New road

It was snowing. Winter has finally arrived and with it came the cold atmosphere. Warm clothes were now carried by almost everyone that roamed the city, so as to not let the weather conquer over them. Rin was walking in the midst of it all.

'Time sure fly fast.'

Two weeks passed by since Rin woke up in the hospital. Her condition was improving, and she was now allowed to go outside the hospital for a limited period of time. Thus, she ended up walking aimlessly among the crowd of people.

She had many things to think about. Having realized that her childhood dream was an impossible task, she needed to find something else to put her endeavor on. That, too, however, wasn't an easy feat. After all, difficulty arise even in the simple fact of moving on.

Rin was currently sixteen, and as far as she could remember, she had put the major entirety of her life, toward accomplishing her single objective, 'reaching the Elite'. If one were to ask her to give that up overnight, of course, she would feel conflicted. It was, in a way, the same as asking her to give up her life.

On the other hand, however, she didn't want to waste her time pursuing something that was impossible. Logically speaking, she thought that she could find something more meaningful to do.

In simple word, although Rin didn't want to give up on her goal, she, unfortunately, has to.

*sigh*

Rin heaved a sigh, trying to clear her mind away from the gloomy thought. She stopped walking and decided to take brief break before going back. As she was looking for a place to sit, however, she remarked that there was barely anyone around her.

For a second there, Rin's mind went blank. The eerie silence somehow reminded her of the incident that happened inside her school.

'There's no way,' She thought, a little panicked. '...Right?'

The worst possible outcome came to her mind. Mainly, that of another monster appearing. Her eyes darted around the surrounding, searching for any sign of abnormalities. Fortunately, when she did so, she realized the reason for the lack of people.

*Phew*

"...What a fright," She said, this time feeling relieved. "So this was just one of those place."

Rin's worry disappeared, when she understood the fact that it wasn't because of a monster that the place was quiet, but, because she was inside one of the city's so called bad frequented zone.

"Hey, little girl, what the heck are you doing here."

Sure enough, Rin's conclusion was confirmed by the voice of a man.

"Don't you know that it's bad to wander alone around these parts."

"Well, no matter. It does arrange uncle like us when pretty girl like you come to visit."

Rin was immediately surrounded by 6 man, each having a disgusting smile plastered on their face.

Earlier, she had felt relieved, but now, she remembered that it wasn't actually such a good thing.

◇

"Heheh, don't tempt anything funny, girl."

"We promise you that you'll feel good after a while."

Two men slowly advanced toward Rin.

"... You guys," She spoke in a flat out tone. "You know that you'll go to jail if you continue doing things like this, right?"

"Jail?" one of the man responded. "Don't tell me you're going to denounce us? You better not." He said, taking out a camera from his pocket.

"..." Rin's eyes became a little cold when he saw the man's response. "I see."

They're intent were obvious. They were probably going to film whatever they planned to do to Rin inside the camera, and then use that against her to make her stay silent. In other word, they were thinking of blackmailing her.

'Hmph. Stupid tactic for stupid people.'

Seeing people like these made Rin feel like she was the weird one for thinking so hard about her life. After all, she was pretty sure that everything that was inside these mans' head, was just about how to satisfy their lust.

"Pitiful." She said, loud enough so that all six man heard it.

"Huh! The f*ck you just said!?" One of the man that advanced toward her, flamed with anger from her word, and extended his hand to grab Rin.

A fraction second later, however, it was his scream that was heard as Rin twisted his hand with her own.

"..." Rin didn't say anything and just stared at the man's eyes. Another second passed, and this time a cracking sound was heard. The scream intensified and filled the whole place. Rin had broken the man's hand from his elbow.

"...Oops." Rin said with a condescending voice.

Truthfully speaking, Rin had many other ways to deal with the man, one of which could have been a little less brutal. However, her hand had moved on their own and caused the current result. The reason for why she did so wasn't unknown to her.

"It seems I am a little bit angry."

◇

Rin wasn't in her best state. Although, more than two weeks already passed, she could still feel the incongruity caused by her previous injury. Her sense was still dull, her agility was still lacking and she was more easily tired than usual. But, even though that was the case, she still completely dominated the fight against the 6 hoodlums.

All attack performed by the men, were easily parried, dodged and counterattacked by Rin. Their movement were completely amateurish and predictable compared to Rin's. They didn't stand a single chance. She dealt them blow after blow, all the while not receiving a single scratch, reducing their number little by little. After not more than five minutes, only one of the man remained conscious.

"P-please forgive me! I-I promise I w-won't do this ever again!" He begged as Rin slowly advanced toward him with cold glare.

"..." This time too, Rin didn't say anything. She just continued walking, and stopped just an inch away from the man.

"Hii—!" The mobster kneeled down, completely freaked out. All his other friends were knocked out, and he had completely no idea about what was waiting for him.

Rin silently looked at his eyes. She could see his fear, but she didn't care about it. Using her feet, she hit the man directly in his jaw, making the back of his crane bump on the ground.

"—Ack!" He squealed in pain, desperation increasing. "P-please! I-I'm so-sorry!"

"I don't think you deserve forgiveness." Rin said with a cold tone. "Though, even if you did, I wouldn't care."

Rin resumed advancing, and crouched on top of the hoodlum.

"I'm just really angry, right now." Rin clenched her right fist and slammed it with all her strength in the man's face. "The funny thing is, it's not even because of you all." She stated, this time using her left arm to redo the motion. "It's not because of anyone." She continued as she repeated the movement. Attacking the man again and again and again. "I'm just.... angry."

The man's face was already a bloody mess, but she didn't stop. She knew that she should and yet she didn't.

"I'm pissed off at the fact that I'm so powerless!" With each blow she performed, she recalled bit and pieces of her past.

"I'm pissed off at the fact that I was rejected!" She recalled the time when she was still inside her family. When she was disdained and shunned as if she was the pest.

"I'm pissed off at the fact that all my efforts were in vain!" She recalled the time she spent honing her skill, the time she spent training day in day out to the point of breaking.

"I'm pissed off at the fact that I can't even beat luck!" She recalled the moment when Celia told her that she became an Elite, the moment she realized that the world was unfair.

"I'm pissed off because I can't do anything!"

Rin raised her fist ready to strike another hit, however, seeing the man barely still breathing, she finally decided to stop. She slowly lowered her arm, clenching her teeth a little. Her anger wasn't fading, her hands full of blood. She heaved deep breath after deep breath trying to calm down. Reason told her that if she continued beating the man, he might actually die.

Getting off the mobster, she laid on the ground, and looked at the sky.

"...What am I doing?"

Certainly, the hoodlum attacked her first, but that didn't mean that she could so brutally batter them. She even used one as a punching bag to relieve her stress. She was clearly the bully here. And the worst of it was that it actually made her feel better.

"I really shouldn't be proud of this." She expressed self-mockingly.

"Why not?" A sudden unknown voice responded her. "I mean these guys are piece of trash at best." Without Rin knowing it, a man appeared right in front of her, looking around at the unconscious corps surrounding him.

"...Who are you?" With a frown, Rin asked.

The man was around his mid-twenties, and was very tall. He had brown hair and black eyes. Handsome wasn't the word, but his face was certainly above average. Nevertheless, the bad vibe emanating from him overshadowed all of that.

Rin quickly stood up from the ground, glaring at the man.

"You don't have to be so cautious." He said lightly. "My name is Aiden. I'm just here to have a talk with you."

"Aiden..." hearing that name prompted Rin to analyze the man from head to toe again. To her horror, his profile matched perfectly to that of a certain someone.

"...!" Rin's cautiousness instantly increased. Confirming the fact that—

"Oh!" Aiden expressed, pleasantly surprised. "Your face tell me that you know me."

—The man in front of her was a criminal.

◇

"Well, that makes things easier." Aiden said with a grin.

Rin, on the other hand, stayed wary of the man. She knew that, much like the incident inside her school, she didn't stand a chance against him.

Why?

Simply because Aiden was an Elite.

"...What do you want from me?" However, she didn't sense any hostility from him. And basing herself to his earlier word that he just wanted to talk, she decided to ask.

"Your strength." The man answered without delay.

"What do you mean?" Rin didn't comprehend his word. "Compared to an Elite like you, my power shouldn't be of significa...." Rin stopped talking at some point. She realized something.

As she said, an Elite shouldn't have anything to seek inside a normal human. They were superhuman on their own, and it wouldn't even be a stretch if someone labeled them as a new, superior race. As such, Rin shouldn't have anything to contribute to them. Or so it should have been.

"...Your singularity."

There is a saying that, there is always an exception to the rule. Aiden was this exception. According to Rin's info on him, his singularity is one of the few in this world that'll need the supposed 'inferior race' for it to really shine.

"Haha, hahahaha," Aiden laughed cheerfully. "This is why I like smart people! I literally just said two words and you already understand what I want!"

"..." After thinking a little, Rin vaguely understood the man's intention, which left her a little speechless.

"There are still thing we need to discuss before you make your decision about this deal." Aiden continued speaking, a grin plastered on his face. "So? How about we discuss the detail around a cup of tea?"

◇

Roughly 2 hours later....

Rin returned to her hospital room, and was now sitting on her bed. She was looking at her hand, specifically on the phone that was placed on it. She was thinking about the conversation she had with Aiden.

[ "Bear in mind that I won't force you. You can even call the police if you want." Aiden said so, playfully. "But, after you've made up your decision, call me using that phone." ]

That was the last thing he said before disappearing.

*sigh*

Rin heaved a sigh for the nth time of the day. There was more thing she needed to worry about now.

At that moment, the door to her room opened, and Celia entered through it.

"Hello~ Rin." Celia said cheerfully. "How have you been?"

"Celia," Rin looked toward her. "Morning."

Celia took a nearby chair and sat on it.

For the last two weeks, there wasn't a single day where the girl would've missed visiting Rin. Celia's worry about her friend was genuine, though, the truth of the matter was that she didn't have anything to do. The school was still closed and she didn't have that many friend to begin with, so hanging out at the hospital with Rin was the only thing left that she really wanted to do.

"It's already evening, you know?" She responded, a little amused. Then her gaze stumbled upon the device Rin was holding. "Mm? Is that your phone?"

"This?" Rin held the object in the air. "No, some weird guy just gave it to me outside."

"Eh!? Should you really be holding onto that?"

"It's fine, it's not like it'll explode." Rin put the phone under her pillow, and changed the subject. "Anyway, I'd like to know why you are so happy right now." Rin didn't like to lie, but that didn't mean that she had to say the whole truth.

"H-happy? I-I am n-not ...." Celia tried to lie, to no avail. Rin was a lie detector after all. "...Is it really that obvious?"

"You didn't stop smiling since you entered." Rin answered, also smiling. "So? What is it?"

"Well, i-it's..." Celia hesitated.

Seeing that, Rin somehow guessed what she wanted to say. She also wondered if she gained some sort of mind reading ability, as this was the second time it happened today.

"Does it have anything to do with you being an Elite?" Rin asked.

"..!" Celia jolted hearing her word, making Rin chuckle a little.

"So that means you're finally going to Ark city, huh?" She said, sounding relieved

"H-how!? Are you an Esper!?"

Rin continued laughing and patted Celia's head.

"I already said that you shouldn't feel guilty about this matter anymore, didn't I?"

"But...!"

Celia still felt concerned about how Rin saw her, when she became an Elite. She feared that her friend would hate her if she floated the privilege she gained because of it. A happy thing was a happy thing, thought, and she couldn't conceal her own emotion.

*Ouch*

Rin pinched her cheek, and forcibly stretched Celia's face.

"Isn't this a wonderful news?" Rin said, still holding the girl's face. "No need to hide it."

This time again, Celia's worry was proved to be needless, and before long, the two of them laughed with each other.

◇

As a side note, Rin already called an ambulance for the poor (and pitiful) hoodlum that attacked her.