Ch 4: More Fish

I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised, but these students ate a lot of fish.

I had only had it for two meals, but I was already sick of it, so both Brody, Deckard, and I were looking around for a different place to sit.

Brody was the first to spy the kettle of noodles, soup, and fried food, so we made our way over towards that particular table for a little break from the fish. The kettle was over in the corner, unlike the other foods that were spread around the tables in an equal manner, and the students made to give us priority in the line.

Instead, I ushered the kids back into place and stood behind them, Brody and Deckard behind me.

It must have looked ridiculous judging from the laughter from the students, though the teachers smiled at us, nodding and clearly appreciating us not taking time away from their students to eat.

“Why can’t we go in front of them?” Brody groused, crossing her arms above her machine gun.

Deckard laughed, letting out a soft cough as he half turned towards Brody. “Seriously? We can’t cut in front of kids, Brody.”

“They can’t even stop us!” Brody grumbled, then let out a yowl as Deckard grabbed her ear.

“We’re not cutting in front of the kids for anything, Brody.” He groused at her, the children giggling around us.

I rolled my eyes, grabbing one of the wooden trays as they came within range of my hands. When it was finally my turn to receive some noodles, I came eye to eye with the same badger-faced woman as before, and she narrowed them at me.

I gave her my best winning smile, but that didn’t stop her from short-changing my bowl the noodles it deserved.

The fox-faced woman handing out the fried goodies was far more friendly, even laughing as she recognized me, and gave me an extra chicken katsu filet to make up for my noodles.

I gathered a few more bowls of odd little foods, and found a place to sit that could accommodate me and my fellow “normies”. The children scooched their way down the long seats to make more room for us, though they did point at our gear and talk behind their hands.

The children who lived outside the magical towns knew what we were, and were doing a lot of explaining what all our gear was, with particular focus on the hand grenades.

At first I had been reluctant to take the things, as they were radioactive in terms of legality, but the wizards didn’t seem too plussed when they had handed over a crate of brand new M67s.

I ignored the kids and started in on my chicken katsu first, happily crunching through the panko crust and letting the taste of fried chicken fill my mouth. The sauce and rice made the meal further satisfying, all while my soups cooled a little more.

I was using a giant spoon to eat my meals here, something that made the students giggle, but I always used it. I had found the spoon in an original mess kit, gathered from a raid in Afghanistan, and it was my favorite spoon to eat with.

Made of stainless steel and thick enough to kill someone with, it was also my last-resort weapon, always handy in one of my pockets.

That and I was honestly shit at using the hashi, so with the spoon I stuck.

Brody barely bothered with her fork, as she was a dyed in the wool finger-eater, while Deckard was quickly becoming rather adept with the pair of wooden rods the students and teachers ate with.

When I had depleted my katsu and rice, I started in on my odd little soup; With some experimental nibbling I slowly figured out that the large potato looking thing was a radish, likely daikon. Joining it were soft boiled eggs, fish cake, some odd jelly squares that tasted like the broth, and a meat patty that reminded me a lot of spam.

The noodles would have been good… if I had gotten enough of them, but at least it came with eggs and pork to fill out the meal. For dessert I grabbed a slice of castella, surprised to see it being served around all this traditional stuff, and headed back out into the hallways.

Due to all the soup I had to take a leak, and was unfortunately caught in the wave of the students also heading back to class.

This caused a rather amusing moment in the bathroom with the male urinals, my giant, tactical-geared ass standing heads taller than the students around me.

For a moment I wondered if I could take them all in a fight, gun versus wand, and made up my mind that I would fuck them up in a gunfight.

To be an asshole, I flicked them all with the water of my hands, making finger guns and shooting noises as I left the bathroom.

I should have thought better of it, as a second later I was having to run for my life to avoid a ball of water chasing after me.

With my section of the school walked around, I decided to head outside and check one of the auxiliary gates. The wind was stronger here, pulling at my clothes with its wispy fingers, but it was cool and refreshing.

The walls were older, that kind of age that we couldn’t really appreciate in America. All of our things were too new, only a few hundreds of years old, while this very wall probably ranked in the high thousands. It was an aura you could just feel, stone, wood, metal, and tile stained by time like moss upon the rocks.

I had just gotten around the long edge of the wall when a crow landed next to me, clearly excited judging from its hopping.

“Hey cat! We got some squares tryin’t’a crash our pad!” He barked at me, gesturing with a wing. “They be chillin' at the hill's basement!”

It took me a solid ten seconds to understand what the crow was getting at, then activated my radio, sprinting down the wall-path with the crow hot on my tail. “Crows have contact, southside of the castle at the bottom of the hill.”

“I see them, setting up.” Brody called out, the sound of her bipod extracting audible through her mic. “I have plunging fire on them but not a clear shot, I can’t close the kill if they get too close to the gate.”

Deckard, having a shotgun, chuckled into the mic. “I think you guys have this, but I’ll move down towards the gate proper in case one gets through. Know what they are?”

“What they be, man?!” I shouted to the crow, ripping around a corner and scattering a group of students coming back from the green house.

To my annoyance, they started running after me in a long line of fluttering robes.

“A whole mess o' Trolls, man!” The crow called out, flying up next to me as I slapped down my earpro. “Them cats got a bad vibe and looked to do some shady business!”

There was a crackle of M249 SAW fire from the fourth floor of the castle, Brody lighting up whatever was stupid enough to show themselves. In the immediate distance there was a roar of pain.

“Daddy-O, looks like your dame found 'em!” The crow squawked, then peeled away as I hit the window, rifle up.

I was still flabbergasted that we had contact so quickly, as I had surmised at least a month of boring walk-throughs and maybe some asshole throwing a rock through a window. Instead we already had a bunch of Trolls trying to knock down the damn side gate, and I had a feeling this was only foreplay.

I wheeled around into the window with my ACOG to my eye, the chevron resting on roughly ten Trolls, just as ugly and lumberous as the first one I had killed. There was however a red-skinned man leading them.

A red skinned man with a single, large horn.

“I have eyes on an Oni.” I called into my mic, placing the chevron of my sight onto his chest. “I’m engaging.”

The students, hustling around me in order to get a good view, yelled out as I started firing my M110 rapidly, brass casings singing through the air as their 7.62x51 payloads smashed into the red-skinned man.

He spun about in alarm, massive bleeds in his chest, and his billowy pants were quickly becoming spattered in blood.

I didn’t like that he could do that after taking six rounds to the chest.

No one bit.

I flicked my selector to full auto, pressed down on the top of my handguard with my free palm, and pulled back on the trigger.

Students ducked out with shrieks as my rifle split the air, emptying the rest of the thirty round magazine into the stomach, chest, and head of the red Oni.

To my relief, the big bastard toppled to the side and hit the ground, numbly touching his chest as his brain was taking in the afternoon sun through a broken skull plate.

I flicked the empty magazine away as Brody let another long rip of 5.56 crack through the air, tracing a bloody trail across the chests of two Trolls who had gotten too close to the gate.

They too fell to their knees, just in time for me to release my bolt and slap a round into each of their skulls.

With their apparent leader and five fellows down, the other five began to make a run for the gate, in which they stumbled to a stop when it opened out towards them.

Deckard had decided to make an appearance, and I knew that he had likely switched to the tubes filled with slugs.

Pulling back on the trigger and pumping their bodies with twelve gauge bloodshaker slugs, plumes of crimson blood and torn organs were sprouting from the backs of the Trolls, the assault so rapid that they didn’t have time to really do anything but die.

Deckard had three tubes, and as I counted, he emptied two of them, likely reloading the empty tubes as he fired.

Ten slugs for five Trolls may not have sounded like much, but those were very heavy slugs at very close range.

“Tangos down.” Deckard called out over the radio, standing gamely in the middle of the open gate with his shotgun on his shoulder. “Tubes are ready, you see anything else?”

“Negative.” Brody said, breathless and voice ringed with her odd cheerfulness when she got to kill something. “I just see bodies.”

I nodded, turning on my mic as I turned and walked past the students, all of them gawking down at the bodies. “Confirmed. Crow!”

A crow came down and landed on my shoulder, excited by all the noise. “That was a whole lotta’ racket!”

“Tell the teachers we need them to bag up these stiffs, will ya?” I said to the crow, and he took off with a squawk.

I heard an odd tinkling noise, and turned around to see the students playing around with the still hot brass, and I clicked my teeth at them.

“Hey, don’t touch those, they’ll burn your little nose pickers.” I said, the translator on my ear doing its job and changing the words as they left my mouth.

My warning went unheeded, and they gathered up all the brass despite the slowly cooling temperature. Before I could yell at them, they took off at a run, carting off all my brass and leaving not a piece behind.

“Did those kids just yoink all your brass?” Brody asked, laughing as she spied down on me from the window. “They’re worse than the boomers!”

I chuckled, pulling out my magazine and thumbing in two rounds to fill it. “Yeah, well, we ain’t reloading these and the marvellous magical men give us free ammo.”

“That seemed a little easy, didn’t it?” Deckard asked, tapping the rune near the gate to activate the mechanisms that opened and closed it.

I let out a sigh, then turned my mic back on. “Probe, more than likely. They know we’re here, so we should expect them to quickly adapt. We need to talk with the school heads and get them to double the amount of crows.”

“You should ask them to bring in more men.” Deckard replied, and inwardly, I knew he was right.

“I’ll bring it up.” I said, then spied a gang of teachers coming my way from the main doors of the castle. “Gotta give them a sitrep, hang one.”

I stood where I was, knowing they were going to want to see what we had killed, and they were upon me with a flurry of questions. My earring was having issues translating so many words at once, but thankfully all I had to do was point at it.

They understood at once, and one of the assistant heads took the lead.

“What happened here?” He asked, and I recognized his face from the documents I had tried to memorize.

He was second from the top, a fella named Otani Noritada. He was younger for his position, thirty two years of age, but he had managed to survive some kind of small “prophecy” and banish some big bad evil wizard.

Regardless, he had a gnarly looking scar across his chin, so he had my respect purely on visuals.

“Looks like a probe, sir.” I replied, gesturing out the window towards the still cooling bodies of the Trolls and the ventilated Oni. “Small contingent of sappers that tried to get through your door. That’s what it looks like, anyway."

Otani looked to me, then down towards the bodies, his face marked with cool appreciation of the situation. “And what do you believe it looks like?”

“Fortification testing.” I replied without delay, slinging my rifle and pointing at the gate. “This is a small side gate, and this little gathering of sacrifices was to see if you could manage defending it.”

Otani hummed in his throat while the other teachers and staff looked through other windows, pointing and speaking in rapid Japanese at the dead below.

“That is quite the assumption to make.” Otani said at last, turning to look at me from the window. “Out of just a small attack like this.”

I shrugged. “If they could manage this many… biggun’s, as well as have one attack the train, they could have come in force and taken the gate via well applied and astute violence. Instead, we only got a handful.”

“Are you aware of how many Oni there are, locally?” Otani asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

I thought back to the dockets, the rather shaky pictures taken by what were obviously nervous wizards, then to the reports of attacks on the magically aligned villages around the area. “Estimations are in the thousands, when it comes to Oni. There are the other ‘yokai’ of course, but if they knew how little effect your magic has nowadays, they would have come in force.”

“I agree.” Deckard said, his shotgun held easily across his lower chest thanks to his comfortable sling. “These turds got flushed way too easy, and I reckon there is an observer somewhere on the hills round us.”

Otani seemed to take that personally, turning and glaring at Deckard. “There is not a way they could see into the grounds unless they pass through the barrier, we made sure of it.”

“And your wands used to be able to deal with them quite easily only a few decades ago.” I reminded him, slowly clicking my safety back and forth as I thought. “There may be a way that they can peek into your grounds, just as they are able to deflect a good many of your spells that you cast at them.”

Deckard nodded as Brody came trotting up behind them, her blonde hair swinging back and forth behind her in a tight braid.

“Why the hell is your hair so long?” I asked her, and she rolled her eyes as she came to a loping stop next to Deckard.

“Those damn kids grew it longer and braided it while I was engaging, they used their wands or something and didn’t even enter the damn room.” Brody groused, hefting her M249 up onto her shoulder. “We need more men.”

“I cannot allow more of you onto the grounds.” Otani said, though he seemed troubled. “If anymore of you come within the boundary of the school, it will further weaken the barriers. Just you and your extra weapons alone have taxed the shields greatly, not counting all of the ammunition you requested.”

I chewed on the inside of my bottom lip for a moment, then sighed as I looked back out towards the rest of the walls. “Then we need protocols set up to get everyone back here, towards the main castle. There is no way that we can protect all of the walls with just three gunners.”

“I can discuss this with the other staff.” Otani said, giving me a shallow bow. “If this is what you need us to do, we can make sure that a signal can get everyone back here so they are safe.”

I nodded towards him, though I gave Deckard and Brody a telling side eye while he was bowed down. They caught the meaning, conveying “This is going to be a hard one” through silence and eyelids alone.

“We need to get rid of the bodies.” I said to Otani, who nodded back as well.

“Understaff are already working on that, they will be dragged towards the composting pits.” Otani said, pointing towards great mounds of fresh earth that sat behind their greenhouses. “You may find it distasteful, but their flesh being magical in nature does make for good soil in the growing of herbs.”

Deckard grinned, pulling out a small can of dip, thumping it with his finger. “Waste not, want not.”

Otani smiled at him, though his eyes drifted towards the can. “I agree, but… what is that?”

“This?” Deckard said, popping the lid with a satisfying ‘thock!’ and pulling out a pinch of shredded tobacco leaves. “Can of dip, want some?”

Otani tilted his head at the can, the wintergreen smell tickling at his nose, but he shook his head. “Perhaps not today, but thank you.”

A crow landed nearby, this one bearing a golden ribbon around his neck that marked him as the supply liaison's own perch.

“De Man wants t'know if ya' needed any new ammunish’n. 'S coo', bromalin.” The crow said, looking at me with a tilt to the head.

“One sec’, cat” I replied, then turned to Deckard. “Amber status?”

Deckard spat the number out quickly, holding up an empty shell. “I wouldn’t mind thirty more bloodshaker slugs, I see myself using quite a few of those here in the future.”

“Brody?” I asked, turning to her as she squinted at the crow.

“Why is he wearing a scarf?” Brody asked, pointing a finger at the crow’s golden ribbon.

“Dat’s my gig, chick.” The crow replied, lifting his head to further show off his fancy ribbon. “I rap to the Man 'bout what you need, den make sho’nuff you get da goods.”

“Brody.” I said, more of a demand than an ask, and she twitched her head towards me.

“I want three belts, either frangible or armor piercing.” Brody said, then turned to look over to where the gate sat. “My rounds were plunging, and I saw no puffs of dirt behind them. If they’re going to stick inside, we better make sure they fuck up their flesh as best as they can.”

I turned towards the crow, then nodded towards him. “That’s all she wrote.”

“Word.” The crow replied, then took off with a flapping of wings.

Otani, desiring no other questions, set off after the crow took to the air, clearly as disturbed as I was.

I turned to Deckard and Brody, and pressed my lips together while looking out to the surrounding hills. “Too quick.”

“Too early.” Deckard agreed.

Brody, trailing her new braid over her free shoulder, nodded her head. “Should have been at least a few weeks before we got our first hit, let’s us know they are both curious and confident.”

“We need to be rolling around with a few frags on us.” I said, knowing how much that was going to suck from the added weight alone. “Deckard needs to stick to the doors, Brody, you need to stay up high or somewhere with a good view, and I’ll be where I can to plug the gaps.”

Brody, raised an eyebrow. “And what? Try to cover the entire castle grounds? There are a lot of old women and men down there that work in the castle for one reason or another, and there are villages around us. What about them?”

“I had forgotten about the villages.” I said bitterly, turning all the way around with a scuff of boot to old, hewed stone. “The villages…”

Laying outside and within easy line of sight from our altitude, I could see three villages, their smoke trails listing lazily up into the air. One was small, likely just people living there, while the other two were far larger, supplying goods to the castle as well as being a hotspot for hundreds of students to spend their money.

“I’ll talk with the staff about the villages.” I said, nodding to Deckard and Brody. “You two go back to your routes.”

Deckard and Brody waved me off as they walked away toward wherever they thought they should be, while I unshouldered my M110 and put it back at what I called “languid ready”, resting high across my chest with my arms folded under it.

Students were now running around in force, all going outside to see the bodies of the Trolls and Oni be hauled away to become food for hungry worms… but there was someone not making their way outside.

The yellow Oni woman was watching me with squinted purple eyes, her hakama showing signs of her having been running.

I slowed to a stop and regarded her, and a few questions came to my mind. I started walking towards her, an action that made her stand up straighter and smooth down her long, checkered skirt.

“I have questions, about Oni.” I said to her, as I had no desire to do the whole ‘I bow, you bow, then we both bow’ thing. “What are the reds?”

She raised her chocolate brown eyebrows, then lowered them along with her eyelids, turning in a motion that asked me to follow. “Warrior cast, normally. They slake their greed and passion in combat and war.

“What does it mean if they are leading a band of Trolls?” I asked her, stepping up beside her, though to her right so my barrel wouldn’t be pointing at her neck.

She tilted her chin up, slightly smug. “I thought I smelled the blood of Trolls. They are not native here, you know. They came here from Russia, brought in by the thousands by Prince Aozora.”

“Who the fuck is Prince Aozora?” I asked, quickly pulling out a notepad and pen from my shoulder pocket.

“A man who wants to be a king, but was not recognized by his father before he died.” The yellow Oni replied, stepping slowly beside me… likely to annoy me, since my legs were longer than hers. “When the last great Mao was destroyed, his sons scattered to the winds in order to survive. Prince Aozora was set to be my husband before I fled to this castle, but this is a place of power, and I am safe here.”

“How long ago was that?” I asked scribbling down the important bits.

She pursed her lips prettily in thought, then smiled. “I believe it has been seven hundred and two years to date.”

My pen paused, and I turned my head an inch towards her; She looked like she wasn’t a day over twenty three, but oddly enough, I found myself liking the fact she was older than I had imagined.

“So it’s been a long going thing.” I said after a few breaths of pause, going back to writing in my pad.

She nodded. “Yes. At that time I was known as Yamagaru, as I spent many of my years in the mountain forests.”

“Was known?” I asked.

She smiled to herself. “Yes, well, I did not care to carry a name that the other Oni had bestowed upon me. I am now known as Tano, as it is a bit more modern, and less confusing for the children.”

“Tano.” I murmured, writing it at the top of my pad where I had first taken notes about key staff members.

For some reason that made her blush, an odd green color that slowly bloomed around her eyes, nose, and cheeks.

“So what significance is it that a red warrior caste was leading Trolls?” I asked her, the two of us slowly following the curve of a hallway.

At this, Tano frowned. “That they are likely going to be after me far harder than normal. I am needed for Prince Aozora to be king, and if he can also take this castle, he will have a capital for his new realm.”

“Which I would assume would be less than good.” I mused, slowly drawing a crosshair next to Aozora’s name.

Tano let out a breathy laugh, then nodded. “That would be an accurate, if vague, summarization.”

“What should we expect next?” I asked her, stopping to look out a nearby window towards the three villages.

She paused next to me, then looked out the window with me. “He is slow to decide actions… more so because he is rather dim, so I wouldn’t expect anything else for at least a week. Are you worried he will attack the villages?”

I nodded, leaning my shoulder against the frame of the window. “I am. If he attacks those villages, the castle has to either button up, or sally out. If we sally out, that leaves the castle ill-defended. I have a suspicion that he may make me choose between the innocent and my objective, but at the same time, I may be overthinking this by some degree.”

“You are wishing for more men.” She said knowingly, taking another step towards the window until we were rather close. “But you can’t because it would further weaken the barrier.”

“Talk to Otani?” I asked her, rather annoyed that the man had spoken at all.

She shook her head, then smiled up at me with those bright purple eyes. “You warriors have always been easy to read, as you wear your thoughts upon your eyes and emotions at the tips of your fingers. You stare at those villages as if they are already lost, and you have been tapping your wand since you leaned against the window.”

I looked down, and spotted my finger as it came to a stop, the brain recognizing its rogue nerves. I drew in a long breath, then nodded.

“It is going to be extremely hard with just three people. Doesn’t matter if we can get all the ammo we need, it won’t make up for bodies. Even worse, none of these magical dorks can hold one of my weapons.” I murmured bitterly, thinking back to the dozen weapons between the three of us.

Tano lifted her chin again, then slowly let a smile crawl across her lips.

I looked over at her, lifting a brow. “What?”

“I have found myself able to touch such advanced items.” Tano said slyly, resting the tips of her fingers together in a way that let me know she had been up to a little mischief while I had been busy.

The motion made me smile; I always had liked the devious ones.

“Is that right?” I asked her, popping my rifle up with a jerk of my elbows and catching it in my hands. “I’d like to see that.”

Tano’s face looked a little nervous as I pulled my rifle sling around my head, and I held out my M110 to her.

She looked down at the rifle, then up to me, but held out her hands. I set my rifle into her palms, and despite waiting for her to start smoking like a witch to water… nothing really happened.

“Well I’ll be damned.” I said, smiling happily. “Anyone else like you in this castle?”

Tano shook her head, holding the rifle awkwardly. “Maybe if there were more of my clan, but we were rare, even for yellow Oni.”

I watched her awkwardly heft the rifle like it was a spear, then chuckled as I came around behind her. “Here, let me show you how to hold this thing at least.”

She looked over her shoulder at me as I came close to her right shoulder, slowly pulling the rifle into place against her shoulder.

“There is a natural pocket here in your shoulder.” I said, wiggling the buttstock of the M110 on her shoulder. “You place the buttstock right in there, tight to it. This keeps the recoil down.”

Tano looked awkward as hell still, and I was already making plans to get her battle ready with this thing. If these magical yokai assholes came in force, I was going to need every weapon I had glowing red, and if I could only manage just one… well, I would have to take it.

“Your other hand goes here.” I said quietly, adopting my calm, instructor voice that I used all the time on civilians. I placed my hand under hers and pushed it up to the magazine well. Her skin was oddly cold, which caught me a little off guard. “Your arms are a little short, so you’re going to do what we call ‘choking up on the magwell’. From here you can also use the tripod.”

“Tripod?” Tano asked with a tense voice, as she had just seen what this weapon could do, and she now had the bloody thing in her hands.

“Those forks at the tip.” I said, reaching past her and flicking them down. “You can set those down on a wall or what not, and help you stabilize the weapon, here.”

I slowly moved both her and the weapon forward until the tripods were resting on the window sill. She brightened up at this, then turned her head towards me.

“Oh this is much better!” Tano said with a bright smile, getting down behind the rifle eagerly now that nearly all of the weight was gone. “And I look through this telescope?”

I chuckled to myself, but nodded. “Yes, but we just call them ‘scopes’ now. You see the little red mountain?”

“I do.” Tano replied, her purple eyes wide and smile bright with teeth. “Is this how you aim it, then?”

I nodded, formed my fingers into a V and bent my wrist until it mimicked the sight. “I have this set so the bullet will hit a target right at the tip at fifty yards, at a hundred, it’s going to hit within that little mountain peak.”

“Naruhodo.” Tano said, and I found it odd that my earring didn’t pick it up.

“Pardon?” I asked her, tapping my ear.

She looked up at me, then looked sheepish. “My apologies, I said ‘I understand’, but sometimes my speech can mess with your earring if I don’t pay attention.”

“... Okie dokie then.” I said, not understanding what the hell she was talking about, then slowly took the rifle from her hands. “Would you like to learn how to use it?”

Tano looked rather keen at the idea, bouncing on her heels twice, but then furrowed her brows. “Isn’t that your weapon, though?”

“Oh, no.” I said with a chuckle. “I have others, this is just what I use when I’m feeling lazy. I don’t mind you learning on it.”

Tano placed her hands behind her back, smiling again as she looked up at me. “So… when shall I begin my lessons?”

“Tomorrow.” I said without pause, folding my arms back under the weapon. “If you are able to use this thing, I need you to be well trained on it so I can have one more barrel pointed at the enemy. When will you be available?”

Tano, blushing again for whatever reason, looked up in thought. “I have three history classes tomorrow, but after that I can take lessons with you after three, and up until dinner.”

“History huh?” I said, bumping her on the shoulder with my buttstock. “Seems a little on the nose to make the hundreds of years old woman teach history.”

“I like teaching history!” Tano said defensively, then she had the gal to flick my shoulder. “I have seen many great events, you know, up close and with records!”

I laughed, taking a step back from her and looking her over once again, from toe to horn tip; She still didn’t look any older than twenty three… but the things she must have seen, watching time advance from wooden carts, to cars, from birds owning the sky to aircraft and bombs…

Bombs. I thought to myself, and I frowned.

She was here during the entire Pacific Campaign, and had to live through her island bearing the weight of the sun not once, but twice.

By my people.

She must have seen my face change, because hers became concerned.

“Is something wrong?” Tano asked me, her hands coming around in front of her and finger tips together.

I swallowed, then shook my head with a false laugh. “No, no it’s nothing, I’m sorry.”

“Nothing is wrong.” Tano replied, leaning to the side an inch. “There is no need for an apology then.”

I took in another breath, looked out the window, then back at her with a forced smile. “Well, rather busy day. I better go do an ammunition count and update my records, my company is going to want a report. I’ll meet you at the archery yard around three thirty, alright?”

“Okay…” Tano replied, though she still seemed curious about my sudden flip in mood. “Until tomorrow, then.”

“Until tomorrow.” I replied, then gave her a small wave before setting back off down the hallway.

As I walked down the hallway, I ran my hand along the bottom of my jaw; It was nothing new for Americans when it came to feeling a little bit of leftover guilt for the grand end to the second war that gripped the world. That was more due to very few people, if any, that were still alive to bear the memory.

That yellow Oni woman had not only been alive during the war, but before and after it, and had to watch the nation she knew once again rapidly adapt and evolve. Before the war, Japan still held a lot of the image of its past… but after, it had changed rapidly, like an animal being forced to adapt as the world burned around it.

I clicked my teeth, remembering how the villages looked, as well as the rest of the buildings on the way here. They were all still in the designs and styles of the old world, the classical Japan that you saw in woodblock prints or the brush paintings that hung in museums.

There was power for the wizards and other magical folk in that, I had read, a way to tap into their past and summon the warmth of magic to still serve them and breathe.

According to the reports that the staff had given me, little tidbits about the history of their world in case I needed it, magic was weaker now than it was due to the modernity of Japan, with the old magics only being powerful in the woodland areas, or the places located way outside the scope of the modern cities.

This castle, by far, was the strongest point of magic on the entire island nation, but even it languished under the stain of oil, smoke, and exhaust. It was the very bombs we had dropped that caused the most effect, the radiation eating a hole in the aura of magic like greenhouse gases to the ozone. It had taken nearly thirty years for the magical fields around Japan to resettle, while all other nations held their auras firm.

The very reason why I was even here, I supposed. To keep safe a place my ancestors had weakened.

I hummed in my throat at the thought as I rounded the hallway corner to the staircase, and made my way upstairs to our lodgings.

Hopefully, in some way, my fellows and I being here could help repair a little bit of that hole as we tried to keep these people safe.

It would be nice, anyway.