A slim and imposing young woman with pure white hair sliding to her shoulders fights bravely against enemies with her featured white spear. She trashes them without mercy and nothing else is heard but echoes from her enemies lying in incommensurable pain.
" How dare you attack your own people?" Her enemies fall to the ground one after the other, disappearing as a result. The young woman continues to fight without falling short until an enemy stumbles her from behind.
" Behind you!" One of her men alerts her of the upcoming danger. Dashing her spear in circles, she trashy the enemy in the abdomen, slowly disintegrating him.
In the end, all the enemies are defeated and the young woman stands bravely with the blood of her enemies in her pure white jade robe.
At one point, she felt dazed and one of her men caught her as she was about to hit the ground. " Hime, are you alright?" He asked but she was too weak to utter a response. The man helped her stand to her feet and looking at her, he muttered without an ounce of hesitation, " Hime, you should consume my blood. You'll feel better once you do."
The man ripped his shirt open, giving place to his tempting neck. The young woman's teeth grew sharp at the sight of it and as she approached the man and was about to lay her crow inside his neck, she instinctively pushed him away.
" Hime, why did you push me away?" The man asked in worry. " You need to drink or else your condition will only deteriorate."
The young woman looked firm and said as she turned around, giving way to nothing but her silhouette, " You know very well Hayden that the sight of blood repulses me and even more if it's that kind of blood."
Hayden looked at the young woman sadly and said, " If you don't want to consume vampire blood, then what about human blood?"
" There's no need for any of that, Hayden." She looked at him before adding, " I'm not so weak that I'll consume human blood for my survival."
Using her ability to fly, she muttered to her men harboring a victorious grin, " Let's go back!"
" Yes, Hime!" They follow her back to their headquarters.
Someplace far away, several kilometers and kilometers away, in Tokyo, a young man with semi-black hair and bright blue eyes was practicing inside the dojo.
" Are you still practicing, Izumi?" An upperclassman came inside, mocking the young man who was full of sweat due to intense practice.
" What do you want, Aikawa?" The young man asked only to be responded by, " I'm here to see a no-talent brainer trying to act tough." He began to laugh at the result of finishing his sentence.
The young man looked poised. The upperclassmen continued, " What's all the practice for when you definitely have no talent for Martial Arts?" He questioned and the young man gave him nothing but a satisfying grin.
" What are you grinning for?" Aikawa questioned and the young responded with these words, " Were you trying to offend me by saying all those things, Aikawa?"
" What?" Aikawa looked smudged.
The young man looked at his upperclassmen and said, " Just because I have no talent for something, that doesn't imply that I should give up." Grinning brightly, he added confidently, " I shall try harder than anyone else to show some signs of achievement in this sport."
At that moment, a round of applause was heard inside the dojo. The captain approached the two and said, " Did you see that, Aizawa?"
Tapping slightly on Shinichi's shoulder, he said, " Despite provoking him so much, he didn't back down and responded to you in kind. That's the moral principle of Martial Arts."
Aizawa was irked by this and left the dojo in annoyance. Still having his hand on his shoulder, the young man started feeling some kind of pressure. " Captain, would you please let go?"
" Oh, Shinichi, this must be too much for you, right?" As soon as he let go, the young man fell to the ground. His teammates rushed to his side and asked, " Izumi, are you okay?"
" Yes, I think I'm fine." His teammates lend him a hand in standing up. The captain looked at the young man apologetically, " Sorry about that, Shinichi. I didn't know I was crushing you. Are you truly okay?"
The young man feigned a smile in front of the captain and said, " You didn't crush me, captain. I almost feel no pain at all." He said monotonously.
The captain wasn't convinced by his answer and said, " I should be checking to make sure you're not lying." The captain started approaching him and seeing this, the young man quickly grabbed his bag and ran out of the dojo.
Seeing him leaving so fast, one of the teammates said, " Captain, you made him run his tail between his legs again. He might not come back this time."
The captain grinned and said assuredly, " He'll come back without the strength of a doubt."
" What makes you think that, captain?" One of them asked and the captain responded, " He's one of those who never give up despite the hardships and as I know him, he's not one to throw things in the drain just because he's unfavorable."
On his way back from school, the young man muttered to himself, " The captain's grip almost broke my shoulder but despite the pain I'm currently feeling, I'll keep pushing forward no matter what."
Moments later, the young man got home and was happily embraced by his father who eagerly asked him, " How was your day, son?"
" Dad, you're squishing me?" The young man uttered and as the father let go, he noticed his son had his right hand on his shoulder and asked worriedly, " What happened to your shoulder, son?"
Trying to smile, he told his father, " My shoulder is not broken, Dad. I just practiced too much today, that's all."
All of a sudden, the father started to shed tears and said, " Oh Shinichi, how you must be suffering my poor boy!" The son looked at his father comically.
" You're willing to have your bones broken just for the sake of getting us out of poverty, aren't you?" The son looked even more comical than usual. Facing his son, the father said, " Oh son, you mustn't suffer any longer because of your father. Your father can't take it to see you broken like this." At this point, it was turning more into comedy than anything else entirely.
" Father, why should you always be so comical each and every time?" The son tried to smile but it was hard to put one on this time. " Anyone listening to you would think I'm made of bone and no muscles."
" But you are only made of bones and no muscles." The father pushed it further. The son was tired of bickering with his father and said, " I'm hungry, Father."
At the sound of these words, his tone changed, turning more sweet. " Right away, Shinichi! Go change and join me afterward for dinner!"
" Yes, Dad!"
Shinichi walked past his dad to go change. A few minutes later, he joined his father in the dining room to dine.
During dinner, the father was all quiet, worrying about his son in the process. " What's troubling you, Dad?" He asked and the father responded, " I feel so helpless that there's no way I can help you."
" If only we weren't so broke, then maybe—----------" His son cut him short before he could go any further down the line.
" Dad, say no more." Shinichi muttered, " We may not have enough but you already help me more than enough."
" Firstly, you provide me with a loving meal every day. Those meals you prepare for me are what gives me strength to go through all that intense training at the dojo." Harboring a grinning expression, he continued, " Secondly, you paid for my education and my admission at the dojo."
" If not for you, how will I be able to go to school, let alone practice at the dojo every day?" The father's eyes were glittering due to the compliments he was receiving. " You offered more than a child could ever ask for and the reason I'm taking part in this renowned Martial Arts Competition isn't only due to getting us out of poverty."
???
" I'm also doing it so that I can muster a skill that would aid me in protecting those I care about and be of help to them, like you, Dad." He grinned brightly at his father who cried again but this time those weren't tears of sadness; Those were tears of happiness.
" I'm so grateful to have a son like you, Shinichi. You're so kind and considerate of others." The father muttered and Shinichi could only grin in response.
The following day, at school, Shinichi was approached by a classmate by the name of Akina Francis.
" I've got these for you, Shinichi." What was handed to him were plaquettes of medicine. Taking the plaquettes, Shinichi muttered, " Thanks, Akina!"
" It's no trouble at all, Shinichi." Akina ran to her friends afterward. Her friends questioned her about the nature of her relationship. One of her friends asked, " When will you have the courage to properly talk to him?"
Akina looked at her friend and said, " You know that I can't do that. Standing in his presence and observing him from afar is already more than enough."
Looking at her, another one of her friends asked, " What will you do if another snatches him away from you?" Akina cringed at the thought before her friend continued by saying, " Will you be alright to see the one you love happy with someone else?"
Elsewhere, in another universe, a young woman with pure white hair was throwing off blood, and seeing the amount of blood that was coming out, her men started to worry.
" Hime, look what I've brought for you." In front of the young woman was standing frail human beings. Staring at them, they looked terrified and were trembling inconspicuously.
Hayden muttered, " Hime, these are for you. Suit yourself!"
Hayden thought she would succumb to her urges, however, she placated Hayden on the floor with a swift movement. " What is this, Hayden?" She roars. " When have I asked you to get humans for me?"
Feeling suffocated, he muttered, " Hime, even if you were to kill me because of this, I'll gladly accept it because I only had your best interest at heart." She let go of him and glancing toward the humans standing before her, she muttered, " Release them!"
" Yes, Hime!" Releasing them, the humans walked away. Looking at her men, she muttered strongly, " None of you should try any of this again."
After saying that, she spit some more blood and said, " Even if I wanted to consume blood, none of this is what I'm craving." As she ended her sentence, Hayden asked her, " What kind of blood are you craving, Hime?"
She didn't respond directly to the question, however, she stipulated, " That kind of blood might not exist in this world; My condition will never be cured but it's better that way."
When she left, Hayden silently muttered, " No matter what, I won't let you die. I'll save you, Hime; I'll find you the kind of blood you won't be able to resist."
Back in Tokyo, Shinichi's father was on his way back from shopping when a seller called out to him, " Hey, Sir!"
He got curious and approached the man. The seller that called out to him was an old man with white hair and a beard. He was grinning at him before saying, " Would you be interested in buying something from my turf?"
Before even looking at the articles, Shinishi's father responded instantly, " No, I'm not interested, but thanks."
He turned to leave but the seller stopped him with a comment that made him reconsider his previous thought, " I have these gears which are perfect for training, but unfortunately, no one has been buying them, so I was thinking I could sell them to you." As soon as he heard that, he turned around, remembering his son and how having training gear could help him improve himself as a martial artist.
" Show me those gears you have!" He said enthusiastically. The seller showed them the two kinds of gear he had, a pair for the arms and the other pair for the feet. He thought for a while about which one to buy and concluded. " How much do they cost?" He asked as he wanted to buy the two pairs.
" That'll be 50,000 Ru each?"
" 50,000 Ru?"
When he heard the price, however, he got discouraged. He looked through his wallet but unfortunately, all he had left was less than five hundred Ru. It wasn't enough to buy even one pair. Shinichi's father was saddened as he couldn't buy those gear for his son. The seller noticed his saddened expression and asked him straightforwardly, " Don't you have enough for the gear?"
Shinichi's father didn't want to admit he was lacking money and said, " I have other things to buy, so I won't be needing these gears." The seller looked at his smiling expression and retorted, " If you're interested, I can still sell you those gears."
I told you just now that I wasn't—-----------------" Before he had the chance to finish what he was about to say, he was cut short by the seller, " I can sell these gears for you for free."
He was stunned and thought for a moment he might have heard him wrong. " What did you just say?" Asking for confirmation, the seller muttered once more, " I can sell these gears for you for free."
Having had the confirmation he sought, he asked the seller, " Why would you do that?" Why would you sell those gears to me for free?"
The seller's response to the question was, " As I said before, no one wants those gears, so I'm willing to sell them to you for free." He grinned subtly but Shinishi's father found that something was off.
" There's something off here, old man!" " What is it that you're hiding?" Seeking an explanation, the seller said, " There's nothing strange about me giving you these gears for free. I just had the thought as I looked at you that these gears belonged with you, but if you don't want them, suit yourself. I'll just have to find someone else who might be interested in buying them."
The father thought for a while about what to do, what decision to take. After internally thinking for a couple of minutes, he made up his mind. Looking at the seller, he forwarded his response which was, " I'll take them." " As you're offering so generously, I'll take both pairs, thank you very much."
" That's a deal!" The seller happily forwarded the gears to him and said with an enthusiastic smile, " You won't regret your purchase, Sir!"
As he walked away, he thought on the way about whether he had made the right decision. When he got home, he made dinner before Shinichi arrived. Waiting for his son to get home, he thought of taking a look at the gears.
He tried lifting them to test them out, however, " Oh, they are heavy. How many tons are these?" He was unable to lift them, despite the gears being so small. He wondered whether his son would be okay.
Moments later, Shinichi got home from school. His father served him food to eat. In the middle of dining, Shinichi noticed that his father was troubled about something and thought of asking him about it. " What's on your mind, Dad?"
The father muttered in response, " I'll tell you once you finish eating."
Shinichi was intrigued about what his father could have to say to him, so he finished eating in a jiffy. " I'm done eating, so now tell me what was on your mind a moment ago?" He asked to which his father forwarded, " I got these for you."
" What's that?" He took the small package and as he looked inside, he got a surprised look on his face. " Are those training gears?"
" Yes, they are." He nodded and the son asked, " Where did you get these when we barely have enough as it is?"
" Don't worry about the money, Son, because these gears didn't cost me anything." Shinichi couldn't believe how those gears were simply bought for free and just like his father, he also thought something was amiss.
" I know what you're thinking." He said. " I thought the same thing as you do now." The father told his son everything that occurred with the seller and how he ended up giving those gears to him for free.
" No one simply gives training gear like these for free without asking for anything in return. There must be something fishy about these gears." Shinichi lifted one of the gears but it was too heavy for him. He had to use his left hand to support the right one. Only then was he able to lift one of them.
" Those gears are heavy, but I think they can help me train." He muttered enthusiastically before adding, " Thanks for getting these for me, Dad."
The father was happy that he was able to help his son in some way. Seeing the enthusiastic grin on his face, he muttered, " You don't have to thank me for something so small; Simply do your best with the training and it'll all be worth it."
" Yes, I will."
The following day, with the help of his father, he was able to put the gears around his wrists and feet. " I'm off, Dad. I'll see you tonight." The father watches as his son leaves for school, wearing the gear and hoping for the best.
In the days that followed, Shinichi trained rigorously. To adapt his body to the training gear, he did all sorts of exercises and after a few weeks, he started to see some improvements.
" How are you getting used to those gears?" The father asked and the son responded, " The more I train, the more I think I'm getting stronger, I think.
Shinishi's father commented, " The best way to know whether you've improved would be to test it out, don't you think?" Shinichi looked at his father and asked, " Do you mean to say I should try it out in a fight?"
The father nodded in apprehension and the son muttered, " Yes, you're right!" He nodded. " The best way to know where I currently stand is to fight it out in a match."
The following day, as Shinichi headed to the dojo to train, his upperclassmen and underclassmen were astonished to see the new gears he had on him. One of them commented, " Wow! Those gears you got there are cool. Where did you get them?" He asked and Shinichi responded by saying, " My father got them for me." He slightly grinned.
" Oh, so you're rich now?" Aikawa got into the dojo, making an unsightly comment. " Since when can poor people afford what the rich can?" He added sarcastically.
Shinichi was offended by the comment as it touched his father directly. Out of the blue, he muttered to his upperclassmen, Aikawa, " Why don't we test it out?"
" Test what out?" He asked to which Shinichi responded with a slight grin, " Why don't we fight, Aikawa-Senpai?"
" A fight? With You?" He was shocked by the offer but found it ridiculous nonetheless. " I'm not fighting a newbie."
Shinichi looked at Aikawa's sarcastic expression and muttered, " Are you scared?"
Now the one to get offended was Aikawa himself. " I was just trying to spare you but if you wanna take it that way, then fine. I'm going to fight you but don't complain later if you get hurt."
" You don't have to concern yourself over that, Aikawa-Senpai." Before they started the fight, the captain stopped them, " Ohoho, not so fast!"
" What is it, Captain?" They asked and the captain responded, " In a fight, there's always something to wager, isn't it?"
Shinichi looked at Aikawa and muttered, " You're right, Captain!" " If I win, I want you to apologize for disrespecting my father earlier and if I lose, I'm leaving this dojo for good. How about that?"
Aikawa looked smug and said, " If you win, I'll apologize to you and do whatever you ask of me but if I'm the one who wins, then you'll be handing those gears over to me; Deal?"
Shinichi looked over at the gears his father got him. Could he just wager something so important?
" What? Are you backing down?" Seeing Aikawa's smug face, Shinichi muttered without an ounce of hesitation, " I accept your terms, Aikawa-Senpai."
" Good!"
The combat started once the captain gave the signal. The one to hold a great advantage over the other since the beginning was Aikawa. It was obvious to all in the dojo that the one to win the combat would be Aikawa without the strength of doubt, however,
" Why do you keep standing up instead of laying on the floor?" Aikawa couldn't comprehend why despite the blows he was receiving, he wouldn't back down from the fight.
" Would you happen to be worried about me, Aikawa-Senpai?" He asked with a grinning face to which he responded, " Don't be ridiculous!"
As the fight continued, Shinichi kept receiving blows from Aikawa and no matter how much he fell, he kept getting back up until the combat took a change for the better.
Aikawa's blows began to weaken with each passing blow. At one point, his last blow didn't affect Shinichi at all. " What's going on? What's happening to me?"
Shinichi took advantage of his confused state to land a strike at him, thus ending the match. For some reason, that one blow he got from Shinichi propelled him to the ground and he felt like a thousand needles were eating up on him.
" Wow, that's fantastic, Shinichi won." There was a round of applause inside the dojo. No one could believe how Shinichi was able to beat Aikawa.
" That's impossible! How could I lose to a newbie?" Aikawa was muttering to himself when Shinichi interrupted him with the words, " Fulfill your promise, Aikawa-Senpai!"
Aikawa, who was unable to get up, looked over at Shinichi in shame and said, " I apologize for being disrespectful earlier. I'm very sorry!"
Satisfied, Shinichi turned around to leave as it was already getting quite late. Aikawa was the one to stop him this time. He said, " I lost and as stipulated before the match, I'll do whatever you want."
Shinichi turned around and retorted, " Could we discuss that later? It's quite late and I need to get home before my dad starts to worry." As he muttered those words, he walked out of the dojo.
On the way home, he reminisced about the fight he had with Aikawa and couldn't help but be happy that he was able to win in the end. " Dad will be so happy when I tell him how well I did today. He'll be so proud of me." He muttered joyfully.
Being happy and content, Shinichi didn't realize when his gears started to glow up, creating a portal out of nowhere.
" What's that?" When he realized what was going on, it was already too late. He was getting aspired into the portal.
There was no one passing by due to how late it was. All Shinichi could do was shout out his helpless situation, " What in the world is going on?"
The light soon dissipates once Shinichi was entirely sucked by the portal. When Shinichi opened his eyes next, he was in an unrecognizable place. " Where am I? This isn't Tokyo." He subconsciously wondered but he couldn't wonder for long.
He heard footsteps and before he could move, he felt an imposing presence right behind him. " Who are you?"
Shinichi slowly turned around and saw a dashing young woman with dashing pure white hair, holding a spear standing before him.
" A spear?" Shinichi looked at the spear, terrified. " Am I going to get killed?" He terrifyingly wondered as he feared for his life.