After they charged Rikuo out of the medical wing, Irina drove them to Shuuji's apartment in civilian Tokyo uptown. And from there the rest of the day had passed quickly enough while the boys unpacked and set up Rikuo's room.
"I'm gonna make dinner. Riku, what do you want?"
The ravenette asked, already behind the counter, washing rice. Rikuo shifted from his place on the couch so he was draped over the backrest to face Shuuji. His turquoise eyes sparkled at the mention of food.
"Can we have a gyudon?"
"Sure, I'll start the rice so can you take out the ingredients from the fridge first?" He told Rikuo.
The blond made an enthusiastic "Okay!~" and gingerly slid off of the couch. He then walked up to the fridge to get the ingredients out. Looking at the items inside the refrigerator, Rikuo asked.
"What do you put in gyudon?"
Shuuji paused from where he was plucking the rice rooker on to think. He quickly resumed his task however, but listed off the ingredients anyway.
"Well beef for one. It's in the bottom drawer of the freezer. Then pull out the onion as well as garnish. Those are the base ingredients."
He heard Rikuo rummaging through the fridge and placing the items on the counter. Once he was sure the boy pulled those out, Shuuji continued.
"As for the sauce, we need dashi, sake, mirin, soy sauce and sugar. I'll take the sugar from here but everything else is on the fridge door."
The ravenette pulled out the container of sugar from the cabinet as a tell-tale sound of glass clicking came from Rikuo's side. Shuuji clicked the rice cooker on and turned to the other boy slowly carrying the items to the counter.
Shaking his head softly, the blue eyed teen gently took the items from the other boy's arms before placing them on the counter. He shoo-d Rikuo away from the kitchen.
"You go take a bath. Dinner should be ready by then. I'll leave a change of clothes by the door."
Laughing at his first ever friend, the blonde teen headed for the bathroom. Inside, he calmly ran warm water to fill the tub next he stripped down and got to washing himself.
Rubbing his skin with foam filled sponge, Rikuo gazed at his feet, still not fully believing the fact that he could walk. He willed his toes to wiggle, then being pleasantly surprised when they did.
The blonde thought back to Shuuji, who was cooking dinner, to Jor curled up asleep inside his habitat and to Ruhia watching TV, perched on the armchair. Afterwards he thought of Irina, Kousuke, Old Ninenji as well as everyone else who helped him reach this point and found himself grateful to the point he had nothing to say.
Rikuo rinsed himself and stepped into the warm tub, carefully holding onto the sides so he wouldn't slip. He crouched down then collapsed into the water, almost melting to a pile of relaxed goo.
"Ahh~"
It had been a while since he had bathed without anyone's assistance. Years, if he was being honest. The blonde closed his eyes, leaning back against the tub.
His mind unwittingly went back to the events of the afternoon.
"According to Irina- no, Teacher, there are only 4 people like me. 2 are villains and other 2 are exorcists. Absolute Authority is rare and dangerous. But then, why do I have it?" He mumbled.
If it was so rare then why him of all people had been born with it? Was he even born with it? Or was it given to him when he signed the contract? Why was such power making itself known at 15 and not when he was little?
'Then again' he thought. 'It did save our lives that one time.'
"Well I'll ask Iri- Teacher next time." He mumbled.
"RIKU! DINNER IS READY!!"
"COMING!!"
He got out of the water to get dressed. He could contemplate those things later. Rikuo still had time. He just had to make that time useful.
…..
Once they finished the dinner, the boys decided to retire early for the night. Shuuji bid Rikuo goodnight before heading towards his own room.
The dark haired boy slumped on his bed exhausted yet unable to sleep. He was frustrated and angry at himself for being useless to help his friend. If it hadn't been for Old Ninenji, Kousuke and Irina, then the blonde boy would have been dead by now.
The elder council had obviously wanted to kill Rikuo, they had tried to do what they almost did to Kazue on the blond boy and it made Shuuji angry. Even if the teen himself wasn't aware of it.
This wasn't the end of it, Shuuji knew that. The council would attempt at Rikuo's life from here and he knew the adults were aware of it too.
None of them held illusions that they could always protect the boy. So he needed to learn how to protect himself.
That was the reason Irina was tasked to take Rikuo on as a student by Old Ninenji. It wasn't just to assure the elders that Irina can take care of Rikuo if he got out of hand but also to help the boy protect himself from whatever those old farts cooked up.
Shuuji groaned into the mattress. 'No use thinking about this now.' The ravenette decided. 'I'm gonna go to sleep.' Soon enough the teen was out, catching up on the rest he surely needed.
….
It was around midnight when Rikuo was shaken awake by a serious looking Shuuji standing beside his bed, gently shaking his shoulders. The blonde groaned, moving to sit up.
"W-wha-*yawn* What's wrong?"
"A sudden mission. Come on get up."
"But why am I going with you?" the sleepy boy asked. He threw his legs over the side to get up but paused. Rikuo stared at his still moving limbs for a minute until Shuuji threw a pile of clothes into his lap.
"Because you're a champion now. Wear that. Also get your badge, teacher is meeting us there. I'll be by the door."
With that the ravenette left. Rikuo, who watched the boy leave, hurried to change into the blue jeans and black high collar shirt the boy threw at him. Once done, the blonde quickly took his badge then strapped it against his left leg by the belt.
He hastened towards the door to meet the already ready Shuuji there. Nodding towards the other boy, Rikuo quickly pulled the red trainers the boy provided on and they were out of the door.
They met Mr.Miyamoto outside the apartment who drove them towards the provided address. It wasn't all that far from Shuuji's apartment, an hour by foot and 20 minutes by car.
The ride didn't last long but it felt like it had gone on forever for Rikuo. Between the boys sat a stifling tension that grew the more they neared the mission perimeters. Twenty minutes passed by like that with neither teen willing to speak up.
Finally, they arrived. Shuuji was out of the car before Rikuo could utter a word. The blond boy followed his friend in a more sedate pace after he thanked Mr.Miyamoto for his services after the man reported that they had set up a dome around the grounds of the victim's house. Whoever "they" were.
He soon caught up with Shuuji who stood conversing with Irina. Their teacher was still in her earlier get up though there was now an addition of pink bunny eye covers on her head. She paused from whatever she was talking about with Shuuji when her blue eyes caught the sight of him.
"Riku! Come here, come here!" She hissed excitedly. The blonde cautiously made his way over only to be dragged by his shirt collar by the older woman. She grinned at Shuuji who looked rather disproving but resigned.
"Now I'd watch over this blond brat so go fulfill the mission on your own brat." She commanded.
The ravenette let out a defeated groan before giving Rikuo a nod and then headed inside the house to exorcize the spirit inside.
Irina dragged Rikuo in after him. They settled by the corner to watch Shuuji as the boy quickly engaged some type shrieking woman like monster.
"Now dear blonde disciple, this is your first official lesson. Can you tell me what monster that is?" Irina questioned him. Pointing at the now woman faced snake lunging at Shuuji.
"Umm some kind of jealous woman??"
"Ugh yeah I should have guessed you wouldn't know a thing." Irina grumbled while Rikuo offered her a sheepish "Sorry?"
"That spirit is known as Nure-Onna. Type of malicious spirit that feeds on the human body and soul, they sometimes devour Iwa too. We call those types of malicious spirits, Onryo. And they are a rather common type of threat." she explained. Rikuo nodded, trying to track Shuuji fighting the spiri- no, onryo.
"They are however rather easy to deal with. Now watch Shuuji closely." She ordered. The blonde nodded turning to observe the ravenette.
Shuuji was fighting with his dagger out. The nure-onna lunged for the boy, swiping at him with it's enermous tail. The boy rolled out of the way, taking the opportunity to slash the end off the tail off, making the onryo screech in what Rikuo assumed as pain.
It however also made the onryo angrier as it hissed, lunging for the boy once more with fervour. The onryo wrapped it's bleeding tail around the boy's hand, preventing him from moving it as it then lunged again for the ravenette's neck.
"Shu-" Rikuo made to move , only to be held back by Irina who shook her head.
"He can handle it. You'll only burden him for now."
And she was right, the blonde realized. Unlike him, Shuuji had maybe years of experience with this kind of lifestyle but that didn't mean he wasn't worried. He bit his lip, hating himself just a little bit for being so weak.
Just before he could spiral more, Rikuo felt something bonk his head. He looked up to see Irina with a pen in her hand.
"I said for now brat. You would be figthing along side him soon enough. Now watch him again bit this time pay attention to the dagger."
Rikuo nodded bid dazed. He looked towards Shuuji who was slashing at the Nuru-onna to keep her away from his neck. The onryo had several more wounds and the dagger in the ravenette's hand was-
Glowing?
"Finally noticed it didn't you? Normal physical wounds can't hurt onryo for long because they heal 10 times faster than humans. But what Shuuji is doing right now is called Coating. It's basic technique that can help you defeat lower level spirits easily."
"How does it work?"
"It's simply. Shuuji told you about reiki, correct?" She asked and at his nod, Irina continued. "You simply coat your weapons with reiki and because you signed a contract it will have flavor of the god's power in it. Making it deadlier for onryo." She explained. Irina then clapped her hands.
"Shuuji, you can finish her off now!!"
"FINALLY!!!"
The boy's hand moved faster than Rikuo could track and in one fell swoop, the Nuru-onna's head was severed from her body. He watched the body and head flail for a minute before withering away into a black shower of dust.
'Oh, Shuuji wasn't in danger after all.' He belatedly noted as he dazedly gazed at the annoyed if bit embarrassed boy.
"Now then! How about you boys go back and sleep? Old Miyamoto and the cleaning crew will take care of everything else!!"
"Isn't that bit irresponsible Teacher? This is a mission headed by you."
"Now Shuu brat, let me me slack will ya?~" then she was gone.
Ruhia let out a confused chirp. Then Rikuo, followed by Shuuji yawned. Both paused to share a look before laughing a little at the silliness of the situation.
"Let's go home?"
"Yeah, let's."