I ducked by instinct, and the katana sliced harmlessly through the air above my head, whistling as it did so.

Lashing out with my foot, I made contact with Kenji’s knee, and the boy hobbled back, yelping. By the time he had raised his weapon again, I had already caught up, and I slammed a fist into his gut, the sensation of hitting flesh weird on my knuckles. His reactions were strangely slow even if he was naturally fast.

“Aren’t you a hundred years old and legendary? You don’t fight like it.”

Nasa cut in from where she was standing. “You just attained that form, haven’t you? You’re still uncomfortable in it.”

“Shut up!” Kenji roared, bringing his blade to bear, and unleashing a barrage of quick attacks.

His blade moved so fast it almost looked as though a vacuum was forming in its wake.

I backed up, making sure to stay out of range. He may be unused to being in human form, but reaction speeds aside, his ability at handling that weapon is amazing.

I sucked in another breath, but my windpipe suddenly constricted, and I started coughing. This air’s too dry. I can’t do anything!

Sensing the opening, Kenji swooped in, the edge of his blade moving upwards, right at my head.

I jerked my head back by reflex, spurring another set of coughs as I slapped the blade away with the palm of my hand.

“How the hell did you hit that?” The boy demanded, and I shrugged, stepping into his guard.

While he was distracted, I wrapped a hand around his katana’s grip to isolate it, and drew my fist back.

Kenji’s eyes widened.

Something clicked within me, the part of the grip I was holding suddenly feeling hot, and the spiritual energy within me suddenly circulating. Huh?

I couldn’t stop my movement in time, and when my fist connected with Kenji’s stomach, spiritual energy burst forth like water from a broken dam. I stumbled backwards, the sword still in my hand while the boy was flung into the wall at the end of the alley, collapsing in a heap. The air around him shimmered, and his body started smoking before dissipating entirely.

At the same time, a slight jingle alerted me to the appearance of a rectangular object appearing at the base of the katana’s hilt, connected to it by a short chain. A piece of black wood with flower petals painted on it. Kenji’s earring.

I stared at my hand, which had an unstable aura of energy swirling around it.

“This is-”

“Ren-kun. What the hell did you just do?” Nasa came up to me, her ears upright and alert.

“I-I don’t know. I just held this sword and suddenly it became hot and my spiritual energy started flowing and-” I started stammering, but a strange euphoria had risen in me.

I just used spiritual energy. I just used spiritual energy. It wasn’t Onmyodo, but I can use spiritual energy!

Nasa thought for a second, and took the sword from me, before nodding to herself. “I know what happened. This Kenji is a cursed tool. He absorbs the spiritual energy of anyone who uses him. That’s what caused your usually dormant energy to start moving, and because you’re not used to controlling it, your punch emitted a large amount of it. Enough to short circuit his intake, and ended up knocking out his human form. He’s now dormant, and will remain sealed in himself, by that I mean the sword, until he regains consciousness.”

I stared at the weapon, which Nasa handed to me. It had already materialized a scabbard. Is there any way to make it more portable?

The spiritual energy in me had started moving again once I held the sword, and almost as if responding to my question, it shimmered and shrank until the only thing that sat in my hand was Kenji’s earring.

I stared at it, unsure of what had just happened.

“Well, that’s reassuring.” Nasa smiled. “The fact that his subconscious responded to your request means that he’s accepted you as his master.”

I looked down at the earring, and attached it to the pouch on my left waist, where it dangled.

“Now that you have your weapon, it’s time to get back home.” Nasa drew the fan from her sleeve again, and gripped my shoulder.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

We didn’t reappear in the Kamo household, but I was grateful for the return of fresh air that didn’t want to tear my lungs to shreds from the inside.

“Ah, it seems like I haven’t fully mastered the return phase. We’ll have to walk, Ren-kun.” Nasa smiled apologetically, but the glint in her eyes told me that wasn’t the truth.

“What do you want to talk about?” I decided to get right into it.

Nasa laughed. “You’re more intuitive than you let on.”

Her expression turned serious. “You seem worried, Ren-kun.”

“Yeah. Who wouldn’t?” I muttered.

“No, you’re worried about more than what I know about. There’s something else out there you care about, that you don’t know anything about.”

I frowned. “Just how much do you know-”

“Ah, it’s not a thing. It’s a person.” Nasa nodded knowingly.

“Your ability to know things just from watching is scary.” I clicked my tongue, irritated, then stuffed my hands in my pockets. “Keiichi. He’s my best friend. An Onmyoji from the Matamura house. On the day of his betrayal, my uncle called him out by name. I’m afraid that he’s being targeted as well, and he hasn’t made any contact with me even though I left him voice mails.”

“I see.” Nasa replied quietly. “I’m sorry.”

We walked quietly for a while more before the kitsune spoke up again. “If you want, when we’re back at the house, I could try divining about him.”

I perked up. “Really? That’ll be a life-saver.”

Nasa nodded. “What’s his name again? Matamura Keiichi?”

“Yeah-”

“You guys talking about me?”

Nasa’s fangs immediately elongated along with her claws, and my hand already held the earring within it, morphing it into a fully bladed katana as we both whirled around.

“Woah, chill!” The boy in front of us stumbled back, falling on his backside.

I froze as my eyes fell onto him. My arm fell limp, and the blade of the katana scratched against the concrete path. “Kei...ichi…”

“Yeah, it’s me, man. Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

Morphing Kenji back into earring form, I practically fell forward to wrap Keiichi in a hug. “I thought you were dead.”

Keiichi looked uncomfortable. “What’re you talking about, man? Why would I be? I’m not the wanted man, you are.”

“Reunion stories later, but we need to get back to the house now.” Nasa hissed. “I can sense Onmyoji on patrol just two streets away.”

“Huh?” Keiichi jumped a little. “Am I being tracked?”

Nasa shook her head. “For a kit, you’re surprisingly adept with concealment.”

Keiichi smiled, rubbing his nose bashfully. “Runs in the family.”

I hit the boy’s shoulder as we started moving at a faster pace. “Why the hell didn’t you pick up your phone?”

“My phone? Oh, I threw it away. My parents would probably have tried tracking me with it.”

“Tracking you…? Why would they-”

“Dude. Every single Onmyoji with allegiance to the Onmyo-ryo has been activated to keep an eye out for you. I snuck out of the house under the pretense that I would aid in the search, but my parents might suspect me of aiding you instead, so I had to make sure they couldn’t track me.”

“How the hell did you find me, then?”

Keiichi grinned. “Have I never mentioned this? You should’ve been able to figure it out just by seeing how bad my combat skills are, Ren.”

“Figure what out?”

“I’m a diviner. Not a combat Onmyoji. The Matamuras are famous for having innately talented diviners, and I left a seal on you the last time we spoke, that allowed me to track you. There was one on me too, but I disabled it a while back in Tokyo to lead my parents off my trail.”

I was speechless. I had never once entertained the possibility that Keiichi was a diviner. After all, with his fiery red hair and outspoken attitude, he seemed much more attuned to fighting than sitting behind a wooden board, ‘communing’ with spirits and stargazing. Or at least what I figured divining was.

Finally breathing out, I smiled. “I’m glad you’re safe, Kei.”

“Yeah, me too. I’m glad you’re alright.”