18 Approaching Flames

"Another one." I say, staring at the corpse sitting below my foot. It's a woman, clothed in a black shroud. She lays in a pool of fresh blood, her body contorted in unnatural ways, her bones snapped. One side of her head has been caved, her skull cracked open.

It's late into autumn now. The days are getting cold, and the nights even colder. It's just around midnight right now, and I've just stopped another Himejima Clan servant from coming into Kuoh. I sensed her a couple hours before, and I was there to meet her just before she entered Kuoh's perimeters. Just like those before her, she refused to talk. And so she died.

This is the fifth now. In just around a month, it'll be three years since Akeno was excluded from the Himejima Clan, and it'll be time for Suou to begin his chase.

I close my eyes, and for a minute, I just breathe.

This will be the point of no return. Himejima Suou is a prominent figure in his clan. The moment he disappears, there will no doubt be questions, and there's only so much I can hide.

The heads of the Five Principal Clans won't move; their already strenuous treaty with the Youkai will be broken the moment the heads begin to move. But it won't stop other prominent figures from moving. Maybe they'll come to avenge Suou. Maybe they'll come just to satisfy their curiosity. It won't matter.

My secrecy will be gone.

It's almost insane to think about. Three years have gone by since I came into this world. Those years have flown by. I can still remember the first time I woke up, the confusion I felt when I looked down and saw hands that were too small and spoke with a voice that was too high. And now here I am, fighting against a cabal of human supremacists that threatens to hurt my family.

But I won't change it. I won't run away.

"I'm ready." I whisper, and the air thrums with golden light as I open my eyes. "I'm waiting." I clench my fists, and I feel the raging heat storming underneath my skin.

I pull out an Ofuda from my pockets, and I let it gently fall onto the broken corpse beneath me. The paper lands on the back of the corpse's head, and soon the smell of burning flesh hits my nose as the body begins to burn. I watch in silence, my eyes allowing me to see everything that burns away. Soon, the only thing left behind is a patch of burnt grass.

I pull out another Ofuda, and I place it down on the burnt soil. The characters written on it begin to glow, and a surge of Primal Energy is released into the ground. The grass surrounding the burnt patch begins growing rapidly, and soon a new layer of grass is grown atop the ashes of the previous.

I nod, satisfied, and I turn and walk away.

I come home to find everyone else asleep. I'm not surprised; it's past midnight after all. I leap through the open window of my room, and immediately I'm washed by the impossible warmth of the room. The window has been open for hours, and yet the inside feels warm. Perfectly so.

Which means the Ofuda I've placed is working as intended. Just before I left, I used an experimental Ofuda I've been working on for the past couple days. An Ofuda that carried the characters of 'Home'.

Magic is the invocation of the mind against reality. Intent and emotions are integral to casting magic, and so I wanted to see if I could create a non-standard Ofuda. And I did. An Ofuda that carries the weight of 'Home', the warmth of a well-lived house and the comfort of knowing that you still have a place to come home to.

Akeno's sleeping peacefully on my bed as always, and I smile slightly. It's nice to see her sleeping so quietly now; she used to have constant nightmares back when she first started living here.

I shut the windows, and I close the blinds. The room is plunged into the darkness. I then sit down on my desk chair, and I let my eyes close. And slowly, I fall asleep.

My sleep is filled with dreams, of repeating visions my eyes had shown me. I see flashes of torment and anguish, of torture and sadistic glee. I watch it all, separated from all that's happening yet standing so very close. I can almost taste the pain the tortured feel, of the anger and shame they feel as the Five Principal Clans enact their 'justice'.

I used to hate this; to have my sleep be terrorized by these memories I can no longer forget. I don't hate it so much now. It reminds me to keep going.

Days pass after that, getting colder as time goes on. Autumn is well on its way, and the trees are now bright orange. School goes on as usual. I maintain my persona as a diligent student, no matter how bored I am at times.

Once classes end, I'll head off to join the rest of my club in their activities.

After Akeno began her own schooling, I found my afternoons completely free. I wasn't really sure what to do, and I eventually decided to join a club. None of them really stuck out to me, but I decided to join the Music Club on a whim. I mean, I played some guitar back in my old life, and I do miss being able to pluck the occasional strings when I'm bored.

This turned out to be a great decision. Because playing the guitar proved to be one of the hardest tasks I've ever encountered.

Not because I'm not good at the guitar. As with everything, my eyes give me quite the massive advantage. I can play any melody I want, at any time and at any tempo.

No, it's a great decision because playing the guitar showed me a problem I never really thought about.

Over the past three years, my strength has greatly increased. But with it, my perception of what's 'normal' has changed too, and that whiplash struck me extra hard when I accidentally snapped the six strings on my first guitar. The club advisor was kind enough to fix it, but the realization had already sunk in.

There are still delicate things in this world. It sounds obvious, but I just sort of…forgot, I suppose. And so my time in the Music Club is spent tempering my strength, making sure I can still hold something without crushing it by accident.

That, and I do like playing some tunes that won't be created for a couple decades or so. The recent music's nice and all, but I do miss the catchy pop songs from my previous life.

Meanwhile, more and more clan servants show up by Kuoh's borders. They've been scoping the area out, using Shinto Magic to relay that information back. I let them, and once their guard is down, I pummel them to the ground. I make sure their deaths are quick.

My eyes show me the growing frustration Suou is experiencing, and I can't deny the glee I feel. More and more of his servants are dying, and it won't be long before he sets out on his own.

That aside, his frustration is a good thing. There'll be a higher chance that he'll set out on his own, eager to end this whole charade before he explodes from sheer anger.

Then, a week before Akeno's three year anniversary, I feel my eyes warning me. I quickly use my eyes to determine what it is, and as I predicted, Suou has had enough and decides to head out earlier than he originally intended.

It's just an hour before sundown when I get the warning, and I begin to move. The servants Suou sent to Kuoh weren't just here to scout. They were also here to set up a Teleportation array, and it won't be long before Suou teleports here. I, of course, know where it is, and have kept the array untouched on purpose.

It doesn't take me long to make it there, and I stop just before a complicated circle of ash and chalk, drawn across the grass just on the outskirts of the town. I wait patiently, my eyes wide open for the exact moment the array activates.

My hands are clammy as I wait, and my throat feels dry. I can hear my heart thumping in my chest, and there's a tightness around my neck.

I'm…nervous, I guess. Himejima Suou is leagues stronger than the servants he's sent here. But I'm also excited, because I'll finally get the chance to smash the man into the dirt.

Then, it happens. The array lights up a brilliant white, and a man suddenly appears in the center of the circle. He's fairly handsome, with long black hair and a stern look. He's wearing an intricate black robe, and a single longsword hangs from his hip.

Immediately, I pull out the 'Isolation' Ofuda I made months ago, and the characters drawn on the slip of paper begin glowing an ominous purple. An invisible weight fills the air, and seen by no one but me, I see the energy of a thousand curses surge out into the air, forming into a dome around Suou and I.

Suou clearly feels this, and he quickly looks around to see what's happening.

Then, suddenly, the skies disappear, replaced by a black void, and Suou gasps as he falls to his knees.

And I grin.

"How does it feel?" I ask casually, and Suou turns to suddenly find me staring down at him. "Your blessing's gone now. Feels pretty nice to be 'Human' again, huh?"

Suou stares at me, before his lips curl to a deep scowl.

But I'm not in the mood to hear him talk. So I pull my arm back, and burning with Primal Energy, I smash my fist straight into his face.