What It Means

The storm raged on as sheets of rain poured from the sky.

"Damn this rain!" The boy leading Kurashi's team muttered, wiping his soaked face in irritation, "As if this wasn't hard enough already."

"For real!" The other boy added, kicking his foot through the mud. "As if the terrain wasn't bad enough. Now we can barely see a thing."

"It'll be okay, guys..." The girl who approached Kurashi earlier stated, her voice filled with optimism. "The other teams are dealing with it as well. Let's try not to think about it too much."

Though she tried to lift her team's spirit, her statement did not land well.

"Oh, sure...Let's just ignore it, right?" The leader responded with sarcasm. "You think some positivity is gonna stop us from busting our asses out there?"

The girl's hopeful expression faltered, her gaze dropping to the ground.

"And you..." The leader questioned, sending a glance back at Kurashi.

Kurashi's dark eyes lifted, meeting the leader's gaze without a flicker of emotion.

"I thought you were supposed to be something special...Looks to me like you're struggling to even keep up with the rest of us."

"Yeah...you'd think with a bloodline like that, he'd be leading the charge, but no..." The other boy added in, shaking his head in disappointment. "Guess the name just doesn't carry as much weight as we thought."

Kurashi didn't respond.

He was never one to respond to insults.

Especially not ones so petty.

"Hey! Are you deaf or something?!" The leader snapped at Kurashi, his irritation towards him now very clear. "Think you're too good to respond?! Think you're just gonna stand there while we do the work?!"

Still, Kurashi remained silent, only seeming to fuel the leader's anger even more.

"You know what?! Fine..." The leader stated to the rest of the team, lifting his dismissively in Kurashi's direction. "Leave him...he'll just be dead weight at this point."

"Despite the girl's earlier silence, she glanced back at Kurashi. She seemed to want to say something in his defense but soon thought better of it, quickening her pace to catch up with the rest of the team.

The team reached their designated starting point, the trees above them offering little shelter from the rain.

"You really think he's a nuisance?" The girl who hadn't spoken yet questioned, dark brown hair soaking wet. "Have you not heard what the Ito were capable of?"

"Look, I don't care about his name!" The leader responded instantly to the girl. "If he can't keep up with us, he's usele—"

Before he could continue, a sharp sound interrupted them—deliberate footsteps approaching slowly from behind.

Emerging from the rainfall, drenched from head to toe, Kurashi stepped into the starting point. The leader's jaw clenched at the sight of him, forcing himself to ignore the late member. Even when the leader began to go over the plan, the others couldn't help but steal glances at Kurashi.

They were unsure what he was capable of.

Or what he might be holding back.

And when the time came, he would remind all of them what it meant to be gifted the name.

Ito

Kurashi stood a few paces away from his team, leaning his shoulder against a nearby tree with his eyes closed. Though his body remained still, his right hand drifted to the hilt of his blade, his fingers hovering over the handle.

Then, a sharp whistle pierced through the rain.

In that instant, Kurashi unsheathed his katana as he dashed into the rainfall, the suddenness of his movement catching the rest of the team off guard.

"Hey! Where the hell do you—" the leader began, but his voice died as Kurashi vanished.

All of them stood frozen, staring at the tree where he once stood.

"Unbelievable," the leader muttered as he clenched his fists. "Why does he think he can just do whatever he wants? Does he not know this is a team exercise!"

"You know, for someone who insisted we leave him behind, you sure seem upset he didn't stick around." The dark brown-haired girl questioned with her arms crossed.

"I'm not upset...Nowhere near it!" The leader stiffened up straight. "It's just that if we actually want to get better from this, we need to work as a team and strategize properly."

"Right...And you thought abandoning him was the way to promote teamwork?"

The leader opened his mouth to retort, but no words came out.

His pride had been bruised.

The team fell silent, letting the leader's own hypocrisy engulf him.

Now alone deep in the forest, Kurashi blurred into the storm.

His footsteps were light, water splashing off the ground with every step he took.

Raindrops pelted his skin, and the wind whipped right past him.

But neither slowed him down.

If anything, these harsh elements seemed to push him into an even deeper state of focus.

This was no longer training.

It was a hunt.

His eyes scanned ahead, cutting through the mist, and that is where he found his prey.

Kurashi did not hesitate, dashing in without a stutter in his step.

He moved like a phantom, each step more silent than the last.

In one swift movement, he closed the gap between them. Now in range to attack, his katana flashed through the rain as he initiated battle.

The first strike was clean, a horizontal slash across the chest of the closest target. The wounded member had no time to cry out before the impact sent him to the ground, the rain instantly washing away the blood that pooled beneath him.

One of the members barely managed to turn in Kurashi's direction before he reached her. Swinging his blade in an upward slash, the girl barely managed to escape by leaning back just in time.

But she was off balance.

Kurashi grabbed her wrist tightly, pulling her in before driving a brutal sidekick straight into her abdomen. The kick sent her airborne, her body colliding with the trunk of a nearby tree. A ragged gasp escaped her lips before her eyes shut, falling unconscious.

The others had to fight, escaping no longer an option.

They attacked together, hoping to take him down with the number advantage.

Kurashi ducked beneath a wild punch, countering with a quick slash to the attacker's leg. A strangled pain followed as the boy collapsed onto one knee, hands clutching around the fresh wound.

Without pausing, Kurashi turned around, another coming from his flank. Kurashi side-stepped the boy's clumsy kick with ease. In that instant, Kurashi twisted his wrist and slammed the back of his katana's handle into the boy's ribcage.

A sickening crack echoed through the rain.

The boy grasped for air, his breath stolen from his lungs as he collapsed in pain.

That left one.

The youngest of them all—a girl barely past adolescence—stood trembling as her eyes darted between Kurashi and the fallen bodies of her comrades.

"I-I...I surrender," The girl stuttered in fear, taking slow back steps. "Please...I surrender."

His eyes locked onto her, dark and unblinking.

But then something caught his attention.

The girl didn't wait, turning her heel and running the moment he looked away.

For a long moment, Kurashi stood motionless.

Rain fell down his face.

Blood dripping from the edge of his blade.

Around him, bodies lay scattered—some groaning in pain, others completely unconscious.

He slid his katana back into its sheath, unfazed by those beneath him.

Instead, his gaze dropped to his right hand.

He flexed his fingers, opening and closing them, watching the water trickle down his palm.

Again

And

Again

He opened and closed his hand.

Still breathing

Still awake

Still real

For a moment, doubt crept into his mind as he looked back to the littered ground.

"Was it...real?"

Kurashi lifted his hand out in front of him, letting the rain hit against his palm.

The rain

It stung.

"This—this sensation..." He closed his fist slowly, the water slipping through the creases of his grip. "It has to be..."

But now wasn't the time for questions.

His mission wasn't over.

Without hesitation, he vanished into the storm once more.