Hours after dinner, Yanagi found herself leaning over her windowsill, peering out her bedroom window as she watched Kaito walk away.
It was already getting dark out, but surprise surprise, he was not on his way home, but on the way to the gym.
'Who could have ever predicted that?' she snorted.
As she told her brother earlier, he practically lived at the gym. Actually, lately he was there even more than usual.
Anytime she called him outside of school hours, there was at least a fifty percent chance he was at the gym.
It was no wonder her dad was so fond of him. Kaito was the only person she'd ever met that out muscle-headed her goof of a father.
Still-
"Is something bothering him?" she wondered aloud.
She remembered last Friday he was super tense all day, and now this yakuza nonsense with that fight he was in this morning.
It was driving an even larger wedge between him and the guys at school and getting him even more attention from the girls.
He was already pretty popular with girls. He was good looking, muscular, the rising star of one of their sports teams and had on multiple occasions put an end to the pervy schemes of those three perverted losers.
The only reason girls had kept distance before, was because he was pretty intense and with his tall height and muscular build could be rather intimidating.
Now that it was getting around how he protected Murayama from some delinquent though, he was being made it to be some knight in shining armour by the girls through the school.
Truly the only thing faster than light was high school gossip.
Yanagi sighed in annoyance, "Just what I need." she groaned. The lack of competition had meant she could take things slow.
And he needed slow.
For all his confidence, intelligence, good looks and strength. He had a bit of an inferiority complex about being an orphan with no money to his name.
Whenever she ever broached the topic of him getting a girlfriend, that was always his excuse. So she'd spent her time playing the long game and trying to smash it through his thick skull that she didn't give a crap about that.
Honestly, if it weren't for the fact Kuoh had a whole, no working jobs policy while attending it, he'd probably have a part time job at this point and not worry about it.
She could probably have got Hana to set him up at the cafe she worked at part time, it apparently was really popular and paid well.
But nope, sadly Shitori-kaichou was a real stickler for stupid rules like that.
'She's a weirdo.' Yanagi mused. A suspicious weirdo at that. The people she recruited to the student council were totally sus and didn't fit their roles at all for the most part.
And she swore Shitori-kaichou had her eyes on Yanagi herself and came down harder on Kaito than she did anyone else.
"Not important," Yanagi mused, shaking her head, "The real issue is Murayama-san." she frowned.
She'd need to keep an eye out for her and other girls.
"Nothing I can do about it for now I suppose." Yanagi huffed and turned away from the window.
She walked over to her bed and plopped down on it and turned her attention back to the game she had been playing with Kaito before he decided it was time to leave for the gym.
"Where's my…" she looked around for the control pad, before noticing it on the windowsill.
Oops. Well, whatever. Yanagi held up her hand and a golden glow shone briefly beneath her bangs.
The control pad shot across the room and landed in her hand.
Tsuki-san was a really good cook. Kaito honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a delicious meal.
…Had he ever actually?
'I suppose that's one reason to take Yanagi up on her offer to come over to my place.' Kaito snorted.
She was always bragging about how good of a cook she was to him. If he could eat more like that, it might even be worth Fujio's over the top reactions.
Honestly, he couldn't say it wasn't fun at the very least.
As it was, as much as he'd have loved to stay over longer, and he was really enjoying playing a game with Yanagi and her company.
The grind awaited.
So, to the gym he went.
After getting Tsuki-san to pierce his ear before he left. His left ear lobe of course.
You after all, only got your right ear pierced as a man, if you wanted to broadcast that you liked taking it up the bum.
Once he was out of sight of the Uzaki household, Kaito decided to get straight down to business.
He ducked down an alley way between two buildings and got out of sight from the main populace traversing the streets.
And as he did, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the magatama he'd taken for his own earlier.
And thoroughly disinfected in the Uzaki households bathroom.
Unclipping the hoop the magatama was held upon, Kaito brought it up to his ear and after a few uncomfortable misses, managed to slip it through the new hole in his earlobe and clicked the hoop shut, securing it to his ear.
Nothing happened.
"Well, that was disapp-" Kaito was cut off as a shining red light erupted from his ear and lit up the alleyway.
A flame like cloak of crimson red bubbled into existence around his body and a rushing sensation ran down his spine and through his veins.
But as quick as it happened, it stopped, the feeling rushing through him ended and the crimson red aura disappeared in the blink of an eye as if it were never there to begin with.
"What the fuck?" Kaito blinked, a bit dazed.
He tried to focus on the magatama hanging from his ear like he would his Sacred Gear.
But nada, nothing.
He frowned and brought out his phone, bringing up the camera app and switching the view around so he could see his face on the screen.
He noticed one glaring change.
The magatama had turned from white, to a scarlet red. 'Signifying a C-rank toshi if I remember right.' his frown deepened.
He was not a toshi though.
He honestly hadn't expected it to react to him at all. He just wanted to feel it in close proximity to his body at all times to get a feel for the energy within it.
And it wasn't like he felt any stronger or anything either. A toshi's inherit abilities were inherited from the soul contained in the sacred beads, and when they obtained the sacred bead themselves and wore them, those inherited abilities were enhanced and empowered.
Honestly, Kaito wasn't even sure how a toshi could inherit the power of the soul within the sacred beads, before ever getting them in the first place, but then he didn't understand a lot of went on with the supernatural mumbo jumbo that bounced around this world of his.
"Well now, that was an interesting sight, now wasn't it?" a voice from behind Kaito forced him to pause in his thoughts.
He hadn't even heard anyone approach him.
Whirling around rapidly, shoulders tense, Kaito found himself staring at a tall brown haired man, roughly his height with distinct non Japanese features. He was clad in all white clothing, pants and a button down shirt, except for a some form of long trench coat he wore over the top, golden lapels on the front.
The man was casually leaning against a dumpster and eyeing him with interest in his beady grey eyes.
"You don't feel like a devil," the man casually commented, "You some form of magician type folk or you a Sacred Gear holder boy?"
That trench coat of his looked kind of familiar.
"I don't see how it's any of your business," Kaito replied, something was off with this guy. Beyond the fact he clearly knew of the supernatural, his gaze made Kaito's skin prickle and his hair stand on end, "I'm just doing my own thing, so I'd prefer if you left me alone."
"Can't do that I'm afraid son, I'm a man of God you see and I'm on a divine mission to strike down the heathens that plague this here world," the man grinned at him, baring his teeth, "And y'know, this here town is run by devils, so when I see me a boy all alone and suspicious in alley way and he gets all glowy and not with the light of the lord above, I find myself having to check it out just in case he be up to some nefarious shenanigans, you get me?"
Just his fucking luck. No seriously, running across that idiot this morning and now this. It was like he was drawing them to himself, was he magnet for stupid supernatural crap now?
And to make it worse, going by the way this guy was talking. He was an exorcist.
Most likely one of the strays that were part of the group that worked under Raynare and her cronies.
"I've got nothing to do with Sitri or Gremory," Kaito replied, clenching his fists and preparing himself for a fight just in case, "I'm human."
He withheld the fact he was a Sacred Gear holder. He didn't know what he would do with that information. He just knew Raynare killed Issei over his and stole Asia Argento's.
Who knew what they would attempt if they knew he had one?
"Nah, you're a heathen boy, I can tell," the man scoffed, denying his words completely, "Ain't no way you ain't connected to them disgusting demonic whores when you know their names! Just another lost lamb, but don't worry son, Papa Pastor Rob will send you back to the embrace of our dear lord above where he can cleanse you of the filth tainting you."
Of course, what did he expect?
He remembered the stray exorcists were a bunch of crazy fuckers from the memories of his other self.
The man reached into his trench coat and pulled out two items. One, was a gleaming silver futuristic looking one handed pistol reminiscent of some form of magnum.
While the other was a simple handle. That, then with a press of a button on it, hummed and hissed as a gleaming white blade of energy formed from it.
Shit.
"Oh holy lord above, forgive this lost lamb, in the name of I, the all cleansing Pastor Rob, I shall send him to Je-"
Hell the fuck no. The man outright started monologuing to himself as if he were truly speaking to God.
Kaito was already prepared as he began speaking though. With a thought, twin flashes of light erupted from his fists and in an instant, they were covered in twin black and gold gauntlets.
"[Boost!]
"[Boost!]
All of his physical abilities sky rocketed, increasing four times over thanks to the pair of Twice Critical he owned and he pushed off, rushing forward as fast he could.
The mans eyes widened at the sudden rush and he tensed, preparing to swing his glowing blade-
A split second later, his gauntlet clad fist smashed into the exorcists jaw with all his strength and bodily lifted the man up before he could finish complete his swing or even finish speaking.
Taking no chances, Kaito followed through with his punch and carried him with it, driving the trench coat clad man up and down into the ground, hard.
He jumped back away from the man after that, expecting a counter of some kind.
Only none came.
Pastor Rob as he called himself, was laying on his side, eyes rolled up into the back of his head and the indent of his guantlet clad fist visible on his cheek. Blood was pooling out of his open mouth, and Kaito swallowed heavily when he noticed multiple teeth on the ground, having fell from his mouth.
"…What?" Kaito just stared.
Lost.
…That was it?
One punch was all it took?
Wasn't this guy supposed to be a supernatural exterminator or something? Like, he knew vaguely from his inherited memories, that even Hyoudou had kicked the crap out of a few of these guys within a week of reincarnating as a devil and having no training whatsoever.
But…that was it? Even that loser from this morning put up a way better fight than that.
He was expecting this guy to be stronger, or at least roughly on the same level. But no, this guy was way weaker.
Kaito stared for a few moments, just absolutely lost, and honestly, a bit disappointed.
Like, what was his guy even hoping to accomplish being this weak? How did he ever kill any devils or those affiliated with them if he was this pathetic? Did he just target really weak and vulnerable people?
…But where the hell did the guys confidence come from when confronting Kaito? He was acting like some big shot.
"This day man, I swear." Kaito groaned, rubbing his head.
'Is he dead?' he wondered after a moment and stepped over to the downed man. He crouched over him and pressed two fingers to his neck.
…He could feel a pulse, so he wasn't dead at least.
From the looks of things, he'd broken his jaw pretty badly though. 'Should I call an ambulance or some-' he thought before promptly dismissing the thought.
He didn't need being linked to this guy or anything that went down here. And thinking on it logically, the Fallen and their pet exorcists wouldn't be around for much longer, probably a week at most and no way this guy would be talking about anything before then.
So, Kaito decided to wash his hands of it.
He was about to leave the alley way behind, when he paused, eyes lingering on the light gun and the light sword.
"Well, doubt you'll need them anymore mate." he found himself grinning and proceeded to pry them from the mans grip.
And while he was at it, he rifled through the mans pockets for anything else he had.
And was left disappointed. All the guy had on him was a lighter, some cigarette's and two thousand or so yen.
Clearly being a stray exorcist didn't pay much.
Once he'd pilfered everything useful from the stray exorcist, and even stole the mans coat, because it was rather high quality and quite dapper looking-
Kaito left the alley way behind in a hurry and continued on his way to the gym, 'I should start working on stretching out properly and getting limber enough to use my Muay Thai properly.' he mused.
It would probably take a few weeks, if not months of conditioning usually, but he was already pretty flexible so it wouldn't take as long for him. On top of that, thanks to his little boosted recovery trick, he could shorten than time down even further.
He paused in the middle of the street and looked up. There, a few dozen feet in front of him, he saw a glimmering see through purple wall of something akin to energy.
People were outright avoiding it without noticing.
"Nope." Kaito decided right then and there. That was obvious one of those barriers used to ward off the mundane.
He wanted nothing to do with whatever was going on in there.
Looks like he was taking the long way around to the gym.
As always, after nopeing the hell away from whatever was inside that barrier, Kaito pushed himself hard at the gym and had a nice, relaxing back breaking work out.
By time he left the gym behind, it was already nearing midnight and his muscles ached, both from stretching them beyond and in ways they were not used to, and of course, pushing them to the limit with some good old fashion lifting.
He held the twin boosts from his pair of Twice Critical right up until he got home from the gym, had a nice and filling protein shake, water, not milk, because no way he could afford to use up that much milk constantly and then headed to bed.
He could his boost even his his sleep, or at least until he entered a deep sleep, then it was usually released.
As it was, he'd barely lay his head down before he was conking out for the night and falling asleep.
And promptly, awoke.
It was not a dream, he could tell that right away. Almost instinctually. Also, for one, his dreams usually involved him achieving his dreams, earning lots of money, becoming someone of note, being surrounded by hordes of fans, or of the more carnal nature, quite often featuring girls from his school.
It was not usually a roaring red void.
Nor did he usually find himself staring at a distinctly Asian man dressed in fine silks that could barely contain his bulging belly, with a bushy handlebar mustache and a balding head, casually reclining lazily on his side.
"…What the fuck?" Kaito uttered.
He was absolutely confused.
And lost.
A little bit bamboozled.
He knew one thing though. This was definitely some supernatural bullshit.
The fat silk clad man pushed himself up from his reclined position and casually made his way over to Kaito, "Hmm yes, good, good," the man hummed, stroking his chin and circling the teenager, eyeing him critically, "This will do nicely indeed."
"…Who the hell are you?" Kaito found himself asking on reflex, narrowing his eyes at the man.
The man paused and narrowed his eyes at the boy, "Did I give you permission to speak, clown?" the man clicked his tongue in annoyance and demanded.
"Who the fuck are you talking to fat ass?" Kaito growled, "I don't know what the hell is going on here, but you better watch your mouth."
He did have a vague idea as to what was happening though. Or rather, there could only be one answer that made sense when it regarded whatever the hell this…was.
"You dare speak like that to I? The great and powerful Cao Huan?" the arrogant man snarled, clenching his fists, "I am an Emperor boy, I command more than you could ever imagine, my power is that of the world itself and you believe you have the right to speak within my presence? If this was another time I would have you whipped until you called me grandfather and made any female you were close to my pleasure slave."
As expected, it was the spirit in the magatama making himself known to Kaito, for…whatever reason.
"Alas, I cannot do that, after all," Cao Huan gave him a nasty smirk, licking his lips, "It would not do to damage my new vessel."
Say what?
"The hell are you talking about?" Kaito's brows furrowed.
"Stupid dog," Cao Huan huffed, "It means simply that, this body of yours will be mine after I erase your soul. Your physical ability is impressive, not to mention those interesting gauntlets of yours you used to defeat my descendant. Once I take them for myself and use them with my power, I will be sure to get my revenge on that filthy Sima Yan, he will rue the day he looked down upon me, I shall bestow upon him all the humiliations this world has to offer a-"
The fat Chinese spirit never got a chance to finish.
Because Kaito punched him in the mouth.
The mans nose split and burst blood and he hit the…ground? It was hard to tell in this place.
Either way, he rolled about on the ground clutching his face, "My face, my divine royal face!" he shrieked.
"Oh shut up, that was a love tap!" Kaito growled. He was getting a headache.
Could he get a headache in his own…head? Soul? He had no idea where he was.
Also…this was the ancient Chinese king spirit inhabiting the magatama? How….how did this guy ever learn to use ki?
Speaking of-
A familiar green aura suffused the fat Chinese spirits body and he pushed himself up to his feet, a snarl on his flabby face, "Just for that you mangy mutt, I'm going to make sure to have fun with that fat chested bitch you seem to be so fond of earlier." he threatened.
Kaito stared at the man and blinked slowly, "You know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but that bald fuck I took you from seems like a respectable guy in comparison to you," he shook his head and then his eyes narrowed, "You should watch what you say and to who, you never know just who you'll piss off."
Familiar gauntlets formed around his fists, and all of a sudden, the roaring red void around them?
It stilled.
It split into two.
And the red void formed into shapes.
Two distinct, familiar shapes.
A pair of winged beasts made up of crimson red roaring energy.
And then twin voices echoed from the energy dragons, booming and powerful, reverberating throughout his very soul.
"[BOOST!]"
"[BOOST!]"
Cao Huan clenched his hands against his ears as they burst from the sheer volume of the voices and a scream of terror erupted from his throat, "WHAT…..WHAT IS THIS!?" he trembled in horror, blood leaking through the fingers covering his ears.
….Kaito, wasn't sure.
They were the representations of the power within his Twice Critical, that was for sure. And weren't full on real dragons. More energy shaped like them, probably harvested from a dragon.
Possibly from Y Ddraig Goch, one of the two heavenly dragons and the Red Dragon Emperor.
But he couldn't be sure.
Either way though, none of that mattered right now.
He lashed out, his gauntlet clad hand grasping the obese Chinese Emperor of old by the throat and lifting him into the air.
"Y-you!?" his beady, piggy eyes bulged and his hands left his throat to desperate grab at Kaito's arm and attempt to pull him off, to no avail.
His green aura flared to life once more and he scrabbled with all his might. Only for Kaito to punch him in the face once more with his free hand, cutting his attempts off.
And then he punched him in the face again, and again, and again. The impact of his gauntlet clad hand smashing against the pigs face over and over echoed throughout his soul.
"You know," Kaito commented idly as he punched Cao Huan in the face over and over again, "If you weren't such a cunt, I wouldn't have been all that chuffed with keeping you around, I don't even care you're a fat piece of lard, I could help you lose that with some good proper cardio, but no, you just had to be this way didn't you? And you just had to mention Yanagi and threaten her like that, didn't you?"
Kaito wasn't close to many people. In fact, the only person he was close to was Yanagi. She, and her family, were really the only people currently in the world right now, that he could say he truly cared about.
And usually, Kaito wasn't really a very angry person. In fact, before he merged with his other self, he rarely ever lost his temper.
His other self had anger and violence problems. And if there was one sure fire way to ignite Kaito's temper initially, beyond screwing with all his efforts, was screwing with what and who he cared about.
Together, they made a frightening combination.
"You shouldn't have did that." Kaito informed him and stopped punching him.
The man would have probably sighed in relief, if he could. He couldn't though since his face was currently an unrecognizable pulp of meat, swollen and purple and barely reminiscent of a human face after he worked it over with his face.
Not that it would have mattered.
Because the hand he was punching with previously, joined his other hand in wrapping around the Chinese mans throat.
And he squeezed with all his strength, fingers digging and gouging into the Chinese Emperor's throat.
The obese spirit trembled in his grip and began spasming, fighting tooth and nail with all his might even beaten as he was to escape Kaito's grip.
But it was not to be.
Before long, his struggles lessened, before dying down completely and the once Chinese Emperor, went completely limp in his grasp.
For a moment, nothing happened.
But then, the green energy around Cao Huan's body seemed to pull into his body, before the obese pig began to lose form and seemingly melt in his grasp, his body fading away into that same green energy and floating idly in a small cloud in front of him.
Within his soul.
Kaito stared at it for a moment, before reaching out to it, plunging his hand into it. As he did, he could…feel it?
It felt, almost like static for a moment, before he willed it inside him. And he felt that same rushing sensation from earlier in the alley rush through his body.
But now, he could feel it much more vividly.
Before, it was like he'd briefly dipped his finger in a pond felt water for the first time. Where as, now, it was like he'd submerged himself in a warm bath, and knew exactly where the tap was.
Moments later, the glowing green energy disappeared inside his body and disappeared from sight.
But that was fine.
That wasn't his after all.
Kaito clenched his gauntlet clad fists and focused. A moment later, he felt strength suffuse his being as a crimson red aura of power formed over his arms.
"So this is Touki, huh?" he grinned widely.
Who needed to be a Youkai when he could just devour the soul and power of an ancient Chinese Emperor.
It was the most basic of all uses when it came to Ki from what he knew. Something any Youkai could pretty much use instinctually if he was right. But, that did not at all mean it wasn't useful.
That fat bastard, had just provided the spark for him to feel his own and draw upon it. Nothing more and nothing less.
This would really go a long way. And he honestly wasn't expecting this to happen. Hell, Kaito could say, he simply got lucky.
If Cao Huan hadn't foolishly bitten off more than he could chew, it would probably be a long while before he could draw upon his Touki.
'Still, how the hell did a fat loser like that manage to learn how to use Touki at all?' he wondered, letting the aura around his arms fade.
There was no way that guy trained and learned it.
There were only two things that came to mind to be honest the more Kaito thought on it. Either the usage of Touki was a widespread thing in ancient China, which was unlikely…
Or whoever was behind the toshi and the sacred beads in the first place integrated the technique within the sacred beads themselves.
But who…or what had the kind of power necessary for something like that? And better yet, why?
Honestly, Kaito couldn't even figure out anything about the toshi beyond making wild speculations at this point.
"And not that it really matters anyway." he shrugged. Unless he planned on getting involved with them, which he didn't see the point of at this very moment, he didn't need to pay them any more thought.
There was much more pressing things to think about after all.
Like the elephant in the room.
Or rather the two energy dragons in his soul.
He stared at them for a moment, "Come." he commanded them, willing them to obey.
And they did.
Both twin dragons of crimson red energy descended to bow on the ground before him.
And with another thought, they reared right back up and spread their wings before taking to the air again.
It seemed, while within his soul at the very least, these energy dragons were completely under his control.
'Possibly because they have no consciousness or souls or anything like that?' he mused.
Interesting.
But not important right now.
What was important though-
"How the hell do I get out of here?" Kaito wondered, crossing his arms. This could be a real problem.
What if he missed school because of this and it went on his attendance record?
His sparkling personal record was pivotal to his future accomplishments. If that got messed up because of that fat fuck, he'd seriously hunt down any of spirits related to him like the real Cao Cao and exact vengeance upon them.
Hours later, Kaito awoke with a groan, finally returning to consciousness, and feeling not at all rested since he went to sleep, "Fucking supernatural bullshit." he growled, before rolling over and going back to sleep.
Sleep was vital for recovery and gains after all.
Right then, here we're back with chapter 4.
Quite a few things went down this chapter from the reveal of Yanagi having some form of power she doesn't have in her own series, to the encounter with an exorcist and even a big ol' fatty fat Chinese Emperor trying to take over Kaito's body.
He's a busy busy little bee, huh?
But them dice rolls though. They never let him rest lmao. Well, at least he got Touki out of this.
Moving on. Putting all that aside, we're up to fifteen chapters of this on the Pa-treon. So, you can check that out ahead of here if you want.
Anyway, shameless Pa-atreon plug. I've got one, go by the same username on there, easy to find and all that jazz. Support me if you want, it'd be swell, but don't feel pressured lads and ladies, I'll be uploading my stuff outside it regardless and not keeping it all behind a paywall or anything like that.