Chapter 2: Depressing Ways

Chapter 2: Depressing Ways

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Several hours later, Heiwa found herself in one of the many waiting rooms of Tokyo Hospital, which was located in downtown Tokyo. The demon's attack had caused quite a large stir among the citizens of the city. Many people, scared for their lives, panicked in the streets, which prompted the Prime Minister to call the Army in to help keep order in the city. Despite this precaution, however, many people still panicked and rioted, and there were quite a lot of looting stores and acts of violence in the streets.

In the hospital itself, the atmosphere was much different. It was much, much quieter than it usually was. Heiwa felt like she could reach out and touch the dead silence that was in the room. Her right arm, which had been damaged quite severely by the demon, had been bandaged; and although she was the only one in the waiting room who had actually been attacked by the demon, she was the most cheerful, despite her obvious concern. She sat with both of her hands in her lap, the only thought in her mind was the memory of the way Rickter had mercilessly killed the demon, and his penetrating glare at her afterwards. She shuddered as she recalled his dark-red eyes staring into her very soul.

She looked up as the door opened, and when she saw who walked out she stood up. "How is she, Doctor Li?" She asked with concern to the man, who looked to be middle-aged, and was dressed in a mix of a doctor's uniform and a business suit.

The man looked at Heiwa and smiled. "She will live." He told her, at which Heiwa let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thankfully, the creature's claws missed most of her vital organs. It will take awhile before she will be well enough to go back to teaching, but, given enough time and rest, she will make a full recovery."

Heiwa smiled as tears welled up in her eyes, relieved at the good news. She remembered the awful feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had felt earlier when she had ran out of the school, and had heard Mrs. Foster scream in pain behind her. She was glad that she going to be all right.

"How is your arm?" The doctor asked, breaking Heiwa's train of thought. She looked at her bandaged arm and smiled.

"It still hurts a little bit," she said. "But it feels much better now than it did earlier."

Doctor Li smiled. He had been Heiwa's family physician for several years, and he remembered vividly the shock he had when she was wheeled into the operation room, her arm bleeding and torn in multiple places. She's one tough girl. He thought to himself. It'll take more than that to keep her down. "I have a few other patients that I have to attend to, so please excuse me." He nodded as he extended his hand to Heiwa, which she shook. "It would be best if Mrs. Foster didn't have company at this exact moment. But if you come back at, let's say noon tomorrow, I believe that she will be well enough to see you; and I'm sure that seeing you safe and sound would make her day."

Heiwa nodded. "Yes sir." She said with a smile on her face. "Thank you so much, Doctor li."

The doctor smiled, and after nodding once again, he walked back into the backroom to his next patient. Heiwa walked out of the waiting room feeling like the happiest girl in Tokyo. She was so relieved! When the medics found her outside the school roughly half-an-hour after the attack, she told them about Mrs. Foster, and the medics quickly transferred the both of them to the hospital.

She exited the hospital and was walking down the busy street towards her home when she stumbled forwards as someone jumped on her from behind.

"You're aliiiiiiive!" A voice cheerfully said. Heiwa struggled a bit to turn around, but after she was able to she embraced Rose, who was standing behind her. "I was so afraid that you didn't make it!" Rose said, tears streaming down her face. "I couldn't find anyone willing to help, so I came back to help you myself. But when I got back you had vanished, and all there was on the street was a small piles of ashes. I was so scared!" She hugged Heiwa tightly and sobbed as she finished speaking.

Heiwa looked up in deep thought as she remembered. That's right. She thought to herself as she remembered how Rickter saved her, and how he had incinerated the demon.

"Well, anyway," Rose said, breaking Heiwa's train of thought, which tended to be broken quite often. "I'm just glad that you're safe, but how did you get away?"

Heiwa sighed. "It's a long story," she said, as the two friends walked down the street. She told Rose how Rickter had arrived minutes after she left, and how he had defended her from the demon; but she purposely left out the part when he burned it, so Rose wouldn't get too frightened. Even with her censoring that, she still managed to say enough to make Rose start.

"Wow…" Rose said in awe as Heiwa finished. "Well, I guess he's got a thing for you."

"Wh…what!?" Heiwa stammered, blushing bright-red. "What makes you think that!? We only just met earlier this afternoon! I barely even know him!"

Rose laughed at Heiwa's embarrassment as the two friends continued walking. Heiwa quickly changed the subject, and the two continued talking until they reached Rose's house. "Well, I'm glad that you're okay." She said, holding Heiwa's hand in hers. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow!" She waved as she opened the front door and walked in, leaving Heiwa to walk back towards her house, which was located a couple blocks away. It was now almost midnight, and even at this late hour, the city of Tokyo was still extremely busy; like nobody had the time to even go to sleep. Heiwa had just crossed a street when she heard a voice behind her.

"Good evening, Miss Heiwa."

She started as she recognized the voice, and turning around slowly, she saw Rickter standing behind her with a smile on his face. "Oh…hello Rickter." She said, trying desperately to hide her discomfort. She couldn't help but feel rather uneasy around him, and that feeling only intensified as he walked closer to her.

"I'm glad to see that your arm is doing well." He said, looking at her bandaged arm. As he did, Heiwa noticed that his eyes had somehow gone back to their normal blue color, and seeing that made her relax slightly.

"Yeah," she said, moving it slightly. It still hurt a bit, but Doctor Li told her that if she kept it easy for the next couple of days, it would soon be as good as new. "Oh! That reminds me, thank you for your help earlier. You really saved me back there."

Rickter smiled and nodded. "Sure, it was my pleasure." He said graciously.

As they talked, several people were walking by them, minding their own business. The light from a street lamp was shining brightly on them, so Heiwa was able to get a good look at Rickter. She glanced at his hand, which she saw to her surprise had no burn marks on it whatsoever.

"Uh…if you don't mind my asking," she said hesitantly. "How did you kill it?" Rickter said nothing, but his smile slowly disappeared, which Heiwa noted. "Who are you really? How were you able to kill that demon? Have you always been able to kill demons?" She asked not in a demanding way, but in a curious manner, so as not to make it seem like she was threatening him.

Rickter himself said nothing, but instead he looked towards the street, supposedly ignoring her.

"Well?"

"It's getting late." He said, not paying any attention to her question. "The nighttime is always their favorite time of day." Heiwa was confused, but she decided to say nothing as he continued speaking. Above them, the street lamp flickered a bit, but then resumed glowing. "The creatures of darkness, while they do not fear the day, the night is their playground. They thrive in the night, gathering up strength, striking when nobody expects it."

As he finished speaking, the clock tower in the middle of the city began to toll loudly, making Heiwa jump. She counted the chimes, and a shiver went down her spine as she counted twelve in total.

Rickter looked back at her and smiled. "Well, it was nice to see you again." He nodded, and then walked into the street. Heiwa, rather curious on where he was going, followed close behind. Rickter walked through several side streets, and down countless dark alleys. Many times Heiwa lost him, but every time she lost him she was able to find him again. In her mind, she questioned where he could possibly be going, as it seemed at this point like he was just wandering aimlessly. At that time, they were in the most run-down part of Tokyo, which had quite the reputation of being the most dangerous part of the city; and the very thought of that made Heiwa shudder.

She followed Rickter to a house, and from behind a wall she watched him pull something out of his pocket. She couldn't tell what it was, but she kept a close eye on him as he opened the door and walked in.

She walked in after him, and looked around. The house was two-stories high, and was furnished quite nicely. On the walls hung many portraits of famous fighters from across the world, including Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower. Also hanging on the walls were many different guns and knives. She looked towards the stairs, and saw Rickter walk calmly up them. She walked up after him, but when she got to the top she saw no sign of him. Getting rather nervous, she scanned her surroundings, but she didn't see him anywhere. She did notice a big difference in furnishing, though. While the first floor of the house looked very tidy and clean, the upstairs was rather run-down, and looked like what used to be some kind of office area. Great…where did he go? Before she could answer her own question, however, the sound of a man screaming was heard down the hallway, making her freeze. She quickly recovered, however, and ran towards the sound, afraid that Rickter was in trouble. She ran into the room where the scream had come from, and what she saw startled her terribly.

The room was furnished like all of the other rooms in the run-down upstairs: ugly tables, overturned chairs, and walls that either had paint worn off or holes drilled in it. The room itself was filled with eleven men, all of them armed to the teeth with various knives and guns. Facing them at the doorway was Rickter, and on the ground between them were the charred ashes of what used to be a small fire.

"Rickter!" She gasped, making him turn around. A chill went down her spine as she saw the same transformation in him that she had seen earlier that day: His eyes were no longer blue, but were a dark-red color!

The men, seeing that their opponent's back was turned, instantly lunged at him with their knives, but Rickter, somehow knowing exactly when they'd attack, dodged every attack and knocked several of the men to the ground. Rickter clenched his fist tightly as an eerie blue flame began to envelop around it, and only then did Heiwa realize with horror what the ashes on the ground were: They were the remains of one of those men!

"Rickter! What are you doing!?" She screamed as he grabbed one man's arm and set him on fire. The man screamed in agony as the flames licked at him, and slowly ate away at his flesh until there was nothing left but charred ashes.

"D-Damn you!" One of the men shouted as he took out a pistol and shot point-blank at Rickter. But to his horror, Rickter tilted his head just enough that the bullet missed him, encasing itself into the wall behind him. At the sight of this, the man back up uneasily. "What…what the hell are you!?"

Rickter didn't bother to answer him, but instead lunged at the retreating man and set him on fire. Heiwa watched in complete horror as Rickter calmly burned one man after the other. "Rickter!" She shouted above the noise, but to no avail. Rickter couldn't hear her, and even if he could, he didn't care. Her eyes stung as the smoke blew everywhere in the room, her nostrils burned as the smell of burning flesh hit it.

By then, there were only two men left alive who could fight Rickter. One of them lunged at Rickter with a knife, but Rickter grabbed the man's arm and jabbed his elbow into the man's chin, knocking him down. Before the unfortunate man could stand back up, Rickter had set him on fire.

The remaining man was trembling violently as he watched his comrade get killed. He yelled angrily as he fired his pistol several times, but Rickter simply dodged every bullet shot at him. Rickter finally back the man up against the wall, and the man desperately tried to hit Rickter with the butt of his gun, but Rickter knocked the weapon out of the man's hand. Then, to both the man's and Heiwa's horror, Rickter put his right hand on the man's face. "Aku ni wa sh?ri wa ari emasen. Yuiitsu no shi." He said calmly as the man quivered in terror.

That sentence… Heiwa thought. I've heard that before…somewhere… She suddenly gasped as she remembered the way Rickter had killed the demon earlier that day. "Rickter!" She screamed. "Don't do it!"

"There can be no victory for evil…only death!" With that, a torrent of blue flames engulfed the unfortunate man, completely incinerating him in seconds.

Heiwa fell to her knees as the slaughter finally ended, stunned and horrified at what she had just seen. Rickter had backed away from the wall as the flames vanished, his eyes turning back to their normal blue color. "How…how could you…?" She said slowly, the tears streaming down her face. She looked up at Rickter. "How could you just kill them!?" She clasped her hands over her face and sobbed as Rickter stared at her.

Rickter didn't answer, but instead walked past her and towards the door. "It's getting late." He said, stopping at the door. He turned back towards her and looked at her for a minute before he continued speaking. "You'd best get home." With that, Rickter walked out of that house of death, leaving Heiwa too stunned to move.

Heiwa didn't get home that night until almost two in the morning, and when she did; she fell into her bed and cried herself to sleep. A dark cloud had gathered over her once-peaceful life, and she didn't know if it would ever leave.
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To be continued...