Thud...! Satsuki jerked violently in his arms. Dropping his gaze to the child, Shindo saw her eyes were flung wide open and her entire body was beginning to tremble.
“Miss?”
“You can’t have him...” Satsuki hissed, looking at the man from the safety of Shindo’s embrace. “You can’t...”
Rustle! Swish! There was no breeze in the greenhouse, yet the wisteria, surrounding trees, plants, and flowers all swayed to and fro as violently as if there were a storm!
“Shindo...belongs to me...”
“What the hell?” the man exclaimed, a dubious expression painted on his face as he looked around. There was only a slight artificial draft blowing through the greenhouse, yet the plants were thrashing as wildly as if there were mighty winds.
Rustle! Swish! Crackle...!
The man couldn’t feel any wind against his body, but there was undeniably some form of pressure like a strong wind blowing through the greenhouse. Even Shindo with Satsuki in his arms—not just the man—spun full circle to take it all in.
This was the first time Shindo ever saw the plant life in the greenhouse throw such a fit. With Satsuki tucked in his embrace, he found himself wrapping his arms around her even tighter. The fact that she was the one disrupting the trees and plants didn’t escape him.
Satsuki’s body felt abnormally hot. It was akin to the fevers she ran when she caught a cold. Her temperature was obviously climbing at a tremendous rate.
“I won’t...let you take...Shindo...” she muttered as if delirious from the fever. But the moment the words were out of her mouth, Shindo’s arms were struck numb!
He was so surprised, it made him loosen his hold on her. The numbness in his arms didn’t feel like the pins-and-needles of poor circulation, but an electric shock. This was the type of numbness felt when electricity ran through the body. If he had to compare it to something, the closest thing he could think of was when he got zapped by a stun gun.
“Shindo...belongs to me...!” Satsuki repeated.
Zap!
“Whoa!” Shindo’s arms flew away from Satsuki as if he were being repelled! Electricity coursed through the girl’s body! His arms were repelled from her.
Rustle! Swoosh...! The trees, flowers, and bushes swayed violently.
Satsuki pulled away from Shindo’s limp arms and slowly...rose.
“You can’t take him away...” She slowly began to walk. The man stared silently at the approaching little girl. “You can’t take him away!”
Bang! The moment Satsuki shouted, the man’s sunglasses shattered to pieces and crumbled off his face! Beneath the crumbled sunglasses revealed cold, brutal eyes. Those eyes glared intently at the girl closing in on him.
“Miss!” Shindo shouted as he jumped to his feet. He tried to stop Satsuki, but soon learned the futility of his efforts.
He couldn’t get near her. If he tried to reach out to Satsuki, his fingers would come in contact with the same electric currents that repelled his arms earlier. A curtain of electricity was draped around her. Or perhaps she was creating the electric barrier around herself.
“Miss...”
Shindo had never seen Satsuki like this before. He had never seen anything like this! Although he had seen her play with the plants and flowers or creating a gentle breeze, he’d never once seen her unleash a protective invisible electric field in a rage.
“What...is Shindo to you? You have no right to take my Divine Wisteria...” Satsuki lashed out. The electric whirlwind emanating from her made the child’s beautifully long, jet-black hair whip in the air. In this windless greenhouse, it posed a strange sight to behold.
“Be gone!” Satsuki shouted in a voice with unconcealed rage that Shindo had never before heard. The moment the words left her mouth, the man’s massive body was tossed like a ragdoll against one of the trees behind him! The tree creaked loudly as it bent against the impact of his muscular body.
“...Ngh...!” the man groaned. His entire body spasmed before slowly collapsing to the ground. The pain of crashing into a massive tree wasn’t the only source of his suffering. His muscles felt like jelly as if someone just tasered him.
“Leave! Don’t take Shindo from me!” Satsuki screamed.
Lightning. If there was any word to describe this, it would be “lightning.” A flash suddenly crashed down upon the man’s head!
Boom! There was a deep, massive crash! Following that blinding light and boom, the great tree behind the man split in half!
“Miss!”
Shindo was terrified that if Satsuki kept this up, she might do something irredeemable... Spurred by his sense of dread, Shindo desperately reached out to Satsuki! But each time his hands drew near, the electricity racing through the air around her kept him back. Not even Shindo could touch Satsuki now.
“Miss! Please stop! Don’t do this!” he cried out.
The man was lying on his stomach by the tree struck by the lightning-like flash. His body began to twitch as he slowly pushed himself to his elbows. The moment he was up, red blood began to pitter-patter off his body in big droplets. His open mouth stood out as a crack against the flesh of his charred head. But that didn’t stop the man from glaring balefully at Satsuki as he guessed, “...Yer...psychic...?”
The man shifted his menacing glare to the young man behind Satsuki; his face twisted into a scornful grin. “You’ve fallen...into the hands of a...terrifying creature...kiddo...”
The greenhouse was perfectly still. The man’s weak voice came out no more than a whisper, yet it nonetheless road on the breeze to reach Shindo and Satsuki’s ears.
“...Yer gonna...die... That monster’s gonna kill ya...”
“…” Shindo gasped, his body recoiling. The weight of the word “monster” drove his body down with tremendous weight.
“...Return to our hideout...kiddo...if ya wanna live...” the man continued.
Shindo’s gaping eyes were glued to the man who was looking beyond Satsuki to gaze upon him. This was the man who looked after him when he was no better than a stray dog. There were times he yelled and hit Shindo, even beating him within an inch of his life. But recognizing Shindo’s potential, he looked after and cared for him more than anyone else.
This was the man who once said, “I’ll keep ya under my wing till ya can fend fer yerself.”
Those days were filled with nothing but competition and rivalry with the other boys Shindo’s age. Caught in that drudgery, the man would drop by every now and then to tell stories of his own youth. Back then, Shindo felt that was the only time he could “breathe naturally.” He truly viewed the man as a father...
“If ya stay with that brat...ya’ll...die...” the man warned.
“...Pops...”
Whether the man’s words were spoken out of concern or as a threat, not even Shindo could say for certain. But he knew that the man was the one and only person who took any interest in his future back in that hellhole.
“Miss! Please stop already! Miss!” Shindo shouted. But it was already too late...
“Gaaaaaaah!” The man screamed as his body jumped up, his chest thrust outward. With his hands clutching at his head, his red mouth agape, it was clear the man didn’t rise of his own volition.
“...Gah...! ....Hah...! ...Gah...!” The noises akin to a tongue-twister never made it out of his lips.
Surrounded by sparks, the man shook from electric shock. The electric current flowing through him was a high enough voltage it threatened to burn his body to a crisp. This electric shock forced his broken body to its feet when he was unable to rise of his own volition.
“Pops...” Shindo uttered in a horrified whisper. His face blanched with terror, he was unable to peel his eyes from the nightmarish sight. By age twelve, he had seen people die more times than he cared to remember. It was a common sight for him back then. But had he ever seen such a cruel and unusual death? It was hard to believe such death could be brought by the hands of...
“Show me everything,” Satsuki commanded, glaring with narrowed eyes at the man whose body jolted violently from electrocution, making red blood gush from his head. “Show me everything you know about Shindo...”
At that moment, it dawned upon Shindo. What if Satsuki was trying to read this man’s mind to see his memories? What if she was tearing through his mind in search of memories about Shindo to uncover all he knew?
“Miss...” Shindo whispered as he gazed upon Satsuki, unable to draw near her, let alone touch her.
A vortex of electricity swirled around Satsuki. Sparks flashed throughout the energy waves emanating from her. Even Shindo could tell she was approaching her limit for her to be on the verge of combustion.
Satsuki’s pitch-black hair drifted with the swirls in the electric currents. The hem of her dress billowed as if she were standing in the midst of a mighty gale.
“I won’t give Shindo...to anyone...” she declared. He swore to stay with her forever. He promised to stay at her side.
This was the boy Satsuki chose when she was still a newborn baby. What was so special about him? What made Satsuki choose him? In truth, Satsuki no longer knew the answer herself. The only thing she knew for certain now...
“Don’t take Shindo from me!” she screamed.
...was that if she lost him, she would most likely lose sight of herself!
The man’s body rocked wildly! Upon reaching a boil, his blood began to rapidly bubble through the wounds across his head. Neither consciousness nor life still held their grip on the man, yet Satsuki continued to lash out her powers. She was unable to rein them in. The electric currents surrounding her flashed sparks, whipping her hair wildly to and fro.
“Miss!” Shindo cried out. What should I do? How can I stop the Miss?!
The man had been reduced to a lifeless thing. Raised under his wing, he was the one person Shindo went so far as to call “Pops.” Even though his life was spent, the powers emitting from Satsuki made his body continue to convulse. It was as if he were her marionette.
In the face of this limitless discharge of power, an unthinkable possibility passed through Shindo’s mind. If Satsuki’s powers continue to go out of control, won’t they ultimately burn her out? What would happen to a psychic that unleashed their power without control?
I won’t let that happen... The Miss chose me to protect her... She saved me from that living hell and spared my life. Her life must never be put in harm’s way!
“Miss!” he screamed like a madman. His heart was filled with only one desire, much like when he was in danger of dying at the hands of the man. I don’t care what happens to me! Not as long as I save the Miss!
Shindo plunged into the currents swirling around Satsuki. Pulling her toward his chest from behind, he gave her a great hug!