Tobio chuckled softly, teeth sharp and bared as he looked down at them, "If it isn't Saiichi's little pet. What was it again? Hinasuke, was it?"
Hina eyed him, focused and calm, "You hurt Akira."
His sentence was punctuated by the shimmer of green dust modes forming around his tense shoulders. A swift blink of green ran up his jacket before a pair of jade metal wrapped around his fists. Gauntlets—just smaller, precise and disciplined.
Tobio's brow twitched, a mock look of amusement flashing his eyes his metallic glare, "Oh? And that's supposed to scare me?"
"It will. Keep talking and find out."
Tobio cackled, "That's sweet! So now what, you gonna hit me? And then what? Think it'll satisfy that crazy bit—"
"Watch your mouth, scum."
"Huh?" Tobio mummured lowly, the smirk and smug wiped clean right off his pretty face.
"Scum?"
He raised his eyes. Met the deep piercing glare Yoshida gave him as he held his staff in his grasp and chuckled, "Well, if it isn't Bayashi's chihuahua. How you doing goldilocks? Did you get enough of you fun time with your teacher—?"
"You're not fit to say my teacher's name. Keep it out of your mouth," Yoshida muttered darkly.
At that, Tobio's carefree attitude died. His sliver eyes darkened as he rumbled sinisterly, "Better watch your tone, boy. Otherwise I'll rip that tounge of yours and shove down your throat..." His eyes pulsed once, "..and we both know you wouldn't be able to stop me either."
Yoshida shifted, staff behind him, "Try it."
Tobio's jaw clenched as he stepped forward until he heard a camera snap.
The crowd around them, when they realized who it was that was amoung them, gasped in awe:
"Is that...Tobio Miata?"
"No way, what's he doing here? Did he come to break up the fight?"
Tobio forced a breath, glancing at his side, "Would you look at that, seems like they know greatness when they see it."
His gaze fixated on Yoshida, "Consider yourself lucky, blondie."
Just then, Yano emerged with Akira from the store. She had a cast around her arm made of red material and when Yano glanced over in their direction, her eyes met Tobio's.
Then Tobio's expression...changed.
He sighed as he leaned forward, whispering into Hina's ear, "If it wasn't for Yubanai's niece and the people here, shit wouldn't have been pretty." He grinned, "Lucky day, I guess."
"I'm not done with you." Hinasuke glared at him.
"Oh yeah? Then I dare you to take a swing at me. Here, right now, in front of the hundreds of cameras all around us..." he lowered his whisper, "...and then we'll see if your teacher'll like the headlines of his dead student."
He smiled, straightening up completely, his tall figure standing out above the rest, "Now then..." He smiled at the people, "Nothin' to see here folks. Just a bunch of kids that were making a scene. You can all get back to—"
"Mister! Mister!" A child said, approaching him, pushing through the crowd with an innocent smile, paper and pen, "Can I have your autograph!?" He buzzed in excitement.
For a beat—just a heartbeat —Yoshida saw a dark, thin flicker in his eyes before the man smiled and leaned down towards the boy, "Of course!"
As he signed it—hands swallowing the paper in his grasp—a faint hue of deeper restrained gray, flashed on his delicate features before he straightened and let the boy run off, satisfied with his autograph.
In the eyes of the people, that smile was hope. Mercy, kindness and strength. Much like all popular Ayanaki Fighters. He was praised. He was honored. They called him Heroic, a savior, a reliable source of kindness.
But in his eyes. All he saw were a bunch of heaps of meat that would do anything to lick the crumbs of his fingers. Disgusting rodents that talked too much, but above all—he absolutely despised humans.
Whenever he was alone with one, it didn't matter who it was: He'd kill them. Always.
And the only reason all these people—filming and secure in his heroic presence—weren't another heartbeat away from a tombstone was because of the exposure.
Behind that smile. There wasn't any hope. Just a murderer.
Behind those kind eyes was a curse in a blessing's body.
He looked at Hinasuke— still glaring, still ready to fight—and smiled, "Now, if you kids are done, why don't you go back to being normal young adults and stop acting like everything's about you, yeah?"
Yoshida's expression darkened further. His body was shaking in anger. He wanted nothing more than to shove his—uhm—staff down his repulsive throat, but he knew better. Being a student of a Shinobu came with boundaries. And even he couldn't go past them.
Tobio smirked once more, hands in his pockets before he glanced at the blondie, "Well, guess I better get going. And Blondie...keep that girl Yubanai close to you..."
His face scrutched in rage as the silver haired man turned around, "... because trust me, she's your saving grace."
"Shut the hell up—" Yoshida spat, his body about to lunge forward, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder.
Yano.
Her eyes were blazing with fury— crimson and intensely focused on Tobio— but her words came out calm and controlled, "Not here. Akira needs us first. Let him go."
"But he—"
"Yoshi..." She said, forcing his gaze on her, "Let. It. Go."
He grunted. His eyes slid to Tobio's form—fading as he walked away— and her ruby eyes—angry yet controlled.
He sighed, staff dying into golden ash as his voice softened, "Yeah, okay."
Hina's eyes never left Tobio, however, much like the crowd filming his body fading into silver mist as he left the parking lot. He was ready to fight him. Ready to make him pay, but...he knew he didn't stand a chance...
Not against that demon.
Soon, when he felt Yoshida tap his shoulder, he calmed his nerves down too, gloves disintegrating into nothingness, "Sorry. I should've been calm."
"Don't worry about it, let's go. Yano says she took Akira to a recovery meter at the back. Let's go."
Hinasuke clenched his jaw. He was still mad. Akira had never let out a scream like that in a long time. So for him to hear it again was—
"Hina!" Yoshida called out, already ahead.
Hinasuke snapped out of it, "Yeah, I'm coming."
As he walked away, the crowd murmured about what happened. And amoung those murmurs, the idiot who'd shouted laughed out loud:
"Did you see that!? That crazy bitch was totally going to kill me!"
"Uhm, dude, I think that's her boyfriend..."
"Huh? Who? Oh the redhead? I ain't scared of him! He's probably going back home to cry about the fact that he couldn't do shit against Tobio!" He laughed, walking away with his friends.
"You should shut up man, he's right there. That girl almost killed you."
"Nah, nah, I'm—"
"Gonna die if you don't learn to keep your mouth shut, scum."
Hina's hand was lifting him off the ground, his eyes red and glowing, fixated on the guy who'd just realized that he was in his grasp.
"W-Whoa, how'd you get here so fast?"
"You say anything bad about Akira again. Call her a bitch. Say she's crazy..."
His hand crushed around his collar so hard that the shirt started to radiate a deep green from Hina's hand...
"Then I will look for you. I will find you. And will burn the meat off your bone, keep you alive and make you suffer as I grind your body against my knuckles, limb from limb. Do you understand?"
"Y-Yo, m-m-my fault, bro." The man squeaked, shaking his head rapidly.
When he let him fall to the ground, his shirt melted off his body, stemming from where Hinasuke held him. Then the quiet ironclad walked away.
"Didn't know you could grind someone." Yano said sarcastically.
"Man talks too much. I was gonna kill him."
"Sensei would've lost his mind if he found out though." Yoshida added.
Hinasuke smirked at Yoshi, "Can't find what isn't there."
Yoshida gasped dramatically, "Hinasuke!—"
Yano's eyes widened, "Guys..."
She ran to the recovery meter behind the store, her form froze, "Shit!"
Hina and Yoshi rushed towards her, "What?" Hinasuke said.
They all looked, peering at the recovery meter.
Blood.
And a missing violet haired woman.