“A-Are you Akahishi?”

The man rubbed the back of his neck and laughed.

“Me? That ugly bastard? Hell no!”

The man cracked his knuckles.

“Well, since I’m out, I may as well work on resuming time here.”

As the man walked away, Yami followed behind him.

“Hey! What’re you doing?!”

As the man walked through the blue room and into the mouth of the cave, stairs began to form underneath his feet. As Yami climbed the stairs behind him, he spoke.

“How many Sirushi Inochi are you in control of?”

Yami thought for a moment, then replied.

“I have five, but I wouldn’t say I’ve mastered any of them.”

“I see.”

Reaching the entrance of the cave, Yami and the man walked into the sunlight.

“Hey kid, do you happen to know where Sylphera is?”

Yami shook his head.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Not who, what.”

The man raised his hand and a yellow-tinted translucent stream of life essence poured out of his hand and split into separate strands in the air shortly before expelling.

“Ah, it’s over this way. Tag along with me, Jinsei no Hogo?”

“Sure, but first, who are you?”

The man sighed.

“You mean you haven’t figured it out yet? I took all the others far shorter than you.”

The man held his thumb up to his chest.

“I’m the original Jinsei no Hogo, Jitsubutsu!”

Yami’s eyes widened.

Yami trailed behind Jitsubutsu as they walked to an area of the meadow that Yami had never explored before.

“So where are we headed?”

Jitsubutsu sighed.

“As I already said, we’re going to Sylphera. How long have you been in this world?”

“I’ve only come here to train before.”

“Then why were you in the cave?”

“I’m not sure.”

Jitsubutsu stopped and turned to Yami.

“I need to know how you knew of that cave, Jinsei no Hogo.”

“I guess I was just in search of more power.”

“How would you get any power from that musty old area?”

“I thought I might find out more about Akahishi.”

Jitsubutsu glared at Yami.

“Do you intend to follow in his footsteps? If you choose to, I’ll lock you up just like him.”

“What do you mean?”

Jitsubutsu sighed.

“Yeah, you're definitely not like the others. Come on, we need to resume time sometime this year.”

Rikai sat in the grass, sunbathing.

“This world is really peaceful. I could lay here and sleep forever…”

Rikai’s peaceful thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the door behind her. Shippai walked through the entrance and shut the door behind her.

“Shippai? Why’re you here?”

Shippai looked over at Rikai.

“I could ask you the same thing. I assume Yami dragged you here?”

“Yeah.”

Shippai walked over to Rikai and sat beside her.

“Say, Rikai, you aren’t one of us, right?”

“What do you mean?”

Shippai got in Rikai’s face.

“You haven’t met The Creator, have you?”

Rikai nervously shook her head.

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about!”

Shippai got out of her face.

“Good. Where’s Yami?”

“No clue. He said he was going for a quick jog, but it’s already been a half an hour…”

After walking another mile, Jitsubutsu and Yami reached a river.

“Alright, Jinsei no Hogo. Time for your first lesson. Walk across that river.”

“Seriously?”

Jitsubutsu pointed to his feet.

“It’s like Body Alterations. Just focus on the soles of your feet and create a barrier between you and the water. It’s that simple.”

Yami took off his shoes.

“Alright. I’ll try it.”

Yami walked to the riverbank and began to amass life essence under his feet, then tried to step on the water. Upon making contact, the life essence splashed the water up Yami’s leg.

“Too much. Thin it down some.”

Yami heeded Jitsubutsu’s advice and amassed less life essence. This time, his foot sunk into the water.

“Come on, Goldilocks. Find the perfect medium.”

Yami put in a little more life essence, and placed his foot onto the top of the river.

“Good job. Now walk across.”

Yami placed his other foot onto the water and started to slide on it like ice, causing him to tumble into the water, drenching himself.

“You were close, but just because you’re on it doesn’t mean it isn’t moving! You’ll get the hang of it. Let’s keep moving for now.”

Jitsubutsu flicked his hand away from the river, causing a bridge to appear from thin air. Yami looked up in anger.

“Why didn’t you just do that from the start?!”

“Because you won’t always have a bridge in life. You’ll have to make your own. Now get out of there and keep moving. Sylphera is just up ahead.”

Yami clambered out of the river, his clothes soaking wet. Catching up to Jitsubutsu, Yami followed behind him.

“Jitsubutsu, when I said I went to that cave to learn more about Akahishi, you acted like I was committing a crime. I’ve been to the library, and I’ve read a few books, but I never found anything about him. Who is he?”

Jitsubutsu’s face became serious.

“Akahishi is no more than an alias. The person you are chasing after has long since been sealed for the murder of many people in an attempt for power. The third Jinsei no Hogo fought him, but in a last ditch effort sealed him into a small crystal.”

Yami’s face showed shock.

“But.. that sounds exactly like…”

“That’s right. It’s Haisen. I can sense it coming from your right palm. For some reason, you have the crystal in you. Did you find that crystal and implant it within yourself?”

Yami looked down at his palm as if it were a monster.

“No. It just sort of manifested.”

“Have you communicated with him?”

“More or less. When I’m in desperate times, like when I have no more strength in a fight, he sort of takes over for me. He’s taken me down the cave in my dreams before, too, which is why I went down there today.”

“What’s your name, Jinsei no Hogo?”

“Yami Shinpai.”

“Yami, don’t listen to Haisen. I don’t know if he tempts you, but his goal is to take over your entire body.”

Yami remained silent.

“Chin up. Here’s Sylphera.”

Yami looked up from his palm to see a city that looked as though it were built in the renaissance. As they walked through the city, the vacant streets seemed unwelcoming.

“Over here, Yami.”

Yami and Jitsubutsu approached a fountain in a town square. Jitsubutsu held his hand against a plaque on the fountain. Yami felt trembling under his feet as a chamber began to open in the sidewalk.

“Welcome to my hometown, Yami!”

A crowd of villagers poured out of the opening.

“Yami, I’d like for you to stay here for a few months. As I see it right now, you were either blessed or cursed with that crystal, and you are the most unfit Jinsei no Hogo I’ve seen. The fact that all of this is happening is that there will be a calamity that you’re not prepared for. Will you stay here?”

Yami looked down at the palm of his right hand.

“Is there anyone else here from my world?”

“Only the people who has that Sirushi Inochi can come here.”

Yami clenched his fist.

“Yeah, I’ll stay here. But first, I need to see off some friends.”

“Okay. I’ll be here. You can use a door here, too.”

“Right.”

Yami walked to a nearby house and slid his hand down the door.

“And Yami?”

Yami turned to face Jitsubutsu.

“Yeah?”

“Stop by the library and grab the first volume of my memoir.”

“Got it.”

Yami opened the door and walked into the meadow. Rikai and Shippai turned to greet him.

“Hey Yami!”

“Shippai? How’d you get here?”

“Posche left a door near me to get here when I needed to, so I figured I’d stop by and relax. Why’d you come here?”

“As you might expect, the cops are after me, so I decided to hide out here for a bit. Which is actually why I came back.”

Yami walked up to Rikai and held out his hand.

“I need to talk to you, Rikai.”

Rikai nodded and took his hand, allowing herself to be pulled up.

“I can’t explain it fully, but I’m going to stay here for a while.”

Rikai looked into his eyes.

“I really don’t want to say it, but he’s already made up his mind.”

“Okay. Just promise you’ll visit, deal?”

Yami smiled.

“Deal.”

Shippai walked up to interrupt the intimacy.

“What’s to do here?”

“Like I said, I can’t explain it.”

Yami hugged Rikai.

“Stay safe, alright?”

Rikai embraced Yami.

“I should be the one saying that.”

Yami let go of Rikai and opened the door into her hallway. Rikai waved good bye as she walked out. Yami shut the door.

“You want out too?”

Shippai looked away towards the woods.

“Not yet.”

Yami stood in silence.

“This place reminds you of him too, right?”

“Yeah.”

Yami reached into his pocket and pulled out an ink cartridge.

“Catch.”

Shippai turned and caught the flying object in her hand.

“Smear that on the door and it should take you to Posche’s basement. I'm heading out.”

Yami opened the door into the library. As he walked in, Shippai’s hand reached into the room and grabbed his arn.

“Yami, if something happens, you can't abandon us.”

Yami grabbed her hand and peeled it off of his arm.

“Yeah, it's a promise.”

Yami shut the door.

Shippai smirked.

Yami walked through a door into the town square holding a thick book. Jitsubutsu was tied to a wooden chair and the villagers were forcing food into his mouth. With his mouth full, Jitsubutsu forced a muffled voice.

“Hey Yami! You ready?”

Yami looked down at his right palm, then clenched it into a fist. Yami looked at Jitsubutsu with fire in his eyes.

“Yeah, let's do this!”