Vault - TOKAI BUILDING - 23:35
"Hey, J! Snap out of it!" Daz shook me, but I remained motionless, staring blankly, my hand glued to the cube like a statue. Fubuki frowned, confused. Nate was even more bewildered. In desperation, Daz clenched his fist and tried to punch me in the face, but a psychic force stopped him. "Can I ask why you're stopping me?"
Fubuki, arm raised, glared at her. "And what were you trying to do, idiot?"
"We don't have time for arguments!" Daz snapped. "Look at this idiot, he's been standing there like a dead man for minutes!" Nate came over and saw my hand holding the bucket. Maybe he had an idea, so he reached out to try and pull it out, and with a mere touch, one of his hands touched the bucket. His eyes started rolling back, and before he could lose consciousness too, Daz grabbed him from behind and pulled him to the ground, breaking contact. Nate regained consciousness with a gasp, tears streaming down his face. This worried Daz and Fubuki, so they went over and looked at their friend with concerned expressions. "Nate, are you okay?"
Nate stood up, still drying his face, and looked at Daz. "Why... did you take so long?" Daz and Fubuki exchanged a confused glance. He approached his friend and, kneeling down to look at him, said, "Hey, you only touched it for a second."
Nate stared at him, a mixture of fear and confusion in his eyes. "A second...?" He swallowed hard. "I was there for over twenty minutes."
"Twenty minutes." Daz didn't understand what he was talking about; literally, from the simple touch of his hand to his reaction, barely five or six seconds had passed. Fubuki approached Nate, somewhat intrigued. "What exactly did you see?" Nate calmed himself, lowered his head, and took a deep breath to compose himself. "I don't know how to explain it. I was in a valley, I only saw plants and flowers, like paradise, and suddenly, I saw my parents."
Daz was stunned by what he said. "Wait, how is that possible? You yourself said that your parents died in a kaijin attack, or were you lying to me the whole time?" Nate looked up at him, angry. "I didn't lie to you. My parents died more than five years ago. Why would I lie about something like that? But this time, they felt real. My mother smiled at me and told me that she would give me anything I wanted... I just had to take her hand, and then I came back here." Fubuki was astounded. "Parents, what happens when someone touches that cube?" Then he looked at me, still unconscious. "What the hell is it showing you?"
Suddenly, Daz and Fubuki sensed a presence and quickly turned toward the door where Amai Mask stood, his jacket and pants torn. He looked at Fubuki, whose arms were already raised, ready to attack, and smiled. "Well... looks like another hero beat me to it." He smiled confidently and glanced sideways at Fubuki, whose arms were already raised, ready to attack. "Don't worry. Leave this to the professionals." Daz swallowed hard. Confronting a Class A hero wasn't an option. Worse, if Fubuki helped him, Amai might suspect his involvement. Daz started searching his pocket until the hero looked at him. "If you try anything, promise yourself your death won't be quick."
He decided to take the risk. He reached into his pocket, which made Amai Mask react, but at that moment they heard someone coming at full speed down the hallway, smashing doors, walls, and paintings. Amai Mask knows it's her, so he turns around quickly, but Laia is already in front of him and, with a swift movement, a clean slash cuts through his leg, severing his Achilles tendon and sending him crashing to the ground. Laia's face is bloody and slightly bruised, but she still calmly gets up and glares at the hero with contempt. "That's what you deserve for kicking me in the face..." Her voice trembles with rage and pride. "Respect women, you idiot." The entire hallway falls silent. Daz and Fubuki can barely breathe: they've just seen someone stand up to Amai Mask and make him bleed.
Nate, somewhat nervous, approaches Laia. Even though he doesn't know her, he offers her a handkerchief.
"Here... to clean your face." Laia takes the handkerchief, gives him a slight smile, and wipes away the blood from her face as she walks toward him. Fubuki looks at her and recognizes her instantly. "So... the infamous assassin is here." Laia immediately stops in her tracks. Daz and Nate take a couple of steps back, tense, thinking that because of that nickname she was going to threaten or even attack Fubuki, but the moment Laia raises her hands, crosses them over her chest, blushes, and pouts. "Stop calling me that, I haven't even killed a fly and you're calling me an assassin." The silence is broken. Fubuki, Daz, and Nate stare at each other, "Huh?" They literally don't understand anything. Was this the same woman who just seconds ago almost ripped Amai Mask's leg off?
Fubuki, frowning, advanced step by step until she stood before Laia; she began to attack her with words. "Stop playing innocent. Of course you're a murderer. The Association gave me all the information... Or am I mistaken, Laia Tanaka? Murderer of nine Class B heroes?" Daz was surprised, not by the murders, but by the surname. "Tanaka? That surname sounds nice." Fubuki glared at him, so cold that the boy covered his face as if he were about to die.
Laia, still blushing, turned away. She didn't look at Fubuki, she just crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and averted her head. "Everything they told you is a lie... I didn't murder anyone." Fubuki stopped dead in her tracks, surprised by the tone. "What are you saying?" Then Laia slowly turned her face toward her. Her expression was no longer childish, but serious, burdened with a hidden weight. "I never killed anyone." —He lowered his head, his voice breaking—. It was my team... They murdered them. And then they blamed me for everything.
"And you expect me to believe that…?" Daz stepped forward, positioning himself between them with his arms outstretched. "That's enough! Girls you're going to fight over…" Before he could finish the sentence, Fubuki abruptly interrupted him, silencing him in two seconds. "Stop talking nonsense." Daz barely had time to react before Laia resumed her monologue. "You're being ridiculous." In a matter of seconds, two women had shattered Daz's self-esteem. The poor guy found himself curled up in a corner, in the fetal position, muttering incomprehensibly.
"We'll sort it out later." Laia nodded, turning to walk straight toward me; she glanced at the others as she pointed at me. "How long has it been like this?" Nate did a mental calculation. "About twenty minutes." Laia was surprised. "Twenty minutes?" Then she started examining the situation and noticed my hand was in the cube. Fubuki closed her eyes, calmly explaining how we could solve the problem. "Okay, listen, I have an idea we can…" And when she opened her eyes, she froze: Laia was already raising her katana, ready to cut off my hand. "Hey, what's wrong with you?" Laia lowered the blade casually. "It's easy, isn't it? We separate the hand from the body and it grows back."
Fubuki glares at her. "But that's not the way."
"WHAT?!" Nate backs away in fear. "That's your 'easy plan'!" Daz chimes in, arms outstretched. "Wait, wait, wait! Couldn't we try, I don't know, pulling one of his fingers first?" Laia sighs, her expression serious. "Seriously... you're all such softies." Laia sheathes her katana and looks at Fubuki. "I don't understand why you're so protective of him. Don't even say it's out of affection, because that would be complete nonsense." Her gaze becomes more mischievous, almost mocking. "Unless... he's agreed to join Blizzard's team and I'm missing out." Fubuki simply lowers her head, knowing she's figured out the truth.
Nate looked at Daz, who had a surprised expression. "Hey, is something wrong?" Daz looked at Nate and spoke with a jealousy that was clearly visible on his face. "What do you mean, 'is something wrong'?! That idiot has two beautiful women fighting over him... And what do I have?! A miserable life and a lousy salary!" Nate looked at him listlessly and sighed. "I really don't know how you're still alive with so much nonsense in your head."
Laia looked at everyone with annoyance and sighed. "I don't have time to waste on pointless arguments." She quickly approached the cube; Fubuki took a step forward, alarmed. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Nate and Daz tried to react quickly, approaching Laia, but before they could reach her, Laia reached out, touched the black surface of the cube, and in the blink of an eye, her eyes rolled back.