Two other duels went by, but Ren paid them minimal attention, too concerned about what happened with the ghost. He only returned to reality when Kazuki spoke to him. "It's time to go."

This prompted the young warrior to look at his friend and notice, in peripheral vision, that others were already heading toward the exit.

"Y-yes," he mumbled, getting up.

"We will come with you, if you don't mind," Satoru's voice came from behind. At the same time, the old man’s hand landed on Ren's shoulder.

"The area for the family and friends is ruined, so I guess they won't be complaining," Hiroshi added.

This was enough for Ren to look behind and notice the two, who were already prepared to go. He simply nodded in response, then allowed the three to escort him, but he paid very little attention to them still worried enough to be unable to pay much mind to anything else but his problem.

Satoru struck up a casual conversation with Kazuki, but it all just passed through Ren's ears. He was too focused on worrying about the ghost.

'Maybe I should meditate? Isamu said something about meditation... The last time I tried, I saw something... Maybe I can communicate with the ghost and make him back down? Would that even be possible with the Hearteater? He seems so vicious, so murderous... I can't lose my body to him again,' he pondered while they walked, eventually arriving in the underground park.

The place was already heavily guarded, with many people patrolling around. Ren barely noticed, heading straight to his designated house.

"See you later then," Kazuki said, noticing that his friend had simply separated from the rest.

Satoru and Hiroshi decided to head for the park.

Inside, Ren found lunch already waiting for him. For a moment, he contemplated whether he should eat first or go straight to meditation, but he opted for the first option, as he was unable to predict how long the process would take. Besides, he was simply hungry.

After quickly filling his belly, he ended up sitting on the ground, with the sword resting on his lap. Then he closed his eyes, trying to focus for a moment. The first few minutes were a completely futile attempt, but then it changed in a blink of an eye.

From a spacious, furnished, and well-illuminated room, he was brought to complete darkness. At first, there was nothing but black and silence surrounding him, but then he began hearing noises. Initially hard to recognize, but as time went on, he finally grasped that those were groans of somebody suffering. Faint and weak.

The uneven breath mixed within with those louder gasps.

'Somebody is dying,' Ren thought.

As he did, the surroundings changed a little bit. It was gradual, so the first details missed him completely, but soon he was pretty sure that he found himself in a dark alley. The sun was setting, so only sparse rays of orange light could reach this secluded space.

There was some garbage lying around in the mud, but Ren also noticed two large barrels filled with water, and the noise seemed to be coming from that direction. As he was about to approach, footsteps from the entrance to the alley caught his attention.

Soon, a small head with a mane of ruffled hair appeared. It was a boy, perhaps ten years old, with dirt smeared on his little face. His tattered clothes and bare feet revealed his impoverished condition. He clutched a sack of grain, likely rice, to his chest and attempted to peer into the alley, searching for the source of the noise – much like Ren.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Driven by curiosity, the boy cautiously stepped forward, occasionally glancing over his shoulder as if unsure if it was a good idea. His hesitant steps betrayed a hint of fear, but the curiosity overpowered his apprehension. He ventured further into the alley, his bare feet sinking into the wet sand, creating a soft, muffled sound with each step.

Ren trailed behind the boy, increasingly convinced that this vision must be connected to the ghost. He couldn't help but wonder if this was the young Hearteater.

In a matter of moments, the secret was revealed. Between the barrels was hiding a man. He looked horrible. Pale face, covered in dirt, broken, dry lips, and sunken eyes. All clearly an aftereffect of something even more horrible. His stomach was cut open, and guts spilled out, he was clutching them in with his hand while bleeding to his death. Shivering, gasping, and groaning.

The face was unshaven, and bloody, to the point that it was hard to recognize any features.

In the first second the boy gasped as well, scared by the presence, and even jumped in place, ready to bolt away, but the man clearly was no threat.

„D-do you need help?” The boy naively asked.

The response came in a strange and unforeseen way. A blade came from the side, taking the head of the kid from his shoulders. A burst of blood sprayed around, marking the whole alley, just as the sack of grain fell to the mood. As the body collapsed, lifeless, the man leaned forward, dropping his katana, and climbing on top of the dead corpse. He pulled a knife from somewhere, and used it to cut the heart of the boy out, only to consume it like a wild animal.

Ren watched this with horror painted all over his face, but despite desperately wanting to look away, he couldn’t.

The organ was consumed, and the terrible, grave wound on the stomach of this strange man slowly but surely closed, returning him to a perfect condition.

"No way..." Ren mumbled, his thoughts racing. He used to believe that the Hearteater's obsession with hearts was merely a legend, even a delusion. But now, it appeared to be disturbingly real. There definitely was more to it, as the rapid regeneration was unnatural, which prompted the young warrior to ask himself what was going on. He wanted to find the answer.

The man rose to his feet, retrieving his katana from the ground. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his dirty clothes, and for a brief moment, their gazes met. The Hearteater grinned with a horrifying, maniacal expression before quickly fleeing the alley.

"Ren, are you alright?" At that moment, he was awakened by the familiar voice of Satoru.

The old man knelt beside him, a hand on his shoulder, his face etched with worry. Ren nodded. He attempted to speak, but the words got stuck in his throat. The same moment he realized how nauseous he was feeling. He was also drenched in cold sweat.

"What were you doing?" Satoru asked, assisting him to stand.

"Meditation," Hiroshi chimed in from behind, just as Ren's Maken fell to the ground, emitting an unsettling sound.

There was something malevolent in that noise. Like a strange, unspoken threat.

"He was meditating," the doctor reiterated after a short pause.

"Yes," Ren confirmed after clearing his throat.

"On the sword?" Satoru inquired. "You look terrible. Something happened. Tell me," he urged as he settled his adopted son into a chair by the table, cluttered with empty bowls.

"I... I had a vision. A vision of the Hearteater... He killed a child and ate his heart," Ren spoke, his stomach churning as he recounted the gruesome scene. He stopped himself just short of vomiting.

"Lie down. I'll get you some water," Hiroshi said, immediately leaving the house.

Satoru offered Ren a hand, helping him transition to the bed. As Ren's head rested on the pillow, he felt a rectangular shape beneath it—the plate left by the stranger, which he had hidden before.

‘I'm tired of all these secrets,’ Ren thought to himself.

Suddenly, an overwhelming pressure descended upon him, pinning him down and crushing him. For a moment, he contemplated surrendering to it, relinquishing everything for a moment of peace. But then, visions of his past life, the mistakes he had made, and their consequences flooded his mind. He clenched his fists, pounding them into the bed.

Satoru noticed. "Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yes... I'm just tired," Ren replied fighting hard to not betray his state with the tone of his voice.

The old man wanted to say more, but Hiroshi entered the house, holding a bottle of water, which he quickly handed to Ren upon approaching. "Have some," he instructed.

Ren drank it, quenching his thirst.

"Rest a while. You've earned it today. We'll come back tomorrow," the doctor added.

He grabbed Satoru's hand and led him out of the house before the old man could protest. They both glanced at the Maken lying on the floor before they went out of the temporary lodging.

Ren was left alone, staring at the ceiling for quite a moment. He then retrieved the strange card from beneath his pillow and studied it for a long while before placing it under the bed, where it wouldn't disturb him.

Not much time later the guards arrived with dinner and to collect the lunch dishes. He ate, trying not to dwell too much on recent events, before returning to bed to get some sleep.