In the afternoon of April Fools’ Day, while waiting for the coming duel, I saw an unforgettable scene.
Above numerous pink flower petals, buried by uncountable twittering birds, someone was at the center of the park full of blossoming flowers, lying face down like a dead body.
I walked towards the strange combination of flowers, birds, and the dead-body-like figure. My footsteps alerted the birds; they soon flew away, leaving the “leftover” on the ground with me, and I could finally see the person. The man’s golden curly hair and pale face reminded me of one of the plaster statue in the school art class. He did not have any clothes on him, except the leaves that covered the lower part of his body like a skirt. Although I was curious about the reason for him to be naked in the park, what really grabbed my attention was the big, broken, white wing stuck on his body.
The man purred and opened his eyes, as if he just woke up from a deep sleep. After remaining the lying pose for a few seconds, he finally noticed the shadow fell on him, and then looked up to the owner of the shadow – me.
I reached my hand to him. He used it to support him as he stood up.
“Thank you, kind girl,” his voice was higher than I thought. “What’s your na– ”
Before finishing his question, he suddenly lost his balance and fell onto the ground. The reason was simple – I had loosened my hand, purposely. The pink petals below him now flew up because of the crash.
“Kind? I think you misunderstand something.”
I looked at the man who just kissed the ground with his forehead, and then showed an evil smile to him.
“I am Flower. Violent Flower,” I pointed to myself with my thumb, proudly. “You don’t look like you are from this town, or else you would have heard of me - the villain in the town. Sixteen years old, hobby is bullying others.”
While he was trying to stand up by himself, I moved my fist towards the naked man.
“And who are you?”
“Wait!” The suspicious man nervously waved his hands above his head like a child, though he was much taller than me. “I really want to answer your questions, but I have lost my memory. I cannot remember anything except that I am an angel.”
“Huh?” What was this man talking about? Was it a new kind of April Fools’ joke?
“I am really an angel. Look at my wings…” He showed his back, and made a cry after seeing the single wing full of holes. “Why do I only have a broken wing left?”
“How do I know? It was already like this when I came. The birds probably ate it.”
Surprisingly, after hearing my joke, he looked up to the sky and the trees in the park, looking for the birds.
“Flower, you are right! It's the birds that ate my wing!”
…What?
I immediately looked back to the fake angel watching the birds. Was it only my illusion? His pupils had turned light gold. As he turned his smiley face to me, the color changed to the original brown again.
“That’s impossible. It’s an obvious lie for April Fool.”
As I doubted, the man closed his eyes, putting both of his hands on his chest.
“My wings are different, even the birds can eat them. They must be as sweet as marshmallow, because they are made from hope, love, dreams, and– ”
“Are you listening? I’m not asking about that childish setting.”
“It’s not childish setting. They have the power to purify dirtiness. The birds will definitely becoming good birds.”
I gave his stomach a punch to stop the speech. As he was pressing his stomach, I walked to his back. The white wing looked exactly like it grew from the man’s body; no tools were used to stick them together. I moved my fingers from the center of the wing to the part where it attached to his body. The connection between them was small, only about the size of a coin. It was hard to imagine how his body could support the wing from falling off. I noticed on his pale body, besides the marks from crashing, there were three other coin-size red dots on his back.
“Hey, what happened to the other wings? The birds couldn’t have eaten all of them.”
The angel fell into thinking.
“I don’t remember what happened. Maybe I lost them when I arrived in this world.”
“Arrived in this world?” I raised my eyebrow.
“I was sent for a mission. Those wings should be important for the mission, but now they are missing. What should I do now?”
He bent down, as if to kneel. He looked useless, which made me want to step on him.
“My wings contain a special power that’s strong enough to make people’s wishes come true. They are made from hope, love, dreams, and –”
“You’ve told me about that part already. Stop adding unrealistic setting.” I kicked him from the back; his face again crashed to the ground. The wing lay powerlessly on his body.
If what he said was true, then once the news spread, people would surely came and kneel before the wing. Humans are greedy; they would only ask for two things: money and life.
“If I could make a wish, the only wish I want is to be the strongest person,” I whispered.
“Are you wishing to me?” The angel blinked.
“That’s impossible. Don’t forget you are still lacking evidence to convince me. Plus, I am already the strongest person. Let me tell you my setting, my strength was bigger than that of normal people. If I want, punching a hole on a tree was also possible.”
I extended my arm, putting my fist in front of the angel’s face.
“Is it common for people in this world to have this ability?”
“No, it’s only me.”
“Then if that can happen, why don’t you believe I am an angel?”
“Those are totally two different stories.” I pulled my fist back. “Anyway, I should stop playing with you. Seems like the person I was waiting for has arrived?”
I turned to the direction of the South entrance. Three children stopped walking as I swept my eyes through them. They leaned against each other; the eyes expressed a deep fear.
“See who’s here. What a ‘surprise’,” I opened my arms to the little faces I had seen many times. “What are you doing here?”
“We are here to support Sando.” “Violent Flower, we are here to see how Sando beats you.” “We won’t forget what you did to us.”
Three of them spoke at the same time, which sounded almost like a trio.
“Ha, do you think Sando will really beat me? Stop dreaming.”
I laughed wildly.
“This will be our ninety-ninth duel. In the past ninety-eight duels, have you ever seen him win one of them? He should have given up that idea earlier. You too. Why don’t you give up on watching our duels? Other smart people have already learned this reality and have given up.”
“We won’t give up. If Sando is still fighting for us, we won’t give up,” the bigger child, Fabio, said.
“But Sando hasn’t showed up. Isn’t it saying that he is too afraid to come?”
The children looked at each other.
“Flower. Flower.” The angel’s voice interrupted us. I almost forgot there was a naked angel standing near me. Now I understood why the children were looking on with a strange expression in their eyes.
“What?”
“Is that the person you are talking about?”
I looked in the direction where the angel was pointing. A thin teenager who had my age was walking towards me. Glasses, white shirt, and khaki long pants as usual.
“Here you are, Sando.”
I called the person’s name, and he stopped.
“Are you ready to be beaten by me?”
Sando said nothing, but took his glasses down from face and threw them away. It was the first time he did it. At least, this time he learned to protect his glasses; every other time, I would hit him without any empathy for his glasses.
“Then, let’s star – Wait, why are you still here?”
I frowned at the angel standing beside me, who was silently staring at Sando. I raised my right leg and swept to the angel’s stomach. His body crashed to the ground under the children’s feet. The three children feared to the naked man who suddenly fell in front of them.
“Wait, Flower.”
“You are too annoying, naked angel. Just shut up and watch; it will end in thirty seconds.”
I turned back to Sando.
“Now this disturbing fly has gone. We can continue. Same rule as before, and your prize is to stop me from continuing my hobby.”
I licked my lips and smiled.
“Let’s start the battle that you would never win.”
I rushed to Sando who kept remaining silent. What I only had to do was give him a punch, and everything would be over. He would never really try to attack me, though he was always the one that asked for a duel. I did not know what he was thinking at all. Anyway, even if that was other person standing in front of me, I could still finish the whole duel within seconds. Why?
Because I was the strongest.
I pushed my fist out, aiming for his shoulder.
And it’s over, Sando fell onto the ground, unable to move, and I won the duel.
…
It should have been this result.
However, Sando avoided my attack, and I was not even able to touch him. I could hear the children’s sound of surprise. Not only that, he reattacked me for the first time. A silver light came to me. I tilted my head, avoided the attack. Sando’s right hand stopped beside the left side of my head, but something he was holding touched my ponytail. I immediately bent to the right, using my right hand on the ground as support, and used my legs to sweep to his stomach. At that moment, Sando avoided it with a huge jump back.
What was this? Was Sando really that good in fighting?
I stood up with questions pounding in my head. Sando was standing still with no expression. His hand was holding a knife, and I realized that was the silver light that had attacked me before. I had told him that since I was much stronger, he could use a weapon in the battle; I had the confidence that I would not lose to any kind of weapon.
There were two options for me. First, avoid the knife, and then make a direct attack. Second, knock out the knife, and then hit him in the face. Either option would lead me to the victory.
I rushed to him again, and raised my leg to kick off the knife. Sando was still as quick as before; while stepping backward, he slashed my face. Of course I did not let his attack succeed. I pulled my leg back and tried to hit him, but it was a miss, too. Both of us continued this high-speed battle for a long time, and I finally realized how hard it was for me to beat him. Sando’s body was unusually strong on this day – it was almost the level of my body ability. Though I was not afraid of weapons, the combination of his body and the knife in his hand became a threat for me. I did not hold any advantage over him in this game. However, it did not mean that I did not have a way to win.
I rolled over the place where the angel and the children were standing. Sando was holding his knife and walking towards us. The two boys escaped from me in fear, but the angel and the girl did not. I was not sure why the angel did not get himself away from being involved in this battle, but the girl, Aya was not able to move – I was holding her tightly.
“Sando, look at this. Do you still want to attack?” I kneeled and pointed at the girl, whom I used as a shield. This was the fastest and easiest way to win. I only needed to wait for Sando to show his flaw, or even surrender. Although it was a little dirty, it did not really matter to me. That was what Violent Flower would do. The boys standing behind us were shocked, and started to shout at me. The girl in my hand realized what had happened to her; her body could not stop trembling. The angel finally drew his attention from Sando to me, also shocked.
Sando stopped in front of the girl and me. As I started to speak again, Sando lunged toward us and began stabbing.
Blood began to flow out of the skin.
In shock, everyone else was looking at my bloody left hand that had been penetrated by the knife.
I was in shock, too.
Not because of the fact that I could see the tip of the knife that came through the other side of my hand.
Not because of the fact that I unconsciously had protected the girl I was holding.
But because of the fact that Sando still decided to attack even knowing I had a hostage.
If I had not reacted fast enough, the knife would have penetrated the girl’s chest. Sando would never take the risk to do so, even if his own life was in danger.
“Sando, do you know what you are doing?”
Sando only looked at me silently. The silence made anger flush through me.
“Who do you think you are to not answer my question? If you don’t say anything, then I am going to make you do so. Hey, the two of you, catch this kid. She is in my way.”
I called the two boys standing a couple steps behind us, and used my other hand to throw the girl to the back. There was no leisure time for me to turn back and see if they caught her successfully or not; Sando could make another attack at anytime.
“Flower,” the angel who sat beside me called.
“What? Stop being annoying. I am busy.”
Sando pulled his knife back. A huge pain came from my left hand, and more blood splashed out from it.
“Flower, that’s not the Sando that you know. He’s controlled by Doids.”
“Doids? What’s that extra new setting? How do you know that?”
Suddenly, the angel held my right hand. At that moment, I saw a red aura surrounding Sando’s body. I looked back to the angel in surprise; his pupils turned into red. Though I did not want to admit, what I saw could not be explained by April Fools’ lie.
“Doids is something that attached to humans. They will distort the attached people’s wishes, and then alter their personalities. I am sent to clear the Doids in this world.”
As I wanted to reply, Sando lunged again. I had to throw off the angel’s hand, and roll over to the other direction. The red aura on Sando’s body disappeared. Was it because I separated with the angel?
“I totally don’t understand what you are saying. If that’s your mission, then why don’t you do something?” I shouted.
“But I don’t remember how to do it. What should I do? What should I do?”
He again used both of his hands to cover his head and started to panic on the ground. The person who sent the stupid angel here obviously had made a huge mistake.
“That’s right. We should let the children escape first. Run, kids, run!”
The three children froze when hearing the angel’s warning, but soon decided to run away.
Sando, who was standing closer to the angel, was ready for the next stab. I tried my best to ignore the pain and the flowing blood from my left hand, and rushed to him. His attention was now on the angel; so if I was quick enough, I could kick off his knife. I raised my right leg.
“We can’t get out of here! Something is blocking us,” the call from one of the children at the back distracted me. In the one second that I stopped my movement, Sando had changed the direction of his knife, and slid it into my leg. The same pain as the one on my left hand overcame me.
I drew my hurting leg back from the knife, and dropped it onto the ground. With the pain, I could only rely on my left leg to balance myself. The situation seemed hopeless for me.
However, I laughed.
“Doids? Personalty change? No matter it they are real or not, I only have to beat you here. Sando, let me hear what you want. And we will end this ridiculous battle.”
Then, for the first time on the day, Sando answered me.
“I will kill you,” without any expression in his face or tone, he said. “All.”
A wild coldness climbed up my back. It was so strange to relate what I heard to the face in front of me.
“Sando, did you trap us?” The angel’s face was paler than when I met him before. I moved my hands towards his head. As I grabbed his golden hair, I saw that there was a huge reddish half-circle covering this area of the park.
“To catch you all,” Sando explained with an icy tone. “You are not able to escape from this place. You are not able to get the help from outside. You are here for me to hunt.”
The children started to cry. I did not know if it was because of their fear, or for the huge change in Sando. I released my hand that had held the angel’s hair tightly; the sky returned to the original blue.
“That is like saying you are the real villain. Ha, I didn’t know you want to switch position with me that much.”
I showed him a distorted smile. The ground under me already had a pool of blood. Even if I could still stand the pain, having two holes on my body was absolutely against me. The lowered speed would cause more holes on my body, and the situation would only repeat until there was no space for the new holes. Flower of blood.
“I don’t care what you want to do later, Sando. But don’t forget, I am still the final boss of this town. Playing with those non-player characters is meaningless, your opponent, Violent Flower, is still here. I am still alive in this duel.”
I opened my arms wide.
Sando was silent; seemed like he had agreed to continue the battle with me. He stepped forward, pointing his knife towards me. Now was the time to show him the Violent Flower style attack.
I caught the angel’s hair.
“See you, stupid angel.”
“Flower? Wha– ”
I threw the angel towards Sando’s direction. Both of them did not predict my action. The angel accelerated to the front with a cry, and Sando avoided him with his increased agility. However, my punch was waiting at where he moved.
Sando’s knife dropped to the ground. I only had to attack his body, and the battle would end. However, before I made the next movement, Sando’s hand hit my back heavily. My body pounded to the ground, not far away from the knife.
Sando stepped his foot onto my back. The heaviness forced my wounds to press onto the ground; they were burning. It was the first time I was stepped on by someone, how shameful it was.
“Give up,” Sando looked down at me. “You have no chance to win.”
“Sando, you are probably right. Two of my four limbs are not working, and my whole body is unable to move now.”
I breathed out the air.
“But there are only two limbs that are not working.”
I moved my right hand to catch his ankle. Although it was highly possible that I would not catch it, he still jumped back and grabbed his knife from the ground. I put my right hand on the ground, and used it to assist me standing up. My body that had been dirtied by sand was shaking.
“Why?” Sando asked. I knew he was asking why I could still stand up with this kind of body.
“I know an annoying person.”
My vision was blurred. I could even see the silhouette of a person wearing glasses standing in front of me with big and small wounds. That was only an illusion, I believed.
“No matter how many times he has been beaten, he always comes to me and asked me to change myself again and again. That’s the most annoying person I have ever met.”
I swallowed.
“And today I just happened to want to be just as annoying. Ha, just think it as a April Fool’s joke.”
Although I was trying to give an optimistic smile, I knew clearly that this duel was different from what Sando and I had before. No one would call for it to stop.
I looked around the park, trying to imprint the people in my eyeballs.
The three children who were crying.
Sando who was playing with the knife.
The angel who had been witnessing the battle between Sando and I.
Angel?
I reexamined the thought that flashed through my mind. And I saw it. The way that would lead to victory.
I stepped out my left foot, and then the right foot. The pain was killing me, but I needed to advance; that was the only way to beat Sando. I increased the speed by a little, tried my best to “run” to my target. Fortunately, for some reason, Sando did not stop me, but let me successfully arrived the front of my target – the angel.
“Flower?”
I raised my left leg and pushed it against the puzzled angel’s shoulder. He lay on the ground because of my attack; his back and the wing were now facing up.
“Flower? What are you doing? What do you want to do?” His voice was trembling.
“To prepare for my victory, of course.”
I pulled the angel’s huge and white wing, then bent down to let my face get closer to the connection between the wing and his body.
The angel seemed to realize what I wanted to do.
“Flower, stop– ”
I opened my mouth, and bit the lower part of the wing. The connection was small, I only needed to remember how I separated the bones of chicken wings. With the sound of surprise from the angel and the children at the opposite side, the wing fully detached from the angel’s body. I held the huge wing in my right hand.
“Sando, although I have been telling you that you could use a weapon, I never said that I cannot use a weapon.”
I pointed to Sando with the wing that was almost as high as me. It was much lighter than I thought. Sando did not move, perhaps he was afraid the wing that had unknown function.
“Useless angel, don’t tell me what you have told me earlier is a lie at this point.”
The angel made a sound of surprise and realization.
“The ability to make a wish come true? That’s what you are aiming for?” The angel raised his volume while still touching the place that his wing originally was.
“Then Violent Flower can make a wish to let Sando return to himself?”
One of the children overheard us and asked excitedly. Why could they accept the fact that this wing was able to make wishes come true in such a short time? Maybe it was because there were too many things that were out of sense happening today; it did not matter to add a new one.
However, I denied his idea.
“I won’t make a wish like that. I am not a hero. I would only make a wish for myself.”
The only person that could be a hero was Sando.
“Flower, you’ve said the only wish you want to make is to become the strongest.” The angel interrupted us in a surprising calmness. “If that comes true…”
“You are right. If I am the strongest, then there is no reason that Sando would be stronger than I am. So, I will win this battle.”
I smiled, and stepped forward.
“Because my wings are made from hope, love, dreams…” he paused, and finished the part he never had a chance to say. “…and trust.”
Another bloody step forward. A small storm surrounded the wing when it started to glow. All the petals on the ground flew up and formed a pink rain.
“Flower, win it!”
“Win it, Violent Flower!” “ Don’t lose!” “We trust you!”
Not only the angel, but the children were also trying to support me. I saw an illusion again, still the person that wore glasses, but younger. Sounds came to me with the warm flow from the wing that delivered through my whole body.
I’ve never seen you before. Who are you?
I am Sando. I just moved to this town. What’s your name?
Flower, Violent Flower. Why don’t you play with the other kids?
Because I am new, it’s really hard to join the group. I don’t know if they will like me.
Huh? Isn’t it an easy problem to solve?
I rushed to Sando. Left hand? Right leg? I did not care. Just let the blood come out like fountain. Let the sand and the petals dye red.
Get out of my way. You are injured too, aren’t you?
Flower, I don’t understand. Why do you have to beat them?
They are too annoying. Get away. Didn’t you just meet them? You have no reason to help them.
Even so, I still want to protect them. They are my friends.
I swayed the wing down towards Sando’s head. Sando counter attacked with his knife. A crack appeared at the middle of the wing, and then divided the wing into half. With a glass-breaking sound, the outer part of the wing turned into numerous flying feathers.
The wing that could make wishes come true was now broken. A piece of silence fell onto the people watching. What were they thinking? Would the children regret that they did not force me to let Sando recover directly?
Flower, the other kids have gone.
So what?
Tell me the truth, why did you attack them? Were you trying to help me?
I don’t understand what you are talking about. I am Violent Flower, that’s the only reason.
I continued slashing and defending myself using the wing. With every contact it had with the knife, it would break into half with a sharp sound, and create more glowing feathers. Finally, the last small piece of the wing right outside of my fist was destroyed.
I stared at Sando’s empty eyes. What was driving him to challenge me over and over? What kind of wish would he make?
Flower, let’s have a duel. If I win, you need to listen to me.
Interesting, I accept it, but you are weak, so you won’t even have the chance to win.
Then I will try to be as strong as you.
His knife again penetrated my left hand, which I had used to protect the girl. I forced my fingers to catch his fist that was holding the knife.
“Caught you.”
I showed him an exhausted smile.
“Sando, I’ve heard your voice. So it’s your turn to hear mine.”
I pushed my right palm towards his face and covered his mouth. We both fell onto the ground together as my left hand and his knife were still connected. I pressed on his body to prevent him from escaping. He was trying hard to shake his head, but I was trying as hard to hold his cheek until the thing in my hand entered his mouth.
After a long struggle, Sando’s body finally stopped moving as his eyes closed. I stood up from his body, and pulled the knife from the part of my body that could hardly be recognized as a hand.
The angel broke the silence after the harsh battle.
“Flower, what’s happening?
“It’s safe now,” I said. “It’s over.”
The angel who had no wings walked to me, but the children were still standing still, looking worried.
“Is Sando alive? Will he recover?” Aya asked.
“Maybe,” my body was too tired to support myself that I almost fell to the ground, but the angel caught me. I looked up to the sky; the red half-circle was no longer there. The red aura around Sando disappeared, replaced by a dim white light.
“Flower, I wanted to ask you how you could beat Sando.”
“You wanted? So that means you don't need explanation now?”
“I still don't understand it”
“Silly angel.” I kneeled on the ground. “Try to remember what you have told me from the beginning.”
His face still looked confused, so I had to answer impatiently.
“Your wings can purify any dirtiness, so I decided to feed Sando your wing. That’s it.”
“No, I understand this part, but what I don’t understand is the previous part. I didn't feel the power of the wing activate. I mean, it definitely has some power, but I did not feel that any wish was made.
I gave him a bitter smile of irony.
“Who told you that I was going to make a wish? I am already the strongest, why should I make a wish for that?”
Another reason was, I did not want to rely on wishes. I felt that I should use my own power to bring Sando back. Sando would have done the same thing, because he had showed it in his ninety-eight losses before. Thanks to him and the wing, the memories that I almost forgot all came back at once.
The children came to us, and the angel asked them to call for help. Without the disturbance of the red half-circle, their phones were working again; an ambulance was coming for us.
“Flower, how did you know it is safe for him to eat the wing?”
“Why should I tell you?”
I turned my head away from the angel. I knew in his eyes, there would be the same dim light on myself. I lied on the ground and closed my eyes in the falling pink petals and glowing feathers. The taste of marshmallow left in my mouth.