章 79: Chapter 78

It has been hours since Ryuya dismissed the young teens who recently got their scroll. He was happy seeing them happily get their scrolls whatever that was. He was currently doing paperwork on his table as he raised his head. The door opens and Ichika enters with a tea on the tray.

Since there's no school these days, Ichika has a lot of free time and she spent much of it in training. She also likes to stay by Ryuya's side whenever she has nothing to do. On her waist is a katana that she stole from the armory. It was just a normal sword but she has kept it.

She often sneaks to the armory to take it and train. Ryuya always catches her on act but she doesn't stop so he doesn't have any choice but to give it to her. However, she has to swear to never take use it on anyone or anything.

"Thank you for the tea. You should go out with Kezoukaku, rather than stayin' here and get bored." Ryuya said to her, who was diligently standing by the door.

"It's okay, Ryuya-dono. I won't get bored in here." Ichika simply replied. Ryuya scratches his head at his subordinate's stubbornness. He was about to drink his tea when he felt a tugging by his waist. He looks down and sees his katana moving weirdly. The katana itself was tied securely to the sheathe and onto his belt. He smiles and looks at Ichika. After a few more tugs, it stopped.

"Ichika, I'm going out for some business. Stay here… you won't get bored after all." He said as he stood up and walked to the sliding door.

"That- that's not what I meant, Ryuya-dono." She stuttered. "Just stay here. Don't worry, I'll be safe."

"But-" "No buts!" Ryuya said as he left the residence. He walks out of the town, then into the forest, and up to the river. As he reaches the river, he sees a naked man submerged in the water and lying on the rocky and muddy bottom.

"Are ya asleep? Should I wait?" He shouts to the submerged man. A second later, the man stands up, revealing his red hair and red eyes hanging and dripping water.

"You should stop callin' me when ye'r naked. What if Ichika or some woman… or even just someone accompanied me as security? They know that I don't have yoryoku anymore after all. When that happens, yer wish to be anonymous would be broken… Hisashi."

…

The two were walking down the mountain. Hisashi is now back to wearing his straw hat that was covering his face.

"Have ya gone to the dungeon?" Ryuya asks Hisashi who was munching on some apples.

"Not yet. I want to get my scroll first. That way, I don't have to go back and forth." Hisashi said.

"Ye'r talking as if the town's days away from the dungeon. Anyways, the shrine's already empty except for the shrine maiden and the priest." Ryuya said, as he takes grabs Hisashi's bag and took out an apple for himself.

"I remembered… You didn't see my first signal. Does that mean that you still can't see me with your eye?" Hisashi asked. Ever since Ryuya obtained his Tengetsu, one of the greatest mysteries for him was that he wasn't able to see Hisashi's situation. Wherever he was, even when near him, he couldn't use his Tengentsu to observe Hisashi. It was a big anomaly. Ryuya just shakes his head.

"How about Ichika and brother? Are they okay? She's not getting any nightmares, does she?" Hisashi asked.

"She's great. Still grumpy, but well. As for yer brother, he's adaptin' greatly. He just got promoted in his squad."

"Is the place what's it like in my story? No. Scratch that, I don't wanna know. Rather… Are there any demons there?" The young teen asks.

"You know… your brother only got there through his luck, right? Lookin' at your face, you still haven't learned how to fly, haven't you? So… why don't ya cancel yer plans? I can describe the place for ya." Ryuya said, worried.

"I won't die, Ryuya. Also, I'll be back. It's just a quick vacation. If there's a place I want to go to as a first destination outside of the continent, it should be that. As for the demons, you don't have to answer. I already know, I just want confirmation." The atmosphere turned negative the longer the two talked. Suddenly, Ryuya laughed out loud.

"HAHAHAHA! What did I expect from ya? Ye'r grumpy just like Ichika. Ya should learn to loosen up, sometimes. If I'm right, yer brother just lost a game earlier and Morgen has to take him back to their base." Ryuya's mood changed. He turned the mood somewhat better as he asked Hisashi about his adventures.

They soon reached the tall shrine where the Scroll Blessing Ceremony happens. They were greeted by some of the shrine maidens on their way. Just before they enter, Hisashi stops and looks at Ryuya. He thought for a moment before asking, "Even if you cannot see me, since you can see everything else… doesn't that mean that you can see me?" The teen asked so and dipped leaving Ryuya to think of it.

'Huh?'

When Hisashi enters the big shrine, what greets him is tall walls and an open ceiling. Along the walls of the middle of the shrine were shelves full of scrolls and books. Some of them were floating in the air while most were simply stocked neatly on the shelves. A tall man in a big kimono was standing in the middle of the ceremony area which was the priest of the shrine.

"The great shogun has informed me of your request. You can call me Taiga. Shall we proceed?" The priest asks. Hisashi simply bows and nods. The priest smiled and didn't waste any more time. Ryuya also arrived along with the other shrine maidens who observed the ceremony as a witness.

The priest gathers his yoryoku as he chants some words of gratitude and appreciation. Even though this wasn't as formal as the real ceremony, it was his duty to uphold and Hisashi respected it. He didn't rush the priest as he gathered his yoryoku. By the time he was almost finished, he finished it by channeling his yoryoku to the altar in the middle.

"Let the Scroll Blessing Ceremony, begin!" Taiga announces as the shrine maidens all celebrate. Many of the scrolls start to fly and dance in the air as if controlled by something. The two watch as they wait for the scroll to appear and come to Hisashi. However, the atmosphere starts to plummet even after a minute... There was no reaction from the shrine. No scroll that was either floating or shelved went to Hisashi's location.

Seeing this, Ryuya panics as he walks to the priest. Hisashi also has a tense and uneasy expression on his face, looking left to right, above and below – everywhere – as if looking for something.

"Taiga-dono, what's happenin'? The ceremony doesn't really take that long, doesn't it? Earlier, the others got theirs in about ten to fifteen seconds." Ryuya whispers to Taiga, who is also puzzled. The shrine maiden stopped with their celebration as they watched in silence.

"Ryuya-dono, I don't know too. This has never happened in my experience before." The priest answered with sincerity. The two watch as Hisashi continues his weird actions. Finding it weird, Ryuya walks to Hisashi.

"Hey, Hisashi. What's up. Are ya okay?" He walks to him but is stopped as Hisashi raises his hand. The latter also stops. Suddenly, Taiga and the shrine maiden start to feel heavy as they feel the yoryoku get heavier. Ryuya felt the change in their Ki but not the issue with the yoryoku. He was about to reach out to his friend when… a blinding light appeared.

Hisashi's chest starts to light up as it tries to escape his body. It flies away out of Hisashi's body but the teen is fighting back. He and Ryuya were also blinded but this light as it gets more intense over time. After another minute of the power struggle, the light starts to dissipate as if losing power.

But that's a mistake as a second that its light disappears, an even greater light flashes as Hisashi feels something come out of his body.

The intensity of the light didn't allow for them to look at it but when it died down… they were in awe. In front of Hisashi, who was sweating his whole body... is a sun. Not a literal sun, but a glow of light. At that moment, as if knowledge entered his brain, Hisashi understood what happened.