His eyes widened as she clutched her ears and sank to the ground. The Oni weren’t the problem. They were too far away to do any harm to her. But he wasn’t.

Looking down at his hand, Shuji found the problem. After closing the blade, he approached Umeki. “Sorry about that.” Once he was close enough, he placed a hand on the top of her head. She continued to shake. “You’ll be okay. Trust me.”

Silence was all he was met with.

“What was that?” she asked slowly.

“That was one of my powers. My blade emits an incredibly loud noise, to the point of pain. I can’t control who it targets, only how far out it reaches. I forgot it was on. This was my fault.” Shuji added in that in as a concession. Sure, he’d walked back towards her, but he had warned her to stay away from him. “You’re alright enough to fight?” he asked as he outstretched his hand to her. Shuji hoped she wouldn’t ask for an in-depth explanation of how his power didn’t affect him. Everyone always asked that first.

“Y-yes,” she said taking his hand. He pulled her up and turned back to the task at hand. She’d be fine, probably. And more importantly, she didn’t need an explanation.

The two of them were somewhat close together, so Shuji would handle the task of separating them. His powers were perfect for this.

“I’ll pull one out, you take the other.” He didn’t wait for Umeki’s response. He approached the Oni quickly before opening his weapon. “Deafen.”

The effect was immediate. The Oni screamed and charged at Shuji. He’d finish this one off quicker than he had the last. He didn’t have to teach Umeki the basics this time. This time he’d just fight. This Oni wasn’t partial to diving at him. Instead it approached like it meant to trample him. Shuji closed his switchblade. All he did was smirk.

They collided. It should’ve been a flashy motion, but it wasn’t. Shuji simply stood his ground against the larger body. With his left hand, Shuji had stopped the Oni’s charge at him. With his right, he stopped the beast from biting his head off. The Oni wasn’t dissuaded in the slightest. It kept struggling to try to use its elongated fangs to make a meal out of Shuji.

But Shuji was stronger than he looked. If the Oni continued struggling like this, it would get nowhere. It continued its struggle regardless. After sighing at the bore, Shuji opened his weapon once again after he propped his elbow against the Oni’s torso. That should keep it from moving.

In a swift motion, he drove the knife into the Oni’s throat. Its blood dripped down his arm and over his jacket. That was a pain, but it would all be taken care of soon. Unfortunately, his prey didn’t just happily stand with a knife in its throat. It began to thrash in place.

Then he felt it. Something heavy had hit him from the side. But he only had time to process that before it took him off his feet. It knocked him to the side, and he smacked into the ground. This was getting annoying.

But his annoyance would have to wait. Now there was the problem of the cut in his side and the fact that he was on his back near an Oni. Luckily, he still felt his switchblade in his left hand. As long as he had his weapon, he’d probably be okay.

At least, that’s what he thought before the Oni was only a meter away from him. He gritted his teeth as he pointed his weapon at the lumbering mass in front of him. Shuji didn’t have a choice; he had to use that technique.

“Shriek.”

Shuji forgot to plug his ears. And the ringing in them quickly reminded him of this mistake. He sat up slowly; he wouldn’t have to worry about the Oni causes problems any time soon. They typically didn’t get up from that. The ringing was the only thing he could hear as he surveyed the situation. To his immediate right, he could see his opponent lying flat on its back. The large indentation in its chest was proof enough that the attack had landed directly.

In the distance, he could see Umeki also on the ground. The Oni he’d left for her to deal with was now snapping at her. His subordinate narrowly dodged by scooting away from the creature. But how long could she keep struggling to survive?

Damn. He couldn’t trust her to handle the simplest tasks. Would he get there in time? No. He didn’t have much in the ways of long-range fighting either. He only had the one…

Damn.

“UMEKI, COVER YOUR EARS.”

There was time to spare to make sure she heard him. Still wobbly as he stood. Shuji raised his left arm once again to point it at the Oni attacking his subordinate. As quickly as possible, he covered his right ear, hating what came next.

“Shriek.”