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13
Of Casualties, Battles and Taking Sides
Kiku
I paced in a ceaseless circle around the cherry tree, growing all the more anxious the higher the sun climbed into the morning horizon.
"Honda Kiku, you are behaving like an utmost coward!" I reprimanded myself, much to the surprise of a swarm of crickets that fled under my self-reprimanded hubbub, "How could you have the nerve to be here all cozy while your friends are fighting a battle!
"Well", I halted abruptly in my tracks. "That's because they are fighting Japanese troops, aren't they…?"
"A-and besides", I laid my head against the smooth bark of the tree "… At least you don't have to participate in the war now, right?"
… That last thought had just made it worse.
Groaning in frustration, I sank to the ground, burying my head between my legs.
This is wrong.
All of this is wrong!
The troops, who went out of their ways to show me fine hospitality and kindness aplenty, are now helplessly dwindling in numbers; it doesn't take a genius to figure out that no matter how good or powerful they are when it comes to the ancient weaponry they'd been trained to wield all their lives, they can never hope to win.
Not against this battle anyways.
And Yao.
Dear, sweet, beloved Wang Yao.
The vision of him, with his eager amber eyes and ponytail and never-ending supply of warmth and amiability, made me cringe as it loomed larger in my mind, wailing fervently like an unquenchable siren.
He cannot hope to win either-
Boom!
With a squeal, I was immediately yanked out of reverie and back to my senses.
That sound…
It was unmistakably the sound of…
Peering out from the edges of the cliff, I could just make out flags jutting out of the groves in the far distant; familiar flags embellished with a sun whose unforgiving red threatens to overshadow the pure white below, hovering over the bamboo grove like a pack of malicious spectres.
"That ugly flag…" I murmured, rising from my crouching position.
As I did so, my sword, leaning against the boughs of the cherry tree, caught my attention.
Without realizing it, I was soon walking towards my weapon. Gripping the foil with both hands, I felt my fingers wrap themselves around the sheath, sliding it away easily to reveal a part of the blade. My blank eyes stared back at me.
In the end, I decided to slide the whole cover off of the metal completely, fastening the sheath onto my belt and brandishing the sword in my fist. I could feel the blade basking in the light of the rising sun, thirsting to be used once more.
And at that moment, the face that was staring back at me turned cold with determination.
I am no longer on their side, I thought to myself as a mixture of pride and fury overcame me, nipping away at my insides.
I charging down the cliff with speed I never fathomed myself capable of.
I am no longer on anyone's side.
Fight for what's right, I had told Yao before he entered battle.
I had never been too much of a hypocrite, and I wasn't planning on being one anytime soon.
I'll fight for what's right – right this very second, this morning; right now.
"If it's a fight they want", I snarled, flying over the hills and valleys, "the it's a fight they'll get – peace taken into account or otherwise."
The battlefield, looming every step closer, was a mess of vermillion and Chinese casualties when I'd arrived. I won't lie; something inside of me, that nauseating mixture of pride and flurry, faltered for a moment as I gazed at the deep dents in the bloodstained jackets of my fallen comrades.
Up ahead, I could see the remainder of the pack: hardly a handful of soldiers, and even then I could see that they were failing fast as one by one the bullets brought them to their knees.
Even so, they were still fighting with all they had in them to stay alive.
Despite their sketchy situation, I prayed against fate that Yao was one of them.
"… You have served us well", I executed a final nod to the casualties at my feet.
I knew what I had to do now.
With a final cry and brandishing my sword once more, I charged into the thicket of gunpowder and the stomach-churning scent of the lost, to defend a new side in this grueling battle.
To defend what I knew was right.