The hunt for the black wings

The morning light pierced through the training room like curtains of warmth, inside the only sounds that could be heard were that of a wooden sword cutting through the air and the singing of birds in the yard.

Crisp mornings like this were a staple in Kei's Matsunaga schedule. Each Sunday since he had started training swordsmanship, he would wake up at 10 AM sharp, had a hearty breakfast and trained for a good 2 hours till midday. The regime brought him more enjoyment that most people would believe, but today was different, today was the day he began his most daring task.

"Brat..." A dark, imposing figure spoke to him from the seat, it's stance resembling more boredom than the regal poise its armor hinted. "It is time."

Today, would be one of the few cases were the routine would break.

As the young man wiped the sweat from his brow he turned and spoke, a shine to his eyes that betrayed the fiery determination he felt. "Indeed..."

The train station was sparsely populated, even for a Sunday midday. Yet it made it all the better for his search, he kept a brisk pace and the scratching feeling inside of his head only grew stronger until he finally found his mark. A minuscule hallway secluded away inside the station itself, all it took for him was to follow it down, turn left, turn right, then turn right once more and finally turn right a third time.

The air itself twisted and coagulated in a thick, oil-like layer clinging to him as he stepped forward. And with a step anda single command "[Zona Oscura]" he reached his destination: A bleeding zone. The familiar station hallways were minimally changed, yet a distinct energy fueled the air along with the distinct lack of people in the area.

"Can you feel it too, brat?" The eidolon behind spoke, this time more expectant than in his usual tone. "Yeah, it's stronger than the other ones." Kei made his way towards the main platforms, the hallways slowly and subtly twisting in to more bizarre shapes, posters that usually depicted beautiful models or movies soon to release started to focus on trains more and more. Was this because of the mental image a train station would be more likely to reflect the closer one is to it to the idea world? Questions for smarter people, but Kei couldn't help to recourse his theory inside his mind.

"If the idea world reflects the minds, then the locales in the Idea World itself reflect the ideas people have of locations, or at least significant ones. The Motsukabe Station is the oldest station in town, despite having been modernized in the past years, and it's also seen one of the most recent cases of those mysterious blackouts. A girl fell down the tracks just as a train was about to arrive, but fortunately it was saved by an unkown gi-" "Brat, we are here. Pay attention!"

As he was snapped from his thoughts, he took the space of the main platforms, the usual sober and metropolitan space of the platforms had been transformed into a literal web of train-tracks. The shades of normal humans walked past him without realizing, and he could spy apparitions meandering around in the web of tracks spreading across the station.

Yet the one thing that caught his eye was more important. A patch within the bleeding zone had grown a plant, or a facsimile of one: Pitch black with white, almost luminescent leaves, as if one had taken an old white and black picture and saturated it to the highest levels. Its petals, if they could be called as such, where shaped as clusters of cocoons.

This confirmed his theory. "Takemi-"

"Indeed, you were right."

"Then this means..."

"There's a truant in this city."

"... Damn it."

The way towards reality was brisk and determined, he walked down the hallways towards the bleeding zone entrance "It's not just one individual committing these 'blackout attacks', if that plant there does what I think it does, then that means-"

"You don't have to tell me of it, brat. I'm well aware of what we must do, find the bastard and split his skull open."

"That's easier said than done, Takemi-"

"Ti...ckets...."

Kei came to a halt and in a swift motion he reached for the bokken he carried on his bag, this was starting to become second nature for him.

Down the hallway, a- no, not one. Many.

"W-W-W-What do you me-an this isn't the K--o-o-o-o-shiguna st--ation?!"

"I los-t the last traIN AGAIN!"

"Your... tick...ets. Ple... aseeeeeeeeeeeeee"%%

"... hmm, rabble."

The figures were ghosts, and looking by how deformed these were, not the kind of ghosts an exorcist may be able to get rid off.

Not that he was one. "And I thought I was not going to be able to train today..."

The ghosts lunged at him with surprising speed and within a few seconds the front one was on him, malformed jaw open wide to bite his face, ticket shaped tongue flailing wildly. The only thing it met was a kick against it's sternum pushing it back, despite the push, little damage was made against it.

Good thing Kei had a trick for that.

In a split second, he was standing in front of the ghost, bokken raised high as it began to burst with white, crackling static.

"Takemikazuchi!" The boy spoke with thunderous force as his Idolon manifested behind him. "Ichimonji!" He brought down the sword against the ghost, splitting it in half from head to toe. A single stroke more than enough to rend the spirit apart.

The other ghosts, retaliated. He took a stance, and Takemikazuchi unsheathed both of his blades.

He was really going to get some training today.

Kei was sitting on the river terrace, takoyaki plate on his hands, the sun was barely starting to set. He had spent the vast majority of the day walking around the city, entering whichever Bleeding Zone he could find, the result were dire. The same plants that he found in the station. Some in a different stage of growth than others, none of them seemed 'mature' yet; so that was a relief. Yet the consolation was little in comparison to the images he was forming in his mind.

"This is worse than I thought. If this means what I think it means, then this could become an epidemic, the entire city could fall victim to this. Could it really be only one person? Are they even human? I can't do this on my own, independently of what I can do. I have to talk to the studen-"

A shriek crashed across his mind, not a mental attack but a real person.

"Someone help!" He snapped his head towards the call for help, a middle aged woman in the bridge over the river, in front of her a slumped body hanging over the railing.

Slumping.

"She wont be able to hold her!"

Slumping

*"It's too far for me to go up the bridge!"

Falling.

Kei's body bolted on instinct, running towards the shore of the river and diving head first into the waters almost at the same time as the girl. The river was deep, yet the current was manageable. He swam without issue towards her, hooked his arm under hers and lifted her head over the water.

She was out cold, limp and almost too cold for a healthy person. Shoulder length hair and Higan uniform soaked. Fortunately, he reached the shore quickly, and a small gathering of people had gathered to help. A man handed over his coat to cover the girl, and almost corpse like complexion in her.

"Give her space!."

"Is she allright?!"

"Th-that guy must be an athlete swimmer or something!"

"The authorities are on their way..."

Kei was catching his breath, more from the spook than from the effort. Now that the action had passed, he looked closer to the girl, she was pale, way too pale. And he could swear he'd seen her somewhere. Until it hit him like a train.

Yae Zennami. The Student's Council vice president.

Then her eyes met his.