Few more days had passed since Reira decided to temporary stay at Tenjou Shrine.
As expected of her nomadic lifestyle, she adapted to the new environment exceptionally, especially with her cute and lovely kouhais by her side.
Akira and Mako continued their daily routine, and now with Reira by their side but she was more burden than help in most situations.
She'd follow Akira and Mako around the shrine while they work and wholeheartedly wanted to help, but since she had never actually 'work' before, she screwed up a lot and the two of them had to clean up her mess.
Reira felt sorry and her urge to help grew. Mako however smartly stopped her, she told Akira to take care of Reira, bring her around town or train with her, just to keep her away from messing up more.
Mako could easily cover Akira's part but cleaning up twice as much mess from Reira proved to be a tedious task.
Reira knew she had caused trouble, so in the next 2 days, after Akira and her finished touring around town, she'd buy things to eat for Mako, Samuro and the workers of the shrine.
Even though she lived a nomadic life, exorcism assignments paid quite handsomely some times, she'd easily be more wealthy than a normal salaryman despite not owning a place to stay.
Aside from the vacation, Reira also trained with Akira.
Both Akira and Reira were in training hakama, facing each other with their weapon of choice.
Standing in the middle of the multipurpose hall, Akira pointed his wooden naginata at Reira's bokken, a wooden katana.
The air was tense as both of them stared at each other, neither one of them moved a muscle as though they were status.
Sweat rolled down Akira's face, and when that drop of sweat fell on the floor—
Hyak!
With a step forward, both Akira and Reira charged at each other at lightning speed.
The bokken and naginata clashed in a flash, causing a loud clunk to echo in the air but it didn't just end there.
After reaching the opposite side, the two of them turned around, launching more strikes at each other.
Akira thrusted his wooden naginata furiously, almost like a machine gun firing out a barrage of bullets but every single thrust was fended off by the bokken.
Reira wielded the bokken with both her hands, it moved so fast that the air around her hands started to distort, afterimages of her movements were left in the trail.
Exactly 64 thrusts later, Akira pulled the naginata back a little to charge it up for a stronger thrust. However, the moment the naginata launched, it suddenly changed its trajectory, transforming into a horizontal sweep.
The sudden change widened Reira's eyes in surprise. She swiftly adjusted her body, moved her bokken to the right and blocked the sweep.
Clunk!
After a successful block, Reira strengthened her hands and powerfully drove her kanata forward for a thrust.
"You are open!"
The powerful thrust from the bokken whipped up a strong wind at its tip, blowing straight into Akira's face. The stinging sensation caused a bitter smile on Akira, if he would tilt his head aside to dodge the thrust, the thrust would certainly turn into a sweep, which could hit him but if he didn't, his face would receive the thrusting strike.
Then, a lightning thought formed in his head, he tightened his grip on the naginata and swept it back at Reira's abdomen. It wasn't to strike her, but to push her aside, so that her thrusting kanata would miss.
The push from Akira's naginata put an awkward expression on Reira when she was pushed slightly away.
After missing her thrust, she swung it back at Akira and Akira too swung his naginata at the bokken.
Pak!
Upon contact, Reira's bokken shattered into pieces and because of the length advantage, the wooden naginata managed to hit Reira's shoulder before it too broke into two.
Both Akira and Reira staggered away from each other due to the momentum.
"What?! Again?" Reira cried out of surprise after she regained her balance. "This damn bokken cannot keep up with my speed!" Reira grunted as she clapped the wooden chips off her hands.
Akira with two sections of the naginata in each his hand looked at Reira, "Guess I win this time. Phew, Reira-neesan, you are really fast!"
"The Lightning Hand isn't just a decoration you know, my dear." Reira walked over and laid her hand over Akira's shoulder, looking at him with a sharp yet cunning gaze, "You only win because of your choice of weapon, boy, don't get cocky." Reira flicked his nose before turning away for some water.
Akira bitterly smiled. He knew what Reira said was true as he could tell she was holding back, she wasn't even using her strongest stance, which is iaijutsu.
Iaijutsu, a combative quick-draw sword technique that relies on the speed of the wielder. The idea of iaijutsu is to inflict damage without showing the blade to the enemy. Since Reira had the title of the Lightning Hand, her attainments in iaijutsu was self-explanatory.
Reira had been using her own katana from the very beginning of her exorcism life, even in training, because not every katana could handle her lightning fast wielding, let alone a wooden one.
It wasn't the first training session Akira had with Reira since her arrival, but this was actually the first time Akira got a win. Every other session ended when Reira shattered her bokken, and this was actually the 10th that she broke.
Still, Akira wasn't discouraged by the lost to his senpai, in fact he felt happy because he was able to learn many more new things from Reira's movements.
"Here." Reira tossed a bottle of water to Akira out of a sudden.
With the broken naginata in his hands, Akira still managed to catch the bottle of water, but… he looked at the broker naginata with squinted eyes.
"I feel like I am forgetting something… Hmmmmm… OH RIGHT!!"
Akira finally remembered what Samuro told him about solving the little problem of his Bladestaff being too obvious during assignments.
It has been days since Reira was released from the station and Akira was so caught up with settling her senpai down, to the point that he had forgotten about it. Even more so since there weren't any assignments since that day.
Later that evening, Akira went to Samuro to seek answers to his questions.
"Uncle Samuro! I finally remember what you told me before! You said there is a way to make my Bladestaff more inconspicuous?"
"Did I say something like that?" Samuro feigned a pondering look with furrowed brows.
"Come on Uncle Samuro, tell me! You wouldn't want me to attract unwanted attention because of arming my Bladestaff in public during assignments right?" Akira put his hands together, begging for an answer.
"Hahahaha, fine, fine fine. I knew what I said before, I was just teasing you since you yourself seems to have forgotten about it. I thought you like to be more eye-catching." Samuro stroked his beard with a generous laugh.
"Yeah, yeah yeah, blame Reira-neesan for that. Come on, tell me about it!" Akira's eyes were shining in anticipation.
"It is actually not making it look inconspicuous, it is actually making it disappear." Samuro said.
"Disappear? What? I don't quite understand." Confused, Akira scratched his head.
"You see, people who can generate and control spiritual power can actually 'spiritualize' things, like turning an item into spirit energy and call it back out when needed. It's a lot more convenient for exorcist like you to carry out their assignments in the day." said Samuro.
"Wait, we can do that? Why didn't I know about that before?" Akira more confused than before. "Then what are we waiting for, I got my Bladestaff here, teach me, Uncle Samuro."
"Hahaha, don't be so impatient, and I didn't say I know how."
"What?"
"There is someone who is a specialist in 'spiritualization'. Go meet him and he might be able to help you learn something new. Here is a map to locate him."
Samuro took a map out of his sleeve and passed it to Akira, "Remember the scroll when you signed your name during the contracted ceremony, this map works the same way. Good luck then."
Smiling, Samuro provided Akira with more details of the place before he saw Akira off excitingly.
******
Standing in the middle of the empty road at night, Akira rolled open the map and infused his spiritual energy into it.
A map of Shinjuku City was drawn with white lines and blocks. A red dot appeared in the middle and… it started moving! Notwithstanding that the map was on a piece of paper, the red dot in the middle moved as though it was a digital tablet.
"How the hell is a clinic moving like a car?!" Akira grunted.
Drifting Clinic, it was the place that Samuro told Akira to visit to spiritualize his Bladestaff, and Akira was told to look for Tenouji Yoshitomi, a doctor serving both the human world and the supernatural realm, but leaned towards the latter most of the time.
The moving red dot on the map represents the entrance to the Drifting Clinic. As its name suggested, the clinic's entrance was on a constant move from door to door, sometimes the door of a house, sometimes a door of a convenience shop.
The reason why it was constantly moving was because the doctor who runs the clinic wanted to keep uninvited guests away, most specifically Yoma.
"This 'entrance' is really something else, how could an entrance even move?" said Mako, who popped her head over Akira's shoulder.
"I know right, even with my encounters, this is actually a first for me." said Reira, who popped her head over Akira's other shoulder.
The two girls decided to tag along when Akira told them he was going to the clinic for spiritualization.
Mako tagging along was considered normal, since she was his guardian, she tends to follow Akira wherever he goes. Reira, on the other hand, was curious, and somewhat free since she had no clue where to search for her target.
"Okay madams, we shall know what it really is when we catch it. This way!"
With the map in hand, Akira went after the red dot with the two girls following.
The red dot, however, moved swiftly, as if it was matching Akira's speed.
Akira and company were always a few steps behind it, but after around 20 minutes of chasing it around the district, they finally caught a glimpse of the red dot's true form: it was a bat, a red color bat flying around.
It was Mako who spotted the bat before it turned into a corner.
Since a bat uses echolocation to sense its surroundings, going after it or approaching it with a bang would definitely not work. Hence, Mako suggested that they bait and trap the bat, instead of chasing at its pace blindly.
Akira was bait, he'd continue to chase the bat around, but with a goal this time. His goal was to chase the bat into Mako and Reira's trap before capturing it for some answers.
Akira hastened his steps and managed to shorten the distance, he even caught the attention of the bat.
The bat looked at him with a teasing gaze as it shuttled through the streets. Akira also sensed the gaze, he grinned before he started to attack the bat with Light Bolt.
The bat was nimble as it dodged all of Akira's Light Bolt but unbeknownst to it, it was falling into the trap as Akira was leading it to Mako and Reira.
"This is it! Light Bolt!"
Another Light Bolt flew out from Akira's Bladestaff, but the bat dodged it in the nick of time before it turned into an alley.
Pak!
The moment it turned into the corner, it flew itself into a net.
"Kyaaaaa! What is this!!! Let me go! Let me go!"
Struggling with the net, the bat started to talk.
"Hello batman." Akira walked up to the captured bat with Mako and Reira behind him.
"I thought it would be harder than this, since we prepared so many other things, I guess this bat is not as smart as it looks." Reira squatted down and poked the bat's nose.
"Who are you calling stupid? I am the great Ai, the watcher of the night, the keeper of the dark! I'll suck your blood dry if you continue to insult me!"
Ai, the red bat, reacted like a child when Reira mocked it. Despite that it was threatening to suck Reira's blood, its eyes were somewhat teary and on the brink of crying.
"Now, now, let's not get riled up here. We are looking for the Drifting Clinic." Akira stepped up and explained their intention.
"The clinic? You guys are patients of the doctor? Phew, thank the night! I thought you guys are some bad guys trying to skin me alive." Ai heaved a breath of relief, it stopped struggling and put its wing over its head, pretending to wipe away its sweat. "Let me out and I'll tell you where the clinic is."
"How do we know that you won't fly away again?" Reira raised a brow.
"Come on little girl, I am a bat of my words. The clinic is open to all and my job is to guide patients to the doctor. Why would I fly away from my duty?" Ai looked at Reira with squinted eyes, even though it was a bat, it behaved and talked like a person.
After Akira released Ai from the net, it flapped its wings and stretched its body before it flew and landed on the rail beside the road.
"Ahem. Let me reintroduce myself. I am Ai, the clinic's watcher. You are all here to see Tenouji-sensei am I right?"
Akira nodded and asked, "Where is the entrance?"
"Before I show you the entrance, you must first solve my riddles. The doctor will only help those who are deemed worthy."
"You little bastard!" Reira rolled up her sleeve and wanted to punch Ai.
Frightened, Ai shut its eyes and covered its head with its wings. "Aaaah, don't beat me! Its standard operating procedures! I can't show you the entrance if you don't answer my riddles! I'm a fruit bat and I don't suck blood! Please don't beat me!"
"Reira-neesan! Calm down! Let's hear what it has to say!" Mako held Reira back with a bitter smile, "Ai right? What kind of riddles do you have for us?"
Ai heaved another breath of relief when Mako stepped in, it cleared its throat again before saying, "I'm here to test you about the knowledge of the supernatural world, answer one wrong and you can go home for today. Are you ready?"
Ai took pride in its job of providing riddles, it looked at all three of them with glimmering eyes.
"Let us hear it." said Akira.
"The first one: I am invisible, I am sharp, I cut without blood and kill without action. What am I? Each of you have one chance, think carefully before you answer." Ai showed a confident grin before giving time for the three of them to think.
Minutes went by, Akira had his hands under his chin while Mako was scratching her head, Reira on the other hand straight away gave up, thinking was not her forte, she preferred action over thoughts.
"I got it! Words!" Akira thumped his palm with a delighted look.
"Wro-... What? What did you say?" Ai was instinctively going to tell Akira that his answer was wrong, but when the word subsided, it gave the answer a second thought.
"Words, spoken words," said Akira confidently.
The answer baffled Ai, it was not even close to the answer it had in mind but since this was the first time it got such a weird answer, it decided to go along with Akira.
"Hmmmm, the answer is actually the legendary Vacuum Reaper, but since it's an answer that I've never heard before, I'll let you persuade me with it." Ai gave a chance to Akira to explain his answer, if Akira could move Ai, he would be able to pass.
Mako and Reira exchanged gaze in confusion.
"I am invisible, meaning it can't be seen, just like spoken words, but if you typed it out or write it... Hmmm." Somehow Akira found the error in his answer, but he did not want to give up. "Wait wait, let me try to finish it. 'I am sharp, I cut without blood and kill with silence.', meaning people always hurt people with words, spoken or typed, especially in this modern age where internet is almost accessible to everyone. Words are like a knife, cutting people without knowing and possibly kill them with depression. There are many cases where people take their own lives from constant cyber bullying or peer pressure. It's not an obvious weapon, but it's sometimes more deadly than malevolence. It is sad that people killed themselves over what people say about them, especially when the victim does nothing wrong yet he or her kept getting bashed because they couldn't fit into the norm. And besides, people who kill themselves because of depression usually turned into a troublesome Yoma."
A barrage of words came out from Akira, it was long, but somehow made sense, yet it confused all three of them, Ai, Mako and Reira.
"... What?" Ai was utterly lost, it has no idea what Akira was trying to say, but on second thought, the words that he said somewhat made sense, ironically in this particular era.
"Are you trying to be funny here, Akira?" Mako with her arms around her hips looked at Akira annoyed.
"What? I'm just trying to solve the riddle, and I think my answer, supported by my explanation fits the riddle." Akira shrugged.
Mako shook her head helplessly.
"Young man, I see you are really one of a kind. I'll let you pass this time, try to answer more accurately the second time." After some thoughts, Ai decided to let Akira passed and proceeded with the second riddle.
The trio, especially Akira, was delighted.
"Second one. I have two sides, one bright, one dark; I drift in the limbo, and depending on the current, I'll either shine or darken. What am I?"
Akira and Mako were in deep thoughts once more, while Reira leaned on the rail beside Ai, pretending like she wasn't part of them.
Ai gave Reira the side-eye.
"What are you looking at little bat, I prefer action over thoughts, it's not like I'm… stupid…" Reira averted Ai's judgmental gaze awkwardly.
Ai shrugged and shook its head.
Several more minutes later, Mako stepped up.
"I'll answer first this time. It's Cloak of White Fire."
"Very close, but wrong. You've used up your chances little girl. Now only this young man here has one more try left, since this miss beside him seems to have given up."
Ai shook its wing at Mako, before it gave Reira the side-eyes again. Reira looked away embarrassed.
All eyes were on Akira, he responded with a bitter smile before saying, "Humanity."
It instantly silenced all three of them and left them confused.
"Humanity?" Ai asked, it paused for a moment before it sighed, "Since we are already at the second riddle, why not humor me again and tell me why humanity?"
Ai rolled its eyes white before putting its wing over its face, looking defeated.
"Humanity has two sides. Depending on the situation and one's bottom line, humanity might result in different outcomes. It's like two sides of a coin, one side is good and one side is ugly. The ugly side is usually more dominant in the current society and it mostly result in one's profit but the cost is to harm others; the good side is what holds the society together, it is the thin line that separates humans and animals. Sometimes, the ugly side takes over just because one wanted to satisfy his or her selfish desire, at the cost of blurring the line between human and animal. I myself believe in the good side of humanity, I believe that it will outshine the darkness of the other side and bring out the good in people. Again, it might or might not result in a troublesome Yoma after their death."
Despite that it was summer, the night breeze was pleasant as it was nearing autumn, its whistle was the only thing sounding in the air as everyone else was rendered utterly speechless by Akira's explanation.
"What have I done to deserve this… The answer is Coin of the White Night. I'm asking you about the knowledge of the supernatural world, not your opinion of the society. Most of us folks in the supernatural world, albeit the supernatural world is closely connected to the real world, does not care about the society that much. Now I shall declare that all three of you have failed the riddles and will not be granted entry to the clinic. Good night and try again next time."
Ai stretched its body before flying up into the night sky, leaving the three of them behind with Mako and Reira looking helplessly at Akira.
Akira scratched his head and smiled bitterly, "Hey, at least I tried? Well it's not something important anyway, I guess I'll have to carry my Bladestaff for the rest of my life."
"You and your quirks." Mako sighed but eventually replaced the helpless look with a smile, "Don't worry about it, that's what made you who you are."
"Yeah, don't worry about it Akira." Reira gave a tap on Akira's shoulder.
The helplessness and sigh ended in smiles eventually but just as they were about to leave, Ai flew back.
Flapping its wings in front of the three of them, Ai said, "Ahem, boys and girls. Something unprecedented has came up. I would like to invite you to the Drifting Clinic."
The three of them looked at Ai in a confused look.
"What changed your mind? I thought we failed your little riddles." asked Akira.
"Well, I'm just a watcher, I work for the doctor and if the doctor tells me that you are invited, you are invited."
Ai had actually no idea why caused the doctor to make an exception, but since it received orders from the doctor, it has to carry out its duty with responsibility.
"Follow me boys and girls."
Ai flew off to the nearest house in the residential area and landed in front of the door.
"This is it? The clinic is actually a residential house? But it's dark." Akira asked.
"Calm down, boy. Let me show you some magic." Ai grinned confidently.
It jumped up to the door knob and hung itself upside down, its body started to into stone after it got into position, making it look like a mini gargoyle hanging over a doorknob.
"Now, turn me back up and open the door."
Ai's voice did not come out from its stone body, it sounded in the air instead.
Akira held the body and turned it straight up before he opened the door.
The three of them exchanged a gaze before Akira took the lead and went in.
After all three of them had walked in and before the door closes, Ai reverted to its red self and flew inside, closing the door with its wing.