Negative Point

Verte's knuckles rapped against the front door of Juyo's house, and her eyes betrayed the terror swirling within. For a few heartbeats, the silence reigned until the door creaked open to reveal Juyo's mother—a woman worn by sorrow and fatigue.

"Verte, what are you doing here at such a time?" her voice trembled with concern.

Verte managed a halting "Oh—" before asking, "Is Juyo home?"

A pause, then a soft sound of weeping drifted from inside. "No—" Juyo's mother began, her tone pained. "Sorry, Anna hasn't been taking the news about her boyfriend all too well. I don't know where Juyo went."

"Oh, ok. May I come in?" Verte inquired, stepping forward cautiously.

"Oh yes, you can." The mother stepped aside, allowing Verte to enter the dim, sorrowful home. Once inside, Verte murmured her gratitude, "Thank you."

"No, thank you, honey," the mother replied gently. Yet, the sound of Anna's crying swelled louder. Hastily, Verte made her way down a narrow hallway until she reached a closed door, behind which the distress continued unabated. She knocked softly.

"Anna, it's me, Verte…" she called.

A faint reply came, punctuated by sniffles. "You can come in…" murmured Anna. Opening the door, Verte discovered Anna wrapped in blankets, her tears glistening in the half-light.

"Is Vant ok?" Anna asked between stifled sobs.

"Yes, he's fine, he'll be alright," Verte assured her.

Anger quickly overtook grief as Anna's fist clenched tight. "I'll never forgive him! The man who had the gull to hurt my brother and my boyfriend!"

"Calm down, Anna—" Verte began, but Anna's fury and pain spilled over.

"Why should I?! Have you ever had two people close to you get hurt, ELF?!" Anna screamed.

"Sorry for asking," Verte replied softly, then turned away, her heart heavy as she retraced her steps back to the living room.

"Is she ok?" Juyo's mother asked again, worry tinting her tone.

"Uh. Yeah," Verte answered, her voice distant.

"Verte, is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong." Without another word, Verte slipped out, the door closing behind her as her mother's voice trailed off in protest.

Much later that night, under the cloak of darkness, Anna emerged from the house draped in a hooded cloak. The city lay abandoned and silent as she wandered through empty streets. In the depths of that quiet night, a mysterious figure, concealed beneath a dark cloak, approached.

"Oh, what is somebody like you doing out so late?" the cloaked man drawled, his tone laced with mocking curiosity.

"Who are you?" Anna demanded, her voice a blend of defiance and fear.

"A man looking for satisfaction," he replied enigmatically.

For a moment, Anna regarded him in silence before she spun on her heel and ran. Yet, in her haste, she collided with the very figure who had pursued her.

"Don't try running." The man's voice was low and dangerous as he pulled back his hood, revealing the unmistakable features of Dareen. His blindfold lay discarded, and his eyes—glowing with an uncanny, orange luminescence and shaped like arrows—burned into hers.

"I failed to kill your brother, why not take that anger out on his sister?" Dareen taunted.

"Stay away!" Anna cried. In a burst of energy, she summoned a bolt of blue electricity in her palm and hurled it at Dareen. With almost casual ease, he sidestepped the attack.

"Be honest with me, did you think that would hit?" he jeered.

"You—" Anna began, her left hand gathering another surge of power, but before she could release it, Dareen's grip clamped down on her wrist.

"Nuh uh." With a cruel twist, he crushed her wrist. Before his torment could escalate further, Juyo burst onto the scene—swooping in like a guardian angel—and delivered a swift kick to Dareen's stomach that sent him reeling. Anna sank to the floor, her hand cradling her injured wrist in agony.

"You stay away from her!" Juyo bellowed. In that instant, a massive, luminescent clock materialized behind him—a construct woven entirely from swirling yellow and blue magic. Its minute and hour hands detached and streaked through the air; the minute hand moved with frantic speed, while the hour hand drifted slowly. When the minute hand struck the ground before Dareen, the world around him inverted into a surreal display of reversed colors.

A flicker of disbelief crossed Dareen's face. Is this stopped time? It can't be; I can still move and think. Wait… He soon realized he was trapped inside a bubble of time.

"I was warned about this," Dareen observed coolly. "You're using Time Magic: Hour Erasure—a move that creates a pocket of time with the minute hand and erases everything inside with the hour hand."

"Knowing that isn't going to save you!" Juyo roared, lunging into his own temporal bubble as he threw a punch at Dareen.

What am I doing? Why is my body moving? Juyo wondered, his thoughts muddled by the surreal battle.

"Giving in to intrusive thoughts?" Dareen mocked, his eyes flashing with a sinister light. In a heartbeat, Juyo dashed past him, both slipping out of the bubble as the hour hand finally connected—forming a towering pillar of magic that obliterated the surrounding zone and ground.

Pointing to his eyes as if to emphasize his revelation, Dareen continued, "That's my Kagho ability at play—you will only think on intrusive thoughts. Yes, it's a simple ability, but in a scenario like this—"

Before he could finish, Juyo lunged once more, aiming a decisive punch. However, Dareen intercepted effortlessly, catching Juyo's fist.

"It's the strongest thing in the world." With brutal force, Dareen slammed his palm against Juyo's face, sending him sprawling into the unforgiving ground.

"Enough kids' games, though. Magical Weapon: Arukana No Dekki." In a final flourish, Dareen summoned his card box, flung it open, and drew a card from its depths.

Dareen's voice cut through the charged air as he declared, "Zero, the Fool." With a swift flip of a card, the image within came alive—a diminutive, uncanny figure materialized before them. Its gaunt limbs, almost skeletal and insubstantial, moved with eerie precision. Clutched in one hand was a battered stick, from which dangled a green sack boldly stitched with the numeral "0." In its other hand, a delicate flute rested, tethered by a leash to a small, alabaster dog. The peculiar figure wore a comically oversized dunce cap, and its face was locked in a perpetual, unsettling smile.

"Been a while since I've seen you. I'm going to leave again, and I swear if you fail to kill these people, I will... forget about it." With those chilling words, Dareen evaporated into nothingness.

Juyo's urgent cry broke the silence, "Anna, run!"But Anna stood her ground, her eyes alight with stubborn defiance. "No, I won't! I won't be seen as weak! If Vant can't avenge himself, who will?" she retorted, her voice trembling with both pain and determination.

"I will! You're not fit to fight something on this caliber! You couldn't even deal with Dareen," Juyo shot back."It was a bad match-up," Anna murmured, frustration mingling with sorrow.

Before the exchange could settle, Aubrey burst onto the scene, panting as she arrived."What are you doing here?!" Juyo demanded, alarm etching his features.

"I don't know—I had the urge..." Aubrey replied, a hint of bewilderment in her tone.

In that moment, Juyo recalled Dareen's ominous remark about his Kagho ability: "You will only think on intrusive thoughts." A disquieting realization struck him: He lured her here? Can he choose who he targets with this ability?Aubrey's voice quivered, "What's going on?"

"Try to run back! Run as far away as you can, Aubrey—" Juyo commanded, but before he could finish, the Fool lifted its flute and played a haunting melody. In the blink of an eye, the small white dog surged upward, growing several feet taller until it adopted a humanoid stance on two legs. At the same moment, the form of the Fool slackened, rendered almost lifeless, as the dog coiled the leash around its neck like a chain, transforming the once-comical figure into a deadly weapon. Without warning, the dog swung the chained Fool toward Anna with an explosive burst of speed and force. The impact sent her reeling, her body careening limp through multiple buildings.

"AAANNNAAAAAA!!!!" Juyo screamed, his own body betraying him as it sprinted toward Aubrey.It's happening again, Dareen is out of range! How could he possibly be affecting my body still?! he thought in despair.

Aubrey tried to cry out, "Juyo, what are you—" but before the question could finish, Juyo's hand reached out, touching her. In that surreal moment, Aubrey vanished. Overwhelmed by shock and sorrow, Juyo collapsed to his knees. "There's no way... I just did that," he whispered, his voice raw with disbelief.

As if the night itself conspired against him, the transformed dog began to twirl the lifeless Fool around, its aim fixed on Juyo. Tears streamed down his face as he cried out, "Somebody, SOMEBODY SAVE ME!!!" His desperate plea echoed into the vacant night, unanswered by the silent, empty streets.

"Nobody can save me, I can't do this, I can't—" Juyo's voice faltered, his anguish palpable, when suddenly the heavens shifted. Dark clouds parted as the moon emerged in all its radiant glory. A powerful beam of moonlight cascaded down toward the dog, which deftly dodged the luminous attack.

High atop the loftiest building, a solitary figure observed the chaos. His eyes glowed a fierce green as he stood beneath the unyielding moon. Draped in a flowing violet robe and sporting short, slick white hair, Rento Hikari—older brother to Taiyo Hikari, head of the Hikari clan, night-watcher of the Negative Point, and father of Zyrae Cyrus Lane—descended gracefully to the scene, landing squarely before Juyo.

"What happened, Juyo?" Rento asked, his tone imbued with both calm authority and concern.

Juyo gripped the rough dirt beneath him, his voice laden with despair. "Why do I keep being saved? Why must I live for so long, just to forget it, and relive it all over again, every time?"

"Juyo... what are you talking about?" Rento pressed gently.

"I'm... TIRED OF IT!!!" Juyo exploded, his cry raw and filled with unbridled anguish.

"I'll figure that out later, I guess," Rento replied pragmatically. Almost immediately, the dog reappeared, swinging the chained Fool once more toward Rento.

"Moon Magic: Lunar Blades!" Rento commanded. Sharp, radiant blades of moonlight enveloped his arms as he lunged at the creature. In one fluid, decisive motion, he sliced the Fool cleanly in half, then swiftly cleaved the monstrous dog in two. In a flash, both abominations dissolved into nothingness, leaving the night eerily silent once more.

The following day, the sterile white of a hospital room seemed to absorb every ounce of hope. Juyo sat alone, his head bowed in despair. Before him, on a hospital bed, lay Anna—her body meticulously bandaged from head to toe, a fragile shell of the vibrant person she once was. The quiet was interrupted by the entrance of Verte and Taiyo.

"Juyo. What happened?" Taiyo's voice was laced with concern and urgency as he approached him.

Juyo's tone was hollow and defeated. "He came back again, and he attacked Anna…" His words trailed off as if each syllable weighed heavily on his soul.

"And what happened to Aubrey?" Verte pressed gently, her eyes searching his face for any sign of hope or regret.

Juyo fell silent, the answer caught in his throat. Finally, with a pained exhale, he murmured, "No. I sent her to the future."

Verte and Taiyo's voices erupted in unison, "What?!" Their shock echoed off the sterile walls.

"It was completely against my will," Juyo continued, his voice trembling with guilt and sorrow. "It was as if I was being controlled…" His admission hung in the air, raw and unsettling.

"Against your will…" Taiyo repeated, his tone heavy with disbelief.

"It was his ability," Juyo confessed, the weight of his words sinking in.

Taiyo's brow furrowed as he pieced together the unfolding nightmare. "I see. I assume whatever happened to Anna is also his doing too, right?"

"Yes." With a shaky determination, Juyo rose from his chair, his movement betraying a deep inner turmoil.

"Juyo—" Verte began, her voice desperate, pleading for him to pause.

"I can't afford for something like this to happen to anyone ever again." Juyo's words were firm as he headed toward the door. Before he could leave, Taiyo's hand gripped his shoulder firmly.

"Leaving to train by yourself isn't going to change a thing, Juyo. You'll still be vulnerable, and they'll still be out there to kill you."

"I know how to handle myself, Taiyo. You don't understand," Juyo retorted bitterly. In an instant, he vanished—leaving nothing but an echo of his departing footsteps.

"Juyo!" Verte cried out in anguish.

"Saying his name isn't going to do anything; he's gone," Taiyo replied solemnly.

With a heavy heart, Verte slowly moved toward Anna's bedside. Standing vigil over her fragile form, she whispered a choked apology, "I'm sorry."