How I was Murdered by a Fox Monster (7 page)

“
Wow! This is awesome, the paper just caught fire by itself.
Where can you buy this stuff?” I asked.

“
Daisuke, that's amazing,” she said.

“
Really?” I asked. Her sudden awe was puzzling, and I thought
that maybe I could have unintentionally used the power of my mind
to make it burn. I attempted the same thing to the grass near my
feet but there was no result.

Before I knew it Taisei
 
was also leaning over my
shoulder. “Hey Daisuke, are you sure you've never done any training
to be an exorcist before?”

“
No,” I said.

“
That's odd, normally it doesn't do that unless you know what
you're doing. Especially not to normal people. Are you sure you're
not related to the Matsumotos?” He stared at me sceptically. “But
you don't look like the pictures of the other Daisuke.”

“
Maybe,” said Taisei. “Or Mana made a mistake when she was
writing the charms, we once had a batch that constantly let off
smoke.”

“
Hey! My calligraphy is perfect,” protested Mana.

“
Hey! Hey! Do you think that you could teach me some cool
exorcists tricks, like that thing were you send out a giant
lightning bolt?” I asked naively.

“
Ha!” Laughed Kiyori. “That's a good one.”

“
I don't know,” said Taisei “things didn't end well with the
last guy who begged us to join. We thought it would be fun to teach
him how to be an exorcist, but we spent a week cleaning him up off
the pavement. The worst part was breaking it to his
parents.”

“
Stop making up stories,” she said. “You're full of it! You're
always moaning about how you wish there were more of us out here.
”

“
Hey!” He said while fending off her assault. “We have to talk
to Akito, it's not up to me!”

“
But it wouldn't hurt to have another person right?” She
asked.

“
Mana,” I said with my eyes wide open in admiration. Too bad
that vouching for me only led to her lying in a pool of her own
blood.

“
He'll probably just get in our way,” muttered
Itsuki.

“
You aren't serious are you Mana?” Asked Kurumi. “Since when
do they let guys like this in?”

“
But he's the adopted son of Kousuke Matsumoto so that must
count for something. If we train him up, he might turn out to be
pretty good. It wouldn't be bad to have a guy called Daisuke
Matsumoto on our side, right guys?”

Chapter 7

The place known as headquarters was a Shinto shine located on
a mountain outside of town. It appeared to have been remodeled
several times, and was a mix of an old Japanese house with modern
extensions (such as a kitchen and bathroom) protruding out in all
directions. There was a long verandah, a small Japanese garden, an
archery range at the back, and another field which was used for
training. There was also a large rock which I
named
 
the rock
of death,
 
but
I'll tell you more about it later.
 
It wasn't far from the place
where I watched them take down the raccoon. The path was littered
with crumbling statues, and there was even a large worn out shrine
gate. I thought it was a cool location until I realized one painful
thing.
 
Stairs
. My exasperated mind began to
count them as we began the never ending assent.
O
ne hundred and one, one hundred and two,
one hundred and three, one hundred and four.

“
What's he like?” I asked.

“
He's pretty anal about stuff,” said
Kiyori. “Like curfew and training, but other than that he's pretty
slack. He's not a scary guy, so I don't think there's anything to
worry about. He might agree to let you
join,
 
maybe
.”

“
I wouldn't give your hopes up,” said Taisei.

“
Well look at it this way,” Taisei explained. “How many
exorcists began training when they were fifteen years old. I'm not
trying to be mean, I'm only laying down the facts.”

“
But what about Nina's brother?” Asked Mana.

“
That was different,” said Taisei. “He already did some
training when he was younger, so it was easier for him to pick
things up. Right Nina?”  He turned to Nina who was hobbling up
the stairs below us. Her leg may have survived the raccoon attack,
but it still looked painful to walk on.

Nina was off in her own world (she did this sometimes) and
didn't hear him. She had her head down, and was
 
glaring at the steps below her
with unnatural concentration.

“
Hey Nina!” Yelled Taisei in an attempt to get her
attention.

“
What do you think Nina?” Asked Taisei while pointing at me.
“Do you think this guy can make it as an exorcist?”

“
I see, so you're Kousuke Matsumoto's adopted son,” Akito
nodded. “It's been a few years since I've seen anyone from the
Matsumoto family here.”

“
You seem to show quite a bit of potential,” said Akito. “So
I'm willing to let you undergo training if you promise to abide by
the rules, and do everything you're told.”

“
Dude
, what
was that? He didn't scold you at all,” hissed Keira as I took my
seat.

“
What community service?! I was told there weren't any spaces
left.”

“
Sorry,” I said. “They were short one person, and our homeroom
teacher thought it would be a good way for me to atone for all my
sleeping in class.”

To tell the truth, my homeroom teacher wasn't happy about my
sudden induction into the community service club. He said that I
was now academically doomed, and my chances of getting into a good
university
 
were slim.

“
Sorry,” I said. “I'll tell you if there are any
openings.”

“
OK,” he nodded.

“
Do you think I should ask her?” He whispered so only I could
hear. “But I don't know if she'd like a guy like me. What if I tell
her, and then she spends the rest of high school avoiding me?” He
asked.

“
Just do it man, if you leave things the way they are, nothing
will ever change,” I advised.

I stretched and attempted to see what was there (like a post
it note saying
 
kick me
) when I realized he was
talking about my scars.
 
There was a spider web of
scarring that extended from below my neck to my lower back. It
looked like I was attacked, or impaled by glass, or got into a car
accident, or one of the hundred different ways that people get
hurt. Because it's my own back I couldn't see them, so I often
forgot they were there. It wasn't until I took off my shirt and
people began freaking out, that I suddenly remembered my old
injury.

“
Wow that's nasty dude,” said one student.

“
Were you in a gang during middle school?!” Yelled a guy from
the back.

“
An accident? It looks like someone took a knife and attempted
to carve your back up,” said Keira.

“
Maybe,” for all I knew he could be right.

Chapter
8