I was slightly nervous about it, but spending some time with Yokou and the others completely got my mind off of it.. It felt nice since things like this never really happened to me before.

I kinda wish Akiri-san was here as well..Eh.. why am I thinking about her right now..

Ah, shut up you idiot..!!

"Hmm.. Sueharu-kun.. could it be.. you are blushing?" Yokou looks directly at me.

"N-NO, IM NOT."

She laughs a little.

"Yea, yea, alright, if ya say so."

She says and takes a sip from her cup of tea.

"Hm.. Akane Akiri-san, am I right?"

What- how does she know..

I blush and look down sheepishly..

"Haha, you are so easy to read Sueharu-kun. Everyone in school has noticed that you two spend quite a bit of time together in school.."

"Please, Tobichi-san, stop it..."

After that, we talked a little more, although I was kinda tired so I decided to rest for today.

I went to the bathroom to wash my face but.. I noticed something strange.. in the mirror

It was only for a brief moment that I caught a glimpse of something rather strange..

A dark figure standing.. A pair of bright, white eyes glaring right at me..but when I looked closely.. nothing was there.

"I must be really going insane."

I went to the guest room... That has an insanely large bed for some reason.. I guess Tobichi really does come from a rich family..

I lie down in bed and fall asleep pretty quickly..

I'm once again in the pitch black space..

I really wonder why I keep getting here.

"Finally.. you are aware of my presence."

A distorted voice echoed from behind..

As I quickly turned around, I saw the same dark figure from before. The same one that I saw in the mirror with the corner of my eye.

"Who are you..?!" I demand an answer with a shaky voice.

The entity chuckles... "These details ain't important, Ayato..." It laughs again.." I'm not here to hurt you, for now, at least..

But right now we have to establish something.."

It walks straight towards me..

Its movements seem a little bit wonky .. as if it lacked energy.

It was also very skinny..

"Whether you like it or not, we are partners now."

It firmly places its hand on my shoulder.

It chuckles again..

"And you have to understand one thing.. If you die.. I will die too."

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"I have no intention of dying." I say while slightly shaking and clenching my fist.

"Heeeeh? What do we have here? Is that confidence, or perhaps just fear? Maybe it’s the sudden realization that you have people that care about you and that tried to help.. oh, well it doesn't matter to me...but."

It turns its back to me." Don't die, Ayato."

Says the entity as it disappears in darkness.

Suddenly I wake up... What was that all about..ugh, my head hurts.

What was that about…

Oh, it's already morning.

After a while, I left the house with Yokou, Tayou, Sakura and Kagami to go to school and honestly.. I felt weird

It was the first time I ever went to school with someone else.

As we walked to school, a lot of people looked at us.. mainly Yokou and Sakura.. although I think they were more confused about the fact that I was walking with the two most popular girls in the school.. although the thought of the entity I saw last night would not leave my mind..

When we finally got to school, we all rushed to our classrooms.

When I got there, I noticed Akiri-san waiting in front of my desk for some reason..

Is it just me or.. today she is prettier than normally...

AHH, WHAT AM I THINKING??

"Ohh, Sueharu-kun, you are finally here !" She walks up to me with a warm smile on her face.

"W-whats up Akiri-san ?"

I ask nervously..

"Well, you know .. I was just wondering if we could still go to the mall together?"

Oh.. I COMPLETELY FORGOT!

" A-ah, yes ! Of course we c-can."

"Ahh, that's great! We will go on Friday then!"

"Mhm, okay, that's fine."

Well that was really surprising... Although I think we kinda made everyone stare at us..

Many of our classmates then came to Akiri-san asking her why the hell she would hang out with me and all..

That didn't feel the best.. but well.. I'm used to it by now. Can’t do much about it anyway.

After school was over for today, I was told by Tayou to come over to Yokou’s house again.. For training, apparently.

"Ah, you are finally here. Seriously, why are you always so late?"

Says Yokou.

"Huuuuuh-"

"Well, anyway, anyway, Sueharu-kun, catch !"

Yokou throws a wooden sword towards me.

"From now on, your one and only goal is to land a hit on me while we do this training. Get it ?"

Waah, that was quick.

"Yes, I know. You have no experience whatsoever but.. this isn't just about you learning how to use a sword..

Basically, to hit me.. just getting better at swordsmanship isn’t going to be enough. You need to gain momentum and speed.``

She says as she starts quickly moving across the room to the very end at an incredible speed.

It almost looked as if she was leaving an afterimage of herself as she moved further.

"This is Reverberation turn.

Only when you can use this.."

She uses it again to appear right in front of me and chuckles.

"You will have the chance to hit me."

Woa.. that's insane.

"Now, now, don't act so surprised. This is a casual thing to do.. but knowing you , you’re probably going to have a problem with this as well, pfft."

Ahhh, she's right..

But I have to do it... I squeeze the hilt of the wooden sword.

"You ready?"

"Ye- AUCH!" Before I even get to finish it, Yokou strikes me on the head.

Ouchhhh, that hurtsss.

"Pfft, we are devils. We don't play fair."

Well then..

"HAAA!" I dash towards her aiming for her arm, but she easily avoids the strike and when I try to hit her from the other direction she just disappears into thin air..

"Behind you~" she whispers to my ear and catches me off guard. I quickly turn around but she isn't there, I turn around again but what I see is just insane.

She moves rapidly around the room leaving more and more afterimages of herself. It's beginning to look as if she is duplicating. And each time she uses the reverberating turn a lound and distinct sound of vibration or some sorts of reverb echoes through the room.

"If you keep trying that, you will never hit me."

She suddenly appears right in front of me and stops her sword right in front of my face.

"And boom, you are dead."

"Whaaaa? How am I supposed to do that with zero experience whatsoever????!"

"Well, isn't it obvious.. you will be training every day from now on!"

"Wha-.. but what about school??"

"Nyahaha, of course you will go to school as well ! Nothing beats education, after all." She says with a sassy smirk on her face.

She can't be serious-

Oh yea, she's serious-

"Ahh, don't worry Sueharu. Now, now, enough talk. We shall resume the training."

She placed both of her hands on the hilt of her wooden sword.

"Place your hands like this. And then try to attack and block incoming attacks.

I do as she says by placing my hand on the hilt and moving the sword in front of me.

I move the wooden sword up preparing to strike from above.

"You are wide open." She says and strikes me directly in the stomach.

I quickly fall to the ground and try to catch my breath.

"Alright, stand up. We are just getting started."

She smiles.

|Few hours have passed|

I fall on the ground.

"Alright, let’s wrap it up for today."

Ughhh.. I’ve never felt this much discomfort in my entire life... No more, please-

She rests the wooden sword on her shoulder and flashes a warm smile.

"Heh, you did well Sueharu-kun. If you keep it up like this maybe you will have a chance to

catch me.

Or dying from exhaustion is likely too."

"PLEASE DON'T SAY THAT!"

"Heh"

"Don't heh me !!"

She laughs and helps me to get up.