KUNSHU SKULKED HOME AS THE DAY DREW TO A CLOSE, having squandered his golden opportunity in his eagerness. As he passed through Suijidan on his way to Antemouth, he pulled the hood up on his cloak, hiding his face, but moreso the bandage upon it which covered Zero’s laceration. Passing by a tavern, he heard two men in an alleyway behind the building. Turning to see the source of this sound, he found two drunkards picking on a man as he lay on the stone road.

The men in their drunken stupor were holding an item that was likely used to harm this man; one had a broken beer bottle, while the other had a baseball bat. Their victim, on the other hand, appeared to be a withered shell of a specimen, miserable and bleeding in various locations.

“Go away!” the bleeding man threatened. “I’m warning you!”

“Oooh, I’m so scared of this little rat!” the first drunkard grunted sarcastically. “You’re nothing but Aotoshi scum.”

This remark piqued Kunshu’s interests where he had previously been apathetic. There has been a notable increase of nationalism in Crenon as of late, sometimes leading to violence in extreme cases. Hopping into another country to harass its natives had become commonplace as well, but seldom in such an upfront manner as this. Perhaps he was witnessing another step being taken towards war.

“Nothing but a pest, I say,” the second aggressor added. “We should just put him out of his misery.”

“Right on, mate,” the first man replied. “He’s not even worthy of being a rat. More of a cockroach if anything.”

“I said leave me alone!” the beaten man on the street cried out as he rose once more to his feet.

“We’d rather have fun with you!” a third man continued as he emerged from the bar. “You’re a broken toy anyway. Might as well have one last laugh with you.”

Kunshu stood there, watching the spectacle go underway. On one hand, he had no business with any of these men. Yet, on the other, there was a potential use for the victim. That is, if he would be able to prove himself competent in battle, something that Kunshu was having trouble believing. As the three men returned to their assault on the man, Kunshu decided that he didn’t mind getting some more blood on his hands.

The man being assaulted soon found himself covered with blood, but not his own. When he reopened his eyes, he saw the three men that had been harassing him decapitated, blood spurting from their necks as water would from a blocked-up hose. Behind the three corpses stood Kunshu, who spat on one of the men.

“Akuni trash,” he sneered before returning the Alpha Blade to its sheath and turning to walk away, unphased by his previous action.

“Wait,” the man that Kunshu rescued called out. “You saved me!”

“Yeah, you’re really annoying,” Kunshu answered dryly. “Maybe I should’ve just left you alone.”

“I must repay you!” the man continued, groveling at Kunshu’s feet, oblivious or perhaps undeterred by his savior’s disinterest. “My life! You own it now. Up to this point, I have done nothing, gone nowhere! I shall show you the highest gratitude in all of Aotoshi! I swear upon my life!”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Kunshu snapped back, growing even more irritated by this man’s pathetic state.

“I owe you everything I own,” this broken man continued, bowing to Kunshu. It was only now that Kunshu took note of this man’s size. He had an incredible build, seeming to have the strength of twenty Olympic weightlifters. Perhaps he really had been just incapable of fighting back. If he had been trained in combat, maybe Kunshu could use him as the perfect right-hand man, an unstoppable force of sheer power.

“Sure…I guess,” Kunshu finally relented. “Who even are you?”

“Akui,” the large man quickly answered, getting back onto his feet. “Shirei Akui. Please let my life mean something! Take me with you! I owe you that much.”

“Okay then,” Kunshu responded. “I need someone to carry my coat, I suppose.”

“I will do that!” Shirei answered, following Kunshu as the two walked out of the alleyway and down the sidewalk. “Anywhere you wish your coat to go, I will be there to carry it!”

“Fuck me,” Kunshu groaned, irritated by the extent of this man’s submissiveness. “Just shut up already, goddammit!”

“Yes, of course!”

“I guess you can help me take over this dump,” he continued, surveying the town. “I’m on a long path of conquest, and I’m starting with Aotoshi.”

“Of course, my liege.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Okay, you’re my Savior? Should I call you Father?”

“No, what the fuck?” Kunshu had been caught off guard by this. Although he enjoyed adoration, he was not too fond of worship, which Shirei had been all too keen on presenting. “You know what? Liege is fine.”

“Then I shall devote my life to helping you conquer Aotoshi, my liege.”

“Yeah, don’t wear it out too fast.”

As the men walked toward Kunshu’s apartment in Antemouth, Shirei told Kunshu a bit more about his past, whether Kunshu wanted to hear it or not. In brief, Shirei had been born in the town of Gurenoson, but moved away to Suijidan shortly afterward due to safety concerns. It was there that Shirei met his ex-wife and they had two children. Eventually, she had abandoned Shirei for a much wealthier man due to their financial struggles, resulting in the two separating. By the time that Kunshu had met Shirei, he’d gone almost completely bankrupt and was living as a vagabond.

❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎❒︎

Kunshu sat at the table in his apartment, pouring over his notes, trying to find out what caused the Omega Blade to refuse him as its wielder. Once the answer suddenly hit him, he shot up from his seat and swept all of the papers off of the table in frustration. This motion had caught Shirei’s attention as he entered the room with a pot of tea. Since the two had begun working together, Shirei’s combat abilities have been greatly refined. Nobody could have expected that the man who, just a few weeks prior, had been unable to defend himself by any stretch was now perhaps one of the most competent fighters in all of Aotoshi, if not all of Crenon.

“Is there an issue, my liege?” he asked as he saw the papers slowly float toward the floor.

“Yes,” Kunshu answered. “I’ve finally figured out why I cannot wield the Omega Blade. Even though that bastard Sofu is dead, he has another heir. It’s their birthright, hence why I could not lift the damned thing. Alas, the Kenshi bloodline lives on, despite my efforts.”

“How horrible,” Shirei remarked. “Would you like some oolong tea? It’s good for the heart and for the soul.”

“I fear that I must…” Kunshu paused his ramblings to shudder, “cross into their bloodline somehow. There’s got to be a way to do it…”

Just as he said this, an angry knock came from the entrance. Shirei, upon hearing the knock, set his teapot down on the table and went to open the door. Kunshu stood up and faced the doorway.

“What do you want-” he began before being cut off by a hard slap to the face.

“How dare you!” Hana yelled out as her palm connected with Kunshu’s right cheek, the laceration upon which had since become a scar. “You bastard!”

“Hana?!” Kunshu responded, baffled by his sister’s presence. “What are you doing here?! I thought I told you to stay away from me!”

“I would have if your lack of a good conscience didn’t cost my boyfriend’s father his life!” she continued. “You decide to go and kill some of his family without any remorse?! What is wrong with you, Shu?!”

“Oh,” he replied, now realizing the consequences of his actions. Not only had he ruined Hana’s relationship, causing her even more pain, something he could not bear to be the cause of, but he had also ruined his chance at a bridge between the Kenshi and Mujihina bloodlines. “I’m sorry.”

“I loved him! Now he won’t even look at me or talk to me because of what you did! How could you do this to me?! After everything I’ve done for you-”

“Hana, breathe,” Kunshu said to his sister in an attempt to calm her down. “Please calm down.”

“Calm?!” Hana screamed in response. “This is calm, you pillock!”

Kunshu stood in stunned silence for a moment before remembering what his father had told him about the karlek rose. There was an unusual natural property to it, almost magical in a way. Of course, this was mere folklore in most regards, but considering that the Fabled Swords are as real to them as it gets, who was to say that these properties were a falsehood?

“Hana,” Kunshu began once more after the pause, putting his arm around her shoulder. “I can fix this. There’s a way to make him love you again. Your love for each other will never break and your bloodlines will unite.”

“Quit with your lies,” Hana retorted, removing her brother’s arm from her shoulder. “I’ve come to slap you and leave. There’s nothing left for me anymore, so now I’m going to leave to find a nice bridge to jump off of. Good day, you bloody moron.”

“Hana!” Kunshu called out before she could turn away from him. “I’m not lying. I swear on my life. In Heiya Fields, there are roses far different from your garden variety flower. Once two people prick their fingers upon the thorns of the flower, they will fall in love with one another and stay that way until death do them part.”

“Why should I believe anything that comes from your mouth?”

“You’re one of the few people in this world that I want to protect. If you want your spineless punk of an ex back, I’m willing to help you.”

“Oto isn’t-”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Look, I’ll bring you to Heiya Fields and you can grab one of these roses. You’ll prick your finger, he’ll prick one of his, and then you two can be together for the rest of your lives if that’s what you want.”

Hana began to contemplate this decision. Did she really want to rely on some sort of love magic to win Oto back? What if he were to find out about this? Should he ever learn what she had done, he would certainly hate her even more. If she went through with this, she would no doubt be just as bad as her brother. Eventually, Hana decided.

“If this doesn’t work,” she began, “you’re going to bring me to that bridge.”

“I would prefer not to, but I’m impressed that you’d be willing to put your life in my hands after all of this.”

The two of them then went to Heiya Fields. It was a rather long trip, during which Shirei watched over Kunshu’s apartment. They eventually found a bush of karlek roses, which were very recognizable. They had a bluish tint to the edges of the petals. Hana pressed her finger into one of the thorns, stopping once her blood had been drawn. She then placed the rose in an envelope before they drove to Oto’s house. Of course, this drive was much shorter, since he had lived in Akuni. Envelope in hand, Hana knocked on the door. After a short wait, Oto answered the door, frowning upon seeing who it was.

“Hana, I told you-”

“I know what you said,” Hana interrupted, still somewhat timidly. “I know. But please, just take this. After this, I’ll leave you alone if you want me to.”

She tried to hold back her tears as Oto opened the envelope. Oto looked at the rose with a perplexed look on his face. He spun the rose in his fingers, causing a thorn to pierce the back of his ring finger. He dropped the envelope to the concrete of the doorstep to tend to this wound. After a brief pause, Oto took Hana in for a kiss.

Three months later, the two got married. Among the attendees of the ceremony was Kunshu, wearing a smile that bore one part joy for his sister’s happiness and one part joy for his own success. He had formed the bridge into the Kenshi bloodline.