10Shotaro Minami stared out of the window as he sat in Kawaguchi's class being lectured on chemical compounds. He couldn't care less. The news this morning told the story of a jogger found dead by the reservoir, her heart torn out of her chest and face rendered unidentifiable. Shotaro noted that it was the fifth story of its type this week alone and the thought hadn't left his mind since.
A serial killer? In my neighborhood?
It was the type of thing he'd only seen in movies or on television. Was that why it seemed so surreal?
Out on the sidewalk, he watched a group of three ugly, familiar faces step onto his school grounds, their green uniforms sticking out starkly amidst the school's signature black. He could make out one of them holding a baseball bat and could hear them calling his name muffled by the glass window. He watched one of the school's faculty approach with a wagging finger, before the boys leveled the bat toward him and laughed him off.
So you're back? Shotaro thought with a grimace.
Shotaro stood up from his seat.
"Minami!" Kawaguchi yelped, "Don't you dare think about leaving in the middle of my lecture. Sit down, immediately!"
"I'm going to see the nurse."
"For what?"
"My knuckles are aching."
Shotaro descended the steps from school building to find the three delinquents standing in the center of the quad. The one on the left straddled a baseball bat over his shoulder and the one on the right swung a chain at hip level. The tallest one in the center flashed him a toothy grin. His rough, freckled face stared down Shotaro with contempt.
"Minami!" he yelled out, "Come face me you coward!"
"Kazuma Shima," Shotaro called back, "Are these idiots your lackeys? Am I no longer worth fighting man to man?"
"Get him!"
The delinquent on the left ran toward Shotaro with his bat raised. He swung at Shotaro's ribs where Shotaro caught the bat with his arm and punched at the delinquent's hard head rhythmically with lead fists before wrenching the bat from his possession. A clank rang out as he smacked the delinquent over the head, bringing him down.
The other one rushed at Shotaro swinging a chain over his head. He launched it towards Shotaro who intercepted with the bat. As the chain snaked around the bat, Shotaro yanked it towards him, relinquishing the chain from the delinquent's grasp with a rattle. He launched the bat at the delinquent's face where it landed with a sharp crack against his nose. The delinquent fell to his knees holding his bloodied face.
"Well, Kazuma, what now?"
Kazuma ran screaming at Shotaro, lobbing fist after fist in his direction. Shotaro, ever nimble, weaved out of the way before kicking his heel into Kazuma's throat. Kazuma fell to the ground, choking for air. Shotaro walked off.
"That's 21 victories to your 0. Try harder next time."
The streets of Higashi City were surprisingly empty at this time of day. Shotaro took heavy steps under the dull grey sky where the sun hid, cloaked by a ridged blanket of clouds. Not a pedestrian nor a vehicle passed by and the air pressed against him like a crushed ant.
He chose to skip the rest of school, unmotivated by academic learning of junior year. Instead, heading home in hopes of uncovering more news on the recent murders. He hadn't yet understood what it was that captured his attention. He knew the answers lie beyond proximity, but at present they proved far out of his reach.
What puzzled him most about his interest was its nature. Throughout his life he'd had no empathy concerning the welfare of others. He'd seen someone bitten through the thigh by a dog once when he was a child, but he didn't so much as wince in pain. He'd never felt a genuine need to apologize, and ultimately wouldn't mind it if people never felt they ever had to apologize to him. He could never truly comprehend the point. The only person he'd ever demonstrated an authentic concern for was his younger sister, Tsubaki. With her, empathy only felt natural.
Walking past the glass edifice of a towering building, he noticed his reflection, patting into place the hair he had ruffled during his fight. Bright red open marks on his knuckles throbbed and he resolved to ice his hands when he got home. From his peripheral, a figure haunted the reflection. He whipped his head behind him to see a man in a brown trenchcoat with a hat obscuring his face.
Shotaro walked on, but continued his wary glances behind him. The man walked about car's distance behind him. There was a ceaseless echo from approaching loafers on the sidewalk. If this man was following him, it'd be best to be rid of him sooner, Shotaro thought.
Shotaro turned the corner into an alleyway. He clung to the wall as he listened for the man's footsteps. He clenched his fists and held his breath. Suddenly, the footsteps were silent. Shotaro peeked out from behind the wall, eyes searching the streets for the man in the trenchcoat. With no one to be seen, he let out a sigh of relief. Then his legs stiffened. Suddenly his joints froze and the ends of his limbs grew heavy.
A chilled breath crept down the hairs on the back of his neck. He desired to turn his head but his neck resisted like a rusted lock before giving way to his will. Strenuously, he turned his head to meet the presence looming behind him. Just as his eyes caught its terror, the cursed creature's shadow rose over his person.
Its pallid white skin shimmered violet in bands of light. Its limbs were twice the lengths of even the largest human. Long bony claws extended far past its fingers and saw-like teeth grazed the inside of its own mouth. With imperceptible speed it wrapped cold fingers around Shotaro's throat and in that same instant, drove its other hand through Shotaro's chest. He wanted to look down at his torso, to confirm blood he felt trickling was truly his, but the creature's grip on his neck denied him. A soft ringing grew in his ears until its pitch drowned out any other noise. The colors of the alley dimmed to grey and soon all he could perceive were mere forms and shapes. Darkness and light stirred in ambiguity until he felt his body collapse onto the granular pavement. And then, there was nothing.
_gestalt_
Shotaro's eyes blinked open. His vision was all darkness and oblivion, but came to recognize shadowed figures and soft noises. A sharp light accompanied the click of a lamp that ached Shotaro's eyes as they slowly adjusted. Sitting in front of him behind a desk, scrawling notes into a notebook was a young man whom Shotaro estimated to be in his late 20s. The young man wrote in silence for a moment, placed his pen inside the notebook and closed it on its spine.
"How are you feeling, Shotaro Minami?" the young man said as he stood.
"Who are you? How do you know my name? Where am I?" Shotaro was suddenly aware that he was sitting in a metal chair, uncomfortably cold from the air in the room. He noted how bad the bulb on the lamp was. In its darkness he couldn't tell where the floors ended and the walls began.
"We saved you from that creature. Or don't you remember?"
Shotaro flashed back to the vivid images of the sickly white beast that attacked him. A shiver shot through his spine.
"That thing you saw was a creature from another realm. In our realm we've come to know them as Shattered."
"You haven't answered my questions," Shotaro said. He looked down at his chest, where a large hole tore through his school shirt, now frayed and browned with dried blood. He touched his skin under it, realizing the physicality of his flesh. He was alive, but how?
"Trust me, when we're done here, you'll realize there are bigger questions you should be asking yourself; like 'how am I going to protect my sister from this nemesis?'"
Shotaro's eyes shot through the young man. From what he could see, he was handsome and clean cut, but the shadows only revealed half of him at any time.
"Don't fret Minami, we're on the same side," the young man's voice carried throughout the hollow space. "My name is Akira Otomo, the Cipher of the Black Smile. I've been investigating you for quite some time. Welcome to the Agency Office."
Shotaro shook his head, "You're who? What's going on?"
Akira rounded to the front of the desk. The lamp light behind him wrapped his silhouette in a fluorescent halo of light. "I've watched you for the past few weeks as you've rendezvoused from home to school and elsewhere."
Shotaro pouted.
"You've doubtless taken note of the killings that have occurred recently on your side of Higashi City. You were watching the report on Junko Mitarai, the jogger they found by the reservoir."
"How do you know that?" Shotaro asked. "There was no identification found on the person. They tore away her face."
Akira leveled his eyes towards Shotaro as if disappointed by the inquiry. "The Shattered, the creature that attacked you, is the same creature that tore apart Junko. We at the Black Smile are something akin to Shattered Hunters, though we are formally referred to as Archetypes."
"Archetypes?" Shotaro mindlessly repeated.
"There has been an increase in Shattered related incidents throughout Higashi City and the greater Shibuya area. And these numbers will continue to rise in the coming days. Shotaro, the Black Smile has deemed you suitable to join our ranks."
"What?"
Akira leaned in closer to Shotaro's face, hands in the pockets of his black leather jacket, "We can give you the power necessary to fend off these monsters. All we demand in return is your complete subjugation."
"Are you crazy?!" Shotaro stood up from his chair but one look into Akira's hazy brown eyes compelled him to sit back down.
That wasn't by my will. What was that?
"You can refuse, Shotaro Minami, but I'm sure you wouldn't want your sister, Tsubaki, to end up like Junko as she walks home from school one evening."
"Why me? Why not someone else?"
"Two things really, number one: you're ruthless and care for little else other than your own self-preservation. And number two: you're young, virile, and the most capable street fighter in the city. In short, you're the perfect warrior," Akira said with a grin.
"And what if I say no?"
"You will not," Akira spoke mirthlessly.
"But what if I do?"
"Then the Shattered will kill you, your sister, and your family. Japan will be reduced to smoldering rubble in the next six months, followed by the rest of the world."
Shotaro thought in silence for a moment. Then he said, "I'll take my chances. Can I go now?"
Akira shook his head with a smile, "You're not as smart as I'd hoped you would be, but maybe that's to our benefit." Akira removed a hand from the pocket of his jacket and passed a sleek black mobile phone to Shotaro.
"What is this for?"
"To call for help when you need it."
"I won't use it."
"It's pointless to refuse. The phone will make its way to you no matter what."
Shotaro hesitated for a moment, but eventually reached a hand out to grab the phone. Akira extended an arm into the shadows. His voice directed the way.
"Keep walking until you feel a door, then simply push open."
Shotaro did as commanded and found himself in the town mall, exiting the men's bathroom. He crossed his arms over his chest to cover his bloody school shirt. He was only a few blocks from home and decided to make a run for it in hopes that he'd arrive home before his parents did.
_gestalt_
Shotaro was the first one home and quickly threw away his ruined shirt and the mobile phone Akira gave him. He watched the news for any updates on the killings until the rest of his family returned home.
Hours later, he sat with his mother, father and sister at the dinner table eating yakiniku. Sizzling strips of steak sat on the small grill in the center of the table. Tsubaki, his fourteen year old sister, sat picking one strip to eat at a time, while their mother picked four for her bowl before eating. As Shotaro reached for a piece of his own, his father intercepted his hand with his own.
"Oi Shotaro, what happened to your hand?"
"Oh this? I've been fighting."
Tsubaki sunk her head. She'd thought her brother would've learned not to be so blunt by now.
"Fighting?" his father yelled, "Is this how you repay your loving parents who have given you food and shelter?"
"No, you don't understand," Shotaro explained, "they picked a fight with me. I was defending myself."
Shotaro reached out for a piece of meat, only to be rebutted by his father's hand again.
"And on top of that, I got a call from your teacher Kawaguchi. Walked out of class again today?"
"I had to see the nurse."
"Why?" Shotaro's father asked with narrowed eyes.
"My knuckles hurt..." Shotaro said remembering suddenly what he'd told Kawaguchi.
Tsubaki giggled to herself, stopping under her mother's gaze.
At least someone is enjoying this, Shotaro thought.
"Well maybe they wouldn't hurt so much if you didn't skip class to get into fights!" Shotaro's father snatched away Shotaro's bowl from under him. "No dinner for you. Go to your room and study. Make yourself useful for a change."
Shotaro stood up and walked to his room. No fuss and no hassle. This was a common occurrence in his house and he usually kept ramen and a small kettle for boiling water in his room for these scenarios.
Hours after dinner, Shotaro laid on his bed with eyes fixed to the ceiling. A soft knock on his door caught his attention.
"Come in."
Tsubaki walked in holding a bottle of water.
"Drink this," she said, handing it to Shotaro. "You drink too much soda. You're going to get acne."
"Thanks," Shotaro put the bottle by his bedside.
Tsubaki's eyes hovered around Shotaro's room before taking a seat at the edge of the bed. The croak of grasshoppers and the whir of cars on the street filled the silence between them.
"What is it?" Shotaro asked.
"Why do you always have to fight? Don't you get sick of it?"
"Sometimes it's a big hassle, but you know how it is. Tough guys always come looking for trouble."
"It's been that way since we were little kids back at the old house," Tsubaki sighed. "But why don't you ever stop? How come you never turn down their challenge?"
Shotaro blinked. He thought for a second. "I guess it never felt like an option."
Tsubaki stood up, turned on her heel, and stuck her tongue out at Shotaro. "I don't buy it, what a lame excuse. Whatever, I'm going to bed. Don't drink the water too fast. You could die."
"Goodnight," Shotaro said as the door closed behind her. Hands behind his head, he closed his eyes and took in the noises from outside, until a violent scream from outside his room pierced the silence.
Shotaro shot out of bed and kicked open Tsubaki's door. Inside, he saw Tsubaki huddled by the walls and a deathly white humanoid crawling in through her window. Shotaro ran towards it and leapt forward with his foot crashing into the creature's face. His body felt weightless in the freefall, but he was all too conscious of the fragility of his head as he and the creature collapsed out of the window and on to the street.
"Shotaro!" Tsubaki cried out.
"Shh!" Shotaro hushed, climbing to his feet. "Don't wake mom and dad. I'll draw him out of here. If I'm not back in ten minutes, call for help."
Shotaro watched Tsubaki's head disappear into her room before turning his gaze toward the Shattered as it rose, slowly steadying its balance.
Two in one day? What a bad joke, Shotaro examined the Shattered before it could train its eyes on him. This one isn't like the first one. I can still feel my limbs.
Shotaro charged at the Shattered and launched a fist to its jaw. The punch rang out like a bat against steel and Shotaro quickly withdrew his aching hand. The Shattered stared into Shotaro and Shotaro stared back. He couldn't see himself in its eyes. Instead he watched fragmented shards of his reflection.
The Shattered unfurled its claws and lunged for Shotaro's skull. Shotaro leapt back, mostly avoiding the blow but maintained several scratches across his cheek to his nose. Before he could react, the Shattered threw a punch to Shotaro's gut, sending him off his feet.
Shotaro's back scraped against the pavement but he stood to his feet in an instant. He needed to get out of here, he needed a location where he could handle the Shattered.
The park is my best option.
Shotaro charged for the Shattered once again, but kicked off the yard fence, and leapt over the Shattered's head, before dashing down the street and taunting the Shattered. The creature gave chase and Shotaro ran down the back alleys of Higashi City in his pajamas. Shotaro looked behind himself to check the creature's distance. It chased close behind him with only an arm's length of space separating them. Shotaro sped up and rounded a bend that lead into the main street. Though normally empty at this time of night, the otherworldly fluorescent headlights of a sixteen wheeler truck widened as they sped closer towards him.
Shotaro closed his eyes and made a desperate lunge forward, the gust of the passing truck sweeping his shirt in the updraft behind him. A menacing crunch sent the truck crashing against the road behind Shotaro. He turned around to the sight of the truck compacted form against the Shattered's outstretched fist. The Shattered caught sight of Shotaro and rushed for him once more.
The two weaved through dark street corners and eventually dark woods, before happening upon the City Park. Shotaro positioned himself in front of the swings, awaiting the approaching beast. Suddenly, the vibration of a mobile phone rumbles in his backpocket. Shotaro reaches in, revealing the sleek black phone Akira gave him buzzing with no caller ID or number, simply an option to answer. The Shattered emerged from between the trees and charged forth with outstretched claws.
Time slows as Shotaro glares into the Shattered's fragmented eyes as they draw nearer. He sees the monster with its fist buried in the damaged grill of a truck, and then Tsubaki's face and her anguished screams of his name echo out in his head.
Dammit!
Shotaro answers the call, and instantly his body feels emptied of all weight and pain. His vision sharpens to the point where he can count individual pores on the Shattered's flesh and its range lengthens to the point where he can almost see the police lights at the scene of the truck incident. The Shattered's approach now seems drawn out and laggard. Shotaro sidesteps its swipe with ease and forces a strong kick to the Shattered's torso sending it flying into a tree, separating its trunk in two.
Shotaro dashes towards it, covering the distance in an instant. He draws back a fist which throbs with tension as he pulls back, before firing his knuckles into the Shattered's skull, cracking it open. Shotaro pulls back his fist as Shattered blood drips off his fingers.
Red. Just like us.
A buzzing heard in the distance reminded Shotaro that he'd merely dropped the phone in the heat of everything that happened. He looked to see who was calling. The ID said "AKIRA."
Shotaro answered "Hello?"
"Welcome to the Black Smile."