The clashing of wooden swords echoed throughout the dojo, as both Hiro and Hano pushed against each other with dull blades in hand. Surrounding the two boys were wooden walls lined with banners emblazoned with kanji characters. Below the banners were weapon racks, with a wide range of wooden, imitation weapons on display. Hano leapt back, landing several meters away from his brother, then rushed towards Hiro, lowering his body and dragging the tip of his sword centimeters off the ground as he sprinted towards his opponent.

Hiro saw Hano’s stance, as his thoughts moved through his mind at incredible speeds. He’s lowered his body, and he’s preparing for an upwards-diagonal slash. Hiro thought to himself, as he tightened his grip and placed his sword in a defensive position. A slash like that isn’t a very effective attack since its wide and easy to block, however it is good for knocking away the opponent’s sword. So then, I’ll just hold onto my sword tightly and not let him knock it away!

As Hano approached, Hiro prepared himself for a full force strike, however as he did, Hano pushed his foot against the ground, standing up and pulling the handle of his sword above and behind his left shoulder, pointing the tip of the blade directly at Hiro. As Hiro’s wide eyes followed his brother’s weapon in surprise, Hano thrust the tip of his sword into Hiro’s right shoulder, knocking the boy onto his behind and causing him to drop his sword.

As Hiro rubbed his shoulder, Hano reached down towards his brother, the boy taking his hand and standing up. “That was a really great mixup!” Hiro complimented Hano. “I really thought I had the read on you, but I guess that was part of your plan, wasn’t it?”

“That was sloppy.” Hano abruptly said, giving Hiro a surprised expression. “I gave you one and a half seconds to react to me changing my stance, the yokai won’t even give you half that much time to react. When you’re in a real battle you can’t afford to stand there wide eyed at an attack meant to kill you.”

Hiro looked down at his feet. “Right… I’ll do better next time, I promise.”

“I expect you to.” Hano walked past his younger brother, leaving the boy staring at his feet. A moment later, “Hiro, catch.” Hiro turned his head, and he quickly caught a water bottle being thrown towards him. The boy stared at Hano, who gave a small smile. “So, you can react quickly after all. Now get a move on, you’ve got school.”

Hiro smiled at his brother, then immediately left the dojo.

Hiro sat across from Sorin on Sorin’s regular tucked away table in the cafeteria. It was the first time in a long while that Sorin had eaten his lunch with someone else at school, and so it was odd seeing a person on the seat across from him.

“We’ve got a big cafeteria here. Do they sell good food anywhere?” Hiro asked eagerly.

Sorin pulled a premade sandwich out of his bag and began eating as he answered Hiro’s question. “Not really. It all tastes pretty cheap, but I guess that’s the point. It’s supposed to give you enough energy to get through the school day, not be a five star meal.”

Hiro chuckled. “Good thing I brought food from home then.” Hiro reached into his bag, pulling out a plastic container holding cold noodles in a watery soup.

“What kind of food is that?”

“Ramen. It’s a pretty traditional Japanese dish. Our family’s pretty traditional, so we’ve just gotta eat all the stereotypical Japanese dishes. I prefer sushi, but Hano just loves his ramen.” Hiro turned his head, and began looking around the cafeteria. “I hate cold ramen, is there anywhere I can heat this up?”

Sorin pointed to a far away wall, where a microwave laid on a bench with a sign saying, ‘For student use’. Hiro smiled at Sorin, then stood up and quickly took his container to the microwave. As Sorin bit into his sandwich, he looked over at Hiro. As he placed his ramen into the microwave, two girls approached him, excitedly talking to him. Hiro spoke back casually, and after a while of dialogue he pointed towards Sorin. Sorin, suddenly feeling embarrassed for seemingly no reason, looked away from Hiro and the girls, continuing to eat his lunch, however he still glanced at the three out of the corner of his eye. He saw the girls nervously laughing, as Hiro pulled his ramen out of the microwave, now with soft, silky steam floating off the top. The boy walked back towards Sorin and sat across from his friend once more.

“Hey Sorin, don’t be surprised if you get a few love letters in your locker soon, kay?” Hiro beamed towards Sorin, as Sorin forced a smile and enthusiasm to hide his embarrassment.

“Oh yeah…” Sorin felt as though he was painfully pushing the words out of his mouth. “And why’s that?”

Hiro began slurping up the steaming noodles as he continued speaking to Sorin. “I told those girls you were a great guy. Put in a few other good words for you too.”

“You… didn’t need to do that…”

“Nah man it’s all good! What else are friends for anyway!?” Hiro laughed out loud, while Sorin looked away, his forced smile straining itself on his face, and beginning to fade away.

“No it’s more… you probably shouldn’t have done that…”

Hiro stopped laughing, and stared directly at Sorin. “Oh no… don’t tell me…” Hiro’s leaned across the table, towards Sorin. “Don’t tell me you’re taken already!? Damn man, sorry I didn’t check with you before, now you’re gonna have to turn down all these girls! Don’t worry, if you don’t have the heart I can deliver the bad news to any girl for you, it’s the least I could do for causing you so much trouble!”

“It’s not that… it’s more just, I don’t really think girls like me.”

“What do you mean… girls don’t like you? Oh no… Man I’m sorry I didn’t know!”

“I’m not gay either.” Sorin quickly interrupted Hiro.

“Right… I mean, it wouldn’t change our friendship if you were… so don’t feel afraid to tell me, but that’s irrelevant anyway!” Hiro stared at Sorin. “So, you’re a single guy, not gay or at least I assume so, correct me if I’m wrong on that, and you’re a great guy who would treat any girl like the queen of earth if you were in a relationship. How can girls not like you?”

Sorin took another nervous bite of his sandwich, as he stared at the floor in contemplation. “Well ignoring the fact that the last part’s probably not true, I think it’s just… I’m kind of a nobody. I kind of just fade into the background of everyone’s lives, like I’m some random background character in a movie. No one wants to ask out, or even be friends with a background character.”

Hiro stared at Sorin for a long moment, before he donned a concerned look. “Sorin, that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard you say.” To Sorin’s surprise, Hiro suddenly slides across the table, sitting on the bench directly next to Sorin and wrapping his arm around Sorin’s shoulders. “You’re an amazing guy! We just need other people to realise that, we’ve gotta get your name out there, so that everyone in this school knows that Sorin Trace is the coolest, nicest and smartest guy around!”

Sorin smiled wryly, as he continued averting his gaze from Hiro. “So then… what’s your plan?”

“I’m gonna throw a party!” Hiro announced. “Tonight! My place! Everybody’s invited and the one thing they’re gonna be talking about is how cool that Sorin guy was! Everyone’s gonna know how great you are after tonight, I guarantee it!”

Sorin stared at Hiro in confusion. “How are you gonna put together a party for tonight!? And didn’t you just move in, there’s gonna be boxes and stuff everywhere! And what about Hano!?”

“One; I know some people here at the school already, I’ll make some calls and have them help me put together the party. Two; we just finished moving everything in this morning, it’ll feel as lived in as any other house. And three; Hano’s always out at night hunting yokai, he’s not gonna be a problem.” Hiro stood up, and as he walked away he left Sorin with a pat on the back and a few words. “I’m gonna go make those calls. My place, tonight at seven. We’re gonna get your name out there, and who knows, you might even get lucky.”

As Hiro ran off, leaving a still shocked and embarrassed Sorin behind. The translucent red Kamui began to snicker to himself, as he sat with his feet on the table next to Sorin. Sorin glared at the yokai. “What are you laughing at?”

“Oh, nothing.” Kamui responded. “Just realising my insult dictionary for you just expanded tenfold since now I can call you a virgin too.”

Sorin scoffed, then stood up and picked up his bag as he prepared to leave. “I don’t have to deal with this. I’m just gonna go to class early today.”

“That Hiro kid really does care for you, doesn’t he?” Kamui observed.

“Why’s he gotta do all this stuff for me?” Sorin said, frustrated. “It’s not like I asked for him to try and get me a girlfriend, or throw a party to make me popular. I know he thinks he’s helping me, but him going so all out is just causing more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Why do you think that is?” Kamui asked. Sorin glanced at Kamui, surprised, as the yokai stared towards Hiro, the boy talking with some other students. “After all, that kid’s popular, confident, handsome and rich. He’s got everything going for him, and yet he’s spending all this time trying to help a loser like you. Even weirder is how he doesn’t even seem to realise you’re a loser. Seems like a guy that popular would have a sense for these sorts of things. Just doesn’t seem to make sense.”

Sorin stared at Hiro for a long moment, before he moved his glance elsewhere, and began walking to class. “I dunno. Probably just nostalgia.”

Kamui turned to Sorin, as the boy went on to class without elaborating. “Nostalgia? I doubt that.”

Sorin stood before Hiro’s house. His watch read 7:00pm. The house had muffled music coming from within, blue lights shone out of the windows, as he heard the sounds of countless people dancing and laughing inside.

Sorin took a deep breath in as he stared at the house. “Why the hell am I doing this?” Sorin asked himself.

Kamui floated towards Sorin’s back and began to rub the boy’s shoulders. “Deep breaths, kiddo. Calm yourself and maybe you can only piss your pants when you get in there instead of shitting them too.”

Sorin angrily tried to jam his elbow into Kamui, to no avail as his elbow simply went through Kamui’s incorporeal body. Kamui smirked confidently, and Sorin simply chose to walk towards the house with an apathetic look on his face in an attempt to ignore Kamui.

As Sorin stepped through the door, he was immediately greeted with the blaring of dance music throughout the house, and flashing, dark blue lights illuminating the thick crowd of dancing teenagers. Sorin looked forwards, seeing a clump of his fellow students all dancing, with little space in between them. Sorin let out a sigh, as he awkwardly pushed and sidled his way through the thick crowd, occasionally apologising after stepping on a foot or bumping into a person, however being almost completely unnoticed the rest of the time. As Sorin emerged from the crowd and into the living room, a boy suddenly bumped into him, spilling an orange drink across his shirt, leaving Sorin wet, sticky and uncomfortable. The boy apologised, before immediately being drawn into the crowd and leaving Sorin behind. Sorin let out a sigh, and made his way to the center of the living room, before his attention was caught by someone calling his name. Sorin turned, and saw Hiro, waving to him from the kitchen and smiling wide. Sorin made his way towards his friend, and Hiro quickly patted him on the shoulder.

“Sorin! So glad you decided to come!” Hiro wrapped his arm around Sorin’s shoulders and began walking him through the house, with Sorin nervously going along with Hiro’s forceful guidance. “I’ve been meeting a ton of new people tonight, lotta guys who seem really cool, and a lot of cute girls that I know would love to meet you!”

Sorin laughed nervously. “Yep, I’m sure they would. Maybe… another time? When I don’t have juice all over my shirt?”

“That doesn’t matter! No one can even see the stains with these weird lights on!”

As Hiro continued to laugh, Sorin looked around nervously, and his eyes suddenly locked onto a different room, where leaning on a table, talking with other people, was the familiar smile of Tia Morgan.

Hiro glanced at Sorin, then followed his friend’s line of sight towards Tia. Hiro smirked, as he leaned closer to Sorin. “So Tia eh?”

Sorin suddenly jumped in shock, escaping from Hiro’s side hug. “Huh!? What!?” Sorin failed to say any cohesive sentences, as the shock overwhelmed his body.

“Relax dude, I totally get it! I mean, she’s cute, nice, energetic…”

“How do you even know all this!?” Sorin asked. “You just got here yesterday! Have you met her already!?”

“No, but the guy in the living room with the punch told me about her. He also called her a six-point-five out of ten, but that seemed a little meanspirited so I left that part out.”

Sorin was still in shock, however he took a deep breath to calm himself down, then stood tall, rubbing the back of his head nervously. “Hiro… why are you so focused on trying to get me friends?”

Hiro blinked in surprise, before thinking for a moment and smiling nervously. “I think… I just wanted to help you, and…”

Before Hiro could finish, a boy approached him, smiling and throwing his arm around Hiro’s shoulder in a friendly manner as he spoke, “Hey, Hiro! Just wondering where the booze was, I can’t seem to find it.”

Hiro looked at the boy, confused for a moment as he forced a smile. “Booze?”

“Yeah man, you know! Like alcohol, beer n shit!”

“But… we’re underaged.” Hiro spoke as though it was obvious, and the boy looked at Hiro, confused for a moment.

The boy began ushering Hiro away. “Alright, I guess I’ll explain it to you while we look, come with me.”

Hiro, after being forced away by the boy, turned to Sorin and quickly waved to him. “Sorry Sorin, I’ll deal with this. You just go and talk to people, I’ll find you later!”

Sorin forced a smile, as Hiro left him in the kitchen, alone. Kamui floated next to Sorin and observed Hiro from afar. “That kid’s weird as fuck.” Kamui stated.

“Yeah, but that’s just Hiro.” Sorin replied, as he looked around the party for a place to go.

“Hey, kid?” Kamui asked, drawing Sorin’s attention. “Does the Moritoshi kid seem… kind of ingenuine when talking to that guy?”

Sorin looked over and saw Hiro, forcing smiles and laughs as he talked to the boy. “Yeah, I guess so.” Sorin agreed. “But the guy’s asking for alcohol when Hiro clearly doesn’t have any, it’s no wonder Hiro doesn’t really wanna deal with him.”

“It’s not just that. He’s like that with everyone.” Sorin glanced at Kamui, confused. Kamui continued. “I think the only one I’ve seen him show a genuine smile to was his brother… and you.”

Sorin looked back towards Hiro. “Do you think that’s why he’s trying to help me so much?”

Kamui turned around, ignoring Hiro as he returned to his regular rude and unempathetic attitude. “I dunno, humans are fucking weird. You guys do weird shit for weird reasons, us yokai don’t really get half the shit you do.” As Kamui looked around the party, his eyes were drawn to the front window of the house. Outside he saw a tall man in a business suit, with messy hair and a wide grin on his face. Kamui’s eyes widened, as he flew next to Sorin, tapping the boy on the shoulder. “Sorin, we’ve got an emergency.”

Sorin groaned, “What kind of emergency? Is there a kid who’s annoying you so you wanna kill them?”

“Kid, I’m fucking serious here.” Kamui said, as Sorin turned, and Kamui pointed towards the front door as the suited man walked into the house. “You see that guy there?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s weird for an adult to step into a party like this, but there’s enough people around. He’ll probably get kicked out if he tries to do any creepy stuff, so don’t even worry about him.”

“You’re not taking me seriously!” Kamui yelled at Sorin. “He isn’t just ‘some guy’! That’s fucking Hajime!” Sorin glanced at Kamui, confused. The yokai continued. “He’s in a different body, but I recognise his spiritual energy. That guy’s Hajime, he’s a yokai I used to know from the army.”

Suddenly, Sorin’s eyes widened in realisation. “He’s a yokai!? Well why didn’t you start with that!?”

“Cause you weren’t listening to me you dumbass kid!” Kamui attempted to punch Sorin in the face, however his fist simply went through the boy’s head leaving him unharmed. Kamui turned back towards the suited man with a serious look on his face. “Hajime was a real sicko, a genuine psychopath even before the negative emotions bullshit made us all psychos. Hajime’s not the kind to want to socialise with humans, so the only reason I can think as to why he’s here is to wreak some havoc.”

Sorin began to panic, as he watched Hajime from across the house, the yokai making his way through the dancing crowd as his grinning face analysed the room. “Damn it… so what do we do? We can’t warn everyone, there are only two people at this entire party that know what a yokai even is!” Sorin held his chin in thought for a moment, before he turned and began walking towards the nearby hallway Hiro had previously walked through. “I need to warn Hiro.”

Kamui looked at Sorin, and he quickly flew in front of the boy to stop him. “Hey wait one goddamn second, you can’t do that. If you tell Hiro there’s a yokai here then Hiro will know something’s up. You can’t sense spiritual energy, and I doubt Hiro will believe that you suddenly discovered how to.”

“But if we don’t do anything then Hajime could start killing people! I’ve seen what you’re capable of, and if he’s capable of the same kind of stuff then it’ll take him less than ten seconds to kill a third of the people at this party! If we get Hiro to start fighting him now, at least Hajime will be too preoccupied to start killing random people!”

“Who the fuck cares!? You can’t fight him unless you wanna get your brains all over the roof, and if we tell Hiro then we rat ourselves out! We’re better off running away from this party and letting Hiro handle it!”

“And let all those people die!? I’d rather get my brains burst open then let people die when I could’ve prevented it!”

“So what!? You’re gonna fight him!? Yeah right, like I’m letting you die while I’m still inside your body!”

“Well then do you have any better ideas!?”

Kamui glared at Sorin, then glanced at Hajime. “I may. You’re not gonna like it, but you need to hand over your body to me.”

“Why!? So you can join in on the killing!?”

“If I’m controlling your body then I could fight Hajime. I’ll fight him off until Hiro notices and starts fighting him instead. I’ll do my best to not do anything too inhuman so Hiro doesn’t notice I’m a yokai. That way, we can fight off Hajime, let Hiro do all the work, and no one has to die.”

Sorin glared at Kamui. “And how do I know I can trust you to do that?”

“You took back your body before, right? If I start going off the rails, just take it back. It’ll take half a second and you won’t have to let me back in. If we don’t do this then there’s a good chance we both die here tonight, and I’m still not ready to die.”

Sorin stared at Kamui for a long moment, before letting out a sigh. “Fine. If you even glance at a human here the wrong way though, I’m taking my body back right then and there.”

“That is the plan.” Kamui said, as he flew into Sorin’s body, forcing Sorin’s soul out as Kamui took control of the body. As Kamui stretched his fingers, he looked towards Hajime, and began approaching the yokai before him. “Okay, showtime.”