Kabata Katsuki
“W-We’ve tracked the hero. HUFF! HUFF!” Ayato sat right in front of me on another horse, panting as he looked at me seriously in my eyes. The two of us were standing on top of the defensive walls of the city, sitting on top of our horses, looking at each other, with the woods on my left, my hands on the straps of my horse.
There was a second of silence between the two of us as we looked at each other for a second. I then said, “Where… is that motherfucker hiding?”
“At a small restaurant in the middle of the city named ‘The Bar’. He was fifteenth in the rankings, and is gonna face another guy named Suzuki Tadashi in his first fixture of the competition.”
“‘The Bar’, huh?”
“Yeah,” Ayato nodded. “It’s such a small restaurant it’s made of wood instead of bricks.”
I turned my head to my left, looking at the thick vegetation silently for a second. With my eyes fixed on the woods, I commented, “It’d be an easy win, then.”
“Yeah,” Ayato smiled. “And to think that the hero will run away from the attacks is jus—!”
“Don’t talk about it.”
“O-Okay.”
“… His name… is Takemura Itsuki, right?”
“Yeah,” Ayato nodded again, looking at me. “He’s sixteen. He’s a good warrior, and he’s even murdered some of our soldiers during the Surfurine Town Massacre.”
“Yeah. Many soldiers died under me that day.”
I continued looking into the woods, my eyes narrowed in anger. I remembered my voice saying menacingly, “All of this anger of yours… all of this pride… all of this attitude… and all of that happiness of your victory… Imma make sure I take it all back… and make you lick my shoes.”
“Imma make you lick my shoes, fucker,” I murmured to myself. I then turned my head to the front at Ayato. “We have two opponents this time instead of one—Takemura-kun and Akira. And, we can choose to take only one bird at a time.”
Ayato gulped as he looked at me like he knew what was coming.
“In the count of three, both of us are gonna take the name of the bird we choose to sacrifice. Three. Two. On—”
“Akira.”
“Akira.”
I smirked. “So it’s decided then.”
Ayato smiled too. “It was already decided, wasn’t it?”
“Then is the plan devised, Ayato? We gotta take out the loopholes and help that lucky fucker too.”
“So then, hear me out, Kabata-sensei!”
***
Takemura Itsuki
“Who… the heck is this Matsuda?” I thought. My head was tilted down, my eyes fixed on the intercrossed fingers of my hands on top of the table at the edge. My back was facing the back of Tadashi, with the glass wall on my right. On my left was the aisle where the waitresses in black walked up and down. The entrance door was at the back of Kurayami, literally the other way where I sat. My eyes were tilted down confusedly.
“It was… fake?” Tadashi asked. “Why… then… was his home attacked?”
Kurayami, who was looking into the innocent despair in his eyes with his smile, shrugged painfully. “That’s… just how it is, kiddo. That’s just how things work out here. Yeah, here’s both law and law-enforcement, but the sinners are free to do anything. That’s why they’re feared.”
Tadashi turned his head down in sorrow and guilt. “He took me in. His house was burnt. His family was killed.”
“Yet… he chose to survive, kiddo. Yet…”
“Yeah…” Tadashi nodded. “But… what’s even the point of discussing all of this?”
“Because I want you to see things from a different perspective, Suzuki-kun,” Kurayami tilted his head down. “I want you to think of others too, because I feel like you don’t really think about others.”
***
Kabata Katsuki
“Who’s gonna win the match between Takemura-kun and Suzuki-kun, by the way?”
“The hero is supposed to lose the fight, Katsuki. Takemura-kun would lose the game, and if he wins, we can easily conclude that he’s not the hero.”
***
Suzuki Tadashi
“A… different perspective…”
The whole crowd in the stands of the amphitheater was standing on their feet, shouting on top of their lungs. “TADASHI! TADASHI! TADASHI! TADASHI! TADASHI! TADASHI!” The crowd was also filled with the indistinct chatter of the people beneath the cheering which was taking place all over the stands. The amphitheater was filled from all the sides of the circular stands with colorful rainbow clothes all around.
“TADASHI! TADASHI! TADASHI! TADASHI!
“… Tadashi!” The faint noise of the cheering outside hit my ears. I was sitting beneath the darkness of the shadows. Faint sunrays entered in from the open window on my left. My head was tilted down, my hands loosely hanging in the middle of my thighs.
“Finally… it’s gonna begin soon.”
“A different perspective.”
The amphitheater, which had mustard-colored bricked walls on all sides, was filled with the roaring and cheering excitement of the fixture.
I then turned my head up to the front, my eyes narrowed and confident. “I gotta do it.” I stood up, held the scabbard in my left hand, which was hanging on the left side of my waist, and then turned to the back, looking at the empty wall filled with darkness. Only a thin strip of the wall was lighted with sunrays. With my eyes fixed on the back, I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath, opened my mouth, and exhaled. For a second, all the faint noises and cheers which had filled my ears slowly faded away. And then opened my eyes again. I then turned my head to the front, from where I could hear the faint noise.
“Let’s do it.”
