Chapter 4

The beast bursts open and its blood spills into all directions. It was as though my blade has cut into the flesh of the beast, beneath its skin, and slit open the very heart of the beast itself.

It screams and dies.

I stand there, kind of flabbergasted. In my mind was obviously just one big question:

What just happened?

The two of us sit down. The girl's jacket is full of blood due to me killing the yokai. I myself obviously am dirtied by the blood as well.

The two of us sit there, awkwardly. Neither of us says a word. I’d like to strike up a conversation, I really do. But I can’t think of any beginning that wouldn’t be strange.

“...”

“Thanks.” She starts the conversation. She doesn’t look at me, but she does directly talk to me. There is no one else here, after all.

“Ah, no. I’ve got to thank you… Without you the Ushitora would’ve killed me, I’m sure of it.”

“Maybe… Why did you come back?”

“...I didn’t feel like running away and surviving… Especially not if someone else would’ve died.”

“You think I’d have died? C’mon, believe a bit in me! I beat the shit out of that Yokai!”

She was lying. I saw her struggling. She would’ve definitely died. As someone who was seen Death firsthand, I am sure of it.

I did not tell her that though.

She went on:

“Anyway, what are you doing out here?”

The girl asked me the very question I had in store for her this entire time.

“I… live nearby.”
“Don’t tell me… Are you from the village that was destroyed???”

The girl looks at me with a certain curiosity. Fascination, even.

It’s strange. How did she know? How did she know my village was destroyed?

“...how do you know?”

“Well, I am here because of that! Y’know, I come from a prestigious military academy and this was my task! Coming here and looking for survivors!”

“Ah… Congratulations, then. You found the only survivor there was.”

Saying those words hurts. It really does, you can believe me. It’s accepting that everyone else is dead. It’s accepting that…

I don’t want to remember it. Yet, I do. I constantly have to. This might just be such a moment that I will be constantly reminded of. My whole life will be controlled by those very moments of Death.

“Oh! Well, my condolences! But are you sure that you are-”

“Yes! Yes, I am sure! And yes, I am the only one! Please, let’s… let’s not talk about it.”

The girl was quiet, at least for a second. But she quickly starts yapping again.

“Aight, let’s go then.” She stretches for a bit, then she quickly walks away. I wait shortly - a bit flabbergasted - but then follow her.

“Uhh… We’re going where exactly?”

“There’s a small camp nearby. My allies are there as well… Uhhh… You can rest there. Soon we’ll depart.”

“Where to?”

“Tojiume! You know Tojiume, don’t you?”

“Uhh… No?”

“Yikes! You village folks really don’t know jack, do you?”

Her words didn’t really hurt. After all, they were the truth; I only know the people from my village. I have never left my village - until today - and the ‘outer world’ if I may call it that never bothered me in the slightest.

“Do you at least know the Emperor?”

“Yeah, of course I know the Emperor. Everyone does.”

The Emperor of the great country of Japan: He united Japan and its clans after the Great War. He and his family were the victors of said war, thus he became Emperor. Despite having the perfect conditions for being a great conqueror and dictator, he is said to be a pretty nice guy who doesn’t abuse his powers. I never met the guy, but from what my grandpa has told me he is great.

“Good. The Emperor has his main residence in Tojiume… Tojiume is just overall the capital of Japan, if you know what a capital is. It's a giant city… Once we’re there you’ll probably be overwhelmed!”

I shrug. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. It’s not really something I care a lot about… But talking about things like this, even if they are irrelevant, seems kind of nice. It distracts me from that which happened in the last hours.

After a while we actually do arrive at the “camp”. Camp was maybe too strong of a word for what is actually in front of me… There were some barrels, two small chairs - on one of them was a person - a campfire and one carriage, two horses being in front of said carriage.

The person on the chair was another woman, though she was older. She was wearing a white kimono and her long black hair was stuffed into a bun. A single white needle held her hair together, except for one single strand of hair which was hanging down her face. The kimono she was wearing and her age reminded me of my own mother. Her face rested easily and she smiled at me.

“You survived? Must’ve been hard… You can rest in the carriage. You’ve got to be exhausted, right?”

The woman didn’t give me a second to answer her, however that wasn’t necessary either way. She did know what my deal was and she also knew my current status.

I went to the carriage, opened it and rested inside.