The teen reaches a secluded alley on the far side of town. He finds a stack of boxes and sits to catch his breath.

  As he does, the sound of a lighter clicks in the darkness.

  The Old Man emerges, lighting a cigarette. “You’re fast, kid—almost faster than me. And I’m sure you’re unconsciously only using about 20% of your tamashkii right now, so you’re probably wayyy faster than that.”

  The teen adopts a defensive stance as the core in his hand begins to subtly change.

  “Listen, kid—I don’t want to fight anymore. I’m part of an organization called the Ju Setai, a pretty crappy org trying to create an artificial hero comparable to the ancient one from 40 years ago. In truth, I respect the people they serve more than them. But that cube you’re holding? It’s a tamashkii core. Its job is to awaken the dormant energy within your soul. My job was to give it to a client….but you seemed like you liked it more.”

  The Old Man steps closer.

  The teen retorts, “Lying won’t work—I told you this is mine now.”

  “Yeah, kid—you’re right. It’s 100% yours now,” the Old Man concedes as he looks upward.

  The core begins to spin out of the teen’s hands and hovers above him.

  Then, without warning, the cube bzes to life—a brilliant beam of light engulfs the teen.

  “What’s happening? Why can’t I move?” he cries.

  “Maybe you’ll do what I never could… and make this whole organization obsolete,” the Old Man replies, taking a long drag on his cigarette.

  In a hushed tone, he adds, “Maybe you can end the Musabori.”

  “Old man, I was helping the pretty dy. Save your Ju Setai and ki talk—I have nothing to do with that,” the teen snaps.

  Almost immediately, the beam vanishes, and the teen regains movement.

  “Uhhh… what did you do to m—AHHH!” he screams as pain sears through him.

  The Old Man murmurs, “Hmmm, it seems to be activating even after the beam’s gone. Was it a g? I’ve never seen this before.”

  With another scream, the core infuses into the teen’s forehead as the beam returns.

  The girl catches up, demanding, “What’s happening?”

  Before the Old Man can answer, a mysterious hand touches his shoulder—SMACK.

  Flinging him through three nearby buildings.

  “Just what have you done?” the girl shouts as she looks on at the teen, now fully glowing.

  “Damnit, Old Man—you should’ve killed him!” she excims, reaching for her ankle and pulling off a bracelet.

  She secures it on her wrist and, aiming at the teen, commands,

  “Take form, Kiyohime!”

  A beam fshes overhead, and as if summoned by magic, a dragon-like aura swirls around her.

  The bracelet vanishes, repced by twin sais in her hand and a fiery red aura.

  “I haven’t gotten serious in a while—let’s see just how strong you are—” she begins,

  but before she can finish, the teen closes the gap.

  With a simple blow of air, he sends her flying; she recovers quickly by anchoring her sais into a nearby wall.

  “Okay then, Kiyohime—no pying nice. ARCANE BREATH!” she shouts, unching a sai that morphs into a purple ball of fire.

  Bouncing off the wall with the other sai, she follows up with, “Cws of Fury!” A bck and red ssh effect engulfs the fire as she nds a sliding strike, prociming, “And now, this little date should be over.”

  A sharp snap is heard as the fmes fan out.

  Yet the teen stands—burned and cut, but miraculously unscathed and still glowing.

  “Ahh, you’re really gonna make me use this one, huh?” the girl teases.

  She crosses her twin sais and mutters, “Cw of the W—”

  “Hold your horses, dy—there’s no need for all that,” the Old Man interjects from a hole in the wall, dusting himself off.

  “Honestly, there wasn’t even a need to give it a form, I think he’s just overclocked but he seems to be in control…. you young kids sure love jumping the gun,” he adds.

  “Hey, dude, I kind of thought you’d kicked the bucket. I sense Hoju energy from him—I’m not fighting that without a form,” the girl retorts.

  “Ah, so even kids from the Musabori respect the Hoju’s, huh? Well, today’s your lucky day—you get to see the top Hoju in action.”

  The Old Man removes his coat as a blue aura envelops him, turning the scene to a cool, gray hue.

  “Holy crap, I feel like the temperature just dropped to zero—like the air itself would cut me if I breathed it. Now this is exactly like sensei’s aura,” the girl thinks.

  As the Old Man and the teen begin to close in on each other, a sudden noise shatters the tension.

  From the rooftop where they’d been moments before, a loud “MERRWWW” echoes.

  A cat nds squarely on the teen’s head—the same cat from the earlier encounter.

  The Old Man ughs, “Neko?”

  Instantly, the glow leaves the teen’s body, and he colpses, passing out into the Old Man’s arms.

  The Old Man turns to the girl, “We had multiple beams from the same location. You know how our organizations react—they’ll be here in two minutes. I’m going to hide this kid. What are you gonna do?”

  The girl stares silently at him, her gaze deepening. After a long pause, she decres, “My mission was to retrieve this core. If it’s activated, the only thing I can do is wait until he wakes up. So, I’m coming with you.”

  The Old Man teases, “Aww, you really do love him already, don’t you?”

  “On second thought, how about I erase both of you right here, right now, OLD MAN?” she retorts with a wicked smile.

  “Haha, I saw you stumble to my aura earlier. Don’t forget, kid—you’re weaker than me.”

  With that, the three vanish into the night.