Trigger

The tip of her blade stopped at the palm of my hand. After a few seconds of holding it toward me, she pulled her katana away and sheathed it. But in the process, she cut my left hand.

Immediately, I knelt, covering my left hand with my right one. Upon seeing this, Yukimura started to apologize.

“I’m sorry, Shin, I thought that the hand would activate to protect you. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“No, it’s fine. It doesn’t—”

“Wait, look at your arm.”

“Hm? What do you mean?” I looked at it like she said, and it was glowing the same scarlet hue that it had before. “How did you get it to work?” As I asked, I could feel intense and powerful mana swirling inside my right arm.

“I’m not sure.”

“How do I release it? It hurts!”

“Maybe try visualizing it. That’s a key step of how Onmyoji uses magic.” I trusted Yukimura. I tried to close my eyes and think about the mana in my arm, leaving it, but as I started to envision that sight, the pain only worsened, breaking me out of my concentration.

“It hurts too much to concentrate!”

“Shin, if you can’t concentrate with the pain in your arm, how do you think you can fight with it?”

She was right. If I can’t succeed here, I won’t be able to fight with her… I’ll only be a burden to her. I don’t want that. So let’s give it one more go!

I closed my eyes again, clenching my fist, trying to feel and visualize the mana in my arm. It hurts, but if I can’t push through it, then I won’t be able to do anything at all. It’s probably a lot of mana. It’s intensely strong, and the mana is probably red, too.

After I started to think about the mana, I began to feel it in my arm. The amount of mana within my arm continued to grow with every passing second. As the abundance of mana grew, I could feel my right arm swelling. If I don’t send this mana somewhere, it’s going to burst! I need to get it out of my arm! I need to guide it out… out… out— “Out!”

I fixated on the sight of the mana leaving my arm through the fingertips until a small fraction of the mana did. Following that small bit of mana, the rest of the mana in my arm surged out of my fingertips, causing me to release a great red light from my hand. I had to close my eyes to not be blinded, but when I opened them, I saw a wide hole in the wall, and my arm felt drained.

Then, I felt Yukimura’s icy touch grab onto my left arm. I was shivering until she said, “Don’t move.” So I didn’t. While I stood still like a Buddha statue, Yukimura flipped over my left palm. “I knew it. The cut wound is gone.”

“It is?” And in my disbelief, I saw Yukimura was right. Does that arm’s mana heal me when it activates, too? But how do I activate it?

“Hold on, Shin, let me test something.” I nodded to give her approval before she plunged her blade into my right hand.

“Ow, why did you do that?”

“Look.” However, I didn’t have to look to know what she was talking about; I could feel it. I could feel the mana swelling within my fist once more. Before the pain could worsen, I aimed at the same spot I struck at earlier before releasing my mana.

“How did you do that? Did you figure out how to trigger my arm?”

“Yes. The trigger is blood.”

Blood? That does make sense since the Kishin wanted it for its essence. “Thank you, Yukimura, for helping me. Sorry to bother you while you were training.”

“No, it’s fine. And you didn’t bother me at all.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” After she said that, there was a short pause. I didn’t know how to follow up; I didn’t even know if I should stay or not until she spoke again. “Also, Shin… would you like to continue training together?”

“You mean I can train with you, Yukimura?”

“Yes, I can teach you better ways to release your mana rather than you releasing it all in one go.”

“Thank you, Yukimura. You’re a lifesaver.”

“Don’t mention it.” Yukimura turned her head when she said this as if she was trying to avoid me seeing her face.

“But are you sure you aren’t feeling tired? Maybe getting some sleep is a good idea—”

“No, I’m… fine. Training like this… is nothing.” Nothing, my foot. Her breath was fragmented, and her eyes were droopier than before. “Besides… teaching you… doesn’t take that much energy.”

“Okay, Yukimura. I’ll trust you. Where do we begin, teach?”

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When I heard the sound of the door being knocked, I jolted awake. Did I pass out? I glanced around my surroundings and was met with two things. The first was dozens of holes in the wall of varying sizes. Did I do that?

The second sight was Yukimura. Her hair followed her blade as she practiced her swordsmanship with elegance. So beautiful. However, before I could get lost in my daydreaming, I heard the door being knocked again.

I turned to Yukimura to see if she was going to answer it, but she was concentrating too hard to hear it. So I had to. It wasn’t hard to leave the training room; it was the same door we entered to get here. But when I left it, I was in the one place I never thought I’d see: Yukimura’s room.

Actually… it doesn’t look that different from mine, but it did feel different. Just like me, she had her window closed, her TV was never touched, and she had a half-open suitcase on the ground. Was that what I heard her stumble over? But before I could dwell more on it, the knocking continued.

I carefully stepped over her suitcase to answer the door, and the doorknob still felt as though it was frozen. Nonetheless, I opened the door, and standing in front of it was Takeda. I looked up at him with a smile before saying, “Hello—”

“What the hell are you doing in my daughter’s room? You guys weren’t doing that, were you?”

“That? What do you— oh, he’s talking about THAT— No!”

“Good. You never know what can happen when a boy and a girl are in a room together.”

“Nothing, that’s what happens!” I could feel it; my face was burning. I can’t believe he can say something like that and move on from it.

“But Shin, why are you in Suki’s room?”

“She was helping me train, that’s all.”

“Right… train.”

“She was!”

“Right, right. But I came to tell Suki to head down in thirty minutes, that’s when the fight will begin. I was going to tell you that afterward, but you saved me the trip. So can you tell me that for me?”

“Okay, I will, Takeda.” As Takeda walked away from the door, I closed it. Then, I turned back to re-enter the training room. I don’t know what happened in the few moments I was gone, but the room looked incredibly worse than when I left it.

It was no longer just holes on the wall; they were accompanied by large slashes across them in various directions. I could feel an overwhelming amount of mana in the room, and it was freezing, too. There were also tiny orbs that were floating in the room, and in the center of them was Yukimura.

She was panting, holding onto her sword like a crutch. Without hesitation, I rushed over to her to lend her support. “Yukimura, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m… fine. I… just need… to rest a little.”

“Okay. Takeda said the fight is in thirty minutes. Is that enough time?”

“Plenty.” She tried to walk by herself, but she would’ve fallen if I hadn’t caught her.

“Do you need help, Yukimura?”

“Just a little.”

“Okay, I’ll be your crutch until you get back to your bed.”

“Thank you… Shin.”

As I helped her walk, we passed through several of the orbs in the room. Each one was colder than the last. Did Yukimura make them?