[A Demon Was Born] Prologue

It's 7:25 am exactly the same time I always get up for my morning classes, I got up, got ready, said my "See You Laters" to my folks, and headed off to my college.

Sōgōdaigaku is the name of my college, it's for general studies, something I excel in I'm proud of it, don't get me wrong it's a great starting point for my life....

But I feel so unhappy being here at times, the reason behind this is that I show more of an interest in practicing swinging a bamboo sword with my grandfather. He showed me it once a sword technique that left me in total awe, the technique's name was the Jinsokuna suiryoku, a swift thrust followed by the sword literally vanishing in front of your eyes.

A common misdirection that makes you think that sword suddenly disappeared but in actuality it simply moved too fast for the naked eye to properly focus souly on the tip of the blade, this is caused by how focused your mind is on the impending blow, from your eyesight, hearing, these two senses are especially crucial in a battle of wit and staggering determination.

But to make them so disoriented and causing them to be turned on you in the mist of the fight can surely lead to your inevitable down fall, and thus leading you too deaths impending grasp.

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Oh, right, right, I almost forgot, you probably wondering who exactly am I?, my names Toshi Matsumoto, as you can see I'm not really focused on my studies right now nor the class that's currently being held while I'm dozing off.

I'm more in-depth with the idea of swordsmanship and martial arts, there's something about these sports that make me feel so lively, so determined too succeed, my passion for these sports are not recognized though.

My parents highly disapprove of the idea of me even holding a wooden sword, they simply just don't see me as the, "Physical" type too waste my time with things that can cause me physically and mental harm if I'm not careful.

But this isn't really much of a surprise for me, they may make it sound like they care for my well-being but naturally, all they want from me is too finish college get a great job, and make me take care of them for the rest of their lives.

They make it sound so easy like it'll happen no matter what. My grandfather on the other hand is the only one who supports me and the idea of me practicing the way of the sword and he even throws in a few martial art lessons here and there if we have enough time to practice.

But these lessons were our little secret, gramps never really did like the fact my parents have me slaving away in my room 24/7 continuously getting grades above average just to satisfy their minds.

He thinks of it as cruel mental punishment, and I can agree with him the stress has been getting to me, one time I stopped studying for a couple of hours and my dad got mad to the point he hit me just for slacking off for a bit of rest, my mother snapped as well once time, it nearly drove me to want to move out at a given point.

Gramps even suggested finding a apartment or a hotel to go too if I needed it, and he was right I did cause that very fateful day I managed to complete ace my exams and move forward, but due to getting a score below their expectations.

When I got home I was scolded, I was hit with slaps and a pull too my hairs, they were abusive but to them it was more like discipline too my mental fortitude, so i don't forget what happens if I fail in any way shape or form..

You'd think I'd sit there and take it like all the other times, but no I stood up for myself, I used the defensive techniques gramps taught me while we had spare time.

I used it first and foremost on my father simply sending him flying behind me by the wall, over my shoulder, causing him to land hard on the ground, in the very moment I screamed at both my father and mother for treating me like they do.

I ended up going to a hotel for a while to clear my head and let this whole thing try and blow over, I'd get calls from my gramps though, he always checked in on me when I needed it, he made sure I got money too, managed to sneak in ¥100,000 in my account.

I was thankful and happy my grandfather was around at the time, cause who knows what would of happened if I was facing things like that alone.

But the following week I had to get back to my studies and go back to my college, I was gone for a while and I didn't want to have a bad rep now of all times, but during my absence I decided too do a little bit of practice with my wooden sword and martial arts, once again I felt at peace and more confident in myself, I've never been more prepared in my life.

Throughout my classes I've been mentally preparing myself too face my parents once more, getting ready for the scolding of my life if possible it would at least make me more open too what they have to say maybe they'll listen to what I'm feeling deep down.

I could only hope, but that hope would soon be demolished, I didn't understand it at the time but, when I look back on it I shouldn't have gotten involved I ended up risking something and lost completely and entirely.

There was a mugging in front of me 3 men surrounding one gas station employee, all of them looked liked your run of the mill thugs but when I looked closer they had marking and tattoos resembling that of the yakuza, when I say this scared me, my heart sank it felt like my heart kept going deeper and deeper as I stared on in a completely shocked manner.

This caught one of their attention, causing the same one to pull out a knife and walk towards me, if I'm being completely honest I stood there in fear and I was mentally conflicted on what actions I should take to make the situation less problematic for myself.

But before I could do any sort of action the man held the knife to my throat tapping the less sharpened end of the knife near the center of my neck.

He glared at me with killing intent, I felt this feeling before when sparring with my grandfather, the man right I front of me had the same glint of bloodlust in his eyes just like him.

But before I could make heads or tails of the impending knife to my throat, the man had to threaten me before hand to get the point across.

"Listen kid me and my friends over there don't wanna add anymore bodies too our list right now, so tell you what, how about you turn around face your head down to the ground & keep walkin' just pretend you never saw anything"

I somewhat felt an ease of stress fade away from my shoulders, all my instincts telling me to just do as he says and you'll make it home too see another day.

But this very same ease would be overshadowed with overwhelming guilt, the reason why the feeling of guilt started to settle, was because the moment I started to turn around I glanced over my shoulder to witness the fear and desperation in the victims eyes piercing my very soul

It was as if I can feel his pleads from inside my head yelling and screaming at me not too leave him behind, to help him, save him, this started to eat away at me all I could do was walk slowly as I began to leave, his eyes with fear, the tears that would fall down his face, the innocent blood that would be spilled.

It made me realize what I was doing, the guilt finally got to me I then did something stupid, I turned around while the men were distracted, and I rushed at least one of them preferably the man with the knife.

All I can remember is running up to him using a quick right hook too his jaw to cause a jolt of stimulus to his brain, causing him to fall over in overwhelming static like spasms.

Before I knew it I started to rush the second man, I luckily managed to land a quick punch to his nose causing some bleeding, but while he was groaning in pain I heard him drop some thing blunt and heavy, my heart started to race as I saw he was carrying a magnum.

I was luckily I hit him just in time, but he quickly regained his balance, but I decided to fist fight, I managed to get two quick punches on him again, but I was immediately close lined by the third yokuza man, he hit me with a glass bottle to my head, I thought this would knock me out.

But I was durable enough to withstand and stay conscious, but unfortunately they ganged up on me I managed to throw a few more punches and added some kicks to it, but without warning I felt a sharp pain to my stomach, a warm and cold feeling started to follow, then I realized I was stabbed.

My movements became sluggish and slow, giving them time to pummel me to near death, all I could feel was pain, scratches all over my body, blood dripping from my face and stomach, I felt like I was going through hell.

Though that would soon come to an end, the one yakuza member I knocked out got up and in an angry tone He yelled out one of the two men with him and told them.

"Augh, damn it all kill the bastard, the fucker wanted to be a hero well..he gets to die a hero"

All I heard next was the sound of footsteps near my face, and the sound of a click of a gun, soon later I heard the bang then everything went black, that's when I put it together , the cold feeling, the dark pitch blackness, the feeling of being unable too move.

Yup this is how many described it would feel like to me, death I'll admit I was more terrified than I thought I was, I wanted to cry but I couldn't, I wanted to shout but I couldn't, with all these thoughts clouding my mind, it was scary and I just felt like I was floating in nothing but nothingness.

But I soon learned to accept deaths embrace, as unlikely as that sounds I decided that maybe it was just my time to go, I mean I did do something idiotic, i just hope that man managed to make it out while I did my part.

Gramps always said, live a meaningful life, and die a fulfilling death, But I can't help but feel..disappointed...like I could've done more...I wanted to do more...and now I can't...I feel like I'm stuck in limbo.

Constantly on repeat, regretting not taking action and chasing after my dreams instead of trying to live up to peoples expectations....I wish I can just..be "Me"..if I could ever have a chance like that again...

I wouldn't waste it...not for the world...ever...

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......wha...

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...water....the sound of small...drips..

Echoing.....throughout...this empty..space....it's so dark....and feels so cold....

...Hard... it's....hard to breath...and...hard to..move..

..am I....even awake..?.....yes....I think...I..am..

The sound..of the droplets..rippling through the surrounding mass of water..is getting louder..from echos...

.........

..to..splashes...and..I even..see a bright light...as if..I can almost extend my hand out..and reach for it...

...........

But when I did....I was met with..a bright flash flowing all around me...and suddenly my hand was grabbed upon..and I was pulled towards the blinding light...until...

.............

........

.....

I was met with the eyes of a woman..she was wearing a maid outfit..it looked very old fashioned..her voice sounded muffled..and it would appear she was talking to someone..

That's when I was slowly meet with the eyes of another woman..her red vermilion eyes..made it obvious she wasn't no ordinary woman..no eyes color of that shade existed...and yet her gaze made me feel safe and comfortable...

I couldn't look away...instead an instinctive reaction came over me to reach out to her..as my vision became more clearer...my hand..it was small..smooth and very fragile...

The same hand you'd expect to see from an infant baby..and to my surprise I was the infant baby...I really couldn't tell you what was happening and going through my mind at the very moment..

But all I can remember was the mugging happening at the gas station..I got involved and that ended with my life being stolen...I was killed..and then nothing..so then..why am I a baby?...

I just want to know...what the hell is going on right now?!.....

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- E.N.D -