The Insatiable - Chapter 20

Sloth cursed Haruhiro under his breath but he didn’t stop to run. All he has with him is an outdated gun and now that he’s been wounded spending any more second here would result in him forfeiting his life. ‘Just you wait, this round of our little game is yours. Next time… I’ll make you pay.’ He swore in his mind before turning into a corner of the street.

Haruhiro saw how his target continued to run, he wanted to kill Sloth right here and now but Haruhiro no longer has the strength to continue fighting. The person in white has already retreated as well while Haruhiro was busy trying to injure Sloth. He looked at the bloody path where the person in white headed and hesitated whether to follow or not.

After a few seconds of deliberating, he decided not to follow him. He’s now too exhausted by using his shadows too much and Anna might be worried about him now. He’s sure she and the people inside the orphanage heard the first gunshot. Also, by now they should be done with the arrangements they’re supposed to be organizing.

He slowly walked back limping slowly. Haruhiro recalled the way the fight happened and frowned. He was supposed to have more experience in fighting but why does it feel like he was fighting people from the apocalypse?

It seems that he’s been too relaxed these past days that his senses have dulled a bit. Just looking at the wounds he received at the fight, he couldn’t help but shake his head. “Next time, I’m going to have to make sure I fight better.” With his determination to become better set, he continued to walk.

He looked at the way their battlefield ended after that he bitterly smiled. Haruhiro saw how the battle left this part of the street messy and it seems that he’s the one who made it this way with his shadows. It’s a good thing that the people from this side of the city have all either gone to do their daily routines or evacuated to the center of the city.

He continued to slowly walk back to the orphanage, his body almost hurt all over.

~~~~~~~~~~

Right after Haruhiro and Anna left, Yasumi and Nanako quickly arranged for everything to be completed. Nanako hurriedly ordered all of her subordinates to work faster and more efficient. Yasumi, on the other hand, worked with the others by carrying stuff that she could, Nanako told her that she could just do what she was doing and supervise but she didn’t feel comfortable ordering people around and she just started to carry stuff.

Nanako saw this and didn’t know what to say, at the end she just let Yasumi do what she wanted besides they are indeed short of hands. Yasumi helping on her own is a good thing, she also wondered if she should also carry some but shook it off. If no one’s supervising all these then there will be chaos.

Time passed just like that with Nanako supervising and Yasumi helping as much as she could and when everything was almost complete a problem occurred.

A middle-aged man walked straight in and headed towards Nanako, he is Kashimoto Akimasa, Anna’s adoptive father and Nanako’s husband. When Nanako saw him she knew things would not end well right now.

“What have you been doing these past days! Your family told you about all these things that are happening and you did not tell me!?”

Akimasa may be high up in this prefecture but that’s just about it, he is still slowly rising up the top of command which is why he was still in the dark about what would happen after people get infected. Now that the city has become one of the infected sites he’s obviously anxious because he might even become one of the infected.

His Kashimoto family is also just a family serving under the Kobayashi, a marriage between them was just a way to show the world that they get along and since Akimasa was doing well, they chose him to be Nanako’s partner.

He looked around and for the first time and noticed that there are countless boxes of basic necessities supplies like food and water being packed and carried in one of the trucks. Whenever one truck is filled it would immediately leave to a place he’s sure he doesn’t know of. Akimasa also noticed how almost all the workers here are female but he ignored almost everyone and looked at the two beside Nanako.

One has a braided black twintail hair and black eyes, she’s wearing a school uniform. He knows who the other one is so he quickly averted his gaze from her and looked at the other one. She has short hair, violet eyes, and is wearing black frameless glasses. This person is naturally Yasumi when she noticed the way the person just barged right in and started shouting at Nanako she felt worried and stood beside her.

However, now that the person’s attention is at her and how this person is not even hiding the lust in his eyes, she once again felt uncomfortable.

Nanako noticed this and hated Akimasa even more. “What did you come here for?” Nanako asked this with her voice being so cold, Akimasa didn’t like this and shifted his attention back to Nanako.

“I’m here to take you back. Your parents have been calling you these past few days, asking why you’ve been taking away workers of the family. Did you know? When they asked me and I couldn’t answer your father scolded me!

Now I’m going to take you back and you’re coming with me without any resistance or else I swear I’m going to…”

Akimasa wasn’t able to finish his sentence when Nanako cut his words, “Or what!? What are you going to do? You don’t dare touch me and you’re not man enough to try!”

Akimasa’s face turned red then purple and green, he felt ashamed for being told of this in front of so many women. It is true that he doesn’t dare hurt Nanako because the consequences of doing so would be dire but to be told that in front of this many people and not doing anything about it… He would feel ashamed as his pride as a man is being questioned and still swallow such humiliation… Akimasa’s head boiled with anger and he took a step forward followed by another until she reached in front of Nanako.

He then slapped her on her face, making Nanako’s left cheek marked with a red handprint. Nanako was first shocked but that quickly disappeared and was replaced by anger as she looked at Akimasa and said, “Good, good, good. You dared to hit me! You’re finally starting to be a man!”

As she said that, her eyes alternated their colors again from her normal black to a dirty blue color. While her eye colors changed, flames appeared beside her scaring the two that is standing near her. The two were afraid to be burned by the flames but strangely they didn’t feel the heat and even felt comfortable with the flames near them.

When the workers and Akimasa saw these flames appear out of nowhere they were frightened. They looked at Nanako and noticed how the “aura” around her seems to have changed.

In her eyes, they could see rage and if Haruhiro is here he would be able to see more than the rage, he would see the madness in her.

Yasumi and the other girl moved away from Nanako as the flames revolved around her as the planets would around the sun, and just like the sun everyone present felt that if they got too close they would burn.

“You’ve already annoyed me too much… I can’t take it anymore… Maybe… Just maybe?? No… For sure… You… Should burn.”

They all heard Nanako’s seemingly random mumbling and all looked at her strangely. Yasumi is the one who gathered her courage to speak first, “Nanako-san are you alright?” She’s already seen Haruhiro’s shadows and she even has an ability of her own, of course, she is able to gather her wits faster than everyone else. She looked at Nanako, worry filled her eyes. Over the past days, Nanako has been very kind to her and has treated her like a part of their family.

Nanako didn’t answer and instead continued to look at Akimasa making him sweat buckets. He slowly inched back to the door, afraid to make any sudden movements and earn even more ire of the woman in front of him.

“Kill… Kill… Kill… No… No.. Kill…”

Nanako’s mumbling became even more incoherent, “Nanako-san?” Yasumi took a step forward only to be greeted by a ball of flame block her path. She yelped in surprise which made the somewhat dazed Nanako return to her senses.

Hey eyes a mixture of black and blue, she raised her hand and said, “No more…” and flames flew straight to Akimasa. He was surprised, of course, he was thinking of the worst thing he could think of and it really happened.

Nanako shot a ball of flame at him, Akimasa is frightened and didn’t dare to slow down one bit. He runs straight for the door without looking back, it’s a shame that he didn’t because if he did he would see Nanako collapse on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

He would also see how the flame disappeared completely before it even got close to him. The people watching called him lucky in their minds.

Akimasa completely disappeared after that, he returned back to where he came from -completely afraid of Nanako. The people left are not that different from Akimasa, they stared at the fallen Nanako with fear in their eyes. It was only when the other girl beside Nanako earlier shouted at them saying, “What are you all being dumbfounded about!? Go back to work! Three of you help Yasumi-san and me to carry Nanako-san.”

The girl with twintails then started to carry Nanako with the help of Yasumi while three girls followed them to fix the place where Nanako would be placed.

What none of them noticed is a figure dressed in all white observing them in one corner. That figure suddenly spoke when it saw Nanako produce her flames, “She’s not yet awake” and then disappear.