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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 5, 2009 0:39:31 GMT -5
If anyone remembers, which in case I'm sure Nightmare does, the old place where I last posted this original fiction work crashed ... and it took me about 1 and a half months to plan to settle down in Zero Virus. And to that, I post these fiction chapters here as well. To put it begin with, at first, I was working on my pencil arts on the An Axl Sotry fanfictions, and then later, I switched to pencil arts of an actual comic about the previous forums I was once a member - turning an entire forums into a planet-like setting and with its own remarkable nations and histories. That comic was called the Comic Arts. Then, somewhere along the line, I was inspired to create a spinoff fiction series, but still based on the planet EraS with more or less about the same timeline - which is based on the time a particular nation called the Northland Republic or simply, "the Republic", was formed. The Comic Arts takes place 13.5 years after the founding of the Republic - whereas this spinoff entitled "Comic Arts Spinoff: Tale of Two Souls" takes place 12 years after the founding of the Republic. In short, don't try and get yourself confused so much, just sit back, relax and enjoy this brand new fiction work I am posting alongside with the An Axl Stories and the Nighty and Fann Journey to NovemberFest. Of a different realm. I'll start by posting the first chapter here. ------ Hey, everyone! I’m back with a brand new fiction based on my original EraS series Comic Arts world. I hope that you’ll enjoy this work as a good source of entertainment, and all characters belong to me unless they are those which you can recognize as belonging to their original owners. - M’siaFanWriter Comic Arts Spinoff: Tale of Two Souls Chapter 1: When Accident Meets the Soul It was a cloudy afternoon of 3 o’clock. A teen was playing with his left fingers on the table top in a dining room. The afternoon sun shone through the windows 11 feet in front of him, onto cupboards, a fridge and a cooking stove on a cabinet and eventually himself. “Sigh … the one week holiday is over … another two more days it’s back to school. I hate seeing Mr Ahashi’s face again … that man is on me all the time.” The teen rested his head onto top of his two arms on the table. The sky was a little grey today. Some seconds past by with silence, only to be suddenly broken up by loud military parade noise. “Aaah!” The brown-haired teen fell off his chair onto the floor as an old man came in the dining room dancing according to the military parade music. The teen got back from tumbled over and shouted back over the din of music. “Grandpa! It’s way too loud!” “Don’t you find this music so jumpy and exciting, boy!? It makes me feel young again! I feel like dancing all the way!!” The old man of 4 inch-long beard, skimpy white shirt and rugged grey short pants made many wiggly movements with his feet and hands. “Argh! I can’t stand it anymore!!” The teen got up, dusted his light blue slacks and white shirt of various odds sketches printed on them, and dashed towards the radio the old man was carrying. He switched it off and all was silent. Instantly, the grandfather exploded. “What do you think you’re doing, you silly young man!? How dare you deny an old man’s right to his own pleasure!? Turn the radio back on, Ken!!” The teen covered his ears during the scream. “Alright, alright, fine!” The teen named Ken switched on the radio, but with decreased the volume. The military parade music was all over. Ken Kazuguchi is your ordinary 15-year-old teen who is simply in the adolescent years of growing up. As his surname implies, he hails from the Kazuguchi family, one of the many families staying in the fertile lands of the nation, working as farmers supplying the community and markets with traded rice and other agricultural products. This year is the 12th year of the Republic, where its establishment meant the end of the 417-year Northland Civil War. A new central government came in power and ended the rule of corrupt princes and the nobility. To mark this grand moment in history, the central government holds parades and celebrations for one week long every year – henceforth known as the week-long National Holidays – at the beginning of September. “We are into the 12th year of the Republic, and I am proud to declare that we, a united people have accomplished much in just such short time! I invite people of every nation to celebrate with us, as we are in the building of a brand new peaceful society! We greet you all with our traditional great hospitality of us Northlanders! We –” Ken sighed. “Geez, Grandpa Ojiro. What’s the big deal with all these celebrations and you getting so worked up on it? The President gives his speech every year. What’s so great about that?” That comment earned a wicked and angry stare from Grandpa Ojiro. “What!? How dare you take this so lightly? You were born 3 years before the Republic! How would you have known the suffering I had experienced as a former soldier of the princely states? I never liked killing people at all, darn it! I was finally allowed to retire from the army after 60 years in constant battle!” Grandpa Ojiro yelled at Ken. The Kazuguchi family live in Handao, a sleepy paddy village in a southern county in Chuhongyun Province, west of the central capital Core City. Grandpa Ojiro, a 92-year-old man, father of Ken’s dad Ajima Kazuguchi and father-in-law of mother Saya. Ken is the oldest of 3 children, the others being Ayumi of 13 years and Ryushi of 9 years old. “Make yourself useful and go help your sister and father in the rice fields now! They’re waiting for you to help harvest the autumn rice! Then after that, plant the winter rice seeds!” Ken made an ugly face at Grandpa Ojiro. “Come on! I’ve just rested for about 10 minutes. I’ve been doing that harvesting work for hours…” He scratched his head. Grandpa shouted back: “Not even half the fields are done! Stop being lazy!” As you can tell, the Kazuguchis have vast plots of fertile farmland. This was the only way how the family earned money enough to send the three kids off to good private schools. Their residence is rather modern as the government paid for its renovation and modernization. “That’s it!! I’m out of here before I start going crazy because of you, Grandpa!” Ken dashed out of the dining room, grabbing his wallet and cell phone in a flash. He left behind a frustrated Grandpa Ojiro and exited the home by running as fast as he could. The junior Ryushi, a blonde playing with toys on the lawn, noticed Ken and called out to him. “Big brother, where are you going?” His sister Ayumi, a black-haired girl working in the fields, was furious to learn that Ken was running away. “Dad! Ken’s ditching duties again!” She said loudly to the father nearby. “Huh? What was that?” All those were being left behind as Ken ran on the firm soil road, dividing the plains of green shoots, faster and faster to the small suburbs of Handao. Paved roads, traffic lights, small shops and houses are everywhere along with some greenery of flowers and trees. “Finally! Away from Grandpa Ojiro and that entire ruckus!” He grunted. Along the way, he ran in many people in his farming community who knew him. They greeted him, but received no reply. “Hey, Kazuguchi! ... What’s wrong with him today?” A young man pondered to himself. “Probably he had a brief fight with his grandfather and he couldn’t stand it...” An old lady replied back and sighed. “How sad …” “Strange man, eh, that Ojiro?” The young man asked back. The old lady shook her head lightly. “A simple old man whose hard discipline may not fit in to the younglings today ... he was a military commander before ... who can withstand that horror?” Elsewhere along the road as Ken ran off away from his home, it was no different to those who knew Ken and attempted to greet him. He was in the suburbs of Handao, but that didn’t matter to him. All he wanted was to get away from it all. “I … I …” He hissed. “I can’t take it … those ramblings and shoutings. Just … let me go away once … away from all the bad vibes … and let something good happen!” He screamed in his head. “Just once! Something good!” His feet moved on their own, fueled by distraught. He didn’t stop running, and as he crossed the zebra crosses while private taxis and cyclers wait behind the red light, the scenery started to change. The buildings were getting higher and higher, and a lot more futuristic and spotlessly clean. He kept on running on territory of the Shijun city, one of the bustling cities of the province, but the capital as well. “Pant … pant … I should have gone away from all that by now.” Ken sought to catch his breath and looked around himself. “Oh no … I did it again. I ran too fast and I didn’t stop. Now I’m in the city.” He gazed on the flow of taxis on the highways and aerotrains further east to the center of the city, where the tallest buildings are located. Though a relatively young capital, as it was built the instant the Republic was formed, it was already the honey of nectar in the beehive. Elites of wealth and intellect have their residences here, governing the place in accordance to the central government’s will. “Grandpa Ojiro is going to be mad when I get back. There’s nothing more I can do now...” He looked out to the road with non-stop-moving taxis and the people walking on the streets the other side. Ken sighed softly and walked along with the flow of people. Above him, the clouds blew by a little faster than usual. Some heavier and darker clouds started to cover the vast Shijun city. Just at one of those commercial towers, Ken walked outside a shop selling large-screen TV sets and one TV behind the glass window showed the local news channel’s weatherman describing weather all over the Republic. “This just in. The Meteorological Department has forecasted fast and incoming rain pours around the Core City region and far east close to the mountains ...” To Ken, that was a shocking revelation. “Oh no. That means Shijun city and Handao will get rain! I’d better get home fast ... no matter how fierce Grandpa will be.” The moment he turned around, he knocked into another familiar person. This one was a frail boy, a little shorter than Ken, sporting a red shirt, dark blue unzipped jacket, black jeans and black shoes. He had dark blue neat hair and light blue eyes. “Ah!” The boy gave a small yelp before he fell on the concrete tiles. “Ow ow ow …” “Huh? Oh, it’s you, Bakheun Kim! Sorry about that. Let me help you!” Ken offered his hand before the frail boy smiled back weakly and held onto Ken’s hand to pull himself up. “Ah ha ha … thanks, Ken. For the last time, just call me Bak.” He sighed. “I don’t like it if people keep on mentioning my full name to refer to me. It’s really … strange.” The frail boy continued on. “I’ll be going home now. I have to return with this packet of fresh cabbages for dinner. We’re having hotpot for dinner tonight.” “Oh … I see. That’s cool.” Ken nodded with a smile and Bak walked off in the opposite direction. He then received something unexpected from Bak: a rough spat and a sneer. “You’ll better watch out where you bump into others, chump! You don’t want to mess with me!” Ken was a little shocked and what’s more, seeing Bak’s fierce eye expression. Bak then huffed a breath with a snort and turned away. “Hey … that’s not nice, Ree …” Ken felt awkward all over. “... What was that all about? I have never seen him this way before. ... well, it’s not that important anyway.” Ken began walking down the street when he heard a loud thundering boom. “Oh no! Thunder! It’s going to rain!” The teen ran as fast as he could along the directions that he knew was leading towards his home of Handao. Mild winds were blowing through the city but as the minutes passed by, they were wilder and stronger. Some raindrops even landed on Ken’s cheeks. “Ah, shoot! I’d better hurry! It’s going to get heavier!” Almost at the same time, he felt a strange sensation. It was sudden pint-drop silence in the air, and amongst the crowd of people walking straight down the street like him and in the opposite direction, he felt something was walking past him – from his left to right. “Huh!? What was that!?” His sight registered nothing. He blinked and rubbed his eyes again, only seeing the usual crowd of people hurriedly walking up and down the street before the heavy rain got to them. There was no one heading in a direction from his left to his right. “Was I dreaming strange things?” Ken stood still to think about the matter. “... I guess it wouldn’t hurt to check it for a while.” Last he had the strange sensation, it moved right into the back alley at his right; so he turned right into said alley. It was rather clean, with minimal dirt on the concrete ground and no rubbish in the drains. “Hmmm...” The pint-drop silence moment appeared again. His eyes showed him that the source of the weird feelings was some 100 meters in front of him, staying still and not moving in any direction. “It’s there!” Ken dashed forward to the spot, but ironically, just when he was so close, the feeling vanished from sight again. “What the!? Argh!” He forced his feet to make a sudden halt from the running. “Darn, I was sure it was here just now! That feeling thing! Where is it now? It could have been gone anywhere now!” He turned to look around himself in all angles, but he only had the walls of different buildings, windows, pipelines, big trash bins and locked doors in his sight. In the end, he failed. He only wasted a few minutes trying to search for something that wasn’t even there. “Sigh. I guess there was just nothing in the end after all.” The clouds were partially dark and the drizzles came down slightly heavier. “Oh shoot, it’s raining already!” With that, he left the place towards the streets. The rain became heavier and heavier. People on the street either ran for shelter or put on handy raincoats or even a big umbrella. Ken had no raincoat or umbrella with him, so he decided to go for a nearby restaurant across the street. “Aha! Shelter! Sweet!” “Aw, man ... at least I’ll give the guys back home a call.” He said that while getting himself a seat in the traditional open-air restaurant, where old timers spent time drinking hot tea and coffee together. As expected, Grandpa Ojiro yelled at him through the receiving end. “You lazy, good-for-nothing Ken! When you get back here!” That was his last taunting message before Grandpa Ojiro hung up on him. Ken felt the old man’s loud voice pounding on his ears again. “Urgh ... everyone is going to kill me again. Just when everything was peaceful. Maybe I shouldn’t have left home ... or maybe I should have been more tolerant with that loud military music...” The thunder roared louder in the skies. 5 minutes passed by without anything relatively interesting going on and Ken having consumed 2 cups of black coffee. Another 10 minutes passed by and still nothing happened, although Ken had consumed another 3 cups of black coffee. “Urgh ... this is awful. The rain is simply not stopping.” Suddenly, a firm palm came in touch with his left shoulder. Ken recognized the firmness of that grip and his heart beat faster. “No. It couldn’t be ...” Ken thought to himself. He turned his head left to take a view of a familiar person. That happened to be a fat burly boy, of messy hair and slightly-dirty clothes, whom he refers to as Bully One. “Well, well, well ... Kazuguchi. How unlikely should we meet up here.” Bully One snickered and so did his henchmen – two of them average size and another two quite skinny – henceforth referred to as Bullies Two to Five. “Eh heh heh! A puny rat!” They were right. Ken thought to himself – why in the world are bullies hanging out together in a restaurant of traditional Northland architecture and cuisine? These bullies are not the usual kind of bullies one would perceive to be. True, they all sported black clothing and really silly hairdo, but none dared to have tattoos, ring pierces or torn clothes. It is due to the strict social laws implemented by the central government to limit or prevent the spread of ‘subversive culture’, which everyone was afraid of. Local human and Reploid police forces were given powers to commence open assault or even arrest and jail any lawbreakers in the local prisons. Even bullies wouldn’t risk being beaten with clubs in the public for having tattoos, even if hidden under their clothes. “You owe us all something back from before the National Holidays!” Bully Three said threateningly and clenched his fists. Bully Five sneered at the teen who still remained in his seat. The scene was stirring attention for the elderly patrons and even the chefs. “Oh … you mean back then when I messed you all up in the bathroom? It’s not my fault that you were vandalizing the water pipes there.” Ken glared back at Bully One with utter contempt. He was glared back as well. “That’s because the toilet was annoying! Dripping and dripping water non-stop! I decided to fix things for the better!” In his head, Ken thought to himself – what were five bullies doing together in the bathroom at the same time? And more importantly, why together? He dared not think of a reason they would do that – things would have turned even messier than it is now. “You could have just asked the janitor to fix it so that … you can … do … whatever you were all doing in there. It’s not my fault either that you tried to douse me with the running water yourself!” Ken certainly flared up the anger of Bully One and received a red, near-exploding face. “That’s it! You’re going down!” Ken immediately slapped off Bully One’s firm hand and gave a run for it. All 5 bullies were now chasing him from the traditional shop and Ken ran out into the now-slightly-heavy rain to the other side. “Get back here, Kazuguchi! Time to receive your dues!!” “Phew … thank goodness my wallet and cell phone are with me … Right! Running for safety again!” His clothes were wet all over from the rain. Ken made a right turn from that traditional restaurant and headed elsewhere in the Shijun city to lose the bullies. He nearly collided with people in raincoats and under umbrellas doing so. “Watch it!” “Hey!” Some people shouted as he quickly dodged them and ran on the streets. Reaching the end of a street revealed a large cross road intersection and a series of zebra crossings. He chose to run down a second zebra crossing towards a road of high-end shopping malls. “Urgh!” He shouted as he nearly tripped. “Must escape!” He made a quick turn in between a shopping mall and a 15-storey apartment. Down the alley he went unto a receiving end of the shopping mall where large trucks delivered goods of trade. “Ah! There’s a corner over there!” He zipped into a corner turn and entered a small area close to security. He was sheltered from the outside rain, but … He realized he made a big mistake. The area was no bigger than a small car park lot and it was bordered by walls all around, except for the small space which allowed him to enter this corner in the first place. The wall in front of him had a long glass window pane and a red door. Unfortunately, the door was locked from the other side. “Oh dear. This is bad. I’m trapped and I have nowhere to go. Those guys are definitely coming after me and I’d be beaten till I’m pulp. What do I do!?” While he was frustrated over thinking of a way to save his own life, he experienced the strange sensation again. It sounded as though high frequency waves were pounding in his ears. Due to the noise itself and how irritating it was, his head felt like it was in a washing machine – spinning up and down to no end. Unlike the previous two sensations, this time Ken felt nothing of the source of those quirky vibrations. Of course, his spinning head wasn’t helping and hence his concentration was severely disrupted. “Urgh … what’s going on … I can’t … think straight …” His body was wriggly and unstable. He was on the verge of collapsing but the constant wobbling around merely kept him up. Before he knew anything else, when he was turning back to the direction where he entered the small corner, he received a strong blow on his right cheek. “GAH HAHA! Stupid got what he deserved!” It was Bully One who had delivered that blow. To him, it was something like a glorious thing. But to Ken, it felt like nothing. His limbs and nerves were so numb, he never felt the pain. His body was left with no instructions from the brain, and thus collapsed onto the ground. “… Get him … boys …” That was all he heard. Besides, he only had sight and saw himself limping on the dry concrete ground. But before long, when the five bullies were advancing to beat him into pulp, he witnessed his left hand move, pressing on the concrete ground. The limping mass of muscles got up and assumed a defensive stance. “Urgh … ah …” He heard himself speak in a coarse way. “What have we here? … You want a fight, do you, burly? Then, come get some!!” Ken felt inside himself a surging feeling of redness – heat, like anger – bursting out of nowhere. He had never heard himself so angry before. It was so unlike him … the sound of clenching knuckles. “AAAAH!!” He heard himself scream as he amazingly charged forward in lightning speed towards Bully One and landed a strong, powerful fist into Bully One’s stomach. Naturally, the thug was caught off guard. “Huaargh!” Bully One could only scream that out before collapsing on the floor unconscious. The blow was too much for him. Ken was amazed. How did he do that? He had never used his strength like that before. He never felt more amazed that today – how much strength he actually had in him … “The shrimp fought back! Get him!” Bully Four shouted and then everyone charged forth to stomp him down. Ken darted back at them with gruesomely fierce eyes and stressing muscles. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with, boys.” Bully Five was the closest person to him, getting ready a punch, so he dealt with him first. Ken gave him a single powerful forearm attack on the shoulder and a palm slam on his back. Naturally, Bully Five was weakened, but he tried to stop Ken himself. “You! Don’t get all smug looking!” Bully Five tried to land a punch into Ken’s face, but was blocked by a gripping fist. “I’m sorry. Did you say something?” Ken clenched his knuckles. Bully Five’s arm was twisted to nearly a 360 degree clockwise turn with ease by Ken. “Aaaargh! Let me go, you freak!” Bully Five was clearly in pain as his muscles were stretched and twisted so strongly. “Hmph.” That was all Ken said before landing a straight punch into Bully Five’s chest, thus knocking him out instantly. Bully Four shouted out. “We’d pound on him together! Now!!” The remaining three thugs all gave a jump and tried to suppress the fighting teen. Ken looked all around himself and made quick thoughts and calculations. “Is that the best way to fight me?” Ken heard himself taunt back lightly before he was dashing towards Bully Two. “Taste this!” Since Bully Two was in mid-air and Ken was able to dash under him, Ken heaved with strength in his arms and threw Bully Two upwards further towards the other two thugs. “Whoa! AAARGH!” All three of them collided in mid-air and collapsed onto the ground. “Ow … moan … groan … I’m so tired …” “No … more fights, boss …” Without letting up, Ken leaped towards the moaning and aching three thugs. The teen quickly made fast finger pressures attacks onto various pressure points on the necks and heads of all of them. “Grrk!?” “What the?!” “Ah!” The thugs became motionless and passed out altogether. “… That should have been enough. Pant … pant …” Ken saw himself panting and suddenly, grabbing hold of his own left hand, and nearly collapsed on the ground himself. “Pant … let’s get you out of here … Kazuguchi.” The figure, now who is obviously not Ken, walked slowly out of that small empty corner lot into the slightly drizzling outside. “Urgh … used too much strength …” The figure made it to the outside streets where people were still walking in the rain. “You okay in there … I believe? Thank goodness then … otherwise it’ll be bad…” No more was said. The figure passed out on the streets, with relaxed facial expressions. The sudden appearance of an unconscious person shocked other passer-bys. “Hey, kid! You okay!?” “Wake up! Wake up!” “He’s not responding!” “Gasp! He’s been beaten!” “Someone call the cops!” The people formed a circle around the unconscious Ken. He heard no more as his body forced him into a state of slumber and calm, probably during when help was on the way. So dark … so black … so quiet. For how long it was silent for him, he didn’t know but he didn’t care. Then, brightness shone into his eyes. “Ken … Ken .. KEN!” The pleas of despair were of a familiar voice. Ken opened his eyes slowly. Turns out he was firmly back in control over his body, as opposed to the fight with the thugs earlier. “Uh …? Where am I?” He made his hands twitch and move. Ken was nicely draped in white pyjamas clothing and warmly settled in bed. The room was painted blue on all walls; there were additional small cupboards, a small table and some chairs. A small TV was attached to the ceiling in front of him. To his right were several window panes showing the outside scenery of tall buildings and the evening skies. It seemed that he was in a building of great height – definitely a hospital. “… Where is this place?” He looked around again. Father Ajima and mother Saya were by his left side, whereas Ryushi was sleeping by the small table and Ayumi was reading a book. “Mum? Dad?” Mother Saya’s eyes were glittering with happiness and relief. “Ken! KEN!!” She gave him a very tight hug and rubbed her fingers all over his back. “… Hi, mum.” Ken in turn held his mother in his arms. Father Ajima merely smiled and chuckled. “You gave us quite a scare. Your mother nearly fainted when she received a call from the hospital saying that you were found unconscious on the streets in Shijun city. So, what happened back there?” Ayumi turned to Ken, furious. “You were stupid! We had to deal with the farmlands ourselves! And we’re not even done! There’s half the plot left to harvest! We could have done it with the harvest tractor if it wasn’t been repaired! You’re … you’re so selfish!” She was clearly mad at him. Ken gave a smile. “Yeah .. maybe I was.” On the table next to his bed, there was his cellphone – still functional – and wallet. “Where’s Grandpa?” Saya let go of her son and replied. “He’s outside … he couldn’t bear to come in and talk to you at all. He thinks that it’s his fault for yelling at you back at home and he caused all this to happen.” “Ah …wow, I feel so … hot all over…” Ken rested his back on the bed. He placed his hand on his chest. He thought: “This heat … what is this feeling … inside of me?” Father Ajima patted his shoulder. “The doctors said that you were having a fever due to the rain. But, should you rest tonight, you’d be fine by tomorrow and you can go back to school. Otherwise…” Ken shook his head. “Regardless, I’m still going back to school on Monday – two days’ time.” “I understand. School means a lot, eh? I love you, son.” Just then, the door of the ward opened. A nurse helped the 92-year-old Grandpa Ojiro on his walking cane into the room. Tears were flowing down his cheeks, still not over the whole thing of blaming himself for the disaster. He slowly looked up to Ken. “…” Ken shook his head with a gentle smile. “It’s okay, Grandpa. I heard it. … I don’t think it’s your fault for caring about me. It’s my fault for not understanding you. You’re a war veteran … you should have had things your way. I … I think I’ll manage fine the next time you want to dance with the parade music on radio.” “No, no. Say no more. I’m an old man. I have to care for the needs of my grandchildren. It should have thought of you first.” Grandpa Ojiro said no more. He looked to the floor so sullenly. Ken smiled, turning back to his chest. “This hot feeling … how strange.” Meanwhile, the TV in the ward room rang, meaning that it was time for the hourly news at 7 o’clock. The nurse spoke out: “I’m sorry, everyone. It’s time for you to leave. The visiting hours are over. The patient needs to rest and have his dinner.” Father Ajima and mother Saya nodded in compliance. “I understand. Let’s go, everyone.” Ayumi was initially speechless. “… Get well soon, big brother. We’d all waiting for you at home.” Everyone soon left the room and the attendants came in with the food trolley. They extended out a table from underneath the hospital bed and placed his meal on it. Ken looked at the meal with slight reluctance. “Urgh … hospital food.” As he munched in the dinner, Ken thought about many questions. What just happened during the thug fight? Could he have experienced a split-personality? And is this presumably new kind of entity still in his body? “I must be thinking too much … probably just me.” The teen sighed as he chewed over some meat of salmon. The TV continued with its news broadcast, while the rain simmered down on his windows. Meanwhile, far away from Shijun city, into the pouring central capital Core City, a figure was sighing. “Ah … good rain … it’s been a long time since I last felt it … that tender life it brings to all things …” Sitting on a roof of one of the many skyscrapers, he allowed the rain to flow down his yellow shawl, brown baggy trousers and brown peculiar shoes. “The time has come … to settle one of the issues in that province … with the help of this young boy … Ken Kazuguchi.” The figure let his hair be wet and he smiled creepily. Continued in Chapter 2. Notes: A new mystery has risen as a plot … and someone is already after our Ken! Please regard this work as canon, as it occurred 1½ years before the Comic Arts events. The story focuses on people outside of Comic Arts politics, so the people in power will not be mentioned by name. Imagining how people and locations look like is up to you, except where Core City is mentioned – refer back to Page 2 in the Comic Arts, which is in the ‘FanWriter Comic Arts’ gallery folder at msiafanwriter.deviantart.com. ------ Yeah, pretty much that. It's up to you if you want to refer back to the Comic Arts for some sort of connection in terms of terminology or timeline, but either way, the would still be explained in the end notes of each chapter. With that, I bid you farewell to a next time.
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 5, 2009 23:01:59 GMT -5
Speaking of which, back in EraS, I have only posted Chapters 1 to 8 before its collapse. Therefore, the remaining chapters not posted here will be done so over the days ... before the "grand opening" of Chapter 9 is posted.
So, for now. Enjoy Chapter 2. I hope you have fun.
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This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter
Chapter 2: The Souls and His Urgent Issue
He laid on the bed, tossed and turned. After a rather nice hospital meal for dinner, he tried to rest by sleeping. Oddly, he couldn’t. Despite the fight earlier in the late afternoon, he didn’t feel tired at all. It could have been that the body has had its rest during the period of consciousness. “Hmm … how am I going to spend all this free time …?”
Ken Kazuguchi mumbled as he tossed and turned on the bed again. It is almost 11 o’clock. He could do nothing but sigh in his hospital ward, some 25 floors above the ground. “Hm, I guess … I can’t get over thinking all those questions.” Ken got off of bed and grabbed a cup of warm water. “It’s close to winter … it’s still autumn, in fact.”
He slumped himself on one of the small chairs by the table. He made a face and fumbled. “Who was that earlier that saved me? … Could it be that vibration thing that I saw earlier? I wonder what was that all about … I want to know the answers. But from whom? From whom!?” He got off the chair instantly and stood close to the table.
“Who am I going to talk to about this!?” He walked over to a wall and knocked his head hard on the wall. Really hard. Just as hard as the punches he made on the thugs today.
OUCH!! Ken became shocked and looked around. “Huh …?” He punched his head again. Ouch! Ken was afraid now. “… Whose voice was that?” No answer.
He looked around the room, but only to find no one. It was very strange; a female voice appeared out of nowhere. “Who was that?” Ken made a defensive stance. “Show yourself! Who are you!?” Um … I’m … not sure how to answer you … OW!!
Ken hit his head hard onto the same spot on the wall again. Ow!! Hey, will you stop hurting yourself first!? Ken ignored the request of a female whose voice is heard but presence unknown. “Oh? So you can feel my pain, huh?” Ken ran to the ward door and grabbed a metal stick in the umbrella stand. The voice started to panic.
… What do you think you’re doing? … AH! NO!! You wouldn’t dare!
“Oh yes, I can and I will. I’m going to hit my head real hard with this metal stick, unless you reveal yourself to me this instant!” Ken gathered strength in his fists and swung the metal pole towards his forehead. But suddenly, he was halted by an invisible force.
He was halted by his own arms – defying his very instructions. Then, both his arms became rapidly numb – the exact same feeling as it was when fighting against the five bullies. “AAAAHH!!” Ken cried out loud of the numbing pain he experienced from that. He was struggling to have his arms obey his orders instead. “AAAAAAAAH!!”
“Let go of me, whoever you are! That hurts a lot! AAAAH!!” Unexpectedly, both his eyes became wet. Small drops of tears came out and dripped onto the floor. Ken was stunned at that sight. “What’s going on …?” The female entity began to speak.
… I risked myself to save you, and this is how you treat me? Do you know how much it pains me to see you abuse yourself … when I saved you from those bullies? ... Why are you doing this? The entity sobbed loudly and released more tears from his eyes.
Ken felt sorry for the entity as it continued to cry. He decided to let go control of his arms and then, his fists opened wide and the metal pole dropped down to the floor. Just as that was done, Ken regained control over his hands as the entity retreated. “… You’re inside my body, aren’t you?” The entity didn’t reply back at first. Ken twitched his hands.
Ken moved from his current position and returned to his bed, sitting down on the mattress. “… That explains why you can’t show yourself. You’re inside me, possessing my body. I see … strange, but … fine … I understand. I shall not hurt myself.”
The entity replied back. Thank you, Ken Kazuguchi … I’m happy for you. I just want you to be okay. That is all. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have done what I did earlier. Her voice boomed in his ears just as a normal living person’s voice would sound like.
He said nothing at first, going to the side windows, opening it and felt the strong cold wind beat on his face. “Mm … boredom. So bored … with another … person, is it?” Ah, yes, you’ve got it right! Ken pondered. “A person … person!? That means!?”
Ken jumped and collapsed on his bed. AH! Don’t do that! You gave me a fright! Ken smiled and replied back. “Okay, fine … whatever you say. So … who are you? You already know my name, so I don’t need to introduce myself, do I?”
The entity gave a small laugh. I guess you’re right… it’s nice to meet you, Ken. My name is Emi. Emi Takahiro. Just call me Emi. I am a ghost … as you may have figured out just now. It was me who fought back the 5 bullies who were after you for revenge on something concerning bathroom pipes, I think … what was that all about?
Ken ignored that part and asked her: “How long have you been awake in there, Emi?”
Ah … since you first woke up. When you wake up, I also wake up. I am subjected to all of your body’s conditions. Pain, movement, everything… It surprised me, Ken. You were able to see me and even came after me. Ken nodded lightly to her.
“So, it was you back there? You were walking from my left to my right? The one in the back alley?” If Ken could see her, Emi was nodding in agreement. Yes, Ken …
That was me all the while. How you could see me briefly, I don’t know. But one thing was for sure, you saw me and you had my attention. I followed you all the way to the restaurant, while you were running away from those thugs and into the surrounded corner of that building. After seeing you go through all that, I had to help you.
“… How did you manage to enter me and control me?” Ken spoke out. Emi was about to answer the question when two nurses entered the ward room. “Excuse me, did you hear anyone scream or shout just now?” Ken was uncomfortable so he lied: “No. None at all.”
When the nurses left the room, Emi retorted back at him. Liar … I detest liars.
Ken laughed at that. “Hah hah. Wow … to be honest, this is the first time I’ve had contact with ghosts. I never believed in them although my whole family does, but I guess I can believe what I just experienced … ah, regarding my question, Emi …”
Ah, yes. I don’t know myself how I controlled you. I was pretty desperate to help you at that time, even though we were complete strangers. I knew that I had to enter your body in order to bring you to safety. You can call it willpower for all I know. Before my takeover was complete, that thug had punched you in the face. And it hurt so much.
Ken said nothing initially. He got up and walked around the room. He went to switch off the room’s light and he surprised Emi by saying: “Welcome to Shijun city, one of the major cities in Chuhongyun Province, Emi.” She was pleased with the greeting.
Oh, thank you! I was kind of lost when I was aimlessly moving around. You see … I come from Homyunggan Province, and … um … I have been dead for six months now and … been wandering about ever since! I’m 15 years old, probably the same as you.
The teen wondered aloud. “A northerner, eh? That’s interesting … how did you come to experience death at such a young age? That’s really … disturbing.” Emi gasped loudly upon that question and was speechless. … It was horrible … Ken, I …
“… Fine, I won’t force you to tell me.” Emi didn’t say anything. But she indirectly crept Ken out when he felt something shudderingly cold from inside of himself. “Yeow! What was that? So cold! So cold! Brrrh … wait … was that you, Emi?”
Ah, I caused you harm! I’m so sorry! Please forgive me! I shocked you somehow when I was thinking back about my family, my hometown, my death … Sorry. I won’t think about it again. I won’t bother you. Ken sighed upon that apology of hers.
“Apology accepted … but I think we’re in a dilemma here.” Huh? What is it?
“If willpower got you inside me, then how are we going to remove you out of me? I don’t think it’d be convenient for you to see exactly everything I do.” Ken waited for an answer. “You surely can come out on your own, right?” Um … no. I’m sorry, Ken. Ken got up abruptly upon hearing that. “What do you mean, ‘No’?”
I do want to get out of you, Ken. But if I could, I would have done that a long time ago. I even starting trying for some time shortly after you woke up. I got more and more desperate, but … I think willpower can’t help me this time. You have let me go.
“Care to explain more?” Ken was patient but inside him, he was increasingly angry.
You see … I used to be a free wandering spirit, but now, because I wanted to help you in your situation and I had to possess you, I am bonded to your body and thus I am subjected to the body’s conditions. As I said, no matter how I tried, I couldn’t break free. I am now held on tightly by physical barriers … which only you can control.
“Argh!” Ken got up and shook his head, hands firm on them. “First Grandpa Ojiro, then the 5 bullies and now this!? Why is this happening to me!? Why is it always me!?” Ken sulked hard and sat on the small chair at the table again. “Grrh … of all things …”
Emi said nothing as she dared not interrupt. Finally, Ken conceded. “Alright, fine. I’d do your … releasing thing, whatever it is. I just need to be a little more patient, just like when I was talking to you just now. Urgh …” He laid his back on the small glass table.
… Wow. You’re one to accept things fast. I don’t think I’ve met anyone as brave as you before. If I have possessed other people … I think they would have freaked out or did things that would be both embarrassing and harmful. … once again, I thank you for your patience. Ken placed his left palm over his eyes and got thinking.
“Alright, alright … I guess I owe you one since you helped me against those bullies, or I would have become pulp by now. So … what should I do …?” Ken opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling and the slow spinning fan above. Emi waited for his next move.
“Physical barriers, you said, Emi?” … Um … yes, right. Those only you can do.
Ken fumbled. The clock ticked at 11.15 pm. “I guess I ought to try taking a rest. If only I can get myself to sleep or relax … yeah, that’s the ticket. If I relax myself, just maybe – just maybe I can remove those physical barriers and ... you’ll be set free! Right!”
No harm trying, I suppose … but forgive me, Ken … usually what time do you sleep? Practice of habit can influence your sleeping patterns. I learned that the hard way last time … The teen tossed himself onto the hospital bed and turned sideways.
“I usually sleep around 12 midnight to 1 am. And you’re right; I liked to sleep at that period of time since I was 10, and it has been that way ever since.” Emi gasped loudly.
You’re insane! I … I … You do realize that you can be risking your health just like that!? Oh dear … I picked the wrong body to possess. Now, I have to wait for nothing until it’s one in the morning! Oh … this is dreadful … She moaned some more.
Ken found it funny and laughed at her. “Ha hah! Sorry for your trouble then.” He puffed a breath of exhalation and settled under the warm blanket. Unknown to him, his brain was slowly settling into a nice sleep, so his consciousness was gradually reducing. That was, until Emi commented on a phenomenon only she could notice.
Ah … I feel … a little freer now. This might just work after all. So relaxing … Ken rose up in an instant. “Huh, what was that?” That regaining of full consciousness reversed the effects Emi felt – now she was suddenly cramped up inside him, painfully.
EYAH! Don’t do that so suddenly, Ken! Those barriers came in and crushed on me so rapidly! That was so close … I was closer to being free … She squealed. The brown-haired teen pondered for a moment. “Barriers … just exactly how do you feel that, Emi?”
I don’t really know! Just … whenever you are awake and doing something, even talking, I feel restrained and held all over myself. If you’re in my place, you’d probably understand it better. Feeling sad or angry, even joyful I might add, puts a strain on me. I can’t move at all… understand? It has to been a state of nothingness.
“Total relaxation, you mean?” Though Ken couldn’t see it, Emi nodded, but the silence he received from her was automatically taken as a ‘Yes’. Ken sighed and laid down on the bed once again. “Hmm … I can’t sleep just yet, but there has to be another solution...”
Emi commented quietly to herself. He was so close just now… sigh.
The teen tilted his head to the left. His eyes registered the sight of the cupboards, the door, switches for the room’s lights, the door to the bathroom, the small glass table and its chairs, the marble floor, a shelf at the door with a drug bottle and a needle…
Ken was stunned. What is a syringe needle and a drug bottle doing in a free patient’s room? It could probably be abused by anyone, and the nurses and doctors didn’t even notice its presence? Ken squinted his eyes and he saw the term ‘Sedative’ labeled on the bottle. His face made a small curved smile as he thought of something.
Emi saw the whole thing, alright, but she hadn’t completely understood the situation. Um, Ken, what are you doing? … I’m sensing a bad idea from you, and I don’t like this at all … what’s going on? She paused as Ken rose up from his bed.
“Emi, you said that you needed me to go to sleep so you can be free, right?” She gulped at the development of the situation. Yes … what are you planning to do?
The teen stood up and walked slowly to the ward entrance door, looking at the drug bottle. “I’m thinking that a little sedative might work on me. Sedatives help calm me down. So, this might work out faster than we think.” He reached for the bottle.
Emi finally realized what he was planning. You’re going to inject yourself with that!? NO!! I totally disagree with that idea! Don’t do something this stupid, Ken, I’m warning you!! You need a doctor’s permission to consume those drugs!! What’s more, you’re doing this illegally! Please, Ken, don’t do it!! Don’t hurt yourself!!
Ken shrugged off Emi’s plea of warning. “What do you suppose I would do then? Can you think of anything else? Sleeping is not going to help, I don’t think we can do much in this room and I feel we’ve become one for too long already! I’m helping you to be free!”
Do anything else!! Run wild, toss and turn on bed, anything! Just don’t inject yourself with that drug!! I’m not allowing you!! But just before she ended her tone of threat, Ken had already held up the drug bottle and the syringe needle. Ken’s eyes stared into the sharpness of the needle tip, so much so that it caused Emi to make a loud pale gasp.
No … please, Ken, I am begging you … please don’t do it … please …
Ken was partially confused and partially sympathizing with the girl due to her tone of distraught and fear in it. “Emi … are you okay?” The teen did not receive any reply, most likely due to Emi being occupied with thoughts of fear. “I’m really sorry, Emi. This is the only way I can get myself to sleep so that I can let you be free …”
At that instant, she was brought back to her senses. She screamed out loudly: NO!!
She instantly grasped control of Ken’s both arms, forcing him to let go of the drug bottle and the syringe needle. The bottle fell and smashed to pieces on the floor, spilling its liquid contents whereas the syringe needle was unscathed. Once again, Ken was forced to experience the pain of feeling numb in parts of his body.
“ARRRRGH!! Let me go, Emi! I’m doing this for us! Oh no! You destroyed the bottle! ARRGH!!” Ken collapsed with his back onto the marble floor and struggled against the pain. Emi was equally stubborn as well. She said: I’m not allowing you to do this to yourself! I also know for the fact that this will not work for both of us!
Ken’s face started to appear redder. “Oh yeah?! You don’t know till you try!” Ken rolled himself over to the left and was in a kneeling-down position. As Emi had control over his arms, he could not use them to crawl over to the pool of drug liquid and the broken glass pieces. He had to wriggle forward so slowly like a worm to reach it.
AH!? You!! You sure are one stubborn person, Ken Kazuguchi!! Emi fumed.
With that, she also grasped control of Ken’s legs, thus rendering the poor teen without the ability to move forward by any means. She was also aiming to grab Ken’s entire body to halt any mode of movement. This was when Ken started to scream out his loudest.
Just so suddenly, three nurses and a night-shift doctor burst into the ward. “The boy! Good! We’ve finally tracked down the source of the scream!” One nurse remarked as she held a briefcase of medicine. “A drug bottle’s been smashed! What’s it doing here!?”
The second and third nurse pinned down Ken to examine him. “Doctor, the patient is in terrible pain! We need to do something before he wakes up the other patients!” The doctor conveyed orders to prepare other sedatives to be injected as the first nurse cleaned up the mess of drug liquid and broken glass. “Hurry! Hurry before things get worse!”
“Here we go! This should calm him down!” The doctor directly jabbed Ken on his arm the chemical sedative to suppress his every action. Although the needle was not as long as the one Ken held earlier, the rapid invasion of his body was both numbing and painful.
Ken was stunned just like that and all his screaming stopped after the jab. Inside him, Emi let out her loudest yell of pain yet. The chemical sedatives soon began to take its effect on the body. Arms and legs lay limp on the floor; the body was going into a state of unconsciousness. “Urgh … Emi …” Those were Ken’s last words.
In the end, the hospital personnel was able to see a sleeping Ken, body shared with Emi, tucked nicely into bed and everything was normal. The doctor confirmed that Ken drank none of the liquid sedative, but was confused how it was left there in the first place.
As for Ken, he suggested that excessive psychological trauma was the cause for all the screams and yells. Of course, the doctor wasn’t Ken, and he didn’t know Emi was in him.
“Urgh …” Ken made a sound as he woke up. It was about 9 in the morning the following day – 9th September a Sunday. The sun shone in the room dimly as it was really cloudy. He got up and reached for a glass of water. “Ah … that ought to quench that thirst.”
He then remembered something. “…Emi?” Ken received no reply from inside him. Throughout the day, he would ask for her to reply once in a while – to tell him she was there – but it remained the same. No answer. Ken shrugged and concluded that she may be keeping to herself or that she was really gone from being inside him.
The handling doctor who suppressed Ken’s screaming problem the previous night, also the doctor who saw his treatment when he was brought into the hospital, met him in the afternoon. He suggested that Ken stay in the hospital to calm himself down for a few more days so that he would fully heal. The teen however rejected the idea.
“Sorry, sir, but I have to go back to school tomorrow. It won’t be fair for my family and myself if I took the day off. But, yeah, thanks for treating the fever. I feel much better now.” “Hm … if you wish.” The doctor was impressed with Ken’s answers and allowed his discharge in the evening. “Wow … thank you, doctor.” Ken was cheerful.
Time passed so fast and it was already 6 pm. The whole Kazuguchi family came over to the Shijun city hospital to pick up Ken. The teen was bombarded with hugs by his parents and grandfather, whereas Ryushi cheered on him and Ayumi sulked away.
“You’re lucky for not being scolded by mum and dad, Ken!” That was all she pouted back at him when she turned her face away, wavering her black short hair. Father Ajima ruffled with his son’s hair. “Well, well. Now that is settled, let’s go back and enjoy your mum’s special homebred chicken stew and steamed fish for dinner.”
All 6 Kazuguchis walked out of the hospital grounds and headed back home to Handao village with the aerotrain services. The gentle wind blew by past Ken, and he shivered. The wind blew elsewhere, without a known destination.
Somewhere else, in an unknown location, a person covered in the darkness was sitting in the halls of altar. He had been sitting down quietly for 10 minutes and just suddenly, he opened his eyes and frowned to himself. His bald head shone of reflected light.
“There’s a disturbance in the presence of the folk in this town! I must trace it down and eliminate it!” His right hand, holding beads tied together in a necklace, clenched onto it even tighter. “This is something worthy of being watched over by me!”
At the same time, by a wide plain of grass with herds of cattle and goats being ushered back into their barns, a teen with unusually long brown hair with a large yellow straw hat over his head smiled. A short smile, but looked like it had full of evil in it. The soft blowing wind caressed the long grass of his plains.
“Aha.” He exclaimed as the grass was blown in a strange whirlwind pattern. “Something interesting has just occurred.” He turned to look at the sunset under his straw hat. “In time, everything will be revealed. And it shall be done! Ah hahaha HAH!!”
That young person in farmer’s clothes laughed wildly, with full of evil-based tone and high levels of sarcasm as the winds continued to swirl around his farming property.
“Well, well … what do we have here?” Yet again, another mysterious figure said. He crushed the candle in his hand to pieces. Being covered all over by a grey cloak, his details were unseen at all. “Someone has been in association with a ghost?”
“Yes, my lord … I was patrolling around as you told me to. I found this boy … possessed by a female spirit. She fought off other humans attempting to injure the boy.” The cloaked figure stared at the hideous deity statue in his dark altar hall.
“It is of no concern … for now. Continue on with your duties … the grand ideal does not realize by itself.” He hissed and clenched his right hand threateningly at his agent. “Ah … uh … yes, my lord! I shall depart!” Silence permeated that different altar hall.
Back at the Kazuguchi household, everyone had mother Saya’s cooked dinner as well as fresh-made herbal tea to sink down all the food. When it was over, Ken assisted Ayumi and Saya in washing the dishes and cleaning the table. Out of habit, he would proceed to his room after dinner every day and brush his teeth in his bathroom.
He looked at his study table. All homework for the holidays has been completed and Mr Ahashi wouldn’t scold him when school starts. He only changed his shirt to that of his pyjamas, as he dared not change his pants, and landed on his bed. He tossed and turned on his bed before sighing out loud and covering himself under his blankets.
“Emi ... please answer me ... wherever you are ...” Finally, Emi gave up being quiet, no longer in isolation and talked to him. Alright, you win. What do you want, Ken?
Ken was never more delighted. “EMI!?” He exclaimed as he moved his blankets aside and sat up on his bed. “Emi, is that you!? Where are you!? What have you been doing!?”
The girl sighed with tire. I’m still here, silly. Inside your body. I already told you that using the drug wouldn’t help me be free from your body. It’s an issue of being voluntary. You have to exert your own effort in order to let me go. Applying medicine to yourself is like making yourself do something you don’t want to do, do you understand?
It all comes down to your own heart and effort, Ken. That was all she said. He hung his head down. “Urgh … I’m sorry, Emi. I caused you so much trouble. If what you said is true, then probably I should have just slept last night and now, you would be free.”
At first, there was no response. And then, the girl gave Ken an inward childish smile and a laugh. Ha ha ha! Ken … The teen felt uneasy at her response. It’s alright, Ken. Apology accepted. It’s still not too late! We can do this thing one way or another!
Emi was clearly very happy with the teen and thus, Ken was extremely relieved. “Phew. For a moment there, I thought I was a goner.” Emi herself breathed relief. You’re a sweet person for thinking about the concerns of a relatively new stranger. Thank you.
Ken thought about the situation at hand. So far, he had messed things up between the both of them. But, they have just gotten over the sore events and made up with apologies and smiles and laughs. So, it’s safe to say that they’re fine with each other.
The thing was – how long will this last? Will Emi remain one with him in his body? Is there possibly another way to get her out other than sleeping? How does it feel like to be in Emi’s place – living in another person’s body? He didn’t want to think about it more.
... You’re thinking about something, Ken. I know it. You’re making me look at your wooden cupboard, so I still can tell that you’re upset about something.
“Well …” Ken quickly took a pencil, sharpened it and lightly poked himself in the arm. AH! Ow! Emi gasped inside him. Hey! What was that for!? That hurt! Don’t make me come in and take your limbs away from you! Emi growled at him.
“Eh … I was just testing something. So, it is true then … one body and one flesh. Shared feelings of touch.” He placed the pencil down on his study table. “…” Emi didn’t know what to reply back to him, as she was unsure of what Ken was saying with those lines. “What I’m thinking, eh?” The teen sat on his bed and played with his fingers.
“Alright ... is there anything else besides sleeping that may set you free? I want to try something new. This time, we’re doing it your way. How am I going to proceed in a way, even if sleeping is the only way to do this thing, so that you can eventually set yourself free? I really have no idea, Emi.” He sighed with disappointment.
Oh, I see. Well then ... I don’t think there is any other way than sleeping which helps you ease yourself, but I do have some ideas as to how to help you get there. We can’t help it; you’re only used to sleeping after midnight, right? Hmm … Emi replied.
“Anything at all, Emi. Just tell me what to do. I’m all set.” He laid himself on the mattress and exhaled a long breath. Emi made a small laughter and shoulder shrug. Are you ready, Ken? Ken shrugged his shoulder. “Anything you say, Emi. I’d rather give it a try now than waste my time waiting for midnight or later to come.”
… If you say so. Ken Kazuguchi, I want you to give me 150 push-ups on your floor now. The teen jerked up in shock. “What!? 150 push-ups!? Are you crazy!? Who in the world could do something like that!?” He protested, but Emi retorted back at him.
Hmph. I thought you said you were willing to do anything I said. Some boy you are. Besides, how did you think I was able to fight off your bully friends? A normal person can never retaliate fast if he or she doesn’t work hard. Ken sighed.
“Well … never mind. I’ll get to it.” Ken got off his bed and started the work-out.
Continued in Chapter 3.
Notes: Hmm … just one day of their encounter and so many people are after him, just because of his association with Emi! Take note here that all major characters have names with only three letters, such as Ken, Emi and Bak, whereas minor characters have more than 3 letters in their names like Ajima and Saya. Hmm … the duo are giving it another try to get Emi free from Ken’s body. Will it work?
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And that is all for today. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Thank you!
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Post by Nightmare on Aug 7, 2009 22:43:57 GMT -5
Awesome, you're posting them here finally. =D
Can't wait til ya get caught up to the latest chapter. =P
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 8, 2009 0:44:04 GMT -5
Yes, I am. Thanks very much for coming, Nightmare.
And now, I present to you: the Chapter 3 for today. Enjoy!
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This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter
Chapter 3: Souls at School on the Weekday
Come on, Ken! You can do better than that! Move faster! Faster! She urged Ken cheerfully. “Urgh! I don’t think I can do this anymore, Emi! I’m really tired! Can I stop now!? I have been doing this for 30 minutes straight!” Ken pleaded to his inhabitant.
Ken’s room is rather fitting in size; a room that squeezed a wardrobe of clothes beside the door leading to his bathroom. In front of that was a medium-sized bed of yellow bed sheet and pillows and red blankets. A table lay where he put his alarm and a small lamp.
The point of the 150-push-ups was to make you as tired as you have never before, Ken! I thought we agreed that we would work together so that we can get you to be more relaxed and thus I can be free! Continue on! Don’t be slow! Emi retorted at him.
“I’ll probably end up with muscle cramps in the morning when I have to go back to school! I don’t want that!” Ken countered her back. Again, he received no quick reply from his head. ... Alright, fine. I guess you can stop for now. The ghost girl sighed.
“Thank you!!” Ken said that in a hurry before he pounded on his bed. He left his arms and legs open wide and panted. “Hah ... hah ... I’d never thought of exercising late at night just to go to sleep. I think I’ll really get muscle cramps in the morning.”
It’s the only thing you can do, Ken. It would have been much easier if you slept on your own will … but, I’m sorry, Ken. Emi’s last few words were suddenly of low self-confidence, guilt and fear as opposed to the earlier great confidence and command. I made you do all this just so I could be free ... I’m really sorry. Please forgive me.
Ken said nothing and closed his eyes shut. “... It’s alright. Everyone has to be free.” He wasn’t sure what made him say that, but most likely it was something that suddenly popped up in his mind. “Alright, let me try and relax … the tiredness should work now.”
He breathed slower and nicer, meaning that he has calmed down a lot from the stress on him caused by oxygen debt. His consciousness was reducing bit by bit, and in just 10 minutes’ time, he was in a state that Emi needed him to be – sound asleep.
Inwardly, she placed her hands on her chest and smiled widely. Ah ... it feels so calm and peaceful ... Ken has done it. Congratulations, Ken. All that work paid off.
The teen was just entering dreamland as Emi waited for something to happen. Ken was in a huge space of dark blue and many tiny glittering spots, similar to what one should see in space. A path was illuminated for the teen to walk on, making many curves and bends in infinite heights. “Wow ... where is this place? Some fantasy world?”
At the very top of the path was a large floor. Ken looked around, only to find nothing. “Hmm ... I wonder what is this all about?” Unexpectedly, a bright light glowed in front of him. He exclaimed in shock: “Whoa! What is that!?” In the middle of the glowing light, a black outlined object appeared. Ken’s eyes were widened with awe and full of desire.
“That ... that’s the only thing I want for now! I must get it!” He ran forward to the illuminated object, but halted when a voice boomed. “You want me that much, boy?” Ken nodded in a ridiculous manner. “YES!! More than anything I have ever thought of!”
“So, come and get me, before I disappear forever.” The illuminated object began to retreat backwards, far away from the tempted Ken. Ken was filled with shock to see his desired object flee from his sight. “No! Don’t you dare run off! I need you!”
He cried out before chasing it. The scenery around him wobbled and changed form, from the vast exterior of space to that of a long walking corridor, of which there were tall pillars of rich cultural carvings, and lit lamps in the middle of the wall between each two pillars. The floor was of black and white squares. Ken’s feet pounded on them.
“Don’t run away! I’ve been looking for you my whole life!!” He ran the fastest he could. He was a good athlete in school, but that didn’t apply here. The desired object was fleeing faster than he could run. Seconds later, it vanished in thin air. Ken fell on the ground upon that sight. “NO!! Come back to me!” He shouted and panicked.
The floor and walls of the corridor crumbled to stone columns and pieces. “What the!?” He exclaimed in shock. Everything then disintegrated and collapsed to a bottomless pit. Ken was dragged down by the supreme force of gravity to what it seemed as the abyss.
“ARGHH!!” Ken got up at a sudden; his right hand stretched out toward the wall in front of his bed. He was back in his room on his bed. Being a little awake, he mumbled “Uh .. I knew it was a fake ...” and then collapsed into sleep again. “I will get you somehow …”
Emi was immensely shocked by this sudden event. AAAH!! ... Oh, that was frightful! Ken really gave me a shock for that! ... He must have had a nightmare, I think ... what was that all about!? Sigh ... boys. No different from the ones I’ve seen back home... Emi relaxed herself as Ken felt Ken sleeping. ... Hm? What is this? Ah! Yes!
On the teen boy’s side, it is obvious that Ken didn’t hear anything that Emi said. Needless to say, he was asleep and rest was all that is needed. Goodnight to the tired boy.
A loud noise rang into his ear from behind him. Ken opened his eyes a little. His eyes were so heavy, yet he struggled against himself and pulled himself out of bed. “Urgh ... it’s Monday already ... time for school ...” He yawned as he walked over to the study table and switched off the clock alarm. The time was just 7.10 am.
“Huaaah ...” He yawned some more. Ken rubbed his eyes as he stretched his feet. “Um ... good morning, Emi ...” Once again, he got no response; which was strange, since Emi said before that if he wakes up, she would be awake as well. “... Emi?”
Ken’s mind was still fuzzed, so he didn’t care about it much and grabbed his school uniform and headed into his bathroom for a good wake-up wash. As he was brushing his teeth, he remembered the nightmare he had – it was about the desired illuminated object.
“Someday, I’m going to get it and play with it, no matter what.” He snorted. The clock downstairs ticked 7.24 am. Ken was all suited up in dark grey long pants, white socks and a dark grey collared uniform. There were no buttons on the shirt itself; all were inside and two collar rims extended all the way down the shirt. He lifted up his schoolbag.
“Time for breakfast!” He entered the dining room and munched down buttered toast, some pancake slices and goat’s milk that mother Saya had prepared. Apparently Ayumi had left earlier, bringing Ryushi along to school, so there was only Saya, Ajima and Grandpa Ojiro left. “All ready for school, eh, boy!? It’s starting today!”
Ken was stunned at that sudden yelp. “Um … yeah, I’ll be fine with school.” Father Ajima spoke behind the day’s paper he was reading: “Aha. That’s my boy; firm and strong. You have changed for the better since 6 months ago. Don’t let me down.”
Saya handed out a cup of strong tea to Ajima. “You sure you will be fine, son? I can accompany you to the aerotrain station. Especially after that fever yesterday.” Ken made an awkward face and stared at her. “Mum, that’s not necessary. I’ll be fine.” Instantly after that … “He’ll be fine alright, because I’m going along with him!”
“Gah!” Ken slipped and fell off his chair upon hearing that sentence. Grandpa Ojiro, Ajima and Saya were stunned by the sudden move and tried to rush to his aid. “Hey there, are you alright?” Ajima said mildly. “Ken, what just happened!?” His mother worriedly asked. “Ah, what’s going on with you?” Grandpa Ojiro said.
Ken felt strange and thought to himself: “That voice ... could it be!?”
When he got up, he turned around to find that aside from his parents and grandfather on his left and right respectively, in the middle of his sight, stood a girl in light blue school uniform shirt and long skirt just above her knees, a red neckerchief, white socks, dim black shoes; her shirt of relaxing collars and her long sleeves of comfortable cuffs. She had dark purple hair of a long sideburn and hair down to her waist and light blue eyes.
Emi Takahiro smiled at Ken, who was quietly stunned beyond measure. “Hiya, Ken. See? I’m free already! It’s all due to that exercise and deep sleep you had last night!”
“Um... ah, I’m fine. I just sort of slipped on the chair.” Ken answered back at Grandpa Ojiro and raised himself up. “Right ... I’ll just be going along to school now. Look, it’s 7.34! I’ll be late to catch the aerotrain to school. See you!” Ken grabbed his lunchbox and sped off, leaving his confused elders behind. Emi flew along with him.
Ken felt strange. Emi was free alright; floating alongside him as he ran to the aerotrain station, located just outside of the farmlands, at the border with suburb Handao. He rushed up the ascending staircases, bought an immediate ticket to his school area and jumped into the train the moment its doors opened. “Made it.” He looked at Emi briefly.
“This is very weird.” Ken said weakly with his eyes staring flat on the train’s floor.
More than a minute later, Ken found a comfortable two-person seat at the back of the train compartment. He was the only occupant in his left side row, but the row in front of him had Emi sitting there, looking outside. Usually, that seat would also be empty.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” His sighing gathered her attention. “I can see you so perfectly...”
Emi childishly shrugged. “Yes, that surprised me as well. I never expected you to tell me in detail how I looked like. My clothes, my hair, even my eye colour ... maybe it was due to the forceful possession incident that day that your eyes were opened so good that you could see me. Then again, the world is mysterious. I don’t know all about life.”
“So, I guess the sleeping theory really worked, didn’t it? You are now free from me.”
Emi made a pondering face. “Yes ... as I said, it was because you were in a state of such relaxedness that even though you have control over your own body and in possession of your own muscles and limbs, that eased any form of restriction on me and I simply got out. There was no emotion or muscle control to hold me back from getting out.”
“So ... exactly when did you get out?” Ken stared at Emi, who was confused at why he made that look. “... I got out of you like ten minutes after you somehow woke up from your dreams and went back to sleep. You were chasing after something ... to be able to wake up in a brief shock like that. You got me frightened … what was it about?”
Ken sighed and hid his face in his palms. “... The greatest thing in the world to have ever appeared in the electronic market. But, it’s so expensive that I can’t afford it. Oh yeah.” Ken looked back up at Emi again. “So … why are you following me?”
Emi slowly looked back at him. “I want to see life in the more advanced south, that’s why. Compared to where I come from, you people are considered by us northerners to enjoy a luxurious lifestyle. I want to experience that. It’s like a dream to me.”
Ken felt more awkward. “Well, comparing my life to that of the President ... with that huge Republican Tower of his that is nearing completion ... how is it in the north?”
“We live in villages as well, but our homes are made of wood and chiseled stones. We do have heaters at home, but it’s like the whole family shares one big room or two. Everyone lives in a single storey house. We don’t have personal computers; only those found in school to teach us. We play wooden spinning tops and games like that, but there is no such thing as electronic games. We never get to go outside to the city before...”
Ken felt a little sympathetic for Emi and decided not to say anymore on the matter.
Some 6 kilometers northeast of Handao farming village, just outside the border of Shijun city was the sleepy but bright town of Chaoge. Just around the area where the aerotrain makes its stop in the sleepy town, there was Aogaya Private Academy. It is here that all three Kazuguchi children – obviously Ken himself, Ayumi and Ryushi, are educated.
“Here we are. That’s my school …” Ken pointed out as Emi looked on. The girl awed with admiration. “Wooow! That place looks amazing! 5 storeys high with a large field of grass and tall pole with nets! I’ve never seen anything like this! Ahh!”
Ken’s attention was attracted when she exclaimed. Apparently, some students who got off the aerotrain were staring at him because he seemed to be talking to mid-air. Ken twitched on his facial expressions and immediately ran down the stairs of the station. He left Emi without a word, heading for the school just across the street.
“Ah! Hey, Ken, wait for me!” Emi flew down the station towards the teen. As expected of a ghost, she floated through moving taxis and large trucks on the roads. “Taxis …”
“Hey, Ken! Wait for me!” Another voice called out to him. Ken turned his head to the right and so did Emi, just after catching up with him. A nerdish guy of same uniform as Ken, with round glasses and neat short black hair was running towards him.
“Oh, it’s Chesong Hoh.” Ken remarked as the nerdish guy approached him with much panting. “I told you before to call me just Hoh, Ken! Sheesh, you have a habit of calling everyone by their full names! It’s quite annoying, so you have to stop it! Hmph!”
Emi was in a pondering. “Ken, who is this person?” The teen made a throat gulp.
“This is ... Hoh. He’s my only close friend around here. Everyone tends to treat me as a stuck-up weirdo, but this fellow sticks with me thick and thin.” The bespectacled Hoh looked up at Ken. “Say, who were you talking to about me?” He looked around.
Ken was hit with a shock. “Oh darn it! I forgot! Emi is a ghost! Everyone except me can’t see her!” Those were his thoughts. The shushed-up teen made a queer body reaction and sighed hard. “... Never mind that, Hoh. Let’s just go to class. We might be late.”
They walked past the school grounds and up many staircases towards their classroom. Emi merely followed behind Ken and admired the large number of students in the school. “This ... this is all amazing! Back home there would be only about 20 people per grade! This school had hundreds!” Ken made a guilty laugh when he heard her comments.
One thing was bothering him – many people were staring at him as he walked by. Apparently, the incident where Ken took out some of the fiercest bullies in school by himself just on Saturday has spread to the ears of many. The teen merely remarked: “Bad things always come after me. I don’t need all this attention. Give me a break …”
Hoh and Ken are of the same grade 3 class A in the school. There were other classes ranging from B to J. The 5 bullies from the previous day were together in class 3-C and according to the student register thus far, all five of them were absent. Even students in 3-C knew when to turn their heads to Ken Kazuguchi. “I really hate the attention …”
“Alright, class is starting! A great day for school just after the holidays!” Hoh said.
Ken and Emi stared at Hoh making silly cheers. The teen was too lazy to comment and sat at his seat – the first row from the windows and second seat from the front. Emi was perplexed as to choosing where she was going to be. She had her eyes dizzying.
“Ahh! I can’t make up my mind!” While she moaned to herself just at Ken’s right, Hoh was walking down the lane to his own seat – also at the right side of Ken. Upon preparing to sit, he walked through Emi, which made him shudder with cold.
“Whoa! Something feels cold! What is that?” Hoh shrieked to himself. Understanding the situation very quickly, Emi herself freaked out and decided to stay behind Ken. The teen apparently also noticed that but didn’t bother to comment, preferring to stay quiet.
The class continued to make noise of chatter as the school bell rang at exactly 8 o’clock. Everyone began to walk back to their seats, continuing their chats when the class door was roughly pushed aside to greet the teacher. “Oh no! Mr Ahashi is here!”
“Settle down your mouths, you crazy animals! Class is starting and the last thing I want when I’m around is talking!!” The teacher bellowed his voice out and made everyone hush down with fear. Emi was frightened upon hearing the yell. “Who is this teacher!?”
“Good morning, class!!” He shouted at the lot and they in turn replied with a loud chorus of ‘Good morning, sir!’ The teacher was that of a tough figure full with confidence and strength, wearing white formal shirt, a tie and black pants. His hair was short and his facial expression was full of spite and hate. His eyes were most fierce and furious.
“Welcome back to school, you people! I hope you people had better not slack off time with laziness and too much rest and not doing all your homework! The national exams are around the corner and I hate to see anyone of you fail in my class of Science!”
Emi felt uncomfortable with the teacher yelling all the time and weakly asked Ken: “Um … who is this teacher ...?” Ken tried to answer her in low volume. “This is my Science and homeroom teacher, Sato Ahashi. Mr Ahashi is the fiercest teacher in the whole school and he’s always on my case ... for many years now …”
“ESPECIALLY YOU!” Ken was stunned upon seeing the fierce Mr Ahashi is front of him, yelling his head off. “I hope you performed better this time, mister Kazuguchi, because you do NOT talk while I’m around! Hmph!” He blew a nose snort.
“So! Word has it around in the teacher’s room that you have single-handedly beaten up 5 of our students in class 3-C!! That sounds like only a tough guy can pull that off! I suppose you think you are tough, eh, Kazuguchi? Messing around with everyone!?”
Ken weakly replied: “No ... sir. I was just ... defending myself. They started it.” Mr Ahashi made another fierce eye contact. “Well then, prepare to defend yourself from my failing grades, Kazuguchi, because I want to see your Science homework first! Bring them out this instant! I want to read them!!” Emi shivered behind Ken.
Ken handed out his stack of 3 books and Mr Ahashi merely swiped them off his hands. The teacher reviewed through the exercises he had done, and it only took him ten seconds to evaluate each exercise of a book. Then, his eyes appeared from behind Book 3.
“This is excellent work, mister Kazuguchi! You’ve done very well!” Mr Ahashi turned to the class of 33 students. “I expect you lot of maggots, with the exception of our very own mister Hoh here, to perform just as good as this pile of scrap I have here! Turn in your works now!!” Noises of people reaching for their books filled the class air.
As the teacher walked to his desk, Ken gave a small thumbs-up to Hoh. Bespectacled Hoh smiled widely as he got off his seat to hand in his work. “The tutoring did pay off. Good work, Ken. I’m proud of you.” He hurriedly said in a low volume.
Emi turned to Ken as she was curious what Hoh meant. “Well, Hoh is the top scorer is just about everything in my grade. Nobody, and I really mean nobody, has been able to beat him as far as I know. So naturally, when I want to perform better, I will ask him for some tutor lessons. I’m just an average performer actually ...”
“Mister Kazuguchi, do you have something to share with all of us here while you’re mumbling to yourself over there!?” Mr Ahashi shouted, at who all students looked.
Ken was slightly stunned again and he knew it was better to retreat than argue with the fierce man. “No, sir ... I’ll just shut up for now.” The teen sighed as he took out his pencil case amid the stares from the other students. “I’ll have to really shut up …”
Emi pouted behind him, and as the lesson just started with an announcement from Mr Ahashi, she left Ken to wander around the class. “Alright! For the next four classes, we will complete the final chapter of your syllabus – the various forms of energies being used around the world and the Republic! So pay attention! This chapter is very easy and I don’t want to see either of you dimwits fail in something like this!”
A disinterested Ken began to copy down notes from the teachings of Mr Ahashi who had listed down the forms of energy with white chalk on the blackboard. Hoh was able to stare at all the words and symbols jotted down – he’s a brilliant memorizer. That Hoh is what you can say as the defining trait of a genius student of the class.
Emi floated around the classroom just to pass some time. Due to lack of focus, she simply floated through many students, causing them to shiver cold in their spines. She even went to the extent of going through Mr Ahashi in the front of the class.
“Therefore, we shall now examine the properties, benefits and – urgh!” Mr Ahashi let out a short gulp from the moment Emi floated through him, causing him to pause from reading his book. The whole class glared at him – it as a rare reaction from him.
“Ahem. Pardon me. As I was saying –!!” Ken saw the whole thing and he gave a light chuckle that went unnoticed. Hoh could only be confused of the event. Finally, after lingering around for some time, Emi resigned to the fact that she wouldn’t be talking to Ken for the time being. “He has the national examinations to sit for later …”
“Urgh ...” She rested her head on the chair which Ken was using. “It’s so boring ... plus I’m a ghost ... I think I don’t really need to learn anything here ... I don’t take exams now ...” Her mumbling stopped as she laid there and waited for time to tick by.
For the first hour, there was Science and Mr Ahashi rambled on as he always did. The following hour, the subject taught was History, in which the teacher was going on about the final years of the Northland Civil War before the founding of the Republic 12 years ago. After that, it was Mathematics and Accounting subjects by their respective teachers.
“Yawn … bored …” Emi floated lazily at the class ceiling as the lessons went on. Although she listened on to the lessons occasionally, she was disappointed that she would experience nothing than boredom for the whole day. “What do I do …?”
It was lunch break. The school bell rang at 12.00 pm. “That’ll be all for today!” A teacher said as he prepared to leave the class. After a loud chorus of ‘Thank you, sir!’ students in 3-A class began to scramble for their lunch supplies and form groups of their kind.
Ken pulled his lunchbox out of his bag. “Say, Emi … you kept wandering about the class. Is it really that boring? Why not explore the school? You’re new here.” The ghost girl pondered at that. “True … but I’ll rather do all those with you, Ken.” She smiled at him.
“Exams and studies don’t really matter now to you, don’t they?” Emi frowned at that question. “Um … yes, it’s not necessary for me. I’m dead, been wandering the land for 6 months. But, I can pay attention too. When I was alive, I performed well in school.”
“Aha! It’s time for lunch!” Hoh uttered with joy as he revealed the contents of his lunch box. Ken grabbed a chair and sat with Hoh, as he also tucked in his lunch. Mother Saya had prepared rice balls, pieces of meat, some vegetable and mushrooms added with delicious soy gravy. The floating Emi returned back to Ken’s side.
On the bottom floor, school life was rife of activity. Many students prefer to get together in the school cafeteria as well, buying pricey food and drinks. Other sports people had gotten into sports attire to play a bit of football and badminton, but no basketball.
“Aw, come on!” Some students squalled at the school gym. “How come we still can’t play basketball!? It’s not fair!” A male student yelled. “Well … it’s because Mr Ahashi doesn’t allow us to use the gym so freely … unless we sign forms.” A female student said. “What!? I thought we talked to the principal on this!” “… He’s not Mr Ahashi.”
Emi said her prayers as she clapped her hand together and said “Thank you for the meal”. Ken stared back at her. “Emi, you’re a ghost. You can’t eat, can you?” The cheerful girl shook her head. “True, I don’t need to eat. But it doesn’t mean I can’t!”
She held her fingers onto Ken’s physical chopsticks, and there in her fingers was a set of ghostly chopsticks as well. The teen was stunned. “Wow! That’s amazing!”
“Who are you talking to, Ken?” The mere question from Hoh startled Ken and he nearly fell off the chair. “Ah … it’s nothing! I’m mumbling to myself again!” He quickly slurped on the noodles in his lunch box. Emi made a small giggle. “I’m so sorry …”
“Darn, I have to stop making myself look foolish in front of everyone! I have to find a way so that I can talk to Emi!” – Those were his exaggerations. About a few seconds later, while everyone was indulging in their lunches, two other students came in the class.
“Hey, everyone! I’m here!” Everyone at Hoh’s table turned their heads to the class door. “Aha! Bak, you’re here! And Maz too!” Hoh greeted out to the entering duo.
Bak was the frail boy Ken met earlier on Saturday in Shijun city. The boy of dark blue hair skipped with bits of joy into the class towards Hoh’s table. Maz was a teen with messy silver hair, an emotionless face and dark yellow eyes in Aoyaga uniforms.
Emi was quite shocked to see the two boys particularly. “Ah hah!?” There was something about Maz, though, that simply scared her off. Nonetheless, she toughened herself with a gulp and continued ‘eating’ out of Ken’s box of lunch. She gets to taste the food, but in the world of the living, the amount of food in Ken’s box had not changed at all.
“Ah … Matsuo Osada. Glad to see you around again.” Ken remarked lowly at the silver-haired teen, who had dragged an extra chair from his own class to sit together with Hoh’s group. “Likewise here … however, rest assured … that it was him who insisted on … dragging me along today.” Maz pointed at Bak, who was chewing down his food.
“What’s wrong with that?” Bak turned a confused look at Maz, who looked in the other direction. The frail and weak boy took away rice bits on his sides of the mouth. “Hoh has been my friend for some time now, and I’ve known you for years. I just want my friends to gather together, that’s all.” “I suppose … that’s not wrong … at all … I approve.”
Emi and Ken made simultaneous weak and guilty laughs at that remark. “I wonder what was that conversation all about?” The ghost girl bluntly said in her mind. “Oh well.”
Some time passed by as all five of them ate their lunch together. As Hoh picked up a piece of friend salmon from his box, he remembered something important. “Oh, Ken, that’s right. I have an important request for you.” Hoh slurped on some soy juice.
“I want to know who these two fellows are… Huh? What did Hoh say?” Emi remarked as she clasped her hands together once and was about to say ‘I’m done with the meal’.
“Hmm?” Ken had a piece of long meat being chewed in his mouth. “Whawazit?” He said as he chewed. Emi stared blankly and thought to herself: “He’s talking with his mouth full. I have to interfere on this…” Maz looked on, wiping his mouth of oil with a tissue.
“Yeap, a request. It’s about that. It’s finally here!” Hoh was excited and even wanted to jump in the air. Maz looked on with that neutral expression of his. “That? What do you mean … something special to you?” Hoh nodded quickly. “Yes, yes, yes!”
“That has arrived! Ken, remember what we talked about during the one-week National Holidays? Yeah, it’s that! Like I said, it’s here!” The brown-haired teen finally got the gist of his words. “Really!? Are you sure!? You have it!?”
Emi became more confused. “That? What is this all about?”
Continued in Chapter 4.
Notes: You can refer back to the Comic Arts Pages 2 and 13 for imagery of the Republican Tower. It took me three attempts to picture a nice clothing appearance for Emi ... and life at school starts with familiar faces! In fact, Emi’s uniform is actually a standard Japanese sailor uniform. There you go, Mr Ahashi as referred to in Chapter 1, the dreaded teacher of all. What could it be that Hoh wants Ken to do? Stay tuned.
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And thus, stay tuned for tomorrow! Thanks a lot!
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 9, 2009 1:41:37 GMT -5
I give to you, and rather hurriedly though, Chapter 4. Enjoy!
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This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter
Chapter 4: Souls to the City and Talk of Hoh
The Monday was 10th September, and another 3 more hours or so and it can be said that Emi has been with Ken for exactly 2 days. The duo are enjoying lunch during Ken’s break period with Hoh and an additional two students from another class – class 3-F.
“That has arrived, Ken! Care to join me as I go claim it from the post office?” Hoh made that surprising announcement during lunch. Emi was wondering what ‘it’ could be and just then, Ken rose up from his chair. “You mean, it!? That it!?”
“Yes, it is! It is the thing you most desired since it first came out in the market! I know it is too expensive for you to afford it, but luckily I had managed to buy among the very first units that were just flown in last month from overseas!” Hoh beamed proudly.
Emi felt really awkward of the situation. “What exactly is ... it?” Ken whispered: “The Ultrablast 450! The newest gaming console in the Republic market! Imagine the high definition images and quality sound effects like never before; it is the ultimate gaming experience!” Hoh felt like watching fireworks of joy exploding in a dark night.
“Oh oh!” Ken waved his hands like crazy. “Did you get the games as well!?” Hoh’s glasses shined with that reflected light of coolness. “I not only bought the game console for a ten percent discount, but I also got to choose 20 free games! 16 of which are based on the comic book series the publishing companies said will be published!”
In an instant, Emi, Bak and Maz were treated to a rare view of Ken and Hoh celebrating this so-called happy occasion by performing the duo buddy dance of joy.
“Hoh, you’re the best friend I could ever have!” Ken’s right hand grasped on tightly to Hoh’s own right palm. “Friends forever, Ken you good friend of mine!” If this was a show, one can see the duo in the spotlight on a dark theater stage and pouring confetti.
Emi hung her head down in disgust. “Boys ... and their Internet ... and video games ...” Bak clapped hands repeatedly for he too was joyful of the occasion. “Wowie, you guys are so good! The Ultrablast 450 gaming console is the hardest thing ever for someone like me to buy!” He sulked. “I wish I can play that console … I don’t have the money.”
On the other hand, Maz remained with his emotionless face. “Congratulations ... as expected of the heir of a wealthy noble family ... Chesong Hoh.” He looked on as Hoh and Ken shared their moment of glory with his neutral expression. “Sigh …”
Emi asked herself: “When will this stop? I feel better during the boredom of class...” The one hour lunch break was over, and classes resumed for another two hours. The first hour was Geography, whereby the teacher was starting on the last chapter, which was about the planet EraS’ orbit around its sun and the effects on weather around the world.
The last hour class of the day was Basics Language, the planet EraS’ universal language which originated from a foreign country south. Its teacher, Fukuo Sanada, henceforth known as Mr Sanada, was a kind yet rotund man, donning large formal shirts, a long blue striped tie, big waist pants, black shoes, mostly bald head and a small moustache.
“Ho ho.” Mr Sanada raised his tiny glasses. “Let us begin by analyzing the Basics paragraphs on your textbook page 324. Remember, think back on all the terms we had learned and how to translate between both Basics and Northlands. This is our revision.”
“You there.” He pointed at a random student. “Do for me the first big paragraph.” As the student rose from her seat and gave her try, Ken sighed. “Phew … glad I wasn’t called.”
Emi came by his left side and asked: “What’s wrong, Ken? Why are you sighing?” Ken sighed again and explained in a softer tone. “... Well, Basics language isn’t really my best subject, aside of Science.” He imagined the fierce and terror face of Mr Ahashi.
“You there, mister Kazuguchi.” Ken was stunned as he was called. “Perhaps you can do for us the second paragraph. You can continue from her, who has translated her paragraph perfectly.” The class laughed as Ken slowly rose to give it his best.
Emi and Hoh thought simultaneously with guilt: “Best of luck, Ken ... heh heh ...”
At last, the first day of school after the September one-week National Holidays was over. All teachers urged their classes to revise for the exams next month. Even the rough Mr Ahashi, who had the pleasure of dumping much homework on his class, did the same.
“Sigh … more paragraphs to translate. Way to go, Mr Sanada …” Ken moaned as he walked with Hoh outside the school gates. Emi floated alongside him with a partially worried face and a partially mad face. “Those exercises are for your own good, Ken.”
“You can’t help it. Just do your best. There’s no need to worry if it’s wrong. Learn your best.” Ken made a brief look at Emi. “I know that … gah.” “Ken, who are you talking to?” Once again, Hoh had noticed Ken talking in mid-air. “Me? Talking? To who?”
He hung his head down in embarrassment. “… I’m just talking to myself again.” They stopped at the traffic light and waited for their turns to cross the road of running cabs and large trucks. Emi felt sorry for Ken as he had to keep talking to her with everyone thinking he’s crazy, so at first, she wanted to stop talking until the day was over …
“Oh no!” Ken looked up with something in mind. “I forgot! My family wants me back at the farm in the afternoon after school is over! Even with all harvesting done yesterday while I was in the hospital, there’s a plot of land left to pick up all the autumn wheat and rice!” Hoh look troubled with that news. “You have to … go back home?”
Emi replied: “Then you know what you must do. Go back home.” Ken sighed. “… but I think I’d just accompany you for a while, Hoh! Let’s go retrieve that Ultrablast 450 console set first!” Ken spun like a ballerina around and around on the same spot.
Hoh smiled widely. “Thanks a lot, pal! I appreciate it! Let’s go to the post office now and collect it!” The ghost girl was aghast and so mad that she couldn’t retort back until later.
All three of them boarded the second of five hourly departures at the train station in front of Aoyaga Private Academy. It would take an estimated 5 to 7 minutes for them to reach their destination. Of course, during that time, there was some talking.
“I … I don’t believe you, Ken. Just what do you think you’re doing!? Don’t your family and the farmlands matter more than this … this thing you wanted most? Are you wasting your time on some meaningless object of affection!?” Emi was acting very fussy over the issue and made an exaggerated reaction to him. “Aw, come on … it’s only 15 minutes.”
She got angrier. “I don’t believe that! You’re more likely to spend hours of your precious time with your friend than even a measly minute with your own siblings and parents! Argh! If you were in my family!” Emi halted from talking any further and angrily folded her arms together, but still remained seated next to the brown-haired boy.
“Emi … just chill for a moment. You’ll like Shijun city, okay? You’ve never been to a city, before, right? Well, I think we are going into the deep areas of the city. There are of better sights than the suburbs where you and I first met.” Ken bluntly said.
Emi said nothing, and her angry expression mingled with that of worry and sadness as their journey continued on. “…” Hoh hummed to himself in his seat. Ken was slightly worried when he took notice of her expression and tried to cheer her up instead.
Knowing well that Emi always wanted to explore the city, he made a conversation with Hoh who was sitting in front of him. “Say … Hoh, see that hill over there?” He pointed out to a plain of grey and orange just beside a green landscape outside the city borders.
“Um … what is that orange patch of land there?” Ken asked. The bespectacled student raised his glasses to get a closer look. “Ken, that’s a cemetery.” He shivered cold from the answer. Emi bluntly replied in a dull mood: “I’m been there before, Ken. I’ve met spirits there and I had to stop a pack of rampaging idiots before they grabbed hold of me and could do something nasty. If you’re trying to cheer me up … it’s not working.”
Ken hung his head down in front of a confused Hoh. At the same time, the aerotrain made its halt in a local city station. The doors swung open and allowed the masses of passengers to exit onto the platforms. Hoh looked back at Ken. “You’re coming, right?” Ken was taken back to reality and looked back at Hoh. “Ah, sure. I’m coming.”
He got off his seat and followed Hoh down the staircases ahead of the station platforms. Emi merely tailed behind. “I ... I still think the family is more important ... but ... Ken has a right to do what he feels is right too ...” Emi mumbled to herself as she continued following Ken. “Am I possibly ... rather selfish? Am I ... dictating Ken what to do?”
Hoh led the way towards the city’s postal office center. Along the way, although Ken didn’t notice it, Emi easily floated through the common people walking by them and the end result was everyone experienced a cold spine and shivers. “Brrh!” “Eeep!”
“What was that!?” “Eww, so cold!” “Brrrh! Yeesh!” Those were the comments. Hoh turned his head back briefly and saw a moody Ken. “Hmm ... if you want a sight-seeing tour, I’d be happy to give you one. Well, based on those I know ... anyway!”
“That building over there ...” He pointed to a rather impressive modern building of blue glass windows and grey colour scheme behind several short office lots. “It’s the Provincial Governor’s office. Kind of high isn’t it? Just for a department …”
“And the building just beside it; white and grey with carved stone dragon statues at its four corners and the national flag at its rooftop – that’s the Provincial Party Secretary’s office. They balance out each other in equal for state affairs of Chuhongyun Province.”
Ken nodded as Emi looked on. “Hey, you guys!” The duo looked at Hoh, who was already at the end of the street at a cross junction road, waving to them amid the crowd of people. “The post office is just across the street!” “How did he run so fast …?”
The post office was a remarkable site. It had fountains on the left and right of its front porch and many stone statue carvings to decorate its walls. Its design was that of a mixture of tradition and modernism. The reception halls inside were lit dimly red all over, had brown marble floors, green pillars and yellow lamps.
“Woow...” Emi awed at the surroundings. She looked on as a large yellow truck embarked at a receiving end; a giant crane appeared from inside that end’s warehouse and whisked away a giant container. Ken and Hoh walked to the reception counter.
“Oh, what we have here?” The male receptionist took Hoh’s notification card and checked on his computer. Ken looked around to find some people only present – those leaving the place, carrying their goods. “This is location of your package, mister Hoh.”
The trio arrived in the warehouse itself to find shelves and cabinets 3 floors-high holding many boxes in their place. Lifters and cranes were always on the move, as though they work non-stop. Hoh handed over another claiming slip to the clerk-in-charge registered the data on her computer and had a lifter bring the package over.
“The Ultrablast 450 .... I finally have it!” Hoh wriggled his finger in joy upon seeing the lifter place down a brown cardboard box of 3 foot height in front of him. He even let out a line of drool from his mouth. “I spent a lot of time and cash waiting for you to come, and now you’re here!” Emi felt awkward at Hoh again. “Boys and their video games ...”
Apparently, as much as Hoh tried to lift it, he simply couldn’t. Ken couldn’t help to just watch, so he intervened. “Eh, Hoh ... are you sure you don’t need some help?” The bespectacled boy was clearly struggling from his attempt to lift the cardboard box.
“No no! I’m fine! I don’t want to burden you! I can do this! I know I caaan! ARGH!”
Hoh fell over the box onto the floor, and perhaps due to the pressure he laid onto it, the box turned over and fell flat on his chest. Although this event was strange, one should note that the box was really heavy and could cause injuries. “Ah! Help! Help me!”
Hoh was helpless like a turtle that was flipped over upside down. “It’s heavy! Help!” Ken rushed over to assist and so did the female clerk. “I told you that you’ll need help to do this! There’s no way a guy like you can carry something like this! Being so weak …”
As Ken tried to lift the box himself, Emi was left there to watch. “... Wonders never cease to appear to me. I’m sorry, Hoh ... if I had a body, my strength would suffice to help you.” Emi’s anger was gone. The clerk-in-charge merely drank his cup of coffee.
After the short episode at the post office warehouse, Hoh embarrassingly allowed Ken to carry the box with the Ultrablast 450 unit inside. It was during this journey to Hoh’s home that Emi sensed that Ken began to have doubts about him coming here to the city for a gaming console. Emi and Ken soon arrived at a 65-storey apartment.
“This is where Hoh lives!? It’s amazing!” Emi glared at the heights in awe.
Hoh’s family owns a luxury penthouse at that very apartment and he lived there since he was a young kid. It was one of the only buildings towering over the rest of Shijun city. Of course, this was nothing compared to the famed Core City skyscrapers.
They found themselves at the entrance of Hoh’s home after exiting the elevator. Hoh led them through the direction to his own room as the duo awed on the extravagance of the whole house. Upon entering his large room, the first thing that greeted Ken was a study at the far end of the room, a bed to left and a widescreen TV to his right.
Hoh was beaming with pride. “Ha hah! Alright, Ken! Let’s get cracking on this thing! ... Ken, what’s wrong?” It was silence as Hoh and Emi watched Ken stare at the marble floor without saying any word. Unexpectedly, he looked up hesitantly to Hoh.
“Hoh ... I agreed to come with you to retrieve the Ultrablast unit with you. I’m not playing the games with you today. ... My family needs me back at the fields. So, after I’m done fixing this console to your widescreen TV, I’m leaving. I hope you’ll understand.” Hoh had a face of disappointment and sadness all over himself.
Emi was filled with sudden flow of joy in her heart and great relief upon hearing that. “Oh, Ken!” Hoh then brought himself back together and nodded in agreement.
The ghost girl didn’t spend her time surveying around the luxury penthouse; rather she was more focused on watching Ken assemble the Ultrablast 450 unit to Hoh’s personal TV in his room. After some ten to fifteen minutes, everything was done.
“I guess ... I’ll talk to you tomorrow about when we can arrange a date so we can enjoy playing the video games together. See you later, Ken.” He slowly waved his hand as he watched Ken leave his front door into the elevator. Fortunately, the teen knew how to get back to his own home at the farmlands, so he didn’t get lost.
The teen expectedly got home late; just nearly an hour after school had ended. Before changing into better clothes to help father Ajima out in his farmland, he got a stern talk from mother Saya about wasting time. “No more wasting time, understand!?”
Ken hung his head down in shame. “Yes, mum …” Luckily for him and everyone, his ramblings in the garage led to him repairing the family harvest tractor in 30 minutes and that helped his father and sister collect all the ripe wheat and rice grains.
“Phew!” Ken wiped away a trickle of sweat on his forehead. “Wow, it sure is cold! I’m glad I’m wearing some thick clothes ... anyway, all that’s done. We’ve obtained all the harvest and we’re ready to go planting the seeds of winter wheat.”
Father Ajima smiled at him. “See? This would have been done earlier on Saturday if you hadn’t skipped duty.” The son hung his head down in shame as the father drove his tractor to the shed. Soon after, he joined the whole family in enjoying a nice dinner.
He laid down on his bed in fresh pyjamas after a warm shower. Emi floated through his entrance door and found him there. “Great work, Ken! I watched you out there the whole time. You have gotten rid of delaying this burden on your back.” She settled on Ken’s study chair while he didn’t reply back, continued staring at the ceiling.
“Say, Emi …” Ken muttered. “Hm? What is it, Ken?” She looked back at him. “You remember back at Shijun city? When we looked at the cemetery? How was life for you when you were wandering? You’re pretty brave for wander about by yourself.”
“Oh … thank you.” Emi played with her fingers. “Well … basically, it was utter lack of direction. I ran into bad spirits, evil ones and rarely, but still there were some, demons, but I managed myself fine.” Ken was stunned to hear that and sat up immediately.
“Demons? Evil spirits? What’s all that?” He scratched his head at her. “Huh? You’ve never heard of demons or evil spirits before? You’re from a farming community and you don’t know about your local folklores or something?!” Emi stared back at him. “I … I think I heard of them before … but I just don’t remember …” Ken shrugged.
“Urgh …” The ghost girl sighed. “Anyway … as you know, our world is divided into two kinds of people – good and bad. When they pass on, the good people would live as saints and the like, whereas bad people … anyone who is so absorbed into bad deeds and evil, gradually over time, they turn into evil spirits, demons and even into devils.”
Ken took a while to realize things right. “Evil people … I see … wait, there’s a lot of those things like you lingering around the place!?” “Do I look evil to you, Ken?! Well … anyway, yes, there are lots like me wandering the lands as well … evil ones too.”
“Wow …” The teen shivered on thought of that. “Bad ghosts wandering out there … how come I’ve never seen one before?” Emi shrugged. “It’s the same as me … when I was alive, I never saw one before. When I died, I somehow saw them … crawling all over.”
“Darn … the world is much messier than I thought …” The ghost girl merely looked blankly back at him and sighed. “It’s a big world out there, Ken Kazuguchi … there are a lot of things we don’t know …” The room briefly turned silent, neither talking.
“Ghosts … demons … intriguing.” Ken stared at his ceiling. “It’s like a comic book that comes to life.” Emi nearly fell over her seat. “No! … It’s more like those comic books of yours are based on real-life things! Comic books … urgh …” She hissed back at him.
“... I wonder how the skies look at this time of the night.” The clock ticked 8.25 p.m sharp. Emi looked up, only asking “Huh?” as to what he meant. Unexpectedly, he jumped out of bed and dashed past his sliding door. He stepped on the balcony fences and leaped onto the roof just above him. The girl was shocked. “Ah!?”
“Hey, what are you doing!? You can’t just climb up the rooftop! You might get hurt!” Emi floated upwards through Ken’s room ceiling, past the dirty pipes and dust and cobwebs under the house roof and thus out into the open air. Ken was already settling himself nicely on the ceramic tiles and stared upwards to the heavens.
“Ah … the stars sure are beautiful tonight.” Emi also looked up to the skies and Ken was right; in this autumn season, there were countless glowing stars in outer space of different light magnitudes. It was a sight to remember for anyone. “So many of them …”
Emi pouted a little. “I guess it’ll be safe to stay up here for just a while…” She in turn laid herself on the ceramic tiles close to the teen. “Look at that star just next to the crescent moon … it’s not even half moon and yet, it is just so bright. I love it …”
Ken chuckled. “Yeah, it’s beautiful … like the one in my dreams … which suddenly turned into an Ultrablast 450 unit.” A split second later, Emi was floating above him. She was positioned in mid-air, but she was looking madly at him from behind. “Aha!”
“So that’s what it was! In your dreams last night! You were all screaming and fidgety running because you were chasing that thing in your dreamland!” She exclaimed.
Ken made a guilty smile. “Yeah … that’s right. That was the clearest, most well-remembered dream I ever had. Me chasing the most desired thing in my life for now … the Ultrablast 450. I feel like dancing whenever I mention that wonderful name…”
Emi looked at him with some disgust. “ … You are creeping me out, Ken. Boys and their video games ... I just don’t understand you lot. I’ve seen many people in this province’s northern suburbs playing video games … sheesh … what’s with that obsession?”
“Uh …” He didn’t know what to say. Emi then sat down next to Ken and looked away in another direction. The teen sighed and continued to look at the half moon. “You know, Emi, I’m rather thankful that you managed to drag me out of Hoh’s place today.”
His sentence got her attention. “What do you mean, Ken?” She asked, and he moved his legs a little. “Well … I felt bad so … I’ve been thinking about it … when we were going to Hoh’s … right until I finally made a firm decision to simply install Hoh’s console.”
“You helped me to remember again that family counts. I had a rather bad history with my family till recently … around 6 months ago. I don’t want to repeat again the previous times of arguments and anger … Thanks, Emi. I appreciate it.” The teen smiled.
The girl blushed lightly. “It’s no problem …” Ken continued. “In fact, I sympathize with Hoh actually. I just learned that today after the thinking. I can’t take him for granted anymore.” The girl became confused. “Are you saying that Hoh’s not what he is now?”
The teen boy made a small wink towards the girl. “You want to know his story?” Emi Takahiro became happy and excited once again. “Please do tell! I’d love to hear it! I enjoy learning of others and getting along with them!” She turned herself towards the direction of Ken and enthusiastically waited for the story to be told.
Ken clasped his hands together and also turned to the front of the girl. “Okay then.” “Hoh and I have been friends for many years now, since junior school first grade…”
Eight years ago, the surroundings of the Aoyaga Private Academy was quite different from its present state. There was more open free land and not many taxis running on the roads. As the bells rang on the first day of school, a crowd of students in white shirts and blue pants and skirts ran into their classes, guided by their parents.
The teacher was yet to arrive and in the class of 28 students, it was noisy with wails and cheers. It was the junior school Grade 1 class A. A black-haired boy with small glasses sat on his desk, sighing. “Mum … dad … why are you guys not here?” He asked.
Little Hoh glanced around: the parents were happy looking at their younglings mingle among each other. He was alone and his parents weren’t there. “Sigh …” A brown-haired boy spotted him sigh and approached his desk: “Hi! I’m Ken Kazuguchi!”
The young bespectacled boy glanced upward. “Hi ... erhm, I’m Chesong Hoh.”
“You look lonely.” Little Hoh nodded at little Ken. “Yeah … my parents are not here on my first day in school … and I don’t know who to talk with.” Little Ken looked around.
“Want to be friends then?” The little Ken smiled widely and reached out a hand to little Hoh. Little Hoh’s eyes glittered with some drop of happiness. “Are you sure? We can?” “Why not?!” Little Ken asked with a sharp tone of curiosity. “What’s that mean!?”
Little Hoh was initially silent. “ … You’re not going to laugh at my glasses? Like the other boys and girls? They called me ‘funny eyes’ and ‘nerd king’ … I … don’t know how else to mix …” Little Ken was a little mad. “That’s ridiculous! I’ll be your friend!”
The boy stretched his right open hand to little Hoh. “Really? You mean it?” “My mum tells me to watch out for who are good and bad! I think you’re a good person … and I believe you should have a friend!” Little Hoh was touched by that declaration.
“Alright, we’ll be friends from today onwards! Forever and ever!” The duo smiled. Back in the present, Emi awed with admiration for the tale of the past. “Wow...”
Ken sighed. “That was how things turned out, right till this day. Hoh and I have been friends for 8 years now. We’ve always been close together, no matter what. Along the way, I guess I kind of gotten used to him too much that I forgot that friendship cannot be taken for granted. It can be lost and formed. But, long term ones really matter.”
“When I was 12, I found out that Hoh is the heir of a family of the past feudal societies. The Hoh family is one of those noble families that made fortune of trading and speculation in the markets. They’ve been doing that for centuries. Hoh is very rich.”
Emi made her own thoughts of the issue. “Is Hoh is ... lonely until now?” Ken placed his arms behind his head. “I guess you can say that noble families are a cut above common people. Due to that kind of discriminatory perception, it’s hard for anyone on both sides to make friends. It’s possible to form friendships, but they’re very rare.”
“I learned that after observing Hoh’s family for some time. His parents rarely spend time with him.” Emi was stunned. “That kind of practice ... is unacceptable where I come from. Family not spending time together!” Ken sat up and looked at the crescent moon.
“You are from a poor family where everyone spends time together, like I am, so I don’t blame you, Emi. Hoh has been living without his parents most of his life, and he only sees them once a year at a family reunion. His penthouse home has servants and maids alright, but I’m not sure if they are able to provide the love a mother and father can.”
Emi’s eyes glittered with astonishment. “His situation is that bad ...?” Ken nodded. “Yeah ... and it’s thanks to you that I learned how precious friendships are. Hoh cannot be taken granted anymore ... he’s a great pal … I’m not going to let that incident repeat again.”
“That incident ... Ken?” The teen refused to speak anymore of the subject and ruffled his hair. “Eh … I’ll rather not talk about it … it was because of that incident that I had a bad history with my family … until 6 months ago.” Emi tilted her head left and right.
“Well, if Ken doesn’t want me to talk about it, then I shan’t!” She proudly said. “Such wonderful stars …” In her heart, she was so happy for Ken – simply because he was one to care for all those he cherished. They remained on the roof, not talking for some time.
Meanwhile, far away from the Kazuguchi household, a young person was also admiring the beautiful stars in the skies. He gently dropped his slashing whip on the grasslands and smiled. “Uh?” He took notice of an incoming light breeze which eventually graced him. “What’s that?” He asked and stopped his speech. The wind blew some more.
“Oh …” The teenage farmer exhaled lightly and got up from his sitting position on a large boulder close to his house. He adjusted his straw hat with his right hand and dusted his clothes. “I guess things will be interesting around here. Perfect.”
“Emi Takahiro is her name, eh?” He clenched his left fist in his right palm. “She will definitely on I should keep an eye on, along with the boy. Pretty soon, they are going to be useful to me...” He smiled to himself, revealing a sharp canine tooth.
“Brrh!” The ghost girl suddenly shivered. “Huh? What’s wrong, Emi?” Ken turned to her. “Star-gazing got to you badly?” “Uhm … no, Ken … it’s nothing, really.”
Continued in Chapter 5.
Notes: Ultrablast 450 ... it’s kind of like your Nintendo Wii and the PlayStation 3 together. Heh heh. I want to play it too! Video games … I’m making fun of that old perception that only boys play video games here. My first memory flashback! Canine teeth are what vampires are famous for. We do have that teeth, and that’s the real name. Plus … keep in mind of this information about bad people and evil spirits and demons for future knowledge. What’s this? Emi is being targeted too!?
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A bit of past, and more mysterious people. What will happen next to this unlikely duo? Stay tuned for Chapter 5!
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 9, 2009 22:55:39 GMT -5
Today, it is the turn of Chapter 5 to appear. Enjoy the next set of solutions.
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This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter
Chapter 5: Souls Settle a Fight Amazingly
The duo of Emi and Ken were perched on top of the Kazuguchi house roof. The majestic sky full of glittering stars made nice scenery for the two of them being alone. Ken had just finished his story telling about Hoh to the ghost girl. “And that’s how it was.”
“That’s you alright, Ken. A sweet person in heart ...” Emi resigned to a wide smile and sat next to him. Ken was cool with her leaning on him; given the sentimental story he just told, he didn’t mind. He was pretty mature in a way to accept that stance of hers.
“Wow … you’re pretty warm, Emi.” Ken felt soothed on the inside as he continued to feel the warmness of her ghostly body. That feeling had also brought to his mind’s attention some important questions he should have pondered on earlier. “Wait … this is strange.” The sudden comment made Emi curious and stopped leaning on him.
“Why do I feel you as … so warm? Hoh somehow walked through you, and you even flew through Mr Ahashi today, and both of them felt cold and shivered like they’re in a frozen lake! Why is it like this?” Ken rubbed his temples. Emi frowned at him.
“I don’t know myself … maybe we can dig into this and also find out why I am also feeling you as warm all over.” Ken was slightly surprised by her declaration.
“Eh … I’m warm to you?” The girl nodded lightly at the bewildered teen. “Gulp … you’re making me scared, Ken … don’t you dare try to scare me. Am I cursed but only you are immune to it!?” She became increasingly fidgety as she thought more about it.
Ken tried to calm her down. “Um … let’s not jump to conclusions so fast. Hmm … how to think of this … Aha, you see those 3 people down there?” Emi turned her head over and saw that just in front of the Kazuguchi household, there was an old farmer pulling his cart of straw, a youngster walking to her left and an old lady sitting on the soil-road side.
“Yes?” She turned to the teen. “Why don’t you try flying through their bodies? See if they also feel you as being cold?” The ghost girl was naturally shocked at him. “Are you serious?! What if I could inflict any kind of injury on them!? That’s absurd!”
Ken shook his head lightly. “I don’t think they’re be injured, Emi; don’t overreact, okay? The most they could only feel, I think, is sudden chillness on their body. I don’t think they can even see you, so you should be fine. Well, if all goes well to theory …” Emi reluctantly agreed to do so. She flew up in the air before diving herself down to the ground and easily passed through all of them. She witnessed the reactions one by one.
“Eeyaah! What was that? Why is it so cold?” The farmer mumbled with a cracked voice. “Whoa, I’m itchy! Itchy all over!” The youngster scratched himself on the arms and legs. “Yeaow!” The old lady tumbled on her back and spilled some dirt on her clothes.
Emi flew back to Ken’s side. “Are you happy now? … So, what do you think of that?”
Ken rubbed his chin. “We can’t solve this by ourselves … maybe this is more to do with why we are in particular different compared to the rest. You need to be analyzed.” The ghost girl made a sad look. “So how are we going to solve … me, since I’m a ghost?”
“Aha.” Ken snapped his fingers. “Maybe we can get help from the western altars. When I was young, my family would go once a year or so to west of Handao to offer incense at the altars. You get the idea. Worship of ancestors. Fortune telling by the priests. Douse of holy water. I can put up a cover for you, say that I am having some troubles.”
Emi stared bluntly. “I don’t like that idea … are you forgetting that I’m a ghost and that just maybe your douse of water only has effects on the living? … Ken? Hello?”
“Ken, come down here! I need you to do something for me!” Mother Saya has called out to him from the backyard. Ken grunted and stood up. “Well, I have to go now. Anyway, I’ll try to arrange a time so we can go together tomorrow afternoon. See you!”
The teen jumped down from the roof onto his balcony and entered his room. After a firm shutting of the sliding door, Emi just returned back to her doubtful self and sighed. “That Ken ... I think he wasn’t listening to me … I have doubts on all this …”
She sighed again to herself and floated downwards into Ken’s room and began to nag him further about anything she felt wasn’t satisfactory. All the way until his bedtime.
The following day – 11th September a Tuesday. Ken was back as a normal student preparing for the workload of school in Chaoge town, after a good night’s sleep. Emi Takahiro remained by his side wherever he went, except for the boy’s washroom.
He proceeded through the 4 subjects of the day without any trouble occurring, and it was rather smooth too. They were Science, Northlands Language, Advanced Mathematics and Basics Language. However, ‘trouble’ here is only defined as Ken not being called by Mr Sanada to translate some texts from Basics to Northlands through the one hour.
“Lunch time!” Ken exclaimed as the bell rang. Mr Sanada exited the class and every student was now scrambling to form their own groups to eat lunch with. Ken had the usual Hoh, and the relatively-new Emi, with him. “Aha! Rice balls and meat and fish!”
Ken chomped into his lunch with big mouthfuls. Even Hoh glared at him with his jaws down as the brown-haired teen gobbled down his lunch. Emi hid her face under her palms. The presence of two other people stopped him from eating further.
“Well, well, bum. Eating like a pig, aren’t you?” Ken recognized that voice. Turns out it was Bak, only he was strangely different from his chirpy self. “Don’t you have manners somewhere in that head of yours when it comes to eating?” Bak continued. “OW!”
He was quickly smacked on the head, jerking his head forth a little, by the accompanying Maz. “Quiet, Ree… you have no right to … criticize others when you … are rude too.” Maz retained his cold and emotionless self. Emi continued to stare at him as though something was disturbing about him, as the silver-haired boy sat beside Hoh.
“Urgh …” Bak, or at least he is, rubbed the back of his head. “What was that for, you jerk!? You could have at least asked me to simmer down, not slap me on the head!” In a split second, Maz reached out his right arm and pulled hard on Bak’s hair to his back. “Arghh! Cut it out! Let go of me! Urgh! Alright already!” ‘Bak’ cried out in disgust.
Bak was brought down to his own chair in utter defeat. “Like I said, quiet … just sit and eat your food.” Bak made an angry sulk and retreated to his own lunch box. The silver-haired teen looked up to find Hoh and Ken staring at him, and so was Emi beside Ken.
“… What was that all about?” Ken asked as Bak chewed on his salmon meat. Maz replied: “You may not know this, Ken Kazuguchi … but Bak has this … issue with his self … occasionally, his other selves would surface … out of nowhere in his place.”
To Ken’s surprise, Hoh continued: “This person here is not the Bak we know. This is Ree. Sohwang Ree. He’s a more aggressive side of Bak and loves to pick on fights.” Ken swallowed his food before asking a question. “Hoh … how did you know … this?”
Hoh beamed: “Buddy, Maz and I have known each other for two years. Maz on the other hand knows Bak better than I do. I’ve known Ree for about 8 months now, and it seems to me that you had never seen him before. But that’s okay. Now you do.” Hoh looked at Ken stare at the personality called Ree, who ate his food under grunts and anger.
Ken hit realization. “I know you! You’re the one who made that smirky face to me just that Saturday in Shijun city!” He recalled that shortly after he was to part from Bak after knocking him down on the streets, Bak suddenly spat rudely at him.
Ree looked back a little. “… Took you long enough to recognize me.” His voice was that of mostly fear and stubborn anger, probably due to the fact that Maz may slap him on the head again if he acted rudely. Maz showed no reaction to that event. Emi grunted.
“Well then … without further delay … I’ll eat first. Thank you for the meal …” Maz clapped his hands once and picked up his chopsticks. Just then, the class door slammed open and entered five recognizable people. “Kazuguchi!!” One of them shouted.
Ken was in shock upon hearing that. “Oh, great. It’s those five bullies from 3-C.”
The whole class was shocked to see the five terrible students enter. Hoh looked on with fear like the rest of the class, whereas Maz stared on like himself, emotionlessly. Ree was not interested at all and continued slurping the last strands of noodle in his box.
“Well, well! You have a lot of nerve landing us in trouble the other day! And it’s payback time!” Bully One, the burly leader, pounded his fists together and spat at the boy. The other students around dared not interfere for fear of provoking any trouble.
Hoh stood up to confront them. “Hey, don’t just come making trouble in our classroom! If you don’t leave now, I’m going to report to Mr Ahashi – AH! What the!?”
Bullies Two and Three came forth and shoved Hoh aside. “Back off! We’re not talking to you! You’re not the one who beat us up and had those metal police give us a one night’s stay in prison before we were released!” Half the class shivered. “Reploid cops …”
The Reploid police – feared for the past 3 years as they are given powers to publicly humiliate or assault any kind of offenders, where found contrary to law. Ken stared angrily at Bully One and in turn, stood up. “Fine … what do you want?”
“As I said earlier, payback! Today at the empty grounds just away from school at 3 o’clock! Or else!” Bullies Four and Five grabbed Hoh from where he was pushed aside earlier and threatened Ken with a pocket knife to stab Hoh’s arm. “Ah!” Emi gasped.
“Leave Hoh out of this!!” Ken yelled. Instantly, the knife was an inch to Hoh’s right arm. The hostage teen dared not do anything, and he was shaking in fear all over from that. “Help …” The whole class retreated a little from where they confronted.
Emi was very infuriated with their actions. “These useless people!! They sure could use more thrashing from me again!” She hissed violently. Maz and Ree could only watch the development of this situation. Neither decided to intervene and assist Ken.
“Fine, I’ll be there! Give me back Hoh now!” Bully One smiled nastily and gave a hint back at Bullies Four and Five, who then threw Hoh back at the teen. Ken held Hoh up just in the nick of time, or else he would collapse on the floor under Hoh’s weight.
“We expect you to fulfill your word, Kazuguchi!” All five of them laughed as they exited the classroom, leaving everyone to look back at Ken. “Oh, I’ll be there. Definitely.” Emi was shocked. “No, you deserve better than this, Ken! Don’t do this to yourself!”
It was Ree’s turn to speak: “… You need some help, chump?” All Emi, Ken and Hoh turned to the rowdy personality. Ree had a considerably mean expression on his face, but his offer of assistance had a tone of goodness in it. “You can’t survive this, you know.”
“For once … I agree with Ree.” All four of them looked at the emotionless Maz. “They deliberately set the fight after school to avoid disciplinary action … Ken, you will need Ree … to be with you … resist them … or else, this will be … a bloodbath for you.”
Ken vehemently refused their help. “I’ll deal with them alone. This fighting has to stop. The only way to do that, and to stop them from picking on anyone again, is to give in to them. They won’t have the satisfaction of beating me up after that. It’s always like that.”
Emi had no comment as she bent her head down, thus her eyes could not be seen. Hoh was trembling from what happened just now. The class atmosphere was very bad.
Class continued on as usual when the lunch break was over. Sooner than Ken thought, the school bell rang at 3 o’clock sharp. School was over and students alike are getting ready to leave for home. Ken sighed as he packed his schoolbag. “Sigh … bullies …”
“Ken …” Emi wanted to say something before he got up and got out of the class. Hoh looked around the class to see that no one was left behind, and he switched off the lights before locking the doors. “Ken, I’m coming with you!” He suddenly said.
Hoh attracted both Emi’s and Ken’s attention from the sudden burst. All three of them were just outside the classroom corridors. “You got into trouble ... because of me... I was there and they took me hostage because of you ... they nearly stabbed me in the arm! I can’t just stand here and watch you get beaten up!” Ken grunted at his protest.
“I disagree. I cannot afford you to be picked on again, Hoh.” The teen turned his back on Hoh, who was trembling behind, and walked down the corridors to the staircases. The bespectacled boy slowly fell on his knees to the floor and shivered with fear.
Out of nowhere, Maz suddenly appeared just beside Hoh, waving his silver hair aside. “Quite a friend … you have there, Hoh ... thinks he can settle … everything by himself.” Hoh trembled as he said: “I can’t leave Ken alone ... what should I do, Maz?”
Maz sighed and remarked: “Ree is gone … now Bak is back in control of his body … he couldn’t do much now … the only thing we can do is ... alert the outside police … since incidences outside of school … are handled by them ... we have no time to waste.”
Hoh hit realization and tried his best to stand up. “You’re right ... let’s do this before he gets hurt. Come on, we have to go!” Maz barely smiled and merely followed Hoh run as he attempted to reach the nearest police station and report this incident.
Sometime later, at a small field surrounded by wooden fences and those of brick, the five bullies are waiting for Ken. Some spat repeatedly on the grass, others clenched their fists. At the entrance in front of them, a shadow of a person appeared in front of them. It was Ken Kazuguchi, sporting his firm and tough-looking face.
“There you are!” Bully One shouted as he smiled nastily. “It’s time to get this over with and receive your dues for constantly being our eye sore!” The teen looked up to the burly student about 35 feet away from him and asked: “Why do you insist on doing this?”
Bully Three had a smug face on. “What are you talking about, snothead!? You landed us in trouble; you think we’d let you get away with it!? What are you – looking down on us!? You despicable little twerp!! You had this coming!!” Bully Three charged forward, attempting to wrestle Ken down, but in the speed of light … a miracle happened.
“Urrggh!!” Ken apparently wrestled the bully down with fists from behind; twisting his arms to the back and stepping hard on his calf muscles. The teen pulled even harder, stretching the bully’s arms backwards. “ARGHH!!” He shouted out in pain.
“From now on, I’ll attack anyone who attacks me first. Since you started first, I might as well deal with you first. This time ... I won’t hold back, compared to Saturday’s fight.” Ken twisted his arm to the maximum angle, making Bully Three scream like crazy.
Bully One felt disgusted and threatened by the counterattack. “Why you punk! Don’t you dare go all arrogant with me! Get him!!” Bullies Two, Four and Five jumped forward, attempting to subdue Ken. That point onward, nearby people were attracted to watch.
“RAAAH!” Ken punched all three bullies with very fast clenched fists on their chests. Once again, those were no ordinary fist attacks. It was one gathered with much strength, and without fail, he stunned all three of them with an extra round of hard blows that pushed them all backwards and collapsed to the ground. “AAH!” “That hurts …”
“Bah.” Ken spat some saliva on the soil. “Is this all you’ve got? Oh well, might as well end this quick. With a group of losers like you, this shouldn’t be too hard.” He turned to the cowardly Bully Three and likewise threw him off to the ground’s corner. “AH!”
The crowd awed. “Wow!” “He countered on three simultaneously!” “Didn’t they attack him first?” “No fair! Three on one is no good!” “You go, kid!” “Defend yourself!”
Bully One felt really threatened. “You! You don’t scare me!” Bully One got off the stack of cinder blocks he was sitting on and grabbed a 5 foot-long piece of timber wood from behind. “I’m not like the others who’d simply deal with you! I learn from the past!”
Passersby gasped. “No way! He’ll be killed!” The crowd retreated slightly to the back. “HAAHH!!” Bully One yelled as he swung his timber piece to hit Ken. “Oh, come on. I’ve dealt with worse threats than this!” Ken swiftly dodged every move made.
When the timber piece was really close to him, he swiftly swung under or beside the timber piece, evading it safely into another direction. Ken would sometimes block off the timber coming at him by lodging a fist into Bully One’s chest. These were repeated on.
“How long do you want to dodge, Kazuguchi!? Show me what you’ve got!!” Bully One taunted as he made another heavy swing with the lumber. “Gah!” Ken gasped as the lumber nearly hit his face. “Aha! I’ve got you!” Bullies Two to Five were all too afraid to intervene or assist their leader – there was heavy, thick lumber. “You’re dead, puny!!”
Ken darted a sharp look at Bully One. “Oh? Are you sure?” Clenching his right fist hard, he surged his right arm forward towards the center of the opposite end of the timber where Bully One held his firm grasp on and punched it. “Have this!! GRAAAAH!!”
In a split second, it was done. Ken had finished landing a hard punch on the timber’s flat end. Bully One remained agitated. For the continuing 4 seconds, nothing had occurred. Bully One regained his self-confidence and taunted back at Ken. “Hah! That didn’t do anything at all! You’ve only hurt yourself!” On the contrary, Ken was calm.
“Are you sure?” Ken immediately knife-hand-struck the timber’s trunk and it instantly broke into thousands of medium-sized pieces. Bully One was aghast. Someone had the strength to break strong timber into weak feeble pieces. The crowd was also shocked.
“What … this is …” Bully One’s eyes shook with much fear and he fell on his bottom on the grass. “No ... impossible ... no one could be that strong ...” Ken ignored the whimpers and looked at the red marks on his knuckles. “Hurts a bit, since I’ve not practised for so long, but it was worth it.” The teen remarked and turned on to the Bully One.
“I’ve just turned a large timber to thousands of wood fragments. Imagine what I can do to your bones with the same strength I used.” He mildly stared at Bully One. Apparently, the other bullies witnessed the act itself and they too were scared out of their wits. “I guess our business is done then. Don’t come and pick on Kazuguchi anymore.”
Bully One was too frightened and could only nodded repeatedly. Just then, Maz, Hoh and several human cops arrived at the scene. Hoh was stunned at the sight of wood fragments and five scared bullies. Above all, there was Ken who was barely injured.
Hoh asked: “What … just happened?” Several human cops tended to the shivering bullies, leading them out to the open space for perhaps better treatment. Due to the looks of the situation, it is more likely that the cops will not be arresting anyone, accounting to the fact that Maz and Hoh told them of a possible bully ambush onto Ken.
“Ah … hiya, Hoh. I’m just fine … I told you I could deal with them alone. You didn’t need to be so worried.” Ken merely smiled at Hoh and sighed. “Well, if you don’t mind, I think I’d be going back home now. The family farmlands need tending to.”
“Um ... uh...” Hoh could find nothing to comment on. He gazed on as Ken walked away back to school, where the train station was located. Maz continued to stare on at Ken in a cold manner and emotionless state. “Hmm … interesting … very interesting.”
Some 15 minutes later, the brown-haired teen made it home safely. He greeted Grandpa Ojiro who was half asleep on the chair in front of the TV in the living room and thus skipped upstairs to his room. Oddly, he decided to lock the room door.
“Huh … that went well, don’t you think so … Ken?” The entity dropped the body on Ken’s bed and sighed. Then, the real Ken replied. “It went better than I thought, Emi. That was neatly done. I don’t think you’ll be able to scare them off just like that. But ... ow … I feel the pain on my knuckles … still, that was an amazing punch.”
Ken took back control of his body and laid on his bed with his back. “Ah … there.”
Apparently, back in school, when Ken had stepped onto the staircases connecting the Grade 3 classes to the main foyer, Emi was so frustrated at Ken that she eventually darted and decided to possess him. “Argh!! Feeling dizzy ... urgh ... what is this!?”
“Hey, Ken! Are you alright!?” A soft Bak appeared from the lower part of the staircase. He rushed upward, his dark blue hair waving at the same time, to check on Ken. “Hey, hang in there! What’s happening to you?” For the coming few seconds or so …
Ah! Ken! Don’t struggle with me! The more you struggle, the more tired you’ll be and the more headaches you’ll experience! Listen to me, Ken! I haven’t said this to you since lunch break, but the way you are dealing with those bullies is wrong! Let me handle it!
“Urgh, what … do you … mean?” Ken mumbled as Bak sought to hold him properly. “Hey, come on! Don’t lose yourself, Ken!” Emi continued to talk in his head …
Ken, you cannot let those bullies do whatever they want to you! I can tell that even if you allow yourself to be punched and kicked and anything like that, they are more likely to come back and beat you up to their endless satisfaction! What were you thinking!?
“Yeah ... that was it. I was hoping ... psychologically, they’ll be bored … and they wouldn’t come back then on.” Bak was so confused; he let Ken go from his grasp to soothe the headache in his own head. “Too confusing … no idea …!” Due to his frail nature, he ended up rolling on the cement floor while trying to soothe his own headache.
Emi snapped back at him: By the looks of them, I think not! Listen, if you want to stop them from bullying you, at the very least you should make a stand for yourself! Be tough up to them! Teach them a lesson they will never forget! Make them learn they are not the kings around here! They shouldn’t think that they are above the law!
“What do … you propose then!?” Ken was less fidgeting than before, but the pain was still there. Listen, just watch and leave everything to me! I am proud of you standing up to defend and protect Hoh; that’s why now I want to help defend and protect you as well! Isn’t that what good friends do – they stand up for each other, right!?
Ken stopped fidgeting and stood still; hands still pressing on his head’s temples. “Alright … fine, I give. What do you want me to do?” Inwardly, Emi smiled.
Thank you, Ken ... for listening to me. Now, I want you to relax. Relax and let me use your body. By relaxing yourself, you are giving me more room to fit in and less pounding pressure. It is that physical pressure of your muscles that is preventing me from helping you and how you are getting those headaches now. Just relax and let me in.
For the coming seconds, Ken did his best to relax and before he knew it, Emi had gotten used to his body and fitted in just nicely. She raised his left arm and clenched into a fist.
“Thank you, Ken ... now, just leave everything to me. You will not regret it.” She said.
From that point on, Emi had control of Ken’s body all the way till his own room. The boy sighed and got up from his bed. “Ah ... now that’s settled, too bad we have to wait until tomorrow morning for you to be free. In the meantime, bear with me as I perform my chores and homework that Mr Ahashi gave me.” He reached for his schoolbag.
Why, of course, Ken. She then laid back and watch everything from his eyes.
Just as the both of them predicted, after a good night’s sleep, Emi found herself let loose from the muscular grip of Ken’s body. It seemed that she was able to break free from him about 70 minutes after Ken tossed himself on bed. She felt very relieved.
“Thank goodness ... or else I’ll be in the bathroom with Ken again...” She shivered on mere thoughts of the past and then settled to sitting on his study table the whole night.
It was a brand new day – 12th September a Wednesday. Emi waited for Ken to descend to the living room since he was dressing himself. She smiled to herself, as she was going somewhere interesting later in the day. She was going to the western altars. The teen rushed down the stairs from his room. “There you are! Hurry up!”
The both of them caught a surprisingly early aerotrain ride to school at 7.24 in the morning. Ken landed himself in some trouble, as Mr Ahashi was on his back for being unable to answer some questions on the board, which earned him light laughter from the class. He had also heard the matter whereby the five bullies challenged Ken to a fight, or else Hoh would have been scarred heavily on his arm the previous day.
“Umm … I can’t wait to go to the western altars you speak of! I earlier had doubts of this plan of yours to go to the place to solve my problem of giving everyone chills, but for some reason, I feel I can get through this well!” Emi squealed during lunch break. Her defeat of the five bullies still had a positive effect on her mindset today.
“Yeah, yeah … we’ll be there, alright? Just … be patient, okay?” Ken went back to eating his food, not before realizing that Hoh was staring at him. “Ken, you’re talking to yourself … or to the air?” The three of them shared Hoh’s table this time.
Emi looked around. “Bak and Maz are nowhere here today …” Ken grumbled under his breath and calmly replied: “Yeah … talking to the air … a lot of things have been on my mind lately … besides the national exams … never mind.” He ignored Hoh from then on.
Apparently, word had gotten around quickly about the fight, and thus, one can easily spot Bully One and his minions being easily freaked out whenever Ken made eye contact with them. One stare did it all. It was from this and the story of the fight that Mr Ahashi, the strict discipline teacher, decided to punish no one, since he assumed that the bullies were already scared out of their wits to not want to do anything provocative in the future.
“Phew … school is over.” Ken remarked as the bell rang and students began to leave for home sweet home. While lifting his school bag on his shoulders, Hoh approached him. “Say, Ken, are you free for today? We can go to my house and play that Ultrablast 450! Well, it’s not a weekend, but still! Come on, let’s go!” Emi sighed heavily.
Ken nearly drooled on the thought of the Ultrablast 450, but quickly shook his head in disagreement. “Um … uh … no, no. I need to go west for today, to the altars.” Hoh literally jumped on the thought of offering prayers to the deities at such late timing, far from the orthodox practice of Northland tradition. “Are you sure about that?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure. See you next time then.” The teen got off his seat, leaving a disappointed and sad Hoh walking alone. Walking down the corridors to the main foyer, he met up with Maz and Bak and then stopped at the traffic light before parting ways.
After he waved a smiling and waving Bak and the usually-emotionless Maz a goodbye, he turned to Emi, who was constantly touching his left shoulder. She suddenly remarked: “Hm! You nearly broke your promise for that video game machine again! I’m really quite disappointed in you, Ken! Your sense of concentration is so easily broken!”
The teen made a guilty face as he walked opposite of school to the aerotrain station.
Continued in Chapter 6.
Notes: Remember Handao, Chaoge and Shijun at all times, please. Aha, a new entity named Sohwang Ree. Remember, regardless who Bak is, he still has his same physical looks – no change. Refer back to Chapter 1 – it was Ree was sneered on Ken in Shijun city. Eh … though it was short, I hope you enjoyed a battle with Emi’s martial arts skills. A visit to the altars ... why does Emi have doubts in the beginning?
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Darn, the solutions will only have to come later. Stay tuned for new characters in Chapter 6!
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 11, 2009 4:52:58 GMT -5
Today, you shall have Chapter 6. Two more chapters to Chapter 9!
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This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter
Chapter 6: The Temple Pray and Soul’s Solutions
“Well, here we are. The western altars.” Emi awed at the entrance alone, for its wooden doors were held by carved store columns, of which there was a roof decorated with images of the various deities of Northland culture. Ken led the way amongst the light crowd of people wanting to offer prayers. “This place is kind of like back home …”
After embarking from the aerotrain some 25 kilometers west of Shijun city to a suburb town, which took about 14 minutes, it was time to begin searching for some answers and solutions at their target destination. “Hm … where should we start?” Ken pondered.
“Ah! Everything here is exactly as it was back home!” Emi admired some 30 people praying at a shaded snake deity statue and putting their smoking joss-sticks in the ash vessel. Visitors donated into boxes and rang on bells, held by the many bronze deity statues. “It brings back good memories of mine …” Emi sighed with happiness.
She spun herself round and round in a clockwise manner while following Ken at the same time. While Ken was thinking of a way to approach the officers of the altars to solve the issue of Emi’s cold aura, the ghost girl unintentionally floated through many ordinary walking on the grounds. “Ah! Cold!” “Argh! So cold!” “What is this feeling!?”
The teen heard the yells of shivering people and turned around, only to find Emi in the middle of daydreaming and swimming around in mid-air when he turned around. His eyes widened with shock and he hissed furiously, trying to call Emi back to his side.
“Emi! Hey, Emi! EMI! Come back, Emi! EMI TAKAHIRO! Come back here!” The ghost girl heard his whispers through gritted teeth and looked around. “Ah!? Oh no! I did it again! Ooh, forgive me, Ken!” Her face blushed red with embarrassment and guilt.
She instantly flew away from the moaning crowd and hid from them, behind Ken’s front body. “Oh ... I’m so sorry, Ken … I’ll never do it again …” Ken sighed. “Yeah, yeah, whatever ... let’s get going … perhaps we can meet some of the monks in the place … or maybe an expert priest … let’s see how they can help us solve … solve you.”
He shook his shoulders to adjust his school bag and moved on. The altar grounds were inhabited by people who were devoted to attaining enlightenment, hereby known as monks, and all affairs are governed by a council of leading monks, known as priests. According to the established government hierarchy, the high priest of each altar ground or religious site is directly responsible to the Office of the National Shaman.
Emi continued to hold on tightly to Ken’s shoulders, making sure that she remained by his side closely. “Ah, the main temple …” She remarked as Ken took off his school shoes on the temple staircases, placed them there and walked upward to the entrance.
Inside, red wooden pillars donned the support of the whole place. Golden dragons and various other designs were carved onto them all. The walls were donned with carvings depicting ponds, fish and bamboo trees. There were placed around 35 different deities, with the most important deity down the hall and by far the largest.
“Firstly, I am going to offer some prayers to the deities, Emi. You don’t mind, do you?” He turned to the ghost girl who in turn smiled. “It’s alright. I understand.” The place runs mainly on donations and all cash transactions usually go to the temple coffers.
“Alright, here we go.” Ken paid a mere 50 cents for 5 joss-sticks and burnt their tips with a given lighter as he walked to the main deity. He made 5 bows before the main deity on the floor before proceeding to the ash vessels to place his burning joss-sticks.
Amongst the crowd, red-robed monks can be seen walking and chanting holy scriptures. Ken rubbed his chin. “How would I approach these guys on solving Emi’s problem?”
At the same time, at one corner of the altar of which no one was paying attention to, a robed figure was playing with his necklace beads and looking on. “Yes … that’s the one! The target is here! The same disturbance is also here! I must meet with him!”
Ken frowned as he tried to think of a way to approach Emi’s problem to the spiritual authorities. “Oh, darn … Emi’s right. Even if I ask them to help me, how is that going to help Emi as well? I can’t just burst out saying that there’s a ghost with me…”
A sudden palm grasp on the right shoulder shocked him, making him jump. “Yikes!” He turned around and amongst the slow-moving crowd, there was that same red-robed monk earlier who was playing with his necklace beads. He was bald, has three-by-three dots on his head, had a bit of moustache, round sullen cheeks and brown eyes.
“You there, young man. You seem troubled. What exactly is it that irks you?” The monk spoke with a soft tone of a loud voice. Ken fidgeted a little from his sudden appearance.
Emi, being near to him, was slightly stunned to see that bald monk. “Oh dear … I’m having those doubts again … it might be bad to come here … I don’t like this at all …” Ken tried to speak. “Um … uh, I …” The monk stopped him from speaking any further.
“Ah ah. Say no more. I know what it is that troubles you! You may not know it, but I can feel and sense things about people like you. I can sense their troubles, and as it is a duty of an altar priest, I shall help you solve your problem!” The priest smiled.
Ken glanced sideways to look at Emi. “Uh … give him a try?” She said. The priest said: “You see, there is this source of coldness behind you, and it is troubling your mind!”
Ken was surprised. “Oh! You’re a priest! My humblest greetings!” The teen quickly gave a short bow while Emi stared on nervously. The priest smiled. “I am Priest Jiahui Zhang, but, please call me Priest Jia. Please follow me as we attempt to solve your problem.”
The teen merely nodded and followed the lead of the priest. Emi followed suit and made a comment to herself: “I think Ken will call him by his full name or simply Jia …” The duo walked along the path of Jia, out of the altar, towards a hostel area for all monks and priests. Jia wordlessly opened the grand door leading to the guest hall of the hostel.
Lights were switched on, revealing the wooden floors, walls and ceilings but no deity statues were in sight. In fact, the room was pretty empty, save for a nearby stack of cushions for sitting. Several doors led to the hostel rooms, one to the dining room and one to the walkway corridor. Jia coughed slightly and began to speak.
“Strange, this cold sensation is still behind you. Do you not feel that eerie feeling tightly lingering behind your back?” Jia coughed again and brought out a yellow bronze vessel containing water in it and a brush-like sprinkler from a drawer in a nearby cupboard.
Ken made no comment. “Uh.” He then made a surprising bow and said: “Please, sir. If this problem is really as terrible as you say, please cleanse me with your water from the wellspring of holiness; the one which you are holding.” That made Jia nearly jump in the air; hands still holding on the vessel of water. “Oh my!” He was utterly surprised.
“I understand your request, my dear boy, but I am quite worrying that you do not understand the significance of this holy water! THIS holy water in particular! Should I sprinkle this water on you, there are responsibilities and obligations for you to comply!”
Ken raised his head. “I don’t understand what you mean. This is not the usual water?” “Oh, my dear boy, this is not the usual holy water that we priests distribute to the common people! That holy water is made by us monks, whereas THIS one comes from a very respected source! This water comes from the National Shaman!”
Emi was surprised. “National Shaman? What is that?” She wondered and wanted to float around. Apparently, Jia had sensed Emi’s movements and cried: “Oh! The source of coldness has begun to shift! This could be disastrous! You must be healed immediately!”
She was immensely scared and retreated back to her original location. Due to the fear as well as immense uncertainty in her, she felt like wanting to cry. “…” Emi was greatly troubled; she couldn’t even cry. Ken saw her and decided to hasten things. “Please, sir. You seem to know well the things at hand. Please heal me with that water.”
Jia frowned and initially hesitated, but replied in the end: “… You see, this holy water has a great value of divinity in it. Because of this, I would normally have to ask the Head Priest for permission to even use a drop of it! But … here … alright, here I go.”
Jia stirred the brush-like sprinkler in the vessel of holy water and furiously sprinkled the water. Ken then felt the rain of droplets touch onto him, and he miraculously felt very relieved and warm on the inside. Due to Jia’s mixed reactions to the ‘source of coldness’, he decided to sprinkle some of the water further to Emi’s location. “Let’s see.”
“Ah!? What is this!?” Emi shrieked as the water droplets flew through her ghostly body. She then saw her own aura of light being mixed with dull and bright light. Seconds later, it was as though the dull shades of her light solidified into pieces and then, they were dissipated by a strong radiant light of pure white. “Ah!!” She shrieked again.
Her last cry it was, as her own ghostly body emanated bright light of aura. Similarly, the droplets of water that touched Ken vaporized whatever negative elements on his body and he himself was glowing in radiant aura. Emi was amazed. “Wow … this is …”
Jia could not see, but he could only feel the great warmth emitted from both Emi and Ken. “Oh … the source of coldness has dissipated … and transformed into something hot. This is most interesting. But what could it be? Why is it still here? Is this beyond the scriptures? No! No, it can’t be! The scriptures must be right!” He thought inwardly.
In Ken’s eyes, Emi was in sight, as well as the bright radiant aura of her whole body. Ken silently thought to himself: “Alright! Just as I hoped for! The holy water was able to solve this problem! Now, Emi is … she is … marvelous!” Just suddenly, she responded.
“Thank you for that compliment, Ken.” Ken was shocked. “What was that!?” Jia was confused on Ken’s reaction. “My dear friend, what is wrong?” Ken was lying down on the floor out of sudden shock. Seconds later, he returned back to the real world.
“Erhm ... erh … no, it’s nothing. I was ... daydreaming off on my own. Nothing to worry about. Thanks very much for your help.” Ken immediately gave Priest Jia a quick bow and decided to leave the guest room of the monk hostel. “Ah!” Emi gave a short exclaim before tailing behind him. That was, of course, after she also gave the priest a short bow out of respect. Jia was left there wondering to himself over his new-found curiosity.
The teen, as he was leaving, entered the main temple altar and gave the main deity quick bows. As it is held the duty of a common person in his or her conscience, he went over to the donation box and gave away 30 EraSean dollars. He then left the grounds.
“Well, that’s done. Apparently the holy water from the National Shaman, or so he said, did the trick. Now, you’re healed.” Ken commented as Emi playfully floated around the train platform through many people, and they all felt warm and fresh.
“Oh my. This warmth is refreshing.” An old lady commented while fixing her glasses. An elderly businessman gave himself a small laugh. “Ho ho ho! The energy I feel ... it makes me feel so confident ... I feel so alive! I feel like tap dancing!” He indeed made tap dancing moves to himself while other people around were having similar experiences.
“It’s a miracle come true!” Emi rejoiced in front of Ken. “I’m no longer giving people chills and I can’t believe this is how warm I should be! Thanks very much once again, Ken! I really am in your debt! Though I’m not sure how I can pay it back ...”
Ken smiled, just as the aerotrain arrived. “You’re welcome. Come on, let’s go home; mum just called earlier on my cell phone and said to help dad and Ayumi continue sowing the winter wheat seeds on the soil. And you know how big the fields are …” The aerotrain doors closed behind him as he walked to get a seat.
After some 20 minutes, Ken Kazuguchi reached back home. The first odd thing to greet him at the home gate is Grandpa Ojiro, being able to wave his hand in madness despite struggling to hold his walking cane more stably. He seemed quite angry.
“You stupid grandson of mine! Where have you been after school?! Your father and sister need you in the lands! Don’t you dare tell me you hate me dancing to that military music and run away, and then you’ll end up in the hospital just like last Saturday!”
Emi was mildly surprised on that claim. Ken stared back. “Erhm … what do you mean, Grandpa? The one-week National Holidays for the Day of the Republic is already over, and I don’t think they’ll be playing that military music again on radio.”
Grandpa Ojiro pointed his cane towards Ken, shocking him. “That’s what I meant! And that is why this time, you have no good reason to slack on your duties to protecting and nurturing the family lands we have for generations now! Get back to work!!”
Ken groaned. “Alright, alright. I’m going to change clothes and settle myself first ...”
After a quick hot shower, Ken wore some warm clothes and easily approached the sudden breeze of chilling wind outside his house. Emi followed behind him and felt the wind blow through her ghostly body. Her eyes then registered something familiar.
“Ken ... what ... what is that ... that you are holding? Something ... green and rectangle ...” She nervously pointed out to a green object which he held on his right hand. That green rectangle was wrapped up in plastic sheets. She was unusually afraid and nervous of it.
“This thing?” Ken held the object up, which scared her to retreat backwards a little. “It’s a sheet of seaweed. This one’s from the northern oceans, and definitely tastes much better than the ones from the south. Why? What’s wrong?” Emi shook some more.
“I hate seaweed! My family ... they are farmers too. Mum and my sibling would go to the fields, harvest and plant crops of rice, wheat and everything else. Dad is a fisherman … who would bring back fish, shrimps and crabs. But of all things, he brings back seaweed the most! Every time, it’s 5 big sacks of seaweed compared to a sack of fish or prawns!”
Ken stared back mildly as he walked towards the family plot of land. “So … your point?”
“He would force us all to eat them! Everyone enjoys them – the people in the market, my whole family – but I felt most disgusted even by its mere taste! Slimy, sticky, slimy, green and slimy! Slimy! Keep it away from me!” Emi reacted with exaggeration.
Ken ripped the plastic sheet away and ate the whole seaweed sheet in one go. “If you say so ... but they’re really good.” Emi childishly stuck out her tongue at Ken. “Say what you want! As long as I don’t touch that thing or even taste it! Good enough for me!”
On the fields, sister Ayumi was sweating herself out with constant lifting of heavy sacks of seeds left over from the last harvest. Little brother Ryushi, sporting thick black boots and gloves, played with the wet barren soil and even dug out a long pink earthworm.
“Ryushi! Be careful with what you’re holding! Don’t try to even eat it!” Ken gave the little boy a warning, just in case anything like that would ever happen. Ayumi glared back with contempt and sarcasm whereas father Ajima only laughed sportingly.
“Ha ha ha. You’ve got wild imagination, boy. Come on and dig up the soil.” “... Older brother has weird thoughts, if you ask me.” Ayumi sarcastically commented.
Ken took up a hoe from his father’s side and began to gnaw onto the soil. In order to loosen the soil so that more air penetrates the land and nutrient absorption is at maximum, Ken hoed onto the same spot a least 7 times. He continued on and on, on the same lane of soil for the next several hundred meters behind him.
“I’m sorry, son.” Ajima remarked with closed eyes and a short smile. “The tractor broke down again, so I’m having a mechanic come over and see if there’s anything else wrong with that thing. Hoeing the land will have to do for now.”
Ken sighed and continued hoeing the soil. Emi felt sorry for him and tried to approach him. “Ken ... if it’s okay with you, I’ll take over and help you. I am very used to this kind of work when I was alive, and you know very well how my strength is, so ...”
Not surprisingly, the teen roughly shook his head at her while piercing the hoe in hard soil. “Nah, this is something I must do as part of the family. Even if I want to let you do it, everyone else will be angry. They can tell, Emi. I don’t work that fast, you know.”
Emi was a little disappointed and decided to about the vast empty fields. She witnessed her surroundings. “Amazing ... there’s many tractors and fewer marshes, compared to home ...” Some crows flew in the sky, cawing loudly from east to west. “Ka caw!”
Then, she heard a loud clanking sound. Apparently, Ken had struck his hoe with a large hard rock in the soil. “Hmm ...” Ken mumbled as he dropped his hoe and examined it. Using his fingertips, he felt the rock’s surface and frowned some more.
“Hm, this seems like a large one. I can dig it out with the hoe, but disposing of it may be trouble. How come I never noticed this before? ... I’m going to get a wheelbarrow. I wonder where dad put it anyway?” Those were Ken’s thoughts of the matter. He scratched his head and pondered. The same miracle in the western altars repeated …
“I saw the wheelbarrow, Ken. Your father placed it near the shed of yours at the back.” Ken was again shocked with her reply, in turn also giving Emi a fright. “Gah! Emi, what was that!? … Wait a minute! You did it again! First was the compliment back in the altar grounds, now it is as though you just heard my thoughts!” He fell down.
Emi was slightly confused. “Oh? Probably you didn’t know this, but I have heard every thought of yours since the day we first met. Well, except for times where I have to possess and use your body. I chose to reply back to you because I have your answers.”
She smiled as Ken lied on the soil with shock. “Then, this means I don’t have to speak out loud to you in the public! All I have to do is just think or talk inside my own head! The communication problem is solved! Amazing, two solutions in one day!”
Ayumi stared blankly as she watched her brother suddenly hoeing the soil with great determination and strength. “I don’t even want to know what made him so inspired.”
Some 2 hours later, everyone decided best to halt work for the day. Ayumi needed to get down with some homework whereas father Ajima wanted to tend to mother Saya in the kitchen. Ken went upstairs to his room and settled down on prioritizing the workload from school for the day. Then, Emi thought of something. “Aha!”
She repeatedly tapped on his shoulder. “Um … Ken? Mind if I ask – who exactly is this National Shaman? I … I have never heard of it before, and whatever it is, that holy water was immensely powerful to solve my problems.” She played with her fingers.
Ken turned around after sorting some books together. Emi was sitting on his bed, lightly shaking her legs. “Oh. Okay …” Ken rested both arms on the back of his study chair. “Let’s see … we learnt this thing about the government in History somewhere in July … ah! I remember now! Ahem!” Ken initially gave a stylish cough to clear his voice.
“There are not many details, but apparently, this office was created when the Republic was founded 12 years ago. The office’s main job is to regulate all laws and solve issues regarding the family, moral and religious affairs in the whole country.”
Emi nodded to his words. “It’s responsible for ordaining and recognizing all kinds of priests and, rumour is, also mediums capable of being trustworthy. To some extent, the office also advises the Premier on many government affairs where needed.”
She awed with admiration. “Wow … someone overseeing everything …” Ken shrugged his shoulders. “We are never taught who the leader is; we don’t even know any names. Our textbooks describe the office as a collective council. Then again, I don’t know … because some of the laws proposed to the country are signed off with the name of the office itself. No hint to any real person’s name. There’s nothing else to it too.”
Emi nodded slowly to all the new information. Ken frowned. “I guess you didn’t learn all this … you … were already dead 3 months before this was taught in History class.”
She hung her head down with what it seemed as shame. “I … I’m sorry.” Ken shook his head with a smile. “Don’t mention it. I’m fine with answering what you need.” The teen got off his chair and decided to lay down on his bed for a rest. “I think I’ll start with my … revision … later …” He mumbled to himself, tossed, turned and became still.
The ghost girl hit realization. “He’s asleep so fast? Wow, if Ken was in my family … my family … mum … dad … I miss you all … I wonder how you all are …” Just then, she heard loud steps coming up the staircase. “Big bro! Big bro! Time for dinner!”
Emi remarked: “It’s Ken little brother … Ryushi.” What he said next shocked her.
“Big bro, sister Ayumi says it’s time to come down and eat dinner now! She’s warning you not to sleep now, otherwise, mum will be really angry and she’d throw you off the bed! For real this time! Or even worse!” Emi was utterly aghast upon hearing that and was thrown into a state of self-panic. She was all fidgety.
“Oh no! Ken’s going to be in trouble! Ken, wake up! Wake up! You don’t want to be in trouble! Come on, Ken, wake up!” She tried to wake him by shaking him, but alas, she forgot for the brief moment there that she was a ghost and she couldn’t possibly wake a physical body up, unless … that was the only way.
Emi blushed heavily red with a guilty look. “Ohh!! Forgive me, Ken!!” Emi dived into Ken’s body in an instant and attempted to move him up herself. “Come on! Come on! Move before Ryushi finds out! Move, you lazy body of Ken!” She cried to herself.
Instantly, the body jerked upwards, throwing itself to its right and crashed onto Ken’s wardrobe cupboard. The sudden jolt shook up Ken from his state of sleepiness and he experienced the pain of falling down on the floor. “OW!! What the!? Ouch!”
The door was abruptly opened, with Ryushi slightly panting from the running. “Big brother! It’s dinner time! Come on, we’re having fried eggs with mixed onions! Quickly come before sister and mum come upstairs to flip you off the bed!”
Ken stared blankly. “Ah ... sure. Coming. I’ll be right down. Ow ... my head hurts.” Ryushi walked away as the teen examined himself. “What did I just do?” He looked around. Emi fist mustered up the courage to reveal her location and then …
Ken, forgive me! I had to wake you; I really had to! Your younger brother was warning that your mother would throw you off the bed if you didn’t go down for dinner quickly! And ... and ... AAH! It was all so confusing! I didn’t want you to be hurt or anything like that! Please forgive me! Emi cried in his head. Ken exhaled rather calmly.
“Emi ... it’s okay. Don’t worry, I’m sure that the most my mum will do is just splash a bucket of water on my face. She did it about a year ago too; said that warning and really splashed a bucket of water on me.” Ken stood up and walked to his door.
“But, thanks for waking me up, Emi. Otherwise I would be splashed with a bucket of water again.” Emi was left dumbfounded. Um ... I guess I should say thank you ...
After that, she never uttered a word and watched as Ken fed himself during the family dinner. He played a small card game with Grandpa Ojiro and not surprisingly, the old man won; he helped mother Saya clean the floors with a wet mop; he even spared some time playing with younger brother Ryushi a traditional Northland game.
“Urgh ... it’s 10.20 pm already? I shouldn’t have played with Ryushi just now... that game of smarts and strategy really took up my time ... I’m glad I’ve done all my work ...” Ken slumped himself on his bed after a quick tooth-brushing. “Why do I feel so tired every day? Urgh … I don’t know if I can succeed in the national exams like this ...”
All was silent. Only the heater was running, breathing heat into the room to keep it ever warm and comfortable. The lights in his room remained switched on and the door to his own bathroom was left open. Surely enough, he began to fall into his deep sleep.
... What ... is this? The sudden drop of pressure onto me ... could this be!? Two seconds later, Emi found herself rising out of Ken’s body, and it looked like she was using her own hands to push against the bed on which Ken was sleeping to rise up.
“Ah!” She exclaimed and levitated in the air. “I’m ... free! Already free! I think Ken will love this! Ken, wake up! WAKE UP! THIS IS IMPORTANT!” Her loud shouts again forcibly woke the poor teen out of his sleep and caused him to roll over to his right, falling down on the floor again. “ARGH! ... urgh ... what’s going on now!?”
His vision gradually became better and registered a girl of purple hair on the other side of the room. “Emi ... is that you!?” “Surprise, Ken!” Emi spread her arms far and wide. “You’ve done it again! Thank you so much!” She smiled and chuckled at the same time.
“You’ve allowed yourself to fall into deep sleep at such a fast pace, all of your bodily and mental pressure on me disappeared so rapidly and poof! I could break free in a snap!” Ken was bewildered. “Wow ... I didn’t know I can do that just by being so tired.”
“I was surprised as well, but the moment I got out, I had thought of an idea! I propose a solution whereby you don’t have to wait for yourself to sleep in order to release me! You can even do it while you’re awake! You’re a lucky fellow, Ken! You solved three spiritual problems today alone!” Ken fidgetly got on his bed.
“Eh ... sure.” He ruffled his messy brown hair. “So ... what is this proposal?” The ghost girl only smiled and chuckled back at him. Ken frowned instead. “Eh … I don’t like the looks of that … whatever it is. It’s going to involve using my limbs again, isn’t it?”
Meanwhile, back in the western altars, the priest Jia was mumbling to himself in his room. “There’s no doubt about it … that young boy earlier today … he has a ghost with him … why is it following him?” He clenched his hand. “Hm … that face is familiar.”
“Wait … I remember him … I’ve been to his school before … yes, a confrontation with him is imminent. I shall leave first thing in the morning after the morning prayers!” The priest tucked comfortably in the warm bed, seeking shelter against the cold air.
In yet another faraway place, a cloaked figure slammed his hands on a long desk before that same hideous deity statue. “Minion.” He said, and a ghoulish entity stepped forth. “You called, my lord?” “Yes … get ready the largest available demon not set into a patrol division. It’s time to begin a ritual by tomorrow … it’s about the boy and the girl.”
The entity, henceforth termed as the minion ghoul, saluted his boss. “Yes, my lord! But … the boy and the girl, my lord?” Wordlessly, the cloaked figure waved his large sleeves and hands up in the air and conjured glowing screens of Ken and Emi’s faces there.
“Boy …” He pointed at Ken. “… and girl.” He pointed at Emi. “A demon came reporting to me … how these two somehow cooperated … fought a couple of human bullies. Isn’t it interesting … how two complete strangers work together at all odds?”
He turned to his minion ghoul. “Get the demon ready. Bring me status reports on our ally acquisitions as soon as possible!” “Yes, my lord!” The minion ghoul vanished in thin air.
Continued in Chapter 7.
Notes: I hope this chapter is fine, as I feel things are not so eventful, but those which are really important as the story’s solid foundations. So, they found solutions to Ken’s problems, which is good in a way. Refer back to Chapter 2 for the bald priest – the priest Jia! Also in Chapter 2 – this mysterious cloaked figure has had a demon report to him on Emi possessing Ken to fight off the five bullies. Stay tuned for the next chapter.
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That's all for now. Any inquiries please ask.
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 12, 2009 0:32:41 GMT -5
One more chapter to go ... and here's Chapter 7 first. Enjoy. Well ... I know I might be posting all these too fast, but I just wish to be back on schedule.
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This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter
Chapter 7: Souls and the Bothersome People
Ken was on the way to solving his third spiritual problem, which is finding a way to release Emi from his body without the need to sleep. The other two problems were Emi giving everyone chills and the living-dead communication issues, which were solved.
“Alright, what’s your proposal?” He asked. “I need you to practise relaxing yourself every day, so that you can get used to me. There are bound to be situations where you’ll need me in defense during a possible fight. The odds are low now, given those five bullies in school are already scared off their wits to even approach you, but who knows!”
Emi pointed to herself. “If all goes well, you don’t even have to wait for me to come out of your body. A simple relaxation and I’ll be free and you won’t be bothered by my presence. All this may be troublesome, but think of it in the long term benefits.”
“Long term benefits, huh?” Ken folded his legs and arms and sought to think the whole thing over. “Hmm … I don’t know …” His thoughts were this: “Actually, I’ll rather wait for night to come than even spend minutes doing something that doesn’t work …”
Emi fumed. “I heard that, Ken! Remember that spirits can hear what humans think!” Ken was shocked as she moved forward and gave him a smirked face of anger. “Ah … oh, right … sorry, I forgot there briefly. Well …” He sighed. “I’ll think about it, Emi.”
“Maybe … I can start practising tomorrow. Hm … three solutions in one day itself and here comes the sudden burden. I don’t know if I’m ready for what is to come … Geez, the things I do for a ghost …” Ken mumbled to himself. Emi decided not to comment.
The teen laid down on his bed. He had completed all his homework for the day and that earned him the right to rest. “What is this? A meeting with Emi and suddenly all this kind of things …” He further mumbled during his transition to sleep. Emi heard everything.
“It’s as though he is talking to me, but ignoring me at the same time …” Emi fumed with a bit of anger in herself. “I’m only asking him to relax and allow me smooth use of his body to deal with any kind of problems and this is what he gives me. Boys … really…”
She floated upward and sat on Ken’s study table. The clock ticked 10.30 pm. Emi then realized something. “Hey … usually Ken cannot sleep before 1 o’clock … he’s sleeping even now. Is it because … of me?” She looked on Ken. “When I possessed him, was this the result? Oh dear … Ken … I don’t know if that is good or not by the looks of it …”
No more was said as she watched him sleep. The lights in his room were left on and the heater running with some occasional whirring noises. There was no other noise.
“Hah.” Emi shook her head, shaking off all the doubts away. “No point thinking of all that now … I’m sure this is not really an issue. I’m just happy to be able to help Ken in any sort of event.” The ghost girl ended her worries just like that … for now.
Again, somewhere far away, at the same time, another person was joining the group of people who paid attention to Ken and his new ‘source of strange air’. A teen girl in dark occult dress was playing with tarot cards in her room of wood and bamboo, filled with mystical symbols and designs, dimly lit by melting candles. She held out a tarot card.
“What is this?” She stared at the drawing on the card. It was of ancient art depicting a mature man being accompanied by a lady of death and torn dress. “There’s a definite difference in someone’s presence. And … this presence is not allowed!” She threw the card across the room, piercing into a bulletin board with many papers.
“What’s more … this is concerning …” She shuffled repeatedly a stack of cards and took out one on a random attempt. It depicted a black King of Spades. “This concerns one of the students in Aoyaga Private Academy! A boy student! I shall go in and cleanse this person of a disturbance in his person!” She threw a Joker card across the room.
The Joker card cut the piercing tarot card into two, cutting away the portion of the lady of death away from the mature man. “And it must be done soon. Or else ... the spirits will be angry and violent! The holy scriptures must be fulfilled!” She blew a fan around the room, putting out all the tiny candle flames that dimly lit the room. “Tomorrow …”
The following morning – 13th September a Thursday. Ken yawned widely as he remained comfortable on his seat in the aerotrain. By coincidence, he boarded the aerotrain ride which came in from the Shijun city interior and had Hoh in it. “Uh …” Emi and Hoh stared at the wide-mouthed yawning Ken. “… hey, Ken, you okay, buddy?”
Ken yawned again, and Emi looked with increased disgust. “I’m just sleepy … recently, I’m beginning to feel very tired. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s all those hours chipped off from the 1 o’clock sleep routine and now I have to rest a lot.” Hoh rubbed his chin.
“Oh? What is this?” Hoh thought to himself. “There’s something white and warm here.” Emi made a shocking face. Hoh further thought to himself: “It’s quite warm ... there’s a mix of silver too. And it’s together with Ken … hmm …” He put down his hand on his lap. “Say, Ken, what have you been doing during the National Holidays?”
Ken grunted. “Nothing much. Didn’t I tell you already? I basically spent a lot of time sleeping, reading books, watching the farms and such. Why’d you ask?” Hoh rubbed his chin again. “You feel hot now … just days ago, there was nothing … wait a minute! You went to the western altars yesterday! What did you do there!?”
The brown-haired teen stopped yawning that instant. “Huh? Oh, I went there … gave my prayers … that’s all.” Emi felt really awkward looking at Ken. She knew that Ken was drowsy over the yawning, but it seems as though he still had a clear mind of what to do. “Uh … it’s as though … Ken is both drowsy and aware at the same time …” Emi said.
“What did you do there? Anything else?” Hoh pressed on further. Emi shivered, fearing the worse in which her identity could possibly be exposed and she whimpered. “Ugh! I don’t like this, Ken! Hoh’s onto me already! Urgh! I knew going to the altars that day was a bad idea just to heal my problems! I just caused you more trouble, Ken!”
Ken ignored Emi’s whimpering. “Eh … I went close to a furnace and leaned on it. It was hot all over and boy, did I feel comfortable! I’ve been messing it with my skin, that’s all. Maybe that’s why I feel so warm to you now. My skin and body absorbed all the heat produced from that coal-burning furnace and now it’s emitting them all.”
Emi nearly fell over from where she was sitting and so did Hoh. “What!? That’s not possible! Ken, are you trying to pull my leg? Come on! Just answer me properly! Hey, are you listening to me? Huh!? HEY!! Don’t take my sandwiches!!” Hoh yelped.
Ken rummaged in Hoh’s schoolbag and ate the sandwiches he brought for lunch in school, causing a small ruckus where they were and attracting passengers’ attention. Emi stared again. “I don’t know if Ken is deliberately protecting me or he is acting queerly from last night. I think I know why his sister has a feeling of dislike for him …”
The aerotrain stopped at the Chaoge suburbs, where Aoyaga Private Academy is located. Hoh made a comical cry as he ought food supplies from a train station grocery store. Ken walked out of the station, satisfied in having tasted high quality tuna sandwiches. “Wow, that hit the spot! I was starting to get tired of buttered toast everyday!”
Emi sighed and approached Ken as he waited for the traffic to stop and to cross the road safely. “Ken ... why did you do all that just now? What was all that for?” Ken gulped and hunched a little. Hoh was moaning. “My delicious tuna … I was waiting for that.”
He scratched his head before he replied. “I was quite drowsy back then, but I was really definitely trying to cover for you, Emi. We can’t let things get out of hand.” Emi was touched. “Thank you so much, Ken ... thank you.” Ken smiled at her.
“And … I also got a chance to gorge into Hoh’s delicious meal!” Emi suddenly felt the touching moment dissipated in thin air and nearly fell over from the sudden exclamation. “Urgh ... you ...” She hung her head down in embarrassment and sighed.
The trio made it safely across the road and were ready to enter the school grounds. “You there! Boy! We’ve met just yesterday!” Ken sighed and turned around, only to have a big shock upon registering the sight of priest Jia just beside the school gates. “Pleasure meeting you here, my young friend. I have come to talk to you of a serious matter.”
“Mister priest guy! What are you doing here? How’d you know I study here?” Ken fidgeted in sight of him. Jia smiled. “Well, the altars have done an exhibition here before in Aoyaga Private Academy, and I remember you as the one with his younger siblings who purchased many of our religious booklets.” Ken fumbled.
“Oh right, Ayumi and Ryushi really love to read those kinds of books …” Jia suddenly pressed onto his shoulders. “Please, you must tell me. You were sprinkled with the holy water; surely you are able to feel a certain something near you now, am I right?”
Ken really hated the way Jia bored into his eyes. “Um … sorry, I don’t feel anything at all. I only felt refreshed.” “What!? How could you not feel the thing that is right here?!” Ken and Hoh watched as Jia stretched out his right feisty arm into Emi, where she stood.
“AAAH!!” Emi gave a pitiful cry as the priest did that. “The thing that was with you yesterday, my friend! It is still right here with you now! Open your eyes and see the truth!!” Jia even went to shake Ken’s head roughly back and forth without any care.
Hoh was only confused; ironically he was talking about the same thing earlier in the aerotrain. “Um ... what’s going on, Ken?” Ken shrugged his shoulders. “Nope, I haven’t got a clue. I don’t feel anything there, since there is nothing there.” Jia was aghast.
“NO! Don’t talk to me this way, my boy! How could you be blind!?” Just then, the school bell rang and a familiar figure approached both Hoh and Ken. It was Mr Ahashi.
“What’s going on here, you two!? Why aren’t you in class yet!?” Emi, Ken and Hoh jumped in shock of his sudden presence. Without asking for answers, Mr Ahashi turned to Jia. “Oh! Venerable, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the altars now?”
Jia shook his hands to Mr Ahashi hard and fast. “Oh no! I just came by to talk with this fellow here. It’s something urgent that I simply had to refer to.” Mr Ahashi softened his fierce and stern glare. “I see ... but now it’s time for class for mister Kazuguchi and his friend here. Please excuse them. Education is important.” Jia could say nothing.
The priest continued to frown as Mr Ahashi ushered them with his usual stern and fierce self to their first class. “Oh shoot! It’s Physical Education and I haven’t changed into the sports uniform!” “Take your time, Hoh. It’s football for me today!”
“I’ll get back to that Kazuguchi later. I promise you!” Jia left with a scorn.
Every Thursday would have an hour of PE class for all students to play. Though with an uneasy feeling, Emi watched both Hoh and Ken play their favourite games. Ken scored repeatedly during the match whereas Hoh was doing badly at his other game. “Ah ... at least I can have a relaxing moment here to myself.” Emi said.
The rest of the time of three classes weren’t bad either. During Practical Skills, Ken got his chance to finish a nearly-due electronic circuit for his ringing mini cupboard. Hoh furiously jotted notes on History’s last topic and Ken was grateful for not being called to answer some Advanced Mathematic questions on the board.
“Aha! Lunch time!” The school bell rang again and students gathered in groups to talk and enjoy lunch together. Ken, Emi and Hoh gathered in their own group.
Maz suddenly entered the classroom and stared at Hoh. “Hello, everyone … bad news, Hoh … just a few seconds before … Bak here has accidentally smelt the scent of the 3-F class flower display … she’s out this time.” Hoh reacted with total shock upon hearing that. “She … she’s here!? What … why can’t it be Ree or the other guy!? Why her!?”
Maz shook his head lightly. “You know well … the scent of a flower …” Emi and Ken were confused over the reaction, until Maz dragged in a frail Bak with his lunch box. “Ow! Hey, come on! Don’t pull so hard, Maz dear! You’re hurting my arm!”
Hoh shivered as he turned to Ken. “Um … Ken, I must warn you … you have to be very patient with Bak for now … for it seems that another one of himself has surfaced … this time, it’s not Sohwang Ree. It’s her … a different Bak … Yonglaek Chae!!”
Ken was confused. “Yonglaek Chae? Yon? Who is that?” Before he could get further answers from Hoh, the frail Bak suddenly jumped in the air, free from Maz’s strong grip. “Ahaa!! This is the Ken Kazuguchi I’ve seen so much! Wonderful!!”
Before he knew what was going on, Bak, now known as his other self named Yon, was already clutching Ken tight on his chest region. “Wow! This is the warmth of Ken Kazuguchi! I’m loving it already! Hah hah hah!!” Many other students around who saw that groaned with disgust and distanced themselves further from the situation.
Emi’s face was burning red from what she saw. “Ken!! Get Yon, or Bak, or whoever he is right now, away from you!! This … this is an outrage!! A boy and a whatever-Bak-is together!” Ken was swinging himself around and around, trying to throw Bak off.
“Argh!! Get off me, Bak! Hoh, can you explain what exactly is going on?!” Ken exclaimed in shock. “Aw, shucks! I’m not Bak, Ken Kazuguchi! My name’s Yon!” Yon smiled childishly. The situation remained as it is: Ken trying to shake Yon off himself.
Ken cried out in despair: “Can someone help me and get this guy off me!?” Hoh’s eyes shone. “I’m coming, Ken!” The bespectacled boy rushed forward and try to forcibly separate the duo by pulling Yon hard to the back. Maz also rushed into the scene.
“I guess I’d better join in too … after all, it is my duty to look after all three of them …” Maz in turn grabbed Yon from behind and pulled the hardest he can as well. “AAH!! Let go of me, Maz dear! Let me admire Ken Kazuguchi for a bit more!” Yon cried.
“This madness stops now … this is the reason why I always pin down on you and Ree ... you two are often uncontrollable … the other guy … rightfully has my respect.” In a sudden effort of force, Maz managed to pull Yon away from Ken, causing the other two to fall back on the floor. Emi could only watch in utter shock of everything.
“AAAAH!! Maz, why do you keep on doing this to me!?” Yon cried in agony again.
Maz fell down on his side of the floor, still holding tightly to Yon who was whimpering in agony and fidgeting. Just then, the stern Mr Ahashi barged into the classroom and was followed by soft Mr Sanada. “What’s going on here!? WHAT’S ALL THE NOISE ABOUT!?” Every student shivered in fear, even the excited Yon, except for Maz.
Mr Ahashi instantly darted at Ken and Hoh. “YOU TWO!! What’s going on here!? I’m surprised that you’re involved in this mess as well, mister Hoh!! I expected better from you!!” Hoh was already shivering in fear. “But … but … but … but …”
“I’m sorry, Mr Ahashi, sir … but Bak here … started everything.” All eyes turned to the emotionless cold Maz. “I don’t know what … happened to Bak here, but he suddenly charged … into this class … tried to attack Ken ... I rushed in here … to stop him.”
“So what about mister Hoh, then!?” Mr Ahashi bellowed at the cold teen. “Hoh was only trying … to calm things down ...” The pale teen merely replied. He darted an extremely cold expression at Yon, who was all scared out of her wits and making a comical cry.
Mr Ahashi nodded. “Oh, really? Hmm … It’s you, mister Osada from class F … Is that so, mister Hoh?” Hoh quickly nodded in fear and replied: “Yeah … Bak suddenly came in from nowhere and charged in …” That single sentence said it all. Mr Ahashi put up his fiercest face yet and glared down, though far, to the shaking Yon.
“You get detention after school for causing all this mess, mister Kim!! I expect you to be in the detention room at 3 o’clock sharp, or else I’m phoning your guardians UP!!”
Somehow, Yon was too frightened and thus passed out on that instant. Maz took this opportunity to drag the knocked-out Yon back to class 3-F. Mr Sanada kindly led the way for the silver-haired boy while Mr Ahashi scorned and slammed the class door shut and hard too. Some students were able to resume their talk amid the atmosphere of fear.
“Wow ... that was really freaky.” Emi sighed as Ken comforted a traumatized Hoh. Soon, the bell signaling the end of school rang out loud. Ken sighed as he packed his school bag, getting ready to leave. “Ah … another day over. Time to head home for a rest.” Ken got up from his seat and met with Hoh. “So, what are you doing later?”
Hoh adjusted his spectacles. “Eh ... my parents are not in, as you may have guessed. So, I think I can afford to come over to your place and see how life is like down at the fields! I’ve never been to your place before, Ken, so might as well I tag along now!”
Ken looked briefly at Emi, who smilingly nodded as a sign of approval, and said: “Alright, you can come. But I don’t know if that priest will come back and taunt me again.” Hoh made a short thought. “But Ken, priests are revered for their purported spiritual abilities. They may know something we don’t. So, wouldn’t you …?”
“As if. I’m just … telling the truth that I don’t know anything … and it’s annoying.” Emi pondered to herself as she followed the duo walk down the corridors. “All those were lies … and he’s doing it for me … I … I might just be causing him more trouble …”
Her thoughts were halted by the sudden appearance of a female student, sporting a long single light blue over-clothing over a white shirt, brown shoes and black socks.
“Gah!! It’s you! What are you doing here!? We don’t have any business with you!!” Hoh instantly screamed as he saw the girl. Emi was slightly perplexed over what she saw of that girl. “This girl is …” Ken stared on. “Eh, who are you and what do you want?”
“Hah!” That strange girl took out a compass dial from her huge basket of items she was carrying on her back. Her light beige hair waved as she changed her bodily direction. “I’m Ria Osada! And you have an unearthly source of disturbance with you! I’m here to get rid of it for you!!” The needle on the compass whirred violently at Ken.
“Ken ... I suggest you run away from Ria the Weirdo ... she’s Maz’s fraternal twin sister … and they don’t get along well because … he’s spiteful of how fanatic she is with being a medium … she disturbs anyone who she thinks have ghouls or ghosts with them … and to no end too! The Osada family is a family of mediums and … she’s the most fanatic!!”
The teen hit realization. Oh no. More disturbances from other people. First the priest and now her!? Emi heard the thoughts being yelled in his head and in turn, she got panicky all over. “Don’t come near me, you crazy girl!” He yelled and ran in the opposite direction, grabbing hard onto his bag. Emi herself was confused.
“AAHH!! This is all crazy!! Wait for me, Ken!!” Emi dashed away, trying to keep up with him. It was that moment when Emi flew away that the girl, Ria, decided to give chase as well. “Ah, you wretched boy! Come back here with that source of yours and let me cleanse you! This won’t hurt, I guarantee you!! Come back here!!!”
Hoh realized that Ria was giving chase to Ken, meaning that she was getting closer to him. For some reason, that event alone triggered some bad memories of him with her. “AAH!! Don’t come close to me!! Wait for me, Ken!! I don’t want to be with this weirdo by myself!!” Everyone started running then, for different reasons.
Everyone ran past by the detention room, in which Mr Ahashi was watching over a returned Bak for a one hour detention. It just so happened that even Maz was with him, for as he said earlier, he is like a guardian to Bak. Loud noises of feet trampling on the cement floor were heard by all three people. Mr Ahashi ran to the entrance door.
“Quiet down there! No running in the corridors!!” Mr Ahashi stuck his head out and shouted after opening the door to take a look. “I said stop running in the corridors!!” At that point, the running trio minus the unseen Emi disappeared from sight. He gritted his teeth. “Grrhh!! Nasty kids! Not knowing discipline! If I ever catch those people!!”
Maz decided to ignore the chase. “That idiot ... twin sister Ria ... really …”
“Ken, I don’t think I can take anymore of this running! What are we going to do!? Why in EraS is Ria even chasing you in the first place!? What have you done for her to incur her wrath!?” Hoh shouted as Ken jumped down several stair steps to the lower floors.
Ken tried to answer back. “I don’t know too! How long do we have to keep on running to shake her off!?” Hoh’s face turned red from all the running and was nearly out of breath. “You have … no idea … how hard … it is to … shake her off!! Whoa! AH!” Hoh tripped and was going to fall down the staircase to the hard ground below.
Emi was shocked. “NO!!” She screamed and quickly made her move by possessing Ken’s body. The takeover was so fast that Ken barely had time to resist her, which is what also made the transition smoother. She pumped up Ken’s hand muscles hard and reached them out, awaiting to catch on a falling Hoh. “AARGH!” CRASH.
Emi was able to break Hoh’s own fall by holding onto him tight. Although her controlled legs were already tightened and prepared for such a fall, the sheer impact of Hoh falling down outdid that. Ken’s body also collapsed to the ground of the second floor. “Ow! Ow ow ow ...” Emi moaned through Ken’s voice. “Are you okay, Hoh?”
“Urgh ... yeah, I’m fine ... thanks for breaking my fall, buddy. Ah! Let’s get moving before Ria the Weirdo gets us both!” Hoh quickly stood up and it was his turn to drag Ken’s body as he ran. “Wow ...” Emi mumbled to herself and awed at Hoh.
Ken wanted to take control of his body back, but he decided to leave it all to Emi. Wow ... thank goodness Emi was here, or else Hoh would be severely injured. The girl heard that as Hoh pulled them into the school cafeteria. “Is there a way to hide –”
“There you are!!” Ria suddenly appeared in front of them. “AH!” Hoh shrieked like a girl. “How did you get here!? And so fast too!?” The many students surrounding them retreated out of fear from dealing with Ria. “I merely took another route, silly!”
“Just come here and be cleansed by me, Ken Kazuguchi!” Ria took out her stakes and talismans, scaring away the people around. “How’d you know my name!?” Ken blurted out during Emi’s control before they were pulled by Hoh. “Whatever! Let’s get out of here before she gets us!!” Hoh shouted and pulled them out to the school grounds.
The ghost girl still had control over Ken’s body. “Hey, Ken. Regarding what you just said … thanks.” She whispered quietly with her left hand covering her mouth. Eh, you’re welcome … I guess … Emi tucked the schoolbag on her shoulder. “Come on! Almost at the school gates! We’ll make a run for it at the aerotrain station on time!!” Hoh said.
“Aha! My young friend, we need to talk urgently! Wait, what is this!? The warmth is no longer with you, it is … inside you!! It’s a spirit! I knew it! It’s against the holy scriptures for a spirit to linger on this earth! I knew it since the day we met! Please, you must come with me for exorcism!” It was the priest Jia, still waiting outside of the school grounds.
Some people were staring at the situation, whereby Emi and Ken were led by Hoh, running away from Ria at the same time. “Come back here and face me, you unwanted guest you!” Ria yelled as she swung the talismans and stakes. Nearby people were frightened to see darts and knives in the school grounds and jumped out of her path.
“We have to make it! The traffic’s almost going to move!” Hoh said as he pulled Ken and Emi together past the priest. “Whoa!” The red traffic light vanished and the green light was lit in its place. “Oh no! We’ll never make it to the station! Ria’s catching up!”
“Hoh, I’m sorry for doing this!” Emi suddenly grabbed his arm tightly and pulled Hoh back. She turned her attention to an unloaded couch just across the street. “RAAAHH!!”
In a cartoon, it was possible to perform this feat, but in the real world, it was bizarrely impossible. Emi used all her strength and swung Hoh in repeated circles, some 5 feet above the ground. “I’m sorry, Hoh! I hope this works! RAH!” She let go of Hoh’s hands and flung him over to the other side of the street in an amazing speed.
“GAAAAH!!” Hoh screamed as he flew past by taxis and trucks, scaring the wits off all passengers riding those vehicles, and collided into a large orange couch just unloaded off a furniture truck. The working men were shocked to see a flung kid tumbling down their couch. “Waargh! What was that!?” Emi sped across the street just before the traffic moved on. She caught up with the men attending to a dizzy Hoh.
“I’m really sorry, Hoh!” She begged for forgiveness and dragged Hoh running up the stairs to the main station platform. “Urnnnghhurnngh ...” Hoh mumbled witlessly as he was dragged on. Emi called out to him again: “Where do you want us to go? Hurry!”
Hoh mumbled, but his message was clear. “Urgh … back to your place, Ken …” Emi hurriedly dug out some cash from Ken’s pocket and ordered two tickets to Handao, Ken’s home area. The receptionist lazily took two EraSean dollars out of the 20 Emi took out and printed out her tickets. “Thanks! It’s an emergency!” Emi hurriedly said.
The poor Hoh partially regained consciousness and was handed over a ticket. Emi ran past the counter line and slipped her ticket through the receiving hole, although Hoh wasn’t as fast. Just then, the fast moving traffic down the stairs was halted by a red traffic light and both Ria and the priest Jia sped quickly across the zebra crossing.
But, the both of them were too late. The aerotrain had just arrived and Emi dragged a dizzy Hoh past the doors of the train. Barely seconds later, the doors shut tight and the aerotrain eventually sped off on its tracks. Emi looked at the angry and muzzled faces of both Ria and Jia behind the checking counter at the crowd of people.
“Sigh ... that was too close. Oh no, Hoh!” Emi gazed at a dizzy Hoh just next to herself. “Hoh ... I’m really really sorry for flinging across the road just now! Please forgive me!” The dizzy fellow could only give a fuzzy reply, which even she couldn’t make out. Ken decided it was his turn to take things over. Emi … let me out now.
Emi whispered quietly. “But!” If she could see him, he was shaking his head gently. It’s okay, Emi. Thanks for what you have done today. Seems I owe you something in return for saving me from that Ria and possible causing more ruckus. Chill out. Take a break. I’ll take it from here. Emi shed a drop of tear down his cheeks.
“But … everyone is after me … and you’re covering for me … I caused you trouble … please forgive me ... saving you and Hoh back then from those two guys ... was the least I could do for you …” With that, she released all forms of bodily control back to Ken and retreated into isolation deep inside him. The drop of tear fell onto Ken’s shoes.
“Emi …” Ken said as he tried to get a dizzy Hoh to at least sit properly on the train’s seat. “I’d practise that relaxation method of yours tonight. Thanks for everything just now.” He dropped his school bag on the floor below him. He relaxed himself and turned to look out at the scenery of forests and towns below the aerotrain track heights.
“Well … firstly I have to take care of Hoh, then get some homework done from school, and then carrying on Emi’s proposal. Geez … today was troublesome … bothersome people.” He remarked to himself. Hoh seemed to have dropped into a nice sleep.
Continued in Chapter 8.
Notes: And so begins the quest of several people to move and hunt down Emi. Priest Jia, Ria the Weirdo, as called by Hoh, and a new self of Bak named Yon appears. Ria’s uniform is really of a pinafore uniform. Fraternal twins are twins which are non-identical in many ways – like Maz a boy and Ria a girl. Who is this other Bak who earns Maz’s respect? Again, the stern and rough and fierce Mr Ahashi strikes back. He always shouts, yeah.
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And some madness. Stay tuned for something altogether different next chapter ... with the deadly hint somehow given by Emi to Ken in Chapter 6 ... about demons ...
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 12, 2009 11:40:05 GMT -5
Here we go. The last Chapter 8. Well, after this, it's Chapter 9 ... and I must say here that I've decided that the successive chapters will be posted on a basis of 14 days each by then. That can give everyone enough room for any catching up.
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This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter
Chapter 8: Soul Witnesses a First in the Field
Ken arrived back home, holding with him a limping dizzy Hoh. Naturally, his mother Saya and Grandpa Ojiro were stunned to find a dizzy Hoh and rushed him to treatment. Ken insisted that Hoh be brought to and be treated in his room for some privacy.
“Urgh ...” Hoh finally made a noise. Ken got up from his study chair and moved closer to the waking teen. “Hey, Hoh! You okay!? You’ve been dizzy and unwell for the past 2 hours! Well, ever since ... that throw. ” Ken instantly said when Hoh sat up on Ken’s bed; still covered in warm blankets. “Urgh ... yeah, I guess ... where are we?”
Ken smiled. “You’re in my room. Welcome to my home. You’ve always wanted to come here, right?” The sleepy teen took his glasses from Ken’s study desk and put them on. Sure enough, the nerdy fellow resumed his trademark smile and happy self.
“Yay! Finally in the Kazuguchi household!” Hoh celebrated to himself as Ken guiltily looked on. “I want to talk with all your family members and see the whole place too! It must be exciting to be normal! The wide lands, the fresh air, the freedom ...”
Soon enough, Hoh was up and healthy, being able to endure a long talk from Grandpa Ojiro when he was a soldier fighting for a princely state in the Northland Civil War. He was very excited to be taken around the farmlands by sister Ayumi. He was even excited when he got a chance to wear large black boots to step in the muddy soils.
“Ah ... it’s been fun, Ken!” Hoh stretched his arms on the soil road in front of Ken’s house gate. There stood Ken and mother Saya behind him, hands held together, as they watched Hoh hold on tight to his bag. The clouds were partially dark. “Sure …”
“Thanks for letting me linger around here! My parents are always not home, so um ... ma’am Kazuguchi” – referring to Ken’s mother – “you don’t have to worry about me. I can handle myself fine.” He bowed to her, who in turn also gave a small bow.
Ken gave a soft punch on his shoulder. “So, urm ... no worries, huh? When I sort of ... flung you across the street back at school ... I mean, Ria was after us ... and you and I know how crazy she is ...” Ken hung his head down. Hoh simply shook his head.
“It’s alright ... at least we ran away from those guys. But, it was kind of awesome. I mean, how did you manage to do that!? That feat was practically impossible and I got to experience that! Being dizzy due to that fall was worth it! Ha hah! I’ll see you tomorrow in school!” Hoh skipped away with total joy in his heart. Ken stared blankly at him.
Mother Saya turned to her son. “Ken, what exactly was your friend referring to? A feat which you performed on him?” Ken sighed and replied: “It’s nothing, mum. It’s a long story and I’m quite tired to even think of it.” He kicked on a small rock on the ground.
The teen retreated into the dining room and sat on the nearest chair. “Well, Emi, once again, it’s all thanks to you. I owe you one.” Even now, Emi didn’t say anything, making the teen sigh again. “Ah, I’m a little hungry. I’m eating something before I head back upstairs.” The teen grabbed a green sheet from a familiar-looking product packet.
It was a seaweed strip. Oh no ... Ken, no ... you wouldn’t dare ... Ken!!
Apparently, Ken seemed to have not heard Emi’s sudden pleas. His quick moves of removing the plastic sheets and instantly chewing on the seaweed were too quick to stop. Emi screamed to the top of her heart inside Ken, who somehow didn’t hear her.
AAAHH!! NO!! SEAWEED!! YOU KNOW I HATE IT!! WHY, KEN, WHY!?
In a dark altar hall elsewhere, a figure, shrouded in a grey cloak, was holding a real spear and some more talismans on his hands in front of a table prepared with many odd objects. Vessels of burning candles, a plate of sacrificed chicken and other strange ornaments were laid on a red long cloth. He brutally stabbed the chicken with the spear.
“Hmm ... it’s like I felt. The ghost girl and the boy … they have the potential … when the grand ideal begins … they are the first to retaliate. We don’t want that! Send the demon in!” The cloaked figure turned to a spot where there laid his minion ghoul, invisible to the human eye. “Yes, my lord ...” It vanished off for a second. “Here you go, my lord.”
It returned back with another demon, cuffed up on its arms and legs. Its baring teeth threatened to bite anyone close by and its red sharp eyes flared. The rest of its body was too horrible to describe further. The cloaked figure looked on. “Perfect. Just the one.”
“Go and test them out.” Cloaked figure had a bubble pop up and held images of Ken and Emi together. “Don’t hold back. Give them everything you have. Pin them down.” He smiled nastily after that. The demon also smiled and gave a laugh that shrilled the halls.
A brand new day – September 14th a Friday. Emi smiled and sighed as she watched Ken hurriedly put on his black boots. There was still a lot of work to be done with the large plot of farmland. There were fences to put up and more winter seedlings to sprinkle.
The previous night was rather dull. Emi was sulky due to her tasting Ken chewing on seaweed strips, a sea product she hated from past experiences. He tried to make it up to her by relaxing his body just as she proposed earlier to easily free her from his body.
Predictably, the first few times he tried, averaging a few minutes each, he couldn’t get the results he desired and ultimately stopped to rest for the night. Just moments before he dropped into a deep sleep, in which his body automatically freed the encased ghost girl, Emi managed to utter out some gratitude inside his head.
Thanks for your efforts, Ken … but something like this cannot be done so fast and so easily too. You have to practise more … thank you. But please … please do me a favour and don’t eat your seaweed stuff while I’m here, okay? Please …
The teen grunted in his sleep. In the morning, Emi was naturally free and both of them journeyed to school together. The priest Jia was waiting to confront him, so he jumped over the school walls to avoid him. Likewise was done when school was over.
Jia never noticed him at all, so he had to give up for the day to pursue Ken. But, avoiding the whispers and Ria were harder. Ken had to bear the back-talking for what happened yesterday, with him flinging Hoh across the road with pure brawn, Ria finding herself a new target and some other stuff. Fortunately, Mr Ahashi, who witnessed them running past the detention room, didn’t recognize both Ken and Hoh at all; so no scolding.
Ria kept on disturbing him during lunch break, with Hoh preferring to run instantly upon her sight. The accompanying Maz and Ree, who surfaced from Bak that time, struggled in restraining her. Ree joined in the fight only of fear Maz would further treat him badly.
In short of the long story, all’s well and ends well for the teen’s day in school.
Ken may rejoice for the weekend was a day away, but as a peasant, he still had a job to do. He rushed to a section of the vast brown land, where his sister and father were already organizing on the work needed to be done. “Bah … time to work …”
“Son! The tractor has been fixed, again! All the ploughing has been done and we only need to plant the winter seedlings. Here’s your bag of seeds.” Ken caught the leather pouch which father Ajima threw. “I’ve divided the lands to three portions, so I’m handling the middle portion, you take the portion left of the house and Ayumi gets the last one.” Ken groaned as he surveyed the vast land he had to manage.
Ken began to sprinkle the winter seedlings of sorts along the rows of tilled land. The wind blew a light breeze, making him shiver a little. Emi did not stay with him, instead preferring to sit by the farmlands border and watch the teen work. In her sight, the size of Ken was decreasing as he planted more seeds further away from her.
The teen let out a yawn and decided to whistle a tune of a song he heard on the radio the other day. He then accidentally stepped on a leech in the wet soils, which nearly made him slip over. “Ew, leeches. Thank goodness I always wear boots ...”
“You grandson of mine! Come here!” It was Grandpa Ojiro, waving his walking cane from the soil road close to Ken. He had walked all the way from the house to Ken’s side just to call him. “The neighbour here needs some help! He needs all these sacks on his cart to make its journey to the market later today! Come now!”
“I’m coming!” Ken rushed upward as the elderly neighbour man thanked Grandpa Ojiro for the hand of assistance. Emi smiled and shrugged her shoulders to herself: she enjoyed watching the teen helping others, and she eventually hit a brief realization.
“Ken ... he’s a nice person … maybe that’s why I like him … indeed he is …” Just then, Emi felt a sudden swift movement past behind her. It was very uncomfortable to feel it.
“Ah!?” Emi turned around. She saw nothing suspicious in her eyes, only the vast brown land, some people walking on the road and taxis on the roads. “I thought … I felt something just now ... that’s strange.” She mumbled. “I don’t like this at all …”
Ken loaded heavy sacks of potatoes onto the neighbour’s cart. She remained frowning as Ken walked past her, down to the fields being all tired. “I have a bad feeling about this … something tells me I should be by Ken’s side, just to protect him from anything.”
Initially, Ken was minding his own business sprinkling the seedlings onto the soils, but Emi constantly floating around him really ticked him. “Emi … what’s going on now?”
The girl turned to her right to see Ken. “Umph … I’m a little worried. I felt a disturbance in the air … something is not quite right. Something bad is coming. I can feel it.” That very instant, strong gushes of wind blew by the duo. Some grey clouds were gathering around the Handao villages. Ken looked around and saw these oddities.
“What the? What’s with this weather?” He sought to shield himself from the terrible cold. Emi otherwise felt nothing of the temperature. “Something is coming, Ken, and I’m going to do everything in my power to protect you.” The winds blew on the trees.
“GRRAAAAHH!!” A loud roar was heard by the duo and immediately out of nowhere, a 12-foot-tall demon of ghoulish appearances, cuffed at its arms and legs, gusted towards the duo and bared out its sharp nails. “PULVERIZE YOU PUNIEZ!!”
“You revealed yourself at last!” “AH!” Ken yelped and ducked to cover as Emi sped forward and kicked the demon strongly on the chin, causing it to jerk upwards for a moment. It, however, recovered balance soon and lodged a clenched fist against Emi’s left chest area, making her scream in pain and thrown to the right. “GAH!”
“No! Emi!” Ken wanted to rise and rush to her but he was quickly confronted by the demon. “Pulverize you! That’s the master’s orders!!” Ken’s eyes shook in fear as the demon prepared to lodge another fist onto its prey. “AAH!!” He shouted.
“NO, YOU DON’T!!” Emi gave a yell and launched a more powerful right leg kick at the demon’s left cheek that threw it some 20 feet away. “Don’t you dare hurt him! Ken, get out of here now! I’m dealing with him!” Ken nodded fast and instantly held tightly to his bag of seeds and ran out of the brown soil fields. “This is insanity!” He said.
“You must DIE!!” The demon yelled and rose up to prepare for combat. Unfortunately, Emi had already sped towards it and landed a hard fist into its stomach region, causing it to gasp out in shock. “I’m not as soft as you may think I am, fiend!” “GWAH!”
She proceeded to throw a series of hard punches on the demon’s chest and face areas non-stop, giving it no chance to fight back. “URGH! GRRH! GRAH!!” It only groaned as Emi disrupted its speech by the constant attacks. “Have this, filthy thing!”
Emi stopped her arm combat by throwing her last blow onto the demon’s nose, throwing it further 25 feet away from her. “AH!!” It crashed on the ground. Ken stared in awe. “She’s doing it again … all those fighting and energy … wait a minute.”
He looked around and found that due to the strong currents of the chilly winds, the whole place was strangely void of people. “There’s no one around!” Even his father and sister went back into the house. Ken didn’t need to; he was wearing thick clothing.
“Emi, I …” He was halted immediately by fierce countenance. “Ken, don’t come here!!” He was shocked. “I don’t want you involved in this fight, Ken! It’s possible you will be injured! Trust me; I’ve seen spirits like this one in the cemetery the other time, and you won’t believe the effort it takes to make them stop coming after you! Stay back!”
The demon took this chance to rise up again and charge towards Emi silently. Ken was shocked and tried to warn her. “Emi, watch out! Behind you!” The demon ran and stretched out both its arms, attempting to grab her tightly before she could strike.
“You didn’t need to yell, Ken. I already knew it was coming at me. RAAH!!” Emi repelled its giant fists with her palms and began attacking its face with strong kicks. SMACK. “Ah!” Emi was hit the second time and she landed on the ground with a thud.
“DIEZ!!” The demon pounded its fists on the ground, hoping to quash Emi. “Gah! You won’t be getting me!” She rolled to her left and right, depending on where the demon was pounding. “Hiyah!” Emi quickly jumped up and launched a super strong fist on its face.
“ARGH!” It collapsed on its back. “You little!” Before it could do further, Emi made several elbow knife attacks on its body and neck. “Gah!” Ken watched on with much amazement. “Wow … so this is how Emi deals with any spirits that disturb her.” Emi grunted under her breath. “I don’t want to waste my time on you! I’m ending this!”
She made a strong knee kick on its face, hurting it more. “BAH!” By now, the demon was exasperated due to all the numbing injury it has. “Go, Emi! Go!” Ken cheered on the side. “Thanks, Ken!” She replied back. “I won’t lose!!” It lunged forth its left arm.
“Hmph!” Emi swiftly turned around and held onto the demon’s left out-reaching arm. She swung over it, while the demon was just registering that move, and skipped easily behind its back. “Care for a twist!?” She twisted its arm nearly to a full clockwise circle.
“ARRGH!!” The demon screamed and halted its steps immediately, attempting to grab Emi with its free right hand. Instead, Emi pulled the same left arm vertically towards the sky, stretching it further. The straining was too much for it and it dropped to the ground.
“Argh! Stop it! Stop it! I surrender! You win!” The demon screamed out, tongue sticking out of a wide open mouth. “Let me go! Let me go!” Emi decided to oblige and let go of the demon’s arm, but not before elbowing hard on its neck behind. The demon howled one more time, knees on the soil. “Argh …” She jumped off its back to the soil as well.
“Well, then. These chains attached to you are certainly very bothersome to me. Nearly hit me just now … let’s see what can be done about it.” She walked over to the demon again.
“Urgh … what do you think you’re doing?” Emi surveyed and found the thickest metal cuff available and raised it in the air, along with the attached spirit body limb. She held on tightly to the cuffs and began to feel it. “Mm … this should be easy.”
The demon was confused. “Erhm … what are you talking about? What –?” “RAAH!!” Emi tore one of the thick metal hand cuffs attached to the demon’s arm with her bare hands and threw them away; they vapourized in thin air. “These things are – huh?!”
In that instant, all the cuffs on the demon’s limbs evaporated and its red eyes turned to a mild blue colour. “Huh? This is … where am I?” It came clueless, looking around.
Ken and Emi stared at it. “This is new …” Emi mumbled. “Yeah … one minute, it was fierce and now, it’s stupid.” The demon heard what Ken said and turned to him. “A sky … air around me … I must be free!” The demon crawled up to the duo and bowed down repeatedly. “Thank you! Thank you for saving me! Thank you so much!!”
“What just happened?” Ken asked. “You’ve set me free! Thank you – AH!” An angry Emi came up to it and clenched its neck tightly. “What are you playing at!? Suddenly begging for mercy! How can I forgive you after what you’ve just done!?” “AAHH!!”
Emi lifted it in the air and smashed it down on the soil, hard and several times. “Mercy! Please! AH! Please!” Ken was alarmed by Emi’s actions and confronted her. “Hey! Emi! Stop it! That demon doesn’t deserve this!” Emi was a little taken aback. “But, Ken!” “No!” Ken firmly said. “Would a demon normally thank people for some reason!?”
“Well, not that I know of …” Emi replied weakly. “Then, let it go. We can find out more about why we were attacked when it surrenders, rather than force it to spit out.” Ken said. Emi sighed a few seconds later. “Fine … but I’m watching you!” Emi slammed the demon on the ground one last time. “Now, tell us! Who are you and what do you want!?”
“I … am originally a normal weakling … I died 5 years ago … been wandering places … and then, he came along and trapped me … I have been sent to terminate you … that’s my master’s orders … he was the one who wanted me to do this to you…” Ken was confused. “He? Who’s he!? How did he know about the both of us?!”
“He has amazing powers … he sees everywhere and everything … even transforming me into this evil behemoth of a body… I wanted to defy him, but he easily overwhelmed me … I would be entranced, forever controlled like a puppet … if you hadn’t saved me.”
Ken looked back to Emi. “It seemed genuinely good. Shouldn’t we let him go?” She protested: “Are you insane, Ken!? It tried to kill both of us! You’ll be dead and I’ll be non-existent if he succeeded!” The demon looked up and pleaded for mercy.
“No! Please! I assure you! I hate doing bad things!” Emi was skeptical. “Prove it!” The demon mumbled for a bit. “A human being always looks forward to salvation, joy and paradise … please, kind sir!” The demon turned to Ken. “Lead me to enlightenment!”
Ken was taken aback by that request. “What!? Me!? I don’t even know what that is! I can only see most of you clearly, that’s all! I don’t know anything of whatever you were talking about! How am I supposed to know the way to enlightenment!?”
Preach this to the world ~ You reflect your own heart ~
A figure in grey peasant clothing, long hair both behind his head and in front of his face, a pair of thick wooden slippers and a large yellow straw hat to hide his face walked calmly along the road where they were. All three of them merely looked at him back.
“My, it’s really cold today, isn’t it?” He spoke as dragged a sack of wheat with him. Ignoring the stares of everyone else, the peasant sang in Northlands language.
Preach this to the world ~ You reflect your own heart ~ Let the good show us white and warm ~ Let evil show us black and cold ~ Repent you for the end is near ~ Where the pine trees lead us all ~ To the world afterlife for eternity ~ Watch the light under pine trees ~ To the world afterlife for eternity ~
The peasant sang the song lightly with his voice and brushed his long hair in front of his face, revealing his smiling lips under his straw hat. He dusted his grey peasant-like clothes and said on a spot of land in front where Ken and Emi had the demon arrested.
“That music ... I’ve heard it before too. It’s village folklore; we used to sing it too in the north. Is that ... the solution to our issue now!?” Emi was quite taken back by the hit of realization. All three of them stared back at the daydreaming person.
He adjusted his straw hat. “So, boy … you seek the path to enlightenment? You were shouting to yourself over there …” Ken fumed upon that and tried to think of something to cover up his actions. “Um … right. I was just screaming to myself. All those kind of beliefs and everyone is trying to seek for perfection ... why not?”
The peasant chuckled. “Ha ha. How naive you are.” Ken twitched slightly on that remark and decided to not reply. The peasant waved his hair aside his face. “Well, you want an answer; I’m just giving you one. It’s a suggestion, of course, but whether you choose to believe ancient belief or not, for a modern boy like yourself, is up to you.”
Emi felt that Ken’s mind was going to raise a lot of irrelevant questions, possibly. “Ken, just so you know, I’m still not talking about my past. Don’t you dare come and ask me questions about it!” Emi suddenly said that and glared threateningly at the teen. Ken shrugged lightly and whispered back to her: “Alright, alright. Sure, whatever ...”
The peasant smiled under his wide straw hat. “Relaxing, isn’t it? Throwing away all your worries as the wind blows by you. Enjoy your time as the clock ticks on the soil of your hometown ...” He said no more after that and Ken stared as he slept there.
“Erm … right. I … have to go somewhere else.” Ken hastily walked past the sleeping peasant towards the soil road. Emi followed suit, watching the demon limp behind Ken and prepared to fight back if there was any resistance. The wind blew stronger this time.
“Pine trees, eh? I know a corner of the village where pine trees are growing. Let’s try that side.” He began to run towards the destination, not only as he was curious but he also wanted to get things done and over quick. The spirits merely followed behind. True enough, a mile away northwest from Ken’s home, there was a forest of pine trees.
“A light to the afterlife, eh?” Ken tried to look around for anything, but apparently Emi spotted it first. “Ah! Ken, over here! Come quick!” She pointed to another direction whereby there was a glimmering light at the tree’s trunk. All three of them rushed to the site. Ken awed. “The road to enlightenment ... it really is here ...”
The demon awed with genuineness and something spectacular occurred. The glimmering light, the road to the afterlife, assumed the form of a vertical whirlpool and there was some sort of force of attraction generated. The large ghoulish demon’s body suddenly vapourized to icky purple bits and slowly, there revealed something truly different.
A tired, tall man stood in the spot where a demon used to be. Both Emi and Ken were shocked by that and stared on. “The demon ... is actually a man!?” Ken slapped his face as Emi only stared on. The male spirit in white shirt and grey jeans turned to the duo. “… Thank you … for liberating me … from being imprisoned in a den with evil spirits …”
“A den of evil spirits? What do you mean?” Emi tried to ask him further but before she could, the male spirit entered the white gleaming whirlpool of light and vanished. Some seconds of silence passed by. Ken sighed and placed his arms behind his back.
“Hah. I guess he can’t wait to go for a better life. After all, who would have thought the portal to the other world is right here? And everyone is looking for the ultimate bliss and all those stuff … hey, wait a minute.” He turned to Emi. “Shouldn’t you be going?”
Emi played her second fingers together and blushed. “Um … no. I don’t feel like going now. Please … allow me to stay with you for a little longer so I can think about it. Please?” Ken grunted and turned around. “Meh, sure, if you want to. I’m not forcing you. This is a decision we must make ourselves anyway. I’d best be going back to the fields.”
The duo said nothing as they took their own sweet time to walk back to Ken’s home. Emi, who was floating behind Ken, was examining his aura. “Bright light … heart …”
Emi’s eyes widened a little. “The aura … I see. Ken himself is a nice person … and that is all reflected onto the person’s aura … Ken’s aura itself is all white and glowing … maybe that’s the reason why he can’t feel me being cold in the first place. The power of goodness of a person’s heart overpowers that cold sensation of my external self …”
“My external self makes people feel cold because … it is remnant energy from any sort of bad incidences in the past. My death … that remnant energy on me … bitter sadness … mum … dad …” She stopped dead on the topic as she floated behind Ken. By the time they arrived at the Kazuguchi fields, the peasant had disappeared from his spot.
The teen looked around. “That’s strange. Where did that guy go to … Ofefph!” A slipper appeared out of nowhere and hit Ken directly on his head, making him fall down to the ground. Emi was a little shocked from the sudden attack. “Who was that!?” She turned her head and found a sulking and angry Grandpa Ojiro walking towards them.
“You lazy boy you! Your father asked you to sprinkle the seedlings and you dare to laze off!? Look! Your father and your sister had done about a quarter of their portion of land and you! Only a single row of tilled land!? I ought to beat you with my cane!!”
Ken was aghast. “Grandpa, I can explain! I was – Ouch! Argh! Stop it! Get away from me!!” Ken yelled as he rose his hands to cover himself from the repeatedly swings of Grandpa Ojiro’s cane and attempted to run away from the raging old man. “Come back here and let me give you some military-style punishment!!”
“Geez, Grandpa! You’re crazy! I don’t think anyone still uses your kind of punishments! We’re more humane now! Ow! Ouch! Stop it!!” Ken yelled as he further dodged his grandfather’s attempts to give him a good beating. The scene attracted some onlookers. Emi couldn’t help but laugh as she tried to suppress the impending outburst.
“Umf … umphf … this reminds me of home … ha … in a way … ha ha hah!” She finally had no choice but to laugh her heart out at the scene of Ken running in circles as Grandpa Ojiro tried to give him a decent caning. And it lasted for quite a while.
In the end, Ken had finished only a quarter of his portion of assigned land, whereas his father and sister did half respectively. After a refreshing dinner and a shower, he was dressed in warm soothing pyjamas and dropped himself on his bed.
“That person earlier today” - referring to the peasant - “who was that, I wonder? I’ve never met him before and he just pops out of nowhere and solve our demon problem … what do you think, Emi?” Ken turned to the floating ghost beside himself.
“Ah? Um … he was alright, I guess. But ‘strange’ would be the better term, as I can’t seem to see any traces of his aura or anything … all humans and souls alike have auras. Like the song said, your body reflects your own heart.” She sighed and flew around the room just for the heck of it. “But I see no traces of that peasant’s aura anywhere …”
“Well, I’m sure that’s not really that much of an issue now.” Ken smiled and jumped onto his bed. “At any rate however, we may have more problems. What with possibly that Ria and Jia following us … oh well! That demon’s gone, we won’t be bothered for now and I have the time I want to relax and have a good sleep.” Emi stared at him, silent.
Having said that, he shut his eyes and wrapped himself under warm blankets on his own bed. “… That’s one way of putting it. But …” Emi began to mumble to herself. “Both of us have extraordinary auras … I wonder if that’d bring unwanted attention soon … I hope not. All the best for us.” She looked on the tossing and turning Ken.
The clock ticked of the seconds, and Emi Takahiro flew out of Ken’s room to leave him alone for now. Unbelievably, Ken was already asleep nicely. “An evil den, that man said? I wonder what’s going on …?” Emi remarked. She looked at the near-half moon.
Once again, far away, the cloaked figure was meditating in his same old altar hall, with that hideous statue dominating the place. He sensed something in his mind. “Hmph … the demon lost … I was right … those two really are threats to the grand ideal …”
The flame of the waxy candle that lit the hall was mysteriously put off on its own.
Continued in Chapter 9.
Notes: Another fighting chapter. It seems our cloaked guy transformed an ordinary ghost … into an evil spirit. Hmm … The external cold self of Emi – she theorized it on her own – and it fits. Remnant energy, eh? Aha, some hints have been let loose. Remember the cloaked figure in the last few chapters? Same person here! What further developments await us?
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Yes ... what further development awaits us? Check it out soon ... for Chapter 9 will be posted this weekend. Stay tuned! Thanks a lot for taking your time to come here to read the story!
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 15, 2009 1:37:57 GMT -5
And thus, today is the grand day ... of the official catching-back-up to Chapter 9 and the rest of this fiction, which I might say be probably the most intense fiction around for sites to come! I give you Chapter 9, the continuation from Chapter 8! And as such, Chapter 10 will be posted up at the end of this month August! Thank you all!
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This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter
Chapter 9: A Soul’s Silly Dream of a Tale
Two days later – 16th September a Sunday. It had been a rough day, for it was only today that Ken Kazuguchi had completed his portion of farmland that needed winter crop seedlings. Grandpa Ojiro hit him on the head with his cane again. “Ow!”
“Good job, boy! I expected it to be done much earlier, but nonetheless it was a good job!” The old man slapped onto Ken’s back hard and the teen felt as though he was going to choke. “Urgh … yeah, sure, whatever. I’ll best be going back to my room now...”
Ken climbed up the stairs to find his room door left ajar. Inside his room, Emi was lying down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. She didn’t notice him until he entered and he was then staring at a cupboard in front of his bed, stacked with many colourful books.
“Oh! That’s right! Yesterday’s the day volumes 14 and 25 are released! I have to go out, buy them before it all sells out!” With that, he immediately jumped down the stairs and rushed into the living room. Emi got up and chased after him with a curious face.
The previous day, Saturday, Ken had tried to finish seeding his vast portion of assigned land so that he could head off to Hoh’s home and indulge in the Ultrablast 450 gaming experience. Unfortunately, he didn’t, and that made Hoh lonely and sad. Emi was busy with her self-declared mission to protect Ken from any encounters with the spirits.
“Hey, Ken! Where are you going!?” She said as she flew neatly behind a rapidly-cycling Ken. The teen panted as he mustered lots of energy into his legs. “I’m going down to the bookstore just not far down the aerotrain station! I forgot about buying the brand new comic books released yesterday! I hope I have enough money for them …”
“Comic books?” Emi pondered. Pretty soon, they arrived at a small single storey shop; with its bare grey concrete walls and simple designs that reflect the simplicity of village life. Only a few customers were present to read the displayed books for sale.
“Argh … where is it? Where is it?” Ken searched through cupboards of books, which were only up to his shoulder’s height. Emi admired the store and the various colourful posters depicting animated characters and the multitude of books. “Wow …”
The teen eventually found them. “Aha! Here we go! ‘To Speak of You’ volume 14, ‘Masters Pew’ volume 25 … oh, there’s some more series I wanted to check out since that day … oomph!” He had bummed into someone else behind him. “Ow!”
Ken knew who it was. “Could it be?” He turned around, only to see a person of dark blue hair, sporting a thick white shirt and grey trousers. “Bak! What are you doing here?” The frail boy dusted himself on the front before giving a childish smile to Ken.
“Oh, hey there, Ken. I didn’t see you there. I’m buying the comic series ‘Cornwallis’, the recent 2 volumes released. I love that series … historical fiction of the past … urgh!” Bak suddenly jerked his head forward and Ken stepped backwards. “Hey, are you okay?”
Emi come floating to Ken and was a little taken back by what she saw. “Um … uh … I don’t believe this!” She had to exclaim. Bak repeatedly knocked his head with his tight fist and tensed up all his muscles in his head. “No … don’t you dare come out … Ree, no … not now … urgh!” Bak panted heavily. “Haah … haah …”
Ken tended to him. “Hey, what’s going on?” The frail boy panted and regained normal breathing patterns. “Ah, sorry … you’ve met Ree before, right? He was going to come out and hit back at you for bumping on me again just now … but I held him back. Sorry, I have to go now. Before things get worse from the other selves of mine …”
Emi stared on with a suspicious eye as Bak hurriedly paid at the counter and went off. “Something’s really wrong with that boy … based on what I see.” She remarked.
In the end, Ken bought a total of 7 books – two of the mentioned series, as well as 2 and 3 from another two different series: ‘Trouble Gems’ and ‘Liang Tian Shan’, a martial arts series. He went back home with a happy heart, of which Emi was pleased to see of.
Later at night, Ken in his pyjamas was reading Trouble Gems volume 1, with the other books scattered beside him on his study table. Emi could only gaze on the colourful cover designs. “Ken, what exactly are comic books? … Forgive me, since … uh …”
He turned around. “Oh, you’ve never seen it before … wait a minute. You’ve seen boys play video games, but never seen them read comic books?” The ghost girl shrugged. “Um … based on what I’ve seen so far, none at all.” “Wow … that’s really something.”
“Anyway … comic books are … like a story book, but has more graphics to describe the story. Graphics especially. They’re just so awesome … it’s quite popular around. Many people my age buy them and enjoy them.” Emi stared at a total of 23 series of such comic books Ken had at his front cupboard. “Wow … there’s so many of them …”
Ken returned back to his comic book reading, whereas Emi continued to look on all the shelved books. “Never seen this before … it must be nice to spill out all your ideas on paper and have people enjoy them … I wonder how I would do as an artist of these?” She had a slow glance at all the titles Ken had. “Hm … I’ll need more patience for that.”
She floated in the air and rested on his bed, him oblivious to that. She dreamily remarked: “A haven of imagination … I wonder how would my own world turn out …” There’ll be mystical creatures, some action and insanity, she thought. Slowly as she immersed into it even more, probably due to the comfort of Ken’s bed, she shut her eyes and began to sleep. Everything was spinning and turning dark … she knew nothing at all.
That was until she heard a loud explosion and felt the earth quake really hard.
“Aaah!!” She screamed and fell over the bed she was in. The surroundings had changed – it was a large circle room made of large bricks, Ken’s bed was large, round and pink, and there was a window with no panes. “Gah! Where am I!? How did I get here!?” She got up and looked outside. She was utterly shocked. “WHAT IS ALL THIS!?”
The view zoomed out from her screaming, to reveal that she was in a stone castle of magnificent size, seated on the top of a small pointed hill surrounded by a sea of volcanic lava, beneath a steep valley. Air bubbles were constantly rising from the sea of lava.
Plop. Plop. Plop. Emi’s face turned red of confusion. “What is going on here!? Ah!” She gazed on the clothes she was wearing – no more school uniform, but pink and that of a delicate princess. In fact, above her room’s door, there was a portrait of herself with the title ‘Princess’ and oddly, the rest of her name was covered with dust and hardened clay.
“I’m a what now!?” Before she could act further insane, there was another earthquake. A dragon’s roar, of 5 different tones, was heard and so were the clanking of swords and the firepower of magic spells outside the castle. The grandfather clock in her room chimed.
“Aahh!!” The ground shook again and this time, she fell crashing onto the room’s entrance door and eventually fell to the outside great corridors. The glass on all windows there shattered to millions of pieces and some even nearly hit poor Emi. “Really! What’s with these earthquakes!?” She managed to get up and reach for one of the windows.
Her eyes set onto a path of large stones which led to the castle from far away. There were two people fighting what it looked like a fat brown five-headed dragon of sharp scales; two heads breathing fire to roast its prey alive while the others attacked them endlessly. Its prey were a blue-robed and blue-hat bearded wizard and a knight in shining armour, thwarting off the fire breather with a powerful-looking sword.
“Five heads ... their heads look familiar ... are those the five bullies who picked on Ken!? And ... could it be!?” Despite the beard and moustache, the wizard has a recognizable face and glasses on his nose. Emi was dumbstruck. “Is that ... Hoh!?”
“Knight, stand out of the way! Let me try again to engulf this beast in lava of death!” The knight, trying to fend off three heads this time, could only reply in distraught: “Wizard, could you not figure of a spell to distract this beast so that I can escape freely? Gah! It’s gotten my sword!” The second head from the dragon’s right bit onto his sword.
Wizard fumed. “Let me try this! Boulders from hellish depths! Arise and finish off this foul thing!” He waved his long golden wand in various circular motions and raised it into the air, pulling upwards about seven large rocks from the lava’s depths. “Hah!!” Wizard exclaimed as he swung his wand forward, making all boulders hit hard onto the dragon’s body. “GRRAAWW!!” The mighty beast roared loudly, pounding its sharp claws.
Knight was able to free his sword from the second dragon head’s fangs, and turned towards the castle. “Come, assistant! Let us run to the castle and save the Princess from suffering further under the Witch’s curse!” Emi had a great shock to find the knight looked exactly like Ken, and immediately blushed. “Ken is my saviour? Wow!!”
The five-headed dragon shook off the boulders on its body and flapped its wings greatly; roaring loud at the same time. It flew forward to the castle, attempting to stop Wizard and Knight who were so desperate to reach there first. “Gulp ... hah ... hurry, we must to save her ... argh!” Knight exclaimed as the dragon crashed onto the path of rocks in front of them. “Not again! It blocked us again, just as it was 20 minutes ago!”
“Energy of the wind! Repel this beast from sight!!” Wizard waved his wand again and shot out great orange, yellow and red beams of shots from the wand’s tip. They were almost going to hurt the beast to serious injury, but out of nowhere, a giant piece of tree hull was flung into its path, thus causing a great explosion of branch and wood.
“URGH! This smoke!” Wizard exclaimed as he and the Knight shielded themselves. The smoke soon dissipated and a loud crackle of laughter surfaced in the air. “Ha ha ha ha HAH! Pity silly fools! Don’t even think of laying a finger onto my precious Princess!!”
Out from the top of the valley, a torn-cloaked figure jumped onto the dragon’s back and revealed her ugly face and the wretched nose of it. Emi was dumbstruck again. “That sounds … just like Ria …” The witch laughed again. “Mere foolish mortals!”
“Your precious kingdom will forever be in my hands! So long as I have the King’s sole child with me, your land will fill with sadness and despair! No heir to the throne, no life!” Witch crackled in more laughter as she stretched her hands out.
Knight was angry. “You kidnapper witch! You’ll pay for the crimes you did to this great country! You took the Princess for 3 days already, we’ll get her in three minutes!” A calm and evil voice surfaced behind the Knight. “Oh, and how do you plan to do that?”
A red-robed figure, that bald person with various charm designs on his skin and robes, came walking on the rocky path out of the volcanic mist. “I charmed all these rocks to form the dragon myself. Do you think mere swords and flimsy spells can disrupt the bonds of the charms I made myself? After decades of dark magic study!”
The Wizard turned around. “I recognize you! You’re the disillusioned apprentice of mine decades ago who vanished in the midst of the night, only 3 years under me! Fiend! You work with this witch, who has cursed the land by the mere kidnapping of the Princess!?”
Fiend raised his right hand to the sky. “Who cares!? It’s the gold and glory I’m after!”
“That’s right!” It was Witch’s turn to rejoice in evil. “I took him under my helm, and he proved a powerful apprentice of mine! When the kingdom is finished, all its wealth and people shall be mine! … and Fiend here will obtain a fifth of them all.” She coughed.
Emi made an awkward face. “That’s the priest from the western altars … priest Jia … why is it everyone I know is suddenly appearing in this crazy story? More of a dream?”
Knight fumed in anger. “Curse it all! When will the soldier and the mechanic we met two days ago come!? We’ve done enough stalling here! They should be done by now!”
Instantly after that, the dark sky darkened more and whirring sounds filled the tense air. Turns out it was a large airship of wood and metal, flying in the skies. All gazed upwards and met the occupants: a dark blue haired frail person and a silver haired teen.
“It has been a while ... fellow knight. Sorry for the delays ... the machine gave way while I was testing it just now … I’ve just fixed it.” “Hi, everyone! We’re here!!” Their voices were loud enough for Emi to recognize them. “Maz ... Bak ... weird ...”
“Let them have it, Soldier ...” The Mechanic of silver hair turned to the cheerful soldier. “Aye aye, captain Mechanic! The charm bombs that you devised just yesterday were pure genius! It can even strike down the darkest dark magic available!” The Soldier hurriedly skipped to a complex cannon of cogwheels and repeatedly pulled down its levers.
BLAST. The large cannon overlooking the large valley repeatedly fired spherical charm bombs of metal, often exploding in the mid air and even inside the sea of lava. The sea wobbled hard and Knight and Wizard felt it was time to save the Princess. “Let’s go, Knight!” The Wizard called as he ran first. Knight nodded and followed suit.
“What!? How dare you!? Huh!? WAARGH!!” The explosion of charm bombs in the lava triggered a giant tidal wave that eventually scooped down onto the Fiend, causing his instant death. “No!! Apprentice Fiend! AAH!!” One of the large charm bombs of 6 feet diameter exploded directly above the Witch’s head, releasing a series of shockwaves.
“What, what is this magic!? No! My monster!!” The five-headed dragon roared in utter despair and quickly disintegrated in glimmers of blue and green light into thousands of rock fragments. The charm bomb did its trick in dispelling the dark magic charms that held the dragon of rocks together, thus the Witch had no footing to stand her feet on.
“Aah! AAAAAH!!” The Witch fell down, along with her precious disintegrated dragon, into the sea of lava all too quickly. The lava rumbled furiously and crashed onto the rock valley, making large cracks and the place seemed like falling apart. The earlier rocky path in which Knight and Wizard were fighting, was being swallowed up by turbulent waves.
“Soldier, they are in trouble. Fire away the anchor onto the castle. Make this rescue a quick one.” The Mechanic said in an emotionless tone. Soldier only saluted him and happily complied. “Aye aye, captain! Setting target at the Princess’ private chamber!”
Soldier ran towards a series of machinery and made many adjustments to the parameters. Mechanic likewise tried to aim towards the tallest tower of the rocky castle. “She’s all powered up to be fired away, captain Mechanic! At your command!” Mechanic smiled coldly. “Indeed, let this little story of rescue end in a flash.”
He pulled the trigger and out from the giant airship’s rear, came a gigantic cannon and fired away a 60 foot large anchor of pure steel. The speed was so fast, and along with its intensely heavy mass, that the anchor not only hit its target, but it also tore through the entire castle. Emi was shocked as the giant thing broke down everything.
“AH!! This is terrible!!” She could only exclaim as the impact of the blast shattered the rocky floor and threw her upwards in the air. Without her noticing, a pair of hands reached out to grab her to safety and a gallant face met her eyes. “Your Highness, are you okay? We should get you out of here!” It was the Knight.
Emi’s eyes widened to that of a puppy face. “My ... my… he-herooo ...” She mumbled.
“Spirits of the wind! Elevate us out of here!” Wizard shouted out as he fired gusts of wind from the tip of his wand and created a whirlwind that blew everyone to the top of the airship. The emotionless Mechanic smiled upon seeing them close in. “Nice work.”
The trio were flown upwards away from the rapidly-sinking rocks that once made the castle in the sea of lava. The valley of soil broke into great landslides and crashed into the turbulent waves of lava. In mere seconds, everything crumbled down and was engulfed by lava. The large anchor eventually melted away, setting the airship free.
“Aah!!” Emi ducked and screamed, so did everyone else. Strong volcanic ash vapours rose gusted out to the air, like those from old charcoal-engine locomotives. Several more of such outbursts occurred, and the valley that scarred the thick forests of the kingdom was transformed into an active volcanic lake. “Alright … we’re getting out of here.”
Soldier waved aside his dark blue hair and steered the airship towards the Mechanic’s place. “Hurray! We’ll arrive back at the capital in about 2 hours, with the speed of this airship!” He remarked as he spun the steering wheel, turning the ship in full speed west of the volcanic lake. Wizard sighed. “Alas, the journey of three days is finally over.”
Emi also sighed with relief. “Thank goodness. I just want this to be over with …” Knight approached her. “Your Highness, are you okay? You could use some rest after what you had experienced just now.” Emi made an unnoticeable blush and tried to reply back.
“Um … no, that’s … that’s not necessary. I am fine ... thank you for saving me … from the curse and … everything else …” She remain seated on the airship’s wooden deck floor. “Ah … ash.” She dusted her dress. “I’m all dirty …” Knight handed her a piece of silk cloth. “Here, Your Highness. Use this to clean yourself.” “Ah … thanks.”
The airship flew westward for about 5 minutes now. Wizard dusted his wand and his hat, whereas Knight was eating a piece of cooked chicken. Soldier was humming to himself a local folklore tune and Mechanic was looking out into the skies.
Just when everything seemed to be normal for the coming hours, suddenly … “You!! Airship below us!! You are trespassing into my airspace!! Move out now!!”
A loud announcement boomed in the air. All five of them moved to the airship’s main deck corridors, only to find a similarly large airship above them. It was shaped like a horizontal oval egg with many turbines and square glass windows. From its top compartment, a series of cannons were revealed and aimed to fire at will of its captain.
“Oh, no! Knight sir, we have clashed with the Air Pirate!” Soldier turned frantically towards the disturbed Knight. “What do we do!? The Air Pirate guns down anyone in his so-called airspace, regardless of reason!” The mechanic only slammed his hand on a table nearby. “Then … we have to run to avoid damage … run this thing faster.”
The voice of the Air Pirate boomed again. “This is your final warning! Depart from all of my airspace, or else be fired upon!!” The cannons turned towards Mechanic’s ocean ship-like airship. “Tsk … let’s move out.” Mechanic ran towards the running engines of the ship and started feeding its combustion chambers fuel of charcoal and wood.
“Setting speeds to 200 miles per hour! Knight and Wizard sirs! If I were you, I’d go help Mechanic feed this airship more fuel!” The cheery Soldier became one of seriousness as he tried to steer the airship. “Wizard, let’s go!” The Knight turned to his assistant, who wordlessly nodded, and both ran to the fuel room to hasten the ship’s fuel consumption.
“Urgh … what do I do …?” Emi decided it was best to grab a spot to rest properly, but Soldier immediately boosted the engine; causing Emi to nearly fall back. “Aaah!!” She held on tight to one of the wooden stands on the airship. “I’m sorry, Your Highness! But we have to speed out of here fast if we don’t want to be attacked!!” Soldier could only say that as he attempted to maintain the airship’s balance.
Air Pirate was furious instead. “You dare to escape from me!?” His voice angrily boomed again. “Furthermore, you dare to remain in my airspace!? Air Mate!! Get ready to launch the bombs and missiles!!” Another chubby voice boomed in the air from the airship’s loudspeaker. “Roger that, boss! Ah-hyuk-huh! Ah-hyuk-huh!”
Emi frowned with awkwardness. “Those are … Mr Ahashi and Mr Sanada ... really …”
“Fire away, boss! Ah-hyuk-huh!” In the captain’s room, Air Mate reached out to advanced looking machinery and starting pushing down many green buttons. “Bombs away!” Air Mate stupidly remarked as he pushed down with all his might a mighty lever.
All the cannons on Air Pirate’s airship fired a shower of sphere bombs of metal casing. Many big explosions occurred in the air and start to damage the wooden and metal hull of Mechanic’s airship, even though Mechanic’s ship was way ahead of Air Pirate. “Say goodbye to your aerial journeys! No one messes with the King of the Sky!!”
Air Pirate laughed maniacally as the attacks continued. Mechanic grunted as he shoveled up some more fuel. “Urgh! I should have upgraded this airship of mine … Knight, take over the refueling. I’m going to return fire.” He dropped his shovel and burst out of the fuel room. Wizard continued to use magic to direct all fuel supply into the engines.
“Must make it to the defense chamber … URGH!” Mechanic was involved in a giant explosion of what was the defense chamber. One of Air Pirate’s bombs that were fired there destroyed all supply of cannons and ammunition to bits, falling to the forests below. “My weapons are gone! … Looks like this old beauty is done for … I’ll best prepare us all escape mechanisms to the capital.” He rushed elsewhere again.
Soldier was having a hard time steering the airship. “It is bad! The airship can’t last any longer! Most of the ship is under fire! I don’t know if I can do anymore than this!” Another explosion rocked the airship and Emi ducked to the floor. Out of the smoke came running Wizard and Knight. “The fuel room is wrecked! She’s losing balance!!”
Mechanic came out in the nick of time. “Everyone grab a jetpack machine … we’re going to fly to the capital ourselves … abandon ship.” He opened a door and spilled out four jetpack machines. “Hurry and put them on … we’re losing altitude.” While Soldier still couldn’t leave the steering wheel, everyone else strapped the machines to their backs.
“Wah hahahahahah!! Die, you trespassers! Die!!” Air Pirate screamed with joy again.
Emi was about to take a jetpack machine when Mechanic abruptly took it away and strapped it onto Soldier himself. “Hey!! What about me!?” Emi made an angry face at the silver-haired person. “I’ll carry you on my back, Your Highness!!” It was the Knight. “Let’s go!!” Another explosion wrecked the deck floors where they were.
“Everyone press the red button and prepare to jump!” Soldier cried as he was the first to make his move. Wizard and Mechanic likewise did the same; only that Wizard was whimpering “I don’t like heights …” to himself. Emi held on tightly to Knight’s back and pressed the red ignition button for him. “Jump, o knight in shining armour! Jump!!”
Knight did so immediately, following the other three in their direction. A mere five seconds later, Mechanic’s entire airship exploded to millions of fragments and Air Pirate laughed louder. “GAH HAHAHA!! Don’t think that you can escape by flying away from me! So long as you are in my airspace, I won’t let you go!! Release the vulture!!”
“Right away, boss! Ah-hyuk-huh!” The fat, chubby Air Mate pressed hard on a square green button on a desk. “The birdie needs its prisoners of prey! Ah-hyuk-huh!” From where Air Pirate’s cannons were, emerged from it a gargantuan black and evil-looking vulture which cackled as it flapped its wings to prepare hunting down its prey.
“Aw, come on! Now’s there that!?” Emi said with disgust as she watched a 40-foot-tall creature fly fast towards them. “We have to head down to the ground! That way that beast of flight won’t catch us!” The knight tried to shout out to his colleagues.
Suddenly, the evil vulture instantly approached over all five of them and stretched out its claws. It cackled again and flapped its wings with even greater strength.
“Oh no!” The Wizard cried out in fear and in an instant, he was hit by the flapping right wing like a fly. “AAARRGGHH!!” The Wizard’s cry of pain grew softer and softer, as he fell down to the green forests. He was no longer seen. Soldier cried out in utter despair upon the sight of his loss. “No! Almighty Wizard has fallen! This – GAAH!!”
Soldier in turn was hit by the vulture. His jetpack machine smoked and disintegrated to pieces; falling backwards as he was thrown far away to a nearby cliff. He did not have the chance to scream his last. Mechanic experienced a similar fate – the strong gust of wind blew him away, as the jetpack machine could not counter against a stronger force. “Is this how … the tale ends?” He muttered silently to himself as he disappeared from sight.
Emi cried out “NO!” as she watched the Mechanic fall. “What kind of story is this!? I mean! Shouldn’t there be a happy ending of some sort!?” Suddenly, one of the vulture’s claws grabbed hold onto her tiny body and easily separated her from her knight. “AH!! HELP!! I don’t want to be eaten by an ugly creature!”
Her cry wasn’t heard by the Knight, for she was taken away from him by the vulture so smoothly and nicely that he didn’t feel any sort of movement affecting him. However, it was only when Air Pirate rejoiced in his little victory of prey-hunting that Knight realized of the tragedy. “GAH hahaha HAH!! I have a prey with me now! Prisoner!!”
Knight looked back and shouted in much shock. “Your Highness! NO!!” Emi in turn continued screaming for help, tears flowing out of her eyes as she was pulled away, further and further from her savior. Air Pirate’s shouts were the last thing she heard.
“AAAAAAH!!!” Emi screamed, and she was awake. She found herself back in the comfort of the Kazuguchi household, resting nicely on Ken’s bed. She also saw Ken’s face all too close to her own and screamed again in shock and fell off his bed.
“Gah!!” Ken shouted in return with his fingers poked inside his ears. “Geez, Emi! Will you stop screaming already!? You’ve been doing that for the five to ten minutes you were … asleep or whatever you did! You nearly got me deaf! What’s going on and what’s so scary to scream about!?” Emi resumed a sitting position on Ken’s carpeted floor.
She blushed deeply. “Um ... I ... erhm … it’s a strange story … it’s very weird …”
Thus, for the next ten minutes, Emi told her entire dream to Ken on his bed. At the end, Ken had his lower jaw dropped down, before he eventually closed his mouth back. He initially was speechless, and then tried to find the right words for such a crazy tale.
“I ... ah … I, um ... that’s some crazy story, Emi. And everyone is really in there ... me a knight, Maz a mechanic person, Hoh a wizard ... but I think Ria and Mr Ahashi fit their roles, really! Ha hah!! ... Wait a minute … I remember mum telling me before that spirits don’t rest and dream. They don’t have bodies since they’re dead, so … bwuh?”
Emi looked lightly at Ken. “I just did, didn’t I?” She then shrugged. “Hmm …”
Ken nodded reluctantly. “I guess that’s a good point. Well, anyway, I’m going to do some revision for the big national exams next month. Wouldn’t want a bad performance again. I’ll skip the relaxation training for now, if it’s alright with you.”
Emi immediately became cheerful. “Oh, of course I’m fine with that! I don’t want you to fail examinations either! Come on; study now! Anything you don’t know, I’d try to help you! I’ll have you know that I scored well in all my papers, so I can be of help!” She immediately settled behind Ken as he picked up a book on Accounting.
“Alright, here we go ...” He flapped a page open and picked up a pencil. Ken started doing some mathematical calculations and jotted them down. Emi felt he was going to be fine, and sat on his bed. “Hmm …” The teen had absolutely no time to spare with Emi.
“Being rescued by Ken … that sounds like a dream come true …” The ghost girl then blushed, holding her cheeks with both palms and smiled to herself. “Aaaah …” She looked at Ken, scribbling away, and imagined his face in her dreamy world.
Continued in Chapter 10.
Notes: A random dreamy chapter. I hope you enjoyed this crazy story I made up. The comic series’ names listed are entirely made up by me, bearing no resemblance to any real comic titles, if by chance as well. Plot-relevant characters are added into this dream of Emi’s. Hmm, she stared at Bak and Maz – refer to Chapter 3 – and she’s suspicious of them, even today in the bookstore with Bak; what could this mean?
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Please come and ask if you have any inquiries that are too confusing to understand and whatnot! Thank you very much!
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Post by Professor Fann on Aug 29, 2009 23:20:17 GMT -5
And well, after a long time, which I hope someone has read this story ... I wish to give you all an early Chapter 10. The story is still continuing in the Republic - it's not dead yet. I hope you guys like action, as I may have earlier said (or not) that from Chapter 7 onwards ... things will be picking up. For now, enjoy. ------ This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter Chapter 10: A New Soul and a Great Despair The following day – 17th September a Monday. It was time for school, nearly 8 o’clock. Ken Kazuguchi yawned. He rested his head on his arms on his desk, as the other students walked around and talked together in certain groups. “So tired ...” Emi Takahiro could only look on with a worried face beside him. “Ken, are you okay? You had a good sleep last night though.” The teen grunted some more and stared at her. Not when you kept on waking me up this morning. Ken decided to reply by thinking in his mind, so Emi can still listen while reducing attention from other people. The ghost girl fumed and taunted back: “Are you saying this is my fault!? You were snoring!!” Don’t forget that Ria chased us the moment we got off the aerotrain station ... Ken further grunted and sunk his head on his arms. Emi was still angry, but she had a small drop of pity inside her. Meanwhile, Hoh was watching from behind the class. “Hmm ... that warm thing is still with Ken ... after the last time. What is that and why am I the only one noticing this? I’ll best keep this to myself ... oh, right, I have news to tell him.” Hoh made these thoughts to himself and walked over to the grumpy teen. “Say, erhm ... Ken, I just want to let you know that I went down to Mr Ahashi’s office this morning. As class president, it’s my duty to be informed of and inform the class of new updates. So, uhm ... this week ... there’s a new student coming to our class ...” Ever so suddenly, a stern and bold voice halted Hoh’s words further. “Hello, mister Kazuguchi. I see that mister Hoh is trying to tell you something of mine.” The stern and fierce Mr Ahashi appeared in front of Ken, boring into his eyes. Ken and Hoh literally jumped from their spots, causing Ken to fall over and Emi did the same. “Gah! When did he get here!?” Emi exclaimed while looking at Mr Ahashi. “Alright, you maggots! Silence!! Get back to your seats!! In case you hadn’t noticed, the school bell has already rang and your last Science homework is due today!! Get cracking and we’ll soon be doing revisions!!” The teacher shouted to all students, thus scrambling back to their desks and reaching for the piles of books in their bags. “Before we start today’s class, I have an important announcement to make.” All students are back in their seats, looking at their teacher. Emi merely watched on from Ken’s side. “We have a transfer student from a private school at the province’s western border. She has just moved into Shijun city because her father had been reassigned between company branches.” Mr Ahashi coughed to clear his throat. Some students raised their heads. “While the school normally refrains from accepting any students transferring especially during this time of the year” – Mr Ahashi hinting to the year-end national exams – “but due to her neat academic performance, the school has agreed to accepting her in. I want you all to be friends with her, got it, you group of maggots!?” The teacher shouted at his students so suddenly, that the class could muster a not-so-loud “Yes, sir” together. Mr Ahashi snorted his nose and turned to the classroom door. “You may come in now, miss Chou!” Almost immediately, the door was slid aside. A girl of the female uniform entered; the single light blue over-clothing dress over a white shirt, brown shoes and white socks, holding her school bag with both hands; her pearly face and deep blue eyes and short, spunky, green hair. She stood by Mr Ahashi. “Hi, everyone! My name is Ziwei Chou. It’s nice to see you all. I hope that you’ll guide me to adapt to this new place and we can be best friends!” Her soft yet loud voice was however greeted by a sullen “Welcome” from all the students and she was surprised. “There’s no need to bother, miss Chou. This class of slugs is always like this, but you can surely get along with them, I trust. Which is why” – Mr Ahashi turned his head – “Ken Kazuguchi! I’m putting you in charge of showing her around this place!!” The brown-haired teen was naturally shocked. “Ah, what!? Why me?” He blurted out. Mr Ahashi snorted at him. “That’s none of your business! I merely decided you out of a random name drawing this morning! Do as you are told and be a good student to miss Chou, or I’m sending you to detention if she gets any sort of scratch on her!!” Even Ziwei Chou was afraid by Mr Ahashi’s really fierce tone of voice. “… Golly. I just found out why everyone is sullen.” Emi in turn made a half-open-eye stare at the fierce teacher. “Mr Ahashi is always giving detentions … isn’t that wrong?” Throughout the four consecutive hours of classes, Ken and the new girl made no contact at all. Emi kept on staring at her from time to time, sometimes even talking to herself things like “She seems pretty decent. I’m sure everything will be all fine for her.” Eventually when it was lunch break, everyone gathered at Hoh’s table to eat. “Aha, so welcome, miss Chou, to our school! Please be very assured that I as class president will do everything I can to ensure your stay here is pleasant. You can just call me Hoh.” Ziwei Chou made a smile. “My pleasure! And you are?” She turned to Ken, who was munching in his box of noodles. “Um … eh? Oh … right.” “My name’s Ken. I think Mr Ahashi briefly yelled out my name just now, didn’t you listen?” He slurped up his noodles and earned a disgusted look from Hoh. “Ken, you shouldn’t talk to our new classmate with your mouth full with food!” Hoh hissed back at the now-dimwitted-looking Ken. Emi buried her face in her palms. The new girl laughed. “Hah, you’re an interesting fellow! Call me Wei, if you will. I’ve checked around the place, and it looks okay so far.” She swallowed down all her rice and closed her own lunchbox. “What do you guys do around here anyway?” Hoh shrugged. “Oh, the usual ... sports, eating snacks, having fun with friends.” Wei moved her chair and surprisingly, sat closer to Ken. “You know ... you oddly remind me of someone I know, someone I love very much.” She rested her chin on her right palm and just stared at Ken for a moment, which slightly gave him the creeps. “Um … hello?” Ken asked. That earned him Emi’s short attention, who looked back up briefly. “... Something strange is coming to me, Ken.” It was Emi who spoke. “This girl ... Wei ... her aura is ... strange ... there’s some spot of happiness and ... gloom.” Ken raised an eyebrow. “Gloom?” He asked, and suddenly he found himself being stared at even more closely by Wei. He was initially shocked to see that, and so was Hoh. “Um … Wei?” Apparently, the girl didn’t hear Hoh at her, and she had dreamy puppy and glittering eyes boring down at Ken, who was quite upset about it. “Ah ... it really is you! You do look like him so much!” Wei instinctively held Ken’s right hand with both her hands on the table. Ken had a shock, Hoh dropped down his jaw and Emi was blushing red all over with a mix of anger as well. “KEN!! What, what is the meaning of this!? Why is she holding your hand!? Have you met before!?” The poor teen looked helpless and tried to settle things. “Hey, um, Wei! What do you mean I look like someone a lot, and who is this someone exactly!?” Wei blinked her eyes and moved a distance away just before she was nearly going to lean on his shoulder. “Ah!! Um, sorry about that! I’m really sorry! I was all dreamy and ...” She shook her hands repeatedly while apologizing. Ken stared back. “Ah, sure. Right.” He sighed with relief whereas Emi glared on with some anger and curiously, some jealousy. “This girl … is she asking for trouble!?” She remarked angrily and Ken quickly turned to her. Emi, how could you say that!? I’m sure there’s a reason for all of this!“Oh, I’m thirsty.” Wei suddenly commented, thus stopping the stir between Emi and Ken. Wei reached out to her school bag and took out a can of juice. “This is brewed western tea, but it’s made in a factory compared to the ones I enjoy brewing myself. It’s not bad, but … I always have a problem with opening the lid of cans like this …” “Hi, everyone! What’s going on?” A sudden burst of cheerful gathering came out from a familiar frail-looking boy. Hoh turned around to see the smiling face of Bak. “Oh! Hey, Bak, you’re back! Your other selves are not out, thank goodness … where’s Maz?” The frail boy shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know myself. The moment lunch break started, he left off without saying anything. Probably the bathroom or something.” Bak eventually noticed Wei. “Oh, I didn’t see you there. I’ve … never seen you before. What’s your name?” He held out his hand to offer a handshake with Wei. Wei stopped her attempts to open the can lid. “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t see you … I came in from the western border on Saturday. My name is Wei. Nice to meet you.” The moment she shook her hand with Bak, she felt her finger ice cold so suddenly and retreated away. “Wow! Wha, why is your hand so cold!? Geez!” She breathed hot air onto her left palm. Ken merely watched on, as Hoh curiously touched onto Bak’s left palm. “Erhm, I don’t feel anything. It’s normal and quite warm. How can his hand be cold?” The girl didn’t reply and continued breathing hot air to heat up her chilling sensation. It was only there that Emi paid attention to Wei; throwing aside her earlier regal bearing. “Bak’s hand … she felt it cold, but Hoh says it’s warm … strange thing is, the moment I set my eyes on Bak, I also feel it cold … his aura … does this mean that Wei has some level of senses that can detect what I can detect as well? Why is it … everyone around here … has different levels of spirituality? I really don’t know much of this world …” She commented silently to herself and Ken didn’t even hear any of them. Wei fidgeted some more on the juice can lid and still couldn’t open it, while the rest were seemingly ignoring her and cleaning up. The school clock ticked around ten minutes to 1 o’clock. When everyone was just calm … suddenly, Ria burst in with a wooden stick. “Ken Kazuguchi!! Time to be cleansed!!” The sudden shouting shocked the teen and the other students. Emi fidgeted and stammered. “Oh no! She, she’s here!!” Wei was naturally stunned by Ria’s wild burst. “Ahm … uh … who is that?” Before she could get the answers, both Ken and Hoh stood up and ran from their seats. Ken called out to Emi. Hey, come on! Follow me! Emi was briefly taken aback before she fully comprehended him. “Ah, coming, Ken!” It was when Emi moved to follow Ken that once again, just as before, Ria gave chase. “Come back here! Don’t think you can get away! Ghosts and all wandering spirits must go!!” Some students leaped aside, including Bak, to avoid any possible contact with the weirdo Ria. Yelps of shock were heard. Ken and Hoh ran fast behind to the back of the class and exited by the back door. Ria ran and tried to keep up with them, and Emi as well. Just then, Bak looked onto Wei’s can of juice, which she stopped trying to open. “Hmm ...” During the short seconds of running out of the class, Ken hurriedly thought up an idea that came to him when he thought of escaping from Ria again. “Hoh, listen! I expect Ria to follow us exactly where we run, so immediately when we run at through the back door again, I want you to lock the door! We’re going to lock Ria outside the class!” Hoh was dumbstruck. “Lock the doors!? What about the teacher!?” Ken smiled back. “Nah, that’ll be no problem.” Ken and Hoh ran instantly into the class and proceeded as planned. Wei could only stare back from her seat, behind Hoh’s own, and make bad facial expressions. “What’s going on? Is this a crazy school or something like that?” She silently remarked to herself. Two seconds later, Ken exited by the back door. Hoh pretended to jump out of the way as Ria simply ran past him; her target was Ken and Emi, not him. “Aha! It’s Hoh’s time to shine! Hiyah!” He nearly crashed onto the back door itself and slid it shut, locking it instantly. “I’m coming for you, Ken!” The bespectacled boy sped past on-lookers and in the nick of time, he reached the front classroom door and there was Ken, almost going to make it inside the class. “Come on, Hoh! Lock the door! I want this to end quickly!” Hoh reached his arms to the door. Ria realized what was going on just then. “Oh no, you don’t! Don’t you dare try to stop me!” Ken made a huge leap onto the floor, sliding on it so smoothly like a snake. Hoh had moved the door just nicely and nearly collided onto Ken’s waist when he was sliding just nicely on the floor. Seconds later, it was all over – class 3-A’s door was closed shut. “GAH!” Ria nearly crashed onto the wooden door itself, but she managed to stop herself on time before earning a flat nose. “Why, you! Let me in!!” She repeatedly banged hard on the door whereas the classroom itself turned into an uproar of cheering. “Someone hit back at Osada!” “What a rare moment!” was among the sentences of joy cheered out. Unfortunately for poor Ria, the Geography teacher along with Mr Sanada, the rotund language teacher arrived on the spot. “What is the meaning of this? Do you want me to report this oddity to Mr Ahashi, hmm?” Ria was flustered all over. “I … I …” “Now, now.” Mr Sanada halted him. “I don’t see a need to tell our head of discipline about something minor like this. Let’s just … not see this happen again, shall we, miss Osada?” The girl hesitantly nodded and retreated in humiliation to her own class. On Ken’s side, apparently the escape was successful, but he had crashed onto the wall just opposite the class front door with his face flat on it. Wei had a concerned look on and got up to tend to him. “Hey, Ken, are you okay!? That was some hard hit on your face!” Indeed, Bak was still in the classroom, already trying to open Wei’s can of juice. “Fingers … too slippery … aha! I’ve got it!” He had disengaged the tin can’s pull tab and opened the can’s hole itself, but as Bak had shaken the can repeatedly out of earlier fuss, the air pressure simply fizzed out all its liquid contents, spraying onto Wei. “AAAH! What are you doing!? Whoa!” She was wet on the face and body of industrial brewed tea, making her close her eyes in natural reaction and her feet somehow lost balance. Just at the corner of a table first front and second row from the window, she knocked herself on that table’s edges; she was caused to fall down onto the floor. “AAAH!” She screamed as she lost balance and fell down hard onto Ken’s backbone. “Argh!! Ow … owie …” He had become a cushion to block Wei’s fall, with a price. All was silent as the students, including Hoh and Bak, stared back at the sight of Wei on top of Ken’s back. Bak was the only one to shiver. “No … I … caused her … to fall … no … this can’t be. I made someone … fall …” He stammered with wide eyes of fear. With that, he hid his face and rushed outside the class to go back to his own class, briefly stunning the Geography teacher of his presence. “Bak!” Hoh called out to him. “Ow ... ow … that was painful … urgh … Ken, are you okay?” Wei tried to raise herself by getting on her hands and knees. Ken heard her talk. “Ah … yeah, I’m fine … my face hurts …” Just then, Emi appeared out from outside the school buildings because she allowed herself to fly through the school walls when Ken was sliding on the floor. “Ah, sorry, Ken! That was wonderful, getting rid of that Ria –!” She paused dead on her words when she saw Ken slightly hurt on his stomach and there was Wei, on her hands and knees just above him. She didn’t know how to react; all she knew was that she was both angry and very embarrassed with what she saw of both the boy and girl. “This … this … I won’t stand for this anymore! You, Ken, with another girl!! Those kind of sick moves!!” With that last hysteria, Emi flew out of the class towards the Chaoge suburb areas in the air, never turning back to look at him. Ken seemed to have heard her hysteria, for he called out quietly: “No … Emi, come back …” Wei was then slightly confused. “Ken, who were you talking? And who’s this … Emi?” She lifted Ken to properly stand up on the floor, and Hoh only watched. Ken pressed his right palm against his forehead. “No … it’s nothing. Just that …!” Mr Sanada entered the class and approached the students with his usual chubby, gentle tone. “Oh, dear. What’s going on? Miss, your face is wet. Go dry yourself, alright? Ahem … now, for the rest of you, class has started. Go back to your seats.” Ken looked on at Mr Sanada, while he was supported by Wei. “Ah … yes, sir. I’ll just … go back to my desk.” Wei quickly interjected: “Let me help you. Please.” The tale ended right there. All students proceeded to go back to their seats and the Geography teacher entered the class with his books. Ken stared at the windows. “Emi …” Throughout the day, class went on like everything was all normal again. Ken was however not really paying much attention to what the Geography teacher and Mr Sanada, the Basics Language teacher, said. He looked down on his desk, his books and pencils. When the bell rang, he travelled back home all the way with a slow walking pace. Wei wanted to talk to him about whatever happened earlier, but she was too late as Ken boarded the aerotrain back home. “Oh dear …” was all she could say as she stood still outside the school gates. Students poured out of the school and merely avoided her in their path. Similarly, Bak was a distance away her, with a sad face. “Emi?” Ken arrived home and that was the first thing he said. He didn’t care if Grandpa Ojiro was there. “Emi …” His mind was only set on her; feeling guilty to himself for Emi’s emotional outbursts. He dragged himself to his room up the stairs without any spirit and energy. Upon entering the room, he got himself a surprise: Emi was there. She was sitting on the balcony fence, looking down to the vast farmlands with a partially sad face. Ken slid the sliding door aside to enter the balcony, but she took no notice until he called her name. “Emi?” She was shocked and turned to her right. “Ken!” “You were here all along? That’s a relief … I was worried where you’d go … What’s going on? Why were you so angry back there?” Her mood returned to be that of sadness. “… It’s just … I had never seen anything like that. You were sliding in on the floor … and so suddenly, she was already over you … hands and knees …” Ken blushed deeply red upon hearing that. “Listen, Emi … that was a total misunderstanding … I …” Emi continued: “You did your best to protect me from Ria … those moves Wei made … to me, they were simply unacceptable … I couldn’t take it. Such an awkward scene in public … I guess I simply couldn’t take it … not after she held your hand.” Ken nodded. “Oh … I see. I guess you people back in the north had never seen such … proximity before, have you?” Emi nodded in compliance. “Yeah … we still regard things like this as shameful. I’m … I’m sorry. I guess I just overreacted. Maybe it’s because that … I like you very much.” Ken literally jumped on hearing that and his face turned red. “Um … uh … right. Well, anyway, I’m sure she has her own reasons for somehow holding my hand. Come to think of it …” The teen quickly flashbacked on the past. “She said that I looked like someone she loved. Must be of a really close relationship for her to go to the extent of even touching me. As for that … awkward positions you said …” The ghost girl shook his head. “It’s okay, Ken. I fully understand. I probably need to adjust accordingly around here … so I won’t bring you any trouble. Thank you for your concern; that really made me happy inside.” She shrugged a smile at him. “Erhm … let’s go with that.” He exhaled normally. “I don’t think Wei’s going to be of any trouble to all of us. She’s a new student and she’s nice. We can all get along … well, you getting used to them anyway. No one can see you, but I sure can.” “That’s right!” Emi exclaimed and the both of them shared a long nice laugh. Later that night, after a shower, a refreshing dinner of steamed gravy chicken and green beans with fried bean curd, Ken was all refreshed and getting ready to begin revision. “Exams … I have to perform well this time. I told my folks that I’m changed and I have to prove it to them.” The teen sighed and walked up to his room door. “Aw, don’t make such a glum look! You can do it, Ken, I know you can! Just try your best and believe in anything you do!” She encouraged his attitude further at his left side. Ken smiled back. “Ah ... thanks for believing in me then. Let the work begin.” Just then, younger brother Ryushi came running to him from the stairs. “Big brother Ken! There are some people to see you! They said it was something rather urgent. Do you know anyone from around here?” He said in his cute childish voice. Ken was confused. “Someone for me? Who could that be? I never arranged to meet anyone here.” Upon arriving at the household’s entrance gate, he was surprised by the familiar faces. “Wei!? Bak!? What are you guys doing here? More importantly, how did you manage to find me here? The only one who knows my home is Hoh.” Bak pointed to himself. “Well … back then, Yon used to linger around in the area. By chance, she spotted you the other day and then, she already wanted to meet you so badly.” Bak was referring to the time when his other self came out and even laid a tight irritating hug onto Ken. The teen hung his head down in shame of that event and Emi gave a weak, guilty laugh. Wei decided to put aside some thoughts about Bak’s Yon and approached him. “I asked if Bak here knows where you live, so … anyway, it was about today. I’m really sorry for staring at you like a creep and even held your hand. Also for the time I fell on you …” “Bak here was the one who sprinkled tea juice on my face and made me fall. Thanks for breaking my fall and sorry if it hurt …” Ken glared with anger back at Bak. “Uaah!” Bak retreated backward, as the frail boy he is, and hid behind Wei. “I’m sorry, okay…?” Ken grunted and turned to Wei. “Yeah, anyway, you said that I resembled someone you loved dearly. Who could that be, until you were touched enough to hold my hand?” Wei made an expression of reminiscent of sentimental love. “That person … is my older brother. It’s just that I really miss him … I don’t know how he’s doing …” “Oh, I see. Best of wishes from me then. Since everyone’s here, why not you all come in and stay for a while? Wherever you both live, you must have come a long way just to see me.” Both Bak and Wei shook their heads. Wei responded first: “Nah, it’s okay. I can go back to my apartment home on the 20th floor in Shijun city by myself.” “I live with Maz though, but I can go back home easily. Eh, I might as well go now. So, Wei … sorry for the mishap earlier. That won’t happen again, I promise!” The frail boy gave a sudden bow to Wei, who was shocked in turn. “Ah, it’s okay now … see you.” Somewhere close to where the trio were talking, a drunkard with unbuckled collars of white shirt, loosened tie, messy hair, holding an empty beer bottle came wobbling into the village. Initially he was rather ignored by the passersby, but the moment he smashed the rear end of the bottle to create those broken sharp edges, it was trouble. “That boss of mine … who does he think he is!? Bossing me around all the time! Other employees … all treating me like a workhorse! Gah! I want them all to die! DIE DIE DIE!!” That drunkard nearly scarred another fellow man when he swung the bottle. “What the!? Watch it!!” The fellow shouted, but was ignored, and there was a rampage. “Help! Help! Madman on the loose!” Neighbours cried out, including the earlier man, and sought to dodge and avoid him. It was when Bak decided to head home that the screams became more apparent and some neighbours turned to their sheds for self-defense. “Huh? What’s going on here?” The drunkard turned towards Bak. His vision was so hazy, his mind so blur, he mistook Bak for someone he must have hated. “Come back here, you smug! Let me slice that crappy face of yours!” He ran in a rather fast pace, despite being drunk, and Bak was all afraid and shivering. “AAAAH!” Bak screamed and ducked onto the soil road as the drunkard lashed out his broken bottle. “Don’t try to avoid me!” Bak continued to roll on the floor, avoiding the stab attempts by the drunkard. Ken and Wei were alarmed and wanted to do something. “Ah! Help! Oh, why is this happening to me!?” Bak cried out as he tried to stand up and get on his feet. The drunkard was, however, faster and stood behind Bak and held his broken bottle high in the air. “Time to die, you lazy pig! Pay for your smug attitude!!” “Back off, you bum! Leave him alone! You don’t even know him!” Wei had apparently rushed forward, along with Ken, to stop the drunkard themselves. Emi was aghast and chased after them. “No! Don’t! You’ll get yourselves injured!! Ah!! At least let me handle this situation, Ken!!” The teen unfortunately didn’t hear her call. Wei clenched her fist tightly and landed a punch on the drunkard’s face, blowing him down to the soil ground for a while. “ARGH!” Ken rushed over to Bak. “Hey, are you okay!? Come on, let’s get out of here!” Bak tried to push some energy into his limbs as Ken dragged him upwards. Wei even kicked on the drunkard’s left rib cage. “You psycho drunk! Take this and that! See how you would feel if someone hurts you with bare flesh!” “PEH!” The drunkard spat out some white foam and saliva as Wei relentlessly kicked him. As a nature of self-defence, the drunkard reached out his rowdy hand and grabbed on tightly of Wei’s right hand. “AH!! Let me go!” The drunkard eerily stood tall over her slowly. “You idiot secretary! Calling me with all your insults and slaps! I ought to slap your face for good!” The drunkard still had his broken beer bottle in his left hand and was going to slash out at Wei. Emi’s eyes widened with shock, closing into on the scene of horror. “No!! Ken, we have to –!” Before she knew it, Ken had already sped forward and pulled Wei away from the drunkard. “Ah!” She collapsed on the ground. “You two get out of here now before this madman comes charging at you!” Ken wanted to do something, but it was too late. The drunkard’s hand holding the broken beer bottle tilted to the right and it swung the broken edges diagonally downwards to the left. Ken was hit hard on his main chest area and his left arm. Emi’s wide eyes were filled with shock, shaking with fear. To her, all was silent; no voice. She couldn’t hear the cries of Wei, despite seeing Wei’s extreme shock and disgust. Bak was similarly petrified in the horror with shrunken light blue eyes. The drunkard slashed Ken again in the same manner; scarring his right arm and another strike on his body front. Blood spluttered out and dyed his clothes red. Ken did say something, but Emi couldn’t hear what it was. He collapsed down onto the ground and created a thin pool of blood, absorbed by the soil road. Her sights were not focused on the incoming mob of angry neighbours with long wooden sticks, but the patch of soil stained deep red and whatever parts of Ken that were covered in blood. “NO!! IT’S HAPPENING AGAIN!!” Emi screamed out the loudest she could and ran away from the scene. Overwhelmed by despair and terrible memories, she curled herself up into a ball at a corner of the Kazuguchi household front door after she hid her eyes beneath her arms. She never turned back to even take a peek at the teen. “No … not again … it’s starting all … over again … Ken … I failed … I failed to protect you … Ken … forgive me … I have failed you …” Poor Emi kept on weeping, remaining curled up at that corner. She was too traumatized by something in the past, and she allowed it to control her as long as she cried. Continued in Chapter 11. Notes: New character and some extra developments. In Chapter 4, Ken’s 2 pm subject is about Geography, so no clashes there. Emi is experiencing some bad times again … poor girl. Once again, refer back to Ria’s uniform dress code in Chapter 7 for Wei’s own – the pinafore dress. Being slashed by a drunkard is pure horror, but what can you expect more from a half-conscious person? A little hint on Emi’s past there – what will happen next? ------ And that is all of the chapter stories for today. In the mean time ... I have taken the liberty to Google up images (and some of my Deviantart images) in order for me to truly express how sceneries and certain descriptions look like in the story such as below: Core City Image: msiafanwriter.deviantart.com/art/FanWriter-s-Art-52-Page-2-43193980The oft-mentioned Republican capital called Core City. Compared to this, Handao village and Chaoge town and Sjihun city are rather small. Emi's uniform that she always wears: www.geishablog.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/kyoko1.jpgThis one, more or less, and follow her descriptions in Chapter 3. Ken's, Maz's, Bak's, Hoh's and Wei's and Ria's uniform codes: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2e/True_Tears_main_characters.jpgJust the boys' uniforms there for the boys and the two girls from the left - their uniforms. And along follow the descriptions of such pinafore uniforms in said Chapter 10. The temples in Chapter 6: Shot 1: Shot 2: studyabroad.duke.edu/uploads/photos/444_o.jpgShot 3: Taken from their respective sites, but I think those are quite fitting. The second image was put in URL form, as the size is deemed too big. ------ Thus, that is the Chapter update for the end of the month. Next month, I'll be posting three Chapters - of each in theory it should be one per ten days. Please look forward to it!
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 12, 2009 15:38:14 GMT -5
Sorry for the belated update, which should have occurred a few days again, but I was busy with reports, and that I prepared a copy of my replies to comments made by my greatest reader, mgxo, which also contained the Chapter update, but it seems I had lost it … so I had to take some time to redo everything. Thankfully though, the Chapter 11 update for today wasn’t deleted. So … here we go. I’m posting the first part of the update in this post, and then the second part – being the Chapter 11 itself – in another. About … 10 minutes after this first one.
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Firstly, replies to comments and questions by the great mgx0, all the way from Chapter 5 up to Chapter 10. The comments for the first 4 chapters are lost forever … so I can’t include something that’s gone in this huge post, can’t I?
Thanks a lot for the compliments. Well, the word is that when you’re absorbed into reading something so much, you don’t realize how fast times flies. But … I guess this is a different case. Congratulate yourself for being absorbed into this story. And yeah, Ria and Jia. I didn’t realize their names rhyme until only after completing typing all the chapters. Oh well, I must make sure this never happens again.
Mmhmm. 3 alter-egos. Indeed that hugging scene is very awkward. But I use it as a plot device for character introduction, Yon being referred to. Another plot device being the flower sniffing – it’s not a permanent trigger according to what I have in store for Yon. I would sure Maz has the burden to look after Bak at this point. This issue will be explored on as the story further develops to a crisis zone. Vital clue there!
Yeap, Emi is a strong girl, just as I intended for her. But maybe that was a bit unrealistic, being too strong to even break a timber block. Well … there are those stunt shows where people had trained their minds to literally break metal swords apart with their foreheads, so why not? Hm, yeah, I decided to give some characters some development before they start to appear being rare. Except for the five bullies – they’re just plot devices. Maz is an ordinary teen so far like all others … he’s just weird and cold.
In the first Chapter, rest assured that no murder was intended – it’s the casual thing of bullies simply beating up others to flaunt their psychological power and might. Of course there’s a school policy against sharp items – the bullies just found a way around it … somehow … in a way I don’t think I’ll want to elaborate. Hmm … well, sometimes, the dead can’t be alive, and they’re just best left the way they are.
Nah, our mysterious guy will not find out about Emi’s fear of seaweeds – only Ken. And yes, the chapter was indeed intended as a quick problem solver to lay the foundations for greater plot growth. To some extent, we must move on, and all the past humiliations would be naturally regarded as blissful memories and treasures of good relationships. And no, Jia is not the mysterious guy at all. The holy water part – don’t worry about that, it’s just sprinkling, they can dry off. It’s not like I poured a huge bucket of water on you.
The purpose of religion is always for assisting man to build his discipline and ensuring that his world around him, as a member of his society, is of peace. So naturally, any government would want to support the roles religious leaders or people play in maintaining a harmonious society. The Office of the National Shaman is, you can say, a body that mediates between both of them … or is it? But still, rest assured, this one body is not destined to be on the dark side.
I already explained myself regarding Bak and Yon and the flower sniffing … how did Bak come to have the alter egos will be dealt with very soon, in fact. I agree, anyone will go crazy with having a sister like Ria, the way she is fanatically obsessed with anything spiritual … and Maz being cool and cold over it might mean that he couldn’t care less.
We’ll see how Hoh develops; he seems to be able to sense Emi in some manner … as for Jia, let’s just say that when you meet someone you don’t like … best to run away to avoid any further trouble. I don’t know about the Dawn of the Dead part, but I guess Ria and Jia do set a zombie-like chase impression on you. Technically, since Emi is already-stated impossibly strong … why not whirl Hoh around and around and throw him across the street for safety’s sake?
Yay Emi, well yeah, she’s still impossibly strong, meaning that she must have trained in some form of martial arts, so … oh, the Z in PUNIEZ made you laugh? I put it there to emphasize more on rage and insanity of that demon. Our peasant guy finding the secret door … as Emi claimed, that was also a folklore song she heard of back in her northern hometown, but no one would actually expect it to literally work that way isn’t it? Well, the only way to find out is to wait and let more of the plot develop.
Hoh is a city boy after all, being alone with servants and not with his own parents … stuck at home, never seeing the outside world … why not be excited in the country? He’s not those bratty rich people who can’t stand a bit of poverty. … eh, you know, the fact that she misses her parents back in her northern hometown means that they are alive, isn’t it? Oh wait, that’s a good question … but for now, I’ll say that only she died.
As always, thanks very much for the compliments. I don’t know if this story can ever make it onto TV or a serialized comic magazine, though I do hope, but … it was nice having you to continuously read them when the updates have arrived.
Technically, any boy who is exposed to comics would want to continue reading them. Isn’t that how we work? And … we’ll go more in Maz’s guardian relationship with Bak later. Yes, she’s never heard of comic books before … that’s what you get when you meet someone who comes from an undeveloped region, like the small towns and villages far far away from the big cities … speaking of which, you’re right. Somehow I imagined that fairy tale dream and wrote it down, not knowing of the similarities.
I agree with the molten lava castle part, I am not sure of Ken being King Arthur, but I know Hoh being Merlin-like is correct … and wise people have big beards. The airship, dragon and summoner thing to Final Fantasy – agreed … nah, I’m fine with Maz’s and Bak’s roles in the dreams. I don’t think someone as chirpy as Bak can ever be a mechanic. As for the pirates … no idea. I only know that Mr Ahashi is fitly fierce.
Eh … no real comment on the Ken-Emi relationship for now. I have nothing solid up my head. Must be the dream that affected Emi more.
A lot of things go pretty spontaneous, I’d say. Memory flashbacks and all … Ken sliding, eh? I’ll just say that his love for comic books and video games and him being an idiot makes him being able to do that. The average you and me wouldn’t try that. Ken is a very good athlete too, which might be a great factor, him playing football in Chapter 7 …
You know, when you’re not from a city, the air of conservatism is great in those regions. Rules are more adhered, traditions are more greatly observed … stuff. Nah, Yon’s not a stalker, she just saw Ken by accident. Did I mention that Wei’s an athlete too? Hm, apparently not. So … what startled Emi? True, you’re just going to have to find out in the future and compare the revelations with today’s tragedy. Wei’s sixth sense … I don’t know, let’s wait for the story to progress and find out.
Well, as the story progresses, generally more is revealed, and they always tend to get darker and darker. It’s a norm, really. Stories cannot stay the sweet juice they always are in the beginning if you were to move from day to day. And no, there’s no moral you’re supposed to learn here. In fact, now that you mentioned it, I never even realized that these two stories were paralleled until when I finished typing the whole thing and re-read everything during the proofchecking. So, just let things be.
And that is it. Hope you’re satisfied with things, despite the long wait, mgx0! All of you other readers can also take advantage of this Q and A session … it helps in the story, for I fear that you might not be able to handle the complexity of the story.
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 12, 2009 15:52:42 GMT -5
Okay, I'm back. Part Two now.
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Secondly … the update of Chapter 11! I hope everyone has been waiting to read this, because in the past few chapters, things have been developing at a quite fast pace, and we can’t totally stop it now, can we? We can slow things down … but not stop it. In any case, the next chapter update is STILL on the 20th! Happy reading!
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This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter
Chapter 11: The Poor Soul Calms Down
It was back in the altar hall. The cloaked figure was again performing his ritualistic practices with the play of a flaming sword, scattering of paper talismans in the air and thick burning joss-sticks. “They escaped unharmed … interesting.” He muttered.
His minion ghoul approached out of the dark corners. “My lord … the demon sent the other day was tackled only by the girl herself. We lost one of our finest demons to the other side.” Out from his hood, the cloaked figure spat onto the floor. “One was only lost, but we have thousands more! How are the preparations coming along?”
“My lord, the dark magic army is ready, but we’ve only secured the southeast, east, south and central areas of this land you call Chuhongyun Province.” The cloaked figure gave a light cough and soaked his flaming sword in freezing water. “In that case …”
“Prepare to launch the demon recruits to the northern wasteland where thousands died in past battles! Get a unit ready soon! I want those two pacified for good!” That was the figure’s last order before he waved his hand and darkened the altar instantly.
Ken opened his eyes. He was staring at the white ceiling with yellow lamps. He felt that he was tight all over his chest, arms and his abdominal region. “Urgh … where am I?” He pushed aside his blanket and saw his body wrapped in bandages. “Here again, huh?”
The teen was back in the hospital again; the same place where he heard Emi inside his head. “Emi … right … where are you …?” He looked around, expecting to find her as she was always by his side, but he didn’t this time. “Wow, I missed school.”
The clock ticked 10.30 am. Someone knocked on the door, and in came a nurse with the food trolley. “Breakfast, mister Kazuguchi. The doctor will attend to you after you have eaten your meal first. You’ve had us quite frightened. Doctors have to stay up for some 5 hours in the morning just to stitch your wounds properly.”
Ken made a wide-eyed reaction. “It was that bad, eh? Phew ... I’m just glad that was all over.” The nurse handed out a tray of hospital food and a glass of orange juice. “I’ll come back in 30 minutes to collect the plate and glass when you’re done.” Having said that, the nurse proceeded to exit Ken’s ward and he tucked into his food.
“Wow … for the first time, I’m glad to be eating hospital food. Who would have known that they would taste so good on an empty stomach?” He cut through the fried pork and munched on his broccoli. Pretty soon, he was done eating.
“Urgh …” The teen moaned as he brushed aside his tray of plate and glass. “I feel a little sick … I think I need to go to the bathroom …” He tried to lift his body to move but produced no motion. “Numb … maybe my body is just too tired …”
A breeze of wind entered by his open window. “No … don’t move … stay still …”
Emi stood there on his right, looking sullen and sad. Ken was immensely relieved to see her and refrained from moving any more. “Oh, Emi! There you are! I’m glad to see you again! Where were you all this time? But, how did you manage to find me here?”
She was unfazed by the sudden bombardment of questions onto herself. “Ah … I just came in. I also had a tip-off that you would be here. So, I just searched on the counters of each floor and finally, I found your name on the 20th floor of the hospital and ... here I am.” She still had a sullen face which piqued Ken. “A tip-off, huh …?”
“Hey, now. Why are you so sad? Come on, just tell me what is it that troubles you.” Emi hit realization and utterly shook her head. “Ah, no! I’m not sad or anything! I … I’m just thinking about some things, that’s all. It’s nothing.” She shrugged her shoulders.
Ken raised an eyebrow. “So … um, so do you mind telling me what happened when I was knocked out last night? I just woke up, you know.” Emi stared at the floor. “Um …”
A ray of light shone into Emi’s dark sight. She opened her eyes and stared at the dim sun. Her face was all red and she still remained curled up at the front door of Ken’s home. Her crying had already stopped but her heart still remained broken. “Ken …” She mumbled.
“I failed to … protect you …” She was in no mood for getting up and trying to feel better. She hid her face under her arms, thus removing from her sight a slowly-approaching shadow from the left-open Kazuguchi house gate. Aha, there it is. That spirit. I’ve finally found you where you are. It’s time to go to the netherworld for judgment!
She was too immersed in thoughts to even register the loud thoughts of a familiar voice – the western altar Priest Jia. Yes … after days of secretly following the boy, I have found the spirit that is with him! What the scriptures say must go!! The malicious priest bent his eyebrows with a smile and was going to make his move when …
“Excuse me, kind priest.” A sharp voice emerged from behind the priest and halted his actions. It was then that Emi started to take notice of her surroundings. The priest turned behind to meet the person who called him. “Ah, yes … how can I help you?”
Emi got back to her senses when she saw the priest barely steps away from her. “AH! The altar priest Jia! What is he doing here!? I’d better get out of here before he chases me! He knows that I’m with Ken!” Thus, without looking back, she dashed out of the area, past Jia and the person who distracted his attention away from Emi.
Jia felt the fast movement of Emi. “Argh! Oh no!” He yelled out but he quickly returned back to his resuming self and coughed in front of his guest. “Um, sorry about that. I had something else on my mind. Anyway, what is it that I may help you of?” He coughed.
The person merely shook his head. “… No, it’s nothing. In fact, your face gave me the answers I needed. Thank you so much.” The person merely walked off to the right of the Kazuguchi household, leaving a disgruntled Jia cursing away under his breath.
It was the morning of 18th September a Tuesday. Emi didn’t know what time it was, but it was definitely morning, for the sun shone brightly onto the farming village and the Shijun city. She sighed and continued flying past the scene of houses and walking people. “Phew… away from the priest. Seems he’s not the kind of virtuous person inside.”
Some distance away from the Handao village, there was a large river that flowed south from the northern mountain range. Its banks were fortified with concrete slabs that held the gushing waters in its own borders. Emi sat on the tip of one of those concrete slabs.
“Ken … I was too slow to move … I failed to protect you ... now, I don’t know where you are … I failed you …” Emi reflected on the past. “Since I came along, I gave you trouble … the priest Jia and even Ria Osada … other people are also after us …” – referring to the yet-to-be-known cloaked figure – “… What should I do?”
She sat there for a moment, crying to herself, and occasionally wiping the tears away from her cheeks. She had some more moments of silence for herself before managing to calm down. Emi eventually stood up and walked away from the river banks.
“Sniff … well, probably I should bid Ken goodbye … he’s right, I should go to the afterlife … for my judgment. It was great being with you … and I have no regrets.” Emi stared back at the wide flowing river. “Time moves on, and so should I.” She smiled.
Just then, cows mooed loudly at her left side. She literally jumped in the air to find a herd of 23 large brown-white and black-white cows in front of her. They halted their steps and decided not to move forward – as though they could see her. “Ah, what is with all these cows? Why are they all not moving like the other people around?”
“Aiya … that is because animals … are not humans. Whether you know it or not … animals are able to see spirits.” Emi was stunned to hear someone reply her. “Dogs bark when they see one … horses neigh when they sense trouble … makes you wonder, doesn’t it?” Emi widened her eyes with shock again and saw a figure walking out from behind the cowherd. He held a horsewhip in his hand.
“AH!? What the!?” Emi jumped backwards onto the soil ground and assumed a position of self-defense. “Who are you!? How are you able to see me!?” She took a long stare at the person’s features: he had white partially-soiled clothes on, a thick wooden pair of slippers and a straw hat so large it covered most of his face from sight.
“It’s you! The same person who came the other day and sang that poem of the road to the afterlife! Who are you exactly!?” The peasant person waved the hair in front of his face again and smiled. “My, my. Are you usually this rough? I wonder how the boy tolerated you for so long? It just so happens I’m one of those people who can see spirits, that’s all.”
Emi looked on and noticed that the hair at the back of his head was so long that it went past behind his knees and that his two different hair flows in front of his face reached down just above his knees. “… How do you keep such long hair anyway?”
The peasant person laughed briefly. “Ha ha hah. Simple; I just don’t cut it. The name is Shinjuku Han. Call me whatever you like. What’s important is you, Emi Takahiro. Don’t be so surprised. I already know the boy’s name – Ken Kazuguchi.” She stared at him.
“You … you catch on quick … Han.” She could only mutter that out. Han merely laughed a little and waved his front hair. “Well then, you seem to be in a problem. Mind telling me what’s it about? I’m sure we don’t want you to keep all problems to yourself and create unsettling emotions now, do we?” He looked on at Emi.
“Um …” Emi was quite unsure if she could so easily talk to Han. “Now, now … what’s to be unsure of? I mean you no harm, my dear girl. After all … if I didn’t care for you, do you think I wouldn’t bother distracting that bald priest from capturing you, I presume?”
The ghost girl was shocked. “It was you!? Oh, thank goodness! I thought I was done for … Ken and I had sort of an agreement … um …” Emi played with her fingers. Han rubbed his chin. “Now, now … let’s go for a walk … and start from the beginning.”
“Do tell your full story right from the start. It’s so rare indeed … to see a human and a ghost communicating so well … and harmoniously living together. How do you do it?”
Finally, they were moving somewhere. Emi floated along at his right side as he led the cows forward on the soil road. The bells on the cows’ collars rang as they walked. Emi told him her entire story right from the moment Ken first sensed her, their subsequent misadventures and the most recent one – the drunkard incident.
“Ah … so, that’s what’s happened earlier. So, you couldn’t make it in time to enter the boy’s body to save your friends … and the boy as well?” Han rubbed his chin with his fingers. Emi nodded and continued. “Yes … so I don’t know if I can approach him.”
Han coughed. “… how naive and ignorant.” Emi was shocked and stopped on the spot. “What did you just say!? I spent about 10 minutes telling you my story and now you’re calling me ignorant!?” She made an angry face at Han, whose back faced her.
The peasant turned to his back and gave several strong whips onto the soil, which stunned Emi for a while. His cows stopped moving and halted their steps as well. “Yes … that’s right. Haven’t you ever thought of how the boy has felt and thought of you instead?” Emi’s mouth was a little open, and she shook her head in silence.
“I understand how you feel for him, but it seems to me that you lack some additional insight. Let me put it this way – imagine you and the boy in that incident last night. You being slashed and he running away in fear.” He said in a harsher tone.
Emi tried to imagine that but she couldn’t – she was deeply traumatized by the sight of blood. “You tried to protect your friends from the danger posed by the drunkard and you were knocked unconscious. The next thing you know, you’re somewhere being treated and the moment you wake up, what would be the first thing you’ll think of?”
The ghost girl stared on the ground with uncertainty on her face. “The first thing I would think of … is how are everyone. Whether they are okay or not … that’s what. What happened to Bak and Wei …” Han in turn hung his head down in silence.
“… Aren’t you forgetting someone as well? Aren’t you forgetting the boy?” Han asked.
Emi felt as though her head was just pierced with hot burning steel. She would also worry about Ken, if she was the one who was slashed with sharp glass edges of a broken beer bottle. “I … I see what you mean … so that means in Ken’s place … I would …”
Han nodded to her. “Yes, the boy would also think of you. As far as you’ve told me, you’re very close to the boy. And so is he to you. Aren’t you being selfish – running away from your fears and making him feel sad, uncertain of how you are?”
“I’m sure the boy and the girl are fine. You might have not seen it, but last night, an angry mob of people came rushing to the boy and beat the drunkard up crazy. They pulled the other boy and girl away to safety, and they told the boy’s parents of their son’s injury and he was whisked away to the hospital.” Emi’s eyes widened.
“You were there last night!? I didn’t see you!” Han initially said nothing, but remarked: “I have my sources. I don’t need to be somewhere just to know what’s going on.” Han dusted his clothes and placed his horsewhip in his pockets. “Ahem ... now …”
“So, let me summarize … after all those crazy times you’ve had together, don’t you think the boy also cares for you? How would he feel if he found you were gone for good, hm? Last night was just a freak accident. Don’t let your fears stop you from being with the boy. Don’t let it create a gap in your friendship with him. Don’t let it rip and destroy you. So … go and see him now.” Han waved his hair to his side.
Emi’s face was initially sullen, but then, she brightened up with a fierce determination. “You’re right. I shouldn’t make him worry. I shouldn’t run away from my fears! I can’t let my terrible past and my fears get hold of me and make Ken worried! I know what I must do now! Thank you so much!” Han smiled to himself and cracked his neck.
“Aiya … that’s the spirit, my girl.” He remarked just before Emi wanted to depart. The ghost girl then stopped mid-air. “Um … which hospital was Ken sent to?” Han turned his back on her and walked back to his cowherd. “Trust your feelings on that … ah, yes …” He adjusted his straw hat again and readied his horsewhip.
“I have left a message for the boy this morning, but I don’t know when he’d get it. You’d see.” Emi nodded to Han and floated in the air. She immediately flew off, without saying goodbye, out of the village. She didn’t see or hear Han laugh out wildly in the air.
Ken merely looked on with deep thoughts on his face as Emi finished telling the story.
“So, that was how it went. I came here straight from the fields and I searched for your ward, and here I am. … Ken, please forgive me. That scene of you bathed in blood … that really freaked me out. I couldn’t take it. I failed to protect you … all this wouldn’t have happened if I was able to subdue the drunkard myself …” She stopped there.
Ken shook his head. “Ah, I’m also part to blame, Emi.” She stared back at him with confusion. “I just rushed in and tried to help Bak without even thinking that I risked my life for him. I might have been killed back there. You did your best to warn me, but I went ahead. So … I’m sorry as well.” He hung his head down in shame.
Emi shook her head. “It’s okay … All is fine now.” No one spoke for a while more. There was a knock on the door. The earlier nurse came in to collect his tray of drinking glass and dirty plate, along with two more nurses, carrying aid kits, to do a checkup on Ken. Surprisingly, the same doctor who handled him previously, when Emi took out the bullies the first time he met her, came in with a stethoscope.
“Ah, mister Ken. Back in the hospital again, I see. You’ve got some terrible scars there; I assume you’ve seen it. Quite some work in the middle of the night, but I think you’d get those marks recovered in due time. That’s right … you have some guests.”
Ken turned to the entrance door, amid the sight of a nurse checking his blood pressure, and saw his distraught mother and a concerned father come in. “Son! Are you okay!? How’re you feeling now!?” His mother Saya rushed from the door and hugged her son tightly, leaving the slow-walking husband of hers behind. She kissed him on the cheek.
“How could you have done that!? Don’t you ever do anything like that, ever! You getting hurt … you could have died from that attack! What were you thinking!? Do you have any idea how sad I was when the neighbours told us of you!? For the sake of Heaven, I was crying all night for you!! Don’t ever do that again, promise me! You’re my son!!”
She buried her chin on Ken’s shoulder and her body shivered as she cried. Ken felt guilty and tried to soothe his mum. “Yes, mum … I’ll never do that again. Ever.” He could only pat his hand on her back softly and repeatedly. Emi stared on with those cute puppy eyes and tried her best to suppress a burning desire to cry.
The nurses wisely stayed away while Ken and mother Saya were having their own time together. It was not until father Ajima gently and slowly pulled her away and soothed her in Ken’s place that the nurses got to continue their check-up work. The doctor hummed as he looked on the medical papers he brought with him.
“Everything is fine. No damage from internal bleeding, the wounds will heal in no time and the scars will eventually disappear soon. So, for the meantime, you’d have to bear with it.” Ken remembered the giant X-shaped scar on his body. “Yeah … I will.”
Some minutes later, the check-up was complete. “Alright, then. Well come back for another check-up at 3 o’clock. One more check-up after that and then we can discharge you safely back to your home.” The doctor compiled back his medical papers.
“Erhm … doctor. Excuse me, but regarding my son’s treatment, the bill … is it expensive? How much it? We’re essentially an average family … so …” Father Ajima asked the doctor. Mother Saya in turn looked up to the doctor as well.
“Yes, mister and missus Kazuguchi … you don’t have to worry about the bill. It’s already been paid. Someone came by the counter earlier this morning and paid the whole thing in cash. He left a message too – wishing that Ken here be well off and he wants to meet with Ken real soon as well.” Ken’s parents looked at each other while Ken shrugged.
Emi hit realization. “It’s Han … he paid your bills … but I wonder why …” Ken was surprised when he heard that and asked the doctor. “Um … who was that? Did the nurses manage to get a look at him?” The doctor rubbed his chin with his fingers.
“Hm … the nurses did say that they couldn’t see his face and he had a large hat over his face all the time. Do you know him by chance?” Ken’s parents looked at him shrugging his shoulders again. “No … just curious. That’s all.” He messed with the blankets and rested his head on the pillow. “I still want to go back to school tomorrow …”
Mother Saya was a little confused. “But … who paid the bills for us? I’m so confused … could it be any of the neighbours? No … no one here can muster enough money for an operation like this …” Her eyes were rolling over and over in confusion, but father Ajima was able to persuade her to forget about it and be thankful someone paid their bills.
The doctor smiled. “That’s a big attitude – wanting to learn as much as you can. Well, if that’s all, we’d check you out at 5 o’clock today after we examine your wounds later in the day.” The doctor and Ken’s parents left the room so that the teen can enjoy some time to himself. He turned back to Emi. “Yeah … that’s him alright. The same guy.”
“But … wow, the bill must have been really expensive … for a total stranger to willingly fork out that much money for this … but why?” Ken stopped asking questions thereon.
Initially, they said nothing as Ken played with the TV remote. “Thanks … Emi.” She was surprised. “Uh? What do you mean?” Ken made a nice gesture back at her. “For staying by my side all the time. I’m … really glad to have you here with me. Thanks.” Emi beamed with much happiness. “Oh, Ken! Thank you so much!”
She reached out and gave the teen a ghostly hug; her heading resting nicely on Ken’s right shoulder blade. “Thank you so much, Ken! Thank you!” He was initially quite taken back by that move, but eventually resigned to allowing her do so to him. “It’s been a long time … since I last held anyone … thank you so much …” She released tears of joy.
Ken lifted his left hand and rubbed them gently on Emi’s ghostly back. It would look silly to a normal human, but Emi felt his hand on her back. She didn’t care; she just wanted to be hold on to the dear boy for a little longer. “Ha hah …” He sighed.
In the meantime, he managed some time to think: so, Han paid his medical bills. But, why? Does Han expect a favour from Ken in return? What exactly are Han’s desires for him, according to the doctor? Speaking of Emi, she was afraid of blood, it seemed so. But how come, again? There are too many questions that need answering.
Emi eventually let go of Ken and allowed him space to rest. For the coming hour or so, Emi did nothing but sit and rest herself on one of the small chairs nearby. Ken doodled and fidgeted with the remote, being unable to find a decent nice show on TV.
The clock ticked 12.08 pm. At that same moment, the ward’s entrance door opened and in came familiar people. “Buddy! You’re all okay!!” Both Emi and Ken were shocked from the sudden outburst, only to find Hoh, Wei and Maz walking in. All three of them held their school bags in their hands and still had school uniforms on.
“You guys! What are you all doing here? Ah, Wei, I’m glad to see you okay!” Wei made a childish shrug at him and Hoh just smiled on. Maz was the first to walk forward and presented a small bouquet of flowers to the resting teen. “Here … it’s for you.”
Ken stared at the emotionless Max and took the bouquet. “Ah ha hah … thanks. Who’s it from?” On top of the plastic flowers, a paper note was pinned on a leaf. Ken took the card and read it. “Ho ho ho. Get well soon, boy. Don’t rush yourself. Signed, Fukuo Sanada. PS. Mr Ahashi was quite distraught over your injuries, to tell the truth.”
Maz lightly nodded. “Indeed … it was Bak who first informed me … of last night … he then went to tell on both Mr Sanada and Mr Ahashi … Wei here informed Hoh about your accident … we all decided to visit you the moment lunch break started … Mr Sanada passed on the flowers to me when he was free … we’re glad to see you fine.”
Emi glared at Maz’s coldness. “That aura of his … he doesn’t sound like he’s glad … so cold … but I might be wrong … then again …” Maz turned back and sat on one of the small chairs near to Ken’s bed, making Emi squeal lightly and jump away.
It was Wei’s turn to speak. “Um … thanks for saving me last night. But you could have done that in another way! So that you wouldn’t get yourself scarred this badly! You … you’ve just made my days here scarred as well! I moved in here with my folks just last Saturday, expecting a new fresh life, and now you gave me insanity! I hate you!!”
The three boys and Emi stared back at her outburst. Ken made a guilty laugh. “Ha ha … well, at least you are safe and sound. That’s all that matters to me. So, hey, where’s Bak anyway? How’s he doing? Hopefully the trauma from yesterday didn’t hit him too hard.”
Hoh replied: “I saw him and he seemed fine, though I’d add that he was particularly quiet and kept to himself whenever I wanted to talk to him.” He then shook his head to stir his mind off some thoughts. “Gah, enough of all this! We came here to congratulate you on your courage, Ken, not to have a simple chat! Come, let’s all share my gift!”
Hoh took out a large bar of branded chocolate, broke it off into pieces and handed them to everyone. Emi merely stared on and smiled. “To Ken for his bravery!” He led the cheerios of the four students – Maz’s cheer being emotionless as usual – and all indulged in the high quality candy and talked with merry. “Cheers!”
“Ha ha. What a joyous occasion.” Wei sat properly on the chair and took a nice rest of her own, bit on her chocolate bar and felt the wind enter from the ward’s open windows. For some reason, her senses picked up something and she turned her head.
Wei stared at the spot where Emi was – behind an emotionless Maz eating his chocolate. “Hm … there’s rough warmth over there. What is that … eh, I’m sure it’s nothing though.” She turned around to return to the gang. Emi remained resting at her spot.
Then, elsewhere in the late evening of the day, a strange conversation was taking place.
“That Ken saved Bak … but he also saved us … darn it! Curse it all! I’m not used to being treated so nicely! It’s always Maz and his constant beating! Kindness and care … urgh, I can’t stand it! It disgusts me!!” The male voice grunted heavily.
“Now, now, Ree, that’s not nice. You can’t say that to dearest Ken. He risked his life for dearest Bak and took all those slashes. We were indirectly saved as well. Shouldn’t you have some gratitude there in your heart?” Ree’s voice grunted again, but at Yon.
A calm but strong and commanding voice surfaced from the dark. “He is interesting … I’ve never seen such bravery in a long time, ever since Maz saved Bak from the rough river currents 3 years ago. I’ll like to meet him when the time is fitting.”
The voices of both Ree and Yon expressed shock. “Oh, hey Sim! Didn’t really expect you to pop up …” Yon quietly said. “You know, we could really use your help … don’t just be so quiet here all the time. Ree can get out of control sometimes …”
“What was that!?” Ree retorted back. “Well … you tend to get a little too personal whenever Bak gets touched even the slightest.” Yon weakly replied back. “Hey! I’m just concerned for the little man! Come on!” Ree argued back. “But, come to think of it … you’re right … throughout these three years, Sim does come out sporadically …”
“Quiet, both of you.” Both Ree and Yon gasped and retreated into silence. “That boy has my interest and I wish to meet up with him. I’ll consult with Bak later tonight.” In fact, the frail boy was studying on his desk in his room. “Did someone call me …?”
At the end of the day, Ken Kazuguchi checked out of the local Shijun city hospital after a confirmatory check-up. The ghost girl Emi gladly followed behind him as the whole family travelled by aerotrain to the Handao farming village. “Today was … superb.”
“I have to get over my fears … just as Han said. Then … I’ll keep Ken happy. All the way.” She made a childish smile and a shoulder shrug to herself. Later that night, we turn our attention again to the gloomy altar and the central character – the cloaked figure.
This time, he didn’t do any sort of strange ritualistic practices and there was no table laid with food sacrifices. He was merely standing up straight in front of that old hideous statue of a deity. He soon spoke. “Status report … my assistant.”
His minion ghoul whisked in past a wall. “Sire, we are recruiting ghouls alike at the northeast and southwest of the land. We are trying our best to convince them to league themselves to us.” The hooded figure never commented on that. “Hmm …”
“I have someone working for me in that school of that boy … I’ll be able to really test his physical and mental strength … as early as tomorrow.” The cold and haggard voice spoke its last and the figure exited the altar hall, not seen in sight for the rest of the night.
Continued in Chapter 12.
Notes: Well, much occurred in this chapter. Emi gains her strength back from Han’s kind words, the surprising message from him, the reunion with family and friends … Wei might just be on the verge of fully sensing Emi. And just who is this Sim, who Ree and Yon fear? What are all their connections to Bak actually? Once again, the cloaked figure strikes! You should be aware by now that HE’s the main villain.
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This is one of the musics I tend to listen to when I’m typing the story throughout the whole writing for about the one year or so. It serves as an emotional inspiration. Don’t you think so? More on this music to come later.
Yeap, that’s one big post. Therefore, thanks for reading everyone and stay tuned for a more punctual (I hope) update of the Chapter 12 on 20th September. Stay tuned!
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 19, 2009 2:41:28 GMT -5
I decided to perform the Chapter 12 update earlier, since I don't feel like posting it on the day itself for some reason ... anyway, Chapter 12 . Please enjoy.
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This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter
Chapter 12: A Soul’s Chat and a Newer Threat
The following day – 19th September a Wednesday. Ken woke up with a terrible headache and moaned as he brushed his teeth. After dressing up, he dragged his bag lifelessly and headed for school. His mother waved him goodbye enthusiastically. “Bye … mum …”
“Come on, Ken! Why the terrible get-up!? That’s not the kind of face you usually put up when going to school! Today’s going to be another great day, I’m sure of it!” Emi kept on circling him and tried to lift his spirits. He merely stared at her with a heavy eye.
“Gulp … don’t look at me like that. You’re scaring me.” Emi’s cheerful was drastically reduced and she stopped circling him. Ken replied back: “I didn’t really have a good sleep last night, so you know. My head was beating so hard … I don’t know why …”
He massaged his head all the way on the aerotrain to Aoyaga Private Academy. The ghost girl was worried for him now. “You probably shouldn’t have forced yourself to come to school today. Who can ever recuperate so fast from such a violent attack?”
Emi was referring again to the drunkard incident. Ken shook his head. “Well, just so you know, the syllabi for all school subjects are nearly over and I can’t afford to miss out on anything. This may be the last time I can prove myself worthy in front of mum and dad.” He said no more of that, and Emi saw no sense to talk on that issue further.
“Ho ho. Another official found guilty of corruption. 5 million EraSean dollars swindled and it’s 19 years in jail.” An old man muttered as he read the newspaper. His companion smoked on a pipe and sighed. “The administration is getting replaced slowly by those metal things instead of people … what’s it called? Reploids? Sheesh …”
Emi overheard them out of curiosity but could not get further details. Ken looked around the school compound. “Good, no sign of the priest Jia and Ria as well. My day just might be off easy …” That wasn’t true, as Jia was hiding behind a lamp post far away watching.
“Hm. That boy. Surely there must be some better way to extract that spirit of his in a safer and more convenient method. But I just can’t think of any!” He grunted.
The bell rang and school started off with a lesson on Science. Mr Ahashi taught today on the importance of conserving energy for the sake of greater good and concluded that even though the Republic is a newly-formed nation, it did not manage to enjoy in abundant sources of fuel like wealthy southern nations and it must find ways to sustain itself.
“So, science is always progressing in order to sustain worldwide society’s well-being for generations ahead. This calls for all citizens of the nation to wisely use energy resources and contribute to society in case of an impending oil shortage. That’s it. End of story.”
Mr Ahashi shut his thick book hard and loud before a class of staring students. Well, except for one. “Mister Kazuguchi!!” He yelled at the top of his throat again, which shook Hoh, Wei, Emi and Ken himself. “What are you doing – sleeping in my class!?”
“You must think you’re pretty smart to skip all my words, eh!? Now! Come up and solve this problem or it’s detention for you!! I don’t care if you are fine from a drunkard attack, but as long as you’re in my class, you’d better stay put!! NOW!!” Ken shook himself and dragged himself from his desk. Everyone began whispering.
Wei tapped onto Hoh’s shoulder. “Hey … do you think that Ken is able to handle this? He seems pretty tired.” Hoh frowned himself. “I’m not sure … he has slept in on classes back then more than 6 months ago … but not like this.” Ken rubbed his head again.
Turns out he got the problem half right and half wrong – you can get wind energy as a source of electricity but you cannot use nuclear energy from biomass farms. For the wrong part, Mr Ahashi gave a loud yell strong as the gusty wind. Its impact was so great, it was as though Ken was going to be blown away if his feet weren’t strong.
“Urgh … my brain hurts.” Ken massaged his head again, just when the bell for lunch break rang. This time, Hoh and Wei brought their lunch boxes over to Ken’s own table. Emi hadn’t spoken to him the whole 4-hour continuous teaching period and she was naturally worried. “Um … Ken, are you alright?” She reached out to him.
Wei made a face. “I’ve been here for only 3 days and I can’t believe this is the new life I am getting, compared to my hometown. Hey, are you okay? Maybe you need to see the doctor.” She touched his forehead but it wasn’t hot; the teen was just in pain.
Outside the class, two teen boys opened the classroom door of class 3-A. Maz set his sights on a green-haired girl, a black-haired bespectacled boy and a brown-haired boy rubbing hard on his head. “I have to go … the teacher needs me again …”
Another voice spoke. “Again? Just like Monday, when you didn’t join us for lunch? What was that for?” Maz scratched the back of his head. “Mr Sanada … appointment everyday now … to clear up the school storeroom … it’s not easy … that place has so much junk and the room is large … well, I must go now … see you later … Sim.”
Maz left without a word. There stood Bak, but a more confident and stronger self. The new Bak smiled to himself and was unnoticed walking towards the group of trio, until he called out to Hoh. “Hello, Hoh. It’s been a long time since we last met.”
Hoh turned around. “Oh, hey … wait, you’re not Bak. Not the rough Ree or even Yon … could you be Sim!?” Bak nodded lightly and his dark blue hair waved a little. “Yes, that’s me.” Bak grabbed a chair and sat down next to Hoh and Wei. The girl made a suspicious eye. “Excuse me, but what’s going on? Aren’t you supposed to be Bak?”
Hoh scratched his head. “I’m not exactly sure, but Bak suffers from a multiple personality disorder. So, he has four different selves, as far as Maz and I remember. There’s the original Bakheun Kim and previously before, Sohwang Ree and Yonglaek Chae. This one before us … is Shimhyun Park, otherwise known as Sim.”
Wei nodded at the mature-looking Sim. “Oh, I see … strange things around here.” Sim apparently didn’t hear that as he turned his attention to Ken, who was rubbing his head furiously than ever. In an instant, Sim was behind Ken and pressed all ten fingers hardly on his head. “Argh!! Ow, ouch! That hurts!” Emi was stunned by that move.
“Easy there. This shouldn’t take long.” Sim pressed his fingers and massaged hard on the areas of the parietal and temporal bones. In a second, the pain has just subsided and simply vanished. “Ah …” Ken made a voice. “It’s gone … thanks, Bak.”
Sim merely smiled. “No worries. I just can’t to watch Bak’s friend in pain. Please, allow me to convey my sincere thanks for saving us and Bak the other day from the drunkard. That was pure courage and selflessness, and I admire that.” Ken was taken aback.
“… You’re too polite and mature to be Bak. Who exactly are you?” Sim made an awkward face upon hearing that. “Oh, come now. Why is everyone saying that? Very well, my name is Shimhyun Park.” Wei interrupted them by saying: “Or also Sim.”
Ken nodded in compliance. “Well, aside from the compliments earlier, so how many Baks exactly exist inside Bak, huh? Don’t tell me there’s some more?” Sim laughed briefly. “Oh no, it’s just only the four of us. We are all part of Bak, simply put.”
Emi was a little surprised to hear that. ‘That’s funny … but from what I saw …”
“Bak is … actually a frail and weak boy. As far as I know, he has been weak for many years and it somehow gave trouble to Maz a lot, since Maz is Bak’s guardian-like person. I’m not really clear of the history however, but … somehow all three of us were born in Bak’s mind. The different sides of Bak that lay hidden inside him.”
Wei, Hoh and Ken were already paying attention to Sim as he continued speaking. “We came out and we pitied him. That was some years ago, and thanks to that, Bak has turned to a cheerful person, though slightly childish still. The three of us have agreed to protect and look after Bak. Well, but Ree and Yon are more of annoyances anyway.”
Emi stared at Sim blankly for that comment. “Annoyances? To even use that term …”
Sim laughed again. “Well, with all due respect, please let us eat together. It is a great honour to me to eat with you, Ken Kazuguchi.” Hoh and Wei stared at each other in disbelief of the formalism before all four of them turned down to eat their meals.
Emi had disappeared in sight, going out to float above the school grounds and stare at the dim sun. “All are a part of Bak, huh? But … something’s not right … then why am I seeing things differently? Could I be wrong?” She sighed and stared down to the ground.
Three storeys below, she noticed a familiar person carrying some boxes. “Hey, it’s Maz. I wonder why he’s not joining the gang for lunch…” Just beside him was Mr Sanada, the rotund Basics Language teacher, who was also carrying his share of boxes. Apparently, they came out from the school storeroom; both being part of a large crowd.
“Oh … so everyone is helping out to clear the place … it reminds me of home.” Emi placed her hands on the chest region and reminisced the good old times she used to have when she was alive. She slowly opened her eyes with a wide smile, but suddenly it dawned onto her that someone was looking at her direction: Maz.
“AH!! Maz … he’s looking at me!” She exclaimed in sudden confusion as the silver-haired emotionless teen gazed in her direction. He so-called looked at her for just 2 seconds, and looked at his surroundings, while Emi put up an exaggerated reaction.
Then, he shook his head remarked: “The sun … is always dim … these days … autumn …” Maz continued walking as if nothing has happened. Emi stared bluntly with twitching eyes at him. “He … he didn’t see me …” She hung her head down with great relief and depression. “Goodness to Heaven …” Emi sighed even more.
“I thought I was in deep trouble … maybe I’m overreacting … ugh, why am I always like this …” Throughout the rest of the school day, Emi was immersed in depression.
The school bell rang to signal in the end of the day. Bak was back to his normal chirpy and childish self and being accompanied by Maz back home. All students held onto their schoolbags and walked out to the school gates. “Exams are nearer …” Ken sighed.
“Huh?” The bespectacled Hoh glanced at Ken as they walked by the streets of Chaoge suburb areas. “Oh, don’t worry, Ken. I’ve been planning that we can have a study group together. You’ve wanted to make it through the exams for some time now, and as your friend, I see why not.” Hoh laughed mildly and drank a sip of water from his bottle.
Wei was also together with Hoh and Ken. “Study group? Hey, that sounds fun. I used to do that with all my other friends back in my old school. That way, we have fun and also scored high in the tests.” Hoh made a sneaky eye at Ken. “You’ll definitely need me, Ken … you’ll fail without me. Mwee hee hee …” He made a sudden sly laugh.
Both Ken and Wei stared at Hoh. “What is with that evil laugh …?” They thought to themselves. Emi wasn’t really listening, as she was still in a bout of terrible relief.
Finally, the teen noticed Emi being all depressed. He felt himself as though he was poked all over with invisible sharp needles. “Urgh! Argh! What is all this guy thingying feeling I am getting!? It … it itches!” Ken spoke a little too loud and sort of fell onto the brick-tiled floor, scratching himself all over. The rest rushed to check on him.
“Hey, buddy! Are you alright?” “Ken, what’s wrong?” Hoh squatted down whereas Wei made a partial knee bend. The trio were attracting some minor attention from other passersby. Grocery shop owners, men and women of the professional fields and even the workers loading crates into trucks. Emi quickly came back to her senses.
“Ah! Ken, what’s the matter!?” The instant she did that, all her negative feelings vanished and Ken felt nothing more of guy thingying all over his body. He widened his eyes a little and stared at the red marks he made on his hands with his finger-scratching. “It’s gone …” He soon realized that the other three were staring at him with concern.
He forced out a tiny smile. “Ah, it’s nothing … I was wondering why I suddenly felt itchy all over. It’s all okay now.” He stood up and dusted his body. Hoh made a worried face whereas Wei was skeptical. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Ken nodded lightly and grabbed his fallen school bag. “Yeah, I fine. Thanks.” As they continued walking down the streets of suburb Chaoge to look for a local shop to enjoy refreshing delicacies as agreed earlier, Ken was giving Emi a hard time.
Emi! You were feeling so miserable earlier on! How long have you been like that anyway!? The moment I looked at you! He said in his mind to her. “I’m sorry, Ken!!” She made an exaggerated reaction mixed with guilt. “I’m really sorry! It’s just that I … I was experiencing something bad earlier! And I was too absorbed into it!”
“I shouldn’t have done that; I know I was wrong! I had forgotten about the human and spirit auras just then … dark energy causes all sorts of anomalies! I’m sorry!” Emi said and Ken in turn became confused. Dark energy? What are you talking about now?
Emi went on to explain what she learned after the encounter with a demon in Ken’s family’s farmlands. “Um … I’m not really sure myself, but apparently bad emotions or anything bad which arises from a person’s heart can cause negative effects to the surroundings.” Wei and Hoh didn’t notice Ken nodding in blank air towards Emi.
“Somehow, the negative mindsets and emotions had clung onto me ever since my death, which would explain why people would freak and shiver when I used to go through them.” Emi floated on beside Ken, unknowingly being watched by a certain someone.
“Apparently, treating me with the altar holy water only cleared away the remnant energy caused by those negative mindsets of the past. It calmed me down, no doubt, but just now … brought back the problem.” Emi hung her head down in shame. “I’m sorry.”
“I let my guard down. I harmed you instead.” The teen sighed and placed his palm over his temple area as he continued walking on. Emi, look … just be happy and calm. How many people around here can actually see you besides me? Just … be happy, Emi.
Emi was surprised at first, but then brightened up. “You’re right! I ought to be cheerful all the time. For others and also for myself!” Ken felt Emi’s warmth increase after that second of sheer motivation. “That’s nice … just don’t worry unnecessarily.”
Hoh turned around. “What’s nice, Ken?” Ken was shocked from the sudden question and leaped backward a little. “Um, uh … nothing. I was thinking that … your study group idea at your place this weekend is wonderful, Hoh. We can then play the Ultrablast 450 together when we are done studying.” Hoh’s eyes gleamed in excitement.
“Oh yes! The Ultrablast 450! Now, I can finally share it with you!!” Hoh spun himself round and round on the spot. Wei had confirmed to herself that boys tend to love video games more than her kind. “Um, I think it’s best we get going … I think I see the delicacy store … aha! Just opposite the street!” She pointed her finger outwards.
“Alright! We’re there. We can order something and then we can discuss plans for the coming weekend!” Hoh waited in front of the zebra cross and waited for the traffic light to turn red. It was interesting to note that even though Wei is now in the neighbourhood for only 5 days since she arrived, she had easily befriended and stuck with Hoh and Ken.
“Wei is opening up to these two ...” Emi remarked, to which she childishly shrugged and gave herself a smile. “I guess that’s how friendships are supposed to be!” She waited behind Ken for the traffic to halt. Unfortunately, no one noticed a fully-cloaked figure walking in among the crowd, getting closer to the four of them.
The figure stopped shortly behind them and stared on, ignoring the looks from other curious or suspicious of him. He said nothing at first, and then … “Pity, pity. I only intended to get the boy and ghost. Now, there’s two more. The more the merrier then.”
He stretched out his pale white left hand and snapped them. “Get them!! Don’t let them get away!!” A loud roar was audible not far to their right. “What the!?” “Ah!” The people on the streets screamed out in fear and jumped aside for their own safety.
There were five growling people and are of familiar looks. They rushed forward to Ken and gang, but they barely noticed until the five were so close up. “Gah! What the!?” Wei exclaimed as she dodged an unexpected fist attack from one of the larger attackers. “Hey, what’s going on!? What do you want!?” Hoh and Ken wisely jumped out of the way.
“Whoa! Argh! Help!” Hoh cried out as he crashed onto some nearby frightened watchers. One of the attackers came on to Hoh. “What – you! You’re one of the five bullies that always pick on Ken! Why are you all doing this again!?” Hoh shouted back.
Ken took notice of Hoh’s words and he was right, it was all the five bullies again. It seems as though Emi’s martial arts play had not deterred them from either taking revenge or bullying for the sake of fun and bullying itself. The ghost girl became very anxious.
“Ken, you must get out of here before they harm you!” Ken grunted and skipped on the ground. “Come on, let’s get out of here!!” Wei nodded hastily and followed behind him. “Come on, Hoh! Now!” The bespectacled boy made his feet run the best. “Coming!”
The trio students ran back up the streets which they walked from school, whilst Emi flew closely behind Ken. “HMPH!?” Bully One growled loudly. “GET THEM!!” The crowd gasped and leaped out of the way as the bullies gave chase. “At all COSTS!!”
Amidst the crowd, the cloaked figure looked on from under his hood with a wide smile of sly. “Ha ha ha … let’s see how you carry yourself from here, Ken Kazuguchi.”
“Hurry! We have to make it back to the aerotrain station! Gah, did we really walk this far!?” Ken yelled back to Wei and Hoh who were catching up to him. “Just so you know … pant pant … yes, we did walk far!!” Hoh yelled out to Ken. They made it with ease in the seemingly-never-ending small crowd. The bullies continued chasing them.
“Come back here, Ken Kazuguchi!! The master wants a word with you!!” Bully Two screamed his heart out, scaring other students on the streets. They were already in front of Aoyaga Private Academy school gates when Bully Two screamed. Wei made a face of disgust and called to Ken. “We can’t head to the train station! It’ll drag us down!!”
It was Hoh’s turn to speak. “The traffic on the road is still moving! It’s best we take this somewhere else! Let’s try the taxi stations instead!” Ken briefly turned his head back. “Do you know any taxi stations around here!? I don’t know the area well!” Hoh panted as his schoolbag dangled on his back. “Keep running 12 blocks ahead and turn left!”
Ken was dumbstruck. “What!? That far!?” Wei managed to keep up with Ken and yelled at his head: “Just do what he says! We can’t think and run at the same time!” Ken grunted again. “Fine! Let’s just do that!” They arrived at the end of the long street and entered into a recognizable living residence space. “Just a little further down!” Hoh said.
Small two storey houses of simple modern architecture stood amidst a simple green blanket of flora. There was a park playground around the corner, rows of shops and other small commercial offices. At the far end to the border with Shijun city, there was a taxi station that supplied all public taxis onto the roads. The five bullies chased on.
“Not far now!! Keep on going, Ken! We’re going to make it!” The trio kept on running on the concrete streets. Emi was also happy until she turned back to look at the five bullies. “Oh yay, we’re going to make it out – huh?” Her eyes stared onto them.
She registered on her sight a dark purple cloud smoke on the bodies and the outlines of the five bullies. Each of them had flashing red eyes and it was definitely something. “That’s … that’s … that’s not normal! What am I seeing? Why am I seeing this!?”
Emi cried out as she continued flying with Ken. The teen held the scream and briefly turned his head backward. “Huh? What did you say, Emi!? Whoa!” He suddenly tripped on a concrete street slab and tumbled on the ground. “Argh!!” He rolled and rolled till he stopped. Wei and Hoh halted on their heels upon hearing that.
“Oh no! Ken!” Wei rushed forward first before Hoh did so. The five bullies were seriously catching up. Ken himself tried to rise and balance himself steady enough to run as well. Unfortunately, they were too late. The two skinny bullies grabbed onto Hoh whereas the average-sized, stronger two bullies rough-handled Wei.
“Ah!! Let me go, you jerks! Let me go!” Ken’s eyes widened with terrible shock. “NO! Hoh! Wei!” He turned to Emi. “Please help me, Emi!” The ghost girl nodded in immediate compliance. “No problem, Ken! I’m coming for you!” She toughened her spirit body and began to merge into Ken’s body, but Bully One got to him first.
“Argh! Let me go, you!” Ken cried out as Bully One grabbed on hard to his hands with his own muscular and large ones. “KEN!” She cried out but still fused into his body. Ken felt a little pain from the merger, as he was not ready to allow Emi control of his body.
AAAH! The pressure! So tight and painful! Ken, I need you to relax yourself! Ken obliged and stopped resisting Bully One’s moves onto him, allowing him to mistaken it for submission. “Very good! Let us go somewhere isolated so we can have a chat!”
The other four bullies laughed stupidly and dragged Wei and Hoh wherever Bully One moved. Their resistance was of no result as they were pinned down on heavily.
A minute later, they arrived at one of the residential area’s barren plot of land, which was surrounded by wooden and brick fences of other houses. No one else was present.
“Hmm … these two pests are annoying. They should be blindfolded, handcuffed; their legs cuffed and have their mouths strapped up.” The cloaked figure remained standing in the same street where he ordered the five bullies to ambush the three students and Emi. He snapped his fingers under his sleeves and the five bullies did just that.
Hoh was all too frightened. “Argh! What are you doing!? Mmhmff!! MMHFFM!!” Hoh was soon bound by tightly-tied linens of clothes and his words couldn’t make it into the free air. Wei was roughly treated as well. Ken spat with disgust and toughened himself. “What is it do you want!? Why are you doing this to my friends!?”
The five bullies gathered menacingly around him. “We are doing this based on the master’s orders! He insists that we test you and prove your worth!” Ken grimaced. “Your master!? Who is that!? Why is he so interested in me!?” Bully One pounded his fists together. “We will tell you after you are able to defeat all of us! IF YOU CAN!!”
All five bullies jumped in the air and aimed to attack Ken. The teen suddenly changed his eye expression and charged forward to all five of them. “You dare try to harm Ken and his friends, after the last time!? Oh, do I ever want to teach you all a lesson!”
From the tone, clearly Emi had taken full control over his body and she was referring to the last fight where the bullies threatened to stab Hoh’s hand with a knife if Ken doesn’t take up their challenge for revenge. “Let me see if you really are who I think you are!!”
“RAAH!!” Emi launched a strong right leg kick onto Bully One’s cheek and several tough fists into his stomach area. “Argh!” Bully One fell onto the ground whereas the rest were an inch away from her. “Grr! You think you can catch me!?” She shouted and slid on the smooth grass surface to avoid them. True enough, they were shocked.
“What the!? Urgh!” All four of them knocked onto each other and collapsed on the ground with a thud. Emi stopped her sliding and gave her feet up. “Wei! Hoh! I’m coming to untie you!” She glanced to the curled duo on the grass some 40 feet away.
“Oh no YOU DON’T!” Bully One had surfaced behind her and attacked her with a clenched fist. “Ah!” Emi exclaimed in shock and leaped to the Bully’s left side as the punch missed. She then slammed an elbow attack to his side area just below the lowest rib bone and a strong fist onto his back. “Urgh!! Ah!!” Bully One rolled on the grass.
“Hiss!!” Bully Five lunged at her with his sharp finger nails. “Get lost!!” Emi merely punched at his throat. “Fuuargh!!” He choked and fell on his back. “Argh …”
“You puny girl!!” Bully Three cawed and attempted a fist at Emi. “Oh, don’t you ever call me puny!” She slammed hard at his chin and threw him off and also launched a strong kick at Bully Two’s shin. “AAHH!!” She leaped high in the air and reached to Bully Four. “You’re going to get yours, girl!” He scowled, holding a wooden stick.
“I don’t think so!” She elbow-knifed the stick of 3 centimeters in diameter into halves in one go and palm-attacked his stomach. “OOW!!” “Here you go!” Using speed and the current aerodynamics, she lifted and threw Bully Four crashing on the grass. “AH!!”
Three other bullies gathered close to Bully One, whereas skinny Bully Four just got up on the ground. “This one is tough! No wonder that fellow had trouble and surrendered so easily!” Bully Two said. “Yes … but five against one should be good enough to deal with this little girl here!” Bully One rose up and dusted himself. Emi was far away from them.
“Gah! You recognize me! So you ARE what I think you are!” She filled her eyes with anger and tightened her fist. “You’re saying that the one by Ken’s family fields was!?”
Bully Three smirked. “Yes, the master sent that fellow to deal with you and the boy. He wanted to finish you two off on that day itself but we never expected you to take out one of the master’s finest underlings. So, he sent us to use this five boys’ bodies.”
Emi, what’s going on? Are they referring to the time you fought the demon for me!?
The girl physically nodded and whispered back to Ken: “Yes, Ken. Whoever sent the demon last time at your family lands is the one who sent these five more demons to possess the bullies’ bodies to physically harm you.” She turned to the five of them. “How were you all able to possess those bodies!? Tell me now!!”
Bully Five smirked with a smile. “You don’t know how powerful our master is. He lured that weakling and even transformed him into the bloody demon he was!” Again, he was referring to the demon she fought previously. “Similarly, the master found these five bullies of suitable conditions and implanted us into them, and here we are!”
Emi gritted her teeth. “You … you people are sick! Even if I want my own body, I’ll rather work with someone who recognizes me and has given me permission to do so! I’m going to free those poor boys from your clutches!” Wei and Hoh mumbled something, but they were barely audible due to the cloth chucked in their mouths.
Bully One turned to his aids. “Time to finish off what we were ordered to do! Good thing no one is around here, or else the burying job would have been much harder!” The five demon-possessed bullies charged forward to beat Emi to pulp.
Emi, wait! So, if those things are possessing the bullies, and it’s obviously not the bullies who are doing all these, how are we going to get those demons to leave their bodies!? Beating them up is not going to deter their determination to holding on their grips! Shouldn’t there be a way to do this and not hurt the bullies?! Ken protested.
She sighed and assumed a defensive stance. “We’ll work out somehow, Ken. This might take awhile. I don’t know how, but the least I can do is tire them down no matter what.” She stared on and braced herself for the incoming attacks.
Continued in Chapter 13.
Notes: There he is – the entity named Sim and a little of Bak, and more action! The temporal and parietal bones are the bones at your ears and the top of your head. Refer to Chapter 8 for what Emi learned about remnant energy and her fight with the demon in Ken’s fields and Chapter 1 for the bullies’ body shape descriptions. What will happen next?
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More action stuff and mysteries. Hope you like it. And now, for some extras.
The general aura of evil in a dark location somewhere ...
A moment of foolishness and hopelessness.
When it's time to reflect on certain things, when you have no one to support you ...
More musics that I listen to in order to draw some inspiration for writing. The song posted in tbe pevious post above was chosen for a scenario of extreme trouble and loneliness. Something like when you know the end is near.
In any case, the next update is still due on the 30th of this month. Stay tuned! Thank you!
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Post by Professor Fann on Sept 30, 2009 1:30:17 GMT -5
Yeap, today is 30th September here. And since it's the end of the month and as I said before that the next Chapter 13 will be updated by then ... here's the update! Happy reading, everyone! -------- This original fiction is mine, and all characters belong to me unless they are those of whom you know do not. I hope this fiction will be entertaining as you proceed along. - M’siaFanWriter Chapter 13: Emergent Souls from Underground The sun shone dimly on the Chaoge-Shijun border area. “RAAH!!” Emi launched a direct elbow attack onto Bully Five’s neck and punched his face with her palm. Of course, she was using Ken’s body to defend him, Wei and Hoh; of which both were bound by cloth and dumped close to a fence. “Urgh! Hah! AAH!!” Emi spun around to face Bully Three. “Don’t you people have enough of the fighting already!?” She yelled via Ken’s voice and punched his chest as hard as she could. “AARGH!!” The demon-possessed bully was thrown off backward, hitting onto Bully Four. “Graah!! Try and avoid this, girly girl!!” Bully Two charged forward and managed to grab onto Emi’s left hand. “Ah!?” Emi exclaimed as Bully Two tried to apply force and twist her hand. NO! Emi! Don’t let him do that! That was all Ken could do to alert Emi – calling out to her. The girl mad a disgusted pant. “Don’t worry, Ken! Here I go! HAH!!” She pushed energy into her feet and jumped upward in the air, doing a somersault in mid-air. “What the!?” Bully Two was stunned before Emi’s repeated somersault turns eventually twisted him in circles as well. “AAAAH!” Bully Two had no choice but to let go of her and thus collapsed from 4 feet in the air to the hard soil ground. “HAAAHH!! Don’t you go smug on me, little girl!!” Bully One sped and made multiple punch attempts on Emi. As expected of Emi, she brilliantly avoided all the fists by moving backward a little or to the side of the incoming arms. Wow!Emi heard Ken exclaim in their shared head, but didn’t reply to it as she held onto Bully One’s left arm, clenched onto it tightly, causing him to scream in pain. “Waargh!! Let me go! You wouldn’t dare hurt this body’s arm!” Emi sneered back at the Bully One. “Oh, come on! I’ve already punched and kicked you so many times; do you think I won’t hurt anyone who dares to harm us all!? YAAAHH!!” Emi used extra force and pulled him forward and over her head at the same time, thus throwing him hard onto the grass again. “Taste this!!” With a single right leg, she kicked him strongly in the mid-air. “NOO!!” Bully One screamed as his back hit the ground first. He toppled and rolled up and down and eventually came to a halt. All the five bullies were moaning away in pain, which Emi caused single-handedly for the past 12 minutes. “Urgh!” Emi coughed hard and was on the grass with only her left leg in a kneeling-like posture. She coughed some more, hunched forward and spat some fluids from her mouth. Emi, no! Are you okay!? Come on! It’s time for you to rest! Let me bring Wei and Hoh out of here while they are still down! Ken desperately cried out to the coughing girl. After spitting a lump of saliva out to a wall nearby, Emi smiled haggardly with weary eyes, placing her right palm on Ken’s chest. “Urgh … no … I can’t do that …” WHAT!? Why not!? Let me out! You need to rest! Ken began to vie for his body back, which eventually gave Emi pressure and more headaches. “ARGH! No, don’t! I still need to stop them! Can you think of a way to permanently halt them besides making them tired and worn out to the utmost? Can you!?” She shouted out loud. Meanwhile, Wei was close to untying the knot of a cloth on her hands. She was mumbling in her speech, but it was roughly like: “This is bad! I need to help Ken! He’s fighting them alone!” Hoh likewise tried but he was having less success than Wei. “Ah!?” Emi then heard a noise of a high-pitched tone, which was getting louder, as though it was coming closer to her. “AAH! What is that!?” She exclaimed and having realized it was coming from the sky, she looked up. If she wasn’t mistaken, a rather large and thick broad sword was falling down to the sky towards her. “Whoa!!” Emi dodged to her right and saw a 5-foot-long sharp sabre, that of a diamond cross section and a double-edged sharp blade, stab into the ground with a rumble. Hoh and Wei even felt the rumble as a mild earthquake-like feeling. Emi stared at the object. The sword was emanating gold light from an ancient language forged onto its blades. A red crystal gem was just at the end of the sword’s grip for the hand to hold. What is that!? A sword came flying out of nowhere towards us, Emi! She nodded in agreement. “Yes, that shocked me too …” Suddenly, the red gem shone brightly and covered the whole area in red. The sabre sword floated into the air and levitated in the same position. A voice surfaced in the skies: “Take this sword, boy …” Emi turned to look around. She saw a struggling Wei and Hoh, and the five bullies still groaning, trying to stand up. “Take this sword, boy …” The voice repeated itself again. Emi hit realization. “Ken … I think it’s calling for you.” Emi relinquished control to him. “Huh?” He stared at the sword. “Whoa … golden.” He walked slowly and reached out his hand to the sword’s grip handle. Just some five inches away, the sword shook violently and flew into his hand, initially shocking Ken. His hand automatically held tight to the golden grip and the red gem stopped glowing. “AAAAHH!!” Orange flames engulfed him, but he felt strange; as if all its infinite knowledge was being taught to him … “This sword is hereby yours … make use of it well … reveal its power ... when you need it, it will appear to you … use it well …” The voice said no more as Ken tried to get used to the sword. “Wow … it’s light … for something quite the height of me.” Ken swung the sword up and down before he realized the demons had stood up. “What’s that thing!? A sword!? How’d you get it!?” Bully One demanded fiercely. The teen wasn’t paying attention to him; he was moving his left hand through the sword’s blade as if it didn’t harm him or cut through him. “This is … this is a spiritual weapon. I’m not bleeding at all.” He then darted his eye sharply at Bully One. “I may just know how to solve this problem!” Ken charged forward to Bully One, who was insulted by that and ran forward as well. Both of them screamed out their loudest, as Ken wielded strength into his brand new weapon and Bully One stretched out his arms; preparing to yank Ken for worse. “GRRAAAHH!!” And then … SHRARG. Ken’s eyes were initially shut but he opened them and saw something amazing. He had boldly stabbed Bully One in the chest area, where it pierced the rib cage and his organs. Five feet is certainly long. The demon inside him stuttered with shock, for the pain was beyond imagination. His voice left him and he couldn’t yell. Meanwhile, Wei was close to untying the knot on her hands. “Grrh … come on … almost there …” “Yaaah!” Ken pulled his sword out, pulling out the black-coloured demon inside Bully One. Its mouth was wide open and its entire body was shaking in pain. “Aha.” The other demon-possessed bullies glared on as Ken had the demon stuck on his sword. “That was … awesome.” He lifted the sword in the air and swung it down to the grass; the sheer force pushing the demon outward and the sword’s blade was no longer in its spirit body. “Urgh … umpgh …” That was all it could mutter. Ken darted at the rest. He thrust the sword towards them. “I’m going to liberate those bullies from you, even if I hated them! That’s because I hate you all even more!” The demons were frightened. They ran away from him, screaming their hearts out. Ken dashed really quickly, thanks to his athletics and it was soon all over. The clouds above turned light grey. Ken pierced his sword through each bully and one by one, extracted all the demons out of their bodies and thrown them onto the rough grass. None of them could shout in anguish or pain, as it was already beyond measure. Those five limping bodies collapsed again, free of the evil entities that were bound to them so hard. “There we are. Five fresh ones.” Ken glanced over them with a sneaky and menacing look; the five of them clearly shivering in fear. “No … please don’t harm me … please ….” One of the burly demons pleaded, whereas the others hid the faces. “Hmm … let’s see … what am I going to do with all of you?” Emi felt awkward. Um … Ken? I’m feeling something … you’re not thinking of anything sneaky, are you? Ken briefly halted and made a guilty laugh of a reply to her. “Ah ha hah … no, nothing like that. I’m just trying to act cool like what they would do in the comic books.” Wei was almost able to break free from the tight knots. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I have to see this! It’s as though Ken beat all of them up good!” She mumbled. “Circle your sword around them …” The voice surfaced again. Ken looked around and expectedly, he didn’t find the person responsible for the speech. “Don’t worry … only you and the girl can hear me … circle your sword around them.” Ken gulped down his throat. “Okay … here goes.” The teen thrust forth the large sword at the demons. He roughly made a circle around them in the mid-air. The instant he completed the circle, a sphere of light emanated from the spot and enveloped all demons. “Whoa!” Ken remarked in surprise as he watched them yell and scream out words he couldn’t hear. The giant sphere shrunk in size and vanished on the spot. “Wow! What was that all about!? … It’s over …” The teen sighed and hunched lightly. “Phew … I’m glad all that was over. Everything ought to be normal by now.” Ken didn’t feel it, but his 5-foot long sabre sword dissipated in thin air in his grasp. Ken, um … what about Hoh? And Wei? You’d better check up on them. He widened his eyes. “Oh, right! Wei! Hoh! Are you guys alright!?” He rushed to a corner of the fence where they were, and coincidentally, Wei slipped her hands out of the knot and hurriedly removed the straps of cloth on her eyes and mouth. “Gah!! Fresh air! Huuh … Ken! What happened just now!? What was with all the shouting and arguments and – !?” Ken merely shook his head. “Erhm … I’ve just managed to fend them off. They’re unconscious now. Come on; let’s get all those knots untied. I don’t want to talk about this. Fighting them myself is hard work.” Wei had her wide eyes at him but nodded in compliance and proceeded to untie her legs and Hoh all over. “Yay … free …” Soon, the five bullies woke up to. “Urgh … what happened? Where are we …? The last thing I remember was meeting a strange hooded person … all went black and dark …” Bully Three mumbled. “Yeah … ow! Why do I hurt so much!? My body aches …” Hoh stared on confusedly; Wei looked on them with anger whereas Ken sighed again. “AAH!! No, you!! What are you doing here!? What am I doing here!?” Bully One reacted with fear upon seeing Ken’s face. He rapidly crawled to the back and so did the rest. Recalling memories of their last fight, they dared not speak a word but shivered. Wei stepped forward. “What, you’re now claiming to be innocent and know nothing!? You five chased us down from school and threatened to pulverize Ken! You bound me and Hoh up in knots of cloth and now, you’re claiming you don’t know anything!? I detest liars like you!!” She held out a clenched fist to the shivering Bully One. “No! Really, we don’t know anything!! Ever since the last time boss” – Bully Four referred to Bully One – “challenged Kazuguchi to a fight after he threatened to stab that guy’s arm” – pointing to Hoh – “we didn’t dare to pick on another fight with Kazuguchi! Not after he pulverized a whole tree trunk piece to tiny bits! With his bare hands!!” Emi gave herself a smile: she took pride in that achievement a lot from that time on. Wei glared skeptically at Ken, while Hoh stared with utter shock. “Ken … was that … was that how you defeated them? Bare hands? A thick piece of wood!?” Hoh stuttered and pointed at him. “What!? That sounds impossible – how can you shred lumber with your bare fist!? Didn’t you get injured or something!?” Wei asked Ken as well. Emi felt as though she was being challenged and her temper rose a little. Ken silently clenched his muscle arms to give her an indirect warning and she yelped from the sudden increase of clamping pressure on her inside his head. “Um … yeah … I did all that.” “You see!? He did all that!! Do you think we want to make a mess out of him since then!? Where are we? Why are we here!?” Bully One made some more noise and was followed by the rest. Ken tried to settle with a suspicious Wei first. “Look, they are just deranged and confused. Mental, in my view. Can’t we let them go?” Wei huffed. Ken stared on with a worried face, hoping that this matter will be solved as quickly as possible to prevent any unwanted attention. “Alright … fine. I suppose I can forget about everything that happened.” Hoh scratched his head in more confusion. “Really, what just happened? Why were we being targeted?” The teen escorted the five bullies, all still shaking in fear, back to Aoyaga Private Academy. He wordlessly bid them farewell as they stood in the empty school grounds and the duo followed him. They decided to forget about going to enjoy traditional delicacies like they planned earlier and head back to their own homes. “Ken … I’m still suspicious of you. Something tells me you’re hiding something, and I intend to find it out no matter what.” Wei suddenly spoke to him at the station platform. Ken jumped back in surprise. “Um … uh …” He failed to counter her back. “Look, I just came here last Saturday and I expect to start over a good and new life to compensate living behind my other friends in my hometown. I’m not going to let anything mess it up further, especially what I’ve seen through since Monday! Sooner or later, you’re going to spill out all your beans! I’m letting you go just for today, got it!?” Wei glared so closely at the teen, who was a little frightened of that. “Um … yeah, sure … thanks, I guess.” The girl huffed back at him and turned her back at him. The first aerotrain at 4.12 pm arrived and she quietly boarded it. Ken hung his head down as the train left. Hoh yelped out: “Hey! We didn’t buy the train ticket for that ride!” “Yeah … I know. Let’s catch the next train, Hoh … I’d rather let her go first than me.” Indeed, the both of them caught up with the train 12 minutes later. Hoh planned to go to Ken’s place because he felt that his home was too boring. The teen waved his brown hair, having no objections to that. Some two minutes after they boarded the aerotrain, Ken’s mother Saya called his cell phone, asking him to buy some spices for dinner. “Time to visit the herb shop for a while … do you mind, Hoh?” He turned to the cheerful bespectacled teen. “Nope, not at all. I’m just taking the chance to see what’s it like outside of my luxury home, that’s all. Even the minor things that seem different.” Inside Ken’s head, Emi was making thoughts of her own, speculating on the recent turn of events and as well as including whatever that had just happened. Who could be behind all of this? Sending a pack of demons after us … could it be Ria!? The weirdo girl who is after us, and especially me!? Wait! What about the priest Jia!? He could be responsible too! He was after us as well, and especially me!Emi freaked out for the next five seconds until Ken banged his head against the aerotrain wall. OW! Hey, what’d you do that for!? Are you trying to squeeze the pressure on me even harder!? Ken shook his head lightly to himself and whispered: “Hey … we just got out of a mess, so just relax, okay? Don’t stress yourself out so much.” Apparently, the girl wasn’t listening as she still remained fidgeting inside his body. “Emi, if it makes you calm down, I intend to practice relaxing myself tonight, just like you asked of me.” Previously, Emi had the teen promise to learn how to easily relax as much as he could, so that the next time they finished enduring a battle together under unusual circumstances, the girl could be free easily rather than he having to sleep to do so. Oh! Um … well, I guess I can do that just fine then … thanks. The ghost girl finally calmed down and throughout the journey from the aerotrain to the area where the shop selling spices and herbs was located, everything seemed pretty normal. “Um … let’s see … I think 10 EraSean dollars should be enough. The eastern mountain wood spices usually cost around 8 to 9 dollars per box.” Ken played around on his wallet as he walked on street concrete slabs. Hoh used this opportunity again to admire slightly-old-looking concrete shophouses with carved roofs and pottery on the streets. AH!? The sudden exclamation by Emi loudly in his head jerked him forward and nearly tripped on a lifted corner of the street slab tile. “Whoa whoa!” The teen eventually recovered his balance; Hoh stopped walking and walked back slightly to see to him. “Hey, you okay, pal?” Ken dusted his school pants and sighed. “Phew … yeah, I’m fine, Hoh. Go ahead first. The shop is just down over there. I think it’s … Gao Groceries or something like that. There’s a really old man who has a foot-long beard. He owns the place.” Hoh gave it a thought. “Hm … alright, I’d see you there then!” The moment Hoh ran off, Ken hissed back furiously to Emi. “What was that for!? You shouting in my head gave me the shock just now!” The ghost girl was slightly panicked by that hissing. Um … I’m really sorry, Ken! But … as you know, I can hear living people’s thoughts … and I just heard a nasty one from a familiar person nearby!Her testimony grabbed his attention. “What? Someone familiar? Who’s that?” It’s priest Jia. He’s been trying to follow us the whole day unnoticed. I heard his voice from around the corner, and it’s pretty close. Ken looked around him angrily. He only saw few people on the streets, taxis running on the roads and tall old trees. There was no sign of a yellow- or red-robed monk around. I know he is! Trust me!“Hmm … he’s not around though …” Emi was worried that he thought she was joking with him so she anxiously replied: Ken, I’m not lying! I really heard and recognized that voice! He was planning to keep a tighter watch on you! He wants proof of any irregularity in your behavior to point it back to me! He still wants to exorcise me!“That bad!?” Ken hung his head down and sighed deeply. “Well, the least I can do now is just keep watch. Come on; let’s go. Hoh’s probably waiting for me.” Emi wasn’t going to let her guard down so her ears were tuning in sharp to anyone’s thoughts she heard. The priest Jia, hiding behind a corner of a building very close to the teen, hissed to himself. “Grrh! That boy! Somehow I have to get to him! He knows that he is having a spirit with him and he’s denying it in my face! The scriptures cannot be disobeyed!! I will have that ghost sent to the afterlife one way or another, even if it means skipping meditation periods from now on! The scriptures will not be disobeyed!!” Emi fidgeted at that proclamation she overheard, but Ken merely ignored her. Ken walked out of the herb shop with a bag holding the precious spices for dinner whereas Hoh walked behind him. The bespectacled teen noticed that the weather was disturbingly different than before: dark grey clouds were gathering and the wind was very strong and cold. Conveniently, there was a nearby shop that sells electronic gadgets. “Funny weather we are having here over the Republic. The Core City region as well as other provinces around the capital may just experience another bout of light rainstorms, whereas provinces at the western coasts and at the north to the oceans will have light drizzles and clouds. On the far eastern corner of the country …” Hoh scratched his head. “Autumn is going to end … why are there so much rain these days? Too much water for snow?” Ken didn’t really hear that and grumbled under his breath. He then asked Hoh something he remembered: “So, Hoh, we are still having the study group at your place, right?” The nerdy fellow nodded in agreement. “Yeap, then when it’s time for a rest, we can play the Ultrablast 450 together! I can’t wait to beat you at the racing game I bought last week!” Ken twitched a little and stared back playfully at Hoh. “What’s that supposed to mean? I always win these racing games. There’s no way I’m allowing anyone to beat me at my favourites, even you!” Emi had to bear at Ken’s vision for a while: he and Hoh were glaring at each other in a competition-like manner over video games. Boys and video games … geez … “Oh really?” A voice surfaced out of nowhere and both teens turned to see a cloaked figure some 25 feet away in front of them. “You say you can win anything?” The cloak was entirely grey and the hood covered the person’s face so much that only his chin was visible. From Ken’s viewpoint, the person seemed to be slightly taller than he is. “Ah … so this must be him … the boy who I so anxiously want dead, and the girl who I so anxiously want to get rid of. The moment I laid my eyes on you, I knew that you were a threat to my ambitious plans.” The cloaked villain spoke in a surprisingly calm and soft tone, although his voice was definitely cold and lifeless. Hoh twitched, looking at him. “Who are you and what do you want!?” Ken shouted at him whereas Hoh had a defensive stance on. “What is going on here?” The streets were surprisingly empty with no people at all; not even a single running taxi. “Oh, come now, you don’t recognize me?” Ken was clueless. “You are no one I have met before, that’s for sure!” The teen was telling the truth, for he never spoke to anyone with that voice before. “Hm … allow me to refresh your memory then. How was your fight with my five demons that I sent earlier? Did you enjoy that fight, Ken Kazuguchi?” Hoh realized the danger of the situation. “You … you’re the one who sent the five bullies after us! You bound me and gagged me and my friend in knots!” Hoh pointed accusingly at the cloaked villain. Ken made a disgusted look at him. “It was YOU!? You were trying to kill me back there!?” The figure lightly nodded. “Very good. You finally remembered. I was planning to do this the easy way but apparently, you leave me no choice. I expect you to die after this fight.” He snapped a loud click with his fingers. Out of the sewer gratings, drains and manholes on the long streets, dark purple smoke rose up into the air. “GAH!! What is all this you’re trying to do here!?” Ken shouted at him, but the cloaked villain refused to reply. Meanwhile, Hoh was having his own predicament. “Whoa! Ah! What is this!? There’s black mist everywhere! Urgh! This feeling!?” The figure snapped his fingers again and the smoke descended on the ground, forming into various outlines. “I’ve gathered this special group to play with you … and your little friends.” The instant after that, as many as 70 large demons laughed their hearts out. Being muscular and very tall of height, they threatened their gnawing nails and strong fists. Each foot and arm of all of them had a single tight cuff on them. Their skin colour varied from green to black. Hoh was totally frightened by the mere sight of them. “What is all this!? Black moving matter everywhere! So black, yet so foggy! Don’t come near me!” Hoh collapsed on the ground and curled himself up in fear. The cloaked villain spat from under his hood. “Wipe them out. I’ll deal with their bodies later. So … have as much fun as you want.” All demons snickered with pure evil. “Yes, my lord …” The figure merely walked away and all the demons charged forward. “Time to die!!” Some of the ghouls screamed in ecstasy and gathered strength in their fists. One of them was going to punch Ken hard, but Emi struck first by forcing herself to control Ken’s body and landed a tough fist on its face. “IDIOTS!! Don’t think you can do as you please!!” Ken was amazed as the girl thrown off a demon, crashing into various others behind. “Ken, we need to get Hoh out of here!” She dashed through the spirit bodies of the demons like thin air; indeed, since human bodies are technically not physically in solid contact with those of the dead. “Ah! Help! Help!” Hoh curled up and shivered more and more, and he eventually felt sick and spit out some bubbly saliva. “I … feel … sick. What’s going on … with the black smoke around … me …” He was on the verge of unconsciousness but he felt a solid firm palm on his shoulder. “Hoh! Don’t worry! I’m going to get you out of here!” Hoh stared at a dizzy image of Ken, with a solid angry face. “Urgh … Ken …” He then passed out completely on the spot. “Tsk! This will be of more trouble than I thought!” Emi tried to lift Hoh on her back, but the demons tried to stop her from escaping. “Don’t think you can escape! What the master wants, the master gets!” EMI! Ken called out to her in despair, but she didn’t listen. She dashed up into the air and forced a series of wild and fast punches onto the demons’ faces and stomachs. “Argh!” “Oopff!” “Gah!” Three to six demons were thrown back, but others had their clenched fists coming. “Take this, little girl!!” One large fist came charging forward. “AAHH!!” Emi felt the punch of it, and although it physically looked like she wasn’t hurt, her spirit body dealt the toll of it. Her eyes were wide open and she almost stopped moving. “Tsk! Must continue on!” She strengthened herself and stomped hard on the ground. “Argh!” She held her heart region. “No good … no good! What should I do now?” Emi! Are you forgetting about me!? I’m here! I can fight them with that sword I obtained earlier on! Having said that, a golden flare surfaced on Emi’s palm, which briefly stunned the incoming demons. The 5-foot-long sword appeared neatly on her palm, and with eyes of surprise, she instinctively held on tight to its grip handle. “Ken, I have an idea. Try using your sword onto Hoh’s body! Just do it!” She then retreated and Ken felt his body again. “Alright … whatever you say.” Ken rushed 15 feet to where Hoh was on the street and roughly sliced the spiritual sword through Hoh’s body in a circular manner. He was surprised as to what occurred then. “Whoa! The light again!” Ken exclaimed, referring to the globe of light enveloping Hoh. It revealed thick concentrations of dark purple smoke all over Hoh’s bodies and dissipated all of them in an instant. However, the light remained there and continued to somehow shield Hoh. “URGH!! Hah … hah …” Hoh panted for fresh air. Excellent! Just as I speculated! The power of your new sword is protecting Hoh from the demonic influence! Then, you can focus on taking out all these demons without any distractions! The demons heard and saw what Emi said to Ken and shook a tiny bit out of fear. Ken turned his head, darting a sharp eye at all ghouls. “Torture my friend like this, huh!? I can assure you that you’d regret it!! RAAHH!!” Ken yelled at all his might, tightening his hold on his spiritual weapon. Its blades flared furious red flames together with Ken’s fury of determination and anger, sprouting out some 12 feet into the air from the tip of the sword where his fingertips were. “What can you do, kid!? You’re just a puny boy with a lame sword!!” Some demons shouted before they charged forward at him. While Emi whined a little at the pressure Ken’s body was exerting on her, she merely watched as Ken himself ran forward. “LAME SWORD MY FOOT!” Ken slashed on the thighs and chests of the 6 demons confronting him. “ARGH!” They screamed in pain, but Ken was not satisfied and even stabbed deeper into their bodies to fully paralyze them. “Take that, foul creatures!” “Carefully approach and immobilize him!” Some shouted. Ken avoided one of the incoming tough fists, ran past two more attempting to stomp on him. “Hah!!” He slashed their legs and even stabbed their throats. “Missed me! There!!” “RAAH!!” 12 demons approached him simultaneously, spewing out foul breath of filth and dark magic too. Ken Kazuguchi smiled. “This is more fun than I anticipated. Awesome.” Continued in Chapter 14. Notes: Hope you all enjoyed the battles, and Ken’s brand new sabre sword. Refer to Chapters 7 and 8 for Emi’s getting Ken to train being relaxed. Wei is suspicious and onto Ken, and probably the smart Hoh as well. And … finally the cloaked villain shows up and snaps the threat on Ken himself! Who is this fellow and what are his plans for the future? ------- And now time for some additional photos. To give the story settings more realism. Shijun City www.made-in-china.com/image/6f3j00ovFtMTUWYQkeM/Shenzhen-City-1.jpgI envisaged the capital city of the province teh story is set in as something like this. Picture is in above link. More or less. Chaoge town should be somewhat similar but a little shorter. Handao Village The place where Ken and family, and Emi, currently stay in. It's something like this ... the housing style and stuff ... but I was thinking far bigger fields, like this one. www.jigsha.com/chai/05222008farm-field.jpgWell, you get the idea. Republic capital Core City Basically, a city with very high buildings, even with those taller than Taipei 101 and the former Word Trade Center. Much higher than Shijun city, but not as high as Coruscant - the famous Star Wars planet city. And now for musics. For some reason, the electronica beat of this song rhymes with the amazing heights of Core City. I dunno why. A happy song. An insane song for an insane, cruel ironic moment. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask, or re-read the Chapters again. Thanks a lot!
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