The Madman on the Roof

It was midnight then.

Our sensei rushed towards the door after being woken up by the large amounts of bloodlust being emitted at the time.

Quietly, he opens the front door out his straw shack ready for combat only to be met by baskets containing three infants.

That was how our story began under the one I practically considered my family, though not a single one of us is connected by blood. My name is Yoshitaro Katsushima, I’m turning 16 the next day and I can’t help but daze off the clear blue sky atop the roof of our home.

Truly a serene scene for my eyes to rest at as I wait for their cue.

“Yoshitaro!” I hear rumbling and shaking beneath me. Those must be Sensei Tosaku, and Kichiji and Suejiro, my two brothers.

“Why daydream on the roof again Yoshitaro!? Don’t you know that's a bad omen towards the gods, you damn brat!?” Sensei scolded me looking up from the ground.

“Y-Yoshitaro, you should get down from there before you get hurt!” Kichiji exclaimed with tears almost running down his eyes.

“To think you still do this after all these years Yoshitaro. How childish.” Grumbled Suejiro. Immediately, I hop down from the roof before Sensei and the others nag at me any longer.

“Thank the heavens some common sense was finally given to you!” Sensei said with a sigh.

“I only went down after seeing you almost pop a vein!” I said laughingly.

“Alright, that’s it. Back to sword training all of you. And to add onto that, double your usual load when it comes to training thanks to this whole fiasco.” Sensei said with a cunning grin.

※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

Block. He strikes to miss. He dodges, yet still gets hit.

This has gone on for almost 20 minutes now yet my brother, Yoshitaro, hasn’t faltered. That “glow” in his eyes Sensei Tosaku mentioned to me way back is still there.

Every strike I hit aches my heart slightly as he is my brother, though not of pure blood, still my brother. However, Sensei gave me this responsibility. Train my brothers, for any danger that may befall us.

Why me? Sensei mentioned I had a “natural and easy-to-understand” technique with the blade even an infant could understand, but I fear that my brothers learn nothing from me.

I am a poor teacher.

Hah. It sure is fun sparring with Yoshitaro like this. I’m able to keep thoughts like this up-

A sudden blow to the right shoulder was felt by Suejiro. He was slightly stunned by the sudden occurrence, it being Yoshitaro’s doing even more so.

For the first time since they began training under Sensei, since they were able to walk, he was the first to land a proper and clean strike.

“Incredible! He was able to land such a clean hit on me! Sensei was right about him.” Suejiro’s thoughts were filled with pride for this achievement by his brother.

This however cannot be said with how he looks in reality. Suejiro retained his calm, neutral expression as he got hit and had already prepared a counter, disarming Yoshitaro and winning the spar.

“I got a hit in! I got him once!”

“That’s it for our spar for today, Yoshitaro. It’s Kichiji’s turn... Wait, where IS Kichiji?”

“Maybe he wandered off somewhere?”

Suejiro scanned his surroundings and he saw a red mist-like trail. Suddenly he felt upon himself a sudden urge to follow it. Was it out of curiosity? No. It was out of instinct.

“Yoshitaro, let’s follow this trail. Kichiji might’ve left it for us.”

“Huh, what trail?” Yoshitaro asked, slightly confused by this revelation.

Suejiro simply acted as if he never mentioned this red mist and simply persuaded Yoshitaro to follow him by making up random wilderness tracking facts confidently enough for him to be followed by Yoshitaro.

I must ask Sensei about this first before stirring needless worry from Yoshitaro and wasting time to look for Kichiji, as anything could’ve happened to him in the forest.

In the middle of the trail, a sudden bang could be heard ahead of this red mist Suejiro is using as a guide right ahead of Yoshitaro, who cannot see or know the existence of this mysterious mist.

Quickly they rushed towards this noise to find their brother, Kichiji, on the floor and beaten, his wooden sword crushed to pieces. In front of their seemingly unconscious brother is a man towering over him while wielding a cleaver on his right the same size, if not bigger than Kichiji himself. With him left alone, he picked Kichiji and threw him atop the wagon.

“New guy! Cut through the forest and head straight to what you underlings call a ‘lair’. We’ve broken our record of daily profits today and I’d love to idle around for the rest of the week! Haha!” The man exclaimed.

“Y-yes, boss!” The visibly bruised thief mentioned right after loading both his beat-up unconscious comrades atop the wagon.

“W-we gotta save him...” Yoshitaro mumbled under his breath with enough bloodlust for Suejiro to hear.

“We... can’t.” Suejiro said coldly.

“B-but why?! Our brother is in danger and you just want to sit and watch?!” Yoshitaro exclaimed while still whispering.

“We will lose our lives if we interact with that man. His hands are already stained by blood.” Suejiro said with assertiveness.

“So what if he’s killed people before?! I’ll still save him!” Yoshitaro was then about to stand whilst drawing his wooden sword. However, Suejiro knocked Yoshitaro out cold by striking him in the head.

“I’m sorry brother, but this has to be done. We need a plan or else I can’t live with losing two of the people I value more than the world because of my carelessness.” Suejiro stated with a tone of melancholy.

“Who’s there?!” The large man screamed in response to the bush that suddenly rustled after the scuffle between Suejiro and Yoshitaro.

Stomp, stomp, stomp.

The large man paced to the bush and wiped it clean off with one swing from his cleaver.

Nothing.

“Tsk. Must’ve been a deer.” The large man said in an annoyed manner as he began marching back atop his wagon.

Suejiro ran as swiftly as he could, carrying his brother back to Sensei.

Is this far enough? Can they still see us? Did they find us? Thoughts of panic filled Suejiro’s head while running. He has already ran past the boulder area they train at and is now sprinting towards the direction of their home.

However, before they can get there, Suejiro, who is now fatigued from the spar and running while carrying one who weighs more than him passes out on the ground.

“No... Sensei... Kichiji...” These thoughts of despair rattled in his head right before he passed out.