You Can Never Become a Swordsman - Yumiko's Past - Part 03

A wooden sword swung forward, which Yumiko dodged to the side and cut in front of herself. Hako slipped around her swing, moved behind her, and then stamped her forehead with the wooden sword's handle.

Yumiko's face became unamused, and she dropped her arms under her knees. "This isn't fun. You're too good at this. I can't even land a simple strike."

Hako stepped toward the wall and placed the sword on top of it. "I've been doing this for 40 years, ever since I was 19. Is to be expected that I would have better knowledge of movement." He explained.

Yumiko squatted down on the cushion having her legs crossed. "Well, it sure isn't interesting. Unable to do anything to somebody is too boring. It's like you're waiting for your toast to heat up, only that you realize you didn't turn on the toaster."

Hako stepped in front of her with a smile. "You have a creative way of comparing things, don't you? Sometimes is better if you try to knock your opponent's blade out of the way than avoid the cut. It'll provide a more efficient way to move around the foe and strike."

Yumiko raised her chin to look up at him and noticed him crouch next to her while placing his palm on top of her blue-hair-covered head. "Look, tomorrow I'll teach you what I mean, but for today we should take a rest. It's a tad bit late to continue your training, and your parents might be worried about why you aren't home yet."

Yumiko faced away and puffed with her cheeks. "I guess. You're right. My mother's probably already freaking out. I'll go home." She bounced on her feet and stepped together. She put her palms in front and bowed. "Thank you, Mr. Hako. I can't wait for tomorrow's lesson."

Hako bowed back and watched Yumiko walk outside the dojo into the moonlit night, down the stairs and into the Harventona's park.

Hako shut the door behind her and hurried back to change into his daily clothes. He grabbed the backpack, the keys, exited the dojo and locked the door, but a dark silhouette stood behind him. "Good evening, Hako." Hako's eyes remained calm, but he slowly reached inside his backpack and slowly dragged out the knife.

He instantaneously turned around by sweeping his edge, but the silhouette ducked underneath his attack and reached for their sword.

The next moment, blood splattered on the ground and covered the green field. The glasses dropped on to the ground, and its glass cracked.

The next day arrived as Yumiko was on her way to the dojo.

She was on her way up the stairs until she noticed a ton of people scattered around the dojo. "What's going on? I don't recall Mr. Hako inviting this many people." She jogged higher up and then barged her way through the crowd of people to see what the cuss was.

Once she reached the frontal rows of the crowd, her eyes met the terror. Hako had been lying in a red puddle of blood, immobile. He had a deep stab wound inside his stomach while the boys Yumiko trained with were petrified. Bow, Trap and Kizu were the ones that showed some care and tried to wake him up.

"Mr. Hako..." She became speechless for a moment. Her heartbeat paced up and became louder, and before long, tears started running down her face. "Mr. Hako... H-Hey..." Bow shook his body, but Hako didn't budge.

"Bow. It's too late. Mr. Hako's gone." Bow faced Trap with frustrated expression and yelled out. "No! I won't believe it! He's still alive! He must be!" Bow tried and tried, but he didn't succeed at waking up Hako. "Mr. Hako! Come on! I know you wouldn't leave us alone!"

Just as Bow's face, Kizu's face had tears running down it. Kizu turned and looked at Yumiko. "Yumiko! You stayed behind yesterday! You were the only person in the dojo, so tell us what happened!" Kizu ran up to her, reached for her shoulders, grabbed them firmly and shook her. "Yumiko!" he called.

Yumiko didn't budge, her eyes didn't blink, her body didn't twitch, her voice didn't reach, and her thoughts didn't act. She stood still as a stiff rock and didn't reply to Kizu, who kept shaking her back and forth. "Yumiko! Hey, what's going on? Why won't you say anything?"

She opened her mouth slowly. "I... I... I..." She couldn't piece together the words. She was focused on what she saw; a picture in front in which she was trapped inside a dark room with a loveable individual blooded to death, lying on the red-colored grass.

"Kizu, that's enough." Kizu let go of Yumiko and looked at Trap whose eyes remained steady. "She's long gone. She's shocked to the point of being unable to do much. Leave her alone for a moment. She needs to recover her sense." Kizu looked at Yumiko's eyes once again and understood it for himself. "Y-Yeah..." He softly let go of Yumiko's shoulders and backed away.

Her face was hollowed as her thoughts and heart. "D-Damn it. Mr. Hako can't be dead. Who would do such a thing?" questioned Bow, who was kneeling. "I don't know; none of us know, but we can be certain that this dojo will finally close after 30 years." A gentle breeze of wind phased them, and its currents flowed further in the distance, dragging the leaves and dust with it.

After a few minutes, the knights came to pick up Hako's dead body and the crowd of people dispersed, but even then, Yumiko didn't regain her consciousness until Bow stepped in front of her. "Hey, Blue. I know how that must feel, but standing around here like a tree won't do you any good. We should return back to our parents."

Yumiko managed to gather enough courage to speak a little. "Is... Mr. Hako... really, gone? F-Forever?" Bow's arms shook as his eyes shut down, and shivered. It took him some seconds to gather enough strength to speak, but when he did, he made sure that Yumiko remembered it.

"Mr. Hako... Mr. Hako. He's... He's gone, Yumiko. He's gone! He's never coming back! I'm sorry, I really am, but he's dead!" he yelled. His voice resounded inside Yumiko's mind and caused her eyes to open wider.

She slightly locked her eyes on Bow and spotted him crying. His tears were soaking the dirt beneath him, nearly as much as a rainfall. "Yumiko, it's true! Mr. Hako's dead, so stop being such a crybaby and accept it!" he spoke, and even though he knew it himself; he was the one crying. He still wanted to encourage Yumiko by relocating his words at her.

Yumiko's eyes continued to tremble, and tried to hold it inside her, but the tears came running out from her eyelids like a waterfall, and her face turned red.

Before knowing it, her voice of sadness started to whimper out into the skies as Bow's arms shook. "Y-Yumiko, s-stop it, p-please. You're gonna make me... You're gonna make me cry!" he struggled to speak.

"Yumiko! Please!" but he surrendered. He became silent and listened to Yumiko's crying, and once it hit, Bow himself started crying.

That day, both Yumiko and Bow lost somebody important in their lives. Like father, like friend, like a hero to them, their closest individual perished with the criminal behind this never found.

Rest in peace, Mr. Hako.

To be continued...