The First Draw

When Yūto arrived at Narita Airport, Japan, stopped for a moment and slowly closed his eyes.

"Is this my destiny? I've finally returned to the land where I was born," Yūto murmured.

He then continued his journey.

After arriving in Tomisato, Yūto got out of the taxi and stopped at a small ramen restaurant to get something to eat.

"Excuse me. I'd like one bowl of ramen, please."

"Certainly," the waitress said.

Five minutes later, his order arrived.

"Here's your ramen."

"Thank you."

Not long after, a group of young men entered the shop.

"Hahaha! I told you those two were nothing but losers."

"Yeah. Did you see their faces? They turned pale as soon as you beat them up. Hahaha!"

"I didn't even use my secret technique, but they were already scared. Hahaha!"

"You're really amazing, Shiro."

While Yūto was quietly eating, he accidentally looked at them because they were sitting directly across from him.

"Hey! What are you looking at?!" Shiro shouted.

"I'm just a traveler having dinner. I don't want any trouble," Yūto said calmly.

Shiro stared at him for a moment, but Yūto ignored him and continued eating.

"Hey, Shiro! You're causing trouble again. Can't you stop bothering my customers?!" the restaurant owner scolded him.

"Come on, Auntie. Don't make such a big deal out of it."

"If you scare my customers away again, I won't let you eat here anymore."

"Relax, Auntie. That won't happen."

A few moments later, Shiro and his friends left the restaurant.

Yūto stopped eating for a moment.

"Excuse me, Auntie. Do you know any places where I can stay around here?"

"Actually, I have an empty room in my house. If you're interested, I can rent it to you."

"Really?" Yūto asked politely.

"It used to be my son's room. But after he got married, he moved to Europe. The room has been empty ever since. If you want it, I'll clean it up for you."

"How much is the rent per month?"

"Usually, a room around here costs about ¥30,000 a month. But since the room has been empty and I live alone, you can have it for half the price."

"Really? Thank you, Auntie. My name's Yūto, by the way."

"Oh. I'm Haruka."

Yūto nodded.

"You can also help me at the ramen shop from time to time. I'll pay you for it. It'll give you some extra spending money. You're new here too, aren't you?" Haruka asked.

"Yes. Thank you very much for your kindness."

"You're welcome. I'm going to close the restaurant soon. You can come with me."

Yūto and Haruka walked along the quiet street.

It was already nine o'clock at night.

A few moments later, they arrived in front of Haruka's house.

"Arrgghhh...!!!"

Someone screamed in the distance.

Yūto immediately turned toward the sound.

"Auntie, wait here. I'm going to see what happened."

"That's dangerous!"

When Yūto arrived, he saw Shiro being attacked by more than ten samurai.

His two friends were nowhere to be seen.

"Arghhh...! Cowards... Attacking me all at once...!" Shiro shouted as he crawled away.

"Stop!" Yūto shouted.

The samurai turned toward him.

"Who are you?! How dare you interfere in our business?!" one of them shouted.

"I don't know what happened here, but beating someone like this has gone too far," Yūto said calmly.

"We're members of Seiryū-kai! Even the police don't dare to mess with us!"

"Get out of here! You don't know how dangerous they are!" Shiro shouted.

"If you don't leave, don't blame us when your body is covered in sword wounds!" another samurai said.

"I can't just stand here and watch someone being treated like this right in front of me. It'd be better if we could settle this peacefully."

"Stupid brat! Attack him!"

They all rushed toward Yūto at the same time.

Shing!

Swing!

Whoosh!

Their movements were fast and well coordinated.

Yūto was surrounded from every direction.

He focused on avoiding every attack while studying their movements and rhythm.

Then...

Slash!

The tip of a sword cut his cheek.

Yūto quickly jumped backward and stopped.

A drop of blood slowly ran down his cheek.

"You'd better leave!" one of the samurai shouted.

Yūto looked at Shiro.

"Kabuto! You're such a coward! You need your whole group just to fight me!" Shiro shouted.

"You're almost dead, so shut your mouth! Soon, I'll send you to hell to join your family!" Kabuto said.

"You...!" Shiro growled.

Shiro tried to stand, but the serious injury to his leg made him fall back to the ground.

After hearing Kabuto's words, Yūto's expression changed.

Yūto took the bag from his shoulder and opened it.

"I have no choice..." Yūto murmured.

"Attack him! Kill them both!" Kabuto ordered.

Swish!

Swing!

Tap... Tap...

Swip!

Slash!

Yūto took a slow, deep breath.

Then he moved.

His footsteps were as gentle as flower petals carried by the wind.

Every step was completely silent, as if he were dancing across the ground without leaving a trace.

In an instant, Yūto disappeared from the samurai's sight.

All they could see was a single flash of his katana...

Then, silence returned.

A few seconds later, flower petals slowly fell through the air...

One by one, the samurai fell to the ground, each taken down by a single, thin slash.

Kabuto's eyes widened in fear.

All of his men had fallen.

His whole body trembled.

Kabuto turned around and ran for his life.

Yūto calmly returned his katana to its sheath.

"Who... Who are you...?" Shiro asked.

Yūto turned toward him.

"I'm Yūto..."

Since Shiro couldn't walk because of his injured leg, Yūto helped him return to Aunt Haruka's house so his wounds could be treated.