4th Star: Family Secrets

"I'm…Rutherfor," the girl answered, and held out her hand. "One of the Ten Officiants for the Patch Tribe, who are overseeing the Shaman King Tournament."

After Rutherfor helped me to my feet, I noticed Uran hovering midair with a small cut on his right cheek. Hoshi, meanwhile, lay motionless beneath him having reverted back to an ordinary paper star.

"What's going on?" I asked, rubbing my head.

"It looked like you passed out just as your Oversoul was attacking Uran," Rutherfor deduced. "Naturally, this caused the Oversoul to deteriorate but it managed to expand one of its arms at the last minute and cut Uran's cheek before fading altogether. Then Uran was about to step on the paper star, but I interfered."

"So you're the one who's making him float?" When Rutherfor nodded, I asked, "How?"

"With my Spirit Grey Saucer," Rutherfor explained, turning to an apparition of the gray alien I saw before. "In its Oversoul form, I can manipulate gravity."

"Really?"

She noticed my confused look. "I take it you weren't aware of being a Shaman until now."

"Shaman? Is that the same thing as an Onmyoji?"

"Onmyojis are a type of Shaman. They can call forth familiars known as Shikigami."

"Is that what Hoshi was?"

"If that's the name of your Oversoul, then yes," Rutherfor said as she glanced at Hoshi. "Just as Uran combined the spirit of his bear with the claws on his arms, you called a nature spirit that merged with the paper star."

"Oh," I realized. "That's what Uran meant when he said to combine a spirit with a physical object to form an Oversoul."

"Exactly," Rutherfor confirmed. "However, it takes a lot of energy out of a Shaman hence why you passed out."

"But that doesn't explain the memory I saw, of me as a little kid with Hoshi and that black thing—

Rutherfor glanced at me. "So you were capable of summoning Shikigami and creating an Oversoul when you were younger?"

"Maybe, but I don't remember really well."

"Hmm," Rutherfor frowned. "Well, in either case, I came on behalf of the Patch Tribe to apologize for the misunderstanding that took place here."

"Misunderstanding?"

"This man lied to you," Rutherfor stated bluntly, glaring at Uran. "He's only half-Patch, and failed to become an Officiant because of it. Yet he still came to Japan anyway, hoping to fool young Shamans like yourself into thinking he was one."

"She's the only person I've tested!" Uran claimed. "Give me some slack!"

"But you had no right to do that," Rutherfor argued. "She wasn't even on the list of potential candidates due to her lack of showing any Shamanic abilities."

"Yet as our battle showed, she is clearly capable of them," Uran counter-argued.

"I wouldn't call it a 'battle' so much as one-sided intimidation on your part." Rutherfor then turned away from Uran and back to me. "He stole our list of non-candidates by mistake, found your name and looked up everything about you without our permission. So I apologize for what happened, and we will do everything to fix the situation."

Then she transformed into the gray alien once more and floated away on a small UFO with Uran following behind. Once they had left, I picked up Hoshi from the ground, put him back in my breast-pocket, and walked home.

###

By the time I got back, my parents were banging vigorously on the door. Reluctantly, I opened it seeing their startled faces.

"We heard a noise, but didn't bother to check up until now," My father explained. "Is everything all right?"

Putting a hand on my breast-pocket, I said, "There's something I want to know, and it can't wait until tomorrow."

"Sure, sweetie," my mother agreed. "What is it?"

"Am I…a Shaman?"

While my father looked bewildered, my mother seemed distraught.

"So you did see something on the way home from school," she figured.

"If you're talking about ghosts, then yeah," I confirmed. "How come I've never been able to see them before?"

My mother turned to my father, who nodded, then she turned back to me. "Let's talk about it in the kitchen."

"Fine," I grumbled, following them down the hallway.

Once we got there, everyone sat around the table including myself.

"To begin with, my name isn't Reiko Rakugaki," my mother stated. "It's Reiko Asakura."

"Asakura?" Thinking back, I remembered the dark-haired boy with the headphones. "I think there's a kid at school with that name."

My mother contemplated this for a moment. "He must be from the Main Family, then."

"Main Family?"

"The Asakuras are made up of two branches," My mother explained. "There's the Main Family, which is currently run by Yohmei Asakura, and the Branch Family which is run by my father Kakuri Asakura. Together, our family has produced a strong line of powerful Japanese Shamans stemming from one ancestor named Hao Asakura."

"And who was he?"

"An Onmyoji, who served as a spiritual advisor to the emperor in ancient times with the ability to summon spirits called Shikigami to do his bidding. He could even summon Ogres from his mind that were terrible monsters with sharp teeth and carried massive clubs."

Once again, the image of that black star with teeth appeared in my mind and I flinched.

"Something wrong?" My father asked.

"No, I'm fine," I assured him.

Looking at me with concern, my mother cleared her throat and continued, "At some point, Hao Asakura went insane and thought that humans needed to be eliminated so Shamans could rule the earth and restore nature to its proper glory. While the Main Family banned together to stop him, the Branch Family chose to side with him. As a result, there was a bloody battle and only a few Branch Family members remained. Even to this day, our family is scarce. Though the Main Family has suffered its own casualties, and the Shaman population is dying out in general. But anyway, I was born into the Branch Family with the ability to see spirits and hear the voices of the Gods to foretell disasters."

To be continued…