Minaro's 15 clones stand behind him, they all look determined.

The guy starts to laugh again. More and more strings come out of the guy's back. Those strings form into praying mantis arms.

4 Minaro clones shoot icebeams out of their palms. The rest of the Minaros create ice paths under them and slide towards the guy.

All the strings on the guy's arm detach and reform themselves, this time they form two giant shurikens on each arm. The guy starts to spin around rapidly while swinging his arms causing the shurikens to fly around in circles cutting everything in the area.

Minaro and his clones jump away from the attack and keep their distance.

"That attack is really unpredictable, how do we approach him?" Minaro thinks.

The guy is still spinning and is getting closer and closer to Minaro and his clones.

Minaro turns around and looks at his clones.

All the clones nod their heads.

Minaro's clones are connected to his mind, so if he has an idea, they also receive that info.

All the Minaros start to run towards the guy. 4 of the Minaro clones grab the leg of some other Minaros and throw them fowards. The 4 thrown clones fly past the shurikens and appear in front of the guy. The clones try to kick the guy.

The guy stops spinning to block the kicks by placing his arms on the side of his head. Then he makes the 4 other clones dissapear by slicing them a little with some string that quickly came out of his back.

Another Minaro clone dashes towards the guy and tries to punch him in the chest. But a spear made of string comes out of the guy's stomach and impales the clone making it dissapear.

The remaining 10 Minaros dash towards the guy and appear around him. They all throw a punch

The guy makes a force field of string around him and protects himself from all their punches.

The real Minaro punctures the shield with his icicle fist. The other Minaro's freeze their fists into an icicle as well.

The string shield around the guy is punctured several times. He tries to dash away from the Minaros, but his legs get frozen by two of the clones. The original Minaro impales the guy with his icicle fist.

The icicle enveloping Minaro's hand is covered in blood. The guy falls to the floor, Minaro pulls his fist out of the guy's chest.

"String summoning, string summoning" Minaro repeats to himself in his head.

All the Minaro clones dissapear. Minaro stands over the guy who was bleeding out.

"Dammit, I guess I die here huh?" Says the guy.

The guy tries his best to keep his eyes open. Minaro silently stares at him. The guy closes his eyes and dies.

Minaro unfreezes his fist and stares at it, a little red string comes out of his finger.

"Oh, I actually got the skill, I guessed the actual name of it correctly then." Minaro thinks.

He walks towards a tree and starts to climb it.

...

Rinka is stealing a soda from a box near a tent. When two red haired people approach him.

A male and female, the female has black eyes and yellow lines that form the shape > in the middle of her eye and she is wearing a dark green long sleeve shirt and blue jeans.

The male has black eyes and yellow lines that form a X in his eyes and is wearing a dark yellow shirt and blue jeans.

Rinka stands up.

"That's strange, your one of the only people not taken by our strings...Maybe you have black blood?" Says the male.

Rinka: Uh...I don't know what black blood is.

"Look at your pants, that's black blood and you do have it." The male points to the black blood on Rinka's pants.

The male dashes and attemps to kick the side of Rinka's head. Rinka raises his arm and blocks the kick.

The female dashes and punches Rinka in the stomach, Rinka is pushed back. The male shoots strings out of his arm and they wrap around Rinka's legs, causing him to trip.

Rinka lands face first onto the floor and the female sits on his back.

"Well, I'll go tell dad and the others, you stay here and make sure he doesn't move". Says the male.

The male jumps away.

Rinka wiggles around on the floor trying to escape the string. The female gets off of him. Rinka looks at her. Her face gets close to his.

"Don't worry I'm not gonna hurt you" says the female.

The female rips the strings around Rinka off and lets him stand up, Rinka stares at her.

Rinka: What's happening I don't understand, aren't you supposed to be holding me hostage or something?

"Yeah but...Let me explain to you... I've been waiting years for someone with black blood to show up so I could escape with them and leave my family behind and this is finally my chance! Im going with you to wherever you go!" The female responds.

Rinka: Why do you want to leave your family?

"They're abusive, I hate this family, and they hate me."

Rinka: Oh.

Rinka scratches the top of his head.

Rinka: Well, I guess you can tag along with me. But you're gonna have to help me whenever I need it.

The female: Sure, I'll help, I'll help whenever you want!

Rinka: Cool, then follow me.

Rinka and the female start to walk towards another tree.

Rinka: So...

The female looks at Rinka.

Rinka: I'm assuming your family are the ones who kidnapped everyone with the strings.

The female: Yeah, they've been searching for black blood for years. Today they smelled black blood around the area and decided to hunt.

Rinka stays silent. The female looks at the floor while they walk.

Rinka looks at the female.

Rinka: By the way what's your name?

The female looks at him.

The female: Oh, it's Maya.

Rinka points up at the people dangling.

Rinka: We have to help those people, can you help somehow?

Maya: Yeah, I can help. I mean, I put them up there.

Maya shoots strings at the people dangling from the branches and pulls them down slowly.

Rinka looks at Maya.

Rinka: Yeah, you're gonna be really helpful.

Maya smiles

Maya: I'm glad I can help!

...

Minaro has finished getting 15 people out of the trees.

As he walks around looking for more, he spots Rinka. Minaro runs towards him.

Rinka stops looking up and spots Minaro running towards him.

Rinka: Hey! Minaro!

Minaro stops in front of Rinka.

Minaro: Hey.

Minaro turns away from Rinka and looks at Maya.

Minaro: Who is that?

Rinka looks at Maya.

Rinka: That's Maya, she's really helpful.

Minaro: Is she related to the other people with strings here? She looks like one I fought before.

Rinka: Yeah.

Minaro: Why is she with us then?

Rinka: Some family problems, she's on our side now.

Minaro: Oh ok.

Minaro looks up at the trees. several people are still hanging up there.

Minaro: Lots of people are still hanging, most will probaly die since we'll take so long.

Rinka: With the help of Maya, we can get them pretty fast.

Maya shoots more strings out of her body and grabs more people, she pulls them down slowly.

After 20 minutes every person in that area was back on the ground. Maya takes a seat on the floor, she's exhausted.

Rinka and Minaro look around the area.

Rinka looks at Maya.

Rinka: Hey, Maya, won't your family get mad at you for ditching them?

Maya looks at Rinka.

Maya: Crap, you're right. I should probaly start hiding.

Minaro: She ditched her family?

Rinka: Yeah, according to her, she hates her family and they hate her.

Minaro stays silent. Rinka, Minaro and Maya hear a sound.

Loud thumps, loud thumps echo throughout the area.

Maya's eyes widen. She looks at Minaro and Rinka.

Maya: That's my dad! crap. You both need to hide!

Rinka: Where do we hide?

Maya grabs Minaro and Rinka with her strings and places them behind a tree.

Maya: Stay here, I'll deal with my family.

Maya walks towards a group of people. 3 red haired people walk towards her.

Maya: Hi everyone!

The 3 people look unamused.

Her father talks.

"Maya, why did you let the brat with black blood leave?" asks her father.

Maya: Well, he started fighting me and he beat me up, I couldn't do anything.

Maya is slapped by her father. Maya touches her cheek.

"You dumb bitch, you should have called for us!"

Maya holds her tears back.

Maya: Yeah, sorry about that...

The mom starts to talk.

"You didn't see where the kid went?"

Maya looks at her mom.

Maya: No, I was knocked out.

Maya's brother, the male that tripped Rinka before, talks.

"Damn, you're weak as fuck." He says, while pulling Maya's ear.

Maya pretends to laugh.

Suddenly Maya gets punched in the face by her father.

Rinka is surprised, Minaro stares attentively.

Maya falls to the floor, her nose is bleeding.

"You would really dare to lie in front of your own father, I can't believe you." Says the father.

Maya: What are you talking about!?

Maya's father gets closer to her.

"We all saw you let the boy go, you dumbass."

The father smiles sinisterly. He wraps his hand around Maya's neck and lifts her up.

"You know, your mom and I have been thinking about having another child."

Maya starts to cry. She holds onto her fathers hand trying to make him let go.

"What if I kill you here? And replace you with someone new."

Maya's eyes slowly close.

Something zooms past Maya and her father. Blood splatters on the floor. The father looks his arm.

His hand was on the floor and blood was spewing from his arm.

Rinka puts Maya on the floor, Maya coughs several times.

"Who the hell!?" Yells the father. Maya's mom and brother look mortified.

Maya: What the hell are you doing!? Your supposed to stay hidden!

Rinka: And let you die? There's no way I'm just gonna watch someone die.

Rinka stands up, blood drips from his katana. Rinka stares at the 3 family members.

The father wraps his open wound with string and closes it.

The father smiles awkwardly at Rinka. Almost like he was making fun of him.

"Who? Do you think you are? Just because you have black blood, You think you can just bother me?" The father exclaims.

Rinka stay silent.

"I'm gonna kill you."

The mom and brother smile at each other. Then they look at the father.

"We'll help as well." Says the mother.

"Yeah! I'm ready to drink some black blood!" Adds the brother.

Rinka looks at a tree, he can see Minaro peeking his head from behind the tree. Rinka signals Minaro to come to him.

"It's 3 against one, we'll kill you." Says the father.

"2 against 3 actually." Rinka says.

Minaro appears beside Rinka.

"3 against 3 actually." Says Maya while grabbing her nose. She stands up and stands beside Rinka.

Rinka smiles.

"I guess it's a fair fight now." Says Rinka.

Maya's family members all smile. A smile that warps their face completely.

TO BE CONTINUED...