A Deranged Reader

"Hey, you!!" Yuki shouted, maintaining eye contact with the man, as Theo didn't really notice Yuki within his hypnotic state.

Theo was startled by Yuki shouting, but attempted to merely look away, hoping the boy wasn't yelling at him.

"Did that child actually notice me... No, that's impossible..." Theo thought while nervously looking to the ground now.

"Yeah, you! Librarian!" Yuki shouted, without much of a plan on what to do afterwards.

"What... Impossible..." Theo thought, then suddenly took off, stifling his way through the crowd in the process.

"He's running!" Yuki shouted as he began pursuit after the librarian which started with a leap over the yellow tape and into the crowd.

Anastasia took notice, the only one who gave Yuki attention as he was shouting, others dismissed it as another one of his emotional outbursts after seeing the crime scene.

"What is he doing..." Anastasia thought.

"He actually thinks he can escape?" Yuki thought while in pursuit, then shouted, "Hey, stop running!"

Theo on the other hand remained running, ignoring much of the obnoxious shouting by the child who happened to be running after him.

"Did he figure it out... How did he even see me..." Theo thought as he began to push pedestrians over, attempting to slow Yuki down.

"Get out the way!" Yuki shouted as he paid no mind to the pedestrians who had been pushed over by the suspect.

Theo changed his straight forward direction and took a sudden left into an alley beside the main street.

Yuki, without much thought, ensued into the alley as well, following the suspect, hoping to finally stop these murders from continuing.

His emotions may have overpowered his thoughts during this whole process.

As soon as Yuki made the sharp turn, he saw Theo standing there with his back turned at least halfway into the alley.

The alley itself was pretty narrow, it could barely fit Theo if he spanned his arms out.

"You actually thought you could run..." Yuki said, surprised that the suspect halted the chase.

"I'm surprised you figured it out... who would've thought a kid like you would've figured it out. How did you know?"

"I saw you in the surveillance footage and you happened to be in the crowd when another body showed up... you running away didn't help either."

"So you know why I have to do this then, right..."

"What is he planning..." Yuki thought as his guard was up, as one should be once they corner their prey.

"It doesn't matter though... I'll get rid of you quickly."

"You have nowhere to go pal, just surrender."

Theo began to laugh at Yuki's confidence as he whipped out a knife.

Yuki spots the weapon almost immediately and thinks "Now I'm at a disadvantage... I can easily get out the alley but do I want this guy to really get away? My best bet is to beat him here or hold him off until some of the others realize I'm gone."

"I'm guessing you'll be the next victim!" Theo shouted in excitement as Yuki hadn't the slightest idea what he was capable of.

"He's completely different from when I first met him..." Yuki thought as Theo began rushing towards his opponent.

Theo goes to plunge his knife downward into Yuki's chest, after all, with the height difference, this motion is ideal.

This is what Yuki trained for, a situation like this, with his back against the wall and his one goal is to subdue the criminal in front of him.

Yuki swiftly blocked Theo's attempt to end this quickly, which led to a physical rift between Theo attempting to push the knife further and Yuki holding his arms up to prevent that scenario.

Yuki needed to get himself out of this situation, after all, how long can he hold a block like that, especially with Theo's height advantage, he needed to do something before Theo was able to pin his blade into Yuki's ribcage.

Yuki, still somewhat struggling holding the block, grasped onto Theo's wrist, attempting to get the knife out of his hands.

However, that plan only made things worse, Theo used that slight opening to his advantage, and swiftly pinned Yuki to a wall to his left, using the momentum he had previously that was halted by Yuki's block.

Yuki literally found himself against a wall now, the tight space within this alley didn't help much, and somehow, Theo's pressing seemed to be getting stronger by the minute.

"What the hell?! He's getting stronger... he's pushing me against the wall..." Yuki thought as he pushed back from Theo, attempting to gain separation from the malicious hot iron.

"How did he do that? Was he holding back before?" Yuki thought as his shove worked for now.

Theo doesn't let up his assault, barely giving Yuki much time for a second breath.

Theo goes for a reckless swing for Yuki, hoping to land a fatal blow, but to his surprise Yuki was able to easily maneuver the first thrust, and so he continued for another, to which Yuki was able to dodge, albeit just barely, again.

Theo couldn't quite understand how Yuki was able to keep up with his attacks let alone capable of dodging them, this wasn't something he was used to.

His victims prior to today would always freeze in utter terror, not knowing what to do other than scream for help, which ultimately is recognized as useless.

But dodging?

No, that hasn't ever happened prior to today, he was quite shocked at how Yuki wasn't shivering in fear by now, this was unexpected to say the least.

Nonetheless, Yuki remained on the defense even though he couldn't do much to alter that situation.

"Dammit, I can't let it keep going like this..." Yuki thought.

"Are you going to keep resisting boy?" Theo questioned Yuki's drive to continue this assault.

"All I have to do is get that knife out of his hands..." Yuki thought as he focused on the sole weapon that created this disadvantage in the first place.

Yuki barely has his back off the wall, still in a bad position as Theo doesn't relent his attacks.

He swiftly goes for another fatal blow, to which Yuki barely side steps, but it still made Yuki bleed by leaving a small hairline scratch on his right cheek.

Theo continues, this time aiming for Yuki's heart, a blow that doesn't usually miss, nor does Theo use much since it isn't much fun if he were to kill his subject with just one blow.

He felt it was necessary for this occasion as Yuki's agility became a nuisance to him.

To Theo's surprise, Yuki caught his wrist before he was able to land the fatal blow.

Yuki smirked at Theo as he knew he finally got an advantage within this altercation, he swiftly twisted Theo's wrist, making it habitual for Theo to drop the knife.

Yuki kicked the knife further into the alley, and smirked again, finally, it was an even playing field now.

"You actually think that you have a chance now?" Theo redundantly asked.

"Well, without that knife of yours, we're even now."

"Hahahaha!!—" Theo broke out into a deranged laughter before finishing his response with "Hehe... you're so naive boy."

"What?!" Yuki shouted as Theo swiftly went to punch Yuki in the chest.

Yuki couldn't dodge it in time with the amount of speed Theo put into the hook, it caught Yuki off guard a bit on how quick it was compared to his previous attacks.

Yuki was still able to defend himself with a block using his right arm.

To Yuki's surprise, his arm breaks like a twig with the impact of Theo's straight.

Which Yuki creates further separation between the two, facing his back at the edge of the alley towards the main street, still questioning what just occurred.

Luckily, the adrenaline made the pain not as noticeable as it should be, he didn't know that it was going to hurt a helluva lot later, if that ever happens.

"My arm, how did he break it... just how strong is this guy..." Yuki thought.

"Do you get it now boy?!"

Yuki grasped his arm, feeling the clean cut break on his forearm, thinking "Dammit, I don't think I can last much longer..."

Theo doesn't allow Yuki a second more, the shock from the previous blow didn't help Yuki's case either, as the speed from Theo was too much to out maneuver or even block.

"You're finished kid!"

"Dammit... I can't move..." Yuki thought.

Was this it?

Was this the end?

Talk about a poor way to go.

Not only did he confront the person similar to the culprit within his own case, he couldn't even land a single blow on him, just how far did he have to work to get where he wants to be, was these past two months not enough?

Yuki expected another hurdle or two, but he didn't even think in his wildest imagination that the gap was larger than a mountain.

How could he ever achieve to leap such a distance.

This is it, after all, the only bright side to all of this is maybe he'll be able to see his father again, even though he's leaving with shock and a large pack of regret.

It couldn't be like this, could it?