Kaede followed the mock into a path leaving his dormitory. Although he was confused, he didn't dare to ask.
"Sir Shoma instructed me to let you have breakfast with another student here. I hope you enjoy their company," he said before stopping in an old house like his dorm.
The monk bowed at him and left.
Kaede took a deep breath and was about to open the door when he heard someone talk.
"Hey all, did you hear the news?" he heard a male voice.
"What news? There is much news, be specific," answered some female voice.
"Miss Minami's death. Sensei Shoma recruited her half-brother because he saw a potential shaman in him. But Minami wasn't a shaman at all despite having the same father. She was a failure, and she died because of it," said the same male voice, and that made Kaede pissed off.
He opened the door and entered the hall looking for the guy who said awful words about his sister.
Everyone gasps and shuts their mouth when they turn their gazes at him.
"Who among you insulted my sister?" he asked them, ready to punch the face of the boy who said it.
No one spoke up.
"I said, who said that my sister is a failure? Speak up!" he shouted, shaking with anger.
No one. No one shall insult his sister in his presence, for Kaede. Minani is the last family he has, and no one is allowed to insult her like that. Everyone inside the hall has no right to talk ill about his sister, especially when they don't know her.
Hiro was disturbed by someone's voice. He can quickly tell that this newly entered boy is angry, and he already hates him for disturbing his reading. He is looking forward to finishing this book since a new volume of the book is arriving soon, and he doesn't want to be stuck in the previous volume he is currently reading.
He also hated being in the Shaman's department dining hall when he usually worked at the main building of Ryōshi High.
"Hey Hiro, I have someone for you to check," Shoma, the bastard who handles first years, called him last night during his rest day. "His name is Kaede Rodriguez, and he is Minami's half-brother. I strongly feel that he might be the last decendant of Berdino Rodriguez, the one of three Pro-Shaman."
For Hiro, Shoma is a lazy teacher but is good at anything. And the only thing that Shoma can't do is copy his Realm of consciousness, which is the ability to see one's power and ability. Since according to Shoma, he's not sure if this Kaede boy has the Rodriguez clan's ability yet.
Hiro closed his eyes and started concentrating on expanding his Realm of Consciousness. He can lock Kaede inside and prepare himself to examine him. When Hiro was about to look at him, he suddenly felt this energy, a whole and raw negative energy coming from Kaede's charka. He faced him; seeing it with his own eyes was the source of that negative energy he had felt coming from.
Hiro's ability is beyond Shaman. He had already mastered the brown eyes technique, which allowed him to lock on his target in his Realm without the target's knowledge. He will begin to examine the type of charka and energy a student has even without unleashing it.
Hiro's eyes widened. And he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
In front of him, black flames are everywhere, as if it was Realm itself. And in the center of it was a hooded figure right behind Kaede. On each side of the hooded figure were six spears pointing at the second-year student who ill-talked his sister. The hooded figure has no face. And it was hard for Hiro to determine what kind of Keirei it was. But he doubts if that is an actual Keirei because the power he felt was unbearable and painful for him, which Keirei shouldn't have. The black flame is piercing through him. He could feel the intense hatred, wrath, and vengeance at once—such a pure and raw energy that made him feel scared for the first time.
"Who is that hooded figure? And why, why it has this immersive power? Where did it come from?"
All those questions were not answered. He, himself, didn't even know where to find the answer. And one thing is for sure; this is not just a shaman's power nor Keirei's. It's beyond that.
Suddenly he noticed Kaede's left arm. He saw a black tribal tattoo start to appear on his arm, intertwining each other and slowly making its way to the back of his hand. He saw a circle thing on it and a series of ink that looked like a seal, a bond seal in which a Keirei's mark only appears when both keirei and humans are bonded.
Hiro saw five spears appear circling on the second year's side. He noticed a line connecting the spear while circling the unexpecting second-year student.
Hiro knew that technique. That is one of the Shaman's abilities, Sealing. But why with spears? A sealing can only be done with a fine line of thread-like energy, not with any weapon, especially if the sharp part is facing the victim.
Hiro stood up. He knew. He knew that the second-year student would die if he did not interfere. Hiro immediately withdrew from his Realm of consciousness and immediately walked to where Kaede was.
He touched Kaede's shoulder, and Kaede suddenly dropped to the floor and lost consciousness.
"Hiro-sensei?"
Everyone that witnessed Kaede's rage suddenly got scared when they saw Hiro.
"Kid, be careful of what words are coming from your mouth. You are probably dead by now if I wasn't here," he warned the second-year student before picking Kaede's body up.
"This is insane, Shoma. Where did you pick this kid up? And what is his family history? We all know about his father, but what about his paternal mother?" Hiro couldn't stop talking to Shoma after calling him on his mobile phone.
"What? What are you trying to ask Hiro? First, you called me telling me you knocked him off, and now what? Do you want to know about his other parent? Of course, she is an ordinary human, a plain human," Shoma answered him, annoyed.
He was expecting a piece of good news from him when he called, but he was disappointed when he told him that he had taken Kaede to the school clinic and knocked him cold.
"That is not what I see in my Realm, Shoma," Hiro said, full of seriousness.
Shoma looked at Hiro, wondering if this guy had woken up on the wrong side of the bed or not. Knocking out some students during breakfast is rude without proper explanation.
"What do you mean?" he asks him, wondering.
"A second-year student ill-talked Kaede's sister. And Kaede heard it while he was still outside. He then entered the hall, demanding who insulted his sister. So I locked him in my Realm while he was unaware. And when I looked at him, I felt like I was in a realm, too; black flames were everywhere, hotter than the fire we have. It wasn't just a fire that made those black flames, an immerse negative energy; it was bitting me, slashing on me as if the flames were alive," Hiro told him.
Shoma felt the seriousness in his voice, and he proceeds to listen.
"In the center of those flames are Kaede and that hooded figure wielding polearms, including spears. I was bothered by the hooded figure. I couldn't see its face nor see what was inside that cloak it was wearing and not a keirei. And most of all, the seal! The seal that only Keirei do when they bond to humans. Kaede has it on his left arm. I saw five classes of polearm surrounding the kid who ill-talked his sister, and I also saw how the sealing line started to show. I knew shamans could do that, but why with sharp spears? My instinct told me that I had to stop before anything serious happened. And that's why I knocked him out. The second-year kid could have died if I hadn't done it. I know what I saw, which is not a Keirei, Shoma. The Elders should know about this," Hiro said, but Shoma stopped him.
"Let me handle this kid. I will have a full investigation privately, and if I'm done, I will be the one who will decide for this kid's future," Shoma said.
Hiro nodded at him and left after.