Kenji
"Hey, Kenji, you alright?" Taka asked, worry thick in his voice.
My brother's always been a bit of a worrywart. I waved him off, too drained to give a proper answer.
Lying flat on my back, I let out a deep sigh. The battle had worn me out more than the weight of the deer we'd just taken down. Honestly, lunch felt like the last thing on my mind — the sun was already dipping low.
We hoisted the deer between us and started back toward base. Victory was bittersweet; the beast had fought hard, but in the end, exhaustion was what brought it down. It could have run, but it didn't.
It wanted to fight us. Wanted to kill us.
I grinned.
Adjusting the heavy load on my shoulder, I winced as my muscles complained. If not for these thick uniform jackets, I'd have been skewered more times than I cared to count. Taking point meant soaking up the worst of the attack while Taka chipped away at that wind barrier.
"Let's move," Taka said, holding out a hand.
I grabbed it and hauled myself up with a groan.
The trek back was quiet except for the occasional grunt as we shifted the weight. When we finally reached the base, I blinked in disbelief.
The place was spotless.
Not just clean — it was shining, like someone had scrubbed every inch till it gleamed. Not a speck of dust anywhere.
My little brother can't be good at everything… can he?
Inside, Yushiro sat alone at the table, calmly polishing his short katana. The soft cloth-on-steel sound was the only noise breaking the silence.
We dropped the deer in the kitchen where Miss Annette was already prepping dinner. She glanced at our prize, nodded, and said, "Thank you."
Taka, still buzzing from the fight, immediately started inspecting Yushiro's cleaning work, refusing to fall behind even after the battle.
I collapsed at the table with a groan. Yushiro looked up, giving me a once-over.
"You look rough."
"You think?" I huffed, leaning my sword against the wall. "That deer was tougher than anything back home."
"I told you things here aren't the same."
"Yeah, you did," I admitted, scowling. "But you didn't say anything about beasts that blast wind like artillery."
Yushiro blinked, feigning surprise. "Oh wow. Wind blasts? That's new."
Taka jumped in, "It blasted and stabbed Kenji with wind like crazy, and he still kept charging!"
Great. Now he's ranting.
"Yeah, I might have scared him a bit in battle mode…" I muttered.
"Can you believe that?" Taka threw his hands up. "Five blasts in and he just keeps going. I thought he might have lost his mind."
Yushiro tilted his head. "A bit late to realize that now, don't you think?"
"True."
Alright, these guys were just being rude.
"Anyway," Yushiro said, setting down his katana, "if it was that tough, how'd you manage to win?"
"We wore it down," I said simply.
Yushiro stared a moment, then glanced at Taka.
"He's right," Taka said. "My attacks couldn't break through its wind barrier. Even when we got past the blasts, there was this invisible shield around it. I tried my Heavenly Soaring Wave, then switched to Mountain-Splitting Wave — still no dice."
Yushiro smirked while Taka scowled.
"So I figured if I could attack faster, I might break its focus and Kenji could land a hit. We cycled through every move we knew."
Yushiro nodded slowly. "That makes sense. No creature can keep that kind of barrier going forever. Catching it off guard was smart. It worked, right?"
"Yeah. When I finally cut through, it was barely holding on."
Yushiro hummed thoughtfully. Despite being an arrogant little brat, my brother was sharp as a tack. A genius with blades and brains — exactly the kind of guy you want in your corner.
Just then, movement caught my eye.
Truth and Marko strolled down the stairs, looking relaxed and casual — no Division Knight uniforms, so they'd probably been back for a while.
"Sup, juniors," Truth said, plopping down with a lazy grin.
"Yo," I said, stretching my aching limbs.
"So, what took you guys so long?" he smirked. "Did you get distracted by the village girls or something?"
"Huh? What village?"
Taka and I exchanged puzzled looks.