Skills from My Past Life

The mystic gateway opened underneath a bridge that spanned over a narrow stream that emptied into the Katsura River. Six dark figures emerged, all carefully orienting themselves, as they knew they were in a strange new world. The mystics that had sent them here had traced the spirit to this part of the world. The warriors were slightly unnerved as they looked at the buildings all around them. The architecture, sounds and smells were completely foreign. Even the lights on the poles looked nothing like the magical globes that lit the Calidor Empire, nor the torches that were used amongst the commoners.

Still, they had a job to do. Wrapping themselves with their cloaks to conceal their light armor, they made their way towards the small building their magical tools indicated, keeping to the shadows as best they could. It was a small single-story dwelling from the look of it, with similar structures all around the area. They had to keep this quiet. With only six men, they could hardly afford to engage in a high-pitched battle. Magically enhanced though they were, if they made too much of a disturbance, they knew sheer numbers of the local enforcers would overwhelm them.

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Akiko Fujiwara flipped through her textbook as she went through her written notes from the day. She highlighted the important bullet points for further review, along with circling key topics she knew or at least suspected would be on the upcoming exam. Just then, she heard a knock on her front door. OK, that was fast... it must be a slow night at the Gori Shokudo restaurant, she thought. Grabbing her wallet, she headed to the front door.

However, the moment she unlocked and cracked the door open, she was abruptly pushed back as six cloaked and hooded men forced their way inside. Akiko struggled, but in vain as she was vastly outclassed in size and strength by even one of the strangers. "L-let go of me...!" she cried and begged.

The warriors looked at one another, not understanding a word their victim was saying, but her expression seemed clear enough. The one seemingly in charge nodded. "Is this the one?" he uttered in a language that sounded guttural and strange to Akiko's ears.

Another one of the men produced an amulet and held it close to Akiko, moving it from her head to her heart. As he did so, the stone on the amulet began to glow and pulse with a warm red glow that soon grew into a bright white light, and the man nodded.

"Bind her and prepare to return," the leader ordered.

The men forced Akiko down to her knees as she resisted but to no avail and a third man produced a rope to bind her. However, just then, there was another knock at the front door, causing everyone's heads to turn.

"Hello...? Gori Shokudo delivery...?" the voice announced.

In that split second's distraction, with her breath ragged, heart pounding like a war drum, Akiko blinked...

And in that blink, it hit her.

A flash.

Not a memory. A presence.

A thousand instincts not her own, coiling tight in her limbs like a drawn bow. She moved before she could question it. Dropping below her assailant's grapple, a single heel strike on her opponent's knee, causing it to buckle. The man crumpled sideways in pain, as Akiko seized the now-open gap with a single stride. Behind her, the men shouted with surprise at the sudden turn of events but Akiko had tuned them out. Something deep inside guided every step; quick, precise, as she smoothly pulled one of the short-bladed weapons from the prone attacker's scabbard in one swift motion.

"Stop her!" the leader commanded. To his right, two men surged forward with short staves. They had orders to bring her in alive, which seemed to be going smoothly but now was proving far more difficult. Approaching from both sides, the soldiers attempted to strike Akiko with the intent to batter her into unconsciousness.

Once again, something clicked; Akiko could sense the rhythm of her attackers' stride, the fractional gap they were leaving that she could exploit. Her body was a ghost retracing forgotten steps as the blade she had acquired sliced the first attacker's arm, rendering it useless, followed by a throat strike to the second attacker with her free hand.

By this point, the remaining three men, including the leader had recovered from the shock and stood ready. Enough of this, the leader snarled to himself. "Use the mystic restraints!" he ordered. The two remaining men nodded, with each man pulling out a charm that started to glow as they held them facing one another to create a field of energy that started to pulse between them.

What the hell was that? Akiko blinked, but then something seemed to remind her, that enchantment has a specific area and it only moves straight forward to catch its targets... wait... how did I know that...? Instinctively, she executed a cartwheel sideways, just as a wave of eldritch energy surged forward, embedding into a glowing mosaic against one wall of her family's suburban home. As she came back upright, she was already turning; fluid, inevitable, like she'd done this all before. She threw the bladed weapon at one of the men wielding the magical restraining weapon, embedding it right into his throat. As the warrior fell backwards, gurgling blood, she ran forward, pulling the weapon out, and followed up with multiple strikes against her remaining attackers.

Akiko stood there as the last sounds of the fight faded. Her fingers tingled. Her legs buzzed with momentum that wasn’t hers. This wasn’t training. This wasn’t luck. It was buried under her skin. As her heart beat and breathing slowed, she became aware of one last presence in the room, as her eyes drifted towards the front door.

"G-G-gyaah...!" as the delivery man ran off in terror, leaving behind the insulated box of spicy beef donburi.

For several long seconds, Akiko stood frozen among the carnage, trembling with fear as tears streamed down her face and she nearly gagged between ragged breaths. She slowly stared at her quivering hands and fingers, stained in blood, still feeling the tingling sense of déjà vu, the muscle memory of skills she had never seen before outside of anime or video games. Wh... what just happened...? Why...? How...? I... I... Immediately, she realized she couldn't just stand there. She had no clue who these guys were or what they wanted, but for all she knew they weren't alone. She ran out into the night; she had to get help.

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Inen snarled at the man who was staring into the scrying glass that went black, "What do you mean, you've lost them?! You're telling me six warriors couldn't handle one lone girl?!"

"She's not just a girl, and you know that," the seer reminded him. "And your warriors' own actions may very well have brought about their own downfall. I warned you who you were dealing with... that prophecy was not so easily foiled. The spirit has clearly begun to awaken, so send a mystic retrieval portal this time; don't underestimate her again."

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Akiko ran down the streets of her residential neighborhood. At this hour, there weren't that many people out and about in this part of town. The nearest kōban was on the other side of the train station, which by foot was quite a distance and she didn't feel safe enough to just stand by a bus stop, waiting for the next bus to arrive. She pulled out her phone; she desperately needed to call someone and tell them what was going on. She dialed her mother's cell number.

"Hello, this is Dr. Kyoko Fujiwara, I'm not able to get to the phone right now, if you would leave your name and number, I would be happy..."

Shit... she wouldn't keep her phone on her while she was making her rounds...! Akiko realized. Maybe I could get her paged by the hospital intercom system to call me back, she thought in desperation. She dialed the hospital main number in hopes of reaching the switchboard operator.

"You have reached Ōtsuki Municipal Chūō Hospital... all our lines are busy... if this is a medical emergency, please hang up and dial 119..."

"Damn it...!" Next, she tried her father's cell number.

"This is Isamu Fujiwara, please leave a message..."

Akiko almost slammed her phone in frustration... of all the nights you had to go drinking, why tonight...!? She almost collapsed in despair and exhaustion as the adrenaline was finally beginning to run its course and uncertainty was taking over. OK, who else can I call...?

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Masako Minamoto flipped through her textbook along with the notes she had taken that day during class as she tried to grasp some of the nuances of the material. Of the three girls, Masako was the most athletic, being a star player in the school's kendo club, but that didn't help in the classroom, nor prepare her for the coming University entrance exam. In those respects, she harbored a tiny bit of envy for Keiko and Akiko, both who were bookworms in their preferred subjects. Juku was supposed to help prepare her for the exam, but sometimes all it did was double her work load, she grumbled.

Just then, her phone rang, with Akiko's phone number showing on the caller ID. "Hello?" She paused, then froze as the rapid fire of scrambled jumble of half-formed words came through the other end of the phone. "Whoa, whoa... slow down... You said someone's after you...?"

Akiko panted as she struggled to regain her breath. So much for tennis building up my endurance... "Some men broke into my house and tried to kill me, but I managed to get away! I can't reach my parents and I'm on the run! I really need help!"

"OK... are you safe for now? Can you get to a public place?" Masako asked. "If you can, get to some place with cameras and witnesses and we'll come get you and take you to the nearest kōban and you can tell them all about it."

Akiko looked around to reorient herself. "I-I can get to the Yakko izakya near Katsura."

"Perfect, get there, stay in the main dining area and we'll be there as fast as we can!"

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Yakko izakya was two-story establishment with tan side paneling that sold a variety of noodle and fried foods. It was popular with the nearby Toyoko Inn hotel only a few blocks away. With the normal line up of guests and drinking patrons, Akiko made her way into the dining area and tried to bury herself in the crowds. Part of her thought that if she could just hide in the booth behind a menu, she would be safe, but a nagging feeling in the back of her mind screamed these weren't normal attackers and they were using some kind of supernatural powers. The rational part of her mind scoffed at the notion, but then again, "rational" had lost all meaning in her life about twenty minutes ago.

"We're here just outside," came a text chirp on her phone's instant message.

Akiko carefully peeked outside and saw the familiar yellow and white motor scooter that belonged to the Minamoto family. A wave of relief washed over her when she saw Keiko and Masako waiting for her. Exiting the building, she ran up to her friends, who looked at her in shock.

"Oh my God, you look... " Keiko stammered before coming to a halt. "I-is that blood on your hands?"

"I-it's hard to explain," Akiko stuttered. "Th-they attacked me... with weapons and... and... somehow I-I was able to get lucky and fight back and get away. Th-they had knives and clubs a-and strange energy gadgets. They trashed my family house but I managed to get away!"

"OK, so they're still out there, right?" Masako concluded. "Which means they could still be chasing you..." Her eyes drifted to Akiko's bloodied hands and stains almost hidden on her dark blue tunic, "...unless..."

"Wait... " Keiko took another look at Akiko's hands. "D-did you...?"

Before another word could be spoken, a dark miasma of energy emerged from nowhere. The three girls all stood dumbfounded, but Akiko was the first to react. She grabbed both of her companions by the wrists and tried to run, pulling them with her. However, they quickly found themselves pulled by the dark energy and unable to move. Without another word, all three girls were pulled into the cloud before it vanished without a trace.