The Guardian

"Do you know exactly what a guardian is meant to be, Yashiro?" Zuno asked Yashiro as they walked towards the entrance of the Academy.

There were newly installed turrets on either side of the gates, humming as they rotated.

Yashiro thought for a few seconds before responding, "I did a search of what a guardian is, so, I have a rough idea what a guardian does but there are still some things I'm unsure about. "

"well hopefully, the trip today should clear up those questions and provide you with answers"

"wait, where are we going?" Yashiro asked

Zuno smiled before responding, "well, the academy was able to schedule a meeting for you to visit the current guardian, Akanori Toshai.

As they got closer to their destination, Yashiro became more nervous. He didn't know what to expect from this meeting but he was excited. The meeting was to take place at a coffee shop for about half an hour.

Zuno and Yashiro were about 10 minutes away, walking to the shop.

"How do you feel?" Zuno asked, realising how quiet Yashiro had been.

"I'm not too sure how to feel" He responded, "I just don't want to mess up"

"you'll be fine, Yashiro. Just remember guardians are appointed by the public, so not everyone can become one. However, I am your teacher, and I know you. If you conduct yourself in the proper manner, he'll have no choice but to acknowledge you. I guess you could say this is your first unofficial interview"

Yashiro gulped

Zuno continued to give Yashiro tips on the meeting for about two minutes before he noticed that 3 police cars had gone past the two of them, sirens wailing.

"What do you think is happening?" Yashiro asked, also noticing the cars.

Zuno didn't get to answer before the pair heard a loud explosion in front of them, as one of the police cars went up in flames, with the police officers still inside it.

Zuno's eyes widened and he put his hand in front of Yashiro, "turn back Yashiro, something is wrong"

Yashiro was still in shock, some people had just died in front him and he didn't know how to process this.

Seconds later a building near the duo also went up in flames.

In Zuno's head, his first priority was ensuring Yashiro's safety but the streets were now chaotic as civilians ran in different directions, screaming. Within two minutes, 2 more police vans came to the scene along side the fire fighters and the ambulance.

Zuno tried to piece everything together in his head while also helping an eye on Yashiro, who had calmed down a little. He patted himself and realised he didn't have his permit with him so he wouldn't be able to use his powers to help out. So, the two of them stood by as people continued to run past them.

As the fire department began putting out the fire from the police car that exploded and also the building that was currently burning, yet another building went up in flames.

Meanwhile, about 200metres away from the explosion, the police and the powered unit, attempted to engage a group of individuals who were currently trying to escape after successfully performing a heist at a storage facility.

They had taken over 20 small containers and a large one about 5 feet in height, carried by the largest and strongest among them.

As they left, they were approached by two police cars and the officers got out to intercept the robbers.

The leader of the group, knows as Mitsu spoke first.

"Good day officers." He paused for about two seconds, before talking again "If you all look to your right, you'll see my associate, Kube.

Just as three members of the powered unit jumped out from behind the police cars, an armoured truck coming from their right slammed into the two cars. Injuring everyone there, and killing two.

The other two officers from the powered unit who weren't injured turned back to tend to the wounds of their fellow officers.

The situation was gradually becoming more desperate for the police, fire fighters and the ambulance crew as things continued to burn and people getting hurt.

Making matters worse and tying the hands of the police even further, Mitsu spoke again.

"Instead of trying so desperately to stop us, shouldn't you be worried about the civilians in the burning buildings, and the time bomb in the building behind us? There are still hostages in there you know. Isn't your motto and the very nature of your existence to serve and protect? Surely you wouldn't abandon those innocent people in there just to chase us" As he said this, his crew began to put the stolen items at the back of the truck.

Mitsu continued.

"By the way, if you do come after us in any way, the building goes boom" He laughed as he finally got into the truck.

As it drove away, one of the officers of the powered unit, Katagi Daimba reported all that was happening to his captain.

"Captain, the situation here has become dire. There are multiple dead and injured officers here, hostages at the storage facility and multiple buildings on fire. Civilians are running around the street in complete panic, making things harder for us. To make matters worse, the suspects are making a clean getaway. We are completely overwhelmed."

The captain responded, "prioritise the civilians, Katagi. I think it's time we called Akanori. Hang in there, and be careful"

He put down his radio and sighed, thinking to himself [this much carnage for a simple robbery? This city is becoming something else]

He opened a compartment on his desk with a finger print scan. Inside was a small radio. The commissioner and all the police captains had one of these. They were all connected to a singular reviever, which was always with Akanori Toshai, the current guardian.

He pressed a button and spoke.

"Akanori, this is captain Kidera"

Akanori responded a few seconds later, through an earpiece.

"Captain, what's the emergency?"

"There was just a robbery at the Katsami storage facility. The emergency services have their hands full as the robbers set multiple buildings on fire and there are civilians in a building that has a bomb in it. The suspects are in a black armoured truck that just left the scene. It's unmissable, there isn't a license plate either.

Akanori, your mission is to apprehend those criminals while the police and fire fighters rescue the people who need rescuing"

"Got it" Akanori said, before putting the ear piece away and rushing to the scene.

Yashiro had regained his composure and was talking to Zuno about what they should do.

"I think we return to the Academy for now when things have calmed down a bit but for now, let's stay here. We don't know what's going to explode next."

They both stood in front of the entrance of a building watching everyone in front of them lose their mind and continue to run in multiple directions.

Just then, the mid-section of the building to their left crumbled, causing the top part to break apart and fall, in multiple chunks.

There were still civilians beneath and Zuno saw this happen. He decided he'd deal with the repercussions of using his powers in public without his permit later but he was going to save their lives.

However, before he could make any movements, he felt something brush past him and move towards the falling debris.

Akanori jumped towards the rocks, jumping from one to the other at great speed, like a bullet ricocheting off multiple impenetrable objects. This took place under 1.5 seconds.

As he jumped off each rock or touched them, they slowed down significantly, giving the civilians underneath time to move away.

When everyone was a safe distance away, he undid his ability and sped of in the direction the truck had gone.

Yashiro was bewildered. He tried to understand what he had just witnessed, and was thinking to himself, [he's fast but makes things slow? What kind of a power is that? How does he move at such speeds?]

Zuno interrupted his thought process.

"Well, that wasn't exactly a meeting, but you got to see the guardian in action. He's incredible, isn't he?"

Yashiro nodded," how exactly did he do that?"

Zuno shrugged his shoulders,"your guess is as good as mine. There's little to no information known about his abilities available to the public. That aside, are you okay Yashiro?"

He nodded in response and tried once more to figure out what Akanori's powers were. Trying to distract himself from the exploding police car he had seen earlier.

It had been eight minutes since Mitsu and his crew left the scene of the crime in their armoured truck. For a bulky truck, it moved with great speed, as they had been fleeing at 120 mph. This meant in the eight minutes they had been driving, they had roughly travelled a distance of 16 miles (26 km). Naturally, they assumed there was no catching them now.

Two and a half minutes after Akanori saved the civilians from the falling debris, he caught up to Mitsu's crew.

Looking back through a mirror, Mitsu was surprised to see a man running after and keeping up with his truck.

As Akanori touched the truck, it gradually lost momentum and nearly slowed to a halt.

Mitsu asked, "why are you slowing down?"

Kube responded angrily, "it's not me tsu" Mitsu then jumped out the front and pointed a pistol at Akanori, asking, "What did you just do?"

Akanori didn't respond, which aggravated Mitsu even further.

"Walk away right now" He said, still holding the gun to Akanori "you're outnumbered. You don't seem to be with the police, who are you? What can you do alone?"

Akanori still didn't respond.

Realising he was wasting time, Mitsu decided he'd kill him and continue with the escape.

Mitsu smiled, "well, it doesn't matter. Goodbye"

He shot at Akanori's chest.

After the shot was fired, Akanori dashed to the side and then behind Mitsu, in one swift motion. He didn't have the time to comprehend what just happened before he was hit at the back of his head and knocked out.

Akanori noticed Kube and the two others who were also in the truck had come out.

One of them was coming from the back of the truck while the other two came from the front. He smiled to himself, grabbed the now unconscious Mitsu by the arm, and threw him towards the back of the truck but Mitsu travelled very slowly towards it.

Akanori turned around to face the two coming from the front.

Kube opened up his hand and extended his fingernails by several inches then immediately lunged at Akanori.

At the same time, the last robber just emerged from the back of the bus. As this happened, Mitsu's body sped up and slammed into his partner at an alarming speed.

Akanori swatted Kube's hand to the side before lunging at the last robber and slamming his fist into his throat. He moved too fast for the robber to block or dodge.

Kube turned around, but Akanori wasn't there anymore. He dashed past him and slammed his foot into the head of the robber who Mitsu had flown into. To make sure he was unconscious.

In a matter of 5 seconds, Akanori had turned the fight from a 3 vs 1 disadvantage to a 1 vs 1 against a now frightened Kube.

Akanori finally spoke, as he noticed Kube taking several steps back.

"What's wrong? You lunged at me with such confidence last time. Why are you retreating now?"

Kube thought to himself, [what kind of monster is he? I'm in trouble here. Do I run?]

Akanori dashed forward once more, slamming his fists into his opponent about 10 times in one second.

Kube too was no match, he fell a second later, unconscious aswell. Akanori had successfully incapacitated all 4 suspects.

"That was boring" He said to himself, "how did the police struggle against these ants.

He bound them by their hands and legs and called the police, who arrived shortly after and arrested the culprits.

A few minutes later, Akanori returned to the scene where the buildings were burning and helped out anyway he could.

Yashiro and Zuno had already started making their way back to the Academy, and Yashiro was completely silent, still thinking about what he had witnessed earlier.

He still tried to understand Akanori's power but had no luck on that front.

Zuno revieved a call from an unknown number.

"Hello, this is Zuno"

"Ah, Mr Shisuki. This is Akanori. I wanted to apologise for missing our meeting. Duty called"

"that's alright, Mr Toshai." At this, Yashiro turned his head to Zuno, who continued speaking.

"We can try to reschedule for another day. Don't worry about it"

"I'll stop by the academy to speak to the young man later on. I just have to sort out some paper work and then I'll be free"

"Alright, see you then"

"what's happening?" Yashiro asked.

"That was Mr Akanori. He says he'll come talk to you at the academy later on so you have your meeting"

"I see" Yashiro said once more, before going back to silence.