Volume 1, Chapter 1: I Don't Feel Like Being a Hero Today Either
4:17 p.m.
The Linjiang City sun still hung in the gaps between the buildings. The asphalt had been baked pale, and the AC units outside the shops along the street droned away, blowing out hot air mixed with car exhaust and the grease of the fried chicken place on the corner, all of it slapping people in the face at once.
Shuichi stood at the edge of the sidewalk and glanced down at his phone.
Battery: twelve percent.
Time: 4:17.
And one unread message, sent half an hour ago.
He didn't open it.
Twenty-eight seconds left on the red light.
Shuichi yawned and stuffed the phone back into the pocket of his baggy gray jacket.
He was twenty-one and not short, about 1.78 meters, just on the thin side; his shoulders couldn't fill out the light jacket, which had clearly been bought a size too big.
Under it was a faded black T-shirt, with plain dark gray sweatpants below and a pair of cheap white skate shoes on his feet.
He hadn't done much with his hair either.
His messy black hair was a little long, and a few strands over his forehead were stuck together with sweat, half covering his eyebrows.
His face, on the other hand, wasn't bad.
Fine features, a straight nose, a narrow chin. His skin was just a bit too pale, obvious dark circles hung under his eyes, and if you looked closely, he was even a little girlish.
Add those half-open eyes, and he looked like he'd just crawled out of bed.
Which was more or less the truth.
He hadn't woken up until two in the afternoon.
If his fridge hadn't run out of even bottled water, he'd never have left the house.
The red light ticked down to seventeen seconds.
Shuichi looked up at the convenience store across the street.
He was weighing whether to buy two 2-liter bottles of water or just get a whole case and have the store deliver it, when a tremendous crash came from the far end of the street.
BOOM—!
The ground jolted.
Several cars along the curb started wailing their alarms at once.
An office worker beside Shuichi, head down over his phone, staggered and nearly crashed into him.
"What was that?"
"An earthquake?"
"Holy shit!"
The crowd broke into chaos.
Everyone instinctively looked toward the sound.
Two streets away, a huge billboard on the side of a commercial building came crashing down.
A glass curtain wall burst in the sunlight into a blinding spray of shards.
Right after, a black shape a good three or four meters tall smashed its way out of the building's second floor.
BANG!
The thing landed in the middle of the street.
A sedan driving along normally didn't even have time to brake. Its front end plowed straight into it.
The next second.
The whole car was flipped into the air.
To a woman's scream, the silver-gray sedan tumbled into the roadside greenery, its windows shattering all over the ground.
The street went quiet for an instant.
Then it completely exploded.
"Calamity beast!"
"Run! Run!"
"This way! Don't go over there!"
The crowd scattered in every direction.
Some dashed into shops, some turned and ran, and some held up their phones, their legs clearly backing away while their cameras stayed pointed at the scene.
Someone behind Shuichi bumped into him.
He stumbled half a step and only steadied himself by grabbing a lamppost.
"Sorry!"
Whoever had hit him didn't even look back, and vanished into the crowd.
Shuichi let it go.
He stood there and looked past the chaotic crowd toward the middle of the street.
Calamity beasts. The public had only gradually come to accept that name over the past several years.
Nobody knew where these things actually came from.
Sometimes they burrowed up out of the ground.
Sometimes they appeared in a city out of thin air.
Every one of them was grotesque.
The one in front of him looked like it had been thrown together pretty carelessly.
It stood on all fours.
Its body resembled some large canine that had been skinned, dark-red muscle laid bare, yet a row of black bone spikes ran down its back.
It had no eyes in any normal sense.
Its face was just a vertical slit that split from its forehead all the way down to its jaw.
When it opened, it was packed solid with teeth.
"ROAR—!"
The monster threw its head back.
The shrill sound made the glass of nearby shops hum and tremble.
Shuichi frowned.
Kind of loud.
He turned to leave with the crowd.
Then came another tremendous crash.
The monster swatted aside a bus stop sign with one claw, and the heavy metal ad frame went spinning through the air.
The fleeing crowd ahead erupted in screams.
Shuichi stopped too.
Not that he was planning to do anything.
The thing wasn't flying his way. He wasn't in danger.
He just looked back.
Just then—
A streak of blue-white light fell from above.
Fast.
So fast that all Shuichi saw was a bright line slicing diagonally into the street.
BOOM!
The calamity beast's freshly raised foreleg buckled sideways.
Its massive body flew sideways as if hit by a speeding truck, snapped through two guardrails in a row, and rolled more than ten meters across the ground before it stopped.
There was a person in the middle of the street now.
A girl.
The crowd that had been fleeing noticeably slowed down.
"She's here!"
Someone shouted it first.
"It's a hero!"
Shuichi looked over along with everyone else.
The girl looked about seventeen or eighteen, tall and slender, her long pale-blue hair tied up in a high ponytail whose ends hung all the way to her waist and streamed back in the gust her landing had kicked up.
She wore a form-fitting combat suit, mostly white and dark blue.
The top was cut like a snug short jacket, with several plates of hard silver-white armor over the shoulders and chest and two very short blue tails flaring from her hips; below were black combat shorts hugging her thighs and over-the-knee boots.
The armor on her arms ran all the way down over the backs of her hands.
In her right hand was a silver lance nearly as tall as a person.
The most striking thing was her eyes.
Bright blue.
As if a faint light were hidden deep in her pupils.
After landing, the girl just flexed the wrist of her lance hand a little.
"Can you move?"
She was asking the sedan that had flipped into the greenery nearby.
The person in the driver's seat seemed to hear, and managed to raise one hand.
"Yeah..."
"Good."
The girl nodded.
The next second, the calamity beast had already hauled itself up off the ground.
It opened its vertical, tooth-filled mouth and lunged at the girl.
"Behind you!"
Someone in the watching crowd couldn't help shouting.
The girl didn't even turn her head.
The lance spun once in her palm.
The butt end drove backward.
BANG!
Right into the calamity beast's jaw.
The huge monster's head snapped up.
The girl spun, stepping forward on her right leg with the momentum, and the lance drove up through its chest like a bolt of blue lightning.
The air seemed to shudder.
Pale-blue light burst from the lance's tip.
BOOM—!
The calamity beast's entire upper body was blown away in an instant.
Before the black-red remains even hit the ground, they crumbled in midair into grayish-white grains and scattered like burnt scraps of paper.
The whole fight had ended faster than the red light.
The street was silent for two seconds.
Then it erupted in a huge cheer.
"She won!"
"So cool!"
"Did you get it?"
"Of course I got it!"
The people who'd run the fastest had somehow crowded back already.
Of course, no one dared get too close.
Everyone held up their phones from a safe distance.
Shuichi stood toward the back of the crowd and, going with the flow, took a couple of looks himself.
Once the girl confirmed the calamity beast was gone, she brought the lance to her side and walked over to the overturned sedan.
She bent to check on the person inside and seemed to say something.
A few minutes later, police sirens and ambulances could be heard in the distance.
Shuichi didn't keep watching.
He squeezed out along the edge of the crowd.
And while he was at it, went into the convenience store and bought two bottles of water.
After a moment's thought, he grabbed a cup of instant noodles too.
At checkout, the cashier was still craning to look outside.
"Did you see that hero just now?"
"Mm."
"Looks like a new face. Never seen her before."
"Maybe."
"You didn't film it?"
Shuichi scanned the code to pay.
"Too lazy."
The cashier gave him a look.
"There are still young people who don't film this stuff?"
"My phone's dead."
That part was true.
By the time he left the convenience store, the ambulance had already driven past the intersection.
He headed home with the plastic bag in hand.
Plenty of people along the street were still talking about what had just happened.
Some said she'd appeared in other cities before.
Two students were arguing over whether she was that "Blue Lance" from online a while back.
As for her real name, where she lived, why she had that kind of power—
Nobody knew.
It had been that way with these suddenly appearing female heroes for many years now.
They appeared when disaster struck.
And vanished quickly once it was over.
The internet held countless photos and videos of them, and there were even websites devoted to tallying each hero's appearances and fighting styles.
Yet to this day, no one had truly figured out who they were.
Shuichi had no real interest in any of it.
***
Twenty minutes later.
Shuichi pushed open his front door.
"I'm home."
No one answered.
Of course no one would.
He lived alone.
The place wasn't big: one bedroom, one living room, plainly furnished.
Two unopened delivery boxes sat tossed by the entryway. The living room curtains were only half open, and the afternoon sun slanted in through the gap, leaving a long patch of light on the wooden floor.
Yesterday's takeout containers were still on the coffee table.
A wrinkled black hoodie hung over the back of the sofa.
The air still carried the stale smell of windows left closed too long.
He changed his shoes and went in.
Shoved the water into the fridge.
Tossed the noodles onto the kitchen counter.
Then went straight to the bedroom.
Calling it a bedroom was generous. It was more of a computer room.
The bed was squeezed against one wall, and a very wide computer desk took up the other side.
Under the dual monitors were piles of charging cables, tissues, half a box of cookies, and a few empty coffee cans.
Shuichi pulled out the chair and sat down.
Two seconds passed.
Sitting felt like work.
So he slumped forward, chin resting on his folded arms.
His phone was down to six percent.
He plugged in the charger.
And idly opened a short-video app.
Sure enough.
The very first page was that fight.
Each title was more overblown than the last.
【Sudden Calamity Beast Attack on Linjiang City Commercial Street! Mysterious Blue-Haired Girl Ends the Fight in Thirty Seconds!】
【Suspected Brand-New Hero Appears! HD Footage from the Scene!】
【Blue Lance Girl's Identity Speculation! Possibly Linked to the North District Incident Three Months Ago!】
"That was fast."
Shuichi muttered it under his breath.
The video had obviously been shot by someone in the crowd.
The picture shook badly.
When the blue-haired girl dropped from above and knocked the calamity beast flying with one strike of her lance, bullet comments instantly swarmed across the screen.
"Waifu!"
"New waifu!"
"That lance strike was way too cool."
"Name, please!"
"Are those legs 1.8 meters long or what?"
He watched for a dozen seconds or so.
Exited.
Scrolled down.
The second video was her again, the third too, and only at the fourth did it finally switch to a pet video.
Only then did Shuichi's finger stop.
On the screen, an orange cat was pawing at a cup its owner had left on the edge of a table.
He watched for a while.
Then suddenly went back to the previous video.
He froze the frame on the moment the girl raised her lance.
Blue light lit up half her face.
Shuichi stared at it for a few seconds.
Then he raised his own right hand.
Fingers spread.
An ordinary hand.
Being thin, his knuckles stood out a little.
Nothing there.
But if he wanted to.
This hand could turn into something completely different.
Not just the hand.
His hair.
His bones.
His height.
His voice.
His body.
All of it would change.
Until he became a woman with no visible connection whatsoever to the Shuichi of right now.
And then, into something else.
A hero.
That was what people had called him, a few years ago.
Shuichi looked at his hand.
A moment later.
He lowered it again.
"..."
He hadn't used it in years.
No need to use it again.
It wasn't like nobody was handling things out there.
That blue-hair just now was pretty good.
Shuichi slumped back onto the desk.
And went back to cat videos.
About five more minutes passed.
THUD THUD THUD!
Someone was suddenly pounding on the door.
Hard.
Shuichi didn't move.
THUD THUD THUD!
Three more.
"Shuichi!"
A man's voice came from outside the door.
"Open up!"
Shuichi closed his eyes.
Playing dead.
"I know you're in there!"
No answer.
"Your electric meter just ticked!"
Shuichi opened his eyes.
"..."
Why did neighbors these days check other people's electric meters?
The person outside kept knocking.
"Open the door!"
"I'm dead."
Shuichi called it out from where he lay slumped over the desk.
It went quiet outside for a moment.
"Perfect. I'll call the police and have them collect the body."
He heaved a sigh.
No choice but to get up.
Walked to the entryway.
Opened the door.
A young man stood outside.
About twenty-four, nearly 1.85 meters tall, noticeably taller than Shuichi.
Neatly cut short black hair, deep black eyes, and genuinely handsome, the kind who would be crowned the school heartthrob.
His eyes especially were full of life when they looked at you.
A stark contrast to Shuichi's half-dead look.
He wore a white T-shirt under an unzipped thin black jacket, dark jeans, and sneakers.
A plastic supermarket bag hung from his right hand.
Shuichi glanced down at it.
Eggs, leafy greens, two packs of discounted beef, and a bag of chips.
He looked back up at the man.
"Need something?"
The other man stared at him.
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
"The two thousand I owe you?"
"No."
"The fifty in phone credit you put on my phone by mistake last time?"
"You told me to top that up for you."
"Oh."
Shuichi leaned against the doorframe and thought.
"Then that's everything."
A vein twitched at Yusei's temple.
"What day is it today?"
"It's..."
Shuichi stopped.
Yusei watched him, expressionless.
Shuichi took out his phone.
Checked the date.
Saturday.
Silence.
Two seconds later.
He put the phone back in his pocket.
"I see."
"'I see,' my foot!"
Yusei finally lost it.
"You had a shift at one this afternoon!"
"..."
"What time is it now?"
Shuichi glanced at the clock on the wall.
5:03.
"I can still make the evening shift."
"Who said anything about the evening shift?!"
"Then I'll make it up tomorrow."
"The manager called me three times!"
Shuichi was a little puzzled.
"Why'd he call you?"
"Because your phone was off!"
"It died."
"And then he thought you'd died at home!"
"See, that's what I just said."
"Is that the point?"
Yusei pushed past him and walked in like he knew the place by heart.
Shuichi didn't stop him.
The guy lived right next door.
They'd known each other for almost half a year.
At first they were just neighbors who nodded at each other, and then somehow they'd become close.
Later still, Yusei had even ended up with a spare key to his place.
Because two months ago Shuichi had run a high fever and slept for a whole day and night.
Yusei had knocked and gotten no response, and very nearly had property management come break the door down.
Ever since, he'd believed it wouldn't be surprising if Shuichi died at home any day now.
Yusei walked into the living room.
Saw the takeout containers on the coffee table.
Stopped.
Then saw the drink bottles on the floor.
Stopped again.
Finally, he turned back to Shuichi.
"Didn't you say yesterday you'd clean up today?"
Shuichi nodded.
"I did."
"Then why does it still look like this?"
"Because today isn't over yet."
Yusei checked the time.
"It's five o'clock."
"There are still seven hours left."
"..."
Yusei took a deep breath.
"You're really something."
"Thanks."
"That wasn't a compliment!"
Shuichi shut the door and dawdled back to the living room.
Yusei had already carried the plastic bag into the kitchen.
He opened the fridge.
And went silent.
Apart from the two bottles of water Shuichi had just bought, the fridge held half a bottle of ketchup, a tub of butter of questionable edibility, and three eggs.
Yusei picked up the three eggs.
"When did you buy these?"
Shuichi thought about it.
"This month?"
"Today's the fourteenth."
"Then probably last month."
Yusei put the eggs back.
"Throw them out."
"That's wasteful."
"Eating them and ending up in the hospital is more wasteful."
"Fair point."
Shuichi sat down on the sofa.
And flicked on the TV.
The local news channel was running a breaking report.
And the footage was of that very street.
The anchor's voice came from the TV.
"At approximately 4:20 this afternoon, a calamity beast attack occurred on our city's Xin'an Commercial Street. So far, seven people have been lightly injured and one seriously, with no fatalities reported..."
Yusei poked his head out of the kitchen.
"That's not far from here, is it?"
"Mm."
"Did you go out today?"
"I happened to be passing by."
"You were there?"
"Watched for a bit."
Yusei came straight out.
"Are you okay?"
"Would I have opened the door if I wasn't?"
"True."
Yusei looked at the TV.
The news had just cut to the moment the blue-haired girl drove her lance through the calamity beast's chest.
It had been filmed from far away.
The picture wasn't very sharp either.
But that blue light still stood out.
Yusei's eyes visibly lit up.
"Holy shit."
Shuichi looked at him.
"What?"
"I've never seen this one before."
"You know a lot of them?"
"There are stats online, aren't there?"
"Never looked."
"What do you even watch all day?"
"Cats."
"..."
Yusei ignored him.
And kept watching TV.
The anchor was introducing this female hero, whose identity was still unknown.
Shuichi slouched on the sofa, watched for a while, and got bored.
"Are you cooking?"
"Yeah."
"Make an extra portion."
Yusei turned his head.
"Why should I?"
Shuichi pointed at the kitchen.
"You bought too much food."
"That's for me."
"The beef'll go bad if you don't eat it today."
"I have a fridge!"
"Oh."
Shuichi thought about it.
"Then make an extra portion."
Yusei laughed out of sheer exasperation.
"Have you got no face at all?"
"Haven't washed it."
"Is that what I asked?"
Shuichi leaned back into the sofa.
On TV, the blue-haired girl's fight replayed once more.
Yusei was still grumbling and cursing in the kitchen.
"Tomorrow you're explaining yourself to the manager."
"Mm."
"And eat less instant noodles."
"Mm."
"Are you even listening?"
"I am."
"Then what did you just buy?"
Shuichi glanced at the noodles on the counter.
"Emergency supplies."
Yusei was silent for two seconds.
"Shuichi."
"Hm?"
"How on earth did someone like you make it to twenty-one?"
Shuichi gave it serious thought too.
Then gave his answer.
"Good luck, I guess."
With that, his eyes went back to the TV.
The blue lance pierced the monster.
The screen flared for an instant.
That bit of blue light reflected in Shuichi's eyes.
Then quickly faded.
He looked away.
The sound of chopping came from the kitchen.
Outside the window, the sky slowly turned a warm yellow.
Someone in the next building was taking in laundry, kids rode their bikes along the complex's paths below, and farther off, car horns could faintly be heard.
Everything was the same as always.
Shuichi leaned back on the sofa and slowly closed his eyes.
This was fine, he thought.
As for heroes and all that.
It had nothing to do with him anymore.