Prof: "I’ll tell you when your birthday comes this year."

  Tora: "That’s not an answer, Professor!"

  ?Prof: "Well then, how about we swap names?"

  Tora: "Stop messing with me!"

  ?Prof: "Whoa, okay, okay, don't get mad... Listen, if you're careless with your real name, you become easy to control."

  Tora: "Wait, me?"

  Prof: "You’re still inexperienced, so you’d be manipulated. You’d probably end up telling someone anyway. Just wait until your birthday."

  ?Tora: "..."

  ?Prof: "We’ve talked about Kamikakushi—spirited away—before, haven't we?"

  ?Tora: "Yes."

  Prof: "And when is it most likely to happen?"

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  Tora: "At twilight. The boundary between hours."

  Prof: "And the locations?"

  Tora: "Deep in the mountains, the bottom of the sea, or slopes leading up toward the peaks."

  Prof: "You’ve got a good memory. Those are the old legends. In modern terms: don't go giving your real name to strangers while you're still green. It could be used against you. People can be just as scary as anything else."

  ?Tora: "So there was a reason for it... Then, what do you do if you actually get taken?"

  Prof: "It seems our ancestors used special drums to strike deals with the 'other side.' There were likely professionals who negotiated with monsters to get children back."

  Tora: "Do they actually find them??"

  Prof: "Who knows. If a suspicious person kidnapped you, I’d just file a missing person's report. Whether it's aliens or monsters, people are plenty terrifying on their own. That’s why we humans have to settle things among ourselves."

  ?Prof: "You know, when I was little, my father always called me by a nickname. It’s that kind of feeling. A name has the power to move a person—sometimes even to dominate them. You hear it in myths all the time, right?"

  Tora: "I guess I have no choice then..."

  Prof: "Oh, don't look so down. Tell you what—I’ll lend you my name. If you're embarrassed to go by 'Byakko,' use mine."

  Tora: "Thanks, Professor! But you better promise to tell me your real name later!"

  Prof: "Of course. In exchange, I’ll be using your name, okay? I'll be 'Byakko.'"

  Tora: "Sure, sounds good to me!"

  ?Byakko smiled for the first time in a long while.

  ?However...the shadows of the “Other Side”, Kamikakushi were reaching for him.

  ?(Little did Byakko know...)