The moment I began to search the third floor and call out names, my attention would be grabbed by the sound of a door opening and feet rapidly pacing away from me. My head angrily jerked to the side in response, and then making chase. "Oh no you don't!"

It was a surprise how I hadn't passed out from a heart attack with all of this running. This was the most cardio I've had in years! It felt good to be active again, and especially so when it is doing something productive like chasing down the once scary members of a looming supernatural mafia. 'Once scary' was the key word, for no longer did I feel scared anymore... though, my fear was more directed towards the fact that I was living off of scraps of Ki.

The person I was chasing was a taller man. He wasn't wearing any resemblance of robes, hoods, nor other sketchy attire that the others wore. He had glasses, a red turtleneck, messy black hair, and not a very strong build. This had to be the guy controlling the cameras, because he was way too tall and skinny to be Stronzo, who had left down the elevator a while ago. Another unique part about this man was that he wasn't very fast either. He was about the same as any normal non-athletic human.

("Is this it? I thought ALL of the Barricades were Ki users... either he isn't using his because he's dumb, or he doesn't actually have any") was the only thought in my mind while I quickly began to catch up to this man who was in a panicking mess.

Though he was slow, catching him wasn't going to be easy. From the winding hallways, the rubble leftover from from the cameras, and speaking of cameras... Those seven laser cameras revealed themselves once more, descending to guard his back while I chased after him.

I could only groan with an irritated ("Not you guys again, I thought I took care of you all!"), but I had to continue keeping pace.

Without any time to breathe, my body would throw itself to the right in an attempt to avoid the laser fire of one of the cameras. If previous experience hasn't taught me anything, this time I was sure to know that dodging lasers was nothing easy. TV shows make it look easy, but really, it's nigh impossible... and especially so when the dodger is about to keel over from exhaustion! No matter if I dodged left, right, jumped up, or ducked down, those lasers were always on me and chipping away at my skin.

If I couldn't dodge them, then how could I save myself? There weren't very many options on the table. My next idea was to rehash the same techniques I used before, which I would without question. My foot would slam into the ground below to uplift some more tile, before knocking those towards the death cameras... and I would only be left disappointed when said tiles were dodged with great precision.

That was when it hit me: The transparent balls were still moving the cameras. Steve was still around! Not only that, but it could be possible that this guy has better control of these machines when closer to them! What was I supposed to do?! I couldn't hit them, I couldn't evade them, this wasn't going well for me at all! I had one last idea...

("This is all I have left in me. This better work, or I am going to turn into toast!")

I held my hands out and began to charge the last of my remaining Ki into this final sonic clap. "TAAAAAKE... THIS— OWWW SHIT!" Before I could follow through with the clap, three of the seven cameras would have combined their lasers, aiming straight for my hands. These lasers were beginning to drive me up the wall! Considering the fact that none of my techniques were working, I was left with no choice but to do the one thing I neglected to try...

Do you ever get the sensation that you are about to fall into pieces when you push yourself to your absolute limit? Yeah, I was just about to do exactly that here. My legs were shaking, my feet were aching, my heart was pounding, and my skin was scorched, but I still proceeded to utilize every last ounce of my power to give my last fight to Mr. Taro's son.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" All of the cameras had their lasers pointed straight at my chest, but I held my hands up to temporarily stall their now-piercing potential strength as I made my last ditch effort to put this guy down by sprinting with all of my strength. The cameras may be fast and precise, and their lasers are faster than me, but the cameras themselves were not.

Once I got to the nearest camera, I threw myself into a flip, leaping right over the camera while grabbing it. With the camera I caught, I used the singular hand I caught it with to crush it into nothing but a hunk of metal, then proceeding to throw this hunk of metal precisely at another one of the cameras that sat next to it.

Three of the five remaining cameras hovered just a few feet in front of me and combined their lasers, the lasers firing straight for my diaphragm. The moment they fired, those three would be met with my knee, punting them into the wall and destroying them. This left only two cameras remaining, and two cameras that I decided to ignore. With their numbers greatly reduced, they were nothing but an annoyance, and not to mention vulnerable when their source was right in front of me.

"TAAAAAROOOOOOO!!!!" I yelled towards the panicking boy. The goal was right in front of me, this was the end! Before the boy could grab a door to escape into, I threw myself into a soccer slide from below, knocking him swiftly off of his feet and forcing him to hit the ground back-first.

I wasn't going to give him the time to get up. His only hope to save himself was if those two cameras from behind managed to do some damage to me, which we both knew was futile when I was standing right in front of him. I quickly stood back onto my feet, taking a few short pants before pulling my leg back.

"P-please! S-slippy! I-I'm sorry! Please! Spare me!" the man pleaded, holding his hands up with fear in his eyes."I-I had no choice! S-Stronzo would kill me if I didn't! Y-you know what happened to my dad, right?! RIGHT?! I was threatened with the same thing if I didn't do it!"

There I stood. I stood over the son of the teacher I liked the least, but the one who has forever been engraved into my mind. It was difficult. Do I spare him? Do I spare the son of the man who threatened to kill my best friend? Do I spare the one who killed my mentor... my friends... and part of the few responsible for my mother's death? Was it his fault if he was forced to against his will? or was he just as guilty of an accomplice? Maybe it is right to spare him... maybe it's good to show some mercy... but that was when the realization dawned on me: I wasn't fighting to be a hero and set an example. I wasn't fighting to be a villain. I was fighting to rid New Tako Town of its crime problem, avenge my friends who have been lost by these monsters, and return to a normal high school year.

I closed my eyes, then threw the foot into the side of Mr. Taro's son, who would be swiftly caved into the wall behind him, where he would lay knocked out. "You killed Sora... you bastard."

Silence...

It was over.

The two remaining cameras then deactivated before dropping to the ground, leaving me alone with the destruction this battle had caused.

("Who knew technology could be so terrifying? I think that was the closest I've come to death yet... Lesson of the day: Don't underestimate modern technology.")

I breathed in through my nose slowly, then exhaled out of my mouth. I looked left, then I looked right. With my mind cleared of this fight's stress, I could finally feel the light at the end of the tunnel was upon me. I could just feel it... no, smell it, no, I might even be able to taste just how close I was. It was finally coming to me: the beginning of the end.

After calming myself down, I looked straight ahead at the door Mr. Taro's son was previously trying to open. It was an elevator door. ("Wait, he brought me back here!") I realized he had taken me back where the fight had first started.

Ding!

The door opened.

What was behind that door was a handsome man standing at just over 190 centimeters. His hair was finely gelled and kept, he had some small facial hair on his chin, and wore a spotless black suit and tie with a matching pair of slacks. He looked quite a bit older compared to the rest of the students, at least eighteen or nineteen. I at least hoped he was that old, because he was smoking a cigarette.

"Buon giorno, contadina." he would casually respond when he took sight of the beaten, bruised, and burnt first year (a.k.a me).

"St-..Stronzo?! Is that you?" I asked in between exhausted pants, grabbing my sore chest.

"That's an easy question." He would vaguely answer while walking out of the elevator.

"I... I'll... stop you!" Though I claimed I would, I knew deep inside I had no fight left in me. I was the least prepared I could ever be to face this man. His aura... his intensity... it was nothing like I had ever experienced before, and this was only him being casual! There was no use in trying to fight him, I was convinced I had already lost just by standing there in front of him.

I would jump at the sudden feeling of his hand on the back of my shirt collar, Stronzo saying: "This is my answer." Like a ragdoll, I was then helplessly tossed right inside the elevator, the door shutting right behind me.

"Arrivederci. Have a nice trip, Miyuki."

That would be the last thing I heard from him, before the elevator would take a violent plummet, and the impact to the ground causing me to black out.