Next to a forgotten Buddhist temple, a wheel of people falls silent as one boy points a sword at another.

Haru leaps towards Hideo, his sword descending on his opponent's shoulder meets nothing, and hits the ground. A step to the side and a punch is thrown in response to the attack.

Hideo's fist strikes Haru's temple, leaving him disoriented. He leans on two boys at one end of the crowd. The punch was very fast and Haru couldn't dodge it because they were too close. The boys push him back into the fight.

Haru stares Hideo in the eye and the crowd roars, cheering for their leader.

"Hi-de-o, Hi-de-o, Hi-de-o!"

The voices make Haru angry, but they also make him realize something.

'He's confident, underestimating me. I don't need to attack him to get out of here, just wait for him to make a mistake and I can kill him.'

His eyes leave Hideo glide over the other people.

'Or I can wait for a gap and attack one of those around me and escape.'

He finds the green-eyed girl in the crowd.

'Ungrateful? I was right about you! You healed me to make me a training ground! I'll never forget...'

His thought is interrupted by a kick to his balls. He falls face-first into the mud once more. His sword slips away. The audience laughs.

"Hahahaha! Hi-de-o, Hi-de-o...!"

"Where's that tough kid from just now?"

'Damn... Ah... Thinking instead of fighting...Stupid!'

Chapter 4 - Battle Wastes.

Haru gets up, but Hideo is between him and his sword. It's useless to try to pick it up. A boy comes out from inside the temple, whistles, and throws a long wooden bo staff, which incredibly does not fly as high as Haru's body when thrown.

Hideo picks up the staff, takes two steps back, and gets into position.

Arata Haru senses that something has changed, but doesn't immediately understand what it is. The way Hideo holds his weapon is strangely... beautiful. He is drawn to it, like an insect looking into the light.

The people in the circle begin to talk, anxious, but others call for silence as if a presentation is about to begin.

Haru's concentration makes him assume an awkward posture, bent over, like someone who just wants a closer look. Two guys whisper:

"What is this boy doing? If he gets that close he'll end up dying!"

"Shhh, shut up, let's watch!

"Shouldn't we stop this boy from killing himself?

"Sshhhh!"

The girl with long black hair comments:

"I don't think so... Look."

She points to Haru's face.

"Are those the eyes of someone who is about to die?"

The Arata boy no longer sees the audience, and slowly he doesn't even see Hideo, only that staff, like something luminous.

'If I can beat that... maybe...'

Hideo takes two quick steps forward, and the entire circle of people holds their breath.

'...I can beat that guy!'

Hideo makes a series of quick attacks with the stick, which to the eyes of the encircling people, seems to become incredibly flexible. But Haru dodges the attacks, bending and spinning as much as the staff itself.

"This boy... is he an acrobat? Gori, where did you find him?!"

As she finishes her sentence, the green-eyed girl sees that Gori has disappeared from the crowd. She tries to look around, but she doesn't see him near the temple, nor on top of some tree sleeping as usual. Unconcerned, she goes back to watching the best fight she has ever seen.

Haru realizes that his sword is now close by and tries to bend down to pick it up. Quickly, Hideo's staff comes down on the back of his head with an impact so strong that the staff breaks, driving the boy's head into the ground.

The motionless body bent over on his knees with his entire head stuck in the ground makes a few whispers arise among the people.

"I told you he was going to die, Izumi."

The green-eyed girl replies:

"Shut up, that wasn't funny."

"That's what happens to anyone who challenges Hideo."

Hideo feels confident of his strength, yet deep down he is also relieved.

'How can someone move like that? Never seen something like that before!'

What happens next makes him tense again. The whispers turn into screams as Haru's body starts to move. His hand begins to search for the sword, his body slowly spins and twists on top of his neck, which slowly feels like a braided rope.

"A DEMON!"

"No one would survive having their neck broken like that!"

Hideo is, like many others, dumbfounded.

When Haru finally finds the sword, he holds it with both hands, and raises his feet, standing over his head still stuck in the ground. Like a pawn, his torso spins, causing the sword to spin quickly and Hideo to have to jump backward and fall sitting up.

The boy manages to get his head off the ground and begins spitting dirt. His neck is full of purple bruises, yet he is still alive.

"Ah! I thought I was going to die! I had no air!"

After a few seconds of sitting there looking at the boy, Hideo begins to laugh.

"AHAHAHAHAH! What was that?! What kind of crazy attack is that?! Guys... how absurd!"

A few others start laughing together until all the people start laughing and telling jokes about the "pawn attack" instantly became legendary.

Haru still spitting dirt, looks forward and sees Hideo's hand extended as if expecting a handshake. He doesn't understand.

"You're fun, kid. Want to join us?

.....

An old man, bald, with a beard and long, white eyebrows, walks through the city of Toyama. He dresses like a traveling monk: He wears a straw hat, dark blue motsuke-koromo robe, white kukuri-bakama pants underneath, with gray kyahan at the ankles, with tekkous gauntlets covering his arms down to his hand. From time to time he stares at people and laughs as if he could understand them with just a look. This is the picture of old age, to think that everything in the present is a reflection of something you already know.

He walks from the center of town to a large house, with high stone walls and small roofs. A wooden gate protected by two large guards wielding kikuchi yari spears prevents him from seeing an old friend.

He takes out a letter with a square seal of red ink which, when seen by the guards, they almost let him in, but stop to look at the contents of the letter only out of caution.

He enters through a stone pathway that leads him through a wide space covered with sand. Plants decorate the corners, as do bamboo ornaments. Large stones purposefully placed have designs made in the sand around them. Servants welcome you to the short main staircase of the house. This large house is divided into three straight segments connected at their ends, with a space in the center, like a square with one edge missing. The main staircase leads to this space, where most visitors would need a servant to guide them, but this man is not like any other.

The servants try to lead him in one direction, but he looks around and heads in another. He slips through a door and there he finds a very well-dressed gentleman.

"Are you testing me, Asano-dono?"

"You really are capable of finding anyone. I never tire of seeing your skills in action. How did you find me?"

"Your aura, Asano-dono."

Mister Asano falls into laughter.

"Forget '-dono', we've known each other for so long, use '-san' when addressing me."

"Of course, Asano-san."

They sit down and he nods to a maid, who returns with sake.

"How long has it been, Abe-san?"

"Since the black boats in Edo? Hmm... fourteen years, I believe."

"Yeah... things have changed quite a bit since then. More and more foreigners are seen here every day, and we are changing too."

"About that, Asano-san, I am sorry to inform you that I have heard rumors of war."

A girl with short black hair, wearing a blue yukata, pours more sake.

"You will always have wars, won't you..."

One can see Asano's weariness, a man in charge of a great house is responsible for the lives of his vassals, as well as carrying the weight of their deaths should he fail.

"And I thought I would have a peaceful death. Who do we fight this time? Who dares want to take our land?"

"You see, this will not be a war between families. This will not be a war between clans, much less Japan against another country."

"Who will wage this war then?"

"Japan against the world, Asano-san. Us, against reality."

.....

A group of ten people walks with their horses and shabby donkeys carrying sacks of rice. They have no swords, no training, but they carry hoes for their defense in case they need them.

Leading the group is an old woman walking with her son. He carries several sacks of rice in a cart. They all wear simple clothes. She wears a faded pink iro muji kimono with a white collar and a beige obi, and her son a dark blue nagagi kimono, without haori or hakama, both wearing geta clogs. The farmers following them wear even simpler clothes, the last in line wear fundoshis and walk barefoot. walking slowly to Toyama along the mountain roads.

Reaching a fork in the road, they find an old swordsman in hakama and green nagagi, sleeping under a tree with an empty sake gourd, with a straw hat covering his face.

"Good afternoon, sir. Could you tell us which way is Toyama?"

"Mhm..."

This masterless samurai doesn't give them any importance, doesn't lift or compress them, but turns sideways and points in the right direction to Toyama.

The farmers, though annoyed by the master's lack of manners, follow the road. After all, they must pay their taxes with this rice, otherwise, their land will be taken; finding the town is the only thing that matters now. Besides, he is a samurai, a caste superior to the farmers. They understand and respect this hierarchy, as do their ancestors.

The summer sun burns on the backs of these two, who, even though they are used to working in the fields, wonder if they should have chosen yukatas instead of kimonos. No, it would be disrespectful to go dressed so casually to their destination.

The boy, even knowing this, also wishes he were wearing only a fundoshi right now.

They are distracted, talking about the bad condition of this road, about how they want to return to their village soon after paying their taxes, and worrying about whether the remaining rice will be enough for the winter.

Taking advantage of the distraction, several boys jump out from their hiding places in the surrounding trees. The peasants arm themselves with their hoes. The son of the lady who drives the cart also grabs a hoe.

The two groups stare at each other in silence for a few seconds. The young farmer thinks:

'I have never seen mountain robbers before. They are... '

He looks at a boy with scars on his face and all over his body, his neck covered with bruises, and it makes him sad.

...So young. What a life these kids lead.'

A big boy passes between the thieves, with a silly expression on his face and a small helmet, letting out a hoarse but loud noise, which scares the young farmer. He grabs him by the collar of the nagagi and throws him quickly over the wagon, causing him to fall on top of a horse, which overturns the bags of rice.

He tries to get up, but a foot rests lightly on his shoulder, stopping him. Hideo speaks in a gentle voice:

"Ah, see what you did? You wasted our rice."

The young man gets angry, tapping Hideo's foot and getting up quickly.

"Your rice?! We planted it and we're going to...!"

A wooden stick hits his forehead, throwing him backward. He hits his back on a tree and falls unconscious.

"Does anyone else have anything to say?"

The farmers riot, picking up their hoes and kuwas, and small tantô knives and swords that were previously hidden.

Haru speaks to a brunette boy with short hair:

"They were far more prepared than you imagined."

"No, it's always like that."

Hideo starts fighting two men at the same time. These, being bigger don't fall as easily. A knife flies towards Haru's remaining eye, which in a reflex deflects, but it sticks in the forehead of a boy who was behind him.

Before the body falls, Izumi takes the knife from the forehead of her dead colleague and throws it back, killing another man. She shouts:

"GET IT ALL!!!"

A small battle begins on the road. The horses go into desperation, bags of rice fall and roll on the road, blood flies, and people end up dead on both sides.

Haru was feeling bad about stealing food from helpless farmers, but now, amid this battle, he thinks that this is naïve of him. Regardless of who planted the rice, everyone needs to eat. Everyone is struggling to survive, both they and these workers. The battle levels everything and the sword cuts everyone equally. Amidst the blood flying from his companions and opponents, he smiles.

The old swordsman with the gourd watches by hiding his presence behind a tree.

'The last Arata, huh? He'll end up dead like that.'

He sees all the blood being spilled and it doesn't disturb him, he's used to it. He stares at the open bags of rice at the corner of the road.

'What a waste...'

He looks at Haru's clumsy blows and his excitement at simply staying alive during the battle, performing stunts that rely on his natural talent. If it weren't for his flexibility and agility, he would be dead by now.

'...Such a big waste.'