A group of ASes were looking down on the fight from a distance. Like the one with the stone mask and the one with locs, they were leaders of the Justice Corps. They looked strong, like you’d imagine defenders of justice to look. Half of them were female.
“Huh. They look like superheroes,” said Hiro’s AS, eyeing them over.
A large group of Justices brandishing lances, hammers, Chinese broadswords, and all kinds of other weapons were encircling the Dragon. With a roar, they attacked.
It was one against many. The Dragon seemed to have no chance of winning.
He slowly crossed his arms. Then, with terrific speed, he ripped through the air and sliced into the Justices as if he really were wielding a sword. The tight knot of opponents surrounding him hurtled away all at once.
“Ahhhhh!!”
They were shooting crystal-shaped beams of light.
Every spectator in the stadium was watching, spellbound.
The Dragon turned away and rose slowly on his hind legs. The leaders of the Justices muttered among themselves in astonishment.
“How awful…!”
“Why’s he have to take it that far?!”
“Does he want to make this all about himself?!”
They went on like that, criticizing the Dragon righteously. This set off booing from some of the spectators.
“They’re right!”
“That asshole ruined Belle’s concert!”
“How do we make him pay for this?!”
Soon the cries spread through the whole stadium.
“Apologize to Belle!”
“Quit wasting our time!”
“Get out of here!”
“Get out!”
A weird mood engulfed the stadium. I looked around. Almost every AS present had turned on this lone opponent and was booing him thunderously.
The Dragon stood alone in the center of it all. To me, the bruises covering his back seemed almost like a physical manifestation of all the criticism he was enduring.
Without thinking, I spoke to him.
“Who…”
He turned slowly toward me and took me in with his sharp eyes, but said nothing.
“…are you?”
I asked the words that came to my mind.
Finally, he opened his mouth. His voice was garbled, like he was speaking through a filter.
“…Don’t look.”
“What…?”
“Don’t look at me.”
The eyes staring at me from between the mess of curls held rejection. I could ask no more.
Just then, a sharp voice echoed across the stadium.
“Beast!!”
A man confronted the Dragon imposingly.
“I won’t allow this. I will not stand for it! As long as this dragon lives, U will have no peace!!” he thundered, arms crossed.
“Is that their leader?” Hiro’s AS asked.
Yeah. His name is Justin.
He had bristly blond hair and blue eyes. His imposing, muscular body brought to mind strength and bravery, while his white battlesuit evoked a noble character. He was the very image of a hero, a great man, an ally of justice, a savior.
Justin raised his right arm and pointed to the insignia on his wrist.
“See this?!”
The insignia glowed and swelled, metamorphosing into a metal winged lion’s head. From the lion’s mouth, a bolt-action mechanism discharged a jewel-like lens. It looked like a cannon.
Justin held it up for all to see.
“Behold the light of truth that safeguards justice and order in U! We shall unveil the evil Beast!!” he proclaimed in a voice so loud it could probably be heard in every corner of U. Banners printed with the names of corporations unfurled behind him in rapid succession. Apparently, these were his sponsors.
Hiro’s AS pointed at them, wide-eyed.
“Look at all those sponsor logos!”
“What’s he mean by umbale?” I asked.
“Unveil,” she answered, making a peek-a-boo gesture.
Justin positioned his right arm as if he was taking aim. The inside of the cannon glowed with a mosaic of colors. The particles of color converged, emitting a green light.
Pwaaa!
The light ripped through the darkness, straight toward the Dragon.
He dodged by a hair.
Again, the particles of light converged in Justin’s right hand. He fired a second shot.
The agile Dragon evaded, keeping his distance. He seemed quite wary of this mysterious light.
“Rrgh…,” Justin snarled, lowering his arm. His moving target was apparently too far away for the long, slender beam of light.
“The doors!!” he commanded, signaling to his troops.
They scattered in all directions. A moment later, the units began rumbling as the gaps between them narrowed.
“Oh no…” I gasped.
The light faded. Once the units slammed shut, darkness engulfed the stadium.
Several searchlights operated by the leaders of the Justices switched on in unison and lit up the Dragon where they converged.
“It’s over, Beast!! We will rip the veil from your hideous origin here and now!”
A cry rose from the crowd.
“Oooooooooh!”
They were all on Justin’s side.
“Yeah! Do it, do it!!” Hiro’s AS piled on.
Rip the veil from his origin? They can do that?
A moment ago, Justin had promised to “unveil the evil Beast” with the “light of justice and order that safeguards U”—that green light. He must’ve meant that he intended to reveal the identity of the person manipulating the Dragon in the real world. In other words, he was going to violate the privacy that U’s security was supposed to guarantee for all members. That was how I interpreted the word “unveil.”
I doubted anyone would protest if the AS being unveiled was someone so universally despised. But what if the shoe were on the other foot? No one would want to be unveiled themself. Wasn’t it supposed to be forbidden? Wasn’t everyone supposed to be equally protected?
The leaders advanced toward the Dragon, searchlights in hand.
The Dragon blocked his eyes with his hands, as if he hated the blinding blur of light. The leaders kept their lights trained mercilessly on him. He seemed frozen by the brilliance.
From a distance, Justin carefully took aim.
The lights drew closer on each side. Keeping them fixed on the motionless Dragon seemed to me unbearably cruel.
The inside of the cannon gleamed, the beams merging.
“Get him!” Hiro’s AS screamed excitedly.
I stared silently at the Dragon.
Perhaps he noticed me, because he looked up in my direction. Our eyes met. My heart pounded.
“Wha?!”
Suddenly, the Dragon bounded toward me. The searchlights wavered uncertainly, their target abruptly gone.
“Hmph.”
Justin lowered the gun, then quickly raised it again and fired two shots in rapid succession.
But the Dragon slipped past the light beams and hurtled straight at me.
“Ahhhhhh!!” Hiro’s AS and I screamed. We were too overwhelmed to move.
The Dragon bore down on us with ferocious speed.
He’s gonna hit us!
“Eek!” I screamed again.
But the Dragon merely skimmed past. A blast of wind followed a second later. The Dragon kept climbing, then twisted in midair to land on the set’s steel structure. Hiro’s AS looked up at him, enraged.
“Watch it, asshole!! You could’ve hurt Belle!!”
Wrenching loose one of the steel bars, the Dragon dove toward us again.
“No!!”
Again, he skimmed past us at high speed as we hunched in fear. He was aiming for Justin and the other leaders.
“Whoaaaa!!”
They screamed and scattered, dropping their searchlights. The Dragon followed in hot pursuit, brandishing the metal bar over his head as if to say he didn’t intend to let them escape.
The searchlights flickered off, plunging the stadium into darkness once again.
I heard a brutal impact, followed by the pained howls of the leaders. What was happening in the darkness? An invisible terror held the audience in thrall.
“Open…open the doors!!” Justin screamed, as if he could hold out no longer.
Gaps in the stadium walls cracked open, practically at his command. The heart-rending forms of the fallen, motionless leaders were bathed in light.
I wondered how many ASes the Dragon had managed to freeze in that short time. His power was overwhelming.
Justin backed away, his face stiff.
“I…I will not tolerate this…!”
The Dragon tossed aside the metal bar and soared off in the opposite direction. I followed him with my eyes.
“I’ll unveil him if it’s the last thing I do!” Justin screamed, swearing his revenge.
The Dragon acted like he didn’t hear his enemy’s words, flying between a gap in the stadium roof before vanishing.
For the longest time, I kept staring at the empty space where he had been.
“Who…are you…?”