Chapter 11
JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
12:08 P.M.
Ohta Ichigo
My back stung, my ears were ringing. My forehead was in hot pain, my lungs were trying to get some air. And I didn’t know what just happened, so I tried to find out.
The first thing I noticed after opening my eyes and blinking the blurriness away was that my glasses, my favorite and only remaining pair of glasses, were broken.
The right lens of my rimless glasses was snapped in half, leaving me with an intact left lens that might stay where it was supposed to be if I tie something to the nose pads at the bridge and the remaining temple. And the eyeglass strap won't work for that purpose, it wasn't elastic.
The second thing I noticed was that Kurumi was feebly clutching her head, her mouth that was half hidden by grass opening and closing as if she was saying something.
I asked her which parts of her body were in pain when I realized I can't hear my voice over the ringing in my ears. And if I can't hear my own voice it was certain she can't hear me as well, so I ended up waiting for both our hearing to clear up.
By the time my hearing had somewhat returned to normal Kurumi and I worriedly looked at each other in the eyes, listening to the muffled sound of explosions and gunfire in the distance while lying on our sides and hiding in the grasses and tree shadows.
“Well, looks like the war has started,” I commented as a particularly loud explosion shook the ground from the south.
Kurumi let out a moan of despair in response.
"I’ll get us all out of this battlefield, alright? Don’t worry about that dear. After that…we’ll go north to grandfather Kisho," I added to comfort my wife.
“To Grandfather Kisho? Why not Grandfather Iori? You know Kisho dislikes me for being half Filipino,” Kurumi complained.
“Because he’s also on Honshu, whereas Great Grandfather Iori is on Kyushu. I doubt we can find airborne or seaborne transport easily in the middle of a war.”
That explanation wasn’t enough to erase the uneasiness that she felt, so I quickly promised that I would help her the next time Grandfather Kisho starts something again with Kurumi.
"I doubt he’s ever going to change this late in his life," Kurumi replied. "Never mind, let’s go inside the hospital now"
"Wait. Let me take a look around first."
My poor eyeglasses fell off my nose when I had barely even started to raise my head off the ground, leaving me with a slightly blurred vision of everything near me.
"...after I solve some technical difficulties."
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
12:16 P.M.
Ikeda Kurumi
As I watched my fiancé do his best to make his glasses stay on his face by using his handkerchief as a makeshift rope, I began to have an inkling regarding what we were talking about earlier. And I…am not sure I like it.
"Ichigo, do you really need to place a piece of broken glass near your eye?"
The question made Ichigo stop fiddling with the eyeglasses and look at me.
"Kurumi, I already went to the effort of placing the handkerchief between my eye and the broken right lens. And even if I didn't do that, the lens snapped cleanly in half. There's nothing there that will poke my right eye out."
"Even so," I interjected before Ichigo could go back to work. "It's not only dangerous; it makes you look like a terrible One Piece cosplayer."
"Looking ridiculous is much better than stumbling into you or the ground because I can't clearly see what's in front of me."
"If that's what you're worried about, then I'll do the looking and guide you into the hospital. Just stop that, you’ll blind yourself dear. Please."
The indecisive look my boyfriend gave off after I said that made me finally call out the problem.
"Ichigo, I know this isn’t the time or the place for it but I want to remind you that we're partners. Lovers. Let me help you and…you aren’t even like this last week! What changed?"
For several moments, Ichigo was silent. Then he looked down at his eyeglass and sighed.
"Matsumoto happened. I did everything I am supposed to do as the head of our family when our family was put in danger. And despite my effort you were still left comatose."
I sighed at my stupid fiance’s answer.
‘So his self esteem was hurt because he wasn’t able to kill the Lighteater fast enough. Joy.’
“Ichigo, listen to me. You have been a good father to Ao and a good boyfriend and fiancé to me for years now. There is nothing else you need to prove to us, so you don’t need to lower yourself into acting like an unthinking macho.”
“Nothing? Are you sure? I haven’t earned a yen up to this point in my life. I failed to protect you when you needed it.”
“I didn’t agree to be your girlfriend for money or protection. I said yes because I like you…look. This isn’t the time to talk about this. Please stop trying to wear your broken glasses? Please? At the very least for my and our daughter’s ease of mind?”
After a stare off that lasted several moments, Ichigo reluctantly conceded with a frustrated sigh.
"Walk low to the ground and in the shadows of these trees," he lectured as he stubbornly put his broken eyeglasses into his pants' pocket.
"Ok," I muttered as I started to brush the dirt and leaves off my clothes while getting onto my knees.
"If you see anyone of those Lighteaters or Skinchangers or anyone, squeeze my hand," he said as he himself got onto his knees.
"Understood," I replied when I got onto my haunches as I finished brushing off the leaves out of my hair.
"Ok. Lead on, love."
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
12:18 P.M.
Ohta Ichigo
As I slowly followed Kurumi’s blurry outline by holding her right hand with my left, I can't help but think about my actions in light of my wife’s comment about acting like a macho.
From what limited knowledge I knew about it, to be macho is to become a man who other men are envious and fearful of. A macho has more women than any men around him, tougher and more violent than the men around him...something along those lines.
That was not my intention, and I feel...somewhat offended that Kurumi thinks I’m starting to become someone like that.
All I wanted was to do right by Kurumi and Ao, to be a good father and husband.
For me, a good father and husband was a man who could provide safety, in its various forms, to his family. And of those forms the only ones I was able to personally give my family due to my age was physical and emotional safety.
At Matsumoto...at most I was able to avenge my wife if she died there instead of falling comatose. At its worst, my wife died saving me who was trying to protect her at the same time, if she died instead of falling into a coma. And should anyone point out that Kurumi only fell into a coma, that doesn’t change the fact I wasn’t able to stop her from being harmed.
And then there is whatever mental trauma my wife and daughter might have from that night’s events. There was no possible way I could think of that would have prevented them from having mental trauma in the first place.
Those were the two reasons why I called Taro and renegotiated with Izanami without informing Kurumi. Because it was my responsibility to do something about it, because I didn't want to saddle Kurumi with more problems after the trauma of the past few days, and because I wanted to surprise my wife and child and have them happy and praising me...
...
‘Oh. Kurumi has a point in what she said.’
A sudden squeeze on my hand snapped my attention back to the present, and made me look around us.
To my right were the hospital and the parking lot, thankfully recognizable to my farsighted eyes even through the blur of the chain link fence. At the same time I could see several Self Defense Forces personnel armed with PM-9 submachine guns rushing out of the hospital's entrance way and taking up defensive positions around it.
To the front, several meters past Kurumi's blurry figure and half hidden by the trees we were using for cover, was a huge and steep crater that inexplicably had big, arm sized roots coming out of the center where there was once a wide concrete roadway with sliding metal gates manned by...
...I could only hope the Self Defense Forces member manning the post earlier died instantly.
And finally, to my left, was the National road that ran beside the hospital and JGSDF Camp Fuji and the pharmacy on the other side of the road.
The pharmacy was as it was when I left the hospital earlier along with Dad and Kentaro and when I returned with them and Izanami. But the National road, on the other hand, was destroyed by an impenetrable field of lush bamboo shoots that only come up to my chest in height.
An instant later I realized that the roots in the crater most probably belonged to the bamboo forest that sprouted in the middle of the road, and that the projectile that created the crater and the forest...was most likely a magical bamboo seed.
The soft hiss of my name coming from Kurumi's lips brought my attention back to her.
"Ichigo, any ideas on how to get into the hospital? That crater is too large for us to jump over," her blurry face said to me.
I needed a moment to recall my mental map of the area before I could answer Kurumi.
“If I recall right there were some other gates down the road, to the east. As long as there’s a space of solid passable ground between the crater and the bamboo shoots, we should be able to go there.”
“That’s east?” Kurumi perplexedly asked as she pointed down the road.
“Yes.”
“We can’t pass that way Ichigo. The rim of the crater and the bamboo shoots are too close to each other. How about if we climb – no. The fence might collapse on us.”
Since my eyesight was currently out of commission due to a lack of eyeglasses, I took her at her word even though my gut feeling was telling me we can crawl over it if we took off our shoes and socks.
"Well then, let's go west. If I recall things correctly, the main road into the base proper is down there."
"So we enter the hospital from the back?"
"We'll try."
It was at that moment that I heard Izanami shouting our names from far behind us.
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
12:19 P.M.
Ikeda Kurumi
As I looked back I saw an unfamiliar woman that I presume must be Izanami in disguise judging by her voice earlier, stalking towards us as fast as possible with a group of three armed Self Defense Forces personnel at her back. After quickly taking a look back to the East and North and seeing them clear of magical alien soldiers, I started to lead Ichigo in a stalk towards Izanami and the soldiers.
While we were getting near them, Ichigo mumbled a question that suddenly had my feeling of paranoia ringing alarm bells.
"Why are they using those rifles?"
"Ichigo?”
"Those are M1 Garand rifles, Pacific War vintage rifles from America. Used to be the service rifle of the JSDF but phased out in the 60’s and used nowadays only for ceremo...no. Those are... bolt actions? Why are they toting bolt actions...that's not the right pattern for Type 2 camouflage uniforms.”
In a flash several thoughts passed through my mind.
First, Ichigo was confused by the fact that these three people were holding guns that the Self Defense Forces had never used in its history, and aren't wearing the JSDF's Type 2 uniform. Second, Camp Fuji and the military bases to the South were currently under attack, presumably by the Lighteaters and Skinchangers. And third, the last people that I saw using these so called bolt action rifles were the Skinchangers, Lighteaters and Krauncha.
As I stopped and quickly grabbed a piece of wood to defend ourselves, I yelled out a challenge to the men who were following Izanami.
“Who are you three and what do you want with us! You might have fooled poor Izanami here but you aren’t fooling us!”
An instant later I felt embarrassed and foolish because of what I had just spouted, because I recognized one of them.
As Izanami and two of the three men exchanged confused looks with each other, the man I recognized smiled at me and gave his comment on what I just did.
“Smart and brave. Very good. You have my approval as my four times great granddaughter in law.”
“I know that voice,” Ichigo said, squinting his eyes at the man I recognized.
“He's one of the ghosts from our house in Matsumoto," I confirmed, while I lowered down the wooden branch I had brandished to the ground.
"...you're the one who let me out of the room and got me on the street before Krauncha disappeared me and my family away. My four times great grandfather?" Ichigo asked.
"Yes," my...four times great grandfather in law confirmed with a smile.
"...honored ancestor, why aren’t you a ghost?”
‘Wait, he’s got a body - he’s alive again?’
Izanami raised her right hand and then firmly stated the words ‘Goddess of Yomi no kuni.’
An instant later she slapped her hand –
The ancestors whirled to my right –
Several cracks of gunfire sounded out –
Ichigo tackled me –
- on the grass with a yelp.
- and fired their rifles..
- instantly followed by several loud smacks and the smell of fireworks.
- leftwards onto the grass and shielded me with his body.
After a moment's disorientation, my vision cleared up enough to view the whole scene through the grass I was laying sideways on.
On top of the bamboo shoots around the other side of the road, past several refrigerator sized, sand leaking, red colored vases floating in mid-air and overlapping rectangles of green colored light beyond the vases, of which three were quickly dissolving into motes of light, was a large group of Skinchangers armed with bolt action rifles that had bayonets attached.
As their eyes started looking back and forth from our direction to three bodies that lay crumpled on the bamboo shoots with slowly growing horror, I took the opportunity to study them.
Unlike the Skinchanger who killed the Lighteater soldiers at our home, these ones weren't wearing that atrocious black and white cotton uniform.
All of them wore bowl shaped metal helmets with a pair of holes for a rope serving as a chin strap. They also had a vest and a pair each of armguards and shin guards made up of rectangular pieces of metal laced to each other, which were all worn over rough spun brown colored shirts and pants.
A moment later they jerked into action as short chatters of gunfire came from the direction of the hospital, where I last saw some Self Defense Forces personnel..
As bullets hit the magical shields and bounced off them like marbles tossed by a child, they quickly formed into a single line of men on top of the bamboo shoots. The shields also moved with them, and formed a wall of overlapping magic shields.
The Skinchangers worked the bolts of their rifles, and then…
Some of them looked at Izanami. Others looked at the direction of the hospital, where the gunfire from earlier had quickly petered off. And the remaining looked at the three resurrected ancestors, who had already finished their reload and were aiming at their own targets but for some reason weren't firing. And then the next moment their eyes would move to another one of the three targets, and so on while their rifles were just pointed in our general direction.
At that point, as much as I don't want to think of it because of the sheer silliness and unfairness, the whole place was so utterly choked with testosterone that I can't help but think this skirmish would be won by the side with a more intimidating posturing.
That was why it was such a surprise when Izanami ended the standoff in a very feminine manner.
"Y-you evil, rude people! Go away!"
With a backhand slap into the air the Entire. Street. Disappeared.
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
12:20 P.M.
Ohta Ichigo
Ever since the moment I jumped on my wife and shielded her with my body I had my eyes closed, girding myself for the moment that bullets inevitably start hitting me. That was why I only heard several solid sounding gunshots from behind and to my right, followed a flurry of lighter sounding gunshots from the hospital's direction that quickly petered out after a few seconds of firing.
I only opened my eyes when I heard Izanami’s yell, quickly followed by an almighty crack, which was in turn followed by yells of surprise. When I raised my head from Kurumi's neck and looked back, I had to blink a few times to comprehend the blurry yet awesome devastation.
The National Road…the entire stretch of the National Road that was in front or beside the hospital had turned into a black gash in the skin of the earth.
"Izanami, what did you do?" I asked as I got onto my feet and helped my wife stand up. A moment later, I noticed multiple black specks falling from the sky in the far distance, to the northeast.
"I made them fall to their deaths over there," Izanami's blurry figure replied while pointing in the direction of the black specks.
That was the moment that my mental image of Izanami changed from that of a clumsy, naïve and shy widow to a friendly, wild black bear that you had a mutual understanding with.
"Is anyone living over there?" Kurumi quickly asked in a concerned tone of voice.
"No one is living there. It's a…the TV calls a place like it a golf course," Izanami replied.
Kurumi had barely finished sighing in relief when a familiar voice yelled a challenge from behind us.
“Arms in the air and state your names! Otherwise we will start shooting!”
I couldn’t properly explain how or why, but at that moment I knew my ancestors won’t deign to follow that order. And if they refuse, the situation could instantly turn into a friendly fire incident.
“Is that you, Major Suzumoto?!” I yelled out in an effort to lower the tension in the air.
"Just go along with it Ichigo!" Suzumoto yelled back a few seconds later. "We're in a warzone!"
I smiled as I felt the tension in the air lessen from the revelation that Suzumoto and I knew each other. Now, I just have to start the ball rolling.
"I'm Ohta Ichigo! I’m a military dependent!"
I then looked at the blurry figures of the others around me and gave off my best pleading impression.
"Ikeda Kurumi! Ichigo’s fiance!"
"Izanami no Mikoto! Goddess of Yomi-no-kuni!"
An instant later I heard coughs and other reactions of disbelief from behind us, which was quickly smothered by a dumbfounded and disbelieving silence as my ancestors gave their own introductions.
"Ohta Yasuhiko! Imperial Japanese Army, the Bright Division!" My four times great-grandfather announced in a voice so loud and commanding I knew then and there that this man was who Dad inherited his own 'Sergeant' voice from.
"I fought the Qing at the fort of Weihawei! Dodged Russian bullets at Shaho river and the hills of Mukden! All for love of my country!"
I looked at the blurry figure from where Yasuhiko's voice was coming from with a mix of pride at the achievements of this ancestor and a little bit of worry for some reason I can’t explain.
"And my reward for all that is to be unfairly kicked out of the Imperial Army and denied the salary that I was to receive that month, for the sin of helping the poor, abused wife of an insecure, ridiculously jealous Colonel bring her heavy bag of groceries to their home!" Yasuhiko snarled out, splashing the feelings of betrayal and resentment all over everyone in hearing range.
I had barely started to react to this revelation when another one of my ancestors started snarling his words out.
"Ohta Hisashi! Member of the Denshutai, and loyal soldier of the Shogunate from Toba-Fushimi all the way to Hakodate!"
It was at that moment that I saw a pattern here, and knew why I felt worried about my ancestors.
"Ohta Akio! Loyal retainer of the Kimotsuki and a member of the Ikko Ikki!" shouted the final one of the three, in the manner of someone treating with his mortal enemy.
I groaned in embarrassment at the confirmation that these three men, and possibly all my other ancestors for that matter, either had grievances against the government of Japan or had fought against it.
"Are these guys for real, Ichigo?!" Suzumoto yelled incredulously several seconds after Akio shouted out his name and credentials.
"I don't know about the others but the last time I saw Yasuhiko he was a ghost!"
"And them being related to you?!"
I looked back at him and shrugged.
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
12:41 P.M.
Ikeda Kurumi
“Kurumi, could you please explain again who these guys are?” Papa asked me, leaning towards my left ear and keeping his voice low so the ancestors won’t hear it.
Mother, Ao, Papa, Mama and I sat, or laid in Ao’s case, on the two beds in the hospital room while watching Ichigo interact with his self-proclaimed ancestors at the other side of the room, just beside the doorway.
“They claimed to be Ichigo’s ancestors, from several different time periods. The one who looks angry claimed to be a member of the Ikko Ikki and a samurai of a family or clan called the Kimotsuki. The one who was calming the samurai claimed to be a Shogunate soldier from the Boshin war. And the one standing beside Ichigo right now is supposedly his four times great grandfather from the time of the Japan-Qing War and the Russo-Japanese War.”
"And they're here because?"
"Apparently the three of them followed us all the way from Matsumoto, and had been here ever since. When the gunfire and the explosions happened they followed Izanami as she went outside the hospital to fetch me and Ichigo.”
“And that’s when they asked her to give them…flesh and blood bodies to use?” Mama asked in a disgruntled tone from the foot of Ao's bed.
"Can't you just say they got raised from the dead?" Mother whispered in an exasperated tone to Mama, while Papa rolled his eyes.
"Yuki, you know why I reject that idea."
Mother sighed in reply, shaking her head at Mama's stubbornness.
"So, why ask her to…uh…give them flesh and blood bodies to use? Didn't they fight magical alien soldiers while they were ghosts?" Papa then asked in an effort to move the conversation along.
I shrugged.
I myself didn't know why they did so. I didn't ask, since stuff happened after Major Suzumoto brought us into the safety of the hospital. And I most certainly didn't care about it.
"Ao, can you find out?" Mama suddenly turned around and asked my daughter.
"Ma?" I hissed. “We’re trying not to encourage Ao to use her power hapahazardly, remember?”
"What if this is really important information Kurumi?” Mama responded.“It could be something that will save our lives."
After a moment or two of thinking about it, I gave in because Mama had a point.
A ghost would most certainly be far harder to fight than a living person, and yet these three ancestors asked for resurrection. That…didn't bode well for us.
"Ok. Ao, do it."
Ao nodded, and then closed her eyes.
After a minute had passed, she opened her eyes and pouted.
"Mama. Bad news. Magic can make ghosts go away very easily."
"But they fought against the Lighteaters back home, right?" I asked, not liking where this is going.
"Uhm…by…it says they hit them and ran, again and again until the Lighteaters managed to...exorcise them away. What does exorcise mean, Mama?"
“It means making something that isn’t solid go away,” I replied while feeling the mood at our side of the room drop.
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JGSDF Camp Fuji Regional Hospital, Sunto District, Shizuoka
May 11, 2013
12:43 P.M.
Ohta Ichigo
“Do you understand our problem now, young man?” the blurry figure of Akio, the Ikko Ikki member and samurai of a clan I had never heard of before, asked me with what I assume must be a frown, based on the tone of his voice.
“I do, Honored Ancestor. And I thank you and the other ancestors for fighting to protect the lives of me and my family. However, I must also agree with Major Suzumoto's reluctance to allow people who were not members of the Self Defense Forces or the Police force to bring weapons into the hospital."
This time it was Hisashi, the soldier of the Tokugawa Shogunate, who spoke up for their right to bring weapons into the hospital.
"Young man, I ask again. What is the point of being raised back from the dead for the purpose of protecting our descendants, if we're going to quickly become dead because we don't have any weapons to fight with?"
Yasuhiko, my four times great grandfather, spoke up before I was able to do so.
"Maybe if you two listened to me, we would not be in this situation."
I blinked and remained silent as a brewing argument started between my great grandfather and my more distant ancestors.
"You want us to fight with axes and revolvers against soldiers armed with rifles, bayonets, and an innate ability to use magic? Are you crazy, grandson?" Hisashi asked Yasuhiko.
"The Type 30 rifles scared the soldiers, grandfather. Now, as it was in the past, rifles are...you were a soldier too. You should understand what they were thinking when we came inside the hospital with the Type 30."
"But that is why I insisted on rifles. Rifles are lethality, accuracy, range and intimidation all in one package. You're not going to get much of those from revolvers. Also, why do you want axes?"
"What’s wrong with axes? Do you have a problem with one of the three weapons that the Ohta family had been using ever since the time of our earliest known ancestor, the younger Kumaso Takeru?" Akio challenged Hisashi.
I blinked at hearing those words from Akio's mouth.
If I remembered my history lessons right, Kumaso Takeru was supposed to be someone who was slain by Yamato Takeru, a famous mythological figure who might have been historical. And the time that Yamato Takeru was said to have lived was…well it was definitely during the Yamato period.
Before I was able to ponder more on what he just said, Hisashi interrupted my train of thought.
“Because we’re not going to need them? It’s all about guns nowadays. Guns, guns and more guns. And if we had to fight in a melee then sticking a bayonet on your rifle is all you need. I learned that from my days with the Denshutai and the entire Boshin War. Even the Outsiders know that by the looks of their weapons. Can’t you move on with the times too, Honored Ancestor?”
Akio twitched, he looked down at his hands and then he looked away towards the wall with the posture of a depressed man.
“Now, why axes?” Hisashi continued, ignoring the depressed state he had just left our more distant ancestor in.
“Because I fought in two separate wars where I was forced to fight in a melee, and I watched my great grandson, young Ichigo’s great grandfather, and his comrades as they fought the Americans in Okinawa. And what I can tell you is that rifles on bayonets are the worst spears ever made, and I wished we had axes with us instead during those times.”
“Maybe you’re just not used to bayonet fighting.”
As the blurry figures of the three ancestors looked at me, I realized that I was the one who said those last words.
“Yeah right. Trust me on this Ichigo. A spear is so much better at stabbing someone dead from a safe distance compared to a rifle with bayonet. I’m telling you this as someone with practical experience at war.” Yasuhiko replied to me.
“I killed a Lighteater with a bayonet. And I practice Jukendo under Mom’s supervision at Camp Matsumoto every Saturday, when it offers its grounds for weekly sessions to anyone who wishes to train Jukendo.”
“And what does your Mother knowing the sport Jukenjutsu had turned into have anything to do with the art of killing people?”
“She was the prefectural champion of Iwate in Jukendo and served as Iwate's representative for Jukendo in the Kokutai, the National Sports Festival of Japan, for seven years straight, starting from her first year in high school up to her last year in college.” I said in a tone bristling in defense of my Mother. “To make it simple she is one of the best jukendoka alive in Japan nowadays.”
What I didn't mention was that I knew Jukendo was a sporterized, toned down version of the bayonet fighting that Yasuhiko and Hisashi had been taught by their instructors. I just compensated for that fact with sheer murderous anger at what the Lighteater did to my wife.
After a few seconds of silence from the ancestors, Hisashi beamed a smile at Yasuhiko and Akio and said that I agree with him. The smile died when I quickly added that I didn’t completely agree with him, but I also partly agreed with my four times great grandfather's opinion.
“Great grandfather Yasuhiko is right. Rifles are too intimidating to allow in the hands of non-members of the Japanese Self Defense Forces or the Police. You should have instead asked for pistols and knives, which are less threatening.”
The three ancestors scoffed at my suggestion at the same time. And when I asked what was wrong with my idea, Akio answered me with something informative.
“You can’t parry anything with a knife young man. That’s one of the things I learned from all the years of war I spent as a retainer of the Kimotsuki and a member of the Ikko Ikki. You need something bigger, you need something sturdier. The perfect thing for that role is a one handed axe.”
Before Akio was about to pontificate further on the qualities of a one handed axe, the walls suddenly shook and the light died out.