Chapter 2 - Yūrei

Soya opened his eyes slowly. His head was aching, and his vision was blurry. He looked around the room he was in. There were multiple cracks on the wall, and Ofuda was stuck everywhere on the walls. Then Soya tried to move, but he couldn't. He then looked down, and he saw that he was tied to a chair. "What the?!" He mumbled. Just then, he heard a creaking sound. Soya looked up and saw the door to the room opening, and someone walked through the door before closing it. "Ahhh, so you're awake," the person said as they walked up to Soya. Soya's eyes adjusted, and he could clearly see the figure. It was a tall man with black hair and black shades on. "Who are you?" Soya asked. The man's face went blank. "You don't remember me," he said as he tilted his head. Soya shook his head. "No," he replied. The man sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I have to tell you again," he said. Soya looked at Thean expectantly. "My name is Sora Senju," he replied. Soya then remembered the events that happened: "So you're the guy that kidnapped me!" He said. Sora's face went blank again. "I didn't kidnap you, okay? I saved you from being kidnapped," he said. "Sure, and that's why I'm tied up right now," he replied. Sora scratched the back of his head. "It wasn't my idea," he said. Soya tilted his head and said, "Then who was it? We're the only two people here," he said. "True, we're the only people in this room, but not in this place," he replied. "What do you mean by 'not in this place'?" Soya asked with a confused face. "I mean, we're not just in some dusty room in the middle of nowhere," he explained. Soya frowned. "I would show you, but you're tied up," Sora said. Soya sighed. "Why am I tied up then?" he asked. "Because you're a threat to the world," Sora said. "A threat! Me, a threat?" Soya exclaimed. Sora nodded. "Yeah, you're a threat—well,  not really you; your Yūrei are the actual threat," he said. "My what?" Soya asked. Sora looked confused. "Wait, do you not know what Yūrei are?" Sora asked. Soya shook his head. "No, wait, do you mean like a ghost?" He asked. Sora smiled and shook his head. "Yes and no."More like the souls of humans and animals that refuse to pass on to the afterlife," he said. "So, ghost," Soya said. Sora tapped his chin. "Yeah, ghost," he said. Soya nodded. "Tell me more about these spirits," he asked. Sora smirked. "Okay, so as I said before, Yūrei are the souls of humans and animals, and basically all living things, that don't pass on to the afterlife," he said. Soya frowned. "Wait, but why call them Yūrei? This just sounds like yōkai from folklore." Soya asked. "Well, technically they are the same thing, but there are differences. You see, Yūrei are not just souls of the dead, but a mixture of souls and soul energy," Sora replied. Soya frowned heavily. "What's soul energy?" Sora smiled. "I figured you asked that. Soul energy is the energy all living beings with souls produce through emotions," he explained. "Care to elaborate further?" Soya asked. Sora nodded and tapped his chin before answering, "You see, every living thing has a soul. And the soul is the thing responsible for creating soul energy. The soul converts its emotions into soul energy, and there are three types of soul energy. The first is neutral soul energy, the second is negative soul energy, and the third is positive soul energy. And if you're wondering how they work, it's pretty simple. Think of it like an AI; the AI is your soul, and the code is your emotions. If you feed the AI positive and correct information, you get a positive and correct answer. On the other hand, if you feed it negative and false information, you get an answer that isn't correct. But everyone can't feel one set of emotions; they feed their soul both negative and positive emotions. So it mixes the two to form neutral soul energy," he explained. "Okay, so Yūrei are souls that mix with either positive, negative, or neutral soul energy?" Soya asked. Sora smiled. "That's it," he said. "So you're saying I have a bunch of souls just acting as my bodyguards?" Soya shouted. Sora's face went blank. "No, that's your soul technique," he replied. Soya had a confused look on his face. "That's for another day," Sora said before Soya could ask anything. Sora then walked over to the back of Soya's chair and untied him. Soya frowned. "Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything to you; in fact, you're going to do something for me," Sora said. "And what is that?" Soya asked as he stretched his arms. "You're going to become an exorcist," Sora said. "What's that?" Soya asked. "An exorcist is a person who kills Yūrei—well,  the bad ones at least. I am an exorcist; for example, I kill and Yūrei, which allows the souls inside them to pass on to the afterlife," Sora explained. "And you want me to become an exorcist?" Soya asked. Sora nodded. "Yes, that way you can learn to control your soul energy and technique, and help people; maybe you could save people, something you weren't able to do in the past," he said. Soya thought for a bit: "And what if I don't want to become an exorcist? What if I don't want to help people?" he asked. "You can go on and live your 'normal' life with a bounty on your head. You already have one on your head; the people who control this world see your technique as a threat and won't hesitate to kill you. So you can return to that life, running away from the exorcists trying to kill you. Or you can join me and become an exorcist and help people; the bounty will be lifted, of course," Sora said as he stuck out his hand towards Soya. Soya thought about the offer; his life was meaningless, and this way at least he could help people. Soya grabbed Sora's hand. Sora pulled him out of the chair. "You made the right choice, Soya," he said. Soya smiled and said, "Hopefully I did. But what happens from here?" He asked curiously. Sora smirked. "You become an exorcist at a school built for people like you and me," he said.