Tahiko stood still, patiently waiting for whatever was around to make the first move. He could sense that dangerous intent emanating all around him, but couldn’t focus on where the source was located. He cursed his weakness in this world. Were this back on Enatis, then the boy would certainly be able to pinpoint the location of this would-be attacker.
Without a way to take to the offensive, along with being unarmed, he was left with the only option available to him. That being to keep his fists up for protection and to keep his eyes darting back and forth to find the enemy.
Then, the first move was made. It would be the only move of the entire battle as the boy witnessed a ball of dark energy come his way. Effortlessly, he dodged it and rushed to close the gap towards where it came from. Unless this was a high level demon, than that attack could only come from one direction. And the moment that attack came, he knew in an instant that it was a demon.
In the midst of combat, he did not question why or how a demon’s existence from Enatis could be here on Earth as well. At the moment, there was only one thing on his mind.
Quickly, he ran in one direction, but eventually stopped upon hitting a wall. Where did the demon go? And more importantly, what was this left taped to the wall? Tahiko ripped it out and scanned over the contents. What was written inside caused his heart to sink down to the abyss.
It read to him that Amasa didn’t simply run away from home. Instead, if these words were true, then she had been captured by a demon. Given what had just occurred to him, that was certainly the case.
This wasn’t good, as images flashed into his mind thinking of what could’ve happened to her while he was gone. The girl likely planned on heading home to keep to herself, buying all her usual goods to go along with it. She wasn’t upset about anything, but rather was someone who befell into a bad situation. Considering her history, no one seemed to care except for him, and now her life was in danger.
Filled with rage and anger, Tahiko crumbled the paper into his pocket and ran as fast as he could back home. There was only one way he knew how to solve this issue, and that was to run headfirst into combat against this unknown enemy. Upon entering his room, he opened up the closet to find his old attire. The suit of armor he wore upon arriving.
That along with his trusty blade, the boy prepared himself mentally for the battle ahead. He chose not to tell her parents, knowing how scared they would feel were they to realize their daughter had been taken away by a demon. However, that was not the only reason, for he felt guilty she had been put into that circumstance. It was clear she was not some random target, but rather was a victim due to her relationship with him.
This was all his fault, and the boy planned on making things right. Though he couldn’t do this all alone, and there was only one person on his mind who he could go to in order to seek aid.
***
“I need your help.” Fukuna heard a knock on her window and Tahiko’s voice. At first, she thought it was a dream, but then she saw him adorn in full armor standing on a tree.
“Ahh!” Understandably, she screamed at the top of her lungs. Why and how was he doing this? “What are you doing?” She yelled at him upon opening her windows. If they didn’t want people figuring out who he was, then they were doing an awful job of it in this moment. At this point, the day itself wasn’t even over and the sun was still up.
“We have no time to waste, Amasa’s been kidnapped.” He answered in a serious tone. This was a far cry from his usual behavior, at least that Fukuna had gotten used to.
“What are you talking about? We already said she just ran away for a little bit.” She didn’t believe him at first, but could tell he wasn’t lying just to lie about things. The boy responded to her doubt by leaping inside of her room through the now open window. He didn’t even bother tell her to get out of the way, as she had to quickly maneuver herself aside in order not to get ran over.
“I know you told me not to worry, but I still went out looking for her.” He said, then pulled out the note to show her. “Then I was attacked by a demon, who left this behind.” She read through things and got updated on the situation. She had a hard time believing what was happening, but it looked like it truly was real. “It was a good thing you told me where you lived the other day. I am in great need of your help.”
“What is it that I can do?” She was just a normal high school girl. There was no way for her to provide any form of combat aid, not compared to his vast amounts of strength and ability towards magic.
“They left an address for me to meet them at. Unfortunately, I have no clue where that is.” Not only was he still new around here, but the boy also didn’t understand how to read a map of this town yet. Thinking about it, he knew in the future he needed to learn so that this wouldn’t be an issue going forward.
“Eh, we’ll just pop this into my GPS and we’ll get going.” She said, pulling out her phone.
“Wow.” He was in awe of how easily she took care of that problem. “That device and record images and guide you on a journey?” Was there anything these so-called, smart phones couldn’t do, he thought.
“Does Amasa not teach you anything?” At some point, there was no way this boy should still be ignorant to every single thing that existed on this planet. “Whatever, let’s go. But are you going to be wearing that while we walk?” She pointed at his armor.
“I’m about to head into battle.” He responded. It seemed obvious to him that danger was lurking about, so of course he’d need some form of protection.
“We can’t let you be seen.” They’d have to be walking through some areas where people were likely to be at. Given there wasn’t any cosplay convention going on, they wouldn’t have any excuses for him to be adorn in this gear. “Here, just put this on.” She handed him an old coat of hers. While it wouldn’t hide all of the details, as long as they stuck to minimizing the amount of people who saw them, and stayed in alleys, they should be fine.
As they walked, Fukuna couldn’t admit to him her growing fear. She followed him headfirst into this without many questions because of his serious nature. However, the girl was exactly still that, just a girl. A situation like this wasn’t one she trained or prepared for, unlike him. “How do you know this is a demon?” She asked. The note did refer to him by name, so it seemed the kidnapper knew who he was despite the boy only being here for a couple of weeks. While that would confirm they were also from the same land as him, why would they have a problem with him?
“They’re apparently capable of using dark magic.” He told her, which was the indication that one were either a demon, or at least a hybrid of the sorts. “Very dangerous stuff, don’t allow yourself to be hit by it.” While the one attack he saw was weak, that was only weak by his standards. A regular human living on Earth with no concept of the magic on Enatis would’ve been unable to dodge it at the speeds it went at.
“Sounds like some real scary stuff.” She sighed. The girl pondered that she should probably just high tail it out of there the moment she led him to the destination.
“I’m sorry for taking you along.” He replied. Though given his circumstances, there was no other choice. The boy had no clue on how to reach the location and she was the only other person who knew the truth about him that wasn’t a member of Amasa’s family. “Especially since I know you don’t really like Amasa.”
“Just because I don’t like her doesn’t mean I want her to die.” She responded. “I’m not heartless.”
“But you were fine when you thought she ran away.” He said, then took it back. “Sorry, it’s not my place to be questioning any of you.” Even if he disliked their actions, there was nothing else for them to do other than solve the crisis at hand. That was more important that his grievances.
“So what’s the plan?” She moved past that part of the conversation as she saw them nearing the location given to them.
“I was just going to fight the kidnapper and save Amasa.”
“That’s not a plan at all.” She scolded him. Sure, he was strong, but his strength was nowhere near what it used to be back on Enatis. Going in blindly against this demon was dangerous, and having her life and Amasa’s life at risk was not going to fly in her mind. “If you’re not going to think of anything, then I got an idea.”
