As Yami, Rikai, and Shitto walked down the sidewalk away from the hospital, Shitto withdrew the paper that Yami had left with him.

“I don’t get it, Yami. Why don’t we just go back to Make’s?”

“You’re hardly able to stay awake right now. If we went back, you wouldn’t have any strength.”

“Where are we going to stay then?”

Yami continued to look onward toward the horizon.

“I know of one place that she doesn’t.”

Knock knock knock

A bustle of locks were undone, and the door to the old, tattered house revealed a 50 year old woman.

“Who is i-”

Mrs. Shin stopped her sentence as she realized that Yami stood before her.

“Y-you’re that kid that knew Alexis!”

Yami extended his hand.

“Yami Shinpai. Nice to see you are doing well, Mrs. Shi-”

Mrs. Shin greeted Yami with a hug, and despite her fragility, she was choking Yami.

“How have you been, dear?”

Freeing himself from her grasp, Yami took a deep breath.

“I’ll be honest, not well. May I speak with you inside?”

“Sure, come in!”

Shitto snored as the bus shook with each bump on the road. Rikai poured over a book that Make had lent her, learning as much as she could about healing using the foreign plants. With a sigh, Rikai shut the book and leaned back in her seat.

“I hope Yami finds us a place. Otherwise, we may as well just kill ourselves now.”

Rikai drifted into a deep sleep.

“I see. Well, I can’t say I don’t understand your situation, but I don’t think I can let you stay here. If it were just you, maybe, but even then I don’t know you or your friends well enough.”

Yami nodded his head in agreement.

“Fair enough. I’ll be on my way then.”

Closing the door behind him, Yami rubbed his neck.

“I guess we’ll just stay at a hotel.”

Walking down the road, Yami saw where his house should’ve stood. Instead, there was a run down apartment complex.

“Good enough.”

Cracking his fingers, Yami rubbed his palms together, then slammed them onto the ground. The complex became reinforced with the concrete around it. Yami hit a tree standing near him, causing it to fall over. Yami made quick work of the tree, transforming it into a door. As he replaced the broken plywood door previously attached to the frame, Yami rubbed his arm.

“Looks like I’m still not fully healed yet.”

Yami slid his hand down the door and opened into a luggage compartment on the bus. Sliding into the aisle, passengers looked at him with confusion. Yami shook Rikai awake.

“Hey, I got a place. Let’s go.”

Rikai nodded and shook Shitto.

“C’mon. We’re going.”

Yami walked to the front of the bus and tapped the driver on the shoulder.

“We’ll be stopping here.”

The driver threw Yami’s hand off of his shoulder.

“Take your seat.”

Yami gripped the handle that opened the door and swung it open.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d stop.”

“Hey! What’re you doing?!”

Rikai and Shitto met Yami at the front of the bus.

“He isn’t stopping?”

“No. Come here, Rikai.”

Yami put one hand around Rikai’s shoulder and lept out of the bus. The driver’s jaw dropped.

“Jesus christ! The guy just killed himself!”

As Yami’s feet hit the pavement, he molded the asphalt underneath him to pad his landing, allowing him to safely stop and let go of Rikai. After letting go of Rikai, Yami quickly ran up to the bus and walked back onto the front steps.

“What the hell?! We’re going 65 mph!”

Yami grabbed Shitto and dragged him off the bus. Landing on his back, Yami performed the same stunt, then picked himself up.

“Let’s go back and grab Rikai.”

Shippai stood up from a dark alley.

“That’s all of them. Now I just need to wait.”

Walking out of the alley, a piece of paper flew and stuck itself to a wall. Rikai turned her head, then smiled in devious approval.

“That should be enough people.”

“Yami, what the hell is this?”

The alley was only lit by the moon and a distant streetlamp as Yami opened the door to their current home.

“It’s my house. It’s the best we got for now.”

Shitto looked around.

“There’s not even a couch! Where are we supposed to sleep?!”

Yami leaned himself up against a wall and took shallow breaths.

“We can… go to Mr. P’s and.. snag some stuff there.”

Rikai walked up to Yami.

“Hey, if you’re not feeling well, you shouldn't keep pushing onwards. Take a break.”

Yami collected himself with a large, deep breath.

“No, Shitto’s right. We need to something to sleep on.”

Yami evaded Rikai’s grasp as he opened the door into Posche’s house. He waved for Shitto.

“C’mon. We’ll grab his bed and couch.”

After a few trips, the vacant complex now had some basic furnishings. Shitto threw himself onto the bed.

“Yes! I’m gonna get some sleep now.”

Rikai smacked the back of Shitto’s head.

“What the hell’s gotten into you recently? You’re acting like a brat!”

Shitto rubbed his the part of his head that had come into contact with Rikai’s hand.

“What’re you talking about?”

Rikai pointed to Yami, who was sprawled out on the couch.

“While you’ve been sleeping, Yami’s been trying to hone his skills to defeat a mass murderer!”

“Rikai, he is a mass murderer! Don’t let his righteousness blind you! He does whatever he needs to in order to achieve his own goals, even if it means sacrificing his closest friends!”

Rikai was taken back.

“What’re you talking about?! You’re delusional!”

“So what if I am?! He’s the one who manipulated me, altered my memories, and let me take the piss when things didn’t work in his favor!”

“Shitto…”

“There’s no excuse for what he’s done, and once Shippai is gone, I’ll be the one killing him. Maybe then I can find my true memories.”

Rikai began to tear up.

“Shitto, please! Stop talking like his! You two are best friends!”

“Has he altered your memories too?”

Rikai looked down at the floor.

“You can’t even tell, can you? Everytime your eyes meet his, you have a chance of becoming manipulated. That’s why I’m acting like a brat. That’s why I’m going to kill him. The way I see it, he’s no better than Shipp-”

Rikai smacked Shitto’s face.

“Don’t you ever say shit like that again.”

Shitto’s eyebrows furrowed. He pushed Rikai back.

“Hey! Stop that!”

“You were talking all big a second ago! Why don’t you fight me then?”

Yami stood up from the couch.

“If you two are going to fight anyone, it’ll be me.”

Shitto walked up to Yami.

“Kill me, Shitto.”

Shitto formed an axe in his palm, but quickly collapsed from fatigue. Out like a light, Yami picked him up and set him on the bed.

“You’ll be fine with the couch for a night, right Rikai?”

Rikai nodded her head.

“Thanks. I’m going to go to Muhai’s place for the night.”

“What?! Your crazy sword teacher?! You’ve barely made it through the day!”

“That’s exactly why I need to go. I’ll spend my days here resting and ensuring our safety, and I’ll spend my nights training with Muhai.”

“When will you rest?”

Yami took a deep breath.

“When I die.”

Yami opened into a familiar hallway. Following it into the dojo, he found Muhai drinking tea and smoking a cigarette.

“Sir?”

Muhai ushered Yami to take a seat with him. Yami did so, and as he sat, Muhai pushed a cup of tea to him, which Yami graciously enjoyed.

“Why’re you here?”

Setting down his cup of tea, Yami wiped his mouth with his arm.

“I need your instruction again, Sir.”

“What’d you mean? I’ve taught you everything I can.”

Yami shook his head.

“I need to master Haisen’s power. If I remember correctly, I used it against you during my graduation.”

“Yeah, and if it weren’t for that Jitsubutsu, I’d be dead.”

“Sorry once again. While I was using it, you may have noticed I wasn’t myself. While it gives me great power, I lose myself as I become overwhelmed by Haisen’s power. I’ve been training to master it, and I can use about 20% of his power until I lose myself entirely.”

“Why don’t you have Jitsubutsu help you?”

Yami clenched his fists.

“He’s gone.”

Muhai closed his eyes and put out his cigarette.

“What do you propose our training regiment will be? I have no clue how your guys’ powers work.”

“I need you to fight me until I have no strength left. At that point, I’ll start to tap into Haisen’s power. If I begin to lose myself, I’ve prepared tags that you can place on me to put me out for the day. I’d hope you don’t need to use them, though.”

Muhai nodded his head.

“How much time do we have?”

“I’m not sure, but not long.”

Muhai stood up from the table and withdrew his sword.

“Then let’s get started.”