"Mai, who's he?" Asuma turned towards his daughter, picking Hakai out of her hands.
"Who's he?" Mai repeated her father's words in her mind. The words echoed for a while until he asked again.
"Hey, are you okay? Who is this gentleman?"
"He's... I... He's Hakai." She muttered, torn between the truth and lying, trying to find a reasonable explanation.
"Kaiyo, please get me lukewarm water and a towel. His body is boiling." Asuma carried Hakai away from the entrance, placing him on the couch while Kaiyo rushed into the kitchen. "Aki, come here. You're pretty brilliant in medicine. Help me tend to him.' Her father smiled at her, reassuring her that he wouldn't mind helping the poor Hakai alongside her.
"Hmph." She got up quickly, lifting his shirt and placing her hand on his stomach. "He has a severe fever. His breathing is heavy, and he's sweating like crazy. These all lead to signs of exhaustion." She instantly began checking Hakai's temperature and any visible signs. "Dad, please grab my thermometer and stethoscope from my room!" She instructed him with haste.
"Got it." Asuma ran upstairs.
"What happened to him? Why now? What's wrong? Was he attacked? Caught in an unmanageable fight? But there are no physical injuries, but still, I cannot fully comprehend a spirit's body that is somehow made from flesh and is meant to serve a god!" Mai was lost in her mind, trying to find an answer to Hakai's current condition.
"His breathing is just escalating. This is bad..." Tears shimmered in her eyes. "Okay, collect yourself, Aki Mai!" She shouted at herself.
"Here, lukewarm water." Kaiyo placed the bowl down, crouching next to Hakai's face and tending to him. Asuma came from behind, handing his daughter the thermometer first."
Mai quickly inserted it into his mouth, waiting for a reading.
Ping!
"Error? What does that mean?" Mai looked back at her dad, both shocked.
"Try again..." Kaiyo told her daughter while draining the towel and placing it again on Hakai's forehead.
Ping!
"The thermometer's reading error again, is it broken?" Mai reread the results as her mother made a shocking discovery.
"I don't think it is. He is quite literally as hot as boiling water!" Kaiyo told the two while taking her hand off his forehead and again draining the water.
"Da-dad, stethoscope, please!" Mai panicked.
"Hmm." He handed it over to her with fear written on his face. Kaiyo and Asuma stared at one another while Mai checked his heart rate.
"What is this? It can't be possible!" Mai cried onto Hakai's chest.
Ba-dmp!
Ba-dmp!
Ba-dmp!
Ba-dmp!
"He's beyond a heart attack at any human limits at this point." Mai cried inside, worried sick.
"What is it?" Both the parents asked the same question.
"There is no rhythm to his heart. It's racing beyond any limits..." She looked over at her dad, crying uncontrollably.
"Okay, we're calling the emergency!" Asuma evaluated and made a change of heart.
"Ye-yes, we should have since the beginning," Kaiyo said while Mai reached to hold back her dad from his shirt.
"What is it, Aki?" He looked back, asking.
"Wahhhhhh!" She cried, unable to tell them the truth.
"What? Dear, are you okay?" Kaiyo asked her while changing and placing the cloth on Hakai's forehead.
"Bah!! I don't know, but that won't work!" Mai cried her heart out as her dad sat down to hug her.
"Why wouldn't it? He's better off in a room with professionals and hi-tech equipment."
"It won't work. The doctors can't work on someone they can't see!" She finally blurted it out.
"See what?" Her dad asked as Kaiyo kept trying to bring Hakai's temperature down.
"You can't see Hakai because Hakai is invisible to humans!" She kept crying onto her father's soft shoulder.
"Invisible!? Are you out of your mind, Aki?" Her mother scolded her for spurring a brat's attitude in a middle of an emergency
"Mom, dad. Hakai isn't human. He is a God! He is a holy spirit!" She shouted into the open.
"Huh?" Both the parents were shocked, even scared, as an ominous feeling filled the room.
"This feeling, it was from him? No way, right?" Asuma had previously caught onto the suspicious feeling. "I knew it, but why and how did Aki know this guy?"
"Aki, how do you know a God? How can we confirm he is a God?" He asked her, holding her by the shoulder, locking their eyes.
"I... I don't know, dad, but I evil and good spirits good!"
"Huh?" Asuma froze, recalling an encounter with a boy that resembled Aki in many ways. "Hiroki said the same thing before!"
{Flashback!},
"Papa, what's that dark thing floating?" A boy, around nine, asked while holding Asuma's hand.
"What dark thing?" Asuma looked around, holding his son's hand tighter.
"That thing!" Hiroki pointed it out.
"Boy, quit messing with your old man, or you won't get candy tonight!" Asuma picked Hiroki onto his shoulders, both sharing a burst of laughter.
{End of Flashback!}
"Dad, I know! I know how to prove it!" Aki wiped away her tears, looking deep into her father's eyes.
"H-How?"
"Please, load Haki-Kun into the car. There is a place, someone able to cure him!"
"Where?" The family came rushing out with Hakai's body. At the same time, placing him into the backseat, a group of four teenagers passed their house.
"What're they doing?"
"They must have gone cray-cray! Hahaha!"
"They hitting the heavy stuff, huh?"
"Yo, old man. Get some help!"
They taunted the family, who cared less for their words and more about their reaction to the whole thing.
"They couldn't see him..." Finally, Asuma and Kaiyo crossed the inevitable realization of Hakai's true nature.
"Please, dad, Lord Hachiman's shrine. He should be able to help!" She shouted at her dad, sitting next to Hakai as the parents took their seats.
"Who can help?" Asuma sped away while Kaiyo proposed the question.
"The mighty God of War, Lord Hachiman-Sama!" She placed Hakai's head on her exposed thighs, wearing a short.
"What?" Asuma and Kaiyo's brian overloaded, but a twinkle of hope remained in their hearts. They hoped that everything that occurred now was genuine and the gods genuinely existed in their world of misfortune.