Chapter 8: Turf Wars

[mp_npc]

Even though it was nearly 6pm, the sun was still relatively high in the sky compared to just the month prior. The days were getting longer and the air was getting warmer. With the heat brought energy--especially in the particular stretch where Teru had asked Mob to meet up. It was in the southeastern district of Seasoning City, an especially dense urban stretch near the freeway bordering on the industrial part of the city.

Factories and and their smokestacks were in the near distance. Workers in uniform were shuffling about with purpose, disappearing in and out of the narrow alleys that snaked through that part of town likes veins. The scent of street food was strong. There was one food stand that Teru asked Mob to wait near in particular, one with especially good yakitori. A gust of wind carried the delicious smokey glazed scent of it--along with laughter and jeers from one of the alleyways just behind Mob.

"Hey, ain't that a Salt uniform?" A boy jeered as his friends formed a loose-but-coordinated semi-circle behind Mob. Their own uniforms were a rusty red with enormously tacky gold buttons down the center.

Comments

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob blinked. "What? What do you mean?" Mob's expression softened. "Look, if there's something wrong--"

[mp_kageyamabro]

Ritsu rapidly pulled back as his brother approached, but he thrust himself back forward to direct a fierce surge of his built-up power straight at him.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob was blown back with so much strength that his feet left the ground, but he still managed to make the landing.

Pride swelled up in Mob. "Ritsu...! You did it! You wanted this for so long!" Before Ritsu could get a word in, Mob prattled on. "Do you remember? You'd cry your eyes out because you couldn't bend spoons. Who would have thought--"

[mp_kageyamabro]

He had missed. But more than that--something in Ritsu's chest began to twist at the sight of his older brother's affectionate outpouring. He ignored it.

"Listen to what I was trying to tell you." Ritsu stepped over a body, and another, as he began to approach Mob. "I've always wanted psychic powers. Because you had them, I always admired you."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Really?" Mob bashfully scratched his head. "You're making me blush!"

[mp_kageyamabro]

"But that was just a big misunderstanding."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"It was?"

[mp_kageyamabro]

"I couldn't handle my feelings of inferiority and fear towards you. I was only protecting myself by making myself think it was admiration." Ritsu was as still as stone as he said what was absolutely never to be said. But even as he was still, the words came out easily. It was like a great breath he had been holding in for as long as he could remember finally being released.

No--it wasn't quite like that. It wasn't relief he wanted. He wanted it to hurt. He wanted his brother to be hurt like he had all this time. That's what he felt.

"I was scared of you. I never knew what you might do if you got stressed out. We could never even have a fight as brothers. That would be suicide. So I stayed out of your way so as never to cause trouble between us."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob's expression never moved from its usual neutral state.

"Ritsu..." Mob said, but he did not move to say anything more. Mob might be socially unaware person at Salt Middle, but he knew there was more that Ritsu wanted -- no, needed to say. And he wanted him to say all of it.

[mp_kageyamabro]

Ritsu's fists tightened. "I tried so hard for so long...you've never worked hard for anything in your life, so why...!?"

Ritsu forced himself to breathe. This was no time to lose his grip. His fists loosened.

"But now that's just a humiliating past. I've obtained them. I don't have to be scared anymore. That misguided--no, that delusional admiration is gone. I have no interest in our relationship anymore."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob's expression shifted again, this time into a smile.

"Ritsu. I can tell. That's all just a lie."

[mp_kageyamabro]

Mob's calm and brotherly voice shattered Ritsu's composure. "I want you to face me! Hit me with the full force of your powers!"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"But I guess... part of what you said was true." Mob started walking towards Ritsu. "I am your brother. And that means..." But then, he passed Ritsu. "...I have to take care of you."

Mob stopped, then bowed deeply at the collection of bodies in the alleyway. "I'm terribly sorry my little brother hurt you. He lost his temper, that's all." Another bow. "Please look past this and be friends with him." Another bow.

[mp_npc]

Ritsu gaped.

One of the thugs in white groaned and rolled over. "Wait...what'd you say? Are you saying...you're the older brother of that freak show?" He spat as the small boy fretted. He dragged himself back to his feet, suddenly only too happy to jump at the scent of blood in the water. "Think just apologizin' like that is enough to be forgiven, do ya!?

A delinquent from a rival faction joined him in short order. "You need to grovel down on your knees first!"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Oh... okay..."

Mob did not hesitate to comply; he sat one knee down on the ground, and then the other. He bowed so low to the ground that his forehead touched it.

[mp_kageyamabro]

Ritsu could barely comprehend what was in front of him. His sheer bewilderment would have knocked him off his feet of not for the the white hot blade of humiliation running through him like a dagger.

"S-Stop...what do you think you're doing!?"

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Ritsu... there isn't any use in trying to get rid of me..." Mob smiled. "I mean, we're brothers."

[mp_npc]

Watching Mob grovel to the garbage was unbearable. No, it was beyond that, it was an utter farce. Ritsu was pinned to the spot, not by fear, but by his inability to even process what he was seeing or formulate a proper response.

"White T Poison! If you don't want us to beat the shit out of your brother, get your ass over here!" One jeered at Ritsu.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Hold it. You shouldn't do that." Mob rose to his feet. "I was hoping we'd end this. No more hurting people. There's been enough violence."

[mp_npc]

The thin pretense was shattered and the thug in white (now thoroughly tarnished by Ritsu's efforts) yanked Mob up by the collar. "Just who the hell do you think you are, small fry!?"

"Only the strongest can give out orders like that." The boy who chimed in was obscured by a mask but his words were sharp and clear.

The towering Miso leader grunted in agreement. "The strongest will rule. That's the way of the world."

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

Mob's body was shaken back-and-forth as if he were nothing more than a rag doll, but Mob simply allowed himself to be swung. But before anyone could say or do anything else, a hooded figure leapt down from above and snatched Ritsu by the collar as easily as a mother dog snatching her pup by the scruff of its neck.

"You're exactly right." The man's face was obscured by his purple hoodie; even when Mob turned to see what was going on, he couldn't make out any of the man's features.

"Ritsu!"

[mp_simplyacommoner]

~~

Teru was never one to ignore his gut. It was what he was always telling Mob after all. His bad feeling didn't need to get worse for him to heed its warning, but it was, and quickly. He even resorted to calling Mob as he zipped through the city in mid-air if for no other reason than to hear his voice and get a play-by-play--the other boy didn't pick up.

Not good at all.

When he arrived at Marjoram cafe, his feet landed on uneven concrete. There were cracks running through it. The staff at the shops lining the street seemed anxious.

No sign of Mob.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up--there was a distinct electricity in the air. Mob wasn't there, but he wasn't far. The mere feeling he had...it reminded him of that time--

"Hey! Kid! Just who I was looking for!"

Teru's head snapped up, his energy primed and ready to whip out at the voice aimed at him.

"Whoa--whoa! Easy! I'm here to help!" A familiar-looking spirit cowered behind one of the sandwich boards at the sight of his hackles raising.

"...Ah! It's you." Teru squinted to get a better look at him. "Shige's, uh..."

It floated trepidatiously from behind the A-frame, eyebrow raised. "Friend and mentor! That was what you were gonna say, right? Also, wait, Shige? The hell--Argh! Nevermind! Just follow me, okay? Shigeo and Ritsu need backup!"

Without waiting, the ghost zipped down the street. He didn't question it. Without waiting, Teru darted off after it, heedless of who or what he spooked. The closer they got, the stronger the sensation. Even if he wasn't getting sensitive to Mob's presence, he couldn't have missed the spikes of energy making the air crackle in a way he couldn't have described to anyone who wasn't sensitive to it.

When he turned the corner, he saw it. Someone had just been beaten to the ground--it wasn't Mob.

Mob was already on the ground.

And the one looming above them was--

Teru's brain didn't need any more time to process what he was seeing. It was unnecessary confirmation for what he had been sensing this whole time. But seeing--there was a cold fire that was lit in him that had never burned so intensely.

Energy gathered in his whole body and focused on his hand. He was still himself enough not to cause unnecessary collateral even with the sea of cowering rivals in front of him, fully ignorant to his presence. He didn't give the enemy the dignity of warning. Rebar tore itself from the building beside him, one end of the heavy metal driven to an angled point, and it shot with sniper-precision and bullet-speed right at the man's head--

[mp_npc]

"What the hell?!" Koyama sensed the other psychic presence behind him and spun around to meet him face on. But before he could react any further, the rebar tore off his ear, which dropped wetly onto the ground. Had he not moved, that would have been his own brain matter instead.

Koyama stared down at the ear for a second, not quite comprehending what was laying there beside him. But when he did, rage tore through him.

"I'm going to kill you!" He lunged at the new blonde kid, his fists pulsing even brighter with purple-pink psychic energy. He'd gone hard with the little bowlcut kid, but he was going even harder with the blonde one.

[mp_simplyacommoner]

"Humiliated?" Teru taunted, his voice like ice. 'If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him.' That was a basic tactic. This man had devolved into enough rage from losing an ear that taunting wasn't necessary--but Teru didn't care. If he couldn't kill him in one blow he could make him die a completely broken man instead.

The delinquents dove out of the way of the oncoming rampage and Teru weaved to dodge--and he was right to do it. The man's fists tore through his barrier like tissue. He didn't dodge completely unscathed, though--his left shoulder had taken a glancing hit. Even if the adrenaline was keeping him moving and focused, he could tell by the sudden numbness that even a glancing blow was potentially debilitating. He flex his arm--he could still move it, not dislocated--but he didn't have time to do more before he was on the defense again as the man continued his relentless attack.

[spiritsandsuchtrainee]

"Look what you've done..." Mob began to rise up in a way that seemed unnatural -- unhuman. He looked more like a zombie from a movie rising up from a pile of bodies than it did a human. "This is the first time this has happened while I was still unconscious." Psychic energy surrounded Mob, sending ripples of air through his hair and over his school uniform. It was in tatters, but it was a miracle it was still even remotely intact.

Mob's eyes opened, red and bright and fierce. "...Can you feel it? Rage burning in me."

100%.

Despite the rage, Mob gazed out at him blankly as his psychic energy drove the man so deep into the ground that a crater formed around him. Even in this state, he managed to keep enough composure to ensure that Teru wasn't sucked into it alongside him.

"I'm sorry I wasn't where I said I'd be," he said to Teru.

Then he threw his hand out and pulled the psychic towards him with the same level of suction a vacuum might have on a dust mote.