Mt Kohinata Dojo | 小日向山道場
"Friend, hm...?"
The old Sensei quietly ate another mouthful of natto-laced rice, chewing slowly and thoughtfully as he gently put the bowl back on the table.
"You've all come a pretty long way for the sake of your friends", he continued. "Foolish? Maybe. Admirable...?"
"The man's name is Henry Saladass", Koizumi explained, setting his empty bowl back on the table and gently wiping his mouth with a paper napkin. "He was one of the warriors who fought against the Chimaera in the Great War, nine months ago. It seems that some of their agents are currently in possession of the body."
"Henry Saladass..." Sensei Hitachi's voice had a whistling, sing-song quality to it, and when he was deep in thought, his trilling pitch only became higher. "I vaguely know the name."
"Can you help us find him?" asked Fukuda.
Sensei Hitachi shook his head.
"Sadly", he said, "circumstances prevent me from leaving this mountain. However, I decided right when I learned about your presence that it would be a shame not to provide aid to such noble men..."
"Why exactly did you want to help us, anyway?" Zi-xiang inquired.
"I'm making a bet on a new age", the old Sensei replied, with a faint, ghostly beam. "A bet that I would see this world overturned and rebuilt with my own eyes."
The old man clapped his hands twice, prompting the ones standing at the side of the hall to rush in and clear up the table and all the empty plates. With breakfast over, everybody stood up, Sensei Hitachi gently ushered the rest out of the hall.
"Just rest now", he said, "and we can decide how to work this out later. In the meantime, I need to do something."
"Meditate?" inquired Zi-xiang. "Train your students?"
"No", said the Sensei. "I need to shit."
...
Standing by a reflective pool in the compound of the dojo was Itona, stoically holding Mr Wong's nandao by his side and looking into the mirror-like water, deep in reminiscence. As the gentle morning wind began to rise, accompanied by the slow ascent of the golden sun, the water began to ripple gently, distorting the image of Itona's face that he saw on the surface, scattering its light and casting a million little images within each wave. The young archer looked out into the distance.
Then he turned round and headed straight for the dojo, twisting the corridors and bends, till at last he reached the main hall, where Sensei Hitachi now sat alone, in quiet meditation.
"May I help you?" asked the Sensei.
Without a word, Itona drew a knife hidden within his shirt, raising it to his head and, without so much as a single flinch of hesitation, began to cut off his long hair, bit by bit.
Sensei Hitachi silently watched.
Lock after lock of thick black hair fell to the tatami, till none remained on Itona's head, and at last, he set the knife aside and bowed, touching his forehead to the ground.
"Please accept me as your student, sensei", he calmly said. Raising his head, Itona unstrapped Mr Wong's nandao from his belt and placed it on the floor directly in front of him, before bowing once again. "I have too much regret to continue as I am."
...
"Yoichi Mineta. Let's finish our duel."
Yoichi's quiet reading session in the garden (complemented by a steaming pot of hot tea) was rudely interrupted by the appearance of Sun Zi-xiang, his one purple eye gleaming in the morning light. Instead of an eyepatch, the young warrior was wearing a glass eye.
Yoichi put the book down and stood up.
"Are you seriously that desperate for a fight?"
"I don't like to leave things unfinished", Zi-xiang replied. He cocked his head and cracked his knuckles, reaching to his belt and brandishing his weapon; Fukuda's katana, which he had borrowed.
With a mischievous grin, Yoichi tightened the white sash that circled his waist, resting his fingers on one of his twin yoroidōshi daggers.
"Very well, then", he said to Zi-xiang, who scoffed back. "Let's have a duel to see whose blades are the fastest."
"Name your terms", demanded Zi-xiang.
"First one who goes off the cobbles loses instantly", said Yoichi. "Best of three matches. No eye or crotch shots."
...
Thollorrat Village
The fire summoned from nowhere didn't seem to bother Claudius; in fact, he simply threw his long coat to block it, allowing the end to catch fire, before standing straight up, the burning end of his coat forming a semicircle of fire round him.
"Idealistic fools!"
Then came the chainsaw. Claudius attempted to block Kalo's chainsaw strike, only for his scimitar to shatter. Unfazed, with fire still encircling him, the IGSE backflipped and butterfly kicked away from the rest, before steadying himself and lowering himself into crouching stance, still burning.
And then he threw aside the burning cloak, revealing a body to which a large number of bladed weapons had been strapped.
"There's no need to waste each other's time, yes?"
