2 Masamune
A birthday party?
Upon stepping foot into the small cabin, my attention was grabbed by the white sheet overhead in the living room. In golden lettering were the words "Happy Birthday, Hyde!" which stretched from one side to the other. My brow raised, looking down at the wooden table, which had something round with small sticks that burned with tiny embers. The entirety of it was decorated in some soft, white substance with colorful beads throughout the top and side.
It too congratulated me on my "birthday" with the curved letters. I could barely notice them given the fact that my vision was obscured by the light emitted from the small flames.
Without warning, admittedly startling me for a moment, the woman that called for me and a man beside her began to sing, alongside three young girls with an infant clapping their hands as it remained inside of a cushioned basket.
They repeated "Happy birthday to you" over and over again, later adding "to you" at the end before saying my name, soon cheering with the woman bringing the cake up to my face.
I stepped back, with her saying, "Make a wish! Make sure not to tell anyone!"
With her command, my body moved on its own as though I already understood this annoying and absurd custom of celebrating my apparent birth. I blew away the candles and thought of my wish.
Given my reason for returning to life in this world, I of course wished to exact my revenge on those heroes.
That smile on this woman's face was almost too pure. How could a single person be this happy about celebrating something for another human?
Regardless, I did notice the number below my name.
Eighteen.
Was that my age?
Judging from how my height seemed similar to that of the younger women now on their way to sitting on the floor, it made sense.
Soon after blowing out the candles, I was guided by the man and woman to a large sofa. It was sizable enough to fit an extra three people onto it, but the girls insisted on resting on the floor instead.
On the table, there were framed photographs of people I recognized immediately. They were framed with a darkened wood, with engraved golden plates on the bottom of the pictures to provide some context as to who these strangers were.
The one in the middle was of the two that sat on either side of me, with the title "Mom & Dad" on the gold plate.
So, these were the parents of this small home, the ones who gave birth to me and supposedly the others that were in the room.
My assumption was proven to be correct as I saw another photo, one that was much wider in order to fit the five individuals that posed together. There was me beside my sisters, alongside my newborn younger brother in their arms as he was presented in the middle.
With the breaking of the almost deafening silence, my father brought out a long wooden case and placed it on the table. It was expertly crafted out of a fine oak, having been decorated with wooden engravings in its corners that were complimented by the strips of gold throughout. Written in this world's language was the name "Masamune" in the center of the top half of the case.
It was held together via three locks which needed three unique key shapes to open. I knew of this immediately upon having those keys placed into my hand by my sisters. They were, much like the case, given extensive care and had been made by someone who must have had years of experience.
"Go on, open it! It's waiting for you!" said my father, who patted my back.
"Why are you talking like it's alive?" I asked, with him lightly chuckling before I moved on to turn the keys. It popped open slightly as the locks were lifted and taken off. My mother described my movements as though I was doing surgery.
The top was then lifted, and the interior had a soft, dark purple cushion made from silk. Gently resting atop it would be a sword. It's very first trait I noticed was its length. The case itself was quite large, and the weapon inside nearly touched either side of it.
It was without any guard, and the hilt was made with dark wood, which had been wrapped in black cloth with two white tassels at its pommel. The scabbard was placed at its side, made from the same wood as the handle.
"This… is this for me?"
I was almost taken aback at its beauty, but with the encouragement from the people around me, I took the two items and held both in hand before sheathing the sword. A strange feeling overwhelmed my senses, as though this was a sword I'd seen before.
The nods that followed the posed question made it obvious. This was to be entrusted to me, but I knew not of the maker. However, the look on my father's face made it an easy case to solve.
"T-Thank you."
My words came out before I even gave them a thought. Not once did I imagine saying those words but I was beckoned to say them by an unknown force. Was this a sense of humanity? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦, I thought. After the sword was brought to my lap, father chuckled lightly.
"I didn't know what kind of sword to make, so I just went with a katana since that's what I'm used to," he'd explain as we stood up in unison, with him bringing us outside and the rest of the family following suit. The context behind all this made the purpose of returning to the fresh air of the outside all too simple to understand.
This is a test to see how my skills were with a weapon.
A very glaring problem arose upon this realization, one that would no doubt result in being thrown to the ground in a single moment: Despite the talent bestowed upon myself to use magic, the art of swordsmanship was never a concern for me, so I never bothered to learn.
With that in mind, this could be a hefty blow to my pride as a former deity. But, I was still willing to learn how to use a weapon so that I had the edge during the next battle with the Reincarnated Heroes.
"After this, let's all go out and have dinner at Charlie's Diner? We haven't seen them in a long time," my father proposed. As fate would have it, my stomach had started to growl. It was a new feeling, as Daemons naturally took the souls of all living things as a means of consumption. This was different, and I had a strange fixation on having something with meat in it.
"I guess that's good enough for us. Hopefully the cake'll be still good to eat when we get back," spoke one of my sisters. With them being triplets, was hard to register who it was as my attention was not on them for a moment. Their auburn hair and brown eyes matched the same shade as that of father's, but their style of hair were all different as to provide some ease in identifying who was who.
The one on the left had straight hair, down to the middle of their back, with the one in the middle having shorter hair that rested on her shoulders as bangs swept over her forehead. Finally, the one on the right had pigtails on either side of her head. I still don't recall their names, which I'll make sure to discover at a later date.
"Alright. If Ashlyn is fine with it, then let's get this done quickly, dad!" exclaimed the sister on the right, a fist being pumped into the air with excitement.
With the encouragement of the three, as well as my mother who sat on a man made bench, I drew the sword that I now had on my hip. With it in one hand, I turned to face father, who suddenly had a long sword held in both of his mitts.
"In the meantime, let's give them a show, Hyde!"
The enthusiasm, admittedly, made my heart begin to race, making blood run faster through my veins. I couldn't help but smirk. "Very well. Let's do this, father," I retorted, pointing the tip of the katana towards him.
A small beep rang in my ears, causing some confusion for a moment. With my head tilting and turning from left to right, I aimed to uncover what it came from. Unfortunately, I simply looked like a fool for a moment. A small blue rectangle appeared before my vision.
[ Memory: Masamune Swordsmanship (5% Complete) ]
What was this? I had never seen or heard of this before. No matter, with the wave of a hand, the message disappeared, and when it did, I saw father rushing towards me with his sword overhead. The battle had started!
