"The presence of you two together is enough to set a lot of people off, but Joki reinforcing this place brings a lot of the danger down." Kazu says.
"What exactly do you mean the presence of us two, Double's not that strong, he wouldn't exactly give off a aura that would make you fear for your life." Joki says, staring in confusion.
"Well...it's kind of hard to explain, but before I tell you any of that, Joki...you of all people shouldn't be surprised that I found you. Wherever you go, tons of people should follow you, but are naturally scared because of the aura you let off. You may not be the strongest in the world, but you are pretty damn close." Kazu says
Whenever Joki would go for supplies, and even when he would simply do things such as when he went to help Double in his fight against Kashikoi. His aura, even while trying to suppress it always let others know of his location, but many were too scared to compromise.
"How I found you? Well it was a while ago, a couple of months back...I got into a incident, but eventually I managed to find Joki. You let off a huge aura, and most people wouldn't go near you, but because of my silent movement, and my ability to suppress my aura I always stayed near. I thought that if it's too risky to try and join you, I might as well stay around for a while, but after what happened recently I found the confidence to let myself in." Kazu says.
"How come I never noticed this!" Double yells.
"...Can you not sense aura Double?" Kazu asks.
Double's control over aura had been lacking to the point where he couldn't even do all of the basics. The only thing Double truly had mastered was the ability to imbue his aura into his fist, but everything else wasn't clear to him.
Though, he instinctively was able to sense aura even for a second in the fight with Kashikoi, the basics of aura only came to him when he felt his life was threatened.
"No...I've never been able to, even learning how to imbue aura, I only learned that after my first altercation with Joki." Double says
Joki's eyes widen at what Double had just said, not even Double realized how unbelievable that sounded, aura is something that only increases in amount, and the basics you'd only learn from studying or maybe even practicing.
"Are you serious, I thought you knew how to imbue your aura into your fist before I had found you?" Joki asks.
"No...once we had ran into each other, on instinct I was able to imbue my fists with aura. It's like my body had reacted to the threat on it's own, giving me more power." Double says.
"If Double was that inexperienced, why would you allow him to fight a threat like that Joki?" Kazu asks.
Double and Joki look over at Kazu in disbelief, even to this point, Double and Joki had been unaware of exactly how much Kazu know about their adventures so far, but everything was beginning to make sense.
Even still, Kazu's knowledge of the fight, and knowing the strength and how much of a threat Kashikoi was threw both Double and Joki off.
"Do you...know who Kashikoi is by any chance Kazu?" Double asks.
Kazu yawns, and begins to think back to when he was traveling, even before he had figured out the existence of Joki.
"Yeah...I ran into Kashikoi a while back, but I never engaged with him. I made sure to stay out of sight once I saw what he had done, he quickly murdered too people who's strength were higher than anything I had ever seen. I quickly got away from him, but never kept my eye off him, what his abilities are and what he's capable of...he's someone that shouldn't exist, a anomaly." Kazu says.
"Couldn't have said it better myself..." Joki says.
Joki begins to expand the room, confusing Double and Kazu, Double was never aware that Joki had the ability to manipulate the cabin itself.
'Damn...using this ability really has an effect on me, but more importantly...if this kid knows so much it'll be good to keep him around.' Joki thinks to himself.
Joki walks towards Kazu, and hands him back his sword, and then immediately after, he checks Double and notices that his wounds had been healing nicely, and that he would make a full recovery.
"Honestly Kazu, you aren't too weak yourself, your aura is unique, and the way this sword is, I can only imagine that your fighting style would be unique as well. You should join Double in fighting Kashikoi." Joki says.
"Against...Kashikoi, that sounds like a suicide mission. You're gonna join him too right? knowing your title, and what you're capable of it'll be easy." Kazu says.
"Title?" Double asks.
Double looks over to Joki confusion, Double had never heard of any title that Joki might have claimed, and Kazu looked more aware of it than anything.
"You don't know? Joki here is known by a special name that he's been called by many people who have crossed paths with him." Kazu says.
"Seriously! You have to be a stalker or something, how much do you know about me?" Joki asks.
Double begins laughing out loud, something about Kazu being in the room, and telling him about Joki made all the stress of what happened at the battlefield go away.
Double hadn't forgotten, but he became comfortable with Joki knowing that someone had been watching and keeping a eye on Joki.
"That sounds so cool, what is the title that he holds?" Double asks.
"He holds the title of being the god of technicality, someone that in hand to hand combat is feared amongst everyone. Joki is capable of some very cool things, but he never uses his abilities, and I've never seen him actually use his awakened Sakusei abilities to their full extent." Kazu says.
"What's an awakened Sakusei?" Double asks.
Kazu looked over in disbelief at Double's words, even though he had already figured out that Double was clueless to the world of aura, and abilities that others possessed.
Double had already known of the Sakusei's existence, but never that there was an awakening to it.
"Seriously! Have you taught Double anything since he's been here Joki?. Kazu asks.
"Well it's hard to teach a guy who thinks he can learn everything just by picking a fight every five minutes...so no I haven't taught him much, honestly in the time you've been here you've been able to teach him more than me when it comes to analyzing his power." Joki says.
Double looks over watching them talk, and feels like a child being left out of a group. His cluelessness made him feel that any word he would have said would've just made look even more dense then he already was.
"Double...The awakened Sakusei comes from honing your Sakusei that you already possess to an even greater level. Coming to understand it, and training your body, eventually doing these things will grant you your awakening. Treat it like leveling up in a game, you'll go from being a novice, to a intermediate, to eventually an expert kind of like Joki." Kazu says.
"What...is a game?" Double asks.
"...you really haven't taught him much have you?" Kazu asks.
Joki face palms himself and begins to laugh, and is quickly accompanied by Kazu who laughs as well. Double sits annoyed, and begins to become frustrated with his lack of knowledge.
"I may not understand the whole game reference you made, but I do understand that you have to improve upon your Sakusei, only problem is...I don't have any abilities, I just punch really hard, and one of the things Joki did teach me was imbuing your fist, and becoming naturally stronger due to the Sakusei just happens." Double says.
"That's completely true, I wish I could tell you more, but I don't have a Sakusei myself. my strength comes from training, and just carrying around my sword. It's always just been my sword and me." Kazu says.
Double yawns, and stands up, he begins to stretch his arms and his legs trying to get a good feel if he was okay or not. Once he realized that he fully recovered, he looked at Kazu.
"Hey...I loved being able to talk to you Kazu, but i was only able to have this talk because I didn't know I recovered. I have to take Kashikoi out...but Joki does make a good point, it'll be a little hard on my own, and something tells me Joki won't...or can't do it." Double says.
"I already get the memo, you want me to join you and help you fight that monster. I owe it to Joki to try and help since this whole time...I've been watching him without him knowing, but you understand the risks that come with this, we could die Double." Kazu says.
"Yep...that's enough to convince me to fight, I remember that feeling, I got so much stronger just feeling the aura of Joki, imagine if I get another chance to fight Kashikoi again...all of the mysteries behind Joki and Kashikoi's relationship...while it does bother me, I'm more interested in seeing just how much stronger I can become if i beat him!" Double yells.
"Then that settles it! Looks like you two are in agreeance, and I am very appreciative Kazu, but we need to get you two accustomed first. You two can fight me, and learn how each other fights. Once you do that...you'll be ready to head out." Joki says, walking out of the room, leaving Double and Kazu alone.
Kazu looks back at Double, and their eyes begin to lock once again.
"Two days...that's all we'll give ourselves to learn as much as we can. I told Kashikoi something that'll make him stay for sure. All we got to do is prepare." Double says.
"Sounds like a plan to me. Since Joki couldn't do it, I'll teach you as much as I can in the short time, but your aura is already similar to mines in terms of how much you can put out. I wanna be able to grow stronger with you Double." Kazu says
Double and Kazu's minds had intertwined, and they both had the same goal in mind. Eliminating the anomaly that had been Kashikoi from this world.
"We'll take that bastard out for good!" Double and Kazu both say together.