𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟓, 𝐈𝐳𝐮𝐦𝐨 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐭

In the ancestral home of the Asakura Clan, amidst a plethora of candles, sat Asakura Yohmei. He was going to be a grandfather in a matter of mere minutes, but the occasion wasn't joyous for the child in his daughter's womb was the reincarnation of great evil and stopping him was the responsibility of the Asakura Clan and the Hirawa Clan.

A few members of the Hirawa Clan were present as well, offering their assistance. Hirawa Mai and Hirawa Meian with their 2-year-old son; Hirawa Hiroshi and newborn daughter;  Hirawa Mika. Some elders from their families were sitting with Yohmei, praying with him. Panting, Yohmei opened his eyes in distress, knowing the difficult choice he was about to make.

Behind him sat an old lady, Asakura Kino, "So we will have to kill him, after all." The lady was an Itako,  "But what if she's having twins? If they are identical twins, it will be impossible to tell which one he is."

The surprise and shock made the old man get up from his place as he thought for a second, his thoughts were conflicting, "It doesn't matter. I'll kill both of them!"

The room was filled with tense air. The painfully loud noise of the clock ticking fell upon everyone's ears. Asakura Keiko, the soon-to-be mother, was lying on a futon, waiting to give birth to her children as her husband, Asakura Mikihisa, watched with a hardened face. The two soon-to-be parents understood what had to be done, it was for the better of the entire world.

Hirawa Mai and her husband were pained to witness the Asakuras' tragic fate. They were going to be killing one of their own. It made Mai unconsciously tighten her hold on her newborn daughter.

Hirawa Hiroshi was only a 2-year-old boy who held his father's hand in fear. His young brain couldn't comprehend a lot of what was going on but he felt a sense of dread; he felt scared.

Another tick of the clock and a cry were heard. Yohmei's eyes hardened as he used his shikigami, "The Asakura family will always interfere with his desire for the land of the living."

Asakura Keiko, with tears in her eyes, watched as her father jumped in the air and prepared to attack her son, "Shikigami, I command you to kill that newborn!"

With bated breath, every person in the room watched Asakura Yohmei carry out his duty as he silently pleaded, 'Please forgive me, my grandchild.'

"So small."

The voice spoke directly into everyone's heads.

At that moment, a fiery spirit appeared and burned all the shikigami leaves that once posed a threat. 'It can't be! He reincarnated with his Spirit Ally?' Yohmei's thoughts were scattered as he lost focus. The spirit threw a ball of fire towards the old man, hitting him square in the stomach and sending him flying to the ground.

Asakura Mikihisa jumped in front of his father-in-law and blocked another blast from the spirit.

There was no denying that this child was him.

"Karaincho-kararinsowaka! Great Mountain Gods!"

Two mountain spirits appeared from behind Mikihisa and attacked the fire spirit, only to be flung away easily. Once again, the voice spoke into their heads, "It'll take more than that to catch me!"

The fire spirit now held the baby in the air with itself, "It's the Great Onmyoji who suddenly disappeared 1,000 years ago! Asakura Hao!" Hirawa Meian stated.

"You have done a great thing by giving birth to this child, Keiko."

His words sent a feeling of offence in the said woman, "What did you say-"

"Don't! You still have another child to give birth to." Asakura Kino said.

Hao's laughter ran through their heads, "This half of mine will likely choose to be a king. And if he does, I'll claim this half of me back. Then I will possess even greater powers!"

Even as a newborn child, his eyes were sharp, and his tone was cold as his body was surrounded by a flame and vanished.

The moment left everyone in shock and distress. They knew that something big would happen soon. Asakura Hao had succeeded in his resurrection.

After the process of Keiko's birth to her second child, the elders of the Hirawa family left while Hirawa Mai, Meian, Mika and Hiroshi remained.

Asakura Yohmei sat with his knees folded in front of his daughter and son-in-law, Kino by his side. Meanwhile, the Hirawa family was sitting on the other side of the room. "You cannot escape fate. This child will surely suffer, but he has no choice but to fight! He is the only hope we have!"

His words stirred a great amount of worry in Keiko's heart, but she knew her father was right.

Hirawa Meian and Hirawa Mai were concerned for their daughter, who was believed to be the reincarnation of their clan goddess, Hirawa Tsukiko. Hirawa Tsukiko was a woman of mystery. There were only a few records of her life; her existence and those too were questioned. One such record was a poem written by a prophet of the olden times, wherein it was stated that Hirawa Tsukiko was in some way tied to Asakura Hao. But that was where it ended.

It was only natural for Mai to not want to leave her daughter alone for even a second after knowing that.

Hirawa Hiroshi was only focusing on the way his baby sister babbled nonsensical words and kept playing with his hands. His fear was forgotten the minute he heard his sister giggling, prompting him to gravitate to her side.

"Little Mika will also be important in this fight against Asakura Hao." Yohmei's words did nothing but increase the Hirawa parents' worries. They wished they could keep their daughter away from all this.

 ≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

The wandering souls of the dead,

The higher spirits that lurk in the forests of the land,

And divine beings,

There are those who commune freely with them

And command power in this world that ordinary humans cannot.

They were called the Shamans!

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

13 Years Later

"Cram school ran late!" A boy of short stature and blonde hair ran while looking at his watch. Deciding that it would take him too long to get home, he took a shortcut through the local cemetery. Suddenly, a voice spoke to the boy, "What are you in such a hurry for?"

A young boy sat on top of a stone at a distance, on a mountain, headphones on his head, with a young girl by his side. 'Who is that? What on earth are they doing by themselves in a place like this at this time of the day?'

'Don't tell me it's a ghost!'

"Hey, hold up!" This time it was the girl who spoke, her hair was flowing with the wind, and even from afar, the short boy could see that she was beautiful. "It's a great night for stargazing tonight. Since you're here, come and join us. Let's all look at them together."

The blonde-haired boy was a little weirded out, "Stars? What's the point in looking at stars? Besides, there are only 3 of us. 'All together' doesn't make sense."

"No, there's all of us." The girl spoke again, her delicate voice not wavering once.

"All of us in this graveyard!" The boy with the headphones declared as he got up, and all of the ghosts became visible to the blonde boy.

"Hey, don't look so surprised!" The boy said with his hands over the shoulders of two ghosts. The ghosts beside the girl were also staring at the blonde guy intently. "These guys are all our friends! Even if they are useless idiots who never managed to pass over to the next world!" The boy said gleefully.

Oblivious to the blonde boy's terror, the headphone-wearing boy asked, "What's the matter?"

Not answering, the blonde-haired boy took off running, leaving the odd pair to themselves.

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The next morning, Oyamada Manta, a student of Shinra Private Academy, was in the middle of retelling his classmates about his weird encounter from last night. The classmates just thought of this as another one of the boy's obsessions and told him off. Their chats were cut off by the sound of a door opening.

"We have 2 new students joining us, Asakura Yoh and Hirawa Mika. Due to certain circumstances, both of their families are in Izumo, and they had to move here by themselves."

Everything about Hirawa Mika's attire screamed 'fashionista,' with her white oversized jacket casually left unzipped and one of its sides slipping off her shoulder, revealing the standard white shirt of the school underneath. Her dark green skirt rested comfortably on her body, paired with a pair of purple-lined white sneakers. Yoh's outfit, on the other hand, gave out lazy, laid-back vibes.

"Guys, it's them! They're the ghost kids I was telling you about!"

At Manta's statement, Mika's cheery expression dropped as Yoh's eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly in annoyance, "Ghosts? There's no such thing."

"Who are you, anyway?" Mika continued after Yoh, sending Manta into an internal spiral of frustration and anger for the rest of the day.

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"It seems we're being followed, Yoh."

It was obvious who the stalker was as Yoh glanced in his direction, discreetly nodding his head after the action. On the way back home, Yoh stopped by a small bridge and started zoning out, focusing on the nature spirits. Knowing this to be one of Yoh's obsessive habits, Mika left him there and walked the rest of the way home by herself. Thankfully, the stalker decided he would stay with Yoh rather than follow the girl home.

At home, the purple-haired girl changed clothes and sat down on the wooden floor of her room. It was time to meditate. She took this time to talk to one of her inherited spirits. Sakura.

Sakura's spirit was bound to a silver flute. Whenever Mika played a note on the flute, she would be summoned. "How was your first day in the new school, Mika-chan?"

Sakura probably still considered her mistress to be a child, seeing as she was the only one around Mika who would still add -chan at the end. "Nothing special. I just kept staring at the sky. It was beautiful today."

Inexplicably, there were some days in Hirawa Mika's life when looking at the sky would bring about an empty feeling, a sense of longing for something unknown, A feeling that she wasn't supposed to enjoy the sky alone. On days like that, her friends Sakura and Yoh would help her to the best of their abilities.

Mika appreciated the good days more than the other days. She looked at the sky just a little longer than usual on the good days.

It was late in the evening when Yoh finally reached home. No words were said between the two who chose to train by themselves in their rooms, knowing better than to disturb each other.

The next morning, Manta walked in with bandages all over his head, passing the pair in the hallways, leaving Mika wondering what the hell happened to the boy. Yoh went and helped Manta against his teasing classmates as Mika watched from a distance.

Suddenly, Yoh grabbed his best friend and Manta by the hand, "Let's go settle the score, Manta."

"Why am I being dragged into this?" Mika's lazy question didn't go unnoticed by her best friend. She loved Yoh, but she was too lazy to go and fight someone. It was too early for that.

"We're friends with Manta now. Remember, Gramps said there are no bad people among those who can see ghosts. We even told him our secret. So, he's our friend."

Mika could only sigh at the boy who was too naive for his good.

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Ryu of the Wooden Sword stood with his gang, brimming with overconfidence that Mika could smell from a mile away. "What did you just say?"

"Are you deaf? He said Get out of here."

Mika's remark brought offence to the older guy. "Little girl, do you want to cross over to the other world so badly?"

"Well, the guys from the other world say that you're a nuisance to them." Yoh's angry tone didn't miss Mika's attention. "Ryu-san is not scared of ghosts, you idiot!" One of the lackeys said.

"Yeah. If you can beat me-"

"Then do it, you say? There's one guy who wants to fight so much he can't hold himself together." Yoh smirked.

Mika immediately knew who Yoh was talking about. It was obvious to her. You had found a nice spirit ally. "Oh? You didn't tell me you found one for you, Yoh."

With a half-assed apology, Yoh got back on track, "Amidamaru!"

"Thank you for granting me the opportunity to dispel the shame brought upon me. Yoh-dono."

"Woah, you've outdone yourself, Yoh!" Mika clapped for her best friend. Amidamaru was strong. She could feel it. "Is this spirit the owner of the destroyed tombstone? Amidamaru, the Legendary Samurai!" Manta wondered out loud while Ryu called bull on Yoh's claims. He wasn't able to see the ghost.

"Kill them!"

"That would be going too far, you know!" Mika yelled out as she summoned Sakura. "How unsightly is that hair, Mika-chan!" Sakura's comment was met with laughter from the purple-haired girl and Manta, who found himself mesmerised by the pretty spirit summoned from Mika's flute.

"Hyoui Gattai!" Yoh yelled as he merged the spirit with his body. "This wooden sword is enough for the likes of you."

Mika stood on the sidelines for now. She believed that Yoh would handle the goons himself. She summoned Sakura to cover her best friend from any underhanded tactics.

"Are you prepared? What's the matter? With your ridiculous swordplay in front of a real-life sword...You must be trembling with the feeling of dread, are you not? You brat." Amidamaru spoke from Yoh's body, their voices merged.

"Don't mess with me!"

As soon as Ryu and Yoh started running towards each other, "It's over," said Mika, closing her eyes and leaning on a nearby tree. With one dodge and strike, Yoh cut Ryu's long hair in half. "Fear not. I won't kill you. I cannot be bothered to make you one of the same kind as me."

"Told you it's over," Mika said as her eyes remained closed. She let Sakura fade away from her side. The fight was over as soon as it began. It was evident that Yoh's spirit ally was strong.

After the goons ran away, the three people and one spirit stood near Amidamaru's grave.

"I want to make all these spirits my allies. To become the Shaman King." Mika glanced at Yoh from the corner of her eye. This was the first time Yoh had openly admitted his desire to become the Shaman King in front of someone other than Mika. "You better start gearing up, Yoh. You have me as your competition." Despite her sharp words, a smile remained on Mika's face. She could see the potential Yoh had. 

"Keep an eye out, Mika! I'm going to become strong and beat you to become the Shaman King." The two best friends looked at each other and laughed.

"Speaking of which, let's become comrades, Amidamaru. Your swordsmanship was amazing. And when we fused, it felt kind of warm." Mika knew of the feeling Yoh spoke of. She felt it when she fused with Sakura and Chie. Chie was another one of Mika's spirit allies.

"I refuse."

Amidamaru's refusal was met with comic reactions from Yoh and Mika, "Huh?/Why not?"

Amidamaru reminisced about his friend whom he had been waiting for 600 years. But Yoh seemed to have done something about that already. He presented the sword, Harusame. A parting gift from the samurai's friend. Mika, on the other hand, couldn't help but wonder if her ancestor, Hirawa Tsukiko, was also waiting for someone? Mika was aware that she was the reincarnation of Hirawa Tsukiko. Was this why she felt like something was always missing?

"And that's how we made Harusame together." Yoh's words brought Mika out of her thoughts. She never found any answers by thinking about those questions anyway.

"I shall accompany you, Yoh-dono." The boy smiled joyously at the spirit's words.

"You've found yourself a great friend, Yoh." Mika smiled, happy for her best friend. It seemed like the days of protecting Yoh from danger had come to an end. Instead, Mika now stared at someone who would become her greatest rival. The thought excited the girl. Because all she ever wanted to do was go all out with a friend and tap into powers beyond comprehension. 

Their journey was just beginning.

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Jen Speaks!

When I say 'Oh?' I mean to say, 'Oya?' in Kuroo style lol

This was sitting in my drafts for so long. I'm finally getting back to updating my books after years of leaving them incomplete. Even though this book has lesser views compared to my other works, I saw some of your comments waiting eagerly for an update! So here you go! Hope you enjoy the chapter! I'll soon be back with another update!

Word count - 2913

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