Chapter 1:
THE PRICE OF POWERLESS SOUL🫀
HIKARU TO ONNA
When they entered the Space of Demons, a man blocked their path and called out, "Hold on! Where do you think you're going?""Oh, we're just looking around," Yuki replied casually.The man frowned. "Do you think this is some kind of tourist spot?""Why? What's wrong?" Yuki asked.The man warned them sternly, "It's not safe to be here. Turn around and go back home the exact same way you came."Masaru asked curiously, "But what are you doing here then?""What I’m doing here is none of your business," the man snapped. "Just leave."Tatsuya stepped forward a bit and said, "Hold on a minute. Please, tell us what's going on."At first, the man hesitated to speak. However,seeing everyone's persistent insistence, he was finally forced to speak up. He revealed, "There used to be an old age home here."
Yuki suddenly interrupted, "And then a storm came and blew it away?"
Annoyed, the man said, "Hey kid, at least let me finish! About 14 years ago, this old age home was shut down. It was said to be a terrifying place. Many people escaped from there. Even one of the caretakers who stayed there was like that. Those elderly people harbored deep hatred and resentment because their families abandoned them just because they were powerless."Yuki blinked a few times and said, "Oh, I see... so old people don't have powers?""No, they do, but it's very little," the man replied.Yuki asked again, "And what about the caretaker?Masaru asked, "Who were they?"
The man yelled angrily, "I'm not their relative! How am I supposed to know?"
Tatsuya noted, "But you still managed to give us a lot of information."
The man countered, "It's not just me. Aside from you guys, plenty of other people know about this too."
Yuki paused, looking confused. "Wait... what do you mean their families didn't want to keep them??"The man explained everything to them in detail. He revealed that back when Seventh Shimaru KENSHI was in charge of The Place of Sealed Ground, he had stated that the more elderly people remained in the village, the weaker the power seals of the remaining young people would become. Hearing this, many families abandoned their elderly relatives at the facility and completely removed their power seals so that the power seals of the others wouldn't be affected. The elderly already possessed very little power to begin with, and once their power seals were removed, they were left with no power at all. That was the real reason their families refused to keep them around."Later on, when Katsuro Hiroto took charge of The Place of Sealed Ground, he managed to stabilize all these power seals," the man continued. "Because of that, no one abandons the elderly anymore."Masaru noted, "So that means KENSHI couldn't stabilize the seals, but Katsuro Hiroto succeeded later on?""Hmm," the man nodded. "Back then, people just followed Hayato's words blindly. They abandoned the elderly and completely stripped them of their seals."Yuki asked curiously, "Then where is Katsuro HAYATO now?""He developed a heart condition, so you won't find him around here anymore," the man explained. "Fixing all those power seals took a heavy toll on his body, which is how he ended up like this."Yuki pressed further, "Then what happened to the elderly people who were left here in the past?Where are they now?"
"Nobody knows what became of them," the man replied. "I don't know either. But I do know one thing—this place is cursed. The elderly psychos used to worship the devil here. They performed rituals so dark that even the leaves on the trees withered and died."The man gestured toward the trees and said, "Can you see the dead leaves?"They all looked in that direction and said, "No, where?"The man beckoned them closer. "Come over here and look inside."When they peeked inside, they were completely stunned. The inner leaves of the trees had turned pitch-black and shriveled up. The sight left everyone utterly speechless. The atmosphere around them was profoundly silent, eerie, and terrifying. A faint breeze blew past, sending a sudden chill down their spines. Massive trees loomed all around them, and looking up at thesky, it felt as though even heaven itself was frozen in fear. The contaminated ground cast a shadowy, otherworldly vibe over everything."I'm telling you, just get out of here," the man warned again.Masaru asked, "Aren't you scared?""I've been guarding this place for the past five years," the man shrugged. "My fear died a long time ago."Yuki asked, "Do you live here?"The man quickly replied, "No, my house is just around here. I only guard this place to make sure no one wanders inside."Tatsuya questioned, "Was it really necessary to throw them out? Wouldn't just removing their seals have been enough?"The man explained, "A family once approached Hayato to talk about this. Their powers felt weak, even though they had already removed the seal of an elderly family member. Despite that, theywere still facing problems. That was when Hayato chose this specific location to isolate the elderly."He continued, "This was where everyone lived powerless. Over time, it turned into this nightmare. All the villagers assumed that the ones who lived here before are probably dead, because these strange occurrences only started happening after they vanished."Yuki scratched his head in confusion and said, "Wait, I don't get it."The man explained it again, "Look, the elderly used to live here. After they went missing, people discovered the place in this horrific state. The reality back then was that the families themselves simply despised the elderly."Masaru urgently said, "Tatsuya, Yuki, come on, let's get out of here.""But—" Yuki protested, only to be cut off by Tatsuya"You can go back alone if you want," Tatsuya said bluntly. "Masaru and I are heading back to the academy."Yuki still wanted to find out more, but the man walked away, and he wanted to get one last look at the place. Sighing in disappointment, Yuki finally said, "Fine, let's go."As the three of them walked back, they couldn't stop talking about the place; they had known absolutely nothing about it until today. However, even worse than the terrifying sight they had witnessed at the Space of Demons, an even greater horror was waiting for them ahead.Their sensei(TEACHER) ,suddenly caught them and began scolding them. "Yuki, Tatsuya, Masaru! Where on earth have you been?" their sensei demanded.Yuki gave a cheeky, evasive answer, claiming they had been right here the whole time.Rolling their eyes, the sensei asked again, "Are you lying to me? Masaru?"Shrinking under the sensei's intense glare, poor Masaru panicked and stammered, "Y-Yes, sensei!"The sensei frowned. "You're lying, so you say 'Yes, sensei'?"Tatsuya quickly intervened, "No, sensei. He meant 'Yes, sensei' because we were just hanging around nearby.""Wherever you were, it doesn't matter now," their sensei declared. "As punishment, the three of you must now use your internal power and demonstrate it, no matter what."Hearing this, Yuki got incredibly excited. "Oh, that's a piece of cake, sensei! I'll show you right now!"Bursting with excitement, Yuki began channelinghis power. "Snowfall!" he yelled.
But instead of snow falling, tiny bursts of fire started erupting everywhere.
The sensei snapped angrily, "What kind of nonsense are you doing?!"
Yuki froze completely stiff, unable to utter a single word. Meanwhile, the sensei kept scolding him, "Yuki, you seriously need to practice!"Yawning loudly, Tatsuya turned to Masaru and muttered, "Let's go, Masaru. Let's head out."Later that night, while Yukito was lying in his bed, Yuki rushed into the room like a whirlwind and shook him. "Hey, Yukito, wake up!"Yukito grumbled, "I'm older than you, Yuki. Watch your tone."Brushing his comment aside, Yuki snapped, "Yeah, yeah, whatever! What difference does one minute make anyway? Look, listen to me.""Why did you even wake me up?" Yukito asked, annoyed.Yuki then explained everything that had happened with the sensei earlier that day. Even after hearing the whole story, Yukito pretended not to care and turned his face away to go back to sleep. But suddenly, he snapped his eyes open, turned back to Yuki, and asked with sudden intensity, "What on earth are you saying"??Hearing Yukito’s teasing response, Yuki’s mood instantly soured. Frustrated, Yuki punched the bed in annoyance and stormed out of the room, while Yukito just burst out laughing behind him.Yuki then headed down to get a glass of water. Nearby, Akari seemed incredibly anxious about something, looking deeply troubled. Noticing Akari in this state, Kaito approached and asked, "What's wrong? Why does your face look so overwhelmed with worry??"Akari, completely lost in thought, quickly brushed the matter aside and shifted the topic. "Isn't it time for everyone to eat? Aren't you all going to have dinner?"Not wanting to push it any further, Keito simply dropped the subject and replied, "Hmm, yeah.""Go call everyone then," Akari added quickly, keeping busy to avoid more questions.Later that night, when Akari was lying in bed, the night grew deeply dark and quiet. Although everyone else had drifted off to the land of sleep,
Akari couldn't close their eyes. The memory of some past sin kept flashing vividly in their mind. Their head was entirely filled with overwhelming anxiety, yet the hope of finding a solution remained completely zero.
Yuki suddenly interrupted, "And then a storm came and blew it away?"
Annoyed, the man said, "Hey kid, at least let me finish! About 14 years ago, this old age home was shut down. It was said to be a terrifying place. Many people escaped from there. Even one of the caretakers who stayed there was like that. Those elderly people harbored deep hatred and resentment because their families abandoned them just because they were powerless."Yuki blinked a few times and said, "Oh, I see... so old people don't have powers?""No, they do, but it's very little," the man replied.Yuki asked again, "And what about the caretaker?Masaru asked, "Who were they?"
The man yelled angrily, "I'm not their relative! How am I supposed to know?"
Tatsuya noted, "But you still managed to give us a lot of information."
The man countered, "It's not just me. Aside from you guys, plenty of other people know about this too."
Yuki paused, looking confused. "Wait... what do you mean their families didn't want to keep them??"The man explained everything to them in detail. He revealed that back when Seventh Shimaru KENSHI was in charge of The Place of Sealed Ground, he had stated that the more elderly people remained in the village, the weaker the power seals of the remaining young people would become. Hearing this, many families abandoned their elderly relatives at the facility and completely removed their power seals so that the power seals of the others wouldn't be affected. The elderly already possessed very little power to begin with, and once their power seals were removed, they were left with no power at all. That was the real reason their families refused to keep them around."Later on, when Katsuro Hiroto took charge of The Place of Sealed Ground, he managed to stabilize all these power seals," the man continued. "Because of that, no one abandons the elderly anymore."Masaru noted, "So that means KENSHI couldn't stabilize the seals, but Katsuro Hiroto succeeded later on?""Hmm," the man nodded. "Back then, people just followed Hayato's words blindly. They abandoned the elderly and completely stripped them of their seals."Yuki asked curiously, "Then where is Katsuro HAYATO now?""He developed a heart condition, so you won't find him around here anymore," the man explained. "Fixing all those power seals took a heavy toll on his body, which is how he ended up like this."Yuki pressed further, "Then what happened to the elderly people who were left here in the past?Where are they now?"
"Nobody knows what became of them," the man replied. "I don't know either. But I do know one thing—this place is cursed. The elderly psychos used to worship the devil here. They performed rituals so dark that even the leaves on the trees withered and died."The man gestured toward the trees and said, "Can you see the dead leaves?"They all looked in that direction and said, "No, where?"The man beckoned them closer. "Come over here and look inside."When they peeked inside, they were completely stunned. The inner leaves of the trees had turned pitch-black and shriveled up. The sight left everyone utterly speechless. The atmosphere around them was profoundly silent, eerie, and terrifying. A faint breeze blew past, sending a sudden chill down their spines. Massive trees loomed all around them, and looking up at thesky, it felt as though even heaven itself was frozen in fear. The contaminated ground cast a shadowy, otherworldly vibe over everything."I'm telling you, just get out of here," the man warned again.Masaru asked, "Aren't you scared?""I've been guarding this place for the past five years," the man shrugged. "My fear died a long time ago."Yuki asked, "Do you live here?"The man quickly replied, "No, my house is just around here. I only guard this place to make sure no one wanders inside."Tatsuya questioned, "Was it really necessary to throw them out? Wouldn't just removing their seals have been enough?"The man explained, "A family once approached Hayato to talk about this. Their powers felt weak, even though they had already removed the seal of an elderly family member. Despite that, theywere still facing problems. That was when Hayato chose this specific location to isolate the elderly."He continued, "This was where everyone lived powerless. Over time, it turned into this nightmare. All the villagers assumed that the ones who lived here before are probably dead, because these strange occurrences only started happening after they vanished."Yuki scratched his head in confusion and said, "Wait, I don't get it."The man explained it again, "Look, the elderly used to live here. After they went missing, people discovered the place in this horrific state. The reality back then was that the families themselves simply despised the elderly."Masaru urgently said, "Tatsuya, Yuki, come on, let's get out of here.""But—" Yuki protested, only to be cut off by Tatsuya"You can go back alone if you want," Tatsuya said bluntly. "Masaru and I are heading back to the academy."Yuki still wanted to find out more, but the man walked away, and he wanted to get one last look at the place. Sighing in disappointment, Yuki finally said, "Fine, let's go."As the three of them walked back, they couldn't stop talking about the place; they had known absolutely nothing about it until today. However, even worse than the terrifying sight they had witnessed at the Space of Demons, an even greater horror was waiting for them ahead.Their sensei(TEACHER) ,suddenly caught them and began scolding them. "Yuki, Tatsuya, Masaru! Where on earth have you been?" their sensei demanded.Yuki gave a cheeky, evasive answer, claiming they had been right here the whole time.Rolling their eyes, the sensei asked again, "Are you lying to me? Masaru?"Shrinking under the sensei's intense glare, poor Masaru panicked and stammered, "Y-Yes, sensei!"The sensei frowned. "You're lying, so you say 'Yes, sensei'?"Tatsuya quickly intervened, "No, sensei. He meant 'Yes, sensei' because we were just hanging around nearby.""Wherever you were, it doesn't matter now," their sensei declared. "As punishment, the three of you must now use your internal power and demonstrate it, no matter what."Hearing this, Yuki got incredibly excited. "Oh, that's a piece of cake, sensei! I'll show you right now!"Bursting with excitement, Yuki began channelinghis power. "Snowfall!" he yelled.
But instead of snow falling, tiny bursts of fire started erupting everywhere.
The sensei snapped angrily, "What kind of nonsense are you doing?!"
Yuki froze completely stiff, unable to utter a single word. Meanwhile, the sensei kept scolding him, "Yuki, you seriously need to practice!"Yawning loudly, Tatsuya turned to Masaru and muttered, "Let's go, Masaru. Let's head out."Later that night, while Yukito was lying in his bed, Yuki rushed into the room like a whirlwind and shook him. "Hey, Yukito, wake up!"Yukito grumbled, "I'm older than you, Yuki. Watch your tone."Brushing his comment aside, Yuki snapped, "Yeah, yeah, whatever! What difference does one minute make anyway? Look, listen to me.""Why did you even wake me up?" Yukito asked, annoyed.Yuki then explained everything that had happened with the sensei earlier that day. Even after hearing the whole story, Yukito pretended not to care and turned his face away to go back to sleep. But suddenly, he snapped his eyes open, turned back to Yuki, and asked with sudden intensity, "What on earth are you saying"??Hearing Yukito’s teasing response, Yuki’s mood instantly soured. Frustrated, Yuki punched the bed in annoyance and stormed out of the room, while Yukito just burst out laughing behind him.Yuki then headed down to get a glass of water. Nearby, Akari seemed incredibly anxious about something, looking deeply troubled. Noticing Akari in this state, Kaito approached and asked, "What's wrong? Why does your face look so overwhelmed with worry??"Akari, completely lost in thought, quickly brushed the matter aside and shifted the topic. "Isn't it time for everyone to eat? Aren't you all going to have dinner?"Not wanting to push it any further, Keito simply dropped the subject and replied, "Hmm, yeah.""Go call everyone then," Akari added quickly, keeping busy to avoid more questions.Later that night, when Akari was lying in bed, the night grew deeply dark and quiet. Although everyone else had drifted off to the land of sleep,
Akari couldn't close their eyes. The memory of some past sin kept flashing vividly in their mind. Their head was entirely filled with overwhelming anxiety, yet the hope of finding a solution remained completely zero.
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