4. Misaki
1108 Words
Izumi slams Isshiki against the wall, eyes blazing.
“Why didn’t you tell me the monster is in Kyoto?!” she shouts. “That’s where my mom’s house is, remember?!”
“I was trying...” Isshiki starts.
“Shut up!” she snaps. “How am I supposed to stop that thing?”
He raises a hand. “I made you a necklace. It contains a third of my power. And no, you can’t make portals with it.”
Izumi narrows her eyes. “And my identity? People will freak out if they see me using magic.”
“The necklace adds a barrier to your face,” Isshiki says. “It scrambles visual recognition.”
Izumi pauses, then nods sharply. “Alright.”
She slips the necklace around her neck. Her outfit shifts instantly, a sleek blue-and-black maid uniform, practical yet precise.
“Isshiki!” she calls, voice sharp.
“Uh… I know you’re mad…” he murmurs.
Before she can respond, he pushes her into a shimmering portal.
The air spins around her.
When she lands, the sun is high over Kyoto.
The streets glint under the daylight, skyscrapers reflecting the morning sun. Pedestrians are running, cars abandoned in the middle of intersections.
And there it is.
The monster towers over the city, slime dripping onto streets, cars, and buildings. Its greenish ooze sizzles wherever it lands.
Izumi blinks, part of her refusing to accept it’s real.
But her assassin instincts are already taking over.
She straightens, adjusting her necklace, and surveys the monster and the chaos of the daytime city.
It’s bright, exposed, and terrifying. Perfect for an assassin like Izumi 890 to strike.
There’s someone sitting on top of the monster.
Casual. Almost relaxed.
Like it’s a throne.
Izumi’s eyes widen.
“You,” she snarls.
Without thinking, she reaches to her side.
A staff materializes in her hand, smooth, dark, humming faintly with power. She plants one foot back and launches herself forward, air tearing past her as she closes the distance.
She strikes with everything she has.
The impact explodes and is instantly deflected.
A force field ripples, absorbing her attack and throwing her back.
Izumi flips midair and lands hard on the roof of another building, boots scraping against concrete.
She looks up, fury burning in her eyes.
“You’re hurting innocent people.”
The man stares down at her.
Heavy dark circles weigh under his eyes, his expression twisted into a permanent scowl.
“What are you doing?” he asks flatly.
Izumi scoffs. “What am I doing? I’m trying to stop you, obviously.”
“Why?” he replies. “I just saw a hole and walked into it with my pet. Ed.”
Izumi glances at the towering slime creature, ooze dripping onto the streets below.
“Pet?” she says. “That thing is mega disgusting and you keep it as a pet?”
“Hey!! Ed has feelings,” the man snaps. “We were just passing by."
“You could’ve passed by through another country,” Izumi fires back.
“No.”
She exhales slowly.
“Fine,” Izumi says, tightening her grip on the staff. “I don’t usually negotiate with targets…”
Her eyes harden.
“But it seems you’d rather die.”
The air around her hums as the necklace glows faintly.
And for the first time, the man’s scowl falters.
From across the rooftops, Isshiki lounges casually, a bag of cheese curls in his hands.
“If Izumi survives this fight,” he mutters, crunching a curl, “then she is just… out of this world.”
The man atop the monster finally stands, grin stretching across his pale face.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” he says. “My name is Misaki.”
Izumi narrows her eyes. “Good. At least now I know what name to carve into your gravestone.”
Misaki tilts his head. “Ed.”
With a single word, the monster loses all restraint. Slime sprays everywhere, hissing as it corrodes the asphalt and buildings.
Izumi’s eyes flash. She doesn’t even hesitate, she charges, not at Misaki, but straight for Ed.
Her staff splits into two, forming twin weapons in her hands.
She thrusts both straight into the monster’s eyes. Ed screams, thrashing violently. Slime arcs wildly, hitting nearby streets and cars.
Izumi flips back, narrowly escaping as the monster loses control.
Misaki shouts. “Ed! Ed! What have you done to Ed?!”
Izumi doesn’t answer. She feels the burn before she notices it, her left arm is coated in corrosive slime.
“…I messed up real bad,” she mutters.
She swipes at it with the outer layer of her dress, but the fabric corrodes instantly, smoke rising as the slime eats through it. Her arm scorches painfully, nerves screaming.
Her teeth grit.
The pain is unbearable.
But the mission isn’t over.
Izumi clenches her fists, staff ready. Blood, sweat, and burnt fabric aside, this is her fight.
Misaki snaps his fingers.
Ed vanishes into thin air.
“Ed would never hurt a fly,” Misaki says coldly. “But you hurt him.”
Izumi glances down at her arm. The pain burns, it's worse compared to a gunshot wound.
She looks back up, unfazed.
Misaki steps toward her and throws a punch.
Izumi catches his fist with her right hand but her grip falters. She isn’t steady.
Misaki smirks. “Looks like you’re left-handed.”
Izumi lifts her gaze. “So?”
In one fluid motion, she flips her body and drives her heel into his chin. The impact lands clean.
Misaki staggers back.
“Don’t you dare touch me,” Izumi snaps, staff reforming in her hand, “when you haven’t showered in days.”
Her arm screams in protest.
She ignores it.
Because pain has never stopped Izumi 890 before.
Misaki straightens himself, brushing off the hit with a grin.
“Nice,” he mutters.
He lunges at her, energy crackling, intent clear. But before his fist can land, he collides with a shimmering portal.
Isshiki leans casually against a nearby rooftop, munching on cheese curls. “I thought you could handle him.”
Another portal appears, and Misaki slams hard into a concrete wall in front of him. The force sends a spray of dust into the air, and he crumples unconscious, a line of blood streaking his forehead.
Isshiki speaks softly. “Alright, Mrs. S-ranked assassin… lesson one: when your enemy is overpowered, use there power against them.”
Izumi wipes the sweat and grime off her arm, staff in hand, glaring at the unconscious Misaki.
- Writer
