Kouta had fallen for the trap. Saki led him to have his vector begin to slip away. He'd opened his eyes and sat up. His surroundings were...bizarre. On the left side of him was a jungle. On his right side was a lake with small mounds of grassy land dotting the waters. There was a waterfall in the northern direction. A ghoul walked out of it. Its skin was blue, and he was covered in jewelry from head to toe. Blue mist emitted from its body. Even though it was a ghoul, it was humanoid, with a muscular body build, though its face was that of a demon.
Kouta slowly stood up. "Is this the spirit world? Am I dead?"
The demon formed a golden staff and strongly hit the ground. "A human..."
Kouta spoke again. "Can you hear me? Can you tell me where I am?"
The demon seemed to be sizing Kouta up. "This is your Gate apparently. I was summoned here. It seems your Zen is being depleted." He scowled at Kouta. "What did you do?"
Kouta looked down. "Someone gave me some fluid that I was told would help me get stronger. Guess I was tricked."
The demon struck the ground again. "Greed!! Your foolishness has led you to your demise. Humans. Always need to have more. Is what you had not enough?!"
Kouta sat back down. "No, it wasn't!"
The demon pointed his staff at Kouta. "I should slay you right now. You've put not only yourself, but me in danger as well! Ungrateful child!"
Kouta tensed, prepared for what was coming to him.
A red mist formed on the right side of the blue demon. A red skinned demon with long black flowing hair and a fierce bushy mustache and sideburns formed. He floated mid-air with his legs crossed. His expression was mean. He looked at the blue demon. "Takireiou...what are you doing here?" His voice was much deeper than the blue demon, called Takireiou.
"I am the Guardian of this boy's Gate. And he has made a foolish mistake. In the search for power, he has been misled into giving up his Zen. Permanently."
The red demon stared at Kouta intently. "Interesting. We finally meet. So this is Jikai's grandson."
Kouta looked up. "Jikai? You know my grandpa?"
Takireiou lowered his staff. His eyes narrowed. "Jikai? Are you serious?"
The red demon closed his eyes. "It's a long story. Anyway. It seems like you've done something incredibly idiotic."
Kouta's expression fell. "I know. But I took the risk knowing that already. I wanted to be stronger. I couldn't do anything to save my friend."
The red demon put his hand to his chin in thought. "Hmm... You're much softer than Jikai was that's for sure. Why does this friend matter so much to you?"
Kouta stood up. "Because my friends are all I have!! If I can't protect them then I have nothing!!"
Takireiou looked at the red demon. "His parents were killed by a shinigami."
"I see. I am able to fix this. Your grandfather found himself in a similar situation ages ago. But I warn you. You will lose some of your humanity."
"My humanity?" Kouta asked.
The demon nodded. "I will prevent your Zen from depleting completely in exchange for half of my own strength. This means you will have two Gates, which will make you half-demon."
Kouta clenched his fists. "Do it!! I'll be more careful from now on, I swear it!!"
Takireiou scoffed. "See to it that you do, or I will kill you myself." He vanished.
The red demon clapped his hands together. Red mist burst from his body. "Remember my name grandson of Murakami Jikai. I am one of the twelve Yokai Kings. Kidomaru!!"
Kouta's vision burned bright white as he felt his consciousness fade.
Kouta returned to his body. His senses felt numb, like static was flowing through his veins. The static stopped. He woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air. He jolted up in the bed, took a breather, then hopped out.
Saki ran into the room from the door on Kouta's left. "Kouta? You're awake? Already?! And... what's this?!"
Steam was rising from Kouta's skin. He sharply glared at Saki. His eyes were glowing blue-white. "You tricked me..."
Saki smiled wildly. "You rejected the formula... This is unprecedented! What happened to you?" She started inspecting Kouta's body from a distance. "Your body is evolving... Let me run some more tests!"
Kouta threw on his white shirt and headed for the door. "No more tests."
He slammed the door behind him.
Kouta immediately grew dizzy. He was hearing voices in his head. White wispy trails were going in all directions around him. He put his hand to his head, groaning. He suddenly had a headache. "Yumi... where are you?!!"
Saki opened the door to the lab. "Kouta, calm down! I can help you!"
In a fit of rage, Kouta picked Saki up by the neck and slammed her into the wall. "This is the second time you've done something to me. What could you possibly help me with?!"
Saki held her hands up. She struggled to talk. "I can tell you, where, your friend, is."
Kouta let her go. "You can? Where?!"
Saki caught her breath. "There's an investigator. His name is Kurihara Takeshi. He's the one leading the Iwasaki High case. He's likely holding one of your friends captive at the main police station. That's where he works."
Kouta stared into her eyes.
Saki shrunk away. "Why are you staring at me...?"
"I'm making sure you're not lying to me."
Saki looked away. "I won't trick you anymore, I promise. If you think I will you can kill me right here!"
Kouta narrowed his eyes. "But you work for Shinya. I won't know if he'll order you to do something to me down the line."
Saki lifted up her shirt and grabbed Kouta's hand. She placed it on her breastbone.
"Contract." she said. A blue glow came from under Kouta's hand.
"What's this?" he asked.
Saki let his hand go. There was a blue ouroboros insignia where Kouta's hand was.
"There." she said. "You own me now."
Kouta looked at his hand. "Own you?"
Saki put her shirt back down. "No one knows about it, but it's a vector of mine. I am physically incapable of defying you in any way. As you saw I only have one mark."
"Why are you trying to get close to me now?"
Saki put her hands behind her back. "Because you're interesting."
Kouta dropped it. He started running down the hall. He went upstairs and found a way out of the building.
He climbed to the top and started jumping from rooftop to rooftop. "Yumi... Just you wait, I'm going to save you!!"