The Oni Slayers: Chapter 22

The classroom was filled with ceaseless chatter. The semester end exams were coming up soon, but it didn’t seem to run in Takuya’s mind at all. He was too preoccupied with all that has occurred in the last three months, exterminating monsters ten times his stature with an exceptional amount of limbs, crashing into unknown territories, and somehow made it out alive. Saiyou was just a stranger sitting across from him at a Chinese restaurant that he could have ignored entirely and now he is friends with the highest ranking general of the O.D.A.

Today’s boxed lunch was lightly seasoned rice topped with fried chicken, a small handful of vegetables, and served with pickled lotus root. Takuya dove in hungrily into his meal. He faintly recalled the time Tsukino had made him a boxed lunch. It was packed in a compact lunch box and wrapped neatly befitting of her dainty tastes, but its contents were now forgotten. Strange that he couldn’t remember anymore except that it had existed.

The following history class was passing sluggishly. The teacher seemed to drone on forever. Takuya started doodling incessantly on the edges of his notebook. He no longer had to expect a sudden ambush in this common environment. There was no need to draw knives and guns to defend from incoming demons. Saiyou didn’t even contact him for the last two weeks since they returned to the human world. The revenge on Digger was taken, Takuya was no longer needed. After Tsukino’s death was avenged, what was there left to do? He only joined O.D.A. shortly to kill those responsible.

The aimless days were driving Takuya to his wit’s end. He should have been studying hard like everyone else to focus on getting into college like his mother wished for. His transcript was lackluster and he was the only student in class that left his career planning sheet blank. Now he was desperately waiting for the history class to end. After history was another grueling course of humanities. Takuya despised writing the most.

After classes have ended, Takuya left for the train home. Rather than heading straight home, he went for the park. The trees were beginning to bud. Only a few had courage to bloom. Early spring breezes were still chilly enough to nip the skin. He walked past the playground where the laughing primary school children were playing. Has the park always been this large, thought Takuya. Up ahead was a curved cement path leading to more grass and trees. The familiar road seemed to be bringing him to a steep hill. Slowly Takuya marched upwards. To his surprise, on the bench sat a leather clad man at the end of the hill.

“It’s you again,” smiled Saiyou. Takuya jogged to his friend and took the seat beside him. “It’s been a while,” greeted Takuya. “Really? It hasn’t been that long. Maybe two weeks?” suggested Saiyou. The two were briefly silent. “So ... how are things back at the organization?” asked Takuya. “You can say it’s like the usual, keeping the oni attacks under control,” answered Saiyou. He was unusually silent today. “How’s Shimura doing?” “Working on his stuff. Inventing new things.” “And you? Also the usual.” “Yeah. The usual.” The pauses in the conversation was beginning to irritate Takuya. He desperately wanted to ask about Ryuu. He wanted to know if Tsuku had made any contact or if Kurogami Makoto had been discovered.

“The results from analyzing the evolution panacea came out yesterday. I can suppose that it was expected,” said Saiyou gravely “But it assures that we are living among murderers.” “Didn’t you already analyze its contents? Shimura said it was made specifically for oni. If a human ate it, they would die,” said Takuya. “The thing is that we decided to analyze it even closer. Shimura found that one of the ingredients was of human origin,” said Saiyou. “Wait ... what?” Takuya exclaimed. “You heard. Of human origin,” repeated Saiyou. Takuya’s stomach have a sickening lurch. “Do you remember when we busted a hideout together for the first time?”asked Saiyou. “The time when there was some trade going on,” confirmed Takuya. “That’s when we first got a hold of those pills.” “Do you remember what else we saw?” Saiyou pressed on. The memory came flooding back to Takuya. “Those hearts in the case,” said Takuya. “No, it can’t be ...”

It was starting to click together again, the entire human and demon union of evilness. The never ending cycle of grisly murders and penchant for human flesh. “Then that cult has to be behind all of this! All this time we have been chasing down oni because they were killing people and now ...” “And now they’re not just simply killing people,” finished Saiyou. “It was all for the production of these so called evolution panacea. The cult isn’t going to be out on the streets murdering people. Why not get someone else to do the dirty work?” “And somewhere they are hiding,” said Takuya.

The two remained silent on the bench. The late afternoon breeze picked up and pushed the dry grass gently. A few sparrows tweeted on the bare branches of the magnolia tree behind the bench. “Have you thought about what to do after high school?” said Saiyou interrupting the silence. “High school? Not really, to be honest,” answered Takuya. “I believe you are graduating next year?” Saiyou continued. “I guess I am. I don’t even know which school I want to go to. I know my mom wants me to pick education and stick with a good university, but my grades are crap. The best I can score is a community college,” said Takuya. “Have you thought about officially joining O.D.A.?” ‘I can’t say it hasn’t crossed my mind before, but I don’t think my mom will be too happy. I don’t want to upset her after what she saw when I was with Shimura. I can’t blame her when she’s raising me alone.”

Saiyou shifted in his seat. He groped the inside of his leather jacket and took out what looked like a small bronze badge. “I found this while digging in the archives for some oni related information. I think it may be of interest,” said Saiyou. Takuya took the badge and viewed the inscribed name. He nearly dropped it in surprised. Inscribed in the metal was the name Ryuzaki Junpei. “But ... how?” said Takuya in disbelief. “I didn’t know this became a family business. First your grandfather, Ryuzaki Nanjiro, and then your father, Ryuzaki Junpei. Now it could very well be Ryuzaki Takuya, next in line,” said Saiyou. “Still ... I don’t know,” said Takuya. “I don’t know what to do.” “It’s your decision in the end. You still have one year before you graduate.”

The bronze badge grew warm in Takuya’s hand. He played with the badge spinning it on its edge. In front of his face, Saiyou dangled something green. He jerked his head back to see what it was. The jade lion carved in the likeness of his own charm hung on its leathery cord. “How come you have one too?” asked Takuya. He rummaged through his own pocket for his jade lion. He dangled his next to Saiyou’s to see that they were replicas of each other. “I knew your grandfather for some time. He was my teacher,” said Saiyou. “When his son died, he disappeared without a trace. When he came back, he began to train me to death with no hesitation whatsoever.” “But the amulet. How come he gave one to you?” questioned Takuya. “This amulet originally belonged to your father. Your grandfather let me hold it in my possession. If you look closely, they are actually a pair,” explained Saiyou.

Putting the two jade amulets together, Takuya saw that his lion turned its head slightly to the left while Saiyou’s lion faced towards the right. “I’m getting even more confused. So my dad’s an oni slayer and we have matching friendship charms?” asked Takuya. “You should probably ask your grandfather these questions. That’s your family business,” said Saiyou. “I’m here to convince you to join the team. You already know so much about us and I can’t say that we are exactly a public group. If you choose to join, we will immediately send you to training. You can learn that magic that you always wanted to do.” “I’m serious, I really wanted to do magic! You guys have all the cool moves like the demon hands and aura blasts or whatever you call them,” blurted out Takuya.

The afternoon sky was fading into the evening. The orange rays casted long wispy shadows on the trees. “Do you really think I can make it as an oni slayer?” asked Takuya. “I mean I let you down a couple of times.” “I did snap at you a few times for your incompetence,” Saiyou admitted reluctantly. “Shimura seems to like you a lot. He’s always telling me to put more faith in you.” “I don’t think I ever say this, but ... I gotta thank you for everything,” said Takuya. “You let me in on dangerous missions. In the end, you let me have my revenge.” “Correction, I ended up killing Digger. Not you,” interrupted Saiyou. “Yes. Yes. You get the credit. I’m fine,” said Takuya. “That’s not the point.” “Well, you did show some promise in the end,” said Saiyou.

“Maybe it is time, I take a risk. A risk that makes my life worth living for,” said Takuya. “Tsukino can rest in peace, but there’s still people out there dying.” “The demons ain’t gonna stop coming and the cult isn’t gonna disappear by itself,” added Saiyou. “Give me one more year,” said Takuya. “In the meantime, you can prepare yourself for our next mission.” “Next mission? What mission?” “We are going to kill more oni soon.” “Wait, are you serious? I don’t think I can balance school work with more demon extermination without my mom catching on.” “You’re gonna have to if you are serious about joining us.” “I guess that’s the risk I need to take.”

“The mission will come a bit later. Right now we have more important things to do,” said Saiyou more seriously. “What important things?” asked Takuya. “Like going out for Korean barbecue,” Saiyou answered carelessly. “Hold up. Out of all things, you pick food!” exclaimed Takuya. “We’re here to celebrate your future initiation. I even invited Shimura.” Takuya let out a sigh and stood up from the bench. “Well what are we waiting for?” he said. “The food isn’t gonna appear by itself.” Saiyou stood up and straightened out his jacket. He put his arm around Takuya’s shoulder and said, “We have lots to discuss about your future.” *** End of The Oni Slayers To be continued ...

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