Beyond The Worlds: I'll Chase After You

Winter vacation finally came, the grueling hell of school had finally come to a temporary stop. However that did not come without it's cons, piles of assignments that needed to be done before the madhouse called school, resumes. But such nuisances are better off being left forgotten and be covered by the current season of the earth.

Decorations of bright colors filled every building in the city of Tokyo, each with their own unique and creative display of the people's holiday spirit.

Inside of a local mall with a noticeable amount of people lining up to what seems to be a raffle stall, queuing up to try their luck, and perhaps win the top prize. Though Haruki knew stuff like these are most likely scams, and doesn't want to get involve nor participate in them. Unfortunately, he was forced by his aunt to try his "luck" with this one.

Just the thought of these raffles are enough to give him shivers down his spine from being reminded of how much money he had lost playing gacha games in his previous life. He didn't come here to play something similar to that! He is just here for a normal family outing like any other normal and healthy family would.

It was already night time, and Haruki wanted to quickly go home, but the long queue isn't making that happen anytime soon. The others had left him in line while they look around inside the mall for some time now, leaving him surrounded with strangers from the front and back.

He couldn't help but groan as he followed the person in front, who is slowly moving up the waiting line. A few minutes passed, and it was finally his turn once the person in front of him draws a number. Unfortunately for the person in front, it wasn't the winning number, so they marched towards the exit of the queue with a disappointed look.

"…" Haruki couldn't help but give a moment of silence, to the person who were in front of him and to the previous people who waited in line just to be given a punch of disappointment.

Haruki stepped forward steeling himself, the person behind the front desk gestured to him to hand him the draw ticket to which Haruki obediently gave. As the wheel started to spin faster, Haruki closed his eyes and began to pray to his future "Father-in-law"; asking him to give him enough luck to warp the fabric of reality in accordance to giving him an absolute advantage over probability.

As the wheel began to slow, the air became more tense, all eyed the wheel garapon. A tiny ball comparable to a marble popped out, rolling down where a small basket is placed to catch the ball. All the observers had their eyes widened, for the color of the ball is of gold containing the number of 1— the winning number for the ultimate price.

After a short moment, multiple confetti erupted, releasing colorful and shiny shredded papers into the air. The staffs became excited, and immediately celebrated with Haruki. "CONGRATULATIONS YOUNG MAN! YOU JUST WON THE ULTIMATE PRIZE! A BRAND NEW LIMITED EDITION LAMBORGHINI OF YOUR OWN!" the host's voice was heard loud and clear by those who decided to test their luck, especially by those who just lost their chance to win big.

Everyone around clapped their hands, giving their congratulations to the young boy, along with a look of envy from some of them.

Because of the fact that he is still a minor and his guardians aren't present of the time, He was forced to wait until his family comes back to get him. A good 14 minutes passed with an awkward silence in the manager of the lottery that just ended, that was until the door opened with Elly, Nikko, and Grandma Ellen coming into the room. Elly was the first to tackle Haruki, which made the latter get up from his seat in order to dodge the human sized bullet. Sadly Haruki's misfortunate enough to be unable to dodge the tackle.

"You crazy lucky brat!!" excitedly, Elly roughed up Haruki's hair, while her arm wrapped around his neck, holding his head in place at the side of her stomach. Then it was the other's turn, to attack Haruki.

It took a bit of time for everyone to calm down, especially his aunt. Now regained their focus, the Banners now gazed at the manager, with papers ready to be signed.

"Hello ma'am." The manager held out his right hand, waiting for a handshake. Elly looked at the hand that was reaching out for a handshake. Seeing that there wasn't anything wrong with the man, she took his hand and gave it a firm shake. "My name is Nagi Ritsu, pleased to meet you and the rest of Haruki-kun's family" he continued.

"I would like to congratulate your family for winning the grand prize, Thankfully the kid didn't come to this place alone. Or else I wouldn't exactly know how to handle a minor winning a car, a limited sports car to be more specific." He chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

"Of course! Who would have the right mind to leave the brat alone, where villains can pop out anywhere anytime? Also he should be the one you should be congratulating" Elly said as she points towards Haruki, who stood right beside her listening in to their conversation.

"Oh," the manager exclaimed, realizing that what she just said is quite true. "You're right." Ritsu turned his gaze to Haruki. "Well Haruki-kun, once again, I offer you my congratulations" he said as he crouched down to get on Haruki's level, smiling warmly. "Anyway, I won't keep you all here any longer than the boy already had, so let's get to work with these paper!"

"Wait!" a voice came from behind Elly, everyone's attentions turned around to the source of the voice. "Elly" Ellen called out in concern, "We already have a car. Getting one more seemed a bit pointless don't you think?"

Elly stood silently in contemplation. What her mom said does make sense, they already have a car that could fit a whole family, and compared to the car they just won, it won't be even able to fit four passengers. But it's still a sports car, given that they could just exchange the car for a large sum of money, but they don't have financial problems at the present. And even if they do have money problem in the future they could just sell the car, 'I believe that guy mentioned it being a limited car, just before we left Haruki in line so that we could pick a present for him this Christmas. So if we hold on to it, it'll probably rack up a ton of cash once we sell it.' With this in mind, Elly came to a decision.

"I understand your concerns mom," Elly started "But IT'S a limited edition LAMBO, This thing is worth to boast for!" she said with a desperate tone to try and convince her mother. "Besides," she continued "we can just sell this thing for what it's worth, which is A LOT if we find the right buyer."

"But—" Ellen tried to rebut, but what her daughter's words were, for the most part reasonable and correct. She took a deep breath before letting it out through her nose 'remember what they taught you in those classes' she silently reminded herself. "…fine," she agreed "but! No driving the kids around with it!" she said, wiggling her pointer finger to Elly.

The twins world shattered, mostly Haruki's world. "B-But I won the Lamborghini, how come I'm not allowed to ride it? Shouldn't Nikko be the only one who shouldn't be allowed to ride it?" as the last words fell from Haruki's mouth, Nikko gave him a glare that spoke of being betrayed by the one he trusted the most.

Oh Haruki is gonna regret uttering the words that came from his mouth. Everyone's judgmental eyes fell on Haruki like two meteors dropped by Madara against the Shinobi Alliance. Nikko, Elly, and grandma Ellen spoke in perfect unison "What are you talking about Aniki/Brat/Haru? WE all won it together, it was a team effort."

"…" for a second Haruki was left speechless, "Eh?" confusion then came, then " W-Wait! No -no! That's UNREASONABLE!!" he yelled, but was ignored.

"Alright! Let's get these papers done!" Elly said excitingly, as she stretched her arms and cracking her fingers. She then rolled her dominant arm, warming it up.

"Okay-kay-kay! How bout one ride a weak?" his desperation was still ignored by his heartless family, "a month?? Once every two months? Three???" his cries were left unanswered. Seeing that they refuse to even acknowledge his wailing, he could only accept the tragedy he got himself in. 'I shouldn't have hypnotized everyone into thinking that I actually won.' He sulked. Haruki knew that the concept of Gacha are all BS, so he cheated without anyone ever noticing.

As Haruki gone through the five stages of grief, the manager meanwhile, could only give him a look of pity before going back to the subject of filling out the forms for the car that the family in front of him just won.

———

Elly took a deep breath of fresh air, it took quite a while to fill those papers in, but it was all worth it now that they are coming home with an expensive car in their names.

Having left the office, the family continued on to their shopping, mainly for the ingredients of their dinner. Sadly, even though the world is celebrating the holiday, that focuses on giving gifts and happiness, there are still those that choose to cause the others harm.

A villain had launched a sudden attack to the mall, terrorizing the unsuspecting shoppers with their violent nature. The explosion boomed throughout the building and sending shockwaves in it's wake, the source wasn't far from the area where the Banners' currently are. Debris flew along with specks of concrete turned powder, blinding and crushing anyone unfortunate enough to be caught by them.

The large and the not unnoticeable commotion gained the security department immediate attention. The heroes hired to patrol the mall were quickly called-in to apprehend the villain, the staffs were then deployed to organize the evacuations of the civilians, They had already dialed public security as soon as a villain emerged and caused public distress. Thanks to their quick and almost instant action, hero reinforcements will come much quicker.

As soon as the heroes arrived at the location that was given to them by the head of security in the mall, all had witnessed a scene that could haunt a weak willed person for life. The villain, whose teeth's are sharp as razors, and as hard as diamonds, cleanly chomped through a person, even though he had a type of hardening quirk. Blood spurred from the man's mouth with horror filled eyes, as his upper body fell on the hard ground with a loud thud that seemed to echoed, filling the silence in the hall that they're currently in.

The said villain's head shaped resembled that of a Nile crocodile, with human skin. After witnessing such a sight the villain couldn't even be considered a human anymore in the eyes of the heroes, no, it wasn't even human to begin with. Not when it mercilessly killed and eaten eight people. By the halved eaten body parts alone was enough to accurately count the number of victims the monster have killed.

The monster chewed it's blood filled mouth without acknowledging any etiquette as it ate it's last victim's lower half. It chewed thoroughly, not bothered by the red liquid dripping down it's mouth. After swallowing, it finally took notice of the heroes the stood before it, six in total, with their legs shaking from the horror that they have just witnessed.

With a raised brow, one by one— the villain monster analyzed the faces of the ones in front, the morbid faces it saw, broke it's mind. "I-I-I-I'M NOT A MONSTER!" yelled with a hoarsed voice, that was then followed by a manic scream as it charged towards the stunned heroes.

The ground shook , it's large reptilian feet bored into the pavement as it started it's relentless charge. Seeing it run towards them in a seemingly unstoppable pace like an uncontrolled truck, they quickly managed to snapped out of their trepidation, as their instinct of self-preservation took over and moved out of the monster's path.

Thankfully all of them managed to move, but some were not quite fast enough to come out uninjured. The "monster's" large body crashed unto a pillar at the end of the hallway, arriving at the lobby of the mall, whilst more dust and debris flew.

(A/N: yeahhh, I'm not gonna name them. They won't even reappear in the future just like the manager guy earlier)

"E-everyone alright!?" Hero 1 spoke, trying to stay calm. He was the only one that came out unscathed from the earlier rush attack. Though still shaken up from the bloodbath he witnessed before, he steeled himself, knowing that panicking now would only lead them to their demise.

"I'm fine." Hero 2 coughed, as she accidentally inhaled some dust. She was mostly fine with a few scratches here and there, overall she still be able to fight in top condition. The two looked at Hero 3, who was seen clutching his arm— dislocated from not being fast enough to dodge the raging crocodile, as he tries to stand up on his feet.

"We accidentally pulled a muscle, but we're mostly fine. We'll manage." Hero 4 and 5 reported. They all then had their eyes on the sixth hero who crawled backwards, hyperventilating with fear still present in her eyes. Everyone save for Hero 6, who crawled back as far as she could— sighed in understanding. It was to be expected, she was still a rookie who just made her debut just four days ago, so they understood that look of hers specially after witnessing the gore that they stumbled into.

"Listen," Hero 1 started, their eyes turned to him. "we have to buy time before reinforcements arrives." They nodded in agreement, "since I'm still in top shape, I'll get the guy's attention. While I do that, I want you all to try and find a way to slow him down or restrain him until back up arrives." They heard a groan coming from the main lobby.

Seeing that there isn't enough space here in the hallway to give them any fighting chance, the five heroes quickly moved towards the lobby without uttering a word, as they all had the same idea.

"It… hurts." The villain monster shook it's head, shaking off the dust the built up on top of his face. It turned it's head 180 degrees to meet the five heroes approaching him, it's eyes began to turn red, it's skin starts to harden into a stony material, and acid beginning to drip from it's mouth. The heroes widened their eyes, they all had thought of the same thing. 'multiple quirks…' then as if seeing their chances of their plan to buy time being successful, the monster towered over them casting a shadow. It was so small… like them.

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Anyway Merry Christmas!