Chapter Text
Somewhere, deep inside a dark void, there is a pedestal, with its face that holds resemblance to that of a cathedral glass painting. On it, there was a half-human and half-cat teenage male student, with a black t-shirt, a gray jacket and dark-blue joggings. With hair that is white as snow and his eyes blue as sapphire, his looks bear a difference to that of an elegant cat from the early 1910s.
He was laid down on the pedestal with no movements, until he opened his eyes. There, he stood up with his head, as dizzy as a cucumber, held by his left hand. He breathed heavily with the full expectation of sighing every 10 seconds until his dizziness finally stopped. There, he looked around with no single clue on how he got there.
“Where… am I?” The student muttered. Because of the lack of memory inside his brain, he never knew of this place, let alone anyone being there. When all of a sudden, a bunch of texts came out of nowhere. The student was surprised and shocked and surprised to see those texts coming out of nowhere.
What made him curious however, was the one text that is read like this:
“Aoi Sakuragawa
Beast of Nagausgai
He has awakened, in order to free himself from the chains of eternity that seal his fate. The power burning within him is the “Beast of Gevaudan”. The blade he carries, Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune. Each day has become lost in a sea of banality, living under the threat of Darkness. As the Hollow Darkness approaches and where reality and fantasy meet, this young boy takes a stand… to reclaim everything and return to nothingness.”
Aoi Sakuragawa was confused as to why it was written like that, as he had no clue why he was called like that. Suddenly, this text disappeared, reduced to dust that was flown away. “This just left me with more questions than answers.” He muttered. He then took a look around as he was thinking of a way to get out of this place.
“ Don’t be afraid… ” A voice suddenly is heard. Upon hearing the voice, Sakuragawa turned his back in shock. He was surprised to see that no one was there, except him. But he wondered where the voice he heard came from. “Hello? Is anyone there?” he asked. As he looked everywhere, he started to panic until the voice he heard came.
“ This world is deep inside your Heart… It is there where those whose hearts are connected to the Darkness gather… ” The voice explained. Sakuragawa was dumbfounded by the explanation the voice provided. As he kept on looking around, nothing much has happened after he got here. He sighed with worry.
“Well at least I know where I am…” He muttered to himself. He then shook his head. “Never mind that. Is there a way I can get out of my… uh… ‘consciousness’, without dying…?” he asked. He crossed his arms as if he was getting worried that he might not get out of the void.
“ Walk towards the center of this pedestal. I shall guide you… ” The voice replied. Sakuragawa, with no other options, decided to trust the voice he heard and walked towards the center of the pedestal. He had no idea what to do next. Then suddenly, three podiums were summoned, one in which there’s a sword, the next a shield, and the final podium a magic staff. Sakuragawa became even more confused.
“Um… What do you want me to do?” he asked with uncertainty flowing around his thoughts and body. “ Power sleeps within you… If you give it form… It will become your strength… Choose it well… ” The voice replied. Sakuragawa, again, was dumbfounded by the voice’s explanation, but was glad to have at least little guidance it provided.
“Hmm…” He thinks. With those weapons shown to him, he had a hard time to think of his fighting style. “I really don’t know what to choose…” He muttered. He looked at the weapons again, and thought to himself about which weapon he would choose. Suddenly, his sight was taken towards the sword. He then walked towards the podium where the sword was on. He picked up the swords and took a “feel” of it.
“ The power of the warrior… Invincible courage… A sword of terrible destruction… Is this the power you seek? ” The voice asked. Sakuragawa, with just one feeling of the sword, made his mind set on it. “Yes. That’s the power I seek.” He replied with confidence radiating in every word he said. Suddenly, the sword disappeared in thin air, a sign where Sakuragawa had embraced the power of the sword.
“ Your path is set… What will you give up in exchange? ” The voice asked. While looking at the shield and the magic staff, Aoi was hesitant to choose which to give up. “Well… I’ll be damned…” he muttered. He looked from the shield to the magic staff and vice versa, just to be hesitant about which to give up.
Only to realize that Sakuragawa might use less magic after all. So he walked up towards the podium where the magic staff stands. He then picked up the magic staff with his right hand and took a look at it.
What made him feel weird about the magic staff is that the top of it looks like a blue Disney mouse with an orange-like stand under it, nothing else. “ The power of magic… With many techniques flowing through it… comes better strategy… Is it the power you will abandon? ” The voice asked.
From what Sakuragawa heard from the question, he wondered if he could reconsider his choice. But the more he thinks about using less magic, the more he is sure of it. “Yes… I’ll abandon this power…” He replied. And just like that, the magic staff began fading away in thin air, just like the sword he picked. Again, he was surprised about the staff fading away just like the sword he picked.
“ You embraced the power of the sword… And you have lost the will to learn many techniques known to Man… Is it what you are…? ” The voice asked. Unlike lately, Sakuragawa was sure of it, but not in a way he had imagined. “Um… Yeah…?” He hesitantly replied.
Suddenly, the ground was shaking, with the three podiums disappearing to the ground. Sakuragawa noticed it and jumped off to land on the top pedestal he was standing on most of the time since he got here. Unfortunately, after the whole disappearance of the podiums, the pedestal broke to pieces.
This chain of events is enough for Sakuragawa to freak out, but the fact that he will fall to begin with was inevitable. And sure enough, he fell for what he felt like an eternity until he saw another pedestal with the design of the top different from what he was on. He softly landed on his feet. But despite that, his heart was beating as fast as it could, maybe due to the shock it made.
“W-What the hell…? That just scared me…!” Sakuragawa exclaimed. He breathed in and out to relieve the stress that was made during the chain of events. Until the sword he picked from earlier came towards his right hand from thin air. He was even surprised and bad enough to go through the shenanigans since he got here so far.
“W-What should I do with it…?” He asked while looking at the sword unsure of what he should do with it. “ From now on, you must fight endlessly for your sake… ” The voice replied. Upon hearing the voice, Sakuragawa looked at the sword one more time until he took into what looked like a fighting stance with a sword.
The stance looked like kenjutsu, a japanese sword martial art which consists of holding the sword with two hands, the right hand on top of the hilt, and the left hand on the bottom of the hilt. The position of the feet depended on the person, but for Sakuragawa, it was the left foot in priority, which means it was only in the front.
With just the position and his strength, he let out a swing of the sword that was diagonally from top-right of his vision to bottom-left of it. “ Good swinging… ” The voice said. Somehow, it gave Sakuragawa a little bit of appreciation. “ But know that it won’t be enough to defeat your opponents… ” The voice explained as to why swinging a sword is not enough.
Suddenly, black creatures with yellow googly eyes came from the surface of the pedestal. They looked like they were ready to fight. And so was Sakuragawa out of hesitation. After Sakuragawa put on a stance, one of the creatures charged towards him and jumped to attack. Sakuragawa, of course swung the sword at one of those creatures and, upon the swing of it, the creature was destroyed into a puff of black material, which was fading away.
This was enough for the other creatures to melt themselves to fill the pedestal black. This, of course, made Sakuragawa taken away by the ‘Darkness’ that was created from the creatures melting themselves.
And so, he was drowning in the ‘Darkness’ again, until he ended up lying front-faced on another pedestal with a different design. He breathed in and out again while struggling to get up on his feet.
Sakuragawa began to feel angry at the chain of events. “This isn’t funny anymore…!” He exclaimed. Suddenly, some fancy door with two doorknobs appeared out of nowhere. He approached it after he looked a little at it until he was near enough for both his hands to grab the two door knobs, one each hand. He tried his might to pull the door open, but to no avail. It won’t budge even a little bit.
He sighed out of exhaustion. “I can’t open this door…” He said to himself. He sighed again, but this time, it’s because he’s out of ideas to know what to do next. Until suddenly, four rounded crates showed up out of nowhere surrounding both him and the door.
He approached towards one of the crates. Then, with all his might, he tried to pull the crate. Upon realizing it’s not easy to pull the crate, he abruptly dropped it, breaking it in the process. There, he looked at the broken crate and noticed a key. He grabbed it and wondered if that key could unlock the door still present.
He approached towards the door with the key in his hand and tried to turn the key to his right. Suddenly, upon making a full turn, the key vanished in thin air. He once again tried to pull the door with his hands on the door knobs, one each. He managed to pull the door easily, thanks to the key he found.
However, a beam of light hit his eyes, thus making his right arm cover his eyes. This light covered the whole void. and transformed the scenery to that of a big skyscraper at night surrounded by smaller buildings with the sky as dark as the void itself.
“Am I in… Kamurocho…?” He muttered while looking at the city in such shock shown by the expression on his face. “ Be patient… The gate hasn’t been open yet… ” The voice said. “ Or better yet… why not talk about yourself in the meantime…? ” The voice said before three persons appeared out of nowhere.
The first person looked like a high-school girl with the uniform as dark as the void, with pink hair, green eyes and galaxy nails on her slender fingers. The second person looked like Sakuragawa, but more mature and a little bit older. The third looked like both the second person and Sakuragawa, but as a woman, wearing some kind of armor that can give her the ability to move freely.
Sakuragawa began approaching towards the man who looked like him. “What will you do for years to come?” The man asked. Sakuragawa looked down on the floor upon hearing that question. It’s as if he had no idea what we would do in his life so far.
He then looked at the man between his eyes. “I want to protect others who are important to me.” He replied out of hesitation. Suddenly, the man faded away in dust upon hearing it without reacting an inch. Of course, this shocked Sakuragawa a little, as he is getting used to seeing things fading away.
He walked to the high school girl and just like that, the girl did the same as the man before. “What’s your biggest fear?” The girl asked. Hearing this, Sakuragawa knew about his biggest fear, but was too scared to answer. Or better yet, he feared for his own safety if he answered.
He breathed in and out to pass out the anxiety he was experiencing. “I’m…” He began. “I’m too scared of being different from others…” He replied. And just like the man from earlier, the high school girl faded away in dust upon hearing it without reacting an inch. Unlike the last time, Sakuragawa sighed out of sadness, believing it won’t help him much.
He then walked towards the woman who took a resemblance to him. “If you had the chance, what would you wish for in your life?” The woman asked. This question, for Sakuragawa, unlike other questions he heard, is very easy to answer since the only thing he cares about is the knowledge of caring for others.
“I want to have the knowledge of making things right.” He replied with confidence. Just like the two persons from earlier, the woman faded away into dust upon hearing the answer without reacting an inch. And just like that, upon seeing it, Sakuragawa sighed a little.
“ You want to protect others from any danger… You feared being different from others… You wished to obtain the knowledge to make things right… ” The voice recapped Sakuragawa's answers. “ Your journey will start at night filled with darkness… It will be tough and dangerous, but with the strength of the bonds you will share with others, there is no doubt that you will succeed in finding the awakening dawn… ” The voice explained Sakuragawa's future journey based on his answers.
Sakuragawa never cared about the voice’s explanation. “I… guess I’m fine with that…” He replied with not a little care of the voice. “ When the door will open… So will begin your journey… ” The voice said before the scenery changed back to the void with the pedestal with a different symbol on it.
Sakuragawa was a little surprised that it changed back to where he was the moment before the “Door” opened. “ But you are not ready yet… ” The voice remarked at how Sakuragawa was feeling. Suddenly, black creatures showed up out of nowhere, surrounding Sakuragawa. He was shocked to see them again. “Them again…” He mumbled.
And just before things could get worse, the sword suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Sakuragawa looked at it one second before one of the black creatures charged towards him. Luckily, he stopped the creature, pushed it back and sliced it with the sword. This, of course, enraged other creatures as well. So they charged towards him again. Sakuragawa did the same to the remaining creatures as well, which is slicing twice or three times to take them down.
Because of that, the creatures turned into black puffs of smoke which faded away into thin air upon defeat. Suddenly, some sort of staircase appeared in one of the edges of the pedestal which leads to another pedestal with another different symbol on it. With no current lead whatsoever, Sakuragawa decided to use the staircase that was present.
He simply ran on the staircase until he ended up on another pedestal with a different symbol on it. He barely breathed due to the running, so he ended up recatching his breath. “Damn… That takes longer than I thought…” He mumbled while catching his breath.
Suddenly, the ground was shaking like crazy and out of nowhere, off the ground, came a giant black creature with yellow googly eyes. What’s missing from it is the torso that was cut-shaped into a heart.
Upon looking at it, Sakuragawa was genuinely scared of fighting it and definitely ran away from it by using the staircase from earlier. He then realized that the staircase was gone not a while ago, which made him nearly fall off the pedestal.
He turned around to face the giant black creature again, with fear engulfing his expression. “ Do not be afraid… ” The voice said while the sword that Sakuragawa had appeared again out of nowhere. Sakuragawa breathed in and out while taking ten good seconds to look at the giant creature until he took a stance.
The creature kneeled either as its own fighting stance or to make it easier for Sakuragawa to take on the offense. Then it made its right hand look like a fist, pulled it backwards to charge and then hit it on the ground. Thankfully, the pedestal didn’t have any serious effect upon impact, except for the fact that it made a dark hole where the black creatures appeared.
Seeing the giant creature’s right hand on the ground, Sakuragawa didn’t want to miss the opportunity of hitting it with the sword he was carrying. So he rushed to the hand on the ground and directly jumped and sliced the hand with the sword three times over and over ignoring the black creatures summoned from the hole. It happened like that until the giant creature got rid of its right hand off the ground.
The creature then crossed his arms while bending over the front and there, in the center of the heart-shaped hole, came out a white mist in the form of a sphere, making its hands on the ground but without touching it.
This gave Sakuragawa an opportunity to strike the right arm of the creature again. And so he used the opportunity to jump and slice the right hand of the creature over and over again, but this time, he had to ignore some of the beams that the white mist in the center of the heart-shaped hole shot.
This went on for a while until Sakuragawa successfully defeated the giant creature. Because of that, the giant creature took a defeated pose, which looked like crawling with its arms in a position like doing push-ups. With a little bit of strength left, the giant creature grabbed Sakuragawa with its right hand. This made Sakuragawa caught off guard and, because of a little pressure by the creature’s hand, struggled to fight back, let alone break free of the creature’s right-hand grip.
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