"One kills a man, one is an assassin; one kills millions, one is a conqueror; one kills everybody, one is a god."
(Jean Rostand)
Rurouni Yahiko
A Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction Continuation by Chester Castañeda
We have a couple of loose ends to attend to before the next few arcs can begin.
Disclaimer: All characters used in this fanfic (save some others) are the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony Studios, Fuji TV, Studio Gallup, Studio Deen, and ADV. This disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted material that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.
Chapter 29: The Aftermath of War
Back on November 6, 1884; within the Akahori Manor's ballroom about two hours or so after midnight...
Munenori Minoe felt regret for the deaths of Gan and the Togakudan, but not for the massacre of the Fake Battousai Group. The details were hazy, but apparently he heard through the Togakudan "grapevine" that the gang members were castrated before they were killed.
'Kaede-chi went too far, as usual.'
"I've forced you to kill for me. I'm grateful. I'm sorry." Unbidden, Shogo Amakusa drew the diminutive man-child in an embrace that engulfed the both of them in bare skin, cloth, sweat, and blood. "If I could, I would've made it so that I'm the only one to shoulder the sins of this world. But..."
"A-Amakusa-sama...!" It was Minoe's turn to redden as he pushed the Hidden Christian's savior away. "We mustn't! We're both male! It is forbidden! What would Kaede-chi say?"
"W-What are you talking about?" the confused Shogo asked in all honesty.
Minoe giggled and returned to Amakusa's arms. "I'm kidding. Let me shoulder your burden too. Didn't you teach us that mercy resides in God, and deeds reside in men? Intertwined in your arms are the dreams of thousands of Christians and millions of disgruntled Japanese who are sick and tired of the government's corrupt ways."
The clunking sound reached a fever pitch, along with some throat-grating grunts. The pair released their hold on each other in time to witness the sight of a panting man who wore the same uniform as Minoe climbing up the stairs and pushing a cartwheel with a rotating-barreled firearm loaded on top of it.
"Get away from him! Don't you dare touch Minoe, you filthy, foreigner-loving Kirishitan scum!" the man screamed, which jolted Minoe into remembering that he hadn't finished off the entire Togakudan forces just yet.
Before Munenori knew it, Shogo Amakusa had already pushed him back to the untouched part of the wooden railings while the rebel leader dodged the whizzing bullets and unleashed a Dou Ryu Sen at the new arrival.
"YOU KILLED MY MEN! Nearly every one of them! You terrorist scum! I don't care if you can dodge bullets, if I can land even one shot in your heart or your head, you're done for!" the maniac screamed before he kept his entire Gatling gun setup from getting blasted by the Earth Dragon Flash while firing at Amakusa with a spare Murata rifle.
"R-Raedo... sempai?" Minoe's mouth went slack as his bulging, uncovered eye followed the movement of what could be considered his "former" superior. How'd the spy lug that wheeled mechanical abomination into the upper level of the ballroom anyway?
'Raedo-sempai was supposed to stay outside to find a way to get those coppers out of the rubble! What's he doing here?'
Aloud, Minoe asked Suzuki "Raedo" Nagaoka more or less the same question, his exposed eye darting back and forth his two masters as his mind raced in regards to what he was supposed to do at that point.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm saving your ass, you ingrate! You and I are probably the only living Togakudan spies left in this goddamned mansion! It looks like neither that spiky-haired boy nor that meathead could make it either!"
Raedo stated his case without bothering to look behind him, his rifle ablaze as he pushed the bigger rapid-fire Gatling Gun into position and interspersed himself in between Shimabara's Savior and what he viewed as his ditzy lackey.
"I apologize for your many losses, but you cannot stop me. You're still free to escape from this place, if you want. Take advantage of this token of mercy while you still have the chance," the reinvigorated Amakusa warned Raedo while dodging every rifle shot that came his way.
"Seriously? You're in no position to say such things, you arrogant son of a bitch," Raedo hissed before kneeling down and cranking up the Gatling Gun with a faster and deadlier rain of bullets.
"Your purpose and actions are of human origin. Mine is divine. You'll fail because you'll soon find yourself fighting against the Will of God himself."
"Is the life of one man worth the lives of all the people you've killed? Can you answer me that, you fucking hypocrite?"
"You misunderstand. The life of Akahori Tetsuo is worth the lives of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of Christians in hiding. As long as he's alive, their lives are at risk," the beatific Amakusa clarified as he dodged and danced around the whizzing projectiles the same way he did when he first began his assassinations of former Kyoto bakufu officials in 1878.
Minoe squeezed his eyes shut as a myriad of memories flashed before his mind's eye:
The Togakudan's initiation rites where he had go between the legs of the squatted members as they farted to their heart's content...
The low pay and scarce stipends...
The fact that he was the new guy and they hated him...
Their horrid body odor that never improved the whole time he bunked with them...
The increasing amount of backtalk and verbal abuse he endured because he was supposedly "showing off" with his vast amount of knowledge regarding Amakusa and the Battousai Group...
The beatings he had to cope with that Raedo waved off as normal manly roughhousing...
Raedo slapping the taste out of his mouth every time he "slipped" too much into his "character" and called him "Raedo-chi" (he finally settled for "Raedo-sempai")...
The childish "kancho" stabs wherein they clasped their hands and stuck both index fingers into his butt when he wasn't looking...
Being turned into an errand boy who fetched their food and supplies...
Getting beat up by them just because they felt like it...
Getting his life "saved" by Raedo twice in a row that early morning because the supposed "master spy" couldn't tell when one of his underlings was a double agent or not...
Dammit, why did that lowlife have to choose now out of all times to act like he had honor?
Shogo reacted in kind to the increased number of wall-busting slugs by speeding up his acrobatic, tumbling movements to the point of scaling walls and running on the ceiling. Unbeknownst to the Togakudan leader, Amakusa kept an eye on his... their... dithering associate.
"Fuck off. To be honest, most of those underlings of mine piss me off more often than not. They're not worth all this aggravation."
Raedo reloaded his Murata Rifle in between repositioning his unwieldy Gatling Gun and cycled between firing either firearm depending on where Amakusa was at the time.
"On the other hand, your halfhearted morality is making me sick to my stomach. You want a piece of me? Come and get it!"
The Togakudan Chief felt something move in the corner of his eye. He turned and took aim, only to see a clammy-skinned, sweaty Minoe unsheathe his short sword. "I know how you feel, kid, but it's best that you run away and let me handle this. The Ten Ken is already in the building anyway, and..."
A fraction of a second before Minoe's tensed arm and leg muscles would've uncoiled and pushed the wakizashi straight into Raedo's heart, Amakusa delivered a Ryu Tsui Sen that cleaved straight into the spy leader's right shoulder and lung.
The rifle fell to the shattered ground with a clatter while Akahori's dying secret agent ended up scuttling to railings behind Minoe, his vision watery and his legs rubbery.
Amakusa prepared to dispense the final, fatal blow when Minoe blocked his Sword of Light and Darkness yet again. "Don't be naive. We can't save them all, even if they have little to do with Akahori's sins. They've made their choice."
"...I know. I know. Don't worry. I won't be your weak link or your Judas Iscariot, Amakusa-chi," Minoe said as he faced the man whom he truly betrayed.
"M-Minoe? Who is Judas Iscariot? Why are you acting all familiar with Amakusa?" Raedo wheezed, his lightheadedness keeping him from reaching a conclusion that was right in front of him.
'You're the one I'm betraying, you fool,' Minoe wanted to outright tell Raedo while he used the Togakudan's collective abusiveness to remind him of his mission and to validate his next course of action.
"I hated the Togakudan. I hated you as much as Kaede-chi hated that gang who stole the name of the Battousai Group for themselves to terrorize innocent villagers. From the very start, you bullied and humiliated me, which I'm happy for because I wouldn't feel the least bit guilty once I betrayed you."
'...So why is it so hard for me to kill you now?' was what Munenori couldn't bring himself to say. 'You decided to act heroic at the last minute. That doesn't count! It shouldn't. You're a horrible man, Raedo-sempai.'
"W-What are you talking about?" Despite the blood loss, Minoe's words permeated into Raedo's fading consciousness as though they were liquid spreading through the interstices of the latter's awareness or even his sapience.
Eventually, Nagaoka put two and two together. "Wait. You pulled that short sword on me, not Amakusa. You tried to stab me. Holy shit, I thought you were trying to help me avenge our fallen brothers!"
The lurching and wobbly Suzuki grabbed hold of the shorter, youngish man's hairpiece and the rope that tied his eye patch together.
Amakusa stepped forward to chop the spy's hand off, but Minoe remained where he stood, in his own way shielding the Togakudan boss from Shogo's wrath and over-protectiveness.
"You're one of them, aren't you? You bastard! You're the one who leaked the information regarding the Kanto Police Captains! You even helped that Christian radical kill all the Togakudan...!"
"Morinaga Kaede-chi is the one who killed all the Togakudan members, Raedo-sempai," Minoe corrected.
"W-What?" Raedo sputtered.
Minoe wanted to ask why Raedo shielded him from Shogo using the Gatling Gun not once, but twice; why he tried to take vengeance for self-serving underlings that irritated him more often than not; he wanted to ask, but he was afraid of knowing the answer. Or maybe Raedo didn't even have an answer left to give.
"I'm sorry it had to end this way. Despite everything, I bear you or your men no ill will."
Something changed inside Minoe. Minoe was no longer there.
"All of Shogo-sama's enemies must perish. Scorpion Nest."
The wigged assassin let the reverse-edged wakizashi fly with the blade flipped so that its edge could slice its victim up like a sickle would.
In the same manner Minoe blocked each and every one of Amakusa's Ryu Sou Sen strikes that were aimed at Yahiko back in the body-strewn yard of Akahori's mansion, the split-second technique cleaved through every bone and limb of the man who both mistreated Munenori and "saved" his life from someone he didn't need saving from in the first place.
The last thing Suzuki Nagaoka saw before his halved head fell right beside his murderer's feet was him ripping off "Minoe's" toupee and eye patch, revealing a red-haired young woman with a small, cross-shaped scar underneath her left eye: The other Battousai that the Togakudan had been looking for all this time was right under their noses all along.
A voluminous wail echoed within the ballroom, and Morinaga was surprised to learn that it wasn't her that was screaming her head off. Right below her, it rained blood atop the now-conscious Yahiko Myojin and his wide-awake eyes. The blood mixed with his sweat and tears.
After what seemed like an eternity of silence, the double agent breathed out, "It's over." It was only then that she noticed that her flimsy disguise had fallen off, revealing her orange-red locks and intersecting scars that nearly reached her left eye.
"I knew I could count on you, Minoe," praised Amakusa as he put his hand over his blood-drenched but otherwise completely unharmed apprentice.
"No, it's actually Morinaga. Morinaga Kaede, Shogo-sama," Kaede clarified.
Two weeks later at Shinshushin, Nagano; on November 21, 1884...
Munenori Minoe was among the ones listed as missing-in-action, presumed dead spies of the Togakudan. Many of the mutilated bodies of cops and spies alike were returned home and handed to their loved ones in Kamiminochi, Kanagawa, Gunma, Tokyo, and wherever else for cremation or outright burial.
Two weeks ago, Yahiko Myojin and Gan paid their respects to the fallen officers and spies alongside the surviving policemen and Togakudan in a short ceremony commemorating their bravery before their remains were carted out to their respective relatives and hometowns. Tetsuo Akahori, his bodyguard Soujiro Seta, and his daughter Rin Akahori were also in attendance.
These thirty or so brave men who died were heralded as heroes who fought against the rebel Shogo Amakusa and his fanatic "army" of terrorists. The Meiji Government covered up every indication that their trap to lure out the cult leader (using Tetsuo Akahori as bait and some vengeful police officers whose loved ones died back in the Modern Shimabara War as the cage or net of sorts) was anything but a huge success.
Nonetheless, this much was true: Shogo Amakusa and his Battousai-looking associate remained at large.
The teenaged kendoist crumpled and threw away the newspaper he bought in disgust after reading it through. In fairness to Akahori (who was a bastard nonetheless, make no mistake), he himself was as much of a victim of the Meiji Government propaganda machine as Amakusa was. They'd rewritten history yet again in their favor.
The boy was sure those old coots and oligarchs would've loved to pin all the blame on the curtain-bearded politician, except any blame on him would've made everyone look incompetent for approving that plot regardless, so they instead painted the picture of a near victory as policemen repelled the charge of Amakusa and his fictitious army to save face and justify all the lives that were lost.
'Absolutely disgusting.'
On the other hand, at least Amakusa's existence was acknowledged, unlike with what happened to Makoto Shishio, his faction, and his Ten Swords. The incident wasn't even part of the headlines. The media had a lot more vested interest in covering the latest developments of the Chichibu Incident, which instead showed off the might of the administration in dealing with a peasant revolt that used pitchforks and farming implements instead of guns and swords.
Furthermore, even though the casualties of the little-known Second Shimabara War was significant in its own right, such that the Meiji Government basically won a double-edged Pyrrhic Victory over a couple of thousand Hidden Christian rebels by losing roughly an equal amount of soldiers and policemen (most of them rumored to have fallen from Shogo Amakusa's sword alone), the scale of that insurgency when compared to the Chichibu Incident made the former seem nothing more than a minor scuffle.
In contrast to Shiro Amakusa the Second's Revolt, the relatively recent Chichibu Riots had the size of five thousand to ten thousand men (accounts varied widely in regards to its true scope). No wonder newspapers nationwide treated the Modern Shimabara Rebellion as nothing more than a footnote in history... especially considering the many casualty-ridden wars the Meiji Government faced.
For instance, there were the four thousand people killed in 1868's Boshin War (also known as the War of the Year of the Dragon) and the whopping twenty-six thousand killed (and nearly ten thousand wounded) in 1877's Satsuma Rebellion (also known as the Seinan War or the Southwestern War).
Yahiko had a feeling there was some revisionist history happening in regards to the Chichibu Incident as well, as evidenced by the headlines' insistence that the rioters' motivations were solely economic in nature, implying that they nothing more than an organized mob of looters and robbers spreading anarchy and civil unrest for no good reason.
Although the motives of last month's Chichibu Riots were partly economical in nature (taxation became cash only, and many families were forced to sell their land or their wives and daughters to prostitution because they couldn't keep up with the Land Tax Reform of 1873), it was also caused by liberal revolutionary ideas.
More to the point, the Chichibu Incident was mainly promulgated by the so-called "Revolutionary Army" and erupted on the Saitama Prefecture's Chichibu District. The members of the Jiyuto (Liberal) Party were suspected of being the masterminds behind the insurgency. Meanwhile, the propaganda machine of the Meiji Government painted the grieving peasants as nothing more than simple criminals, hooligans, and robbers.
Even though the ringleaders of the rioters were composed of active thinkers from the Freedom and People's Rights Movement who fought for better and equal treatment among all sectors of society (roughly the same principles by which the Seikhoutai worked under) and the reformation of the corrupt government itself, the biased media (in accordance to the will of the administration) portrayed them as nothing more than poor peasants looking for an easy way out of their mounting debts.
The overwhelming victory that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police had over these rebels again overshadowed the downright embarrassing display that several Kanto Police Squads demonstrated in their effort to capture the rebel Amakusa during his attempted assassination of Tetsuo Akahori. Once more, newspapers didn't bother covering the incident in Shinshushin in favor of the juicier Chichibu Riots of October 1884, especially since the latter event painted the Meiji Government in a better light.
The Chichibu Incident only served as a symptom to the cancer that Japanese society at the time currently suffered from. The masses hated and mistrusted the government because they were having a hard time adjusting to the rapid changes that the Meiji Restoration was implementing in order to bring Japan to the twentieth century as a superpower.
Those in power only cared to industrialize and make a stronger Japan that would never be humiliated by incidents like the arrival of Commodore Matthew C. Perry's black ships or the forced signing of treaties like the Kanagawa Treaty of 1854. The Meiji Government didn't give a damn about the people; all it cared for was saving face, hiding embarrassment, and gaining more power, money, and prestige for itself on the backs of its suffering citizens.
Bullshit like that made Yahiko wonder if defending such a selfish government was even worth it. Alas, he'd already promised Sanosuke and Kenshin that he was the one they could depend on when it came to dealing with greedy pigs like Jusanro Tani (whose Shinshu summer home was incidentally repossessed by Akahori himself, of all people).
Sano also made Myojin shoulder the character of "Evil", so the boy felt that it was his duty to bear the responsibility of protecting the helpless people that Zanza and the Hitokiri Battousai also fought to defend back in the day.
However, Yahiko messed up his mission by allowing Amakusa to kill all those men and by failing to bring him and Morinaga to justice, but he wasn't about to give up.
'I will be stronger. I will make Kenshin and Sano proud. I will bring Kaoru's Kamiya Kasshin Ryu to the next stage of its evolution. I can't stop now. I have to keep moving.'
And so move he did. As soon as he'd (somewhat) recovered from his latest injuries in the hands of Amakusa and Morinaga, he went back to the East Valley to train his newest developed technique, the God on Earth.
He caught Kaede by surprise with that move, and it was quite the gamble to use Minoe's name in order to make her hesitate long enough to get hit by the technique.
Myojin narrowed his eyes. 'Minoe...'
There was one problem though.
"DOU GAMI!"
He couldn't do it again. He'd been at it all morning, and he couldn't get the God on Earth to work.
"Dammit! DOU GAMI!" He tried again, and the result was the same. His sakabatou tilled the soil and did nothing more. He tried breaking a boulder. All he did was chip it away with the God Hammer.
He tried it on harder ground, thinking that the lack of explosive leverage from the soil was keeping him from busting out his newest sword technique.
He couldn't get the timing right. His second recoiling strike wasn't fast enough to hit the point of impact where the resistance of the ground was cancelled out by the initial strike. So was what he did back in the Akahori Mansion a fluke?
After his hundredth failure, his strike producing nothing more than clumps of dust and small rock fragments, he decided to bring his attention back to the first experimental strike he'd ever devised that worked in a fight: The God Hammer.
The God on Earth was basically a double strike using the initial recoil to allow leverage for the second strike, so practicing his three-hit attack should help his muscle memory remember the correct way of doing the move.
"TSUI GAMI!"
Again and again, he hit the bamboo shoots in front of him with triple strikes that looked like single strikes to the naked eye. The technique he used to break apart Soujiro's blade in their duel proved quite useful in keeping both Shogo and Kaede on their toes.
However, while at the time he could hit the Tsui Gami at will, this time around, some of the bamboo stalks fell, while others were only partially severed. It was just as Yahiko feared. He couldn't keep up a consistent triple strike every time, which also explained why he had such a hard time replicating that explosive strike that blew him, Akahori, and Morinaga away (literally).
Drenched in sweat and frustration, Yahiko bludgeoned one last bamboo stalk apart, failed to completely sever it, and fell down on his back, his eyes facing straight up the green-tinged heavens while he lay down on the forest floor. He shut his eyes and let the pain wash over his body.
'Kenshin's sword... is so heavy.'
His shoulder hurt like hell. His whole body felt like he'd been kicked around by yakuza thugs (and he knew this from experience).
Were his wounds the reason why he couldn't do the Dou Gami or the Tsui Gami consistently? Maybe. But he was already severely wounded when he did them. Or rather, did he need to be in a life-or-death situation to make the moves work? They weren't reliable techniques if he needed to be half-dead and stressed out to execute them.
"No. That's nonsense. I can still do the Tsui Gami. I only need to be more accurate and consistent in doing it. I don't care if I was able to do the Dou Gami through beginner's luck. I can do it again. I just need more practice, dammit."
"That's what you get for stealing other people's techniques, Yoshi-boy."
"Wha...?"
Yahiko woke up with a start. Right above him towered the bulky hulk of a man he underestimated so much and who saved his life several times during Amakusa's assassination plot. "Gan. What the heck are you doing here?"
"That's the Great Gan to you, kiddo, and I'm here at Kaori's request. I was told to fetch you in exchange for a bowl of Tanuki Udon."
By "Kaori", the Nicknaming Gan meant Chizuru Raikouji, the granddaughter of a foreign goods merchant who, strangely enough, looked like the spirit and image of Kaoru Kamiya.
No, Yahiko had no idea where that goon got that name either, or why it sounded disturbingly like his kendo master's given name.
The Kaoru look-alike who was roughly the same age as the young wife of Kenshin Kamiya (nee Himura) was staying in Shinshu and served as the Sakaguchis' friendly neighborhood... neighbor.
For the past few days, Yahiko had been living under bridges and bathing in nearby streams as a way to get used to life as a wanderer. Both Chizuru and the Sakaguchis offered him a place to stay in their own respective homes, but he felt that their help while he was recovering from his wounds (and all the free food to boot) was more than enough assistance.
He even insisted on paying for the food and lodging he received so that he wouldn't seem like a gigantic moocher like Gan was (Yahiko still got some money from the food bet he made when he first met the hooligan plus his traveling budget before he headed out to a "warrior's pilgrimage" of sorts), but no less than the man of the house himself, Satoru Sakaguchi, wouldn't hear of it.
Myojin didn't want to impose on them or anything, which was also the reason why he never gave the Higashidanis (Sanosuke's biological family) a second visit even though his student, Outa, was present there.
How was he supposed to learn how to live on his own when all these people around him kept persisting on helping him out? He appreciated the gesture, but he couldn't afford to be soft when his travels were supposed to make him into a stronger fighter.
Speaking of which, the other person who saved his life by keeping her frail hands pressed on his punctured shoulder to stop him from bleeding to death... Tetsuo's daughter, Rin... gave him and the Sakaguchis a house visit a few days before to hand him part of the reward for protecting the Akahoris.
Although her expression, her darting gray irises, her milky hair, and her ghostly appearance remained as haunting as ever, she was still the brave little girl that kept him from kicking the bucket altogether.
Ironically, on that day, it was Rin who honored Yahiko for saving her, her father, and Soujiro's lives even though, in his eyes, it should've been the other way around.
"Thank you for saving Seta-kun's life," she had whispered to Yahiko while personally handing the reward on top of the wages he received alongside the police officers who survived the incident.
"You got it mixed up. Psycho-Kid did all the work, and so did the Kanto Police Squads. Also, I wouldn't be here talking to you if it weren't for you and your help when I was fatally wounded," he confessed.
The pale-skinned girl adjusted her tinted glasses and parasol. She even bothered going out in the sun to deliver the money personally to Yahiko. What a girl. Soujiro was lucky to have a girlfriend like her.
"Then let's just call it even, Myojin-kun."
Even after Yahiko insisted that he couldn't take the money and offered giving it to the Sakaguchis for all their trouble instead, everyone nevertheless made him take it.
Originally, Myojin planned to work on the road to sustain his travel expenses like Kenshin did when he was a vagabond. Thankfully, with all the money he gathered from Sano's ancestral town, he may be able to go all the way to Kyoto without having to take odd jobs and part-time work for his train fees.
'But how can I take all that money when it was the policemen who gave up their lives to wound Amakusa that helped take him out?' Yahiko reasoned to himself.
Tokyo Captain Ujiki, the Kamiminochi Squad, and the Togakudan all helped wear the rebel leader down. It was also Soujiro who should've taken that reward because he was the one who defeated Shogo and thoroughly beat up Morinaga.
'I feel like a Johnny-come-lately fraud for reaping the fruits of everybody else's labor.'
"Stop being embarrassed already, Yoshi-boy. They all just want to help you out after all the good things you've done for them. I heard you even stopped the town from being overrun by thugs from Kaori-neechan herself! You should let them shower you with their little tokens of appreciation!"
Yahiko rolled his eyes. In contrast to him, Mister Food Bandit was more than happy to take his share of free food and lodging from strangers without so much as a howdy-do despite the fact that he himself got a hefty amount of money as his wages for a day's work as the Oyakata's (extra) bodyguard.
"That Kaori... Kaoru... I mean, Chizuru... is such a busybody. She should mind her own business."
"And you're a reckless idiot for coming out here after nearly dying in the hands of Kumamoto and Samurai X." By Kumamoto, the Nosy Gan meant Amakusa, while Samurai X referred to Morinaga.
"Ugh. Whatever. You know I'm thankful to all of them." Yahiko snorted, but said nothing more as he rubbed his sore shoulder and looked at the ground. After a few moments of silence, he yelped, "What did you mean by saying that I stole a technique from someone else? What technique? And whose technique was it?"
"You stole my Happa when you did that exploding ground thingy against Samurai X with your blunt sword, you little snot!"
Yahiko had to jump back as Gan wielded his metal bat and blasted the forest floor in front of him into smithereens.
"The Dou Gami isn't some simple technique that blasts the ground apart, you dunderhead! It has some sound scientific principles backing it, and it's a lot more powerful to boot!"
"You mean this powerful?" Gan leaped back, arched his whole body, and did another Happa that blasted rock, earth, trees, and bamboo away like a dusty sandstorm. Had Yahiko not sidestepped in time, he would've been caught by the dirty hurricane.
'Holy cow. He can raise the impact of his Happa. That was almost as strong as the Dou Gami I did last, last week. If he's this strong, no wonder Amakusa fainted in the middle of their match.'
Yahiko now had a hard time arguing which technique was more powerful in light of the fact that Gan uprooted trees with one shot of his tetsubo. The setup and execution might not be the same, but the destructive power of both the Happa and God on Earth were pretty close. Gan was capable of all this after nearly having his head severed by Shogo Amakusa himself just two weeks ago to boot!
"I have no idea how a tiny man like you with your puny sword is able to blast away a wall with a technique as powerful as dynamite, but I can do as much damage too if I put my back into it."
"Yeah, but I can do my technique faster than you. You were wide open when you did that Happa thing. You practically telegraphed it to me. No wonder Amakusa was able to do all those counterattacks when he fought you."
"Oh, that's cute. Because I can bust out my Happa anytime I want. You, on the other hand, couldn't even do that one technique you're so proud of more than once."
Yahiko gulped. Dammit, Gan got him there. He subsequently turned his back on the uppity brute. "Fine. Stop showing off. I get it. You're stronger than me. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be off to train some more. Go use your technique at a rock quarry or something and stop bothering me."
"Okay, then. But you can't use bamboo shoots to practice your sword-breaking technique," the Persistent Gan remarked.
Yahiko groaned and asked, "Why not?"
"Even though bamboo is easier to break than steel," the Wise Gan illustrated his point by taking a stalk and tearing it in half, "it's also more flexible and can absorb abuse better."
He then wrapped the half torn fibers of the bamboo stalk around Yahiko's forearm like a piece of cloth. "See? Your technique where you hit things three times at the same point really fast is the wrong way to break bamboo because it sways and bends after every strike, which wastes all your energy."
Gan made swishing movements with his hand. "Soon, in order to cut the bamboo cleanly, you'll be doing chopping motions instead of the hammering blows you used to break swords apart. Your muscle memory will be relearning the wrong technique. If you want to practice your move, use something more rigid."
"I see. Not bad. You're actually making sense for once, Gan." Even Yahiko had to confess that what his companion said made a little bit of sense. "What do you suggest I do, though? It's not as if I could pick a fight with the police and use their sabers for sword-breaking practice."
Gan broke a thick, curved branch from a nearby uprooted tree, snapped off the smaller twigs and leaves, and brandished it like a gnarled sword of sorts. "It's not steel, but at least it's more rigid and stiffer than bamboo. Now try to break this branch apart while I attack you."
"Eh? WAH! Wait a minute! OW! I wasn't prepared that time! OUCH!" Yahiko backpedaled as Gan swung into action. What was that brain-dead moron talking about? Practicing the timing of the God Hammer in this instance where his enemy was actually attacking was a lot harder than breaking apart a couple of defenseless bamboo stalks.
Myojin protested, "I thought Chizuru made you fetch me because she didn't want me wandering around while injured! You're aggravating my injuries more than I would've by practicing alone!"
"Stop whining. You were the one who wanted to polish your techniques. This sparring match is a lot more realistic than chopping down bamboo that can't fight back," Gan mocked before standing still and changing his demeanor. Yahiko then raised his eyebrow as the bandanna-wearing Soba King said some familiar lines.
"I am a force of nature. I'm like a tsunami or a typhoon, if tsunamis or typhoons could talk and never shut up. I am the Son of God who will bring my people to paradise by fighting against a government that actually lifted the ban on my religion. Us Saviors of Mankind don't need to make much sense. According to Gan 3:16, your ass is as good as kicked!"
While holding back his laughter, Yahiko played along with the Impish Gan's shenanigans by making a closed-eye, smiling face and commenting, "That's quite an interesting story, Mister Gan. I wonder... Can a force of nature like you bleed? Cry out in pain? Get crippled? Maimed? Beaten to a pulp? Let's explore those interesting possibilities together, shall we?"
The branch broke in half within three strokes (or one Tsui Gami) of Yahiko's sakabatou. The Grinning Gan wordlessly took another curved piece of wood from the fallen tree and attacked the Tokyo Samurai Descendant anew.
"S-Stupid Yoshi-boy! Don't look at me like that! I-It's not like I'm striking you with branches because I want to help you improve your technique or anything!"
"Baka Soku Zan. I will... Kill. Idiots. Instantly. I fight for the sake of a smarter future. Prepare yourself, Lord of Fools!"
The two "grown" men continued to play around like little boys till the afternoon, their bodies screaming at them in agony, but their minds not minding the pain one bit.
Back on November 6, 1884; within the Akahori Manor's ballroom about two hours or so after midnight...
A hint of a smirk appeared on the otherwise blank expression on Kaede's face. "We're going to fight the Ten Ken, aren't we? Shishio Makoto's right-hand man? The person who broke Battousai's nigh-indestructible sword? I can't wait." She undressed right away, which prompted Amakusa to turn his back and wait.
Morinaga turned her clothes inside out, revealing another kimono with a different shade of blue underneath. She ruffled her compressed "helmet hair" before retying it into a topknot ponytail hairstyle more suited for the Bakumatsu.
A pair of tekko or fingerless swordsman's hand guards hidden inside her literal turncoat fell to the floor, which she picked up and wore right over her hand wraps for extra protection. Once she was done dressing up, Morinaga told Amakusa, "I'm ready."
Shogo turned in time to see the spirit and image of Battousai himself from sixteen to twenty years back appear before him. The only things missing to make the illusion flawless were (of course) the correct placement of the scars over the cheek instead of directly underneath the eye, the size of the scars, and the missing daisho or twin swords that swordsmen from the Bakumatsu were most known for.
Otherwise, a quick glance would have people thinking that this truly was the infamous manslayer; either that or a little girl pretending to be the Battousai.
"Come with me, Shogo-sama. I hid my sword somewhere above the ceiling of this mansion," Morinaga beckoned, her demeanor, posture, and gait as completely transformed as her appearance. "You can use its sheath to replace the one that the Myojin boy broke. It should help you in our battle against the Ten Ken."
Amakusa scratched his chin and shrugged. "It probably won't fit as well as I'd like, but it's better than nothing at all. Those boys you've met here in Shinshu were surprisingly bothersome."
From there, they heard Yahiko's cries and shrieks for the mutilated body that he thought was Minoe, the hallucinogens from Shogo's artificially created Rai Ryu Sen continuing to skew the boy's perception of reality.
Kaede froze into place and stared back at the Tokyo Samurai Descendant right below her from over her shoulder, fancying herself a disembodied spirit looking at her other self.
As Yahiko released pent-up feelings and frustrations over an ashen world filled with shades of gray, she imagined him to be another her who was learning an important life lesson right then and there: The simpleminded, black-and-white morality of a child had no place in this cruel world.
"Are you okay?" inquired Amakusa to his distracted apprentice. "You can't afford to be merciful in these circumstances. You have to brace yourself and harden your heart or else that devil Akahori or his brainwashed Heaven Sword will eat you alive."
Shogo brushed away the stray bits of hair that covered the shorter woman's scarred eye and smooth, supple lips. Up until now, he could barely believe Doraku's claims that they were the same age.
"I'm sorry I got you involved with my problems. I have to again borrow your strength in order to achieve something that's greater than either you or me."
Morinaga took hold of the Battousai of Style's hand and put it on her scarred cheek. "Don't apologize... and don't worry. My strength is yours, Lord Shogo. I know you're destined for great things, and I'm happy to be a part of your legend."
"Minoe more or less said the same thing."
"Of course he did."
Around noontime on November 6, 1884; somewhere inside a log cabin within the Nagano wilderness...
Morinaga awoke. Her blurry eyes focused and saw the genuflecting figure of Amakusa praying at an altar to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
"Shogo-sama..."
So they'd already arrived at one of Shogo's many hideouts scattered across Japan. She could hear the horses neighing from the stable nearby.
"Ah, you're already awake, Morinaga."
She got off her futon and began rolling it back. "Wasn't I already awake before? Did I faint again?"
"Don't you remember? You slept like a log as soon as we got here."
"Ah. My apologies. And to think, you suffered a more thorough beating than I did, and I was the one who slept first..."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Morinaga. You needed the rest. You took on the Togakudan, the Ten Ken, and that troublesome kid who hasn't killed anyone all by yourself."
She cleared her throat. "Well... did you get a good night's sleep too? Your eyes are bloodshot and you look absolutely exhausted."
"...I can sleep later. I don't feel like sleeping right now."
Kaede sighed as she looked at the thick layer of spent ashes of incense on the floor. "Oh, Shogo-sama. With all due respect, you should take your own advice. Don't be so hard on yourself."
She made clucking sounds with her tongue and the roof of her mouth as she went out back, took a broom, and swept the floor.
"Oh, that's right. Yesterday was Lady Magdalia's six-year death anniversary. I'm sorry for my insolence, Lord Shogo."
"Actually, yesterday was the death anniversary of many people, not just my sister or our dearly departed Christian friends," reminded Amakusa. "We should pray for those souls as well. We should also pray for the brave Kanto Police Squads who risked their lives to save the worthless hide of that Sodomite, Akahori. We must never forget everyone's sacrifices."
"Yes, of course. You're absolutely right." Morinaga sat beside her liege and prayed alongside him.
Because Kakure Kirishitan had to hide their religion right under the noses of the Anti-Christian authorities for centuries-on-end, certain Buddhist and Shinto practices had merged with typical Christian traditions.
This explained why Shogo's altar for the Virgin Mary had incense on it as well as candles and why he clapped his hands a couple of times while praying instead of doing so with only the sign of the cross.
Centuries of persecution and concealment had made the foreigner religion evolve into something uniquely oriental and Japanese altogether.
After they were done praying, Kaede said, "Lady Magdalia. She was the first one among everyone in your group who figured out I was a girl instead of a boy. Her female intuition is scary, at times."
"She was a brave woman, my sister. She supported me till the end of her days, and she was the one who saved my life instead of the other way around. I owe everything to her. It's because of her and all the people who died six years ago that I must continue to be the Savior of the Japanese Christians. Our war against Akahori and the Meiji Government has just begun."
Morinaga winced as the memory of two Amakusas appeared in her mind, one with his sword broken and his chest bleeding, and another with a cross-shaped scar that intersected on the bridge of his nose and covered his entire face.
Had Kaede not helped the dying Magdalia fetch Amakusa and his kagemusha or doppelganger, Shogo would've died that fateful day and it would've been his death anniversary that she'd be celebrating alongside his sister's.
Magdalia and Kaede were there to witness the Fake Shogo nearly kill the Real Shogo after the two faced off in a duel to the death for some reason in the middle of the battlefield filled with Kakure Kirishitan and Japanese Imperial Army corpses.
More to the point, it was Magdalia who begged the traitorous kagemusha to not finish off Amakusa after the former countered the once unstoppable technique, the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki, of the latter.
Morinaga wasn't privy of the details, but she knew enough to understand that it was Shogo's body double that betrayed him and the growing Secret Christian rebellion to the Meiji Government and Tetsuo Akahori.
The kagemusha was also Shogo's Judas Iscariot (whom from what Morinaga gleaned from Sunday Mass, the Kakure Kirishitan version of Holy Week, and constant bible readings from Amakusa and his ministry, was the apostle that betrayed Jesus Christ to the Pharisees and the Romans for thirty pieces of silver).
'I won't be the same as that kagemusha traitor. I'll never betray Lord Shogo the way he did,' Morinaga vowed to herself. She then sniffed and smelled something fragrant on her face. By reflex, she scrambled for her wakizashi, pulled it out of its scabbard, and checked her reflection on her blade.
She then marveled at how the swelling around her eye finally subsided after it was repeatedly hit by Soujiro's scabbard. "Amazing. My eyelid and cut brow ridge is back to their normal size. Did you do something about this, Shogo-sama?"
Amakusa nodded. "I hope you don't mind. Multiple police squads will be searching for us soon, and it'd be easier to disguise ourselves and blend in with the crowd if our injuries are taken care of immediately."
"I understand. You really have thought everything through. So what drugs did you use to heal the swelling around my eye?" Kaede asked.
"Would you believe it's aloe vera?" said Amakusa as he went out to the back of the cabin to gather water from the well. "Herbal cures work in a pinch, and Anti-Inflammatory Western Medicine is derived mostly from plants and other natural ingredients anyway."
"So aloe vera isn't only good for your hair, huh?" she remarked as she looked out the window and smelled the earthy scent of the Nagano wilderness.
Even her punctured forearm, which the Heaven Sword stabbed as she went straight for his foot, was properly bandaged. The earlier numbness of her hand had disappeared, replaced by a throbbing pain that, while unpleasant, reassured her that she'd at least have full use of the limb once it healed.
She patted her stomach and the valley between her unbound breasts. She then went red as a tomato. "D-Did you redress my bandages too?"
Shogo kept his back turned at Kaede as he confirmed, "Yes. I hope you can forgive me. I... had no choice. You'd lose too much blood if you were left with all those wounds undressed... I mean, not bandaged."
Morinaga looked away and averted staring at Amakusa's lithe form while hugging herself and keeping her kimono tightly wrapped around her body.
In reaction to this, Shogo bowed and apologized to her profusely, which made her chuckle. She could count the number of times she saw the proud and godly Amakusa prostrate himself like that in one hand.
"It's okay. I don't mind. You didn't have any ill intentions. Thank you for tending to my wounds, Shogo-sama."
"I... I should've been more sensitive to you and your plight. I really should've asked for your permission to do that, but you were already fast asleep."
"My plight? My... permission?"
"It's all in consideration of what happened to you in the past, of course."
There it was. The elephant in the room that remained unaddressed for the longest time since they escaped the mansion: Akahori's revelation in regards to the origin of Morinaga's cross-shaped scar.
Kaede couldn't recall any of it, though. "My past? I don't understand."
"Don't you remember what Akahori said about your past?" asked Amakusa. "I talked to you about the same thing too, during our bible studies."
"That's impossible. I hated your pretentious lectures about how Jesus saves and heals all wounds," protested Morinaga, still confused in regards to what Shogo was talking about.
Amakusa scratched his head. "Oh, is that so? I must have misremembered, then. You're right. It's none of my business."
The Hidden Christian leader shut his eyes. 'She forgot again, huh? After being reminded of her past trauma, she repressed the memory once more.'
The fact that Akahori dared to use that horrible memory against Morinaga made Amakusa's blood boil. 'He crossed the line. Hell is too good for him.'
Unbidden, Kaede's hand traveled to the twin marks underneath her left eye. How did she get those scars again?
She remembered.
She remembered how the scary Doraku Akatsuki confessed to her that Mizuki Morinaga, her adoptive courtesan mother, was killed by accident while he was facing off with some of his enemies.
She remembered Akatsuki giving her the choice to train under his tutelage so that she could become strong enough to kill him someday... for revenge.
Knowing how well she did against the Ten Ken and how old Doraku was now, that day might not be far off.
At the time, she thought he was a crazy maniac that only she could take down; a maniac that clothed her and provided her food and shelter while they traveled together.
So how did she get those scars, then?
Her head hurt.
"Your hatred of lectures must be why you were so cold towards me when you first joined our church back in Shimabara," remarked Shogo.
"Was I really that aloof?" she asked.
"Half of the time, I thought you wanted to kill me!" he answered with a chuckle.
"Pardon me, then." She laughed. She couldn't remember it now, but back then, she might have been more than a little insufferable. Probably.
There were a lot of gaps in her memories... perhaps because some of them, she didn't want to remember.
"Thank you, Morinaga."
"For what, Lord Shogo?"
"For sticking with me and my followers to the bitter end. You had what you wanted. You knew how to counter the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu and seen for your own eyes its secrets. And yet you stayed behind and fought a war that didn't concern you."
"I chose to stay." She beamed. "And besides, like I said earlier, I still want to know how to perfectly counter the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki. I came close with the Ten Ken's Shun Ten Satsu, which is about as fast, but I still have a lot to learn."
He smiled back. "I see."
She curtsied. "I'll leave myself to your care for the foreseeable future, then."
He bowed in return. "It'll be my pleasure."
She then remembered something else.
She remembered that her scars were "presents" by the group of opium-drugged hidden weapon experts... customers of her mother... who grabbed her and had their way with her while her mother watched in tears and bled to death.
They killed Mizuki and ravaged Kaede because the younger Morinaga looked like the Hitokiri Battousai. Kenshin Himura didn't finish his assassins off, which allowed them to run amok across Yoshiwara and ruin the Morinagas' peaceful lives.
Akatsuki lied to her.
She remembered being angry at her master for his lies and for killing the people that did those horrible things to her and Mizuki in the first place before she had a chance to get her revenge.
She remembered hunting for Kenshin, the key to her past. She shut her eyes. How long had she been chasing after the shadow of the Hitokiri Battousai? Six years? Seven? But in the end...
"I hated Battousai's name and his reputation. I hated that I looked like him. I know he isn't really the one to blame for what happened to me, but he's nevertheless the reason why I became part of your group: So that I could learn how to counter his Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu."
She sat down, and Shogo sat beside her. "It's hard to explain why I've been stalking Battousai for so long. I learned a lot about him during my days as part of Shishio Makoto's spies, but I haven't really met him. If you ask me now what drives me to do what I do, I could never really give you a clear answer."
"I know," confessed Amakusa. "I already knew this long ago."
"Huh? But how?" demanded Morinaga.
"You still don't remember?" Shogo questioned.
"Remember what? I never told you anything at all! Did Lady Magdalia reveal to you my secrets?" said Kaede in askance.
Amakusa grabbed hold of the Battousai of Speed's ginger head and ruffled her rust-colored hair. "Never mind. I must've been mistaken again."
The Fake Battousai made her cheeks balloon as she (ironically) objected, "Stop treating me like a child!" She sighed as she spaced out. "Have I really forgotten...?"
Shogo wiped the sweat off of his brow and adjusted his headband. "I must have been talking to another you, probably."
"Oh," said Kaede as her bangs hid her eyes in their collective shadow. "Another me, huh?"
The Kakure Kirishitan leader coughed hard.
"I understand what you're saying completely, though. By searching for the man whose infamous name and reputation ruined your life, you're essentially trying to find yourself and your true identity. That man holds a piece of your puzzle. He's the loose end you have to face in order for you to mature as a person and move on."
Amakusa took his freshly sharpened Sword of Light and Darkness, sheathed it inside a new metal scabbard, and slipped the weapon into his cloth belt.
"Don't worry. This time around, you're not alone. Like with Shishio and his Ten Swords, you now have the Battousai Group to rely on. Give new meaning to your life by lending me your strength and helping me bring about the downfall of the Meiji Government. My utopia is at hand."
That afternoon, as Gan returned to the Sakaguchi Residence with a kicking, screaming, and aching Yahiko in tow, the Peculiar Chicken... named "Sanosuke"... that was tied at the back of the Sakaguchi Soba Shop crowed at the sunset.
"You're leaving already?" asked Nonoko Sakuguchi because Yahiko had just gotten there. It had been many days since he left the soba owner's abode.
"Aren't you still injured? You were barely able to recover from your injuries a month ago, and it's only been two weeks since you almost bled to death while stopping some terrorists from killing Mister Akahori! Listen to reason and stay with us for at least a week longer!" added Nonoko.
"The least you could do is say goodbye, Yahiko-san!" chimed in a pouting Kyoko Sakaguchi. "You've done so much for our village. What would everyone think if you were to leave in a huff without so much as a farewell?"
Yahiko exhaled and kept his head bowed low. 'What is she talking about? They're the same people who asked me to go home after I kept a gang of imposters from terrorizing their town. Those ingrates trust me as far as they can throw me.'
To Kyoko, the teenager instead said, "Is your father home? I've made up my mind. I've already bid goodbye to the relatives of some of my friends here in Shinshu, and I want to say goodbye to Mister Sakaguchi, Missus Sakaguchi, you, and everyone else as well."
"Hey, Kaori-neechan! Where's my soba? I got Yoshi-boy back like you asked me to! OW!" Instead of soba, Gan got a face-full of skillet.
"You've been mooching off the Sakaguchis all this time! It's like you never even paid off your debt, you gluttonous pig!" she screamed.
"That was I told him!" piped up Yahiko before biting down his lower lip as soon as Kao... Chizuru aimed her death glare at him. 'Jeez, what did I do this time?'
"So you're finally going, huh?" the Raikouji daughter asked, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she tapped her sandaled feet on the ground.
"Yeah. I can't believe we were able to get through all... that, um, crap. Well, see you around, I guess!"
"Have fun!" was what Yahiko expected Chizuru to say. Instead, a slipper hit him on the face while he sarcastically drawled, "Yeah, I'll miss you too!" with a muffled voice.
"Get a room," was what Gan wanted to say. "Get a sonofaBITCH!" was what he squeaked out after getting kneed to the groin yet again, his knees sinking to the ground as his family jewels clanged upon impact.
His eyes half-lidded, Yahiko wondered if Amakusa would've finished Gan off a lot sooner in their fight had the rebel just aimed at the hooligan's crotch.
"It's nice to see you're still as violent as ever. I will take note that the ones acting like a married couple are you and Gan, though."
"So what happened to the Fake Battousai? Was he finally caught and put to justice?" Chizuru queried with sparkling eyes and an expectant grin.
''He', huh? Interesting.' The Son of Tokyo Samurai scratched his cheek.
Yahiko didn't even begin to know what to say to Chizuru in regards to Morinaga, who served as Raikouji's counterpart and another look-alike to the Kenshin-Kaoru coupling.
Or the fact that he fought a Christian Cult Leader who knew the same sword style as Kenshin for some reason. Or the fact that Kaede was actually a crossdressing girl. Or the fact that Minoe was...
'Minoe.'
The eye-patched, wig-wearing Togakudan member was a whole other enigma for Myojin to solve. He couldn't even bring up that person's name in his thoughts because he himself couldn't make heads or tails out of him. 'Or her.'
Yahiko eventually stated, "Uh... It's complicated. You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."
Chizuru answered, "Try me."
The samurai boy laughed with a plastered smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'd rather not." He couldn't help but be reminded of Kaoru after seeing Chizuru's angry eyes and self-entitled demeanor.
Even after all those years since Chizuru met Kenshin back in Tokyo, she still hadn't forgotten him. Heck, her little speech about how the real Hitokiri Battousai rescued her from a group of disgruntled swordsmen known as the "Forces of Heaven" helped Yahiko win over the citizens of Shinshu and stop them from being terrorized by Keisuke's Fake Battousai Group.
Kenshin was happily married with a kid, though, so Yahiko had no idea what she was going to get out of meeting the former hitokiri at this point in time.
The Tokyo Samurai Descendant didn't need to be Benzaiten, the Japanese Goddess of Love and Luck, to tell that the Kaoru look-alike was heads over heels smitten by the cross-scarred former vagabond.
Whenever Chizuru spoke about Kenshin, she had the same love-struck look as Kaoru did. The exact same look, because of how much the identical strangers resembled each other.
Regardless, Yahiko was put on the spot by Chizuru, so he had no choice but to answer, "The Fake Battousai that looks like Kenshin and another Fake Battousai that practiced the same sword style as Kenshin got away," to appease her curiosity.
"Eh? That's it? They got away after claiming they're out to assassinate an important government official? How lame." Chizuru's mouth became a moue of doubt and skepticism. "Did you even meet them? Were you able to cross swords with them? Or is this secondhand information I'm getting?"
"Hey! Don't be rude! I did tangle with them! Mister Sakaguchi himself confirmed that I crossed swords with at least one of them!" yelped Yahiko defensively. What, did she think he got all his wounds by tripping all over himself or something?
Chizuru raised an eyebrow of challenge at the teenager. "Yeah, I know he did, but I have my doubts."
"Ch-Chizuru-san's obviously kidding, Yahiko-san! I mean, even Akahori-san's own daughter came here to personally thank you for saving their lives...!" Kyoko tried to interject, but Chizuru talked over her attempts at reassurance.
"Well, if you really did fight the Battousai or Battousais, prove it to me! What did the Fake Battousai look like? What's the deal with this Battousai Group I keep hearing about? And what about that guy whom you claim has the same sword style as the vagabond? Inquiring minds need to know!"
Oh, so that was her game, huh? Yahiko almost fell for it hook, line, and sinker. At any rate, he answered, "I have no idea." She didn't need to know about the deluded Shogo Amakusa and Kenshin's doppelganger, Kaede Morinaga.
Chizuru turned towards the trembling, teary-eyed Kyoko and made the latter wince as she said, "See? He's full of hot air. He didn't really meet those assassins. He must've been injured by the crossfire or something!"
"...I can tell you this much, though: Those two terrorists have no connection with Kenshin other than his old Ishin Shishi name. You've come upon another dead end in your search for your vagabond, Chizuru."
Chizuru went silent as her face was drained of color. "That's... really disappointing to hear. So they were only using his name, weren't they? To think, I came all the way to Shinshushin for...!"
Yahiko thought Chizuru's reaction would be priceless, but he felt something other than smug satisfaction when she looked back at him.
"Hey."
"W-What?"
"Do you really want to meet Himura Kenshin? You know, so that you can confirm he's the same vagabond that rescued you all those years ago. I can give you his home address, if you want."
Next: Origin of an imposter's name.
Open your eyes,
Abdiel