BAR TALK

Kurou entered the bar dressed up in rags, immediately catching everyone's attention. From what he could see, there were more than 20 people in there, all men. "Not a single woman? Lame." Kurou thought. The ugly figures his eyes spotted were varied, but equally unpleasant: an eye-patched bald dude, standing still while looking at him; several bearded pals, some of them gray, some of them not, sitting around a table; a one-armed old man, sitting at the counter, two muscular dudes drinking something from big mugs, some other guys around another table, and a barman behind the counter, looking at Kurou over his glasses. All of those were dark-colored, african-looking people.

Kurou thought it was a real drag to be the center of attention at such a moment, but what the hell. He sat beside the one-armed man and asked for whatever those guys with the big mugs were having.

"You can have a beer if you show me the money", the bartender said, looking down at him with a serious face.

"I'll have the money by the time this mug is empty", Kurou said, not raising his eyes.

The bartender laughed at that weird answer, and brought him his beer, as if curious to see what that pale dude with red eyes was about.

"By the looks of it, you're not from this continent", the old man with one arm said. "Mahmoud", he raised his mug, introducing himself.

"Wasup, Mahmoud?", he answered. "Kurou", and raised his mug as well.

Since Mahmoud kept waiting for an answer, Kurou smiled boringly and replied.

"Yep, I'm not from this continent. To be honest, I don't even know how I understand what you're saying".

"I don't think I follow. How do you not understand what I'm saying if we are speaking normally right now?" Mahmoud asked, with a little surprise in his face.

"Yeah, it sounds crazy, and I think it is. But I don't even know what country this is. I guess you guys are african, right? But I never learned any african languages, so...that's it".

"We are Egyptian", Mahmoud said. "This is a small town near Abu Simbel called Mehet. You're a weird one, that's for sure".

"Mehet...never heard of it. I'm not a geography guy anyway", Kurou said, taking a big sip of the not-so-cold beer and making the ugliest face possible.

"Hahaha, it seems you don't like our beer...too bad, buddy. That's all we have", Mahmoud opened an ugly smile full of yellow teeth. "This city is poor and our beer is warm, but we are not burglars, murderers or rapists like foreigners like to paint us. At least not the most of us. There's always a rotten apple, you know."

"I've heard stories about that. It seems women are treated...differently here", Kurou pointed out. "Not sure why, though".

"We do what we can, but you know how things go. No matter how many good guys are doing things right, a single bad guy can ruin everyone's reputation", Mahmoud said, looking at his empty mug. "Bring me another one, will ya?", he yelled to the bartender.

Kurou went silent for a moment, while Mahmoud was focused on getting another mug. He noticed his body hadn't felt a thing even after drinking a very big mug full of beer, and a strong one at that. He also noticed his hearing was quite powerful compared to what it was before. He overheard the bearded guys at the table talking about how they assaulted a woman the night before.

"Is it because of the accident? Am I some kind of superhuman now?" he said to himself, prompting Mahmoud to look at him with a funny face.

"What are you mumbling to yourself, buddy? Drunk already? Come on, let me buy you another one, you're good chat".

"Thanks Mahmoud, but I think I'm gonna pass. I'm not that good of a chat, nor I want you to spend your money on me. As for the beer I had, the bartender should rest, I'll fetch the money for it in a sec". Kurou said, standing up and walking casually towards the table where the bearded guys were sitting.

"Look, a dead guy walking", one of them said, and they all bursted into laughing. "Watch out for this guy, he might be already a ghost", another one said, raising the laughter.

Kurou laughed together with them, a fake laughter that made all of them stop and look at him with an inquisitive face. As soon as they stopped laughing, Kurou looked at the guy who was talking about the assault and asked in a loud voice.

"How did you like it, huh? Raping her? Did it feel good, you fucker?"

All the guys sitting at the table stood up, and the man's face Kurou was directing his words got filled with rage.

"What are you saying, white trash? Say that again!", he screamed.

Kurou said even louder: "Can't you hear me, deaf fucker? I asked if you liked raping her!"

The man threw the table around and jumped on Kurou's neck, holding it with one hand and punching his face with the other. "I'm gonna kill you, you son of a bitch!" he screamed while punching the hell outta Kurou's face.

After 20 punches or so, the man got tired, and feared Kurou had died by his hand. "Cowards are all the same", Kurou said, his face fully-recovered, albeit covered in blood.

"What the fuck!", the man screamed again. This time Kurou avoided the blow, delivering an elbow to his arm, breaking it.

The man screamed in agony, Kurou screaming in agony as well since his elbow hit the floor heavily.

The other men were ready to intervene, but Mahmoud's loud voice filled the place.

"ENOUGH!".

All men backed away, to Kurou's surprise. "Are you some kind of big shot here, Mahmoud?".

"I'm just someone who lived enough to earn respect by my own means. Now get some money from that loser there and pay the bartender".

Kurou took a few bucks from the man's wallet, gave them to the bartender while receiving a disapproving look, and walked towards the exit.

"Kurou", Mahmoud said. "Careful out there, okay? I don't know who you are, but I do know you're kinda crazy. Don't get killed for nothing".

Kurou laughed out loud. "If I get killed, my friend, you can pay me that beer in Hell", and left.