I Need That Arm

It felt like my arm was on fire, but I didn’t smell any smoke nearby. A searing pain crept up from my fingertips to my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see the source of this burning sensation, but it was no fire; it was my hand.

Its color was now red like the Kishin’s hand with black lines that resembled cracks. Cracks? Like that—I tried to think about what I saw, but when I did, the cracks glowed red for a second before the pain in my arm worsened. It was as if my body refused to let me think back on it. I gripped my arm, and when I did, I heard Hinako’s voice.

“Don’t push yourself. The seal has still taken its toll on you.” Hinako was sweating, her eyes were droopy, and she looked paler than I remembered. However, she still looked worried for me as she extended her hands toward my sealed arm. “Let me see it, Shin.” The only thing I could do at that moment was listen to her. Takeda did call her an expert on seals. I just have to trust her.

When Hinako touched my arm, it felt like someone shot me. The pain only intensified the longer she touched. I wanted to jerk my hand away, but when she felt the slightest tug, Hinako said, “Bear with the pain for now. It’ll get better. I promise you.”

But it doesn’t even feel like my arm. I couldn’t feel flesh, bones, or blood from it. I only felt two things: pain and power. However, the pain began to dwindle. I could feel my expression ease into a smile, and as it did, I saw Hinako smile back.

“Thank you.” Hinako looked as though she was about to respond to my thanks before she collapsed backward. I heard a slight thud, so I looked over the side of the bed I was lying on to see her also on a bed. She took tiny and fast breaths as if she had just exhausted herself.

Oh, she’s just sleeping. Maybe I should get some rest, too. I thought that, but I was a fool to believe that I could get some. As I placed my head on a pillow, I heard banging on the door. I looked over at Hinako to see if she could respond to it, but she was out cold. I guess I have to.

I pulled myself out of bed before limping toward the door. “Who is it?” I asked while reaching for the door, but I couldn’t even grab the doorknob before the door swung open, slamming me in the face.

I slumped down to the wall, my sealed hand holding my now bloodied nose as I saw Rentarou burst into the room. “Hey, are you okay?” Those were the words he said—not to the person he just injured—to Hinako.

“What about me?” I said this while getting up, only to have my collar grabbed by Rentarou.

“I bet you did this, didn’t you? You and that glowing arm of yours.”

Glowing? What do you mean by glowing? I looked down at my arm, and Rentarou was right. The lines on my arm were now illuminating a scarlet light. I could feel mana swirling within the hand. What’s causing this? I looked down to see the blood on my hand, but it was overshadowed by Rentarou’s left hand. He brought it up over his head, like he was about to punch me.

“Let me go, I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

“Too late.” Rentarou swung at me, and I decided to use this opportunity as a chance to block with my sealed arm. When his fist made contact with it, the light erupted from the hand, and for a moment, the room was covered in red.

At that moment, I heard the voice again. It only said one word as the room’s color returned to normal: “More!” When the room was no longer red, the lines reverted to their black color. Phew. Wait… where’s Rentarou?

I looked around to see if it was still in the room, but all I could find out of the ordinary was a hole. A Rentarou-shaped hole was in the wall. I took a closer peek at it to confirm my suspicions, and all I saw was Rentarou lying in the snow.

“Are you okay?” I tried to reach out to him, but all I saw was him squirming.

“Bastard…” He muttered something, but I couldn’t hear him.

“What did you say?”

“Bastard!” I heard Rentarou yell as he expanded his leg in one motion. He used it to jump back up to the hole where he fell out of. Then, once he reached it, he expanded his knuckles and punched me, knocking me over to the wall. However, he wasn’t done. As I was on the floor, I saw Rentarou lunge at me from the other side of the room. His fist was about to collide with my chest, but as he passed the door, it opened. The opening of the door hit the back of his head, and that caused him to get knocked down to the floor.

I looked up to see who it was who stopped Rentarou, and it was none other than Satori. The shine in my eyes, which I wanted to use to look upon my savior, immediately faded once I saw Satori’s smile.

“Whoa! Shin, did you do that?” Satori said this while pointing at the hole in the wall. Before I could respond, they dashed over to my arm. I could only flinch before they grabbed it and started to explore my arm. “I can see it… the mana flowing from it. Imagine how many yokai I could kill with this… I need it! How much do you want for it?”

“I… i-it’s—”

“And you!” Rentarou got up after hearing Satori’s voice with a vengeful glare in his eyes as he walked toward Satori. “You stole my kill on Kuro-Koji!”

“Stole is a strong word. I doubt you even had enough strength to kill him at the time.”

“You little—”

“Stop.” Takeda’s voice cut through Rentarou’s words like a knife. “What are you doing in the infirmary? Fighting?” Takeda glanced around, and his suspicions were met once he saw the hole in the wall. “You were just here yesterday. Do you want to be a patient again, so soon?”

I never got to look around before, so I took a glance at the room. I saw several prepared beds along with IV drips in the corner and countless other monitors in the room. It was, without a doubt, the infirmary, like Takeda said.

“No, Takeda,” Rentarou answered in a detached voice.

“Good. Then stop fighting and work on your assignment. You’ll get to fight all you want later.” With no more complaints and his eyes facing the floor, Rentarou dragged his feet through the door.

“Thanks, Taku. I don’t know what I—”

“You too, Satori. Get out.”

“But—”

“No buts. I have something I need to talk to Shin about in private.”

“Fine, Taku.” On that note, Satori left the room, but as she left, I could see her staring at me and my arm. However, I didn’t have much time to think about that as Takeda towered over me.

Crap, am I in trouble? Is he going to make me fight him again? However, despite my thoughts, Takeda only extended his right hand toward me with a subtle smile on his face.

As I used his hand to rise from the floor, Takeda asked, “So Hinako properly managed to seal the Kishin in your right arm?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you feel tired or are you in any pain at the moment?”

“Not anymore, Hinako sealed the pain for me before she passed out.”

“Good, then you’re ready for your next training assignment.” Takeda walked over to the bed Hinako was sleeping on while covering his nose. I followed right behind him, soon realizing why he covered his nose. Something over here stinks!

“What is it?” I asked, grasping for air, trying to block this horrendous yet familiar smell from infiltrating my nostrils.

“It’s to beat Yukimura and Rentarou in a fight.”

“Huh?”

Takeda continued to search the bed for something as he continued to speak. “Before dinner, you, Yukimura, and Rentarou will fight. I need to see where each of your capabilities is currently before I train you three to fight the Yuki-onna.”

“You mean I’m not fighting it alone?”

Takeda laughed after I said that. “Of course not. Sending someone who barely has control over their abilities to fight a yokai like the Yuki-onna is suicide. I only said before that I couldn’t help you, not that no one else can.”

Oh, Takeda, you’re not throwing me to the wolves then! Right as I thought this, Takeda pulled out something from under Hinako’s pillow. It was a talisman that was mostly black instead of white.

“Why does the talisman look like that? Aren’t they supposed to be white?”

“Yes, they are, but this talisman is mostly used up. This is where Hinako put the pain you were feeling before into. It’s useful; however, if it isn’t properly disposed of, it can harm the sealer. Normally, Hinako would do it, but since she’s unconscious at the moment, I’m doing it for her.”

“Oh, okay—” I gulped when Takeda cut me off as he glared at me.

“Also, Shin, you should be training, not standing idly by. You couldn’t train last night due to your arm needing to be sealed, and you just woke up at one p.m. This isn’t the time for you to be worrying about others; you need to learn how to control that arm of yours first.”

“Yes, Takeda.” I made my way through the door with the intention of training, but before I left, I stuck my head out the doorframe once more. “Takeda, can you do me one favor?”

“What is it?”

“Can you tell Hinako thank you for me when she wakes up?”

“You can do that yourself later, so get to training. You don’t have a lot of time to waste right now.”

“Okay, I will, Takeda,” I may have said, but where do I even start?