"How did he win?" Isamu asked, his voice breaking the silence. He stared at his wife with a confused and curious expression.
Sakura's eyes widened for a moment. She blinked, as if just realizing the fact that her husband had truly missed the heart-pounding moments of the match. Her lips pursed, pouting. She turned her face away, releasing her grip on her husband's shoulders, then folded both arms across her chest.
"I don't want to explain it," Sakura said with a pout, her tone filled with the annoyance of a mother whose enthusiasm wasn't reciprocated. "That's your own fault for not watching it on time."
"But..." Isamu opened his mouth, wanting to say something to defend himself.
However, the words died on the tip of his tongue. He decided to just stay silent. His memory of what happened a few minutes ago was still a bit fuzzy, and he knew very well that if he dared to utter any excuse now, the next scene would undoubtedly be him getting scolded all day long by his wife. It was a battle he couldn't possibly win.
Isamu leaned back on the plush sofa. He stared at the still-glowing television screen.
"But I'm genuinely still curious," Isamu murmured softly. "How did our kid manage to win and survive getting ganged up on by so many teams at once?"
Sakura was still looking away, her cheeks slightly puffed out from pouting. But, seeing her husband's curiosity, she finally let out a long sigh a second later. Her soft heart couldn't bear to keep sulking.
"Actually, I don't want to say this, because you seem like you don't care about Fuse working so hard out there," Sakura said, her tone softening slightly. "But just this once, I'll let it slide."
Sakura turned back to the TV screen, her eyes sparkling as she recalled the earlier events. "When you left earlier, Fuse did a lot of unusual movements in the air. Very unpredictable, you could say. Even though he was being attacked from various sides by the other teams and looked overwhelmed, even seemingly off guard, he always managed to dodge at the very last second."
Sakura moved her hands, trying to mimic the evasive movements in the air. "As if he could see the entire field area very clearly from above. Like he has some kind of radar detection ability, I suppose?"
"Does our kid have a detection ability like that?" Isamu held his chin, his brow furrowed in deep thought. "Up until now, he's only been able to control metal. Hearing that from you makes me want to rewatch his match even more."
"Don't worry, Honey!" Sakura smiled widely, gently patting her husband's arm. "I recorded his entire performance from start to finish!"
"That's great!" Isamu returned his wife's smile. "I'll definitely watch it tonight after this event is over."
"Hehe," Sakura laughed softly. "It feels so good to see him win the match in such a breathtaking way."
"I'm happy too," Isamu nodded in agreement.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the living room became quiet again. On the TV screen, the two commentators, Eraserhead and Present Mic, could be seen busy commenting on the amazing performances of the participants. Present Mic's enthusiastic voice might have sounded a bit noisy, but for some reason, inside this family room, it felt so quiet and peaceful.
Suddenly, Sakura, who had been focused on the TV screen, quickly turned her head backward, looking toward the dimly lit house corridor. She narrowed her eyes in silence, trying to listen for something.
"What's wrong, Sakura?" Isamu asked, startled by his wife's sudden alertness.
Sakura slowly turned back to her husband and shook her head gently. "It's nothing. I just felt like I heard something from the corridor. Maybe it's just my imagination."
"A cat, maybe?" Isamu tilted his head, wondering. "I haven't heard anything besides the TV."
"You're right. Perhaps because I was too excited watching Fuse's performance, my ears are ringing, hehe," Sakura smiled faintly to reassure herself, then turned back to the TV screen which had started showing preparations for the next event.
A few minutes passed in comfortable silence.
At this moment, Isamu suddenly stood up from his seat on the sofa.
Sakura looked at him and asked, "Where are you going now?"
"To the bathroom for a bit," Isamu answered. Saying that, he got up and left the living room. The sound of his footsteps faded into the distance, leaving his wife alone, still engrossed in the TV screen.
…
Behind the corridor wall, a tall and thin figure stood. The figure wore layered black clothing, a dull medical mask covering the lower half of his face, and a dark hoodie with the hood pulled deep forward, concealing his identity.
It was the man who had been starving in the narrow alley earlier.
The thief!
He stood frozen still, calming himself down. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it would jump out of his chest. Cold sweat flowed down his temples. He had almost been discovered by the woman who owned the house just now. Fortunately for him, the woman had assumed the sound of his footsteps was a cat and went back to watching the TV show.
This is my chance, the thief thought, his breathing speeding up slightly behind his mask.
Calming himself and regulating his breathing, he sharpened his eyes and moved along the corridor again, very slowly and carefully. His footsteps were as light as a shadow. His target was the second floor of this house!
He began climbing the stairs one step at a time, being extremely careful so the wooden steps wouldn't creak. After reaching the top of the stairs, he slipped by undetected.
Being on the empty second floor, he let out another long breath of relief. He closed his eyes for a moment to soothe his tense nerves. When he opened his eyes again and walked a few steps down the upper corridor, he stopped. Before him, at the end of the corridor, there was a tightly closed wooden door. On the door, a small nameplate with kanji characters was attached.
The thief narrowed his eyes, trying to recognize the writing. However, he didn't recognize the name. Besides, he couldn't read very fluently anyway. He didn't care what was written on the nameplate. His only goal was to find something valuable he could trade for food.
Slowly, he turned the room's doorknob very gently and carefully. A small click sound was heard as the door successfully opened. He immediately slipped inside and closed the door gently from the inside.
The scent of room freshener, smelling of clean pine, instantly hit his nostrils. A smell that sharply contrasted with the stench of gutters and street dust clinging to his clothes. That clean scent, for some reason, made him feel a little more alive.
The room was very dark because the window curtains were drawn tightly. He fumbled along the wall near the door, feeling around for something, and finally his fingers found the light switch.
Click.
The room light instantly flashed on, the white glare startling him slightly and making him squint. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he looked around.
The bedroom was very clean, modern, and neatly arranged. Nothing was out of place. The bed was neatly made, and there was a study desk in the corner of the room.
Feeling calm again, confident there was no one inside, he started moving toward various corners of the room. He opened the study desk drawers, rummaged through the wardrobe, hoping to find jewelry, cash, or small electronics he could steal.
But, after searching for several minutes, he found nothing of value in the desk locker or the wardrobe drawers. Frustration began to take over him. He felt irritated, clenched his fist, and almost kicked the study chair near him. But, he quickly realized that would create a loud noise, so he stopped himself.
At this moment, as he was about to turn around to search elsewhere, his eyes inadvertently caught an object standing on the study desk. He reached out his thin-gloved hand and picked up the object.
It was a wooden family photo frame. Inside the frame was a photo of three people smiling at the camera. He saw an adult man and woman who were probably the owners of this house. Then, his gaze slowly shifted, stopping on the figure of a red-haired young man standing in the middle of them.
Instantly, the eyes behind the black hood widened. The hand holding the photo frame began to tremble violently.
In the photo, the face of the exact same young man was clearly displayed. The arrogant young man who had thwarted his plan and captured him in a very humiliating manner a few weeks ago!
It was Fuse Yasushi!
At that exact moment, the sudden explosion of shock and rage made the muscles in his hand weaken with trembling. Without realizing it, he released his grip on the photo frame. The wooden frame slipped from his trembling hand.
…
CRASH!!!
The extremely loud sound of shattering glass pierced the silence of the house!
Downstairs, Sakura, who was sitting on the sofa, watching enthusiastically as she waited for Fuse to appear on the TV screen again, suddenly froze. Her heart seemed to stop beating for a moment. She looked up, her eyes staring at the living room ceiling in sheer terror.
The loud sound of breaking glass clearly came from the second floor! Specifically, from the direction of Fuse's room!
"Honey?" Sakura called out with a slightly trembling voice, tilting her head toward the corridor. "Are you okay up there?"
Silence. There was no answer at all from the second floor.
Sakura felt puzzled, and a bad premonition began to creep into her heart. She quickly stood up from the plush sofa and briskly climbed the house stairs.
Arriving in front of Fuse's door, Sakura reached out her hand and grasped the doorknob. However, her movement suddenly froze. She didn't turn the knob.
A strange thought suddenly crossed her mind. She suddenly remembered something odd. Earlier, her husband had said very clearly that he was going to the bathroom. The bathroom itself was on the first floor. So, why would her husband now be inside their child's room, Fuse, which was on the second floor?
Thinking about this discrepancy made Sakura instantly break into a cold sweat. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
But, she tried hard to keep thinking positively. Maybe she had heard wrong. And what actually happened was that her husband had finished his business and left the bathroom, then without saying a single word to his wife, went straight up to their child's room to check on something. Yes, that made sense. Sakura tried hard to reassure herself, entertaining that logical possibility.
"Honey...?" Sakura called again, her voice now more of a whisper, the hand holding the doorknob feeling sweaty and trembling.
But, there was still no answer at all from inside the room. Instead, from behind the thick wooden door, the only sound heard was a light switch being pressed softly.
Click.
That sound proved with absolute certainty that someone was indeed inside, and that person had just turned off the room light!
Sakura swallowed hard. Pure fear began to choke her throat. She braced herself and slowly turned the room's doorknob.
The door opened with a soft creak of its hinges. Behind the door, the interior of Fuse's bedroom was now pitch black. The closed curtains meant no light from outside could enter the room.
Sakura forced herself to take a step forward into the dark room, her legs trembling. Her eyes strained to adjust to the darkness.
"Who's there...?" she asked in a whisper.
There was nothing in the darkness. The room seemed empty and deserted.
Sakura was about to let out a sigh of relief, thinking that maybe she was just being too paranoid. She decided to go back and close this bedroom door. It would be better to wait downstairs and have her husband check their child's room later.
However, at this moment, from the thick darkness in the corner of the room beyond her line of sight, a black shadow suddenly lunged out. A palm covered by a thin leather glove shot out with blinding speed through the darkness, heading straight for Sakura's face.
Without having time to react or scream for help, Sakura could only utter a single syllable:
"Eh?"
…
A/N: I think this chapter is too short. But honestly, nothing else came to mind to add to the word count for this chapter. Well, since the previous chapter was quite long, this should be enough. Tomorrow I'll try to write another chapter!