Chapter 87: An Old Friend
While Amira was being corrupted by modern day pop music, Jun was busy thinking back on his encounter with both Raikiri and Nene. Slashing through Raikiri's lightning confirmed his previous suspicions of his light speed reaction time. Although he knew he was that fast after sparring with the two soul reapers, he couldn't deny the fact that having his suspicions confirmed felt good.
Lost in his thoughts he didn't realize that he had made his way into a indoor stadium.
*Clang!*
"Pull back!"
Having his thoughts interrupted by the shout of a boy with spiky black hair, Jun looked up and saw that he was wearing the Hagun Academy uniform and was sparring against a girl with red/pink hair that was clearly not of Japanese origin. Both wielded sword based blaze weapons. The boy held a generic looking katana while the girl swung around a golden broadsword covered in flames. But the person that caught his attention the most was the black haired girl sitting in the audience seats with a young girl with white hair and a effeminate looking guy.
Smiling at the trio, Jun completely disregarded the two sparring on the stage and made his way over to them. Executing his Shundo he noiselessly appeared behind the three. It was only after Amira caught up to him that the effeminate looking guy turned to face them. In that moment Jun could have sworn that he saw the light in the guy's eyes change into something more cold and heartless. Unfortunately the guy seemed to realize Jun's gaze and quickly put on a smile.
"Hello handsome."
Feeling a shiver run through his body Jun subconsciously took a step back and felt his mental alarms go off. For the first time in a long time he felt like he was being watched by a predator... The last time he felt like this was when he was 9 and accidentally teleported into a kids drag party.
Feeling the wondering eyes of the effeminate looking man on his body, it took all of his willpower to hold himself back from pulling out his gun and scaring the guy off.
Seeing that something was wrong with her friend, Amira cocked her head to the side and watched in silence while listening to her music.
Realizing that their friend was no longer paying attention to the fight, the white haired girl turned to face the effeminate looking guy only to realize that there were people standing behind them. And to Jun's surprise, she didn't freak out, she merely gave them a once over before focusing her attention on the black haired boy on the stage.
'...Weird.'
---
"C'mon Stella! You can go faster!"
Ducking under the blow of her opponent's sword, the red haired girl focused all of her magical energy into the soles of her feet and using her last remaining power she shot towards the black haired boy and swung down.
*CLANG!*
Blocking the overhead strike, the black haired boy couldn't help but smile as the sound of steel against steel echoed out in the air.
"Good attempt, but far to obvious."
Re-positioning himself to the side, he tugged his sword back and watched the sparks fly as the golden sword scraped against his own while the red haired girl fell forward.
"Dammit!!"
Punching the stage, the red haired girl's fair hand took on a bright shade of red as pain and anger surfaced on her face.
"Hey! Don't worry about it, its only one loss." The black haired boy tried to comfort her.
Seeing the concern in his eyes made the girl regret her actions as she knew that he was right.
"Sorry... I-
Before the girl could finish her sentence a loud Jun from the audience interrupted her,
"JUN!!"
---
"Long time no see."
Smiling at the reaction of the black haired girl, Jun almost dropped her when she suddenly leapt into his arms.
Wrapping his arms around her, memories stemming from 10 years ago flooded his mind and reminded him of that awkward black haired girl that hid her status of being blazer due to her worry of her friends seeing her as a monster.
"I missed you to Ayase." He whispered.
Despite his disdain for humanity, he had to admit that there were still humans in the world that were capable of making him feel protective. Ayase and his family happened to be on that list.
Realizing her position Ayase quickly untangled herself from Jun's arms but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't hide her smile.
"What are you doing here?"
"What? Can't I come and visit an old friend?" He teased ignoring the gaze the effeminate guy was giving him.
Compared to her past self, the current Ayase looked far more confident. No longer hiding one of her eyes behind her bangs, Ayase's beauty was obvious from the get go, and that's not mentioning the calm aura she had about her.
Smiling at his answer Ayase didn't even realize that the black haired boy and the red haired girl known as Stella had made their way over to them.
"You okay Ayase?" He called.
"Huh?" Hearing her name being called, she turned around and came face to face with the black haired boy who was sizing up Jun.
"Ah, Ikki-san this is Jun, Jun this is Ikki."
"Nice to meet you." He held out his hand.
Not wanting to put Ayase in a difficult position, Jun reluctantly shook his hand and introduced himself.
"Kusanagi Jun."
"Kurogane Ikki."
The two stood in silence quietly measuring the other. For the surrounding audience, the silence was deafening. This was especially true for Ayase. Seeing her childhood friend and the guy who saved her dojo stand in front of each other made her feel quite uncomfortable in her heart.
"It was nice meeting you." Jun smiled not wanting to converse with the black haired boy any longer.
But before he could escape he was interrupted by the black haired boy.
"I know this may be a little forward of me, but would you mind sparring with me?"
"Eh?!"
"I mean no offense, its just that your posture reminds me of my grandfather and I thought you were a swordsman."
"Ikki-san I don't think tha-
"Sure." Jun said interrupting Ayase.
The last time she saw him, Jun was already at a level that her father admitted might even surpass him in a few years. And now 10 years later he shows up with a disposition that reminded her of the sea. Calm and boundless. In comparison, Ikki was definitely lacking in the aura department.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone