Chapter 3: Robbery

 

There were three of them. There was one at the back of their mobile triangle that clearly had a delinquent leader look about him: orange hair curled at the tip into a ball with equally ridiculous furry eyebrows that matched in color and a chin-strap beard that was also orange. Constricted, teal eyes. An open button-up shirt of the same color, a white t-shirt, brown belt with a diamond symbol on it, navy blue jeans, boots. All this along with a gold tooth, multiple ear piercings, arm tattoos, and multiple rings. He didn’t look like he had his life together. And this group was clearly up to no good, but in case they weren’t, Syro attempted to treat them like all customers.

 

“Welcome to--”

“Shut up.” The leader said, looking down at Syro while swinging a golden bat with black tape over his shoulder. Syro stayed quiet and glanced at it, noticing a weird green symbol on it. 

 

One of the goons walked over to a bookshelf and tore manga off the shelf with little-to-no-discrimination. 

Clearly they’re not here to buy anything, Syro thought. Then he said aloud, “I’m gonna need you to stop doing that. You’re just making more work for me.”

“I said ‘shut up’,” the leader repeated, this time pointing the bat at Syro. The other goon knocked over an entire bookshelf. The leader glanced back at him, then again at Syro. “Would you kindly hand over everything in the cash register?”

Syro’s heart skipped a beat as he sharply inhaled and exhaled. One of the goons pressed the “start” button on one of the self-serve coffee machines without a cup and snickered as the coffee drizzled directly onto the floor. “Sir, I’m going to ask you and your friends to leave.”

The leader chuckled and looked back at his friends who stood next to him now. The leader spoke up. “If you won’t give us what we asked for, we’ll have to take it by force.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that.”

The leader’s smile disappeared as he gritted his teeth and tightly gripped his golden bat with both hands. “Hmph. You little BRAT!”

He swung for Syro’s head, but luckily Syro was fast enough to duck in time. The bat ended up hitting the cash register and blew it up. R-Coins, plastic, and metal flew everywhere. 

Bats aren’t supposed to be able to do that.

From behind the counter, Syro heard the bat swinging some more, but it didn’t make contact with anything. It’s like he was winding up. 

He didn’t like his odds but he’d have to do what he could to stop them. One goon came close enough to the counter, concerned with picking up the coins and it gave Syro an opening. He stood straight up and connected to the dumb goons’s jaw with an uppercut, knocking him clean out. 

The leader watched the goon’s body drop and scoffed. “Idiot.” Then he raised the bat and swung directly down at Syro. He dodged to the side and the bat made contact with the counter, splitting it in half sending splinters and marble shards everywhere. Syro mistakenly stumbled into the arms of the conscious goon who held him in place as the leader took no time to jam him in the gut with the bottom end of the bat, knocking the wind out of him. He then clocked Syro across the jaw with his fist, dazing him. 

Through blurred vision he saw the leader walk away and collect the coins telling the goon holding him to keep holding him until he was done and keep look out. 

Syro used the distracted goon to his advantage and stomped on his foot before spinning around and giving him a right-left-right to the face, knocking him down. Syro spun around and stared down the leader, who had his pockets full. 

“Shoulda just stayed down,” the criminal said, pointing his bat at Syro. “Your funeral!”

He wildly swung. Syro ducked and rolled out of the way. The bat didn’t make physical contact with anything so no damage was done in this swing. Syro was half expecting the swing alone to do something to the store, but he watched as the leader recovered from the swing and spun around to face him. 

“Why are you doing this?” Syro asked. “There have to be easier ways to obtain coins.”

“I don’t have a choice,” the leader said, lowering his eyes. “I…I have to do this for my mother and baby sister. They’re both sick.”

“That doesn’t excuse what you’re doing,” Syro said, getting to his feet and clenching his fist. “If Mr. Sayid was able to build this store from the ground up, you can do something more productive with your life too.”

“Some people aren’t built for that life,” the leader said, pointing the bat at Syro. Again. “Open your eyes, twerp.”

Syro rushed at the leader but he swung wildly multiple times to keep Syro from closing the distance further. The criminal then focused his swings, breaking more of the store in the process, shattering the floor, walls, and a few shelves. As the criminal swung at a shelf, Syro grabbed a fallen book and chucked it at his head. The orange-headed criminal raised an arm to block the oncoming knowledge and Syro used this as his opening, sweep-kicking the criminal onto the floor. 

Instead of going for the knockout blow, Syro reached for the bat, but the criminal was fast enough to swing at him. He jumped back in time of the first swing, but was off balance with his dodge, allowing the criminal to connect one swing upside his head that knocked him dizzy. 

As Syro lay on the cracked, wooden floor with blurred vision, he saw the door open. Whoever opened the door let the criminal walk free. In walked Haneo who rushed to his side before he blacked out.

 

“--the hell up! Kid! Hey, kid!”

Syro held his head to keep the room from spinning. It didn’t help. “What…”

“Jeez. You had me worried there for a second,” Haneo said, giving him a cup of water. Syro sipped from the cup, then held it in his mouth before suddenly spitting it in Haneo’s face in disbelief.

“Wait! You sicked them on me! Why are you helping me?!”

Haneo remained completely still as he stayed crouched next to Syro. Not a hint of amusement was present on his soaked face. “What?”

“I--Didn’t you send in those shady people to convince me to join OAVL?” Syro asked. Haneo raised an eyebrow.

“Uh. No,” he said, helping Syro to his feet. “Sorry I made you think that. To be honest, I just wanted to leave on what I thought was a cool thing to say.”

Syro’s face was now drained of all amusement. Though his was less soaked. 

“I knew nothing about those people that came in--”

“Hold on! Where’d the other two go?” Syro questioned, looking around him now, realizing the first two he knocked out were nowhere to be seen. 

“You were the only one in here when I walked in.”

“Damn it.”

To make the moment worse, Mr. Sayid walked in at the perfect moment to see his manga cafe in ruins. He dropped the groceries he was carrying for the shop and peered around the store, mouth agape. 

“Syro, you--!”

He stopped himself as his mind flashed to see the little kid that begged for a job when he first started the business. “I need you to clean this up.”

“Well, that’s a whole lot better than getting fired, if ya ask me,” Haneo said, placing his hands on his hips. 

“Will do, Mr. Sayid. Sorry about the mess. We were robbed,” Syro said, holding his head down.

“It happens. So long as you’re okay,” Mr. Sayid said with a wave of his hand. He bent down to pick up his groceries. “Wouldn’t want a lawsuit on my hands.”

“Who can we bring this to?” Syro asked his boss. “There’s no clan in the Plains Region to help us. And the Counsellor of Ordimill would consider it beneath him.”

“There’s nothing to do about this, Syro. Other than getting security,” Mr. Sayid said, taking his bags to the back of the store. “Bah. Too expensive.”

“You know, you could go after them yourself,” Haneo said to the young man. Syro looked up at him and furrowed his brow.

“Not with that bat he has. There’s something…off about it.”

“What if I told you I knew what it was?”

“It’s a bat.”

“No! Not that. The…something off thing you mentioned,” Haneo said. Syro raised the corner of his mouth and an eyebrow. “It’s a…special bat.”

“Clearly.”

Haneo sighed. Defeated. “You know what? Follow me.”

“But, I have to stay and clean.”

“If Sayid wanted to fire you, he would’ve done so already. Besides, I think you’ve earned the rest of the day off.”

The two of them walked outside and Syro followed the teacher across the street to the forest. Syro’s eyes widened as he entered the one place he frequented aside from work. He sharply inhaled and slowly exhaled, taking in the fresh air of the green. 

“You seem tranquil,” Haneo commented.

“I love this place.”

They ventured a few yards into the forest before stopping at an open area that had bushes and trees around it, but it was just a clear, circular patch of grass. Haneo spun around and faced Syro with a smug smirk on his face.

“So. Syro. Have you ever heard of something called Virtue?”