Modern Monster

“How?” Gyro’s voice was barely a murmur, and his face twisted with confusion as he watched Baru break free of his pressure point parasites. “You’re... just an inexperienced contestant, so how the hell did you break free?”

“Blah blah blah, how’d he do this, how’d he do that? Shut up, old man.” Baru cracked his neck and reached his hands down to touch his boots, giving into a painful yet relaxing stretch. After various stretches and finally being happy with how his body felt, Baru yawned and pointed at the muscular barista.

“Listen here, egghead. You annoy me. Fight me man to man, and I'll beat you up in 3 minutes lickity-split.”

“Oh? I’m assuming you at least have Touch if you are so confident to challenge me.”

Baru flexed his hamstrings before yelling out, “How about you touch my bal–” Baru decided not to finish that sentence and just lunged at the man. His eyes glowed a light blue hue when he opened his Sense. Strength streamed through every single vein and fiber of his body, granting him superhuman abilities. He had done this more times than he could count. Sometimes, it felt even more natural than breathing.

This feeling... whenever I’m in this state, my mind is clear, and I’m at peace. All my worries and frustrations seem to disappear.

Baru’s knuckle made contact with Gyro just before he guarded his face with two arms. His strength alone made the barista slide backward despite avoiding a hit in the face. Gyro released the two arms that guarded him and revealed his surprised expression, almost thinking how a mere child was able to push him back forcefully.

“Hmph,” the muscular man snorted. He flung himself at the red-haired boy without even attempting to stall for time. Each step that was being advanced was so swift that it only took a mere second before Gyro appeared in front of Baru, glaring at him menacingly before pounding his fist in his gut. Baru gritted his teeth and flexed his abdomen to minimize the impact, but the pain still shot through him like a rock covered in a thousand needles. Baru was thrown into the air due to Gyro’s assault, and instead of waiting until he fell, the bald man didn’t stop his onslaught and prepared for another punch.

Shit...

Baru gritted his teeth before he felt another explosive punch landing on the right side of his torso. His body was sent flying in the air once again and hit the brick wall with a loud thud. The sound of the impact echoed through the now-empty bar while dust and debris from the wall clouded where he was thrown.

“Baru!” Hana cried out, still paralyzed by Gyro. “F*ck, give up! He’s out of your league!” She begged. Gyro let out a small chuckle upon hearing her words, almost looking sympathetic.

“D-don’t fight back Baru!” Hana was struggling to break free from the paralysis with concern for him. “Please, I don’t want you to get hurt because of us–”

“I wouldn’t bother.” Gyro noticed her grunts of effort. “I’m not sure how that boy was able to break free from my technique, but I can guarantee you will never succeed. The difference in strength between you two is so drastic it’s almost laughable.”

“You…” Hana swallowed back her remark, slowly realizing the barista was telling the truth.

“Even so,” Gyro grinned, “looks like two punches was all I needed to take down the poor boy.”

Although debris from the impact didn’t allow anyone to fully see Baru’s unconscious body, a vague figure was visibly limp on the ground. The team held their breath, noticing Baru's blurred unconscious silhouette. Silence hung tight in the air before Hono finally broke it.

“B-Baru, is he alright?…” she stuttered, her voice high and frail.

“Please, this generation has become so delusional that they can't even recognize when someone is obviously stronger than them. Where are your survival instincts?” he snorted. “That is why none of you are becoming Knigh…” Gyro trailed off, blinking in the direction of Baru’s limp body, like he had seen some ghost.

A few moments passed before the debris finally cleared, revealing Baru completely unharmed.

Bluntly lying on the ground, Baru picked his nose and yawned with boredom.

…

“Oh,” Baru stopped, his left index finger halfway up his nostril, while noticing Gyro gawking at him almost comically. “Sorry, my bad. I was trying to conserve my Touch by resting on the ground for a minute.” Baru stood up and dusted off the debris from his clothes, returning his attention back to Gyro.

Tsk, seriously, I’m not the strongest, but I’m not going to be defeated after two punches?

Baru had trained ever since that day, constantly maximizing his body’s durability and strength to its fullest potential. Whenever he had a free day, he would hunt monsters in the dirty city alleyways or fight other people with his own Sense. Although Baru knew fighting people using his Sense was highly illegal, that still didn’t prevent him from honing his powers. Whether that was visiting underground fight clubs and being beaten half to death or confronting heinous criminals, nothing stopped him.

But Baru was not ambitious either; he just had an unquenchable impulse to grow stronger. Perhaps his search for purpose that led him down this path resulted from that day. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the power to go back in time and warn himself of what was to come in the hopes of changing it.

All he knew was that growing stronger made him forget his shame and fooled him into believing he was doing something that warranted his pitiful life. Maybe it was a trauma response; he didn’t know. All that mattered was he had a smile while doing it.

“Baru…” Hana couldn’t contain her shock when gaping at her teammate. This whole time, Baru acted comedic and carefree; hardly someone was capable of anything remarkable. But under his mask of foolishness hid raw strength.

Back then, when we were confronted with the bearwolf, Baru recalled, I didn’t run away because I was scared; I ran away because Ayame beat me to it.

He wasn’t aware of her motives in doing so, and if she wasn’t going to step up to it, he was ready to fill in that role. In the end, Ayame skillfully showed off while he remained unnoticed in the back.

“Oh, by the way,” Baru began, staring at his opponent dead in the eye, “what you said to Hana was hella sexist.”

Gyro blinked. "What?"

"Don't play dumb with me, old man. You said, and I quote—'The difference in strength between you two is so drastic it’s almost laughable.' What? Just 'cuz she’s a girl, she wouldn’t be able to break out of your dumb paralysis? That sounds pretty damn misogynistic!" Baru flashed a middle finger at him. Gyro looked as if he were questioning whether Baru was serious or not.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Gyro finally managed to say. "Are you mentally ill?"

"My mom says I’m a special boy!" Baru cackled. Opening his Sense, he picked up a small chunk of brick that had broken off from the wall and threw it at Gyro. The force with which the fragment was thrown looked like a bullet. The moment he propelled it, a small shockwave was released, and in barely a blink of an eye, Gyro cursed in pain.

A direct hit to the gut.

"How do you like that, mutha f*cka?" Baru imitated how Gyro would laugh.

“Tsk, you brat.” Gyro clenched his teeth, putting pressure on the wound with his hand as a small drip of blood escaped between his fingers. Although the brick fragment was fast, it wasn’t enough to fully damage Gyro’s impenetrable body. But regardless, it seemed to slow him down.

In that case... Baru grinned. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Baru swiftly selected more brick chunks from the ground.

He disregarded those that were too big because he certainly didn’t want to kill the poor old man. Gyro was just doing his job. Although, he sure was being a tad too serious about it. If Baru were any other kid, he seriously would have been hurt by now.

It almost makes you wonder... Baru thought for a moment before launching a dozen fragments at Gyro, each tossed with fierce speed. Why is he going so hard on us? Not that it really mattered to Baru in the first place. He just wanted to fight. It felt soothing whenever he opened his Sense and felt his fists make contact with something. At the moment, all Baru cared about was being in the moment. That’s why he enjoyed it so much. He didn’t care about his guilt, his past, or even who he was fighting.

I feel free.

Baru assaulted Gyro with a punch, who was stumbling over with disarray from the dozens of fragments that made contact all over his body. Before Gyro could even process that he was lurching in for an attack, Baru’s fists dived into his face, sending him crashing into the wall.

“CRASH!” How the roles have been reversed.

Debris clouded the area with a thick brown fog, far denser than previously due to Gyro’s sheer mass. Baru coughed and covered his mouth when a large amount of dust was accidentally inhaled.

I can't see jack sh*t... he cursed. Baru needed to escape the dust cloud before Gyro had any funny ideas. Quickly lunging out, Baru heard his paralyzed teammates coughing severely, unable to shield their mouths from the debris.

Maybe sending Gyro crashing into the wall wasn’t such a good idea–

Before he could finish that thought, Baru felt a sharp pain spread across his body like a dozen needles digging into his flesh.

Shit, shit, shit, that hurts! He cursed in pain. That baldy is using my own trick against me! God damn, I’m such an idiot.

That was his main flaw. Although Baru was strong, he didn’t think before taking action. He was too caught up in the moment to care! Unlike Gyro, he had a less durable body, making the pain far worse in comparison.

Blood gushed from his wounds, staining Baru’s clothes red as he puffed in pain. Baru barely had time to mentally prepare for another attack before Gyro sprang out of the debris cloud, diving his fist directly at him.

Baru dropped to the floor to dodge the attack, and much to Gyro's surprise, he kicked him directly in the balls. Gyro had the air knocked right out of him, not expecting Baru to use such an underhanded move. Pff, I don’t care, I'm going to fight as dirty as I want, as long as I win.

Baru’s kick could be comparable to a light punch to the average person if they both weren’t fighting with their Senses. Because they were, their pain tolerance and physical durability were leagues above ordinary.

Gyro twisted his face with awkward pain, and Baru took that as a signal to continue his attack. Still on the ground, Baru switched to a push-up position and swiftly twirled his legs to gain momentum before kicking Gyro’s legs to throw him off balance. Springing back up, Baru curled his forearm to reveal his elbow.

“I’m about to WWE your ass!” Baru aimed his elbow at Gyro and jumped high with full force, hoping to connect. As his body descended, and before Baru could smash into the man's face, Gyro dodged, causing Baru’s elbow to dive into the shiny wooden floors. The flooring cracked from the impact, as Baru regained his footing and cursed the failed assault.

Shit... Baru wheezed, the light blue hue in his eyes flickering. My energy is draining fast; I don’t know how much longer I can keep my Sense open.

“Oh boy, you're getting weak,” Gyro taunted a few inches from his ear. Baru froze in sudden panic. How did he get behind–

Twisting his head around, Baru was met with an explosive punch to the face. But for Gyro, this was only the beginning. He grabbed Baru’s shirt collar and unleashed another volley of punches, one after the other.

The numbing, excruciating pain struck Baru’s face, and blood poured from his nose as Gyro continued his brutal onslaught.

“NO! STOP IT!” Baru heard Hana scream. The loud cries from his teammates turned static and muffled as Gyro relentlessly punched him. He had no energy left to fight back.

His Sense was dwindling, meaning it would take a while to recover his energy, even if he could escape. Baru wasn’t sure what to do. If he didn’t defeat Gyro, who would?

Am I... really this weak? Baru's thoughts became sluggish. His vision blurred as he watched Gyro's fist approach his face in slow motion. Soon, Baru didn’t even feel the pain. He wasn’t sure if he was unconscious or had just grown numb to the agony.

Whatever… Baru chuckled within. Does it really matter if I pass this stupid exam? I'll just go back to the orphanage and chill. Baru had accepted his defeat. There wasn’t anything he could do; this was his limit. He needed to learn to accept when he was outmatched and embrace his strength.

That’s right, I’m already pretty strong. I should be proud of myself. I’m the only one who was able to be released from Gyro’s paralysis because I cultivated my body and my Sense so much. He congratulated himself, his body becoming numb from the pain.

#

"Yeah… I’m strong enough, right?" Baru asked himself in a white, deep void of unconsciousness. "In fact, why do I even want to become strong?" He blinked, looking side to side as he found himself in a white void of nothing. His memory felt muddled and disoriented after asking himself such a simple question. "I can't seem to remember. This white space is distracting me. But it also feels so relaxing; I just wanna sleep here forever."

…

“Tsk… you’re weak,” Gyro’s blurry voice sounded within the white void as Baru looked up. No matter where he looked, the space that stretched around him was completely absent of any darkness or color. It was so bland and empty that it was almost comforting.

“Hey, that’s not very nice!” Baru frowned, lying down on the white space. “Ah, whatever, it doesn’t matter that I’m weak or not. Who cares? Hahaha!” he chuckled comically.

“Hahaha… ha…” His laugh trailed away, and his expression turned sour as he scrutinized the white space. “Who cares?” he repeated. “I feel like I’m forgetting something…”

…

“Baru…” A familiar voice echoed.

“Oi! I know that voice!” Baru jumped from the white space with a smile. “That’s Sen!”

“Baru…” he murmured again.

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Just…”

“Just what?” Baru wondered curiously in a bright voice.

“Just… fight.”

“Huh? Just fight? Why would I do that…” Baru paused, then wondered to himself. "Fight?"

For some reason, when he thought about that word, his heart began to ache. The pain just got more intense the more Baru thought about it.

“It hurts so bad, man, and I don’t why.” He clenched his heart with a groan. “Why… does it hurt so much?” A few tears started rolling down his cheeks.

“Fight…” he murmured, finally realizing what he had forgotten. At that moment, memories of his past came rushing through him like a downpour of rain. Each drop represented memories he had forgotten and those that were too scary to remember. They taunted him with cruel, soft whispers, telling him he should have prevented them from occurring. But he couldn't... he couldn't never fix his mistake. He needed to live with the pain forever.

“How could I forget?" His voice quivered. "I need to fight for you, Ami!” Baru sobbed out a name. “I-I have to keep fighting... I’m so sorry. I'll keep going. I promise I'll keep going. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry Ami, I’m sorry Mom, I’m sorry Dad… I’m so sorry… please forgive me.”

#

Baru flicked open his eyes, a new wave of strength surging through every fiber of his body. Blood masked his whole face gruesomely, and his cheeks were double the size from inflammation. His eyes shone blue with pure resolve to win as he limply stood up like a zombie.

“Come back here, Gyro…” Baru murmured. “I’m not f*cking done.”