The presence of the demon hunter caused the demon to rapidly retreat, leaving a trail of cold air behind it. Kenji stood motionless, his body ready for a fight, but his mind processing rapidly.
Should he approach this man? Kenji wondered. What could he learn from a real demon hunter? If he truly decided to step into this world, would he have to abandon the "normal" life his parents had built for him?
However, a sudden warning—"Don't come any closer!"—made Kenji sprint away from the scene and rush back home.
After witnessing the demon hunter chase away the Snow Demon, the 15-year-old Kenji realized his own strength was insufficient. To survive in this world, he needed weapons and equipment.
The immediate task was acquiring a weapon, and for that, he needed money. With this realization, Kenji began searching for after-school part-time jobs. The first jobs he found were delivering newspapers in the early morning and assisting at a convenience store in the evening. These were legal and harmless jobs for an ordinary boy, but for Kenji, every second was training.
Newspaper Delivery: This became his training for speed running and dodging in dark alleyways. He used the opportunity to scout "dangerous" areas and sharpen his senses.
After working part-time for a while, Kenji had enough money to buy a Katana. He went to an antique shop run by a former demon hunter. Kenji entered the dark shop, filled with the scent of old incense. He chose the most ordinary-looking, but best-balanced sword. As he was about to pay, he heard the shop owner call out.
"Young man..." The owner, an old man with scars on his face, looked at Kenji with a slight scoff in his eyes. "That handsome face of yours shouldn't be handling dangerous things like this."
"I know what I'm doing," Kenji replied, politely but firmly.
First Blood and a Newfound Power
When Kenji returned home, he carefully hid the sword in a cloth sheath beneath a loose floorboard. He began intensive sword training in the small woods behind his house at night. The whistling sound of the blade cutting through the air became the soundtrack to his own determination. Kenji continued this relentless practice until he was almost 17 years old (in 1995).
One frigid night, while Kenji was on his late-night newspaper route, he heard a distant scream. He immediately ran toward the source and was met with a chilling sight: a large Fish Demon crawling on the wet road, actively devouring a person.
Kenji knew he should flee and call the public Demon Hunters' Unit, but he made a decision! He ran back to his house, grabbed his hidden sword, and rushed back to the scene in less than two minutes.
When he returned, the Fish Demon was biting into its final victim. Kenji gripped his sword tight. Using the speed he had trained for years, he dashed to the side and swung his concealed Katana.
Chop! (Sound of the sword cutting)
The razor-sharp edge sliced into the demon's thick dorsal fin, but the result was only a shallow wound. The Fish Demon roared in pain and spun its head full of sharp teeth toward Kenji.
Caw!
The demon's sharp claws slashed Kenji's arm. The searing pain pushed his consciousness to its limit. Suddenly, Kenji's clear, diamond-like blue eyes, which had remained unchanged for years, dramatically enhanced his visual acuity far beyond that of a normal person.
The image of fighting the Fish Demon was replaced with insane clarity and detail. Kenji still saw the Fish Demon in its normal form, but his eyes could now process information on a superhuman level.
He looked at the Fish Demon and could distinguish the separation of muscle fibers and the tensing of tendons that dictated its next movement. What confirmed this was a supernatural sight was that Kenji could perceive the next muscular movement of the demon so quickly that it was as if time around the demon slowed down slightly. This allowed him to precisely predict the attack trajectory and find an opening.
Kenji used this new ability to effortlessly dodge the demon's claws and teeth. He pinpointed the newly visible weak spot and lunged forward, thrusting the sword with all his might into the central, heart-like organ in the demon's neck!
Chop! Thud!
The Katana pierced the internal structure. The Fish Demon shrieked in agony and began to seize up.
Before Kenji could pull back the sword and deliver the final blow, a continuous stream of gunfire erupted, riddling the already wounded Fish Demon's body with holes.
"You idiot kid! You almost had it!"
An Invitation
The demon hunter, Kuroha, appeared, quickly emptying his gun into the Fish Demon. Stepping up to the demon's carcass, he used a dagger to stab precisely into the spot Kenji had targeted, completely immobilizing the Fish Demon.
The huge corpse of the Fish Demon lay there, surrounded by silence and the stench of decay.
Kuroha: "How did you do that... You saw it, didn't you?" Kuroha asked in a coarse voice. "Your thrust was too accurate. That spot you stabbed is the demon's heart! How would an ordinary person know that spot without dissecting it? Your eyes are strange." Kuroha didn't know the origin of this ability, only that Kenji's stabbing accuracy was abnormal.
Kenji wiped the blood from his arm and slowly sheathed his sword. He decided to conceal the crucial details of his ability.
Kenji: "My name is Kenji Hayakawa," Kenji replied with a slight bow. "I just... I was able to see it. I saw... its internal structure."
Kuroha: (He chuckles) Hahaha.
Kuroha: "You have the eyes every demon hunter envies... If you want to survive on a real battlefield... come find me. I'll recommend you to the Public Safety Unit."