Six years ago on 1878, before the Modern Shimabara War (or the Shimabara Massacre) came to pass...
The Full Moon Slash defeated the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki. Like the moon eclipsing the sun.
A solar eclipse, if you would.
Kinta Minakata stood before the collapsed form of the bloodied and disarmed Shogo Amakusa as the jaws of the gathered Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians) fell to the ground.
None of the devout followers of the cult leader and messianic figure could fathom what had happened. The impossible had occurred.
Even the Son of God's inner circle... from the overweight dog trainer Genemon to the martial artist Shozo Lorenzo as well as Amakusa's sister Lady Magadalia... were at a lost for words.
"You're kidding me," said Genemon before kneeling, his pack of mutts beside him. "Amakusa-sama was...?"
Their savior, their unbeatable champion, had just been defeated by an impersonator of his.
His Kagemusha (Shadow Warrior).
"The shadow has swallowed the light," said Minakata.
"H-How...? How could I lose? Me, of all people? The Undefeatable Amakusa Shiro the Second? My defeat should absolutely not happen!"
None of the Hidden Christians took it harder than the previously undefeated Amakusa himself.
Kinta told Shogo, "Stand down. Surrender yourself to the government or I'll end your life here and now."
"Kinta-kun, what are you doing? Please...!" begged Magdalia while a concerned Shozo used his body to shield her from the dangerous traitor.
Minakata raised his grandfather's sword Akatsuki over the prostrate Shogo's head. "This is for Kirisaki-shishou (Master Kirisaki)."
Magdalia screamed, "KINTA-KUN, NO! BIG BROTHER...!" and Shozo himself coiled to attack and protect his Lord and Savior.
Twin swords blocked Kinta's coup de grace. The one who did it was the Hidden Christian's resident Kagemusha for the Hitokiri Battousai, the enigmatic Kaede Morinaga.
"Move," Minakata said.
"No." She pushed his blade away and fell into her Scorpio Stance. "Nobody is going to take Shogo-sama away from me. Not you, not the Imperial Army, and not even me. I'll kill me before that happens, so what more you?"
Even the implacable Mimawarigumi Battousai had to back away after hearing that threat.
"...That's enough, Morinaga."
Everyone turned to see Amakusa struggle to get up on all fours.
"I understand, Minakata. I'll do as you say. Just don't hurt any of my children. Promise me you'll protect them from harm. Please, have mercy on them."
"You have no right to beg," said Kinta. "Remember what you said to me? The victor is acknowledged and the vanquished is disavowed. Those rules apply to you too."
"Y-You... TRAITOR!" screamed Lorenzo while Magdalia held onto him to keep him from attacking. "You... JUDAS ISCARIOT!"
Rurouni Yahiko
A Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction Continuation Story by Chester Castañeda
The last alias of Kinta Minakata.
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 49: The Battousai of Skill
Back in December 1884, at the snowy back alleyway behind a Yokohama Inn...
Something had changed.
Soujiro Seta realized as much as he retrieved his sword that had ended up stuck into the ground after Kinta Minakata batted it away with a deflecting iaijutsu strike.
The one who drew first blood was Soujiro. He himself remained (mostly) untouched.
However, that was also the case with the Battousai of Speed, Kaede Morinaga, whom the Ten Ken almost murdered before she could get the finishing blow.
The momentum in that fight shifted quickly. To keep that from happening in this battle too, Seta kept his guard up and picked his spots, ambushing Kinta whenever he could.
None of Soujiro's strikes could penetrate Minakata's tight defense, with Kinta's blade always flying to and from its scabbard to do an undetectable iaijutsu (sword-drawing) or noutoujutsu (sword-sheathing) parry.
The kaeshi (ripostes) came after every parry, but Soujiro avoided them by dashing back every time, going in and out of the older swordsman's range.
Therefore, Minakata couldn't hit Seta either, the Heaven Sword's footwork allowing him to get out of the way of every counter, riposte, or return swing.
His Shukuchi (Reduced Earth) technique saved the day again.
Kinta then assessed, "Your speed covers up many of your mistakes."
"And no matter how perfect your form is, you're too slow to hit me," came Soujiro's own verbal riposte that actually "landed", unlike Minakata's literal ripostes.
However, Seta's smile became tighter than usual, his pearly whites grinding on each other.
As though he was waiting for the other sandal to drop.
Every time he thought he had the Kagemusha, he'd end up short by an inch or a millimeter. A hairbreadth. Like he was striking air or Morinaga under her Crypsis state.
Subtle movements and dodges that made Soujiro's katana seem as short as a knife because it couldn't reach Kinta within its normal slicing range.
Otherwise, his sword slashes were deflected by strikes so fast and precise, it seemed like a force field surrounded Kinta.
Darn it. Seta was healthier now than when he fought Morinaga, with no thigh injuries from Amakusa, yet still, when facing Minakata...!
"There is no technique to your slashes," observed the Mimawarigumi Battousai... or perhaps the Mimawarigumi Iaisai... of Soujiro's performance before demonstrating what he meant.
He showcased to him the many different Musou Madden Ryu iaijutsu slashes based on the phases of the moon, every one of which could be executed by sword drawing, sword sheathing, or when the sword was already drawn.
Even the Kagemusha's slowest and most powerful slash, the Mangetsu O Tsuku Nari (Full Moon Slash), was as fast as the fastest slashes from other swordsmen.
His weakest and fastest slashes, therefore, were almost unavoidable, carving through the backpedaling Soujiro and setting him up for Kinta's heavier hits.
Like with his duel with Rathbone, because Kinta used the same stance every time, Soujiro had no idea what sort of iaijutsu or noutoujutsu technique he'd have to avoid.
His slashes that were based on moon phases varied in depth and precision, each attack exchanging speed for power and vice-versa.
This kept the Ten Ken from attacking too often, afraid of some sort of counterstrike or riposte from out of nowhere that he couldn't see on time.
Instead of the moon-based rotating slash that created a perfect circle of a strike that left no openings as it happened, slashing shallow before going deep, Kinta also slashed with half moon, quarter moon, and crescent moon variants from behind and upfront.
Waning and Waxing versions. Of varying speeds and strengths that could also be chained together in short or long combos.
Seta avoided them by doing the Shukuchi with no preparatory steps before it, moving more and more in different directions and zigzagging angles just so he could find a place to strike without being countered.
It almost felt like Kinta was making him run away without actually chasing after him.
"You're wasting too much movement."
Sweat exploded from Soujiro's face after he stopped his body midway from plunging into the tip of Kinta's waiting Akatsuki katana, only for his thigh and calf muscles to buckle in pain from hitting the brakes so suddenly.
"Mikazuki O Tsuku Nari (Crescent Moon Slash)."
Seta stumbled back to avoid a slash to the throat, recovering in time to blast off far away from any follow-up attack from the Mimawarigumi Battousai.
Kinta figured out in minutes and with a couple of flesh wounds what took Kaede almost an hour (while her risking life and limb) to understand.
Something clicked inside Soujiro's head. 'Wait a second... These moves. I've seen these moves before!'
There was no doubt about it. That was Kyoko Sakaguchi's signature Crescent Moon Slash.
Seta then asked as he got up and dusted himself off, "How do you know Musou Madden Ryu? What's your connection to Sakaguchi Kyoko-san?"
Kinta frowned.
No matter how many parries, counters, and kaeshi he did or mistakes from the novice Soujiro he exposed, he still could barely hit him.
Even when he hit him, it merely resulted in shallow flesh wounds from his fastest attacks, clipping him at most.
Like a fly he couldn't swat or squish, buzzing around his ear with the sound and volume of a stampede.
What good was all his iaijutsu variations and defense if he couldn't even land any on this speedy teenager with far superior foot speed than anything he'd ever witnessed in his life?
This from someone who had fought most of the Four Butchers of the Bakumatsu and faced off against the Brigands Guild.
The Ten Ken was just like Amakusa. Seta might've beaten the shell of what was left of the Battousai of Style back in Shinshu, but he himself was very much like the Son of God in his prime
A god who didn't need hard work to make his way to victory, because all he required was his raw talent that gave him dominance over everything before him.
Implacable. Unstoppable. A Force of Nature. A swordsman that had never tasted defeat.
Naive. Egotistical. Arrogant. An annoying, holier-than-thou messiah... no, wait... a smug brat of an opponent.
Oh, how Minakata wanted to wipe that creepy grin on Soujiro's cherubic, effeminate face. This boy that served as Akahori's lackey and errand boy.
Of course, that was the same thing that crossed his mind when he first met the killer of one of his swordsmanship masters, the blind swordsman Master Hyoue "Kirisaki" Nishida.
A plate that had been destroyed could never be the same again. Once it had been cracked, no amount of lacquer, even that of liquid gold, could make it as good as a brand new plate.
It would always have that underlying weakness. However, it could still be usable in more ways than one. Amakusa was one such damaged plate who could still fight despite his compromised state, as well as... some other person Kinta knew.
'No. I will fix this. And make it better. Just like before.'
He was prepared for anything, but wasn't quite prepared to hear this.
"...How do you know Musou Madden Ryu? What's your connection with Sakaguchi Kyoko-san?"
"!"
How did this happy, cheeky young jester with a perpetually smiling face know about his best friend's daughter, Kyoko Sakaguchi?
Kinta remembered her when she was born. When she first walked and talked. How much of a shy girl she was, so unlike her talkative, almost domineering businesswoman of a mother.
Minakata saw that little girl grow into a fine young woman (who was still a bit of a wallflower).
He also heard about her assault in Shinshu from one of the thuggish youths there that led to the bum leg of her father.
Kinta was helpless to stop it because he was... busy at the time.
He stared back at the tearoom where he reunited with his cousin, Rin Akahori. Tetsuo Akahori's daughter.
The same Akahori who was the true Judas Iscariot in the Modern Shimabara Rebellion.
Tetsuo put Kinta up to the challenge of dealing with the religious rebellion from the Cult of Amakusa while using his own daughter, who was the white-haired spirit and image of his beloved aunt, to soften him up.
Only to use him as a pawn to further his ambitions.
Because Tetsuo was that kind of man. An ambitious individual who'd make insinuations and idle threats of his enemies' loved ones just to get what he wanted. Even if they were family.
His Evil Uncle Tetsuo.
He also remembered that his aunt was a woman who, before she had a child with Tetsuo, was the widow of some high-ranking official in the bakufu that was massacred along with the rest of her friends and family by the Ishin Shishi's premier manslayer assassins.
An assassination mission that involved Kinta's infamous namesake, the Hitokiri Battousai.
"...Is that a threat?" the older swordsman asked.
The boy's smile remained. "What? No, I'm just asking."
Kinta gripped his sword tight, veins appearing on his calloused hands as they shook. His face scar again visible.
Was it something Soujiro said?
Suddenly, Kinta abandoned his attack-from-behind Waning Stance, opting to use the traditional, standard front-facing iaijutsu forms of the Waxing Stance, attacking at will.
His conservative style abandoned in favor of a high-pressure whirling dance of death.
Minakata threw a rock in between Seta's eyes, which made him blink and dash back slightly, expecting a Tsunami combo he could counter, only to be punished with a Half Moon Slash that penetrated skin because he didn't dash all the way back.
Kinta attacked with ruthless precision. Like a psychotic surgeon.
Minakata's counters were shredding Soujiro's clothing, penetrating through his flesh. Getting more and more precise with each strike.
How was the Minakata grandson, Rin's cousin, and Tetsuo's nephew doing all this?
As Soujiro pondered this question, he noticed something... disturbing as soon as his eyes met Kinta's.
The Heaven Sword realized that the Mimawarigumi Battousai's eyes were wide open, his irises moving at the same speeds as Seta's own Shukuchi, impossible as that might seem.
So unlike before, when Kinta would turn his back and do his no-look Waning Stance strikes, this time he opened his eyes to detect Soujiro altogether?
Did his eyes actually adjust to the Ten Ken's speed?
'Minakata-san... can see my Shukuchi? With his naked eyes? Something even Himura-san or Morinaga-san couldn't do?' thought Soujiro as it slowly dawned on him the gap of experience between him and this swordsman of Kenshin's caliber.
Or perhaps even beyond that.
'No. He's not quite Himura-san's level yet,' the Ten Ken insisted, his smile quibbling by a millimeter or less. 'He can't be. Not against someone he's merely named after and who defeated Shishio-san, no less.'
"You can't control your momentum."
Kinta did another clockwise Crabwise-Stalk-like arced sidestep to avoid the Shukuchi's straightforward, momentous dash, which left the Ten Ken running way past his target and open to counters.
The Mimawarigumi Battousai never allowed the younger man to smother him with his "simple" sword slashes or bust out another Kuzu Ryu Sen (Nine-Headed Dragon Flash) by sidestepping him every time.
From there, Seta knew what had changed when it came to Kinta's tactics.
Minakata wasn't only detecting fast movement with his mere eyesight. He was also keeping his distance by sidestepping and backpedaling more to give himself breathing room against the Heaven Sword's Shukuchi.
As much as it looked like Soujiro could teleport from one place to another with a single sprint, as long there was enough distance between Point A and Point B, there would always be enough of a delay in the Shukuchi's speed that Kinta could exploit.
For a "normal" human being, the delay was miniscule. Nonexistent. To this Mimawarigumi genius who was given the same fearsome name as Battousai Himura, Seta might as well have telegraphed where he was going.
Minakata's timing was so impeccable that even distance was his ally.
"You're not as fast from far away," said Kinta, confirming Soujiro's suspicions.
Come to think of it, one of the mercenaries hired to take out the Akahoris had also shot Seta from afar, hitting him with a shotgun blast even though he was running at top speed.
Kinta's counters were now shredding Soujiro's clothing, penetrating through his skin. Getting more precise each time.
Seta's attempts at going past him and attacking from behind, meanwhile, were met with instantaneous stance shifts from Waxing to Waning Stances.
Kinta's "shield" surrounded him all over, as though he had eyes at the back of his head. On top of eyes that could actually see the normally imperceptible Reduced Earth.
It had gotten to the point where the few times Minakata attacked, he couldn't miss. He'd somehow make contact, whether it was just a scratch or an outright deep slash.
Soujiro soon realized that the same move couldn't... wouldn't... would never... work on Kinta twice. No matter how fast it was. No matter how fancy or powerful the strike.
Even the Shun Ten Satsu, which Seta hadn't used yet, was compromised because as far as Kinta was concerned, it was just a normal battoujutsu slash, only made faster (as fast as Kenshin's ultimate attack) thanks to the Shukuchi.
Minakata indeed proved to Soujiro that he was the Battousai Group's Battousai of Skill.
As soon as Soujiro dropped his Kikuichi Monji Norimune sword for a second time... disarmed by Kinta through a Crescent, Half Moon, Waxing Gibbous, and Full Moon Slash combo contained within the last for hits of the nine-hit Tsunami... Rin Akahori exited the teahouse and walked towards the two combatants.
"R-Rin-san...?" trailed off Seta, his hand twitching.
The Snow Lady of the House of Akahori had entered the fray amidst a light sprinkle of snow, her creamy hair, pale skin, silver eyes, white kimono, and foggy breath seemingly coalescing with the ice, as though she were emerging from the snow, sculpted from it like Galatea of Ancient Greek Legend.
"Cousin Rin."
"Cousin Kinta."
Squinting through bespectacled eyes to get a better view, the nearsighted young Akahori went in front of Soujiro, using her frail body to shield him from the wrath of her own relative, her "Flowers of Evil" book in tow.
"This is unusual. The client protecting the bodyguard," said Minakata, which made Seta wince.
"Seta-kun is in no shape to fight you right now," Akahori responded, her shaking, unfocused eyes that refused to stare back at her bodyguard's vicinity in stark contrast to her icy, emotionless monotone.
"He's too unsure and hesitant of himself. He can't let go of his inhibitions. He might not even be aware of what's holding him back."
Soujiro smiled and stared at the ground, reminiscing of the times when his adoptive family would abuse him for... existing. 'Strange.'
"As a sign of a truce, I'll give you the codes to the Seiryu Clan's Black Book," was the bombshell that Rin threw onto Kinta, retrieving another sheet of paper inside her book that jutted out like a bookmark.
"!" were both Minakata and Seta's reaction to Akahori's statement, their mouths agape and their eyes widening at the flapping decoder page that explained how to translate the hidden messages inside the Minakata documents.
Even though the only child of the Akahori Family was probably doing this to save him, Seta felt a tinge of... something inexplicable or indescribable to him that he rarely felt... clawing and scratching at his insides. Awaiting release.
Soujiro failed Rin. He failed to become the übermensch (superman) she wanted him to be, and now she had to protect him instead of the other way around. He wasn't being "selfish" enough, perhaps...?
"No. I don't believe you," said Minakata, who sheathed his sword and fell into his Waxing Stance, his sword arm and hand hovering above his weapon's handle, aiming it at the Heaven Sword behind his cousin. "This is some sort of trick from Uncle Tetsuo, isn't it? Like way back when in..."
"...Do you mean the Shimabara Massacre?" she finished for him.
The Mimawarigumi Battousai's neck stiffened, his x-mark scar clenched. "I did what he told me to do and he betrayed me."
"Funny. According to him, it's the other way around. You betrayed him. And all of Japan. You've switched sides, killed police officers, and tried to save Amakusa and the Hidden Christians by taking his place as their leader."
"..." Minakata's sakki (killing intent or bloodlust) intensified enough for even the distracted Soujiro to lift his head and notice it.
She continued. "The government has waved off your cop killing as collateral damage to keep your cover safe, forced by the rebels' demands, but the relatives of those officers and soldiers you murdered know the truth. You yourself are a rebel and a traitor to this country."
"ENOUGH."
For a split-second, shamed as he was to admit it, Kinta almost wanted to release his sword from his scabbard and behead this... girl version of his immoral uncle.
Minakata should've known better than to kill either of Tetsuo's tsukaima (familiars): His mouth piece and his swordsman puppet.
Rin went silent and stared straight into Kinta's glaring eyes the best her shaky irises could muster, her contradictory body language of a steadfast stance and watery eyes a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
Was she the scared little girl mouthing the words of a manipulative bastard or his hell spawn that was no better than him; a devil with an angel's face?
Kinta got into Rin's face and held her dainty wrist so tightly, it bruised. He didn't intend to bruise her, but apparently his cousin bruised easily. Like fruit.
"Even if it is a trick... even if you hate doing something you know my father wants you to do... would you risk not having these codes?" she asked him. "This may be the only way to save them. Since you love to irrationally sacrifice yourself for someone else's sake, oh Battousai of Skill."
Kinta was about to reach out and snatch away his cousin's peace offering when he felt an intense wave of bloodlust blast into his face like a heat wave from an open furnace or the midday summer sun, which made him back off and do a Crescent Moon Slash at... nothing.
His hair-trigger reflexes reacted to murderous intent from a Soujiro that hadn't even moved. He hadn't felt sakki this intense, since... many years ago.
He touched his face, feeling the multiple-stitch cross-shaped scar on it that appeared whenever his expression tightened. Like the wrinkles on his hands.
A scar given to him by a man, his rival, who always exuded murderous intent at every waking moment, so it was hard to gauge when he'd attack since he was always projecting a steady, heavy wave of bloodlust even without him moving a muscle.
The swordsman whom Genzo named Kinta's current sword after: Doraku Akatsuki.
Seta got up by holding onto Rin's shoulder, saw the bruise on her wrist, snatched up the paper she was holding, and as he sheathed his sword, tore it apart into ribbons with hand and arm speed that would've made even Morinaga jealous.
Soujiro didn't know what it took to be an übermensch. He barely understood what that term even meant. He only knew that he was weak and Kinta was strong, so he needed to be stronger than him to keep Rin from kowtowing herself to her cousin for his sake.
Survival of the Fittest. But not quite. For while Makoto Shishio was willing to stab Yumi Komagata to get an edge in his battle against Kenshin Himura, Soujiro would never do such a thing against Rin.
To protect the weak because he was strong? That wasn't it either. Kenshin Himura was the kind of man who was strong and righteous enough to save not only the young Akahori, but her cousin along with her. Like the messiah that Amakusa wanted to be but couldn't. Soujiro couldn't do that either.
Speaking of Himura... "If it were Himura-san fighting me right now, no matter how fast I am, he'd be able to detect my movement because of my bloodlust and defeat me," Seta declared.
Kinta furrowed his eyebrows. "Himura...?"
"I'm surprised you don't know about him. You were named after him, after all... Mimawarigumi Battousai-san," said Soujiro with his signature smile. "You and your entire Battousai Group. The Strongest Hitokiri of the Ishin Shishi. The Hitokiri Battousai, Himura Kenshin."
Minakata's eyes twinkled in recognition of a fellow red-haired young swordsman who was compared to him back in the day. A manslayer who humiliated the Mimawarigumi, killing many of their top officials.
Of course Kinta had heard of Kenshin.
But how did this mere bodyguard know so much about Himura? The Sanada Ninjas did mention something about Soujiro being a rogue manslayer's right-hand man who assassinated Toshimichi Okubo, so perhaps the Ten Ken and the Battousai clashed swords sometime later?
So was that what the boy was comparing when they first clashed swords? How well Kinta's Musou Madden Ryu and iaijutsu would fare against Kenshin's Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu and battoujutsu?
"I already defeated Amakusa Shogo, who used the same style as the Hitokiri Battousai," Minakata pointed out, blinking as Seta's bloodlust waned slowly but surely. Like his sudden outburst had ended, followed by pure calmness.
Kinta almost lowered his own guard down, but hesitated, his swordsman instincts screaming at him that something was wrong. Of impending doom.
"Ah yes. But even Amakusa-san could be beaten by Himura-san, I believe," giggled Soujiro, who started hopping on one foot, prepping himself for another Shukuchi.
"I've already seen that technique," Kinta warned.
"Don't worry. This is going to be little bit different, Minakata-san. I assure you."
The Ten Ken then turned towards Rin and said, "I think I'll try it out now. I think I'll become the superman you want me to be. Forgive me for my selfishness. Or perhaps not, knowing you."
Soujiro then completely disappeared from view, right in front of Minakata's unblinking eyes after a quick foggy exhale.
"!?"
Even Soujiro's burst of sakki vanished and replaced by tranquility that matched the gentle snow falling on their heads.
Like piping hot tea turned stone cold.
The most perturbing thing about the whole scenario to Kinta was the smirk on his cousin's face. "That's more like it, Seta-kun," she mouthed.
Seta finally decided to be selfish for once, although it was a strange kind of selfishness. The type that appeared selfless on the surface. A selfishness that Rin approved of.
He protected her from harm and shame because he selfishly wanted to. Wanted her for himself. For his own sake rather than for some desire to be virtuous.
Rin turned towards Kinta and said, "Brace yourself, Cousin. Seta-kun is a brilliant, unusual, and exceptional boy. A purposeless monster. Don't underestimate him."
The true Ten Ken... the one that Himura fought to a standstill at Shingetsu Village up until his breakdown at Shishio's Stronghold... had finally reawakened.
Something had changed.
The burst of footsteps thudded through the ground like missed rounds or suppressive fire from a Gatling Gun... as usual... but the Heaven Sword himself felt different somehow.
If Minakata concentrated enough, he could still see flashes of Seta while running with the full speed of the Shukuchi. But predicting his movement was... somehow tougher now than before.
And he didn't quite know why. Yet.
He analyzed the situation the best he could to avoid having his head roll off of his shoulders, his slashes again hitting nothing but air and his parries barely deflecting the strikes he received from openings he used as bait.
He got Soujiro several times before because of distance, good eyesight, bloodlust detection, and predictable attack patterns.
However, this time, Kinta couldn't feel a single iota of sakki from Soujiro, although his sloppy techniques still left much to be desired.
To think, Kinta was already unnerved at how little Seta exuded emotion aside from happiness. This kid always went about things at extremes.
Furthermore, Kinta's weaker attacks that were hitting Soujiro at will earlier were now ineffective, with the Ten Ken keeping his distance for a change and drawing the slashes out with feints and mind games.
Even though Minakata could see the Heaven Sword coming and he could use his sense of distancing and spacing to keep him at bay, he was having a difficult time telling the feints apart from the attacks due to Seta's lack of bloodlust.
This made all the difference.
Thin slices and cuts started penetrating through what was once Minakata's impenetrable hair-trigger parry "force field", the Heaven Sword's footwork moving more smoothly than before, with him almost always ending up behind Kinta before he could counter or riposte.
His raw talent was in full display. He was every bit as gifted a swordsman as someone like Shogo Amakusa.
No, wait. It couldn't just be the lack of murderous intent that was making the Heaven Sword so untouchable at this point. Something else was missing from the puzzle.
Somehow, the Ten Ken seemed... faster than before, cutting distances and attacking at close range from new angles before moving out of the way just as quickly.
Maybe his cousin was right. Maybe the Ten Ken was hesitating before. But what was he hesitating about?
Wait a second. Soujiro hadn't calmed down at all. His rage was followed by a different kind of anger.
A more dangerous and controlled fury. The aftermath of a bomb explosion. An intense, concentrated feeling of pain, suffering, and unchangeable consequences.
No hesitation. No mercy.
"If you've defeated Amakusa-san, the Battousai of Style that uses Himura-san's Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, then you've probably witnessed firsthand and countered the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki, right? What with the way it starts with the left leg and all."
The Ten Ken conversed casually, swift as the wind, scaling the wall of the inn and attacking from above, his sword crashing hard against the Full Moon Slash.
Minakata's eyes bugged out, Soujiro nothing more than a blur in his vision. How did the boy know the left leg lead of the Heavens Gliding Dragon Flash?
Did this Ten Ken truly fight against the Legendary Hitokiri Battousai?
"I can see you too the same way I saw Himura-san do his Hirameki, Minakata-san. I can see all your slashes coming a mile away. In slow motion."
"..."
Then it hit Kinta.
Or rather, Soujiro hit him with the first deepest laceration on Minakata's leg after the older swordsman sidestepped clockwise, feinted a Crescent Moon Slash, then did a complete rotation Full Moon Slash at the last second.
A perfect counterstrike against a counterstrike expert.
Minakata was counting on the Ten Ken to overshoot his target and get carried away by his own forward momentum then dash backwards too late against a hidden attack with a longer range.
What the Mimawarigumi Battousai didn't anticipate was the bodyguard stabbing his Kikuichi Monji on the ground in order to use it as a pivot to turn and execute a ducking slash to the leg before Kinta could complete his own move, then dashing past him from behind.
The little brat even fixed his momentum problems. He'd sealed up all his weaknesses from before.
Apparently, Seta... the Heaven Sword... had the same type of eyesight as Kinta did, deciphering fast moving objects such as a supersonic blade executing the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu succession technique.
Most importantly, Ten Ken Soujiro could react at the same speed as his eyes could decipher whatever was coming at him, even at the last split-second.
Even if Seta was faked out with a feint, he could adjust and do a riposte against the ensuing attack, thinking fast on his feet. Along with his improved eyesight and lack of bloodlust, he possessed even faster hair-trigger reactions.
However, thanks to the split air created by the initial Full Moon Slash, the Aoitsuki O Tsuku Nari (Blue Moon Slash) could travel at speeds even faster than Minakata's weaker supersonic attacks, with zero wind resistance.
A haymaker punch that traveled faster than the speed of a jab. A sword technique that was also faster than the speed of a person's reaction.
Faster than thought. Therefore, Kinta still had an ace up his sleeve.
Minakata backed away with his clockwise sidestep motion, enticing Soujiro to chase after him, switching to his Waning Stance and hiding his Akatsuki blade.
He did feints and combination attacks in a specific pattern. From Tsunamis to Moon Phase Slashes that always ended with a Full Moon Slash.
From weak to strong to fierce. Seta bypassed them in true Heaven Sword fashion by back dashing, parrying, and sidestepping with his pivot move with the sword stabbed to the ground.
His muscle memory memorizing the pattern.
After the repeats of the same combo yielded more and more accurate counterstrikes from Soujiro, Kinta then did his sidestep and Crescent Moon Slash feint leading to the Full Moon Slash like he did before.
The baited Seta countered Minakata the same way, following him by stabbing his sword to the ground to pivot without losing speed.
They clashed swords hard.
Soujiro's reactions were so fast that time slowed down for him, making him realize that the Full Moon Slash didn't end with a follow-through but another pirouette.
Realizing that the Full Moon Slash he faced was no ordinary Full Moon Slash but a Double Full Moon Slash.
He then deflected the second slash with a noutoujutsu sword-sheathing slash that he mimicked from Kinta himself in that exact split second. Reacting to the unreactable.
It wasn't strong enough to stop it, but at least now Soujiro was in battoujutsu stance.
"Aotsuki O Tsuku Nari."
"Shun Ten Satsu."
The Akatsuki flew out of Minakata's hand, his knuckles bleeding.
Minakata grabbed the sword with his other hand, his pride not allowing him to lose his sword the same way he made the little brat lose his.
He scrambled back to his Waning Stance, only to see the Ten Ken hopping on one foot behind him, resting and stretching his leg muscles.
"I wish I could criticize your technique the same way you did mine, but so far, you're fighting the perfect fight. For you," said the Heaven Sword with that beatific, punchable face of his.
"Unfortunately, perfect also means predictable. No matter how much more skilled you are than me, I'm faster than you, so I will always find a way to counter anything you throw at me."
Facing Soujiro now, Kinta realized something. Other swordsmen had used the Shukuchi before and Minakata was well-aware of the technique's existence.
However, Kinta almost didn't recognize Seta's version of Shukuchi until he was told what it was called because this version of the Reduced Earth was leagues better than any flash step technique he'd ever witnessed before.
A Reduced Earth that made Soujiro look like he teleported from one place to another. Faster than thought.
The Ten Ken wasn't powerful because he had the Shukuchi. It was because the Shukuchi was being used by someone like him that he ended up unstoppable.
It was almost too easy.
Kinta was reduced to a shell of his former self, like Shogo back in Shinshu, with him hiding behind a defensive shell in his Waning Stance, attacking sparingly and doing loads of deflections, thus all Seta needed to do was outwork him.
Rin cheered, "Prove my cousin wrong, Seta-kun. Make him realize the error of his ways and his irrational selflessness that led to the death of thousands of soldiers, police officers, and brainwashed rebel cultists!"
However, no matter what technique Seta tried, no matter how fast he was, he couldn't finish off Minakata.
That slash to the leg was the most damage he could muster against someone who almost had as good of a defense as he did, only he used far less movement and stamina to defend against strikes than the energy-sapping Shukuchi.
And Soujiro was tiring out.
'Eh? What's going on?'
Long chains of strike, parries, counterstrikes, counter times, feint in times, ripostes, reprises, and remises occurred, with both swordsmen giving no quarter.
With his eyes closed, his back turned, and while in the Waning Stance. Reacting to the sound of Soujiro's footsteps.
Kinta's natural form.
Rather than react in real time like the Heaven Sword did, the Mimawarigumi Battousai opted to anticipate moves in advance, identifying patterns before his opponent did them.
The Ten Ken sheathed his sword and blasted off again with the Shun Ten Satsu... his ace up his sleeve... only to see Kinta do a Blue Moon Slash in response, blowing the both of them back with the force of their respective attacks.
Even the Instant Heaven Kill, the Kagemusha had scouted with a ready counter.
Again, Seta's earlier realization proved correct. Minakata was the kind of swordsman whom you couldn't use the same technique on twice. That was also the case with Shishio too, come to think of it.
He was at that same lofty level of swordsmanship mastery. Shishio Level. Kenshin Level.
This only made Soujiro's smile grow wider.
'I need to go faster. Faster than he could react. Faster than he could figure out what I'm planning.'
Seta then told Kinta, "You could do much better than this, right? The Shun Ten Satsu was defeated by the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki because even though they're both done at the same speed, the Hirameki was many times more powerful than my only named attack."
"..."
"I hit the nail right on the head, didn't I? The Aoitsuki O Tsuku Nari has about the same speed and power as the Shun Ten Satsu, so it can't beat the more powerful Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu ougi (succession technique) on its own."
Soujiro laughed then countered the Moon Phase version of the Tidal Wave by mirroring them with his own mimicked Crescent, Half Moon, and Full Moon Slashes from his "Waxing Stance" (the traditional battoujutsu stance) versus Kinta's Waning Stance.
"You still have one more move left. The move you've used to counter the Heavens Gliding Dragon Flash. That's why you're still fighting," said the Ten Ken.
"You really are a genius swordsman, aren't you?" was the first and only concession the Minakata gave the youth.
"No more than you, Minakata-san," said Soujiro with a chortle, his sweat dripping like the rainwater on the night he killed his entire adoptive family.
Was the Heaven Sword bluffing or serious? Could Seta really defeat Kinta's Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki counter?
"I never fought a pureblooded samurai of your skill level before. A descendant of a proud and ancient bloodline. It's been an honor dueling you, but now is the time for the curtain to fall on your generation and outdated mode of swordsmanship."
"Defeat the Battousai of Skill, Seta-kun," seemingly ordered the Akahori Snow Lady. "Meet your fullest potential. Become something he himself denied. Become the best and strongest expression of a real man's mentality I'll ever see!"
The two stood a single dash apart from one another. The calm and collected Kinta had his back turned again, waiting on Soujiro to attack instead of the other way around so that he'd avoid getting countered himself.
From there, Seta unleashed another ace up his sleeve that he used back when rescuing the Akahoris in Hokkaido and Shinshu.
He went full throttle with the Shukuchi to give his Shun Ten Satsu an extra speed burst.
From there, like the Battousai of Style in Shinshu, the Battousai of Skill collapsed against the might of a frowning, red-complexioned Ten Ken, the boy's skin flush from the exertion.
In the split-second Soujiro's blade was supposed to make contact with Kinta's, the persistent rumor about the Kagemusha was confirmed by the Heaven Sword before his very eyes.
Six years ago, the Mimawarigumi Battousai somehow didn't escape his second fight... his rematch... against a spent and dying Amakusa unscratched.
Minakata coughed at that inopportune moment. Long and hard. Distracted. Out of breath. Blood trickling at the side of his mouth.
Unable to do even a proper Full Moon Slash.
He was as much of a broken plate as Shogo, after all.
By all intents and purposes, he was a dead man against the Shun Ten Satsu. A sitting duck.
No wonder Kinta fought like Shishio: Conservatively, with multiple counters and a set amount of precision strikes with no wasted movement.
They both suffered from stamina problems when their bodies hit a certain time limit.
But that wasn't what put a frown on Seta's normally smiling face.
During that split-second, the Shun Ten Satsu that should've bisected Rin's cousin in half didn't because even at that compromised state, he could do another special move; he had one other ace up his sleeve.
Probably the same technique that allowed him to defeat the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki, at that.
Nevertheless, someone else had defeated Minakata before Soujiro even got to him.
Kinta got back up on unsteady feet, his shaking hands gripping his unsheathed sword, his stance sloppy and unlike any of his perfect and textbook forms from before.
The boy thusly kept his guard up and sheathed his sword just in case the desperate Kinta tried to do his last desperation move that stopped even the Shun Ten Satsu cold in its tracks without as much preparation time as the Blue Moon Slash.
The Ten Ken then realized that his disappointment in dueling a weakened Mimawarigumi Battousai was mostly self-serving, but as Rin would say, selfishness could be considered a virtue.
After all, what was wrong with taking care of yourself when no one else could?
Furthermore, Soujiro recognized that this was one of the few times he'd really wanted to do something for himself.
Seta had been so preoccupied with doing the right thing and wanting to redeem himself that, like Minakata, he'd neglected doing something for his own sake.
Why was it bad to look out for himself and why was it honorable for him to look out for others at the cost of himself?
However, before the Ten Ken could execute another Shun Ten Satsu, he had to pull the trigger early in order to parry a Half Moon Slash iaijutsu strike from a nodachi (Japanese longsword) of all things.
As Soujiro backed off, he espied the interloper that kept him from delivering his finishing blow against Kinta; some hobo-looking man with a scraggly beard, a bird-nest pompadour, and colorful patchwork clothes.
The nodachi-wielding "homeless person" raised his gourd up, drank from it, and burped. "Naysh (Nice) ta mee'tcha at lasht, Mishter Yojimbo (Bodyguard) of the Akahorish! I'm Minakata-shama's own bodyguard, Kojima Sho!"
Soujiro blinked to the point of batting his eyelashes. The Togakudan had no data on this... person.
Seta narrowed his eyes. Unless he was seeing things, he could've sworn Sho's slash was done with the longsword flipped backwards like a scythe even though it wasn't a reverse-edged sword.
Weird.
If it was hard enough to pull a sakabatou (reverse-edged sword) out of its sheathe, what more an impossibly long nodachi (which sometimes measured upwards to an unwieldy seven feet or four times as long as a katana)?
Just then, the Sanada Ninja known as Misanagi entered the fray. Or rather, two of her. No, three. Even more. An army of Misanagis.
Multiple kunoichi with long ponytails, tight clothing, and shuriken emerged from the snow, camouflaged white instead of black to blend with the snowy backdrop.
What in the world? 'Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones)...?' thought Soujiro before the ninja women started attacking him with flying daggers and shuriken. Some even had firearms with them.
"...Rin-sama! Get away from there!"
The Akahoris' own agents, the Togakudan, stopped pretending to be shopkeepers and passersby in order to shield Rin before any of the ninjas could get to her, spiriting her away from the scene.
They'd been watching over both her and her bodyguard all that time.
As soon as blood flew from Soujiro's Kikuichi Monji Norimune, the kunoichi gave the Heaven Sword a wide berth, shooting or throwing projectiles at him from afar.
The Heaven Sword avoided every last shot of the kunoichi, although some of the "girls" he slashed weren't girls at all but crossdressing men that reminded him of a certain ex-member of the Ten Swords.
That was the secret behind their Shadow Clones technique, apparently.
However, one of the clones was not like the others.
A(n actual) woman threw a circular blade, ripped Soujiro's haori with it, retrieved the boomeranging weapon, snatched the scroll container tucked inside Seta's shirt, and jumped off into the rooftops with her prize.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Sanada Ninjas and Sho aided the escape of the sickly Kinta himself.
The Heaven Sword attempted to run after them, but his knees buckled under him, the exertion of using the Shukuchi for so long already affecting his remaining strength and his legs.
'Well-played, Minakata Kinta-san,' thought Seta before he went into battoujutsu stance and slashed apart most of the projectiles headed his way and ducked from the rest.
Back inside one of the many Minakata Offices...
"So that was your Plan B?" asked Kinta of Sho in between puffs of the hookah filled with Indian hemp to alleviate his lung problems.
"Well, Plan C involved me actually fightin' the guy mahself, but if he gave even you problemsh, I don't exactly like my chanshesh (chances) againsht him," said Kojima.
As expected, the scroll didn't contain all of the stolen documents, but they already had duplicates anyway. The problem though was that they had no idea from where the decoded message was translated from. Or if it was even a genuine decoded file.
They also had an impromptu Plan D, which involved the ninjas gathering all the scraps of paper from the codes page that Soujiro sliced up into ribbons, but that also took time and they weren't sure if that was a ruse or not either.
"It's only a matter of time until we decode the papers, Kinta-sama," reassured Misanagi. "Once way or another, we'll find out the truth."
'Seta Soujiro, huh?' the Mimawarigumi Battousai thought. What a fearsome swordsman of the Meiji Era.
At this rate, he might even become better than Minakata, Rathbone, Amakusa, or even Kawakami and any of the Shidai Nikuya (Four Butchers). Maybe.
Or be more than a match against another purposeless monster, Akatsuki.
Hell, he could probably surpass his seeming idol, the Hitokiri Battousai, if he hadn't already.
Speaking of the Battousai, Soujiro also reminded Kinta of Shogo's prodigy, the Battousai look-alike Kaede Morinaga.
Both were so talented and completely unpredictable. At the cusp of their primes.
It was too bad that right now, Soujiro was nothing more than Tetsuo's puppet, like Kinta was before him.
Minakata furrowed his eyebrows and took a deep hit of the hookah. His mind was a blur, unsure of whether or not he should shake off the feeling in the pit of his stomach.
That this might be another Akahori trap.
Back in Hiroshima, on December 1884...
"Osaka is your next stop?" asked Chizuru Raikouji of Yahiko Myojin with a raised eyebrow after one of his jogs across the more rural parts of Hiroshima.
"That's the plan, Kaoru. I mean, Chizuru. Osaka, then Kyoto," said Yahiko, who wiped the sweat off his brow and tipped his straw hat at the heiress.
Chizuru rolled her eyes at Myojin's slip of the tongue. She didn't know which nickname was worse, Yahiko's Kaoru or Gan's Kaori (neither of which were remotely close to her actual name).
"So what are you training so hard for anyway? Are you off to fight an entire yakuza gang by yourself?" she asked in jest, then groaned after hearing his answer.
"Been there, done that," said Yahiko with a smirk. "I'm going to face someone even badder. And scarier."
"Fine, jeez," said the girl with bouncy ribbons and adorable western boots mixed with a kimono wardrobe, "Who is it then? Who could be badder and scarier than the rurouni when he's in butt-kicking mode?"
The Tokyo Samurai Descendant paused, as if playing an imaginary drum roll in his head, then revealed, "His master, of course."
"WHAT? You know the vagabond's...?"
"...'Kenshin', woman! His name is Kenshin."
"...Fine, whatever. You know even K-Kenshin's master?"
Yahiko grinned. "I sure do!"
"Jeez, how well-connected are you?"
Myojin chuckled, his hand resting on his chin, which made Chizuru push the brim of his fancy hat over his smug face.
The Son of Tokyo Samurai reminisced of the time he "faced off" against one of the Juppon Gatana, the giant named Fuji, then saw Hiko Seijuro the Thirteenth block that gigantic sword with his own blade.
The Strongest Swordsman in Japan who taught the Strongest Hitokiri of the Ishin Shishi his overwhelmingly powerful sword style.
"So you're going to learn the Hidden Mister Ryuji Style from Kenshin's master or somethin'?" she asked, then paused when she noticed the look Yahiko gave her. "...What?"
"No, I'm not going to learn Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu from him," he corrected. Dammit, Gan's nicknaming tendencies were rubbing off on her. "I already have a perfectly serviceable sword style."
"Are you sure?" she asked. "You still keep mimicking the vagabond's moves."
"Shut up," he retorted. "Anyway, I need to prepare because I'm going to face one of the few people... maybe the only person... who's better than Kenshin at swordsmanship."
Chizuru shrugged. "Yeah, good luck with that, dude."
"So what have you been up to?" Yahiko asked.
"Nothing much. Making pocket change here and there by reselling some of the souvenirs I bought from traveling with you guys to Hiroshima locals. Oh, and staying at Satsuki's place. It's been a productive few weeks, really."
"Wow. You really are business-minded," said Yahiko. "Way to go, Chizuru." The girl then moved away from him. "Huh? Did I say something wrong?"
"Who are you and what did you do to that little brat I've been traveling with all this time?"
"...What are you talking about?"
"This is the first time you've called me by my name in ages!"
"What? No way! I've been calling you by your name all this time!"
"No, you haven't! You keep calling me Kaoru, which I don't appreciate at all ever since you told me that that's the name of the vagabond's wife!"
"I'm sure I've called you Chizuru before, Kaoru."
"THERE YOU GO AGAIN! Just now! You called me Kaoru!"
"I'm kidding. Jeez. Stop acting so much like her and I won't call you by that name!"
"I don't even know her! You're just as bad as...!"
"...Hey, Kaori-neechan. Yoshi-boy. Having a lover's spat again?"
Speak of the devil, the Facetious Gan soon entered the fray (who then became the Hopping Gan thanks to a "Kaori-neechan" foot stomp).
"Gan! Great timing!" said Yahiko. "I want you to spar with me, you huge piece of combo meat!"
"...Combo meat? That sounds delicious," said the Ravenous Gan, only to realize, "HEEY! You mean I'm combo meat, don'cha? Ya cheeky brat."
Meanwhile, Munenori Minoe had gathered enough money from helping out Chizuru with her souvenir reselling business to buy nikumanju (meat buns) for everyone.
"I bet Yahiko-chi and the others will love these buns I've bought!" he said while taking a good whiff of fresh-baked nostalgia from a few months back.
The Sanbaka (Three Stooges) and their friends were certainly more appreciative of Minoe than Tetsuo Akahori's Togakudan.
"Oh, Patches! Thanks for the grub!" said the Ravenous Gan.
"Mochiron! Take as much as you want!" said Minoe before immediately regretting his words as Gan took the whole plate.
"Ah, no! Don't eat everything, Gan-chi! What about the others, you meanie?" complained the eye-patch-wearing not-pirate with a pout. "You shouldn't be such a glutton, jeez!"
The squirrel-cheeked Gan set aside a couple of meat buns, swallowed, and said, "Sorry, but I don't think Yoshi-boy can eat any nikuman at the moment," before pointing on the ground.
"WAH! Yahiko-chi! What happened to you?" asked Minoe before noticing Chizuru kneeling beside him and handing her a nikuman herself.
In between munches, Raikouji explained, "Gan knocked him out cold with his metal bat and he's been knocked unconscious for a few minutes or so before you got here."
After hearing that, the eye-patched, purple-wigged weirdo snatched the rest of the buns away from the Gorging Gan and reprimanded, "BAD GAN-CHI! Why are you bullying Yahiko-chi? What did he ever do to you? No more nikuman for you!"
"AW, COME ON, PATCHES! He asked me to spar with him and he wanted me to go all out!" explained Gan. "He even called me combo meat!"
They then heard groaning. Yahiko was finally coming to his senses.
"Ugh. Daaamn. Five more minutes, Kaoru. Kenshin," said a groggy, loopy Myojin, which made both Munenori and Chizuru exchange glances at each other.
"BWAHAHAHA! That's what you get for calling the Great Soba King combo meat, Yoshi-boy!" said the Spiteful Gan. "You got knocked the fuck out, son! Yer candle was snuffed!"
"W-What?" Yahiko rubbed his eyes, got up, and screamed, "DAMN! I can't believe I let slow-ass Gan hit me with that slow-ass shot! I saw it coming, but I didn't react in time!"
"HEY! You want to get knocked out again, Yoshi-boy?" said Gan, who then bit and covered his mouth after Minoe glared at him.
Yahiko turned towards Munenori, who offered him a meat bun. He took it, munched on it, and grumbled as he paced around, "I should've blocked or dodged that swing. It came at me so slow! What was I thinking?"
"HEY! You just went unconscious! Where the heck do you think you're going, Yahiko?" demanded Chizuru. "Go visit a clinic and have your head examined, at least!"
"I'm fine," the Tokyo Samurai Descendant insisted, waving Raikouji off and chewing with his mouth open, which disgusted her. "I just need to train some more. If someone as slow as Gan can catch me with a telegraphed swing to the head, then I'm doing something wrong."
"Stop calling me slow or I'll... make... you... uh... slow. Too," said the Slow Gan, who choked at the last minute at giving Yahiko a new improvised nickname and insult.
"But you've been training all this time...!" began Minoe, who then stopped when Yahiko squatted in the middle of the field and started drawing circles on the ground. "Huh? Y-Yahiko-chi? What's the matter?"
A teary-eyed Myojin then turned towards the three and sniffled, "I-I was training all this time, wasn't I? I was doing my best! Hic, but I still can't take down Gan! Or Minoe! O-Or Kae... Gan! Freaking Gan, of all people! I-I'm not improving at all! How can I face Master Hiko like this!?"
A little while later...
"You know, I should take exception with you treating me like I'm crap and all... I took on Kumamoto 'Force of Nature' Amakusa, in case you've forgotten... buuut you're obviously still not all right in the head after I put you to sleep, and I do owe you money, so I'll let those insults slide and help you out anyway."
"..."
"You're welcome, by the way."
After much work, two-thirds of the Sanbaka (and Chizuru) managed to hogtie Yahiko up and gag him with ropes from his tent that he slept in (because sleeping outdoors instead of renting a room at an inn was "part of his training").
"Mmph! Mmmph!" came a wriggling Yahiko's indecipherable shouts.
Minoe sighed and patted Myojin's spiky hair. "This is for your own good, Yahiko-chi. Day in and day out, you wouldn't stop training and sparring with us. We train too from time to time in order to keep our reflexes sharp, but you tend to go overboard sometimes."
Yahiko growled. The last thing he needed was to be reminded of swordsmen (and swordswomen) who were many leagues better than he was.
Chizuru harrumphed. "I don't remember a single day when you rested, to be honest. The last time you did was probably while recovering from your wounds acting as temp bodyguard to that politician guy."
"MMMPHMPHMMPH?! Mmphmmph!"
"...So stop squirming or I'll knock ya out again!" threatened the Ungentle Gan just in time for a certain foreigner beauty and teacher friend of theirs to make an appearance.
May Brooks (AKA Satsuki Sakaguchi), who came there with some homemade bento (lunchboxes) she wanted to share with them, didn't know what to make of the scene before her.
Her boots-wearing best friend, a cross-dressing pirate ninja, and a bandanna-wearing pirate hobo had hogged tied the samurai boy and put him inside a cart.
Satsuki then grabbed Chizuru's shoulder and said, "I know where we can buy shovels and bury the body without anyone seeing us. We'll take this secret to the grave, I swear!"
"...MMMPH! MMMPPH! MMPHMMPH MMPH!"
After everyone calmed down and had a bite to eat, they took off the gag on Yahiko's mouth but still kept him tied up while carting him around town.
"...You don't need to tie me up, you know," Yahiko said as Minoe fed him leftover bento food and Gan drove them off as though he were a rickshaw driver.
"Yes, we do," said Chizuru, her arms crossed. "Knowing you, you'd soon demand that you should take Gan's place and 'rickshaw' us halfway across Hiroshima. Know your limits!"
Yahiko snorted and wiggled inside his ropes. "How am I supposed to improve otherwise? I can't even keep up with either Gan or Minoe on a footmmph!"
"Oopsie, I stuffed your mouth with rolls," giggled Munenori. "My bad. Say 'Aaah', Yahiko-chi!"
His face blushing, Myojin looked away but still opened his mouth, allowing Minoe to feed him. After all, he was still famished after his struggle with the ropes.
Come to think of it, how many meals had he missed from all the training he did? He must've been running himself ragged all this time!
"Is it delicious?" asked Munenori.
"Mochiron," retorted Yahiko, only to turn and see May herself blush. A pinkish blush that went well with her peach complexion and golden hair.
"I'm glad you liked it, Joshua-kun," said Miss Brooks while sticking out her tongue in jest.
"I-It's really good," stuttered Myojin before Chizuru teased him yet again. "What would your girlfriend back in Tokyo say?"
"Shut up. She won't say anything because nothing's going on here."
Even as he said that, he made a mental note not to include that specific detail about his misadventures on his letters to Tsubame Sanjo and the Kamiyas back in Tokyo.
Specifically the fact that he was being fed, coddled, and teased by three girls (or two girls and a female with the "split-personality" of a boy).
"All right. THAT'S IT!" Their rickshaw driver, Rickshaw Gan, said, stopping the cart and taking off his harness. "If Yoshi-boy wants to train, let him train till he dies!"
"Gan, put that harness back on and drive us to a scenic route in Hiroshima," the Raikouji Heiress commanded.
"SCREW THAT! Why can't Yoshi-boy drive us around Hiroshima while I get fed by Patches with Miss Melon's bento as you tease me about my girlfriend back in Tokyo, Kaori-neechan?"
"You don't have a girlfriend in Tokyo," deadpanned Chizuru.
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" said Gan with a sniffle.
Ignoring Gan and Chizuru's bickering, Minoe picked up another piece of fried shrimp from Satsuki's homemade lunch and told Yahiko to, "Say, 'Aaaah!'" again while the green-eyed blonde watched them intently.
As he whispered apologies to Tsubame under his breath, a tomato-red Yahiko took another bite.
The morning after, once the quartet kept Yahiko (literally) tied up all evening as he slept like a baby in an inn for once...
A light-on-his-feet, shinai-wielding Myojin took on not only a wooden-bat-sporting Gan but also a twin-stick-fighting Minoe.
At the same time.
'I can see their strikes coming! I can dodge them too!' thought Yahiko, amazed at how much a difference a whole day of rest did for him.
Granted, compared to his destructive and violent "Kaede Morinaga" personality, "Munenori Minoe" was more passive and defensive (although he could deflect blows with the expertise of an aikido or judo master).
However, the reenergized and rested Son of Tokyo Samurai could parry and dodge every knockout bat swing from Gan with ease.
An Aggressive Gan who was still salty about what happened yesterday, when he was turned into a beast of burden. As usual for him, he shrugged off all counterstrikes against him with barely a bruise or a welt.
Then, from the sidelines, the adopted gaijin daughter of the Sakaguchis said, "I guess this is as good a time as any to make my announcement."
"What are you talking about, Satsuki-chan?" asked Chizuru.
With her hands clasped together, Miss Brooks revealed, "I'm going back to Yokohama soon with the rest of the Sakaguchis. The Minakatas, our hatamoto lords back in the day, are summoning all Musou Madden Ryu students to their aid!"
To Be Continued...
In regards to the Brigands Guild's name, it went through numerous iterations, ranging from the Puppet Masters Guild (named after its founding member, Gein) to the Assassins Guild (a la Assassin's Creed) and even the Mercenaries Guild before I finally settled upon its present name.
Salamat,
Abdiel