The time for farewells had come and Honoka had wracked her brain to come up with something so her friends and sunsengnim would remember her by.

"If you gift it from the heart", said her brother once, "no matter what you give them they will like it."

That was overall good advice in Honoka opinion, but she still wanted to give something nice for those she cherished, until she saw something in a store, and counting her meager savings realized she had just enough to buy them.

~~O~~

"What's this?" Asked her sunsengnim when he saw the small pendant on his hand.

"It's supposed to be one of the regalia of Japan, the Kusanagi-no-tsurigi. It's made of stainless steel but it's still quite cool, huh?"

Looking at it Chun-Woo Han could see the small pendant indeed resembled one of the treasures of Japan. "Did you know that I'm Korean? Most Koreans can't stand Japanese due to the lingering hate since world war two and the war crimes your countrymen committed back in the day."

"Really?" Asked Honoka horrified at the prospect, both that her countrymen were the bad guys at some point and that her sunsengnim might have taken offense to her gift.

Grinning, he took her pendant and put it around his neck proudly. "I think 'japanese Lover' on top of the many things they say about me might be just enough to throw those old fossils into a frenzy fit. I will cherish your present always Honoka."

Eyes watering, in a sudden burst of speed she hugged her sunsengnim, making him grunt in surprise before patting her on the head. "At least you're learning fast those techniques."

Kneeling down he looked at his disciple in the eyes, wanting to impart some last minute advice she would need. "Honoka, once you entered the world of Murin things changed. You were graced with power that no one on the normal world will ever have, so you must be cautious. The human body is both tougher than it looks, and weaker than it appears. If you fight without using Ki, it will be far harder for you to cause permanent damage on someone even if you were older and stronger, but even then it would still be possible for you to knock someone out."

"Have you ever seen a boxing match?" Honoka nodded, her father had mixed feelings of her watching such violent sport with him, even if he was a huge fan and wanted his children to enjoy his hobby with him. "When a boxer knocks someone out, when he's out of it for longer than ten seconds they immediately call the medics, or if the referee see they can't continue they stop the fights and call the medics, right?" Once more Honoka nodded.

"In the real world such things doesn't exist. If a man is knocked out, the longer he's stay out of it is an indicator that he might have brain damage. Someone suffers a contusion on the head there's some period of observation, regardless if the source of the hit is a car accident or even a punch to the face. Those kind of things are dangerous and can lead to irreversible brain damage to your opponent or even death."

He stared hard at his disciple. "There's no real 'safe' way to make someone become unconscious. So don't think real world acts like a manga where you can easily subdue someone like that. If you use Ki, you will be dealing far more damage and the risks to kill a non murinim rises to an alarming degree. Even if you hit someone on the gut, with the use of Ki there's a very big chance to cause internal bleeding depending on how strong you attack the person."

Honoka stared shell shocked at the admission. Granted she didn't had much experience with real life fights and the few thugs she fought she only beat them up enough to let them limp back to the holes they crawled into, but what he was talking about was much more serious than that.

"Up until now you were doing only school yard scuffles, but in the future as a murinim, as my disciple, you will have to fight for real, fight for your life. You might end up killing your opponent just to survive." He let her digest those words, and when he was sure she understood what he said he continued, "I want you to be careful with your abilities, to try and not use them against non murinim. But If you ever get into a real fight, if you ever have to kill someone, then I want you to understand that I will NEVER think less of you for that. Even if you are judged, even if you are reviled, even if you are hated, you will always be my dearest disciple."

She nodded, eyes moist from the advice her sunsengnim gave her. She now realized that not only she would live a life of strife, but it was one of death and violence too. Specially now that she had special techniques under her belt, even if they are still a work in progress.

Her sunsengnim patted her on the head before hugging her, which she returned fiercely.

It would be the last time she would see her sunsengnim in a long time.

~~O~~

"Here!" Honoka said to her two friends, "I wanted you two to have this!"

To Sakura she had the Yasakani-no-Matagama, and to Hinata she had the Yata-no-Kagami to present them.

"Thank you Honoka, they must have been expensive!" Said Sakura to her friend, and Hinata nodded shyly.

Honoka just scratched the back of her head embarrassed. It was expensive for her since she used all her savings for those gifts in the end. "Don't worry about it, I just want you girls to have something to remember me by."

They nodded and put their pendants on their necks before noticing something. "Where's yours Honoka?"

Honoka puffed her chest. "Don't you know? I'm the Empress, so I hold the three treasures! I'm just lending you those."

Both Sakura and Hinata looked at each other before tackling her friend to the ground, making her 'eep' in surprise. She tried to protest before both friends started tickling her, and she couldn't help herself anymore.

"Ahahahaha, s-stop, p-please, ahahahahaha!"

Finally taking pity on their friend, both girls collapsed on top of her while laughing themselves.

After calming down Honoka hugged her two friends. "I will miss you two."

"W-we w-will a-a-also miss y-you Honoka-chan." Whispered Hinata to her friend. Sakura nodded, and the three of them stayed like that for a few moments more.

"Please write back alright? At least once a month I will write to you two." They both nodded before Sakura sat up.

"So, did you gave the Kusanagi-no-tsurigi to Wu sensei? After all you like him so much right~" She also made some kissy faces, making Honoka blush at the implication.

"What? Nooooo! He's just", Honoka hesitated, "he's just my friend!"

"Ah, you just hesitated right now! Honoka likes sensei Wu! Honoka likes sensei Wu!" As Sakura said that she started running around.

"Noooo! Come back here!"

Hinata for her part was content with giggling at her two friends antics. She would really miss them.