Chapter 3: Two Sides of The Same Coin
Norrisville High
Theresa placed a few books into her locker, what she didn't do that faze the Legendary Three was that she didn't place the Oni sword into the locker, she was holding the sword through the duffel bag, and she seems to never ever letting go, the Legendary Three did not want to accuse Theresa of being paranoid especially of how defensive she was when they spoke about it, Theresa hummed quietly to herself as she was greeted by several students passing by, she always waved back, she never got reactions like this before.
Before even meeting Shirokuma and getting wrapped in this new set circumstances of being the Oni Keeper, Theresa was one of the most unpopular students in school, she honestly had no real clue why, maybe it was her weird purple hair, maybe it was her liking to baton-twirling, or maybe it was due to her semi-apparent crush to Randy Cunningham, either way, she was an unpopular kid that only had other weirdos as friends.
After meeting the Legendary Four however, her whole social status has changed, it was probably due to the Legendary three's contributions when it comes to her daily school life, Shirokuma would always partially possess Theresa when it comes to art, Kazeryu would always do gym and Pichigaru would always do lunch, ever since Mizuwani died, the Legendary three are contributing to Theresa's schoolwork a lot more than usual, being a lot more persistent than before, maybe they just view it as a way to cope with their lost.
Nevertheless Theresa was being treated like one of the popular kids, despite still being a freshman and a baton-twirling goody-good as some used to say about her, she had to admit, she was of kind of glad of this new status, it basically means that no one would want to pick on her, and that mean's she'll be forced to be partially possessed by any of the Legendary Three so that they can lay a proper lesson when it comes to messing with her for no good reason.
It was lunchtime, Theresa was honestly hungry, so Pichigaru understandably didn't partially possess her, Theresa got a bag lunch from home, it was cooked by her mother with a bit of tampering from Shirokuma, something that Theresa was really grateful for, Theresa's mother decided to experiment by making Theresa a lunch that mainly consists of steak, Shirokuma added a couple of carrots so at least Theresa won't have a lunch that was only protein.
She took a bite out of one of the carrots that were in her bag as she sat on one of the tables far off at the edge of the lunchroom, she was joined by her two friends Cassie and Lyra, they weren't wearing their marching band uniforms which is a rare occurrence at least according to Theresa's knowledge, they were wearing dresses, Lyra was wearing a green sundress and Cassie was wearing a yellow sundress.
Regardless of their fashion choices, they talked about their day, they talked about how Deneb and Vega were so inclined in their families history, Theresa smiled at this interesting fact, Deneb and Vega were nice people when she interacted with them back at Ancient Norrisville, so it's good that they have two keepers that were just as friendly. Theresa finished her meal with a delighted sigh, she took a sip of some lunch milk.
"Can I sit here with you all?" A voice asked behind Theresa, Theresa quickly turned around to see a boy that looked like he was a year older than Theresa, he wore a black leather jacket with a white shirt, he wore a black belt with his red jeans, his hair was brown but noticeably long, his skin was somewhat pale and his eyes were suspiciously yellow, something that Theresa quickly noticed.
"Sure...Why not right?" Theresa responded as Cassie and Lyra nodded in response, the boy with a thankful smile sat down right next to Theresa, he also had a baggie lunch, except most of his lunch mainly consists of extremely fried food, it was so battered that it was hard to know whether or not the fried food was meat or vegetables.
"Sense you're sitting with us, you mind if you can tell us your name?" Lyra asked, he laughed almost politely before answering, it was clear that he wasn't expecting someone to ask for his name.
"My name is Ryan...Nice to meet you all..." the teenager known as Ryan said, waiting for the Three Oni Keepers to greet themselves to him, they introduced themselves to Ryan, and lunch returned back to normal, Ryan only needed a seat to sit down so he didn't really talk to the three after eating his grease-logged lunch.
There was one thing that had to be pointed out, Theresa admittedly blushed when Ryan sat next to her, she had to admit, he looked cute, maybe it was his pretty boyish long hair, or how light his voice was despite being older than Theresa, or maybe it was his polite but playful demeanor that not a lot of boys have, nevertheless Theresa was a bit a fazed however over his sudden appearance, whenever there is a new student, they will get known pretty quickly, Ryan on the other hand, received little to no fanfare whatsoever, something that honestly bugged the Oni Keeper.
When lunch was over Theresa went through classes like a salmon swimming down a stream, meaning it was quick and fast and streamlined, so Theresa enjoyed her time at school, that is until she decided to go immediately home after school.
Skipping her workout for she was a bit sore, Theresa prepared to go home, she went out of the front entrance of Norrisville High, bearing her duffel bag on her back as she slowly started to walk, that is until the unexpected happened. Theresa along with the Legendary quickly heard a scream, a cry, a cry for help more specifically, it was coming out the Norrisville High Gym, Theresa instinctively dropped her duffel bag on the ground, quickly unzipping the bag and picking out the Oni sword, she immediately was given the Onirai armor when she equipped the Oni sword.
"Everyone ready?" She asked the Legendary Three as she immediately turned the shield on the Oni sword to Shirokuma's symbol which caused the Oni sword to become an axe, their responses were the usual from before.
"Always!" The Legendary said aloud, Theresa quickly nodded as she ran to where the enemy was, a stark contrast to what she usually did whenever there was a monster attack.
Norrisville High Gym
Theresa looked at the Oni with her own two eyes as it silently stared back with its three, its been a month since Theresa fought an Oni and this Oni was a lot different from other Oni, for the first time, the Oni was indescribable.
it didn't look like it was originally an animal but instead it looked like a undisputable ball of flesh and bone, in fact on its stomach was its mouth, being nine feet tall instead of the usual six or seven, its eyes were yellow but on his arm was a massive eyeball that seemed to be naturally attached to the Oni's wrist, it wore scrap armor and tattered rags that seemed to be stitched upon to its stringy and bleeding flesh, and it wielded a massive hammer made of stone with black spikes protruding out of the hammer.
"I told you guys! I called it! You should listen to me! I told you that trouble is brewing and all you do is told me to take a break and say that I'm just being paranoid!" Theresa exclaimed to the Legendary Three, scoffing as she did so for she was right and proving her point that she needs to be ready for any danger.
The Oni roared loudly as it waited for Theresa to make her move, Theresa had to admit, the thing looks ugly and it seemed like it was already in great pain by the simple act of living, it roared as it swung its mighty hammer loudly at Theresa with the intention to kill, Theresa was about to charge and attack the flesh beast, that is until someone got in front of her.
"Guess this world still clings onto truths like demons and monsters..." Ryan said as he stood in front of the Onirai armor wearing Theresa, with a scoff Ryan pulled out Yumimaru, Theresa quickly eyed Ryan and the golden metal bat that he now holds, wondering why he isn't afraid of the Oni despite its monstrous appearance.
"Let's show this 'Oni Keeper' what for..." Ryan said to Yumimaru who only screeched in response, Ryan arrogantly shot a glance at a flabbergasted Theresa before facing the task at hand, Yumimaru's mouth quickly opened widely, revealing a pair of incredibly sharp fangs, he quickly stabbed himself in the palm with Yumimaru's fangs.
"Why in the world did he do that!?" Shirokuma surprised that a human was openly accepting of such self-harm, but the thing is, Ryan wasn't really human.
'I Don't Know, The True Question Is Why Does This Boy Think He Can Confront An Oni?" Pichigaru responded, clearly spooked by Ryan's bravery against this horrific version on an Oni.
"Isn't that Komari-Baka?" Kazeryu asked, clearly bothered by the sudden appearance of Ryan.
Theresa was surprised that Ryan wasn't even fazed by the fangs and she wanted to call him crazy due to this self-harming act, he quickly pulled out Yumimaru before speaking in a serious tone.
"Transform..." Ryan said as his eyes started to glow yellow once Yumimaru fangs absorbed the blood, Ryan's body was then covered in aura of black and red, the colors of edginess and darkness, Ryan laughed as the aura dissipated in a burst of black and red, revealing Ryan's new form, his whole body was now black, similar to Shirokuma, his hands and feet were armored in almost mosaic red boots and gauntlets, his chest was armored red and his shoulder armor was silver, he wore a belt that had Yumimaru attached to its buckle, his face revealed a four fanged mouth that seemed to almost salivate with black blood, and his eyes were two long yellow pools that seemed to be shaped like bat ears.
To be honest in Theresa's perspective, he looked like a monstrous vampire, especially with the irisless eyes and his four-fanged mouth, he looked mean, aggressive and in some cases just downright sinister, a stark contrast to the surprisingly cute Ryan.
"Wow..." Theresa said to the changed Ryan, he turn his head to Theresa before scoffing loudly.
"Let's get this sorted out, I'm no Oni Keeper..." Ryan said sticking out a finger and wagging it slowly, revealing that his gloves had three-inched metal claws that were painted and trimmed with the same color of his red gantlets.
Ryan growled loudly as he got into a battle stance, the Flesh Horror Oni charged as he swung its massive hammer wildly, clearly agitated by the new appearance of another enemy, Ryan laughed as the Flesh Horror Oni swung his hammer down, Ryan simply sidestepped out of the way. and then slashed the Oni's fragile flesh arm off with a quick slash of his clawed gloves, the Flesh Horror growled in pain.
"Guess this will be a quick fight huh Yumimaru?" Ryan asked the golden metal bat, it cackled and screamed in response, gladly enjoying the bloodshed despite the lack of speech, Ryan laughed as suddenly his right foot grew a pair of razor-sharp wings, something that Theresa didn't expect at all but nevertheless disgusted and appalled her and the sudden sprouting of wings on his shin.
He jumped up about seven feet in the air, with a violent screech from Yumimaru, Ryan did a powerful dive kick, the kick connected to the flesh horror Oni, the wings on Ryan's leg started to repeatedly stab the flesh horror with blazing speed, the wings acting like long blood-thirsty sickles, the Flesh Horror Oni started to scream in pain as Ryan went through the flesh horror due to the wing blades cutting and chopping Ryan a hole through the Oni's body, he landed on his feet as the Flesh Horror Oni fell to the ground.
"Hell...Axle..." Ryan said as the Flesh Horror Oni turned to dust, a stark contrast compared to an explosion from other Oni such as Shirokuma or Deneb and Vega, Ryan scoffed loudly as he quickly turned back to his human form, he stared at Theresa who just stood there and did absolutely nothing.
"Are we going to that thing that you know my true identity and yet I don't know yours?" Ryan playfully asked the armored Oni Keeper, giving Theresa a devious smile.
