Chapter 18

"Twerp, how many are 'em?" Ryuya asks.

"Well, there's more than ten." He replied. "Figured out that much," Sukehiro says mockingly.

"You figured what?" Hisashi replied.

"We figured out that you can't defeat them! HAHAHA!" Sukehiro said as he looks at Ryuya who also laughs.

"HAHAHAHA!" The two laughed at Hisashi enjoying teasing him.

"EVEN YOU CAN'T DEFEAT THEM!" Hisashi snarled. "Also, they're targeting Koyori, not me."

Just then, Sukehiro sheathes the katana on his shoulder and walks away. The two looked at him before he stares back.

"What are you two idiots standing there for? Let's finish early so I can finally take a dump." Ryuya just smiles at his friend's remark and sheathes his sword.

…

Kaato and his companions were sitting meters away in the dungeon. He sent two guys minutes ago to scout and wait if ever the two kids would come back. As soon as the two saw anyone, they would need to report to them.

With resolve in his eyes, Kaato silently waits for the report. Soon, the clouded sky starts to become darker indicating that the sun will soon set and the night will come. On contrary, Usuma has been feeling weird looming danger that he wants to ignore.

…

The three kids were sneakily run through the woods avoiding making any loud sounds. Suddenly Sukehiro asks Hisashi.

"Hey, Hisashi, what do we get for this?" Ryuya was amazed. He also never thought about it.

"What do you want? You can get anything aside from the two katana with a name on it." Hisashi quietly asks.

"I want a room in the dungeon," Sukehiro demands. Ryuya, while smiling, countered. "Ya can't have a toilet for yourself, man!" He said almost making Hisashi laugh too.

"Why can't I!" Sukehiro answered back.

Before the two start making noises again, Hisashi stops them from possibly alerting someone.

"Let's talk with Koyori later."

Finally, minutes later, Ryuya held his hand up. Then, he raised two of his fingers indicating that there are two enemies. Being the most adept at using Ki, he was able to sense the enemies earlier. Among the bandits, Kaato and Usuma are the only two who can, and even then, it is amateurish as they never had a formal teacher nor are talented like Ryuya, Sukehiro, and Hisashi.

The two older kids circled the backs of the two bandits. Then, they didn't waste time and attacked them.

As the two bandits lazily looks around, they suddenly noticed their vision blurring out. They didn't even get to speak before passing out. Hisashi then came out of the large tree to see the two men knocked out.

"Anyone got a rope?" Sukehiro asks. "I don't think any of us got one," Ryuya replies.

"Why don't we just kill them?"

Hisashi's proposition shocked the two. They looked at each other with concern in their eyes as Ryuya decide to ask Hisashi a question.

"Kid, have ya killed anyone?"

The mood became serious as the two looked at him with concern. However, they just saw the same normal look on Hisashi. He tilts his head to think before answering…

"Yeah! Is there anything wrong with that? If I remember correctly, I killed Koyori's kidnapper, then 5 of the bandits earlier, or maybe 7? No. Six, the one is just unconscious. What's wrong?"

"Aside from that? Have you killed anyone? Like someone innocent? Or someone that can't fight?" Sukehiro asked. The kidnapper incident was a taboo topic for the Yamis. Although Hisashi seemed to remember it now, the Yamis never asked for anything that can reignite the traumatic experience that they thought was hard to remember for Hisashi.

However, from Hisashi's latest statement, Sukehiro thought about it again. 'How can he think about death so easily?'

Even Ryuya, who has seen blood on his hands asked that question. Although he didn't have a hard time with such an experience, to easily resort to killing isn't really easy for him.

These thoughts gave the two something hard to think about. Should they lecture and teach their younger brother, or should they act as if he didn't ask anything out of ordinary? The same is true for Ryuya. After all, he treats Hisashi like his brother too.

"Why don't we hide 'em first and maybe we can use them later? Better yet, we can give 'em to the samurai for interrogation about the crimes they committed." Ryuya quickly redirected the subject.

"Are we just going to leave them here?" Sukehiro asks. "Yeah, I think we hit them hard enough."

Before the three can make a firm decision, Hisashi thought of another plan. After all, they don't have enough time to look for the other bandits for the whole day. They also don't want to retreat and have a target constantly on their backs. Especially Hisashi with Koyori.

…

On Kaato's side, the bandits were alerted. They heard a loud rustling and quickly prepared.

"Calm down. It's Ouma." The bandits quickly dropped their weapons and they saw their companion. However, he was alone. Kaato squints his eyes at this and felt that something is wrong. As Ouma stopped in front of his companions, he reported what happened.

"Kaato, the bot earlier had two other companions. They told me that you can either come to our location earlier or Ritsu would die." He said, panting.

Kaato just looks at Usuma and smiles. The latter looks at him but didn't return the same smile.

"The boy is stubborn, huh? We'll comply then. 3 on 11 seems unfair, however, when did we care." He looks behind his back and called for everyone.

"Everyone, let's g-" However, he didn't finish and immediately draws his blade. His fast reaction enabled him to defend as a kid with yellow lightning boots hitting his sword. He wasn't able to stop it though, as he was sent flying away to another tree.

"You don't have to, old man. I'm here already," Hisashi said as he lands. That's when Usuma draws his blade and cast his spell. Before he can even finish it, he felt a strong gust of wind on his side and cuts sideways.

"Kid, you really should stop and listen to grown-ups. If you think that you can take us down, tough luck lad." The wind spell Hisashi prepared and directed at Usuma was sliced.

By then, Kaato already recovered. He cast his flaming sword spell, which Usuma did too but with his wind spell.

The two didn't even have to speak before rushing towards Hisashi at the same time. Hisashi didn't move as he positioned himself at the center of the two leaders.

"What now kid? Are you so scared you can't move?" The two swung downwards. Before the fire and wind sword can even reach Hisashi, two other swords meet them and their momentum stops.

It was Ryuya and Sukehiro who finally caught up to the fast Hisashi.