This is Part 2 of the story "Crimson Sky".  It's titled "New Target."
Constructive C&C is welcome.  Have fun reading.

-Shuichi Minamino
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CRIMSON SKY
Part 2  New Target

	Why do people have to be so sociable?  Why can't they just mind their own
business?  For Reshion, the first day at school is a complete bore.  Then
there is that blond boy who seems overly grateful for the incident in the
morning.  It was no big deal, getting hit by one of those vehicles wouldn't
kill him.  He's much tougher than that.  It takes a lot to kill him, that he
knows all too well.

	Reshion rushes out of school as soon as the bell rings.  He has to get out
of that boring place and avoid all those nosy students.  Why are they so
damn curious anyway?  He has come here to live a normal life but now it
seems impossible.  One of these days, those people will find him again.
Then he'll have to escape from them.  He thought he has killed them all last
time.  Well, obviously not. 

	The walk from school to his residence turns out to be rather far, but
Reshion doesn't mind.  It'll give him time to get familiar with the
surroundings.  After all, his surrogate parents have advised him to do so.
This city is so different from the mechanical city he lived in almost all
his life. 

	*Three months huh?* Reshion thinks to himself. *Then the city should've
recovered by now.  I wonder how long would it be before they find me and
decide to terminate me.*  Now THAT is a really morbid thought.  He laughs at
himself silently for thinking so much.  It has been three months already, he
should be safe now.  Besides, no one ever found out about the cause of the
explosion.  But still, nothing is ever peaceful or safe for him.  Everything
in his life has changed on that fateful day when he was four...

	"Hey what's up Ryan!" Reshion hears someone calling.  Ryan?  The Ryan in his 
class?  He glances toward the direction of the voice and sure enough, Ryan
is talking to the person who has greeted him.  

	*So Ryan lives in the same neighborhood,* Reshion realizes. *this place is
really too small.  Everybody knows everyone.*

	He knows that he must not let anymore people get involved with him. They
always end up dead.  As for his surrogate parents...well, they know what
they are getting into when they took him in, but the others don't.  People
outside of his 'family' have no idea what a monster he can be.

	But then again, why should he give a damn if other people get killed
because of him?  He doesn't know.  Maybe that's because somewhere in the
back of his mind there is still something human left in him, something that
is left from the short childhood he has had.

	"Reshion!"

	"Ryan..."

	"You live around here?" The blond boy asks him ethusiastically. "small world."

	"Right there.  Third floor."  He points at the apartment in front of them.

	"Hey cool!  I live at the building next to your apartment," Ryan continues.
"you just moved here right?"

	"Recently."  

	"Man, you don't like to talk do you?"

	"No.  And you talk way too much," Reshion replies.  "you didn't take what I
said seriously."

	Ryan hesitates for a second before he starts laughing uncontrollably.
"You're kidding right?  Come on, loosen up!  Death is not something to kid
around about, especially when you're threatening someone else with it."

	"You think I'm just kidding?" Reshion asks gravely.

	"You gotta be," Ryan laughs. "I mean, why would a killer attend our school?
Especially with your age... Wait, how old are you anyway?"

	"You ask way too many questions."

	"Aw...come on, don't tell me you are one of those who is sensitive about
your age." Ryan jokes.

	"Fourteen."

	"Damn you're young!  See?  A fourteen-year-old killer in my school?  Yeah
right!  Man, you're so funny!"

	Reshion then suddenly starts laughing.  He doesn't know why, but he just
keeps on laughing.  He doesn't even find what they are discussing
interesting; but then here he is, laughing like a mad man.

	"Re....Reshion?" The blond boy asks with uncertainty and concern.
"Hey...it's not that funny...is it?  Yo!  You all right?"

	He can't stop laughing, he just keeps on laughing.  Reshion hates his own
laughter then- so insane, so...unreal, it is definitely not the true
laughter he has lost over the years.  He knows that he is not laughing out
of delight.  But he can't stop it.  The whole time he has been laughing,
Ryan is staring at him wide-eyed, not sure what to make of it.  When Reshion
finally stops laughing, Ryan looks extremely uncomfortable.  Reshion knows
that he must have scared the hell out of the boy.

	"Are you okay?"  Ryan asks again, though with the slightist tinge of fear.

	"Yes," Reshion answers tonelessly. "I must leave now."  With those words,
he turns around and walks toward the apartment building.  He has to leave
before he starts laughing hysterically again.  Something is wrong with him
and he knows it.  That reaction of his means something.  When is the last
time he has reacted this strangely?  Reshion pauses in what he is doing as
memories flash by and the realization descends upon him like a cloud of
doom.  The meaning is clear- He is going to lose control again, and Ryan is
going to die because of it.

-------------Crimson Sky: New Target End (TO BE CONTINUED)--------------