Chapter 29: The Blade Warrior
Evening came at last. The girls went out to have fun in the city, while Riza and Edmund went to a restaurant together.
The Cherry Blossom Festival was an event full of happiness and joy: they put out many trinkets and items in open markets, street performers amused the crowd right in the streets… Many attractions would open exclusively on this day, like Element Shooting galleries, where people shot at targets with their respective elements and won prizes. One could also buy many candies. The main colours were pink and red. At night, people would watch how cherry blossoms fell off the trees under the starry sky and would make wishes that would definitely come true.
The Cherry Blossom Festival was also a good occasion for lovers to celebrate together. It was believed one could meet one’s significant other on this particular day if one desired strongly enough.
The girls had quite a fun time. They ran through the streets, bought candies, had fun in amusing attractions, and shot in Element Shooting galleries. Cherrie won the most prizes as the Battler Class and the Fire element user.
“Haha! This is awesome!” Tamie was joyful.
“You said it, sis!” Tiger grinned. Her dog Blizzard happily barked beside her.
Beautiful tunes of the eastern lands reached Tamie’s ears. She ran in the direction these melodies were coming from.
“Huh? Tamie, wait!” Tiger and the girls hastened after her.
Can’t be! The melodies from Kenshin? It’s so wonderful!
Kenshin was the country where one of Tamie’s male protagonists, Byakuya, was from. Byakuya was her muse, or, more precisely, one of his faces… But who cared? It was Kenshinese melodies!
Soon, she noticed a large crowd gathered at the edge of the street, near cherry blossom trees. She accessed the crowd and elbowed her way through it. She saw a young, thirty-year-old musician, playing Kenshinese melodies on a flute. He was so gorgeous, with long black hair tied in a ponytail and that wonderful black kimono… and, even a Katana blade?!
Goodness... He truly is from Kenshin! I should totally ask him things, then to use in my story.
As a writer, Tamie was always curious about every culture, and when it came to Kenshin where her muse Byakuya was from, she needed to absorb every kind of information.
The young man continued playing on his flute, and the people who were enraptured by his music would drop some coins into the conical hat he had put on the ground. Tamie listened together with everyone when her Star-gadget rang. People around her glanced at her with irritation. She got embarrassed and blushed. She answered her Star-gadget with a frown (it was, of course, Tiger’s signal):
“What is it?”
“Where are you? Where have you run off to, Tamie?”
“I… I’m listening to a musician here in the street. You go without me, girls. I’ll catch up with you later, okay?”
“Ah, alright…”
Tiger dropped the call. She apparently thought Tamie was a weirdo. But Tamie didn’t care – she turned her Star-gadget on the vibration mode and continued listening to the young man’s tunes. She got so elated she even dropped not just one or two, but ten gold coins in his hat.
It dusked. The lights turned on in the street. The crowd, although smaller, still stood and listened to the foreign melodies. Tamie too still stood there and listened with the others. Then, finally, the young man finished his last melody, stood up, and bowed to the crowd. The people clapped. Tamie too applauded.
The crowd started disbanding. When there was no one left and the young man knelt and picked his hat up, he got surprised as he noticed ten gold coins among the usual silver ones. He felt someone’s presence, so he looked ahead in confusion, to see the twenty-year-old girl gaze at him with her shimmering brown eyes. She wore a ring with an emblem… The Rose Cruce Order?! She wore the Order ring on her left hand. His eyes widened but he quickly hid the astonishment and, instead, gave her a kind smile:
“Hello”.
“Now that was one blasting performance, sir! I… I am Tamie Wingfield. I am a writer, and I write a lot about Kenshin. You seem to know a lot about the country, you are even a Blade Warrior,” she pointed on his katana-blade, “So… would you mind sharing some information with me? The thing is, my male protagonist in one of my upcoming stories is a Blade Warrior from Kenshin too, so I… would like to know more details about your Code”.
“Oh, looks like we’ve got a true fan here. I’d be glad to share my culture. I am happy to meet you, Tamie Wingfield. My name is Byakuya von Drachen,” the young man stretched his hand out.
Tamie froze – von Drachen?! And he said… Byakuya?!
“Oh boy…” she chuckled and shook his hand, “What a coincidence! My character’s name is Byakuya too!”
“Now that’s truly funny!”
“And… you said, ‘von Drachen’? I’ve actually known a guy with that surname. His name was Erik”.
“Oh? Excuse me, but how old are you?”
“Huh? I’m… nineteen, turning twenty this year. Why?”
“Erik von Drachen, huh?” Byakuya deeply furrowed his brow, “Tamie Wingfield, right? I guess you’re from Rose Cruce,” he looked at her ring.
“Um, yes…”
“Tamie Wingfield, the man you talk about – Erik von Drachen – was sealed away fourteen years ago, by five Bearers”.