“You foolish little girl. You thought you could hide from me.” 

The woman violently kicked a tiny body into the field. She was standing on an elevated plane that led to some stone stairs and a nearby shelter. The familiar little blue-haired girl lay on the ground, convulsed with a fit of coughing as she curled into a ball.

“Huh. This one’s no good. She’s so weak,” grumbled the woman, stepping on the little girl’s head with the heel of her brown leather boot.

“YOU BITCH!” roared Akane in blind rage.

Akane rushed angrily towards the woman. However, having taken a beating and fatigue setting in, the child was easily disarmed and held down to a sitting position. The restrained individual still glared at the woman who simply looked down at her, unamused.

"I hate people like you who exploit their power,” the tomboy seethed. “You think you're worthy? You ain't worth shit! You’re pathetic trash!”

The woman sighed and shook her head as she kicked the little girl to the side. “Now you’re just getting annoying. I’m going to kill you first.”

The woman took off her leather gloves as she pointed towards the restrained child. It was then that Akane knew she was going to die. She didn't know how, but her heart raced as the tomboy imagined different scenarios where she would cease to exist. As Akane struggled to jerk away from the hollow-shelled attackers holding her down, she concluded it was Game Over. 

A charge of green energy emitted from the woman’s index finger, until it quickly shot out towards her prey.

“NOO!”

Umi screamed as she leaped up from the ground and shoved the woman aside with all her strength. As a result, both Umi and the woman fell down the elevated plane with the latter shrieking angrily.

“You little…!” the now enraged woman stomped towards the blue-haired girl. “How dare you touch me! Don't get in my way, you shitty brat!”

Suddenly, with a thud, the sound of a body collapsing to the ground was heard by the girl and the woman as they both looked over, two contrasting expressions on their faces.

“No...I was too late...” Umi stared helplessly at the lifeless body. “I-I couldn’t save you…”

Suddenly, the little girl yelped as the woman kicked her in the head. The girl fell back, her head now bleeding red. On the other hand, the woman laughed triumphantly.

“Who’s the pathetic one now? That boy’s dead! And you couldn’t do a thing. What now, brat?”

**

C-crap…It hurts, it hurts.

Akane lay motionless on the ground as she watched the greenery underneath her turn red. The girl was now on the verge of death. However, it wasn’t a new emotion that Akane felt, as death always seemed close to her heart. The feeling of despair and futility was a never-ending mood that the child became so used to in her daily life. As she had never experienced real love and compassion from others, the problem child believed that her life would not have amounted to much anyway and that staying alive was merely more suffering. It was not that she didn’t try hard enough, the girl simply realised too soon that the world was a merciless place and it had broken her. Flipping through her own memories, the child realised she had nothing of value or rather, she couldn't remember them anymore. She felt empty. Like a certain someone had told her, she was destined to die alone.

And it was that very comment that made Akane frustrated.

Why should I die before all you bastards anyway? Why should I be the one who suffers while they prosper in their shitty life of lies, deceit and corruption? To hell with those lying shitstains, to hell with all the scum in this world. Fear me. Fear me!

The fingers of the child’s body twitched slightly.

But then that child remembered something completely different. The mysterious little girl she had met today. With her strange appearance, her cute pigtails and bright round eyes. The sincerity and unconditional kindness Akane had received from her. The willingness to defend her, the truth that she understood. Had Akane died yesterday, she would not have cared so much. But suddenly, now she felt a new emotion.

Regret.

Akane thought about the weak child who wanted her help. The little girl who had been on a seemingly impossible mission fighting a hidden battle. The one who was now being thrashed by her enemy-a possible criminal. And more importantly, they had left on a sour note. You’re damn useless anyway, she recalled saying. If Akane were to die here, what would become of the little girl? After coming this far, what would have been the point of dying now? Akane wondered as life drained from her body. But she knew, if there was something she hated the most, it was innocent people forced to suffer because of selfish idiots. And so, she concluded.

If only I was stronger. If only I could just see where the rest of this story goes. 

**

Umi crawled towards the shelter in the centre of the empty park. With her head bleeding, sailor uniform dirty and school bag strangely missing, the girl still had the energy to resist her assailant. She rested by the column of the shelter, her temples aching and vision blurring. However, for some reason she had not given up as if the girl was simply waiting for something.

"Don't think you can get away now," huffed the woman as she slowly climbed the stairs to reach her. "Time to die, girl."

The woman pointed her index finger towards the girl in point-blank range. In the same way as before, a green light charged from the tip of her finger.

"Not so fast!" yelled a familiar boyish voice from afar.

In a moment of surprise, the assailant turned her head around in time with a large ball of bright orange flames colliding directly into her pale-skin face. A cracking noise filled the woman's ears as her sunglasses shattered in front of her and quite possibly along with her nose. The woman flew back with an unnaturally powerful force as she collided into a tree. As her body bent backwards the woman spewed out blood from her nose and mouth and collapsed awkwardly to the ground.

"Akane!" Umi shouted in glee, until sensing powerful entities nearing them. "Behind you!"

Akane ripped the blood-soaked sweater off her and dropped it on the floor. The Fragments jumped into action and flashed towards the individual that was emitting powerful flames from their fists. Before the little girl could even blink, the individual disappeared and immediately reappeared in front of one of the black-hooded figures. With a single, effortless strike to the stomach, the Fragment burst into dust leaving a black shard in its place. Akane continued the assault. With supernatural strength and speed, the Fragments were fading one by one. Some hit the ground so hard they created small craters in the ground, their black fluid bleeding through their fabric masks. In a short time, the girl had successfully destroyed all the Fragments left in the vicinity.

The tomboy stood still in front of the stairs and fell silent, clutching her chest that was soaked with red blood. The flames around her fist dissipated.

“...Akane?” Umi asked nervously, still on the ground.

Akane looked away, covering her mouth with her hand as if muffling a certain sound. Then the tomboy couldn’t help but smile and Akane started giggling. Like the 12-year-old girl she really was, Akane began laughing like an innocent child. It was jarring given the situation, as Umi’s first thought was that the classmate in front of her had just lost her mind.

“A-Akane? Are you alright?” Umi reached her arm towards her with a quirky smile.

“Sorry, I don’t know,” Akane continued to suppress her giggles. “It’s ok. I just feel...happy?”

Akane felt euphoric. Her mind had gone blank and she felt happy to be alive. The child was seeing white as her body felt hot. Akane thought maybe this was what it felt like to be drunk. As her uncontrollable laughter subsided, a groan of pain emitted from nearby.

“You...You! Why are you still alive?!” shrieked the woman in confused rage.

“Like I'd die from a piece of shit like you,” said Akane with vicious words contrasting her still smiling face.

Akane turned back to look directly at Umi. She wanted to say something reassuring and impactful.

I’m glad you’re safe.

Are you alright?

It’s ok now, I got this.

But the words didn’t come out, so Akane simply knelt down, patted the small girl’s head softly and nodded. The sun continued to set, turning the sky a beautiful shade of red. The wind was getting colder as the trees surrounding the park whistled. It was calming. 

The tomboy put her hands in her jean pockets and strolled up towards the struggling woman kneeling on the dirt ground. The adult breathed heavily as she desperately began shooting towards the child. Akane casually dodged the beams of energy before appearing immediately in front of the woman. She then promptly bashed the bleeding woman’s face in with her shoe as the woman hit her head back on the tree. Then, like a child jumping into a puddle to create a big splash, Akane landed on the woman’s hand, crushing it into the earth, bone and all. The woman screamed as she desperately tried to pull her hand away, only scraping her skin against the rubber grooves of Akane’s sneakers. 

“Oh, and another thing,” said Akane, looking down at the woman in disgust. “I’m a girl.”

“S-stop it, you creepy brat!” the woman cried in pain, ignoring Akane’s previous comment.

Akane sighed.

“Still thinking about only yourself, huh. Remember, you’re the one who started it. This is your own fault," said Akane, calmly.

The expression on the child’s face was blank and innocent, as if nothing was happening in front of her. While the child’s feet were still planted on the woman’s hand, she lifted one of her legs as they were carefully placed between the joint of the woman’s arm. Knowing full well what the girl could do, the woman started begging.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Please, I’m just doing a job!” pleaded the woman through gritted teeth. “Please...it hurts…I can’t…”

However, that only angered Akane.

“Wrong answer. Don’t think “sorry” is gonna make me excuse you for everything you did.” 

With a face of hot rage, Akane was about to crush the arm of the woman when suddenly she stopped. Instead, the child let her assailant go.

“Pathetic,” said the tomboy, smirking. “You’re not even worth the effort. Just go away and never come back.”

As the woman was let go, she immediately jumped back and smiled.

“Heh. You’ll regret this, you dumb brat,” scoffed the woman, one last time before she disappeared.

Akane stood silent for a moment before coughing up a large amount of blood. She could taste the metallic tang of the red fluid; it was gross. The girl’s legs trembled as she began to lose consciousness, all the pain in her body hitting her at once. Then she collapsed, but instead of hitting the ground, she landed in something soft as it held her up. The last thing Akane heard was a zap of electricity before she blacked out.