LAST WORDS OF A SHOOTING STAR - THE UNCANNY COUNTER

Blame

Yuna plucked at the strings of her old acoustic guitar, each note sending a wave of contentment washing over her.

The sun had set a while ago. She could hear the faint voices of Hana and Ms. Chu from upstairs, the reminder that they were there if she needed them was comforting. She felt a sense of calm, sitting in the middle of the basement, on the exercise mat, her guitar resting in her lap. Her hands moved up and down the frets with ease, as if it was second nature.

A few more minutes had passed when she heard an voice echoing in her ears.

"Yuna. Meet with the others. Mun's in danger."

Yuna paused her movements as she waited for the spirit to explain.

"Kun?" She spoke aloud, hoping he would respond, but she was only met with silence.

She placed her guitar onto the mat, rushing up the stairs, her counter jacket in hand.

Pushing the door open, Yuna looked over at the two, "Guys-"

"We know." Hana pursed her lips, "Let's go."

———————

Yuna looked up in amazement as their territory climbed higher into the sky, the colours prominent against the night sky.

A feeling of dread settled in the pit of the girl's stomach, as if they were running out of time.

Without so much as a second thought, the brunette sprinted in through the front door of the derelict building, the other counters close behind.

As she walked in, the first thing she noticed was two of her school mates unconscious on the floor. Yuna's eyes widened at the sight but her attention was quickly diverted as the sound of a fists meeting flesh filled her ears.

There Mun sat on top of Hyuk-Woo, beating the living daylight out of him, the sight making her feel sick.

She quickly ran towards the two, alongside Mo-tak, tearing Mun off of the ginger boy, who was now coloured black and blue.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened, and Yuna couldn't help but feel like she could have prevented this.

"Let go of me!" Mun struggled against Mo-tak's hold, angry tears flowing freely down his blood covered cheeks.

Yuna looked from Hyuk-Woo, to Mun and then back to her childhood friend with sorrowful eyes. She was furious, but the grief outweighed the anger. She was mourning the loss of someone she once knew.

Crouching down, she stared at the boy she thought she knew in despair. Hyuk-Woo let out a groan of pain, his head tiredly lolling to the side to look at Yuna.

The first thing he noticed was the look in her eyes. She was disappointed with him. She's never looked at him like that, and he hated it.

The second thing he noticed was what who she was with. Why was she with them?

Yuna quickly blinked away the tears that welled in the corner of her vision, "Why? Hyuk-Woo... Why would you do this?"

"You don't know me, Park Yuna."

Yuna stood up her hands pulling at the roots of her hair in frustration. She paced around before kicking at a barrel with an angry yell, sending the metal flying across the room.

"I told them to stop. I told them not to hurt them."

Yuna watched as Mun broke down into tears, her heart breaking at the sight.

Mun let out laboured breaths as he stared at Mo-tak, eyes pleading, silently begging him to understand.

But Yuna understood. The girl made her way over to the trembling boy, staring at the floor. She should have known that he was up to something from what he said to her earlier. When he was warning her, she should have told Mun. But it was too late for that now. Everything was a mess and all she could do was try to put the pieces back together.

Mo-tak too Mun's face in his hands as he continued to cry. "Hey, why are you crying? You can get angry. You can hit them. I'm just trying to tell you that you could've killed that punk if you hadn't stopped. Look our territory has opened up. This is why you need training, you silly goose. Okay?"

From the corner of her eye, Yuna could see the guy from earlier start to crawl in Mun's direction with a knife. Yuna was about to go over to stop him when Hana stepped on his hand, tilting the man's chin upward before kicking him across the face, rendering him unconscious.

"See that? Just throw little jabs like that. Whack them without killing them."

Yuna crouched down to sit on the floor, her emotions weighing on her. She placed her head in her hands before turning to look at Hyuk-Woo once more.

She hesitantly reached out towards his bleeding face, gently brushing a stray bit of a hair away from his face. He looked more peaceful in his unconscious state. He didn't look angry, nor sad. Just at rest.

"What did he do to you?" Yuna whispered in a strained voice, but she wasn't referring to Mun.

The girl jumped slightly as she heard movement behind her, turning to see Hyuk-Woo's friends moving to stand up.

Yuna stood from where she had previously been sitting, making her way towards her fellow counters.

She silently rested a hand on Mun's shoulder. The teenage boy turned to look at her, the tears in his brown eyes shining in the dim light.

No words needed to be said, Yuna simply brought the boy into a hug, her arms around his neck, resting her cheek on his shoulder.

The boy tensed at first, before loosening up, hesitantly bringing his arms around her waist in a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Yuna's voice broke as the tears in her eyes threatened to fall down her cheeks. She brought one of her hands to the back of his head, allowing him to rest on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry."