Who are these people?
I can't see their faces
They're looking at me with disgust, aren't they?
Why.
How much money do you need?
Is money worth a life? TELL ME.
The only one who picked me up from the forest was that man.
No one else can save you.
No on-
"Mmmph."
Kaigaku awoke to find someone else resting on his stomach. A bobbed head rose and fell on it. Raising an eyebrow, he nudged her onto the cushion and hopped off. His neck still throbbed.
"You're looking for him, aren't you?" A voice by the door made him flinch.
He turned to see the old woman at the table, drinking some sencha.
"'Fraid that lad won't be back until the dawn." She put down her cup. "Don't try leaving, either. You remember last night, I presume."
The boy's hand reached for the bandages on his throat. He silently walked over to the table and sat down next to the cultivator, staring out of the window at the eyes in the distance.
Those eyes earlier, which were obscured by the sleeve in front of his face.
Those smoldering eyes, but that gentle hand, firm as a shepherd's crook...
The throbbing moved to Kaigaku's chest.
"Don't you need to sleep?" The cultivator glanced across at her disciple who was cutting a scallion.
"You said yourself that slayers take night missions and travel during the day."
"A fucked up sleep schedule is for the road. Catch up when you can as a trainee." She stirred some miso into the pot before them. "Well, anyways, since our dear Hebiyama has decided to leave without warning, it looks like I will be sparring with you from now on."
"Eh? Is that alright?" The knife suddenly clattered loudly against the cutting board. Hisaishi gritted her teeth. He'd better not have cut himself.
"...Indeed. What, think little old me is too weak?"
"...never. I just-This is the first time you offered so I am merely surprised." He cleared his throat. Hisaishi gave him a bit of a stink eye before turning back to her soup. Clever kid. He might be quiet but he's not slow at all.
She puffed her chest a little in pride. "Of course! You know, I was a hashira back in my prime."
"A hashira?"
"One of the strongest slayers in the corps. Those were my glory days...I remember the first time I took down a lower moon." She made a sweeping gesture. "That day was a full moon and we were on a boat in a lake. A demon with a fish body attacked us. I fought with it until finally cutting off its neck!" Hisaishi sliced through the air with a spoon. However, the movement of the gesture caused her to wince as a pain emanated from her waist.
"Shishou!" Gyomei set down his knife to stabilize her. "Are you alright?"
"Agh-this is nothing...I've had worse back in my day."
"I know, but...you know...your joints have become stiff."
" I know, I know." She waved him away. "I only retired because of age anyways. If I do some stretches again I should be in the condition to practice with you today."
"Yes, if you eat less sweets and move more I bet you could be very strong again."
This kid...
Hisaishi glared at her student again. But it looked as if he was too occupied to notice.
"Get ready." The cultivator called to her disciple as she took a stance with her naginata.
"I am, right now." Within a matter of seconds, Gyomei could hear her footsteps a foot away from him and decided to act first, swinging the sickle to the side to block the incoming blade. His arm shook a bit from the impact of the two objects. Then, attempting to create some distance, he tossed the weight up to the front between him and his opponent.
Hisaishi successfully avoided the object and decided to go in from the side.
"Breath of stone, fifth form: Arcs of Justice!"
Her strikes were clumsily blocked off by the other party, who then threw the weight to wrap around her weapon.
"Huh, clever...but don't let your guard down until your opponent can't move!" In a leap that Gyomei would have never anticipated, the cultivator landed a kick square in his jaw.
This made her disciple keep back a bit. He did not fall, though. It only hurt slightly more than the knives and traps of the forest.
Hisaishi still took the time to unwrap her weapon and aim a first form at his torso. Gyomei heard her charging and countered with the third stone breathing form, using the chains to surround himself in place of a spear. Hisaishi then twisted her weapon to trap his chains within it and went in for another kick, only to be countered by a block. The cultivator then felt a tug on her naginata as she was dragged towards the ground. It was only by catching herself at the last second did she not end up covered in dust.
"Not bad." With a quick jerk of her body, she generated enough momentum to drag her disciple as well and grabbed his face as he lost his balance, slamming him to the side into the ground.
She herself had to then dodge a pair of legs that sprouted up like a young tree.
"So that's what you were doing all those pushups for?"
"Not being able to get up quickly would be dangerous in a real fight."
"You learned that from the encounter, I bet."
Gyomei felt the side of his hair singe off as he avoided the second form to give his teacher a side kick in return. She blocked it with the shaft of her weapon.
"There's nothing like a real-life experience. To teach you that you can't be gentle forever." Pushing his foot away, she aimed a kick at his exposed abdomen, only to have him step back to throw it off its target.
This gave him the opportunity to toss the weight around Hisaishi's torso, binding her in place.
"I'm sorry about this, shishou." As much as this was a sparring match, Gyomei was uncomfortable about tying his elderly master up.
"Sorry about what? I told you-" He then felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. The old woman had headbutted him squarely.
"-Don't let your guard down. Until your opponent can't move."
She pointed the blade down at her student who was still confused at the sensation.
"Even if it means chopping their limbs and head off."
"This is a sparring match though, is that really necessary? And if I chopped your limbs off here and now who would train the future slayers?"
The cultivator found it hard to answer her student who was staring at her quizzically.
"Of course not, idiot! You could have tied all my limbs up and not only my torso! You don't only have to sever their limbs! Only sadistic freaks do that!" She huffed. "Anyways, if you're lucky, you'll only have to fight demons so chopping off limbs won't be a problem."
Hisaishi withdrew her blade.
"Get up. We'll continue working on it."
The sun started to kiss the horizon when the letter returned from the Swordsmiths' village. Hisaishi tsk'd in impatience as she read the contents.
Hisaishi-san,
Apologies as we cannot do as you requested. There is simply not enough time to craft a kusarigama of pure nichirin. It's not like we can drop everything just to make the weapons of a single trainee.
-Tecchin
"Is everything alright?" Gyomei had sensed a cloud over his teacher's mood and walked up next to her.
"They won't make you a kusarigama."
"...Well...if I use a yari, it won't be too much of a problem."
"Don't be stupid."
A sharp pain entered Gyomei's temple as he recoiled.
"You could barely fend off the last demon with your yari, how do you think you'll fare against hordes of them on Fujikasane? The trainees are what keep the corps' numbers from plummeting, so there's no way I can't bargain for accommodations."
Hisaishi huffed. "Don't worry about it. Keep on training. We'll only switch the yari if we have no other choice. I'll keep on nagging Tecchin."
"Are you sure it's alright? If he's busy we shouldn't bother them."
"We won't know if we don't put a bit of pressure on him. Plus, their nichirin blades aren't supposed to break that often. I wouldn't expect his orders to be that busy. And who knows? Maybe he just doesn't want to take time off of lusting over whatever unfortunate girl crosses his sight." The cultivator cringed at the thought. Of course, back in her pillar days and now, Tecchin had to be the same kind of person.
"You know you don't have to step on yourself to convenience others, right? Especially not that old pervert."
She gave his cheek a strong poke. He did not move in response, but did begin to tear up.
"What do you say, huh?"
"Shishou, could you stop?" Her hand was firmly but gently pushed away.
Hisaishi stared at her student. He was no longer the boy who came in with a fever.
"Everyone needs to find their own way of living. You will find yours."
Dear Tecchin-sama,
The corps expects us to prepare our students to the max for the final selection, and yet they fail to provide accommodations when the need arises? Don't tell me there isn't a single swordsmith in your village who can take on an extra custom-made weapon? What about your prodigy you love so much to boast about, Haganezuka-kun? We as cultivators only have so many resources, you must understand. The new trainees are the only ones keeping the Corps numbers afloat. You need to make this a priority. My trainee is blind, if he gets sent into the selection without a proper weapon and gets torn apart, you will be partially responsible.
Sincerely,
Hisaishi Suzue
Dear Hisaishi,
What happens to your trainee is none of my business. You have the choice of sending him or not. If he is so impaired that he cannot go in with a regular weapon, I would suggest turning him away from this path. We simply do not have the time to make such a weapon before this year's final selection as there are no smiths with extra time. Hotaru is working on a katana at the moment, and you know that child won't take on another project until he finishes the current one.
-Tecchin.
Dear Tecchin,
You don't even have to make a full nichirin weapon, just attach any short blade you have to a normal chain with any weighted object at the other end. Don't tell me you can't even do something as simple as that?
-Hisaishi.
Hisaishi,
Who do you take us for? Just because you were a pillar do you think you have the right to speak to me like that? We spend our days laboring over your swords, but we have our own lives as well. We are human. We simply do not have the time. My final answer is no. Don't write back to me either. I don't want to hear anymore shit from that orifice you call a mouth.
-Tecchin.
"That asshole!"
"Shishou, if you shout too much it's not good for your blood pressure."
"I'm past my prime anyways, high or low blood pressure's not gonna make a difference for me." She reclined against a wall. "Plus, you should be the one actually worried about this. You're the one going to fight after all."
She took a sip of sencha. "Any high blood pressure I get is your fault. I shouldn't have to be the one becoming anxious on your behalf."
"You likely cannot hold Tecchin-sama at sword point and force a kusarigama out of him."
"Well-"
"You were thinking about it, weren't you?"
"I know it's a stupid idea, I just wanna threaten that old lech a little. Would it not work, though? How long should it take to even just to replace the scythe on a kusarigama with nichirin?" She paused for a moment as a glimmer of inspiration flashed across her face.
"Shishou? Shishou. Why are you quiet all of a sudden? Did that shouting give you a stroke?"
Hisaishi stared in disbelief at such words coming from the one in front of her with the innocent expression of a weeping celestial handmaiden.
"Eh? Shishou? Why are you leaving?"
"...Shishou?"
He looked into the mirror, then back at his pale hands. Claws flexed in and out with each breath.
He had to be ready for the next time. The tickle in his gut only whispered, "there is no choice".
"A kusarigama...and one of the nichirin yari heads." The cultivator handed her new creation over with gloating.
"Ah, it's flat." He gave it a few swings. "And lighter to move around."
"Let's put it to the test." Her throat bubbled into giggles.
"So? What do you think?" Hisaishi tossed a water bottle over to her trainee.
"It's actually easier to parry this way. It's better at cutting, too."
"Ha. I knew my handicraft wouldn't fail. Maybe at this point I could even catch up with Tecchin." She huffed.
"...But I promised to care for Aki, and we changed her."
"...It has a name!?"
"She's important to him." His face drooped.
"Well it's not like we broke Aki, think of it as a little surgery to improve her." Hisaishi shook him on the shoulder. "Think, she's better for parrying and cutting now, hm? Wouldn't that be better for Uzui when we return her to him? He can fight better as a ninja. She has some nichirin too, so he can protect himself against demons, even."
"But wouldn't it be sad if he came back and saw you pulled out her teeth?"
"Her tee-Nevermind. Why the hell would he be sad if she's better now?"
The sore spot on Uzui's arm called at the back of his tongue.
"Uzui-san was injured."
"So? Don't ninjas get injured all the time? Even more so these days. I tell ya, with all these lights 'n guns they'll be gone soon." Hisaishi immediately regretted saying this and tried to backtrack. "I mean, your friend, he'll probably settle down. He'll be a married man soon, right?"
"...ah."
He swallowed.
"The marriage is pressuring him...and if he sees you pulled out her teeth, he might not be pleased."
"Any steam will be released with his three marvelous fiancees, I guarantee."
She put down her water bottle.
"Shall we go for another round?"
The final selection edged towards them. Gyomei noticed Hisaishi's shuffling disappeared later and later.
One night he even ended up lowering her to the futon. The house smelt of incense, but not wisteria.
He entered his own quarters, to only find Kaigaku scratching a wood block he had found outside. After being allowed to feel the object, a shiver went up his spine as the fingertips dug into inch-deep channels.
It was fortunate the room lacked weapons.
"We're having bamboo shoot rice for tonight."
A delightful shower burst from his eyes. "Really?"
"Yeah, yeah, you head out tomorrow after all, right?"
"Could you let me know when we start cooking?"
"Whaddya mean 'we'? You get to sit back today. I'll cook."
"Eh..."
"No "Eh"s. You gotta learn how to kill time, sheesh." She rolled her eyes. "Go on an' just hang for a few hours. Do something for fun."
"In that case..."
"Hm?"
"That shakuhachi in the living room...could I perhaps try playing it?"
That instrument had not been used for years, at least, ever since Sarumei went to final selection. Nonetheless it was nice to cook with some mood music.
"Thank you for the meal."
"Thank you for the meal."
Hisaishi's eyes could not help but glisten as her student, who once couldn't even finish half a bowl of rice, actually asked for seconds.
His collarbone was now padded on both faces, and his cheeks were filling out quite a bit as well.
I feel like I've raised a scruffy stray into a proud livestock guardian.
"Are you all set?" she patted down his travelling clothes for the day.
"I'm alright." He took a deep inhale. "You-you promise to look after them, right?"
"You still worried?"
"They wouldn't let my legs go until we were at the door." He let out a slight chuckle for the first time.
"Well if you're that concerned, better focus on surviving." A hand planted itself into his shoulder. "It'll be bigger trouble for all of us if you don't come back at all."
The other shoved the kusarigama's blade handle into his wielding hand.
"So don't hesitate. When you enter that mountain, it's going to be everyone for themselves. Don't try to save anyone or anything, kill and get out."
"I don't think that's right-"
"You can't trust anyone out there. Believe me, I've seen it, Sarumei's seen it."
Her brow furrowed as she wondered if he really would take it to heart.
"You never know who'll toss you to the demons."
