I woke up with a jolt early the next morning. Kumatetsu was still asleep, so I got up and went outside. To be honest, his home had a pretty nice view. There was a chair nearby, so I pulled it over and looked out on the town. I heard Kumatetsu yawn and get up, but I didn't look back to him. "You like the view?" I heard him say. "Yeah. It's nice." "Well, it's time for breakfast, so come on inside." I walked back into the house and into the kitchen, waiting for the food. He eventually walked in holding a basket of what I assumed to be freshly picked eggs. "I didn't know you had chickens…" I said. "Well, surprise." Kumatetsu sat at the table and handed me a bowl of rice. "I like 'em raw… Makes it taste better." I said nothing. "What, you not hungry or something?" "W-What..?! Of course I am!" I said to him. "Well then, eat!" He shouted at me. "I don't eat raw eggs!" I yelled back at him. "H-How can you, it's disgusting..." I muttered. Kumatetsu yelled at me, "You don't know what you're talking about! Just watch!" He proceeded to mix together his eggs and rice and chugged the bowl. I had to look away or I'd vomit. Slamming his fist down on the table, he gave me triumphant smile with his mouth full of the nasty raw-egg and rice mixture. "S-Still disgusting..." "You're gonna eat it anyway!" He shouted at me, the rice spraying at me. I quickly protected my face with my hands. "Apprentices can't say no!" He said, standing up from the table. "For the last time," I said, getting up as well. "I am not your damn apprentice!" "I'll make you eat it!" He shouted at me. "Like hell you will!" I yelled back to him. He rushed across the table, and I turned around and started running.
I bolted out of the house and began to run down the street, and I heard Kumatetsu running after me and yelling, "Get back here!" I ran even faster, and quickly darted onto a crowded street. "He'll lose me in here for sure." I thought to myself, staying low so that way he wouldn't see me. I quickly hid behind some barrels and saw Kumatetsu talking to a boar that had a robe with some sort of symbol on the back. I carefully listened. "Kumatetsu…" The boar said. "Oh… hey, Iozen." W-Wait… Iozen? Why does that sound familiar? I was just about to walk out, but I realized that if I went out there, Kumatetsu would lose it at me. I decided to stay put. "So, I hear you've found a new apprentice?" Iozen continued. "Yeah… but I lost track of him somehow." Kumatetsu said. "You seen him at all?" "No... I haven't seen anyone new around here." But suddenly, I felt a jerk on the back of my hoodie and got lifted into the air. Great. Caught yet again. I looked back to see a blue ox holding on to me. And wouldn't you know it, he took me to where the boar dude and Kumatetsu were presumingly fighting. "Master!" The ox called out. "C-Crap…" I muttered. They both looked over to the ox holding me up, and I crossed my arms and stared at the ground. Everyone on the busy street stopped to turn and look at me. They pointed and whispered among themselves, saying things like, "Humans? In Jutengai?" "Are there more?" "How'd he get in here?" Kumatetsu's face lit up when he saw where I'd run off too. "So there you are!" He started to walk over to me, but the boar stopped Kumatetsu and said, "You don't know what you're doing! The reason why we don't live among humans is because they harbor darkness in their hearts! What if he grows into a monster?!" I looked up, startled at this comment. "Monster? He's just a scrawny kid!" I put my head back down and just listened to the argument. I kinda zoned out though, because the next thing I saw when I looked up was Kumatetsu challenging the boar to a fight. Hearing the crowd saying things like, "Kumatetsu versus Iozen!" "Now there's a fight I'd wanna see!" "Make room!" "I'm betting on Iozen!" confirmed that fact that they were going to battle. I had no choice but to watch the conflict in front of me play out.