A boy stepped forward—light brown skin, Sao spiral pin gleaming on his chest. His outfit looked almost knightly: clean white cloth trimmed neatly, casual enough to blend with the other examinees yet too polished to ignore. The most striking feature was the patch of dark purple hair on his crown, ringed by the rest of his white hair like a halo.
"Nice to meet you, Akira. I'm Hinata Nobunosuke." He bowed once, polite and steady. "Good to meet you."
Akira shook his hand, though a bit reluctantly."Yeah. Nice to meet you too."
Hinata's gaze stayed calm and level. "What made you want to hunt? Did Mr. Ito force you?"
Akira smiled as the gate to the first stage began to grind open. "Something like that. Kinda a long story. The short version? I owe him."
The gate yawned wide. Kenji's voice rolled over the crowd—measured, theatrical."Good luck, examinees."
They surged forward. Akira sprinted ahead, leaving most of the crowd behind. The hall narrowed, darkness swallowing them until a single room appeared—lit by one bare bulb, a wooden chair at its center. The gate slammed shut behind them. Breathless bodies crowded in.
A woman sat in the chair. Early thirties. Black hair. Cigarette hanging from her mouth like she was too tired to hold it properly. Her eyes had seen too much—and judged even more.
"I'm Kaori Tsukikage, your first examiner. I'm here to test the most basic requirement of being a hunter: whether you can use Tao." She closed her eyes for one second. "Alright. All of you can use Tao."
Akira's eyes widened. Huh. That's it?
Kaori raised a hand. "Quick reminder. As Hunters, your main job is to fight and kill Yokai. Let me make something clear so you don't waver: Yokai are made entirely of Tao. But their Tao falls off their bodies over time—slowly killing them. To stay alive, they eat humans to absorb the natural Tao we produce."
She took a drag, exhaled smoke."Humans and Yokai impose on each other. They cannot coexist without a contract. Understand?"
Everyone nodded.
"Good." She tapped ash onto the floor. "Second part of the exam. I'm going to read a question. You answer it silently, in your mind. I'll use my ability to see whether your answer is truthful."
She leaned back slightly."If you could save your parents or an entire city… who would you choose?"
Silence swallowed the room. Minutes stretched. Then Kaori smiled and opened the next gate.
"You all passed. We wanted to see if you'd stick to your morals. You did. So go on."
Confusion flickered across the examinees' faces as they filed through the gate. Kaori exhaled a puff of smoke, smiling softly.
"Finally, a class of good hunters. Hope they live long enough to enjoy it."
—
Thirty minutes later.
Hinata stood before Akira, longsword drawn, voice shaking with fury.
"So—did you kill this man or not?"
His scream echoed through the trees. Akira stood over a lifeless corpse, shadowed and unreadable.