Mentality

Xiomazu would be running 7 miles this morning, as each day Akuma added on an additional mile. This was conditioning him for the power he would inherit.

With each day he became more comfortable, even if a new mile was tacked on. It was all about finding a good consistent rhythm he could keep with.

Occasionally along the way he would see Akuma just typically checking up on him. Sometimes leaning against trees, hanging from them, or laying across a branch. Usually something with trees since they made up most of his route.

Today’s run was oddly different, as he did not see her once.

Upon finishing his route, Xiomazu had reached his starting point near the pod that would soon deprive him of his senses for the next several hours, as per usual.

There he found a white circle drawn out on the grass. Inside the circle the vegetation was dead.

He held his hands behind his head as his chest puffed in and out from exhaustion.

“Akuma?” he said, turning in each direction.

Even the usual foxes that gathered each morning weren’t around.

As much as he’d like to investigate, Xiomazu was given a strict schedule to follow. After relieving himself, it was time to sleep.

The water chamber offered its usual lukewarm waters, no difference here.

Achieving sleep had become easier. While there was no instant action, after closing his eyes Ximazu could fall asleep after just 3 hours.

This was upsetting.

He splashed his fist down into the salty water, causing small ripples in his dark pod.

“This is useless!” his voice echoed back at himself in the tiny round room.

“My sleep is actually getting worse somehow, and it’s nowhere near what she said. How the hell am I supposed to fall asleep and wake up on command?”

His foot kicked against the back of the pod with a thud.

“This deprivation chamber experiment accomplishes fatigue and fear. And you know what, yeah, I wasn’t expecting to move as fast as she could in a week, but come on! I wake up feeling like shit, eat terrible paste that she leaves for me, run increasingly longer paths, and TRY to sleep for the rest of the damn day!”

He settled down as the water inside splashed around him.

“What am I going to do? Just run circles around my enemies until they get dizzy?!”

After about 3 hours of restless floating, he fell asleep.

Tomorrow he’d run 8 miles.

Then the next would be 9.

10 afterwards.

After another week, Xiomazu woke up to see no paste awaiting him this morning.

He rubbed his aching eyes and sighed loudly enough, hoping Akuma would hear him.

“Hey Akuma! IF I’m going to keep running… THEN I need nutrition! Crazy concept right?”

The paste typically was bland without flavor, even if described as strawberry, lime, and grape variants, Xiomazu assumed that was only a labeling of its color rather than taste. It sustained both food and drink, much like a watermelon or a coconut. 

Even if it sucked, it was something to look forward to each morning that distracted him from the tedious work.

His stomach agreed with him.

After stretching, he began his 14 mile run.

Still no Akuma to greet him along the way.

When he returned, this time he noticed the circle had grown, killing more green grass inside, along with a few of the flowers that it encapsulated as well.

While it was still a distance away from his capsule and the hotspring the capsule resided in, Xiomazu grew curious.

“Would Akuma really care if I investigated it?” he asked himself. He paced around the circle once before slowly dipping himself back into the pod again.

If he stepped inside the circle, would he be harmed?

What would happen if it encircled the deprivation chamber and the hot springs?

“If she came back and saw I was dead, would she be upset?” Xiomazu said as the pod lowered beneath the spring.

Of course she would, right?

But would it be because Xiomazu was an idiot, and didn’t prevent his death?

Today would mark 21 grueling long miles. The pastes had resumed to return in days prior, but just like on day 14, today the edible pastes were gone, meaning no aid in the work ahead.

Even if he’d gotten used to the running, it didn’t make the consecutively increasing loads any less heavy.

The deprivation chamber no longer offered any encouraging benefits.

As Xiomazu bent to tie his shoes, he noticed he stood just inches behind the white line. He hesitated briefly, moving his foot away as he observed the browning dead life instead of the once natural lawn.

“If it grows again, it looks like it will touch the deprivation chamber…” he said quietly, finishing the knot, and beginning his run.

This would be the thought that would distract him from the fatigue.

When he arrived, however, the circle had grown already.

Inside it was the smoldering remains of the deprivation chamber, and the dry hot springs, along with dead shrubbery all around.

Xiomazu’s heartbeat was increasing rapidly, not just because of the miles he ran.

What would he do now?

He took a dandelion growing nearby, and tossed it into the circle, watching as the seeds flew off in the air, but disintegrated into nothingness along with the stem they had hung from previously.

The circle was deadly, at least to living plants, and inanimate objects.

And water.

Xiomazu was at a loss for words, and starving.

He walked a ways away, far enough so that he could not see the area anymore, and sat against a tree.

Today was his birthday, and he would celebrate it by quickly falling asleep.

The first night in many since he’d slept on dry land.

Xiomazu woke up, and quickly sprung to his feet.

The circle had grown, now progressively moving towards him at a rate he could see presently.

Grass strands shriveled, and tree trunks and their beautiful colors were eaten by mold with mutated sounds.

“What…”

He uttered in fear, now concerned not just for his safety, but the remainder of Mount Yoshino. This circle would continue to grow, maybe devouring the entire landscape in the process, and spreading into surrounding villages, then to towns and cities.

“I have to tell someone!” Xiomazu said as he got up to run.

People visited this place often, a few of whom he’d recognized after seeing their faces during his runs.

They were in danger, and his 22nd mile run could wait.

However, as willing as the mind was, his body was not up to the task.

Down to his inner core, his body cramped wildly, rendering him to the movement pace of a samurai in heavy armor.

“UGH!” he yelled, as he keeled over to throw up whatever was left in his body.

He hadn’t noticed how warm he felt until now either.

But that was of little concern compared to the growingly loud destruction that came from behind him.

The ground cracked ever slightly, sending a small fissure his way and splitting the ground.

Xiomazu moved as quickly as he could, bearing witness as the elevation on each side of the fissure began to rise and fall, shaking the still living plants and trees, and himself.

“AKUMA!!!” Xiomazu shouted, limping away.

What he’d kill for disgustingly bland paste.

“Run…” he said underneath pants and grunts, opting not to look back, avoiding a waste of energy.

If the circle caught up to him, surely he’d be rendered just as dead as everything else had been. A pile of bones, or would he be as deteriorated? A pile of ash was maybe more appropriate.

Would it happen instantly?

A cherry tree fell just behind him with a crashing blast.

Xiomazu had traveled this route he sluggishly motioned acrossed many times. That towering tree was an iconic image that Akuma would usually be on.

He felt the circle nibbling at his heels, or rather was that punishment from 21 days of malnourishment.

Xiomazu tripped and fell, and though he resorted to a crawl, there was no chance he would outpace the invisible threat.

He watched helplessly while the grass ahead of him died, waiting for his turn next.

Static sounds buzzed around him in this new aura he sat in.

The constantly changing of tunes and tones, then a sudden lightning strike.

21 days had begun to feel like 42, now 84, then 168, then onto 336. Days seemingly flew by.

Around him was a sandstorm of debris in an orangish hue.

And yet things still felt…

“Calm?” Xiomazu said to himself.

The constant swirling of dust became normal.

He held out his arm, watching as it joined the dust as it fragmented and drifted away

Figures of Akuma stood around as they looked down on him.

“What does it matter if I just have a little peace and quiet…” he said to them, expecting a response.

“I keep running and running, but for what? Why do you expect me to figure this all out by myself?”

There was a hint of hysteria in his voice.

“I’m just a normal kid from Japan! None of this makes any sense to me anymore!” he shouted with emotion, descending into laughter.

A figure of Tsunami then rose from Akuma’s, standing above him.

“YOU! YOU’RE THE PIECE OF SHIT THAT KILLED SAEKO!” Xiomazu yelled, swatting at the wind.

That figure of Tsunami swung his sword, though both he and his sword faded before they could hit Xiomazu.

Xiomazu hadn’t flinched either.

Then came Shinobi.

An image of him made up of dust devils and devastation stood silently.

His hand was outstruck in Xiomazu’s direction.

“WHY?!” Xiomazu shouted, struggling to stand back up with his remaining arm.

“IF I TAKE YOUR HAND, WILL YOU EXPLAIN IT ALL?!” He shouted with tears dripping stuck to his face that would drip and fly off into the surrounding winds.

Shinobi shook his head *yes*.

Xiomazu debated if he was really going to reach out and shake this hand. The man seemingly behind everything, and yet he knew nothing of.

Unable to tell fiction from reality, he stretched out with great effort.

Shinobi took Xiomazu, and pulled him for a hug.

His vision began to spin immediately as the grip became harder to hold.

The hood over Shinobi’s head shook off, revealing his face.

And just as this happened, Xiomazu returned to reality.

He had his other arm back, and was held in a person’s arms.

Akuma’s. She had her vigilante outfit on.

They stood together in a wasteland, where a few small fires burned atop dead trees and other vegetation.

A light snow fell down around them.

“I’ve got you,” she said softly, patting him.

“You’re okay,” Akuma tried to calm his anxiety, and maybe her own as well.

“I’m sorry for failing to aid you, and your stress. It’s a cruel, sickening sight to witness, but you made it out unscathed. Please, believe me, you are safe now. You’ve passed the first trial of Inari. Now you’re ready to know more about your future, and you will understand it all."

“I’m so proud of you,” she then said to him, tightening her hold.

Xiomazu heard this in both Akuma and his mother’s voice.