Reunion
“ ..Lumiere. ”
“ Ah, unnie.. ”
“ What happened..? Huh? ”
“ Why are you crying, unnie. It’s not like that. Please say it’s not that. ”
“ Ah, hah, I wish it weren’t either. ”
“ ..Unnie? ”
“ What is it? Tell me. Please- ”
“ ..Hah, hah. So.. ”
“ They both passed away. ”
“ A villain was committing a building terror attack and trying to escape when an accident happened. ”
“ A hero fired an attack that the villain deflected, and that hit the car my parents were in- ”
“ ..Ah. ”
“ Why? Why of all people? ”
“ So. Why? ”
“ Ah, Mom.. Dad.. ”
“ Hic, hah, huaaaang.. Unnie, what do we do now? ”
“ Lucia.. What should we do..? ”
“ .. ”
Spending a day in the academy was a rather arrogant thought.
It took me two hours to realize that.
Lumiere and I were now backed against a wall, surrounded by strangers.
Anyone could tell these two men looked like local thugs.
One man had a tattoo that looked like it belonged on a gangster.
“ Hey.. Sir, what’s going on here? ”
“ Exactly.. Didn’t you take the wrong train? ”
A clause that Z-district train stations fell under legal jurisdiction.
That was why I had thought the station was safe.
No, it really was safe. The moment you committed any crime here, you became a criminal and could never return to the city.
We didn’t want that penalty.
But.
“ If we give them a fair cut and turn these kids over, how much cash would that be? ”
“ They both look like they’ve had it rough in life.. ”
“ That’s why. We came to the right place. Right? ”
It was a deadly penalty for us who were thinking of returning to the city.
For those who had intended to enter Z-district in the first place, it was no penalty at all.
A criminal record meant nothing if you lived in Z-district anyway.
To these thugs, we were like a starter pack offered before entering Z-district.
“ L-Lucia-? ”
“ Really, how do we- ”
“ Wait. ”
Lumiere was clearly sensing the crisis and hastily raising his arm to stop me from gathering mana.
There were obviously people watching this trashy train station.
Even if we fought them, normalcy might be claimed to some degree.
But the issue was that we got normalcy. Lumiere would be fine, but I was missing, so..
If we went to the police station or court, they would confirm I was missing.
Then Lumiere would-
That couldn’t happen.
“ What’s that? Isn’t that mana? ”
“ ..Was he an Awakened? ”
“ Eh, even if he was, what good is his power? Doesn’t he look frail? ”
“ And isn’t the sir an Awakened too? Just grab him by strength. ”
The men who had been talking while watching Lumiere’s brown mana flare up for a moment.
They had quickly decided it wasn’t a threat and were approaching again, slowly.
Why did I sense mana just a bit? Was that thug actually an Awakened?
“ ..Tsk, ”
Lumiere was tapping my back, unable to decide what to do.
“ Let’s go- come on, kids. Will you come quietly? Or get beaten and dragged? ”
“ Bruises aren’t my style- I’d prefer you just come quietly? ”
Tsk, disgusting.
We had to deal with them. At this point, there was no choice.
Not a 100% certain method, but-
“ ..Fight. ”
“ Are you sure? It’s okay? ”
“ Yeah. ”
Lumiere asked for final confirmation, then gathered mana from his hands.
I also started interfering with the station lights around us.
“ What? You want to fight? ”
“ Hah, annoying. I said you’d be better off coming quietly- ”
“ What can you do? Huh? Can you actually use your abilities? Just come quietly- ”
The thugs kept approaching anyway.
And from Lumiere’s gathered brown light, something shot out-
Kugugung-
“ Go away..!!! ”
“ Khek?! ”
“ Uck?! ”
“ .. ”
Tick. Tick.
At the same time, the station lights went out all at once.
Exactly, only the area around us, but it was enough to steal the thugs’ vision.
Lumiere had probably created a rock from his hand and pushed them away.
“ Wh-what, shit..! What the hell did you- ”
“ Why did the lights go out? You kids- ”
The thugs looked panicked, as if they hadn’t expected things to go this way.
They had assumed the situation would unfold as they thought, and now they were panicking. It was clear they had a problem with their intelligence.
So they had come to Z-district.
..But that was the same for me. I had also thought things would only go according to my plan before-
Kung-
“ Lucia..! ”
In the meantime, Lumiere’s ability had activated again. The heavy sound of rocks growing, followed by the impact of a person hitting something.
Tadak. Tadak. Tadak.
While pushing them back, Lumiere kept turning the lights off and on. He needed to figure out their positions.
Once he had a rough idea, he would charge-
Wooduk-
“ Cuaak- ”
The terrible sound of a neck snapping, and a short death rattle from one person.
Wooduk-
“ Kuck- ”
And once more.
Like stepping on a cookie. No, twice more, even more brutally.
Finally, Lumiere charged toward the gangster’s spot-
Whoosh-
Missed.
“ Tsk. ”
So he was an Awakened after all. Or maybe he hadn’t been standing as foolishly as he looked, thinking he was the leader.
Tick- Tick-
Since he couldn’t find them in the darkness anymore, Lumiere lit the station lights again.
Then-
“ What? They’re gone. ”
They had disappeared.
The ones left were still leaning against the wall, reaching out with their hands, breathing roughly. Lumiere.
And the two thugs whose necks had been snapped.
They had known they couldn’t win and fled in advance.
Should I call it skilled or what? No.
Wait, why no footsteps? Was it a special ability?
“ Hic, hick..! Lucia.. ”
Lumiere was breathing roughly beside me and calling out.
He had been shocked by the sight of the snapped bodies.
I was slowly approaching him when-
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“ ..! ”
My body jerked at the sound of footsteps coming from afar.
Probably the station manager. He had heard the commotion and was coming to investigate.
It was the plan I had expected. I had thought about how to handle it while fighting.
I grabbed Lumiere by the shoulder.
His black eyes, which had been forced to meet mine, were trembling with panic.
“ Lucia..? ”
“ Listen well. Lumiere. ”
“ Someone who watches this place will come. When that person arrives.. ”
“ I’ll kill these two. You’ll say you were running away after hearing the noise while trying to kill them. ”
“ ..What? ”
For a moment, panic vanished from Lumiere’s eyes, replaced by confusion at what I was saying.
“ Why? Why insist? You could just tell the truth, right? ”
In a normal situation, that would have been fine.
But if we did that, we would be taken back to the city, and Lumiere would be contacted in the process.
I had to avoid facing Lumiere right now. Preferably forever.
“ We have to deal with something here. ”
“ So go to the city first. I’ll follow later- ”
“ W-what are you saying? Dealing with something- ”
“ Time’s up. ”
“ I’m going to the city soon too. I’ll find you then. So don’t worry. ”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The footsteps were getting closer.
It also meant I had to talk faster.
“ You wanted to go to the academy, right? You always said so. ”
“ If you apply now, you can probably start from the second semester. ”
“ .. ”
“ Lucia, you always.. do whatever you want.. ”
Lumiere’s eyes were trembling, then his eyelids fluttered once.
When the eyes reappeared, the trembling was gone.
“ ..Okay. I believe you. ”
“ You have to come find me. ”
Lumiere said that and pushed my shoulder away.
The footsteps were growing louder, indicating the place was about to be discovered, so I hurriedly turned my body and ran in the opposite direction of the approaching sound.
“ Hey..! What are you doing here- ”
After turning a corner, a startled woman’s voice came from behind. They had probably been found.
It’s done. At this point. I couldn’t have left this place through the normal route anyway, like Lumiere.
After finding a way to hide my identity in Z-district, when I had enough mana to teleport, I would go to the downtown area.
“ Hah. ”
How far had I run?
Chiiiiik-
The sound of the train entering filled the station.
It was perfect timing. Lumiere would be able to get on right now.
The people getting on the train didn’t seem many. I saw a few cars passing, maybe six?
“ Hoo, hah.. ”
Thinking that, I started walking toward the station exit.
At that moment-
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound of someone running after me-
Thump-
I felt a hand grabbing my shoulder.
***
“ The next train will arrive at Z-district shortly. All passengers, please disembark. ”
The announcement that we were arriving in Z-district came soon.
So I had come this far.
Z-district.. Even when I was a hero, I had only been here a couple of times.
Because no one here was arrested. We had only come to catch a villain who had fled here..
This was my first time taking a train here.
Chik-
The train stopped, and the doors opened.
The station beyond the door looked like something..
It was rundown to the point it was hard to call a train station, but it seemed to at least be fulfilling the role of a station.
From here, I would find unnie, right? There was a sign there, so I started toward it-
“ ..Ah? ”
The plan to slowly search for unnie was disrupted from the start.
Of course. There was a white-haired child walking toward the station exit.
Exactly the same build as I remembered. Most importantly, exactly like the last appearance I had seen at the association yesterday-
A turquoise ring on the arm.
“ ..Unnie. ”
I found her. Finally.
I hadn’t thought I would find her right away, though.
“ Unnie, unnie. ”
I chased after unnie in a hurry. This time, I couldn’t let her slip away.
Luckily, unnie didn’t suddenly disappear this time,
Thump.
Finally, I could reach unnie.