It has been a week since I’ve last spoken to my other half. I’ve spent my days laying in the dark room with a head full of thoughts floating like a pack of clouds. I lost my appetite, I went by every day with almost nothing to eat, as if I was holding a diet. Hidiku and the Mistress tried to at least get me out onto the fresh air but no matter how many times they tried to convince me, it never worked.

I’ve been thinking about a lot of things - “What would have happened if the original Yuuna’s memory would have never been erased? What would have become of us? Is there a reason for me being here right now, living a life that’s not rightfully mine?”, day after day. I haven’t been called by my other half either, I wonder what’s the deal with that. Oh, right….I forgot to give her a name.

As I sit in one of the dark corners of the room, I try to make myself do something, anything. I want to train, but I can’t use my abilities. I could practice my hand-to-hand combat but I can’t make myself, no matter how much I try. It went on like that for the entire week, until one night, I’ve finally been called back into the empty void of imaginations.

“It’s been a while.” Is what she says while sitting on her chair from our previous meeting. The black matter that previously covered her whole now remains on a few tiny spots and the girl shines in pure white. As expected, our faces look alike and her fashion set is made of a snow-white shirt and skirt. Even her hair, lips, nails and eyes are of the same color. She’s like the embodiment of purity our biological mother once owned. “Yeah, it sure has. I see you are nearly recovered now.” She smiles and checks around her body. “Mhm, it’s most-likely because I haven’t been using my powers for some time.”

My throne is still in place. I sit myself down on it and question my sister’s intentions. “What do you need? I imagine you have brought me here for a reason.” She nods “More or less. How have you been, sister? I’m sure you had lots of things to think about after our last meeting.” I respond by letting out a fair audible amount of air out of my lungs, then scratch my head. “I sure did. You gave me a hell of a time with the whole story telling.” My pure sister giggles to herself as one of her hands cover her lips. She seems so innocent and joyful despite the fact that she has been locked up in pure darkness for several years until just a few days ago.

“So, what do you think about all of it? What will you do from now on?” She asks me with a smile. A question I’ve been asking myself over and over for the past several days. For a short moment there’s only silence. “I’ve decided….this borrowed life, no, this life that’s now mine, I want to make use of it. I’ve been given a chance to feel, to taste, to see and hear….to live. I’m going to use this life that has been given to me to help other, but mainly, to eradicate the demon race.” That’s right, I had enough time to think things through. At first there was no goal I had in mind but now….knowing that the war, the oppression of humanity came to a start because of someone in my own bloodline. That the demons were responsible not just for my adoptive parent’s but my biological parent’s death too.

I’m going to slay those monsters….every single one of them.

“I’m glad to see that you haven’t given up. Now please, stand up.” I take her request upon myself, she then reaches her hands to me and grabs mine while holding them firmly. She’s ice cold, as if made of ice itself, but once she closes her eyes, her hands warm up. It’s not just her hands, mine do too, as some sort of energy seems to be traveling from her body into mine. My sister opens her eyes again. “What did you do?” I ask her curiously as the warmth slowly but surely fades. “Since I haven’t been doing anything but concentrating on retrieving my lost strength for the past week, I’ve managed to gather most of it, some if it has just been sent to your core. In other words, you are able to use your ability again.” I can’t believe what I’m hearing, is this for real? I look at her for a moment, her expression shows pure joy, but I can also feel a sense of trust. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone like her. “This is great, thank you.”

“Oh, but before you use it, bear in mind that this is my energy you are using. There’s no telling what will come out of it.” Now that I think about it, only our mother was able to use abilities before the war….. “I was meaning to ask you, why is it that most of the human race is able to use an ability if our mother was the only one.” My sister looks at me with surprise, but also seems a bit hesitant to answer. “That is……when the people found her body, they used it to make experiments in order to mass produce the gift of our god.” Ah…maybe I shouldn’t have asked. She doesn’t look too comfortable, most likely due to my question and so I pat her on the head. “I will be taking my leave now. Thanks for the help.” Her happiness immediately strikes, as if the gloom was never there to begin with. I turn my back to her as I’m preparing to leave, but then I remember one more thing I wanted to know. “Oh right, there’s one more thing. Do you have a name.” She shakes her head in denial. “You are the first one to ever talk to me.” Meaning she does not own one. “Alright then. From now own your name is Luna.” Her eyes begin to shine as if a streak of stars reflected from them. “Sounds good!” she happily replies, and with that I take my leave.

The next day I wake up later than the others. Hidiku is already gone from our room, the past week without activity has made me sluggish. I put on some clothes as I’ve decided to step outside now that my ability has finally returned to me. I open the glass door built into one of the room’s walls and the first thing I see is the Mistress sitting on the veranda while reading a letter with a special golden seal on it. She notices me right away as the sliding of the glass door is audible enough. “Oh, Yuuna. Are you feeling better now?” I nod as I close the door behind me. “What are you reading? Is it a letter from the military?” After all, she hasn’t been there for weeks now since she’s training us, but before I get an answer, someone else’s footsteps vibrate on the ground. “Good morning ladies. I see Yuuna has finally decided to come out.” It’s Mister Abe, he also notices the letter my Mistress is reading. “What is this? Are you being demoted?” Mistress Nagi sighs as she closes her eyes and tilts her head slightly downwards. “You could say that.”

Oh no, did she lose her title as a Kagi? The Mister shows clear signs of shock, he was most-likely joking when he said that. On the other hand, I begin to feel guilty. “Is it because you are out here training us?” She shakes her head. “It’s a letter from the Emperor, since he’s the one that handpicked every single one of the Kagis. It would have happened no matter where I was, oh, but it’s not as bad as you think. I’ve only been demoted to the top third rank in the Kagi rankings. The previous third rank skipped me and fought the first rank over the title. In fact, there were two letters……one from the now first rank herself.” The Mistress passes us the second letter as we stand above her, it’s pretty sure, let’s see….. “Yo, ‘first rank’ here. What is it like being in third place? Sucks knowing that both the second and first ranks got demoted at once, right? But don’t feel too bad about it since it only means that you guys will get a bit less work now, you are welcome by the way! Of course, I’m always open for a duel, if you ever want your ranks back! Yours truly, Etō Haru. Peace.”

Well, that’s…..- Mistress Nagi sighs yet again. “She has always been like that.” I decide to sit next to her for some questioning. “What exactly is she like?” The Mistress thinks to herself for a moment. “She has always been the one to do things her own way. For her, rules are like a bunch of words written on a paper by someone that can be scrapped anytime. I guess she’s on the cooler side with her personality but lacking in common sense. One thing is for sure though - it’s not someone you would want to fight against, she has a gift when it comes to that. It’s where Haru’s intelligence shows, combined with her unpredictability and sharp instincts.” She sounds like an interesting person, that’s for sure. And to beat not just the second rank, but the first at the same tim-

As I think to myself, flashbacks of the fateful day for our town become the only thoughts in my head, the previous first rank….. “Say, Mistress, what was is the second ranks name?” Mistress Nagi looks at me with curiosity “Ichimiya Naomi, why do you ask?” I deny with the motion of my head rotating from left to right. “It’s nothing.” So, it was him….the so called “leader of the elite squad”. Even after all this time, something feels really off about how they handled the situation, I can’t quite put my finger on it. “So where’s Hidiku? Is he training?” Mister Abe breaks the silence and my thoughts stopped for a moment. “Ah, yes, he’s trying to-” the Mistress gets cut off by a sudden explosion that came from behind the residence, where Hidiku is training. We run over to make sure he’s alright but instead we are greeted with a hole in the ground, leading all the way to the forest, as if it was a trail of a star that fell from the far sky, and before that trail Hidiku sat on his knees.

Mistress Nagi went over to check on him while the Mister and I stay behind, looking at the damage dealt to a part of the courtyard and the forest. “You guys own this forest….right?” I ask him as the damage could at this point be considered as a crime. “N-no…” Now I’m sure it will be considered as one. I join the two before us. The Mistress is kneeling next to Hidiku, seemingly comforting him, I hope he’s alright. I kneel on his other side to have a better look at his face - he’s severely sweating while breathing heavily. In an attempt to calm him at least a bit I begin to pat his back - it feels so hot, as if he was set on fire. “Yuuna, help me take him inside.” The Mistress requests.

———

Hidiku’s now resting inside the room for the rest of the day. Mistress Nagi is there with him while I wait on the veranda and Mister Abe…..thinks of something to avoid the damage being seen by others. Soon the Mistress walks out of the room and informs us about Hidiku’s condition. Apparently, he has awakened something called “the second core”. It’s like the original spiritual core that supplies you with energy, but the second core is not as simple. It can either boost your current ability, grant you a second ability or even change your current ability. It’s different for everyone, making the second core a mystery. As good as that sounds, the Mistress said that his core awakened too early, it should have not been possible and now instead of helping him, it has endangered his health. Why it happened she does not know, but she’s positive that it caused energy from the second core to run wild which then created that huge trail upon usage.

As bad as I feel for him, I also feel envious and inspired. Hidiku has unlocked a new kind of power that he will definitely learn how to control in due time. Meanwhile, I’m thumbling my thumbs here, no improvement whatsoever, but that ends now. At this rate, the gap in skill between us will only widen. I need to catch up, and now is my chance. I rush off the veranda behind the house to find a peaceful spot for my training. According to what Luna said, I should be able to use my ability again, I just need to be careful as I don’t know what will happen. I take in a deep breath and fill up my lungs with air, then close my eyes and concentrate on the energy and its circuits. I focus every ounce of my concentration into one of my palms I have lifted before myself and soon enough I can feel heat coursing through it. I slowly open my eyes, not knowing what to expect and surely enough it worked! Instead of electricity gushing out of my palm a flame bead hovers above it, but I don’t care, I’m too overjoyed to care. In fact, so overjoyed I start yelling while celebrating my own success, unaware that the Mistress is peaking from one of the corners, pleased.

Then a door from the living room leading to the veranda slides open. “What’s going on here, did I miss something?” It’s the Mister. I look at him with a big smile while the flame flails above my hand. He scratches his head and sighs “Just don’t burn the forest down.” Is all he says as he returns inside. Gee, he must be really depressed about the damage. I then spot the Mistress behind the corner while giving me the thumbs up. At last, it’s time to really begin my training.

———

The next day Hidiku felt well enough again and so he joined us. It has been a while since we all trained together but today is the day our real training begins, the training that will go on for over a year.

The first thing the Mistress introduced us to were arts, in other words, various skills designed for each ability type. She also brought a book with her with all of the basic arts recorded in it. All abilities have three basic arts, the rest are developed by the ability wielders themselves. Mistress Nagi taught me the fire arts as we both used the same ability while Hidiku had to do it alone, she helped him with the basics though. “Burning Haze”, “Summer Assault” and “Fiery Stream”, the basic three forms of the fire arts. I had to practice them over and over again while yelling out their names in order to remember what I was doing. This went on for a few days as well as sparring sessions without weapons, with weapons and while using our abilities to get used to making use of our arts. During the cold winter we trained in the freezing waters and during the hot summer we trained on mountains where the sun burnt the most. Despite her good manners and kindness, the Mistress was a demon when it came to training us, but I’m grateful, it’s because of that we were able to improve a lot during the last two years and now we are finally ready to take our leave.

Next destination, the city of Taiyō.