Chapter-1: Rumble Trouble [Subaru POV]

"Man! What a day!" I exclaimed as I walked from work to my home. "Tokyo sure is a hell of a city. Who would have thought that I would have to start working part-time the minute I arrive here?" I thought, feeling exhausted. Well, if there is one thing I learned, it is that you need to start living at your own expense if you want to make yourself at home in Tokyo.

My name is Kenjirou Subaru. I'm sixteen years old. I shifted to Tokyo a few years ago (I can't remember when) from Osaka because, well, I don't know why. I didn't have many friends, or rather, no friends at all. But if there is one thing I remember, it is that the years I spent in Osaka were a daily dose of torment, all because of my family's attitude towards me.

Well anyway, basically, I am a loner whose belief has always been, “Don't expect too many good things in life, or you are wacko.”

Anyway, I was just walking down the same familiar alleyway towards Minato City, which is where I live. Don't get your hopes up now; it's nothing fancy, just a small space enough for one person at a rate of 20,000 yen. Well, the alleyway I pass by is quite dark and damp. Not the kind of place you want to live, right?

I was used to seeing these revolting delinquents do their so-called activities. Or that's what they think. They did nothing but drink and carry out criminal activities, blah blah blah. I mostly mind my own business. Well, I don't want to get into any unneeded trouble, but that doesn't mean that I don't give a damn about what they do. After all, sometimes I do go on a spree and take out a few of them, if my mood supports it. I know it sounds crazy to do this to pass the time, but it really keeps me on my toes, to be honest.

'I am always alone, so I am used to it, but... there is always this desire... to make friends, to understand what it feels like to fall in love... What does it feel like to love someone and be loved? I was never bestowed with such gifts in my life. It's sad, isn't it?'

But sometimes I think, 'will loving someone and being nice to the people around me really change things the other way?' I don't remember anything about my past for some weird and unsettling reason, but... I remember clearly... that very person... that very scumbag who is responsible for whatever I am going through. Just thinking about it makes me want to kill him. It’s true that I can’t remember much, but no matter what happens, I’ll never forget about it. All I can remember is that I am from Osaka, but from where in Osaka, I don’t know. All I can remember is the grudge I held against a particular man whose face I can barely remember. But sometimes I get this sense of familiarity in some situations. To put it simply, it’s déjà vu. But all I have is a piece of conversation that I had with a person whom I was very close to. It was like this:

ME: I don’t want to help them. Why should I? They always ill-treat me. I don’t have a reason to be good to them.

Person: Helping someone in need, no matter how they treat you, is a sign of humility and that you are still human. Helping one person might not change the whole world, but it could change the world for that one person. Similarly, if you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path as well. After all, we rise by helping others.

So far, this philosophy has never had an effect on my life. I never had people who needed me anyway. I was always singled out as if I had a rare disease. I don’t know what others think of me, but I don’t really care. All I can do is put up a front and hide my true self. But I always wished—wished—that people would accept me and treat me as their own. So far, I have met only one, a colleague of mine who works at the cafe I work at, but more on this later.

I must have been too deep in thought about how my philosophy supports my view of life because I jumped, startled by a voice screaming for help. I then noticed a small silhouette racing towards me, which I ignored. The silhouette suddenly stopped right in front of me, and I looked down to notice a small girl tugging at my shirt with teary eyes. Hm? Teary-eyed?

"Purple hair, Big Bro! Please help my sister! Bad boys are going to ki-ki my sister. Please help my sister!” She yelled at the top of her voice. 'Ki-Ki'? What the hell does she mean by that?! The girl was very small, both in terms of looks and age. She had curly blonde hair, blue eyes, and wore a T-shirt with blue shorts. Hmm... too well-dressed to be homeless, huh? Hold on, ‘blonde hair’? Is she half Japanese by any chance?

I got so annoyed that I looked at her and said, "Listen, brat! Quit annoying me already. This has nothing to do with me. So be a good girl, and...”, my voice trailed off as I saw tears rolling down her cheeks. Yeesh, maybe I’ve gone too far. But I looked at her and said, “That’s your sister’s problem. I can’t do anything about that. I am sorry,” I said.

But the girl’s persistence impressed me as she relentlessly tugged on my shirt, begging me to aid her sister. I’d probably say I was too moved by her because she even pushed herself to the point where she bowed to me and insisted that I help her. Feeling discouraged by this, I gave in.

I remembered those words: 'one person might not change the whole world, but it could change the world for that one person.’ Let’s see what I can do. I gave out a long sigh, looked at her with a smile, and said, “All right. Take me to them. Let’s see what I can do, hm?" I pressed her shoulder gently. The girl stopped crying and looked at me with those glistening eyes and asked, “Really? You will help my sister.". I replied, “Sure will.”

“Really, really sure?" she asked me again. “Yeah,” I replied absentmindedly. “Really, really, really sure?" she asked again. I got annoyed and gave her a scary stare. “You little runt... if you insist on wasting my time. You can gladly save her yourself.” I said, giving her a sadistic smile. She yelled, “Yes!”

The girl took my hand and led me down the path to a deserted place. I deserted because there wasn’t any sign of life until I heard screams from a feminine source. I stopped and looked around, and after a couple of minutes, I pinned down the source of the commotion. ‘If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path as well. After all, we rise by helping others. I think it's high time that I put this theory to the test.

The girl led me towards an abandoned warehouse. I swear I could hear stifling laughter and a couple of gags too. Warehouses are supposed to be massive, but this one was exceptionally much bigger than I had anticipated. In my line of vision, there were two massive iron gates decaying with rust since they’d been left at the mercy of their surroundings. The gate was 20 feet tall, easy, and, not to mention, hard to open.

I turned towards the little girl and asked, “Where did they take your sister through? My voice trailed off as I realized I was ignorant about the brat's name. I continued, “What’s your name?”

The girl perked up and gave me a bow, saying, “My name is Mika Michaelson. Pleasure to meet you.” Wow. She has such good mannerisms. I bet she must be from a cultured family. Wait, did she just say Michaelson? Just as I thought, she is half Japanese. Ah snap! This isn’t supposed to be my concern at the moment.

I turned and focused on the gate. I turned towards Mika and motioned for her to hide in the bushes, which she promptly did. "Purple hair, Big Bro, please be careful. Do not get hurt, or Mika will be sad,” she said.

“For the last time, my name isn’t purple hair. Call me Subaru, okay? It's really annoying when people call me that.”

Mika began to tap her pockets as if searching for something and came up with a long, handmade necklace. Handing it to me, she said, “Big Bro Subaru, please keep this necklace. It’s a good luck charm. You will not get hurt.”

How sweet, I thought. It’s been a long time since I saw someone show concern for me. Suddenly my head started to throb, and I collapsed on my knees as a faint memory of someone giving me a chain-kunai ear pin appeared in my mind. A feminine voice said, ‘It’s pretty, right? I bought two of them. One for you, and one for me. If you remember me, just touch your ear pin. I’ll do the same too. No matter how far we are, we’ll always remember each other by looking at this.’

I quickly touched the ear pin I was wearing, unable to recall anything.

“Are you okay? You fell down,” Mika asked.

“I am all right. I just slipped my feet." I gave her a weak smile. What was that? I’ve never given much thought to this matter, but I think it’s not best to leave it unattended. I’ll have to do something about this later.

I looked at the gate and analyzed my strategy. If I go straight through the gate, it will be like telling them, ‘Here I am! Please punch my face!’... which I don’t find enticing at the moment. However, I found an unused ladder and scaled the wall. Sure enough, Mika was wondering what I was doing, but that doesn’t concern me at all. After reaching the top, I looked down. Holy crap, I am so high up right now. One false move, and my bones, or rather, my bones, are as good as broken.

“Big Bro Subaru, what are you doing?” asked Mika curiously.

“What do you think I am doing? Climbing, of course!” I replied as if it were obvious enough.

“Mika wants to climb too!” she insisted.

“Oh no, you don’t. It’s too dangerous for a child like you to do things like these,” I warned.

She understood what I was trying to say, and finally, she agreed that she was about to do something reckless. Even if I did end up getting injured, it wouldn’t be much of a problem for me since I don’t have much to worry about.

They say that there are always latches in the ceilings of the metal sheets of a warehouse. I seemed to be in luck because the knowledge came quite handy. I broke the latch, and it creaked open.

I coughed as the dust rose higher as I opened it. I slipped inside, did an acrobatic swing, and perched on the ledge. The inside of the warehouse was dark and damp, with only a small bulb—good enough for stealth mode. Using the shadows here could serve as a good advantage.

I scanned my surroundings to look for a drop-in guard, but... it didn’t seem to work. There were too many (for such a cramped space), roughly 20 in all. 20 guys just for one girl? Is she a celebrity or something? Maybe stealth is the best alternative down here after all.

I crawled quietly towards a large cargo box and took down two of them silently. As for the other two nearby, I made a distraction by banging on a crate, and sure enough, the two of them were separated, and well, you get the idea.

I was about to make my way to the others when I heard a shaky voice screaming, “Where are Big Bro Subaru and Big Sis?” I stopped dead wherever I was and looked in the direction of the voice, and... Aw man!! What in the name of God is she doing here?!

Can’t that stubborn brat even listen to a thing or two? Had I been gone that long?

A burly voice responded, “Who the hell are you, kid? You’d better turn the way you came, or you're going to regret it.”

“I am not going back. Mika will save them and then go,” she yelled.

My anger subsided just to be replaced by admiration, as I couldn’t acknowledge the sight I beheld. A 5-year-old brat hell-bent on saving two people, knowing how hopelessly outnumbered she is. At this point, I wasn’t sure whether she was seriously brave or seriously stupid. I can't blame her, of course. She is just a child.

‘We must retreat! We can’t possibly fight them! They’re too many! And you... you are just a child!’

The response to that was so shocking that I nearly fell off: ‘You don’t need numbers when you have the courage to confront your enemy. I will take care of them right here and now! Well, it takes a lot for me to lose my temper, but after this mess, I’ve reached my boiling point. I AM SUBARU, THE BLADE OF OSAKA! AND I AM GOING TO UNLEASH MY RAGE AND KILL THEM ALL... AND LIVE UPTO MY NAME!’

“Now what?" I thought. My head was beaded with sweat. My breath was heavier than usual. Just... ‘Ghost Shinobi’? Just whom did I kill? And I killed someone when I was a child? What did I do back then?

I snapped back to reality when I heard Mika’s terrified screams and saw a man pointing a knife at her. She stood there, unable to move, as the man said, “You will never get out of here alive.” The man raised his knife for the kill as Mika was unable to move, frozen in fear as I saw her eyes ringing emergency alarms evidently.

I dashed forward with all my might and came just in time to stop the knife between my hands. I looked at Mika, who started crying by looking at me.

"Hey,

"It’s alright, hm? I am okay, so don’t cry.”

Facing the burly man, I channeled my anger into calm words. “Let me rephrase those crappy words for you: It is YOU whose time is up, you third-rate bastard!”

Startled, he faltered, and I seized the moment to disarm him, sending the knife clattering to the floor. My menacing glare warned the others, who were now realizing the tide was turning.