On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Forty-Two

“You’ll be sorry for last time….” the lead thug was saying, his nose looking rather crooked, as if it had been broken and then poorly reset. He was holding a switchblade, though it didn’t seem to be the one from last time. Around him was a motley assortment of seven delinquents, in a variety of styles, sporting piercings, bleached hair, Mohawks and even one with a facial tattoo, which was really rare here in Japan. What was more concerning though was that unlike last time they were all armed. Some had baseball bats, there was one with an iron pipe, and one even had a length of chain, like a biker from some old drama.

I guess they’ve learned to be more intimidating? Still, who would do this after last time? I mean, come on…

Shaking my head to myself at people who didn’t learn obvious lessons I observed the girl that was cowering against the wall, clutching her familiar red handbag to her chest, making herself as small as possible, like a frightened fawn.

Is she the most unlucky girl in the world, or does she enjoy this? Stepping forward, Shaeula behind me, I coughed loudly then called out to the delinquents. “Man, you guys really aren’t good at learning lessons are you? I am sure I told you not to do things like this again.”

As most of the thugs turned the leader with the broken nose glared at me before recoiling in shock. “Fucking hell!” he spat out. “It’s you. I’m going to make ya pay for bustin’ up my nose.” He eyed me carrying all the bags and boxes with the logo of a large local electronics store. “Those will do for starters. Then I’m going to stomp in your face like ya did to me.”

Putting down the heavy TV box and bags I was carrying I turned to Shaeula. “Look after these for me will you? I’m going to teach these idiots a lesson, and hopefully it will stick this time. Can you buff me with your wind again?”

Shaeula nodded as she took the bags from me, a swirl of green energy flowing through me, barely visible under the light of the evening. As I turned back I noticed the thugs leering at Shaeula, who glared back, her amber eyes fierce.

“I tell ya what. I’m feeling generous.” The leader said, licking his lips in a way that really made me want to punch him in the face. “Leave your stuff, wallet and that girl behind and we’ll call it even for last time. But if ya don’t, we’ll beat the hell out of ya and take her anyway. Make the smart choice.”

“That is disgusting.” Shaeula muttered behind me. “Does that worthless scum really think he can touch me-me?”

“Don’t worry about it.” I reassured her. Taking a step forwards, causing the gang to tense up, I smiled, though there was no warmth in it, my eyes like silver ice. “Trying to extort me is one thing, but if you think I’m going to let you hurt Shaeula or that other girl then you are sorely mistaken. And will soon just be plain sore. It won’t just be your nose that gets broken this time.”

Man I’m pissed off. I really hate scumbags like this. Once could be excused as a mistake, but doing the same thing again… besides, upsetting Shaeula is worthy of a beating… They were armed, which was giving me pause, but none of them looked particularly muscled or trained, whereas after checking my most recent stats I knew I fit the famous phrase ‘peak human’ to a tee. Besides, I have the blessing from Shaeula as well.

Even so, it was quite scary to face a mob of armed villains. Five of them moved towards me, leaving the broken-nosed one and one other surrounding the cowering Konoe-chan. They spread out as much as they could along the cramped alleyway into a loose semi-circle. One knife, two baseball bats, a metal pipe and the old-school with the chain…

“Get that fucker…” the one with the chain spat. With his studded denim vest with the ripped sleeves as well as parachute pants I had no idea what style he was going for. His hair was bleached a messy blond and gelled up into spiky whorls. I couldn’t help but leak a little chuckle, which infuriated them more.

“You think this is funny?” one of the ones wielding a baseball bat snarled, his red Mohawk giving him a dangerous look. “See if you laugh when your girl over there is crying as we are riding her in front o…. gah!”

Shut the fuck up, scumbag. Boiling with anger I moved quickly, a breath of wind leaving me, moving aside the air in front of my hand which had snatched a metal lid from one of the bins beside me. It soared through the air at an astonishing speed before smashing into the face of the one that was speaking such filth. There was a resounding crunch and he fell, bat spilling to the ground, alongside the now unconscious man and several of his teeth, which scattered from his loosely hanging and broken jaw.

“Crap, he took down our bro!” the chain-wielder said in shock. He wasn’t there last time I think, so he doesn’t know…. A couple of the others remember though. The one guarding Konoe-chan, with the broken nose, was looking a bit scared, as was another who was covering most of his face with a mask, like a classic school delinquent, or someone suffering from a cold, anyway.

“It won’t be just him.” I snarled, moving rapidly, ducking low to snatch up the fallen bat and clashing against the masked one with the pipe. He blocked my first blow, but the impact jarred it from his hand with a clatter. “Stop… wait…” he protested, before my bat slammed into his side, and my foot hammered into his groin. With a spray of vomit he passed out, tumbling to the ground in a heap.

That’s two. I turned, just in time to see the chain whirl through the air, missing my face by inches, the heavy links ripping chunks of stone from the wall behind me.  The old-school delinquent whipped his chain around again, and I barely blocked it with the bat. Beside him another with a bat of his own was coming for me, with the one with the knife circling to my other side. Behind him a fourth foe was coming, wearing garish knuckledusters.

“Get the fucker! Mess him up!” broken-nose was yelling, while he held onto the arm of the limp and petrified Konoe-chan. “Break his fucking legs and arms and let him watch as we ruin his girl.”

Yeah, we are long past forgiveness for you pieces of trash now. Harassment is bad enough, but rape… I can see I was way too lenient last time. A mistake I don’t think I’ll make again…

Blocking a swing of the baseball bat I forced myself to remain strong as the one with the knife feinted in on me, spitting gobbets of dirty phlegm in my face. A punch from knuckleduster-guy whipped out at me, missing my face and clipping my shoulder, bringing a jolt of pain. Behind them the old-school with the chain was looking on, no room to swing but waiting for an opening. Even as I was observing this I had to dodge another swing of a baseball bat and took a minor cut in my arm as the knife ripped through my t-shirt, drawing blood from the skin underneath.

Crap, I can’t fight three or four easily in this narrow area, they keep surrounding me. But no way am I going to lose. Blocking another swing of the bat I let go of mine, darting forwards. My fist hit him in the stomach, and as he doubled over I jumped, my knee impacting his head hard, flipping him over to land in the garbage bins around with a resounding crash, lying still and limp, blood drooling out from his shattered face.

There’s one… shit…. Pain lanced through me as the chain lashed my back, sending me reeling forwards into a hard punch from the knuckleduster guy, my ribs creaking from the blow.

“That’s it, that’s it! Get the fucker!” broken-nose roared.

As the one with the knife closed in, a wicked glint in his dark eyes, I skittered backwards, dodging the chain by a few inches again. This was getting bad…

“I have had quite enough of this sad display. Time to end it here and now-now.”

I forgot Shaeula is here. Though even with her buffs from the Throne her physical stats are pretty poor. She could probably handle one of them if she had a weapon... huh?

I felt Shaeula pull in wind elemental energy and ether from all around us, seeing a momentarily flicker of green around her outstretched hand. It was then that all of the thugs staggered, suddenly going dizzy.

“Hey… I feel… weak all of a sudden…?” the knifeman said as he stumbled. Taking the opportunity I leapt forwards, raining blows down on him until my knuckles screamed in pain. Behind me the chain-wielder went flying backwards, arm struck by an unseen force that I knew was a compressed bolt of wind from Shaeula, back slamming hard into the wall and leaving him rolling around on the ground in pain, arm hanging broken at an unnatural angle.

“Tch.” Shaeula pouted. “It is so hard to use the wind here, even doing this little has left me drained-drained.”

“Still, it was really well timed. Thanks a lot, you’re the best.” I praised her. Now it was just me and the one with knuckledusters, who was backing off.

“Going somewhere?” I asked before darting in on him, my foot shattering his kneecap. He went down with a cry of pain, joining the others on the ground. Turning to the last, the broken-nosed leader, I glared menacingly at him. “You seriously doing this?” I asked dangerously, letting out the boiling rage I felt.

“Back the fuck off, if ya know what’s good for ya!” he snarled, flick-knife held at the throat of the limp Konoe-chan, who had squeezed her eyes shut and was muttering under her breath, possibly praying.

“I thought you guys were just small time trash last time, but I was wrong.” I took one slow step forwards. “I realise now I thought too highly of you. You are actually irredeemable garbage. Maybe I should clean you up right here so you don’t pollute the city anymore.”

“Take another step and this girl’ll be bleedin’ out.” He menaced.

It’s a good job Konoe-chan has her eyes shut. I also drew in ether and wind around me, causing the thug to tremble a little. Now it was me doing it I could see I was pulling ether not only from the air around me but also from him and Konoe-chan, pulling out a little of the tiny amount of aether they possessed. Not that she could be shaking any more than she is already.

Deciding to think about the ramifications of this later I let out a burst of air and the broken-nosed thug staggered, yelping as the fingers on his knife-hand shattered, turning into a bloody mess.

“Ahhrgh! The fuck is..” he didn’t have time to say mush else as I was upon him, chain that I had snatched up with air lashing down, breaking his other arm satisfyingly, the loose end of the chain whipping up and laying open his cheek to the bone, stunning him.

Ignoring the groans and wails from the delinquents who were still conscious I went over to Konoe-chan. “It’s all right now. We’ve handled them.” I said softly. “Surely this will be the end of your bad luck. They won’t be doing this again.”

Konoe-san opened her eyes timidly. Seeing me standing a safe distance from her she let out a shaky sigh of relief. “It’s … you again. I don’t see how this can happen to the same person twice…”

“Yeah I find it really surprising myself. Hey Shaeula, can you help her up? I want to do something about these scumbags.”

“You can leave her to me.” Shaeula said as she approached, casting disgusted glances at the felons that had threatened her. Walking past Mohawk guy who had planned to assault her she ‘accidentally’ booted him in the groin, her tiny foot wreathed with vibrating wind energy that ground into his vulnerable areas, drawing blood from numerous painful hairline cuts, causing him to groan brokenly through his ruined jaw in his unconscious state. “Everything is fine now. Akio has taken control of this situation-situation.”

As I roughly rounded up the fallen scum and tied them into a bunch with the chain, Shaeula was awkwardly comforting Konoe-chan, who had begun to throw up noisily as she took in the scene of carnage around her. She was patting Konoe-chan on the back while making soothing noises, which I had to admit was very cute.

“All right, done.” I had finished chaining them up, seven back to back, half of them still unconscious, the other half trembling in pain and fear, letting out moans and stifled screams of agony as their broken bones grated on their nerves. “Now we’ve got to work out what we are doing with these moronic scumbags.” Turning away from them I walked over to Konoe-chan. She flinched backwards as she saw me, but after swallowing nervously she raised her eyes to look at me.

“Umm… thanks for this… again. I’m sorry I ran away before but…” she trailed off weakly.

“Don’t worry about it.” I smiled as non-threateningly as I could. “It’s Konoe-chan right? I had to read your ID to find out where to return your purse to last time, I’m sorry.”

“That’s all right.” She said, wiping her mouth. “I’m really sorry. I know I must look a fright…”

“Don’t worry about it.” I repeated. “It’s been an experience that would scare anyone. Still, you’ve managed to get through it unharmed, and there’s no chance of a third time with these thugs.” I glared at them, causing the few who were still conscious to leak out groans of fear.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s Oshiro Moonstone Akio. Please ignore the stupid middle name, I’m a half so that comes from my mother.”

“And you may call me Shaeula.” She piped up from behind Konoe-chan. “I do not need any honorifics, for I am not from this country-country.”

“Oh…” Konoe-chan nodded. “I did think you looked foreign, but your Japanese is really good, if it wasn’t for the doubled words I’d never know the difference…”

“Doubled words?” Shaeula looked puzzled, and I had to laugh, remembering the same conversation I had with her not that long ago. As they both turned their gaze to me I held up a hand in apology.

“Sorry, I just found that funny. Anyway, we have to do something about these trash. But I’m guessing you don’t want to be bothered with going to the police or anything like that, right?”

Konoe-chan nodded. “Yes. I’m sorry Oshiro-san, but I don’t think I could handle that stress. I’m not having a good time right now, and most police are… men…” she trailed off quietly, looking downcast.

“Yeah, I can see how you would find that a bit stressful. Well, how about this. I’ll call the police anonymously and let them know there was an incident. Then you guys will tell them the truth, right?” I glared at them. “You would definitely hate me to find out that you didn’t come clean. If I was to find you guys next time…” I drew a line across my throat with my finger. The only issue is that we used wind attacks here. Most of them would be nigh-invisible, but I did snatch up the chain in plain sight. This is a problem… they may have noticed and might talk…

As I pondered that I could feel Shaeula gathering the wind. It washed over the thugs invisibly, seeping into them similar to the way the blessing of the fortunate winds did with me. “I believe they have learned their lesson. They will be honest about their crimes and will never harass women again I am sure-sure. They will also say nothing about us.”

“Yes.” One of the conscious thugs said, huddled in the chains. “I think I might be gay. I never want to see a woman again.”

“Yesh, mhe thoo.” slurred the other with a broken jaw, and the final conscious one nodded his agreement. “I’ll give up women and come clean to the police. I’ll start over and stop being a delinquent.”

Well that’s going a bit far, but if it works… I exchanged a glance with Shaeula, who shrugged. “In that case I’m going to the payphone back at that department store and I’ll phone it in. I’ll take Konoe-chan with me. Can you stay here and watch them?”

Konoe-chan looked at me, then across at Shaeula. “Are… are you sure you should leave her there with them? What… what if they get free?” she was also slowly inching away from me. I’d feel offended if I didn’t know she just went through a frightening experience again.

“Don’t worry, Shaeula is tougher than she looks. Besides I roughed them up pretty well. I doubt any of them are in the mood to fight any more. Most of them need a hospital. They are doing a real good job not screaming in agony, I’m pretty sure most of them have broken bones.”

The wind swirled around them, tinged a faint, almost unnoticeable green in my vision, and they fell over themselves to offer up declarations that they would not resist and were waiting patiently to confess their crimes to the police. Hmmm.

“But… what if…” Konoe-chan continued, so I cut her off gently.

“Don’t worry. I assure you it’ll be fine. After all, they may have looked scary, but they can’t have been that tough as I managed to handle them, right?”

Konoe-chan blinked in surprise, as if noticing me for the first time. She took in my injuries, minor though they were, my torn and cut clothing where I had been punched and nicked by the knife, the sleeve of my t-shirt stained with a little blood that had flowed from my already scabbed over cut, and the shirt on my back ripped open revealing bruised and torn skin underneath where the chain had scored me, and she bowed her head so low it was almost horizontal to the ground.

“I’m so sorry. You got hurt because of me.” Her voice was trembling with tears.

“I’m not too bad. Nothing that a few days rest won’t fix.  Besides, any man worth the title would want to save a woman in distress right? Besides, I have a sister and a close childhood friend, so I really hate the thought of something like this.”

As we walked back towards the department store I was at earlier to find a payphone, leaving Shaeula watching the thugs with a sour expression on her face, Konoe-chan spoke again. “You also have such a cute girlfriend to look out for too. I bet you just wanted to show off in front of her.” she managed a weak smile.

“Oh, she’s not my girlfriend, we are kind of like work colleagues I guess?” I replied, hoping I wasn’t blushing. I’m a grown adult, not some teenage boy!

“Oh really.” Konoe-chan managed. “And you just happened to be out shopping together during your day off?”

“It did indeed happen that way. Still, I have to admit we get on pretty well.” I smiled. “Anyway, once I’ve placed the call to the police and got an ambulance for those scum we’ll take you home. You don’t live too far away if I remember rightly.” Oh shit, I think that might have come across as a bit stalker-ish.

“You don’t have to do that.” she refused, as I expected she would. We didn’t speak any further until we reached the department store. I quickly entered and placed a call to the police, advising of the incident as if I was a witness who had come across the scene.

“All right then, all done. While I’m here do you want to exchange phone numbers, just in case you run into any other problems?” Oh damn, that just slipped out. I was trying to be helpful but coupled with the comment before now I sound really creepy.

“I’m… not sure I’d need to…” she began shyly, but as she glanced at my face she must have seen something in my expression as she smiled weakly. “But all right. I am grateful to you, Oshiro-san. I can have Shaeula-chan’s number too, right?”

“Uhh… yeah, sure.” Now that’s an oversight. “While I’m here I just have to get something really quick.”

********

Returning to where Shaeula was keeping an eye on the thugs I noticed first how quiet they were.

“Uhh, they aren’t dead I hope?” I asked, causing her to scoff.

“Hardly. I just told them to quiet down as their wails were annoying me-me.”

“I see. In any case we need to get going, I don’t want to be tangled up with the police and Konoe-chan wouldn’t want the hassle either. By the way, here.” I handed her the item I had bought at the store, a brand new phone that matched the ones I had bought my sister and Eri-chan, only this one was in orange as close to amber as I could find.

“Oh, this is one of those mobile phones you mentioned. As your loyal servant it is about time you rewarded me properly-properly.” She seemed pleased as she opened up the box, a tiny trail of wind energy slicing through the packaging.

“So she is a work colleague. I guess you are her boss then?” Konoe-chan giggled shyly. “She seems like she is quite fond of you despite that though. Her Japanese is great but her word choices can be a little odd at times…”

“She’ll fit in soon enough. She’s a big fan of Japanese history, as you can tell by her dress sense.” I explained it away as best I could. “Anyway, I think we should be going.” Gathering up all the bags and boxes I had bought earlier we left behind the now silent delinquents, as the wailing of sirens could be heard in the distance…

Seriously, how did no-one else come running with all the shouting and screaming that those stupid thugs did? I know they were in the back alleys but still… has public order in Tokyo really got so bad…? Oh well, no time to worry about that now I guess.