'Thoughts'
"Talking"
Spells/Other's thoughts/Skills
[Captions]
{Korin's Voice}
Inner Voice
Chapter 25 The Senmeten
In the black night, the streets now near empty with almost no sign of human activity anywhere. Well, except for a lone person, a late student of Nami Middle who has just finished his cram school. As he walked along the small street to a T-junction, he saw something astonishing; a white haired girl with some black streaks of hair just on her right of her head.
She was wearing a black sailor female uniform with red scarf, on her is a green haori with a hood. As she turned her head to face him, her sharp red eyes glared at the student, who just thought she was a real beauty and wondering which school she attended.
The next moment, a small car drove passed him, blocking her figure from him. As the vehicle left, the girl was gone.
A ton of unanswered questions were asked that night.
The next morning, at homeroom, the student just told everyone that incident, and it blows out right in the entire campus with each of their own variety to the actually incident. This too made its way to Tsunahime's class as well, to the ears of Kurokawa Hana. "Hey, have you heard of the rumour?" She asked her friend, as well as the people that happened to be there.
"What rumour?" Tsuna asked, Korin too was interested as he was sure he has taken notes on every rumour about ghosts, ghouls, etc there is in the entire school.
"Well, it was quite new, and it goes like this." Hana explained, "Last night, you know Mochida? That womanizer? He saw the most gorgeous woman there in the streets, before he even have the chance to ask her out, she vanished."
"A gorgeous woman late at night…? That's it?" Korin asked disappointed, "Sure it is weird and all, but it is not that interesting. There are plenty of pretty woman in the world."
"…when did you become so cooperative?" Hana wonders, "Weren't you the type that ignores every little detail?"
"Rumours can hurt, especially if it is about a certain person." He stated, indirectly talking about Tsuna's little Dame-Tsuna reputation that sky rocketed from the stupid rumours and came out, 'Especially those ghosts rumours… If I haven't went and exorcist them, it would be much worst now. Must be from Hibari's stupid law enforcement methods…'
"But this rumour is a little different." Hana stated with a smile, "For starters, that girl too was seen by various people for the past week and at various locations around the town. And all of the sightings are at night, and they all disappeared the same way."
"Could it be a ghost?" Yamamoto asked.
"It's possible."
Korin wrote down the details on a small piece of paper he had before keeping it in his bag. He looked over at the door, and Kasumi again is there looking at him suspiciously, and again she left immediately she notices his glare on her. 'This is getting overrated…'
Over the past week, Kasumi has been peeking into the classroom during homeroom or lunch. The girl even took to stalking him when he went to the bathroom, something that he finds really annoying.
When the school ended, Korin was left alone for once. Gokudera has to restock his dynamites and went to find his supplier; Yamamoto got club activities along with the up-coming autumn tournament coming up soon while Tsunahime was dragged off by Reborn for some tor- I mean training in the mountains.
He can already picture her ending up being in the worst and probably deadliest situation imaginable.
"Hm… I probably go see the sports shop or something…" Korin muttered as he left the school building and walking towards the gate. There, he then saw Kasumi standing by the entrance. When she saw him, she flinch a little before steadied herself, "Is there something I can do for you, Amaya Kasumi?"
"W-Well, Nerio-niisan wants you at our house today." She stated, she slowly moving back from him in obvious fear.
"Your house…?" Korin wonders, before getting a feeling if this doesn't go right, it will blow right up in both their faces. Kasumi then realizing the threat to both their roles in society, "Don't worry, it isn't something immoral!-!" She cried in panic, "He just wants you to see if you want to work with us, that's all!"
"Work…?" Korin wonders what kind of house they are living in right now, "Wait, he's not going to ask me to be his butler, is it?"
"N-No!-!" Kasumi cried, "Just come and follow me!-!"
The teen sighed as he nodded in agreement. 'It's not like I have anything else to do at the moment…' Korin followed her into the streets of Namimori and into the shopping district. Within the almost endless line of shops, he followed the tennis club's ace into a small shop, a small café in the small ends of the district.
It doesn't look totally average, but it doesn't look extravagant either. It is between an expensive restaurant and a small time coffee shop.
"A shop house, huh?" Korin said.
"Yeah, the shop keeper is kind enough to let us live here, as long as we helped out at the shop after school." Kasumi stated with a smile, "He is a great man."
"A home in exchange of labour, huh…?"
The girl entered the shop, a small ring heard from the ringing bell on the door. By the small bar table near the counter, there is an middle aged man with white shaggy hair and a small goatee by his chin grinding up some coffee beans in the a small stone grinder. He looked up, noticing the two kids by the door.
"Ah, Kasumi, about time you show up." He stated, "There is a customer for the Senmeten upstairs."
"Got it~" She tells him as she walked towards the door, beside the counter, "Come on, Motoyama-kun." She tells the teen, Korin blinked a bit before following the girl.
"Welcome to the team, Motoyama Yan Korin."
The old man whispered into his ear as he walked passed him; the man smiled a little as Korin entered the door. From there, he followed her up the stairs into small office.
In the rather spacious room, a lone office table in the end of it with a computer, office chair along with two couches and a coffee table in the middle with a person sitting on the couch. On the left there is a bookshelf that holds a lot of files arranged from numerical to alphabetical order.
The man sitting on the sofa is tall, young twenties with reddish brown spiky hair and dark eyes, his clothes consists of a white button-up shit with denim jeans and black belt along with the grey sports shoes; in his hands is a small book that he is seemly engrossed in.
And by the top of the window, there are three kanji: 千目店
"Thousand eyes shop?" Korin read.
"It means thousand-purpose shop." A male voice said, as the office chair swivels around to show Nerio sitting on the chair looking at him with a small glare.
"I brought him here, Nerio-niisan!" Kasumi smiled, a lopsided smile as she slowly inches away to the door, "I…IhavetohelpDray-ojisanatthecafehopeyouhavefun!" With that quick sentence she bolted downstairs, stunning Korin who just wonders if that phobia of men of hers is that deep.
"Come in." Nerio tells him, "Take a seat, I have settle some paperwork first." The teen following and he sat on the other couch. Korin turned to the man sitting on the couch; he can feel the unworldly energy that is radiating from him as he looked over at him, his eyes glaring straight into his soul as Korin stared back at him.
"Sorry for the wait." Nerio said as he sat down next to Korin, "So, what's your name?" He asked the man.
"…Izanagi Norio." He stated.
"Izanagi…?" Nerio muttered curiously, 'Isn't that the name of one of the founder gods in Shinto legend?'
"Well, I supposed to give a request to the Senmeten, but…" He stated before rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "It seems the one with the request is lost for a week now."
'A week…? That's too long…!' Korin thought in shock.
"So I kind of have a request of my own." He tells them, "Please help me find her."
"At what price?" Nerio asked, "You should know, this place accepts all and any requests from the magic and mafia underworld with prices for their difficulty. Do you have the money to pay us?"
"Yeah, plenty." He said as he magically pulls out a suitcase from a magic circle that appeared beside him, opening it up to show millions of thousand yen notes packed nicely and neatly within. Norio took out couple of bundles and placed it on the coffee table in front of Nerio, "So?"
"…Sure." The teen smirked as he gladly takes the cash and counts the notes, "But tens of thousands yens for a person…? Are you underestimating our ability?"
"No, it is the person you are looking for that you are underestimating." Norio explained, putting down a picture from his wallet. On it, there is a small girl at least of Korin's and Kasumi's age; her shoulder-length hair of two shades of brown combed down by her eyes of a brown shade of red. "Her name is Olivia Snowfield. She is the one supposedly with the request for you people."
"A little girl?" Nerio asked with his eye brow raised, "She's the one with our request?"
"I assure you, she is little older than she looks." The man chuckled slightly, "Well, she was last seen in this town around the residential area if I recalled."
"I see…" The older teen muttered before turning over to Korin, "Well, there's your first job."
"Job? Wait, I don't even get what this 'job' is!" Korin cried, "When did I agree I'll work for you?-!"
"Well, it was the decision of the boss of this place, Dray Tengu." Nerio stated, "It seems that your battle two weeks ago caught his attention."
"Two weeks ago…?" Korin wonders, before realizing, 'The Ring Battles?-!'
"Anyhow, he wanted you to be in this magic mercenary group." Nerio explained, "You know the café under here? It is the cover for this place. Only employees and those with the password can enter here."
"Ah…" Korin gets it. The world of magic is akin to the mafia underworld, except it isn't as violent as the darker counterpart. Its very existence is to be kept secret at all cost, that was the first thing he was taught by his parents since he first started his magic training. Even so, like every society, it has its own shadows.
"Even so, does finding a person considered a job for this line of work?"
"The name is of this shop is Senmeten. What do you expect?" Nerio stated quite bluntly.
"True…" Korin sighed in defeat, "Well… I needed to extra cash to purchase the charms and other amulets anyway…" Picking up the photo of the girl, he got off the couch and head to the entrance, "I'll start with the residence area, then." He stated as he walked off and down the stairs.
When he exited into the café, he notices quite a crowd in the small shop. Kasumi and another waitress are seen running around taking orders from the tables and handing out their orders. Not wanting to bother them too much, he left the shop quietly and head out into the streets.
Korin now roaming the streets late in the night, in his hand is the picture of the girl. After heading out of the mercenary hideout, he went back to the Sawada Residence to tell Nana that he will be out for a while in the night for a job by the Senmeten. The older woman believed him and assures him that she would come up with a story for both Reborn and Tsuna.
In the dark streets lighted by only street lights and the lights from the neighbouring houses, Korin is having a hard time looking around. Even with his magically enhanced sight, he can barely notice any much around him.
'Seriously… a kid lost for a week here…?' Korin wondered, 'She sure is something, I'll say.'
He then felt something, a small ting in the back of his mind. He turned to his right around the corner, just as a white haired teen walked out of that into the junction. Her red eyes gazed at him for a moment, the teen felt a small tingling sensation under his skin as he noticed her eyes.
It represents power. A strong unworldly power that felt really familiar. It felt wild, yet controlled; visible, yet invisible.
She walked into the corner, he felt a slight spike in power and he quickly chased after her. Turning into the corner, he found no trace of her at all. "This… is she that woman ghost that Kurokawa Hana mentioned…?"
He knows one thing. That kind of power is dangerous. If she is staying around, he would need to know her reason for being here. Lucky for him, he managed to memorize her soul frequency before she did her vanishing trick. He closed his eyes, "Spirits of Mind, grant me sight." He chanted. He opened his eyes once more, this time there is a bluish glow in them.
His sight changed with the world now in monochrome in eyes, with some flickering blue flames visible in the houses. Those represent normal people.
This is the Soul Sight, a small technique that Korin developed to look for people around him. Normally, a mage of his family would be able to see the souls by concentrating magic into their eyes, but Korin is unable to do that. He wasn't gifted with the sight like many mages of the Yan Exorcising Magic Council.
This technique makes up for that. Using that chant, he concentrates spiritual energy into his eyes that enable him to notice the souls in all living things with exchange of his normal vision of reality. And there is an extra feature. It is also used as a form of radar of some sort, giving him up to 270 degree line of sight.
With that sight, he looked around him, ignoring the normal human souls looking for anything out of the ordinary. He then found it, the soul with the same frequency as that teen just now. Cancelling it, he ran down the streets and turned into the corner where she is, the girl startled when he appeared in front of her.
"You're not giving me the slip again." Korin stated.
"Hmph, a human managed to get to me after seeing me once." The girl stated, "Interesting…"
The boy already reaching for his gun, Korin wasn't going to take any chances with her, especially if she is not exactly human at all.
*GROWL~!*
Korin blinked, the woman now blushing red as she hugged her stomach in embarrassment, "Um… do you have any food by any chance…?"
So much for the tension…
Korin now is at the Ramen cart nearby with the woman eating her fourth bowl of salty goodness. He could only gape in shock as she devoured the noodles within seconds, before putting down the bowl with a happy sigh, "Jisan, one more bowl!"
"Coming right up!" The cart owner said pleased as he prepared another bowl.
'This is going to be put a rather large dent in my wallet…' Korin groaned as he calculated the loss of his preciously saved allowance.
"Thanks, you have saved me back then." She said, "It has been a week since I've eaten anything decent."
"A week…?" Korin wonders if she knows about Olivia.
"Yeah, I came here to ask a request for Senmeten." She stated.
'Another girl with a request…?'
"Oh, where are my manners…? my name is Nurari, nice to meet you."
"Korin." He greeted, "Nice to meet you."
"Korin, huh…? What a strange name." Nurari said.
"Is it?" That wasn't the first time he was told that, Haru stated that when he officially met her after the Mukuro incident in Kokuyo Land, "But still, what are you doing out of there in the middle of the night?"
"It's rather embarrassing for me to say, but I am lost." Nurari said in embarrassment laughing slightly, "I've been wandering the area around but for some reason I kept coming up with that junction every five times every day."
'That's ridiculous!-!' Korin mentally cried out in shock, 'I am bad in directions myself but this girl is worst! Who kept going in circles five times a day in a week?-!'
"What about you?" Nurari smiled, "It isn't safe for a young kid like you to wander the streets at night."
"I'm looking for someone." He tells her, bringing out Olivia's picture for her to see, "Have you seen this girl before?"
"Her…?" She ponders, but Korin can tell. She is hiding something, and with that reaction, he has one guess.
"You know where she is?" Korin asked firmly, a sense of authority linger in his voice.
"Huhu… Maybe I do, maybe I don't." She chuckled, "But you are definitely going to get me to speak, aren't you, Motoyama Korin-kun?"
"…" Korin now is inching to the charm in his pocket.
"Motoyama-san!" He flinched when he heard that, turning around to find Tsuna running towards him, "There you are!"
"What are you doing here, Tsunahime?"
"W-Well, Reborn didn't believe mom's story of you having a man romance tonight so he asked me to find you." Tsuna panted.
'What did Sawada-san tell her?-!' Korin mentally cried, "It's fine, I'm just going to ask-" He turned to Nurari, only to find her seat empty, "S-She's gone?-!"
"Hahahaha~!" He then heard her laughter, the girl now waving by the edge of the junction, "If you want to find out, you have to catch me first!" She then ran off into the corner; Korin quickly placed down the bill and chased after her, reaching pass the wall and finding only empty space.
"God damn it…" He muttered the chant and his eyes glows with his vision swapped to monochrome yet again. But this time, there are fluctuations all around the area; Nurari's soul frequency is everywhere yet blinking in and out of existence per second.
'What kind of skill is she using…?-!' Korin thought angrily, 'There's no other choice…' He ran out of the corner, making sure that Tsuna didn't chase after him and went to a small dead end, "Spirits of Earth; grant me forms of self." He chanted as he tosses a charm onto the ground.
The floor pulsated, before seven figures of earth erupted from below before forming into identical copies of his own image, "You know what to do." Korin tells his clones, they nodded before leaping off into roofs or running into the streets. He too leaped up onto the roofs and leaped off house to house.
The search was on, several clones of him running in the streets and asking people, sometimes each at far different locations to keep their clone secret from the general public. But it did get caught on, by a certain silverrette.
Gokudera was out after restocking his dynamites before going out to buy some dinner, then he came across Korin who simply dashed passed him.
"What a rude ass…" He growled as he carried on walking, only to meet Korin a second time within a span a seven seconds.
He then meets him a third time, faster than the previous encounter.
"How is he that fast?-!" Gokudera cried, 'This phenomena… and his healing factor… it could mean one thing…!'
"Korin's a UMA all along!-!"
Korin felt a shiver somehow, like something is going to be a pain in an ass for him tomorrow. But that did not stop him, he carried on searching. The cloning magic he used is similar to duplicating his power into several objects, only he shared a mental link with them. They are like robots with his personality and skills, as well as wired into his soul.
All they experienced, he will know.
The real issue is for him to actually make sense to all the images they shown him. It is only if the image is truly relevant to why he used the spell in the first place that it would have a greater influence.
"But…" He muttered, as his mind is constantly bombarded with several blurred images, some not even images at all. He has seen a few encounters, which the clone found her only for the girl to slowly vanished in a black mist. "So, an illusionist of sorts, huh…?" He decided to change his method.
He cancelled the clone spell, and he chanted his Soul Sight once more, only this time he focus on the spiritual energy that was expelled.
If she is indeed using some unworldly skill, it should have some residue magic left behind by the usage.
And he found it, misty aura of magic and some demonic energy are left behind, all seemly to leak out of one source, on the roof of the school building. "There!" He leaped into the air before using the Knight flames, "Sfolgorante Translocazione (Blazing movement)!" He stepped onto the air like he would in a void instant movement and leaped towards her with a burst of Knight Flames.
The girl wasn't expecting him to sudden leaped towards her in a burst of golden flames, the teen now landing on the roof with a strong thud that caused a small crater at entry.
"I don't know what technique that was, it is not good enough." Korin tells her, pulling out and aimed his gun at her, "Olivia Snowfield, tell me where she is."
"You're as they say, Korin-kun." Nurari smirked, "Well, I would have surrendered since a normal human can't keep up with you in any field."
"But I'm not human." She then flashes in front of him with a materialized katana that appeared in her hands, drawing it out of its black sheathe and slashing up at him, Korin barely dodging it with the tip of the blade slightly grazing up his cheek just above his old scar.
The teen leaped back as the metal blade reflects the moonlight, the katana spotting a bronze tsuba with a greyish blue handle and the steel silver blade with an insignia of a kanji of metal.
Korin feels the grazed mark over his cheek, not feeling it disappearing like every other wounds have before, 'My healing factor is not working…?'
The next thing he know, the tip of the blade is coming straight at him; Korin dodges it in time and swings his right leg up and strikes down his heel at her head. The attack, however, goes right through her with black mist streaking away as her figure disappeared.
"The same technique…!" Korin muttered as he raised his gun up, the many misty images of her wandering around the roof in multiple directions. He keep looking left and right, back and forward, trying to find the actual person.
"What's wrong?" Nurari chuckled.
'If that's the case…' He pulls out his charm from his pocket, "Spirits of Fire and Wind, Grant solid form and become my sword!"
…
…
"Nothing?-!" Korin cried as he saw his paper charm not changing into the weapon like before, just as Nurari swings down at him. He manages to dodge it with a leap a Shundo to the right, skidding on the concrete floor to a stop, 'Why…? I know my magic is mundane, but I'm pretty confident with my materializing spells!'
"Hm? It seems your magic is failing you." Nurari smirked.
"Shut it." Korin growled as he clenched his fist around his charm tightly, 'Damn it…! It always worked before…! Maybe I have to come up with a new chant…?'
At the back of his mind, he heard it. Metal hitting metal, the sound of metal forging resonates in his head. The hypnotizing sound echoes in his ears, as a phrase came out unconsciously through his mouth.
"Cast…Blade…"
The sensation of his magic flowed through his body and into the charm, it burning up into flames before forging out into the fiery sword of flames licking its blade as it is before. But this time was different. Compared to its original formation, this is more solid, much sharper and more realistic than before.
'This is…!' Korin thought in shock.
"True Materialization?-!" Nurari cried, "Impossible, there is only one person that has the ability to do that and she is dead!"
'That chant… it feels… so natural… it is not like the other chants I've done before…' He thought, '…And this sword…' He swings the blade around, "It feels so real…!" He readied his weapon, before dashing forward towards Nurari with the sword stabbing straight at her; the girl quickly swings her sword to redirect his attack.
Korin quickly spun around and lands a spinning heel strike on her head; that goes right through her again with black mist. 'This sensation…!' He realized as he pointed the gun an empty space and fired all four shots at it, the bullets flying into the space was deflected as Nurari materialized to deflect the bullets.
This caused Korin to drop his gun to use the sword with both hands, and that was quickly followed by a swinging blade that is followed in hundreds of swipes that followed after each attack. The girl found herself trying her best to counter each sword strike as fast as she could.
That did not let her go well as she was countered by another counter and sends her sword flying out and away from her. That was left with the tip of Korin's sword in front of her face, "Tell me Olivia's location right now."
"Ho… you're pretty good after all…" Nurari said.
"What you doing on the roof of my school?"
Korin heard the familiar voice close to him, turning to face the prefect with both his tonfas out, "Trespassing school grounds after school hours… and damaging school property, I will bite you to death." He growled.
"Whoa, hold it, at least let me-" The moment he turn his head, Nurari disappeared, again. "AGAIN?-!"
"Hey, you." Hibari growled as he readied his two weapons.
'This really isn't my day…' Korin sighed dejectedly.
That night was wasted with a fight with Hibari which somehow dragged onto dusk, which the prefect decided to leave to perform his disciplinary duties. The teen was left heading back to the house to get change, decided to skip the first few morning lessons to catch up on his sleep.
Which brings him to the roof, where he just lay down near the water tank with his bag as his pillow, "Ah… what a terrible night that was…" Korin groaned, 'I never did find Olivia or Nurari in the end… Where on earth would each of them be…? And who is that Nurari girl anyway…?'
He ended closing his eyes to nap, his mind travelling into dreamland.
A cute giggle was heard as small footsteps were heard as a small figure walked up to him.
When Korin woke, it is already past afternoon as evening approaches, "Ah! I overslept!" He cried as he got up in a hurry. He then noticed a girl sitting next to him looking at the setting sun. On closer inspection, her clothes looked like the one that Olivia is wearing; her shoulder length hair instead of ghostly white is a combination of two separated shades of brown. On her ears are headphones that he heard slight sounds of pop music.
"Hm?" She then turned around, her eyes revealed to be reddish-brown of shade, "Ah, you're awake, Motoyama Korin-san!"
"Ah…!" He then clicked, it is the same girl in the photo, "Olivia Snowfield?-!"
She flashed him a bright innocent smile, "Yes, that's me."
It take quite long for Korin to bring her to the Senmeten, with her nearly drifting off whenever they passed by some shops that interests the girl, 'I kind of figured how she can get lost for three days non-stop…' He mentally sighed.
By the time they entered the café, it is already nearing night. As he entered the door and up the stairway into the office, her guardian was certainly pleased for finding her, "There you are, Vivi!"
"Sorry, Nori." She giggled bopping her head cutely, "I got lost~"
'That's an understatement…' Korin and pretty much everyone in the office right then thought, which includes Norio, Nerio and Kasumi.
"So, what was the request?" Nerio asked her.
"It's done." She smiled.
"Eh?" Nerio blinked, even Norio was stunned.
"What do you mean 'done'?" Her guardian asked.
"My request was to test out the Fire Vessel." Olivia explained, "And that is done last night."
"You met her last night, Motoyama?-!" Nerio cried pointing at Korin accusingly.
"No! I didn't meet her at all! All I even met across is another girl which looked nothing like her!" Korin cried.
"A girl with ghost white hair and eyes red, right?" Olivia asked.
"Y-Yeah! Wait, how did you know that?"
She giggled as she looked out at the window, the sun setting into the horizon visible with the orange rays entering the room and colouring it in their colour, "You'll find out soon enough."
"Huh?" Korin wonders as the sun slowly set, the room now dark with little lights, "I-I'll switch on the lights." Kasumi said as she ran to the light switches, turning on the lights.
The room now well lit, they definitely found things different.
Well, more like a person is different.
Where Olivia once stood, there in her dark glory, is Nurari, her red eyes looking around and an all-knowing smirk on her face.
"You!" Korin growled as he pulled out his charm.
"You really made an impression, Olivia…" Norio sighed.
"Eh? Olivia?" Kasumi wonders.
"I knew it." Nerio said, "You two, you're youkai, am I correct?"
"Youkai? You mean those Japanese spirits, right?" Korin asked.
"Yeah, I knew their aura was inhuman." He stated.
"Wait… that means that the person I fought last night was…!"
"Yep, Olivia and I are the same." Nurari smiled, "I preferred to be called Nurari in this form so I won't get confused with my day self."
"Olivia is a hanyou, or more correctly, a quarter yokai." Norio explained their unanswered question, "That provided the problem in which she looks different in the day and in the night."
"Okay, that answered that." Korin stated, "But why did you want to test me?"
"I just to see if you are worthy of becoming a Vessel for the Lord of Fire." She explained, "I am the Vessel of the Lord of Metal. I was sent here to help train your three newbie Vessels."
To be continued…
There… that ending isn't what I had in mind…
but I guess it is fine for now…
With that, I thank you for reading this!