01- a play

xx/xx/xxxx

The scarlet rays of the sun filtered into that white room through its closed curtains...

In the middle of the room was sleeping a boy with white hair and face covered with bandages, but he suddenly woke up frightened, he quickly sat up while still panting, took a quick scan of the place and put his hand on his sweaty face.

In an almost audible voice the boy muttered to himself anxiously:

- Did I pass out? How did I get here..? This is not the hospital I used to wake up in…

He took a look at his hand and continued:

-How did I end up with injuries like this? And that feeling that i have.....why can't i remember....?

The sound of opening the door interrupted his thoughts, raising his eyes with fear and hesitation. In front of the door stood a man in his thirties wearing a gray kimono. He said in a quiet voice:

-Tenko Shitsutama-

Wait...?

How did I ended up to this...?!

04/04/2023

17:02

About 12 students, dressed in sports clothes, stand in front of each other, forming a straight line, facing a teacher who hangs a yellow whistle around his neck, shame takes over the largest part of their faces, but the white-haired one seems to be wandering somewhere.

In a firm voice, The coach gave them a long lesson in how young they were and that they had a long way to go. They shouldn't let one bad game make them stop. It took about a quarter of an hour or more, as the coach put all the feelings - pride in his players and sadness at that painful loss they might have been able to avoid - in his speech. As soon as he finished, everyone lefted...

He walked out of the gymnasium quietly, but someone was waiting for him there, a boy with blue hair who quickly smiled as soon as he caught a glimpse of him

-Tenko!

-Uh, what are you doing here, Uretsu?

- Huh? Make sure you get home safely, of course! Your face is already red from the fever.

- I'll be fine walking alone, you know.

- I insist! I will accompany you.

-do as you wish, at least i found someone to chat with him...

A gray-haired man stood near a white door with the number 19 in the middle,in it's side it was written in an old japanese written the two kanjis shitsu (失) and tama (魂). He knocked on the door three times to wait for a while quietly, but he didn't receive any answer. He said in a calm voice:

-I didn't know you were so scared Ura, you know there's something wrong, right? Don't be afraid of me, I'm just here to correct the wrong things as i always do, please act like a nice girl and open that door before i get angry...

They were walking in silence before uretsu said.

-tenko...

-hm...?

-what do you think about the yomis?

He said while staring absentmindedly at the sky.

yomis? You mean those corpses that came back to life? They appeared not a long ago... Well, I know very well that the warriors are having a hard time killing them, no one knows where they came from or what we can do to get rid of them.... I also heard that there are people from here in Kyoto who were found in that form in nearby cities....

i mean, do you believe in it or not?

that's a weird question... As you know i have never seen one of them before so... I'm quite not sure about it, there's a lot of rumors about rhis subject...

do you know what yomi stands for? It's a short form of yomi no kuni, the underworld, they gave this name for them cause they come back to life...And because their matter, as you said, is very unknown and mysterious.

you seem interested, may i ask about the reason?

i was thinking about it a lot recently, that's all.

it doesn't look like you to be serious about anything this way...

what shall I say? It makes me feel unsafe! And I hate it! Imagine someone you like became a yomi all of a sudden!...i also heard about those people from here that turned into yomis... I just don't want to lose anyone i know...

worry about yourself first weirdo, that's what i can say, if you're not careful and keep worrying about others, you'll be a yomi before you know.

-what an advice.

-well, I've warned you. however, I think I'll go on alone from here, only a few meters left, you'll make your way longer if you go on with me.

-right... So, see you tomorrow!

see you.

He said as he waved his hand to continue on his way

He continued walking alone for a while although he was still thinking about how strange his friend's question was, he knew very well that he wasn't the type to even think. Tenko stopped at a small house with a small flower garden. He opened the garden door quietly, but he suddenly noticed the house was open

- she's not supposed to return yet...

He threw his bag on the ground and hurried inside to check it out

Inside his mother was holding a knife with shaking hands, she had a short straight brown hair, in front of her the grey haired man was standing, just looking at her.

Tenko felt puzzled, he didn't know what to do when he didn't even know what was going on, But… the knife Ura( his mother's name) was holding was not directed at the man, its edge was pointed at her own neck… with her own hands!

She remained silent for a while glancing at Tenko, her worried, sweaty face showing the amount of pressure that was on her, not only that, but her hands were trembling with fear, was that worrying about Tenko? Or fear for her life? If she miscalculated, she would inevitably die at the hands of this man, but she herself didn't know the answer. She knew with certainty that the lie that she had committed to for many years now had mixed with her true feelings making her choice even harder, but in one moment she made up her mind, as the idea that would save her from all that suffering come to her ... She looked at Tenko with a frightened smile to speak in a trembling voice:

- You want him, it's all for him right? If I destroy him.... You'll be destroyed too...!

- Don't act stupidly..!

The man shouted as he pulled something out of his black jacket. Meanwhile Aura had grabbed the knife tightly and ran towards Tenko, who was pinned down. Without hesitation, she stabbed his stomach to shout with a smile:

- IF I'M GOING TO DIE I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME!!

She pulled the knife, making him bleed, and while he fell to his knees, she raised it again in a new attempt to kill him, but the sound of bullets stopped both of them. Tenko raised his bulging eyes hesitantly to see that his mother had been shot twice in the head, which made her fall to the ground. He wanted to scream strongly, but his voice betrayed him.

The man let out a long sigh as he put the gun back in its place. He looked at Tenko who stared at his mother tremblingly, before walking up to him with calm steps.

- This is a really big mess to deal with... I probably should have gotten rid of it from the start....

Tenko remained silent so rhe man continued:

-Well I'm really late this time, the master will be angry without a doubt... why don't you stay calm and let me finish what I'm here for?

He said with a nice smile, but Tenko couldn't rest, he wanted to run away if he could, even though, his body was out of his strength, he was already feverish and stabbed now too.

- I guess you're really scared? Well this is what happens every time, you may not remember it but, this is not the first time we meet.

The man pulled out from one of his pockets a little old note

- Sometime earlier, you were curious, you tried to write down what happens to you when you have a fever, because your memory is always muddled the next day, guess what was written?

He opened the note to a certain page, it was written in big handwriting like scribbles: "Tall man with gray hair, he's here!"

-I think I've been giving you some nightmares, huh? Alright , enough talk, I wanted to stay more but I have a work to do.

The man put his hand on Tenko's head, who could not help but watch... Suddenly, the door opened forcefully, making a strong sound that made the gray-haired man look, but he quickly withdrew his hand after feeling pain. When he looked at it, his hand was already bleeding, but how could this happen? Whatever happened, it didn't go beyond the blink of an eye. The man looked at Tenko who was looking dumbfounded to his left, so he quickly turned his eyes to this one standing there. It was another man who looked in his late twenties, with short brown hair pulled up in the front, wearing a gray kimono and a black hakama. He looked at him sharply after he waved the blazing katana to extinguish before putting it back in its scabbard.

- Whatever you're up to, maybe you should stop and turn yourself in...

He said in a firm voice....

*END OF THE FIRST CHAPTER*

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