Letting out a sigh, Sora slumped forward in his seat, elbows braced on his knees as his head hung low. While the rest of the students began to bombard their club captain with questions he remained quiet and unnoticed at the back of the classroom, thoughts swirling through his head as he processed everything he had just heard.
So it was exactly as he had feared. He had been summoned here because of that, the little part of his family history that apparently made him ‘special’, along with everyone else in this room. At least it wasn’t as bad as he had thought; he wasn’t the one being hunted for one thing and if everyone the older student was telling the truth about being like them then his family should be safe as well.
That the things he could see were real and not figments of his imagination was not a revelation, his family had explained that to him long ago, nor was the fact that he was not alone in having this ability, his own mother shared it after all and surely his was not the only family descended from Yōkai. What did give him pause was the idea that they all had abilities that went further than just being able to see more than the average person; the notion that he would have super powers because someone eight generations removed from him managed to have sex with a wood fire was hard to believe. He had never heard anything about it from his mother after all, and she of all people should know such things.
But then, Yōkai were said to possess strange and powerful abilities and he possessed the same blood as them, albeit diluted by time and distance. Maybe it wasn’t such an impossible idea. Maybe this club captain really would be able to bring that power out of them. Maybe, maybe not; either way, from the sounds of it being a member of this club had a price attached to it.
Tuning back in to the conversation in the room Sora listened as the other students expressed their own doubts and concerns. Surprisingly, it seemed like a few of them really were sceptical to the fact that this was all real, others wanted to know more about these supposed abilities and another asked the question that had been burning in his mind ever since receiving his acceptance letter; ‘how did you find us’.
“I really wish you’d told us all this before the school year started; if I’d known what this club was about before I moved here I wouldn’t have bothered.” Speaking up for the first time since entering the room Sora raised his head and focused his gaze on the club captain, but otherwise maintained his slouched forward posture. “Everyone’s asking a lot of questions and I’m curious about the answers to some of them but all I really want to know is this; why should I care?”
It was a callous question, he knew, but one that needed asking. “You’re saying these spirits we see aren’t always benevolent or harmless right? That sometimes they attack or take people away and you want it to be our job to stop them? You want us to risk our lives when we’re just a bunch of kids and some of us aren’t even sure those things we see are real to begin with? Give me one reason why I shouldn’t just go back home.”
So it was exactly as he had feared. He had been summoned here because of that, the little part of his family history that apparently made him ‘special’, along with everyone else in this room. At least it wasn’t as bad as he had thought; he wasn’t the one being hunted for one thing and if everyone the older student was telling the truth about being like them then his family should be safe as well.
That the things he could see were real and not figments of his imagination was not a revelation, his family had explained that to him long ago, nor was the fact that he was not alone in having this ability, his own mother shared it after all and surely his was not the only family descended from Yōkai. What did give him pause was the idea that they all had abilities that went further than just being able to see more than the average person; the notion that he would have super powers because someone eight generations removed from him managed to have sex with a wood fire was hard to believe. He had never heard anything about it from his mother after all, and she of all people should know such things.
But then, Yōkai were said to possess strange and powerful abilities and he possessed the same blood as them, albeit diluted by time and distance. Maybe it wasn’t such an impossible idea. Maybe this club captain really would be able to bring that power out of them. Maybe, maybe not; either way, from the sounds of it being a member of this club had a price attached to it.
Tuning back in to the conversation in the room Sora listened as the other students expressed their own doubts and concerns. Surprisingly, it seemed like a few of them really were sceptical to the fact that this was all real, others wanted to know more about these supposed abilities and another asked the question that had been burning in his mind ever since receiving his acceptance letter; ‘how did you find us’.
“I really wish you’d told us all this before the school year started; if I’d known what this club was about before I moved here I wouldn’t have bothered.” Speaking up for the first time since entering the room Sora raised his head and focused his gaze on the club captain, but otherwise maintained his slouched forward posture. “Everyone’s asking a lot of questions and I’m curious about the answers to some of them but all I really want to know is this; why should I care?”
It was a callous question, he knew, but one that needed asking. “You’re saying these spirits we see aren’t always benevolent or harmless right? That sometimes they attack or take people away and you want it to be our job to stop them? You want us to risk our lives when we’re just a bunch of kids and some of us aren’t even sure those things we see are real to begin with? Give me one reason why I shouldn’t just go back home.”