A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 6: Thirst

The purple aura crawled over Shu’s arms and shoulders while a hot pressure pushed at the back of his skull. He felt it right away, that nasty little tilt in his head that told him he needed to end this fast before he stopped caring where the line was.

’Shit, this is bad,’ he thought, jaw tightening as he stared at the sword guy. ’I need to put him down now, or I am going to overdo it and cave somebody’s face in.’

He let the bat slip from his hand and rushed forward barehanded before the leader could understand what that meant.

The guy reacted fast and slashed for Shu’s chest, but he twisted past it, caught his wrist, and rammed a fist into his ribs hard enough to fold him on the spot.

"Ghk-!"

The sword nearly fell right there, yet the man somehow kept hold of it and tried to cut upward from below. Shu slapped the flat aside, drove his knee into the man’s stomach, then grabbed his shirt and smashed a second punch into his face.

’Okay, yeah, this is way faster,’ he thought, breathing through the heat flooding his body. ’Bat was slowing me down anyway.’

The leader staggered back with blood running from his nose, then snarled and swung in a messy rush. He was trying to keep up now instead of control the fight, and that difference showed in every move.

Shu slipped inside the sword path, hammered his shoulder into the man’s chest, and slammed him into the wall so hard the back of his head bounced off it. Before the guy could recover, another punch hit his liver, then a hook crashed into his jaw that sent spit flying across the floor.

"What happened?" Shu asked, grabbing him by the front of the shirt when his legs started to give. "I thought you were tough a second ago."

The leader looked stunned for a moment, then panic flashed in his eyes as he shoved wildly, made enough space to slash again, and almost clipped Shu’s arm before Shu caught his wrist and twisted.

"Aaaaagh!!!!" The man’s face twisted in pain, the sword clanging to the floor a second later. The cry that slipped out of him was enough to make the other two flinch by the door.

Shu saw them tense, and some ugly part of him immediately wanted to turn and deal with them too just so nothing annoying stayed behind.

’No,’ he thought, dragging the leader forward and planting a fist in his stomach. ’Focus on one idiot at a time.’

He kept beating up the man after that, a knee to the thigh bent him, an elbow to the cheek spun him sideways, and when he dropped, Shu kicked him onto his back and punched him straight in the mouth before he could cover properly.

Blood splashed across the man’s chin as he jerked his head away and shouted toward the others, "Help me! What the fuck are you two doing? Help me!"

The woman froze with the knife still in her hand, while the guy with the pipe only took half a step before stopping.

Both of them looked at Shu’s aura, then at the leader getting his face beaten in, and whatever nerve they had died right there even when the man spat blood and yelled, "I said help me! Are you stupid? Jump him!"

Shu laughed under his breath and wiped blood off his knuckles on the man’s shirt, but even that sound came out wrong, rougher and meaner than he meant.

’I need to stop here while I can still think properly,’ he thought, looking down at the bloody man.

"Damn," he said, glancing at the other two as he hauled the leader up by the collar and punched him again. "Your team chemistry is trash."

The hit snapped the man’s head sideways, and Shu kept talking while the guy sagged in his grip.

"You came at me with your little squad, waved a sword around, gave a speech and everything, but now look at you," he said, his voice curling at the edges more with every word. "Crying for backup like the little bitch you are."

"Fuck you," the leader spat and tried to drive a knee into Shu’s stomach, but he caught the leg, dumped him flat on his back, then stepped over him with his grin pulling wider than it should have.

"Nah," he said, staring down at him. "Fuck your little entrance, your fake tough-guy act, and that garbage speech too. ’Hand over everything you have,’ right? Bro really thought he was the final boss or something."

The woman recoiled at that, her whole body trembling harder, while the guy looked like he wanted to run away.

"What, no comeback?" he asked, sneering down at him. "Come on, say something cool again. Threaten my legs one more time, I want to hear it properly."

The man clawed at Shu’s wrist and missed, all the swagger gone when he choked out, "Please, wait, wait, stop-"

Shu’s grin turned into a creepy open mouth smile as kept dragging him, "I love that face you are making, show me more emotion!" He picked him up and punched him in the face, but this time he used a little too much force.

"Gugh!!" the guy crashed into the wall, knocking out many of his teeth.

Several of them bounced across the floor and came to a stop near Shu’s foot, and for a second he just stood there staring. His chest was rising fast, his hands were hot, and the pressure in his head had twisted into something ugly enough to make the corners of his mouth keep pulling up.

’...Why did that feel good?’ he thought, and the idea itself felt slow, sticky, dragged through the heat flooding his skull.

The leader slid down the wall in a crooked heap, coughing blood and making a wet choking sound each time he tried to breathe. He looked up at Shu with one eye half open, and whatever he saw on Shu’s face made him flinch before Shu even moved.

"What?" Shu asked, taking a slow step forward. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

The words came out light, almost playful, with the buzzing in his body only got stronger the closer he got.

’I should really end this,’ he told himself, though another part of him immediately shoved back, ’but, just one more hit, yeah, he can endure a few more.’

Before he could get fully lost in the thirst for blood, an innocent voice called out to him, "m-mister?"

He turned around, seeing the little girl, holding the chocolate bar he gave her, though, right now the look on her face was...

"A-ah, I am sorry, I came looking for you to thank you so saving my life," she gathered the courage to say those words, even though her whole body was trembling.

Seeing her in that state made him bite his lip until it bled, ’dammit you idiot, you are scaring the little girl again.’

He deactivated the skill and was about to say something when he felt something pierce him from behind, sending a wave of pain through him. He looked around and saw a knife in his back, with that girl from the door standing close to him, her whole body trembling.

"I-I am sorry," she said with tears running down her face.