What did you do?! You shouldn’t be able to hit me with your powers!” Her hand lightly touched the pain in her cheek with the look of being out of pce.

  Takako was a girl that had never fought a day in her life. Before the i, she was just a normal girl going to school. She had the track team and her friends. But there was nothing else special about her. So the notion of hitting, even by her parents, was fn to her. As much as what Yuki did to actually ect a punch with her, the fact that she was even injured surprised her equally as much.

  However, Yuki merely remained quiet, tinuing to watch how things pyed out. He had to stay on top of his tration for her.

  She immediately dove after him wanting revenge for the hit that should never have touched her. Yet, the same problem as before occurred. The Yuki she swung at wasn’t real. He reappeared in the room and she jumped after him. None of them were real. “You ’t touch me!” Another punch from Yuki ected with her sent into the wall. It cked as much power, but still sent her off her feet.

  Staring on from the sidelines, Hiroshi was the only ohat had a good view of what happened. He uood how Takako would be so fused. In such a situation, he wasn’t sure he would have thought of the same thing. ‘Yuki’s found a way to fight Takako. He’s the only one of us with different means of using powers. I didn’t have any idea that she would have found a way to deal with them. But this way…’

  He watched the two in their introductory danbsp; Takako being pushed back with Yuki exploiting her weakness. While Hiroshi couldn’t boast the same degree of familiarity and experience as Yuki in fighting, the st month and mave him a sense for the level of skill from an oppo. It wasn’t always accurate or helpful and got him in trouble on a few occasions, but it was an improving skill of his.

  To behold the two fight gave him the time to test it. He could see what Yuki was doing and reading into his as gave him insight into the fighting mind of his friend. ‘He ’t fight her normally, as he probably would like due to somethiing his power. So he’s keeping her off band emotional with all of the illusions. Once he got her riled up from the first hit, she hasn’t been focused at all. She ’t see what he’s doing, even though I know she has the capability to be able to. Yuki’s timing is just right to capitalize on her fusion.

  ‘That first punch, wasn’t even a punbsp; Because of the timing, Takako just thinks he’s pung her. It’s all part of the illusion. He’s matg the timing of his illusion hitting her with a sedary attabsp; He’s using somethihat isn’t created by his power and ung that in time with his attacks. And while we were both in shock over his faked death, he used that ce when Takako’s awareness was at its lowest! He’s pying her in his palm. The battlefield is pletely under his trol!’

  Hiroshi had to look at Yuki carefully, feeling like he was seeing someone else out there fighting Takako instead. ‘It’s hard to believe this is the same person that I met at the start of the school year. I know I didn’t know what sort of life he had before high school, but even being told what I know, this far exceeds what I would expebsp; He might actually be able to win…’

  While he did believe in Yuki’s power, what he dealt with fighting Takako before made him question if anyone could defeat her. It wasn’t even arrogan thinking that he was better than Yuki. He wasn’t sure there was ahat could win. ‘He might be able to overe all of her tricks!’

  Yuki came to a nding after knog Takako down again. The real one couldn’t be seen and Takako had long fotten that fabsp; Despite trolling her own illusion, she had fotten that all she was fighting was one as well.

  She didn’t stand up immediately. Looking up in annoyance from her position on the floor, she saw a different sort of person than she saw walk through the door. He looked upon her with determination and seriousness. “It’s you… You’re the one.” Takako wiped away a bit of the blood that came up from her lip that cracked from the st hit.

  “What do you mean?” Reading her expression, he could see that she realized something. However, he didn’t have a clue what she discovered.

  Takako stood up slowly, looking a little more calm than before. The bruises on her faly scuffed her up. She still had plenty of fight left her, by the look in her eyes. “I knew you both from the rumors around the school and the ohat Saki stood in front to prote a daily basis. The ohat was more han fighter. The ohat fled from a fight.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “After I got the ce to walk through Saki’s mind I saw someone different in her mind.” Takakhtened herself out looking like she prepared for something. “I’ve gohrough enough minds to knoeople remember ahings very differently thay. People are filled with self-delusions. I ted Saki in the same camp.”

  “But?”

  “You’ve got the same look that I found in Saki. It’s different from when you first walked in here. You were ving yourself of what you were doing before. Now you’re itted, o that course. And you’ve got that look now. The same look Saki knows and fears, when you get serious. When you bee absorbed in a fight. You don’t care how inexperienced I am in fighting. You’re bringing it all.”

  “I’m not going to be able to stop you any other way. You might have been a normal school girl at one point, but now you’ve bee twisted and corrupted because of your power. I ’t fight you half heartedly if I expect to save you.”

  The demeanor from Takako ged ever so slightly. It signaled a shift in their fight and an increase iensity. “I don’t need saving. I bme you for all that you’ve done. This is all your fault as I said before. But I’ve also already accepted the reality. You already saved me!” Takako disappeared on Yuki attag the fake.

  She jumped to the a still not finding the real Yuki. However, when the fake Yuki came out to attack, she was able to dodge it this time. Behihe wall took the shot that Yuki set up for her. ‘What was that? That didn’t feel like a punch,’ she questioned internally.

  ‘He missed!’ Hiroshi thought in surprise. ‘Is she seeing his attaow? If so, what’s he going to do to keep the fight on his side?’

  Yuki’s oved around staying ahead of Takako with agility impossible for his normal body. ‘Damn, I didn't think it would happen that fast. I knew I couldn’t survive on that trick for long, but I still need more time. It’s not ready yet!’

  As their fighting reached a pause, Yuki stepped onto the questioning subject that Takako introduced. “What do you mean that I already saved you?”

  “This power you gave me. Without it, I never would have recovered.”

  “What are you saying? ower did I give you?”

  “The perfect power for someone like me. It took some time for me to realize it and I had some help. Thanks to them though, enough of my sciousness returned. Though I wonder if they regret doing what they did to me. Sihey were my first subjects.”

  More mysteries pounded as Yuki only tio learn now revetions that pushed him further away from uanding the truth. The puzzle before him was far more plex than he imagined. “Who helped you? Someoh powers?”

  “So let me show you what I’ve gaihanks to you saving me!” Suddenly, Takako appeared beside herself. Multiple copies of her stood in a liogether. “Let’s see how long you st against me like this!” Six copies of Takako charged at Yuki faster than even Hiroshi could see. An explosion of debris filled the whole room.