On a Rainy Day in Small Town

Rain lightly drizzled down upon the coastal town of Kamakura. Often times, the town could experience rather harsh storms, but today was one of those days where they got lucky in terms of the weather. Still, most people shut themselves in for the day unless they were among those that worked outside, such as those that worked at the town's famous port. So, to see anyone running about in this bleak weather, especially in the more rural areas, was rather uncommon. Yet one girl found herself doing so. Red shoes splashed through the puddles that had formed on the dirt path, and a girl ran through the forests of Kamakura on this stormy day. Her clothes were dampened by the cool rain that fell upon her, her light pink shirt nearly becoming see-through and her black dress darkening even more. With each step she took, her gray and black stockings became even more soggy, causing the girl a bit of discomfort. Her head was protected slightly by a green, two-ended nissehue, which partially covered her long pink hair, the back of which and a few strands from her bangs in front were dripping wet. It was clear that she had been out in the rain for some time, but for what reason remains lost to even her.

Pink eyes filled with both confusion and worry, the girl seemed determined to get back home and out of the rain, to make it back in town to her warm, crowded house that she shared with her roommates. They were practically her family, all things considered, after they had taken her in after her memory loss. Despite not even paying rent, they seemed content with letting her stay as long as she helped around with chores. Yes, returning to the warm house with some warm smiles and a warm bath seemed to be the perfect solution to her startling awakening on this dreary day. Nothing too bad happened; it was just that there were these moments in which she lost all consciousness, blank spots in her memories where she'd be in one place and then wake up somewhere else. Quite literally in some cases, but this time she had regained consciousness while on her two feet, reawakening in this forest hiking trail that was just a couple of kilometers away from town; quite bewildering for her, given that she had remembered being at the market buying groceries with Yuka just a few fleeting moments ago. Before she had mentally matured, these gaps and these blank-out periods were a rather frequent occurrence, but nowadays they are far and few between. She's just have to live with them.

As she continued to run in this dull weather, her breaths began to grow heavier, practically becoming panting as she slowly became more and more out-of-breath. She was far from out of shape, but she was no athlete either. Her heavy breaths were visible in the cool air; she was surely going to catch a cold from being out here. Eventually, the girl stopped, her body hunched over and hands pressed against her knees as she took a moment to catch her breath. Her eyes focused down on the muddy ground beneath her. The girl watched as the water droplets that had fallen upon her bangs slowly dripped down from them and into the mud below, adding more and more to the small pool of water forming at her feet. Some people find the rain relaxing, but when you're outside and feel it pouring down on your skin, it is far from... The girl blinked twice; she could no longer feel any rain falling down on her. The rain had stopped. The pink hair lifted her head up, though she stopped short of looking up at the sky when she came upon the most peculiar of sights.

It was still raining, just not around her. In front of her, you could see the rain pitter-pattering on the muddy ground just a few feet in front of her, but the ground all around her was no longer being rained down upon. The girl looked to her side and then all around her. It was the same—a spot in which no rain came down, a spot where she had conveniently stopped. It was as if there was a hole in the cloud above her that had taken pity on her. Craning her head up high, the girl took a moment to investigate the phenomenon that had befallen her before her pupils dilated in fear upon seeing a woman floating in the air above her. "Nyu?" The girl could only murmur in confusion at the sight, accidentally spurting out her name in surprise. Nyu, the name that she was bestowed upon by her friends, doesn't come from much creativity. Six months ago, Nyu was the only word she knew how to say; her memory had regressed to that of an infant. But now, she could speak just fine, though her tendency to say Nyu had now become a verbal tick more than anything, especially in moments of surprise. Now was a rather fitting time for her tick to come out since Nyu could only find herself staring up, baffled at the sight of a woman floating in the sky above.

Without warning, the woman dropped down quickly yet controlled, her feet still floating above the ground. Perhaps it was because she didn't want to step in the mud, or perhaps it was so that she could meet Nyu eye-to-eye due to her low stature. Clad in a skin-tight black v-neck dress that had long sleeves and was slit at the bottom to reveal her bare legs, her feet were covered with low-cut heeled shoes that didn't even reach her ankles. And most distinct about her appearance would be her short, curly green hair and a pair of green eyes that meet Nyu's head on, a disapproving stare meeting her more startled one. Nyu backed up slightly to put some distance between her and the woman that had appeared before her. She heard about heroes fighting across the world before; was this woman among them? She might even recognize her; Tornado of Terror was her name, perhaps.

There was a moment of silence; the two girls were just staring at one another. It was rather awkward, if not intimidating, and it made Nyu want to divert her eyes to the ground. Eventually, growing tired of this staredown, Nyu spoke up. "Um, is there a problem, miss?" Nyu asked, being as polite as possible to the older woman, unintentionally lowering her eyes to the ground, despite her best efforts not to.

"You don't look like much." Completely disregarding Nyu's question, Tatsumaki instead replied with her own opinion on Nyu, saying it as if it were a statement. One that brought Nyu down.

"That's mean." Nyu muttered to herself just audibly enough for Tatsumaki to hear, the green-haired woman narrowing her eyes in response. Nyu yelped in surprise at the ESPer glaring daggers at her. There was this aura to her, one that made it clear that one should tread lightly when around her. "Nyu! I-I mean- Sorry, I hadn't-" Nyu began to stammer as she bowed her head in atonement.

"Cut the shit; I know your the killer walking around these parts." Tatsumaki rudely interrupted Nyu's attempt to apologize. The pink-haired killer lifted her head up slowly in confusion, causing the hero to let out a huff in annoyance. "Trying to act innocent isn't going to work. I visited your latest massacre. If you're going to try to keep a low profile, try not leaving a witness behind."

Nyu blankly starred at the short woman, blinking in confusion over her accusations. Her a murderer? She would never; she had spent most of her life sheltered and would actively avoid conflict. Sure, she had these blank-out periods, but as far as she was aware, they were mostly harmless. "I-I think you might have the wrong pe-" Nyu attempted to defend herself.

"I mean, seriously, you tore everyone apart. There were more puddles of blood at that place than there were rain puddles." Tatsumaki interrupted, a tone of indifference in her voice. "Hell, the guy I found had his guts torn out; he only had enough in him to speak when I snapped him out of his daze." Tatsumaki began to float forward, slowly approaching Nyu, which caused the pink girl to back up even further. "I didn't get much out of him before he croaked, but he did tell me this," The ESPer continued to get closer and closer, no matter how far Nyu backed up, who eventually stopped when she felt her back press up on an invisible wall. The shorter woman got in so close that they were practically face-to-face, Tatsumaki's green curls pressing up against Nyu's forehead. "He was a member of a mercenary group that was tasked with capturing a killer, with the only description that they were given being that they were after a girl with pink hair..." The S-Class hero raised her hand up and, with a swift motion of her arm, brought down the barrier she had created, letting the rain fall down on the duo once more, along with pushing back on Nyu with a blast of psychic energy. [

As if a powerful gust of wind had hit her, Nyu's hair and dress were swept backward by the intense breeze, her clothes becoming momentarily dry in the process. The strength of the wind was strong enough that the green hat resting on her head started to become loose, eventually flying off her head and into a muddy puddle on the ground. As the gust of wind came to an abrupt end, Tatsumaki's eye narrowed as she looked at the top of Nyu's head. "...and a pair of horns on her head." Tatsumaki finished her sentence, backing away slightly while resting her hands on her hips, the raindrops that attempted to fall down on her glowing with green energy and popping before they touched her body.

Nyu's eye widened and quickly darted up; sure enough, the green that she could see in her peripheral vision earlier was now gone. Her head was exposed. The boney protrusions on her head, the ones that Kouta had told her to keep hidden, were now in view of the hero in front of her. "W-W-Wait." Nyu sputtered before suddenly feeling herself being lifted off the ground. "Nyu!" The college student exclaimed upon seeing herself floating just a meter off the ground, a green aura surrounding her body.

Tatsumaki let out a huff as she held Nyu up with her ESP abilities, commanding so with a mere motion of her index finger. "You supposed to be a demon or something?" Tatsumaki taunted, an insult that somewhere, deep down, hit Nyu hard. It was enough to cause this distressing situation to become even worse. "I don't typically do investigations, but I'm kind of glad I took this one; after all, I was able to track you because of the psychic signal you were sending out. It was faint, but you're going to have to do a lot better to hide it from someone like me." The hero smirked as she swiped her hand to the side, sending Nyu flying to the trees to the left of her, the green aura around her disappearing. The girl let out a cry in pain as she crashed back first into the truck of the tree, landing against it hard enough to cause the entire thing to shake. The pink-haired girl slumped to the ground, her bangs covering her face, as she found herself knocked out from the impact.

Sensing that the killer she had tracked was no longer conscious, her brain activity had slowed down, it lacked the awareness that would match someone who was awake. "Seriously, that's it? Some killer you are!" Tatsumaki goaded the girl even further, an action that was seemingly pointless given her current knocked-out state. "Well, whatever, you're still a dangerous monster. So, I'll make sure there isn't a single trace of your body left, just for wasting my time." Tatsumaki reached out a hand as her entire body began to glow a bright green, and the leaves around the tree began to fly off as a strong wind began to pick up around it. Slowly, the S-Class hero began to close her open hand, the wind around the tree beginning to intensify with every movement down her fingers made.

And then, without warning, Nyu raised her head, and a large ESP signal was sent out upon the girl regaining consciousness. Tatsumaki stopped for a second as her eyes met with Nyu's...No, not Nyu's; they were different. She was very much looking at the same person, but those eyes lacked the innocence they had before, being replaced with a look of intensity. They looked like they belonged to those of an animals. "Who the hell are you?" Tatsumaki asked this new girl, who only starred back with killing intent.

The girl opened her mouth to speak, and from it came only a single word. "Die." She uttered before suddenly lashing out at the hero with an invisible ****. Well, a **** that would be invisible to most, but for an ESPer like Tatsumaki, they were clear as day. Telekinetic structures in the shape of arms raced toward the short woman, their finger-like claws ready to tear her apart. Yet, despite this, Tatsumaki was still unimpressive.

The hands slashed at Tatsumaki, but their attack would be intercepted by a barrier that formed around her body. The girl opened her mouth slightly in confusion before suddenly feeling herself flying backward, being sent through the tree that her back was against. Hurtling through the air, the killer would send out more of her arms to grip the muddy ground below her, claw marks digging their way through the ground as the girl came to a stop. "So, you finally decided to show your true colour." Tatsumaki mocked, lifting up the tree she had cut in half into the air and positioning it so that its branches faced the pink-haired girl in front of her. The girl stayed silent and dropped to the ground, her red shoes becoming stained further with the mud. Like an animal, she slouched her body slightly forward in acknowledgement of her opponent, raising her invisible arms in preparation to attack.