Ruuji tried to reach out towards the owner of the distressed voice calling for him with his hands. The voice was very familiar, one he had heard many times but this was the first time he had ever heard it with so many emotions attached. He couldn't quite put a finger on who it belonged to, yet he instinctively reached out towards its direction with the motive of calming down his long-time friend. His eyes had yet to adjust to the sudden brightness that painted his surroundings, so he couldn't open them to confirm who the owner of the voice was. Judging by its pitch, it had to be an adolescent female. These were the hints that Ruuji had at the moment, but he still couldn't figure anything out. Ruuji still hadn't figured out what had just happened. He couldn't put together his memories as his mind was completely scrambled and unorganized.
Before his fingers got to touch anything, his arms dropped to the cushioned floor below him as a sudden wave washed through his entire body. It was as if he was being crushed by something heavy sitting on top of him covering his body from top to toe. The pains slowly diminished and, in the meantime, Ruuji had restored his short-term memory. He remembered someone telling him about what he experienced.
"in your world, you will discover that your body is still quite heavy. You also have to add the atmospheric pressure and the fact that you will be waking up after having fainted."
His encounter with the giant blue dragon living inside of him and the fight against all the other seven avatars. All of those memories were returning to him. He dived deeper and deeper into his memories, watching the story of his own life in reverse, trying to at least identify the distressed woman in front of him.
"REA!"
All of Ruuji's lost memories rushed towards him and he came back to his senses, blindly lunging his fatigued body towards her and tightly hugging the person who he had been his mother figure ever since he became an orphan. He tried to force his eyes open although it was still too bright to see a thing, but it was okay. He already knew how she looked. His eyes began watering due to the light and a few tears rolled down his cheek heading for his chin before giving in to gravity and dropping gently down upon Rea's soft white fur.
Ruuji's eyes were slowly getting used to the bright environment and right in front of him, a white fox the size of a wolf was sitting with tears in her own eyes. Her silhouette bathed in brightness that his eyes were still trying to adapt to. She had stopped crying the moment he had shown signs of being alive and he could feel how her breathing and heartbeat changed when he had hugged her just before.
"I'm sorry that I've left you worried sick about me."
"It's alright. I-I was sure that you had died but you're really alive and that is what matters."
"I'll explain everything as soon as I've had some rest. I don't know how much longer I can sit like this."
Ruuji dropped to the floor once again as the futon and a pillow softened his landing. Rea had a very relieved smile on her face when she replied.
"Then I shall wait here for you to wake up. I bet you would like to know what has happened while you were out cold."
Rea reached towards Ruuji's forehead and gave it a single gentle lick.
"Sleep tight, Ruuji-kun."
Ruuji planted the back of his head even deeper into the familiar pillow. He had spent a lot of time here and even slept over now and then. In less than a minute, he was sound asleep. He could finally return to his peaceful life again.
Even though it was only around three in the afternoon when he fell asleep, Ruuji slept till the next morning. He had never been this exhausted before.
The morning had arrived and the explosions among the other terrifying sounds of an all-out war from the day before had vanished and been replaced by the sounds of a variety of different birds chirping in the background.
Ruuji had just woken up but was still very drowsy. Somewhere to his right, a soft breathing could be heard. Ruuji used his hands to push himself off the futon in a sitting position and turned his head towards the white wolf-sized fox sleeping peacefully on the tatami mats all curled up with her nine tails covering her entire body except for her head poking out between two of her tails. It seems like Rea had been waiting for Ruuji to wake up again and stayed by his side ever since he fell asleep last afternoon.
Ruuji slowly sneaked off the futon, trying not to wake Rea while doing so. He walked on the tips of his toes trying not to put too much pressure on each step without making the floor creak to make as little sound as possible. He even held his breath while walking towards the hallway. The door was already open, making it easy to walk silently into the hallway. As Ruuji made his way down the short corridor he was so familiar with, he let out a breath of relief.
Everything had worked out. The enemies' target was obviously Ruuji but with the other seven avatars dead, the enemy forces must have retreated. Ruuji was surprisingly well considering he had just collapsed less than a day ago. Nothing seemed to be wrong with him physically but Akkua had told him not to use magic with his mana reserve was dangerously low.
As Ruuji reached the end of the corridor, he found himself in a dead end with a door on his right and one on his left just as he remembered it, although he didn't remember where each door lead. He remembered that one of the doors lead to the outside courtyard and the other one lead to the kitchen but he couldn't recall exactly which door he had to go through to reach the kitchen so it was all a guessing game. Ruuji decided to go right as he thought he could smell food coming from the other side of the door.
When Ruuji's was born, his mother died. Because of that, he had only known a father figure, if he even deserved to be called that. His dad didn't act like one. The only true parental figure for him had been Rea. After the death of his wife, Ruuji's father had picked up a drinking habit that only worsened as time passed. Ruuji had lost his motivation in school as he had no parental backup. He also had to learn how to cook all on his own, experimenting with different ingredients until the result was somewhat tasty. When his dad died in a drunken fist fight, nothing really changed. Sure, he was evicted a few days later as a child couldn't afford to pay rent but with no orphanage built yet and no relatives within hundreds of miles, Ruuji was left homeless with nowhere to go until he met Rea. As a result of experiencing his father's neglect and alcoholism first hand, Ruuji, age 28, has never touched alcohol and has always been overprotective towards his loved ones. He did everything he could to be different from his father.
He had at least learned one useful thing, Ruuji thought as he went to the kitchen to prepare some breakfast. There was no need to, however, as breakfast had already been made.
As soon as Ruuji entered the kitchen, the first thing to catch his attention was the unknown man with blond short hair and a stubble dressed in a black apron lifting a spoon from the pot in front of him towards his lips before drinking the steaming hot stew on it. The man was probably somewhere in his early twenties.
Of course there was already someone here. Someone had to make the food, Ruuji had smelled just before barging in. It was just so unnatural for him to see someone other than Rea in her renovated shrine.
While Ruuji still had a surprised look on his face, the man put down the spoon and turned his head towards him putting on a welcoming smile.
"Ah, you must be Ruuji Berodo. Lady Rea had asked me to make you something that could help your body recover but you seem to be in good health already."
Ruuji only nodded in response. He didn't think too much about the greeting but rather how the man had addressed Rea. Lady? Ruuji had never heard anyone call her that. Apparently, a lot of things had changed in the three days he had been absent.
"Say, Berodo-san, do you feel like having breakfast already? I know it is very early but the stew seems to be done."
Ruuji was about to decline but when he opened his mouth to speak his first words since waking up, he noticed just how dry his mouth was. He wanted to see what had changed around the shrine before eating breakfast but he had no reason to hurry. Breakfast came in first. Everything else could wait till later.
Ruuji changed his expression and replied, smiling back at the chef.
"I would love to! I haven't eaten properly in a few days and yesterday, I skipped two meals. What kind of stew is it?"
"Nothing special, really. Potatoes and whatever meat we could find in the surrounding forest, although Lady Rea had forbidden us from hunting most animals living here. There were also some spices lying around... Anyways, Rea told me you weren't a picky eater."
While the chef was explaining the contents of the stew, he poured a portion of it into a bowl. He placed the bowl and a clean spoon on a nearby table and pulled out a wooden chair.
"Please take a seat, Berodo-san."
Wasting no time, Ruuji took his seat and brought a spoonful of stew to his mouth, blowing on it before putting it in his mouth.
"The meat. Could it be from a rabbit?"
"Correct! the fox's natural prey. Do you like it?"
"Yes, you really know how to cook a good stew."
"Thank you, that is more than enough to satisfy me."
With a satisfied smile, the chef headed back to the pot and started pouring stew into two dozen other bowls.
"Uhh... One portion is enough. It is tasty but there is no way I can eat that much even though I might be starving."
Ruuji's could feel the cold sweat appearing on his forehead as the chef slowly turned his face towards him, now with a more sinister smile reaching from ear to ear.
"Oh, these. These aren't for you. There are others here who need my cooking just as much as you do."
"Others? Where?"
"Come with me once you've finished your stew and I'll show you. That is if you don't mind helping me out a little bit."
"As long as helping you out doesn't mean, that I have to use magic."
"I assure you that no such thing is needed."
The chef took a bowl of stew in each hand and walked out through the door that would eventually lead you outside the shrine.
When Ruuji had finished eating breakfast, the chef had already served six portions of food to the people outside. He left the table and took a bowl in each hand just like the chef did. As soon as he turned around, the chef walked into the kitchen for the third time.
"I appreciate your help, Berodo-san. Now I'll show you what I meant by 'others'."
Ruuji followed the chef out the kitchen into the entrance, which used to be the entire shrine before he helped renovate it.
Everything was as he remembered it until they stepped outside. Usually, there was just an empty garden with no flowerbeds and a stone path leading towards the forest. Not much of a sight but today, the view had changed dramatically.
A dozen tents had been raised. He could also spot a few hammocks tied between trees at the edge of the surrounding forest. There was a fireplace in the middle of the camp and a white long piece of cloth spread out with weapons lined up on top of it. Shurikens, Kunai knives, tonfas, sais, chakrams, and katanas.
Despite the size of the camp, there were only a few people outside. They were all bald and dressed in a dark purple gi with a black cloth belt. A uniform that belonged to the shinobi and kunoichi of Yoake island. Ruuji noticed how none of them had any food near them even though the chef had just delivered six portions.
Shrugging his shoulders, he walked towards a shinobi who was sitting on a tree stump, sharpening a katana. He stretched his right arm towards the man, offering him a bowl of warm stew.
"Berodo-san, the healthy ones can wait. Our priority is the ones having their wounds treated inside the tents."
"That would explain it", Ruuji thought as he pulled back his arm and changed direction towards the tents.
"Sorry for intruding."
He could hear a muffled voice from the other side of the canvas as he undid the buttons before entering.
"Isn't it a little early for breakfast? No, excuse me, I shouldn't be complaining."
On the other side, a man was lying down on a rice mat with what looked like a broken tibia and fibula. Ruuji offered him the stew and the man gladly accepted it.
He couldn't help but feel bad for the man as he watched him eat. Those injuries were nothing to joke about. without a healer, he would maybe never fully recover. Ruuji couldn't help him either as he was forbidden from using any kind of magic. Even his newly discovered healing powers.
"What's with the long face? If you're worried about my leg, a comrade of mine is fetching bandages and herbs as we speak. You should have seen yourself yesterday. You were in a much worse condition. Anyways, shouldn't you be delivering that other bowl before it gets cold?"
"Right."
Ruuji left the tent and headed for the one next to it. Just like before, he undid the buttons and delivered the stew to a man with bandages wrapped around his forehead. He then went inside the shrine to grab two new portions of stew and continued doing this until he and the chef had finished their job.
Inside the shrine's kitchen, the chef was looking through all its cupboards and shelves as if he was looking for something. Ruuji had just returned with the final empty bowl as the shinobi outside had finished their meal.
The chef turned towards Ruuji to thank him for his help.
"I really appreciate the help, Berodo-san and I'm sure the others do as well. Unfortunately, seems like we are running low on food rations and medicinal herbs. I don't want my comrades here to starve to death or succumb to their injuries so someone has to do something about it."
"By someone you mean me, right?"
"Well, the men outside are busy licking their wounds and guarding the area and last time I tried going into the forest, the spirits got aggressive and chased me out. According to lady Rea, the spirits are calm around you so I figured you would be the best man for the job."
"The one right behind you doesn't seem very aggravated."
Ruuji was pointing towards the sky blue spirit, that had just flown through the door and was currently hovering right behind the chef.
The chef turned around immediately in surprise. The spirit didn't seem to mind the sudden movement at all and flew right past him towards Ruuji. Like most of the forest spirits, this one was a glowing sky blue flame hovering in mid-air. It was only around 10 centimeters in diameter but a spirit like this could kill a grown man with relative ease. No wonder why the chef seemed so afraid of them.
The spirit flew closer and closer towards Ruuji, clearly aiming for his head and he felt a warmth rushing through him as the spirit phased right through his head. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling. This was how spirits communicated with each other. Ruuji heard a voice echoing inside his head.
"Miss Rea has awakened. That is all."
The spirit flew away through the same door it had used as an entrance and the chef stopped shaking.
"Fine. I'll go into the forest and see if I can find anything. While I'm at it, I might as well help Rea hunt some breakfast. Just give me half an hour to be ready."
The chef nodded.
"Right."
Ruuji made his way into his temporary bedroom where Rea had been sleeping beside him. This time, he didn't have to sneak. Rea was sitting patiently, white as snow, on the floor as he opened the door. He could tell from her wagging tail that she was happy to see him.
"Good morning, Rea... I guess I have some explaining to do. Just like I promised you."
Rea stopped wagging her tail and used it to point towards the futon.
"Sit here, then we can talk. I'll listen to the entire story."
Ruuji placed himself on the futon next to Rea and began telling the entire story of what happened on the battlefield, his encounter and exhausting battle with the seven other avatars, the aftermath of the fight and his talk with Akkua.
Rea seemed really immersed in the story reacting with gasps and all sorts of facial expressions the entire way through his story.
"You defeated seven of them at once! Amazing! Maybe that's why they retreated. I wonder what happened to the spirits inside them"
"Akkua-san seems like a really nice spirit. I guess I should thank him for you being alive if I ever get the chance."
"Oh! You can't use magic for a while... It's alright! You already drove all the bad guys away, hehe.
Despite everything that had happened, Rea couldn't help but feel happy and excited just by being able to talk to Ruuji and see him uninjured.
"Oh by the way."
Rea turned her face towards Ruuji prepared to listen to anything he had to say.
"We are running low on supplies so the chef asked me to fetch some in the forest."
"Denki did?"
"That's his name? He was so creepy that I never mustered the courage to ask him about it."
Rea looked at him with a puzzled face tilted to the side. She clearly didn't know what he meant by that.
"Can I come along? I can ask the spirits to help out too."
"Definitely! While we're there, maybe I can help you hunt some breakfast."
Her face lit up even more and she started wagging her tail back and forth again.
"That sounds great!"
With everything settled, Ruuji and Rea headed towards the forest. On their way, they passed through the kitchen where a note was left with everything needed. However, Denki the chef was nowhere to be seen or found.