1 Takeru Sarugaki: Origin

It was the seventh century, when the japanese army of the samurai was founded. Back then many soldier fought in a war called „Fuun". The local warriors were known as spriritual fighters. They followed a self-proclaimed relief and chose their own way of life. Through a ritual humans created ten body independent powers called „Meta-Spirits". They were created as little energy cores that a single human could absorb. So it happened that ten strong warriors got one Meta-Spirit each. They increased their physical strength a bunch and gave them powers, that they´ve never had before. So the war continued for years. All of the samurai were beaten towards the end of the Fuun, except for ten of them, the Meta-Spirit users. They began to fought and even kill each other little by little. The last survivor collected the other nine Meta-Spirits that were left behind. But his body couldn´t take all of this power so every single cell of his body decayed. So all ten Meta-Spirit users were killed. The humans saw the created powers as a threat and constantly ignored them. The Meta-Spirits began to wander through Japan independently, and like some kind of virus they have thrown parts of theirselves off. And so they infeceted the human cells, that paranormally mutaded and gave them unique powers. Those paranormal mutations were called „Spirits". People with these powers were used in battles and wars in the followed centuries. The Meta-Spirits were also a part of bloody fights. Humanity was led by hatred and egoism. There were people who used these powers for the good, but every story has two sides of the coin. On the other hand there were people who used their powers for the bad. The Spirits and Meta-Spirits vanished in the 18th century. Lore is written about superstition and mythology in todayˋs history books. The Spirits are compared to gods, things that people would have tied to in earlier period, and a reason to live. At the turn of the millennium the Meta-Spirits and Spirits returned but the government could mostly hide their awakening. There were some people who fought for the military or the police, and some who were criminally active. Their have been researches all over Japan but nobody could find the reason behind those complex and encrypted mechanisms. A research Institut in America called „Area 36" was built to keep researching on the Spirits. But results still coudln´t be found. At one night in 2021 multiple people with supernatural powers were seen. There has been an awakening and the whole world was suddenly full of Spirits. Since that day society had to get used to the life with mystic powers and the return of good and evil.

The whole story sounds very unrealistic and at first I couldn't believe it myself. But since I was a kid I wanted to be a hero, who makes the world a better place and keeps humanity save. This story is about me, Takeru Sarugaki, and how an already forgotten culture found its way back into our lives. The regulation of good and evil returns, and to a greater extent than anyone could have imagined.Heroes and villains became everyday life, crises and wars spread everywhere. And it was all just the beginning of something very big…

We travel a few centuries into the future, into the here and now. Japan, 2021, prefecture Iwate. My name is Takeru Sarugaki, and my home is in a city called Takizawa. I live there together with my grandparents. I don't have parents, they died when I was little, I dont have any memories about them either. Their cause of death is unknown. My grandpa always told me, that they just disappeared. I kept asking them, over and over again, because I just didn't want to believe it, but no matter how often I asked them, my grandparents always gave me the same answer. So I just focused on other things and forgot the topic about my dead parents. When I was ten years old, I discovered my love for manga and comics. I watched series, bought actionfigures, clothes, bedding, my whole room was full of merchandise. I always wanted to be a hero myself too. My grandpa always told me: "You already are our hero, Takeru." As a kid, it always made me really happy when he said that, but today I can only smirk when I hear him saying that. I wanted to take things into my own hands, even if I knew that stuff such as superheroes or superpowers didn't exist. When I was 15 I began to work out daily, to get a fit and strong body. But I couldn't find any use for a trained body like this, so I gave it up again. Everyone else laughed at me because of it. I got treated like a little child, everyone looked down on me. That's why I didn't have any friends. The only one who always took me seriously was Haruto Kawazu, my best friend. But even he gave me the advice to not be a hero and that I should find a realistic dream instead. I knew him since middle school and we both decided to go to the same high school. But we didn't get into the same class, so I only saw him during breaks, befor and after school. I never cared about my classmates, I couldnt even memorize their names. I always lived in my own tiny world and didn't really take part in my classes. My teachers didn't like that and my classmates always mocked me, just like everyone else did too. My grades weren't good because of it. My grandma didn't like it when I came home with bad grades. But my grandpa always said "Listen, even if everything seems hopeless, think about how times will get better again. And we will make those good times possible for you!" I always had to grin, my grandparents have always been my only support in my life until now...

It was the second of april this year, spring began and Takeru was excited for the blooming cherry blossoms. His first day of his second high school year has started. He walked his way to school, even though he has the possibility to take the bus but he rather walks there. Even his grandma always gave him the advice to not take the bus, but walk to school. He arrived at the school gates and looked around, trying to find his best friend, when suddenly a girl bumped into him. She had golden brown hair and dark blue eyes, in her arms she had small notebooks. Those notebooks fell on the floor when she bumped into Takeru. The girl quickly picked her notebooks up and started to apologize: "Oh, I'm so sorry, I had my mind somewhere else, and didn't notice where I was walking. this already happened the second time today. I'm so clumsy.." Takeru looked understandingly at her and said: "No I'm sorry. I had my mind somewhere else too. You know..first day of school after such a long time..." "Yea, I feel the same. I've had huge problems when I first came to this school.. uh, I really gotta go now, the student council is waiting for me..." and the girl was gone. Takeru asked himself, who this girl was, he has never seen her on the schoolyard before. He also wondered why she even talked to him. It doesnt happen often at all that someone, or even a girl talks to him voluntarily. His class called him megalomaniac. He sees himself as a dreamer, whose goal it is to make the world a better place. When Takeru just wanted to continue to walk, someone's hand pulled on his left shoulder: "Tell me Taki, since when do you have contact to girls?" Takeru was startled and turned around. "Geez Haruto, what's this all about? You know how easily startled I am!" "Oh come on, just relax. Now, tell me, who was that beauty?" "I have no idea." " What do you mean you have no idea? Are you serious?" "Yes I am, Haru. And now stop annoying me with that kind of stuff!" "You know, as a hero every woman will adore you." "Haha, very funny of you." "Oh boy, you know how I like to make those jokes. Stop reacting so monotonously every time. Nobody wants to harm you." Takeru didn't like his best friend's jokes, he never understood his humor. But there were still moments, where they harmonized, shared the same humor and laughed together.

Both Takeru and Haruto went to their classrooms since their classes already started. The day was completely normal. The class representatives shared all the information for this school year, it was full of organizational things. After school ended for the day, Takeru walked together with Haruto to the train station. There was an Udon-restaurant that they both really liked. They chatted, made jokes and talked about clasmates. Haruto had to go home at about 7pm, because his dad wanted to go shopping with him. Haruto said goodbye to Takeru and took the bus home. Takeru preferred to walk his way home. He looked at a train that just arrived at the train station, he saw himself mirrored in it, and he asked himself what will he be in his future. He started walking as a soft breeze blew through the city. The train he just looked at, suddenly started to explode. Takeru flinched: "What the hell?!" In front of the exploding train a person with a black coat appeared. He raised his hands and yelled: "Burn! Die! You scum have to suffer!!"

After that, he turned around. The unknown person wore a white mask, that covered his whole face, it had no holes. Takeru wanted to run, but his legs were like frozen to the ground. They didn't move at all. The masked person screamed: "Oh, a kid that wants to give his life voluntarily? This sounds like a lot of fun!" The masked stranger raised his right hand again and a small bomb appeared in it: "I will be last thing you'll ever see little fellow.. You should've stayed at home you fool!" The masked person took the bomb and threw it at Takeru. Takeru though, didn't realize what was happening and he still couldn't move. And so he faced death directly into the eyes..