I got up at first light. Already the swelling in my side had gone down. I was well enough to get up and walk around. It was the weekend, so I didn’t have to worry about school today. I dug into my closet, pulling a shirt, a hoodie, and jeans.

I left my apartment, aiming to grab some breakfast at a little café. Koryn texted me, saying she to run some errands this morning, and that we should meet up in the afternoon. I bought a small sandwich at the café, scarfing it down before heading the direction of the shopping mall. It was pretty crowded, especially for so early in the morning. I kept my eyes open, looking for a particular shop. Found it. A store that sold sparring equipment for Demon Hunters and Academy students. On display were two wooden swords like the ones used in sparring matches. If I could buy one of them, I could practice at home. I approached the window, scanning the weapons. They were 50 alms each. Expensive, especially considering that massive fine. I didn’t have enough money for it. I sighed. Maybe I could borrow some from Koryn?

“Looking for something, Aidan Crow?” A familiar, cold voice said behind me.

“Kurahara…” I muttered. I couldn’t look her in the face, especially after my humiliation yesterday.

“I hope your bruise is healing well. I intentionally…”

“Yeah, yeah. You held back. Because you’re so much stronger than me.” I said, still not looking at her.

“But I am. It’s a fact. You should accept it.”

I wanted to protest, but I thought about what Koryn said last night. I swallowed my pride, keeping my mouth shut.

“It’s rude not to look at someone when you’re talking to them.” She said.

“Yeah well I…”

Kurahara Tsukihi was wearing a hoodie with a mini skirt and sneakers. The girl who always carried herself with grace and pose, who’s uniform was always immaculate, stood dressed completely casually. It was surreal to say the least. She even had around her neck a pair of headphones, with music blaring. We actually matched. Someone who seemed my opposite, dressed just as I am.

“What?” She said, tilting her head confused. She actually looked cute.

“Nothing. If you’re going to scold me or something, just so you know we’re not in school, so you have no jurstiction.”

“You wanted this sword, right?” She said, pointing at the weapon in window. “Are you going to use it to practice?” She said. She actually smiled.

“What’s it to you?” I said dismissedly.

Her face almost returned to her cold neutral look.

“I want to get stronger.” I said, blushing. It was embarrassing admitting this to the girl who destroyed me in a sparring match.

She smiled again.

“Here.” She said holding out a long wrapped object.

I approached her, hesitant she was trying something. I took the object, unwrapping it a little. Underneath was wooden sword, with the name “Kurahara” engraved on it.

“What… what?” I looked at her, dumbfounded.

“You can borrow it.” She said.

“What?” I was very confused. “But you hate me. Why would you?”

“Who said I hated you, Aidan Crow. I was just annoyed that you refused to better yourself. If losing to me would be the catalyst of your improvement, then I’d take it any day. Use that sword, get stronger, and we’ll have a real rematch. One where you can actually hold your own.” She waved, lifting her headphones back up to her ears. “Oh, but if you lose it or break it, it’ll cost 2000 alms. It’s wood from the Life Tree after all.”

“Wait, what?” She waved goodbye, disappearing into a nearby store.

Now I stood here, holding the very expensive sparring sword she had given me. I returned home. I took the weapon out from its wrapping. It was beautiful wood, shiny but flexible. Also, quite light. I took a couple practice swings. It felt really good. The balance was perfect. I can imagine Kurahara, holding this weapon, pirouetting in her elegant blade dance. Much different than the attack she hit me with yesterday. An attack of pure frustration.

Koryn texted me. She wants to meet by the station a little bit away at around 3:00 PM, four hours from now. I figured I’d get started on my training, looking up videos on my phone for the basics. I practiced swinging for hours.

Koryn arrived at the station fifteen minutes early. She was to help Aidan with his self-improvement today, but of course, she really couldn’t. Aidan didn’t have any magic in him. That was the biggest thing that kept him from becoming a Demon Hunter. Koryn knew this. She knew that a non-magical could never become one, no matter what. Demons were simply too strong and fast for a normal human. And yet, she didn’t like seeing him sad.

Koryn had known him since they were kids. He had always protected her, beating up kids that were mean to her. He was always treated her kindly, giving her snacks when she was hungry, or cheering her up when she felt down. So, now it was her turn.

She knew that it was cruel, giving Aidan hope like that, telling him that he could do anything he set his mind too. But she didn’t have the heart. Ever since they first came to the Academy, Aidan has been getting more and more somber. He used to be a good student, with good grades, but the zero on his entrance qualifier destroyed that Aidan. He went from being the strongest person she knew, to being the weakest. And it crushed her.

She loved Aidan. She knew it in her heart. That’s why she put up with him, why she bothers when no one else would. Because he was there for her, when she needed.

She smiled.

“I’m a terrible person.” She said to herself.

She looked up, and noticed a man staring at her.

“Can I help you?” She said, curling into herself in discomfort.

The man stared at her with dead eyes. His skin was pale and gaunt. His knuckles were bloodied and torn, his fingers curling and scratching at the palms of his mangled hands. He rolled his eyes back, letting out a blood curdling scream, before falling backwards. He convulsed as he continued screaming.

Koryn backed away, unsure of what to do.

The man’s face split open, revealing a long maw with razor sharp teeth. His limps stretched and contorted, becoming much longer. His fingertips and toes gave way to razor sharp claws. The creature leapt to its feet, before crouching on all fours, hissing and growling at Koryn.

“Demon!” She screamed, turning and running.

The creature cried, chasing after her. It was fast, closing the distance in an instant it bit into Koryn’s back. She cried, placing a hand onto where its jaws had clamped.

“SCALP!” She cried. A burst of wind erupted from she touched, tearing the creature’s maw apart and freeing her from its grip.

Koryn hit the ground; her glasses knocked off her face. She tried to stand up, but the creature lunged again, snapping into her leg. She let out a terrible scream.

“SCALP!” She said again, blasting the creature’s head off.

She collapsed, crying a pool of her own blood. She inched herself away from dead demon, fearing it might not quite be dead. Her vision was starting to blur. She was losing a lot of blood, an a chunk of her leg was missing. Koryn managed to pulled her phone from her pocket, trying frantically to dial a number with her blood-stained fingers.

“Hey, I was just about to text you I…” Aidan said.

“Help…” She sobbed. “Help me…”

“Koryn! What happened? Where are you?”

“Station…”

“Stay there! I’m coming!”

“Hurry…” her voice was getting weaker.

Was she going to die here? She didn’t want to die. She began to sob weakly, using every once of her strength to call for help.

The sound of footsteps came to her right. Hope gleamed softly in her green eyes.

“Aidan...”

Another demon stood over her, grizzled maw salivating.

I was half way to the station when I got the call from Koryn. I sprinted as fast I could. That’s strange, why aren’t there any people down this way? Shouldn’t there be more crowds?

I saw why. The red lights were on and flashing. It meant there was a demon sighting. People reacted quickly, locking themselves inside their homes till a Demon Hunter gave them an all clear. Of course, there were places where one couldn’t see the lights. Like older underground stations, like the one that Koryn was at.

My stomach felt sick just thinking about it. I ran even faster, ignoring the warning lights, leaping down the stairway deeper into the station.

“Koryn! Koryn!” I cried frantically as I searched for her. As expected, it was barren. A person or two sprinted past me.

“Don’t go that way kid! There’s a demon down there!” he cried after me. But I didn’t care. I had to save Koryn.

“Koryn! I’m coming! Koryn…”

The demon held her in its arms, digging into her stomach and tearing out mouthfuls of flesh. Her head lay craned back, her green eyes, once vibrant and full of life, were dull and lifeless. I wanted to puke. Her was my best friend in the world, being eaten in front of me. What I did next, changed my life forever. I should of ran, but, how could I? How could anyone justify running away? A person I had known my entire life, being eaten in front of me. Some people would have run. Some would have froze there, not doing anything at all. But me, I charged forward.

I drew Kurahara’s wooden sword, raising it up over my head. I swung down with all my rage, all my sorrow, smashing into the creature’s head, right as it went in for another bite. The creature bucked under the blow, but was unharmed.

I smashed it several times across its head, screaming and shouting as I did. It only seemed annoyed. Finally, I aimed for jaws, smashing into the teeth with full force. The creature hissed in pain dropping Koryn and retreating backwards. I couldn’t look at her.

The creature growled at me. It looked like a mangy werewolf without fur, its yellow eyes hungry, blood and entrails dripping from its jaws. I readied my weapon, holding forward in the stance I had learned only hours before.

It was too fast. The creature lunged at me, jaws snarling. I just barely able to block it with the sheath of the wooden sword. The wolf struggled against me. Its strength was overwhelming. It pushed me back, my feet sliding under me, its claws reaching for me, jaws chewing on the wood of the sword. The creature jerked aside, throwing me with it. I rolled as I tumbled, recovering back up into my feet, sword in my right arm.

The creature jaws were around my sword arm immediately. It snapped its jaws shut, and with a sickening crunch, my arm was gone. I didn’t care. Adrenaline took over. Just as the creature snapped it off, I attacked punching it straight in the eye. The wolf howled in pain, slashing at me with its claws. I flew backwards, splattering against the wall.

I tried to get up, but my legs weren’t working. Turns out, it was because my stomach was ripped opened, with my entrails hanging out. I puked blood, watching as the creature scratched at its damaged eye. I was able to jam a finger into it, and I managed to pop the eyeball.

Despite the pain, despite the fact I was dead, I couldn’t help but want to laugh. I couldn’t of course, but I wanted to.

The creature’s eye healed, restored mere seconds after being destroyed. What a sick joke. Was I really going to die here, not having done any damage at all? Well, it wasn’t all that bad. It was worth a shot. Guess I’ll be seeing you soon, Koryn.

The creature howled, crawling up to me. It knew it had won, so it was in no hurry. I watched as it casually stood up, looking down on me. Just like how Kurahara did. Looking down on a weakling that couldn’t do a damn thing. With the last of my life, I cursed the thing. I cursed my powerlessness. I cursed this damned world for giving birth to me just so that I could die. Damn it all. Damn it all to hell.

The creature’s torso flew off its body, cleanly cut. As it landed, a blade was driven through its head. It was a black sword that glistened in blood, black metal roses curling along the blade. The man who wielded it swung the sword over his shoulder. He was an older man, dark black hair that resembled the long black coat he wore.

“Damn. I was too late.” He cursed. “You still with me kid?”

I managed a weak smile. “I’m… dead, right?”

The man didn’t say anything. He swung the blade down from his shoulder, digging it into the concrete easily. He left it there, walking over to me.

“You did good kid.” He said. “Most people ain’t brave enough to take an demon. You had some real fight in you. I’m sorry I couldn’t have gotten here earlier.”

Ah. My hearing stopped working. He was talking, but I couldn’t hear anything at all. He sighed, tapping my shoulder, before getting up. He walked over to the demon corpse, looking it over, before walking over away from my vision. He seemed to be holding something. A wooden sword stained in blood. He suddenly was on me. Just as fast as the demon. He was saying something, but I couldn’t hear. The last thing I saw, was him reaching into his coat pocket.

“Hey, did you know?” Koryn said to me across from where I was sitting. “Demons hide in plain sight. They can wear human masks, but their true nature comes out when they smell blood.”

We were in that café by my apartment. And there was Koryn sitting in front of me, filling herself with cake.

“Really? I didn’t know that.” I said, trying to hide my surprise.

“Of course you don’t. You don’t pay attention in class at all.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s why I got killed. Cause you weren’t strong enough.”

I looked up in horror. Koryrn stood there, here eyes cold and dead, blood leaking from her eyes, a gaping hole open in her torso.

A demon burst through the café window, a blazing inferno of fire and death. It spread its wings, and everything burnt away to ash, till it was only the demon and I, staring each other down.

It’s deep, burning eyes stared down at me from between its long, jagged fiery horns. It exhaled, flame and smoke emitting from between its fangs. It’s gaze bore deep into my soul, my arm set ablaze as the rage and hatred flowed through me.

I woke up in my apartment, dehydrated and weak. I was covered in bandages around my torso and head. An IV was by my bedside, hooked up to my left arm. My right felt off. Wait, didn’t I lose it? So why was it here, attached to my arm right now? Except, it didn’t feel right. It was heavily bandaged, heavy, and numb. I tried to move my fingers, but all I could manage was a twitch. I tried to sit up, but I fell back on my pillow in pain.

My chest burnt horribly, like a fire was burning inside it. I coughed and coughed, feeling like my throat was ripping apart.

“Help! Someone help!” My voice scratched.

“Oh.” An unfamiliar voice said from the kitchen. It was the man from the station. He was dressed in a casual white shirt and jeans, eating food from my fridge. Food Koryn made. “You’re alive. Thought you were a goner.” He said, eating up some cake.

“Who are you?” I asked, looking at the man.

He grinned widely.

“Kurahara Haru.”