For several weeks, Akari and Shunji continued searching for Naoki without success, until one day, Shunji arrived at her college before evening.
"Shunji? Why are you here so soon?" Akari said in surprise. They didn't usually meet before nightfall.
"I found a clue, but we need to leave now." Shunji said. Akari understood his hurry. Naoki was clever. If they arrived late, he would escape.
"Okay, wait here a moment." Akari ran toward her dormitory.
Suzume, who was there, looked at her hurriedly and asked.
"Why are you in such a hurry? Doesn't your boyfriend have the patience to wait for you?" Akari almost slipped when she heard that question.
"What are you talking about? He isn't my boyfriend. Don't say nonsense." Suzume, as always, didn't believe her and continued saying.
"Well, he isn't very handsome, but he is tall, and he looks kind. Hey, when are you going to introduce him to me? Are you going on a date? Why are you running, Akari? Say hello to him." Akari ignored Suzume and quickly left the dormitory.
When she saw Shunji, she felt he had a strange smile beneath his mask.
"What happened?" Shunji came to his senses and shook his head.
"It's nothing." Akari nodded and didn't think much of it. Akari forgot that the senses of a full demon were sharp, so Shunji could hear everything that Suzume said. However, that was a story for another moment.
Since it wasn't night yet, she couldn't ask Shunji to transform into a dragon, as there was more risk even with a barrier, so they decided to leave the city first.
The place where they had to go was a supposedly haunted house. When Akari and Shunji arrived, they felt something was wrong. Akari became alert and drew her sword. Their feelings were correct. It was a trap.
Different puppets suddenly came out of the house and attacked them. They weren't very strong, but there were many of them. Besides, every time they destroyed one, it released poison. Akari had to purify the poison so that it wouldn't affect them.
"Do you like it?" Akari heard Naoki's voice.
"We haven't finished yet." At that moment, something came through the walls of the house and emerged. It was barely formed—a chimera. With the body of a centipede and a human head.
"Am I beautiful?" That thing asked them. Akari and Shunji shuddered.
"I asked, am I beautiful?!!" A sudden scream sent them both flying, as it contained demonic energy.
That thing seemed to be in a frenzied state because it started to attack everything that was in its way.
Akari wiped the blood from her ears and shot at it.
"Ahh!" The chimera couldn't avoid it and screamed in anger.
It located Akari and threw stingers at her. Akari avoided them and continued shooting. While she was in charge of the chimera, Shunji was dealing with the puppets. In a moment, many of them surrounded him, and they clung to him no matter how much he destroyed them.
Under his feet, a curse was activated. His strength began to wane, and he panicked. Akari noticed something was wrong with him, and she had no option but to run toward him while she avoided the chimera.
She swung her sword at the chimera with great strength, making it crash into the house. Then she stood in front of the curse and plunged her sword into it. The curses and the puppets were purified, but Akari coughed up a mouthful of blood.
It had been a while since she had been pressured to such an extent. Naoki had prepared very well this time. Akari wiped the blood while she walked toward the chimera. It had disappeared.
"We will see each other again, human." Akari clenched her teeth. He was an asshole.
**
Akari looked at Shunji, who seemed embarrassed for having delayed her in the previous fight, and said.
"It's okay. It wasn't your fault. I underestimated Naoki's preparations." Shunji still seemed very depressed.
Truly, Akari didn't blame him. She knew he didn't have much experience in combat. It was normal for these things to happen. "It's better that you return to the mountain." Shunji's face immediately changed.
"Why? Is it because I'm useless?" Akari was surprised by his exaggerated reaction but quickly explained the real reason.
"No, Shunji, this trap wasn't created yesterday. It requires a lot of time to prepare. However, it has been just a few weeks since Naoki was discovered. It was almost impossible to prepare it on time. That's why I have been thinking that maybe you were the real objective from the beginning, not me.
Think about it. Naoki always desired full demon energy. Although he has been trying to acquire it through different methods. The maximum limit it can increase to is probably up to half a demon." Akari said it after careful consideration.
In the other world, Naraku had tried to become a full demon for many years, but no matter how much he increased his power, he couldn't change. He was only a half-demon. It was the same case for Naoki. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't change. He had only a part of demon blood inside him. Unless another Shikon Jewel appeared, it was almost impossible to change.
However, if Naoki could absorb a full demon, his strength would increase to such a point that it would be easy to overlook his innate weakness. Akari couldn't believe he wasn't tempted. Probably, he had had this idea in mind for a long time. Nevertheless, according to Shunji, he almost never left the mountain. He remained inside the barrier with a lot of people watching.
No matter how bold Naoki was, there's no way he would try to harm Shunji in a place where everyone with demon blood would defend him. That's no different than suicide.
"You are the only full demon. Don't you think he would take that opportunity to obtain your power?" Shunji listened to her analysis and recognized she was right.
Shunji had never cared about training because he was stronger than everyone. His demonic energy was enough to solve all the problems. The old demons who raised him taught how to control demon energy, but after all, they only had at most a fifth of demonic blood. There were many things they couldn't teach him. Besides, he hadn't had real opponents. There was no way he could use his full power in a simple fight against such weak demons. Therefore, it was inevitable that Shunji would grow up with gaps in his knowledge about how to properly handle his power in fights.
Before, there was no reason to become stronger either. But now, Shunji didn't have the intention of remaining passive and waiting hidden behind the barrier. He was a full demon after all. He was just as proud as any other full demon. Nonetheless, it wasn't usually noticeable because he lived in this peaceful era.
"Akari, I don't plan to hide from him. Also, if your theory is correct, he will search for me anyway. I know my weakness. That's why I want to ask you to train me." Akari raised a brow. She didn't expect that, but it wasn't a bad idea. No one would reject the help of a full demon as powerful as him. He had a lot of talent. He only needed more experience in combat.
"Okay, but I warn you, I'm not nice when it comes to training. I won't be easy with you." Akari said.
Shunji nodded. "Don't worry, I'm prepared." He had seen how cruel she was to herself when she was training. He didn't expect mercy. He wanted to be stronger, too. He didn't want to be a burden. He wanted to be able to fight alongside her, shoulder to shoulder.