Recall Phase

The verse of the birds from the outside filled the silence inside the hut during the early hours of the morning, with the sun shone on Enatsu's face, still sleeping blissfully.

"Holy bitch... it was just a nightmare!" Yoichi whispered, touching his throat and chest, and realizing that the flames that were engulfing him a few seconds earlier were not real.

"Screek?"

"Hey, good morning, bud! I'm sorry I woke you up, but I had a bad dream..." he said, talking to the little Nekage, who, still crouching beside him, had just opened its eyes.

"To be honest... it's not the only one that was awoken… yawn!" Enatsu exclaimed, stretching himself and pointing his eyes towards the window, glad that the violent storm of the day before was over. "Rather... you started to say some weird words a few moments ago and you seemed very agitated. Is everything okay?" the young merchant asked, sitting on the ground and looking at Sora, who had just opened his eyes.

"I had a very strange nightmare... this house was on fire and I couldn't move. Then, just during the last moments, I heard a voice," Yoichi replied, wiping sweat from his forehead and resting his feet on the ground, sitting on the bed. "It was as if someone was whispering in my ear."

"Really? Wow, it must have been intense. And what did he tell you?"

"All he did was repeating the same word all the time, a word I had never heard before", Yoichi continued, omitting from the story the part in which he had seen the bloody writing appear on the ceiling.

"Um... that is?" Enatsu asked curious, with a little shrug.

"Ildriss."

*sshh*SSHWOM!*

As Yoichi uttered that unknown word, the blankets of his bed began to rise and twirl, moving like the waves of a stormy sea: a stream of air that appeared out of nowhere wrapped the bed and spread throughout the room, causing the coffee table to capsize and the weak fire of the fireplace, which remained lit all night, blew out.

Both Enatsu and Yoichi covered their faces with their arms and, during those seconds of chaos, the homeowner quickly rose from the bed frightened. Suddenly, the air current raised from the bed turned deep red and, as if it was the tip of a spear, violently pierced Yoichi's chest, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Yoichi! Yoichi, are you all right?! What happened?!" Enatsu exclaimed, quickly getting up and approaching his young friend, lifting his neck with one hand.

"Aaargh... my... my chest... my chest is burning..." Yoichi answered, raising the white linen tank top he had worn to sleep and looking at his chest to make sure it did not report any kind of wound.

"Here... there's nothing here, Yoichi... looks like you're okay. I saw that strange red air current hitting you too! You had a nice bump! Ahaha!" Enatsu chuckled, trying to take the edge off.

"The Nekage... where's my Nekage? Is it okay? Is it hurt?" Yoichi asked, standing up in a hurry and gritting his teeth for the loud burning he felt in his chest.

The thatched bed had been deprived of the blankets that enveloped it and some pieces of its straw had flown away, dispersing in the corners of the room. On it, there was no trace of the Nekage.

"It's not here... where did it end up?" Enatsu asked, who, after helping his friend to get back on his feet, began searching the area looking for the reptile demon.

At that exact moment, Yoichi touched his chest, standing still, staring into space for a few seconds in absolute silence.

"Did you... did you happen to see if it dodged the blow? Maybe it took shelter in some corner of the house to... Yoichi, are you all right?" the merchant repeated, noting that his friend was standing in the middle of the room.

"Its name... what I have pronounced is the real name of my Nekage! It told me during the dream! Ahaha!" Yoichi exclaimed, opening his eyes wide and moving both hands over his head to rub his hair. "The voice I heard... it was its voice!"

Enatsu's confused expression after those words fully expressed what he was thinking. The young merchant continued to look around and, after the last checks, he asked "what did you say? Are you talking about the demon's whisper?!"

"Yes, that's right! Now I know the name of my Oracle and I can finally tame other demons! Wohooo!" Yoichi jumped from joy, punching the air and trying to share his emotion with his comrade, confused more than before.

"But... but all this is impossible! You can only hear the Demon's whisper at a specific moment, all the more so if it's your Oracle's! I... I think you just remembered it, Yoichi, otherwise all my certainties would go up in smoke", Enatsu replied, while Sora perched on his shoulder.

"What does it matter if it was told me or I remembered it? What matters is that now my Oracle has been called back inside my body and.. ouch!" Yoichi gulped, interrupting his speech and touching the center of his chest, feeling a sudden burning. "Should it hurt?"

"What are you talking about? Do you mean... keeping your Oracle inside your body? Of course not!" Enatsu promptly replied, touching his chin and trying to explain that strange phenomenon.

"Well, then I think there's something wrong... I feel a strong burning coming right from here, in the center of my chest", he replied, straightening his back a little at a time.

"Maybe my new body has never held back the soul of its Oracle and I feel pain because I just have to get used to it... yes, I think that's the right answer," Yoichi thought, stretching his arms and neck and approaching the bed again.

"I don't really know what to tell you, my friend. Nekage are common demons, we should ask other Tamers if any of them have ever had this kind of problem! When Sora enters my body, I feel an incredibly pleasant feeling, as if I was under the action of a warm spring breeze" Enatsu rejoiced, looking with affectionate eyes at Sora, who responded with a "tweeet!"