Its small, triangular head was scraping against the ceiling, and six probes extended outwards from it. They swiveled about in a v-shaped formation, glowing softly in the darkened store.

Its legs, two long, skinny limbs that couldn’t logically support its gargantuan upper body, perfectly straight, as if it could not bend. The linoleum floor was gouged with every step, a trail of jagged gashes in its wake.

And its arms…its arms reached down to the floor, hanging loosely, more like rope than flesh. They swung like pendulums with each step, and ended in the claw of a mantis instead of a hand.

Though it may have been a dark purple before, it had now been coated in enough blood that Hiraku couldn’t even be certain. He felt the burn of vomit rushing up his throat, and he forced it down, not sure why it hadn’t noticed him.

Why was he alive?

How could he be alive, when everyone else was dead?

No, did it even matter, if he was going to die next?

He began to shake, panicked thoughts bursting out of his mind. This absurd scene, those unanswerable questions, they locked his limbs and stole his freedom as the aberrant beast’s probes swivelled in his direction.

None of this made any sense, but…this was his reality now.

Hiraku grit his teeth until it felt like they’d break, discarding the shopping basket that his hands were still clenching.

His fingers felt stiff, his palms sweaty, and he cringed as the basket contents spilled on the bloody sections of Shinobu. The impact made a sickly, sticky squelch, and he forced his eyes away from the ground.

The beast faced him now, leisurely swaying back and forth. He had to keep his eyes on the monster and away from the floor. He had to think only of his hatred, not his fear and disgust. It was a situation that was out of his league, but he was the only one who could do anything now.

There was no one outside the shop, and the power was down, meaning that the automatic doors wouldn’t be functioning.

Thus, there was only one path left, huh?

Kill it before it killed him.

Hiraku breathed through his mouth, coiled his legs, raised up his fists, and narrowed his lavender eyes.

This was just Daiki with longer legs, longer arms, six eyes, two big blades, and a blood-bathing fetish.

“Come on, you bastard.”

In response, the beast pitched its body forward, somersaulting through the air. With a terrible crash, its scythe-like claws cleaved through the ceiling. Glass shards fell like rain, causing Hiraku to shield his eyes as he dove forwards, barely managing to dodge underneath the monster before it landed.

The entire store shook as its claws smashed deep into the ground, but Hiraku’s footing was stable, rubber soles offering a good grip on the blood-soaked floor.

Whipping around and dragging its whip-like limbs with it, the beast swung low, sending up a gust of wood chips into the blue-haired boy’s body. However, the debris didn’t hurt as long as it didn’t get in his eyes, and Hiraku was too close for its claws to slice him to shreds. Hopping over the sweeping arms before evading the head-level one that came with its next spinning strike, Hiraku understood how it functioned in an instant, and almost laughed at its simplicity.

The monster’s attack could be considered similar to a ball and a chain. It spun its entire body in order to generate enough force to slice and smash through practically anything, and, once it picked up speed, it became impossible to approach the body.

But Hiraku had reached the center of the storm before it picked up. He dropped down onto the ground as another blow passed overhead, picking up a piece of glass large enough for his whole hand to close over.

The monster’s spindly legs, as well as its talons, had dug themselves into the ground, creating a hole in which it could stay rooted while it wreaked havoc, and, as it was spinning just as fast as the rest of its body…

Before the fifth strike could smash into his crouched form, Hiraku drove the shard of glass into its legs.

Glass shattered in his left hand, piercing the palm and sending hot needles up his arm, but, simultaneously, brackish blood spewed from the circular gash. It screeched eerily and toppled over, losing its balance, its attack going wide this time.

A snap, a crack, and then, its feet snapped clean off, still rooted in the hole it dug whilst spinning.

Yeah, this really was similar to Daiki, huh?

Adrenaline coursed through Hiraku’s veins as he leaped onto the monster, grabbing its probes by his right hand. At this range, those scythe-claws were useless, sealing it’s only form of offense and defense. Gripping tightly, Hiraku tore its eyes out, more rotten blood spewing from the holes in its face. It felt vaguely like jello in his hands, and without tossing away the disgusting appendages, the boy drove his fist into its six-holed face.

His left hand had been sacrificed to topple the giant, and now, his right hand was slowly, but surely, deforming its bleeding face. Each strike caused the monster’s chest to heave, and each strike felt like hitting a rubber tire. His fist became numb, unpleasant sounds following every punch. Were his fingers fracturing? Was he going to continue on with this? Shouldn’t he run away now?

No, he wasn’t satisfied with just this much.

Hiraku’s teeth showed themselves once more, his mouth curving upwards in the imitation of a smile.

“RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

A scream escaped his smile, and then…intermingled with another one.

The face that he had been beating on split like a Venus flytrap, revealing a maw full of serrated teeth. Unable to stop his fist in time, the jaws clamped down on his forearm, and immediately, he could feel it gnaw into his flesh. Suckers that he could not see latched onto that forearm, and his vision shook once more.

They were draining the blood out of his body.

He could no longer feel his fingers, and that sense of nothingness was beginning to spread up his arm.

“Don’t…”

Hiraku ignored the pain, clenching his glass-slashed left hand.

“…screw…”

Mustering up the vestiges of his strength, he punched into the side of its face.

“…with…”

His vision shook, his skin stark-white against the blood that coated it.

He felt breathless, lungs burning and shrivelling.

His left arm faltered, unable to move.

His head was too heavy for him to lift up, his eyelids too heavy to keep open.

He was dying.

But, funnily enough, Hiraku was fine with it.

Because, at the very end, he experienced that life-changing, world-shaking abnormality that he so desired.

Ah, so the world wasn’t as boring as I thought.

Hiraku slumped over, and fell into darkness.