Chapter 5 – Sprinter 2
Kaze’s lifeless corpse lays there. Everybody crowds around his corpse.
“Kaze…”
“I can’t believe this.”
Chikaku begins to cry.
“How?”
“How could we let this happen?”
“Kaze.”
Chikaku clenches his fist.
“This is all my fault.”
“If I just didn’t…”
Chikaku is swiftly interrupted by a now calm and collected Shokku.
“Where’s Hensai?”
“Huh?”
“Did you see where Hensai went?”
Shokku begins to look around and Chikaku attempts to end what he believes to be a revenge quest.
“You can’t beat him, Shokku.”
“No.”
“There’s a way through this.”
“What?”
After being certain that Hensai still isn’t around, Shokku takes out some pills from his pocket. Unknown to the others, they are the pills that Kaze got from the mysterious Genten.
“What are those?”
“Me and Kaze used one…”
“To bring you back to life.”
Chikaku springs into action.
“Quickly then!”
“Bring him back!”
“I wanted to make sure Hensai has left.”
They all crouch over Kaze’s corpse.
Shokku puts the pill in Kaze’s mouth.
A few seconds pass.
“Why’s it taking so long?!”
Kaze coughs as everyone is in suspense. Kaze begins breathing. Kaze’s eyes open.
“What?”
“What happened?”
“Kaze!”
Chikaku hugs Kaze as he continues to cry.
“Hensai killed you.”
“We used one of Genten’s pills to bring you back.”
Kaze smiles.
“I’m glad to be back.”
Kaze looks at his hand with a worried expression. Chikaku notices this and looks at Kaze in confusion.
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
Kaze looks towards the ground as Shokku looks on in understanding.
“My power.”
“It’s gone.”
“I feared this.”
“This may mean that Hensai has won.”
Kaze gets up with a determined expression to deny Shokku’s claims.
“No.”
“We can’t let him get away.”
Kaze tries to run around but quickly loses his balance and is caught by Shokku.
“Take it easy, Kaze.”
“What we need to do is rest.”
“You just came back from the dead, after all.”
They return home with gloomy expressions. Kaze instantly heads to his room.
“Even without the power I had my whole life...”
“I can still beat him.”
“I can’t let any more people die.”
In a dark room somewhere else, Hensai is on the phone. He appears to have just received intel from somebody.
“That’s impossible.”
“I killed him.”
Hensai stands up.
“Maybe they found someone with a revival power.”
“Don’t worry.”
“I know just the people.”
Hensai hangs up and makes another phone call.
“Hangman?”
“I have a job for you.”
“No.”
“I don’t want them dead.”
“He knows someone who has a revival power.”
“I need you to find out who it is.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll pay the usual rates.”
“That much?”
“Fine.”
“Just get it done.
Hensai hangs up the phone.
The night approaches and Kaze heads into the living room, unable to sleep. Shokku is already present there.
“Can’t sleep?”
“Not really.”
“I can’t imagine how you feel.”
“I’m not sure what I would do without my power.”
Kaze picks up the keys to the house.
“Yeah.”
“I’m going the store.”
“I’ll be back soon.
Kaze heads out of the house and begins walking down a road. Unknown to Kaze, a van is tailing him. The van begins to speed up. The van pulls up in front of Kaze. Kaze is confused. Three men jump out the back of the van wearing masks and put a bag over Kaze’s head. They then proceed to knock Kaze out.
When Kaze wakes up, he is unable to see anything. The bag is taken off of Kaze’s head and he notices that he is in a rundown room. Three men stand in front of him.
“Where am I?”
The man in the centre is clearly the leader. The man begins to talk with a big grin on his face.
“Welcome to my dungeon!”
“My name is Hangman.”
“How about we play a game?”
Kaze begins to think to himself.
‘This isn’t good. I can’t use Hive Mind.’
Hangman gets impatient.
“No answer?”
“I want to play a game of hangman.”
“It’s my own special version, you see.”
“I’ll ask a question.”
“If you lie…”
“Or don’t answer in time…”
“Another line gets put on the hangman.”
“Each one causes excruciating pain.”
“And on the last line you suffocate to death.”
“Doesn’t that seem like fun!”
Kaze gets disgusted.
“You’re sick!”
“How did you come back to life?”
“I never died.”
A hologram-styled line appears in front of Hangman.
“AGHHHHHHHH!”
Kaze’s body starts getting slashed by the air.
“What did I tell you?”
“Who revived you?”
“Nobody revived me.”
Kaze’s body gets slashed even more.
“AGHHHHH!”
“See the best part about this pain is that it hurts more every time.”
The door to the room unexpectedly opens. Everybody begins to focus on the door. A familiar figure enters the room. It’s Kemuri’s partner, Ryukku.
“I’m expecting payment for the hit.”
“So, pay up, Hangman.”
Ryukku notices Kaze in the chair and they proceed to make eye contact. Ryukku and Kaze both stay silent.
Ryukku begins to think to himself.
‘This worm again. Good grief. Kemuri won’t like it if I let him die here though.’
Hangman and the others face Ryukku
“Can’t you see we’re a little occupied here?”
The shadow behind the chair begins untying Kaze as Ryukku continues to keep them distracted.
“Well, we can’t wait any longer.”
Kaze frees himself from the binds. Once freed, Kaze jumps into action and attacks one of the other people. Ryukku gets frustrated and begins to think to himself.
‘That idiot! Why didn’t he just use his Hive Mind?’
Kaze quickly gets pinned down. Ryukku tries to help Kaze.
“Huh?”
“Hold him for a sec.”
Hangman gets confused.
“You know this boy?”
Ryukku gets closer to him.
“Not really.”
“It’s one of Kemuri’s friends.”
“Kemuri has friends?”
Ryukku chuckles.
“I said the same thing.”
“Well, I guess we can’t torture him now.”
“I don’t want another war with Kemuri.”
“The last one caused us both a lot of damage.”
Kaze then begins to think to himself.
‘Damn it. Now I’m in that psycho’s debt even more.’
Ryukku looks into Kaze’s eyes.
“You hear that.”
“You owe Kemuri.”
“He’ll be calling that favour in soon.”
In the early hours of the morning, Kaze arrives back outside his home. Kaze knocks on the door and Shokku opens it.
“Kaze, you’ve been gone all night!”
“Where have you been?”
Shokku then notices Kaze’s injuries.
“I forgot my keys.”
“Kaze what happened?”
“You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing.”
Kaze heads into the house and Shokku follows.
“I’ll be fine.”
“I just forgot that I couldn’t use my power is all.”
“I’m not staying for long.”
Shokku is confused by Kaze’s remarks.
“What do you mean?”
“I have somewhere that I need to be.”
“While looking like that?”
“Huh?”
“You’re badly injured.”
“You can’t go anywhere like that.”
Kaze raises his hands in the air.
“Please, Shokku.”
“Just leave me alone this once.”
“I need time to think.”
Shokku nods his head.
“Understood.”
Kaze heads into his room and gets a gym bag from the room. He then leaves straight after.
Kaze arrives at a race track.
“Whenever things get bad, I come here.”
“Let’s see if I can still keep record time.”
Kaze is looking at his times after completing each sprint.
“How could this happen?”
“Regardless of my power…”
“…sprinting was the only thing I was good at.”
Kaze is now nearly crying.
“Damn it.”
“I’m going again.”
Kaze keeps failing to get faster. With every attempt, he comes closer to the realisation that he can’t sprint like he could before.
“Not again!”
“One more time!”
Kaze is now angered. He is filled with more determination than he has ever been filled with before. Kaze begins sprinting again, with no intention of failing.
“I have a desire that goes to my soul.”
“I want to be the world’s best sprinter.”
“I want to beat Hensai!”
“I want to save my friends!”
“Even if it kills me!”
A burst happens around Kaze and something inside of him awakens. Kaze notices this strange noise and aura around the area.
“What just happened?”
Kaze looks at the clock and notices that the hands are moving far slower than usual.
“Maybe it’s running slow today.”
Kaze than notices that the birds are moving slowly through the sky.
“What the hell is going on?”
Kaze is suddenly hit with a realisation.
“Wait a second.”
Kaze begins to walk around the area.
“Am I doing this?”
Kaze focuses his energy and time goes back to its normal speed.
“Can I slow time?”
“Is this super speed?”
“No.”
“The world just slows down for me while I move at a normal pace.”
Kaze looks at his phone.
“That’s what I thought.”
“The real time is different to the time displayed on the clock.”
“This power is ranged.”
“Outside of my area of effect…”
“…everything moves at a normal speed.”
“I will name this power “Sprinter” after my heart’s desire!”
Kaze hears a slow clapping coming from the stands. Kaze looks over to notice that Kemuri is watching from the stands.
“Bravo.”
“You…”
“I see you got a new power somehow.”
“That’s none of my business.”
“But you owe me 2 favours now.”
“I’m here to call one of them in…”
Kemuri and Kaze sit down together in the stands.
“There’s someone who needs to be destroyed.”
“I need a partner.”
“What about Ryukku?”
Kemuri lights a cigarette.
“He’s away on business.”
“So, seeming as you owe me.”
Kaze interjects.
“I don’t kill innocent people.”
“Who said anything about innocent?”
“This guy’s a cold-blooded killer.”
“His names Kokuen.”
“I don’t know much about him.”
“But I know he kills innocent people for fun.”
The psychotic smile of Hensai comes to Kaze’s mind.
“Just like Hensai…”
“What was that?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It’ll be a great chance to test your new power.”
“Fine.”
“I’ll do it.”
“But if he turns out to be innocent, I won’t forgive you.”
“Fine by me.”
They arrive at an abandoned mansion.
“He’s in here?"
“Yeah.”
“How can you be sure?”
“My sources don’t lie.”
They begin walking into the mansion and head into a massive open room. The door shuts and locks behind them. They face a man wearing a gas mask with smoke coming out of it.
“Kouken.”
Kouken begins to speak.
“So, I assume your my next victims?”
Kemuri smiles.
“I think you got it wrong pal.”
“You’re the victim here.”
Kemuri mimics a shooting motion with gun fingers and directs it at Kokuen.
“Bang!”
“Pathetic.”
Kokuen begins breathing heavily and loosens the gas mask tubes. Smoke begins heavily coming out of his mask.
“Prepare to witness my power.”
“Dark Smoke!”
The smoke from Kokuen’s mask fills the room. Kaze prepares for combat but Kemuri seems amused by this.
“Oh, this is rad!”
“I never thought I’d meet another smoke manipulator!”
“You’re not the only one with this trick!”
Kemuri begins summoning smoke clouds around himself.
“Smoke Manifestation!”
Kemuri begins manifesting a smoke cloud into a gun in his hand. However, the gun quickly turns into a syringe with a skull on it. The syringe begins going into Kemuri’s arm. Kemuri eyes open widely with worry.
“Kaze, now!”
Kaze slows time around them both. Kaze goes over to Kemuri and slaps the needle away from Kemuri’s arm.
“Lap!”
Time begins moving normally again.
“Thanks for that.”
“That’s your second favour done.”
“After this, we’re even.”
“Understood.”
Kemuri and Kaze begin to look around the smoke-filled room but can’t see anything.
“How are we going to find him in here?”
“The room’s full of dark smoke.”
“My power doesn’t work here.”
“This ones on you, Kaze.”
“So be it.”
“Sprinter!”
Time slows in the area. Kaze begins wondering through the smoke. Kaze walks around the room for a while.
“There’s no way that the room was this big.”
“Lap!”
Time begins going at a normal pace once again.
Kaze runs at one of the sides of the building. Kaze isn’t hitting anything. It’s as if the room is endless.
“It’s exactly what I thought.”
“The smoke allows him to toy with my head.”
“This is just like that ‘Orange Skies’ power.”
Kaze notices smoke skeletons about to attack him. Kaze kicks them and they disappear.
“How can I win this when he has full control over the room?”
“Just like when I unlocked Golden Scarab with Hive Mind…”
“I need a new technique.”
“Wait a minute.”
“That’s it!”
“Sprinter!”
Time slows down. Kaze begins quickly running in a circle.
“If I can run quick enough.”
“Then I can get the smoke away from Kemuri and he can use his ability.”
Kaze begins running incredibly fast.
“I’m a sprinter after all!”
Kaze keeps running until all the smoke within the room is drawn inside the circle. Kouken gets confused.
“What’s happening?”
“Is this super speed?”
Kaze flashes towards Kokuen and elbows him in the throat.
“Lap!”
Time resumes at a normal speed.
“Kemuri, your up!”
“Gotcha.”
Kemuri uses his smoke clouds to create a revolver in his hand.
“Bang!”
Kemuri shoots Kokuen.
Kaze notices that his nose is bleeding. Kaze and Kemuri then proceed outside, now that the hit is completed. Kemuri smiles as he looks at Kaze.
“You handled yourself good in there.”
“It appears that even without your Hive Mind, you’d be a tough fight.”
Kaze loses all interest.
“Hmph.”
“We’re even now.”
“So, I’m going home.”
Kaze begins to walk home but Kemuri decides to try his luck with one last statement.
“If you ever wanna join us…”
“I told you.”
“I’d never join you.”
Kemuri smiles.
“You’ll change your mind someday.”
“That’s a promise.”
Kaze continues to walk home for a while until he gets a phone call. Kaze looks down to see that Shokku is calling.
“Kaze, are you ok?”
“It’s complicated.”
Shokku has a sense of urgency in his voice.
“I just saw Hensai.”
“He’s still in town?”
“Where is he?!”
Shokku can tell that there is an unusual tone in Kaze’s voice.
“You can’t go after him.”
“Without a power, it’s suicide.”
Kaze looks determined.
“I have a power.”
“You got Hive Mind back?”
“Not exactly.”
Kaze begins to get very serious.
“Shokku this is really important.”
“Where’s Hensai?”
Kaze has a murderous expression.
Kaze then hurries to the location where he last battled with Hensai. There is heavy rain. A human skull rests in the ground.
Kaze leaves the scene and begins to head towards Hensai’s location with a cold expression. Kaze eventually comes face to face with Hensai.
“Hensai!!!”
Hensai turns around.
“So, the rumours are true.”
“You’re back from the dead.”
“I’m going to enjoy killing you again.”
Kaze pulls out a skull and shows it to Hensai. Hensai looks confused.
“What’s that?”
“You think you can scare me with a skull?”
“This isn’t any random skull.”
Kaze thinks back to something Rai once said to him in private.
“You see, Kaze.”
“It’s not enough to break your enemies physically.”
“I destroy them mentally.”
“That’s why I always win.”
Kaze turns to Hensai with a cold expression, almost as if he was possessed by Rai.
“This skull belongs to Shinote.”
“What?!?!”
Kaze drops the skull on the floor and begins stamping on it while manically laughing.
“What the???”
Hensai begins to think to himself.
‘He’s crazier than I am!’
“You pissed me off now.”
Hensai is beginning to doubt himself.
‘Should I fight him?’
‘I need to see what he can do, now.’
Hensai uses Hive Mind to throw insects at Kaze but Kaze dodges every throw.
‘How does he move so fast?’
‘I can’t waste time with him!’
‘I need to finish off Fukusei while I know his location.’
“You asked for it!
“It’s time that I show you Ring Thief’s secret technique!”
Hensai wears a crazed expression as he takes the Hive Mind ring off of his finger and throws it in the air.
In mid-air, the ring begins to take a human form and Kaze’s eyes widen as the ring transforms into a clone of Kaze.
“What the?”
“It’s me.”
Hensai turns to the clone.
“Hive mind!”
“How may I serve the ringmaster?”
Hensai points at the real Kaze.
“Destroy him!”
“Understood!”
The clone begins to attack Kaze. After trading a few blows, Kaze looks and sees ants on his arm. Kaze quickly comes to realize that the clone possesses his Hive Mind power.
Hensai begins to run away.
“Damn it.”
“I can’t let him get away.”
“If he’s going after Fukusei then who knows how many innocent people will die.”
Kaze tries to run after Hensai but the clone pulls him back. Kaze gets annoyed and attacks the clone again. However, every time Kaze punches the clone, it turns the afflicted area into insects and then returns it to normal in the same way that Kaze used to.
“I’m fighting my past self.”
Kaze wears a look of determination.
“Sprinter vs Hive Mind.”
“Let’s see what’s better!”
The fight continues for a while. Kaze knows that he can’t afford to lose anymore time and gets incredibly frustrated. Kaze then notices the clone smile as Kaze looks to see leafcutter ants forming a line up his arm and across his neck.
“No!”
“Sprinter!”
Time begins to slow and Kaze quickly gets rid of the insects. Kaze touches just below his nose and notices that his nose is bleeding.
‘What the?’
Time suddenly begins to speed up to an incredibly fast speed.
“My mind is thinking too slow.”
Kaze is getting beaten up by the clone and taking many hits.
‘I think I overused sprinter.’
Kaze keeps trying to fight but it’s obvious that the clone knows all of Kaze’s attack patterns.
“Sprinter!”
Kaze is seeing double vision. He begins to feel woozy.
“Not now.”
“Please not now.”
Kaze looks at the clone.
“He knows all of my moves and attack patterns.”
“What technique doesn’t my old self know?”
Kaze thinks back to his recent time with Kemuri.
“That’s right.”
“Only one thing can kill insects.”
“I can try the circle trick again.”
Kaze begins running at a super-fast speed in a circle. Flames begin appearing around his clone from where Kaze is running so fast. Kaze recalls the time he first encountered Kemuri and the words he said.
‘If I touched a flamethrower, then you’d be dead’
Kaze begins kicking flames from the circle at his clone. The clone begins to catch fire.
“Insects can’t beat fire.”
Kaze keeps running and kicking fire at the clone.
“Aghh!”
The clone is trying to escape by turning into insects but the insects quickly get set alight and die.
“I win!”
“No imitation can beat the original.”
The clone eventually burns and then suddenly falls to the ground and dies.
“Lap!”
All that remains where the clone died, is the ring that Hensai threw. Kaze gets the ring from the ground. Kaze puts the ring on.
“Hive Mind!”
Nothing happens.
“Of course it wouldn’t work.”
Kaze is still seeing double and his nose is still bleeding.
“I have to stop Fukusei and Hensai.”
Kaze walks a few steps forward and collapses, passing out.
Kaze wakes up.
“What happened?”
Kaze hears distant screams and notices a fire in the distance.
“No.”
“I can’t be too late.”
Kaze gets up from the ground.
“I need to stop him.”
Kaze begins running to the scene.
Nearby the large fire, in the town, Hensai and Fukusei are in the middle of fighting.
Both of them seem to believe they have upper hand.
“It’s over now, Hensai.”
“Tell me what Neutraliser is planning and you get to go free!”
Fukusei creates a bunch of clones.
“Hologram Heaven!”
“Devils Left Hand!”
Fukusei and Hensai continue fighting intensely as Kaze continues running to the scene.
Hensai is unsure which clone is the real Fukusei as the clones surround him.
“What’s the matter Hensai?”
“Can’t you tell which one I am?”
“Devils Left Hand!”
The hand smashes through the clones and break a bunch of nearby building. At this time, Kaze arrives, badly injured from his fight against the false Hive Mind.
“Hensai!”
Hensai is disgruntled seeing Kaze.
“Your still alive, huh?”
“I don’t fancy my odds in a two on one fight.”
“With that, I bid you farewell.”
“Pin Pull!”
Hensai throws rock grenades at both Fukusei and Kaze. Kaze musters up the last of his strength.
“No, you don’t!”
“Sprinter!”
Time slows down around them.
As the grenades begin exploding incredibly slowly, Kaze walks through the explosion and then grabs a piece of glass from the floor.
A flashback of Rai appears in Kaze’s mind.
‘I give my enemies no mercy!’
Kaze looks at the slowed Hensai.
“No mercy.”
Kaze begins stabbing Hensai with the glass shard. Kaze is bleeding from his nose again and seeing double.
“Lap!”
Hensai gets thrown back from the injuries with a face in shock. It is clear that he won’t survive another few seconds. Kaze looks at Fukusei and then collapse.
Kaze wakes up in a doctor’s room.
“What the?”
Kaze is still dizzy and believes that he sees Hensai and Fukusei standing near him. Unknown to Kaze, this is a doctor and a patient.
“Prepare for combat!”
“Oh crap.”
“Brain Tap!”
The doctor taps the other persons head and a phrenology chart comes out of it and the doctor raises the persons aggression bar.
“AGHHHHH.”
The patient rushes at Kaze, who knocks him out swiftly.
“Who are you!?”
The doctor smiles now that Kaze has got that out of his system.
“Just call me Doc.”
“I’m your doctor.”
“How did I get here?”
The doctor points to a note on a nearby table.
“He left a note."
Kaze picks up the note.
The note reads ‘Now we’re even – Fukusei.’
The doctor continues to speak.
“Fukusei paid a ridiculous amount for your treatment.”
“Are you good friends?”
“Not anymore.”
The doctor begins to report his medical findings.
“Anyway.”
“I hope you don’t mind but I used my power to mess around with your brain a little.”
“Nothing bad.”
“Just the usual fixes.”
“But I do have bad news.”
Kaze wonders what’s wrong.
“What’s that?”
“Your power.”
“It’s causing your brain serious harm.”
“What is your power?”
“I can slow time around me.”
The doctor seems unsurprised by this.
“That explains it.”
“With powerful powers like that…”
“There are usually serious drawbacks.”
“Every time you use that power you risk dying.”
“I patched your brain up the best I could.”
“But If you use that power again, you risk shutting down your brain.”
“I’m sorry.”
Kaze finds it difficult to process but just wishes to go back home to rest.
“It’s fine.”
“Can I leave?”
“Of course.”
Kaze eventually arrives back home, powerless once again. He’s swiftly greeted by Shokku.
“Kaze!”
“What happened?”
“We can rest easy.”
“It’s over.”
“Hensai is dead.”
“It’s finally finished.”
Kaze looks uneasy.
“Not exactly.”
“But without my powers I can’t do anything.”
Kaze looks across the room and notices the reversion slate he got at Mount Gajini.
“What’s that doing out here?”
“Sorry about that.”
“I was trying to see if I could decipher it.”
“Oh, I honestly forgot about this thing.”
Kaze’s eyes are fixated on the slate.
“What the…”
Kaze looks over at the slate and notices writing on it.
“Can’t you read that?”
“No?”
“It’s in an ancient language.”
Kaze gets a closer look and sees that the writing is fully legible. The reversion slate says: Touch me to retrieve your former state. Kaze is shocked by this and responds to Shokku.
“No, it’s not!”
“Are you feeling ok?”
“Yes.”
“Just give me a second.”
Kaze bends over to touch the slate but hesitates. He doesn’t want to do anything too hasty. Kaze recalls the words that Hensai said on the mountain.
‘I know what this artefact is.’
‘This is a reversion slate.’
“A reversion slate, huh?”
Kaze decides to take the risk and touches the slate. As he touches it, a glow appears around him and the slate crumbles to dust.
“What just happened?”
“Are you ok?”
Kaze looks at his arm.
“I feel strange.”
“I feel like I did on the mountain.”
Kaze sees an ant on his arm.
“No way.”
“Hive Mind!”
Kaze’s hand turns to insects as Shokku is in shock.
“Kaze, your power!”
“It’s back!”
“I never thought I could be so happy.”
“I’m whole again.
Chikaku comes running down the stairs.
“Did I really hear that?”
“You got your power back?”
“Hell yeah!”
“I know what I have to do now!”
“What’s that?”
Kaze has an uncomfortable look on his face.
“The same as always.”
“Save lives.”
“I’m gonna uncover what Fukusei is planning…”
