Rippled Dimensions - Chapter 4
Lol what... ended up accidentally posting at my own journal Hahahahahahahahahahah
Title: Rippled Dimensions
Universe: Original, Decade and AR Rider worlds (Heisei Universe)
Fandom: Kamen Rider Decade
Rating: G, probably PG13 later
Genre: Supernatural
Summary: Before it all started, before the journey ever begins... strange happenings had started happening in the nine Rider worlds. Once again the nine Kamen Riders have to again take upon their Rider lives in order to save their worlds. AU as we wait for the second movie.
A/N: Ended up taking a while to write this one up, need to do data research on the Oni and Makamou since Wiki is SO NOT a good source. Okay... got, just things like some of the plot points aren't there and I still ended up having to rewatch the series. (Not that I don't like it XD) And I'm playing with a certain plot point that had been hovering in my head ever since I first started watching Hibiki.
Crossposted all over... but you all should know that already.
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Chapter 4: Hibiki's concerns
Hakone, Kanagawa.
At a village nearby, Adachi Asumu smiled to himself. Akira sat beside him as she followed his line of sight towards the villagers who were still busy working the paddy fields.
"It's so peaceful, isn't it?" she said casually as Asumu shrugged.
Akira glanced towards him.
"What're you doing here? Missing Mochida-san?" she teased as Asumu gave her a surprised cry.
"Err yeah, I mean... no! I mean... aaaargh! Akira-san!" cried Asumu as she laughed. Asumu sighed before glancing back towards the fields.
"I'm just daydreaming. There's isn't much work to do today anyway."
Akira grinned. "I noticed. The villagers seemed to get better after all. Still, this was something. Normal youngsters like us would have spent their holidays having fun. But you--"
Asumu coughed. "I can spend my days however I liked, thank you. You know that I am serious about becoming a doctor. I didn't ask you to join me here."
Akira leered back towards Asumu.
"I can say the same myself. Besides... I don't have any plans to do during the holidays. And cheering up sick children had been fun." said Akira before adding an afterthought. "Aside from that, I can watch over you here for Hitomi-chan."
Asumu blushed.
"Enough about teasing me, would you?" he cried aloud, snickering before shrugging. "Wonder how the others were doing right now. It's been a while since we had last seen Hibiki-san and the others..."
Asumu let his word hover in the air as he thought of Hibiki and the people at Tachibana's. Akira sighed.
"They should be all right, silly. It's not like they wouldn't survive a day without us visiting them every week." said Akira as Asumu grinned at her. Noticing that their lunch break was almost over, both of them started towards the clinic as a loud crash resounded behind them. Asumu and Akira turned around in surprise to find an Oni fighting a Bakegani. The Oni turned towards them as he cried out to tell them to evacuate the villagers quickly. Akira perked up as she recognized the Oni as Danki.
"Come on!" Akira said as Asumu and her ran off in a hurry to lead the rest of the villagers to safety. When they got back, they finally saw Shoki aiding Danki with the Bakegani as the Makamou was destroyed. But before either of them could let out a sigh of relief, another Bakegani appeared as well as a Kappa with their respective hime and douji accompanying. Both Akira and Asumu stared at the scene in shock.
"A kappa during this time? What's going on?" Akira cried as they watched helplessly at the sidelines. Another Oni, Eiki-san; appeared to help Danki and Shoki to fight off the Makamou. Eiki managed to destroy one Douji as Danki jumped aback, trying to avoid the Kappa's attack. The Kappa started making copies of itself as he groaned.
"Damned... it's not like I'm getting any younger over here." he cried as he destroyed one of the kappa's duplicates. He turned towards them as he noticed Asumu and Akira nearby.
"Has everyone been evacuated?"
Akira nodded. "We believed so... and I've called for help. Hibiki-san and Ibuki-san were the closest but we're not sure if they would come any sooner."
Danki nodded as he turned his attention towards the rest of the Makamou. Eiki managed to destroy the original Kappa as the copies followed with it. He joined Danki in confronting the Bakegani's Douji as Shoki was occupied in fighting the two Hime. But during the fight, Danki was caught by the Bakegani's claw as he was thrown towards a shed. To Asumu's alarm as well as Akira, they could see a small boy crouching behind the shed; not far from where Danki had crashed. Both of them hurried towards the shed, while avoiding the attacks from the Makamou, Douji and the two Hime.
Asumu rushed towards Danki as Akira reached towards the small boy before noticing that Danki had been hurt badly. He was barely conscious as Asumu frowned, glancing towards the direction of Eiki and Shoki. They really needed to get Danki-san and the boy out of the danger. And quick.
They were sitting ducks here if that Bakegani turned towards them. Seeing how Eiki and Shoki being outnumbered at the moment, he doubted they could come to their aid quick enough.
"Hibiki-san... Ibuki-san, please get here sooner!" Asumu whispered under his breath as he knelt down to pick up Danki's Henshin Onsa before proceeding to help Danki get out of the rubble. Just at that moment, the Bakegani had crashed towards the tree nearest to them as it turned its attention towards the two if them.
Akira looked up in alarm as the Bakegani's giant claw was about to slam onto Asumu and Danki...
xxx
"Danki!" Shoki cried out, just as he managed to nick one of the Hime and hurriedly destroyed her with his Ongeki. He turned towards the direction of the Bakegani just as a bright light shone on top of the rubble.
Akira opened her eyes slowly as she saw an Oni blocking the Bakegani's claw with his left arm before hitting it hard with one of his Ongekibo. Akira frowned; the Oni did not look like Danki-san. Sure enough, Danki was still lying on the ground; his injuries no worse than he already has. She gasped at another realization of the identity of this new Oni.
"Asumu?" she whispered in surprise as the Oni delivered another blow towards the claw; with Eiki managing to get to their aid fast enough to distract the creature away from the four.
Asumu turned towards Akira.
"Get them out to safety!" he said before turning towards Danki, who was now conscious enough to be at least aware of his surroundings. Asumu picked up Danki's other Ongekibo on the ground as he helped him towards Akira. "I'm borrowing your drum sticks for a while, Danki-san. Please get to a safe place for now." he said again as Danki nodded towards him barely.
"Be careful, Asumu." Akira reminded him as Asumu headed towards the other two Oni.
Taking a closer look, Asumu finally realized what was it that had been troubling him. The Bakegani might have looked like a normal Bakegani he used to see Hibiki fought last time but this one seemed wilder. As if there was some kind of force making it go wild. A troubling thought crossed his mind; it couldn't be another Orochi about to come? But Hibiki-san had put a stop to it for a while, few years ago!
Shoki defeated the other Hime as he reached Asumu's side.
"You're that boy who often hang around with Hibiki-san, is it?" Shoki asked nonchalantly as Asumu told him yes. He nodded as he nudged Asumu to head towards the Bakegani's other side.
"Since you becoming an Oni was unexpected, you follow my actions okay. You should remember how Hibiki-san had fought Makamou, right?"
"Yes. I still remembered."
"Good, then get ready to move after this." Shoki said as he shot the Bakegani with his Ongekikan. Asumu ran towards the Bakegani as he hit the Bakegani's front legs hard. Eiki had helped as well from the other side when the last Douji had steered away from him, causing the Bakegani to topple on its back. The Bakegani's Douji started distracting Eiki-san from attacking the Bakegani again as Eiki pursued the Douji.
"Asumu-kun! Now!" cried Shoki as Asumu jumped on top of the Bakegani's belly before placing the Ongekiko on the belly. Asumu took a long breath as he steeled himself to deliver the blow.
Shoki put his Ongekimei back to his Ongekikan to from a complete trumpet before looking towards Asumu's direction as the young lad gave a loud cry.
"Ongeki da! Kaen Renda no Kata!" he cried as he started drumming, almost at the same time Shoki had started his own Ongeki. Eiki had also finally caught up with the Douji as he hits it with his Hissatsu Hitchu form. The three sounds continued to resonate as both Bakegani and Douji exploded into many pieces.
Seeing that the fight had finished finally, Akira and Danki called out towards them as the three walked up to see them. Eiki turned around as he noticed Hibiki and Ibuki finally arrive at the entrance of the village. He smiled.
"You guys were late. We ended up finishing up the mess by ourselves while waiting."
Hibiki and Ibuki just shrugged before hurrying up to greet the others. Asumu turned to face Hibiki before shrugging at him as Hibiki cast him a questioning look.
xxx
"So, that's where both of you had been these few months..." said Hibiki casually as he sat beside Asumu.
Asumu shrugged.
"Well... I've heard there was a request from the clinic at that village asking if the hospital could send a doctor there to help with a strange illness that had hit the village. A doctor at the hospital had asked if I'd like to come with him to gain some experience so I accepted the offer."
Hibiki frowned.
"Is it so? Sorry if you had to cut your stay there short."
"Don't worry, Hibiki-san. Our term breaks are almost over after all, we would have came home around this time also if this incident had not happen. And Asumu-kun certainly is not too unhappy to get back here sooner." Akira explained as Hibiki appeared relieved. Asumu elbowed her as she grinned.
Ibuki eyed Akira before shrugging to himself.
"So how are you now?" he asked Akira as she shrugged.
"It's not so bad. My psychology studies are also going well. What about you, Ibuki-san?" she asked as Ibuki fidgeted saying that he was coping well also.
Hibiki laughed.
"Don't worry about him. Nowadays, Kasumi had always--" Hibiki paused as the doctor finally walked out of the room.
"How's Danki-san, Doctor?" Asumu started to ask as the doctor smiled.
"He's fine. His injuries weren't so bad. He'd be able to get back on his feet in no time."
The four of them was relieved as they entered the ward to see Danki. Said man greeted them cheerfully as Hibiki grinned.
"It seemed it going to take a lot more than this to bring you down."
Danki laughed aloud.
"Hah... you're jesting, Hibiki-san. You're older than me and you're still active-working."
Hibiki gave him his usual salute as he shrugged.
"It's because I'm always trained. I was surprised to see you getting yourself beaten up so much."
"We had been fighting a lot more Makamou before that actually. It was only those two Makamou that had managed to escape towards that village. Enough about me... it seemed you had another good disciple, Hibiki-san." he said before turning towards Asumu.
"You had fought well this afternoon..."
Asumu coughed as Hibiki gave him a curious look.
"Ah... that's nothing special. You were hurt... and Akira-san and that small boy was there, I was holding the Henshin Onsa..."
Asumu shrugged. "I haven't been thinking when I had transformed. The only thing on my mind had been Danki-san being hurt, the Bakegani, that small kid--Oh, Akira-san! What about that kid?" he suddenly burst aloud as Akira smiled.
"Don't worry... when you had been occupied, I've found the boy's parents. That boy's safe."
"And Asumu had always been my disciple, Danki. Long before Kiriya-kun came along. Even though he won't become an oni, he'd still be my disciple." said Hibiki as he patted Asumu's back with pride.
"Sure fooled me. You should have seen him fight, Hibiki-san! He's a natural..." said Danki as Asumu coughed uncomfortably.
"Anyway, Hibiki-san--" said Asumu again as he tried to change the topic. "We noticed that the Makamou had been behaving strangely."
"Unn," Akira added. "A Kappa had appeared." she said as Hibiki and Ibuki turned towards Danki to reaffirm it. Danki nodded.
"There had been more Makamou that Eiki, Shoki and I had fought earlier aside from those two Bakegani and Kappa. There were others, giant Makamou and summer Makamou alike; half of them weren't even local to that mountainous area near the village. Something strange is happening here, Hibiki-san." said Danki in a very worried tone.
Hibiki and Ibuki remained quiet as both felt the same. A premonition on something far worse than either they or others in the past had ever faced. Or ever would.
xxx
Tachibana Ichiro was in deep thought as Hibiki and Ibuki finished retelling about the incident in Hokane.
"Eiki and Shoki had continued on a lookout over there but so far it seemed everything was under control. For now. Another thing that was bothering me was what Asumu had mentioned."
Tachibana nodded.
"I get what you're telling me. I guess it was expected for someone like Asumu to notice. We often overlooked things that we used to do all the time after all. Come to think about it, Ishiwari had recently called me telling the same thing."
"This is happening as well in Sabaki-san's area?" Ibuki asked as Tachibana nodded.
"Sabaki had also agreed with Ishiwari's thoughts. That should explain why the Makamou had appeared randomly out of place and season, as well as why had the Makamou become even more stronger despite having neither armor or crossbreeding between the creatures."
Hibiki frowned.
"Danki also said the same as well. After hearing what Asumu had said, he admitted he himself felt that the Bakegani and other Makamou had been even more ferocious and harder to handle than usual. As if there was something that had caused the Makamou to become wild.'
"Hmm, saying it like that this somehow appeared similar as when Orochi had began." mused Tachibana. "But there haven't any reports of a Kodama forest being sighted anywhere so these chains of events might not even relate to Orochi. Despite one could see it was similar to Orochi. I needed to confirm my suspicions on this with the other branches first."
Hibiki and Ibuki nodded in agreement before excusing themselves for the day.
xxx
The next day, Hibiki took a short walk along the countryside before stumbling onto Asumu in the middle of the path. He shrugged.
"Taking a morning stroll?" Hibiki asked as Asumu grinned.
"Yeah. Though, I'm actually heading towards Tachibana's. Are you doing your trainings again this morning, Hibiki-san?"
Hibiki shrugged.
"I actually wanted to see you. Walk back together?" Hibiki asked as Asumu walked alongside him.
Both of them were quiet as they headed back towards Tachibana's before Hibiki finally broke the ice.
"Never expected to see you as an Oni back there. Kind of stumped me a bit there."
Asumu let out a nervous laugh.
"Just never tell Kiriya-kun about that transformation, he'd probably go bonkers about the Oni issue again. Then again Hibiki-san, I hadn't seen him around."
Hibiki just smiled.
"Kiriya-kun had just recently become his own Oni for a while. Yoshino had assigned him to another district though, so you probably won't see him for some time. Why? Missed him already?"
Asumu immediately shook his head. "No... umm, not really. I know you'd probably gonna be concerned about it but well..." Asumu cocked his head to his side a bit. "...even though he hadn't been as strange as he was when I first met him, I still felt awkward around Kiriya-kun. You can understand that, could you Hibiki-san?" Asumu said as he looked up towards Hibiki.
Hibiki just nodded as Asumu continued. "Anyway, Kiriya-kun always gets hyped about being an Oni when I'm around and I rather he didn't find out about what happened in Hokane. He probably gonna think I tried to get back to becoming an Oni just to show off to him that I'm better than him."
Asumu rolled his eyes around as he said it aloud. Kiriya would definitely do that. He'd probably even rush back here to demand a duel or something like he used to do last time, thought Asumu as he cringed.
"Anyhow Hibiki-san... what about the incident in Hokane? Did Tachibana-san say anything about it?"
Hibiki glanced back towards him.
"Don't worry... it doesn't seem like another Orochi is coming. But we would still be on a lookout for any other similar occurrences. Even then, we'd probably be able to deal with it soon." he told Asumu he assured him before giving him a salute.
Asumu grinned.
"Yeah, I believe so... Hibiki-san!"
xxx
Hibiki just kept observing Asumu, silently as everyone had been delighted to see him again while he helped out with the shop. Todoroki and Ibuki had also dropped by to chat with the boy, having not seen him for a while. Akira had also arrived earlier to the shop, after Hinaka had called asking her to help out with the customers. Somehow, this turned out to become a sort of reunion party for Asumu and Akira. Hibiki chuckled. It was not as if they have been gone a long time but since both of the youngsters had entered university, and Asumu still having worked part-time job at the hospital; times like this where both of the youngsters were around at the shop were quite rare. Because of that, everyone had always cherished the times when Akira and Asumu paid them all a visit every random days.
Hibiki smiled to himself.
He had never thought he would see the day when Asumu would actually become an Oni. Considering the circumstances that had happened in the past, he had surrendered at the fact that Asumu would end up becoming a doctor instead of an Oni. Still, seeing Asumu that day as an Oni and hearing from both Danki and Shoki about how well he had fought for the first time had sparked a sense of pride in him. Not like he was never been proud of Asumu before but seeing how Asumu had become even stronger made him even more proud.
And now they had another thing to worry about with this new incident that felt strongly similar like Orochi. For some reason he cannot help but be concerned. The cleansing ritual that they had performed few years ago should have kept Orochi at bay for another long time. So what was the cause of this new incident?
"It's going to start soon."
Hibiki jumped as he was startled at the sound of that voice before rising from his chair to walk out. Kasumi and Midori had turned to ask him what was bothering him as Hibiki waved them off to tell that he would just be out for a while to take some air.
Outside, Hibiki walked up towards the silhouette of a man as the man turned to face him. Hibiki gasped aloud as his suspicions were correct.
"Zanki-san... how? I thought--"
Zanki just smiled bitterly.
"Unnatural existence tend to happen whenever nature and the order of the worlds had been disturbed. This was such occurrence. This world is facing another danger, Hibiki."
Hibiki bit his lips.
"Then it's really not Orochi but another danger as worse?" Hibiki asked as Zanki nodded.
"Someone had tempered with the order of the world and changes would start to affect the other. It cannot be avoided for long."
"Someone?" Hibiki asked again, frowning.
"Someone from another world... and time. Whatever changes that had been done in that person's world would soon start to affect the other worlds... not just ours. These changes... would certainly not be good." said Zanki again.
"Zanki-san?" Todoroki's voice suddenly was heard behind him as Hibiki sighed. But before he could turn, an apparition seemed to appear from behind Zanki as the former Oni disappeared into it. Todoroki ran up to his side in surprise as he asked Hibiki what happened.
Hibiki remained deep in thought as he pondered about the warning Zanki had brought with him.
Title: Rippled Dimensions
Universe: Original, Decade and AR Rider worlds (Heisei Universe)
Fandom: Kamen Rider Decade
Rating: G, probably PG13 later
Genre: Supernatural
Summary: Before it all started, before the journey ever begins... strange happenings had started happening in the nine Rider worlds. Once again the nine Kamen Riders have to again take upon their Rider lives in order to save their worlds. AU as we wait for the second movie.
A/N: Ended up taking a while to write this one up, need to do data research on the Oni and Makamou since Wiki is SO NOT a good source. Okay... got, just things like some of the plot points aren't there and I still ended up having to rewatch the series. (Not that I don't like it XD) And I'm playing with a certain plot point that had been hovering in my head ever since I first started watching Hibiki.
Crossposted all over... but you all should know that already.
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Chapter 4: Hibiki's concerns
Hakone, Kanagawa.
At a village nearby, Adachi Asumu smiled to himself. Akira sat beside him as she followed his line of sight towards the villagers who were still busy working the paddy fields.
"It's so peaceful, isn't it?" she said casually as Asumu shrugged.
Akira glanced towards him.
"What're you doing here? Missing Mochida-san?" she teased as Asumu gave her a surprised cry.
"Err yeah, I mean... no! I mean... aaaargh! Akira-san!" cried Asumu as she laughed. Asumu sighed before glancing back towards the fields.
"I'm just daydreaming. There's isn't much work to do today anyway."
Akira grinned. "I noticed. The villagers seemed to get better after all. Still, this was something. Normal youngsters like us would have spent their holidays having fun. But you--"
Asumu coughed. "I can spend my days however I liked, thank you. You know that I am serious about becoming a doctor. I didn't ask you to join me here."
Akira leered back towards Asumu.
"I can say the same myself. Besides... I don't have any plans to do during the holidays. And cheering up sick children had been fun." said Akira before adding an afterthought. "Aside from that, I can watch over you here for Hitomi-chan."
Asumu blushed.
"Enough about teasing me, would you?" he cried aloud, snickering before shrugging. "Wonder how the others were doing right now. It's been a while since we had last seen Hibiki-san and the others..."
Asumu let his word hover in the air as he thought of Hibiki and the people at Tachibana's. Akira sighed.
"They should be all right, silly. It's not like they wouldn't survive a day without us visiting them every week." said Akira as Asumu grinned at her. Noticing that their lunch break was almost over, both of them started towards the clinic as a loud crash resounded behind them. Asumu and Akira turned around in surprise to find an Oni fighting a Bakegani. The Oni turned towards them as he cried out to tell them to evacuate the villagers quickly. Akira perked up as she recognized the Oni as Danki.
"Come on!" Akira said as Asumu and her ran off in a hurry to lead the rest of the villagers to safety. When they got back, they finally saw Shoki aiding Danki with the Bakegani as the Makamou was destroyed. But before either of them could let out a sigh of relief, another Bakegani appeared as well as a Kappa with their respective hime and douji accompanying. Both Akira and Asumu stared at the scene in shock.
"A kappa during this time? What's going on?" Akira cried as they watched helplessly at the sidelines. Another Oni, Eiki-san; appeared to help Danki and Shoki to fight off the Makamou. Eiki managed to destroy one Douji as Danki jumped aback, trying to avoid the Kappa's attack. The Kappa started making copies of itself as he groaned.
"Damned... it's not like I'm getting any younger over here." he cried as he destroyed one of the kappa's duplicates. He turned towards them as he noticed Asumu and Akira nearby.
"Has everyone been evacuated?"
Akira nodded. "We believed so... and I've called for help. Hibiki-san and Ibuki-san were the closest but we're not sure if they would come any sooner."
Danki nodded as he turned his attention towards the rest of the Makamou. Eiki managed to destroy the original Kappa as the copies followed with it. He joined Danki in confronting the Bakegani's Douji as Shoki was occupied in fighting the two Hime. But during the fight, Danki was caught by the Bakegani's claw as he was thrown towards a shed. To Asumu's alarm as well as Akira, they could see a small boy crouching behind the shed; not far from where Danki had crashed. Both of them hurried towards the shed, while avoiding the attacks from the Makamou, Douji and the two Hime.
Asumu rushed towards Danki as Akira reached towards the small boy before noticing that Danki had been hurt badly. He was barely conscious as Asumu frowned, glancing towards the direction of Eiki and Shoki. They really needed to get Danki-san and the boy out of the danger. And quick.
They were sitting ducks here if that Bakegani turned towards them. Seeing how Eiki and Shoki being outnumbered at the moment, he doubted they could come to their aid quick enough.
"Hibiki-san... Ibuki-san, please get here sooner!" Asumu whispered under his breath as he knelt down to pick up Danki's Henshin Onsa before proceeding to help Danki get out of the rubble. Just at that moment, the Bakegani had crashed towards the tree nearest to them as it turned its attention towards the two if them.
Akira looked up in alarm as the Bakegani's giant claw was about to slam onto Asumu and Danki...
xxx
"Danki!" Shoki cried out, just as he managed to nick one of the Hime and hurriedly destroyed her with his Ongeki. He turned towards the direction of the Bakegani just as a bright light shone on top of the rubble.
Akira opened her eyes slowly as she saw an Oni blocking the Bakegani's claw with his left arm before hitting it hard with one of his Ongekibo. Akira frowned; the Oni did not look like Danki-san. Sure enough, Danki was still lying on the ground; his injuries no worse than he already has. She gasped at another realization of the identity of this new Oni.
"Asumu?" she whispered in surprise as the Oni delivered another blow towards the claw; with Eiki managing to get to their aid fast enough to distract the creature away from the four.
Asumu turned towards Akira.
"Get them out to safety!" he said before turning towards Danki, who was now conscious enough to be at least aware of his surroundings. Asumu picked up Danki's other Ongekibo on the ground as he helped him towards Akira. "I'm borrowing your drum sticks for a while, Danki-san. Please get to a safe place for now." he said again as Danki nodded towards him barely.
"Be careful, Asumu." Akira reminded him as Asumu headed towards the other two Oni.
Taking a closer look, Asumu finally realized what was it that had been troubling him. The Bakegani might have looked like a normal Bakegani he used to see Hibiki fought last time but this one seemed wilder. As if there was some kind of force making it go wild. A troubling thought crossed his mind; it couldn't be another Orochi about to come? But Hibiki-san had put a stop to it for a while, few years ago!
Shoki defeated the other Hime as he reached Asumu's side.
"You're that boy who often hang around with Hibiki-san, is it?" Shoki asked nonchalantly as Asumu told him yes. He nodded as he nudged Asumu to head towards the Bakegani's other side.
"Since you becoming an Oni was unexpected, you follow my actions okay. You should remember how Hibiki-san had fought Makamou, right?"
"Yes. I still remembered."
"Good, then get ready to move after this." Shoki said as he shot the Bakegani with his Ongekikan. Asumu ran towards the Bakegani as he hit the Bakegani's front legs hard. Eiki had helped as well from the other side when the last Douji had steered away from him, causing the Bakegani to topple on its back. The Bakegani's Douji started distracting Eiki-san from attacking the Bakegani again as Eiki pursued the Douji.
"Asumu-kun! Now!" cried Shoki as Asumu jumped on top of the Bakegani's belly before placing the Ongekiko on the belly. Asumu took a long breath as he steeled himself to deliver the blow.
Shoki put his Ongekimei back to his Ongekikan to from a complete trumpet before looking towards Asumu's direction as the young lad gave a loud cry.
"Ongeki da! Kaen Renda no Kata!" he cried as he started drumming, almost at the same time Shoki had started his own Ongeki. Eiki had also finally caught up with the Douji as he hits it with his Hissatsu Hitchu form. The three sounds continued to resonate as both Bakegani and Douji exploded into many pieces.
Seeing that the fight had finished finally, Akira and Danki called out towards them as the three walked up to see them. Eiki turned around as he noticed Hibiki and Ibuki finally arrive at the entrance of the village. He smiled.
"You guys were late. We ended up finishing up the mess by ourselves while waiting."
Hibiki and Ibuki just shrugged before hurrying up to greet the others. Asumu turned to face Hibiki before shrugging at him as Hibiki cast him a questioning look.
xxx
"So, that's where both of you had been these few months..." said Hibiki casually as he sat beside Asumu.
Asumu shrugged.
"Well... I've heard there was a request from the clinic at that village asking if the hospital could send a doctor there to help with a strange illness that had hit the village. A doctor at the hospital had asked if I'd like to come with him to gain some experience so I accepted the offer."
Hibiki frowned.
"Is it so? Sorry if you had to cut your stay there short."
"Don't worry, Hibiki-san. Our term breaks are almost over after all, we would have came home around this time also if this incident had not happen. And Asumu-kun certainly is not too unhappy to get back here sooner." Akira explained as Hibiki appeared relieved. Asumu elbowed her as she grinned.
Ibuki eyed Akira before shrugging to himself.
"So how are you now?" he asked Akira as she shrugged.
"It's not so bad. My psychology studies are also going well. What about you, Ibuki-san?" she asked as Ibuki fidgeted saying that he was coping well also.
Hibiki laughed.
"Don't worry about him. Nowadays, Kasumi had always--" Hibiki paused as the doctor finally walked out of the room.
"How's Danki-san, Doctor?" Asumu started to ask as the doctor smiled.
"He's fine. His injuries weren't so bad. He'd be able to get back on his feet in no time."
The four of them was relieved as they entered the ward to see Danki. Said man greeted them cheerfully as Hibiki grinned.
"It seemed it going to take a lot more than this to bring you down."
Danki laughed aloud.
"Hah... you're jesting, Hibiki-san. You're older than me and you're still active-working."
Hibiki gave him his usual salute as he shrugged.
"It's because I'm always trained. I was surprised to see you getting yourself beaten up so much."
"We had been fighting a lot more Makamou before that actually. It was only those two Makamou that had managed to escape towards that village. Enough about me... it seemed you had another good disciple, Hibiki-san." he said before turning towards Asumu.
"You had fought well this afternoon..."
Asumu coughed as Hibiki gave him a curious look.
"Ah... that's nothing special. You were hurt... and Akira-san and that small boy was there, I was holding the Henshin Onsa..."
Asumu shrugged. "I haven't been thinking when I had transformed. The only thing on my mind had been Danki-san being hurt, the Bakegani, that small kid--Oh, Akira-san! What about that kid?" he suddenly burst aloud as Akira smiled.
"Don't worry... when you had been occupied, I've found the boy's parents. That boy's safe."
"And Asumu had always been my disciple, Danki. Long before Kiriya-kun came along. Even though he won't become an oni, he'd still be my disciple." said Hibiki as he patted Asumu's back with pride.
"Sure fooled me. You should have seen him fight, Hibiki-san! He's a natural..." said Danki as Asumu coughed uncomfortably.
"Anyway, Hibiki-san--" said Asumu again as he tried to change the topic. "We noticed that the Makamou had been behaving strangely."
"Unn," Akira added. "A Kappa had appeared." she said as Hibiki and Ibuki turned towards Danki to reaffirm it. Danki nodded.
"There had been more Makamou that Eiki, Shoki and I had fought earlier aside from those two Bakegani and Kappa. There were others, giant Makamou and summer Makamou alike; half of them weren't even local to that mountainous area near the village. Something strange is happening here, Hibiki-san." said Danki in a very worried tone.
Hibiki and Ibuki remained quiet as both felt the same. A premonition on something far worse than either they or others in the past had ever faced. Or ever would.
xxx
Tachibana Ichiro was in deep thought as Hibiki and Ibuki finished retelling about the incident in Hokane.
"Eiki and Shoki had continued on a lookout over there but so far it seemed everything was under control. For now. Another thing that was bothering me was what Asumu had mentioned."
Tachibana nodded.
"I get what you're telling me. I guess it was expected for someone like Asumu to notice. We often overlooked things that we used to do all the time after all. Come to think about it, Ishiwari had recently called me telling the same thing."
"This is happening as well in Sabaki-san's area?" Ibuki asked as Tachibana nodded.
"Sabaki had also agreed with Ishiwari's thoughts. That should explain why the Makamou had appeared randomly out of place and season, as well as why had the Makamou become even more stronger despite having neither armor or crossbreeding between the creatures."
Hibiki frowned.
"Danki also said the same as well. After hearing what Asumu had said, he admitted he himself felt that the Bakegani and other Makamou had been even more ferocious and harder to handle than usual. As if there was something that had caused the Makamou to become wild.'
"Hmm, saying it like that this somehow appeared similar as when Orochi had began." mused Tachibana. "But there haven't any reports of a Kodama forest being sighted anywhere so these chains of events might not even relate to Orochi. Despite one could see it was similar to Orochi. I needed to confirm my suspicions on this with the other branches first."
Hibiki and Ibuki nodded in agreement before excusing themselves for the day.
xxx
The next day, Hibiki took a short walk along the countryside before stumbling onto Asumu in the middle of the path. He shrugged.
"Taking a morning stroll?" Hibiki asked as Asumu grinned.
"Yeah. Though, I'm actually heading towards Tachibana's. Are you doing your trainings again this morning, Hibiki-san?"
Hibiki shrugged.
"I actually wanted to see you. Walk back together?" Hibiki asked as Asumu walked alongside him.
Both of them were quiet as they headed back towards Tachibana's before Hibiki finally broke the ice.
"Never expected to see you as an Oni back there. Kind of stumped me a bit there."
Asumu let out a nervous laugh.
"Just never tell Kiriya-kun about that transformation, he'd probably go bonkers about the Oni issue again. Then again Hibiki-san, I hadn't seen him around."
Hibiki just smiled.
"Kiriya-kun had just recently become his own Oni for a while. Yoshino had assigned him to another district though, so you probably won't see him for some time. Why? Missed him already?"
Asumu immediately shook his head. "No... umm, not really. I know you'd probably gonna be concerned about it but well..." Asumu cocked his head to his side a bit. "...even though he hadn't been as strange as he was when I first met him, I still felt awkward around Kiriya-kun. You can understand that, could you Hibiki-san?" Asumu said as he looked up towards Hibiki.
Hibiki just nodded as Asumu continued. "Anyway, Kiriya-kun always gets hyped about being an Oni when I'm around and I rather he didn't find out about what happened in Hokane. He probably gonna think I tried to get back to becoming an Oni just to show off to him that I'm better than him."
Asumu rolled his eyes around as he said it aloud. Kiriya would definitely do that. He'd probably even rush back here to demand a duel or something like he used to do last time, thought Asumu as he cringed.
"Anyhow Hibiki-san... what about the incident in Hokane? Did Tachibana-san say anything about it?"
Hibiki glanced back towards him.
"Don't worry... it doesn't seem like another Orochi is coming. But we would still be on a lookout for any other similar occurrences. Even then, we'd probably be able to deal with it soon." he told Asumu he assured him before giving him a salute.
Asumu grinned.
"Yeah, I believe so... Hibiki-san!"
xxx
Hibiki just kept observing Asumu, silently as everyone had been delighted to see him again while he helped out with the shop. Todoroki and Ibuki had also dropped by to chat with the boy, having not seen him for a while. Akira had also arrived earlier to the shop, after Hinaka had called asking her to help out with the customers. Somehow, this turned out to become a sort of reunion party for Asumu and Akira. Hibiki chuckled. It was not as if they have been gone a long time but since both of the youngsters had entered university, and Asumu still having worked part-time job at the hospital; times like this where both of the youngsters were around at the shop were quite rare. Because of that, everyone had always cherished the times when Akira and Asumu paid them all a visit every random days.
Hibiki smiled to himself.
He had never thought he would see the day when Asumu would actually become an Oni. Considering the circumstances that had happened in the past, he had surrendered at the fact that Asumu would end up becoming a doctor instead of an Oni. Still, seeing Asumu that day as an Oni and hearing from both Danki and Shoki about how well he had fought for the first time had sparked a sense of pride in him. Not like he was never been proud of Asumu before but seeing how Asumu had become even stronger made him even more proud.
And now they had another thing to worry about with this new incident that felt strongly similar like Orochi. For some reason he cannot help but be concerned. The cleansing ritual that they had performed few years ago should have kept Orochi at bay for another long time. So what was the cause of this new incident?
"It's going to start soon."
Hibiki jumped as he was startled at the sound of that voice before rising from his chair to walk out. Kasumi and Midori had turned to ask him what was bothering him as Hibiki waved them off to tell that he would just be out for a while to take some air.
Outside, Hibiki walked up towards the silhouette of a man as the man turned to face him. Hibiki gasped aloud as his suspicions were correct.
"Zanki-san... how? I thought--"
Zanki just smiled bitterly.
"Unnatural existence tend to happen whenever nature and the order of the worlds had been disturbed. This was such occurrence. This world is facing another danger, Hibiki."
Hibiki bit his lips.
"Then it's really not Orochi but another danger as worse?" Hibiki asked as Zanki nodded.
"Someone had tempered with the order of the world and changes would start to affect the other. It cannot be avoided for long."
"Someone?" Hibiki asked again, frowning.
"Someone from another world... and time. Whatever changes that had been done in that person's world would soon start to affect the other worlds... not just ours. These changes... would certainly not be good." said Zanki again.
"Zanki-san?" Todoroki's voice suddenly was heard behind him as Hibiki sighed. But before he could turn, an apparition seemed to appear from behind Zanki as the former Oni disappeared into it. Todoroki ran up to his side in surprise as he asked Hibiki what happened.
Hibiki remained deep in thought as he pondered about the warning Zanki had brought with him.