The Other side B

Edith lost herself after following Orochi. All she could see were abandoned buildings and warehouses, a derelict industrial district of some kind. She had never been to such a place; in her eyes, all the buildings looked the same.

Why had her “friend” come to this area? What did she have to do here? ‘Orochi never went anywhere besides the arcade and the places everyone dragged her to.’ For someone of her size and weight, she was a pushover when a friend came asking for her to join a ride.

She never had a better thing to do, or a parent angrily asking for her to come home until recently. It all changed after that attack… who wouldn’t change after an attack? Orochi never tried to lose anyone and was the first to approach her classmates when an opportunity showed up.

People could change, Orochi could’ve lost her easy-going and extrovert nature to hang out in an abandoned place, but for Edith, it didn’t make sense; there was no connection to Orochi and this place… she never would’ve come here by her own before.

They passed by one of Madam Tomoe’s stores on the way here, but it was just a passing view at a bus stop. Orochi didn’t even acknowledge it, it wasn’t her intended location. ‘Maybe… Orochi is trying to track Feral on her own?’ It would be out of character for Orochi; she wasn’t that type of person…

But people change after traumatic experiences, and Orochi was no exception. ‘What should I do then? Is there anyone to answer my calls?’ Edith bit her lip. Who could realistically help her? Faith? The odds were she would get lost on the way.

The others were busy with their boyfriends or something like that. Who was left then? Orochi’s friends? ‘Would they even believe me?’ Edith wasn’t familiar with them beyond pleasantries.

She and Orochi may have gotten close, but it wasn’t close enough to warrant the trust of Orochi’s friend yet. Edith did an unsightly act; she gritted her teeth hard. Her fists clenched tightly, so tightly that veins jumped across it.

It always felt hopeless to be alone, to have no one at her side when she needed them. It felt the worst when the world made sure to drive the point of how small she was. She got lost in a damned abandoned industrial area, surely her streetwise classmates wouldn’t get lost.

But she had none of them by her side.

Edith felt so open for everyone to see, and worse, she lost track of her friend who may be going to a monster’s nest on her lonesome. She needed help, Orochi needed help, but she was hesitating over matters like “What will I do without my friends?”

“Which of Orochi’s friends should I call?” It all made her effort null. It was easy to do things with your friends, in a group, but once you were alone, would you freeze and give up, or walk forward into the darkness?

‘I’m no quitter and no coward.’ With her pulse clenched tightly, Edith stored the phone in her bag and power walked forward. She didn’t know where she was going, and where she should go, but confidence was everything.

She wouldn’t let anything shake it off (not yet, anyway); she needed the self-esteem boost and courage to keep searching for her friend, find her. Without a lie, Edith was scared of this place and what could be lurking in the shadows.

But she needed to find her friend, drag her, and then slap her hard for acting foolishly. This was her plan, only if she could enact it easily… “Hey.” A voice came from behind her. Edith readied her quirk on instinct, but she eased herself a second later.

It was Gravity Boy. ‘When was the last time we talked since that mock battle between teams?’ There were people she barely interacted with outside of her friend group; there were people she heard rumors about, and then the incognito to her.

Gravity Boy was the last option, yet she knew he was relatively strong and capable. She could trust him. ‘Maybe.’

“What do you want, Gravity Boy? Better yet, why are you here?” Even if she needed help, she was too prideful, too selfish, and young to cast her “holier-than-thou” persona aside and admit she needed help.

She acted quite brashly and with an air of self-confidence. Gravity Boy merely took a breath in, and one out. “I saw Orochi going away, and then you trailing after her. I trailed after you two because something smelled foul. You lost Orochi too, didn’t you?”

Tanaka cut the chase short, his face hidden by the darkness of his hood, but the feeling of confusion and shame at losing track of their classmate was there. Edith’s expression eased a little.

It seemed they were in the same boat. “Yes, I lost track of her. You don’t have any idea of how to find her, do you?” Of their quirks, his was better to cover a wide area. They were part of the same team at the start of the school year.

They also had one of the strongest team combinations in the class. It was surprising they never interacted any further after the team battle. Together tracking Orochi wouldn’t be a problem. “No, but I have explored many places like this; it is a matter of where you go to find. Are you up for a flight?”

Tanaka knew that reapplying his domain to take flight from place to place would be too troublesome, but it didn’t matter much. The chances of someone being able to hit him off-air were little.

“It seems it is my only option—” Before they could act on this plan, a loud tremor echoed from a building. It wasn’t too close, but the sheer force of it made it easy to pinpoint the location. What were the odds of Orochi being there?

“I guess we got our work cut for us. Let’s go. Going by air is easier here, with little light and too much darkness. They won’t see us coming.” Edith nodded. It was a long time since they helped each other this way…

Tanaka cast his domain, and they rose to the skies… right. Not that high, but high enough to touch the top of small buildings. They flew over the building that sent the shockwave. Luckily for them, it had a hole in its ceiling, which led to a small view of what transpired inside of it.

Truth be told, Edith didn’t feel safe with Tanaka around. She hadn’t anything against Gravity Boy, but he didn’t scream “reliability” like a Greek god-like Kaylee could, or the crackhead determination some of her classmates exhibited.

Even now she couldn’t see his face or what went on behind his thoughts and mind. Although they could run away quickly if push came to shove.

They landed near the opening in the ceiling. Tanaka used his domain to make their weight light, to avoid alerting anyone down there or collapsing more of the ceiling. They looked down through the hole, and an unexpected view made Edith’s heart skip a beat.

It was Orochi, her belly and chest bloodied, purple marks and bruises spread across her body. She was worn out and beaten with a face Edith never expected to see on Atsushi, a tired and stressed complexion.

The face of someone who was pushed to the limit and a little more against impossible odds. Against her stood a redhead who danced and fought like a storm in their battle, a red maelstrom of lightning. Orochi had no control of the battle and was merely trying to keep pace against the redhead.

Edith's mind blanked in surprise. Orochi wasn’t the same one she knew. The second tallest wall of a girl, losing only to Kaylee, a moving fortress that wasn’t shaken by anything. No, she was different.

Orochi had fear in her eyes. Fear of defeat, rage, and uncertainty. Nasty purple marks covered her torso, shoulders, arms, legs, and even her tails lacking some scales, and bore nasty crater-like nuances on their noodle bodies.

Their teeth hung by a thread, but they continued to fight, much like Orochi. Edith looked at Tanaka, his face still outrageously hidden by the dark of his hood. “That is it, I’m chiming in.” Edith could see the rest of the people down there; there were many, but her friend wasn’t in good condition.

Hell, she was the worst she had ever been. Edith wasn’t a brawler, not a consummate fighter like some of her classmates were, but she was a hero trainee all the same. She wouldn’t let a friend be taken down and bullied like that.

‘It isn’t even bullying! It is outright mauling!’ Tanaka readied himself with a grumpy mumble, but he didn’t argue against the idea. Rather, he prepared his domain. It would be an extraction mission, and they would need to run away fast with Orochi—

Before they could act, Orochi used her arm to block the blade; she kept it inside her bone while she attacked. Edith winced in pain; an unbearable itch spread across her own arm at the agonizing sight, but it wasn’t the end.

The redhead ripped Orochi’s arm, got her friend on her knees, and pierced the tip of her blade into Orochi’s throat. It happened in a few seconds. Blood burst out like a fountain from the clear cut made on Orochi’s arm.

Muscle, bone, and tissue were on open view, and so much blood came out that Edith thought it would never end.

Her stomach turned; she felt like vomiting, and a wince of agony and sympathetic pain came from Tanaka. It pierced through his facade with ease. They weren’t Orochi; they were watching it from a safe distance but they saw her arm cut off.

They could feel the pain and excruciation from their classmate. They weren’t as close to her, not knowing her too much on a personal level, but they felt sympathy for her.

Their mighty friend on her knees, desperately holding the stump of her arm made Edith sick to the stomach. She turned green at the sight of gore and blood, but worst of all, at how Orochi stopped resisting.

No jerk or movement; she motionlessly held the stump. Edith’s soul turned cold at the implications of it. She opened her mouth; she could vomit at any moment, but something told her she had to scream for Orochi—

To not leave her down in that dangerous place. “ATSUSHI!” She wouldn’t let a friend die before her eyes, beaten and worn out. Bleeding out. The redhead looked up; her crimson eyes met hers.

Her eyes were cold but blossomed like a thousand cherry blossoms of bloodlust. Edith felt cold sweat run down her back the moment their eyes met. It was like staring at Rosethorn, but a thunderous version of her.

And with the eyes of a killer. The redhead turned her hand grip over the sword without ripping it out from Orochi’s neck. They were the next targets in her eyes. The redhead adjusts the positions for the moment she takes her sword out of Orochi’s neck.

Yet, before she could do anything, Orochi grabbed the blade and ripped it out herself. Blood ran out of her neck, but the wound mended itself before their eyes. Her arm stopped bleeding, and the purple marks vanished; her tails regrew their scales in red.

At the small antlers they had, new ones pushed out the old, redder and bigger than before, their scale shredded to reveal red ones that covered the whole of their head.

Something had changed before their eyes, but they couldn’t pinpoint or tell exactly what changed. Orochi didn’t seem to care or realize it either. In the split second it took for the redhead to look away from them and back at Orochi; her friend raised to her feet and punched.

The redhead barely had any time to block the attack, thrown away by Orochi’s strength.

The redhead’s attention wasn’t on them, but they weren’t safe either. They were taken out of the rooftop by a strong gust of wind, throwing them into the air.

“Mika found them! Mika found them!” They were in a bad spot.