Seijuro awakes to the sun to the shining on his face. He opens his brown eyes and sits up. He stretches, before scratching the back of his head. His fingers ruffle through his long, black hair. He lets out a yawn, as he stands up and walks towards his bathroom. Seijuro dips his hands into a small stone basin, gently splashing it over his face. He looks up in the mirror, admiring his own physique, before tying his hair in a small ponytail . He turns around to walk back to his bedroom, turning to face the cupboards, opposite to the bed. Off the shelf, he takes a pair of neatly folded hakama pants and a black top, while placing his green haori around himself.
Seijuro hears a knock at the door and he slides it open. He looks to see the same man from yesterday, holding a tray with a plate of steamed rice and miso soup,
"Your dinner, Seijuro Koyama." He blinks in confusion at the man,
"It's… morning… and it's Yoshiki…" He states, his voice projecting his confusion
"That's what I said." An awkward silence fills the air, as they just stare at each other.
Seijuro slowly takes the tray from his hand, still staring at him,
Man… this guy is really weird…
"Thank you, erm…"
"Never mind my name, Frank."
"It's Seijuro."
"That's what I said." He slides the door shut and he can hear his footsteps fade away, into the distance,
I am so confused… that guy forgot 3 different things in the span of 5 seconds…
Seijuro shrug it off, as he takes a seat, before eating. Upon finishing his breakfast, he exercises a bit. He gets down on the floor and begins performing push ups, as well as doing some sit ups. After a while, he places his sword around himself, wrapping it around in a white bandage and placing it on his back. He walks towards the exit of his room, sliding the door open and walks towards Lily's room. He gently knocks on the door, expecting to hear footsteps,
"Yoshiki." Seijuro jumps a little to the sudden voice to his right.
He sees Lily, her hair was tied into a ponytail, with the same flower in her head, and she had her hands placed on her waist. Her blue eyes staring coldly into his soul,
"You're late."
"Sorry… I overslept a little." He chuckles nervously, while scratching the back of his head,
"I think I found something."
"You have?"
"It's strange, but during midnight, I decided to go on a small patrol around the area. I had to kill a few boogeymen along the way. Whoever is doing this, is clearly picking their targets." Seijuro places a hand on his chin and thinks,
"What do you mean?"
"It's targeting specifically children. Each boogeyman I ran into, housed a family. So it's definitely a high level boogeyman." Seijuro clenches his fists and looks down,
Targeting children… just how heartless can you be… the thought of it… boils my blood.
"We need to find this thing." He says, his voice demonstrating his determination,
"Well, I'm ready, so we can head out now." Lily begins walking towards the exit, with Seijuro following closely behind,
She really doesn't rest, at all in fact…
"Did you even sleep well last night?" She sighs and rolls her eyes,
"Yes, I did." Seijuro doesn't try to drag the conversation and continues to walk in silence.
They head towards the main road. The place was filled with people walking around. They crowd of people mostly wore kimonos, made out of the finest silk. The colours were vibrant and the patterns were beautiful. Like Seijuro, most of the folk had a necklace with a crescent moon around their neck. The people were lost in their conversations. Lily looks up to the nearest rooftop and leaps onto it. He looks up and does the same action. They both begin jogging at a slow pace, heading upwards, towards the tree line,
"Hey, Lily." She turns her head around slightly,
"Where were you patrolling around yesterday?"
"I was covering the area around us at first. However, most the boogeymen I ran into, came from the north of Hayashi's Inn."
"Did you manage to get any information on what did this?"
"Apparently this fear looked more "human-like". That's about it. The parents were more distraught on the fact their children had just transformed into something they've never seen before." Seijuro's heart begins to ache and he closes his eyes,
Whoever this boogeyman is, will most definitely pay for this…
"I sense something. Left." She jumps to the parallel rooftop, over the street below.
Seijuro trails behind her. Simultaneously, they land in a small, narrow alleyway. They look up to see several small fears, floating above the ground with nothing but teeth. They turn around, screeching as they charge at them. Seijuro quickly unsheathes his blade, while Lily removes her staff from her waist, extending it to its full length,
It's a tight space… they're all cramped together, so hitting their hearts shouldn't be hard… we should probably handle this without doing too much damage…
With that, Seijuro places his left foot forward and his right foot behind him, standing in a lunging position. He has his head lowered and takes a deep breath, his legs begin to emit a dark purple aura. In an instant, he whips his head upward and dashes directly at them with immense acceleration, while simultaneously striking his sword, slicing all their hearts in half. The creatures stood no chance against his speed. As a result, the boogeymen begin to slowly disperse. Lily turns to look at Seijuro with a slightly annoyed expression,
"You could have told me you were gonna do that." He simply shrugs, as she shrinks her staff back down and places it on her waist,
"I call it, Matter rush. You like it?" Lily simply rolls her eyes and scoffs.
Seijuro walks forward and looks to see a few toys. Teddy bears, wooden dolls and half bitten fruit were on the floor,
These were children too… how can something do this…
He grits his teeth. He goes on his knees and closes his eyes,
May God rest their souls…
Seijuro slowly stands up and looks back at Lily, who has a blank expression on her face,
"We should keep going. Might wanna save those prayers for later." He didn't want to admit it, but she was right. There was definitely going to be more innocent children like this.
Seijuro takes a deep breath, as both of them jump back onto the rooftop again. He sheathes his sword and they maintain jogging. The breeze was cool, and the sun shone brightly down on them. He looks up to see the tree line again, this time being closer than before. While running, Seijuro accidentally bumps into Lily, who looks back at him with a slight glare,
"Sorry."
"I hear something… wait…" Lily takes her staff off her waist and begins looking around.
Before he could reply to her, a hand emerges from the rooftop, grabbing his foot and pulling him down into the room. Seijuros back smacks into the ground, forcing the air out of his lungs. He quickly regains composure, performing a kip-up to quickly get up. He looks to see a massive, dark purple figure towering over him, baring its fangs at Seijuro. He looks down to see this time, it has legs,
This must be it!
Seijuro quickly unsheathes his blade, glaring at the creature, as it lets out a loud roar. He charges in,
"Ryu's breath!" The boogeyman moves backward, however he was able to cut its arm off.
The creature quickly regenerates, but to Seijuros surprise, it turns the other way and begins running, barging into the wall effortlessly and begins running down the street. People scream and run at the sight of it, heading inside the nearest building for safety. He looks up at Lily, who is staring at him from the hole in the rooftop,
"Lily! We can't let it escape!" She simply nods and they both begin pursing it.
Lily leaps from the rooftop, taking her staff from her waist and extending it. She brings the staff over her head while airbourne,
"Brawn of Heracles." She is about to swing her staff down on the fear, however it grabs her by the torso and throws her into the wall,
"Lily!" Seijuro exclaims, looking over in the direction the creature threw her,
"Quit your worrying, Yoshiki. Focus." He slowly nods, while still chasing the boogeyman.
Seijuro stops and readies his sword to the side, as he gets into a lunging position. He faces his head down and his legs are covered in the same dark purple aura. He whips his head and charges,
"Wrath of Tatsu!" His sword pierces through the creatures back, while Lily looks at him in shock,
He's combining the matter dash with his thrusting technique to amplify his speed further… just how much has he improved…
She can't help but feel slightly jealous of his abilities. Meanwhile, Seijuro's blade remains inside the back of the boogeyman,
Damn it… my sword won't go any further…
The fear shrieks in agony while it runs, as he tries to push his sword deeper,
"Die you scum!" He screams, however the creature starts to grow brighter.
Suddenly, Seijuro is sent flying back and his sword is pulled out of the boogeyman's back. He slams into a wall and falls onto one knee,
What in the world…
It stops running and is now walking at slower pace, almost like whatever it had just done to escape, had exhausted it. Lily quickly charges in,
"This is for last time!" She readjusts her grip and points her staff directly at the torso,
"Spartan Assault!" This time, her technique was different to her usual calm demeanour,
In a desperate attempt to save itself, the creature blocks her attack with its arms, however she readjust her grip again, this time holding her staff with two hands, swinging upwards, under the creatures arms. Her attack causes the creature to stumble backward, and it's guard to break. Lily gives it a smug smile and tries again, thrusting her arm forward with her staff in hand,
"Spartan Assault." Despite her best efforts, the boogeyman grabs her staff and swings it while she is still holding, lifting her off the ground.
It throws her away and she lands next to Seijuro. It quickly turns around and begins running,
"Yoshiki! We can't let it get away! Get up, now!" She gets to her feet and begins pursing the boogeyman.
Before Seijuro could follow her, a group of fears come crashing through the wall, blocking his way. He looks in the distance to see Lily and the boogeyman disappear behind the tree line,
This too convenient…
He points his sword towards the group, some of them float above the ground, while the others crawl like animals. Seijuro starts to analyse the situation,
There's a total of 8… judging by their size… they are low level boogeymen… I can handle this… I think…
He gulps a bit, his nerves beginning to feel tight. He is unsure of where these fears came from, as well as Lily's safety,
I have to handle this quickly…