11 Spiritual Incident Response Team

I awoke in a daze.

I heard Hina's hysterical laugh echoing throughout the field.

A young girl in a hard helmet, and blue vest meets my gaze as I open my eyes.

Her bright brown eyes widens as she realized I'm now conscious.

"You're finally awake!" Her smile was genuine.

I tried to open my mouth to ask her what happened, but Hina's loud laughing stole my attention.

Hina was holding a hose that was connected to a large size steel tank.

"Ms.Hina!" A middle aged man wearing a hard helmet and safety vest calls out.

Hina runs through the field holding the hose, and shoots foamy white stuff everywhere as she laughs.

"I beg of you to stop Ms.Hina! Spirit Nitrogens are hard to come by!" The man pleads.

Several people were chasing after Hina, most of them were wearing the same outfit as this girl in front of me.

The damaged wooden seats that the white foam accidentally covers were suddenly fixed after the foams dissolved.

"You don't look injured, Mr.Hayato." She examined my body once again.

"Who are you guys?" I asked her.

She salutes "My name is Tanaka, Sora! and we are the Spiritual Incident Response Team!" With much enthusiasm, she answered.

"We fix damages caused by Spiritual beings like the Demon that rampaged here." She continues.

"Where was the guy earlier?"

"Do you mean Mr.Ida? He left right after we arrived here, Reapers got lots of work to do especially in a city as big as Tokyo."

She puts away her medical equipments in a metal box with a white cross sign on it.

"So how was your first encounter with a Demon?" She casually asked.

"It was painful." I sighed.

I checked my body if the wound I got from earlier was still there, but it was already gone.

I didn't know how I was healed, but I'm just thankful I'm not injured anymore.

I still couldn't believe what the Reaper said earlier.

"The guy said earlier; spirits that stay for too long turns to Demon, is it true?." I asked her while looking at the night sky.

"Yes, one month after they die they will turn into a Demon."

"Is there a way they can turn back to normal?"

"Unfortunately there isn't, that's why we have no choice but to have our reapers purge them."

"What do you mean purge?"

"It's like killing, but for spiritual beings."

"But what happens to them if they get purged? do they go to afterlife?"

"No, their souls are erased from existence making them unable to go to afterlife, nor hell.." With a somber tone, she concluded.

After hearing that, I nonchalantly get up on my feet.

Kaori's gone, and it was my fault.

If only I could've-

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE!" The school guard shouts in shock.

I glance to where the commotion was happening.

A man wearing the same outfit as Sora, readied his strapped rifle and quickly opened fire at the confused guard.

The gun fired a small dart that hit the guards neck, causing him to fall unconscious.

Soon after, two of Sora's co-workers dragged the guard's body towards where he came from.

"What was that? did they just kill that guy?" I asked Sora.

Sora gave me a surprised look.

"N-No! that dart makes the person who get hit forget what happened in the last ten minutes in their memory.

Sora clears her throat, and fixed her posture.

"I saw that you fused with Hina-san earlier." She looked at me with a serious look.

"You only have twenty five years left to live because of that." Her piercing glance was unwavering.

"What do you mean?"

"Fusing with a Mystic Beast will let you use their superhuman strenght and speed, but in return they will take half of your lifespan."

Fuck.

I almost lash out at Hina once I looked at her again, but if we didn't fused earlier I would've been dead.

I'm really tired right now, I just want to go home and sleep for about three days.

I didn't wanna think about anything.

If only I could just sleep, and wake up with everything back to normal.

But I could only dream.