Chapter Text
The bright white lights of the corner store flickered, rays reflecting off a strange, metallic object.
Rin halted. He looked around for a moment to ensure no Humans were around. Then, he stepped as close to the thing as possible, careful not to touch it. His pupils dilated in curiosity as he took in its odd cylindrical form.
Rin’s eyes scanned over the wrapping covering the can. On it was an image of an odd, strangely appetizing yellow fruit with a green stalk sprouting from its top. Rin still wasn’t too familiar with the Human language, but he was pretty sure the wording above the image read “Pineapple Slices.”
Carefully, he scanned over the rest of the text. “Delicious.” “For snacking.”
…Snacking…?
He furrowed his eyebrows. His people had only used metals to develop weapons of destruction. Why would Humans contain any consumable items inside of such a dangerous and powerful material?
Unless…
Rin leapt back. Maybe the Humans were more intelligent than his shitty brother had informed him of. The object was probably an explosive. Or some kind of booby trap. Obviously, the tepid Humans weren’t going to let Rin take over their planet without a fight.
And if they were out to get him, then Rin would show them just how eager he was to destroy them.
Of course, a primitive Human attempt to thwart him before he could even begin his mission wouldn’t be an issue. Rin would rather die than let the Humans catch him unprepared.
He slowly pulled the currently invisible raygun out of his also-invisible holster, steadying it with both of his hands and aiming directly at the pineapple in the center of the metal cylinder.
“Die, pineapple,” he whispered to himself belligerently. His finger went down on the trigger.
Within moments, the metal columns that composed the raygun’s barrel opened, a large ball of energy gathering in the middle. Rin winced irritatedly, the eyes of his human form struggling to adjust to the sudden overabundance of light.
And then, the energy released. The pineapple cylinder was vaporized into thin air, along with nearly everything else in the store. Rin gave the spot where the object had previously sat one final glare before raising the raygun to his face to blow out the remaining energy before-
Oh.
Rin’s hands were gone. Well, his human form’s hands were gone. The only things remaining were bone and scant remnants of muscle. A few charred pieces of skin flaked off one wrist, dropping onto the decimated floor of the store.
Instead of screaming or crying out in pain, Rin simply sighed in irritation. Could the Human body not even withstand being near pure plasma energy? Rin added this to his mental list of reasons that humans were, undoubtedly, inferior.
Deciding he would deal with his injury later, he shoved his raygun back into its holster and turned around to explore the rest of the store.
Unfortunately, only then did he notice the Human standing behind him.
“What the hell,” it said, eyes flicking in horror from the scene Rin had created to the mutilated hands at his sides.
Rin took a subconscious step back. The Human wore a uniform with an emblem matching the one at the front of the store. Its eyes were comically wide with dark blue irises. The messy sprout on the top of its mop of blue hair almost reminded Rin of a pineapple stalk.
“I’m not going to ask what happened,” the Human said. “But we need to get you an ambulance.”
The Human then fished a rectangular device out of its pocket, poking it with its index finger in haste. Every few seconds, it gave Rin’s hands a terrified glance.
Finally, it stopped poking the rectangle. A horrendous ringing noise blasted from it at full volume.
“Turn that off, tepid human,” Rin sneered, hunching his shoulders in displeasure.
The Human merely gave him an apologetic look before bringing the device up to its ear. A muffled, questioning voice emitted from the rectangular device. The Human’s only phrases of response were “I don’t know” and “I think so.”
Rin watched the Human royally screw up whatever conversation it was supposed to be having. Once he’d had enough of insulting the human in his mind, he took its distracted state as an opportunity to heal himself.
Rin breathed in, and in the place of his hands grew long, teal, iridescent claws. He allowed them to pulsate for a moment, their familiar, soothing glow temporarily quelling his irritation with the Human.
Finally, he breathed out. Slowly but surely, the hands of his Human form returned to their original state without a singular blemish in sight. Rin flipped them over to stare at their dorsal side, then balled them into fists.
Rin nodded at his handiwork before glancing back up at the Human.
But, instead of continuing to fail at whatever it was doing, the Human had dropped the now-silenced device and was staring at Rin’s restored hands in shock.
The Human opened and closed its mouth like a beached fish before finally managing to utter any words. “You just glowed… and your hands… you…”
Rin slowly reached for the raygun for a second time. The Human had seen too much. The vaporized pineapple cylinder was one thing. Now, the Human would probably run out of the store, screaming to the entire town that there was a glowing alien in their midst.
He’d be sent back to the home planet, and his shitty brother would tell him that he would never do anything to advance the livelihood of their people. That he was worthless. That he would be better off exiled.
That thought alone made him want to annihilate every last life form on Earth even more.
“You, Human, will be the first one I destroy on this planet,” Rin declared, raising his raygun. “Kneel before- urgh-”
Before he could finish his speech or even train his gun directly on the Human, his poor excuse for a Human form betrayed him yet again, and his legs gave out.
Rin fell to the ground with a humiliating thump, landing directly on his nose. Unfortunately for him, even though his outer extremities felt no pain, his face absolutely did.
He curled into himself, wincing not just at the pain of his injury, but the annoying bright light that was somehow flickering even more intensely, the pure stupidity of the entire Human race, his stupid brother for choosing this planet in particular for him in the first place, tepid pineapples-
“Here,” the Human spoke in a strange, tender voice, kneeling to Rin’s level. Rin’s first instinct was to skitter away from it, but before he could, the Human placed a cool, damp cloth on his nose. “This should help.”
“I don’t need your help. I came here to destroy you and every other worthless Human.”
The Human paused. Then, it let out a weird, muffled chortle.
“Okay, then you can wipe out the entire human race after I’m done trying to fix your nose,” It responded, half-laughing and half-scolding. “Sit up.”
Rin grumbled, obliging despite every bone in his new form telling him to remain obstinate.
The human left for a second, but before Rin could even think about grabbing his raygun again, it came back with a small white box. He opened it and immediately began poking and prodding Rin’s face with its contents.
Strangely enough, Rin almost thought it felt soothing.
Finally, after what felt like hours of the Human kneeling over him at a dangerous proximity, it broke the silence that Rin had oh so enjoyed. “So. You’re an… alien?”
Rin was quick to snap back. “No. You’re the aliens. Actually, you’re more like leeches who destroy everything you touch.”
Instead of arguing, the human simply nodded. “We pretty much are, yeah.”
Rin quirked an eyebrow at this response. Humans are prideful. Humans always refuse to believe anything that even remotely suggests they aren’t perfect angels.
Yet, for some reason, this Human didn’t seem like that at all.
“You’re really bad at being a Human, Human,” Rin mumbled, attempting to hide his curiosity behind a tone of disdain.
The Human flashed a crooked smile. “Call me Isagi.”
Rin narrowed his eyes. He didn’t want to personify the Human. But…
“...I’ll kill you, Isagi.”
“Well, I think my boss will kill me before you get the chance to. You kind of vaporized half of the store.” Isagi grimaced, looking past Rin at the damage.
Rin wordlessly turned to face the area that had previously housed the pineapple cylinders. As he watched pieces of ash still floating and dispersing in the air, he wondered if maybe he’d gone a bit overboard.
“That’s your problem. Now leave. When you come back here tomorrow, that shelf will be you.”
Isagi sighed before pushing himself up to stand. He took tired steps towards the desk at the front of the store and grabbed a ridiculously large black bag off of the tall chair behind it.
“Nice,” Isagi mumbled, seemingly too tired to argue. He gestured towards the cloth. “Hold that on your nose for the next couple of minutes. See you tomorrow, Rin.”
He trudged towards the door, shutting the lights off.
Rin’s brain went into overdrive as Isagi grabbed the door handle and began pulling it closed. All he’d wanted was for the eyesore to leave, but now, all he could think about was how much he wanted him to stay for his own wrong, traitorous curiosity. Before he could stop himself, the words began to spill.
“Take me with you,” Rin demanded.
Isagi halted for a moment. He slowly turned back, expression puzzled.
“I need to learn more about your species to thwart you,” Rin grumbled. “And you’re the only one who can teach me.”
“I can't bring you to my house, Rin,” Isagi deadpanned.
Rin furrowed his brows. “Why not?”
Isagi stood there for a moment, searching Rin’s eyes for some kind of sign that he understood even a singular reason as to why this wasn’t a good idea. When Rin’s aggravated expression didn’t fade, he spoke again.
“I really don’t want you vaporizing my house. My parents worked really hard for it.”
Rin tilted his head. “Okay, I’ll vaporize your house after I vaporize everyone else’s.”
“And, speaking of my parents, I don’t want you killing them. Or me. Or anyone that comes near me.”
Rin was hesitant about this rule. His entire purpose in coming to Earth was annihilating every last Human. Even sparing a few would mean he’d failed at his mission. He would be proving his shitty brother right.
Luckily, Isagi noticed his hesitation and offered another solution.
“How about… you give me six months to prove to you and your people that not all humans are really that evil?”
Rin paused.
Humans were most certainly evil. Rin had known that since the day he’d first learned about the way they’d singlehandedly destroyed their planet’s opportunity for a future and set out to do the same to the rest of their galaxy.
Yet, Isagi still helped him even after Rin destroyed half of his store. Even after Rin tried to kill him.
According to everything Rin had learned about humanity, Isagi was awful at being a Human. His existence even pissed Rin off, in a way. A Human had no business doing anything even remotely “good.”
But, if there were more Isagis out there, maybe Rin could prove his entire species, especially his shitty brother wrong.
“Fine. In six months, I will destroy you and everyone you love. You still have to teach me about Humans and the best ways to kill them, though.”
Isagi smiled lightly. He let go of the door handle, walked back towards Rin, and offered him a hand.
“Alright, Rin. Let me show you what being a real human is all about.”