Hayato waved goodbye to Kenshi and Anzen as he slowly took another step down the long and winding mountainside staircase.

Once he was out of view, Hayato turned his back and started his way down the moss-covered steps, admiring the ancient stone.

Hayato continued down the mountain as his eyes went from the steps to the amazing view. Fields of rice paddies faded into the horizon, shining a bright blue from the moon's light. Tiny glowing splotches of orange came from the houses and villages that he could see surrounding those fields, The strongest light being to his left.

A walled city was only a short way down the road. Hayato was able to catch a glimpse of the tightly packed and brightly colored buildings inside the walls as he slowly grew too low to the ground to see.

With a few more steps, he had reached the narrow dirt road between the mountain and the rice paddies.

Hayato crossed his arms due to springs morning chills as he thought. Hayato knew he was easily trusting, and Anzen knew that as well. For Anzen, it had to be an insane thought to throw away both of their lively-hoods for someone Hayato had only known for about six months, but Hayato was there to see Kenshi's growth. He saw Kenshi go from the selfish and embittered loner to the now determined and slightly less selfish man he was. Hayato believed in what Kenshi wanted to do, he wanted the world to be full of good people again.

The city lights grew closer as Hayato sighed.

For most of Hayato's life on the streets he was sick, leaving him trusting Anzen to make the decisions for both of them. Once the sun was locked onto the horizon, Hayato was beginning to feel healthier, and at the same time they were granted their Ember. They were some of the first people to get an Ember, so they were noticed by the Shogun very quickly. And although Hayato could tell there was something wrong after the Shogun, Anzen was stubborn and made the decision for both of them.

But just as he could tell the Shogun was a bad person at heart, he could tell Kenshi was a good one. Hayato made the decision that time, and now due to his decision they were all on this quest,

Hayato only hoped Anzen would stop being so bitter towards Kenshi, and somewhat to Hayato for forcing them to leave their positions as samurai.

He shook away the thoughts as he grew closer to the large wall. Keeping his head low and face out of sight, Hayato waved to the guards at the wall, who opened the gates without worry. Luckily the wall was only to stop yokai from getting inside, not criminals.

Once the gate slowly eased open, Hayato was met with bright lights and busy people. Sounds came from every direction as merchants shouted and horses whinnied. Every single crevice in this tightly packed city seemed to be filled with red paper lanterns and someone trying to sell something.

Hayato walked with nothing more than the list of food supplies he needed to buy before they all continued their journey. If there was one thing Hayato missed from his well paying job and beachside home, it was how he could experiment with cooking. A large array of ingredients from everywhere in Nihon were ready to buy. Hayato was proud of his cooking skills, even with nothing but a campfire and a tiny amount of tools.

As he continued his walk on the busy and crowded street, a hand sat on Hayato's shoulder. Hayato jumped and looked back, but what he found wasn't one of the Shogun's samurai or ember wielders, and not an elder dragon worshiper either. It was a young and smiling woman. She giggled as Hayato put a hand to his beating chest. "Sorry about scaring you! I just wanted to ask you a question."

After shaking his head and calming down, Hayato noticed how pretty the girl was. Her hair was in a large bun held together with a metal pin while she wore a bright and silky blue kimono with pink flowers over her thin and petite body. "Oh... Don't worry about it." Hayato smiled and stood taller than he usually did. "What was it you wanted to ask me?"

She nodded as she began. "Firstly, my name's Umeko. Secondly, I wanted to ask you about the sword you have. It looks so interesting!"

Hayato looked down and to his sword. He didn't think of it as particularly interesting, but it was a military-grade sword for people of higher standings, so to a civilian, it could seem more impressive than Hayato thought it to be. "Ha, I don't know what to say about it. Just a sword. I'm Hayato by the way." Hayato winced as he accidentally gave his name away, but this girl didn't seem to be working for the Shogun, and besides, there were probably a lot of Hayatos with military katanas going on a route to Mt.Fuji.

Umeko shrugged. "Nice to meet you, Hayato. And I suppose it's just eye-catching... But you know, now that I'm here I've noticed something even more interesting..."

Hayato smiled nervously. "Uh... What could that be?"

Umeko smiled brightly. "You, silly!"

There were butterflies in Hayato's stomach, and he couldn't tell if it was the girl or how suspicious he was being. "W-What's so interesting about me?"

"Everything! The way you walk, the way you talk. This place is filled with angry and cynical people, but you seem different..." Hayato chuckled as Umeko continued. "Have you eaten yet? I know about this wonderful place around the block. You could tell me about yourself and we could get to know each other."

Hayato was surprised by how fast-moving this girl was, but he hadn't talked to anyone other than Anzen and Kenshi in forever, so he had no complaints.

He nodded as the energetic Umeko gleefully started to lead the way. They turned corners and waded through crowds as Hayato thought.

Hayato had a few romantic interests, but nothing seemed to last for any significant amount of time. Hayato knew that he would have to leave the city later that afternoon, but he liked that girl, and he was hungry.

Eventually, they broke from the crowd and ducked into an alleyway to get to the other street, but Umeko suddenly stopped halfway through.

Hayato suddenly realized how much of an idiot he was as figures appeared out of the cracks between the buildings both in front and behind him.

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Quickly, Hayato raised his hand and tried opening his portal, but for some reason, Anzen wasn't responding. Within moments, men had run into him and tackled Hayato to the ground. First, his sword was removed, then his coin purse was taken with the last of their gold. Once the men had what they wanted, they backed off and opened the coin purse and inspected his sword.

Hayato quickly rose to his feet and clenched his fists. With a step forward, Hayato reared back his fist towards one of the men with his money.

He didn't enjoy violence, but Hayato knew that he couldn't let these men take his belongings.

He swung his fist forward but something struck Hayato's temple before he was able to hit. One of the many men had noticed him before the rest.

There had to be one. Two. Three. Four men, all with their focus now on Hayato, who had just fallen back to the ground.

The criminals kicked into Hayato's sides as he noticed Umeko still standing in the center of the alleyway. With a sigh, she turned and looked at Hayato with an uncaring expression. Hayato didn't know what sort of face he made towards Umeko, but it caused her to roll her eyes as another dirty and large man emerged from the shadows and wrapped his arm around her. They walked away as the criminals finally became satisfied.

Hayato lied on the ground for what he thought to be forever before he eventually gathered the strength to stand.

He felt exhausted. Hayato didn't think he could even muster the energy to create a portal large enough to get back through, so he uncomfortably walked out of the alley and sat on the curb.

He wiped his nose and noticed the blood on his already red kimono sleeves. Hayato only sighed as he turned his attention to the large crowd of people. Crowds of merchants selling food he could no longer buy and crowds of people he could no longer trust.

Slowly, Hayato stood back up and joined the crowd of people. Hayato could open a portal, but he felt ashamed to return like how he was. There was nothing he could do about it, but he could delay it by walking for a bit.

Trudging through the crowd of people, Hayato wondered if maybe he was too trusting. It all seemed to happen so quickly.

As Hayato thought, something pierced through his ears. It was Umeko's voice.

With newfound energy, Hayato followed the shouting coming from Umeko. Weaving through the ever-thickening crowd, her shouts started to sound clearer. "Come! Come here!"

Hayato didn't know whether or not he was going towards her in an attempt to have her explain why she would be so dishonest or to get his belongings back. Most likely both.

Finally, Hayato was able to push through the crowd of people and see Umeko. She shouted. "Come one and come all! Come see!"

She pointed at a monkey that the crowd had gathered around. The monkey wore a silky red kimono and switched from dancing to hand-standing and jumping around. Umeko had already changed her clothes to a bright red and silky kimono to match the monkeys.

Without forethought, Hayato charged through the people and shouted at Umeko. "Is this another one of your scams!? Where's my stuff!? Why would you do that!?"

The crowd mumbled as Hayato continued, soon men took the performing monkey away as the same man that had wrapped his arm around Umeko earlier approached him. He raised his arms. "Didn't you learn anything from earlier?"

Hayato shouted back in anger. "Give me back my things!" The big man scoffed as he waved for more to accompany him in talking with Hayato. "I'm not afraid of you! Give me back my-!"

Before Hayato could finish, one of the men hit him in the jaw, followed by another hit. That, along with the previous injuries, Hayato gave in and dropped to his knees.

Instead of leaving him, the men grabbed Hayato by the arms and started dragging him away. The large man laughed. "Hopefully you didn't think the crowd cared!" The man along with more of his lackeys started speaking to the crowd, telling them the show was over as Hayato's eyes slowly crept closed.

Once they opened again, Hayato was inside a large and dirty tent. Where? He had no clue. All he did know is that he was caged. There were caged animals along with him in the hay covered and foul-smelling tent.

Looking beside him, Hayato saw the same kimono wearing monkey from earlier.

Hayato looked around for a moment. With nothing else to do, he spoke to the monkey. "I wonder how long you've been used by these people..." The small monkey only scratched the back of its head. Hayato continued. "I didn't expect my day going like this. But I think I'm more worried about what's going to happen later."

The monkey looked at Hayato and tilted its head.

Hayato nodded. "Yeah, me neither." He watched the monkey move from Hayato to looking into the distance. As Hayato followed the monkey's line of sight, he was met with a large pile of things, mostly shiny. And the newest addition to that pile of loot was Hayato's sword. "Good eye, monkey!"

Quickly moving from the pile to around him, Hayato looked to his surroundings, hoping to find something to break the lock on his cage.

Hay, more hay, and more hay. So there wasn't anything that Hayato could reach to free himself, so he looked to what he had on him. They took his sword but not its sheath. Maybe he could do something with the metal cover?

Hayato sighed. "That won't work..."

He continued searching himself but to no avail.

As Hayato had almost given up, the monkey beside him clinked against its metal cage. As Hayato curiously looked over to how it was making that sound, he noticed the metal hairpin Umeko wore in her hair. Without Hayato needing to prompt it, the monkey threw the hairpin in his cage.

Hayato quickly grabbed the pin and stuck it into the lock of the cage, but it did nothing. The monkey tried to help, but it didn't work. Hayato realized no one would save him other than himself. So instead of hoping for help to arrive or to die, Hayato grabbed the sides of the bars and kicked the door. It didn't work.

Hayato's legs were tired and weary, but he didn't stop. Again. Again. Again. Again.

After he felt as though his legs would fall off, the hinges to the cheaply made cage broke and the door came falling off, with no one to blame but himself.

Hayato stood and began to run to his belongings but stopped before he could make three steps. He swiftly turned around and ran to the wall where a chain of keys hung. Grabbing them, Hayato made his way to the monkey's cage and tried to unlock it.

The first attempt failed, and so did the second, but the third worked like a charm. The hinge opened and the monkey was set free. It quickly jumped out of the cage and hopped around in joy.

Hayato began to make his way again to the pile of things but heard something that made him pause.

Next to the pile of loot was the opening to the tent, and at that opening, Hayato heard Umeko through the sounds of the other animals in the tent. He quietly made his way to his belongings as he listened. "We don't have to kill... Hayato? He seems nice."

A man's voice responded. "For the last time, he had a sword a samurai carries. Sure, he could have stolen it or something, but I'd rather not risk it just because you feel sorry for him. And what about that piece of shit monkey that went insane?"

It was only a few steps until Hayato was closer to his things as Umeko replied. "The monkey makes us the most money. We just have to deal with it."

Hayato picked up his sword and put it slowly into its sheath, then his coin purse, and then a few more valuable seeming objects. Stealing from thieves didn't seem wrong.

As Hayato was near finished, he heard a scream from just outside the tent. The kimono wearing monkey that had helped him earlier was standing in the doorway.

Hayato jumped backward as Umeko opened the curtain to the tent and screamed in surprise. "Hayato!?"

Hayato pointed at her as he opened a portal. It pained him and made him exhausted to open it in the open without connecting it to anything but it was what he had to do. Hayato couldn't decide whether to be overly trusting and try to convince her to leave those people or to be angry like Kenshi would or try saying something sarcastic like Anzen would.

Instead of either, he could only say one thing. "I'm taking the monkey with me!" With a swoop of his arm, Hayato picked the monkey up and tossed it into the portal as he jumped right behind it. Umeko shouted at him to stay, but Hayato knew it would've only been another lie.

Hayato had found more maturity in himself and to rely on himself. Getting his things back, along with even more. But did he accomplish his goal of getting groceries? Well, no. But he did get a monkey.

Hayato emerged from his portal to the curious faces of Kenshi and Anzen. Hayato only had one sentence he had the energy to form. The most important thing on his mind.

"Can we keep him?"