The Day Everything Changed Part-2

She was within spitting distance. Sumiye gazed at me with determination. We were prepping for combat. I took a quick glance over at Daisuke. He was clearly eager to see Sumiye and I fight.

"Here we go," he said with a giddy exuberance. He started counting.

"Five."

My hands started sweating. I kept my right hand by my side in the ready position

"Four."

Sumiye was grinning. She did the same with her hand, prepared to grab her sword as soon as Daisuke gave us his word.

"Three."

Although I was trying to stay focused on the task at hand, my eyes drifted towards Yuko. The apprehension of our fight made her face turn completely white.

"Two."

I reached my hand over my shoulder and prepared to unseath my sword. Yuko did the same.

"One."

Without hesitation, I dashed at Sumiye, attempting to land the first strike. Before my attack could hit, Sumiye quickly rolled out of the way and slashed my cheek. On the sidelines, Yuko's anxiously looked towards Daisuke, otherwise unphased by our fight.

"Don't worry," Daisuke nonchalantly reassured Yuko. "He'll be fine."

Turns out Daisuke jinxed me, as Sumiye landed another hit. This time, slashing my arm.

Daisuke shrugged. "Possibly."

Yuko didn't seem too amused by Daisuke's indifference and turned again towards our battle.

"You got this, Yuudai!" she yelled out. I smiled back at her, trying to hide my blush as I launched another attack on Sumiye.

Daisuke joined in. "Yeah, that's the spirit, Yuudai!"

The adrenaline started to kick in. I started to gain some ground on Sumiye, unleashing a fleury of quick strikes, not allowing her to gain an inch on me.

"Holy shit, I'm winning!" I grinned confidently as I continued to bombard my opponent.

I looked over at Yuko and showed her my smile. She was smiling back as she cheered me on. Then, I felt myself falling. Sumiye swept my legs out from under me while I was distracted. Laying flat on my ass, she held the tip of her sword to my throat.

"What was that I heard about you winning?" she jeered.

"Yeah, whatever," I said with hurt pride as she helped me off the ground. "I'll get you next time."

Sumiye's attention turned towards Daisuke, who grinned as he shrugged.

"Well, Yuudai," she turned back towards me, "That was our final training session."

Yuko and I looked at each other, both with confused expressions. "What do you mean, our final training session?"

"Daisuke and I are being transferred to the Grand Palace."

Yuko, while joyful for our friends, seemed confused. "Wait, why? You two are only junior ranks."

"Information has leaked that there's a traitor within the Royal House," Daisuke explained. "The king has ordered us to guard the princess until it's discovered who the traitor is."

Yuko and I were still confused. I butted in. "But why you guys in particular?"

"Aren't you both a little too inexperienced for an assignment like this?" Yuko continued my train of thought.

Daisuke went to go pick up his gear. "The report said that the princess requested, and this is a direct quote from her, 'youngsters to protect her instead of weak, old hags.'"

"I guess I understand…" Yuko replied.

With a glint in my eye, I turned my attention towards Daisuke. "So that's why Sumiye has to leave. But why are you going, Daisuke?"

He grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. "I'm only a year older than you, asshole!"

Even though he was borderline strangling me, Yuko and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, this has been fun," Daisuke groaned and dropped me. "Take care of yourself,

Yuudai."

"Wait, you're leaving now?" Yuko questioned as Daisuke and Sumiye hopped onto their horse carriage.

"They want us there as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that means we have to leave tonight," Sumiye gestured towards me. "Yuudai, you've made great progress so far. From this point on, you should be able to figure out the rest by yourself."

Yuko started to tear up. "How long will you guys be gone?"

"We don't know," Daisuke said, somberly. "Could be a few years, but we're not certain."

The same somber look that donned Daisuke's face appeared on Sumiye's. "We should get going now. Take care, you guys."

Yuko and I saluted both of them as they rode off. Just like that, they were both gone.

A few hours later, Yuko and I were sitting by a campfire in the woods for a picnic. Despite the bad news we were given earlier, Yuko and I were stuffing our faces full of food. Suddenly, Yuko paused and wrapped her arm around my shoulder.

"You did well today, Yuudai. I'm proud of you," she said before she returned to chowing down on her food.

I blushed briefly, but then noticed how quickly she was eating. "Could you maybe slow down a bit? You might choke with how fast you're eating."

"I'm just eating, Yuudai. It's not a big deal," she joked before her head shot up in surprise. "Unless this is poisonous food…"

She grabbed her throat and pretended to choke. "I don't wanna die like this!"

I rolled my eyes and took another bite. "Calm down, it's not poisonous. Do you really think I'd try poisoning you? I don't exactly want to see you die.

Yuko quit her absolutely hilarious comedy routine and hugged me. "I love you too, Yuudai."

That took me by surprise. "When exactly did you hear me say that?"

"You didn't need to." she hugged me tighter, and again, I started to blush. "Happy birthday, Yuudai."

Now my face was bright, bright red. I laughed awkwardly. "Uh, thank you, Yuko."

Yuko let go suddenly. "Oh shit, I totally forgot!"

"Forgot what?" I questioned her.

"I made you something for your birthday," Yuko explained as she started to run off. "Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back!"

I stared at her as she ran off. Eventually, she disappeared from sight and I returned to eating my food.

"Fast, isn't she?"

I jolted up in surprise as I heard a voice behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw an old man walking by me.

"Nice night, isn't it?" he asked.

"Yeah," I nervously looked away and took another bite. "I guess it is."

"You know, when I was a kid, my parents never let me out this late. Especially in these woods," I paused and looked back at him again. "You might want to be careful. You never know what lurks around these parts at night."

"Uh, thanks," I replied, confused as to what he was implying. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Well," he said. "You have yourself a good night, lad."

"Thanks," I looked up again. "You-"

The old man was gone. I scanned my surroundings, doing a full 360 sweep of my environment, but he had vanished. Leaving no trace that he was even here.

"Too…" I finished my sentence.

All of a sudden, there was a loud roar that echoed through the forest, followed by the scream of what sounded like a terrified girl.

No…

"Yuko!" I shouted as loud as I could.

In a state of pure panic, I rushed toward the disturbance as fast as I could. I couldn't see much through the darkness, but that didn't matter to me. I dashed through the grass, instinctively dodging any trees or logs that occluded my path.

Please, PLEASE be okay, Yuko…

CRUNCH.

I stopped dead in my tracks as soon as I felt that disturbance.

CRUNCH.

I was completely terrified. "What the hell is that?"

CRUNCH.

I picked up where the sound was coming from. Though I was horrified by whatever was making that sound, I unsheathed my sword and moved toward it.

CRUNCH.

I felt my soul leave my body. In front of me stood a giant ogre. I was paralyzed by the sight of this creature, too scared to even consider moving. Then, I noticed something in its mouth. Though I couldn't make it out entirely, I saw what looked to be a human arm, bloodied and hanging limply from what used to be its shoulder. Something dropped from its now lifeless hand, and a sudden gust of wind blew it to my feet. Still shocked and incredibly cautious to avoid triggering the ogre, I bent over to pick up whatever just landed, making sure to keep my eyes glued on the ogre. I only broke eye contact to look at what dropped from the corpse's hand…

It was a photo of me and Yuko…

To be continued…