Diaz: The Bat-Human of Manado
October 2022, Manado, North Sulawesi. In a luxurious, new, and tall apartment building by the sea, a young man gazed at the open ocean view from his window, hands on his hips, sipping a cup of coffee. "Ring... ring," his smartphone rang. The young man immediately walked to the table and picked it up.
"Yes, hello..." he said.
"Yasha-sama... the car is ready..."
"Grrr... my name is Diaz. Don't use that title here," Diaz snapped.
"Oh, yes... sorry, Diaz-sama..."
"Don't use 'sama'... what is it?" Diaz asked.
"The car is ready. Are you leaving for school now?" the woman on the phone asked.
"I'm walking today, no need for the car," Diaz replied.
"Very well, Master Diaz."
The call ended. Diaz took off his clothes and stood in front of the mirror. His face was handsome, like a Korean celebrity, and his body was muscular. But after he removed the bracelet he was wearing, his skin immediately turned red, and large bat wings appeared on his back, complete with a pair of bat ears on his head resembling horns. His face darkened, and only a pair of red eyes were visible.
"Haaaah... I'm dizzy," he muttered to himself, looking at his reflection.
He put his bracelet back on and put on his high school uniform. He sat back on the edge of the bed and looked at the bracelet, a gift from his mother, who was a Japanese national and a mafia leader there. He had only arrived in Indonesia two years ago when he was in his first year of high school and settled in Manado. Previously, he lived in Japan because he was actually born there. His story began 17 years ago when Diaz's mother, still a university student, was on vacation in Indonesia. She visited many places, one of which was Seram Island in Maluku province, precisely in the Kairatu area.
Unintentionally, at night, when his mother was outside the hotel alone, she saw a very large bat-human figure, red-bodied and red-eyed called "orang bati" in Maluku culture. She didn't see the figure clearly, but the creature just looked at her and immediately left without doing anything. The next day, his mother asked the hotel staff what creature she had seen last night. The staff explained the myth that existed on Seram Island. After that, his mother returned to her country as her vacation was over. But a month later, she felt something was wrong with her. She had her body examined by a doctor, and the doctor said she was pregnant.
His mother, of course, was shocked because she wasn't even married, let alone had a boyfriend at that time, so how could she be pregnant? Of course, this enraged her extended family and they asked her to abort the pregnancy. But his mother refused and chose to go to another city to secretly give birth to her baby. Ten months later, his mother gave birth to a cute baby boy, but his appearance was a little different; the baby had bat wings on his back. Even so, his mother still loved her son and took care of him wholeheartedly with love.
A year passed, the child could already walk and speak a few words, but his mother began to worry because two long bat ears began to appear on his head, and his wings grew larger. In addition, his skin also began to turn reddish, and his face became slightly darker, leaving his eyes completely red. His mother remembered the creature she had seen, then she took the child to a temple and tried to heal him. However, her efforts were fruitless, as the priests could not cure her son. They could only cover his true form by giving him a bracelet that could suppress his transformation.
His mother put the bracelet on her son's hand, and his son's form returned to normal, becoming a human being in general. Year after year passed, the child grew into a teenager. Everything seemed fine, until one day, while bathing, the child accidentally took off his bracelet, and his form immediately changed. The child, who initially thought he was normal, was immediately shocked. He immediately came out of the bathroom and opened the balcony window of the apartment where he lived. He flew out and spun around in the air, making a loud sound. Everyone in his city heard the child's loud screeching sound as he flew until he finally returned to his apartment and asked his mother.
Finally, his mother told him everything. The son immediately got angry, and he wanted to return to his place of origin. His mother initially didn't allow it, but because his father and also the child's grandfather suddenly died, she had no choice but to inherit all her family's assets. She didn't want to cause conflict within her family, so she finally let her son go back to his place of origin on the condition that the child visit her occasionally and allow her to provide for him, because the mother was afraid that her beloved son would cut ties with her. The child agreed, saying that it was impossible for him to forget the mother he loved and who raised him since childhood. His mother immediately hugged him. After saying goodbye, the child departed for his country of origin. The child's name in Japan was Takeda Yasha, and in his country of origin, Diaz.
"It's been two years since I've been here, no progress... next year I'll be in Jakarta. Come on, Diaz, you can do it!" Diaz said.
Diaz slapped both his cheeks and stood up. He walked towards the apartment exit to go to school. To get to his school, which was a bit far, Diaz had to take public transportation that passed in front of his apartment complex. Inside the public transportation, he took out his smartphone and turned on his favorite FPS game.
"My God... is 'Corpse' still online? Doesn't he go to school?" Diaz thought to himself, seeing his friend online.
"Eeeeeh, he's here... Kalong... let's play," 'Corpse' invited.
"Hey, don't you go to school?" Diaz asked.
"I do, I'm at school," 'Corpse' replied.
"Then why are you online? Has the bell rung?" Diaz asked.
"Yes... just now," 'Corpse' replied.
"Then you're online?" Diaz asked again.
"Yup," 'Corpse' replied.
"So you're powerful, huh?" Diaz asked.
"Yup," 'Corpse' replied.
"You're ridiculous... just like that 'Psycho' guy," Diaz said.
"He played one round earlier, then he quit," 'Corpse' replied.
"What?! He said he was retiring, what's wrong with that kid?" Diaz replied.
"Where are you, Kalong?" 'Corpse' asked.
"In the public transport... gotta go now, almost there," Diaz replied.
"Okay then... when do you want to meet in real life?" 'Corpse' asked.
"Oh, later. Gotta go now, continue tonight, bye," Diaz replied.
"Okay, bye," 'Corpse' replied.
Diaz closed the application. He immediately smirked and put his smartphone in his pants pocket.
"Meet in real life, hah, you'll be shocked when you see me... I guarantee you won't want to be friends with me anymore," Diaz muttered to himself, propping his chin and looking out at the street.