There are things that always happen to you, whether you wanted it or now.
Like breakfast, tripping, getting a high score or simply hating…
And no one wanted those to happen to you, at least for the near future.
But sometimes, we gotta accept that bad things will happen as much as the good ones, and we have to come to terms with it.
As of right now.
Although I wished he still devoured the Karma guys… Seems like this is my fate anyway…
I immediately sprint toward the worst nightmare, as the one in question started to notice me.
"Futile."
With a slightly bored voice, Akutagawa summoned two dragon-like heads from his cloak heading directly at me. As the head rapidly closes the distance between me, I barely dodge them while still running toward him.
As the manga depicts, although his power is indeed flexible depending on the situation per Dazai training, its speed is actually not that great,especially at this stage of the story.
Of course, its speed is still top-notch compared to me, a mere normal man, but I gotta do what I can. Besides, it's not like my chances are slim, though.
Pushing my body to its limit, I quickly got through Akutagawa countless clothes attacks, although just really barely, which made his expression twitching.
Looks like all that time training in martial arts and exercise isn't wasted at all…
"You little…!"
Akutagawa slight grun, as his attack becomes more extreme, so much so that I have to abandon approaching him and hide behind the giant concrete pipe that's relatively close to the road.
But even then, countless clothes easily lift that up, revealing my figure hiding behind it. Out of pure instinct, I again barely avoided a head-attack and ran back behind.
Tch, what's an ability… Without previous training, I doubt I can survive for this long.
"Stubborn…"
Another grun, followed by countless blades surrounded me.
If they get a hold of me, I'll share the same fate as the jacked guy.
So before that happened, I acted once more. Jumping in the air right before the blade connected, I landed on one of the clothes blades and started running along the line. Still have some big wound on the body though, but that's the small price to make compared to dying for real right there.
After all, despite their shape, it's still a bunch of sewed fabric.
Akutagawa never shows any capability to change the whole clothes property, so the blades should still retain their soothing outline.
Also, it seems like Akutagawa only utilizes swinging speed to cut things with its edge or dragon-head, as he never shows to do any of those actions while in the stalemate state, except the Tenmai Tenga of course.
"What…?"
He gasped in awe, surprised that I was actually running on those clothes. But I dont give a damn about his reaction, keep running with the fist over my head.
Took him a second to react to that, as the clothes behind me started to move right behind me, but it's all too late right now. Humans instinctively always try to defend when they get attacked, and Akutagawa actually instinctively does that with his ability.
However, his clothes are now currently falling behind me a few moments later, and he's now too frantic to actually think of using his white shirt as part of his ability. So he's now wide open right before me, eyes widen in shock.
Without any care for consequences, I threw a punch in his face, the place with no clothes to protect. I knew that Akutagawa did use his ability to cut space, which deemed all gunshot and sneak attack useless.
But at this state, I doubt that he actually pulled it off over his face, where the clothes did not reach. Besides, that space-consuming section of his ability took time to make, and it seems like he needs to maintain it all the time with his own consciousness, as that property isn't actually part of his ability.
The result? I punched him all the way to the back, made him roll quite a bit and tainted him in dust and dirt.
Using this rare opportunity, I run deeper into the construction side, not budging an eye to the figure behind me.
"You… !!"
A loud screech burst behind me, which signaled my one-way ticket to the afterlife…
… Somehow, these sequences really intrigued me, like a lot.
Finally, I can fully enjoy life to the fullest while playing chase with a literal pitch-black devil on my tail, filled with anger.
I ran all the way to the second floor, with only gray concrete settling the space, and checking the surrounding carefully.
Good, this should suffi—
As I still considered all available options, the guy broke through the wall and spread his clothes all over the place.
Oh come on!! Can't let me possibly breathe for a minute?!
With such dissatisfied thoughts, I then ran again from those blade clothes into the unfinished hallway.
But as I almost reached the other side, the clothes blades suddenly burst out blocking my only wayout. And the figure slowly appeared behind me, face distorted by annoyment.
Crap…
"No way out now rat…"
He leers at me with emotionless eyes, but his anger expressions blow away his fake demeanor. With countless clothes surrounding me, it truly seems like the end for me…
Or is it?
"Nah, look around again mate."
Like on cue with my speech, the hall suddenly crumbling along with countless cracks started to form on the concrete wall.
"This is…?!"
"Should've stayed vigilant mate!!"
With my proudful words, everything started to fall down, dragging us all down beneath the dust and rubble.
Luckily, with years of parkour experience, I easily maneuver through the rubble and get out of the building right before touching the ground, as the whole thing behind me crumbles down in dust.
Phew… almost didn't make it…
Not gonna lie, the fact I can get out of there mostly unscathed, probably due to some divine intervention or something.
I was ready to die back there, and I surely should've been. But somehow, luck had saved me once again…
After staying there looking down at the rubble for a few minutes to make sure he stayed there, I let out a relieved sigh and turned back to Ranpo, who was struggling with the lock on the truck container…
Speaking of which, it feels a bit annoying seeing Atsushi that stalemate.
Atsushi, the Byakko who held the Bookmark of the powerful Book, can't even open the damn container door despite his control over the tiger at this time.
Such pity… If only he had a more "intense" personality, the whole thing wouldn't be this bad…
[Fwish.]
A silent sound quietly fell into my deaf ear.
The smell of iron.
The coldness of the clothes…
I see.
"You little rat…"
Behind me, the figure of Akutagawa, with some injured, slowly standing up from the rubbles.
And one of his clothes… now piercing through my chest.
Curse it… seems like I can't just simply overcome the power gap of "Ability"…
"Die."
With his command, Rashomon shreds me into two and throws me in the opposite direction. And finally, his gaze shifts toward Ranpo, not knowing about his presence yet.
[Don!]
A gunshot sound echoes through the place, and countless bullets fall down from Akutagawat position, likely due to the space-devoured aspect of his ability on the cloth.
"More rats…?"
With an annoying look, Akutagawa glanced at the new arrival, a man wearing glasses holding a gun with a farmer boy.
"Akutagawa…"
"…"
Kunikida glances back at him with an unease look, while Kenji only looks at him with undistinguished expressions…