Today was the day I beat Hiroki. Excitement welled up inside me as adrenaline pumped my body up. I paced back and forth on the training ground. He wasn't here yet so I just had to wait for a little while. "Do tell me how you're strategy is going to be," Renjiro called out. I turned my head towards him. He sat on the ground with a bottle of sake in front of him and a sake cup in his hand. "With your current physical abilities, you can match Hiroki." While that is true, That is until Hiroki used that technique that makes him stronger.
"I don't think I can match up to him if he uses that technique." Renjiro hums in agreement. "So I want to know how long that thing lasts." He pours sake into the cup and drank it.
"Right, that technique he uses will last him a minute." A minute huh, that's a pretty short amount of time.
"That seems pretty short to be useful." Renjiro chuckles.
"He can still overwhelm you in that amount of time." If I was stupid and attacked him head-on that is. I'll try to utilize my magic first and then attack. Thankfully I'm much faster than I was previously. And since there was no penalty if I used fireball. The time I can cast powerful fireballs is much quicker.
"I think I'll stick with my previous plan." I do have things like my earth magic, I can create a wall of stone. But that would expose my ability to do other types of magic. And I don't want that to happen. So I'll just hope for the best. "Status," I mutter. Hiroki was still a lot faster than me. So I had to make sure my agility was higher than his base agility. As I made sure Renjiro was drinking his sake. I tapped my agility stat thirty-four times, it put it up to one hundred. My fireballs and bolts were actually quite faster the more mana I placed in them. Now all I had to do was wait.
I didn't have to wait for long for Hiroki to appear. I waved at him as he approached. He glanced at Renjiro as he drank. "Uhh, what's going on here?" I smiled at him.
"We're going to have another duel." Hiroki gives me wry a smile.
"I apologize if I offend you Ai, but you know what will happen if we do fight again." Before I can say anything Renjiro beats me to it.
"Accept his request Hiroki." He stands up. "He has been training hard this past week and yesterday he has unlocked his ki." Hiroki opened his mouth. But Renjiro's words caused him to freeze. He turns to me with a shocked looked.
"How, how did you manage to do it in such a short amount of time." I only gave him a smug smile.
"As Renjiro said, I only 'trained hard'," I emphasized those two words. Hiroki wasn't at all focused on his training and I wanted to rub that in. Hiroki sighed.
"Fine, I'll humor you." Before we can walk towards the middle of the training grounds. Renjiro's voice stopped us.
"Before both of you go have this." He threw a sword at both of us.
"This is-" I hear Hiroki say.
"A real sword." I finish his sentence. I looked on in awe as I draw the sword from its sheathe. It was a standard katana, a little over one hundred centimeters long. Its blade gleamed under the sun and my face reflected on its blade. This was- "So cool." This was the first time I ever wielded a real sword before. I gave it a couple of practice swings before sheathing it back to its sheathe. I shake with excitement. Unfortunately, Hiroki wasn't as happy with Renjiro giving us real swords.
"Renjiro-Sama this is insane, If one of us slips up during our duel, one of us will die!" I looked at Hiroki who gave Renjiro an exasperated look. Renjiro meanwhile drank another cup of sake. He gave a sigh before he responded.
"I understand your concerns Hiroki, but as long as you don't lop each other's heads off then I'll be able to heal any of your wounds." Damn, how strong is his healing? Hiroki still refused.
"Still Renjiro-Sama, This is too dangerous." Renjiro didn't respond. Hiroki turns to me. "And you Ai-San are you okay with this?" I nod.
"Yes Hiroki, I know the risk." He shakes his head.
"Are you, You're risking your life Ai, what happens if you die, how will your parents react." I clench the handle of the sword. I hated it when people bring up my parents.
"Like I said Hiroki, I know the risk and I trust Renjiro to heal us if we are both severely injured." Yet, still, He refused. Looks like I'll have to do these the hard way. I drew my blade causing Hiroki to Tense. I drop the sheath and held the sword with both of my hands.
"Ai-San, don't do this, you'll gain nothing from this." My eyebrows twitched. Gain nothing from this my ass. I needed to get stronger, so I can explore Gensokyo. I wanted to leave this boring life behind as a normal kid and embrace the supernatural. With a deep breath, I charged at him. With my boost in agility, my speed was higher than him. His eyes widened as I swung my katana overhead. Hiroki barely managed to block my overhead strike. I kicked him in the chest which caused him to drop his own katana and then to his knees. I then leveled my sword to his head.
"We will do this Hiroki, none of us are going to die, Renjiro will heal us if we go too far." It seemed like he was still going to resist. I sigh in my mind, if he didn't want to do this, I'll have to respect his decision. Besides, it was assholish enough for me to attack him unprepared, it was quite uncalled for. A few seconds passed in silence before Hiroki finally responded.
"Fine." With a single word Hiroki struck. I sensed Hiroki's ki gush forward surrounding his body. As I blocked his slash. My arms struggled. I quickly backed off. Hiroki didn't follow as he took a stance. I took a deep breath, I wasn't going to use my magic. This was going to be a fair duel and not because I'm feeling like an asshole. Also because I had a bonus objective if I beat Hiroki without magic. We watched each other's movements. Hiroki deactivated his technique probably to conserve energy. "Are you not going to use your magic?" I shake my head.
"I Don't need to." He stayed silent. After a few minutes passed I got impatient and took the initiative. Hiroki blocked the slash from my sword. Then he decided to counter-attack me. I blocked it, we continued to take quick strikes against each other. Both of us tried to find an opportunity to deliver a deadly blow. After a while, Hiroki managed to parry my attack. As my sword slid down his. I prepared for a thrust towards my chest. Instead, Hiroki hesitated. I backed off. "What the heck Hiroki you could've won there." Silence, no response. I grit my teeth.
We continued fighting for who knows how long. Both of our bodies were covered in tiny cuts that barely did any damage to our enhanced bodies. Indeed the moment we got those cuts were healed in the span of a minute. Still, I realized something. I was outmatched, not by Hiroki's stats. But his sheer skill and experience. There were a dozen times where he could have easily incapacitated me. Yet he refused to follow through. It was frustrating, this fight would have been over quickly if he just stopped hesitating. We clash one more time and it ended in a stalemate. Both of us backed off. I lowered my katana. This was going nowhere. This duel was going to last forever if Hiroki kept doing this.
"I surrender." He lowers his sword but said nothing. I turned around and walked over towards the sheath of my sword. I picked up and sheathed the blade. And without a glance at Hiroki, I walked over towards Renjiro and sat beside him. He drank from his cup.
"Frustrated?" I turned to him with an annoyed look on my face.
"Can't you tell?" He hums. From the corner of my eye, I see Hiroki continue to practice.
"I can but it would be more polite if I asked you isn't it," I grumbled while he released a sigh. "You caught up to Hiroki quick, I am impressed."
"So, what of it." He chuckles.
"Patients, Ai-san." He drinks another round of his sake. "You have a great potential if you harnessed it correctly." I didn't respond. "With enough dedication, you'll be able to become the strongest human to date." I raise an eyebrow, that is a big claim. Though I'm privy to the fact that I would only be the strongest human.
"How are you sure, besides I can't imagine being the strongest human would mean jack compared to the strongest god or youkai." He chuckles and took a single glance at me.
"You are correct, the strongest human is incomparable to the strongest god or youkai." He says. I wonder who would even be the strongest of either of those races. "Still it is nice being strong isn't it?" He continues without me being able to respond. "Being powerful means being able to do what you want without the approval of others."
"Can you cut to the point?" I understood what he meant, but what was the point that he was trying to make.
"Alright alright, do you want to be strong?" I snort, of course, I wanted to be strong.
"Yeah, it would make my life easier." He chuckles, he then gazed on at the sky.
"Of course, of course." He repeats. "But, it could also make your life harder don't you know." I raise my eyebrows.
"How so." He hums.
"Imagine this, Compare yourself to the average human in terms of brute strength." Average human, I was already vastly superior to the average person long before I got my ki. "Silly right, but if you compare yourself to let's say..." He glances around the village. "My fellow clansmen-"
"I get it, I get it, I'm vastly weaker than anyone of your clansmen and I'm far stronger than the average human." I pause for a second. "So what are you trying to get at." Renjiro took a sip of his sake cup and placed it down.
"Well, you could have let me finished my sentence." He sighs. "Anyway, as you wished I'll explain this quickly..." He stared at Hiroki. "No matter how stronger you get from here on out, there will always be a bigger fish than you." He pauses to take a sip of his sake. "And the more you get stronger the more likely it is for them to notice you." Notice me, huh, I guess they'll try to do something. Something harmful probably judging by Renjiro's tone.
"What will they do, I can't imagine they'll just attack me just for existing." He chuckles and turns to me.
"Trust me on this when I say that I've met quite a few persons who are exactly like that." He shakes his head. "Anyway, most of those fellows are dead and the rest probably mellowed out." Another sip at the cup and he continues. "Most of the people you meet whenever human, youkai, or god they will be cautious." He sighs. "They will most likely try to find a way to exploit you for their own benefits." He gives me a stern look. "And if they decide that you are a threat then they will eliminate without mercy." He pours another round of sake in his cup. "So be cautious and try not to show off your powers unless you want to be detected, some of them are pretty good at sensing ki or spiritual energy." I nod.
"Understood." A thought came to my mind. "So do you know where they are located?" He gives me another stern look.
"If I say will you try to go there?" I shake my head. I wouldn't bother going since I know that is a very stupid decision after being warned by Renjiro and Sanae. "Good." We sat in silence for a few minutes. Renjiro drank his sake while I clutched the sword and its sheath.
"So," I mutter. "Can I keep this?" He raised his eyebrows then he chuckles.
"Sure, I was planning on giving you a custom-made one but if you're satisfied with that..." I nod. This piece of metallurgy was goon enough. I can customize this myself using magic. I slip the blade out of its sheath by a little. I furrowed my eyebrow. Now, how the heck am I supposed to carve the kanji into the sword. I sheath the blade and shrug. I'll think about it later. As I stared at the sword, I wonder what it was made of. I'm pretty sure normal steel would just shatter if Renjiro or anyone of his clansmen used this with all their strength.
"Uhh Renjiro-San, What is this Katana made out of?" The handle was the standard. Wood covered in ray skin along with rope made out of silk. And the blade looked liked ordinary steel to me.
"The materials used on your sword is special you see." He motions me to give him the sword. "The handle is specially made to be enhanced by ki." I handed him the sword and as he took it. His ki started to flow into the handle. "This increases the durability of the handle so as you grow stronger, your handle won't just break all the time." He then turns the katana at its side. "The blade meanwhile is a different story, It is made by transmuting ki into metal." I gave Renjiro a puzzled look. Turn ki into metal.
"How does that work." Renjiro sighs and sheathes the blade.
"Later, that technique is... a bit advance for you to learn in the near future." He hands me back my new sword. "Anyway, the metal of that blade is far more durable than any other, so you don't have to worry about it being breaking." He takes his bottle of sake and pours another drink. "It will also never dull as long as your not trying to cut an oni in half." I raised an eyebrow at the weird analogy.
"Are oni's that tough?" He scoffs and drunk the sake in his cup.
"Hmph, I had better blades than the one you are holding onto now, Once I had sliced through an oni's flesh but my blade broke in two once it reached the bone." He takes another drink. "Had to resort to using my fist." He smiles and looks as if he was remembering fond memories.
"And did you win?" He let out a laugh and poured more into his cup.
"No, but I did end up with a draw and a drinking buddy." That was unexpected, I eyed the bottle of sake he was holding.
"So what was this oni's name." He peers into the with a melancholic smile.
"Her name was Yuugi Hushiguma." So the oni was a female huh, that was surprising. "We first met a little over a thousand years ago." A little over a thousand years ago... That's a really long time, to put it mildly.
"How old were you when you met her?" I can't imagine him being young when he fought an oni right. Oni from what I've read was one of the stronger youkai.
"Ahh, I forgot." He says with a sheepish smile. "I don't even remember at which year I was born but I was born during the end of the Nara period from what I can remember at least." I think for a bit. That's at least one thousand two hundred years old. That's... far beyond a human's lifespan.
"You're at least a thousand plus two hundred years old," I say to him. "So you're probably around your early two hundred when you met that oni." He gives me a nod.
"Thank you, It's been so long it's hard to recall." He pats his chest and lets out a chuckle. "I reckon my body is starting to grow too old." I frowned. Too old, he still looks like in his early thirties.
"You don't look old at all." He chuckles and looks at me in the eye.
"I'm way past my prime Ai-San." He clenches and unclenches his hand. "It's been centuries since I've ever seriously trained." He sighs. "if I wanted to I can put continue into my training and continue to extend my lifespan for many more millennia." A brief silence took place. Till I of course broke the silence.
"So why don't you?" He gives me a melancholic smile.
"Ahh, you could say that I accept my death." He stares at the ground. "I've lived for a very long time Aki I guess there's nothing else for me to do in life." He takes a sip. "Besides my friends here are getting old and they too accepted their impending deaths." He downs the rest of the sake. "And I'll probably the last one to live." Another silence fills the air. It was suffocating, my heart was heavy and I can feel my breath hitch in my throat. Then I hear a silent pfft. Then a quiet chuckle. It grew louder till it was a full-blown laugh. I looked at Renjiro as he was laughing his lungs out. "Did my little sob story get you there Ai-San?" My cheeks burned.
"You- you... that's not funny!" He continues to laugh for a few more seconds. I notice that a couple of his clansmen along with Hiroki were watching Renjiro and me. I feel my blush burn even hotter.
"Sorry about that, you youngins are so easy to tease." He shakes his head. "Ahh, but I wasn't lying you know all that I said was true." I calmed down.
"So are you not sad at all..." He gives me a snort.
"Kid, I already accepted that I'm going to die." He tries to pour another round of sake but the sake bottle was now officially empty. He grumbles before placing the bottle back on the ground. "And besides, once I'm the last in this village I'll just kill myself." I wince that's still much.
"What about you're descendants, wouldn't they still give you enough of a reason to live." He sighs.
"Kid, most of those who are aware of this village that isn't permanent residents here are already part of modern society." I crinkle my nose as the breath of alcohol floods my nose. "They've got a normal wife or husband, made a child who isn't aware of their parent's supernatural side." I wonder about that, why don't they introduce them to Ki or at least let them know that the supernatural was real.
"So why didn't they let their kids know." He shrugs.
"They wanted to cut ties with us." He sighs. "It's not an enforced rule but almost everyone does it." He turns his head to Hiroki. "Hiroki is obviously the only kid who knows." I nod as we watched Hiroki practice. I still wished Hiroki could just have finished the fight. I mean, why was he so afraid of me dying. Well... I could die but Renjiro wouldn't let that happen. I sigh drawing Renjiro's attention.
"So... do you know why Hiroki's so hesitant on doing lethal attacks during our duel." He turns his head towards me. "He's afraid of accidentally killing me but I find it strange he doesn't trust your ability to save either one of us." He shrugs.
"I don't know." He said. I raise my eyebrows out of surprise. "While I did help train Hiroki, I do not know much about his personal life." I nod and looked towards Hiroki. He's always holding back during our first spar and to his club mates, it's for obvious reasons of course. Maybe that's it, he's not used to fighting someone he can fatally kill. I glanced at Renjiro. So perhaps he has reason to not believe in Renjiro's ability. I snap out of my thoughts by Renjiro. "Ai-San, if you wish to know why he is like that, you can simply talk to him."
"Huh..." Was my initial response. "But I uh..." He hummed. The suggestion was sudden, while I could do that. I didn't want to since we were just fresh from the argument mere minutes ago. It would seem much to pry on personal matters after our standoff. "It's a bit much to just talk about that when we just had our conflict."
"I get what you're saying, but Hiroki from what I've observed is a kind kid." He pauses for a second. "He's humble, nice, and he's a bit of a pacifist, Trust me when I say this that he wouldn't mind."
"But-." He cuts me off.
"It's better if you confront your two's difference right now." I shut my mouth. I guess I'll do what he says. It was uncomfortable, I looked over to Hiroki. He had a neutral look on his face as he practiced. I sigh and stood up. I give Renjiro a look.
"If this backfires I'm blaming you." He shrugs. I shake my head and moved towards Hiroki. As I moved closer to him. I felt my heart start to beat faster. He hasn't noticed me yet but as I took another step towards him. He turns to face me. With a look of surprise, he almost drops his sword. I awkwardly greeted him. "Uhh hey." He recomposes himself.
"Yes, what is it." I wince at his neutral tone. Alright whatever, all I need to do was ask him for a talk.
"Uhh, can we talk," I say while glancing at Renjiro? He had his eyes closed for some reason. As I turned my head back to Hiroki, he stood still. After a few more seconds he answered.
"Sure." I nod and gestured him towards one of the mountainsides at the perimeter of the village. Once we got there we sat down. We were both silent. I was unsure of what to say.
"Soo, uhh I just want to apologize for coercing you to duel with me." He raises his eyebrow then he shook his head.
"You don't need to apologize." I wanted to say more things but I already know it would be futile.
"I expected you would say that." He didn't respond, though he did shuffle a bit. "So what's with the aversion on fatally wounding me." He sighs.
"I'm pretty sure any normal person would like to avoid hurting someone, especially if it's fatal." He gives me a look. I raise my shoulders and drop them. He sighs. "You're brave you know that, I have never met another kid like you who would be willing to take the chance to be killed just so he can have a serious spar." I let out a sheepish laugh.
"Well, I'm pretty sure we're both extraordinary kids." He shakes his head.
"Even then I wouldn't risk my life just so I can..." I looked at him as he paused. "Why did you even challenge me in the first place." So I can gain the experience and the stat boost from beating you along with completing the quest. I thought in my mind. Of course, I couldn't say that. But what reason could I say instead of that? I could say that I wanted to finally end my losing streak. But that was too petty for me.
"Because you're the only one who I can challenge." I point my finger towards the village. "All the villagers there can kick my ass a hundred times over."
"So you wanted to test yourself and to check your growth." I nod even if his conclusion was wrong. "I understand why you would want to do that, but it mystifies me why you're like this." I raise my eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" He looks at me in the eye.
"What drives you to train every day, to push your body beyond its limits." He shakes his head. "It astounds me for a kid like you to have such a drive to grow." He purses his lips. "So can you tell me the reason for what drives you?" I raise my head to the skies. I could deflect his question. But, it's odd this conversation. I could have never imagined I would be having this conversation. It was sorta nice actually. I could never tell my parents about this stuff. Sanae I could probably talk about these things.
"So I can be strong, you see there's this place where I want to go to but it's filled with dangers." I was obviously indicating Gensokyo though Hiroki didn't know that. "If I was strong then I can explore that place." I turn to Hiroki who had his eyebrows furrowed.
"I-I see then." He says. "Are your parents normal people or are they part of the supernatural." I raise my eyebrow at the question. Wait a minute I should be the one asking the personal questions here.
"No, they're normal people." I think for a bit for the next sentence. "My father is an engineer while my mother is a housewife, they don't know the supernatural exists." He nods.
"So, if you leave for the place you're going to, are you still going to keep in contact with your parents." Going to Gensokyo was a one-way trip probably. I could get Reimu to maybe transport me back but I don't think she does that all willy nilly. So I'm pretty sure I'm stuck at Gensokyo for who knows how many years. By then they'll probably think I'm dead.
"No," I'm not even sure how I'll be able to get back to Gensokyo. I could go to the run-down shrine but I'm not sure how that would lead me back into Gensokyo. Besides, it was in a different dimension. Now that I think about it maybe if grow strong enough I could cast a spell that would teleport me there. My thoughts were broken by Hiroki.
"So you're just going to disappear without a trace." I nod. I know it would break my parent's heart but there was no other way.
"I can't just tell them where I'm going you know, They'll try to stop me." Hiroki was about to speak but hesitated.
"I... I understand." He shakes his head. "But I still don't know why you want to go that place you're talking about." He fiddles around with the handle of his sword. "I want to know why you want to leave the normal world." I raise my head. The reason I want to leave this world huh. I think for a bit about my answer.
"I... wanted to have an adventure," I speak out. "You know like in those storybooks and novels." Hiroki nodded without a trace of laughter. "I always enjoyed discovering new things and I guess..." I raise my hand and a tiny fire appeared on the tip of my finger. "Exploring the supernatural side of the world was my want and me training my ki and magic was just a way for me to stay safe." Once I was finished I turn to look at Hiroki. He had his eyes closed a neutral expression on his face.
"I see..." He simply says. Then he smiles and opens his eyes. "I can understand how you feel, I also want to experience an adventure but." He pauses. "I wouldn't leave my parents behind." He gives me a sheepish smile. "It's also because my father would never allow me to go on such dangerous activities and he would personally drag me back home." I nod, right his father was part of the clan along with his mother. "By the way, I'm curious about how you control your magic." I raise my eyebrow at his sudden question.
"I simply use my mind to control my mana." I demonstrate by forming an orb of mana. Hiroki shifted a little to look at it more closely.
"Can I-" I cut him off but I already knew what he was going to say.
"I don't mind." Just like with Sanae when I first saw a mana orb, Hiroki poked it. He furrows his eyebrows as soon as he touched the orb.
"Strange it is solid yet it looks like it's made of light." He then cups the orb with both of his hands. "It's also warm, I assume that's because you specialize in fire magic?" I shrug. Probably but I wasn't sure on the exact cause. No wait, it's probably because of fire affinity.
"Maybe... so is there anything else you would like to ask about my magic." He nods and lets go of the orb of mana.
"Yes, I am curious about how you turn that orb of magic into fire." He continues on. "From what I've seen from our duels your mana instantly turns into fire correct." I nod.
"You're right I always turn my mana into fire straight away, Also I can't instantly turn all of my mana into fire." He raises his eyebrows but stays silent. "I could only transform so much of my mana into fire, It would take me around ninety seconds to do so at max capacity." I gave him a smirk. "If you let me do that I guarantee you'll be turned into a charred corpse if all that fire hits you." He shakes his head and gives me a wry smile.
"Good thing I know I guess." I reabsorbed the orb of mana into my body. Hiroki watched but he didn't bother to ask. I stood up which made Hiroki react by standing up as well.
"Anyway I still need to train my magic, can't waste precious time after all." He nods and we both walk towards the center of the training field. As I walked over, Renjiro was still at the same spot. He apparently grabbed another sake bottle and was busy emptying it into his cup. He noticed us walking together and gave me a nod. I nod back at him. I was originally going to talk about why Hiroki was so against using lethal attacks on the duel. But we got sidetracked. Anyway, it's not like it's that important, Perhaps on another day, I could simply ask him.