59

Hanging from a sturdy tree branch by his knees, Takehiko sets a steady pace as he does crunches.

He makes sure to breathe in a stable rhythm and to perform the motions ideally to activate his muscles. Since he's nearing the end of his morning workout, he can feel the layer of sweat that covers his body and drips towards the forest floor.

Finishing his final set, he breathes a sigh and slips off the branch. Tucking inward he rotates one hundred and eighty degrees to land on his feet below. A slight bend of his knees is enough to absorb the impact of the landing.

Already this morning he had completed a stretching regimen for his flexibility, run laps through the forest to continue building his stamina, went through his kata with his sword, and then finally finished with bodyweight exercises to help maintain his build and proprioception.

The entire collection of his morning exercises left him with just enough time to speed through the work he needed to finish for his shift. With that thought in mind, he wipes the sweat off his face and picks up his sword.

Standing facing the tree he had been suspended from moments ago, he draws his sword. The sword slides through the trunk with contemptuous ease and without pausing to watch it fall, he moves to the next tree to be felled.

With a week on the job under his belt, he moves on autopilot and reminisces about how he found himself here.

 After leaving Kyoto, Takehiko had briefly wondered where to begin his adventure. Almost immediately he discarded the idea of heading north-east, despite there being more options in that direction.

If he had gone in that direction he would have felt compelled to visit his home village on the way through and the thought of returning so soon, even if visiting his grandfather would be nice, felt too much like returning to his past self. He trained too hard and learned too much to immediately return to the safety and comfort of his home.

Instead, he travelled west.

While his teacher's mother had given him money before he left, Takehiko wasn't eager to spend it. He wasn't sure how long this journey would last and that uncertainty caused him to come up with a plan of finding work as he travelled.

One day while travelling, a freak storm caused him to take shelter in the nearest building. Said building happened to be the office of a small local logging operation, one that just happened to be in need of a temporary worker.

The foreman was willing to take him on for a shift to see how well he could work, ignoring his age and offering to pay cash in exchange for the work. Thankfully, the training Takehiko had gone through meant that he was stronger, and had better endurance, than any of the other workers.

In that trial shift, Takehiko tripled the quota that was expected of him. It goes without saying that the foreman was willing to hire him off the books for the week.

Sure, he had questions about the unnatural smoothness of the cuts and why Takehiko's chainsaw never needed refuelling, but his sheer work efficiency meant that those questions were held back.

With his quota surpassed as usual and his shift ending, Takehiko heads over to the foreman's office to receive his pay.

"There you are, kid!" The foreman calls out to him as he approaches. "How'd it go?"

"It went great, sir. I cleared an extra section for you because today's my last day." The foreman clicks his tongue and shakes his head.

"You sure you don't want to sign on with the crew for longer? I'm not kidding when I say you're the best worker I've ever had." Takehiko smiles at the praise but shakes his head.

"Sorry sir, I have to continue travelling." The older man huffs in response.

"What kind of person sends their disciple on a training trip of all things these days? That's something out of an old film."

"Well, I wasn't sent away since it was my idea." Takehiko corrects awkwardly.

"Somehow that makes it worse," The foreman says with narrowed eyes, though his tone is of fond exasperation. "Anyhow, you probably want to be paid so you can head off, huh?"

The foreman pulls out a stack of cash and hands it over. As Takehiko grabs it he notices that it's double what they agreed upon.

Before he can protest he's silenced with a stern look, "Don't argue and just take the money. If anything with the amount of work you've done for me, I'm the one getting more out of our deal."

Takehiko pockets the cash hesitantly and the older man claps him on the back affectionately. "That's the way, kiddo."

The foreman nods, clearly glad he didn't protest more when his face suddenly darkens. "Also, before you go I followed up with the boys on what you were asking about."

Takehiko focuses intently on the man's next words, "Despite my scepticism, I found some information that I think you'll be interested in."

"One of the others on the crew told me about this suspicious old town nearby. The way he tells it, there have been missing person incidents in the area for a decade now but nothing ever comes from the investigations."

"I'm not sure why you wanted to hear this kind of gossip but if you're looking for ghosts or something, I'd start there." The foreman passes over a folded-up map.

"If you follow those directions you'll reach there in no time. Take care, kid, and if you ever need a job, feel free to come back." Takehiko bows to the foreman to show his thanks then heads off to his new destination.

By the time Takehiko reached the outskirts of his destination, it was almost evening and the sky was beginning to darken.

Exhaling in relief at arriving before night fell, his breath condenses into mist because of the falling temperatures. He rubs his hands together as he enters the village and adjusts the rucksack on his shoulder which contains all his possessions.

Almost immediately he notices how unnaturally empty the village feels.

Any normal village would have the sounds of people going about their lives, you would see at least a few people walking through the streets, or you would catch the aroma of the dinner they were cooking drifting out their windows.

Yet this village had none of that.

In place of these natural sensations that flow through a village was an oppressive void. The only things that fill this void are the occasional breeze and long shadows that stretch from the structures in the village.

"It's sad to see a village that is so empty." Takehiko finds himself saying aloud, wanting to break the silence.

His own village is still populated and thriving to some degree but as time goes on, rural villages continue to die in the face of modern cities and the advancement of society. The young move away from their villages in search of opportunity elsewhere and the elderly slowly die off, eventually leaving the town to die as well.

Strangely, in contrast to the sheer desolation and uncomfortable emptiness of the village, there's something welcoming about it. It may just be Takehiko's memories of his own village, but this place beckons him to enter.

Takehiko shakes off that nostalgic feeling and his eyes narrow as he notices a human shape underneath a nearby building. He warily approaches the figure with one hand resting on his sword.

As he gets closer, he starts to notice similar shapes dotted around the landscape. Some are similar in stature to adults, others are the size of children.

"Hello?" He calls out.

When there's no response he continues walking towards the figure and slowly reaches out with his free hand. Tapping the figure on the shoulder, it falls onto the ground in a clatter of wood and a shuffling of cloth.

Now sprawled out on the ground, it's clear that it was simply a mannequin the entire time. Sighing in relief, he picks the mannequin back up and straightens out its clothes.

The mannequin itself is eerily lifelike. The joints move smoothly with no visible gaps, the wooden limbs are polished and coloured like healthy skin, and the face is disturbingly detailed.

Not only that, but the mannequin is of similar weight to what you would expect of a person that size.

"Hey! What are you doing?." Takehiko nearly jumps out of his skin at the sudden question and whirls around to see who called out.

Across the street, walking towards him with squared shoulders and a deep scowl on his face is a boy a few years his junior.

"Well?" The kid asks, bumping past Takehiko and examining the mannequin.

"Sorry, I was just looking around and because it's dark out…" He trails off as he watches the kid meticulously look for damage on the mannequin.

The kid's voice dips into a harsh growl and he speaks angrily, "Who said you were welcome to look around? Leave this village now, we don't want you here."

Takehiko blinks, startled at the vitriol and aggression in the kid's words. "I wasn't trying to bother anyone, I apologise if that's how I came off."

The boy turns around and glares at him, hands balled into fists at his sides, "Are you stupid? I said to leave, why are you still standing here apologising? Get out!"

"Now now, there's no need to be so rude to a guest." A woman's voice rings out from behind him and Takehiko nearly draws his sword.

He's already on edge from the mannequins and the hostility of this kid so this woman sneaking up behind him nearly causes him to do something he would regret.

The woman smiles at Takehiko, warm and welcoming, "I'm sorry for my son's rudeness, he's a bit shy and unused to strangers."

"It's fine, miss, if anything it was my fault because I knocked your mannequin because I was being nosy." Examining the two, Takehiko can see a resemblance.

The woman and her son both have dark brown hair, coal-coloured eyes, and the way the corner of her eyes crinkle is similar to the way his do when he glares.

"Oh being curious is fine. Those mannequins were set up to draw in tourists after all. Though they do also make the village feel less lonely." Takehiko frowns at that.

"Is it just the two of you that live here then?"

The woman sighs sadly. "My husband lives here as well but we're the only people who remain. The other residents have long since moved away."

"It must be hard to stay here by yourselves." Takehiko ventures, though not unkindly.

The woman shrugs with a sad smile, "We do our best. This place is our home and always has been; how could we just leave it to die?"

Only now do they both realise her son is stomping off into the distance.

The woman sighs again, "He's a lonely child so he's lashing out. Please don't feel bad about his behaviour."

Takehiko shrugs and reassures her with a smile, "I know what it's like to be an angry kid. He'll get over it and live happier eventually."

"I appreciate your kind words," The mother looks like she genuinely appreciates the comment, "Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?"

The question is sudden and Takehiko finds it odd. It's a natural question given how late it's getting.

Still, she's been nothing but polite this entire time. "I haven't figured that out yet."

"Would you like to stay at our home tonight? It gets cold at night and I couldn't possibly leave you to face that yourself." The look in her eyes makes it seem like she's imagining her own son in his place, potentially facing the cold night by himself.

It's that compassion that causes him to accept, "If that wouldn't be an imposition, I'd appreciate it."

"Excellent!" She says with a wide smile and leads him to their home.

The home Takehiko was led to was one of the larger buildings in the village, and the only one that seemed to be lived in anymore.

The mother introduced herself as Komi Ueda and introduced her son as Aki. Her son remained frosty throughout the introductions, leaving the moment the introductions were done.

As Mrs Ueda started to prepare dinner, Takehiko offered to help and used the time to ask her about the village. If he was going to figure out the source of the disappearances in the area, the insights of a local would be a good start.

The story she wove as they cooked was a typical one as far as rural villages go in these modern times.

The village was originally created to support a thriving logging and mining industry in the surrounding area. The children whose families worked in the industry would grow up in the village and then continue working where their parents had. The village was also situated on the main route through here because people could rest in the village overnight or simply resupply before continuing their journey instead of taking a much farther trip to circumvent the forests in the area.

As time passed, the mines started to dry up but the logging operations continued. Of course, nobody would wish to commute through long winding trails to get to their job so they continued to live and support the village.

That changed when a new highway was constructed, eliminating any need to stay overnight or resupply in the village.

With no tourists stopping by, the ability to commute to work easily from a city, and the industry drying up, the population of the village started to look outward for prospects. Children no longer grew up planning to stay here and instead looked to opportunities in the big cities.

And so the village gradually died.

At some point in the story, Mrs Ueda's husband, Hiroshi, arrived at the house and introduced himself briefly. The longer they spoke, the darker their expressions became as their regret and sadness came to the surface.

They spoke about how they began making those dolls scattered around the village to draw in tourists. A quirky gimmick to add some life to the village and draw people in. Whether they came to simply enjoy the spectacle or commission a doll hardly mattered, so long as they came.

Yet even that didn't last.

Now, the family was somehow continuing to keep their village alive, even if it was only them living there. Surprisingly, they never seemed concerned about their ability to continue living here or even mention the possibility of moving.

Still, it hurt Takehiko to hear their story and not know how to help them.

While eating dinner, he tried to subtly ask about the disappearances in the area but the couple seemed unaware of the disappearances at all. They were visibly concerned about the missing people but had no idea what could have happened.

Aki, when asked about the disappearances, just scoffed at him and shook his head, before grumpily poking at his dinner.

After helping to clean up after the meal, Takehiko was shown to the guest room.

It was smaller than the one at his teacher's house but that made it more comfortable for someone who grew up in a small village.

Placing his belongings in the closet, he debates what he knows and his options.

The lack of information was distressing because there weren't any other villagers to ask. The potential sources for the disappearance were also far too numerous to even guess.

Both mining and logging are industries fraught with potential for injury and death, so some sort of vengeful spirit or accumulation of wrongful deaths is always likely.

Ghost towns are also perfect places for wandering Yokai to find shelter in or be born from.

Heck, even a Stray Devil could be taking shelter in the area and it's highly unlikely anyone would ever be sent out to subjugate it.

First, he could take the night to rest on what he learned about the village and decide what to do in the morning.

Or he could head out in the dark and search for answers.

Fastening his sword and scabbard at his waist, Takehiko chooses the latter option.

After hours of searching through the woods and even a short jaunt through the old mining tunnels, Takehiko is left tired, empty-handed, and feeling defeated.

It isn't just that he hasn't found the source of the disappearances, he hasn't even found a trace of them.

The woods were quieter than any he had walked through -besides when he had his teacher beside him scaring everything away.

The mines were completely empty save for some bats that woke up in time to scare him.

Even walking through the woods by himself and with his sword hidden by his jacket, nothing saw him and decided he was easy prey.

Sighing in defeat, he drags his feet as he walks back into the village.

One thing he realised tonight is that even if his teacher prepared him to fight villains and monsters, finding them was another thing altogether.

Yes, his instincts were trained to detect nearly silent attacks from all directions, but those senses either didn't translate to tracking hidden foes or there was nothing out there to find.

As he continues walking towards the Ueda family's home, he starts to notice something is off.

There's this formless tension in the air that grows stronger as he continues walking. The closer he gets to the centre of the village, the stronger his feeling of discomfort grows.

Takehiko takes his jacket off and tosses it onto a nearby sign as he steps into the centre of the village, not wanting it to get in the way.

Any lingering fatigue has been shrugged off in anticipation of what comes next. His body is warm, despite the cold air flowing through the village, and his focus is sharpened to a razor edge.

Taking a deep breath, Takehiko glances at his surroundings and feels a twinge of uncertainty as dozens of shadowed figures dart down the streets and hop along rooftops towards him.

He mercilessly quashes that uncertainty, secure in the knowledge that anything that is coming at him is weaker than his teacher. In his mind, the fact that his enemies are coming in numbers instead of as one insurmountable foe means he can handle them.

They stop on the edges of the rooftops and at the street corners, finally giving him a good look at them.

They're the mannequins, every single one from the village surrounding him, their eyes glowing menacingly in the night.

Takehiko exhales and speaks a single calm word, "Come."

The mannequins all burst into motion towards him, drawing weapons from inside their clothes. A collection of cleavers, knives, axes and other common household items appear in their grasp.

As they come into range, Takehiko draws his sword.

His sword glows a brilliant white as it flies out of its scabbard. His sword intent blazes wildly, momentarily lighting up the night.

A single wide swing cuts through six mannequins in an instant, all six separating into two halves at the waist.

Takehiko doesn't have time to admire his work as the rest continue to pour towards him like a flood.

He steps forward into the tide as the mannequins that approached from behind and either side brandish their weapons. They catch the air behind him as he moves forward into the ones in front of him calmly.

An axe comes swinging at his neck and he flicks his wrist, removing that mannequin's hands.

The axe, now untethered, flies by his face and embeds itself in the head of a mannequin at his right.

He thrusts his sword forward through the head of another mannequin. Sliding it back out of the wood and immediately slashing sideways to decapitate one on his left.

Takehiko crouches and reaches upwards, grabbing an arm that attempts to stab him in the back and throws the offender forward into the crowd.

A good dozen foes are bowled over by the improvised projectile and Takehiko dashes at full speed over their prone forms.

If he allows them to surround him and stop him from moving, he's dead, simple as that.

He hisses in surprise as a knife bites into his pant leg, cutting into his calf. The cut is only surface level but it shocks him enough that another mannequin is able to jab upwards and cut into his other leg.

Takehiko bursts out of the other side of the swarm of enemies and starts to run down the street.

Without slowing down, he guesses the numbers he's up against based on what he saw just now and the number of mannequins he saw when he first entered the village. Comparing those numbers and subtracting the few he destroyed in that short fight, there should be around forty left.

The hair on the back of his neck stiffens and he dodges sideways in time to watch a cleaver spin through the air past him.

He dashes down a tighter side street and turns to meet their charge again.

The first falls to an upwards slash that removes its outstretched arm and its head in one movement.

The second mannequin down the street jumps at him and is cut straight down the centre, the halves of its body falling on either side of him.

Two more come around the corner simultaneously, stumbling over each other and falling in front of him. As he removes their heads, he files that observation, removing the possibility that they're a hivemind.

Their coordination isn't enough to assume they're a collective.

He continues to cut them down as they enter, doing his best to keep them at bay but slowly beginning to make mistakes. A cut here, a hit there, superficial wounds pilling up on his body.

This continues until he notices them begin to climb onto the buildings on either side of him. Expecting some to also be circling around, he focuses for a moment and cuts straight through the wall beside him.

He leaps through the newly made entrance just in time to see a mannequin round the corner behind him and close off his old escape route.

Leaping over a table in what looks to be a living room, he dashes through the house and cuts through the opposite wall.

Takehiko jumps through the wall again and lands in the street on the other side of the house. He takes a glance back into the house he ran through to see the swarm chasing him.

He stumbles as something crashes onto his shoulders and tilts his head sideways. A child-sized mannequin stabs him in the shoulder instead of through the top of his head.

Grabbing the doll by the foot, he slams it head-first into the wall beside him. The doll shatters, splintering as fragments fill the street.

Gritting his teeth and he rips out the knife in his shoulder and tosses it to the side. Takehiko then kicks an incoming mannequin that leapt after him right back into the house where it knocks over its friends.

"Fuck!" He curses, sheathing his sword and slipping back into his sword-drawing stance, "Come on!"

Not having learned from last time, the mannequins all leap at him in time for ten of them to be cut in half this time. A burst of white light flies through them and crashes into the house behind. The entire house rumbles dangerously and then collapses on all the mannequins left inside.

After that last slash, the knife wound on his shoulder has opened even wider and is weeping blood.

Releasing a shaky breath, he shifts sideways and sweeps the leg of the new attacker. The mannequin clatters to the ground and he stabs downwards into its back.

The mannequin's limbs rotate backwards and hold his sword in place, its hands grasping the blade and its heels locking around the hilt.

Its face turns and looks upwards with a mocking smile.

Takehiko's foot shatters its head and with a grunt, he frees his sword.

Panting, he glares at the half dozen remaining mannequins that are slowly circling him.

He nearly groans when a slow clap echoes throughout the night. He closes his eyes not wanting his suspicions to be confirmed but that small hope is dashed when the newcomer speaks.

"Congratulations on surviving this long." Mr Ueda says as he and his wife walk towards Takehiko.

"Is what I would say if you hadn't destroyed so much of our village in the process." His host says with a snarl.

Mrs Ueda bends down and picks up the shattered remains of the child mannequin Takehiko had destroyed.

"Why did you have to damage our property?" She asks sadly, "You could have died without a struggle like the others instead."

Takehiko's laugh is a touch manic as he grips his sword tighter. "Teacher would be so disappointed that I didn't suspect you at all."

He smiles mirthlessly at the approaching couple, "Can I at least know why you're doing this? I could probably guess but I'd like to hear it from you two."

The couple looks at each other and shrug, "I suppose you'll be dead soon either way so there's no harm in telling you."

"This village is our home and leaving was simply never an option," Mrs Ueda starts the story, "After people stopped coming to see the dolls, we had to find a new way to continue living in our home."

"We tried petitioning the government for support, praying at local shrines for good fortune, and even tried converting and praying to God." Mr Ueda plays with a cross around his neck.

He smiles sardonically, "It wasn't God that answered our prayers, it was the devil. The devil heard our wish and granted us a magic tome to learn spells from. He gave us the ability to save our home with our own hands."

Mrs Ueda smiles along with her husband's explanation and the look of worship in her eyes causes Takehiko's stomach to roil.

"We were able to cast a spell on the village that lured tourists in with the knowledge in the tome." Takehiko frowns, knowing he should've caught onto that when he first arrived.

No matter how he looked at the village, there was nothing welcoming about it. Yet he hadn't taken stock of those observations and was swayed by the compulsion that this was a nice place, a safe place.

"But even if people came, how would we support ourselves?" They continue, oblivious to Takehiko's thoughts.

"The dolls stopped selling and new people coming wouldn't change that. We didn't have the funds to start up a store either so we did the only thing we could do - we took their money from them." The two don't look upset at all about the topic, if anything they seem to be enjoying explaining this.

"Killing the visitors wasn't something we planned on originally," Mr Ueda says in a mournful tone, at odds with his expression of utter glee, "But we had to silence them after taking their possessions."

The two move closer to Takehiko, ignoring the fact he's still holding his sword. Either they're too confident he can't move anymore or this is the first time they've met someone who can fight back.

But when Takehiko thinks of cutting them down, he feels disgusted and can't bring himself to swing his sword. Despite them admitting their crimes with glee and clearly having lost themselves a long time ago, all he can think about is that he would be turning their son into an orphan.

Just like that Tengu did to him.

Mrs Ueda cups his cheek and Takehiko violently shudders, "You understand, don't you? You're also from a small village so you know how hard it is."

He bites his cheek and winces, "You don't have to do this. You can turn yourselves in and allow your son to live a normal life."

She looks at him in shock and her husband laughs, "Oh sweetie, you don't believe that do you? Why would we stop this? Our lives have never been better."

Her husband interjects, "We have more money than we need at this point and our son? He'll understand why we do this one day and eventually take over the family business."

Takehiko grits his teeth and moves, grabbing Mrs Ueda by the chin and pressing the tip of his sword to her neck. She lets out a squeak in shock and her husband's eyes go wide.

"Surrender or she dies," Takehiko says and his stomach drops when his voice registers. There's no conviction to his tone and all he can hear is his own fear.

Mr Ueda smirks, "Let her go, boy, and we can kill you quickly so you don't have to bleed out."

Takehiko is suddenly hyper-aware of the blood soaking his shirt and the pulsing weakness coming from his shoulder. His breathing is getting rougher and it's getting harder to think.

"Stop!" They all turn to the sudden call and spot Aki running up to them. "Mom, Dad, let him go."

The kid pulls out a cell phone and shows the number to the police entered on the screen. "Either let him go or I call the police and tell them everything."

Mr Ueda sighs, "Son, we've talked about this. Everything we do is to protect our home, now go back to the house while we finish up here."

"No, I can't look away from this anymore. You're killing a kid only a couple of years older than me." Aki is crying as he pleads to his father. "We can let him go and move away somewhere. Nobody else has to get hurt."

Takehiko's vision is starting to blur from his blood loss and time slows down as he sees an opportunity.

He flips his sword around and throws it as hard as he can. At the same time, he pulls his hand away from Mrs Ueda's chin and hits her temple.

She releases a choked gasp and Takehiko hopes he didn't hit her too hard in his desperation.

Mr Ueda turns around just in time for the butt of Takehiko's sword to hit him right between the eyes.

All three of them collapse simultaneously.

As Takehiko slowly drifts into unconsciousness, he hopes he wakes up again.

Surprisingly enough, he does wake up.

He bolts upright as consciousness returns to him, gasping sharply as his entire body light up in pain. Yet he can't help but smile because that pain means he's still alive.

Glancing downwards, he sees his entire body mummified in bandages and feels a throbbing pain begin to emanate from his shoulder. The wound clearly isn't healed but he had been expecting to die so 'not healed' is already a victory.

"You're awake," Aki says from the doorway and Takehiko laughs happily.

"I'm glad I was right about you." The younger boy scoffs and Takehiko gets a good look at him.

He's thinner than before and there are dark bags under his eyes. "Don't say that, you don't know how close you were to being wrong."

Takehiko sits and listens because he doesn't know how to respond, "I was this close to just… letting you die. They might be terrible but those were still my parents."

Aki's words are mumbled and he clenches his fists, "I betrayed my Father, my Mother, and for a stranger of all people. Not only that, it was after they'd killed dozens of people."

"I waited to betray them for so long and for what? A wannabe hero." Takehiko flinches at the acidic words.

"When they woke up, tied up, and realised what I'd done-" Aki chokes up and Takehiko can see tears start to gather in his eyes. "I've lost everything because you showed up here."

The younger boy shakes his head angrily, "They might have become monsters but they were only trying to keep their home alive."

"The police are coming to take my parents away and I don't know what will happen to me so just… just heal and leave. I can't deal with this." Aki stomps out of the room and Takehiko is left wondering what he accomplished.

All he saved were ghosts and this doesn't feel like a victory.

He feels ashamed.

Sitting there mulling over Aki's words, Takehiko wonders whether he's the one who is in the wrong here. Almost immediately he discards that conclusion. Not because he thinks his judgement is infallible but because if nothing else, Aki's parents wouldn't be killing innocents after this.

He ignores the pain of his wounds and grabs his rucksack and sword, leaving the Ueda home as quietly as possible. He doesn't want to bother Aki more than he already has and Takehiko doesn't feel comfortable staying here either.

He stops outside the village and sits down against a tree before pulling out his phone.

The screen lights up and he hovers his finger over his teacher's number. It feels wrong to call her considering the goal of this journey was to grow stronger and accomplish his dream independently but he wants to hear from his teacher.

He sighs as the phone rings and he stares up at the sky as he waits.

"If this is a telemarketer again, I will hunt you down." Ibaraki's voice growls roughly and he can almost imagine her baring her teeth at the phone.

The thought that she has been bombarded with scam calls is funny enough that Takehiko momentarily forgets his problems. 

"It's me, teacher." She makes a noise of surprise as though she hadn't even considered that possibility.

"Hey kiddo, how's it going?" He frowns and his shoulders slump.

"Not very well, honestly." She hums in response to his depressed tone.

"How about you tell me what's bothering you so I can unpack it?" She offers.

So he tells her everything that has happened once he arrived at this village. She doesn't interrupt his story, only offering short responses to let him know she is following along, except when he gets to the fight where she asks him to be extremely specific with the details.

Once he's finished he waits for her judgement while she sits silently on the other end of the line for long enough that he starts to fidget.

When she does speak, it isn't the response he expected, "Good job, I'm proud of you."

He blinks uncomprehendingly, "Huh?"

"I said you did well. Did you want me to chew you out or something?" She asks.

"No, of course not. But why do you think I did well?" He wonders, not comprehending her praise.

"Well, you went into a situation where there was no reward or glory to be found and did your best. There was no beast to slay or princess to rescue but you did help people." She assures him. "Nobody will ever thank you for it but there are families that will now know the fate of their relatives and that kid isn't doomed to follow in his parent's footsteps anymore. He can choose his own path now, without worrying about his parents forcing him to be just like them."

As Takehiko listens, the burden he feels becomes lighter. He still feels ashamed of how things everything turned out but now it feels manageable.

"Like I said, good job." His teacher finishes and he can hear the smile in her voice. "Now, how about we critique your fight?"

He gulps at her sudden shift in tone. "Your first mistake is that you fought in the first place."

Takehiko squints in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Ibaraki sighs, "The village and everything around it were empty, the only exception was that family and the puppets. That's the most obvious trap that has ever existed and you doubled down by strutting into the centre of an encirclement?"

He can picture her shaking her head, "You really are my disciple, huh? That's the kind of stupidity I would attempt. The difference is that I can walk out of a situation like that unscathed."

"You're way too fragile to fight as I do and I thought we were both on the same page about that. It's the entire point of the training I put you through and the philosophy behind your fighting style." There's an undercurrent of disappointment in her tone but it's overshadowed by fond exasperation.

Despite the fact she's critiquing him, Takehiko feels proud of the fondness that fills her voice as she chews him out.

"You engaged with what amounted to an army while tired when there was no chance of your enemies leaving and no hostages for them to take. That's dumb." Takehiko laughs nervously as she pointedly states that.

"Ignoring that, you fought well for your first fight with your life on the line. You escaped the encirclement, kept your enemies at bay, funnelled them into an area you could defend, and then when that area became impossible to defend, you thought fast and made your own exit." Takehiko blushes at the glowing assessment of his fight.

"If I were being overly critical I'd point out how your lack of awareness earned you that shoulder wound but you've already got the pain as a reminder to pay more attention." Said wound throbs as he's reminded of it and he hisses at the sudden flare of pain.

He controls his breathing and rides out the pain. Once it's back to a manageable level he wets his lips and considers his words.

"Thank you. The aftermath left me... confused and now I can see things more clearly." He's not sure if he fully accepts that what happened here was right or even the best ending but it's something he can work with. It's something he can improve upon as his journey continues.

"You're welcome! I'll always be here if you need any tips or if you feel lost." She pauses for a moment, "I want you to succeed out there and become the hero you wanted to be. If you can't find a way forward though, you can always come back, okay? I didn't get to finish training you and it wouldn't be bad to have you around."

If Ibaraki hears any sniffles through the phone she doesn't make any mention of them.

She clears her throat roughly, "With that sappy stuff out of the way, I'm going to walk you through fixing that shoulder. It'll take a couple of days since you're only going to be able to boost your vitality at your level but that's better than weeks or months."

Takehiko wipes his eyes and listens intently to her explanation.