Kouji was in the bathroom.
"What was that?"
Kouji's eyes widen as he turns his head toward the footsteps.
"Oh, you're awake," Yumi said, whilst entering the room, "I made breakfast."
"Is something wrong?" she added.
"No it's fine, I just had a bad dream," Kouji replied.
He quickly sat up and clutched his chest.
His heartbeat thundered against his ribs.
Cold asphalt, a mask with a beak. The crushing weight of something he couldn't name.
Trembling, he swung his legs off the bed.
Time blurred.
The man with the scar explained to them how to use Koukai like people used to.
Everything seemed familiar to Kouji, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
He spent the next few days training, pushing himself harder than before.
Something deep inside warned him.
Three days later he was back at the entrance to the city.
The same breeze, the same smell of fried food wafting through the air.
And yet—
A cold shiver ran down his spine.
He slowed his pace, all his senses screaming.
His eyes darted across the street.
He walks towards the forest, to get a new stick.
A hand rested on his shoulder.
Darkness.
Then—
A ceiling.
"What?," Kouji said.
"I said, I made breakfast," Yumi said.
"Is something wrong?" She added.
"Sorry, I just had a bad dream," Kouji replied.
Trembling, he swung his legs off the bed.
Time blurred.
The man with the scar explained to them how to use Koukai like people used to.
Everything seemed familiar to Kouji, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
He spent the next few days training, pushing himself harder than before.
Something deep inside warned him.
Three days later he was back at the entrance to the city.
The same breeze, the same smell of fried food wafting through the air.
And yet—
A cold shiver ran down his spine.
He slowed his pace, all his senses screaming. His gaze darted across the street.
Almost as if he was waiting for someone.
He walks towards the forest, to get a new stick.
A hand rested on his shoulder.
Darkness.
Then—
A ceiling.
Kouji felt like he was stuck in a bad dream.
Over and over.
He didn't remember what he was dreaming about, but it felt like he was in hell.
The day went on, the man explained, trained, three days passed, and then when he went to buy a new training sword, he did not go into the forest.
He didn't know why, but he felt it was a bad idea.
[From behind]
He turned around.
And his instincts proved him right.
Idoku.
The plague mask glittered in the sunlight as the man tilted his head.
The lenses of his eyes were fixed on Kouji like a hawk.
"Oh," Idoku said softly. "You noticed me?"
"You must have a pretty good aura-sense."
Then he blurred.
Kouji barely ducked.
The hiss of melting stone filled the air where he had stood.
Idoku's acid sword had cut through the ground and the cobblestones dissolved into bubbling mush.
"Aren't you this Kouji guy?"
Idoku lunged again.
Kouji dodged to the side, then pivoted low and lunged forward with his foot.
His kick struck Idoku in the ribs.
The man didn't even grunt, but merely slid back an inch, his coat flapping.
Kouji got goosebumps.
His instincts told him something was wrong and he trusted them.
He grabbed a wildflower from a pot on the side of the road and tossed it gently.
The flower hit the ground just before Idoku—
—And when Idoku's boot touched it, it instantly shrank and crumbled into gray dust.
Kouji's heartbeat stopped for a second. "Is he absorbing life energy?" he thought.
A spark interrupted his thoughts.
Idoku's sword struck again, a flare of translucent green acid that hissed where it passed.
Kouji jumped to the side and rolled, the smell of burnt stone in his nose.
"Think. Think."
He tried to use his blessing to analyze Idoku's movement.
But none of that mattered if he couldn't even touch him without dying.
"If I just had my Curse, then I could form something with more range," he thought.
Kouji gritted his teeth, grabbed a handful of pebbles from the ground, and reinforced them with his aura.
"Fuck it…"
He flung them.
They shot like bullets and glowed faintly.
Idoku stepped aside lazily, but when one brushed against his coat, it hit him.
Idoku paused mid-step. "Oh?"
The fight kept going like this for a while.
Kouji darted around, throwing anything he could and enhancing it.
Idoku's aura was intimidating, like death itself walked towards you.
He strode forward, making the ground pale with every step.
The weeds between the cobble lost their color, just being near him.
Kouji's lungs burned. One wrong step and he would die.
He threw another aura-enhanced pebble, but the pressure was too much—
—and he misstepped.
Idoku reacted immediately, his hand shooting out like a snake.
His grip tightened around Kouji's arm. The skin beneath his glove felt like burning.
Kouji gasped—
And then a bang ripped through the air.
A bullet.
No, a beam out of blood.
It slammed into Idoku's shoulder.
Idoku staggered back, carving a hole through his own shoulder on instinct, blood covering the floor, before he used his blessing to close the wound.
"Good reaction time! My blood would have imploded inside you."
"Blood Manipulation…," Idoku muttered, as he looked to the right and saw him.
"Blood Manipulation?" Kouji said while stepping back.
Standing on a nearby rock, "Kouji, get back.".
"I'll handle this."