The music stopped, Pablo could focus now. He looked at the Thief and made sure he didn't give away his plan with his expressions.
"I'll need to bait him so he'll charge towards me. I have nothing that can damage him."
He quickly dashes towards the thief.
"I'm thinking I could sacrifice my right arm. Even my left too. I can't rely on my base regeneration. I still don't understand how that works. But Tsuyoi is near-by! I can let him heal me afterwards! That means… I can push myself way beyond my limits."
"He is closing the range? What is he planning?" the thief simply swings his fist.
Pablo blocks with his left. His arm broke again. Due to the adrenaline, he really couldn't feel it. He didn't stop there. Pablo rushed and targeted the Thief's eyes, poking them.
"Ow! Dang nibbit!" The Thief gets angry and grabs Pablo's arm, breaking that as well. This time Pablo feels it. The pain on the left is starting to kick in too.
Now that he created an opening, Pablo steps backwards. Positioning himself as well as checking his surroundings.
"...now…" Both of his arms now broken, Pablo was extremely open and vulnerable.
A small spark ignited in his eyes once again. But the fire from before was nowhere to be seen.
"Trying this hard against a kid? I've got you now!" The Thief got extremely angry that his eyes got poked. A few lightning sparks appeared in his legs. His goggles glowed and he rushed forward in subsonic speed.
Pablo couldn't dodge this…
…If he already didn't predict it.
"You rushed in. Of course you did. Everyone charges at the weak. And your Treasure, your goggles, glowing makes your charge even more predictable. So it would be dumb…"
Pablo takes a step sideways, dodging the rush. The Thief's eyes widened as he realised the metal pole from before was right behind Pablo.
"Fudge! My legs are hurt from my Treasure Activation. I can't stop now! At this speed, if i crash..!" The Thief thinks, shocked.
The Thief was going too fast, so fast that he couldn't stop now. He realised Pablo's plan, and immediately planted his foot on the floor. But that wasn't enough to stop him.
"...if I didn't take advantage of it, right?" Pablo grinned.
The Thief crashed headfirst into the pole. He fell to the floor, unable to move.
Pablo exhales. He notices his right arm is healed.
"You almost got me, kid. You're lucky I won't call the cops." Pablo squats down to the kid's level and checks his pockets. He grabs his own bag of coins, then takes those the kid has on him. He is guessing these are also stolen.
"Phew." Pablo fell to the floor, laying his back on the building while he was out of breath.
Meanwhile, Tsuyoi:
"This was the greatest song I've ever heard! I'M GOING TO LIVE FOREVER!" He shouts, people around him cheer Tsuyoi. The street reeks of alcohol, enough to cover the smell of garbage.
The stage artists are blasting light, one of them seems to be a Treasurer. Every rhyme makes him glow even more.
Suddenly, he stops shouting and realizes something.
"...wait. Am I forgetting something?" Tsuyoi thinks for an awkward amount of time.
"Nah. I'm tripping." Tsuyoi goes back to partying in the concert. Before he notices an older gentleman approaching the crowd. He looks around 40.
"Everyone, get lost! You damn brats… you and your noise littering!" The man seemed angry. He yelled towards the crowd, menacingly.
The crowd upon hearing this, sighed in sync.
"Not this guy again." One of them said,
"What the hell is his problem?" Tsuyoi asked a random girl next to him.
"Ain't nothin' but the damn cowardice of the old fuckers before us. Soon as they hear a lil' squeak, they start shakin' like hell. Don't play dumb, you know exactly what I'm talkin' 'bout. Ain't you from 'round here or what?" The girl responds. Clinging onto Tsuyoi in a suggesting way.
Tsuyoi however, doesn't get the hint.
"What an asshole. Why is he doing it?"
"Those old fucks ditched their own culture after the wars. Used to blast that loud-ass music like it was the city's heartbeat. Now it's got 'em scared shitless." She says.
The man was now intending to get physical. Tsuyoi did not like this one bit. He took a few steps forward and confronted the man.
"Dude… I mean, you can't just keep messing with these guys like that. They're not doing anything, it's just some kids trying to hang out. Not really cool, man."
Tsuyoi pointed out calmly, not scared of the man. Not one bit.
"You think you're tough? I said get lost. That includes you too!" The man completely ignores Tsuyoi's rebuttal.
Tsuyoi sighs and turns around. No use arguing with him.
"Fellas, just get out of here and do this somewhere else. It's best to avoid trouble."
As he turns around, he notices a cat and salutes the little fella. Even though it didn't seem like it, Tsuyoi was one of those who believed in reincarnation.
"Hey there. Hope you like your new life!"
The old man goes fuming when Tsuyoi just turns around and calmly tells people to leave. Especially when he salutes the cat. New generations cling to culture, when the old ones already left it.
"You can't just turn around and leave. What happened to the tough guy from before?!" The old man threw his lighter, Tsuyoi wasn't bothered. He didn't react.
When Tsuyoi ignores that, the old man's anger is only amplified.
"Fine! You and your little ancestor can go somewhere else!" He kicks the cat as hard as he can. The cat crashes into a wall, and immediately runs away. But is barely able to walk because of how hard it was kicked.
When the crowd sees this, they start fuming. Some of them press the guy and push him. Tsuyoi seeing this gets furious. He frowns and grits his teeth in anger.
Tsuyoi might seem carefree but deep down, he has some boundaries that he wont allow anyone to pass.
"That son of a bitch kicked a cat! Get his ass!" Tsuyoi shouts with all his rage.
The crowd collectively started to jump the old man. Some tried to stop it and prevent the event from escalating.
"Stop! Everyone! Our reputation is already rock bottom!" One of them called out. Some of the participants were drowning in the fight, getting run over and hit.
Tsuyoi, seeing this, did not intervene. He quickly went over to the cat. He slowly grabs it as he doesn't want to scare it.
He activates his treasure, Phoenix, in order to heal it from its injuries. His robe glows. The cat upon seeing the blue flames is frightened but calms down when it notices its healing.
After healing the cat, he carefully puts it down. Just in that moment he actually remembered something important.
"...Oh."
Tsuyoi started to sprint. It was as if the streets were talking to him. Telling him where Pablo was. Tsuyoi listened.
"He is so dead!" He keeps sprinting with all his might.
While Tsuyoi is running, Pablo is still resting.
"That was way too close. Can't believe I almost lost to a kid." Pablo moves his left arm to a safer position so it would heal faster.
He catches his breath and gets up. As he is about to leave, he suddenly stops. Remembering that it was just a kid. That crash didn't look too good.
Pablo turned around and sighed. He checked the kid's pulse, noticing that he was alive; he felt alright.
Out of nowhere, blue flames appear on Pablo's body and start healing him.
"This is…" He looks towards the source of the flames. Noticing Tsuyoi striking a pose at the rooftop.
"Fear not, my brave partner! Your savior is here!" Tsuyoi grins.
"...I got him." Pablo grunts.
"What?" Tsuyoi's grin drops.
"I said I got him. He is over there. Don't worry, he is alive. I wouldn't kill a kid." Pablo points at the asleep kid.
Tsuyoi jumps from the roof, uninjured. He starts approaching the kid.
"But I was also saying that I wouldn't kill anyone a week ago. So there is that." Pablo approaches the kid with Tsuyoi.
"Nice work! I knew I could count on you." Tsuyoi nudged Pablo's shoulder.
"Ow. It still hurts." Pablo lets out a noise of pain. He holds his shoulder.
"Let's see who this really is!" Tsuyoi crouches to the kid's level and removes the kid's mask. He freezes and his eyes widen.
Messy and fluffy light-blue hair, matching Tsuyoi's. His eyes were heterochromatic. His left eye was green, the right one was a mix of green and blue. Forming teal in the middle.
"What's the matter?" Pablo asked.
"This is my little brother, Haisha!" Tsuyoi said in shock.
After hearing this, Pablo freezes too. He has a million questions now.
"Your little brother robbed you? Why? Does he hate you or something?" Pablo crouchs down next to Tsuyoi.
"I'm as confused as you are!" Tsuyoi says in bewilderment. He starts healing Haisha.
"You beat up my brother, man? Not cool!" Tsuyoi says in anger and looks at Pablo.
Pablo points at himself in disbelief, completely taken aback by Tsuyoi's judgement.
"How was I supposed to know?! Not like he had "Haisha, Tsuyoi's Little Brother" written on his forehead!"
Tsuyoi thought about it after hearing Pablo's defense.
"You make a fair argument."
He finishes healing Haisha. Haisha slowly wakes up.
"...Big Bro?!"
Haisha is scared and starts stuttering. He tries to make up an explanation.
"A lovely day we are having! Isn't that right namesake?" He looked towards Pablo.
Pablo wasn't having any of it.
"You tried to kill me. Explain."
"I didn't! I was just going to knock you out!" Haisha defended himself.
"You're not in the position to talk are you Lil Bro? You heard my partner. Explain." Tsuyoi looked angry.
"Well… I was tired of being useless! Everyone constantly kept comparing me to you, so I was fed up! I tried to rob someone and prove you my worth. But that someone ended up being you. My luck."
Even though it obviously sounded like a lie, as coincidences like this don't usually happen, Pablo believed it wasn't a lie.
"He is telling the truth." Pablo claims.
Tsuyoi raises an eyebrow.
"How could you tell?"
Pablo doesn't really have an answer to that. The noises he heard… no one would believe him.
If only he knew.
"I just know it. Cut the kid some slack." Pablo got up.
Pablo could relate to Haisha in a way. It's the reason he confronted him in the first place. Which means that the two fought for the exact same reason.
Proving their worth to Tsuyoi.
Pablo believed that was kinda poetic.
A few hours later, Tsuyoi and Pablo are sitting in a bar. While Tsuyoi is drinking alcohol, Pablo is once again just watching. Pablo still can't let the feeling of battle go. For once he was… excited. He won. He won a fight.
It felt good.
He was happy he showed Tsuyoi that he isn't incompetent.
"Forgot to tell you. Good job. Stopping my lil bro isn't something everyone can do. You're stronger than you look."
It was nighttime, so the bar was full. People were laughing and sharing drinks together. Mercenaries, criminals or just casual people. How casual can you be in Thalorien anyways?
"Thanks." Pablo smiles, he was feeling proud. He didn't want to let this feeling go.
The air had the hint of alcohol, and the suffocating smell of nicotine. The cloud of smoke barely made Tsuyoi and Pablo be able to see each other.
"Now. These next few days, we'll scout the house of this big-shot I told you about. He lives in a big ass mansion so we'll need to memorise the layout."
Pablo wasn't focused on what Tsuyoi was saying. Rather, he had a better question that was on his mind all this time.
"How old are you?" Pablo can't hold in the question anymore. He lets go and finally asks.
Tsuyoi chugs an entire bottle, and then burps. The burp lasts for at least 3 seconds. Pablo is visibly disgusted.
"Nineteen. Why?" He looks at Pablo. Pablo was surprised. Tsuyoi is younger than he looks. Who knew there was only a year difference?
Pablo tilts his head.
"Isn't it illegal for you to drink?" he asks.
"Isn't it illegal for you to kill and steal? Where exactly are you drawing the line?" Tsuyoi spits back.
Even though Tsuyoi didn't intend to, the question really made Pablo think.
He wasn't expecting this from Tsuyoi out of all people. After a few seconds of silence, Pablo admitted.
"I don't know." Pablo sighs, silent once again.
Pablo reluctantly takes a sip out of the beer. He starts coughing up purple blood immediately after a sip.
"...this tastes like cow shit." Pablo gasps. His hands are on his chest, struggling to breathe.
Tsuyoi starts laughing. His laugh sounds funny.
"You should've seen your face! Is this actually your first time?"
Pablo smiles and nods.
"Yeah."
Pablo is enjoying himself at this moment. Even though it barely counts, he made his first 'friend' after being alone for years.
"Yeah…" He repeats, smiling even more as he looks at Tsuyoi.
"If that got you suffocating…" Tsuyoi grins menacingly, and he pulls out a box of cigarettes.
"...you'll like these way more!" He shows them to Pablo.
Pablo goes pale.
"...oh boy."
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Treasure Name: Phoenix
User: Tsuyoi Ketsui
Type: Elemental
Grade: A+
Description: Phoenix takes the form of a red robe, usually tied around Tsuyoi's waist.
It allows him to convert his emotions into reality using Blue Flames. For example, Love can heal while anger can burn.