The Other Side - A
Without wasting a second, Umi threw herself into the arena; energy blazed around her like a turbulent storm of red lightning, its crackling sound like a howl of bloodlust. “I have a bad feeling about it.” The monochromatic-haired girl squinted at the sight.
Of all four of them, she knew Umi had the longest list of blood on her hands, but she never expected to see her lust for battle and violence for them all to see. Against a former friend? Less so.
Her sixth sense told her this fight wouldn’t end well for any of the parties involved. No one with a sane mind would regard a friend with that type of violent intent. A screaming cacophony of rage, regret, and despair. A wail of pain and living hauntings.
It wouldn’t end well, she knew it. Rui was in the care of their resident nurse, Madoka. She had her head bandaged and her cheek too. There was no one able to stop the next fight but herself and the brunette.
Her left arm itched with the need to draw her blade, stop that show right there and now before anything could happen. “Tsc.” Blood dripped from the bandages over her forehead, a gift from the person Umi faced, the ex-leader of their merry band of misfits.
While it was hard to keep a full vision of the fight because of a headache induced by the headbutt, she could see well enough the shapes of the two fighters and the storm retreating to Umi’s body.
Kaka bit her lip. If there was a time to stop that mess right in its tracks, it was now. Any moment longer and someone would be hurt for good— not that she had a good track, but even her actions were to test the mettle of their challenger, not to maim her for good. ‘I’d like to think the same was true for her, but that damned headache is hurting too much.’
In comparison to the cacophony of rage that was Umi, that girl had a crescendo melody, like a string of a violin drawing its maximum output, but on the verge of snapping, her tunelow and diminutive when compared to the mayhem of her opponent.
Their melodies alone told KaKa what she needed to do, this fight will only end in tragedy. Her head was hurting, but she had a fight to stop, lest any of them do something they will regret.
Her sword jumped from her left forearm, its cables linked to her arm as the sword’s handle fell right into her hand. Their melodies intensified inside her skull, her head ringing like a drum hammered by drumsticks.
“I wouldn’t do it if I were you, chief.” The resident mascot of their gang landed before her in a beautiful act of theatrical acrobatics. Her nose bled a little, but otherwise, she showed no signs of greater damage even if she was the one headbutted by that mutant’s tails.
Her aura was dead silent, contained, her face a professional ambivalent one. She bit her tongue at the action of Sasha. She was their friend, why wasn’t she stopping their fight? It was something only they knew? Why was she so sickly calm?
Kaka’s hand tingled with anticipation; from the corner of her eyes, she saw the silhouettes of the two combatants do their initial clash. The sentiment of illness inside her flared up, her stomach turning sick, and her limbs tensed as her head stopped hurting for a moment.
She hadn’t known the girl for long, nor did she care that much, but even in her state, she felt the violent intentions behind Umi’s blade. It would end in bloodshed. ‘That girl still is in school; she hadn’t even started university.’
Those thoughts were rich coming from a dropout, but all Kaka saw in that white-haired girl was a child. A child who got lost in life and turned to make a bad decision clashing against a sociopath who had no qualms in drawing blood.
They were comrades, but Kaka wouldn’t stand for the maiming of a student who had yet to understand the mess she made. No matter what Umi’s relationship was with the girl, it was a murder attempt against a student.
‘She is a mutant too.’ She wasn’t privy to what made a student act that way, nor did she want to know, but she felt the pain of the girl when a lightning-infused pommel landed on her face. She was throwing her life away, and no amount of mutations would justify such suicidal and reckless actions in her mind.
That was it, her breaking point. “Get out of my way, Sasha. Umi is there for blood. She is a child! It is overstepping!” Kaka gritted her teeth, her vacant eyes filled with the barest emotion, a rarity for her.
Sasha refused to move away, taking on a combat stance herself. “I can’t let you. Both of my bosses would be angry with interference. This is the only way they see to bury the hatchet between them.” Sasha spoke with resolution and determination, unwavering in her duty to let the sick show continue.
It infuriated KaKa how Sasha, an adult like her, acted with such childish behavior. She should be with her in stopping that fight. ‘I will chew you later.’ There was no time to waste now.
Her sword vibrated, a guitar riff resounding through it. Sasha narrowed her view, ready to clash against Kaka. “Bring it on.” Kaka raised her blade as Sasha dug into her heels.
“Stop it, you two. I got knocked out for ten minutes, and you are already on each other’s neck.” With the sound of loud and pointy claws hitting the ground, Rui got closer to them, carried by their resident “nurse.”
An abnormally tall mutant spider, her pike-like legs impaling the ground beneath her many feet. She was patched up and bandaged quickly; for a split second, both Kaka and Sasha dropped their guard. However, Kaka hadn’t let her surprise take her for long. Her eyes were on the child who clashed against Umi.
“You are worried too, aren’t you, Kaori?” Rui tapped on their nurse’s shoulder who let her stand on her own two feet. Their leader sighed deeply, her face grim and sad. Kaka felt her uneasiness squirm and clamp; she wouldn’t like how that situation would proceed.
Her melody was wavy, she was worried about the fight too, and she was concerned about how far things were going now. She hadn’t planned for it, she knew Umi was intense, but her actions were too much.
“I doubt we can go in the middle of that battlefield and change the course of the battle now of all times.” Rui sighed, her arms trembling and almost unconsciously going over her bandages to scratch the bite wounds of that girl’s tails.
Rui just stated a fact, but the discontent in her voice was made known. She was annoyed at her sorrowful state, and how Umi saved herself as the last one to not have anyone stop her fight.
Kaka clicked her tongue in annoyance, her facial features trembling and shaking with anger. Rui wasn’t in condition to face Umi; she wasn’t anywhere near top shape after the love taps the white-haired gave her, and Sasha had the worst matchup of all three against Umi.
The monochromatic-haired girl bit her lip, drawing blood. The fight escalated further as the white-haired brat used her own arm as a way to stop Umi’s sword. She looked away as the sound of flesh and bone being ripped echoed in the arena.
The sound of the snake girl’s tune died out, a deafening silence around her. The heavy steps of Madoka echoed again.
Madoka came back with Rui’s signature hammer. Rui interjected, her tone full of disappointment and pain at the sight of her friends maiming each other. “I will hold back Umi’s movement, you go and knock her out. I would do it myself but…”
She was too hurt for that, recovering from her poisoning, it was quick for the standards of intoxication, but she was in no fighting shape. KaKa nodded. I’m stepping in now.” Sasha tried to stay in her way.
Kaka felt Rui’s glare behind her, not aimed at herself but at the brunette. Rui’s heart rang loud, her fighting instincts bubbling up; if she needed to fight Sasha to proceed, so be it. With a grimace, the brunette walked away.
Kaka rushed towards the arena; her head started to pound again, and her vision dimmed slightly. “Tsc, now of all times?” Not only her head but her face burned with pain. She didn’t know why Sasha and Rui stayed in their hands.
Or what was Umi’s deal in embracing that violence against a mere student? Honestly, she didn’t need to care about it. She knew she was drenched in blood, but to act so bloodthirsty before the gang, against their former leader and friend, was unbecoming.
“ATSUSHI!”
Someone screamed from the rooftop, enough time to draw her and Umi’s attention towards the source of the voice. The red-haired swordswoman didn’t dignify Kaka with a stare, but her attention fell on the girl who screamed at the top of her lungs.
Out of the blue, the melody of Orochi came back. A quick pace and heavy sound, a sound that spread the bitter taste of iron and pain around her. A sorrowful yet powerful song. A blaring music yet it felt like a mournful hymn.
It was loud, loud enough to make KaKa’s ears deaf for a few moments, her body and head paralyzed in throbbing pain as the song resounded through her brain.
At that moment, the student brat ripped the blade from her neck. Kaka’s instincts changed course; the ill omen she feared happened. The student’s tails bulged obscenely, their muscles growing as the outer layers of skin were ripped apart to reveal cherry-blossomed scales.
Their horns grew like the branches of a tree, their maws bigger and meaner than before, their scales keeled, the worst of the damage dealt to them regenerated with red scales, while the ones undamaged kept their albino coloring.
Yet their heads reddened entirely as if to better suit their new set of teeth and horns. In a moment, the fight she stepped in to intervene, had ended with the execution of a punch and a hug.
‘Did I lose something? What just happened?’ It happened too fast, the screaming of a girl, the change of her tails, and the counterattack. Kaka stood staggered on her feet.
The fight ended before she could intervene; it was good, yet she felt something amiss. “Who screamed? Why did her tails change?” She wasn’t privy to who that person, Orochi, was before, but from what she gathered and what they told her, that type of thing wasn’t in her capacities before.
The white-haired was on her knees on the ground, cradling Umi with her remaining arm and tail as if the redhead hadn’t torn her other arm out of her. “Mika found them!” A gust of wind came from the outside— their overactive esper had found who screamed.
Kaka felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, the headache finally taking its toll on her body and forcing it to rest. She falls on her butt, her sword retreating to her arm.
Looking around, both Sasha and Rui were nowhere to be seen— “I feel things just got harder all of the sudden.”
“Get out of my way your band of psychos!” A painfully annoying, whining, and rich girl spoiled voice came from outside.
With a second glance at the white-haired girl, her muscles twitched.