I woke up in an infirmary-like place where the guy who reached out to give me support, was patching me up.
"How long was I out?", I asked him
"Just a few minutes." " he said while bandaging my left shoulder. "That's all, I can do for now. You should use your QI to heal the wounds. It would be faster that way."
"Thanks.", I hadn't noticed till now but he didn't look all that old at all, maybe 18-20 at max, "Hey, what's your name?"
"Ohh, My name?", he looked surprised that I would ask for his name, "Mihara Kazuo. What's yours?"
"Akito Kayaba", I put my hand forward
"It's nice to meet you." " he said shaking my hands, He had a kind look on his face, very different from the other men.
"Ah, I forgot to tell you but the patriarch said to bring you to him as soon as you wake up."
He then led me back up to the same room where the fight occurred. The elevator door opened, but the room had changed now the room looked just like when I had first arrived. The table and sofa were both back in place, and there were no signs of any kind of fight.
The clan head was now once again sitting on the single sofa he was in before. Though, this time he looked as if he was waiting for me.
He looked at me and said, "Come on, sit over here. You don't have all day.", he pointed over to the sofa in front of him.
"So, what now? are you now convinced that I am a natural born and not any spy?", I said sitting on the sofa.
"Yes, I am quite sure now. But I would like to ask you this again.", He took a deep breath and looked me straight in the eyes, and said, "What is your purpose?"
"I told you already and I will tell you again, I want your help in becoming stronger."
"Is that really the only reason why you are here?"Now that I thought about it again, getting stronger wasn't the only reason why I was searching for them. Now that I tried to recall, I don't even remember why I was searching for them. The only reason I was doing so why because Maryu had told me to. But why did he tell me to go to Kyoto just to meet this guy?
If I wanted to get stronger I could just do it using the book, as I had been doing for the past few weeks, Maryu realized that as well. Then why did he tell me to come here?
I now realized what I was missing, I now understood why he sent me here. To get them to help me with something only one of the 9 major clans would be able to, and that is…
"I want you to help me change the way the world works right now.", I looked him straight in the eye, "I want to change the system."
"What exactly do you mean?", he looked confused
"Clans have been giving their descendants and members the techniques to fight against monsters, they have been giving them the power to fight against the monsters. But what about the people who go on and about their business without knowing that they might get killed? That they might get possessed by a demon. What about the normal humans? if clans can make their members and descendants into adepts, why not give the power to protect themselves to others?"
"The clans have been empowering their members and have been protecting the citizens for centuries, though it is true that there are times when we are not on time and accidents happen. But still, are you suggesting that we should reveal the information that has been hidden for centuries?"
"No, not yet. The world is not ready for that yet, all I am saying is that accidents are happening because there are not enough adepts to get everywhere on time to save people, but what if? Just what if we recruit normal citizens make them into adepts, and give them the power to protect themselves as well as others?"
"Your proposal is good, but do you think that those who were here before us would not have thought about that before?"
"No, but then what stopped them? why is such a system not in effect?"
"Circumstances kid, and a lot of other things. You are too young to understand all that."
"I would still like to try it myself, try to make a system like what I proposed then evaluate it myself whether it is possible or not."
"You are too weak, too naive, too young.", He laid back on the sofa, "Go home and stop dreaming. If you want I can help you get stronger, nothing more nothing less."
"What if I become strong, stronger than you.", I had a fierce look in my eyes
"It ain't possible.", he laughed
"What if I make it possible.", I said in a serious tone
"Alright then,", he once again looked me in the eye and said, "The regular meeting of the clans would be taking place in half a year. You have until then, Ken will be your mentor. If I deem you worthy then you will come with me to the conference and put your proposal there. What happens after that is up to you completely. Got it?", he didn't sound as if he was joking
"Yes, I understand. All I have to do is get stronger, isn't it?", I was brimming with confidence, and with the help of the book and Ken teaching me, I felt as if nothing would be able to stop me from becoming stronger
"Now go, your friends and teachers would be worried by now.", he waved at Ken and said, "Ken, drop him back from where you picked him up."
I realized I had completely forgotten about that part, Ken guided me to the elevator when a question arose in my mind.
"Hey weren't we in Kyoto, how come are we in Tokyo now?", I said looking outside the glass wall
"Ohh this, this isn't a window. It is a big display.", the clan leader clapped twice and the screen now showed the scenery of Mount Fuji, "Now get going, you don't have much time."
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Ken dropped me off at the foot of the mountain and said that I needed to get to the shrine before my class did or else it would become complicated.
Climbing the mountain that would take a normal person around an hour and a half in less than a few minutes is an absurd task. But I had to do it, I was injured but the injury was not fine not completely healed but still better than before, Active QI circulation helped the wound to heal way faster than it should be possible.
I took off the band-aids and threw them away, the injuries were still visible but looked like nothing more than scratches.
I once again concentrated all my QI into my legs, this time I felt even better than before, my QI felt a lot more stronger now. I ran like crazy, climbed a tree, and then jumped from one tree to another, fell once and scratched myself but continued.
In about 10 minutes, I was now at the shrine on the top of the mountain. I looked here and there but it seemed like my class was yet to arrive. I just went and sat at the stairs of the shrine and kept using Active QI circulation to heal my wounds.
Soon enough my class was here, and the teacher immediately came towards me and started scolding me. I didn't even understand what was happening.
I later found out that Charles had told everyone that I decided to go ahead without waiting for the class and that was the reason why Sir was angry at me. And when he saw the injuries, even though they looked nothing serious, he became even more furious. He scolded me for about half an hour or so before letting me go. But for some reason, he sounded as if he was worried about me and not angry at me.
When I was finally let go, I found Charles waiting for me.
He asked if I was good and told me not to take what sir said to heart since he was just worried about me and nothing else. Cassie also came from behind to ask me why I decided to go on ahead without them. I gave her some excuse and sent her away. I told Charles to follow me and led him to a place where only we were there. He looked confused as to why I was doing this.
"Why did you lie about me?", even if he had saved me I needed to know how much he knew about me and why he actually lied.
"What do you mean lie? You only told me to tell sir that you will be going ahead of the class and not to wait for you before suddenly running away towards the shrine. I even tried to stop you but you didn't even look back."
"Ahh, Yes. Never mind that, let's go Cassie seems to be waiting for us.", I realized that Ken must have done something and that it would be better if I let the topic go for now.
"Hey, Akito", He said keeping a hand on my shoulder and stopping me, "You have been acting weird nowadays. What's going on?"
"Nothing is going on, don't worry about it.", I looked back while gently pushing his hand away
He hardly talked to me the whole day after that but it had to be done.