15 Can't Speak

"Huueeeajaj eteghe..."

I can't speak properly because my mouth is covered by a green cloth with an anime motif that looks like underwear. I also can't move from the top of my bed, because my whole body is tied with ropes so tightly. I'm being tortured by them.

"Shiva, why do you have a friend who can't be quiet?"

"He's like that, it could be even worse. I've told him to be quiet many times, but he doesn't even listen to what I say."

Hearing them talking, Shiva and Karin Nakano, I rebelled from this bed and continued to shake my body.

"Ammmu kuenuafu."

"He deserves this." Karin Nakano looked at me with such a sharp gaze, it made me even more rebellious.

"Heakahf jashafsy!"

"Yeah, he deserves this." Even Shiva agreed, I was tortured. "Ryo's panties are working well, leaving him unable to speak."

No, wait! What is this? Panties? Are these really panties?

"Oy, jahsayafia (Oy, help me)!"

Karin Nakano took a stool and sat beside me. Then she looked at me with a downcast look.

"You… boldly called out my name. What you do, you must take responsibility."

"He sure is super-super stupid, Nakano-san. He has no manners in his association. Maybe it's because he hangs out with the old people in his village too often, so there are no manners at all."

Even though Shiva already knew that I only hung out with old people, but she didn't defend me at all or free me from here. She instead easily lit a fire at Karin Nakano, which would make things worse.

I know that I was rude to call her name earlier, I'm sorry. But at least, please don't torture me like this. I want to get out of here and get back to work.

"Hey, Shiva..." Karin Nakano turned to Shiva.

"Why?"

"How long have you been with him?"

"Umm…" Shiva thought for a moment. "Since childhood… maybe."

What's with that "maybe"? Doesn't she remember the first time we were friends?

Shiva and I are neighbors. I became friends for the first time when I saw her having difficulty walking because her leg was injured. I helped her, but she instead told me not to help her, it made me feel strange, even though she was hurt but pretended to be very strong. Since I'm not the type to obey when I see the truth, I immediately picked her up and took her home.

And since then, we've been good friends.

But hearing her say "maybe" earlier, I felt that she forgot the incident. Well, even so, I'm not going to make her remember too and force her. However, what she remembered was what she had been through all this time.

"Has he ever trained for combat?"

"Yeah, he studied kendo at the dojo."

"No wonder..." Karin Nakano looked at me, "yesterday he could use a sword."

I've been practicing kendo for 2 years, it makes me proficient in using the sword, but this is the first time I've used a katana sword against an Astral Being. So, if asked if I can use a sword against that creature, I don't know the answer. This thing is not as easy as I thought, in fact, I almost got killed because of my carelessness during that incident. If Karin Nakano hadn't helped me back then, I would have died.

"Uyaytwa auyas." I wanted to thank her, but I couldn't.

Looking at something behind Karin Nakano, right behind the sliding door, I saw a lot of people out there looking at me. I became a spectacle for them.

Karin Nakano suddenly stroked my hair with her index finger and thumb, she was playing with me.

"You were great yesterday. You are so brave and so stupid. If you die, you will abandon the hopes of your parents who wanted you to live."

Hearing her voice so low as she spoke to me, I saw her slightly sad face.

"Uauwah uagshzchx."

Behind her haughty face was sadness in it. What I saw in her, made me feel that this woman had quite deep feelings about the death of her onee-chan, which Tanaka and Nagato had told about. No matter how strong she was, she wouldn't be able to forget that incident.

Maybe by looking at me who seemed to have lost a loved one, she felt that I was an inverted reflection of her. Why? I'm so different from her, I can just make it a memory and forget it, but she doesn't.

She tries to be strong in the reality she accepts, but it turns out that no matter how strong she is, she will not forget it. The current mentality is quite severe, with a feeling of revenge against these creatures.

At this rate, she will never step forward like me.

I'll make her smile again.

"Awda Asiasha."

Okay, it turns out I can't. So, I'm sorry.

I saw Shiva operating something on her watch. And after a while, she saw Karin Nakano.

"Nakano-san, it seems that we have completely lost track of Astral Sakata."

"Ah, I see... I failed again."

"Do we need to move to find him?"

"No, it's not necessary. The creature will return as long as its goal has not been achieved. So it's better, we prepare everything before his arrival arrives."

"OK, I understand."

"Tasbaabac."

Hearing what they were talking about, I knew that the Astral named Sakata was still not dead and managed to escape from them. But I don't understand the word "goal". Does the Astral have a purpose in life as well as humans? Then what is the purpose then?

"While this fellow is still here, he will aim for him." Karin Nakano looked at me with a reassuring look.

Uh?

"Akio became the target?" Shiva didn't seem to understand what Karin Nakano meant either.

"Yeah, he will aim for you and this guy."

"A-Aiming at me too?" It would surprise her.

"Yes. You two are still survivors from the village you live in," said Karin Nakano as she continued to play with my hair. "Every time an S-rank Astral appears, they will move as he pleases. What that S-rank Astral was after was annihilating people who possessed Spiritual Energy that threatened him. If that person's presence could threaten Astrally, they would act and kill him."

I slightly understand what Karin Nakano is saying, but I also don't understand what she is saying. I don't understand the presence of people possessing Spiritual Energy who would threaten those beings. After all, in my village, there is no such person. People who have Spiritual Energy are not in my village.

"But it's a little weird," said Karin Nakano.

"Why?" asked Shiva.

"Between the two of you, neither one has any Spiritual Energy. Are there other survivors from your village?"

Look, she just finds this weird. Indeed, in my village, there is no such person. If there was, it would have been an exaggerated lie.

"Yeah, you're right, we don't have it, Nakano-san. And besides, those creatures attack humans as they please, so it's really hard to see who they're after."

"If those creatures keep looking for people who threaten them, they will surely appear and kill everyone in front of them. Even though an S-rank Astral possessed an extraordinary level of intelligence, it didn't let him know the identity of the person who possessed Spiritual Energy. So, what they killed, it was just perfunctory, with the hope that they would succeed in killing a person with Spiritual Energy." Karina Nakano suddenly looked down with a listless face. "Just like my onee-chan."

I understood that they were talking about my village being attacked by those creatures.

What those beings were after were people possessing Spiritual Energy. They will continue to kill people around that person. If anyone managed to survive their attack, they would keep targeting him until that person died, without knowing who possessed the Spiritual Energy. So, with what I know right now, that Astral named Sakata will continue to target me and Shiva who survived his attack.

If that's the case, Shiva's and me's lives are in danger of that. Astral Sakata will surely appear again in front of me or Shiva to kill us, to ensure that the beings are safe because no one has Spiritual Energy.

The question now was why did they also not know about who the person with the Spiritual Energy was? Actually, what is Spiritual Energy? Why are they so afraid of being threatened by his presence? I do not understand.

"Then... what should I do?" asked Shiva, and it made Karin Nakano go back to normal with her haughty face looking at me.

"Hey, I want to ask you something."

"Has acza asjas." Okay, I can't do anything anymore. It's useless I speak, my mouth can't pronounce a single word properly.

"Why are you calling my name so loudly? You know, I don't like rude people."

"Sskada fazxcvja (I'm sorry)."

"I know that you are like that from what Shiva said, but you are also impudent for embarrassing me in front of my members. You even dared to get on top of me and ask which shampoo I use."

"Soru (Sorry)."

"You act as you please after making me like this. What is the purpose of life, huh?!" Karin Nakano is so annoyed with me, it can even be seen on her face.

I immediately looked at Shiva and saw her looking away, not to see her captain angry like this.

Shiva-chan, help me! I beg you... save me!

I tried to code to save me, but she turned her face away as if she didn't see anything. This shows that Karin Nakano is a fierce woman, according to what Tanaka and Nagato said. I'm sorry for making her angry like this, I regret it. So, help me!

"But even so, I like you."

"Eh?" Instantly Shiva and the people who heard it outside were shocked to hear what Karin Nakano said.

"Join the Wlynina Military School and become strong there. I was expecting you, Akio-kun." Karin Nakano suddenly had such a charming smiley face that it made me speechless, even though she had shown her haughty face earlier.

"EHHHH?" Everyone was shocked by that.

What is this? Ah... I just want to work.

"Aas sb aaf askhafs (I want to work, let me go)!" I kept trying to struggle again to untie these ropes all over my body.

Karin Nakano turned to Shiva.

"Shiva, this guy is going to Wlynina Military School, do you mind?"

Shiva was silent for a while, not expecting that her captain could be like this.

"O-Oh... yes, that's fine."

"OK." Karin Nakano turned back to me while still stroking my hair with her index finger and thumb. "You can just call me Karin, as long as you want to join the Wlynina Military School, I will protect you and Shiva. I promise that, Akio-kun."

"Aakbcjbczx ahsahf akfalsjlljfas asjhafs hafshafs (No, I don't want to. I just want to work for money, school is so boring)."

Ah, it's useless, she won't understand what I'm saying. Ah, this is so bad in my life, when I just want to work.

"Akio, what exactly did you do to my captain?" Shiva said in a low voice.

This is my story when I was first forced to enter Wlynina Military School by Karin Nakano, a beautiful woman who has feelings of revenge against those creatures for killing her onee-chan.

And... 2 years later...

"Akio, don't! I... I don't have that feeling anymore, you're the one who made me forget it! Akio, don't! You'll die if you go there, Akio! I beg you… I beg you… don't go there!"

"Sorry, Karin. I am... I have to go there and fight that Astral Mobuai, so you can survive the suffering you've been through all this time. I have to go… Sorry, and… goodbye, Karin."

"DON'T!!!"

With a tattered uniform and an object that I was dragging, I walked away leaving Karin and my friends who were already lying down behind me. Even though this city was destroyed, even though I was full of wounds, even though Karin kept warning me not to go there, I would still fight it and make people not suffer the same way I did for my village being attacked that time.

With a firm resolve, I risk my life for the peace of this world, because I am...

"Oh, Akio. You're ready to die it seems."

"Hem, only losers are afraid to die. At least this way, I die with honor."

"Is that so? Hahaha. Okay… die now!"