The chaos around her didn't settle for a long few moments.
The crowd was just as distraught and confused as the violet haired woman who lay on the ground.
"My ears..." Akira thought, her eyes slowly peeling open. "...hurt."
The smell of asphalt and burning rubber hit her nostrils, pungent and aggressive.
She sat up, eyes widened and mortified.
"The child—" she cracked. "Where is he? Where's the kid—!?"
"Akira!!"
That voice.
Yui.
She rushed to her aid, her face pale with worry and fear.
"What happened to you? W-What—H-How did you do that?!"
Akira looked at her face.
Her skin was paler. Her fingers hesitantly shook above her body, like she was afraid of accidentally triggering something.
But what hurt most...
was the concern she didn't know where to place.
"I-I don't know, I just..." her whisper trailed off. "He needed help. He was in danger."
The sirens drew closer.
People had already formed around them, traffic building up as cars screeched and honked in the distance.
Confusion.
Hurt.
Fragments.
"Up."
"W-Wha-Whoa, Yui, hey, be careful—"
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO SHOULD'VE BEEN CAREFUL!" Yui snapped. "YOU CAN'T JUST RUN AWAY LIKE THAT WITHOUT EXPLANATION!"
Akira recoiled.
Her back protested.
She bit her lip as she stared at the ground, tears blurring her vision again. "Yeah. You're right. I'm sorry."
"What's going on here?" a voice cut through the crowd.
Akira felt her blood run cold.
Officers.
She tried to step away, but her ankle rejected the idea.
Yui's grasp on her waist tightened. "Relax. You did nothing wrong."
Two officers, one dressed in black attire and the other in deep blue, stood at the center of the crowd, right in front of the women.
"Well?" The blue one said. "I asked for an explanation."
"We—"
"That lady broke through the apartment window and came out in an instant." A voice spoke from the crowd.
"She was on the road one minute and gone the next." Another said.
"But she saved that child." A softer voice added.
Murmurs rippled.
The officer in darker clothing sighed as he removed his handbook.
"Alright. Alright. Quiet." He commanded.
The crowd hushed.
Akira's stomach twisted.
And Yui's hold on Akira's body didn't lessen an inch.
He scribbled something in the book.
The other officer scanned the floor, landed on an odd marking just a few yards away from them, and scanned it too.
His eyes widened.
An uncomfortable silence settled over the area, the firefighters now already inside the apartment, washing down the last embers that remained.
"...isn't she a Hybrid? Why is she out here risking her life?"
"Must be a ploy to gain our trust. You can never be sure with those things."
"But she has nothing to gain from this stunt whatsoever."
Opinions kept drifting in and out of Akira's mind.
Her shoulders curled. Knees buckling.
She bit back the lump in her throat as she looked at the ground again.
"I just wanted to help..." she whispered.
Yui caught it.
Her expression melted almost instantly.
"Hey, you didn't do anything wrong..." she murmured, wiping a tear with her other hand.
No response.
She sighed softly. "Look...I'm sorry I snapped at you. I shouldn't have done that."
Akira nodded. "I get why you did it. I didn't tell you. You must've been confused and scared—"
"Hey, now..." she hushed. She could already hear the words underneath what Akira was saying. "...stop trying to make yourself the problem for everything that goes wrong. Someone was in danger. You couldn't explain. My fault."
Akira shifted.
Her entire body hurt.
Her clothes were torn and burnt up.
Her ankle twisted badly upon impact with the ground.
And yet despite the overwhelming pain, her worry was on the two officers who stood there, shock and judgement written all over their features.
The blue one walked up to the crowd, advising them to carry on with their day.
The darker one's handbook was stuffed back into his pocket as he removed a small white object.
He crushed it.
And suddenly, the air around them was swallowed by a dense white cloud that dragged itself lazily around them.
Outside, the world knew what it meant.
This was Ayanaki business.
And everyone knew.
Ayanaki business was not to be interrupted.
...
"You said your name was..." the officer inside with them asked.
Akira didn't answer right away.
His eyes landed on Yui.
"Does she not speak?"
Yui nudged her gently. "It's okay, you're not in trouble, Akira. The officers just need to understand what's going on here."
"Actually." The officer said, taking out a glowing object that displayed a number. "Your friend here just violated 4 International Ayanaki Laws."
Akira's body flinched.
"What? But...she saved another life..."
"And in doing so, she could've added more lives to lose." He pointed at the object. "International standard is 10 Units." he said simply. "Essentials are permitted, to a degree, to use at most 10 Units of their abilities in non-energy based zones."
He paused.
Looking at Akira, who had been stuck staring at the ground.
"And your friend here not only blew past that number, but she could've easily caused all the emergency grids underground to trigger." His eyes narrowed. "And I'm sure you both know what that means."
Of course they knew what it meant.
How could they not?
Emergencies that could turn into catastrophic events.
Floors splitting.
Buildings collapsing.
And all because a stupid girl went above the limit—
"That doesn't matter." Yui said now, firmer. Defiant.
The world outside carried on, cars driving around the white bubble in the middle of the road.
The blue officer communicating with the firefighters.
Making calls to HQ.
Mentioning names that weren't supposed to be said in public.
And all this while a certain blue haired man began roaming around the park, trying to find out where the two women went.
Then.
"Did you hear what happened a few blocks from here?" a couple of strangers by the fountain asked.
News spread fast.
"No." one of the guys said.
"Apparently there was a fire that broke out in an apartment building down four streets from here. Nasty fire."
"That's unfortunate." One of the girls said. "Hope no one got hurt."
"Well someone did. There was a kid inside. From what I heard, the little guy almost died if it wasn't for one of the Ayanaki Fighters that got there."
Ren took out his phone, pretending to text as he listened in.
"Woah! For real!? I wanna see an Ayanaki Fighter!"
"Yeah, I've never seen one in real life before." one of the other girls said. "I heard that to get in you've gotta defeat like ten bears all by yourself just to get in."
One of the guys laughed. "C'mon, ten? You'd have to at least be able to handle twenty of them with your eyes closed or even take out a Shrill all on your own."
"I don't think the last one's doable."
"Unless you're in the top 3 ranks, right?"
"That'd be overkill." One of the men laughed.
The younger woman nudged the taller one.
"Think we can go see? Please? I've never seen an Ayanaki Fighter in the flesh before-"
"Sorry, babe. No can do. They've blocked it off..." his voice dipped. "...apparently this one didn't have authorization to be here..."
"Aww man."
"Plus..." the other guy added. "You don't wanna go there anymore."
"Hm? Why not?"
Ren's eyes narrowed as he focused on the conversation.
The black haired guy pointed outside the park gates.
"Because that Ayanaki Fighter not only might be a Riot-class..." he paused. "...but they're also a Hybrid."