The train pulled away from Greburg Station with a metallic groan, wheels clacking against the rails as it picked up speed. Scenery blurred past the window: fields, scattered houses, telephone poles marching in endless rows.
Liam unzipped his backpack just enough to toss a handful of feed inside. "Eat it all. Don't make a mess."
Across from him, Shizuku sat with a book open in her lap, eyes tracking the text with methodical precision.
"Chirp chirp!" A gray head popped out of the bag's opening.
Liam pressed a finger against Jaku's beak, shoving the bird back down. "Quiet. If you stay quiet, I'll let you out."
Jaku bobbed her head frantically, little eyes glittering with desperation.
"Fine." Liam opened the zipper wider.
The sparrow exploded out of the bag like a feathered missile, flapping in a tight circle around Liam's head before shooting off down the aisle. A passing attendant yelped in surprise, nearly dropping her tray.
"Sorry!" Liam called after her as she chased the bird toward the next car.
"Aren't you going to get her?" Shizuku asked, not looking up from her book.
"She'll come back when she's hungry."
Liam leaned forward, resting his arms on the small table between them. "Do you always read this much?"
"Yes." Shizuku turned a page. "Because I used to pick up books all the time."
Liam blinked. "Pick up... books?"
"In Meteor City. People throw away books. You can't eat them, so you read them instead."
Well, that's depressingly logical.
"What else do you like?" Liam asked. "Besides books?"
Shizuku thought for a moment. "Jewelry. Accessories. Because I never find them."
"That... makes sense, I guess."
"What about you?" Shizuku looked up, tilting her head slightly. "What does Liam like?"
"I like playing League of Legends."
Shizuku's expression didn't change, but her eyes radiated pure confusion.
"It's a video game," Liam clarified, grinning. "From where I'm from."
"Oh."
"There's also web novels. Comics. Manga." Liam leaned back in his seat, watching the landscape rush past. "But that's all gone now. Like the wind."
Shizuku watched him quietly, not saying anything. The train rattled on, filling the silence with white noise.
After a while, Liam shook himself out of his melancholy. "This is boring. Want to train?"
"Okay." Shizuku closed her book and stood.
They made their way back to their shared compartment in the sleeper car. Unlike the cramped cabins on the ship, this room had proper bunks on either side of the entrance, plus a tiny bathroom that smelled faintly of industrial soap.
Liam shut the door and locked it.
Shizuku held up her book, and with a faint shimmer of aura, Blinky materialized. The bulging-eyed vacuum cleaner opened its mouth and schlorp, the book vanished.
"Can you always take things back out whenever you want?" Liam asked.
Shizuku stuck out her tongue. "Only if it's something important. Something I remember."
"In a few days, I'll let you try mine too."
"A new ability?"
"Not really new. More like a sidegrade. Kind of like a phone, actually." Liam paused. "Why does that make it sound cheap?"
He kicked off his shoes and sat cross-legged on one of the bunks. "Let's just train."
Shizuku nodded, removed her glasses, and settled into a similar position on the opposite bunk.
They both activated their aura simultaneously. Ten wrapped around them like second skins, then thickened, hardened. Ren flooded out, filling the small room with pressure. Finally, they condensed it all inward, holding it tight.
Ken.
A few rooms down the corridor, Kanzai's eyes snapped open.
"Someone's using Ko?"
He sat up slowly, frowning at the wall. He hadn't activated En, but the two Ken users weren't far away, and their output was solid enough to feel. Not master-level, but definitely competent.
"That's Liam and Shizuku," he muttered, lying back down with his hands behind his head. "Not bad. They're grinding even during travel. President would probably like that attitude."
He closed his eyes. "Still nowhere near Zodiac average, though. Not even close to mid-tier combat Hunters. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a meathead."
In another room, Dago bolted upright, heart hammering.
The other amateur Hunters scrambled out of their bunks, eyes wide.
"What the hell was that?"
"Enemy attack?"
"No, that's Ken," Dago said quietly, forcing himself to breathe. "They're training."
"Training?" One of the others stared at him. "That felt like they were about to punch through the walls."
"Yeah." Dago wiped sweat from his forehead. "That's Liam and Shizuku for you."
And to think Shizuku's this strong, he thought. The girl who can't remember her own appointments. And she's following a kid around like he's the boss.
People really can't be compared.
The afternoon brought a brief stop at some nameless station. Liam and Shizuku took a break, bought more birdseed, and watched Jaku play hide-and-seek with increasingly frustrated train staff.
By nightfall, the train was hurtling through darkness, its lights carving tunnels through the black.
Some cars were packed with passengers. Others sat quiet and empty. A few people slept with their heads on their bags. Others meditated, aura flickering faintly around them.
Trains don't get tired.
People do.
And that's exactly what the hijackers were waiting for.
They'd snuck aboard at the last station, blending in with the crowd. Now, in the early hours of the morning, when exhaustion hit deepest and alertness hit lowest, they struck.
Three teams split up. Some hit the rear cars. Others blocked the front and back exits. The rest moved through the middle sections, waving guns and knives, hissing threats at half-asleep passengers.
"Don't move. Hand over your valuables."
"Everything. Cash, jewelry, phones. Now."
Up in the luggage racks, Jaku tilted her head, watching the strange humans waving shiny metal objects.
Chirp?
"Ptooey!" Liam spat toothpaste foam into the sink and stepped aside for Shizuku. He splashed cold water on his face, blinking away the sting.
"Someone's robbing passengers in the other cars," he said casually. "Want to go mess with them?"
Shizuku started brushing her teeth. "Okay."
"Hurry up. Dago and the others probably already heard something. If we're late, we'll miss all the fun."
Shizuku brushed faster.
Liam left the bathroom and knocked loudly on Kanzai's door. "Hey! There's a bunch of hijackers in the rear cars. You coming?"
Slohe's groggy voice drifted through the door. "It's just train robbers. Not exactly an emergency. Handle it yourselves..."
A yawn. The sound of someone rolling over.
Then Kanzai's voice, equally unbothered: "If he's not going, neither am I. They're just thieves. Try not to kill them."
You couldn't pay me to kill them, Liam thought, pressing a hand briefly against his chest. Death energy was the last thing he needed right now.
He met Shizuku outside their room and headed toward the controlled section. Several flight attendants were huddled near the door, whispering frantically to Dago and his crew.
When Dago saw Liam and Shizuku, his shoulders visibly relaxed.
"You taking point?" he asked.
"Yeah. We'd rather not show off our abilities in front of a crowd." Liam jerked his thumb back down the corridor. "You guys hang back."
"Got it." Dago nodded and shepherded the attendants away. One of them looked skeptical.
"Those two? But they're just kids!"
"Trust me," Dago said quietly. "We couldn't take them even if all five of us fought together."
The attendant shut up.
Liam raised his hand toward the glass door separating the cars. Aura condensed on his fingertip, forming a small, dense bullet. He cocked his thumb like a hammer.
Beside him, Shizuku summoned Blinky. The vacuum cleaner materialized with a soft pop, its single bulging eye staring blankly at the door.
"When the door opens," Shizuku said, "suck in all the guns and sharp weapons."
Liam grinned. "On three. One. Two—"
SNAP.
The spirit-gun went off like a firecracker. The glass door exploded inward, shards spraying across the floor.
Blinky's mouth opened wide.
SCHLOOOOORP.
Every gun, every knife, every sharp object in the entire car shot backward through the air and vanished into the vacuum cleaner's gaping maw. The hijackers barely had time to register what was happening before Liam and Shizuku blurred forward.
Thud. Crack. Thwack.
Three seconds. Seven unconscious bodies.
The passengers stared in stunned silence.
Liam cracked his knuckles. "Anyone else?"
The remaining hijackers in the next car over wisely decided to surrender.
By the time the sun rose, the train was pulling into Cosmo Station.
Liam and his group disembarked like nothing had happened. Behind them, police hauled away a line of bruised, zip-tied hijackers who looked like they'd just had an existential crisis.
Slohe acted like train robberies were a normal Tuesday morning in Ochima. Which, apparently, they were.
Outside the station, the streets were packed. Not with commuters. With crowds. Cheering, waving, holding signs.
"What's going on?" Liam asked.
One of Slohe's staff checked his watch. "Catford Marathon. Why the hell did they route it past the station?"
"What's wrong with that?" Liam frowned.
Before the staffer could answer, Kanzai tensed. His eyes swept the crowd, and his left arm shot out, pushing Slohe behind him.
"Something's wrong."
The crowd roared as runners passed by. Almost simultaneously, a young man in a baseball cap shoved through the mob near Liam's group. He looked directly at Slohe.
And smiled.
Light burst from the bag on his back.
Oh.
Oh shit.
Time stretched. Liam's mouth opened in a silent shout, his hand reaching for Shizuku. Aura exploded from both of them, hardening into Ken. Kanzai's teeth elongated into fangs. Dago and the others threw up desperate guards. Slohe's face twisted in shock.
The explosion hit like thunder splitting the earth.
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