A Ray of Sunlight

Chapter 16 - Farewell (Haruto's POV)

Gore

My left foot was shaking and even though it wasn't cold, a shiver went down my spine, thinking about how our planet could get destroyed from war. I stood up from the mattress on the floor and walked up to one of the big windows. The sky was already blue and full of white, fluffy clouds because the sun rises early in the summer. There was no clock and I had no perception of time in the warehouse and that made me even more nervous. I was so nervous I turned my head towards the warehouse door every few minutes because I was starting to hallucinate Katsunori's shoes clunking on the concrete floor.

I was about to shake father awake to ask him what to do when suddenly a loud explosion came from outside the warehouse. I quickly ran to the door and slid it open a crack.

"Ha! I found you! An energy converter device to hide your location. Isn't that right Katsunori?" I saw Koichi standing a few feet away from the warehouse door.

Katsunori took a lollipop out of his mouth. "Smart. Little people have figured it out." Katsunori said, standing up from the steps. "Unfortunately, it doesn't do you any good to know this." Katsunori placed the half eaten lollipop in the back of his teeth and bit down, making a cracking sound. He threw the stick to the floor.

Koichi ran towards Katsunori. As I was closing the door and about to run to father to wake him up, a hand was placed on my shoulder. I flinched and turned around to find Yukio staring at me with a smile.

"Yukio!" I whispered to my instructor. "Why are you here?"

"Your reflexes are areas that still need improvement." Yukio said and lifted my hand. His other hand held a delicate, metal tool. "Shh, be quiet okay, Haruto." He said with a smile. "I'm glad you're back." The tool reached into the disk in the middle. I could hear Koichi hitting the floor multiple times and hope the loud thumps were just his feet hitting the pavement and not his back. Finally, I heard a click and the bracelet slid right off. "Ahh, finally." Yukio said, smiling and wiping the sweat off his forehead. " Let's wake up your father now."

We woke father up and beside the mattress was a bottle of water that Yukio said he brought. Father's bracelet was already off so I assume Yukio took father's off before mine. Father drank the water and smiled at Yukio.

"Thank you, Yukio."

"Of course Mr. Kaito." Yukio paused for a second as if he was going to break bad news. "Are you feeling better now?"

Father paused and was about to say something when we heard a loud bang.

"That doesn't sound good." Yukio said. Koichi immediately popped into our minds.

We ran out of the room and saw Koichi lying on the warehouse door. The door had a huge dent in it and some parts of it were chipped. Koichi's eyes were closed . Blood trickled down his forehead and onto the broken door. His helmet had cracked and his face was covered with bruises and blood. I couldn't believe it. Koichi was always the mischievous, talented one. Seeing him hurt like this wasn't something I'm used to.

"Ow." Koichi managed to say.

"Are you okay?!" Yukio said worried. "I'll bring you to the medical center immediately." Yukio bent down to pick Koichi up but he slowly sat up, pushing away Yukio's hands. He opened his eyes though it looked more like a squint.

"The demon..." he mustered out as Katsunori walked through the door.

"I see that you have...helpers." He said and looked down at Koichi. "Give up."

"Never."

"Okay." He gave a smug smile and held out his hand. No way! Is this guy going to murder Koichi in front of us?!