It was early in the morning when Irina came to collect them. After the sudden mission from the previous night, the boys were reluctant to leave their beds yet they did so because neither wanted to anger their quick-tempered teacher.
The short haired woman was properly dressed in dark gray sportswear instead of the mismatched home outfit Rikuo had seen the other day. 'It suits her.' He thought, even if the 15 years old knew nothing about fashion.
Irina drove them out of Tokyo, going through the abandoned mountain road. The drive took them 3 hours and when they finally arrived at their destination, Rikuo was quite sure he looked ready to throw up. Heck, he felt like it too.
Ruhia chirped, nuzzling into Rikuo's hair from her place on his shoulder. Instantly, a feeling of comfort passed through him, soothing his stomach nicely.
"Teacher, please never drive again."
He wheezed, already picking up on Shuuji's habit of calling Irina, teacher in an informal way. The blond ignored the subtle way the brown woman's eyes lit up at how he addressed her in favor of thanking Ruhia. Irina quickly regained her 'professional' attitude and cleared her throat.
"Right, Riku brat, catch this!."
She threw something at the blond, who fumbled to catch it. Once he safely caught it, Rikuo lifted it up to see a round crystal the size of his fist. Turning it around curiously, the teen asked.
"Umm what's this?"
"That, brat, is a reiki detector. It's a super rare item so be careful with it."
"If it's so rare, why did you throw it!?" He asked, scandalized.
"Hey, even if it broke, I'll just make Kousuke pay it back." Their teacher answered nonchalantly. She picked her carelessly as her students shared a look. 'Poor Mr.Gatou' they thought. Irina then grinned.
"So pour your reiki into that." Rikuo stared.
"I-... How?" He asked.
He wondered if Irina was just messing with him. The blonde had only been officially introduced to their world a day ago. So he obviously had no idea how to channel reiki.
Irina just raised an eyebrow at him.
"With Ruhia's help obviously. Ask her to guide you then focus on the crystal."
Rikuo just let out a defeated sigh and turned to his Lwa. The bird tilted her head at him in question. The blonde gently patted her head.
"Can you help me channel my reik, Ruhia?" He asked. The mockingbird chirped in reply which he chose to take affirmative.
Taking a deep breath, the blonde closed his eyes and focused on the crystal ball on his palm. He heard Irina's voice speaking to him.
"Good, now imagine a ball of light where your heart is and imagine that it's reaching out to the ball that is an empty container."
Cautiously, Rikuo imagined a ball of white light where his heart was located and imagined white string like tendrils reaching for the ball to fill it up. Yet, no matter how he imagined it, the blonde couldn't get the tendrils to fill up the ball. He made a frustrated humm when he heard Ruhia chirp beside his ear.
In a moment, there was a small golden ball beside his big ball of reiki. It let out tendrils that intervened with his silver ones and gently guided them towards the crystal ball, slowly filling it up. Once the ball was sufficiently full the golden tendrils retreated allowing Rikuo to do so as well.
He opened his eyes and gave Ruhia a gentle rib on her chin, making her preen happily. Rikuo then turned back to see the ball glowing soft blue/white with gold glimmering here and there. He threw it towards Irina who caught it with no problem.
The brown haired woman whistled, impressed. Shuuji came to stand beside the blond. They shared a nod and watched Irina put the crystal away. Their teacher turned back to Rikuo.
"I am impressed, my cute disciple. You have an extremely pure reiki. However the levels are barely above the required level for exorcists."
"Is that bad?"
"No, it's good actually. It means you will be able to use powerful techniques while wasting miniscule amount of reiki. Even if it wasn't possible, your reiki reserves will grow the more you use them. And one day you might have monster reserves like Shuuji over there."
They glanced at the suddenly embarrassed ravenette who turned away from them. They could see the red of his ears and shared a grin. Coughing a little, Rikuo asked loudly.
"Oh? Is Shuuji that powerful? Must be because he has you as a teacher!" He winked at Irina who returned it with a reply just as loud as his.
"No, not at all! It's all because he is such a good disciple that-"
"Okay! Stop! Stop!! Don't tease me, you two." The ravenette exclaimed, huffing when the two instantly shut up. Irina smirked in his direction.
"My, Are you embarrassed Shuu brat? How unexpected. I should tell Lucky about this.~"
"Teacher please I get it. I'd give you guys your privacy."
Shuuji sighed and walked away with a defeated look. They watched him get sufficiently far away before Irina turned back to Rikuo, making the boy gulp.
"Rikuo listen, I know you are worried about the council and trying not to think about them. But no matter what happens, we'd protect you from them, okay?"
"H-how did you know?" The blonde asked. His voice wavering because dammit, had he failed to hide how he felt? Irina ruffled his hair affectionately.
"Shuuji told me. That boy may act tough but he is too caring to keep his nose out of people's business and he is worried about you. So watch over him okay? Just like how he will watch over you. You guys are a team now."
Rikuo nodded, thinking back to the fight with the Baku and how ready the ravenette was to sacrifice himself to get him to safety.
"I noticed. W-when I got contracted, Shuuji tried to sacrifice himself so the Baku wouldn't go after me."
Dark look briefly flashed over the woman's face.
"I'd talk to him. Now, come on. We'll start your training." Rikuo nodded.
"What do I need to do?"
"First I will hand both you and Shuuji physical activity and diet plans after this session. You have to follow it without a break, do not miss a day."
She started.
"Next, we will meet here every other day so I can train you in fighting and weapon fighting. It'd be tough but try to hang in there." The brown haired woman continued
"And Finally, both Shuuji and I will teach you reiki techniques as well as how to use your blessings." She finished. Rikuo nodded, before asking his question.
"What are blessings?" As soon as he finished his question,an unnerving grin spread across Irina's face.
"You don't worry about that. It will make itself known soon enough. Oh, also the fact that you have 'Absolute Authority' is to be kept under tight wraps so be careful not to reveal it."
"Right."
Irina then whistled Shuuji over. The ravenette jogged over to stand beside them. After the boy caught up with them. The brown haired woman grinned at them all death.
"Now run 20 laps around the clearing then do push ups 100 times! Any miss will make the numbers double!"
And Tsujimura Rikuo realized.
'I seem to have signed up for hell.'
…
Asahi Tomura was an average looking man with an average life. He was 59 years and in his life he had witnessed many things and had part in more than half of them. Growing up, he didn't have the best childhood nor grades. So once he graduated high school, he had been drafted straight to the military by his parents.
Asahi had spent 4 years there, steadily rising through the ranks until he was discharged for incurable nerve damage in his left leg. With the money he had saved from his life as a soldier, Asahi bought a small street corner bar in Shinjuku and worked there till this day.
That was where he met his wife. Meeting his wife had been one of the happiest moments in his life. They had dated for 4 years before getting married. And they had their son a few years after. But tragedy stuck then.
His wife passed away giving birth to their son and Asahi Tomura admitted to participating in less than legal business to raise his son. If there was anything he regretted the most was the fight he had with his son over his choice of customers.
Due to his illegal activities, Asahi's bar had become a hotspot for Yakuza gatherings. After their fight, at the tender age of 19, Asahi Tomura's son left his home. That had been nearly 10 years ago and Asahi hadn't seen his son since.
So yes, it was fitting to say that Asahi Tomura was a man who witnessed many things in his short 59 years of life. But never had he seen anything like that before and he told the officer sitting beside his bed as such.
"Right, Mr.Asahi. Can you describe what happened at the bar once more?" The slightly round man who introduced himself as Officer Kunichi asked. Asahi nodded
"It happened around 11:45 PM, Wednesday. The Wildflower Yakuza group came in as usual to drink for a while."
"You said they had a hooded boy with them that wasn't part of their group before, yes?"
"Yes, the boy smiled at me very politely. While I prepared their drinks, the group laughed about something before the boy suddenly jumped onto the table. He told the group something that made them angry. So I hurried over with their drinks."
"Because you couldn't let them hurt the kid."
"I, in my hurry, spilled the drink across the boss's suit and he got very angry. Very, very angry. So I apologized, but-"
"But the boss didn't like it so he was about to grab you when the boy stabbed the man's hand with a wooden chopstick."
Officer Kunichi sounded a bit skeptical but Asahi couldn't blame him. He too was still unsure if everything that happened was real.
"He threw the chopstick from the table Officer. The boss yelled for his people to attack the boy and the boy told me to cover my ears." Asahi continued.
"I-I don't remember what happened afterwards well. But one moment the boy was telling them something and the next the men were shooting each other."
"But I-I must have forgotten something right? Why would they shoot each other because of something that boy said? Officer, am I going crazy?"
Officer Kunichi sighed.
"No you are not sir. Thank you for testifying for us. Why don't you rest for now and we can talk in the morning."
"O-kay, yes, i shall rest now. Goodnight Officer."
"Goodnight, Mr.Asahi."
The officer left the room to see his partner Officer Miwatoshi waiting for him. The round policeman groaned in frustration.
"This is the third time this month Miwatoshi! And all the survivors describe the same person! A teen with some magical powers. Just what the hell is going on?"
Officer Miwatoshi sighed, massaging his temple.
"The same hooded boy with silver hair and heterochromatic eyes? I don't know Kunichi, I don't know." He mumbled, tired. Officer Kunichi sighed along with him. Before walking away.
"Well, I am heading back to the station. We will talk in the morning Miwatoshi. For now, go talk to your father. He needs someone to lean on after tonight."
Asahi Miwatoshi watched his work partner leave the hospital before turning his attention back to the room Asahi Tomura resided in. Gulping down his shame and irrational fear, he slid the door open.
On the bed sat his father, pale and old. His hands shook from the shock of tonight and his eyes were glazed over like he wasn't there. However these eyes sparked with recognition upon meeting Miwatoshi's uniform clad form.
Asahi Miwatoshi had changed a lot in the past decade but he was surprisingly pleased when his father, his only pillar of support until their fight, recognized him still. Offering a hesitant smile, Miwatoshi greeted.
"Hey dad."
Asahi Tomura instantly burst into tears. He reached for and pulled his one and only son into a tight hug. A hug Miwatoshi reciprocated eagerly. He had missed this, he had missed his father. Just as his father so obviously missed him.
"I missed you dad."
"And I, you son."
That night they spent the past decade of each other's lives. Three days later, Asahi Miwatoshi introduced his wife and children to Tomura. Week later, Asahi Tomura was discharged from hospital. He then closed the bar and moved in with his son and his family.
They were happy. So happy with their new lives that none of them expected the tragedy that struck them a month later. It devastated their entire family and left a deep wound that wouldn't be closing for a long time.
"23rd of June, Officer Asahi Miwatoshi was found murdered in an alley near Tokyo Station."