The forgotten Buddhist temple is perfectly silent while the mountain robbers are looting. The sun illuminates the plants growing from the sides of the temple, climbing up the wooden beams, reaching higher and higher. Other plants are planted directly on the roof, in the spaces created by loose tiles, and decorate the top of the temple with tiny yellow and white flowers.

Few see these details like Gori, who stands in the trees and watches everything. He doesn't go out to loot, his body is too weak for battle. He is small and thin, but agile and a natural talent for climbing. His role is different: to keep watch, to collect information, and to bring messages.

He hears some footsteps and then sees his companions returning with spices and many weapons.

Chapter 5 - Belonging.

Haru turns to a dark-haired boy and says:

"You were right Tobi, they are always armed.”

"Didn't I tell you? It doesn't matter if you are a samurai, artisan, merchant, or farmer, everyone has concealed weapons."

"I didn't think spice merchants had so many knives!”

Bou opens a bag, spies, and starts sneezing uncontrollably. Haru and Tobi giggle.

"With all this looting you've been taking part in, I find it strange that something still surprises you."

"I'm learning a lot from you guys, especially about weapons and ambushes."

Gori leaps from a tall tree and lands with a somersault in front of Hideo, Izumi, and seven other thieves.

"Where is Yuu?"

Everyone makes a brief silence, preparing to break the news. Gori knows this silence and does not wait. He grabs Hideo by the shoulders, shaking him back and forth slightly.

"WHERE?!"

"Dead, Gori. A hidden merchant killed her from behind and..."

"LIE! She wouldn't die like that!"

Izumi interferes, resting a hand on Gori's arm.

"Calm down, let's talk..."

"Aren't you strong Hideo?! Why didn't you protect her?!"

Hideo lowers his head. He knows that Yuu was important to Gori. Perhaps the best friend he ever had. The leader of the thieves takes a rolled-up sash from his pocket and gives it to his distressed follower. Other thieves begin to cry.

"That's not how a battle works Gori, you know, no one is so strong that they can protect everyone. I'm sorry."

Gori immediately recognizes the sash, Yuu was securing her hair with it. Unwrapping the sash Gori sees a folded paper with a large bloodstain on it, a letter.

The thin boy begins to read as he walks, staggering into the forest.

Haru approaches, riding on Bou's shoulders.

"Is he going to be okay?"

"I have no idea."

......

The thieves begin to store the spoils of their ambushes in the temple and small makeshift huts around it. They start two fires that they use to cook rice and grill fish.

Sitting on stumps of wood and stones, forming a big circle around the ember, they tell each other stories about the fights and pass on the stolen weapons, so that in the end they decide how they will share everything among themselves. Haru laughs at the stories and tells one of his own as well. When Izumi asks him if he has tried to give the "legendary top spin blow," everyone in the circle laughs. Bou tells his story with mimes. Hideo is a great storyteller but tends to make things bigger to get applause. Tobi opens a box from one of the spice merchants and finds two bottles of sake. Haru says he has never drunk it before. The bottle is passed around the wheel for everyone to drink and when Haru chokes, the others laugh at him. Izumi does not drink, telling Haru she is weak with drinks. Tobi gets completely drunk and falls off the log he is sitting on, laughing. Everyone toasts in respect to their dead comrades, after all, they have lost two members this week alone.

When a girl named Minamori sees a sword, she quickly gets up.

"That's the one I wanted! I'm keeping it!!!"

Hideo stands up and, with the intonation of a boy who wants a toy and speaks:

"Ah! I want that one too!"

Several thieves begin to pick out weapons for themselves.

Haru kicks a spear that goes over the fire in Hideo's direction, and Hideo catches it.

"You owe me."

"What?"

"You said that if I survived five ambushes we would fight again, and here I am, still alive."

"Right, but this isn't a Bo stick, it's a real spear."

"Exactly..."

Haru leaps over the fire, drawing his sword and striking the spear handle, putting Hideo on the defensive.

"And this is a real sword."

Tobi drunkenly begins the cheering chant.

"Ha-ru, Ha-ru, Ha-ru!"

Izumi giggling joins in. Only the two of them cheer, but that makes Haru happy.

Hideo replies:

"Okay, but if you die don't come to haunt me later!"

He pushes Haru with the handle of his spear and takes two steps back to assume his position. Haru barely has time to balance and Hideo begins to attack quickly with the spear.

Haru dodges the spear three times, takes a step back, picking up momentum for a leap with a backflip past the high fire.

The scabbard of Haru's sword crosses the fire and goes towards Hideo's face, which he hits back with the spear handle, causing it to fly away.

The fire prevents Hideo from seeing Haru momentarily. The leader of the thieves thinks:

'Pretty good, you've learned to use the environment to your advantage, huh?'

Then he makes several quick movements, spinning the spear around his body to gain speed until he delivers a horizontal blow so fast that it nearly extinguishes the flame.

To his surprise, on the other side of the fire is not Haru, but Bou. This shocks him; if the big boy hadn't had armor covering his belly, he would have been seriously injured.

The guilt of having lost two companions added to the shock of having almost accidentally killed Bou in a duel, slows his reaction when Haru screams, with an attack coming at him from above.

'From there...?!'

Haru's blade nearly slices through Hideo's arms, who in one swift motion drops the spear and leaps back, taking distance, preventing the next blow.

Haru stands between Hideo and his spear, with the blade pointed at him.

Unarmed, Hideo tries to understand what has happened.

"I don't understand, how...?!"

The image of Haru on Bou's shoulders earlier returns to his mind. He starts to laugh.

"You used the fire to hide and Bou to jump on me? Ahahaha! Very good!"

He raises his hands in a gesture of good faith but also gazes at his man, as if telling them to prepare if this situation becomes too violent.

"I give up, you win."

Some thieves at the campfire prepare to stop Haru if he tries to kill their leader.

Haru kicks the spear back at him. Hideo holds the handle, surprised. The challenger positions himself to begin the duel again.

"Not yet"

Hideo sighs and smiles. Everyone at the campfire is relieved and understands that Haru doesn't want to kill Hideo, just train.

......

With most of the thieves asleep, Haru and Hideo continue their training. Izumi, who kept watching to make sure that neither would lose control in the middle, is very sleepy.

"How long are these two going to keep fighting? It's been hours..."

To her surprise, after a few moments, they both stop in their fighting positions, but soon after they put down their weapons, bow, and fall to the ground exhausted.

Lying on a rise of grass, they begin to talk while still out of breath, and Izumi falls asleep. Hideo asks Haru:

"Say... Why do you want to fight so badly?"

"I need to beat a spearman... but he is always ...surrounded by people. No... that's just an excuse. He's stronger than me, I can never even hurt him."

"How many times have you tried?"

"I've lost count. And you...what is your motivation?"

"Money."

"So money is all that matters to you?"

"Exactly. Nothing is more important than money. My family worked for generations in the fields, and we pretended to be happy, working day and night, being cold and hungry. One day, a bandit killed my father because he couldn't pay his debts. Debts he had made so that we could simply survive the winter."

He sits down, looking up at the stars. Haru remains still, also admiring the stars, trying to catch his breath.

"People say crime doesn't pay, but clearly that man lived much better than my father. He was strong, well-fed, clean. We, on the other hand, lived in shit. My mother and sister starved to death and I was the only one who survived that cruel winter. That's when I decided that being bad is much better. If the only way to live a decent life is to steal and kill, then I choose to do that."

He looks at his followers, sleeping peacefully.

"And slowly I discovered that I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Well, that's ten years ago."

He stands up.

"Haru, you're unpredictable, I've never seen anyone fight like you. I don't know why you need to kill this guy, but until then, how about becoming a permanent member of our team? Life is good here. We have food, and shelter, like a good, big, weird family. We can do whatever we want! You can stay if you want to."

Haru thinks about everything he has learned this past week and how much fun he has had. Bou taught him that the body speaks, that it is possible to communicate without saying a word. Besides, it is fun to be around him. Tobi is very smart and constantly gives tips on how to improve in battle, more precisely it's as if he can predict people's reactions and knows how to position himself in the best way. Besides this, he is hilarious when he drinks. Gori taught him how to hide better, and showed him that climbing is a real art. Izumi showed him herbs that he can use to heal himself, as well as use the strength of larger opponents against them. Also, something about her makes him feel welcome, and her food is the best! The other thieves also support him from time to time and certainly save him from trouble. He has also earned their respect. Maybe he has found a new family.

He nods, confirming that he will become a mountain thief, just like them. When he thinks about it, he realizes that this is just a formality, he already belongs there.

A small solitary raindrop falls on a white flower on the roof and enters the temple through the tiles. It collects again on a wooden beam, falling on the statue of Buddha. Gori is inside, sitting among the candles, leaning on a large column, and to him, the statue seems to be crying.