Red Lady Cigarettes

Chapter 15 : Red Screaming Skies

[ Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan ]

He tried meditations, breathing patterns, he tried concentrating, but it seemed like even if he banged his head against the wall none would trigger Saika Kousetsu's quirk. Touza took another minute to look at the records, it only had Saika's ID picture, basic information including her address, phone number, signature, date of birth, and quirk. There wasn't any explanation on how she uses her power, but it was explained how it works. Apparently, this long lost relative who was older than his grandmother possesses a quirk to talk to deceased people in the past in the form of dreams.

Touza had been practicing with his other relatives' quirk, and by now he had perfected more than ten. It could be enough to break Shinkiro out of the Lanceo's possession even if he was alone, but then again, he doesn't know if she's alive.

Since the day she was taken, even Shinjo hadn't heard of her since. Touza tried reaching out to the Lanceo, but instead was responded with Elias sending a looped boomerang of himself winking and raising a glass. It seemed like even the Lanceo doesn't want to give them the comfort of knowing what really happened to their sacrificial pawn.

Perhaps, she was gone for good. Precisely the reason why he is so eager on learning Saika's ability just to confirm if he'd he able to visit her in a dream, say he's sorry, then move on.

As he got tired of trying, he crashed on his chair and looked up the dimmed light slowly dozing off as he held a glass of wine. There was nothing on his mind but getting back on learning this quirk by the time he wakes up. The moment Touza was finally asleep, he felt a harsh strike clash against his cheek. "Stupid boy! What took you so long!?"

"Huh?"

He woke up in the middle of the sea, rowing a boat with what seemed to be Saika. Exactly the same age in the ID picture he saw. "Saika-san?"

"You don't think don't you?! You decide to visit me in the past, and you dare use my power to take me in the sea and there's a raging storm?!"

"I'm—" the waves crashing against his face felt painfully real that he had to wipe it off before continuing. "I'm sorry, I wasn't even activating the power."

"Your conscience reflects the quirk! If you feel like you're stuck in a storm, it manifests on the dream. Stupid!" Saika stood up, and began hitting the man with the paddle. "You can only visit people once! So hurry up and listen! Keep rowing the boat far from the storm you created. If we drown here then you won't see me ever again!"

"Yes! I'm sorry!"

He was still a little dumbfounded, was also in shock to see how real this was. There was no land in sight, but endless black skies and raging waves. Touza did his best to listen and remember everything Saika had to say.

[ Undisclosed Location, Luzon, Philippines ]

It took days before she was able to walk, as soon as she was dismissed, Shinkiro was shown her small room that would be her shelter for as long as she's there. And as she sat on her bed, looking around the tiny compact space, nothing had ever felt empty.

She wondered how Touza was doing. What his reaction was when she was taken, completely unaware of how he was the proponent urging her sacrifice. At the end of it all, she got nothing out of their deal.