Every morning after he woke up, he started the day by preparing breakfast for himself and his teacher. And then, after cleaning up the kitchen and the common room, he went to take a short bath because one should not neglect one's hygiene.

Afterwards, he'll join his teacher to eat breakfast... and later, resume whatever lesson his teacher decided to make him learn. This had become his normal routine, ever since his teacher took him away from the horrid shopkeeper.

This was a good life. It was better than the life he used to have a few years ago. The shopkeeper would start beating him up if he did anything remotely wrong... and every time some new potential customer would come to the shop, the shopkeeper would pull him over and show him off to the new customers. He didn't like that at all, because those customers would keep on touching his body like how one would inspect the merchandise to be bought. Some days the shopkeeper would even strip him naked in front of the customers and more of those hands would touch him even in places most intimate for him. Yet a lot of times those customers would back off from buying him the moment they saw the birthmark on his face.

Every time this happened the shopkeeper would be so displeased. The shopkeeper would always shout at him saying that it was a waste of money to keep feeding him when he didn't have any worth keeping. But later on, the shopkeeper found a solution for that. Since it was hard to get anyone to buy him, the shopkeeper put him out as a 'loan' to his customers. The shopkeeper let the customers try him out for a while for a fee so even if they didn't want to take him home they could spend some time with him. But usually, by the end of the day, his whole body would feel so sore. Many of those customers treated him so roughly. The more he cried the more those customers find enjoyment in violating his body.

So when his teacher took him away from the shopkeeper, he was so happy. So happy in fact, he would do anything for his teacher. Because his teacher was his saviour. Not to mention that his teacher allowed him to learn so many new things! He really like this new life with his teacher.

Yet, as he hurried down to the lower floors of the castle, something changed.

His teacher was busy packing his things. He hurriedly ran down the stairs to see his teacher.

"Sensei, are you leaving for somewhere?" he asked.

His teacher glanced up at him before letting out a soft chuckle. "Yeah, I thought about taking a trip to the far west. So I might as well leave these behind."

His teacher has set aside a folded piece of fabric next to him. Upon closer look, he recognised the white fabric as the white robes his teacher used to wear often. His teacher also placed his crown on the folded robes before taking the bamboo chest plate. Instead of the white robes, his teacher wore a black one as he put on the chest plate onto himself. And finally, his teacher placed his scripture over his shoulders.

Once he was done, his teacher turned his attention back to him. "Right now this robe and crown were too big for you. So until you're old enough to wear them, you have to keep practising all of the things that I've taught you to do. The moment you've mastered those techniques, it should also be the time where you'd earn these things I left here."

"Yes, Sensei, I'll remember that. I'll keep on practising until you come back, Sensei."

His teacher nodded as the man continued to set aside his things.

"And then? What else did you want to say to me?" asked his teacher again.

His heart skipped a bit, startled. His teacher always seemed to be able to figure out what he was thinking.

"Can't I go with you, Sensei?" he blurted out, and immediately felt scared that he might have overstepped his boundaries. His teacher already implied that he was supposed to stay by himself in this castle. Yet he dared to ask to join his teacher in his travel.

"I-I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking properly," he hastily apologised as his teacher started laughing.

"Maybe... maybe I could do that." His teacher gave him a long look. "But if you're not here, then who's gonna watch over this castle for me? Would you mind leaving your toys here unguarded? What if some robbers had come breaking into this castle?"

He frowned. His teacher was right. That would undoubtedly be bad.

"Alright!" he said right away. "I'll stay here and watch over the castle while you're gone."

His teacher smiled. It looked like he said the right thing.

"Good boy..."

xxx

"Take whichever weapon you want as a parting gift."

"Ah, this should be enough."

He had chosen a small banishing gun to take with him. Because it was lightweight... and fit into his small palm, he thought that it would be the best choice of weapon for him. He thought it should be enough for him, to have it as a means to protect himself.

And it was easy enough for him to use, to put a bullet into his head...

.

He could barely remember the first demon he'd killed with his gun. And since then, he lost count of how many lives he had killed with this gun. Was it really supposed to be this easy... to take away another creature's life?

Every now and then, his mind would replay the memory of how his master—his foster father's—life was taken away, right in front of him. He remembered feeling so helpless, he remembered feeling so hopeless. That night was the moment where he had lost everything...

He lifted his head to look around him. There were so many dead bodies of demons around him, did he really kill this many of them by himself?

Genjo stared at the gun in his hand, so small yet so deadly. Should he have chosen a different weapon instead?

But then, the reason he had chosen this gun was because—!

He placed the gun on his head as his fingers slowly pulled on the trigger. Like this, he could've easily ended everything. There was no longer any need for him to run or take any more lives...

"I'll leave the rest to you. Genjo Sanzo. Be strong..."

He let out a choked gasp as he let go of the trigger and put the gun away. No. He shouldn't die yet... not until he recovered the Seiten scripture!

He wrapped his arm around his legs as Genjo curled himself into a ball.

Master, why was it so hard to keep on surviving?