13 - Bottle Throw

“We’re here.”

Kouta stopped by the entrance to the concert hall.

“It’s a comedy show run by soulful-sponsored soulless lads.” Kouta sighed, approaching the main doors. “Expect a lot of unfunny jokes.”

“And jokes I probably wouldn’t understand.” Sakuto replied. He fixed his suit a little. “Do we need tickets?”

“Tickets?” Kouta asked, confused.

“Yeah, uh...you need tickets to enter a concert, right?” Sakuto asked again. The two exchanged equally empty and brainless gazes before moving onward.

“Well, maybe if we have enough money we can buy some tickets on the spot?” Kouta suggested.

“Yeah, I mean...we have enough to buy suits, right? Why not just...”

“Hayk’s gonna kill us.” Kouta sighed. “My bad, Sakuto. I didn’t think this part through. I thought we would just-”

“Sneak in, right?” Sakuto interjected. “If we look confident enough, we can just sneak right in, right?!”

“Yeah.” Kouta nodded, rubbing his chin with his right hand. “They mostly place soulless people as guards. Soulless people can’t sense soul presences. I’ll try to pull something off.”

The two walked into the small crowd of people entering the place, and by wearing confident and bright smiles, managed to walk right in. They would’ve almost snuck in had it not been for a security guard noticing their suspicious behavior. Everyone else was showing their tickets, but those two...

“Hey, you- AAARGH!” The guard yelled in pain, as he felt a sharp pain in his left foot. “Fuck, what did I even hit?”

“Hey man, you alright?!” The other guard approached him, holding him still. “What happened?”

“Feels like I broke my toe...” The guard grunted in pain. “Those two...whatever man just get me a med kit!”

“It was that easy?” Sakuto chuckled, as he and Kouta made their way through the hallways and finally entered the performance hall.

“I told you, the guards or security workers here are mostly soulless.” Kouta laughed as well. The place consisted of the main stage and round tables with liquor and flowers on them for the audience. Light devices showered the area with playful luminescence, traveling from seat to seat before reaching a calm stop at the stage. The two went towards an empty seat in the back and made themselves comfortable.

“Do you drink?” Kouta asked, inspecting a bottle of expensive liquor.

“Nah, I don’t. I don’t smoke either, funnily enough.” Sakuto replied.

“So what, do you just masturbate for stress relief?”

“Hey, keep it down man.” Sakuto said, a little annoyed. “Don’t get me talking about how bad your own addiction is. Your so-called room is-”

“Okay, cut it.” Kouta interrupted. He suddenly got a notification on his phone, which he quickly opened.

“For fuck sake...” Kouta sighed. “Tsunehiro got wounded hard, and Hayk went out to-”

“Wounded?” Sakuto asked again. “How...bad is it?”

“It was the guy next to Hayk, right?”

“Well, Rin is treating him, so he won’t die for sure.” Kouta sighed. “As for Ichika, she got intercepted by...Otto Richter of all people, but Hayk messaged me that she and Ausra are both fine.”

“Who?” Sakuto asked Kouta, rather quickly.

“Someone completely different.”

“Right...”

“We got experience of fighting Diego, and they even had him use a soul interpretation. But even Tsunehiro, a brilliant fighter, couldn’t stand a chance against Diego even after using his divine acclamation.”

“I see...” Sakuto quietly replied. He suddenly opened up his eyes in confusion, as if he had just woken up from a daydream. “Wait...he did what?”

“He used his divine acclamation.” Kouta repeated, before asking. “You don’t know what it is, right?”

“Not a clue...”

“Well...” Kouta continued, taking a look at the time on his phone. Most of the audience had already sat down, the atmosphere was filled with noises of distant chatter and glass clanking. “I’ll explain it to you a bit later. There’s something much more prevalent I want to talk to you about.”

“Shit...what is it, like an ultimate move? There’s things like that? In being a soulful?”

“So much to remember and master too. They have these insane abilities, and I still don’t even know what my soul does.”

“I don’t even have a cheesy leveling up system helping me...”

“Hey, excuse me...”

A formally dressed individual, who appeared to be the same age as Sakuto, approached the two amidst their conversation. He had slightly overgrown black hair and a pair of mysterious dark green eyes, and he was shorter than both of them. Nevertheless, nothing was off about his appearance or even his soul presence. Each table in the area had three seats, and it seemed that the unexpected visitor had laid his eyes on one of them.

“All the other seats are busy. Mind if I join your table?” He asked politely. “My name’s Joseph. Nice to meet you.”

“Hm? Sure...take a seat, I guess.” Kouta reluctantly said, gesturing to him.

Sakuto glanced at his new neighbor. He offered to pour him some sparkling water, to which the latter politely declined. There was no conversation between the three for about an hour, maybe even more, it seemed apparent that the new guest was just as socially disabled as the other two. All of them were locked onto their phones. Until...

“Everybody!” A short figure with a glittery pink jacket appeared on the stage, as his entrance was showered with a storm of applause. He slowly walked up to the center of the stage and all the stage lights shifted to him.

“Kouta...” Sakuto whispered. “What type of show is this exactly?”

“A crowd interaction based mainstream comedy show.” Kouta said, almost nauseous.

“I see...”

“Fuck...”

“And here we are!” The funny man exclaimed, causing another wave of loud applause and cheering to live on. “Welcome everybody! How are you? I’m feeling amazing!”

“Sakuto, don’t give a reaction, but there he is.” Kouta whispered, making sure to keep his voice as low as possible. He glanced at one of the entrances, from which a familiar face had just emerged. Hwang, in a half-undone black shirt and black pants, wearing a pair of pitch black sunglasses, entered the building. He was careless about his soul presence or its concealment.

“That’s really him...” Sakuto whispered back. “When do we get active?”

“Soon enough.” Kouta replied. His attention suddenly shifted to Joseph, whose eyes held an uncomfortable gaze. Aside from a sense of anxiety, Kouta also sensed a small hint of soul prowess emanating from him. He quickly snatched Sakuto’s phone and typed out a message for him: “The guy next to you is a soulful.”

Sakuto quickly looked to his side, almost exposing his own soul presence. Sensing the impending catastrophe, Kouta kicked Sakuto’s foot under the desk, trying to keep him focused. For just a brief moment, even Hwang himself looked over at their table.

“Sakuto, keep it calm.” Kouta whispered again, sounding rather infuriated.

“Right, sorry.”

“This is the guy...”

“I owe being a soulful to him and Ichika. Back then I had no powers whatsoever, and I managed to keep him in place and allow both myself and Ichika to escape. This time, it’ll be a different battle.”

“I have Kouta by my side too.”

Sakuto took a sharp breath and took a sip from his cold glass of sparkling water. His hand shook a little, he seemed a bit overwhelmed, even suppressed by the environment. Kouta quickly reacted, splashing some of the sparkling water onto his face.

“Hey, you alright?” Kouta asked, his voice barely audible. “Dude...do you need to go out? You’re gonna get us fucking exposed soon...”

“I’m alright now.” Sakuto replied in a relatively louder voice.

“Um...are you alright? Should I call for help?” Joseph asked, looking concerned.

“No, thanks. I know how to help him out.” Kouta replied, his voice still doubtful. “Sorry for troubling you.”

“And now, we will begin the first half of our show, which is the ‘Audience Craze’!” The show’s announcer yelled into the mic. “Let’s give it up for our star guests for today! But before that, a quick word from our sponsor.”

“They have those here too?”

“The fight against soulful terrorism has been reshaped into a gruesome war. Even just today, our beloved idol, Diego Solano, had to fight off against an assassination attempt.”

“Is he referring to whatever Oskar caused earlier? This is their sponsored segment?!”

“The guy next to me...Kouta said he’s a soulful. Is he with someone else? Is he with Hwang? And why does he look like something’s bothering him?!”

“To support the war against terrorism, we are announcing a 20% discount on all the elemental self-defense and self-improvement courses, along with a 15% first buyers’ discount on all elemental-related merchandise. We hope to connect with our people and fight together for the greater good.” More applause was heard after the sentence was finished.

“Anyhow, the hero of today, everyone, our special guest - you may even call him today’s star guest! Give it up for the legend himself, Hwang Kang-min!” The short lad exclaimed. The audience cheered on.

“Most of these guys are soulless. They’re just cheering like madmen because their favorite superhero is on the stage.” Kouta mockingly told Sakuto.

Hwang stood up, waving with his hands, cheering the audience on to applaud harder and yell louder in excitement. He turned around, taking off his sunglasses. To say he was enjoying all the attention would be an immense understatement. So much so that even his body was hardened with excitement.

“Hwang Kang-min. What is it like being a soulful?” The comic asked. “How do you feel right now, being one of the world’s most beloved people?”

“It feels fucking awesome, man!” Hwang replied. “It’s nice. I love the crowd here, everyone, I love you guys!” He made sure to put extra emphasis on the last part, causing the crowd to roar with support once more. Diego’s masterful skills of showmanship were passed down to him in an attempt to reel in even more profit. “Of course, it’s tragic that at times, we do in fact lose personnel. But that is the price we must pay for freedom and security.”

“Perfect, now, Mr. Kang-min, please tell us more about yourself.” The comic asked again. He moved a little closer to the edge of the stage, as the stage lights all shifted to illuminate Hwang.

“Well, nothing much to tell. Aside from some very big news about a new line of merchandise!” Hwang announced. “The limited edition shirts, underwear and sports equipment will be split between designs made by myself and Diego. Whose design are you going to choose? Visit the official elemental shop website and help me win the competition!”

“Is this whole show an ad?!” Sakuto barked, after abruptly shutting his own mouth to lower his voice.

“Yes it is.” Kouta grunted in response.

“Figured as much.”

“What’s with the other guy? He hasn’t moved an inch...”

“Now, thank you for your brilliant announcement.” The show announcer exclaimed, before chuckling to himself. “You’ve got the whole earth under your feet now.”

The hall was quickly engulfed in laughter. Sakuto just sat in confusion and contemplated his life.

“Anyhow, now, we will be changing things up.” The comic continued. “We will all be diving into small groups in the audience. Come on, let’s reminisce about the good times in school! Every two tables, as a group, you guys will come up with puns about our star guest! He’s a really down-to-earth guy, so don’t be too spicy!” He laughed.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

“Do we really-”

Sakuto quickly fell silent as he saw Kouta’s completely void expression. At this point, he didn’t even want to be there. He slowly took a deep breath.

“Just...tag along. I’m sure the table next to us will do some-”

Sakuto turned and looked at the table next to them. It was a young man accompanied by his two girlfriends, who were both all over him. Feeling slightly disappointed and massively disgusted, he quickly shook his head in disagreement.

“What do we do then?” Sakuto asked.

“Hey, excuse me...did you get any ideas?” Kouta asked Joseph. His face was expressionless, he was staring Hwang down with no stop to it.

“Ah, no, sorry.” He quickly replied, smiling. “I’ll try to think of something, I’ll let you know.”

“Hurry up, you!” The comic yelled out. “Don’t feel under the stone! If you don’t give us a funny answer, you’ll get grounded!”

“One more pun like this I’ll blow his fucking head off.” Kouta mumbled.

‘You’re the one who suggested we play along, right?“ Sakuto said. “I’ll try thinking of something I guess.”

“They’re all connected to the word 'ground' or ground related properties.”

“Wait, wasn’t Hwang the ground elemental? Fire, ground, water, all of that...yeah, he was. That’s what he was doing in school as well.”

“Let’s see...does he get rocked? Does he get rock hard when he sees his girlfriend? Does he get stoned every time he smokes?”

“And the time is up!” The comic said, as the monotonous ticking clock sound effects in the background faded away.

“As long as we don’t get asked first...”

“The team of table 12 and table 13 will now present their puns!” He announced. The group of friends at the tables stood up, as one of them read from a piece of paper.

“Hwang Kang-min, after losing all his money, was in heavy debts. He’s really hit rock bottom!”

“Wonderful! What a rock solid joke!” The comic replied, laughing his ass off. “Now, table 2 and 16! Hit me with yours!”

“That’s us!”

“That manwhore didn’t come up with anything, did he? Wait, Kouta’s too angry to come up with anything! And the other guy...”

“I’ll just improvise!”

“Hwang Kang-min was uh...listening to music! Yeah, and uh...he was really listening to rock and roll!”

“Could you repeat that?” The comic asked.

“I said, uhh...Hwang Kang-min was listening to music! It was rock and roll!

“Ah, I see...” The comic responded, after hearing only a few light reactions from the crowd. “You gotta try a little harder, dude! Add some happiness to your life, will ya? Rock the stage!”

“And what do you know-”

“Did I just kill the mood?!” The sudden realization hit him like a stone thrown at his head.

“I'm flipping every stone trying to think of a joke, hah!” Sakuto reluctantly said. The comic chuckled, nodding in appreciation while the crowd slowly clapped. “I uhh...”

“Nothing’s coming to my mind!”

“Hurry up! You’re as slow as a rock!” The comic said.

He sharply turned around, starting to sweat a little. Joseph was practically staring at him, and he noticed that, and he realized that something was wrong. He even saw Hwang look over to his table.

“W-what’s with this attention? Wait...fuck, is my soul presence high? Did I mess up?!”

“And Kouta...”

“What’s with his-”

“I can’t take this bullshit anymore!”

[FWOOSH]

A dark green glass bottle, which used to contain sparkling water inside, was the first thing on the table that was chosen to carry out Kouta’s desire. It was flung across the stage at high speeds and landed perfectly onto the comic’s face. Kouta, who stood up after almost instinctively carrying out an attempted murder, was now surrounded by silence.

A brief pause later, he flipped the table over, throwing the silky red tablecloth, glasses with their drinks, some silverware and the table itself onto the floor. Hwang’s attention had already locked onto the table, but Kouta’s flaring soul presence alerted him further. Kouta equipped his blade - a katana with a dark gray handle and swung it, sending a massive flying slash at his target. He killed some soulless visitors with that attack but it really didn’t matter.

“Sakuto!” He yelled before sending another slash. “We’re getting active!”

“Got it!” Sakuto exclaimed, drawing his own weapon and dashing forward. Kouta had already launched himself at Hwang’s table. He swung his arms around, creating massive craters next to him where it felt like gravity was strengthened to his maximum. Kouta and Hwang clashed with one another, as Hwang drew out his own soul-bound weapon - a black jikdo sword.

Hwang pulled his sword back, slashing it at Kouta’s feet. As soon as his hands were low, Kouta’s simple command with his finger increased the pull and forced Hwang’s hands onto the ground. Kouta went for the kill, but Hwang used his feet to counterattack and repel him. He got back up on his feet.

Kouta forced the area next to Hwang to collapse under the gravity. Moments later, Hwang found himself propelled into the air, and slammed onto the stage’s floor, right next to the bleeding comedian. Kouta jumped onto the stage, and forced the gravity even more. The comedian got completely crushed and killed in a rather awful scene. Parts of the audience ran away in panic, some of them chose to record the lethal fight.

“His focus is on Kouta, isn’t it? Now’s my perfect chance!”

Hwang’s recovery was ill timed with Sakuto’s quick advance. Sakuto, unaware of the danger of ranged attacks, was caught completely off guard. A large spike made out of a mix of wood and concrete emerged from the ground and pierced him clean in the chest.

Sakuto’s limp body flew an unnatural distance. The scene in front of his eyes blackened, shifting into an ethereal abyss of darkness. The gray in his iris morphed to a lifeless shade.

“What..?”

“What is this?”

“What?!” Sakuto gasped, quickly raising his head and banging it against one of the somehow still-standing tables. He found himself lying on the ground, with Kouta’s and Hwang’s loud combat noises ringing in his ears.

“What was that?! I...I died?” He asked himself, staring down at his own hands. “I got...killed?”

“What the fuck was that? Death?”

He climbed out from beneath the table and observed the raging battle between the two soulfuls.

“Foresight?!”

Kouta dashed back to avoid Hwang’s counterattack. Hwang hit the ground with his fist, launching a massive spike-like projectile at Kouta, who slammed it into the ground thanks to his defensive application of gravity.

“A...warning? What the fuck was that?!”

“Whatever, at least now I know to be more careful now. Kouta...I got you!”

Sakuto dashed in, swinging his blade at Hwang. The latter quickly parried it, trying to go for a counterattack, but Kouta jumped in at the same time. Pulling him closer to his fist with his gravity-defying soul expression, Kouta slammed a right punch into Hwang’s guts deep enough to rip parts of the surrounding skin open. Sakuto swung and landed a slashing attack, before preparing to pierce Hwang’s lung from behind. Hwang fought back despite the awful pain, launching Sakuto back by summoning ground spikes from below.

Sakuto dodged most of them, and the spike that Hwang launched later was easy for him to cut down with his weapon. For a moment, the two exchanged gazes.

“Tch...this is the brat that attacked me in school, isn’t it?” Hwang thought. “I was right. He was an associate.”

Hwang tried to close the distance, but Kouta’s gravity held him in place. He quickly built up walls from the ground up, covering himself in a temporary shield. Once Kouta broke through the shield, he was surprised to find out that his target had escaped. Hwang popped up from another part of the stage.

The spikes he launched struck Sakuto who failed to react in time. They knocked him towards the hall’s wall, as blood slowly leaked from his wounds. He seemed unable to move properly.

“Sakuto!!!” Kouta yelled, letting go of the strengthened gravity courtesy of his distress. Hwang managed to successfully get close enough to grab Kouta with his right arm. His left arm held an improvised knife made out of pieces of the floor.

It takes Kouta a moment or two to fully adjust his gravity system, especially when it comes to assigning specific forces to certain points in space. At that instant, he failed to foresee the weapon, as he had no idea that Hwang’s expression was capable of creating makeshift weapons. His neck was completely exposed.

“I can still kinda see...”

“Fuck, Kouta’s still fighting, isn’t he?”

“I can’t just mop around here, shit...my whole body feels weak as shit. I don’t know if it was foresight or an illusion, but I had to listen to it more, play it more defensively.”

“Come on, Sakuto...you gotta be more useful. He’s the only person you have right now, isn’t he?”

“Wait...is he?”

“...”

“Yeah.”

“He really is.”

“The guys that call me their friends, and expect me to call them that in return...They’d just call all of this stupid. That’s what they would’ve said to me, isn’t it?”

“They all feel so empty...”

“Unlike them.”

Hwang could’ve landed a dangerous blow. He swung his arm...only for a stream of blood to gush out of his open shoulder. The rest of his arm was dismantled away, laying on the ground right next to the unfortunate comedian’s corpse.

The source of the slash was Sakuto’s Withering Strelitzia. After holding it up for a moment, his arm slowly weakened as Sakuto’s energy was on the decline. All he said after wavering his head and falling unconscious was one sentence. “Kouta, I figured it out.”

“...”

“Sakuto?”

“You’re still alive. Don’t try to fool me like that. You’ll live.”

“But this fucking guy...”

Kouta’s presence spiked again. He forced Hwang onto the ground, attaching him to a ball of debris from the ground, and threw that ball outside the hall. Kouta quickly reached for his phone and while being bombarded with dozens of small spikes started to record an audio message.

“Rin, the fight is on, get here fast, Sakuto is wounded, likely not fatal.”

Kouta took one last look at Sakuto.

“Thanks for saving my ass...you just cut his arm off like it was nothing.”

“You’re shockingly good at adapting to soulful life, Sakuto.”

...

“It always has to be me. Even if it’s my day off.”

Ichigo sighed, leaning his head back in his car seat. He closed his eyes for a second, unleashing a heavenly yawn. The black seat comforted his head with its texture.

“Being Diego’s errand man, that is...and making sure people like Hwang don’t lose themselves. And since Luca said he’s busy grieving, that just leaves me to do this crap.”

“I still don’t know why he doesn’t like me...”

At the relatively late hour, he was slowly driving through the streets, making his way to the concert hall. His designated mission was simple, ‘make sure Hwang doesn’t fuck himself up.’ To be frank, such a mission could only be handled by a calm and careful person like Ichigo. He was a stark contrast to the rest of the loud and explosive elementals. His more sentimental and humble mind allowed him to not become like the very people he is tasked with looking after. And in terms of strength, he was pretty high up on the list.

Ichigo slowly made a right turn, but an unexpected sight soon snapped him out of his sleep deprived state.

“Police cars...?”

After taking a closer look, and sensing a pair of strong soul presences, he quickly stopped. His white, stealthily armored car came to a quick haul as the tires made a loud noise. Ichigo quickly got out, and sprinted towards the sight.

“Is that Hwang?!”

Hwang had just plummeted onto the ground. He slowly woke up, trying to accustom himself to only having one arm available. Ichigo rushed towards him.

“Mr. Hwang? What happened? How many-”

“Fucking piece of shit ruined my show!” Hwang yelled, trying to stand up and approach the hall again. He quickly slipped his remaining right arm away from Ichigo’s supportive hold. “Stay out of this, I’ll kill him!”

“Mr. Hwang, how many are there?!” Ichigo asked again, patiently. Hwang tried to move by himself, but as more blood gushed out of his open wound, he failed to retain his assault. At the same time, from the hole that Hwang’s body made, Kouta jumped out.

“Just him? How’d he put Hwang in this state, was it a planned surprise attack?”

With Kouta landing in front of them, Ichigo’s eyes were filled with concern. He held onto Hwang while mentally preparing himself and improvising a game plan.

“This is him?”

“The monster who is second to Hayk Nakama himself...”

“Backup?” Kouta thought, taking a stance. He quickly summoned his blade. Ichigo, at the same time, let go of Hwang and clasped his hands together.

“Even then...”

Ichigo’s clasped palms lit up, as the area next to him dimmed slightly. A vibrant spark of light appeared on his fingertips.

Kouta’s experience as a soulful allowed him to learn how to read soul presences accurately. Aside from locating and exposing other soulfuls, he could also accurately read the difference between soul prowess levels in one. Meaning that through sheer focus, he could determine whether a powerful attack was about to be unleashed or not.

Such was the case with Ichigo’s beam of light, which Kouta was able to evade before it had activated thanks to reading his soul presence and dodging preemptively. Kouta weaved to the side, attempting to throw Ichigo’s aim off guard, and quickly rushed in to close the distance. Amidst one of his jumps, Ichigo caught him with the beam.

“Shit!” He thought to himself, watching as Kouta simply continued rushing forward. “The lack of light around me, I don’t have enough to pierce through his unholy reinforcement strength!”

Kouta landed and swung his blade, with Ichigo blocking it with that of his own - a simple katana with a black and yellow handle. They exchanged clashes with their blades. The more they fought, the more Ichigo slowly noticed that he was being pushed back - towards Hwang who tried to escape to the vehicle.

Kouta suddenly dashed back, releasing slashes of energy at Hwang. His back was slashed open, and he barely managed to save himself from a final slash by building up a wall of rock and dirt. As Kouta diverted his attention back to Ichigo, he realized...

“He’s gone?!”

“For just this instant, this will work flawlessly.” Ichigo thought to himself, as he sprinted away towards Hwang. “Temporary invisibility by perfect reflection of light. It’ll only function until he figures out he can just read my soul presence.”

Kouta was doing just that. He didn’t spend time trying to figure out Ichigo’s soul expression, instead, he went for the direct offensive. Ichigo had almost carried Hwang into the escape vehicle. Seeing the distance between himself and Kouta rapidly shorten, for just a moment, his palms were made visible again.

In just a moment, Kouta stopped, with blood leaking out of his eyes. He quickly covered them with his hands, screamed in pain.

“Really?”

“A blinding technique?!”

“Mr. Hwang!” Ichigo yelled out, dragging the armless man into the vehicle. “Now!”

“Get me back to the battlefield you stupid brat!” Hwang said, infuriated. “Don’t make me look like I’m running! Get me back in now!”

Ichigo ignored the requests and stuffed him into the back of his car. He took the front seat and revved up the engine and reversed, trying to leave as fast as possible. At the same time, Kouta, screaming his lungs out, took his hands off of his eyes and grabbed onto his weapon. He swung it in rage, unleashing a massive flying slash. It was only thanks to sheer luck that Ichigo’s vehicle was left unharmed. The slash itself dismantled three or so buildings on its way, wreaking havoc.

“Kouta!” Rin called out, jumping out of a portal Dima made. “What’s with you?!”

“I’m...fine!” Kouta said, gritting his teeth. Police sirens were already howling close to them, approaching the building. “Go get Sakuto. He’s still inside.”

“And the mission?” Dima asked.

“He got help and escaped.” Kouta replied. “Just focus...on saving Sakuto now.”

“He deserves it more than I do regardless.”