Chapter 39 : A Quick Run

[FLASHBACK]

[A couple of years ago]

[Sho's mothers funeral]

[Cemetary]

A large group of family members were surrounding the rectangle sized hole in the ground where Sho's mother was, and there was a priest standing above the hole, "-A wonderful woman, a fighter, a strong heart and mind that walked this wretched earth. No, she was not perfect, but are any of us? Aoi Takahashi, a mother of only one son, through the many trials and struggles she's been through, she still fought to see a happy ending.."

Little boy Sho was leaning up against a tree, away from everyone, but he could still hear what was being said about his mother Aoi.

The priest finished up what he had to say, and the family started to talk to each other, saying:

"Poor Aoi.."

"I still can't believe this is real.."

"If it wasn't for that crazy son of hers, she would be still alive."

"The irony..Sho wouldn't even show up for his own mothers burial."

"Because he feels guilty, he knows that the he was the cause of his mothers passing."

"If he wasn't acting like such a hooligan inside and out of school, stressing his mother out, she would still be here with us."

"Does anyone even know where he is?"

"Who cares? That boy has got to be cursed, whoever stays around him, something is gonna happen to them. Aoi didn't deserve this. Sho is just a nuisance. I don't see how anyone can see the right in him."

"Akio, his grandmother, will probably see something."

"She always see's somethin, she's into that weird tribe stuff."

"Where is she anyways? You'd expect her to be at her own daughters burial."

Sho stood at the tree still, sighing, and thinking, 'Tch. Jerks. This is a funeral..and yet..'

As Sho continued to stand there, there was a man in a suit, leaning against the other side of the tree that Sho was up against.

The man asked, "Not gonna go say your goodbyes?"

Sho answered, "Uncle?"

"Answer the question."

"I.."

"You don't know? Or you don't want to? Don't you think Aoi deserves at least a few words from you?"

"Tch! You're not my dad, don't talk to me that way."

"You killed your dad. Bet since that day you've had murderous thoughts and intentions."

"..I didn't kill my mother.."

"You're unaware that you killed her by draining her of her energy, she was constantly worried sick about you, and I mean that in the literal sense. Pfft..you may not have killed her with your hands physically, but your actions of foolish ways put her heart and mind in a fucking blender. The rest of the family agrees with me."

"Don't say that to me..don't say that! It wasn't my fault!"

"Then who's fault was it? Your fathers? Don't tell me you're gonna say that he's the one that messed with your mothers emotions. With that little incident that happened between the three of you. You are the only one to blame."

Sho's eyes shook, saying, "N-No..it's not.."

The man shed a tear, saying, "We loved Aoi. If it wasn't for you, she'd still be here. If any one takes you in, they would have to deal with the consequences of letting a hoolign like you being around them."

"You.."

The man ran straight at Sho, and he punched Sho right across the face. Blood flushed out of Sho's mouth, and Sho's face hit the tree beside him, and Sho fell to the ground.

The man kicked Sho in the stomach, and then kicked him in the face. But at that moment, family members came and pulled Sho's uncle away.

Sho was slowly getting up with blood dripping on his face, dropping to the ground.

The uncle yelled, "You'll never be shit! You're not worth anything you murderer! You're a disgrace! No one will ever love or care about you! You're a demon! You hear me?!"

The other family members watched, looking at Sho with disgust.

Sho could feel the hatred flowing from their eyes, and he ran away.

He was running fast, and each time he ran faster, a tear fell from his eye. Then, it started raining, pouring down, with the water patting on Sho's body.

Sho thought, 'I didn't kill her…did I?! I love her! I..I didn't mean to!'

[FLASHBACK OVER]

[PRESENT DAY]

[ODD SAMSON GUILD HOUSE]

[Morning time]

Sho woke up, and he sat up in the bed, looking down at his legs, rubbing his eyes, breathing heavily, thinking, 'Shit..curse the day that happened to me! That was truly the day that fucked me up mentally. I overthinked things every night, debating with myself whether or not it was my fault for what happened to my mother. My life was built on crazy thoughts and contemplations. Even in the tower, it's been somewhat similar. I'm apparently some kind of chosen one, which has my thinking things like: What's the Takahashi family goal? Why did my grandmother pass the Conqueror role down to me? Why was the role forced onto me? If I refuse to be a conqueror, would I die? Why do some things in the tower correlate with our past? Like the butterknife incident. What is really the secrets and origins of this tower? I tried my best..I tried my best to forget my past..but this tower likes to bring it back up. My past memories appear in my dreams a lot, and it started happening since I got into the tower. I have so many unanswered questions that I don't have the answer to and it's giving me anxiety. My thoughts are all over the place…I need answers soon.'

Sho looked forward taking a deep breath, and he gasped slightly.

May was sitting on top of him crisscrossed, looking right at him.

Sho's face slowly turned red, and he asked, "Uh..what the hell..are you doing?"

May responded, "I'm sitting on you."

"Why?"

"I thought it would wake you up faster and shit. Looks like it worked."

"Why are you in here?"

"Bruh."

"What?"

"Don't tell me you forgot."

"Huh? Oh."

"We're supposed to go on a raid together this morning."

"I completely forgot and ended up making plans to train this morning."

"Yeah scratch that shit. It's our moment now. I mean, not in a weird way, ya dig?"

"Tch. This early?"

"Yes. Then you can do your little mini anime training arc or whatever."

"Pfft. Fucking nerd."

"I'M NOT!"

"Get offa me so I can get ready. I need to shower."

"Hurry up."

May hopped off of Sho, and walked out of the room.

Sho got up from the bed, thinking, 'A girl just sat on me. She did that: I'm not fucking dreaming. She obviously likes me or something, right? She was literally on top of me. Okay, focus now.'

Sho started to stretch, and he pulled up his watch, saying, "I'll spend some points now that I have time."

The screen popped up, and Sho was prepared to spend a few of his 24,000 Fighter points.

'My weapon defensive stats are the lowest in number, with it being only at 14k. I'll add 6,000 more points to that, just so I can have an even number of 20k. That'll leave me with 18k points, and I'll use 10k of those points on my weapon power stats.'

Sho's weapons stats:

Attack : 20,000/???

Defense : 20,000/??? (6,000 points spent on defensive attribute.)

Power : 30,650/??? (10,000 points spent on power attribute.)

*8,000 Fighter points remaining.*

Power Level : 16,500 (Class B)

*New skills unlocked. Tai Palm : Hit your enemy with the palm of your hand while focusing your energy and power into that hand, and a hand from the clouds will descend and Tai Palm your enemy more destructively.*

Sho thought, 'Tai Palm, Heh? Sounds alright. I'll use it in the raid today.'

Minutes later, Sho was walking downstairs, scratching the back of his neck, yawning.

He was fully dressed, hearing noise from the kitchen and cafeteria.

"The hell are they doing in there?"

Sho walked in there, and he saw Vaelle about to fight Rudy while Red was trying to break it up, and Darthen just standing there; Stacen was eating alone, and then in the kitchen, Bebop, Kell, and Kaiju were cooking breakfast together, but they were competing.

Kell said, "I'm the best cook here, little girl!"

Bebop replied, "NUH UH, I cook good!"

"You're like, four!"

"I'm twelve!"

Kaiju stepped in, "As a warrior, my cooking skills were taught to me at a very young age! Preparing great meals are a specialty! There is nothing that a warrior such as I can't cook!"

Kell and Bebop looked at Kaiju, "Huh?! Prove it!"

"Haha! Say no more, younglings! Let's see who among us can make the best breakfast dish!"

Kell and Bebop responded, "Sure!"

Over in the cafeteria, Rudy exclaimed, "WHO IS THIS CREATURE WOMAN?!"

Red replied, "SHE IS SHO'S FAMILIAR!"

Rudy answered with glowing sparkly eyes, "REALLY?! So that means you're like, familiar of the Takahashi family??"

Vaelle didn't respond, and Red told Rudy, "Vaelle doesn't really speak. But yes, we are Sho's familiars due to being apart of the Takahashi family."

"Yoooo! So damn cool. Aye, wanna hear a joke? I got a good batch of Takahashi jokes I came up with last night. Ah, I cried laughing at myself."

"Joke?"

Sho said, "Please, this guys jokes are dead as hell."

Everyone looked at Sho, and Bebop exclaimed, "BIG BROTHER!"

Bebop flipped over the kitchen counter, and ran straight towards Sho and hugged him.

"I was so worried!"

Sho looked down at Bebop, saying, "Tch. No need to be worried about me."

"There is a need because you're super duper reckless!"

"Type shit."

Bebop then remembered, "Oh! I almost forgot!" She pulled out the drawing for Sho, and she handed it to him.

Sho took it, and saw what she had drew.

Sho said, "It's.."

"It's…?? Don't you love it!"

"It's cool."

Bebop got happy, exclaiming, "Yes! Thank you! Keep that! I'll make you more! Well, I'm gonna go cook now! See ya!"

Rudy said to Sho, "Sho! Sho Takahashi! Make Vaelle talk! You can force her?0

"I don't know about that."

"Hm? Why?"

"Cause she's weird as hell."

"That's it?"

"And she just popped outta nowhere."

"Fucking awesome!"

Kaiju said, "Aye! There is the awakened warrior, Sho Takahashi! How was sleep, lad?"

Sho replied, "Why the hell are you worried how my sleep went-I mean..it was alright. Preciate' the concern."

"Haha! We are now allies! It is my duty to be aware of your well being, Sho Takahashi! What are your plans today?"

"Murder."

"Murder?"

"Tch. I meant doing a raid. We are murdering things. The hell?"

"Yes! Indeed we are! You are almost to class A, then we can parade raids together and grow stronger! Is that your only plan?"

"I got interested in those magic rubies, I'm gonna search for some and get some perk things or some shit I don't know. They'll be an advantage."

Kell stepped in, "I still don't believe there's any way he climbed ranks that quick! Nope! Won't believe it!"

Kaiju put Kell in a playful headlock, "Ah! Don't be so jealous, warrior Kell! It's all about having a good time in battle!"

"No! Fool! It's about decapitating losers!"

"Haha!"

Sho's phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled his phone out. He got a text message from May, and it said: "Come outside, let's go."

Sho put his phone in his pocket, and said, "Vaelle, Red, let's go."

Rudy waved, "I'll tell you the jokes when you get back!"

Darthen wrote in the air: "Win."

Sho asked, "Whatever. Oi, where's Gideon?"

Bebop answered, "He's in his training room! He told me to tell you he's doing just that! He said don't worry about him!"

"Tch. Worried? About that psycho? No thanks."

"Butttt you did protect us and got worried about us when we went missing."

"…Whatever! It was nothing. See ya."

"Byeeee big brother!"

Sho walked out of the cafeteria, and seconds later, he was outside.

May was stretching out in the middle of the grass, while typing on her phone at the same time. She was sending Sho multiple messages, even while Sho was standing right in front of her.

Sho's phone kept vibrating, and he sighed, "Why?"

May kept sending messages to him, and she replied, "Why what?"

"I'm literally standing right fucking here."

"Imagine not even checking your phone."

"Why should I?"

"Oh, and about the guild in there going crazy, now THAT'S what you call guild bonding. Next thing you know we're gonna be having barbecues and campfires and all that corny shit."

"Eh."

"Why the long face, bro?"

"Let's get this over with."

"Hoh? Where are you in a hurry to? You got a girlfriend here already?"

"N-No. That's a distraction."

"Yeah I totally agree yeah real shit. I kinda don't care. Now then, ya ready?"

"I wouldn't be out here. I've been ready."

"We're running there. It's pretty damn far."

"What? Why?"

"We can build our energy attributes by running when not in combat. This will help us both."

"I didn't know that."

"You learn something new everyday, however that quote goes. Keep up, rookie."

"Rookie? I'm pretty sure I'm stronger than you."

"You're still a rookie, we've been in the tower longer, you were asleep, sucking on your thumb and shit."

"No the hell I wasn't."

"Just follow my lead."

"We're seriously running there."

"Hell yeah we are. Scared?"

"You must be crazy. I'm not scared of anything."

Sho thought, 'Scared of not being able to live out what my mom always wanted.'

May tapped Sho on the back, and grinned, "Welp. Let's go!"

They both started to jog away from the house, and they were running down the sidewalk.

May asked Sho, "Did I scare the shit outta you this morning?"

"I almost bashed your face in."

"Guild members can't kill each other. Oh and I know this is off topic kinda, but I also found out that if 3 or 4 guild members have an amount of Fighter points in total together that is required to reach the next floor, the whole guild goes to the next floor together."

"Damn, the next floor. I haven't even thought about the next floor. So much shit has happened on just Floor 1 alone."

"What do you think Floor 2 is like?"

"I don't even know, to be honest. I hear every floor looks different."

"I heard that each floor has what the floor below it had, but they add new things and concepts to each floor. Sounds pretty dope."

"..Tch. I didn't know that either."

"See? That's what makes you a rookie."

"Whatever, fool."

"Ugh, you sound like Kell."

"..Oi. Why did you join the tower?"

"Why did you?"

"I asked you first, the hell?"

May lied, "Money. That's all. Now your turn."

"..To be able to live freely and how the hell I want with no one getting in my fucking way."

Sho thought, 'Also doing this for my mother.'

May replied, "That's so edgy. But it's reasonable I guess. I kinda heard things about your situation, why did you go to school anyway? Back at school, I always saw you being edgy and beating people up. Why did you go?"

"…I can't answer that. I have my own reasons."

"Understandable, I guess. Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

Sho's face became flustered, "Huh?! W-What are you talking about, fool?!"

May laughed, "Haha! The look on your face was priceless! HAHA!"

"It's not funny."

"HAHAHA! I CAN'T BREATH!"

"OKAY WE GET IT!"

May laughed harder, and Sho rolled his eyes. Sho watched May laugh, May looked beautiful when the sun hit her face, her white teeth sparkling off the glare.

Sho and May just stared at each other for a few seconds, then looked away with nervous looks.

May chucked, "Oi, that was like some movie shit right there. That little staring thing that they do."

"Hmph."

"I gotta question for you."

"What?"

"What's the first thing you're doing once you win this tower thing?"

"…I haven't even thought about that. Maybe buy everything I want first."

"Same here. Ima buy a shit ton of houses. I'll let you borrow some for like, parties and shit just in case you don't wanna use your houses."

"..I'll keep that in mind. If we all make it out alive."

[Class B raid]

The raid target, the Lumberjack was in the forest, he had a long white beard, blue eyes, and short white hair. He was pretty buff, and he was wearing a plaid shirt with jeans and boots, holding two enormous axes, cutting through the trees and dancing at the same time, singing, "Hoooohooo yooooyooop give me the answer to thee! FIIIIGHTING, LOOOOOVING! Show where my ax will swiiing!!!