Before the Storm

It was a bitterly cold night, especially for Yu-jin Ahn, the Gray Knight. As he leaned on the banister of the Presidential Palace’s balcony, he stared out at Tokyo in the distance.

While he chose this path with confidence, his anxiety grew by the day. The Kkangpae’s terrorist attacks didn’t seem to even phase the Japanese, and the most recent one did not go according to plan thanks to a rogue actor attempting and failing to assassinate Keitaro and Toko Owari as well as Jack Butler and Ella Appleton.

After such an outrageous attack, they were still waiting for Tokyo’s response. Yu-jin could barely stand the wait, even unable to sleep because of it. Once the Japanese responded, war would be inevitable. Tokyo and Seoul would turn into battlefields, and he would have to personally fight the Black Knight, Keitaro Owari.

“Lord Yu-jin.” A soft voice came from behind.

Yu-jin turned around, seeing a beautiful but familiar young woman. “Oh, Ms. Bari. It’s just you.” He turned back around. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Ha-eun?”

“She has already retired for the evening. I may be her bodyguard, but your safety is as much of a concern to me as well.”

“I see…”

“You seem quite troubled.”

“Yeah…” He looked down. There’s something he really wanted to know. Nervously, he asked, “Bari… When you and Ha-eun are alone… Does she ever talk about me?”

“Well…” Bari’s eyes shifted. “It’s rude to divulge a lady’s secrets…”

“I see…”

“Lord Yu-jin… Lady Ha-eun is young… She lacks wisdom in some areas… However, she has put her faith in you.”

It felt a bit empty, but it was better than nothing. “Thanks…”

After a long silence, Bari was ready to leave, but first… “Lord Yu-jin, where is your bodyguard?”

“Him? Your guess is as good as mine. That guy’s a total bum who comes and goes as he pleases.”

“Oh, I see how it is. I leave for five minutes to get a beer and you start talking trash.” Yu-jin's bodyguard, Kyoungjong Yang, entered the scene, carrying a half-drunk beer in his hand.

“Five minutes? You left an hour ago!”

“What of it? If you can’t last an hour on your own, you’re not gonna make it, kid.” He took a swig of his beer.

“Mr. Yang,” Bari said. “I believe you should be taking your role more seriously.”

“I take it plenty seriously! You know who doesn’t? This kid!” Yang sat down on a chair, cracking open another beer. “To think this was who we got stuck with. I can’t imagine what Korea did to deserve this guy as our representative, but it must’ve been bad!”

“Yang!” Bari stepped forward.

“What!? Going with Kim’s idiotic plan to impress a girl? What a disgrace! And don’t even get me started on her!“

“That’s enough!” Bari yelled out.

The only sound was the wind. Yang looked up, seeing a furious Bari and a deflated Yu-jin.

Yang grunted. “Sorry…” He got up. “Let myself get carried away there.” He walked up to Yu-jin and leaned in, whispering, “Look, kid, I think you’ve still got potential, but just ‘cause you die doesn’t mean we all have to. That’s something you oughta keep in mind.”

Yang disappeared back inside as Yu-jin’s mind kept racing, confronted with every one of his failings.

***

Keitaro was keeled over on the ground, gasping and wheezing, his entire body burning with pain.

“P-p-please…! I-it hurts…! I-I can’t take anymore…o-of this…!” Toko desperately begged.

“Take it! Endure the pain! We’re not stopping for anything!” Musashi yelled out.

They were all out for a run. Toko and Keitaro currently felt like they were dying after twenty minutes of being slave-driven by Musashi.

Tomoe knelt down. “Would you like some of this?” She held out an energy drink.

With a shaky hand, Keitaro grabbed the bottle and gulped some down.

Musashi sighed. “You’re seriously giving them that? A true warrior should only need water.”

Keitaro drank about half of it before passing it to his sister. “I am not a true warrior…”

Toko quickly drank the rest. “C-can we please just die…?”

“No! You should at least be able to run a marathon!”

“Musashi… We can’t even run to the convenience store…”

“Don’t you think we’re being a bit too hard on them?” Tomoe said to Musashi. “It takes several months of training to get one into peak physical condition.”

“I understand that, but war’s coming, we don’t have the luxury of time.”

“Yes, but—”

“It’s fine!” Before Tomoe could finish, Keitaro called out. “Musashi’s right. We need to be ready for when the time comes.” Slowly, Keitaro got to his feet. His body pushed to its absolute limits, he could barely even move, but with each action he used every ounce of his power until he stood tall, ready to continue. “Let’s go.” With full confidence, he took a powerful step forward…and immediately collapsed from exhaustion.

***

Keitaro later woke up in his bed. He hadn’t exercised in years, and the experience had reaffirmed to him that exercise was hell. But…some hells you just had to go through…

“I’ll let you take the rest of the day to recover, but tomorrow it’s back to training,” Musashi dictated to him.

Training was necessary, but he would revel in his recovery. He had picked up a new retro game the other day and had a stash of junk food handy too. The fancy palace food just didn’t hit the same kind of spot.

As Keitaro and Toko huddled up to the CRT, ready to play, their door burst open.

“Keitaro! Toko!” It was Musashi, followed closely by Tomoe.

“What the hell is it!?” Keitaro was pretty annoyed.

“We’ve just received a report! Paris with Berlin’s help has invaded Rome!”

The news came sooner than expected, but Keitaro was committed. Standing up, he commanded, “Prepare for battle, and tell Yamashita to mobilize the troops immediately.”