Kubo Yuki had experienced the dark days during his father's abject generation. There were also times when they were struggling and desperate after his father's death. Up until now, that life was considered prosperous. Decades of experiences had taught him to be mature and even nurtured him to be resilient.
He did not belittle Kazuki because of his young age. After knowing that Kazuki held extraordinary powers, he went down on his knees and gave him a bow solemnly.
Kazuki hesitated when he saw Kubo Yuki down on his knees, but then he did not really mind.
People of Huaxia would only perform such etiquette on special occasions, but they were in Japan. A courtesy like this in Japan was none other than a common and normal culture.
"Mr. Kubo, how about you tell me about the characteristics of that ghost?"
He was the one who requested Kubo Yuki to meet him in the academy, to understand more of his situation for better preparation. He could not possibly have rushed to the Kubo Household right after knowing the existence of the ghost. He would have gotten himself killed pretty fast.
After hearing Kazuki's request, Kubo Yuki stood back up. He no longer acknowledged Kazuki as a mere human being, he only had respect for him. Nevertheless, the mention of this Buddha carving distorted his expressions as it brought back memories to him, memories which were not pretty.
"Actually, what happened was pretty straightforward. It was my 45th birthday about a month ago. A few friends of mine from the Dajin Group thought it would be a great idea for us to meet up on my birthday."
Because of the awful operation by its leader, Kubo Sagano, Dajin Group fell apart. It was a distinguished mafia organization in Jinwen District back at its time, but it was disbanded not long after Kubo Sagano's death.
As time flew and cities bloomed, gangsterism was slowly eliminated. Even Kubo Sagano's son, Kubo Yuki, had no intention of rebuilding the Dajin Group. In modern society, it was considered lucky not to be bounded by gangsterism. Of course, he wanted to be a good person in the future and contribute to the community as much as he could.
After the words died out, he inherited the courtyard left by his father and built a karate dojo, and it was finally turning out well economically for him now.
When his father, Kubo Sagano's body was being torn into pieces and thrown deep down into Tokyo Bay, many of his subordinates ran for their lives. After all, nobody wanted to die in vain. The ones who were still in contact with Kubo Yuki at present were all his best friends who managed to find a living by themselves after the incident.
That Buddha carving was a birthday gift from one of these friends.
"I got the Buddha carving from Koya Kazu. That fellow is currently organizing a mini-auction in Kyoto. He remembered that my birthday was coming. So when he first came across this Buddha carving, he bought it under his own name and gave it to me during the gathering." As he continued, Kubo Yuki took a deep breath, "The nightmares began from the second day I received this Buddha carving."
"What kind of nightmares?" Kazuki asked.
"Just normal nightmares, I guess." Kubo Yuki thought for a while, "There was no special meaning to them. In fact, I don't remember anything from those nightmares every time I wake up."
Kazuki nodded after hearing those words. It seemed like the nightmares had nothing unique. Still thinking about it, he motioned for Kubo Yuki to continue.
They were only nightmares, so Kubo Yuki did not really mind about them in the beginning. Who would not have a few nightmares? But, two weeks down the road, it occurred once every two or three days. Although things were getting weird, Kubo Yuki did not think much about it. It was until two weeks later when Kubo Yuki happened to look at himself in the mirror, he nearly could not recognize himself.
A pale and tired face with lifeless eyes and blue lips. That was how he looked like at that moment.
Besides, he clearly felt that his body was getting weaker… He was one of the trainers at Taijin Karate Academy, and his physical fitness was always at the top. The whey-faced man in the mirror scared the living daylights out of him. That was when he realized that something was really wrong.
He was awakened by a nightmare again that night. This time around, he was wide awake, but he could not move his body.
Any average person would have experienced this kind of sleep paralysis at least once or twice. But what scared Kubo Yuki the most was that he noticed that something was sucking his blood beside his neck.
He was right… The bat-like creature that was consuming his blood noticed that he was waking up or… it was waiting for him to wake up.
"When the monster knew that I was awake, it talked to me. It asked me to provide him with a specific amount of blood every three days. Otherwise, it will suck me dry." Paused, Kubo Yuki sneered, "It even said that as long as I agree with his terms and feed it with my blood, it will resurrect my wife."
"The dead cannot be resurrected." Kazuki said calmly, "You couldn't have believed this kind of nonsense, right?"
"That's right," Kubo Yuki nodded. He had never believed that the dead could come back to life. Even if this creature appeared and made him realize that supernatural powers do exist in this world, he would not be fooled. He was in his forties, not a ten-year-old. "Despite that, if I did not agree to what the monster said, I'm afraid I would be long gone by now. So, I went along with it and said that I actually wanted to resurrect my wife. That's how I've been living with it all this time."
Those days were the most unbearable and troubled days of Kubo Yuki. He was hopeless, and he could only wait in despair for his death.
On top of that, he had to feed the creature once in three days. As time passed, the frequency increased from once in three days up to once in two days. Just about four days ago, it had gotten to once a day.
He knew in his heart that he would definitely die from excessive loss of blood not long after. Even if he did take anti-anemic medicine or food, the monster's huge needs would be too much for him to bear.
Actually, the bat-like beast had tricked him several times to obtain blood from other sources. It insisted for him to bring humans back, but he kept refusing its requests.
He knew that if he did it for even once, he would fall into the endless abyss and become the creature's slave for his lifetime.
After listening to his story, Kazuki nodded ever so lightly. Kubo Yuki had great perseverance. He had been through all the sufferings alone and did not involve anyone. In spite of being the descendant of a gangster, he was really an upright and honest person.
"How about this, don't go back for the evening. Since I got rid of the weird scent on your body, you would be exposed for sure if you go back now. Let me inform the teacher in the infirmary so you could get some rest there." Kazuki muttered, "I'll go back with you to see if we can expel the monster later after school."
From what Kubo Yuki explained, this creature was most likely a Tsukumogami, just that its nature was evil and consumed blood to survive. The reason it had not begun to harm other humans might be because Kubo Yuki's blood supply was still enough for its needs.
However, the Tsukumogami had already expressed its intentions by asking Kubo Yuki to bring back humans for feeding. It might not be long before it started to bring harm to humans.
The only thing that confused Kazuki was that, would a Tsukumogami with evil nature also produce bad scent like a demon because of self-contamination?