44 Yuki Sai - Part 1

Steam Work City Hospital. Yuki lied on a bed while a doctor examined her. A white light glowed on his hand as he placed it on her forehead.

"How is it doctor?" Mr. Sai asked nervously.

"She should recover, but I don't know how long this coma will last. You said she got shocked by a mana-collar that was implanted directly within her head?"

"Right." He nodded. "That's what the brat told me."

"Mm..." The doctor rubbed his chin in thought. "He must have toned down the power drastically. Otherwise, there's no way she would survive. Anyways, let's go ahead and remove the device." He looked up at his assistant. "Ready?"

The assistant nodded. She had black frizzy hair, glasses, and two horns sticking out from her forehead. It was Kate from Steam Work Academy. She placed her hand on Yuki's forehead and began to manipulate the bone of her skull. It slowly lifted upwards and created a small hole. The doctor quickly used a pair of tweezers to pull out the device.

"As I thought." The doctor nodded. "He only planned on stunning her. This battery has had almost all of the power drained from it beforehand. He also set the shock to last for only a brief moment based on what you told me previously."

"Then why is she still in a coma?" Mr. Sai questioned.

"I don't know. It may be related to the trauma that caused her to lose her memories. It could just be shock. It could also be something else entirely. We'll just have to wait and see how things go. At least her body is perfectly healthy as far as I can tell."

"...I understand. Thank you doctor." He sat down by his daughter's bed. There seemed to be a slight hint of regret in his eyes as he thought of the past.

...

"Where am I?" Yuki questioned. She was surrounded by darkness. Suddenly, she felt a pulling force on her body. Her surroundings twisted and distorted for a moment before returning to normal. She looked around again and noticed that everything was much bigger than it should be.

"What's going on?!" A childish voice rang from her mouth. She looked down and was shocked to realize she was in a child's body. She soon recognized where she was. 'This is my childhood home in Japan?' She ran out the door of her room and entered the bathroom. She stepped atop a stool to see the mirror. Her 4-year-old self stared back at her. Her hair was completely black, lacking the white half she had become used to.

"Yuki!" A feminine voice called. "Come on! It's time to go!"

"Mom!" She ran around the corner and saw her mother. A beautiful woman that looked like an older version of herself.

"Mom!" Tears poured from her eyes as she charged forward and hugged her leg. Her mother's dress got scrunched up in the process. "I missed you."

"Let's go." Mother turned around and exited the house, seeming to ignore Yuki and her hug.

"Mom?" She questioned. She grabbed ahold of her dress, "Why are you ignoring me?"

However, the cloth slipped through her fingers as her mother entered a steam wagon. Yuki stared quietly for a moment before her surroundings distorted and twisted again. When they returned to normal, she found herself sitting in the steam wagon next to her mother.

"We've got to get you to school." Mother smiled. "Your dad even bought me such a nice wagon after all." She pulled a lever and steam began to pour from the back of the wagon as it moved forward on the streets. Steam wagons were considered a luxury good for most households. Most necessities were in walking distance and for other needs you could always just take a steam bus.

'Wait... This day!' Yuki's eyes widened in shock. She grabbed ahold of mother's arm and yelled, "We can't go! We need to stay home today!" She pulled and tugged, but mom's arm wouldn't budge at all. In desperation, she attempted to open the door of the wagon to jump out. Unfortunately, the door also wouldn't budge. She was trapped and forced to watch the events that were about to unfold.

The wagon soon arrived at the school. Right when they were about to open the door, a man charged forward. He body slammed mother, jumped in, and shut the door. The wagon sped down the road as he held a steam pistol towards the two. "Be quiet and don't move if you want to live!" He yelled while driving the wagon.

Mother trembled in fear while holding Yuki in a protective hug. "Please don't hurt my daughter! I'll do whatever you want!"

"Mom!" She yelled as she struggled to attack the kidnapper, but she couldn't move. The hug bound her in place. 'Why?! Why do I have to see this again? Why can't I stop it?!'

The wagon stopped at a warehouse by the docks. The man forced the duo inside. A group of men were waiting. Beer bottles littered the floor as they drank. "Haha, you actually did it you crazy son of a bitch!" One man yelled.

"Just think of the ransom we'll get!"

"How could the world's strongest esper be so stupid as to leave his family unprotected?"

"I'll go let the police know about the required ransom like we agreed upon." A skinny man stood up and left the warehouse.

The men laughed and joked as they waited. More beer bottles piled onto the floor as they drank. Yuki's mother still held her protectively in a corner.One man glanced at them and smiled. He stood up, walked over, and held mother's chin. "You're quite a pretty thing, aren't you? Want to have some fun with a real man?"

Suddenly, Yuki felt her mouth moving beyond her own control. The same words she said in the past rang out again. "Leave us alone! Daddy will beat all of you if you hurt us!"

"Hmph!" The man snorted and smacked her in the face, causing her body to fly backwards and slam into the ground.

"No!" Mother screamed while holding her arms out protectively. "Don't touch her!"

"Haha! What a loving family!" He reached forward and grabbed her dress near her breast. He pulled back and a large chunk of the dress tore off, exposing her bra underneath. "NO!!!" She knelt down while covering herself and shaking in fear.

"Heheh, relax. It'll be over soon." The man chuckled as he prepared to tear more clothing off.

BOOM! A loud sound rang out as a crater appeared on the floor of the warehouse. Everyone turned to look and saw a hole in the roof, letting light shine into the dark warehouse. The light shone atop the bald man standing in the crater. Motes of dust could be seen floating around in the light, likely caused by the debris that fell from the hole in the ceiling. His red jumpsuit and yellow cape appeared even brighter in the light.

"He's here already?!" One of the men yelled.

"Look at his hand!" Another screamed in horror.

A severed head was in OP Baldy's hand. Blood still dripped from the neck. It was the head of the skinny man that had left a while ago. "I'LL KILL YOU ALL!!!" He screamed in rage as his eyes turned red. A white light shone brightly over his entire body.

"I surrender!" Several men knelt on the ground in fear. The killing intent alone was enough to make their bodies tremble to the point of being unable to move.

He ignored their pleas as he charged forward. His hand shot through the nearest man's heart. Blood slid down his arm. However, that did not seem to alleviate his anger at all. He grabbed the spine of the man and pulled it out from his body. Then he flung it across the room and it shot through another man's head as it impaled him against the wall.

He slowly walked forward and sliced off another man's head. Then he began to beat the dead man's body into a pile of mush. For another man, he flew past him so fast as to be invisible. A very tiny cut appeared on the man's arm. He seemed confused for a moment, but then another cut appeared. The cuts quickly accumulated into the hundreds, then into the thousands. The man bled out and died while covered in wounds.

He slowly finished off the rest of the men. Each of them dying in a horrifying way. They begged to go to jail. For mercy. However, OP Baldy ignored it all. He turned to look at the last man remaining. It was the man that had torn his wife's clothing. He was trembling while holding the gun up to his wife's head. "STAY BACK OR I'LL BLOW HER FUCKING BRAINS OUT!"

"Humph." Mr. Sai snorted. "Do you know why I wear a red jumpsuit?"

"What?" The man asked in confusion.

"It's because I got sick of cleaning off the bloodstains of my enemies. Put the gun down and I'll give you a quick death."

The man hesitated for a moment as he considered the offer. He had seen the way his friends had died and wished for no part of that hellish experience. But then his eyes hardened with resolve as he squeezed the trigger. Then, he could no longer feel his hand. His eyes went wide as he looked towards his arm.

OP Baldy stood right next to the man. He had easily severed the man's arm, which now lay on the ground. The man quickly backed up, but OP Baldy grabbed ahold of him by the throat. "I usually try to conserve mana when killing my enemies. I wasted a little extra on your friends. I think I'll give you even more special treatment." He bent his knees and jumped up while holding the man. It was only a brief moment before they stopped.

The man gripped his throat as he tried to scream, but no sound came out. He looked around in shock as he realized where they were. He was on the moon. The gray craters and dust were the only things surrounding him in all directions.

"Congratulations." Mr. Sai mouthed the words, since he couldn't speak due to the lack of air. "You'll be the first man to die on the moon." He charged forward and began to perform the same thousand cuts technique he had used on the previous man. Blood died the dust red as it pooled beneath the man. Mr. Sai stopped just before killing him. He watched as the man slowly suffocated to death and his body went limp. Then he grabbed the body and jumped back to Earth. He wouldn't allow the body to have the honor of being buried on the moon.

He returned to the warehouse and tossed the body aside. His wife ran over and hugged him while crying. Yuki watched with a strange look in her eyes. She knew it was useless, but she tried anyways. "It's not over yet! There's still somebody here!" However, her parents didn't seem to hear her.

Suddenly, all of the dead bodies on the ground began to stand up. They were already piled together, so they were in an ideal formation. Each man had a steam rifle or pistol on their bodies. They all aimed at the family and fired.

"Useless toys!" OP Baldy snorted as he stood protectively in front of his wife and daughter. Most of the bullets missed. The ones that didn't just bounced off his body without causing any damage. "Is that all you have?" He smiled.

"Ugh!" A high-pitched scream rang out. He felt some liquid splash on his neck. He spun around and saw his wife with a hole in her neck. A bullet had ricocheted off the wall behind them and hit her. Blood poured out and some of it had splashed onto him. His hands shook as he held his wife's trembling body. She barely managed to whisper, "Protect Yuki." Then her body went limp as her eyes closed, entering the eternal rest known as death.

"AGHHHHH!!!" HE turned around and released a punch with all his strength. A strong gust was formed from the power. White light shone from his fist and shot forward. When the wind calmed down and the light disappeared, there was nothing left of the dead men's bodies. They had been obliterated into nothingness. Not just their bodies, but half the neighborhood had been obliterated as well. Screams of horror rang out as people evacuated. Many had died as a result of his attack.

Yuki watched all this while tears poured from her red eyes. She clenched her fist tightly, knowing she couldn't do anything to change it.

"Let's go." Her father sighed as he picked her up and jumped into the air. They were gone from the crime scene in a flash. When they stopped, she heard many voices speaking a strange language. Slowly, she began to recall the language. 'Oh, right. We came to China after that.'

Her mouth moved beyond her own control once again. "Daddy! Where's mommy?! Where are we?!"

Mr. Sai's body trembled as he knelt down and embraced his daughter. His hoarse voice rang out in nearly a whisper, "I'm sorry, Yuki. I'm so sorry."

"Daddy?"

"I underestimated them. I only had mana-tracking espers watching over you. I never expected ordinary people to attack such a blind spot. The espers didn't even notice anything wrong. I was overconfident. The price for such arrogance..." He shook his head and stood up. He grabbed his daughter and jumped again. They appeared atop a mountain that was surrounded by clouds. He entered a hall and saw an old man sitting atop a throne.

"Oh?" The old man rubbed his long white beard. "What brings my bastard son here? I thought you refused to ever return to China."

"Father." OP Baldy clenched his fist in anger. "I need you to keep an eye on my daughter for a while. I have business to attend to."

"Hah! Why should I waste my valuable time on such a thing? Get your Japanese wife to do it!"

A sorrowful look appeared in Mr. Sai's eyes. "I can't do that anymore."

The old man rose an eyebrow. He could see that something wasn't quite right. "Very well. I'll watch her for a bit. Go do what you need to."

"Thanks." His cape fluttered as he turned around and began walking out of the hall. Right before exiting, he glanced back. "This will take a while. I'm hunting the zombie esper. Start training Yuki while I'm gone."

"You're finally agreeing to let me train her?!" The old man stood up excitedly. "Haha! Go, go! Come my precious granddaughter. I have so much to teach you!" He grabbed Yuki by the hand as he pulled her out of the throne room.

...

Mr. Sai sat by his daughter's bed. He too was lost in old memories. 'If I hadn't wasted time torturing them, I might have been able to save her. I should have removed those two from the dangerous situation before anything else. I almost made the same mistake again today.' He had been tempted to put Ed through the same hell as he put his wife's assailants through. However, he held himself back from doing so and decided to give Ed a quick death instead. His highest priority had been getting his daughter to a hospital. 'Well, it would have been bad if I had struck around with all that chaos happening anyways. Just what the hell did that brat pull to frame me like that?'