The Shogun

Chapter 27 : Clarity

Now

The entire study room was silent. The only sound at that moment was the ignorable hum of the cameras and lights. Reina sat there dumbfounded, her mind unable to comprehend what Seiran had just said. She had prepared herself for this. She knew it was coming but it still swooped her off her feet. The elderly journalist looks at her with concern and asks, "Is anything bothering you, Reina-chan?"

"When you told me Izuku was about to shed his first blood, I expected a spectacle. But this... this was quick. There was no delay. No hesitation on Izuku's end. It was as if he knew exactly what needs to be done".

"Adrenaline is one hell of a thing. It makes a human do things they thought they were incapable of. For some, it is chaotic but for some, it's like being in the eye of a storm. Izuku fell in the latter category".

"You said that Izuku was never the same after he killed someone. But right now, I'm concerned about Natsuki-san. She witnessed something a person shouldn't normally see. She saw Izuku kill someone. It should've traumatized her! What happened between them? Was the spark they felt between them die that night?"

"It was complicated, to say the least", Seiran says as she takes a sip from her cup.

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Then

Izuku was not having a great time.

He still had no idea what came over him. One moment, he was following the guys who were presumably following Natsuki-san, and the next moment, he had killed four people. He would have thrown up the contents of his stomach but he couldn't. It's not that he has not seen dead people. The earthquake incident made sure of that, but this... this was different. He took someone's life without someone coaxing him to do it. It was by his will that this world was short of four scumbags.

It hadn't been that long after that... or has it? He was not able to catch a wink of sleep and blamed it on his situation.

When he asked Natsuki-san to give him her address, he didn't expect to stay over that night. In his mind, he was just planning to a quick stop, make sure she was safe and just get out there, but the waitress was shaken beyond her core. She didn't say a word and Izuku felt guilty to make her see all that stuff. Leaving her alone seemed like a bad idea, so against his sanity, he decided to stay back.

Izuku tried his best to go to sleep, but the images of the event that transpired played in his mind in a loop. With his suppressed Arsenal Firearms Strike One in his palms, the safety was off. It was loaded with live bullets. His breathing was surprisingly calm. The alley was dim with little moonlight but he could see the figures. Natsuki-san was cornered into the wall. His gun was already aimed at the person but he hesitated but all bets were off when he saw the coat slide off the waitress's body.

The trigger was pulled.

Shots were fired.

One by one, they dropped dead.

It was a miracle that Natsuki-san was not stained by blood.

Izuku got up from his place and his gaze fell on the space beside him. Natsuki-san slept in her space, curled up into a ball as if she were trying to protect herself from the world. Izuku wanted to reach out and caress her but he couldn't.

She seemed fragile.

It was as if she would break if he tried to touch her.

He didn't want to taint her with his darkness.

Even though it was early, the world outside was still dark. Izuku's eyes then gauge the studio apartment that the waitress rents. The wallpapers were old. The place was chaotic but not in a bad way. It was navigable. Clothes hung from the hanger rack. The kitchen island doubled down as a dining table. One corner of the room was occupied by the old pull-out sofa, that currently he and the sleeping beauty were sharing. Every single piece of furniture felt out of place, as if it didn't belong to a set, and was brought into the space over time.