Ayumu sat in the bathtub full of cold water, letting the comfortable coolness wash over him. It was rather disconcerting how… vivid every sensation had become. The soap he usually used now smelled intensely synthetic and flowery compared to the vaguely sweet smell he used to perceive, he could feel the droplets of water sliding down his pale skin, his overgrown fringe sticking to his forehead. A filter had been lifted from each of his senses… Thankfully, he was slowly acclimating to the borderline disorienting sensory overload.

He sighed and dipped his head into the water briefly, relishing the feeling of lightness and damp coolness engulfing him. He wished he could stay in the tub for hours, but Masaru would be there soon and he wouldn’t want to keep him waiting outside.

Reluctantly, he got out of the water and made sure to drain the tub of the bathwater. He looked at the small plastic basket in which he had thrown his school uniform while drying himself off, trying to remember whether he had checked his pockets and gotten rid of anything that could harm the washing machine. He recalled leaving his wallet, keys, stray coins and handkerchief in the usual drawer. He nodded to himself as he wrapped his towel around his waist, idly thinking how underwhelming his looks were. His lack of interest in participating in sports really did end up being a detriment to him…

Ayumu made his way to his room at a leisurely pace as he dried his hair with a second towel, already resenting the unpleasant heat and humidity. He wondered what Tomos was up to, vaguely aware that he might not be very comfortable with changing into his clothes in front of the talking cat, and pushed open the door to his room-

He froze, his thoughts coming to a screeching halt when he saw Masaru sitting on the floor while leaned against his bed, the book he bought earlier today open in his hands. The tan boy, now wearing his favorite bright orange t-shirt and baggy khaki pants looked up at him in what felt like slow motion.

“Yo!” He said casually, “Don’t you usually take a bath as soon as you get back?”

Ayumu instantly slammed the door shut and yelled, “W-where the hell did you come from?!” He could feel heat rise to his face, “I had the front door locked!”

“Uh… You told me where your mother leaves the spare key in case you forgot to take yours to school, remember?” Ayumu heard Masaru say from behind the door, sounding thoroughly confused.

Ayumu swore under his breath; he had forgotten about that. Well, the whole incident leading to Ayumu telling him that was a few months ago, so it wasn’t totally unreasonable for Ayumu to forget about it.

“And what’s with that reaction? Not like we haven’t seen each other without much clothes be-” He started in a slightly annoyed tone but Ayumu cut him off,

“Oh my God do you even hear what comes out of your mouth?!” Ayumu snapped, his face getting redder by the second.

“Dude, we’ve attended more gym classes together than I can remember, stop being dramatic and change into your goddamn clothes!” Masaru snapped, and before Ayumu could reply, he felt the door open. He jumped out of the way, gripping the towel around his waist tightly and letting the towel on his head drop to his shoulder.

Masaru stepped out of his room and then gestured imperiously towards the door, rolling his eyes at him. Still red-faced, Ayumu stalked into his room and locked the door behind him, before quickly throwing on some comfortable clothes.

“Done?” Masaru asked him when he opened the door to let him in. “No, I’m obviously buck-naked.” It was Ayumu’s turn to roll his eyes.

“So I guess all that drama was for nothing,” Masaru said with a theatrical sigh, “I’m happy that you’re embracing your inner nudist.”

“Fuck off.” Ayumu shot back grumpily, “Yuki was right, you’re becoming more and more shameless by the day.” He closed the door and went to turn on the AC. The one in his room was second-hand, but it still worked very well regardless.

Masaru snorted in response as he plopped himself onto Ayumu’s bed, “Seriously? You know you’ve said worse things, Ayumu.”

“Well, it was only the two of us.” He grumbled, “You basically yelled that stuff in public.”

“Psh, details.” Masaru stretched his arms out and then put them beneath his head, “Why should I care what random nobodies think…”

Ayumu sighed and plopped himself onto the bed as well. He looked at his best friend, not really replying to what he said, but it was obvious to Ayumu what Masaru was thinking about. He could tell by the slightly pensive look on his face.

He gently flicked his forefinger on the top of Masaru’s head, “Idiot,” he said, his voice softer than it had been previously, “I know you don’t need to care about what people you don’t know think about you, but that doesn’t mean you should intentionally be loud and bombastic about every single thing in public. You’re not at war with this blob of antagonistic people you call “random nobodies”.” Ayumu continued soothingly, a small and reassuring smile on his face.

Masaru turned in the bed to look away from him, “And you’re not my mom, no matter how much you sound like her sometimes.” He breathed.

“Yeah, I’m not.” Ayumu agreed, “But I am your best friend. I’m not going to go easy on anyone who hurts you, especially if that person is you yourself.” He said, punching him playfully on the shoulder.

“Bah, I can’t handle this sappy bullshit,” Masaru said, trying to sound disdainful but coming across as an embarrassed child, “And you should stop saying that kind of stuff with a straight face.”

“Hirokawa Masaru,” Ayumu said in a mock-serious tone, “I will never stop saying that I’ll beat the shit out of you for overcorrecting for everything.”

“Hah, I’d like to see you try beating me up with those scrawny arms of yours.” Masaru propped himself up with his elbows to grin at him challengingly.

“...Way to rub it in, Saru.” Ayumu sighed, half-serious and half-joking, “Yeah, I get it, you’ve got that athlete’s body and early growth spurt, and poor little old me is still here wishing for enough inches to at least be taller than Yuki.”

Saru’s grin fell a little at his words and he sat up on the bed, “Well, it’s not like you still can’t get taller in the next few year-”

“Stop, stop.” Ayumu put up a palm in front of him, “I was joking, you don’t need to start feeling guilty.” Well… he was rather serious about being jealous of his friend’s height and physique.

“Um, alright.” Masaru said, still not looking fully reassured. He looked at Ayumu thoughtfully for a few moments, “You know, I’m sure the rest of the soccer club will be pretty cool with you joining some of our exercises, even if you don’t play soccer. Maybe you can train with us over summer.” He said brightly.

Ayumu considered the offer. He was rather weary of running laps in this kind of scorching heat, not to mention how awkward he’d feel being around other people from his school he barely knew.

“I’ll consider it,” Ayumu said finally, “I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with most of you guys, so…”

“Bah, it doesn't matter.” Masaru said waving a hand airily, “And you underestimate how bad some of our fellow first year guys are. Everyone’s gotta start somewhere.”

“Y-yeah, you’re right.” Ayumu laughed.

A few seconds of silence followed as both of them sat enjoying the cool air from the AC. “So…” Ayumu spoke up, “What was that movie you were talking about?”

Ayumu felt a chill run up his spine as Masaru’s lips curled into a devilish smile at the question. Knowing his friend, that could only mean,

“It’s called ‘Ancestral’, have you heard of it?” Masaru asked, drawing out each syllable of the name almost gloatingly,

“No…” Ayumu said, recognizing the name, “You can’t be serious.”

“Au contraire, mon amie.” Masaru leaned towards him ominously, making Ayumu lean away in response, “I’m dead serious.”

“Y-you know that I don’t fucking like horror!” Ayumu snapped, “No way are we seeing the scariest film released this year.”

“Aw, don’t be a spoilsport. We’ll end up watching it anyway when it comes to theaters here thanks to Haru, so why not develop some resistance to the scares.”

“No way, fuck off!” Ayumu snapped, “I want to actually sleep tonight!”

“Don’t worry, your awesomest friend Masaru is here to protect you.” He joked in a mock-haughty tone.

“Seriously, no! I refuse!” Ayumu said vehemently. “Masaru I’m… just not in the mood.” Ayumu sighed to himself, feeling a bit frustrated.

Ayumu looked down into his lap, not wanting to look his friend in the eyes. He twiddled his thumbs, trying not to think about the black blood-like substance which covered his hand just a few hours ago. Ayumu felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see his friend looking at him with a slight smile,

“Alright, sure. I was joking about that anyway. The actual movie is called ‘A Song for the Blue Moon’.” He said softly, a slightly apologetic tone in his voice.

Ayumu nodded, “I haven’t heard of that one.” he admitted as he went to turn on his PC. He looked at Masaru and he passed Ayumu his pendrive, and soon they were sitting on the floor side by side staring at the screen of his desktop.

“You know, I wish we had air conditioning in the living room. It’s kinda hard to enjoy movies like this.” Ayumu noted drily and Masaru chuckled in response.

“You’re gotten way too used to having an AC in your room.” Masaru noted, “Auntie was right to yell at you when you started wasting your summers holed up in here.”

Ayumu gave his friend a long-suffering look, “You know how much I hate the heat, Saru. I’m not going to sweat buckets and feel like my skin is on fire if I don’t absolutely have to.”

Masaru hummed in response, his attention returning to the movie they were watching. A long stretch of silence followed between them, Ayumu himself getting absorbed into the story of the movie. It was a very somber animated movie, about a lonely girl trying to find her family in a world of eternal night, her only companion being her little rabbit.

The plot was dreamlike, borderline nonsensical, and the movie and animation had a weightless, flowying quality to it. It was quite different compared to his own and Masaru’s usual tastes, but pleasant nonetheless. Ayumu admitted that with the “seal” removed from his senses, he noticed a lot of little details in the movie despite it being a little hard to watch on his PC screen, and being able to understand the subtle change in cadence of the girl’s voice acting mixed with his increased ability to make out the less prominent instruments in the background which comprised the soundtrack really enhanced his enjoyment of the movie.

“Hey…” He heard Masaru’s voice, very soft and almost melancholic sounding, rather contrary to his friend’s usual demeanour, “Are you okay, Akkun?”

He looked at his friend, rather taken off guard by his sudden use of that nickname. Masaru stopped using it some time during middle school, “I thought using that nickname made you feel like a little kid.” Ayumu forced out a chuckle, hoping he went along with the change in subject.

But he could tell that Masaru was being serious as he turned to him with an earnest look on his face, “Don’t even try with me. You sounded really off when you called earlier, and you’ve been acting really on edge.”

I-I haven’t. You’re reading too much into it.” Ayumu looked away, unable to meet his friend’s eyes while lying this blatantly. He knew that his lie convinced neither of them, but maybe Masaru might stop and go back to watching the movie if he showed enough disinterest in continuing this conversation.

But Ayumu’s hope was dashed when Masaru continued, “Is it because I brought up our time in elementary school?”

“No.” Ayumu looked back at him, and he felt his heart tighten when he saw how ashamed his friend looked, “It’s not your fault, Saru. It’s…” He trailed off, not really sure how to continue.

Masaru looked up at him expectantly, and seconds passed. Ayumu’s throat felt dry and that old feeling of dread crept up on him. It was silly, he thought, as he could say the most outrageous things in the world to him and Masaru would still say that “I believe you, let me help you.” to him with a straight face. But…

“Saru…” Ayumu finally spoke up, “I-I wanted to tell you something. That’s why I asked you to come over, but…” He hesitated, gripping his arm with his other hand tightly, his fingers digging into his flesh.

“I’m scared.” He blurted out, “I’m scared that you’ll get hurt if I asked you for help.”

Masaru sat up at those words, placing his hands on his shoulders and looking at him intensely, “Ayumu, is anyone threatening to hurt you? A bully? You can tell me, I promise I won’t do anything reckle-” Ayumu saw his eyes widen, as though he had noticed something, “Akkun, holy shit, I didn’t notice before. Your mouth- are those bruises?”

Ayumu was almost as alarmed as his friend when he realized that he did not check the mirror while bathing. The kuchisake-onna had gripped him really tightly, but he couldn’t feel any pain so he just assumed that there weren’t any marks on him.

“It’s-it’s nothing-” Ayumu said in a panicked voice, but the alarm on his friend’s face didn’t lessen.

“Akkun, listen, if someone attacked you or anything, or-or,” Masaru looked like he was having a hard time even saying what he feared happened to him, “Let’s call the police. Even if you don’t want Auntie to panic, we should tell an adult and have it reported to the police. I’m sure my parents will-”

“Masaru, stop.” he pushed his hands off his shoulders and jumped to his feet, “It’s nothing like that…” Well, he was attacked, but the context was wildly different from what Masaru was imagining.

Masaru looked like he couldn’t articulate exactly what he wanted to say, but nonetheless he sighed and got to his feet as well.

“Alright, I believe you.” He said plainly, “But- listen,” He sighed, “If someone hurt me and you knew that they’d hurt you too if you tried to help, would that stop you from trying to help me?”

A stretch of silence followed those words. Ayumu knew his answer would be, “No, never.” But he also knew what his words implied, so he couldn’t even say it out loud.

“I told you, I won’t forgive anyone who hurts you.” Ayumu breathed, “That includes me. Especially me.”

“Don’t be dramatic.” Masaru instantly said, sounding impatient, “Why would you be responsible for me getting hurt if you just tell me your problem? You aren’t making the piece of shit who hurt you hurt me as well.”

“I c-can handle my problems on my own.” He said, making sure to keep his back to his friend, “I don’t need you to play bodyguard for me all the time. I don’t need your protection.”

“Fine, you don’t need it.” The wavy-haired boy shot back angrily, “But I still want to help you. I don’t mind giving away shit to people who don’t need it, especially if it’s you.”

“You still have the scars!” Ayumu yelled, finally reaching his limit, clenching his fists until his fingernails dug into his palms, “You broke your arm and nearly broke a leg too. What would have happened if you couldn’t play soccer anymore? What would have happened if those bullies did something worse and you couldn’t recover from it?”

“I don’t care.” Masaru shot back vehemently, matching his own volume, “I’ll rip anyone who thinks they can take advantage of you and make your life miserable to pieces. For my own sake, not yours.”

Ayumu opened his mouth, but all the words he tried to muster died in his throat. He wanted to yell at Masaru some more, maybe call him names and make him hate Ayumu so that he wouldn’t get hurt over Ayumu’s problems.

But… he realized that he couldn’t. He wanted to be able to confide in his best friend. He didn’t want to be alone again, facing unknown circumstances that no one could understand or sympathize with. But he could not in good conscience endanger his friend for such selfish reasons.

“Saru.” He turned around to face his friend, his eyes brimming with tears, “I don’t know what to do.” He confessed, his voice breaking. “I want to tell you. I want you to help me. But I don’t want to put you in danger, or see you hurt. You’ve already been hurt so badly for my sake.”

Masaru stepped forward and opened his mouth with a determined look on his face, but Ayumu backed away from him and said, “I-I know that you’d happily be hurt for my sake. I don’t need to hear that from you again. That’s the point- I won’t ever be happy if you get hurt for my sake.”

“Is there a way,” Masaru spoke up after a few seconds, “you can tell me without putting me in danger?”

“I-I guess so…” Ayumu said. Maybe… he could be happy just confiding with him what he saw and the things that attacked him. He didn’t need him to be able to see those things as well, it didn’t matter if he thought that he was slowly going mad and rambling nonsense and hurting himself just to get pity and attention. As long as he could tell him, and even if it was a lie, as long as he believed him and sympathized with him, it would be enough for him.

“Saru,” He screwed up his face, even forming the words felt like pulling teeth, “I-I think my problem from elementary school is coming back. I’m- I see things no one else can see, and they can hurt me.”

He felt like he had used up all his energy just forming those words. Memories of his parents, his teachers, his other classmates, the child psychiatrist and his grandmother came back to him… All the memories he tried to only be aware of now were vividly being played in front of his eyes.

It was not just the eyes of fiends and spirits and the dark corners which leered at him- when he could ignore them, he could not ignore the eyes of his peers and his teachers, filled with derision, fear, dislike, mockery… But the eyes whose gaze felt like daggers to his heart, his parents and grandparents, stood out most of all.

He dropped to the floor, breathing deeply. His eyes had been brimming with tears for a while now, his heart ached and writhed in his chest, but tears scarcely came, leaving him in a limbo where he could neither suppress the pain nor embrace it.

He couldn’t look at Masaru. He knew his response already, but he couldn’t bear to see his true feelings in his eyes and expressions. He waited for the words to come, but moments passed and none were forthcoming.

And his heartbeat quickened. Did Masaru think he was a freak? Was he horrified that he was becoming like “that” again? He only decided to tell him because he thought in all the world, if anyone would believe him without proof, it would be Masaru.

But maybe he was wrong. He didn’t consider it, but maybe growing up really did make his claims a harder pill to swallow. What if he started distancing himself from Ayumu over this? He had a lot more friends and people who liked him in highschool- he wasn’t the boy people thought to be stupid, overly violent and easily angered like he was in elementary school. If he wanted to, he had so many options for friends.

And with each dark thought and doubt that formed in his mind, the more he began to hate himself for even thinking of telling him. He didn’t know how he would cope with his first, and best, friend rejecting and avoiding him…

He heard the rustling of a large cloth and felt his blanket be wrapped around his shoulders. “You’re shivering.” He heard Masaru say, and he looked up to see him kneeling in front of him, his eyes as gentle as his words.

“It’s okay. You’ll be okay. We’ll find a way out of this.” Masaru said and pulled him into a hug, simultaneously placing his and comfortingly on Ayumu’s head.

Ayumu buried his face in his friend’s shoulder, the force which kept his brimming eyes from spilling evaporating, and his tears silently beginning to trail down his face into his friend’s shirt.

He didn’t know whether it really will be okay, or whether they could find a way out of this. But he knew one thing- it doesn’t matter what manner of beast or spirit he will face, he will fight tooth and nail to keep his friend safe.

“Hey… maybe you should go to sleep?” Masaru said softly, “You must’ve had a rough time. You’ll feel better once you wake up. We can figure out everything once you’re awake.”

“I’ll call my parents and tell them that I’ll be sleeping over.” Masaru told him, bringing out his phone from a pocket, “And no- I don’t have soccer practice tomorrow. I don’t have any other plans for tomorrow either, so don’t worry yourself.” He cut him off with a sidelong glance before Ayumu could protest.

Ayumu still wanted to say that he didn’t really need to, but he knew better than to argue with Masaru at this point. He simply nodded silently, letting his friend talk to his parents as he got up and went to bring out the spare futon stored away in the closet.

Before long he was lying in the futon, having successfully argued with Masaru to have him sleep in his bed instead. He thought it was the least he could offer.

It was still rather early for bed, but he did feel rather tired because of… everything. He looked to his side to see his friend’s face illuminated by the light from his phone. He smiled softly to himself, vaguely considering giving him a scolding for staring at his phone in low light, but decided against it.

He closed his eyes, and shortly drifted off to sleep.

Ayumu didn’t know how long he had been asleep. He felt as though he was floating in the air, his mind in limbo between the waking world and the land of sleep. A sensation he couldn’t quite describe overcame him; it could be most accurately described as the awareness of something unpleasant crawling or slithering along on a limb. A limb which obviously belonged to him, but he couldn’t recognize nor figure out how to operate.

He was snapped awake from his sleep, feeling disoriented and confused enough to not really register the situation. His eyes darted around the place, and he realized that he was trying to find something without knowing just what he was looking for.

He saw his friend’s back turned towards him on the bed, his breaths deep and heavy. He was asleep, and deeply as well. Ayumu wanted to get up, but his body didn’t cooperate with him.

He heard the familiar sound of wood sliding across wood… someone was opening his drawer. Ayumu’s breaths and heartbeats sped up when he realized that another person was with them in the room.

He knew it couldn’t be his mother- she only checked up on him by cracking open the door slightly and looking through it. She would never runnage through his things. His first thought was a burglar- but he couldn’t see the outline of a human in the direction of the drawer…

He was terrified. He suppressed the urge to yell and wake Masaru up. He didn’t care about being robbed as long as he and his friend and his mother were safe.

There was silence for a few moments, and Ayumu kept his breathing steady to make sure he was able to hear any sounds coming from that direction.

But suddenly, darkness fell in the direction of the door leading out of his room. It was as though that section of his room was replaced by a dark abyss. Ayumu shot up in his bed, his eyes wide, and looked around frantically.

It was definitely something supernatural, he thought. He slowly got to his feet and hesitated for a bit, unsure whether he should attempt to investigate without Tomos. Where was the cat, anyway?! Wasn’t he supposed to be protecting the house?

He could hear faint sounds. They were hard to make out, like a video of people speaking turned down to the lowest volume. The voices sounded vaguely familiar…?

He took a cautious step forward, but jumped back instantly when he saw a snakelike pillar of black mist emanating from the abyss. Faint outlines forming eyes the size of plates were barely visible where the doors previously stood.

Ayumu quickly shook Masaru awake, who jumped up in a daze as soon as he realized that Ayumu was calling him. “Whzaat?” He said, looking very confused by everything.

“D-do you see-” Ayumu started but was caught off guard when Masaru looked directly at the door and swore loudly,

“W-what the fuck is that thing?!” He asked, and the sound of his voice seemed to agitate the thing. The mists lunged at both of them, and Ayumu tried to shield Masaru with his body. He had made up his mind- he won’t let any of these things hurt his friend, even if it meant getting hurt himself. That was the least he could do.

But instead of feeling anything unpleasant as he expected, he felt weightless for a second. He could only see darkness, but he stayed still enough to make sure he was still touching Masaru’s chest with his back.

He couldn’t hear anything, not even his voice. And soon he found himself in utter, impenetrable darkness. He could still feel Masaru on his back, despite not being able to see or hear him, and so he tried to grab hold of his wrist with one hand. He could feel his friend’s hands occasionally hit him, perhaps he was trying to find whether there was anything else in the surroundings as well.

Ayumu took a deep breath. He didn’t know how they were going to get out of this, but he couldn’t afford to be trapped here. Or rather, he would not let Masaru be trapped here.

Since they both still had their sense of touch, Ayumu began to trace words on Masaru’s forearm, hoping he understood what he was trying to tell him, “Don’t panic, calm down. I’ll try to think of something.”

His frantic movement seemed to slow down, and he felt a tug on his hand clutching one of the other boy’s wrists. Ayumu made sure to keep a good grip, just to be sure and he felt Masaru’s other hand find his own wrist. It was rather awkward, but he replied in the same way, “Alright, I trust you.”

Ayumu didn’t know what to think- he appreciated the gesture but he himself was rather lost for ideas. His first thought was the Liber Nominum Universalia, but he doubted a book of all things will be useful in the pitch black darkness.

Tomos was also unreachable, he had no idea where the cat had gotten to, nor did he know how he would go about calling the cat to him.

Well… maybe desperate times call for desperate measures. He again found his friend’s forearm and traced, “Let’s try to move. I’ll lead the way. Make sure to hold tight.”

He felt Masaru squeeze his wrist in response, and he took that to be a “yes”. He slowly extended his foot, trying to feel around the floor. He couldn’t feel the futon anywhere, which was concerning. Minutes passed by, and there was still nothing.

Getting desperate, he tried yelling, but he couldn’t even feel the vibrations in his throat, much less the sound of anything.

Yet, he didn’t stop. He tried again and again, begging for the darkness and silence to go away. But his silent screams reached nobody, not even his friend who was standing right in front of him.

Didn’t some powers come packaged with these godforsaken “Senses”?! He tried to concentrate while simultaneously slowly edging backwards. It was reckless, but he was out of ideas.

He concentrated on thoughts about light. Any kind of light or illumination. Maybe the sun? The moon?

With the thought of the moon, an image from long ago emerged into his mind- a long forgotten memory. The full moon bathing the night in silver, so bright that even the stars seemed faint, and the pale pink cherry blossoms of Yoshino cherry trees in full bloom seemed to have been dyed a shade of blue by the moonlight.

And suddenly, a bright ball of silvery blue bathed everything in its glow, dazzling Ayumu's light-deprived eyes. It was as though his ears had become functional again as he heard his friend cry out in surprise. When he was finally able to open his eyes against the sudden brightness, he found himself back in his room facing Masaru, but more concerningly, an undulating mass of black encircling them, seemingly agitated by the light of the fake moon.

“Masaru,” He quickly grabbed his still-disoriented friend’s arm, “Let’s get out of here while the thing’s still being weakened by the light.”

Without waiting for a response, he pulled his friend towards the door leading out of the room- but before he could reach it he felt his friend yank him back with his superior strength. Ayumu gave a confused yelp as he was pulled away from the lunging mass of black.

Ayumu swore under his breath when he realized that the thing was stubbornly trying to block their path outside.

With enhanced confidence from his previous sucess with his power, Ayumu tried to think of a weapon to fight back against the thing. He was pulled to the side by Masaru again, and Ayumu vaguely felt his shoulder pop as they both avoided another lunge from the creature.

The pain and being manhandled reminded him of his encounter with the kuchisake-onna, and his mind which was desperately trying to find a weapon focused on the bloody, rusted surgical scissors she was planning to use on her.

Revenge, Mutilation, The End of Beauty, Exile, Punishment for a Crime… He didn’t know why these things flashed into his head, but he didn’t care. He only knew that a cruel-looking dagger, seemingly one half of a pair of shears, had appeared in his hands. He had only a split second to react, but ignoring his aching shoulder and growing lightheadedness, he braced himself and wildly stabbed at the blob of darkness trying to engulf them again.

The sinisterly shimmering blade caused the blob to split neatly in half at the touch of its edge, he didn’t even feel as though he had stabbed at anything. The split mass of blackness fizzled and let out a high-pitch shriek which caused Ayumu’s ears to ring despite how soft it was, and finally it evaporated into gray “smoke”, only leaving the iron-colored residue behind.

Ayumu fell to his knees, his sudden lightheadedness overtaking him as he crumpled onto the floor painfully. He only vaguely registered his lips parting to say something about not letting his mother find out to a frantic Masaru who had rushed to him, and the feeling of his friend calling his name before his consciousness was taken by the vortex of pain and blackness.