Prologue
The smell of the freshly brewed tea tickles Aki's nostrils. Aki was sitting in front of Kazuya, and the only thing that separates them is a short table.
"Thanks for the tea."
Said by Aki as she slowly gulp the hot tea. Seeing Aki gulping the tea, Kazuya said:
"Help yourself at the tea. It's just cheap tea, though."
"No, It's enough. Thank you for letting me in your house."
"I said that you need to come here and tell your story. So can you start now?"
Aki stopped sipping the hot tea, and returned it at the table. After that, she took a deep breath, and told her story.
Chapter 8
"Yeah! It's the first day of school! I'm so excited!"
After rising from the bed, Aki immediately took a bath, ate her breakfast then tidied herself for the the first day of her high school life. At this time, Aki was still a cheerful high school student.
He enrolled herself to Ahogane High School. It's a pretty average high school.
"I'll head out!"
Aki shouted those words, to tell her mothet that she's going to school now. After she opened her door, the cherry blossom leaves can be seen falling from their trees. It's spring after all.
She joyfully walked her path, thinking the new life she could made. Because of her thinking, she reached her school very fast. Adding to it that, It was just a few walks away from her home.
She attended the school ceremony. It was just natural since she's a first-year.
"The principal's speech sure is long."
Aki unconsciously said while watching the principal tell his story from his childhood. All of the students are hoping for someone to stop the principal from his speech, when:
"Mr.Principal, don't you think your speech is already too long?"
"Oh? Your right, then take over for me."
A certain student, who has glasses and a handsome face, stopped the principal from his very long speech. Because of this, he became the hero of all the first-year students.
"Then, the next speaker is the representative of all the first-years, Tadokoro Kanji!"
The representative of all first-years is the certain man who stopped the principal. From Aki's standing position, she can hear some whispers about this "Tadokoro Kanji."
"Dude, he reached first-place from the entrance exam."
"I heard that he's a member of the disciplinary committee! As an addition, he's handsome too!"
Boys and Girls are whispering about Tadokoro Kanji. But from Aki's perspective, Tadokoro is just an amazing schoolmate. But she doesn't know that Tadokoro Kanji will play a big role for her dark past.
"For starters, I am Tadokoro Kanji. As a member of disciplinary committee, I will expect you to conduct a proper behavior, befitting for ladies and gentlemen. That's all, thank you."
All of them clapped at Tadokoro's speech, including Aki, of course. They appreciated Tadokoro's speech very much because it's short unlike the principal's speech. With that, the opening ceremony ended and all of the students have gone to their respective classrooms.
+++++
When Aki arrived at her classroom, she chose to take the seat at the front. She just want to see the teacher clearly. She just sat their and waited excitedly at the teacher.
"Hey, what's your name?"
Suddenly, a girl with a ponytail hairstyle, talked to Aki. The girl has a lot of girls beside her, it seems they're a group of friends. Aki doesn't know her, so she looked behind her, then pointed a finger to herself.
"Yup, I'm talking to you, what's your name? Since your my seatmate, I want to befriend you. My name is Sasha."
"Ah, okay, my name is Suzumiya Akino, but you can just call "Aki."
With that, Aki and Sasha became friends. They hang out together, and walked home together as friends.
"So Sasha is the first friend you had since entering high school, huh?"
"Yes, I was still cheerful and friendly back then."
After replying to Kazuya's confirmation, Aki looked at Kazuya's average bodybuild that has a lot of bandages and cuts right now.
"Please don't stare too much."
"I'm so sorry, for causing you all this trouble!"
"If your worrying about my wounds, it's okay. I should be thankful that I only got shallow cuts. In the battlefield, injuries are more severe than this. Besides, I injured your shoulder too, I'm sorry for that."
"No, it's okay, don't worry about it. Can I continue the story now?"
Kazuya nodded once as a signal that he wants Aki to continue.
Two weeks had passed since the first day of school, and Sasha, Aki and her other friends are still friends.
"Suzumiya, can you carry this papers to the faculty room?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
Aki was asked to carry the papers by her teacher. Since Sasha and all of her friends are gone from the classroom right now, Aki carried all of the papers herself.
She walked through the hallway, carrying the heavy stack of papers on her hands. At the start, she doesn't have any problem carrying it, but after some time, she's starting to lose some strength and lose balance.
"Yup, this is tough. But I have to do it."
Just as she whispered that words, someone took half of the papers and carried it. Aki looked at the certain "someone", and saw a guy with a handsome face and glasses.
"Wait, aren't you the first-year representatives?"
"Yes, I am. But I have a name, I am Tadokoro Kanji."
Aki tried to think for his motive to help her. She thought things like "Maybe she's hitting on me? or just want to help?"
In the end, she just asked Tadokoro on his reason for helping her.
"I'm a member of the disciplinary committee, so doing this kind of thing is still my job."
"I see."
Since Aki's papers are much lighter than before, they reached the faculty in a much faster time.
"Oh, thank you for helping me."
"Think nothing of it. I'll be on my way now."
After accomplishing her mission, Aki had gone back to her classroom.
+++++
"Sasha! Look what I found!"
"Hey, what is this!? What kind of joke is this!?"
Sasha is staring at the picture given by her friend. She's staring at the picture as if she's going to melt it.
"Sasha, what's are move?"
"For now, we should observe more."
The picture that made Sasha's anger raise is the picture of Aki and Tadokoro carrying the papers to the faculty room.
+++++
Aki changed her shoes from the inside shoes to the outside shoes, then head out on her way. Since school is finished now, she's going to go home.
Her usual companions when going home, are not with her. So she's going to go home alone today. It's only a few walks away from her house, so it shouldn't be a problem, that's what she thought.
While walking at the streets, you can see that only a few people walks at this street. After noticing that, she continued to walk carelessly.
But while she's walking,... a hand suddenly grabbed her and took her to the narrow street. Then, the man held Aki's wrists so she can't escape.
"Finally, I can now taste a high school girl!"
This is incident is what they would call a "pervert attack." They would capture you and took you somewhere, and they will rape you.
The man is still sweating, and his drooling too. He slowly unbuttoned Aki's tuxedo. When Aki sensed the danger she was facing, she immediately shouted and called for help.
But Aki realized something. It was the fact that only a few people walks at the nearby street. She saw one or two earlier. Including that they're in a narrow street.
Even if someone walks at the street, they can't see Aki because of the darkness. She can try shouting like earlier, even if the chances of passerby are low, if they can hear her, they will definitely act.
But after that first scream, the man already sealed Aki's mouth. The man is already finished at undressing Aki. All you can see is her skirt, and a blouse unbuttoned, and you can clearly see her bra.
Aki is really struggling to get out of his clutches, but his grip is too strong for her to break. After struggling for some time, she finally lost strength and was about to cry when...
The man suddenly received a flying kick, and guess what? It's from Tadokoro. After kicking the man, Tadokoro hurriedly removed the seal from her mouth and took her hand to escape.
Even though they already got out of the narrow street, they're still running, until they reached the street where Aki lives. After they ran, they're so exhausted and they're trying to catch their breaths.
"Umm, you could use my jacket if you like"
Tadokoro said as he hand his jacket to Aki.
"Umm, thank you."
After looking down and seeing herself, she gladly accepted the jacket.
"How about we took a seat at that bench first?"
"Okay."
The two sat at the bench. At first, things were a bit awkward but Tadokoro broke the ice.
"Are you okay? Are you still hurt somewhere?"
"No, I'm okay now. I'll make sure that bastard will pay! Oh, before I forgot, how did you know that I was there?"
"I happened to pass by at that street when I noticed something strange at the narrow street. When I saw what's going on, I reflexively kicked him."
After Tadokoro's explanation, they noticed that it's already night. So they left the bench and has gone home. Of course, to prevent the same thing happening again, Tadokoro escorted her to her own home.
After going home, Aki immediately told her parents about the incident, and that guy was still chasing by the police.
+++++
"What the hell is this!?"
Sasha's shout echoed through the whole neighborhood. It's night but it's a relief that no one woke up. But Sasha is still not done. She ripped the picture she's holding into shreds.
"So, Aki, I trusted you as a friend and you will repay me with this!? Screw you!"
The picture she ripped just now was the picture of Aki and Tadokoro sitting in a bench.
"Now it's confirmed! Get ready for tomorrow, my friends! Tomorrow will be a huge mess!"
+++++
As if last night, had not happened, Aki goes to school joyfully and cheerfully. After arriving at her school, she immediately changed her shoes from an indoor to an outdoor shoes.
She walked through the hallway with a smile on her face. But when she entered the classroom, the smile she's wearing earlier disappeared, and it was replaced by a confused look. She's staring at her desk right now and can't help to hide her shock.
"Whore! Bitch! Go die! Go f**k yourself!"
These are the words written on her desk. Aki is just staring at it, not even taking a seat. When...
"Oh my, who did this to you? Is there someone bullying you? Maybe because It's true, you know?"
After Sasha said those words, all of them broke into laughter. At that time, Aki was already sure, that Sasha did that. Aki took a handkerchief from her bag then wiped her desk until it was it was the same as before.
Luckily, she finished wiping it by the time the teacher came. Aki can't even concentrate on the lesson. She's just thinking the reason why Sasha would do that.
When lunch break came, Sasha came at Aki's desk again and said:
"Hey, we're friends, right? If your a friend, then you should be more than willing to buy bread for us, right?"
Sasha threw her money to Aki's face and continued:
"7 Red Bean Buns, and please make it fast!"
Aki was still hesitant to obey but when Sasha punched her desk, she immediately ran towards the cafeteria. No doubt, what Sasha's doing right now, is called bullying.
+++++
The dripping cold water makes Aki's skin feel numb. Her hair is already dripping wet from the continuous dumping of water to her.
"How about that? Say "Please stop Master Sasha", and I might forgive you."
Sasha said as she point a finger to Aki. Aki was called to the comfort room by Sasha. The moment she arrived, two girls immediately grabbed her wrists, and a bucket of water was suddenly dumped to her.
Because of the cold, Aki doesn't even have the strength to stand nor speak. They already dumped her 3 buckets of water by now. When Sasha noticed that Aki is already too cold to even speak:
"Ah! I'm bored! Let's bully her again later!"
Sasha said as she left the comfort room. When she left, all of her friends, followed behind her. Meanwhile, Aki is still sitting at the floor of the comfort room.
"Huh? It's not cold?"
She noticed that she doesn't feel cold anymore. Because of that she stood up, took a handkerchief at her bag, then wiped herself off. While wiping herself, she can't help to shed tears, and think:
"Why is this happening to me? Did I do something wrong?"
Aki have done various things now. She made her lick Sasha's shoes, confess to guys that she don't even like, be a bread shuttle, and more.
Because of this bullying, Aki became depressed. At that time, a Soul Seal came to her and resided with her. For some reason, the chilling and cold she felt after being wet has gone.
"It's because you unconsciously activated your Soul Seal right?"
"Yes, I didn't know at that time, but it seems that's the reason."
Kazuya looked intensely at the floor as he listened to Aki's story.
"What is your Soul Seal?"
Kazuya asked a direct question that even Aki was surprised. But she gained her composure then continued.
"Master Kakuju's Soul Seals are based from the japanese mythology gods. I wield the power of Fujin, the shinto god of wind."
"Then you unconsciously controlled the wind around you so you don't get cold."
"Yes, that's correct. Can I continue the story?"
Kazuya just nodded once, so Aki continued her story. It was already night, yet Aki is still at the school. As Aki was despairing about what happened earlier, a man who is shirtless but wearing a hakama on his lower body appeared beside her.
Since he was shirtless, Aki thought that she was a pervert so she took a step back, but the guy talked.
"Hey, give me back my Soul Seal"
Aki was terrified just by this man's stare. He's staring at her as if he's going to kill her. This is an intense killing intent.
Aki was petrified and she couldn't even move an inch. She just stood there, doing nothing.
"Hey, do you have any idea how to extract the Soul Seal from you? I don't have the slightest idea. But if you exclude killing, that is."
There is an another way to extract the Soul Seals, it was to kill the host. Because of that, Aki became even more terrified. The man took a step towards Aki, and he approached her.
"You know, I've been observing you. I saw how you were made a plaything by your friend. I saw how you were dumped water 3 times until your freezing cold. But the most interesting I found out about you, is the fact that you don't have any resentment or anger to that person."
Aki just stared at the man as he point his finger on her forehead.
"It seems you can control your feelings well. I like you, That's rare. I'll train you, you will become a warrior."
Aki is still staring at him, as if she wants to melt him. The man just sighed and carried Aki, and ran as fast as he could. It seems Aki fainted because of fear.
+++++
"So that was Kakuju, huh?"
"Yes, that's the story to how I met him. Do you want me to continue?"
Aki asked Kazuya for continuation but it seems he let her rest for a while. Digging up your dark past is not an easy task after all.
"Here, want some?"
Kazuya offered here some drinks, and Aki accepted them. Awkward silence enveloped the room for a while. Soon after, Aki asked Kazuya a question.
"Master Kazuya, do you have a dark past as well? Do you mind sharing it with me?"
After hearing that, Kazuya stopped gulping at the juice then looked at the ceiling.
"I do have one. I can't wield the Soul Seals if I don't have one. But I think I'm still not ready to tell anyone. All I can tell you is that someone from my past was the first girl who said "I love you" to me."
Aki was shocked about the sudden revelation. Kazuya is a murderer so It's really unnatural for a murderer to receive "I love you."
The second girl who said "I love you" to him is Haruka Tomoe, in case you don't know.
"Can I continue to the story now?"
"Yes, If you have rested enough."
"Thank you for the concern but I'm fine now. So I can continue the story."
Aki doesn't know the reason why she's being bullied. It's because of the fact that she grown close with Tadokoro Kanji, Sasha's crush since middle school.
Sasha tried her best to get attention from Tadokoro but she got nothing. Tadokoro only looked at her as a classmate, nothing more. So instead of dating Tadokoro, she made sure that Tadokoro wouldn't date anyone. In short, she's a yandere lover(In case you don't know, Yandere lovers are psychopath lovers who only want their lovers for themselves. They will mess up with anyone who flirts with their crush or lovers)
At the same time, while Aki was taken away by Kakuju, for some reason, Tadokoro and Sasha are talking face to face at the school hallway at night.
"Sasha, could you please stop bullying Aki? This is too much. If you don't stop it, I'm going to stop it."
Sasha was just staring at him, doing nothing. She won't even give a reply. After 5 minutes, Sasha asked:
"How did you know? That, I'm the one who bullying Aki?"
"I came from the disciplinary committee, I have lots of sources. Another reason, because I saw It"
Sasha just laughed at what Tadokoro just said.
"Do you think I'll stop if you said?"
"Yes, even if you don't, I'll prepare countermeasures to make sure you do so."
Said by Tadokoro as he arranged his glasses. Hearing what Tadokoro had said just now, it added fuel to Sasha's already raging anger.
"Why are you so hardworking just to save that girl?! I bullied girls who got close to you before but you never worked to save them. I'm here too! So why are you so hardworking just for that girl?!"
As Sasha said that, the cold wind grew even more colder and stronger and it's enough to make the curtains fly.
"Don't misunderstand me. I helped those girls too. But if your asking why I worked harder than before, It's because I like her."
Tadokoro just added more fuel to the fire. Sasha's already angry but Tadokoro added more to that.
"Why? Why? Why do you like that girl?! I've like you since middle school! I'm more beautiful and talented than her! I worked harder than anyone else just to get your attention. Are you saying that hard work doesn't pay off!?"
After Sasha's retort, a dead silence enveloped the whole school. Tadokoro arranged his glasses first then...
"Sasha, when your still bullying Aki, I met her. At that time, I saw her as a schoolmate, nothing more. I'm sure she saw me that way too. I saw her running so fast holding so many breads. I just thought to myself 'oh, Aki is the next victim of Sasha, huh? I've got to work about this case'. But when she saw me, she greeted me with a cheerful smile. But I know for sure that she's despairing inside. Despite all that, she can still smile. There's no way I will let a cheerful girl like her be destroyed! I decided that I will preserve her smile! So, Sasha, prepare yourself tomorrow. I will make you pay for what you did to all that girls and to Aki, as someone who is a member of disciplinary committee. I'm sorry for turning a blind eye on you and all the girl you've bullied."
Tadokoro turned his back and left the hallway. Leaving the kneeling and crying Sasha behind.
+++++
Sasha's all bullying have been resolved thanks to Tadokoro's efforts. Sasha apologized to all the girl she bullied. But there's still one people she wasn't apologized. It was Aki.
Since that night, Aki has skipped school. It's been 2 weeks since that night, yet Aki is nowhere to be seen. Her family are even looking for her. Even Tadokoro is helping to the search.
"Aki, where are you?"
Can't do anything but to hand out flyers, he mumbled that to himself. If your curious to Aki's whereabouts now, let's go back 2 weeks ago to answer that question.
"Where am I?"
"Ha, so you've gained consciousness, huh? It's one hell of a long time to sleep."
It seems that Aki just gained consciousness from sleeping. She was looking at her environments. It was an abandoned workhouse Kakuju found when he has nowhere to sleep.
After gaining consciousness, Aki saw Kakuju again and she's shaking out of fear.
"Don't worry. I will not do anything to you. I don't have any interest in lust, so I wouldn't do anything to you. For some reason, I lost interest at Tokugawa."
Kakuju said that he don't have any interest in her, but she's still shaking in fear because of the blood lust she felt earlier.
"So? You have the rare talent of not showing your true emotions. At the battlefield, not having any emotions is a very powerful weapon!"
Kakuju crushed a stone as he shout that in front of Aki. His shout echoed through the whole building. Aki is still shaking in fear even now. Not having any care to the scared Aki, he continued his speech.
"Since your like that, You won't get it even if I explain it to you right now. Now that you think about it, this world is disgustingly peaceful. I don't have time to wreak havoc so I let it be. But I'm surprised that a prey like you even exist in this peaceful world. So survival of the fittest still exists, huh?"
In that word, Aki stopped shaking and tried to stood up even though she's having a hard on it.
"Your wrong! I'm not a prey, and They're my precious friends!"
"Ho? You still thought of them as friends, huh? A friend wouldn't dump water on you until your freezing cold, you know."
"Even if they did that, they're my friends! I'm sure Sasha has a good reason for doing that!"
After hearing that, Kakuju did an evil grin. His smile was so wide, and he laughed so loud it can be heard outside of the abandoned warehouse.
"Interesting! I like you even more! It's the first time in my life I discovered someone like you! I will train you with a sword, and I won't stop polishing you until your a great weapon!"
Kakuju declared that and pointed his finger on her. Aki stopped shaking and looked at Kakuju in the eye.
"Then after that, she told me about all the things he knew so I can understand it. He trained me with the sword even though I don't have any interest in it, and he won't let me go out of the warehouse."
"You've really got a hard time, huh?"
Aki just scratched her cheeks and chuckled lightly.
"I don't really know his goal for doing this though. He said that he wants to kill Tokugawa, but in this world and era, he's already dead."
"At first, I thought that he just want to defeat me, but it seems it's not the case because he's willing to sacrifice you to me."
The two put some thought on it for a while but found nothing. No matter what they think, they never found the truth so Aki broke the silence and spoke.
"I think no matter his reason for doing this, he had a hard time too. He's suffering too like all of us. It wouldn't make sense that he can wield the Soul Seals yet he's not depressed."
"Yeah, I think so too."
The two chuckled for a while then Aki continued her story.
In a sense, Aki was the first member of Kakuju's Soul Seals. Then, more and more members gathered in that warehouse. Even though all of them were scared of Kakuju, the seven of them already formed a bond, comradeship and friendship.
All of them trained with the sword and practiced to use their Soul Seals. They continued to that until summer break has came.
"Now is the time, I investigated very hard just to find this legendary guy. So my labor will boar fruit today!"
Everybody was at the meeting for defeating this legendary guy called "Tiger". Kakuju calls him that, so they decided to call him that too. The plan is for Aki to fight this guy, then Kakuju would make his grand entrance by destroying the building, they will fight.
"Wait, does that mean he just destroyed the building for a grand entrance?"
"Yeah, Master Kazuya, and his plan is to fight you after he destroyed the building. You got angry because you discovered about he uses humans as Soul Seals. So he changed his plans, and fought you with us as a bet."
Kazuya just touched his chin and nodded. He signaled Aki to continue the story and Aki did just as he signaled.
Since we already knew what happened next, were going to fast-forward it a bit where Kazuya already won the match and he's going to take one Soul Seal with him.
"You should just go, Aki. When he's in the verge of losing, your the only one who cheered for him. That means you believed that he will win. Even though he's doing so much for us, we just gave up and thought that he could never defeat Kakuju. That's why you deserved to escape."
Said by the slender girl with black hair. It seems she's an upperclassman. Because of the speech of this girl, the six Soul Seals agreed that Aki should be the one who escapes.
"And that's the story as a whole. Thanks to you I can go to school and receive my normal life again. But of course, I will help you retrieve your Soul Seals and rescue the remaining six!"
"Thank you. Let's work together to save them."
With that, Aki's story came to an end. It's already afternoon so Kazuya goes to his part-time job while Aki gone home.
"You didn't saved all of them, huh? I'm sorry I didn't helped at that time."
Hajime said as he wash the dishes. The one beside him, Kazuya, is washing the dishes too.
"No, no, It didn't involved you in the first place so you have no reason to apologize. Besides, I should be glad to even save one of them. Kakuju is indeed an opponent I can't defeat with only 3 Soul Seals. I need to gather as many Soul Seals as I can."
"Yeah, I can only help you at gathering Soul Seals. So I'll do my best!"
The two boys smiled at each other as they wash the dishes. They spent half of their summer vacation going to work and spending their times on their houses.
+++++
"We lost one member today, everyone! But it doesn't concern me. Although, Aki is a strong warrior but I'm sure she's an ally of Tiger now."
Kakuju said while sitting at a rock and sharpening his katana. He gathered his remaining warriors and they had a meeting. After Kakuju's speech finished, a man on his teens raised his hand. It seems he's one of Kakuju's Soul Seals. Naturally, Kakuju gave him permission to speak.
"Master Kakuju, for how long are you planning to imprison us here?"
"Don't worry, I will give you your freedom when I achieved my goal."
"Then, what is your goal exactly? Your avoiding this particular question of us since the very beginning."
Kakuju wore a very evil grin before asking the question After that, he laughed, he laughed so hard that it echoes.
"Then, rejoice! Because on this day, I will tell you my goal!"
All of the people present at the warehouse, gulped down and prepared themselves for the worse possible outcome.
"My goal is simply to... make Soul Seals exist in this world! Simply put, I will plant Soul Seals on every humans in this world. It depends on them how they use it, I couldn't care less."
Everybody was so surprised and dumbfounded on what they heard just now. Having Soul Seals means depression, it means that for it to work, all of the humans on the world needs to suffer. The man earlier breaks the ice and retorted to Kakuju.
"It's absurd! Why would you make more humans suffer? You won't gain anything by doing it!"
"Your right, I won't gain anything by it. But... seeing humans suffer eases my mind. Another thing, because I'm sure that Tiger will be enraged."
Unable to do anything, the man just kneeled down and said to himself.
"Please, please, someone, stop this devil!!!"
END OF CHAPTER 8
Author's Note: Hello! I am Young One Stories! Another chapter have been published! This is just the story of Aki before she became the Soul Seal of Kakuju. Hope you like it. But I have something to tell you. Last Sunday, I posted on a forum, and luckily someone noticed it and gave it a review. He/She advised that I should divide the chapters because It's too long. I tried to do it, but...because of my clumsiness I accidentally deleted the Aki's Story chapter. Good thing I rewrote it in time. But now I'm scared to even open my drafts. I'm just cautious! I'm not a coward, all right! So for now, I think I can't divide it. When I felt like it, I will divide it to 2 chapters. Thank you for your understanding.