(NARRATOR)
Takuma Hoshigami was not only a name recognized by testers in the Academy but also by the entire world.
"Time Lock," Takuma said calmly.
The cloaked man braced himself for an attack—but it never came.
"Are you out of touch or something? I mean, you're older. Guess I was worried for nothing," the cloaked man said, laughing.
Then, suddenly, he coughed up blood. Yuzuki was no longer in his hands. The man dropped to his knees, coughing violently.
"I wasn't even aiming for you," Takuma said coldly. "And even if I am out of touch, you're nothing but a worthless weakling."
He walked past the man and stopped in front of Shinryu, whose body was surrounded by a sphere of time.
Good… I got here just in time to save him, Takuma thought.
He had stopped time around Shinryu's body, halting the poison from spreading any further.
Takuma turned back, ready to capture the cloaked man—but he had vanished.
"It was only for a second," he muttered to himself, "but I sensed a decently strong presence appear… and then disappear."
Kiba arrived running and yelled, "Shinryu! Yuzuki!"
He stopped and saw Takuma.
"Director, thank god you arrived," said Kiba.
"Third Year Kiba Tsukihara, where were you?" asked Takuma.
"I'm sorry, sir. I was dragged off by another man who assaulted my group. He caught me off guard and pulled me somewhere deep into the forest. I also had to fight my way back through the beasts along the way," Kiba replied.
"Is the intruder apprehended?" Takuma asked.
"Yes, sir, he is," Kiba answered.
"Very well. Go bring him back to the camp. I'll take these two back to the Academy," said Takuma.
"Roger that, sir," replied Kiba as he ran off to retrieve the intruder.
Takuma hurried back toward the Academy. Shinryu was in bad condition from the poison, and Yuzuki's body was torn and damaged after momentarily losing control to her bloodlust.
Takuma took them to the hospital in the Academy. The doctor was surprised.
"The girl's easy to heal, but why is the kid still alive? Sure, you might have stopped time or whatever, but the poison practically filled his body. He should've died instantly. What has he gone through to have this kind of resistance?" said the doctor.
He extracted the poison from Shinryu while Takuma still had his Time Lock on him. Once the doctor finished, Takuma undid his ability, and the doctor quickly reinserted blood into Shinryu.
"He'll need to rest for a bit. Some of the poison's side effects are still active, so his body needs time to heal. The girl's just sleeping—she'll wake up soon," said the doctor.
"Alright. Thanks for your help, doctor," said Takuma. Then he disappeared and went off.
Three Days Later
Shinryu woke up in a rush. He panted for a bit, looking around the room until he realized he was in a hospital. Next to him sat Yuzuki, sleeping—but she burst awake.
"Hey! Shinryu, you're awake!" she shouted, hugging him.
"What's going on? Weren't we in the forest a few moments ago?" he said.
"No, it's been three days—you were knocked out," she replied.
"What?! Three days?! What happened to the guy I was fighting—and the exam?! What's gonna happen to that?!" he said in a worried panic.
"Calm down. Unfortunately, one of them managed to escape, but we passed the exam. Kiba told them about the fight we had with the monster, so we got in," she said.
"That's… a relief to hear," he said. Then he looked down. "I'm sorry I couldn't do much back there. You almost got kidnapped because of me."
"What are you talking about? I'm grateful you tried to save me. Thanks to you, Mr. Takuma had enough time to come and save us. If it weren't for you, we'd both be dead," she said.
Although Shinryu was relieved, he still felt guilty, knowing she wouldn't have gotten hurt if he had just brought his own Chronicle instead of trying to be so secretive.
Yuzuki looked up at Shinryu and asked,
"Why did you risk your life to save mine? We barely met. What was the purpose?"
Shinryu replied,
"To be honest with you, I was debating on leaving you there. And believe me when I say this—it makes me ache just thinking about abandoning a person in need of help. But I remembered a time when I was a kid.
A poor girl was being bullied by some kids—they were throwing stones at her. She had a friend with her, which wasn't even a real friend. To save himself, he helped them throw stones. When I saw that, my mother asked me some questions and told me to think about what I really wanted to do."
She asked him, "So what did you do?"
He answered,
"I decided to help her. Something told me that's what I needed to do. The situation back there was similar—but this time, I almost made the same mistake as that boy."
She asked, "Why would that have been a mistake?"
He replied,
"Something tells me I would've regretted it. I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I let someone die."
"Shinryu, I don't blame you, and you shouldn't blame yourself either, because in the end, you did save me—and I will forever be grateful for that," she said to him with a smile.
Shinryu froze for a moment, then he suddenly pulled away.
"Hey, why did you do that?!" said Yuzuki with a mildly angry and sad tone.
"I don't like hugs."
"Why were you there for such a long time?" said Shinryu.
With a teasing tone, she said, "Why did you wait till now to move away?"
"Oh, shut up," said Shinryu in an annoyed tone as she laughed at him.
Yuzuki left after teasing Shinryu for a little while—she had errands to run. Shinryu put on a set of clothes Yuzuki brought for him and went up to the front counter of the hospital to check out. He filled out some paperwork and then headed out.
He had eaten some apples at the hospital, and when Yuzuki was teasing him, she had managed to feed him one—which he was still embarrassed about.
I know she's going to hold that over me for the rest of my life, he thought.
Meanwhile…
We shift to a conference room in the main building of the academy campus. There sat Takuma Hoshigami, three third-year students, and the higher echelon of the academy. They were discussing the matter of the intruders.
"From what I've learned," said Takuma, "the men were after examinee 235, Yuzuki Onikuro. The captured intruder revealed this information."
A man with a serious expression and an intimidating aura that made the third-years tense up just from his presence spoke.
"Do we know why they were after her?"
Takuma replied, "No. His body turned purple and exploded into worms after we found out that bit of info."
The man replied, "Very well. I'll have Division X-9 investigate this matter."
He continued, "What about the other boy? Did you pass him?"
Takuma responded, "Yes. Prior to that fight, he had fought a higher shadow beast—one stronger than normal—and with a basically essence-less Chronicle at that."
"So yes, he passes. Also, he's from the Kagemori family, so he's probably that brat with the Wind Chronicle Kiel keeps ranting about," the man replied.
"Very well. With this, the meeting is concluded."
Everyone except the man in the middle got up and left.
Later that day
Shinryu arrived at his dorm and thought about the long day—or rather, the long few days—he'd had. I haven't had a shower in a while. I stink... guess I gotta take a bath, he thought.
He undressed, prepared the bath, and sank into the warm water. His mind drifted—guilt, anger toward himself, and a bit of relief that things had somehow turned out all right. Still, frustration gnawed at him. Losing that fast pissed him off. Even if he hadn't been at full strength, it still hurt his pride.
After a few minutes of soaking in quiet reflection, he got out of the tub, dried off, and got ready for bed. The doctor had told him that, even though he'd been asleep for days, he'd probably still feel tired from the blood loss and the energy drain.
He lay down, stared at the ceiling for a moment, and finally drifted off to sleep.
The Next Day
Shinryu woke up and got dressed in his uniform. He'd been accepted into the academy, so naturally, he was already preparing himself for his first official day. After getting ready, he decided to carry his Chronicle with him and slipped it into his bag—just in case he ended up in a situation where the daggers alone wouldn't be enough.
He was about to head out the door when someone started knocking. A voice called out, "Shinryu, are you awake? It's our first day—get up!"
It was Yuzuki.
With an annoyed expression, Shinryu opened the door and muttered, "Be quiet, I'm up. Stop annoying me."
Yuzuki just laughed, and the two walked off toward the academy together.
Shinryu wasn't fully prepared for the challenges ahead—but he would learn, grow stronger, and do everything he could to achieve his goal.
TO BE CONTINUED…