Chapter 10: Growth and Decline
The sun rises through the sky, and rays of light pass through the window of a dark room, lighting it up.
"Nnnhh, Too bright"
Stirring awake from the morning sun shining on his face, A young man with fiery red hair tiredly sat up from the bed as he opened his eyes revealing the glint in his golden eyes.
"My jaw aches, Where am I anyway?"
Looking around the familiar room of his apartment, He slowly, recalls all the events that happened last night.
The spar was so intense, for the current him it was the first time he exchanged blows with someone.
'Sloppy'
Recalling the moves that he has done to counter his mother, All he could say was that his movements were so sloppy.
It was not the movement that the stat value he saw during the first opening of his Status Panel represented.
During the first two fights that he took part in, he was light, his movements were smooth and his body was reacting to what he was imagining.
Last night however was the opposite, It was like his body was rebelling against him.
His movements got heavier, each step was harder, and his reaction was slower.
His eye was able to keep up with his mother's movement. However, whenever he wanted to move his body in a specific way to counter her it was slower than usual.
Curious, he opened his status panel in order to check the anomaly he was feeling.
"Status"
[Open Status
Name: Akaou Mikoto
Title: The Red Lion, Prideless, No-Mane, The Red King
------------------------
Stats:-
Charm: 20
Vitality: 25 -> 24.3
Endurance: 28 -> 20
Strength: 24 -> 21
Agility: 24 -> 20
Intelligence: 15 -> 15.5
-----------------------
Unique Skills:-
Enhanced Learning ability
Enhanced Adaptability
Enhanced Recovery
???
???
???
Close]
"WHAT!!" I exclaimed out loud.
Looking at my decreased stats I couldn't help but wonder what was happening.
He was growing weaker than stronger. He did have some increase in some stats but the decline was too much.
Something that made him confused as he rechecked, double-checked, and triple-checked.
And no matter how much he wiped his eyes the numbers didn't change, as he wasn't hallucinating of his reduced stat value.
"Panel, What is going on why did my stats decrease so much"
*Ping
[ Scanning body for anomalies ]
[ Answer, because the body is currently adjusting to the host's soul ]
"Adjusting?, I thought the assimilation was complete?"
I asked in confusion.
[ Correct, The soul assimilating to the body is complete. However, The body adjusting to the soul is not, The body has been accustomed to the soul of the original Akaou Mikoto, so it provided it with everything it needed. In short, it adapted to Akaou Mikotos' needs. Now it is currently adjusting to the current Akaou Mikoto hence the reduced stat value ]
"Will I regain my stats when it finished adjusting?" Hopeful, for a positive response.
[ No, the stat value given during the initial activation of the Status Panel was the stat value at that current time. It was at Peak Performance so to say. However, due to changes in habits and daily activities, the status panel reflected the decline in the stat value. ]
I was devastated to hear the first half of the Panels' response but was a little flabbergasted by the latter half.
"Change in habits? y-you mean sleeping?"
[ Correct ]
"Th-that is so ridiculous, Not sleeping in the afternoon is what made my stat value decline?"
[ Correct ]
"So, It will return if I start sleeping in the afternoon again? right?" I hopefully asked again.
[ Wrong ]
"What!?, Why not"
[ If we were to put it into the perspective of the original Akaou Mikoto having a status panel and skills, Then he would have a skill called 'The Slumber, Before the Hunt' a skill that allows the user to gain accumulating bonus stat value whenever he sleeps more than 15 hours a day. ]
"You have got to be kidding me, The original has a broken-ass skill like that?!" Mikoto astonishingly replied.
"Him being lazy and sleeping around is what made him stronger?!, What was he a plant?! Was he Escanor?!"
"Sleeping was just like the rising sun for him?!"
"How I wish I had something like that! Those three question marks in my Unique Skills better be broken too or I swear, '@#$%!%'!!! "
Not being able to hold his frustration Mikoto cursed all the words that he knew.
"Wait, Why don't I have that anyway?"
[ Skills are bound to one's soul, The host taking over his body, and his soul leaving, took the skills with it ]
"ARGH!!! Damn it! Such a waste!"
Frustrated with the outcome as his inner laziness from his past self was showing.
Even though he decided that he would change and that he would be better from now on, Losing such a good skill was still very frustrating to him.
"So how low will my stats go down if this keeps up?" I slowly asked as I tried to calm myself from all this frustrating news.
[ The decline should be stopping soon, around 14 to 16 stat value of your Strength, Agility, and Endurance. ]
Being a little down on how low the stat value will drop I couldn't help but feel a bit down.
That is when I heard another notification sound.
*Ping
[ Enhanced Adaptability in progress ]
[ Due to Enhanced Adaptability, The stat value may retain at a bit higher stat value than anticipated due to your skills activation. ]
[ Due to being already accustomed to a higher stat value, regaining lowered stats should be an easier endeavor ]
"*Sigh* " With a relief sigh as I placed my hand on my chest in relief that I would be able to gain the lost stats, It would take some time but it was not an impossible task.
'At least some good came out of this'
Looking at the stat values that increased, I promptly asked the Panel why those specific stats increased and how.
"Panel, Why did my Intelligence and Vitality increase?"
[ Increase in Intelligence was due to the use of your skill Enhanced Learning during your spar with Akaou Ikari as you tried to learn and apply all those new moves that she showed you. Your previous use of it from your previous two fights did accumulate some increase in stats but not as much as with the fight with Akaou Ikari ]
[ Enhanced Vitality on the other hand increased from enduring all the blows that Akaou Ikari delivered to you ]
[ Thanks to the analysis of the body, this was not the first time the original Akaou Mikoto increased his Vitality like this. According to the analysis, the initial stats of the original were only at around 11. After the sparing beat down he received from Akaou Ikari, His Vitalities Stat Value spiked from 11 to 23. And during the last two years, it only increased by 1 ]
[ The Stat Value for Endurance also increased. However, due to the current decline of the Hosts' stats, it is not currently visible ]
Stunned, he couldn't believe how hard his mother beat him down during their first-ever spar.
He does have the memory of that time. However, He does not have the experience.
Scanning the Originals' memories is like watching a very realistic movie, he may see what was happening but he however is not able to grasp the experience, emotion, and pain during that time.
This may be one of the downsides of the transmigration to this body.
"I may not have the experience from those fights, but I can learn from them"
With renewed resolve, He stood up from the bed as he closed the Status Panel and looked at the time.
6:27 a.m.
Class starts at 8 a.m. so he still has a few minutes to do some light training in order to freshen up all that he learned last night and try to apply them now.
Recalling last night's spar he remembered his mothers' footwork, It was graceful and effective to close in the gaps on the opponent in order to get closer or put some distance from them to recollect yourself after a clash.
Mikoto did some light jumping to warm up and execute the footwork in order to get used to it.
Recalling the Originals' fights, He was more of a fist fighter, and only on rare occasions did he use his legs for a fight.
He used his long legs as a gap closer, taking advantage of his long strides to chase after his enemies.
I, on the other hand, ever since taking over this body have been using my legs more as my main weapon in fighting, This should confuse some of the opponents I have fought before if I ever get to fight them again.
Changing fighting styles isn't rare but the transition is a little hard, especially if you change from fists to kicks.
"For now I should focus on training my legs, footwork, and kicks, and avoid using my hands during fights for now"
After preparing for school, having taken my bath, and eating my breakfast.
Thinking of what I said this morning, to lessen using my hands and get used to my legs more I put both my hands in the pocket of my pants and walked onwards to school.
.
===== Takemichi PoV =====
--- 12 years in the future ---
After shaking hands with Tachibana Naoto, I woke up in the Medical facility of the train station.
The officer told me that someone saved me before getting hit by the train.
That person was none other than Tachibana Naoto himself.
He told me that it was real, everything that I experienced all the things that I have been through.
All those were real.
He took my advice on this day, 12 years in the past, and changed his fate.
Escaping the path of his death thanks to my time leaping to the past, he became a detective, studying hard in order to protect his sister, Tachibana Hinata.
He told me that he did everything he could, in order to protect her but he felt helpless.
All the time he took to study, in order to become someone competent enough; who was able to be there... To be by his sisters' side and protect her.
From the tone of his voice, I concluded that we were not able to protect Hina.
This caused me to feel pain in my chest as I clenched my shirt, Frustrated that I had a chance to change something but I was not able to accomplish anything.
This frustration and pain built up within me as my eyes started to moist, feeling the need to cry.
To burst out all these negative feelings.
I was about to lash out at anyone in here but stopped midway when I heard Naotos' next words.
"I was able to prevent her death, But now she suddenly disappeared"
"D-disappeared?, what do you mean? did she get kidnapped or something?"
Hearing that Hina was alive put a huge relief in me. However, the moment Naoto told me that she disappeared, I was racking my brain to understand if the criminal organization of the Tokyo Manji Gang was still the reason for her disappearance.
"I am not sure Takemichi-kun, She had disappeared for around a month now and we still have no idea who took her"
"Even if she was dead, her body would have been hidden in order to prevent any links to be associated with any of the current gangs in the area"
"I am sorry Takemichi-kun, I was not able to protect my sister even though you already gave me all the inforomation that I may need, I was still unable to protect my sister"
"Please!, I need your help Takemichi-kun"
Naoto looked at me with eyes filled with determination and a promise, as he continued.
"I'm sure with your help, We can save my sister"
"I can... Save Hina?"
Gulping at his words, I stared back into his determined eyes bringing some confidence in his words and some doubts as to what I could possibly do in order to save Hina.
.
After leaving the train station's medical facilities we made our way to one of Naotos' place.
Seated in one of the swivel chairs as I looked around the boards, pinned in it were different kinds of people, possibly from Naotos' job as a detective.
"Time Leap"
Hearing Naoto speak my attention is shifted to him as he explains what my power to time leap can do.
"I have a theory on how your power works, as you can jump to 12 years in that past, and the trigger seems to be the handshake that we did before you returned at this timeline"
"From now on I will drill into you all the things I have researched about Tokyo Manji and the mysterious organization that seemed to be feared by all criminal organizations in the underworld society"
"M-mysterious organization?"
Fear was apparent in my voice, I know we were already dealing with Tokyo Manji, but now we have to research about some mysterious organization? come on this is just too scary!.
"Why do we even need to look up someone from such an organization?"
"I told you already Takemichi-kun, I don't know who took my sister or how she disappeared. All I know is that if such an organization has such a well-known reputation then they should know something about what happened to her"
Still a little unconvinced of the reason, as to why we needed to poke such a mysterious organization.
For now, he listened to all Naoto had to say about this organization.
"O-okay?, So what's this mysterious organization's name?"
"They are called...
HOMRA"
.
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Authors note:
Sorry for not posting a chapter for a couple of days, been a little busy for the last couple of days and had some free time now so if I don't have anything interrupting me the following days, I should be able to post a chapter tomorrow too.
What do you think of the story so far?
Do leave a comment.
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