The Face Of Wrath (3)

I turn to Sakura and find her sitting with her legs to the sides in the shape of a 'W.' It looks like she was sitting on her feet but lost the energy to support herself. Her face is pale, and a few tears run down her cheeks. I quickly grab Josh by the collar and throw him at the devastated girl.

"Sakura's sad." Hearing my words, Josh bursts into action and wraps his arms around the small girl. She responds by slowly raising her arms up and tightly gripping the back of his shirt.

"Inari, did she mean what she said? Is she going to kill us?"

"She's afraid of us. We represent a force capable of overpowering her and destroying everything she's meant to protect. That being said, if she was going to kill us, she would have done it already."

"But we didn't do anything."

"Think about it like this; what if you needed a lot of money to save your own life or the life of someone you care about? How far would you be willing to go to save them?"

"I don't know."

"Would you be willing to take another person's life if it meant saving someone you cared about?"

"I-I don't know."

"Black Monster Cores are worth a lot of money; would you take the life of a fairy to…."

"I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T KNOW!" Sakura starts screaming at me as her grip tightens on Josh's clothing. I can see tears pouring down her face.

"The fact that you didn't say 'no' immediately is exactly what Inari is afraid of. Do you understand?" Sakura nods slowly and buries her face in Josh's chest.

[I should give her a moment to recover.]

I walk over to the gym equipment and start my workout. The stone collection process is fairly exhausting, but I still have enough energy to crank out a few sets. I set up a bar on the ground with four large wooden plates on either side in preparation for the deadlift. Some quick math brings the weight to three hundred and one pounds. I stand behind the bar with my feet stretched a little over a shoulder's width apart. By widening your stance, you can take some of the pressure off your knees, but you do end up using several ancillary muscles, which makes the exercise less focused. This also applies to your form when you squat. I had back issues in my past life, so I tend to exaggerate the straightness of my back when I bend over to grab the bar. Over time, this has developed into a little ceremony. I put my arms out to either side and take a deep breath. As I exhale, I lower my arms while pulling in my shoulder blades. I push my shoulders down hard as my arms drop to my sides. Then, while taking slow, measured breaths, I push out my chest, tighten my abs, and flex my hamstrings and glutes. While keeping all these muscles tight, I bend my knees and reach for the bar. Once I've grabbed the bar in a vice grip, I pull it to tension and review my form in my mind.

[Back straight? Check. Shoulders down? Check. Chest out? Check. Glutes and hamstrings flexed? Check.]

Keeping up with the tension I've built, I release the hold on my breath and exhale through the lift. The bar rises steadily to just below my waist, and I lock my hips. I inhale on the way down, and once the weight is on the ground, I quickly run through my form again before starting the next repetition. Deadlifts require a lot of concentration due to how many muscle groups are involved, and each individual rep threatens to wear down your focus. I get out four reps before my form degrades, and I have to stop. It's very easy to hurt yourself while deadlifting if your form is off, so I make sure not to push myself too hard. I continue with a few more sets of each lift and then look back to the kids. Josh is back at it with the limestone while Sakura is wrapped around his left side. She still seems a bit distraught, so I leave them be. It has been a physically and emotionally draining session, so I lie on one of the benches and close my eyes. I fade in and out of consciousness for an indeterminate amount of time when suddenly, Josh rocks my arm.

"Nick. Wake up." I groggily sit up and look at Josh. It seems Sakura has vacated her position as a human-shaped tumor. I look around and see her doing a set of deadlifts.

"Did you finish making the weights?"

"Yes." He gestures at the pile of stone plates on the ground.

"Good job. Let's organize them and head outside to meditate with Inari."

"Okay." We make several small stacks of each plate size while waiting for Sakura. She stands up from her stance and adds the plates on her bar to the stacks.

"Are you feeling better?"

"I think so." Sakura looks at the ground in response to my question.

"Okay. Well, if there's something you want to talk about, I'm all ears." She nods her head but remains silent. I give her a few seconds to say anything else, but she doesn't take the opportunity, so I head upstairs. We all arrive at the fort, where Inari floats in the air with her eyes closed and legs crossed while wearing her distinct red armor. I'm starting to think it's her only set of clothing. The four wings sprouting from her back are listlessly flapping in the air to keep her afloat.

"We're ready for the meditation," I call out to her softly so as not to ruin the mood.

"I thought you were afraid of me."

"Sure I am. But we need your help."

"Very well, then I shall oblige you."

"Thanks!" I try to brush off the tension in the air with my overly positive tone. Inari opens her intensely red eyes and looks over us with a gentle smile.

"Sit around me in a circle." We follow her directions and have a relaxing meditation session. I notice that my mind is wandering less, but there is still a lot of noise. My tired muscles are stiff from the relaxing practice.

"Ow." I stand up and stretch.

"Do you want to go hunting still?" Inari asks.

"Of course. What about you two?" The kids nod, and we all look to the charismatic fairy leader.

"Then follow me." We do as we're told and quietly trudge through the dense vegetation. Today has been a bit stressful, and I think we all have a lot on our minds. About fifteen minutes later, we arrive at a seemingly unremarkable section of the forest.

"Here." Inari breaks the silence and gestures to a place in front of us. We all look forward and find two Punctastars.

"A couple of mean stars?" I tease Inari with my question. She tries not to react to my comment, but I can see a small frown forming on her lips.

"I could take out this small group easily, but I figured you would want the practice." Again, I allow her to deflect my comment with her response.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." I turn to the kids and explain my plan to them. "I killed a few yesterday, so why don't you each take one out."

"Okay." We summarily destroy the two Punctastars before heading back. Josh and I each affix a corpse to our backs.

"Woohee was very excited when describing how you fought against these creatures. Your strategy is well thought through." Inari conveniently dodges naming the creatures on our backs as she speaks.

"Thanks. They can't really fight back effectively, so it isn't particularly difficult, just time-consuming."

"I don't know about that. I just lost a fairy last week to the blades of these monsters. I think you're selling yourself short."

"Really? I'm sorry to hear that. Woohee didn't say anything to me about it."

"Fairies don't experience death the same way you humans do, so we tend not to talk about it very much."

"So that fairy didn't die?" I ask, clearly confused.

"She did, but it's different."

"What do you mean it's different? How can dying be different? You're either alive or dead."

"She's dead; I just absorbed her essence!" Inari raises her voice out of frustration.

"What?"