On his right, closer to the building, he saw Ms. Yoshida on her knees. The kindly but rather surly middle aged widow who owned the ramen shop beside them. Standing above her was a very strange man that Niwatori did not recognise. He had long flowing white hair. He wore traditional black pleated pants with wooden “geta” shoes. He had a red and green rope belt, and wore no shirt. His torso was covered with scars and some new gashes and wounds, and he had a necklace of braided rope around his neck hanging over his chest. He had Ms. Yoshida’s hair pulled back and a short knife pressed against her throat. The man seemed ecstatically happy about the whole situation. To Niwatori’s left, stood his older brother Oki. Blue Jeans, converse shoes, and a tight black shirt under his brown leather jacket was his attire. He stood calmly, seemingly not tense at all. He flicked his cigarette on the ground and put it out by stepping on it. The whole scene was illuminated by the orange glow of paper lanterns lining the street. 

Oki: “Look guy, what's the deal? Nobody here has any money for you. You wanna rob somebody, go to the city.” Oki seemed totally at ease. 

White Haired Man: “HahHAhahaAAAAAA!” The strange man laughed and screamed erratically, “I don’t want money.” 

Oki: “Well look, what do you want then? It’s alright bro, maybe I can help you out.” Oki was trying to sound empathetic to deescalate the situation, but he winced suddenly. He read the inscription on the blade at Ms. Yoshida’s throat. The shawty engraving had two hiragana symbols that read: “Mo Ki”

White haired man: “Oh? What’s the matter, big guy? Your Zunji just flared up, have you realized what's happening?” The man’s blade flashed dimly in the light as he pivoted it back and forth carefully on the woman's neck. Ms. Yoshida screamed out in terror. The crowd reacted in suit. 

Oki: “Where did you get that?”  Oki’s eyes widened, his calm facade was cracking as he took off his leather jacket and tossed it on the ground.

White Haired Man: “I made it myself actually.” 

Oki: “No wonder, it looks like a piece of shit.” 

Oki’s thought bubble: “There’s about three meters separating us, and he has that knife right on her jugular for sure. Even at top speed in my prime, I don’t think I could knock him out without killing her in the process… I’m gonna have to get creative and fast. This guy is serious.”

White Haired Man: “Are you a fellow hobbyist my friend? Not many people know what this mark means, but you seem to have a certain awareness about you. Your Zunji smells strange.”

Niwatori’s thought bubble: “There he just said it again! ‘Zunji’. I knew Oki was lying.”

Oki: “I’m not a hobbyist, freak. I’ve just been around the block.” Oki put his open palms out and took a small step forward. “Whats your name, guy?”

White Haired Man: “Haha! My name is JISHAKU!” The man screamed as he turned theatrically towards the crowd. His sudden gesture nicked Ms. Yoshida’s neck and a drop of blood ran down her chest. Seeing the man look away momentarily, Oki took his opportunity to take another step forward, “You hear that everybody? My name is JISHAKU! Commit it to memory.” 

Oki: “Alright look, Jishaku, I am-” Sweat starts to form on Oki’s brow.

Jishaku: “Shut up!” Jishaku whipped his head back around and grinned at Oki, cutting him off, “I don’t need to listen to you, I can tell you’re still one of them, despite your strong presence.” 

Oki: “One of them? Like these people you mean?” Oki let out a fake chuckle as he gestured to the spectators. He swung his arm and leaned forward as he did so to try and conceal the fact that he just took another step towards Jishaku. The distance between them was closing.

Jishaku: “heh, oh?” Jishaku looked right at Oki’s feet and laughed, “Trust me, you don’t want to get any closer…” Jishaku paused for a moment, “...coward.” 

Oki: “I’m a coward? You're the one with a knife to an old lady's neck.” Oki squated down, positioning his clenched fist in an oddly particular way low to the ground, almost touching the pavement.

Ms. Yoshida: gasp! “You always say I still look twenty five!” 

Oki: -_- “uh well-” 

Jishaku: “Alright, I think this is enough people, it’s time to die.” 

Jishaku started to run his blade across Ms. Yoshida’s throat. Suddenly the blade was knocked away, along with Jishaku’s entire body. Somehow Jishaku had been punched by a… giant? In an instant Oki seemed to disappear and was replaced by a much more massive body. A giant fist slammed instantly into Jisahku’s head and torso, knocking him on his side about two meters away. The giant form disappeared in a flash and there Oki stood again. He rushed to Ms. Yoshida’s side and helped her up off of the ground where she now lay. He passed her off to a couple of employees from the restaurant.

Oki: “Take care of her, please.”

Jishaku: “HAHAHAHA!” The crowd gasped and screamed wildly as they ran from the white haired man now sprinting towards them. Right as he was about to get his hands on a small boy, Oki grabbed his shoulder from behind. 

Oki: “I thought you would stay down a little longer, freak!” Oki turned him around and punched him in the face. As he tried to pull his fist back, a weight stopped him from doing so. He pulled with greater force for a second time, and found that stuck to his knuckles was the grinning face of Jishaku. 

Jishaku: “So your innate ability is size control? That’s insane! A technique like that has to use a ton of Zunji, and yet you use it so skillfully!” Jishaku swung his blade using the momentum from Oki pulling him back up, in an attempt to stab Oki in the gut. 

Oki’s thought bubble: “His head stuck to my fist?!” Oki tried desperately to dodge the incoming attack, but it seemed that pulling away from the lunatic only brought him closer, “His name is Jishaku! (Jishaku means magnet) It’s his innate ability, he can stick to other people's Zunji!” Suddenly Oki managed to disengage from Jishaku, but just barely in time, as Jishaku’s knife cut Oki’s ribs pretty badly. 

Jishaku: “Huh? You lowered your Zunji? you figured out my technique that fast!” Jishaku covered his eyes and leaned backward with laughter, “Aw man! And here I am thinking that by starting off in a hick town like this I could cheat the system. I chose the wrong spot for sure, you’re a world class fighter!”

Niwatori: >:( “He is such a liar!”

Oki: “Tricky little bastard, your technique is niche and lame.” He put his hand to the cut in his ribcage trying to assess the damage. It was bleeding badly, “Wielding a weapon against un-armed opponents weakens your Zunji a bit, but you don’t care, because your weird ability combos really well with a horrible knife like that.” Oki bends his knees and lowers slightly into a fighting stance, “While you’re still conscious, tell me what you meant when you said ‘I’m still like them’.” 

Jishaku: “You know exactly what I meant.” Jishaku bent his knees and crossed his arms in a knife fighting stance, “You are the chicken, I am the eagle.”

Jishaku’s thought bubble: “It’s no problem, I’ll just get in close again and force him to keep decreasing his Zunji. Eventually I can win a battle of attrition.”

Oki: “You say that knowing full well I am about to beat your ass.”

Jishaku: “An eagle that's too afraid to fly, is still just a chicken.” Oki tensed his leg muscles and prepared to speed blitz Jishaku, Jishaku in turn strengthened the Zunji in his arms preparing for the charge. Suddenly Oki changed positions, taking a wide, low horse stance, and launched his fist straight towards the ground in front of him. This confused Jishaku, “What is he aiming at?” Jishaku looked at the spot on the pavement where Oki’s fist is about to impact, “I would hate to be a little bug right the-” Jishaku’s sentence was cut off by Oki’s car sized fist smashing him into the ground from above. Oki had changed size instantly again, positioning so that he would crush Jishaku when he did so. It worked perfectly.