The next day, Cai Kang and Kazuha ran to school seeing a hoard of boys but they stopped upon noticing that they were not preparing for an attack this time.
"What is going on?" Kazuha said with confusion.
"Shiratori Kazuha, we shall no longer challenge you. We all discussed this and we decided to recognize your relationship to Cai-san." One of them said,
They were bewildered. "What's going on? Why have you-"
Then they saw Karasuma. He looks terrible. He is covered in bandages all over his body. The wounds do not even seem superficial. Most of them do not even look like the injuries that Cai Kang inflicted on him. Cai Kang can deduce that he is attempting to train but hurt himself in the process.
"You all heard the rumor that Cai Kang has defeated me but I will not admit defeat." He declared despite being obviously in pain.
Is he still trying to act all mighty and cool after that beating? His ego's unbeatable. Cai Kang thought.
Everyone saw him being beaten up. Even in this state, he is a sore loser. Kazuha thought.
"Karasuma was one of the strongest fighters in this school." A student said.
"Yeah and the dumbest." A judo student said.
"Dumbest?! No matter how many kicks I receive from Cai Kang doesn't even hurt." He said.
"You're delusional." Kazuha commented and shook her head in disappointment. "Just give up. Besides, he is not your match."
Cai Kang cannot understand how a guy like him is in such a sorry state and yet he refuses to even acknowledge he is defeated. This irritates him to no end. He's gonna enjoy the beatdown he will give him.
"That's it!" He snaps. "I hope everyone's watching because you're gonna see me put him straight to the hospital if I don't kill him first!" Cai Kang yells but Kazuha stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Well we've said our part. Congratulations Cai Kang. You better make her happy." A male student said and everyone left. Cai Kang and Kazuha didn't say anything but decided not to.
"We're not even engaged. But should I say it?" Cai Kang asked.
Kazuha sighed at the statement and put her hand on his shoulder. "In order to make this all stop, It won't hurt to keep this up for a bit right?"
"Are you sure? It's still a lie." He flatly says.
"Yeah," She admitted. "But if we play our cards right then that means the guys will not try to ambush me anymore. Noriko and Toya are popular too and unlike me, they love the attention. They will just become more popular. If they find out it isn't official then it will never stop."
"You know those two are pure evil, right? You're letting them go just like that?"
Kazuha exhales sharply. "They may be like this but they are smart. I decided to trust them on this one."
"Fine," he exasperated, "I can help out with that. It's no big deal. All we have to do is say yes, right?" Cai Kang said but was a bit unamused.
"I guess I had to thank you for that. I'll treat you to lunch." Kazuha said while nudging him.
"Don't rub it in." He grumbled.
Since that morning, both Kazuha and Cai Kang's "engagement" has been a very popular topic. Many guys and girls who like Kazuha had given up in their attempts to date her or even confess to her except Karasuma. Like she said, it just gave the twins more popularity. In addition, due to Cai Kang's display at school, no one would even dare to challenge him to a fight they know they wouldn't win however he grew quite popular due to his martial arts display, something he secretly enjoys.
The rest of class up until lunch was quite boring and he almost fell asleep a few times.
*
Cai Kang was sitting on the rooftop. Normally it is locked up, but Cai Kang easily opened it and just ate while Toya came onto the roof. He moved his head towards him with a displeased look.
"What do you want?"
"To eat my lunch." He replied.
"Where's Noriko?" Cai Kang questioned. "I haven't seen her at all today."
"She's busy. Believe it or not, genius. We're not always together." Toya said while opening his bento box and began eating his food.
"What's my debt?" Cai Kang asked.
Toya got a piece of paper and gave it to Cai Kang. The currency is still throwing him off, but he can see it is a significant change than last time.
"We spent all night counting how much we earned. In fact, you did such a good job that you scared the shit out of those guys who owed us money so now you already have 110000 yen off of your debt."
"That much? Surprisingly generous of you." he says in a fake tone of surprise
Toya shrugged while eating. "You don't have much left anymore anyway. You might be able to pay the rest yourself by picking up spare change you'd find on the road."
"With that tone, I can't tell if you're serious or mocking me." Cai Kang said immediately finishing his lunch.
"I'm serious." He said nonchalantly.
"Fine" Cai Kang replied.
Cai Kang left the roof top before noticing Kazuha talking with a bunch of students. Good timing. He has questions. Cai Kang climbed the fence surrounding the rooftop and jumped off the roof shocking Toya and he landed in the trees grabbing onto a branch with one arm to stop his landing. Many people were amazed at his skill.
Kazuha notices him immediately. "What's wrong?"
Cai Kang lets go of the branch and approaches her. "You said that you know the Xia here, right?"
"What about it?" she said.
"Where are they?"
"If you must know, none of them in the school are to be recruited until further notice." She told him.
"Why?" He questioned. "It's literally your job to recruit as many Xia as possible. Even though that Karasuma guy is narcissistic, he is a xia. That title doesn't easily go to anyone, you know."
"Most of the students here are from influential families. If they were to be taken away in large numbers like that then everyone's gonna notice." She said. "Luminescent rules don't always apply to every nation state like it does in yours. We are selective with our choices so unless there is a right candidate then we're gonna leave the people behind."
Cai Kang sat under the tree. Luminescent, also known as Mingguang is the formal name of the name of the alliance/union in the Inverse. It is the job of the Grandmasters to recruit as many talents as possible and convert them to the Inverse. In China, the rules are absolute but in Japan, it seems to be more flexible.
Cai Kang then shrugged. "Better that way in my opinion, if Karasuma were to join in Shenmi, it would be a freakin disaster."
"I invited a few of my friends who are both xian and just regular people who knows about the Inverse. After classes are over, we can hang out with them."
"You sure about that?"
"Yeah, they want to see you anyway. They find your gender change ability to be fascinating."
Cai Kang nearly scoffed. "What the hell are we gonna do?"
Kazuha smiles mischieviously, "Don't worry about it." She then went back to the building, leaving Cai Kang worried. If she's anything like those twins, he will expect something unpleasant.
*
After school ended, Cai Kang looked to see Kazuha who seems to be in a good mood as she left the classroom. He is surprised to know how fast she is and quickly went to follow her. After catching up with her and putting his shoes on, he saw that she's waiting for him.
"Go back home and change into something comfortable. I'll take you to the Inverse. You'll be surprised what's in store for you." She said.
Confused, but optimistic, he went straight home and changed into an outfit that is similar to what he wore when he went shopping with the twins then went to the training hall for a few warm-ups. After half-an-hour, he saw Kazuha open the door. He was on a handstand so to him, she is upside down. She is dressed in casual wear like him. The only difference is that she wore a headband to cover her forehead and slick her hair back. Compared to the tons of people he has seen on the shopping day. she resembles a boy more than ever now that she is no longer wearing a skirt.
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah, give me a moment." Cai Kang said and got back on his feet.
"Let's go."
Cai Kang followed Kazuha. He has no idea where she is going but so far, he trusts her.
She led him to a large pond but upon closer inspection, it is disguised as a pond as he can see that it is an illusion. There is no sign of life in the pond and definitely made for the elite as it us both convincing and expensive to own a portal of that size. Only a Xian would be able to spot this as a fake pond. He snapped out of his thoughts after seeing Kazuha walk on top of the water and followed her. The moment he did, the scenery changed around them until he can no longer see the house but a forest with a built-in path. Kazuha was quiet and without saying anything, she went into a run. Cai Kang is shocked but quickly followed her. She is fast, he'll give her that, but he quickly caught up to her before she stopped. Unfortunately, Cai Kang didn't see it coming and didn't give himself time to stop before he fell on his face.
"We're here."
Cai Kang rubbed his nose before looking forward. It is a view of a town. Even if it is from a distance, It looks like the town from Qiyuan.
"What in all of heaven and earth is going on here?" He said in bewilderment.
"This is the town of Inverse Nerima but a bit more modern." She said.
Both walked the rest of the way. He is shocked how ridiculously similar it is to the original. There were a few differences of course, but it is way to tech savvy to be the Shenmi he knows.
"How on earth did you people do this?" He asked.
"Money and power. My dad had plenty of those. But this isn't what I want to show you." She said.
"Then what is it that you want to show me?" He said.
Kazuha made a stop, and he is shocked to see a giant obstacle course. Well, it looks like one, but it is more jagged and disorganized. There are young men and women using it and practicing what looks like Qinggong.
"A giant parkour park. One of the few things I requested to have built here." She said proudly.
"This technique looks like Qinggong." He stated.
Kazuha thought for a moment before replying. "Well, it is but the Europeans in the non-mystic world has made it in a way that is more fluid in movement. This park is made for us to enjoy ourselves and not let our skills get rusty."
"Us?" Cai Kang questioned as he looked at her.
Kazuha realized that she hadn't mentioned her friends. "Yeah, I almost forgot. You're also meeting my friends." She said sheepishly. "Not all of them, but a few. The rest live too far." She said.
Then a girl with copper hair and a side ponytail, wearing a white crop top and black shorts noticed her. "Everyone! Kazuha's here!"
Then all heads turned to them, and they quickly approached the pair, all of them ecstatic.
"Is this Cai Kang?" One of them asked.
"Yeah, this is him. He's a guy right now but once the sun comes down then Cai Kang will be a girl." Kazuha said to them.
"That is so cool." They said with excitement.
"Alright, let's all introduce ourselves first." One of them said. The girl has copper colored hair and has her hair down. "My name is Higurashi Chiemi." She then turned her attention to the other copper haired girl. "And this is my twin sister; Maiko."
Chiemi so far has an enthusiastic impression on him. Meanwhile Maiko looks unimpressed. For some reason, he suddenly feels like he did something wrong.
"I'm Tanemoto Tatsuko." The girl next to him said politely. She is a beautiful girl with long black hair and amber eyes. Noticing that he is staring into her eyes, she looked away. "Sorry, but don't look into my eyes. They have a hypnosis effect."
"Sorry!" Cai Kang flustered.
"Ha! You really are half boy, half girl, aren't you?" A blue haired boy said. "Normally the first thing the guys stare at is her-" Then another boy slapped his head.
"Sorry about him, he likes to screw around." The boy said. "My name is Hirate Rikuto and this guy here," Hirate glared at him. "-is Akanishi Ryuki." He finished.
"Jeez, class prez! You didn't have to hit too hard." He mumbled angrily.
"Let's move on." A girl with a single braid came with another girl with green hair. "My name is Okabayashi Izumi. I hope your stay in Japan has been welcoming." She said kindly.
"Likewise," Cai Kang replied.
Then the final person, a girl with pine green bunches approached him. "My name is Uesaka Shiori. It's finally nice to meet you."
Kazuha sighed a bit. "Now that we got the introductions out of the way. Let's go activate the portal and have some fun."
"I call the anti-gravity one." The guy called Akanishi yells.
"No, the giant bubbles are more fun." the girl named Maiko refuted.
While they are arguing amongst each other, Cai Kang looked at her. "They were your classmates here?"
Kazuha shook her head. "Nope, they were my classmates in the non-mystic world."
That surprised Cai Kang. "Seriously? What are the chances that these people would be your classmates?" He said. "Even more so, they are all Xia."
Cai Kang had noticed it the moment he laid eyes on them. They are xia and quite strong too. Maybe not as strong as the grown-ups or as him but still stronger than most novice martial artists their age.
Kazuha nodded. "They are all pretty strong. We went to middle school together, trained together and dealt so much together. It was an especially rough time, but we all had each other and persevered. I will introduce you to the rest soon. But I thought you might have some fun first."
He looked to see that they are all floating in the air as they did many qinggong moves in the air. He has to admit that he is jealous of that. A life where he has many people who he can cry, talk to, laugh with, and do things with. Kazuha is lucky and she knows she is. He understands now. She wants him to feel welcome. A life of martial arts can be a lonely endeavor sometimes. Cai Kang has a huge smile on his face and ran through the gate to the park and is flying in the air. This feeling is amazing. Then he felt something whoosh by and saw the girl, Maiko, fly past him. She then sticks her tongue and eye at him before flying away. Cai Kang tried to move but it isn't as easy as it looks. Everyone moves so fluidly like water while he is just stuck.
This isn't just a park, you know. It's a training ground." Maiko said. She flew back after watching him struggle for a bit.
"I thought you would be this amazing guy, but you don't really have much to show, do you?"
Cai Kang is taken aback before angrily saying, "What on earth do you mean by that?"
"I mean, you are ignorant on things. Even if you learn a thousand techniques and styles, you are still inexperienced in many ways." she said.
He could see she is testing him. But it left Cai Kang was stunned as she flew away. Cai Kang watched the others fly or swim in the air and after a few failed tries which resulted in him flipping his body and wailing his arms around, he finally moved as much as they can, surprising her.
"Wow, you learn fast. It took me a week to basically start flying." Maiko said in amazement before approaching Kazuha. He watched as she flew away with a smirk of achievement on his face.
After hours of flying with the others in the park, it has gotten late, and Cai Kang turned into a girl in front of everyone. It was puzzling to them as they approached and observed her.
"Oh, wow. You really do turn into a girl." Okabayashi commented. "You don't look that different though."
"Do you identify as only one identity?" Tanemoto asked.
"Nope, I am genderfluid and see myself as just that. It's just that I identify as the gender I turn into the moment it happens." Cai Kang said sheepishly.
"It's cool, anyway. It is just that we've seen some shit. This is a whole other level." Akanishi said.
Cai Kang had a terrifying thought in her head which she brushed off. "Nope, there are scarier and weirder abilities than this." She said recalling her past encounters.
After talking and flying for a bit, it was getting late and they all went home, leaving only Cai Kang and Kazuha, heading back to the portal.
"That was fun. Is all of Japan like this?" He asked.
"Not really. This kind of thing is known to only the clan since this land belongs to the Hinagi clan for centuries. When my dad and mom lived in the non-mystic world, they loved it so much that they decide to convert the surrounding towns into similar structures. It has helped a lot for the people here. They go to school in the non-mystic world and come back with knowledge to rebuild their town and make more new jobs for the unemployed from neighboring areas."
"You are one of the most strangest but interesting people I have met." Cai Kang commented.
"I take that as a compliment." She replied cheerfully.
"Your friends, they are all Kyo. Is it because of your school?"
"Not quite but we were all trained by the same teacher." She said.
"How tough are they? Not all of them seem like fighters." She asked.
"We all have our own strengths and weaknesses, and we make our own improvements." Kazuha said.
The two girls got on to the pond and went back to Qiyuan. The experience has been admittedly really fun. Kazuha quickly went back inside before Cai Kang even has a chance to say anything.
*
Kazuha went back to room to look at something in her shelf. A black laquered box with pearl inlay. Her expression is unreadable as she opened it. After tapping in the box again, she closed it and put it back on the shelf, visibly disappointed.