[3] Resurfaced Memories

Ren went up the stairs as slowly as his feet allowed him. His mind was hazy as if clouds had formed within—thoughts were barely forming coherently. His eyes were unfocused as to what he would step on next, causing him to trip as he continued up and up the stairs. On the last floor was where his mother and the others were awaiting him.

"Why... now?" Ren muttered weakly, his breath faltering. A wave of lightheadedness had hit, and the dizziness was so strong it became an excruciating headache. It was a feeling he was down in arms with though. Many times he had suffered from this; His mind called back to the times when he would wake up in the middle of nowhere without knowing what happened. Although no one ever told him why, he had already noticed the pattern for when it would start.

My mind gets foggy. Voice annoys me more than usual to find a breach in my consciousness. Then a headache and a fever come about before I black out...

Sweat trickled down Ren's forehead. He touched his face—it was burning.

This is all because I can barely control myself, he thought, his face reddening—from fever; from embarrassment; from anger.

Because Father keeps pressuring me, and so it keeps growing bigger in my head... this voice— ugh?! Ren's vision suddenly shifted. His side became his down as his body arched, him losing balance immediately. He rolled down the stairs like a toddler whose head was too heavy, protecting himself his best as he cradled his own body.

"Ugh... guh...!"

Soon, he was at the bottom of the staircase again.

Ren groaned, pain punching his whole body. He could barely move a finger now. He was sure he'd had a concussion too. But he calmed his breath and waited. The noise he made while falling was loud, so even though it hurt, he was sure someone would come now. Quick before it came.

No need to panic. Don't stress yourself. Calm down... Just don't close your eyes. You can't. Or it will happen again.

"I can't... faint now. I need to... wait for Mom... to heal me..." Ren said, voice so weak it came out as incoherent mumbling. Still, he felt his eyes slowly begin to close despite his struggle.

No! No, no, don't let yourself rest! he thought, face in sluggish anguish. However, his mind had already been creeping toward a land where both dreams and memories walked together. And there was nothing he could do other than to brace himself for it.

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"Uncle, why won't you take me with you to the seas? I'm really strong and you know that!'"

"Hohoho. The world is enormous and there are so many dangers outside Wano you can't even begin to imagine. You are just a frog inside a well the state you are... too blinded by the walls that surround you to see properly."

"Walls? But I can see everything from the top of this mountain! There are no walls here that can blind me!"

My uncle then laughed at me.

"Walls aren't just one type, my nephew. I hope it will all be revealed to you in the future..." He patted my head. The movement somehow felt melancholic.

I looked at him confused as to what he meant.

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The smell of iron picks my nose and I open my eyes. I groan how much my head is aching. Am I going delusional because of the pain? Iron? In the library? In there exists no metal. Then actually looking, I'm not in the library.

"Agh!" The pain hits me again. My mind feels as cramped as the boulevards in the capital. High trees are all around me giving me vertigo whenever I look up at them. A familiar sight. Perhaps just right by the library, on the path I always take to go to it. But with the sun gone I can't tell with surety.

I look down, hearing ceaseless droplets falling below me for a while now. A puddle of blood is beneath my feet and I cringe at it, jumping back. Weirder is the fact I'm standing already. When you first wake up you supposedly are meant to have been lying down, right?

My hand weighs for long enough and it falls, my arm feeling numb. My katana. I hadn't even noticed I had it in my grip. Chills go up my spine when I notice the blade. It's bloodstained. My companion of years is bloodstained.

For me, the blood of humans has always had a worse smell than that of other creatures. I can tell so even more now... My heart almost thumps out of my throat. I'm not in the right mind to even consider that. No way I've done that.

I bring my katana close to my nose and I smell it. It's from there that the smell of iron is coming.

Many possibilities can branch out from this situation, though I'm not even close to rooting out the answer. Maybe if I dig deep enough into my memories...

But.

Only an inconvenient memory pops up.

I see clearly in my head as the background changes from darkness. My father's office. I can even smell its scent.

A man is talking to my father. I'm behind the door, hiding, gaze trembling, hands bandaged. My feet are small, the same for my vision, so I can only look up at the two from afar. The clansman describes how it was after I fainted. It was the first time it had happened. He says I wasn't myself, as if a beast had possessed me.

Not myself... it rings in my soul. My heart thumps louder in my ears. Multiple things could explain the blood on my katana.... and killing an innocent person participates in the possibilities. Killing someone...— the bad taste in my mouth sours again. My eyes get as wide as my fear of iniquity. Just what have I done?

I walk up north, fallen leaves snuggling my feet—the noise scraps at my ears. Trees host nocturnal birds, sometimes their sung chirp mellowing in my ears. The soothing is like an imbroglio between my sight and the sounds. The last thing I want now is some sort of comfort for what I've possibly done. My hands are bloodied.

I continue wending my way up. Mind is tired. Body is tired. Would be an understatement to say I'm just tired though. The feeling is so big it is like a high, numbing the pain as I continue walking. I've never felt as jaded as now. My feet feel like they are separate sentient beings from myself—the whole lower half of my body feels the same too by now.

Panting, my vision turns encapsulated in the path ahead, an invisible flashlight highlighting the path I need to walk. And like a zombie, I continue and continue through it. Until a harsher smell of iron clogs my nostrils. My feet stop automatically. This time the smell isn't from the blood on my katana. I'm sure of it.

It's coming from a bit ahead.

A hunch pinches me through influence, brain telling me not to see ahead. But the body is a tool of its own. Consent is hardly regarded when moving with wayward feet. So I step forward and reach it.

"Upp—!" I hold myself from vomiting.

Bodies on top of bodies, reminding me of a centipede how many limbs are sprawled around, looking like tiny legs of a much bigger terror. Their eyes are frantic, as if they saw their nightmare personified before death.

They were just kids.

The acid fills my mouth again, and the taste is so unbearable I'm incapable of holding it in this time, so I spit it all out. I fall on all fours, unmoving, only panting, watching as the gastric liquid lolls along the grass, mixing in with the blood of the children. Just earlier they were studying in the library, eyes full of passion, aiming for a higher standing in life, motives free of sin, perhaps to feed their families or to feed themselves. Now they were painting the grass red with their lifeless bodies.

I cover my mouth as my cheeks fill again, but I gurgle it back this time. The only thing left is a coldness that spreads in my nose. So I begin sniffling. The breeze or the grief? There's nobody around for me to lie to anyway. So I get up and look at them once again, eyes moist. They have multiple cuts in non-fatal places, as if they were made to die slow deaths through bleeding. The perpetrator did it in a way they would suffer through the process.

Oh no... what have I done?

I begin to feel the sickest I've ever felt. My stomach feels tied, refusing to let go of the knot. But when I look thrice, this time more carefully, I see someone else next to them—a masked man. His body is as lifeless as theirs.

The man's body is cut in all places. But the worst cut is still the one on his shoulder, flesh torn apart in a format like a widow's peak. A chunk of his body is off. It resembles the markings I would perform on the ground with my sword while training. Did I fight him? His sword is shattered.

I tap my nose and hold my disgust before going to touch all of their bodies. They aren't cold. But they aren't warm either. Little time has passed since whatever struck here occurred. Just where is everyone? What happened here? Why am I even here and alone?

The cold is prickling my skin. My stomach is grumbling. The stench of blood habitates the air and it smells the worst.

A shade of warmth hits my skin, and I look to the side, eyes zombie-ed out. But vigorous they become when I see what it is. Lights are approaching me! They are finally coming to rescue me!

I begin running towards them.

"Huff... puff... huff—"

I'm incredibly slow. My steps aren't quite like how they usually are.

I finally look down but at myself.

My body is cut all over too.

A lot of blood has spilled from my injuries already.

Is this why I'm so tired?

The exhaustion from before strikes me ten times as hard.

I feel dizzy once more.

Oh, I'm about to faint.

"Not again... I just... woke up."

My thoughts slow down.

I flop to the ground and my eyelids reunite again.

I can't resist the urge to just lay there and sleep forever.

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"..... want to know-... happened..."

"Please calm down-... must access this... wakes up first..."

"You're telling me-... calm down-... insane?!"

Small voices constantly picked at Ren's ears. Louder they became the more he woke up. Until his eyes were wide enough the light on the ceiling blinded him.

Where am I? he thought, mind numb. Conversation still happened around him.

He noticed his lips were cracked and his throat parched. His body was as stiff as that of bears just off their hibernation—and so unable to move, he tried speaking to catch their attention. But what came out was the driest cough ever, him jumping up in ado. Half-dormant cells had been made to work a double shift forget the exhaustion and travail they had passed hours prior.

"Cough! Cough!"

Heads turned like barrels when aiming at enemies. Voices went silent one after another, stupor assuming the eyes of the crowd from the rise of the conversations' pigeon. The silence, however, was as long as two flaps of a bird's wing.

"Ren, are you okay?!"

"Sweetheart, what happened?!"

"What were you doing?!"

"Why did you disappear?!"

Shots of a rifle were the rapidly-fired questions thrown at him. Ren could only flinch, no matter how much awoken he was.

Sen, however, stepped up in a flash, arms spread as if to shield Ren from the hungered vultures. "Have some sense! He's just got up! Can't you see he's confused?!" She leaned forward and her figure grew, eyes ablaze with the promise they would burn whoever dared cross this line she had just drawn.

The chosen one, Ren looked and thought, and grimaced at himself for being such a fool of a brother.

They stepped back, gaits surely to change if they were to walk under the gaze of Sen. She seemed a divinity and was treated as one in these places. But as nervous as they had gotten, their impatience wasn't misplaced. Even the slightest act of ill-nature to occur against the Ashikagas' sole to-be Heir would cause endless chaos if it were to reach the public ears. They couldn't let it happen.

Ren had gotten a good grasp of the situation by now. He wanted to sigh but he felt it would be disrespectful considering the atmosphere.

They are this restless because of me, he thought, fingers fiddling below his blanket. Because of what I have possibly done. Fearing what it would imply if the only to-be Heir to the Ashikagas was really the one to blame. The chaos that would engulf...

Ren stood thinking for some seconds.

For him, it felt like a millennium had passed how much he overthought everything. Overpowering sorrow occupied his eye for a second and he thought: So it wasn't a dream.

Ren sat straight and looked through all the faces present. His parents, teacher, sister—all that shared his blood was present. Even his aunt who seemed to despise his existence was there too.

Tensions were so broad they made their way into Ren's tongue, and he had to swallow the sourness away. "First of all—" He started but froze in a second, feeling the gazes on him tenfold. They were so intent, eyes demanding answers or anything to ease their doubts to come from him. It was like they were judging him, surely Ren thought, to spike him for his horrendous crimes. He breathed, "I... I barely remember what happened then. I only have short memories that feel more like fever dreams... of seeing some of the kids who were reading in the library before, in a forest... and dead. There was a man I didn't know too."

Everyone looked at each other confused—two people the exception. Sakamoto and Miyuriaki exchanged glances and nodded.

"How can you not remember—" Hara tried to speak but was stopped by Sakamoto as he upped a hand. He then turned to look at one of the people present in the room.

"Yamamoto," he called, his voice directed solely at the individual. "I presume you know that you owe me a good, long explanation about all of this." Sakamoto's eternal frown had almost disappeared. Only the coldness of his stare was present as he glared over the man.

"Yes, Patriarch." Ren's teacher got on a knee as he answered, head low.

"Don't you think you should've started explaining yourself already?" Sakamoto spoke once more, his tone slightly more irritated.

"Yes, Patriarch. I'm willing to commit seppuku to pay for my wrongdoings," Yamamoto spoke, still wholly avoiding the subject.

"DON'T YOU IN THIS WORLD'S DAMN UNDERSTAND WHAT I MEAN?!" Sakamoto rumbled, voice bringing into the quiet room a thunderstorm. "Not only did you let an assassin approach the most important offsprings of this clan... but you even left my son alone while he WAS ILL?! YOU WENT AND TOOK EVERYONE OUT OF THE LIBRARY BUT HIM? WHAT IN THE DAMN WERE YOU SO OCCUPIED WITH YOU COULDN'T FIND HIM? DID YOU EVEN LOOK FOR HIM AT ALL?!"

It was as if thunder had stricken at the Ashikaga manor. Sakamoto's bursts of energy went to knock out even the farthest servants that worked there.

Yamamoto was struggling to keep his composure. The kneeling position didn't help too as it made him feel like his head weighed a ton. However, he wasn't in a position to complain. He had messed up.

Ren gathered his courage and spoke, "Fa-father, wait a minute...!" He grimaced. His father's aura had gone out of control, affecting even innocent people who had no hand in dealing with this.

Ren walked out of bed with some difficulty and finally pulled his father's sleeve. "Father! Please, stop! You can think things through in some other way or time instead of doing this right now! Please!" Ren yelped. His voice was aching, yet he pleaded.

Turning an eye to his son, Sakamoto surprisingly abided by his wishes, aura decreasing until it was no longer felt. He hadn't lost all sense after all.

Ren, who was supporting himself on Sakamoto's sleeve, started speaking with his head down to hide the guilt and shame he was feeling. "Father... I think I might've been the one behind the killings. I remember seeing the cuts on that man's body...the types of cut that only our family can perform. I was also the only one from the family present at that time who could've possibly done the deed..."

"Don't mix things up, Ren," Sakamoto said, eyes stern. "We have already checked the area. We just wanted some confirmation from you, though it seems your memory is blurry as of now. As to what might've happened—the kids found you after you fainted and tried to bring you here to get help. However, the man you saw, or better yet, the assassin of still unknown origin, found this the perfect opportunity to kill you and struck. The kids tried defending you but died while doing so. Then, you woke up, killed him, fainted once again, and lastly, we found you."

Ren looked up with raised brows. He couldn't remember doing a thing Sakamoto assumed he did. The only thing he barely recalled was that strange memory—almost a dream—and the feeling of cutting through flesh with hatred... hatred and hunger to murder someone.

He shivered at the thought.

"Hah... having something like this happen so close to your ceremonial birthday is like divine bad awful luck," Sakamoto said. With a rough tap on Ren's shoulder, however, he began walking away. "You should rest well for now. Multiple problems have arisen with this whole ordeal and they beg my immediate attention, so I'll need to leave." Before he passed through the door though, he spoke one last time, back turned still. "I'll wait for you at my office with a proper explanation, Yamamoto." Anger oozed from him for a moment before it retracted back.

And so the door slammed. Everyone followed after him, paying their good wishes and goodbyes to Ren before leaving.

Miyuriaki spoke with Ren for some good minutes, Sen by her side, talking when she was needed. Ren explained he wasn't yet feeling well some time into the conversation and they nodded, although sadly, and left the moment after.

Ren's head felt heavy. All kinds of thoughts had booked stays in his head. And he, left alone in the room with only himself to talk to, caused these thoughts to amplify. The bed was his only solace, so he plunged his head into the pillow.

"What a day..." He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to catch any sleep.

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The nighttime felt like an eternity. Ren's eyes had turned red. Not even a blink, imagine an ounce of sleep he could have possibly had. He just wondered all night; Contemplated and thought all over; Dismissed doubts only to bring them back; Made points and counterarguments for his sake and sometimes not. Of all, he was trying to decide for himself what had happened. His body, his mind, his memories, and as such, his ultimatum.

But oh how miserably he was failing. Dream or reality? Illusion or truth? Innocent or guilty? He had no idea.

Ren made sure not to trust his father's words much. The faint feeling of cutting someone's life away was there—he still felt it linger in his fingerprints. And he would get disturbed just by glancing at the now-ingrained pattern in his thumb. Sometimes he would covertly gaze at the blade they had left on his bedside too, now painted a deep crimson. The color haunted away his mind's sanity and kicked away his sleep.

What am I to do now? Ren thought, eyes exhausted. He sat on the bed hugging his knees. Head slightly tilted and resting on them.

If I really did it... then what right do I have to live on? I killed people... innocent people whose lives are once. Never again will they feel anything. The joy of having the company of their family. Surprise at a sudden gift from a loved one. The excitement after having their love requited. Even sadness. I robbed them of it, this privilege...

Tears had dried on Ren's face. He had barely sobered up from these emotions by now. Sometimes contempt or sorrow still found its way in. But even he would get tired of them at some point.

"Why must I feel like my body's not mine?"

Ren upped his head and it began tilting. His always-sparkling eyes turned dimmed, as if he had become lethargic regarding all, even his thoughts. Not a spark of creativity came through anymore. Not a helm to steer him toward the light of notion. No brainstorming to delete the drought of sanity his mind was in.

The candles lighting the room flickered when winds traveled inside, the fire snapping with its flow. The morning winds came on fresh. Ren had opened the window behind him and sat with his back on the wall, one knee up and an arm resting above it. His hair floated prey to the wind's rhythm as he relaxed his body unwittingly how peaceful everything had become.

Barely keeping them open, his eyes turned caliginous. Didn't even look like pink was their usual color anymore. Maybe it was the weird lighting composed of those candles and sky. But still, Ren remembered, he really wanted to look behind him right now, through the window. The sky when morning would break always looked beautiful in this season's period.

He imagined, smiling, some iridescent lights begotten by the sun escaping through the dense clouds like a huge blossom would when burgeoning for its first breath outside. Instead the sun would be the blossom here.

I really want to see it... Ren thought, eyelids downing the same way his head did as he rested it on his arm.

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But the door cracked open, the noise racking at Ren's ears and making him jump.

"G-Good morning, Young Master..." Aki was the one to enter. "I heard you were unwell, so I baked some cookies for you."

Ren wiped the drool off his mouth, eyes blinking slowly still. "U-uh, uh... uuh?"

"Oh!" Aki's eyes widened as she realized his state. "D-Dear me, forgive me for the abrupt intrusion!!" She began to go toward the door again to leave.

"N-No, it's fine..." Ren rubbed his face to shake the sleep off. Quite ironic for someone who had been yearning for it moments prior. "Please do stay." He looked at the fidgety maid, eyes squinting still.

Was she worried about me? Ren thought, now observant. He saw her nails were bitten while she held the plate with cookies. He knew her to be quite the emotionless person with her tall frame, almost matching his. He always thought she looked cool and everything. But now she was more of... cute in a sense?

Ren blushed and cursed himself for thinking this now. This was all very unusual from her though. Even the cookies too... Really, he was astonished by all this. The drowsiness made this surprise thrice what it was supposed to be. So much so that he unknowingly opened his mouth and, "Aki... thank—" her name came out suddenly.

Words flashed by Ren's mind in the same instant, words told to him by his mother. "Only call a girl by her name if you're interested in her in that way..." he remembered his mother waggling her brows suggestively at the part. "...or when you are close to her already."

Immediately, Ren realized his blunder and turned flustered. "A-Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to call you by your name... I meant to say... wait, what is your surname again?" He tried correcting himself but he only seemed like a fool while at it.

Seeing his cheeks turn red made Aki's terse lips break into a smile. She held a chuckle and spoke, "It's alright, Young Master. You can call me that. And please, take these." She approached him with elegant steps, placing the tablet with cookies on his bedside—a cup of water was beside the plate.

She had thought it all over indeed—even the fact he probably hadn't drunk anything since the happening back.

That caused Ren to look up stunned.

"It came again."

Ren's ruminative globes were sitting on her figure. Wide and amazed by her they were and shone in a spectacle of pink, reflective like jewels. They resembled the skies' strip of roseate shades as Aki saw behind him.

This explosion of emotions was something she was well used to, yet she could say nothing about it. Why must you forget it every time... She pursed her lips, brows furrowed.

Suddenly, Aki gasped as she realized what she was doing. Back to herself, she flushed when Ren held his gaze for so long on her. "N-N-Now that I have given you everything I wanted..." She turned to leave with small though rapid steps.

Ren stared as she walked away and had to hold a laugh when she tripped midway. A cookie she had taken away secretly fell off someplace too.

"Ouch..." Aki grunted. Her long skirt of a maid had been her doom, and she looked back at Ren, face even more flushed now. She took the cookie quickly, got up, and zapped through the door—not before quickly bowing toward him, however.

Ren waited a bit. And he finally chuckled when the door slammed.

She looked like a bunny just now, shy and cute, he thought, eyes dazed and locked on the door. He blushed when he realized what he called her. Frantically darting his gaze to both sides, he saw the plate with cookies and picked one to forget it. He devoured the sweet like he was a starved beast, face red, and the dough instantly melted in his mouth, chocolate droplets posing on his tongue. These were flavors his stomach had been screaming for since morning came, and he hadn't realized how hungry he was before now.

"So good." Ren picked another as he relaxed. It was a warm feeling, to be given something like this. Carefully made for you and you only. Well, maybe one for her too, he thought and laughed.

"Delicious..." he spoke, smiling foolishly.

Isn't she like a year older than me? he thought, head tilting again. This time it was from how his curiosity was aroused.

Her smell had been intoxicatingly kind, fluttering in the room still how her presence had felt like a storm. And it was strangely of coffee.

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Three days passed, and word that an assassination attempt was aimed at the to-be heir to the Ashikagas flourished in the streets. The fear of the clan's name was overrun by the curiosity of the people. Whispering happened in every corner and tavern. It ran wild, and the whole country knew of it in the span of a night to day.

But like a fire that spreads like gossip, the rumors burned out just as quickly. Those who swore they saw it happen had no testimony or proof, only their baseless claims, so the public quickly dismissed them as liars. No one is crazy enough to attack the Ashikaga Library—the citizens' mutual thought.

The clan did their best not to let visual clues spread, closing off the library and its surroundings with the excuse there was too huge an influx of people after the rumors and it could not support this many people. So no confirmation existed.

But when all was said and done, Sakamoto said to let the people speak as they wished to. Them acting to muffle these rumors would cause more doubt and chaos if anything.

The death of the children involved was omitted from the public and instead passed to the parents or the accountable person for them only, who could do nothing but grieve with their own selves. No compensation could help with that, and Sakamoto knew it, but he still helped them with monetary aid.

Ren instead, had nothing to do but study with his mother for the ceremony after what happened. She would come to visit him every day and have long study sessions with him. At least it would ease his boredom—a foolish thought. From the first day, he was made to swallow this dumb a notion he once had. It had been so long since his mother gave him classes he forgot how much of a maniac she was about anything related to studying.

With almost no breaks within their study sessions, Ren had to study for eight straight hours a day. If it continued like this, he would die from information overload before his ceremonial birthday.

Fortunately for him, however, these study sessions would begin to diminish from the third day onward as he now had to do recovery activities for the well-being of his body. Although he hadn't been that gravely injured, the two days he spent just laying on his bed got him unaccustomed to exerting any kind of force, making it so that he had to get back to perfect shape to perform the ceremony as perfectly as he had been intending on doing.

However, there was one thing that bothered Ren throughout these days. His teacher hadn't come to visit him even once. It looked like something did indeed happen to him. His father wasn't one to let go of one's errors with simple punishments after all.

(That teacher guy isn't worth the worry.)

Ren sighed deeply as he finished running on another of the manor's courtyards for half an hour—this one was filled with white camellias.

I mustn't push myself too hard, just light exercises for now. Ren wiped his sweat with a towel. In three days... that will be the grand day for me to show off. For all of the clansmen to do so too. It's our day. Ren smiled and drank some water.

It was almost time for another study session, he remembered.

His mother had been focusing more on teaching him about manners and the ceremony traditions rather than anything else. How it would happen too, its procedures... all of that sort of thing.

Ren was sure he had already learned everything from the first day, but his mother was very meticulous about it and wouldn't leave him alone with as much as a single day of studying the subject only.

Ren scratched the back of his neck. He didn't know what to do about this. In reality, all he wanted was a time of peace and quiet, some example being him going down to the city to relax and enjoy the visit before the responsibilities that would come with his heirdom afterward.

"Should I do it?" he remarked by himself, a smirk marking his face.

"Huh? This isn't the bathroom?" A voice came from the side.

Ren's eyes widened. He forgot the door had stayed open! He instantly turned his head to where the voice came from, hands on his katana's handle.

"Hoh... nice reflexes." The intruding man spoke with pure, unfiltered boldness towards the heir to the most powerful family.

Ren sighed and allowed his hand to fall off his katana. "Kozuki Oden..." He made sure not to hide how annoyed he was while glaring at him.

"Oh, that's me." Oden caressed his chin. A silly smile was on his face.

"Why are you here—" Ren began but stopped, remembering what his teacher told him. "Of course you've received permission to stay six days here..." He grunted.

Choosing to ignore the man, Ren began another round of running around the courtyard. So many things had happened in the span of three days only that he ended up forgetting about Oden.

For me not to notice when a fool this big approached me must mean I've been really stressed lately, Ren thought, his face sour.

He then stopped running, swept his katana out, and looked at its blade. Focus... focus...

He closed his eyes.

"Are you going to train with your sword now?" Oden stopped right by Ren's side. "This is my chance to witness the legendary Swordstyle the Ashikagas wield!"

Ren's face scrunched. In a second, however, he was back to his usual expression, of a raised as nobleman. Breathe slowly, then exhale...

Ren put on his most polite smile as he turned to Oden. "I apologize, but I'm afraid I cannot show you our way of handling the sword without the proper procedures."

"Ehhh..." Oden seemed like a kid who just had their balloon popped.

Ren's fists tightened. Then they loosened when he calmed down again. "Look, Oden-san, could you please drop the act? I've seen how you portray yourself before. What do you want?"

"Act? What do you mean, Young Master?" Oden asked, tilting his head as if confused.

Ren then frowned as much as his father.

I'm sorry, Teacher, but I must say I hate you for permitting this man to stay here.

Instead of continuing exercising, Ren went back inside while ignoring all of Oden's comments.

"Young Master, wait! I might be able to—"

Ren smashed the courtyard's door shut, now long away from Oden and his gimmicks.

Oden fell back, gaze contemplative. "Looks like he's worsened since we last met. I should try to help him as much as I can."

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Another day came by.

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"Hup—! Hah! Hyatt!" Ren performed three consecutive strikes with his katana under the almost never-appearing sun. His concentration was thin, though not because of the sunlight that reflected through his katana and hit his eyes. It was because the annoyance from yesterday had come to see him again.

Similarly, Oden appeared today with the excuse he had messed up the place because of how big the manor was. Ren hadn't a shred of doubt this was untrue though. Otherwise, he would've been long gone to look for his room.

When will he go away?! Ren thought, clicking his tongue, and his next slash missed its usual line.

Observing from a secure distance, Aki, who today accompanied Ren, poured some tea into two cups. She looked over both heirs, the two being bearers of important positions in the land of Wano. Her long, black hair was down and today her bangs hid her frowned brows. She was stressed like she had never been before, and the reason was quite obvious. One of the two heirs appeared to be barely holding in their anger whilst yielding a dangerous, made-to-kill weapon, while the other observed the latter train with such a weapon while wearing a bright smile on his face.

Sighing, Aki's face switched into unusual calmness, and she picked up the two cups she poured tea into and walked toward Ren first. Time to defuse this.

"Young Master, don't you think you should take a small break?"

Ren stopped swinging his katana and turned to her while he wiped his sweat. "I do think I should too." He took one of the cups and sat on a smooth rock so he could drink the tea peacefully.

Aki turned to Oden, but before she could say anything, he opened his mouth. "Is that the tea I think it is? The one made off peppermint?" Oden asked, his mouth carrying an o-shape throughout.

"Yes, Oden-san. It's indeed pep—"

Oden zapped from the spot he was standing on and took the tea before she could finish talking. He then sat on the same rock as Ren. Not a droplet of tea was spilled.

"Mmm, this is some nice tea isn't it, Young Master?" Oden spoke all the while he sipped some of it.

Ren took some of his too while he glared at the man, eyes hostile. "There are many other rocks here, Oden-san."

Oden averted his gaze as he took another sip of his tea. "Must I say, Young Master, my stay on the manor has been nothing short of pleasurable. The servants and warriors here are amazing and I ended up hearing much about you from everyone. Especially from some of your family members that I met, like your aunt, your cousins, and—" Oden stopped as he felt a change of attitude from Ren. He turned to look at the boy who was barely half his age.

Ren's retracted look of hostility had grown into a fully angered one. The voice that came out of him the next moment was unlike any Oden heard from him too. "My only family is my parents, my sister, my uncle, and my teacher," he said, disgust in his voice.

"I apologize, Younger Master, I misspoke," Oden said, eyes solemn and apologizing. In his mind, however, he was euphoric. Light was finally shed on something he had been itching to know.

So this is one of the reasons your Yang spikes are this frequent! He hid his smile behind his teacup.

Ren got up from his seat and went to train again, sighing heftily. His concentration was thicker than usual as he poured all the anger he felt just now into his strikes—better than being petty with words.

Now how do I solve this peacefully? Talking with them won't help much I fear, Oden thought, getting up too. Well, I'll discover later.

This time, he was the first to leave, though he turned back to speak one last time. "See ya, Young Master. Hope we can soon be on friendly terms."

Ren didn't look back, however, and Oden left the courtyard without any other word or ordeal to impose.

And just like that, only Aki and Ren stayed.

Aki was watching patiently as Ren trained. Her posture was elegance itself, her composed like no other. As if the most trained of maids.

She continued watching as Ren performed multiple slashes in all directions, and raised her brow when she saw something interesting; As much as his movements might have appeared random to untrained eyes at first, as time passed, a pattern in them was as visible as the moon in the night.

A lotus...! Aki thought while amazed. What incredible precision. His form. His timing. He can form the illusion of a lotus with just his sword... that's how skilled he is. As expected. She puffed her nose just slightly.

Ren was like an artist instead of a killer with these slashes, his weapon to kill made a pencil to draw.

Ren was restless, but he had to end at some point. And finally he did when he completed the form for the hundredth time. He stopped in the first pose, sword pointed ahead and feet apart and spread. His breathing was intense. Clothes were drenched in sweat too.

Aki approached him with a towel and he gladly took it. Her feet fidgeted for a while before she finally spoke, "Young Master... if not too rude, may I ask if this is the dance every heir must perform at their ceremonial birthday?"

Ren glanced over his shoulder at her, wiping himself with the towel. "Well, not really. This is my own swordstyle I'm yet to complete," Ren said, face stoic as he tried to hide how proud he was she told him his sword had moved like in a dance—that was his intention with it.

"Should I tell you about how the ceremony goes though?" Ren mused, voice friendly, and Aki nodded patiently. "Well, my mother said it goes like this, kinda..."

---

"So, as unimportant as you think it may be, the ceremony is where you will find the lady who will become your spouse for the rest of your life. At the end of the night, you two will mate and hopefully produce a son of your own. The next day, all the ins and outs our family bears will be revealed to you, and then, your formal training to become a proper patriarch of the Ashikaga will begin. There are also the bouts between the clansmen before your part, and as such, a renewed ranking between the higher echelon of soldiers. And also so many other implications that I will thoroughly tell you within the next few days, so you don't need to worry about forgetting anything."

"But Mother, haven't Father said that the only thing I need to do at the ceremony is to showcase our swordstyle?"

"Ugh, that muscle-head... No, sweetheart. There's much more to it."

---

Ren looked over at Aki when he finished. As much as she wasn't one to show much emotion, he was sure she wasn't as enthusiastic as she usually or normally was after he told her about the ceremony. He had no idea why though.

"Aki?" Ren called. He needed to be sure.

"Yes, Young Master?" Aki answered in her polite, usual self.

"Uhh... nothing..." he replied, giving up on saying something.

"Great. I will now leave as I don't wish to disturb you any further." Aki spoke and left without looking back, not even bowing like she always did.

Although Ren couldn't quite pinpoint it, she was acting weirdly. Can't be anything serious though—oh but his most serious misconception.

---

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