Chapter 5: Confetti

"How's the situation?" asked Nana Moe, lounging over Sebastian's unconscious body, a concerned look on her face.

Approaching Nana Moe was a fairly old man, his grey hair combed back with the top being fairly high while the sides were shaved down in a wedge. He pushed up his glasses, holding a notepad by his side, looking back and forth between the boy on the operating table and Nana Moe, "The boy suffers from serious injuries, but it's nothing we can't fix in a few hours. He'll be fine under our care, however, there's another matter that I do believe needs your utmost attention."

"What's the problem?" Nana Moe hesitantly asked, her hand resting upon the side of Sebastian's bed.

"I think it's best for you to come see it yourself," he says, opening up the curtains that separate the three people from the rest of the room, "The boy will be okay on his own for now, but this is an urgent matter..."

***

Corniellia hurried over to Shouji's side, pulling on his shoulder gently, "Come on now... We can just ignore him, right? He's just an ignorant human, no need to get worked up over him."

"I'm not worked up in the slightest. It's actually amusing to me," Shouji said with a chuckle, "Either way, there's no fun in letting him off the hook that easily right? Someone has to teach him some manners. His parents obviously did a poor job, so I'll correct their mistake."

Sebastian got up, gripping tightly onto the daggers before dashing toward Shouji once more, only to end up on his knees before Corniellia within the blink of an eye.

"And you see, the kid still got some fight in him... But don't worry, I'll make it quick."

Shouji stretched his arms and rolled his neck, slowly walking toward the location Sebastian landed. He smiled as he extended a hand toward him, "Come come, you don't wanna embarrass yourself before my sister now do ya? So get up and gimme a good fight okay?"

Sebastian slapped his hand away, almost immediately attempting to jam the dagger into his neck, however, Shouji stepped back twice as if he saw it coming, "So feisty..." he said with a grin on his face, "I like it, I like it lots."

His red eyes started to shine a bit brighter while he licked his lips, arms extended as his nails lengthened and strengthened themselves. In response to this, Sebastian swiftly got up and took a defensive stance, his blue eyes shimmering with anger and resentment, closely watching Shouji and planning out the movements and reactions that he could take in response. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself before reopening them, however, Shouji's face was now right before his, his grin still on his face as he quickly spun on his heels and raised his left leg, meeting Sebastian's arms in a powerful kick that sent him flying back.

Despite being pushed back so far, Sebastian quickly regained his footing, sliding the rest of the distance until the heels of his feet came in contact with the body of the person he encountered Corniellia with earlier.

"Corniellia," he thought to himself, immediately scanning the environment for the girl, remembering that there were more than one of them in the vicinity and that he'd need to watch out for the possibility of her helping him, but she was nowhere nearby, at least not in his line of view.

In what seemed to be a split second, Shouji appeared before him once more, raising his arm, pulling it back as he prepared a punch, "It's disrespect to take your eyes off your opponent," he grunted, "Didn't they teach you that in hunter school?"

He released his punch, which Sebastian responded to quickly, ducking in order to dodge, immediately following up with the swing of his arm as he aimed toward Shouji's torso. Noticing his movements and the results they could lead to, Shouji raised his leg to block the incoming attack, however, as if Sebastian predicted it, he let go of the dagger allowing it to fall before grabbing on it using his other arm, the result leading to Shouji getting stabbed in the leg that remained on the floor.

After hearing his cry in pain, Sebastian forced it further into his leg, almost immediately being kicked away by his other foot. Once more, Sebastian slid on the floor for a bit before regaining his balance, bringing himself to stand normally.

"Nice shot, nice shot," Shouji said, wincing slightly before the dagger seemingly fell out his leg, the wound disappearing as if it never existed, "You're a good one... Not as stupid as all the others and quite fun, but unfortunately I can't keep this running for too long, I have other personal matters to attend to."

As he said this, he appeared directly before Sebastian, seemingly teleporting from his previous location, his arm raised as if he was preparing to cut him down in that instance. Sebastian panicked for a moment, incapable of coming up with a way out this time for Shouji raised his hand diagonally, a method that could easily adapt to however method Sebastian would use to dodge unless it's done at the very last second. He couldn't step back further without being blocked by the wall, so he closed his eyes, trusting his instincts rather than his eyes. He gently touched the wall behind him, gulping before allowing his body to move on its own, narrowly avoiding the deadly blow that was about to be dealt to him, only resulting in a cut that ran from the top of his left shoulder to the left corner of his torso.

He winced at the pain, but he wasn't given enough time to address it as he was seemingly moved back to his previous location, Shouji's arm now in a different position, preparing to run right through his chest, this time, his hand wrapped around his neck in order to prevent him from moving.

Sebastian closed his eyes once more, raising his feet to kick Shouji away, however, he was met with a sharp pain in his right leg instead.

"Stop moving so much," Shouji said, "It'll only have you suffer more."

Sebastian was confused as it felt as if all his energy was leaving his body, every second that passed seemingly leading to him getting weaker and weaker. Despite this, he attempted once more to raise his feet, but he could only feel his left leg respond, a warm liquid running up his thigh as he attempted to raise his right leg too.

His vision began to blur while he looked down, seeing the leg he was trying so hard to move laying on the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood that Shouji stood in, a look of defeat plastered upon his face while stood before him, smiling in victory.

"Wh-... What happened-?.." he asked just before he lost consciousness, unsure about whether or not he'd wake up.

<Chapter 5: End>