The morning sun appeared over the distant mountains, casting a large pillar of light over the end of my bed.

When I say bed, I mean the thin carpet in which I was wrapped beneath.

The rays of light were warm against my feat.

The sensation stirred me from my slumber. I must have fallen asleep after all. I couldn't remember much about last night, as I was so tired.

The smell of cooking food wafted into my room. Being a rather heavy eater, i knew this was my calling.

I opened my room door and made my way downstairs. Nobody seemed to be up, so I tried my hardest to make no sound on my way down, which was hard, as the creaking of the floorboards seemed amplified in the silence.

The downstairs section of the bar was a whole other story. Miu and Wendy were the only two awake, working hard in the kitchen.

Miu was rushing around the room, wearing a small apron around her usual clothes. Wendy was the same, wielding a frying pan and a spatula. The two were barking orders at one another, trying their hardest to out do the other in a war of words.

They were both too busy to notice my entry, and with the two shouting at each other like maniacs, I thought it was safer to just take a seat and avoid eye contact.

I sat on one of the leather seats near the back of the room and watched the two from afar. Although Wendy was a calm and gentle woman most of the time, when it came to cooking, she was always right.

But, whenever Wendy told Miu to add a certain ingredient, or turn up the heat on certain foods, or even just check to see if they were cooked, Miu would disobey her entirely and do her own thing.

The kitchen was more of a war zone than a place to prepare food.

After a while, the two finely seemed to calm down, as the food was all prepared and ready to go. One by one, trays of cooked meals and pastries were placed onto the large oak dining table in the centre of the room. The two seemed happy with their work.

Only then, I decide to make my presence known.

X.D: ‘I'm surprised that nobody else is up yet, especially with you two at each other's throats!’

Wendy jumped, sending a few plates she had in her hands across the floor. Each of them shattered into pieces. Miu just smiled towards me.

Miu Shizuka: ‘A healthy debate is natural, Xyro. Especially with such a fine cook.’

Wendy was in the middle of picking up the shards of ceramic from the floor. Miu’s words made her pause.

Wendy Jianar: (Blushing, shocked) ‘You really think I'm a good cook?’

Miu Jianar: (Smiling) ‘Certainly! Your taste in food and ingredients is impeccable.’

Wendy Jianar: ‘Thank you so much!’

Miu Shizuka: ‘Your welcome.’

The two exchanged awkward smiles for a short while. The three of us then helped clean up the shattered pieces on the ground and I apologized for scaring Wendy.

The others began making their way down the stairs. I could tell, as the creaking gave them away. The first to come through was Lewis, who seemed to be in a joyful mood. Soon after, we were joined by Dakota and Ryu.

Dakota Way: (Talking to Ryu) ‘...And that's why bodybuilding is so much better man!’

Ryu Jianar: ‘As if! I refuse to believe that mindless exercise is hardly better than simple studying and reading.’

Dakota Way: ‘Oh yeah bro, well why don't you shove a book up your…’

Miu Shizuka: (Cutting in) ‘Ryu is right Dakota. It is sometimes more important to keep a healthy mind than a healthy body.’

Dakota and Ryu stopped. The two boys gave her polar opposite looks.

Ryu Jianar: (Shyly) ‘Miu, you…’

Miu Shizuka: (Shouting) ‘Shut up Ryu! I wasn't talking to you!’

Like a dog to its master, he went silent.

Dakota Way: (Laughing) ‘Yeah dude. Do what your girlfriend tells you.’

The two shouted at the same time.

Miu and Ryu: ‘Shut up you orangutan!’

Both Miu and Ryu faced each other, blushed, and turned away. They both stood with their backs to each other and crossed their arms.

Wendy Jianar: (To me) ‘Are you kids always like this with one another?’

X.D: ‘Sadly, yeah.’

The three stopped, and sat around the table. We were still missing one more person.

Wendy Jianar: ‘Is Atsuko ok up there?’

Ryu Jianar: (Eating) ‘I didn't hear her getting up.’

X.D: ‘I’ll go check on her.’

I began making my way over to the stares. Before I could even get to the bottom, someone let off a wolf whistle. I turned to see Lewis and Dakota trying to keep back laughter.

X.D: ‘Real mature guys. Real mature!’

As I ascended the stairs, I could hear the loud clanging of metal. I approached her room slowly to see what she was doing, without looking in immediately just in case she was working on the “Surprise”.

Atsuko was sat by the end of her bed. She had a hammer and a small chisel in her hand. By the looks of things, she was trying to break into the small silver box from the day before, but to no avail.

X.D: (Peeking my head in through the doorway) ‘Do you need any help with that?’

Startled, she swung around, thrusting the box into her pocket.

Atsuko Viola: (Shocked) ‘H...help? H...help with w...what?’

She knew that wasn't going to get her out of the situation.

X.D: ‘Ok, Atsuko…’

I walked into her room and closed the door behind me.

X.D: ‘...I know that whatever in that box is important to you. Why won't you let me help you!’

She gave me an uncomfortable look.

X.D: *Sigh* ‘I promise not to look inside the box. Just let me open it for you.’

Atsuko Viola: ‘...’

She handed me the box

Atsuko Viola: ‘Y...you p...promise?’

X.D: ‘I promise’

I levered the box open with one of my hand blades. The lid came flying off. I closed my eyes in order to Maintain my promise to her.

X.D: ‘Here you go!’

Atsuko took the box and stuffed it into her backpack. I could tell because of the sound the zipper made.

Atsuko Viola: ‘T...thank y...you Xyro…’

X.D: ‘Atsuko, remember that you can always talk to me about anything. Understood?’

Although a minute ago she seemed upset, she was now joyful again. She nudged me in the shoulder, with a huge smile on her face.

Atsuko Viola: (Cheerfully) ‘And y...you remember that I m...make better snow a...angels!’

We both laughed.

Atsuko Viola: ‘A...anyway, w...what's for b…breakfast?’

Before I could answer, she started running down the stairs.

Atsuko Viola: ‘R...race you d...down!’

I didn't keep up with her. I was sat wondering why such a shy, caring person, could switch to being energetic and excited, to being a secretive and dark in thought. It all wasn't adding up to me. Something about Atsuko seemed odd, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it at the time. I feel really stupid now, but back then I just couldn't understand.

Anyway, I joined everyone downstairs for breakfast. I had a couple of apples for breakfast, whilst the others seemed to prefer cooked meals.

The only person who wasn't eating was Miu, as she seemed more focused on her pet bird more than anything else.

When breakfast ended, everyone began to split off from the bar and start heading around town together.

I didn't.

It was about time I did what I wanted to do most of all in this town.

Get my own back.

You see, When I was a lot younger, I had a “Friend” who decided it would be funny to lodge my old hunting rifle into the town's central statue.

I wanted to go and get it back. Not to use, but just to put it beside my father's grave.

With no hesitation, I headed straight for the old statue.

On arriving, I found it strange to see people out and about. Three young men in hoodies were sat around the statue, smoking something that didn't really smell like tobacco to me.

As I approached, their conversation ceased.

All three men seemed to be wearing the same thing. Each of them had a set of combat trousers, followed by a rather thick jacket to keep the cold out.

The first man walked over to me with a harsher look about him.

Man (1): ‘What kind of fucking joke is this?’

I didn't respond. Instead I walked past him to the statue.

Both of the men who were sat at the statue stood up and blocked my path.

Man (3): ‘Don't think your getting through us you piece of shit.’

Man (2): ‘Check him, might have something of value.’

With a filthy smirk, the third man pulled out a knife and pointed it at me.

X.D: (Under my breath) ‘....don't make me do this.’

I could hear the man behind me clock a pistol of some kind.

Yet, somehow, as he started pulling the trigger, my body reacted on it's own.

Ducking backwards, I grabed the gun just in time and moved it towards the other man. As he pulled the trigger, the bullet traveled and went straight through the other man's arm.

Then, Drawing my blades, I stabbed backwards through the man's chest. Pulling the blade out at speed, I swiped upwards in an arc, Killing the other two in mere seconds.

Upon regaining control, I fell to my knees in absolute horror. I had no control of myself, I just….

I noticed the others, who had been watching the entire time. Although, to my surprise, nobody apart from Ryu seemed to be phased.

Miu Shizuka: (walking towards me with a very wide smile) ‘Nicely done pumpkin. You surely showed them.’

She put her hand out in an offer to help me up.

X.D: ‘(Taking her hand, standing up) ‘But...I didn't mean to…’

Yuuto Ito: ‘Yeah, this may be my fault…..Atsuko, could you give us a second?’

Atsuko passed me the laptop. Then, I walked a few steps away and sat propped up against the wall. I felt silk from guilt and adrenaline.

Yuuto Ito: ‘You know about the parasites, right?’

I had nearly forgotten about them.

X.D: ‘Yeah, Miu has the “X” one, doesn't she?’

Yuuto ito: ‘Well, you know what they do to you right? Take over the blood cells and become them?’

X.D: ‘Yeah, what about it?’

Yuuto ito: ‘Well, the parasite works in symbiosis with the body. It tries it's hardest to keep the host healthy, as well as give them added bonuses such as speed, regenerative abilities, exedra. However, if the parasyt feels as though the host is in any immediate danger, it tends to take over…’

X.D: ‘I have a parasite?’

Yuuto ito: ‘No Xyro, you have two…’

X.D: ‘But...how does that work? If they take over blood cells….’

Yuuto Ito: ‘funny thing is, they really shouldn't work. And they don't. However, your different in the fact that your body has technically been halved. Any blood cells carry oxygen around your body contain the white “Y” parasite, while those without oxygen are the “X”. Since they don't combine, they seem to just neutralize themselves for the other parasite to use. In other terms, they are also working in symbiosis for some reason…’

He paused to look at something.

Yuuto Ito: ‘look, i'm not a great with this kind of thing, but you know that you have unlimited ammo and that kind of thing? Well it's because the two parasites seem to combine to form an unstable compound. In other terms, your blood is also highly explosive…’

X.D: ‘...So i'm unstable?’

Yuuto Ito: ‘You are stable, and you can learn to control when the parasites prock. After all, your their host, they will obey you if you command them. It's just going to take a very, very long time to learn how.’

In a way, I felt a little better and worse at the same time. On one hand, I had the ability to learn to become better, however, in the meantime, I was likely to hurt someone if my life was threatened.

With nothing more to say to me, I returned the laptop to Atsuko, who tried to give me a comforting smile.

Ryu Jianar: ‘Well, what do we do now? We can't just leave the bodies….’

He turned to gesture at them, but they had already disappeared.

Standing next to the statue, miu was dabbing her mouth with the napkin, since she had a little blood left over.

We all could put two and two together. We stared at her in disgust.

Miu Shizuka: ‘What? My mother told me never to waste a meal.’

With our number one concern out the way, I reached around the back of the statue. Wedging my hand between a small opening, i was able to split the stone in order to retrieve the rifle.

Luckily, it was almost completely intact, apart from a large gash down the side of the barrel.

Before returning to the bar, I went up to the starlle tree alone. Without any words, I placed the hunting rifle beside my father's grave.

Once i got back to the bar, I was greeted by a rather sympathetic look from wendy.

THing is, she already knew about the time I revenged my family’s death. In her mind, this was no different.

After all, Ryu had explained to her about them threatening me. Out here, if anyone even threatened Wendy in the bar, she would have the right to put a shotgun shell through their skull.

Without causing more grief, she simply hugged me, then we had diner.

That night, I was restless.

It's weird how I could feel guilty about killing known murderers, and yet Miu could eat their corpses and then sleep happily.

That's just a life thing I guess.