Human

It was simple for Ryo to avoid all direct contact with his family for the next few months. All he had to do was sit silently, lock himself in his room, and lie. In the afternoon and evening, Ryo would send sticky envelopes filled with cash through his window to a young ramen owner's son named Jiro, who would occasionally stroll by during his second newspaper delivery job. Ryo paid extra money to have fresh homemade ramen delivered through his window, and occasionally, Sez would deliver salty and sweet snacks during the midnight. This ensured that Ryo didn't starve, although he would miss his family's freshly steamed rice and fish egg roe balls.

Sez's presence in Ryo's life began to overbear whenever he would secretly visit daily by crawling through his window. Together, Sez planned out a special visitation schedule where he would introduce Ryo to several of his acquaintances in the Asahikawa Yakuza gangs. One peculiar man, a pompous chubby apple-shaped butcher who claimed to have murdered dozens of crime bosses in Asahikawa, occasionally visited Ryo and Sez after school. The impertinent butcher was Ryo's first mentor who trained him in the arts of close-quarters weapons. Ryo learned how to swing several different knives, including butcher's knives, butter knives, and butterfly knives. And while he trained daily after school with his mentor, Sez would be observing from a distance pleased with Ryo's tenacious efforts.

When Ryo turned thirteen, he skipped his birthday by sneaking out into the underground tunnel system in Asahikawa. His second mentor, a burly tattoo-riddled hairstylist who lived a double life as a member of the Asahikawa Yakuza, trained Ryo by forcing him to exercise his knowledge of hand-to-hand combat.

On long nights, his second mentor would restrict him from leaving the underground and force him to undergo a specialized set of workout training to increase his physical strength. Ryo was flimsy at first. He would reluctant to exercise enough effort to build a whole-body muscle workout, as it was overly laborious and draining. Ryo was like a torpor hiding in the darkness from over-exhaustion. As a result of his reluctance, his mentor would punish him by slugging him in the pressure points where his body hurt the most and then coerce him to push forward.

To combat his reluctance, Sez forced Ryo to envision the cackling and laughing sound of the aliens that seized them from taking back his future. Sez's occasional motivation banter about weakness being brushed away by the world would push Ryo to his absolute limit. His mentor called his Yakuza training an "Insanity Workout," where an abnormal amount of repetitions for push-ups, crunches, sit-ups, squats, and cardio training would build his body for the future.

The insolent mentor's punishments dramatically changed Ryo's mentality by persevering him to work for the future as a part of the Asahikawa Yakuza. Soon, Ryo learned specific combat techniques to disable his opponents and show them no mercy with deathblows. After extraneous amounts of practice, Ryo was confident to combat the future aliens that would stand in his way. Sweat drenched and saturated the underground tunnels, and countless days passed where Ryo pushed himself to the utmost limit. All it took was a little push from his inner voice.

And as always, Sez would be watching from a distance tallying Ryo's progress. Ryo's laudable opinion about Sez's pride and future goals of defeating the aliens never left his heart. Every night when Ryo would sneak home through his window, he would stretch and extend further use of his muscles with copious amounts of meat and protein to build them even further.

To masquerade his hidden practices from his family in the underground, Ryo focused on becoming a better student in school by studying for exams, taking part in educational seminars, and doing homework with his third and final mentor. The lanky pale-skinned mentor once served as a college professor in Osaka whose life turned around as soon as his wife was murdered by his nemesis. After obtaining his revenge, the pale-skinned man had a predilection for Ryo's determination to grow rapidly in strength.

While their son's aberrant behavior perturbed them excruciatingly, Ryo's family respected their son with the time he asked for alone. Yet they never stopped listening in on his private conversations, peeking inside his room while he was asleep, or asking teaching personnel from school how his behavior was. But they never knew what their son had truly become, nor did they know of the unknown transformation he was undergoing.

During his weekly exams, after utilizing his third mentor's educational guidance and teaching with every school subject, Ryo showed outstanding efforts in school by being at the top of his class in every subject. Teachers and students were impressed at his sudden personality change in emotional and physical dynamics. Although popular, Ryo would ostracize himself from his peers to keep his identity a mystery. That didn't stop his peers from getting closer to him, but they often suffered censure and rejection. Those people were fools, Ryo believed. They were unable to see past his sycophancy and allegiance to Asahikawa Yakuza and rather focused on sustaining their survival for the wrong reasons. They were unable to look into the future because of their closed minds.

Sez and Ryo occasionally held meetings in the graffiti-riddled underground streets. After persuasive feedback from his three mentors, Ryo and Sez was invited to the Asahikawa Yakuza, both being only thirteen years of age. Together, Ryo slaughtered and annihilated rival gangs that had been bothering their territory for years. With his combined supreme intellect, physical prowess, and determined heart, Ryo was a magnanimous leader with the power to steer the underground. Sez witnessed this and became Ryo's mentor and mission dealer, asking him to commit himself in harmful acts of theft for wealth and dominion.

And while this was all happening, Sez always voiced out his opinions and personal thoughts for Ryo. He was proud his brother had been working so hard and acting so frank for their goals.

But I must ask you, what makes a sibling "good?" Is it the determination and passion they see in your tense heart? Does it matter or not they came from a background where you never identified with? Or does it matter if you are both similar, or does it matter if you are both different?

There would be countless times where Ryo would return home in his room, gazing up into the ceiling of his room and wondering what Sez's broad idea of taking back the future was. As his sworn brother in the Yakuza, Ryo's thoughts slipped away at the imaginative sight of all aliens perishing. Ryo wasn't invulnerable. Eventually, he would be defeated if he strayed on his path of criminal activity. He desperately wanted to know his brother's plans, but for some unknown reason, Sez always pushed himself away from Ryo every moment he wanted to open up about the future.

It was as if what Sophie had said was true. Perhaps Ryo was just a pawn.

The next morning, Ryo received a new mission from Sez, and the absolute sheer terror of his request was unimaginably impossible. As the mission to finalize and solidifying Ryo's position as a permanent member of the Asahikawa Yakuza, and to connect the bonds he's made, Ryo's mind went into a state of mayhem as conflicts sparked his imagination. The moment Ryo received his mission details, his passionate heart sunk into the depths of the ocean, drowning with no means of escape. Tiny individual goosebumps on his skin nearly popped open. Madness erupted in his eyes as he couldn't comprehend the end goal.

His mission was to kill Ash Meguro. Today.

Morning classes were about to begin in Seiya Middle in a matter of minutes. As Ryo snuck out of his house's massively-scaled window dressed in his official school attire, his mind was so dense and inscrutable on what Sez's goals were while he hesitatingly sprinted to school.

For Ryo, aliens were the harbingers of death. They deserved no mercy after all they had done to the world. But death? That didn't seem reasonable enough, Ryo imagined. As a member of the Asahikawa Yakuza, Ryo was instructed to always fight those who seek to harm. With the goals of self-defense, close-quarters combat wasn't always necessary. But murder wasn't tolerated, even with the familial ideals he familiarized while in the Yakuza. Honesty, respect, commitment, integrity. These were the core values and principles that Ryo was accustomed to.

Ryo's slippery boots skidded soaking wet cement, nearly slipping into a massive puddle ahead of him. He collided with a middle-aged businessman that dropped his suitcase into the puddle. While the man scorned his reckless behavior, Ryo hastily shoved him aside and continued to make way for his class. He wouldn't have the right mentality and sanity to focus in class with Sez's sudden request. If he was to do it, he would have to before classes started.

But I didn't want to...

My mind was tearing me from the inside out. My bones were quivering in fear at the sight of a dead body that I would create. Mysteriously enough, I began crying my eyes out on my rain-drenched journey to school.

What the fuck have I been doing this entire time? Who am I?

The basking warmth of my family's presence had escaped my heart. I went against my mother's wishes to apologize to the people I've heard. My father struck me and apologized for it, but I ignored his statement. Who can I say I did this for? For them? For myself? No... I did it for Sez. And now he wants me to kill someone.

My mind was rushing in mindless directions. Why couldn't he just do it? Why did he want me to? Why!?

Sophie's forceful and persuasive words echoed inside my ears. That anger. That bitterness. She knew who she was defending. "Piece of shit? Open your eyes! We are just kids! Ash is just a little girl! All of the aliens you're talking about have nothing to do with this school!"

No! This can't be true!

Father... is what you said true? I could hear your cries piercing through my earlobes. My mind was shaking uncontrollably. You struck me, but it was I who was in the wrong, wasn't it? "We have not lied to you once, Ryo! Your mother and I are proud to still have our jobs. We take no pride in ridiculing others who aren't like us, so why do you have to? Who gave you the right? Huh?"

Sez did! But... he was wrong, wasn't he?

My body was nearly about to crumble over like a broken wooden doll the moment I stumbled in front of the school gate. The bell had rung, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw Ash Meguro heading straight for the entrance. I couldn't take it. The pressure of murder stained invisible blood on my hands. The metallic salty and sweet mixture of a bloody taste seeped through my mouth as crimson rain splattered on my shoulders. I inhaled a deep breath, puffing my chest out like a balloon about to pop. Then, I released my voice.

"ASH!" My lungs were about to pop out, and my throat was about to burst in flames. Ash stopped in her tracks even though the bell had rung. Other students were startled by my voluminous roar, yanking her sleeves to beg her to enter the classroom. They knew what kind of a monster I was from the beginning, and they still saw it that way. But Ash didn't. She happily bowed and rushed over to see me. My breaths were losing grasp of the situation. She approached me with a confident gaze, peeking her face in front of mine to examine her shuddering eyes filled with paranoia and despair. The intent and malice to kill were still at large.

"Your eyes..." Ash had whispered so softly that it blanketed my fearful aura. The tattered hospitality that my family treasured me with in the house I once lived in and the affectionate warmth they enveloped me with was coming back to me. Ash's silky silver hair majestically fluttered with the rainy wind as her kind-hearted generosity cloaked me with my childhood memories. And after all the torturous acts I had condemned her with, she still had the stomach to tell me this...

"You have very beautiful eyes." She tenderly complimented.

"You..." I gazed back into her luminescent orchid almond-shaped eyes. My breath was stolen, and my words came out like some invisible force yanking it out of my throat. "You do too," I murmured.

This girl... didn't deserve to die.

"She isn't a girl..." An unknown deep voice erupted in my body and soul. It was an amalgamation of my voice and Sez's arising like a fire in my head. I pressed against my temples and slid backward in the rain, shivering at the bitterness of my inner demons. "You said it yourself, Ryo. She's not a girl. She's an ALIEN! Aliens deserve to DIE!"

Sez's fake delinquent complexion stole the spotlight for my vision. I could sense his presence from miles away, even if he wasn't here. I saw it all. He was always the center of the stage, where the neon lights would flash on him as the star of the show. And I was always the one listening to him.

Whenever I was suffering, he would always be behind me clapping and cheering for me. But he never got his hands dirty because he knew of the monstrosity he had made me.

I was wrong.

"No... this is your moment, Ryo," I heard my voice and Sez speak in unison, harmonizing like a devil seeking death. "You asked for all of this. I gave you my word that you would have a future! Our families are suffering because of those aliens! We had a common goal!"

"No, you're wrong..." My knees slumped to the ground, soaking in the puddles underneath me. I could sense Ash brushing her hands forward and catching me like I was a princess about to faint.

Her heavenly and innocent embrace combated my mind, attempting to purge Sez from my conscious. She pressed her delicate cheeks against my head in an attempt to calm me down. By this time, students and staff were watching, but they didn't dare stand in our way. Only Ash, Sez, and I were here. "You used me. The aliens didn't take me from my family, but YOU DID!" I verbally expressed aloud, desperately attempting to mitigate his mind control.

"How dare you?" Sez's thoughts overpowered me. "You listen to me, Ryo! I gave you a second fucking chance! I gave you a path that was unlike any other!"

"A path to destruction, that's what it was," I muttered. "You fucking animal..."

"This is a waste of time, Ryo... go now, kill her!" Sez brought me to a deep realm where I could feel nothing. My skin was numb, and my heart nearly stopped. Rage enveloped me in a wrathful blanket. I gazed up at Ash's angelic presence, but Sez's face appeared instead of her's. Get out of the way, Sez. "Do it!" He spat in my face. "Do it! Do it! Do it! Kill her!"

I don't know exactly know what happened to my body after. I could sense it dissolving in some kind of invisible steam. I took my hands and I wrapped them around Sez's throat. I pinned him down to the wet cement and started suffocating the life out of him. I just wanted him out of my life. He did nothing. Nothing!

"This is all your fault," I spat saliva conspicuously as my eyes were brooding with fury. My hands crushed Sez's throat even tighter. I heard him gasping and begging to be released, but I just did not let go. His eyes nearly popped out, and his face turned into a violent and vibrant purple hue. "I'll kill you! This is all your fucking fault!"

"Meguro-san!" I heard Sophie's cries pleading for... no. Meguro-san? You mean... Ash? Wait...

Sophie's voice was real, unlike Sez's illusion stirring my mind. I released Sez's throat and blinked once, and his entire body, everything about him, was replaced with Ash's petite body flailing for her breath. I fell back against the watery cement as Sophie shoved me aside. My jaws nearly hit the cement at the sight of my haphazard actions. Sophie's face swelled up at the sight of Ash's reddened neck bruised by the impact of my force.

"No... I was... I thought that was..." I struggled to even enunciate a single word.

"Get on the ground! Do it now!" School security lunged themselves at me, restraining my hands in tight restrictive cuffs. Although my body moved with their rhythm, my face never left Ash's sight. I watched carefully as Sophie gently lifted herself from the ground and applied pressure to her chest to accelerate her breathing. Ash's emotionless eyes squinted to glare at me from a distance as my chest slammed against the ground.

Her eyes were still beautiful.

Security slammed my cheek to the wet pavement and took me away. The next thing I knew, I awakened home at midnight, placed under house arrest. My father received a call from the police station and the school after they had sent a personal email to them. As I remained trapped inside my room, I heard through their conversation on the opposite side of the room that I had been expelled from Seiya Middle. I had also received an assault charge on my record, which prevented me from attending any other school in the future.

Before my family was able to enter my room, I packed my backpack with a white oversized dragon hoodie and some black-chained pants I had acquired from my time at the Yakuza. I leaped out of my window and sprinted down the block without looking back.

My family must have been devastated that I betrayed them. I had one opportunity to turn back to my home, but I didn't. Knowing my family, they've lost their trust in me.

Asahikawa was a ghost town during the midnight. Street lamps and the city streets were empty and purged in darkness. I traveled miles endlessly in a single direction without looking back. Leaning against the moist cement in the middle of a hollow alleyway, I had no intention of returning home. I deserved death for what I did to that girl. It was all Sez's...

No. It was my fault. I was still a child regardless of my experience at the Yakuza. I was a lone wolf on the street with no one by my side. The shame in my heart only deepened my wounds. And that girl... Ash...

She deserved none of this.