Soundtrack: N/a
Mitsunobu Akito was walking home from school, still dressed in his black uniform, something he always found bland compared to the way he read that Americans let their students just wear whatever.
He was lucky, no strange things had happened for the past week, and it almost felt like his life was back before the ChromaCore and its accessories fell into his life.
Of course, Akito knew it was just wishful thinking. He doesn't want to fight, but at this point it felt that the fight was going to come to him, and that little thought made what should have been a nice walk home into a sour affair.
He still can't get his mind around that some random stranger gave him the ChromaCore, labeling him some Heir of Light… when he doesn't want anything to do with this.
He moved out some loose strands of hair from in front of his eyes, sighing as he started to walk past a local playground he normally saw on his way to school.
Why couldn't they give this to someone who wants this power? Someone gung ho about jumping into a wrestling pit with a monster and throwing hands.
That isn't Akito, no matter what some random stranger might…
Why did he smell smoke?
Akito paused his stride, taking a look to his left-
The playground was on fire, the main building dented and caught with dancing flames that didn't seem normal, staying the same size and just lingering.
The swingset was shattered, metal bent and slightly melted, those chains that kept the seats in place spilled on the ground like a liquid.
The merry-go-round, or whatever you called the spinny disks kids could ride, was cracked and shattered.
A seesaw was snapped in half, the other drenched in a lot more of those strange flames.
And in the center of it all, a group of three boys lied un-moving on the grassy floor, all around a girl holding her hand up towards the sky, red glowing out of her eyes, seemingly holding up a boy in the head, barely struggling to breathe as he floated in the air.
Akito's eyes widened when he realized that the girl was making a crushing motion with her hands, and instinct took hold as he thoughtlessly yelled "STOP!!!"
Aktio winced seconds later, realizing that he had broken whatever spell was surrounding the girl, her eyes looking over to Akito, brighter in intensity than before.
Something buzzed in his mind, telling him to summon the ChromaCore and stop this girl from killing (more, a part of himself whispered), rushing in to protect from the clear threat in front of him…
But he looked at the girl's eyes, the way her darker skin was roughed up with bruises and scrapes, the dirt on her jean overalls, the mess that her brown hair was, the cut on her flowered shirt…
He looked into those eyes and saw fear. Fear behind the anger, someone lashing out because they saw it as the only way to escape pain.
He saw that fear, and knew right then that he couldn't use his powers, could use what he was gifted with from some strange benefactor.
No, instead Akito took a knee and raised his hands, keeping contact with the little girl's eyes.
"Hey," He spoke softly, just loud enough to make sure the girl could hear his words, "it's okay. My name's Akito, what's yours?"
The girl was silent, but her body was tense. At least she wasn't choking the floating kid anymore.
"That's okay, you can always tell me it later," Kaito continued, his voice unchanging from its soft and kind tone, "Are you okay?"
The girl looked lost, her face softening from the stony, enraged face she was making, the boy floating slowly drifting downwards as she grew confused.
Akito simply waited, keeping low to the ground with his hands raised, showing no signs of aggression and letting the child get through her thoughts.
Eventually she shook her head, Aktio taking it as a good sign-
But then the girl's mystical hold on the boy that was levitating let go, dropping the young child to the ground. Fight came back to him as he screamed, moving to run away.
The girl's eyes widened, her crimson eyes becoming like headlights as she raised her hand, red flames gathering in front of her palm.
The world blurred, and then Akito was PAIN.
The entire front of his body burned, his arms throbed, his chest ached, it was like the sun had personally had come down to punch him right in the face.
His eyes were closed, covered by his arms (thank Stars for that), so the blast at least didn't leave him without sight, opening up his eyelids painfully to see that he had instinctively moved to protect the boy, the kid running away behind him.
He could see how scotched his uniform was, luckily not too damaged despite the pain he felt from the attack. Akito put away his hurt for a moment, instead focusing on the girl that tossed unnatural fire upon him.
Her eyes were wide, surprised, shocked, the corners of her eyes growing purple, slowly filling in the red.
Anger was shifting to fear, as she seemed more and more like a baby dear each second that passed, waiting for that one thing that will send her running.
Akito gulped, keeping his breathing low and quiet, his motions sluggish as he moved back towards the ground, hands in front of his face as he squatted.
"It's okay," Aktio said again, the girl flinching at his voice but not running yet, "I need you to take a breath okay? In and out, like this," Akito inhaled slowly, "In," and slowly let the same air return to its friends outside of his body, "and out."
He continued, back and forth with his lungs, expanding and contrasting, speaking the same three words. Bit by bit, the young girl began to follow, breathing in, and out, in, and out.
Slowly, the purple in her eyes started to recede back to the sides of her eyes, the red dimming and beginning to follow suit. Akito saw the crimson taint pull back to reveal her green irises, as the flames around him began to wither and die.
They continued his for what felt like hours, deep breaths to calm their hearts, letting anger and fear fade until only loose faint remnants remained.
The girl eventually grew weak, her stance wobbling as the last of the red in her eyes and the flames that coated the playground faded from eyesight, nearly crashing into the ground if it wasn't for Akito leaping to catch her.
"There we go," Akito continued, holding the girl steady as she swayed, blood running down her nose that he wiped with his uniform's ruined sleeve.
He looked around for a moment, looking at the three boys that laid around him. He caught moving from all three, their chests rising and lowering slowly. At least he hadn't come across another site of a dead body.
Though he focused back on the girl for now, opting to wait just a bit longer to get her story before calling for an ambulance.
"Do you know what happened?" Akito softly asked the girl, hoping she would answer his question.
The girl was silent for a time, swaying a bit as she and Akito sat close to the ground, yet eventually, with a tiny voice, strained as if she had been yelling for an hour straight before, began to leave the girl's mouth.
"... t… t-they wouldn't… they wouldn't stop… mean and angry, hurting me… I… I got mad, and… they were mad… so… so I took their anger and used it… I… am…"
"Shush, it's okay, you're okay, and they're okay," Akito continued, taking a hand and fishing out his phone from one of his pockets, glad it wasn't broken, "It's gonna be okay, I'm gonna call some help, is that okay?"
The girl nodded, and Aktio dialed 119, getting an operator on the line, "There are a few kids hurt, fire damage everywhere at the Kusabana Playground, it looks like a gas explosion but I'm not sure."
He continued to talk on the line, playing dumb about the young girl and her abilities, making it seem like some natural disaster. When the operator told him to stay on the line, he pressed mute and rubbed the back of the little girl.
"Help is coming okay? You're gonna get all patched up okay?"
"Y-you… you didn't… tell them…" The girl quietly spoke.
"Of course not… you weren't in control, right kid? I'm not sure the police would believe me about some psychic child blowing up a park tho ya?"
"... you… you felt scared."
"Eh?"
"When you… you saw m*cough*me- bu-but-but you weren't scared of me… you felt.. Warm… I'm sorry I hurt you Mister."
"... Apology accepted."
"... Okuhara."
"Okuhara?" Akito questioned.
"... you asked earlier… dummy hehe… I'm O-Okuhara Mikoto."
Akito gave Mikoto a soft but wide smile, "It's nice to meet you Okuhara, I'm Mitsunobu Akito."
Soon enough, an ambulance appeared alongside a few police officers, the four remaining children collected and taken to the nearest hospital, Akito being kept behind to be questioned about the ordeal.
As he finally was let go after a long hour of questioning, hopeful that he was able to keep the police from marking him as someone to keep watch of, Akito walked home with a strange sense that that girl…
That this wasn't the last he would see of Okuhara Mikoto.
Akito didn't know how he felt about that feeling, knowing that another weird thing would come along and interrupt his already shredded peaceful life.
