Modern Monster

Manipulation and influence are scarier than a sword or Gun.

When a weapon is pointed at you, you can only fear.

But if one has manipulation as his tool, you'll never know what to fear. – Senseless

Hana groggily walked on the sidewalk on her way to a local coffee shop. She needed to meet someone there, although she was quite reluctant to do so.

God dammit, why would he call me over so early in the morning?

Anyone who barely knew her was aware of how cranky she got when she didn’t have her morning coffee. At least Hana’s friend invited her to a coffee shop instead of a restaurant or something.

I can almost taste the sweet, rich tang of coffee in my mouth. She drooled. It also didn’t help that she stayed up super late celebrating Sen’s birthday.

Okay, that was a lie. Sen ended up going to sleep at 11 pm, while I was just partying until 2 in the morning. Whatever the case was, it was a celebration. She was allowed to do that once in a while.

Now I just need to get my migraine out with a good cup of coffee…

Not long after, she was greeted by a small and quaint building that was connected to other condominium stores. It wasn’t in the best shape, to say the least, from the worn bricks and discolored paint. It had a screen above the entrance, labeling it as “Momo’s Coffee Shop.” Though some of the letters were flickering.

Yep, this is definitely the place he was talking about, she realized.

Walking into the shop, Hana was greeted by a metallic, two-foot-tall robot. Its face, or what appeared to be a face, was just a white ball with two black dots and a smile. As for its hands, the robot just had a coffee tray. Hana guessed it was to deliver the coffee and beverages.

“Hello, welcome to Momo’s coffee shop. Please take a seat, and we’ll be with you shortly...” the robot greeted with an accurate female voice. You could barely distinguish a robot from a real person's voice. Nodding at the robot, she scoured the shop to find the person she was looking for.

Quickly, she noticed a person her age sitting by the store’s window and looking out of it. The person in question fiddled with his glasses, trying to search for someone himself. Soon enough, though, he noticed her walking closer to him.

“HANA! GOOD TO SEE YOU!” He stood up to greet her, coming in for a hug. But to his disbelief, Hana swiftly pushed him away.

“Yeah, we aren’t having any of that today, Yuto.”

“Ahum, I see you’re playing hard to get again,” Yuto cleared his throat. “It’s fine. I’m fine; my feelings aren’t hurt,” his voice cracked.

“Oh, I see what’s going on here,” Hana rolled her eyes. “You're trying to convince me to go out with you again, right?”

I should have known he didn’t want to talk about helping me get into a good college.

“…Hmm, hehehehe…” Yuto let out a suppressed evil laugh, hiding a sparkle in his hazel eyes.

“Uh, I don’t like that laugh. What are you onto, Yuto…” she nervously asked. Yuto let out another volley of cackles.

Who the hell does he think he is? A nerdy supervillain?

“Well, Hana, I think you underestimated my planning skills,” he smirked. “You fell right into my trap!”

Good grief, I didn’t know I was friends with an edgelord, Hana sighed.

“I'm afraid to even ask what you mean, but I have no choice. Yuto, better open your goddamn mouth before I punch you,” she threatened him.

“What if I’m into that?”

“…That’s actually disgusting,” Hana wrinkled her nose. She tried massaging her eyes, keeping her long white hair apart from the forehead.

If I don’t get a coffee ASAP, I'm going to punch a hole through this building. It took big control not to lash out and punch something. That was the side effect of having touch, after all. You could get very impulsive when influenced by emotions such as anger, anxiety, or annoyance, which she felt throughout every moment of the day.

“You see, Hana Dear, you never thought of the possibility that you’re already on a date.”

“… Pardon?”

“I've never specified why I wanted to meet you here,” he revealed, letting out an animated laugh.

“THAT’S RIGHT! THIS MEANS I’M ON A DATE WITH THE GORGEOUS HANA!! MUHAHA–”

“SMACK!”

Hana slapped him across his face. She didn’t have the patience to deal with his shenanigans. A red mark where she slapped him was clear on Yuto’s face. Not to her surprise, he seemed to enjoy that quite a bit.

“I got slapped, too? This day can’t get better,” he moaned in happiness.

“Alright, enough of your bullshit.” Her headache was getting worse by the minute, all thanks to this doofus. She sat down with a groan and then called out to the robot.

“Hey, waiter! Give me a latté with double the espresso, please, and make it quick!”

“Coming right up!”

“And I’m making you pay for all the trouble you’ve caused me,” Hana glared at Yuto.

“Of course, I don’t mind spending a million dollars on you, dear,” he flirted. She let out another tired groan. Hana didn’t know why she was still here.

“Alright, cut the act, Yuto; what did you actually want to talk about?”

“Hmm, well, looks like you saw through my master plan. Alas, you’re too smart–”

“Don’t make me turn my slap into a punch…”

“Okay, geez, you're no fun,” he frowned. “Alright, well, I'll come clean on what I want to talk about. I've been noticing something strange,” his expression turned serious.

“Whenever you look in the mirror? Makes sense.”

“Okay, calm down. You're going a little too far.”

“I'm going too far?” She narrowed her eyes. “So, we're just gonna ignore everything you said to me a couple of moments ago?”

“That’s irrelevant, Hana dear— I mean Hana,” he coughed, correcting himself. “Anyway, as I was going to say, I've been noticing something strange lately, and no, it isn’t how I look. My mommy says I look very handsome.” He puffed out his chest.

Yeah, I'm sure she does. Every mother tells their child they look good, even if they look like a toad.

“As you know, I go to the same school as your brother,” he started.

Huh, so this is about my brother? She wasn’t expecting this turn of events.

“Wait, you have a crush on him? Oh man, didn’t know you swung that way,” she feigned shock. Hana herself didn’t even know if she was joking or not.

“Hahahaha…. Very funny.” Yuto didn’t seem to appreciate her joke.

I have a really toxic relationship with this guy. I almost feel bad for picking on him. Then she looked at his face. Nah, never mind, I don’t.

“I know this is probably a weird question to ask, but have you ever been afraid of your brother?”

Hana froze. Her heart started to flutter anxiously, and she felt a shiver run down her spine.

“What? What are you… w-what do you mean? Haha!” she burst out with a fake laugh. “H-Hey, where’s my coffee, hahaha….”

Yuto obviously noticed how odd Hana was reacting to such a simple question. It was clear she was hiding something.

I can't just admit it… she thought nervously.

“Huh, well, I guess it’s a weird question to ask, so I won't make you answer it,” he said. Hana silently exhaled in relief.

“I have to say, though, I did see something pretty strange at school yesterday.”

“You did?” she gulped.

“Yeah, I saw Sen get surrounded by a bunch of bullies in front of the courtyard. I hate them, just to be clear. They bullied me a lot, too. But Sen doesn’t have a Super Sense, so he’s been bullied far more than anyone I know. And I’m a prime target since I have a weak Super Sense like Taste.”

What Yuto said was true. Sen has always been the center of bullying and harassment for his lack of a Sense. Hana always tried her best to protect him, but she couldn’t do as much as she wanted after transferring schools.

However, even after relocating her academics to another school, Sen never once complained about being harassed or picked on. Hana knew he must be hiding his true feelings because he didn’t want to bother them. It pained her to see that. But talking about Sen’s obvious hardships wasn’t precisely what Yuto wished to discuss.

“I was watching from the third floor, so I couldn’t see everything that was going on. Sight or Hearing would have been useful then, but I'm not going to complain about what I don’t have,” he cleared his throat. “After the bullies surrounded him, there were a few moments of talking, and then, oddly enough, they all ran away from him, like they saw a ghost or something,” Yuto said, watching her reaction closely.

Hana felt sweat on her forehead, and her breathing quickened. Yuto cast a sidelong glance at her.

“You’re looking kind of pale, Hana; you alright?”

“Huh? Yeah, I'm completely fine; what are you talking about, doofus!” Hana was obviously flustered, and Yuto had caught onto that long ago.

“Really?” He wasn’t buying her act. “You seemed a little nervous at the beginning when I asked if you ever were afraid of him. I mean, he doesn’t have a super sense and you do, probably the most powerful, in fact. So why would you be afraid of him then?” he pressed, leaning over the table, urging her to answer his question.

“I-I…” Hana stuttered, trying to come up with a sentence.

I can’t tell him… I couldn’t even if I tried.

“Tell me…” he urged, leaning even closer.

I can’t! She abruptly stood up from the table, catching him by surprise.

“Where are you goin-”

“I can’t do this…” Those were her last words before she stormed out of the café.