Chapter 3 - One Hit, the Book Comes Out

Chapter Two: One Hit, the Book Comes Out



“Mr. Kuromia?” asked a woman's voice. “Mr. Kuromia. Mr. Kuromia!”

Shinji jolted up in his seat. He rubbed his eyes and looked up and saw his teacher, Ms. Shumine staring down at him.

“I do not tolerate sleeping in my classroom.” Shinji heard laughter behind him. “Are you incapable of staying awake? Or do you think my class is boring?”

“No, Sensei. I'm just tired.” Shinji stifled a yawn behind his hand. “I came out of the hospital yesterday; I usually slept during the day. Sumimasen…”

“I will let it slip this time. Try to stay awake.” The bell that signaled the end of class rang. “Alright, have a good lunch.”

All of the students grabbed their backpacks and their own Spirit Books and hurried off to the eatery. Shinji slung one of his backpack's straps over a shoulder and walked out. But he was shoved down onto his back by a young man.

“Move it, you bastard!!” the young man said.

The young man looked a year older than he was. Silver fox ears stuck out from the top of his head. He also had human ears. His hair was a pitch black color that matched his eyes. In his right arm, he carried a silver Spirit Book that was as thick as half of a textbook. When the boy had turned around, Shinji had seen a silver fox tail that stuck out of his uniform.

Shinji sat up and rubbed his head; it had hit the polished tile floor.

“Need a hand?”

Shinji looked up. He saw a girl with slightly narrowed eyes behind round glasses. Her hair was a near midnight black and sticking out of it was a pair of cat ears. They were white tipped and two small blue sideways Crescent Moons at the base of both ears as if to be hair clips. She wore similar clothing as him but only different colors; a Chinese styled set of battle clothes that were black and white.

“Do you need a hand?” She asked again.

“Um… thanks.” Shinji grabbed the girl's hand and she pulled him up.

“Haji is always mean to the newcomers. He did the same to me and my sisters.” She smiled. “My name is Korina; but call me Ice. These are my two sisters.”

“Sisters?”

Two other girls showed up behind Ice. Both of them looked like her with only a few differences.

“This is Kagura.”

The girl to Ice's right had innocent white eyes that black went around the edges behind round glasses. She also had cat ears that were the same as Ice's, just inverted. Small feathers poked out from both ears at the base. Once again, same clothes but this girl's was all white. Even her hair was white. “Nice to meet you.” She said politely bowing.

“And this is Yamina.”

The girl on Ice's left had serious narrow eyes that were raven black, like her hair. She also had cat ears, but was completely black and short dragon whiskers stuck out of the bases of both ears. She wore all black. But she didn't wear glasses like the other two. “Hi.” She said dully, as if bored.

“Yamina and Kagura are my sisters; Yamina is older and Kagura is younger. I'm the middle child.” Ice smiled.

“What's with the cat ears?” Shinji asked dusting himself off.

“These?” Ice pulled on her cat ear. “I was born with them. See? They don't come off.” She tugged on her cat ear. “Strange isn't it? I also have human ears too.” Ice lifted her hair up to reveal a human ear. “Kagura, Yamina and I were born like this.” Ice let go of her hair and it drifted down in front of her shoulder. “It's really a curse.

“But, I'll explain that some other time. Oh, and by the way,” Ice gestured Kagura and Yamina something and they imitated her. All three took their hands behind them and pulled out tails. “We also have tails!”

Ice's tail was a slick black and white tipped like her ears. Yamina's tail was like Ice's, but it was completely black and messy at the end. Kagura's, however, was completely different. Her tail resembled a fox's. It was white and black tipped like her ears.

“I'm mixed with cat and fox, so don't ask.” Kagura said letting go of her tail; Ice and Yamina did the same.

“Both Yamina and I are cats, but we really don't care.” Ice scratched behind her human ears.

`Three cursed sisters. Amazing.' Shinji thought. “Say, what's your relationship with Haji?”

“Our… relation?” Kagura asked. She looked at Yamina.

“You know; friends, boyfriend. What is your relationship to him?”

All three of the girls looked at each other and then looked back at Shinji, ears lowered sadly.

“He's…” Ice began. “… our older brother.”

“What?!” Shinji exclaimed.

“Later, let's go to the eatery.” Yamina and Kagura grabbed Shinji and pulled him along the hallway to the cafeteria.

In the cafeteria, the smell of freshly cooked food filled the four's noses. There was so much food, Shinji thought of tasting every single one. It was like a buffet! Shinji went after the cook meats first, wanting to taste something new for a change instead of eating the hospital food.

Ice had her fill on the grilled salmon steaks. “Oh, this is so delicious!!” she had said to Shinji.

Kagura went over to pick fresh fruits and salad. When she came back to the table, her plate looked like a mini garden.

“What?” Kagura asked Shinji, who was staring in astonishment. “My stomach can take all this.”

“Don't worry; she's not a vegetarian or something like that.” Ice told Shinji. “She just likes fruit and salad too much. She scarcely eats any meat products.”

Yamina returned to the table, her plate filled with Chow Mien and Fried Rice.

“Sometimes, it good to be eating our homeland food.” Yamina said. “We are from China, did you know?”

“No, I didn't.” Shinji answered. “I didn't realize because you spoke fluent Japanese.”

“Well, now you know.” With that, Yamina dug into her food.







“Kuromia! I challenge you to a Spell Match! Do you accept?”

“Um…. I-I accept! I think…”

“Sentou System, Tenkai!!” Haji said in a strong voice.

Shinji covered his head as everything enveloped him and the other students. Shinji had never seen this before; this was his first battle.

“Hey! Kuromia can't fight!” a young man said. “Haji, you can beat him easy! Why did you pick him?!”

“He doesn't even have a Spirit Book!” another shouted. “It's not worth your time!”

It was after school. Shinji was chased down around the campus by Haji and his gang. The three sisters had tried to help him, but they weren't fast enough. By the time they caught up, Shinji had already accepted.

“So, you actually accepted? That's some nerve coming from a Honless.” Haji said baring his pointed tooth.

“Honless?” Shinji asked.

“`Bookless' a name I call those who don't have their Spirit Book yet.” Haji glared at his three sisters. All three of them saw his glare. Kagura went and hid behind Yamina, clutching her sleeve in fear. “You are just like my sisters. Honless…

“Setsu-Dan!!” Haji slashed through the air and a blade of it went after Shinji like a gust of wind. It was so fast that before Shinji had said anything, blood was spraying out of a long gash that went from his shoulder to the opposite hip.

“SHINJI!!!” Ice called out in horror. Yamina gave a large gasp and cover her mouth in disgust. Kagura lay on the ground; she had fainted.

“Defeat!!” Haji smirked and walked over to Shinji who was kneeling on the ground clutching his clothes in the chest area.

Blood pooled under Shinji. He was gasping for air, but he coughed up more blood instead. His chest felt like it was being crushed; gravity was pulling him down, trying to make Shinji have a taste of his blood. But at the same time, his head was pounding. It was pounding where his memories were at and bits of his knowledge hurt the same. He felt something like needles poking around, trying to pop the barriers that blocked important things within.

“You were right, you guys,” Haji shouted over to his gang. “He's not worth my time.” Haji then threw a swift kick at Shinji in the stomach.

Shinji regurgitated more blood. He then hunched over, his forehead toughing the ground.

“No…” he moaned. “Not yet…. Not yet!” Then a large splattering sound was heard and Shinji fell to the ground with a muffled thud because of the blood, holding a thin blood covered book in his folded arms, unconscious.

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