Chapter Text
Chapter 1/?:
The heat was embracing in Nagano, Sawamura was reminded of going to the field with his friends, Wakana and Haru. Right now he would be playing in the field with them if that "accident" hadn't happened.
He really missed how everything used to be.
Maybe, if he hadn't missed that day he would still be here.
Maybe if...
-
Months before his teacher had given the long awaited "special class" or that's the name Sawamura gave it, there's really nothing special about it, everyone knows about it and what's being talked about. To say that Sawamura was happy was an understatement, the boy was practically jumping with excitement, they would finally talk about spiritual energy!
-As you know the spiritual energy has the majority of the population in greater or lesser amount than others, thanks to it we can see and exorcise spirits. To be able to be a hunter you need to control the spiritual energy and know how to use at least one weapon, remember that it is in your decision to be a hunter, for that there are specialized academies, if you want to enter one you must show off in the tournament of your third year of high school or pass the entrance exam of the academy, you must know that..." As the teacher continued speaking Sawamura had several questions in his mind.
- "Mr. Takeda" Sawamura raised his voice, making his classmates sitting next to him flinch at his volume.
- "Tell me Sawamura - Kun" he answered politely despite being interrupted.
- "How will we know how much energy we have?"
- "Good question Sawamura - Kun!" congratulated the professor. "There are people who are dedicated to see how much energy everyone has, from there they will give them a rank, for example I am rank 2 the level most get" his gaze went to Sawamura. "I think you have a lot of energy Sawamura - Kun, I can't wait to find out your rank." He turned his gaze to his students. "Speaking of which, next week someone will come to measure your energy, it is of utmost importance that you don't miss it Understood?" he asked his students.
"Yes, Mr. Takeda" they responded in unison. "Excellent. It is time to go, you may leave" with that the teacher took his leave.
Immediately Sawamura grabbed his things and approached his friends excitedly. "Did you hear that, they're going to give us our rank!" he said. His friends already accustomed to the volume of their extroverted friend's voice shook their heads with a fond smile on their faces. Everyone knew how much Sawamura likes the subject of spiritual energy and his desire to be a hunter.
-We heard it, Ei - chan" spoke the girl in the group.
- "Aren't you excited Wakana!" he shouted indignantly. "You Haru, don't you feel even a hint of excitement!" he addressed the other boy.
-" You know we don't wish to be hunters Ei - chan " Said Haru, the tallest of the three.
"I know! But-" before he finished what he was going to say Wakana covered his mouth with her hand. "Hush Ei - chan, it's late let's go home" with that she turned around to go ahead, leaving the two boys behind.
"Don't leave us alone! They shouted as they tried to catch up with the girl.
When they finally caught up with her they started chatting. "So, I'll see you at the baseball field, right?" speaks the taller one.
"Sure thing, Haru! We always go there on Wednesdays" Said the brown one.
With a smile Haru breaks away from the group. "I'll see you guys over there then, see ya!" he said goodbye.
"Bye!" They watch as he enters his house and they start walking to the avenue where the girl's house is by saying goodbye to Wakana. "See you Wakana" the boy says goodbye.
"Mmn. Bye!"
-
At last he arrived home, opening the door saying a "I'm home!" immediately receiving his mother's reply "Welcome home, Eijun!" He made his way to the kitchen to help his mother with the food. As he chopped the vegetables he began to chat with his mother about his day at school. "Next week we're going to get our rank! Isn't that great mom?" as she continued chatting, he was oblivious to the worried look on her mother's face. "Mom?" He asked as she noticed the sudden silence. "That's great Eijun!" she replied with a strained smile. "I know!" ending the conversation with a comfortable silence or at least for Sawamura.
Finished eating, Sawamura went straight to the baseball field, seeing from a distance that Haru was already there.
"HARU! I'M ALREADY HERE!"
"Ei - chan, you're early - that's weird, you're always the last to arrive!" Haru said amused.
Sawamura immediately tensed up making his characteristic cat eyes. "THAT'S NOT TRUE, YOU'RE A LIAR!" Sawamura shouted.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YOU'RE SO FUNNY EI - CHAN."
"I'm just here and they're already making a fuss, they're hopeless" Said Wakana amused. "I'm here."
"I know, I'm looking at you Kana"
"That's funny Haru"
"ENOUGH EVERYONE. WE'RE HERE TO PLAY!" Sawamura spoke waving his hands in front of his friends. Being greeted with a few "Fine" "Whatever you say Ei - Chan".
"Fine! Let's play hunter" Sawamura proposed, making Wakana roll his eyes "Eijun. You always pick that game" "Sure! Because it's great!" He refuted.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA DON'T CHANGE EI - CHAN, YOU'RE THE BEST!" Haru said, causing Sawamura's ears to color red, making cat eyes. " DON'T SAY I'M THE BEST WHILE LAUGHING HARU!" Forgetting about the little fight with Wakana.
As Sawamura kept yelling at Haru receiving more laughter in response, Wakana noticed the class teacher.
"Mr. Takeda is here, how strange." She mentioned, causing the boys to shut up and turn to look. "My goodness, can't they be more discreet? He said to them, receiving a simple "excuse me" from Sawamura.
"Let's go say hello!" proposed Haru.
Haru is right, we should go say hello to the teacher!" Sawamura said in agreement.
"I don't think that's a good idea guys" spoke Wakana.
"Don't worry Wakana! Mr. Takeda gets along very well with me, there's nothing to worry about" Sawamura assured her.
"That's why I'm worried about Ei - chan" thought Wakana. "It's okay, let's go" she finally agreed.
"MR. TAKEDA" "THIS WAY!" shouted HARU and Sawamura with Wakana following behind them.
"Guys! What are you doing here?" They were greeted by the teacher.
"We came to play, we always do!"
"Ei - chan is right, we always come here to play."
"Is that so?" he murmured "I'm happy for you then."
"Taking advantage of you being here Sawamura - Kun do you remember the Math Exam last week?" He asked.
"YES" He answered immediately.
"Well, I want to congratulate you, you got an excellent grade again. Congratulations."
"AH? THAT'S GREAT. RIGHT GUYS?" he turned to look at them.
"Congratulations Ei - chan" congratulated Wakana.
"How is it possible for him to get good grades if he keeps sleeping in class. TELL ME YOUR SECRET EI - CHAN" Haru shouted.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. SORRY BUT THIS SAWAMURA EIJUN NEVER REVEALS HIS SECRETS!"
"IT'S NOT FAIR. MR. TAKEDA, HOW MUCH DID I GET?" he asked.
"Don't worry Haru - Kun, you did well on the test too." He was assured by the teacher. He turned to Sawamura.
"Sawamura - Kun, your aura is getting bigger, don't you need to see a doctor?" the teacher recommended. " I know one is very good, if you want I'll pass you the address of his office." He suggested.
But Sawamura got lost in the first sentence.
"Aura?" "Can you see people's aura Mr. Takeda? "he asked, causing the major to tense up for a second, quickly returning to normal.
" I can see them only a little, I was practicing since young, I can't see them clearly" he replied.
"Oh. It's okay." Sawamura muttered, with a Wakana looking intently at the teacher.
"I thought only people from rank 3 and up could see them." Haru said.
"YES, SCHOOL EXPLORERS GO BY THE AURA TO FIND PROMISING STUDENTS! SCOUTS ARE RANK 4, THEY'RE SO COOL!" Sawamura chattered excitedly.
"Okay, guys it's time to go." Interrupted Wakana.
"BUT WE'RE STILL NOT PLAYING!" complained Sawamura.
"Ei - chan is right Kana" supported Haru.
"My mom made us cookies, she said she'll take them to eat at my house" Argued Wakana, yes, the cookie thing was just an excuse. For some reason, Wakana had a weird feeling, maybe there was a spirit hanging around, she easily dismissed the idea, Eijun would have figured it out by now. Not knowing where the strange feeling was coming from, she thought it best to go home early.
"Mmm. It's okay! Isn't it Ei- chan?" Haru asked.
"Okay, BUT THEN WE'LL PLAY WHATEVER I WANT!" demanded Sawamura.
"Sure, all for me cute Ei - chan HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" Haru replied. As Wakana rolled her eyes. "There they go again."
Sawamura immediately turned red as a tomato.
"STOP SAYING: YOU CUTE EI - CHAN!" he shouted as he tried to catch Haru.
All being watched by the teacher and Wakana.
"Then, I'm leaving too. See you later Aotsuki - chan." Dismissed the major quickly.
"See you later..."
"COME ON WAKANA. THE COOKIES ARE WAITING FOR US!" shouted Sawamura snapping Wakana out of his trance.
"Right. Let's go." With that said, they walked while chatting animatedly until they reached Wakana's house.
Deep down, Wakana still felt that weird feeling, maybe she was exaggerating. But she couldn't shake the feeling off.
-
Sawamura noticed that something was wrong with his family, at mealtime his grandfather was looking at him more than usual, his mom had that worried look on her face and his dad kept hanging around him.
And even though he noticed his family's strange behavior over the course of the week he didn't say anything.
"The teacher said they're coming tomorrow to give us our ranks" Sawamura blurted out of nowhere as they ate, falling into a tense silence. Sawamura was no fool, he knew something was going on and they weren't telling him, he was a big boy now, they should trust him! "Is there something you want to tell me?" he asked carefully. As the eldest in the house, his grandfather took the floor.
"Eijun, I was a hunter" said his grandfather with a serious voice, What? While Sawamura processed the given information, his grandfather kept talking.
"I can assure you that your spiritual energy is very abundant, in fact, the more you grow the energy also grows, it can be clearly seen thanks to your aura. You will be an excellent hunter."
Hearing this Sawamura jumped out of the chair excitedly. "Are you serious grandpa!!!?" he shouted.
"Yes!" Amazing! Now all that's left is for him to be told his rank, pass his third year's tournament and be able to enter an academy for hunters. Then -
"Therefore, I won't let them tell you your rank in school. In fact, you won't be going to class tomorrow." Ah?
AHHHHHH!?
"WHY NOT?!?"
"WHY NOT STUPID GRANDSON, IF I DO THIS IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!"
"BUT-"
His grandfather looked at him impassively making him shut up once and for all. “ Look, I’ll take you to someone you trust, you’re not going to school tomorrow, period” With that said his grandfather walked away from the table leaving only his parents and him.
“Mom…” he tried to refute. His mom just looked at him sadly.
“I’m sorry Eijun, you heard your grandfather” he replied and then his father added “It’s for your own good son”.
“If it was for my own good they would tell me the reason!” he spoke, or rather shouted.
No Eijun! They are not to blame, you must not shout at them.
“Sorry” he got up from his place to go to his room but not before saying goodbye “I’m not hungry anymore, good night” he left the dining room muttering several It’s not fair! As he climbed the stairs.
It doesn’t make sense! Why can’t they tell him what’s going on? His grandfather already told him he has enough energy to be a good hunter. Why not let them tell him his rank in school? Why go to someone else? If he wakes up earlier maybe he can go without being seen by his grandfather…No, impossible! Knowing that old man he will be in front of his room door all night. If only they would tell him the reason, he might understand! But no. They just forbid him to go around saying “it’s for your own good” Gah, how complicated.
Anyway, in the end his grandfather will take him to someone, it’s the same thing Right! It’s the same, they’ll give him a rank and that’s it, the only difference is that he won’t get it from the school. Wait! If my energy is too much, I can be a rank 3… That means I’ll be able to see AURAS! Great! With that in mind Sawamura laid down on his bed to sleep.
→
“Sawamura!”
“Sawamura!”
“Wake up!”
“Huh? Where am I? “He turned his head to look at the place where he was, finding destroyed buildings.And why is everything in ruins.Is it a dream? Yes, that must be it .
“Damn Sawamura!” he turned his head towards the person who called him, his face was blurred, he is tall, and his hair is brown… Oh! In his hands is a spear, he must be a hunter or a student, I quickly observe what is behind him, It’s a horde of spirits! AND THEY’RE CATEGORY 4. WHAT THE HELL.
“Hey you, why are there so many demons!” he quickly asks, noticing how they are approaching them.
“Hey you? Damn Sawamura, don’t you remember anything?”
He returns the question, Is he stupid? Clearly I don’t know anything, that’s why I asked.
“NO, WHY DID I ASK IDIOT” He shouted
“Tch, don’t shout stupid” The stranger walks away to exorcise the spirits, he gets up to help him If it’s a dream he can be the hero here! Now, think you have wings Sawamura, wings are cool, maybe fire breath? All thought is forgotten when he feels something pierce his stomach.
GAH! IT’S A DREAM IT’S SUPPOSED NOT TO HURT!
When he turns his head to see who or what stabbed him his breath catches. “Huh? M…….? “WHAT’S HE DOING HERE?” he watches as ******** looks him in the eye, hell, he looks like he’s crazy.
“Sawamura!” he hears the stranger shout as he runs towards him being stopped by the spirits hearing him curse. He turns towards him to shout something but suddenly everything is silent, nothing is heard, finally when the pain overcomes him he falls to the ground closing his eyes.
WAIT! DID I DIE IN MY DREAM!? IT CAN’T BE.
When he wakes up, the feeling of being pierced is still in his body, causing him to shiver.
Although Sawamura likes the days he misses school, he can't help but feel sad, don't blame him, he was looking forward to this day and he won't be able to attend. Besides, he won't see Wakana and Haru!
He heard his mother calling him for breakfast, he quickly took off his pajamas and put on his sandals, as he went downstairs he noticed that his grandfather was not at the table
"What about grandpa?" he asked, his mom gave him a smile and said. "He went out a while ago, he shouldn't be long" As they finished eating the sound of the door opening was heard. An "I'm home" was heard answered by a " Welcome" he approached the table to talk
"Come with me Eijun" Sawamura turned to see him curiously as he got up following his grandfather down the hallway until he reached his room. He sat on the bed while his grandfather in the chair in front of him. what's this all about? He thought,
He was about to say something when his grandfather
interrupted him.
"I'm going to teach you how to control your energy" he said.
"You have too much and it's getting bigger and bigger, if you don't start working on that it won't be long before you fall ill. Besides your aura is all crazy, you need to control it, yoga serves too much you will start with that, then you can choose a spiritual weapon" informed his grandfather.
"Do you agree?"
"Yes!" He almost jumped to hug his grandfather when he raised a hand in front of his face to stop him.
"I'm not done talking yet" he sighed
"Being something that involves you, it's best that you know about it from now on."
"Other than me, some of your ancestors have been hunters, admittedly very good ones. When your great grandfather was searching for a horde of spirits he found a temple on the outskirts of Tokyo, as he entered he quickly noticed the energy that was accumulated in the place. While investigating the place he noticed a blank stone in the middle of a small lake, when he touched it letters began to carve forming a prophecy."
"The golden-eyed successor will be possessor of the "great golden energy" his power will bring misfortunes or miracles to the country. When chaos breaks out he will be the key to end it. Depending on his choice, the consequences will be negative or positive."
"The mentioned successor is you, Eijun" he said
"Your core and energy are special, the golden energy is powerful and dangerous if you don't control it. A few years ago possessing such energy was a sign of fortune. Until it was discovered that the possessor of this energy would not withstand so much power and would lose control causing damage to the city.
Eventually they were able to learn to control it, but the citizens, fearful of another tragedy, murdered them in cold blood. Nowadays it is strictly forbidden to murder someone for this reason, but they are still looking for people with this peculiar energy to experiment and investigate, practically using them as laboratory rats. Such people would rather die than be in a laboratory.
"Do you understand Eijun? You are special, you must not let anyone know about this or you will be in danger." He warned.
As Sawamura absorbed the information, his grandfather left the room and returned with a stack of papers extending them to his grandson.
" Here, there's everything you have to do to train, I'll supervise you."
"But you are already too old grandpa" he blurted out by accident, OH NO!
Immediately Sawamura felt the stinging on his right cheek from the slap his grandfather gave him, taking his other hand to rub his sore cheek.
"AH!!! YOU IDIOT BRAT, I'M STILL IN EXCELLENT SHAPE. I WAS ONE OF THE BEST HUNTERS IN MY YOUTH! HAVE MORE RESPECT FOR YOUR ELDERS."
"SORRY! I WILL NOT DO IT AGAIN!" he sobbed, muttering a "Maybe..." thank God his grandfather didn't hear him.
"You better" said his grandfather leaving the room, leaving only him in the room. "Let's see what we have to do, it'll be easy."
No. It wouldn't be easy.
Who in their right mind would get up at 6 a.m. to run? Seriously, who? But it doesn't matter. Sawamura will do everything on paper to get better faster.
Yoga was the easiest, sometimes he accompanies his mom on her weekly sessions, but having to do it every day will get boring. That time he could use it to play! Gah, he sighed.
Well, he'd start on this tomorrow. For today he would wait until classes were over and he could go see his friends to see how they did.
Time was passing really slow, he finished reading his Shoujo manga, did his homework and now lay on his bed bored. As he looked at the ceiling of his room he remembered the strange guy from his dream, not being able to see his face only fueled the fervent curiosity in him.
Now that he thought about it, the dream actually felt realistic, as if he was living it all out in the flesh. Was it really just a dream? He hoped so.
He couldn't imagine a city in complete ruin, plus there were so many spirits! That's not possible, spirits never gather together, you see him together 2 or 3, but nothing else! The sound of knocking on his door brings him out of his thoughts.
"I'm Wakana!"
Wakana? There was still time left before the end of the class schedule.
"It's open" With that said the door opened letting the girl in.
"What are you doing here? It's not time for dismissal yet" he asked, Wakana just sat on the desk chair in front of the bed and answered.
"We're leaving early."
"Why?" Wakana just moved her shoulders up, indicating that even she didn't know why.
"SO, HOW DID IT GO?!?" He shouted despite being in front of her.
"Meh. What I guessed, I'm rank 2" She said disinterestedly.
"GREAT! AND HARU?"
"Haru was rank 3, the highest of all" She mentioned.
"AWESOME! WHERE IS HE NOW?
"He stayed at school, the teacher asked him to stay a little longer" Wakana blurted out, as if she was worried about something. She quickly dropped the subject to ask about Eijun's absence.
"Was sick" he lied. Wakana rolled her eyes, knowing Eijun's little lie "you really don't know how to lie, but well" It wasn't his fault that every time he lied he eyebrows furrowed!
Thank goodness Wakana didn't probe further into the subject.
"Well, the teacher told me to bring you your literature test" She said as he took the paper out of his backpack.
"I really don't know how you manage to get good grades, but congratulations" She finished as handed the paper.
"What can I say, this Sawamura Eijun is a genius! WAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA" he bragged, as Wakana's mouth twisted into a smile.
"In three months we enter 2nd high school, aren't you excited? You can start joining spirit tournaments, even if they don't san as cool as 3rd year!"
Right! He had forgotten about the 2nd year tournaments, the 2nd year tournaments were mostly to prepare you for the 3rd year. How could he forget them? Some scouts look for people from those tournaments.
"I see you forgot" Wakana said, as she stood up from his chair.
"Anyway, I have to go. I left your homework on your desk" With that the girl left the room leaving Sawamura alone.
It's decided, this Sawamura Eijun will participate in all the tournaments! All the scouts will notice him WAJAJAJAJAJAJA.
He can't wait to talk about this with Haru!
-
What? What is Haru's mom doing here? Why is she so worried? ...
Where is Haru?
-
The scene looked terrible.
Haru's mom Mrs. Mitsuki, was crying at the Sawamura's door.
Her mom was hugging the lady as she carried her to the living room couches everything was getting very confusing for Sawamura why was she crying, had something happened? Having trouble deciding whether it was appropriate to approach or not. He decided to wait a bit while the lady calmed down. Finally he approached her mom.
"Mom?" she spoke softly so as not to upset the lady in front of her.
"Oh, Eijun" his mom turned to look at him worriedly, Mrs. Mitsuki tensed up when she heard her name. Immediately the lady got up and went over to him to hug him as small sobs came out.
Sawamura not knowing froze, when he came out of his daze he returned the hug to the lady.
"Mitsuki - San... What happened?" he asked, quickly mentally slapping himself Well done Eijun! You mustn't wonder what happened so carelessly! He noticed how his mom sent him a warning look.
"Though you don't have to tell me if you don't want to" He added belatedly.
Mitsuki - San just hugged him tighter.
"It's Haru" He said weakly.
When he heard Haru's name he tensed up What happened to Haru?
"What about Haru, he's okay isn't he?" he turned his gaze to the lady who was clinging to him.
"I don't know... I don't know" He said in a whisper, that if he wasn't near her he couldn't have heard.
"Haru didn't come home!" Mitsuki - San blurted out as she turned away from Sawamura to go to the couch again.
"He was supposed to be back at 3 in the afternoon, we were going to go shopping with his father, but he just didn't come back, I thought maybe he was playing at the baseball field with you and Wakana but when I went to check there was no one there, when 5pm came around I started to worry more and called the teacher Mr. Takeda told me Haru left at 1! Haru hasn't been home since 1 pm! It's been seven hours already and I haven't seen him we already went to the police to report him missing." I explained in tears.
"No. That's not possible." Sawamura muttered, his face was blank.
Haru can't be missing. No.
It's impossible. Is this a joke? This isn't a joke, is it?
This can't be happening, why Haru, why him, why not someone else!?
While he was still drawing a blank his mom came over to comfort him.
"Oh Eijun, calm down please" His mother murmured to him.
"It's my fault" Sawamura finally said.
"Of course it's not your fault son, why do you think that"?
"If I hadn't skipped school this wouldn't be happening. Wakana had told me that the teacher asked Haru to stay a little longer. If he had gone to school he would have waited for him! Haru wouldn't be missing he would be at home with his parents..." he vision was getting blurry as he spoke due to tears, and in an instant large drops of water started to fall from her eyes.
"Sawamura - kun. I didn't tell you this to make you blame yourself" Mitsuki - San said.
"Don't blame yourself please... that wasn't my intention so don't think that." She said pleadingly.
"No one is to blame, Haru is going to show up He's a strong boy!" she tried to give encouragement, both for me and for her.
Sawamura could only nod slightly with her face red from tears. Haru is a strong boy, I'm sure he's going to show up. He has to show up.
-
Haru did show up, but not the way we wanted him to.