Guardians of the Light [Chapter Eight] The Search Begins
CHAPTER VIII - The Search Begins
Day 1. December 6.
“Okay - we are totally lost!” Yuri groaned. They were roving around Hiroshima all day but there wasn’t even a single sign of an evil spirit trying to take over the world.
“We just have to look harder.” Keito said.
“As far as I can remember, Ikuta-san said that we should be able to feel their movement as long as we are together.”Ryutaro stated.
Ryutaro and Yuri started bickering on each other. Yuto just stared on the TV screen from the appliance center just across the street.
“You okay Yuto?” Keito asked.
“Yeah, I’m just worried about Raiya.”
The attacks on Ryutaro’s and Yuto’s houses were reported as robbery. They have explained everything to their parents to help them cover for the task they had. At first, there were oppositions from their parents, but in the end they were able to convince them. Yuto’s parents were devastated when they knew about Raiya’s fate, but they trusted that Yuto would bring his brother back safely.
“Okay, you two enough already. We can’t find the Hollow if you would just fight like you’re in a relationship.” Keito complained.
The two fell silent and dropped the fiery subject.
“Hiroshima is not the only place, right?” Yuto inserted. “What if it’s in Nagasaki? Or somewhere else, like what the Triad said?”
“Good point.” Keito agreed.
“Well if we don’t have anything left to do, we might as well get on a train to Nagasaki.” Yuri concluded.
* * * * * * * * * *
It had been five hours since they boarded the train to Nagasaki. One more hour and they would be arriving. They were seated in one row of seats in the train; Yuto, Keito, Yuri, and Ryutaro. Since it was eight in the evening, there were a lot of passengers.
“I’m hungry,” Yuri muttered, nudging Ryutaro who just rolled his eyes and shifted his gaze away from Yuri.
He saw a group of gangster-looking guys, hovering around a girl. She had long hair, round face matched with her round eyes that made her more innocent-looking. She shifted around her seat and crossed sight with Ryutaro. She seemed pleading for help. Ryutaro moved.
“Ryu-chan?” Yuri grumbled. Ryutaro eventually stood up and strode towards the girl. The other three stood up but sat back down when Ryutaro shook his head. He moved through the next cabin, only to realize that the girl he saw was almost two cabins away from them, which would roughly be about 50 meters away. He gulped when he saw that the guys were almost twice his size, mean-looking in their leather coats and dark-colored bandanas. There were four of them.
“Hey missy, wanna have some fun?” the largest one asked. His face was covered with his large, walrus-like mustache and dark shades. She didn’t seem to care, but the look on her face says that she was scared.
“C’mon. Speak up, little lady.” Another one said in an almost-too-hoarse voice.
“G-go away.” She managed to voice out.
“Whoa. Looks like we got a fighter here.” The large one teased. He laid his hand on the girl’s shoulder that made her flinch. “If you don’t want to get hurt, then better do as I please, huh?!”
Ryutaro advanced towards them. There weren't any other passengers on this part of the train; just them. “Lay off, dude.”
The four men looked back at Ryutaro. When they noticed that it was just a kid and wasn’t much of a threat, they turned back on the girl and continued harassing her.
“Hey! I said lay off you bastard!”
“What the hell did you just say punk?!” the large man said.
“I said lay off of her. Don’t you understand, mister?”
The four men laughed. “You’ve got some nerve punk.”
With that, the large man threw a direct jab to Ryutaro. The latter moved his head to the side where he effectively evaded the attack. Another fist was hurled. Then, the large man kneeled on the train floor while he clutched on his stomach. The other three stared in amazement.
“I really hate it when a person is single-handedly mistreated. I hate it more when it comes to a girl. So if I were you, I’d probably run away now.” Ryutaro stated.
The three stared at Ryutaro before they charged at him. Fists and feet flew from one side of the cabin to another and one by one the men fell on their backs leaving Ryutaro unscathed. The largest one stirred and stood up. He stared in amusement as he saw his subordinates lying on the floor, groaning in pain. He propped them up and scampered away, and gave Ryutaro an I-will-have-revenge-when-the-time-comes look. He turned to the girl.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. Thank you.” She said, flashing a timid smile.
“Did they hurt you?”
“No. It’s all thanks to you.”
Ryutaro blushed and rubbed his nape. “I think I should be going.”
The girl nodded. Ryutaro turned and headed for the door before he stopped and turned back.
“Hmm… By the way, I’m Ryutaro Morimoto. May I know your name?”
She smiled. “Shida Mirai.”