V.Vizard! 19

"Am I... even allowed here?"

Out of reluctance, I brought Homei over to a bar since she insisted.

"Well, you wanted to come, so just make up your mind. Do you want to follow me or not?"

"I... I just..."

Her voice is croaking up. Normally I would comment on her being cute, but there's so little light in this bar that I can only see the bare outline of her dress now.

"I didn't think you were this assertive..."

I straightened my hand, and chopped her head.

"Ow!"

"Don't get weird ideas. You wanted to come, so here we are. Let's go."

She can only follow me quietly, being uncomfortable with everyone around us.

Walking towards the counter, I see a familiar face.

"I'd like to smash up some scraps please."

"Who's this little lady next to you?"

I knew he'd question it. Homei's too young to be a v.vitch in the first place.

"She's a future candidate. I'm giving her a tour since she insisted, so here we are."

Nodding his head, the bartender let us in.

*** ***

" 'sup, Van- Whoa! Who's the girl?"

Dekon sure looks surprised at me bringing Homei here.

"Homei, Dekon. Dekon, Homei. She's my cousin, and she wanted to see what I'm up to on Friday and Saturday, so I brought her here."

"She is seriously cute. Anyway, enough about this, let's see what you got, Vance."

Holding up a tiny container with a centipede, Dekon shoves it towards me.

"I want you to force the exoskeleton off this centipede. You've been practicing, have you not?"

... Ugh.

I knew this would happen - He'd give me a test on what I learnt last week to see if I'm serious or not. I haven't practiced at all, but how can anyone practice such a cruel technique in the first place?

"... Fine. I guess... I guess I can try. Take care of Homei for me."

Dekon held Homei back, signalling the danger of being close to me as I performed this. Good, that's good. I can use this technique without restraint.

Placing the container on a stone slab, I focus my mind on its exoskeleton.

... Focus.

... Focus... Only on the exoskeleton.

I have a batch of white paint, and I want it to be grey. The exoskeleton is the black object to dilute its purity...

... White... object?

Briefly glancing around the room for something white, I looked up a bit and focused on its general direction.

Okay... This is the tricky part.

Muscles often contract and relax in rhythms in order to perform tasks, such as moving one's arm, or walking, or even defecating.

Forcing the muscles to move as I please, in a swallowing motion, allows me to remove the bones from only one single opening and direction.

I don't think this theory would work on exoskeletons, though. I'd have to come up with my own theory.

... Like... Peeling an orange all in 1 go.

... Slit the exoskeleton in multiple places... And take it all out at a go.

The exoskeleton on the centipede slowly and gradually leaves its body, and the centipede squirms and wriggles in pain. I can't even begin to fathom how horrid this technique, though powerful, is.

Okay, now to complete the cannon part...

Black object -> White Object = Dilution.

Bone... Cannon!

The exoskeleton hit the plastic part of the sealed cover, causing the entire container to fly upwards, towards the ceiling light. Oh, so that's what I saw as a 'white object'.

Flying up around 3 meters, the technique finally lost power, and is beginning to fall back downwards. Catching it with both hands, I observed the contents of the container.

The centipede stopped moving, and next to it was its exoskeleton. There was some fluid around the container walls, floor and probably the plastic cover, which may be its blood. The pain of having your shell removed, then forced to move in such a motion in a weakened state, must have been too much for the little fellow.

... I feel a surge of regret through me. I just killed a centipede I have never even met before, for my own reasons... That's cruel. No matter how dangerous it was, I shouldn't have killed it. Had I redirected the exoskeleton through the transparent top, the container wouldn't have to fly up with it and the centipede might still live.

"Amazing."

Dekon walked towards my direction, congratulating me.

"That's spectacular. I have yet seen such a magnificent Bone Cannon done by an amateur. You definitely have what it takes to become a great body magic v.vizard."

"Don't congratulate me, man. I feel horrid."

"Oh, that? Don't worry. Once you see enough death, it all becomes natural."

He speaks as if he's seen death many, many times. I'm really disgusted by that...

"Vance, that was so awesome! You made the container fly!"

Homei rushes over excitedly, only to see the contents of the box and retract in revolt.

"Ugh. That's messy."

"I don't come here to 'hang out' with people, you know, Homei. I train myself here repeatedly to be strong enough to protect those I cherish when the time comes."

Hearing that, she seemed to blush a little.

"... Am I the person you cherish?"

She's asking a stupid question again. Well, she's not that old yet, so I guess it'd do well to humour her.

"You're one of them."

She face seems flushed with red, and she turned sideways shyly. How cute- ?

Someone's tapping my shoulder.

It's... Miko?

"Yo. Renna wants to meet you."

Who's Renna?

"Uhm... Who's Renna?"

"She's the most powerful v.vitch in here. Having a chance to talk to her's rare enough. Don't miss this." Pointing at the small viewpoint at the second storey, he instructed me to go there.

"Wait, who is this Renna person?!"

Oh boy, here comes Homei.

"Okay, I'll go. Take care of her, entertain her, do whatever. Just... Keep her occupied."

Who exactly is this Renna person? I seem to recall her name a bit, like someone's mentioned her before. Was it Xavier...? Or Dekon? Ranko?

"Come on, little missy. I'll show you something cool."

Good, Miko's leading her away.

But, yet somehow, I have a very bad feeling of leaving Homei alone.

I don't know why. I just feel awful leaving her alone for some reason.