“Teach me!”

— — — — —

“Haha, that’s why we’re here after all.” She said.

“So, what are we starting with?”

“Hmm, since you said you don’t have any experience fighting, we’ll start with the basics.”

Then she continued, “But before we start, let’s warm up.”

Aya then made me warm up my wrists, arms, legs, neck and back. I did exactly how she showed me.

After I finished the warm up I told her, “I’m done.”

“Good, are you right handed or left handed?”

“Left handed, why do you ask?”

She told me to put my right foot forward and my left foot back, then spread my feet about shoulder width apart and bend my knees slightly. I followed her instructions and then she said, “That looks pretty good. Now tuck your chin down and keep your fists up near your head.”

“Like this?”

“Yeah, perfect. Now, listen to me, this is a must know, when you throw a punch, turn your whole body as you strike, and pivot your back foot when you do it.”

I tried to repeat the movement slowly in the air, copying the stance she had told me.

Then, I heard her saying, “Now try to hit me.”

“Alright!”

I still had some of her power left from when she had shocked me earlier. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Then I opened them and said, “Aya, I can’t hit you.”

“Trust me, nothing will happen, just try.”

“Ok, I’ll trust you.”

I took another deep breath and then threw a punch at Aya. As my fist moved toward her, I felt it getting hotter. Then I saw red lightning crackling around my arm. Just as my fist was about to reach Aya, she had already disappeared from in front of me. I pushed my punch as far forward as I could, and a loud bang suddenly erupted right in front of my fist.

After that, I heard from behind, “See? I told you nothing will happen.”

I turned my head and saw Aya, who was still talking, “It wasn’t that hard, was it? Anyway, you should try it without my power inside you. Wait a few minutes, then try it again.”

“What, how did you get behind me that fast?”

“I told you that I am fast.”

“And that loud bang…I did that?”

“It was from the power I gave you, you’ve seen the lightning as well, right?”

“Yeah, but everything happened so fast…it was amazing. Still, I hope I won’t need to use violence.”

“I’m only teaching you this as a precaution, in case something bad happens, like Semyaza coming back.”

“I hope not, it was terrifying.”

“After I teach you how to fight hand to hand, I’ll teach you how to use Interdimensional as well.”

“What’s Interdimensional?” I asked her.

“Interdimensional is an ability with which you can slow down time.”

“Slow down time? This is too much!”

It took me a few days to realize that demons and angels actually exist. Actually, no…I still haven’t realized it, and now I’m finding out that time can be slowed down? It feels like I’m dreaming.

Aya said, “At first, you won’t be able to slow down time by much. In fact, I think the difference will be barely noticeable because of how little you’ll be able to slow it down. But in the future, if you keep training, you might even be able to slow it down to absolute zero, where you stop time completely.”

“What?!” I said, feeling dizzy after hearing that. It was too much for me to comprehend. Time can actually be stopped?

“Haha, I’m just talking nonsense now.”

“Have you ever managed to stop time?”

“Only once, but for a short period of time. When you slow down time or stop it, time works normally for you, so you can still move as usual. But stopping it requires a lot of energy. I think I only managed to stop it for a few seconds."

“Aya, my head hurts. This is too much for me to comprehend.” I said as I sat down.

She looked at me and said, “My power should already be gone from your body. What are you doing? Get up. We came here to train you.”

I sighed and got back up. Still, it wasn’t that amazing after all. I already know that the paranormal exists, so nothing should surprise me anymore.

“Come at this tree and punch it!” Aya continued.

“Hmm? Won’t my hands hurt?”

“I will give you some of my power after that. You will recover immediately.”

“Couldn’t you have done this when we first met instead of bandaging me?”

Speaking about the first time meeting her, I remembered the news I had seen on TV yesterday, and then I remembered the trouble I was in.

She said, “I could have, but still, considering how panicked you were back then, I don’t think you would’ve been able to handle it. You might’ve even fainted. Actually, I’m surprised you didn’t…Still, finding out that all of this exists is quite a lot to take in…”

Her voice slowly faded away. I was thinking about something else. My mind was on the police investigation.

“Ryuu, are you listening?” She asked, waving her hand in front of my eyes.

“Yeah, sorry. Aya, I remembered what I saw yesterday on the TV. It’s about that man that you killed. Police started an investigation.”

“Oh, wow, I’m so scared of the police!” She said sarcastically, starting to laugh.

“I believe you are not afraid of the police. But I am! What if they connect me to the murder? I was there when he was killed.”

“Okay Ryuu, I see that your mind is somewhere else. The training is over. Come with me tonight. We'll solve this problem. Trust me.”

“Where are we going to go?”

“We’re going to Miho’s place, and we’re going to solve everything.“

“I trust you, Aya. I’ll come with you. But first, let me call my mom.”

I put my schoolbag on and started walking with Aya towards the forest exit, heading to Miho’s place. I called my mom and told her that I was going to sleep at Yoshio’s place tonight, and that I already had the notebooks for tomorrow's classes.

And just like that, I left for Miho’s place with Aya. We waited for a bus at the station, and Aya told me, “We’ll get off after nine stops.”

I quickly looked at the map and started counting the stops. After seeing where we were going to get off, I told her, “But isn’t the luxurious Hoshimine District there?”

“Exactly.”

The bus arrived at the station, and we got on. We took the back seats.

After the bus started moving, Aya asked me, “Can you please give me Honey?”

“Sure.” I said, and took him out of my bag.

“Here it is!” After I gave her the teddy bear, she immediately took him and hugged him.

“Oh, Honey, I love you!” She was saying while she was squeezing him.

I started looking out the window as the buildings passed by. The further we went, the taller the buildings became. The city gradually grew cleaner, and the streets became filled with well dressed, elegant people, and expensive cars as we made our way toward Hoshimine District.

When we arrived, we got off the bus. I felt out of place, like I didn’t belong there. I felt like I had no business being there, like an intruder.

I saw a store and told Aya that I was going to quickly buy something for Miho for her birthday.

She said, “Okay, I’ll wait for you here.”

I entered the store and checked my wallet. I didn’t have much money left, so I decided to buy Miho a simple bracelet.

Then, I left the store, and told Aya, “I bought her a bracelet, I hope she will like it!” and showed her the bracelet.

“I think she will love it! It is pink as well, her favorite color!”

After that, we walked for about two minutes before arriving in front of a very tall, futuristic building.

Aya said, “We arrived!”

“It looks amazing!” I said, my mouth hanging open in amazement.

We entered the building through the main entrance at the front.

The building had a reception area, along with several huge wall-sized screens displaying calm, soothing, and luxurious visuals. In large letters, they read, “Welcome to Shirogane Residence.”

We walked toward one of the three elevators and called it. After we stepped inside, Aya pressed the button for the top floor, the 64th floor.

“Wait, the top floor? Aren’t the penthouses up there?”

“Yes, they are.”

I couldn’t believe where I had ended up. I was in the most luxurious building I had ever been in, and on top of that, I was about to enter a penthouse. I had almost started to forget about the police investigation. And even when I remembered it, I felt at ease when I realized what powerful people, both literally and figuratively, I had on my side.

I watched as we slowly approached the top floor, and when we finally arrived, the elevator doors opened. There was a small hallway with two doors, one on the left, and one on the right. Apparently, there were only two enormous penthouses occupying the top floors of the building, each one taking up half of the entire building.

Aya walked toward the door on the left and knocked on it, then pressed the doorbell, “Miho, it’s me.”

We heard Miho’s voice from inside, “Coming!”

Then, the door opened, revealing Miho, dressed very casually in some comfortable home clothes.

Aya walked inside, and Miho said, “Oh, Ryuu is with you too! Come in, please. Make yourself at home!”

I stepped inside and was stunned by what I saw. The exterior walls were made of enormous glass windows, offering a breathtaking view of the entire city. The penthouse was incredibly spacious, with two floors, and the furniture was simply a perfect combination of luxury and technology. Everything looked incredibly modern and spotless.

“You have a really nice home, Miho!” I said.

“Aww, thank you! I’m glad you like it!” She replied.

“Oh, Miho, here! A gift for your birthday!” I said, remembering the bracelet.

“Wow, I love it! Thank you, Ryuu!” She said happily as she took the bracelet and hugged me.

Aya put Honey down, leaned against the wall with one hand, and took off her heels saying, “My feet hurt so much from these heels!”

“Anyway, what brings you two here?” Miho asked.

Aya told her, “I might have accidentally killed someone a few days ago, and Ryuu was there when it happened. The police found the body and started an investigation. The problem is, we have to make sure they don’t find Ryuu.”

“I understand. I’ll go get Akagi right away. Make yourselves comfortable! I’ll be right back!”