Rainy Afternoon

[grimoireofkenji]

 

The rain continued to pour down, soaking the city streets like it had the day before.

And the day before that. And the day before that.

A flash flood warning had been issued in the city, but that wasn’t anything abnormal. The overcast afternoon sky had been all any of the residents had seen every afternoon for half a week.

Amongst the windblown trees and parked vehicles lining the city streets, a girl in an oversized windbreaker made her way down the street. Attached to her large backpack was an umbrella, which she adjusted slightly.

“Look, I know you’re used to the weather, but should you really be out here? You know the chances of him being outside this week are slim to no-”

“He’s out here. I can smell him.” The girl responded, her nose wiggling cutely. That sort of cuteness completely belied the cold, unshifting look in her eyes, barely visible behind her constantly-fogging circle lenses.

“You and that nose of yours.” The second voice crackled. It was coming from a small earpiece buried beneath her long, dark hair. “It gets you into more problems than it solves.”

“I can solve any problem.”

“After you cause it?”

“Well, what if there aren’t any problems to solve?”

The rain continued to pour down and the girl shifted slightly, her hands in her oversized jacket pockets. Approaching the end of the block, she took a look behind her, lifting her hood for a moment for a better view. Back-length curly hair spilled out from beneath. 

Her nose wiggled again. It seems she couldn’t control it.

“You can come out now.” She said bluntly.

“You’re the one following me!” replied a nervous voice. From behind a brownstone stoop walked a burly Russian man, taking the girl off guard. His voice absolutely didn’t match his appearance.

“Aren’t your kind supposed to be a bit more… Tough-talking?” The short girl said, snickering to herself. In truth, the man known as Yuri Resnov was known as a gentle giant to everyone outside of his line of work. His normally calm and higher-pitched voice brought many of his friends and family solace.

“Should you really be snarking right now, Shou?” The earpiece crackled to life. 

Shou didn’t respond. The only sound was the heavy breathing of the large man and the rain pounding every surface it touched.

“What’s the problem, Operator?” Shou replied, her mouth curling into a devilish grin. The large man had scars lining his face and body, completely visible through his rain-soaked clothes. 

"just finish it quick, alright? The weather report i-" Operator began.

"Yeah, it'll rain til tomorrow, right? I'm going to finish way before then."

“Oh, fuck, you’re one of them, aren’t you!?” The man, who probably appeared a lot more menacing normally, had his face contorted into one of complete terror.

“One of whom?”

“A fuckin mo-”

“A monster?”

“Yeah!”

“Well, do you have any proof?” Shou replied, walking towards the man slowly, her hands still in her pockets.

“If I strike you…”

“You’d be striking a teenage girl. Do you wanna take that chance, big guy?”

“I’ve got nothing left to lose!”

And so he did. It was a vicious right hook, right into Shou’s face. The girl’s small figure stumbled back, slamming into a parked car to the side of her as she lost her balance. Her huge glasses went flying off of her face, landing a few feet in front of the bruiser. He looked down at the spectacles at his feet in horror. Had he just struck a random girl in his mania? If that was the case, why did she taunt him like that?

“Think, Resnov, think…” He said out loud. He wasn’t very smart, but generally, you don’t have to be when your business is strong-arming people. He could bring the girl to a hospital or something. He could at least get her out of the rain.

But something didn't feel right.

Shou remained motionless, leaning up against the rain-slicked sedan, her hood still off. The umbrella mounted on her backpack was bent out of shape from the collision. 

Then, she twitched slightly.

It was a movement that the stressed out Resnov couldn’t have noticed. Her left arm moved slightly. Then her right leg twitched a bit.

Resnov turned away from the dark haired girl, her long, soaked hair clinging to her pale, freckled face and completely obscuring her eyes.

“I am so, so sorry, Malyshka.” He said, before starting to run. 

Shou’s grin returned.

It was then that he had made a huge mistake. The career survivalist Resnov suddenly lost his footing on solid sidewalk concrete, stumbling for a moment. He had dodged a crack. His superstition was, of course, that it would hurt someone close to him if he stepped on. He breathed a sigh of relief. His last for a while. The breath was instantly knocked out of him as a brutal knee slammed into his back. He fell straight down, and before he could get up, He was stepped on by someone with more force than a teenage girl should have.

“Damn, you’d really just hit a girl like that, huh?” Shou’s grin was a bit different this time. Sharp teeth glinted in the extremely limited light provided from the streetlights above. Shou's overpriced sneaker (something she was extremely proud of) was planted firmly on Resnov’s back, somehow keeping a man double her size and triple her weight from moving.

“W-what are you?”

“Well, I won’t say much, but I will say you were right about me being a monster.”

The girl pulled off her oversized windbreaker, revealing a toned body. The body of a career athlete, but one that fit someone as small as her.

“I actually really only get called out on assignment on rainy days like this. Do you know why?”

“Assignment? What the fuck is this!?”

Shou’s foot pressed down hard, forcing an unpleasant groan from Resnov.

“I asked if ya knew why.”

After a moment of silence, she continued. 

“Aren’t ya wondering how I caught up to you so fast? Well, on rainy days like this, I grow these.” she moved the hair from the side of her head, revealing gills lining her neck. They went down below the collared shirt she was wearing. Resnov couldn’t really make out much more from his position. He gritted his teeth as he struggled to turn his neck for a better view.

“My teeth get sharper, and I get a lot faster and stronger. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I could kick your ass regardless, But it’s much easier like this. I don’t even need my glasses!”

That was it. The large russian fighter had heard enough. He had been running from someone for over two days, and it turned out it was some mutant girl? There was no way he was going to just bite it like this. Twenty-four years of fighting. Twenty-four years of winning. Killing. Surviving. To be at the mercy of a fucking monster?

“ENOUGH!” Resnov mustered all his strength, suddenly pushing himself off of the ground and throwing Shou off balance. The dark-haired girl stumbled a little before regaining her footing. Resnov was back on his feet, drenched in rainwater and sweat. He yelled out, an ear-splitting war-scream. He charged the girl, grabbing her before she could react. 

As if she were a snake, she slithered out of his grip. The grip that could keep a bear in check. 

“No grappling.” she said, wiggling a finger in front of him. Her fingertips looked sharp as knives. Another effect of the rain on her skin.

He threw several punches her way, and she dodged them with ease, sliding into his blind spot with barely any effort and unleashing a palm thrust right to his solar plexus. The man, built like a large car, doubled over in shock as the air left his windpipe. Her claws(?) had torn his shirt, and dug slightly into his skin. Small rivulets of blood dripped from where she’d attacked him.

“Ooh, blood?” Shou stepped closer. The man shrunk back from where he was doubled over on his knees. She crept ever closer, holding her sharpened claw-fingers together like a drill, readying herself to finish the large Russian.

Of all the foes.

Why did it have to be this girl?

Resnove looked up at the sky instead of his would-be murderer, not even willing to give her the satisfaction of getting a look at his fear-stricken face.

And then, a miracle happened.

The rain stopped. There wasn’t a single drop falling.

Rain-soaked trees dripped gently. Soon enough, birds could be heard chirping.

“Shou, this is what I was trying to tell you. you need to finish this now!”

“Yeah, I got it, so shut up. He’s right in front of me-”

Resnov was not right in front of her. Shou was actually completely unable to make out anything besides vague shapes. She had dropped her glasses down the street. Her claws slowly receded back until they resembled normal fingers, her sharp, shark-like teeth shrinking, but maintaining their filed-down look. The gills normally concealed beneath her curly locks were completely gone. her rain-drenched hair clung to her skin.

“S-stay where you are, you bastard!” she pointed to where she thought Resnov was. 

In truth, the russian man was standing to her left, in utter shock at what was happening. He gathered what little energy he had left, and climb to his feet to escape.

“Now hold on just a minute.” Shou said calmly, her hand on the large man’s shoulder. She had to reach up to plant it, and she stood on her tiptoes. Her fingers were small and dainty, and the nails were painted an immature bright blue.

“Just because I can’t see you… Doesn’t mean I can’t smell you.”

The afternoon sun was shining bright as the clouds parted. A few people were leaving their homes to experience the break in horribly depressing weather they’d been experiencing for almost a week.

A few more people were leaving their homes to check out the source of the horrified scream that had suddenly been cut short.