Daiki weaves the incoming fist then slams the thug to the ground. He glances back at Nora and Rei to see if they're keeping up with him. They seemed to be fighting well, but something felt off. Suddenly, another fist comes flying toward Daiki. The punch sinks into his face while time seems to slow down for a split second. "As if that'll do anything." Daiki peeks over the thug's fist, knocking him out cold with a quick yet impactful chop to the head. As Rei and Nora are about to start fighting the remaining thugs, Daiki decides to sit down and get comfortable. "I'll do most of it, Rei." Said Nora. "You can sit out a bit if you want." Rei relaxes slightly. "I'm still gonna fight as well. I'll jump in whenever you're finished." "Shut the hell up and fight!" The red nosed thug barks as he charges toward Nora. Nora, with her hands behind her back, dodges the attacks, jab after jab. She mocks the thug by fake yawning. "I could slow down if you'd want me to." The thug gets more and more irritated, as the number of people attacking her starts to increase. Nora takes a deep breath and exhales for what feels like an eternity. She grabs one of the thug's by their arm. "Ever heard of a Gift, little dude?" She tears the thugs arm off with absolute ease. "It's a power that everyone has." Daiki's expression starts to pale. Nora reaches out behind her. Behind her stood nothing but the crisp morning air. "My gift is Spacetime Manipulation. I can control space in specific ways." Nora grabs the air and rips it, creating a tear in the air. She leaps in to appear behind one of the many thugs. Her hand perches on his head. Nora's grip solidifies. "And I can stop time."
In a split second, a head can be seen, flying in the air. Droplets of blood start to fly in all directions, shifting the atmosphere there. The thugs who had seen enough began to run. Nora smirks, and in under a second, one by one, heads start to fly in the air. As they fall onto the ground, the tension begins to fade. "Sorry about that Rei, I accidentally got carried away and killed them all…" Rei sighs, a bit annoyed "Whatever… not like it matters anyway…" She pops her knuckles. "I probably should have done it a little less… goreily." As they turn to continue their journey, a rock flies toward Nora who swiftly catches it but diverts their attention. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Daiki screams, a concerned expression washing over. Nora looks at him confused. "I got rid of them. Have you never seen blood before?" Daiki shakes his head. "You… You killed them! In cold blood! They didn't deserve to die!" Nora starts to get visibly annoyed. "Huh? Aren't we talking about the same thugs who came up to us with the same malicious intent I had for them?" Daiki insists. "Even so, killing them is too much! Losing your life a squabble like this is… its so…" Nora towers in front of Daiki, looking down with a sharp expression. "They were going to kill us. I killed them. If you think shit's sweet and everyone's friends you're dead fucking wrong." Daiki stares down, rattled as Nora continues. "Your mindset is too weak. If you have a goal, chase it, and kill anyone that gets in your way. Now stop sulking like a bitch and raise your head."
The trio start to slow their pace as they approach a huge shrine. This shrine seems to have gone through tens of hundreds of years, but the view it gives to those to go to it is nothing short of gorgeous. Nora sits on a big and mossy tree stump. "Try training here. You could focus here no problem!" Daiki dismisses her. "This is what you brought me here for? Sightseeing?" Nora looks over at Rei as he instantly gets the memo. "Come on, Daiki, cheer up a little. Death is something that comes to all humans. There's nothing wrong with it coming a little early. And plus, this shrine would be a perfect place for you to train a bit and understand yourself on a better level." Daiki still doesn't buy it and keeps pressing them. "How would a fucking building boost my power? I'm not a toddler." Nora sighs. "You got two hours. Once that's done, we're leaving." Rei looks slightly surprised, whispering a little too loudly. "Do we really have to wait that long? It shouldn't take that long, y'know…" Daiki looks annoyed. "What shouldn't take too long? Spit it out!" Nora turns to walk away. "We'll be back in 2 hours. Don't waste your time." Daiki is pissed, but decides to not push it. He looks around, the afternoon breeze howling against him. "This view is pretty nice… real nice, actually." Daiki walks around, but doesn't really find much. He starts to replay what happened about an hour back. Those thugs… they were brats but they shouldn't have been killed. That was wrong on Nora's part. Daiki sighs and starts shadowboxing. She was talking about a better grasp of my gift… Daiki tries to do new things. He tries to be more formless, more textbook, more observant, more lax. "Fuck! What am I supposed to do!" Daiki takes a deep breath and continues to shadowbox. He starts to think back to Nora and Rei again. There's a chance they could be right. I should probably forgive them and stop acting so grumpy.
"We're back nerd." Nora walks toward Daiki, who's sitting and sweating. "You want a cream puff?" Daiki avoids eye contact with her but reluctantly agrees. Rei butts in, getting slightly serious. So WE!" He says, while nudging Nora "Found out we can't be here cuz it's blocked off." Rei starts to munch on a cream puff "So we should prolly get out of here quick before the New Age finds us." Daiki stands up, confused. "What the fuck is a New Age?"
"I can't believe you don't know such common knowledge…" Rei says while jumping off the roof of a house onto the road. "Back in the day, around a decade back, gifts were first discovered. The government wanted to let all people use them freely and even give people tools to help awaken them with minimal trauma and injury. A few people working for the government did not like that one bit, and decided to rebel by killing the president. They perfectly timed it to when the next election happened so no one suspected anything. They started to create a mystery compound to kill people's gifts." Daiki jumps down from the roof as well. Nora also jumps down and purposefully lands on top of Daiki, smashing his face into the ground. "Oopsies~" Rei continues. "They made this compound to get rid of gifts all over the world and to make this group the strongest in the world. Over time, they've snuck it into everyday things like water, pills, and clothing. But they discovered something revolutionary in the worst way possible. People who have already awakened their gifts are not affected by the compound. Now that almost 98% of people are already giftless from this compound, they switch up their goal. They dedicate a good chunk of their tools and time to kill all people with gifts." Daiki tugs Nora's sleeve and asks "Let's go to the convenience store real quick." Nora agrees and all three of them enter the convenience store. "Now there are people around the world blending into the crowd. There are undercover cops, workers, and stuff like that.." Daiki accidentally brushes against someone. "My bad." The man brushes him off. "You're good." "So pretty much, we don't want to get caught cuz the New Age would fucking flip, and we don't need that popularity." Daiki starts to process everything he's said. "So we don't want to go face to face with the New Age?" Nora nods, giving her input. "Not like they're strong anyway. If they ever pull up on us, we'll kill them no questions asked." Daiki is about to bring up how killing is wrong, but he's cut off. "Bzzt. Wrong." The trio turns around to see the man Daiki brushed against. "We would kill you, not the other way around." Nora cracks an interesting smirk, knowing Daiki would have something to say about that. "Oh? You really think so?" The man takes off his face mask, showing a completely different face. He grabs shades from his pockets and wears them. "Looks like you three are lugging around gifts with you, huh?" Rei joins in. "Yeah, what about it?" The man backs up with his hands up. "Don't bite me now. I don't want to scrap with anyone today." He clicks a button on his shades, taking a picture. "The name's N, and you'll be seeing me around if you wanna stop us. They pay pretty well, so I don't think I'll give up my throne that easily." Daiki tosses a melon bread at him, staring him down. "Buy this for me. If they pay you a pretty penny, it'll be nice if you get me something." N chuckles but agrees. "Sure, why not. You owe me though." They go up to the cashier as N purchases his food and Daiki's melon bread. "Cash please." The trio leaves the store as N starts to walk away. "Don't try to follow me. You won't be able to keep up." The three stayed at the entrance for a bit, looking at each other. Nora asks "Why'd you ask him to get you that? Looks like a failed taunt to me." Rei chuckles and shakes his head. "Good move, Daiki. I got a quick glimpse of his ID." Daiki nods. "Obviously, I was just waiting for you to catch on." Daiki looks down at the melon bread. I actually just wanted melon bread, but if I look cool that's good I guess. Nora shakes her head. "Whatever floats you guy's boats. Let's just get back to the cabin." They all agree and start walking back to the cabin as it begins to pour.
They start to approach the mountain where the cabin stands in all of its decayed glory. Daiki is nibbling on the melon bread while trying to hide it from the rain. "Hey, Nora, what is your gift anyway?" Nora explains quickly. "I can tear through space and make portals with them or destroy things around me instantly. I can also slow down time when I want to but when I blink the effect is reset." Daiki seems genuinely intrigued. "That's pretty interesting. What about you Rei?" Rei seems like he's about to answer, but he decides to not do so. They get to the door drenched. "Man, i'm so wet…" Says Daiki, slightly annoyed. Rei reaches for the doorknob while commenting, "That's what she said." The door swings open, and Nora realizes she's messed up. Daiki's eyes dilate as his breathing begins to escalate. There it was. Amane, on her knees, next to 3 grown men with their chests ripped open. Dead.