Yukio was starting to wake up. His vision was blurry, but he could hear voices around him.

"Is this him?" One feminine voice questioned.

"Indeed, the one who defeated Orochi." Another voice replied, Yukio recognized it to be Yumi's voice.

"Doesn't he look, like, super weak though? How could he beat one of the strongest Yoma ever." The other voice spoke up. Yukio found the slang and tone of her voice familiar.

Wait, I've heard this voice and slang before...but from where?

"Guys, guys. He looks like he's waking up." A higher pitched voice announced.

Yukio's vision returned to normal, and saw a girl looking down on him with a big smile on her face.

"Good morning, mister!" The high pitched voice waved down at Yukio.

Cute!

"Uh...good morning. Where am I? Where's everyone else?" Yukio asked, and looked around. He couldn't find any of the Hanzo Ninjas, nor Miyabi and her team.

"Minori, you and Shiki go tell the others that Yukio's awake." Yumi approached Yukio. He noticed that the two girls were wearing the same grey-sailor uniform.

"Aw, come on. I just wanted to meet him." The high-pitched girl complained.

"He's not here to be your play-buddy." Yumi responded.

Yukio looked around a saw another girl in the room. She had long-wavy blonde hair, and burgundy eyes. With a beauty mark on the lower right side of her mouth. She was wearing the same uniform as the other two.

She glared at the other two girls before she approached Yukio. "Hello, nice to meet ya. The name's Shiki. That's Minori, I call her Minnow. And it looks like you already met Yu-and-mi."

"Yu-and-mi? Minnow? Are those nicknames or something?" Yukio asked.

"Yep that's just what I call them, like, all the time. Your name's Yukio, right? Hmm...I know! I'll call you Yu." Shiki responded.

"Huh?" Yu(kio) couldn't fully understand what Shiki was saying to him.

Is this how 'gals' act? I don't know how people can understand them.

"Slow down for a second, Shiki." Yukio said.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I overwhelmed you with, like, a whole bunch of nonsense." Shiki apologized to him.

"It's fine, let me just process what's happening right now." Yukio closed his eyes, and sighed.

So I must've passed out after the battle with Miyabi's team, and Yumi took me to her academy instead of the hospital. Did the girls just allow that? I thought they would be against that, but I guess they weren't.

"Yukio, how are you feeling?" Yumi asked him.

"I'm feeling...slightly confused." Yukio replied.

And a little heartbroken to be honest.

"Understandable, you were unconscious for a whole day. Right now, we are at Gessen academy. Waiting for the rest of my classmates to get here so that we can interrogate you." Yumi explained.

I was asleep for a whole day?! I was that exhausted?

"I see..." Yukio responded. He looked around and noticed the room he was in.

So I guess this is what the Gessen academy looks like? It's exactly like how it was when I saw it in Soul Travel.

"So who are all your classmates?" Yukio asked.

"There are five of us including myself. You've already met Minori and Shiki. The other two will be here any minute now." Yumi replied.

"Alright, I should get up then." Yukio got up from the ground, and waited for the rest of Yumi's classmates to arrive.

After a few minutes, one of the colored doors slid open. Two girls walked into the room, and joined the group.

One of them had a dark blue-colored bob-cut, with dark blue eyes. She wore the grey uniform the other girls were wearing, except she wore large brown gauntlets with golden outlines around her arms, which had pistons next to her elbows.

What the heck?! Those are larger than Katsu's iron boots! They look similar with the golden outlines now that I look at it.

"Um...hello." Yukio greeted the dark blue bob-cut girl. "Nice to meet you, I'm Yukio."

"Nice to meet you too, my name's Yozakura." The girl's gentle voice greeted him back.

"May I ask a question, Yozakura?" Yukio asked. "What are those gauntlets for?"

"They are for protection, in case you decide to hurt one of us." Yozakura responded in a slight hostile tone.

Seriously?! One punch from those gauntlets could kill me!

"Uh...duly noted." Yukio grew nervous.

Yukio looked towards the next girl, and he was even more scared.

The girl had brown hair, tied into a side-ponytail. However, her face was covered by a mask of a scary ogre.

What the hell is this?! Why is she wearing that mask?

The masked girl pointed towards Yukio, and let out a deep voice. "Young boy, are you the one who killed Giant Yoma, Orochi?"

"Um...yeah." Yukio responded.

Why is she calling me 'young boy'? I bet she's not even older me.

"What's your name, ogre lady?" Yukio asked.

"Her name's Murakumo." Yumi responded.

"Hmm...yes, I can sense the potential in you." Murakumo said to Yukio.

"Sure...anyway. Now that everyone is here, are you going to start asking questions or something?" Yukio asked.

"Indeed, please take a seat." Yumi requested, and she walked towards a red bench in the fenced area with an umbrella that covered the bench.

Yukio and Yumi sat down at the bench, while the others observed from afar.

"First, let me go over what we know about you. A month ago, you were known as the first Shinobi of civilian origin. A few days ago, you, Asuka, and an Hebijo student have slain one of the four Giant Yoma, Orochi. Next, exactly one day ago, you stopped Miyabi and her squad from murdering the Hanzo Shinobi." Yumi begun the interview.

"Correct." Yukio confirmed Yumi's statements.

"Now then, being from civilian origins. How is possible for you to overcome such challenges?" Yumi asked.

I don't know if I should tell them about my powers, they probably won't believe it anyway. If I had to think of something, then...

"I had plenty of allies to help me with those challenges. If anyone deserves credit it's them, not me." Yukio replied.

"Yukio, you were held responsible for defeating Orochi. That is a task not even a Kagura-ranked Shinobi could do. We are not blaming you for anything that happened at Hebijo, we're doing the opposite actually. We're congratulating your achievements." Yumi explained.

"I didn't want to take all the credit, it really wasn't all my work. You said yourself, Asuka and Homura also fought Orochi." Yukio responded.

"Why can't you take some pride in your
accomplishments?" Yumi asked.

Yukio went silent.

Is it really ok for me to talk about my powers? Am I able to talk about them now?!

"Well...I have a secret power known only to myself. I've used it against Orochi, as well as Miyabi's squad. Basically every obstacle I've faced since I entered Hanzo Academy, I've overcome with this power. It's called De-" Yukio tried to tell them about his power, but he couldn't speak another word.

What the? I still can't tell anyone about Death's Restart?!

"What was the power? I couldn't hear the name of it." Yumi asked.

Shoot, I'm gonna have to talk about a different power then.

"The power is called...Ti-" Once again, Yukio mouth stopped him from saying another word.

I can't talk about Timer either?! Why not?!

"Soul Travel, the power's called Soul Travel." Yukio improvised. "I'm able to experience any past event from someone's point of view. That's how I was able to talk some sense into Ryobi and Ryona."

"That would make sense, you knew about their older sister. However, I don't believe that would work against Orochi." Yumi countered.

What? Why is she so fixated on learning my power?

"Believe me, I'd love to tell you all about my powers, but they feel more like curses to me." Yukio responded.

"Why can't you tell me about your powers?" Yumi asked.

"The curse won't let me. However, every power that I have is related to time. That's all I can say." Yukio answered.

"I see, so you might have the ability to manipulate time." Yumi said.

"Something like that." Yukio let out a sigh of relief.

If I can't say what the power does, I can only imply what it does.

"Well, since you have your answers. What do you plan to do with me now?" Yukio asked.

"We're gonna test you. You will spar with one of us, to see if you're capable of being a Shinobi." Yumi explained.

Yukio's eyes widened. The relief of finishing the questioning immediately vanished.

"Y-You've got to be joking. I don't want to fight anyone." Yukio denied Yumi's request.

"I'm afraid I wasn't asking." Yumi looked over at the other girls. "Murakumo, come over here for a minute."

The ogre-masked Shinobi walked to them. Yukio grew more nervous from the threatening aura radiating off of her.

"What is it, Yumi?" Murakumo asked.

"Would you like to spar with Yukio to test out his strength?" Yumi asked.

"You sure you want me? The others would be easier on him." Murakumo countered.

"Easy on me?!" Yukio exclaimed.

Is this girl going to kill me or something?!

Murakumo looked down at Yukio, as he quickly looked away from her out of fear.

"That is the reason why it must be you, Murakumo." Yumi replied.

"Ok, hold up." Yukio interrupted. "Why are you purposefully putting me against your strongest member?!"

"Firstly, she's the second strongest. Secondly, this test is to see how strong you are. Therefore, we will start with a strong member of my team." Yumi replied.

"That's not logical for a newbie like myself! Put me up against a weaker one!" Yukio demanded.

"My apologies, but you can't talk your way out of this one." Yumi denied, as she stood up from the bench and walked away

"Wait. Ugh, damn it." Yukio cursed as he stood up.

She doesn't expect me to win, does she?

Yukio looked at Murakumo, her height and mask reminded Yukio of how scary she looked. He darted his head away, and went back to Yumi.

"Yukio, Murakumo, follow me." Yumi ordered.

Murakumo followed her order, and Yukio reluctantly went along too. The other three girls followed after them. They entered one of the colored doors, and were taken outside.

"Murakumo, you go to the left of the stairs. Yukio, you're on the right." Yumi said.

Murakumo and Yukio went to their positions. Yumi walked over to Yukio's side.

"You don't have a weapon, do you?" Yumi asked.

"Huh? No, I don't use weapons of my own against them." Yukio responded.

"Let's change that, pick one." Yumi spawned an entire arsenal from melee to ranged weapons.

Wait, I can use any of these? What should I choose then? I could be fighting for my life, so I should pick weapons that fit me.

Yukio rushed through the weapons to quickly pick something. He then walked by a type of weapon that as if it called to him. Yukio grabbed two weapons, and grabbed a belt full of shurikens and kunais. He showed his weapons to Yumi.

"I'll use this. A crossbow, and a ballistic knife. How about I get some ammo for these things?" Yukio said while showing off the weapons.

To be continued...