The metal she had seen was a sword, and it protruded from a corpse that lay askew on the ground in a puddle of dark blood. The smell was overpowering, as though it forced itself down her throat with every breath she took. Tenjo gagged on it, and then let loose the contents of her gut into a bush.

  The vacant glassy eyes stared out her, seeming to follow her as she took a hesitant step forward towards it. In life, he had been a young man who couldn't have been much older than her, his clothing simple but well made. His garb was that of a swordsman, his blade half drawn at his waist and his limp hand draped on it.

  He had been killed by a powerful cut that sliced from his shoulder into his chest before he could fully draw his sword. His position though, would imply that he had already started to draw it before he had realized that he was being attacked, his hand casually sliding it out rather than pulling quickly.

  As she looked, weapon that had killed him slowly fell over, and her vison focused on it. It was a katana like her own, with the same groove in the blade and the same guard that consisted of a single solid ring of steel at the base of the cutting edge.

  What truly stood out though, was the design under the wrapped silk of the handle. A crescent moon, forged of tarnished silver. She had only ever seen a single other sword that had the design made into it.

  That sword belonged to Daichi.

  Why was it here in this man's body? It couldn't have even been two hours since she had last seen him. What could have happened in that time to make him kill someone, and what more, to make him leave his sword behind?

  His sword was his pride and joy, the weapon he had received upon becoming the heir to the Silver Crescent Moon style. She had never seen him let it leave his side. He put it at the side of the dojo during sparring, he wore it while eating, he even kept it in his bed.

  For it to be here, abandoned in the woods while dirty with blood, was something entirely unconceivable. Try as she might, Tenjo couldn't think of a single reason why he would leave it here by choice.

  She looked back to the path, and found that from this angle there was no clear view of it. This was one of the few areas where the undergrowth had climbed higher enough to block it off, obscuring the woods.

  Despite that, for one with an aura it was only a single step away. Unbidden, an image jumped to her mind of an assailant hiding here, waiting for Daichi to walk up the path as he stealthily drew his sword in concealment.

  If he had been noticed it would have explained why her brother had cut down the stranger. What didn't make sense was why he would have abandoned his sword after doing so. If there was one attacker, wouldn't it only be logical to stay armed in order to guard against others?

  Then the realization hit her. Forcing down her disgust and trying her best not to breathe in the tainted air, she began to walk around the radius of the dead man, looking carefully at everything for the missing piece that would make it all come together.

  There it was, more sets of footprints pressed into the ground by a weight beyond that of any normal human. They mingled together, similar in shape and size. It was impossible for her to tell how many people had made the markings, or anything about them.

  Tenjo backed away, and started to run up the path with her mind reeling. As she passed though the village, she dodged around people, nearly flattening them in her haste. A stream of complaints rose up behind her, but she was too distracted to even notice.

  She didn't bother to enter the house, instead sprinting around it to the back where the crowd was gathered. They had broken up into small groups of scattered people, talking with one another while the masters were free to propose to any aspiring disciple who had caught their eye.

  There was something off about it, to see them casually lounging around when she compared it to the scene that she had just come from. She spotted her grandfather talking to another man, both engaged in the conversation.

  As she approached them he turned towards her, and gave a shallow nod.

  "We've been waiting for you," He said. "Master Zhen is an old acquaintance of mine, and has just made me an offer to take you as his student. Since he is already familiar with my style, he should be able to guide you well."

  Tenjo struggled to catch her breath as he spoke, waiting for her chance to interject with her news. Her throat still stung with each gasp from the acidic vomit that had passed through it.

  She barely understood the words he was saying, and after several seconds he stopped, giving her a curious glance. Noboru turned back to the man beside him and gave a polite bow before speaking.

  "I am afraid that I must go now to discuss options with my former student," He said.

  Then he swept off back towards the house without warning, leaving her to hurry after him inside. Her mother followed after her, and the three of them arrived together in the room where she had been advised by her grandfather just earlier that day.

  "Well?" He questioned. "What could be so important that you would interrupt the decision that will detemine your own future?"

  The words refused to come.

  "I," She said. "Daichi, sword, path,"

  Her mother's eyes narrowed. "Spit it out already."

  She gulped audibly, the sound echoing faintly in the small room. "I found Daichi's sword."

  Tenjo could feel both of them looking at her as though she had gone mad as she struggled to find the way to properly express herself and explain the situation.

  "It was in a dead body, and he wasn't there." She spurted out. "And then there were a bunch of footprints that were from aura users, and Daichi wasn't there."

  The expression on the master's face was something that Tenjo had never seen before, and it filled her with an emotion that she couldn't describe. The normally blank-faced man, prone to showing what he thought with only the smallest of changes, now had a look of mournful sadness and one of bitter anger battling on his face.

  His usually perfectly controlled aura now condensed instantly, giving off emotions far stronger than his face would express. There came a cracking sound from the cup in his hand as his grip strengthened, and everyone in the room with him felt a wave of violence wash over them.

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  It was comparable to being surrounded with starving wild beasts, unable to look away for fear the slightest gap in concentration would result in death. Tenjo felt every muscle in her body contract instantly, and she froze to the extent that she even stopped breathing.

  An overwhelming urge ran though her to run, to dash for the door and escape while she still could. Even if she had been willing to, she didn't know if her body would move properly like this, his aura pressing down on her and threatening to crush her to the ground if she faltered for even a second.

  Then it vanished as soon as it came, and the only sound left in its wake was the slow dripping of tea onto the floor from the broken cup, one drop at a time.

  His composure regained in seconds, Noboru straightened up and set down the broken cup. As it clanked against the wood, the sound jolted Tenjo back to reality.

  "This isn't an unknown occurrence," He said. "A promising young heir gets killed by by a group of people from another school for some reason. Daichi had plenty of enemies, with how many times he was victorious in duels. If anyone wanted to take revenge on him it was the perfect time, with large amounts of students and disciples coming through for the trials tonight."

  "But he wasn't dead!" Tenjo protested.

  "Not yet," He replied in a deadpan tone. "A hostage situation is an impossibility, so they either want to torture our techniques out of him, or they just think it would be better to dump his body somewhere else to keep us looking for him."

  Another thought crossed his mind. "I have heard of another group that may have done something like this, capturing skilled warriors for an unknown purpose. No matter who is to blame though, it's unlikely we can find where he is. They wouldn't have planned out everything but their escape to this degree."

  For a moment there was quiet, no one willing to say anything as the processed the situation. Then, Tenjo opened her mouth to speak. It was her mother who broke the silence though.

  "We need to ask all of the other masters gathered here for help," She said. "No matter how good their plan, with this much talent we can catch them and get him back."

  Before she had finished speaking, her father was already shaking his head in disagreement. "Naomi, I know you care greatly for your son. But I fear this isn't something that I can do, admitting that my heir was snatched from under my nose while I was hosting the event that was the future of all the schools of this region."

  "You would prioritize your reputation over your grandson?" Her accusatory tone was of the level that it almost made Tenjo forget she was cowering less than a minute ago.

  His reply was immediate. "Yes."

  Naomi was stunned into letting her mouth cease, working it with no sound coming out as her face flushed with angry color.

  "You simply don't fully understand. Begging help on the tiny chance that they will be able to pull of the impossible is putting ourselves in the debt of every notable school within distance. It's also publicly shouting to the world that I can't take care of my own family, much less my students. Do you think the Silver Crescent Moon would enjoy the same level of popularity after that?"

  She start to say something, but he cut her off and continued.

  "And with no new students, the level of funding will fall as well. It will become a cycle of destruction, and all those who have currently dedicated their lives to my school, the disciples who have fought and bled for it will be thrown out into the world, too far along their paths to find another school, but far too green to make their own."

  "It's still Daichi. Your firstborn grandchild. How could you think a few more peasant children could be worth more than your own flesh and blood?" She was practically spitting the words out now, each one filled with a mix of anger and disbelief.

  "Because they are still alive and well, rather than slowly being killed, or already being dead and dumped in a pond to hide the body." Noboru had his calm tone back, as though he was a farmer talking about a sick cow that had to be put down.

  "And what, he just vanishes?" She asked. "The prodigy gone, and the school having no one is better than that? That won't hurt the reputation?"

  "There is an adequate replacement right here in this room," He said.

  At this point at they both turned to look at Tenjo, and she in kind turned to look for the aforementioned person, only to find no one there. After a moment, she slowly turned back with the question written out on her face.

  Her mother scoffed at the suggestion. "Maybe you've gone senile, but she just demonstrated a complete lack of the most basic ability. Good luck explaining why you choose her to replace your renowned prodigy after that."

  "Tenjo didn't pull her blow out of a inability to hurt her opponent," Her grandfather said. "It was pride."

  "Pride?" Tenjo asked aloud, taken off-guard hearing about herself in the third person while they spoke about her as though she wasn't there.

  "You wanted to prove that there was so little threat from your challenger, that even when she came at you with killing intent you were able to hold back and fight non-lethally," He explained. "Truly, that would make you a blossoming prodigy. After that impressive display, how could I not elevate you to your brother's former position?"

  As she struggled to process his words, glancing around let her see that her mother had formed her hands into fists at her side.

  “That's not true."

  Now a hint of his aura leaked out again as he answered, leaving no room for debate. “It is if I say it is.”

  While his words still lingered in the air, they also echoed again and again in Tenjo's mind.

  She was the successor to the school now? Rather than being traded off in a political move, she would get to stay in the only home she had ever known. Her relationships intact, her worth finally validated as she took the position of number one.

  A position that she didn't earn, or deserve. Her skill didn't compare to her brother, but the only reason it came close was how he spent day after day taking the time to train with her, someone so far below him it couldn't have been very challenging.

  Could she do it? Take everything he had and make it her own, while he may or may not be alive, tortured for information or locked in a cell in a basement, wasting away as time passed by. It all seemed hollow when she thought about that.

  The master hadn't asked for her opinion though. Instead, he was already giving instructions on what she should be doing.

  "Go interact with the masters outside," Noboru said. "You need to give off the impression of being grateful for their offers, but also that you expected them."

  As she stepped outside into the hallway, Tenjo didn't turn back towards the yard. Instead, she went the other way, and headed up to her room. It looked exactly the same as it had before, almost nothing having changed.

  One thing though, was an exception. On the table beside her bed was a letter, with a small wooden box beside it. As she picked it up, the ink was still wet, not having had sufficient time to fully dry.

  Dear Tenjo,

  I know that this may not be the best goodbye, but it is the only one that I can guarantee, as if you depart tonight, I may be unable to speak to you in private again.

  I know that we haven't always been the closest as brother and sister. I've been dedicated to training since before you could speak in full sentences, and never had much time for anything else. To be entirely honest, I don't know if there would be even this between us if you hadn't decided to follow me on this path.

  I suppose that's to be expected, knowing the history of our family, and the current conditions of it. I'm also sure that the time I've spent away didn't help

  In fact, I can't remember the last time we spoke that wasn't about swordsmanship. Tonight is the last night you will spend here, and the last night you can call yourself a member of this school. Our family is linked to the school, fundamentally. To leave one essentially means to leave the other.

  But despite that, I want you to know that you will always remain family to me. If you ever need to ask for my help, I will be there.

  -Sincerely, Daichi Hitamuki

  As she read the letter, Tenjo felt something twist inside her. Her hand opened the box beside it, and inside was a hairpin. A simple design, with nothing overly notable about it. A pair of slightly curved arms protruded from it to hold it in place.

  That design was a silver crescent moon, the same one worn on both Daichi and Noboru's swords. The implicit meaning was clear, even without the message that had come with it. It settled perfectly on her head where she had tied up her hair.

  There was only a single path that she could take now. As the sky opened up, and the rain finally started to pour down, she stepped outside of the house, and took the path that led out of the village without looking back.

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    Chapter end

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