But in the End

Play a Game

"There they are!" Atsushi exclaimed, pointing to the fifth cart. "Haruna, Naomi! Are you alright?" He asked the two as we made our way over to them.

"We are." Naomi nodded. "I never thought they'd come after the clerks in the office."

"At least you're safe now, we're gonna escort you both to the extraction point." Atsushi told the two.

"How's Jun'ichirō and Kunikida?" I asked, glancing between the two girls.

Naomi shook her head. "We're not sure. When we last saw them, they were battling with two of the Guild members.

"Oh! I wanted you to meet someone." Naomi suddenly spoke up, gesturing to the cart behind her. "We got to know each other a little on the train." She explained as a kid with white and brown hair walked off the train.

The kid doesn't look up as they walked off, bumping into Atsushi. As the kid turned to glance at him, I couldn't help but to notice his eyes. One had circle, while the other had a star.

Not a second later, he turned fully to face us,holding his arm out, pulling the sleeve back. I place a hand over my mouth at the sight, my gaze never tearing away from the bloody bandages with razors sticking out of it.

"Wanna play a game?" The boy asked, a twisted grin taking over his features.

"Something's not right..." I mumbled, glancing at the boy. "Hey Atsushi, we need to get out of here." Not getting a reply, I turned to him. "Hey, did you hear me- Atsushi?"

I stared at the boy as he began breathing heavily, his gaze locked onto the boy. Not knowing what was going on with him, I timidly laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, what is it?"

I glanced down, seeing his arms were transformed into his tiger form, causing worry to etch the back of my mind. "Atsushi?" One second, I was standing beside Atsushi, and the next I was lying on the ground a couple feet away.

I groaned from the impact, lifting myself up slightly. When I did, I felt a searing pain on my stomach. Glancing down, I saw red begin to seep into my shirt. What the hell...

Confused, I placed one of my hands over the stained shirt, glancing up to Astushi. When I did, I saw he had Naomi lifted into the air, strangling her. Widening my eyes, I ignored my wounds and rushed over to the two.

"Atsushi, what the hell is going on?!" I shouted, trying to pry one of his arms off of Naomi. "Can you even hear me?!" I glanced at him, seeing anger written all over his face and blood streaming from his eyes.

I glanced over to Haruna, seeing she was standing there, before I glanced back at the little boy. When I did, I saw he was standing there, watching and laughing. I have a feeling he has something to do with this.

I closed my eyes for a moment before mumbling under my breath. "Sorry about this Atsushi... Beast from Within!" I opened my eyes as I felt Atsushi's strength pouring into me as his grip on Naomi loosened.

When it was loose enough, I pried his hands off of Naomi, putting some distance in between them. Once I made sure Naomi would be fine, I set her down on the ground and turned to Atsushi, seeing he was recovering from my ability.

Must be his ability... his strength and recovery is amazing. I admired his weretiger ability as he made a speedy recovery, strength returning. However, it was short lived as his attention was now on me, getting into position to attack.

I prepared myself as Atsushi sprung forward, going in for a kick. I managed to block it with my arms, sending a punch to his stomach. I let out a pained groan from the movement, stepping back a couple steps.