Ever since I was little, I've always felt very close to Dad. He always made us laugh when he got home from work. That's not to say we didn't love Mom, but Dad was someone who supported us with our mischief…

  Maybe that's why, when I found out what had happened to him on my birthday, all I could do was blame myself.

  And how could I not? I was the one who said I wanted him to be around more often, even knowing it sounded ungrateful for everything he did to make sure we had everything we needed.

  But…when he told me he was going to sneak out of work to come to my party, I couldn't contain my joy. A joy that vanished when he didn't show up…And which I never felt again to that extent.

  Yes, when I found out about the accident, part of me was glad that he had really tried to be there for me, even though he should have been working. But another part of me couldn't help but feel that I was the cause of his death.

  "It wasn't something that could have been foreseen" "it's the other driver's fault." I heard it so many times... and they really expect me to feel better?

  If those words don't help, then because of my stubbornness and insistence, Mom lost the person she loved most, and left Kenji and me without a father...Maybe I sound presumptuous, or like I'm playing the victim, but how can they expect me not to feel guilty when my selfish request and my birthday were the reason he left work and ended up in that crash?

  I'll never be able to forgive myself for being so ungrateful for everything he gave us and taught us...

  And now... I'm walking toward his "grave" for the first time. I hope I'm making the right decision, despite Mom's constant attempts to see if I'm comfortable...

  Yui's thoughts were interrupted by a strange noise behind her: Nanami's voice moaning in pain and the thud of a body hitting the grass.

  "Mom…?" was all the girl managed to say before turning around. What she saw froze her in place: her mother lying on the ground, a bruise bulging from her arm (her shirt was torn). Before she could scream, however, an invisible force pulled Yui to the ground, followed by a heavy pressure on her chest, as if something were pinning her down…

  "W…What is…this…?" Yui managed to say, unable to move because of the weight on top of her. She couldn't see it, but it was something heavy.

  It was then that the young woman felt her body freeze, growing colder. She remained conscious long enough to see an incandescent light approaching at great speed…

  "Nako: Fiery Fire Dance!"

  Blades engulfed in flames flew toward the echo, slicing through the rooted leg that held Yui to the ground. The creature howled in pain, leaping back and using the ground to smother the flames that still flickered on its paw.

  “Yui!” Kenji shouted, rushing desperately to his sister. He pressed his ear to her chest: it was still beating. Gen’kan landed beside the boy’s mother.

  “Don’t worry. The echo hurt them, but it didn’t drain their energy. They’re unconscious, but safe.” The man reassured Kenji, though he still looked worriedly at his mother and sister.

  A roar caught the attention of the teenager and his mentor. Grown Roots was preparing to charge at them again.

  “Very well…you dared to hurt my family…” Kenji began, taking a few steps closer to the creature. “I swear you won’t get away with this one.”

  “You remember you still can’t summon your reibuki, right?” Gen’kan questioned Kenji’s resolve, but he remained unfazed.

  “I just need to remember Miss Himori’s example,” the teenager said, closing his eyes. “(Bubble…air…energy…)” Spiritual energy began to manifest around him.

  However, Gen’kan shouted a warning. Kenji opened his eyes (causing the accumulated energy to dissipate) and jumped, avoiding the echo’s attack.

  Despite trying again, the echo quickly moved forward, planting its legs firmly on the ground and launching several sharp roots that nearly struck the boy. The young man soon realized that gathering energy wouldn’t be easy while the echo was in sight.

  “(Damn it…at this rate I’m just waiting for one of its roots to reach me…)” Kenji tried to formulate a new strategy, but his thoughts were quickly interrupted by another onslaught from the echo, leaving the teenager lying on the ground…

  “Damn it…” Kenji groaned, his muscles aching as the pain from the blow began to throb.

  Meanwhile, Gen’kan watched the fight, frowning at the sight of the injured young man. Sighing, he shook his head.

  “I don’t think you’re ready to deal with an Echo like that yet. Sorry, kid.” Slowly, the man began to draw his Rukiade, before a voice stopped him.

  “Kenji…” Both Gen’kan and Kenji (still injured) watched as Nanami struggled to her feet. The blood from the blow that had knocked her to the ground was still visible on her clothes.

  “What’s happening, Kenji…? Are you hurt?” Her voice was filled with concern for her children, though she hesitated to look at Yui. Seeing his daughter unconscious, she quickly tried to go to her.

  “Mom, stay where you are!” Kenji tried to avoid being noticed by the creature, but it was too late.

  The echo analyzed its new prey and began charging at her, knocking her down with another blow. The woman's body was propelled backward, landing on her back, her clothes filthy in front of her. Despite everything, she was still breathing, though injured.

  “MOM!” Kenji's scream shook the park, making Gen'kan's hair stand on end.

  “W… What is this?” The man stepped back, surprised.At that moment, an enormous aura of spiritual energy exploded around Kenji, so intense

  that Gen'kan thought it almost reached his own. A dark blue trail (similar to the one that enveloped the boy when he concentrated) formed above him, only this time the teenager was staring at the echo with a mixture of helplessness and growing fury.

  “(Bubble…Air…Energy…Compresses…)”The Echo sensed the sudden burst of energy, but didn't seem to change its prey. The root creature began to approach the injured woman, finally raising one of its paws to deliver the killing blow…

  “And it explodes!”

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  A burst of light blinded Gen’kan, leaving him only able to hear the sound that followed the blazing light: a howl of pain from the Echo, this time sounding truly distressed. When his vision cleared, the creature's paw was just inches from the woman's head, while a sword blade, made of dark blue metal, was in Kenji's hands…

  “Consider yourself dead…bastard…” The teenager whispered coldly, before fiercely wielding the weapon, tearing through the creature’s roots and sending it flying backward, away from Nanami and Yui.

  As all this unfolded, Gen’kan watched, surprised by the appearance of the greatsword the boy now wielded.

  “He was finally able to materialize his spirit weapon again…” the man murmured, before turning his gaze to the unconscious women. “(Did they act as a catalyst?)”

  Returning to the fight, the Echo seemed to falter for a few seconds, before unleashing a barrage of razor-sharp roots from the ground. However, Kenji rushed toward the creature, swinging his sword and cleanly slicing (wielding the weapon with one hand) each root that tried to impale him. Finally, he reached the Echo, plunging the tip of the blade into the creature’s “mouth-closure.”

  “This will teach you not to mess with my family!” the young man roared furiously, before forcing his sword to the side, tearing through the Echo's skin and leaving a deep gash across the beast's forehead.

  After another gurgle of pain, the creature took a few steps back. From the cut, an orange light was visible…“(The core!)” Kenji thought, before reacting to the Echo's action.From what remained of the being's mouth, a greenish light began to gather. The wind began to swirl around the creature as it condensed the energy…

  “Watch out, kid! It's going to fire an Echo Blast!” the orange-haired teenager's master warned him, realizing the Echo's intentions. However, it fired the energy in a beam at the young man.

  With little time to react or dodge, Kenji did the first thing that came to mind: He protected himself with his sword. The impact was met with ferocity, pushing the teenager back several meters. Surprisingly, however, the young man was managing to withstand it, one hand resting on the hilt of his weapon and the other on the blade, as the blade absorbed the full force of the attack.

  Finally, the energy seemed to dissipate, until incredibly, it coalesced around the teenager's weapon, enveloping it in spiritual energy. Seeing this, the Echo took a few steps back.

  "Don't even think about it! If this energy is yours... I'LL GIVE IT BACK!" Immediately afterward, Kenji swung his sword, executing a slash in the air that, with the energy he had gathered, unleashed a cutting wave that pierced the Echo, slicing it in half (core included).

  The echo's fragments remained static, until one by one they fell forward. A few seconds later, the creature dispersed like dust in the wind…Silence. That was all that remained in the area, broken only by Kenji's ragged breathing. He plunged his sword into the ground and was now supporting himself with it.

  "I…did it…" And with those words, the young man collapsed from exhaustion.

  Gen'kan approached his unconscious student, still astonished. Looking at the weapon the boy had held, the wise man saw the sword vanish, returning to its wielder in a stream of spiritual energy.

  "I must admit that was interesting. I'm truly surprised" Gen'kan murmured, before noticing Nanami and Yui, also unconscious. He sighed, knowing what to do next.

  Later…

  Sarenada Park, Karpe Lake (4:00 PM)

  The wind stirred the water as leaves drifted gently down from the trees. Three people stood before a cluster of clumsily carved stones, inscribed with what appeared to be the words “RIP”. Yui tried to hold back a tear. It was the first time in a long time that she had decided to visit her father’s makeshift grave… but his absence still hurt. Nanami sensed this and quickly placed an arm around her daughter’s shoulder, offering her a sympathetic look.

  Yui smiled, grateful for her mother’s presence.Kenji observed the scene. He had already visited and paid his respects at his father’s memorial a few minutes earlier and believed that giving his sister some time alone was best.

  “So that’s your father’s grave?” Gen’kan asked, not wanting to sound disrespectful.

  “More or less… he has his grave, but we prefer to come and visit him here. He loved spending the afternoon here… and he wasn’t the only one,” Kenji said, putting his hands in his pockets and kicking a nearby rock. Then, a question struck him. “Hey… how could he have done that earlier? And how did he get those things back then?”

  (Flashback)

  The teenager regained consciousness, still in pain. He sat up and rubbed his head.

  “Bah… I’ll feel that tomorrow…” he said, feeling one of his legs crack from all the dodging earlier. Looking up, he saw a curious scene: Himori was yelling at Gen’kan (who was smoking in his sleep), while Saruka was taking something out of her bag. It was this little girl who noticed the now-awake boy.

  “Mom! Kenji’s awake!” the little girl shouted, grabbing her mother’s attention and waking the sleeping man.

  “It’s good to see you’re alright,” Himori said, giving her daughter some instructions. Saruka pulled something out of the bag: a candy with a green and blue wrapper.

  “That’s a Sweet-Sweet Candy, or Kuricura. They’re condensed medicines that will restore your energy while your body’s cells recover at a very—”

  “Special candies that heal your wounds,” Saruka simplified, making Himori sigh.

  Kenji was confused, examining the candy from various angles. Finally, he decided to trust the mother and daughter’s words and ate the treat. He quickly felt the pain in his wounds slowly begin to heal.

  “Wow…it works.” He was grateful for the candy’s effect. Even so, he realized he was forgetting the most important thing. “Wait! Mom! Yui!” He stood up, ignoring the subsiding pain and worried about his mother and sister.

  “It’s alright. They’ll be fine. Himori applied her healing energy to them, so they’re no longer in danger. They won’t be long before they wake up.” Genkaro reassured the boy, who sighed in relief and slumped down onto the grass.

  “That’s a relief…” Kenji murmured, watching the sunset begin to fall over the sky.

  “Yes…although now that you’re awake, I think we should get to the important stuff.” Genkaro’s change in tone alerted the teenager, who sat up again, looking at the man.

  “The important stuff?” he asked, confused.

  “Your Reibuki…” The man clarified, pointing to Kenji’s palm, which was now normal. The boy looked at it, remembering the events that had transpired earlier. “From what I saw, you managed to make her react just as the echo was about to attack your mother… Did you use that as a conduit to materialize your spiritual weapon?”

  “I don’t know… I just saw that they were in danger, and it all happened on its own…” The orange-haired youth murmured uncertainly, as he closed his hand into a fist and, from memory, repeated the mental steps to channel his spiritual energy. The result: his sword materialized in his hand, astonishing the three members of the Kan family.

  “Wow! It’s different from Grandpa’s!” Saruka couldn’t contain her amazement, before noticing how Kenji was having some difficulty lifting the weapon from the ground.

  “You’re right about that, Saruka,” Himori said, sweating as she agreed with her daughter. She approached Kenji and easily lifted the weapon, inspecting it.

  “Try summoning it again,” she instructed.No sooner said than done, the teenager focused his spiritual energy, causing the dark metal sword to vanish from Himori’s hands and return to Kenji’s, who again struggled to maintain his grip.

  “Well…at least I finally managed to materialize it. That’s progress.” The teenager sighed, managing (with some effort) to raise the sword high enough to plant it in the grass.

  “It certainly is. We can finally proceed to the true beginning of training,” Genkaro nodded with a smile, once again capturing the disheveled boy’s attention.

  “The true beginning of training?” he asked, confused. “We’d better get the training grounds ready,” Himori sighed, crossing her arms, already knowing her father.

  “And ice packs for injuries,” Saruka murmured audibly, further confusing the orange-haired youth.

  “What do you mean…?” Kenji was starting to get excited about training, though the ‘injuries’ part didn’t sit well with him.

  “Don’t worry, it matters now,” the man said casually, taking a drag on his cigarette. He addressed the teenager once more. “Hey kid, you’ve managed to materialize your Reibuki at will, though that doesn’t mean we should stop working on your spiritual energy control. But… what will you call it?” the man asked.

  “A name?” Kenji asked, looking at his sword.

  “It’s always good to name your weapon. After all, it’s a materialization of your spirit, so a name could help you strengthen the bond with your spiritual weapon,” Gen’kan explained, prompting the teenager to begin thinking.

  A name…

  End of flashback

  “Have you thought of one yet?” the master asked, lighting another cigarette as he turned his gaze to the orange-haired youth.

  Kenji stared at his mother and sister, who were composing themselves and starting to walk toward him, ready to go home.

  “Yes…Tenebris Fang.”

  Sarenade Park (10:00 PM)

  The park was completely silent, as the moonlight bathed the clearing near Lake Karpe, right where Kenji had defeated the Echo of the Void. Remnants of the battle (like spiky roots or cut grass, invisible to the naked eye) lay forgotten…Except for one figure.

  The same male shadow that had witnessed the first awakening of Kenji's reibuki two nights ago. A worn cloak covered his body, from which only orange eyes could be seen.

  "Damn it…the bastard erased that Echo," the figure growled in a harsh voice, his anger evident. He took a few steps to the spot where the Echo had fallen before disappearing. "Not a single trace…"

  A growl from the being's stomach echoed in the silent clearing. He staggered slightly, clutching his head.

  “I have to hurry” he murmured as he got back to his feet and started running straight out of the park toward Karinome. “I’ll have to look for more Echoes of the Void.”

  {Echo Chasers Guide!}

  (Saruka is feeding Otomo cookies. Himori enters carrying a box. She sets it down and looks at her daughter.)

  Himori: “Honey, I’ve told you not to give him more than one cookie. He’ll get fat.”

  Saruka: “But Mom! He looks so happy when he eats them!”

  Himori: “Even so, keep in mind that there aren’t many Echo Chasers left. Your grandfather really needs Otomo.”

  Saruka: “Of course, he’s an old man who spends all his time sleeping…”

  Himori: “Saruka!”

  Saruka: “Sorry! Sorry!”

  Otomo: "Even so, the girl has a point."

  Kenji (Offstage): Did that mouse just talk?!

  第2巻でお会いしましょう！

  See you in Volume 2!

  Alright! Here it is! The introductory volume/arc is complete, hurray!

  Honestly, it was an interesting project. I really hope you're enjoying the story. Don't think it ends here! The story is just beginning!

  ...although...there might not be a chapter next week, so I can rest a bit. I'll resume weekly writing later. I hope this isn't an inconvenience for you all (I apologize in advance).

  In any case, I suppose next week we'll move on to the next arc: The Life of an Echo Chaser!