The Wind Demon

Renji woke up with a strange sense of normalcy. His muscles no longer screamed at the slightest movement. His skin had lost its painful sensitivity. He stood up, stretched, and heard his back crack—a human sound, of normal bones, not steel beams.

"I'm back," he murmured, clenching his fist. He was weak compared to the "Iron Skin," but he was functional.

He got dressed and went straight to the convenience store. He needed to thank Hiroshi and, more importantly, see who his next opponent would be.

The store was empty, except for an old man in an apron scrubbing the floor with silent fury.

"Uncle Yamashita?" Renji asked.

The old man looked up, grumbling. "Your friend is a demon. I'm never playing poker with him again. He's in the back room, counting the betting money."

Renji went to the back. Hiroshi was sitting on a milk crate, looking at a tablet with a serious expression.

"You're alive!" Hiroshi smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Great. Because we have problems."

"Problems? I thought we were rich."

"We are. But to stay rich, you have to win the next fight. And the Top 32 draw came out this morning."

Hiroshi turned the tablet toward Renji. On the screen was the profile of a fighter: lean, tall, with legs that looked disproportionately long.

Opponent: Shinji "The Sniper" Style: Taekwondo / Long Range Kickboxing. Ranking: 12th in the Regional.

"I know him," Renji said, his encyclopedic memory activating. "He fights at a distance. Uses his lead leg like a harpoon. Keeps opponents away with side kicks, and when they get frustrated and rush in, he lands a high kick to the temple."

"Exactly," said a female voice coming from the doorway.

Kaori was leaning against the frame, eating a protein bar she probably hadn't paid for.

"You can't come in here, Kaori!" Hiroshi complained. "Employees only!"

"I'm the technical consultant," she ignored him and looked at Renji. "Shinji is the worst possible opponent for your 'tank' style. He won't trade power with you. He's going to hit and run. He'll pick you apart from a distance for three rounds and win on points. If you try to walk forward like you did with Goro, you'll look like a zombie chasing a fly."

Renji watched the video of one of Shinji's old fights. The guy was fast. Retreat, strike, circle out.

"He's untouchable for someone slow," Renji admitted.

"Then you're screwed," Hiroshi concluded. "Your 'Iron Skin' is useless if you can't get close enough to hit him."

Renji smiled. A smile that made Hiroshi and Kaori exchange worried glances.

"Who said I'm just Iron Skin?"

That night, Koganji Temple was shrouded in mist.

Renji entered the Master's dimension with a steady step. The Master was painting a calligraphy scroll with black ink that moved on the paper as if alive.

"Recovered already, Warden?" the Master asked, without looking up.

"I'm ready for the next round."

"And what is the request this time?" The Master dipped his brush. "More resilience? Brute force?"

"Speed," Renji said. "My opponent is a runner. I need to be faster than his thought process. I need to close the distance before his brain registers that I've moved."

The Master stopped his brush. He looked at Renji and smiled, showing sharp teeth.

"Speed... a dangerous choice. Resilience protects the body. Speed destroys it. Human muscles weren't made to accelerate that fast. You will feel your fibers tearing if you aren't careful."

"I can take it. What do I have to hunt?"

The Master snapped his fingers. The scenery around the house changed. The mist parted, revealing a projected image of a Tokyo subway tunnel.

— There is an urban legend about the wind that blows in the tunnels before the train arrives, the Master said. — People think it's air pressure. But sometimes... it's a Kamaitachi.

"A wind weasel?" Renji knew the folklore.

— A spirit of blades and gales. There is one nesting in the Chuo Line. It runs ahead of the trains, feeding on static electricity and the panic of delays. It is fast, Renji. Faster than anything you have ever seen.

Renji swallowed hard. "How do I catch something that runs ahead of a train?"

— That is your problem. Bring me the charged seal, and I will give you legs that can run on water.

The maintenance tunnel of the Chuo Line was a dirty, noisy, forbidden place.

Renji climbed down a manhole cover near Nakano station, guided by the spiritual sight that turned the darkness into grainy gray. He could feel the vibration of the tracks. The last train of the night had passed, but the service rails were still active.

Vrummm...

A sudden wind rushed past him, almost knocking him over. There was no train. Just wind.

"It's here," Renji whispered.

He looked into the darkness of the tunnel. He saw two glowing green eyes, low to the ground. They were the eyes of a small, intelligent predator.

The creature revealed itself. It looked like a weasel the size of a large dog, but its fur was made of compressed air needles and electric sparks. Its paws had claws that looked like silver sickles.

— It is slow, the creature hissed, its voice echoing like wind in a drafty window.

"We'll see," Renji said.

The creature darted.

Renji didn't even see it move. He only felt a cut on his cheek and the displacement of air at his back. The Kamaitachi was already thirty feet behind him.

"Shit..." Renji touched the cut. Blood. "If I can't see it, I can't seal it."

The weasel laughed, running along the tunnel walls, defying gravity. It was a blur of green light.

Renji closed his eyes. Normal sight was useless. Spiritual sight was too slow.

He needed to predict.

He looked at the environment. The tunnel was narrow. There were puddles of water on the ground, remnants of a leak. And there were high-voltage cables loose in an open power box on the wall.

The Master said it feeds on static electricity.

Renji ran for the power box. The Kamaitachi saw the movement and interpreted it as flight. The creature charged, ready to sever Renji's tendons.

Renji didn't run. He ripped a thick copper cable from the wall—disconnected, but still conductive—and threw the end into the puddle in the center of the tracks.

"Hey, Sparky!" Renji shouted.

The creature, driven by the instinct of electric hunger, diverted its trajectory slightly toward the exposed cable.

The moment the weasel's paws touched the puddle where the cable lay...

ZAP!

The water conducted the residual electricity from the creature's own body, creating a short circuit with the ground wire. The Kamaitachi squealed, paralyzed for a second, its wind body becoming solid and visible.

It was the fraction of a second Renji needed.

He jumped. It wasn't a fast jump, but it was precise. He landed on top of the paralyzed creature, ignoring the electric shock shooting up his legs.

"Gotcha!"

Renji slapped the black seal onto the weasel's forehead.

The creature dissolved into a whirlwind of green wind, which was sucked into the black paper. The tunnel went suddenly silent and static.

Renji fell back onto the tracks, hair standing on end from the static, breathing hard. In his hand, the seal vibrated, light as a feather but buzzing like a bee.

If he used that now, the magic would dissipate long before the fight against Shinji. The 24-hour clock was relentless.

"Into the box," Renji whispered, carefully storing the seal in an insulated box inside his backpack. "Your time will come."

The next day, Kuma Gym was thick with pre-tournament tension.

Renji was in the corner, wrapping his hands. He wasn't training hard. He was conserving himself, saving every drop of physical energy for the moment he would receive the magical charge.

Kaori appeared beside him, juggling a water bottle.

"Shinji, The Sniper," she said, as if talking about the weather. "He has more reach than you. More experience. And above all, he doesn't let himself get hit. What's the suicide strategy this time? Waiting for him to break his foot on your face like the karate guy?"

Renji finished tightening the bandage. He stood up, feeling the slight weight of the backpack where the "Wind Demon" slept.

"No. This time, I won't be a static target."

Kaori raised an eyebrow, skeptical. "Then what? Are you going to try to corner him? He's too fast for you, Renji. You have the mobility of a tank."

Renji smiled, remembering the feeling of the wind in the tunnel and the supernatural lightness of the seal.

"The strategy is simple," he said, looking her in the eyes. "I'm going to be more agile than him."

Kaori blinked, and then laughed. A short, incredulous laugh. "You? Agile? I'd pay to see that."