Chapter 5: Crossed Off

"So by the look on your face, you don't know who I am?"

Eijun didn't know who this person was and how he even know where his place was.

"I've been watching you."

"What?" Eijun looked confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"I know what you did. That little boy we all knew actually killed people with his own hands."

Eijun didn't like how this was going. He just met this guy, and this man was already saying things he didn't want to hear.

"It must have hurt to kill people like that."

Eijun couldn't deny it that in his mind, that was precisely how he was feeling.

"I forgot to tell you who I am even though you supposed to know. I'm Satoru Furuya, one of your childhood friends."

Eijun understood that, but he didn't know the reason why the guy was here. This man was saying this with a dead expression on his face.

"They told me to leave you alone, but why should I?"

"They?"

"Eijun-chan, what are you doing standing there at the door?" Rio's voice was heard, and Furuya realizes that the brunet was not alone.

"Sleep," Furuya whispered, and then Rio started to feel dizzy and sleepy, and then he fainted. Eijun manages to catch the young wolf boy in his arms.

"What did you do?" Eijun demanded. He glared at Furuya.

"I see some things never changed," Furuya smirked.

Furuya pushed his way into Eijun's apartment.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"What a small place you live in?"

This man wasn't listening to anything that Eijun was saying.

Eijun put the wolf boy on the couch while he watched this stranger look around his home.

"I won't do anything. I can never hurt you."

Furuya spotted the mask and picked it up. He could smell blood on it. A scent that will never go away no matter how much you clean it.

"How long with you play with those humans?" Furuya saw the photo of Eijun and Haruichi on the counter table.

"Why do you speak as if we're not humans?"

"Then tell me do you consider us humans with the things that we can do." What Furuya said make sense, and Eijun didn't know what to say.

Eijun had powers that no normal humans could do. He could even kill them like a drop of a hat.

"They are my friends." Eijun thought about Haruichi and Ryosuke and their parents, who were kind to him.

"If they knew what you did, would they still be kind?" When Furuya said that, Eijun stayed silent because he didn't know what they would think. Eijun didn't want them to know.

"You can't trust them."

Why was this person saying all this to him?

"You still have that weak side to you." Furuya pushed Eijun against the wall. Eijun had nowhere to run while being corned by this man.

Furuya gently touched Eijun's face as he stared deep into his golden eyes. His eyes were beautiful, as Furuya remembered.

"I won't stay here long. I only wanted to see you." Furuya then leaned, followed and then kissed Eijun on his right cheek. He turned away from Eijun and was about to leave.

"Remember that those humans are a danger to us." Furuya then vanished in thin air.

EIjun knees grew weak, and he fell to the floor.

"Why did he do that?" Eijun wondered as he touched his right cheek. That didn't concern Eijun much, but this person's words, who is his childhood friend, said.

________________

That following day Eijun went to a café by himself since there was a lot in his mind. It was a café that he always went to called the Rut.

"Hello, Sawamura." The barista greeted Eijun with a smile. She always had a smile on her face.

"Hello, Yoshikawa." Eijun greeted the girl back with a smile.

"The usual." She said.

"You know me too well."

"I'll get your drink made, so take a seat."

Eijun went and sat in an empty seat. There was a newspaper on the table, so he took a look at it. He saw that what Eijun did that night was posted, how he killed everybody in that party.

"I did the right thing." He mumbled. Eijun's mind started to play tricks on him. He wasn't too sure anymore.

"Here you go, Sawamura." Yoshikawa placed the drink on the table where Eijun was sitting.

"Thank you." Eijun smiled, taking a sip of the tea that was made for him.

"Are you reading of that attack?" She asked.

"Yes."

"It horrible what happened to them, but it's also good."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because those people were helping selling kids. They were proven guilty for that. I mean, the police officers here wouldn't do much. If they were in jail, then they would get out and do it again."

"That's true." What she said was right, and Eijun agreed.

"There are so many people like that in the world. Most of them work for the government." There was a sad look on Yoshikawa's face when she said that.

"Is something bothering you?" Eijun asked.

There was a bit of silence for a minute. Yoshikawa finally opened her mouth to say what was on her mind.

"I have a brother that works for the government, but I haven't heard of him for a week now."

"He works for the government."

"Yes. I remember that day my brother told me there was something important he needs to let out. After that, I never saw him again. My parents are worried. And the police aren't helping."

"Did your brother mention anything else?"

"He didn't say much, but I overheard my brother say experiment. I don't even know what he meant by that."

Eijun felt this had something to do with the things he did.

"Sorry to tell you all this, but I'm happy to let it out." She smiled.

"I'm glad to listen," Eijun said.

Yoshikawa went back to work since it started to get busy.

Eijun promised in his mind that he would bring her brother home.

Eijun went home, and Rio greeted him as usual. The wolf boy was healed, but still, Eijun allowed him to stay with him.

The young man started looking through all the news and newspapers to see if he could find any clues. Rio looked at Eijun, confused. He was a kid, so he didn't know what the adult was doing.

"Yoshikawa said that her brother has been missing for a week."

"Are you looking for somebody?" Rio asked.

"Yes. A missing person who has a family waiting for him."

"I think I can help."

"You can." Eijun looked shocked.

"I can see it that person is still around. With scan vision, I do it. I can only do it with humans." Rio transformed into his wolf form, and then his eyes glowed. Rio used his scan vision through the whole city. His eyes stopped glowing once he found the person.

Eijun waited for Rio to speak.

"Only one person is missing that is within the government." He said.

"Is he still alive?" EIjun asked.

"Yes. But hurt, and I don't think he has much longer to live."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He hasn't taken anything, and his energy is about run out."

"Do you know where he is?"

"He's in the tallest tower surrounded by water."

Eijun knew exactly where Yoshino's brother was.

"Thanks for the help." Eijun smiled, patting Rio on the head in which the wolf boy yelled in happiness.

So that night, Eijun prepared for the rescue. He put on the same kitsune mask he always did when Eijun did a mission.

"It's time to fly." He said on top of his apartment roof. He spread out his wings, flew off the building, and headed to the victim's location.

Eijun usually didn't do anything like that, but when he saw the barista looking sad, he wanted to do something since she always made him good tea for him.

Eijun scanned the area with water as he flew and then stopped when he saw the tower that Rio had mentioned. It was looking old, almost about to fall apart.

The young man hurried to the tower. When he landed, there was a door, and it was locked and had a keyhole.

"Are people here stupid?" Eijun changed the shape of his hand and made it into a sharp dagger, and slashed the door. The door opened, and his hand went back to normal.

Eijun headed inside the room and found the man that he was looking for. Red hair and brown hair looked exactly like his sister.

"Are you Yoshikawa Haruno's older brother?" Eijun asked as he bent down to see how the guy was doing.

Eijun could tell he was weak.

The man wasn't saying anything.

"I have to get him out of here."

Eijun carried the man on his back. He had to get this person out of here.

Just as he was about to fly off, a sudden burst of attack aimed straight at him, but Eijun was able to dodge it.

"I didn't think I would find a rat here."

"Who?" Eijun didn't know who this person was.

"Now, this is interesting indeed." The woman, no man spoke. Eijun couldn't tell if it was a man or woman. The voice was a man, but the way this person dressed was like a woman. He wore makeup as well as a long dress and that long purple hair.

Eijun saw the person had a dagger in his hand. The brunet knew he wouldn't escape without fighting this stranger.

Eijun put the man in his back on the floor, safe away from the crazy person.

"Are you willing to fight me?"

"It's not like I have a choice," Eijun said. He shut his wings and took out his dagger that was different from the hand dagger.

The stranger charged at Eijun first. Each attack that the person did, the young man dodged. But each time, Eijun was having a hard time since one time-sliced him on the cheek and made a mark.

Eijun could tell this was not an average person.

"Who are you?" Eijun asked as he jumped from him and wiped the blood on his cheek.

"Me? Let's say I'm a friend of a friend."

Eijun begins to think that maybe this guy was somebody his childhood friends knew. He wasn't normal, and his attacks were getting more complex each time.

"And here I thought you were more of a challenge. How disappointing? You were always powerful, so what happened to you.

"Did this person know me?"

"I feel bad for ruffing up that cute face of yours."

The moment the stranger charged, Eijun dodged once again, but then he slashed the person at his right eye.

The person screamed in pain as he touched his eyes. But then, instead of pain, the stranger started to laugh in delight.

"How fun." He said.

The woman/man stared at Eijun with a smile on his face. Just as the person was about to attack Eijun, another person blocked the attack.

"Another familiar face." It was one of his childhood friends, among the others in the photo.

"Reon, I told you not to do anything that isn't part of the mission."

Eijun was right when he thought this person was part of his childhood friend's gang.

"It's nice to meet you, Eijun-kun finally." The man with black hair and his left eye was slightly covered with his hair.

A flash of an image of the past appeared in Eijun's head, but it was blurry.

"It alright now." The voice of the stranger in his head said.

"Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Nagao Akira."

It was the same voice from the past he just saw.

"Eijun-kun, if you don't hurry, that person might die." The man was right, so Eijun carried the guy in his back, and his wings appeared and flew away.

"It looks like he's regaining his powers slowly."

"Nagao-san, why did you stop me? I was having so much fun with him."

"It's not time to fight yet. Wouldn't it be more fun when he's fully powered?"

"That's true," Reon said.

"We have better things to do right now."

Akira turned to the door, and a smile appeared on his face when he saw the damaged the door had.

"So much for locks." He laughed

Akira and Reon went inside. They looked around the area, and that's when Akira spotted the red box on the table.

"Mission complete." He said.

"Glad that is over."

"Reon, I did not like how you scratch Eijun's face, but I guess you got payback," Akira said, looking at Reon'a right eye.

"I guess that caring side won't disappear from you. Akira." Reon laughed.

___________________

Eijun returned the brother to Yoshikawa's family home. The young man could see how happy they looked when they opened the door.

The brunet watched from afar. The sadness from Yoshikawa's face was no more. Eijun was glad that he could help.

Eijun never thought he would encounter another one of his childhood friends.

"If I keep doing these missions of the government and experiment, I might end encountering them more than ever."

"I met Mei, Mima, Satoru and Akira. That means there are two left." Eijun counted with his fingers.

Eijun went home. He was exhausted, but Eijun wanted to take another look at the photo. In the picture, there were two boys left—one with glasses and brown hair. The other had black hair, but his appearance on the face was crossed off for some odd reason.

"Was it like this before?" Eijun couldn't remember.

Eijun was sure he could remember his face before, but now it's all burry.

"Why is that?"