Episode 2: Encounter Of The Supernatural Kind
Yaegaki Masaomi, former exorcist and currently a school teacher and agent of Kyoto had received a call not too long ago. There are not many contacts in his phone and only a few numbers regularly contacted him which he usually welcome as those frequent contacts came either from his drinking buddies, which is usually his fellow faculty in Sanshu Middle School, or his wife, Cleria Yaegaki as she is known now.
And if the call he received is not from his wife or drinking buddies, then he can be sure that it is a business call, and most of the time, this business will very likely be of the supernatural kind. He had crossed his fingers that the business call is of the normal kind, like a job offer or something, but of course it is not.
"I thought Tokyo is a neutral human territory and protected by an impenetrable kekkai. How can these Oni get through?"
Masaomi inquired through his earpiece as he rode his bike through the streets of Tokyo at full speed. The one he is talking to is a miko, and not just any miko but a very important one. She is one of the Three Great Miko, one who is stationed in Tokyo and watch over the capital city of Japan.
The Three Great Miko each represents one of the Shinto Trinity and stationed in key points in Japan. They are the highest ranking and most powerful Miko in japan. One of them resides in Kyoto, another resides in Izumo, and the last resides in Tokyo. Masaomi is currently talking with the Miko stationed in Tokyo.
'I have several theories but without knowing anything else I can't make a conclusion.'
Shiratori Utano, the Miko of Susano'o replied from the other side of the line. Navigating the streets through the help of a GPS with his destination already given by Utano earlier, Masaomi let out an annoyed grunt and increase his bike's acceleration little by little.
"I'll deal with it. I'll try to capture one of them for questioning."
'Try to find out what you can while I check the barrier.'
"You do that. Masaomi out."
The transmission ended and Masaomi sighs. He then put on his serios face and mentally prepares himself for a fight. At the speed he's going, he'd reach his destination soon enough. Thankfully Shibuya is not very far. But what is it that they're after in Shibuya?
If the youkai were to come to Minato ward, he would understand. That's where the school is and some high-profile people in the supernatural world went there and the most valuable of them all is Kunou, the daughter of Yasaka, the nine tailed fox ruler of Kyoto.
Another target would be Utano herself and she mainly resides in a secret shrine in the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda ward protected by several very powerful kekkai.
Though to be fair, those targets are not really easy targets and as he heard it, the oni that appeared are low and middle class oni mostly with only a handful of high class. That kind of force can't hope to even get close to either Kunou or Utano. Kunou has some ample protection assigned to her by Yasaka and Utano when she decided to come to Tokyo which includes Cleria and himself as part of their deal. Her presence is also hidden from everyone except Utano. Utano is also guarded by several trained Miko and Onmyouji and Utano herself is very powerful, even stronger than him and Cleria combined as one of the premier Miko in Japan.
So while it is also understandable that the oni did not attack Minato or Chiyoda ward, if they even knew of Kunou's existence, what makes them choose to attack Shibuya? And from the course they are taking, they are heading to the Meiji shrine. There is nothing in there… except for one of the wardstone that maintains the kekkai that protects Tokyo as a whole.
Each ward in Tokyo has its own wardstone that is connected to the main wardstone in the Imperial Palace which is maintained by Utano. The giant kekkai that protect the city guards Tokyo from the assault of malicious youkai and other supernatural force. It also monitors the city and can locate any supernatural beings and onmyouji inside the barrier. It was made hundreds of years ago when evil youkai plagues Japan and was once used to protect the populace from a rampaging Tamamo no Mae. While it has not seen defensive use for a long time, the kekkai is still maintained even now.
"Are they after the wardstone?"
Masaomi wondered, but there's no time to think anymore about the matter. If they are after the wardstone, then what they're planning is most likely an invasion of Tokyo by first weakening the kekkai by taking out the wardstones one by one. While he's not sure of this, it's the only reason he could think of.
He had arrived in front of the enterance to Yoyogi park. There's already a kekkai in place to keep civilians away which means the battle had probably started. Masaomi got off from his bike and entered the kekkai. The world turns dark and purple miasma covered the whole place. He saw explosions coming from the direction of the Meiji shrine. Drawing his sword, the famed Ame no Murakumo, Masaomi rushed towards the shrine.
"Heh, we're finally finished!"
Harutora fell back to his chair after a day of club activity, feeling very tired. He had just got back from helping one of the teachers clean up the supply room together with Wakaba and Hinata. Hinata sat beside him, taking a deep breath before relaxing. The purple haired girl looks just as tired as Harutora.
Wakaba though doesn't even look winded. She still look as fresh as when they first left the clubroom. She's has always been the most physically fit out of the three of them. Hinata, while being upbeat, is not a very athletic person while Harutora is just plain lazy.
"You're being lazy again, Bakatora. You should move around some more."
Wakaba slapped his back playfully, making the blonde boy groan. Hinata chuckled at the interaction of her two childhood friends. They were the first one to finish their request while the others have not returned yet.
The Hero Club, though its name is rather pretentious in Harutora's opinion, is a club that focuses on helping people which is a nice goal for a club in Hinata and Wakaba's opinion. It is established by Takashima Yuuna last year with its first member being Issei who had known her since primary school and gained quite a lot of fame for helping many people for free. People can make requests to the club by accessing their website and telling them what they need. Of course, there are rules and regulations to prevent getting unreasonable requests.
In order to be more efficient, the club had split up to do the requests they received today. Wakaba, Harutora and Hinata handle the request made by people around the school while Yuuna, Issei, Kunou and Chikage handle requests outside the school. Since there are more requests coming from people inside the school today, three people are needed so the childhood friends volunteer themselves, or rather, Hinata and Wakaba volunteered and Harutora has no other choice than to be dragged around by them.
Issei, Yuuna, Chikage and Kunou are currently handling requests outside the school. Kunou and Yuuna are handling a request to look after a pair of children since their mother is sick and they wanted to go to the park. Kunou is good with children, being one herself, and Yuuna has a similar wavelength with children.
Issei and Chikage are in a nearby shopping district helping out with carrying things around. While Yuuna would usually go with him, Chikage is not very good with children so she instead went with Issei. Harutora would've gone with him if not for the request to help clean out the supply room.
"By the way, Wakaba, do you know why Masaomi-sensei left earlier?"
Harutora asked as he is curious why their teacher left. Wakaba shook her head and turn to Hinata.
"About that. It seems that Utano-senpai asked for him by name. Apparently there's been an attack in Shibuya according to Utano-senpai's text message."
Hinata told them. Uesato Hinata is one of the many Japanese Miko and a very talented one coming from the Uesato family that had produced generations of strong miko. Being a powerful Miko stationed in Tokyo as well as one of the Kyoto princess' close friend, Hinata had texted Utano about their sensei in a private chat group between Miko and had received a reply.
"An attack on Shibuya?! Who would even dare do that?"
Harutora jumped out of his seat in surprise.
"A group of oni though none of them are notable. With sensei on the battlefield, they won't stand a chance. Although…"
"Although?"
"How did they even slip through the kekkai in the first place?"
That was a good question that made Harutora and Wakaba pause. After a moment of silence between them, Harutora sat back and relax. If Utano need them, she will definitely call. And since they're not asked for that means the situation is under control. Besides, with Masaomi-sensei on the field, things should end quite soon.
The three of them continue waiting for their friends to come back. They should be back at any moment now since it's almost sundown. While waiting for them, Harutora decided to take a short nap while Wakaba is chatting with Hinata about some random topic. Time passes until dusk arrives and there is no sign of their friends.
"What's taking them so long?"
Wakaba wondered. Suddenly Hinata stood up and her eyes widened in surprise and a hint of worry.
"We have intruders!"
The moment Hinata said that, Harutora also wake up from his nap. The three childhood friends nodded to each other and rush out of the clubroom.
Their friends are in danger!
-half an hour earlier-
Issei and Chikage had finished their request and are meeting up with Kunou and Yuuna in the park. The moment they finished their job, Chikage had brought out her game console, a black 3DS this time, and began to tune out her surroundings. Issei who is already used to her kept quiet and simply walk.
While Issei himself is not necessarily talkative, the silence felt awkward to him because he usually hangs around Yuuna and that little bundle of energy always seems to have something to talk about, though even if she's silent for once it is always a comfortable silence but Chikage's silence is just… awkward to him.
Issei is glad that the park they're meeting up in is not very far from the shopping district. After a twenty minutes walk, Issei and Chikage arrive in the park. They saw Yuuna and Kunou playing on the swings, yelling excitedly trying to go higher. When Yuuna saw Issei and Chikage arrive she leapt from her swing and greeted them.
"Ise-kun, Gun-chan!"
As usual, she called out their nicknames ennergetically. Issei look back and saw the ghost of a smile appear on Chikage's lips even when her eyes are still glued to the 3DS monitor. Issei is glad that slowly but surely Chikage is beginning to open up to them. She has always been the silent, anti-social one in class. But it appears that Yuuna could bring out another side to her which is probably the reason why Chikage joined the Hero Club in the first place despite seemingly being the last club she would ever join.
"Hey Yuna-chan. How goes the request?"
Issei asked, though he already knew the answer to it. Yuuna smiled brightly and gave a thumb up.
"It's done without any problem! We played ball and read books with them. We just finished escorting them home a while ago. How about you and Gun-chan?"
Issei also gave a thumb up and simply say that it's been dealt with. Yuuna turn to Chikage and she nodded without Yuuna needing to ask the question. The four then head back to school.
"So Kunou-chan, how have you been adjusting to school?"
Issei asked the blonde girl who is one year his junior. Kunou is the newest and youngest member of the Hero Club and as part of the same club and her senior, it is part of his duty to look after her, just like Yuuna helping him all those years ago when he first moved to Tokyo.
"It has been fun, Hyoudou-senpai! Though Tokyo is very different from Kyoto, it does have its appeal and I can see why Onee-sama and Hina-nee like it here."
Kunou said. Issei is glad that Kunou is doing fine. Then again, her family seems to be old friends with the trio childhood friends' families so she already have people looking out for her, particularly Wakaba as she seem to look up to the older girl and call her 'onee-sama' while she calls Hinata as 'Hina-nee'. For the record, she calls Harutora as 'Bakatora' just like Wakaba.
"That's good. Remember, Kunou-chan, if you need any help then you can come to any of us. As your seniors, we will help you in whatever way we can. Plus you need a reliable male figure in your life!"
Issei declared. Kunou folded her arm and look as if she's in deep thought.
"Yes, you're right senpai, I do need a reliable male figure in my life. Where can I find one who is preferably not Hyoudou-senpai or Bakatora?"
She asked teasingly Issei immediately became dejected while Yuuna chuckled at the jab.
"Don't worry Ise-kun, you are reliable enough."
"Yuna-chan!"
Issei cried tears of happiness at Yuuna's encouraging words. Yuuna is always so nice and he's glad he got to know her. Ahh, sometimes he feels like he's unworthy of her friendship.
As the four of them continue to walk, Issei began to realize something.
"Hmm? Why is there nobody around? And the street is getting darker. Did the sun set faster than usual?"
He questioned as he look around. The street is abandoned and the sky did get darker. Issei checked his phone. It's still around four so it shouldn't be this dark for at least another hour, especially in spring. Yuuna and Chikage who noticed this oddness became worried but Kunou, she looks wary about something.
Then suddenly something lunged at them in almost inhuman speed. Issei noticed it and grabbed both Chikage and Yuuna and drop to the ground. The thing passed by them and went for Kunou who kicked it away.
"W-what the hell was that?!"
Issei, Yuuna and Chikage got up and look around. Then they heard footsteps as something appear from the darkness. A group of 'something' appear in front of the Hero Club and when they see them, the members of the Hero Club couldn't help but tremble in fear. Because what they are facing is something not human.
Numerous little creatures with a single small horn protruding from their bald head make up the front line of the group that has arrived. Some have differing skin colors ranging from red to blue to green. Behind the small ones are bigger ones that are about as tall as humans. The bigger ones have two longer horns and their fangs can clearly be seen protruding from their mouth and they wore crude armost as well as being armed with crude weapons like hammers, matchets, and clubs.
But the ones that arrive last are what made them know true fear.
Two muscular giants that has demonic face appear. Their glowing yellow eyes promise violence and death. They are at least twice as tall as Issei and they are without weapon but they no doubt could shatter any human spine easily with only the flick of their finger.
But the most frightening one is the one that looks most human. A young adult appear between the two demonic giants. He wore a gray kimono with black haori complete with straw zori. He has pale skin and spiky black hair and wields a sword. Kunou's eyes widened when she saw what the sword is.
"Doujigiri Yasutsuna!"
"Doujigiri, one of the Tenga Goken, the one used to slay a famous oni in the past?!"
Issei and Yuuna recognized the name of the famous sword belonging to Minamoto no Yorimitsu. The human-like one smirked as Kunou jumped in front of her friends protectively. The rest of the Hero Club's eyes widened as Kunou grew a pair of fox ears on top of her head and nine golden fox tails.
"Are you offering yourself in exchange for your friends, Princess of Kyoto?"
"Ibaraki Douji!"
Well, it's the second chapter and the group already face someone as ridiculous as Ibaraki Douji. Okay, so with this, Ein Sof ZERO finally started for real! The first arc 'The Hero Club' finally started!
Dragon Rider 66: To the church and devils, Masaomi and Cleria are dead. I imagine this will be a big 'fuck you' to the devils. After all, they reincarnate powerful people as their slaves so why not when one of them die another faction take them in? Well, though Masaomi and Cleria never died in the first place and only faked their death.