[Bonus chapter]Under the Sakura tree 02

Days quickly passed by, and the winter grew harsher. One storm after the other, Daraku was finding it harder and harder to climb the mountain. The only ray of hope keeping him standing was the warm sunlight that rarely illuminated the land.

His limbs were constantly screaming from the cold but he kept moving, he lived on mountain foot and know that no one provided food for the shrine at the top.

After sneaking around the village he heard them talking about it for the first time. The shrine seems to have been abandoned for decades, now it was a hole for rejected kids to live in. Those who have been abandoned by their parents because of poverty or got orphaned by war. Life was hard as it is, those kids were just unlucky.

Daraku scored at their words, he was disgusted by their lack of care and cold hearts. He remembered the face of that girl, anger grew in his heart and he rushed to chase some traveling merchants to vent his feelings. I better get them food for today.

...