The lights from the monitor shone brightly on Kai's face. His eyes were glued to the screen as he madly pressed the 'W, A, S, D' keys while frantically controlling his mouse.
It was the dead of night, around 12 to 1, yet his gaming session hadn't ended. Cherry on top, it wasn't even a weekend.
Adding to that, he was so engrossed in his game that the rest of the world was dead to his ears. Even if someone honked right beside him, they wouldn't have made him budge.
Crack—!
Yet today, a sound broke his insane immersion. His fingers froze on the keyboard, and his hand on the mouse stopped mid-motion.
He slid down his headphones and paused the game. Then he stood up and slowly made his way toward the door.
It was really late at night; his sister Iuno should have been asleep. As for his brother, Ryuga, if he hadn't come home before 11, then he most likely wouldn't. As such, the source of the sound was a mystery.
His first and foremost thought was a burglar. Maybe some bastard had broken into their apartment with the intention to steal.
'I should take a weapon to defend myself just in case.'
He scanned the room until his eyes fell on his baseball bat. He immediately grabbed it and swung it a couple of times to get the feel.
'Yupp, this works out.'
Holding the bat in his right hand, he was about to open the door when he noticed a silhouette standing outside.
From the light coming in through the hallway, he could see the shadow of a person standing just beyond the door.
'That isn't Iuno for sure, but that isn't Ryuga either.'
His suspicion of a burglar immediately heightened. So did his grip on the bat.
'Haaah… let's see how this goes.'
Taking a deep gulp, he moved to open the door. Steadily turning the knob, he pulled the door open while hiding behind it.
As it opened, Kai could clearly see the figure's shadow through the filtering light. For several seconds, the person didn't step inside. Which only made Kai more suspicious.
'Should I barge in? No, no, no, no! If I attack first, then it won't count as self-defence. I'll get tangled up in a messy case. The better choice is to wait and let the person attack me first.'
He had read on an internet forum about a famous murder case in Kurokami: if someone killed another person in self-defence, they weren't considered guilty. Of course, there were numerous other factors involved, but the core point remained the same. The act must have been done as self-defence, otherwise it would be no less than murder.
'Wait… why the fuck am I thinking about murder? This fellow is just a burglar, why do I want to merk this guy? What is wrong with me?!'
For some reason, his brother's image flashed before his eyes as he tried to make sense of the thought. But he quickly shook his head to get those random impulses out.
Finally, after what felt like forever, the shadow moved. The person outside slowly entered the room with a strange, puppet-like motion. It was as if they weren't used to their own body or had some kind of physical disorder.
The person was looking toward his PC setup, standing right in the middle of the room. To get a better look, Kai peeked a little from behind the door.
The intruder was a tall male, around 185 cm (6'1), the same height as Kai, and wore a black trench coat. He was also on the skinner side, with almost no muscle to speak of. His arms were scrawny, almost malnourished to the bone.
'Can this guy even open a door? Oh wait! That's why he was just standing outside. Hmm… that makes sense.'
Seeing the man's 'condition' sparked a surge of confidence inside Kai. He didn't think the guy was much of a threat, and without realising it, he lowered his guard.
'I can just talk this out, maybe even intimidate the guy.'
He stepped out from behind the door and addressed the man in a casual tone. "Hello, Mr. Burglar. I think you chose the wrong house. Why don't I show you the way out?"
He kept his voice deep and did his best to intimidate the guy. He even tried to make himself appear bigger—standing tall, chest out, posture straight. While he wasn't a muscle monster, Kai wasn't skinny either. In fact, he had quite the athletic build, much like his big brother. All of that made him more confident about scaring off the burglar.
'If push comes to shove, I'll just beat this guy. From the looks of it, it wouldn't take much strength.'
The burglar turned around in that same unnerving, puppet-like motion. The way he moved made Kai look away instinctively. It was just too eerie to watch.
"Look, you haven't done anything yet. So, I can still look over this… okay? You're free to go. I won't call the police or anything. But you have to leave. Right now."
Kai tried his best not to look directly at the burglar. His eyes wandered around the room instead, walls, ceiling, closet, anywhere except the man.
Though when his eyes finally paused on the man's face, he couldn't help but flinch. The man was wearing some sort of mask to hide his identity… but the mask was a little too tight. It looked like it was melting into his skin.
'Wearing a mask while trying to steal makes sense. But wearing it like this… I don't know, it feels painful.'
The man was already so skinny, and the way the mask clung to him made his bone structure stand out sharply. Kai could almost mistake the man's face for a skull.