Obviously, I couldn't come to a conclusion. 

I'm aware that, in the first place, I'm in a no win scenario. There is no correct answer.

If I lay down my arms for good, some freak will take advantage of my naiveté and burn down my house and slaughter everything I care about.

If I raise my blade for my family and strike while the iron's hot, that same freaks younger brother dedicates his life to revenge and turns my entire village to ash. 

Of course, those are both extremes. The answer probably lies on a spectrum, something about balance, yin-yang, something something eastern wisdom, something... I don't know, man.

Y'know, I always feared this day would come. I guess I didn't it fear enough, since I everything get so out of hand... 

I looked over at S. He wasn't snoring anymore. I honestly couldn't tell if he was still sleeping or if he was just pretending to be asleep so I wouldn't feel bad. I wouldn't be surprised if the latter were the case. 

He's one hell of a guy. Strong, too. Also kinda crazy. The same goes for Sis. Obviously, neither of them need my protection. As I am now, there's a distinct possibility that I'm more likely to get in the way instead of help.

But I can't just get over the fact that S was undoubtedly hurt because of me, my selfishness and carelessness. Or the fact that it's probably not gonna end there. 

Haaaaaaah...

I guess... I just gotta do better next time.

. . .

What a crappy way to end this...

. . .

I'm tired.

. . .

I'm gonna go grab a cola.

I put my hands together.

At least I still got super powers. Can always rely on those to fix your problems. Hopefully.

I hopped through rather immediately. It's late, if someone's out this late for some ungodly reason and they see me, it's their problem.

"A-AH!"

Oh. Looks like Zramazos is out here. Cool.

I pulled out a piece of paper. It was dark, but I could mostly kinda sorta make out how to spell 'cola.' Not that I'd ever forget.

I heard the door to Charollete's place creak open.

"Wh-whaa~?" Said Charolette with both concern and sleepy-ness. "Did something happen?" 

"Oh-uh-I-uh, I-I saw s-something i-in front of the r-red thing-"

"'Wus prolly jus' a rabbit or something."

"I-I-It was big, l-like it fell-"

I pushed in a few silvers, and after a moment the machine produced a loud clunking sound as the can fell into the grabby-bit.

"W-w-what was-" Said Zramazos.

"Is probably nothing. Just go back to bed, you shouldn't be out this late." Charolette suggested with a yawn. 

"I-I'm alright now, it's been-"

"Could you do it for me? Please?"

Dang. Those two sound like newlyweds. I bet there's a story behind that.  

Good for you, Zrammy.

"...Okay." Said Zramazos.

Good man.

I waited for Charolette's door to close before cracking open my drink. 

Aaah...

Sip.

Y'know, Zramazos's house is, like, right next door. Why's he at her place?

I can't decide if I'm incredibly curious about this or if I couldn't possibly care less. 

Regardless, I put my hands together, carefully using the fingers I didn't need to create the hole to grip the can.

I thought about going back to the kitchen, back to bed, but... Well, it'll be morning soon enough anyway, and this thing's so loaded with caffeine and sugar...

I put myself onto the roof. Near a corner, taking care not to cave the place in.

And I just sat there for a while. Nothing but my can in my hand and the stars and the pale sliver of moonlight to remind me I'm still alive. For whatever that's worth.   

And I took a long, long sip of my drink.

And reveled in the burning sensation against my throat. 

Aaah...

. . .

It didn't take long before I noticed Sis standing beneath, looking up at the roof, up at me. I realized that she probably didn't go fishing that night. I realized some other things, too.

Hm. Well, what's done is done.

I put my hands together, and invited her up. 

"You shouldn't be up there. You could hurt yourself." Sis said, with her usual look and tone from the other side of the hole, unmoving.

"I know." I said. I didn't know whether or not I was happy that she recovered so quickly. Obviously, I don't want her to be sad, but I couldn't help but feel a little lonely.

"And you shouldn't be up this late. You shouldn't be drinking that, either."

"You're right." I said, taking a sip. She was right, and I was hopelessly tired, so it was hard to argue with her.

"... What are you still doing up there?" 

"Thinking. I guess." Is what I said, though it wasn't true at all. Really, I was doing just the opposite.

"That's dumb. You should think somewhere else."

"Are you gonna stop me?" I asked. Though, I probably shouldn't have. 

"... No. That might cause you to fall off."

"Hm."

. . . 

"Sorry, I-" I began.

"Just... Don't forget what you promised."

Ah.

That'll show me for jumping to conclusions.

"I won't." I said. "I swear."

"Good. That's good."

I took a sip.

It was good.

. . .

We didn't say anything for a while.

Eventually, the door to the house opened.

"Right, what the heck are you guys chattin' about at this hour?" S said as he appeared out the door. 

"Ah, sorry did we wake you?" I asked from above.

"Nah. Actually, I've been up for a while, to be honest."

I couldn't help but sigh. "Figured. Sorry."

"It's cool. Somehow, I get the feeling I'd have a hard time blaming you."

Damn him and his incredible perceptive abilities. "Thanks."

"Right. Now, what are you guys talking about, and why are you sittin' at different heights?"

"The roof's dangerous." Sis stated.

"Is it?"

"Yeah. He could easily fall off and break his leg."

S shrugged. "I guess that's true." 

Regardless, he hopped through the hole and sat beside me. Sis seemed visibly confused.

He brings up a good question. Why am I here?

"I guess I thought it was cool." Was the only answer I came up with.

"Right, that works." S said.

"How?" Sis asked.

S and I both shrugged. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but MAN does our group shrug a lot.

"It does feel good up here, though." I said. "I wonder if this is how Catface feels? Just... Flying the day away."

I wonder what Catface does every day, other than the terrorism and the scaring the crap out of me. They just fly around, being weird, thinking of weird things to do?

Is it just me they're weird to, or do they have a list of regular clients?

What if they actually got, like, a full-time job and just do this stuff as a hobby. Maybe they have a disguise where they're just, like, a middle aged dude with a wife and 3 kids. Maybe that's their real self, and the Catface we know is the actual disguise. 

Really makes you think.

Which is good, because I didn't have that much else to do, considering the fact that me bringing up Catface brought the conversation to a screeching halt. 

"Right... Speaking of dangerous," S began after the silence, "there's more I should probably tell you guys about the dude from yesterday. The, uh, the other dark magic user."

"Ah, that... Y'know, I sure hope we don't run into any more dark magic guys. It'll make me look less special by comparison." I said. 

"Right." S said with a chuckle. "Anyways, that wasn't his only trick." 

Eh? Oh come on, don't tell me he has cool powers like me, too! If this keeps up, I'm buying a cowboy hat for our inevitable 'this town ain't big enough.' moment. 

"Now, I'm not exactly sure what he meant by this, he was kinda vague and weird about it, but I think the dude was... Part beast, or something. Mad beast, specifically." 

"Like a chimera?" Sis inquired.

"No idea what that is."

"Did he have animal features, or other animal heads coming out of him?" 

"Well... Not that I know of. He was wearing very baggy clothes. I thought he was just trying to be cute at first, but... That's a possibility, he coulda been trying to conceal something or other. Maybe. I don't really know, I've only heard about stuff like this in stories. In the few times I paid attention to them, anyways." S explained. "He did smell kinda odd, if that helps. Kinda animal-y." 

"H-how'd that happen?" I asked. "Is he, like, some crazy mad scientist, or something?" 

"Nah... More like a little kid, actually. 'Bout ye high. Probably her, or Michaus's age... And, from what he said, he was getting eaten by a mad beast, until he... Ate the beast back..."

Aie! Eek, even!

"Just, like, ate them alive? How's that happen? And how does that combine them? That doesn't make any sense." Sis said, unfazed.

"You're right about that." S said. "Still, I believe him. The part about him becoming beast-y, at least. His sheer speed and strength was nuts, far above normal human levels. Plus, he had these claws and fangs, and... Well, he was a freaky little guy, let me tell ya." 

"I can imagine..." I said. Let me reiterate: Yikes!

"Right. Beyond that, word on the street is that the mad beasts are getting smarter. Again, not really sure what that means, but we already know they've been acting very weirdly as of late. Likely getting stronger, too. All that, plus that one guy's entire existence... Well, whatever it amounts to ain't good, probably."  

"Certainly doesn't sound good." Sis said.

I just nodded in agreement.

"That said," S said as he stretched from his seat, "means good hunting for us, doesn't it!"

. . .

Does it...

Does it?

. . . 

"You're right. It does."

If things are gonna get dangerous, I've gotta learn how to beat 'em. Even if that means getting dangerous, myself.

I looked over at Sis through the hole. It looked like she was about to shout something at me.

"Don't worry. I haven't forgotten." I reiterated. "I swear."

That seemed to about cover whatever she was going to say.

"Alright. But no matter what, I'll be going with you." She stated.

"Thanks, Sis."

"You're welcome, or something. Bro."

After a moment, I realized I was smiling.

Despite everything, I think this ended up being a pretty good night.

. . . 

"Alright!" S shouted, following a brief moment of silence. "Between the three of us, we'll be able to take on some pretty crazy stuff! This'll be sick!"

"Yeah." I said with a chuckle. "W-within reason, of course."