He tried to open his eyes; the sunlight filtered through his eyelids with an aggressiveness that reminded him he was still alive. His mind took a few seconds to recognize the dark wood ceiling and the century-old beams of the Ayase house. He sat up slowly on the futon.
Yawning, he stretched his numb muscles and, after a moment's hesitation, raised his arm into the void.
"System...?" he whispered with a groggy voice, almost expecting not to get an answer.
The holographic screen flickered in front of him, bluish and indifferent to his sleepiness.
[Name: Yamato Hideo]
[Abilities (1/5): D-Rank – 10% Pyronite DNA]
[Passive Skills (2/5): Rango D – Spiritual Sense | Rango D – Aura Affinity]
[Plot Influence Points: 18]
"Well, at least this part is still real," he muttered to himself.
His gaze fixed on the number: 18 points. He remembered perfectly that in the shop, Volume 2 of Dan Da Dan cost fifteen points. He had a dilemma. Should he buy the cheapest item and find out what the hell happens after the race? Or keep saving for something more useful, like a weapon or a defensive skill?
Looking at it coldly, he wasn't sure if the point gain would be constant. Depending on the "plot" might not be the best alternative.
"If I keep intervening, the events of the manga will stop happening exactly as they are written," he reflected, rubbing his chin. "If I buy the volume and it turns out the story changes because of me, I'll have thrown 15 points in the trash."
Besides, the shop seemed to have other interesting things. Would it be better to save a little more?
"Better to leave it like this for now..." he finally decided, closing the interface.
Just then, a female voice resonated behind the sliding door.
"Good morning, Hideo. You're awake, right? Come have breakfast, don't take too long," Momo called out.
"Uh... Yeah, coming," he replied. He blinked, surprised. He couldn't remember the last time someone had called him for breakfast so early, let alone with that tone of familiarity.
°°°
After a surprisingly delicious breakfast, including miso soup that brought the color back to his body, the four of them gathered in the dirt yard. The atmosphere was peaceful, except for Okarun, who was frantically swinging his arms back and forth while taking quick, consecutive steps on the ground like an engine about to explode.
"You seem quite eager to continue your training," Seiko commented, calmly exhaling cigarette smoke.
"MISS AYASE!!" Okarun shouted. His footsteps became louder, almost desperate, and his cheeks puffed out like a squirrel's as he tried to hold it in. "I-I'm concentrating!!"
"Looks like he needs to go to the bathroom," Hideo intervened, watching the scene from the step in front of the entrance with a cup of tea in his hand.
"It's because he does need the bathroom," Momo confirmed beside Seiko, keeping both palms extended toward Okarun with her brow furrowed in concentration.
"This is terrible!!" Okarun started running in circles, kicking up a cloud of dust. "I can't let anyone see me like this!! I'd lose all my dignity as a person and as a man!"
"Maybe you already lost it without realizing," Seiko joked with a half-smile before looking at her granddaughter. "You said you needed to watch him, right? Can't you use your powers to avoid... looking at him doing that?"
"No. If I look away from him, my control over the curse would falter and the Turbo Granny would take him over again," Momo explained, a drop of cold sweat running down her temple. "It's like juggling."
"I think the psychic powers from before were more useful," Okarun complained, crossing his legs as he ran.
"They were!" Momo clicked her tongue in frustration. "When I used them for the first time they were much stronger, but now I can only handle basic aura...!"
"That's still pretty useful," Hideo said, sitting at the entrance. "If you focused on practicing with that sensation in mind, you might be able to release a fraction of that latent power. That's what I'm trying to do."
He had been trying to replicate the sensation of "heat" in his own body to improve the control of his ability. In that sense, it should be similar for both of them.
"Hmm..." Seiko lifted her eyepatch to look at Hideo with her good eye. "You talk a lot about others' training, but I still see you the same as before. Are you sure you've focused on what I told you?"
Hideo nodded, albeit with some reluctance.
"I'm no genius, but I think I understand better now what you meant by using aura as fuel."
He stood up, shaking the dust off his pants, and took a few steps back to have some space. He relaxed his shoulders, trying to calm his breathing. It's not just fire... it's part of my biology now, he thought. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. He searched for that spark in his solar plexus and pushed it outward, trying to "weave" it with his blood instead of letting it explode.
It wasn't smooth.
The air around him changed suddenly, becoming heavy and dry. An instant later, the skin on his arms began to crack and burn. Bright orange volcanic fissures ran down his limbs to his shoulders, and within those cracks, a glowing light throbbed like a living heart.
"Oh wow, that's new," Momo commented, covering her face before the sudden heat wave. The heat was such that the grass at his feet began to smoke. Momo had to step back, shielding her face. "Hey, be careful not to burn the house down!"
He closed his eyes again. He searched for the spark in his solar plexus and, instead of letting it burst, he tried to "weave" it with his blood. The air around Hideo became heavy, charged with the smell of ozone and sulfur. Suddenly, his skin cracked. It wasn't a superficial change; it was as if his bones had become furnaces.
Bright orange volcanic fissures ran down his arms, but this time the volcanic rock was denser, darker. His muscles swelled under the crust of magma.
[Synchronization increased!]
[Ability: 10% Pyronite DNA -> 20% Pyronite DNA (Rank C)]
Hideo looked at his hands. It wasn't just one anymore; he had extended his ability to both arms. He remembered the pain of the first time, his body's rejection. But now, thanks to the [Aura Affinity] skill, it became more tolerable and helped him improve.
"This was what you were referring to, right?" Hideo asked, turning toward Seiko.
"Hmm..." Seiko lifted her eyepatch to evaluate him. "Well, yes, you look like a real Oni now. Or a low-budget demon."
"What? What do you mean?" Guided by the gaze of both women, Hideo looked at himself in the reflection of a nearby window.
A small horn made of volcanic flesh and solid flame was sprouting from his forehead.
"Ahh! This isn't what I had in mind!" He put his hand to the horn, confused by the change. Why did that happen? Yesterday he was just visualizing extending the ability to his other arm... well, maybe subconsciously he remembered how Seiko called him an "Oni."
"Hmm... Honestly, no," Seiko said.
"Eh?" Hideo stopped.
"I don't mean your appearance. I can tell you that you're on the right track, you've improved in your own way... but it's still inefficient."
"Wait, what do you mean?"
"I guess I expected something different."
"So I didn't do it the way I should have?"
"You've done a part of it... if that convinces you to survive tonight."
"Of course it doesn't convince me..."
"AHHH, MISS AYASE!!" Okarun's harrowing scream broke the conversation. The boy was pale, trembling, at the absolute limit of what the human sphincter could endure. "I'M GOING TO USE THE BATHROOM, PLEASE DON'T STOP ME!!"
Without waiting for an answer, he shot toward the interior of the house like a rocket.
"Ah, sorry Okarun!" Momo shouted, remembering that if he got too far away, she would lose control of the curse. "Wait!"
She went running after him. Hideo watched the scene while deactivating his power. The magma on his skin cooled and turned back into flesh, and his horn slowly retracted.
"Stay strong, Okarun..."
"Alright, let's go," Seiko said, sighing as she prepared to follow them.
"Uh, I'd rather stay and continue with..." Hideo stammered.
"Wait!" Seiko grabbed him by the wrist with surprising strength and dragged him inside.
In the hallway, Momo tripped and slid across the tatami while Okarun lunged for the bathroom door.
"Move!! My pants are in danger!!" Momo shouted, trying to get ahead of Okarun to open the door for him.
"How do you suddenly have the courage to poop in someone else's house with such confidence!?" Okarun retorted, pushing her to gain ground.
"I have to!! It's about to come out!!"
"Nobody gave you permission!!" Seiko appeared turning the corner, with Hideo stumbling behind her.
"Why are you guys coming!?" Momo asked, horrified.
"Sorry, I just got carried away by the current," Hideo excused himself in the middle of the race.
"Stop, Ken Takakura!!!" Seiko ordered, accelerating even more.
But upon hearing his real name, Momo tripped over her own feet and fell gracefully to the ground, sliding across the tatami.
"I'm almost there!!" Okarun lunged toward the bathroom door.
"Ah, what a problem... with all this fuss I feel like going too," Hideo added.
°°°
"How humiliating..." Okarun groaned, burying his face in his hands.
The bathroom door had been left open enough that Momo, from the hallway, could see Okarun's legs sitting on the "throne." The smell of incense in the house fought to maintain the dignity of the atmosphere.
"This isn't the kind of experience with the unknown I expected to have..." the boy muttered.
"Don't get so depressed, it's just momentary, okay?" Momo said, turning her back to the bathroom out of respect but staying close. "As soon as we get through this, I'm sure you'll meet other, friendlier aliens."
"Sure. I bet there's a nice alien hiding around somewhere, I'm sure there are," Hideo responded sarcasticamente, leaning against a nearby door frame. His gaze drifted distractedly toward the paper amulet placed on the wall in front of the bathroom, as if he were waiting for something.
"Are you still insisting on that alien stuff?" Seiko asked, leaning against the opposite wall with her arms crossed.
"You wouldn't know if you didn't see it. Hideo's thing is a separate issue, but they exist," Okarun responded from the bathroom.
"I guess I have to apologize for not being very useful as proof."
Suddenly, Momo tensed up.
"Wait, Grandma... your nose is bleeding!"
The air froze. It wasn't a metaphor. The air itself grew tense, and a sepulchral atmosphere invaded everything. From the darkness of the bathroom, a macabre and dense shadow rose from Okarun's back. His body contorted, and over his shoulder, the gigantic, wrinkled face of the Turbo Granny manifested, with a smile that defied anatomy.
"She's here!! The Turbo Granny is...!!" Momo turned desperately toward her grandmother. "Grandma!"
But Seiko was motionless. The smoke from her cigarette was static in the air, like a sculpture of gray crystal. The color of the world had drained away, leaving everything in a sepia and cold tone.
"S-she doesn't hear you..." Turning around, Momo saw Hideo, struggling to stay on his feet with one hand pressed near his stomach.
A sharp pain drilled into his skull, similar to what he felt inside the UFO. He brought his other hand to his nose and felt the warm wetness: a thread of blood was running down his lip. The Turbo Granny turned her empty sockets toward them.
"Listen to what I say," the apparition croaked. Her voice wasn't sound, but a vibration directly in the brain. "Now time only moves for you and me... But that meddling little brat can also move a bit thanks to my stolen aura."
She looked at them with a severity that chilled their blood.
"My curse is contagious. I can give you a horrible death just by looking at someone possessed by me," she threatened, her tongue licking the air near the ear of Okarun, who seemed not to notice anything. "I won't give you any more time. If you know what's good for you, you'll come to the tunnel tonight."
The shadow expanded, filling the hallway.
"Or stay here, and watch everyone around you die without even waking up."
Both Momo and Hideo felt a shiver run down their spines, a primal terror that paralyzed them. With a silent laugh that made the walls vibrate, the figure vanished.
The color returned all at once. The smoke from Seiko's cigarette continued its ascent. The sound of flowing water returned. Okarun's eyes blinked again, confused by the sudden thread of blood dripping down his nose.