“Oh yeah, Ibuki” Niko began as he stood alongside the his fellow classmate. “I’ve never asked you this before, but did you live anywhere else before you moved to Masahiro?”

Sipping on a can of black coffee from a nearby vending machine, the girl turned towards her company and began weighing up her options. It was a deep-seated rule in her village to never expose its existence to outsiders in fear of a raid, but Ibuki was sure that Niko had least graduated from his ‘outsider’ title by now, in light of recent events.

“Yeah, I did. It was a small village in the middle of nowhere” she replied, glancing at the glowing digital train timetable on the wall in front of them. “Loud and lively. It was a nice place”

“Then why’d you move out?”

“To see more than just the village, you know? Everyone living there was curious about human civilization and stuff as well. Ma and Pa weren’t too pleased with my decision though…”

The two acquaintances were both waiting on Platform 8 for the train that practically took them straight to Ishimaku’s front gates. The station was packed full of people as usual despite it being so early in the morning. Men and women in business attire packed into trains like sardines in a can, whilst students from various other highschool students waited around for their rides to school.

Armed officers patrolled the area in pairs determined to protect the public if something unsavoury occurred.

“More importantly, did you hear about that rumour circling around school?” the Oni asked, her eyes lighting up at the opportunity of gossip. “The one about the men in those black vans”

“Yeah, what about it?” Niko replied, recalling the conversation he’d heard when he was heading home from school the other day. “Did something happen?”

“Yeah, apparently they kidnapped some guy yesterday night”

“Seriously, what did the school say about it?”

Ibuki smiled and shrugged taking another sip from her drink.

“Can’t say. I mean, it is just a rumour after all”

“That’s true…”

The monotone voice of the announcer echoed throughout the station announcing that a train was promptly arriving on Platform 8 interrupting Niko and Ibuki’s conversation.

It was only then that the Oni realised that something was felt…off.

Maybe it was the huge amount of pressure weighing down on her or perhaps it was the three hooded individuals that were staring directly at her. All three of them were scattered randomly throughout the station, but strangely enough all the enemies were placed where they’d have a perfect view of herself and Niko.

Just perfect. A planned group attack.

Whichever it was no longer mattered, though. All that did was leaving the station as quickly as possible. There was no way she could defend herself and Niko in such a largely concentrated area of people. Bystanders were definitely going to get caught up in it if she decided to initiate a fight here.

“Niko. We’re leaving. Now” she said in a stern tone, tossing aside her coffee can and grabbing the transfer student’s arm before fighting against the wave of students to leave the station. “Listen. Whatever happens don’t get involved, alright? Promise me that”

“Ibuki, what the hell? The train’s right there! Where’re you going?” her fellow tenant retorted, trying to pull his arm back, but proving no match for her demon like strength. “What’s the matter?”

“For now, we just need to leave the station…I swear I’ll explain everything later, so just do what I say, yeah?” she replied, hurriedly.

After finally breaking through the crowd and rushing up the stairs back to the surface level, Ibuki began flat-out sprinting down the street, dragging a completely confused and exhausted Niko behind her. The Oni knew that she could not let any humans see or be involved in the upcoming clash, so finding an empty backstreet or something similar was crucial.

Luckily, Ibuki knew a spot where the local gangs fought occasionally. A back alley behind a rundown convenience store that was maybe about a minute away if she kept up the pace. The Oni glanced back just to check if Niko was still behind her, which he was despite his ‘colourful’ language.

“Ibuki, what the fuck is happening? S-Slow down! My legs are fucking killing me!” he shouted, still trying to loosen the girl’s iron grip on his arm.

Just as she was contemplating on carrying Niko the rest of the short distance, Ibuki suddenly felt a searing hot pain in her left shoulder that almost made her let go of Niko entirely, but she preserved through pure willpower.

This time, thanking her demon blood for bestowing her with such a resistant body, she and Niko managed to turn into the empty backstreet somewhat safely, aside from the small dagger that was protruding out of her shoulder.

Watching her schoolmate tumble onto the ground and roll up against a wall, she stood in front of him just as the three enemies from the station dropped down in front of them. Apparently, they had been travelling using the roofs of the nearby buildings, which explained how they got such an accurate shot on her with the throwing knife.

Thank god that she had brought the family heirloom with her today, though…

Gritting her teeth and tearing out the knife from her shoulder, Ibuki concentrated every fibre of her being into unlocking the true power of the weapon on her back. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d trained with it seriously, but she assumed that this was as a good as time as ever to get some late practice in.

Filling its power well up within her, Ibuki stared down her opponents, who wore baggy bottoms and large hoodies to hide their faces. Despite this Ibuki could sense some sort of odd power enemating from them. They were, without a doubt non-human.

All the more reason not to hold back then...

“Tear them apart, Druxgal!” Ibuki yelled, as the glaive on her back suddenly sprung to life, letting its power explode from within her body. The wrapping around its blade instantaneously burst into flames and were burnt to ashes. The weapon’s true weight was also unleashed, causing a small crater to from underneath Ibuki’s feet due to the insane heaviness of the glaive. The Oni herself, however, was much more intimidating by far. Her brown tanned skin had turned a dark shade of red along with her burning eyes that held almost no trace of the awkward girl that was inhabiting the body before she had undergone this powerful transformation.

A small smile appeared on her lips as she turned back to a completely bewildered Niko.

“Just sit tight, yeah? I’ll finish this up in no time” she said, practically oozing with confidence. “Hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two!”

Now turning back to face her unfaltering opponents, Ibuki clutched her family heirloom, Druxgal and took a stance. An almost taunting grin now on her face, she let her aura wash over everyone and everything in the area again.

“I’ll give you guys one more chance” She began, loudly. “Give and go home and I’ll…” The Oni smiled as she was interrupted by yet another throwing knife that had been launched in her direction, watching as it melted into nothingness the closer it got to her.

“Okay” she said calmly, cracking her neck. “Execution it is then”