The Shadow Manipulator

Chapter 15: New Homeroom Teacher

After getting a new idea, I headed towards the Yukines' yard to do an all-night training.

Still, it was harder than I thought!

Sweat trickled on my forehead as I tried to focus on becoming multiple shadows. I have no guarantee if this was possible but I still wanted to try it. I began shifting transformations from shadow-form to human-form but still, I couldn't bring myself to do multiple shadows at once.

Next, I tried using my speed by gliding as fast as I could and imagining myself to produce multiple shadows. I thought that with enough speed, might be able to pull it off since some characters in the mangas that I saw could actually make multiple copies of themselves with that technique. (Not that I believe those mangas!). But after an hour of constant gliding, I ended up exhausting myself.

Just as I was about to start on another crazy idea, a lady wearing a cowboy hat appeared at the top of the electric posts near the Yukines' place.

The lady looked like she was in her early twenties and she gave off a vibe of a teacher with her glasses. But judging from her built, she looked fit for a lady (How did she manage to climb that pole?!). She wore trousers and a plain T-shirt to match her cowboy hat but one thing that caught my attention was her cape which covered almost her whole body.

(I was able to see what she was wearing through my enhanced vision).

"Ho-ho! Practicing, are we?" She sneered. "I don't know what you're trying to do but you certainly look stupid while training...ahaha!" She exclaimed as she held her stomach.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Just a passer-by who accidentally saw a shadow manipulator in the present generation. You're quite interesting, boy." She commented. "It's very rare to find a shadow manipulator these days."

After saying those words, she leaped from pole to pole like a ninja in action. In a flash, she disappeared from sight on a clear night. I just stood there, wondering who that woman might be. Now that I think of it, she must be an acquaintance of either Master Ryu or Mr. Yukine.

Wait?! What if she's an enemy's spy watching our actions so that they can counter Master Ryu's plans? I said to myself.

I shook my head and removed those thoughts as I continued to practice. There's no use thinking about it now since she already saw me. However, this gives me a nagging feeling.

Who is she?

.....

Before I knew it, the sun was already emerging from the horizon and the cold night air began to get warm. I realized that it was already morning after seeing the sky turned into an orange hue. I looked around, the neighborhood looked as peaceful as ever. After the encounter of that cowboy girl, I immediately enhanced my senses in case of other spies. But up until now, I haven't sensed anything of the sort.

I immediately transformed myself into a shadow and glided towards the open window of the guest room where I supposed to be sleeping. In just seconds, I was able to glide towards the open window, enhanced my vision to check my surroundings if there was anything suspicious, and went to the bed where I was supposed to be sleeping.

I glided under the blanket and hurriedly transformed myself back to my human form or something like that. As soon as I finished doing it, I heard footsteps, coming from the stairs leading to the second floor.

Yawn!

Seems like my practice took a toll on me. Not only did I feel groggy while gliding towards the guest room, but it seems like my sense enhancement became rather faulty due to lack of sleep. As soon as my back touched the bed, my head suddenly began to get heavier and I felt more sleepy than ever. My enhancements couldn't even detect whose footsteps it was, walking on the stairs.