He opened his eyes, and found himself in the countryside. There were a couple of small houses that were surrounded by green bushes. He looked for hair in his peripheral vision to help him figure out who he is, but instead he heard a little girl's voice that helped confirm who's body he was in.
"Miyabi! There you are." The little girl said as she got closer to Yukio.
Ok, so I'm in Miyabi's body. Just as planned, now I'll learn what turned her into a killer. Maybe it'll help me find a weakness.
Yukio then noticed the little girl who was talking to Miyabi, she had short light brown hair, and a pair of glasses in front of her dark green eyes.
She approached Miyabi with a big smile on her face. "Miyabi, I've got a great idea!"
"What is it?" A higher pitched version of Miyabi's voice asked, intrigued.
"You know how we always play Shinobi with our fake weapons, right? How we play with real weapons?" The girl suggested.
"Real weapons?! Yeah, let's do it!" Miyabi said, excited.
Play 'Shinobi'? Is this little girl a Shinobi, or rather a soon-to-be Shinobi? I didn't know Miyabi had a childhood friend. Now unless something bad happens to her, I want to know her name.
The Soul Travel timeskips to nighttime, Miyabi and her childhood friend grabbed their fathers' weapons, and went into the forest.
"Ok, now let's dual!" Miyabi shouted, as she unsheathed a long sword. Miyabi's small arms weren't enough to hold the sword properly.
Pfft, that's tough Miyabi. Then again, she's also a child so it makes sense. Still, haha.
"You're on!" Her friend replied, as she brought out a metal staff. Unlike Miyabi's sword, the staff was lightweight and the girl was able to hold it easily.
I already know who's going to win...time to get knocked to the ground.
Which was exactly what happened. Miyabi's friend whacked her in the face, which made Miyabi fall to the ground.
Ow! This girl just hit her friend in the face with a metal bar.
"Wait, I already won?" The girl said while she poked Miyabi with her staff.
"Ow! No fair! That weapon is too easy to fight with!" Miyabi countered, her eyes were watering from the hit. "That really hurt too!"
A nearby tree started rustling, which got both of their attention.
"What was that?" Miyabi asked.
"Probably a rabbit or something, I'll go check it out." The girl said, as she approached the tree.
Before the girl reached it, a monster jumped down from the tree, and tried to grab the girl.
"Whoa!" She jumped back.
"Imu! Are you ok?" Miyabi asked.
"I'm fine." She replied back. "What is that thing?
Imu, her name is Imu. Is she going to die now? Also, that's a Yoma. There's an aura around the monster that's similar but much weaker to Orochi's.
"Let's get out of here." Miyabi said, as the two girls dropped their weapons and rushed back to their house.
"Mommy! Daddy! Help!" The girls shouted. They nearly arrived at their houses, but the monster managed to grab Miyabi by her foot.
"Miyabi!" Imu stopped in her tracks, and rushed to help.
"Ah, get off of me! Imu, run!" Miyabi shouted.
"No, I won't leave you!" Imu got to Miyabi, and tried to free her from the Yoma's grasp.
They heard footsteps approaching them, and someone called out to them.
"Miyabi! Imu!" A woman's voice shouted.
"Mommy!" Miyabi shouted back, her mom arrived and tried to help them.
"It's going to be ok, baby. You're dad's on his way. I'll hold off the Yoma while Imu gets you free." The woman said, as she unsheathed two daggers.
"Get them mom!" Miyabi replied.
However, when Miyabi's mom went to strike, the Yoma punched a hole through her stomach. The Yoma started to eat Miyabi's mom from her head to her torso, as Miyabi looked in horror.
Oh god.
"Miyabi!" A male voice responded. "You damn yoma! How dare you kill her!"
The man cut off the Yoma's arms, then decapitated the monster. Miyabi sat there, and stared in shock at her mother's half-eaten corpse, Imu was also in shock from the whole situation. She snapped back to reality when she heard her parents approaching, and started crying.
Miyabi snapped back to reality when her father approached and hugged her. Yukio looked at the man, but couldn't see his face.
I don't get why some people are faceless, maybe because they don't matter too much to the overall event?
Miyabi quickly started crying. The father covered his wife's body in dirty white sheets, and buried her outside of their house. Miyabi was traumatized from that experience.
Alright, that's enough trauma for me. What other memories can I access? Let's see, Soul Travel!
Yukio closed his eyes, and jumped into another body in another time. He looked around, and saw black hair in his peripheral vision.
Who am I this time? Judging by the hair I could be Ikaruga, or maybe Mirai.
He then heard a voice call to him. "Ryoki, are you alright?" The voice snapped Yukio to reality.
Ryoki? Who's that? I know someone named Ryobi, but they probably aren't the same name.
"My apologies, I was just admiring the forest." A feminine voice replied, it was coming from Yukio's body.
Ok, so I'm this girl named Ryoki? What does she have to do with anything? Why am I being shown this?
Yukio looked around him, and saw a small group of armed ninjas. Yukio couldn't see any of the ninjas' faces, only a nose and mouth were visible.
"What kind of Yoma are we going after again?" Ryoki asked.
"An Ayakashi, they specialize in possessing Shinobi corpses to fight. It doesn't have a physical body either, so look sharp. Look for two floating red lines, those are the monster's eyes." Another female voice replied, Yukio could tell she was the leader of the group. She scouted ahead, and made sure the group was moving forward.
"We thank you again, it's an honor to have a Kagura-ranked Shinobi in our squad." Ryoki said to the female figure.
"It is a Kagura's job to exterminate Yoma. I should be thanking you as the backup." The woman replied, as they continued moving.
Kagura, I know that rank. It's the top rank for professional Shinobi. Does that mean they are all good Shinobi? Or do Evil Shinobi also have Kagura ranks?
After a while, the group suddenly stopped. The whole forest seemed quiet, and there was no one in sight. However, the group could sense that they were not alone.
They suddenly heard a scream from one of the group members. They had been slashed to death.
What the hell was that?
More screams followed, and someone finally shouted what was happening.
"Ambush! Evil Shinobi are here!" Another Shinobi said, followed by their scream as they were killed.
Ryoki and the remaining Shinobi survived the ambushed attacks, and started clashing swords with the evil Shinobi. Among the crowd of evil Shinobi, Yukio recognized two of them.
It's Miyabi, white hair and all. I knew she was related to this. Wait, Is that Imu too? Her hair is still the same color, and it's still short, but now she has small pigtails. Kind of reminds me of Hibari's pigtails.
The two girls were fighting the good Shinobi, along with a group of evil Shinobi. Ryoki was also fighting in the fray. Her weapons were a one-handed shotgun, and a circular shield.
What kind of weapon setup is this? This looks badass!
Ryoki noticed that only a few members of each group remained. However, they were then interrupted by another unseen force.
One of the dead Shinobi got back up, except they had blood red skin and snake-like eyes.
"The Yoma is here too?!" One of the Shinobi exclaimed, as they were hacked to death by the possessed corpse.
"We can't take it on!" Another Shinobi shouted.
"I must...kill it. This is...for my mother!" Miyabi said, she brought out a black glowing scroll.
"Miyabi, don't use it. That ninja art is forbidden." Imu replied.
"I don't mean to barge on the conversation, but if you two know of a way to kill this Yoma, I'd suggest you do it now." Ryoki jumped into their conversation, as she fought off more possessed corpses.
"Ugh!" one of the corpses slashed Ryoki across her chest. She fell to the ground in front of the two evil Shinobi, and bled out.
Ugh! What the hell?! Did Ryoki just die? My chest still feels like it's burning.
"Damn it." Miyabi cursed at the sight of Ryoki's death. She looked down at the scroll, then turned to her friend. "Imu, if I lose control. You know what to do."
Imu nodded, and Miyabi ran towards the corpses.
"Forbidden Ninja Art...Blood Riot." Miyabi said, and her aura suddenly increased. Her hair changed to black, and dark wings sprouted from her back. "Ugh! Ahhh!"
Miyabi slashed through all of the possessed corpses with speed and strength that no one could keep up with. She slashed underneath two floating red dots, then grunted and screamed.
"Miyabi, can you hear me?" Imu said.
"Ugh! Ahhhhhhhhh! Aghhhhhhh!" Miyabi screamed.
Suddenly her aura disappeared, and she fell to the ground, unconscious. Imu came to her aid.
"Miyabi, are you ok?" Imu tried to wake her, but she didn't get a response. "I'm getting you out of here."
Imu carried Miyabi off the battlefield. She looked back at all of the corpses, then continued walking away.
Is that it? Well, this is the first time that my body died while in Soul Travel. Who even was this Ryoki girl, and why was I in her body instead of Miyabi's or Imu? Also, I didn't know Miyabi had a ninja art like that! Why did she say 'forbidden ninja art'? Kiriya never told me there were forbidden arts. I guess she won't be using it for a while now though, because she's unconscious. I wonder what happened after this? Only one way to find out. I'm sorry to all the dead here, especially Ryoki, I hope you all rest in peace. Soul Travel!
Yukio's soul escaped Ryoki's corpse. When he opened his eyes, he was a small house surrounded by a green field. He didn't need to look for any hair, because he saw a glasses outline, which clarified who he was.
I'm Imu now. Ok, where am I?
Yukio saw white hair in his lower peripheral vision, then he saw the upper-half of a wheelchair. Imu was pushing Miyabi in a wheelchair through the field. The situation felt odd to Yukio.
Why is Miyabi in a wheelchair? She didn't get any disabilities from that 'Blood Riot' art, right? What happened to her?
Imu stopped the wheelchair, and walked in front. She look at Miyabi, and the sight of her shocked Yukio.
Miyabi looks...mentally broken. There's not a single ounce of life in her. She's just sitting there, staring into space. How long has she been like this?
Yukio heard Imu sniffle, as though she tried to prevent herself from crying. Yukio could tell that she couldn't stand seeing Miyabi like this.
"Miyabi, we're going to visit Hebijo academy again. They will see if you've gotten some energy back." Imu's said, as her voice went to a more depressed tone. "I told you that forbidden art was dangerous, damn it."
The forbidden art? So it did make Miyabi like this? No wonder it's 'forbidden'.
Miyabi remained silent, and Imu pushed Miyabi along the field towards Hebijo academy. However, they stopped when they heard an explosion in the direction of the school.
"What was that?" Imu asked.
"Huh..." Miyabi suddenly stepped off of the wheelchair. "...Imu?"
Wait, I'm sorry. What the hell was that?! She suddenly got her strength back like it was nothing?!
"Wha...Miyabi? You're...back?" Imu said, in shock.
"Something is happening to Hebijo academy. We need to go, now." Miyabi said, and grabbed Imu's hand. They ran towards the academy.
What they saw before them was Hebijo academy engulfed in flames, and in the middle of it all was familiar Yoma.
It's the dead Orochi...this happened yesterday, or was it two days ago, or three? Death's Restart is making me lose track of time.
Miyabi saw two groups of people walking away from the wreckage, she gritted her teeth. "They...they have something to do with this. They will pay for what they've done to our school." Miyabi awakened a thirst for vengeance.
Wait, that's...me, the girls, and Homura's group. Hold on, we didn't do this. If anything, we prevented Orochi from causing any further damage.
Imu and Miyabi looked on at the fiery debris.
Ok, I'm starting to understand why she wants to kill us now. She's just misunderstanding what happened at Hebijo. It wasn't us who destroyed the school, it was Orochi.
Yukio woke up in his own body, a few streets away from the shrine entrance. He started thinking of a way to solve the problem.
Maybe I could try to convince Miyabi about what really happened with Orochi. I don't know if she would be willing to listen though. However, since she has a grudge against Yoma, I should be able to convince her that Orochi was responsible.
Yukio noticed his breath turn white, and he let out a sigh.
"Before I can figure that out, I have to deal with you." Yukio said, as he turned around and saw Yumi down the street.
The grey haired Shinobi spawned icicles and aimed one of her folding fans at Yukio.
"Yukio, slayer of Orochi. I am Yumi, shinobi from Gessen girls academy. I politely ask that you come with me." Yumi stated.
To be continued...